Communication method and device

Abstract

This application provides a communication method and apparatus, the method including: a terminal device reporting capability information, the capability information including an indication information set of N band set pairs, each indication information in the indication information set being associated with one band set pair, the indication information instructing a transmission branch switch performed by the terminal device between two band sets in the band set pair, the band set including at least one of L bands in the band set pair, L being an integer greater than or equal to 3. In this manner, the data transmission rate and spectrum utilization efficiency of the terminal device can be improved.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. CN202210952557.X, entitled "Communication Method and Apparatus," filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on August 9, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] This application relates to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly to communication methods and devices. [Background technology]

[0003] Uplink transmitter switching (UL Tx switching) is a new feature introduced in the 5G evolved version, in which the terminal device switches the transmitter between carriers and uses FDD carriers and TDD carriers in the uplink in a time division multiplexed manner, so that the advantages of multiple FDD uplink slots and large TDD uplink bandwidth are fully integrated in the time domain and frequency domain, thereby maximizing uplink resource utilization, improving network capacity, and increasing the uplink rate.

[0004] The key word in UL Tx switching is "switching." The terminal device's transmitter continuously and dynamically switches between the two carriers, which is equivalent to opening an FDD carrier lane next to the TDD carrier. During the TDD carrier's downlink time, the FDD carrier handles the uplink, and during the TDD uplink time, the FDD carrier works simultaneously with the TDD carrier to ensure real-time high-speed uplink online.

[0005] In the current related technology, UL Tx switching only supports switching between two bands, and a terminal device can only report its ability to switch its transmitter between two bands, so switching between more bands is not considered, which results in limited uplink transmission rates. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The embodiments of this application provide a communication method and apparatus for improving data transmission rates and spectrum utilization efficiency of terminal devices.

[0007] According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. The method may be performed by a terminal device or a chip used in the terminal device. An example in which the method is performed by a terminal device is used in the following description. The method includes:

[0008] The terminal device receives a capability inquiry message from the network device, and reports capability information of the terminal device to the network device, where the capability information includes an indication information set for N band set pairs, where N is a positive integer. In other words, the terminal device may report an indication information set for one band set pair or may report indication information sets for multiple band set pairs. Each indication information in the indication information set is associated with at least one band set pair. For a band set pair associated with the indication information, the indication information indicates a transmission branch switch performed by the terminal device between two band sets in the associated band set pair. Each band set in the band set pair includes at least one of the L bands in the band set pair, where L is an integer greater than or equal to 2. Optionally, L is an integer greater than or equal to 3.

[0009] In this application, the transmitting branch may be a radio frequency branch, a transmitting branch (Tx branch), or a receiving branch (Rx branch). The transmitting branch may be an uplink transmitter or an uplink transmitting link. The receiving branch may be a downlink receiver or a downlink transmitting link.

[0010] In this embodiment of the present application, when L is equal to 2, each band set in at least one band set pair includes one band. When L is an integer equal to or greater than 3, at least one band set in at least one band set pair includes at least two bands. Specifically, the first band set in N band set pairs includes at least two bands, and / or the second band set in a band set pair includes at least two bands. In addition, because the two band sets in a band set pair do not perfectly match, when L is an integer equal to or greater than 3, the band set pair is associated with a switching scenario of at least three bands. In some cases, when a terminal device switches a transmission branch among at least three bands, the terminal device may flexibly determine how to switch the transmission branch among three or more bands based on data traffic requirements, the network configuration of the bands, the bandwidth of the bands, the channel conditions of the bands, etc. Typically, the data transmission efficiency and spectrum utilization efficiency of switching a transmission branch by a terminal device among at least three bands are higher than the data transmission efficiency and spectrum utilization efficiency of switching a transmission branch by a terminal device among two bands.

[0011] Therefore, the solution of this embodiment of this application can support switching performed by a terminal device between at least three bands, so that the application scenarios in which the terminal performs band switching become more diverse, thereby improving the data transmission rate and spectrum utilization efficiency of the terminal device.

[0012] In a possible embodiment, 2≦N, specifically, the terminal device reports an indication information set of at least two band set pairs. N band set pairs are associated with one band combination (BC), and the band combination includes bands in the N band set pairs supported by the terminal device. In other words, a band in any band set pair belongs to the band combination. The association of N band set pairs with one band combination may be understood as the terminal device reporting an indication information set of the N band set pairs associated with one band combination. The band combination is a band combination that supports switching of the transmitting branch. In a possible embodiment, the band combination is a band combination reported by using the BandCombinationList-UplinkTxSwitch field. If the transmitting branch is a transmitting branch, the L bands in the band set pair may be uplink bands included in the band combination. If the transmitting branch is a receiving branch, the L bands in the band set pair may be downlink bands included in the band combination. In a possible embodiment, the bands in the N band set pairs are all bands in the associated band combination. In another possible embodiment, the bands in the N band pairs are a subset of the bands in the associated band combination.

[0013] In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device reporting the capability information of the terminal device to the network device is: Reporting capability information of the terminal device to the network device based on a preset correspondence relationship between the N band set pairs and the indication information in the indication information set.

[0014] In this embodiment of the present application, since there is a correspondence between the indication information in the indication information set and the band set pairs, the network device can determine the band set pairs corresponding to each indication information in the indication information set based on the correspondence. Specifically, even if the indication information does not indicate band identifiers of the two band sets included in the band set pair, the network device can determine the band set pair corresponding to the indication information, thereby determining the specific bands included in the two band sets between which the transmission branch is switched in the band set pair corresponding to the indication information. Since the band identifiers do not need to be indicated, the amount of data required for indicating the band identifiers by the indication information is reduced. Therefore, it can be seen that the signaling overhead for the terminal device to report capability information to the network device is reduced. The correspondence may be such that the order of the indication information in the information set is associated with a predetermined order of the N band set pairs.

[0015] In a possible embodiment, the order of the indication information in the indication information set is the same as the predetermined order of the N band set pairs. It can be understood that the indication information set includes N pieces of indication information, and the N pieces of indication information have a one-to-one correspondence with the N band set pairs. The N band set pairs have a predetermined order. Therefore, each of the N pieces of indication information can uniquely correspond to one band set pair. For example, in the indication information set, the first piece of indication information corresponds to the first band set pair, the second piece of indication information corresponds to the second band set pair, and so on.

[0016] In a possible implementation, there is a correspondence between the pre-set order of the N band set pairs and the arrangement order of the N elements in the first pre-set table.

[0017] In a possible embodiment, the arrangement order of the N elements in the first preset table is: All elements Eij in the N elements Eij are sequentially arranged in ascending order of columns and rows, and element Eij is an element in the i-th row and j-th column in the first preset table, and there is a correspondence between each band set of the N band set pairs and element Eij in the first preset table, where j is greater than i, and 1≦i≦K, j≦K, i≦K, K, i, and j are all positive integers, and K is the number of band sets associated with the band combination; This includes:

[0018] There are K band sets including any Q bands among the P bands in one band combination. Q may be equal to or less than the number of transmission branches supported by the terminal device, or Q may be equal to or less than P. For example, a terminal device supports two transmission branches, and one band combination includes three uplink bands, namely, bandA, bandB, and bandC. There are three band sets including any one uplink band, namely, {bandA}, {bandB}, and {bandC}, and three band sets including any two uplink bands, namely, {bandA, bandB}, {bandB, bandC}, and {bandA, bandC}. Therefore, there are a total of K=6 band sets. The six band sets are arranged in a predetermined order ({bandA}, {bandB}, {bandC}, {bandA, bandB}, {bandB, bandC}, {bandA, bandC}). Therefore, the six band sets may include N=15 band set pairs.

[0019] In a possible embodiment, the indication information indicates a switching time. The terminal device cannot perform transmission on the transmission branch within the switching time. For example, if the transmission branch is a transmission branch, the terminal device cannot send uplink signaling or data within the switching time of the transmission branch. After learning the switching time capability of the terminal device, the network device may determine that the terminal device will not send uplink signaling or data within the switching time for switching the transmission branch between two band sets in the band set pair, instead of not receiving uplink signaling or data due to poor channel conditions, etc., and the network device will not allocate uplink resources or schedule uplink transmission within the switching time, so as to avoid wasting radio resources.

[0020] In this embodiment of the application, if the instruction information includes a switching time, when the network device receives the instruction information set, if the network device knows the band set pair corresponding to the instruction information, the network device can determine the switching time for switching the transmission branch between the two band sets in each band set pair.

[0021] In a possible embodiment, the switching time is related to the number of transmit branches configured for the bands in the band set.

[0022] For example, with regard to the switching time in a terminal device between the band set {bandA} and the band set {bandB+BandC}, assuming that the terminal device has two transmit branches, when the terminal device performs transmission in {bandB+BandC}, one transmit branch may be used for transmission in band B and the other transmit branch may be used for transmission in band C; alternatively, when the terminal device performs transmission in band A, both of the two transmit branches of the terminal device may be used for transmission in band A; alternatively, one transmit branch of the terminal device may be used for transmission in band A. In this case, the switching time for switching the terminal device from using two transmit branches for transmission in {bandB+BandC} to using one transmit branch for transmission in band A may be different from the switching time for switching the terminal device from using two transmit branches for transmission in band A and using two transmit branches for transmission in {bandB+BandC}. Therefore, with regard to the switching time, it is necessary to distinguish the number of transmit branches configured for bands in the band set. The terminal device may report different switching time capabilities for different numbers of transmit branches. If the transmission configurations of the carriers on the band are different, the network device may determine the length of the switching time during which uplink scheduling should be suspended based on the capabilities reported by the terminal device.

[0023] In a possible embodiment, the indication information indicates a band identifier for switching the transmission branch between two band sets.

[0024] The band identifier is used as identification information of the band, and a specific band may be identified by using the band identifier. Thus, the band identifier may indicate the bands included in each of the two band sets between which the transmission branch is switched. Optionally, the terminal device may report the band identifiers for switching supported by the terminal device in the band set pair.

[0025] In a possible embodiment, the indication information indicates that the terminal device supports or does not support switching the transmission branch between two band sets in a band set pair.

[0026] In this embodiment of the present application, due to the influence of some factors, such as the influence of factors such as the hardware capabilities of the terminal device, the terminal device may not be able to switch the transmission branch between two band sets in the N band set pairs, and the band set pairs for which the terminal device supports switching the transmission branch are a subset of the N band set pairs. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the indication information indicates whether the terminal device supports or does not support switching the transmission branch between two band sets in the N band set pairs. In this case, the network device may know the band set pairs supported by the terminal device and the band set pairs not supported by the terminal device. Based on this, the network device may configure the terminal device to switch the transmission branch between two band sets in the supported band set pairs.

[0027] When a terminal device reports capability information of the terminal device to a network device based on a preset correspondence between N band set pairs and the indication information in the indication information set, it should be noted that the purpose of reporting supported band set pairs and unsupported band set pairs in the N band set pairs in this specification is mainly to prevent the one-to-one correspondence between the N band set pairs and the N indication information in the indication information set from becoming disordered.

