Communication method and communication device

Abstract

The invention provides a communication method and a communication device applied to the field of communication. In the technical scheme provided by the invention, a first communication device can transmit a plurality of Msg3 to a second communication device based on a plurality of TA values issued by the second communication device, the plurality of Msg3 correspond to the plurality of TA values, and the second communication device determines an Msg4 based on the received plurality of Msg3 and issues the Msg4 used for determining the TA value of the first communication device to the first communication device. According to the technical scheme provided by the invention, Msg3 conflicts can be reduced, and the transmission performance of Msg3 is improved.

Description

Technical Field

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

[0002] In the field of communications, a terminal device can access a network for communication by performing a random access (RA) process. During the random access process, the terminal device can send a preamble on a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource, and the network device can estimate the timing advance (TA) of the terminal device based on the preamble, and send it to the terminal device through a random access response (RAR). After successfully receiving the RAR, the terminal device can send an uplink message to the network device based on the TA value, and the uplink message can be called Message 3 (Msg3).

[0003] However, in the contention-based random access (CBRA) process, different terminal devices may select the same PRACH and preamble, resulting in preamble conflict, which in turn leads to Msg3 conflict, resulting in poor Msg3 transmission performance and reduced access success rate of terminal devices.

[0004] Therefore, how to improve the transmission performance of Msg3 during the CBRA process and thus increase the access success rate of terminal devices has become a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently. Summary of the invention

[0005] The present application provides a communication method and a communication device to improve the transmission performance of message 3 (Msg3) in a contention-based random access process, thereby improving the access success rate of a terminal device.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, comprising: receiving multiple messages Msg3 from a first communication device, the multiple Msg3 corresponding to multiple timing advance TA values, and the multiple TA values ​​being carried in a message Msg2; sending a message Msg4 to the first communication device, the Msg4 being used to determine that the TA value of the first communication device is a first TA value among the multiple TA values.

[0007] As an example, the method may be executed by the second communication device, and may also be executed by a chip system, a hardware circuit and / or a software module applied in the second communication device.

[0008] As an example, the first communication device may be a terminal device, and the second communication device may be a network device.

[0009] In this technical solution, when a preamble conflict occurs during a contention-based random access (RA, CBRA) process, the second communication device can estimate multiple timing advance (TA) values ​​by receiving an enhancement algorithm when receiving a preamble signal, and carry the multiple TA values ​​in message 2 (Msg2) and send it to the first communication device. Correspondingly, the first communication device can receive Msg2, and after receiving Msg2, use the multiple TA values ​​carried in Msg2 to send multiple messages 3 (Msg3) to the second communication device. Among them, the preamble conflict can be understood as more than one first communication device sending the same preamble on the same random access channel (RACH) resource at the same time.

[0010] As an example, each Msg3 in multiple Msg3s may be the same.

[0011] In some embodiments, the correspondence between multiple Msg3 and multiple TA values ​​can be understood as multiple TA values ​​can correspond one-to-one with multiple Msg3. For example, the first communication device can use each TA value in the multiple TA values ​​to send a Msg3 to the first communication device once. At this time, the number of TA values ​​is the same as the number of Msg3.

[0012] In some embodiments, the correspondence between multiple Msg3 and multiple TA values ​​can also be understood as each TA value in the multiple TA values ​​can correspond to multiple Msg3. For example, the first communication device can use each TA value in the multiple TA values ​​to repeatedly send the same Msg3 multiple times. In this case, the number of TA values ​​is different from the number of Msg3.

[0013] Correspondingly, the second communication device can receive multiple Msg3s sent by the first communication device, and can determine the content of message 4 (Msg4) based on the correctly received Msg3. For example, Msg4 can include a first TA value, thereby explicitly indicating that the TA value of the first communication device is the first TA value; correspondingly, the first communication device can receive Msg4, and determine that the TA value of the first communication device is the first TA value based on Msg4.

[0014] In this technical solution, the first communication device can transmit multiple identical Msg3s to the second communication device based on multiple TA values ​​carried in Msg2, which helps reduce the conflict of Msg3, improves the transmission and detection efficiency of Msg3, and improves the access success rate of the first communication device. In addition, the second communication device can indicate the TA value of the first communication device to the first communication device through Msg4, so that the first communication device can obtain a more accurate TA value after completing random access, avoiding the need to adjust the TA value later, and shortening the time for adjusting the TA value.

[0015] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the Msg2 includes multiple media access control sub-protocol data units MAC subPDUs, the multiple MAC subPDUs correspond one-to-one to the multiple TA values, and each MAC subPDU in the multiple MACsubPDUs includes a corresponding TA value.

[0016] In this implementation, Msg2 can carry multiple TA values ​​through multiple media access control sub protocol data units (MAC subPDUs).

[0017] As an example, multiple MAC subPDUs may correspond to multiple TA values ​​one by one, and each MAC subPDU may include a TA value, thereby implementing the sending of multiple TA values.

[0018] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the multiple TA values ​​correspond one-to-one to multiple uplink authorization UL grant information, each UL grant information in the multiple UL grant information is carried in the MAC subPDU to which the corresponding TA value belongs, and each UL grant information in the multiple UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources occupied by the corresponding TA value.

[0019] In this implementation, each of the multiple MAC subPDUs may be a MAC subPDU3 in a media access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) of a random access response (RAR). In addition to the TA value, the MAC subPDU3 may also include uplink grant (UL grant) information to indicate the uplink resource used by the first communication device when transmitting Msg3 using each TA value, and the uplink resource may be a time domain resource and / or a frequency domain resource.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, each MACsubPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs further includes a number of repeated transmissions occupied by a corresponding TA value.

[0021] In this implementation, when Msg3 supports repetition transmission, the first communication device can use the same TA value on multiple time domain resources to repeatedly transmit the same Msg3 on the same frequency resource to improve the transmission performance of Msg3. Therefore, when multiple TA values ​​are carried in Msg2, it is necessary to configure the corresponding number of repetition transmissions for each TA value, so each MAC subPDU in multiple MAC subPDUs can also include the number of repetition transmissions occupied by the corresponding TA value. It should be understood that the TA value corresponding to each MAC subPDU is the TA value contained in each MAC subPDU.

[0022] Correspondingly, when multiple TA values ​​are carried in Msg2 and the corresponding number of repeated transmissions is configured for each TA value, the corresponding UL grant information needs to be configured for each TA value. The UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value. It should be understood that the number of repeated transmissions of Msg3 is consistent with the number of time domain resources. Therefore, each MAC subPDU in multiple MAC subPDUs can also include UL grant information corresponding to the TA value.

[0023] However, when the corresponding number of repeated transmissions and UL grant information are configured for each TA value, and the first communication device transmits Msg3 based on the number of repeated transmissions and UL grant information corresponding to each TA value, a large amount of signaling space and signaling overhead will be occupied, and the transmission efficiency will be low. Based on this, the corresponding number of repeated transmissions and UL grant information can be allocated to only one of the multiple TA values, and the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to the TA value can be allocated to multiple TA values ​​to reduce the signaling space and signaling overhead and improve the transmission efficiency. Therefore, each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs can include the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the corresponding TA value, that is, the number of repeated transmissions allocated to each TA value in the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to one of the TA values. It should be noted that the number of TA values ​​in the multiple TA values ​​should be less than or equal to the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to one of the TA values.

[0024] It should be noted that the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value among the multiple TA values ​​may be allocated according to a preset rule, and the preset rule may be set according to actual needs, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0025] As an example, each MAC subPDU in multiple MAC subPDUs may also include UL grant information, and the UL grant information included in each MACsubPDU is consistent with the UL grant information corresponding to one of the TA values, so that the first communication device can realize the transmission of Msg3 based on the TA value included in each MAC subPDU, the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the TA value and the UL grant information.

[0026] In this implementation, it is only necessary to allocate the corresponding number of repeated transmissions and UL grant information to one of the multiple TA values, and allocate the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to the TA value to each of the multiple TA values, and each of the multiple TA values ​​shares the same UL grant information, thereby improving the transmission efficiency when the first communication device transmits Msg3 and reducing the signaling space and signaling overhead.

[0027] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, a MACsubPDU among the multiple MAC subPDUs further includes UL grant information, and the UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the TA value corresponding to each MACsubPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs.

[0028] In this implementation, when multiple TA values ​​are carried in Msg2 and the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to one of the multiple TA values ​​is allocated to the multiple TA values, UL grant information can be carried only by one of the multiple MAC subPDUs. The UL grant information is consistent with the UL grant information corresponding to one of the TA values. The UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources occupied by each of the multiple TA values, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0029] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the preamble identifier RAPID of each MACsubPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs is the same.

[0030] In this implementation, when only one of the multiple MAC subPDUs is used to carry the UL grant information, in order to ensure that the first communication device can know the frequency domain resources and time domain resources occupied by each TA value when transmitting Msg3 using each TA value, the preamble identifier (RA preamble identifier, RAPID) of each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs can be made the same. Therefore, when the first communication device uses the TA value indicated in each MAC subPDU and the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the TA value to transmit Msg3, the UL grant information can be determined based on the RAPID of the MAC subPDU, so that the uplink resources (such as frequency domain resources and / or time domain resources) at each transmission of Msg3 can be determined, and then the transmission time point can be adjusted based on the TA value in the MACsubPDU to realize the transmission of Msg3.

[0031] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the Msg2 includes a MAC subPDU, and the MAC subPDU includes each TA value of the multiple TA values.

[0032] In this implementation, Msg2 may carry multiple TA values ​​through one MAC subPDU, that is, Msg2 may include one MAC subPDU, and the MAC subPDU includes each TA value of the multiple TA values.

[0033] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the MAC subPDU further includes the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value in the multiple TA values ​​and / or UL grant information, and the UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value in the multiple TA values.

[0034] In this implementation, when Msg3 supports repeated transmission, the corresponding repeated transmission times and UL grant information can be allocated to only one of the multiple TA values, and the repeated transmission times corresponding to the TA value can be allocated to multiple TA values. Therefore, the MAC subPDU included in Msg2 can also include the repeated transmission times occupied by each TA value to indicate the repeated transmission times when the first communication device uses each TA value to transmit Msg3. Among them, the repeated transmission times occupied by each TA value can be understood as the repeated transmission times allocated to each TA value among the repeated transmission times corresponding to one of the TA values.

[0035] In this implementation, the MAC subPDU included in Msg2 may also include UL grant information. The UL grant information can be used to indicate the uplink resource corresponding to each transmission of Msg3 when the first communication device uses each TA value to transmit Msg3. The uplink resource may be a frequency domain resource and / or a time domain resource. The UL grant information is consistent with the ULgrant information corresponding to one of the TA values.

