Communication method, device and system and storage medium

Abstract

The invention discloses a communication method, device and system and a storage medium. According to the invention, the system information and the synchronization sequence are sent in the same information block, so that the time delay of initiating the random access by the terminal equipment can be reduced, and the efficiency of the random access is improved; or the network equipment sends at least one information block at a position which is separated from the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, and the at least one information block carries necessary information for the terminal equipment to initiate the random access and the position information of the network side, so that the terminal equipment can access the cell in time, and the access time delay is reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method, device, system and storage medium. Background Art

[0002] The ultimate wide coverage communication system can support wider business coverage. For example, in the non-terrestrial networks (NTN) communication system, satellites / high-altitude platforms as access network equipment of the NTN system can cover a large area to provide communication services for some areas such as oceans and forests.

[0003] In the initial access phase, the access network equipment in the NTN system needs to scan all beams in turn and configure random access resources for the terminal device. The access network equipment can broadcast different synchronization signals / physical broadcast channel blocks (SS / PBCH block or SSB) for different communication areas, and distinguish them by the index number (index) of the SSB. After receiving the SSB, the terminal device completes timing synchronization and confirms the time-frequency position of the system information block 1 (system information block1, SIB1) according to the information indication in the SSB and completes the parsing of SIB1 to obtain the cell information. According to the search space of the system information block 19 (system information block19, SIB19) configured in SIB1, SIB19 is detected and data parsed to obtain the satellite's ephemeris information. After obtaining the cell information and / or ephemeris information, the terminal device initiates random access in the corresponding uplink resource according to the configuration information and SSB index in SIB1 and / or SIB19.

[0004] The above initial access process needs to obtain SSB first, and then obtain cell information from SIB1. Two steps of information acquisition are required, which produces a certain delay and affects the access delay.

[0005] In view of this, in the extremely wide coverage communication scenario, the network changes rapidly, and how to reduce the access delay of terminal devices is an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the invention

[0006] The present application provides a communication method, apparatus, system and storage medium to reduce the access delay of terminal equipment.

[0007] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, wherein the method is implemented by a terminal device or a chip or circuit used for the terminal device.

[0008] The method comprises: receiving an information block in a time slot, wherein the information block comprises a synchronization sequence and system information, wherein the system information comprises location information of a network device and configuration information of random access; and initiating random access to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence based on the system information. By adopting this method, by sending the system information including the location information of the network device and the synchronization sequence in the same information block, the delay of the terminal device initiating random access can be reduced, thereby improving the efficiency of random access.

[0009] In one possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving a random access response sent by the network device with a beam of a first beam width; sending a message 3 during a random access process; receiving a message 4 sent by the network device with a beam of the first beam width; and sending a message 5 during a random access process.

[0010] In another possible implementation, the information block is a plurality of information blocks, and the plurality of information blocks are continuous in the time domain. With this implementation, the plurality of information blocks are configured to be continuous in the time domain, so that when the terminal device searches for the information block, the plurality of information blocks can be collected in the centralized time domain to determine the information block to be used. The centralized pattern design reduces the access delay of the terminal device, so that the terminal device can access earlier. The centralized information block provides system information of multiple continuous time slots, and the terminal device can perform joint demodulation and reception of system information of adjacent time slots, thereby improving performance.

[0011] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, wherein the method is implemented by a network device or a chip or circuit used for a network device.

[0012] The method comprises: sending an information block in a time slot, wherein the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information, and the system information includes location information of a network device and configuration information of random access; and receiving a random access initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence based on the system information. By adopting this method, by sending the system information including the location information of the network device and the synchronization sequence in the same information block, the delay of the terminal device initiating random access can be reduced, thereby improving the efficiency of random access.

[0013] In one possible implementation, the method also includes: sending a random access response with a beam of a first beam width; receiving a message 3 in the random access process on a beam of the first beam width; sending a message 4 on a beam of the first beam width; and receiving a message 5 in the random access process on the first beam width.

[0014] In another possible implementation, the information block is a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks are continuous in the time domain, and the plurality of information blocks correspond to a plurality of network coverage ranges. With this implementation, the plurality of information blocks are configured to be continuous in the time domain, so that when the terminal device searches for information blocks, the plurality of information blocks can be collected in the centralized time domain to determine the information block to be used. The centralized pattern design reduces the access delay of the terminal device, allowing the terminal device to access earlier. The centralized information block provides system information of multiple continuous time slots, and the terminal device can perform joint demodulation and reception of system information of adjacent time slots, thereby improving performance.

[0015] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any one implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the information block is carried on a first beam, and a beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width. With this implementation, the information block can be sent through a wide beam.

[0016] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any one implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the network coverage corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage of the beam sent with the first beam width.

[0017] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any one of the implementations of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the bandwidth corresponding to the information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks. With this implementation, the system information occupies a small bandwidth in the frequency domain, and the link budget of the downlink transmission can be increased by power aggregation, thereby increasing the number of information bits that can be transmitted.

[0018] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any one of the implementations of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, in the information block, the synchronization sequence and the system information are continuous in the time domain, and the time domain position of the synchronization sequence is located before the time domain position of the system information. With this implementation, the synchronization sequence is used for timing and synchronization and is placed at the beginning of the time slot to ensure that the sequence detection is completed as soon as possible. And the synchronization sequences are placed centrally, which can free up more continuous time domain resources for the subsequent transmission of system information. The system information occupies continuous time domain resources, and more resources can be used to transmit the system information required for access, thereby increasing the number of information bits that can be transmitted.

[0019] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any one of the implementations of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the information block further includes multiple demodulation reference signals, and the multiple demodulation reference signals are used to demodulate the system information. With this implementation, considering that the time-frequency offset may be too large under extreme wide coverage, multiple demodulation reference signals are required for joint demodulation, performance optimization, and improved transmission performance.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any one of the implementations of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel. With this implementation, the information block is carried on the physical downlink shared channel, which can carry more transmission bits than the existing MIB transmission through the control channel.

[0021] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any one implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the system information also includes at least one of the following: general configuration of uplink transmission, general configuration of downlink transmission, the number of the information blocks, the period of the information blocks, and the pattern of the information blocks.

[0022] According to a third aspect, a communication method is provided, wherein the method is implemented by a terminal device or a chip or circuit used for a terminal device.

[0023] The method includes: receiving at least one information block in a time slot, wherein each of the at least one information block includes the location information of the network device and the configuration information of the random access, and the information block is separated from the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and based on each information block, initiating random access to the cell synchronized with the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block. With this method, the terminal device receives at least one information block sent by the network device at a position separated from the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, and the at least one information block carries the necessary information for the terminal device to initiate random access, so that the terminal device can access the cell in time and reduce the access delay.

[0024] In one possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving a random access response sent by the network device with a beam of a first beam width; sending a message 3 during a random access process; receiving a message 4 sent by the network device with a beam of the first beam width; and sending a message 5 during a random access process.

[0025] In another possible implementation, the at least one information block is continuous in the time domain. With this implementation, at least one information block is configured to be continuous in the time domain, so that when the terminal device searches for information blocks, it can collect all the information blocks in the centralized time domain and determine the information block to be used. The centralized pattern design reduces the access delay of the terminal device, allowing the terminal device to access earlier. The centralized information block provides system information of multiple consecutive time slots, and the terminal device can perform joint demodulation and reception of system information of adjacent time slots, thereby improving performance.

[0026] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, wherein the method is implemented by a network device or a chip or circuit used for a network device.

[0027] The method includes: sending at least one information block in a time slot, wherein each information block in the at least one information block includes the location information of the network device and the configuration information of the random access, and the information block is separated from the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and based on each information block, receiving the random access initiated to the cell synchronized based on the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block. Using this method, the network device sends at least one information block at a position separated from the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, and the at least one information block carries the necessary information for the terminal device to initiate the random access, so that the terminal device can access the cell in time and reduce the access delay.

[0028] In one possible implementation, the method also includes: sending a random access response with a beam of a first beam width; receiving a message 3 in the random access process on a beam of the first beam width; sending a message 4 on a beam of the first beam width; and receiving a message 5 in the random access process on the first beam width.

[0029] In another possible implementation, the at least one information block is continuous in the time domain, and the at least one information block corresponds to at least one network coverage range. With this implementation, multiple information blocks are configured to be continuous in the time domain, so that when the terminal device searches for information blocks, it can collect all the multiple information blocks in the centralized time domain and determine the information block to be used. The centralized pattern design reduces the access delay of the terminal device, allowing the terminal device to access earlier. The centralized information block provides system information of multiple consecutive time slots, and the terminal device can perform joint demodulation and reception of system information of adjacent time slots, thereby improving performance.

[0030] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one of the implementations of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is used to indicate the time-frequency resource position of each information block. With this implementation, unlike the existing synchronization signal / broadcast signal block, in this implementation, the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block can be used to indicate the time-frequency resource position of the corresponding information block. After the terminal device receives the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block, it can determine the time-frequency resource position of the information block corresponding to the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block based on the information carried in the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block.

