Method and device for sideline communication

Abstract

The present application provides a method and apparatus for sideline communication, which helps two or more terminal devices in a sideline communication system to perform initial beam pairing based on a sideline link. The method includes: a first terminal device sends a first sideline signal through a first transmit beam, and the first sideline signal is used for the first terminal device to perform initial beam pairing or sideline link establishment with a second terminal device; wherein the first sideline signal is associated with first information, and the first information includes one or more of the following information: the ID of the first terminal device; the ID of the second terminal device; the ID of the terminal device group to which the second terminal device belongs; the priority of the communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and more specifically, to a method and device for sideline communication. Background Art

[0002] When communicating in higher frequency bands (e.g., millimeter wave bands), network devices can achieve system coverage through beam scanning based on large-scale antenna arrays. Beam scanning requires certain time and space resources and consumes a lot of power. Therefore, network devices and terminal devices use beam pairing to determine the best transmit and receive beam pair for uplink / downlink transmission.

[0003] In the sideline communication system, how the terminal device performs beam pairing based on the sideline link is a problem that needs to be solved. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present application provides a method and device for sideline communication. The following introduces various aspects involved in the embodiments of the present application.

[0005] In a first aspect, a method for sideline communication is provided, comprising: a first terminal device sends a first sideline signal via a first transmission beam, the first sideline signal being used for initial beam pairing or sideline link establishment between the first terminal device and a second terminal device; wherein the first sideline signal is associated with first information, the first information comprising one or more of the following information: an ID of the first terminal device; an ID of the second terminal device; an ID of a terminal device group to which the second terminal device belongs; and a priority of a communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0006] According to a second aspect, a method for sideline communication is provided, comprising: a second terminal device receives a first sideline signal sent by a first terminal device via a first transmitting beam, the first sideline signal being used for initial beam pairing or sideline link establishment between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; wherein the first sideline signal is associated with first information, the first information comprising one or more of the following information: an ID of the first terminal device; an ID of the second terminal device; an ID of a terminal device group to which the second terminal device belongs; and a priority of a communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0007] According to a third aspect, a device for sideline communication is provided, wherein the device is a first terminal device, and the first terminal device comprises: a sending unit, configured to send a first sideline signal via a first transmitting beam, wherein the first sideline signal is used for initial beam pairing or sideline link establishment between the first terminal device and a second terminal device; wherein the first sideline signal is associated with first information, and the first information comprises one or more of the following information: an ID of the first terminal device; an ID of the second terminal device; an ID of a terminal device group to which the second terminal device belongs; and a priority of a communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, a device for sideline communication is provided, wherein the device is a second terminal device, and the second terminal device comprises: a receiving unit, for receiving a first sideline signal sent by a first terminal device via a first transmitting beam, the first sideline signal being used for initial beam pairing or sideline link establishment between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; wherein the first sideline signal is associated with first information, and the first information comprises one or more of the following information: an ID of the first terminal device; an ID of the second terminal device; an ID of a terminal device group to which the second terminal device belongs; and a priority of a communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0009] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a program, and the processor is used to call the program in the memory to execute the method described in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, a device is provided, comprising a processor, configured to call a program from a memory to execute the method described in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0011] In a seventh aspect, a chip is provided, comprising a processor for calling a program from a memory so that a device equipped with the chip executes the method described in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0012] According to an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a program is stored, wherein the program enables a computer to execute the method as described in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0013] According to a ninth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising a program, wherein the program enables a computer to execute the method described in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0014] In a tenth aspect, a computer program is provided, wherein the computer program enables a computer to execute the method as described in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0015] In the embodiment of the present application, the first terminal device sends a first side signal through a first transmission beam, and the first side signal can achieve initial beam pairing or side link establishment between the first terminal device and the second terminal device by associating with the first information. The first information can be associated with an identity (identity, ID) of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device and / or the terminal device group, so as to facilitate beam identification by the two terminal devices. The first information can also be associated with the service priority between different terminal devices, so as to facilitate the second terminal device to promptly perform initial beam pairing or side link establishment with a transmitting terminal with a higher service priority. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 A wireless communication system applied in the embodiments of the present application.

[0017] Figure 2 This is an example diagram of NR-V2X communication.

[0018] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of beam scanning performed by a transmitting terminal and a receiving terminal respectively.

[0019] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of beam scanning for multiple transmitting terminal devices corresponding to one receiving terminal device.

[0020] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of periodic transmit beam scanning for a terminal device.

[0021] Figure 6 A flowchart of a method for sideline communication provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0022] Figure 7 for Figure 6 A flowchart of a possible implementation of the method shown.

[0023] Figure 8 for Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a possible mapping relationship between a transmit beam and a sidetrack signal in the method shown.

[0024] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the structure of a device for sideline communication provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0025] Fig.10 A schematic structural diagram of another device for sideline communication provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0026] Fig.11 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] The following will describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. For the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0028] Figure 1 1 is a diagram showing an example of the system architecture of a wireless communication system 100 to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable. The wireless communication system 100 may include a network device 110 and terminal devices 121 to 129. The network device 110 may provide communication coverage for a specific geographical area and may communicate with terminals located in the coverage area.

[0029] In some implementations, terminal devices may communicate with each other via a sidelink (SL). Sidelink communication may also be referred to as proximity services (ProSe) communication, unilateral communication, sidelink communication, device to device (D2D) communication, etc.

[0030] In other words, sidelink data is transmitted between terminal devices via a sidelink. The sidelink data may include data and / or control signaling. In some implementations, the sidelink data may be, for example, a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a PSCCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a PSSCH DMRS, a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH), etc.

[0031] Combined with the following Figure 1 This section introduces several common sidelink communication scenarios. In sidelink communication, there are three scenarios depending on whether the terminal device in the sidelink is within the coverage of the network device. Scenario 1: The terminal device performs sidelink communication within the coverage of the network device. Scenario 2: Some terminal devices perform sidelink communication within the coverage of the network device. Scenario 3: The terminal device performs sidelink communication outside the coverage of the network device.

[0032] like Figure 1As shown, in scenario 1, terminal devices 121-122 can communicate through the side link, and terminal devices 121-122 are all within the coverage of network device 110, or in other words, terminal devices 121-122 are all within the coverage of the same network device 110. In this scenario, network device 110 can send configuration signaling to terminal devices 121-122, and accordingly, terminal devices 121-122 communicate through the side link based on the configuration signaling.

[0033] like Figure 1 As shown, in scenario 2, terminal devices 123-124 can communicate via the sidelink, and terminal device 123 is within the coverage of network device 110, and terminal device 124 is outside the coverage of network device 110. In this scenario, terminal device 123 receives the configuration information of network device 110 and communicates via the sidelink based on the configuration of the configuration signaling. However, for terminal device 124, since terminal device 124 is outside the coverage of network device 110, it is unable to receive the configuration information of network device 110. At this time, terminal device 124 can obtain the configuration of the sidelink communication based on the pre-configuration configuration information and / or the configuration information sent by terminal device 123 within the coverage range, so as to communicate with terminal device 123 via the sidelink based on the acquired configuration.

[0034] In some cases, the terminal device 123 may send the above configuration information to the terminal device 124 via a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) to configure the terminal device 124 to communicate via the sidelink.

[0035] like Figure 1 As shown, in scenario 3, terminal devices 125-129 are all outside the coverage of network device 110 and cannot communicate with network device 110. In this case, the terminal devices can all perform sidelink communication based on preconfigured information.

[0036] In some cases, the terminal devices 127-129 located outside the coverage of the network device can form a communication group, and the terminal devices 127-129 in the communication group can communicate with each other. In addition, the terminal device 127 in the communication group can serve as a central control node, also known as a cluster header (CH), and correspondingly, the terminal devices in other communication groups can be called "group members".

[0037] The terminal device 127 as a CH may have one or more of the following functions: responsible for establishing a communication group; joining and leaving of group members; coordinating resources, allocating side transmission resources to group members, receiving side transmission feedback information from group members; coordinating resources with other communication groups, etc.

[0038] It should be noted that Figure 1 A network device and multiple terminal devices are shown exemplarily. Optionally, the wireless communication system 100 may include multiple network devices and each network device may include another number of terminal devices within its coverage area, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0039] Optionally, the wireless communication system 100 may also include other network entities such as a network controller and a mobility management entity, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0040] It should be understood that the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: the fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) system or the new radio (new radio, NR) system, the long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, the LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, the LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD) system, etc. The technical solutions provided in the present application can also be applied to future communication systems, such as the sixth generation mobile communication system, and satellite communication systems, etc.

[0041] The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device. The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may be a device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to a user, and may be used to connect people, objects and machines, such as handheld devices with wireless connection functions, vehicle-mounted devices, etc. The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer (Pad), a laptop computer, a PDA, a mobile internet device (MID), a wearable device, a vehicle, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical surgery, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, etc. Optionally, the terminal device may be used to act as a base station. For example, the terminal device can act as a dispatching entity that provides sidelink signals between terminal devices in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) or D2D, etc. For example, a cell phone and a car communicate with each other using sidelink data. A cell phone and a smart home device communicate with each other without relaying the communication signal through a base station.

[0042] The network device in the embodiment of the present application may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, and the network device may also be referred to as an access network device or a wireless access network device, such as a base station. The network device in the embodiment of the present application may refer to a wireless access network (RAN) node (or device) that connects a terminal device to a wireless network. Base station can broadly cover various names as follows, or replace with the following names, such as: NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), next generation NodeB (gNB), relay station, transmission point (transmitting and receiving point, TRP), transmission point (transmitting point, TP), access point (access point, AP), master station MeNB, auxiliary station SeNB, multi-standard radio (MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, transmission node, transceiver node, base band unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), positioning node, etc. The base station can be a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay node, a donor node or the like, or a combination thereof. The base station can also refer to a communication module, a modem or a chip used to be set in the aforementioned device or apparatus. The base station can also be a mobile switching center and a device that performs the base station function in D2D, V2X, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, a network side device in a 6G network, and a device that performs the base station function in a future communication system. The base station can support networks with the same or different access technologies. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device.

[0043] Base stations can be fixed or mobile. For example, a helicopter or drone can be configured to act as a mobile base station, and one or more cells can move based on the location of the mobile base station. In other examples, a helicopter or drone can be configured to act as a device that communicates with another base station.

[0044] In some deployments, the network device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a CU or a DU, or the network device includes a CU and a DU. The gNB may also include an AAU.

[0045] The network equipment and terminal equipment can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on the water surface; they can also be deployed on aircraft, balloons and satellites in the air. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the scenarios in which the network equipment and terminal equipment are located.

[0046] It should be understood that all or part of the functions of the communication device in the present application may also be implemented by software functions running on hardware, or by virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (eg, a cloud platform).

[0047] For ease of understanding, some relevant technical knowledge involved in the embodiments of the present application is first introduced. The following related technologies can be arbitrarily combined with the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application as optional solutions, and they all belong to the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application. The embodiments of the present application include at least part of the following contents.

[0048] With the development of wireless communication technology, communication systems have higher and higher requirements for data transmission speed, number of connections and coverage. For example, the 5G mobile standard requires improvements based on higher data transmission speed, greater number of connections and better coverage to provide tens of megabits per second data rate for each of tens of thousands of users.

[0049] Some wireless communication networks (e.g., 5G or subsequent technology evolution) can support operation in very high or even extra high frequency (EHF) bands. These higher frequency bands (frequency range, FR) include millimeter wave (mmW) bands. Typically, these bands correspond to wavelengths of 1mm to 10mm, or frequency ranges of 30GHz to 300GHz. For example, the frequency range corresponding to FR2 in the 5G system is 24.25 to 52.6GHz.

