SRS carrier switching operation method and device

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides an SRS carrier switching operation method and device. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment receives indication information from network equipment; wherein the indication information is used for triggering the terminal equipment to carry out SRS carrier switching operation; and carrying out SRS carrier switching operation according to the indication information.

Description

SRS carrier switching operation method and device Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technologies. Background Art

[0002] In NR Rel-15, the sounding reference signal (SRS) carrier switching operation was introduced. SRS carrier switching is applied to component carriers (CCs) that are not configured with PUSCH / PUCCH, that is, PUSCH-less cells. If the terminal device cannot support simultaneous transmission of PUSCH and SRS on multiple CCs, the terminal device needs to suspend the PUSCH uplink transmission on the source CC and switch to the target CC for SRS transmission (the target CC is PUSCH-less). After sending the SRS, the terminal device switches back to the source CC.

[0003] It should be noted that the above introduction to the technical background is merely intended to provide a clear and complete description of the technical solutions of this application and facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art. Simply because these solutions are described in the background technology section of this application, it should not be assumed that the above technical solutions are well known to those skilled in the art.

[0004] Summary of the Invention

[0005] The inventors have discovered that the current SRS carrier switching is not flexible enough and that the SRS carrier switching operation needs to be enhanced.

[0006] To address at least one of the above problems, embodiments of the present application provide an SRS carrier switching operation method and apparatus.

[0007] According to one aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a method for SRS carrier switching operation is provided, which is applied to a terminal device, and the method includes:

[0008] The terminal device receives indication information from the network device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation; and

[0009] The terminal device performs an SRS carrier switching operation according to the indication information.

[0010] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present application, an SRS carrier switching operation apparatus is provided, configured in a terminal device, the apparatus comprising:

[0011] A receiving unit, which receives indication information from a network device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation; and

[0012] A processing unit performs an SRS carrier switching operation according to the indication information.

[0013] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present application, an SRS carrier switching operation method is provided, which is applied to a network device, and the method includes:

[0014] The network device sends indication information to the terminal device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation.

[0015] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present application, an SRS carrier switching operation apparatus is provided, configured in a network device, the apparatus comprising:

[0016] A sending unit, which sends indication information to a terminal device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation.

[0017] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a communication system is provided, including:

[0018] A network device that sends indication information to a terminal device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation;

[0019] The terminal device performs an SRS carrier switching operation according to the indication information.

[0020] One of the beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present application is that the SRS carrier switching operation is enhanced, thereby increasing flexibility.

[0021] With reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, specific embodiments of the present application are disclosed in detail, indicating the manner in which the principles of the present application can be employed. It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application are not limited in scope. Within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the embodiments of the present application include many variations, modifications and equivalents.

[0022] Features described and / or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same or similar manner in one or more other embodiments, combined with features in other embodiments, or substituted for features in other embodiments.

[0023] It should be emphasized that the term "include / comprising" when used herein refers to the presence of features, integers, steps or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps or components. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] The elements and features described in one figure or one embodiment of the present application can be combined with the elements and features shown in one or more other figures or embodiments. In addition, in the accompanying drawings, similar reference numerals represent corresponding parts in several figures and can be used to indicate corresponding parts used in more than one embodiment.

[0025] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0026] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of an SRS carrier switching operation;

[0027] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of an SRS carrier switching operation method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] FIG4 is an example diagram of an SRS carrier switching operation triggered by a DCI format 1_3 of a scheduled PDSCH according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of an SRS carrier switching operation method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of an SRS carrier switching operation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of an SRS carrier switching operation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The above and other features of the present application will become apparent through the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description and the accompanying drawings, specific embodiments of the present application are disclosed in detail, which illustrate some embodiments in which the principles of the present application can be adopted. It should be understood that the present application is not limited to the described embodiments. On the contrary, the present application includes all modifications, variations and equivalents that fall within the scope of the appended claims.

[0035] In the embodiments of the present application, the terms "first", "second", etc. are used to distinguish different elements from the name, but do not indicate the spatial arrangement or temporal order of these elements, and these elements should not be limited by these terms. The term "and / or" includes any one and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed terms. The terms "comprising", "including", "having", etc. refer to the presence of the stated features, elements, components or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components or components.

[0036] In the embodiments of this application, the singular forms "a," "the," etc. include plural forms and should be broadly understood to mean "a" or "a type" rather than being limited to "one." Furthermore, the term "said" should be understood to include both singular and plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Furthermore, the term "according to" should be understood to mean "at least in part based on...", and the term "based on" should be understood to mean "at least in part based on...", unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0037] In the embodiments of the present application, the term "communication network" or "wireless communication network" may refer to a network that complies with any of the following communication standards, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), enhanced Long Term Evolution (LTE-A, LTE-Advanced), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), etc.