[0028] In a possible embodiment, the indication information indicates that the switching times associated with M band set pairs in the N band set pairs are the same, each of the M band set pairs includes the same band, and 2≦M.

[0029] In this embodiment of the present application, the indication information indicates that the switching times associated with M band set pairs in the N band set pairs are the same, each of the M band set pairs includes the same band, and 2≦M. In this case, when reporting the capability information, the terminal device may only report one same switching time and does not need to report switching times for all band set pairs. Therefore, since it can be seen that the number of switching times in the capability information is less than N, in this embodiment of the present application, the signaling overhead between the terminal device and the network device can be reduced.

[0030] In one possible implementation, to meet a specific requirement, the terminal device reports a band set pair that satisfies a preset condition, which may optionally be that there is at least one identical band between two band sets in the band set pair.

[0031] In this embodiment of the application, the terminal device may report band set pairs that satisfy constraints in order to accommodate different reporting scenarios.

[0032] According to a second aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a communication method. The method may be performed by a network device or a chip used in the network device. For beneficial effects, please refer to the description of the first aspect. Details will not be repeated here. An example of the method performed by the network device will be used in the following description. The method includes: the network device sending a capability inquiry message to a terminal device and receiving capability information reported by the terminal device, the capability information including an indication information set for N band set pairs, each indication information in the indication information set being associated with one band set pair, the indication information instructing the terminal device to switch a transmission branch between two band sets in the band set pair, the band set including at least one of L bands in the band set pair, L being an integer greater than or equal to 3, and N being a positive integer. After receiving the capability information, the network device may determine a switching time for each band set pair based on the indication information in the indication information set, the switching time indicating a time for the terminal device to switch a transmission branch between the two band sets in the band set pair.

[0033] Therefore, the solution in this embodiment of this application can support switching performed by a terminal device between at least three bands, so that the application scenarios in which the terminal performs band switching become more diverse, thereby improving the data transmission rate and spectrum utilization efficiency of the terminal device.

[0034] In a possible embodiment, determining the switching time of each band set pair based on the instruction information in the instruction information set includes determining the switching time of each band set pair based on a predetermined correspondence between the N band set pairs and the instruction information in the instruction information set.

[0035] In a possible embodiment, the order of the indication information in the indication information set is the same as the pre-set order of the N band set pairs.

[0036] In a possible embodiment, there is a correspondence between the preset order of the N band set pairs and the arrangement order of the N elements in the second preset table. The second preset table may be the same as the first preset table, and the network device and the terminal device may determine the band set pair corresponding to each indication information in the indication information set based on the same preset table.

[0037] In a possible embodiment, the arrangement order of the N elements in the second preset table is: All elements Eij in the N elements are sequentially arranged in ascending order of columns and rows, element Eij is an element in the ith row and jth column in the first preset table, there is a correspondence between each band set of the N band set pairs and element Eij in the first preset table, j is greater than i, 1≦i≦K, j≦K, K, i, and j are all positive integers, and K is the number of band sets associated with the band combination; This includes:

[0038] In a possible embodiment, the K band sets include any Q bands among the P bands in the band combination, and the K band sets are arranged in a predetermined order in a first predetermined table, where Q is a positive integer.

[0039] In a possible embodiment, the switching time is related to the number of transmit branches configured for the bands in the band set.

[0040] In a possible embodiment, the indication information indicates a band identifier for switching the transmission branch between two band sets.

[0041] In a possible embodiment, the indication information indicates that the terminal device supports or does not support switching the transmission branch between two band sets in a band set pair.

[0042] In a possible embodiment, the indication information indicates that the switching times associated with M band set pairs in the N band set pairs are the same, each of the M band set pairs includes the same band, and 2≦M.

[0043] In a possible embodiment, the switching time of a band set pair relates to the time for a terminal device to switch a transmission branch between any band of one band set and any band of the other band set in the band set pair.

[0044] In a possible embodiment, the switching time of a band set pair is the maximum time for a terminal device to switch a transmission branch between any band of one band set and any band of the other band set in the band set pair.

[0045] In this embodiment of the present application, the network device does not schedule uplink transmission because it considers that the terminal device does not have the ability to send uplink signaling or data within the switching time. Therefore, the meaning of using the maximum value is that if the switching time considered by the network device is shorter than the time it takes for the terminal device to actually switch transmission branches, the network device may allocate uplink resources and schedule uplink transmissions during a time when the terminal device is unable to send uplink data, resulting in a waste of radio resources. If the network device does not receive the uplink data sent by the terminal device on the scheduled uplink resources, the network device may erroneously consider the channel condition to be poor, and as a result, adjust the current scheduling policy to a more conservative scheduling policy (e.g., a lower-order MCS (modulation and coding scheme)), causing a decrease in the uplink data rate. Therefore, the maximum time is used as the switching time for the band set pair, thereby further improving the uplink data rate.

[0046] According to a third aspect, a communication device is provided. For beneficial effects, please refer to the description of the first aspect. Details will not be repeated here. The communication device has a function for implementing the behavior of the example method of the first aspect. The function may be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions. In a possible design, the communication device includes a transceiver module configured to receive a capability inquiry message from a network device and a processing module configured to report capability information of a terminal device to the network device, the capability information including an indication information set of N band set pairs, each indication information in the indication information set being associated with one band set pair, the indication information instructing a transmission branch switching performed by the terminal device between two band sets in one band set pair, the band set including at least one of L bands in the band set pair, L being an integer greater than or equal to 3, and N being a positive integer. These modules may perform corresponding functions in the example method of the first aspect. For details, please refer to the detailed description of the example method. Details will not be repeated here.

[0047] According to a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided. For beneficial effects, please refer to the description of the second aspect. Details will not be repeated here. The communication device has a function for implementing the behavior of the example method of the second aspect. The function may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the aforementioned functions. In one possible design, a communications device includes: a transceiver module configured to send a capability inquiry message and receive capability information reported by a terminal device, the capability information including an indication information set for N band set pairs, each indication information in the indication information set being associated with one band set pair, the indication information indicating a transmission branch switch performed by the terminal device between two band sets in one band set pair, the band set including at least one of L bands in the band set pair, L being an integer greater than or equal to 3, and N being a positive integer; and a processing module configured to determine a switching time for each band set pair based on the indication information in the indication information set, the switching time indicating a time for the terminal device to switch the transmission branch between the two band sets in the band set pair. These modules may perform corresponding functions in an example method of the second aspect. For details, please refer to the detailed description in the example method. Details will not be repeated here.

[0048] According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, the communication device including a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit configured to receive a signal from another communication device and transmit the signal to the processor, or to send a signal from the processor to another communication device, the processor configured to perform the method according to the first aspect through logic circuits or by executing code instructions.

[0049] According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, the communication device including a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit configured to receive a signal from another communication device and transmit the signal to the processor, or to transmit a signal from the processor to another communication device, the processor configured to perform the method according to the first aspect through logic circuits or by executing code instructions.

[0050] According to a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including computer program instructions, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of the method according to the first or second aspect.

[0051] According to an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, comprising software code, the software code being used to perform the steps of the method according to the first or second aspect.

[0052] According to a ninth aspect, the present application provides a chip system. The chip system includes a processor configured to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method of the previous aspect. In a possible design, the chip system further includes a memory configured to store program instructions and / or data. The chip system may include a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0053] According to a tenth aspect, the present application provides a chip system. The chip system includes a processor configured to implement the functionality of a network device in the method of the previous aspect. In a possible design, the chip system further includes a memory configured to store program instructions and / or data. The chip system may include a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0054] According to an eleventh aspect, the application provides a communication method. The method includes: a network device sending communication inquiry information; a terminal device receiving the communication inquiry information; and the terminal device reporting capability information of the terminal device to the network device, the capability information including an indication information set for N band set pairs, each indication information in the indication information set being associated with one band set pair, the indication information instructing a transmission branch switch performed by the terminal device between two band sets in one band set pair, the band set including at least one of L bands in the band set pair, L being an integer greater than or equal to 3, and N being a positive integer. The network device receives the capability information reported by the terminal device and determines a switching time for each band set pair based on the indication information in the indication information set, the switching time indicating a time for the terminal device to switch the transmission branch between the two band sets in the band set pair.

[0055] According to a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, the communication system including a terminal device configured to perform the method according to the first aspect, and a network device configured to perform the method according to the second aspect. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0056] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram of the architecture of a communication system to which an application embodiment of this application is applied; [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram of band combinations according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a UE capability structure according to one embodiment of the present application. [Figure 4] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 5] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a switch-related band according to one embodiment of the present application. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram of another switch-related band according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram of another switch-related band according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a diagram of another switch-related band according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a diagram of another switch-related band according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram of another switch-related band according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 11] 4 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 12] 4 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 13] 1 is a diagram of the structure of a communication device according to an application embodiment of this application; [Figure 14] FIG. 10 is a structural diagram of another communication device according to an application embodiment of this application. [Figure 15] FIG. 1 is a diagram of the structure of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0057] Hereinafter, application embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in the application embodiments of the present invention. The terms used in the embodiments of the present invention are intended to merely describe specific application embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0058] Hereinafter, application embodiments of this application will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Those skilled in the art will understand that with the development of technology and the emergence of new scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application can also be applied to similar technical problems.

[0059] In the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this application, the terms "first," "second," etc. are intended to distinguish between similar objects, but do not necessarily indicate a particular order or sequence. Terms used in this manner are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances, and it should be understood that this is merely a distinguishing method used to describe objects having the same attributes in application embodiments of this application. Furthermore, the terms "comprise," "have," and any other variations are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, such that a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a series of units is not necessarily limited to those units and may include other units not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, product, or device.

[0060] For ease of understanding, the following describes the structure of the terminal device 100 provided in an embodiment of this application using an example. Figure 1 is a diagram of the structure of the terminal device according to an embodiment of this application.

[0061] FIG. 1 is an architecture diagram of a communication system 1000 to which an application embodiment of this application is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system includes a radio access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may further include the Internet 300. The radio access network 100 may include at least one radio access network device (e.g., 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 ) and may further include at least one terminal device (e.g., 120a to 120j in FIG. 1 ). The terminal device, also referred to as User Equipment (UE), is wirelessly connected to the radio access network device, which is wirelessly or wiredly connected to the core network. The core network device and the radio access network device may be separate and distinct physical devices, or the functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the radio access network device may be integrated into the same physical device, or some functions of the core network device and some functions of the radio access network device may be integrated into one physical device. The terminal devices may be connected to each other in a wired or wireless manner, and the wireless access network devices may be connected to each other in a wired or wireless manner. Figure 1 is just a diagram. The communication system may further include other network devices, for example, wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices not shown in Figure 1.