[0036] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the MAC subPDU further includes the number of TA values ​​in the multiple TA values.

[0037] In this implementation, the MAC subPDU included in Msg2 may further include the number of TA values ​​among multiple TA values, so as to improve the accuracy of the first communication device in transmitting Msg3 and avoid under-transmission or wrong transmission of Msg3.

[0038] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, each Msg3 in the multiple Msg3 includes an identifier of the first communication device, and the identifier of the first communication device includes user identity information.

[0039] In this implementation, when the first communication device transmits Msg3, the identifier of the first communication device may be carried in Msg3 according to the event type of Msg3. For example, when the event type of Msg3 is a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) media access control element (MAC CE), the first communication device already has a dedicated C-RNTI, and the identifier of the first communication device may be C-RNTI; when the event type of Msg3 is a common control channel service data unit (CCCH SDU), Msg3 carries a CCCH SDU such as a radio resource control setup request (RRC setup request), the first communication device has not yet accessed the network, and the identifier of the first communication device may be user identity information. The user identity information may be understood as an identifier configured by the first communication device for itself, which is used to distinguish the user equipment (UE) contention resolution identity from the identifiers of other first communication devices.

[0040] As an example, the user identity information may be an M-bit sequence, where M is a positive integer, or may be other information, which is not specifically limited here.

[0041] As an example, the user identity information may also be a combination of an identifier configured by the first communication device for itself and a temporary cell radio network temporary identity (TC-RNTI). TC-RNTI is carried in Msg2. It should be noted that the method of generating user identity information by combining the identifier configured by the first communication device for itself with the TC-RNTI may be predefined by the protocol or configured by the second communication device, and is not specifically limited here.

[0042] In this implementation, when the event type of Msg3 is CCCH SDU, if the first communication device uses the TC-RNTI carried in Msg2 as the identifier of the first communication device, it will conflict with the identifier of other first communication devices with preamble conflicts, so that the second communication device cannot determine the first communication device that transmits the Msg3 when receiving the Msg3, thereby affecting communication efficiency. The method provided in this implementation can solve this problem.

[0043] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the Msg4 includes the user identity information.

[0044] In this implementation, when the second communication device receives multiple Msg3s, it can determine the TA value of the first communication device based on the received Msg3s, and indicate the TA value of the first communication device to the first communication device through Msg4. As an example, Msg4 can explicitly indicate the TA value of the first communication device. For example, Msg4 can include a first TA value, the first TA value is the TA value of the first communication device, and the first TA value is included in the multiple TA values.

[0045] As an example, when the identifier of the first communication device included in Msg3 is C-RNTI, Msg4 may only include the first TA value, and the second communication device may use C-RNTI to scramble Msg4 and then send it to the first communication device.

[0046] As an example, when the identifier of the first communication device included in Msg3 is user identity information, Msg4 may include the first TA value and / or the identifier of the first communication device, and the second communication device may use the user identity information to scramble Msg4 and then send it to the first communication device.

[0047] Optionally, the identifier of the first communication device included in Msg4 may be information configured by the first communication device itself, or combination information of the information configured by the first communication device itself and TC-RNTI, which is not specifically limited here.

[0048] In this implementation, when the identifier of the first communication device included in Msg3 is user identity information, the identifier of the first communication device may be included in Msg4, so that the first communication device avoids misdetection of Msg4 when detecting Msg4. In addition, after the first communication device correctly receives Msg4, the identifier of the first communication device included in Msg4 may be determined as the C-RNTI of the first communication device, so that the first communication device can use C-RNTI for communication in subsequent communications. Compared with the prior art in which the first communication device uses TC-RNTI for communication, the communication problem caused by the inability of the second communication device to distinguish the first communication device is avoided, and the communication efficiency is improved.

[0049] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the Msg4 is carried in a sub-time domain resource among multiple sub-time domain resources, the multiple sub-time domain resources correspond one-to-one to the multiple TA values, and each sub-time domain resource among the multiple sub-time domain resources is used to transmit the Msg4 carrying the corresponding TA value.

[0050] In this implementation, Msg4 may implicitly indicate that the TA value of the first communication device is the first TA value.

[0051] As an example, the second communication device can divide the random access contention resolution timer of the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of Msg4 that the first communication device monitors into multiple sub-timers, each sub-timer corresponds to a TA value, each sub-timer does not overlap, and the duration of each sub-timer is the same. In this example, the sub-timer can be understood as a sub-time domain resource. Therefore, the first communication device can monitor whether there is a Msg4 sent to itself within the start time window of each sub-timer. If the first communication device correctly receives the Msg4 in a sub-timer, it is considered that the TA value corresponding to the sub-timer is the first TA value of the first communication device.

[0052] As an example, the second communication device may configure the parameters (such as length, number, etc.) of each sub-timer to the first communication device in advance.

[0053] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the channel quality of Msg3 corresponding to the first TA value meets a preset condition.

[0054] As an example, the channel quality may include a signal-to-noise ratio. For example, when the second communication device receives multiple Msg3s including the identifier of the same first communication device, the TA value corresponding to the Msg3 with the largest signal-to-noise ratio among the multiple Msg3s may be used as the TA value of the first communication device, thereby improving the accuracy of the TA value of the first communication device.

[0055] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, comprising: sending multiple Msg3s to a second communication device, the multiple Msg3s corresponding to multiple TA values, the multiple TA values ​​being carried in Msg2; receiving Msg4 from the second communication device, the Msg4 being used to determine that the TA value of the first communication device is the first TA value among the multiple TA values.

[0056] As an example, the method may be executed by the first communication device, and may also be executed by a chip system, a hardware circuit and / or a software module applied in the first communication device.

[0057] As an example, the first communication device may be a terminal device, and the second communication device may be a network device.

[0058] In this technical solution, when a preamble conflict occurs during the CBRA process, the second communication device can estimate multiple TA values ​​through a reception enhancement algorithm when receiving the preamble signal, and carry the multiple TA values ​​in Msg2 and send them to the first communication device. Correspondingly, the first communication device can receive Msg2, and after receiving Msg2, use the multiple TA values ​​carried in Msg2 to send multiple Msg3 to the second communication device. Among them, the preamble conflict can be understood as more than one first communication device sending the same preamble on the same RACH resource at the same time.

[0059] As an example, each Msg3 in multiple Msg3s may be the same.

[0060] In some embodiments, the correspondence between multiple Msg3 and multiple TA values ​​can be understood as multiple TA values ​​can correspond one-to-one with multiple Msg3. For example, the first communication device can use each TA value in the multiple TA values ​​to send a Msg3 to the first communication device once, and at this time, the number of TA values ​​is the same as the number of Msg3.

[0061] In some embodiments, the correspondence between multiple Msg3 and multiple TA values ​​can also be understood as each TA value in the multiple TA values ​​can correspond to multiple Msg3. For example, the first communication device can use each TA value in the multiple TA values ​​to repeatedly send the same Msg3 multiple times. In this case, the number of TA values ​​is different from the number of Msg3.

[0062] Correspondingly, the second communication device can receive multiple Msg3s sent by the first communication device, and can determine the content of Msg4 based on the correctly received Msg3. For example, Msg4 can include the first TA value, thereby explicitly indicating that the TA value of the first communication device is the first TA value; correspondingly, the first communication device can receive Msg4, and determine that the TA value of the first communication device is the first TA value based on Msg4.

[0063] In this technical solution, the first communication device can transmit multiple identical Msg3s to the second communication device based on multiple TA values ​​carried in Msg2, which helps reduce the conflict of Msg3, improves the transmission and detection efficiency of Msg3, and improves the access success rate of the first communication device. In addition, the second communication device can indicate the TA value of the first communication device to the first communication device through Msg4, so that the first communication device can obtain a more accurate TA value after completing random access, avoiding the need to adjust the TA value later, and shortening the time for adjusting the TA value.

[0064] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the Msg2 includes multiple MAC subPDUs, the multiple MAC subPDUs correspond one-to-one to the multiple TA values, and each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs includes a corresponding TA value.

[0065] In this implementation, Msg2 can carry multiple TA values ​​through multiple MAC subPDUs.

[0066] As an example, multiple MAC subPDUs may correspond to multiple TA values ​​one by one, and each MAC subPDU may include a TA value, thereby implementing the sending of multiple TA values.

[0067] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the multiple TA values ​​correspond one-to-one to multiple UL grant information, each UL grant information in the multiple UL grant information is carried in the MACsubPDU to which the corresponding TA value belongs, and each UL grant information in the multiple UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources occupied by the corresponding TA value.

[0068] In this implementation, each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs may be MAC subPDU3 in the MAC PDU of the RAR. In addition to the TA value, MAC subPDU3 may also include UL grant information to indicate the uplink resource used by the first communication device when transmitting Msg3 using each TA value, and the uplink resource may be a time domain resource and / or a frequency domain resource.

[0069] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, each MACsubPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs further includes a number of repeated transmissions occupied by a corresponding TA value.

[0070] In this implementation, when Msg3 supports repeated transmission, the first communication device can use the same TA value on multiple time domain resources to repeatedly transmit the same Msg3 on the same frequency resource to improve the transmission performance of Msg3. Therefore, when multiple TA values ​​are carried in Msg2, it is necessary to configure the corresponding number of repeated transmissions for each TA value, so each MAC subPDU in multiple MAC subPDUs can also include the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the corresponding TA value. It should be understood that the TA value corresponding to each MACsubPDU is the TA value contained in each MAC subPDU.

[0071] Correspondingly, when multiple TA values ​​are carried in Msg2 and the corresponding number of repeated transmissions is configured for each TA value, the corresponding UL grant information needs to be configured for each TA value. The UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value. It should be understood that the number of repeated transmissions of Msg3 is consistent with the number of time domain resources. Therefore, each MAC subPDU in multiple MAC subPDUs can also include UL grant information corresponding to the TA value.

[0072] However, when the corresponding number of repeated transmissions and UL grant information are configured for each TA value, and the first communication device transmits Msg3 based on the number of repeated transmissions and UL grant information corresponding to each TA value, a large amount of signaling space and signaling overhead will be occupied, and the transmission efficiency will be low. Based on this, the corresponding number of repeated transmissions and UL grant information can be allocated to only one of the multiple TA values, and the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to the TA value can be allocated to multiple TA values ​​to reduce the signaling space and signaling overhead and improve the transmission efficiency. Therefore, each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs can include the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the corresponding TA value, that is, the number of repeated transmissions allocated to each TA value in the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to one of the TA values. It should be noted that the number of TA values ​​in the multiple TA values ​​should be less than or equal to the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to one of the TA values.

