Communication method, apparatus, device, and storage medium

Abstract

The present application provides a kind of communication method, device, equipment and storage medium.The method comprises: first device determines first frequency unit, and first device carries out communication with second device on the first frequency unit.Wherein, the granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit is less than or equal to the granularity of the second channel grid corresponding to the second frequency unit, the second frequency unit is used for the communication of first device and third device, and the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit are located in the same operating band.In one aspect, the present application provides a solution for the determination of frequency unit, so that the first device and the second device can realize communication through the first frequency unit;On the other hand, when determining the frequency unit, the granularity of the channel grid is considered, and the granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit is set smaller, so as to improve the flexibility of the deployment of the first frequency unit.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application. The original application has the application number 202210114704.6 and the original application date is January 30, 2022. The entire contents of the original application are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method, apparatus, device, and storage medium. Background Technology

[0003] With the widespread application of machine-type communication (MTC) and internet of things (IoT) communication, technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) and wake-up receiver / wake-up radio (WUR) are being supported in some communication systems, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and New Radio (NR) systems, to reduce the cost and power consumption of IoT applications. To meet this demand, how to apply RFID and WUR technologies to various communication systems is a pressing issue. Regardless of the technology used, communication between devices requires first determining the frequency unit used for communication. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a communication method, apparatus, device, and storage medium, offering a solution for determining the frequency unit for communication between devices.

[0005] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a communication method, the method comprising: a first device determining a first frequency unit; the first device communicating with a second device on the first frequency unit; wherein the granularity of a first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit is less than or equal to the granularity of a second channel grid corresponding to a second frequency unit, the second frequency unit being used for communication between the first device and a third device, and the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit being located in the same operating frequency band.

[0006] The communication method provided in the first aspect determines a first frequency unit for communication between the first device and a second device when the first device communicates with different devices. This first frequency unit is located in the same operating frequency band as a second frequency unit for communication between the first device and a third device, and the granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit is less than or equal to the granularity of the second channel grid. On one hand, embodiments of this application provide a solution for determining frequency units, enabling communication between the first device and the second device through the first frequency unit. On the other hand, by considering the granularity of the channel grid when determining the frequency unit, the granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit can be set to be smaller, thereby improving the flexibility of the first frequency unit deployment.

[0007] The aforementioned first device communicates with other devices, either by sending signals or by receiving signals.

[0008] In one possible implementation, the frequency position of the first channel grid within the first frequency unit corresponds to the frequency position of a resource element within the first frequency unit, and the index of the resource element in the frequency domain is determined based on the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit or the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit.

[0009] The communication method provided by this embodiment facilitates the first device in determining the frequency position of the resource element corresponding to the first channel grid.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the resource blocks of the first frequency unit and the resource blocks of the second frequency unit are aligned, or the subcarriers of the first frequency unit and the subcarriers of the second frequency unit are aligned.

[0011] The communication method provided by this embodiment allows the RB of the first frequency unit to be aligned with the RB boundary of the second frequency unit to avoid resource fragmentation and reduce spectrum utilization efficiency; the subcarriers of the first frequency unit can be aligned with the subcarrier boundaries of the second frequency unit to avoid interference to data transmission within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit caused by non-orthogonal factor carriers.

[0012] In one possible implementation, the first frequency unit is included within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the resource blocks of the first frequency unit and the resource block boundaries of the second frequency unit are aligned; or, the first frequency unit is included within the guard band of the second frequency unit, and the subcarriers of the first frequency unit and the subcarrier boundaries of the second frequency unit are aligned; or, the first frequency unit is not included in the second frequency unit, the frequency domain spacing between the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit is less than a threshold, and the subcarrier boundaries of the first frequency unit and the subcarrier boundaries of the second frequency unit are aligned.

[0013] In the communication method provided by this embodiment, when the first frequency unit is included in the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, the RB of the first frequency unit should be aligned with the RB boundary of the second frequency unit to avoid resource fragmentation and reduce spectrum utilization efficiency; when the first frequency unit is not included in the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, the subcarriers of the first frequency unit can be aligned with the subcarrier boundary of the second frequency unit to avoid interference to data transmission within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit caused by non-orthogonality of the subcarriers.

[0014] In one possible implementation, the granularity of the first channel grid is determined based on at least one of the following: the deployment pattern of the first frequency unit; the subcarrier spacing of the first frequency unit.

[0015] The communication method provided by this embodiment determines the granularity of the first channel grid according to the deployment mode of the first frequency unit and / or the subcarrier spacing of the first frequency unit, so that the granularity of the first channel grid can be suitable for the current communication. For example, the granularity of the first channel grid does not need to be set too small while satisfying the flexibility of the deployment of the first frequency unit.

[0016] In one possible implementation, within the same operating frequency band, the granularity of the second channel grid is 100 kHz, and the granularity of the first channel grid is an integer multiple of 5 kHz, 10 kHz, or 20 kHz.

[0017] The communication method provided by this embodiment can improve the flexibility of the deployment of the first frequency unit.

[0018] In one possible implementation, the first frequency unit corresponds to the radio frequency reference frequency F. REF Satisfy: F REF =F REF-Offs +ΔF Global (N REF –N REF-Offs )+offset; where F REF-Offs ΔF is the radio frequency reference frequency offset value. Global N represents the granularity of the global channel grid. REF The new air interface absolute radio frequency channel number is NR-ARFCN, N REF-Offs is the NR-ARFCN offset value, where offset is the frequency offset, and the value of offset is one of the following values ​​in kHz: {-50, -45, -40, -35, -30, -25, -20, -15, -10, -5, 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50}.

[0019] The communication method provided by this embodiment determines the radio frequency reference frequency based on the offset value as described above, thereby enabling the determination of a smaller first channel grid granularity and improving the flexibility of the first frequency unit deployment.

[0020] In one possible implementation, the first frequency unit includes an uplink frequency unit for transmitting uplink signals and / or a downlink frequency unit for transmitting downlink signals; the first device determines the first frequency unit by: the first device determining the uplink frequency unit based on the uplink frequency position and the uplink offset; and / or the first device determining the downlink frequency unit based on the downlink frequency position and the downlink offset; before the first device determines the first frequency unit, the first device determines the uplink offset and / or the downlink offset based on at least one of the following: the frequency band type where the downlink frequency unit is located, the first capability of the second device, the type of the second device, the time domain resource type where the signal carried by the downlink frequency unit is located, and the time domain resource type where the signal carried by the uplink frequency unit is located, wherein the first capability is whether it supports shifting the uplink signal to an uplink transmission frequency band outside the downlink transmission frequency band where the downlink frequency unit is located.

[0021] The communication method provided by this embodiment allows the first device to determine the first frequency unit based on the uplink offset and / or downlink offset, thereby avoiding misalignment (i.e., non-orthogonal subcarriers) between the subcarrier boundaries of the first frequency unit and other communication systems (e.g., LTE system), which could lead to mutual interference in the data transmission between the various communication systems.

[0022] In one possible implementation, the downlink frequency unit is located in the downlink transmission band, and the first capability is to support shifting the uplink signal to an uplink transmission band outside the downlink transmission band, wherein the uplink offset is a first value or a second value; or, the first capability is not to support shifting the uplink signal to an uplink transmission band outside the downlink transmission band, wherein the uplink offset is the first value; or, the downlink frequency unit is located in the uplink transmission band, and both the downlink offset and the uplink offset are the first value or the second value.

[0023] The communication method provided by this embodiment allows the second device to move the uplink signal to the uplink transmission frequency band. In this case, the uplink carrier of other communication systems (such as LTE system) may be in the same transmission frequency band. In this case, it is necessary to determine whether the uplink offset is a second value (i.e., the first frequency unit needs to be offset) or a first value (i.e., the first frequency unit does not need to be offset) to avoid misalignment of the subcarrier boundaries between the two.

[0024] In one possible implementation, the downlink transmission band and the uplink transmission band are located in the same operating frequency band.

[0025] The communication method provided by this implementation is more suitable for determining uplink offset and / or downlink offset in FDD mode.

[0026] In one possible implementation, the downlink transmission band and the uplink transmission band are located in different operating frequency bands.

[0027] The communication method provided by this implementation determines the uplink offset and / or downlink offset for scenarios where the downlink transmission band and the uplink transmission band are not paired transmission bands in FDD mode.

[0028] In one possible implementation, the uplink transmission band is used for LTE uplink communication, and the uplink offset is a second value; or, the uplink transmission band is not used for LTE uplink communication, and the uplink offset is a first value.

[0029] The communication method provided by this embodiment requires that when the uplink transmission frequency band is used for LTE uplink communication, the first frequency unit needs to be offset to achieve subcarrier boundary alignment with the frequency unit of the LTE system. When the uplink transmission frequency band is not used for LTE uplink communication, there is no subcarrier boundary alignment problem between the first frequency unit and the frequency unit of the LTE system, and offset is not required.

[0030] In one possible implementation, the first frequency unit is located in the TDD operating frequency band, the downlink signal occupies downlink time domain resources, and the uplink signal occupies uplink time domain resources, and the downlink offset and the uplink offset are both a first value or a second value; or the downlink signal and the uplink signal both occupy downlink time domain resources, and the downlink offset and the uplink offset are both a first value; or the downlink signal and the uplink signal both occupy uplink time domain resources, and the downlink offset and the uplink offset are both a first value or a second value.

[0031] The communication method provided by this embodiment addresses the situation where the uplink signal carried by the uplink frequency unit may be transmitted on the uplink time domain resources of other communication systems (such as LTE systems). It is necessary to further determine whether the first frequency unit needs to be frequency offset based on the uplink / downlink offset to avoid misalignment of the subcarrier boundaries of the first frequency unit and other communication systems.

[0032] In one possible implementation, the uplink time domain resource is used for LTE uplink communication, and the downlink offset and the uplink offset are second values; or, the uplink time domain resource is not used for LTE uplink communication, and the downlink offset and the uplink offset are first values.

[0033] The communication method provided by this embodiment determines that, when uplink time domain resources are used for LTE uplink communication, the first frequency unit needs to be frequency offset based on uplink / downlink offset to avoid misalignment between the first frequency unit and the subcarrier boundary of the LTE frequency unit; otherwise, frequency offset is not required.

[0034] In one possible implementation, the first value is 0 and the second value is 7.5 kHz.

[0035] The communication method provided by this embodiment has an uplink offset / downlink offset of 0, indicating that the first frequency unit does not need to be offset based on the uplink offset / downlink offset; when the first frequency unit does not need to be offset based on the uplink offset / downlink offset, an uplink offset / downlink offset of 7.5kHz can ensure that the first frequency unit is aligned with the subcarrier boundary of the LTE system.

[0036] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the first device receiving first configuration information, the first configuration information indicating one of the following: the uplink offset; the downlink offset; the frequency domain spacing between the downlink frequency position and the uplink frequency position.

[0037] The communication method provided by this embodiment reduces the system overhead of the first device.

[0038] In one possible implementation, the second frequency unit is located in the uplink transmission band, the uplink frequency unit in the first frequency unit is located within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the downlink frequency unit in the first frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit; or, the second frequency unit is located in the downlink transmission band, the downlink frequency unit is located within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the uplink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit; or, the first frequency unit is located in the TDD operating band, the downlink signal transmitted by the downlink frequency unit and the uplink signal corresponding to the downlink signal transmitted by the uplink frequency unit both occupy downlink time domain resources, the downlink frequency unit is located within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the uplink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit; or, the first frequency unit is located in the TDD operating band, the downlink signal transmitted by the downlink frequency unit and the uplink signal corresponding to the downlink signal transmitted by the uplink frequency unit both occupy uplink time domain resources, the downlink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit, and the uplink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit.

[0039] The communication method provided by this embodiment addresses various scenarios where there may be issues with different transmission and reception directions. It deploys the downlink frequency unit and uplink frequency unit in the first frequency unit within the transmission bandwidth or guard band of the second frequency unit, respectively, thereby avoiding signal interference between the first and second frequency units due to different transmission and reception directions.

[0040] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the first device sending first configuration information to the second device, the first configuration information indicating at least one of the following: the uplink offset; the frequency domain spacing between the downlink frequency position and the uplink frequency position; the uplink frequency unit.

[0041] The communication method provided by this embodiment enables flexible configuration of the second device by the first device while reducing the system overhead of the second device. On the other hand, the first device provides the second device with parameters that cannot be determined under its own capabilities, so as to facilitate communication between the second device and the first device.

