Communication method and related apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and a related apparatus. In the method, a first communication apparatus may send, by means of some or all resources in a first PRACH resource set, a first signal used for random access (i.e., the first signal may be referred to as a random access signal). The first signal repeatedly transmitted N times is obtained by processing a preamble sequence on the basis of a first orthogonal sequence among M orthogonal sequences, and M is greater than 1. In this way, repeatedly transmitted random access signals sent by different first communication apparatuses can be obtained by processing on the basis of M different orthogonal sequences. Accordingly, after receiving the different random access signals, a receiver of the random access signals can distinguish between the different random access signals on the basis of the M orthogonal sequences. Therefore, by means of orthogonal sequence-based processing of random access signals, different communication apparatuses can reuse the same PRACH resource to achieve random access, so that multi-user multiplexing is supported, thereby increasing access capacity.

Description

A communication method and related apparatus

[0001] The present application claims priority from the Chinese patent application No. 202410437209.8 filed on April 11, 2024, and entitled "A communication method and related apparatus", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular, to a communication method and related apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0003] Wireless communication can be transmission communication between two or more communication nodes without propagation through a conductor or cable, and the communication nodes generally include network devices and terminal devices. For example, a terminal device and a network device can establish a communication connection through a random access process, and the terminal device can obtain network services by transmitting communication signals through the communication connection.

[0004] However, how to improve access capacity in the random access process is a technical problem to be solved. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a communication method and related apparatus for improving access capacity.

[0006] The first aspect of the present application provides a communication method, which is executed by a first communication apparatus. The first communication apparatus can be a communication device (such as a terminal device), or the first communication apparatus can be part of a communication device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or the first communication apparatus can also be a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the communication device. In the method, the first communication apparatus receives first information, which is used to determine a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource set. The first PRACH resource set supports multi-user multiplexing. The first communication apparatus transmits a first signal with N times of repeated transmission. The first signal is used for random access, and N is an integer greater than 1. The first signal with N times of repeated transmission is carried in part or all of the first PRACH resource set. The first signal with N times of repeated transmission is obtained by processing a preamble sequence based on a first orthogonal sequence in M orthogonal sequences, and M is an integer greater than 1.

[0007] Based on the above scheme, the first communication device can determine the first PRACH resource set through the received first information, and the first PRACH resource set supports multi-user multiplexing. Correspondingly, the first communication device can send the first signal for random access (i.e., the first signal can be referred to as a random access signal) through part or all of the resources in the first PRACH resource set, and the first signal of the N times of repeated transmission is obtained by processing the preamble sequence based on the first orthogonal sequence in the M orthogonal sequences. M is greater than 1. In this way, the repeated transmission of the random access signal sent by different first communication devices can be processed based on M different orthogonal sequences, and correspondingly, the receiver (for example, the second communication device) of the random access signal can distinguish different random access signals based on the M orthogonal sequences after receiving the different random access signals. Therefore, through the processing method of the random access signal based on the orthogonal sequence, different first communication devices can multiplex the same PRACH resource to realize random access, so as to support multi-user multiplexing and improve the access capacity.

[0008] In addition, the first signal for random access sent by the first communication device is transmitted through N times of repeated transmission, that is, the receiver (for example, the second communication device) of the first signal can receive one or more repeated transmissions of the random access signal from the same communication device. In this way, the success rate of receiving the random access signal by the receiver can be improved to reduce the random access delay. For example, in a communication scenario with poor link budget (for example, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication scenario), the communication signals between different communication devices (for example, communication devices located on the ground and satellite communication devices) can be lost. Therefore, through the above scheme, the success rate of receiving the signal by the signal receiver can be increased through repeated transmission of the signal.

[0009] In this application, in the M orthogonal sequences, different sequences can be pairwise orthogonal sequences, or any sequence is orthogonal to other sequences. Among them, the orthogonal sequence can be realized in many ways, such as superimposed orthogonal cover code (OCC), sequence based on discrete fourier transform (DFT), sequence based on walsh code, etc.

[0010] In this application, the orthogonal sequence can be replaced by other terms, such as orthogonal code, orthogonal information, orthogonal matrix, orthogonal spread code, orthogonal spread sequence or orthogonal cover code, etc.

[0011] In this application, the preamble sequence can be replaced by other terms, such as preamble, random access sequence, random access preamble, etc.

[0012] In this application, the resource set can be replaced by other terms, such as resource, resource block, etc.

[0013] It should be noted that one resource (such as the first PRACH resource set, one or more RO resources described later, etc.) supports multi-user multiplexing, which can be understood as supporting multi-user multiplexing of signal transmission, that is, part or all of the signals (such as PRACH signals) carried by the resource can be obtained by using orthogonal sequence processing.

[0014] Optionally, the process of determining the first orthogonal sequence in the M orthogonal sequences by the first communication device can be that the first communication device randomly determines one orthogonal sequence in the M orthogonal sequences as the first orthogonal sequence, or that the first communication device determines the first orthogonal sequence based on the manner indicated by the network device (or the manner preconfigured by the protocol / standard), or that the first communication device determines the first orthogonal sequence based on the time domain unit index (such as frame number, time slot number, etc.) of the current communication, which is not limited here.

[0015] Optionally, the length of any orthogonal sequence in the M orthogonal sequences (or the number of elements contained in the any orthogonal sequence) is K, K is greater than or equal to M, and K is less than or equal to N. Wherein, the sequence with length K is applied to the repeated transmission of PRACH signal, and in the case that K is less than or equal to N, the orthogonality between the repeated transmission PRACH signals sent by different users can be realized, which can reduce the interference between different users. Optionally, K can also be greater than N, in which case the orthogonality between the repeated transmission PRACH signals sent by different users can be poor, but compared with the processing mode without using orthogonal sequences, a certain anti-interference performance can also be obtained.

[0016] Optionally, the process of processing the preamble sequence based on the first orthogonal sequence by the first communication device can involve one or more processes, such as scrambling processing, encryption processing, etc.

[0017] Optionally, the first signal is used for random access, which can be understood as the first signal being a random access signal, a preamble signal, etc.

[0018] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first information includes first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate one or more random access occasion (RO) resources supporting multi-user multiplexing; wherein the RO resources contained in the first PRACH resource set are the one or more RO resources.

[0019] Based on the above scheme, the random access signal can be carried on the RO resource on the PRACH, and accordingly, the first information can carry the first indication information in a manner such that the first communication device can determine the RO resource using orthogonal sequence for signal processing based on the first indication information, so as to realize flexible indication of the PRACH resource set supporting multi-user multiplexing.

[0020] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first information comprises second indication information, the second indication information being used for indicating a resource interval; and the first PRACH resource set is determined in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information.

[0021] Based on the above scheme, the PRACH resource can generally be used by multiple communication devices, and accordingly, the number of RO resources for random access contained in the PRACH resource can be relatively large. For this purpose, the first information can comprise second indication information used for indicating a resource interval, so that the first communication device can determine the first PRACH resource set in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information.

[0022] Optionally, the resource interval indicated by the second indication information can comprise one or more of a time domain resource interval, a frequency domain resource interval, and a time-frequency domain resource interval (for example, a RO resource interval).

[0023] It should be understood that in the second PRACH resource set, one or more types of PRACH resources can be included. For example, PRACH signals of at least two repeated transmissions carried on a PRACH resource of a certain type are processed using orthogonal sequences, that is, the first PRACH resource set is part or all of the PRACH resource of this type.

[0024] Optionally, in the second PRACH resource set, other types of PRACH resources can also be included. For example, PRACH signals of single transmission carried on a PRACH resource of a certain type. For another example, PRACH signals of at least two repeated transmissions carried on a PRACH resource of a certain type are not processed using orthogonal sequences.

[0025] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first information further comprises third indication information, the third indication information being used for indicating a resource start position and / or a resource end position; and the first PRACH resource set is determined in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information and the third indication information.

[0026] Based on the above scheme, the first information can further include third indication information used for indicating the resource start position and / or the resource end position, so that the first communication device determines the first PRACH resource set in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information and the third indication information.

[0027] Similarly, the resource start position and / or the resource end position can be one or more of a resource start position of a time domain resource, a resource end position of the time domain resource, a resource start position of a frequency domain resource, a resource end position of the frequency domain resource, a resource start position of a time-frequency domain resource (e.g., a RO resource), and a resource end position of the time-frequency domain resource.

[0028] Optionally, the third indication information can be included in other information different from the first information, i.e., the first communication device can obtain the second indication information and the third indication information respectively through different information received.

[0029] Optionally, the resource start position and / or the resource end position can be preconfigured third indication information, and accordingly, the first information can not include the third indication information.

[0030] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first information includes fourth indication information, the fourth indication information being used for indicating that a resource type of the first PRACH resource set is a first type; wherein the PRACH resource of the first type satisfies at least one of the following:

[0031] is used only for carrying a PRACH signal of at least twice repeated transmission;

[0032] is not used for carrying a PRACH signal of single transmission;

[0033] supports only carrying a PRACH signal of at least twice repeated transmission; or,

[0034] does not support carrying a PRACH signal of single transmission.

[0035] Based on the above scheme, the first information received by the first communication device can include fourth indication information used to indicate that the resource type of the first PRACH resource set is the first type, and the PRACH resource of the first type of resource type satisfies the above one. In other words, the first communication device can distinguish different PRACH resources by whether the PRACH resource is used to carry a PRACH signal of a single transmission. Since the legacy communication device generally only supports sending a PRACH of a single transmission, by the above scheme, the random access signal can be processed using an orthogonal sequence on a PRACH resource supporting a PRACH signal carrying at least two repeated transmissions, so that the scheme can be compatible with the legacy communication device, and can avoid affecting the random access process of the communication device.

[0036] Alternatively, the PRACH resource of the other type (for example, the second type) of resource type satisfies at least one of the following:

[0037] only used to carry a PRACH signal of a single transmission, only supports carrying a PRACH signal of a single transmission, both used to carry a PRACH signal of at least two repeated transmissions and used to carry a PRACH signal of a single transmission, or both supports carrying a PRACH signal of at least two repeated transmissions and supports carrying a PRACH signal of a single transmission.

[0038] In a possible implementation form of the first aspect, the first information includes fifth indication information used to indicate an index of one or more second signals used for synchronization; wherein the one or more second signals correspond to a PRACH resource in the first PRACH resource set.

[0039] Based on the above scheme, the first information can include fifth indication information used to indicate an index of one or more second signals used for synchronization, so that the first communication device determines the PRACH resource corresponding to the one or more second signals as the first PRACH resource set based on the fifth indication information. Since the beam direction corresponding to different second signals can be different, and the access demand of different beam directions can be different, for this reason, by the above scheme, the sender of the first information (for example, the second communication device) can specify the PRACH resource corresponding to the one or more second signals as the PRACH resource in the first PRACH resource set, so that the sender can flexibly schedule the access of the communication device of different beam directions.

[0040] In a possible implementation form of the first aspect, the M orthogonal sequences satisfy at least one of the following:

[0041] In the M orthogonal sequences, a first orthogonal sequence contains at least one element whose value is not +1;

[0042] The M orthogonal sequences include a second orthogonal sequence, and the second orthogonal sequence contains elements whose values are all +1; and the first orthogonal sequence is different from the second orthogonal sequence.

