Communication method, communication device, medium, and program product

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a communication method, a communication device, a storage medium and a program product. In the communication method, a terminal device sends first indication information used for indicating at least one first bandwidth part (BWP) to a network device, the at least one first BWP is a dedicated BWP, and when the first indication information is sent, the at least one first BWP is in an activated state. In this way, the terminal equipment can feed back the information of the currently activated BWP to the network equipment, so that the network equipment and the terminal equipment have consistent understanding on the currently activated BWP, thereby ensuring a high data transmission rate.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to the field of communications, and more particularly to a method for indicating a bandwidth part, a communication device, a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer program product. Background Art

[0002] In the new radio access technology (NR) of the fifth-generation (5G) communication system, terminal devices with different bandwidth reception capabilities are supported. To support terminal devices with different bandwidth reception capabilities and make full use of bandwidth resources, a single-carrier bandwidth can be divided into several bandwidth parts (BWPs). The network device can configure multiple BWPs for the terminal device and indicate to the terminal device to activate one BWP on a carrier. In other words, the terminal device can be configured with multiple BWPs simultaneously, but at the same moment, only one BWP can be activated on a carrier. If the terminal device is configured with multiple carriers, then one activated BWP can exist on each carrier. The network device can notify the terminal device to change the activated BWP in the current cell through a BWP switching command. After receiving the BWP switching command, the terminal device switches the activated BWP to the new activated BWP. In addition, to meet the growing wireless communication requirements, the wireless communication system may support simultaneously activating / deactivating multiple BWPs within a single carrier so as to be able to flexibly utilize a large bandwidth for data transmission. However, there are still some problems to be solved in terms of the communication process based on BWPs. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method, a communication device, a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer program product, and in particular provide a technical solution for indicating a bandwidth part.

[0004] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a communication method is provided. This method can be applicable to a communication device (for example, a terminal device). The method includes: sending first indication information for indicating at least one first bandwidth part (BWP) to a network device, where the at least one first BWP is a dedicated BWP. When sending the first indication information, the at least one first BWP is in an active state. In this way, the terminal device can feedback information about the BWP that is currently being activated to the network device, so that the network device and the terminal device have a consistent understanding of the BWP that is currently being activated, thereby ensuring a high data transmission rate.

[0005] In some embodiments, the method may further include: receiving second indication information and determining at least one first BWP based on the second indication information. Sending the first indication information may include: in response to determining at least one first BWP based on the second indication information, sending the first indication information. Thus, in the case where the terminal device detects an incorrect BWP, the indication information of the incorrect BWP can be reported to the network side, so that the network side can know the BWP actually detected by the terminal device, thereby ensuring that the network device and the terminal device have a consistent understanding of the currently activated BWP.

[0006] In some embodiments, sending the first indication information may include: in response to the timer satisfying the stop timing condition, sending the first indication information. Thus, in the case where the terminal device does not detect the indication information sent by the network device, it can be ensured that the network device and the terminal device have a consistent understanding of the currently activated BWP.

[0007] In some embodiments, the method may further include: resetting the timer in response to sending the first indication information. Thus, a high data transmission rate can be ensured with relatively low radio resource consumption.

[0008] In some embodiments, the method may further include at least one of the following: starting a timer according to third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate the connection state; or starting or resetting the timer in response to receiving the second indication information, where at least one first BWP is determined based on the second indication information. Thus, a high data transmission rate can be ensured with relatively low radio resource consumption after entering the connected state.

[0009] In some embodiments, the method may further include: receiving fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information includes configuration parameters related to the timer. Thus, the timer can be configured to ensure timely reporting of information about the currently activated BWP.

[0010] In some embodiments, the method may further include: receiving fifth indication information for indicating the frequency domain resource information of at least one third BWP. The frequency domain resources occupied by at least one first BWP are a subset of the frequency domain resources occupied by at least one third BWP. Thus, available candidate BWPs can be pre-configured for the terminal device, thereby reducing the radio resources consumed when receiving information about the BWP to be activated from the network device and reporting information about the currently activated BWP to the network device.

[0011] In some embodiments, the first indication information may include at least one of the following: the frequency domain resource information of at least one first BWP; or the identification information of at least one first BWP. Thus, it can be ensured that the network device and the terminal device have a consistent understanding of the currently activated BWP.

[0012] In some embodiments, the method may further include: after sending the first indication information, receiving sixth indication information for indicating a subset of the frequency-domain resources occupied by at least one first BWP; and receiving or sending a signal on the subset of the frequency-domain resources occupied by at least one first BWP according to the sixth indication information. Thereby, data can be transmitted with the network device on the BWP being activated after reporting the information of the BWP being activated to the network device. In this way, a large amount of data retransmission can be avoided due to the consistent understanding of the BWP being activated by the terminal device and the network device.

[0013] In some embodiments, the first indication information is sent in a fourth BWP, and the frequency-domain resources occupied by the fourth BWP are related to the frequency-domain resources occupied by a fifth BWP, where the start time of the time-domain symbol for receiving or sending a signal on the fifth BWP is not later than the start time of the time-domain symbol for receiving or sending a signal on at least one first BWP. Thereby, the frequency-domain resources for reporting the BWP activated after handover can be determined based on the BWP activated before handover.

[0014] In some embodiments, the method may further include: receiving seventh indication information for indicating the frequency-domain resources occupied by the fourth BWP, where the first indication information is sent in the fourth BWP. Thereby, the network device can configure the frequency-domain resources for reporting the BWP.

[0015] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a communication method is provided. The method may be applicable to a communication device (for example, a network device). The method includes: receiving first indication information for indicating at least one first bandwidth part (BWP), where at least one first BWP is a dedicated BWP and is in an active state when the first indication information is received; sending sixth indication information for indicating a subset of the frequency-domain resources occupied by at least one first BWP; and sending or receiving a signal on the subset of the frequency-domain resources occupied by at least one first BWP according to the sixth indication information. In this way, the network device can have a consistent understanding with the terminal device about the BWP being activated, and transmit data with the terminal device on the BWP being activated, thereby ensuring a high data transmission rate. In this way, a large amount of data retransmission can be avoided due to the consistent understanding of the BWP being activated by the terminal device and the network device.

[0016] In some embodiments, the method may further include: determining at least one second BWP; and before receiving the first indication information, sending second indication information for indicating at least one second BWP; wherein at least one first BWP is the same as or different from at least one second BWP. Thus, the terminal device can be indicated of the BWP to be activated, and in the case where the terminal device detects an incorrect BWP, the incorrect BWP detected by the terminal device can be received from the terminal device, so as to know the BWP actually detected by the terminal device, ensuring that the network device and the terminal device have a consistent understanding of the BWP currently being activated.

[0017] In some embodiments, the method may further include: sending fifth indication information for indicating at least one third BWP, wherein the frequency domain resources occupied by at least one first BWP are a subset of the frequency domain resources occupied by at least one third BWP. Thus, available candidate BWPs can be pre-configured for the terminal device, thereby reducing the radio resources consumed when receiving information about the BWP to be activated from the network device and reporting information about the BWP currently being activated to the network device.

[0018] In some embodiments, the method may further include: sending fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information includes configuration parameters related to a timer, and the timer is used to trigger the terminal device to send the first indication information. Thus, the timer can be configured to ensure timely reporting of information about the BWP currently being activated.

