Downlink auxiliary node selection method and device

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a downlink auxiliary node selection method and device. The method comprises: a network device sending a first message to each candidate auxiliary node in M candidate auxiliary nodes, the first message being used for indicating uplink resources of the network device allocated to each candidate auxiliary node in the M candidate auxiliary nodes, M being an integer greater than or equal to 1; detecting a second message sent by the first device on the allocated uplink resource; and if a second message sent by the first device is detected on the allocated uplink resource, the network device selects a downlink auxiliary node from the M candidate auxiliary nodes. By adopting the embodiment of the invention, the coverage range can be expanded, and the communication efficiency and quality can be improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for selecting a downlink auxiliary node. Background Art

[0002] Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a passive Internet of Things technology that performs non-contact two-way data communication via radio frequency, reads and writes a recording medium (electronic tag or radio frequency card) using radio frequency, so as to achieve the purpose of identifying a target and exchanging data. However, since the coverage distance of this technology is only about 10m, it is difficult to support the usage requirements of hundreds of billions in the future. Therefore, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is discussing and formulating a passive Internet of Things technology based on cellular communication. On the one hand, the existing large-scale cellular infrastructure can be used to reduce costs. On the other hand, many mature cellular communication technologies can be used to expand the coverage of the passive Internet of Things, such as interference management, mobility management, etc. However, reducing the device cost of the passive Internet of Things will inevitably lead to a reduction in the uplink and downlink capabilities of the device compared to the capabilities of existing UEs, resulting in possible shrinkage of the uplink and downlink coverage of the device. How to ensure the uplink and downlink coverage is an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Embodiments of this application provide a method and apparatus for selecting a downlink auxiliary node, which expand the coverage and improve the communication quality by selecting a downlink auxiliary node.

[0004] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a method for selecting a downlink auxiliary node. This method is applied to a network device, or a chip or circuit configured in the network device, and includes:

[0005] Sending a first message to each of M candidate auxiliary nodes, where the first message is used to indicate the uplink resources of the network device allocated to each of the M candidate auxiliary nodes, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; detecting a second message sent by a first device on the allocated uplink resources; and if the second message sent by the first device is detected on the allocated uplink resources, selecting a downlink auxiliary node from the M candidate auxiliary nodes.

[0006] The network device allocates uplink resources to candidate secondary nodes, enabling the candidate secondary nodes to provide the allocated uplink resources to the first device. Subsequently, the first device can send an uplink access message on the allocated uplink resources. If the network device detects the uplink access message sent by the first device on the allocated uplink resources, it indicates that downlink assistance is required. The network device selects a downlink assistance node for downlink assistance transmission to expand the coverage range and assist the network device in sending downlink messages to the first device, thereby improving communication efficiency and quality.

[0007] In a possible design, the first message includes the start position and the number of time-domain resource units of a time-domain resource unit, and the length of the time-domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the first message includes the length of the time-domain resource unit, the start position of the time-domain resource unit, and the number of time-domain resource units, or, the first message includes the length of the time-domain resource unit, the start position of the time-domain resource unit, and the index of the time-domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of time-domain resource units, and the start position of the time-domain resource unit is the end position of the third message or the end position of the third message plus a first offset, where the third message is sent before the first message and is used to request a secondary node. The network device allocates the uplink resources it has allocated to each candidate secondary node through the first message, detects whether downlink assistance transmission is required through the uplink resources, and selects a downlink assistance node to expand the coverage range in the case of needing downlink assistance transmission.

[0008] In a possible design, the first message includes the start position and the number of frequency-domain resource units of a frequency-domain resource unit, and the length of the frequency-domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the first message includes the length of the frequency-domain resource unit, the start position of the frequency-domain resource unit, and the number of frequency-domain resource units, or, the first message includes the length of the frequency-domain resource unit, the start position of the frequency-domain resource unit, and the index of the frequency-domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of frequency-domain resource units, and the start position of the frequency-domain resource unit is a predefined frequency position or a predefined frequency position plus a second offset. The network device allocates the uplink resources it has allocated to each candidate secondary node through the first message, detects whether downlink assistance transmission is required through the uplink resources, and selects a downlink assistance node to expand the coverage range in the case of needing downlink assistance transmission.

[0009] In a possible design, the first message includes the category of the spreading code and the number of groups of spreading codes, or, the first message includes the category of the spreading code, the starting index of the spreading code, and the number. The network device allocates uplink resources to each candidate assisting node through the first message, and detects whether downlink assisting transmission is required through the uplink resources. In the case where downlink assisting transmission is required, a downlink assisting node is selected to expand the coverage area.

[0010] In a possible design, the first message includes the beam resources corresponding to the location information of each candidate assistant among the M candidate assisting nodes. The network device allocates uplink resources to each candidate assisting node through the first message, and detects whether downlink assisting transmission is required through the uplink resources. In the case where downlink assisting transmission is required, a downlink assisting node is selected to expand the coverage area.

[0011] In a possible design, the first message includes at least one of the following resources: time domain, frequency domain, code domain, or beam domain. The network device allocates the uplink resources allocated to it to each candidate assisting node by indicating a combination of any two or more resources.

[0012] In a possible design, the uplink resource is an uplink access resource, or, the uplink resource is an independent resource, and the independent resource is specifically used to select an assisting node, and the independent resource is a sequence or an independent channel.

[0013] In a possible design, the second message includes the signal quality of each candidate assisting node among the M candidate assisting nodes measured by the first device; the candidate assisting node with the best signal quality is selected from the M candidate assisting nodes as the downlink assisting node. By selecting the candidate assisting node with the best signal quality as the downlink assisting node for downlink assisting transmission, the communication quality is improved.

[0014] In a possible design, a third message is sent, and the third message is used to request an assisting node. It is determined whether there is an assisting node in the network device through a broadcast message.

[0015] In a possible design, a fourth message sent by each of the K assisting nodes is received, and the fourth message is used to indicate whether it has the downlink assisting capability, where K is an integer greater than or equal to M; the assisting nodes with the downlink assisting capability are selected from the K assisting nodes as the M candidate assisting nodes. By selecting the assisting nodes with the downlink assisting capability as the candidate assisting nodes, it is ensured that the candidate assisting nodes can provide an assisting effect.

[0016] In a possible design, the third message includes a message type, and the message type includes at least one of relay, uplink assistance, downlink assistance, and coverage extension. After receiving the third message, an assisting node around the network device determines whether it supports relay, uplink assistance, downlink assistance, or coverage extension.

[0017] In a possible design, a fifth message is sent to the selected downlink assisting node. The fifth message includes first indication information for indicating assisting transmission; or, a fifth message is sent to the selected downlink assisting node, and the message type of the fifth message is assisting transmission; or, a fifth message is sent to the selected downlink assisting node on a first resource, and the first resource is used to determine assisting transmission of the fifth message. Different methods are used to distinguish between a message directly sent to the downlink assisting node and a message that needs to be assisted and sent to the first device.

[0018] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for selecting a downlink assisting node. The method is applied to an assisting node, or a chip or circuit configured in the assisting node, and includes:

[0019] Receiving a first message sent by a network device, where the first message is used to indicate the uplink resource allocated to the network device; sending the allocated uplink resource to a first device within the coverage area, where the uplink resource is used for the first device to send a second message, and the second message is used for the network device to select a downlink assisting node after detecting it on the allocated uplink resource.