[0038] Furthermore, communication between devices in the communication system may be carried out according to communication protocols of any stage, for example, including but not limited to the following communication protocols: 1G (generation), 2G, 2.5G, 2.75G, 3G, 4G, 4.5G and 5G, New Radio (NR), future 6G, etc., and / or other communication protocols currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0039] In the embodiments of the present application, the term "network device" refers to, for example, a device in a communication system that connects a terminal device to the communication network and provides services to the terminal device. Network devices may include, but are not limited to, the following devices: base station (BS), access point (AP), transmission reception point (TRP), broadcast transmitter, mobile management entity (MME), gateway, server, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), etc.

[0040] Among them, base stations may include but are not limited to: NodeB (NodeB or NB), evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) and 5G base station (gNB), IAB host, etc., and may also include remote radio head (RRH, Remote Radio Head), remote radio unit (RRU, Remote Radio Unit), relay (relay) or low-power node (such as femeto, pico, etc.). The term "base station" can include some or all of their functions. Each base station can provide communication coverage for a specific geographical area. The term "cell" can refer to a base station and / or its coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

[0041] In the embodiments of the present application, the term "user equipment" (UE) or "terminal equipment" (TE) refers to, for example, a device that accesses a communication network through a network device and receives network services. A terminal device can be fixed or mobile and may also be referred to as a mobile station (MS), a terminal, a subscriber station (SS), an access terminal (AT), a station, and so on.

[0042] Among them, terminal devices may include but are not limited to the following devices: cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless modems, wireless communication devices, handheld devices, machine-type communication devices, laptop computers, cordless phones, smart phones, smart watches, digital cameras, etc.

[0043] For another example, in scenarios such as the Internet of Things (IoT), the terminal device can also be a machine or device for monitoring or measurement, including but not limited to: machine type communication (MTC) terminal, vehicle-mounted communication terminal, device-to-device (D2D) terminal, machine-to-machine (M2M) terminal, and so on.

[0044] In addition, the term "network side" or "network device side" refers to one side of the network, which can be a base station or one or more network devices as described above. The term "user side" or "terminal side" or "terminal device side" refers to the user or terminal side, which can be a UE or one or more terminal devices as described above. Unless otherwise specified herein, "device" can refer to either network equipment or terminal equipment.

[0045] The following describes the scenarios of the embodiments of the present application through examples, but the present application is not limited thereto.

[0046] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application, schematically illustrating a situation using a terminal device and a network device as an example. As shown in FIG1 , a communication system 100 may include a network device 101 and terminal devices 102 and 103. For simplicity, FIG1 illustrates only two terminal devices and one network device as an example, but the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0047] In the embodiment of the present application, existing services or future services can be transmitted between the network device 101 and the terminal devices 102 and 103. For example, these services may include but are not limited to: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communication (mMTC), and ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC), etc.

[0048] It is worth noting that FIG1 shows that both terminal devices 102 and 103 are within the coverage range of network device 101, but the present application is not limited thereto. Both terminal devices 102 and 103 may not be within the coverage range of network device 101, or one terminal device 102 may be within the coverage range of network device 101 while the other terminal device 103 is outside the coverage range of network device 101.

[0049] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the SRS carrier switching operation. As shown in Figure 2, the terminal device cannot support the simultaneous transmission of PUSCH and SRS on multiple CCs (c1 and c2 shown in Figure 2), then the terminal device needs to suspend the PUSCH uplink transmission on the source CC (i.e., c2, also referred to as the source cell) and switch to the target CC for SRS transmission (i.e., c1, also referred to as the target cell). After sending the SRS, the terminal device switches back to the source CC. For SRS carrier switching, the SRS resource set with usage set to "antennaSwitching" is used. And the SRS carrier switching is triggered by DCI format 2_3.

[0050] In Rel-17, available slot operation is introduced for aperiodic SRS transmission. Available slot operation for SRS is applicable to DCI formats 0_1 / 0_2 / 1_1 / 1_2, and DCI 0_1 / 0_2 can schedule PUSCH or not. However, available slot operation is not applicable to DCI format 2_3.

[0051] In addition, in Rel-16, for SRS antenna switching, antenna configurations of 1T1R / 1T2R / 1T4R / 2T2R / 2T4R / 4T4R are supported. For antenna switching, the number of non-periodic SRS resource sets is at most two. In Rel-17, for SRS antenna switching, the antenna configuration is extended to 8Rx, including 1T6R / 1T8R / 2T6R / 2T8R / 4T8R. For 1T6R / 1T8R / 2T6R / 2T8R, up to 3 or 4 non-periodic SRS resource sets can be configured, depending on whether the terminal device can send SRS only within the last 6 OFDM symbols in the time slot, or whether the terminal device can send SRS on any symbol in the time slot.

