Communication method and communication device

By setting the first synchronization signal to correlate with multiple reference signals during the signal synchronization process, measuring the signal strength and selecting the best beam, the problems of large beam scanning delay and poor random access performance are solved, and channel quality and transmission performance are improved.

CN120186800APending Publication Date: 2025-06-20HUAWEI TECH CO LTD
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Patent Information

Application Number
CN202311768001.6
Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Applications(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2023-12-20
Publication Date
2025-06-20

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

During the current signal synchronization process, the beam scanning or measurement delay is large, and the random access performance is seriously damaged.

Method used

By setting the first synchronization signal to be associated with the N1 first reference signals, the first communication device can measure the signal strength of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal after receiving the first synchronization signal, so as to select the beam with the highest signal strength as the transmitting and receiving beam on the second communication device side.

Benefits of technology

The random access performance and transmission performance are improved, and the channel transmission quality is improved by selecting the beam with the highest signal strength.

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Abstract

The invention provides a communication method and a communication device. The method comprises: receiving a first synchronization signal block, the first synchronization signal block comprising a first synchronization signal, the first synchronization signal being associated with N1 first reference signals; measuring the signal strength of the first synchronization signal and the N1 first reference signals to obtain a first measurement result; determining a third beam from the first beam and the M1 second beams according to the first measurement result; and / or determining a fourth beam from at least one beam used by the first communication device according to the first measurement result. Wherein the first wave beam is a sending wave beam of the first synchronization signal, the M1 second wave beams are sending wave beams of N1 first reference signals, the third wave beam is a transmitting-receiving wave beam of the second communication device when communicating with the first communication device, and the fourth wave beam is a transmitting-receiving wave beam of the first communication device when communicating with the second communication device.
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Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a communication method and a communication device. Background Art

[0002] In a communication system, signal synchronization, as the starting point for establishing communication between a terminal device and a network device, is particularly important. Among them, signal synchronization includes downlink signal synchronization and / or uplink signal synchronization. Downlink signal synchronization means that the terminal device realizes it by searching for the synchronization signal block (SSB) periodically sent by the network device at a specific position. Uplink signal synchronization is achieved when the terminal device performs a random access procedure with the network device. For example, the network device can send SSBs via different beams at different times, and the terminal device performs beam scanning and generally selects the SSB beam with the strongest signal intensity as the initial beam to establish a suitable beam pair between the network device and the terminal device for subsequent access and data transmission. For another example, the terminal device and the network device can perform contention-based random access or contention-free random access.

[0003] Research has found that the beam scanning or measurement delay is relatively large during the current signal synchronization process, and the random access performance is severely impaired. Therefore, how to improve the random access performance is a problem that needs to be considered currently. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To solve the above technical problems, this application provides a communication method and a communication device, which can improve the random access performance.

[0005] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. This method can be executed by a first communication device, or it can also be executed by other entities. This application does not make any limitations in this regard. For the sake of convenience of description, the following takes the execution by the first communication device as an example for illustration. Among them, the first communication device can be a terminal device, or a chip or circuit in the terminal device, or a functional module in the terminal device that can call and execute a program, etc.

[0006] The method includes: receiving a first synchronization signal block, where the first synchronization signal block includes a first synchronization signal, and the first synchronization signal is associated with N1 first reference signals, and N1 is a positive integer; measuring the signal strength of the first synchronization signal and the N1 first reference signals to obtain a first measurement result; determining a third beam from a first beam and M1 second beams according to the first measurement result, where the third beam is the transceiver beam of the second communication device when communicating with the first communication device, the first beam is the transmission beam of the first synchronization signal, and the M1 second beams are the transmission beams of the N1 first reference signals, and M1 is a positive integer; and / or determining a fourth beam from at least one beam used by the first communication device according to the first measurement result, where the fourth beam is the transceiver beam of the first communication device when communicating with the second communication device.

[0007] Exemplarily, the first synchronization signal block may represent a synchronization signal block, and the first synchronization signal may represent a synchronization signal. In this application, the first synchronization signal may be an SSB. For example, the SSB includes a first primary synchronization signal (PSS), a first secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a first physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and a first demodulation reference signal (DMRS). Alternatively, the first synchronization signal may also include other signals and / or channels. This application does not specifically limit the structure or components of the first synchronization signal.

[0008] For ease of description, in this application, the third beam may be referred to as the SSB beam or the network device side beam, and the fourth beam may be referred to as the terminal device side beam. The first communication device may use the third beam to send downlink data to the second communication device and receive uplink data from the second communication device using the third beam. Correspondingly, the first communication device may use the fourth beam to receive downlink data from the second communication device and send uplink data to the second communication device using the fourth beam, effectively improving random access and transmission performance.

[0009] According to the solution provided by the present application, by setting the first synchronization signal to be associated with the first reference signal, the first communication device can determine the corresponding first reference signal after receiving the first synchronization signal, and by measuring the signal strengths of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal, select the beam with the highest (or relatively high) signal strength as the transceiver beam (i.e., the third beam) on the side of the second communication device, and indicate the third beam to the second communication device during the random access process, so that the second communication device can use the third beam to communicate with the terminal device, thereby obtaining a higher beam gain in subsequent communications, that is, improving the channel transmission quality. Further, the random access performance and transmission performance between the first communication device and the second communication device are also improved due to the improvement of the channel quality; and / or, the first communication device can determine the corresponding first reference signal after receiving the first synchronization signal, and by measuring the RSRP measurement values of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal, select the receiving beam used by the first communication device with the highest (or relatively high) signal strength as the subsequent transceiver beam (i.e., the fourth beam) on the side of the first communication device, and can use the fourth beam selected by the first communication device to send a preamble during the random access process, thereby obtaining a higher beam gain in subsequent communications, that is, improving the channel transmission quality, and thus the random access performance and transmission performance between the first communication device and the second communication device are also improved due to the improvement of the channel quality.

[0010] In an embodiment of the present application, a third beam is selected from the first beam for transmitting the first synchronization signal and M1 second beams for transmitting N1 first reference signals as the transceiver beam when the second communication device communicates with the first communication device subsequently, and a fourth beam is selected from at least one beam used by the first communication device as the transceiver beam when the first communication device communicates with the second communication device subsequently, that is, the third beam and the fourth beam are combined into a beam pair for subsequent communications to obtain a higher beam gain. This is because the first communication device uses at least one beam on the side of the first communication device to measure the signal strengths of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal, and can determine one or more beams with relatively high beam gains on the side of the second communication device, decouple the beam gains of multiple beam pairs between the first communication device and the second communication device, which is convenient for the first communication device to determine the beam pair with a relatively high beam gain within a short measurement time to improve the channel quality of subsequent communications and enhance the transmission performance.

[0011] Combined with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the first synchronization signal is associated with N1 first reference signals, including: the first synchronization signal block further includes N1 first reference signals. That is to say, the first synchronization signal block may include the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal, or in other words, the first synchronization signal block may be composed of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal.

[0012] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, determining a third beam from a first beam and M1 second beams according to a first measurement result includes: determining M2 fifth beams from the first beam and M1 second beams according to the first measurement result, and selecting one beam from the M2 fifth beams as the third beam, where the signal strength of the fifth beam is greater than or equal to a first threshold, the first threshold is preset, and M2 is a positive integer.

[0013] In other words, the third beam can be one beam selected from M2 fifth beams, and the M2 fifth beams are one or more beams selected from the first beam and M1 second beams according to the first measurement result.

[0014] It should be noted that when M2 = 1, it means that there is one fifth beam with a signal strength greater than the first threshold. At this time, the third beam is equivalent to the fifth beam, that is, the step of selecting one beam from the M2 fifth beams as the third beam can be omitted; when M2 is greater than 1, it means that there are multiple fifth beams with a signal strength greater than the first threshold. That is, the first communication device can randomly select one beam from the multiple fifth beams as the third beam, and the randomly selected one beam can be the one with the maximum signal strength among the M2 fifth beams. The present application does not limit this.

[0015] Exemplarily, the first threshold satisfies: {-156 dBm ~ -31 dBm}, that is, the value of the first threshold can be any value from -156 dBm to -31 dBm. For example, the protocol predefines the correspondence between the RSRP parameter configuration or index and the first threshold, where the value of the RSRP parameter configuration or index ranges from 0 to 127. For example, when the value of the RSRP parameter configuration or index is 0, the corresponding value of the first threshold is -156 dBm, and when the value of the RSRP parameter configuration or index is 127, the corresponding value of the first threshold is -31 dBm, and so on.

[0016] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving a second synchronization signal block, where the second synchronization signal block includes a second synchronization signal, and the second synchronization signal is associated with N2 second reference signals, N2 is a positive integer; measuring the signal strength of the second synchronization signal and the N2 second reference signals to obtain a second measurement result; determining a third beam from a sixth beam and M3 seventh beams according to the second measurement result, where the sixth beam is the transmission beam of the second synchronization signal, and the M3 seventh beams are the transmission beams of the N2 second reference signals, and M3 is a positive integer.

[0017] It should be noted that the present application does not limit the number of synchronization signals sent by the second communication device to the first communication device.

[0018] In connection with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the second synchronization signal is associated with N2 second reference signals, including: the second synchronization signal block further includes N2 second reference signals.

[0019] In connection with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, determining a third beam from a sixth beam and M3 seventh beams according to a second measurement result includes: determining M4 eighth beams from the sixth beam and M3 seventh beams according to the second measurement result, and selecting one beam from the M4 eighth beams and M2 fifth beams as the third beam, where the signal strength of the eighth beam is greater than or equal to a second threshold, the second threshold is preset, and M4 is a positive integer.

[0020] In other words, the third beam may be a beam selected from the M4 eighth beams and M2 fifth beams, where the M4 eighth beams are one or more beams determined from the sixth beam and M3 seventh beams according to the second measurement result.

[0021] It should be noted that when M4 = 1, it means that there is one eighth beam with a signal strength greater than the second threshold, or when M4 is greater than 1, it means that there are multiple eighth beams with a signal strength greater than the second threshold. That is, the first communication device needs to randomly select one beam from the M4 eighth beams and M2 fifth beams as the third beam. The randomly selected beam may be the one with the maximum signal strength among the M2 fifth beams and M4 eighth beams. This application does not make any limitations in this regard.

[0022] Exemplarily, the second threshold satisfies: {-156 dBm to -31 dBm}, that is, the value of the second threshold can be any value from -156 dBm to -31 dBm. For example, the protocol predefines the correspondence between the RSRP parameter configuration or index and the second threshold, where the value of the RSRP parameter configuration or index ranges from 0 to 127. For instance, when the value of the RSRP parameter configuration or index is 0, the corresponding value of the second threshold is -156 dBm, and when the value of the RSRP parameter configuration or index is 127, the corresponding value of the second threshold is -31 dBm, and so on.

[0023] Optionally, the values of the first threshold and the second threshold in the embodiments of this application may be the same.

[0024] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the third beam is the first beam, or the third beam is one of the M1 second beams, or the third beam is the sixth beam, or the third beam is one of the M3 seventh beams. That is to say, the third beam can be a beam for transmitting a synchronization signal (such as the first synchronization signal or the second synchronization signal), or can be a beam for transmitting a reference signal (such as one of the M1 second beams). By increasing the number of selectable beam pairs and selecting the beam with the best or better signal strength from them, it is used as the transceiver beam for subsequent communication between the first communication device and the second communication device to obtain a higher beam gain, that is, to improve the channel transmission quality.

[0025] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: sending indication information to the second communication device, and the indication information indicates the third beam.

[0026] It should be understood that "indicating" or "for indicating" can include direct indication and indirect indication. For example, the indication information includes the identifier of the third beam, or other information that can be used to determine the third beam.

[0027] In one implementation, the indication information includes a first preamble, and the third beam is determined according to the first preamble and the first mapping relationship; wherein, the first mapping relationship is used to indicate the mapping relationship between multiple beams and multiple preambles, the multiple beams include multiple beams among the first beam, the M1 second beams, the sixth beam, or the M3 seventh beams, the multiple preambles include the preamble corresponding to the first beam, the preamble corresponding to each second beam, the preamble corresponding to the sixth beam, or the preamble corresponding to each seventh beam, and the first preamble is one of the multiple preambles.

[0028] In another implementation, the indication information includes a first random access channel (RACH occasion, RO), and the third beam is determined according to the first RO and the second mapping relationship; wherein, the second mapping relationship is used to indicate the mapping relationship between multiple beams and multiple ROs, the multiple beams include multiple beams among the first beam, the M1 second beams, the sixth beam, or the M3 seventh beams, the multiple ROs include the RO corresponding to the first beam, the RO corresponding to each second beam, the RO corresponding to the sixth beam, or the RO corresponding to each seventh beam, and the first RO is one of the multiple ROs.

[0029] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first beam is different from at least one of the M1 second beams.

[0030] In other words, assuming M1 = 1, the first beam is different from the second beam; assuming M1 is greater than 1, for example, M1 = 2, the first beam is different from at least one of the two second beams. For example, the first beam is different from the second beam #1 and the second beam #2. Herein, the second beam #1 and the second beam #2 may be the same or different, and this application does not limit this; or, the first beam is the same as the second beam #1 but different from the second beam #2, that is, the second beam #1 and the second beam #2 are also different.

[0031] Or rather, the second beam includes the first beam, or the second beam further includes other beams different from the first beam.

[0032] Optionally, the first beam is the same as at least one of the M1 second beams, that is, the first beam is the same as one or more of the M1 second beams.

[0033] Combined with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, one or more of the N1 first reference signals correspond to one of the M1 second beams.

[0034] In other words, one second beam corresponds to one or more first reference signals. For example, the second communication device uses one second beam to send a second reference signal, or the second communication device uses one second beam to send multiple first reference signals. That is to say, there are multiple second beams corresponding to multiple first reference signals. For example, there are two second beams, the second beam #1 is used to send the first reference signal #1, and the second beam #2 is used to send the first reference signal #2 and the first reference signal #3, etc.

[0035] Combined with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the M1 second beams include a ninth beam and a tenth beam. The ninth beam is used to send N3 of the N1 first reference signals, and the tenth beam is used to send the other N4 of the N1 first reference signals except the N3 first reference signals. The N3 first reference signals occupy a first resource, and the N4 first reference signals occupy a second resource.

[0036] Exemplarily, the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the frequency-domain resources of the second resource are not completely the same.

[0037] It should be understood that the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the second resource are not completely the same, and may include: the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the second resource are completely different, or the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the second resource are partially the same. For example, the first resource includes the frequency-domain resource #1 on symbol #0 and symbol #1, and the second resource includes the frequency-domain resource #2 on symbol #0 and symbol #1. For another example, the first resource includes the frequency-domain resource #1 on symbol #0 and symbol #1, and the second resource includes the frequency-domain resource #1 on symbol #2 and the frequency-domain resource #2 on symbol #0 to symbol #2, that is, the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the second resource partially overlap.

[0038] Optionally, the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the second resource may be completely the same. For example, the first resource includes the frequency-domain resources #1 and #2 on symbol #0, and the second resource includes the frequency-domain resources #1 and #2 on symbol #1. For another example, the first resource includes the frequency-domain resource #1 on symbol #0 and the frequency-domain resource #2 on symbol #1, and the second resource includes the frequency-domain resource #2 on symbol #0 and the frequency-domain resource #1 on symbol #1.

[0039] Optionally, the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the second resource occupy all or part of the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource.

[0040] Exemplarily, the first resource or the second resource includes at least one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, and both N3 and N4 are positive integers.