[0042] Secondly, embodiments of this application provide a communication device that can perform the steps described in the first aspect above. For example, the communication device may include: a processing unit for determining a first frequency unit; and a transceiver unit for communicating with a second device on the first frequency unit; wherein the granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit is less than or equal to the granularity of the second channel grid corresponding to the second frequency unit, the second frequency unit is used for communication between the communication device and the third device, and the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit are located in the same operating frequency band.

[0043] The beneficial effects of the communication device provided by the second aspect and its various possible embodiments can be found in the first aspect and its various possible embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0044] Thirdly, embodiments of this application provide a communication device, including: a processor and a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program, and the processor being used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory to perform the methods as described in the first aspect or various possible implementations.

[0045] Fourthly, embodiments of this application provide a chip, including: a processor, configured to retrieve and execute computer instructions from memory, causing a device on which the chip is mounted to perform the methods as described in the first aspect or various possible implementations.

[0046] Fifthly, embodiments of this application provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer program instructions that cause a computer to perform the methods as described in the first aspect or various possible implementations.

[0047] In a sixth aspect, embodiments of this application provide a computer program product including computer program instructions that cause a computer to perform the methods as described in the first aspect or various possible implementations. Attached Figure Description

[0048] Figure 1 A communication system applicable to embodiments of this application is illustrated;

[0049] Figure 2a A schematic diagram of an RFID communication system provided in this application;

[0050] Figure 2b A schematic diagram of a split-architecture RFID communication system provided in this application;

[0051] Figure 2c A schematic diagram of a centralized RFID communication system provided for this application;

[0052] Figure 3a A schematic diagram of WUR communication provided for this application;

[0053] Figure 3b A schematic diagram of another WUR communication method provided for this application;

[0054] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of envelope detection provided in this application;

[0055] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a reflective communication method provided in this application;

[0056] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a public resource block provided for this application;

[0057] Figure 7 A schematic diagram illustrating the frequency domain positional relationship between a portion of the bandwidth and the carrier provided in this application;

[0058] Figure 8 This application provides an example of an interactive flow diagram of a communication method 400.

[0059] Figure 9a A schematic diagram illustrating a frequency unit deployment mode provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0060] Figure 9b A schematic diagram illustrating another frequency unit deployment mode provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0061] Figure 9c A schematic diagram illustrating another frequency unit deployment mode provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0062] Figure 10 A schematic diagram of a frequency unit provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0063] Figure 11 An interactive flowchart of a communication method 500 provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0064] Figure 12a A schematic diagram of an FDD mode uplink / downlink transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0065] Figure 12b A schematic diagram illustrating another FDD mode uplink / downlink transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0066] Figure 12c A schematic diagram illustrating another FDD mode uplink / downlink transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0067] Figure 13a A schematic diagram illustrating a TDD mode uplink / downlink transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0068] Figure 13b A schematic diagram illustrating another TDD mode uplink / downlink transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0069] Figure 13c A schematic diagram illustrating another TDD mode uplink / downlink transmission provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0070] Figure 14a A schematic diagram illustrating an uplink / downlink frequency unit deployment mode provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0071] Figure 14b A schematic diagram illustrating another uplink / downlink frequency unit deployment mode provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0072] Figure 14c A schematic diagram illustrating another uplink / downlink frequency unit deployment mode provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0073] Figure 14d A schematic diagram illustrating another uplink / downlink frequency unit deployment mode provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0074] Figure 15 This is a schematic block diagram of the communication device provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0075] Figure 16 This is another schematic block diagram of the communication device provided in the embodiments of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0076] The technical solutions in this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0077] The communication method provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) systems, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, Advanced Long Term Evolution (LTE-A) systems, New Radio (NR) systems, evolution systems of NR systems, LTE-based access to unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) systems, NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum (NR-U) systems, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) systems, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Wireless Fidelity (WIFI), 5th Generation (5G) systems, or other communication systems.

[0078] Terminal devices can be stations (STs) in WLANs, cellular phones, cordless phones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, Wireless Local Loop (WLL) stations, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices, handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, terminal devices in next-generation communication systems such as NR networks, or terminal devices in future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) networks, etc.

[0079] In the embodiments of this application, the terminal device may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal device in industrial control, a wireless terminal device in self-driving, a wireless terminal device in remote medical care, a wireless terminal device in a smart grid, a wireless terminal device in transportation safety, a wireless terminal device in a smart city, or a wireless terminal device in a smart home, etc.

[0080] By way of example and not limitation, in this embodiment, the terminal device can also be a wearable device. Wearable devices, also known as wearable smart devices, are a general term for devices that utilize wearable technology to intelligently design and develop everyday wearables, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. Wearable devices are portable devices that are worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories.

[0081] In the embodiments of this application, the network device can be a device for communicating with mobile devices. The network device can be an access point (AP) in WLAN, a base station (BTS) in GSM or CDMA, a base station (NodeB, NB) in WCDMA, an evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, a relay station or access point, or a network device or base station (gNB) in vehicle-mounted equipment, wearable devices, and NR networks, or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network or NTN network, etc.

[0082] In this embodiment, the network device can provide services to a cell. The terminal device communicates with the network device through the transmission resources (e.g., frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources) used by the cell. The cell can be the cell corresponding to the network device (e.g., a base station). The cell can belong to a macro base station or to a base station corresponding to a small cell. The small cell can include: metro cell, micro cell, pico cell, femto cell, etc. These small cells have the characteristics of small coverage area and low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-speed data transmission services.

[0083] It should be understood that this application does not limit the specific form of network equipment and terminal equipment.

[0084] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, firstly, in conjunction with Figure 1 The communication system applicable to the embodiments of this application is described in detail. Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the communication method of embodiments of this application is shown. For example... Figure 1 As shown, the communication system 100 may include network devices and terminal devices, and the number of network devices and terminal devices may be one or more, for example... Figure 1 The network devices 111 and 112 and terminal devices 121 to 128 shown in the diagram, in this communication system 100, network device 111 can communicate wirelessly with one or more of the terminal devices 121 to 126, and network device 111 can communicate with one or more of the terminal devices 127 and 128 through network device 112. Furthermore, terminal devices 124 to 126 can form a communication system 101, in which terminal device 124 can communicate wirelessly with one or more of the terminal devices 125 and 126; network device 112 and terminal devices 127 and 128 can form a communication system 102, in which network device 112 can communicate wirelessly with one or more of the terminal devices 127 and 128.

[0085] It should be understood that communication system 101 may be a subsystem of communication system 100, or a communication system independent of communication system 100; communication system 102 may be a subsystem of communication system 100, or a communication system independent of communication system 100.

[0086] It should also be understood that Figure 1The examples shown are merely illustrations, illustrating two network devices and eight terminal devices in communication system 100, three terminal devices in communication system 101, and one network device and two terminal devices in communication system 102. However, this should not be construed as limiting the scope of this application. Any of the aforementioned communication systems may include more or fewer network devices, or more or fewer terminal devices. The embodiments in this application do not limit this.

[0087] With the widespread adoption of 5G NR system MTC and Internet of Things (IoT) communication, an increasing number of IoT devices are being deployed in people's lives. Examples include smart water meters, shared bicycles, and devices for smart cities, environmental monitoring, smart homes, and forest fire prevention—all targeting sensing and data collection. In the future, IoT devices will be ubiquitous, potentially embedded in every piece of clothing, every package, and every key; almost all offline items will become online thanks to IoT technology.

[0088] To further popularize IoT and embed IoT modules into the human body or even smaller objects, it is necessary to use smaller batteries or even eliminate battery limitations altogether, or design a method to reduce the power consumption of radio transceivers, thereby overcoming the limitations of cost, size, and power consumption in IoT devices. Therefore, passive IoT and WUR are being introduced into 5G NR systems. Passive IoT emerged inspired by the widespread and mature use of RFID technology. Because it eliminates the need for a power module, passive RFID products can be as small as centimeters or even smaller, and they are simple in structure, low in cost, have a low failure rate, and a long lifespan.

[0089] The following section will first explain RFID technology and WUR technology.

[0090] 1. RFID technology: It is a non-contact automatic identification technology that can automatically identify target objects and obtain relevant data through radio frequency signals.

[0091] Typically, an RFID system consists of a reader and tags. (Combined) Figure 2a As shown, the reader charges the tag by sending an excitation signal, and the tag receives the signaling sent by the reader and sends a reflected signal back to the reader via reflective communication. In this way, the reader can identify the tag's identity document (ID) and perform operations such as reading and writing to the tag.

[0092] It should be noted that the excitation signal sent by the reader to the tag can be either a downlink signal or a downlink signal as described below, and the reflected signal can be either an uplink signal or an uplink signal as described below. The tag sends the reflected signal to the reader via reflective communication; specifically, the tag can use the carrier provided by the downlink signal to transmit the uplink signal.

[0093] Currently, the following two methods are commonly used to extend the effective working distance of RFID:

[0094] Method 1, Decoupled Architecture: Combining Figure 2b As shown, the separate reader includes a helper and a receiver. The helper sends an excitation signal to the tag via the forward link, and the receiver receives the reflected signal from the tag via the reverse link. In addition, the receiver generates RFID-related downlink signaling and sends the downlink signaling to the helper via the forward link, which is then forwarded by the helper on the forward link.

[0095] Method 2, Centralized or Integrated Architecture: Combining Figure 2c As shown, in addition to the excitation and reflection of signals between the reader and the tag via the forward and reverse links, the reader also communicates with a centralized control unit (such as a base station). The centralized control unit can schedule and control the resources of the forward link used by the reader and its transmission behavior.

[0096] In this embodiment of the application, in order to support RFID in the NR system, the helper and receiver in method 1 above, and the reader and centralized control unit in method 2 above, can communicate through NR technology.

[0097] II. WUR Technology: The high-power primary connection radio (PCR), also known as the primary receiver, enters a sleep state and then listens for the wake-up frame sent by the AP through the low-power companion radio (Companion Radio), also known as the wake-up receiver (WUR). Upon hearing the wake-up frame, the PCR is woken up.

[0098] Combination Figure 3a As shown, the receiving device 310 includes a main receiver 311 and a wake-up receiver 312. When the transmitting device 320 (e.g., an AP or terminal device) is not transmitting data, the main receiver is turned off, also known as being in a sleep state, and the wake-up receiver is turned on; combined with Figure 3bAs shown, when the transmitting device 320 sends data, it first sends wake-up data (such as the wake-up frame mentioned above). After receiving the wake-up data through the wake-up receiver 311, the receiving device 310 activates the main receiver 312, which turns on the main receiver, also known as being in an active state. At this time, the receiving device 310 receives the data sent by the transmitting device 320 after the wake-up data through the main receiver 311.

[0099] It should be noted that the wake-up unit's information bits are modulated into on-off keying (OOK) symbols. On the receiving device side, OOK demodulation does not require any channel equalization in the frequency and time domains; therefore, the receiving device listens by performing incoherent detection (such as envelope detection) after waking up the receiver. Using incoherent detection, the receiving device does not need to maintain / track a high-precision oscillation rate. Therefore, phase-locked loops can be avoided, further reducing power consumption on the receiving side.

[0100] It should be understood that the OOK symbol is merely an example of a WUR wake-up frame and does not constitute any limitation on this application.

[0101] The RFID technology used in NR systems can be termed passive IoT. The passive IoT provided in this application has a similar transmission mechanism to RFID. In passive IoT, the device (e.g., a tag) can be battery-free, meaning it doesn't rely on batteries or wired power for power. However, the absence of a power module doesn't mean it doesn't need electricity; it can obtain energy from ambient light, heat, and radio frequency to support IoT data sensing, wireless transmission, and distributed computing. Passive IoT devices can also be energy-storage passive or semi-passive. Energy-storage passive devices have energy storage. Semi-passive devices have batteries, but battery power only provides auxiliary support for the tag's internal circuitry that requires power to maintain data or for the tag chip's operating voltage. The battery itself consumes very little power, and the battery size is relatively small.

[0102] refer to Figure 4 and Figure 5 , Figure 4 and Figure 5 An exemplary diagram illustrates the uplink and downlink communication methods in Passive IoT communication.

[0103] like Figure 4 As shown, Figure 4 An example diagram of a Passive IoT downlink communication method is shown.

[0104] The tag sends an amplitude-modulated (AM) signal to the reader via the downlink. The tag receives this AM signal and can use an envelope detector to perform envelope detection on the AM signal to obtain the low-frequency signal within it. The main components of the envelope detector include... Figure 4 The diode and resistor-capacitor circuit (RC) shown is also an oscillation circuit.