[0052] For SRS antenna switching, a gap symbol should be configured between two adjacent SRS resources. The gap length is Y symbols. If the two SRS resource sets used for antenna switching are in consecutive time slots, an inter-set gap symbol should be configured. Table 1 schematically shows the gap length (Y symbols) for SRS antenna switching.

[0053] Table 1

[0054] In Rel-18, DCI formats 0_3 / 1_3 are introduced for multi-carrier scheduling, that is, one DCI can schedule PDSCH / PUSCH transmission on multiple carriers.

[0055] In addition to DCI format 2_3, whether DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 can trigger SRS carrier switching is still under discussion. Since DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is used for PDSCH scheduling, DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 can be used to trigger SRS carrier switching on cells without PUSCH.

[0056] The inventors have discovered that the UE behavior for SRS carrier switching operations triggered by DCI format 2_3 is currently specified only, where available slot operation is not applied. However, available slot operation can be used for DCI formats 1_1 / 1_2. Therefore, if DCI formats 1_1 / 1_2 can be used to trigger SRS carrier switching, it should be clarified whether available slot operation can be applied.

[0057] In addition to DCI format 2_3 and DCI format 1_1 / 1_2, it should be clarified whether other DCI formats can also be used to trigger SRS carrier switching operations, such as DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 that does not schedule PUSCH and DCI format 1_3 / 0_3 for multi-carrier scheduling.

[0058] Furthermore, in the current specification, SRS carrier switching is limited to one or two aperiodic SRS resource sets. However, in Rel-17, the number of aperiodic SRS resource sets used for antenna switching can be as high as four. This means that some configurations do not support carrier switching, which is meaningless. The restriction to one or two aperiodic SRS resource sets should be removed.

[0059] In addition, for SRS antenna switching, an inter-set gap can be configured. However, for SRS carrier switching, if the interval between two SRS resource sets is greater than the required switching time, the terminal device can switch back to the source CC. If an inter-set gap is configured, the terminal device should remain in the target CC during the gap symbol.

[0060] In the embodiments of the present application, the high-layer signaling may be, for example, radio resource control (RRC) signaling; for example, an RRC message, including, for example, an MIB, system information, or a dedicated RRC message; or an RRC information element (RRC IE). The high-layer signaling may also be, for example, MAC (Medium Access Control) signaling; or a MAC control element (MAC CE). However, the present application is not limited thereto.

[0061] In the following description, to avoid confusion, the terms "PDCCH" and "Physical Downlink Control Channel" or "downlink control information" are interchangeable, and the terms "PDSCH" and "Physical Downlink Data Channel" or "downlink data" are also interchangeable. Furthermore, transmitting or receiving a PDCCH can be understood as transmitting or receiving downlink control information carried by the PDCCH; transmitting or receiving a PDSCH can be understood as transmitting or receiving downlink data carried by the PDSCH.

[0062] Embodiments of the first aspect

[0063] The present invention provides an SRS carrier switching operation method, which is described from the perspective of a terminal device. FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the SRS carrier switching operation method according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG3 , the method includes:

[0064] 301, a terminal device receives instruction information from a network device; wherein the instruction information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation; and

[0065] 302. The terminal device performs an SRS carrier switching operation according to the indication information.

[0066] It is worth noting that FIG3 above is merely a schematic illustration of an embodiment of the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto. For example, the execution order of the various operations may be appropriately adjusted, and other operations may be added or some operations may be reduced. Those skilled in the art may make appropriate modifications based on the above description, and are not limited to the description of FIG3 above.

[0067] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 1_1 / 1_2; and the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 in which available time slot operation is disabled.

[0068] In some embodiments, the aperiodic SRS resource sets of all BandWithPart (BWP) on the target component carrier (CC) are not configured with available time slot parameters.

[0069] In some embodiments, the DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is sent together with the scheduling PDSCH.

[0070] In some embodiments, the DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is not sent together with the scheduling PDSCH.

[0071] For example, an SRS carrier switching operation can be triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2, where available slot operation is disabled. For example, none of the aperiodic SRS resource sets on all BWPs on the target CC are configured with the availableSlotOffsetList parameter. In addition, DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 can be transmitted along with the scheduling PDSCH. Alternatively, DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 can also be transmitted without the scheduling PDSCH.

[0072] Table 2 shows a case where SRS carrier switching is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 operating without available time slots.

[0073] Table 2

[0074] In some embodiments, the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 with available time slot operation disabled, depending on the terminal device capability.

[0075] For example, SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 with no available time slot operation may depend on UE capability.

[0076] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 1_1 / 1_2; and the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 in which available time slot operation is enabled.

[0077] In some embodiments, the DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is sent together with the scheduling PDSCH.

[0078] In some embodiments, the DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is not sent together with the scheduling PDSCH.

[0079] For example, the SRS carrier switching operation may be triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 with available time slot operation enabled. DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 may be transmitted together with the scheduling PDSCH, or may not be transmitted together with the scheduling PDSCH.