[0073] It should be noted that the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value among the multiple TA values ​​may be allocated according to a preset rule, and the preset rule may be set according to actual needs, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0074] As an example, each MAC subPDU in multiple MAC subPDUs may also include UL grant information, and the UL grant information included in each MACsubPDU is consistent with the UL grant information corresponding to one of the TA values, so that the first communication device can realize the transmission of Msg3 based on the TA value included in each MAC subPDU, the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the TA value and the UL grant information.

[0075] In this implementation, it is only necessary to allocate the corresponding number of repeated transmissions and UL grant information to one of the multiple TA values, and allocate the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to the TA value to each of the multiple TA values, and each of the multiple TA values ​​shares the same UL grant information, thereby improving the transmission efficiency when the first communication device transmits Msg3 and reducing the signaling space and signaling overhead.

[0076] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, one MACsubPDU among the multiple MAC subPDUs further includes UL grant information, and the UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the TA value corresponding to each MACsubPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs.

[0077] In this implementation, when multiple TA values ​​are carried in Msg2 and the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to one of the multiple TA values ​​is allocated to the multiple TA values, UL grant information can be carried only by one of the multiple MAC subPDUs. The UL grant information is consistent with the UL grant information corresponding to one of the TA values. The UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources occupied by each of the multiple TA values, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0078] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the RAPID of each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs is the same.

[0079] In this implementation, when only one of the multiple MAC subPDUs is used to carry the UL grant information, in order to ensure that the first communication device can know the frequency domain resources and time domain resources occupied by each TA value when transmitting Msg3 using each TA value, the RAPID of each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs can be made the same. Therefore, when the first communication device uses the TA value indicated in each MAC subPDU and the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the TA value to transmit Msg3, the UL grant information can be determined based on the RAPID of the MACsubPDU, so that the uplink resources (such as frequency domain resources and / or time domain resources) at each transmission of Msg3 can be determined, and then the transmission time point can be adjusted based on the TA value in the MAC subPDU to realize the transmission of Msg3.

[0080] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the Msg2 includes a MAC subPDU, and the MAC subPDU includes each TA value of the multiple TA values.

[0081] In this implementation, Msg2 may carry multiple TA values ​​through one MAC subPDU, that is, Msg2 may include one MAC subPDU, and the MAC subPDU includes each TA value of the multiple TA values.

[0082] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the MAC subPDU further includes the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value in the multiple TA values ​​and / or UL grant information, and the UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value in the multiple TA values.

[0083] In this implementation, when Msg3 supports repeated transmission, the corresponding repeated transmission times and UL grant information can be allocated to only one of the multiple TA values, and the repeated transmission times corresponding to the TA value can be allocated to multiple TA values. Therefore, the MAC subPDU included in Msg2 can also include the repeated transmission times occupied by each TA value to indicate the repeated transmission times when the first communication device uses each TA value to transmit Msg3. Among them, the repeated transmission times occupied by each TA value can be understood as the repeated transmission times allocated to each TA value among the repeated transmission times corresponding to one of the TA values.

[0084] In this implementation, the MAC subPDU included in Msg2 may also include UL grant information. The UL grant information can be used to indicate the uplink resource corresponding to each transmission of Msg3 when the first communication device uses each TA value to transmit Msg3. The uplink resource may be a frequency domain resource and / or a time domain resource. The UL grant information is consistent with the ULgrant information corresponding to one of the TA values.

[0085] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the MAC subPDU further includes the number of TA values ​​in the multiple TA values.

[0086] In this implementation, the MAC subPDU included in Msg2 may further include the number of TA values ​​among multiple TA values, so as to improve the accuracy of the first communication device in transmitting Msg3 and avoid under-transmission or wrong transmission of Msg3.

[0087] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, each Msg3 in the multiple Msg3 includes an identifier of the first communication device, and the identifier of the first communication device includes user identity information.

[0088] In this implementation, when the first communication device transmits Msg3, the identifier of the first communication device can be carried in Msg3 according to the event type of Msg3. For example, when the event type of Msg3 is C-RNTI MAC CE, the first communication device already has a dedicated C-RNTI, and the identifier of the first communication device can be C-RNTI; when the event type of Msg3 is CCCH SDU, Msg3 carries CCCH SDU such as RRC setup request, the first communication device has not yet accessed the network, and the identifier of the first communication device can be user identity information. User identity information can be understood as an identifier configured by the first communication device for itself, which is used to distinguish the UE contention resolution identifier from other first communication devices.

[0089] As an example, the user identity information may be an M-bit sequence, where M is a positive integer, or may be other information, which is not specifically limited here.

[0090] As an example, the user identity information may also be a combination of the identifier configured by the first communication device for itself and the TC-RNTI. The TC-RNTI is carried in Msg2. It should be noted that the method of generating the user identity information by combining the identifier configured by the first communication device for itself with the TC-RNTI may be predefined by the protocol or may be configured by the second communication device, and is not specifically limited here.

[0091] In this implementation, when the event type of Msg3 is CCCH SDU, if the first communication device uses the TC-RNTI carried in Msg2 as the identifier of the first communication device, it will conflict with the identifier of other first communication devices with preamble conflicts, so that the second communication device cannot determine the first communication device that transmits the Msg3 when receiving the Msg3, thereby affecting the communication efficiency. The method shown in this implementation can solve this problem.

[0092] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the Msg4 includes the user identity information.

[0093] In this implementation, when the second communication device receives multiple Msg3s, it can determine the TA value of the first communication device based on the received Msg3s, and indicate the TA value of the first communication device to the first communication device through Msg4. As an example, Msg4 can explicitly indicate the TA value of the first communication device. For example, Msg4 can include a first TA value, the first TA value is the TA value of the first communication device, and the first TA value is included in the multiple TA values.

[0094] As an example, when the identifier of the first communication device included in Msg3 is C-RNTI, Msg4 may only include the first TA value, and the second communication device may use C-RNTI to scramble Msg4 and then send it to the first communication device.

[0095] As an example, when the identifier of the first communication device included in Msg3 is user identity information, Msg4 may include the first TA value and the identifier of the first communication device, and the second communication device may use the user identity information to scramble Msg4 and then send it to the first communication device.

[0096] Optionally, the identifier of the first communication device included in Msg4 may be information configured by the first communication device itself, or combination information of the information configured by the first communication device itself and TC-RNTI, which is not specifically limited here.

[0097] In this implementation, when the identifier of the first communication device included in Msg3 is user identity information, the identifier of the first communication device may be included in Msg4, so that the first communication device avoids misdetection of Msg4 when detecting Msg4. In addition, after the first communication device correctly receives Msg4, the identifier of the first communication device included in Msg4 may be determined as the C-RNTI of the first communication device, so that the first communication device can use C-RNTI for communication in subsequent communications. Compared with the prior art in which the first communication device uses TC-RNTI for communication, the communication problem caused by the inability of the second communication device to distinguish the first communication device is avoided, and the communication efficiency is improved.

[0098] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the Msg4 is carried in a sub-time domain resource among multiple sub-time domain resources, the multiple sub-time domain resources correspond one-to-one to the multiple TA values, and each sub-time domain resource among the multiple sub-time domain resources is used to transmit the Msg4 carrying the corresponding TA value.

[0099] In this implementation, Msg4 may implicitly indicate that the TA value of the first communication device is the first TA value.

[0100] As an example, the second communication device can divide the random access contention resolution timer of the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of Msg4 that the first communication device monitors into multiple sub-timers, each sub-timer corresponds to a TA value, each sub-timer does not overlap, and the duration of each sub-timer is the same. In this example, the sub-timer can be understood as a sub-time domain resource. Therefore, the first communication device can monitor whether there is a Msg4 sent to itself within the start time window of each sub-timer. If the first communication device correctly receives the Msg4 in a sub-timer, it is considered that the TA value corresponding to the sub-timer is the first TA value of the first communication device.

[0101] As an example, the second communication device may configure the parameters (such as length, number, etc.) of each sub-timer to the first communication device in advance.

[0102] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the channel quality of Msg3 corresponding to the first TA value meets a preset condition.

[0103] As an example, the channel quality may include a signal-to-noise ratio. For example, when the second communication device receives multiple Msg3s including the identifier of the same first communication device, the TA value corresponding to the Msg3 with the largest signal-to-noise ratio among the multiple Msg3s may be used as the TA value of the first communication device, thereby improving the accuracy of the TA value of the first communication device.

[0104] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which includes modules for implementing the method in the first aspect or any one of the implementations thereof, and each module can be implemented in the form of hardware and / or software.

[0105] For example, the device may include: a receiving module and a sending module. The receiving module is used to receive multiple Msg3s from a first communication device, where the multiple Msg3s correspond to multiple TA values ​​and the multiple TA values ​​are carried in Msg2; and the sending module is used to send Msg4 to the first communication device, where the Msg4 is used to determine that the TA value of the first communication device is the first TA value among the multiple TA values.

[0106] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the Msg2 includes multiple MAC subPDUs, the multiple MAC subPDUs correspond one-to-one to the multiple TA values, and each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs includes a corresponding TA value.

[0107] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementation methods of the third aspect, the multiple TA values ​​correspond one-to-one to multiple UL grant information, each UL grant information in the multiple UL grant information is carried in the MACsubPDU to which the corresponding TA value belongs, and each UL grant information in the multiple UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources occupied by the corresponding TA value.

[0108] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, each MACsubPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs further includes a number of repeated transmissions occupied by a corresponding TA value.

[0109] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, one MACsubPDU among the multiple MAC subPDUs further includes UL grant information, and the UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the TA value corresponding to each MACsubPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs.

[0110] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the RAPID of each MACsubPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs is the same.

[0111] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the Msg2 includes a MAC subPDU, and the MAC subPDU includes each TA value of the multiple TA values.

[0112] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the MAC subPDU further includes the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value in the multiple TA values ​​and / or UL grant information, and the UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value in the multiple TA values.

[0113] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the MAC subPDU further includes the number of TA values ​​in the multiple TA values.

[0114] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, each of the multiple Msg3s includes an identifier of the first communication device, and the identifier of the first communication device includes user identity information.

[0115] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the Msg4 includes the user identity information.

[0116] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the Msg4 is carried in a sub-time domain resource among multiple sub-time domain resources, the multiple sub-time domain resources correspond one-to-one to the multiple TA values, and each sub-time domain resource among the multiple sub-time domain resources is used to transmit the Msg4 carrying the corresponding TA value.

[0117] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the channel quality of Msg3 corresponding to the first TA value meets a preset condition.

