Carrier switching method and apparatus, terminal device, and readable storage medium

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a carrier switching method and device, a terminal device and a readable storage medium, and relates to the field of communication. The method is applied to a terminal device, and the method comprises the following steps: determining a candidate secondary carrier based on a selection strategy; and in response to the presence of valid resources on the candidate secondary carrier, taking the candidate secondary carrier as a target secondary carrier, wherein the target secondary carrier is a secondary carrier after switching in a carrier switching scenario of a physical channel. The carrier switching method provided by the present disclosure clearly defines the carrier switching behavior of the terminal device in the case that the physical channel resources of the primary carrier are unavailable, helps the terminal device to switch to the available target secondary carrier, and thus guarantees the reliability and timeliness of the transmission on the physical channel.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of communication, and in particular relates to a carrier switching method and device, a terminal device and a readable storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] Under the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC) issue in R17, it is proposed to enhance the Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest-Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback.

[0003] Generally, the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource corresponding to the HARQ-ACK feedback can be obtained through K1 indication. If the PUCCH resource corresponding to K1 is unavailable, the feedback operation is discarded, or retransmission is triggered, or the feedback operation is delayed according to certain rules.

[0004] However, the above processing method will have a certain impact on the reliability and delay of the HARQ-ACK feedback. SUMMARY

[0005] The present disclosure provides a carrier switching method, device, terminal device and readable storage medium, and the technical solution is as follows:

[0006] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a carrier switching method is provided, the method comprising:

[0007] determining a candidate secondary carrier based on a selection policy;

[0008] in response to the existence of valid resources on the candidate secondary carrier, taking the candidate secondary carrier as a target secondary carrier, the target secondary carrier being a secondary carrier after switching in a carrier switching scenario of a physical channel.

[0009] On the other hand, a carrier switching device is provided, the device comprising a secondary carrier selection module and a carrier switching module;

[0010] The secondary carrier selection module is configured to determine a candidate secondary carrier based on a selection policy;

[0011] The carrier switching module is configured to, in response to the existence of valid resources on the candidate secondary carrier, take the candidate secondary carrier as a target secondary carrier, the target secondary carrier being a secondary carrier after carrier switching in a physical channel carrier switching scenario.

[0012] In another aspect, a terminal device is provided, the terminal device comprising:

[0013] a processor;

[0014] a transceiver connected to the processor;

[0015] The processor is configured to load and execute executable instructions to implement the carrier switching method as described in the above embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0016] In another aspect, a chip is provided, the chip comprising programmable logic circuitry and / or program instructions, and when the chip is running, the chip is configured to implement the carrier switching method as described in the above embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0017] In another aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, the computer-readable storage medium storing at least one instruction, at least one program, a code set or an instruction set, the at least one instruction, the at least one program, the code set or the instruction set being loaded and executed by a processor to implement the carrier switching method as described in the above embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0018] In another aspect, a computer program product or a computer program is provided, the computer program product or the computer program comprising computer instructions stored in a computer-readable storage medium. A processor of a computer device reads the computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer instructions to cause the computer device to perform the carrier switching method as described in the above embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0019] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure have at least the following beneficial effects:

[0020] In the carrier switching scenario of the physical channel, the terminal device selects a candidate secondary carrier based on a selection policy to determine whether the candidate secondary carrier is available, and in the case that there are valid resources on the candidate secondary carrier, takes the candidate secondary carrier as a target secondary carrier after carrier switching, thereby in the case that the physical channel resource of the primary carrier is unavailable, the carrier switching behavior of the terminal device is determined, the terminal device is helped to switch to the available target secondary carrier, and the reliability and timeliness of the transmission on the physical channel are ensured. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0021] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced in the following. Obviously, the drawings in the following description only constitute some embodiments of the present disclosure, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can also be obtained from these drawings without creative effort.

