Electronic device, communication method and computer readable storage medium

Abstract

The invention provides an electronic device, a communication method and a computer readable storage medium. For example, an electronic apparatus may include processing circuitry configured to: obtain an indicator regarding a quality of a cooperative transmission implemented by a current cooperative device that relays a portion of data originating from a source device to be transmitted to a destination device to implement the cooperative transmission; generating a status report with respect to the current cooperative device depending on a relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission qualities from high to low; and transmitting the generated status report to another electronic device.

Description

Electronic device, communication method, and computer-readable storage medium

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on May 9, 2023, with application number 202310522703.X and invention name “Electronic device, communication method and computer-readable storage medium”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and more particularly, to an electronic device, a communication method, and a computer-readable storage medium that are beneficial for maintaining the quality of collaborative transmission. Background Art

[0003] Currently, wireless networks, especially mobile cellular networks, cannot provide the high-speed, reliable data communication required by users in certain situations (for example, when a user terminal is at the cell edge or moving at high speed, or when users need to upload high-bitrate video services such as 4K / 8K in real time). Standardization organizations such as 3GPP are discussing direct communication technologies between mobile terminals, such as Sidelink. Using direct communication between mobile terminals, multiple users can collaborate on data transmission.

[0004] Currently, there is no suitable solution for maintaining the quality of cooperative transmission in a cooperative transmission system. Therefore, it is desired to provide a solution that is conducive to maintaining the quality of cooperative transmission.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] A brief overview of the present disclosure is provided below to provide a basic understanding of certain aspects of the present disclosure. However, it should be understood that this overview is not an exhaustive overview of the present disclosure. It is not intended to identify key or important parts of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Its purpose is simply to present certain concepts of the present disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that will be given later.

[0007] An object of at least one aspect of the present disclosure is to provide an electronic device, a (wireless) communication method, and a computer-readable storage medium, which facilitate maintaining the quality of cooperative transmission in a cooperative transmission system.

[0008] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided, which includes a processing circuit configured to: obtain an indicator of the quality of collaborative transmission achieved by a current collaborative device, which relays a portion of data originating from a source device to be transmitted to a destination device to achieve collaborative transmission; generate a status report about the current collaborative device depending on a relationship between the indicator and a first range to a third range that indicate transmission quality from high to low in sequence; and send the generated status report to another electronic device.

[0009] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided, which includes a processing circuit configured to: receive a status report about a current collaborative device, which relays a portion of data originating from a source device to be transmitted to a destination device to achieve collaborative transmission; and determine adjustments to the collaborative transmission based on the received status report, wherein the status report is generated depending on a relationship between an indicator about the quality of the collaborative transmission achieved by the current collaborative device and a first range to a third range that indicate transmission quality from high to low, in sequence.

[0010] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided, which includes a processing circuit configured to: obtain an indicator of the quality of collaborative transmission achieved by a current collaborative device, which relays a portion of data originating from a source device to be transmitted to a destination device to achieve collaborative transmission; and determine adjustments to the collaborative transmission depending on a relationship between the indicator and a first range to a third range that indicate transmission quality from high to low, in sequence.

[0011] According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, a communication method is also provided, which includes: obtaining an indicator of the quality of collaborative transmission achieved by a current collaborative device, which relays a portion of data originating from a source device to be transmitted to a destination device to achieve collaborative transmission; generating a status report about the current collaborative device depending on the relationship between the indicator and a first range to a third range that indicate transmission quality from high to low in sequence; and sending the generated status report to another electronic device.

[0012] According to the second aspect of the present disclosure, a communication method is also provided, which includes: receiving a status report about a current collaborative device, which relays a portion of data originating from a source device to be transmitted to a destination device to achieve collaborative transmission; and determining adjustments to the collaborative transmission based on the received status report, wherein the status report is generated depending on the relationship between an indicator of the quality of the collaborative transmission achieved by the current collaborative device and a first range to a third range that indicate transmission quality from high to low in sequence.

[0013] According to the third aspect of the present disclosure, a communication method is also provided, which includes: obtaining an indicator of the quality of collaborative transmission achieved by a current collaborative device, which relays a portion of data originating from a source device to be transmitted to a destination device to achieve collaborative transmission; and determining adjustments to the collaborative transmission depending on the relationship between the indicator and a first range to a third range that indicate transmission quality from high to low in sequence.

[0014] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions is provided. When the executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the above communication method or various functions of the above electronic device.

[0015] According to other aspects of the present disclosure, computer program codes and computer program products for implementing the above-mentioned method according to the present disclosure are also provided.

[0016] According to at least one aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, an indicator of the quality of the collaborative transmission implemented by the current collaborative device is used to obtain a status report generated depending on the relationship between the indicator and the first range to the third range indicating the transmission quality for determining appropriate adjustments to the collaborative transmission, or the appropriate adjustments to the collaborative transmission are determined directly depending on the above relationship, thereby facilitating the maintenance of the quality of the collaborative transmission.

[0017] Other aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are given in the following description, wherein the detailed description is used to fully disclose the preferred embodiments of the embodiments of the present disclosure without imposing limitations thereon. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In the drawings:

[0019] 1A and 1B are schematic diagrams for illustrating a cooperative transmission system to which the technology of the present disclosure may be applied;

[0020] FIG2 is a schematic diagram illustrating how the rate of device-to-device (D2D) communication changes with the distance between two user equipments (UEs);

[0021] 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an electronic device according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0022] FIG4 is a flow chart illustrating an example signaling interaction for obtaining a quality indicator model;

[0023] FIG5 is a diagram showing an example of first to third ranges indicating transmission quality;

[0024] FIG6 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for generating a status report;

[0025] 7 is a block diagram showing a first configuration example of an electronic device according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0026] 8 is a block diagram showing a second configuration example of the electronic device according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0027] 9A and 9B are flowcharts for explaining example processing performed by the electronic device of FIG. 8 ;

[0028] 10A and 10B are flowcharts for illustrating example signaling interactions for cooperative transmission adjustment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; `

[0029] FIG11 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an electronic device according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0030] 12 is a flowchart showing a process example of a communication method according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0031] 13 is a flowchart showing a process example of a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0032] 14 is a flowchart showing a process example of a communication method according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0033] 15 is a block diagram illustrating a first example of a schematic configuration of a server to which the technology of the present disclosure may be applied;

[0034] FIG16 is a block diagram showing a first example of a schematic configuration of an eNB to which the technology of the present disclosure may be applied;

[0035] FIG17 is a block diagram illustrating a second example of a schematic configuration of an eNB to which the technology of the present disclosure may be applied;

[0036] FIG18 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a smartphone to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied;

[0037] FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied.

[0038] While the present disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the description of specific embodiments herein is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but rather, the disclosure is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure. It should be noted that throughout the several drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] Examples of the present disclosure will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses.

[0040] Example embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be exhaustive and will fully convey its scope to those skilled in the art. Numerous specific details such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods are set forth to provide a detailed understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be used and that the example embodiments can be implemented in many different forms, none of which should be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.

[0041] The description will be in the following order:

[0042] 1. Overview

[0043] 2. Configuration Example of Electronic Device of First Embodiment

[0044] 2.1 Configuration Example

[0045] 2.2 Modification Example

[0046] 3. Configuration Example of Electronic Device of Second Embodiment

[0047] 3.1 Configuration Example

[0048] 3.2 Example Signaling Interaction

[0049] 3.3 Modification Example

[0050] 5. Configuration Example of Electronic Device of Third Embodiment

[0051] 5. Method Examples

[0052] 6. Application Examples

[0053] <1. Overview>

[0054] Figures 1A and 1B illustrate schematic diagrams of a collaborative transmission system to which the techniques of the present disclosure can be applied. As shown in the figures, the collaborative transmission system includes a source device UE0, at least one collaborative device UEi (the figures show examples where i = 1 or 2, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto; i can be a natural number greater than or equal to 1), and a destination device AS or gNB. The source device UE0 sends at least a portion of the data to be transmitted to the destination device to one or more collaborative devices UEi for relaying, and the data is then relayed by the collaborative devices UEi to the destination device AS or gNB. The destination device may aggregate the received data or forward it to another device for aggregation, etc.

[0055] In one example, the source device UE0 can split the transmission data, with some data being transmitted by UE0 and the rest being transmitted by at least one cooperating UEi. In this case, the coordinated transmission can also be referred to as aggregated transmission, and the source device can also be referred to as an aggregate-initiating UE. In another example, the source device UE0 can transmit the transmission data to the destination device only via the relay of one or more cooperating UEi, without directly transmitting the data to the destination device itself. The present disclosure applies to both of these examples, and will not be further elaborated here.

[0056] The collaborative transmission system can have different application scenarios, such as, but not limited to, the APP layer (application layer) shown in Figure 1A and the radio access network (RAN) side shown in Figure 1B. In the APP layer example of Figure 1A, the destination device can be, for example, an aggregation server (AS) that implements aggregation functions (although referred to as a "server" here, the AS can be any device that implements aggregation functions, including terminal devices, etc.), or a device that forwards data originating from the source UE0 to the aggregation server. In the RAN side example of Figure 1B, the destination device can be, for example, a network-side device such as a base station gNB, which can implement aggregation functions itself or forward data originating from the source UE0 to other devices that implement aggregation functions. Optionally, in the example of Figure 1B, for example, in the case of direct communication between the source UE0 and the collaborative UEi via a method such as a sidelink, the network-side device such as the base station gNB can allocate communication resources for this direct communication.

[0057] In a cooperative transmission system, factors such as the mobility of users (UE0 and UEi) will affect the transmission quality of the system and further affect its robustness.

[0058] For example, when the cooperating UEi moves away from the source UE0, the D2D transmission rate between the two will decrease or even be interrupted. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram for illustrating how the rate of device-to-device (D2D) communication changes with the distance between two user equipment (UE), where (A) schematically shows a test scenario where the distance between the two devices changes, (B) shows the relevant parameters in the test, and (C) shows a curve chart showing the D2D transmission rate (S) between the two devices (using WiFi-Direct in the test) as the distance (D) changes. As shown in Figure 2, as the distance (D) between the two UEs increases, the D2D transmission rate (S) decreases from 118Mbps to 30Mbps.

[0059] Due to the reduced transmission rate of D2D, even if the cooperating UEi has a high-speed upload channel, it cannot effectively use it. Therefore, its upload rate will be reduced, resulting in a decrease in the overall transmission rate of the collaborative system, which in turn affects the quality (latency, packet reception rate, etc.) or stability of the collaborative transmission.

[0060] In view of the above situation, the inventors proposed the following inventive concept: based on an indicator of the quality of the collaborative transmission achieved by the current collaborative device (hereinafter also appropriately referred to as the quality indication indicator), a status report generated depending on the relationship between the indicator and the first range to the third range indicating the transmission quality (hereinafter also appropriately referred to as the indicator range) is obtained to determine the appropriate adjustment of the collaborative transmission, or the appropriate adjustment of the collaborative transmission is determined directly depending on the above relationship, thereby facilitating the maintenance of the quality of the collaborative transmission.

[0061] Next, a first embodiment of generating a status report depending on the relationship between a quality indication indicator and a quality indication range, a second embodiment of determining adjustments to collaborative transmission based on the above status report, and a third embodiment of directly determining adjustments to collaborative transmission depending on the relationship between a quality indication indicator and a quality indication range will be described respectively.

[0062] <2. Configuration Example of Electronic Device of First Embodiment>

[0063] [2.1 Configuration Example]

[0064] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0065] 3 , the electronic device 300 may include an acquisition unit 310, a generation unit 320, and a communication unit 330. In addition, although not shown in the figure, the electronic device 300 may further include an optional storage unit for storing various programs, data, parameters, and the like.

[0066] Here, each unit of the electronic device 300 may be included in a processing circuit. It should be noted that the electronic device 300 may include either one processing circuit or multiple processing circuits. Furthermore, the processing circuit may include various discrete functional units to perform various functions and / or operations. It should be noted that these functional units may be physical entities or logical entities, and units with different names may be implemented by the same physical entity.

[0067] The electronic device 300 of the first embodiment may be a terminal-side device, and may be used as a source device or a collaborative device in the collaborative transmission of FIG. 1A or FIG. 1B , which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0068] In this configuration example, further details of the example processing will be described in combination with the case where the electronic device 300 is implemented on the collaborative device (UEi) side in a collaborative transmission system such as shown in Figure 1A or Figure 1B; these details are equally or similarly applicable to the case where the electronic device 300 is implemented on the source device (UE0) side (the differences will be described in detail in the subsequent modified examples and will not be repeated here).

[0069] According to a first embodiment, the acquisition unit 310 of the electronic device 300 may be configured to acquire an indicator (quality indicator) regarding the quality of collaborative transmission implemented by the current collaborative device, which relays a portion of data originating from a source device to be transmitted to a destination device to implement the collaborative transmission. The generation unit 320 may be configured to generate a status report regarding the current collaborative device based on a relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges (indicator ranges) that sequentially indicate transmission quality from high to low. The communication unit may be configured to transmit the generated status report to another electronic device.

[0070] Using the above method, the electronic device 300 can appropriately generate and send a status report about the current collaborative device to another electronic device based on the quality indication index obtained about the current collaborative device, so as to facilitate the other electronic device to appropriately determine the adjustment of the collaborative transmission based on the received status report.

[0071] Next, further details of examples of parameters or processes involved in respective units of the electronic device will be described.

[0072] Examples / Example Processing Related to Quality Indicators Obtained by the Acquisition Unit

[0073] As an example, the quality indicator (Q index) can indicate one or more of the following: the distance between the collaborating device and the source device (D: first indicator); the quality of the signal received by the collaborating device from the source device (Q0: second indicator); or the quality of the signal received by the destination device through collaborative transmission (Q: third indicator).

[0074] The acquisition unit 310 can obtain the above-mentioned indicators through various appropriate processing. For example, when the electronic device 300 is implemented on the collaborative device UEi side of Figure 1A or Figure 1B (the UEi corresponding to the electronic device 300 can be referred to as the current collaborative device in this case), the acquisition unit 310 can, for example, obtain the first indicator D_i by measuring the distance between it and the source device UE0 using various existing distance measurement methods (for example, but not limited to a ranging method based on frequency modulated continuous wave, a ranging method based on received signal strength indication (RSSI), etc.), or obtain the second indicator Q0_i by measuring the quality of the signal received by the communication unit 330, where the quality of the received signal can be represented by, for example, a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), a reference signal received power (RSRP), or a received signal strength indication RSSI.

[0075] Furthermore, the acquisition unit 310 may acquire the third indicator Q_i by measuring the quality of a signal received by the destination device during cooperative transmission, for example, from the destination device via the communication unit 330. As an example of the third indicator obtained through measurement, the received signal quality of the destination device may be a general quality indicator of a signal received by the destination device from the current cooperative device, represented by, for example, SINR, RSRP, or RSSI.

[0076] As another example of a third metric obtained through measurement, the received signal quality of the destination device can be a specific quality metric related to the type of transmitted data. For example, if the transmitted data is video data, the third metric can be a video quality metric such as Video Multi-method Assessment Fusion (VMAF); if the transmitted data is audio data, the third metric can be a corresponding audio quality metric.

