Communication method and device

Abstract

The invention provides a communication method and device. The method comprises: a first terminal device obtaining a first configuration from a network device, the first configuration comprising a first radio link control bearer configuration, the first radio link control bearer configuration having an association relationship with a first carrier, the first radio link control bearer configuration is one of a plurality of radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, and the first carrier is a carrier corresponding to a terminal device performing single carrier communication; and multicasting or broadcasting data corresponding to the first radio link control bearer entity established by the first radio link control bearer configuration on the first carrier. In the embodiment of the invention, the first terminal equipment can control the bearer entity through the first wireless link and use the first carrier to multicast or broadcast data to the receiving terminal equipment which does not support sidelink carrier aggregation according to the incidence relation between the bearer configuration and the first carrier according to the first wireless link, so that the sidelink communication quality is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and device. Background Art

[0002] In a wireless communication system, data can be directly communicated between terminal devices (or user equipment) through sidelink (SL) technology. Among them, a typical application scenario of SL communication is vehicle to everything (V2X) technology. In the V2X communication scenario, each vehicle is a terminal device, and data can be directly transmitted between terminal devices through SL technology without going through the network, which can effectively reduce communication delays.

[0003] In order to further improve the reliability of SL communication, for example, researchers in the industry have begun to study the operation of terminal devices supporting SL carrier aggregation (CA) in subsequent versions of the fifth generation (5G) (or new radio (NR)) communication protocol (such as Rel-18 version or Rel-18+ version). However, under the Rel-16 version and Rel-17 version of the 5G communication protocol, the terminal device does not support SL CA, wherein the terminal device that does not support SL CA can only perform SL communication on one carrier. In this way, when a terminal device that supports SL CA needs to perform SL communication with a terminal device that does not support SL CA, if the terminal device that supports SL CA chooses to perform SL transmission on multiple carriers, the terminal device that does not support SL CA may be unable to receive the SL transmission of the terminal device that supports SL CA, thereby reducing the quality of SL communication. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present application provides a communication method and device for improving the sidelink communication quality.

[0005] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be implemented by data interaction between multiple communication devices (such as a first communication device and a second communication device). Optionally, the first communication device may be a first terminal device or a component (such as a chip, a chip system or a circuit, etc.) that can support the first terminal device to implement the functions required by the method, and the second communication device may be a network device or a component (such as a chip, a chip system or a circuit, etc.) that can support the network device to implement the functions required by the method. Exemplarily, taking the data interaction between the first terminal device and the network device to implement the communication method as an example, in the method, the first terminal device obtains a first configuration from the network device, wherein the first configuration includes a first radio link control bearer configuration, the first radio link control bearer configuration has an association relationship with the first carrier, the first radio link control bearer configuration is one of the multiple radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, the first radio link control bearer configuration is used to establish a first radio link control bearer entity, the first carrier is a carrier corresponding to the terminal device performing single-carrier communication, and then the first terminal device can multicast or broadcast the data corresponding to the first radio link control bearer entity on the first carrier. Optionally, sidelink carrier aggregation may include sidelink packet data convergence layer protocol repetition.

[0006] In this method, when there are one or more first radio link control bearer configurations associated with the first carrier, the first terminal device can, when data needs to be transmitted, multicast or broadcast the data to be transmitted to a receiving terminal device that does not support sidelink carrier aggregation through the first radio link control bearer entity and using the first carrier, thereby effectively ensuring normal data transmission between a terminal device that supports sidelink carrier aggregation and a terminal device that does not support sidelink carrier aggregation, thereby ensuring the reliability of sidelink communication and effectively improving the quality of sidelink communication.

[0007] In one possible design, when there is a first terminal device that does not support sidelink carrier aggregation or the destination address corresponding to the receiving terminal device does not support sidelink carrier aggregation, in order to ensure normal data transmission between the terminal device that supports sidelink carrier aggregation and the terminal device that does not support sidelink carrier aggregation, thereby improving the sidelink communication quality, multiple radio link control bearer configurations can be limited to respectively establish radio link control bearer entities for transmitting the same data.

[0008] In one possible design, the method further includes:

[0009] When the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration acquired by the first terminal device includes a packet data convergence layer protocol split configuration, in order to ensure that data transmission can be carried out normally between a terminal device that does not support sidelink carrier aggregation and a terminal device that supports sidelink carrier aggregation, the first terminal device can transmit multiple data in the first terminal device through a first radio link control bearer entity, wherein the packet data convergence layer protocol split configuration is used to indicate that multiple data in the first terminal device are transmitted through multiple radio link control bearer entities. Optionally, sidelink carrier aggregation may include sidelink packet data convergence layer protocol split.

[0010] In the above design, when the first terminal device does not support sidelink carrier aggregation or the destination address corresponding to the receiving terminal device does not support sidelink carrier aggregation, the first terminal device can choose not to apply (or not use or ignore) the packet data convergence layer protocol split configuration, and can transmit multiple data in the first terminal device through the first radio link control bearer entity corresponding to the first carrier, effectively ensuring normal data transmission between the terminal device that supports sidelink carrier aggregation and the terminal device that does not support sidelink carrier aggregation, thereby ensuring the reliability of sidelink communication and effectively improving the quality of sidelink communication.

[0011] In one possible design, when the first terminal device does not support sidelink carrier aggregation and / or the destination address does not support sidelink carrier aggregation, even if the first terminal device obtains the packet data convergence layer protocol split configuration, it can choose not to apply the packet data convergence layer protocol split configuration. At this time, after establishing a sidelink radio bearer (including a packet data convergence layer protocol entity and one or more radio link control bearer entities) according to the acquired configuration, the first radio link control bearer entity corresponding to the first carrier can be selected in one or more radio link control bearer entities to transmit multiple data in the first terminal device, wherein the destination address is used to indicate the receiving terminal device with which the first terminal device performs sidelink communication.

[0012] In one possible design, the first terminal device may send first information to the network device, where the first information is used to indicate that the first terminal device does not apply the packet data convergence layer protocol splitting configuration.

[0013] Exemplarily, after the first terminal device chooses not to apply the packet data convergence layer protocol split configuration, the first terminal device can send a first message to the network device. In this way, when the network device subsequently configures a sidelink radio bearer configuration for the first terminal device or the destination address requested by the first terminal device to establish a sidelink radio bearer, there is no need to configure the packet data convergence layer protocol split configuration, so that the configuration of the sidelink radio bearer configuration is more targeted and can meet the different needs of the terminal devices.

[0014] In one possible design, the first terminal device may send second information to the network device, wherein the second information is used to indicate that the first terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation and / or is used to indicate that the destination address supports sidelink carrier aggregation, and the destination address is used to indicate a receiving terminal device with which the first terminal device performs sidelink communication.

[0015] Exemplarily, when the first terminal device needs to establish the sidelink radio bearer configuration required for the sidelink radio bearer, the first terminal device may actively send second information to the network device, so that the network device can determine the corresponding sidelink radio bearer configuration for the first terminal device based on the first information while ensuring the reliability of the sidelink communication.

[0016] In one possible design, when the first terminal device is in a radio resource control connected state, the first terminal device may carry the second information in a terminal device capability information message or a sidelink terminal device information message and send it to the network device, so that the network device can specifically determine the corresponding first configuration for the first terminal device, wherein the sidelink terminal device information message is used to request the first configuration. Optionally, after sending the terminal device capability information message to the network device, the first terminal device also sends a sidelink terminal device information message to the network device.

[0017] In one possible design, the first terminal device (such as an access layer of the first terminal device) may obtain third information from an upper layer of the first terminal device, wherein the third information is used to indicate that the destination address supports sidelink carrier aggregation.

[0018] Exemplarily, the access layer of the first terminal device can obtain in time through the upper layer of the first terminal device whether the destination address corresponding to the receiving terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation. In one example, when the destination address corresponding to the receiving terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation, if the first terminal device also supports sidelink carrier aggregation, sidelink communication can be performed on multiple carriers between the first terminal device and the receiving terminal device. If the first terminal device does not support sidelink carrier aggregation, the first terminal device can also achieve normal data transmission between the first terminal device and the receiving terminal device by applying the first configuration. In another example, when the destination address corresponding to the receiving terminal device does not support sidelink carrier aggregation, if the first terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation, the first terminal device can also achieve normal data transmission between the first terminal device and the receiving terminal device by applying the first configuration. If the first terminal device also does not support sidelink carrier aggregation, data transmission between the first terminal device and the receiving terminal device can be performed by using the first carrier.

[0019] In a possible design, the association relationship between the first radio link control bearer configuration and the first carrier may be determined by the network device when transmitting the first configuration to the first terminal device, or may be determined by the first terminal device instead of the network device. For example, after obtaining the first configuration from the network device, the first terminal device may select the first radio link control bearer configuration from multiple radio link control bearer configurations according to information about the carriers supported by the first terminal device to establish an association relationship with the first carrier.

[0020] In the second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be implemented by data interaction between multiple communication devices (such as a first communication device and a second communication device). Optionally, the first communication device may be a second terminal device or a component (such as a chip, a chip system or a circuit, etc.) that can support the second terminal device to implement the functions required by the method, and the second communication device may be a third terminal device or a component (such as a chip, a chip system or a circuit, etc.) that can support the third terminal device to implement the functions required by the method. Exemplarily, taking the data interaction between the second terminal device and the third terminal device to implement the communication method as an example, in this method, after determining that the second terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation, the second terminal device may send fourth information to the third terminal device on the second carrier, wherein the third terminal device may be a receiving terminal device for sidelink communication with the second terminal device, and the fourth information may be used to indicate that the second terminal device and the third terminal device perform sidelink transmission on the third carrier, the second carrier and / or the third carrier do not include the first carrier, the first carrier is the carrier corresponding to the terminal device performing single-carrier communication, and the second carrier and the third carrier are different. Optionally, the sidelink carrier aggregation may include sidelink cross-carrier scheduling and / or sidelink cross-carrier feedback.

[0021] In the present method, in the case that the destination address corresponding to the receiving terminal device does not support sidelink carrier aggregation, by limiting the second carrier and / or the third carrier to not include the first carrier, it can be ensured that the receiving terminal device that does not support sidelink carrier aggregation can normally receive the sidelink data from the second terminal device on the first carrier, and normal data transmission between the terminal device that supports sidelink carrier aggregation and the terminal device that does not support sidelink carrier aggregation can be achieved, thereby ensuring the reliability of sidelink communication and effectively improving the quality of sidelink communication.

[0022] In one possible design, the second terminal device may receive hybrid automatic repeat request feedback from a third terminal device on the second carrier or the third carrier, wherein the hybrid automatic repeat request feedback is used to indicate a reception status of a sidelink transmission by the third terminal device on the third carrier.

[0023] Exemplarily, when the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation, the third terminal device can provide feedback to the second terminal device on the second carrier or the third carrier on the reception status of the third terminal device for the data transmitted by the second terminal device on the third carrier. In this way, the second terminal device can promptly understand the data reception status of the third terminal device, thereby facilitating the second terminal device to make corresponding adjustments to the data transmission in a timely manner.

[0024] In one possible design, the second terminal device (such as the access layer of the second terminal device) can obtain fifth information from the upper layer of the second terminal device, wherein the fifth information is used to indicate that the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation.

[0025] Exemplarily, the access layer of the second terminal device can obtain in time through the upper layer of the second terminal device whether the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation. In one example, when the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation, the second carrier and / or the third carrier can be restricted to include the first carrier, so that no matter which carrier the second terminal device transmits signaling or data on, the third terminal device can receive it normally. In another example, when the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device does not support sidelink carrier aggregation, the second carrier and / or the third carrier can be restricted to not include the first carrier, so that it can be ensured that the third terminal device can normally receive the signaling or data transmitted by the second terminal device on the first carrier.

[0026] In one possible design, sidelink aggregation may include sidelink cross-carrier scheduling and / or sidelink cross-carrier feedback, so that the communication method can be applied in more scenarios and meet the needs of different application scenarios while taking into account the cross-carrier scheduling / cross-carrier feedback characteristics.

[0027] In the third aspect, the present application provides a possible communication device. Optionally, the communication device may be a communication device (such as a first communication device or a second communication device) or a component (such as a chip, a chip system or a circuit, etc.) that can support the communication device to implement the functions required for the communication method. Exemplarily, the first communication device may be a first terminal device or a second terminal device, etc., and the second communication device may be a network device or a third terminal device, etc. When the communication device is a chip arranged in the first communication device (or the second communication device), the communication device includes a transceiver and a processor, but does not include a memory. Among them, the transceiver exists as an input and output interface, and the input and output interface is used for the chip to implement the transceiver of the communication device. The input and output interface may include an input interface and / or an output interface, the input interface can implement the reception of the communication device, and the output interface can be used to implement the sending of the communication device. The processor is used to read and execute corresponding computer programs or instructions so that the corresponding functions of the first communication device (or the second communication device) are implemented. Optionally, when the chip implements the corresponding functions of the first communication device (or the second communication device) in the communication method embodiment provided by the present application, the input and output interface can implement the sending and receiving operations performed by the first communication device (or the second communication device) in the communication method embodiment provided by the present application; the processor can implement other operations except the sending and receiving operations performed by the first communication device (or the second communication device) in the above-mentioned communication method embodiment provided by the present application.