[0118] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which includes modules for implementing the method in the second aspect or any one of the implementations thereof, and each module can be implemented in the form of hardware and / or software.

[0119] For example, the device may include: a sending module and a receiving module. The sending module is used to send multiple Msg3s to the second communication device, wherein the multiple Msg3s correspond to multiple TA values ​​and the multiple TA values ​​are carried in Msg2; and the receiving module is used to receive Msg4 from the second communication device, wherein the Msg4 is used to determine that the TA value of the first communication device is the first TA value among the multiple TA values.

[0120] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the Msg2 includes multiple MAC subPDUs, the multiple MAC subPDUs correspond one-to-one to the multiple TA values, and each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs includes a corresponding TA value.

[0121] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementation methods of the fourth aspect, the multiple TA values ​​correspond one-to-one to multiple UL grant information, each UL grant information in the multiple UL grant information is carried in the MACsubPDU to which the corresponding TA value belongs, and each UL grant information in the multiple UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources occupied by the corresponding TA value.

[0122] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, each MACsubPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs further includes a number of repeated transmissions occupied by a corresponding TA value.

[0123] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, a MACsubPDU among the multiple MAC subPDUs further includes UL grant information, and the UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the TA value corresponding to each MACsubPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs.

[0124] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the RAPID of each MACsubPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs is the same.

[0125] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the Msg2 includes a MAC subPDU, and the MAC subPDU includes each TA value of the multiple TA values.

[0126] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the MAC subPDU further includes the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value in the multiple TA values ​​and / or UL grant information, and the UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value in the multiple TA values.

[0127] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the MAC subPDU further includes the number of TA values ​​in the multiple TA values.

[0128] In combination with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, each of the multiple Msg3s includes an identifier of the first communication device, and the identifier of the first communication device includes user identity information.

[0129] In combination with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the Msg4 includes the user identity information.

[0130] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the Msg4 is carried in a sub-time domain resource among multiple sub-time domain resources, the multiple sub-time domain resources correspond one-to-one to the multiple TA values, and each sub-time domain resource among the multiple sub-time domain resources is used to transmit the Msg4 carrying the corresponding TA value.

[0131] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the channel quality of Msg3 corresponding to the first TA value meets a preset condition.

[0132] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, including a processor, which can be coupled to a memory and is used to call a program code in the memory to execute the method as described in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof. Optionally, the device also includes a memory. Optionally, the device also includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface.

[0133] Optionally, the apparatus may be a network device (such as a base station), or a chip system, a hardware circuit and / or a software module applied in a network device.

[0134] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, including a processor, which can be coupled to a memory and is used to call a program code in the memory to execute the method as described in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof. Optionally, the device also includes a memory. Optionally, the device also includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface.

[0135] Optionally, the apparatus may be a terminal device, or a chip system, a hardware circuit and / or a software module applied in the terminal device.

[0136] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication system, which includes the device in the third aspect or the fifth aspect, and the device in the fourth aspect or the sixth aspect.

[0137] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method described in the first aspect, the second aspect, or any possible implementation thereof.

[0138] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable medium storing a program code for execution by a device, wherein the program code includes a method for executing the method described in the first aspect, the second aspect, or any possible implementation method thereof.

[0139] For the technical effects that can be achieved by any of the third to ninth aspects and any possible designs in any of the aspects, please refer to the description of the technical effects that can be brought about by the first to second aspects, and no further details will be given here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0140] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a communication system to which the present application is applicable;

[0141] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of another communication system applicable to the present application;

[0142] Figure 3 is an exemplary flow chart of a contention-based random access process;

[0143] Figure 4 An exemplary flow chart of a communication method provided for one embodiment of the present application;

[0144] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structure of a MAC PDU of a RAR provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0145] Figure 6 An exemplary illustration of random access provided by one embodiment of the present application;

[0146] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of a MAC PDU of a RAR provided in another embodiment of the present application;

[0147] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the structure of a RAR MAC PDU provided in yet another embodiment of the present application;

[0148] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in one embodiment of the present application;

[0149] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in another embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0150] Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail herein, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the present application. Instead, they are merely examples of devices and methods consistent with some aspects of the present application as detailed in the appended claims.

[0151] A wireless communication system includes a communication device, and the communication devices can use air interface resources for wireless communication. Among them, the communication device may include a network device and a terminal device. The air interface resources may include at least one of time domain resources, frequency domain resources, code resources and space resources. In the embodiment of the present application, at least one can also be described as one or more, and multiple can be two, three, four or more, which is not limited in the present application.

[0152] In the embodiments of the present application, for a technical feature, the technical features in the technical feature are distinguished by "first", "second", "third", "A", "B", "C" and "D", and there is no order of precedence or size between the technical features described by the "first", "second", "third", "A", "B", "C" and "D".

[0153] The terminal device involved in the embodiment of the present application can be called a terminal, which is an entity on the user side for receiving or sending signals. The terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on the water (such as ships, etc.); it can also be deployed in the air (such as airplanes, balloons, and satellites, etc.). The terminal device can be a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE includes a handheld device, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, or a computing device with a wireless communication function. Exemplarily, the UE can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, or a computer with a wireless transceiver function. The terminal device can also be a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in telemedicine, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, and the like. In the embodiment of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal can be a terminal; it can also be a device that can support the terminal to realize the function, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the terminal. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0154] The terminal device involved in the embodiments of the present application may be in a connected state or an activated state (active), or in an unconnected state (inactive) or an idle state (idle), and the present application does not impose any specific restrictions on this.

[0155] The network device involved in the embodiment of the present application may be an entity for transmitting and receiving signals, including access network equipment, such as a base station (BS), which may be a device deployed in a wireless access network and capable of wirelessly communicating with a terminal device. Among them, the base station may have multiple forms, such as a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay station, and an access point. Exemplarily, the base station involved in the embodiment of the present application may be a base station in a fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) mobile communication system or an evolved base station (evolved node B, eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, wherein the base station in the 5G mobile communication system may also be referred to as a transmission reception point (TRP) or a 5G base station (next-generation node B, gNB). In the embodiment of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the network device may be a network device; it may also be a device that can support the network device to realize the function, such as a chip system, which may be installed in the network device.

[0156] The technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to wireless communication between communication devices. Wireless communication between communication devices may include: wireless communication between network devices and terminal devices, wireless communication between network devices and network devices, and wireless communication between terminal devices and terminal devices. In the embodiment of the present application, the term "wireless communication" can also be referred to as "communication", and the term "communication" can also be described as "data transmission", "information transmission" or "transmission".

[0157] As an example, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is applicable to a 5G new radio (NR) system, and may also be applied to other communication systems, such as a sixth generation (6G) communication system, etc., as long as there is an entity in the communication system that sends configuration information to another entity, and sends data to another entity, or receives data sent by another entity; the other entity receives the configuration information, and sends data to the configuration information sending entity according to the configuration information, or receives data sent by the configuration information sending entity.

[0158] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the present application. Figure 1 In the communication system shown, the configuration information sending entity may be a network device, and the configuration information receiving entity may be a terminal device (such as a UE). Figure 1 As shown, the communication system includes a network device 110, a UE 120, a UE 130, a UE 140, a UE 150, and a UE 160. The number of terminal devices and network devices is only an example, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0159] In the communication system, the network device 110 can provide communication services for terminal devices (such as one or more of UE 120 to UE 160) in a cell. The network device 110 can send configuration information to the terminal devices (such as one or more of UE 120 to UE 160) in the cell. The configuration information can be control information or data information, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. The terminal devices (such as one or more of UE 120 to UE 160) in the cell can send uplink data to the network device 110, and the network device 110 can also receive uplink data sent by the terminal devices (such as one or more of UE 120 to UE 160) in the cell.

[0160] In the communication system, UE 140, UE 150 and UE 160 may also form a communication system, such as a vehicle networking system. In this case, the configuration information sending entity and the configuration information receiving entity are both terminal devices. Among them, UE 140 can send configuration information to UE 150 and / or UE 160, and UE 140 can also receive data sent by UE 150 and / or UE 160; UE 150 and / or UE 160 can receive configuration information sent by UE 140, and UE 150 and / or UE 160 can send data to UE 140.

[0161] The technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to a single-hop or multi-hop relay system including relay nodes.

[0162] For example, Figure 2 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of another communication system applicable to the present application. Figure 2 As shown, the communication system includes a network device 210, a terminal device 220 and a relay device 230. The number of network devices, relay devices and terminal devices is only an example, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0163] The relay device 230 is an entity that can receive data from the network device 210, the terminal device 220 or other relay devices, and forward the received data to other terminal devices, other network devices or other relay devices. The relay device 230 can be a small station, an integrated access and backhauling (IAB) node, a distributed unit (DU), a terminal device, a TRP, etc., and this application does not make specific restrictions on this.

[0164] Combine the following Figure 3The technical problems to be solved by the embodiments of the present application are described.

[0165] In the field of communications, a terminal device can access a network by executing a random access (RA) process, thereby communicating with network devices. The random access process includes contention-based random access (CBRA).

[0166] For example, Figure 3 FIG. 1 is an exemplary flow chart of a random access process based on contention. Figure 3 As shown, the random access process includes S301 to S305.

[0167] S301, the terminal device receives configuration information.

[0168] In this embodiment, the network device may send a random access resource allocation instruction through a public radio resource control (RRC) signaling (such as a system information (SI)), thereby configuring a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource pool and a preamble resource pool for random access of the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the configuration information.

[0169] S302, the terminal device sends message 1 to the network device.

[0170] In this embodiment, when the terminal device performs random access, it may send a random access request to the network device, and the random access request may be called message 1 (Msg1), and the random access request includes a preamble. Accordingly, the network device may receive Msg1.

[0171] As an example, when the terminal device performs random access, it can select a PRACH and a preamble from the configured PRACH resource pool and preamble resource pool respectively, and then send the selected preamble on the selected PRACH resource, thereby realizing the sending of the random access request.

[0172] S303, the network device sends message 2 to the terminal device.

[0173] In this embodiment, after receiving Msg1, the network device may send a random access response (RAR) to the terminal device, and the RAR message may be carried in message 2 (Msg2) and sent to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device may receive Msg2.

[0174] As an example, Msg2 may include at least one of the following information: a preamble identifier (RA preamble identifier, RAPID), a timing advance command (TA), an uplink grant (UL grant) information, or a temporary cell radio network temporary identity (TC-RNTI). Among them, RAPID is the identifier of the preamble obtained by the network device when detecting the preamble, the TA value is used to indicate the time adjustment amount required for the terminal device to perform uplink synchronization, the UL grant information is used to indicate the uplink resources allocated by the network device to the terminal device for transmitting message 3 (Msg3), the uplink resources may be time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources, and TC-RNTI is used for subsequent data transmission between the terminal device and the network device.