[0050] These high frequency bands can support very high throughput when used for communications. However, one of the challenges of wireless communications at these very high or extreme frequencies is the significant propagation losses that occur at high frequencies. For example, in the millimeter wave bands, propagation losses can be severe.

[0051] In order to reduce propagation losses, beam transmission can be performed through a large-scale antenna array. A large number of densely distributed antenna units increase the complexity and cost of digital beamforming. Communication equipment usually performs beamforming in the analog domain based on a large-scale antenna array. The beam generated by analog beamforming points in one direction at a specific moment. Communication equipment transmits through beam scanning. Beam scanning is also called beam sweeping. For example, a network device can transmit data to a terminal device by sweeping a set of beams focused in different directions. For another example, a network device can achieve system coverage through beam scanning. However, beam scanning requires certain time and space resources and consumes a lot of power. In other words, the generation and scanning of swept beam sets are relatively expensive in terms of power consumption, time, and air resources.

[0052] For communication between network devices and terminal devices, when the terminal device is within the coverage of the network device, beam pairing can be used to determine the best transmit and receive beam pair for uplink / downlink transmission. Beam pairing can also be called beam alignment or beam alignment. For example, in the communication between the network device and the terminal device based on the Uu communication interface, a three-stage initial beam pairing process can be used for initial pairing. The three-stage initial pairing process includes three processes: P1, P2, and P3.

[0053] For the terminal equipment of the sidelink communication system, before beam pairing, the terminal equipment may not know whether there are any other devices around, or not know in which transmission occasion different beam transmissions should be performed, or not sure about the reference signal to be received. Therefore, for the terminal equipment of the sidelink communication system, how to perform beam pairing based on the sidelink is a problem that needs to be solved. For example, in FR2, how to establish beam pairing in the sidelink to complete subsequent communication is also one of the research topics of R18.

[0054] In order to analyze this problem, we first combine Figure 1 and Figure 2 The communication mode of the sidelink is briefly described.

[0055] With the development of side-by-side communication technology, there are more and more scenarios for applying side-by-side communication. For example, cars will become an important new driving force for 5G, and there are many use cases for vehicle mobile communications. For example, multiple V2X scenarios are proposed in NR. These V2X scenarios include vehicle platooning, advanced driving, extended sensors, remote driving, and so on.

[0056] For example, for users such as passengers, high-quality communication connections will be expected regardless of their location and speed. In a related scenario, passenger entertainment activities will require mobile broadband with high parallel capacity and high mobility.

[0057] For example, another use case in the automotive field includes an augmented reality (AR) dashboard. The AR dashboard can enable the driver to identify objects in the dark and the distance information of the objects. For the driver, in addition to the objects seen from the front window, the movement information of objects outside the car can also be obtained through the overlapping information of the AR dashboard.

[0058] Exemplarily, the next stage of development in the automotive sector will be the application of remote-controlled or autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles will perform all driving activities, and the driver will only focus on abnormal traffic that the vehicle cannot recognize. For example, the safety system can guide alternative routes for driving behavior so that the driver can drive more safely, thereby reducing the risk of accidents.

[0059] Regardless of the application scenario, it involves information exchange between multiple terminal devices. Wireless modules can realize communication between vehicles, information exchange between vehicles and supporting infrastructure, and information exchange between vehicles and other connected devices (for example, devices accompanying pedestrians). In order to ensure traffic safety, information exchange between terminal devices usually requires ultra-low latency and ultra-high reliability. For example, very high reliability and very fast communication are required between autonomous vehicles and between vehicles and infrastructure, thereby improving traffic safety to a level that humans cannot achieve.

[0060] For ease of understanding, Figure 2 Taking the V2X communication system 200 shown in FIG. 1 as an example, the interaction between various terminal devices is introduced. Figure 2 The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication performed by the terminal device 201 and the terminal device 202 involves information exchange between the vehicles themselves. The vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication, and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication performed by the terminal device 201 and the terminal devices 203 to 205, respectively, involve information exchange between the vehicle and the external system.

[0061] The gradual expansion of the scope of information interaction has put forward higher requirements on the communication system. For example, the communication system is required to support higher throughput, lower latency, higher reliability, larger coverage, more flexible resource allocation, etc. Taking the development of V2X as an example, in LTE-V2X, only the broadcast mode is supported for sidelink communication between terminal devices. In NR-V2X, three communication modes, broadcast, groupcast and unicast, can be supported. Among them, groupcast communication is a type of multicast communication.

[0062] Broadcast is the most basic communication mode in sideline communication. For the broadcast transmission mode, the terminal device receiving the sideline data can be any terminal device around the terminal device as the sender. For example, see Figure 1 Assuming that the terminal device 125 acts as a transmitter and sends the side data in the form of broadcast, the terminal devices 121-124 and the terminal devices 126-129 located around the terminal device 125 may all act as receivers of the side data.

[0063] Multicast communication is used to support information exchange between terminal devices within a specific group (or communication group) to assist in the negotiation and decision-making of terminal devices within the group. Sidelink multicast is divided into two transmission types. Type one is for fixed groups (managed groups) with stable connection relationships, with clear ID information and information about group members. Type two is for temporary groups (connectionless groups) formed in a connectionless manner, such as a multicast that is dynamically created based on distance, which requires clear indication of the communication distance of the current service.

[0064] For the multicast transmission mode, the terminal devices receiving the sideline data may be all the terminal devices in a communication group. Alternatively, the terminal devices receiving the sideline data may be all the terminal devices within a certain transmission distance. For example, see Figure 1 For a communication group including terminal devices 127 to 129, when terminal device 127 sends side data in a multicast manner, other terminal devices 128 to 129 in the communication group are all receiving terminals that receive the side data. Figure 1 , assuming that the terminal devices within the preset range include terminal devices 127~129, when terminal device 127 sends side data in a multicast manner, other terminal devices 128~129 within the preset range are all receiving terminals that receive the side data.

[0065] Unicast communication can realize sidelink communication between two terminal devices. Taking NR-V2X as an example, the radio resource control (RRC) signaling based on the newly defined PC5 interface can realize reliable communication between terminal devices. Exemplarily, two terminal devices can realize unicast communication by establishing a unicast link. For example, the terminal device can establish a unicast link based on a direct communication request (DCR).

[0066] The above describes various transmission modes in sidelink communication. In a sidelink link based on beam communication, a terminal device can perform sidelink transmission with other terminal devices based on beams. For example, two terminal devices can communicate with each other through transmit beams and receive beams. Figure 3 A brief introduction to beam communication between terminal devices is given.

[0067] See also Figure 3 The terminal device 310 receives data (receive, RX) through three receiving beams, and the terminal device 320 transmits data (transmit, TX) through three transmitting beams. The three transmitting beams are TX1, TX2 and TX3, and the three receiving beams are RX1, RX2 and RX3.

[0068] like Figure 3 As shown, when the terminal device 310 and the terminal device 320 communicate based on the beam, they will perform transmit beam scanning and receive beam scanning respectively. As can be seen from the foregoing, beam scanning requires greater power consumption and more expensive time and space resources. Therefore, in the sideline communication system, the terminal device needs to perform beam pairing based on the sideline link to establish related unicast or multicast links with other terminal devices. Whether it is the establishment of a unicast link or the establishment of a multicast or broadcast link, beam pairing cannot be performed only by the terminal device at the receiving end or the transmitting end.

[0069] Exemplarily, the process of performing the initial beam pairing between the two terminal devices may be before or after the unicast link is established. The following description is made by taking the case where the initial beam pairing is performed before the unicast link is established as an example.

[0070] The process of performing initial beam pairing before establishing a unicast link is to first pair the initial beams and then establish a unicast link through the paired beams. The key goal of performing the initial beam pairing is to enable the terminal device to establish a unicast link using the paired beams. By performing the initial beam pairing, the first terminal device can establish a unicast link with other terminal devices further away, thereby meeting more business needs or more advanced business use case needs.

[0071] On the other hand, performing initial beam pairing before the unicast link is established can also improve resource utilization. Since no unicast link is established, the terminal device may perform initial beam pairing based on DCR. For example, the terminal device at the transmitting end may need to perform multiple transmit beam scans based on all beams that send DCR messages in order to start the process of establishing a unicast link with the intended terminal device. Since DCR is usually carried on PSSCH, the terminal device at the transmitting end may need to establish a unicast link through multiple PSSCH transmissions, resulting in inefficient utilization of time-frequency resources.

[0072] Without the initial beam pairing process that occurs before the unicast link is established, the end device may not be able to determine the appropriate beam pair for the required information exchange and the basic communication range cannot be guaranteed.

[0073] Of course, whether the initial beam pairing is performed before or after the unicast link is established, the terminal device needs to predetermine the resources related to beam transmission and reception. For example, for SLFR2, the initial beam pairing process needs to be specified so that the terminal device can determine the transmission resources and reception resources.

[0074] Before beam pairing, the terminal device may not know whether there are any other devices around, or not know at which transmission occasion different beams should be transmitted, or not sure of the received reference signal. This means that the reference signal (RS) information used for initial beam pairing needs to be (pre) configured. The reference signal transmission corresponding to different beams should be on (pre) configured resources so that the terminal device at the receiving end can monitor it.

[0075] In addition, during beam pairing, the terminal device at the receiving end may also face the problem of not being able to determine which terminal device the received beam comes from. In other words, the terminal device cannot determine which terminal device the multiple received beams come from. For beam pairing, it is very important for the receiving end to be able to distinguish whether the multiple received beams come from a single transmitter or from multiple transmitters. If the terminal device cannot distinguish where the received beams come from, the terminal device cannot determine which one is the optimal beam, and it cannot perform beam pairing based on the received beams.

[0076] For ease of understanding, the following figure Figure 4 This article introduces possible problems with beam communication and beam pairing between terminal devices. Figure 4 The diagram is a schematic diagram of a receiving terminal device performing beam communication with multiple transmitting terminal devices.

[0077] See also Figure 4 , the terminal device 410 receives data through three receiving beams, namely RX1, RX2 and RX3. The transmitting terminal includes three terminal devices, namely terminal device 420, terminal device 430 and terminal device 440. Figure 4 As shown, three terminal devices at the transmitting end may respectively transmit the same signal through three transmit beams (TX). For example, the three terminal devices may all transmit synchronization signals based on the same synchronization source.

[0078] In this case, if terminal device 410 cannot identify terminal devices at different transmitting ends, a problem may occur in the beam report sent by terminal device 410. For example, when terminal device 410 should send report beams to terminal devices 420 to 440 respectively, terminal device 410 may only send the report beam to terminal device 440, but not report to terminal device 420 and terminal device 460.

[0079] Combination of the above Figure 3 and Figure 4 The problem of beam pairing between multiple terminal devices is introduced. For initial beam pairing, the transmitting terminal device performs beam pairing by sending a reference signal. The reference signal used for initial beam pairing can be of various types. Exemplarily, the reference signal used for initial beam pairing can be a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) or a synchronization signal similar to CSI-RS. Synchronization signals similar to CSI-RS are, for example, primary synchronisation signal blocks (PSS) and / or secondary synchronisation signal blocks (SSS). Exemplarily, the reference signal used for initial beam pairing can be a sidelink-synchronization signal block (S-SSB).

[0080] In the initial beam pairing of sideline communication, the reference signal (RS) transmission with different beams must be on (pre-)configured resources so that the receiving terminal device can monitor the transmission using the mode of different receiving beams. Exemplarily, the terminal device can (pre-)configure the resources of different beams by using a dedicated SL resource pool. For example, the resource pool can configure specific time / frequency resources for RS transmission with different beams.