[0028] In one example, when the communication device is used to implement the function of the first terminal device in the communication method embodiment provided by the present application, the beneficial effects can be referred to the description of the first terminal device in the first aspect, which will not be repeated here. The communication device has the function of implementing the behavior of the first terminal device in the method example of the first aspect. The function can be implemented by hardware, or it can be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. In one possible design, the communication device includes: a communication module (or a communication unit, a transceiver module or a transceiver unit, used to send and receive data) and a processing module (or a processing unit). The communication module is used to obtain a first configuration from a network device. Among them, the first configuration includes a first radio link control bearer configuration, and the first radio link control bearer configuration has an association relationship with the first carrier. Among them, the first radio link control bearer configuration is one of the multiple radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, and the first radio link control bearer configuration is used to establish a first radio link control bearer entity, and the first carrier is a carrier corresponding to the terminal device performing single-carrier communication. The processing module is used to multicast or broadcast data corresponding to the first radio link control bearer entity on the first carrier. In another possible design, the communication device includes: a communication module (or may be called a transceiver module, for sending and receiving data) and a processing module. The communication module is used to obtain a packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration from a network device. Exemplarily, the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration may include a PDCP split configuration, or may not include a PDCP split configuration. The PDCP split configuration is used to indicate that multiple data in the first terminal device are transmitted through multiple radio link control bearer entities. Among them, the multiple radio link control bearer entities are established by the first terminal device respectively according to multiple radio link control bearer configurations. Optionally, in the PDCP split configuration, the multiple radio link control bearer configurations are associated with different carriers respectively. Optionally, different carriers may include the first carrier. A processing module is used to transmit multiple data in the first terminal device through the first radio link control bearer entity. These modules can perform the corresponding functions of the first terminal device in the method example of the first aspect above. Please refer to the detailed description of the corresponding functions of the first terminal device in the method example, which will not be repeated here.

[0029] In another example, when the communication device is used to implement the function of the second terminal device in the communication method embodiment provided by the present application, the beneficial effects can be referred to the description of the second terminal device in the second aspect, which will not be repeated here. The communication device has the function of implementing the behavior of the first terminal device in the method example of the first aspect above. The function can be implemented by hardware, or it can be implemented by hardware executing the corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. In one possible design, the communication device includes: a communication module (or a transceiver module for sending and receiving data) and a processing module. The processing module is used to determine that the second terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation. The communication module is used to send fourth information to the third terminal device on the second carrier. Among them, the third terminal device is a receiving terminal device for the second terminal device to perform sidelink communication, and the fourth information can be used to indicate that the second terminal device and the third terminal device perform sidelink transmission on the third carrier. Among them, the second carrier and / or the third carrier do not include the first carrier, and the first carrier generally refers to the carrier corresponding to the terminal device performing single-carrier communication, and the second carrier is different from the third carrier. These modules can execute the corresponding functions of the second terminal device in the method example of the second aspect above. For details, please refer to the detailed description of the corresponding functions of the second terminal device in the method example, which will not be repeated here.

[0030] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a possible communication device, which may be a communication device (such as a first communication device or a second communication device) required for executing the communication method provided in the present application, or may be a device including a communication device required for executing the communication method provided in the present application, or may be a device having the functions required to implement the communication method. The communication device may include a transceiver and a processor. Optionally, the communication device may also include a memory. The memory is used to store computer programs or instructions, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the transceiver. When the processor executes the computer program or instruction, the communication device executes the method in any possible design of the first aspect or the method in any possible design of the second aspect.

[0031] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a possible communication system, which may include the first communication device and the second communication device mentioned in the first aspect or the second aspect, etc. The relevant functional implementation of the first communication device or the second communication device can refer to the relevant description mentioned in the first aspect or the second aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0032] Exemplarily, the communication system may include one or more first communication devices and one or more second communication devices.

[0033] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are run on a computer, the computer executes a method in any possible design of the first aspect or a method in any possible design of the second aspect.

[0034] In the seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a computer, the computer executes any possible design method of the first aspect or any possible design method of the second aspect.

[0035] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer program, which includes a program code. When a computer runs the computer program, the program code executes a method in any possible design of the first aspect or a method in any possible design of the second aspect.

[0036] In a ninth aspect, the present application further provides a chip, which may include a processor and a memory (or the chip is coupled to the memory), and the chip executes program instructions in the memory to execute the method in any possible design of the first aspect or the method in any possible design of the second aspect. Wherein, "coupling" refers to the direct or indirect combination of two components, such as coupling may refer to an electrical connection between two components.

[0037] In a tenth aspect, the present application further provides a chip system, which includes a processor for supporting a computer device to implement any possible method in the design of the first aspect or any possible method in the design of the second aspect. In one possible design, the chip system also includes a memory for storing programs and data necessary for the computer device. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or it can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0038] Based on the implementations provided in the above aspects, this application can also be further combined to provide more implementations. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] Figure 1a A possible communication system architecture diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application is exemplarily shown;

[0040] Figure 1b Another possible communication system architecture diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application is exemplarily shown;

[0041] Figure 2A schematic diagram of data transmission between protocol layers provided in an embodiment of the present application is exemplified;

[0042] Figure 3 A schematic diagram exemplarily illustrates a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 4 A schematic diagram exemplarily illustrates a flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] Figure 5 A flowchart showing another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application is exemplified;

[0045] Figure 6 A schematic diagram showing a possible structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application is exemplified;

[0046] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of another possible communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application is exemplified. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] Before introducing the technical solution provided by the present application, some of the terms involved in the present application are first explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0048] (1) Sidelink radio bearer (SLRB): a bearer in layer 2 for sending and receiving sidelink data. SLRB includes a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity, a radio link control (RLC) entity, or a logical channel (LCH). Optionally, a SLRB is uniquely associated with a set of address information, and the address information may include a source address identifier (e.g., source L2 ID) and a destination address identifier (e.g., destination L2 ID).

[0049] (2) Sidelink (SL) carrier aggregation (CA): Terminal devices can perform SL communication on the sidelink through one or more carriers (or SL carriers). For example, a terminal device can use multiple SL carriers to send broadcast messages or multicast messages, or the terminal device can use multiple SL carriers to perform unicast communication with another terminal device. Different data can be sent on different SL carriers, so that the data rate on the SL can be increased. For example, a split mechanism can be used. The data rate generally refers to the data transmission rate, which can also be referred to as the data rate, etc. Optionally, the same data can be sent on different carriers. For example, a duplication mechanism can be used, and the repeated data can be transmitted on different carriers to improve the reliability of data transmission.

[0050] (3) Terminal equipment: It is a device on the user side that has the function of sending and receiving signals and can provide users with service functions such as video, voice, and data connectivity.

[0051] Optionally, the terminal device may also be referred to as a terminal, user equipment (UE), access terminal equipment, vehicle-mounted terminal, industrial control terminal, UE unit, UE station, mobile station, mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), remote station, remote terminal equipment, mobile equipment, UE terminal equipment, terminal equipment, wireless communication equipment, UE agent or UE device, etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may be fixed or mobile, and the implementation of the present application does not limit this.

[0052] Exemplarily, the terminal device may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a subscriber unit, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant (PDA) computer, a wireless modem, a handheld device (handset), a laptop computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a terminal device capable of sidelink communication (such as a vehicle-mounted terminal device or a handheld terminal for V2X communication, etc.), a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, a wearable terminal device, a vehicle, a drone, a helicopter, an airplane, a factory machine / equipment, a machine type communication (Machine Type Communication, MTC) terminals, ships or robots, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0053] (4) Network equipment: may refer to any equipment with wireless transceiver functions. For example, the network equipment may be a radio access network (RAN) equipment that connects a terminal device to a wireless network. Exemplarily, RAN equipment may include, but is not limited to: a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a fifth generation (5G) communication system, a next generation base station in a sixth generation (6G) communication system, a base station in a future communication system, a transmission reception point (TRP), an evolved NodeB (eNB), a radio network controller (RNC), a NodeB (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home NodeB, HNB), a base band unit (BBU), or a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) access point (AP), etc.

[0054] Optionally, in a network structure, the RAN device may also include a centralized unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU). This structure can split the protocol layer of the network device, and the functions of some protocol layers are placed in the CU for centralized control, and the functions of the remaining part or all of the protocol layers are distributed in the DU, and the DU is centrally controlled by the CU. For example, the functions of the PDCP layer and above protocol layers can be set in the CU, and the functions of the protocol layers below the PDCP (such as the RLC layer and the medium access control (MAC) layer, etc.) are set in the DU. It should be noted that this division of the protocol layer is only an example, and it can also be divided in other protocol layers. The radio frequency device can be remote and not placed in the DU, or it can be integrated in the DU, or part of it can be remote and part of it can be integrated in the DU. The embodiments of the present application do not impose any restrictions. In addition, in some embodiments, the control plane (CP) and user plane (UP) of the CU can also be separated and divided into different entities for implementation, namely the control plane CU entity (CU-CP entity) and the user plane CU entity (CU-UP entity).

[0055] For example, taking the network device as a base station, the base station can communicate with the terminal device, or communicate with the terminal device through a relay station. The terminal device can communicate with multiple base stations in different access technologies.

[0056] In the embodiment of the present application, the RAN device may be a macro base station, a micro base station or an indoor station, a relay node or a donor node, etc. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the wireless access network device.

[0057] (5) Sidelink (SL): It may also be called side link, side link, direct link, side link or auxiliary link, etc. In the embodiments of the present application, the above terms all refer to links established between devices of the same type and have the same meaning. The so-called devices of the same type may be links between terminal devices, etc. Among them, for the link between terminal devices, it may be a D2D link defined by 3GPP version (Rel)-12 / 13 / 14 / 15, or it may be a V2X link defined by 3GPP for the Internet of Vehicles, from vehicle to vehicle, from vehicle to mobile phone, or from vehicle to any entity, or it may be a V2X link based on the NR system of other versions (such as Rel-16 or subsequent versions), etc.

[0058] The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0059] The following is an introduction to possible communication system architectures applicable to the communication method provided in this application. It should be noted that these introductions are intended to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art and do not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection claimed by this application.

[0060] Figure 1a The following is a schematic diagram of a possible communication system architecture applicable to the embodiments of the present application. Figure 1a As shown, the communication system architecture includes RAN 100 and core network 200. Optionally, the communication system architecture may also include Internet 300. Among them, RAN 100 may include at least one RAN device (such as Figure 1a RAN device 110a and RAN device 110b), and at least one terminal device (such as Figure 1aThe terminal devices 120a-120j in the figure). Optionally, the terminal devices can be connected to the RAN devices wirelessly, and the RAN devices can be connected to the core network 200 wirelessly or by wire. The core network device and the RAN device can be independent and different physical devices, or the functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the RAN device can be integrated on the same physical device, or the functions of some core network devices and some wireless access network devices can be integrated on one physical device. Terminal devices and terminal devices, and RAN devices and RAN devices can be connected to each other by wire or wirelessly. Exemplarily, the communication system architecture can also include other network devices (such as wireless relay devices or wireless backhaul devices, etc.).

[0061] RAN devices (such as RAN devices 110a and RAN devices 110b), sometimes also referred to as access network devices, RAN entities, RAN nodes or access nodes, etc., constitute part of a communication system to help terminal devices achieve wireless access. Multiple RAN devices in a communication system can be nodes of the same type or nodes of different types. The network devices involved in the embodiments of the present application include, for example, RAN devices. RAN devices can be base stations (base stations), evolved NodeBs (evolved NodeBs, eNodeBs), transmission reception points (transmission reception points, TRPs), transmission nodes (transmission points, TPs), next generation base stations (next generation NodeBs, gNBs) in fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) mobile communication systems, next generation base stations in sixth generation (6th generation, 6G) mobile communication systems, base stations in future mobile communication systems, or access nodes in WiFi systems, etc.

[0062] In some scenarios, the roles of RAN devices (such as RAN devices 110a and RAN devices 110b) and terminal devices (such as terminal devices 120a-120j) are relative, for example, Figure 1a The network element 120i may be a helicopter or a drone, which may be configured as a mobile base station. For the terminals 120j that access the RAN 100 through the network element 120i, the network element 120i is a base station; but for the RAN device 110a, the network element 120i is a terminal. RAN devices and terminal devices are sometimes referred to as communication devices, for example Figure 1a The network elements 110a and 110b may be understood as communication devices having base station functions, and the network elements 120a-120j may be understood as communication devices having terminal functions.

[0063] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN devices collaborate to assist the terminal in achieving wireless access, and different RAN devices respectively implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the RAN device can be a CU, DU, CU-CP, CU-UP, or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be set separately, or can also be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0064] CU and DU can be set separately, or can also be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The CU here completes the functions of the radio resource control protocol and PDCP of the base station, and can also complete the function of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP); DU completes the functions of the RLC layer and MAC layer (or media access control layer) of the base station, and can also complete the functions of part of the physical layer or all of the physical layer. For the specific description of the above-mentioned various protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). RU may be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, for example, in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU) or a remote radio head (RRH). In an embodiment of the present application, when the network device includes a CU and / or a DU, in a possible implementation method, the PDCP / SLRB related configuration is generated by the CU, and the RLC bearer / RLC entity / LCH, etc. are generated by the DC. For example, taking the PDCP entity configuration as an example, the PDCP entity configuration may be generated by the CU and sent by the CU to the DU (for example, sent via a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message), and the PDCP entity configuration may be sent by the DU to the first terminal device. For another example, taking the radio link control RLC bearer configuration as an example, the RLC bearer configuration may be generated by the DU, and the DU may first send the RLC bearer configuration to the CU, and then the CU may send it to the DU after processing, and then the DU may send it to the first terminal device.

[0065] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an open radio access network (ORAN) system, CU may also be called an open CU (open-CU, O-CU), DU may also be called an open DU (open-DU, O-DU), CU-CP may also be called an open CU-CP (open-CU-CP, O-CU-CP), CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called an open RU (open-RU, O-RU). For the convenience of description, this application takes CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples for description. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0066] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the RAN device (such as a base station) may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station, or by a control subsystem including the base station function. The control subsystem including the base station function here may be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, smart transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal device, or by a device including the terminal function.

