Communication methods and related devices

Abstract

The present application discloses a communication method and related device. The method may include obtaining a first sidelink data radio bearer (SL DRB) configuration and determining a CAPC for the SL DRB based on one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration, where the SL DRB is an SL DRB established based on the first SL DRB configuration. The present application can ensure quality and transmission fairness of SL-U communication for different service requirements.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202211372337.6, entitled "COMMUNICATION METHOD AND RELATED DEVICE," filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on November 3, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to communication methods and related devices. [Background technology]

[0003] In a wireless communication system, data communication may be performed between terminal devices using a network device (e.g., an access network device), or data communication may be performed directly between terminal devices without using a network device. An interface for direct data communication between terminal devices is called a PC5 interface, and a link for direct data communication between terminal devices is called a sidelink (SL). Typical application scenarios of sidelink communication include vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and proximity-based services (ProSe). Vehicle-to-everything is used as an example. Each vehicle in a vehicle-to-everything pair is a terminal device, and data transmission may be performed directly between vehicles through the sidelink without using a network device. In this way, communication delay can be effectively reduced.

[0004] Spectrum resources that can be used for sidelink communication are generally classified into two types: licensed spectrum and unlicensed spectrum. Licensed spectrum can be used only by a few organizations or operators, while unlicensed spectrum is shared spectrum and can be used by different operators or organizations. To ensure fair use of the unlicensed spectrum, before transmitting data, devices operating in the unlicensed spectrum need to detect whether the channel is idle using a listen-before-talk (LBT) channel contention access mechanism. When the channel is idle, it can be occupied and data transmission can be performed.

[0005] For unlicensed spectrum-based sidelink (SL-U) communications, solutions need to be considered to ensure performance and fairness across SL-U communications. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and related devices to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and transmission fairness for different service requirements. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, applied to a terminal device, that may include: obtaining a first sidelink data radio bearer SL DRB configuration; and determining a CAPC for the SL DRB based on one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration, where the SL DRB is an SL DRB established based on the first SL DRB configuration.

[0008] The CAPC configuration corresponding to the SL DRB used by the UE is delivered by the base station or obtained using a pre-configuration message. When multiple QoS flows are mapped to one SL DRB for transmission, the QoS characteristics of the QoS flows may differ significantly; in other words, the CAPC required for the QoS flows may differ. As a result, the CAPC configuration for the SL DRB may be inappropriate for the CAPC of the QoS flows, or there may be no CAPC configuration corresponding to the SL DRB, affecting the performance and fairness of the overall SL-U communication. In this embodiment of the present application, after obtaining the SL DRB configuration, the UE may determine the CAPC for the SL DRB established based on the SL DRB configuration based on one or more QoS flows associated with the SL DRB configuration. There may be one or more established SL DRBs. Based on this, in order to alleviate the problem that the quality and fairness of SL-U communication are affected when the CAPC of the SL DRB is not configured or the configured CAPC is inappropriate in the network, the UE may appropriately configure or appropriately determine the CAPC corresponding to the SL DRB based on one or more QoS flows to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and the fairness of transmission for different service requirements.

[0009] In a possible implementation, there is one SL DRB.

[0010] In this embodiment of the present application, the UE can determine a CAPC corresponding to one SL DRB based on multiple QoS flows to alleviate the problem that the quality and fairness of SL-U communication are affected when the CAPC of the SL DRB is not configured or the configured CAPC is inappropriate in the network, thereby ensuring the quality and fairness of SL-U communication for different service requirements.

[0011] In a possible implementation, there are at least two SL DRBs, and each of the at least two SL DRBs has a different CAPC.

[0012] In this embodiment of the present application, the UE establishes multiple SL DRBs based on the SL DRB configuration, so that the transmission of the QoS flow corresponding to CAPC is actually performed in each SL DRB to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and the fairness of transmission for different service requirements.

[0013] In a possible implementation, the method further includes determining, as the CAPC of the SL DRB, a target CAPC of one or more CAPCs corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration.

[0014] In this embodiment of the present application, in order to ensure that the SL DRB can meet the actual service transmission requirements, the UE may determine a target CAPC that meets the actual service requirements from multiple CAPCs corresponding to multiple QoS flows based on the actual service requirements, and determine the target CAPC as the CAPC of the SL DRB.