[0081] In addition, for initial beam pairing, the periodic transmission of the reference signal is essential for the terminal device at the receiving end to determine the expected resources for reception. Taking S-SSB as an example, the terminal device at the transmitting end (pre) configures periodic transmission resources for S-SSB with different beam directions. However, the terminal device at the receiving end cannot receive every beam from the transmitting terminal device, and there is no information about when the beam scanning starts or when the beam scanning ends. In this scenario, the terminal device at the receiving end may miss the expected reception opportunity. Therefore, periodic signal transmission can make it easier for the terminal device at the receiving end to determine the appropriate reception opportunity.

[0082] For ease of understanding, the following is an exemplary explanation using S-SSB for initial beam pairing. In an embodiment of the present application, S-SSB may also represent a sidelink synchronization signal / physical sidelink broadcast channel signal block (sidelinksynchronisation signal and PSBCH block). For example, the sidelink synchronization signal of NR V2X mainly includes a sidelink primary synchronization signal block (sidelink-PSS, S-PSS), a sidelink secondary synchronization signal block (sidelink-SSS, S-SSS), and is combined with PSBCH to form S-SSB in a block format.

[0083] S-SSB is related information for synchronization in the sideline communication system. Among them, an M sequence with a length of 127 can be used for S-PSS, and a Gold sequence with a length of 127 can be used for S-SSS. Exemplarily, the terminal device can use S-PSS for initial signal detection and for synchronization acquisition. Exemplarily, the terminal device can use S-PSS and S-SSS to obtain detailed synchronization and to detect the synchronization signal ID.

[0084] During beamforming, multiple S-SSB transmissions within an S-SSB period can be supported. For example, in Release 16 (Rel-16), a terminal device can send S-SSBs with a period of 160ms outside the resource pool. Figure 5 , an exemplary description is given of the periodic beam scanning of the terminal device based on S-SSB.

[0085] See also Figure 5 , on the time axis, the terminal device performs a transmit beam scan based on the time interval corresponding to the period 510. Figure 5 Each transmit beam scan in includes 4 transmit beams, which can be pointed in 4 different directions. The 4 beams in different directions can be used to repeat the S-SSB transmission.

[0086] Rel-16 also specifies the number of S-SSBs that support repeated transmission within an S-SSB cycle. In order to maintain the flexibility of S-SSB configuration, the number of S-SSBs within a cycle is configurable. The specific configuration scheme for the number of S-SSBs within a cycle can be seen in Table 1.

[0087] Table 1

[0088]

[0089] As can be seen from Table 1, for FR2, a maximum of 64 S-SSBs are supported for transmission in one cycle, so it is necessary to indicate the time domain resources occupied by multiple S-SSBs transmitted in one cycle.

[0090] For initial beam pairing, especially in SL FR2, S-SSB also needs to be transmitted periodically via (pre)configured resources outside the resource pool to achieve beam management. Based on the dedicated resource set for S-SSB transmission, the terminal device no longer needs to dynamically allocate resources for transmitting S-SSB, which will not affect the beam pairing process.

[0091] Combination of the above Figures 3 to 5 Resource configuration for initial beam pairing in sideline communication is introduced. Multiple terminal devices can send RS for transmit beam scanning in a dedicated SL resource pool or a preconfigured resource pool. In order to perform initial beam pairing, the dedicated SL resource pool for RS transmission for transmit beam scanning should have multiple candidate resources and multiple candidate sequences for RS transmission in time / frequency. The terminal device can select / determine the resource / sequence for RS transmission for transmit beam scanning from the candidate resources / sequences.

[0092] However, in the case of (pre) configuration, the resource information in the dedicated SL resource pool is common to multiple terminal devices in the same resource pool. If any terminal device can be a receiving terminal device, it may cause these terminal devices to generate unnecessary power consumption for measuring RS and reporting transmit beams.

[0093] Furthermore, the resource information in the dedicated resource pool may also cause resource conflicts between reference signal transmissions from different terminal devices. Alternatively, when multiple transmitting terminal devices need to perform beam pairing or establish a unicast link with the same terminal device, the transmission beams from different terminal devices may also cause interference to the receiving terminal device.

[0094] In addition, if the two terminal devices are not within the coverage area of ​​the same network device (eg, base station), how the two terminal devices identify and synchronize is also a problem that needs to be considered.

[0095] Based on this, the embodiment of the present application proposes a method for sideline communication. The method associates the sideline signal used for initial beam pairing with the ID and / or service priority of the relevant terminal device, thereby reducing the mutual interference between multiple terminal devices in the sideline communication system. Figure 6 The method proposed in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail.

[0096] See also Figure 6 In step S610, the first terminal device sends a first sidelink signal through a first transmission beam, wherein the first sidelink signal is used for the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform initial beam pairing or establish a sidelink.

[0097] The first terminal device and the second terminal device may be any two terminal devices capable of side-by-side communication as described above. For example, the first terminal device may be a vehicle in V2X, and the second terminal device may be a vehicle, a pedestrian, or an infrastructure network in V2X.

[0098] The first terminal device and the second terminal device may be two communication devices that need to perform data transmission in the sideline communication. In some embodiments, the first terminal device and the second terminal device may be two communication devices that perform initial beam pairing. In some embodiments, the first terminal device and the second terminal device may be two communication devices that establish a unicast link. In some embodiments, the first terminal device and the second terminal device may be two communication devices that perform beam pair management.

[0099] The first terminal device and the second terminal device may be located within the same network coverage, or within different network coverages, or one may be located within the network coverage and the other may be located outside the network coverage, or both may be located outside the network coverage. Exemplarily, the terminal devices within the network coverage may perform sideline communication based on the configuration of the network device.

[0100] The first terminal device and the second terminal device may be communication devices supporting antenna arrays. In some embodiments, the first terminal device and the second terminal device may perform analog beamforming based on the antenna array. For example, the first terminal device may generate a transmit beam and send a signal to the second terminal device by beam scanning. The transmit beam may also be referred to as a transmit beam. For another example, the second terminal device may generate a receive beam and receive a signal sent by the first terminal device by beam scanning. In some embodiments, the first terminal device and the second terminal device may perform wireless communication in a high frequency or an ultra-high frequency. For example, the first terminal device and the second terminal device may communicate in a frequency range corresponding to FR2.

[0101] The first terminal device may perform unicast communication, multicast communication or broadcast communication with one or more terminal devices. The second terminal device may be any one of the one or more terminal devices. That is, the first terminal device may be a source terminal device, and the second terminal device may be a destination terminal device.

[0102] In some embodiments, the sidelink establishment between the first terminal device and the second terminal device may be a unicast link establishment, or may be a multicast or broadcast link establishment. As described above, in unicast communication, the first terminal device only establishes communication with one destination terminal device; in multicast or broadcast communication, the first terminal device needs to communicate with multiple destination terminal devices.

[0103] Exemplarily, the first terminal device may be a source terminal device that initiates unicast communication, and the second terminal device may be any terminal device that the first terminal device needs to establish communication with. For example, the second terminal device may be any terminal device among multiple terminal devices except the first terminal device.

[0104] Exemplarily, the first terminal device may be a group head terminal that initiates a multicast or broadcast communication, and the second terminal device may be any group member in the multicast or broadcast communication. For example, in V2X, the first terminal device may be a vehicle that performs a multicast communication with other vehicles, and the second terminal device may be another vehicle in the multicast communication.

[0105] The first terminal device sends a first sidelink signal to the second terminal device to perform initial beam pairing or sidelink establishment. For ease of description, the following text takes initial beam pairing as an example for explanation.

[0106] The first sidelink signal may be any signal used for initial beam pairing or sidelink link establishment, which is not limited herein. For example, the first sidelink signal may be an RS or a sidelink synchronization signal.

[0107] Exemplarily, the first sidelink signal may be an S-SSB. The S-SSB may include an S-PSS, an S-SSS, and a PSBCH.

[0108] Exemplarily, the first side signal may be S-PSS and S-SSS. For example, the first side signal may be S-SSB including only S-PSS and S-SSS. That is, S-PSS and S-SSS are synchronization sequences independent of PSBCH.

[0109] Exemplarily, the first sidelink signal may be a sidelink CSI-RS.

[0110] Exemplarily, the first sidelink signal may be a DMRS.

[0111] The first side signal is used for the first terminal device to perform initial beam pairing with the second terminal device, that is, the first side signal corresponds to the second terminal device. Multiple terminal devices that receive the first transmit beam can determine whether to perform initial beam pairing with the first terminal device based on the first side signal.

[0112] In some embodiments, the first terminal device may perform initial beam pairing or sidelink establishment with multiple terminal devices respectively through multiple sidelink signals. The multiple terminal devices may be multiple destination terminal devices that the first terminal device needs to communicate with. The multiple sidelink signals include a first sidelink signal, and the multiple terminal devices include a second terminal device corresponding to the first sidelink signal. Therefore, the first terminal device may send different sidelink signals to different destination terminal devices.

[0113] As an example, when the sidelink signal is S-SSB, the index of S-SSB may correspond to the ID of the terminal device. For example, the ID of UE1 corresponds to S-SSB(0), the ID of UE2 corresponds to S-SSB(1), the ID of UE3 corresponds to S-SSB(2), and so on.

[0114] Exemplarily, the plurality of side signals may correspond to the plurality of terminal devices one by one, respectively. Exemplarily, the plurality of side signals may correspond to some of the plurality of terminal devices.

[0115] Exemplarily, when the first terminal device sends a side signal to the second terminal device, the first side signal sent to the second terminal device can be determined based on the correspondence between different side signals and different terminal devices. As an implementation method, when the side signal is an S-SSB, different S-SSBs correspond to different destination terminal devices, and the first side signal is an S-SSB corresponding to the second terminal device among multiple S-SSBs.

[0116] The first terminal device sends the first side signal via the first transmission beam, that is, the first transmission beam corresponds to the first side signal. Further, different side signals correspond to different destination terminal devices, so the first terminal device can send information to different destination terminal devices on different transmission beams.

[0117] The first transmit beam may be one or more of the multiple transmit beams, which is not limited here. The multiple transmit beams may be used to send multiple sidewalk signals. Exemplarily, the multiple transmit beams may be multiple transmit beams of the first terminal device within a beam scanning cycle. Exemplarily, the multiple transmit beams may be multiple transmit beams of the first terminal device within a first time period. The first time period may be a beam scanning cycle, or may be determined based on the beam scanning cycle.

[0118] In some embodiments, the first time period may be one of the following: multiple consecutive subframes, one subframe, multiple consecutive time slots, and one time slot. For example, the first time period may be multiple consecutive subframes. When the sideline signal is an S-SSB, the time length of the first time period may be equal to the period of one S-SSB. For another example, the first time period may be one subframe or multiple consecutive time slots. The first terminal device may allocate different S-SSBs to multiple destination terminal devices within one subframe.

[0119] Exemplarily, multiple transmit beams of the first terminal device within a beam scanning cycle can respectively correspond to multiple side signals and / or multiple destination terminal devices, thereby facilitating the first terminal device to perform reasonable beam configuration.

[0120] Exemplarily, when the first terminal device sends a side signal through a transmission beam, the first transmission beam for sending the first side signal can be determined according to the correspondence between different transmission beams and different side signals. For example, the ID of the destination terminal device is related to the sequence of S-SSBs and is also associated with the position of the S-SSB in the beam transmission time slot. Among them, S-SSBs at different positions will correspond to different transmission beams.