[0043] The M orthogonal sequences do not include an orthogonal sequence whose elements all have a value of +1.

[0044] Based on the above scheme, since one sequence can be obtained by processing an orthogonal sequence whose values are all +1, that is, the processing of the orthogonal sequence whose values are all +1 does not change the values of one sequence, and accordingly, in the case that a legacy communication device only supports sending a single transmission PRACH, the random access signal sent by the legacy communication device can be regarded as a result obtained by processing the orthogonal sequence whose values are all +1. In the above process, in the case that the first orthogonal sequence satisfies the at least one condition, the first signal of N repeated transmissions sent by the first communication device is not obtained based on the orthogonal sequence whose values are all +1. In this way, different first communication devices can reuse more PRACH resources to support multi-user multiplexing as much as possible, while avoiding affecting the legacy communication device.

[0045] The second aspect of the present application provides a communication method, which is performed by a second communication device. The second communication device can be a communication device (such as a network device), or the second communication device can be a part of the communication device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or the second communication device can also be a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the communication device. In the method, the second communication device sends first information, and the first information is used to determine a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource set, and the first PRACH resource set supports multi-user multiplexing. The second communication device receives part or all of a first signal of N repeated transmissions, and the first signal is used for random access, and N is an integer greater than 1. The first signal of N repeated transmissions is carried in part or all of the first PRACH resource set, and the first signal of N repeated transmissions is obtained by processing a preamble sequence based on a first orthogonal sequence in M orthogonal sequences, and M is an integer greater than 1.

[0046] Based on the above scheme, after the second communication device sends the first information to the first communication device, the first communication device can determine the first PRACH resource set supporting multi-user multiplexing through the received first information. Correspondingly, the first communication device can send the first signal for random access through part or all of the resources in the first PRACH resource set (i.e., the first signal can be referred to as a random access signal), and the N times of repeated transmission of the first signal is obtained by processing the preamble sequence based on the first orthogonal sequence in the M orthogonal sequences, and M is greater than 1. In this way, the repeated transmission of the random access signal sent by different first communication devices can be obtained by processing based on M different orthogonal sequences, and correspondingly, the second communication device can distinguish different random access signals based on the M orthogonal sequences after receiving the different random access signals. Therefore, through the processing mode of the random access signal based on the orthogonal sequence, different first communication devices can multiplex the same PRACH resource to realize random access, so as to support multi-user multiplexing and improve the access capacity.

[0047] In addition, the first signal for random access sent by the first communication device is transmitted through N times of repeated transmission, i.e., the second communication device can receive one or more times of repeated transmission of the random access signal from the same communication device. In this way, the success rate of receiving the random access signal by the second communication device can be improved to reduce the random access delay. For example, in a communication scenario with poor link budget (such as an NTN communication scenario), the communication signals between different communication devices (such as communication devices on the ground and satellite communication devices) can be lost. Therefore, through the above scheme, the success rate of receiving the signal by the signal receiving side can be increased through repeated transmission of the signal.

[0048] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first information includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate one or more RO resources supporting multi-user multiplexing; and the RO resources contained in the first PRACH resource set are the one or more RO resources.

[0049] Based on the above scheme, the random access signal can be carried on the RO resource of the PRACH, and correspondingly, the first information can carry the first indication information, so that the first communication device can determine the RO resource for signal processing based on the orthogonal sequence based on the first indication information, to realize flexible indication of the PRACH resource set supporting multi-user multiplexing.

[0050] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first information comprises second indication information used for indicating a resource interval; and the first PRACH resource set is determined in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information.

[0051] According to the above scheme, the PRACH resource can be generally used by multiple communication devices, and accordingly, the number of RO resources for random access contained in the PRACH resource can be relatively large. Therefore, the first information can comprise second indication information used for indicating a resource interval, so that the first communication device can determine the first PRACH resource set in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information.

[0052] Optionally, the resource interval indicated by the second indication information can comprise one or more of a time domain resource interval, a frequency domain resource interval, and a time-frequency domain resource interval (for example, a RO resource interval).

[0053] It should be understood that in the second PRACH resource set, one or more types of PRACH resources can be included. For example, PRACH signals of at least two repeated transmissions carried on a PRACH resource of a certain type are obtained by using orthogonal sequence processing, that is, the first PRACH resource set is part or all of the PRACH resource of this type.

[0054] Optionally, in the second PRACH resource set, other types of PRACH resources can also be included. For example, PRACH signals of single transmission carried on a PRACH resource of a certain type. For another example, PRACH signals of at least two repeated transmissions carried on a PRACH resource of a certain type are not obtained by using orthogonal sequence processing.

[0055] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first information further comprises third indication information used for indicating a resource start position and / or a resource end position; and the first PRACH resource set is determined in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information and the third indication information.

[0056] According to the above scheme, the first information can further comprise third indication information used for indicating a resource start position and / or a resource end position, so that the first communication device determines the first PRACH resource set in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information and the third indication information.

[0057] Similarly, the resource start position and / or the resource end position can be one or more of a resource start position comprising a time domain resource, a resource end position of the time domain resource, a resource start position of a frequency domain resource, a resource end position of the frequency domain resource, a resource start position of a time-frequency domain resource (e.g., a RO resource), a resource end position of the time-frequency domain resource.

[0058] Optionally, the third indication information can be contained in other information different from the first information, i.e., the first communication device can obtain the second indication information and the third indication information respectively through different information received.

[0059] Optionally, the resource start position and / or the resource end position can be preconfigured third indication information, and accordingly, the first information can not include the third indication information.

[0060] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first information includes fourth indication information, the fourth indication information being used to indicate that a resource type of the first PRACH resource set is a first type; and wherein the PRACH resource of the first type of resource type satisfies at least one of the following:

[0061] is used to carry a PRACH signal of single transmission only;

[0062] is not used to carry a PRACH signal of single transmission;

[0063] supports only a PRACH signal carrying at least two repeated transmissions; or

[0064] does not support a PRACH signal carrying single transmission.

[0065] Based on the above scheme, the first information received by the first communication device can include fourth indication information used to indicate that the resource type of the first PRACH resource set is the first type, and the PRACH resource of the first type of resource type satisfies the above one. In other words, the first communication device can distinguish different PRACH resources by whether the PRACH resource is used to carry a PRACH signal of single transmission. Since a legacy communication device generally supports only sending a PRACH of single transmission, through the above scheme, a random access signal can be processed using an orthogonal sequence on a PRACH resource supporting a PRACH signal carrying at least two repeated transmissions, so that the scheme can be compatible with the legacy communication device, and can avoid affecting the random access process of the communication device.

[0066] Optionally, the first information and the second information can be contained in the same message / signaling, or the first information and the second information can be contained in different messages / signaling, which is not limited here.

[0067] Optionally, the PRACH resource of the other type (e.g., the second type) satisfies at least one of the following:

[0068] The PRACH resource is used for, supports, or both for carrying the PRACH signal carrying the single transmission and the PRACH signal carrying the at least two repeated transmissions.

[0069] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first information comprises fifth indication information used for indicating indexes of one or more second signals used for synchronization, wherein the one or more second signals correspond to PRACH resources in the first PRACH resource set.

[0070] Based on the above scheme, the first information can further comprise fifth indication information used for indicating indexes of one or more second signals used for synchronization, so that the first communication device determines the PRACH resources corresponding to the one or more second signals as the first PRACH resource set based on the fifth indication information. Since the beam directions corresponding to different second signals can be different, and the access requirements of different beam directions can be different, therefore, through the above scheme, the sender of the first information (e.g., the second communication device) can specify the PRACH resources corresponding to the one or more second signals as the PRACH resources in the first PRACH resource set, so as to enable the sender to flexibly schedule the access of the communication devices of different beam directions.

[0071] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the M orthogonal sequences satisfy at least one of the following:

[0072] In the M orthogonal sequences, the first orthogonal sequence comprises at least one element whose value is not +1;

[0073] The M orthogonal sequences comprise a second orthogonal sequence, and the second orthogonal sequence comprises elements whose values are all +1; and the first orthogonal sequence is different from the second orthogonal sequence.

[0074] The M orthogonal sequences do not comprise an orthogonal sequence whose elements all have a value of +1.

[0075] Based on the above scheme, since one sequence can be obtained by processing the orthogonal sequence with all values being +1, that is, the processing of the orthogonal sequence with all values being +1 does not change the values of one sequence, and correspondingly, in the case that the legacy communication device only supports sending a single transmission PRACH, the random access signal sent by the legacy communication device can be regarded as a result obtained by processing the orthogonal sequence with all values being +1. In the above process, in the case that the first orthogonal sequence satisfies the at least one condition, the first signal of N times repeated transmission sent by the first communication device is not obtained based on the orthogonal sequence with all values being +1. In this way, different first communication devices can reuse more PRACH resources to support multi-user multiplexing as much as possible, and the influence on the legacy communication device can also be avoided.

[0076] The third aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which is a first communication device, comprising a transceiver unit and a processing unit; the transceiver unit is configured to receive first information, and the processing unit is configured to determine a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource set based on the first information, the first PRACH resource set supporting multi-user multiplexing; the transceiver unit is further configured to send a first signal of N times repeated transmission, the first signal being used for random access, N being an integer greater than 1; wherein the first signal of N times repeated transmission is carried in part or all of the first PRACH resource set, and the first signal of N times repeated transmission is obtained by processing a preamble sequence based on a first orthogonal sequence in M orthogonal sequences, M being an integer greater than 1.

[0077] In the third aspect of the present application, the constituent modules of the communication device can also be configured to perform the steps performed in the various possible implementation manners of the first aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects, which can be referred to the first aspect for details and will not be described here.

[0078] The fourth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which is a second communication device, comprising a transceiver unit and a processing unit, and the processing unit is configured to determine first information; the transceiver unit is configured to send the first information, the first information being used to determine a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource set, the first PRACH resource set supporting multi-user multiplexing; the transceiver unit is further configured to receive part or all of a first signal of N times repeated transmission, the first signal being used for random access, N being an integer greater than 1; wherein the first signal of N times repeated transmission is carried in part or all of the first PRACH resource set, and the first signal of N times repeated transmission is obtained by processing a preamble sequence based on a first orthogonal sequence in M orthogonal sequences, M being an integer greater than 1.

[0079] In the fourth aspect of the present application, the component modules of the communication device can also be used to perform the steps performed in the various possible implementation manners of the second aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects. For details, please refer to the second aspect, which will not be described here again.

[0080] The fifth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, comprising at least one processor, the at least one processor being coupled with a memory; the memory is used to store programs or instructions; the at least one processor is used to execute the programs or instructions, so that the device implements the method described in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the second aspect. Optionally, the communication device can comprise the memory.

[0081] The sixth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, comprising at least one logic circuit and an input and output interface; the logic circuit is used to execute the method described in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0082] The seventh aspect of the present application provides a communication system, comprising the first communication device and the second communication device.