[0077] In addition to being obtained directly through measurement, in an alternative example, the third indicator indicating the quality of the signal received by the destination device through collaborative transmission can be determined by the acquisition unit 310 based on one or more of the following: the probability of data packet retransmission between the source device and the collaborative device; the probability of data packet retransmission between the collaborative device and the destination device; and the transmission delay between the collaborative device and the destination device.

[0078] In the case where the electronic device 300 itself is used on the cooperative device side, its acquisition unit 310 can, for example, acquire the above parameters via communication between the communication unit 330 and the source device and the destination device, etc., which will not be repeated here.

[0079] In addition, the acquisition unit 310 may utilize a quality indicator model that is pre-trained and stored in, for example, a storage unit not shown, to acquire the third indicator based on the one or more items mentioned above.

[0080] More specifically, the input of the quality indicator model used by the acquisition unit 310 (model input data) may include: the probability of data packet retransmission between the source device and the current collaborative device; the probability of data packet retransmission between the current collaborative device and the destination device; and / or the transmission delay between the current collaborative device and the destination device. The output of the quality indicator model can directly indicate the quality of the signal received by the destination device via collaborative transmission (such as VMAF, etc.), or it can indicate the corresponding one of the first to third indicator ranges to which the quality belongs (described later). The quality indicator model can be implemented, for example, by various neural network models such as convolutional neural networks (CNN) or machine learning models such as K-nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), etc.

[0081] The quality indicator model can be obtained by training using various appropriate methods based on labeled training data corresponding to the above model input data.

[0082] Here, training data from n collaborative UEs (n = 1, 2, 3, etc.) may be used for training. That is, the model may have n sets of input channels corresponding to the number of collaborative UEs involved in the training. In application, the input data of the current collaborative UE can be copied into n corresponding sets and input into the model to obtain the output results for the current collaborative UE.

[0083] As an example, the above-mentioned quality indicator model can be trained by a single device such as a source device such as UE0 in Figure 1A, and distributed to each collaborative device UEi after the training is completed, so that each collaborative device can store the entire model in its own storage unit. The training of the model can be carried out in the following manner: a loss function is established to represent the difference between the output result of the model and the true result corresponding to the training data (the true quality value such as VMAF marked by the training data, or the corresponding one of the first to third indicator ranges marked by the training data), and the loss function is minimized as the goal, for example, iterative training is performed using the gradient descent method until a predetermined iteration stop condition is reached (for example, the loss function reaches a minimum value, the loss function no longer changes, or a predetermined number of iterations is reached). The model parameters at this time are the optimal model parameters, thereby completing the iterative training of the quality indicator model.

[0084] Alternatively, the above-mentioned quality indicator model can also be implemented via federated learning (e.g., vertical federated learning). For example, a source device such as UE0 trains a source device model model0 based on feature 1 (e.g., the probability of packet retransmission p0_i between the source device and n collaborative UEi), and a collaborative device such as UEi (i=1,2,..n) trains a collaborative device model modeli based on features 2 and 3 (e.g., the probability of packet retransmission p_i between the collaborative UEi and the destination device such as the aggregation server AS in FIG1A, and the transmission delay delay_i from the collaborative UEi to the aggregation server AS); the source device then federates model0 and modeli to obtain updated model0 and modeli, and then distributes modeli to the corresponding collaborative device UEi. FIG4 shows a flowchart of an example signaling interaction for obtaining a quality indicator model via federated learning.

[0085] In the case of obtaining a distributed model through federated learning, the source device UE0, for example, stores the source device model model0, and each collaborative device UEi and UEj, for example, respectively stores its own collaborative device model modeli and modelj, where j is a collaborative device number that is not equal to i. At this time, the acquisition unit 310 of the electronic device 300 applied to the collaborative device UEi can use the communication unit 330 to send the corresponding part of the model input data it has obtained to UE0, and UE0 performs necessary forwarding to other collaborative devices UEj (for example, UE0 uses the packet retransmission probability p0_i between UE0 and UEi in the model model0, and sends the packet retransmission probability p_i between UEi and the destination device, and the transmission delay delay_i from UEi to the destination device to UEj), and receives the output results of each model from UE0 (for example, the output result of model0 directly obtained by UE0 and the output result of modelj obtained from UEj), and then combines the output result of its own model modeli, for example, through weighted averaging, to obtain the final quality indicator.

[0086] The above describes an example in which the acquisition unit 310 of the electronic device 300 directly determines (or estimates) a quality indicator such as VMAF (or the range thereof) based on relevant parameters such as the packet retransmission probability using a pre-trained quality indicator model. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, a quality indicator database can be established based on historical data corresponding to the training data in the process of acquiring the model, and similarity with the entries in the database can be applied to determine a third indicator such as VMAF (or the range thereof) corresponding to the current relevant parameters such as the packet retransmission probability, thereby eliminating the need for relevant training processing, which will not be further described here.

[0087] Compared with the situation where the acquisition unit 310 of the electronic device 300 receives a third indicator such as VMAF about real-time transmission such as video stream data from the destination device (this situation means that the destination device must receive the video stream and calculate VMAF, and then feed back VMAF to the electronic device 300), the acquisition unit 310 directly determines (or estimates) the third indicator such as VMAF based on relevant parameters such as the packet retransmission probability, for example, using a pre-trained model, which can be carried out synchronously with the transmission of video stream data, thereby optimizing the process and reducing video transmission delay.

[0088] Each of the above-described metrics such as the first to third metrics and their acquisition methods can be applied to various cooperative transmission systems, such as but not limited to the systems shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. In addition, the quality indication metrics obtained above can be advantageously applied to various applications, such as the generating unit 320 described later being used to generate a status report regarding a cooperative device. However, these quality indication metrics are not limited thereto, but can be used as a general indication of the quality of cooperative transmission and applied in ways not mentioned in this article.

[0089] Examples / Example Processing Related to the Generating Unit

[0090] When the generating unit 320 generates a status report regarding the current cooperative device, it needs to compare the quality indication metric (Q index ) of the current cooperative device with the first to third ranges (metric ranges) that sequentially indicate the transmission quality from high to low, and generate a corresponding status report depending on the relationship between the two, that is, which range the metric falls into.

[0091] (Examples of Metric Ranges) <00oo262>The first to third ranges as metric ranges can be divided according to the first threshold and the second threshold (metric thresholds: Thre1, Thre2, where Thre1 < Thre2) of the quality indication metric (Q index ), that is, the first or third range where Q index < Thre1, the second range where Thre1 ≤ Q index ≤ Thre2, and the third or first range where Q index > Thre2. Among them, the specific definitions of the first and third ranges depend on which of the aforementioned first to third metrics D, Q0, and Q the metric Q <00oo007> specifically adopts. When the metric is the first metric D indicating distance, Q index < Thre1 is the first range with the highest communication quality, and Q index > Thre2 is the third range with the lowest communication quality; when the metric is the second or third metric Q0 or Q indicating the received signal quality, Q index > Thre2 is the first range with the highest communication quality, and Q index < Thre1 is the third range with the lowest communication quality.

[0093] When the electronic device 300 is used as a collaborative device, it can obtain the above-mentioned indicator thresholds or ranges from the source device (or destination device) via the communication unit 330 and pre-store them in a storage unit (not shown) of the electronic device 300. These indicator thresholds or ranges can be determined individually for each collaborative device by the source device (or destination device) and then distributed to each collaborative device accordingly (for example, to facilitate consideration of unique attributes that may exist in each device), or they can be determined for one collaborative device and then uniformly distributed to all collaborative devices (for example, to facilitate simplified processing).

[0094] As an example, the above-mentioned indicator thresholds can be determined in the following manner: based on various factors such as the performance requirements of the system, appropriately determine the first threshold and second threshold (parameter threshold) of various parameters related to the quality of collaborative transmission, and determine the first and second indicator thresholds corresponding to the above-mentioned parameter thresholds based on the correspondence between each indicator (D, Q0, Q) and the corresponding parameters.

[0095] Here, as an example, the parameters related to the quality of collaborative transmission may include: a first parameter, such as the transmission rate S between the collaborative device and the source device; a second parameter, the quality Q0 of the signal received by the collaborative device from the source device; a third parameter, the number of retransmissions N between the collaborative device and the source device. re a fourth parameter, the quality Q of the signal received by the destination device through cooperative transmission, etc. These parameters and their corresponding parameter thresholds (i.e., the indicator thresholds and corresponding indicator ranges determined accordingly) can be applied to various example application scenarios shown in FIG. 1A or FIG. 1B .

[0096] In this paper, each parameter (S, Q0, N re , Q) can be the critical parameter values ​​at which the transmission quality of collaborative transmission begins to deteriorate and seriously deteriorates, so as to divide each parameter into the first to third parameter ranges, which correspond to high, medium and low transmission qualities respectively, that is, the first parameter range indicates that the collaborative transmission quality is the highest, and the collaborative transmission does not need to be adjusted; the third parameter range indicates that the collaborative transmission quality is the lowest, which affects the stability of the collaborative transmission system (for example, but not limited to insufficient overall rate, increased packet loss rate, increased delay, etc.), and the current collaborative device needs to exit the collaborative transmission, and the collaborative transmission may need to be appropriately adjusted; the second parameter range between the two indicates that the collaborative transmission quality is intermediate, and the current collaborative device can remain in the collaborative transmission system, but the collaborative transmission may need to be appropriately adjusted.

[0097] Next, examples of various parameter thresholds and their meanings will be described in detail with reference to the example applications of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B .

[0098] (Example of parameter threshold value of first parameter)

[0099] For the case of the transmission rate S between a cooperative device UEi and a source device UE0 as shown in, for example, FIG. 1A or FIG. 1B, which is the first parameter, the parameter threshold can be the following threshold: The first threshold S1 is the critical value at which the transmission rate S hardly deteriorates, for example, indicating that the transmission rate S remains basically unchanged or its change does not affect the uplink transmission rate (abbreviated as "upload rate") Speed of UEi UL_ i, and consequently does not affect the upload rate Speed of the entire cooperative transmission system UL , where Speed UL＝ ∑Speed UL_ i; The second threshold S2 is the critical value at which the transmission rate S deteriorates severely, for example, indicating that the change in the transmission rate S causes the uplink transmission rate Speed of UEi UL_ i to drop to an intolerable level, and consequently causes the upload rate Speed of the entire cooperative transmission system UL to be insufficient.

[0100] Correspondingly, when the transmission rate Si between UEi and UE0 satisfies Si > S2, no adjustment needs to be made to the cooperative transmission system; when S1 ≤ Si ≤ S2, it is desirable to adjust the cooperative transmission, for example, to improve the overall uplink rate; when Si < S1, it is desired that the current cooperative device exits the cooperative transmission, and it may also be desired to adjust the transmission rate, transmission volume, etc. of other cooperative devices in the cooperative transmission system and / or add new cooperative devices to improve the overall uplink rate.

[0101] (Examples of parameter thresholds for the second parameter)

[0102] For the case of the quality Q0 of the signal received by a cooperative device UEi from a source device UE0 as shown in, for example, FIG. 1A or FIG. 1B, which is the second parameter, the parameter threshold can be the following threshold: The first threshold Q01 is the critical value at which the received signal quality Q0 of UEi hardly deteriorates, for example, indicating that the transmission quality of the cooperative transmission via UEi hardly deteriorates; The second threshold Q02 is the critical value at which the received signal quality Q0 of UEi deteriorates severely, for example, indicating that the transmission quality of the cooperative transmission via UEi deteriorates severely.

[0103] Correspondingly, when the received signal quality Q0 of the signal received by the cooperative device UEi from the source device UE0 is large enough, i.e., Q0_i > Q02, no adjustment is required for the cooperative transmission system; when Q01 ≤ Q0_i ≤ Q02, it is desired to adjust the cooperative transmission, for example, to improve the transmission quality; when Q0_i < Q0_1, it is hoped that the current cooperative device exits the cooperative transmission, and it may also be desired to adjust other cooperative devices in the cooperative transmission system and / or add new cooperative devices to improve the quality of the cooperative transmission (such as increasing the overall uplink rate, etc.).

[0104] Here, for example, in the example application shown in FIG. 1B, when the source device UE0 and the cooperative device UEi communicate via Sidelink, the frequency resources of this communication may be switched between the first frequency band and the second frequency band lower than the first frequency band. As an example, the first frequency band may be a high-frequency band in Frequency Range 2 (FR2), for example, from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz, which has more spectrum resources and uses beam communication, thus bringing higher throughput and signal reception quality. The second frequency band may be a low-frequency band in Frequency Range 1 (FR1), for example, from 410 MHz to 7125 MHz, which can use omnidirectional communication.

[0105] In this case, the above-mentioned received signal quality threshold Q02 may represent the critical value at which the received signal quality of the communication in the first frequency band begins to deteriorate (for example, the Sidelink connection in the FR2 frequency band deteriorates), and optionally, for example, the received signal quality of the communication in the second frequency band in the FR1 frequency band remains good, while Q01 may represent the critical value at which the received signal quality of the communication in the second frequency band deteriorates severely (for example, the Sidelink connection in the FR1 frequency band becomes unstable or even interrupted).

[0106] Correspondingly, in this example, when Q0_i > Q02, the Sidelink connection quality between UE0 and UEi in, for example, the FR2 frequency band is good, and at this time, no adjustment is required for the cooperative transmission system, and the Sidelink communication in, for example, the FR2 frequency band can be maintained. When Q01 ≤ Q0_i ≤ Q02, it means that the Sidelink connection in the higher first frequency band such as the FR2 frequency band deteriorates, and it is desired to adjust the cooperative transmission to, for example, switch the frequency resources of the Sidelink communication to the lower second frequency band such as the FR1 frequency band. When Q0_i < Q01, the Sidelink connection between UE0 and UEi in, for example, the FR1 frequency band also deteriorates greatly, and at this time, UEi needs to exit the cooperative transmission, and it may also be desired to adjust other cooperative devices in the cooperative transmission system and / or add new cooperative devices to improve the quality of the cooperative transmission (such as increasing the overall uplink rate, etc.).

[0107] (Example of parameter threshold value of the third parameter)

[0108] For the third parameter, N is the number of retransmissions between the cooperative device UEi and the source device UE0 as shown in FIG1B . re In the case of , the parameter thresholds can be the following thresholds: the first threshold N re 1 is the number of retransmissions N re A very low critical value (number of times a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) is sent) indicates, for example, that there is no need to allocate more feedback resources for direct communication such as Sidelink communication between UEi and UE0 and the communication quality between the two can still be maintained; a second threshold N re 2 can be the number of retransmissions N re If the critical value is too high, for example, it may be the upper limit of the number of HARQ transmissions, then the communication quality between UEi and UE0 cannot be maintained even if more feedback resources are allocated for the Sidelink communication between the two.

[0109] Accordingly, when the number of retransmissions between UEi and UE0 is N re Satisfy N re _i <N re 1, no adjustment is required for cooperative transmission; when N re 1≤N re _i≤N re 2, it is expected that network-side devices such as gNB will adjust the cooperative transmission to allocate more feedback resources for Sidelink communication to meet the demand for more retransmission times; when N re _i>N re _2, it is hoped that the current collaborative device will exit the collaborative transmission, and it may also be hoped that other collaborative devices in the collaborative transmission system will be adjusted and / or new collaborative devices will be added to improve the overall uplink rate.

[0110] (Example of parameter threshold value of fourth parameter)

[0111] For the fourth parameter, the quality Q of the signal received by the destination device AS or gNB through collaborative transmission, such as shown in Figure 1A or Figure 1B, its parameter threshold, namely the first threshold Q1 and the second threshold Q2, can be the critical values ​​of basically no degradation and severe degradation of the received signal quality Q, respectively.

