Electronic devices, methods, and storage media for wireless communication

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to electronic devices, methods, and storage media for wireless communication. Described are methods for controlling a device that communicates with a plurality of terminal devices, the method comprising: generating signals for the plurality of terminal devices; generating, based on the signals for the plurality of terminal devices, a signal to be transmitted to the plurality of terminal devices, the signal comprising a combined signal to be transmitted to at least one of the plurality of terminal devices, the combined signal comprising all or part of the signals for at least two of the terminal devices to facilitate signal reception by the at least two terminal devices; and transmitting the signal to the plurality of terminal devices.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for wireless communication, and in particular to techniques for transmitting data between wireless devices. BACKGROUND

[0002] In a wireless communication system, a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) mechanism combines forward error correction coding with automatic repeat requests. After receiving a data transmission from a transmitting device, a receiving device should send a HARQ feedback to the transmitting device, which is an Acknowledgement (ACK) feedback when the receiving device determines that the data transmission is correctly received, and which is a Negative Acknowledgement (NACK) feedback when the receiving device determines that the data transmission is not correctly received. When the terminal device does not receive a signal within a predetermined time, it can not send a HARQ feedback to the control device, or it can send a NACK feedback so that the transmitting device retransmits the signal. Then, the receiving side can perform soft-combining on the received retransmission signal and the previously received signal before decoding. Due to the certain diversity gain in the HARQ mechanism, the number of retransmissions can be reduced to some extent, and the successful transmission of the signal can be accelerated.

[0003] Blind retransmission technology is a relatively new technology applied in wireless communication systems. In this technology, the previously transmitted signal is retransmitted multiple times before the transmitting device knows whether the previously transmitted signal is successfully received by the receiving device (i.e., before the receiving device sends a feedback or before the transmitting device receives a feedback). With redundant transmission, the receiving device can receive multiple retransmission signals in a short waiting time, so as to quickly decode and reduce the overall delay of the communication system.

[0004] In a scenario where multiple terminal devices operate cooperatively (such as remote surgery, remote gaming, factory automation, etc.), in order to ensure high accuracy of the entire system, each terminal device needs to perform the same or different tasks in the same time slot. In such a scenario, it is very important to maintain good wireless communication performance. Therefore, there is a need for systems and methods that can further improve the reliability of communication and reduce the communication delay. SUMMARY

[0005] The present disclosure proposes an efficient HARQ mechanism for multiple terminal devices, and proposes a method of transmitting a combined signal in a blind retransmission phase, for data transmission in a mutual assistance manner, so as to improve the reliability of communication and reduce the communication delay.

[0006] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device for a control device, the control device being in communication with a plurality of terminal devices, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to: generate signals for the plurality of terminal devices; generate, based on the signals for the plurality of terminal devices, a signal to be transmitted to the plurality of terminal devices, the signal comprising a combined signal to be transmitted to at least one terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices, the combined signal comprising all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices to facilitate signal reception by the at least two terminal devices; and transmit the signal to the plurality of terminal devices.

[0007] Accordingly, there is also provided, in accordance with the first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for a control device, the control device being in communication with a plurality of terminal devices, the method comprising: generating signals for the plurality of terminal devices; generating, based on the signals for the plurality of terminal devices, a signal to be transmitted to the plurality of terminal devices, the signal comprising a combined signal to be transmitted to at least one terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices, the combined signal comprising all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices to facilitate signal reception by the at least two terminal devices; and transmitting the signal to the plurality of terminal devices.

[0008] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device for a terminal device, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to: receive a signal from a control device, wherein the signal comprises a combined signal comprising all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices; and obtain, from the combined signal, all or part of the signal for each of the at least two terminal devices.

[0009] Accordingly, there is also provided, in accordance with the second aspect of the present disclosure, a method for a terminal device, the method comprising: receiving a signal from a control device, wherein the signal comprises a combined signal comprising all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices; and obtaining, from the combined signal, all or part of the signal for each of the at least two terminal devices.

[0010] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device for a controlling device, the controlling device being in communication with a plurality of terminal devices in a cluster, the plurality of terminal devices comprising a master terminal device and one or more slave terminal devices, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to, for a data transmission by the controlling device to the plurality of terminal devices in the cluster, receive cluster hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback from the master terminal device, wherein the cluster HARQ feedback is generated based on HARQ feedback of the master terminal device and HARQ feedback sent by the slave terminal devices to the master terminal device.

[0011] Accordingly, according to the third aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a method for a controlling device, the controlling device being in communication with a plurality of terminal devices in a cluster, the plurality of terminal devices comprising a master terminal device and one or more slave terminal devices, the method comprising, for a data transmission by the controlling device to the plurality of terminal devices in the cluster, receiving cluster hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback from the master terminal device, wherein the cluster HARQ feedback is generated based on HARQ feedback of the master terminal device and HARQ feedback sent by the slave terminal devices to the master terminal device.

[0012] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device for a terminal device, the terminal device being a master terminal device in a cluster, and the cluster further comprising one or more slave terminal devices, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to, for a data transmission by a controlling device to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster: receive hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback from slave terminal devices in the cluster; generate cluster HARQ feedback based on own HARQ feedback and the received HARQ feedback of the slave terminal devices; and send the cluster HARQ feedback to the controlling device.

[0013] Accordingly, according to the fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a method for a terminal device, the terminal device being a master terminal device in a cluster, and the cluster further comprising one or more slave terminal devices, the method comprising, for a data transmission by a controlling device to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster: receiving hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback from slave terminal devices in the cluster; generating cluster HARQ feedback based on own HARQ feedback and the received HARQ feedback of the slave terminal devices; and sending the cluster HARQ feedback to the controlling device.

[0014] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device for a terminal device, the terminal device being a slave terminal device in a cluster, and the cluster further comprising a master terminal device, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to, for a data transmission by a control device to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster: transmit hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback to the master terminal device to cause the master terminal device to generate cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and its own HARQ feedback and transmit the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device.

[0015] Accordingly, according to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a method for a terminal device, the terminal device being a slave terminal device in a cluster, and the cluster further comprising a master terminal device, the method comprising, for a data transmission by a control device to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster: transmitting hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback to the master terminal device to cause the master terminal device to generate cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and its own HARQ feedback and transmit the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device.

[0016] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0017] According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising means or units to perform the method according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0018] The above summary is provided to introduce in summary some example embodiments and to provide a basic understanding of aspects of the subject matter described herein. Accordingly, the above summary is not intended to be limiting as to the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0019] A better understanding of the present disclosure can be obtained from the following detailed description in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

[0020] Figure 1 An example scenario diagram of a wireless communication system according to embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0021] Figure 2An exemplary electronic device for controlling a device according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown.

[0022] Figure 3 An exemplary electronic device for a terminal device according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown.

[0023] Figures 4A-4B An example process of an existing HARQ mechanism and a HARQ mechanism according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown.

[0024] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of an example of a combined signal according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown.

[0025] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a process for transmitting a combined signal according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown.

[0026] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of decoding for a combined signal according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown.

[0027] Figures 8A-8C A communication interaction diagram of combining a HARQ mechanism with combined signal transmission according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown.

[0028] Figures 9A-9C A flowchart of an example method of a HARQ mechanism according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown.

[0029] Figures 10A-10B A flowchart of an example method of transmitting a combined signal according to embodiments of the disclosure is shown.

[0030] Figure 11 A block diagram of an example structure of a personal computer as an information processing apparatus that can be employed in embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0031] Figure 12 A block diagram of a first example of a schematic configuration of a base station to which the technology according to the present disclosure can be applied;

[0032] Figure 13 A block diagram of a second example of a schematic configuration of a base station to which the technology according to the present disclosure can be applied;

[0033] Figure 14 A block diagram of an example of a schematic configuration of a smartphone to which the technology according to the present disclosure can be applied.

[0034] Figure 15 A block diagram of an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device to which the technology according to the present disclosure can be applied.

[0035] While the embodiments described in this disclosure can be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] The following description of representative applications of aspects of devices and methods according to the present disclosure is not meant to be an exhaustive description of the applications. The description is only representative of some of the applications described herein. As such, it should be understood that the following described embodiments can be implemented in the absence of some or all of the specific details described below. In other instances, well known process steps have not been described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the described embodiments. Other applications are possible, and the general principles of the present disclosure can be applied to other applications as well.

[0037] Figure 1 An example scenario diagram of a wireless communication system according to embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. It should be understood that Figure 1 The wireless communication system shown in FIG. 1 can be implemented as one of the following: a cellular network system, a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, an Internet of Things system, etc. The features of the present disclosure can be implemented in any of the various systems as needed.

[0038] As Figure 1 The wireless communication system 100 includes a control device 101 and one or more terminal devices 102, as shown. The control device and the terminal devices can be configured to communicate over a wireless transmission medium. The control device 101 can also be configured to communicate with a network (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and / or the Internet, not shown). Thus, the control device 101 can facilitate communication between the terminal devices 102 and / or between the terminal devices 102 and the network.

[0039] As Figure 1 The terminal devices 102 can be divided into one or more clusters, as shown. As an example, Figure 1Two clusters are shown in FIG. 1 : cluster a and cluster b, where cluster a includes terminal devices 102-al, 102-a2, and 102-a3, and cluster b includes terminal devices 102-bl and 102-b2. The control device 101 can communicate with the terminal devices 102 over one of a cellular link, a wireless local area network (WLAN) link, or a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) link, while the terminal devices in the same cluster can communicate with each other over a device-to-device (D2D) link. The D2D link can be, for example, a direct link between devices (also referred to as a sidelink in a communication protocol). Each cluster can include one master terminal device and one or more slave terminal devices. For example, the master terminal device in cluster a is 102-a2 and the slave terminal devices include 102-al and 102-a3, and the master terminal device in cluster b is 102-bl and the slave terminal device is 102-b2. The master terminal device can perform several operations on behalf of the slave terminal devices. It should be understood that the number of master terminal devices can also be greater than one in some embodiments, and the multiple master terminal devices can be in an equal or subordinate relationship.

[0040] It should be understood that in this disclosure, the term “control device” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and generally indicates one end of a communication system having a control function for transmissions. Similarly, the term “terminal device” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and can accordingly indicate a mobile station, user equipment, etc. in a communication system. As an example, in a cellular network, the “control device” can be a “base station” or the “control device” can be implemented as part of a “base station”. The “terminal device” can be a “user equipment” (hereinafter can be referred to simply as “user”) or the “terminal device” can be implemented as part of a “user equipment”.

[0041] In some embodiments, multiple devices in one cluster, such as devices 102-al, 102-a2, 102-a3 in cluster a, have strict requirements for timing when participating in coordinated communication. In practice, there is often a problem of misalignment of working time in the coordinated communication of multiple terminal devices, thereby seriously affecting the user experience. In one example, when the devices in cluster a are player devices of a 3D virtual game, if the network delay difference between multiple player devices (i.e., the difference in working time in the coordinated communication of multiple terminal devices) is too large, the game will be considered unfair to the current player, thereby causing a poor user experience. In another example, when multiple devices in cluster a participate in remote surgery, the deviation in the time at which multiple terminal devices receive signals can likely cause a major mistake and trigger an accident. Therefore, it is necessary to implement high-reliability and low-latency communication in a cluster. To this end, the present disclosure proposes the following exemplary electronic devices for control devices and terminal devices, so that multiple terminal devices can implement data transmission in a mutually assisting manner, thereby being able to work better in coordination.

[0042] Figure 2 An exemplary electronic device for controlling the device 101 is shown according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 2 The electronic device 200 shown can include various units to implement embodiments according to the present disclosure. In this example, the electronic device 200 includes a communication unit 202, and optionally a HARQ unit 204 and a signal management unit 206. In an implementation, the electronic device 200 is implemented as the control device 101 itself or a part thereof, or as a device related to the control device 101 or a part thereof. Various operations described below in connection with the control device can be implemented by the units 202, 204, 206 or other possible units of the electronic device 200.

[0043] As described previously with reference to Figure 1 The control device 101 in the system 100 divides a plurality of terminal devices 102 into one or more clusters, and designates a master terminal device and slave terminal devices in each cluster, as described previously with reference to

[0044] In further embodiments, the signal management unit 206 of the electronic device 200 can be configured to generate a signal for a plurality of terminal devices. The signal management unit 206 can also be configured to generate, based on the signal for the plurality of terminal devices, a signal to be transmitted to the plurality of terminal devices, the signal including a combined signal to be transmitted to at least one terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices, the combined signal including all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices to facilitate signal reception by the at least two terminal devices. Thereafter, the communication unit 202 of the electronic device 200 can transmit the signal including the combined signal to the plurality of terminal devices.

[0045] It should be understood that the electronic device 200 can include the communication unit 202 and the HARQ unit 204 to implement the function of receiving the cluster HARQ feedback; the electronic device 200 can also include the communication unit 202 and the signal management unit 206 to implement the function of generating the combined signal. Further, the electronic device 200 can include the communication unit 202, the HARQ unit 204 and the signal management unit 206 to implement the functions of receiving the cluster HARQ feedback and generating the combined signal for transmission.

[0046] Figure 3An exemplary electronic device 300 for a terminal device 102 in the system 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 3 The electronic device 300 shown can include various units to implement embodiments according to the present disclosure. In this example, similar to the electronic device 200, the electronic device 300 includes a communication unit 302, and optionally a HARQ unit 304 and a signal processing unit 306. In one implementation, the electronic device 300 is implemented as the terminal device 102 itself or a part thereof, or as a device for controlling or otherwise related to the terminal device 102 or a part thereof. Various operations described below in connection with the terminal device can be implemented by the units 302, 304, 306 or other possible units of the electronic device 300.