[0121] Exemplarily, the first transmission beam may be one of multiple transmission beams, so that the first terminal device can send side signals to multiple terminal devices through multiple transmission beams. For example, the first transmission beam is one of four transmission beams in a round of beam scanning, and the four transmission beams may correspond to four terminal devices respectively. For another example, the first terminal device may assign a terminal device ID to each S-SSB beam to ensure that each destination terminal device corresponds to a beam. Through this configuration, on the one hand, the destination terminal device can quickly establish a connection with the source terminal device, and on the other hand, it can reduce or avoid resource conflicts in a dedicated resource set.

[0122] Exemplarily, the first transmission beam may be a plurality of beams among the plurality of transmission beams, so that the terminal device can more flexibly adjust the beam configuration for beam pairing. For example, when the first terminal device needs to perform an urgent communication service with the second terminal device, the first side signal may be sent through the plurality of beams to establish communication with the second terminal device as soon as possible.

[0123] Exemplarily, the first transmission beam is at least one of the multiple transmission beams in the first time period. When the multiple transmission beams are used by the first terminal device to send multiple side signals including the first side signal, the multiple side signals can correspond one-to-one to multiple terminal devices including the second terminal device.

[0124] Exemplarily, in order to allocate corresponding side signals to multiple destination terminal devices, symbols in the first time period can be used to carry the side signals as much as possible. For example, the first time period may include at least one time slot. Any time slot in the at least one time slot may include multiple symbols. Among the multiple symbols in any time slot, the first symbol may be used to carry automatic gain control (AGC), and other symbols except the first symbol may be used to carry at least one guard interval (GAP) and multiple side signals.

[0125] Exemplarily, in the first time period, when the number of sidewalk signals is greater than the number of multiple terminal devices that the first terminal device needs to communicate with, any terminal device among the multiple terminal devices may correspond to at least one sidewalk signal. The position index of at least one sidewalk signal corresponding to any terminal device in the first time period may be determined based on one or more of the following information: the number of multiple terminal devices; the ID of any terminal device; the number of multiple sidewalk signals in the first time period; the position information of multiple sidewalk signals in the first time period, which will be specifically described below in conjunction with the formula.

[0126] In some embodiments, the multiple transmit beams including the first transmit beam may be multiple side signals that are periodically transmitted. For example, when the side signal is S-SSB, within one S-SSB period, the first terminal device may generate multiple transmit beams to transmit multiple side signals. The multiple transmit beams may be periodically scanned based on a repetition period. The first transmit beam may be one or more of the multiple transmit beams that are periodically transmitted.

[0127] Exemplarily, multiple S-SSBs can be periodically sent within one S-SSB period. Each of several S-SSBs can correspond to a beam scanning direction. That is to say, there will be an S-SSB in each beam scanning direction. The S-SSB period can be allocated to the first terminal device with the assistance of the network device, or it can be set by the first terminal device itself, and the second terminal device can search for the S-SSB according to the default period (for example, 160ms). The dedicated resource set for S-SSB transmission is also (pre) configured.

[0128] In some embodiments, multiple transmit beams including the first transmit beam may transmit multiple side signals aperiodically, thereby avoiding unnecessary side signal transmission and alleviating resource congestion. Exemplarily, the side signal for initial beam pairing may be transmitted semi-persistently in activation and deactivation. As an example, if a terminal device (e.g., UE) at the transmitting end does not want to trigger unicast link establishment or has already paired the beams for the unicast link, the terminal device does not need to periodically transmit a reference signal for initial beam pairing.

[0129] The first side signal can be associated with the first information to achieve the correspondence between the first side signal and the terminal device. For example, for different destination terminal devices, the first terminal device can send different side signals through different transmission beams and instruct the destination terminal device through the first information, so as to perform more effective side communication.

[0130] In order to improve the efficiency of side communication, the first information may include one or more of the following information: the ID of the first terminal device; the ID of the second terminal device; the ID of the terminal device group to which the first terminal device and the second terminal device belong; and the priority of the communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0131] In unicast communication, the first terminal device is used as a source terminal device, and its ID can also be called a source ID (source ID). The second terminal device is used as a destination terminal device, and its ID can also be called a destination ID (destination ID). Therefore, the first information in unicast can include a source ID and / or a destination ID.

[0132] In multicast communication, the second terminal device may be any terminal device in the terminal device group. The terminal device group may also be a communication group to which the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device belongs. The ID of the terminal device group may also be referred to as a destination group ID. Therefore, the first information in the multicast may include a source ID and / or a destination group ID.

[0133] Regardless of whether it is the first terminal device or the second terminal device, the ID of the terminal device (eg, UE ID) can be represented in a variety of ways. In other words, the source ID or the destination ID can be represented in a variety of ways.

[0134] In some embodiments, the ID of the terminal device may be an ID related to the terminal device itself. For example, the ID of the terminal device may be an international mobile station equipment identity (IMEI), an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), or an S-temporary mobile subscription identifier (S-TMSI). For another example, the ID of the terminal device may be an ID converted from the above identification codes (for example, the UE ID is IMSI mod 1024).

[0135] In some embodiments, the ID of the terminal device may be the ID of the terminal device at different protocol layers. For example, the terminal device may be a layer 2 (L2) ID. Each terminal device will have an L2 ID when performing V2X PC5 communication. For example, the terminal device will assign an L2 ID to itself. Each frame transmitted over the L2 link contains the ID information.

[0136] Optionally, if the first terminal device knows the L2 ID of the second terminal device in advance, the L2 ID may be used as the destination ID. If not, a default ID may be used as the destination ID. The default ID is, for example, a ProSe identifier.

[0137] In some embodiments, when supporting V2X messages based on the Internet Protocol (IP), the terminal device can automatically configure an IPv6 link as the source IP address. The source IP address can also be used as the ID of the terminal device.

[0138] In some embodiments, when the first side signal is an S-SSB for time and frequency synchronization, when the first terminal device and the second terminal device communicate, it is also necessary to consider whether the two terminal devices are both within the coverage area of ​​the same network device. Multiple terminal devices within the coverage area of ​​the same network device can send side signals for transmit beam scanning in a dedicated SL resource pool. For example, a dedicated SL resource pool for transmit beam scanning or RS transmission has multiple candidate resources in time / frequency and multiple candidate sequences for RS transmission. However, when multiple terminal devices are located within the coverage of different network devices, the dedicated resource pools are different.

[0139] Exemplarily, in V2X, communication may be required between two vehicles, between a vehicle and another terminal device, and between a vehicle and an infrastructure network. The two terminal devices that need to communicate may be both within the coverage area of ​​the same base station, or may be within the coverage area and outside the coverage area respectively. If within the coverage area of ​​the same base station, the first terminal device and the second terminal device will select the synchronization signal sent by the synchronization reference with the highest priority in the area when determining their transmission synchronization. If the first terminal device or the second terminal device is outside the coverage area, the terminal device first needs to synchronize with the sidelink synchronisation signal (SLSS) sent by the terminal device within the coverage area. Among them, the SLSS is carried in the S-SSB. The S-SSB may include an SLSSID. The SLSSID is, for example, a physical layer ID that is available when the terminal device sending the S-SSB selects from {0,1,…,335} as a synchronization reference. In some scenarios, the IDs of multiple terminal devices sending S-SSBs can refer to the SLSSID and correspond one-to-one with multiple SLSSIDs.

[0140] Exemplarily, when the first terminal device is within a certain coverage area, the SSB sent by the first terminal device can also be used to synchronize the second terminal device or other terminal devices.

[0141] Exemplarily, when the first terminal device sends an S-SSB, the ID of the first terminal device may be an SLSSID, or the ID of the first terminal device may be determined by the SLSSID. For example, when the first terminal device sends an S-SSB, the value of the SLSS ID of the sidelink synchronization signal source may be used as the value of the ID of the first terminal device. For another example, the first terminal device may convert the value of the SLSSID, and the converted value may be used as the ID of the first terminal device.

[0142] Exemplarily, when multiple terminal devices that need to communicate are not within the coverage of the same network device, in order to reduce interference between different terminal devices, each terminal device should be assigned a unique address code. These address codes have good randomness and mutual difference, thereby avoiding interference between different source terminal devices and different destination terminal devices. As an example, if the first terminal device and the second terminal device correspond to different cells or network devices respectively, the ID of the first terminal device and the ID of the second terminal device may include identification information of the cell or network device.

[0143] As an implementation method, the address code can be generated by a pseudo-random number generator or configured by external input. For example, in a sideline communication system, an address orthogonal code is introduced to identify different terminal devices. After the second terminal device receives the signal, it decodes the address orthogonal code to determine and select the source terminal device that wants to communicate. For another example, a spread spectrum code or a pseudo-random code or an address code in the form of other sequences is used to identify different terminal devices. As an example, the spread spectrum code can be divided into a long code and a short code, where the long code is used to distinguish users between different base stations, and the short code is used to distinguish signals between different users in the same base station.

[0144] For the terminal device group to which the second terminal device belongs, the ID of the terminal device group may be the same as or different from the ID of the second terminal device.

[0145] In some embodiments, the ID of the terminal device group may be provided by the application layer or the middle layer (protocol layer) of the terminal device, or may be determined by V2X according to the ID mapping provided by the application layer. In other words, the ID of the terminal device group may correspond to a high-level ID or an ID mapped from a high-level ID.

[0146] In some embodiments, the ID of the terminal device group can be used to determine the ID of the second terminal device. Exemplarily, the ID of the terminal device group corresponds to the ID of the second terminal device. That is, the ID of the terminal device group can be mapped to the ID of the second terminal device. As an embodiment, the ID of the terminal device group is a high-level ID or a protocol layer ID mapped by the high-level ID, and the ID of the second terminal device is a low-level ID. For example, the ID of the terminal device group is a high-level ID provided by the application layer, and the ID of the second terminal device group is a physical layer ID mapped by the high-level ID.

[0147] It should be understood that although the ID of the terminal device group can be used to identify the multicast service group, it may be difficult to manage or establish a public group identifier in a V2X, V2V or D2D environment organized by the first terminal device itself, especially in high-frequency beam scanning and pairing. Therefore, the ID information of each terminal device in the group member is very important.

[0148] The above describes how to determine the terminal device ID associated with the first information. By associating the first sidelink signal with the first information, the first terminal device and the second terminal device can facilitate initial beam pairing or sidelink establishment, thereby improving communication efficiency. In some embodiments, the first information may include any one or more of the above-mentioned multiple IDs.

[0149] Exemplarily, the first information may include the ID (source ID) of the first terminal device and the ID (destination ID) of the second terminal device, so that the source ID and the destination ID are associated with the sidelink signal at the same time. Through the first information, it can be ensured that the first terminal device and the second terminal device can perform initial beam pairing or sidelink link through the first transmit beam. On the one hand, the first information can let the second terminal device clearly know that the first transmit beam comes from the first terminal device. On the other hand, the first information can also facilitate the second terminal device to select the source terminal device that it most wants to connect to when receiving multiple first transmit beams from multiple terminal devices, and to conduct direct communication.

[0150] As an example, the first information may also include combined information of a source ID and a destination (group) ID, so as to associate the first information with the first sideline signal. For example, the S-PSS or S-SSS may carry the combined information, thereby providing additional information source information to the second terminal device.

[0151] Exemplarily, the first information may include an ID of the second terminal device or an ID of a terminal device group (destination group ID), so that the second terminal device can select a first terminal device that needs to communicate with itself from multiple terminal devices. Based on the first information, the first terminal device can determine the resource / sequence for transmitting the first sideline signal. In other words, the first terminal device can select the first transmission beam to send the first sideline signal according to the destination ID or destination group ID in the first information.