[0067] based on Figure 1a The communication system architecture shown in Figure 1b The following is a schematic diagram of a possible communication system architecture applicable to the embodiments of the present application. Figure 1bAs shown, the communication system architecture includes a terminal device 400, at least one receiving terminal device corresponding to the terminal device 400 (such as terminal device 501, terminal device 502, etc.) and a RAN device 600. SL communication can be performed between the terminal device 400 and the at least one receiving terminal device through one or more SL carriers. For example, taking the terminal device 501 as an example, the terminal device 400 can send SL information to the terminal device 501 through one or more SL carriers. Among them, the communication interface between the terminal device 400 and the terminal device 501 is called a short-range communication 5 (prose communication5, PC5) interface, and a PC5 connection can be established between the terminal device 400 and the terminal device 501. Exemplarily, taking the terminal device 400 as UE1 and the terminal device 501 as UE2 as an example, UE1 can be in the in coverage (in coverage, IC) state or the out of coverage (outof coverage, OOC) state. When UE1 is in the RRC connected (connected) state, UE1 can send a message to the network device (such as Figure 1b The RAN device 600 shown in the figure requests SL resources to send SL information, such as sending SL signaling or SL data, etc. This mode is called the resource allocation mode of mode 1 (base station scheduling mode, mode1). In the case of mode 1, the RAN device 600 can schedule SL resources for UE1 through downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI), or can configure SL configuration authorization (configured grant) for UE1 through RRC message. Optionally, UE1 can also work in mode 2 (autonomous competition mode, mode2). When UE1 works in mode2, UE1 can be in RRC connected state, RRC inactive state, RRC idle state or OOC state, etc. In the case of mode2, UE1 can receive SL resource pool configuration from RAN device 600, or can also obtain SL resource pool configuration from pre-configuration. Then, UE1 can select SL resources in the SL resource pool to send SL information, such as sending SL signaling or SL data, etc. Exemplarily, UE1 may select SL resources from the SL resource pool in a random selection manner, or may select SL resources from the SL resource pool based on a result of sensing or partial sensing.

[0068] It should be noted that the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applicable to communication systems of various radio access technologies (radio access technology, RAT), for example, it can be a long term evolution (LTE) system, or it can be a 5G (or new radio (NR)) communication system, of course, it can also be a future communication system (such as a 6G communication system) or other similar communication systems, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this. The communication system architecture shown in the embodiment of the present application is to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application. It is known to those skilled in the art that with the evolution of the communication system architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0069] Optionally, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to device-to-device (D2D) scenarios, such as NR-D2D scenarios, etc., or can be applied to vehicle-to-everything (V2X) scenarios, such as NR-V2X scenarios (such as scenarios in the fields of driving, assisted driving, or intelligent connected vehicles, etc.). Exemplarily, V2X scenarios may include, but are not limited to, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), vehicle-to-network (V2N) services, or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications, etc. Exemplarily, the device-to-device scenario may also include, but is not limited to: the communication scenario between the remote terminal equipment (remote UE) and the relay terminal equipment (relay user equipment, relay UE) in the sidelink terminal equipment and network equipment relay (Sidelink user equipment-to-Network Relay) communication system architecture, the communication scenario between the source terminal equipment (source UE) and the relay terminal equipment in the sidelink terminal equipment to terminal equipment relay (Sidelink user equipment-to-user equipment relay) communication system architecture, or the communication scenario between the relay terminal equipment and the target terminal equipment (target UE), etc.

[0070] Optional, in the above Figure 1a or Figure 1bIn the communication system architecture shown, the communication between a terminal device (such as terminal device 400) and at least one receiving terminal device (or the communication between the terminal device and the RAN device) may follow a certain protocol layer structure, for example, the control plane protocol layer structure may include functions of protocol layers such as RRC), PDCP layer (or packet data convergence protocol layer), RLC layer, MAC layer and physical layer (PHY); the user plane protocol layer structure may include functions of protocol layers such as PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer and PHY layer; in a possible implementation, an SDAP layer may be included above the PDCP layer. Exemplarily, the RAN device may implement the functions of protocol layers such as RRC, PDCP, RLC and MAC by one node, or may implement the functions of these protocol layers by multiple nodes.

[0071] For example, Figure 1b Taking the data transmission between the terminal device 400 and the terminal device 501 as an example, the data transmission needs to pass through the user plane protocol layer, such as the SDAP layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, and PHY layer, where the SDAP layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, and PHY layer can also be collectively referred to as the access layer. According to the data transmission direction, it is divided into sending or receiving, and each of the above layers is divided into a sending part and a receiving part. Taking the data transmission from the terminal device 400 to the terminal device 501 as an example, see Figure 2 The figure shows the schematic diagram of data transmission between various protocol layers. Figure 2 The downward arrow indicates data sending, and the upward arrow indicates data receiving. Optionally, the communication method between the terminal device 400 and the terminal device 501 can be multicast communication or broadcast communication. After the PDCP layer obtains data from the upper layer, it transmits the data to the RLC layer and the MAC layer. The MAC layer then generates a transport block (TB) and then transmits it wirelessly through the physical layer. The data is encapsulated accordingly in each layer. The data received by a layer from the upper layer of this layer is regarded as the service data unit (SDU) of this layer. After layer encapsulation, it becomes a protocol data unit (PDU) and is then passed to the next layer. Optionally, through Figure 2 It can also be seen that the terminal device may also have an application layer and a non-access layer; wherein the application layer may be used to provide services to the application programs installed in the terminal device. Optionally, the non-access layer may be used to forward user data, for example, data received from the application layer may be forwarded to the SDAP layer or data received from the SDAP layer may be forwarded to the application layer.

[0072] For example, taking the SDAP layer included above the PDCP layer as an example, when the terminal device 400 sends a data packet corresponding to multicast communication (or broadcast communication) to the terminal device 501, the SDAP entity of the terminal device 400 can deliver the SDAP PDU containing the data packet to the PDCP entity corresponding to a certain SLRB corresponding to the multicast communication according to the corresponding relationship for processing. After receiving the SDAP PDU, the PDCP entity corresponding to the SLRB processes the SDAP SDU included in the SDAP PDU to generate a PDCP PDU, and can deliver the PDCP PDU to the RLC entity in the SLRB. After receiving the PDCP PDU, the RLC entity processes the PDCP SDU included in the PDCP PDU to generate an RLC PDU, and can deliver the RLC PDU to the MAC entity of the terminal device 400 through the LCH corresponding to the SLRB. After receiving the RLC PDU, the MAC entity processes the RLC SDU included in the RLC PDU to obtain a MAC PDU, and can send the MAC PDU to the MAC entity of the terminal device 501 through the PC5 port. After receiving the MAC PDU, the MAC entity of the terminal device 501 submits it to the SLRB corresponding to the multicast communication in the terminal device 501 for processing. Each SLRB corresponds to a PDCP entity, one or more RLC entities, one or more LCHs, etc., and the configuration of each SLRB may include an SLRB identifier, a PDCP entity configuration, an RLC entity configuration, an LCH configuration, etc.

[0073] The following is based on Figure 1a , Figure 1b The communication system architecture shown in the figure provides a detailed introduction to the specific implementation of the communication method in the embodiment of the present application.

[0074] Figure 3 The following is a flow chart showing a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1a , Figure 1b The communication system architecture shown in the figure. The method flow can be implemented by data interaction between multiple communication devices (such as a first communication device and a second communication device). Optionally, the first communication device can be a first terminal device or a component (such as a chip, a chip system or a circuit, etc.) that can support the first terminal device to implement the functions required by the method, and the second communication device can be a network device or a component (such as a chip, a chip system or a circuit, etc.) that can support the network device to implement the functions required by the method. Exemplarily, the first terminal device can be Figure 1a The terminal device 120f or the terminal device 120g shown in the figure, the network device may be Figure 1a The RAN device 110b shown, or the first terminal device may be Figure 1a The terminal device 120a or the terminal device 120i shown in the figure, the network device may be Figure 1a The RAN device 110a shown, or the first terminal device may be Figure 1b The terminal device 400 shown; the network device may be Figure 1b The RAN device 600 is shown. Optionally, the network device may also be a core network, such as Figure 1a The core network 200 is shown. In order to facilitate the introduction of the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application, the following takes the first communication device as the first terminal device and the second communication device as the network device as an example to introduce the process of implementing the communication method by data interaction between the first communication device and the second communication device. Figure 3 As shown, the method includes:

[0075] Step 301: A first terminal device obtains a first configuration from a network device.

[0076] Among them, the first configuration may include (or can be understood as associated or corresponding to) a first radio link control bearer configuration, the first radio link control bearer configuration has an associated relationship with the first carrier (or can be called a mapping relationship or a corresponding relationship), and the first radio link control bearer configuration is one of the multiple radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration. Among them, the first carrier is the carrier corresponding to the terminal device performing single-carrier communication. For example, the terminal device performing single-carrier communication may refer to a terminal device that only supports single-carrier communication (which can be understood as a terminal device that does not support SL CA), or it may also refer to a terminal device that supports single-carrier communication (which can be understood as a terminal device that supports SL CA also supports SL communication on one carrier). Exemplarily, the first carrier can be one of the following: a carrier predefined in the communication protocol, a default carrier, a carrier supported by the terminal device under the Rel-16 version and the Rel-17 version, or a specific carrier in the sidelink carrier list included in the system information block (SIB) 12 message, etc. Exemplarily, the specific carrier in the sidelink carrier list included in the SIB12 message can be the first carrier in the sidelink carrier list included in the SIB12 message. Optionally, the SIB12 message may also be replaced by other SIB messages. Optionally, the first configuration may include multiple radio link control bearer configurations. In one example, the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration may be included in the first configuration. In another example, the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration may not be included in the first configuration. Exemplarily, the first configuration is an SLRB configuration. Optionally, the first radio link control bearer configuration has an association relationship with the first carrier, which can be understood as the first radio link control bearer configuration only has an association relationship with the first carrier, that is, the first radio link control bearer configuration has no association relationship with other carriers other than the first carrier.

[0077] In one possible implementation, the network device may specify that the first radio link control bearer configuration has an association relationship with the first carrier, and carry the association relationship in the first configuration or the first radio link control bearer configuration and transmit it to the first terminal device, or may also use other methods to transmit the association relationship to the first terminal device, such as transmitting the association relationship to the first terminal device alone or carrying the association relationship in other messages and transmitting it to the first terminal device, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. In another possible implementation, the network device only transmits the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, multiple radio link control bearer configurations, etc. to the first terminal device, and does not specify which carriers the multiple radio link control bearer configurations are associated with, and of course does not specify that the first radio link control bearer configuration has an association relationship with the first carrier. When the first terminal device receives the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, multiple radio link control bearer configurations, etc., it can select a radio link control bearer configuration (such as the first radio link control bearer configuration) from the multiple radio link control bearer configurations to establish an association relationship with the first carrier.

[0078] Optionally, a radio link control bearer configuration may include a radio link control entity configuration and a logical channel configuration, and the logical channel configuration may be associated with one or more carriers. Among them, the radio link control entity established by the radio link control entity configuration may have a corresponding relationship with the logical channel established by the logical channel configuration. For example, taking a certain radio link control bearer configuration (such as radio link control bearer configuration 1) as an example, the logical channel configuration included in the radio link control bearer configuration 1 has an associated relationship with carrier A, and when the first terminal device transmits data on the logical channel established by the logical channel configuration, carrier A can be used. In other words, the radio link control bearer configuration and the carrier have an associated relationship, which may mean that the logical channel configuration included in the radio link control bearer configuration has an associated relationship with the carrier.

[0079] Exemplarily, the implementation process of the first terminal device acquiring the first configuration from the network device is introduced below through the following possible implementation methods.

[0080] Method 1: The first terminal device sends the second information to the network device. The network device receives the second information. In one example, the second information can be used to indicate that the first terminal device supports sidelink SL carrier aggregation CA and / or can be used to indicate that the destination address supports SL CA. Among them, the destination address can be used to indicate the receiving terminal device with which the first terminal device performs sidelink communication. In another example, the second information can also be used to indicate that the first terminal device does not support SL CA and / or can be used to indicate that the destination address does not support SL CA. Optionally, SL CA may include sidelink SL packet data convergence layer protocol entity PDCP duplication.

[0081] Exemplarily, the second information may be carried in a terminal device capability information message or a side link terminal device information message. When the first terminal device is in a radio resource control connection state, a terminal device capability information (UE capability information) message or a side link terminal device information (Side link UEinformation, SUI) message may be sent to the network device. The side link terminal device information message may be used to request a first configuration, or may also be used to request a side link radio bearer configuration, which includes the first configuration. Optionally, when the second information is carried in a terminal device capability information message, the first terminal device will also send a side link terminal device information message to the network device after sending the terminal device capability information message to the network device.

[0082] In one possible manner, the first terminal device, in the process of acquiring the first configuration, further includes the first terminal device acquiring third information. Optionally, before the first terminal device sends the second information to the network device, the access layer of the first terminal device may acquire the third information from the upper layer of the first terminal device. In one possible implementation manner, the third information may be used to indicate that the destination address supports SL CA, or may also be used to indicate that the destination address does not support SL CA. In another possible implementation manner, the third information may also be used to indicate that the first terminal device supports SL CA, or may also be used to indicate that the first terminal device does not support SL CA. It should be understood that the first terminal device may also be configured in the first terminal device without knowing from the upper layer whether it has the capability of SL CA, and whether it has the capability of supporting SL CA. Optionally, the first terminal device may also acquire relevant information of whether the first terminal device supports SL CA from the network device where the cell where the first terminal device resides is located, or may also acquire relevant information of whether the first terminal device supports SL CA from the receiving terminal device. In another possible implementation manner, the third information may also be used to indicate that the destination address supports Rel-18 services or Rel-18+ services, or may also be used to indicate that the destination address does not support Rel-18 services or Rel-18+ services. When the destination address supports Rel-18 services or Rel-18+ services, the destination address supports SL CA.