[0062] A radio access network device (also referred to as a network device) is an access device used by a terminal device to wirelessly access a communication system. The radio access network device may be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) for a fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, a next generation NodeB for a sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station for a future mobile communication system, an access node for a Wi-Fi system, etc. Alternatively, the radio access network device may be a module or unit that performs some functions of a base station, such as a central unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU). The CU in this specification performs functions of a radio resource control protocol and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of a base station and may further perform functions of a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP). The DU performs the functions of the radio link control layer and medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and may further perform some or all of the functions of the physical layer. For a specific description of the aforementioned protocol layers, please refer to the technical specifications related to the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP (registered trademark)). The radio access network device may be a macro base station (e.g., 110a in FIG. 1), a micro base station or an indoor base station (e.g., 110b in FIG. 1), or may be a relay node, a donor node, etc. The specific technology used by the radio access network device and the specific device configuration are not limited to the application embodiments of this application.For ease of explanation, the following description will be given using an example in which the radio access network device is a base station.

[0063] A terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities that can send signals to or receive signals from a base station. A terminal device may also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal device, etc. Terminal devices can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, and smart city. A terminal device may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, a wearable device, a vehicle, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a robotic arm, a smart home device, etc. The specific technology and the specific device configuration used by the terminal device are not limited by the application embodiments of this application.

[0064] The base station and the terminal device may be fixed or mobile. The base station and the terminal device may be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor scenarios and handheld or vehicle-mounted scenarios, or on water, or may be deployed by airplane, balloon, and satellite. The application scenario of the base station and the terminal device is not limited in the application embodiments of this application.

[0065] The roles of a base station and a terminal device may be relative. For example, helicopter or unmanned aerial vehicle 120i in FIG. 1 may be configured as a mobile base station, and with respect to terminal device 120j accessing wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal device 120i is a base station. However, in the case of base station 110a, 120i is a terminal device. That is, communication between 110a and 120i is based on a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, communication between 110a and 120i may alternatively be based on an interface protocol between base stations. In this case, for 110a, 120i is also a base station. Therefore, both base stations and terminal devices may be collectively referred to as communication devices, and 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 may be referred to as communication devices having base station functionality, and 120a to 120j in FIG. 1 may be referred to as communication devices having terminal device functionality.

[0066] Communications between base stations and terminal devices, between base stations, or between terminal devices may be performed using licensed spectrum, or may be performed using unlicensed spectrum, or may be performed using both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Communications may be performed using spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), may be performed using spectrum above 6 GHz, or may be performed simultaneously using spectrum below 6 GHz and spectrum above 6 GHz. In application embodiments of this application, the spectrum resources used for wireless communications are not limited.

[0067] In application embodiments of this application, the base station functions may be performed by a module (e.g., a chip) in the base station, or by a control subsystem having base station functions. The control subsystem having base station functions in this specification may be a control center in the aforementioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, smart transportation, and smart city. Alternatively, the terminal device functions may be performed by a module (e.g., a chip or a modem) in the terminal device, or by a device having terminal device functions.

[0068] In this application, a base station sends downlink signals or downlink information to a terminal device, and the downlink information is carried on a downlink channel, and the terminal device sends uplink signals or uplink information to the base station, and the uplink information is carried on an uplink channel. To communicate with the base station, the terminal device needs to establish a radio connection to a cell controlled by the base station. The cell that establishes a radio connection with the terminal device is called the serving cell of the terminal device. When communicating with the serving cell, the terminal device is further interfered with by signals from neighboring cells.

[0069] In application embodiments of this application, the time-domain symbols may be orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or Discrete Fourier Transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols. Unless otherwise specified, all symbols in the embodiments of this application are time-domain symbols.

[0070] It can be understood that in the application embodiment of this application, PDSCH, PDCCH, and PUSCH are only used as examples of downlink data channel, downlink control channel, and uplink data channel. In different systems and different scenarios, the data channel and the control channel may have different names. This is not limited in the application embodiment of this application.

[0071] Currently, UEs can increase communication bandwidth using carrier aggregation (CA) technology. Carrier aggregation technology means that multiple carriers are used simultaneously to serve a UE, and each carrier may have at least one serving cell (CC) operating for the UE. In existing carrier aggregation technology, one carrier is typically a primary cell (PCC, primary CC) and another serving cell is a secondary cell (SCC, secondary CC). The secondary cell may be activated or deactivated in the process of using the secondary cell. If data is not transmitted for a certain period of time, the network may deactivate the secondary cell and may consider activating the secondary cell when data is subsequently transmitted. Carrier aggregation includes aggregation of multiple carriers on a single band and also aggregation of multiple carriers on multiple bands.

[0072] In the following, we use an example of multi-band combination for explanation. As shown in Figure 2, there is only one carrier on band B, namely CC1. There are multiple carriers on band B, namely CC2 and CC3. There are multiple carriers on band C, namely CC4 and CC5.

[0073] Different UEs have different capabilities due to different hardware or software versions. In order to better provide services to the UE, the network needs to know the capabilities of the UE so that the network can configure the UE with an appropriate operation mode.

[0074] As shown in FIG. 3, the 5G UE capability structure includes, but is not limited to, UE-level capabilities (referred to as per UE capabilities), band-level capabilities (referred to as per band), and band combination (BC)-level capabilities (referred to as per BC capabilities) based on different UE capability levels. Band-level capabilities are capabilities related to a specific band. Band combinations typically indicate the carrier aggregation capabilities of a terminal device. Each band combination includes one or more bands, and the capabilities of the bands in the band combination are referred to as per band per BC capabilities. Each band in a band combination includes one or more carriers, and the capabilities of the carriers on the bands in the band combination are referred to as per CC per BC capabilities. In conventional CA operation, simultaneous transmission is possible between multiple carriers. For example, if a UE supports uplink and downlink transmissions on two CCs, the UE may perform transmissions on the two CCs simultaneously. Additionally, when transmissions are performed on one carrier, the transmissions can be further classified into single transmission and dual transmission. If the UE has two transmission branches and can report MIMO (multiple-in multiple-out) Layer 2 on one carrier, it indicates that two-layer transmission can be supported. If the UE reports that it supports Layer 2 on two carriers simultaneously, it indicates that it can use multiple carriers to perform simultaneous Layer 2 (2+2) transmission. In this case, the UE needs to support four transmission branches.

[0075] However, considering the cost of the UE, the number of transmission branches is limited. For example, if the UE supports only two radio frequency branches, the UE can report two optional capabilities by using FeatureSetsCombinations. Examples of optional capabilities are shown in Table 1 below.

[0076] [Table 1]

[0077] The optional capability set may include multiple optional capabilities and may indicate that all multiple optional capabilities, for example, optional capability 1, optional capability 2, and optional capability 3 shown in Table 1, may be supported by the terminal device.

[0078] Typically, a base station selects a capability to configure the operating mode for a UE. If capability 2 is selected and two subcarriers are configured for the UE, each carrier can only support one-layer MIMO. If capability 1 is expected to change, RRC configuration must be performed again to change to one-carrier two-layer MIMO mode. This results in low efficiency. To overcome this drawback, the concept of TX switching is introduced into the standard. A UE may support two-layer MIMO on CC1 and two-layer MIMO on CC2, but at the same time, the UE informs the base station that 2+2 MIMO transmission is unavailable (indicated by the band combination of TX switching).

[0079] An example of a capability report is shown in Table 2.

[0080] [Table 2]

[0081] The base station may configure two carriers (CC1+CC2 or CC2+CC3) for the UE, but during scheduling, CC1 and CC2 (or CC2 and CC3) are controlled not to use two-layer MIMO at the same time, and switching is performed among the following several transmission modes through scheduling control. Examples of transmission modes are shown in Table 3.

[0082] [Table 3]

[0083] The transmission mode set may include multiple transmission modes and may indicate that all multiple transmission modes, for example, transmission mode 1, transmission mode 2, and transmission mode 3 shown in Table 1, can be supported by the terminal device.

[0084] Since the transmission mode can be controlled by scheduling, there is no need to perform RRC reconfiguration, thereby improving the efficiency of the inter-carrier transmission scheme.

[0085] Furthermore, there is a delay during switching between bands. Currently, the terminal may also report the corresponding switching time for each band pair. An example of the switching time for a band pair is shown in Table 4.

[0086] [Table 4]

[0087] However, the current Tx switching solution only supports two-band operation and does not consider scenarios involving more bands. For example, the following three-band example is shown in Table 5.

[0088] [Table 5]

[0089] The transmission modes supported by the related technical solutions are shown in Table 6.

[0090] [Table 6]

[0091] Typically, the data transmission efficiency and spectrum utilization efficiency of switching a transmission branch by a terminal device between at least three bands are higher than the data transmission efficiency and spectrum utilization efficiency of switching a transmission branch by a terminal device between two bands. However, current technical solutions can only support two bands to participate in a switch, and cannot support a terminal device to participate in a switch between at least three bands. As a result, the data transmission rate and spectrum utilization of the terminal device for switching are limited. Therefore, the following application embodiments describe how the terminal device improves the data transmission rate and spectrum utilization efficiency of the terminal device.

[0092] The communication method and device provided in this application can be applied to scenarios with specific requirements for data transmission capacity. The following uses some actual scenarios as examples to illustrate the application scenarios of the embodiments of this application, but this is not limited thereto.

[0093] FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0094] 401: The network device sends a capability inquiry message to the terminal device.

[0095] 402: The terminal device reports capability information of the terminal device to the network device, where the capability information includes an indication information set of N band set pairs.

[0096] Each instruction information in the instruction information set is associated with one band set pair, and the instruction information instructs a transmission branch switch performed by the terminal device between two band sets in one band set pair, where the band set includes at least one of the L bands in the band set pair, and N is a positive integer.

[0097] The capability information may be reported by the terminal device in response to a capability inquiry message. The transmission branch switched by the terminal device may be an uplink transmission branch or a downlink receiving branch. Specifically, when the method in this embodiment of this application is used for the uplink service of the terminal device, the transmission branch is an uplink transmission branch and the band is an uplink band, or when the method in this embodiment of this application is used for the downlink service of the terminal device, the transmission branch is a downlink receiving branch and the band is a downlink band. Optionally, "switching a transmission branch between two band sets" in this specification may be understood / replaced with "switching a transmission branch between carriers of two band sets."

[0098] L is an integer equal to or greater than 2. Typically, the two band sets in a band set pair do not completely overlap, and each band set in a band set pair includes at least one band. Specifically, when L is 2, each band set in a band set pair includes one band, or when L is an integer equal to or greater than 3, at least one band set in a band set pair includes at least two bands. For example, assuming a band set pair includes band A and band B, L is 3. In this case, one band set in the band set pair includes band A and the other band set includes band B. Assume a band set pair includes band A, band B, and band C, L is 3, and also assume one band set is a first band set and the other band set is a second band set. The two band sets in a band set pair include, but are not limited to, the following cases:

[0099] Case 1: The first band set includes band A, and the second band set includes simultaneous band B and simultaneous band C. Case 2: The first band set includes simultaneous band A and simultaneous band B, and the second band set includes band C. Case 3: The first band set includes simultaneous band A and simultaneous band B, and the second band set includes simultaneous band B and simultaneous band C. Case 4: The first band set includes band A, and the second band set includes band B.