[0152] For example, the selection / determination of the resource / sequence for transmitting the RS may depend on the destination (group) ID of the unicast link establishment process. When the resource / sequence depends on the destination (group) ID, the first terminal device may use different resources / sequences for the transmission of RS for terminal devices with different destination IDs, thereby avoiding or at least reducing the probability of resource / sequence conflicts between multiple terminal devices sending sidelink signals in the same SL resource pool.

[0153] For another example, for destination terminal devices with different IDs, the first terminal device can use different SSB or side channel state information (CSI) sequences. After the destination ID is associated with the S-SSB or side CSI sequence, the first terminal device can send different S-SSB or side CSI sequences to different destination terminal devices. Furthermore, through different destination IDs, the first terminal device can know which beam to send information to which destination terminal device.

[0154] As an example, when the index of the S-SSB sequence corresponds to the ID of the terminal device, the reserved resources occupied by the index of the S-SSB may correspond to the resources for the second terminal device to send a response.

[0155] As can be seen from the foregoing, the first information may also include the priority of the communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to meet the communication needs of different services. In the resource pool, multiple source terminal devices (multiple first terminal devices) may be allowed to communicate with the second terminal device. When the first information includes the service priority, the second terminal device may select the source terminal device with the highest priority as soon as possible according to the first information and perform beam pairing.

[0156] Exemplarily, when the sidelink signal is S-SSB, the second terminal device can immediately select the SLSS sent by the source terminal device with the highest priority among multiple source terminal devices according to the first information, and synchronize with it.

[0157] In summary, the first information may include the ID of the first terminal device, the ID of the second terminal device, service priority information, or combined information of the first terminal device ID and the second terminal device ID, so as to facilitate the second terminal device to make a decision.

[0158] In some embodiments, the first information may be transmitted in a variety of ways. For example, if sidelink control information (SCI) is transmitted together, the first information may be carried in the SCI. For example, if PSBCH is transmitted together, the first information may be added to the PSBCH. For example, the first information may also be provided to the destination terminal device via S-PSS or S-SSS mapped on the symbol, which will be described in detail later in conjunction with the sequence generation method.

[0159] Combination of the above Figure 6 This paper introduces a method for side-by-side communication between terminal devices based on the association between beam / side-by-side signal and terminal device ID / service priority. Figure 7 An exemplary description is given. Figure 7 The description is made from the perspective of the interaction between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0160] See also Figure 7 In step S710, the first terminal device sends a first sideways signal via a first transmission wave. The first sideways signal is associated with the first information.

[0161] In step S720, the first terminal device performs initial beam pairing with the second terminal device based on the first side signal. After receiving the first transmit beam, the second terminal device can detect the first side signal. According to the first information carried by the first side signal, the second terminal device can determine whether to communicate with the first terminal device. If the second terminal device chooses to communicate with the first terminal device, it can perform initial beam pairing with the first terminal device according to the first side signal.

[0162] The above introduces the first information associated with the first side signal, and how to associate the first information with the first side signal is also a problem that needs to be solved. As can be seen from the foregoing, when sending SCI or PSBCH, the first information can be carried in SCI or PSBCH. However, when the first side signal is RS, S-PSS and S-SSS, it is also necessary to associate the first information with the first side signal to reduce interference between different terminal devices. Furthermore, associating the first information with the first side signal can also accelerate the beam pairing between terminal devices and increase the rate of pairing the transmit beam and the receive beam. In a shared dedicated resource pool, it is more necessary for the source terminal device and the destination terminal device to quickly establish communication after beam pairing to reduce mutual interference between different terminal devices.

[0163] In some embodiments, the first information is used to generate a first sequence corresponding to the first sideline signal. That is, when generating the first sequence corresponding to the first sideline signal, source ID, destination ID, service priority information, or a combination of source ID and destination ID may be introduced. For example, different sideline signal sequences may correspond to different destination IDs one by one.

[0164] Exemplarily, when the first information includes a source ID and a destination ID, the first information can generate a new sequence with the S-SSB. For example, the first information can be located at the first m bits or the last m bits of the new sequence. The second terminal device can know whether the sequence is an S-SSB sequence related to itself by interpreting the first m bits or the last m bits of the sequence. If the second terminal device finds that the first m bits or the last m bits of the interpreted sequence are not its own information, it can give up reading the complete sequence.

[0165] Exemplarily, when the first information is used to generate a first sequence corresponding to the first sidelink signal, the information structure of the sidelink signal needs to be improved. For example, in the process of performing initial beam pairing before using S-SSB to establish a sidelink unicast link, the information structure of S-SSB is adjusted so that the second terminal device can identify it based on the S-SSB of the first terminal device. For another example, through different shifts of the synchronization sequence, the service priorities corresponding to different destination terminal devices can be mapped.

[0166] As an embodiment, when the first terminal device sends an S-SSB for synchronization, the S-PSS or S-SSS can generate a new sequence in combination with the first information. In particular, when the S-SSB does not include the PSBCH, the first information needs to be provided to the destination terminal device through the S-PSS or S-SSS. Usually, in a time slot, the S-SSB containing the PSBCH will occupy 4 symbols. In an embodiment of the present application, when the PSBCH is not included, the S-PSS and S-SSS can occupy 2 symbols each, or they can occupy 1 symbol each.

[0167] Exemplarily, when the first information is used to generate a first sequence corresponding to the first sideline signal, the first information can be used to determine a cyclic shift of the first sequence. As an example, the first information can be used to determine a first offset. The cyclic shift of the first sequence or a portion of the first sequence can be determined based on the first offset.

[0168] For example, when the first information includes at least one of the ID of the first terminal device, the ID of the second terminal device, and the ID of the terminal device group, the first offset may be the value of the terminal device ID or a converted value of the terminal device ID.

[0169] For another example, when the first information includes combined information of at least two of the ID of the first terminal device, the ID of the second terminal device, and the ID of the terminal device group, the first offset may be a corresponding parameter of the combined information.

[0170] For another example, when the first information includes the priority of the communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, the first offset may be a priority value or a conversion value of the priority.

[0171] As an implementation, when the first side signal is S-SSB, the first information may be introduced when the S-PSS or S-SSS sequence is generated. For example, when the first information is introduced into the S-SSS sequence, the S-SSS may be referred to as the first SSS sequence. That is, the first sequence may include the first S-SSS sequence that introduces the first information. The cyclic shift of the first S-SSS sequence may be determined based on the first offset.

[0172] The following describes the sequences of S-PSS and S-SSS by taking the introduction of the first information into the S-SSS sequence as an example.

[0173] Optionally, the sequence of S-PSS can be expressed as:

[0174]

[0175] X(i+7)=(X(i+4)+X(i))mod2.

[0176] The initial value is: [X(6) X(5) X(4) X(3) X(2) X(1) X(0)] = [1 1 1 0 1 1 0].

[0177] Optionally, the first S-SSS sequence may introduce the first information, and the first S-SSS sequence may be expressed as:

[0178] d s―sss (n)=[1-2X0((n+m0)mod127)][1-2X1((n+m1)mod127)],

[0179]

[0180] Wherein, Δ represents the first offset, and Δ is a positive integer.

[0181] X0(i+7)=(X0(i+4)+X0(i))mod2, X1(i+7)=(X1(i+4)+X1(i))mod2.

[0182] The initial value is: [X0(6) X0(5) X0(4) X0(3) X0(2) X0(1) X0(0)] = [0 0 0 0 0 0 1].

[0183] The initial value is: [X1(6) X1(5) X1(4) X1(3) X1(2) X1(1) X1(0)] = [0 0 0 0 0 0 1].

[0184] When the above-mentioned first S-SSS sequence determines the cyclic shift, different Δ values ​​can generate different S-SSS sequences, so that different terminal devices or priorities can be distinguished. Exemplarily, Δ can indicate the level of service priority. For example, the larger the Δ value, the higher the priority, and vice versa. Exemplarily, Δ can indicate the source ID, the destination ID, or the combination of the source ID and the destination ID. For example, different Δ can correspond one-to-one to multiple destination terminal devices or source terminal devices.

[0185] The above describes how to introduce the first information into the S-SSB, how to send the S-SSB that introduces the first information, and how the terminal device determines the S-SSB related to itself among multiple S-SSBs, which are also issues that need to be considered. Figure 8 , taking the side signal as S-SSB as an example, a method for the first terminal device to send different S-SSBs through different transmission beams is described. Among them, different S-SSBs can correspond to different target terminal devices.

[0186] As can be seen from the foregoing, the first terminal device can perform a transmit beam scan in an S-SSB period to perform initial beam pairing or sidelink establishment with other terminal devices. The S-SSB period can be a beam scanning period, that is, the first time period mentioned above.

[0187] The S-SSB period usually includes multiple subframes. When the length of the S-SSB period is determined, the position and number of S-SSBs in one period may vary with the subcarrier spacing (SCS).

[0188] In a beam scanning period of an S-SSB, several parameters usually need to be configured to determine the distribution of the S-SSB. Exemplarily, these parameters are as follows: the first parameter (parameter 1) represents the time slot offset (offset), that is, the time slot offset of the first S-SSB; the second parameter (parameter 2) represents the interval between two adjacent S-SSB time slots, the third parameter (parameter 3) represents the number of S-SSBs in a time slot, and the fourth parameter represents the period of the S-SSB.

[0189] Exemplarily, the four parameters configured within the S-SSB period can be allocated to the first terminal device with the assistance of the network device, or can be set by the first terminal device itself.

[0190] Exemplarily, in a beam transmission time slot, except for AGC and GAP, the rest can be S-SSB. For example, for an independent S-SSB time slot structure, except for the symbols occupied by AGC and GAP, the remaining symbols can be sent for S-SSB to the destination terminal device. For another example, in a time slot structure, the first symbol bit is the AGC symbol bit, the last symbol bit is the GAP, and the other symbols can all be used to send S-SSB.

[0191] Exemplarily, for multicast or broadcast communication, the first terminal device may determine the mapping relationship between the destination terminal device and the S-SSB according to the number of multiple destination terminal devices that need to communicate. For example, if the initial beam pairing uses S-PSS and S-SSS, all S-SSBs may be allocated to each destination terminal device within one period according to the four configuration parameters within the S-SSB period.

[0192] As can be seen from the foregoing, one or more S-SSBs assigned to each destination terminal device can be determined based on a variety of information. This information may include the number of terminal devices that need to be assigned, the ID of each terminal device, the number of S-SSBs, and the location information of multiple S-SSBs within the S-SSB period. Among them, the ID of each terminal device can be an ID corresponding to any of the multiple IDs mentioned above, or it can be an ID determined according to other settings.

[0193] Exemplarily, the location information of the S-SSB may include one or more of the following information: a first parameter, a second parameter, a third parameter, the number of subframes in the first time period, and the number of time slots in a subframe.

[0194] Exemplarily, when the number of terminal devices to which S-SSB needs to be allocated is K (K is a positive integer), the ID of each terminal device can be mapped to [0, 1, ..., K-1]. That is, the K terminal devices can generate corresponding mapping IDs based on their own IDs and K values, respectively, so as to facilitate the first terminal device to allocate S-SSB.

[0195] As an example, the mapping ID of any terminal device among the K terminal devices can be represented as UE′ ID Among them, UE′ ID ∈[0,1,…,K―1].

[0196] As an example, in order to make full use of the S-SSB resources in the first time period or the S-SSB cycle, each terminal device may be configured with the same number of repetitions of S-SSBs. For example, the number of repetitions may be R, that is, each terminal device is configured with R S-SSBs.