[0022] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of carrier aggregation provided by one example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0023] Figure 2 A block diagram of a communication system provided by one example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0024] Figure 3 A flow chart of a carrier switching method provided by one example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0025] Figure 4 A flow chart of a carrier switching method provided by another example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0026] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of resource searching on a candidate secondary carrier provided by one example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0027] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of resource searching on a candidate secondary carrier provided by another example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0028] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of resource searching on a candidate secondary carrier provided by another example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0029] Figure 8 A structural block diagram of a carrier switching apparatus provided by one example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0030] Figure 9 A structural block diagram of a terminal device shown by one example embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure clearer, the embodiments of the present disclosure will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0032] First, the terms related to the embodiments of the present disclosure are briefly introduced:

[0033] Carrier aggregation: Carrier aggregation (CA) is to aggregate two or more carrier units (Component Carrier, CC) together to support a larger transmission bandwidth. For example, Figure 1As shown, CA technology can aggregate 2-5 carriers together to realize a maximum transmission bandwidth of 100MHz, effectively improving the uplink and downlink transmission rate.

[0034] The primary cell (PCell) is a cell for which the terminal device performs initial connection establishment, or a cell for which the terminal device performs RRC connection reestablishment, or a cell designated in a cell handover process. The PCell is responsible for radio resource control (RRC) communication with the terminal device. The carrier unit corresponding to the PCell is referred to as a primary component carrier (PCC).

[0035] The secondary cell (SCell) is added in RRC reconfiguration and is used to provide additional radio resources. There is no RRC communication between the SCell and the terminal device. The carrier unit corresponding to the SCell is referred to as a secondary component carrier (SCC).

[0036] There is only one primary carrier at the same time, and multiple secondary carriers, such as three secondary carriers, are allowed. The network can set a secondary carrier that is not used at the moment to an inactive state to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device, or quickly activate the secondary carrier to meet the transmission needs. The primary carrier of the terminal device cannot be deactivated; the terminal device can only perform data transmission on the activated carrier, and only limited measurement is supported on the deactivated carrier.

[0037] K1: Timing between DL data reception and corresponding acknowledgement.

[0038] Specifically, if the sending end sends downlink data to the receiving end via the PDSCH at a time unit n, the receiving end transmits uplink feedback information corresponding to the downlink data, such as HARQ-ACK feedback, to the sending end at a time unit n+K1 on the corresponding transmission resource.

[0039] For example, when the sending end is a base station and the receiving end is a terminal device, the base station can preconfigure a K1 value set, such as {1, 2, 3, 4}, and send it to the terminal device through RRC signaling. Then, DCI is sent to the terminal device to inform the terminal device of which value in the set is allocated to the K1 of the data transmission.

[0040] Figure 2A block diagram of a communication system is shown, which can include a core network 11, an access network 12 and a terminal device 13.

[0041] The core network 11 includes a plurality of core network devices 110. The core network devices 110 include an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), a User Plane Function (UPF), etc. The AMF is configured to control the access permission of the terminal device and handover, etc. The SMF is configured to provide server continuity and uninterrupted user experience of the server, such as IP address and anchor point change, etc.

[0042] The access network 12 includes a plurality of access network devices 120. The access network device 120 can be a base station, which is a device deployed in the access network to provide wireless communication functions for the terminal device. The base station can include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, access points, etc. In systems using different wireless access technologies, the names of devices with base station functions can be different. For example, in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, it is called eNodeB or eNB; in a 5G New Radio (NR) system, it is called gNode B or gNB. With the evolution of communication technology, the name of “base station” may change. For the convenience of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the above-mentioned devices providing wireless communication functions for the terminal device are collectively referred to as access network devices.

[0043] The terminal device 13 can include various handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems with wireless communication functions, and various forms of terminals (User Equipment, UE), mobile stations (Mobile Station, MS), terminal devices, etc. For the convenience of description, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as terminal devices. The access network device 120 and the terminal device 13 communicate with each other through certain air interface technology, such as Uu interface. Based on 5G, industrial sensors, video surveillance and wearable devices do not need to support such a large bandwidth, especially industrial sensors, which only need a few megabytes of transmission bandwidth. Such terminal devices may be classified as a new type of terminal in the subsequent version enhancement of 5G, and the corresponding technical characteristics are improved.

[0044] Under the IIoT / URLLC issue in R17, it is proposed to enhance the HARQ-ACK feedback, especially the HARQ-ACK feedback of the semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission. Generally, the PUCCH resource corresponding to the HARQ-ACK feedback can be obtained through K1 indication. If the PUCCH resource corresponding to K1 is unavailable, or the feedback operation is discarded, or retransmission is triggered, or the feedback operation is delayed according to certain rules, the feedback reliability and delay will be affected.