[0031] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one of the implementations of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is used to indicate the index of the time domain offset value and / or the index of the frequency domain offset value, the time domain offset value is the time domain offset value between each information block and the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block corresponding to each information block, and the frequency domain offset value is the offset value of the frequency domain starting or ending position between each information block and the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block corresponding to each information block. Exemplarily, the time domain offset value may be a time slot offset value. With this implementation, the time domain position of the information block corresponding to the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block may be indicated by several bits in the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block, and the frequency domain position of the information block corresponding to the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block may be indicated by several bits in the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block.

[0032] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one of the implementations of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, each information block is carried on a first beam, and a beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width. With this implementation, at least one information block is sent through a wide beam, which can improve coverage performance.

[0033] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one implementation of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, the network coverage corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage of the beam sent with the first beam width.

[0034] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one of the implementations of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, the bandwidth corresponding to each information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks. With this implementation, the information block occupies a small bandwidth in the frequency domain, and the link budget of the downlink transmission can be increased by power aggregation, thereby increasing the number of information bits that can be transmitted.

[0035] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one implementation of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, each information block also includes multiple demodulation reference signals, and the multiple demodulation reference signals are used to demodulate the system information.

[0036] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one of the implementations of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, the at least one information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel. With this implementation, the at least one information block is carried by the physical downlink shared channel, which can carry more transmission bits than the existing MIB transmission through the control channel.

[0037] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one implementation of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, each of the information blocks also includes at least one of the following: a general configuration for uplink transmission, a general configuration for downlink transmission, the number of the information blocks, the period of the information blocks, and the pattern of the information blocks.

[0038] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device can implement the method in the first aspect. For example, the communication device can be a chip or a terminal device. The method can be implemented by software, hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software.

[0039] In one possible implementation, the device includes: a transceiver unit and a processing unit; wherein: the transceiver unit is used to receive an information block in a time slot, wherein the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information, and the system information includes location information of a network device and configuration information of random access; and the transceiver unit is also used to initiate random access to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence based on the system information.

[0040] Optionally, the transceiver unit is also used to receive a random access response sent by the network device with a beam of a first beam width; the transceiver unit is also used to send message 3 during the random access process; the transceiver unit is also used to receive message 4 sent by the network device with a beam of the first beam width; and the transceiver unit is also used to send message 5 during the random access process.

[0041] Optionally, the multiple information blocks are continuous in the time domain.

[0042] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device can implement the method in the second aspect. For example, the communication device can be a chip or a terminal device. The method can be implemented by software, hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software.

[0043] In one possible implementation, the device includes: a transceiver unit and a processing unit; wherein: the transceiver unit is used to send an information block in a time slot, wherein the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information, and the system information includes location information of a network device and configuration information of random access; and the transceiver unit is also used to receive, based on the system information, a random access initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence.

[0044] Optionally, the transceiver unit is also used to send a random access response using a beam of a first beam width; the transceiver unit is also used to receive a message 3 in a random access process on a beam of the first beam width; the transceiver unit is also used to send a message 4 on a beam of the first beam width; and the transceiver unit is also used to receive a message 5 in a random access process on the first beam width.

[0045] In combination with any implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the information block is carried on a first beam, and a beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width.

[0046] In combination with any one of the implementations of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the network coverage corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage of the beam sent with the first beam width.

[0047] In combination with the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or any one implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the information block is a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks are continuous in the time domain, and the plurality of information blocks correspond to a plurality of network coverage ranges.

[0048] In combination with the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or any implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the bandwidth corresponding to the information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks.

[0049] In combination with the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or any one implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, in the information block, the synchronization sequence and the system information are continuous in time domain, and the time domain position of the synchronization sequence is located before the time domain position of the system information.

[0050] In combination with the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or any one implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the information block also includes multiple demodulation reference signals, and the multiple demodulation reference signals are used to demodulate the system information.

[0051] In combination with the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or any one implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

[0052] In combination with the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or any one implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the system information also includes at least one of the following: general configuration of uplink transmission, general configuration of downlink transmission, the number of the information blocks, the period of the information blocks, and the pattern of the information blocks.

[0053] In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device can implement the method in the third aspect. For example, the communication device can be a chip or a terminal device. The method can be implemented by software, hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software.

[0054] In one possible implementation, the device includes: a transceiver unit and a processing unit; wherein: the transceiver unit is used to receive at least one information block in a time slot, wherein each of the at least one information block includes location information of a network device and configuration information of random access, and the information block is separated from a synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and the transceiver unit is also used to initiate random access to a cell synchronized with the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block based on each information block.

[0055] Optionally, the transceiver unit is also used to receive a random access response sent by the network device with a beam of a first beam width; the transceiver unit is also used to send message 3 during the random access process; the transceiver unit is also used to receive message 4 sent by the network device with a beam of the first beam width; and the transceiver unit is also used to send message 5 during the random access process.

[0056] Optionally, the at least one information block is continuous in the time domain.

[0057] In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device can implement the method in the fourth aspect. For example, the communication device can be a chip or a terminal device. The method can be implemented by software, hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software.

[0058] In one possible implementation, the device includes: a transceiver unit and a processing unit; wherein: the transceiver unit is used to send at least one information block in a time slot, wherein each of the at least one information block includes location information of a network device and configuration information of random access, and the information block is spaced N time units from a synchronization signal / broadcast signal block, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and the transceiver unit is also used to receive, based on each information block, a random access initiated to a cell synchronized with the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block.

[0059] Optionally, the transceiver unit is also used to send a random access response using a beam of a first beam width; the transceiver unit is also used to receive a message 3 in a random access process on a beam of the first beam width; the transceiver unit is also used to send a message 4 on a beam of the first beam width; and the transceiver unit is also used to receive a message 5 in a random access process on the first beam width.

[0060] Optionally, the at least one information block is continuous in the time domain, and the at least one information block corresponds to at least one network coverage range respectively.

[0061] In combination with the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or any one implementation of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is used to indicate the time-frequency resource position of each information block.

[0062] In combination with the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or any one of the implementations of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is used to indicate the index of the time domain offset value and / or the index of the frequency domain offset value, the time domain offset value is the time domain offset value between each information block and the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block corresponding to each information block, and the frequency domain offset value is the offset value of the frequency domain starting or ending position between each information block and the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block corresponding to each information block. Exemplarily, the time domain offset value may be a time slot offset value.

[0063] In combination with the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or any one implementation of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, each information block is carried on a first beam, and a beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width.

[0064] In combination with any one of the implementations of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, the network coverage corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage of the beam sent with the first beam width.

[0065] In combination with the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or any implementation of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, the bandwidth corresponding to each information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks.

[0066] In combination with the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or any one implementation of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, each information block also includes multiple demodulation reference signals, and the multiple demodulation reference signals are used to demodulate the system information.

[0067] In combination with the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or any one implementation of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, the at least one information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

[0068] In combination with the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or any one of the implementations of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, each of the information blocks also includes at least one of the following: a general configuration for uplink transmission, a general configuration for downlink transmission, the number of the information blocks, the period of the information blocks, and the pattern of the information blocks.

[0069] In another possible implementation, the communication device in the fifth to eighth aspects is used to execute the methods in the above aspects and their various possible implementations.

[0070] In another possible implementation, the communication device in the fifth to eighth aspects above includes a processor coupled to a memory; the processor is configured to support the device in performing the corresponding functions in the above communication method. The memory is used to couple with the processor, which stores the necessary computer programs (or computer executable instructions) and / or data for the device. Optionally, the communication device may also include a communication interface to support communication between the device and other network elements, such as sending or receiving data and / or signals. Exemplarily, the communication interface may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module or other type of communication interface. Optionally, the memory may be located inside the communication device and integrated with the processor; it may also be located outside the communication device.

[0071] In another possible implementation, the communication device in the fifth to eighth aspects includes a processor and a transceiver, the processor is coupled to the transceiver, and the processor is used to execute a computer program or instruction to control the transceiver to receive and send information; when the processor executes the computer program or instruction, the processor is also used to implement the above method through a logic circuit or execute code instructions. The transceiver may be a transceiver, a transceiver circuit or an input-output interface, which is used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device. When the communication device is a chip, the transceiver is a transceiver circuit or an input-output interface.

[0072] When the communication device in the fifth to eighth aspects is a chip, the sending unit may be an output unit, such as an output circuit or a communication interface; the receiving unit may be an input unit, such as an input circuit or a communication interface. When the communication device is a terminal device, the sending unit may be a transmitter or a transmitter; the receiving unit may be a receiver or a receiver.

[0073] In a ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising a communication device as described in the fifth aspect or any one of the implementations of the fifth aspect, and at least one communication device as described in the sixth aspect or any one of the implementations of the sixth aspect.

[0074] In a tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising a communication device as described in the seventh aspect or any one of the implementations of the seventh aspect, and at least one communication device as described in the eighth aspect or any one of the implementations of the eighth aspect.

[0075] In the eleventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the program or instruction is executed by a processor, the method described in the first aspect or any one of the implementations of the first aspect is implemented, or the method described in the second aspect or any one of the implementations of the second aspect is implemented, or the method described in the third aspect or any one of the implementations of the third aspect is implemented, or the method described in the fourth aspect or any one of the implementations of the fourth aspect is implemented.