[0100] N is a positive integer, and specifically, N may be equal to 1 or may be greater than or equal to 2. For example, N band set pairs may be shown in Table 7.

[0101] [Table 7]

[0102] It should be noted that the number of bands in a band set may be related to the number of transmission branches of the terminal device. Usually, the number of bands in a band set does not exceed the number of transmission branches of the terminal device. For example, if the terminal device includes Q data transmission branches, the total number of bands in a band set is ≦Q.

[0103] 403: The network device determines a switching time of at least one pair of band sets based on the indication information in the indication information set.

[0104] The switching time indicates the time required for a terminal device to switch a transmission branch between two band sets in a band set pair. Specifically, the switching time can be understood as the time required to switch from one band set to the other band set in the band set pair.

[0105] In this embodiment of the present application, when L is an integer greater than or equal to 3, at least one band set in at least one band set pair includes at least two bands. Specifically, the first band set in N band set pairs includes at least two bands, and / or the second band set in the band set pair includes at least two bands. In addition, because the two band sets in one band set pair do not completely match, when L is an integer greater than or equal to 3, the band set pair is associated with at least three band switching scenarios. In some cases, when a terminal device switches its transmission branch among at least three bands, the terminal device can flexibly determine how to switch its transmission branch among three or more bands based on data traffic requirements, the network configuration of the bands, the bandwidth of the bands, the channel conditions of the bands, etc. In this way, the data transmission rate is higher than the data transmission rate when the terminal device can switch its transmission branch only between two bands. Therefore, the solution in this embodiment of the present application can support switching performed by a terminal device among at least three bands, resulting in more diverse application scenarios in which the terminal performs band switching, thereby improving the data transmission rate and spectrum utilization efficiency of the terminal device.

[0106] The transmission branches supported or used on a band can be understood as the transmission branches supported or used by a terminal device when the terminal device performs communication on a carrier on the band. The number of transmission branches may correspond to the number of MIMO layers supported when the terminal device uses a MIMO transmission scheme. For example, one transmission branch corresponds to one layer-uplink MIMO (1 MIMO layer), and two transmission branches correspond to two layer-uplink MIMO (2 MIMO layer).

[0107] Specifically, not all band set pairs have a switching time: if the terminal device does not support switching on a particular band set pair, the band set pair does not have a switching time.

[0108] It should be noted that even if a terminal device supports switching of a transmission branch among at least three bands, this does not mean that in an actual switching scenario, the terminal device can only report switching of a transmission branch related to at least three bands; the terminal device may report switching of a transmission branch related to two bands, or may also report switching of a transmission branch related to at least three bands.

[0109] It should be further noted that this embodiment of the present application provides a way to report the transmission branch switching capability of the terminal device, and the configuration of the network device for switching the transmission branch by the terminal device is not limited in the present invention. Generally, the configuration of the network device needs to meet the capability of the terminal device, i.e., does not exceed the capability of the terminal device.

[0110] 5 is a diagram of a switch-associated band according to one embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, a terminal device switches a transmission mode in which two transmission branches are used for transmission in band B to a transmission mode in which one transmission branch is used for transmission in band A and the other transmission branch is used for transmission in band C. In this diagram, the terminal is associated with three bands, namely band A, band B, and band C, for participating in the switch.

[0111] 6 is a diagram of another switch-related band according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 6, a terminal device needs to switch from an operating state in which data is carried on one transmission branch via a carrier on band B to an operating state in which data is carried on one transmission branch via a carrier on band A and data is carried on the other transmission branch via a carrier on band C. In this diagram, the terminal is associated with three bands, band A, band B, and band C, to participate in the switch. However, the number of transmission branches used by the terminal device before the switch may not match the number of transmission branches used by the terminal device after the switch.

[0112] 7 is a diagram of another switch-related band according to one embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 7, a terminal device supports three bands for participating in a switch, namely, band A, band B, and band C. However, in some scenarios, as shown in FIG. 7, the terminal device may alternatively switch an operating state in which data is carried on two transmission branches via carriers on band B to an operating state in which data is carried on two transmission branches via carriers on band C. In this diagram, the terminal supports three bands for participating in a switch, namely, band A, band B, and band C, but the terminal device may switch the transmission branch between two bands.

[0113] 8 is a diagram of another switch-associated band according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8, a terminal device needs to switch from an operating state in which data is carried in one transmission branch via a carrier on band A and data is carried in the other transmission branch via a carrier on band B to an operating state in which data is carried in one transmission branch via a carrier on band B and data is carried in the other transmission branch via a carrier on band C. In this diagram, the terminal is associated with three bands, namely band A, band B, and band C, to participate in the switch, but the associated bands before the switch may have the same portion as the associated bands after the switch.

[0114] 9 is a diagram of another switch-related band according to an embodiment of the present application. A terminal device needs to switch from an operating state in which data is carried in one transmission branch via a carrier on band A and in the other transmission branch via a carrier on band B to an operating state in which data is carried in one transmission branch via a carrier on band C and in the other transmission branch via a carrier on band D. In this diagram, the terminal is associated with four bands to participate in the switch: band A, band B, band C, and band D.

[0115] 10 is a diagram of another switch-related band according to one embodiment of the present application. A terminal device supports four bands for participating in a switch, namely, band A, band B, band C, and band D. However, in some scenarios, as shown in FIG. 10, the terminal device may alternatively switch from an operating state in which data is carried on two transmission branches via carriers on band B to an operating state in which data is carried on two transmission branches via carriers on band C. In this diagram, the terminal supports four bands for participating in a switch, namely, band A, band B, band C, and band D, but the terminal device may switch the transmission branch between two bands.

[0116] 5 to 10, the terminal device supports switching of transmission branches associated with at least three bands, but the number of bands associated with the switching of the transmission branches may be less than the number of bands that can be used by the terminal device to switch the transmission branches. Therefore, the number of bands corresponding to the indication information set reported by the terminal device may be less than the number of bands that can be used by the terminal device to switch the transmission branches, and the number of bands of the indication information set to be reported by the terminal device may be reported as needed. This is not limited in this embodiment.

[0117] Optionally, the instruction information in the instruction information set may correspond to each band set pair separately, in other words, the number of instruction information is equal to the number of band set pairs. In addition, one instruction information may alternatively correspond to at least two band set pairs, in other words, the number of instruction information is less than the number of band set pairs.

[0118] In this embodiment of the present application, when the indication information of multiple band set pairs is the same, one of the indication information may correspond to at least two band set pairs. Therefore, the number of indication information in the indication information set reported by the terminal device is less than the number of band set pairs, thereby reducing the signaling overhead for reporting capability information by the terminal device.

[0119] In a possible embodiment, the terminal device reports a band set pair that satisfies a preset condition. Optionally, the preset condition may be that there is at least one identical band between two band sets in the band set pair. Optionally, the preset condition may be set as needed, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0120] In this embodiment of the application, the terminal device may report band set pairs that satisfy constraints in order to accommodate different reporting scenarios.

[0121] It should be understood that how the network device determines the switching time of the band set pair based on the indication information in the indication information set is related to factors such as the specific content of the indication information and the manner of reporting the indication information. Therefore, based on any one of the above application embodiments, the following application embodiments will be described based on factors such as the specific content of the indication information reported by the terminal device and the manner of reporting the indication information by the terminal device, in relation to the manner of determining the switching time of each band set pair by the network device based on the indication information in the indication information set.

[0122] First, in relation to how the network device determines the switching method for each band set pair, the specific content of the indication information reported by the terminal device is used as an example for explanation.

[0123] Optionally, the function of the indication information includes, but is not limited to, at least one of: indicating a switching time, indicating a band identifier for switching a transmission branch between two band sets in a band set pair, and indicating that the terminal device supports or does not support switching a transmission branch between two band sets in a band set pair. The indication information will be described separately in the following application embodiments.

[0124] First, the explanation is given with indications that indicate the switching times.

[0125] It should be understood that if the instruction information includes a switching time, when the network device receives the instruction information set, the network device can determine the switching time for each band set pair if the network device can clearly know the band set pair corresponding to the instruction information.

[0126] In a possible embodiment, the switching time is related to the number of transmit branches configured for the bands in the band set. A terminal device including two transmit branches is used as an example. In this case, the switching time may be further divided into the time for switching one transmit branch and the time for switching two transmit branches.

[0127] For example, regarding the switching time of a terminal device between band A and simultaneous {band B+band C}, assuming that the terminal device includes two transmission branches, when the terminal device performs carrier aggregation transmission on a band set including band B and band C, transmission on a carrier on band B occupies one transmission branch, and transmission on a carrier on band C occupies the other transmission branch; alternatively, when the terminal device performs transmission on a carrier on band A, transmission by the terminal device on a carrier on band A may occupy two transmission branches, or transmission by the terminal device on a carrier on band A may occupy one of the transmission branches. In this case, the switching time associated with the terminal device's transmission on a carrier on band A occupying two transmission branches may be different from the switching time associated with the terminal device's transmission on a carrier on band A occupying one of the transmission branches. Thus, the switching time is related to the number of transmission branches occupied by the bands in the band set.

[0128] In this embodiment of the application, the switching time is related to the quantity of transmit branches configured for the bands in the band set, and the switching time obtained by the network device is also more accurate.

[0129] In a possible implementation, if one type of switching time is not reported, it may indicate that such switching is not supported. For example, the example in (2) above may be specifically expressed as follows: SwitchingTime(SwitchingTimeElement) ::= CHOICE(Select one from the options) { notSupported (not supported) NULL, value1T (switching time for 1T switching) ENUMERATED {n0μs, n30μs, n100μs, n140μs, n200μs, n300μs, n500μs, n900μs} (enumerated possible switching times) OPTIONAL (this indicates that the value is optional; if no value is displayed, 1T switching is not supported) value2T (switching time for 2T switching) ENUMERATED {n0μs, n30μs, n100μs, n140μs, n200μs, n300μs, n500μs, n900μs} (enumerated possible switching times) OPTIONAL (this indicates that the value is optional; if no value is displayed, 2T switching is not supported)

[0130] In a possible embodiment, the instruction information includes a switching time. To enable the network device to determine the switching time of the band set pair, optionally, the instruction information further indicates a band identifier for switching the transmission branch between two band sets in a band set pair. In other words, the instruction information may include a switching time and a band identifier. In this embodiment of the present application, the switching time and the band identifier in the instruction information may be associated.