[0015] In a possible implementation, the method further includes determining, as the CAPC of the SL DRB, a CAPC corresponding to a quality of service flow whose characteristic parameter satisfies a second preset condition for one or more quality of service flows associated with the SL DRB configuration, the characteristic parameter indicating a quality of service characteristic of the quality of service flow; determining, as the CAPC of the SL DRB, a maximum CAPC value, a minimum CAPC value, or a CAPC average value of one or more CAPCs corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the SL DRB configuration; or determining, as the CAPC of the SL DRB, a CAPC among one or more CAPCs corresponding to a maximum quantity of quality of service flows and corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the SL DRB configuration.

[0016] In this embodiment of the present application, in order to ensure the accuracy of the CAPC corresponding to the SL DRB, the UE may determine a target CAPC that meets the rule requirements according to specific rules from multiple CAPCs corresponding to multiple QoS flows, and determine the target CAPC as the CAPC of the SL DRB.

[0017] In possible implementations, the target CAPC includes any one or more of the following CAPCs: a CAPC of a quality of service flow having the minimum or maximum packet delay budget of one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; a CAPC of a quality of service flow having the lowest or highest default priority level of one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; a CAPC of a quality of service flow having the lowest or highest priority level of one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; a CAPC of a quality of service flow having the minimum or maximum packet error rate of one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; a maximum CAPC value, minimum CAPC value, or CAPC average value of one or more CAPCs corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration, or a CAPC within one or more CAPCs corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration that corresponds to the maximum quantity of quality of service flows.

[0018] In this embodiment of the present application, in order to ensure the accuracy of the CAPC corresponding to the SL DRB, the UE may determine a target CAPC that meets the rule requirements according to specific rules from multiple CAPCs corresponding to multiple QoS flows, and determine the target CAPC as the CAPC of the SL DRB.

[0019] In possible implementations, the characteristic parameters include one or more of a packet delay budget, a default priority level, a priority level, and a packet error rate. The second preset condition includes any one of the following conditions: the packet delay budget is a minimum or maximum value of one or more packet delay budgets corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the SL DRB configuration, the default priority level is a minimum or maximum value of one or more default priority levels corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the SL DRB configuration, the priority level is a minimum or maximum value of one or more priority levels corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the SL DRB configuration, or the packet error rate is a minimum or maximum value of one or more packet error rates corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the SL DRB configuration.

[0020] In this embodiment of the present application, in order to ensure the accuracy of the CAPC corresponding to the SL DRB, the UE may determine a target CAPC that meets the rule requirements according to specific rules from multiple CAPCs corresponding to multiple QoS flows, and determine the target CAPC as the CAPC of the SL DRB.

[0021] In a possible implementation, the method further includes a step of determining a quantity of at least two SL DRBs based on quantities of different CAPCs corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration, and a step of establishing at least two SL DRBs, wherein the CAPCs of the at least two SL DRBs respectively correspond to the CAPCs of the one or more quality of service flows.

[0022] In this embodiment of the present application, the UE can determine the number of SL DRBs based on the number of different CAPCs corresponding to the QoS flows, and establish the SL DRBs based on the number. The CAPC of each SL DRB corresponds to the CAPC of the QoS flow. This ensures fair transmission of each QoS flow and reduces link bearer resources.

[0023] In a possible implementation, the method further includes a step of determining that the first SL DRB configuration satisfies a first pre-configured condition, the first pre-configured condition including one or more of the following conditions: the first SL DRB configuration is a default SL DRB configuration, the first SL DRB configuration is obtained using a system information block SIB or a pre-configuration message, and the first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration, or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate.

[0024] In this embodiment of the present application, before determining the CAPC of the SL DRB, the UE may first determine whether the SL DRB configuration satisfies a specific condition (i.e., a first preset condition), and after determining that the SL DRB configuration satisfies the condition, the UE may determine the CAPC of the SL DRB, thereby avoiding resource waste caused by the UE unconditionally determining the CAPC of the SL DRB.