[0105] Understandable, Figure 4 The envelope detection circuit shown is a schematic diagram of the most traditional basic circuit structure. The evolution of envelope detection circuits will not be elaborated upon here. This application does not limit the envelope detection circuit structure used in the tag.

[0106] like Figure 5 As shown, Figure 5 An example diagram of a Passive IoT uplink communication method is shown.

[0107] The tag itself cannot provide power, nor can it be connected to a wired power source for data transmission. Therefore, the tag needs to obtain energy from the external environment to power data transmission and other operations such as data processing.

[0108] Specifically, when the tag receives the carrier signal emitted by the reader, it can use the energy obtained from the electromagnetic field generated in space to drive the chip to transmit the information it stores.

[0109] Understandable, Figure 5 The uplink communication method shown in the Passive IoT communication is merely an example. In other embodiments of this application, the tag can also acquire energy such as ambient light and heat to drive the chip to transmit the information it stores. As mentioned above, the tag can also be an energy storage passive device or a semi-passive device.

[0110] It should be understood that Passive IoT is merely an exemplary name, and when it is replaced with other expressions, it also falls within the scope of protection of this application.

[0111] It should also be understood that the information interaction process and signaling format in the above Passive IoT scenario are only examples and not restrictive descriptions.

[0112] Currently, in order to enable RFID, WUR, or similar technologies to be applied to various communication systems, how to determine the frequency unit in the NR system between the first devices (such as readers, APs, and transmitting terminal devices) and transmit uplink or downlink data on that frequency unit is an urgent problem to be solved.

[0113] To address the aforementioned issues, embodiments of this application provide a frequency unit determination scheme, enabling communication between a first device and a second device in NR, LTE, or other similar communication systems. Of course, the frequency unit determination scheme provided in this application is not limited to RFID, WUR, or similar technologies. Regardless of the technology used, the frequency unit for communication between devices can be determined based on the scheme provided in these embodiments.

[0114] Furthermore, in this embodiment of the application, the frequency units for communication between the first device and different devices (e.g., the first frequency unit for communication with the second device and the second frequency unit for communication with the third device) are located in the same operating frequency band. When determining the frequency unit, the granularity of the channel grid is considered. For example, the granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit is set to be smaller, thereby improving the flexibility of frequency unit deployment.

[0115] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, the terms involved in this application will be briefly explained first.

[0116] 1. Operating frequency band:

[0117] In 5G NR, two frequency ranges are defined, including one frequency range (FR) and one FR2. FR1 represents the low-frequency band, and FR2 represents the millimeter-wave high-frequency band.

[0118] For example, NR can operate in the FR1 operating frequency band as shown in Table 1 below. FR1 includes multiple NR operating frequency bands. Each operating frequency band has a corresponding number, the lower and upper frequency boundaries for uplink transmission (e.g., terminal-to-base station transmission), the lower and upper frequency boundaries for downlink transmission (e.g., base station-to-terminal transmission), and the duplex mode. As shown in Table 1, the operating frequency band numbered n1 has an uplink transmission lower frequency boundary F... UL_low The upper frequency boundary F for uplink transmission is 1920MHz. UL_high The lower frequency boundary F of its downlink transmission is 1980MHz. DL_low The upper frequency boundary F for downlink transmission is 2110MHz. DL_high The frequency band is 2170MHz, and its duplex mode is frequency division duplexing (FDD). As shown in Table 1, the working frequency band numbered n39 has a lower frequency boundary of 1880MHz for both uplink and downlink transmission and an upper frequency boundary of 1920MHz for both uplink and downlink transmission. Its duplex mode is time division duplexing (TDD).

[0119] Table 1

[0120]

[0121]

[0122] In addition to the FDD and TDD duplex modes mentioned above, NR can also employ supplementary downlink (SDL) as shown in Table 1, to increase NR's downlink coverage, and supplementary uplink (SUL), to increase NR's uplink coverage. Both SDL and SUL are independent, unpaired operating frequency bands.

[0123] 2. Parameter set (numerology): In NR systems, in order to adapt to OFDM waveforms with various subcarrier spacings, a parameter set is introduced, so that the subcarrier spacing is not limited and can be adapted to different usage scenarios.

[0124] The set of transmission parameters supported by the NR system is shown in Table 2 below:

[0125] Table 2

[0126] μ <![CDATA[Δf=2 μ ·15[kHz]]]> Cyclic prefix 0 15 Normal 1 30 normal 2 60 normal, extended 3 120 normal 4 240 normal

[0127] Where Δf is the subcarrier spacing, and μ is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

[0128] 2. Antenna Port: An antenna port is defined as one in which the channel of a symbol transmitted on the same antenna port can be inferred from the channel of another symbol transmitted on the same antenna port. In other words, different signals transmitted on the same antenna port experience the same channel environment.

[0129] 3. Resource grid: A resource grid corresponds to a parameter set and a carrier. The resource grid includes... Subcarriers and OFDM symbols, among which This indicates the number of resource elements (RBs) within a resource cell when the subcarrier spacing is configured as μ. This represents the number of subcarriers in an RB. Optional. A series of consecutive subcarriers.

[0130] It should be understood that there is a set of resource cells for each transmission direction (uplink or downlink). For a given antenna port p, subcarrier spacing configuration μ, and transmission direction (downlink or uplink), there exists one resource cell.

[0131] The starting resource block of a resource cell is a common resource block (CRB).

[0132] 4. Resource Element (RE): Each element in the resource cell used for antenna port p and subcarrier spacing configuration μ is called a resource element, and is defined by (k, l). p,μ A unique identifier, where k is the index of the RE in the frequency domain, and l is the position of the RE's symbol in the time domain relative to a reference point. Resource element (k, l) p,μ Corresponding to a physical resource and a complex value When there is no risk of confusion, or when no specific antenna port or subcarrier spacing is specified, indices p and μ may be discarded, resulting in... or a k,l .

[0133] 5. Common Resource Blocks: For subcarrier spacing configuration μ, common resource blocks are numbered upwards from 0 in the frequency domain. The center frequency of subcarrier 0 of common resource block 0 in subcarrier spacing configuration μ coincides with the common reference point A of the resource cell. See [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 6 .

[0134] 6. Physical resource blocks: Physical resource blocks with subcarrier spacing configuration μ are defined within a bandwidth part (BWP).

[0135] 7. BWP: A given set of parameters μ in BWP i on a given carrier. i BWP is a subset of consecutive CRBs. The frequency positional relationship between BWP and carrier can be described as follows: Figure 7 As shown.

[0136] Generally, a terminal device can be configured with up to four bandwidth shares (BWPs) in the downlink, with one downlink BWP active at a given time; a terminal device can be configured with up to four bandwidth shares in the uplink, with one uplink BWP active at a given time. If the terminal device is configured with a supplementary uplink, it can further configure up to four bandwidth shares in the supplementary uplink, with a single supplementary uplink BWP active at a given time.

[0137] 8. Global Frequency Raster

[0138] In an NR system, a global frequency grid defines a set of radio frequency (RF) reference frequencies F. REF RF reference frequencies are used in signaling to identify the location of RF channels, synchronization signal (SS) blocks, and other elements. The global frequency grid is defined for all frequencies from 0 to 100 GHz. The granularity of the global frequency grid is ΔF. Global .

[0139] When the frequency range is 0-24250MHz, the RF reference frequency is specified by the NR absolute radio frequency channel number (NR-ARFCN) within the range (0~2016666) on the global frequency grid. The NR-ARFCN and the RF reference frequency F... REF The relationship between (MHz) is given by the following equation, where F REF-Offs and N Ref-Offs As shown in Table 3, N REF It is NR-ARFCN.

[0140] F REF =F REF-Offs +ΔF Global (N REF –N REF-Offs )

[0141] Table 3

[0142]

[0143] 9. Channel grid

[0144] In NR systems, a channel grid defines a subset of radio frequency reference frequencies, which can be used to identify the location of radio frequency channels in uplink and downlink transmissions. The RF reference frequency of an RF channel is mapped to a resource element on the carrier. For each operating frequency band, a subset of frequencies from the global frequency grid is applied to that band, forming a granularity of ΔF. Raster The channel grid may be equal to or greater than ΔFGlobal. For example, for an NR operating band with a 100kHz channel grid, ΔF... Raster= 20 × ΔFGlobal, for example, operating frequency bands n1, n2, etc. For the channel grid and applicable NR-ARFCNs for each operating frequency band in the NR system, see Table 5.4.2.3-1 in 3GPP TS38.101-1V17.3.0. For the allowed NR-ARFCNs on frequency bands n46 and n47, see Tables 5.4.2.3-2 and 5.4.2.3-3 in 3GPP TS38.101-1V17.3.0, respectively. Due to space limitations, Table 4 below is only an excerpt from Table 5.4.2.3-1.

[0145] Table 4

[0146]

[0147] The mapping between RF reference frequencies and corresponding resource elements on the channel grid is shown in Table 5 below. Based on the mapping relationship shown in Table 5, the location of the RF channel can be determined. This mapping depends on the total number N of resource blocks (RBs) allocated in the RF channel. RB For example, N allocated in the RF channel RB If the number is even, then the RF channel is located in the physical resource block number. On the resource element with resource element index k=0, or, N allocated in the RF channel. RB If the number is odd, then the RF channel is located at the physical resource block index of... On the resource element with resource element index k=6.

[0148] The mapping relationship between the RF reference frequency and resource elements applies to both the uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) of the NR system.

[0149] Table 5

[0150]

[0151] Here, a mod b represents the remainder when a is divided by b.

[0152] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, the following points are made:

[0153] First, in the embodiments shown below, the terms "first," "second," and various numerical designations are merely for descriptive convenience and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. For example, they distinguish different devices, frequency units, channel grids, etc.

[0154] Second, the “protocol” involved in the embodiments of this application may refer to standard protocols in the field of communication, such as LTE protocol, NR protocol and related protocols applied to future communication systems, and this application does not limit it.

[0155] Third, in the embodiments of this application, descriptions such as "when," "under the circumstances," "if," and "if" all refer to the fact that the device (e.g., network device or terminal device) will make corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances. They are not time limits, nor do they require the device (e.g., network device or terminal device) to make a judgment action when implementing it, nor do they imply any other limitations.

[0156] The side-transmission method provided in the embodiments of this application will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0157] It should be understood that the following description is for ease of understanding and explanation only, and uses the interaction between the first device and the second device as an example to explain in detail the method provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0158] The first device can be, for example, the aforementioned tag, or a terminal device equipped with tag-related devices (or having tag-related functions); the second device can be the aforementioned reader, or a terminal device equipped with reader-related devices (or having reader-related functions), or a network device equipped with reader-related devices. When the first device is a terminal device equipped with tag-related devices and the second device is a terminal device equipped with reader-related devices, the first device can be... Figure 1 The terminal device is 125 or 126, and the second device can be... Figure 1 In the context of terminal device 124; when the first device is a terminal device deployed with a tag and the second device is a network device deployed with a reader, the first device can be... Figure 1 The terminal device can be any one of 121 to 123, and the second device can be Figure 1 Network device 111, or the first device, can be Figure 1 The terminal device in the middle is 127 or 128, and the second device can be... Figure 1 Network device 112 in the middle.

[0159] The first device can be, for example, the aforementioned wake-up device, or a terminal device equipped with a wake-up device. The second device can be, for example, a network device (such as a base station, access point, etc.) or a terminal device. When the first device is a terminal device equipped with a wake-up device and the second device is a terminal device, the first device can be... Figure 1 The terminal device is 125 or 126, and the second device can be... Figure 1 In the context of terminal device 124; when the first device is a terminal device with a wake-up device deployed and the second device is a network device, the first device can be... Figure 1 The terminal device can be any one of 121 to 123, and the second device can be Figure 1 Network device 111, or the first device, can be Figure 1The terminal device in the middle is 127 or 128, and the second device can be... Figure 1 Network device 112 in the middle.

[0160] This application also includes a third device in its embodiments. The first device communicates with the second and third devices using different frequency units. The third device can be a network device or a terminal device, and this application does not limit it to this.

[0161] However, it should be understood that this should not limit the entity executing the method provided in this application. Any entity capable of executing the method provided in this application can do so by running a program containing code of the method provided in the embodiments of this application. For example, the first device shown in the following embodiments can be replaced by components of the first device, such as a chip, a chip system, or other functional modules capable of calling and executing programs. The second device can also be replaced by components of the second device, such as a chip, a chip system, or other functional modules capable of calling and executing programs. The third device can also be replaced by components of the third device, such as a chip, a chip system, or other functional modules capable of calling and executing programs.