[0083] Optionally, the third information may also include an association between the service type and the destination address and / or information about the carrier supported by the service type (such as the name, index or identifier of the carrier). Exemplarily, the service type may include but is not limited to a provider service identifier (PSID), an intelligent transport system application identifier (ITS-AID) or an application identifier (AID).

[0084] For example, the upper layer here may refer to a layer above the access layer of a terminal device (such as a first terminal device), such as a V2X layer, an application layer, or a layer between the V2X layer and the application layer. Exemplarily, the access layer of a terminal device (such as a first terminal device) may include one or more of an RRC layer, an SDAP layer, a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, and a MAC layer. Optionally, the access layer of the terminal device may also include a PHY layer. Optionally, the V2X layer may also be replaced by a Prose layer or a PC5-S layer.

[0085] After the network device receives the sidelink terminal device information message from the first terminal device, the first configuration may be determined according to the second information. Afterwards, the network device may transmit the first configuration to the first terminal device. The following describes the implementation process of the network device determining the first configuration in the above-mentioned method 1 through the following possible examples.

[0086] Example 1: When the second information is used to indicate that the first terminal device supports SL CA, in order to ensure that data transmission between the first terminal device and the receiving terminal device that does not support SL CA can proceed normally, the network device can select a radio link control bearer configuration (such as a first radio link control bearer configuration) from multiple radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration to establish an association relationship (or can be called a corresponding relationship or mapping relationship) with the first carrier. Afterwards, the network device can generate a first configuration based on the first radio link control bearer configuration and the association relationship between the first radio link control bearer configuration and the first carrier.

[0087] Exemplarily, SL PDCP duplication can be cross-carrier SL PDCP duplication (duplication is performed on different carriers), or it can also be same-carrier SL PDCP duplication (duplication is performed on the same carrier). In this way, the method can enable the first terminal device to multicast or broadcast data corresponding to the first radio link control bearer entity on the first carrier after applying (or can be called using) the first configuration. The first radio link control bearer entity is established by the first terminal device according to the first radio link control bearer configuration.

[0088] Example 2: When the second information is used to indicate that the first terminal device supports SL CA, in order to ensure that data transmission between the first terminal device and a receiving terminal device that does not support SL CA can proceed normally, the network device may also associate multiple radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration with the first carrier. Afterwards, the network device may generate a first configuration based on the multiple radio link control bearer configurations and the associations between the multiple radio link control bearer configurations and the first carrier.

[0089] Example three: When the second information is used to indicate that the destination address supports SL CA and the first terminal device supports SL CA, in order to ensure that the multicast or broadcast data of the first terminal device can be received by other receiving terminal devices that do not support SL CA, so as to achieve normal data transmission between the terminal device that does not support SL CA and the terminal device that supports SL CA, the network device can select a radio link control bearer configuration (such as the first radio link control bearer configuration) from the multiple radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration to establish an association relationship with the first carrier. Afterwards, the network device can generate a first configuration based on the first radio link control bearer configuration and the association relationship between the first radio link control bearer configuration and the first carrier.

[0090] Example 4: When the second information is used to indicate that the destination address supports SL CA and the first terminal device supports SL CA, in order to ensure that the multicast or broadcast data of the first terminal device can be received by other receiving terminal devices that do not support SL CA, so as to achieve normal data transmission between the terminal devices that do not support SL CA and the terminal devices that support SL CA, the network device can also establish an association relationship between the multiple radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration and the first carrier. Afterwards, the network device can generate a first configuration based on the multiple radio link control bearer configurations and the association relationship between the multiple radio link control bearer configurations and the first carrier.

[0091] Optionally, the network device may also select multiple radio link control bearer configurations (such as multiple first radio link control bearer configurations) from multiple radio link control bearer configurations to establish an association relationship with the first carrier, and may generate a first configuration based on the multiple first radio link control bearer configurations and the association relationships between the multiple first radio link control bearer configurations and the first carrier respectively.

[0092] Optionally, the first configuration in the above example 1, example 2, example 3 or example 4 may be generated by the DU. At this time, the first configuration does not include the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration. After generating the first configuration, the DU may send the first configuration to the CU. After receiving the first configuration, the CU may perform corresponding processing on the first configuration, for example, the CU encapsulates the first configuration and other configurations (such as the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration) in a message, or may encapsulate the first configuration in the sidelink radio bearer configuration, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. Afterwards, the CU may send the processed first configuration to the DU, and the DU may send the processed first configuration to the first terminal device. In a possible implementation, the above DU and CU may be different network devices, respectively. Exemplarily, when the above DU and CU are different network devices, the above DU and CU may be two different network devices belonging to the same communication architecture (such as a 3GPP architecture or an ORAN architecture), or may be two network devices belonging to different communication architectures (for example, one is a network device of a 3GPP architecture and the other is a network device of an ORAN architecture). In another possible implementation, the DU and CU may also be separately provided, as independent units, and located in different network devices. Exemplarily, the network device where the DU is located as an independent unit and the network device where the CU is located as an independent unit may be two different network devices belonging to the same communication architecture (such as a 3GPP architecture or an ORAN architecture), or may be two network devices belonging to different communication architectures (for example, one is a network device of a 3GPP architecture, and the other is a network device of an ORAN architecture). In another possible implementation, the DU and CU may also be combined together as a network device, which may be a network device of a 3GPP architecture, or may be a network device of an ORAN architecture. In another possible implementation, the DU and CU may also be integrated as two independent units in the same network element, which is located in a certain network device, which may be a network device of a 3GPP architecture, or may be a network device of an ORAN architecture.

[0093] Method 2: When the first terminal device resides in or is connected to a cell among a plurality of cells included in the coverage area of ​​the network device, the first configuration multicast or broadcasted from the network device can be obtained.

[0094] The network device generates the first configuration in advance or in advance, and can externally multicast or broadcast the first configuration according to the communication mode of multicast communication or broadcast communication.

[0095] Optionally, the network device may also unicast the first configuration to the first terminal device.

[0096] In a possible implementation, the network device may select a radio link control bearer configuration (such as a first radio link control bearer configuration) from multiple radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration to establish an association relationship with the first carrier. Afterwards, the network device may generate a first configuration based on the first radio link control bearer configuration and the association relationship between the first radio link control bearer configuration and the first carrier.

[0097] In another possible implementation, the network device may establish an association relationship between multiple radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration and the first carrier. Afterwards, the network device may generate a first configuration based on the multiple radio link control bearer configurations and the association relationship between the multiple radio link control bearer configurations and the first carrier respectively. In this way, the method can enable the first terminal device to multicast or broadcast the data corresponding to multiple radio link control bearer entities on the first carrier respectively after applying (or can be called using) the first configuration, so that the receiving terminal device that does not support SL CA can receive the data from the first terminal device, realize the normal data transmission between the terminal device that supports SL CA and the terminal device that does not support SL CA, and ensure the reliability of the side link communication. Among them, the multiple radio link control bearer entities are established by the first terminal device respectively according to the multiple radio link control bearer configurations, and the multiple radio link control bearer entities are used to transmit the same data. Among them, a radio link control bearer entity includes a radio link control entity and a logical channel.

[0098] Exemplarily, the implementation process of the network device transmitting the first configuration to the first terminal device in the above-mentioned method 2 is introduced below through the following possible examples.

[0099] Example 1: After determining the first configuration, the network device may encapsulate the first configuration in a sidelink radio bearer configuration. Afterwards, the network device may transmit the sidelink radio bearer configuration to the first terminal device in a communication mode such as unicast communication, broadcast communication, or multicast communication.

[0100] In one example, when the first configuration includes a packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, the sidelink radio bearer configuration may include (or be associated with or correspond to) other radio link control bearer configurations except the first radio link control bearer configuration.

[0101] In another example, when the first configuration does not include a packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, the sidelink radio bearer configuration may include (or be associated with or correspond to) a packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration and other radio link control bearer configurations except the first radio link control bearer configuration.

[0102] Optionally, the sidelink radio bearer configuration may also include (or be associated with or correspond to) carrier information (such as carrier name, carrier index or carrier identifier, etc.) corresponding to multiple radio link control bearer configurations. Exemplarily, the address information may include, but is not limited to, a source address identifier (such as source L2 ID), a source address name, a destination address identifier (such as destination L2 ID or destination ID, etc.) or a destination address name, etc. Optionally, the address information may also include a communication type. Among them, the communication type may include unicast, multicast or broadcast. Optionally, for unicast, the destination address identifier is an identifier of the receiving terminal device. For multicast, the destination address identifier is a group identifier (group destinationL2 ID). For broadcast, the destination address identifier is a destination address identifier corresponding to the service type.

[0103] Optionally, the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration may be generated by the CU. After generating the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, the CU may send the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration to the DU. For example, the CU may encapsulate the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration in an RRC message and send it to the DU. After receiving the RRC message, the DU may send the RRC message to the first terminal device, or may encapsulate the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration parsed in the RRC message in other messages and send them to the first terminal device. In one possible implementation, the above-mentioned DU and CU may be different network devices, respectively. Exemplarily, when the above-mentioned DU and CU are different network devices, the above-mentioned DU and CU may be two different network devices belonging to the same communication architecture (such as a 3GPP architecture or an ORAN architecture), or may be two network devices belonging to different communication architectures (for example, one is a network device of a 3GPP architecture, and the other is a network device of an ORAN architecture). In another possible implementation, the above-mentioned DU and CU may also be separately set up, each as an independent unit, and located in different network devices. Exemplarily, the network device where the DU is located as an independent unit and the network device where the CU is located as an independent unit may be two different network devices belonging to the same communication architecture (such as a 3GPP architecture or an ORAN architecture), or may be two network devices belonging to different communication architectures (for example, one is a network device of a 3GPP architecture, and the other is a network device of an ORAN architecture). In another possible implementation, the DU and CU may also be combined together as a network device, which may be a network device of a 3GPP architecture, or may be a network device of an ORAN architecture. In another possible implementation, the DU and CU may also be integrated as two independent units in the same network element, which is located in a certain network device, which may be a network device of a 3GPP architecture, or may be a network device of an ORAN architecture.

[0104] Optionally, the radio link control bearer configuration may be generated by the DU. The implementation process of the DU generating and sending the radio link control bearer configuration may refer to the implementation process of the DU generating and sending the first configuration in the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here.

[0105] Example 2: After determining the first configuration, the network device may transmit the first configuration to the first terminal device in accordance with a communication method such as unicast communication, broadcast communication or multicast communication.

[0106] In one example, when the first configuration includes a packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, the network device may also transmit other radio link control bearer configurations associated or corresponding to the first configuration except the first radio link control bearer configuration to the first terminal device in accordance with communication methods such as unicast communication, broadcast communication or multicast communication.

[0107] In another example, when the first configuration does not include a packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, the network device may also transmit the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration associated or corresponding to the first configuration and other radio link control bearer configurations except the first radio link control bearer configuration to the first terminal device according to a communication mode such as unicast communication, broadcast communication or multicast communication.

[0108] Optionally, the first configuration may also include at least one of the following: address information or carrier information corresponding to other radio link control bearer configurations, etc., or may not include address information and carrier information corresponding to other radio link control bearer configurations, etc. When the first configuration does not include address information and carrier information corresponding to other radio link control bearer configurations, etc., the network device may also transmit at least one of the following items associated or corresponding to the first configuration: address information or carrier information corresponding to other radio link control bearer configurations, etc., to the first terminal device in a communication mode such as unicast communication, broadcast communication, or multicast communication.

[0109] Example three: After determining the sidelink radio bearer configuration, the network device may transmit the sidelink radio bearer configuration as a first configuration to the first terminal device in accordance with a communication method such as unicast communication, broadcast communication or multicast communication.

[0110] Exemplarily, the sidelink radio bearer configuration may include, but is not limited to, packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, multiple radio link control bearer configurations, or an association relationship between a first radio link control bearer configuration included in multiple radio link control bearer configurations and a first carrier, etc. In one example, the sidelink radio bearer configuration may also include at least one of the following: address information or carrier information corresponding to other radio link control bearer configurations in multiple radio link control bearer configurations except the first radio link control bearer configuration, etc. In another example, the sidelink radio bearer configuration may also not include address information and carrier information corresponding to other radio link control bearer configurations in multiple radio link control bearer configurations except the first radio link control bearer configuration, etc., but the sidelink radio bearer configuration is associated with or corresponds to address information or carrier information corresponding to other radio link control bearer configurations in multiple radio link control bearer configurations except the first radio link control bearer configuration, etc.

[0111] Method three: The first terminal device obtains the first configuration through pre-configuration.

[0112] Optionally, when the first terminal device is in the OOC state, the first terminal device may obtain the first configuration in a pre-configured manner. In one example, the first terminal device obtains the pre-configured first configuration through a network device, for example, the network device is a core network at this time. In another example, when the first terminal device needs the first configuration, the first configuration may be obtained through a locally pre-saved configuration, and the first configuration may be predetermined by the network device and sent to the first terminal device for storage, and the first configuration may also be pre-set in the chip at the factory. Optionally, the implementation process of the network device determining the first configuration may refer to the implementation process of the above-mentioned method one or method two, which will not be repeated here.