[0019] In some embodiments, the first indication information includes at least one of the following: frequency domain resource information of at least one first BWP; or identification information of at least one first BWP. Thus, it can be ensured that the network device and the terminal device have a consistent understanding of the BWP currently being activated.

[0020] In some embodiments, the first indication information is received in a fourth BWP, and the frequency domain resources occupied by the fourth BWP are related to the frequency domain resources occupied by a fifth BWP, wherein the start time of the time domain symbol for sending or receiving a signal on the fifth BWP is not later than the start time of the time domain symbol for sending or receiving a signal on at least one first BWP. Thus, the network device can determine the frequency domain resources for receiving BWP reporting information based on the BWP activated before the handover.

[0021] In some embodiments, the method may further include: sending seventh indication information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate the frequency domain resources occupied by the fourth BWP, and the first indication information is sent in the fourth BWP. Thus, the network device can configure the frequency domain resources for reporting the BWP.

[0022] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes a unit or module configured to execute any of the methods according to the first aspect and its implementations, or a unit or module configured to execute any of the methods according to the second aspect and its implementations.

[0023] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes a processor configured to execute any of the methods according to the first aspect and its implementations, or configured to execute any of the methods according to the second aspect and its implementations.

[0024] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. The computer-readable storage medium stores instructions that, when executed by a device, cause the device to execute any of the methods according to the first aspect and its implementations, or cause the device to execute any of the methods according to the second aspect and its implementations.

[0025] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product includes instructions that, when executed by a device, cause the device to execute any of the methods according to the first aspect and its implementations, or cause the device to execute any of the methods according to the second aspect and its implementations.

[0026] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a communication system is provided. The communication system includes a communication device configured to execute any of the methods according to the first aspect and its implementations and a communication device configured to execute any of the methods according to the second aspect and its implementations.

[0027] It should be understood that the content described in this application is not intended to define the key or important features of the present disclosure, nor is it used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become readily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] Figure 1A A schematic diagram of a communication system in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented is shown.

[0029] Figure 1B A schematic diagram showing the frequency-domain positions of the uplink BWP and downlink BWP for communication is shown.

[0030] Figure 2 A schematic interaction signaling diagram illustrating a communication process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0031] Figure 3A and Figure 3B A schematic diagram showing the frequency-domain position of the downlink BWP after handover according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0032] Figure 3C and Figure 3DThe figure illustrates a schematic diagram of the frequency-domain position of a BWP for reporting BWP information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0033] Figure 4A and Figure 4B The figure illustrates an example process of a communication process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0034] Figure 5 The figure shows a schematic flowchart of a method implemented at a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0035] Figure 6 The figure shows a schematic flowchart of a method implemented at a network device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0036] Figure 7 The figure is a schematic diagram of the main components of an example device in a possible implementation manner in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0037] Figure 8 The figure is a simplified block diagram of an example device in a possible implementation manner in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0038] Throughout all the figures, the same or similar reference numerals are used to denote the same or similar components. Detailed Embodiments

[0039] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although some embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Instead, these embodiments are provided to more thoroughly and completely understand the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and embodiments of the present disclosure are for illustrative purposes only and are not used to limit the protection scope of the present disclosure.

[0040] In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "comprising" and its like shall be understood as an open inclusion, i.e., "including but not limited to". The term "based on" shall be understood as "at least partially based on". The term "one embodiment" or "the embodiment" shall be understood as "at least one embodiment". The terms "first", "second", etc. may refer to different or the same objects. There may also be other explicit and implicit definitions hereinafter.

[0041] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented according to any suitable communication protocol, including but not limited to, cellular communication protocols such as the 3rd Generation (3G), 4th Generation (4G), 5th Generation (5G), and future communication protocols (e.g., 6th Generation (6G)), wireless local area network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, and / or any other protocol known currently or developed in the future.

[0042] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure are applied to communication systems that follow any suitable communication protocol, such as: General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000) system, Time Division-Synchronization Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) system, Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, Time Division Duplex (TDD), 5th Generation (5G) system (e.g., New Radio (NR)), and future communication systems (e.g., 6th Generation (6G) system), and so on.

[0043] For illustrative purposes, embodiments of the present disclosure are described below in the context of a 5G communication system in 3GPP. However, it should be understood that the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to this communication system, but can be applied to any communication system with similar problems, such as wireless local area network (WLAN), wired communication system, or other communication systems developed in the future, etc.

[0044] As used in this disclosure, the term "terminal" or "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wired or wireless communication with a network device or with each other. A terminal device is sometimes referred to as a user equipment (UE). The terminal device may be any type of mobile terminal, fixed terminal, or portable terminal. The terminal device may be various wireless communication devices with wireless communication capabilities. With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, more and more devices that did not have communication capabilities before, such as, but not limited to, household appliances, transportation vehicles, tool devices, service devices, and service facilities, have begun to obtain wireless communication capabilities by configuring wireless communication units, so that they can access wireless communication networks and accept remote control. Such devices have wireless communication capabilities due to the configuration of wireless communication units, and thus also belong to the category of wireless communication devices. As an example, the terminal device may include a mobile cellular phone, a cordless phone, a mobile terminal (MT), a mobile station, a mobile device, a wireless terminal, a handheld device, a client, a subscriber station, a portable subscriber station, an Internet node, a communicator, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a personal communication system device, a personal navigation device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless data card, a wireless modem (Modulator demodulator), a positioning device, a radio broadcast receiver, an e-book device, a gaming device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a vehicle-mounted device, an aircraft, a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, a wearable device (such as a smart watch, etc.), a terminal device in a 5G network, or any terminal device in an evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), other devices that can be used for communication, or any combination of the above. Embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto.

[0045] As an example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the "terminal" or "terminal device" may refer to a UE, an access terminal, a terminal unit, a terminal station, a mobile station, a mobile phone, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a terminal agent, or a terminal device, etc. The access terminal may be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network, or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network, etc.

[0046] The term "network node" or "network device" as used in this disclosure is an entity or node that can be used to communicate with a terminal device. For example, it can be an access network device. An access network device can be a device deployed in a radio access network to provide wireless communication functions for a mobile terminal. For example, it can be a radio access network (RAN) network device. The access network device can include various types of base stations. The base station is used to provide wireless access services for the terminal device. Specifically, each base station corresponds to a service coverage area. A terminal device entering this area can communicate with the base station through a wireless signal to receive the wireless access services provided by the base station. There may be an overlap between the service coverage areas of the base stations. A terminal device in the overlapping area can receive wireless signals from multiple base stations, so multiple base stations can provide services for this terminal device simultaneously. According to the size of the provided service coverage area, the access network device can include a macro base station providing a macro cell, a pico base station for providing a pico cell, a femto base station for providing a femto cell, and a femto base station for providing a femto cell. In addition, the access network device can also include various forms of relay stations, access points, radio units (RUs), remote radio units (RRUs), radio heads (RHs), remote radio heads (RRHs), and so on. In systems adopting different radio access technologies, the name of the access network device may be different. For example, in a long-term evolution system network, it is called an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB), in a 3G network, it is called a NodeB (NB), and in a 5G network, it can be called a g NodeB (gNB) or an NR NodeB (NR NB), and so on. In some scenarios, the access network device can include a central unit (CU) and / or a distributed unit (DU). The CU and DU can be placed in different locations. For example, the DU is pulled away and placed in a high-traffic area, and the CU is placed in the central computer room. Or, the CU and DU can also be placed in the same computer room. The CU and DU can also be different components under the same rack. In different systems, the CU (or CU-control plane (CP) and CU-user plane (UP)), DU, or RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings.For example, in an open RAN (O-RAN or 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. For ease of description, in this application, the CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU are used as examples for description. Any one of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented through a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module. For ease of description, in the subsequent embodiments of this disclosure, the devices that provide wireless communication functions for mobile terminals are collectively referred to as network devices, and the embodiments of this disclosure will not be specifically limited anymore.