[0076] In the twelfth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which, when executed on a computing device, implements the method as described in the first aspect or any one of the implementations of the first aspect, or implements the method as described in the second aspect or any one of the implementations of the second aspect, or implements the method as described in the third aspect or any one of the implementations of the third aspect, or implements the method as described in the fourth aspect or any one of the implementations of the fourth aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0077] Figure 1 A simplified schematic diagram of a wireless communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] Figure 2A The schematic diagram of NTN scenario based on transparent load;

[0079] Figure 2B Schematic diagram of NTN scenario based on regenerative load;

[0080] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a scenario with extremely wide coverage;

[0081] Figure 4 This is a flow chart of the initial access and service data transmission phase of NR;

[0082] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the format of NR's SSB;

[0083] Figure 6 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0084] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the format of an information block provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0085] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of an access and data transmission process provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0086] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of a beam according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0087] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of transmission of multiple information blocks according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0088] Fig.11 A flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0089] Fig.12 A schematic diagram of the format of an information block in a single time slot provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0090] Fig.13 A schematic diagram of the format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0091] Fig.14 A schematic diagram of another format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0092] Fig.15 A schematic diagram of another format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0093] Fig.16 A schematic diagram of another format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0094] Fig.17 A schematic diagram of another format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0095] Fig.18 A schematic diagram of another format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0096] Fig.19 A schematic diagram of another format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0097] Fig. 20 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0098] Fig.21 A schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0099] The embodiments of the present application are described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0100] The technical solution provided by the present application can be applied to various communication systems. For example, the communication system can be a fourth generation (4 th generation, 4G) communication systems (such as long term evolution (LTE) systems), fifth generation (5 thThe 5G generation communication system, the worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) or wireless local area network (WLAN) system, or a fusion system of multiple systems, or future communication systems, such as the sixth generation (6 th generation, 6G) communication system, etc. Among them, the 5G communication system can also be called a new radio (NR) system.

[0101] A network element in a communication system can send a signal to another network element or receive a signal from another network element. The signal may include information, signaling, or data, etc. The network element may also be replaced by an entity, a network entity, a device, a terminal device, a communication module, a node, a communication node, etc. The network element is used as an example for description in this application. For example, a communication system may include at least one terminal device and at least one access network device. The access network device may send a downlink signal to the terminal device, and / or the terminal device may send an uplink signal to the access network device. In addition, it can be understood that if a plurality of terminal devices are included in the communication system, the plurality of terminal devices may also send signals to each other, that is, the signal sending network element and the signal receiving network element may both be terminal devices.

[0102] The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to wireless communication systems such as 5G, 6G, satellite communication, etc. Figure 1 , Figure 1 A simplified schematic diagram of a wireless communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1 As shown, the wireless communication system includes a wireless access network 100. The wireless access network 100 may be a next generation (e.g., 6G or higher) wireless access network, or a traditional (e.g., 5G, 4G) wireless access network. One or more terminal devices (120a-120g, collectively referred to as 120) may be connected to each other, or to one or more network devices (110a-110c, collectively referred to as 110) in the wireless access network 100, and the connection mode may be wired or wireless. Optionally, Figure 1 This is just a schematic diagram. The wireless communication system may also include other devices, such as core network devices, wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices. Figure 1 Not drawn in.

[0103] Optionally, in practical applications, the wireless communication system may include multiple network devices (also referred to as access network devices) at the same time, and may also include multiple terminal devices at the same time. A network device may serve one or more terminal devices at the same time. A terminal device may also access one or more network devices at the same time. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the number of terminal devices and network devices included in the wireless communication system.

[0104] The network device may be an entity on the network side for transmitting or receiving signals. The network device may be an access device for a terminal device to access the wireless communication system in a wireless manner, such as a base station. A base station can broadly cover the following various names, or be replaced with the following names, such as: radio access network (RAN) node, NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), next generation NodeB (gNB), access network equipment in open radio access network (O-RAN), relay station, access point, transmission point (TRP), transmitting point (TP), master-eNB (MeNB), secondary eNB (SeNB), multi-standard radio (MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, access point (AP), transmission node, transceiver node, building baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), centralized unit (centralized The network device may also refer to a communication module, a modem or a chip used to be arranged in the aforementioned device or apparatus. The network device may also be a mobile switching center and a device that performs the base station function in device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, a network side device in a 6G network, and a device that performs the base station function in future communication systems. The network device may support networks with the same or different access technologies.The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device.

[0105] The network equipment may be fixed or mobile. For example, the base stations 110 b and 110 c are stationary and are responsible for wireless transmission and reception in one or more cells from the terminal equipment 120 . Figure 1 The helicopter or drone 120c shown in the figure can be configured to act as a mobile base station, and one or more cells can move according to the location of the mobile base station 120c. In other examples, the helicopter or drone (120c) can be configured to be used as a terminal device communicating with the satellite base station 110a.

[0106] In the present application, the communication device used to implement the above access network function can be an access network device, or a network device with some functions of accessing the network, or a device capable of supporting the implementation of the access network function, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit plus a software module, which can be installed in the access network device or used in combination with the access network device. In the method of the present application, the communication device used to implement the access network device function is an access network device for example.

[0107] The terminal device can be an entity on the user side for receiving or transmitting signals, such as a mobile phone. The terminal device can be used to connect people, objects and machines. The terminal device can communicate with one or more core networks through a network device. The terminal device includes a handheld device with a wireless connection function, other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, or a vehicle-mounted device. The terminal device can be a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer-built-in or vehicle-mounted mobile device. The terminal device 120 can be widely used in various scenarios, such as cellular communication, D2D, V2X, point-to-point (P2P), machine-to-machine (M2M), machine type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, drone, robot, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and mobility, etc.Some examples of the terminal device 120 are: user equipment (UE) of 3GPP standard, fixed equipment, mobile equipment, handheld equipment, wearable equipment, cellular phone, smart phone, session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, laptop, personal computer, smart book, vehicle, satellite, global positioning system (GPS) equipment, target tracking equipment, drone, helicopter, aircraft, ship, remote control equipment, smart home equipment, industrial equipment, personal communication service (PCS) phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless network camera, tablet computer, PDA, mobile internet device (MID), wearable equipment such as smart watch, VR equipment, AR equipment, wireless terminal in industrial control, terminal in vehicle networking system, wireless terminal in self driving, wireless terminal in smart grid, wireless terminal in transportation safety, smart city, etc. The terminal device 120 may be a wireless terminal in a smart city, such as a smart gas pump, a terminal device on a high-speed rail, and a wireless terminal in a smart home, such as a smart speaker, a smart coffee machine, a smart printer, etc. The terminal device 120 may be a wireless device in the above various scenarios or a device used to be set in a wireless device, for example, a communication module, a modem or a chip in the above device. The terminal device may also be referred to as a terminal, a terminal device, a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), etc. The terminal device may also be a terminal device in a future wireless communication system. The terminal device may be used in a dedicated network device or a general device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0108] Optionally, the terminal device may be used to act as a base station. For example, the UE may act as a scheduling entity that provides sidelink signals between UEs in V2X, D2D, or P2P, etc. Figure 1As shown, the cell phone 120a and the car 120b communicate with each other using a sidelink signal. The cell phone 120a and the smart home device 120e communicate with each other without relaying the communication signal through the base station 110b.

[0109] In the present application, the communication device for realizing the functions of the terminal device may be a terminal device, or a terminal device having some functions of the above terminal devices, or a device capable of supporting the functions of the above terminal devices, such as a chip system, which may be installed in the terminal device or used in combination with the terminal device. In the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solution provided in the present application, the communication device is described as a terminal device or UE as an example.

[0110] Optionally, a wireless communication system is usually composed of cells, and the base station provides management of the cell. The base station provides communication services to multiple mobile stations (MS) in the cell. The base station includes a baseband unit (BBU) and a remote radio unit (RRU). The BBU and RRU can be placed in different places, for example: the RRU is remote and placed in an area with high traffic volume, and the BBU is placed in a central computer room. The BBU and RRU can also be placed in the same computer room. The BBU and RRU can also be different components under one rack. Optionally, a cell can correspond to a carrier or a component carrier.

[0111] In some deployments, the network device mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a device including a CU, or a DU, or a device including a CU and a DU, or a device including a control plane CU node (CU-CP) and a user plane CU node (CU-UP) and a DU node. For example, the network device may include a gNB-CU-CP, a gNB-CU-UP, and a gNB-DU.

[0112] In some deployments, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist the terminal in achieving wireless access, and different RAN nodes implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the RAN node can be a CU, DU, CU-CP, CU-UP, or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be set separately, or can also be included in the same network element, such as a BBU. The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as an RRU, AAU, or RRH.

[0113] The RAN node may support one or more types of fronthaul interfaces, and different fronthaul interfaces correspond to DUs and RUs with different functions. If the fronthaul interface between the DU and the RU is a common public radio interface (CPRI), the DU is configured to implement one or more baseband functions, and the RU is configured to implement one or more radio frequency functions. If the fronthaul interface between the DU and the RU is another interface, relative to the CPRI, part of the downlink and / or uplink baseband functions, such as, for downlink, one or more of precoding, digital beamforming (BF), or inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) are moved from the DU to the RU for implementation, and for uplink, one or more of digital beamforming (BF), or fast Fourier transform (FFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) are moved from the DU to the RU for implementation. In a possible implementation, the interface may be an enhanced common public radio interface (eCPRI). In the eCPRI architecture, the division between DU and RU is different, corresponding to different types (category, Cat) of eCPRI, such as eCPRI Cat A, B, C, D, E, F.