[0020] By receiving the uplink resource allocated by the network device, a candidate assisting node can provide the allocated uplink resource to the first device, and then the first device can send an uplink access message on the allocated uplink resource. If the network device detects the uplink access message sent by the first device on the allocated uplink resource, it indicates that downlink assistance is required. The network device selects a downlink assisting node for downlink assisting transmission, expands the coverage area, and assists the network device to send a downlink message to the first device, thereby improving communication efficiency and communication quality.

[0021] In a possible design, the first message includes the start position and the number of time-domain resource units, and the length of the time-domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the length of the time-domain resource unit, the start position of the time-domain resource unit, and the number of time-domain resource units, or, the first message includes the length of the time-domain resource unit, the start position of the time-domain resource unit, and the index of the time-domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of time-domain resource units, and the start position of the time-domain resource unit is the end position of the third message or the end position of the third message plus a first offset, where the third message is sent before the first message and is used to request an auxiliary node. The first message is used to allocate the uplink resources allocated by the network device to each candidate auxiliary node, and whether downlink auxiliary transmission is required is detected through the uplink resources. In the case where downlink auxiliary transmission is required, a downlink auxiliary node is selected to expand the coverage range.

[0022] In a possible design, the first message includes the start position and the number of frequency-domain resource units, and the length of the frequency-domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the length of the frequency-domain resource unit, the start position of the frequency-domain resource unit, and the number of frequency-domain resource units, or, the first message includes the length of the frequency-domain resource unit, the start position of the frequency-domain resource unit, and the index of the frequency-domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of frequency-domain resource units, and the start position of the frequency-domain resource unit is a predefined frequency position or a predefined frequency position plus a second offset. The first message is used to allocate the uplink resources allocated by the network device to each candidate auxiliary node, and whether downlink auxiliary transmission is required is detected through the uplink resources. In the case where downlink auxiliary transmission is required, a downlink auxiliary node is selected to expand the coverage range.

[0023] In a possible design, the first message includes the category of the spreading code and the number of groups of the spreading code, or, the first message includes the category of the spreading code, the start index of the spreading code, and the number. The first message is used to allocate the uplink resources allocated by the network device to each candidate auxiliary node, and whether downlink auxiliary transmission is required is detected through the uplink resources. In the case where downlink auxiliary transmission is required, a downlink auxiliary node is selected to expand the coverage range.

[0024] In a possible design, the first message includes the beam resources corresponding to the location information of the auxiliary node. The first message is used to allocate the uplink resources allocated by the network device to each candidate auxiliary node, and whether downlink auxiliary transmission is required is detected through the uplink resources. In the case where downlink auxiliary transmission is required, a downlink auxiliary node is selected to expand the coverage range.

[0025] In a possible design, the first message includes at least one of the following resources: time domain, frequency domain, code domain, or beam domain. By indicating a combination of any two or more resources, the network device allocates uplink resources to each candidate secondary node.

[0026] In a possible design, the uplink resources are uplink access resources, or the uplink resources are independent resources, and the independent resources are specifically used to select secondary nodes, and the independent resources are sequences or independent channels.

[0027] In a possible design, the second message includes the signal quality of the secondary node measured by the first device. This enables the network device to select the candidate secondary node with the best signal quality from the M candidate secondary nodes as the downlink secondary node, and improve the communication quality by selecting the candidate secondary node with the best signal quality as the downlink secondary node for downlink secondary transmission.

[0028] In a possible design, receive a third message sent by the network device, where the third message is used to request a secondary node; send a fourth message to the network device, where the fourth message is used to indicate whether it has downlink assistance capabilities. By indicating to the network device whether it has downlink assistance capabilities, the network device can select a secondary node with downlink assistance capabilities as a candidate secondary node, ensuring that the candidate secondary node can provide an assisting role.

[0029] In a possible design, the third message includes a message type, and the message type includes at least one of relay, uplink assistance, downlink assistance, and coverage extension. After receiving the third message, the secondary nodes around the network device determine whether they support relay, uplink assistance, downlink assistance, or coverage extension.

[0030] In a possible design, receive a fifth message sent by the network device, where the fifth message includes first indication information for indicating assisted transmission; or receive a fifth message sent by the network device, where the message type of the fifth message is assisted transmission; or receive a fifth message sent by the network device on a first resource, where the first resource is used to determine assisted transmission of the fifth message. Different methods are used to distinguish between messages directly sent to the downlink secondary node and messages that need to be assisted and sent to the first device.

[0031] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a downlink secondary node selection device, including:

[0032] A sending module, configured to send a first message to each of the M candidate assisting nodes, where the first message is used to indicate the uplink resources of the network device allocated to each of the M candidate assisting nodes, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

[0033] A processing module, configured to detect a second message sent by a first device on the allocated uplink resources;

[0034] The processing module is further configured to, if the second message sent by the first device is detected on the allocated uplink resources, select a downlink assisting node from the M candidate assisting nodes.

[0035] In a possible design, the first message includes the start position and the number of time domain resource units of a time domain resource unit, and the length of the time domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the first message includes the length, the start position and the number of time domain resource units of the time domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length, the start position and the index of the time domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of time domain resource units, and the start position of the time domain resource unit is the end position of a third message or the end position of the third message plus a first offset, and the third message is sent before sending the first message and is used to request an assisting node.

[0036] In a possible design, the first message includes the start position and the number of frequency domain resource units of a frequency domain resource unit, and the length of the frequency domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the first message includes the length, the start position and the number of frequency domain resource units of the frequency domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length, the start position and the index of the frequency domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of frequency domain resource units, and the start position of the frequency domain resource unit is a predefined frequency domain position or a predefined frequency domain position plus a second offset.

[0037] In a possible design, the first message includes the category of spreading codes and the number of groups of spreading codes, or, the first message includes the category of spreading codes, the start index and the number of spreading codes.

[0038] In a possible design, the first message includes the beam resources corresponding to the position information of each candidate assistant among the M candidate assisting nodes.

[0039] In a possible design, the first message includes at least one of the following resources: time domain, frequency domain, code domain or beam domain.

[0040] In a possible design, the uplink resource is an uplink access resource, or the uplink resource is an independent resource dedicated to selecting a secondary node, and the independent resource is a sequence or an independent channel.

[0041] In a possible design, the second message includes the signal quality of each of the M candidate secondary nodes measured by the first device.

[0042] The processing module is further configured to select, from the M candidate secondary nodes, the candidate secondary node with the best signal quality as the downlink secondary node.

[0043] In a possible design, the sending module is further configured to send a third message, where the third message is used to request a secondary node.

[0044] In a possible design, the receiving module is configured to receive a fourth message sent by each of the K secondary nodes, where the fourth message is used to indicate whether it has downlink assistance capability, and K is an integer greater than or equal to M; the processing module is configured to select, from the K secondary nodes, the secondary nodes with downlink assistance capability as the M candidate secondary nodes.

[0045] In a possible design, the third message includes a message type, and the message type includes at least one of relay, uplink assistance, downlink assistance, and coverage extension.

[0046] In a possible design, the sending module is further configured to send a fifth message to the selected downlink secondary node, where the fifth message includes first indication information for indicating assisted transmission; or, the sending module is further configured to send a fifth message to the selected downlink secondary node, where the message type of the fifth message is assisted transmission; or, the sending module is further configured to send a fifth message to the selected downlink secondary node on a first resource, where the first resource is used to determine assisted transmission of the fifth message.