[0047] As an example, in some embodiments of this disclosure, a "network device" or a "base station device" may refer to a device capable of communicating with a terminal device. The base station device may be a base station, a relay station, or an access point. The base station may be a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, may also be a 3G base station (NodeB, NB) in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), or may also be an eNB or eNodeB (Evolutional NodeB) in an LTE system. The base station device may also be a radio controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario. The base station device may also be a base station device in a future 5G network or a network device in a future evolved Common Land Mobile Network. The base station device may also be a wearable device or a vehicle-mounted device.

[0048] In the NR system, a terminal device can be configured with multiple BWPs simultaneously. However, at any given moment, only one BWP can be active on a single carrier. For example, during downlink data transmission, for a terminal device, at most one downlink BWP can be activated, and each downlink BWP can include at most 275 resource blocks (RBs). In the frequency range 1 (FR1) band, the NR protocol stipulates that the maximum subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz. Therefore, the bandwidth of a BWP can be at most 200 MHz. To meet the growing wireless communication demands, the wireless communication system has introduced more and more new spectrum resources. High frequencies have the natural advantage of large bandwidths and are one of the effective ways to improve communication service capabilities. In the future, the FR1 band will include frequency bands above 6 GHz, namely the U6G band, and there is a continuous large bandwidth of more than 400 MHz within the U6G band. To balance the bandwidth usage flexibility for large-bandwidth signal transmission and ensure high data transmission rates, in the future, it will be possible to flexibly utilize the large bandwidth for data transmission by simultaneously activating / deactivating multiple BWPs within a single carrier.

[0049] During the communication process, it is often necessary to adjust the working bandwidth of the terminal device to adapt to changes in traffic volume. The process of adjusting the working bandwidth is generally referred to as BWP switching, and usually, the network device instructs the terminal device to perform BWP switching. Taking the downlink data transmission process as an example, when the terminal device first accesses the network device, it sends and receives signals on the initial BWP. When the downlink traffic volume of the terminal device increases, it needs to switch to a larger bandwidth to receive data according to the instructions of the network device to improve the downlink data transmission rate and meet the requirements of the terminal device.

[0050] For ease of discussion, some of the terms used in this disclosure are first explained.

[0051] Initial BWP: After the terminal device accesses the network device, it needs to use a part of the dedicated signal bandwidth to receive data sent by the network device. This part of the dedicated bandwidth is called the initial BWP, and the network device informs the terminal device of the frequency-domain position of this part of the bandwidth during the initial access process.

[0052] Acknowledgement / Negative Acknowledgement (ACK / NACK) feedback: When the terminal device receives the signal sent by the network device, it can perform the data demodulation and decoding processes. When the terminal device fails to decode, it can send a NACK message to the network device to notify the network device of the decoding failure. When the terminal device decodes successfully, it can send an ACK message to the network device to notify the network device that the decoding is successful. This process is called the ACK / NACK feedback process.

[0053] Discontinuous transmission (DTX) information: When the terminal device does not know in which frequency domain position the network device has sent data, the terminal device cannot feedback ACK / NACK information. At this time, since the network device does not receive the feedback from the terminal device, it will generate a DTX information at the physical layer to notify the upper layer, indicating that the feedback from the terminal device is an empty message.

[0054] Missed detection of downlink control information (DCI): When the terminal device detects DCI, it may not detect the DCI sent by the network device. This situation is called missed detection of DCI.

[0055] False alarm / mis-detection of DCI: When the terminal device detects DCI, it may detect a wrong DCI. In other words, the content carried by the DCI sent by the network device is inconsistent with the content of the DCI actually detected by the terminal device. This situation is called false alarm / mis-detection of DCI.

[0056] Scheduling information: The network device sends DCI to the terminal device to inform the terminal device of the modulation order, code rate, and the size of the generated transport block that should be used. These information are generally called scheduling information.

[0057] Activated BWP: The terminal device needs to send signals to the network device or receive signals sent by the network device at certain frequency domain positions. The frequency domain positions used by the terminal device to receive or send signals are called activated BWP. In the context of the present disclosure, the terms "activated BWP", "working bandwidth", and "signal bandwidth" can be used interchangeably.

[0058] Dedicated BWP: The BWP used by the terminal device to transmit the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) when it is in the radio resource control (RRC) connected state.

[0059] As described above, the network device can notify the terminal device to activate a BWP in the current cell through a BWP switching command. After receiving the BWP switching command, the terminal device switches the active BWP to the new active BWP. For example, the network device can send a BWP switching command to the terminal device through DCI to indicate the BWP to be switched to. However, if DCI is missed or misdetected, it may cause the terminal device and the network device to have inconsistent understandings of the signal bandwidth of the current BWP. In this case, the network device may send data to the terminal device on the downlink BWP indicated by DCI, while the terminal device detects data on a different downlink BWP due to DCI being missed or misdetected, which may in turn result in a large number of data retransmissions and reduce the downlink throughput rate. On the other hand, the network device may perform DCI retransmission to ensure that the terminal device receives the correct BWP switching command, which may increase the signaling processing delay. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the communication process based on BWP.

[0060] In view of the above analysis and research, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method. In this method, first indication information for indicating at least one first bandwidth part (BWP) is sent to a network device, and the at least one first BWP is a dedicated BWP, where the at least one first BWP is in an active state when the first indication information is sent. In this way, the terminal device can feedback information on the BWP that is currently being activated to the network device, so that the network device and the terminal device have a consistent understanding of the BWP that is currently being activated, thereby ensuring a high data transmission rate.

[0061] The following will further describe the embodiments of the present application in detail with reference to the drawings. The specific operation methods, function descriptions, etc. in the method embodiments can also be applied to the device embodiments or system embodiments.

[0062] Figure 1A FIG. 100 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As Figure 1A shown, the system 100 may include a terminal device 110 and a network device 120. The network device 120 manages the cell 101. It should be understood that the cell here includes but is not limited to the illustrated cell. The network device 120 and the terminal device 110 can communicate with each other. For example, the network device 120 can provide network access services for the terminal device 110. The terminal device 110 may have a wireless transceiver function, and it can communicate with one or more network nodes of one or more communication systems (such as wireless communication) and receive network services provided by the network nodes. The network nodes here include but are not limited to the illustrated network nodes.

[0063] The terminal device 110 can send signals to the network device 120 at the physical layer, and the network device 120 can also send signals to the terminal device 110 at the physical layer. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the transmission link from the network device 120 to the terminal device 110 can be referred to as the downlink (DL), and the transmission link from the terminal device 110 to the network device 120 can be referred to as the uplink (UL). For example, the network device 120 can send wireless signals to the terminal device 110 through the PDSCH. The terminal device 110 can send wireless signals to the network device 120 through the PUSCH.