[0041] Optionally, the time-domain resources of the first resource and the second resource occupy all or part of the time-domain resources of the fourth resource. For example, if the fourth resource occupies 4 OFDM symbols, then the first resource or the second resource occupies one or more of the 4 OFDM symbols.

[0042] Combined with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the first synchronization signal occupies the third resource, and N1 first reference signals occupy the fourth resource, and the frequency-domain resources of the third resource and the fourth resource do not overlap at all.

[0043] It should be understood that the fact that the frequency-domain resources of the third resource and the fourth resource do not overlap at all means that the frequency-domain resources of the third resource and the fourth resource are completely different.

[0044] Exemplarily, assuming that the N1 first reference signals include N3 first reference signals and N4 first reference signals, then the fourth resource includes the first resource and the second resource, both N3 and N4 are positive integers, and N3 + N4 ≤ N1.

[0045] Optionally, the frequency-domain resources of the third resource and the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource may be exactly the same or partially overlapped, and this application does not make any limitation on this.

[0046] Exemplarily, the time-domain resources of the fourth resource occupy Q OFDM symbols, where Q is one of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8.

[0047] Exemplarily, M1 is equal to Q, that is, the number of the second beams is the same as the number of OFDM symbols occupied by the first reference signal. Or, in other words, M1 second beams correspond one-to-one to the OFDM symbols occupied by the first reference signal. Or, each second beam occupies one OFDM symbol, and each first reference signal occupies one OFDM symbol.

[0048] Combined with the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the time-domain resources of the fourth resource are located after the time-domain resource unit of the third resource; or, the time-domain resources of the fourth resource are the same as the time-domain resources of the third resource; or, the time-domain resources of the third resource are included in the time-domain resources of the fourth resource; or, the time-domain resources of the fourth resource are included in the time-domain resources of the third resource; or, the start position of the first time unit occupied by the first synchronization signal set and the start position of the second time unit occupied by the first reference signal set are separated by 5 ms, the first synchronization signal is included in the first synchronization signal set, and the first reference signal is included in the first reference signal set; or, the first synchronization signal set occupies the third time unit, the first reference signal set occupies the fourth time unit, the first synchronization signal is included in the first synchronization signal set, the first reference signal is included in the first reference signal set, and both the third time unit and the fourth time unit are 5 ms.

[0049] Based on the above solution, by setting an interval of 5 m in the time domain, first, the delay can be reduced, and there is no need to perform beam scanning within the entire 20 ms cycle. Second, it can be applied to various SSB burst configurations, that is, the positions of the first reference signal and the first synchronization signal do not overlap, and thus there will be no transceiver conflict. Third, it is convenient for the network device to schedule the PUSCH resources, because scheduling the PUSCH resources and the resources of the first synchronization signal belong to the relationship of the front and back half-frames within one frame (half-frame offset), and their fixed positions can reduce spectrum fragmentation.

[0050] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the M1 second beams include the 11th beam and the 12th beam. N3 of the N1 first reference signals correspond to the 11th beam, and the other N4 of the N1 first reference signals correspond to the 12th beam. Both N3 and N4 are positive integers. That is to say, multiple second beams are associated with the first reference signals, that is, the second communication device can use the 11th beam and the 12th beam to send the first reference signals. For example, when N3 = N4 = 1, it means that one first reference signal is associated with one second beam.

[0051] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the M1 second beams include the 13th beam and the 14th beam, and the 13th beam and the 14th beam correspond to the N1 first reference signals; the M3 seventh beams include the 15th beam and the 16th beam, and the 15th beam and the 16th beam correspond to the N2 second reference signals; wherein, the N1 first reference signals occupy the first part of the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource, and the N2 second reference signals occupy the second part of the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource. That is to say, multiple second beams are associated with the first reference signals, that is, the second communication device can use the 13th beam and the 14th beam to send the first reference signals; multiple seventh beams are associated with the second reference signals, that is, the second communication device can use the 15th beam and the 16th beam to send the second reference signals. For example, when N1 = N2 = 1, it means that one first reference signal is associated with multiple second beams, and one second reference signal is associated with multiple second beams.

[0052] Optionally, the first part and the second part are the same; or, the first part and the second part are continuous, or, there is a first frequency interval between the first part and the second part.

[0053] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the N1 first reference signals or the N2 second reference signals are used to carry the first sequence, and the first sequence includes any one of the following: ZC sequence, m sequence or gold sequence; wherein, the length of the first sequence is any one of the following: 240, 120, 60, 40 or 30 resource elements (RE).

[0054] Second aspect, a communication method is provided. This method can be executed by a second communication device, or by other entities, which is not limited in this application. For ease of description, the following takes the execution by the second communication device as an example. Among them, the second communication device can be a network device, or a chip or circuit in the network device, or a central unit (CU) or distributed unit (DU) in the network device, or a functional module in the network device that can call and execute programs. Exemplarily, the network device includes a base station.

[0055] The method includes: sending a first synchronization signal block, the first synchronization signal block includes a first synchronization signal, the first synchronization signal is associated with N1 first reference signals, the first synchronization signal and the N1 first reference signals are used to determine a first measurement result, N1 is a positive integer; the first measurement result is used to determine a third beam from a first beam and M1 second beams, the third beam is the transceiver beam of the second communication device when communicating with the first communication device, the first beam is the transmission beam of the first synchronization signal, the M1 second beams are the transmission beams of the N1 first reference signals, M1 is a positive integer; and / or, the first measurement result is used to determine a fourth beam from at least one beam used by the first communication device, the fourth beam is the transceiver beam of the first communication device when communicating with the second communication device.

[0056] Exemplarily, N1 can be one or more, for example, 1, 2, 3, or 4, etc. M1 can be one of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8, or M1 can be a multiple of 2, for example, one of 2, 4, 6, or 8.

[0057] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the first synchronization signal is associated with N1 first reference signals, including: the first synchronization signal block further includes N1 first reference signals.

[0058] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the third beam can be a beam selected from M2 fifth beams, the M2 fifth beams are one or more beams selected from the first beam and the M1 second beams according to the first measurement result, M2 is a positive integer. Among them, the signal strength of the fifth beam is greater than or equal to a first threshold, and the first threshold is preset.

[0059] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending a second synchronization signal block, where the second synchronization signal block includes a second synchronization signal, and the second synchronization signal is associated with N2 second reference signals, and N2 is a positive integer; the second synchronization signal and the N2 second reference signals are used to obtain a second measurement result, and the second measurement result is used to determine a third beam from a sixth beam and M3 seventh beams, the sixth beam is the transmission beam of the second synchronization signal, and the M3 seventh beams are the transmission beams of the N2 second reference signals, and M3 is a positive integer.

[0060] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second synchronization signal being associated with N2 second reference signals includes: the second synchronization signal block further includes N2 second reference signals.

[0061] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, determining the third beam from the sixth beam and M3 seventh beams according to the second measurement result includes: determining M4 eighth beams from the sixth beam and M3 seventh beams according to the second measurement result, and selecting one beam from the M4 eighth beams and M2 fifth beams as the third beam, the signal strength of the eighth beam is greater than or equal to a second threshold, the second threshold is preset, and M4 is a positive integer.

[0062] In other words, the third beam can be one beam selected from the M4 eighth beams and M2 fifth beams, where the M4 eighth beams are one or more beams determined from the sixth beam and M3 seventh beams according to the second measurement result.

[0063] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the third beam is the first beam, or the third beam is one of the M1 second beams, or the third beam is the sixth beam, or the third beam is one of the M3 seventh beams.

[0064] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: receiving indication information from a first communication device, and the indication information indicates the third beam.

[0065] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the indication information includes a first preamble, and the third beam is determined according to the first preamble and a first mapping relationship; where the first mapping relationship is used to indicate the mapping relationship between multiple beams and multiple preambles, the multiple beams include multiple beams among the first beam, the M1 second beams, the sixth beam, or the M3 seventh beams, the multiple preambles include the preamble corresponding to the first beam, the preamble corresponding to each second beam, the preamble corresponding to the sixth beam, or the preamble corresponding to each seventh beam among the multiple preambles, and the first preamble is one of the multiple preambles.

[0066] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the indication information includes a first RO, and the third beam is determined according to the first RO and a second mapping relationship; wherein, the second mapping relationship is used to indicate the mapping relationship between multiple beams and multiple ROs, the multiple beams include multiple beams among the first beam, M1 second beams, the sixth beam, or M3 seventh beams, the multiple ROs include multiple ROs among the RO corresponding to the first beam, the RO corresponding to each second beam, the RO corresponding to the sixth beam, or the RO corresponding to each seventh beam, and the first RO is one of the multiple ROs.

[0067] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first beam is different from at least one of the M1 second beams.

[0068] In other words, assuming M1 = 1, the first beam is different from the second beam; assuming M1 is greater than 1, for example, M1 = 2, the first beam is different from at least one of the 2 second beams. For example, the first beam is different from the second beam #1 and the second beam #2. Herein, the second beam #1 and the second beam #2 may be the same or different, and this application does not make any limitation in this regard; or, the first beam is the same as the second beam #1 but the first beam is different from the second beam #2, that is, the second beam #1 and the second beam #2 are also different.

[0069] Or rather, the second beam includes the first beam, or the second beam further includes other beams different from the first beam.

[0070] Optionally, the first beam is the same as at least one of the M1 second beams, that is, the first beam is the same as one or more of the M1 second beams.

[0071] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, one or more of the N1 first reference signals correspond to one of the M1 second beams.

[0072] In other words, one second beam corresponds to one or more first reference signals. For example, the second communication device uses one second beam to send a second reference signal, or the second communication device uses one second beam to send multiple first reference signals. That is to say, there are multiple second beams corresponding to multiple first reference signals. For example, there are 2 second beams, the second beam #1 is used to send the first reference signal #1, and the second beam #2 is used to send the first reference signal #2 and the first reference signal #3, etc.

[0073] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the M1 second beams include a ninth beam and a tenth beam. The ninth beam is used to transmit N3 of the N1 first reference signals, and the tenth beam is used to transmit the other N4 of the N1 first reference signals except for the N3 first reference signals. The N3 first reference signals occupy a first resource, and the N4 first reference signals occupy a second resource.

[0074] Exemplarily, the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the frequency-domain resources of the second resource are not exactly the same.

[0075] It should be understood that the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the frequency-domain resources of the second resource not being exactly the same may include: the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the frequency-domain resources of the second resource being completely different, or the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the frequency-domain resources of the second resource being partially the same.

[0076] Optionally, the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the frequency-domain resources of the second resource may be exactly the same.

[0077] Optionally, the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the frequency-domain resources of the second resource occupy all or part of the frequency-domain resources of a fourth resource.

[0078] Exemplarily, the first resource or the second resource includes at least one OFDM symbol, and both N3 and N4 are positive integers.

[0079] Optionally, the time-domain resources of the first resource and the time-domain resources of the second resource occupy all or part of the time-domain resources of a fourth resource.

[0080] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first synchronization signal occupies a third resource, and the N1 first reference signals occupy a fourth resource. The frequency-domain resources of the third resource and the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource do not overlap at all.

[0081] It should be understood that the frequency-domain resources of the third resource and the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource not overlapping at all means that the frequency-domain resources of the third resource and the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource are completely different.

[0082] Exemplarily, assuming that the N1 first reference signals include N3 first reference signals and N4 first reference signals, then the fourth resource includes the first resource and the second resource, both N3 and N4 are positive integers, and N3 + N4 ≤ N1.

[0083] Optionally, the frequency-domain resources of the third resource and the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource may be exactly the same or partially overlapping. This application does not make any restrictions on this.

[0084] Exemplarily, the time-domain resources of the fourth resource occupy Q OFDM symbols, and Q is one of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8.

[0085] Exemplarily, M1 is equal to Q, that is, the number of second beams is the same as the number of OFDM symbols occupied by the first reference signal. Or, M1 second beams correspond one-to-one to the OFDM symbols occupied by the first reference signal. Or, each second beam occupies one OFDM symbol, and each first reference signal occupies one OFDM symbol.

[0086] Combined with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the time domain resources of the fourth resource are located after the time domain resource unit of the third resource; or, the time domain resources of the fourth resource are the same as the time domain resources of the third resource; or, the time domain resources of the third resource are included in the time domain resources of the fourth resource; or, the time domain resources of the fourth resource are included in the time domain resources of the third resource; or, there is a 5 ms interval between the start position of the first time unit occupied by the first synchronization signal set and the start position of the second time unit occupied by the first reference signal set, the first synchronization signal is included in the first synchronization signal set, and the first reference signal is included in the first reference signal set; or, the first synchronization signal set occupies the third time unit, the first reference signal set occupies the fourth time unit, the first synchronization signal is included in the first synchronization signal set, the first reference signal is included in the first reference signal set, and both the third time unit and the fourth time unit are 5 ms.

[0087] Combined with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the M1 second beams include the 11th beam and the 12th beam, N3 of the N1 first reference signals correspond to the 11th beam, and the other N4 of the N1 first reference signals except the N3 first reference signals correspond to the 12th beam, where both N3 and N4 are positive integers.

[0088] Combined with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the M1 second beams include the 13th beam and the 14th beam, and the 13th beam and the 14th beam correspond to the N1 first reference signals; the M3 seventh beams include the 15th beam and the 16th beam, and the 15th beam and the 16th beam correspond to the N2 second reference signals; where the N1 first reference signals occupy the first part of the frequency domain resources of the fourth resource, and the N2 second reference signals occupy the second part of the frequency domain resources of the fourth resource.

[0089] Optionally, the first part and the second part are the same; or, the first part and the second part are continuous, or, there is a first frequency interval between the first part and the second part.

[0090] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, N1 first reference signals or N2 second reference signals are used to carry a first sequence, and the first sequence includes any one of the following: ZC sequence, m sequence, or gold sequence; wherein, the length of the first sequence is any one of the following: 240, 120, 60, 40, or 30 REs.

[0091] The beneficial effects of the above-mentioned second aspect and some implementations of the second aspect can be correspondingly referred to the descriptions of the first aspect and related implementations of the first aspect, and will not be elaborated here.

[0092] In a third aspect, a first communication device is provided. The first communication device includes: a transceiver unit configured to receive a first synchronization signal block, the first synchronization signal block including a first synchronization signal, the first synchronization signal being associated with N1 first reference signals, where N1 is a positive integer; a processing unit configured to measure signal strengths of the first synchronization signal and the N1 first reference signals to obtain a first measurement result; the processing unit is further configured to determine a third beam from a first beam and M1 second beams according to the first measurement result, the third beam being a transceiver beam of a second communication device when communicating with the first communication device, the first beam being a transmission beam of the first synchronization signal, and M1 second beams being transmission beams of the N1 first reference signals, where M1 is a positive integer; and / or, the processing unit is configured to determine a fourth beam from at least one beam used by the first communication device according to the first measurement result, the fourth beam being a transceiver beam of the first communication device when communicating with the second communication device.

[0093] The transceiver unit may perform the receiving and transmitting processes in the foregoing first aspect, and the processing unit may perform other processes in the foregoing first aspect except for receiving and transmitting.

[0094] In a fourth aspect, a second communication device is provided. The second communication device includes: a transceiver unit configured to transmit a first synchronization signal block, the first synchronization signal block including a first synchronization signal, the first synchronization signal being associated with N1 first reference signals, the first synchronization signal and the N1 first reference signals being used to determine a first measurement result, where N1 is a positive integer; the first measurement result is used to determine a third beam from a first beam and M1 second beams, the third beam being a transceiver beam of the second communication device when communicating with the first communication device, the first beam being a transmission beam of the first synchronization signal, and M1 second beams being transmission beams of the N1 first reference signals, where M1 is a positive integer; and / or, the first measurement result is used to determine a fourth beam from at least one beam used by the first communication device, the fourth beam being a transceiver beam of the first communication device when communicating with the second communication device.