[0045] If the base station supports carrier aggregation, in the carrier aggregation scenario, if the PUCCH resource of the primary cell is unavailable, carrier switching can be performed to switch the HARQ-ACK feedback to the PUCCH of the secondary cell, which not only reduces the HARQ-ACK feedback delay and ensures the reliability and efficiency of the HARQ-ACK feedback, but also reduces the interference and achieves load balancing in some scenarios.

[0046] In the related art, the behavior of carrier switching of the terminal device has not been clearly defined.

[0047] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, in the carrier switching scenario of the physical channel, the terminal device selects a candidate secondary carrier based on a selection strategy to determine whether it is available, and in the case that there is valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier, the candidate secondary carrier is selected as the target secondary carrier after carrier switching, so that in the case that the physical channel resource of the primary carrier is unavailable, the carrier switching behavior of the terminal device is defined, helping the terminal device to switch to the available target secondary carrier, thereby ensuring the reliability and timeliness of the transmission on the physical channel.

[0048] In the following, the carrier switching method provided by the present disclosure is exemplarily described through the following embodiments.

[0049] The present disclosure provides a carrier switching method, please refer to Figure 3 which shows the flowchart of the carrier switching method provided by one exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the method is applied to a terminal device, as shown in Figure 3 , the method comprises:

[0050] Step 301: determining a candidate secondary carrier based on a selection strategy.

[0051] Illustratively, in the case that there is no valid resource of the physical channel on the primary carrier, the terminal device selects a candidate secondary carrier from a plurality of secondary carriers based on a selection strategy.

[0052] The selection policy is a policy for assisting the terminal device to select the candidate secondary carrier from the plurality of secondary carriers. The selection policy can be referred to as a switching policy, a priority policy, a first policy, a strategy, and the like, and the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. Optionally, the selection policy is predefined by a communication standard.

[0053] Optionally, based on the definition of the selection policy, each secondary carrier corresponds to a switching priority, and the terminal device selects the candidate secondary carrier from the plurality of secondary carriers according to the order from high to low of the switching priorities.

[0054] Step 302: In response to the existence of the valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier, the candidate secondary carrier is selected as a target secondary carrier. The target secondary carrier is a secondary carrier after switching in a carrier switching scenario of a physical channel.

[0055] Illustratively, the terminal device judges whether the candidate secondary carrier is available, and in the case that the candidate secondary carrier is available, i.e., in the case that there is a valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier, the terminal device performs carrier switching on the candidate secondary carrier as the target secondary carrier.

[0056] The valid resource refers to a resource supporting transmission on the physical channel, and the resource includes at least one of the following resource types: time domain resource, frequency domain resource, and code domain resource.

[0057] Optionally, the physical channel includes at least one of the following:

[0058] PUCCH.

[0059] That is, the carrier switching method shown in the embodiments of the present disclosure is applicable to PUCCH carrier switching.

[0060] PUSCH.

[0061] That is, the carrier switching method shown in the embodiments of the present disclosure is applicable to PUSCH carrier switching.

[0062] PDCCH.

[0063] That is, the carrier switching method shown in the embodiments of the present disclosure is applicable to PDCCH carrier switching.

[0064] PDSCH.

[0065] That is, the carrier switching method shown in the embodiments of the present disclosure is applicable to PDSCH carrier switching.

[0066] In summary, the carrier switching method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, in the carrier switching scenario of the physical channel, the terminal device selects a candidate secondary carrier based on a selection strategy to determine whether it is available, and in the case that there is valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier, the candidate secondary carrier is selected as the target secondary carrier after carrier switching, so that in the case that the physical channel resource of the primary carrier is unavailable, the carrier switching behavior of the terminal device is determined, and the terminal device is helped to switch to the available target secondary carrier, thereby ensuring the reliability and timeliness of the transmission on the physical channel.

[0067] Optionally, the selection strategy includes at least one of the following strategies:

[0068] · The first selection strategy.

[0069] The first selection strategy includes: selecting a first secondary carrier with the same subcarrier spacing (SCS) as the primary carrier as the candidate secondary carrier.

[0070] Illustratively, if the SCS of the primary carrier is 15KHz, and there is a first secondary carrier with SCS=15KHz, the first secondary carrier is selected as the candidate secondary carrier if the PUCCH collision is unavailable. The first secondary carrier can be a time division duplexing (TDD) carrier or a frequency division duplexing (FDD) carrier.

[0071] · The second selection strategy.