[0064] It should be understood that Figure 1A The illustrated communication system 100 is only schematic, and the embodiments of the present disclosure can also be applied to other scenarios. For example, the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 can communicate directly or can perform multi-hop transmission via other relays. For example, the terminal device 110 can be in a dual-connection or multi-connection scenario, etc. Additionally, it should be understood that Figure 1A The number of terminal devices and network devices shown is only an example. There can be more or fewer terminal devices and network nodes, and the present disclosure places no restrictions on this.

[0065] In addition, it should be understood that the communication system 100 can be applicable to various scenarios. For example, the communication system 100 can be a 3GPP-related cellular system, such as a 4G or 5G mobile communication system, or an evolved system for the future (such as a 6G mobile communication system). The communication system 100 can also be an O-RAN, a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system. The communication system 100 can also be a communication system that combines two or more of the above systems. In addition, it should also be understood that the above communication can follow any appropriate communication technology and corresponding communication standards.

[0066] Figure 1B The figure shows a schematic diagram of the frequency-domain positions of the uplink BWP and the downlink BWP for communication. The BWP used for the terminal device to send signals to the network device is called the uplink BWP, and the BWP used for the terminal device to receive signals from the network device is called the downlink BWP. The bandwidths of the downlink BWP and the uplink BWP can be different. In addition, the central positions of the downlink BWP and the uplink BWP can be different.

[0067] Figure 2 The figure illustrates a schematic interaction signaling diagram of a communication process 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For the sake of clear description and without any limitation, the process 200 will be described in conjunction with Figure 1A to be described. Figure 2It involves the terminal device 110 and the network device 120.

[0068] As Figure 2 shown, the terminal device 110 sends 202 the first indication information 204 for indicating at least one first bandwidth part (BWP) to the network device 120, and at least one first BWP is a dedicated BWP. When sending the first indication information 204, at least one first BWP is in the active state. A dedicated BWP refers to the BWP used by the terminal device 110 to transmit PDSCH / PUSCH when it is in the radio resource control (RRC) connected state. The BWP being in the active state means that the current BWP is the active BWP and can be used to transmit data within the BWP. In other words, the terminal device 110 can send the information of the currently active BWP to the network device 120. For example, the terminal device 110 can send the information of the currently active dedicated BWP to the network device 120 on the uplink BWP through the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Correspondingly, the network device 120 receives 206 the first indication information 204. In this way, the terminal device 110 can feedback the information of the currently active BWP to the network device 120, so that the network device 120 and the terminal device 110 have a consistent understanding of the currently active BWP, thus ensuring a high data transmission rate.

[0069] In some example implementations, the first indication information may include the identification (ID) of the currently active BWP. In one example, if the ID of the currently active BWP is 2, then the first indication information is 2 (i.e., the ID of the currently active BWP). In another example, assuming that multiple BWPs can be activated simultaneously, if the IDs of the currently active BWPs are 2 and 3, then the first indication information is 2 and 3 (i.e., the IDs of all the currently active BWPs).

[0070] In some example implementations, the first indication information may indicate the numbers of RBs included in the currently active BWP in the form of a bitmap. In one example, assume that the numbers of RBs included in the currently active BWP are from 0 to 31. The first indication information is used to indicate the RBs numbered from 0 to 31. If the first indication information is represented by a 32-bit bitmap, the first indication information includes 32 bits of 1s. In another example, assume that the numbers of RBs included in the currently active BWP are from 0 to 31. If the first indication information is represented by a 48-bit bitmap, the first 32 bits of the first indication information are 1s and the last 16 bits are 0s.

[0071] In some example implementations, the first indication information may be represented by a resource indication value (RIV). For example, the decimal representation of the first indication information for indicating the currently active BWP may be 8800.

[0072] In some examples, after receiving the first indication information 204, the network device 120 may send 208 the sixth indication information 210 to the terminal device 110. The sixth indication information 210 is used to indicate a subset of the frequency-domain resources occupied by at least one first BWP. For example, the first BWP may occupy RBs #0 to #31, and the sixth indication information may indicate RBs #0 to #31. As another example, the first BWP may occupy RBs #0 to #31 and RBs #55 to #60, and the sixth indication information may indicate RBs #0 to #31. The terminal device 110 may receive 212 the sixth indication information 210 from the network device 120. According to the sixth indication information 210, the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 may transmit 214 signals on a subset of the frequency-domain resources occupied by at least one first BWP. For example, after learning about the currently active BWP, the network device 120 may send scheduling information to the terminal device 110, and the scheduling information may indicate all or a part of the frequency-domain resources occupied by the currently active BWP. For example, if the frequency-domain resources occupied by the currently active BWP are RBs #0 to #31, the scheduling information may indicate and schedule RBs #0 to #15. The terminal device 110 may receive downlink data from the network device 120 or send uplink data to the network device 120 based on the scheduling information. In this way, the network device 120 may schedule data transmission with the terminal device 110 based on the currently active BWP learned from the terminal device 110, thereby improving the reliability of communication.

[0073] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may determine at least one second BWP and send second indication information for indicating the at least one second BWP to the terminal device 110. The terminal device 110 may receive the second indication information from the network device 120 and determine at least one first BWP based on the second indication information. The at least one first BWP and the at least one second BWP may be the same or different. For example, the second BWP is the BWP indicated by the second indication information, including RB#0 to RB#31; in one example implementation, if the terminal device can correctly decode the BWP indicated by the second indication information, the first BWP determined by the terminal device also includes RB#0 to RB#31; in another example implementation, the terminal device may not correctly decode the BWP indicated by the second indication information. For example, the first BWP determined by the terminal device may include RB#28 to RB#52. In some embodiments, in response to determining at least one first BWP based on the second indication information, the terminal device 110 may send first indication information 204 to the network device 120. For example, the network device 120 may send a BWP switching command to the terminal device 110 through DCI to indicate the terminal device 110 to switch to one or more BWPs. After receiving the DCI, the terminal device 110 decodes the received DCI. If the terminal device 110 correctly receives the DCI, then the BWP determined by the terminal device 110 based on the DCI is the same as the BWP indicated by the network device 120 in the DCI. If the terminal device 110 does not receive the DCI, then the BWP determined by the terminal device 110 based on the DCI is different from the BWP indicated by the network device 120 in the DCI. After receiving the DCI, the terminal device 110 may send the determined BWP to the network device 120. For example, if the BWP determined by the terminal device based on the indication information in the DCI is RB#0 to RB#31, the BWP included in the indication information sent by the terminal device to the network device is also RB#0 to RB#31. Another example, assuming that the BWP actually indicated in the DCI is RB#15 to RB#63, but since the DCI information is not correctly decoded and the BWP determined through the indication information in the DCI is RB#0 to RB#31, the BWP included in the indication information sent by the terminal device to the network device is RB#0 to RB#31. Thus, even in the case where the terminal device 110 detects incorrect indication information, it can be ensured that the network device 120 and the terminal device 110 have a consistent understanding of the currently activated BWP.