[0095] The transceiver unit can perform the reception and transmission processes in the foregoing second aspect, and the processing unit can perform other processes in the foregoing second aspect except for reception and transmission.

[0096] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the above-mentioned first communication device or second communication device. The communication device includes a transceiver, a processor, and a memory. The processor is used to control the transceiver to transmit and receive signals. The memory is used to store computer programs. The processor is used to call and run the computer programs from the memory, so that the communication device executes the method in any possible implementation manner in the foregoing first aspect or second aspect.

[0097] Optionally, there is one or more processors, and one or more memories.

[0098] Optionally, the memory may be integrated with the processor, or the memory is separately provided from the processor.

[0099] Optionally, the communication device further includes a transmitter and a receiver.

[0100] In a sixth aspect, a communication system is provided. The communication system includes a first communication device and a second communication device. Among them, the first communication device is used to execute the method in any possible implementation manner in the foregoing first aspect, and the second communication device is used to execute the method in any possible implementation manner in the foregoing second aspect.

[0101] Exemplarily, the first communication device may be a terminal device, or a chip or circuit in the terminal device, or a functional module in the terminal device that can call and execute programs.

[0102] Exemplarily, the second communication device may be a network device, or a chip or circuit in the network device, or a CU or DU in the network device, or a functional module in the network device that can call and execute programs.

[0103] In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. The computer-readable storage medium stores computer program code or instructions. When the computer program code or instructions are run, the method in any possible implementation manner in the foregoing first aspect or second aspect is implemented.

[0104] In an eighth aspect, a chip is provided. The chip includes at least one processor. The at least one processor is coupled to a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program. When the computer program is run, the method in any possible implementation manner in the foregoing first aspect or second aspect is implemented.

[0105] Exemplarily, the chip may include an input circuit or interface for sending information or data, and an output circuit or interface for receiving information or data.

[0106] In a ninth aspect, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product includes computer program code or instructions that, when run, cause the method in any one of the possible implementation manners in the first aspect or the second aspect to be implemented.

[0107] In a tenth aspect, a computer program is provided. When the computer program is run, it causes the method in any one of the possible implementation manners in the first aspect or the second aspect to be implemented. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0108] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to the present application;

[0109] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the time-frequency structure of an SSB;

[0110] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an SSB beam scanning process;

[0111] Figure 4 is an interaction flowchart of a contention-based random access method;

[0112] Figure 5 is an interaction flowchart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0113] Figures 6 to 9 is a schematic diagram of the time-frequency resource structure of a first synchronization signal and a first reference signal provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0114] Figure 10 and Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a first reference signal and a second beam provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0115] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a first reference signal, a second reference signal, and a second beam provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0116] Figure 13 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0117] Figure 14 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0118] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0119] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication systems, 5th generation (5G) systems or New Radio (NR) and future communication systems, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), where V2X can include Vehicle-to-Network (V2N), Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P), etc., Long Term Evolution-Vehicle (LTE-V), Internet of Vehicles, Machine-Type Communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), Long Term Evolution-Machine (LTE-M), Machine-to-Machine (M2M), etc.

[0120] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 1 shown, the communication system 100 includes at least one network device, such as Figure 1 the network device 110 shown; the communication system 100 may further include at least one terminal device, such as Figure 1 the terminal device 120 and / or the terminal device 130 shown. The network device 110 and the terminal device 120 or the terminal device 130 can communicate via a wireless link, and then exchange information. It can be understood that the network device and the terminal device can also be referred to as communication devices or communication apparatuses.

[0121] A network device is a network-side device with wireless transceiver capabilities. The network device can be a device in a radio access network (RAN) that provides wireless communication capabilities for terminal devices, referred to as a RAN device. For example, the network device can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, a base station evolved by 3GPP subsequently, a transmission reception point (TRP), an access node in a WiFi system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, etc. In communication systems adopting different radio access technologies (RATs), the names of devices with base station functions may vary. For example, in an LTE system, it can be referred to as an eNB or eNodeB, and in a 5G system or an NR system, it can be referred to as a gNB. The specific name of the base station is not limited in this application. The network device can include one or more co-located or non-co-located transmission reception points. Additionally, for example, the network device can include at least one of the following items: one or more central units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), one or more radio units (RUs). In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, the radio access network can also be an open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture. In an ORAN system, the CU can also be referred to as an O-CU (open CU), the DU can also be referred to as an O-DU, the CU-CP can also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, and the RU can also be referred to as an O-RU. Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented through software modules, hardware modules, or a combination of software modules and hardware modules. Exemplarily, the functions of the CU can be implemented by one entity or different entities. For example, the functions of the CU are further split, that is, the control plane and the user plane are separated and implemented by different entities, namely the control plane CU entity (i.e., the CU-CP entity) and the user plane CU entity (i.e., the CU-UP entity). The CU-CP entity and the CU-UP entity can be coupled with the DU to jointly complete the functions of the access network device.For example, the CU is responsible for processing non-real-time protocols and services, and implementing the functions of the radio resource control (RRC) layer and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer. The DU is responsible for processing physical layer protocols and real-time services, and implementing the functions of the radio link control (RLC) layer, the media access control (MAC) layer, and the physical (PHY) layer. In this way, some functions of the radio access network device can be implemented by multiple network function entities. These network function entities can be network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). The network device may also include an active antenna unit (AAU for short). The AAU implements some physical layer processing functions, radio frequency processing, and functions related to active antennas. Since the information in the RRC layer will ultimately become the information in the PHY layer, or vice versa, in this architecture, high-layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, can also be considered to be sent by the DU, or by the DU + AAU. It can be understood that the network device can be a device including one or more of the CU node, the DU node, and the AAU node. In addition, the CU can be classified as a network device in the radio access network (RAN), or can be classified as a network device in the core network (CN), and this application does not make a limitation on this. Another example is in vehicle to everything (V2X) technology, where the radio access network device can be a road side unit (RSU). Multiple radio access network devices in a communication system can be of the same type of base station, or can be of different types of base stations. The base station can communicate with the terminal device, or can communicate with the terminal device through a relay station. In the embodiments of this application, the device for implementing the functions of the network device can be the network device itself, or can be a device capable of supporting the network device to implement this function, such as a chip system or a combined device or component that can implement the functions of the radio access network device, and this device can be installed in the network device. In the embodiments of this application, the chip system can be composed of chips, or can include chips and other discrete devices.

[0122] A terminal device is a user-side device with wireless transceiver capabilities. It can be a fixed device, a mobile device, a handheld device (such as a mobile phone), a wearable device, a vehicle-mounted device, or a wireless device (such as a communication module, a modem, or a chip system, etc.) built into the above devices. The terminal device is used to connect people, things, machines, etc., and can be widely used in various scenarios, such as: cellular communication, device-to-device (D2D) communication, V2X communication, machine-to-machine / machine-type communications (M2M / MTC) communication, Internet of Things, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, self-driving, remote medical, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart city, drones, robots, and other scenarios. Exemplarily, the terminal device can be a handheld terminal in cellular communication, a communication device in D2D, an IoT device in MTC, a surveillance camera in smart transportation and smart city, or a communication device on a drone, etc. The terminal device is sometimes referred to as a user equipment (UE), user terminal, user device, user unit, user station, terminal, access terminal, access station, UE station, remote station, mobile device, or wireless communication device, etc. The terminal device can also be a terminal device in an IoT system. IoT is an important part of the future development of information technology. Its main technical feature is to connect items to the network through communication technology, thereby realizing an intelligent network of human-machine interconnection and thing-thing interconnection. In the embodiments of this application, IoT technology can achieve massive connections, deep coverage, and power saving for terminals through, for example, narrow band (NB) technology. In the embodiments of this application, the device for realizing the functions of the terminal device can be the terminal device itself, or a device that can support the terminal device to realize these functions, such as a chip system or a combined device or component that can realize the functions of the terminal device. This device can be installed in the terminal device.

[0123] The network device and the terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on the water surface; they can also be deployed on airplanes, balloons, and satellites in the air. In the embodiments of this application, the scenarios where the network device and the terminal device are located are not limited.

[0124] Exemplarily, the communication system 100 may further include an application function (AF) network element, which is a control plane network function provided by the operator network and is used to provide application layer information; the communication system 100 may further include a session management function (SMF) network element, which is a control plane network function provided by the operator network. In the embodiments of the present application, when the communication system 100 includes an AF network element and an SMF network element, the AF may send service-related information to the network device through the SMF.

[0125] To facilitate the understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the concepts and related processes involved in the present application are first introduced.

[0126] (1) Beam;

[0127] The manifestation of the beam in the NR protocol can be a spatial domain filter, or a spatial filter or a spatial parameter. The beam used to send signals can be called a transmission beam (Tx beam), which can be called a spatial domain transmission filter or a spatial transmission parameter; the beam used to receive signals can be called a reception beam (Rx beam), which can be called a spatial domain receive filter or a spatial RX parameter.

[0128] The transmission beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength formed in different directions in space after the signal is transmitted by the antenna, and the reception beam can refer to the signal strength distribution of the wireless signal received from the antenna in different directions in space. In addition, the beam can be a wide beam, or a narrow beam (or a thin beam), or other types of beams. It should be understood that the wide beam and the narrow beam are relative. The wide beam can refer to a beam with a larger transmission direction or transmission angle, and the narrow beam can refer to a beam with a smaller transmission direction or transmission angle. The technology for forming the beam can be beamforming technology or other technologies. The beamforming technology can specifically be digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology, etc.

[0129] A beam generally corresponds to a resource. For example, when performing beam measurement, the network device measures different beams through different resources, and enables the terminal device to measure different beams on a given resource to obtain measurement results. The terminal device feeds back the channel quality or received signal strength of the given resource measured, and the network device then knows the quality of the corresponding beam. During data transmission, the beam information is also indicated through its corresponding resource. For example, the network device indicates the information of the PDSCH beam through the resource in the TCI of the DCI.

[0130] Optionally, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics are regarded as one beam. One beam may include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, sounding signals, etc. One or more antenna ports forming one beam can also be regarded as an antenna port set.

[0131] (2) Resource;

[0132] In beam measurement, each beam of a network device corresponds to a resource. Therefore, the beam corresponding to the resource can be uniquely identified by the index of the resource. The resource can be an uplink signal resource or a downlink signal resource. The uplink signals include, but are not limited to, sounding reference signal (SRS) and demodulation reference signal DMRS. The downlink signals include, but are not limited to, channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), cell specific reference signal (CS-RS), user equipment specific reference signal (US-RS), DMRS, and synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SS / PBCH block). Among them, SS / PBCH block can be abbreviated as synchronization signal / PBCH block (SSB). The resource is configured through radio resource control (RRC) signaling. In terms of the configuration structure, a resource is a data structure, including relevant parameters of its corresponding uplink / downlink signal, such as the type of uplink / downlink signal, the resource granularity carrying the uplink / downlink signal, the transmission time and period of the uplink / downlink signal, the number of ports used for transmitting the uplink / downlink signal, etc. Each uplink / downlink signal resource has a unique index to identify the resource of the downlink signal. It can be understood that the index of the resource can also be referred to as the identifier of the resource, and the embodiments of the present application do not impose any restrictions on this.

[0133] (3) Time-frequency resource;

[0134] In the embodiments of the present application, data or information can be carried by time-frequency resources. Among them, the time-frequency resources can include resources in the time domain (i.e., time domain resources) and resources in the frequency domain (i.e., frequency domain resources).

[0135] In the time domain, time-domain resources may include one or more time-domain units (or, may also be referred to as time units), and one time unit may include several time-domain resources. A time unit is, for example, a radio frame (RF), and the time-domain resources included in a time unit are, for example, subframes, frames, half-subframes or half-frames, etc., time slots, mini-slots, partial slots, or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, etc.; or, a time unit may also be a collection of one or more time-domain resources. For example, a time unit is one or more OFDM symbols within a time slot, and for example, the number of the one or more is 6, 7, 12, or 14, etc. One or more time units may be continuous or discrete in time. In addition, the duration of a time slot may be related to the sub-carrier space (SCS) interval. For example, when the sub-carrier interval is 15 kHz, the duration of a time slot is 1 millisecond (ms); when the sub-carrier interval is 30 kHz, the duration of a time slot is 0.5 ms; when the sub-carrier interval is 60 kHz, the duration of a time slot is 0.25 ms. By the same token, when the sub-carrier interval is 15*2 μ kHz, the duration of a time slot is 2 -μ ms, μ = 0, 1, 2, …. μ is a non-negative integer.

[0136] In the frequency domain, frequency-domain resources may include one or more frequency-domain units. A frequency-domain unit may be a resource element (RE), or a resource block (RB), or a sub-channel, or a resource pool, or a bandwidth, or a bandwidth part (BWP), or a carrier (CC), or a channel, or an interlaced RB, etc.

[0137] (4) NR cell search and downlink synchronization;

[0138] Downlink synchronization means that the terminal device synchronizes the frequency, frame, and symbol with the base station through the synchronization signal sequence periodically sent by the base station at specific positions. Only after downlink synchronization can the terminal device demodulate the master information block (MIB) and the system information block (SIB) broadcast by the cell. Therefore, synchronization is the starting point for the terminal device to establish communication with the base station. Specifically, the functions of downlink synchronization include the following points:

[0139] a) The terminal device searches for the central frequency point of the cell carrier and achieves frequency synchronization with the carrier signal;

[0140] b) The terminal device obtains the bandwidth of the cell.

[0141] c) The terminal device synchronizes with the 10 ms frame of the cell.

[0142] d) The terminal device obtains cell information for communication.

[0143] In NR, downlink synchronization is achieved by the UE searching for SSBs.

[0144] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the time-frequency structure of an SSB. The network device periodically sends SSBs. The terminal device completes downlink synchronization with the base station by receiving from the SSBs and obtains system information. The SSB includes the primary synchronization signal PSS, the secondary synchronization signal SSS, the physical broadcast channel PBCH, and the DMRS for demodulating the PBCH. The SSB period can be 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, or 160 ms, etc. One SSB period can include multiple SSB signals (with different SSB indices, such as SSB 0 to SSB 7, or SSB 1 to SSB 8), which is called an SSB burst and is located in the first 5 ms of the 10 ms frame, where each SSB uses a different transmission beam but contains the same cell information. As Figure 2 shown, one SSB can occupy 4 OFDM symbols (such as symbol 0 to symbol 3) in the time domain and can occupy 240 subcarriers or 240 REs in the frequency domain, that is, 20 resource blocks (RBs). Among them, the time-frequency resources occupied by the PSS or SSS are both 1 symbol and 127 subcarriers (or 127 REs), and the time-frequency resources occupied by the PBCH are 3 symbols and 240 subcarriers (or 240 REs), and one of the symbols (such as symbol 2) is shared with the SSS.

[0145] In one example, the PSS sequence is located on 127 REs in the middle of the first symbol (such as symbol 0) of the SSB and can be generated by the following formula (1). The SSS sequence is located on 127 REs in the middle of the third symbol (such as symbol 2) of the SSB and can be generated by the Gold sequence (that is, the result of modulo-2 addition of two m sequences) in the following formula (2).