[0112] When the quality Q of the signal received by the destination device AS or gNB through cooperative transmission is large enough, i.e., Q_i > Q2, no adjustment to the cooperative transmission system is required. When Q1 ≤ Q_i ≤ Q2, it is desired to adjust the cooperative transmission, for example, to improve the transmission quality. When Q_i < Q_1, it is desired that the current cooperative device exits the cooperative transmission, and it may also be desired to adjust other cooperative devices in the cooperative transmission system and / or add new cooperative devices to increase the overall uplink rate.

[0113] The parameter thresholds of the above fourth parameter can be particularly suitable for the case of transmitting various service data such as video data, etc. At this time, the first threshold Q1 and the second threshold Q2 can be the critical values when the video signal quality received by the destination device is basically not deteriorated and severely deteriorated, respectively, and can have the form of video quality parameters such as VMAF, for example.

[0114] The first and second thresholds (index thresholds) of the quality indication index for dividing the first to third index ranges can be determined based on the correspondence between each index (D, Q0, Q) and the first to fourth parameters such as those described above and the corresponding parameter thresholds. Examples of the index thresholds will be detailed below.

[0115] (Examples of Index Thresholds)

[0116] As an example, the first range, second range, and third range (index ranges) of the quality indication index can be divided based on the first threshold and second threshold (index thresholds) of the index determined according to the following thresholds (i.e., the corresponding parameter thresholds): the first threshold and second threshold (parameter thresholds S1, S2 of the first parameter S) of the transmission rate between the cooperative device and the source device; the first threshold and second threshold (parameter thresholds Q01, Q02 of the second parameter Q0) of the quality of the signal received by the cooperative device from the source device; the first threshold and second threshold (parameter thresholds N re of the third parameter N re 1, N re 2) of the number of retransmissions between the cooperative device and the source device; and / or the first threshold and second threshold (parameter thresholds Q1, Q2 of the fourth parameter Q) of the quality of the signal received by the destination device through cooperative transmission.

[0117] That is, for each of the aforementioned first to third indexes (D, Q0, Q), the index threshold can be determined based on the correspondence between each index and one or more of the above four parameters and the corresponding one or more index thresholds.

[0118] On the one hand, when the quality indicator and the parameter used to determine the indicator threshold (i.e., the basis for dividing the indicator range) are the same, there is no need to separately obtain a correspondence between the two, and the parameter threshold can be directly used as the indicator threshold. For example, this applies to the second indicator and second parameter, both of which represent the quality of the signal received by the cooperating device from the source device, or the third indicator and fourth parameter, both of which represent the quality of the signal received by the destination device through cooperative transmission.

[0119] On the other hand, when the quality indicator and the parameter used to determine the indicator threshold (i.e., the basis for dividing the indicator range) are different, the corresponding relationship between the two can be obtained, for example, through historical data including the indicator and the corresponding parameter. The corresponding relationship between the indicator and the corresponding parameter (or the indicator threshold and the corresponding parameter threshold) can be obtained through measurement and statistics, or through a model trained using a combination of labeled indicators and parameters.

[0120] Next, specific examples of the indicator thresholds of the first to third indicators are further described with reference to the examples of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B .

[0121] For example, the first threshold and the second threshold (R1, R2) of the first indicator (distance indicator D) representing the distance between the collaborative device UEi and the source device UE0 can be based on the first, second or third parameters (S, Q0, N re ), respectively corresponding to the first parameter, i.e., the first threshold and the second threshold (S1, S2) of the transmission rate S between UEi and UE0, the second parameter, i.e., the second threshold and the first threshold (Q02, Q01) of the quality Q0 of the signal received by UEi from UE0, or the third parameter, i.e., the number of retransmissions N between UEi and UE0. re The first threshold and the second threshold (N re 1,N re 2).

[0122] In one example, the corresponding indicator thresholds R1 and R2 may be obtained through measurement and statistics. For example, the first parameter (transmission rate S between UEi and UE0), the second parameter (quality Q of the signal received by UEi from UE0), or the third parameter (number of retransmissions N between UEi and UE0) under different distance values ​​between UEi and UE0 may be measured. re ), and statistically obtain the parameter threshold value of each parameter (S1, S2; Q02, Q01; or N re 1,N re 2) The corresponding distance value between UEi and UE0.

[0123] In another example, the metric thresholds R1 and R2 can be obtained by machine learning using historical data (i.e., measurement data as training data) that includes the respective distances between UEi and UE0 and the corresponding parameter values of each parameter (S; Q0; or N re ) measured for each distance. After training is completed, the input to the model is the parameter thresholds (S1, S2; Q02, Q01; or N re 1, N re 2) of each parameter, and the output is the metric thresholds R1 and R2 corresponding to the parameter thresholds. This can be achieved via various appropriate neural networks or machine learning models and appropriate training, which will not be elaborated here.

[0124] Alternatively, the first and second thresholds of the distance metric D, namely R1 and R2, can also be two or three sets of metric thresholds obtained based on the parameter thresholds of two or three of the above-mentioned first parameter, second parameter, or third parameter, and then comprehensive thresholds obtained after being processed by an appropriate method. Here, the appropriate processing can be weighted averaging, or selecting the smallest first metric threshold in each set of metric thresholds as the first metric threshold, and the largest second metric threshold in each set as the second metric threshold, etc., etc. The present disclosure does not limit this.

[0125] FIG. 5 shows an example of the metric range divided by the metric thresholds R1 and R2 based on the distance metric. As shown in FIG. 5, three ranges are divided based on the relationship between the distance (D_i) between the source device UE0 and the cooperating device UEi and the first and second thresholds R1, R2 of the metric: the first range where D_i < R1; the second range where R1 ≤ D_i ≤ R2; the third range where D_i > R2, where each range, for example but not limited to, corresponds to the ranges where the first, second, or third parameter (S, Q0, N re ) is basically not degraded, the degree of degradation is tolerable, and is severely degraded.

[0126] In addition, for example, the first threshold and the second threshold (Q01, Q02) of the second metric (Q0) representing the quality of the signal received by the cooperating device UEi from the source device UE0 can be determined based on the above-mentioned second or third parameter (Q0, N re ) to respectively correspond to the first threshold and the second threshold (Q01, Q02) of the second parameter, that is, the quality Q0 of the signal received by UEi from UE0, or the second threshold and the first threshold of the third parameter, that is, the number of retransmissions N re between UEi and UE0 re 2, N re 1).

[0127] For the case of adopting the same parameter as the second metric, that is, the second parameter, the metric thresholds Q01, Q02 can directly adopt the parameter thresholds Q01, Q02.

[0128] For the case where a parameter different from the second indicator is used, that is, a third parameter is used, in one example, the corresponding indicator thresholds Q01 and Q02 can be obtained through measurement and statistics. For example, the third parameter N can be measured under different values ​​of the quality of the signal received by UEi from UE0. re (number of retransmissions between UEi and UE0), and statistically obtain the number of retransmissions with the parameter threshold N re 1 and N re In another example, the indicator thresholds R1 and R2 may be various values ​​of the quality of the signal received by UEi from UE0 and a third parameter N measured for each value. re The model is obtained by machine learning based on the historical data of the corresponding parameter value of (number of retransmissions) (i.e., the measured data as training data). After the training is completed, the input of the model is the parameter threshold of the third parameter (N re 2,N re 1), the output is the indicator threshold Q01, Q02 corresponding to the parameter threshold. This can be achieved through various appropriate neural networks or machine learning models and appropriate training, which will not be repeated here.

[0129] Alternatively, the first and second thresholds Q01 and Q02 of the second indicator Q0 can also be combined thresholds obtained by appropriately processing two sets of indicator thresholds based on the parameter thresholds of the second and third parameters, respectively. Appropriate processing can include weighted averaging, selecting the smallest first indicator threshold in each set of indicator thresholds as the first indicator threshold, and the largest second indicator threshold in each set as the second indicator threshold, etc., and this disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0130] Furthermore, it can be understood that the first and second thresholds (Q1, Q2) of the third indicator (Q) representing the quality of the signal received by the destination device through cooperative transmission can directly adopt the parameter thresholds Q1, Q2 of the fourth parameter.

[0131] The various indicator thresholds and corresponding divided indicator ranges determined in the above manner can be applied together with the corresponding indicators obtained in real time, for example, to various collaborative transmission systems, such as but not limited to the systems shown in Figures 1A and 1B, and will not be repeated here.

[0132] The indicator ranges divided according to the first and second indicator thresholds determined in the above manner are: a first range indicating the highest quality of collaborative transmission (collaborative transmission does not require adjustment), a third range indicating the lowest quality of collaborative transmission (the current collaborative device needs to exit collaborative transmission), and a second range indicating intermediate quality of collaborative transmission (the current collaborative device can remain in the collaborative transmission system, but collaborative transmission requires adjustment). Therefore, the generation unit 320 can generate a status report accordingly depending on which range the quality indicator falls into. This status report can be used by another electronic device to determine adjustments to the collaborative transmission.

[0133] (Example of generating a status report)

[0134] As mentioned above, the generating unit 320 can be based on the quality indicator (Q index ) falls into which range of the first to third ranges and generates a status report accordingly.

[0135] For example, the generation unit 320 can be configured to: not generate a status report when the indicator is in a first range indicating the highest transmission quality; generate a first status report when the indicator is in a second range indicating medium transmission quality; and / or stop communication between the collaborative device and the source device and generate a second status report when the indicator is in a third range indicating the lowest transmission quality.

[0136] In this way, the generation unit 320 does not generate any status report to indicate the optimal state of the highest transmission quality. The generated first and second status reports can, for example, use one bit to indicate the first state of medium transmission quality and the second state of the lowest transmission quality, respectively.

[0137] FIG6 shows the generation unit 320 based on the quality indicator Q index The example process of generating the first and second states accordingly by comparison with the first to third ranges will not be described in detail here.

[0138] Optionally, in the case where the acquisition unit 310 of the electronic device 300 can acquire multiple indicators, and a plurality of groups of corresponding indicator thresholds or indicator ranges can be stored in a storage unit (not shown), and the generation unit 320 generates a status report based on the comparison of the corresponding indicator with the corresponding indicator range, the generated status report may further include first additional information about the currently used indicator (e.g., two bits, representing one of the first to third indicators D, Q0, Q) and / or second additional information about the parameters used to divide the currently used indicator range (e.g., two bits, representing one of the first to third parameters S, Q0, N re , Q one).

[0139] For example, the status report generated by the generation unit 320 may be in the form of a bit sequence of length 5, wherein in addition to the first bit indicating the first or second state of the transmission quality, 4 bits of first and second additional information are used to indicate further details of the current collaborative transmission to the recipient of the status report. For example, the generation unit 320 may generate a first status report in the form of {00010} or {00110}, which, in addition to the first bit (0) indicating the first state of the transmission quality, further indicates the first or second indicator (D or Q0) using the second and third bits (00 or 01), and indicates the third parameter (N) used to divide the current indicator range using the fourth and fifth bits (10). re ).

[0140] Examples / Example Processing Related to Communication Units

[0141] The communication unit 330 can send the first or second status report generated by the generation unit 320 using the example process shown in Figure 6 to another electronic device so that the other electronic device can make corresponding adjustments to the cooperative transmission. In addition, when the generation unit 320 generates the second status report, the communication unit 330 of the electronic device 300, for example, for the source device or the current cooperative device, can directly stop the direct communication between the source device and the current cooperative device, even if the current cooperative device exits the cooperative transmission.

[0142] In this example, the electronic device 300 serves as the current collaborative device (or source device), and the "another electronic device" here can be a device that manages collaborative transmission (collaborative management device) such as a destination device, for example, the aggregation server AS or base station gNB shown in Figure 1A or Figure 1B. The destination device can determine the adjustment to the collaborative transmission based on the received status report, and further generate an adjustment notification indicating the adjustment to the collaborative transmission, and send the generated adjustment notification to the collaborative device and / or the source device. Accordingly, the communication unit 330 of the electronic device 300 can perform the adjusted collaborative transmission according to the instructions of the adjustment notification after receiving the adjustment notification (directly from another electronic device or such as forwarded by the source device).

[0143] Here, first consider an application example particularly suitable for the example application shown in FIG. 1B , in which a communication unit receives a first adjustment notification generated by another electronic device based on a first status report.

[0144] In this application example, another electronic device serving as a collaborative management device may be a network side device such as a base station side device gNB. The source device and the collaborative device may communicate via a sidelink, and the network side device such as the gNB may allocate communication resources for the sidelink communication.

[0145] In one example, at this time, the first status report generated by the generation unit 320 and sent by the communication unit 330 to the other electronic device, in addition to indicating the first status to indicate medium transmission quality, can also indicate the currently used second or third indicator (D or Q0) and the third parameter used to divide the current indicator range (the number of retransmissions N between the source device and the cooperative device) through the first and second additional information. re In another example, the first status report sent by the communication unit 330 to the other electronic device may also indicate, via the first and second additional information, the currently used second indicator (Q0) and the second parameter used to divide the current indicator range (the quality Q0 of the signal received by the collaborating device from the source device), in addition to indicating the first status. The first status report may have a bit sequence format such as {00010} or {00110}.

[0146] In the above two example cases, the other device that receives the corresponding first status report can determine to adjust the resources allocated for the current direct link communication between the current collaborative device and the source device (first adjustment) based on the first status report, and generate a first adjustment notification indicating the adjustment.

[0147] Here, the first adjustment may include: increasing the feedback resources allocated to the current collaborative device for the current direct link communication (feedback resource adjustment); and / or switching the frequency resources allocated for the current direct link communication from the first frequency band to a second frequency band lower than the first frequency band (frequency band adjustment). Whether the first adjustment is specifically for the feedback resource or the frequency band can be specifically determined by the other electronic device, for example, based on the second additional information included in the received first status report. That is, the second additional information indicates the number of retransmissions N. re When the third parameter is used as the second additional information indication, the first adjustment realizes feedback resource adjustment; when the second additional information indicates the second parameter as the received signal quality Q0, the first adjustment realizes frequency band adjustment.

[0148] In addition, in the above two example cases, the communication unit 330 can be configured to: receive a first adjustment notification generated by the other electronic device based on the first status report, the notification indicating an adjustment of the communication resources allocated for the current direct link communication between the current collaborative device and the source device. For example, the first adjustment notification can correspondingly indicate the allocation of increased feedback resources for the current direct link communication to the current collaborative device, or indicate the allocation of frequency resources of a second frequency band (e.g., FR1 frequency band) lower than the currently used first frequency band (e.g., FR2 frequency band) for the current direct link communication.

[0149] Here, the first adjustment notification may have various appropriate forms. For example, it may be configuration information or a dynamic downlink control information (DCI) indication of the base station side device for reconfiguration of the direct link communication. This disclosure does not limit this.

[0150] More specifically, the periodic feedback resources allocated by a network-side device, such as a gNB, for sidelink communication between UEi and UE0 can be indicated via configuration information (e.g., a parameter indicating the feedback resource period in a configured resource pool) or dynamically indicated via DCI. The gNB can allocate more feedback resources for sidelink communication by modifying configuration information, such as the feedback resource (feedback resource period), or by switching to a shorter feedback resource period in real time via DCI when multiple feedback resource (feedback resource period) configurations exist. Similarly, switching frequency resources, such as from a first frequency band to a second frequency band, can also be achieved by the gNB modifying configuration information regarding the frequency resources, or by switching to a lower second frequency band in real time via DCI when multiple frequency resource configurations exist. Accordingly, the first adjustment notification received by the communication unit 330 can be in the form of configuration information or dynamic DCI, such as described above.