[0074] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may also feedback information about the BWP currently being activated to the network device 120 based on the timing result of a timer. For example, in response to the timer satisfying the stop timing condition, the terminal device 110 sends the first indication information 204 to the network device 120. Specifically, assume that the stop threshold of the timer is 10 ms. When the timer counts from 0 ms to 10 ms, the terminal device sends the first indication information to the network device. In response to the terminal device 110 sending the first indication information 204 to the network device 120, the terminal device 110 may reset the timer. For example, before the terminal device sends the first indication information to the network device, assume that the count of the timer is 8 ms. Then, after sending the information, the count of the timer is reset to 0 ms. In this way, the terminal device 110 can periodically feedback information about the BWP currently being activated to the network device 120 based on the timing result of the timer. Even when the terminal device 110 does not detect the indication information sent by the network device 120, it can ensure that the network device 120 and the terminal device 110 have a consistent understanding of the BWP currently being activated.

[0075] In some embodiments, according to the third indication information, the terminal device 110 starts a timer, where the third indication information is used to indicate the connection status. For example, after the terminal device 110 establishes an RRC connection with the network device 120, or specifically, when the terminal device successfully receives and correctly decodes the RRC signaling sent by the network device, the timer of the terminal device 110 starts timing. In some implementations, in response to the terminal device 110 receiving the second indication information from the network device 120, the timer is started or reset, where at least one first BWP is determined based on the second indication information. For example, the terminal device receives the second indication information, and the indication information is used to indicate the activation of RBs #0 to #15. Then the terminal device starts the timer or sets the count value of the timer to 0. In some embodiments, starting from reporting the BWP currently being activated, if the terminal device 110 does not detect a BWP switching command from the network device 120, then when the timing reaches the threshold time, the terminal device 110 reports the BWP currently being activated to the network device 120 again. For example, assume that the BWP currently being activated by the terminal device is RBs #0 to #31, the threshold time of the timer is 10 ms, and the current count value of the timer is also 10 ms. Then the terminal device reports the indication information that the BWP currently being activated is RBs #0 to #31 and sets the timer to 0.

[0076] Start timing from the BWP that is currently being activated and reported. If the terminal device 110 detects a BWP switching command from the network device 120 before the timing reaches the threshold time, then the terminal device 110 decodes the BWP information in the BWP switching command, performs BWP switching based on the received BWP switching command, and reports the information of the switched BWP to the network device 120. For example, when the terminal device receives DCI, it obtains the indication information for BWP switching by decoding the DCI, and the indicated BWP after switching is RB#15 to RB#63. Then, the indication information reported by the terminal device to the network device is the indication information corresponding to RB#15 to RB#63. In some examples, the terminal device 110 may receive fourth indication information from the network device 120, and the fourth indication information includes configuration parameters related to the timer. For example, the network device 120 may configure the BWP reporting period (i.e., the threshold time of the timer) for the terminal device 110. For example, the threshold time may be 10 ms, that is, when the timing result of the timer is 10 ms, the timer is reset to 0.

[0077] In some embodiments, the first indication information 204 may include the frequency domain resource information of at least one first BWP. For example, the first BWP occupies RB#0 to RB#31, or the first BWP occupies RB#0 to RB#15 and RB#49 to RB#63. Thus, the terminal device 110 can report the information of the BWP that is currently being activated to the network device 120.

[0078] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive fifth indication information from the network device 120 for indicating frequency-domain resource information of at least one third BWP. The frequency-domain resources occupied by at least one first BWP are a subset of the frequency-domain resources occupied by at least one third BWP. For example, the network device sends the fifth indication information through DCI to indicate the frequency-domain resources of at least one third BWP. In an example implementation, at least one third BWP includes BWP3-1 occupying RBs #0 to #15 and BWP3-2 occupying RBs #64 to #127, and at least one first BWP includes BWP1 occupying RBs #0 to #7. In another example implementation, at least one third BWP includes BWP3 occupying RBs #0 to #15, and at least one first BWP includes BWP1 occupying RBs #0 to #7. In yet another example implementation, at least one third BWP includes BWP3-1 occupying RBs #0 to #15 and BWP3-2 occupying RBs #64 to #127, and at least one first BWP includes BWP1-1 occupying RBs #0 to #7 and BWP1-2 occupying RBs #64 to #70. In yet another example implementation, at least one third BWP includes BWP3-1 occupying RBs #0 to #15 and BWP3-2 occupying RBs #64 to #127, and at least one first BWP includes BWP1-1 occupying RBs #0 to #15 and BWP1-2 occupying RBs #64 to #127. Exemplarily, the network device 120 may configure available candidate BWPs for the terminal device 110. The first indication information 204 may include identification information of at least one first BWP. For example, the terminal device 110 may receive frequency-domain resource information of available candidate BWPs and corresponding identification information from the network device 120, and send the identification information of the currently activated BWP when the BWP reporting condition is met. Specifically, the network device may configure two candidate BWPs for the terminal device, including BWP1 (the identification information is ID 1) and BWP2 (the identification information is ID 2). The first indication information may indicate the currently activated BWP by indicating the candidate BWP-ID, that is, by reporting 1 or 2 to indicate BWP1 or BWP2; or, if BWP1 and BWP2 are activated simultaneously, 1 and 2 may also be reported to indicate BWP1 and BWP2. Thus, the terminal device 110 can report information of the currently activated BWP with relatively low radio resource consumption. In some examples, the network device 120 may send a BWP switching command to the terminal device 110 by sending the identification information of the determined BWP. For example, if the currently activated BWP is BWP2, the fifth indication information may also include the ID of BWP2, that is, by indicating the information that "the ID of the BWP is 2" to indicate that the currently activated BWP is BWP2.Thus, BWP switching can be performed with lower radio resource consumption.

[0079] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 sends first indication information 204 to the network device 120 in a fourth BWP. The frequency-domain resources occupied by the fourth BWP are related to the frequency-domain resources occupied by a fifth BWP. The start time of a time-domain symbol for receiving or transmitting a signal on the fifth BWP is not later than the start time of a time-domain symbol for receiving or transmitting a signal on at least one first BWP. For example, the network device may trigger BWP switching by sending DCI to the terminal device. The fifth BWP is the active BWP before BWP switching, and the first BWP is the active BWP after BWP switching. Then, the time slot for receiving or transmitting a signal in the fifth BWP is Slot 0, and the time slot for receiving or transmitting a signal in the first BWP is Slot 1, and the time of Slot 1 is later than that of Slot 0. In some examples, both the first BWP and the fifth BWP are downlink BWPs. Before BWP switching, the terminal device 110 receives a signal from the network device 120 on the fifth BWP. After BWP switching, the terminal device 110 receives a signal from the network device 120 on the first BWP. In some examples, both the first BWP and the fifth BWP are uplink BWPs. Before BWP switching, the terminal device 110 sends a signal to the network device 120 on the fifth BWP. After BWP switching, the terminal device 110 sends a signal to the network device 120 on the first BWP. The frequency-domain resources for reporting information on the currently active BWP can be determined based on the frequency-domain resources occupied by the active BWP before BWP switching. For example, the center frequency of the fourth BWP may be the same as the center frequency of the fifth BWP. The fourth BWP occupies RB#0 to RB#3, and the fifth BWP occupies RB#1 to RB#2. Or, the bandwidth of the fourth BWP may be equal to or less than the bandwidth of the fifth BWP. The fourth BWP occupies RB#0 to RB#31, and the fifth BWP occupies RB#0 to RB#31. Or, the fourth BWP occupies RB#0 to RB#31, and the fifth BWP occupies RB#0 to RB#63.