[0072] The second selection strategy includes: selecting a second secondary carrier using symmetric spectrum FDD as the candidate secondary carrier.

[0073] Wherein, FDD refers to a duplexing mode in which uplink transmission and downlink transmission use different carrier frequencies, but can be transmitted simultaneously, and FDD is considered as symmetric spectrum.

[0074] Illustratively, if the SCS of the primary carrier is 15KHz, and there is a second secondary carrier using symmetric spectrum FDD, the second secondary carrier is selected as the candidate secondary carrier if the PUCCH collision is unavailable.

[0075] · The third selection strategy.

[0076] The third selection strategy includes: in the secondary carrier using asymmetric spectrum TDD, the third secondary carrier is selected as the candidate secondary carrier in the order of SCS from high to low.

[0077] Wherein, TDD refers to a duplexing mode in which uplink transmission and downlink transmission use the same carrier frequency and are only distinguished by time, and TDD is considered as non-symmetric spectrum.

[0078] Illustratively, if the SCS of the primary carrier is 15KHz, and the PUCCH is unavailable due to collision, and there exists a secondary carrier using asymmetric spectrum TDD with SCS of 120KHz, 60KHz, 30KHz, and 15KHz, then the secondary carrier with SCS of 120KHz, the secondary carrier with SCS of 60KHz, the secondary carrier with SCS of 30KHz, and the secondary carrier with SCS of 15KHz are sequentially selected as the candidate secondary carrier in the order of SCS from high to low.

[0079] Optionally, the priority of the first selection strategy is higher than the priority of the second selection strategy, and the priority of the second selection strategy is higher than the priority of the third selection strategy.

[0080] The priority of the selection strategy is used to indicate the order in which different selection strategies are considered when determining the candidate secondary carrier.

[0081] That is, the priority of the first selection strategy is higher than the priority of the second selection strategy, and the priority of the second selection strategy is higher than the priority of the third selection strategy means that the first selection strategy is considered first to select the candidate secondary carrier, and in the case that the first selection strategy does not have a corresponding first secondary carrier or the first secondary carrier is unavailable, the second selection strategy is considered to select the candidate secondary carrier, and in the case that the second selection strategy does not have a corresponding second secondary carrier or the second secondary carrier is unavailable, the third selection strategy is considered to select the candidate secondary carrier.

[0082] Illustratively, if the SCS of the primary carrier is 15KHz, and the PUCCH is unavailable due to collision, and there exists a first secondary carrier with SCS of 15KHz, then the first secondary carrier is selected as the candidate secondary carrier; in the case that there is no first secondary carrier with SCS of 15KHz, but there exists a second secondary carrier using symmetric spectrum FDD, then the second secondary carrier is selected as the candidate secondary carrier; and in the case that there is no first secondary carrier with SCS of 15KHz, and there is no second secondary carrier using symmetric spectrum FDD, but there exists multiple third secondary carriers using asymmetric spectrum TDD, then the third secondary carriers are selected as the candidate secondary carriers in the order of SCS from high to low.

[0083] In summary, the carrier switching method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure determines whether the candidate secondary carrier is available based on the selection strategy in the carrier switching scenario of the physical channel, and selects the candidate secondary carrier as the target secondary carrier after carrier switching in the case that there is valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier, so that the carrier switching behavior of the terminal device is determined in the case that the physical channel resource of the primary carrier is unavailable, the terminal device is helped to switch to the available target secondary carrier, and the reliability and timeliness of the transmission on the physical channel are ensured.

[0084] Meanwhile, the carrier switching method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure provides three selection strategies with different priorities, i.e., a first selection strategy, a second selection strategy and a third selection strategy, to help the terminal device select a suitable secondary carrier for carrier switching based on the above selection strategies, thereby improving the success rate of carrier switching.

[0085] In some embodiments, the terminal device performs resource searching on the candidate secondary carrier to determine whether there is valid resource. Figure 4 FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a carrier switching method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is applied to a terminal device, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, the method comprises the following steps: Figure 4

[0086] Step 401: determining a candidate secondary carrier based on a selection strategy.

[0087] The specific implementation of this step can be referred to the above step 301, which will not be described here.

[0088] Step 402: performing resource searching based on a K1' time slot position to find valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier.