[0175] Correspondingly, after the terminal device sends Msg1, it can determine a radio network temporary identity (RNTI) according to the PRACH resource that sends the preamble, and listen to the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) encrypted with the RNTI within the Msg2 time window to receive the Msg2 corresponding to the RNTI. If the terminal device successfully decodes a Msg2 using the RNTI, and the RAPID value in the Msg2 is the same as the index value used when the terminal device sent the preamble, it is considered that the Msg2 is received successfully; if the terminal device listens to the PDCCH within the Msg2 time window but fails to correctly decode the Msg2, or the terminal device decodes the Msg2 but the PAPID in the Msg2 is different from the index value used when the terminal device sent the preamble, it is considered that the terminal device has not correctly received the Msg2, and the terminal device needs to re-execute S302, that is, the terminal device needs to retransmit the preamble.

[0176] S304, the terminal device sends message 3 to the network device.

[0177] In this embodiment, after correctly receiving Msg2, the terminal device can send Msg3 to the network device using the TA value on the uplink resources indicated by the UL grant. Correspondingly, the network device can receive Msg3.

[0178] S305, the network device sends message 4 to the terminal device.

[0179] In this embodiment, after receiving Msg3, the network device may send message 4 (Msg4) to the terminal device in response to Msg3. Msg4 may include contention resolution information to indicate that the contention resolution is successful. Accordingly, the terminal device may receive Msg4.

[0180] As an example, the contention resolution information may be a contention resolution identity media access control control element of a user equipment (UE).

[0181] Correspondingly, after sending Msg3, the terminal device starts or restarts the random access contention resolution timer (RA-contention resolution timer) and monitors the PDCCH of Msg4 within the time window of the timer. If the terminal device detects the PDCCH of Msg4, it can be considered that the contention has been resolved; if the terminal device does not receive the contention resolution information within the time window of the timer, the terminal device needs to re-execute S302, that is, the terminal device needs to retransmit the preamble.

[0182] It should be noted that in CBRA, the PRACH resource pool and the preamble resource pool are shared by a large number of terminal devices, which makes preamble conflicts difficult to avoid. Preamble conflicts can be understood as more than one terminal device sending the same preamble on the same random access channel (RACH) resource at the same time.

[0183] As an example, in a random access process where a preamble conflict occurs between two terminal devices, the preamble signal received by the network device is:

[0184] y rach =y rach1 +y rach2 +n=h 1 s rach +h 2 s rach +n=(h 1+h 2 )s rach +n

[0185] Among them, y rach The preamble signal received by the network device is the preamble signal y sent by terminal device 1. rach1 and the preamble signal y sent by terminal device 2 rach2 The superposition of 1 h is the channel factor when terminal device 1 sends preamble, 2 is the channel factor when terminal device 2 sends preamble, s rach is the preamble signal used by terminal device 1 and terminal device 2, and n is noise.

[0186] It should be understood that if there is no preamble conflict between terminal device 1 and terminal device 2, the network device can rach1 Estimate the TA value of terminal device 1 (such as TA 1 ), network devices can be based on y rach2 Estimate the TA value of terminal device 2 (such as TA 2 ); However, when the preambles sent by terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 conflict, the network device rach The estimated TA value (such as TA est ) is TA 1 and TA 2 The superposition of is not the real TA value of terminal device 1 and terminal device 2.

[0187] In addition, network devices are based on y rach The estimated TA value (such as TA est ), Msg2 can be sent to terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 where the preamble conflict occurs. Since terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 use the same preamble, the RAPID used by terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 are also consistent. Therefore, terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 can both transmit Msg3 according to the relevant information indicated in Msg2, resulting in the uplink resources and TA values ​​used by terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 when transmitting Msg3 being consistent, which in turn leads to Msg3 conflict. It should be understood that when Msg3 conflicts, it is more difficult for network devices to correctly receive Msg3, the access success rate of RACH is reduced, the probability of terminal devices initiating preamble retransmission increases, and the access efficiency is reduced.

[0188] Therefore, the network device can estimate multiple TA values ​​from the received preamble signal through the reception enhancement algorithm, and the multiple TA values ​​include the TA values ​​corresponding to the terminal device 1 and the terminal device 2, or the multiple TA values ​​can also include the TA value that meets the error threshold, and the error threshold can be set according to actual needs. However, the network device cannot determine the mapping relationship between the TA value and the terminal device, so the network device can send multiple TA values ​​to the terminal device 1 and the terminal device 2 through Msg2. After receiving Msg2, the terminal device 1 and the terminal device 2 can select a TA value from multiple TA values ​​for Msg3 transmission. For example, the terminal device 1 and the terminal device 2 can select a TA value from multiple TA values ​​based on the historical TA, or randomly select a TA value from multiple TA values. However, the randomness of the TA value selected by the terminal device 1 and the terminal device 2 from multiple TA values ​​is relatively large, and the correctness of the selected TA value cannot be guaranteed, thereby the transmission performance of Msg3 cannot be guaranteed.

[0189] In view of this, the present application provides a communication method and a communication device. In the technical solution provided by the present application, after receiving multiple TA values, the terminal device can transmit multiple identical Msg3s to the network device based on multiple TA values, thereby helping to reduce the conflict of Msg3, improve the transmission performance and detection efficiency of Msg3, and improve the access success rate of RACH. It should be noted that the communication method and the communication device provided by the present application are based on the same technical concept. Since the principles of solving the problems by the method and the device are similar, the implementation of the method and the device can refer to each other, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0190] The technical solution provided by the present application is described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0191] Figure 4 An exemplary flow chart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 4 As shown, the method includes S401 and S402.

[0192] S401, the first communication device sends a plurality of Msg3s to the second communication device, the plurality of Msg3s corresponding to a plurality of TA values, and the plurality of TA values ​​are carried in Msg2.

[0193] In the embodiments of the present application, the technical solution provided in the present application is explained by taking the first communication device as a terminal device and the second communication device as a network device as an example.

[0194] In this embodiment, in a random access scenario where a preamble conflict occurs, the network device can detect the preamble signal on the PRACH resource, and when the preamble signal is detected, estimate multiple TA values ​​corresponding to the preamble signal through a receiving enhancement algorithm, which are marked as TA(1,1),...,TA(1,N) in sequence. Wherein, N represents the number of TA values ​​among the multiple TA values ​​estimated by the network device, and N is a positive integer. Furthermore, after estimating multiple TA values, the network device can construct a RAR for the preamble signal to carry the resource configuration required for subsequent Msg3 transmission, and send Msg2 carrying the RAR to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device detects and receives Msg2. If the terminal device detects that the PARPID in Msg2 is the same as the index value used when the terminal device sends the preamble, it assumes that Msg2 belongs to itself.

[0195] As an example, the network device may carry the resource configuration required for Msg3 transmission through a media access control sub-protocol data unit (MAC subPDU) in a media access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) of the RAR.

[0196] For example, Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structure of a RAR MAC PDU provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 As shown, the MAC PDU includes MAC subPDU1, MAC subPDU2, multiple MAC subPDU3 and padding MAC subPDU (padding) (optional), and the number of MAC subPDU3 is the same as the number of TA values ​​in the multiple TA values, both of which are N.

[0197] like Figure 5As shown, MAC subPDU1 only includes a backoff indicator (BI), and the subheader of MACsubPDU1 consists of an extension (E) field, a format (type, T) field, a reserved (R) field, an R field, and a BI field; MAC subPDU2 only includes RAPID, and the subheader of MAC subPDU2 consists of an E field, a T field, and a RAPID field; MAC subPDU3 includes RAPID and RAR, and the subheader of MAC subPDU3 consists of an E field, a T field, and a RAPID field. The MAC RAR of MAC subPDU3 may include a TA value, UL grant information, and TC-RNTI. Among them, the bit length occupied by the TA value may be 12 bits, the bit length occupied by the UL grant information may be 27 bits, and the bit length occupied by the TC-RNTI may be 16 bits.

[0198] Since MAC subPDU3 can only support one TA value of a preamble, when the network device needs to send multiple TA values, it can send multiple MAC subPDU3s, that is, the MAC PDU can contain multiple MAC subPDU3s, and each MAC subPDU3 in the multiple MAC subPDU3s contains a TA value, thereby realizing the sending of multiple TA values. It should be noted that each MAC subPDU3 in the multiple MAC subPDU3s has the same RAPID and TC-RNTI, but has different TA values ​​and UL grant information. The UL grant information is used to indicate the uplink resources used by the terminal device when transmitting Msg3 using the TA value, such as frequency domain resources and / or time domain resources.

[0199] In this embodiment, after receiving Msg2, the terminal device can send multiple Msg3s containing the same information to the network device based on the TA value and UL grant information contained in each MAC subPDU3 in multiple MAC subPDU3s. Accordingly, the network device can receive multiple Msg3s. Among them, multiple Msg3s correspond to multiple TA values, which can be understood as multiple Msg3s corresponding to multiple TA values ​​one by one.

[0200] As an example, when the terminal device sends Msg3 to the network device, it can carry the identifier of the terminal device, and the identifier of the terminal device can be related to the event type of Msg3. For example, when the event type of Msg3 is cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) MAC CE, Msg3 carries C-RNTI MACCE. At this time, the terminal device already has an exclusive C-RNTI, and the identifier of the terminal device can be C-RNTI; when the event type of Msg3 is common control channel service data unit (CCCH SDU), Msg3 carries CCCH SDU such as RRC setup request. At this time, the terminal device has not successfully accessed the network, and the identifier of the terminal device can be user identity information. User identity information can be understood as an identifier configured by the terminal device for itself, which is a UE contention resolution identity that is used to distinguish it from the identifiers of other terminal devices.

[0201] As an example, the user identity information may be an M-bit sequence, where M is a positive integer, or may be other information, which is not specifically limited in the present application.

[0202] As an example, the user identity information may also be a combination of the identifier configured by the terminal device for itself and the TC-RNTI. Among them, the TC-RNTI is carried in Msg2. It should be noted that the method of generating the user identity information by combining the identifier configured by the terminal device for itself with the TC-RNTI may be predefined by the protocol or configured by the network device, and is not specifically limited here.

[0203] It should be noted that when the event type of Msg3 is CCCH SDU, if the terminal device uses TC-RNTI as the identifier of the terminal device, it will conflict with the identifiers of other terminal devices with which a preamble conflict occurs, so that the network device cannot determine the terminal device that transmits the Msg3 when receiving the Msg3, thereby affecting the communication efficiency. Therefore, the terminal device can distinguish itself from other terminal devices with which a preamble conflict occurs by generating user identity information.