[0162] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the interaction flow of a communication method 400 provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 8 As shown, the method 400 may include some or all of the steps in S410-1, S410-2, S420-1, and S420-2. The steps in method 400 are described in detail below.

[0163] S410-1, The first device determines the first frequency unit;

[0164] S410-2, The second device determines the first frequency unit;

[0165] S420-1, the first device sends a downlink signal to the second device in the first frequency unit; correspondingly, the second device receives the downlink signal from the first device in the first frequency unit;

[0166] S420-2, the second device sends an uplink signal to the first device in the first frequency unit; correspondingly, the first device receives the uplink signal from the second device in the first frequency unit.

[0167] In other words, the first device determines that the first frequency unit is used to communicate with the second device. This communication can be either transmitting or receiving signals.

[0168] This application does not limit the execution order of S410-1 and S410-2 described above. When the second device needs to determine the first frequency unit according to the configuration of the first device, S410-2 can be executed before S410-1.

[0169] S420-1 and S420-2 can be executed selectively, or sequentially. For example, after receiving the downlink signal sent by the first device, the second device sends an uplink signal to the first device. This enables communication between the first device and the second device on the first frequency unit.

[0170] The granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit is less than or equal to the granularity of the second channel grid corresponding to the second frequency unit. The second frequency unit is used for communication between the first device and the third device. The first frequency unit and the second frequency unit are located in the same operating frequency band.

[0171] The first frequency unit can be a carrier or a BWP. For example, when the first device and the second device communicate based on Passive IoT technology, the first frequency unit can be a carrier configured for Passive IoT (referred to as a Passive IoT carrier); as another example, when the first device and the second device communicate based on WUR technology, the first frequency unit can be a carrier configured for WUR (referred to as a WUR carrier). The aforementioned Passive IoT carrier and WUR carrier can be the same carrier or different carriers.

[0172] The first frequency unit may be a frequency unit for uplink transmission, such as an uplink frequency unit; or the first frequency unit may be a frequency unit for downlink transmission, such as a downlink frequency unit; or the first frequency unit includes both a frequency unit for uplink transmission and a frequency unit for downlink transmission, in other words, the first frequency unit includes both an uplink frequency unit and a downlink frequency unit. In some embodiments, the uplink frequency unit and the downlink frequency unit may be the same frequency unit, that is, the first frequency unit is a frequency unit used for both uplink and downlink transmission.

[0173] When the first frequency unit is an uplink frequency unit, S420-2 may include the first device receiving an uplink signal from the second device on the uplink frequency unit, and correspondingly, the second device sending an uplink signal to the first device on the uplink frequency unit; when the first frequency unit is a downlink frequency unit, S420-1 may include the first device sending a downlink signal to the second device on the downlink frequency unit, and correspondingly, the second device receiving a downlink signal from the first device on the downlink frequency unit; when the first frequency unit includes both an uplink frequency unit and a downlink frequency unit, the first device sends a downlink signal to the second device on the downlink frequency unit of the first frequency unit and receives an uplink signal from the second device on the uplink frequency unit of the first frequency unit.

[0174] When the first frequency unit is a WUR carrier, the downlink signal can be, for example, a wake-up signal, which the first device can send to the second device in the downlink frequency unit.

[0175] When the first frequency unit is a Passive IoT carrier, the downlink signal can be a carrier signal, or the downlink signal can be downlink signaling and / or data, and the uplink signal can be a reflected signal based on the carrier signal. For example, the first device sends a carrier signal to the second device in the downlink frequency unit and receives a reflected signal sent by the second device based on the carrier signal in the uplink frequency unit using reflection communication. In this case, the carrier signal sent by the first device and the reflected signal sent by the second device overlap in the time domain.

[0176] The difference between the aforementioned carrier signal and downlink signaling / data lies in the following: The carrier signal provides a carrier for uplink reflection or provides power to passive tags. The waveform corresponding to the carrier signal can be a sine or cosine wave at a given frequency; alternatively, the waveform may not be amplitude- and / or phase-modulated, or the overall amplitude may be insufficient for the receiver to interpret as transmitted data. The waveform corresponding to downlink signaling / data, on the other hand, is amplitude- and / or phase-modulated, and its overall amplitude is sufficient for the receiver to interpret as transmitted data.

[0177] It is understandable that before the second device communicates with the first device, the second device may determine the first frequency unit or obtain the first frequency unit from the first configuration information sent by the first device.

[0178] The second frequency unit can also be a carrier, for example, it can be an NR carrier configured in an NR system. Similar to the first frequency unit, the second frequency unit can be a frequency unit for uplink transmission, or a frequency unit for downlink transmission, or it can include both frequency units for uplink transmission and frequency units for downlink transmission.

[0179] When the first frequency unit includes an uplink frequency unit and a downlink frequency unit, the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit being located in the same operating frequency band can mean that: the uplink frequency unit in the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit are located in the same operating frequency band; or the downlink frequency unit in the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit are located in the same operating frequency band; or the uplink frequency unit, the downlink frequency unit, and the second frequency unit in the first frequency unit are all located in the same operating frequency band.

[0180] When the first frequency unit includes an uplink frequency unit and a downlink frequency unit, and the second frequency unit includes a frequency unit for uplink transmission and a frequency unit for downlink transmission, the fact that the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit are located in the same operating frequency band may include at least one of the following examples:

[0181] Example 1: The uplink frequency unit in the first frequency unit and the frequency unit used for uplink transmission in the second frequency unit are located in the same operating frequency band; Example 2: The downlink frequency unit in the first frequency unit and the frequency unit used for downlink transmission in the second frequency unit are located in the same operating frequency band; Example 3: The uplink frequency unit in the first frequency unit and the frequency unit used for downlink transmission in the second frequency unit are located in the same operating frequency band; Example 4: The downlink frequency unit in the first frequency unit and the frequency unit used for uplink transmission in the second frequency unit are located in the same operating frequency band.

[0182] When the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit are located in the same operating frequency band, including at least three of the examples 1 to 4 above, it means that the uplink frequency unit and the downlink frequency unit of the first frequency unit, and the frequency unit used for uplink transmission and the frequency unit used for downlink transmission in the second frequency unit are all located in the same operating frequency band.

[0183] Assuming the communication method 400 is applied to an NR communication system, the operating frequency bands of the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit can be, for example, the NR operating frequency bands in Table 1 above. For instance, both the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit can be deployed in the operating frequency band corresponding to n1.

[0184] Optionally, the first frequency unit can have different deployment modes. See also Figures 9a to 9c As shown, the second frequency unit (e.g., NR carrier) includes a transmission bandwidth (e.g., NR transmission bandwidth) and a guard band (e.g., NR guard band). The transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit includes N... RB RBs, for example, RB#0 to RB#N RB-1 The first frequency unit can, for example, be deployed within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the first frequency unit can occupy one or more RBs in the second frequency unit, such as... Figure 9aThe first frequency unit occupies RB#1 in the second frequency unit; or the first frequency unit can be deployed within the guard band of the second frequency unit, see [reference needed]. Figure 9b Or, the frequency domain spacing between the first and second frequency units is less than a threshold; see [reference needed]. Figure 9c Combining Figures 9a to 9c It can be seen that the resource element corresponding to the first channel grid of the first frequency unit in the first frequency unit can be the resource element in the middle of the first frequency unit, and the index of the RB where the resource element is located can satisfy the formula in Table 5. Where N R ′ B The transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit includes the number of RBs; the resource element corresponding to the second channel grid of the second frequency unit in the second frequency unit can be a resource element in the middle of the second frequency unit, and the index of the RB where the resource element is located can satisfy the formula in Table 5.

[0185] Regarding the relative positional relationship of the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit in the frequency domain, the frequency domain resource relationship between the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit also includes the following three possible examples.

[0186] In the first example, where the first frequency unit is deployed within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, in order to avoid resource fragmentation and reduce spectrum utilization efficiency, the RBs of the first frequency unit should be aligned with the RB boundaries of the second frequency unit.

[0187] In the second example, when the first frequency unit is deployed within the guard band of the second frequency unit, the subcarriers of the first frequency unit can be aligned with the boundaries of the subcarriers of the second frequency unit to avoid interference to data transmission within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit caused by non-orthogonality of the subcarriers. In this case, the frequency domain resources occupied by the first frequency unit do not overlap with the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the misalignment of the RB boundaries of the first and second frequency units will not affect the spectrum utilization efficiency of the second frequency unit. Therefore, it is not necessary to restrict whether the RB boundaries of the first and second frequency units are aligned.

[0188] In the third example, when the frequency domain spacing between the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit is less than a threshold, similar to the second example above, the subcarriers of the first frequency unit can be aligned with the boundary of the subcarriers of the second frequency unit, and it is not limited whether the RBs of the first frequency unit and the RBs of the second frequency unit are aligned with the boundary.

[0189] The deployment mode of the first frequency unit in the second and third examples above can be referred to as out-of-bandwidth deployment in the following text.

[0190] The frequency position of the first channel grid within the first frequency cell corresponds to the frequency position of a resource element within the same first frequency cell. The frequency domain index of this resource element can be determined using the following two examples.

[0191] Example 1: The frequency domain index of a resource element can be determined based on the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit. As shown in Table 5, assume the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit includes N' RB RB, in N' RB It is an odd number (i.e., N') RB When mod2 = 1, the index of the resource element is 6, and the index of the physical resource block is... In N' RB It is an even number (i.e., N') RB When mod2 = 0, the index of the resource element is 0, and the index of the physical resource block is... For example, Figure 9a In the table, the frequency position corresponding to the first channel grid is the physical resource block index. The resource element has an index of 6.

[0192] Example 2: The index of the location of a resource element in the frequency domain can be determined based on the transmission bandwidth N of the second frequency unit. RB Confirmed. As shown in Table 5, the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit includes N. RB RB, in N RB It is an odd number (i.e., N) RB When mod2 = 1, the index of the resource element is 6, and the index of the physical resource block is... In N' RB Even number (i.e., N) RB When mod2 = 0, the index of the resource element is 0, and the index of the physical resource block is...

[0193] It is understood that Example 1 above applies to the scenarios in the first, second, or third examples above, i.e., when the first frequency unit is deployed within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, within the guard band of the second frequency unit, or when the frequency domain interval between the first and second frequency units is less than a threshold, the first device can determine the position of the first channel grid in the corresponding resource element based on the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit, i.e., determine the first frequency unit. Example 2 above generally applies to the scenario in the first example above, i.e., when the first frequency unit is deployed within the transmission band of the second frequency unit, the first device can consider determining the position of the resource element corresponding to the first channel grid based on the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, i.e., determine the first frequency unit. The following will further explain the determination method of the first frequency unit in Examples 1 and 2 above, as well as the granularity of the channel grid, for the scenarios in the first, second, and third examples above, in order to make the deployment of the first frequency unit more flexible while ensuring spectrum utilization efficiency and avoiding subcarrier non-orthogonality.

[0194] In this embodiment, the granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit and the granularity of the channel grid corresponding to the second frequency unit can be the same or different. In this embodiment, the granularity of the first channel grid is less than or equal to the granularity of the second channel grid to avoid reducing the flexibility of the deployment of the first frequency unit due to the granularity of the first channel grid being too large.

[0195] Continuing with the first example above, combined with Figure 10 The flexibility of deploying the first frequency unit is explained when the granularity of the first channel grid and the granularity of the second channel grid are the same.

[0196] like Figure 10 As shown, the number N of RBs occupied by the second frequency unit (e.g., NR carrier) RB It can be an odd number, or N. RB mod 2 = 1, for example, the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit in (a) includes the number of RBs N. RB =2N+1; or the number of RBs N occupied by the second frequency unit. RB It can be an even number, or N. RB mod 2 = 0, for example, the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit in (b) includes the number of RBs N. RB = 2N. Here, the arrow indicates the frequency position of the second frequency unit, which is the frequency position of a resource element within the second frequency unit corresponding to the frequency position of the second channel grid. For example, the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit includes the number of RBs N. RB When = 2N+1, the frequency position of the second channel grid corresponds to RE#6 in RB#N; for example, the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit includes the number N of RBs.RB When =2N, the frequency position of the second channel grid corresponds to RE#0 in RB#N.