[0131] Band set pair 1 in Table 7 is used as an example. In this case, the indication information for band set pair 1 includes the switching time for band set pair 1. In addition, to enable the network device to determine the switching time for the band set pair, the indication information for band set pair 1 further includes a band identifier for band A in the first band set, and a band identifier for band B and a band identifier for band C in the second band set. Typically, the band identifiers are unique, so that different bands can be accurately distinguished. Optionally, the band identifiers for the bands may be determined based on the order of the bands in the band combination. The band combination is a band combination that supports switching of the transmission branch. In a possible embodiment, the band combination is a band combination reported by using the BandCombinationList-UplinkTxSwitch field. The band combination includes multiple bands for which the terminal can switch the transmission branch. For example, Table 7 is used as an example. In a band combination, if the order of the bands is band A, band B, band C, and band D, the band identifier of band A is 00, the band identifier of band B is 01, the band identifier of band C is 10, and the band identifier of band D is 11.

[0132] It should be understood that the indication information of band set pair 2 and the indication information of band set pair 3 in Table 7 refer to the description of the indication information of band set pair 1. In this embodiment of this application, details are not described.

[0133] Specifically, the indication information indicates a band identifier in a first band set and a band identifier in a second band set in the band sets, so that upon receiving the indication information, the network device can determine a specific band set pair based on the band identifier, and determine the associated band set pair and the switching time. Therefore, it can be seen that the network device can determine the switching times of N band set pairs based on the switching times and band identifiers indicated by the indication information.

[0134] In this embodiment of the application, the bands in the band set may be directly indicated using the indication information, thereby determining the switching time for the band set pair, thereby reducing the difficulty of determining the switching time by the network device.

[0135] It should be noted that the band identifiers in the indication information may or may not be distinguished based on the band set, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

[0136] For example, if the band identifiers in the indication information are differentiated based on the band set, the indication information may be represented as shown in Table 8.

[0137] [Table 8]

[0138] As shown in Table 8, the first band set is the pre-switching band set, and the second band set is the post-switching band set. Band set pair 1 is used as an example. One band set of band set pair 1 includes band A and band B, and the other band set includes band C, and the switching time of band set pair 1 is T1. Similarly, band set pair 1 is used as an example. One band set of band set pair 1 includes band A and band B, and the other band set includes band D, and the switching time of band set pair 1 is T2. Similarly, for band set pair 3 and band set pair 4, please refer to the descriptions of band set pair 1 and band set pair 2. Details will not be described again. It should be understood that if the band identifiers in the indication information are distinguished based on the band set, the switching time indicated by the indication information will also be more accurate. It should be particularly emphasized that in the solution shown in Table 8, the second band set may alternatively be the pre-switching band set, and the first band set may be the post-switching band set. Details will not be repeated here. The switching time for switching from the first band set to the second band set may be the same as or different from the switching time for switching from the second band set to the first band set. Furthermore, if the switching time for switching from the first band set to the second band set is different from the switching time for switching from the second band set to the first band set, the instruction information indicates the band set before switching and the band set after switching. For example, if the band identifiers in the instruction information are not distinguished based on the band set, i.e., if the instruction information indicates the bands included in the band set pair, there is no need to distinguish between the first band set and the second band set. In other words, if the instruction information instructs switching of the transmission branch between bands in the band set pair (e.g., band A, band B, and band C), the instruction information may be represented as shown in Table 9.

[0139] [Table 9]

[0140] As shown in Table 9, the switching time for the band set pairs associated with band A, band B, and band C is all T1. It should be understood that the band identifier in the indication information does not distinguish the band set to which the band identifier belongs, thereby reducing the signaling overhead of the indication information.

[0141] As shown in Table 9, the first band set pair is used as an example. In this case, the switching time for switching the transmission branch of the terminal device between carriers of band A and carriers of simultaneous {bands B and C}, the switching time for switching between carriers of simultaneous {bands A and B} and carriers of band C, and the switching time for switching between carriers of simultaneous {bands A + band C} and carriers of band B are the same, and the same switching time is T1. Similarly, the switching times for band set pairs related to bands A, B, and D are all T2, and the switching times for band set pairs related to bands A, B, C, and D are all T3.

[0142] For example, the band identifier in the indication information does not distinguish the band set to which the band identifier belongs, and the indication information set reported by the terminal device may also be shown in Table 10.

[0143] [Table 10]

[0144] Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the times in Table 10 may be reported in a preset order. Here, there is a preset order. However, the band set pairs corresponding to each order do not need to distinguish between the band sets, and only the bands corresponding to the band set pairs need to be reported. Therefore, it is necessary to report "Not Supported," and the reporting of "Not Supported" is also necessary to ensure consistency of the order.

[0145] As shown in Table 10, the first row indicates a preset order of the N band set pairs, the second row indicates bands corresponding to the band set pairs, and the third row indicates an indication information set. The indication information in the indication information set may indicate a switching time and may further indicate whether the terminal device supports or does not support switching of the transmission branch in the associated band set pair. "Not supported" indicates that the terminal device does not support switching of the transmission branch between band A and band C, and T1, T2, ..., and T10 indicate switching times for switching the transmission branch between bands corresponding to the band set pair. The terminal device reports its capability information to the network device based on the preset correspondence between the N band set pairs and the indication information in the indication information set, and the order of the indication information in the indication information set is the same as the preset order of the N band set pairs. As shown in Table 10, the bands included in the first band set pair include band A and band B, and the corresponding indication information indicates that the terminal device supports switching of the transmission branch on the associated band set pair, with the switching time being T1. The bands included in the second band set pair include band A and band C, and the corresponding indication information indicates that the terminal device supports switching of the transmission branch on the associated band set, and so on. In this way, the terminal device only reports the indication information set in the third row, and does not need to report the band identifiers in the band set pairs corresponding to the indication information in the indication information set. The network device may determine the band set pairs associated with each indication information in the indication information set based on the predetermined order of the band set pairs. Therefore, signaling overhead can be reduced.

[0146] In a possible embodiment, the indication information indicates that the switching times associated with M band set pairs in the N band set pairs are the same, each of the M band set pairs includes the same band, and 2≦M.

[0147] In this embodiment of the present application, the indication information indicates that the switching times associated with M band set pairs in the N band set pairs are the same, each of the M band set pairs includes the same band, and 2≦M. In this case, when reporting the capability information, the terminal device may only report one same switching time and does not need to report switching times for all band set pairs. Therefore, since it can be seen that the number of switching times in the capability information is less than N, in this embodiment of the present application, the signaling overhead between the terminal device and the network device can be reduced.

[0148] In a possible embodiment, 2≦N. In this case, the terminal device reports an indication information set of at least two band set pairs, where N band set pairs are associated with one band combination, and the band combination includes bands in the N band set pairs that are supported by the terminal device.

[0149] For example, at least two band set pairs in one band combination may be shown in Table 11.

[0150] [Table 11]

[0151] As shown in Table 11, Band Set Pair 1, Band Set Pair 2, and Band Set Pair 3 are associated with one band combination, which includes Band A, Band B, Band C, and Band D.

[0152] As an example, a band combination including four bands and a terminal device including two transmission branches are used. Since there are a maximum of four bands, the ordinal number of a band in the band combination can be indicated using two bits. For example, in the band combination, 0 represents the first band and 1 represents the second uplink band. Assuming that the switching time supports eight options (e.g., 10 μs, 20 μs, 50 μs, 100 μs), three bits are required.

[0153] The switching times for the band set pairs are reported. If there are at least three bands in each band set pair, the minimum overhead required to report the switching times for the group of band set pairs is 2 bits (band A) + 2 bits (band B) + 2 bits (band C) + 3 bits (x μs) = 9 bits. If there are at least two bands in each band set pair, the minimum overhead required to report the switching times for the group of band set pairs is 2 bits (band A) + 2 bits (band B) + 3 bits (x μs) = 7 bits. If one band set pair is involved in switching four bands, then 11 bits of overhead required by the band set pair are reported.

[0154] Assuming that the number of bands in each band set pair is two or more, an example of a band set pair that needs to be reported may be shown in Table 12.

[0155] [Table 12]

[0156] Table 12 may be expressed as follows: each element in the first row represents a band set in which a terminal device performs uplink transmission at a first moment, each element in the first column represents a band set in which a terminal device performs uplink transmission at a second moment, and compared with the first moment, the terminal device switches the uplink transmission branch between the two band sets at the second moment (or, the row represents the state after switching, and the column represents the state before switching). If a cell is filled with "invalid", there is no need to report a value for pairing (for example, if the state of the diagonal cell does not change before and after switching, and the pairing of the upper triangle and the pairing of the lower triangle are completely repeated, the corresponding switching times are consistent, and assuming that the switching time for switching from A to B is the same as the switching time for switching from B to A, there is no need to report).

[0157] As shown in Table 12, approximately 45*10 bits = 450 bits are required to report 45 scenarios.

[0158] Assuming that the number of bands in each band set pair is 3 or more, an example of band set pairs that need to be reported may be shown in Table 13.

[0159] [Table 13]

[0160] As shown in Table 13, reporting 39 scenarios requires approximately 39*10 bits = 390 bits.

[0161] For example, "disabled" in the table above may be represented as "NULL" or "default."

[0162] In the above application embodiment, some explanations are provided using the indication information to indicate the switching time.

[0163] Secondly, a description will be given using indication information indicating a band identifier for switching a transmission branch between two band sets in one band set pair.

[0164] It should be understood that if the instruction information in the instruction information set reported by the terminal device indicates a band identifier for switching a transmission branch between two band sets in a band set pair but does not indicate a switching time, the network device needs to determine the switching time of the band set pair through a specific means based on the band identifier indicated by the instruction information.

[0165] In the following application embodiment, how the network device determines the switching time of the band set pair based on the band identifier indicated by the instruction information is described. For simplicity, a band set pair including two bands is referred to as a first band set pair, and a band set pair including at least three bands is referred to as a second band set pair.

[0166] 11 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication method provided in this embodiment of the present application includes steps 1101 to 1103.

[0167] 1101: A network device sends a capability inquiry message to an end device.

[0168] 1102: The terminal device reports capability information of the terminal device to the network device, where an indication information set in the capability information includes first indication information of the first band set pair and second indication information of the second band set pair.

[0169] The first instruction information indicates a first switching time for the terminal device to switch the transmission branch between two band sets in the first band set pair, and the second instruction information indicates a switching of the transmission branch to be performed by the terminal device between two band sets in the second band set pair.

[0170] In this embodiment of the application, the first band set pair includes two bands, in other words, the first band set pair is associated with switching between two bands, and the second band set pair includes at least three bands, in other words, the second band set pair is associated with switching between at least three bands.

[0171] 1103: The network device determines a second switching time of the second band set pair based on the first set of indication information and the second set of indication information.

[0172] The first band set pair is associated with switching between two bands, and the second band set pair is associated with switching between at least three bands; in other words, in this embodiment of this application, the switching time for switching the transmission branch between at least three bands is determined based on the switching time between two bands.