[0025] In a possible implementation, the inappropriateness of the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration includes one or more of the following: the multiple quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration correspond to different CAPCs, the maximum difference between the CAPCs corresponding to the multiple quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is greater than or equal to a first threshold, the quantity of the multiple quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is greater than or equal to a second threshold, or the minimum value of the CAPC corresponding to the multiple quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is greater than the value of the CAPC provided by the first SL DRB configuration.

[0026] In this embodiment of the present application, the UE may determine whether the CAPC configuration provided by the SL DRB configuration is appropriate based on certain conditions. For example, when the number of QoS flows associated with the SL DRB configuration exceeds a certain quantity (i.e., a second threshold), the CAPC configuration provided by the SL DRB configuration may be directly considered inappropriate, and the UE may further determine the CAPC of the SL DRB based on the QoS flows to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and transmission fairness for different service requirements.

[0027] In a possible implementation, the method further includes a step of sending an indication message to the access network device when the first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate, the indication message indicating that the first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate, and a step of receiving a second SL DRB configuration sent by the access network device, the second SL DRB configuration being different from the first SL DRB configuration, or, when the first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate, entering an RRC connected mode if the terminal device is in a radio resource control (RRC) idle mode or an RRC inactive mode, and a step of receiving the second SL DRB configuration sent by the access network device, the second SL DRB configuration being different from the first SL DRB configuration.

[0028] In this embodiment of the present application, when the UE determines that the SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration or that the CAPC configuration provided by the SL DRB configuration is inappropriate, the UE may send an indication message to the access network device or trigger a process of entering RRC connected mode, and then receive a new SL DRB configuration (i.e., a second SL DRB configuration) transmitted by the access network device, so that the UE can perform transmission of QoS flows by using an SL DRB with appropriate CAPC to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and transmission fairness for different service requirements.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration include a quality of service flow corresponding to a non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier, and the method further includes a step of determining a CAPC of the quality of service flow corresponding to the non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier based on characteristic parameters of the quality of service flow corresponding to the non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier, wherein the characteristic parameters indicate quality of service characteristics of the quality of service flow corresponding to the non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier, and the characteristic parameters include one or more of a packet delay budget, a default priority level, a priority level, and a packet error rate.

[0030] In this embodiment of the present application, if there is a non-standardized QoS flow among the QoS flows associated with the SL DRB configuration, the UE may determine the CAPC of the non-standardized QoS flow based on the characteristic parameters of the non-standardized QoS flow, and may determine whether to determine the CAPC of the non-standardized QoS flow as the CAPC of the SL DRB according to certain rules, in order to ensure fairness in the transmission of the non-standardized QoS flow.

[0031] In a possible implementation, the method further includes a step of obtaining multiple default SL DRB configurations, each of the multiple default SL DRB configurations being associated with a different CAPC configuration, and a step of establishing multiple default SL DRBs based on the multiple default SL DRB configurations.

[0032] In this embodiment of the present application, the UE may independently determine the CAPC of the SL DRB to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and the fairness of transmission for different service requirements. In addition, the UE may further obtain multiple default SL DRB configurations with different CAPC configurations and respectively establish default SL DRBs based on the default SL DRB configurations. In other words, the default SL DRBs have different CAPCs. As a result, to further ensure the quality of SL-U communication and the fairness of transmission for different service requirements, transmission can be performed for the QoS flows that are later mapped to the default SL DRB by using the default SL DRB with an appropriate CAPC.

[0033] In a possible implementation, the method further includes a step of mapping the quality of service flow to be transmitted to a target default SL DRB of multiple default SL DRBs when a mapping rule for a corresponding SL DRB is not configured or stored for the quality of service flow to be transmitted, wherein the CAPC of the target default SL DRB is the same as the CAPC of the quality of service flow to be transmitted.

[0034] In this embodiment of the present application, when a QoS flow needs to be mapped to a default SL DRB, in other words, when a corresponding SL DRB mapping rule is not configured for or stored in the QoS flow, the UE may, based on the CAPC of the QoS flow, map the QoS flow to a default SL DRB (i.e., a target default SL DRB) whose CAPC is the same as the CAPC of the QoS flow for transmission, to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and fairness of transmission for different service requirements.

[0035] In a possible implementation, the method further includes a step of mapping the quality of service flow to be transmitted to a default SL DRB whose CAPC is the same as the CAPC of the quality of service flow to be transmitted of the multiple default SL DRBs when a mapping rule for a corresponding SL DRB is not configured or stored for the quality of service flow to be transmitted.