[0047] The operations and beneficial effects performed by the downlink secondary node selection device may refer to the method and beneficial effects described in the first aspect above, and the repeated parts will not be elaborated.

[0048] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a downlink secondary node selection device, including:

[0049] A receiving module, configured to receive a first message sent by a network device, where the first message is used to indicate the uplink resource allocated to the network device.

[0050] A sending module, configured to send the allocated uplink resource to a first device within the coverage area, where the uplink resource is used for the first device to send a second message, and the second message is used for the network device to select a downlink auxiliary node after detecting it on the allocated uplink resource.

[0051] In a possible design, the first message includes the start position and the number of time-domain resource units of a time-domain resource unit, and the length of the time-domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the length of the time-domain resource unit, the start position and the number of time-domain resource units, or, the first message includes the length of the time-domain resource unit, the start position and the index of the time-domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of time-domain resource units, and the start position of the time-domain resource unit is the end position of a third message or the end position of the third message plus a first offset, where the third message is sent before sending the first message and is used to request an auxiliary node.

[0052] In a possible design, the first message includes the start position and the number of frequency-domain resource units of a frequency-domain resource unit, and the length of the frequency-domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the length of the frequency-domain resource unit, the start position and the number of frequency-domain resource units, or, the first message includes the length of the frequency-domain resource unit, the start position and the index of the frequency-domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of frequency-domain resource units, and the start position of the frequency-domain resource unit is a predefined frequency position or a predefined frequency position plus a second offset.

[0053] In a possible design, the first message includes the category of spreading codes and the number of groups of spreading codes, or, the first message includes the category of spreading codes, the start index and the number of spreading codes.

[0054] In a possible design, the first message includes the beam resource corresponding to the location information of the auxiliary node.

[0055] In a possible design, the first message includes at least one of the following resources: time domain, frequency domain, code domain or beam domain.

[0056] In a possible design, the uplink resource is an uplink access resource, or, the uplink resource is an independent resource, and the independent resource is dedicated to selecting an auxiliary node, and the independent resource is a sequence or an independent channel.

[0057] In a possible design, the second message includes the signal quality of the auxiliary node measured by the first device.

[0058] In a possible design, the receiving module is further configured to receive a third message sent by the network device, where the third message is used to request an auxiliary node; the sending module is further configured to send a fourth message to the network device, where the fourth message is used to indicate whether it has the downlink assistance capability.

[0059] In a possible design, the third message includes a message type, and the message type includes at least one of relay, uplink assistance, downlink assistance, and coverage extension.

[0060] In a possible design, the receiving module is further configured to receive a fifth message sent by the network device, where the fifth message includes first indication information for indicating assisted transmission; or, the receiving module is further configured to receive a fifth message sent by the network device, where the message type of the fifth message is assisted transmission; or, the receiving module is further configured to receive a fifth message sent by the network device on a first resource, where the first resource is used to determine assisted transmission of the fifth message.

[0061] The operations and beneficial effects performed by the downlink assistance node selection device can refer to the method and beneficial effects described in the second aspect above, and repeated parts will not be elaborated.

[0062] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a downlink assistance node selection device, where the downlink assistance node selection device includes a processor and a memory, and the memory is used to store a computer program; the processor is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory, so that the downlink assistance node selection device executes the method described in any one of the first aspects.

[0063] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a downlink assistance node selection device, where the downlink assistance node selection device includes a processor and a memory, and the memory is used to store a computer program; the processor is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory, so that the downlink assistance node selection device executes the method described in any one of the second aspects.

[0064] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a downlink assistance node selection device, which may be a network device, or a device in a network device, or a device that can be used in combination with a network device. Among them, the downlink assistance node selection device may also be a chip system. The downlink assistance node selection device can execute the method described in the first aspect. The functions of the downlink assistance node selection device can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. The module may be software and / or hardware. The operations and beneficial effects performed by the downlink assistance node selection device can refer to the method and beneficial effects described in the first aspect above, and repeated parts will not be elaborated.

[0065] In the eighth aspect, the present application provides a downlink auxiliary node selection device, which may be an auxiliary node, a device in the auxiliary node, or a device that can be used in combination with the auxiliary node. Among them, the downlink auxiliary node selection device may also be a chip system. The downlink auxiliary node selection device can execute the method described in the second aspect. The functions of the downlink auxiliary node selection device can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. The module can be software and / or hardware. The operations and beneficial effects executed by the downlink auxiliary node selection device can refer to the method and beneficial effects described in the above second aspect, and the repeated parts will not be elaborated again.

[0066] In the ninth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, which, when executed, enables the method described in any one of the first aspect and the second aspect to be implemented.

[0067] In the tenth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product including a computer program, which, when executed, enables the method described in any one of the first aspect and the second aspect to be implemented.

[0068] In the eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes at least one auxiliary node and at least one network device. The network device is used to execute the steps in the first aspect above, and the auxiliary node is used to execute the steps in the second aspect above.

[0069] In the twelfth aspect, a chip is provided. The chip includes a processor and a communication interface. The communication interface is used to communicate with external devices or internal devices, and the processor is used to implement the methods in the above aspects.

[0070] In a possible design, the chip may further include a memory, in which a computer program or instruction is stored. The processor is used to execute the computer program or instruction stored in the memory, or a program or instruction from other sources. When the computer program or instruction is executed, the processor is used to implement the methods in the above aspects.

[0071] In a possible design, the chip can be integrated on the auxiliary node or the network device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0072] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the background technology, the following will describe the drawings required in the embodiments of the present application or the background technology.

[0073] Figure 1It is a schematic diagram of the connection scale of the Internet of Things for different classification levels;

[0074] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] Figure 3 It is a schematic flowchart of a method for selecting a downlink auxiliary node provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] Figure 4 It is a schematic structural diagram of a device for selecting a downlink auxiliary node provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] Figure 5 It is a schematic structural diagram of another device for selecting a downlink auxiliary node provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] Figure 6 It is a schematic structural diagram of a network device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] Figure 7 It is a schematic structural diagram of an auxiliary node provided by an embodiment of the present application. Detailed implementation manners

[0080] Practitioners in the Internet of Things (IoT) have reached a consensus on the classification of three different rate levels of IoT nodes, namely high-speed IoT, medium-speed IoT, and low-speed IoT. Among them, high-speed IoT is mainly carried by technologies such as the 5th-Generation (5G) Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), 4G Category.4+ (Cat.4+), and Wireless Fidelity 6 (WiFi 6). Medium-speed IoT is currently mainly carried by technologies such as 4G Cat.1, 3G, and 2G. Low-speed IoT is mainly carried by technologies such as NarrowBand-Internet of Things (NB-IoT), Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Different rates also correspond to different power consumption levels, forming three distinct categories of scenarios and facing three different magnitudes of IoT connection numbers. As Figure 1 shown, Figure 1It is a schematic diagram of the connection scale of different categories of the Internet of Things. Among them, low-speed IoT standards such as NB-IoT, LoRaWAN, and BLE can support tens of billions of connections, and the connection scales brought by medium-speed and high-speed IoT standards are much lower than that of low-speed IoT connections. Based on the above three categories of IoT scenarios, the passive IoT category will become the main source of the IoT connection scenario with hundreds of billions of connections.