[0080] In some embodiments, the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 with available time slot operation enabled, depending on the terminal device capability.

[0081] For example, SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 with available time slot operation may depend on UE capability.

[0082] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 0_1 / 0_2; and the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 that does not schedule a PUSCH.

[0083] In some embodiments, available time slot operation is enabled, or available time slot operation is disabled.

[0084] In some embodiments, the TPC command in the DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 is applied to the SRS transmission in the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0085] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 0_1 / 0_2; the SRS carrier switching operation cannot be triggered by DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 that does not schedule a PUSCH.

[0086] In some embodiments, depending on the terminal device capability, the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 that does not schedule PUSCH.

[0087] For example, the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 without scheduling PUSCH may depend on the UE capability.

[0088] In some embodiments, available time slot operation is enabled or disabled depending on the terminal device capabilities.

[0089] For example, whether available time slot operation can be applied may also depend on UE capabilities.

[0090] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 1_3; the DCI format 1_3 is used to schedule PDSCH transmission on a cell without PUSCH and the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by the DCI format 1_3.

[0091] Figure 4 illustrates an example of an SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 1_3 scheduling a PDSCH according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 4 , DCI format 1_3 is used to schedule PDSCH transmissions (e.g., PDSCH on CC#1, ...#N as shown in Figure 4 ), and an SRS carrier switching operation (on CC#X as shown in Figure 4 ) is triggered by this DCI format 1_3.

[0092] In some embodiments, the TPC command in the DCI format 1_3 is applied to the SRS transmission on the PUSCH-free cell in the SRS carrier switching operation, and the TPC command corresponds to the scheduling CC of the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0093] For example, the TPC command included in DCI format 1_3 corresponds to the scheduling CC for SRS carrier switching, and the TPC command can be applied to SRS transmission on a PUSCH-free cell during the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0094] In some embodiments, for the DCI format 1_3, available time slot operation is applied to the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0095] In some embodiments, available time slot operation is not applied to the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by the DCI format 1_3.

[0096] In some embodiments, the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 1_3 operates with available time slots or does not operate with available time slots, depending on the terminal device capability.

[0097] For example, SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 1_3 with or without available time slot operation may depend on UE capabilities.

[0098] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 0_3; and the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_3 that does not schedule a PUSCH.

[0099] In some embodiments, the TPC command in the DCI format 0_3 is applied to SRS transmission on a PUSCH-free cell in the SRS carrier switching operation, and the TPC command corresponds to a scheduling CC of the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0100] For example, the TPC command included in DCI format 0_3 corresponds to the scheduling CC for SRS carrier switching, and the TPC command can be applied to SRS transmission on a PUSCH-less cell during the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0101] In some embodiments, for DCI format 0_3 without scheduled PUSCH, available time slot operation is applied to the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0102] In some embodiments, the available time slot operation is not applied to the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 without scheduling PUSCH.

[0103] For example, for DCI format 0_3 that does not schedule PUSCH, available slot operation can be applied to SRS carrier switching operation. Alternatively, available slot operation should not be applied to SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 that does not schedule PUSCH.

[0104] In some embodiments, the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 operates with available time slots or does not operate with available time slots according to terminal device capabilities.

[0105] For example, SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 with or without available time slot operation may depend on UE capabilities.

[0106] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 0_3; the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_3 that does not schedule PUSCH in a cell without PUSCH, and the DCI format 0_3 schedules PUSCH transmission in other cells.

[0107] For example, the SRS carrier switching operation may be triggered by DCI format 0_3, which does not schedule PUSCH on a PUSCH-less cell, but may schedule PUSCH transmission on other cells.

[0108] In some embodiments, the TPC command in the DCI format 0_3 is applied to the SRS transmission on the PUSCH-free cell in the SRS carrier switching operation, and the TPC command corresponds to the scheduling CC of the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0109] For example, the TPC command included in DCI format 0_3 corresponds to the scheduling CC for SRS carrier switching, and the TPC command can be applied to SRS transmission on a PUSCH-free cell during the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0110] In some embodiments, for the DCI format 0_3, available time slot operation is applied to the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0111] In some embodiments, available time slot operation is not applied to the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 scheduling PUSCH transmission on other cells.

[0112] For example, the available time slot operation may be applied to the SRS carrier switching operation. Alternatively, the available time slot operation may not be applied to the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 that schedules PUSCH transmission on other cells.

[0113] In some embodiments, the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 scheduling PUSCH transmission on other cells operates with available time slots or without available time slots, depending on the terminal device capability.

[0114] For example, an SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_3 scheduling PUSCH transmission on other cells, and the SRS carrier switching operation may operate with or without available time slots depending on the UE capability.

[0115] In some embodiments, whether available time slot operation is applied to the SRS carrier switching operation depends on the terminal device capability.