[0083] The eighth aspect of the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, which is used to store one or more computer execution instructions, when the computer execution instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0084] The ninth aspect of the present application provides a computer program product (or computer program), when the computer program in the computer program product is executed by the processor, the processor executes the method described in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0085] The tenth aspect of the present application provides a chip or chip system, comprising at least one processor, which is used to support the communication device to implement the method described in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the second aspect. For example, the chip can be a baseband chip, a modem chip, a system on chip (SoC) chip containing a modem core, a system in package (SIP) chip, or a communication module, etc.

[0086] In a possible design, the chip or the chip system can further include a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the communication apparatus. The chip system can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices. Optionally, the chip system further includes an interface circuit which provides program instructions and / or data for the at least one processor.

[0087] The technical effects brought by any one of the designs in the third aspect to the tenth aspect can be referred to the technical effects brought by the different designs in the first aspect to the second aspect, which will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0088] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in the present application;

[0089] FIGS. 2a to 2d are schematic diagrams of satellite communication processes provided in the present application;

[0090] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a satellite communication process in a 5G system provided in the present application;

[0091] FIGS. 4a to 4f are schematic diagrams of random access processes related in the present application;

[0092] FIG. 5 is another schematic diagram of a communication method provided in the present application;

[0093] FIGS. 6 to 9 are schematic diagrams of communication apparatuses provided in the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0094] First, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0095] (1) Terminal device: can be a wireless terminal device capable of receiving network device scheduling and indication information, and the wireless terminal device can be a device providing voice and / or data connectivity to a user, or a handheld device with wireless connection function, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem.

[0096] The terminal device can be various communication kits (a kit can include, for example, an antenna, a power supply template, a cable, and a Wi-Fi module, etc.) with wireless communication functions, and can also be a communication module with satellite communication functions, a satellite phone or its components, a very small aperture terminal (VSAT). The terminal device can be a mobile terminal device, such as a mobile phone (or called "cellular" phone, mobile phone), a computer and a data card, for example, it can be a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, built-in computer or vehicle-mounted mobile device that exchanges voice and / or data with a wireless access network. For example, personal communication service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablets (Pads), computers with wireless transceiver functions, etc. The wireless terminal device can also be referred to as a system, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a mobile station (MS), a remote station, an access point (AP), a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a user agent, a subscriber station (SS), customer premises equipment (CPE), a terminal, user equipment (UE), a mobile terminal (MT), a drone, etc. The terminal device can also be a wearable device and a next-generation communication system, for example, a terminal device in a 6G communication system or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), etc. Of course, the terminal device in this application can also refer to a chip, a modem, a system on a chip (SoC) mainly responsible for the relevant communication functions in the device, or a communication platform that can include a radio frequency (RF) part, etc.

[0097] (2) Network device: can be a device in a wireless network, for example, the network device can be a RAN node (or device) for accessing a terminal device to a wireless network, which can also be referred to as a base station. At present, some examples of RAN devices are: base station (base station), evolved NodeB (eNodeB), base station gNB (gNodeB) in 5G communication system, transmission reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), evolved Node B (eNB), radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), Node B (Node B, NB), home base station (for example, home evolved Node B, or home Node B, HNB), baseband unit (baseband unit, BBU), or wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, Wi-Fi) access point AP, etc. In addition, in a network structure, the network device can include a centralized unit (centralized unit, CU) node, or a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU) node, or a RAN device including a CU node and a DU node.

[0098] Optionally, the RAN node can also be a macro base station, a micro base station or an indoor station, a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) scenario. The RAN node can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or a vehicle-mounted device, etc. For example, the access network device in vehicle to everything (vehicle to everything, V2X) technology can be a road side unit (road side unit, RSU).

[0099] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist the terminal in achieving wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the RAN node can be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be set separately, or they can be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0100] 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 access network (open RAN, O-RAN or ORAN) system, CU may also be called O-CU (open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called 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 can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0101] The communication between the access network device and the terminal device follows a certain protocol layer structure. The protocol layer can include a control plane protocol layer and a user plane protocol layer. The control plane protocol layer can include at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a media access control (MAC) layer, or a physical (PHY) layer, etc. The user plane protocol layer can include at least one of a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, a MAC layer, or a physical layer, etc.

[0102] For the correspondence between the network elements in the ORAN system and the protocol layer functions that can be implemented by the network elements, refer to Table 1 below.

[0103] Table 1

[0104] The network device can be another device that provides a wireless communication function for the terminal device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device. For the convenience of description, the embodiments of the present application do not limit.

[0105] The network device can also include a core network device, which can include, for example, a mobility management entity (MME) in a fourth generation (4G) network, a home subscriber server (HSS), a serving gateway (S-GW), a policy and charging rules function (PCRF), a public data network gateway (P-GW), an access and mobility management function (AMF) in a 5G network, a user plane function (UPF), a session management function (SMF), and other network elements. In addition, the core network device can also include other core network devices in a 5G network and a next-generation network of the 5G network.

[0106] In the embodiments of the present application, the network device mentioned above can also be an AI-capable network node, which can provide AI services for terminals or other network devices, for example, AI nodes, computing power nodes, AI-capable RAN nodes, AI-capable core network elements, etc. on the network side (access network or core network).

[0107] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device can be a network device or a device capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the network device. In the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device is taken as an example to describe the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0108] (3) Configuration and pre-configuration: In the present application, configuration and pre-configuration will be used simultaneously. Configuration refers to that the network device sends some parameter configuration information or parameter values to the terminal device through messages or signaling, so that the terminal device determines the communication parameters or resource in transmission according to the values or information. Pre-configuration is similar to configuration, which can be parameter information or parameter values agreed by the network device and the terminal device in advance, or parameter information or parameter values adopted by the network device or the terminal device according to the standard protocol, or parameter information or parameter values pre-stored in the network device or the terminal device. The present application does not make any limitation.

[0109] Further, these values and parameters can be changed or updated.

[0110] (4) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application can be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association between the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which means that A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item or multiple items. For example, "at least one of A, B and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC or ABC. In addition, unless otherwise specified, the ordinal numbers "first", "second", etc. mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, time sequence, priority or importance of the multiple objects.

[0111] (5) In embodiments of the present application, "sending" and "receiving" represent the direction of signal transmission. For example, "sending information to XX" can be understood as that the destination of the information is XX, which can include direct sending through the air interface, or indirect sending through the air interface by other units or modules. "Receiving information from YY" can be understood as that the source of the information is YY, which can include direct receiving from YY through the air interface, or indirect receiving from YY through the air interface by other units or modules. "Sending" can also be understood as "output" of a chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as "input" of a chip interface.

[0112] In other words, sending and receiving can be between devices, such as between network devices and terminal devices, or within devices, such as between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules within a device through a bus, wire or interface.

[0113] It can be understood that the information can be processed as necessary between the source and the destination of the information transmission, such as encoding and modulation, but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in the present application can be similarly understood and will not be repeated here.

[0114] (6) In embodiments of the present application, "indicating" can include direct indication and indirect indication, and can also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information (indication information as described below) is referred to as to-be-indicated information. In the implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the to-be-indicated information, for example but not limited to, the to-be-indicated information can be directly indicated, such as the to-be-indicated information itself or an index of the to-be-indicated information. The to-be-indicated information can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, where the other information and the to-be-indicated information have an association relationship. The to-be-indicated information can also be indicated only by a part of the to-be-indicated information, and the other part of the to-be-indicated information is known or agreed in advance, for example, the arrangement order of each information can be used to indicate a specific information, thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. The present application does not limit the specific manner of indication. It can be understood that for the sender of the indication information, the indication information can be used to indicate the to-be-indicated information, and for the receiver of the indication information, the indication information can be used to determine the to-be-indicated information.

[0115] In this application, the same or similar parts among various embodiments can be mutually referred to, unless specially stated. In various embodiments in this application, and various methods / designs / implementation manners in each embodiment, if there is no special description and no logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions among different embodiments, and among various methods / designs / implementation manners in each embodiment are consistent, and can be mutually referred to, and the technical features in different embodiments, and in various methods / designs / implementation manners in each embodiment can be combined to form new embodiments, methods, or implementation manners according to their inherent logical relationship. The implementation manners of the present application described below do not constitute a limitation on the protection scope of the present application.

[0116] The present application can be applied to a long term evolution (LTE) system, a new radio (NR) system, or a new radio vehicle to everything (NR V2X) system; can also be applied to a system in which LTE and 5G are hybrid networked; or a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine to machine (M2M) communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT), or a drone communication system; or a communication system supporting multiple wireless technologies, such as a communication system supporting LTE technology and NR technology; or a non-ground communication system, such as a satellite communication system, a high-altitude communication platform, and the like. In addition, the communication system can also be applied to a narrow band-internet of things (NB-IoT) system, an enhanced data rate for GSM evolution (EDGE) system, a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, a code division multiple access 2000 (CDMA2000) system, a time division-synchronization code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) system, and a future-oriented communication technology. Or other communication systems, wherein the communication system includes a network device and a terminal device, the network device as a configuration information sending entity, and the terminal device as a configuration information receiving entity. Specifically, there are entities in the communication system that send configuration information to another entity, and send data to another entity or receive data sent by another entity; another entity receives configuration information and sends data to the configuration information sending entity or receives data sent by the configuration information sending entity according to the configuration information. Wherein, the present application can be applied to a terminal device in a connected state or an active state, and can also be applied to a terminal device in an inactive state or an idle state.

[0117] Referring to FIG. 1, an architecture diagram of a communication system 1000 to which embodiments of the present application are applied is shown. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 can further include an Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., 110a and 110b in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120j in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 120). The RAN 100 can further include other RAN nodes, such as a wireless relay device and / or a wireless backhaul device (not shown in FIG. 1). The terminal 120 is connected to the RAN node 110 in a wireless manner, and the RAN node 110 is connected to the core network 200 in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 100 can be independent and different physical devices, or can be the same physical device integrated with the logical functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the RAN node. Terminals and terminals, and RAN nodes and RAN nodes can be connected to each other in a wired or wireless manner.

[0118] It should be noted that the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are applicable to a ground communication system. Alternatively, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are applicable to a communication system integrating ground communication and satellite communication, which can also be referred to as a non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication system. For example, the RAN 100 in FIG. 1 can include a ground base station, wherein the ground base station can include a TN cell (i.e., the signals of the TN cell can be transmitted and received by the ground base station); and the RAN 100 in FIG. 1 can further include a non-ground base station, for example, a satellite, which can include an NTN cell (i.e., the signals of the NTN cell can be transmitted and received by the satellite). The ground communication system can be, for example, a long term evolution (LTE) system, a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), a 5G communication system, a new radio (NR) system, or a next-generation communication system of the 5G communication system, etc., which is not limited herein.