[0047] As described previously with reference to Figure 1 The terminal device 102 can know whether it is a master terminal device or a slave terminal device in a cluster according to the indication of the control device 101, and thus perform corresponding operations. The communication unit 302 can be configured to perform data transmission with the control device 101 in the system 100, and can also be configured to perform communication with other terminal devices 102 in the same cluster as itself.

[0048] In one embodiment, the terminal device 102 is a master terminal device in a cluster, and for data transmission of the control device 101 to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster, the HARQ unit 304 of the terminal device 102 is instructed to receive HARQ feedback from slave terminal devices in the cluster, generate cluster HARQ feedback based on its own HARQ feedback and the received HARQ feedback of the slave terminal devices, and send the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device 101. In another embodiment, the terminal device 102 is a slave terminal device in a cluster, and for data transmission of the control device 101 to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster, the HARQ unit 304 of the terminal device 102 is instructed to send HARQ feedback to a master terminal device in the cluster, so that the master terminal device generates cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and its own HARQ feedback, and sends the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device 101.

[0049] In another embodiment, the communication unit 302 of the electronic device 300 can be configured to receive a signal from the control device 101, wherein the signal comprises a combined signal, and the combined signal comprises all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices. Further, the signal processing unit 306 can obtain all or part of the signals for each of the at least two terminal devices from the combined signal, and can forward the obtained signals for the other terminal devices to the corresponding terminal devices through the communication unit 302. In addition, the communication unit 302 can also receive all or part of the signals for the electronic device 300 from the other terminal devices after the combined signals are decomposed.

[0050] It should be understood that the electronic device 300 can comprise the communication unit 302 and the HARQ unit 304 to implement the function of generating cluster HARQ feedback; the electronic device 300 can also comprise the communication unit 302 and the signal processing unit 306 to implement the function of decomposing the combined signal. Further, the electronic device 300 can comprise the communication unit 302, the HARQ unit 304 and the signal processing unit 306 to implement the functions of generating cluster HARQ feedback and decomposing the combined signal for forwarding.

[0051] In some embodiments, the electronic devices 200 and 300 can be implemented at a chip level, or can also be implemented at a device level by comprising other external components (such as a radio link, an antenna, etc.). For example, each electronic device can work as a communication device as a whole.

[0052] It should be noted that each unit described above is only a logical module according to the specific function it implements, and is not used to limit the specific implementation manner, for example, it can be implemented in software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware. In actual implementation, each unit described above can be implemented as an independent physical entity, or can also be implemented by a single entity (such as a processor (CPU or DSP, etc.), an integrated circuit, etc.). Among them, the processing circuitry can refer to various implementations of digital circuitry, analog circuitry or mixed signal (combination of analog and digital) circuitry that perform functions in a computing system. The processing circuitry can include, for example, circuits such as integrated circuits (ICs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), parts or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, individual processors, programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and / or systems comprising multiple processors.

[0053] HARQ mechanism according to the present disclosure

[0054] Figure 4AAn example process of the existing HARQ mechanism is shown. In system 400A shown in FIG. 4, the control device 101 transmits data to the terminal devices 102-1 to 102-4, and each terminal device 102-1 individually transmits HARQ feedback to the control device. Only when the control device 101 receives ACK feedback from all terminal devices, the control device can allocate time slots to each terminal device for the terminal devices to start the cooperative operation. The total feedback time of the existing HARQ mechanism is limited by when the control device receives the HARQ feedback from the last terminal device. As an example, in 400A, the terminal devices 102-1, 102-2 and 102-4 all correctly receive the data transmission from the control device 101 and send ACK feedback to the control device 101 respectively. However, the channel condition of the communication link between the terminal device 102-3 and the control device 101 is poor (such as due to blockage, etc.), and thus the terminal device 102-3 does not correctly receive the data transmission from the control device 101 and sends NACK feedback to the control device 101. The NACK feedback can not reach the control device 101 successfully due to the poor link communication quality. Thereafter, multiple data retransmissions and NACK feedbacks can be needed between the control device 101 and the terminal device 102-3 (where the control device can not receive the NACK feedback successfully multiple times). Even if the data transmission and ACK feedback between the control device 101 and the terminal device 102-3 are successful eventually, the overall communication process is still delayed significantly. It can be seen that the existing HARQ mechanism can cause significant system communication delay in the case where the channel condition between the control device and one or more terminal devices is poor, and delay the time for multiple terminal devices to start the synchronous operation.

[0055] To reduce the communication latency of the system while ensuring a more reliable transmission, the present disclosure provides a HARQ mechanism that performs HARQ feedback in a cluster unit. Specifically, after the control device transmits data to each terminal device, the slave terminal devices in each cluster send their HARQ feedback to the master terminal device in the cluster, the master terminal device combines the HARQ feedback received from the slave terminal devices with its own HARQ feedback to form a cluster HARQ feedback, and sends the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device. Since the terminal devices in the same cluster are close to each other and have fewer obstacles, the communication quality of the sidelink between them is higher than that of the link between the control device and the terminal devices. In the case where the channel conditions between the control device and some terminal devices are poor, the HARQ feedback sent by these terminal devices is often not successfully received, so the control device needs to wait for a relatively long time to confirm the HARQ feedback of these terminal devices. According to the present disclosure, the terminal devices aggregate the HARQ feedback information through the sidelink between the devices (i.e., the sidelink), so that the master terminal device, which usually has good communication conditions with the control device, sends the cluster HARQ feedback to the terminal device, which helps to reduce the total HARQ feedback time, thereby reducing the waiting time of multiple terminal devices and starting to work together as soon as possible.

[0056] Example process of HARQ mechanism

[0057] Figure 4B An example process of the HARQ mechanism according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. In the present disclosure, the master terminal device in a cluster receives HARQ feedback from the slave terminal devices in the cluster, and generates a cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and its own HARQ feedback, and sends the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device. Specifically, the HARQ feedback includes ACK feedback and NACK feedback, and the cluster HARQ feedback includes cluster ACK feedback and cluster NACK feedback, Figure 4B 400B1 and 400B2 in FIG. 4B respectively show example processes of feeding back cluster ACK and cluster NACK, which can be performed by the control device 101 and the terminal device 102 described above, and more specifically, by the electronic device 200 and the electronic device 300 described above.

[0058] Similar to the scenario of Figure 4A Figure 4B A cluster including four terminal devices 102-1 to 102-4 is shown, where 102-2 is the master terminal device, and 102-1, 102-3 and 102-4 are the slave terminal devices. Generally, the longest HARQ feedback waiting time (e.g., the first time period) of the master terminal device can be defined in advance. As an example, the longest HARQ feedback waiting time can be related to the current communication traffic demand, communication quality, single data transmission time, etc.​

[0059] As Figure 4B As shown in 400B1, each slave terminal device in the cluster correctly receives the data from the control device 101, and each slave terminal device sends ACK feedback to the master terminal device 102-2. The master terminal device 102-2 generates cluster ACK feedback based on its own ACK feedback and the received ACK feedback from the slave terminal devices, and sends the cluster ACK feedback to the control device 101. Generally, the cluster HARQ feedback should be sent to the control device before the longest HARQ feedback latency expires. Within the longest HARQ feedback latency, the master terminal device 102-2 can send the cluster ACK feedback to the control device 101 as soon as it determines that the HARQ feedback of each terminal device is ACK feedback. The sending time of cluster NACK feedback will be discussed below. It should be understood that ACK feedback can be sent in the case that the terminal device successfully decodes the received signal directly; in the case that the terminal device fails to decode the received signal previously but successfully decodes the received signal after the control device retransmits (e.g., blind retransmission) the signal, the signal can be correctly obtained after soft-combining the signal with the previously received signal data, and then ACK feedback is sent. Accordingly, in response to receiving the cluster ACK feedback from the master terminal device in the cluster, the control device 101 can stop retransmitting data to each terminal device in the cluster.

[0060] It should be understood that the master terminal device can consider that a slave terminal device has correctly received the data transmission from the control device as soon as it receives ACK feedback from the slave terminal device once, and can ignore the subsequent HARQ feedback (whether ACK feedback or NACK feedback) from the slave terminal device.

[0061] While the master terminal device sends the cluster ACK feedback to the control device, the master terminal device can send information to one or more slave terminal devices in the cluster to configure the plurality of terminal devices to perform operations in a synchronized manner. Specifically, the master terminal device can assign a specific time slot for one or more slave terminal devices to perform a synchronized operation, and send an indication signal to the corresponding slave terminal device.

[0062] As Figure 4BAs shown in 400B2, within the longest HARQ feedback waiting time, there exists a terminal device in the cluster that has not correctly received the data transmission from the control device 101. The slave terminal device that has not correctly received the data transmission from the control device can send NACK feedback to the master terminal device, or optionally, not send NACK feedback. As an example, slave terminal devices 102-3 and 102-4 have not correctly received the data transmission from the control device 101, slave terminal device 102-3 sends NACK feedback to the master terminal device 102-2, and slave terminal device 102-4 does not send HARQ feedback to the master terminal device 102-2 within the longest HARQ feedback waiting time. The master terminal device 102-2 generates a cluster NACK feedback based on its own ACK (or NACK) feedback and the received NACK feedback from the slave terminal devices (and / or no HARQ feedback from all or part of the slave terminal devices), and sends the cluster NACK feedback to the control device 101. If the master terminal device 102-2 cannot determine that the HARQ feedback of each terminal device is ACK feedback within the expiration of the longest HARQ feedback waiting time, the cluster NACK feedback is sent to the control device 101 at the expiration of the longest HARQ feedback waiting time. In this process, the master terminal device can record the identity of the terminal device that has not correctly received the data transmission.

[0063] In the present disclosure, the cluster NACK feedback can include two types: a first cluster NACK feedback and a second cluster NACK feedback. The first cluster NACK feedback is based on the NACK feedback or no HARQ feedback of at least one terminal device in the cluster, and indicates that there exists a terminal device in the cluster that has not correctly received the data transmission from the control device. The second cluster NACK feedback is based on the NACK feedback or no HARQ feedback of at least one terminal device in the cluster and the corresponding terminal device identity, and indicates the terminal device that has not correctly received the data transmission from the control device by the terminal device identity.

[0064] Accordingly, in response to receiving the cluster NACK feedback (the first cluster NACK feedback or the second cluster NACK feedback) from the master terminal device in the cluster, the control device 101 can perform data retransmission to the terminal devices in the cluster. In one embodiment, the control device can perform data retransmission to each of the terminal devices in the cluster. In other words, the control device only responds to the overall HARQ situation of the cluster and retransmits data to all the terminal devices in the cluster to ensure the reliability of data transmission. In another embodiment, the control device performs data retransmission to the terminal devices in the cluster that feedback NACK or no HARQ feedback according to receiving the second cluster NACK feedback. In yet another embodiment, the control device retransmits data for the terminal devices that feedback NACK or no HARQ feedback to the master terminal device in the cluster according to receiving the second cluster NACK feedback, so that the master terminal device forwards the data to the corresponding terminal devices.

[0065] Generally, the terminal devices in one cluster are short in sidelink (i.e., sidelink) distance, less in obstruction, and good in communication quality. By aggregating the HARQ feedback in the cluster and reporting the HARQ situation of the entire cluster to the control device by the master terminal device, the control device can quickly learn the situation of each terminal device and perform data retransmission in a targeted manner. Since the master terminal device is often a terminal device with optimal communication performance, it will improve the reliability of the communication system and reduce the delay to feedback the cluster HARQ situation and even forward the retransmission data as a relay device. In the existing HARQ mechanism, when the channel condition between the control device and some terminal devices is poor, the HARQ feedback of these terminal devices needs a long time to successfully reach the control device. According to the HARQ mechanism of the present disclosure, the HARQ feedback of each terminal device is aggregated by the sidelink between terminal devices with good communication quality to the master terminal device with good channel condition to the control device, and then the cluster HARQ feedback is reported to the control device by the master terminal device, so that the total time required for HARQ feedback is short, thereby effectively reducing the communication delay of the system.

[0066] Division of the cluster of terminal devices

[0067] In this part, the division of the cluster of terminal devices, the update of the cluster, and related signaling will be described in detail.

[0068] The control device can divide the cluster based on one or more of the following factors: services in which the terminal devices participate, locations of the terminal devices, functions of the terminal devices, and channel conditions between the terminal devices and the control device, etc. Based on similar factors, the control device can also update the division of the cluster. As an example, the control device can update the cluster in both periodic update and aperiodic update modes according to characteristics of the services in which the terminal devices currently participate. Specifically, the periodic update mode is mainly for terminal devices that move at low speed or are static (such as participating in static services), and the aperiodic update mode is mainly for terminal devices that move at high speed (such as participating in dynamic services).

[0069] In the periodic update mode, the control device can periodically determine whether the cluster needs to be updated based on information reported by the terminal devices in the current cluster, which can include the communication success rates of the terminal devices in the latest communication with the control device reported by the master terminal device, location information and function information reported by the slave terminal devices, etc.

[0070] In the aperiodic update mode, the master terminal device in the cluster determines the communication quality between the terminal devices in the cluster according to the HARQ feedback received from the slave terminal devices. When the communication quality is poor or the type of the service in which the terminal device participates changes, the master terminal device can monitor the communication success rates and reference signal received powers of the terminal devices in its service range (which can include but is not limited to the terminal devices in the current cluster) in communication with the control device, and report the monitoring results to the control device. The control device can determine whether the cluster needs to be updated based on the monitoring results reported by the master terminal device in the current cluster.