[0146] d pss (n) = 1 - 2x(m); (1)

[0147] d sss(n)=[1 - 2x0(n + m0) mod 127][1 - 2x1(n + m1) mod 127]; (2)

[0148] where 0 ≤ n < 127,

[0149] the offsets of the two m-sequences are respectively:

[0150]

[0151] It should be noted that x(m) is an m-sequence, which can be represented or generated by a linear feedback shift register, and the SSS sequence can be represented or generated by a linear feedback shift register.

[0152] (5) SSB beam scanning;

[0153] The purpose of the initial beam scanning is to establish a suitable beam pair between the network device and the terminal device. The selected beam pair is used for subsequent access and data transmission. Selecting a suitable beam pair helps to improve the channel quality of the above communication process. The network device can adopt a time-division method and send SSBs via different beams at different times. During the beam scanning process, the terminal device generally selects the SSB beam with the maximum signal strength as the initial beam direction for subsequent physical random access channel (PRACH) access.

[0154] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an SSB beam scanning process. As Figure 3As shown, the time-domain resources are divided into frames with each frame being 10 ms. Exemplarily, the network device sends an SSB burst every 20 ms. An SSB burst includes 8 SSBs, and each SSB is sent using a beam (which can be referred to as an SSB beam). The corresponding SSB index is denoted as {SSB0, SSB1, …, SSB7}. Generally, an SSB burst needs to be sent within the first half of each frame, that is, within 5 ms. The network device sends SSB0 to SSB7 at different times within 5 ms. For example, when the subcarrier spacing (SCS) is 15 kHz, there are 70 OFDM symbols within 5 ms, and the starting OFDM symbols occupied by sending SSB0 to SSB7 can be {2, 8, 16, 22, 30, 36, 44, 50}. In addition, the network device can send SSB0 to SSB7 using different beamforming weight values, so that the transmission directions of SSB0 to SSB7 are different, forming a comprehensive coverage of the cell. Correspondingly, the terminal device detects the signal strengths (such as RSRP values) of SSB0 to SSB7 and selects an SSB beam with the strongest signal for communication. For example, UE1 determines that the signal strength received from SSB1 is the largest, and UE2 determines that the signal strength received from SSB6 is the largest. Further, the terminal device will send a PRACH signal on the time-frequency resources corresponding to the selected SSB index for random access. By receiving and parsing the PRACH signal, the network device can determine the beam on the network device side selected by the terminal device and establish an initial beam pair. During the data transmission process after access completion, the network device and the terminal device can manage and switch the beam through the channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0155] (6) Random access;

[0156] The terminal device obtains uplink synchronization through the random access process and accesses the network for communication. Among them, random access includes contention-based random access (which can also be referred to as four-step random access) and non-contention-based random access (which can also be referred to as two-step random access). Non-contention-based access is usually used when the terminal device can already successfully receive Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0157] The random access process refers to the process from when the terminal device sends a random access preamble to attempt to access the network until a basic signaling connection is established with the network. It should be noted that before the terminal device selects the random access channel occasion (RACH occasion, RO) for sending the preamble, the terminal device needs to select the uplink carrier. For example, in the case where supplementary uplink (SUL) or normal uplink (NUL) is configured, the terminal device can choose to operate on the SUL or NUL. After selecting the uplink carrier, the terminal device (e.g., a terminal device in the RRC connected state) may need to perform bandwidth part BWP operations. For example, when there is no RO configured on the activated uplink BWP of the terminal device, the terminal device needs to switch the activated uplink BWP to the initial uplink BWP. After selecting the uplink carrier or performing BWP operations, the terminal device needs to select the type of random access (RA). It can be understood that the terminal device needs to choose whether to perform two-step random access or four-step random access. Further, after determining the RA type, the terminal device needs to select the RACH resources: the terminal device can select the RO according to the selected synchronization signal block (Synchronization Signal / PBCH block, SSB) and the mapping relationship between the SSB and the RO. For example, one SSB can correspond to multiple ROs, or multiple SSBs are mapped to one RO.

[0158] Figure 4 It is a schematic flowchart of a contention-based random access method. Figure 4 In [the figure], the first communication device is taken as the terminal device and the second communication device is taken as the network device for illustrative purposes. Figure 4 The first communication device in [the figure] can also be a chip or circuit of the terminal device, etc., and the second communication device can also be a chip or circuit of the network device, etc. As Figure 4 shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0159] S410, the terminal device sends a random access preamble to the network device.

[0160] Correspondingly, the network device receives the random access preamble sent by the terminal device.

[0161] Exemplarily, the terminal device sends a random access preamble, i.e., Msg1, on the PRACH resource. Herein, the PRACH resource can be understood as a random access channel occasion (RO). It should be understood that before step S410, the terminal device can obtain the resource configuration for sending the PRACH by reading the system broadcast information, mainly including the time-frequency resource location, the mapping relationship between the SSB and the RO, the mapping relationship between the preamble and the SSB, and other configuration information.

[0162] S420, the network device sends a random access response (RAR) to the terminal device.

[0163] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the RAR from the network device.

[0164] Exemplarily, the network device sends a random access response RAR, i.e., Msg2, to the terminal device based on the random access preamble. The RAR may include indication information of the uplink resource for sending message 3 (Msg3). It can be understood that after the terminal device receives the RAR, it can learn the uplink resource for sending Msg3.

[0165] It should be understood that before executing step S420, or rather, after the terminal device sends Msg1, it starts a random access response window and listens for the RAR sent by the network device within the window. If the terminal device successfully detects its own RAR, the random access is successful, and the terminal device can continue to send Msg3 according to the indication of the RAR, that is, execute step S430. If the UE does not receive its own RAR, the random access fails, and the terminal device reinitiates the random access process according to the backoff parameters indicated by the network device until the maximum number of random access attempts is reached.

[0166] S430, the terminal device sends Msg3 to the network device.

[0167] Correspondingly, the network device receives Msg3 from the terminal device.

[0168] Exemplarily, the terminal device sends Msg3 based on the RAR. The main function of Msg3 is to send an RRC connection establishment request. Among them, Msg3 may include layer 2 (L2) information and / or layer 3 (L3) information, such as an RRC connection establishment request message; also for example, a beam failure recovery (BFR) MAC control element (CE).

[0169] S440, the network device sends a contention resolution message to the terminal device.

[0170] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives a contention resolution message from the network device.

[0171] Among them, the contention resolution message includes the identifier (ID) of the terminal device. Optionally, the contention resolution message may also be referred to as Message 4 (Msg4), and Msg4 carries the contention resolution identifier and the radio interface parameter configuration for this terminal device.

[0172] Exemplarily, when the contention resolution of the terminal device is successful, the network device sends a contention resolution message to the terminal device. If the terminal device successfully receives Msg4 and Msg4 carries its own contention resolution identifier, then the random access is successful; otherwise, the random access fails. If successful, the terminal device can continue to send Msg5, and the main function of Msg5 is to send the RRC connection establishment completion command. If failed, the terminal device reinitiates the random access process according to the backoff parameter indicated by the network device until the maximum random access number is reached.

[0173] Optionally, in response to the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying Msg4, the terminal device can send the corresponding hybrid automatic retransmission request - acknowledgement (HARQ - ACK) information through the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

[0174] Furthermore, when the network device determines from Msg3 that the random access is contention - based random access, it saves the information of the terminal devices that need to contend. When resolving the contention through Msg4, it will perform contention resolution on these contending terminal devices.

[0175] It should be noted that the above Figure 4 is only a schematic diagram provided for the convenience of explaining the four - step random access process, and does not impose any limitation on the protection scope of this application. For the specific description of the four - step random access process, reference can be made to the introductions in the current related technologies.

[0176] (7) Beam management;

[0177] In one implementation, the network device and the terminal device manage and switch beams by transmitting and receiving SSB and CSI - RS, including the overall process of service beam selection from the initial access of the terminal device to the data transmission phase after connection establishment.

[0178] Beam management includes the scanning processes of three beams (such as P1, P2, and P3). These three scans are introduced in detail below.

[0179] (a) Coarse alignment of the P1 process: The network device scans the SSB beam, and the terminal device scans the wide beam;

[0180] The network device uses the beam scanning method within the cell coverage area to send different-direction SSB beams at different times.

[0181] When the terminal device receives the signal, it performs signal reception in a beam scanning manner according to the SSB time-frequency resource position informed in the system message (idle state initial access phase) or the RRC reconfiguration message (connected state data transmission phase), and measures the SSB beam sent by the network device. Among them, the number of times the terminal device measures all the SSB beams of the network device is related to the number of SSB beams of the network device, the number of beams of the terminal device, and the beam scanning algorithm of the terminal device.

[0182] After both the terminal device and the network device have scanned once, the coarse alignment result of the P1 process is obtained.

[0183] (b) Fine tuning of the network device in the P2 process: The network device scans the CSI-RS for BM beam;

[0184] The network device scans again with a narrower CSI-RS for BM beam near the optimal (i.e., the signal strength is the largest) SSB beam (the network device can map the CSI-RS for BM beam to the optimal SSB beam through the beam ID). Here, the narrower CSI-RS for BM beam can be understood as the CSI-RS for BM beam with a narrower beam and / or different beam directions. Compared with the beam in the P1 process, the direction or width of the beam used in the P2 process has changed. After scanning with the CSI-RS for BM beam, the terminal device feeds back the CSI-RS for BM measurement result to the network device through the measurement report, and the network device confirms the CSI-RS for BM beam for sending the downlink signal. The network device can directly reuse this beam when receiving the uplink signal.

[0185] (c) Fine tuning of the terminal device in the P3 process: The terminal device scans the narrow beam;

[0186] The CSI-RS for BM beam of the network device is fixed. When the terminal device receives the signal, it performs signal reception in a beam scanning manner according to the CSI-RS for BM time-frequency resource position informed in the network device RRC reconfiguration message, so as to determine the narrow beam for the terminal device to receive the downlink signal. The terminal device can directly reuse this beam when sending the uplink signal.

[0187] After the P3 process ends, the service beams of the terminal device and the network device are aligned.

[0188] In summary, in downlink synchronization, the terminal device can complete beam selection in the P1 phase (the terminal device measures the SSB with a wide beam). In this implementation, the terminal device uses a wide beam for random access (the beam gain is small), which will result in degraded RACH detection performance for edge terminal devices; or, the terminal device can use multiple SSB bursts to complete beam selection. In this implementation, the measurement delay of the terminal device during the beam selection process increases, which will result in a larger random access delay.

[0189] In addition to the beam management process introduced above, the terminal device can repeat sending the preamble using different narrow beams on the terminal device side on different ROs in the RACH repetition (RACH repetition means that in one PRACH transmission, the terminal device sends the same preamble on at least two ROs, the network device receives the preamble at least twice, and detects the preamble). The network device receives and measures the RSRP of the preamble and feeds back the measurement results, so as to implement beam selection on the terminal device side. It should be noted that repeating the preamble using different narrow beams on the terminal device side can be understood as: the terminal device repeats sending the preamble using different beams, and these two different beams refer to two beams with different transmission directions and / or transmission angles (or widths). That is to say, the beam here refers to the beam on the terminal device side used to scan the SSB signal. Among them, in the stage of aligning the SSB and the wide beam of the terminal device, the terminal device can use the wide beam to scan the SSB burst, and determine the optimal beam pair between the SSB beam on the network device side and the wide beam on the terminal device side according to the comparison result of the RSRP measurement values; in the stage of wide beam selection on the terminal device side, the terminal device can repeat sending the PRACH with different narrow beams on the RO corresponding to the selected SSB beam. The network device receives and measures the RSRP, and determines the narrow beam on the terminal device side according to the comparison result of the RSRP measurement values, and carries the narrow beam on the terminal device side in the RAR sent in step S420. It should be understood that the beam signal strength (or RSRP) of the narrow beam here is the largest, or rather, the beam signal strength of the narrow beam here is greater than a certain preset threshold.

[0190] In summary, the above implementation only realizes beam selection on the terminal device side. However, during the beam scanning process, the beam used on the terminal device side (i.e., the UE-side beam) does not match the beam for transmitting the SSB on the network device side (i.e., the SSB beam). That is to say, the link communication quality between the SSB beam and the UE-side beam is unknown, resulting in a relatively large SSB beam scanning or measurement delay. The random access performance of the terminal device is limited by the joint beam gain of the beam pairs adopted on the terminal device side and the network device side, leading to a decline in RACH performance. In addition, the above implementation does not realize SSB beam selection on the network device side. In short, in the existing solutions, beam selection on the network device side and / or beam selection on the terminal device side cannot be effectively implemented, that is, beams with greater beam gain cannot be used for communication, which impairs the random access performance. Therefore, how to improve the random access performance is an urgent problem to be solved.

[0191] To solve the above technical problems, the present application provides a communication method and a communication device, which can effectively implement beam selection on the network device side and / or beam selection on the terminal device side, thereby improving the random access performance.

[0192] The following will describe in detail the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments provided by the present application can be applied to the above Figure 1 shown communication system. In combination with Figure 5 Specifically describe the technical solution of the present application. The execution entity may be a first communication device or a second communication device, or a chip or circuit for the first communication device or the second communication device, or a functional module in the first communication device or the second communication device that can call and execute a program. Among them, the first communication device may be a terminal device, and the second communication device may be a network device, or a CU or a distributed unit DU in the network device.

[0193] Figure 5 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 5 shown, the method 500 includes the following steps.

[0194] S510, the second communication device sends a first synchronization signal block to the first communication device.

[0195] Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the first synchronization signal block from the second communication device.

[0196] Among them, the first synchronization signal block includes a first synchronization signal, and the first synchronization signal is associated with N1 first reference signals, where N1 is a positive integer.

[0197] Exemplarily, the first synchronization signal block may represent a synchronization signal block, and the first synchronization signal may represent a synchronization signal. In this application, the first synchronization signal may be an SSB. For example, the SSB includes a first primary synchronization signal PSS, a first secondary synchronization signal SSS, a first physical broadcast channel PBCH, and a first demodulation reference signal DMRS. Alternatively, the first synchronization signal may also include other signals and / or channels. This application does not specifically limit the structure or components of the first synchronization signal.

[0198] In this application, N1 first reference signals are used to carry a first sequence, where the first sequence includes any one of the following: ZC sequence, m-sequence, or gold sequence. Optionally, the length of the first sequence may be any one of: 240 REs, 120 REs, 60 REs, 40 REs, or 30 REs.

[0199] Exemplarily, when the first sequence is a ZC sequence, the first sequence may be a cyclic extended ZC sequence with a length of 240, 120, 60, 40, or 30 REs. For example, 239 is cyclically extended to 240, 113 is cyclically extended to 120, 59 is cyclically extended to 60, 37 is cyclically extended to 40, 29 is cyclically extended to 30; or, the length of the first sequence may be a prime number closest to the above values (240, 120, 60, 40, or 30). For example, the first sequence may be a ZC sequence with a length of 239, 113, 59, 37, or 29 REs; or, the first sequence may be obtained by truncating a ZC sequence with a length of a prime number closest to the above values. For example, the first sequence may be a ZC sequence truncation sequence of 241 truncated to 240, 127 truncated to 120, 61 truncated to 60, 41 truncated to 40, 31 truncated to 30.