[0204] As an example, when the event type of Msg3 is C-RNTI MAC CE, the terminal device can use C-RNTI to scramble Msg3 and then transmit it to the network device. When the event type of Msg3 is CCCH SDU, the terminal device can use TC-RNTI to scramble Msg3 and then transmit it to the network device.

[0205] S402, receiving Msg4 from the second communication device, where Msg4 is used to determine that the TA value of the first communication device is a first TA value among multiple TA values.

[0206] In this embodiment, the network device may receive multiple Msg3 sent by the terminal device in each uplink resource indicated by each UL grant information included in Msg2, and send Msg4 to the terminal device to indicate that the contention resolution is successful. The uplink resources may include time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources.

[0207] It should be noted that multiple terminal devices with preamble conflicts will send multiple Msg3s based on multiple MAC subPDU3s in the correctly received Msg2. Therefore, the Msg3 received by the network device in each uplink resource is the superposition of the Msg3s sent by multiple terminal devices in each uplink resource. Therefore, the network device needs to demodulate the Msg3 received in each uplink resource to achieve the correct reception of the Msg3 sent by each terminal device, and record the TA value corresponding to each correctly received Msg3, the identifier of the terminal device contained in the Msg3, and the event type of the Msg3. For example, the information of the i-th correctly received Msg3 can be {TA(i), UeId(i), Msg3Type(i)}, where TA(i) is the TA value corresponding to the i-th correctly received Msg3, UeId is the identifier of the terminal device, and Msg3Type is the event type of the Msg3. Among them, the correct reception of Msg3 can be understood as the signal-to-noise ratio of Msg3 demodulated by the network device is greater than or equal to the signal-to-noise ratio threshold, and the signal-to-noise ratio threshold can be set according to actual needs, and this application does not make specific restrictions on this. Optionally, in order to improve the demodulation performance of Msg3 once, the network device can assist in the demodulation of Msg3 according to the channel information provided by Msg1 (such as the location of the terminal device, etc.).

[0208] In some embodiments, the information of the correctly received Msg3 may also include an identifier of the uplink resource (such as a time slot) corresponding to the correctly demodulated Msg3. The identifier may be understood as the network device receiving the correctly demodulated Msg3 in the uplink resource corresponding to the identifier.

[0209] As an example, the network device may determine the number and content of Msg4 to be sent based on the information of each Msg3 correctly received.

[0210] For example, when the number of correctly received Msg3 is A, if the identifier of the terminal device contained in each Msg3 is different, it means that there are at least A terminal devices using the same RACH resource and the same preamble for RACH access, so the network device can send the correctly received Msg3 information to the corresponding terminal device through Msg4. It should be understood that the number of Msg4 sent down in this case is the same as the number of correctly received Msg3; if the identifiers of the terminal devices contained in some Msg3 are the same, it means that the terminal device corresponding to the identifier can use multiple TA values ​​to successfully transmit multiple Msg3, and the network device can send the optimal TA value and the identifier of the terminal device to the terminal device corresponding to the identifier. The optimal TA value of the terminal device can be understood as the maximum signal-to-noise ratio of the Msg3 received in the uplink resource corresponding to the TA value. Among them, the optimal TA value can also be called the first TA value.

[0211] For another example, when the event type of the correctly received Msg3 is C-RNTI MAC CE, the terminal device already has an exclusive C-RNTI, and Msg4 can only carry the TA value, and use C-RNTI to scramble and send it to the terminal device; when the event type of the correctly received Msg3 is CCCH SDU, the terminal device has not yet successfully accessed the network. At this time, Msg4 can contain the TA value and the identifier of the terminal device (such as user identity information), and the Msg4 can be sent to the terminal device after being scrambled by the identity information. Among them, the user identity information can be the identifier configured by the terminal device for itself, or the combination of the identifier configured by the terminal device for itself and TC-RNTI, which is not specifically limited here.

[0212] Correspondingly, the terminal device can receive Msg4. For example, the terminal device can detect the PDCCH of Msg4 within the time window of the random access contention resolution timer. Among them, when the event type of Msg3 is C-RNTI MAC CE, if the terminal device successfully decodes the PDCCH of Msg4 using its C-RNTI, it is considered that Msg4 is successfully received, and the terminal device considers that its access is successful; when the event type of Msg3 is CCCH SDU, if the terminal device successfully decodes the PDCCH of Msg4 using the user identity information, it is considered that Msg4 is successfully received, and the terminal device considers that its access is successful. In addition, when the event type of Msg3 is CCCHSDU, and the terminal device successfully accesses the network, the terminal device will use the user identity information indicated in Msg4 as C-RNTI for subsequent communications.

[0213] It should be understood that after successfully receiving Msg4, the terminal device can determine the first TA value carried in Msg4 as the TA value of the terminal device, so that the terminal device can subsequently communicate with the network device based on the first TA value, and the first TA value belongs to multiple TA values.

[0214] In some embodiments, Msg4 may include an identifier of the uplink resource (such as a time slot) that is correctly demodulated from Msg3, without including the first TA value, so that Msg4 can implicitly indicate the TA value of the terminal device. After the terminal device correctly receives Msg4, it can use the TA value in the MAC subPDU3 containing the uplink resource or the uplink resource identifier as the TA value of the terminal device based on the identifier of the uplink resource (such as a time slot) that is correctly demodulated from Msg3, so that the terminal device can perform subsequent communications based on the TA value, which is equivalent to re-confirming the TA value and avoiding the need for subsequent adjustment of the TA value.

[0215] In some embodiments, after successfully detecting and receiving Msg4, the terminal device may use the first TA value to adjust the sending window of message 5 (Msg5) to respond to Msg4.

[0216] In this embodiment, the terminal device can use different TA values ​​in different uplink resources indicated by Msg2 to transmit the same Msg3 to the network device, which helps to reduce the conflict of Msg3, improves the transmission and detection efficiency of Msg3, and improves the access success rate of RACH. In addition, the network device can indicate the TA value of the terminal device to the terminal device through Msg4, so that the terminal device can obtain a more accurate TA value after completing random access, avoiding the subsequent adjustment of the TA value, and shortening the time for adjusting the TA value. In addition, the terminal device can carry the terminal device identification when transmitting Msg3, so that the network device can distinguish the terminal device based on the terminal device identification when receiving Msg3, thereby improving communication efficiency.

[0217] Combine the following Figure 6 , the beneficial effects of the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application are explained.

[0218] For example, Figure 6 An exemplary illustration of random access provided for one embodiment of the present application. Figure 6 The terminal device 1 and the terminal device 2 shown in the figure send the same preamble on the same PRACH resource, that is, the two compete for access. Figure 6 The time axis on the network device side, the time axis on the terminal device 1 side, and the time axis on the terminal device 2 side are shown.

[0219] like Figure 6As shown, the time T when the preamble signal sent by terminal device 1 is transmitted to the network device p1 Earlier than the receiving time window T of the network device 0 The starting time T p In order to align the sending time or the receiving time window of the network device and improve the transmission performance of Msg3, terminal device 1 needs to delay sending Msg3, that is, the TA value of terminal device 1 is greater than 0; accordingly, the time when the preamble signal sent by terminal device 2 is transmitted to the network device is T p2 Later than the receiving time window T of the network device 0 The starting time T p In order to align the sending time or the receiving time window of the network device and improve the transmission performance of Msg3, terminal device 2 needs to send Msg3 in advance, that is, the TA value of terminal device 2 is less than 0. Figure 6 As shown, TA1 is the TA value of terminal device 1, and TA2 is the TA value of terminal device 2, then TA1>0, TA2<0.

[0220] It should be understood that the network equipment is 0 The preamble signal received in the network is the superposition of the preamble signal sent by terminal device 1 and the preamble signal sent by terminal device 2. When the network device detects the preamble signal, it uses an enhanced reception algorithm (such as multi-domain joint estimation of TA) to estimate two TA values, such as TA1 and TA2, TA1>0, TA2<0. After the network device estimates TA1 and TA2, it generates Msg2 carrying two MAC subPDU3 and sends it to the network device at T 1 The Msg2 is sent to the terminal device 1 and the terminal device 2. Assume that the first MAC subPDU3 is used to indicate TA1 and UL grant1, and the uplink resource indicated by UL grant1 is T 2 The second MAC subPDU3 is used to indicate TA2 and UL grant2, and the uplink resource indicated by UL grant2 is T 3 Correspondingly, after receiving Msg2, terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 can respectively send a T 2 Msg3 is sent using TA1 within the UL grant2. 3 Msg3 is sent using TA2. 0 , T 2 , T 3 It can be understood as the receiving time window of the network device. Therefore, the network device 2 The first Msg3 received in the network is the superposition of the Msg3 transmitted by the terminal device 1 and the terminal device 2 based on the first MAC subPDU3.3 The second Msg3 received is the superposition of the Msg3 transmitted by the terminal device 1 and the terminal device 2 based on the second MAC subPDU3.

[0221] like Figure 6 As shown, when the terminal device 1 performs the first Msg3 transmission based on the first MAC subPDU3, since TA1>0, the time when the Msg3 is transmitted to the network device is the same as T 2 The starting time T 21 Aligned, so that the network device can completely receive the Msg3, thereby increasing the success rate of the network device demodulating the Msg3 from the first Msg3; accordingly, when the terminal device 2 transmits the first Msg3 based on the first MAC subPDU3, since TA1>0, the time when the Msg3 is transmitted to the network device T m1 With T 2 The starting time T 21 The time difference between TA2 and TA1 increases from TA2 to the difference between TA2 and TA1, thereby reducing the integrity of the Msg3 received by the network device, and further reducing the success rate of the network device demodulating the Msg3 from the first Msg3. Similarly, when the terminal device 1 transmits the second Msg3 based on the second MAC subPDU3, since TA2 < 0, the time when the Msg3 is transmitted to the network device is T m2 With T 3 The starting time T 31 The time difference between TA1 and TA2 increases from TA1 to the difference between TA1 and TA2, thereby reducing the integrity of the Msg3 received by the network device, and further reducing the success rate of the network device demodulating the Msg3 from the second Msg3; when the terminal device 2 transmits the second Msg3 based on the second MAC subPDU3, since TA2 < 0, the time when the Msg3 is transmitted to the network device is different from T 3 The starting time T 31 The alignment enables the network device to completely receive the Msg3, thereby increasing the success rate of the network device demodulating the Msg3 from the second Msg3.