[0119] Satellite communication has wider coverage, communication cost is independent of transmission distance, and can overcome natural geographical obstacles such as oceans, deserts, and mountains, compared with traditional mobile communication systems. In order to overcome the shortcomings of traditional communication networks, satellite communication can be an effective supplement to traditional networks. It is generally believed that, compared with ground network communication, non-ground network communication has different channel characteristics, such as large transmission delay and large Doppler frequency offset. For example, the round-trip delay of GEO satellite communication is 238-270 milliseconds (ms). The round-trip delay of LEO satellite communication is 8-20 ms. According to the orbital height, satellite communication systems can be divided into three types: high-orbit (geostationary earth orbit, GEO) satellite communication systems, also known as synchronous orbit satellite systems; medium-orbit (medium earth orbit, MEO) satellite communication systems; and low-orbit (low earth orbit, LEO) satellite communication systems.

[0120] The GEO satellite is also commonly known as a geostationary satellite, and the orbital height can be 35,786 kilometers (km). The main advantage is that it is relatively stationary relative to the ground and provides a large coverage area. However, the GEO satellite also has relatively prominent disadvantages: the distance from the earth is too large, requiring a large-diameter antenna; the transmission delay is large, about 0.5 seconds, which cannot meet the needs of real-time services; and the orbital resources are relatively scarce, the launch cost is high, and coverage cannot be provided for polar regions. The MEO satellite has an orbital height of 2,000-35,786 km, and a relatively small number of satellites can achieve global coverage, but the transmission delay is higher than that of the LEO satellite. It is mainly used for positioning and navigation. In addition, the orbital height of 300-2,000 km is called a low-orbit satellite (LEO). The LEO satellite has a lower orbital height than the MEO and GEO satellites, a smaller data propagation delay, less power loss, and a relatively lower launch cost. Therefore, the LEO satellite communication network has made great progress in recent years and has attracted attention.

[0121] In one possible implementation, the satellite device can be divided into a transparent mode and a regenerative mode according to the working mode.

[0122] The two modes will be described below by way of example with reference to the implementation modes shown in FIGS. 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d.

[0123] In the implementation mode of the transparent mode shown in FIG. 2a, the satellite and the gateway (i.e., NTN Gateway in FIG. 2a) act as a relay, that is, the remote radio unit shown in FIG. 2a, and the communication between the terminal device and the gNB needs to be realized through the relay process. In other words, in the transparent mode, the satellite has the function of relay forwarding.

[0124] For example, in the implementation mode of the transparent mode shown in FIG. 2b, when the satellite (including GEO satellite, MEO satellite, LEO satellite, etc.) works in the transparent mode, the satellite has the function of relay forwarding. The gateway has the function of the base station or part of the base station function, at this time, the gateway can be regarded as the base station. Alternatively, the base station can be deployed separately from the gateway, and then the delay of the feeder link includes the delay of the satellite to the gateway and the delay of the gateway to the gNB.

[0125] Optionally, the transparent mode can be taken as an example that the gateway and the gNB are together or close to each other, and for the case that the gateway is far away from the gNB, the delay of the feeder link can be obtained by adding the delay of the satellite to the gateway and the delay of the gateway to the gNB.

[0126] In the implementation mode of the regenerative mode shown in FIG. 2c, the satellite and the gateway (i.e., NTN Gateway in FIG. 2c) act as the gNB, and can communicate with the terminal device. In other words, in the regenerative mode, the satellite has the function of the base station or part of the base station function, at this time, the satellite can be regarded as the base station.

[0127] For example, in the implementation mode of the regenerative mode shown in FIG. 2d, when the satellite (including GEO satellite, MEO satellite, LEO satellite, etc.) works in the regenerative mode, compared with the implementation mode shown in FIG. 2b, the satellite has the function of the base station or part of the base station function, at this time, the satellite can be regarded as the base station.

[0128] It should be noted that the base stations of the NTN and the ground network can be interconnected through a common core network. Higher timeliness assistance and interconnection can also be realized through the interface defined between the base stations. In NR, the interface between the base stations is called Xn interface, and the interface between the base station and the core network is called NG interface. In the fusion network, the NTN node and the ground node can realize interworking and cooperation through the foregoing interfaces.

[0129] It should be noted that the present application can be applied to a long term evolution (LTE) system, a new radio (NR) system, or a communication system evolved after 5G (for example, 6G, 7G, etc.).

[0130] Taking 5G as an example, a 5G satellite communication system architecture is shown in FIG. 3. The ground terminal device accesses the network through the 5G new air interface, and the 5G base station is deployed on the satellite and connected to the ground core network through a wireless link. At the same time, there is a wireless link between the satellites to complete the signaling interaction and user data transmission between base stations. The description of the devices and interfaces in FIG. 3 is as follows:

[0131] 5G core network: user access control, mobility management, session management, user security authentication, billing and other services. It is composed of multiple functional units and can be divided into control plane and data plane functional entities. The access and mobility management unit (AMF) is responsible for user access management, security authentication, and mobility management. The user plane unit (UPF) is responsible for managing user plane data transmission, traffic statistics, and other functions. The session management function (SMF) is mainly used for session management in mobile networks, such as session establishment, modification, and release.

[0132] Ground station: responsible for forwarding signaling and service data between satellite base stations and 5G core networks.

[0133] 5G new air interface: wireless link between terminal and base station.

[0134] Xn interface: interface between 5G base stations and base stations, mainly used for signaling interaction such as handover.

[0135] NG interface: interface between 5G base station and 5G core network, mainly interacting with core network non-access layer (NAS) signaling, etc., and user service data.

[0136] In addition, the network devices in the ground network communication system and the satellites in the NTN communication system can be unified as network devices. The device for implementing the function of the network device can be a network device; it can also be a device capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the network device. When describing the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device is taken as an example to describe the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. It can be understood that when the method provided by the embodiments of the present application is applied to the ground network communication system, the actions performed by the satellite can be applied to the base station or the network device to perform.

[0137] In the embodiments of this application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device can be a terminal device, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the terminal device. In the embodiments of this application, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device is taken as an example of a terminal or UE to describe the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0138] In addition, the satellite described above can be a stationary satellite, a non-stationary satellite, an artificial satellite, a low-orbit satellite, a medium-orbit satellite, and a high-orbit satellite, etc., which are not specifically limited in this application.

[0139] The above describes various scenarios of wireless communication involved in this application. It should be understood that the above is only an exemplary description of the scenarios in which this application can be applied, and this application can also be applied to other application scenarios, which are not limited herein. The wireless communication process involved in this application will be described below.

[0140] In the communication system shown in FIG. 1 / FIG. 2a / FIG. 2b / FIG. 2c / FIG. 2d / FIG. 3, the signal (e.g., the signal carrying configuration information / configuration signaling, etc.) that the network device can send can configure the communication resource. Wherein, the communication resource can include the communication resource of the network device, and the communication resource of the adjacent network device that can exist, so that the receiver of the signal can determine the corresponding communication resource based on the signal. For example, in the case where the receiver of the signal is a terminal device, the terminal device can obtain network service based on the communication resource.

[0141] Embodiments of the present application can involve a random access (RA) process, which will be described exemplarily below.

[0142] In LTE and NR, the terminal device completes uplink time synchronization with the network device through the random access process, and establishes an RRC connection with the network device through the random access process. After the terminal device and the network device establish the RRC connection, uplink and downlink traffic data transmission can be performed. Generally, before initiating uplink random access, the terminal device also needs to detect the downlink synchronization signal received from the network device to complete downlink time synchronization and frequency synchronization, wherein the downlink synchronization signal generally includes a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and in NR, the PSS and the SSS can be carried in a synchronization / broadcast block (SS / PBCH block, SSB).

[0143] Currently in NR, the random access procedure type includes two types: Type-1 random access (Type-1 RA) procedure and Type-2 random access (Type-2 RA) procedure, wherein the Type-1 RA procedure is also referred to as a four-step random access (4-step RA) procedure, and the Type-2 RA procedure is also referred to as a two-step random access (2-step RA) procedure. According to whether there is a conflict in the preamble sent between different terminal devices, the Type-1 / Type-2 RA procedure includes a contention based random access (CBRA) procedure and a contention free random access (CFRA) procedure, and the CBRA and CFRA procedures are basically the same.

[0144] As an example, the following will introduce the contention based random access procedure with the example shown in FIG. 4a.

[0145] Msg1 transmission: the terminal device randomly selects a certain RO (RO can be understood as a time-frequency resource for random access, and the network device pre-configures the association between RO and SSB index) associated with the selected SSB index for sending a preamble sequence (that is, Preamble, that is, Msg1) according to the received system message and the selected SSB index.

[0146] In addition, after determining the time-frequency resource (that is, RO), the terminal device can select a preamble sequence in the selected RO (generally, up to 64 preamble sequences can be transmitted simultaneously on one RO, and the terminal device selects one preamble sequence from the 64 preamble sequences) for sending. Then the terminal device sends the preamble sequence to the network device, and the preamble sequence is carried by PRACH.

[0147] Msg2 transmission: after receiving the preamble sequence, the network device sends random access response (RAR) information to the terminal device, and the RAR (that is, Msg2) can include one or more of the scheduling information of Msg3 (that is, random access response uplink grant (RAR UL grant) information), timing advance command (TAC) information, and temporary cell radio access network temporary identifier (TC-RNTI).

[0148] For the terminal device, the terminal device starts a random access response window after sending Msg1, and listens to Msg2 sent by the network side within the window.

[0149] For example, if the terminal device successfully detects its own RAR, the random access is successful, and the terminal device continues to send Msg3 according to the indication of the RAR. The role of Msg3 can include an indication of an RRC connection request.

[0150] For another example, if the terminal device determines that its own RAR is not received, the random access fails, and the terminal device reinitiates the random access process according to the backoff parameter indicated by the network device until the maximum random access number is reached.

[0151] Msg3 transmission: Msg3 is sent on the time-frequency resource specified in Msg2, and is carried by a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) channel.

[0152] Msg4 transmission: Msg4 is mainly used for conflict resolution. When multiple terminal devices access at the same time, it is necessary to determine which terminal device is selected to access in this random access.

[0153] Specifically, after sending Msg3, the terminal device listens to the Msg4 sent by the network side. Msg4 carries a conflict resolution identifier and air interface parameter configuration for the terminal device. If the terminal device successfully receives Msg4, the random access is successful, otherwise the random access fails. If it is successful, the terminal device continues to send Msg5, which is mainly used to send an RRC setup complete command. If it fails, the terminal device reinitiates the random access process according to the backoff parameter indicated by the network device until the maximum random access number is reached.

[0154] For example, as shown in FIG. 4b, taking CBRA as an example, the Type-2 RA process combines the first four steps into two steps on the basis of Type-1 RA. The terminal device simultaneously sends Msg1 and Msg3, which is called MsgA. After detecting MsgA, the network device feeds back and sends MsgB.

[0155] In addition, in the random access process, the terminal device can send a preamble sequence on an RO. One RO can be considered as a block of time-frequency resources for transmitting Msg1. Optionally, the terminal device can obtain the starting position of PRACH in the frequency domain and the frequency division multiplexing number according to the high layer information element (for example, the parameters msg1-FrequencyStart and msg1-FDM in RACH-ConfigGeneric), which also determines the frequency domain position of PRACH.

[0156] As shown in FIG. 4c, the vertical direction represents the frequency domain, and each block is one RO. The ROs are arranged from the frequency domain position specified by msg1-FrequencyStart, and there are 4 ROs.