[0081] Main application scenarios of the Internet of Things:

[0082] Industrial sensor network: The industrial sensor network is mainly applied in the industrial production process, such as temperature and humidity monitoring, vibration monitoring, and production line monitoring, etc., so as to realize industrial automation and intelligent management. Taking rail measurement as an example, by deploying zero-power sensing devices under the rails, the rail pressure, temperature, and other information can be monitored and collected. In addition, related devices can also be deployed in extreme environments where batteries cannot last long, such as high and low temperatures, moving or rotating parts, high vibration conditions, and high humidity. Logistics and warehousing: With the continuous growth of the logistics industry, the warehousing pressure and labor cost pressure of enterprises are increasing day by day. Digital management of logistics parcels can not only further improve the efficiency of logistics and warehousing management, but also save high labor costs. The zero-power communication technology pastes the communication terminal identifier on the surface of the parcel or the packaging of the goods, which is used for the acquisition of logistics information and the management of the entire logistics process, making the warehousing operation simpler and more efficient.

[0083] Intelligent wearable: Intelligent wearable products are one of the personal consumption terminals with the most potential for large-scale application after mobile phones, and currently various wearable devices have achieved wireless connection. According to the functional positioning of different products, multi-scenario applications such as health monitoring, sports monitoring, mobile perception, and mobile positioning can be realized. The goal of zero-power communication technology is to ultimately get rid of the battery limitation, achieve longer battery life, more convenient energy supply, and better user experience.

[0084] Medical and health: Portable medical devices can meet the needs of consumers for home health services, but due to the particularity of medical monitoring devices (especially human implantable devices), problems such as battery life and power supply carrying have greatly restricted the expansion of their application scenarios. Through zero-power Internet of Things technology, extremely low-power operation can be achieved; at the same time, the absence of a battery can reduce the volume, which is conducive to realizing flexible folding, and there is no need to worry about liquid immersion, etc., which will help the real-time monitoring of medical device data and the efficient digital management of health conditions.

[0085] Smart home: Applying zero-power communication technology in the smart home field can get rid of complex wiring, enable each terminal to be independently controlled, and achieve long-term battery-free online operation without the intervention of artificial energy.

[0086] As Figure 2 shown, Figure 2It is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application. The communication system includes a network device, a first device, and an auxiliary node.

[0087] A network device is a device deployed in a radio access network to provide wireless communication functions for terminal devices. The network device may include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations (also known as small stations), relay stations, access points, etc. In systems adopting different radio access technologies, the name of the network device may be different. For example, in a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, it is a Base Transceiver Station (BTS); in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) network, it is a Node B (NB); in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, it is an Evolved Node B (eNB). The network device may also be a radio controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario. The network device may also be a base station device in a fifth-generation mobile communication system (5G) network or a next-generation wireless communication, or a network device in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network. The network device may also be a wearable device or a vehicle-mounted device. The network device may also be a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP).

[0088] The first device can be an Internet of Things (IoT) device for the environment, and can include various terminal devices, handheld devices, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem that have wireless communication capabilities. The terminal device can be a Mobile Station (MS), Subscriber Unit, Cellular Phone, Smart Phone, Wireless Data Card, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) computer, Tablet Computer, Wireless Modem, Handset, Laptop Computer, Machine Type Communication (MTC) terminal, etc.

[0089] The auxiliary node can be a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a User Equipment (UE), a repeater, etc., and has the ability of environmental IoT. During downlink transmission, the network device can send downlink data to the first device through the auxiliary node.

[0090] This communication system can be applicable to Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), the fifth Generation (5G) mobile communication system, or next-generation wireless communication systems, etc.

[0091] Please refer to Figure 3 , Figure 3 which is a schematic flow diagram of a method for selecting a downlink auxiliary node provided by an embodiment of this application. The method includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0092] S301. The network device sends a third message, and the third message is used to request an auxiliary node.

[0093] Among them, the third message can be sent through a broadcast message, a control message, or Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0094] Optionally, the third message includes a message type, which includes at least one of relay, uplink assistance, downlink assistance, and coverage extension. That is, after the auxiliary nodes around the network device receive the third message, they determine whether they support relay, uplink assistance, downlink assistance, or coverage extension. Among them, coverage extension means extending the coverage range of the network device through the auxiliary nodes.

[0095] S302. The network device receives a fourth message sent by each of the K auxiliary nodes, where the fourth message is used to indicate whether it has the downlink assistance capability, and K is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0096] Among them, the fourth message sent by each of the K auxiliary nodes may include 1 bit, where 1 may indicate having the downlink assistance capability, and 0 may indicate not having the downlink assistance capability. 0 or 1 can also indicate the opposite.

[0097] Specifically, the network device may select the auxiliary nodes with the downlink assistance capability from the K auxiliary nodes as M candidate auxiliary nodes.

[0098] S303. The network device sends a first message to each of the M candidate auxiliary nodes, where the first message is used to indicate the uplink resources of the network device allocated to each of the M candidate auxiliary nodes, and M is an integer less than or equal to K and greater than or equal to 1.

[0099] Among them, the uplink resources may be uplink access resources, or an independent resource, and this independent resource is specifically used to select auxiliary nodes. This independent resource may be a sequence, or an independent channel, etc.

[0100] It should be noted that the uplink resources of the network device allocated to the M candidate auxiliary nodes need to be distinguished from the uplink resources of the network device itself. Also, the uplink resources of the network device allocated to each of the M candidate auxiliary nodes need to be distinguished.

[0101] Among them, the uplink resources may include access time-domain resources, access frequency-domain resources, spreading code resources, and beam resources. The uplink resources of the network device allocated can be distinguished by time division, frequency division, code division, or space division, etc. Specifically, the following methods are included:

[0102] In one implementation, a time-division method may be adopted, specifically including:

[0103] In the first method, the first message includes the start position of the time-domain resource unit and the number M of time-domain resource units, and the length of the time-domain resource unit is a predefined resource length. After each candidate auxiliary node receives the first message, it determines the index of its own time-domain resource unit according to its ID mod M, and then determines its access time-domain resource according to the start position of the time-domain resource unit, the index of the time-domain resource unit, and the length of the time-domain resource unit. Among them, the number M of time-domain resource units may be equal to the number M of candidate auxiliary nodes, that is, the network device may divide the time-domain resource units according to the number M of candidate auxiliary nodes, or the number of time-domain resource units may be greater than the number of candidate auxiliary nodes, which is not limited here. The ID of each candidate auxiliary node may be the ID of each candidate auxiliary node itself or the ID indicated by the network device, and is used to calculate the time-domain resource position.

[0104] In the second method, the first message includes the length of the time-domain resource unit, the start position of the time-domain resource unit, and the number M of time-domain resource units. After each candidate auxiliary node receives the first message, it determines the index of its own time-domain resource unit according to its ID mod M, and then determines its access time-domain resource according to the start position of the time-domain resource unit, the index of the time-domain resource unit, and the length of the time-domain resource unit. Among them, the number M of time-domain resource units may be equal to the number M of candidate auxiliary nodes, that is, the network device may divide the time-domain resource units according to the number M of candidate auxiliary nodes, or the number of time-domain resource units may be greater than the number of candidate auxiliary nodes, which is not limited here. Alternatively, the first message may include the length of the time-domain resource unit, the start position of the time-domain resource unit, and the index of the time-domain resource unit.