[0089] The K1' time slot position is a time slot position on the candidate secondary carrier corresponding to the K1 time slot position of the primary carrier. That is, the terminal device determines the K1' time slot position of the candidate secondary carrier based on the K1 time slot position of the primary carrier, and performs resource searching based on the K1' time slot position to find valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier.

[0090] Optionally, the K1 time slot position of the primary carrier is determined based on the K1 indication issued by the network device.

[0091] Optionally, the K1' time slot position comprises at least one time slot position.

[0092] Next, several possible implementation modes of step 402 are exemplarily described.

[0093] The first possible implementation mode: in response to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier being equal to the SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' time slot position comprises a first latest K1' time slot position, and the first latest K1' time slot position is equal to the K1 time slot position; the terminal device sequentially searches from a first time slot interval until valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the first latest K1' time slot position is reached.

[0094] The first time slot interval refers to the time slot position when K1=1. Illustratively, the network device sends downlink data to the terminal device at time slot 0, and the first time slot interval refers to time slot 1.

[0095] ​The sequential search refers to searching in the order from early to late according to time domain positions. The sequential search can be referred to as forward search, forward searching, forward search, forward searching, sequential search, and the like, and the embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit this.

[0096] That is, in the case of selecting the first secondary carrier with the same SCS as the SCS of the primary carrier as the candidate secondary carrier based on the first selection strategy, the terminal device can determine a latest time slot position on the candidate secondary carrier: a first latest K1' time slot position, and the first latest K1' time slot position is equal to the K1 time slot position, and the terminal device sequentially searches from the first time slot interval until an effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the first latest K1' time slot position is reached.

[0097] For example, in the case of Figure 5 , Pcell SCS = Scell SCS = 15 KHz, K1' = K1 = 2, the first latest K1' time slot position is equal to the K1 time slot position, which is equal to PUCCH time slot 2, and the first time slot interval is the time slot position of K1 = 1: PUCCH time slot 1. Therefore, the terminal device sequentially searches for resources from PUCCH time slot 1 to PUCCH time slot 2 to determine whether there is an effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier with Scell SCS = 15 KHz.

[0098] The second possible implementation: in response to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier being greater than the SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' time slot position includes a second earliest K1' time slot position and a second latest K1' time slot position, the value of the second earliest K1' time slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier*(K1-1)+1, and the value of the second latest K1' time slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier*K1; the terminal device sequentially searches from the second earliest K1' time slot position until an effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the second latest K1' time slot position is reached.

[0099] The sequential search refers to searching in the order from early to late according to time domain positions. The sequential search can be referred to as forward search, forward searching, forward search, forward searching, sequential search, and the like, and the embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit this.

[0100] That is, in a case that the terminal device selects a secondary carrier with a SCS larger than the SCS of the primary carrier as a candidate secondary carrier based on the second selection policy or the third selection policy, the terminal device can determine a latest time slot position: a second latest K1' time slot position, and an earliest time slot position: a second earliest K1' time slot position, and the value of the second earliest K1' time slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier*(K1-1)+1, and the value of the second latest K1' time slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier*K1, and the terminal device sequentially searches from the second earliest K1' time slot position until an effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the second latest K1' time slot position is reached.

[0101] For example, in a case that the SCS of the primary carrier is 15 KHz, the SCS of the secondary carrier is 60 KHz, and K1 is 2, the second earliest K1' time slot position is K1' start, and the second latest K1' time slot position is K1' end, K1' start=(2-1)*4+1=5, and K1' end=2*4=8. Figure 6

[0102] The third possible implementation manner: in response to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier being smaller than the SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' time slot position includes a third K1' time slot position, and the value of the third K1' time slot position is equal to the ceiling of (the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier*K1); the terminal device sequentially searches from the first symbol position of the third K1' time slot position until an effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the last symbol position of the third K1' time slot is reached.

[0103] The sequential searching refers to searching in the order from early to late according to the time domain position. The sequential searching can be referred to as forward searching, forward searching, forward searching, forward searching, sequential searching, and the like, and the embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit this.

[0104] ​That is, in a case that the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier selected based on the second selection policy or the third selection policy is less than the SCS of the primary carrier, the terminal device can determine a time slot position on the candidate secondary carrier: a third K1' time slot position, and the third K1' time slot position is equal to an upward rounding value of (the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier*K1). The terminal device sequentially searches from a first symbol position of the third K1' time slot position until an effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found and determined, or until a last symbol position of the third K1' time slot is reached.