[0197] For example, the number R of S-SSBs corresponding to any terminal device among the K terminal devices can be expressed as:

[0198]

[0199] in, represents rounding down, L represents the number of time slots containing S-SSB in the first time period (e.g., S-SSB cycle), X represents the number of time slots in a subframe, N represents the number of subframes in the first time period, P1 represents the first parameter, P2 represents the second parameter, and P3 represents the third parameter.

[0200] As an example, when the first symbol bit in a time slot is AGC and the last symbol bit is GAP, the maximum number of S-SSBs M that can be configured in each time slot containing S-SSBs can be expressed as:

[0201]

[0202] Among them, Q represents the number of symbols in a time slot, and γ represents the number of symbols occupied by an S-SSB in a time slot.

[0203] For ease of understanding, the following takes the example of a first terminal device sending an S-SSB to K terminal devices within a first time period to illustrate the position index of the S-SSB corresponding to any terminal device among the K terminal devices. The first time period may include multiple time slots.

[0204] When the mapping ID among K terminal devices is UE′ ID When a terminal device corresponds to R S-SSBs, the time slot where the i-th S-SSB corresponding to the terminal device is located It can be expressed as:

[0205]

[0206] Wherein, i is a natural number from 0 to R-1.

[0207] Furthermore, when the first symbol bit in the time slot is AGC, the mapping ID is UE' ID The symbol position of the i-th S-SSB corresponding to the terminal device It can be expressed as:

[0208]

[0209] Based on the above position formula, each terminal device can quickly find the corresponding S-SSB sequence index position and the corresponding transmission beam according to its own ID information.

[0210] For ease of understanding, combined Figure 8 It should be understood that Figure 8 This is only an illustration of a possible distribution method of S-SSB and does not represent all examples.

[0211] See also Figure 8 , an S-SSB period includes N subframes, namely subframe 0, subframe 1, ..., subframe N-1. Each subframe includes 4 time slots. Therefore, the value of X is 4. There are two types of time slots in the S-SSB period, namely time slot 810 and time slot 820. Time slot 810 is a time slot where S-SSB is not sent, and time slot 820 is a time slot for sending S-SSB. Figure 8 The multiple time slots 820 in the image are filled with different patterns to indicate that the S-SSB sent in each time slot 820 may be different.

[0212] exist Figure 8 In the example, parameter 1 and parameter 2 can determine the distribution of S-SSB within a period. Figure 8 As shown, parameter 1 may represent the time slot offset of the first time slot 820 in a cycle. Parameter 2 may represent the time slot interval between two adjacent time slots 820. Figure 8It can be seen that the value of P1 is 3 and the value of P2 is 3.

[0213] Continuing with reference to FIG8 , each time slot 820 includes 12 symbols 821. If Figure 8 As shown, the first symbol 821 in the time slot 820 is used to carry AGC, the second to fifth symbols 821 are used to carry S-SSB0, the eighth to eleventh symbols 821 are used to carry S-SSB1, and the other symbols 821 are used to carry GAP. Figure 8 In the time slot 820 shown, the P3 value is 2 and the γ value is 4.

[0214] Further, S-SSB0 is sent through transmit beam 830, and S-SSB1 is sent through transmit beam 840. As can be seen from the foregoing, S-SSB0 and S-SSB1 can correspond to different destination terminal devices respectively. When the first terminal device sends S-SSB0 and S-SSB1, it can also indicate the first information associated with S-SSB0 and S-SSB1 respectively, so as to facilitate initial beam pairing between different destination terminal devices and the first terminal device.

[0215] Combination of the above Figures 1 to 8 , describes in detail the method embodiment of the present application. Figures 9 to 11 , describes the device embodiment of the present application in detail. It should be understood that the description of the device embodiment corresponds to the description of the method embodiment, so the parts not described in detail can refer to the previous method embodiment.

[0216] Fig. 9 900 is a schematic block diagram of a device for sideline communication according to an embodiment of the present application. The device 900 may be any of the first terminal devices described above. Fig. 9 The illustrated apparatus 900 comprises a sending unit 910 .

[0217] The sending unit 910 can be used to send a first side signal through a first transmitting beam, and the first side signal is used for initial beam pairing between a first terminal device and a second terminal device; wherein the first side signal is associated with first information, and the first information includes one or more of the following information: the ID of the first terminal device; the ID of the second terminal device; the ID of the terminal device group to which the second terminal device belongs; and the priority of the communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0218] Optionally, the second terminal device is any terminal device in a terminal device group, and an ID of the terminal device group is used to determine an ID of the second terminal device.

[0219] Optionally, the ID of the terminal device group corresponds to the ID of the second terminal device, the ID of the terminal device group is a high-layer ID or a protocol layer ID mapped by the high-layer ID, and the ID of the second terminal device is a low-layer ID.

[0220] Optionally, the first sidelink signal is S-SSB, the S-SSB includes SLSSID, and the ID of the first terminal device is SLSSID or is determined by SLSS ID.

[0221] Optionally, if the first terminal device and the second terminal device correspond to different cells or network devices respectively, the ID of the first terminal device and the ID of the second terminal device include identification information of the cell or network device.

[0222] Optionally, the first information is used to generate a first sequence corresponding to the first sidetrack signal.

[0223] Optionally, the first sidelink signal includes S-SSS, the first sequence includes a first S-SSS sequence, a cyclic shift of the first S-SSS sequence is determined based on a first offset, and the first offset is determined according to the first information.

[0224] Optionally, the first transmit beam is at least one of multiple transmit beams within a first time period, and the multiple transmit beams are used for the first terminal device to send multiple side signals including the first side signal, and the multiple side signals correspond one-to-one to multiple terminal devices including the second terminal device.

[0225] Optionally, the first time period is one of the following: a plurality of consecutive subframes, one subframe, a plurality of consecutive time slots, and one time slot.

[0226] Optionally, the first time period includes at least one time slot, any time slot of the at least one time slot includes multiple symbols, the first symbol of the multiple symbols is used to carry AGC, and the other symbols of the multiple symbols except the first symbol are used to carry at least one GAP and multiple side signals.

[0227] Optionally, any terminal device among the multiple terminal devices corresponds to at least one side signal, and the position index of at least one side signal corresponding to any terminal device within the first time period is determined based on one or more of the following information: the number of multiple terminal devices; the ID of any terminal device; the number of multiple side signals within the first time period; the position information of multiple side signals within the first time period.

[0228] Optionally, the first time period is a plurality of consecutive subframes, the plurality of side signals are a plurality of S-SSBs, and the position information includes one or more of the following information: a first parameter, the first parameter is used to indicate the time slot offset of the first S-SSB in the first time period; a second parameter, the second parameter is used to indicate the time slot interval between two adjacent S-SSBs in the first time period; a third parameter, the third parameter is used to indicate the number of S-SSBs in a time slot; the number of subframes in the first time period; the number of time slots in a subframe.

[0229] Optionally, multiple transmit beams in the first time period are used for the first terminal device to send S-SSBs to K terminal devices, where K is a positive integer, and the number R of S-SSBs corresponding to any terminal device among the K terminal devices is:

[0230]

[0231] in, Indicates rounding down. X represents the number of time slots in a subframe, N represents the number of subframes in the first time period, P1 represents the first parameter, P2 represents the second parameter, and P3 represents the third parameter.

[0232] Optionally, multiple transmit beams in the first time period are used for the first terminal device to send S-SSB to K terminal devices, and the first time period includes multiple time slots, and the mapping ID in the K terminal devices is UE′ ID The terminal device corresponds to R S-SSBs, and the mapping ID is IE′ ID The time slot where the i-th S-SSB corresponds to the terminal device for:

[0233]

[0234] Where i is a natural number from 0 to R-1, UE′ ID ∈[0,1,…,K―1].

[0235] Optionally, a time slot in the first time period includes multiple symbols, and the mapping ID is UE' ID The symbol position of the i-th S-SSB corresponding to the terminal device for:

[0236]

[0237] Wherein, γ represents the number of symbols occupied by one S-SSB in one time slot.

[0238] Optionally, the first sidelink signal is one or more of the following: S-SSB, S-PSS and S-SSS, a sidelink channel state information reference signal, and a demodulation reference signal.

[0239] Fig.10 1000 is a schematic block diagram of another device for sideline communication according to an embodiment of the present application. The device 1000 may be any second terminal device described above. Fig.10 The illustrated apparatus 1000 comprises a receiving unit 1010 .

[0240] The receiving unit 1010 can be used to receive a first side signal sent by a first terminal device through a first transmitting beam, and the first side signal is used for initial beam pairing between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; wherein the first side signal is associated with first information, and the first information includes one or more of the following information: the ID of the first terminal device; the ID of the second terminal device; the ID of the terminal device group to which the second terminal device belongs; and the priority of the communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0241] Optionally, the second terminal device is any terminal device in a terminal device group, and an ID of the terminal device group is used to determine an ID of the second terminal device.

[0242] Optionally, the ID of the terminal device group corresponds to the ID of the second terminal device, the ID of the terminal device group is a high-layer ID or a protocol layer ID mapped by the high-layer ID, and the ID of the second terminal device is a low-layer ID.

[0243] Optionally, the first sidelink signal is S-SSB, the S-SSB includes SLSSID, and the ID of the first terminal device is SLSSID or is determined by SLSS ID.

[0244] Optionally, if the first terminal device and the second terminal device correspond to different cells or network devices respectively, the ID of the first terminal device and the ID of the second terminal device include identification information of the cell or network device.

[0245] Optionally, the first information is used to generate a first sequence corresponding to the first sidetrack signal.

[0246] Optionally, the first sidelink signal includes S-SSS, the first sequence includes a first S-SSS sequence, a cyclic shift of the first S-SSS sequence is determined based on a first offset, and the first offset is determined according to the first information.

[0247] Optionally, the first transmit beam is at least one of multiple transmit beams within a first time period, and the multiple transmit beams are used for the first terminal device to send multiple side signals including the first side signal, and the multiple side signals correspond one-to-one to multiple terminal devices including the second terminal device.

[0248] Optionally, the first time period is one of the following: a plurality of consecutive subframes, one subframe, a plurality of consecutive time slots, and one time slot.

[0249] Optionally, the first time period includes at least one time slot, any time slot of the at least one time slot includes multiple symbols, the first symbol of the multiple symbols is used to carry AGC, and the other symbols of the multiple symbols except the first symbol are used to carry at least one GAP and multiple side signals.

[0250] Optionally, any terminal device among the multiple terminal devices corresponds to at least one side signal, and the position index of at least one side signal corresponding to any terminal device within the first time period is determined based on one or more of the following information: the number of multiple terminal devices; the ID of any terminal device; the number of multiple side signals within the first time period; the position information of multiple side signals within the first time period.

[0251] Optionally, the first time period is a plurality of consecutive subframes, the plurality of side signals are a plurality of S-SSBs, and the position information includes one or more of the following information: a first parameter, the first parameter is used to indicate the time slot offset of the first S-SSB in the first time period; a second parameter, the second parameter is used to indicate the time slot interval between two adjacent S-SSBs in the first time period; a third parameter, the third parameter is used to indicate the number of S-SSBs in a time slot; the number of subframes in the first time period; the number of time slots in a subframe.

[0252] Optionally, multiple transmit beams in the first time period are used for the first terminal device to send S-SSBs to K terminal devices, where K is a positive integer, and the number R of S-SSBs corresponding to any terminal device among the K terminal devices is:

[0253]

[0254] in, Indicates rounding down. X represents the number of time slots in a subframe, N represents the number of subframes in the first time period, N>1, P1 represents the first parameter, P2 represents the second parameter, and P3 represents the third parameter.