[0197] like Figure 10 As shown, the number of RBs N' occupied by the first frequency unit RB It can also be an odd number, or N′ RB mod 2 = 1, for example, the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit in (c) includes the number of RBs N'. RB =2M+1; or the number of RBs N' occupied by the first frequency unit. RB It is an even number, or N′ RB mod 2 = 0, for example, the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit in d includes the number of RBs N'. RB =2M. The arrow indicates the frequency position of the first frequency unit, which is the frequency position of a resource element within the first frequency unit corresponding to the frequency position of the first channel grid. For example, the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit includes the number of RBs N'. RB When = 2M+1, the frequency position of the first channel grid corresponds to RE#6 in RB#M; for example, the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit includes the number of RBs N. RB When = 2M, the frequency position of the first channel grid corresponds to RE#0 in RB#M.

[0198] Both M and N are positive integers. Generally, M is less than or equal to N.

[0199] Figure 10 As shown in (a), (b), (c), and (d), four scenarios regarding the parity of the number of RBs occupied by the first and second frequency units can be obtained. For example, N RB and N' RB Odd / even consistency: for example, see Figure (a) for the second frequency unit and Figure (c) for the first frequency unit, or see Figure (b) for the second frequency unit and Figure (d) for the first frequency unit; or N RB and N' RB Inconsistent parity: For example, see Figure (a) for the second frequency unit and Figure (d) for the first frequency unit, or see Figure (b) for the second frequency unit and Figure (c) for the first frequency unit.

[0200] Based on the four scenarios described above, taking a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, both the first and second channel grids at 100kHz, and an RB bandwidth of 180kHz as an example, under the condition that the RB boundaries of the first and second frequency units are aligned, the possible value f of the frequency corresponding to the first channel grid is... pAs shown in Table 6 below. Here, k, n, and m are all integers, k*100 represents the frequency corresponding to the second channel grid, and m*180 represents the bandwidth of an integer multiple of RBs.

[0201] Table 6

[0202]

[0203] As shown in Table 6, assuming that within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, the index of the intermediate resource block (RB) is 0, the indices of RBs with frequencies higher than this RB are positive, and the indices of RBs with frequencies lower than this RB are negative, when the parity of the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit and the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit is the same, only a limited number of RB positions in the second frequency unit can be used to deploy the first frequency unit. Here, m represents the index of the RB. When N RB and N' RB When parity is consistent, m = 0, ±5, ±10, ±15,… indicates that the middle RB within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit can be used to deploy the first frequency unit, and that positions every 5 RBs can be used to deploy the first frequency unit. When N RB and N' RB When parity is inconsistent, a frequency location suitable for deploying the first frequency unit cannot be found within the NR carrier.

[0204] In some embodiments, the method provided in Example 2 above can be used to determine the index of the location of a resource element in the frequency domain based on the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, so as to avoid the situation where the first frequency unit cannot be configured if the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit and the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit are not evenly matched. In other words, it can avoid the situation where the configuration of the first frequency unit causes the RB boundary of the first frequency unit to be misaligned with the RB boundary of the second frequency unit if the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit and the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit are not evenly matched.

[0205] However, as shown in Table 6 above, even if the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit and the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit are not odd or even, the frequency positions in the second frequency unit that can be used to configure the first frequency unit are still very limited. In order to further improve the deployment flexibility of the first frequency unit, this embodiment considers further reducing the granularity of the first channel grid.

[0206] For example, referring to Table 6 above, f pIn the formula, m takes values ​​of 0, 1, 2, 3, ..., and n is tested to calculate the deviation between k*100±m*180 or k*100±(m*180+90) and n*100. The deviations are 0, ±10, ±20, ±30, ±40, ±50 (kHz). In order to allow the first frequency unit to be deployed at any RB position within the second frequency unit, the first channel grid can be set to 10kHz.

[0207] It should be understood that the above-mentioned first channel grid of 10kHz is merely an example and does not constitute any limitation on this application. When the granularity of the first channel grid is smaller than that of the second channel grid, various values ​​of the granularity of the first channel grid can improve the flexibility of the deployment of the first frequency unit. For example, the granularity of the first channel grid can also be 5kHz, 20kHz, etc.

[0208] For example, in Figure 10 In the four scenarios formed by combining (a), (b), (c), and (d) respectively, taking a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz, a first channel grid of 100kHz and a second channel grid of 180kHz as an example, under the condition that the RB boundaries of the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit are aligned, the possible values ​​of the frequency corresponding to the first channel grid are shown in Table 7 below.

[0209] Table 7

[0210]

[0211] Further analysis, based on Table 7, reveals that the frequency f corresponding to the first channel grid is... p The possible values ​​of the first channel grid deviate from integer multiples of 100kHz by 0, ±20, ±40 (kHz). In order to allow the first frequency unit to be deployed at any RB position within the second frequency unit, the granularity of the first channel grid can be set to 20kHz. Of course, the first channel grid can also be set to 10kHz or 5kHz.

[0212] When the subcarrier spacing is 60kHz, the frequency f corresponding to the first channel grid is p The deviation of each possible value from an integer multiple of 100kHz is the same as when the subcarrier spacing is 30kHz. That is, when the subcarrier spacing is 60kHz, the granularity of the first channel grid can also be 5kHz, 10kHz or 20kHz.

[0213] In some embodiments, the parity of the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit and the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit is consistent. For example, the first device can determine the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit based on the parity of the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, so that the parity of the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit is consistent with the parity of the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit. This improves the flexibility of the deployment of the first frequency unit.

[0214] The above Figure 10 In the examples related to Table 6, the first example described above is used as an example, where the first frequency unit is deployed within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit. The following explanation will use the second or third example described above, where the first frequency unit is deployed within the guard band of the second frequency unit, or where the frequency domain interval between the first and second frequency units is less than a threshold.

[0215] As previously mentioned, when the first frequency unit is deployed within the guard band of the second frequency unit, or when the frequency domain spacing between the first and second frequency units is less than a threshold, the subcarrier boundaries of the first and second frequency units are aligned. This can prevent interference with data transmission within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit due to the non-orthogonality of the first and second frequency units.

[0216] Assuming that the granularity of the first channel grid and the granularity of the second channel grid are both 100kHz, and the subcarrier spacing is 15kHz, the following analysis, based on Table 8, examines the available frequency locations that satisfy an integer multiple of 100kHz for the channel grid.

[0217] Table 8

[0218]

[0219]

[0220] Referring to Table 8, the analysis results are presented using only NR carrier transmission bandwidths of 5MHz and 10MHz as examples. Assuming that within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, the frequency corresponding to the RB at the middle RB position is 0Hz, frequencies of RBs higher than this RB are positive, and frequencies of RBs lower than this RB are negative, as shown in Table 8 above, satisfying f as an integer multiple of 100kHz... p Very limited, for example, only when the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit is 5MHz and the number of RBs included in the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit is even, f p The first frequency unit can be deployed at a bandwidth of ±4800 kHz. For other values ​​of the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, f can be calculated using a similar method.p The possible positions of [the frequency unit] are not listed here due to space limitations. Using a similar sampling method, the conclusion is that when the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit is other values, it satisfies f. p The locations of frequencies that are integer multiples of 100kHz are also very limited, meaning that the locations where the first frequency unit can be deployed are very limited.

[0221] Further analysis reveals that the frequencies f corresponding to the first channel grid, as shown in Table 8 above and those not shown in Table 8 but calculated in a similar manner, are... p The possible values ​​of f, the frequency f corresponding to the first channel grid. p The deviation from integer multiples of 100kHz is 0, ±5, ±10, ±15, ±20, ±25, ±30, ±35, ±40, ±45, ±50 (kHz). To allow the first frequency unit to be deployed anywhere within the guard band of the second frequency unit, the granularity of the first channel grid can be 5kHz. Table 9 uses the second frequency unit as an NR carrier as a possible example; due to space limitations, only operating bands n1, n2, n3, and n5 are listed in this table. It should be understood that a granularity of 5kHz for the first channel grid also applies to operating bands with a second channel grid (such as an NR channel grid) of 100kHz granularity.

[0222] Table 9

[0223]

[0224] For reasons similar to those mentioned above, when the subcarrier is 30kHz, the frequency f corresponding to the first channel grid is... p The deviation from integer multiples of 100kHz is 0, ±10, ±20, ±30, ±40, ±50 (kHz). In this case, the granularity of the first channel grid can be 10kHz, or it can be 5kHz. For a subcarrier spacing of 60kHz, the frequency f corresponding to the first channel grid is... p The deviation from an integer multiple of 100kHz is 0, ±20, ±40 (kHz). In this case, the granularity of the first channel grid can be 20kHz, or it can be 5kHz or 10kHz.

[0225] Based on Tables 6 to 9 above and the relevant examples, the granularity of the first channel grid is related to at least one of the deployment mode of the first frequency unit and the subcarrier spacing of the first frequency unit. Therefore, the first device can determine the granularity of the first channel grid according to at least one of the deployment mode of the first frequency unit and the subcarrier spacing of the first frequency unit.

[0226] It should be noted that the subcarrier spacing of the first frequency unit can be a subcarrier spacing agreed upon by the first frequency unit, or a subcarrier spacing configured within the first frequency unit.

[0227] For example, the correspondence between the channel grid of the first frequency unit and the subcarrier spacing of the first frequency unit may include:

[0228] 1) Subcarrier spacing is 15kHz, and channel grid is 5kHz;

[0229] 2) Subcarrier spacing is 30kHz, and channel grid is 10kHz;

[0230] 3) Subcarrier spacing is 60kHz, and channel grid is 20kHz.

[0231] For example, the correspondence between the channel grid of the first frequency unit, the subcarrier spacing of the first frequency unit, and the deployment mode of the first frequency unit may include:

[0232] 1) Subcarrier spacing is 15kHz, deployed within the transmission bandwidth, and the channel grid is 10kHz;

[0233] 2) Subcarrier spacing is 15kHz, transmission bandwidth is deployed externally, and channel grid is 5kHz;

[0234] 3) Subcarrier spacing is 30kHz, deployed within the transmission bandwidth, and the channel grid is 20kHz;

[0235] 4) Subcarrier spacing is 30kHz, transmission bandwidth is deployed outside the range, and the channel grid is 10kHz;

[0236] 5) Subcarrier spacing is 60kHz, deployed within the transmission bandwidth, and the channel grid is 20kHz;

[0237] 6) Subcarrier spacing is 60kHz, transmission bandwidth is deployed outside the channel, and the channel grid is 20kHz;

[0238] The above correspondence can be predefined or preconfigured. The first device can determine the granularity of the first channel grid based on the above correspondence; or, the granularity of the first channel grid can be a predefined value, such as an integer multiple of 5kHz, 10kHz or 20kHz.

[0239] In some embodiments, the radio frequency reference frequency F corresponding to the first frequency unit REF Satisfy: F REF =F REF-Offs +ΔF Global (N REF –N REF-Offs )+offset; where F REF-Offs ΔF is the radio frequency reference frequency offset value. GlobalN represents the granularity of the global channel grid. REF For NR-ARFCN, N REF-Offs This is the NR-ARFCN offset value, where offset is the frequency offset.

[0240] Among them, F REF-Offs and N REF-Offs The possible values ​​are shown in Table 10 below:

[0241] Table 10

[0242] Frequency range (MHz) <![CDATA[ΔF Global (kHz)]]> <![CDATA[F REF-Offs (MHz)]]> <![CDATA[N REF-Offs ]]> <![CDATA[N REF Scope 0–3000 5 0 0 0–599999 3000–24250 15 3000 600000 600000–2016666

[0243] For example, the offset value can be one of the following: {-50, -45, -40, -35, -30, -25, -20, -15, -10, -5, 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50} kHz.

[0244] For example, for the first device, the first frequency unit may be determined by the first device, or the first frequency unit may be obtained by the first device from the second configuration information received from the fourth device; for the second device, the first frequency unit may be determined by the second device, or the first frequency unit may be obtained by the second device from the first configuration information sent by the first device. Optionally, the fourth device may be a network device, such as a base station, macro base station, etc.

[0245] Therefore, in this embodiment of the application, when the first device communicates with different devices, a first frequency unit is determined for communication between the first device and the second device. This first frequency unit is located in the same operating frequency band as a second frequency unit for communication between the first device and the third device, and the granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit is less than or equal to the granularity of the second channel grid. On the one hand, this embodiment of the application provides a solution for determining the frequency unit, enabling the first device and the second device to communicate through the first frequency unit; on the other hand, when determining the frequency unit, the granularity of the channel grid is considered, for example, setting the granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit to be smaller, thereby improving the flexibility of the deployment of the first frequency unit.