[0113] It should be noted that the network device in the above-mentioned method 1, method 2 or method 3 may also use the following implementation process to determine the first configuration. Optionally, the network device may not specify which radio link control bearer configuration the first carrier is associated with, and generate the first configuration according to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration and multiple radio link control bearer configurations, or may also generate the first configuration according to multiple radio link control bearer configurations. The first configuration does not include which radio link control bearer configuration the first carrier is associated with. It should be understood that the network device may specify which carriers multiple radio link control bearer configurations are associated with, or may not specify which carriers multiple radio link control bearer configurations are associated with. It should be noted that when the network device does not specify which radio link control bearer configuration the first carrier is associated with, the terminal device may determine which radio link control bearer configuration the first carrier is associated with. In this way, the method can enable the first terminal device to broadcast or multicast data corresponding to the radio link control bearer entity established by the first radio link control bearer configuration on the first carrier, thereby realizing normal data transmission between terminal devices supporting SL CA and terminal devices not supporting SL CA, and ensuring the reliability of side link communication.

[0114] Step 302: The first terminal device multicasts or broadcasts data corresponding to the first radio link control bearer entity on the first carrier.

[0115] Optionally, the first terminal device can multicast or broadcast data passing through the first radio link control bearer entity on the first carrier, or it can be understood that the first terminal device multicasts or broadcasts the data carried by the first radio link control bearer entity to the outside on the first carrier, or it can be understood that the first terminal device can multicast or broadcast data on the first carrier according to the first radio link control bearer configuration.

[0116] Considering the PDCP duplication situation, if the first terminal device adopts the PDCP duplication mechanism, one PDCP entity will correspond to two / multiple radio link control bearer entities. Among them, the PDCP duplication mechanism generally refers to the PDCP entity duplicating the PDCP PDU and submitting it to the associated two / multiple radio link control bearer entities for processing and transmission. Based on this, when the first terminal device obtains multiple radio link control bearer configurations from the network device, it can establish corresponding radio link control bearer entities according to the multiple radio link control bearer configurations, and can transmit the same data through multiple radio link control bearer entities respectively.

[0117] In a possible implementation, when the first configuration includes a packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration and multiple radio link control bearer configurations, if the first terminal device supports SL CA, the first terminal device can establish or reconfigure a sidelink radio bearer SLRB according to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, the first radio link control bearer configuration and other radio link control bearer configurations. Then, the first terminal device can perform sidelink communication on the established SLRB. For example, the first terminal device can multicast or broadcast data (such as SL signaling or SL data, etc.) on the established SLRB. The SLRB includes a packet data convergence layer protocol entity and multiple radio link control bearer entities. Among them, the multiple radio link control bearer entities may include a first radio link control bearer entity, and the multiple radio link control bearer entities can be used to transmit the same data.

[0118] In another possible implementation, when the first configuration includes multiple radio link control bearer configurations, and the first terminal device obtains the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration through other means, if the first terminal device supports SL CA, the first terminal device can establish or reconfigure the sidelink radio bearer SLRB according to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration and the multiple radio link control bearer configurations. Then, the first terminal device can perform sidelink communication on the established SLRB.

[0119] In another possible implementation, when the first configuration is included in the sidelink radio bearer configuration, or the sidelink radio bearer configuration is used as the first configuration, if the first terminal device supports SL CA, the first terminal device can establish or reconfigure the sidelink radio bearer SLRB according to the sidelink radio bearer configuration. Then, the first terminal device can perform sidelink communication on the established SLRB.

[0120] The following describes the implementation process of multicasting or broadcasting data corresponding to the first radio link control bearer entity on the first carrier by the first terminal device after acquiring the first configuration from the network device through the following possible implementation methods.

[0121] Method 1: When the first configuration includes an association relationship between the first radio link control bearer configuration and the first carrier, the first terminal device can establish a first radio link control bearer entity according to the first radio link control bearer configuration included in the first configuration when it supports SL CA. Among them, the carrier for transmitting data corresponding to the logical channel included in the first radio link control bearer entity is the first carrier. Afterwards, the first terminal device can multicast or broadcast the data corresponding to the first radio link control bearer entity (such as RLC data or RLC PDU, etc.) on the first carrier.

[0122] Method 2: When the first terminal device obtains indication information from the network device, and the indication information is used to indicate that the first radio link control bearer configuration has an association relationship with the first carrier, the first terminal device can establish a first radio link control bearer entity according to the first radio link control bearer configuration included in the first configuration when it supports SLCA. Afterwards, the first terminal device can multicast or broadcast data corresponding to the first radio link control bearer entity established by the first radio link control bearer configuration on the first carrier.

[0123] Method three: When the first configuration does not include the association relationship between the first radio link control bearer configuration and the first carrier, and no indication information is obtained from the network device, the first terminal device can, if it supports SL CA, select a radio link control bearer configuration (such as the first radio link control bearer configuration) from multiple radio link control bearer configurations to establish an association relationship with the first carrier, or can select multiple first radio link control bearer configurations from multiple radio link control bearer configurations to establish an association relationship with the first carrier. Afterwards, after establishing the first radio link control bearer entity corresponding to the first radio link control bearer configuration, the first terminal device can multicast or broadcast data corresponding to the first radio link control bearer entity established by the first radio link control bearer configuration on the first carrier.

[0124] It can be seen from the above steps 301 to 302 that when there are one or more first radio link control bearer configurations associated with the first carrier, when the first terminal device needs to transmit data (such as side link data) to the outside, it can use the first radio link control bearer entity and use the first carrier to multicast or broadcast the data to be transmitted. This can effectively ensure that the receiving terminal device that does not support SL CA can normally receive data from the first terminal device on the first carrier, thereby achieving normal data transmission between the terminal device that supports SL CA and the terminal device that does not support SL CA, thereby ensuring the reliability of the side link communication and effectively improving the quality of the side link communication.

[0125] Figure 4 The following is a flow chart showing another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1a , Figure 1b The communication system architecture shown in the figure. The method flow can be implemented by data interaction between multiple communication devices (such as a first communication device and a second communication device). In order to facilitate the introduction of the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application, the following takes the first communication device as a first terminal device and the second communication device as a network device as an example to introduce the flow of the communication method implemented by data interaction between the first communication device and the second communication device. Figure 4 As shown, the method includes:

[0126] Step 401: A first terminal device obtains a second configuration from a network device.

[0127] In a possible implementation, the second configuration may include a packet data convergence layer protocol PDCP split configuration (such as a Data Split Threshold configuration in a more than one RLC configuration), and the PDCP split configuration is used to indicate that multiple data in the first terminal device (such as multiple data to be transmitted, the multiple data to be transmitted may be the same data, or may be different data, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this) are transmitted through multiple radio link control bearer entities. Among them, the multiple radio link control bearer entities are established by the first terminal device according to multiple radio link control bearer configurations. Optionally, in the PDCP split configuration, the multiple radio link control bearer configurations are associated with different carriers respectively. In other words, the radio link control entities established by the multiple radio link control bearer configurations are associated with different carriers. Among them, each radio link control bearer configuration may include a radio link control entity configuration and a logical channel configuration, and the one logical channel configuration may be associated with the carrier corresponding to the radio link control bearer configuration. Optionally, different carriers may include the first carrier. In an example, the second configuration may be included in the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration. In another example, a packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration may be used as the second configuration, and the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration includes a PDCP split configuration.

[0128] In another possible implementation, the second configuration may not include the PDCP split configuration. Exemplarily, the second configuration may include but is not limited to packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, radio link control bearer configuration, address information or carrier information, etc. Optionally, the number of packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, radio link control bearer configuration, address information or carrier information, etc. may be one or more.

[0129] The following is an exemplary introduction to the PDCP split configuration. For example, take the example that there are 10 data to be transmitted in the first terminal device, and the first terminal device corresponds to 2 radio link control bearer entities (such as radio link control bearer entity 1 and radio link control bearer entity 2). Optionally, radio link control bearer entity 1 can be associated with one or more carriers, and radio link control bearer entity 2 can be associated with one or more carriers. The carrier associated with radio link control bearer entity 1 and the carrier associated with radio link control bearer entity 2 can be the same or different. Exemplarily, taking radio link control bearer entity 1 associated with carrier 1 and radio link control bearer entity 2 associated with carrier 2 as an example, when the first terminal device applies the PDCP split configuration, the first terminal device can transmit part of the 10 data by using carrier 1 on radio link control bearer entity 1, and transmit another part of the 10 data by using carrier 2 on radio link control bearer entity 2.

[0130] Exemplarily, the implementation process of the first terminal device acquiring the second configuration from the network device is introduced below through the following possible implementation methods.

[0131] Implementation method one: The first terminal device sends the sixth information to the network device. The network device receives the sixth information. In one example, the sixth information can be used to indicate that the first terminal device supports SL CA and / or can be used to indicate that the destination address supports SL CA. Among them, the destination address can be used to indicate the receiving terminal device of the first terminal device for side link communication. In another example, the sixth information can also be used to indicate that the first terminal device does not support SL CA and / or can be used to indicate that the destination address does not support SL CA. Optionally, SL CA may include a side link SL packet data convergence layer protocol entity PDCP split.

[0132] Exemplarily, the sixth information may be carried in a terminal device capability information message or a sidelink terminal device information message. When the first terminal device is in a radio resource control connection state, a terminal device capability information message or a sidelink terminal device information message may be sent to the network device. The sidelink terminal device information message is used to request the second configuration, or may also be used to request a sidelink radio bearer configuration, which includes the second configuration. Optionally, when the sixth information is carried in a terminal device capability information message, the first terminal device will also send a sidelink terminal device information message to the network device after sending the terminal device capability information message to the network device.

[0133] In one possible manner, the first terminal device, in the process of acquiring the second configuration, further includes the first terminal device acquiring the seventh information. Optionally, before the first terminal device sends the sixth information to the network device, the access layer of the first terminal device may acquire the seventh information from the upper layer of the first terminal device. In one possible implementation manner, the seventh information may be used to indicate that the destination address supports SL CA, or may also be used to indicate that the destination address does not support SL CA. In another possible implementation manner, the seventh information may also be used to indicate that the first terminal device supports SL CA, or may also be used to indicate that the first terminal device does not support SL CA. It should be understood that the first terminal device may also be configured in the first terminal device with the ability to support SL CA without knowing from the upper layer whether it has the ability to SL CA. Optionally, the first terminal device may also acquire relevant information about whether the first terminal device supports SL CA from the network device where the cell where the first terminal device resides, or may also acquire relevant information about whether the first terminal device supports SL CA from the receiving terminal device. Optionally, the seventh information may also include the association between the service type and the destination address and / or information about the carrier supported by the service type (such as the name, index or identifier of the carrier, etc.).

[0134] After the network device receives the sidelink terminal device information message from the first terminal device, the second configuration may be determined according to the sixth information. Afterwards, the network device may transmit the second configuration to the first terminal device. The following describes the implementation process of the network device determining the second configuration in the above-mentioned method 1 through the following possible examples.

[0135] Example 1: When the sixth information is used to indicate that the first terminal device supports SL CA and the destination address supports SL CA, in order to enable multiple data in the first terminal device to be transmitted through multiple radio link control bearer entities, the network device can configure the corresponding multiple radio link control bearer configurations for the packet data convergence layer protocol entity to map (or associate) different carriers. Optionally, the different carriers may include the first carrier. Afterwards, the network device can generate a PDCP split configuration based on the different carriers mapped respectively by the multiple radio link control bearer configurations and the information used to instruct the first terminal device to split and transmit multiple data through multiple radio link control bearer entities, and can generate a second configuration based on the PDCP split configuration. The second configuration may also include an association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration.

[0136] Example 2: When the sixth information is used to indicate that the first terminal device supports SL CA and the destination address does not support SL CA, in order to enable the first terminal device that does not support SL CA and the receiving terminal device that supports SL CA to perform normal data transmission, the network device can select a radio link control bearer configuration (such as the first radio link control bearer configuration) from the multiple radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration to establish an association relationship with the first carrier. Afterwards, the network device can generate a second configuration based on the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, the first radio link control bearer configuration, and the association relationship between the first radio link control bearer configuration and the first carrier. The second configuration does not include the PDCP split configuration, but includes the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, the first radio link control bearer configuration, and the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration. In other words, the second configuration can be used to instruct the first terminal device to use the first carrier to transmit multiple data in the first terminal device on the first radio link control bearer entity. In this way, the first terminal device can transmit multiple data in the first terminal device to a receiving terminal device that does not support SL CA.

[0137] Example three: When the sixth information is used to indicate that the first terminal device does not support SL CA, the network device can map (or associate) the first carrier to a certain radio link control bearer configuration (such as the first radio link control bearer configuration) corresponding to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration. Afterwards, the network device can generate a second configuration based on the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, the first radio link control bearer configuration, and the association between the first radio link control bearer configuration and the first carrier. The second configuration does not include the PDCP split configuration, but includes the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, the first radio link control bearer configuration, and the association between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration.

[0138] Implementation method 2: When the first terminal device resides in or is connected to a cell among a plurality of cells included in the coverage area of ​​the network device, the second configuration multicast or broadcasted by the network device can be obtained.

[0139] In a possible implementation, after the network device generates the second configuration in advance or in advance, it can externally multicast or broadcast the second configuration in a multicast communication or broadcast communication manner.

[0140] In another possible implementation, after the network device generates the second configuration in advance or in advance, the network device may also encapsulate the second configuration in the sidelink radio bearer configuration. Afterwards, the network device may externally multicast or broadcast the sidelink radio bearer configuration according to the communication mode of multicast communication or broadcast communication.