[0255] Optionally, multiple transmit beams in the first time period are used for the first terminal device to send S-SSB to K terminal devices, and the first time period includes multiple time slots, and the mapping ID in the K terminal devices is UE′ ID The terminal device corresponds to R S-SSBs, and the mapping ID is UE′ ID The time slot where the i-th S-SSB corresponds to the terminal device for:

[0256]

[0257] Where i is a natural number from 0 to R-1, UE′ ID∈[0,1,…,K―1].

[0258] Optionally, a time slot in the first time period includes multiple symbols, and the mapping ID is UE' ID The symbol position of the i-th S-SSB corresponding to the terminal device for:

[0259]

[0260] Wherein, γ represents the number of symbols occupied by one S-SSB in one time slot.

[0261] Optionally, the first sidelink signal is one or more of the following: S-SSB, S-PSS and S-SSS, a sidelink channel state information reference signal, and a demodulation reference signal.

[0262] Fig.11 Shown is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig.11 The dotted line in the figure indicates that the unit or module is optional. The device 1100 can be used to implement the method described in the above method embodiment. The device 1100 can be a chip or a terminal device.

[0263] The device 1100 may include one or more processors 1110. The processor 1110 may support the device 1100 to implement the method described in the above method embodiment. The processor 1110 may be a general-purpose processor or a special-purpose processor. For example, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU). Alternatively, the processor may also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gates or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may also be any conventional processor, etc.

[0264] The apparatus 1100 may further include one or more memories 1120. The memory 1120 stores a program, which can be executed by the processor 1110, so that the processor 1110 executes the method described in the above method embodiment. The memory 1120 may be independent of the processor 1110 or integrated in the processor 1110.

[0265] The apparatus 1100 may further include a transceiver 1130. The processor 1110 may communicate with other devices or chips through the transceiver 1130. For example, the processor 1110 may transmit and receive data with other devices or chips through the transceiver 1130.

[0266] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing a program. The computer-readable storage medium can be applied to a terminal device or a network device provided in the present application, and the program enables a computer to execute the method performed by the terminal device or the network device in each embodiment of the present application.

[0267] The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be read by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or a data center that includes one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid state disk (SSD)).

[0268] The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes a program. The computer program product can be applied to the terminal device or network device provided in the embodiment of the present application, and the program enables the computer to execute the method performed by the terminal or network device in each embodiment of the present application.

[0269] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from a website site, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode to another website site, computer, server or data center.

[0270] The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program. The computer program can be applied to the terminal device or network device provided in the embodiment of the present application, and the computer program enables a computer to execute the method executed by the terminal or network device in each embodiment of the present application.

[0271] The terms "system" and "network" in this application can be used interchangeably. In addition, the terms used in this application are only used to explain the specific embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the present application. The terms "first", "second", "third" and "fourth" in the specification and claims of this application and the accompanying drawings are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any of their variations are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions.

[0272] In the embodiments of the present application, the "indication" mentioned can be a direct indication, an indirect indication, or an indication of an association relationship. For example, A indicates B, which can mean that A directly indicates B, for example, B can be obtained through A; it can also mean that A indirectly indicates B, for example, A indicates C, and B can be obtained through C; it can also mean that there is an association relationship between A and B.

[0273] In the embodiments of the present application, the term "corresponding" may indicate that there is a direct or indirect correspondence between the two, or an association relationship between the two, or a relationship of indication and being indicated, configuration and being configured, etc.

[0274] In the embodiments of the present application, "pre-definition" or "pre-configuration" can be implemented by pre-saving corresponding codes, tables or other methods that can be used to indicate relevant information in a device (for example, including a terminal device and a network device), and the present application does not limit the specific implementation method. For example, pre-definition can refer to what is defined in the protocol.

[0275] In the embodiments of the present application, the “protocol” may refer to a standard protocol in the communication field, for example, it may include an LTE protocol, an NR protocol, and related protocols used in future communication systems, and the present application does not limit this.

[0276] In the embodiments of the present application, determining B based on A does not mean determining B only based on A. B can also be determined based on A and / or other information.

[0277] In the embodiments of the present application, the term "and / or" is only a description of the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / " in this article generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0278] In various embodiments of the present application, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0279] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0280] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0281] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0282] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art who is familiar with the present technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for sideline communication, characterized in that: include: The first terminal device sends a first sidelink signal through a first transmit beam, where the first sidelink signal is used for the first terminal device to perform initial beam pairing or sidelink establishment with a second terminal device; Among them, the first side signal is associated with first information, the first information includes the identification ID of the second terminal device and / or the priority of the communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; the second terminal device is one of a plurality of terminal devices, the IDs and quantities of the plurality of terminal devices are used to generate mapping IDs of the plurality of terminal devices, and the mapping IDs of the plurality of terminal devices are used for the first terminal device to allocate a plurality of side signals including the first side signal.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The second terminal device is any terminal device in a terminal device group, and the ID of the terminal device group is used to determine the ID of the second terminal device.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The ID of the terminal device group corresponds to the ID of the second terminal device, the ID of the terminal device group is a high-layer ID or a protocol layer ID mapped by a high-layer ID, and the ID of the second terminal device is a low-layer ID.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first sidelink signal is a sidelink synchronization signal block S-SSB, the S-SSB includes a sidelink synchronization signal identifier SLSSID, and the ID of the first terminal device is the SLSSID or is determined by the SLSSID.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that If the first terminal device and the second terminal device correspond to different cells or network devices respectively, the ID of the first terminal device and the ID of the second terminal device include identification information of the cell or the network device.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first information is used to generate a first sequence corresponding to the first sideline signal.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The first sidelink signal includes a sidelink secondary synchronization signal S-SSS, the first sequence includes a first S-SSS sequence, a cyclic shift of the first S-SSS sequence is determined based on a first offset, and the first offset is determined according to the first information.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that The first transmitting beam is at least one of a plurality of transmitting beams within a first time period, and the plurality of transmitting beams are used for the first terminal device to send the plurality of side signals, and the plurality of side signals correspond one-to-one to the plurality of terminal devices.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The first time period is one of the following: a plurality of consecutive subframes, one subframe, a plurality of consecutive time slots, and one time slot.

10. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The first time period includes at least one time slot, any time slot of the at least one time slot includes multiple symbols, the first symbol of the multiple symbols is used to carry automatic gain control AGC, and the other symbols of the multiple symbols except the first symbol are used to carry at least one guard interval GAP and the multiple side signals.

11. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that Any terminal device among the multiple terminal devices corresponds to at least one side signal, and a position index of the at least one side signal corresponding to any terminal device in the first time period is determined according to one or more of the following information: The number of the plurality of terminal devices; The ID of any terminal device; the number of the plurality of lateral signals in the first time period; The location information of the multiple sidewalk signals in the first time period.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The first time period is a plurality of consecutive subframes, the plurality of sidelink signals are a plurality of S-SSBs, and the location information includes one or more of the following information: A first parameter, where the first parameter is used to indicate a time slot offset of a first S-SSB in the first time period; A second parameter, where the second parameter is used to indicate a time slot interval between two adjacent S-SSBs in the first time period; A third parameter, the third parameter being used to indicate the number of S-SSBs in a time slot; the number of subframes in the first time period; The number of time slots in a subframe.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The multiple transmit beams in the first time period are used by the first terminal device to send S-SSBs to K terminal devices, where K is a positive integer, and the number R of S-SSBs corresponding to any terminal device among the K terminal devices is: in, Indicates rounding down. X represents the number of time slots in a subframe, N represents the number of subframes in the first time period, P1 represents the first parameter, P2 represents the second parameter, and P3 represents the third parameter.

14. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The multiple transmission beams in the first time period are used by the first terminal device to send S-SSB to K terminal devices, the first time period includes multiple time slots, and the mapping ID in the K terminal devices is UE′ ID The terminal device corresponds to R S-SSBs, and the mapping ID is UE' ID The time slot where the i-th S-SSB corresponds to the terminal device for: Where i is a natural number from 0 to R-1, UE′ ID ∈[0,1,…,K―1].

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that A time slot in the first time period includes multiple symbols, and the mapping ID is UE' ID The symbol position of the i-th S-SSB corresponding to the terminal device for: Wherein, γ represents the number of symbols occupied by one S-SSB in one time slot.

16. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first sidelink signal is one or more of the following: S-SSB, S-PSS and S-SSS, a sidelink channel state information reference signal, and a demodulation reference signal.

17. A method for sideline communication, characterized in that: include: The second terminal device receives a first sidelink signal sent by the first terminal device through the first transmit beam, where the first sidelink signal is used for the first terminal device to perform initial beam pairing or sidelink establishment with the second terminal device; Among them, the first side signal is associated with first information, the first information includes the identification ID of the second terminal device and / or the priority of the communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; the second terminal device is one of a plurality of terminal devices, the IDs and quantities of the plurality of terminal devices are used to generate mapping IDs of the plurality of terminal devices, and the mapping IDs of the plurality of terminal devices are used for the first terminal device to allocate a plurality of side signals including the first side signal.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The second terminal device is any terminal device in a terminal device group, and the ID of the terminal device group is used to determine the ID of the second terminal device.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The ID of the terminal device group corresponds to the ID of the second terminal device, the ID of the terminal device group is a high-layer ID or a protocol layer ID mapped by a high-layer ID, and the ID of the second terminal device is a low-layer ID.

20. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The first sidelink signal is a sidelink synchronization signal block S-SSB, the S-SSB includes a sidelink synchronization signal identifier SLSSID, and the ID of the first terminal device is the SLSSID or is determined by the SLSSID.

21. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that If the first terminal device and the second terminal device correspond to different cells or network devices respectively, the ID of the first terminal device and the ID of the second terminal device include identification information of the cell or the network device.

22. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The first information is used to generate a first sequence corresponding to the first sideline signal.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that The first sidelink signal includes a sidelink secondary synchronization signal S-SSS, the first sequence includes a first S-SSS sequence, a cyclic shift of the first S-SSS sequence is determined based on a first offset, and the first offset is determined according to the first information.

24. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 23, characterized in that The first transmitting beam is at least one of a plurality of transmitting beams within a first time period, and the plurality of transmitting beams are used for the first terminal device to send the plurality of side signals, and the plurality of side signals correspond one-to-one to the plurality of terminal devices.

25. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that The first time period is one of the following: a plurality of consecutive subframes, one subframe, a plurality of consecutive time slots, and one time slot.

26. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that The first time period includes at least one time slot, any time slot of the at least one time slot includes multiple symbols, the first symbol of the multiple symbols is used to carry automatic gain control AGC, and the other symbols of the multiple symbols except the first symbol are used to carry at least one guard interval GAP and the multiple side signals.

27. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that Any terminal device among the multiple terminal devices corresponds to at least one side signal, and a position index of the at least one side signal corresponding to any terminal device in the first time period is determined according to one or more of the following information: The number of the plurality of terminal devices; The ID of any terminal device; the number of the plurality of lateral signals in the first time period; The location information of the multiple sidewalk signals in the first time period.

28. The method according to claim 27, characterized in that The first time period is a plurality of consecutive subframes, the plurality of sidelink signals are a plurality of S-SSBs, and the location information includes one or more of the following information: A first parameter, where the first parameter is used to indicate a time slot offset of a first S-SSB in the first time period; A second parameter, where the second parameter is used to indicate a time slot interval between two adjacent S-SSBs in the first time period; A third parameter, the third parameter being used to indicate the number of S-SSBs in a time slot; the number of subframes in the first time period; The number of time slots in a subframe.