[0114] Taking eCPRI Cat A as an example, for downlink transmission, based on layer mapping, the DU is configured to implement one or more functions before layer mapping (i.e., one or more functions of coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, and layer mapping), while other functions after layer mapping (e.g., one or more functions of RE mapping, digital beamforming (BF), or inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) / adding cyclic prefix (CP)) are moved to the RU for implementation. For uplink transmission, based on de-RE mapping, the DU is configured to implement one or more functions before de-mapping (i.e., one or more functions of decoding, de-rate matching, de-scrambling, demodulation, inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT), channel equalization, and de-RE mapping), while other functions after de-mapping (e.g., one or more functions of digital BF or FFT / CP removal) are moved to the RU for implementation. It can be understood that for the functional description of DU and RU corresponding to various types of eCPRI, reference can be made to the eCPRI protocol and will not be repeated here.

[0115] In one possible design, the processing unit for implementing the baseband function in the BBU is called a baseband high layer (BBH) unit, and the processing unit for implementing the baseband function in the RRU / AAU / RRH is called a baseband low layer (BBL) unit.

[0116] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called an open-centralized unit (O-CU), DU may also be called an open-distributed unit (O-DU), CU-CP may also be called an open-centralized unit-control plane (O-CU-CP), CU-UP may also be called an open-centralized unit-user plane (O-CU-UP), and RU may also be called an open-radio unit (O-RU). Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0117] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the network device may be a network device; or it may be a device capable of supporting the network device to realize the function, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit plus a software module. The device may be installed in the network device or used in combination with the network device. In the embodiments of the present application, only the device for realizing the function of the network device is a network device as an example for explanation, and the scheme of the embodiments of the present application is not limited.

[0118] It can be understood that the present application can be applied between network devices and terminal devices.

[0119] The communication between the network device and the terminal device follows a certain protocol layer structure. The protocol layer structure may include a control plane protocol layer structure and a user plane protocol layer structure. For example, the control plane protocol layer structure may include the functions of the protocol layers such as the radio resource control (RRC) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, the radio link control (RLC) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer and the physical layer. For example, the user plane protocol layer structure may include the functions of the protocol layers such as the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, the MAC layer and the physical layer. In a possible implementation, the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer may also be included above the PDCP layer.

[0120] Optionally, the protocol layer structure between the network device and the terminal device may also include an artificial intelligence (AI) layer for transmitting data related to AI functions.

[0121] Taking data transmission between network devices and terminal devices as an example, data transmission needs to pass through the user plane protocol layer, such as the SDAP layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, and physical layer. Among them, the SDAP layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, and physical layer can also be collectively referred to as the access layer. According to the transmission direction of the data, it is divided into sending or receiving, and each of the above layers is divided into a sending part and a receiving part. Taking downlink data transmission as an example, after the PDCP layer obtains data from the upper layer, it transmits the data to the RLC layer and the MAC layer, and then the MAC layer generates a transmission block, and then transmits it wirelessly through the physical layer. The data is encapsulated accordingly in each layer. For example, the data received by a layer from the upper layer of the layer is regarded as the service data unit (SDU) of the layer, which becomes a protocol data unit (PDU) after being encapsulated by the layer, and then passed to the next layer.

[0122] Exemplarily, the terminal device may also have an application layer and a non-access layer. The application layer may be used to provide services to applications installed in the terminal device. For example, downlink data received by the terminal device may be sequentially transmitted from the physical layer to the application layer, and then provided to the application by the application layer; for another example, the application layer may obtain data generated by the application, and sequentially transmit the data to the physical layer and send it to other communication devices. The non-access layer may be used to forward user data, such as forwarding uplink data received from the application layer to the SDAP layer, or forwarding downlink data received from the SDAP layer to the application layer.

[0123] It should be understood that Figure 1 The number and type of each device in the communication system shown are for illustration only, and the present application is not limited thereto. In actual applications, the communication system may also include more terminal devices, more access network devices, and other network elements, such as core network devices, and / or network elements for implementing artificial intelligence functions.

[0124] It is understandable that all or part of the functions implemented by one or more of the terminal equipment, access network equipment, core network equipment, or network elements used to implement artificial intelligence functions can be virtualized, that is, implemented by one or more of the proprietary processors or general-purpose processors and the corresponding software modules. Among them, the terminal equipment and the access network equipment involve interfaces for air interface transmission, and the transceiver functions of the interfaces can be implemented by hardware. Core network equipment, such as operation administration and maintenance (OAM) network elements, can be virtualized. Optionally, one or more functions of the virtualized terminal equipment, access network equipment, core network equipment, or network elements used to implement artificial intelligence functions can be implemented by cloud devices, such as cloud devices in over the top (OTT) systems.

[0125] The following first introduces several concepts involved in this application:

[0126] (1) NTN network:

[0127] NTN network refers to a network that uses radio frequency resources on satellites (or unmanned aircraft system (UAS) platforms, high altitude platform stations (HAPS)). Compared with ground cellular networks (such as 5G mobile communication systems), NTN networks have the characteristics of wide coverage, low latency, broadband and low cost. As a supplement and extension of the ground network, the NTN network can achieve wide-area seamless coverage that neither the wired telephone network nor the ground mobile communication network can achieve, effectively solving the problem of Internet access in areas with insufficient communication infrastructure. A large number of satellites are deployed in low-Earth orbit, and the round-trip transmission delay of data between satellites and ground terminal equipment is greatly reduced, reaching a low latency of tens of milliseconds. The use of technologies such as high frequency bands, multi-spot beams and frequency reuse has significantly improved the communication capabilities of satellites, reduced the unit broadband cost, and can meet the needs of high information rate services. Compared with communication infrastructure such as ground 5G base stations and submarine optical fiber cables, NTN has significant cost advantages. Modern small satellites have low R&D and manufacturing costs, and software-defined technology can further extend the service life of satellites in orbit. NTN networks can be used in scenarios such as global coverage (such as remote areas, ocean-going ships, etc.), emergency relief (such as disaster monitoring, emergency communications), the Internet of Everything, and high-speed mobility (such as high-speed rail and airplanes).

[0128] Typical scenarios for NTN network to provide terminal device access include transparent payload and regenerative payload. Figure 2AThe NTN scenario diagram based on transparent load is shown in the figure. The transparent load is a load that changes the frequency carrier of the uplink RF signal and filters and amplifies it before downlink transmission. This load only has a RF processing unit and no baseband demodulation, decoding and other processing. Therefore, the signal waveform is unchanged and is repeated. Figure 2B The schematic diagram of the NTN scenario based on the regenerative load shown is a load that transforms and amplifies the uplink radio frequency (RF) signal before downlink transmission. The signal transformation refers to digital processing, which may include demodulation, decoding, re-encoding, re-modulation and / or filtering. This is actually equivalent to having all or part of the base station functions on the satellite (or UAS platform).

[0129] The above-mentioned NTN network usually has the following elements:

[0130] (1) There are one or more gateways connecting the NTN network and the common data network.

[0131] (2) Feeder link: The wireless link between the gateway and the satellite (or UAS platform).

[0132] (3) Service link: The wireless link between the terminal device and the satellite (or UAS platform).

[0133] (4) Satellites (or UAS platforms) can realize transparent payloads and regenerative payloads.

[0134] (5) Whether the satellite constellation has an inter-satellite link (ISL) is optional. An ISL requires the satellite to be a regenerative payload (i.e., if there is an ISL, the satellite must be a regenerative payload). ISLs can operate in RF frequencies or optical bands.

[0135] (6) The terminal device is served by a satellite (or UAS platform) within the target service area.

[0136] (II) Extremely wide coverage:

[0137] 6G and future communication systems may consider the extreme wide coverage scenario. The extreme wide coverage scenario has the following characteristics:

[0138] First, in the extreme wide coverage scenario, the transmission distance is long, the path loss is large, and the power on the access network equipment and terminal equipment side is limited.

[0139] Second, the access network equipment is located at a higher position, and the channel between the access network equipment and the terminal equipment is close to the line of sight (LOS).

[0140] Third, with extremely wide coverage, it is necessary to not only meet the access of terminal devices within the full coverage, but also ensure the performance of terminal devices.

[0141] In the context of such extreme wide coverage, there may be multiple scenarios. For example, one scenario is a satellite scenario, where the satellite covers a large area. Another scenario is a super-large coverage of tens of kilometers on the ground, such as Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the scene with extremely wide coverage.

[0142] Since satellites have the advantages of not being easily affected by natural disasters or external forces, they can be used as access network equipment (such as base stations) of mobile communication systems to provide communication services to some areas such as oceans and forests. Unlike ground base stations, satellites move faster than the ground and the signal propagation distance is longer, which makes the signal path loss of satellites as base stations greater. The communication mechanism designed for terminal devices and ground base stations in current mobile communication systems cannot be directly applied between terminal devices and satellite base stations. Therefore, in order to realize the satellite as a base station to provide communication services for terminal devices, how to overcome the signal path loss of the communication signal between the terminal device and the satellite base station to improve coverage, and how to ensure that the terminal device can stably complete the initial access and reduce the access delay are currently urgent problems to be solved.