[0071] When the control device determines that the cluster needs to be updated (for example, the communication success rates and / or reference signal received powers of all or part of the terminal devices in the cluster in communication with the control device are lower than a predetermined threshold), the terminal devices can be sent cluster signaling for updating the cluster. As an example, the following lists an example format of the cluster signaling for the terminal devices:

[0072] • Data header: Redundant bits can be added to indicate whether there is a change between the current cluster information and the previous cluster information, and to indicate whether the current mode belongs to periodic update or aperiodic update. For example, '00' can be used to indicate that there is no change in the periodic update mode within the period; '10' can be used to indicate that there is a change in the periodic update mode within the period; '01' can be used to indicate that there is no sudden change (may not be used often) in the aperiodic update mode; and '11' can be used to indicate that there is a sudden change in the aperiodic update mode.

[0073] • Cluster ID: an identifier used to identify the cluster to which the terminal device belongs. Terminal devices in the same cluster have the same cluster ID, and cluster IDs of different clusters are independent of each other. Terminal devices in a cluster can select to perform the current service of the cluster according to the cluster ID.

[0074] • Master terminal device indicator: indicates whether the current terminal device is a master terminal device. For example, '1' can be used to indicate that the current terminal device is a master terminal device; '0' indicates that the current terminal device is a slave terminal device.

[0075] • In-cluster terminal device ID: an identifier used to identify different terminal devices in the same cluster.

[0076] • Number of in-cluster terminal devices (this part can be omitted when the terminal device is a slave terminal device): this information can be used to assist the master terminal device in determining whether HARQ feedback is received from all terminal devices.

[0077] • Other information of the cluster: indicates that the current service of the cluster is a mobile service / non-mobile service, a long-term service / short-term service, etc.

[0078] It should be understood that the above clustering signaling is not only applicable to the update of the cluster, but also applicable to the indication of the initial division of the cluster by the control device to the terminal device, as well as the information that the cluster remains unchanged. It should also be understood that when the terminal device is not divided into any cluster, the cluster ID is null (i.e., not configured with a cluster ID), and the above master terminal device indicator, in-cluster terminal device ID, number of in-cluster terminal devices, and other information of the cluster are all null.

[0079] After the control device determines the division or update of the cluster, the control device can determine the master terminal device in the cluster based on prior experience and / or reference signal power (e.g., in a periodic update mode or an aperiodic update mode). Prior experience generally includes information such as the impact of the master terminal device on system performance in previous services of the observed system or the current system. Specifically, the prior experience can have the following two modes:

[0080] • Mode 1: If there is a communication system similar to the current communication system in the past, and the previously selected master terminal device brings good communication performance to the communication system, then the control device in the current communication system will select a terminal device with similar parameters to the above master terminal device as the current master terminal device. As an example, the parameters of the above terminal device can include but are not limited to the location, function, etc. of the terminal device.

[0081] • Mode 2: If there is no similar previous communication system as described above or there is no master terminal device that brings good performance to this communication system, it can be considered to collect user equipment information and communication environment information in a more universal communication system. Based on this information, it can be determined which parameters have a significant impact on the selection of the master terminal device and the performance of the system, and the pros and cons of this impact. Thereafter, in the current communication system, the terminal device that is beneficial to the performance of the communication system can be selected as the master terminal device according to these parameters.

[0082] It should be recognized that the selection of the master terminal device according to prior experience can be based on artificial intelligence methods such as deep neural networks. The control device can obtain a neural network suitable for the relevant scene and business by collecting and training previously obtained communication data (including service type, communication quality, terminal device distribution topology, terminal device clustering, and other related parameters). Through the learning of the artificial intelligence method, it can be determined that the similarity of the communication system (as described in mode 1), and it can be determined which parameters of the terminal device will affect the system performance and the pros and cons of these effects (as described in mode 2). It should also be recognized that a suitable neural network can be directly trained so that after the current communication parameters are input, the calculated optimal or better master terminal device can be directly obtained through the neural network. In order to ensure the feasibility of the artificial intelligence method, the control device needs to continuously collect the parameters and other data of the current communication system, and use the corresponding data to train and update the neural network.

[0083] It should be understood that the reference signal described above includes but is not limited to a modulation reference signal (DMRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), and the like.

[0084] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, in order to further improve the success rate of receiving data signals, the signals transmitted between the control device and the terminal device can also be improved to facilitate the signal transmission between multiple terminal devices in a mutually assisted manner. Specifically, the control device sends a combined signal to the terminal device, and the combined signal includes all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices.

[0085] Combined signal transmission according to the present disclosure

[0086] Combined signal mode

[0087] In the present disclosure, the combined signal is generated based on a predefined combined signal mode, wherein the combined signal mode indicates which signals for which terminal devices are included in the combined signal, and indicates that the combined signal is divided into multiple parts and the size and corresponding signal content of each part. The combined signal mode will be specifically introduced below in combination with the examples of the combined signal shown in FIG. 1. Figure 5

[0088] ​It should be understood that the "signal for a terminal device" and the "combined signal" are relative concepts. The "signal for a terminal device" refers to a signal that the control device originally intends to send to the terminal device. In embodiments of the present disclosure, the "combined signal" can be generated based on the signals that the control device originally intends to send to multiple terminal devices, and thus the combined signal includes signals for multiple terminal devices.

[0089] In Figure 5 As an example, the signals for three terminal devices (i.e., 102-1, 102-2, and 102-3) in the system and the combined signal are shown. As shown, the signal for a terminal device can include two parts, i.e., information bits and check bits. For example, the signal for terminal device 102-1 includes information bits s1 and check bits p1. The information bits carry the data or information transmitted by the control device 101, and the check bits can play a role in error correction when decoding, thereby effectively improving the correctness of decoding. Therefore, both the information bits and the check bits play a key role in whether the terminal device can correctly receive the signal.

[0090] In the present disclosure, the combined signal mode can indicate the structure of the combined signal, including which signals for which terminal devices are included in the combined signal and indicating that the combined signal is divided into multiple parts and the signal content of each part. Each of the multiple parts included in the combined signal corresponds to all or part of the signal for a single terminal device, and the signal content of each part can indicate at least one of information bits or check bits. As an example, the combined signal received by a terminal device can include a part of the signal for the terminal device (e.g., information bits / check bits) and a part of the signal for one or more other terminal devices (e.g., information bits / check bits). More simply, only a part of the signal for two terminal devices (such as a first terminal device and a second terminal device) can be included in the combined signal, in which case there are four possibilities for the structure of the combined signal as follows:

[0091] • Structure 1: information bits of the first terminal device + information bits of the second terminal device;

[0092] • Structure 2: information bits of the first terminal device + check bits of the second terminal device;

[0093] • Structure 3: check bits of the first terminal device + information bits of the second terminal device;

[0094] • Structure 4: check bits of the first terminal device + check bits of the second terminal device.

[0095] Figure 5Combination signal example 1 in FIG. 1 shows structure 1 above, and combination signal example 2 shows structure 2 above. For example, in combination signal example 1, the combination signal sent by control device 101 to terminal device 102-1 includes information bits s1 for the signal to terminal device 102-1 and information bits s2 for the signal to another terminal device 102-2. It should be noted that all or part of the signals to multiple terminal devices in the combination signal constitute the information bits of the combination signal, and the check bits p of the combination signal are used to correct errors in the transmitted combination signal when decoding, and have no effect on subsequent signal transmission. As an example, in combination signal example 2, the check bits p of the combination signal to terminal device 102-1 are generated to correct s1 and p2, and the check bits p of the combination signal to terminal device 102-3 are generated to correct s3 and p1.

[0096] Additionally, the combination signal mode can also indicate the size of each of the multiple parts of the combination signal. Continuing with combination signal example 2 in FIG. 1, the information bits of the current terminal device (e.g., s1) can be defined in the combination structure mode to occupy 20 bits, while the check bits of another terminal device (e.g., p2) occupy 15 bits. If the number of bits of the corresponding signal does not reach the defined size, the corresponding bits can be filled with zeros. Figure 5

[0097] It should be understood that the combination signal mode is usually selected by the control device, and the selection can be based on current communication system parameters, such as code rate, coding technology, etc. For example, in the case of a high code rate of the signal (e.g., higher than 2 / 3), the check bits have little effect on decoding. Therefore, the transmission information bits will be selected as much as possible in the combination signal instead of the check bits, so that the control device selects Figure 5 Combination signal example 1 in FIG. 1 will be more beneficial to optimize the performance of the communication system.

[0098] ​It should be appreciated that different combinations of the above-mentioned parameters affecting the combined signal pattern, such as which terminal devices the signals in the combined signal are directed to, the size of each of the multiple parts of the combined signal and the corresponding signal content, and other parameters that can be involved in the performance of the combined signal, will result in different combined signal patterns. A plurality of combined signal patterns under the dedicated service or the common service can be represented by a codebook (e.g. numbered as combined signal pattern 0, 1, 2, 3,...). The parameters of the combined signal pattern in the codebook remain unchanged in the current communication time period. As an example, the codebook can be represented by a two-dimensional table or a two-dimensional matrix. For example, a row in the table or matrix can include the number of a combined signal pattern, the signal size and signal content of the first part, the signal size and signal content of the second part, and so on. Table 1 below shows an example of a combined signal pattern codebook in which the combined signal includes signals directed to two terminal devices (i.e. includes two parts) under the scenario that there are three terminal devices in the system. The terminal device identification can be a relative number inside the terminal device (e.g. the identification of the terminal devices 102-1, 102-2 and 102-3 can be 1, 2 and 3 respectively). For ease of understanding, decimal numbers are listed in the table, but binary numbers are usually transmitted in data transmission. In the codebook, the signal content can be represented by one bit, i.e. ‘1’ represents that the signal content is an information bit and ‘0’ represents that the signal content is a parity bit. Taking the combined signal pattern numbered 2 as an example, the combined signal includes a parity bit pi (occupying 15 bits) directed to the terminal device 102-1 and an information bit s2 (occupying 20 bits) directed to the terminal device 102-2. In the transmission of the combined signal, the structure of the corresponding combined signal and the specific information of each part can be obtained by searching in the table below according to the number of the combined signal pattern included in the signaling.

[0099]

[0100] Table 1 Combined signal pattern codebook

[0101] It should be appreciated that the size of the above combination signal pattern codebook is usually large, and in order to further reduce the overhead of the transmission codebook, the above codebook can also be split into two or more sub-codebooks to represent the combination signal pattern. As an example, one sub-codebook can be utilized to represent which terminal devices' signals are included in the combination signal, as shown in Table 2A. Table 2A can represent the combination relationship between terminal devices in the transmission of the combination signal, and can be determined at the time of cluster formation or update. Specifically, the first row of Table 2A can indicate that the signals of terminal devices 1 and 2 are included in the combination signal to be sent to terminal device 1 (represented by '1' in the matrix), i.e., terminal devices 1 and 2 have a combination relationship. Similarly, the second row of Table 2A can indicate that terminal devices 2 and 3 have a combination relationship, and the third row can indicate that terminal devices 3 and 1 have a combination relationship. Table 2A only shows the combination relationship between 3 terminal devices, and the combination relationship between more terminal devices can be similarly defined. As an example, another sub-codebook can also be utilized to represent the signal size and signal content of each part in the combination signal, as shown in Table 2B, Table 2C. Compared to the content in Table 2A, Table 2B and Table 2C, which can need to be determined at the time of cluster formation or update, can be relatively fixed for the communication system. In the transmission of the combination signal, the specific combination signal pattern can be obtained by searching the numbers of these sub-codebooks respectively.

[0102] Terminal device 1 Terminal device 2 Terminal device 3 Terminal device 1 1 1 0 Terminal device 2 0 1 1 Terminal device 3 1 0 1

[0103] Table 2A Combination relationship codebook

[0104] Signal content mode encoding First portion signal content Second portion signal content 0 1(s) 0(p) 1 1(s) 1(s) 2 0(p) 0(p) 3 0(p) 1(s)

[0105] Table 2B Signal content pattern codebook

[0106]

[0107]

[0108] Table 2C Signal size pattern codebook

[0109] Generally, the combination signal pattern codebook needs to be informed to the terminal device by the control device before formal communication. For short-term communication services, if the control device needs to replace the combination signal pattern codebook each time a service update occurs, it needs to be sent to the terminal device in advance. Similarly, for long-term communication services, if it is necessary to replace the codebook in the middle of the service, the control device also needs to send the new combination signal pattern codebook to the corresponding terminal device.

[0110] Signaling example of combination signal pattern

[0111] After the control device selects the combined signal mode for the current combination of communication system and service, it can inform the terminal device through the physical layer control channel (Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH). The present disclosure designs the Downlink Control Information (DCI) structure to indicate the combined signal mode. The present disclosure provides the following two possible DCI structures:

[0112] • Modify the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) part in the current DCI: without changing the overall structure of the existing DCI and without adding new bits, only modify the MCS part in the DCI structure. The current MCS rate table specifies that the MCS includes 5-bit information, which can represent 32 modulation and coding rate cases. As an example, since high-order modulation is generally not conducive to the implementation of high-reliability and low-latency services, the part representing high-order modulation can be directly deleted, and the idle part is used to indicate the combined signal mode. For example, ‘00101’ in the MCS originally refers to 64QAM, which is now modified to refer to BPSK and combined signal mode 1; ‘00000’ originally refers to BPSK, which is now modified to refer to BPSK and combined signal mode 0.

[0113] • Add new elements in the DCI: without changing the existing MCS structure and other information structure, add bits in the DCI, and use the added bits to refer to the combined signal mode. For example, two bits can be added, where ‘00’ refers to combined signal mode 0, and bit ‘01’ refers to combined signal mode 1, and so on.

[0114] In addition, the control device can also indicate the combined signal mode to the terminal device through the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer control element. The size limit of the MAC layer control element is more relaxed compared to the physical layer control signaling, so the MAC layer control element can transmit more information compared to the physical layer element. Therefore, the MAC layer control element needs to be sent to the terminal device in advance, that is, the information of the combined signal needs to be sent to the terminal device before the physical layer useful signal transmission and decoding.