29. The method according to claim 28, characterized in that The multiple transmit beams in the first time period are used by the first terminal device to send S-SSBs to K terminal devices, where K is a positive integer, and the number R of S-SSBs corresponding to any terminal device among the K terminal devices is: in, Indicates rounding down. X represents the number of time slots in a subframe, N represents the number of subframes in the first time period, P1 represents the first parameter, P2 represents the second parameter, and P3 represents the third parameter.

30. The method according to claim 28, characterized in that The multiple transmission beams in the first time period are used by the first terminal device to send S-SSB to K terminal devices, the first time period includes multiple time slots, and the mapping ID in the K terminal devices is UE′ ID The terminal device corresponds to R S-SSBs, and the mapping ID is UE' ID The time slot where the i-th S-SSB corresponds to the terminal device for: Where i is a natural number from 0 to R-1, UE′ ID ∈[0,1,…,K―1].

31. The method according to claim 30, characterized in that A time slot in the first time period includes multiple symbols, and the mapping ID is UE' ID The symbol position of the i-th S-SSB corresponding to the terminal device for: Wherein, γ represents the number of symbols occupied by one S-SSB in one time slot.

32. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The first sidelink signal is one or more of the following: S-SSB, S-PSS and S-SSS, a sidelink channel state information reference signal, and a demodulation reference signal.

33. A device for sideline communication, characterized in that: The apparatus is a first terminal device, and the first terminal device includes: A sending unit, configured to send a first sidelink signal through a first transmitting beam, wherein the first sidelink signal is used for the first terminal device to perform initial beam pairing or sidelink establishment with a second terminal device; Among them, the first side signal is associated with first information, the first information includes the identification ID of the second terminal device and / or the priority of the communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; the second terminal device is one of a plurality of terminal devices, the IDs and quantities of the plurality of terminal devices are used to generate mapping IDs of the plurality of terminal devices, and the mapping IDs of the plurality of terminal devices are used for the first terminal device to allocate a plurality of side signals including the first side signal.

34. The device according to claim 33, characterized in that The second terminal device is any terminal device in a terminal device group, and the ID of the terminal device group is used to determine the ID of the second terminal device.

35. The device according to claim 34, characterized in that The ID of the terminal device group corresponds to the ID of the second terminal device, the ID of the terminal device group is a high-layer ID or a protocol layer ID mapped by a high-layer ID, and the ID of the second terminal device is a low-layer ID.

36. The device according to claim 33, characterized in that The first sidelink signal is a sidelink synchronization signal block S-SSB, the S-SSB includes a sidelink synchronization signal identifier SLSSID, and the ID of the first terminal device is the SLSSID or is determined by the SLSSID.

37. The device according to claim 33, characterized in that If the first terminal device and the second terminal device correspond to different cells or network devices respectively, the ID of the first terminal device and the ID of the second terminal device include identification information of the cell or the network device.

38. The device according to claim 33, characterized in that The first information is used to generate a first sequence corresponding to the first sideline signal.

39. The device according to claim 38, characterized in that The first sidelink signal includes a sidelink secondary synchronization signal S-SSS, the first sequence includes a first S-SSS sequence, a cyclic shift of the first S-SSS sequence is determined based on a first offset, and the first offset is determined according to the first information.

40. The device according to any one of claims 33 to 39, characterized in that The first transmitting beam is at least one of a plurality of transmitting beams within a first time period, and the plurality of transmitting beams are used for the first terminal device to send the plurality of side signals, and the plurality of side signals correspond one-to-one to the plurality of terminal devices.

41. The device according to claim 40, characterized in that The first time period is one of the following: a plurality of consecutive subframes, one subframe, a plurality of consecutive time slots, and one time slot.

42. The device according to claim 40, characterized in that The first time period includes at least one time slot, any time slot of the at least one time slot includes multiple symbols, the first symbol of the multiple symbols is used to carry automatic gain control AGC, and the other symbols of the multiple symbols except the first symbol are used to carry at least one guard interval GAP and the multiple side signals.

43. The device according to claim 40, characterized in that Any terminal device among the multiple terminal devices corresponds to at least one side signal, and a position index of the at least one side signal corresponding to any terminal device in the first time period is determined according to one or more of the following information: The number of the plurality of terminal devices; The ID of any terminal device; the number of the plurality of lateral signals in the first time period; The location information of the multiple sidewalk signals in the first time period.

44. The device according to claim 43, characterized in that The first time period is a plurality of consecutive subframes, the plurality of sidelink signals are a plurality of S-SSBs, and the location information includes one or more of the following information: A first parameter, where the first parameter is used to indicate a time slot offset of a first S-SSB in the first time period; A second parameter, where the second parameter is used to indicate a time slot interval between two adjacent S-SSBs in the first time period; A third parameter, the third parameter being used to indicate the number of S-SSBs in a time slot; the number of subframes in the first time period; The number of time slots in a subframe.

45. The device according to claim 44, characterized in that The multiple transmit beams in the first time period are used by the first terminal device to send S-SSBs to K terminal devices, where K is a positive integer, and the number R of S-SSBs corresponding to any terminal device among the K terminal devices is: in, Indicates rounding down. X represents the number of time slots in a subframe, N represents the number of subframes in the first time period, P1 represents the first parameter, P2 represents the second parameter, and P3 represents the third parameter.

46. ​​The device according to claim 44, characterized in that The multiple transmission beams in the first time period are used by the first terminal device to send S-SSB to K terminal devices, the first time period includes multiple time slots, and the mapping ID in the K terminal devices is UE′ ID The terminal device corresponds to R S-SSBs, and the mapping ID is UE' ID The time slot where the i-th S-SSB corresponds to the terminal device for: Where i is a natural number from 0 to R-1, UE′ ID ∈[0,1,…,K―1].

47. The device according to claim 46, characterized in that A time slot in the first time period includes multiple symbols, and the mapping ID is UE' ID The symbol position of the i-th S-SSB corresponding to the terminal device for: Wherein, γ represents the number of symbols occupied by one S-SSB in one time slot.

48. The device according to claim 33, characterized in that The first sidelink signal is one or more of the following: S-SSB, S-PSS and S-SSS, a sidelink channel state information reference signal, and a demodulation reference signal.

49. A device for sideline communication, characterized in that: The apparatus is a second terminal device, and the second terminal device includes: A receiving unit, configured to receive a first sidelink signal sent by a first terminal device via a first transmitting beam, wherein the first sidelink signal is used for initial beam pairing or sidelink establishment between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; Among them, the first side signal is associated with first information, the first information includes the identification ID of the second terminal device and / or the priority of the communication service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; the second terminal device is one of a plurality of terminal devices, the IDs and quantities of the plurality of terminal devices are used to generate mapping IDs of the plurality of terminal devices, and the mapping IDs of the plurality of terminal devices are used for the first terminal device to allocate a plurality of side signals including the first side signal.

50. The device according to claim 49, characterized in that The second terminal device is any terminal device in a terminal device group, and the ID of the terminal device group is used to determine the ID of the second terminal device.

51. The device according to claim 50, characterized in that The ID of the terminal device group corresponds to the ID of the second terminal device, the ID of the terminal device group is a high-layer ID or a protocol layer ID mapped by a high-layer ID, and the ID of the second terminal device is a low-layer ID.

52. The device according to claim 49, characterized in that The first sidelink signal is a sidelink synchronization signal block S-SSB, the S-SSB includes a sidelink synchronization signal identifier SLSSID, and the ID of the first terminal device is the SLSSID or is determined by the SLSSID.

53. The device according to claim 49, characterized in that If the first terminal device and the second terminal device correspond to different cells or network devices respectively, the ID of the first terminal device and the ID of the second terminal device include identification information of the cell or the network device.

54. The device according to claim 49, characterized in that The first information is used to generate a first sequence corresponding to the first sideline signal.

55. The device according to claim 54, characterized in that The first sidelink signal includes a sidelink secondary synchronization signal S-SSS, the first sequence includes a first S-SSS sequence, a cyclic shift of the first S-SSS sequence is determined based on a first offset, and the first offset is determined according to the first information.

56. The device according to any one of claims 49 to 55, characterized in that The first transmitting beam is at least one of a plurality of transmitting beams within a first time period, and the plurality of transmitting beams are used for the first terminal device to send the plurality of side signals, and the plurality of side signals correspond one-to-one to the plurality of terminal devices.

57. The device according to claim 56, characterized in that The first time period is one of the following: a plurality of consecutive subframes, one subframe, a plurality of consecutive time slots, and one time slot.

58. The device according to claim 56, characterized in that The first time period includes at least one time slot, any time slot of the at least one time slot includes multiple symbols, the first symbol of the multiple symbols is used to carry automatic gain control AGC, and the other symbols of the multiple symbols except the first symbol are used to carry at least one guard interval GAP and the multiple side signals.

59. The device according to claim 56, characterized in that Any terminal device among the multiple terminal devices corresponds to at least one side signal, and a position index of the at least one side signal corresponding to any terminal device in the first time period is determined according to one or more of the following information: The number of the plurality of terminal devices; The ID of any terminal device; the number of the plurality of lateral signals in the first time period; The location information of the multiple sidewalk signals in the first time period.

60. The device according to claim 59, characterized in that The first time period is a plurality of consecutive subframes, the plurality of sidelink signals are a plurality of S-SSBs, and the location information includes one or more of the following information: A first parameter, where the first parameter is used to indicate a time slot offset of a first S-SSB in the first time period; A second parameter, where the second parameter is used to indicate a time slot interval between two adjacent S-SSBs in the first time period; A third parameter, the third parameter being used to indicate the number of S-SSBs in a time slot; the number of subframes in the first time period; The number of time slots in a subframe.

61. The device according to claim 60, characterized in that The multiple transmit beams in the first time period are used by the first terminal device to send S-SSBs to K terminal devices, where K is a positive integer, and the number R of S-SSBs corresponding to any terminal device among the K terminal devices is: in, Indicates rounding down. X represents the number of time slots in a subframe, N represents the number of subframes in the first time period, P1 represents the first parameter, P2 represents the second parameter, and P3 represents the third parameter.

62. The device according to claim 60, characterized in that The multiple transmission beams in the first time period are used by the first terminal device to send S-SSB to K terminal devices, the first time period includes multiple time slots, and the mapping ID in the K terminal devices is UE′ ID The terminal device corresponds to R S-SSBs, and the mapping ID is UE' ID The time slot where the i-th S-SSB corresponds to the terminal device for: Where i is a natural number from 0 to R-1, UE′ ID ∈[0,1,…,K―1].

63. The device according to claim 62, characterized in that A time slot in the first time period includes multiple symbols, and the mapping ID is UE' ID The symbol position of the i-th S-SSB corresponding to the terminal device for: Wherein, γ represents the number of symbols occupied by one S-SSB in one time slot.

64. The device according to claim 49, characterized in that The first sidelink signal is one or more of the following: S-SSB, S-PSS and S-SSS, a sidelink channel state information reference signal, and a demodulation reference signal.

65. A communication device, characterized in that: The invention comprises a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a program, and the processor is used to call the program in the memory to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 32.

66. A communication device, characterized in that: The invention comprises a processor, which is used to call a program from a memory to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 32.

67. A chip, characterized in that: It comprises a processor, which is used to call a program from a memory, so that a device equipped with the chip executes a method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 32.

68. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that A program is stored thereon, the program causing a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 32.

69. A computer program product, characterized in that The method comprises a program which causes a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 32.

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