[0151] The communication unit 330 that receives the first adjustment notification can use the adjusted communication resources to continue the current direct link communication between the current collaborative device and the source device to improve the communication quality. For example, the communication unit 330 uses the increased feedback resources allocated by the adjustment notification for the current direct link communication to transmit HARQ requests between the two to meet the demand for a larger number of HARQ requests; or the communication unit 330 can switch to the second frequency band (e.g., FR1 band) allocated by the adjustment notification for the current direct link communication, which is lower than the currently used first frequency band (e.g., FR2 band), for the current direct link communication, and optionally switch the beam communication of the higher frequency band to omnidirectional communication of the lower frequency band to avoid continuing to apply the no longer suitable high frequency band and / or beam communication to the current direct link.

[0152] In this way, the quality of the current through-link communication between the current cooperative device and the source device can be improved, thereby facilitating improvement in the transmission quality of the cooperative transmission.

[0153] Next, consider an application example suitable for the example applications shown in both FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B , in which a communication unit receives a second adjustment notification generated by another electronic device based on a second status report, wherein the notification instructs the current cooperative device to exit cooperative transmission.

[0154] In one example, at this time, the second status report generated by the generation unit 320 and sent by the communication unit 330 to the other electronic device may indicate the second status using only one bit (1), thereby indicating that the quality of the collaborative transmission via the current collaborative device UEi has seriously deteriorated. Accordingly, the other device that receives the second status report may determine, based on the second status report, that the current collaborative device exits the collaborative transmission (second adjustment), and generate a second adjustment notification indicating the adjustment, thereby instructing the current collaborative device to exit the collaborative transmission.

[0155] Upon receiving the second adjustment notification, the communication unit 330 may determine to stop the current direct link communication between the current cooperating device and the source device, and then cause the current cooperating device to exit the cooperative transmission. In this way, an unsuitable current cooperating device may be prevented from remaining in the cooperative transmission system and causing a decrease in transmission quality.

[0156] In addition, there is also the following situation: after the communication unit 330 of the electronic device 300 for the current collaborative device such as UEi sends a first or second status report to another electronic device, the other electronic device may determine to make additional adjustments to the collaborative transmission system that are different from the above-mentioned first or second adjustments. Here, the additional adjustment determined by the other electronic device may be, for example, but not limited to, increasing the transmission volume and / or transmission rate of one or more other collaborative devices in the collaborative transmission, and / or adding new collaborative devices to the collaborative transmission, etc. The other electronic device may generate an additional adjustment notification indicating the additional adjustment, and may send the additional adjustment notification to the source device and an additional or new collaborative device UEj other than the current collaborative device UEi. In this case, the communication unit of the electronic device 300 for the current collaborative device UEi may not receive the above-mentioned additional adjustment notification.

[0157] [2.2 Modification Example]

[0158] Based on the configuration example of the electronic device 300 of the first embodiment described above, it can be understood by those skilled in the art that various appropriate modifications can be made thereto.

[0159] For example, it was previously described that the acquisition unit 310 can use a pre-trained quality indicator model to take the packet retransmission probability and / or packet retransmission probability between the source device and the collaborative device, and / or the transmission delay between the collaborative device and the destination device as input data of the model to obtain an indicator of the quality of the signal received by the destination device (a third indicator Q), and the generation unit 320 can determine whether to generate a status report or to appropriately generate a first or second status report based on a comparison of the third indicator with the indicator range determined based on the corresponding indicator threshold (Q1, Q2).

[0160] In one modified example, the quality indicator model can be modified or transformed into a classification model. That is, the input data of the quality indicator model as a classification model remains unchanged, but the output of the model directly indicates the first to third ranges to which the third indicator obtained based on these parameters belongs. This model can be trained using corresponding training data (historical parameters labeled with classification results in one of the first to third ranges), and will not be further described here.

[0161] In this case, the acquisition unit 310 can only obtain various parameters as input data of the classification model, and the generation unit 320 uses the above classification model to obtain the range to which the corresponding third indicator (Q) belongs, and then performs necessary processing to generate the status report based on the range, which will not be repeated here.

[0162] In addition, the above description of the configuration example of electronic device 300 is based on the case where electronic device 300 is applied to a collaborative device (such as UEi in Figure 1A or Figure 1B), and the other electronic device that manages or adjusts the collaborative communication is a destination device (such as the aggregation server AS in Figure 1A or the base station gNB in ​​Figure 1B). However, in the application example of Figure 1A, the source device (such as UE0) can be the other electronic device that manages or adjusts the collaborative communication, and this description is not further expanded here.

[0163] In addition, although the configuration example of the electronic device 300 described above mainly takes the case where the electronic device 300 is applied to a collaborative device (such as UEi in Figure 1A or 1B) as an example, those skilled in the art can understand, based on the above description, that a modified example of applying the electronic device 300 to a source device (such as UE0 in Figure 1A or 1B) in the same or similar manner can be obtained through appropriate modifications and / or deformations.

[0164] For example, in a modified example, the acquisition unit 310 of the electronic device 300 on the UE0 side can obtain quality indication indicators (D, Q0, Q) through various appropriate methods. For example, in addition to obtaining the first indicator D_i through its own measurement (such as measuring the distance between UE0 and UEi), the acquisition unit 310 of the electronic device 300 on the UE0 side can also use the communication unit 330 to obtain the second indicator Q0_i obtained by measuring the quality of the received signal from the current collaborative device UEi, or can use the communication unit 330 to obtain the third indicator Q_i obtained by measuring the quality of the signal received via collaborative transmission from the destination device. In addition, the acquisition unit 310 can also similarly use the quality indicator model described previously to obtain the third indicator Q_i, which will not be expanded here.

[0165] In addition, in a modified example, the adjustment notification received by the communication unit 330 of the electronic device 300 on the UE0 side from another electronic device such as a destination device may also include an additional adjustment notification generated by it based on the first or second status report, which adjustment notification indicates increasing the transmission amount and / or transmission rate of one or more additional collaborative devices in the collaborative transmission (first additional adjustment notification), and / or adding a new collaborative device to the collaborative transmission (second additional adjustment notification).

[0166] Accordingly, upon receiving the first additional adjustment notification, the communication unit 330 may, for example, transmit data to the indicated additional cooperating device at an increased transmission rate according to the notification, thereby increasing the transmission rate of the cooperating device in the cooperative transmission, or may also transmit data between the two devices (such as sidelink transmission) at an increased transmission rate. Upon receiving the second additional adjustment notification, the communication unit 330 may, for example, establish communication (such as sidelink communication) with the indicated new cooperating device and perform cooperative transmission via the new cooperating device.

[0167] The electronic device according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure is described above. The electronic device (electronic device 300) can be used on the source device or collaborative device side, and can generate a status report based on the relationship between the quality indicator and the indicator range and send the generated status report to another electronic device for managing collaborative transmission (particularly direct communication between the collaborative device and the source device) for the other electronic device to determine adjustments to the collaborative transmission, and optionally perform adjusted collaborative transmission based on the adjustment notification sent by the other electronic device.

[0168] In the description of the first embodiment above, in addition to the electronic device 300 for generating and sending a status report to another electronic device, another electronic device (e.g., the destination device in the basic example, the source device in the modified example, etc.) that determines adjustments to cooperative transmission based on the received status report is also described. In other words, the inventors have developed a second embodiment of the present disclosure with respect to the aforementioned other electronic device. Below, a brief description of the second embodiment will be given based on the description of the first embodiment, omitting unnecessary details.

[0169] <3. Configuration Example of Electronic Device of Second Embodiment>

[0170] [3.1 Configuration Example]

[0171] FIG7 is a block diagram illustrating a first configuration example of an electronic device according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0172] 7 , the electronic device 700 may include a communication unit 710, a determination unit 720, and an optional generation unit 730. In addition, although not shown, the electronic device 700 may also include an optional storage unit for storing various programs, data, parameters, and the like.

[0173] Here, each unit of the electronic device 700 may be included in a processing circuit. It should be noted that the electronic device 700 may include either one processing circuit or multiple processing circuits. Furthermore, the processing circuit may include various discrete functional units to perform various functions and / or operations. It should be noted that these functional units may be physical entities or logical entities, and units with different names may be implemented by the same physical entity.

[0174] The electronic device 700 of the first configuration example can be a network-side device or a terminal-side device, and can be used as a destination device or a source device in the collaborative transmission of Figure 1A or Figure 1B, which is not limited in this disclosure.

[0175] The communication unit 710 of the electronic device 700 may be configured to receive a status report regarding a current cooperating device that relays a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to implement cooperative transmission. The status report received by the communication unit 710 is generated based on a relationship between an indicator (quality indication indicator) regarding the quality of cooperative transmission implemented by the current cooperating device and first to third ranges (indicator ranges) that sequentially indicate transmission quality from high to low.

[0176] The communication unit 710 may receive (or obtain via) a collaborative device or source device a status report generated by the collaborative device or source device, which is not limited in this disclosure. Furthermore, the metrics used by the collaborative device or source device to generate the status report may be, for example, the first metric D described in the first embodiment, i.e., the distance between the collaborative device and the source device; the second metric Q0, i.e., the quality of the signal received by the collaborative device from the source device; or the third metric Q, i.e., the quality of the signal received by the destination device via collaborative transmission.

[0177] The determining unit 720 of the electronic device 700 may be configured to determine adjustments to the cooperative transmission based on the received status report.

[0178] The optional generation unit 330 of the electronic apparatus 700 may be configured to generate an adjustment notification indicating an adjustment to the cooperative transmission, and the communication unit 320 may be further configured to send the generated adjustment notification to the cooperating device and / or the source device.

[0179] Using the above method, the electronic device 700 is used as a device for managing or adjusting collaborative transmission. It can determine the adjustment of the collaborative transmission based on the received status report, and optionally generate an adjustment notification indicating the adjustment of the collaborative transmission and send the generated adjustment notification to the collaborative device and / or the source device to implement the determined adjustment.

[0180] Next, consider an example in which the electronic device of the second embodiment is dedicated to a destination device (e.g., the aggregation server AS or the base station gNB shown in FIG. 1A or FIG. 1B ), that is, a second configuration example of the electronic device.

[0181] FIG8 is a block diagram illustrating a second configuration example of an electronic device 800 according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG8 , the electronic device 800 differs from the electronic device 700 according to the first configuration example in that it additionally includes an aggregation unit 840 for implementing aggregation of collaborative transmission data. The aggregation unit 840 may be configured to: receive a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device from a currently collaborating device; receive another portion of data originating from the source device and to be transmitted to the destination device from at least one other device; and integrate the received portions of data originating from the source device.

[0182] Below, further details of the processing performed by each unit 710 to 730 in the above-mentioned first or second configuration examples will be described in combination with the case where the electronic device 700 or 800 of the second embodiment is implemented on the destination device (AS or gNB) side in a collaborative transmission system such as shown in Figure 1A or Figure 1B; these details are equally or similarly applicable to the case where the electronic device 700 is implemented on the source device (UE0) side (the differences therein will be described in detail in the subsequent modified examples and will not be repeated here).

[0183] Examples / Example Processing Related to Communication Units

[0184] The communication unit 710 of the electronic device receives a status report from a collaborating device or a source device, and can be configured to: receive a first status report generated when the transmission indication indicator is in a second range indicating medium transmission quality; and / or receive a second status report generated when the transmission indication indicator is in a third range indicating the lowest transmission quality.

[0185] The first or second status report received by the communication unit 710 may have, for example, one bit to indicate the first status of medium transmission quality (bit 0) and the second status of lowest transmission quality (bit 1), respectively.

[0186] Optionally, there is the following situation: the collaborative device or source device that generates and sends the status report to the electronic device of this embodiment can obtain multiple indicators, such as the first indicator D, the second indicator Q0, or the third indicator Q. In addition, the collaborative device or source device can store multiple groups of corresponding indicator thresholds or indicator ranges, where each group of indicator thresholds is based on, for example, the first to fourth parameters S, Q0, N re , Q, or each group of indicators uses the first to fourth parameters S, Q0, N re , Q parameter threshold (S1, S2; Q0, Q02; N re 1,N re 2; or Q1, Q2). As described in the first embodiment above, the first parameter S is the transmission rate between the collaborative device and the source device, the second parameter Q0 is the quality of the signal received by the collaborative device from the source device, and the third parameter N re The fourth parameter, Q, represents the number of retransmissions between the cooperating device and the source device, and the fourth parameter, Q, represents the quality of the signal received by the destination device through the cooperative transmission. In this case, the cooperating device or the source device may generate a status report based on a comparison of one of the first, second, and third indicators (D, Q0, Q) obtained in real time with a corresponding set of pre-stored indicator thresholds or indicator ranges.

[0187] At this time, the status report received by the communication unit 710 may include, in addition to the indication information about the first state or the second state (e.g., a single bit 0 or 1), first additional information about the currently used indicator (e.g., two bits, indicating one of the first to third indicators D, Q0, Q) and / or second additional information about the parameter used to divide the current indicator range (e.g., two bits, indicating one of the first to fourth parameters S, Q0, N). re , Q one).

[0188] For example, the status report received by the communication unit 710 may be in the form of a bit sequence of length 5, wherein in addition to the first bit indicating the first or second state of the transmission quality, it also includes 4 bits of first and second additional information to indicate further details of the current collaborative transmission. For example, the communication unit 710 may receive a first status report such as in the form of {00010} or {00110}, which, in addition to the first bit (0) indicating the first state of the transmission quality, further indicates the first or second indicator (D or Q0) using the second and third bits (00 or 01), and indicates the third parameter (N) used to divide the current indicator range using the fourth and fifth bits (10). re ).

[0189] Determine the examples / example processing related to the unit and generate the unit

[0190] The determination unit 720 of the electronic device may determine appropriate adjustments to the cooperative transmission based on the first or second status report received by the communication unit 710, and the generation unit 730 may generate a corresponding adjustment notification and send it via the communication unit 710. Next, examples / example processes in various application examples will be described in conjunction with specific application scenarios.

[0191] (First application example)

[0192] Here, first consider a first application example related to a first status report, which is particularly suitable for an example application such as that shown in FIG. 1B .

[0193] For example, in this application example, the electronic device 800 of this embodiment, which serves as a collaborative management device, may be a network side device such as a base station side device gNB. The source device and the collaborative device may communicate via a sidelink, and the electronic device 800 such as the gNB may allocate communication resources for the sidelink communication.

[0194] In one example, at this time, the first status report received by the communication unit 710 may indicate the first status to indicate medium transmission quality, and may also indicate the second or third indicator (D or Q0) currently used and the third parameter (the number of retransmissions N between the source device and the cooperative device) used to divide the current indicator range through the first and second additional information. re In another example, in addition to indicating the first status, the first status report received by the communication unit 710 may also indicate, via the first and second additional information, the currently used second indicator (Q0) and the second parameter used to divide the current indicator range (the quality Q0 of the signal received by the cooperating device from the source device). The first status report may, for example, have a bit sequence format such as {00010} or {00110}.