[0115] Example process of combined signal transmission

[0116] With Figure 5 Correspondingly, Figure 6An example process for transmitting a combined signal in a system comprising a control device 101 and three terminal devices 102-1, 102-2 and 102-3 is shown. In a communication system, a method of blind retransmission can be employed to improve the success rate of signal reception, i.e. to increase the likelihood of a receiving device correctly receiving a signal by means of redundant transmission. In Figure 6 the example, the control device first transmits a signal to a terminal device, and then transmits a combined signal in a blind retransmission phase. The signals in the figure represent the signal transmitted by the control device to the terminal device identified as x in the zth transmission. For example, the signal represents a signal transmitted by the control device 101 to the terminal device 102-1 for the individual terminal device for the first time (herein also referred to as a signal in the initial signal transmission phase); represents a signal transmitted by the control device 102 to the terminal device 102-1 for the second time (a combined signal in the blind retransmission phase). It should be understood that it is also possible to transmit a combined signal to a terminal device for the first time, but in the case of limited resources or good channel conditions, transmitting a signal to a terminal device for the first time can reduce the overhead to some extent.

[0117] By transmitting a combined signal in the blind retransmission phase, it is possible to facilitate signal transmission between terminal devices in a mutually helpful manner. Taking the combined signal transmitted by the control device 101 to the terminal device 102-1 in the blind retransmission phase as an example, Figure 7 a decoding process for the combined signal is shown. As shown in Figure 7 , the control device 101 selects a combined signal pattern and configures this information in the DCI or MAC control element. Before receiving the combined signal, the terminal device 102-1 first receives information such as the downlink control information DCI or the MAC control element from the control device to obtain indication information such as which terminal devices the combined signal involves and the transmission scheduling information of the combined signal. On the side of the control device 101, the actual transmission signal is generated according to the combined signal pattern, and since the actual number of bits of s1 and s2 (as shown by the shaded part of the actual transmission signal in Figure 7 ) is less than the number of bits of the corresponding part defined in the combined signal pattern, zero padding is performed for the part that is more (as shown by the blank part of the actual transmission signal in Figure 7 ). On the side of the terminal device 102-1, after receiving the signal After the corresponding actual transmission signal, according to the codebook of the combined signal pattern and the control information (including the combined signal pattern indicated in the DCI or MAC layer control element, which indicates the structure and composition of the combined signal (i.e. the information bit / checking bit in which bit of the combined signal is for which terminal device)) previously received from the control device 101, the combined signal is decomposed into two signals: s1 and s2 by the decoder. That is, the terminal device 102-1 can obtain all or part of the signal for each of the terminal devices 102-1 and 102-2 from the combined signal. Correspondingly, the terminal device 102-1 forwards the signal part that does not belong to itself (i.e. s2) to the corresponding terminal device (i.e. the terminal device 102-2) through the sidelink between devices.

[0118] Returning to Figure 6 , in the case that the channel condition between the control device 101 and the terminal device 102-1 is good (so that the signal for the terminal device 102-1 is successfully received and the combined signal ) but the channel condition between the control device 101 and the terminal device 102-2 is poor (so that the signal for the terminal device 102-2 is not successfully received and the combined signal ), with the help of the decoding process of Figure 7 , the terminal device 102-1 can forward the information bit s2 of the signal for the terminal device 102-2 to the terminal device 102-2, which will provide good help for the signal reception of the terminal device 102-2. Similarly, if other terminal devices forward the checking bit p2 for it to the terminal device 102-2, it also helps to improve the signal reception success rate of the terminal device 102-2.

[0119] Therefore, the cooperation of the data transmission among multiple users by the transmission of the combined signal can be embodied in two aspects. In one aspect, for a first terminal device among the terminal devices, it can help other terminal devices. Specifically, the control device generates a combined signal to be sent to the first terminal device based on the signals for the first terminal device and for the other one or more terminal devices. The combined signal includes all or part of the signals for the first terminal device and all or part of the signals for the other one or more terminal devices, and the first terminal device can forward all or part of the signals for the other one or more terminal devices to the corresponding terminal devices. In another aspect, a first terminal device among the terminal devices can accept help from other terminal devices. Specifically, the control device generates a combined signal to be sent to a second terminal device based on the signals for the first terminal device and for the second terminal device. The combined signal includes all or part of the signals for the first terminal device and all or part of the signals for the second terminal device, and the second terminal device can forward all or part of the signals for the first terminal device to the first terminal device.

[0120] It should be noted that after the terminal device successfully decodes the combined signal, it can directly forward the relevant information, and does not necessarily need to know the signal reception situation of the other terminal devices. If the terminal device has successfully received or decoded the signal for itself in advance, when receiving the signal forwarded from the other terminal device, it can not process the signal. If the terminal device has not successfully received or decoded the signal for itself in advance, when receiving the signal forwarded from the other terminal device, it can perform soft combining of the signal with the previously received forwarded signal from the other terminal device or the single signal received from the control device to correctly decode the signal for itself. In addition, if the terminal device fails to decode the combined signal, it will not process the signal for the other terminal device in the combined signal, i.e. will not perform forwarding of the corresponding signal, but will continue to wait for the signal forwarded from the control device or the other terminal device.

[0121] It should be understood that the transmission of the combined signal in the present disclosure can be performed in a cluster of terminal devices, or can not be limited to a cluster (e.g. performed among multiple terminal devices with a sidelink).

[0122] Combination of the HARQ mechanism and the combined signal transmission according to the present disclosure

[0123] It should be recognized that the HARQ mechanism and the combined signal transmission proposed in the present disclosure can be independently performed or combinedly performed. The specific operations of the combined scheme of the two schemes will be described in detail below.

[0124] Figures 8A-8CA communication interaction diagram combining HARQ mechanism with combined signal transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Specifically, Figure 8A , Figure 8B and Figure 8C communication interaction diagrams of a terminal device in the system decoding successfully in an initial signal transmission stage, decoding successfully directly in a combined signal transmission stage, and decoding successfully in the combined signal transmission stage with the help of other terminal devices forwarding signals are shown respectively.

[0125] Under the combination scheme of HARQ mechanism and transmission of combined signals according to the present disclosure, the control device 101 first collects information of the terminal devices (such as the services the terminal devices participate in, the locations of the terminal devices, the functions of the terminal devices, the channel conditions between the terminal devices and the control device, etc. mentioned above), and divides the terminal devices into one or more clusters based on the collected information, and selects the master terminal device and the slave terminal devices in the cluster. As an example, Figures 8A-8C the control device 101 and three terminal devices 102-1, 102-2 and 102-3 in a cluster are shown in

[0126] Next, the control device sends data signals to each terminal device in the cluster. In addition, the control device indicates the combined signal mode in the DCI or MAC layer control element sent to each terminal device in the cluster. The terminal devices decode the signals upon receiving the signals from the control device. However, due to the signal conditions between the control device and the terminal devices, decoding does not necessarily always succeed. The three cases shown in Figures 8A-8C will be described respectively.

[0127] As shown in Figure 8A , after the control device 101 sends the signals for a single terminal device to each terminal device for the first time, the terminal devices 102-1 to 102-3 can successfully decode the relevant data signals directly. Thereafter, the slave terminal devices 102-1 and 102-3 in the cluster send ACK feedback to the master terminal device 102-2. The master terminal device 102-2 generates a cluster ACK feedback according to its own ACK feedback and the received ACK feedback, and sends the cluster ACK feedback to the control device 101. At the same time, the master terminal device 102-2 allocates working time slots for the slave terminal devices in the cluster to achieve cooperative operation.

[0128] As shown in Figure 8BAs shown, after the control device 101 sends the first signal for each individual terminal device, the master terminal device 102-2 and the slave terminal device 102-3 in the cluster successfully decode the first transmitted signal, thus generating an ACK feedback. However, terminal device 102-1 fails to decode the first transmitted signal and therefore sends a NACK feedback to the master terminal device 102-2. Nevertheless, terminal device 102-1 successfully decodes the combined signal received from the control device 101 during the blind retransmission phase. Therefore, it can perform soft-merging decoding based on the signal belonging to itself decomposed from the current combined signal and the previously received signal, thus successfully obtaining the signal for itself. Then, the slave terminal device 102-1 sends an ACK feedback to the master terminal device 102-2, causing the master terminal device to generate a cluster ACK feedback and send the cluster ACK feedback to the control device 101. At the same time, the master terminal device 102-2 allocates working time slots to the slave terminal devices in the cluster to achieve cooperative operation.

[0129] like Figure 8C As shown, with Figure 8B Similarly, upon receiving the first signal transmitted from control device 101, the master terminal device 102-2 and slave terminal device 102-3 in the cluster successfully decoded the signal, generating an ACK feedback. Conversely, terminal device 102-1 failed to decode not only the first transmitted signal but also the soft-combining decoding of the subsequent combined signal transmitted by the control device and the first transmitted signal. Therefore, terminal device 102-1 waits for other terminal devices in the cluster to forward their decomposed signals for terminal device 102-1. Based on the signals forwarded by other terminal devices and the previously received signals, terminal device 102-1 successfully performed soft-combining decoding. Next, terminal device 102-1 sends an ACK feedback to master terminal device 102-2, causing master terminal device 102-2 to generate a cluster ACK feedback and send it to control device 101. Simultaneously, master terminal device 102-2 allocates working time slots to slave terminal devices in the cluster to achieve cooperative operation.

[0130] It should be understood that more detailed examples of operation of the HARQ mechanism and combined signal transmission according to this disclosure can be found in the above description of the operation of the two schemes, which will not be repeated here.

[0131] It can be seen that by transmitting the combined signal through the blind retransmission phase, the success rate of the terminal device receiving the data signal from the control device is greatly improved. In combination with the assistance of the HARQ mechanism according to the present disclosure, multiple terminal devices in the cluster can facilitate data transmission in a mutually assisted manner, avoiding frequent HARQ feedback and retransmission operations between the terminal device and the control device. Since the direct link between the terminal devices is added for data transmission, even in the case of poor channel conditions between the control device and some terminal devices, data can be transmitted efficiently and reliably, greatly reducing the delay of the entire communication system, achieving fast time alignment of multiple terminal devices in cooperative communication, and significantly improving the user experience.

[0132] As an example, the HARQ mechanism and the combined signal transmission method proposed in the present disclosure are very obvious in the Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) service. In the U RLLC service such as remote surgery and remote gaming, the requirement for cooperative operation is very high, that is, in order to ensure the high accuracy of the entire system, each terminal device needs to perform different tasks in the same time slot. The efficient HARQ mechanism proposed in the present disclosure cooperates with the scheme of transmitting the combined signal in the blind retransmission phase, which can facilitate signal transmission between each terminal device in a mutually assisted manner, whether alone or in combination, can greatly reduce the communication delay while ensuring high data transmission reliability, so that each terminal device can achieve time alignment in the shortest possible time, thereby starting cooperative work.

[0133] Exemplary method

[0134] Figures 9A-9C A flowchart of an example method of the HARQ mechanism according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. First, Figure 9A An example method 900A for a control device of the HARQ mechanism according to the present disclosure is shown, which can be performed by the control device 101 (or more specifically, the electronic device 200) in the system 100. As Figure 9A As shown, the method 900A can include, for data transmission of the control device to multiple terminal devices in a cluster, receiving cluster HARQ feedback from a primary terminal device, wherein the cluster HARQ feedback is generated based on HARQ feedback of the primary terminal device and HARQ feedback sent from a secondary terminal device to the primary terminal device (block S901A). The detailed example operations of the method can be referred to the above description of the operation of the control device 101 (or more specifically, the electronic device 200), which will not be repeated here.

[0135] Secondly, Figure 9B An example method 900B for a primary terminal device in a cluster of the HARQ mechanism according to the present disclosure is shown,Figure 9C An example method 900C for slave terminal devices in a cluster is shown, according to the HARQ mechanism of the present disclosure. Both methods can be performed by a terminal device 102 (or more specifically, the electronic device 300) in the system 100. As Figure 9B shown, the method 900B includes, for a data transmission of a control device to a plurality of terminal devices in a cluster: (a master terminal device in the cluster or its electronic device) receiving hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback from slave terminal devices in the cluster (block S901B); generating cluster HARQ feedback based on its own HARQ feedback and the received HARQ feedback of the slave terminal devices (block S902B); and sending the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device (block S903B). As Figure 9C shown, the method 900C includes, for a data transmission of a control device to a plurality of terminal devices in a cluster, (a slave terminal device in the cluster or its electronic device) sending HARQ feedback to a master terminal device, so that the master terminal device generates cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and its own HARQ feedback and sends the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device (block S901C). Detailed example operations of these methods can be referred to the above description of the operations of the terminal device 102 (or more specifically, the electronic device 300), which are not repeated here.

[0136] Figures 10A-10B An example method of transmitting a combined signal is shown, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. First, Figure 10A An example method 1000A for a control device to transmit a combined signal is shown, which can be performed by a control device 101 (or more specifically, the electronic device 200) in the system 100. As Figure 10A shown, the method 1000A can include generating signals for a plurality of terminal devices (block S1001A); generating, based on the signals for the plurality of terminal devices, a signal to be sent to the plurality of terminal devices, the signal including a combined signal to be sent to at least one terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices, the combined signal including all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices to facilitate signal reception of the at least two terminal devices (block S1002A); and sending the signal to the plurality of terminal devices (block S1003A). Detailed example operations of the method can be referred to the above description of the operations of the control device 10 (or more specifically, the electronic device 200), which are not repeated here.