[0080] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 receives seventh indication information from the network device 120, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate the frequency-domain resources occupied by the fourth BWP, and the terminal device 110 sends the first indication information 204 to the network device 120 in the fourth BWP. In other words, the terminal device 110 can use the frequency-domain resources configured by the network device 120 to report information on the currently active BWP. For example, the seventh indication information may be sent by DCI to indicate that the fourth BWP occupies RB#0 to RB#31, and then the terminal device may use the fourth BWP (i.e., RB#0 to RB#31) to send the first indication information.

[0081] The following describes the BWP switching according to embodiments of the present disclosure schematically in conjunction with Figures 3A to 3D the example. The example related to the downlink BWP switching. It should be understood that Figures 3A to 3D the example is not intended to be limiting, and the embodiments of the present disclosure can also be applied to the uplink BWP switching. Figures 3A to 3D

[0082] Figure 3A FIG. illustrates a schematic diagram of the frequency domain position of the switched-downlink BWP according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. In Figure 3A the example shown, the bandwidth range of the newly activated switched-downlink BWP completely includes the downlink BWP before switching. Figure 3B FIG. illustrates a schematic diagram of the frequency domain position of the switched-downlink BWP according to another example embodiment of the present disclosure. In Figure 3B the example shown, the bandwidth range of the newly activated switched-downlink BWP does not include the downlink BWP before switching. Figure 3A and Figure 3B the examples are not intended to be limiting. In some embodiments, the bandwidth range of the newly activated switched-downlink BWP may partially overlap with the downlink BWP before switching.

[0083] Figure 3C FIG. illustrates a schematic diagram of the frequency domain position of the BWP for reporting BWP information according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. In Figure 3C the example shown, the frequency domain position of the uplink BWP for reporting BWP information is aligned with the center frequency point of the downlink BWP before switching, and the bandwidth of the uplink BWP for reporting BWP information is equal to the bandwidth of the downlink BWP before switching. In some examples, the bandwidth of the uplink BWP for reporting BWP information may be less than the bandwidth of the downlink BWP before switching.

[0084] Figure 3D FIG. illustrates a schematic diagram of the frequency domain position of the BWP for reporting BWP information according to another example embodiment of the present disclosure. In Figure 3D ​In the example shown, the frequency-domain position of the uplink BWP for reporting BWP information is independent of the frequency-domain position of the downlink BWP before handover. For example, the network device 120 may pre-configure for the terminal device 110 an uplink BWP for reporting BWP information. In some examples, the network device 120 may pre-configure for the terminal device 110 an uplink BWP for reporting BWP information through RRC signaling, medium access control (MAC) control element signaling, or DCI signaling. During the BWP handover process, the terminal device 110 is fully aware of the frequency-domain position of the uplink BWP for reporting BWP information. The frequency-domain position and bandwidth of the uplink BWP for reporting BWP information may be fixed and thus independent of the frequency-domain position of the downlink BWP before handover.

[0085] The following will be described schematically in conjunction with Figure 4A and Figure 4B the communication process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 4A and Figure 4B The example of involves downlink BWP handover. It should be understood that Figure 4A and Figure 4B the examples of are not intended to be limiting, and the embodiments of the present disclosure may also be applied to uplink BWP handover.

[0086] Figure 4A The communication process 400A according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described schematically. For the sake of clear description without any limitation, the process 400A will be described in conjunction with Figure 1A to be described. Figure 4A involves the terminal device 110 and the network device 120. The communication process 400A may be regarded as Figure 2 a specific example of the communication process 200 shown.

[0087] As Figure 4A shown, in the communication process 400A, the operation 401 is optional. At 401, the network device 120 sends signaling (RRC, MAC-CE, or DCI) to the terminal device 110 to configure a set of downlink BWP candidates available to the terminal device 110, and the set of downlink BWP candidates includes N downlink BWPs that can be simultaneously activated. For example, if N = 4, the set of BWP candidates includes 4 downlink BWPs that can be simultaneously activated.

[0088] At 402, network device 120 sends DCI to terminal device 110, and the DCI is used to activate M downlink BWPs on the terminal device side. In some examples, network device 120 may send a downlink BWP candidate set to terminal device 110 at 401. The downlink BWP candidate set may include frequency domain resource information and identification information of N downlink BWPs that can be simultaneously activated, and send the identification information of M downlink BWPs to terminal device 110 at 402. For example, if N = 4 and M = 3, the BWP candidate set includes 4 downlink BWPs that can be simultaneously activated, and 3 of the 4 candidate BWPs can be indicated to be activated by DCI. Another example is that if N = 3 and M = 3, the BWP candidate set includes 3 downlink BWPs that can be simultaneously activated, and all 3 candidate BWPs can be indicated to be activated by DCI.

[0089] At 403, terminal device 110 detects the DCI and determines information about the downlink BWP indicated by network device 120 to be activated based on the detected DCI. In some implementations, the downlink BWP determined by the terminal device may be exactly the same as, partially the same as, or completely different from the M downlink BWPs indicated in the DCI. For example, the DCI sent by the network device indicates to activate BWP1 and BWP2, where BWP1 includes RBs #0 to #15 and BWP2 includes RBs #32 to #63, while the BWP obtained by the terminal device by decoding the DCI includes RBs #0 to #15; or, the BWP obtained by the terminal device by decoding the DCI includes RBs #0 to #15 and RBs #32 to #63; or, the BWP obtained by the terminal device by decoding the DCI includes RBs #16 to #31.

[0090] At 404, terminal device 110 may feedback, on the uplink BWP, the frequency domain location (e.g., RB number or RIV value) or identification information (e.g., BWP-ID) of the currently activated downlink BWP to network device 120 by transmitting uplink control information (UCI) on the PUCCH or PUSCH. In other words, terminal device 110 may report information about the downlink BWP determined based on the detected DCI to network device 120. Thus, terminal device 110 may report the frequency domain location or identification information of the currently activated BWP to network device 120, and this reporting action may be dynamically triggered based on the DCI signaling sent by network device 120. After receiving and successfully decoding the UCI, network device 120 may learn information about the downlink BWP currently being activated by terminal device 110.

[0091] At 405, the network device 120 may send DCI to the terminal device 110, and the DCI may include scheduling information of the PDSCH. For example, the scheduling information may include the RBs occupied by the PDSCH and the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level, and is used to schedule data transmission on all or part of the frequency domain resources occupied by the currently activated downlink BWP of the terminal device 110. At 406, the terminal device 110 may detect the DCI for data scheduling and receive the PDSCH on the downlink BWP based on the scheduling information.

[0092] In this way, according to the detected BWP switching indication from the network device 120, the terminal device 110 can feedback the frequency domain position or identification information of the currently activated downlink BWP to the network device, so as to ensure that the network device 120 and the terminal device 110 have the same understanding of the currently activated downlink BWP, thereby improving the throughput.

[0093] Figure 4B Schematically describe the communication process 400B according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For the sake of clear description without any limitation, the process 400B will be described in conjunction with Figure 1B to describe. Figure 4B involves the terminal device 110 and the network device 120. The communication process 400B may be Figure 2 a specific example of the communication process 200 shown.