[0143] In order to support wider service coverage, access network equipment may need to provide network services for a larger communication area. Taking non-terrestrial networks as an example, in NTN communication systems, each satellite / high-altitude platform / base station can generally cover a large area. Under a given link budget and system resources, the satellite network side improves the coverage of the entire satellite by increasing the coverage area of ​​a single beam through beam design. Due to the limited coverage of a single beam, a single satellite still requires a large number of beams to achieve full coverage.

[0144] (III) Initial access of terminal equipment:

[0145] In the initial access phase, the satellite, as a network device, needs to scan all beams in turn and configure random access resources to the terminal device. The random access process generally refers to the process from when the terminal device sends a random access preamble (preamble for short) to try to access the network device to when a basic signaling connection is established between the terminal device and the network device. At present, network devices can broadcast different SSBs for different communication areas and distinguish them by the index number of the SSB. Generally, different SSB index numbers represent downlink synchronization signals in different beam directions, covering and serving different areas. After receiving the SSB, the terminal device completes timing synchronization and confirms the time-frequency position of SIB1 according to the information indication in the SSB, and completes the parsing of SIB1 to obtain the cell information. According to the search space of SIB19 configured in SIB1, SIB19 is detected and data parsing is completed to obtain the satellite's ephemeris information. After obtaining the cell information and / or ephemeris information, the terminal device sends a random access preamble in the corresponding uplink resource according to the configuration information and the index number of the SSB. For the network device, the area where the terminal device is located can be determined through the received random access preamble and the corresponding uplink resources, and a connection can be established with the terminal device.

[0146] In the current NR technology, the initial access and service data transmission stages of NR are clearly defined:

[0147] like Figure 4 As shown in FIG. 1 , it is a schematic diagram of the process of the initial access and service data transmission phase of NR. The figure takes the four-step random access process as an example, which can also be applied to the two-step random access process in actual use. Specifically, the process is as follows:

[0148] 1. Initial access phase: Network equipment (e.g. gNB) uses a wide beam to send the SSB synchronization channel, and other channels are associated with the SSB beam;

[0149] Step 1: The terminal device receives SIB1 according to SSB, and obtains cell information, random occasion (RO) resource configuration information, etc. from SIB1. Furthermore, the terminal device determines the RO resource to be used according to the SSB index and RO resource configuration information, and sends a physical random access channel (PRACH) on the RO resource associated with the SSB to initiate a random access request;

[0150] Step 2: The network device receives the above PRACH and sends a random access response (RAR) to the terminal device. The RAR schedules the terminal device to send message 3 (Msg3) in the random access process on the corresponding time-frequency resources to initiate a radio resource control (RRC) establishment request (RRCSetupRequest);

[0151] Step 3: After receiving the above Msg3, the network device sends message 4 (Msg4) in the random access process to the terminal device to perform RRC establishment (RRCSetup);

[0152] Step 4: After receiving the above message 4 (Msg4), the terminal device sends message 5 (Msg5) in the random access process, etc., thereby completing the initial access process;

[0153] 2. Business data transmission stage: Network equipment obtains channel state information (CSI) or user location, uses narrow beams for business data transmission, and improves link budget and communication rate.

[0154] However, if we refer to the initial access process of NR, the SIB1 / RAR / Msg4 and other channels in the initial access process in the extreme wide coverage scenario also use the same wide beam as SSB, which will cause link budget problems. The use of wide beams in the access process can ensure comprehensive coverage, but the gain of wide beams is low. The necessary signaling data channels such as SIB1 / RAR / Msg4 in the initial access process have higher demodulation thresholds than SSB. In summary, sending SSB with a wide beam can ensure demodulation performance, while the demodulation performance of sending PDSCH is insufficient;

[0155] Furthermore, obtaining the SSB message first and then obtaining the cell information from SIB1 requires two steps of information acquisition, which results in a certain delay and affects the access efficiency.

[0156] Among them, the format of NR's SSB is as follows:

[0157] like Figure 5 The figure shows the format of NR's SSB. NR's SSB includes the primary synchronization signal (PSS), the secondary synchronization signal (SSS), the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) (main information block (MIB)).

[0158] Among them, PSS is a sequence, occupying the first symbol of SSB and 127 resource elements (RE).

[0159] SSS is a sequence, occupying the third symbol of SSB and 127 RE resources.

[0160] PBCH is a control channel, which uses short code transmission with Polar coding. It occupies the 2nd to 4th symbols of SSB, and occupies 240*2+48*2=576 RE resources, of which 25% is the demodulation reference signal (DMRS). The effective resources are 576*0.75=432RE, and the orthogonal phase shift keying (quadrature phase shiftkeying, QPSK) modulation is 432*2=864bit (after encoding). The effective bits are 24 (MIB) + 8 (PBCH payload) + 24 (CRC) = 56bit, and the code rate = 32 / 864 = 0.037.

[0161] The specific bit information in PBCH is divided into the major information block (MIB) information generated by the high layer and the physical broadcast channel load (PBCH payload) information generated in the physical layer. The details are as follows: The specific information in MIB includes the high 6 bits of the system frame number, the time-frequency position of SIB1, DMRS configuration, etc. The 8-bit information in the PBCH payload includes the low 4 bits of the system frame number, SSB index, and half-frame indication.

[0162] Among them, the format of LTE's SSB is as follows:

[0163] SSB in LTE also includes PSS, SSS and PBCH.

[0164] Among them, PSS is a ZC sequence of length 63, occupying 6 resource blocks (RB); it is sent on the last orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of the first time slot of subframes 0 and 5 under frequency division duplexing (FDD); it is sent on the third OFDM symbol of subframes 1 and 6 under time division duplexing (TDD).

[0165] SSS is an M sequence, which is one symbol ahead of PSS in FDD and three symbols ahead of PSS in TDD.

[0166] PBCH is transmitted using a broadcast channel (BCH), and the name of the information element is BCCH-BCH-Message. The specific information in the MIB includes the downlink system bandwidth (dl-Bandwidth), the physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel, PHICH) configuration (phich-Config), the system frame number (systemFrameNumber), and the reserved bits (spare) total 24 bits.

[0167] However, whether it is the above-mentioned NR SSB design or the LTE SSB design, the MIB uses a control channel for transmission and carries a limited number of bits, which is not sufficient for the access process.

[0168] In view of this, the present application provides a communication solution, which can reduce the delay of terminal devices initiating random access and improve the efficiency of random access by sending system information including location information of network devices and synchronization sequence in the same information block.

[0169] like Figure 6 FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Exemplarily, the method may include the following steps:

[0170] S601. The network device sends an information block to the terminal device in a time slot. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the information block.

[0171] like Figure 7 As shown, a format diagram of an information block provided in an embodiment of the present application is provided, and the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information. Among them, the synchronization sequence includes PSS and SSS. The system information carries the information used by the terminal device to initiate random access. Exemplarily, the number of bits of the system information can be on the order of 200 bits. The system information is different from the MIB in the existing PBCH, and can be called an extended-major information block (MIB-E). Exemplarily, the system information includes location information of the network device and configuration information (rach-ConfigCommon) for random access.

[0172] Furthermore, the system information may also include at least one of the following: common uplink transmission configuration (uplinkConfigCommonSIB / BWP-UplinkCommon), common downlink transmission configuration (DownlinkConfigCommonSIB / BWP-DownlinkCommon), the number of information blocks, the period of information blocks, and the pattern of information blocks.

[0173] Furthermore, the above information block may also include multiple DMRS, which are used to demodulate system information in the information block, channel estimation, and time-frequency offset estimation. Considering that the time-frequency offset may be too large under extreme wide coverage, multiple DMRS are required for joint demodulation, performance optimization, and improved transmission performance. Figure 7 As shown, the example shows that two DMRS are included in the information block. The figure is only an example, and the positions of the two DMRS can be any two symbols. In one example, the multiple DMRS can be located between the system information. In another example, the DMRS can also be located between the synchronization sequence and the system information. In addition, the number of DMRS can also be expanded, which can be 1, 2, 3 or more, which can be selected and configured according to network performance, or pre-configured or agreed upon according to network performance.

[0174] In one implementation, in the above information block, the synchronization sequence and the system information are continuous in time domain, and the time domain position of the synchronization sequence is located before the time domain position of the system information. Figure 7 , this information block is carried on a time slot. Among them, PSS occupies the first symbol in the time slot, and SSS occupies the second symbol in the time slot, and uses sequence transmission. The sequences of PSS and SSS are used for timing and synchronization. Putting them at the beginning of the time slot can ensure that the sequence detection is completed as soon as possible. In addition, PSS and SSS are centrally configured, which can spare more continuous time domain resources for the subsequent transmission of system information. The system information occupies the 3rd to 14th symbols in the time slot. The system information occupies 12 consecutive symbols in the time domain. More resources can be used to transmit the system information required for access, thereby increasing the number of information bits that can be transmitted.

[0175] In one implementation, the bandwidth corresponding to the above information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks. Taking SCS as 30kHz as an example, the bandwidth corresponding to the above information block is 12RB, corresponding to a small bandwidth of 4.32MHz. In this implementation, the system information occupies a small bandwidth in the frequency domain, and power aggregation can be used to increase the link budget of downlink transmission, thereby increasing the number of information bits that can be transmitted. The MIB in NR generally occupies 20 RBs, and a bandwidth of 7.2Mhz is required when SCS=30kHz.