[0141] Optionally, the network device may also unicast the second configuration to the first terminal device.

[0142] Exemplarily, the sidelink radio bearer configuration may include, but is not limited to, a packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, one or more radio link control bearer configurations, carrier information corresponding to one or more radio link control bearer configurations, and the like.

[0143] Exemplarily, the implementation process of the network device generating the second configuration in advance or in advance is introduced below through the following possible examples.

[0144] Example 1: The network device can map (or associate) different carriers to the corresponding multiple radio link control bearer configurations for the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration. Afterwards, the network device can generate a PDCP split configuration based on the different carriers mapped by the multiple radio link control bearer configurations and the information used to instruct the first terminal device to split and transmit multiple data through multiple radio link control bearer entities, and can generate a second configuration based on the PDCP split configuration, the second configuration including the PDCP split configuration.

[0145] Example 2: The network device may multicast or broadcast two (or two sets of) sidelink radio bearer configurations to the terminal device for the same quality of service (QoS) flow. The packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration in one sidelink radio bearer configuration includes a PDCP split configuration, and the PDCP split configuration serves as the second configuration. The packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration in another sidelink radio bearer configuration does not include a PDCP split configuration, and a certain radio link control bearer configuration included in the sidelink radio bearer configuration may be associated with the first carrier. Optionally, the network device may not specify in the sidelink radio bearer configuration which radio link control bearer configuration the first carrier is associated with, or may not specify in the sidelink radio bearer configuration which carriers one or more radio link control bearer configurations are associated with. It should be understood that the network device may specify in the sidelink radio bearer configuration which carriers one or more radio link control bearer configurations are associated with. In this way, the method can enable a terminal device receiving two sidelink radio bearer configurations to select which sidelink radio bearer configuration to apply according to its actual needs, which is highly flexible and can effectively meet the different needs of the terminal device. Optionally, the network device in the above implementation method 1 can also adopt the implementation process of the second example when determining the second configuration.

[0146] Implementation method three: The first terminal device obtains the second configuration through pre-configuration.

[0147] Optionally, when the first terminal device is in the OOC state, the first terminal device can obtain the second configuration in a pre-configured manner. In one example, the first terminal device obtains the pre-configured second configuration through a network device, for example, the network device is a core network at this time. In another example, when the first terminal device needs the second configuration, the second configuration can be obtained through a locally pre-saved configuration, and the second configuration can be predetermined by the network device and sent to the first terminal device for storage, and the second configuration can also be pre-set in the chip at the factory. Optionally, the implementation process of the network device determining the second configuration can refer to the implementation process of the above-mentioned implementation method one or implementation method two, which will not be repeated here.

[0148] It should be noted that the network equipment in the above-mentioned implementation method 1, implementation method 2 or implementation method 3 may also use the following implementation process to determine the second configuration. Optionally, the network equipment may not specify which radio link control bearer configuration the first carrier is associated with, and generate the second configuration according to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration and multiple radio link control bearer configurations, or may also generate the second configuration according to multiple radio link control bearer configurations. Among them, the second configuration does not include the PDCP split configuration, nor does it include the association relationship between the first carrier and which radio link control bearer configuration. It should be noted that when the network equipment does not specify which radio link control bearer configuration the first carrier is associated with, the terminal equipment may determine which radio link control bearer configuration the first carrier is associated with.

[0149] Optionally, the radio link control bearer configuration in the above-mentioned implementation method 1, implementation method 2 or implementation method 3 may be generated by the DU. The implementation process of the DU generating and sending the radio link control bearer configuration may refer to the implementation process of the DU generating and sending the first configuration in the above-mentioned implementation method 1 of step 301, which will not be repeated here. Optionally, the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration in the above-mentioned implementation method 1, implementation method 2 or implementation method 3 may be generated by the CU. The implementation process of the CU generating and sending the radio link control bearer configuration may refer to the implementation process of the CU generating and sending the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration in the above-mentioned implementation method 2 of step 301, which will not be repeated here.

[0150] Step 402: The first terminal device transmits multiple data through the first radio link control bearer entity.

[0151] The following describes the implementation process of externally multicasting or broadcasting multiple data in the first terminal device after the first terminal device obtains the second configuration or the sidelink radio bearer configuration (the sidelink radio bearer configuration includes the second configuration) from the network device through the following possible implementation methods.

[0152] Implementation method 1: When the first terminal device does not support SL CA or the destination address does not support SL CA. In one example, when the second configuration is not included in the sidelink radio bearer configuration, if the second configuration includes the PDCP split configuration, the first terminal device may not apply the PDCP split configuration, but may apply other received configurations (such as one or more radio link control bearer configurations, packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, etc.). When the second configuration includes the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration, after the first terminal device applies other configurations to establish or reconfigure the sidelink radio bearer SLRB (the SLRB may include a packet data convergence layer protocol entity, one or more radio link control bearer entities, etc.), if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device may transmit the multiple data through the first radio link control bearer entity and use the first carrier. Among them, the SLRB includes the first radio link control bearer entity corresponding to the first radio link control bearer configuration. When the second configuration does not include the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration, and the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration is not obtained from the network device, the first terminal device can select a radio link control bearer configuration (such as the first radio link control bearer configuration) from one or more radio link control bearer configurations to establish an association relationship with the first carrier. Afterwards, after the first terminal device establishes or reconfigures the SLRB according to other configurations, if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device can transmit the multiple data through the first radio link control bearer entity and using the first carrier. In this way, the first terminal device can use the first carrier to transmit the multiple data on the first radio link control bearer entity, thereby achieving normal data transmission between a terminal device that does not support SL CA and a terminal device that supports SL CA, and ensuring the reliability of sidelink communication.

[0153] If the second configuration does not include the PDCP split configuration, the first terminal device can apply the second configuration and other received configurations. When the second configuration includes the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration, after the first terminal device applies the second configuration and other received configurations to establish or reconfigure the SLRB, if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device can transmit the multiple data through the first radio link control bearer entity and the first carrier. When the second configuration does not include the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration, and the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration is not obtained from the network device, the first terminal device can select a radio link control bearer configuration (such as the first radio link control bearer configuration) from one or more radio link control bearer configurations to establish an association relationship with the first carrier. Afterwards, after the first terminal device establishes or reconfigures the SLRB according to the second configuration and other received configurations, if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device can transmit the multiple data through the first radio link control bearer entity and the first carrier.

[0154] In another example, when the second configuration is included in the sidelink radio bearer configuration, if the second configuration includes a PDCP split configuration, the first terminal device may not apply the PDCP split configuration, but may apply other configurations in the sidelink radio bearer configuration except the PDCP split configuration (such as a packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, one or more radio link control bearer configurations, etc.). When the second configuration includes an association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration, after the first terminal device establishes or reconfigures the SLRB by applying other configurations in the sidelink radio bearer configuration except the PDCP split configuration, if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device may transmit the multiple data through the first radio link control bearer entity and using the first carrier. When the second configuration does not include an association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration, and the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration is not obtained from the network device, the first terminal device may select a radio link control bearer configuration (such as the first radio link control bearer configuration) from one or more radio link control bearer configurations to establish an association relationship with the first carrier. Afterwards, after the first terminal device establishes or reconfigures the SLRB according to other configurations in the sidelink radio bearer configuration except the PDCP split configuration, if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device can control the bearer entity through the first radio link and use the first carrier to transmit the multiple data.

[0155] If the second configuration does not include the PDCP split configuration, the first terminal device may apply the sidelink radio bearer configuration. When the second configuration includes the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration, after the first terminal device applies the sidelink radio bearer configuration to establish or reconfigure the SLRB, if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device may transmit the multiple data through the first radio link control bearer entity and the first carrier. When the second configuration does not include the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration, and the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration is not obtained from the network device, the first terminal device may select a radio link control bearer configuration (such as the first radio link control bearer configuration) from one or more radio link control bearer configurations to establish an association relationship with the first carrier. Afterwards, after the first terminal device establishes or reconfigures the SLRB according to the sidelink radio bearer configuration, if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device may transmit the multiple data through the first radio link control bearer entity and the first carrier.

[0156] Optionally, when the first terminal device supports SL CA and the destination address supports SL CA, if the second configuration obtained by the first terminal device from the network device includes a PDCP split configuration, the first terminal device can apply the PDCP split configuration. In one example, when the second configuration includes the association relationship between multiple radio link control bearer configurations and different carriers, or the association relationship between multiple radio link control bearer configurations and different carriers is obtained from the network device, the first terminal device establishes or reconfigures the SLRB according to the PDCP split configuration, other configurations in the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration except the PDCP split configuration, multiple radio link control bearer configurations, etc., and then the multiple data (such as SL signaling or SL data, etc.) can be multicast or broadcast externally through the multiple radio link control bearer entities included in the SLRB. The SLRB includes a packet data convergence layer protocol entity and multiple radio link control bearer entities. In another example, when the second configuration does not include associations between multiple radio link control bearer configurations and different carriers, and the carriers with which the multiple radio link control bearer configurations are associated are not obtained from the network device, the first terminal device can allocate corresponding carriers to the multiple radio link control bearer configurations according to the information of the carriers supported by itself, and establish associations between the multiple radio link control bearer configurations and different carriers. Afterwards, after the first terminal device establishes or reconfigures the SLRB according to the sidelink radio bearer configuration, if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device can multicast or broadcast the multiple data externally through the multiple radio link control bearer entities included in the SLRB.

[0157] Implementation method 2: When the first terminal device does not support SL CA or the destination address does not support SL CA, when the first terminal device obtains two sidelink radio bearer configurations from the network device, the first terminal device can identify the two sidelink radio bearer configurations, and when it is identified that a certain sidelink radio bearer configuration does not include a PDCP split configuration, the first terminal device can apply the sidelink radio bearer configuration. It can be understood that the two sidelink radio bearer configurations are the sidelink bearer configurations corresponding to the multiple data. When the sidelink radio bearer configuration includes an association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration, or when the association relationship between the first radio link control bearer configuration and the first carrier is obtained from the network device, after the first terminal device applies the sidelink radio bearer configuration to establish or reconfigure the SLRB, if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device can transmit the multiple data through the first radio link control bearer entity and using the first carrier. Among them, the SLRB includes the first radio link control bearer entity corresponding to the first radio link control bearer configuration. When the sidelink radio bearer configuration does not include the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration, and the association relationship between the first carrier and the first radio link control bearer configuration is not obtained from the network device, the first terminal device can select a radio link control bearer configuration (such as the first radio link control bearer configuration) from one or more radio link control bearer configurations to establish an association relationship with the first carrier. Afterwards, after the first terminal device establishes or reconfigures the SLRB according to the sidelink radio bearer configuration, if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device can transmit the multiple data through the first radio link control bearer entity and using the first carrier.

[0158] Optionally, when the first terminal device supports SL CA and the destination address supports SL CA, when the first terminal device obtains two sidelink radio bearer configurations from the network device, the first terminal device can identify the two sidelink radio bearer configurations, and when it is identified that one of the sidelink radio bearer configurations includes a PDCP split configuration, the first terminal device can apply the sidelink radio bearer configuration. In one example, when the sidelink radio bearer configuration includes associations between multiple radio link control bearer configurations and different carriers, or when associations between multiple radio link control bearer configurations and different carriers are obtained from the network device, after the first terminal device applies the sidelink radio bearer configuration to establish or reconfigure the SLRB, if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device can multicast or broadcast the multiple data externally through the multiple radio link control bearer entities included in the SLRB. In another example, when the sidelink radio bearer configuration does not include associations between multiple radio link control bearer configurations and different carriers, and the carriers with which the multiple radio link control bearer configurations are associated are not obtained from the network device, the first terminal device can allocate corresponding carriers to the multiple radio link control bearer configurations according to the information of the carriers it supports, and establish associations between the multiple radio link control bearer configurations and different carriers. Afterwards, after the first terminal device establishes or reconfigures the SLRB according to the sidelink radio bearer configuration, if the first terminal device needs to transmit multiple data, the first terminal device can multicast or broadcast the multiple data externally through the multiple radio link control bearer entities included in the SLRB.

[0159] In addition, when the first terminal device chooses not to apply the PDCP split configuration, a first information can be sent to the network device. The first information can be used to indicate that the first terminal device does not apply the PDCP split configuration. In one example, when the first terminal device does not support SL CA, the first information can carry (or be associated with) information that the first terminal device does not support SL CA. In another example, when the destination address does not support SL CA, the first information can carry (or be associated with) the destination address, and the destination address is a destination address that does not support SL CA. In this way, the method can enable the network device to configure the PDCP split configuration when it subsequently configures the sidelink radio bearer configuration for the first terminal device or the destination address requested by the first terminal device to establish the SLRB, so that the configuration of the sidelink radio bearer configuration is more targeted and can meet the different needs of terminal devices.

[0160] It can be seen from the above steps 401 to 402 that, in the case where the first terminal device does not support SL CA or the destination address corresponding to the receiving terminal device does not support SL CA, the first terminal device can choose not to apply the PDCPsplit configuration, and can transmit multiple data in the first terminal device through the first radio link control bearer entity corresponding to the first carrier, thereby ensuring that the receiving terminal device that does not support SL CA can normally receive multiple data from the first terminal device on the first carrier, and realizing normal data transmission between the terminal device that supports SL CA and the terminal device that does not support SL CA, thereby ensuring the reliability of the side link communication and effectively improving the quality of the side link communication.