[0195] In the above two example cases, the determination unit 720 of the electronic device that receives the first status report may determine to adjust the resources allocated for the current direct link communication between the current collaboration device and the source device based on the first status report (first adjustment).

[0196] Here, the first adjustment may include: increasing the feedback resources allocated to the current collaborative device for the current direct link communication (feedback resource adjustment); and / or switching the frequency resources allocated for the current direct link communication from the first frequency band to a second frequency band lower than the first frequency band (frequency band adjustment). Whether the first adjustment is specifically for the feedback resource or the frequency band can be specifically determined by the other electronic device, for example, based on the second additional information included in the received first status report. That is, the second additional information indicates the number of retransmissions N. reWhen the third parameter is used as the second additional information indication, the first adjustment realizes feedback resource adjustment; when the second additional information indicates the second parameter as the received signal quality Q0, the first adjustment realizes frequency band adjustment.

[0197] In addition, optionally, in the above two example cases, the generation unit 730 may generate a first adjustment notification indicating a corresponding adjustment, where the notification indicates an adjustment to the communication resources allocated for the current direct link communication between the current cooperating device and the source device. For example, the first adjustment notification may indicate an allocation of increased feedback resources for the current direct link communication to the current cooperating device, or indicate an allocation of frequency resources in a second frequency band (e.g., FR1 frequency band) lower than the currently used first frequency band (e.g., FR2 frequency band) to the current direct link communication.

[0198] Here, the first adjustment notification may have various appropriate forms. For example, it may be configuration information or a dynamic DCI indication of the reconfiguration of the base station side device for the direct link communication, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0199] More specifically, the periodic feedback resources allocated or adjusted by the electronic device 800, such as a gNB, for sidelink communication between UEi and UE0 may be indicated, for example, via configuration information (e.g., a parameter indicating a periodicity of feedback resources in a configured resource pool) or DCI generated by the generation unit 730. The generation unit 730 may generate a first adjustment notification indicating the allocation of increased feedback resources by, for example, generating configuration information indicating the modified feedback resources (feedback resource periodicity) or, when multiple configurations exist for the feedback resources (feedback resource periodicity), generating DCI that immediately indicates a switch to a shorter feedback resource periodicity. Similarly, the first adjustment notification indicating a switch of frequency resources, such as from a first frequency band to a second frequency band, may also be implemented by, for example, the generation unit 730 generating configuration information indicating the modified frequency resources or, when multiple frequency resource configurations exist, generating DCI that immediately indicates a switch to a lower second frequency band.

[0200] The communication unit 710 may send the first adjustment notification generated by the generation unit 730 to the cooperation device or the source device.

[0201] The current collaborative device or source device that receives the above-mentioned first adjustment notification can use the adjusted communication resources to continue the current direct link communication between the current collaborative device and the source device to improve the communication quality. For example, the collaborative device or source device uses the increased feedback resources allocated by the adjustment notification for the current direct link communication to transmit HARQ requests between the collaborative device and the source device to meet the demand for a larger number of HARQ requests; or the collaborative device or source device can switch to the second frequency band (e.g., FR1 frequency band) allocated by the adjustment notification for the current direct link communication, which is lower than the currently used first frequency band (e.g., FR2 frequency band), to perform the current direct link communication, and optionally switch the beam communication of the higher frequency band to omnidirectional communication of the lower frequency band to avoid continuing to apply the no longer suitable high frequency band and / or beam communication to the current direct link.

[0202] In this way, the quality of the current through-link communication between the current cooperative device and the source device can be improved, thereby facilitating improvement in the transmission quality of the cooperative transmission.

[0203] (Second application example)

[0204] Next, a second application example related to the second status report suitable for example applications such as those shown in both FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B will be described.

[0205] In this application example, the electronic device 800 of this embodiment, which serves as a collaborative management device, may be a network-side device such as an aggregation server AS or a base station-side device gNB.

[0206] In one example, at this time, the second status report received by the communication unit 710 from the collaborative device or the source device may indicate the second status using only one bit (1) to indicate that the quality of the collaborative transmission via the current collaborative device UEi is seriously deteriorated. Accordingly, the determination unit 720 of the electronic device that receives the second status report may determine that the current collaborative device exits the collaborative transmission (second adjustment) based on the second status report. Optionally, the generation unit 730 may generate a second adjustment notification indicating the adjustment, and the communication unit 710 may send the second adjustment notification generated by the generation unit 730 to the collaborative device or the source device to instruct the current collaborative device to exit the collaborative transmission.

[0207] Upon receiving the second adjustment notification, the current cooperating device or the source device may determine to stop the current direct link communication between the current cooperating device and the source device, thereby causing the current cooperating device to exit the cooperative transmission. In this way, it is possible to prevent an unsuitable current cooperating device from remaining in the cooperative transmission system and causing a decrease in transmission quality.

[0208] (Third application example)

[0209] Next, a third application example related to the first and / or second status report, which is suitable for the two example applications such as those shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B , will be described.

[0210] In this application example, the electronic device 800 of this embodiment, which serves as a collaborative management device, may be a network-side device such as an aggregation server AS or a base station-side device gNB.

[0211] In one example, at this time, the first status report received by the communication unit 710 may only indicate the first status to indicate medium transmission quality, and may optionally further indicate one of the first to third indicators (D, Q0, Q) currently used and the first to fourth parameters used to divide the current indicator range (the transmission rate S between the collaborative device and the source device, the quality Q0 of the signal received by the collaborative device from the source device, the number of retransmissions N between the source device and the collaborative device) via the first and second additional information. re , one of the quality Q of the signal received by the destination device through cooperative transmission.

[0212] In addition, for example, at this time, the second status report received by the communication unit 710 may only indicate the second status, or may include first and / or second additional information indicating further details, which is not limited here.

[0213] In this case, the determination unit 720 of the electronic device that receives the first status report can determine, based on the first and / or second status reports, to make additional adjustments to the collaborative transmission system that are different from the first or second adjustments mentioned above. The term "additional adjustment" indicates that the adjustment involves additional collaborative devices or newly added collaborative devices other than the current collaborative device. More specifically, the determined additional adjustments may be, for example, but not limited to, increasing the transmission volume and / or transmission rate of one or more additional collaborative devices in the collaborative transmission (first additional adjustment), and / or adding new collaborative devices to the collaborative transmission (second additional adjustment), and so on. In a preferred example, the determination unit 720 can determine the first additional adjustment based on the first status report, and determine the second additional adjustment based on the second status report.

[0214] In addition, optionally, when the determination unit 720 determines the above-mentioned first and / or second additional adjustments, the generation unit 730 can generate a first and / or second additional adjustment notification indicating the corresponding adjustment. For example, the first additional adjustment notification can make one or more of the following instructions: instruct the source device to transmit data to another collaborative device at an increased transmission volume; instruct the other collaborative device to transmit to the destination device at a higher upload rate; and / or instruct both the source device and the other collaborative device to transmit between them (such as Sidelink transmission) at an increased transmission rate, thereby increasing the transmission volume and / or transmission rate of the collaborative device in the collaborative transmission. In addition, the second additional adjustment notification can, for example, instruct the source device to establish communication (such as Sidelink communication) with a new collaborative device and perform collaborative transmission via the new collaborative device.

[0215] The communication unit 710 may send the first and / or second additional adjustment notifications generated by the generation unit 730 to the source device and the involved collaborative devices. That is, the communication unit 710 may send the first additional adjustment notification to the source device and the additional collaborative devices indicated by the notification, and / or send the second additional adjustment notification to the source device and the new collaborative device indicated by the notification. Accordingly, each device that receives the additional adjustment notification may make corresponding adjustments according to the instructions of the adjustment notification to increase the transmission volume and / or transmission rate of one or more additional collaborative devices in the collaborative transmission, and / or add new collaborative devices to the collaborative transmission.

[0216] In this way, additional or newly added cooperative devices may be used to improve the cooperative transmission, thereby facilitating improvement of the transmission quality of the cooperative transmission.

[0217] Note that the example processing of the electronic device (the individual units 710 to 730) described in the third application example can be applied alone or in combination with the first and / or second application examples described above. Here, the example processing performed by the electronic device 700 or 800 in two possible combinations is briefly described with reference to Figures 9A and 9B.

[0218] FIG. 9A shows an example process of a first combination of the first to third application examples, which is suitable for the example scenario shown in FIG. 1B , for example.

[0219] As shown in Figure 9A, in this example, upon receiving a status report, the electronic device can utilize its determination unit 720 to determine only a first adjustment based on the first status report to adjust the communication resources allocated for communication such as direct link communication between the source device and the collaborative device, and can simultaneously determine a second adjustment and a second additional adjustment (and an optional first additional adjustment) based on the second status report to cause the current collaborative device to exit the collaborative transmission and enable the new collaborative device to join the collaborative transmission. At the same time, the electronic device can utilize its generation unit 730 to generate a first adjustment notification based on the determined adjustment, or generate a second adjustment notification and a second additional adjustment notification (and an optional first additional adjustment notification). Thereafter, the electronic device can utilize its communication unit 710 to send the generated adjustment notification to the source device and the corresponding collaborative device.

[0220] FIG. 9B shows an example process of a second combination of the first to third application examples, which may be suitable for the two example scenarios shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B .

[0221] As shown in Figure 9B, in this example, upon receiving a status report, the electronic device can utilize its determination unit 720 to determine only a first additional adjustment (and an optional second additional adjustment) based on the first status report to increase the transmission volume / transmission rate of another collaborative device, and can simultaneously determine a second adjustment and a second additional adjustment (and an optional first additional adjustment) based on the second status report to cause the current collaborative device to exit the collaborative transmission and allow the new collaborative device to join the collaborative transmission. At the same time, the electronic device can utilize its generation unit 730 to generate a first adjustment notification (and an optional second additional adjustment) or a second adjustment notification and a second additional adjustment notification (and an optional first additional adjustment notification) based on the determined adjustment. Thereafter, the electronic device can utilize its communication unit 710 to send the generated adjustment notification to the source device and the corresponding collaborative device.

[0222] The combination of the first to third application examples is only for example. The present disclosure does not limit the specific combination, which will not be described in detail here.

[0223] [3.2 Example Signaling Interaction]

[0224] The electronic device 300 of the first embodiment for generating and transmitting a status report to another electronic device, and the electronic devices 700 or 800 of the first and second configuration examples of the second embodiment for determining adjustments to cooperative transmission based on received status reports have been described above.

[0225] Next, the example processing performed by the electronic device according to the second embodiment described above with reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B will be described. Referring to FIGS. 10A and 10B, an example signaling interaction implemented by the electronic device 300 implemented on the side of the cooperative device UEi and the electronic device 800 implemented on the side of the destination device (AS or gNB) will be described. In the example of FIGS. 10A or 10B, the cooperative device UEi may have the configuration of the electronic device 300 of the first embodiment, the base station side device gNB or the aggregation server AS as the destination device may have the configuration of the electronic device 800 of the second embodiment, and UEj or UEk is another or newly added cooperative device.

[0226] First, referring to FIG. 10A, based on the example described in FIG. 9A, an example signaling interaction suitable for the example scenario shown in FIG. 1B is shown.

[0227] As shown in FIG. 10A, in this example, the cooperative device UEi can obtain, for example, a first metric D_i by measuring the distance to the source device UE0, and depending on the comparison between this metric and the first to third ranges (D_i < R1, R1 ≤ D_i ≤ R2, or R D_i > R2) divided based on the distance metric thresholds R1 and R2, does not generate a status report, generates a first status report, or generates a second status report. In addition, when D_i is in the third range (R D_i > R2), UEi can directly stop the sidelink communication with UE0, thereby exiting the cooperative transmission. Here, for example, the first status report may have the form of the bit sequences described above, such as {00001} or {00010}, to indicate the first state (0), the first metric D (00) currently used, the second parameter Q0 (01) as the received signal quality or the third parameter N re (10) used to divide the current metric range. The second status report may have the form of a single bit (1).

[0228] UEi can send the generated first or second status report to the destination device (cooperative management device) gNB. Accordingly, the gNB that receives the first status report can determine a first adjustment based on this to adjust the communication resources of the communication allocation such as the direct link communication between the source device UE0 and this cooperative device UEi, and generate a first adjustment notice indicating this adjustment.

[0229] For example, upon receiving a first status report in the form of {00001}, the gNB may understand that the second parameter Q0, which is the received signal quality parameter, is used to delimit the current indicator range, and accordingly determine a first adjustment for adjusting the frequency band for sidelink communication (switching from the first frequency band to a lower second frequency band) and generate an adjustment notification indicating the adjustment. Upon receiving a first status report in the form of {00010}, the gNB may understand that the third parameter N, which is the number of retransmissions, is used to delimit the current indicator range. re , and accordingly determine a first adjustment for adjusting the feedback resource and generate an adjustment notification indicating the adjustment.

[0230] The gNB may send the first adjustment notification to UE0 and UEi.

[0231] UE0 and UEi that receive the first adjustment notification may use the adjusted communication resources (eg, the adjusted feedback resources or frequency band) for sidelink communication according to the instruction of the notification.

[0232] In addition, the gNB that receives the second status report may determine a second adjustment and a second additional adjustment to cause the current cooperating device UEi to exit the coordinated transmission and allow the new cooperating device UEj to join the coordinated transmission, and may generate a second adjustment notification and a second additional adjustment notification indicating the adjustments, respectively. The gNB may send the second adjustment notification to UE0 and UEi, and may send the second additional adjustment notification to UE0 and UEj.

[0233] The source device UE0 that receives the second adjustment notification may, for example, confirm that UEi has exited the coordinated transmission and no longer attempt to send data to the latter. Furthermore, the source device UE0 that receives the second additional adjustment notification and the new coordinated device UEj may establish sidelink communication and perform coordinated transmission to the gNB via UEj according to the instructions of the notification.

[0234] Note that for simplicity, FIG10A illustrates only a single acquisition of the first indicator, omitting subsequent acquisitions. However, this process can be performed periodically, for example, and the range of the acquired first indicator can correspond to different ranges, such as those in the three diagrams in FIG5 . Furthermore, while FIG10A illustrates the first indicator as an example, this is not limiting and, for example, could be the second indicator. Furthermore, while the gNB is shown sending the adjustment notification directly to cooperating devices UEi and UEj, this can also be achieved via forwarding by UE0, and this will not be further described here.

[0235] 10B , based on the example described in FIG. 9B , it shows an example signaling interaction applicable to the example scenario shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B .

[0236] As shown in FIG. 10B, in this example, the cooperative device UEi obtains the first metric D_i in a similar manner to FIG. 9A, and depending on the comparison of this metric with the first to third ranges (D_i < R1, R1 ≤ D_i ≤ R2, or D_i > R2) divided based on the distance metric thresholds R1 and R2, etc., it does not generate a status report, generates a first status report, or generates a second status report. In addition, when D_i is in the third range (D_i > R2), UEi can directly stop the direct communication with UE0 and thus exit the cooperative transmission. Here, both the first and second status reports can simply be in the form of a single bit.

[0237] UEi can send the generated first or second status report to the gNB.

[0238] Correspondingly, the AS that receives the first status report can determine a first additional adjustment to increase the transmission volume / transmission rate of another cooperative device UEj, and generate a first additional adjustment notice indicating this adjustment. The gNB can send the above first additional adjustment notice to UE0 and UEj.