[0137] Secondly, Figure 10B An example method 1000B for a terminal device to transmit a combined signal is shown, which can be performed by a terminal device 102 (or more specifically, the electronic device 300) in the system 100. As Figure 10BAs shown, the method 1000B can include receiving a signal from a control device, where the signal includes a combined signal including all or part of signals for at least two terminal devices (block S1001B), and obtaining, from the combined signal, all or part of the signals for each of the at least two terminal devices (block S1002B). Detailed example operations of the method can be referred to the above description of operations of the terminal device 102 (or more specifically, the electronic device 300), which are not repeated here.

[0138] The schemes of the present disclosure can be implemented in an example manner as follows.

[0139] Clause 1, an electronic device for a control device, the control device being in communication with a plurality of terminal devices, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to:

[0140] generate signals for the plurality of terminal devices;

[0141] generate, based on the signals for the plurality of terminal devices, a signal to be transmitted to the plurality of terminal devices, the signal including a combined signal to be transmitted to at least one terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices, the combined signal including all or part of signals for at least two terminal devices to facilitate signal reception by the at least two terminal devices; and

[0142] transmit the signal to the plurality of terminal devices.

[0143] Clause 2, the electronic device of clause 1, wherein generating the combined signal includes:

[0144] generating, based on signals for a first terminal device of the at least one terminal device and one or more other terminal devices, a combined signal to be transmitted to the first terminal device, where the combined signal includes all or part of the signal for the first terminal device and all or part of the signals for the one or more other terminal devices, and all or part of the signals for the one or more other terminal devices are to be forwarded by the first terminal device to the respective terminal device.

[0145] Clause 3, the electronic device of clause 2, wherein generating the combined signal includes:

[0146] generating, based at least on the signal for the first terminal device and the signal for a second terminal device, a combined signal to be transmitted to the second terminal device, where the combined signal includes all or part of the signal for the first terminal device and all or part of the signal for the second terminal device, and all or part of the signal for the first terminal device is to be forwarded by the second terminal device to the first terminal device.

[0147] Clause 4. The electronic device of Clause 1, wherein the combined signal is generated based on a predefined combined signal pattern, the combined signal pattern indicating which terminal devices the signal in the combined signal includes and indicating that the combined signal is divided into multiple parts and a size of each part and corresponding signal content.

[0148] Clause 5. The electronic device of Clause 4, wherein the combined signal pattern is represented by a codebook.

[0149] Clause 6. The electronic device of Clause 4, wherein each of the multiple parts of the combined signal corresponds to all or part of the signal for a single terminal device, the signal content of each part indicating at least one of an information bit or a check bit.

[0150] Clause 7. The electronic device of Clause 4, wherein the combined signal pattern is indicated to the terminal devices by downlink control information (DCI) or a MAC layer control element.

[0151] Clause 8. The electronic device of Clause 3, wherein the combined signal is transmitted during blind retransmission.

[0152] Clause 9. The electronic device of Clause 1, wherein the multiple terminal devices are divided into a cluster, the multiple terminal devices including a master terminal device and one or more slave terminal devices, and the processing circuitry is further configured to:

[0153] receive, from the master terminal device, cluster hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for transmission of the signal, the cluster HARQ feedback being based on HARQ feedback of the multiple terminal devices in the cluster.

[0154] Clause 10. The electronic device of Clause 9, wherein the cluster HARQ feedback includes at least one of:

[0155] cluster ACK feedback, the cluster ACK feedback being generated based on ACK feedback of the multiple terminal devices and indicating that each terminal device of the cluster correctly received the signal for itself;

[0156] first cluster NACK feedback, the first cluster NACK feedback being generated based on NACK feedback of at least one terminal device or no HARQ feedback of at least one slave terminal device and indicating that there is a terminal device in the cluster that did not correctly receive the signal for itself; or

[0157] a second cluster of NACK feedbacks, which is generated based on NACK feedbacks of at least one terminal device or no HARQ feedbacks from at least one terminal device and corresponding terminal device identities, and indicates terminal devices in the cluster that do not correctly receive signals for themselves through terminal device identities.

[0158] Clause 11. The electronic device of Clause 9, the processing circuitry is further configured to:

[0159] dividing or updating the cluster is based on one or more of services the terminal devices participate in, locations of the terminal devices, functions of the terminal devices, or channel conditions between the terminal devices and the control device.

[0160] Clause 12. The electronic device of Clause 9, the processing circuitry is further configured to:

[0161] determining a master terminal device in the cluster based on prior experience and / or reference signal power through an artificial intelligence method.

[0162] Clause 13. The electronic device of Clause 3, wherein:

[0163] the communication between the control device and the plurality of terminal devices is through one of a cellular link, a wireless local area network (WLAN) link, or a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) link, and the communication between the plurality of terminal devices is through a sidelink between devices.

[0164] Clause 14. The electronic device of Clause 1, wherein the signals are signals transmitted in ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC).

[0165] Clause 15. An electronic device for a terminal device, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to:

[0166] receive a signal from a control device, wherein the signal comprises a combined signal including all or part of signals for at least two terminal devices; and

[0167] obtain all or part of the signal for each of the at least two terminal devices from the combined signal.

[0168] Clause 16. The electronic device of Clause 15, the processing circuitry is further configured to:

[0169] receive a combined signal including all or part of a signal for the terminal device and all or part of signals for one or more other terminal devices; and

[0170] forward all or part of the signals for the other one or more terminal devices to the respective terminal devices.

[0171] Clause 17. The electronic device of Clause 16, the processing circuitry further configured to:

[0172] receive, from at least one terminal device, all or part of a signal for the terminal device, wherein the all or part of the signal for the terminal device is included in a combined signal received by the at least one terminal device.

[0173] Clause 18. The electronic device of Clause 15, wherein the combined signal is generated based on a predefined combined signal pattern, the combined signal pattern indicating which terminal devices’ signals are included in the combined signal, and indicating how the combined signal is partitioned into multiple parts and a size and corresponding signal content of each part.

[0174] Clause 19. The electronic device of Clause 18, wherein the combined signal pattern is represented by a codebook.

[0175] Clause 20. The electronic device of Clause 18, wherein each of the multiple parts of the combined signal corresponds to all or part of a signal for a single terminal device, the signal content of each part indicating at least one of an information bit or a check bit.

[0176] Clause 21. The electronic device of Clause 17, wherein the combined signal is received during blind retransmission.

[0177] Clause 22. The electronic device of Clause 15, wherein the terminal device and the other one or more terminal devices are partitioned into a cluster, the cluster including a master terminal device and one or more slave terminal devices, the processing circuitry further configured to:

[0178] in a case where the terminal device is a master terminal device in the cluster, receive, from one or more slave terminal devices in the cluster, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of the one or more slave terminal devices on receiving a signal for itself, and transmit, to the control device, a cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and a HARQ feedback of the terminal device itself; or

[0179] in a case where the terminal device is a slave terminal device in the cluster, transmit, to a master terminal device in the cluster, a HARQ feedback on receiving a signal for itself, such that the master terminal device transmits, to the control device, a cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and a HARQ feedback of the master terminal device.

[0180] Clause 23. The electronic device of Clause 15, wherein:

[0181] Communication between the control device and the terminal device is conducted via a cellular link, a wireless local area network (WLAN) link, or a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) link, and communication between the terminal device and other terminal devices is conducted via a direct link between the devices.

[0182] Clause 24. An electronic device as described in Clause 15, wherein the control device is a base station, and the processing circuitry is further configured to:

[0183] Before receiving the signal, downlink control information is received from the base station. This downlink control information includes scheduling information for the transmission of the combined signal and indication information about which terminal devices are involved in the combined signal.

[0184] The signals of at least two terminal devices included in the combined signal are decoded according to the downlink control information.

[0185] Clause 25. An electronic device for controlling a device that communicates with a plurality of terminal devices in a cluster, the plurality of terminal devices including a master terminal device and one or more slave terminal devices, the electronic device including processing circuitry configured to:

[0186] For data transmission from the control device to the plurality of terminal devices in the cluster, the cluster hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback is received from the master terminal device, wherein the cluster HARQ feedback is generated based on the HARQ feedback from the master terminal device and the HARQ feedback sent from the terminal devices to the master terminal device.

[0187] Clause 26. An electronic device as described in Clause 25, wherein the HARQ feedback includes ACK feedback and NACK feedback, and the cluster HARQ feedback includes one of the following:

[0188] Cluster ACK feedback, which is based on the ACK feedback of each terminal device in the cluster and indicates that each terminal device in the cluster has correctly received the data transmission from the control device;

[0189] The first cluster of NACK feedback is based on NACK feedback or no HARQ feedback from at least one terminal device in the cluster, and indicates that a terminal device in the cluster has not correctly received data transmission from the control device; or

[0190] a second cluster NACK feedback based on NACK feedback or no HARQ feedback of at least one terminal device in the cluster and a corresponding terminal device identity, and indicating a terminal device that has not correctly received data transmission from the control device by terminal device identity.

[0191] Clause 27. The electronic device of clause 26, the processing circuitry is further configured to:

[0192] stop data retransmission to each terminal device in the cluster in response to receiving cluster ACK feedback from a master terminal device in the cluster; or

[0193] in response to receiving first cluster NACK feedback or second cluster NACK feedback from a master terminal device in the cluster, perform at least one of:

[0194] data retransmission to each terminal device in the cluster;

[0195] data retransmission to a terminal device in the cluster that feeds back NACK or no HARQ feedback; and

[0196] retransmission of data for a terminal device that feeds back NACK or no HARQ feedback to the master terminal device in the cluster, so that the master terminal device forwards the data to the corresponding terminal device.

[0197] Clause 28. The electronic device of clause 25, the processing circuitry is further configured to:

[0198] divide or update a cluster based on one or more of: a service that a terminal device participates in, a location of a terminal device, a function of a terminal device, or a channel condition between a terminal device and a control device.

[0199] Clause 29. The electronic device of clause 25, the processing circuitry is further configured to:

[0200] determine a master terminal device in a cluster based on prior experience and / or reference signal power by an artificial intelligence method.

[0201] Clause 30. The electronic device of clause 25, the processing circuitry is further configured to:

[0202] send a signal to at least one terminal device in the cluster, wherein the signal comprises a combined signal, and the combined signal comprises all or part of signals for at least two terminal devices to facilitate signal reception of the at least two terminal devices.

[0203] Clause 31. The electronic device of clause 25, wherein:

[0204] The communication between the control device and the terminal devices is over one of a cellular link, a wireless local area network, WLAN, link, or a vehicle-to-vehicle, V2V, link, and the communication between the terminal devices in the cluster is over a sidelink between the devices.

[0205] Clause 32. The electronic device of clause 25, wherein the data transmission is a data transmission in ultra-reliable low latency communications, URLLC.

[0206] Clause 33. An electronic device for a terminal device, the terminal device being a master terminal device in a cluster, and the cluster further comprising one or more slave terminal devices, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to:

[0207] for a data transmission by a control device to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster:

[0208] receive hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback from slave terminal devices in the cluster;

[0209] generate cluster HARQ feedback based on the own HARQ feedback and the received HARQ feedback of the slave terminal devices; and

[0210] send the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device.

[0211] Clause 34. The electronic device of clause 33, wherein the HARQ feedback comprises ACK feedback and NACK feedback, and the generating cluster HARQ feedback comprises one of:

[0212] generate cluster ACK feedback based on ACK feedback of each terminal device in the cluster, the cluster ACK feedback indicating that each terminal device in the cluster correctly received the data transmission from the control device;

[0213] generate first cluster NACK feedback based on NACK feedback or no HARQ feedback of at least one terminal device in the cluster, the first cluster NACK feedback indicating that there is a terminal device in the cluster that did not correctly receive the data transmission from the control device; or

[0214] generate second cluster NACK feedback based on NACK feedback or no HARQ feedback of at least one terminal device in the cluster and a respective terminal device identity, the second cluster NACK feedback indicating, by terminal device identity, the terminal devices that did not correctly receive the data transmission from the control device.

[0215] Clause 35. The electronic device of clause 34, wherein the cluster HARQ feedback corresponds to HARQ feedback of each of the terminal devices in the cluster for a first time period, and the processing circuitry is further configured to:

[0216] upon determining that the HARQ feedback of each of the terminal devices is ACK feedback, transmit the cluster ACK feedback to the control device; otherwise

[0217] upon expiration of the first time period, transmit the cluster NACK feedback to the control device.

[0218] Clause 36. The electronic device of clause 34, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

[0219] upon transmitting the cluster ACK feedback to the control device, transmit information to one or more slave terminal devices in the cluster to configure a time for the plurality of terminal devices to perform a synchronization operation.

[0220] Clause 37. The electronic device of clause 33, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

[0221] receive a signal from the control device, wherein the signal comprises a combined signal that includes all or part of a signal for at least two terminal devices; and

[0222] obtain, from the combined signal, all or part of the signal for each of the at least two terminal devices.

[0223] Clause 38. An electronic device for a terminal device, the terminal device being a slave terminal device in a cluster, and the cluster further including a master terminal device, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to:

[0224] generate a cluster ACK feedback based on ACK feedback of each of the terminal devices in the cluster, the cluster ACK feedback indicating that each of the terminal devices in the cluster correctly received a data transmission from a control device;

[0225] for a data transmission by the control device to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster:

[0226] transmit a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback to the master terminal device, such that the master terminal device generates a cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and its own HARQ feedback and transmits the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device.

[0227] Clause 39. The electronic device of clause 38, wherein the HARQ feedback comprises ACK feedback and NACK feedback, and transmitting the HARQ feedback to the master terminal device comprises one of:

[0228] based on the HARQ feedback being ACK feedback, sending ACK feedback to the master terminal device;

[0229] based on the HARQ feedback being NACK feedback, sending NACK feedback or no NACK feedback to the master terminal device.