[0161] Figure 5 The following is a flow chart showing another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1a , Figure 1b The communication system architecture shown in the figure. The method flow may be implemented by data interaction between multiple communication devices (such as a first communication device and a second communication device). Optionally, the first communication device may be a second terminal device or a component (such as a chip, a chip system or a circuit, etc.) that can support the second terminal device to implement the functions required by the method, and the second communication device may be a third terminal device or a component (such as a chip, a chip system or a circuit, etc.) that can support the third terminal device to implement the functions required by the method. Exemplarily, the second terminal device may be Figure 1a The terminal device 120i shown in the figure, the third terminal device may be Figure 1a The terminal device 120j shown; or the second terminal device may be Figure 1a The terminal device 120f shown in the figure, the third terminal device may be Figure 1a The terminal device 120g is shown; or the second terminal device may be Figure 1a The terminal device 120a shown in the figure, the third terminal device may be Figure 1a The terminal device 120b is shown; or the second terminal device may be Figure 1b The terminal device 400 shown in the figure, the third terminal device may be Figure 1b The terminal device 501 or the terminal device 502 is shown. In order to facilitate the introduction of the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application, the following takes the first communication device as the second terminal device and the second communication device as the third terminal device as an example to introduce the process of implementing the communication method by data interaction between the first communication device and the second communication device. Figure 5 As shown, the method includes:

[0162] Step 501: The second terminal device determines that the second terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation.

[0163] Optionally, sidelink SL carrier aggregation CA may include sidelink cross-carrier scheduling and / or sidelink cross-carrier feedback.

[0164] The following describes the implementation process of the second terminal device determining that the second terminal device supports SLCA through the following possible implementation methods.

[0165] Mode 1: The access layer of the second terminal device obtains the eighth information from the upper layer of the second terminal device. The second terminal device can determine that the second terminal device supports SL CA according to the eighth information. The eighth information is used to indicate that the second terminal device supports SL CA.

[0166] Mode 2: The second terminal device obtains capability information from the network device. The second terminal device may determine that the second terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation based on the capability information. Optionally, the capability information is used to indicate that the second terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation.

[0167] Method three: The capability of supporting sidelink carrier aggregation is configured in the second terminal device, and the second terminal device itself can obtain the capability.

[0168] Optionally, any multiple of the above-mentioned method 1, method 2 and method 3 can be used in combination.

[0169] Step 502: The second terminal device sends fourth information to the third terminal device on the second carrier. The third terminal device receives the fourth information.

[0170] Among them, the third terminal device is a receiving terminal device for the second terminal device to perform sidelink communication, and the fourth information (such as sidelink control information (Sidelink Control Information, SCI)) can be used to instruct the second terminal device and the third terminal device to perform sidelink transmission on the third carrier. Among them, the second carrier and / or the third carrier do not include the first carrier, the first carrier generally refers to the carrier corresponding to the terminal device performing single-carrier communication, and the second carrier is different from the third carrier. It should be understood that the second carrier and / or the third carrier not including the first carrier may mean that the second carrier and / or the third carrier are different from the first carrier. Optionally, the second carrier and / or the third carrier may be a carrier associated (or mapped or corresponding) with the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device. In this way, the method can ensure that the receiving terminal device supporting SL CA can normally receive the sidelink data from the second terminal device on the third carrier by limiting the second carrier and / or the third carrier to not include the first carrier, and can also ensure that the receiving terminal device that does not support SL CA can normally receive the sidelink data from the second terminal device on the first carrier, thereby ensuring the reliability of the sidelink communication.

[0171] Optionally, the access layer of the second terminal device may obtain the fifth information from the upper layer of the second terminal device. In one possible implementation, when the fifth information is used to indicate that the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device supports SL CA, the second carrier and / or the third carrier may include the first carrier. It should be understood that the second carrier and / or the third carrier including the first carrier may mean that the second carrier and / or the third carrier are the same as the first carrier, and the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device supports SLCA may mean that the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device supports the second carrier and / or the third carrier. In this way, in the case where the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device supports SL CA, no matter which carrier the second terminal device sends scheduling information (such as SCI information), or no matter which carrier the second terminal device transmits sidelink data, the third terminal device can receive it normally on the corresponding carrier. In another possible implementation, when the fifth information is used to indicate that the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device does not support SL CA, the second carrier and / or the third carrier does not include the first carrier. In this way, when the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device does not support SL CA, although the third terminal device cannot receive the scheduling information or sidelink data sent by the second terminal device on the second carrier or the third carrier, it can be guaranteed that the third terminal device can normally receive the sidelink data transmitted by the second terminal device on the first carrier.

[0172] It should be understood that the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device does not support SL CA, which may mean that the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device does not support the second carrier and / or the third carrier. Therefore, in the case where the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device does not support the second carrier and / or the third carrier, if the second carrier and / or the third carrier include the first carrier, the third terminal device cannot receive the fourth information from the second terminal device, and of course cannot receive the sidelink data transmitted from the second terminal device on the second carrier or the third carrier. In addition, in the case where the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device does not support the second carrier and / or the third carrier, if the second carrier and / or the third carrier does not include the first carrier, although the third terminal device cannot receive the fourth information from the second terminal device, it can normally receive the sidelink data transmitted from the second terminal device on the first carrier.

[0173] Optionally, when the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device supports SL CA, the third terminal device may feedback to the second terminal device on the second carrier or the third carrier the reception status of the sidelink data transmitted by the second terminal device on the third carrier by the third terminal device. For example, the third terminal device may send a hybrid automatic repeat request (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ) feedback to the second terminal device on the second carrier or the third carrier. Among them, the HARQ feedback can be used to indicate the reception status of the sidelink transmission of the third terminal device on the third carrier, for example, indicating successful reception (acknowledgement, ACK) or unsuccessful reception (negative acknowledgement, NACK).

[0174] Exemplarily, the implementation process of the third terminal device sending HARQ feedback to the second terminal device on the second carrier or the third carrier is introduced below through the following possible implementation methods.

[0175] Implementation method 1: when the fourth information indicates that the sidelink transmission performed on the third carrier is a multicast communication, the third terminal device may send HARQ feedback to the second terminal device on the second carrier or the third carrier.

[0176] Implementation method two: when the fourth information indicates that the sidelink transmission performed on the third carrier is HARQ feedback enabled communication, the third terminal device may send HARQ feedback to the second terminal device on the second carrier or the third carrier.

[0177] It should be understood that the above-mentioned implementation method 1 and the above-mentioned implementation method 2 can be used in combination.

[0178] It can be seen from the above steps 501 to 502 that, in the case where the destination address corresponding to the receiving terminal device does not support SL CA, by limiting the second carrier and / or the third carrier to not include the first carrier, it can be ensured that the receiving terminal device that does not support SLCA can normally receive the sidelink data from the second terminal device on the first carrier, and achieve normal data transmission between the terminal device that supports SL CA and the terminal device that does not support SL CA, thereby ensuring the reliability of the sidelink communication and effectively improving the quality of the sidelink communication.

[0179] It should be noted that in the description of the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "multiple" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there may be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can represent: the situation where A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following (individuals)" or its similar expression refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items (individuals) or plural items (individuals). For example, "at least one of A, B and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC or ABC. And, unless otherwise specified, the ordinal numbers such as "first", "second", and "third" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, timing, priority or importance of multiple objects. In addition, the terms "including", "comprising", "having" and their variations appearing in the present application all mean "including but not limited to", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in other ways.

[0180] In addition, it should be noted that each step involved in the above embodiments can be performed by a corresponding device, or by a chip, processor, or chip system in the device, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit them. The above embodiments are only described by taking the corresponding device as an example.

[0181] It should be noted that in the above embodiments, some steps can be selected for implementation, and the order of the steps in the diagram can be adjusted for implementation, and this application does not limit this. It should be understood that executing some steps in the diagram, adjusting the order of the steps, or combining them for specific implementation all fall within the scope of protection of this application.

[0182] It is understandable that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the various devices involved in the above embodiments include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of the various functions. It should be easily appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in combination with the units and method steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0183] It should be noted that the "steps" in the embodiments of the present application are only for illustration, and are a method of expression used to better understand the embodiments, and do not constitute a substantial limitation on the execution of the scheme of the present application. For example, the "steps" can also be understood as "features". In addition, the steps do not constitute any limitation on the execution order of the scheme of the present application. Any changes in the order of steps, step merging, or step splitting made on this basis that do not affect the implementation of the overall scheme, and the resulting new technical solutions are also within the scope of the disclosure of the present application.

[0184] Based on the same concept, the present application embodiment also provides a possible communication device, which is suitable for Figure 1a , Figure 1b The communication system architecture shown. Optionally, the communication device may be a communication device (such as a first communication device or a second communication device) or a component (such as a chip, a chip system or a circuit, etc.) that can support the communication device to implement the functions required for the communication method. In one example, when the communication device is a first communication device (such as a first terminal device or a second terminal device), the communication device is used to implement the technical solutions involved in the first communication device in the above embodiments, or the module of the communication device (such as a chip) is used to implement the technical solutions involved in the first communication device in the above embodiments, and thus the beneficial effects possessed by the first communication device in the above embodiments can also be achieved. For example, the first communication device may be such as Figure 1a The terminal device shown in the figure (such as terminal device 120f, terminal device 120g, terminal device 120a, terminal device 120b or terminal device 120i, etc.), or it can also be as shown in the figure Figure 1b The terminal device shown (such as terminal device 400, etc.). Exemplarily, taking the communication device as a chip set in the first communication device as an example, when the communication device is a chip, the communication device includes a transceiver and a processor, but does not include a memory. Among them, the transceiver exists in the form of an input and output interface, and the input and output interface is used for the chip to implement the transceiver of the first communication device. The input and output interface may include an input interface and / or an output interface, the input interface can implement the reception of the first communication device, and the output interface can be used to implement the sending of the first communication device. The processor is used to read and execute corresponding computer programs or instructions so that the corresponding functions of the first communication device are implemented. Optionally, when the chip implements the corresponding functions of the first communication device in the above embodiment, the input and output interface can implement the transceiver operations performed by the first communication device in the above embodiment; the processor can implement other operations except the transceiver operations performed by the first communication device in the above embodiment. For specific related descriptions, please refer to the above Figures 3 to 5 The relevant description of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown is not introduced in detail here.

[0185] In another example, when the communication device is a second communication device (such as a network device or a third terminal device), the communication device is used to implement the technical solution involved in the second communication device in the above embodiment, or the module (such as a chip) of the communication device is used to implement the technical solution involved in the second communication device in the above embodiment, so the beneficial effects of the second communication device in the above embodiment can also be achieved. Figure 1a When the terminal device 120f or the terminal device 120g is shown, the second communication device may be as follows: Figure 1a The RAN device 110b shown, or when the first terminal device is Figure 1a When the terminal device 120a or the terminal device 120b is shown, the second communication device may be as follows: Figure 1a For example, when the first communication device is Figure 1b In the case of the terminal device 400 shown in FIG. 1 , the second communication device may be as follows: Figure 1b The terminal device shown in FIG. 1 (such as terminal device 501 or terminal device 502, etc.), or the terminal device shown in FIG. Figure 1b The RAN device 600 shown in the figure. Exemplarily, taking the communication device as a chip set in the second communication device, when the communication device is a chip, the communication device includes a transceiver and a processor, but does not include a memory. Among them, the transceiver exists in the form of an input and output interface, and the input and output interface is used for the chip to implement the transceiver of the second communication device. The input and output interface may include an input interface and / or an output interface, the input interface can implement the reception of the second communication device, and the output interface can be used to implement the sending of the second communication device. The processor is used to read and execute corresponding computer programs or instructions so that the corresponding functions of the second communication device are implemented. Optionally, when the chip implements the corresponding functions of the second communication device in the above-mentioned embodiment, the input and output interface can implement the transceiver operations performed by the second communication device in the above-mentioned embodiment; the processor can implement other operations except the transceiver operations performed by the second communication device in the above-mentioned embodiment. For specific related descriptions, please refer to the above Figures 3 to 5 The relevant description of the second communication device in the method embodiment shown is not introduced in detail here.

[0186] See also Figure 6 The communication device 600 includes a communication module 601 (or a transceiver module, used to send and receive data) and a processing module 602. The communication device 600 is used to implement the above Figures 3 to 5 The functions of the first communication device (such as the first terminal device or the second terminal device) or the second communication device (such as the network device or the third terminal device) in the method embodiment shown.

[0187] Optionally, the communication module 601 may include a receiving module and / or a sending module. The receiving module may be used for the communication device 600 to receive signals (information or data, etc.); the sending module may be used for the communication device 600 to send signals (information or data, etc.). The sending module may send signals (information or data, etc.) under the control of the processing module 602, and the receiving module may receive signals (information or data, etc.) under the control of the processing module 602.

[0188] When the communication device 600 is used to implement the above Figure 3 The function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown is: a communication module 601 is used to obtain a first configuration from a network device. The first configuration includes a first radio link control bearer configuration, and the first radio link control bearer configuration is associated with a first carrier. The first radio link control bearer configuration is one of a plurality of radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, and the first radio link control bearer configuration is used to establish a first radio link control bearer entity, and the first carrier is a carrier corresponding to a terminal device performing single-carrier communication. The processing module 602 is used to multicast or broadcast data corresponding to the first radio link control bearer entity on the first carrier.

[0189] When the communication device 600 is used to implement the above Figure 3 The functions of the second communication device in the method embodiment shown are: a processing module 602, configured to determine a first configuration. A communication module 601, configured to send (or broadcast, etc.) the first configuration to a first communication device (such as a first terminal device).