[0157] During the Msg1 transmission process, the terminal device can select an RO to transmit the Preamble sequence based on the index of the selected SSB. Therefore, in NR, in addition to specifying the PRACH position, the network device also needs to specify the RO-SSB mapping relationship (one SSB index can be associated with multiple ROs, or multiple SSB indexes are associated with one RO). For example, the network device can configure the mapping relationship of Y SSBs to 1 RO through the high-level parameter ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB. When Y is less than 1, 1 SSB is associated with 1 / Y ROs; when Y is greater than 1, Y SSBs are associated with 1 RO (1 SSB is associated with 1 / Y ROs).

[0158] For example, as shown in Figure 4d, when Y = 1 / 2, one SSB is associated with two ROs, and when Y = 2, one RO is associated with two SSBs (two SSBs on one RO are associated with different preambles). Therefore, when one SSB index is associated with multiple ROs, the terminal device selects one of the multiple ROs and selects the preamble sequence to be transmitted on the RO. For example, after determining the association relationship between the RO and the SSB, the RO-SSB mapping can be started, and the order is frequency domain first, then time domain, first same slot, then same frame, and finally different frame.

[0159] As an example, as shown in Figure 4e, the horizontal direction represents the time domain and the vertical direction represents the frequency domain. When the SSB set used by the base station is {SSBi, SSBi+1, SSBi+2, SSBi+3}, msg1-FDM=4 and Y=1 / 4, 1 SSB is associated with 4 ROs, and the RO set is recorded as {RO1, RO2, RO3, RO4}. 16 ROs complete a complete RO-SSB mapping cycle. The specific RO-SSB mapping order is arranged starting from the frequency domain corresponding to a certain RO time domain position, that is, RO1-RO4 corresponding to SSBi occupy the first RO time domain of the starting PRACH time slot of the same frame. The position corresponds to the 4 RO positions in the frequency domain, RO1-RO4 corresponding to SSBi+1 occupies the second RO time domain position of the starting PRACH time slot corresponding to the 4 RO positions in the frequency domain, RO1-RO4 corresponding to SSBi+1 occupies the second RO time domain position of the starting PRACH time slot of the same frame corresponding to the 4 RO positions in the frequency domain, RO1-RO4 corresponding to SSBi+2 occupies the first RO time domain position of the second PRACH time slot of the same frame corresponding to the 4 RO positions in the frequency domain, RO1-RO4 corresponding to SSBi+3 occupies the second RO time domain position of the second PRACH time slot of the same frame corresponding to the 4 RO positions in the frequency domain.

[0160] In addition, in the random access process, the concepts of mapping cycle and association period may also be involved, which will be introduced respectively below.

[0161] Mapping cycle: mapping all SSBs transmitted by the base station to ROs once is called a mapping cycle. For example, as shown in FIG. 4f, assuming that the value of ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB is 1 (that is, a mapping relationship of Y = 1 SSB to 1 RO is configured, in other words, the RO and the SSB index are in a one-to-one relationship), the value of msg1-FDM is 2 (that is, the number of ROs in a time unit is 2, and the number of frequency division ROs (FDM-ROs) is 2), (that is, the number of different SSB indexes in the SSBs transmitted by the network device is 4). In FIG. 4f, taking SSB 0, SSB 1, SSB 2, and SSB 3 as examples, the four SSBs are mapped once, which is a mapping cycle. It should be understood that in this example, one mapping cycle includes 4 ROs. For example, RO 0 to RO 3 is a mapping cycle, and RO 4 to RO 7 is another mapping cycle. Alternatively, in this example, the SSB index can be other values, such as SSB index 5, SSB index 7, SSB index 8, SSB index 10, depending on the configuration of the base station.

[0162] Association period: The association period is an integer multiple of the PRACH configuration period, where when the PRACH configuration period is equal to 10 ms, the association period can be 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, or 160 ms. The specific value is to find a minimum value among these values, and to make sure that all transmitted SSBs are mapped at least once.

[0163] Generally, multiple preamble sequence code division multiplexing transmissions can be supported on one RO, and one NR cell supports multiple ROs. Unlike LTE, NR introduces multi-beam operation, so the random access procedure of NR is based on beam transmission. For terminal devices in the initial access stage, transmission is mainly based on SSB beams. For terminal devices in the connected state, transmission can also be based on channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) beams. NR can support network devices sending SSBs in multiple beam directions. For example, in frequency range 1 (FR1), 8 SSBs can be supported. For example, in frequency range 2 (FR2), several tens or even hundreds of SSBs can be supported. The terminal device can select one of the SSBs and use the SSB beam to send the PRACH signal.

[0164] For example, the terminal device can select an SSB to send the PRACH in the following manner: for example, if the network device does not configure a reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold value, the terminal device can select an SSB to send the PRACH at will, otherwise, the terminal device can select an SSB to send the PRACH at will from the SSB(s) that exceed the RSRP threshold value (if any).

[0165] In a wireless communication system, a communication connection can be established between a terminal device and a network device through a random access procedure (such as the procedures shown in FIG. 4a or FIG. 4b), and the terminal device can obtain network services by transmitting communication signals through the communication connection.

[0166] In one possible implementation, in the random access procedure, the success rate of random access of the terminal device can be improved by supporting coverage enhancement on the PRACH resource. Specifically, after receiving a synchronization signal (such as an SSB), the terminal device can use the same transmission beam to repeatedly transmit the same preamble for the SSB. The number of repeated transmissions can be 1, 2, 4, 8, etc. For example, taking the procedure of Msg1 in FIG. 4a as an example, in FIG. 4a, after receiving an SSB, the terminal device can transmit repeatedly transmitted Msg1 for an SSB with an RSRP greater than a threshold value. In this way, compared with the single transmission of Msg1, when the number of repeated transmissions is greater than 1, the success rate of receiving the Msg1 by the network device can be improved, and thus the access success rate can be improved.

[0167] However, in the above process, in the case that the number of repeated transmission of Msg1 is greater than 1, although the access success rate can be improved, the transmission resource (i.e. PRACH resource) of Msg1 occupied by the same terminal device will increase. For example, the number of repeated transmission of Msg1 is 2, which means that twice the resource of single transmission of Msg1 is needed to access, and this way will cause the access capacity to decrease.

[0168] Therefore, how to improve the access capacity in the random access process is a technical problem to be solved.

[0169] To solve the above problems, the present application provides a communication method and related apparatus, which will be described in detail below in combination with the accompanying drawings.

[0170] Please refer to Fig. 5, which is an implementation schematic diagram of the communication method provided by the present application, and the method comprises the following steps.

[0171] It should be noted that in the following, the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus in Fig. 5 are taken as an example to illustrate the execution subject of the interaction, but the present application does not limit the execution subject of the interaction. For example, the communication apparatus can be a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device), or a chip, a baseband chip, a modem chip, a system on chip (SoC) chip containing a modem core, a system in package (SIP) chip, a communication module, a chip system, a processor, a logic module or software in a communication device, etc. Among them, the first communication apparatus can be a terminal device and the second communication apparatus can be a network device.

[0172] S501. The second communication apparatus sends first information, and correspondingly, the first communication apparatus receives the first information. The first information is used to determine a first PRACH resource set, and the first PRACH resource set supports multi-user multiplexing.

[0173] It should be noted that one resource (such as the first PRACH resource set, one or more RO resources described below, etc.) supports multi-user multiplexing, which can be understood as that the resource supports multi-user multiplexing of signal transmission, i.e. part or all of the signals (such as PRACH signals) carried by the resource can be obtained by using orthogonal sequence processing.

[0174] S502. The first communication device transmits the first signal in N times of repeated transmissions, and correspondingly, the second communication device receives part or all of the first signal in the N times of repeated transmissions. The first signal is used for random access, and N is an integer greater than 1. The first signal in the N times of repeated transmissions is carried on part or all of the resources in the first PRACH resource set, and the first signal in the N times of repeated transmissions is obtained by processing a preamble sequence based on a first orthogonal sequence in M orthogonal sequences, and M is an integer greater than 1.

[0175] It should be noted that due to the possibility of transmission errors in signal transmission, after the first communication device transmits the first signal in N times of repeated transmissions, the second communication device can receive part or all of the first signal in the N times of repeated transmissions.

[0176] In this application, in the M orthogonal sequences, different sequences can be two-by-two orthogonal sequences, or any sequence is orthogonal to other sequences. The orthogonal sequences can be implemented in various ways, such as superimposed orthogonal cover codes (OCC), sequences based on discrete fourier transform (DFT), sequences based on walsh codes, etc.

[0177] The M orthogonal sequences can be used to implement resource reuse, where resource reuse means that multiple users send information / signaling / data in the same resource to improve resource utilization and system capacity, and the information / signaling / data sent by each user is processed by one of the M orthogonal sequences. For example, orthogonal sequences with a length of 2 (i.e., M = 2), two groups of sequences are {1, 1} and {1, -1}, and taking two terminal devices as an example, the two terminal devices respectively use the two groups of sequences to expand and repeat the data, which can ensure that they transmit in the same time-frequency resource without interfering with each other. For example, the transmission signal s1 of UE1 is expanded to {s1*a1, s1*a2} using the sequence {a1, a2}, and the transmission signal s2 of UE2 is expanded to {s2*b1, s2*b2} using the sequence {b1, b2}. UE1 and UE2 both send their own signals in the same resource, and the receiver can use the sequence {a1, a2} to solve the signal s1 and the sequence {b1, b2} to solve the signal s2.

[0178] As an example, the orthogonal sequences with a length of 4 (i.e., M = 4) are shown in Table 2.

[0179] Table 2

[0180] In Table 2, taking M=4 as an example, the M orthogonal sequences can include part or all of the sequence [+1+1+1+1] with index 0, the sequence [+1-j-1+j] with index 1, the sequence [+1-1+1-1] with index 2, and the sequence [+1+j-1-j] with index 2. Correspondingly, the first orthogonal sequence used by the first communication device in step S502 can be one of the sequences in Table 2.

[0181] As an example, the orthogonal sequences with length 2 (i.e., M=2) are shown in Table 3.

[0182] Table 3

[0183] In Table 3, taking M=2 as an example, the M orthogonal sequences can include the sequence [+1+1] with index 0 and the sequence [+1-1] with index 1. Correspondingly, the first orthogonal sequence used by the first communication device in step S502 can be one of the sequences in Table 3.

[0184] Optionally, the M sequences can be indicated by the network device to the first communication device (e.g., indicated by a broadcast message), or can be preconfigured by a protocol / standard, which is not limited herein.

[0185] In this application, the orthogonal sequence can be replaced by other terms, such as orthogonal code, orthogonal information, orthogonal matrix, orthogonal spreading code, orthogonal spreading sequence, or orthogonal cover code, etc.

[0186] In this application, the preamble sequence can be replaced by other terms, such as preamble, random access sequence, random access preamble, etc.