[0200] Exemplarily, when the first sequence is an m-sequence or a gold sequence, the first sequence may be a cyclic extended m-sequence or gold sequence with a length of 240, 120, 60, 40, or 30 REs. For example, 239 is cyclically extended to 240, 113 is cyclically extended to 120, 59 is cyclically extended to 60, 37 is cyclically extended to 40, 29 is cyclically extended to 30; or, the length of the first sequence may be the closest value to the above (2 m - 1). For example, the first sequence may be an m-sequence or a gold sequence with a length of 127, 63, 31, 17, or 7 REs; or, the first sequence may be obtained by truncating a sequence with a length of the closest value to the above (2 m - 1). For example, the first sequence may be an m-sequence truncation sequence or a gold sequence truncation sequence of 255 truncated to 240, 127 truncated to 120, 63 truncated to 60, 63 truncated to 40, 31 truncated to 30.

[0201] Optionally, N1 can be an integer greater than or equal to 1, for example, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.

[0202] Optionally, N1 can be a multiple of 2, for example, one of 2, 4, 6, or 8.

[0203] In this application, the first synchronization signal is associated with N1 first reference signals, and may include: the first synchronization signal further includes N1 first reference signals. That is to say, the first synchronization signal block may include the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal, or in other words, the first synchronization signal block may be composed of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal.

[0204] Next, regarding the position relationship of the time-frequency resources of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal, the relationship between the beam of the first synchronization signal (i.e., the first beam) and the beam of the first reference signal (i.e., the second beam), and the relationship between the first reference signal, the second reference signal, and the second beam will be described.

[0205] In one implementation, the first beam is different from at least one of the M1 second beams.

[0206] In other words, the second beam includes the first beam, or the second beam further includes other beams different from the first beam.

[0207] Exemplarily, assume M1 = 1, then the first beam is different from the second beam; assume M1 is greater than 1, for example, M1 = 2, then the first beam is different from at least one of the 2 second beams. For example, the first beam is different from both the second beam #1 and the second beam #2. Herein, the second beam #1 and the second beam #2 may be the same or different, and this application does not make a limitation thereon; or, the first beam is the same as the second beam #1, but the first beam is different from the second beam #2, that is, the second beam #1 and the second beam #2 are also different.

[0208] In another implementation, the first beam is the same as at least one of the M1 second beams.

[0209] In other words, the first beam is the same as one or more of the M1 second beams.

[0210] Exemplarily, assume M1 = 1, then the first beam is the same as the second beam; assume M1 is greater than 1, for example, M1 = 2, then the first beam is the same as at least one of the 2 second beams. For example, the first beam is the same as both the second beam #1 and the second beam #2, that is, the second beam #1 and the second beam #2 are also the same; or, the first beam is the same as the second beam #1, but the first beam is different from the second beam #2, that is, the second beam #1 and the second beam #2 are also different.

[0211] In one implementation, one or more of the N1 first reference signals correspond to one of the M1 second beams.

[0212] In other words, one second beam corresponds to one or more first reference signals.

[0213] Exemplarily, the second communication device uses one second beam to transmit one second reference signal, or the second communication device uses one second beam to transmit multiple first reference signals. That is, there are multiple second beams corresponding to multiple first reference signals. For example, there are 2 second beams, where second beam #1 is used to transmit first reference signal #1, and second beam #2 is used to transmit first reference signal #2; or second beam #1 is used to transmit first reference signal #1, and second beam #2 is used to transmit first reference signals #2 and #3; or second beam #1 is used to transmit first reference signals #1 and #2, and second beam #2 is used to transmit first reference signals #2 and #3, and so on.

[0214] In one implementation, the M1 second beams include a ninth beam and a tenth beam. The ninth beam is used to transmit N3 of the N1 first reference signals, and the tenth beam is used to transmit the other N4 of the N1 first reference signals except for the N3 first reference signals. The N3 first reference signals occupy a first resource, and the N4 first reference signals occupy a second resource. Both N3 and N4 are positive integers.

[0215] Exemplarily, the time domain resource of the first resource or the time domain resource of the second resource includes at least one OFDM symbol, such as 4 symbols.

[0216] Exemplarily, the frequency domain resources of the first resource and the second resource are not completely the same.

[0217] It should be understood that the frequency domain resources of the first resource and the second resource not being completely the same can be understood as: the frequency domain resources of the first resource and the second resource are completely different, or the frequency domain resources of the first resource and the second resource are partially the same. For example, the first resource includes frequency domain resource #1 on symbols #0 and #1, and the second resource includes frequency domain resource #2 on symbols #0 and #1. Another example is that the first resource includes frequency domain resource #1 on symbols #0 and #1, and the second resource includes frequency domain resource #1 on symbol #2 and frequency domain resource #2 on symbols #0 to #2, that is, the frequency domain resources of the first resource and the second resource partially overlap.

[0218] Exemplarily, the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the second resource may be exactly the same. For example, the first resource includes frequency-domain resources #1 and #2 on symbol #0, and the second resource includes frequency-domain resources #1 and #2 on symbol #1. As another example, the first resource includes frequency-domain resource #1 on symbol #0 and frequency-domain resource #2 on symbol #1, and the second resource includes frequency-domain resource #2 on symbol #0 and frequency-domain resource #1 on symbol #1.

[0219] Optionally, the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the second resource may occupy all or part of the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource (i.e., the frequency-domain resources occupied by N1 first reference signals). For example, the fourth resource occupies frequency-domain resource #1. The first resource may occupy frequency-domain resource #2 within frequency-domain resource #1, and the second resource may occupy all other frequency-domain resources #3 within frequency-domain resource #1 except frequency-domain resource #2; or, the first resource may occupy frequency-domain resource #2 within frequency-domain resource #1, and the second resource may occupy frequency-domain resource #3 within frequency-domain resource #1. At this time, frequency-domain resource #1 also includes frequency-domain resource #4. Optionally, the frequency-domain resources of the first resource and the second resource may also be completely different from the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource, and the present application does not limit this.

[0220] Optionally, the time-domain resources of the first resource and the second resource may occupy all or part of the time-domain resources of the fourth resource. For example, the fourth resource occupies 4 OFDM symbols (such as symbol 0 to symbol 3). The first resource may occupy symbol 0 and symbol 2, and the second resource may occupy symbol 1 and symbol 3; or, both the first resource and the second resource occupy symbol 0 to symbol 3; or, the first resource may occupy symbol 0 and symbol 1, and the second resource may occupy symbol 2 and symbol 3; or, the first resource may occupy symbol 0 and symbol 1, and the second resource may occupy symbol 1 to symbol 3. Optionally, the time-domain resources of the first resource and the second resource may also be completely different from the time-domain resources of the fourth resource, and the present application does not limit this.

[0221] In one implementation, the first synchronization signal occupies the third resource, and N1 first reference signals occupy the fourth resource. The frequency-domain resources of the third resource and the fourth resource do not overlap at all.

[0222] It should be understood that the fact that the frequency-domain resources of the third resource and the fourth resource do not overlap at all means that the frequency-domain resources of the third resource and the fourth resource are completely different.

[0223] Exemplarily, assume that the N1 first reference signals include N3 first reference signals and N4 first reference signals. Then the fourth resource includes the first resource and the second resource. Both N3 and N4 are positive integers, and N3 + N4 ≤ N1.

[0224] In another implementation, the first synchronization signal occupies the third resource, and N1 first reference signals occupy the fourth resource. The frequency-domain resources of the third resource and the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource may be exactly the same or partially overlapping. This application does not make any limitation in this regard.

[0225] Exemplarily, the time-domain resources of the fourth resource occupy Q OFDM symbols, where Q is one of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8.

[0226] Optionally, M1 = Q, that is, the number of the second beams is the same as the number of OFDM symbols occupied by the first reference signals. Or, M1 second beams correspond one-to-one to the OFDM symbols occupied by the first reference signals. Or, each second beam occupies one OFDM symbol, and each first reference signal occupies one OFDM symbol.

[0227] Optionally, M1 > Q, that is, the number of the second beams is greater than the number of OFDM symbols occupied by the first reference signals, or M1 < Q, that is, the number of the second beams is less than the number of OFDM symbols occupied by the first reference signals. This application does not make any limitation in this regard.

[0228] In one implementation, the first synchronization signal occupies the third resource, and N1 first reference signals occupy the fourth resource. Among them, the time-domain resources of the fourth resource are located after the time-domain resource unit of the third resource; or, the time-domain resources of the fourth resource are the same as the time-domain resources of the third resource; or, the time-domain resources of the third resource are included in the time-domain resources of the fourth resource; or, the time-domain resources of the fourth resource are included in the time-domain resources of the third resource; or, the start position of the first time unit occupied by the first synchronization signal set and the start position of the second time unit occupied by the first reference signal set are separated by 5 ms. The first synchronization signal is included in the first synchronization signal set, and the first reference signal is included in the first reference signal set; or, the first synchronization signal set occupies the third time unit, the first reference signal set occupies the fourth time unit, the first synchronization signal is included in the first synchronization signal set, the first reference signal is included in the first reference signal set, and both the third time unit and the fourth time unit are 5 ms.

[0229] Next, in combination with Figures 6 to 9 the position relationship between the time-frequency resources of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal will be described.

[0230] It should be noted that Figure 6 and Figure 7 the first synchronization signal block in Figure 8 and Figure 9The first synchronization signal is associated with the first reference signal. The first synchronization signal and the first reference signal are located on different time-frequency resources. The structure and components of the first synchronization signal here can refer to Figure 2 for the relevant description. In this application, by adding a first reference signal to the existing SSB structure or associating a first reference signal with the existing SS, beam selection on the network device side and / or beam selection on the terminal device side are assisted to improve random access performance and communication efficiency.

[0231] Figure 6 FIG. is a schematic diagram of the structure of the time-frequency resources between the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal provided by an embodiment of this application. Among them, the abscissa represents the time-domain resources, for example, in terms of OFDM symbols as the granularity, and the ordinate represents the frequency-domain resources, for example, in terms of RE or RB as the granularity. As Figure 6 shown, the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal occupy different time-domain resources in the time domain and the same frequency-domain resources in the frequency domain. Among them, the first synchronization signal occupies symbols 0, 1, 2, and 3 in the time domain, a total of 4 symbols, and occupies 20 RBs in the frequency domain. The first reference signal is located after the first synchronization signal in the time domain, occupies symbols 4, 5, 6, and 7, a total of 4 symbols, and occupies 20 RBs in the frequency domain.

[0232] As Figure 6 shown in (a) of FIG., the first reference signal includes 4 types of reference signals, such as S1, S2, S3, and S4. Among them, S1, S2, S3, and S4 respectively occupy different frequency-domain resources and do not overlap with each other, and S1, S2, S3, and S4 occupy all the frequency-domain resources where the first synchronization signal is located. Optionally, the frequency-domain resources occupied by S1, S2, S3, and S4 can be equally spaced or unequally spaced. This application does not make a limitation on this. In addition, S1, S2, S3, and S4 can occupy the same symbol (such as symbol 4, 5, 6, or 7) through frequency division, and S1, S2, S3, and S4 can be repeatedly transmitted on symbol 4, 5, 6, or 7.

[0233] As Figure 6 shown in (b) of FIG., the first reference signal includes 2 types of reference signals, such as S1 and S2. Among them, S1 and S2 respectively occupy different frequency-domain resources and do not overlap with each other, and S1 and S2 occupy all the frequency-domain resources where the first synchronization signal is located. Optionally, the frequency-domain resources occupied by S1 and S2 can be equally spaced or unequally spaced. In addition, S1 and S2 can occupy the same symbol (such as symbol 4, 5, 6, or 7) through frequency division, and S1 and S2 can be repeatedly transmitted on symbol 4, 5, 6, or 7.

[0234] As Figure 6As shown in (c), the first reference signal includes four types of reference signals, such as S1, S2, S3, and S4. Among them, S1, S2, S3, and S4 occupy the same time-frequency resources. For example, S1, S2, S3, and S4 all occupy all the frequency-domain resources of the first synchronization signal, and S1, S2, S3, and S4 all occupy symbol 4, symbol 5, symbol 6, and symbol 7. That is to say, S1, S2, S3, and S4 are cyclically shifted and distributed on the same frequency-domain resources. Optionally, the frequency-domain resources occupied by S1, S2, S3, and S4 can be equally spaced or unequally spaced. In addition, S1, S2, S3, and S4 can occupy the same symbol (such as symbol 4, symbol 5, symbol 6, or symbol 7) through frequency division, and S1, S2, S3, and S4 can be repeatedly transmitted on symbol 4, symbol 5, symbol 6, or symbol 7. This implementation method can measure the signal quality of the used beam in the entire frequency-domain resources; the signal quality of the used beam of all symbols can be measured.

[0235] It should be noted that the time-frequency resources occupied by S1, S2, S3, and S4 given above are only examples for easy understanding. Optionally, the present application does not specifically limit the positions of the time-frequency resources occupied by S1, S2, S3, and S4. For example, Figure 6 the S1, S2, S3, and S4 shown above can occupy different symbols and / or bandwidths, as long as it is ensured that one or more of S1, S2, S3, and S4 occupy symbol 4, symbol 5, symbol 6, and symbol 7, and one or more of S1, S2, S3, and S4 occupy part or all of the frequency-domain resources where the first synchronization signal is located.

[0236] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the time-frequency resources between the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal provided by an embodiment of the present application. Among them, the abscissa represents the time-domain resources, for example, with OFDM symbols as the granularity, and the ordinate represents the frequency-domain resources, for example, with RE or RB as the granularity. As Figure 7 shown, the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal occupy the same time-domain resources in the time domain and different frequency-domain resources in the frequency domain. Among them, the first synchronization signal simultaneously occupies symbol 0, symbol 1, symbol 2, and symbol 3 in the time domain, a total of 4 symbols, and occupies 20 RBs in the frequency domain.

[0237] As Figure 7As shown in (a), the first reference signal occupies symbols 0, 1, 2, and 3 simultaneously in the time domain, a total of 4 symbols, and occupies 20 RBs with different frequency-domain resources from the first synchronization signal in the frequency domain. The first reference signal includes 2 types of reference signals, such as S1 and S2. Among them, S1 and S2 respectively occupy different and non-overlapping frequency-domain resources, and S1 and S2 occupy all the frequency-domain resources where the first synchronization signal is located. Optionally, the frequency-domain resources occupied by S1 and S2 can be equally spaced or unequally spaced. In addition, S1 and S2 can occupy the same symbol (such as symbol 0, 1, 2, or 3) through frequency division, and S1 and S2 can be repeatedly transmitted on symbols 0, 1, 2, or 3.

[0238] As shown in Figure 7 (b), the first reference signal occupies symbols 2 and 3 simultaneously in the time domain, a total of 2 symbols, and occupies 10 RBs with different frequency-domain resources from the first synchronization signal in the frequency domain. The first reference signal includes 2 types of reference signals, such as S1 and S2. Among them, S1 and S2 respectively occupy different and non-overlapping frequency-domain resources, and S1 and S2 occupy a part of the frequency-domain resources where the first synchronization signal is located. Optionally, the frequency-domain resources occupied by S1 and S2 can be equally spaced or unequally spaced. In addition, S1 and S2 can occupy the same symbol (such as symbol 2 or 3) through frequency division, and S1 and S2 can be repeatedly transmitted on symbols 2 and 3.