[0222] At the same time, after the network device receives the first Msg3, it demodulates the first Msg3. If the network device successfully demodulates the first Msg3, it records the TA value (such as TA1) corresponding to the successfully demodulated Msg3, the user identifier, the type of Msg3, and the identifier of the uplink resource that successfully demodulated Msg3 (such as UL grant1); after the network device receives the second Msg3, it demodulates the second Msg3. If the network device successfully demodulates the second Msg3, it records the TA value (such as TA2) corresponding to the successfully demodulated Msg3, the user identifier, the type of Msg3, and the identifier of the uplink resource that successfully demodulated Msg3 (such as UL grant2). Furthermore, the network device can determine the number and content of the sent Msg4 based on the demodulation results of the two Msg3s. Figure 6 In the method shown, the network device can demodulate the Msg3 sent by the terminal device 1 using TA1 from the first Msg3, and the network device can demodulate the Msg3 sent by the terminal device 2 using TA2 from the second Msg3.

[0223] like Figure 6 As shown, network devices can be 4 The first Msg4 is sent to the terminal device 1, and the first Msg4 carries TA1 and / or UL grant1 to indicate that TA1 is the TA value of the terminal device 1. After the terminal device 1 successfully receives the first Msg4, it indicates that the terminal device 1 has successfully accessed the network, and the terminal device 1 can perform subsequent communication transmission based on TA1; the network device can 5 A second Msg4 is sent to the terminal device 2, and the second Msg4 carries TA2 and / or UL grant2 to indicate that TA2 is the TA value of the terminal device 2. After the terminal device 2 successfully receives the second Msg4, it indicates that the terminal device 2 has successfully accessed the network, and the terminal device 2 can perform subsequent communication transmission based on TA2.

[0224] Therefore, by Figure 6 It can be seen that the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application reduces the conflict of Msg3 by sending Msg3 using different TA values ​​on different uplink resources, so that Msg3 transmitted by the terminal device can be aligned with the receiving window of the network device, thereby improving the transmission performance of Msg3. In addition, the network device can demodulate Msg3 in a smaller interference scenario, thereby improving the demodulation performance of Msg3, especially when the TA value difference between the terminal devices is large, the improvement effect of the demodulation performance of Msg3 is more obvious; the network device also obtains a more precise and accurate TA value of each terminal device, and sends the TA value to the corresponding terminal device through Msg4, and in the process of sending, Msg4 can also carry the terminal device identifier to avoid false detection of other terminal devices, thereby achieving more efficient and accurate terminal device conflict judgment.

[0225] In some implementations, when the network device indicates the TA value to the terminal device through Msg4, factors such as the signal-to-noise ratio may cause misdetection of the relevant fields of the TA value contained in Msg4, thereby affecting communication efficiency. To avoid misdetection of the relevant fields of the TA value, this embodiment provides a method for implicitly carrying the TA value in Msg4.

[0226] As an example, the resources of the PDCCH for the terminal device to detect Msg4 can be divided into multiple sub-resources, and the multiple sub-resources correspond one-to-one to the multiple TA values ​​estimated by the network device, and each of the multiple sub-resources is used to transmit Msg4 carrying the corresponding TA value. In this example, after the network device correctly receives Msg3 and determines the TA value of the terminal device, it can send Msg4 on the sub-resource corresponding to the TA value. If the terminal device correctly receives Msg4 on the sub-resource, the terminal device can consider the TA value corresponding to the sub-resource to be the TA value of the terminal device. Among them, the mapping relationship between each sub-resource and the TA value can be predefined by the protocol or configured by the base station, and this application does not impose specific restrictions on this.

[0227] In some embodiments, the resource of the PDCCH for detecting Msg4 by the terminal device may be a time domain resource. For example, the resource of the PDCCH for detecting Msg4 by the terminal device may be a time window of a random access contention resolution timer. Therefore, the random access contention resolution timer may be divided into a plurality of sub-timers, each sub-timer corresponding to a TA value, each sub-timer not overlapping with each other, and each sub-timer having the same duration. The terminal device listens to whether there is a Msg4 sent to itself within the start time window of each sub-timer. If the terminal device correctly receives Msg4 in a certain sub-timer, the TA value corresponding to the sub-timer is considered to be the first TA value of the terminal device. Among them, the base station may configure the parameters (such as length, number, etc.) of each sub-timer to the terminal device in advance.

[0228] In this implementation, the TA value of the terminal device is implicitly indicated through the mapping relationship between the TA value and each sub-resource, thereby effectively avoiding false detection of the TA value field when Msg4 carries the TA value, improving communication efficiency, reducing the data carried in Msg4, and reducing signaling overhead.

[0229] In some embodiments, Msg3 also supports repetition transmission, that is, the terminal device can use a TA value on multiple time domain resources to repeatedly transmit the same Msg3 on the same frequency resource, thereby improving the transmission performance of Msg3. Therefore, when multiple TA values ​​are included in Msg2, it is necessary to configure the corresponding number of repetition transmissions and UL grant information for each TA value. The UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources occupied by the TA value. The number of time domain resources is the same as the number of repetition transmissions, so that the terminal device can achieve repeated transmission of Msg3. However, this method occupies a large amount of signaling space and signaling overhead, and the transmission efficiency is low.

[0230] Based on this, in order to compress or reduce the signaling space and signaling overhead and improve transmission efficiency, the embodiment of the present application proposes the following solution: only one of the multiple TA values ​​is configured with the corresponding number of repeated transmissions and UL grant information, and the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to the TA value is allocated to the multiple TA values ​​estimated by the network device. For the convenience of description, the TA value configured with the number of repeated transmissions and UL grant information is referred to as the second TA value.

[0231] As an example, if the second TA value is configured with K repetitions, the terminal device can use K time domain resources on the corresponding frequency resources to send K identical Msg3s. Suppose the network device estimates N TA values, then K=BN+C can be defined, where B is an integer obtained by dividing K by N, and B is the remainder of K divided by N. At this time, each of the N TA values ​​can occupy at least B repetitions and B time domain resources, while the remaining C repetitions and C time domain resources may not be used, or may be allocated to the TA value with the highest signal-to-noise ratio among the N TA values, or may be given to some of the N TA values ​​in a preset order. The preset order can be set according to actual needs, and this application does not impose specific restrictions on this. It should be understood that the number of TA values ​​estimated by the network device should not exceed K, that is, 1≤N≤K, and K is a positive integer.

[0232] As an example, the repeated transmission packet information corresponding to the i-th TA value can be recorded as:

[0233] {TA(i), N TA (i), Rep(k i ),…,Rep(k i +N TA (i)-1)}

[0234] Among them, TA(i) is the i-th TA value, N TA (i) is the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the i-th TA value, N TA(i) can be understood as the number of repeated transmissions allocated to the i-th TA value among the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to the second TA value. i ),…,Rep(k i +N TA (i)-1) is the occupancy of the i-th TA value N TA (i) The uplink resource corresponding to each repeated transmission when the number of repeated transmissions is N TA (i) The uplink resource corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions is the uplink resource corresponding to the kth repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to the second TA value. i From the first to the second i +N TA (i)-1) times corresponding continuous repeated transmission resources (such as time domain resources).

[0235] In one achievable manner, the repeated transmission packet information may be carried in a MAC subPDU and sent to a corresponding terminal device via Msg2 for subsequent transmission of Msg3.

[0236] Optionally, N can be determined based on the number of repeated transmissions of Msg3. TA (i) The number of bits occupied. The number of repetitions of Msg3 can be determined by the high 2 bits of the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) in the UL grant. As an example, if the maximum number of repetitions of Msg3 is 16, N TA (i) The number of bits occupied can be 4 bits.

[0237] As a first example, the repeated transmission packet information may be carried in a MAC subPDU. To distinguish it from the existing MAC subPDU, the MAC subPDU carrying the repeated transmission packet information in this example may be referred to as MACsubPDU4.

[0238] For example, Figure 7 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a MAC PDU of a RAR provided in another embodiment of the present application. Figure 7 As shown, the MAC PDU includes MAC subPDU1, MAC subPDU2, MAC subPDU4 and padding MAC subPDU (padding) (optional).

[0239] Among them, MAC subPDU4 includes RAPID and RAR. The subheader of MAC subPDU4 consists of an E field, a T field and a RAPID field. The MAC RAR of MAC subPDU4 may include one or more of the following information: UL grant information, the number of TA values ​​in multiple TA values, TA(1), N TA (1), ..., TA(N), N TA (N), or TC-RNTI. TA(1) represents the first TA value among multiple TA values, N TA (1) indicates the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the first TA value, TA(N) indicates the Nth TA value among multiple TA values, N TA (N) represents the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the Nth TA value. The UL grant information is used to indicate the uplink resources (such as time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources) corresponding to each repeated transmission among the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value among the N TA values. The UL grant information is consistent with the UL grant information corresponding to the second TA value.

[0240] As an example, the bit length occupied by the UL grant information may be 27 bits, the bit length occupied by the TA value may be 12 bits, the bit length occupied by the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the TA value may be 4 bits, and the bit length occupied by the TC-RNTI may be 16 bits.

[0241] Optionally, the MAC RAR in the MAC subPDU4 may further include an R field, and the bit length occupied by the R field may be 1 bit, which is not specifically limited in the present application.

[0242] It should be understood that the length of MAC subPDU4 can be dynamic or pre-configured in advance, and this application does not impose any limitation on this.

[0243] In some embodiments, the number N of TA values ​​that can be supported for transmission in MAC subPDU4 can be determined by the number K of repeated transmissions of Msg3, for example, 1≤N≤K.

[0244] It should be noted that MAC subPDU4 can be obtained by modifying MAC subPDU3, or MAC subPDU4 can be independently added to the MAC PDU. This application does not impose any specific restrictions on this.

[0245] As a second example, the repeated transmission packet information may be carried in multiple MAC subPDUs, thereby reducing the signaling space of the MAC subPDU.

[0246] In some embodiments, multiple MAC subPDUs may correspond to multiple TA values ​​estimated by the network device, that is, each MAC subPDU includes a corresponding TA value. For example, when multiple MAC subPDUs correspond to multiple TA values ​​one by one, each MAC subPDU includes a TA value, and the number of MAC subPDUs in the multiple MAC subPDUs is consistent with the number of TA values ​​in the multiple TA values.

[0247] In some embodiments, each MAC subPDU may also include the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the corresponding TA value, that is, the number of repeated transmissions allocated to each TA value in the number of repeated transmissions corresponding to the second TA value. The TA value corresponding to each MAC subPDU can be understood as the TA value included in each MAC subPDU.