[0239] In this case, UEi can maintain its cooperative transmission without making any adjustments. UE0 and UEj that receive the first additional adjustment notice can, according to the indication of this notice, make UEj perform cooperative transmission with an increased transmission volume / transmission rate.

[0240] In addition, the gNB that receives the second status report can determine a second adjustment and a second additional adjustment to make the current cooperative device exit the cooperative transmission and make a new cooperative device UEk (not shown in the figure) join the cooperative transmission, and generate a second adjustment notice and a second additional adjustment notice respectively indicating the above adjustments. The gNB can send the above second adjustment notice to UE0 and UEi, and send the above second additional adjustment notice to UE0 and the newly added cooperative device UEk.

[0241] UE0 that receives the second adjustment notice can, for example, confirm that UE exits the cooperative transmission and no longer attempt to send data to the latter, etc. In addition, UE0 and the newly added cooperative device UEk that receive the second additional adjustment notice can, according to the indication of this notice, establish direct communication and perform cooperative transmission to the gNB via UEk.

[0242] Note that for simplicity, FIG10B illustrates only a single acquisition of the first indicator, omitting subsequent acquisitions. However, this process can be performed periodically, for example, and the range of the acquired first indicator can correspond to different ranges, such as in the three diagrams in FIG5 . Furthermore, while the first indicator is shown as an example, it is not limited thereto and can be, for example, the second or third indicator. Furthermore, while the gNB is shown sending the adjustment notification directly to cooperating devices UEi, UEj, UEk, etc., this can also be achieved via forwarding by UE0, which will not be further described here.

[0243] In addition, the example signaling process of interaction between electronic devices in the first and second embodiments described above with reference to Figures 10A and 10B is only an example case given for easy understanding. The signaling process of the present disclosure is not limited to this and will not be repeated here.

[0244] [3.3 Modification Example]

[0245] Based on the configuration example of the electronic device 700 of the second embodiment described above, it can be understood by those skilled in the art that various appropriate modifications can be made thereto.

[0246] For example, the configuration example of the electronic device 700 or 800 of the second embodiment described above is mainly based on the case where the electronic device is applied to a destination device (such as the aggregation server AS or the base station side device gNB in ​​Figure 1A or Figure 1B). However, those skilled in the art can understand, based on the above description, that a modified example of applying the electronic device 700 to a source device (such as UE0 in Figure 1A or Figure 1B) in the same or similar manner can be obtained through appropriate modifications and / or deformations.

[0247] For example, at this time, the communication unit 710 of the electronic device 700 on the UE0 side can receive the status report generated by the current collaborative device UEi, and send the adjustment notification generated by the generation unit 730 to the corresponding collaborative device (current collaborative device, another collaborative device, newly added collaborative device, etc.) via a method such as direct link communication between the collaborative devices involved. This will not be expanded here. In addition, it can be understood that at this time, the electronic device 700 is used on the source device UE0 side, so it can omit any adjustment notification sent to the source device.

[0248] The first embodiment, in which a status report is generated and sent to another electronic device based on the relationship between a quality indicator and an indicator range, and the second embodiment, in which adjustments to cooperative transmission are determined based on the received status report, have been described above. Building on the first and second embodiments, a third embodiment is proposed that omits the processes of generating and sending or receiving status reports in the first and second embodiments and instead directly determines adjustments to cooperative transmission based on the relationship between the quality indicator and the indicator range. The following will provide a brief description of the third embodiment, building on the descriptions of the first and second embodiments, while omitting unnecessary details.

[0249] <4. Configuration Example of Electronic Device of Third Embodiment>

[0250] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a first configuration example of an electronic device according to the third embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0251] As shown in Figure 11, the electronic device 1100 may include an acquisition unit 1110, a determination unit 1120, and may further include an optional generation unit 1130. In addition, although not shown in the figure, the electronic device 1100 may further include: an optional communication unit for communicating with other devices; and an optional storage unit for storing various programs, data, parameters, etc.

[0252] Here, each unit of the electronic device 1100 may be included in a processing circuit. It should be noted that the electronic device 1100 may include one processing circuit or multiple processing circuits. Furthermore, the processing circuit may include various discrete functional units to perform various functions and / or operations. It should be noted that these functional units may be physical entities or logical entities, and units with different names may be implemented by the same physical entity.

[0253] The electronic device 1100 of the third embodiment can be a network-side device or a terminal-side device, and can be used as a destination device or a source device in the collaborative transmission of FIG. 1A or FIG. 1B , which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0254] The acquisition unit 1110 of the electronic device 1100 may be configured to acquire an indicator (quality indication indicator) regarding the quality of cooperative transmission currently implemented by a cooperative device that relays a portion of data originating from a source device to be transmitted to a destination device to implement cooperative transmission.

[0255] In other words, the acquisition unit 1110 of the electronic device 1100 has a function of acquiring quality indicators similar to that of the acquisition unit 310 in the first embodiment. Therefore, the various descriptions of the acquisition unit 310 in the first embodiment are similarly applicable to this embodiment. For example, the acquisition unit 1100 can acquire the relevant indicators through necessary measurements or necessary communications with relevant devices, which will not be further described here.

[0256] Furthermore, the determining unit 1120 of the electronic device 1100 may be configured to determine adjustment of the cooperative transmission depending on a relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges (indicator ranges) sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low.

[0257] In other words, the acquisition unit 1120 of the electronic device 1100 partially combines the functions of the generation unit 320 of the electronic device 300 of the first embodiment and the determination unit 720 of the electronic device 700 or 800 of the second embodiment, thereby directly determining whether it is necessary to adjust the collaborative transmission (when the indicator falls within the first range), whether the first or second adjustment of the collaborative transmission is required (when the indicator falls within the second or third range), and / or whether the first or second additional adjustment of the collaborative transmission is required (when the indicator falls within the second or third range) based on the comparison between the quality indication index and the index range. The various descriptions of the generation unit 320 and the determination unit 720 of the first or second embodiment can be similarly applicable to the acquisition unit 1120 of the electronic device of this embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0258] Furthermore, optionally, the generating unit 1130 of the electronic device 1100 may be configured to: generate an adjustment notification regarding the determined cooperative transmission to indicate the adjustment of the determined cooperative transmission.

[0259] In other words, the generation unit 1130 of the electronic device 1100 partially integrates the functions of the generation unit 730 of the electronic device 700 or 800 of the second embodiment, and can, for example, generate the first or second adjustment notification and / or the first or second additional adjustment notification based on the determined first or second adjustment and / or the first or second additional adjustment to the collaborative transmission. The various descriptions of the generation unit 730 of the second embodiment can be similarly applied to the generation unit 1130 of the electronic device of this embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0260] In addition, the unshown communication unit of the electronic device 1100 may send the adjustment notification generated by the generation unit 1230 to the corresponding device to implement the determined adjustment. In other words, the communication unit of the electronic device 1100 may have a similar function to that of the communication unit 710 of the electronic device 700 or 800 of the second embodiment in sending adjustment notifications. For example, in the case where the electronic device 1100 is implemented on the source device side, its communication unit may send an adjustment notification to the corresponding collaborative device involved; and in the case where the electronic device 1100 is implemented on the destination device side, its communication unit may send an adjustment notification to the source device and the corresponding collaborative device involved. The various descriptions of the communication unit 710 of the second embodiment may be similarly applicable to the communication unit of the electronic device of this embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0261] <5. Method Example>

[0262] FIG12 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure example of the communication method according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0263] As shown in FIG. 12 , in step S1201 , an indicator (quality indicator) regarding the quality of cooperative transmission implemented by the current cooperative device is obtained. The cooperative device relays a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to implement cooperative transmission.

[0264] Next, in step S1202 , a status report on the current cooperating device is generated depending on a relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low.

[0265] Next, in step S1203 , the generated status report is sent to another electronic device.

[0266] As an example, the indicator obtained in step S1201 may indicate one or more of the following: the distance between the collaborative device and the source device; the quality of the signal received by the collaborative device from the source device; or the quality of the signal received by the destination device through collaborative transmission.

[0267] In one example, the indicator obtained indicating the quality of the signal received by the destination device through collaborative transmission can be determined based on one or more of the following: the probability of data packet retransmission between the source device and the collaborative device; the probability of data packet retransmission between the collaborative device and the destination device; and the transmission delay between the collaborative device and the destination device.

[0268] In addition, as an example, the first range, the second range and the third range used in step S1201 can be divided based on the first threshold and the second threshold of the indicator determined according to the following thresholds: the first threshold and the second threshold of the transmission rate between the collaborative device and the source device; the first threshold and the second threshold of the quality of the signal received by the collaborative device from the source device; the first threshold and the second threshold of the number of retransmissions between the collaborative device and the source device; and / or the first threshold and the second threshold of the quality of the signal received by the destination device through collaborative transmission.

[0269] Optionally, the example method shown in FIG12 may be executed on the source device or the cooperating device side.

[0270] In the method shown in FIG12 , if the indicator is in the first range indicating the highest transmission quality, the method does not generate a status report in step S1202. Furthermore, in step S1202, the following processing may be performed: if the indicator is in the second range indicating medium transmission quality, a first status report may be generated; and / or if the indicator is in the third range indicating the lowest transmission quality, communication between the cooperating device and the source device may be stopped and a second status report may be generated.

[0271] In addition, optionally, although not shown in the figure, the method may also include the following processing: receiving an adjustment notification generated by the other electronic device based on the received status report, the adjustment notification indicating an adjustment to the collaborative transmission; and optionally, performing the adjusted collaborative transmission according to the indication of the adjustment notification.

[0272] For example, in one example, a first adjustment notification generated by the other electronic apparatus based on the first status report may be received, where the notification indicates adjusting the communication resources allocated for the current direct link communication between the current collaboration device and the source device.

[0273] For example, the first adjustment notification may indicate allocation of increased feedback resources for current direct link communication to the current cooperating device or allocation of frequency resources of a second frequency band lower than the currently used first frequency band to the current direct link communication.

[0274] In another example, a second adjustment notification generated by the other electronic apparatus based on the second status report may be received, where the second adjustment notification instructs the current cooperative device to exit cooperative transmission.

[0275] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the subject executing the above method may be the electronic device according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure, and therefore all the above embodiments regarding the electronic device of the first embodiment are applicable hereto.

[0276] FIG13 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure example of a communication method according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0277] As shown in FIG. 13 , in step S1301 , a status report on a current cooperating device is received. The cooperating device relays a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to implement cooperative transmission.

[0278] Next, in step S1302 , adjustments to the cooperative transmission are determined based on the received status report.

[0279] Next, in optional step S1303, an adjustment notification indicating adjustment of the cooperative transmission is generated. In addition, although not shown, the method may further include: sending the generated adjustment notification to the cooperative device and / or the source device.

[0280] As an example, in step S1301, the status report may be received from a cooperating device or a source device.

[0281] For example, in step S1301, a first status report generated when the indicator is in a second range indicating medium transmission quality can be received; and / or a second status report generated when the indicator is in a third range indicating lowest transmission quality can be received.

[0282] Accordingly, in step S1302 , it may be determined based on the first or second status report whether to increase the transmission volume and / or transmission rate of one or more other cooperative devices in the cooperative transmission, and / or to add a new cooperative device to the cooperative transmission.

[0283] For example, in step S1302, it may be determined to adjust resources allocated for the current direct link communication between the current cooperating device and the source device based on the first status report.

[0284] For example, in this step, the feedback resources allocated to the current cooperative device for the current direct link communication may be increased; and / or the frequency resources allocated for the current direct link communication may be switched from a first frequency band to a second frequency band lower than the first frequency band.

[0285] In another example, in step S1302, it may be determined based on the second status report that the current collaborative device exits the collaborative transmission.

[0286] Optionally, the method of FIG. 13 may be executed on the destination device side.

[0287] In this case, optionally, although not shown in the figure, the method may also include the following processing: receiving a portion of data originating from the source device to be transmitted to the destination device from the current collaborating device; receiving another portion of data originating from the source device to be transmitted to the destination device from at least one other device; and integrating the received portions of data originating from the source device.

[0288] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the subject executing the above method may be the electronic device according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure, and therefore all the above embodiments regarding the electronic device of the second embodiment are applicable hereto.

[0289] FIG14 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure example of a communication method according to the third embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0290] As shown in FIG. 14 , in step S1401 , an indicator (quality indicator) regarding the quality of cooperative transmission implemented by the current cooperative device is obtained. The cooperative device relays a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to implement cooperative transmission.

[0291] Next, in step S1402 , adjustment of the cooperative transmission is determined depending on a relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low.

[0292] Next, in optional step S1403, an adjustment notification indicating adjustment of the cooperative transmission is generated. In addition, although not shown, the method may further include: sending the generated adjustment notification to the cooperative device and / or the source device.

[0293] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the subject executing the above method may be the electronic device according to the third embodiment of the present disclosure, and therefore all the above embodiments regarding the electronic device of the third embodiment are applicable hereto.

[0294] <6. Application Examples>

[0295] The technology of the present disclosure can be applied to various products.

[0296] For example, the electronic devices of the second and third embodiments may be server devices when used in a destination device (cooperative management device). The electronic device may be implemented as any type of control entity, for example, various types of servers such as tower servers, rack servers, and blade servers. The electronic device may be a control module installed on the server (such as an integrated circuit module including a single chip, or a card or blade inserted into a slot of a blade server).

[0297] In addition, the electronic devices of the second and third embodiments can also be implemented on the base station side when used for the destination device (collaborative management device). When the electronic device is implemented on the base station side, the electronic device can be implemented as any type of base station device, such as a macro eNB and a small eNB, and can also be implemented as any type of gNB (base station in a 5G system). A small eNB can be an eNB that covers a cell smaller than a macro cell, such as a pico eNB, a micro eNB, and a home (femto) eNB. Alternatively, the base station can be implemented as any other type of base station, such as a NodeB and a base transceiver station (BTS). The base station may include: a main body (also called a base station device) configured to control wireless communications; and one or more remote radio heads (RRHs) arranged in a place different from the main body.

[0298] The electronic device on the base station side can also be implemented as any type of TRP. This TRP can have both sending and receiving functions, for example, it can receive information from user equipment and base station equipment, and can also send information to user equipment and base station equipment. In a typical example, the TRP can provide services to user equipment and be controlled by the base station equipment. Furthermore, the TRP can have a structure similar to the base station equipment, or it can only have the structures of the base station equipment related to sending and receiving information.

[0299] In addition, the electronic devices of the first to third embodiments can be implemented on the terminal side (as a source device, a collaborative device, or a destination device). When the electronic device is implemented on the terminal side, for example, as a terminal device, the electronic device can be various user devices, which can be implemented as mobile terminals (such as smart phones, tablet personal computers (PCs), notebook PCs, portable game terminals, portable / dongle-type mobile routers, and digital camera devices) or vehicle-mounted terminals (such as car navigation devices). The user device can also be implemented as a terminal that performs machine-to-machine (M2M) communication (also known as a machine type communication (MTC) terminal). In addition, the user device can be a wireless communication module (such as an integrated circuit module including a single chip) installed on each user device in the above-mentioned user devices.

[0300] [Application examples regarding control entities]

[0301] 15 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a server 1700 to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The server 1700 includes a processor 1701 , a memory 1702 , a storage device 1703 , a network interface 1704 , and a bus 1706 .