[0230] Clause 40. The electronic device of Clause 38, the processing circuitry further configured to:

[0231] receive a signal from the control device, wherein the signal comprises a combined signal comprising all or part of signals for at least two terminal devices; and

[0232] obtain, from the combined signal, all or part of the signal for each of the at least two terminal devices.

[0233] Clause 41. The electronic device of Clause 40, the processing circuitry further configured to:

[0234] in response to receiving and combining the signal for the terminal device from the control device or the other one or more terminal devices, send ACK feedback to a master terminal device.

[0235] Clause 42. A method for a control device, the control device in communication with a plurality of terminal devices, the method comprising:

[0236] generating signals for the plurality of terminal devices;

[0237] based on the signals for the plurality of terminal devices, generating a signal to be sent to the plurality of terminal devices, the signal comprising a combined signal to be sent to at least one terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices, the combined signal comprising all or part of signals for at least two terminal devices to facilitate signal reception by the at least two terminal devices; and

[0238] sending the signal to the plurality of terminal devices.

[0239] Clause 43. A method for a terminal device, the method comprising:

[0240] receiving a signal from a control device, wherein the signal comprises a combined signal comprising all or part of signals for at least two terminal devices; and

[0241] obtaining, from the combined signal, all or part of the signal for each of the at least two terminal devices.

[0242] Clause 44, a method for a control device to communicate with a plurality of terminal devices in a cluster, the plurality of terminal devices including a master terminal device and one or more slave terminal devices, the method comprising:

[0243] for data transmission by the control device to the plurality of terminal devices in the cluster, receiving cluster hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback from the master terminal device, wherein the cluster HARQ feedback is generated based on HARQ feedback of the master terminal device and HARQ feedback sent by the slave terminal devices to the master terminal device.

[0244] Clause 45, a method for a terminal device, the terminal device being a master terminal device in a cluster, and the cluster further including one or more slave terminal devices, the method comprising:

[0245] for data transmission by a control device to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster:

[0246] receiving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback from slave terminal devices in the cluster;

[0247] generating cluster HARQ feedback based on its own HARQ feedback and the received HARQ feedback of the slave terminal devices; and

[0248] sending the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device.

[0249] Clause 46, a method for a terminal device, the terminal device being a slave terminal device in a cluster, and the cluster further including a master terminal device, the method comprising:

[0250] for data transmission by a control device to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster:

[0251] sending hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback to the master terminal device, such that the master terminal device generates cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and its own HARQ feedback and sends the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device.

[0252] Clause 47, a computer-readable storage medium storing one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method of any of clauses 42-46.

[0253] Clause 48, an apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising means for performing operations of the method of any of clauses 42-46.

[0254] It should be noted that the above-described application examples are merely exemplary. Embodiments of the present disclosure can also be implemented in any other appropriate manner in the above-described application examples, while still achieving the advantageous effects obtained by embodiments of the present disclosure. Moreover, embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other similar application examples, while still achieving the advantageous effects obtained by embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0255] It should be understood that the machine-executable instructions in the machine-readable storage medium or program product according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can be configured to perform operations corresponding to the above-described device and method embodiments. The embodiments of the machine-readable storage medium or program product are clear to those skilled in the art when referring to the above-described device and method embodiments, and thus will not be described again. The machine-readable storage medium and program product for carrying or including the above-described machine-executable instructions also fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Such storage media can include, but are not limited to, floppy disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, memory cards, memory sticks, and the like.

[0256] In addition, it should be understood that the above-described series of processes and devices can also be implemented by software and / or firmware. In the case of implementation by software and / or firmware, the computer having a dedicated hardware structure, such as the general-purpose personal computer 1100 shown below, is loaded with a program constituting the software, and the computer, when loaded with various programs, is capable of performing various functions and the like. Figure 11 The general-purpose personal computer 1100 shown is installed with a program constituting the software, and the computer, when loaded with various programs, is capable of performing various functions and the like. Figure 11 is a block diagram showing an example structure of a personal computer as an information processing device that can be employed in embodiments of the present disclosure. In one example, the personal computer can correspond to the above-described exemplary terminal device according to the present disclosure.

[0257] In Figure 11 , a central processing unit (CPU) 1101 performs various processes according to a program stored in a read-only memory (ROM) 1102 or a program loaded from a storage section 1108 to a random access memory (RAM) 1103. In the RAM 1103, data required when the CPU 1101 performs various processes and the like is also stored as necessary.

[0258] The CPU 1101, the ROM 1102, and the RAM 1103 are connected to each other via a bus 1104. An input / output interface 1105 is also connected to the bus 1104.

[0259] The following components are connected to the input / output interface 1105: an input portion 1106 including a keyboard, a mouse, etc.; an output portion 1107 including a display such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), etc., and a speaker, etc.; a storage portion 1108 including a hard disk, etc.; and a communication portion 1109 including a network interface card such as a LAN card, a modem, etc. The communication portion 1109 performs communication processing via a network such as the Internet.

[0260] A drive 1110 is also connected to the input / output interface 1105 as necessary. A removable medium 1111 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, and the like is attached to the drive 1110 as necessary, so that a computer program read therefrom is installed in the storage portion 1108 as necessary.

[0261] In the case where the above series of processes are implemented by software, the program constituting the software is installed from a network such as the Internet or a storage medium such as the removable medium 1111.

[0262] It is to be understood by those skilled in the art that such storage media are not limited to the above examples. Figure 11 The removable medium 1111 shown is one in which a program is stored, and is distributed separately from apparatus to provide the program to users. Examples of the removable medium 1111 include a magnetic disk (including a floppy disk (registered trademark)), an optical disk (including a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) and a digital versatile disk (DVD)), a magneto-optical disk (including a mini disk (MD) (registered trademark)), and a semiconductor memory. Alternatively, the storage medium can be the ROM 1102, a hard disk contained in the storage portion 1108, or the like, in which a program is stored, and which is distributed together with apparatus containing them to users.

[0263] The technology according to the present disclosure is applicable to a variety of products.

[0264] For example, the electronic device 200 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can be implemented as or included in a variety of control devices / base stations, while the method as described above can be implemented by the variety of control devices / base stations. Figure 9A and / or Figure 10A The method as described above can also be implemented by a variety of control devices / base stations. For example, the electronic device 300 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can be implemented as or included in a variety of terminal devices / user equipment, while the method as described above can be implemented by the variety of terminal devices / user equipment. Figures 9B-9C and / or Figure 10B The method as described above can also be implemented by a variety of terminal devices / user equipment.

[0265] For example, the control device / base station mentioned in the present disclosure can be implemented as any type of base station, such as an evolved Node B (gNB), such as a macro gNB and a small gNB. The small gNB can be a gNB for a small cell having a smaller coverage than a macro cell, such as a pico gNB, a micro gNB, and a home (femto) gNB. Alternatively, the base station can be implemented as any other type of base station, such as a NodeB and a Base Transceiver Station (BTS). The base station can include a main body (also referred to as a base station device) configured to control wireless communication, and one or more Remote Radio Heads (RRHs) disposed at a different place from the main body. In addition, each of the various types of terminals to be described below can operate as a base station by temporarily or semi-persistently performing a base station function.

[0266] For example, the terminal device mentioned in the present disclosure is also referred to as a user equipment in some examples, and can be implemented as a mobile terminal such as a smartphone, a tablet personal computer (PC), a notebook PC, a portable game terminal, a portable / dongle type mobile router, and a digital camera, or a vehicle-mounted terminal such as a car navigation device. The user equipment can also be implemented as a terminal that performs machine-to-machine (M2M) communication (also referred to as a machine type communication (MTC) terminal). Furthermore, the user equipment can be a wireless communication module mounted on each of the above-described terminals, such as an integrated circuit module including a single wafer. In some cases, the user equipment can communicate using multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, the user equipment can be configured to communicate using two or more of GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, WiMAX, LTE, LTE-A, WLAN, NR, Bluetooth, and the like. In some cases, the user equipment can also be configured to communicate using only one wireless communication technology.

[0267] Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described with reference to Figures 12-15 Examples according to the present disclosure are described.

[0268] Examples regarding a base station

[0269] It should be appreciated that the term base station in this disclosure has all the breadth of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station used as part of a wireless communication system or radio system to facilitate communication. Examples of base stations can be, for example, but not limited to, one or both of a base transceiver station (BTS) and a base station controller (BSC) in a GSM system, one or both of a radio network controller (RNC) and a Node B in a WCDMA system, an eNB in an LTE and LTE-Advanced system, or a corresponding network node in future communication systems (e.g. gNB in a 5G communication system, eLTE eNB, etc.). Part of the functionality of the base stations of this disclosure can also be implemented as an entity having control functionality over communication in D2D, M2M, and V2V communication scenarios, or as an entity having a spectrum coordination role in cognitive radio communication scenarios.

[0270] First example

[0271] Figure 12 is a block diagram illustrating a first example of a schematic configuration of a base station (gNB is exemplified herein) to which the technology of this disclosure can be applied. The gNB 1200 includes a plurality of antennas 1210 and a base station apparatus 1220. The base station apparatus 1220 and each of the antennas 1210 can be connected to each other via an RF cable. In one implementation, the gNB 1200 (or the base station apparatus 1220) here can correspond to the control apparatus 101 (or more specifically, the electronic apparatus 200) described above.

[0272] Each of the antennas 1210 includes a single or a plurality of antenna elements (such as a plurality of antenna elements included in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna), and is used for the base station apparatus 1220 to transmit and receive a radio signal. As Figure 13 indicated, the gNB 1200 can include a plurality of antennas 1210. For example, the plurality of antennas 1210 can be compatible with a plurality of frequency bands used by the gNB 1200.

[0273] The base station apparatus 1220 includes a controller 1221, a memory 1222, a network interface 1223, and a radio communication interface 1225.

[0274] The controller 1221 can be, for example, a CPU or a DSP, and operates various functions of a higher layer of the base station apparatus 1220. For example, the controller 1221 generates data packets from data in a signal processed by the wireless communication interface 1225, and transfers the generated packets via the network interface 1223. The controller 1221 can bundle data from a plurality of baseband processors to generate bundled packets, and transfer the generated bundled packets. The controller 1221 can have a logical function of performing control such as radio resource control, radio bearer control, mobility management, admission control, and scheduling. The control can be performed in conjunction with a nearby gNB or a core network node. The memory 1222 includes RAM and ROM, and stores programs executed by the controller 1221 and various types of control data such as a terminal list, transmission power data, and scheduling data.

[0275] The network interface 1223 is a communication interface for connecting the base station apparatus 1220 to the core network 1224. The controller 1221 can communicate with a core network node or another gNB via the network interface 1223. In this case, the gNB 1200 and the core network node or other gNBs can be connected to each other by logical interfaces such as S1 and X2 interfaces. The network interface 1223 can also be a wired communication interface or a wireless communication interface for a wireless backhaul line. If the network interface 1223 is a wireless communication interface, the network interface 1223 can use a higher frequency band for wireless communication than a frequency band used by the wireless communication interface 1225.

[0276] The wireless communication interface 1225 supports any cellular communication scheme such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced, and provides wireless connections to terminals located in a cell of the gNB 1200 via the antenna 1210. The wireless communication interface 1225 can generally include, for example, a baseband (BB) processor 1226 and RF circuitry 1227. The BB processor 1226 can perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and perform various types of signal processing of layers (e.g., L1, medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP)). The BB processor 1226 can have part or all of the logical functions described above instead of the controller 1221. The BB processor 1226 can be a memory that stores a communication control program, or a module including a processor and related circuitry configured to execute the program. Updating the program can cause the function of the BB processor 1226 to change. The module can be a card or a blade inserted into a slot of the base station apparatus 1220. Alternatively, the module can also be a chip mounted on a card or a blade. Meanwhile, the RF circuitry 1227 can include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmit and receive wireless signals via the antenna 1210. Although the BB processor 1226 and the RF circuitry 1227 are shown as separate blocks from each other in FIG. 12, the BB processor 1226 and the RF circuitry 1227 can be implemented as one chip.Figure 12 An example is shown in which one RF circuit 1227 is connected to one antenna 1210, but the present disclosure is not limited to this illustration, and one RF circuit 1227 can be connected to multiple antennas 1210 at the same time.

[0277] As Figure 12 illustrated, the wireless communication interface 1225 can include multiple BB processors 1226. For example, the multiple BB processors 1226 can be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the gNB 1200. As Figure 12 illustrated, the wireless communication interface 1225 can include multiple RF circuits 1227. For example, the multiple RF circuits 1227 can be compatible with multiple antenna elements. Although Figure 12 An example is shown in which the wireless communication interface 1225 includes multiple BB processors 1226 and multiple RF circuits 1227, but the wireless communication interface 1225 can also include a single BB processor 1226 or a single RF circuit 1227.

[0278] Second Example

[0279] Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a second example of a schematic configuration of a base station (gNB is exemplified herein) to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The gNB 1330 includes multiple antennas 1340, a base station device 1350, and RRHs 1360. The RRHs 1360 and each of the antennas 1340 can be connected to each other via an RF cable. The base station device 1350 and the RRHs 1360 can be connected to each other via a high-speed line such as a fiber cable. In one implementation, the gNB 1330 (or the base station device 1350) here can correspond to the control device 101 (or more specifically, the electronic device 200) described above.

[0280] Each of the antennas 1340 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and functions to transmit and receive radio signals for the RRHs 1360. As Figure 13 illustrated, the gNB 1330 can include multiple antennas 1340. For example, the multiple antennas 1340 can be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the gNB 1330.