[0187] Optionally, the process of determining the first orthogonal sequence from the M orthogonal sequences by the first communication device can be that the first communication device randomly determines one orthogonal sequence from the M orthogonal sequences as the first orthogonal sequence, or can be that the first communication device determines the first orthogonal sequence based on the indication of the network device (or the preconfigured manner of the protocol / standard), or can be that the first communication device determines the first orthogonal sequence based on the time domain unit index (e.g., frame number, time slot number, etc.) of the current communication, which is not limited herein.

[0188] Optionally, a length of any of the M orthogonal sequences is K, K is greater than or equal to M, and K is less than or equal to N. The sequence with the length of K is applied to the repeatedly transmitted PRACH signal. In the case that K is less than or equal to N, the orthogonality between the repeatedly transmitted PRACH signals sent by different users can be achieved, and the interference between different users can be reduced. Optionally, K can also be greater than N. In this case, the orthogonality between the repeatedly transmitted PRACH signals sent by different users can be poor, but compared with the processing mode without the orthogonal sequence, a certain anti-interference performance can also be obtained.

[0189] Optionally, the process of processing the preamble sequence based on the first orthogonal sequence by the first communication device can involve one or more processes, such as scrambling processing, encryption processing, and the like.

[0190] Optionally, the first signal is used for random access. It can be understood that the first signal is a random access signal, a preamble signal, Msg1, and the like.

[0191] Based on the scheme shown in FIG. 5, the first communication device can determine the first PRACH resource set based on the first information received in step S501, and the first PRACH resource set supports multi-user multiplexing. Accordingly, the first communication device can send the first signal (i.e., the first signal can be referred to as a random access signal) for random access through part or all of the resources in the first PRACH resource set in step S502, and the N times repeatedly transmitted first signal is obtained by processing the preamble sequence based on the first orthogonal sequence of the M orthogonal sequences, and M is greater than 1. In this way, the repeatedly transmitted random access signals sent by different first communication devices can be obtained based on M different orthogonal sequences, and accordingly, the receiver (e.g., the second communication device) of the random access signal can distinguish the different random access signals based on the M orthogonal sequences after receiving the different random access signals. Thus, by processing the random access signal based on the orthogonal sequence, different first communication devices can multiplex the same PRACH resource to implement random access, to support multi-user multiplexing, and to improve the access capacity.

[0192] In addition, the first signal for random access transmitted by the first communication device in step S502 is transmitted through N times of repeated transmission, i.e., the receiver (e.g., the second communication device) of the first signal can receive the random access signal through one or more repeated transmissions from the same communication device. In this way, the success rate of the receiver receiving the random access signal can be improved to reduce the random access delay. For example, in a communication scenario with poor link budget (e.g., an NTN communication scenario), the communication signal between different communication devices (e.g., a communication device on the ground and a satellite communication device) can be lost. Therefore, through the above scheme, the success rate of the signal receiver receiving the signal can be increased through repeated transmission of the signal.

[0193] In the method shown in FIG. 5, the first information received by the first communication device in step S501 is used to determine the first PRACH resource set, wherein the first information can include various parameters / information elements / fields / indication information for determining the first PRACH resource set, which will be described in combination with some implementation manners.

[0194] In implementation manner one, the first information received by the first communication device in step S501 includes first indication information, which is used to indicate one or more RO resources supporting multi-user multiplexing (e.g., the first indication information can include one or more of the index, identifier, resource location of the one or more RO resources); wherein the RO resources included in the first PRACH resource set are the one or more RO resources.

[0195] Specifically, the random access signal can be carried on the RO resource of the PRACH, and accordingly, the first information can carry the first indication information in such a way that the first communication device can determine the RO resource for signal processing using the orthogonal sequence based on the first indication information, so as to realize flexible indication of the PRACH resource set supporting multi-user multiplexing.

[0196] For example, taking the 8 ROs (i.e., RO 0 to RO 7) shown in FIG. 4f as an example. In implementation manner one, the first indication information can indicate that the PRACH signal carried on part or all of the 8 ROs through at least two repeated transmissions is processed using the orthogonal sequence. Taking the RO resources indicated by the first indication information as RO 0, RO 2, RO 4 and RO 6 as an example, the description is as follows.

[0197] As an example, the first indication information can include 8 bits, each of which corresponds to one of the 8 ROs. Wherein, the bit corresponding to a certain RO takes value 1, indicating that the PRACH signal carried on the RO is processed using orthogonal sequence (or indicating that the RO supports multi-user multiplexing, or indicating that the RO supports OCC transmission) at least twice. Correspondingly, the bit corresponding to a certain RO takes value 0, indicating that the PRACH signal carried on the RO is not processed using orthogonal sequence (or indicating that the RO does not support multi-user multiplexing, or indicating that the RO does not support OCC transmission) at least twice. In this case, the 8 bits included in the first information take values 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 respectively. In this way, the first communication device can determine the one or more ROs corresponding to the bits taking value 1 in the 8 bits as the RO resources in the first PRACH resource.

[0198] For example, taking the number of repeated transmissions as 2 (i.e. N = 2) as an example, in FIG. 4f, the first communication device can determine that the first PRACH resource set includes RO 0, RO 2, RO 4 and RO 6 through the first indication information. Correspondingly, the first communication device can send the PRACH signal of the first repeated transmission in RO 0, and send the PRACH signal of the second repeated transmission in RO 2. Taking the sequence “[+1 -1]” corresponding to the index “1” in Table 3 as the first orthogonal sequence based on the first communication device as an example, the PRACH signal of the first repeated transmission can be processed based on the first element “+1” of the first orthogonal sequence, and the PRACH signal of the second repeated transmission can be processed based on the second element “-1” of the first orthogonal sequence.

[0199] Optionally, in the above example, the meaning of taking value 1 and the meaning of taking value 0 can be exchanged.

[0200] Optionally, in the above example, for the indication of any RO, in addition to the implementation by one bit taking value 1 or 0, it can also be implemented by two or more bits, and the above is only an example.

[0201] As an example, the first indication information can include 2 bits, which respectively correspond to the ROs of the two frequency domain resources. As shown in the example of FIG. 4f, the frequency domain resource where the RO 0, the RO 2, the RO 4 and the RO 6 are located is recorded as the frequency domain resource 1, and the frequency domain resource where the RO 1, the RO 3, the RO 5 and the RO 7 are located is recorded as the frequency domain resource 2. Among them, the bit corresponding to a certain frequency domain resource taking the value of 1 indicates that the PRACH signals of at least two repeated transmissions carried on the RO corresponding to the frequency domain resource are obtained by using orthogonal sequence processing (or indicates that the RO corresponding to the frequency domain resource supports multi-user multiplexing, or indicates that the RO corresponding to the frequency domain resource supports OCC transmission). Correspondingly, the bit corresponding to a certain frequency domain resource taking the value of 0 indicates that the PRACH signals of at least two repeated transmissions carried on the RO corresponding to the frequency domain resource are not obtained by using orthogonal sequence processing (or indicates that the RO corresponding to the frequency domain resource does not support multi-user multiplexing, or indicates that the RO corresponding to the frequency domain resource does not support OCC transmission). In this case, the 2 bits included in the first information respectively take the values of 1 0. In this way, the first communication device can determine one or more ROs on the frequency domain resource corresponding to the bit taking the value of 1 in the 2 bits as the RO resource in the first PRACH resource.

[0202] In implementation manner two, the first information received by the first communication device in step S501 includes second indication information used for indicating a resource interval; and the first PRACH resource set is determined in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information.

[0203] Among them, the PRACH resource can generally be used by multiple communication devices, and correspondingly, the number of RO resources included in the PRACH resource for random access can be relatively large. Therefore, in implementation manner two, the first information can include second indication information used for indicating a resource interval, so that the first communication device can determine the first PRACH resource set in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information.

[0204] Optionally, the resource interval indicated by the second indication information can include one or more of a time domain resource interval, a frequency domain resource interval, and a time-frequency domain resource interval (for example, an RO resource interval).

[0205] It should be understood that in the second PRACH resource set, one or more types of PRACH resources can be included. For example, the PRACH signals of at least two repeated transmissions carried on a certain type of PRACH resource are obtained by using orthogonal sequence processing, that is, the first PRACH resource set is part or all of the PRACH resources of this type.

[0206] Optionally, in the second PRACH resource set, other types of PRACH resources can also be included. For example, a PRACH signal with a single transmission carried on a certain type of PRACH resource. For another example, a PRACH signal with at least two repeated transmissions carried on a certain type of PRACH resource is not obtained using orthogonal sequence processing.

[0207] In a possible implementation of the second implementation, the first information further includes third indication information, the third indication information being used to indicate a resource start position and / or a resource end position; wherein the first PRACH resource set is determined in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information and the third indication information. Thus, the first communication device determines the first PRACH resource set in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information and the third indication information.

[0208] Similarly, the resource start position and / or the resource end position can be one or more of a resource start position of a time domain resource, a resource end position of a time domain resource, a resource start position of a frequency domain resource, a resource end position of a frequency domain resource, a resource start position of a time-frequency domain resource (for example, a RO resource), and a resource end position of a time-frequency domain resource.

[0209] Optionally, the third indication information can be included in other information different from the first information, that is, the first communication device can obtain the second indication information and the third indication information respectively through different information received.

[0210] Optionally, the resource start position and / or the resource end position can be preconfigured third indication information, and accordingly, the first information can not include the third indication information.

[0211] For example, taking the eight ROs (RO 0 to RO 7) shown in FIG. 4f as an example. In the second implementation, the resource interval indicated by the second indication information can be a RO resource interval. Taking the resource interval indicated by the second indication information as an example, the resource interval can be 1 RO resource interval. For ease of understanding, in the following examples, the resource start position is taken as the first RO (RO 0 in FIG. 4f) as an example.

[0212] As an example, taking the number of repeated transmissions as 2 (N=2) as an example, in FIG. 4f, the first communication device can determine that the resource position of the first repeated transmission is RO 0, and the resource position of the second repeated transmission is spaced apart from the resource position of the first repeated transmission by 1 RO resource interval, that is, the first communication device can determine that the resource position of the second repeated transmission is RO 2.

[0213] As an example, taking the number of repeated transmissions as 4 (i.e. N = 4) as an example, in FIG. 4f, the first communication device can determine the resource position of the first repeated transmission as RO 0, and the interval of the other three subsequent repeated transmissions is 1 RO resource interval, i.e. the first communication device can determine the resource position of the second repeated transmission as RO 2, the resource position of the third repeated transmission as RO 4, and the resource position of the second repeated transmission as RO 6.

[0214] As can be seen from the above examples, the second indication information in the second implementation manner can indicate the resource interval through a smaller number of bits, thereby reducing the overhead.

[0215] In the third implementation manner, the first information received by the first communication device in step S501 includes fourth indication information, which is used to indicate that the resource type of the first PRACH resource set is the first type; and the PRACH resource of the first type satisfies at least one of the following:

[0216] is used only to carry PRACH signals of at least two repeated transmissions;

[0217] is not used to carry PRACH signals of single transmission;

[0218] only supports carrying PRACH signals of at least two repeated transmissions; or

[0219] does not support carrying PRACH signals of single transmission.