[0094] As Figure 4B shown, in the communication process 400B, the operation 411 is optional. At 411, the network device 120 sends a signaling (RRC, MAC-CE or DCI) to the terminal device 110 to configure a set of candidate downlink BWPs available to the terminal device 110, and the set of candidate downlink BWPs includes N simultaneously activatable downlink BWPs. At 411, the network device 120 may also send the configuration parameter T_th of the BWP feedback period to the terminal device 110.

[0095] After the terminal device 110 establishes a connection with the network device 120 at 412, the timer of the terminal device 110 starts timing, and the timing duration is T. At 413, if the terminal device 110 detects DCI for BWP activation or if T > T_th, the timer is cleared. Meanwhile, on the uplink BWP, the terminal device 110 feeds back the frequency-domain position or identification information of the currently activated BWP to the network device 120 by transmitting UCI on the PUCCH or PUSCH. Thus, the terminal device 110 can report the frequency-domain position or identification information of the currently activated BWP to the network device 120. This reporting action can be dynamically triggered based on the DCI signaling sent by the network device 120, or can be periodically triggered based on the timing result of the timer of the terminal device 110. After receiving and successfully decoding the UCI, the network device 120 can obtain the information of the downlink BWP currently being activated by the terminal device 110.

[0096] If the network device 120 wants to send data to the terminal device 110, the network device 120 can send DCI to the terminal device 110, and the DCI can include the scheduling information of the PDSCH. For example, the scheduling information can be used to schedule data transmission on all or part of the frequency-domain resources occupied by the downlink BWP currently being activated by the terminal device 110. The terminal device 110 can detect the DCI for data scheduling and receive the PDSCH on the downlink BWP based on the scheduling information.

[0097] In an example implementation, the network device 120 sends DCI for BWP activation to the terminal device 110, and after receiving and successfully decoding the UCI, learns that the BWP indicated by the DCI has not been successfully activated on the terminal device side. At 414, the network device 120 can re-send DCI to the terminal device 110 to notify the terminal device 110 of the BWP to be activated. In some implementations, the BWP to be activated indicated by the re-sent DCI can be the same as or different from the BWP to be activated indicated by the previously sent DCI. For example, the first sent DCI indicates activating RB#0 to RB#31, and the re-sent DCI also indicates activating RB#0 to RB#31. Another example is that the first sent DCI indicates activating RB#0 to RB#31, and the re-sent DCI indicates activating RB#0 to RB#15.

[0098] In this way, based on the timing result of the timer, the terminal device 110 can feedback the frequency-domain position or identification information of the currently activated downlink BWP to the network device 120 in a periodic manner, so as to ensure that the network device 120 and the terminal device 110 have the same understanding of the currently activated downlink BWP, thereby improving the downlink throughput.

[0099] Figure 5FIG. 500 is a schematic flowchart of a method implemented at a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In one possible implementation, method 500 may be implemented by terminal device 110 in communication system 100. In other possible implementations, method 500 may also be implemented by other communication devices independent of communication system 100. As an example, method 500 will be described below by taking the implementation by terminal device 110 in communication system 100 as an example.

[0100] At block 510, terminal device 110 sends first indication information for indicating at least one first BWP to a network device, where the at least one first BWP is a dedicated BWP, and the at least one first BWP is in an active state when the first indication information is sent.

[0101] It can be understood that method 500 may further include any other operations or actions performed by terminal device 110 as described herein with reference to Figures 1A to 4B those described in some embodiments of the present application, which will not be elaborated herein.

[0102] Figure 6 FIG. 600 is a schematic flowchart of a method implemented at a network device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In one possible implementation, method 600 may be implemented by network device 120 in communication system 100. In other possible implementations, method 600 may also be implemented by other communication devices independent of communication system 100. As an example, method 600 will be described below by taking the implementation by network device 120 in communication system 100 as an example.

[0103] At block 610, network device 120 receives first indication information for indicating at least one first bandwidth part BWP, where the at least one first BWP is a dedicated BWP, and the at least one first BWP is in an active state when the first indication information is received. At block 620, network device 120 sends sixth indication information for indicating a subset of frequency domain resources occupied by the at least one first BWP. At block 630, network device 120 sends or receives a signal on a subset of frequency domain resources occupied by the at least one first BWP according to the sixth indication information. For example, if the frequency domain resources occupied by the first BWP are RB#0 to RB#31 and RB#48 to RB#63, the frequency domain resources indicated by the sixth indication information may be RB#0 to RB#31 and RB#48 to RB#63; or, the frequency domain resources indicated by the sixth indication information may be RB#0 to RB#27.

[0104] It can be understood that method 600 may further include any other operations or actions performed by network device 120 as described herein with reference to Figures 1A to 4BAny other operations or actions performed by the network device 120 in some embodiments of the present application as described are not elaborated herein.

[0105] Figure 7 Schematic diagram of a possible communication device (also referred to as a communication equipment) provided for embodiments of the present disclosure. These communication devices can implement the functions of the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the communication device can be Figure 1A and Figure 2 the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 in

[0106] As Figure 7 shown, the communication device 700 includes a processing unit 710, a receiving unit 720, and a transmitting unit 730. The communication device 700 can be used to implement the functions of the terminal device, the access network device, or the core network device in any of the method embodiments shown in the above Figures 1A to 6

[0107] When the communication device 700 is used to implement the function of the Figure 1A and Figure 2 terminal device in

[0108] : The transmitting unit 730 is used to transmit first indication information for indicating at least one first BWP, where the at least one first BWP is a dedicated BWP, and when the first indication information is transmitted, the at least one first BWP is in an active state. Figure 1A and Figure 2 When the communication device 700 is used to implement the function of the network device in

[0109] : The receiving unit 720 is used to receive first indication information for indicating at least one first bandwidth part BWP, where the at least one first BWP is a dedicated BWP, and when the first indication information is received, the at least one first BWP is in an active state; the transmitting unit 730 is used to transmit sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate a subset of the frequency domain resources occupied by the at least one first BWP; the receiving unit 720 or the transmitting unit 730 is further used to receive, transmit, or signal on a subset of the frequency domain resources occupied by the at least one first BWP. For example, if the frequency domain resources occupied by the first BWP are RB#0 to RB#31 and RB#48 to RB#63, the frequency domain resources indicated by the sixth indication information can be RB#0 to RB#31 and RB#48 to RB#63; or, the frequency domain resources indicated by the sixth indication information can be RB#0 to RB#27.

[0109] For a more detailed description of the above processing unit 710, receiving unit 720, and transmitting unit 730, reference can be made to the relevant descriptions in the embodiments shown in Figures 2 to 6

[0110] In some embodiments, the processing unit may be a processor, the sending unit may be a transmitter, and the receiving unit may be a receiver.

[0111] Figure 8 FIG. is a simplified block diagram of a possible communication device (also referred to as a communication equipment) provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As Figure 8 shown, the communication device 800 includes a processor 810 and an interface circuit 820. The processor 810 and the interface circuit 820 are coupled to each other. It can be understood that the interface circuit 820 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device 800 may further include a memory 830 for storing instructions executed by the processor 810 or storing input data required for the processor 810 to run instructions or storing data generated after the processor 810 runs instructions.