[0281] The base station device 1350 includes a controller 1351, a memory 1352, a network interface 1353, a wireless communication interface 1355, and a connection interface 1357. The controller 1351, the memory 1352, and the network interface 1353 are the same as those described with reference to the controller 1221, the memory 1222, and the network interface 1223. Figure 12 The wireless communication interface 1355 includes a BB processor 1356 and an RF circuit 1357. The BB processor 1356 and the RF circuit 1357 are the same as those described with reference to the BB processor 1226 and the RF circuit 1227.

[0282] Wireless communication interface 1355 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and provides wireless communication to terminals located in the sector corresponding to RRH 1360 via RRH 1360 and antenna 1340. Wireless communication interface 1355 may typically include, for example, a BB processor 1356. In addition to the BB processor 1356 being connected to the RF circuitry 1364 of RRH 1360 via connection interface 1357, the BB processor 1356 is connected to the reference... Figure 12 The BB processor 1226 is described as identical. Figure 13 As shown, the wireless communication interface 1355 may include multiple BB processors 1356. For example, the multiple BB processors 1356 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the gNB 1330. Although Figure 13 An example is shown in which the wireless communication interface 1355 includes multiple BB processors 1356, but the wireless communication interface 1355 may also include a single BB processor 1356.

[0283] Connection interface 1357 is an interface for connecting base station device 1350 (wireless communication interface 1355) to RRH 1360. Connection interface 1357 may also be a communication module for communication in the aforementioned high-speed line connecting base station device 1350 (wireless communication interface 1355) to RRH 1360.

[0284] The RRH 1360 includes a connectivity interface 1361 and a wireless communication interface 1363.

[0285] Connection interface 1361 is an interface for connecting RRH 1360 (wireless communication interface 1363) to base station equipment 1350. Connection interface 1361 can also be a communication module for communication in the aforementioned high-speed line.

[0286] Wireless communication interface 1363 transmits and receives wireless signals via antenna 1340. Wireless communication interface 1363 typically includes, for example, RF circuitry 1364. RF circuitry 1364 may include, for example, a mixer, filter, and amplifier, and transmits and receives wireless signals via antenna 1340. Although Figure 13 An example of an RF circuit 1364 connected to an antenna 1340 is shown, but this disclosure is not limited to the illustration, and an RF circuit 1364 can be connected to multiple antennas 1340 simultaneously.

[0287] like Figure 13 As shown, the wireless communication interface 1363 may include multiple RF circuits 1364. For example, the multiple RF circuits 1364 may support multiple antenna elements. Although Figure 13An example is shown in which the wireless communication interface 1363 includes a plurality of RF circuits 1364, but the wireless communication interface 1363 can also include a single RF circuit 1364.

[0288] Examples regarding user equipment

[0289] First example

[0290] Figure 14 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a smartphone 1400 to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The smartphone 1400 includes a processor 1401, a memory 1402, a storage 1403, an external connection interface 1404, a camera 1406, a sensor 1407, a microphone 1408, an input device 1409, a display device 1410, a speaker 1411, a wireless communication interface 1412, one or more antenna switches 1415, one or more antennas 1416, a bus 1417, a battery 1418, and an auxiliary controller 1419. In one implementation, the smartphone 1400 (or the processor 1401) here can correspond to the terminal device 102 (or more specifically, the electronic device 300) described above.

[0291] The processor 1401 can be, for example, a CPU or a system on chip (SoC), and controls functions of the application layer and the other layers of the smartphone 1400. The memory 1402 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 1401. The storage 1403 can include a storage medium such as a semiconductor memory and a hard disk. The external connection interface 1404 is an interface for connecting an external device such as a memory card and a universal serial bus (USB) device to the smartphone 1400.

[0292] The camera 1406 includes an image sensor such as a charge coupled device (CCD) and a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), and generates a captured image. The sensor 1407 can include a set of sensors such as a measurement sensor, a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an acceleration sensor. The microphone 1408 converts a sound input to the smartphone 1400 into an audio signal. The input device 1409 includes, for example, a touch sensor configured to detect a touch on a screen of the display device 1410, a key pad, a keyboard, a button, or a switch, and receives an operation or information input from a user. The display device 1410 includes a screen such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, and displays an output image of the smartphone 1400. The speaker 1411 converts an audio signal output from the smartphone 1400 into a sound.

[0293] The wireless communication interface 1412 supports any cellular communication scheme such as LTE and LTE-Advanced, and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 1412 can generally include, for example, a BB processor 1413 and an RF circuit 1414. The BB processor 1413 can perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and perform various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 1414 can include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmit and receive wireless signals via an antenna 1416. The wireless communication interface 1412 can be one chip module in which the BB processor 1413 and the RF circuit 1414 are integrated. As Figure 14 indicated, the wireless communication interface 1412 can include a plurality of BB processors 1413 and a plurality of RF circuits 1414. Although Figure 14 an example in which the wireless communication interface 1412 includes a plurality of BB processors 1413 and a plurality of RF circuits 1414 is shown, the wireless communication interface 1412 can also include a single BB processor 1413 or a single RF circuit 1414.

[0294] In addition, the wireless communication interface 1412 can support another type of wireless communication scheme in addition to the cellular communication scheme, such as a short-range wireless communication scheme, a near field communication scheme, and a wireless local area network (LAN) scheme. In this case, the wireless communication interface 1412 can include a BB processor 1413 and an RF circuit 1414 for each wireless communication scheme.

[0295] Each of the antenna switches 1415 switches a connection destination of the antenna 1416 between a plurality of circuits included in the wireless communication interface 1412, for example, circuits for different wireless communication schemes.

[0296] Each of the antennas 1416 includes a single or a plurality of antenna elements such as a plurality of antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna, and is used for the wireless communication interface 1412 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As Figure 14 indicated, the smart phone 1400 can include a plurality of antennas 1416. Although Figure 14 an example in which the smart phone 1400 includes a plurality of antennas 1416 is shown, the smart phone 1400 can also include a single antenna 1416.

[0297] In addition, the smart phone 1400 can include an antenna 1416 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 1415 can be omitted from the configuration of the smart phone 1400.

[0298] The bus 1417 connects the processor 1401, the memory 1402, the storage 1403, the external connection interface 1404, the camera 1406, the sensor 1407, the microphone 1408, the input device 1409, the display device 1410, the speaker 1411, the wireless communication interface 1412, and the auxiliary controller 1419 to one another. The battery 1418 supplies electric power to the components of the smartphone 1400 via a feeder line, which is partially shown as a broken line in the figure. The auxiliary controller 1419 operates the minimum necessary functions of the smartphone 1400, for example, in a sleep mode. Figure 14 The respective blocks of the smartphone 1400 shown provide electric power, and the feeder line is partially shown as a broken line in the figure. The auxiliary controller 1419 operates the minimum necessary functions of the smartphone 1400, for example, in a sleep mode.

[0299] Second Example

[0300] Figure 15 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device 1520 to which the technology according to the present disclosure can be applied. The car navigation device 1520 includes a processor 1521, a memory 1522, a global positioning system (GPS) module 1524, a sensor 1525, a data interface 1526, a content player 1527, a storage medium interface 1528, an input device 1529, a display device 1530, a speaker 1531, a wireless communication interface 1533, one or more antenna switches 1536, one or more antennas 1537, and a battery 1538. In one implementation, the car navigation device 1520 (or the processor 1521) here can correspond to the terminal device 102 (or more specifically, the electronic device 300) described above.

[0301] The processor 1521 can be, for example, a CPU or a SoC, and controls a navigation function and another function of the car navigation device 1520. The memory 1522 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 1521.

[0302] The GPS module 1524 measures a position (such as latitude, longitude, and altitude) of the car navigation device 1520 using a GPS signal received from a GPS satellite. The sensor 1525 can include a set of sensors such as a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an air pressure sensor. The data interface 1526 is connected to, for example, an in-vehicle network 1541 via a terminal not shown, and acquires data (such as vehicle speed data) generated by a vehicle.

[0303] The content player 1527 reproduces content stored in a storage medium such as a CD and a DVD, which is inserted into the storage medium interface 1528. The input device 1529 includes, for example, a touch sensor configured to detect a touch on a screen of the display device 1530, a button, or a switch, and receives an operation or information input from a user. The display device 1530 includes a screen such as an LCD or an OLED display, and displays an image of a navigation function or reproduced content. The speaker 1531 outputs a sound of a navigation function or reproduced content.

[0304] The wireless communication interface 1533 supports any cellular communication scheme such as LTE and LTE-Advanced, and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 1533 can include, for example, a BB processor 1534 and an RF circuit 1535, in general. The BB processor 1534 can perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and perform various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 1535 can include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmit and receive wireless signals via an antenna 1537. The wireless communication interface 1533 can also be one chip module in which the BB processor 1534 and the RF circuit 1535 are integrated thereon. As Figure 15 indicated, the wireless communication interface 1533 can include a plurality of BB processors 1534 and a plurality of RF circuits 1535. Although Figure 15 An example in which the wireless communication interface 1533 includes a plurality of BB processors 1534 and a plurality of RF circuits 1535 is illustrated, but the wireless communication interface 1533 can also include a single BB processor 1534 or a single RF circuit 1535.

[0305] In addition, the wireless communication interface 1533 can support another type of wireless communication scheme, such as a short-range wireless communication scheme, a near field communication scheme, and a wireless LAN scheme, in addition to the cellular communication scheme. In this case, the wireless communication interface 1533 can include a BB processor 1534 and an RF circuit 1535 for each wireless communication scheme.

[0306] Each of the antenna switches 1536 switches a connection destination of the antenna 1537 between a plurality of circuits included in the wireless communication interface 1533, such as circuits for different wireless communication schemes.

[0307] Each of the antennas 1537 includes a single or a plurality of antenna elements, such as a plurality of antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna, and is used for the wireless communication interface 1533 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As Figure 15 indicated, the car navigation device 1520 can include a plurality of antennas 1537. Although Figure 15An example in which the car navigation device 1520 includes a plurality of antennas 1537 is shown, but the car navigation device 1520 can also include a single antenna 1537.

[0308] Furthermore, the car navigation device 1520 can include an antenna 1537 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 1536 can be omitted from the configuration of the car navigation device 1520.

[0309] The battery 1538 accumulates power supplied from the vehicle via a feeder line. Figure 15 The various blocks of the car navigation device 1520 shown provide power, and the feeder line is shown in part as a broken line in the figure. The battery 1538 accumulates power supplied from the vehicle.

[0310] The technology of the present disclosure can also be implemented as an in-vehicle system (or vehicle) 1540 including one or more blocks of the car navigation device 1520, the in-vehicle network 1541, and the vehicle module 1542. The vehicle module 1542 generates vehicle data such as vehicle speed, engine speed, and failure information, and outputs the generated data to the in-vehicle network 1541.

[0311] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present disclosure is of course not limited to the above examples. Various changes and modifications can be made by those skilled in the art within the scope of the appended claims, and it should be understood that such changes and modifications naturally fall within the technical scope of the present disclosure.

[0312] For example, a plurality of functions included in one unit in the above embodiments can be implemented by separate devices. Alternatively, a plurality of functions implemented by a plurality of units in the above embodiments can be respectively implemented by separate devices. In addition, one of the above functions can be implemented by a plurality of units. Needless to say, such a configuration is included in the technical scope of the present disclosure.

[0313] In this specification, the steps described in the flowcharts include not only processes performed in time series according to the order described in the steps, but also processes performed in parallel or individually rather than in time series. Furthermore, even in the steps that are processed in time series, the order of the steps is not necessarily solely limited to the order described.

[0314] While the disclosure and the best mode thereof have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the terms "comprising", "including", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but can also include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by "comprises a... " does not, without further restriction, preclude the existence of additional elements of the same type in the process, method, article, or apparatus.

Claims

1. An electronic device for controlling a device, the controlling device being in communication with a plurality of terminal devices, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to: generate signals for the plurality of terminal devices; generate, based on the signals for the plurality of terminal devices, a signal to be transmitted to the plurality of terminal devices, the signal comprising a combined signal to be transmitted to at least one terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices, the combined signal comprising all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices to facilitate signal reception by the at least two terminal devices; and transmit the signal to the plurality of terminal devices, wherein the signal transmitted to each terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices is different, enabling each terminal device to forward parts of the received signal that facilitate decoding by other terminal device or devices to the respective terminal device. Generating the combined signal comprises: generating, based on the signals for a first terminal device of the at least one terminal device and the other terminal device or devices, a combined signal to be transmitted to the first terminal device, wherein the combined signal comprises all or part of the signal for the first terminal device and all or part of the signals for the other terminal device or devices, and all or part of the signals for the other terminal device or devices is to be forwarded by the first terminal device to the respective terminal device. Generating the combined signal comprises: generating, based on at least the signal for a first terminal device and the signal for a second terminal device, a combined signal to be transmitted to the second terminal device, wherein the combined signal comprises all or part of the signal for the first terminal device and all or part of the signal for the second terminal device, and all or part of the signal for the first terminal device is to be forwarded by the second terminal device to the first terminal device. The combined signal is generated based on a predefined combined signal pattern, the combined signal pattern indicating which signals for which terminal devices are included in the combined signal, and indicating how the combined signal is divided into a plurality of parts and the size and corresponding signal content of each part. The combined signal pattern is represented by a codebook. Each part of the plurality of parts of the combined signal corresponds to all or part of a signal for a single terminal device, the signal content of each part indicating at least one of information bits or check bits. The combined signal pattern is indicated to the terminal devices by downlink control information, DCI, or a MAC layer control element. The combined signal is transmitted during blind retransmission. The plurality of terminal devices is divided into a cluster, the plurality of terminal devices comprising a master terminal device and one or more slave terminal devices, and the processing circuitry is further configured to: receive, from the master terminal device, cluster hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback for transmission of the signal, the cluster HARQ feedback being based on HARQ feedback of the plurality of terminal devices in the cluster. The cluster HARQ feedback comprises at least one of: ​ ​ ​ ​ 2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein, ​ ​ 3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein, ​ ​ 4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein, ​ 5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein, ​ 6. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein, ​ 7. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein, ​ 8. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein, ​ 9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein, ​ ​ 10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein, ​ a cluster ACK feedback, which is generated based on ACK feedbacks of the plurality of terminal devices and indicates that each terminal device of the cluster correctly receives the signal for itself; a first cluster NACK feedback, which is generated based on NACK feedback of at least one terminal device or no HARQ feedback from at least one terminal device and indicates that there is a terminal device in the cluster that does not correctly receive the signal for itself; or a second cluster NACK feedback, which is generated based on NACK feedback of at least one terminal device or no HARQ feedback from at least one terminal device and a corresponding terminal device identifier, and indicates the terminal device in the cluster that does not correctly receive the signal for itself through the terminal device identifier. 11.The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: divide or update the cluster based on one or more of a service that the terminal devices participate in, a location of the terminal devices, a function of the terminal devices, or a channel condition between the terminal devices and the control device. 12.The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine a master terminal device in the cluster based on prior experience and / or reference signal power through an artificial intelligence method. 13.The electronic device of claim 3, wherein: the communication between the control device and the plurality of terminal devices is through one of a cellular link, a wireless local area network (WLAN) link, or a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) link, and the communication between the plurality of terminal devices is through a sidelink between devices.

14. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein, the signal is a signal transmitted in ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC). 15.An electronic device for a terminal device, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to: receiving a signal from a control device, wherein, the signal comprises a combined signal that includes all or part of the signal for at least two terminal devices; and obtain all or part of the signal for each of the at least two terminal devices from the combined signal, wherein the signal received by the terminal device is different from the signal received by the other terminal devices, so that each terminal device can forward part of the received signal that helps decoding of the other one or more terminal devices to the corresponding terminal device. 16.The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: receive a combined signal that includes all or part of the signal for the terminal device and all or part of the signal for the other one or more terminal devices; and forward all or part of the signal for the other one or more terminal devices to the corresponding terminal device. 17.The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: receive all or part of the signal for the terminal device from at least one terminal device, wherein all or part of the signal for the terminal device is included in a combined signal received by the at least one terminal device.

18. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein, The combined signal is generated based on a predefined combined signal pattern, the combined signal pattern indicating which terminal devices the signals included in the combined signal are for, and indicating that the combined signal is divided into multiple parts and the size of each part and the corresponding signal content.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein, The combined signal pattern is represented by a codebook.

20. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein, Each part of the multiple parts of the combined signal corresponds to all or part of the signals for a single terminal device, and the signal content of each part indicates at least one of information bits or check bits.

21. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein, The combined signal is received during blind retransmission.

22. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the terminal device and the other one or more terminal devices are divided into a cluster, the cluster including a master terminal device and one or more slave terminal devices, the processing circuitry being further configured to: in a case where the terminal device is a master terminal device in the cluster, receive, from the one or more slave terminal devices in the cluster, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of the one or more slave terminal devices on receiving signals for themselves, and transmit, to the control device, cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and HARQ feedback of itself; or in a case where the terminal device is a slave terminal device in the cluster, transmit, to a master terminal device in the cluster, HARQ feedback on receiving signals for itself, such that the master terminal device transmits, to the control device, cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and HARQ feedback of the master terminal device.

23. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein: the communication between the control device and the terminal device is over one of a cellular link, a wireless local area network (WLAN) link, or a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) link, and the communication between the terminal device and the other terminal devices is over a sidelink between devices.

24. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the control device is a base station, the processing circuitry being further configured to: receive, from the base station, downlink control information before receiving the signals, the downlink control information containing scheduling information of the transmission of the combined signal and indication information of which terminal devices the combined signal involves, and decode the signals for at least two terminal devices included in the combined signal according to the downlink control information.

25. An electronic device for a control device, the control device communicating with a plurality of terminal devices in a cluster, the plurality of terminal devices including a master terminal device and one or more slave terminal devices, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to: for a data transmission of the control device to the plurality of terminal devices in the cluster, receive cluster hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback from the master terminal device, wherein the cluster HARQ feedback is generated based on HARQ feedback of the master terminal device and HARQ feedback transmitted from the slave terminal devices to the master terminal device, the processing circuitry being further configured to: sending a signal to at least one terminal device in the cluster, wherein, The signal comprises a combined signal, and the combined signal comprises all or part of signals of at least two terminal devices to facilitate signal reception of the at least two terminal devices, wherein the signal sent to each of the at least one terminal device is different, so that each terminal device can forward part of the received signal that helps decoding of other one or more terminal devices to the corresponding terminal device.

26. The electronic device of claim 25, wherein, The HARQ feedback comprises ACK feedback and NACK feedback, and the cluster HARQ feedback comprises one of: a cluster ACK feedback based on ACK feedback of each terminal device in the cluster and indicating that each terminal device in the cluster correctly receives the data transmission from the control device; a first cluster NACK feedback based on NACK feedback or no HARQ feedback of at least one terminal device in the cluster and indicating that there is a terminal device in the cluster that does not correctly receive the data transmission from the control device; or a second cluster NACK feedback based on NACK feedback or no HARQ feedback of at least one terminal device in the cluster and a corresponding terminal device identity, and indicating the terminal device that does not correctly receive the data transmission from the control device by the terminal device identity.

27. The electronic device of claim 26, the processing circuitry is further configured to: stop data retransmission to each terminal device in the cluster in response to receiving a cluster ACK feedback from a master terminal device in the cluster; or in response to receiving a first cluster NACK feedback or a second cluster NACK feedback from a master terminal device in the cluster, perform at least one of: data retransmission to each terminal device in the cluster; data retransmission to a terminal device in the cluster that feeds back NACK or no HARQ feedback; and retransmission of data for the terminal device that feeds back NACK or no HARQ feedback to the master terminal device in the cluster, so that the master terminal device forwards the data to the corresponding terminal device.

28. The electronic device of claim 25, the processing circuitry is further configured to: divide or update a cluster based on one or more of: a service that a terminal device participates in, a location of a terminal device, a function of a terminal device, or a channel condition between a terminal device and a control device.

29. The electronic device of claim 25, the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine a master terminal device in a cluster based on prior experience and / or reference signal power by an artificial intelligence method.

30. The electronic device of claim 25, wherein: the communication between the control device and the terminal devices is through one of a cellular link, a wireless local area network (WLAN) link, or a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) link, and the communication between the terminal devices in the cluster is through a sidelink between devices. the data transmission is a data transmission in ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC).

31. The electronic device of claim 25, wherein, ​ 32.An electronic device for a terminal device, the terminal device being a master terminal device in a cluster, and the cluster further comprising one or more slave terminal devices, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to: for a control device to transmit data to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster: receive hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback from slave terminal devices in the cluster; generate cluster HARQ feedback based on its own HARQ feedback and the received HARQ feedback from slave terminal devices; and send the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device, the processing circuitry is further configured to: receiving a signal from the control device, wherein, the signal comprises a combined signal comprising all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices; and obtain from the combined signal all or part of the signals for each of the at least two terminal devices, wherein the signal received by the terminal device is different from the signal received by the other terminal devices, such that each terminal device can forward to the respective terminal device the part of the received signal that is helpful for the decoding of the other one or more terminal devices.

33. The electronic device of claim 32, wherein, the HARQ feedback comprises ACK feedback and NACK feedback, and the generating cluster HARQ feedback comprises one of: generate cluster ACK feedback based on ACK feedback of each terminal device in the cluster, the cluster ACK feedback indicating that each terminal device in the cluster correctly received the data transmission from the control device; generate first cluster NACK feedback based on NACK feedback or no HARQ feedback of at least one terminal device in the cluster, the first cluster NACK feedback indicating that there is a terminal device in the cluster that did not correctly receive the data transmission from the control device; or generate second cluster NACK feedback based on NACK feedback or no HARQ feedback of at least one terminal device in the cluster and the respective terminal device identity, the second cluster NACK feedback indicating the terminal device that did not correctly receive the data transmission from the control device by the terminal device identity.

34. The electronic device of claim 33, wherein, the cluster HARQ feedback corresponds to HARQ feedback of each terminal device in the cluster in a first time period, the processing circuitry is further configured to: in the first time period, send the cluster ACK feedback to the control device upon determining that the HARQ feedback of each terminal device is ACK feedback; otherwise at the expiry of the first time period, send the cluster NACK feedback to the control device. 35.The electronic device of claim 33, the processing circuitry is further configured to: upon sending the cluster ACK feedback to the control device, send information to one or more slave terminal devices in the cluster to configure the time for the plurality of terminal devices to perform a synchronization operation. 36.An electronic device for a terminal device, the terminal device being a slave terminal device in a cluster, and the cluster further comprising a master terminal device, the electronic device comprising processing circuitry configured to: generate a cluster ACK feedback based on ACK feedbacks of the individual terminal devices in the cluster, the cluster ACK feedback indicating that each of the individual terminal devices in the cluster correctly received the data transmission from the control device; for a data transmission by the control device to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster: send a hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback to the master terminal device, to enable the master terminal device to generate a cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and its own HARQ feedback and send the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device, the processing circuitry is further configured to: receiving a signal from the control device, wherein, the signal comprises a combined signal comprising all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices; and obtain from the combined signal all or part of the signal for each of the at least two terminal devices, wherein the signal received by the terminal device is different from the signal received by the other terminal devices, to enable each terminal device to forward to the respective terminal device part of the received signal that facilitates decoding by the other one or more terminal devices.

37. The electronic device of claim 36, wherein, the HARQ feedback comprises ACK feedback and NACK feedback, and sending the HARQ feedback to the master terminal device comprises one of: sending ACK feedback to the master terminal device based on the HARQ feedback being ACK feedback; sending NACK feedback or no NACK feedback to the master terminal device based on the HARQ feedback being NACK feedback.

38. The electronic device of claim 36, the processing circuitry is further configured to: send ACK feedback to the master terminal device in response to receiving and combining the signal for the terminal device from the control device or the other one or more terminal devices.

39. A method for a control device, the control device being in communication with a plurality of terminal devices, the method comprising: generating a signal for the plurality of terminal devices; generating a signal to be sent to the plurality of terminal devices based on the signal for the plurality of terminal devices, the signal comprising a combined signal to be sent to at least one terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices, the combined signal comprising all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices to facilitate reception of the signals by the at least two terminal devices; and sending the signal to the plurality of terminal devices, wherein the signal sent to each terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices is different, to enable each terminal device to forward to the respective terminal device part of the received signal that facilitates decoding by the other one or more terminal devices.

40. A method for a terminal device, the method comprising: receiving a signal from a control device, wherein the signal comprises a combined signal comprising all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices; and obtaining from the combined signal all or part of the signal for each of the at least two terminal devices, wherein the signal received by the terminal device is different from the signal received by the other terminal devices, to enable each terminal device to forward to the respective terminal device part of the received signal that facilitates decoding by the other one or more terminal devices. obtaining from the combined signal all or part of the signal for each of the at least two terminal devices, wherein the signal received by a terminal device is different from the signal received by the other terminal devices so that each terminal device is able to forward to the respective terminal device part of the received signal that is useful for decoding by the other terminal device or devices.

41. A method for a control device to communicate with a plurality of terminal devices in a cluster, the plurality of terminal devices comprising a master terminal device and one or more slave terminal devices, the method comprising: for a data transmission by the control device to the plurality of terminal devices in the cluster, receiving cluster hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback from the master terminal device, wherein the cluster HARQ feedback is generated based on HARQ feedback of the master terminal device and HARQ feedback sent by the slave terminal devices to the master terminal device, the method further comprising: sending a signal to at least one terminal device in the cluster, wherein the signal comprises a combined signal and the combined signal comprises all or part of the signal for at least two terminal devices to facilitate signal reception by the at least two terminal devices, wherein the signal sent to each of the at least one terminal device is different so that each terminal device is able to forward to the respective terminal device part of the received signal that is useful for decoding by the other terminal device or devices.

42. A method for a terminal device, the terminal device being a master terminal device in a cluster and the cluster further comprising one or more slave terminal devices, the method comprising: for a data transmission by a control device to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster: receiving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback from slave terminal devices in the cluster; generating cluster HARQ feedback based on its own HARQ feedback and the received HARQ feedback of the slave terminal devices; and sending the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device, the method further comprising: receiving a signal from the control device, wherein the signal comprises a combined signal comprising all or part of the signal for at least two terminal devices; and obtaining from the combined signal all or part of the signal for each of the at least two terminal devices, wherein the signal received by a terminal device is different from the signal received by the other terminal devices so that each terminal device is able to forward to the respective terminal device part of the received signal that is useful for decoding by the other terminal device or devices.

43. A method for a terminal device, the terminal device being a slave terminal device in a cluster and the cluster further comprising a master terminal device, the method comprising: for a data transmission by a control device to a plurality of terminal devices in the cluster: sending hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback to the master terminal device so that the master terminal device generates cluster HARQ feedback based on the HARQ feedback and its own HARQ feedback and sends the cluster HARQ feedback to the control device, the method further comprising: ​ receiving a signal from the control device, wherein the signal comprises a combined signal comprising all or part of the signals for at least two terminal devices; and obtaining all or part of the signal for each of the at least two terminal devices from the combined signal, wherein the signal received by the terminal device is different from the signal received by the other terminal devices, such that each terminal device is able to forward to the respective terminal device the part of the received signal that assists the decoding of the other one or more terminal devices.

44. A computer-readable storage medium storing one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method of any of claims 39-43.

45. An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising means for performing the operations of the method of any of claims 39-43.

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