[0239] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the time-frequency resource structure between the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal provided by an embodiment of the present application. Among them, the abscissa represents the time-domain resource, for example, with the OFDM symbol as the granularity, and the ordinate represents the frequency-domain resource, for example, with the RE or RB as the granularity. As shown in Figure 8As shown in the figure, an SSB period (referred to as an SSB burst) can be 20 ms, including 8 SSB signals (for example, one SSB signal is a first synchronization signal, and 8 SSB signals are a first synchronization signal set), with different SSB indexes (index), such as SSB 0 to SSB 7. The SSB signals are located in the first 5 ms of a 10-ms frame. Each SSB uses a different transmission beam but contains the same cell information. The first reference signal set includes 8 first reference signals (i.e., N1 = 8), which are located in the last 5 ms of the 10-ms frame to ensure that the measurement delay is less than 10 ms. Each first reference signal occupies 2 to 4 OFDM symbols. These 8 first reference signals can correspond one by one to the 8 SSB signals. In the time domain, the starting point of the first synchronization signal set is 5 ms different from the starting point of the first reference signal set, and the first synchronization signal set is located after the first reference signal set. In the frequency domain, the frequency-domain resources of the first synchronization signal set are the same as those of the first reference signal set.

[0240] Figure 9 It is a schematic diagram of the time-frequency resource structure between the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal provided by an embodiment of the present application. Among them, the abscissa represents the time-domain resource, for example, with the OFDM symbol as the granularity, and the ordinate represents the frequency-domain resource, for example, with the RE or RB as the granularity. As Figure 9 shown in the figure, an SSB period can be 10 ms, including 8 SSB signals (for example, one SSB signal is a first synchronization signal, and 8 SSB signals are a first synchronization signal set). The SSB signals are located in the first 5 ms of the 10-ms frame. The first reference signal set includes 8 first reference signals (i.e., N1 = 8), which are located in the first 5 ms of the 10-ms frame to ensure that the measurement delay is less than 10 ms. Each first reference signal occupies 2 to 4 OFDM symbols. These 8 first reference signals can correspond one by one to the 8 SSB signals. In the time domain, the starting point of the first synchronization signal set is the same as the starting point of the first reference signal set, or rather, the time-domain resources of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal are the same and occupy the same symbols. In the frequency domain, the frequency-domain resources of the first synchronization signal set are different from those of the first reference signal set, or rather, the frequency-domain resources of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal do not overlap.

[0241] In the first implementation manner, the M1 second beams include the 11th beam and the 12th beam. N3 of the N1 first reference signals correspond to the 11th beam, and the other N4 of the N1 first reference signals except the N3 first reference signals correspond to the 12th beam. Both N3 and N4 are positive integers.

[0242] Among them, N3 first reference signals occupy the first part of the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource, and N4 first reference signals occupy the second part of the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource. Optionally, the first part and the second part are the same; or, the first part and the second part are different. Wherein, the first part and the second part being different can be understood as: the first part and the second part are consecutive, or there is a first frequency interval between the first part and the second part. That is, the first part and the second part may overlap or may not overlap.

[0243] That is to say, multiple second beams are associated with the first reference signal, that is, the second communication device can use the 11th beam and the 12th beam to send the first reference signal. For example, when N3 = N4 = 1, it means that one first reference signal is associated with one second beam.

[0244] Figure 10 It is a schematic structural diagram of the first reference signal and the second beam provided by the embodiments of the present application. Among them, the abscissa represents the time-domain resources, for example, in terms of OFDM symbols, and the ordinate represents the frequency-domain resources, for example, in terms of RE or RB. As Figure 10 shown, the left side represents the resources that occupy 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 127 REs in the frequency domain. The resources on the right side are obtained by intercepting (or truncating), occupying 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 10 RBs in the frequency domain. That is, the second communication device can use the 4 OFDM symbols and 10 RBs on the right side of the figure to send the first reference signal to the first communication device. Specifically, the second communication device can use the second beam #1 (i.e., the 11th beam) to send the first reference signal on resource #1 (for example, occupying 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 5 RBs in the frequency domain), and use the second beam #2 (i.e., the 12th beam) to send the first reference signal on resource #2 (for example, occupying 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 5 RBs in the frequency domain). It can be seen that the frequency-domain resource sizes of resource #1 and resource #2 are the same, and the frequency-domain resource positions do not overlap.

[0245] Figure 11 It is a schematic structural diagram of the first reference signal and the second beam provided by the embodiments of the present application. Among them, the abscissa represents the time-domain resources, for example, in terms of OFDM symbols, and the ordinate represents the frequency-domain resources, for example, in terms of RE or RB. As Figure 11As shown in the figure, it occupies 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 10 or 20 RBs in the frequency domain. That is, the second communication device can use 4 OFDM symbols and 10 RBs in the figure to send the first reference signal to the first communication device. Specifically, the second communication device can send the first reference signal on resource #1 using the second beam #1, and send the first reference signal on resource #2 using the second beam #2. It can be seen that the frequency domain resource sizes of resource #1 and resource #2 are the same, and the frequency domain resource positions do not overlap. For example, resource #1 occupies 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 5 RBs in the frequency domain, and resource #2 occupies 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 5 RBs in the frequency domain; for another example, resource #1 occupies 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 10 RBs in the frequency domain, and resource #2 occupies 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 10 RBs in the frequency domain. This application does not make any limitations on this. Different from Figure 10 this, resource #1 and resource #2 in this implementation method are staggeredly distributed, which can also be called comb-shaped distribution. Among them, the REs occupied by the same reference signal are discontinuous and can be equally spaced.

[0246] In the second implementation method, the M1 second beams include the 13th beam and the 14th beam, and the 13th beam and the 14th beam correspond to the N1 first reference signals; the M3 seventh beams include the 15th beam and the 16th beam, and the 15th beam and the 16th beam correspond to the N2 second reference signals. N1, N2, M1, and M2 are all positive integers.

[0247] Among them, the N1 first reference signals occupy the first part of the frequency domain resource of the fourth resource, and the N2 second reference signals occupy the second part of the frequency domain resource of the fourth resource. Optionally, the first part and the second part are the same; or, the first part and the second part are different. When the first part and the second part are different, it can be understood that: the first part and the second part are continuous, or there is a first frequency interval between the first part and the second part. That is, the first part and the second part can overlap or can not overlap.

[0248] That is to say, multiple second beams are associated with the first reference signal, that is, the second communication device can use the 13th beam and the 14th beam to send the first reference signal; multiple seventh beams are associated with the second reference signal, that is, the second communication device can use the 15th beam and the 16th beam to send the second reference signal. For example, when N1 = N2 = 1, it means that one first reference signal is associated with multiple second beams, and one second reference signal is associated with multiple second beams.

[0249] Figure 12It is a schematic structural diagram of a first reference signal, a second reference signal, and a second beam provided by an embodiment of the present application. Among them, the abscissa represents time-domain resources, for example, in units of OFDM symbols, and the ordinate represents frequency-domain resources, for example, in units of RE or RB. As Figure 12 shown, it occupies 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 10 or 20 RBs in the frequency domain. That is, the second communication device can use 4 OFDM symbols and 10 RBs in the figure to send the first reference signal and the second reference signal to the first communication device. Specifically, the second communication device can use the second beam #1 and the second beam #2 (i.e., the 13th beam and the 14th beam) to send the first reference signal on resource #1, and use the second beam #3 and the second beam #4 (i.e., the 15th beam and the 16th beam) to send the second reference signal on resource #2. It can be seen that the frequency-domain resource sizes of resource #1 and resource #2 are the same, and the frequency-domain resource positions do not overlap. For example, resource #1 occupies 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 5 RBs in the frequency domain, and resource #2 occupies 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 5 RBs in the frequency domain; for another example, resource #1 occupies 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 10 RBs in the frequency domain, and resource #2 occupies 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 10 RBs in the frequency domain. That is, each reference signal occupies 10 RBs. The first reference signal or the second reference signal can be a reference signal obtained by truncating an existing PSS signal or SSS signal. For example, the PSS signal or the SSS signal occupies 127 REs (i.e., 10 RBs + 7 REs), and it can be obtained by truncating the first 7 REs or the last 7 REs of the PSS signal or the SSS signal. The present application does not limit this.

[0250] Optionally, the frequency-domain resources occupied by the first reference signal and the second reference signal can be continuous, or the frequency-domain resources occupied by the first reference signal and the second reference signal can be comb-shaped distributed. Among them, the REs occupied by the same reference signal are discontinuous and can be equally spaced. The present application does not limit this.

[0251] S520. The first communication device measures the signal strengths of the first synchronization signal and N1 first reference signals to obtain a first measurement result.

[0252] In this application, the signal strength can be represented by a power measurement value. Among them, the power parameters corresponding to the power measurement value include one or more of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), received signal strength indication (RSSI), or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

[0253] Exemplarily, the first communication device measures the RSRP of the first reference signal to determine the reception quality of the first reference signal. Then, based on the measurement values of the SSS signal and the RSRP of the first reference signal in the first synchronization signal, the first communication device can determine the optimal transmit and receive beams on the network device side and the optimal transmit and receive beams on the terminal device side. Subsequently, the RACH resources (such as RO and preamble) are selected based on the selected optimal transmit and receive beams, and the beam selection result is sent to the second communication device in the RACH resources. Correspondingly, the second communication device can communicate with the first communication device based on the selected optimal beam.

[0254] In the first example, the network device side uses two first beams (abbreviated as SSB beams, such as SSB beam 1 and SSB beam 2) to send the first synchronization signal. Each SSB beam is associated with two second beams (such as reference signal beam 1, reference signal beam 2, reference signal beam 3, and reference signal beam 4). For example, SSB beam 1 is associated with reference signal beam 1 and reference signal beam 2, and SSB beam 2 is associated with reference signal beam 3 and reference signal beam 4. There are two beams on the terminal device side, such as UE beam 1 and UE beam 2 (i.e., the fourth beam is one of UE beam 1 and UE beam 2), that is, the terminal device can receive the SSB using UE beam 1 or UE beam 2. Among them, the preamble set or RO set corresponding to each SSB is divided into three non-overlapping subsets, which respectively correspond to the SSB and two reference signals. For example, if SSB beam 1 is used to send SSB1, then the three non-overlapping subsets correspond to SSB beam 1, reference signal beam 1, and reference signal beam 2 one by one; for another example, if SSB beam 2 is used to send SSB2, then the three non-overlapping subsets correspond to SSB beam 2, reference signal beam 3, and reference signal beam 4 one by one, including the following steps:

[0255] S1: The network device can use two SSB beams (SSB beam 1 and SSB beam 2) to send two SSBs (SSB1 and SSB2) respectively, and use four reference signal beams (reference signal beam 1, reference signal beam 2, reference signal beam 3, and reference signal beam 4) to send reference signals;

[0256] S2: The terminal device can use two beams (UE beam 1 and UE beam 2) to receive two SSBs (SSB1 and SSB2) and the corresponding reference signals respectively. Then, by measuring the beam intensities of SSB1 and SSB2 and their corresponding reference signals, such as RSRP, 2*(2 + 2*2) = 12 measurement results can be obtained. By comparing the measurement results, a suitable beam pair (which can be called the optimal beam pair) is selected from the 12 beam pairs. The optimal beam pair includes the beam on the terminal device side and the beam on the network device side. For example, UE beam 1 and SSB beam 1, or UE beam 2 and reference signal beam 3;

[0257] S3: The terminal device can select the corresponding RACH resource (such as RO and / or preamble) according to the determined beam on the network device side, and send a preamble on the RACH resource to complete random access to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device determines the beam on the network device side selected by the terminal device based on the RACH resource selected by the terminal device, or the time-frequency position where the preamble is sent;

[0258] S4: The network device communicates with the terminal device using the beam on the network device side selected by the terminal device.

[0259] In the second example, the network device side uses two first beams (abbreviated as SSB beams, such as SSB beam 1 and SSB beam 2) to send the first synchronization signal. Each SSB beam is associated with two second beams (such as reference signal beam 1, reference signal beam 2, reference signal beam 3, and reference signal beam 4). For example, SSB beam 1 is associated with reference signal beam 1 and reference signal beam 2, and SSB beam 2 is associated with reference signal beam 3 and reference signal beam 4. There are two beams on the terminal device side, such as UE beam 1 and UE beam 2 (that is, the fourth beam is one of UE beam 1 and UE beam 2), that is, the terminal device can use UE beam 1 or UE beam 2 to receive the SSB. Among them, the preamble set or RO set corresponding to each SSB is divided into 2 non-overlapping subsets, which respectively correspond to two reference signals. For example, if SSB beam 1 is used to send SSB1, the 2 non-overlapping subsets correspond to reference signal beam 1 and reference signal beam 2 one by one; for another example, if SSB beam 2 is used to send SSB2, the 2 non-overlapping subsets correspond to reference signal beam 3 and reference signal beam 4 one by one, including the following steps:

[0260] S1: The network device can use two SSB beams (SSB beam 1 and SSB beam 2) to send two SSBs (SSB1 and SSB2) respectively, and use four reference signal beams (reference signal beam 1, reference signal beam 2, reference signal beam 3, and reference signal beam 4) to send reference signals;

[0261] S2: The terminal device can use two beams (UE beam 1 and UE beam 2) to receive two SSBs (SSB1 and SSB2) and the corresponding reference signals respectively. Then, measure the beam intensities of SSB1 and SSB2, such as RSRP, to obtain 4 measurement results, determine the selected SSB beam, and then measure the reference signal beam intensities of the corresponding SSB to obtain 2*2 = 4 measurement results. Select a suitable beam pair (which can be called the optimal beam pair) from 4 beam pairs by comparing the measurement results. The optimal beam pair includes the beam on the terminal device side and the beam on the network device side, such as UE beam 1 and reference signal beam 1, or UE beam 2 and reference signal beam 3;

[0262] S3: The terminal device can select the corresponding RACH resource (such as RO and / or preamble) according to the determined beam on the network device side, and send a preamble on the RACH resource to complete random access to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device determines the beam on the network device side selected by the terminal device based on the RACH resource selected by the terminal device, or the time-frequency position where the preamble is sent;

[0263] S4: The network device communicates with the terminal device using the beam on the network device side selected by the terminal device.

[0264] S530, the first communication device determines a third beam from the first beam and M1 second beams according to the first measurement result, and / or the first communication device determines a fourth beam from at least one beam used by the first communication device according to the first measurement result.

[0265] Wherein, the third beam is the transceiver beam of the second communication device when communicating with the first communication device, and the fourth beam is the transceiver beam of the first communication device when communicating with the second communication device. The first beam is the transmission beam of the first synchronization signal, and the M1 second beams are the transmission beams of N1 first reference signals, and M1 is a positive integer.

[0266] In other words, the third beam, as a beam on the network device side, can be used to send downlink data to the terminal device side or receive uplink data from the terminal device side. The fourth beam, as a beam on the terminal device side, can be used to send uplink data to the network device side or receive downlink data from the network device side. For ease of description, in this application, the third beam can be referred to as the SSB beam or the beam on the network device side, and the fourth beam can be referred to as the beam on the terminal device side.

[0267] It should be noted that at least one beam used by the first communication device can be predefined or preconfigured, or can be configured by the network device side through signaling. Among them, at least one beam used by the first communication device can be a wide beam or a narrow beam, and this application does not limit this.

[0268] Exemplarily, M1 can be one of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8.

[0269] Exemplarily, M1 can be a multiple of 2, such as one of 2, 4, 6, or 8.

[0270] Next, the implementation method for the first communication device to determine the third beam will be described.

[0271] In the first implementation method, the first communication device determines M2 fifth beams from the first beam and M1 second beams according to the first measurement result, and selects one beam from the M2 fifth beams as the third beam, where the signal strength of the fifth beam is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first threshold is preset, and M2 is a positive integer.

[0272] In other words, the third beam can be one beam selected from the M2 fifth beams, and the M2 fifth beams are one or more beams selected from the first beam and M1 second beams according to the first measurement result.