[0105] In the third method, the first message includes the length of the time-domain resource unit and the number of time-domain resource units, and the start position of the time-domain resource unit is the end position of the third message or the end position of the third message plus a first offset. The third message is sent before the first message and is used to request an auxiliary node.

[0106] In another implementation, a frequency division method may be adopted, and differentiation may be performed through different resource blocks (RBs), resource elements (REs), RE sets, and RB sets. Specifically, it includes:

[0107] In the first method, the first message includes the starting position and the number of frequency-domain resource units, and the length of the frequency-domain resource unit is a predefined resource length. After each candidate auxiliary node receives the first message, it determines the index of its own frequency-domain resource unit according to its ID mod M, and then determines its access frequency-domain resource according to the starting position of the frequency-domain resource unit, the index of the frequency-domain resource unit, and the length of the frequency-domain resource unit. Among them, the number M of frequency-domain resource units may be equal to the number M of candidate auxiliary nodes, that is, the network device can divide the frequency-domain resource units according to the number M of candidate auxiliary nodes. The number of frequency-domain resource units may also be greater than the number of candidate auxiliary nodes, which is not limited here. The ID of each candidate auxiliary node may be the ID of each candidate auxiliary node itself or the ID indicated by the network device, and is used to calculate the frequency-domain resource position.

[0108] In the second method, the first message includes the length, the starting position, and the number of frequency-domain resource units. After each candidate auxiliary node receives the first message, it determines the index of its own frequency-domain resource unit according to its ID mod M, and then determines its access frequency-domain resource according to the starting position of the frequency-domain resource unit, the index of the frequency-domain resource unit, and the length of the frequency-domain resource unit. Among them, the number M of frequency-domain resource units may be equal to the number M of candidate auxiliary nodes, that is, the network device can divide the frequency-domain resource units according to the number M of candidate auxiliary nodes. The number of frequency-domain resource units may also be greater than the number of candidate auxiliary nodes, which is not limited here. Alternatively, the first message may include the length, the starting position, and the index of the frequency-domain resource unit.

[0109] In the third method, the first message includes the length and the number of frequency-domain resource units, and the starting position of the frequency-domain resource unit is a predefined frequency-domain position or a predefined frequency-domain position plus a second offset.

[0110] In another implementation, a code-division method may be adopted, which specifically includes:

[0111] In the first method, the first message includes the type of spreading code and the number of groups of spreading codes. The network device may use different types of spreading codes according to the number of first devices. One first device corresponds to one type of spreading code, and the spreading codes are grouped according to the number M of candidate assisting nodes, and then the type of spreading code and the number M of groups are notified to each candidate assisting node. Each candidate assisting node may determine the spreading code to be used and its own code group according to the type of spreading code and the number of groups of spreading codes. Further, its own code group may be determined according to the ID mode M of the candidate assisting node. Among them, the number of candidate assisting nodes may be greater than or equal to the number of groups of spreading codes. The ID may be configured by the network device or the ID of each candidate assisting node itself. The types of spreading codes may include Hadamard spreading codes, spreading codes based on Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), Pseudo Noise (PN) spreading codes, and so on.

[0112] In the second method, the first message includes the type of spreading code, the starting index of the spreading code, and the number. It can be adjusted according to the number of users under the candidate assisting node.

[0113] In another implementation, a space division method may be adopted. The first message includes the beam resources corresponding to the position information of each candidate assisting node among the M candidate assisting nodes.

[0114] It should be noted that the uplink resources of the network device allocated to each candidate assisting node may include any one of time domain, frequency domain, code domain, and beam domain, or may include any two or more resource combinations of time domain, frequency domain, code domain, and beam domain.

[0115] S304, the first device sends a second message to the network device.

[0116] Among them, the second message may be an uplink access message. Or if the uplink resources are independent resources, the second message may also be a message specifically used for downlink assisting node selection.

[0117] Specifically, if the first device is within the coverage area of the candidate assisting node, the candidate assisting node may provide the allocated uplink resources to the first device within the coverage area, and the first device may send the second message on the allocated uplink resources. If the first device is within the coverage area of the network device, the network device may provide its own uplink resources to the first device, and the first device may send the second message on the uplink resources of the network device itself.

[0118] After the network device sends a first message to each of the M candidate auxiliary nodes, it can detect a second message sent by the first device on the allocated uplink resources and detect the second message sent by the first device on its own uplink resources. If the network device receives the second message sent by the first device, it can determine whether candidate auxiliary nodes are needed based on the uplink resources of the first device. Further, if the network device detects the second message sent by the first device on its own uplink resources, that is, the uplink resources of the first device are the uplink resources of the network device itself, it is determined that candidate auxiliary nodes are not needed. If the network device detects the second message sent by the first device on the uplink resources allocated to the candidate auxiliary nodes, or does not detect the second message sent by the first device on its own uplink resources, that is, the uplink resources of the first device are the uplink resources allocated by the network device to the candidate auxiliary nodes, it is determined that candidate auxiliary nodes are needed.

[0119] Optionally, the second message includes the signal quality of each of the M candidate auxiliary nodes measured by the first device. The signal quality can be the Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), the Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), or other information. The network device can select the candidate auxiliary node with the best signal quality from the M candidate auxiliary nodes as the downlink auxiliary node.

[0120] It should be noted that since the positions of each of the M candidate auxiliary nodes are different, only some of the M candidate auxiliary nodes may be able to provide allocated uplink resources to the first device, while other candidate auxiliary nodes cannot cover the first device. Therefore, the second message sent by the first device can include the signal quality of the detected partial candidate auxiliary nodes, and does not include the signal quality of other candidate auxiliary nodes except the partial candidate auxiliary nodes. The network device can select any one of the partial candidate auxiliary nodes as the downlink auxiliary node.

[0121] S305, the network device sends a fifth message to the selected downlink auxiliary node.

[0122] In one implementation, the network device sends a fifth message to a selected downlink auxiliary node, and the downlink auxiliary node receives the fifth message sent by the network device. The fifth message includes first indication information for indicating auxiliary transmission, so as to distinguish between a message directly sent to the downlink auxiliary node and a message that needs to be assisted in sending to the first device. The downlink auxiliary node may determine that the fifth message needs to be assisted in sending according to the first indication information. Among them, the first indication information may include 1 bit, where 1 represents auxiliary transmission and 0 represents sending to the downlink auxiliary node.

[0123] In another implementation, the network device sends a fifth message to a selected downlink auxiliary node, and the downlink auxiliary node receives the fifth message sent by the network device. The message type of the fifth message is auxiliary transmission. The downlink auxiliary node may determine that the fifth message needs to be assisted in sending according to the message type (such as a message index). Messages directly sent to the downlink auxiliary node and messages that need to be assisted in sending to the first device are distinguished by different message types.

[0124] In another implementation, the fifth message is sent to the downlink auxiliary node on a first resource, and the first resource is used to determine auxiliary transmission of the fifth message. Among them, the first resource may be time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), code division multiplexing (CDM), etc. Messages directly sent to the downlink auxiliary node and messages that need to be assisted in sending to the first device are distinguished by using different resources.

[0125] S306. The downlink auxiliary node sends the fifth message to the first device.

[0126] S307. The first device sends an uplink message to the network device.