[0248] In some embodiments, one of the multiple MAC subPDUs may include UL grant information, where the UL grant information is used to indicate the uplink resources (such as time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources) corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each TA value among multiple TA values, and the UL grant information is consistent with the UL grant information corresponding to the second TA value.

[0249] In some embodiments, the MAC subPDU including the UL grant information may be MAC subPDU 3. Optionally, MAC subPDU 3 may also include TC-RNTI.

[0250] In some embodiments, the RAPID of each MAC subPDU should be the same, so that when the terminal device transmits Msg3, it can determine the MAC subPDU carrying the UL grant information based on RAPID, thereby determining the uplink resources of each transmitted Msg3, and then adjusting the transmission time point based on the TA value in the MAC subPDU, thereby realizing the transmission of Msg3.

[0251] For example, Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the structure of a RAR MAC PDU is provided in another embodiment of the present application. Figure 8 As shown, the MAC PDU includes MAC subPDU1, MAC subPDU2, MAC subPDU3, N-1 MAC subPDU5 and padding MAC subPDU (padding) (optional).

[0252] Among them, MAC subPDU3 includes RAPID and RAR. The subheader of MAC subPDU3 consists of E field, T field and RAPID field. The MAC RAR of MAC subPDU3 can include one or more of the following information: UL grant information, TA (1), N TA (1), or TC-RNTI. The UL grant information is consistent with the UL grant information corresponding to the second TA value.

[0253] MAC subPDU5 contains RAPID and RAR. The subheader of MAC subPDU5 consists of E field, T field and RAPID field. The MAC RAR of MAC subPDU5 can contain TA(u) and N TA (u), 2≤U≤N. For example, the first MAC subPDU5 may contain TA(2) and N TA (2) The N-1th MAC subPDU5 can contain TA(N) and N TA (N).

[0254] In this embodiment, the RAPID in the MAC subPDU3 is consistent with the RAPID of each MAC subPDU5 in the N-1 MAC subPDU5.

[0255] It should be noted that the technical solution provided in the present application can be applied to random access scenarios, to unauthorized transmission scenarios, to scenarios where multiple other terminal devices use the same RNTI to monitor PDCCH, or to scenarios where multiple terminal devices monitor the same physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0256] Fig. 9 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 9 As shown, the communication device 900 may include: a receiving module 910 and a sending module 920 .

[0257] In a possible implementation, the device 900 may be used to implement Figure 4 The method shown includes various steps / operations performed by the first communication device.

[0258] For example, the apparatus 900 is used to implement Figure 4 When the method is implemented by the first communication device in S402, the receiving module 910 can be used to implement the operation performed by the first communication device in S402; the sending module 920 can be used to implement the operation performed by the first communication device in S401.

[0259] In another possible implementation, the device 900 may be used to implement Figure 4 The method shown includes various steps / operations performed by the second communication device.

[0260] For example, the apparatus 900 is used to implement Figure 4 When the method is implemented by the second communication device in S401, the receiving module 910 can be used to implement the operation performed by the second communication device in S401; the sending module 920 can be used to implement the operation performed by the second communication device in S402.

[0261] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in another embodiment of the present application. Fig.10 The device 1000 shown may be used to implement the method performed by the first communication device or the second communication device in any of the aforementioned embodiments.

[0262] like Fig.10 As shown, the device 1000 of this embodiment includes: a memory 1010, a processor 1020, a communication interface 1030 and a bus 1040. The memory 1010, the processor 1020 and the communication interface 1030 are connected to each other through the bus 1040.

[0263] The memory 1010 may be a read only memory (ROM), a static storage device, a dynamic storage device or a random access memory (RAM). The memory 1010 may store a program. When the program stored in the memory 1010 is executed by the processor 1020, the processor 1020 is used to execute the various steps / operations performed by the first communication device or the second communication device in any of the aforementioned embodiments.

[0264] The processor 1020 can adopt a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits to execute relevant programs to implement the communication method shown in the method embodiment of the present application.

[0265] The processor 1020 may also be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capability. In the implementation process, each step of the communication method shown in the method embodiment of the present application may be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processor 1020 or by instructions in the form of software.

[0266] The processor 1020 may also be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gates or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components. The methods, steps and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or executed. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor, etc.

[0267] The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware decoding processor, or by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art, such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, etc. The storage medium is located in the memory 1010, and the processor 1020 reads the information in the memory 1010 and completes the functions required to be performed by the units included in the communication device of the present application in combination with its hardware. For example, it can be executed Figure 4 The various steps / functions performed by the first communication device or the second communication device.

[0268] Optionally, the memory 1010 and the processor 1020 may be integrated together.

[0269] The communication interface 1030 may use, but is not limited to, a transceiver or other transceiver device to implement communication between the apparatus 1000 and other devices or apparatuses.

[0270] The bus 1040 may include a path for transmitting information between various components of the device 1000 (eg, the memory 1010 , the processor 1020 , and the communication interface 1030 ).

[0271] In some embodiments of the present application, a computer program product is also provided, which can implement the method shown in the above embodiments when the computer program product is run on a processor. In some embodiments of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided, which contains computer instructions, which can implement the method shown in the above embodiments when the computer instructions are run on a processor.

[0272] It should be noted that the modules or components shown in the above embodiments may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or one or more microprocessors (DSPs), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). For another example, when a module above is implemented in the form of a processing element calling a program code, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or other processors that can call program codes, such as a controller. For another example, these modules may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

[0273] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, software module or any combination thereof. When software is used for implementation, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on the computer, the process or function according to the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from a website site, a computer, a server or a data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode to another website site, computer, server or data center. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server, a data center, etc. that contains one or more available media integrated. The available medium can be a magnetic medium, (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid-state hard disk Solid State Disk (SSD)), etc.

[0274] The term "plurality" in this article refers to two or more than two. The term "and / or" in this article is only a description of 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. In addition, the character " / " in this article generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship; in the formula, the character " / " indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in a "division" relationship. In addition, it should be understood that in the description of this application, words such as "first" and "second" are only used for the purpose of distinguishing descriptions, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance, nor can they be understood as indicating or implying order.

[0275] It should be understood that the various numerical numbers involved in the embodiments of the present application are only used for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

[0276] It can be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: receiving a plurality of messages Msg3 from the first communication device, wherein the plurality of Msg3 corresponds to a plurality of timing advance TA values, and the plurality of TA values ​​are carried in the message Msg2; A message Msg4 is sent to the first communication device, where the Msg4 is used to determine that the TA value of the first communication device is a first TA value among the multiple TA values.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The Msg2 includes multiple media access control sub-protocol data units MAC subPDUs, the multiple MAC subPDUs correspond to the multiple TA values ​​one by one, and each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs includes a corresponding TA value.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The multiple TA values ​​correspond one-to-one to multiple uplink authorization UL grant information, each of the multiple UL grant information is carried in the MACsubPDU to which the corresponding TA value belongs, and each of the multiple UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources occupied by the corresponding TA value.

4. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that: Each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs also includes the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the corresponding TA value.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that One of the multiple MAC subPDUs further includes UL grant information, where the UL grant information is used to indicate a time domain resource corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by a TA value corresponding to each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs.

6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that The preamble identifier RAPID of each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs is the same.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The Msg2 includes a MAC subPDU, and the MACsubPDU includes each TA value of the multiple TA values.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The MAC subPDU further includes the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each of the multiple TA values ​​and / or UL grant information, wherein the UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each of the multiple TA values.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that: The MAC subPDU also includes the number of TA values ​​in the plurality of TA values.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that Each of the multiple Msg3 includes an identifier of the first communication device, and the identifier of the first communication device includes user identity information.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The Msg4 includes the user identity information.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The Msg4 is carried in one of the multiple sub-time domain resources, the multiple sub-time domain resources correspond one-to-one to the multiple TA values, and each of the multiple sub-time domain resources is used to transmit the Msg4 carrying the corresponding TA value.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that The channel quality of Msg3 corresponding to the first TA value meets a preset condition.

14. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Sending a plurality of messages Msg3 to the second communication device, wherein the plurality of Msg3 corresponds to a plurality of timing advance TA values, and the plurality of TA values ​​are carried in the message Msg2; A message Msg4 is received from the second communication device, where the Msg message 4 is used to determine that the TA value of the first communication device is a first TA value among the multiple TA values.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The Msg2 includes multiple media access control sub-protocol data units MAC subPDUs, the multiple MAC subPDUs correspond to the multiple TA values ​​one by one, and each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs includes a corresponding TA value.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The multiple TA values ​​correspond one-to-one to multiple uplink authorization UL grant information, each of the multiple UL grant information is carried in the MACsubPDU to which the corresponding TA value belongs, and each of the multiple UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources occupied by the corresponding TA value.

17. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that Each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs also includes the number of repeated transmissions occupied by the corresponding TA value.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that One of the multiple MAC subPDUs further includes UL grant information, where the UL grant information is used to indicate a time domain resource corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by a TA value corresponding to each MACsubPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs.

19. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, characterized in that The preamble identifier RAPID of each MAC subPDU in the multiple MAC subPDUs is the same.

20. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The Msg2 includes a MAC subPDU, and the MACsubPDU includes each TA value of the multiple TA values.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that The MAC subPDU further includes the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each of the multiple TA values ​​and / or UL grant information, wherein the UL grant information is used to indicate the time domain resources corresponding to each repeated transmission in the number of repeated transmissions occupied by each of the multiple TA values.

22. The method according to claim 20 or 21, characterized in that The MAC subPDU also includes the number of TA values ​​in the plurality of TA values.

23. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 22, characterized in that Each of the multiple Msg3 includes an identifier of the first communication device, and the identifier of the first communication device includes user identity information.

24. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that The Msg4 includes the user identity information.

25. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that The Msg4 is carried in one of the multiple sub-time domain resources, the multiple sub-time domain resources correspond one-to-one to the multiple TA values, and each of the multiple sub-time domain resources is used to transmit the Msg4 carrying the corresponding TA value.

26. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 25, characterized in that The channel quality of Msg3 corresponding to the first TA value meets a preset condition.

27. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises various functional modules for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 or any one of claims 14 to 26.

28. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor, the processor is coupled to a memory, the memory is used to store a computer program, when the processor calls the computer program, the device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 or any one of claims 14 to 26.

29. A computer program product, characterized in that The method comprises a computer program code, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to implement the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13 or any one of claims 14 to 26.

30. A computer readable medium, characterized in that The computer-readable medium stores a program code for computer execution, the program code comprising instructions for executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 13 or any one of claims 14 to 26.

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