[0220] Specifically, the first information received by the first communication device can include fourth indication information used to indicate that the resource type of the first PRACH resource set is the first type, and the PRACH resource of the first type satisfies the above one. In other words, the first communication device can distinguish different PRACH resources by whether the PRACH resource is used to carry PRACH signals of single transmission. Since the legacy communication device generally only supports sending PRACH of single transmission, through the above scheme, the random access signal can be processed using the orthogonal sequence on the PRACH resource supporting carrying PRACH signals of at least two repeated transmissions, so that the scheme can be compatible with the legacy communication device, and can avoid affecting the random access process of these communication devices.

[0221] Optionally, the first information and the second information can be contained in the same message / signaling, or the first information and the second information can be contained in different messages / signaling, which is not limited here.

[0222] Optionally, the PRACH resource of the other type (e.g. the second type) satisfies at least one of the following:

[0223] The PRACH signal carrying only a single transmission, the PRACH signal supporting only a single transmission, the PRACH signal carrying at least two repeated transmissions and the PRACH signal carrying a single transmission, or the PRACH signal supporting at least two repeated transmissions and the PRACH signal supporting a single transmission.

[0224] Optionally, the PRACH resource of the first type is a separate RO (separate RO) resource, the PRACH resource of the second type is a shared RO (shared RO) resource, or the two types of PRACH resources are other names, which are not limited here.

[0225] In implementation four, the first information received by the first communication device in step S501 includes fifth indication information, the fifth indication information being used to indicate the index of one or more second signals used for synchronization; wherein the one or more second signals correspond to the PRACH resource in the first PRACH resource set. In other words, the PRACH resource corresponding to the one or more second signals indicated by the fifth indication information is of the first type (or the one or more second signals indicated by the fifth indication information correspond to the PRACH resource supporting multi-user multiplexing transmission, or the at least two repeated transmissions of the PRACH signal carried on the PRACH resource corresponding to the one or more second signals indicated by the fifth indication information is obtained using an orthogonal sequence).

[0226] Optionally, the second signal is one or more of the PSS, the SSS, and the SSB.

[0227] Specifically, the first information can include fifth indication information used to indicate the index of one or more second signals used for synchronization, so that the first communication device determines the PRACH resource corresponding to the one or more second signals as the first PRACH resource set based on the fifth indication information. Since the beam direction corresponding to different second signals can be different, and the access demand of different beam directions can be different, therefore, through the above scheme, the sender of the first information (for example, the second communication device) can specify the PRACH resource corresponding to the one or more second signals as the PRACH resource in the first PRACH resource set, so that the sender can flexibly schedule the access of communication devices of different beam directions.

[0228] In other words, since the random access resource is in a corresponding relationship with the downlink synchronization signal, after the first communication device detects the downlink synchronization signal, it can know the random access resource (i.e., the RO resource) corresponding to the downlink synchronization signal. For example, in the NTN scenario, the signal of the satellite base station can generally cover a relatively large ground area, and the density of terminal devices in different ground areas is likely to be different, which leads to the fact that the access resource demand of some SSB directions is large and it is suitable to use multi-user multiplexing, and the access resource demand of some directions is small and it is possible not to use multi-user multiplexing. Therefore, based on implementation manner four, the prohibition and permission of multi-user multiplexing can be performed for the SSB index level. For example, the fifth indication information can be in the form of a bitmap or a PRACH mask to indicate the index of one or more second signals.

[0229] Optionally, if two or more SSBs correspond to the same RO (for example, the scenario of Y = 2 shown in FIG. 4d), the second communication device (for example, the network device) can ensure that the PRACH resource types corresponding to the two or more SSBs mapped on the same RO are the same; or, according to the protocol agreement or the network side indication, the PRACH resources corresponding to the two or more SSBs mapped on the same RO use the same signal processing mode (i.e., the PRACH signals of at least two repeated transmissions carried on the PRACH resources corresponding to the two or more SSBs are processed using orthogonal sequences (i.e., multi-user multiplexing is supported), or the PRACH signals of at least two repeated transmissions carried on the PRACH resources corresponding to the two or more SSBs are not processed using orthogonal sequences (i.e., multi-user multiplexing is not supported)).

[0230] It should be noted that the first information can be implemented in one or more of the above-mentioned implementation manners one to four, i.e., the first information can include one or more of the first indication information, the second indication information, the fourth indication information, and the fifth indication information.

[0231] In the manner shown in FIG. 5, the M orthogonal sequences used by the first communication device in step S502 satisfy at least one of the following:

[0232] In the M orthogonal sequences, at least one element included in the first orthogonal sequence has a value other than +1;

[0233] The M orthogonal sequences include a second orthogonal sequence, and the elements included in the second orthogonal sequence all have a value of +1; and the first orthogonal sequence is different from the second orthogonal sequence.

[0234] The M orthogonal sequences do not include an orthogonal sequence whose elements are all +1.

[0235] Specifically, since a sequence can be obtained by processing an orthogonal sequence whose elements are all +1, i.e., the processing of the orthogonal sequence whose elements are all +1 does not change the values of the sequence, and correspondingly, in the case that a legacy communication device only supports sending a single transmission PRACH, the random access signal sent by the legacy communication device can be regarded as a result obtained by processing an orthogonal sequence whose elements are all +1. In the above process, in the case that the first orthogonal sequence satisfies the at least one condition, the first signal of the N repeated transmissions sent by the first communication device is not obtained based on an orthogonal sequence whose elements are all +1. In this way, different first communication devices can reuse more PRACH resources to support multi-user multiplexing as much as possible, while avoiding affecting the legacy communication device.

[0236] For example, in the case of M=2 (as in Table 2), for an orthogonal sequence of length 2, the first communication device selects an orthogonal sequence other than all 1 as the first orthogonal sequence; in the case of M=4 (as in Table 3), for an orthogonal sequence of length 4, the first communication device selects one of the three orthogonal sequences other than all 1 as the first orthogonal sequence.

[0237] Referring to FIG. 6, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication device 600, which can implement the functions of the second communication device or the first communication device in the above method embodiments, and thus can also implement the beneficial effects possessed by the above method embodiments. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device 600 can be a first communication device (or a second communication device), or an integrated circuit or element inside the first communication device (or the second communication device), such as a chip.

[0238] It should be noted that the transceiver unit 602 can include a sending unit and a receiving unit, which are respectively used for sending and receiving.

[0239] In a possible implementation, when the apparatus 600 is configured to perform the method performed by the first communication apparatus in the foregoing embodiments, the apparatus 600 includes a processing unit 601 and a transceiver 602; the transceiver 602 is configured to receive first information, and the processing unit 601 is configured to determine a first set of physical random access channel (PRACH) resources based on the first information, the first set of PRACH resources supporting multi-user multiplexing; the transceiver 602 is further configured to transmit a first signal with N repetitions, the first signal being used for random access, N being an integer greater than 1; wherein the first signal with N repetitions is carried in part or all of the first set of PRACH resources, and the first signal with N repetitions is obtained by processing a preamble sequence based on a first orthogonal sequence in M orthogonal sequences, M being an integer greater than 1.

[0240] In a possible implementation, when the apparatus 600 is configured to perform the method performed by the second communication apparatus in the foregoing embodiments, the apparatus 600 includes a processing unit 601 and a transceiver 602; the processing unit 601 is configured to determine first information; the transceiver 602 is configured to transmit the first information, the first information being used to determine a first set of physical random access channel (PRACH) resources, the first set of PRACH resources supporting multi-user multiplexing; the transceiver 602 is further configured to receive part or all of a first signal with N repetitions, the first signal being used for random access, N being an integer greater than 1; wherein the first signal with N repetitions is carried in part or all of the first set of PRACH resources, and the first signal with N repetitions is obtained by processing a preamble sequence based on a first orthogonal sequence in M orthogonal sequences, M being an integer greater than 1.

[0241] It should be noted that the information execution process and the like of the units of the communication apparatus 600 are described in the foregoing method embodiments of the present application, which will not be described here.

[0242] Referring to FIG. 7, another schematic structural diagram of a communication apparatus 700 provided in the present application is shown, which includes a logic circuit 701 and an input-output interface 702. The communication apparatus 700 can be a chip or an integrated circuit.

[0243] The transceiver 602 shown in FIG. 6 can be a communication interface, which can be the input-output interface 702 in FIG. 7, and the input-output interface 702 can include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communication interface can also be a transceiver circuit, which can include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0244] Optionally, the input and output interface 702 is configured to receive first information, and the logic circuit 701 is configured to determine, based on the first information, a first set of physical random access channel (PRACH) resources, the first set of PRACH resources supporting multi-user multiplexing; the input and output interface 702 is further configured to transmit a first signal with N times of repeated transmissions, the first signal being used for random access, N being an integer greater than 1; wherein the first signal with N times of repeated transmissions is carried in part or all of the first set of PRACH resources, and the first signal with N times of repeated transmissions is obtained by processing a preamble sequence based on a first orthogonal sequence in M orthogonal sequences, M being an integer greater than 1.

[0245] Optionally, the logic circuit 701 is configured to determine first information, and the input and output interface 702 is configured to transmit the first information, the first information being used for determining a first set of physical random access channel (PRACH) resources, the first set of PRACH resources supporting multi-user multiplexing; the input and output interface 702 is further configured to receive part or all of a first signal with N times of repeated transmissions, the first signal being used for random access, N being an integer greater than 1; wherein the first signal with N times of repeated transmissions is carried in part or all of the first set of PRACH resources, and the first signal with N times of repeated transmissions is obtained by processing a preamble sequence based on a first orthogonal sequence in M orthogonal sequences, M being an integer greater than 1.

[0246] The logic circuit 701 and the input and output interface 702 can also perform other steps performed by the first communication device or the second communication device in any of the embodiments and achieve the corresponding beneficial effects, which will not be described here.

[0247] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 601 shown in FIG. 6 can be the logic circuit 701 in FIG. 7.

[0248] Optionally, the logic circuit 701 can be a processing device, and the functions of the processing device can be partially or entirely implemented by software.

[0249] Optionally, the processing device can include a memory and a processor, where the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the corresponding processing and / or steps in any one of the method embodiments.

[0250] Optionally, the processing device can include only the processor. The memory for storing the computer program is located outside the processing device, and the processor is connected with the memory through a circuit / wire to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory. The memory and the processor can be integrated together or can be physically independent of each other.

[0251] Optionally, the processing device can be one or more chips, or one or more integrated circuits. For example, the processing device can be one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), system on chips (SoC), central processor units (CPU), network processors (NP), digital signal processors (DSP), micro controller units (MCU), programmable logic devices (PLD), or other integrated circuits, or any combination of the above chips or processors, etc.

[0252] Referring to FIG. 8, a communication device 800 involved in the above embodiments provided by the embodiments of the present application is shown, which can be the communication device as the terminal device in the above embodiments, and the communication device in the example shown in FIG. 8 is implemented by the terminal device (or components in the terminal device).

[0253] Optionally, the communication device 800 can include but is not limited to at least one processor 801 and a communication port 802.