[0105] For example, in a case that Figure 7 , the Pcell SCS=60KHz, the Scell SCS=15KHz, and K1=3, then K1'=⌈3*15 / 60⌉=1. Therefore, the terminal device sequentially searches from a first symbol position to a last symbol position of the PUCCH time slot 1 to determine whether there is an effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier with the Scell SCS=15KHz.

[0106] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, only the sequential searching is exemplarily described as the direction of the resource searching, and the direction of the resource searching can also be the reverse sequential searching, which means searching in the order from late to early according to the time domain position. The reverse sequential searching can be referred to as reverse searching, reverse direction searching, reverse sequential searching, reverse direction searching, and the like, and the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto.

[0107] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, only the time slot is exemplarily described as the time domain unit of the resource searching, and with the evolution of the communication standard, the time domain unit of the resource searching can include a sampling point, a symbol, a mini-slot, a time slot, multiple time slots, a subframe, a radio frame, a frame structure, and the like, and the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto.

[0108] Step 403: in response to the existence of the effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier, the candidate secondary carrier is taken as a target secondary carrier, and the target secondary carrier is a secondary carrier after the carrier switching of the physical channel.

[0109] The specific implementation of the present step can be referred to the above-mentioned step 302, and will not be described here.

[0110] Optionally, after step 403, the terminal device further performs the following step: performing the transmission on the physical channel on the effective resource of the target secondary carrier.

[0111] Illustratively, the physical channel is a PUCCH, the terminal device performs carrier switching, switches to a target secondary carrier, and performs HARQ-ACK feedback on the PUCCH on the valid resource of the target secondary carrier.

[0112] To sum up, the carrier switching method provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure determines whether a candidate secondary carrier is available based on a selection strategy in a carrier switching scenario of a physical channel, and in a case where there is a valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier, the candidate secondary carrier is used as a target secondary carrier after carrier switching, so that in a case where a physical channel resource of a primary carrier is unavailable, the carrier switching behavior of the terminal device is determined, the terminal device is switched to a target secondary carrier that is available, and the reliability and timeliness of transmission on the physical channel are ensured.

[0113] Meanwhile, the carrier switching method provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure determines whether there is a valid resource on a candidate secondary carrier based on a certain rule, and performs carrier switching in a case where there is a valid resource, so as to avoid a case where there is no valid resource on a secondary carrier after switching for transmission on a physical channel, and ensure the reliability of carrier switching.

[0114] It should be noted that the above method embodiments can be implemented separately or in combination, and the present disclosure does not limit this.

[0115] The following is an apparatus embodiment of the present disclosure, which can be used to execute the method embodiments of the present disclosure. For details not disclosed in the apparatus embodiments of the present disclosure, please refer to the method embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0116] Figure 8 is a structural block diagram of a carrier switching apparatus provided by one exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in the figure, the apparatus includes a secondary carrier selection module 801 and a carrier switching module 802. Figure 8

[0117] The secondary carrier selection module 801 is configured to determine a candidate secondary carrier based on a selection strategy.

[0118] The carrier switching module 802 is configured to, in response to the existence of a valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier, use the candidate secondary carrier as a target secondary carrier, and the target secondary carrier is a secondary carrier after switching in a carrier switching scenario of a physical channel.

[0119] In an optional embodiment, the selection strategy includes a first selection strategy.

[0120] The first selection strategy includes selecting a first secondary carrier with the same SCS as the primary carrier as the candidate secondary carrier.

[0121] ​In an optional embodiment, the selection strategy further includes: a second selection strategy;

[0122] The second selection strategy includes selecting a second secondary carrier using a symmetric spectrum FDD as the candidate secondary carrier.

[0123] In an optional embodiment, the selection strategy further includes: a third selection strategy;

[0124] The third selection strategy includes: selecting the third auxiliary carrier as the candidate auxiliary carrier in the auxiliary carrier using asymmetric spectrum TDD in descending order of SCS.

[0125] In an optional embodiment, the priority of the first selection strategy is greater than the priority of the second selection strategy, and the priority of the second selection strategy is greater than the priority of the third selection strategy.

[0126] In an optional embodiment, the apparatus further includes: a resource finding module;

[0127] The resource search module is used to search for effective resources on the candidate secondary carrier based on the K1' time slot position.