[0246] In some communication systems (such as LTE), to reduce the performance degradation of direct current (DC) subcarriers caused by local oscillator leakage on the network or terminal equipment side, one DC subcarrier is reserved in the downlink frequency unit without transmitting information, and the uplink carrier is offset by half a subcarrier (e.g., 7.5kHz). In other communication systems (such as NR), the performance degradation of DC subcarriers caused by local oscillator leakage is addressed by the network or terminal equipment, and no DC subcarrier is reserved in the downlink carrier, nor is the uplink carrier offset by half a subcarrier. When these two communication systems (such as LTE and NR) share spectrum resources, the downlink frequency units of both systems are not offset, so the subcarrier boundaries are aligned; however, one uplink frequency unit in the two systems is offset by half a subcarrier, while the other is not offset. This misalignment of the subcarrier boundaries (i.e., the subcarriers are not orthogonal) causes mutual interference between the two communication systems during data transmission.

[0247] The following is an exemplary description of how to determine the first frequency unit in the aforementioned shared spectrum.

[0248] Figure 11 This is an interactive flowchart of a communication method 500 provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 11 As shown, the communication method 500 further includes some or all of the following steps:

[0249] S510, the first device determines the uplink offset and / or downlink offset based on at least one of the following: the frequency band type where the downlink frequency unit is located, the first capability of the second device, the type of the second device, the time domain resource type where the signal carried by the downlink frequency unit is located, and the time domain resource type where the signal carried by the uplink frequency unit is located.

[0250] S520-1, the first device determines the uplink frequency unit based on the uplink frequency position and uplink offset;

[0251] S520-2, the second device determines the uplink frequency unit based on the uplink frequency position and uplink offset;

[0252] S530-1, the first device determines the downlink frequency unit based on the downlink frequency position and downlink offset;

[0253] S530-2, the second device determines the downlink frequency unit based on the downlink frequency position and downlink offset;

[0254] S540-1, the first device sends a downlink signal to the second device in the downlink frequency unit; correspondingly, the second device receives the downlink signal from the first device in the downlink frequency unit;

[0255] S540-2, the second device sends an uplink signal to the first device in the uplink frequency unit; correspondingly, the first device receives the uplink signal from the second device in the uplink frequency unit.

[0256] This embodiment does not limit the execution order of S520-1, S520-2, S530-1 and S530-2.

[0257] The above S540-1 and S540-2 can be executed one of them or in sequence. For example, after the second device receives the downlink signal sent by the first device, it sends an uplink signal to the first device.

[0258] As previously mentioned, the first frequency unit may include an uplink frequency unit for transmitting uplink signals, and / or a downlink frequency unit for transmitting downlink signals. Therefore, the above... Figure 8 In the illustrated embodiment, S410-1, the first device determines the first frequency unit, which may include: S520-1, the first device determines the uplink frequency unit based on the uplink frequency position and the uplink offset, and / or, S530-1, the first device determines the downlink frequency unit based on the downlink frequency position and the downlink offset.

[0259] The uplink frequency position can be agreed upon by the protocol, predefined in the first device, or preconfigured by the fourth device on the first device; this application does not limit this. The downlink frequency position is similar and will not be described in detail here. In PassiveIoT, the uplink and downlink frequency positions often have a frequency domain interval, which can also be agreed upon by the protocol, predefined in the first device, or preconfigured by the fourth device on the first device.

[0260] Based on this, in the embodiments of this application, the first device can first determine the uplink offset and / or downlink offset based on the above S510, so that the first device can determine the first frequency unit based on the uplink offset / downlink offset, thereby avoiding misalignment of subcarrier boundaries between communication systems in the shared spectrum, which would cause interference to data transmission.

[0261] The frequency band type of the downlink frequency unit can include, for example, the uplink transmission band in FDD mode, the downlink transmission band in FDD mode, the SDL transmission band, the SUL transmission band, and the TDD transmission band. In the following text, the uplink transmission band and the SUL transmission band in FDD mode will be collectively referred to as the uplink transmission band, and the downlink transmission band and the SDL transmission band in FDD mode will be collectively referred to as the downlink transmission band.

[0262] The first capability mentioned above refers to whether the second device supports shifting the uplink signal to an uplink transmission band outside the downlink transmission band where the downlink frequency unit is located.

[0263] For example, in a Passive IoT scenario, the second device can be a tag. The type of the second device can include active tags and passive tags. In some examples, the type of the second device can reflect the aforementioned first capability. For instance, when the type of the second device is a passive tag, the second device does not have the ability to shift the uplink signal to an uplink transmission band outside the downlink transmission band where the downlink frequency unit is located.

[0264] The aforementioned time-domain resource types may include, for example, uplink time-domain resources (e.g., uplink time slots) and downlink time-domain resources (e.g., downlink time slots) in TDD mode.

[0265] The above S510 is illustrated by several examples below:

[0266] 1. The first device determines the uplink offset and / or downlink offset based on at least one of the following: the frequency band type of the downlink frequency unit, the first capability of the second device (or the type of the second device):

[0267] One example is that the downlink frequency unit is located in the downlink transmission band, and the second device supports shifting the uplink signal to an uplink transmission band outside the downlink transmission band, with the uplink offset being a first value or a second value; or, the downlink frequency unit is located in the downlink transmission band, and the second device does not support shifting the uplink signal to an uplink transmission band outside the downlink transmission band, with the uplink offset being the first value.

[0268] It should be noted that whether the second device supports uplink signal frequency shifting to an uplink transmission band outside the downlink transmission band can be indicated by the first capability of the second device, or it can be determined by the type of the second device.

[0269] As mentioned earlier, the downlink transmission band can be the downlink transmission band or the SDL transmission band in FDD mode, and the uplink transmission band can be the uplink transmission band and the SUL transmission band in FDD mode.

[0270] It should be understood that when the downlink transmission band is the downlink transmission band in FDD mode and the uplink transmission band is the uplink transmission band in FDD mode, the downlink and uplink transmission bands are located in the same operating frequency band. For example, as shown in Table 1, the uplink transmission band is the uplink operating frequency band in NR operating frequency band n1, and the downlink band is the downlink operating frequency band in NR operating frequency band n1. Here, NR operating frequency band n1 is only an example and can be replaced with any operating frequency band corresponding to any FDD mode in Table 1, such as n2, n3, etc.

[0271] Of course, downlink and uplink transmission bands do not have to be paired; in other words, uplink and downlink transmission bands can be located in different operating bands, or their band numbers (e.g., n1, n2, n3, etc.) can be different. For example, the downlink transmission band might be the downlink transmission band in FDD mode, and the uplink transmission band might be the SUL transmission band. Or, for another example, the downlink transmission band might be the downlink operating band in NR operating band n1, and the uplink transmission band might be the uplink operating band in NR operating band n2.

[0272] Furthermore, the aforementioned uplink transmission frequency band may be a spectrum shared with LTE. When the uplink transmission frequency band is used for LTE uplink communication, in order to ensure that the subcarrier boundaries of the uplink frequency unit and the LTE frequency unit are aligned, the uplink offset is set to a second value, which may be, for example, 7.5 kHz. When the aforementioned uplink transmission frequency band is not used for LTE uplink communication, the uplink offset is a first value, which may be, for example, 0.

[0273] For example, suppose the second frequency unit includes an NR uplink carrier transmitting NR uplink signals and / or an NR downlink carrier transmitting NR downlink signals, and the first frequency unit includes a Passive IoT uplink carrier transmitting Passive IoT uplink signals and / or a Passive IoT downlink carrier transmitting Passive IoT downlink signals, and the first frequency unit is located in the shared spectrum of NR and LTE. Combined with... Figures 12a to 12b The above example will be explained.

[0274] See Figure 12a The Passive IoT downlink carrier is located in the downlink transmission band, and the second device supports frequency shifting of the Passive IoT uplink signal to the uplink transmission band corresponding to the downlink transmission band where the Passive IoT downlink carrier is located. In this case, both the Passive IoT uplink carrier and the LTE uplink carrier are located in this uplink transmission band, and the uplink offset of the Passive IoT uplink carrier is 7.5kHz; of course, if it is determined that this uplink transmission band is not used for LTE uplink communication, the uplink offset can be 0. Optionally, the NR uplink carrier is similar to the Passive IoT uplink carrier, and the uplink offset of the NR uplink carrier is the same as the uplink offset of the Passive IoT uplink carrier.

[0275] See Figure 12bIf the Passive IoT downlink carrier is located in the downlink transmission band, and the second device does not support frequency shifting of the Passive IoT uplink signal to an uplink transmission band outside the downlink transmission band where the Passive IoT downlink carrier is located, then the uplink offset of the Passive IoT uplink carrier is 0.

[0276] In one of the above examples, the downlink frequency unit is located in the downlink transmission band, and the downlink transmission band is not used for LTE uplink communication, so the downlink offset can be 0.

[0277] Another example is that the downlink frequency unit is located in the uplink transmission band, and both the downlink offset and the uplink offset are either the first value or the second value.

[0278] Furthermore, the aforementioned uplink transmission frequency band may be, for example, a spectrum shared with LTE. When the uplink transmission frequency band is used for LTE uplink communication, in order to ensure that the downlink frequency unit and the uplink frequency unit are aligned with the subcarrier boundaries of the LTE frequency unit, both the downlink offset and the uplink offset are set to a second value, such as 7.5kHz. When the aforementioned uplink transmission frequency band is not used for LTE uplink communication, both the downlink offset and the uplink offset are set to a first value, such as 0.

[0279] For example, still assuming that the second frequency unit includes an NR uplink carrier for transmitting NR uplink signals and / or an NR downlink carrier for transmitting NR downlink signals, and the first frequency unit includes a Passive IoT uplink carrier for transmitting Passive IoT uplink signals and / or a Passive IoT downlink carrier for transmitting Passive IoT downlink signals, and that the first frequency unit is located in the shared spectrum of NR and LTE. Combined with... Figure 12c The above example will be explained.

[0280] See Figure 12cIn the Passive IoT uplink carrier located in the downlink transmission band, both the Passive IoT downlink and uplink carriers, along with the LTE uplink carrier, are located in this uplink transmission band. Therefore, the downlink offset of the Passive IoT downlink carrier and the uplink offset of the Passive IoT uplink carrier are both 7.5kHz. Of course, if it is determined that this uplink transmission band is not used for LTE uplink communication, then both the downlink and uplink offsets can be 0. Optionally, the NR downlink carrier is located in the downlink transmission band, so the downlink offset of the NR downlink carrier can be 0. The NR uplink carrier is similar to the Passive IoT uplink carrier, with the same uplink offset.

[0281] 2. When the first frequency unit is located in the TDD operating frequency band, the first device determines the uplink offset and downlink offset based on the time domain resource type of the signal carried by the downlink frequency unit and the time domain resource type of the signal carried by the uplink frequency unit:

[0282] Example 1: Downlink frequency units carry downlink signals that occupy downlink time domain resources, and uplink frequency units carry uplink signals that occupy uplink time domain resources. The aforementioned downlink and uplink offsets are either a first value or a second value. For example, assume that the second frequency unit includes an NR uplink carrier transmitting NR uplink signals and / or an NR downlink carrier transmitting NR downlink signals, and the first frequency unit includes a Passive IoT uplink carrier transmitting Passive IoT uplink signals and / or a Passive IoT downlink carrier transmitting Passive IoT downlink signals. The first frequency unit is located in the shared spectrum of NR and LTE. (Combined...) Figure 13a As shown, Passive IoT downlink signals are transmitted in downlink time slots, and Passive IoT uplink signals are transmitted in uplink time slots. In this case, both Passive IoT uplink signals and LTE uplink signals are transmitted in uplink time slots, so the uplink offset of the Passive IoT uplink carrier and the downlink offset of the Passive IoT downlink carrier are both 7.5kHz. Of course, if it is determined that the uplink time slot is not used for LTE uplink communication, then the uplink offset and downlink offset can both be 0. Optionally, the NR uplink carrier is similar to the Passive IoT uplink carrier, and the uplink offset of the NR uplink carrier is the same as the uplink offset of the Passive IoT uplink carrier.

[0283] Example 2: When both the downlink signal carried by the downlink frequency unit and the uplink signal carried by the downlink frequency unit occupy downlink time domain resources, the aforementioned downlink offset and uplink offset are both first values. Still assuming that the second frequency unit includes an NR uplink carrier transmitting NR uplink signals and / or an NR downlink carrier transmitting NR downlink signals, and the first frequency unit includes a Passive IoT uplink carrier transmitting Passive IoT uplink signals and / or a Passive IoT downlink carrier transmitting Passive IoT downlink signals, and that the first frequency unit is located in the shared spectrum of NR and LTE. Combined with... Figure 13b As shown, both PassiveIoT downlink and PassiveIoT uplink signals are transmitted in the downlink time slot. Since the downlink time slot is not used for LTE uplink communication, the uplink offset of the PassiveIoT uplink carrier and the downlink offset of the PassiveIoT downlink carrier are both 0.