[0127] In the embodiments of the present application, the network device allocates uplink resources to candidate auxiliary nodes, so that the candidate auxiliary nodes can provide the allocated uplink resources to the first device. Furthermore, the first device can send an uplink access message on the allocated uplink resources. If the network device detects an uplink access message sent by the first device on the allocated uplink resources, it indicates that downlink assistance is required. The network device selects a downlink auxiliary node for downlink auxiliary transmission to expand the coverage area and assist the network device in sending a downlink message to the first device, thereby improving communication efficiency and communication quality.

[0128] It can be understood that in each of the above method embodiments, the methods and operations implemented by the auxiliary node can also be implemented by components (such as chips or circuits) available for the auxiliary node, and the methods and operations implemented by the network device can also be implemented by components (such as chips or circuits) available for the network device.

[0129] Embodiments of the present application can perform function module partitioning on the auxiliary node or the network device according to the above method examples. For example, each function module can be partitioned corresponding to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software function module. It should be noted that the partitioning of modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, only a logical function partitioning, and there can be other partitioning methods in actual implementation. The following will take the example of partitioning each function module corresponding to each function for illustration.

[0130] Above, in combination with Figure 4 The method provided in the embodiments of the present application has been described in detail. Below, in combination with Figures 4 to 5 The communication device provided in the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail. It should be understood that the description of the device embodiments corresponds to the description of the method embodiments. Therefore, the content not described in detail can refer to the above method embodiments. For the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

[0131] Please refer to Figure 4 , Figure 4 FIG. is a schematic structural diagram of a downlink auxiliary node selection device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The downlink auxiliary node selection device may include a sending module 401, a processing module 402, and a receiving module 403.

[0132] The downlink auxiliary node selection device can implement the steps or processes executed by the network device corresponding to the above method embodiments. For example, it can be a terminal device, or a chip or circuit configured in the network device. The sending module 401 and the receiving module 403 are used to perform the transceiver-related operations on the network device side in the above method embodiments, and the processing module 402 is used to perform the processing-related operations on the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0133] The sending module 401 is used to send a first message to each of the M candidate auxiliary nodes, where the first message is used to indicate the uplink resources of the network device allocated to each of the M candidate auxiliary nodes, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

[0134] The processing module 402 is used to detect a second message sent by a first device on the allocated uplink resources;

[0135] The processing module 402 is further configured to select a downlink auxiliary node from the M candidate auxiliary nodes if a second message sent by the first device is detected on the allocated uplink resource.

[0136] Optionally, the first message includes the start position and the number of time domain resource units of a time domain resource unit, and the length of the time domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the first message includes the length, the start position and the number of time domain resource units of a time domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length, the start position and the index of a time domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of time domain resource units, and the start position of the time domain resource unit is the end position of a third message or the end position of the third message plus a first offset, and the third message is sent before the first message and is used to request an auxiliary node.

[0137] Optionally, the first message includes the start position and the number of frequency domain resource units of a frequency domain resource unit, and the length of the frequency domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the first message includes the length, the start position and the number of frequency domain resource units of a frequency domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length, the start position and the index of a frequency domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of frequency domain resource units, and the start position of the frequency domain resource unit is a predefined frequency position or a predefined frequency position plus a second offset.

[0138] Optionally, the first message includes the category of a spreading code and the number of groups of the spreading code, or, the first message includes the category of a spreading code, the start index and the number of the spreading code.

[0139] Optionally, the first message includes the beam resources corresponding to the position information of each candidate auxiliary in the M candidate auxiliary nodes.

[0140] Optionally, the first message includes at least one of the following resources: time domain, frequency domain, code domain or beam domain.

[0141] Optionally, the uplink resource is an uplink access resource, or, the uplink resource is an independent resource, and the independent resource is dedicated to selecting an auxiliary node, and the independent resource is a sequence or an independent channel.

[0142] Optionally, the second message includes the signal quality of each candidate auxiliary node in the M candidate auxiliary nodes measured by the first device; the processing module is further configured to select the candidate auxiliary node with the optimal signal quality from the M candidate auxiliary nodes as the downlink auxiliary node.

[0143] Optionally, the sending module 401 is further configured to send a third message for requesting an auxiliary node.

[0144] Optionally, the receiving module 403 is configured to receive a fourth message sent by each of the K auxiliary nodes, where the fourth message is used to indicate whether it has downlink assistance capability, and K is an integer greater than or equal to M; the processing module 402 is configured to select, from the K auxiliary nodes, the auxiliary nodes with downlink assistance capability as the M candidate auxiliary nodes.

[0145] Optionally, the third message includes a message type, and the message type includes at least one of relay, uplink assistance, downlink assistance, and coverage extension.

[0146] Optionally, the sending module 401 is further configured to send a fifth message to the selected downlink auxiliary node, where the fifth message includes first indication information for indicating auxiliary transmission; or, the sending module 401 is further configured to send a fifth message to the selected downlink auxiliary node, where the message type of the fifth message is auxiliary transmission; or, the sending module 401 is further configured to send a fifth message to the selected downlink auxiliary node on a first resource, where the first resource is used to determine auxiliary transmission of the fifth message.

[0147] It should be noted that the implementation of each module may also correspond to the corresponding description in the Figure 3 method embodiment shown, and execute the methods and functions performed by the network device in the above embodiments.

[0148] Please refer to Figure 5 , Figure 5 which is a schematic structural diagram of another downlink auxiliary node selection device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The downlink auxiliary node selection device may include a receiving module 501 and a sending module 502.

[0149] The downlink auxiliary node selection device can implement the steps or processes performed by the auxiliary node corresponding to the above method embodiment. For example, it can be a terminal device, or a chip or circuit configured in the auxiliary node. The receiving module 501 and the sending module 502 are used to perform the transceiver-related operations on the auxiliary node side in the above method embodiment.

[0150] The receiving module 501 is configured to receive a first message sent by a network device, where the first message is used to indicate the uplink resources allocated to the network device;

[0151] A sending module 502, configured to send the allocated uplink resource to a first device within the coverage area, where the uplink resource is used for the first device to send a second message, and the second message is used for the network device to select a downlink auxiliary node after detecting it on the allocated uplink resource.

[0152] Optionally, the first message includes the start position and the number of time-domain resource units of a time-domain resource unit, and the length of the time-domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the length of the time-domain resource unit, the start position of the time-domain resource unit, and the number of time-domain resource units, or, the first message includes the length of the time-domain resource unit, the start position of the time-domain resource unit, and the index of the time-domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of time-domain resource units, and the start position of the time-domain resource unit is the end position of a third message or the end position of the third message plus a first offset, and the third message is sent before sending the first message and is used to request an auxiliary node.

[0153] Optionally, the first message includes the start position and the number of frequency-domain resource units of a frequency-domain resource unit, and the length of the frequency-domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the length of the frequency-domain resource unit, the start position of the frequency-domain resource unit, and the number of frequency-domain resource units, or, the first message includes the length of the frequency-domain resource unit, the start position of the frequency-domain resource unit, and the index of the frequency-domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of frequency-domain resource units, and the start position of the frequency-domain resource unit is a predefined frequency position or a predefined frequency position plus a second offset.

[0154] Optionally, the first message includes the type of spreading code and the number of groups of spreading codes, or, the first message includes the type of spreading code, the start index of the spreading code, and the number.

[0155] Optionally, the first message includes the beam resource corresponding to the location information of the auxiliary node.