[0116] In some embodiments, the terminal device capabilities are applied to one or more or all DCI formats that can trigger the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0117] For example, whether the available time slot operation can be applied to SRS carrier switching may depend on UE capabilities.UE capabilities may apply to one or more or all DCI formats that can trigger SRS carrier switching operations.

[0118] In some embodiments, more than two aperiodic SRS resource set configurations are supported for the SRS carrier switching operation; the restriction of 1 or 2 aperiodic SRS resource sets for the SRS carrier switching operation is removed.

[0119] For example, configurations supporting more than two aperiodic SRS resource sets (e.g., more than two aperiodic RS resource sets for 1T8R / 1T6R / 2T8R / 2T6R) are supported for SRS carrier switching operations. Alternatively, the restriction on one or two aperiodic SRS resource sets for SRS carrier switching is removed.

[0120] Table 3 shows an example of removing the restriction on SRS carrier switching. As shown in Table 3, the restriction of "one or two" is removed.

[0121] Table 3

[0122] Table 4 shows another example of removing the restriction on SRS carrier switching. As shown in Table 4, the restriction of "one or two" is replaced by "up to four".

[0123] Table 4

[0124] In some embodiments, for the SRS carrier switching operation, an inter-aggregation gap symbol is configured, and the terminal device stays on the target CC during the inter-aggregation gap symbol.

[0125] For example, for SRS carrier switching operation, if the inter-set gap symbol is configured, the UE should stay on the target CC during the inter-set gap symbol. For another example, if the inter-set gap is equal to Y symbols as shown in Table 1, the UE should stay on the target CC during the inter-set gap symbol.

[0126] The above embodiments are merely exemplary of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Appropriate modifications may be made based on the above embodiments. For example, the above embodiments may be used alone, or one or more of the above embodiments may be combined.

[0127] It can be seen from the above embodiments that the SRS carrier switching operation is enhanced, thereby increasing flexibility.

[0128] Embodiments of the second aspect

[0129] The embodiment of the present application provides an SRS carrier switching operation method, which is described from the perspective of a network device. The embodiment of the second aspect can be combined with the embodiment of the first aspect, and the same contents as the embodiment of the first aspect will not be repeated.

[0130] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of an SRS carrier switching operation method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG5 , the method includes:

[0131] 501. A network device sends indication information to a terminal device, wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation.

[0132] It is worth noting that FIG5 above is merely a schematic illustration of an embodiment of the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto. For example, the execution order of the various operations may be appropriately adjusted, and other operations may be added or some operations may be reduced. Those skilled in the art may make appropriate modifications based on the above description, and are not limited to the description of FIG5 above.

[0133] The above embodiments are merely exemplary of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Appropriate modifications may be made based on the above embodiments. For example, the above embodiments may be used alone, or one or more of the above embodiments may be combined.

[0134] It can be seen from the above embodiments that the SRS carrier switching operation is enhanced, thereby increasing flexibility.

[0135] Embodiments of the third aspect

[0136] The embodiment of the present application provides an SRS carrier switching operation device, which may be, for example, a terminal device, or one or more components or assemblies configured in the terminal device, and the same contents as those in the embodiment of the first aspect will not be repeated.

[0137] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of an SRS carrier switching operation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG6 , the SRS carrier switching operation apparatus 600 includes:

[0138] A receiving unit 601 receives indication information from a network device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation; and

[0139] The processing unit 602 performs an SRS carrier switching operation according to the indication information.

[0140] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 1_1 / 1_2; and the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 in which available time slot operation is disabled.

[0141] In some embodiments, the aperiodic SRS resource sets of all BWPs on the target component carrier (CC) are not configured with available time slot parameters.

[0142] In some embodiments, the DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is sent together with the scheduling PDSCH.

[0143] In some embodiments, the DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is not sent together with the scheduling PDSCH.

[0144] In some embodiments, the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 with available time slot operation disabled, depending on the terminal device capability.

[0145] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 1_1 / 1_2; and the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 in which available time slot operation is enabled.

[0146] In some embodiments, the DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is sent together with the scheduling PDSCH.

[0147] In some embodiments, the DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is not sent together with the scheduling PDSCH.

[0148] In some embodiments, the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 with available time slot operation enabled, depending on the terminal device capability.

[0149] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 0_1 / 0_2; and the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 that does not schedule a PUSCH.

[0150] In some embodiments, available time slot operation is enabled, or available time slot operation is disabled.

[0151] In some embodiments, the TPC command in the DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 is applied to the SRS transmission in the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0152] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 0_1 / 0_2; the SRS carrier switching operation cannot be triggered by DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 that does not schedule a PUSCH.

[0153] In some embodiments, depending on the terminal device capability, the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 that does not schedule PUSCH.