[0302] The processor 1701 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) or a digital signal processor (DSP), and controls the functions of the server 1700. The memory 1702 includes a random access memory (RAM) and a read-only memory (ROM), and stores data and programs executed by the processor 1701. The storage device 1703 may include a storage medium such as a semiconductor memory and a hard disk.

[0303] The network interface 1704 is a wired communication interface for connecting the server 1700 to the wired communication network 1705. The wired communication network 1705 may be a core network such as an evolved packet core (EPC) or a packet data network (PDN) such as the Internet.

[0304] The bus 1706 connects the processor 1701, the memory 1702, the storage device 1703, and the network interface 1704 to each other. The bus 1706 may include two or more buses each having a different speed (such as a high-speed bus and a low-speed bus).

[0305] In the server 1700 shown in FIG15 , at least part of the functions of the determination unit, generation unit, and aggregation unit in the electronic device 700 or 800 described previously with reference to FIG7 or FIG8 , and the acquisition unit, determination unit, and generation unit of the electronic device 1100 described with reference to FIG11 can be implemented by the processor 1701. For example, the processor 1701 can perform the functions of the above units by executing instructions stored in the memory 1702 or the storage device 1703. In addition, the communication unit (which may not be shown) of these electronic devices can be implemented via the network interface 1704, etc. In addition, the storage unit not shown in these electronic devices can be implemented by the memory 1702 and / or the storage device 1703.

[0306] [Application examples for base stations]

[0307] (First application example)

[0308] 16 is a block diagram showing a first example of a schematic configuration of an eNB to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The eNB 1800 includes one or more antennas 1810 and a base station device 1820. The base station device 1820 and each antenna 1810 can be connected to each other via an RF cable.

[0309] Each of the antennas 1810 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) antenna) and is used for base station device 1820 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As shown in FIG16 , eNB 1800 may include multiple antennas 1810. For example, multiple antennas 1810 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by eNB 1800. Although FIG16 shows an example in which eNB 1800 includes multiple antennas 1810, eNB 1800 may also include a single antenna 1810.

[0310] The base station device 1820 includes a controller 1821 , a memory 1822 , a network interface 1823 , and a wireless communication interface 1825 .

[0311] The controller 1821 may be, for example, a CPU or a DSP, and operates various functions of the higher layers of the base station device 1820. For example, the controller 1821 generates data packets based on the data in the signal processed by the wireless communication interface 1825, and transmits the generated packets via the network interface 1823. The controller 1821 may bundle data from multiple baseband processors to generate bundled packets, and transmit the generated bundled packets. The controller 1821 may have logic functions for performing the following controls: the control may be radio resource control, radio bearer control, mobility management, admission control, and scheduling. The control may be performed in conjunction with a nearby eNB or core network node. The memory 1822 includes RAM and ROM, and stores programs executed by the controller 1821 and various types of control data (such as a terminal list, transmission power data, and scheduling data).

[0312] The network interface 1823 is a communication interface for connecting the base station device 1820 to the core network 1824. The controller 1821 can communicate with the core network node or another eNB via the network interface 1823. In this case, the eNB 1800 and the core network node or other eNB can be connected to each other through a logical interface (such as an S1 interface and an X2 interface). The network interface 1823 can also be a wired communication interface or a wireless communication interface for a wireless backhaul line. If the network interface 1823 is a wireless communication interface, the network interface 1823 can use a higher frequency band for wireless communication than the frequency band used by the wireless communication interface 1825.

[0313] The wireless communication interface 1825 supports any cellular communication scheme, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced, and provides wireless connectivity to terminals located in the cell of the eNB 1800 via the antenna 1810. The wireless communication interface 1825 may typically include, for example, a baseband (BB) processor 1826 and RF circuitry 1827. The BB processor 1826 can perform various signal processing functions, such as encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and performs various types of signal processing for layers such as Layer 1 (L1), Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP). In place of the controller 1821, the BB processor 1826 may perform some or all of the aforementioned logical functions. The BB processor 1826 may be a memory that stores communication control programs, or a module including a processor configured to execute programs and associated circuitry. Program updates can modify the functionality of the BB processor 1826. This module may be a card or blade inserted into a slot in the base station device 1820. Alternatively, the module may be a chip mounted on the card or blade. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 1827 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmit and receive wireless signals via the antenna 1810 .

[0314] As shown in FIG16 , the wireless communication interface 1825 may include multiple BB processors 1826. For example, multiple BB processors 1826 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the eNB 1800. As shown in FIG16 , the wireless communication interface 1825 may include multiple RF circuits 1827. For example, multiple RF circuits 1827 may be compatible with multiple antenna elements. Although FIG16 illustrates an example in which the wireless communication interface 1825 includes multiple BB processors 1826 and multiple RF circuits 1827, the wireless communication interface 1825 may also include a single BB processor 1826 or a single RF circuit 1827.

[0315] In the eNB 1800 shown in FIG16 , the communication units in the electronic devices 700 or 800 of the first embodiment described previously with reference to FIG7 or FIG8 , as well as the unillustrated communication units of the electronic device 1100 described with reference to FIG11 , may be implemented via a wireless communication interface 1825 and an optional antenna 1810 . At least some of the functions of the determination unit, generation unit, and aggregation unit in the electronic devices 700 or 800, and the acquisition unit, determination unit, and generation unit of the electronic device 1100, may be implemented via a controller 1821 . For example, the controller 1821 may implement the functions of the aforementioned units by executing instructions stored in a memory 1822 . Furthermore, the unillustrated storage units in these electronic devices may be implemented via the memory 1822 .

[0316] (Second application example)

[0317] FIG17 is a block diagram illustrating a second example of a schematic configuration of an eNB to which the techniques of this disclosure may be applied. An eNB 1930 includes one or more antennas 1940, a base station 1950, and an RRH 1960. The RRH 1960 and each antenna 1940 may be connected to each other via an RF cable. The base station 1950 and the RRH 1960 may be connected to each other via a high-speed line such as an optical fiber cable.

[0318] Each of the antennas 1940 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for RRH 1960 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As shown in FIG17 , eNB 1930 may include multiple antennas 1940. For example, multiple antennas 1940 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by eNB 1930. Although FIG17 shows an example in which eNB 1930 includes multiple antennas 1940, eNB 1930 may also include a single antenna 1940.

[0319] Base station device 1950 includes a controller 1951, a memory 1952, a network interface 1953, a wireless communication interface 1955, and a connection interface 1957. Controller 1951, memory 1952, and network interface 1953 are the same as controller 1821, memory 1822, and network interface 1823 described with reference to FIG.

[0320] The wireless communication interface 1955 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and provides wireless communication to terminals located in the sector corresponding to the RRH 1960 via the RRH 1960 and the antenna 1940. The wireless communication interface 1955 may generally include, for example, a BB processor 1956. The BB processor 1956 is identical to the BB processor 1826 described with reference to FIG. 16 , except that the BB processor 1956 is connected to the RF circuit 1964 of the RRH 1960 via a connection interface 1957. As shown in FIG. 17 , the wireless communication interface 1955 may include multiple BB processors 1956. For example, multiple BB processors 1956 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the eNB 1930. Although FIG. 17 illustrates an example in which the wireless communication interface 1955 includes multiple BB processors 1956, the wireless communication interface 1955 may also include a single BB processor 1956.

[0321] The connection interface 1957 is an interface for connecting the base station device 1950 (wireless communication interface 1955) to the RRH 1960. The connection interface 1957 may also be a communication module for connecting the base station device 1950 (wireless communication interface 1955) to the RRH 1960 for communication in the high-speed line.

[0322] The RRH 1960 includes a connection interface 1961 and a wireless communication interface 1963 .

[0323] The connection interface 1961 is an interface for connecting the RRH 1960 (wireless communication interface 1963) to the base station device 1950. The connection interface 1961 may also be a communication module for communication in the above-mentioned high-speed line.

[0324] The wireless communication interface 1963 transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 1940. The wireless communication interface 1963 may generally include, for example, an RF circuit 1964. The RF circuit 1964 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 1940. As shown in FIG17 , the wireless communication interface 1963 may include multiple RF circuits 1964. For example, the multiple RF circuits 1964 may support multiple antenna elements. Although FIG17 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 1963 includes multiple RF circuits 1964, the wireless communication interface 1963 may also include a single RF circuit 1964.

[0325] In the eNB 1930 shown in FIG17 , the communication units in the electronic devices 700 or 800 described previously with reference to FIG7 or FIG8 , and the unillustrated communication units in the electronic device 1100 described with reference to FIG11 , may be implemented, for example, via the wireless communication interface 1963 and the optional antenna 1940. At least some of the functions of the determination unit, generation unit, and aggregation unit in the electronic devices 700 or 800, and the acquisition unit, determination unit, and generation unit in the electronic device 1100, may be implemented by the controller 1951. For example, the controller 1951 may implement the functions of the aforementioned units by executing instructions stored in the memory 1952. Furthermore, the unillustrated storage units in these electronic devices may be implemented by the memory 1952.

[0326] [Application examples on user devices]

[0327] (First application example)

[0328] 18 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a smartphone 2000 to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The smartphone 2000 includes a processor 2001, a memory 2002, a storage device 2003, an external connection interface 2004, a camera 2006, a sensor 2007, a microphone 2008, an input device 2009, a display device 2010, a speaker 2011, a wireless communication interface 2012, one or more antenna switches 2015, one or more antennas 2016, a bus 2017, a battery 2018, and an auxiliary controller 2019.

[0329] The processor 2001 may be, for example, a CPU or a system on a chip (SoC), and controls the functions of the application layer and other layers of the smartphone 2000. The memory 2002 includes RAM and ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 2001. The storage device 2003 may include storage media such as semiconductor memories and hard disks. The external connection interface 2004 is an interface for connecting external devices (such as memory cards and universal serial bus (USB) devices) to the smartphone 2000.

[0330] The camera 2006 includes an image sensor (such as a charge coupled device (CCD) and a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)) and generates a captured image. The sensor 2007 may include a group of sensors such as a measurement sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an acceleration sensor. The microphone 2008 converts the sound input to the smart phone 2000 into an audio signal. The input device 2009 includes, for example, a touch sensor, a keypad, a keyboard, a button, or a switch configured to detect a touch on the screen of the display device 2010, and receives an operation or information input from the user. The display device 2010 includes a screen (such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display) and displays the output image of the smart phone 2000. The speaker 2011 converts the audio signal output from the smart phone 2000 into sound.

[0331] The wireless communication interface 2012 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 2012 may generally include, for example, a BB processor 2013 and an RF circuit 2014. The BB processor 2013 may perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and perform various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 2014 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmit and receive wireless signals via an antenna 2016. The wireless communication interface 2012 may be a chip module on which the BB processor 2013 and the RF circuit 2014 are integrated. As shown in FIG18 , the wireless communication interface 2012 may include multiple BB processors 2013 and multiple RF circuits 2014. Although FIG18 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 2012 includes multiple BB processors 2013 and multiple RF circuits 2014, the wireless communication interface 2012 may also include a single BB processor 2013 or a single RF circuit 2014.

[0332] In addition, in addition to the cellular communication scheme, the wireless communication interface 2012 can support other types of wireless communication schemes, such as a short-range wireless communication scheme, a near field communication scheme, and a wireless local area network (LAN) scheme. In this case, the wireless communication interface 2012 can include a BB processor 2013 and an RF circuit 2014 for each wireless communication scheme.

[0333] Each of the antenna switches 2015 switches the connection destination of the antenna 916 between a plurality of circuits (eg, circuits for different wireless communication schemes) included in the wireless communication interface 2012 .

[0334] Each of the antennas 2016 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for transmitting and receiving wireless signals via the wireless communication interface 2012. As shown in FIG18 , the smartphone 2000 may include multiple antennas 2016. Although FIG18 shows an example in which the smartphone 2000 includes multiple antennas 2016, the smartphone 2000 may also include a single antenna 2016.

[0335] In addition, the smartphone 2000 may include an antenna 2016 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 2015 may be omitted from the configuration of the smartphone 2000.

[0336] The bus 2017 connects the processor 2001, the memory 2002, the storage device 2003, the external connection interface 2004, the camera 2006, the sensor 2007, the microphone 2008, the input device 2009, the display device 2010, the speaker 2011, the wireless communication interface 2012, and the auxiliary controller 2019. The battery 2018 supplies power to the various blocks of the smartphone 2000 shown in FIG18 via feeders, which are partially shown as dotted lines in the figure. The auxiliary controller 2019 operates the minimum necessary functions of the smartphone 2000, for example, in sleep mode.

[0337] In the smartphone 2000 shown in FIG18 , the communication unit in the electronic device 300 described previously with reference to FIG3 , the communication unit in the electronic device 700 or 800 described with reference to FIG7 or FIG8 , and the unillustrated communication unit in the electronic device 1100 described with reference to FIG11 may be implemented via the wireless communication interface 2012 and the optional antenna 2016. At least part of the functions of the acquisition unit and generation unit in the electronic device 300, the determination unit, generation unit, and aggregation unit in the electronic device 700 or 800, and the acquisition unit, determination unit, and generation unit in the electronic device 1100 may be implemented by the processor 2001 or the auxiliary controller 2019. For example, the processor 2001 or the auxiliary controller 2019 may implement the functions of the aforementioned units by executing instructions stored in the memory 2002 or the storage device 2003. Furthermore, the unillustrated storage units in these electronic devices may be implemented by the memory 2002 or the storage device 2003.

[0338] (Second application example)

[0339] 19 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device 2120 to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The car navigation device 2120 includes a processor 2121, a memory 2122, a global positioning system (GPS) module 2124, a sensor 2125, a data interface 2126, a content player 2127, a storage medium interface 2128, an input device 2129, a display device 2130, a speaker 2131, a wireless communication interface 2133, one or more antenna switches 2136, one or more antennas 2137, and a battery 2138.

[0340] The processor 2121 may be, for example, a CPU or an SoC, and controls a navigation function and other functions of the car navigation device 2120. The memory 2122 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 2121.

[0341] The GPS module 2124 uses GPS signals received from GPS satellites to measure the position (such as latitude, longitude, and altitude) of the car navigation device 2120. The sensor 2125 may include a group of sensors such as a gyroscope sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an air pressure sensor. The data interface 2126 is connected to, for example, the vehicle network 2141 via a terminal not shown, and acquires data generated by the vehicle (such as vehicle speed data).

[0342] The content player 2127 reproduces content stored in a storage medium (such as a CD or DVD) inserted into the storage medium interface 2128. The input device 2129 includes, for example, a touch sensor, button, or switch configured to detect a touch on the screen of the display device 2130, and receives an operation or information input from the user. The display device 2130 includes a screen such as an LCD or OLED display and displays an image of a navigation function or reproduced content. The speaker 2131 outputs the sound of the navigation function or the reproduced content.

[0343] The wireless communication interface 2133 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 2133 may generally include, for example, a BB processor 2134 and an RF circuit 2135. The BB processor 2134 may perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and perform various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 2135 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmit and receive wireless signals via an antenna 2137. The wireless communication interface 2133 may also be a chip module on which the BB processor 2134 and the RF circuit 2135 are integrated. As shown in Figure 19, the wireless communication interface 2133 may include multiple BB processors 2134 and multiple RF circuits 2135. Although Figure 19 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 2133 includes multiple BB processors 2134 and multiple RF circuits 2135, the wireless communication interface 2133 may also include a single BB processor 2134 or a single RF circuit 2135.