[0284] Example 3: When both the downlink signal carried by the downlink frequency unit and the uplink signal carried by the uplink frequency unit occupy uplink time domain resources, the aforementioned downlink offset and uplink offset are either the first value or the second value. Assuming the second frequency unit includes an NR uplink carrier transmitting NR uplink signals and / or an NR downlink carrier transmitting NR downlink signals, and the first frequency unit includes a Passive IoT uplink carrier transmitting Passive IoT uplink signals and / or a Passive IoT downlink carrier transmitting Passive IoT downlink signals, and the first frequency unit is located in the shared spectrum of NR and LTE. Combined with... Figure 13c As shown, both the Passive IoT downlink and Passive IoT uplink signals are transmitted in the uplink time slot. In this case, since both the Passive IoT uplink and LTE uplink signals are transmitted in the uplink time slot, the uplink offset of the Passive IoT uplink carrier and the downlink offset of the Passive IoT downlink carrier are both 7.5kHz. If it is determined that the uplink time slot is not used for LTE uplink communication, then both the uplink and downlink offsets can be 0. Optionally, the NR uplink carrier is similar to the Passive IoT uplink carrier, and the uplink offset of the NR uplink carrier is the same as the uplink offset of the Passive IoT uplink carrier.

[0285] Optionally, in any of the above examples, in the Passive IoT scenario, the downlink signal carried by the downlink frequency unit can be a carrier signal or downlink signaling / data.

[0286] Understandably, the uplink offset of the aforementioned uplink frequency unit can be the RF reference frequency (F) corresponding to the uplink frequency unit. RERSimilarly, the downlink offset of a downlink frequency unit can be the offset of the RF reference frequency corresponding to the downlink frequency unit.

[0287] For example, the first device can determine the downlink frequency unit based on the downlink frequency position and the downlink offset. For instance, the first device determines the downlink frequency unit based on the sum of the downlink frequency position and the downlink offset, where the uplink offset can be a positive or negative value.

[0288] For example, the first device can determine the uplink frequency unit based on the uplink frequency position and the uplink offset. For instance, the first device determines the uplink frequency unit based on the sum of the uplink frequency position and the uplink offset. Alternatively, the first device can determine the uplink frequency unit based on the downlink frequency position, the uplink offset, and the frequency domain interval between the uplink and downlink frequency positions. For instance, the first device determines the uplink frequency unit based on the sum of the downlink frequency domain position, the uplink offset, and the frequency domain interval between the uplink and downlink frequency positions. Here, the uplink offset can be positive or negative, and the frequency domain interval between the uplink and downlink frequency positions can be positive or negative.

[0289] The aforementioned downlink frequency position, downlink offset, uplink frequency position, uplink offset, and frequency domain interval between the uplink frequency position and the downlink frequency position, wherein each frequency information can be determined by the first device, configured by the fourth device to the first device, or defined by the protocol, so that the first device can determine the first frequency unit based on some or all of the frequency information.

[0290] Optionally, the fourth device may send second configuration information to the first device, the second configuration information being used to indicate at least one of the following: downlink frequency position, downlink offset, uplink frequency position, uplink offset, and frequency domain spacing between the uplink frequency position and the downlink frequency position.

[0291] For example, the first device can be implemented as a base station and the fourth device can be implemented as a macro base station, or the first device can be implemented as a terminal device and the fourth device can be implemented as a base station.

[0292] The second device can receive the first configuration information sent by the first device, and the second device can determine the first frequency unit based on the first configuration information.

[0293] In some embodiments, the first configuration information may indicate a downlink frequency unit on which the second device may receive downlink signals from the first device.

[0294] In other embodiments, the first configuration information may indicate the frequency domain spacing, downlink frequency unit, and uplink offset between the downlink and uplink frequency positions. The second device may determine the uplink frequency unit based on the frequency domain spacing, downlink frequency unit, and uplink offset between the downlink and uplink frequency positions. For example, the second device may determine the uplink frequency unit based on the sum of the frequency domain spacing, downlink frequency unit, and uplink offset between the downlink and uplink frequency positions.

[0295] In some other embodiments, the first configuration information may indicate an uplink frequency unit on which the second device may send an uplink signal to the first device.

[0296] It should be noted that some or all of the frequency information in the aforementioned downlink frequency unit, uplink frequency unit, frequency domain interval between downlink frequency position and uplink frequency position, downlink frequency unit and uplink offset can also be defined by the protocol, or can be predefined in the second device. In this case, the first configuration information may not include some or all of the frequency information defined by the protocol and predefined in the second device.

[0297] In the above Figure 11 In the illustrated embodiment, the first device determines the first frequency unit based on the uplink offset and / or downlink offset to avoid the situation where the subcarriers of the first frequency unit are misaligned with the subcarrier boundaries of other communication systems (such as the LTE system) (i.e., the subcarriers are not orthogonal), which would cause mutual interference between the transmitted data of each communication system.

[0298] As previously mentioned, in Passive IoT communication scenarios, firstly, because Passive IoT uses reflection communication for uplink transmission—meaning the second device simultaneously receives downlink carrier signals while transmitting uplink reflected signals—the uplink transmission signal and the downlink carrier signal overlap in the time domain. This means that both the uplink transmission signal and the downlink carrier signal may be located within the uplink time domain resources of the TDD transmission band or both within the downlink time domain resources of the TDD transmission frequency point. Secondly, the second device's ability to frequency shift the uplink reflected signal relative to the downlink carrier signal is limited. In other words, when the second device's frequency shifting capability is low, the uplink frequency unit carrying the uplink signal and the downlink frequency unit carrying the downlink signal may both be located within the uplink transmission band or both within the downlink transmission band. Both of these aspects can lead to signal interference problems due to the misalignment of transmission and reception between Passive IoT and NR.

[0299] To address the aforementioned issues, this embodiment considers deploying frequency units transmitting in a different direction than the second frequency unit within a guard band to avoid the problem of the first and second frequency units transmitting and receiving in different directions. See [link to relevant documentation] Figures 14a to 14d .

[0300] See Figure 14a The second frequency unit is a frequency unit used for uplink transmission. In other words, the second frequency unit is located in the uplink transmission frequency band. In this case, the uplink frequency unit in the first frequency unit is in the same direction as the second frequency unit. The uplink frequency unit can be located within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit. The downlink frequency unit in the first frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit because it is not in the same direction as the second frequency unit.

[0301] See Figure 14b The second frequency unit is a frequency unit used for downlink transmission; in other words, the second frequency unit is located in the downlink transmission frequency band. Since the uplink frequency unit in the first frequency unit is not in the same direction as the second frequency unit, it can be located within the guard band of the second frequency unit. Conversely, since the downlink frequency unit in the first frequency unit is in the same direction as the second frequency unit, it can be located within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit.

[0302] See Figure 14c The first frequency unit is located in the TDD operating frequency band. The downlink signal transmitted by the downlink frequency unit and the uplink signal corresponding to the downlink signal transmitted by the uplink frequency unit both occupy downlink time domain resources. The downlink frequency unit is located within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the uplink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit.

[0303] See Figure 14d The first frequency unit is located in the TDD operating frequency band. The downlink signal transmitted by the downlink frequency unit and the uplink signal corresponding to the downlink signal transmitted by the uplink frequency unit both occupy uplink time domain resources. The downlink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit, and the uplink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit.

[0304] In this embodiment, for various scenarios where there may be problems with transmission and reception in different directions, the downlink frequency unit and uplink frequency unit in the first frequency unit are deployed within the transmission bandwidth or guard band of the second frequency unit, respectively, to avoid signal interference between the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit due to transmission and reception in different directions.

[0305] The above, combined with Figures 8 to 14d The methods provided in the embodiments of this application are described in detail below. Figures 15 to 16 The apparatus provided in the embodiments of this application will be described in detail.

[0306] Figure 15 This is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 15 As shown, the device 600 may include a transceiver unit 610 and a processing unit 620.

[0307] Optionally, the communication device 600 may correspond to the first device in the above method embodiments. For example, it may be the first device or a component (such as a chip or chip system) configured in the first device.

[0308] It should be understood that the communication device 600 may correspond to the embodiments according to this application. Figure 8 and Figure 11 The first device in the method shown, the communication device 600, may include tools for performing... Figure 8 and Figure 11 The method is a unit executed by the first device in the method. Furthermore, each unit in the communication device 600 and the aforementioned other operations and / or functions are respectively for implementing... Figure 8 and Figure 11 The corresponding process of the method in [the document / section].

[0309] The communication device 600 may include a transceiver unit 610 and a processing unit 620. The transceiver unit 610 performs information transmission and reception related processing, while the processing unit 620 performs other processing besides information transmission and reception.

[0310] For example, when the communication device 600 is used to perform Figure 8 and Figure 11 In the method described above, the processing unit 620 can be used to determine a first frequency unit; the transceiver unit 610 can be used to communicate with a second device on the first frequency unit; wherein the granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit is less than or equal to the granularity of the second channel grid corresponding to the second frequency unit, the second frequency unit is used for communication between the communication device and the third device, and the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit are located in the same operating frequency band.

[0311] The communication device 600 may also correspond to the second device in the above method embodiments. For example, it may be a second device or a component (such as a chip or chip system) configured in the second device.

[0312] The transceiver unit 610 in the communication device 600 can be implemented using a transceiver, for example, it can correspond to... Figure 16 The transceiver 710 in the communication device 700 shown, and the processing unit 620 in the communication device 600, can be implemented by at least one processor, for example, corresponding to Figure 16 The processor 720 in the communication device 700 shown in the figure.

[0313] When the communication device 600 is a chip or chip system configured in a communication device (such as a first device or a second device), the transceiver unit 610 in the communication device 600 can be implemented through input / output interfaces, circuits, etc., and the processing unit 620 in the communication device 600 can be implemented through a processor, microprocessor, or integrated circuit integrated on the chip or chip system.

[0314] Figure 16 This is another schematic block diagram of the communication device provided in the embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 16 As shown, the communication device 700 may include a transceiver 710, a processor 720, and a memory 730. The transceiver 710, processor 720, and memory 730 communicate with each other via an internal connection. The memory 730 stores instructions, and the processor 720 executes the instructions stored in the memory 730 to control the transceiver 710 to transmit and / or receive signals.

[0315] It should be understood that the communication device 700 may correspond to the first device or the second device in the above method embodiments, and may be used to execute the various steps and / or processes executed by the first device or the second device in the above method embodiments. Optionally, the memory 730 may include read-only memory and random access memory, and provide instructions and data to the processor. A portion of the memory may also include non-volatile random access memory. The memory 730 may be a separate device or integrated into the processor 720. The processor 720 may be used to execute instructions stored in the memory 730, and when the processor 720 executes instructions stored in the memory, the processor 720 is used to execute the various steps and / or processes of the above method embodiments corresponding to the first device or the second device.

[0316] Optionally, the communication device 700 is the first device in the preceding embodiments.

[0317] Optionally, the communication device 700 is the second device in the preceding embodiments.

[0318] The transceiver 710 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 710 may further include an antenna, and the number of antennas may be one or more. The processor 720 and memory 730 may be integrated with the transceiver 710 on different chips. For example, the processor 720 and memory 730 may be integrated in a baseband chip, and the transceiver 710 may be integrated in a radio frequency chip. Alternatively, the processor 720 and memory 730 may be integrated with the transceiver 710 on the same chip. This application does not limit this.

[0319] Optionally, the communication device 700 is a component configured in the first device, such as a chip, chip system, etc.

[0320] Optionally, the communication device 700 is a component configured in the second device, such as a chip, chip system, etc.

[0321] The transceiver 720 can also be a communication interface, such as an input / output interface or circuit. The transceiver 720, processor 710, and memory 730 can all be integrated into the same chip, such as within a baseband chip.

[0322] This application also provides a processing apparatus including at least one processor, the at least one processor being configured to execute a computer program stored in a memory, such that the processing apparatus performs the method executed by the first apparatus in the above method embodiments, or by a second apparatus.

[0323] This application also provides a processing apparatus, including a processor and an input / output interface. The input / output interface is coupled to the processor. The input / output interface is used for inputting and / or outputting information. The information includes at least one of instructions and data. The processor is used to execute a computer program to cause the processing apparatus to perform the method executed by the first device in the above method embodiments, as in the second device.