[0273] It should be noted that when M2 = 1, it means that there is only one fifth beam whose signal strength is greater than the first threshold. At this time, the third beam is equivalent to the fifth beam, that is, the step of selecting one beam from the M2 fifth beams as the third beam can be omitted; when M2 is greater than 1, it means that there are multiple fifth beams whose signal strength is greater than the first threshold, that is, the first communication device can randomly select one beam from the multiple fifth beams as the third beam, and the randomly selected one beam can be the one with the maximum signal strength among the M2 fifth beams, and this application does not limit this.

[0274] Exemplarily, the first threshold satisfies: {-156 dBm to -31 dBm}, that is, the value of the first threshold can be any value from -156 decibels relative to one milliwatt (dBm) to -31 dBm. For example, the protocol predefines the correspondence between the RSRP parameter configuration or index and the first threshold, where the value of the RSRP parameter configuration or index ranges from 0 to 127. For instance, when the value of the RSRP parameter configuration or index is 0, the corresponding value of the first threshold is -156 dBm, and when the value of the RSRP parameter configuration or index is 127, the corresponding value of the first threshold is -31 dBm, and so on.

[0275] It should be noted that the present application does not limit the number of synchronization signal blocks. Optionally, in addition to sending the first synchronization signal block, other synchronization signal blocks can also be sent between the first communication device and the second communication device. That is, the method 500 further includes the following steps S501 - S503 (not shown in the figure).

[0276] S501, the second communication device sends a second synchronization signal block to the first communication device.

[0277] Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the second synchronization signal block from the second communication device.

[0278] Wherein, the second synchronization signal block includes a second synchronization signal, and the second synchronization signal is associated with N2 second reference signals, where N2 is a positive integer.

[0279] Optionally, N2 can be an integer greater than or equal to 1. For example, 1, 2, 3, or 4, etc.

[0280] Optionally, N2 can be a multiple of 2, for example, one of 2, 4, 6, or 8.

[0281] In the present application, the second synchronization signal being associated with N2 second reference signals may include: the second synchronization signal further includes N2 second reference signals. That is to say, the second synchronization signal block may include the second synchronization signal and the second reference signal, or in other words, the second synchronization signal block may be composed of the second synchronization signal and the second reference signal. Among them, the structure of the second synchronization signal block, and the time - frequency resource structure of the second synchronization signal and the second reference signal can refer to the relevant descriptions of the structure of the first synchronization signal block, and the time - frequency resource structure of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal above, which will not be elaborated here.

[0282] S502, the first communication device measures the signal strength of the second synchronization signal and N2 second reference signals to obtain a second measurement result. The specific implementation method can refer to the relevant description of step S520 above.

[0283] S503, the first communication device determines a third beam from a sixth beam and M3 seventh beams according to a second measurement result. Wherein, the sixth beam is the transmission beam of a second synchronization signal, and the M3 seventh beams are the transmission beams of N2 second reference signals, and M3 is a positive integer.

[0284] In a first implementation manner, the first communication device determines M4 eighth beams from the sixth beam and M3 seventh beams according to the second measurement result, and selects one beam from the M4 eighth beams and M2 fifth beams as the third beam. The signal strength of the eighth beam is greater than or equal to a second threshold, the second threshold is preset, and M4 is a positive integer.

[0285] In other words, the third beam may be a beam selected from the M4 eighth beams and M2 fifth beams, where the M4 eighth beams are one or more beams determined from the sixth beam and M3 seventh beams according to the second measurement result.

[0286] It should be noted that when M4 = 1, it means that there is one eighth beam with a signal strength greater than the second threshold, or when M4 > 1, it means that there are multiple eighth beams with a signal strength greater than the second threshold. That is, the first communication device needs to randomly select one beam from the M4 eighth beams and M2 fifth beams as the third beam. The randomly selected beam may be the one with the maximum signal strength among the M2 fifth beams and M4 eighth beams. This application does not make any limitations in this regard.

[0287] Exemplarily, the second threshold satisfies: {-156dBm~-31dBm}, that is, the value of the second threshold can be any value from -156dBm to -31dBm. For example, the protocol predefines the correspondence between the RSRP parameter configuration or index and the second threshold, where the value of the RSRP parameter configuration or index ranges from 0 to 127. For instance, when the value of the RSRP parameter configuration or index is 0, the corresponding value of the second threshold is -156dBm, and when the value of the RSRP parameter configuration or index is 127, the corresponding value of the second threshold is -31dBm, and so on.

[0288] Optionally, the values of the first threshold and the second threshold in the embodiments of this application may be the same.

[0289] It should be understood that the specific implementation manner of the above step S503 can be regarded as a further refinement of the above step S530. That is, when the first communication device receives multiple synchronization signal blocks (such as the first synchronization signal block and the second synchronization signal block) from the second communication device, the first communication device can receive and measure the first synchronization signal block and the second synchronization signal block, and select a beam as the third beam from multiple beams that meet the conditions (for example, the signal strength of the beam is greater than or equal to the first threshold or the second threshold) according to the first measurement result and the second measurement result obtained by the measurement. Or, the first communication device can also first receive and measure the first synchronization signal block, and select a beam as the third beam from one or more beams that meet the conditions (for example, the signal strength of the beam is greater than or equal to the first threshold) according to the first measurement result obtained by the measurement. At this time, the first communication device may not receive and measure the second synchronization signal block.

[0290] In summary, the third beam may be the first beam that sends the first synchronization signal, or the third beam may be one of the second beams in the M1 second beams that send N1 first reference signals, or the third beam may be the sixth beam that sends the second synchronization signal, or the third beam may be one of the seventh beams in the M3 seventh beams that send N2 second reference signals.

[0291] Further, after determining the third beam, the first communication device can use different RACH resources to notify the second communication device to enhance the communication performance between the first communication device and the second communication device.

[0292] In one implementation manner, the first communication device sends indication information to the second communication device. Correspondingly, the second communication device receives the indication information from the first communication device. Wherein, the indication information is used to indicate the third beam. That is, the second communication device can determine the third beam according to the indication information and can use the third beam to perform data communication with the first communication device subsequently, which is beneficial to improving the transmission performance.

[0293] Optionally, the indication information can be carried on the physical random access channel PRACH.

[0294] Exemplarily, if the indication information includes a first preamble, the third beam can be determined according to the first preamble and the first mapping relationship.

[0295] Among them, the first mapping relationship is used to indicate the mapping relationship between multiple beams and multiple preambles. The multiple beams include multiple beams among the first beam, M1 second beams, the sixth beam, or M3 seventh beams. The multiple preambles include multiple preambles among the preamble corresponding to the first beam, the preamble corresponding to each second beam, the preamble corresponding to the sixth beam, or the preamble corresponding to each seventh beam. The first preamble is one of the multiple preambles. Therefore, based on the received first preamble and the first mapping relationship, the second communication device can determine the beam corresponding to the first preamble, that is, the third beam, and then can use the third beam to communicate with the first communication device subsequently.

[0296] Exemplarily, the indication information includes the first RO, and then the third beam can be determined according to the first RO and the second mapping relationship.

[0297] Among them, the second mapping relationship is used to indicate the mapping relationship between multiple beams and multiple ROs. The multiple beams include multiple beams among the first beam, M1 second beams, the sixth beam, or M3 seventh beams. The multiple ROs include multiple ROs among the RO corresponding to the first beam, the RO corresponding to each second beam, the RO corresponding to the sixth beam, or the RO corresponding to each seventh beam. The first RO is one of the multiple ROs. Therefore, based on the received first RO and the second mapping relationship, the second communication device can determine the beam corresponding to the first RO, that is, the third beam, and then can use the third beam to communicate with the first communication device subsequently.

[0298] It should be understood that the above first mapping relationship or second mapping relationship can be predefined or preconfigured, or can be configured by the network device side through signaling. This application does not make any limitations in this regard. Among them, predefined can include predefined in advance, such as defined by a protocol. Preconfiguration can be achieved by pre-saving corresponding codes, tables, or other means that can be used to indicate relevant information in the device. This application does not make any limitations on its specific implementation manner.

[0299] Optionally, the first mapping relationship or the second mapping relationship can exist in the form of a table, a function, text, or a string, such as for storage or transmission.

[0300] Next, the first mapping relationship or the second mapping relationship is exemplified in the form of a table. Among them, the first mapping relationship between multiple beams and multiple preambles is shown in Table 1, and the second mapping relationship between multiple beams and multiple ROs is shown in Table 2.

[0301] Table 1

[0302]

[0303]

[0304] Exemplarily, when the indication information sent by the first communication device carries the preamble #2 (i.e., the first preamble), it indicates that the indication information is used to indicate the second beam #1 (i.e., the third beam). Accordingly, the second communication device can determine the second beam #1 according to Table 1 and the preamble #2, and then subsequently use the second beam #1 to send downlink data to the first communication device and / or receive uplink data from the first communication device using the second beam #1.

[0305] Optionally, one or more rows in the above Table 1 can be separately presented in a table. For example, one or more rows where the first beam and the second beam in Table 1 are located can be independent into a new table, and one or more rows where the sixth beam and the seventh beam in Table 1 are located can be independent into a new table. Optionally, one or more rows where the sixth beam and the seventh beam in Table 1 are located can be omitted, that is, the present application does not limit the number of synchronization signals sent by the second communication device to the first communication device.

[0306] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, the third beam can be a beam selected from one first beam and M1 second beams. Optionally, the third beam can also be a beam selected only from M1 second beams, that is, without considering the first beam that sends the first synchronization signal. In this case, the row where the first beam in the above Table 1 is located can also be omitted, and the present application does not limit this.

[0307] Table 2

[0308] Beam RO First beam RO#1 Second beam #1 RO#2 Second beam #2 RO#3 Sixth beam RO#4 Seventh beam #1 RO#5 Seventh beam #2 RO#6 Seventh beam #3 RO#7

[0309] Exemplarily, when the indication information sent by the first communication device carries RO #5 (i.e., the first RO), it indicates that the indication information is used to indicate the seventh beam #1 (i.e., the third beam). Accordingly, the second communication device can determine the seventh beam #1 according to Table 2 and RO #5, and then subsequently use the seventh beam #1 to send downlink data to the first communication device and / or receive uplink data from the first communication device using the seventh beam #1.

[0310] Optionally, one or more rows in the above Table 2 can be separately presented in a table. For example, one or more rows where the first beam and the second beam in Table 2 are located can be independent into a new table, and one or more rows where the sixth beam and the seventh beam in Table 2 are located can be independent into a new table. Optionally, one or more rows where the sixth beam and the seventh beam in Table 1 are located can be omitted, that is, the present application does not limit the number of synchronization signals sent by the second communication device to the first communication device.

[0311] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, the third beam may be a beam selected from one first beam and M1 second beams. Optionally, the third beam may also be a beam selected only from the M1 second beams, that is, the first beam that transmits the first synchronization signal is not considered. In this case, the row where the first beam is located in Table 1 above may also be omitted. The present application does not make any limitation in this regard.

[0312] It should be noted that the present application does not limit the number of beams, the number of preambles, and the number of ROs in Table 1 and Table 2 above.

[0313] It should be understood that the first mapping relationship between the multiple beams and the multiple preambles shown in Table 1 above and the second mapping relationship between the multiple beams and the multiple ROs shown in Table 2 can be implemented independently or in combination, that is, Table 1 and Table 2 can be combined into one table. The present application does not make any limitation in this regard. For example, for a specific beam, one or more rows in Table 1 and the corresponding one or more rows in Table 2 can be reflected in one table. For example, the first mapping relationship of the first 3 rows in Table 1 and the second mapping relationship of the first 3 rows in Table 2 can be combined into one table, or the first mapping relationship of the last 4 rows in Table 1 and the second mapping relationship of the last 4 rows in Table 2 can be combined into one table, or all rows in Table 1 and all rows in Table 2 can be combined into one table.

[0314] It should also be understood that Table 1 and Table 2 above are only examples given for easy understanding and should not constitute any limitation to the technical solutions of the present application.

[0315] Based on the above solution, by associating the first synchronization signal with the first reference signal, the first communication device can determine the corresponding first reference signal after receiving the first synchronization signal, and by measuring the RSRP measurement values of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal, select the beam with the highest (or relatively high) signal strength as the transceiver beam on the second communication device side (i.e., the third beam). During the msg1 transmission stage in the random access process, by using different preambles or ROs, the measurement results obtained by the first communication device measuring the first beam and the second beam (i.e., indicating the third beam) are transmitted to the second communication device, so that the second communication device can communicate with the terminal device using the third beam, thereby obtaining a higher beam gain in subsequent communications, that is, improving the channel transmission quality. As a result, the random access performance and transmission performance between the first communication device and the second communication device are also improved due to the improvement of the channel quality (for example, the communication performance of msg2, msg3, msg4, and msg5 will be improved). And / or, after receiving the first synchronization signal, the first communication device can determine the corresponding first reference signal, and by measuring the signal strengths of the first synchronization signal and the first reference signal, select the receiving beam used by the first communication device with the highest (or relatively high) signal strength as the transceiver beam on the subsequent first communication device side (i.e., the fourth beam). During the random access process, the preamble can be sent using the fourth beam selected by the first communication device, thereby obtaining a higher beam gain in subsequent communications, that is, improving the channel transmission quality. As a result, the random access performance and transmission performance between the first communication device and the second communication device are also improved due to the improvement of the channel quality.

[0316] As described above in connection with Figures 1 to 12 the embodiments of the communication method of the present application have been described in detail. Next, the embodiments of the communication device of the present application will be described in detail in conjunction with Figure 13 and Figure 14 It should be understood that the description of the device embodiments corresponds to the description of the method embodiments. Therefore, for parts not described in detail, reference can be made to the previous method embodiments.

[0317] Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 13 shown, the communication device 1300 includes a processing module 1310 and a communication module 1320. The communication device 1300 can be the first communication device. The first communication device can be a terminal device, or a communication device applied to a terminal device or used in combination with a terminal device and capable of implementing the method executed by the terminal device, such as a chip, a chip system, or a circuit, etc.; or, the communication device 1300 can also be the second communication device. The second communication device can be a network device, or a communication device applied to a network device or used in combination with a network device and capable of implementing the method executed by the network device, such as a chip, a chip system, or a circuit, a DU, or a CU, etc.

[0318] Among them, the communication module 1320 can also be referred to as a transceiver module, transceiver, transceiver unit, or transceiver device, etc. The processing module 1310 can also be referred to as a processor, processing board, processing unit, or processing device, etc. Optionally, the communication module 1320 is used to perform the sending operation and receiving operation of the first communication device or the second communication device in the above method. The device in the communication module 1320 for implementing the receiving function can be regarded as a receiving unit, and the device in the communication module 1320 for implementing the sending function can be regarded as a sending unit, that is, the communication module 1320 includes a receiving unit and / or a sending unit. Optionally, the processing module 1310 is used to implement the processing function of the first communication device or the second communication device in the above method.

[0319] In addition, it should be noted that the foregoing communication module and / or processing module can be implemented by a virtual module. For example, the processing module can be implemented by a software functional unit or a virtual device, and the communication module can be implemented by a software function or a virtual device. Or, the processing module or the communication module can also be implemented by a physical device. For example, if the device is implemented by a chip / circuit (such as an integrated circuit or a logic circuit, etc.). The communication module can be an input / output circuit and / or a communication interface, and performs an input operation (corresponding to the foregoing receiving operation) and an output operation (corresponding to the foregoing sending operation); the processing module is an integrated processor or microprocessor or circuit (such as an integrated circuit or a logic circuit, etc.).

[0320] The division of modules in this application is illustrative, only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. In addition, in each example of this application, each functional module can be integrated in a processor, can also exist physically alone, or two or more modules can be integrated in one module. The above integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional module.