[0173] In this embodiment of the present application, if the first instruction information indicates the first switching time of the first band set pair of the terminal device and the second instruction information does not indicate the second switching time of the second band set pair, in other words, if the first switching time of the first band set pair is known to the network device and the network device can know the second band set pair to which the terminal device can switch its transmission branch by using the band identifier indicated by the second instruction information, the second switching time of the second band set pair is determined by using the first switching time indicated by the first instruction information. In this embodiment of the present application, the second instruction information indicates the band identifier of the second band set pair but does not indicate the second switching time. Therefore, the amount of information regarding the second switching time is reduced in the capability information reported by the terminal device to the network device. It can be seen that the signaling overhead between the terminal device and the network device is reduced. In addition, the network device can determine the second switching time of the second band set pair based on the first switching time indicated by the first instruction information. Therefore, the network device may know the first switching time of the first band set pair and the second switching time of the second band set pair, in other words, the network device may know the switching time of the band set pair. It can be seen that in this embodiment of the present application, the signaling overhead between the terminal device and the network device is reduced, and the network device can further know the switching time of the band set pair.

[0174] In a possible embodiment, the second switching time of the second band set pair relates to the time for the terminal device to switch a transmission branch between any band in one band set and any band in the other band set in the second band set pair.

[0175] For example, assuming that the second band set pair relates to a switching scenario of band A, band B, band C, and band D, and the terminal device has two transmission branches, the second band set pair includes, but is not limited to, some of the following cases:

[0176] Case 1: The first band set in the second band set pair includes band A and band B, and the second band set in the second band set pair includes band C and band D.

[0177] Case 2: The first band set in the second band set pair includes band A and band C, and the second band set in the second band set pair includes band B and band D.

[0178] Case 3: The first band set in the second band set pair includes band A and band D, and the second band set in the second band set pair includes band B and band C.

[0179] Assuming that the second band set pair relates to a switching scenario of band A, band B, and band C, and the terminal device has two transmission branches, the second band set pair includes, but is not limited to, some of the following cases:

[0180] Case 4: The first band set in the second band set pair includes band A and band B, and the second band set in the second band set pair includes band C.

[0181] Case 5: The first band set in the second band set pair includes band A and band C, and the second band set in the second band set pair includes band B.

[0182] Case 6: The first band set in the second band set pair includes band B and band C, and the second band set in the second band set pair includes band A.

[0183] Case 1 is used as an example. In this case, the switching times associated with the second switching time of the second band set pair may be shown in Table 14.

[0184] [Table 14]

[0185] Specifically, as shown in Table 14, the second switching times for the second band set pair in Case 1 are associated with a switching time between Band A and Band C of 20 μs, a switching time between Band A and Band D of 50 μs, a switching time between Band B and Band C of 30 μs, and a switching time between Band B and Band D of 35 μs.

[0186] Case 4 is used as an example, in which the switching times associated with the second switching time of the second band set pair may be shown in Table 15.

[0187] [Table 15]

[0188] Specifically, as shown in Table 15, the second switching time for the second band set pair in Case 4 is associated with a switching time of 20 μs between band A and band C and a switching time of 30 μs between band B and band C.

[0189] In a possible embodiment, the switching time of a band set pair is the maximum time for a terminal device to switch a transmission branch between any band of one band set and any band of the other band set in the band set pair.

[0190] Case 1 is used as an example, where the switching time of the second band set pair in Case 1 is 50 μs.

[0191] Case 4 is used as an example, where the switching time of the second band set pair in Case 4 is 30 μs.

[0192] In this embodiment of the application, after learning the switching time capability of the terminal device, the network device may determine that the terminal device will not transmit uplink signaling or data within the switching time for switching the transmission branch between the two band sets of the band set pair, instead of receiving uplink signaling or data due to poor channel conditions, etc., and the network device will not allocate uplink resources or schedule uplink transmissions within the switching time so as to avoid wasting radio resources.

[0193] The network device does not schedule uplink transmission because it considers that the terminal device does not have the ability to transmit uplink signaling or data within the switching time. Therefore, the meaning of using the maximum value is that if the switching time considered by the network device is shorter than the time it takes for the terminal device to actually switch transmission branches, the network device may allocate uplink resources and schedule uplink transmissions during a time when the terminal device is unable to send uplink data, resulting in a waste of radio resources. If the network device does not receive the uplink data sent by the terminal device on the scheduled uplink resources, the network device may erroneously consider the channel condition to be poor, and as a result, adjust the current scheduling policy to a more conservative scheduling policy (e.g., a lower-order MCS (modulation and coding scheme)), causing a decrease in the uplink data rate. Therefore, the maximum time is used as the switching time for the band set pair, thereby further improving the uplink data rate.

[0194] In this embodiment of the application, the embodiment of determining the switching time of three bands based on two bands may be used in combination with another embodiment. Specifically, the terminal device may report the indication information in a preset order (do not report band identifiers) or may report band identifiers of a band set pair. The explanation is provided using the indication information indicating that the terminal device supports or does not support switching the transmission branch between two band sets in the band set pair. Optionally, the indication information includes a supported identifier of the band set pair and a non-supported identifier of the band set pair.

[0195] In this embodiment of the present application, the indication information indicates whether the terminal device supports or does not support switching the transmission branch between two band sets in a band set pair. In this case, the network device may know the band set pairs supported by the terminal device and the band set pairs not supported by the terminal device. Based on this, the network device may control the terminal device to perform switching between the supported band set pairs.

[0196] When a terminal device reports capability information of the terminal device to a network device based on a preset correspondence between N band set pairs and the indication information in the indication information set, it should be noted that the purpose of reporting supported band set pairs and unsupported band set pairs in the N band set pairs in this specification is mainly to prevent the one-to-one correspondence between the N band set pairs and the N indication information in the indication information set from becoming disordered.

[0197] Optionally, the supported and unsupported identifiers may be reported together with the band identifier and the switching time, or may be reported separately, in other words, only the supported and unsupported identifiers may be reported, and the band identifier and the switching time are not reported.

[0198] In a possible embodiment, the indication information indicates only band set pairs that are supported by the terminal device or band set pairs that are not supported by the terminal device.

[0199] In this embodiment of the present application, the indication information only indicates the band set pairs supported by the terminal device or the band set pairs not supported by the terminal device, in other words, the indication information does not indicate whether the band set pairs are supported or not supported, thereby reducing the signaling overhead for reporting capability information by the terminal device.

[0200] In a possible embodiment, whether the indication information indicates a band set pair supported by the terminal device or a band set pair not supported by the terminal device is related to the number of band set pairs supported by the terminal device and the number of band set pairs not supported by the terminal device.

[0201] Optionally, if the quantity of band set pairs supported by the terminal device is greater than the quantity of band set pairs not supported by the terminal device, the indication information indicates the band set pairs not supported by the terminal device, or if the quantity of band set pairs supported by the terminal device is less than the quantity of band set pairs not supported by the terminal device, the indication information indicates the band set pairs supported by the terminal device.

[0202] In this embodiment of the present application, a small number of band set pairs supported by the terminal device and a small number of band set pairs not supported by the terminal device are selected for reporting, in which the indication information indicates that the number of band set pairs supported by the terminal device is less than N / 2, or the indication information indicates that the number of band set pairs not supported by the terminal device is less than N / 2, thereby reducing the signaling overhead for reporting capability information by the terminal device.

[0203] In the above application embodiments, the specific content of the indication information reported by the terminal device in relation to how the network device determines the switching mode for each band set pair is used as an example for explanation. Based on any one of the above application embodiments, the following application embodiments are described using an example of a mode for reporting indication information by the terminal device in relation to how the network device determines the switching mode for each band set pair.

[0204] 12 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication method provided in this embodiment of the present application includes steps 1001 to 1003.

[0205] 1201: The network device sends a capability inquiry message to the terminal device.

[0206] 1202: The terminal device reports capability information of the terminal device to the network device based on a preset correspondence relationship between the N band set pairs and the indication information in the indication information set, where the capability information includes the indication information set.

[0207] In a possible embodiment, the correspondence relates to a pre-set order of the N band set pairs.

[0208] Optionally, the order of the indication information in the indication information set is the same as the pre-set order of the N band set pairs.

[0209] In a possible implementation, there is a correspondence between the preset order of the N band set pairs and the arrangement order of the N elements in the first preset table. It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present application, there are at least N elements in the first preset table.

[0210] In a possible embodiment, the element in the ith row and jth column in the first preset table is Eij, and all elements Eij in the N elements are arranged sequentially in ascending order of columns and rows, and there is a correspondence between a band set pair including the ith band set and the jth band set in the N band set pairs and elements Eij in the table, where j is greater than i, 1≦i≦K, j≦K, K, i, and j are all positive integers, and K is the number of band sets associated with the band combination.

[0211] Optionally, the K band sets include any Q bands in the P bands in the band combination, and the K band sets are arranged in a preset order in the first preset table, where Q is a positive integer. Typically, Q is less than or equal to the number of transmitting branches, and Q is less than or equal to P.

[0212] For example, if each band set pair includes at least two bands, a first pre-set table may be shown in Table 16.

[0213] [Table 16]

[0214] Referring to Table 16, it can be seen that an indication information set can include 45 indication information. For example, one band set in a band set pair corresponding to the 25th indication information includes band A and band B, and the other band set in the band set pair corresponding to the 25th indication information includes band D. For another example, one band set in a band set pair corresponding to the 36th indication information includes band A and band C, and the other band set in the band set pair corresponding to the 36th indication information includes band A and band D.

[0215] It should be understood that the band set pair corresponding to any indication information in the indication information set can be determined by using a first preset table, and details will not be described in this embodiment of this application.

[0216] In other words, the terminal device may report capability information based on the first preset table such that each indication information in the indication information set corresponds to an element in the first preset table.

[0217] Optionally, if each band set pair includes at least three bands, a first pre-set table may be shown in Table 17.

[0218] [Table 17]

[0219] Referring to Table 17, it can be seen that the indication information set can include 39 pieces of indication information. For example, one band set in the band set pair corresponding to the 25th indication information includes band A and band B, and the other band set in the band set pair corresponding to the 25th indication information includes band A and band C. For another example, one band set in the band set pair corresponding to the 36th indication information includes band A and band D, and the other band set in the band set pair corresponding to the 36th indication information includes band C and band D.

[0220] 1203: The network device determines a switching time for each band set pair based on a preset correspondence relationship between the N band set pairs and the indication information in the indication information set.

[0221] Since the capability information is reported by the terminal device based on the correspondence between the band set pair and the instruction information, once the network device knows the correspondence, the network device can also know the band set pair corresponding to each instruction information in the instruction information set in order to determine the switching time of the band set pair.