[0112] When the communication device 800 is used to implement the method in the above method embodiment, the processor 810 is used to execute the functions of the above processing unit 710, and the interface circuit 820 is used to execute the functions of the above receiving unit 720 and sending unit 730.

[0113] It can be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a central processing unit (CPU), or 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, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0114] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication system. The communication system may include the communication device involved in the above Figure 7 shown embodiment, such as Figure 1A and Figure 2 the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 or its module (such as a chip) in. Optionally, the Figure 1A and Figure 2 the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 or its module (such as a chip) in the communication system may execute Figures 1A to 6 any of the communication methods shown in.

[0115] The embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a circuit, which can be coupled to a memory and can be used to execute any of the embodiments shown in the above method embodiments related to Figure 1A andFigure 2 Processes related to the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 or their modules (such as chips) in Figure 2 . The chip system may include the chip, and may also include other components such as a memory or a transceiver.

[0116] It should be understood that the processor mentioned in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a CPU, or 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.

[0117] It should also be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0118] It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components, the memory (storage module) is integrated in the processor.

[0119] It should be noted that the memories described herein are intended to include, but are not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memories.

[0120] It should be understood that in various embodiments of the present disclosure, the magnitudes of the serial numbers of the above processes do not imply the order of execution, and the order of execution of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0121] Those of ordinary skill in the art can realize that the modules 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 a hardware or software manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. A professional technician can use different methods for each specific application to implement the described functions, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of the present disclosure.

[0122] 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 modules described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be elaborated herein.

[0123] In several embodiments provided by the present disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed communication methods and devices can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the modules is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple modules 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, and the indirect couplings or communication connections of the devices or units can be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0124] The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as modules may or may not be physical modules, that is, they can be located in one place, or can be 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.

[0125] In addition, in various embodiments of the present disclosure, each functional module may be integrated into one processing module, may exist separately as individual physical modules, or two or more modules may be integrated into one module.

[0126] If this function is implemented in the form of a software functional module and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the essence of the technical solution of the present disclosure, or the part that makes a contribution, 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 for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method in various embodiments of the present disclosure. The aforementioned computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. Taking this as an example but not limited to: the computer-readable medium may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), universal serial bus flash disk, mobile hard disk, or other optical disc storage, magnetic disk storage medium, or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0127] As used herein, the term "comprising" and its like shall be understood as an open inclusion, i.e., "including but not limited to". The term "based on" shall be understood as "at least partially based on". The term "one embodiment" or "the embodiment" shall be understood as "at least one embodiment". The terms "first", "second", etc. may refer to different or the same objects, and are only used to distinguish the objects referred to, without implying a specific spatial order, temporal order, order of importance, etc. of the objects referred to. In some embodiments, values, processes, selected items, determined items, devices, apparatuses, means, components, assemblies, etc. are referred to as "optimal", "lowest", "highest", "minimum", "maximum", etc. It should be understood that such descriptions are intended to indicate that a selection can be made among many available functional options, and such a selection does not need to be better, lower, higher, smaller, larger or otherwise preferred in other aspects or all aspects than other options. As used herein, the term "determine" can cover a variety of actions. For example, "determine" can include operations, calculations, processing, derivations, investigations, lookups (e.g., looking up in a table, database or another data structure), ascertaining, etc. In addition, "determine" can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), etc. Furthermore, "determine" can include parsing, selecting, picking, establishing, etc.

[0128] As shown above, it is only the specific implementation manner of the embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the embodiments of the present application can easily think of changes or substitutions, which should all be covered within the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for communication, comprising: Sending first indication information for indicating at least one first bandwidth part (BWP) to a network device, where the at least one first BWP is a dedicated BWP; Wherein, when sending the first indication information, the at least one first BWP is in an active state.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Receiving second indication information and determining the at least one first BWP based on the second indication information; Wherein sending the first indication information includes: Responding to determining the at least one first BWP based on the second indication information and sending the first indication information.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein sending the first indication information includes: Responding to a timer satisfying a stop timing condition and sending the first indication information.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising: Resetting the timer in response to sending the first indication information.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, further comprising at least one of the following: Starting the timer according to third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate a connection state; or Starting or resetting the timer in response to receiving the second indication information, where the at least one first BWP is determined based on the second indication information.

6. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, further comprising: Receiving fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information includes configuration parameters related to the timer.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising: Receiving fifth indication information for indicating frequency domain resource information of at least one third BWP; Wherein, the frequency domain resources occupied by the at least one first BWP are a subset of the frequency domain resources occupied by the at least one third BWP.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the first indication information includes at least one of the following: Frequency domain resource information of the at least one first BWP; or Identification information of the at least one first BWP.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising: After sending the first indication information, receiving sixth indication information, where the sixth indication information is used to indicate a subset of the frequency domain resources occupied by the at least one first BWP; And Receiving or sending a signal on the subset of the frequency domain resources occupied by the at least one first BWP according to the sixth indication information.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein: The first indication information is sent in a fourth BWP, and the frequency domain resources occupied by the fourth BWP are related to the frequency domain resources occupied by a fifth BWP, where the start time of a time domain symbol for receiving or sending a signal on the fifth BWP is not later than the start time of a time domain symbol for receiving or sending a signal on the at least one first BWP.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising: Receive seventh indication information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate the frequency-domain resources occupied by a fourth BWP, and the first indication information is sent in the fourth BWP.

12. A method for communication, comprising: Receiving first indication information for indicating at least one first bandwidth part (BWP), where the at least one first BWP is a dedicated BWP; When receiving the first indication information, the at least one first BWP is in an active state; Sending sixth indication information, where the sixth indication information is used to indicate a subset of the frequency-domain resources occupied by the at least one first BWP; And According to the sixth indication information, sending or receiving signals on the subset of the frequency-domain resources occupied by the at least one first BWP.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: Determining at least one second BWP; And Before receiving the first indication information, sending second indication information for indicating the at least one second BWP; Where the at least one first BWP is the same as or different from the at least one second BWP.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, further comprising: Sending fifth indication information for indicating at least one third BWP, where the frequency-domain resources occupied by the at least one first BWP are a subset of the frequency-domain resources occupied by the at least one third BWP.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, further comprising: Sending fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information includes configuration parameters related to a timer, and the timer is used to trigger the terminal device to send the first indication information.

16. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, where the first indication information includes at least one of the following: Frequency-domain resource information of the at least one first BWP; or Identification information of the at least one first BWP.

17. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 16, where: The first indication information is received in a fourth BWP, and the frequency-domain resources occupied by the fourth BWP are related to the frequency-domain resources occupied by a fifth BWP, where the start time of the time-domain symbol for sending or receiving signals on the fifth BWP is not later than the start time of the time-domain symbol for sending or receiving signals on the at least one first BWP.

18. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 16, further comprising: Sending seventh indication information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate the frequency-domain resources occupied by a fourth BWP, and the first indication information is sent in the fourth BWP.

19. A communication device, comprising: A unit or module for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or a unit or module for performing the method according to any one of claims 12 to 18.

20. A communication device, comprising: A processor configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 12 to 18.

21. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or cause the device to perform the method according to any one of claims 12 to 18.

22. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or cause the device to perform the method according to any one of claims 12 to 18.

23. A communication system comprising: a communication device for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, and a communication device for performing the method according to any one of claims 12 to 18.

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