[0321] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 14 shown, optionally, the communication device 1400 can be the foregoing first communication device or second communication device, or a chip or chip system or circuit for the foregoing first communication device or second communication device. Optionally, in this application, the chip system can be composed of chips, or can include chips and other discrete devices. Among them, the first communication device can be a terminal device, and the second communication device can be a network device, etc.

[0322] The communication device 1400 can be used to implement the functions of any device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the communication system described in the foregoing examples. The communication device 1400 may include at least one processing circuit 1410. Optionally, the processing circuit 1410 is coupled to a memory, which may be located within the device, or the memory may be integrated with the processor, or the memory may be located outside the device. For example, the communication device 1400 may further include at least one memory 1420. The memory 1420 stores the necessary computer programs, computer programs or instructions and / or data in any of the above examples; the processing circuit 1410 may execute the computer programs stored in the memory 1420 to complete the methods in any of the above examples.

[0323] The communication device 1400 may further include a transceiver circuit 1430, and the communication device 1400 can interact with other devices through the transceiver circuit 1430. Exemplarily, the transceiver circuit 1430 may be a transceiver, a circuit, a bus, a module, a pin, or other types of communication interfaces. When the communication device 1400 is a chip-like device or circuit, the transceiver circuit 1430 in the device 1400 may also be an input / output circuit, or an interface circuit, which can input information (or, receive information) and output information (or, transmit information). When the communication device 1400 is a network device or a terminal device, the transceiver circuit 1430 may be a transmitter, a receiver, or a transceiver, or a communication interface, which is not limited herein.

[0324] Among them, the processing circuit 1410 may be one or more processors, or all or part of the processing circuits in one or more processors. The processing circuit 1410 is an integrated processor, a microprocessor, an integrated circuit, or a logic circuit, etc., and the processor can determine the output information according to the input information.

[0325] The coupling in this application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units, or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical, or other forms, and is used for information interaction between devices, units, or modules. The processing circuit 1410 may cooperate with the memory 1420 and the transceiver circuit 1430. The specific connection medium between the processing circuit 1410, the memory 1420, and the transceiver circuit 1430 is not limited in this application.

[0326] Optionally, as Figure 14 shown, the processing circuit 1410, the memory 1420, and the transceiver circuit 1430 are interconnected through a bus 1440. Optionally, the bus may include types of buses such as an address bus, a data bus, and a control bus. In addition, for the convenience of representation, Figure 14 only one bus 1440 is shown in, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0327] It should be understood that the processor mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be the following device or a part of the circuit for processing functions in the following devices: a central processing unit (CPU), and may also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may also be any conventional processor, etc.

[0328] It should also be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory and / or a non-volatile memory. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM). For example, the RAM may be used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, the RAM includes the following various forms: static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchlink dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus random access memory (DR RAM).

[0329] It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) may be integrated in the processor.

[0330] It should also be noted that the memories described herein are intended to include, but are not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memories.

[0331] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which computer instructions for implementing the methods performed by the first communication device or the second communication device in the above embodiments are stored.

[0332] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, which includes: computer program code or instructions, and when the computer program code or instructions are executed by a computer, the methods performed by the first communication device or the second communication device in the above embodiments are implemented.

[0333] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes the first communication device or the second communication device in the above embodiments.

[0334] For the explanations and beneficial effects of the relevant content in any of the above-provided devices, reference may be made to the corresponding method embodiments provided above, and details will not be elaborated here.

[0335] For the convenience of understanding the above embodiments provided by the present application, the following explanations are made:

[0336] 1) In the present application, if there is no special description and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be cross-referenced, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their internal logical relationships.

[0337] 2) In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the text description of the present application, the character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the front and back associated objects. "At least one (item)" or its similar expression refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item (item) or plural items (items). For example, at least one (item) of a, b, and c can represent: a, or, b, or, c, or, a and b, or, a and c, or, b and c, or, a, b, and c. Where a, b, and c can be single or multiple respectively.

[0338] 3) In this application, "first", "second", and various numerical numbers (such as #1, #2, etc.) are used for distinction for convenience of description, and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. For example, to distinguish different messages, etc., rather than for describing a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the objects described in this way can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances so as to be able to describe solutions other than the embodiments of this application.

[0339] 4) In this application, descriptions such as "when...", "in the case of...", and "if" all refer to the device making corresponding processing under a certain objective circumstance, not to limit time, and do not require the device to have a judgment action when implemented, nor does it mean there are other limitations.

[0340] 5) In this application, "indicate" or "used to indicate" may include direct indication and indirect indication. When describing that a certain indication information is used to indicate A, it may include that the indication information directly indicates A or indirectly indicates A, and does not mean that A must be carried in the indication information.

[0341] The indication methods involved in the embodiments of this application should be understood to cover various methods that can enable the party to be indicated to obtain the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can be sent as a whole, or can be divided into multiple sub-information and sent separately, and the sending periods and / or sending timings of these sub-information can be the same or different. This application does not limit, for example, the sending method.

[0342] The "indication information" in the embodiments of this application can be explicit indication, that is, directly indicated by signaling, or obtained according to the parameters indicated by signaling, in combination with other rules or other parameters or through derivation. It can also be implicit indication, that is, obtained according to rules or relationships, or other parameters, or through derivation. This application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0343] 6) In this application, "protocol" may refer to standard protocols in the communication field. For example, it may include 5G protocols, NR protocols, and related protocols applied to future communication systems. This application does not make limitations on this. "Predefined" may include predefined. For example, protocol definition. "Preconfigured" can be implemented by pre-saving corresponding codes, tables, or other ways that can be used to indicate relevant information in the device. This application does not limit its implementation method, for example.

[0344] 7) In this application, "communication" can also be described as "data transmission", "information transmission", "data processing", etc. "Transmission" includes "sending" and "receiving".

[0345] 8) In this application, "sending information to XX (device)" can be understood as the destination of the information being this device. It may include directly or indirectly sending information to this device. "Receiving information from XX (device), or receiving information originating from XX (device)" can be understood as the source of the information being this device, and may include directly or indirectly receiving information from this device. Necessary processing may be performed on the information between the source and the destination of the information transmission, such as format conversion, etc., but the destination can be understood to receive valid information from the source.

[0346] In various embodiments of this application, the magnitudes of the serial numbers of the above processes do not imply the order of execution. The order of execution of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not impose any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0347] In this application, on the premise of no logical contradiction, the examples can refer to each other. For example, the methods and / or terms between method embodiments can refer to each other, the functions and / or terms between device embodiments can refer to each other, and the functions and / or terms between device examples and method examples can refer to each other.

[0348] It should be understood that in some of the above embodiments, devices in the existing network architecture are mainly used as examples for illustrative purposes, and the specific forms of the devices are not limited in the embodiments of this application. For example, devices that can achieve the same functions in the future are applicable to the embodiments of this application.

[0349] Those of ordinary skill in the art can realize that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are executed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. A professional technician can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of this application.

[0350] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and conciseness of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be described herein again.

[0351] In several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the displayed or discussed couplings or direct couplings or communication connections to each other can be through some interfaces. The indirect couplings or communication connections of the devices or units can be in electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0352] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated. The components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they can be located in one place or distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0353] In addition, in each embodiment of this application, the functional units can be integrated in a processing unit, or each unit can exist physically alone, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit.

[0354] If the function is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or a part of this technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in each embodiment of this application. The foregoing storage medium includes: various media such as USB flash drives, mobile hard disks, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical discs that can store program codes.

[0355] The above is only the specific implementation manner of this application, but the protection scope of this application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application can easily think of changes or substitutions, which should all be covered within the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of this application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, Including: Receiving a first synchronization signal block, where the first synchronization signal block includes a first synchronization signal, and the first synchronization signal is associated with N1 first reference signals, and N1 is a positive integer; Measuring signal strengths of the first synchronization signal and the N1 first reference signals to obtain a first measurement result; Determining a third beam from a first beam and M1 second beams according to the first measurement result, where the third beam is a transceiver beam of a second communication device when communicating with a first communication device, the first beam is a transmission beam of the first synchronization signal, the M1 second beams are transmission beams of the N1 first reference signals, and M1 is a positive integer; And / or Determining a fourth beam from at least one beam used by the first communication device according to the first measurement result, where the fourth beam is a transceiver beam of the first communication device when communicating with the second communication device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first synchronization signal being associated with N1 first reference signals includes: the first synchronization signal block further includes the N1 first reference signals.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The determining the third beam from the first beam and M1 second beams according to the first measurement result includes: Determining M2 fifth beams from the first beam and the M1 second beams according to the first measurement result, and selecting one beam from the M2 fifth beams as the third beam, where a signal strength of the fifth beam is greater than or equal to a first threshold, the first threshold is preset, and M2 is a positive integer.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receiving a second synchronization signal block, where the second synchronization signal block includes a second synchronization signal, and the second synchronization signal is associated with N2 second reference signals, and N2 is a positive integer; Measuring signal strengths of the second synchronization signal and the N2 second reference signals to obtain a second measurement result; Determining the third beam from a sixth beam and M3 seventh beams according to the second measurement result, where the sixth beam is a transmission beam of the second synchronization signal, the M3 seventh beams are transmission beams of the N2 second reference signals, and M3 is a positive integer.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The second synchronization signal being associated with N2 second reference signals includes: the second synchronization signal block further includes the N2 second reference signals.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that, The determining the third beam from the sixth beam and M3 seventh beams according to the second measurement result includes: Determining M4 eighth beams from the sixth beam and the M3 seventh beams according to the second measurement result, and selecting one beam from the M4 eighth beams and the M2 fifth beams as the third beam, where a signal strength of the eighth beam is greater than or equal to a second threshold, the second threshold is preset, and M4 is a positive integer.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that, The third beam is the first beam, or the third beam is one of the M1 second beams, or the third beam is the sixth beam, or the third beam is one of the M3 seventh beams.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The method further includes: Sending indication information to the second communication device, where the indication information indicates the third beam.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The indication information includes a first preamble, and the third beam is determined according to the first preamble and a first mapping relationship; Wherein, the first mapping relationship is used to indicate the mapping relationship between a plurality of beams and a plurality of preambles. The plurality of beams includes multiple beams among the first beam, the M1 second beams, the sixth beam, or the M3 seventh beams. The plurality of preambles includes multiple preambles among the preamble corresponding to the first beam, the preamble corresponding to each second beam, the preamble corresponding to the sixth beam, or the preamble corresponding to each seventh beam. The first preamble is one of the plurality of preambles.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that, The indication information includes a first random access channel opportunity RO, and the third beam is determined according to the first RO and a second mapping relationship; Wherein, the second mapping relationship is used to indicate the mapping relationship between a plurality of beams and a plurality of ROs. The plurality of beams includes multiple beams among the first beam, the M1 second beams, the sixth beam, or the M3 seventh beams. The plurality of ROs includes multiple ROs among the RO corresponding to the first beam, the RO corresponding to each second beam, the RO corresponding to the sixth beam, or the RO corresponding to each seventh beam. The first RO is one of the plurality of ROs.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that, The first beam is different from at least one of the M1 second beams.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that, One or more of the N1 first reference signals correspond to one of the M1 second beams.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that, The M1 second beams include a ninth beam and a tenth beam. The ninth beam is used to transmit N3 of the N1 first reference signals, and the tenth beam is used to transmit the other N4 of the N1 first reference signals except the N3 first reference signals. The N3 first reference signals occupy a first resource, and the N4 first reference signals occupy a second resource. The first resource or the second resource includes at least one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol. Both N3 and N4 are positive integers.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein, The frequency domain resources of the first resource and the frequency domain resources of the second resource are not completely the same.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein, The first synchronization signal occupies a third resource, and the N1 first reference signals occupy a fourth resource. The frequency domain resources of the third resource and the frequency domain resources of the fourth resource do not overlap at all.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein, The time domain resources of the fourth resource are after the time domain resource unit of the third resource; or, The time domain resources of the fourth resource are the same as the time domain resources of the third resource; or, The time domain resources of the third resource are included in the time domain resources of the fourth resource; or, The time domain resources of the fourth resource are included in the time domain resources of the third resource; or, There is a 5 ms interval between the start position of the first time unit occupied by the first synchronization signal set and the start position of the second time unit occupied by the first reference signal set. The first synchronization signal is included in the first synchronization signal set, and the first reference signal is included in the first reference signal set; or, The first set of synchronization signals occupies the third time unit, and the first set of reference signals occupies the fourth time unit. The first synchronization signal is included in the first set of synchronization signals, and the first reference signal is included in the first set of reference signals. Both the third time unit and the fourth time unit are 5 ms.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein, The M1 second beams include the 11th beam and the 12th beam. N3 of the N1 first reference signals correspond to the 11th beam, and the other N4 of the N1 first reference signals (excluding the N3 first reference signals) correspond to the 12th beam. Both N3 and N4 are positive integers.

18. The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein, The M1 second beams include the 13th beam and the 14th beam. The 13th beam and the 14th beam correspond to the N1 first reference signals. The M3 seventh beams include the 15th beam and the 16th beam. The 15th beam and the 16th beam correspond to the N2 second reference signals. Among them, the N1 first reference signals occupy the first part of the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource, and the N2 second reference signals occupy the second part of the frequency-domain resources of the fourth resource.

19. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 18, wherein, The N1 first reference signals or the N2 second reference signals are used to carry the first sequence. The first sequence includes any one of the following: ZC sequence, m sequence, or gold sequence. Among them, the length of the first sequence is any one of the following: 240, 120, 60, 40, or 30 resource elements (RE).

20. A communication method, wherein, Including: Transmit a first synchronization signal block. The first synchronization signal block includes a first synchronization signal. The first synchronization signal is associated with N1 first reference signals. The first synchronization signal and the N1 first reference signals are used to determine a first measurement result. N1 is a positive integer. The first measurement result is used to determine a third beam from a first beam and M1 second beams. The third beam is the transceiver beam of the second communication device when communicating with the first communication device. The first beam is the transmission beam of the first synchronization signal, and the M1 second beams are the transmission beams of the N1 first reference signals. M1 is a positive integer. And / or The first measurement result is used to determine a fourth beam from at least one beam used by the first communication device. The fourth beam is the transceiver beam of the first communication device when communicating with the second communication device.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein, The first synchronization signal is associated with N1 first reference signals, including: The first synchronization signal block further includes the N1 first reference signals.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein, The third beam is the first beam, or the third beam is one of the M1 second beams.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, wherein, The method further includes: Receive indication information from the first communication device. The indication information indicates the third beam.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein, The indication information includes a first preamble. The third beam is determined according to the first preamble and a first mapping relationship. Among them, the first mapping relationship is used to indicate the mapping relationship between multiple beams and multiple preambles. The multiple beams include multiple beams among the first beam and the M1 second beams, and the multiple preambles include multiple preambles among the preamble corresponding to the first beam and the preambles corresponding to each of the second beams. The first preamble is one of the multiple preambles.

25. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 24, wherein, The first beam is different from at least one of the M1 second beams.

26. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 25, characterized in that, One or more of the N1 first reference signals correspond to one of the M1 second beams.

27. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device is a first communication device, which is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1-19.

28. The communication device according to claim 27, characterized in that, The first communication device includes any one of the following: a terminal device or a chip.

29. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device is a second communication device, which is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 20-25.

30. The communication device according to claim 28, characterized in that, The second communication device includes any one of the following: a network device, a chip, a central unit CU, or a distributed unit DU.