[0156] Optionally, the first message includes at least one of the following resources: time domain, frequency domain, code domain, or beam domain.

[0157] Optionally, the uplink resource is an uplink access resource, or, the uplink resource is an independent resource, and the independent resource is dedicated to selecting an auxiliary node, and the independent resource is a sequence or an independent channel.

[0158] Optionally, the second message includes the signal quality of the auxiliary node measured by the first device.

[0159] Optionally, the receiving module 501 is further configured to receive a third message sent by the network device, where the third message is used to request an auxiliary node; the sending module 502 is further configured to send a fourth message to the network device, where the fourth message is used to indicate whether it has the downlink assistance capability.

[0160] Optionally, the third message includes a message type, and the message type includes at least one of relay, uplink assistance, downlink assistance, and coverage extension.

[0161] Optionally, the receiving module 501 is further configured to receive a fifth message sent by the network device, where the fifth message includes first indication information for indicating auxiliary transmission; or, the receiving module 501 is further configured to receive a fifth message sent by the network device, where the message type of the fifth message is auxiliary transmission; or, the receiving module 501 is further configured to receive a fifth message sent by the network device on a first resource, where the first resource is used to determine auxiliary transmission of the fifth message.

[0162] It should be noted that the implementation of each module may also correspond to the corresponding description of the method embodiment shown in Figure 3 and execute the methods and functions performed by the auxiliary node in the above embodiments.

[0163] Figure 6 This is a schematic structural diagram of a network device provided by an embodiment of the present application. This network device can be applied to a system as shown in Figure 2 and execute the functions of the network device in the above method embodiment, or implement the steps or processes executed by the network device in the above method embodiment.

[0164] As shown in Figure 6 This network device includes a processor 601 and a transceiver 602. Optionally, this network device further includes a memory 603. Among them, the processor 601, the transceiver 602, and the memory 603 can communicate with each other through an internal connection path to transmit control and / or data signals. The memory 603 is used to store a computer program, and the processor 601 is used to call and run the computer program from the memory 603 to control the transceiver 602 to transmit and receive signals. Optionally, the network device may further include an antenna for transmitting the uplink data or uplink control signaling output by the transceiver 602 through a wireless signal.

[0165] The above-mentioned processor 601 and the memory 603 may be integrated into a processing device. The processor 601 is used to execute the program code stored in the memory 603 to implement the above functions. Specifically, the memory 603 may also be integrated in the processor 601 or independent of the processor 601. The processor 601 may correspond to Figure 4 the processing module in.

[0166] The above transceiver 602 can correspond to the receiving module and the transmitting module in Figure 4 and can also be referred to as a transceiver unit or a transceiver module. The transceiver 602 can include a receiver (or a receiver, receiving circuit) and a transmitter (or a transmitter, transmitting circuit). Among them, the receiver is used to receive signals, and the transmitter is used to transmit signals.

[0167] It should be understood that Figure 6 the network device shown can implement Figure 3 each process related to the network device in the method embodiment shown. The operations and / or functions of each module in the network device are respectively for implementing the corresponding processes in the above method embodiment. For details, reference can be made to the description in the above method embodiment. To avoid repetition, the detailed description is appropriately omitted here.

[0168] The above processor 601 can be used to execute the actions implemented inside the network device described in the previous method embodiment, and the transceiver 602 can be used to execute the actions of the network device sending to or receiving from the auxiliary node described in the previous method embodiment. For details, please refer to the description in the previous method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0169] Among them, the processor 601 can be a central processing unit, a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field-programmable gate array or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute various exemplary logic blocks, modules and circuits described in combination with the disclosure of the present application. The processor 601 can also be a combination for implementing computing functions, such as a combination including one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, and so on. The communication bus 604 can be a peripheral component interconnect standard PCI bus or an extended industry standard architecture EISA bus, etc. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For the sake of convenience of representation, Figure 6It is represented only by a thick line, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus. The communication bus 604 is used to implement the connection and communication between these components. Among them, in the embodiment of the present application, the transceiver 602 is used to communicate signaling or data with other node devices. The memory 603 may include volatile memory, such as nonvolatile random access memory (NVRAM), phase change RAM (PRAM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), etc., and may also include nonvolatile memory, such as at least one disk storage device, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory devices, such as NOR flash memory or NAND flash memory, semiconductor devices, such as solid state disk (SSD), etc. Optionally, the memory 603 may also be at least one storage device located far from the aforementioned processor 601. Optionally, a set of computer program codes or configuration information may also be stored in the memory 603. Optionally, the processor 601 may also execute the programs stored in the memory 603. The processor may cooperate with the memory and the transceiver to execute any method and function of the network device in the above-mentioned embodiment of the present application.

[0170] Figure 7 It is a schematic structural diagram of an auxiliary node provided by an embodiment of the present application. This auxiliary node can be applied to a system as shown in Figure 2 and execute the functions of the auxiliary node in the above method embodiment, or implement the steps or processes executed by the auxiliary node in the above method embodiment.

[0171] As shown in Figure 7 this auxiliary node includes a processor 701 and a transceiver 702. Optionally, this auxiliary node further includes a memory 703. Among them, the processor 701, the transceiver 702, and the memory 703 can communicate with each other through an internal connection path to transmit control and / or data signals. The memory 703 is used to store computer programs, and the processor 701 is used to call and run the computer programs from the memory 703 to control the transceiver 702 to send and receive signals. Optionally, the auxiliary node may further include an antenna for sending the uplink data or uplink control signaling output by the transceiver 702 through a wireless signal.

[0172] The above-mentioned processor 701 may be connected to Figure 5The processing module in corresponds to, and together with the memory 703, can form a processing device. The processor 701 is used to execute the program code stored in the memory 703 to implement the above functions. Specifically, in implementation, the memory 703 can also be integrated in the processor 701 or be independent of the processor 701.

[0173] The above transceiver 702 can correspond to Figure 5 the sending module and the receiving module in, and can also be referred to as a transceiver unit or a transceiver module. The transceiver 702 can include a receiver (or called a receiver, receiving circuit) and a transmitter (or called a transmitter, transmitting circuit). Among them, the receiver is used to receive signals, and the transmitter is used to transmit signals.

[0174] It should be understood that Figure 7 the auxiliary node shown can implement Figure 3 each process related to the auxiliary node in the method embodiment shown. The operations and / or functions of each module in the auxiliary node are respectively for implementing the corresponding processes in the above method embodiment. For details, please refer to the description in the above method embodiment. To avoid repetition, the detailed description is appropriately omitted here.

[0175] The above processor 701 can be used to execute the actions implemented inside the auxiliary node described in the previous method embodiment, and the transceiver 702 can be used to execute the actions of the auxiliary node sending to or receiving from the network device described in the previous method embodiment. For details, please refer to the description in the previous method embodiment, and it will not be elaborated here.

[0176] Among them, the processor 701 can be various types of processors mentioned above. The communication bus 704 can be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For the sake of convenience in representation, Figure 7 only a thick line is used to represent it in, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus. The communication bus 704 is used to realize the connection and communication between these components. Among them, the transceiver 702 of the device in the embodiment of the present application is used to communicate signaling or data with other devices. The memory 703 can be various types of memories mentioned above. Optionally, the memory 703 can also be at least one storage device located far from the aforementioned processor 701. A set of computer program codes or configuration information is stored in the memory 703, and the processor 701 executes the program in the memory 703. The processor can cooperate with the memory and the transceiver to execute any method and function of the auxiliary node in the above application embodiment.