[0154] In some embodiments, available time slot operation is enabled or disabled depending on the terminal device capabilities.

[0155] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 1_3; the DCI format 1_3 is used to schedule PDSCH transmission on a cell without PUSCH and the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by the DCI format 1_3.

[0156] In some embodiments, the TPC command in the DCI format 1_3 is applied to the SRS transmission on the PUSCH-free cell in the SRS carrier switching operation, and the TPC command corresponds to the scheduling CC of the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0157] In some embodiments, for the DCI format 1_3, the available time slot operation is applied to the SRS carrier switching operation; or, the available time slot operation is not applied to the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by the DCI format 1_3.

[0158] In some embodiments, the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 1_3 operates with available time slots or does not operate with available time slots, depending on the terminal device capability.

[0159] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 0_3; and the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_3 that does not schedule a PUSCH.

[0160] In some embodiments, the TPC command in the DCI format 0_3 is applied to SRS transmission on a PUSCH-free cell in the SRS carrier switching operation, and the TPC command corresponds to a scheduling CC of the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0161] In some embodiments, for DCI format 0_3 without scheduling PUSCH, available time slot operation is applied to the SRS carrier switching operation; or, available time slot operation is not applied to the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 without scheduling PUSCH.

[0162] In some embodiments, the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 operates with available time slots or does not operate with available time slots according to terminal device capabilities.

[0163] In some embodiments, the indication information is DCI format 0_3; the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_3 that does not schedule PUSCH in a cell without PUSCH, and the DCI format 0_3 schedules PUSCH transmission in other cells.

[0164] In some embodiments, the TPC command in the DCI format 0_3 is applied to the SRS transmission on the PUSCH-free cell in the SRS carrier switching operation, and the TPC command corresponds to the scheduling CC of the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0165] In some embodiments, for the DCI format 0_3, available time slot operation is applied to the SRS carrier switching operation; or, available time slot operation is not applied to the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 scheduling PUSCH transmission on other cells.

[0166] In some embodiments, the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 scheduling PUSCH transmission on other cells operates with available time slots or without available time slots, depending on the terminal device capability.

[0167] In some embodiments, whether available time slot operation is applied to the SRS carrier switching operation depends on the terminal device capability.

[0168] In some embodiments, the terminal device capabilities are applied to one or more or all DCI formats that can trigger the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0169] In some embodiments, more than two aperiodic SRS resource set configurations are supported for the SRS carrier switching operation.

[0170] In some embodiments, the restriction of 1 or 2 aperiodic SRS resource sets for SRS carrier switching operation is removed.

[0171] In some embodiments, for the SRS carrier switching operation, an inter-aggregation gap symbol is configured, and the terminal device stays on the target CC during the inter-aggregation gap symbol.

[0172] The above embodiments are merely exemplary of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Appropriate modifications may be made based on the above embodiments. For example, the above embodiments may be used alone, or one or more of the above embodiments may be combined.

[0173] It is worth noting that the above description only describes the components or modules related to the present application, but the present application is not limited thereto. The SRS carrier switching operation device 600 may also include other components or modules. For details of these components or modules, please refer to the relevant art.

[0174] In addition, for the sake of simplicity, FIG6 only illustrates the connection relationship or signal direction between various components or modules. However, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that various related technologies such as bus connection can be used. The above-mentioned components or modules can be implemented by hardware facilities such as processors, memories, transmitters, and receivers; the implementation of this application is not limited to this.

[0175] It can be seen from the above embodiments that the SRS carrier switching operation is enhanced, thereby increasing flexibility.

[0176] Embodiments of the fourth aspect

[0177] The embodiment of the present application provides an SRS carrier switching operation device, which can be, for example, a network device, or one or more components or assemblies configured in the network device, and the contents that are the same as those in the first and second aspects of the embodiment are not repeated here.

[0178] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of an SRS carrier switching operation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG7 , the SRS carrier switching operation apparatus 700 includes:

[0179] The sending unit 701 sends indication information to the terminal device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation.

[0180] It is worth noting that the above only describes the components or modules related to the present application, but the present application is not limited thereto. The SRS carrier switching operation device 700 may also include other components or modules. For details of these components or modules, please refer to the relevant art.

[0181] In addition, for the sake of simplicity, FIG7 only illustrates the connection relationship or signal direction between various components or modules. However, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that various related technologies such as bus connection can be used. The above-mentioned components or modules can be implemented by hardware facilities such as processors, memories, transmitters, and receivers; the implementation of this application is not limited to this.

[0182] It can be seen from the above embodiments that the SRS carrier switching operation is enhanced, thereby increasing flexibility.

[0183] Embodiments of the fifth aspect

[0184] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, and reference may be made to FIG1 . The contents that are the same as those in the first to fourth aspects of the embodiments will not be repeated.