[0254] Optionally, the transceiver unit 602 shown in FIG. 6 can be a communication interface, which can be the communication port 802 in FIG. 8, and the communication port 802 can include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communication port 802 can also be a transceiver circuit, which can include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0255] Further optionally, the device can further include at least one of a memory 803 and a bus 804, and in the embodiments of the present application, the at least one processor 801 is configured to control and process the actions of the communication device 800.

[0256] Further, the processor 801 can be a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, transistor logic, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute various example logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor can also be a combination of computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, and the like. For the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described system, device, and unit can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be described herein.

[0257] It should be noted that the communication device 800 shown in FIG. 8 can be specifically used to implement the steps implemented by the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments, and achieve the corresponding technical effects of the terminal device. The specific implementation of the communication device shown in FIG. 8 can be referred to the description in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be described herein.

[0258] Please refer to FIG. 9, which is a structural schematic diagram of a communication device 900 involved in the foregoing embodiments provided by the embodiments of the present application. The communication device 900 can be specifically the communication device as the network device in the foregoing embodiments. The communication device in the example shown in FIG. 9 is implemented by a network device (or a component in the network device), and the structure of the communication device can be referred to the structure shown in FIG. 9.

[0259] The communication device 900 includes at least one processor 911 and at least one network interface 914. Further optionally, the communication device further includes at least one memory 912, at least one transceiver 913, and one or more antennas 915. The processor 911, the memory 912, the transceiver 913, and the network interface 914 are connected, for example, through a bus. In the embodiments of the present application, the connection can include various interfaces, transmission lines, or buses, etc., which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application. The antenna 915 is connected to the transceiver 913. The network interface 914 is used to enable the communication device to communicate with other communication devices through a communication link. For example, the network interface 914 can include a network interface between the communication device and a core network device, such as an S1 interface. The network interface can include a network interface between the communication device and other communication devices (such as other network devices or core network devices), such as an X2 or Xn interface.

[0260] The transceiver unit 602 shown in FIG. 6 can be a communication interface, which can be the network interface 914 in FIG. 9. The network interface 914 can include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the network interface 914 can be a transceiver circuit, which can include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0261] The processor 911 is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, and controlling the whole communication device, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs, for example, for supporting the communication device to perform the actions described in the embodiments. The communication device can include a baseband processor mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, and a central processor mainly used for controlling the whole terminal device, executing software programs, and processing data of the software programs. The processor 911 in FIG. 9 can integrate the functions of the baseband processor and the central processor, and those skilled in the art can understand that the baseband processor and the central processor can also be independent processors interconnected by a bus or the like. Those skilled in the art can understand that the terminal device can include multiple baseband processors to adapt to different network modes, and the terminal device can include multiple central processors to enhance its processing capability, and various components of the terminal device can be connected by various buses. The baseband processor can also be referred to as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processor can also be referred to as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing communication protocols and communication data can be built into the processor, or stored in the memory in the form of a software program, and the processor executes the software program to realize the baseband processing function.

[0262] The memory is mainly used for storing software programs and data. The memory 912 can exist independently and be connected with the processor 911. Alternatively, the memory 912 can be integrated with the processor 911, for example, integrated in a chip. The memory 912 can store program codes for executing the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and the processor 911 controls the execution. Various computer programs executed can also be regarded as a driver of the processor 911.

[0263] FIG. 9 only shows one memory and one processor. In an actual terminal device, there can be multiple processors and multiple memories. The memory can also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc. The memory can be a storage element on the same chip as the processor, that is, an on-chip storage element, or an independent storage element, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0264] The transceiver 913 can be configured to support the receiving or transmitting of radio frequency signals between the communication device and a terminal. The transceiver 913 can be connected to the antenna 915. The transceiver 913 includes a transmitter Tx and a receiver Rx. Specifically, the one or more antennas 915 can receive radio frequency signals, the receiver Rx of the transceiver 913 is configured to receive the radio frequency signals from the antenna and convert the radio frequency signals into digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, and provide the digital baseband signals or the digital intermediate frequency signals to the processor 911 for further processing, such as demodulation processing and decoding processing, of the digital baseband signals or the digital intermediate frequency signals by the processor 911. In addition, the transmitter Tx in the transceiver 913 is also configured to receive modulated digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals from the processor 911, and convert the modulated digital baseband signals or the digital intermediate frequency signals into radio frequency signals, and transmit the radio frequency signals through the one or more antennas 915. Specifically, the receiver Rx can selectively perform one or more levels of down-mixing processing and analog-to-digital conversion processing on the radio frequency signals to obtain the digital baseband signals or the digital intermediate frequency signals, and the order of the down-mixing processing and the analog-to-digital conversion processing can be adjustable. The transmitter Tx can selectively perform one or more levels of up-mixing processing and digital-to-analog conversion processing on the modulated digital baseband signals or the digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain the radio frequency signals, and the order of the up-mixing processing and the digital-to-analog conversion processing can be adjustable. The digital baseband signals and the digital intermediate frequency signals can be collectively referred to as digital signals.

[0265] The transceiver 913 can also be referred to as a transceiving unit, a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. Optionally, the devices in the transceiving unit for implementing the receiving function can be regarded as a receiving unit, and the devices in the transceiving unit for implementing the transmitting function can be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiving unit includes the receiving unit and the transmitting unit, the receiving unit can also be referred to as a receiver, an input port, a receiving circuit, etc., and the transmitting unit can be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

[0266] It should be noted that the communication device 900 shown in FIG. 9 can be specifically configured to implement the steps implemented by the network device in the foregoing method embodiments, and achieve the corresponding technical effects of the network device. The specific implementation mode of the communication device 900 shown in FIG. 9 can be referred to the description in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be described here one by one.

[0267] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer readable storage medium for storing one or more computer execution instructions, when the computer execution instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in the possible implementation mode of the first communication device or the second communication device in the foregoing embodiments.

[0268] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product (or computer program), when the computer program product is executed by the processor, the processor executes the method of the possible implementation manners of the first communication device or the second communication device.

[0269] The embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, which comprises at least one processor for supporting the communication device to implement the functions involved in the possible implementation manners of the communication device. Optionally, the chip system further comprises an interface circuit, which provides program instructions and / or data for the at least one processor. In a possible design, the chip system can further comprise a memory, which is used to store necessary program instructions and data of the communication device. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or can comprise a chip and other discrete devices, and the communication device can be the first communication device or the second communication device in the foregoing method embodiments.

[0270] The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which comprises the first communication device and the second communication device in any of the foregoing embodiments.

[0271] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented in other manners. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic; the division of the units is only a logical function division; there can be another division manner for the actual implementation, for example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections between the units can be indirect couplings or communication connections through some interfaces, devices or units, and can be electrical, mechanical or in other forms.

[0272] The units described as separated components can or can not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units can or can not be physical units, i.e., can be located in one place, or can be distributed on multiple network units. According to actual needs, some or all of the units can be selected to implement the purposes of the embodiments.

[0273] In addition, each function unit in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of a software function unit. When the integrated unit is realized in the form of a software function unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of the present application, essentially or in the form of a contribution, or all or part of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in each embodiment of the present application. The foregoing storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM, Read-Only Memory), a random access memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various media that can store program codes.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: receiving first information, where the first information is used to determine a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource set, where the first PRACH resource set supports multi-user multiplexing; Send a first signal that is repeatedly transmitted N times, where the first signal is used for random access, and N is an integer greater than 1; wherein the first signal that is repeatedly transmitted N times is carried on part or all of the resources in the first PRACH resource set, and the first signal that is repeatedly transmitted N times is obtained by processing a preamble sequence based on a first orthogonal sequence among M orthogonal sequences, and M is an integer greater than 1.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first information includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate one or more random access opportunity RO resources supporting multi-user multiplexing; wherein the RO resources included in the first PRACH resource set are the one or more RO resources.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first information includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate a resource interval; wherein the first PRACH resource set is determined in a second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The first information also includes third indication information, and the third indication information is used to indicate the resource starting position and / or resource ending position; wherein the first PRACH resource set is determined in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information and the third indication information.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The first information includes fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that a resource type of the first PRACH resource set is a first type; wherein the PRACH resource of the first type satisfies at least one of the following: Only used to carry PRACH signals that are repeatedly transmitted at least twice; Not used to carry a single transmission PRACH signal; Only supports PRACH signals that carry at least two repeated transmissions; or, PRACH signals carrying single transmissions are not supported.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that The first information includes fifth indication information, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate an index of one or more second signals, and the one or more second signals are used for synchronization; wherein the one or more second signals correspond to PRACH resources in the first PRACH resource set.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that The M orthogonal sequences satisfy at least one of the following: Among the M orthogonal sequences, the value of at least one element included in the first orthogonal sequence is not +1; The M orthogonal sequences include a second orthogonal sequence, and the values ​​of the elements contained in the second orthogonal sequence are all +1; wherein the first orthogonal sequence is different from the second orthogonal sequence; The M orthogonal sequences do not include an orthogonal sequence in which all elements have values ​​of +1.

8. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Sending first information, where the first information is used to determine a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource set, where the first PRACH resource set supports multi-user multiplexing; Receive part or all of a first signal that is repeatedly transmitted N times, where the first signal is used for random access, and N is an integer greater than 1; wherein the first signal that is repeatedly transmitted N times is carried on part or all of the resources in the first PRACH resource set, and the first signal that is repeatedly transmitted N times is obtained by processing a preamble sequence based on a first orthogonal sequence among M orthogonal sequences, and M is an integer greater than 1.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The first information includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate one or more random access opportunity RO resources supporting multi-user multiplexing; wherein the RO resources included in the first PRACH resource set are the one or more RO resources.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that The first information includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate a resource interval; wherein the first PRACH resource set is determined in a second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The first information also includes third indication information, and the third indication information is used to indicate the resource starting position and / or resource ending position; wherein the first PRACH resource set is determined in the second PRACH resource set based on the second indication information and the third indication information.

12. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11, characterized in that The first information includes fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that a resource type of the first PRACH resource set is a first type; wherein the PRACH resource of the first type satisfies at least one of the following: Only used to carry PRACH signals that are repeatedly transmitted at least twice; Not used to carry a single transmission PRACH signal; Only supports PRACH signals that carry at least two repeated transmissions; or, PRACH signals carrying single transmissions are not supported.

13. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that The first information includes fifth indication information, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate an index of one or more second signals, and the one or more second signals are used for synchronization; wherein the one or more second signals correspond to PRACH resources in the first PRACH resource set.

14. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 13, characterized in that The M orthogonal sequences satisfy at least one of the following: Among the M orthogonal sequences, the value of at least one element included in the first orthogonal sequence is not +1; The M orthogonal sequences include a second orthogonal sequence, and the values ​​of the elements contained in the second orthogonal sequence are all +1; wherein the first orthogonal sequence is different from the second orthogonal sequence; The M orthogonal sequences do not include an orthogonal sequence in which all elements have values ​​of +1.

15. A communication device, characterized in that: Comprising means for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

16. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises at least one processor configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

17. The communication device according to claim 16, wherein: The communication device is a chip or a chip system.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are executed by the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14 is implemented.

19. A computer program product, characterized in that The method comprises a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a computer, implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

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