[0324] This application also provides a processing apparatus, including a processor and a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program from the memory, so that the processing apparatus performs the method executed by the first device in the above method embodiments.

[0325] It should be understood that the aforementioned processing device can be one or more chips. For example, the processing device can be a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a system-on-chip (SoC), a central processor unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a programmable logic device (PLD), or other integrated chips.

[0326] It should be noted that the processor in the embodiments of this application can be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. During implementation, each step of the above method embodiments can be completed by integrated logic circuits in the processor's hardware or by instructions in software form. The processor described above can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components. It can implement or execute the methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of this application. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc.

[0327] It is understood that the memory in the embodiments of this application can be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. The volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous linked dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory used in the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0328] According to the method provided in the embodiments of this application, this application also provides a computer program product, which includes: computer program code, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method executed by the first device or the second device in the above method embodiments.

[0329] According to the method provided in the embodiments of this application, this application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing program code, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method executed by the first device or the second device in the above method embodiments.

[0330] According to the method provided in the embodiments of this application, this application also provides a communication system, which may include the aforementioned first device and second device.

[0331] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0332] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: Applied to passive Internet of Things (IoT), the method includes: The base station determines the first frequency unit; The base station communicates with the first terminal device on the first frequency unit; Wherein, the granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit is smaller than the granularity of the second channel grid corresponding to the second frequency unit. The second frequency unit is used for communication between the base station and the second terminal device. The first frequency unit and the second frequency unit are located in the same working frequency band. Within the same working frequency band, the granularity of the second channel grid is 100kHz, and the granularity of the first channel grid is 10kHz.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further includes: The base station sends first configuration information to the first terminal device, the first configuration information being used to indicate at least one of the following: Upward offset; The frequency domain spacing between the downlink frequency position and the uplink frequency position; Uplink frequency unit.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, The frequency position of the first channel grid in the first frequency unit corresponds to the frequency position of a resource element in the first frequency unit, and the index of the resource element in the frequency domain is determined according to the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit or the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The resource blocks of the first frequency unit and the resource blocks of the second frequency unit are aligned at their boundaries, or the subcarriers of the first frequency unit and the subcarriers of the second frequency unit are aligned at their boundaries.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The first frequency unit is included within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the resource blocks of the first frequency unit and the resource blocks of the second frequency unit are aligned. or, The first frequency unit is included within the guard band of the second frequency unit, and the subcarriers of the first frequency unit and the subcarriers of the second frequency unit are aligned at their boundaries. or, The first frequency unit is not included in the second frequency unit, the frequency domain spacing between the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit is less than a threshold, and the subcarriers of the first frequency unit and the subcarriers of the second frequency unit are aligned.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The granularity of the first channel grid is determined according to at least one of the following: The deployment mode of the first frequency unit; The subcarrier spacing of the first frequency unit.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The radio frequency reference frequency F corresponding to the first frequency unit REF Satisfy: F REF = F REF-Offs + ΔF Global (N REF – N REF-Offs ) + offset; where F REF-Offs ΔF is the radio frequency reference frequency offset value. Global N represents the granularity of the global channel grid. REF The new air interface absolute radio frequency channel number is NR-ARFCN, N REF-Offs 'offset' is the NR-ARFCN offset value, where offset is the frequency offset. The offset value is one of the following values ​​in kHz: {-50, -45, -40, -35, -30, -25, -20, -15, -10, -5, 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50}.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The first frequency unit includes an uplink frequency unit for transmitting uplink signals, and / or a downlink frequency unit for transmitting downlink signals; The base station determines the first frequency unit, including: The base station determines the uplink frequency unit based on the uplink frequency position and uplink offset; and / or, The base station determines the downlink frequency unit based on the downlink frequency position and downlink offset; Before the base station determines the first frequency unit, the following steps are included: The base station determines the uplink offset and / or the downlink offset based on at least one of the following: the frequency band type where the downlink frequency unit is located, the first capability of the first terminal device, the type of the first terminal device, the time domain resource type where the signal carried by the downlink frequency unit is located, and the time domain resource type where the signal carried by the uplink frequency unit is located. The first capability is whether it supports shifting the uplink signal to an uplink transmission frequency band outside the downlink transmission frequency band where the downlink frequency unit is located.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The downlink frequency unit is located in the downlink transmission frequency band. The first capability is to support shifting the uplink signal to an uplink transmission band outside the downlink transmission band, wherein the uplink offset is a first value or a second value; or, the first capability is not to support shifting the uplink signal to an uplink transmission band outside the downlink transmission band, wherein the uplink offset is the first value. Alternatively, the downlink frequency unit may be located in the uplink transmission band. Both the downlink offset and the uplink offset are either a first value or a second value.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, The downlink transmission band and the uplink transmission band are located in the same operating frequency band.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that, The uplink transmission frequency band is used for LTE uplink communication, and the uplink offset is a second value; or... The uplink transmission frequency band is not used for LTE uplink communication, and the uplink offset is a first value.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The first frequency unit is located in the TDD operating frequency band. The downlink signal occupies downlink time domain resources, and the uplink signal occupies uplink time domain resources. The downlink offset and the uplink offset are both a first value or a second value; or Both the downlink signal and the uplink signal occupy downlink time domain resources, and both the downlink offset and the uplink offset are first values; or Both the downlink signal and the uplink signal occupy uplink time domain resources, and both the downlink offset and the uplink offset are either a first value or a second value.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The uplink time domain resources are used for LTE uplink communication, and the downlink offset and the uplink offset are second values; or, The uplink time domain resources are not used for LTE uplink communication, and the downlink offset and the uplink offset are first values.

14. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein, The first value is 0, and the second value is 7.5 kHz.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The second frequency unit is located in the uplink transmission band, the uplink frequency unit in the first frequency unit is located within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the downlink frequency unit in the first frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit; or, The second frequency unit is located in the downlink transmission band, the downlink frequency unit is located within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the uplink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit; or, The first frequency unit is located in the TDD operating frequency band. The downlink signal transmitted by the downlink frequency unit and the uplink signal corresponding to the downlink signal transmitted by the uplink frequency unit both occupy downlink time-domain resources. The downlink frequency unit is located within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the uplink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit; or... The first frequency unit is located in the TDD operating frequency band. The downlink signal transmitted by the downlink frequency unit and the uplink signal corresponding to the downlink signal transmitted by the uplink frequency unit both occupy uplink time domain resources. The downlink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit, and the uplink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit.

16. A communications device, characterized by Applications in passive Internet of Things (IoT) include: Processing unit, used to determine the first frequency unit; A transceiver unit is used to communicate with a first terminal device on the first frequency unit; Wherein, the granularity of the first channel grid corresponding to the first frequency unit is smaller than the granularity of the second channel grid corresponding to the second frequency unit. The second frequency unit is used for communication between the communication device and the second terminal device. The first frequency unit and the second frequency unit are located in the same operating frequency band. Within the same operating frequency band, the granularity of the second channel grid is 100kHz, and the granularity of the first channel grid is 10kHz.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein, The transceiver unit is also used for: Send first configuration information to the first terminal device, wherein the first configuration information is used to indicate at least one of the following: Upward offset; The frequency domain spacing between the downlink frequency position and the uplink frequency position; Uplink frequency unit.

18. The communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein The frequency position of the first channel grid in the first frequency unit corresponds to the frequency position of a resource element in the first frequency unit, and the index of the resource element in the frequency domain is determined according to the transmission bandwidth of the first frequency unit or the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit.

19. The communication apparatus according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that, The resource blocks of the first frequency unit and the resource blocks of the second frequency unit are aligned at their boundaries, or the subcarriers of the first frequency unit and the subcarriers of the second frequency unit are aligned at their boundaries.

20. The communication device according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that, The first frequency unit is included within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the resource blocks of the first frequency unit and the resource blocks of the second frequency unit are aligned. or, The first frequency unit is included within the guard band of the second frequency unit, and the subcarriers of the first frequency unit and the subcarriers of the second frequency unit are aligned at their boundaries. or, The first frequency unit is not included in the second frequency unit, the frequency domain spacing between the first frequency unit and the second frequency unit is less than a threshold, and the subcarriers of the first frequency unit and the subcarriers of the second frequency unit are aligned.

21. The communication apparatus according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that, The granularity of the first channel grid is determined according to at least one of the following: The deployment mode of the first frequency unit; The subcarrier spacing of the first frequency unit.

22. The communication apparatus according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that, The radio frequency reference frequency F corresponding to the first frequency unit REF Satisfy: F REF = F REF-Offs + ΔF Global (N REF – N REF-Offs ) + offset; where F REF-Offs ΔF is the radio frequency reference frequency offset value. Global N represents the granularity of the global channel grid. REF The new air interface absolute radio frequency channel number is NR-ARFCN, N REF-Offs 'offset' is the NR-ARFCN offset value, where offset is the frequency offset. The offset value can be any one of the following: {-50, -45, -40, -35, -30, -25, -20, -15, -10, -5, 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50}kHz.

23. The communication apparatus according to any one of claims 16-18, wherein, The first frequency unit includes an uplink frequency unit for transmitting uplink signals, and / or a downlink frequency unit for transmitting downlink signals; The communication device determines the first frequency unit, including: The communication device determines the uplink frequency unit based on the uplink frequency position and uplink offset; and / or, The communication device determines the downlink frequency unit based on the downlink frequency position and downlink offset; Before the communication device determines the first frequency unit, it includes: The communication device determines the uplink offset and / or the downlink offset based on at least one of the following: the frequency band type where the downlink frequency unit is located, the first capability of the first terminal device, the type of the first terminal device, the time domain resource type where the signal carried by the downlink frequency unit is located, and the time domain resource type where the signal carried by the uplink frequency unit is located. The first capability is whether it supports shifting the uplink signal to an uplink transmission frequency band outside the downlink transmission frequency band where the downlink frequency unit is located.

24. The communication device according to claim 23, characterized in that, The downlink frequency unit is located in the downlink transmission frequency band. The first capability is to support shifting the uplink signal to an uplink transmission band outside the downlink transmission band, wherein the uplink offset is a first value or a second value; or, the first capability is not to support shifting the uplink signal to an uplink transmission band outside the downlink transmission band, wherein the uplink offset is the first value. Alternatively, the downlink frequency unit may be located in the uplink transmission band. Both the downlink offset and the uplink offset are either a first value or a second value.

25. The communication apparatus according to claim 24, wherein The downlink transmission band and the uplink transmission band are located in the same operating frequency band.

26. The communication device according to claim 24 or 25, characterized in that, The uplink transmission frequency band is used for LTE uplink communication, and the uplink offset is a second value; or... The uplink transmission frequency band is not used for LTE uplink communication, and the uplink offset is a first value.

27. The communication device according to claim 26, characterized in that, The first frequency unit is located in the TDD operating frequency band. The downlink signal occupies downlink time domain resources, and the uplink signal occupies uplink time domain resources. The downlink offset and the uplink offset are both a first value or a second value; or Both the downlink signal and the uplink signal occupy downlink time domain resources, and both the downlink offset and the uplink offset are first values; or Both the downlink signal and the uplink signal occupy uplink time domain resources, and both the downlink offset and the uplink offset are either a first value or a second value.

28. The communication device according to claim 27, characterized in that, The uplink time domain resources are used for LTE uplink communication, and the downlink offset and the uplink offset are second values; or, The uplink time domain resources are not used for LTE uplink communication, and the downlink offset and the uplink offset are first values.

29. The communication apparatus according to claim 24 or 25, wherein, The first value is 0, and the second value is 7.5 kHz.

30. The communication device according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that, The second frequency unit is located in the uplink transmission band, the uplink frequency unit in the first frequency unit is located within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the downlink frequency unit in the first frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit; or, The second frequency unit is located in the downlink transmission band, the downlink frequency unit is located within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the uplink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit; or, The first frequency unit is located in the TDD operating frequency band. The downlink signal transmitted by the downlink frequency unit and the uplink signal corresponding to the downlink signal transmitted by the uplink frequency unit both occupy downlink time-domain resources. The downlink frequency unit is located within the transmission bandwidth of the second frequency unit, and the uplink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit; or... The first frequency unit is located in the TDD operating frequency band. The downlink signal transmitted by the downlink frequency unit and the uplink signal corresponding to the downlink signal transmitted by the uplink frequency unit both occupy uplink time domain resources. The downlink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit, and the uplink frequency unit is located within the guard band of the second frequency unit.

31. A chip, characterized by include: A processor for retrieving and executing computer instructions from memory, causing a device having the chip mounted to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 15.

32. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising: Used to store computer program instructions, the computer program causing the computer to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 15.

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