[0177] The embodiment of the present application also provides a chip system, which includes a processor for supporting an auxiliary node or a network device to implement the functions involved in any of the foregoing embodiments, such as generating or processing the first message involved in the foregoing method.

[0178] In a possible design, the chip system may further include a memory for storing necessary computer programs and data for the auxiliary node or the network device. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices. Among them, the input and output of the chip system respectively correspond to the receiving and sending operations of the auxiliary node or the network device in the method embodiment.

[0179] According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program. When the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute Figure 3 the method of any one of the embodiments shown.

[0180] According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application also provides a computer-readable medium storing a computer program. When the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute Figure 3 the method of any one of the embodiments shown.

[0181] According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application also provides a communication system, which includes one or more of the foregoing auxiliary nodes and one or more network devices.

[0182] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from a website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center in a wired manner (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wirelessly (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more integrated available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (such as a floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (such as a high-definition digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disc (SSD)), etc.

[0183] As described above, the foregoing are only specific embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present application can easily think of changes or substitutions, which should all be covered by the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for selecting a downlink auxiliary node, characterized in that, The method includes: The network device sends a first message to each of the M candidate auxiliary nodes, where the first message is used to indicate the uplink resources of the network device allocated to each of the M candidate auxiliary nodes, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; The network device detects a second message sent by the first device on the allocated uplink resources; If the second message sent by the first device is detected on the allocated uplink resources, the network device selects a downlink auxiliary node from the M candidate auxiliary nodes.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The first message includes the start position and the number of time domain resource units, and the length of the time domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the first message includes the length of the time domain resource unit, the start position and the number of time domain resource units, or, the first message includes the length of the time domain resource unit, the start position and the index of the time domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of time domain resource units, and the start position of the time domain resource unit is the end position of the third message or the end position of the third message plus a first offset, and the third message is sent before sending the first message and is used to request an auxiliary node.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first message includes the start position and the number of frequency domain resource units, and the length of the frequency domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the first message includes the length of the frequency domain resource unit, the start position and the number of frequency domain resource units, or, the first message includes the length of the frequency domain resource unit, the start position and the index of the frequency domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and the number of frequency domain resource units, and the start position of the frequency domain resource unit is a predefined frequency position or a predefined frequency position plus a second offset.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein The first message includes the type of spreading code and the number of groups of spreading codes, or, the first message includes the type of spreading code, the start index and the number of spreading codes.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first message includes the beam resources corresponding to the position information of each candidate auxiliary among the M candidate auxiliary nodes.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, The first message includes at least one of the following resources: time domain, frequency domain, code domain or beam domain.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, The uplink resources are uplink access resources, or, the uplink resources are independent resources, and the independent resources are specifically used to select auxiliary nodes, and the independent resources are sequences or independent channels.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The second message includes the signal quality of each candidate auxiliary node among the M candidate auxiliary nodes measured by the first device; The network device selecting a downlink auxiliary node from the M candidate auxiliary nodes includes: The network device selects the candidate auxiliary node with the best signal quality from the M candidate auxiliary nodes as the downlink auxiliary node.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, Before the network device sends the first message to each of the M candidate auxiliary nodes, it further includes: The network device sends a third message, and the third message is used to request an auxiliary node.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The method further includes: The network device receives a fourth message sent by each of the K auxiliary nodes, where the fourth message is used to indicate whether it has downlink assistance capability, and K is an integer greater than or equal to M; The network device selects, from the K auxiliary nodes, the auxiliary nodes with downlink assistance capability as the M candidate auxiliary nodes.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that The third message includes a message type, and the message type includes at least one of relay, uplink assistance, downlink assistance, and coverage extension.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1-11, characterized in that, The method further includes: The network device sends a fifth message to the selected downlink assistance nodes, where the fifth message includes first indication information for indicating auxiliary transmission; or The network device sends a fifth message to the selected downlink assistance nodes, and the message type of the fifth message is auxiliary transmission; or The network device sends a fifth message to the selected downlink assistance nodes on a first resource, where the first resource is used to determine auxiliary transmission for the fifth message.

13. A method for selecting a downlink auxiliary node, characterized in that, The method includes: An auxiliary node receives a first message sent by a network device, where the first message is used to indicate the uplink resources allocated to the network device; The auxiliary node sends the allocated uplink resources to a first device within its coverage area, where the uplink resources are used for the first device to send a second message, and the second message is used for the network device to select a downlink assistance node after detecting it on the allocated uplink resources.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein The first message includes the start position and number of time domain resource units, and the length of the time domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the length, start position, and number of time domain resource units of the time domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length, start position, and index of the time domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and number of time domain resource units, and the start position of the time domain resource unit is the end position of the third message or the end position of the third message plus a first offset, and the third message is sent before the first message and is used to request an auxiliary node.

15. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The first message includes the start position and number of frequency domain resource units, and the length of the frequency domain resource unit is a predefined resource length, or, the length, start position, and number of frequency domain resource units of the frequency domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length, start position, and index of the frequency domain resource unit, or, the first message includes the length and number of frequency domain resource units, and the start position of the frequency domain resource unit is a predefined frequency position or a predefined frequency position plus a second offset.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein The first message includes the category and number of groups of spreading codes, or, the first message includes the category, start index, and number of the spreading codes.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein The first message includes the beam resources corresponding to the location information of the auxiliary node.

18. The method according to any one of claims 13-17, characterized in that, The first message includes at least one of the following resources: time domain, frequency domain, code domain, or beam domain.

19. The method according to any one of claims 13-18, characterized in that, The uplink resource is an uplink access resource, or the uplink resource is an independent resource, where the independent resource is dedicated to selecting an auxiliary node, and the independent resource is a sequence or an independent channel.

20. The method according to any one of claims 13-19, characterized in that, The second message includes the signal quality of the auxiliary node measured by the first device.

21. The method according to any one of claims 13-20, characterized in that Before the auxiliary node receives the first message sent by the network device, it further includes: The auxiliary node receives a third message sent by the network device, where the third message is used to request the auxiliary node. The auxiliary node sends a fourth message to the network device, where the fourth message is used to indicate whether it has downlink assistance capabilities.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein, The third message includes a message type, and the message type includes at least one of relay, uplink assistance, downlink assistance, and coverage extension.

23. The method according to any one of claims 13-22, characterized in that, The method further includes: The auxiliary node receives a fifth message sent by the network device, where the fifth message includes first indication information for indicating auxiliary transmission; or The auxiliary node receives a fifth message sent by the network device, where the message type of the fifth message is auxiliary transmission; or The auxiliary node receives a fifth message sent by the network device on a first resource, where the first resource is used to determine auxiliary transmission of the fifth message.

24. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes a memory and a processor. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor runs the computer program to cause the communication device to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-12.

25. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes a memory and a processor. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor runs the computer program to cause the communication device to execute the method according to any one of claims 13-23.

26. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium includes a computer program, and when the computer program is run by a processor, the method according to any one of claims 1-23 is implemented.

27. A chip, characterized in that, The chip includes a processor and a communication interface. The communication interface is used to communicate with external or internal devices, and the processor is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1-23.

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