[0185] In some embodiments, the communication system 100 may include at least:

[0186] A network device that sends indication information to a terminal device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation;

[0187] The terminal device performs an SRS carrier switching operation according to the indication information.

[0188] An embodiment of the present application further provides a network device, which may be, for example, a base station, but the present application is not limited thereto and may also be other network devices.

[0189] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 8 , network device 800 may include a processor 810 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU)) and a memory 820 ; the memory 820 is coupled to the processor 810 . The memory 820 may store various data and may also store an information processing program 830 , which is executed under the control of the processor 810 .

[0190] For example, the processor 810 may be configured to execute a program to implement the SRS carrier switching operation method as described in the embodiment of the second aspect. For example, the processor 810 may be configured to perform the following control: sending indication information to a terminal device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation.

[0191] In addition, as shown in FIG8 , network device 800 may further include: a transceiver 840 and an antenna 850, etc.; wherein, the functions of the above components are similar to those in the prior art and are not described in detail here. It is worth noting that network device 800 does not necessarily include all the components shown in FIG8 ; in addition, network device 800 may also include components not shown in FIG8 , and reference may be made to the prior art for details.

[0192] The embodiment of the present application also provides a terminal device, but the present application is not limited thereto and may also be other devices.

[0193] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 9 , terminal device 900 may include a processor 910 and a memory 920. Memory 920 stores data and programs and is coupled to processor 910. It should be noted that this diagram is exemplary; other types of structures may be used to supplement or replace this structure to implement telecommunication or other functions.

[0194] For example, the processor 910 may be configured to execute a program to implement the SRS carrier switching operation method as described in the embodiment of the first aspect. For example, the processor 910 may be configured to perform the following control: receiving indication information from a network device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation; and performing the SRS carrier switching operation according to the indication information.

[0195] As shown in Figure 9 , the terminal device 900 may further include: a communication module 930, an input unit 940, a display 950, and a power supply 960. The functions of these components are similar to those in the prior art and are not described in detail here. It is worth noting that the terminal device 900 does not necessarily include all of the components shown in Figure 9 , and these components are not essential. Furthermore, the terminal device 900 may also include components not shown in Figure 9 , for which reference may be made to the prior art.

[0196] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program, wherein when the program is executed in a terminal device, the program enables the terminal device to perform the SRS carrier switching operation method described in the embodiment of the first aspect.

[0197] An embodiment of the present application further provides a storage medium storing a computer program, wherein the computer program enables a terminal device to execute the SRS carrier switching operation method described in the embodiment of the first aspect.

[0198] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program, wherein when the program is executed in a network device, the program enables the network device to perform the SRS carrier switching operation method described in the embodiment of the second aspect.

[0199] An embodiment of the present application further provides a storage medium storing a computer program, wherein the computer program enables a network device to execute the SRS carrier switching operation method described in the embodiment of the second aspect.

[0200] The above devices and methods of the present application can be implemented by hardware or by a combination of hardware and software. The present application relates to such a computer-readable program that, when executed by a logic component, enables the logic component to implement the devices or components described above, or enables the logic component to implement the various methods or steps described above. The present application also relates to a storage medium for storing the above program, such as a hard disk, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a DVD, a flash memory, etc.

[0201] The method / device described in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as hardware, a software module executed by a processor, or a combination of the two. For example, one or more of the functional block diagrams shown in the figure and / or one or more combinations of functional block diagrams can correspond to various software modules of the computer program flow or to various hardware modules. These software modules can respectively correspond to the various steps shown in the figure. These hardware modules can be implemented by solidifying these software modules, for example, using a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

[0202] The software module may be located in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. A storage medium may be coupled to a processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium; or the storage medium may be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium may be located in an ASIC. The software module may be stored in the memory of the mobile terminal or in a memory card that can be inserted into the mobile terminal. For example, if the device (such as a mobile terminal) uses a large-capacity MEGA-SIM card or a large-capacity flash memory device, the software module may be stored in the MEGA-SIM card or the large-capacity flash memory device.

[0203] One or more of the functional blocks and / or one or more combinations of functional blocks described in the accompanying drawings may be implemented as a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, or any appropriate combination thereof for performing the functions described in this application. One or more of the functional blocks and / or one or more combinations of functional blocks described in the accompanying drawings may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in communication with a DSP, or any other such configuration.

[0204] The present application has been described above in conjunction with specific embodiments. However, those skilled in the art should understand that these descriptions are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application. Those skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations to the present application based on the spirit and principles of the present application, and such modifications and variations are also within the scope of the present application.

[0205] Regarding the implementation methods including the above embodiments, the following additional notes are also disclosed:

[0206] 1. A method for switching an SRS carrier, applied to a terminal device, comprising:

[0207] The terminal device receives indication information from the network device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation; and

[0208] The terminal device performs an SRS carrier switching operation according to the indication information.