[0190] When the communication device 600 is used to implement the above Figure 4 The function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown is: a communication module 601, which is used to obtain a second configuration from a network device. Exemplarily, the second configuration may include a PDCP split configuration, or may not include a PDCP split configuration. The PDCP split configuration is used to indicate that multiple data in the first terminal device are transmitted through multiple radio link control bearer entities. Among them, the multiple radio link control bearer entities are established by the first terminal device respectively according to multiple radio link control bearer configurations. Optionally, in the PDCP split configuration, the multiple radio link control bearer configurations are respectively associated with different carriers. Optionally, different carriers may include the first carrier. In one example, the second configuration may be included in the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration. In another example, the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration may be used as the second configuration, and the packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration includes the PDCP split configuration. A processing module 602 is used to transmit multiple data in the first terminal device through a first radio link control bearer entity.

[0191] When the communication device 600 is used to implement the above Figure 4 The functions of the second communication device in the method embodiment shown are: a processing module 602, configured to determine a second configuration. A communication module 601, configured to send (or broadcast, etc.) the second configuration to a first communication device (eg, a first terminal device).

[0192] When the communication device 600 is used to implement the above Figure 5 The function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown is: a processing module 602, which is used to determine whether the second terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation. A communication module 601 is used to send fourth information to a third terminal device on a second carrier. The third terminal device is a receiving terminal device for sidelink communication with the second terminal device, and the fourth information can be used to indicate that the second terminal device and the third terminal device perform sidelink transmission on a third carrier. The second carrier and / or the third carrier do not include the first carrier, and the first carrier may refer to a carrier corresponding to a terminal device performing single-carrier communication, and the second carrier is different from the third carrier.

[0193] When the communication device 600 is used to implement the above Figure 5 The functions of the second communication device in the method embodiment shown are: a communication module 601, configured to receive fourth information from a second terminal device on a second carrier. The communication module 601, further configured to receive sidelink data from the second terminal device on a third carrier. The communication module 601, further configured to send HARQ feedback to the second terminal device on the second carrier or the third carrier.

[0194] Wherein, when the communication device 600 is used to implement Figures 3 to 5 For a more detailed description of the communication module 601 and the processing module 602, please refer to the above Figures 3 to 5 The relevant descriptions about the first communication device or the second communication device in the illustrated method embodiment are not repeated here.

[0195] It should be understood that the communication module 601 in the embodiment of the present application can be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit component, and the processing module 602 can be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component.

[0196] It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into a processing unit, or may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0197] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, or a server, etc.) or a processor (processor) to perform all or part of the steps of the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), disk or optical disk, and other media that can store program codes.

[0198] Based on the same concept, the present application embodiment also provides a possible communication device, which is suitable for Figure 1a or Figure 1bThe communication system architecture shown. Exemplarily, the communication device may be a device (such as a first communication device or a second communication device) required for executing the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, or may be a device including a device required for executing the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. Optionally, the communication device may also be arranged in a chip in the first communication device (or the second communication device). When the communication device is a chip arranged in the first communication device (or the second communication device), the communication device includes a transceiver and a processor, but does not include a memory. Among them, the transceiver exists as an input and output interface, and the input and output interface is used for the chip to realize the transceiver of the communication device. The input and output interface may include an input interface and / or an output interface, and the input interface can realize the reception of the communication device, and the output interface can be used to realize the transmission of the communication device. The processor is used to read and execute corresponding computer programs or instructions so that the corresponding functions of the first communication device (or the second communication device) are realized. Optionally, when the chip implements the corresponding functions of the first communication device (or the second communication device) in the above embodiment, the input and output interface can implement the transceiver operation performed by the first communication device (or the second communication device) in the above embodiment; the processor can implement other operations except the transceiver operation performed by the first communication device (or the second communication device) in the above embodiment. For specific related descriptions, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the above embodiments, which will not be described in detail here. Exemplarily, taking the communication device as a first communication device (such as a first terminal device or a second terminal device) or a second communication device (such as a network device or a third terminal device) as an example, when the communication device is used to implement the technical solution involved in the first communication device in the above embodiment, the beneficial effects of the first communication device in the above method embodiment can be achieved, and when the communication device is used to implement the technical solution involved in the second communication device in the above embodiment, the beneficial effects of the second communication device in the above method embodiment can be achieved.

[0199] See also Figure 7, the communication device 700 includes: a transceiver 701, a processor 702. Optionally, the communication device 700 also includes a memory 703. Among them, the transceiver 701, the processor 702 and the memory 703 are interconnected. When the communication device 700 is used to implement the technical solution involved in the first communication device provided in the above embodiment, the transceiver 701 can be used to implement the function of the above communication module 601 when executing the technical solution involved in the first communication device, and the processor 702 is used to implement the function of the above processing module 602 when executing the technical solution involved in the first communication device. When the communication device 700 is used to implement the technical solution involved in the second communication device provided in the above embodiment, the transceiver 701 can be used to implement the function of the above communication module 601 when executing the technical solution involved in the second communication device, and the processor 702 is used to implement the function of the above processing module 602 when executing the technical solution involved in the second communication device.

[0200] Optionally, the transceiver 701, the processor 702, and the memory 703 are interconnected via a bus 704. The bus 704 may be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, Figure 7 Only one thick line is used in the diagram, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0201] The transceiver 701 is used to receive and send data. For example, when the communication device 700 is as follows Figure 1a When the terminal device 120i is shown, the transceiver 701 implements the Figure 1a 110a or terminal device 120j, or can also communicate with Figure 1a For example, when the communication device 700 is as shown in the communication system architecture, other devices (such as vehicle-mounted devices or servers) other than the illustrated communication system architecture can be used for communication. Figure 1a When the terminal device 120f is shown, the transceiver 701 implements the Figure 1a 120g or 120h, or can also communicate with the RAN device 110b or terminal device 120g or terminal device 120h shown in the figure ... Figure 1a For example, when the communication device 700 is as shown in the communication system architecture, other devices (such as vehicle-mounted devices or servers) other than the illustrated communication system architecture can be used for communication. Figure 1b In the terminal device 400 shown in FIG. 1 , the transceiver 701 implements the Figure 1bThe RAN device 600 or the terminal device 501 or the terminal device 502 shown in the figure can communicate with each other, or can also communicate with each other Figure 1b The invention can be used to communicate with other devices (such as vehicle-mounted devices or servers) outside the communication system architecture shown. In one example, the transceiver can be a transceiver device with integrated data transceiver function. In another example, the transceiver can also be composed of a transmitter and a receiver, wherein the transmitter is used to send data and the receiver is used to receive data.

[0202] Optionally, the transceiver 701 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transmitter is used to send signals, messages, information, or data, etc. The receiver is used to receive signals, messages, information, or data, etc. Exemplarily, the transmitter sends signals, messages, information, or data, etc. under the control of the processor 702. The receiver receives signals, messages, information, or data, etc. under the control of the processor 702.

[0203] The functions of the processor 702 can refer to the description of the corresponding functions involved in the first communication device or the second communication device in the above embodiment, and will not be repeated here. Among them, the processor 702 can be a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP) or a combination of a CPU and a NP, etc. The processor 702 can further include a hardware chip. The above-mentioned hardware chip can be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD) or a combination thereof. The above-mentioned PLD can be a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a generic array logic (GAL) or any combination thereof. When implementing the above-mentioned functions, the processor 702 can be implemented by hardware, and of course, it can also be implemented by executing the corresponding software through hardware.

[0204] The memory 703 is used to store program instructions, etc. Specifically, the program instructions may include program codes, and the program codes include computer operation instructions. The memory 703 may include a random access memory (RAM), and may also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as at least one disk storage. The processor 702 executes the program instructions stored in the memory 703 to implement the above functions, thereby implementing the method steps required to be executed by the first communication device or the second communication device in the above embodiments.

[0205] Based on the same concept, the embodiment of the present application also provides a possible communication system, which includes a first communication device (such as a first terminal device or a second terminal device) and a second communication device (such as a network device or a third terminal device). The first communication device can be used to implement the technical solution involved in the first communication device in the above embodiment, and the second communication device can be used to implement the technical solution involved in the second communication device in the above embodiment.

[0206] Based on the same concept, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are executed on a computer, the computer executes the method provided in the above embodiment.

[0207] Based on the same concept, an embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a computer, the computer executes the method provided in the above embodiment.

[0208] The storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. For example, but not limited to, a computer-readable medium may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0209] Based on the same concept, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program, which includes program code. When a computer runs the computer program, the program code executes the method provided in the above embodiment.

[0210] Based on the same concept, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, which may include a processor and a memory (or the chip is coupled to the memory), and the chip executes program instructions in the memory to execute the method in any possible design of the first aspect or the method in any possible design of the second aspect. Wherein, "coupling" refers to the direct or indirect combination of two components, such as coupling may refer to an electrical connection between two components.

[0211] Based on the same concept, an embodiment of the present application also provides a chip system, which includes a processor for supporting a computer device to implement the functions involved in the first communication device (such as a first terminal device or a second terminal device) or the second communication device (such as a network device or a third terminal device) in the above embodiments. In one possible design, the chip system also includes a memory for storing the necessary programs and data for the computer device. The chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices.

[0212] In the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instruction is loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instruction can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instruction can be transmitted from a website site, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode to another website site, computer, server or data center. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrations. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state drive (SSD)).

[0213] The steps of the method described in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embedded in the hardware, the software unit executed by the processor, or the combination of the two. The software unit can be stored in RAM, ROM, EEPROM, register, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM or other storage media of any form in the art. Exemplarily, the storage medium can be connected to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and can write information to the storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium can also be integrated into the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be arranged in an ASIC.

[0214] The present application is described with reference to the flowchart and / or block diagram of the method, device (system), and computer program product according to the present application. It should be understood that each process and / or box in the flowchart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the process and / or box in the flowchart and / or block diagram can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce a device for implementing the function specified in one process or multiple processes in the flowchart and / or one box or multiple boxes in the block diagram.

[0215] These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operational steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, whereby the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0216] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to a first terminal device, the method includes: Acquire a first configuration from a network device, where the first configuration includes a first radio link control bearer configuration, where the first radio link control bearer configuration is associated with a first carrier, where the first radio link control bearer configuration is one of multiple radio link control bearer configurations corresponding to a packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration, where the first radio link control bearer configuration is used to establish a first radio link control bearer entity, and where the first carrier is a carrier corresponding to a terminal device performing single-carrier communication; Multicast or broadcast data corresponding to the first radio link control bearer entity on the first carrier.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The radio link control bearer entities respectively established by the multiple radio link control bearer configurations are used to transmit the same data.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: The packet data convergence layer protocol entity configuration includes a packet data convergence layer protocol split configuration, and the packet data convergence layer protocol split configuration is used to instruct multiple data in the first terminal device to be transmitted through multiple radio link control bearer entities; The multiple data are transmitted through the first radio link control bearer entity.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The first terminal device does not support sidelink carrier aggregation and / or the destination address does not support the sidelink carrier aggregation, and the destination address is used to indicate a receiving terminal device with which the first terminal device performs sidelink communication.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending first information to the network device, where the first information is used to instruct the first terminal device not to apply the packet data convergence layer protocol splitting configuration.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Sending second information to the network device, the second information is used to indicate that the first terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation and / or is used to indicate that the destination address supports the sidelink carrier aggregation, and the destination address is used to indicate a receiving terminal device with which the first terminal device performs sidelink communication.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that Sending second information to the network device includes: When the first terminal device is in a wireless resource control connection state, a terminal device capability information message or a side link terminal device information message is sent to the network device, the terminal device capability information message or the side link terminal device information message includes the second information, and the side link terminal device information message is used to request the first configuration.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that The method further comprises: Obtain third information from an upper layer of the first terminal device, where the third information is used to indicate that the destination address supports the sidelink carrier aggregation.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The association relationship is determined by the network device, or the association relationship is determined by the first terminal device.

10. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to a second terminal device, the method includes: Determining that the second terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation; Fourth information is sent to a third terminal device on a second carrier, where the third terminal device is a receiving terminal device for sidelink communication with the second terminal device, and the fourth information is used to indicate that the second terminal device and the third terminal device perform sidelink transmission on a third carrier, and the second carrier and / or the third carrier do not include the first carrier, and the first carrier is a carrier corresponding to a terminal device performing single-carrier communication, and the second carrier and the third carrier are different.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The method further comprises: A hybrid automatic repeat request feedback is received from the third terminal device on the second carrier or the third carrier, where the hybrid automatic repeat request feedback is used to indicate a reception status of a sidelink transmission by the third terminal device on the third carrier.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that The method further comprises: The fifth information is obtained from an upper layer of the second terminal device, where the fifth information is used to indicate that the destination address corresponding to the third terminal device supports sidelink carrier aggregation.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that: The sidelink aggregation includes sidelink cross-carrier scheduling and / or sidelink cross-carrier feedback.

14. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a module or a unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, or comprises a module or a unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 10 to 13.

15. A communication device, characterized in that: include: transceiver, used to receive and send data; Memory for storing computer program instructions and data; A processor is used to execute and call the computer program instructions and data in the memory so that the communication device performs the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9 or the method as described in any one of claims 10 to 13.

16. A communication system, characterized in that: The method comprises a first terminal device for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, or comprises a second terminal device for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 13.

17. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a computer, the computer executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 or the method according to any one of claims 10 to 13.

18. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are run on a computer, the computer is caused to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 or the method according to any one of claims 10 to 13.

19. A computer program, characterized in that The computer program comprises program codes, and when a computer runs the computer program, the program codes execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 or the method according to any one of claims 10 to 13.

20. A chip, characterized in that: The chip comprises a processor, and the chip is used to execute program instructions in a memory to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9 or the method as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 13.

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