[0344] In addition, in addition to the cellular communication scheme, the wireless communication interface 2133 can support other types of wireless communication schemes, such as a short-range wireless communication scheme, a near field communication scheme, and a wireless LAN scheme. In this case, for each wireless communication scheme, the wireless communication interface 2133 can include a BB processor 2134 and an RF circuit 2135.

[0345] Each of the antenna switches 2136 switches the connection destination of the antenna 2137 between a plurality of circuits included in the wireless communication interface 2133 , such as circuits for different wireless communication schemes.

[0346] Each of the antennas 2137 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for transmitting and receiving wireless signals via the wireless communication interface 2133. As shown in FIG19, the car navigation device 2120 may include multiple antennas 2137. Although FIG19 shows an example in which the car navigation device 2120 includes multiple antennas 2137, the car navigation device 2120 may also include a single antenna 2137.

[0347] Furthermore, the car navigation device 2120 may include an antenna 2137 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 2136 may be omitted from the configuration of the car navigation device 2120.

[0348] The battery 2138 supplies power to the respective blocks of the car navigation device 2120 shown in Fig. 19 via a feeder line, which is partially shown as a dotted line in the figure. The battery 2138 accumulates the power supplied from the vehicle.

[0349] In the car navigation device 2120 shown in FIG19 , the communication unit in the electronic device 300 described previously with reference to FIG3 , the communication unit in the electronic device 700 or 800 described with reference to FIG7 or FIG8 , and the unillustrated communication unit in the electronic device 1100 described with reference to FIG11 can be implemented via the wireless communication interface 2133 and the optional antenna 2137 . At least part of the functions of the acquisition unit and generation unit in the electronic device 300, the determination unit, generation unit, and aggregation unit in the electronic device 700 or 800, and the acquisition unit, determination unit, and generation unit in the electronic device 1100 can be implemented by the processor 2121. For example, the processor 2121 can implement the functions of the above-mentioned units by executing instructions stored in the memory 2122. Furthermore, the unillustrated storage units in these electronic devices can be implemented by the memory 2122.

[0350] The technology of the present disclosure can also be implemented as an in-vehicle system (or vehicle) 2140 including a car navigation device 2120, an in-vehicle network 2141, and one or more blocks of a vehicle module 2142. The vehicle module 2142 generates vehicle data (such as vehicle speed, engine speed, and fault information) and outputs the generated data to the in-vehicle network 2141.

[0351] The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present disclosure is of course not limited to the above examples. Those skilled in the art may obtain various changes and modifications within the scope of the appended claims, and it should be understood that these changes and modifications will naturally fall within the technical scope of the present disclosure.

[0352] For example, the units shown in dotted boxes in the functional block diagrams shown in the accompanying drawings all indicate that the functional units are optional in the corresponding device, and the various optional functional units can be combined in an appropriate manner to achieve the required functions.

[0353] For example, a plurality of functions included in one unit in the above embodiments may be implemented by separate devices. Alternatively, a plurality of functions implemented by a plurality of units in the above embodiments may be implemented by separate devices, respectively. In addition, one of the above functions may be implemented by a plurality of units. Needless to say, such a configuration is included in the technical scope of the present disclosure.

[0354] In this specification, the steps described in the flowchart include not only processing executed in time series in the order described, but also processing executed in parallel or individually rather than necessarily in time series. In addition, even in the steps processed in time series, it goes without saying that the order can be changed as appropriate.

[0355] Furthermore, the present disclosure may have configurations as described below.

[0356] 1. An electronic device, comprising:

[0357] The processing circuit is configured to:

[0358] Obtaining an indicator of quality of a cooperative transmission currently implemented by a cooperating device, the cooperating device relaying a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to implement the cooperative transmission;

[0359] generating a status report on the current cooperating device depending on a relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low; and

[0360] The generated status report is sent to another electronic device.

[0361] 2. The electronic device according to configuration 1, wherein the indicator indicates one or more of the following: the distance between the collaborative device and the source device; the quality of the signal received by the collaborative device from the source device; or the quality of the signal received by the destination device through collaborative transmission.

[0362] 3. An electronic device according to configuration 2, wherein the indicator indicating the quality of the signal received by the destination device through collaborative transmission is determined based on one or more of the following: the probability of data packet retransmission between the source device and the collaborative device; the probability of data packet retransmission between the collaborative device and the destination device; and the transmission delay between the collaborative device and the destination device.

[0363] 4. The electronic device according to configuration 1, wherein the first range, the second range, and the third range are divided based on a first threshold value and a second threshold value of the indicator determined according to the following threshold values:

[0364] a first threshold and a second threshold of a transmission rate between the cooperating device and the source device;

[0365] a first threshold and a second threshold of quality of a signal received by the cooperating device from the source device;

[0366] a first threshold and a second threshold for the number of retransmissions between the cooperating device and the source device; and / or

[0367] The destination device receives a first threshold and a second threshold of quality of a signal through cooperative transmission.

[0368] 5. The electronic apparatus according to configuration 1, wherein the electronic apparatus is used as a source device or a collaborative device, and the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0369] If the indicator is in a first range indicating the highest transmission quality, not generating a status report;

[0370] generating a first status report if the indicator is in a second range indicating medium transmission quality; and / or

[0371] In a case where the indicator is in a third range indicating the lowest transmission quality, communication between the cooperation device and the source device is stopped, and a second status report is generated.

[0372] 6. The electronic device according to configuration 5, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0373] An adjustment notification generated by the other electronic device based on the received status report is received, where the adjustment notification indicates an adjustment to the cooperative transmission.

[0374] 7. The electronic device according to configuration 6, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0375] Carry out the adjusted collaborative transmission according to the instructions of the adjustment notice.

[0376] 8. The electronic device according to configuration 6, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0377] A first adjustment notification generated by the other electronic apparatus based on the first status report is received, where the notification indicates adjusting the communication resources allocated for the current direct link communication between the current cooperation device and the source device.

[0378] 9. The electronic device according to configuration 8, wherein the first adjustment notification indicates allocating increased feedback resources for current direct link communication to the current cooperative device or allocating frequency resources of a second frequency band lower than the currently used first frequency band to the current direct link communication.

[0379] 10. The electronic device according to configuration 6, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0380] A second adjustment notification is received, which is generated by the other electronic apparatus based on the second status report, and instructs the current cooperative device to exit cooperative transmission.

[0381] 11. An electronic device, comprising:

[0382] The processing circuit is configured to:

[0383] receiving a status report about a current cooperating device that relays a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to achieve cooperative transmission; and

[0384] determining adjustments to the coordinated transmission based on the received status reports,

[0385] The status report is generated based on a relationship between an indicator of quality of cooperative transmission currently implemented by the cooperative device and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low.

[0386] 12. The electronic device according to configuration 11, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0387] An adjustment notification indicating an adjustment to the cooperative transmission is generated, and the generated adjustment notification is sent to the cooperative device and / or the source device.

[0388] 13. The electronic device according to configuration 12, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0389] receiving a first status report generated when the indicator is in a second range indicating medium transmission quality; and / or

[0390] A second status report generated when the indicator is in a third range indicating the lowest transmission quality is received.

[0391] 14. The electronic device according to configuration 13, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0392] Based on the first or second status report, it is determined to increase the transmission volume and / or transmission rate of one or more additional cooperative devices in the cooperative transmission, and / or to add a new cooperative device to the cooperative transmission.

[0393] 15. The electronic device according to configuration 13, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0394] Based on the first status report, it is determined to adjust resources allocated for current direct link communication between the current cooperating device and the source device.

[0395] 16. The electronic device according to configuration 15, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0396] Increasing feedback resources allocated to the current cooperating device for current direct link communication; and / or

[0397] The frequency resources allocated for the current direct link communication are switched from a first frequency band to a second frequency band lower than the first frequency band.

[0398] 17. The electronic device according to configuration 13, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0399] Based on the second status report, it is determined that the current cooperative device exits the cooperative transmission.

[0400] 18. The electronic device according to configuration 11, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0401] The status report is received from a cooperating device or a source device.

[0402] 19. The electronic device according to configuration 11, wherein the electronic device is used for a destination device.

[0403] 20. The electronic device according to configuration 19, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0404] receiving, from the current cooperating device, a portion of data originating from the source device and to be transmitted to the destination device;

[0405] receiving, from at least one further device, a further portion of the data originating from the source device to be transmitted to the destination device; and

[0406] Portions of the data received from the source device are aggregated.

[0407] 21. An electronic device, comprising:

[0408] The processing circuit is configured to:

[0409] Obtaining an indicator of quality of a cooperative transmission currently implemented by a cooperating device, the cooperating device relaying a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to implement the cooperative transmission;

[0410] Depending on a relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low, an adjustment to the cooperative transmission is determined.

[0411] 22. A communication method, comprising:

[0412] Obtaining an indicator of quality of a cooperative transmission currently implemented by a cooperating device, the cooperating device relaying a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to implement the cooperative transmission;

[0413] generating a status report on the current cooperating device depending on a relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low; and

[0414] The generated status report is sent to another electronic device.

[0415] 23. A communication method, comprising:

[0416] receiving a status report about a current cooperating device that relays a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to achieve cooperative transmission; and

[0417] determining adjustments to the coordinated transmission based on the received status reports,

[0418] The status report is generated based on a relationship between an indicator of quality of cooperative transmission currently implemented by the cooperative device and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low.

[0419] 24. A communication method, comprising:

[0420] Obtaining an indicator of quality of a cooperative transmission currently implemented by a cooperating device, the cooperating device relaying a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to implement the cooperative transmission;

[0421] Depending on a relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low, an adjustment to the cooperative transmission is determined.

[0422] 25. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions, wherein when the executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor performs the method for wireless communication according to any one of configurations 22 to 24.

[0423] Although the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are merely illustrative of the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and variations can be made to the above embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure is solely defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising: The processing circuit is configured to: Obtaining an indicator of quality of cooperative transmission currently implemented by a cooperative device, the cooperative device relaying a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to implement the cooperative transmission; generating a status report on the current cooperating device depending on a relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low; as well as The generated status report is sent to another electronic device.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein: The indicator indicates one or more of: a distance between the cooperating device and the source device; a quality of a signal received by the cooperating device from the source device; or a quality of a signal received by the destination device through cooperative transmission.

3. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein: The indicator indicating the quality of the signal received by the destination device through collaborative transmission is determined based on one or more of the following: the probability of data packet retransmission between the source device and the collaborative device; the probability of data packet retransmission between the collaborative device and the destination device; and the transmission delay between the collaborative device and the destination device.

4. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein: The first range, the second range, and the third range are divided based on a first threshold value and a second threshold value of the indicator determined according to the following threshold values: a first threshold and a second threshold of a transmission rate between the cooperating device and the source device; a first threshold and a second threshold of the quality of a signal received by the cooperating device from the source device; a first threshold and a second threshold for the number of retransmissions between the cooperating device and the source device; and / or The destination device transmits a first threshold and a second threshold of quality of a signal received by the cooperative transmission.

5. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein: The electronic device is used for a source device or a cooperating device, and the processing circuit is further configured to: If the indicator is in a first range indicating the highest transmission quality, not generating a status report; generating a first status report if the indicator is in a second range indicating medium transmission quality; and / or When the indicator is in a third range indicating the lowest transmission quality, the communication between the cooperation device and the source device is stopped, and a second status report is generated.

6. The electronic device according to claim 5, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: An adjustment notification generated by the other electronic device based on the received status report is received, the adjustment notification indicating an adjustment to the cooperative transmission.

7. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: Carry out the adjusted collaborative transmission according to the instructions of the adjustment notice.

8. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: A first adjustment notification generated by the other electronic device based on the first status report is received, the notification indicating adjustment of communication resources allocated for current direct link communication between the current cooperation device and the source device.

9. The electronic device according to claim 8, wherein: The first adjustment notification indicates that an increased feedback resource for the current direct link communication is allocated to the current cooperative device, or a frequency resource of a second frequency band lower than the currently used first frequency band is allocated to the current direct link communication.

10. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: A second adjustment notification generated by the other electronic device based on the second status report is received, where the notification instructs the current cooperative device to exit cooperative transmission.

11. An electronic device, comprising: The processing circuit is configured to: receiving a status report about a current cooperative device that relays a portion of data from a source device to be transmitted to a destination device to achieve cooperative transmission; and determining adjustments to the coordinated transmission based on the received status reports, The status report is generated depending on the relationship between the indicator on the quality of the cooperative transmission currently implemented by the cooperative device and the first range to the third range which sequentially indicate the transmission quality from high to low.

12. The electronic device according to claim 11, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: An adjustment notification indicating an adjustment to the cooperative transmission is generated, and the generated adjustment notification is sent to the cooperative device and / or the source device.

13. The electronic device according to claim 12, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: receiving a first status report generated when the indicator is in a second range indicating medium transmission quality; and / or A second status report generated when the indicator is in a third range indicating a minimum transmission quality is received.

14. The electronic device according to claim 13, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: Based on the first or second status report, it is determined to increase the transmission volume and / or transmission rate of one or more additional cooperative devices in the cooperative transmission, and / or to add a new cooperative device to the cooperative transmission.

15. The electronic device according to claim 13, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: Based on the first status report, it is determined to adjust resources allocated for current through-link communication between the current cooperating device and the source device.

16. The electronic device according to claim 15, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: Increase the feedback resources allocated to the current cooperative device for the current through-link communication; and / or The frequency resources allocated for the current direct link communication are switched from the first frequency band to a second frequency band lower than the first frequency band.

17. The electronic device according to claim 13, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: Based on the second status report, it is determined that the current cooperative device exits the cooperative transmission.

18. The electronic device according to claim 11, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: The status report is received from a cooperating device or a source device.

19. The electronic device according to claim 11, wherein: The electronic device is used in a destination device.

20. The electronic device according to claim 19, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: receiving, from the current cooperating device, a portion of data originating from the source device and to be transmitted to the destination device; receiving from at least one further device a further portion of the data originating from the source device to be transmitted to the destination device; as well as Portions of the data received from the source device are integrated.

21. An electronic device, comprising: The processing circuit is configured to: Obtaining an indicator of quality of cooperative transmission currently implemented by a cooperative device, the cooperative device relaying a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to implement the cooperative transmission; Depending on the relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low, adjustment of the cooperative transmission is determined.

22. A communication method, comprising: Obtaining an indicator of quality of cooperative transmission currently implemented by a cooperative device, the cooperative device relaying a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to implement the cooperative transmission; generating a status report on the current cooperating device depending on a relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low; as well as The generated status report is sent to another electronic device.

23. A communication method, comprising: Receive a status report about the current cooperating device, which is from the source device and to be A portion of the data transmitted by the destination device is relayed to achieve cooperative transmission; as well as determining adjustments to the coordinated transmission based on the received status reports, The status report is generated depending on the relationship between the indicator on the quality of the cooperative transmission currently implemented by the cooperative device and the first range to the third range which sequentially indicate the transmission quality from high to low.

24. A communication method, comprising: Obtaining an indicator of quality of cooperative transmission currently implemented by a cooperative device, the cooperative device relaying a portion of data originating from a source device and to be transmitted to a destination device to implement the cooperative transmission; Depending on the relationship between the indicator and first to third ranges sequentially indicating transmission quality from high to low, adjustment of the cooperative transmission is determined.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method for wireless communication according to any one of claims 22 to 24.

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