[0209] 2. A method for switching an SRS carrier, applied to a network device, comprising:

[0210] The network device sends indication information to the terminal device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation.

[0211] 3. A terminal device comprises a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program to implement the SRS carrier switching operation method as described in Note 1.

[0212] 4. A network device, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program to implement the SRS carrier switching operation method as described in Note 2.

Claims

1. An SRS carrier switching operation device, configured in a terminal device, comprising: A receiving unit, which receives indication information from a network device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation; and A processing unit performs an SRS carrier switching operation according to the indication information.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The indication information is DCI format 1_1 / 1_2; the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 in which the available time slot operation is disabled; The aperiodic SRS resource set of all BWPs on the target component carrier is not configured with available time slot parameters; The DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is transmitted together with the scheduling PDSCH, or the DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is not transmitted together with the scheduling PDSCH.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein: According to the terminal device capability, the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 with available time slot operation disabled.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The indication information is DCI format 1_1 / 1_2; the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 in which available time slot operation is enabled; The DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is transmitted together with the scheduling PDSCH, or the DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 is not transmitted together with the scheduling PDSCH.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein: According to the terminal device capability, the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 1_1 / 1_2 with available time slot operation enabled.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The indication information is DCI format 0_1 / 0_2; the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 without scheduling PUSCH; Available time slot operation is enabled, or, Available time slot operation is disabled; The TPC command in the DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 is applied to SRS transmission in the SRS carrier switching operation.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The indication information is DCI format 0_1 / 0_2; the SRS carrier switching operation cannot be triggered by DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 that does not schedule PUSCH.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein: According to the terminal device capability, the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_1 / 0_2 without scheduling PUSCH; Depending on the terminal device capabilities, available time slot operation is enabled or disabled.

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The indication information is DCI format 1_3; the DCI format 1_3 is used to schedule PDSCH transmission on a cell without PUSCH and the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by the DCI format 1_3; The TPC command in the DCI format 1_3 is applied to the SRS transmission on the PUSCH-free cell in the SRS carrier switching operation, and the TPC command corresponds to the scheduling CC of the SRS carrier switching operation; For the DCI format 1_3, the available time slot operation is applied to the SRS carrier switching operation; or, the available time slot operation is not applied to the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by the DCI format 1_3.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein: Depending on the terminal device capability, the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 1_3 has available time slot operation or does not have available time slot operation.

11. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The indication information is DCI format 0_3; the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_3 without scheduling PUSCH; The TPC command in the DCI format 0_3 is applied to the SRS transmission on the PUSCH-free cell in the SRS carrier switching operation, and the TPC command corresponds to the scheduling CC of the SRS carrier switching operation; For DCI format 0_3 without scheduling PUSCH, available time slot operation is applied to the SRS carrier switching operation; or, available time slot operation is not applied to the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 without scheduling PUSCH.

12. The device according to claim 1, wherein: Depending on the terminal device capability, the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 operates with available time slots or does not operate with available time slots.

13. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The indication information is DCI format 0_3; the SRS carrier switching operation is triggered by DCI format 0_3 that does not schedule PUSCH in a cell without PUSCH, and the DCI format 0_3 schedules PUSCH transmission in other cells.

14. The device according to claim 13, wherein: The TPC command in the DCI format 0_3 is applied to the SRS transmission on the PUSCH-free cell in the SRS carrier switching operation, and the TPC command corresponds to the scheduling CC of the SRS carrier switching operation; For the DCI format 0_3, the available time slot operation is applied to the SRS carrier switching operation; or, the available time slot operation is not applied to the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by the DCI format 0_3 scheduling PUSCH transmission on other cells.

15. The device according to claim 1, wherein: Depending on the terminal device capability, the SRS carrier switching operation triggered by DCI format 0_3 scheduling PUSCH transmission on other cells operates with an available time slot or operates without an available time slot.

16. The device according to claim 1, wherein Whether the available time slot operation is applied to the SRS carrier switching operation according to the terminal device capability; The terminal device capabilities are applied to one or more or all DCI formats that can trigger the SRS carrier switching operation.

17. The device according to claim 1, wherein: More than two aperiodic SRS resource set configurations are supported for the SRS carrier switching operation; The restriction of 1 or 2 aperiodic SRS resource sets for SRS carrier switching operation is removed.

18. The device according to claim 1, wherein: For the SRS carrier switching operation, an inter-aggregation gap symbol is configured, and the terminal device stays on the target CC during the inter-aggregation gap symbol.

19. An SRS carrier switching operation device, configured in a network device, the device comprising: A sending unit, which sends indication information to a terminal device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation.

20. A communication system comprising: A network device, which sends indication information to a terminal device; wherein the indication information is used to trigger the terminal device to perform an SRS carrier switching operation; A terminal device performs an SRS carrier switching operation according to the indication information.

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