[0222] In this embodiment of the present application, since there is a correspondence relationship between the indication information in the indication information set and the band set pair, the network device can determine the band set pair corresponding to each indication information in the indication information set based on the correspondence relationship. In other words, even if the indication information does not indicate a band identifier, the network device can determine the band set pair corresponding to the indication information, and the band identifier does not need to be indicated, thereby reducing the amount of data required to indicate the band identifier by the indication information. Therefore, it can be seen that the signaling overhead between the terminal device and the network device is reduced.

[0223] In a possible embodiment, the correspondence relates to a pre-set order of the N band set pairs.

[0224] Optionally, the order of the indication information in the indication information set is the same as the pre-set order of the N band set pairs.

[0225] In a possible implementation, there is a correspondence between the pre-set order of the N band set pairs and the arrangement order of the N elements in the second pre-set table.

[0226] In a possible embodiment, the element in the ith row and jth column in the second preset table is Eij, and all elements Eij in the N elements are arranged sequentially in ascending order of columns and rows, and there is a correspondence between a band set pair including the ith band set and the jth band set in the N band set pairs and elements Eij in the table, where j is greater than i, 1≦i≦K, j≦K, K, i, and j are all positive integers, and K is the number of band sets associated with the band combination.

[0227] It should be understood that the second preset table may be the same as the first preset table, and the network device and the terminal device may determine the band set pair corresponding to each indication information in the indication information set based on the same preset table.

[0228] Specifically, if each band set pair includes at least two bands, the second preset table may be shown in Table 16, or if each band set pair includes at least three bands, the second preset table may be shown in Table 17.

[0229] In this embodiment of this application, the function of the indication information includes, but is not limited to, at least one of indicating a switching time and indicating whether the terminal device supports or does not support switching a transmission branch between two band sets in a band set pair. The indication information will be described separately in the following application embodiments.

[0230] First, an explanation is given using an example where the indication information indicates a switching time.

[0231] For the purposes of explanation with reference to Table 16, an example is used in which the terminal device includes two transmit branches.

[0232] (1) First, the total number of elements (i.e., the number of rows / columns in the table) is determined. Assuming that the band combination includes a total of P bands, the number of elements is the sum of the number of first band sets containing one band (P), the number of first band sets containing two bands (P*(P-1) / 2), ..., and the number of first band sets containing (P-1) bands. Assuming that the terminal device supports two transmission branches, the band set contains a maximum of two bands. That is, the total number of elements is the sum of the number of band sets containing one band and the number of band sets containing two bands. P=4 is used as an example. The number of elements in the first band set is K=10. (A, B, C, D, AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD)

[0233] (2) The switching times for each element to the remaining elements are then determined. The switching times for switching the first element A to the remaining (K-1) elements are determined, the switching times for switching the second element B to the remaining (K-2) elements are reported, and so on. A total of R switching times are reported, where R=K*(K-1) / 2.

[0234] Therefore, the length of the indication information set can be determined as R=K*(K-1) / 2. As an example, P=4 is used. K=10, R=45.

[0235] Referring to Table 16, it can be seen that the indication information set reported by the terminal device can be shown as follows: {T1, T2, T3, ..., T44, T45}

[0236] Referring to Table 17, it can be seen that the indication information set reported by the terminal device can be shown as follows: {T1, T2, T3, ..., T38, T39}

[0237] Upon receiving the indication information set, the network device may use the second preset table to determine an element corresponding to each switching time and determine a band set pair corresponding to each switching time.

[0238] In a possible embodiment, the indication information may further indicate that the terminal device supports or does not support switching the transmission branch between two band sets in the band set pair. Specifically, for how to indicate that the terminal device supports or does not support switching the transmission branch between two band sets in the band set pair, please refer to the description of the previous embodiment. Details will not be repeated here.

[0239] Referring to Table 16, it can be seen that the indication information set reported by the terminal device can be shown as follows: {T1, Unsupported, T3, ..., T44, T45}

[0240] In this example, the unsupported identifier is located at the second position in the indication information set. Correspondingly, referring to Table 16, it can be seen that one band set in the band set pair corresponding to the second position includes band A, and the other band set in the band set pair corresponding to the second position includes band C. In other words, the terminal device does not support switching of the transmission branch between band A and band C.

[0241] Referring to Table 17, it can be seen that the indication information set reported by the terminal device can be shown as follows: {T1, Unsupported, T3, ..., T38, T39}

[0242] In this example, the unsupported identifier is located at the second position in the indication information set. Correspondingly, referring to Table 17, it can be seen that one band set in the band set pair corresponding to the second position includes band A, and the other band set in the band set pair corresponding to the second position includes band A and band C. In other words, the terminal device does not support switching of the transmission branch between band A and band A+band C.

[0243] In this embodiment of the application, when the terminal device reports the switching time based on the correspondence relationship, the terminal device reports an unsupported identifier for the band set pair that is not supported by the terminal device so that the data length of the indication information set does not change and the band set pairs corresponding to each indication information in the entire indication information set are not disordered.

[0244] The indication information then indicates whether the terminal device supports or does not support switching the transmission branch between two band sets in the band set pair.

[0245] Referring to Table 16, it can be seen that the indication information set reported by the terminal device can be shown as follows: {110101100110011011100011010101010011000111111}

[0246] In this example, if the tenth indication information is 1, it indicates that the terminal device supports switching. Referring to Table 16, it can be seen that one band set in the band set pair corresponding to the tenth indication information includes band B, and one band set in the band set pair corresponding to the tenth indication information includes band C. In other words, the terminal device supports switching of the transmission branch between band A and band B. Similarly, if the thirty-ninth indication information is 0, it indicates that the terminal device does not support switching. Referring to Table 17, it can be seen that one band set in the band set pair corresponding to the thirty-ninth indication information includes band A and band C, and one band set in the band set pair corresponding to the thirty-ninth indication information includes band C and band D. In other words, the terminal device does not support switching of the transmission branch between band A+band C and band C+band D.

[0247] Referring to Table 17, it can be seen that the indication information set reported by the terminal device can be shown as follows: {110101100110011011100011010101010011000}

[0248] In this example, if the sixth indication information is 1, it indicates that the terminal device supports switching. Referring to Table 17, it can be seen that one band set in the band set pair corresponding to the sixth indication information includes band A, and the other band set in the band set pair corresponding to the sixth indication information includes band C and band D. In other words, the terminal device supports switching of the transmission branch between band A and band C+band D.

[0249] In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may report an indication information set to the network device based on a first preset table according to whether the terminal device supports or does not support a band set pair, in which case the network device may refer to a second preset table based on the indication information set to determine the band set pair supported by the terminal device and determine a switching time of the band set pair supported by the terminal device.

[0250] For a band set pair associated with at least three bands, if the indication information of the band set pair associated with at least three bands does not indicate a switching time, for how the network device determines the switching time of the band set pair associated with at least three bands, please refer to the description of the application embodiment corresponding to Figure 6. Details will not be repeated here.

[0251] In a possible embodiment, for an uplink service, if the downlink service of a terminal device is affected, the number of affected downlink bands may also be reported when the switching time is reported. For example, in a scenario where band A+band B are switched to band C, the switching time for reporting may be 20 μs, and it may be indicated that this switching time affects the transmission of downlink band B and downlink band C.

[0252] In this embodiment of this application, the purpose of the terminal reporting the downlink bandwidth for downlink transmission affected by the uplink transmission branch switching to the network device is to allow the network device to know that the terminal device cannot receive downlink signaling and data during the switching time, and therefore the network device will not send downlink signaling and data during the switching time to avoid packet loss.

[0253] It can be understood that to realize the functions in the above application embodiments, the base station and the terminal device include corresponding hardware structures and / or software modules to perform the functions. As those skilled in the art can easily recognize, in combination with the examples described in the application embodiments disclosed in this application, the steps of the units and methods can be implemented by the hardware of this application or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether the functions are performed by hardware or by hardware driven by computer software depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0254] 13 and 14 are diagrams of possible communication device structures according to application embodiments of this application. These communication devices may be configured to implement the functions of the terminal device or base station in the application embodiments of the above-mentioned method. Therefore, the beneficial effects of the application embodiments of the above-mentioned method can also be realized. In this application embodiment of this application, the communication device may be one of the terminal devices 120a to 120j shown in FIG. 1, or may be the base station 110a or 110b shown in FIG. 1, or may be a module (e.g., a chip) used in the terminal device or base station.

[0255] 13, the communication device 1300 includes a processing unit 1310 and a transceiver unit 1320. The communication device 1300 is configured to implement the functions of a terminal device or a network device in the application embodiments of the aforementioned methods shown in FIG.

[0256] When the communication device 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the terminal device in the application embodiment of the method shown in FIG. 4, the transceiver unit 1320 is configured to receive a capability inquiry message from the network device and report capability information of the terminal device to the network device.

[0257] When the communication device 1300 is configured to realize the functions of a network device in the application embodiment of the method shown in FIG. 4, the transceiver unit 1320 is configured to send a capability inquiry message and receive capability information reported by the terminal device, and the processing unit 1310 is configured to determine a switching time for each band set pair based on the indication information in the indication information set, where the switching time indicates the time for the terminal device to switch the transmission branch between two band sets in the band set pair.

[0258] When the communication device 1300 is configured to realize the functions of a terminal device in the application embodiment of the method shown in FIG. 11, the transceiver unit 1320 is configured to receive a capability inquiry message from a network device and report capability information of the terminal device to the network device, and the indication information set in the capability information includes first indication information of a first band set pair and second indication information of a second band set pair.

[0259] When the communication device 1300 is configured to realize the functions of a network device in the application embodiment of the method shown in FIG. 11 , the transceiver unit 1320 is configured to send a capability inquiry message and receive capability information reported by the terminal device, and the processing unit 1310 is configured to determine a second switching time for a second band set pair based on the first set of instruction information and the second set of instruction information.

[0260] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the terminal device in the application embodiment of the method shown in FIG. 12 , the transceiver unit 1320 is configured to receive a capability inquiry message from the network device and report capability information of the terminal device to the network device based on a preset correspondence between the N band set pairs and the indication information in the indication information set.

[0261] When the communication device 1300 is configured to realize the functions of a network device in the application embodiment of the method shown in FIG. 12, the transceiver unit 1320 is configured to send a capability inquiry message and receive capability information reported by the terminal device, and the processing unit 1310 is configured to determine a switching time for each band set pair based on a predetermined correspondence between the N band set pairs and the indication information in the indication information set.

[0262] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 1310 and the transceiver unit 1320, please refer to the relevant descriptions of the application embodiments of the methods shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 11, or FIG.

[0263] 14, the communication device 1400 includes a processor 1410 and an interface circuit 1420. The processor 1410 and the interface circuit 1420 are coupled to each other. It may be understood that the interface circuit 1420 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a memory 1430 configured to store instructions to be executed by the processor 1410, to store input data required for the processor 1410 to execute the instructions, or to store data generated after the processor 1410 executes the instructions.