[0176] In one implementation, the above information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). In this implementation, the information block of this embodiment is carried on the PDSCH, which can carry more transmission bits than the existing MIB transmission through the PBCH control channel. For example, the PDSCH can carry thousands of bits, while the PBCH can carry tens of bits.

[0177] In this embodiment, the synchronization sequence and system information are included in one information block and sent to the terminal device at the same time. The terminal device can receive the synchronization sequence and system information at the same time without the need for two-step information acquisition as in the prior art, thereby reducing the access delay of the terminal device.

[0178] S602. The terminal device initiates random access to the cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence based on the system information. Correspondingly, the network device receives the random access request.

[0179] After receiving the above information block, the terminal device parses and obtains the synchronization sequence and system information in the information block. The terminal device can synchronize with a cell in the network device according to the synchronization sequence. Then, based on the system information, the terminal device initiates random access to the cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence. Initiating random access specifically refers to the terminal device sending a random access request to the network device. The random access request is carried on the physical random access channel (PRACH). The random access request includes a random access preamble. The random access request can also be called message 1 (message 1, Msg1).

[0180] Further, after receiving the random access request sent by the terminal device, the network device sends a reserved system information block (systeminformation block-reserved, SIB-R) and a random access response to the terminal device using a beam of the first beam width. After receiving the random access response, the terminal device sends message 3 in the random access process to the network device. After receiving message 3 in the random access process on the beam of the first beam width, the network device sends message 4 to the terminal device using the beam of the first beam width. And after receiving message 4, the terminal device sends message 5 in the random access process to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives message 5 in the random access process on the beam of the first beam width.

[0181] Among them, the above-mentioned SIB-R is the remaining system information in the existing SIB1 except for the system information in the above-mentioned information block. That is, the system information of this embodiment carries the information necessary for the terminal device to initiate random access, which reduces the amount of carried information compared to SIB1 and can improve transmission performance. Exemplarily, under the same time-frequency resources, the number of transmission bits is reduced, which is equivalent to reducing the transmission bit rate, thereby improving transmission performance. Exemplarily, the reduction in the number of transmission bits can also reduce the occupied time-frequency resources, thereby reducing resource occupancy overhead, thereby improving performance. It is also possible to further improve transmission performance by reducing the occupancy of frequency domain resources, thereby using power aggregation and other methods.

[0182] In one implementation, the information block is carried on the first beam, and the beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width, that is, sending the information block through a wide beam can improve coverage performance.

[0183] like Figure 8 As shown in FIG. 1 , a schematic diagram of an access and data transmission process provided by an embodiment of the present application is provided, in which a network device sends a synchronization sequence and system information through a wide beam, and the synchronization sequence and system information are included in one information block. Fig. 9 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a beam in an embodiment of the present application, wherein the wide beam is equivalent to multiple regional narrow beams. Fig. 9 In the example, one wide beam is equivalent to three regional narrow beams. After receiving the information block, the terminal device initiates random access to the network device. After receiving the random access request sent by the terminal device, the network device sends SIB-R and random access response to the terminal device on multiple regional narrow beams. Therefore, the system information in the above information block can be called cell-level system information, and SIB-R can be called regional system information. After receiving the random access response, the terminal device sends message 3 in the random access process to the network device. After receiving the random access request, the network device can determine the location of the terminal device, so that a regional narrow beam can be determined from the above multiple regional narrow beams. Exemplarily, the location of the terminal device can be a coarse-grained location, which is used to determine the regional narrow beam to which the terminal device belongs. In addition, the terminal device can also report specific location information. After receiving message 3 in the random access process on the determined regional narrow beam, the network device sends message 4 to the terminal device on the regional narrow beam. And after the terminal device receives message 4, it sends message 5 in the random access process to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives message 5 in the random access process on the regional narrow beam. The network device sends message 4 and receives message 3 and message 5 in the random access process on the determined regional narrow beam, which can improve transmission performance.

[0184] After the terminal device completes the random access process, the network device transmits data with the terminal device on a narrow beam at the granularity of the terminal device (referred to as "data transmission").

[0185] In the scenario of extremely wide coverage, network devices need a large number of beams to achieve full coverage, that is, network devices need to send the above multiple information blocks in multiple beam directions. Fig.10 As shown, it is a transmission diagram of multiple information blocks in an embodiment of the present application, and the above multiple information blocks are continuous in the time domain. Taking the subcarrier spacing SCS = 30kHz as an example, a system frame (each system frame corresponds to a system frame number (SFN)) includes 20 time slots, and each information block occupies 1 time slot. For example, it is assumed that a maximum of L information blocks can be sent in an information block period. Among them, L represents the maximum number of information blocks and can take different values. Fig.10 In one information block period, a maximum of 32 (L=32) information blocks (information block #0 to information block #L-1, i.e., information block #0 to information block #31) can be sent. Multiple information blocks are configured to be continuous in the time domain, so that when the terminal device searches for information blocks, it can collect all the information blocks in the centralized time domain and determine the information block to be used. The centralized pattern design reduces the access delay of the terminal device, allowing the terminal device to access earlier. The centralized information block provides system information for multiple consecutive time slots, and the terminal device can perform joint demodulation and reception of system information in adjacent time slots, thereby improving performance.

[0186] Among them, for a network device that sends multiple information blocks, the multiple information blocks correspond to multiple network coverage areas. Each information block is carried on a first beam, and the network coverage area corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage area of ​​a beam sent with a first beam width. That is, the information block is sent through a wide beam.

[0187] In addition, each information block may have an index for identification, such as the index of the information block on time slot 0 is 0, the index of the information block on time slot 1 is 1, and so on. This index may be carried in the information block. In one example, the index may be carried in the system information. It may be indicated by a specific bit, or it may be indicated in combination with at least one of the time domain resource and the frequency domain resource position. In another example, the index may also be carried in one or more of the PSS, SSS, and the system information.

[0188] According to a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, by sending system information including location information of a network device and a synchronization sequence in the same information block, the delay for a terminal device to initiate random access can be reduced, thereby improving the efficiency of random access.

[0189] The above embodiment redefines the format of SSB. In the following embodiment, it will be described that the format of the existing SSB is not changed, but the system information is additionally sent.

[0190] like Fig.11 FIG. 1 is a flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Exemplarily, the method may include the following steps:

[0191] S1101. A network device sends at least one information block to a terminal device in a time slot. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the at least one information block in the time slot.

[0192] In this embodiment, the time-frequency position of the existing SSB is retained unchanged, and the SSB includes PSS, SSS and MIB. An additional information block is defined. The information block is used to carry the information necessary for the terminal device to initiate random access. The information block includes the location information of the network device and the configuration information of the random access (rach-ConfigCommon). The location information of the network device and the configuration information of the random access can be referred to as MIB-E. The MIB-E carries the information necessary for the terminal device to initiate random access. Exemplarily, the number of bits of the MIB-E can be on the order of 200 bits.

[0193] Furthermore, the MIB-E may also include at least one of the following: common uplink transmission configuration (uplinkConfigCommonSIB / BWP-UplinkCommon), common downlink transmission configuration (DownlinkConfigCommonSIB / BWP-DownlinkCommon), the number of information blocks, the period of information blocks, and the pattern of information blocks.

[0194] Furthermore, each information block may also include one or more DMRSs. The one or more DMRSs are used to demodulate the MIB-E in the information block.

[0195] In this embodiment, the network device can send at least one information block in one time slot. Fig.12As shown, it is a schematic diagram of the format of an information block in a single time slot provided by an embodiment of the present application. The MIB-E in an information block occupies 6 symbols and is configured with a DMRS of 1 symbol. A total of 2 information blocks can be placed in the entire time slot. Information block #0 occupies the time domain resources of the first half of the time slot, and information block #1 occupies the time domain resources of the second half of the time slot. When the number of information bits of the information block is limited and / or the link budget (i.e., transmission performance, which is related to power and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)) is sufficient, an information block can occupy up to 7 symbols, and 2 information blocks can be placed in 1 time slot. And because the number of time domain symbols occupied by MIB-E is small, 1 DMRS can be used for channel estimation and / or time-frequency offset estimation, etc.

[0196] In the extreme wide coverage scenario, the network device needs a large number of beams to achieve full coverage, that is, the network device needs to send multiple SSBs and multiple information blocks in multiple beam directions. Fig.13 As shown, it is a schematic diagram of the format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application. Multiple SSBs and multiple information blocks can be sent in one system frame. In this embodiment, the information block and SSB are separated by N time units, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0. Fig.13 In the example, information blocks #0-1 and SSB #6-7 are separated by 4 time slots. Different SSBs and information blocks correspond to different network coverage. Fig.13 In the example, SSB#0 and information#0 correspond to network coverage range 0; SSB#1 and information#1 correspond to network coverage range 1; and so on.

[0197] The location of the SSB follows the existing definition; the information block is defined at a specific time domain location. Fig.13 In the example, SSB#0 to SSB#7 occupy time slots 0-3, and information blocks #0 to #7 occupy time slots 8-11. The multiple information blocks are continuous in the time domain, which can provide continuous time domain resources for the transmission of other data. Fig.13 In the figure, information blocks #0 to #7 are continuous in the time domain. The time domain resource positions in the figure are for example only. In fact, information blocks corresponding to different SSB indexes can also be in other time slots. Considering that the amount of information blocks that need to be transmitted is on the order of 100-200 bits and the link budget is limited, the information blocks need to occupy independent time domain resources and do not share the same time domain resources with SSB. Optionally, when the link budget is sufficient and / or the number of information bits is small, the information blocks can also occupy the same time domain resources as SSB.