[0128] Wherein, the K1' time slot position is the time slot position on the candidate secondary carrier that corresponds to the K1 time slot position of the primary carrier.

[0129] In an optional embodiment, in response to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier being equal to the SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' slot position includes a first latest K1' slot position, which is equal to the K1 slot position;

[0130] The resource search module is used to search sequentially starting from the first time slot interval until the effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the first latest K1' time slot position is reached.

[0131] In an optional embodiment, in response to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier being greater than the SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' time slot position includes a second earliest K1' time slot position and a second latest K1' time slot position. The value of the second earliest K1' time slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier * (K1-1) + 1, and the value of the second latest K1' time slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier * K1.

[0132] The resource search module is used to search sequentially from the second earliest K1' timeslot position until the effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the second latest K1' timeslot position is reached.

[0133] In an optional embodiment, in response to the fact that the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier is less than the SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' time slot position includes a third K1' time slot position, the value of which is equal to the round up of (the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier * K1).

[0134] The resource search module is used to sequentially search from the first symbol position of the third K1' time slot until the effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found and determined, or until the last symbol position of the third K1' time slot is reached.

[0135] In an optional embodiment, the device further includes: a transmission module;

[0136] The transmission module is used to perform transmission on the physical channel on the effective resources of the target secondary carrier.

[0137] In an optional embodiment, the physical channel includes at least one of the following: PUCCH; PUSCH; PDCCH; PDSCH.

[0138] Figure 9 A schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device 900 provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The communication device 900 includes: a processor 901, a receiver 902, a transmitter 903, a memory 904, and a bus 905.

[0139] The processor 901 includes one or more processing cores. The processor 901 executes various functional applications and information processing by running software programs and modules.

[0140] The receiver 902 and the transmitter 903 can be implemented as a communication component, which can be a communication chip.

[0141] The memory 904 is connected to the processor 901 via the bus 905.

[0142] The memory 904 can be used to store at least one instruction, and the processor 901 can execute the at least one instruction to implement the various steps in the above method embodiments.

[0143] Furthermore, the memory 904 can be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or a combination thereof, including but not limited to: magnetic disks or optical disks, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), static random access memory (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic storage, flash memory, and programmable read-only memory (PROM).

[0144] An exemplary embodiment of this disclosure also provides a chip, the chip including programmable logic circuits and / or program instructions, which, when the chip is running, are used to implement the carrier switching methods provided in the above-described method embodiments.

[0145] An exemplary embodiment of this disclosure also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing at least one instruction, at least one program, a code set, or an instruction set, wherein the at least one instruction, the at least one program, the code set, or the instruction set is loaded and executed by the processor to implement the carrier switching method provided in the above-described method embodiments.

[0146] It should be understood that "multiple" as used in this article refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A alone, A and B simultaneously, or B alone. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship.

[0147] Other embodiments of this disclosure will readily occur to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of this disclosure that follow the general principles of this disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art not disclosed herein. The specification and examples are to be considered exemplary only, and the true scope and spirit of this disclosure are indicated by the following claims.

[0148] It should be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the precise structures described above and shown in the accompanying drawings, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from its scope. The scope of this disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A carrier switching method, characterized in that, The method includes: Based on the selection strategy, candidate secondary carriers are determined; In response to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier being equal to the SCS of the primary carrier, the search proceeds sequentially from the first time slot interval until a valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the first latest K1' time slot position is reached; wherein, the first time slot interval is the time slot position corresponding to when K1 equals 1, the K1' time slot position includes the first latest K1' time slot position, the first latest K1' time slot position is equal to the K1 time slot position, and the K1' time slot position is the time slot position on the candidate secondary carrier that corresponds to the K1 time slot position of the primary carrier; In response to the existence of valid resources on the candidate secondary carrier, the candidate secondary carrier is selected as the target secondary carrier, which is the secondary carrier after handover in the physical channel carrier handover scenario.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The selection strategy includes: a first selection strategy; The first selection strategy includes: selecting a first secondary carrier with the same subcarrier spacing (SCS) as the primary carrier as the candidate secondary carrier.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The selection strategy further includes: a second selection strategy; The second selection strategy includes selecting a second secondary carrier using a symmetrical spectrum as the candidate secondary carrier.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The selection strategy also includes: a third selection strategy; The third selection strategy includes: among the secondary carriers using asymmetric spectrum, selecting the third secondary carrier as the candidate secondary carrier in descending order of SCS.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The first selection strategy has a higher priority than the second selection strategy, and the second selection strategy has a higher priority than the third selection strategy.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, In response to the fact that the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier is greater than the SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' time slot position includes a second earliest K1' time slot position and a second latest K1' time slot position. The value of the second earliest K1' time slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier * (K1-1) + 1, and the value of the second latest K1' time slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier * K1. The method further includes: The search continues sequentially from the second earliest K1' time slot position until the valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the second latest K1' time slot position is reached.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, In response to the fact that the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier is less than the SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' time slot position includes a third K1' time slot position, and the value of the third K1' time slot position is equal to the round up of (the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier * K1). The method further includes: The search continues sequentially from the first symbol position of the third K1' time slot until the effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found and determined, or until the last symbol position of the third K1' time slot is reached.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: Transmission on the physical channel is performed on the available resources of the target secondary carrier.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, The physical channel includes at least one of the following: Physical uplink control channel (PUCCH); Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH); Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH); Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