[0264] When the communication device 1400 is configured to perform the method shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 11, or FIG. 12, the processor 1410 is configured to implement the functions of the processing unit 1310, and the interface circuit 1420 is configured to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 1320.

[0265] When the communication device is a chip used in a terminal device, the chip in the terminal device realizes the function of the terminal device in the application embodiment of the above method. The chip in the terminal device receives information from another module (for example, a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, and the information is sent to the terminal device by the network device. Alternatively, the chip in the terminal device sends information to another module (for example, a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, and the information is sent to the network device by the terminal device.

[0266] When the communication device is a module used in a network device, the module in the network device realizes the function of the network device in the application embodiment of the aforementioned method. The module in the network device receives information from another module (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device, and the information is sent to the network device by a terminal device. Alternatively, the module in the network device sends information to another module (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device, and the information is sent to the terminal device by the network device. The module in the network device in this specification may be a baseband chip of the network device, or may be a DU or another module. The DU in this specification may be a DU in an open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture.

[0267] It may be understood that the processor in the embodiments of this application may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or may be another 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 transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0268] When the apparatus in the embodiment of this application is a network device, the apparatus may be shown in FIG. 15 . The apparatus may include one or more radio frequency units, such as a remote radio unit (RRU) 1510 and one or more baseband units (BBUs) (sometimes referred to as digital units (DUs)) 1520. The RRU 1510 may be referred to as a transceiver module. The transceiver module may include a transmitting module and a receiving module, or the transceiver module may be a module capable of realizing transmitting and receiving functions. The transceiver module may correspond to the transceiver module 1320 in FIG. 13 , i.e., the transceiver module may perform the operations performed by the transceiver module 1320. Optionally, the transceiver module may also be referred to as a transceiver machine, transceiver circuit, transceiver, etc., and may include at least one antenna 1511 and a radio frequency unit 1512. The RRU 1510 is mainly configured to receive and send radio frequency signals and perform conversion between radio frequency signals and baseband signals. The BBU 2410 is mainly configured to perform baseband processing, control the base station, etc. The RRU 1510 and the BBU 1520 may be physically co-located or physically separate, i.e., may be a distributed base station.

[0269] The BBU 1520 is a control center of the base station, also called a processing module, and may correspond to the processing module 1310 in Figure 13, and is mainly configured to perform baseband processing functions, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulation, and spectrum spreading. In addition, the processing module may perform the operations performed by the processing module 1310. For example, the BBU (processing module) may be configured to control the base station to perform operation procedures related to the network devices in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0270] In one example, the BBU 1520 may include one or more boards, and the multiple boards may jointly support a radio access network of a single access standard (e.g., an LTE network) or separately support radio access networks of different access standards (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or another network). The BBU 1520 further includes a memory 1521 and a processor 1522. The memory 1521 is configured to store necessary instructions and data. The processor 1522 is configured to control the base station to perform necessary operations, for example, to control the base station to perform operation procedures related to the network device in the above-described method embodiments. The memory 1521 and the processor 1522 can serve one or more boards. In other words, the memory and the processor can be located on each board. Alternatively, multiple boards may share the same memory and the same processor. In addition, necessary circuits may be further located on each board.

[0271] The method steps in the application embodiments of this application may be implemented in hardware or software instructions that can be executed by a processor. The software instructions may include corresponding software modules. The software modules may be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, removable hard disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. For example, the storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium may instead be a component of the processor. The processor and the storage medium may be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may be located in a network device or a terminal device. Alternatively, the processor and the storage medium may reside as separate components in the network device or the terminal device.

[0272] All or part of the above application embodiments may be realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When software is used to implement the embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be realized in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer programs or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the procedures or functions in the embodiments of this application are executed. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, user equipment, or another programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from a computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transmitted from a website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired or wireless manner. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium accessible by a computer, or may be a data storage device, such as a server or data center, incorporating one or more available media. The available media may be magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard disks, or magnetic tapes, or optical media such as digital video disks, or semiconductor media such as solid-state drives. The computer-readable storage media may be volatile or non-volatile storage media, or may include both types of storage media: volatile and non-volatile storage media.

[0273] In various application embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified or there is no logical contradiction, the terms and / or descriptions in different application embodiments are consistent and can refer to each other, and the technical features in different application embodiments can be combined based on their internal logical relationships to form new application embodiments.

[0274] Based on whether "optionally" is used herein, in this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "And / or" describes an association relationship between related objects and indicates that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may represent three cases: only A is present, both A and B are present, and only B is present, where A and B may each be singular or plural. In text descriptions in this application, the character " / " represents an "or" relationship between related objects. In formulas in this application, the character " / " represents a "split" relationship between related objects. "Comprising at least one of A, B, and C" may represent including A, including B, including C, including A and B, including A and C, including B and C, or including A, B, and C.

[0275] It can be understood that various numbers in the application embodiments of this application are used for distinction only to facilitate description, and are not used to limit the scope of the application embodiments of this application. The sequence numbers of the above processes do not imply the execution order, and the execution order of the processes should be determined based on the functions and internal logic of the processes. [Explanation of symbols]

[0276] 1 band set pair 2 Band Set Pair 3 Band Set Pairs 4 band set pairs 100 Wireless Access Network, Terminal Device 110a Base station, radio access network device 110b Base Station, Radio Access Network Device 120a~120j terminal devices 120i unmanned aerial vehicle 200 Core Network 300 Internet 1000 Communication Systems 1300 Communication Equipment 1310 Processing Unit 1320 Transceiver Unit 1400 Communication Equipment 1410 processor 1420 Interface Circuit 1430 memory 1510 Remote Radio Unit 1511 Antenna 1512 Radio Frequency Unit 1520 Baseband Unit 1521 memory 1522 processor

Claims

1. 1. A communication method comprising: receiving a capabilities inquiry message from a network device; reporting capability information of a terminal device to the network device, the capability information including an indication information set of N band set pairs, each indication information in the indication information set being associated with one band set pair, the indication information instructing a transmission branch switch performed by the terminal device between two band sets in the band set pair, the band set including at least one of L bands in the band set pair, L being an integer greater than or equal to 3, and N being a positive integer; A method comprising:

2. 2≦N, the N band set pairs are associated with one band combination, and the band combination includes all bands in the N band set pairs that are supported by the terminal device, and the step of reporting capability information of the terminal device to the network device includes: The method of claim 1, further comprising: reporting the capability information of the terminal device to the network device based on a predetermined correspondence between the N band set pairs and the indication information in the indication information set.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the order of the indication information in the indication information set is the same as the preset order of the N band set pairs.

4. 4. The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein there is a correspondence between the preset order of the N band set pairs and the arrangement order of the N elements in the first preset table.

5. The arrangement order of the N elements in the first preset table is:

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the element in the ith row and jth column in the first preset table is Eij, all elements Eij in the N elements are arranged sequentially in ascending order of columns and rows, there is a correspondence between a band set pair including the ith band set and the jth band set in the N band set pairs and the element Eij in the table, j is greater than i, 1≦i≦K, j≦K, K, i, and j are all positive integers, and K is the number of band sets associated with the band combination.

6. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein K band sets include any Q bands within the P bands in the band combination, the K band sets being arranged in a predetermined order in the first predetermined table, and Q being a positive integer.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication information indicates a switching time.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the switching time is related to a quantity of transmit branches configured on bands in the band set.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication information indicates a band identifier for switching the transmission branch between the two band sets.

10. 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the indication information indicates that the terminal device supports or does not support switching of the transmission branch between the two band sets in the band set pair.

11. 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication information indicates that switching times associated with M band set pairs in the N band set pairs are the same, each of the M band set pairs includes the same band, and 2≦M.

12. 12. The method of claim 1, wherein there is at least one common band between the two band sets in the band set pair.

13. 1. A communication method comprising: sending a capability query message; receiving capability information reported by a terminal device, the capability information including an indication information set of N band set pairs, each indication information in the indication information set being associated with one band set pair, the indication information instructing a transmission branch switch performed by the terminal device between two band sets in the band set pair, the band set including at least one of L bands in the band set pair, L being an integer greater than or equal to 3, and N being a positive integer; determining a switching time for at least one band set pair based on the indication information in the indication information set, the switching time indicating a time for the terminal device to switch the transmission branch between the two band sets in the band set pair; A method comprising:

14. determining a switching time for at least one pair of band sets based on the indication information in the indication information set, 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining the switching time of the at least one band set pair based on a predetermined correspondence between the N band set pairs and the indication information in the indication information set.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein an order of the indication information in the indication information set is the same as a preset order of the N band set pairs.

16. 16. The method of claim 14 or 15, wherein there is a correspondence between the predetermined order of the N band set pairs and the arrangement order of the N elements in the second predetermined table.

17. The arrangement order of the N elements in the second preset table is:

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the element in the ith row and jth column in the second preset table is Eij, all elements Eij in the N elements are arranged sequentially in ascending order of columns and rows, there is a correspondence between a band set pair including the ith band set and the jth band set in the N band set pairs and elements Eij in the table, j is greater than i, 1≦i≦K, j≦K, K, i, and j are all positive integers, and K is the number of band sets associated with the band combination.

18. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein K band sets include any Q bands within the P bands in the band combination, the K band sets being arranged in a predetermined order in a first predetermined table, and Q being a positive integer.

19. 19. The method of claim 13, wherein the indication information indicates a switching time.

20. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the switching time is related to a quantity of transmit branches configured on bands in the band set.

21. 21. The method of claim 13, wherein the indication information indicates a band identifier for switching the transmission branch between the two band sets.

22. 22. The method according to claim 13, wherein the indication information indicates that the terminal device supports or does not support switching of the transmission branch between the two band sets in the band set pair.

23. 23. The method of claim 13, wherein the indication information indicates that switching times associated with M band set pairs in the N band set pairs are the same, each of the M band set pairs includes the same band, and 2≦M.

24. 23. The method of claim 13, wherein the switching time of the band set pair relates to the time for the terminal device to switch the transmission branch between any band in one band set and any band in the other band set in the band set pair.

25. 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the switching time for the band set pair is the maximum time for the terminal device to switch the transmission branch between any band in one band set and any band in the other band set in the band set pair.

26. A communication device comprising a module configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

27. A communication device comprising a module configured to perform the method of any one of claims 13 to 25.

28. 13. A communication device comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit configured to receive signals from another communication device and transmit the signals to the processor or to send signals from the processor to another communication device, the processor configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 through logic circuits or by executing code instructions.

29. 26. A communication device comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit configured to receive signals from another communication device and to transmit the signals to the processor or to route signals from the processor to another communication device, the processor configured to perform the method of any one of claims 13 to 25 through logic circuits or by executing code instructions.

30. 26. A computer readable storage medium containing computer program instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 25.

31. 26. A computer program product, said computer program product comprising software code, said software code being used to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 25.

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