[0198] In another example, an information block corresponding to an SSB may also occupy one time slot for transmission. Fig.14As shown, another information block and SSB format diagram provided in an embodiment of the present application, 1 information block occupies 1 time slot, and information block #0 to information block #7 occupy a total of 8 time slots of a system frame. Among them, the specific number of symbols occupied by MIB-E can be flexibly defined according to the amount of data to be transmitted.

[0199] In yet another example, the information block corresponding to each SSB may also occupy discrete time slots. Fig.15 and Fig.16 As shown, it is a schematic diagram of another format of information blocks and SSBs provided in an embodiment of the present application, where one information block occupies one time slot, and the time slots occupied by information blocks #0 to #7 are discrete. In this way, the spare time slots in the system frame can be used to transmit other data corresponding to the same SSB, and can also provide information blocks with opportunities for repeated transmission, thereby improving transmission performance and improving the reliability of receiving and demodulating information blocks.

[0200] In yet another example, a certain time resource may be spaced between multiple information blocks and multiple SSBs. Fig.17 As shown, it is a format diagram of another information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application. Considering that a certain processing time must be reserved between the terminal device receiving the SSB for demodulation and receiving the information block, different time domain resources can be configured for the interval between the SSB and the information block.

[0201] Among them, for a network device that sends multiple information blocks, the multiple information blocks correspond to multiple network coverage areas. At least one information block can be carried on a first beam, and the network coverage area corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage area of ​​a beam sent with a first beam width. That is, the above-mentioned at least one information block is sent through a wide beam.

[0202] In addition, each information block may have an index for identification, for example, the index of the information block on time slot 0 is 0, the index of the information block on time slot 1 is 1, and so on. This index may be carried in the information block. It may be indicated by a specific bit, or it may be indicated in combination with at least one of the time domain resource and the frequency domain resource position.

[0203] In one implementation, the bandwidth corresponding to each information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks. Taking SCS as 30kHz as an example, Fig.12 The bandwidth corresponding to the information block in is 12RB, corresponding to a small bandwidth of 4.32MHz. In this implementation, the information block occupies a small bandwidth in the frequency domain, and power aggregation can be used to increase the link budget of downlink transmission, thereby increasing the number of information bits that can be transmitted. The MIB in NR generally occupies 20 RBs, and a bandwidth of 7.2Mhz is required when SCS=30kHz.

[0204] In one implementation, the at least one information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). In this implementation, by carrying the information block of this embodiment through the PDSCH, more transmission bits can be carried. For example, the PDSCH can carry thousands of bits.

[0205] Different from the existing SSB, the SSB of this embodiment can be used to indicate the time-frequency resource position of the corresponding information block. After receiving the SSB, the terminal device can determine the time-frequency resource position of the information block corresponding to the SSB according to the information carried in the SSB.

[0206] Exemplarily, the time domain position of the information block corresponding to the SSB can be indicated by several bits in the SSB, and the frequency domain position of the information block corresponding to the SSB can be indicated by several bits in the SSB. Exemplarily, the SSB is used to indicate the index of the time domain offset value and / or the index of the frequency domain offset value. The time domain offset value is the time domain offset value between each information block and the SSB corresponding to each information block, and the frequency domain offset value is the offset value of the frequency domain starting or ending position between each information block and the SSB corresponding to each information block. Exemplarily, the time domain offset value can be a time slot offset value. The predefined table index and / or formula parameter value of the time-frequency resource configuration can be indicated by several bits in the SSB. Among them, the specific parameters and values ​​in the predefined time-frequency resource configuration table are used to indicate the time-frequency resource position of the information block.

[0207] For example, in the time domain resources, the time domain search space of the information block is offset by X compared to the time slot where the SSB is located. Where n is the time slot, n MIB-E is the time slot position of the information block or MIB-E, n SSB is the time slot position of the SSB. The value of X is determined by the index of the bit indication table 1 in the SSB. N is the number of SSBs in each time slot. Fig.18 Taking another information block and SSB format diagram provided in the embodiment of the present application as an example, each time slot includes 2 SSBs, so N=2. i is the index of the SSB; L is the number of SSBs per unit time. The unit time here can be a system frame level, such as 10ms, 20ms.

[0208] Assuming that the time domain position of SSB 0 is time slot 0, and the index of table 1 indicated is 4, then X=8. Therefore, the time domain position of the information block or MIB-E corresponding to SSB 0 is time slot The time domain position of the information block corresponding to SSB1 or MIB-E is the time slot

[0209] Table 1 PDCCH monitoring opportunity parameters of information block

[0210] index Time slot offset value X 0 4 1 5 2 6 3 7 4 8 5 9 6 10 7 11

[0211] In the frequency domain, the frequency domain resource of the information block or MIB-E is offset by Y compared to the frequency domain resource where the SSB is located. f MIB-E_i is the frequency domain start / end position of MIB-E, is the frequency domain starting / ending position of SSB i. The value of Y is determined according to the index of the bit indication table 2 in the SSB. For example, when Y=0RB, it means that the starting position or ending position of the frequency domain resource of MIB-E is the same as the starting position or ending position of the frequency domain resource of SSB.

[0212] Table 2 PDCCH monitoring opportunity COREST resource block of information block

[0213] index Frequency domain offset value Y(RB) 0 0 1 2 2 4 3 6

[0214] The information block is located in the subsequent free time slots in the system frame. Fig.19 As shown, another information block and SSB format diagram provided in an embodiment of the present application, when the number of SSBs exceeds 8, Fig.19 16 SSBs are given as an example: SSB#0 to SSB15. Information blocks corresponding to 8 SSBs are arranged after every 8 SSBs. This allows the terminal device to receive subsequent information blocks as quickly as possible after demodulating the SSB to obtain the cell information required to initiate random access, thereby reducing access delay. Fig.19 The interval time slots between the SSB and the information block shown in are only examples, and different configurations are possible. Fig.19 As shown in FIG. 1 , SSB#7 and information block #0 are placed next to each other. In this arrangement, the terminal device can receive MIB-E faster.

[0215] S1102. The terminal device initiates random access to a cell synchronized based on a synchronization signal / broadcast signal block based on each information block.

[0216] After receiving at least one of the above information blocks, the terminal device can determine a better information block, and then synchronize with a cell in the network device according to the SSB corresponding to the information block. Then, the terminal device initiates random access to the cell based on SSB synchronization. Initiating random access specifically refers to the terminal device sending a random access request to the network device. The random access request is carried on a physical random access channel. The random access request includes a random access preamble. The random access request can also be called message 1.

[0217] Further, after receiving the random access request sent by the terminal device, the network device sends the reserved system information block and the random access response to the terminal device in a beam of the first beam width. After receiving the random access response, the terminal device sends message 3 in the random access process to the network device. After receiving message 3 in the random access process on the beam of the first beam width, the network device sends message 4 to the terminal device in the beam of the first beam width. And after receiving message 4, the terminal device sends message 5 in the random access process to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives message 5 in the random access process on the beam of the first beam width.

[0218] The SIB-R is the remaining system information in the existing SIB1 except the MIB-E in the information block. That is, the MIB-E of this embodiment carries the information necessary for the terminal device to initiate random access, which reduces the amount of information carried compared to SIB1 and can improve the link budget.

[0219] In one implementation, the at least one information block is carried on a first beam, and the beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width. That is, sending at least one information block through a wide beam can improve coverage performance.

[0220] The network device can send SSB and information blocks through a wide beam, which is equivalent to multiple regional narrow beams. After receiving the information block, the terminal device initiates random access to the network device. After receiving the random access request sent by the terminal device, the network device sends SIB-R and random access response to the terminal device on multiple regional narrow beams. Therefore, MIB-E in the above information block can be called cell-level system information, and SIB-R can be called regional system information. After receiving the random access response, the terminal device sends message 3 in the random access process to the network device. After receiving the random access request, the network device can determine the location of the terminal device, so that a regional narrow beam can be determined in the above multiple regional narrow beams. Exemplarily, the location of the terminal device can be a coarse-grained location, which is used to determine the regional narrow beam to which the terminal device belongs. In addition, the terminal device can also report specific location information. After receiving message 3 in the random access process on the determined regional narrow beam, the network device sends message 4 to the terminal device on the regional narrow beam. And after the terminal device receives message 4, it sends message 5 in the random access process to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives message 5 in the random access process on the regional narrow beam. The network device sends message 4 and receives message 3 and message 5 in the random access process on the determined regional narrow beam, which can improve transmission performance.

[0221] After the terminal device completes the random access process, the network device transmits data with the terminal device on a narrow beam of the terminal device granularity.

[0222] According to a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, a network device sends at least one information block at a position N time units apart from a synchronization signal / broadcast signal block, and the at least one information block carries necessary information for a terminal device to initiate random access, so that the terminal device can access the cell in a timely manner and reduce access delay.