10. A carrier switching device, characterized in that, The device includes: a secondary carrier selection module, a carrier switching module, and a resource search module; The secondary carrier selection module is used to determine candidate secondary carriers based on a selection strategy. The resource search module is configured to, in response to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier being equal to the SCS of the primary carrier, sequentially search from the first time slot interval until a valid resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the first latest K1' time slot position is reached; wherein, the first time slot interval is the time slot position corresponding to when K1 equals 1, the K1' time slot position includes the first latest K1' time slot position, the first latest K1' time slot position is equal to the K1 time slot position, and the K1' time slot position is the time slot position on the candidate secondary carrier that corresponds to the K1 time slot position of the primary carrier; The carrier switching module is used to select the candidate auxiliary carrier as the target auxiliary carrier in response to the existence of valid resources on the candidate auxiliary carrier. The target auxiliary carrier is the auxiliary carrier after switching in the physical channel carrier switching scenario.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that, The selection strategy includes: a first selection strategy; The first selection strategy includes: selecting a first secondary carrier with the same subcarrier spacing (SCS) as the primary carrier as the candidate secondary carrier.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that, The selection strategy further includes: a second selection strategy; The second selection strategy includes selecting a second secondary carrier using a symmetrical spectrum as the candidate secondary carrier.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, characterized in that, The selection strategy also includes: a third selection strategy; The third selection strategy includes: among the secondary carriers using asymmetric spectrum, selecting the third secondary carrier as the candidate secondary carrier in descending order of SCS.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, characterized in that, The first selection strategy has a higher priority than the second selection strategy, and the second selection strategy has a higher priority than the third selection strategy.

15. The apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that, In response to the fact that the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier is greater than the SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' time slot position includes a second earliest K1' time slot position and a second latest K1' time slot position. The value of the second earliest K1' time slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier * (K1-1) + 1, and the value of the second latest K1' time slot position is equal to the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier * K1. The resource search module is used to search sequentially from the second earliest K1' timeslot position until the effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found, or until the second latest K1' timeslot position is reached.

16. The apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that, In response to the fact that the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier is less than the SCS of the primary carrier, the K1' time slot position includes a third K1' time slot position, and the value of the third K1' time slot position is equal to the round up of (the SCS of the candidate secondary carrier / the SCS of the primary carrier * K1). The resource search module is used to sequentially search from the first symbol position of the third K1' time slot until the effective resource on the candidate secondary carrier is found and determined, or until the last symbol position of the third K1' time slot is reached.

17. The apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that, The device further includes: a transmission module; The transmission module is used to perform transmission on the physical channel on the effective resources of the target secondary carrier.

18. The apparatus according to any one of claims 10 to 17, characterized in that, The physical channel includes at least one of the following: Physical uplink control channel (PUCCH); Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH); Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH); Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

19. A terminal device, characterized in that, The terminal device includes: processor; A transceiver connected to the processor; The processor is configured to load and execute executable instructions to implement the carrier switching method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9.

20. A chip, characterized in that, The chip includes programmable logic circuits and program instructions, which, when the chip is running, are used to implement the carrier switching method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9.

21. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores a program that is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the carrier switching method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9.

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