[0223] In this application, "sending information to... (such as a terminal device)" or the related illustrations in the accompanying drawings can be understood as the destination end of the information is the terminal device. It can include sending information to the terminal device directly or indirectly. "Receiving information from... (such as a terminal device)" or "receiving information from... (such as a terminal device)", or the related illustrations in the accompanying drawings can be understood as the source end of the information is the terminal device, which can include receiving information from the terminal device directly or indirectly. The information may be processed as necessary between the source end and the destination end of the information transmission, such as format changes, etc., but the destination end can understand the valid information from the source end. Similar expressions in this application can be understood similarly and will not be repeated here.

[0224] It is understandable that the present application uses the terminal device and the network device as examples of the execution subjects of the interaction diagram, but the present application does not limit the execution subjects of the interaction diagram. For example, the terminal device in the method provided by the present application may also be a chip, a chip system, or a processor applied to the terminal device, or a logical node, a logical module, or software that can realize all or part of the terminal device; the network device in the method provided by the present application may also be a chip, a chip system, or a processor applied to the network device, or a logical node, a logical module, or software that can realize all or part of the network device functions.

[0225] It can be understood that in the above embodiments, the methods and / or steps implemented by the terminal device can also be implemented by components (such as chips or circuits) that can be used for the terminal device; the methods and / or steps implemented by the network device can also be implemented by components (such as chips or circuits) that can be used for the network device.

[0226] The above mainly introduces the scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of interaction between various devices. Accordingly, the embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device, which is used to implement the above various methods. The communication device can be a terminal device in the above method embodiment, or a component that can be used for a terminal device; or, the communication device can be a network device in the above method embodiment, or a component that can be used for a network device. It can be understood that in order to implement the above functions, the communication device includes a hardware structure and / or software module corresponding to each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiment disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of the present application.

[0227] The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method embodiment. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing unit. The above integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation.

[0228] Fig. 20 and Fig.21 The following is a schematic diagram of the structure of possible communication devices provided in the embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be as follows: Figure 1 One of the terminal devices 120a-120g shown may also be a module (such as a chip) applied to a terminal device or a network device.

[0229] like Fig. 20 As shown, the communication device 2000 includes a processing unit 2010 and a transceiver unit 2020. The communication device 2000 is used to implement the above Figure 6 or Fig.11 The functions of the terminal device or the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG.

[0230] When the communication device 2000 is used to implement Figure 6 or Fig.11 In the method embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , the functions of the terminal device are as follows: the transceiver unit 2020 is used to implement the following Figure 6 The functions of the terminal device in steps S601 and S602 in the embodiment shown in the figure; or the transceiver unit 2020 is used to implement the following Fig.11 Functions of the terminal device in steps S1101 and S1102 in the illustrated embodiment.

[0231] When the communication device 2000 is used to implement Figure 6 or Fig.11 In the method embodiment shown, the functions of the network device are: the transceiver unit 2020 is used to implement the following Figure 6 The functions of the network device in steps S601 and S602 in the embodiment shown in the figure; or the transceiver unit 2020 is used to implement the following Fig.11 Functions of the network device in steps S1101 and S1102 in the illustrated embodiment.

[0232] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 2010 and the transceiver unit 2020, please refer to Figure 6 or Fig.11 The relevant description in the method embodiment shown is directly obtained and will not be repeated here.

[0233] like Fig.21 As shown, the communication device 2100 includes a processor 2110 and an interface circuit 2120. The processor 2110 and the interface circuit 2120 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 2120 can be a transceiver or an input-output interface. Optionally, the communication device 2100 may also include a memory 2130 for storing instructions executed by the processor 2110 or storing input data required by the processor 2110 to execute instructions or storing data generated after the processor 2110 executes instructions.

[0234] When the communication device 2100 is used to implement Figure 6 or Fig.11 When the method is shown, the processor 2110 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned processing unit 2010, and the interface circuit 2120 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned transceiver unit 2020.

[0235] When the above communication device is a chip applied to a terminal device, the terminal device chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiment. The terminal device chip receives information from other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device; or the terminal device chip sends information to other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device.

[0236] When the above communication device is a chip applied to a network device, the network device chip implements the function of the network device in the above method embodiment. The network device chip receives information from other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device; or the network device chip sends information to other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device.

[0237] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0238] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by hardware, or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, register, hard disk, mobile hard disk, compact disc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory, CD-ROM) or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a network device or a terminal device. Of course, the processor and the storage medium can also be present in a network device or a terminal device as discrete components.

[0239] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instruction is loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is executed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device or other programmable device. The computer program or instruction may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer program or instruction may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server or data center to another website site, computer, server or data center by wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape; it may also be an optical medium, for example, a digital video disc; it may also be a semiconductor medium, for example, a solid-state hard disk.

[0240] At least one (item) involved in this application indicates one (item) or more (items). More than one (item) refers to two (items) or more than two (items). "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. The character " / " generally indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship. In addition, it should be understood that although the terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe each object in this application, these objects should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish each object from each other.

[0241] The terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof mentioned in the following description of the present application are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but optionally includes other steps or units that are not listed, or optionally includes other steps or units that are inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices. It should be noted that in the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or explanations. Any method or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other methods or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way.

[0242] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or provided for in any logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between the different embodiments are consistent and may be referenced to each other, and the technical features in the different embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0243] It is understood that the various numbers involved in the embodiments of the present application are only for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the sequence number of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receiving an information block in a time slot, wherein the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information, and the system information includes location information of a network device and configuration information of random access; Based on the system information, random access is initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving a random access response sent by the network device using a beam with a first beam width; Sending message 3 during random access; receiving a message 4 sent by the network device using a beam of the first beam width; Send message 5 in the random access procedure.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The information block is a plurality of information blocks, and the plurality of information blocks are continuous in the time domain.

4. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Sending an information block in a time slot, wherein the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information, and the system information includes location information of a network device and configuration information of random access; Based on the system information, a random access initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence is received.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending a random access response using a beam with a first beam width; Receiving message 3 of a random access procedure on a beam of the first beam width; Sending message 4 on the beam of the first beam width; A message 5 in a random access procedure is received on a beam of said first beamwidth.

6. The method according to claim 2 or 5, characterized in that The information block is carried on a first beam, and a beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The network coverage corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage of the beam sent with the first beam width.

8. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 7, characterized in that The information block is a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks are continuous in the time domain, and the plurality of information blocks correspond to a plurality of network coverage ranges.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The bandwidth corresponding to the information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that In the information block, the synchronization sequence and the system information are continuous in time domain, and the time domain position of the synchronization sequence is located before the time domain position of the system information.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that The information block also includes multiple demodulation reference signals, and the multiple demodulation reference signals are used to demodulate the system information.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that The information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that The system information further includes at least one of the following: general configuration of uplink transmission, general configuration of downlink transmission, the number of the information blocks, the period of the information blocks, and the pattern of the information blocks.

14. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receiving at least one information block in a time slot, wherein each information block in the at least one information block includes location information of a network device and configuration information of random access, and the information block is separated from a synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; Based on each information block, random access is initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving a random access response sent by the network device using a beam with a first beam width; Sending message 3 during random access; receiving a message 4 sent by the network device using a beam of the first beam width; Send message 5 in the random access procedure.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The at least one information block is continuous in the time domain.

17. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Send at least one information block in one time slot, wherein each information block in the at least one information block includes location information of the network device and configuration information of random access, and the information block is separated from the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; Based on the each information block, a random access initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is received.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending a random access response using a beam with a first beam width; Receiving message 3 of a random access procedure on a beam of the first beam width; Sending message 4 on the beam of the first beam width; A message 5 in a random access procedure is received on said first beamwidth.

19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that The at least one information block is continuous in the time domain, and the at least one information block corresponds to at least one network coverage range respectively.

20. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, characterized in that The synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is used to indicate the time-frequency resource position of each information block.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein: The synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is used to indicate the index of the time domain offset value and / or the index of the frequency domain offset value, the time domain offset value is the time domain offset value between each information block and the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block corresponding to each information block, and the frequency domain offset value is the offset value of the frequency domain starting or ending position between each information block and the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block corresponding to each information block.

22. The method according to claim 15 or 18, characterized in that Each of the information blocks is carried on a first beam, and a beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein: The network coverage corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage of the beam sent with the first beam width.

24. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 23, characterized in that The bandwidth corresponding to each information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks.

25. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 24, characterized in that Each of the information blocks also includes a plurality of demodulation reference signals, and the plurality of demodulation reference signals are used to demodulate the system information.

26. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 25, characterized in that The at least one information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

27. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 26, characterized in that Each of the information blocks further includes at least one of the following: a general configuration for uplink transmission, a general configuration for downlink transmission, the number of the information blocks, a period of the information blocks, and a pattern of the information blocks.

28. A communication device, characterized in that: The apparatus comprises means for performing the method of any one of claims 1-27.

29. A communication system, characterized in that: The method comprises a first communication device and a second communication device, wherein the first communication device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-3 and 6-13, and the second communication device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 4-13.

30. A communication system, characterized in that: The method comprises a first communication device and a second communication device, wherein the first communication device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 14-16 and 20-27, and the second communication device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 17-27.

31. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 27 when executing the computer program.

32. A computer-readable storage medium, wherein a computer program or instruction is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program or instruction is executed, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 27 is executed.

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