[0036] In this embodiment of the present application, when a QoS flow needs to be mapped to a default SL DRB, in other words, when a corresponding SL DRB mapping rule is not configured for or stored in the QoS flow, the UE may, based on the CAPC of the QoS flow, map the QoS flow to a default SL DRB whose CAPC is the same as the CAPC of the QoS flow for transmission, to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and fairness of transmission for different service requirements.

[0037] According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, applied to an access network device, which may include receiving an indication message sent by a terminal device, and / or sending a second SL DRB configuration to the terminal device.

[0038] In a possible implementation, the method further includes transmitting a plurality of default SL DRB configurations, each of the plurality of default SL DRB configurations being associated with a different CAPC configuration.

[0039] According to a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, applied to a terminal device, which may include: obtaining a plurality of default SL DRB configurations, each of the plurality of default SL DRB configurations being associated with a different CAPC configuration; and establishing a plurality of default SL DRBs based on the plurality of default SL DRB configurations.

[0040] In this embodiment of the present application, the UE may obtain multiple default SL DRB configurations having different CAPC configurations and establish default SL DRBs respectively based on the default SL DRB configurations, in other words, the default SL DRBs have different CAPCs, thereby ensuring that transmission can be performed for QoS flows that are later mapped to the default SL DRB by using the default SL DRB with the appropriate CAPC.

[0041] In a possible implementation, the method further includes a step of mapping the quality of service flow to be transmitted to a target default SL DRB of multiple default SL DRBs when a mapping rule for a corresponding SL DRB is not configured or stored for the quality of service flow to be transmitted, wherein the CAPC of the target default SL DRB is the same as the CAPC of the quality of service flow to be transmitted.

[0042] In a possible implementation, the method further includes a step of mapping the quality of service flow to be transmitted to a default SL DRB whose CAPC is the same as the CAPC of the quality of service flow to be transmitted of the multiple default SL DRBs when a mapping rule for a corresponding SL DRB is not configured or stored for the quality of service flow to be transmitted.

[0043] According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, applied to an access network device, which may include transmitting a plurality of default SL DRB configurations, each of the plurality of default SL DRB configurations being associated with a different CAPC configuration.

[0044] According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device includes a processor configured to support the communication device in performing corresponding functions of the communication method provided in any one of the first, second, third, or fourth aspects. The communication device may further include a memory. The memory is configured to be coupled to the processor and stores program instructions and data required for the communication device. The communication device may further include an interface circuit for communication between the communication device and another device or a communication network.

[0045] According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium configured to perform a communication method and configured to store computer software instructions for use by a communication device as provided in one or more of the implementation forms of the fifth aspect, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes a program designed to perform the aforementioned aspect.

[0046] According to a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by a computer, configures the computer to perform a communication method and enables the computer to execute a process performed by a communication device provided in one or more of the implementations of the fifth aspect.

[0047] According to an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system. The chip system includes a processor configured to support a device in performing the functions of any one of the first, second, third, or fourth aspects, for example, in generating or processing information in the aforementioned communication method. In a possible design, the chip system further includes a memory configured to store program instructions and data required by the device. The chip system may include a chip, or may include a chip and another discrete component.

[0048] To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments or background art of the present application more clearly, the following describes the accompanying drawings for illustrating the embodiments or background art of the present application. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0049] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram of the architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a Sidelink UE-to-Network Relay scenario according to one embodiment of the present application. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a Sidelink UE-to-UE Relay scenario according to one embodiment of the present application. [Figure 4] 1 is a schematic flow chart illustrating performing uplink transmission based on unlicensed spectrum according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 5] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 6] 4 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 7] 1 is a diagram of the structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a diagram of another structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0050] The following describes embodiments of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0051] In this application, "one or more of the following items" or similar expressions means any combination of these items, including any combination of one item or multiple items. One or more of the following items, i.e., a, b, or c, can represent a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b, and c, where a, b, and c can each be singular or plural. "At least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. "And / or" describes an association relationship between related subjects and indicates that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can indicate that only A is present, both A and B are present, and only B is present, and A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " typically indicates an "or" relationship between related objects.

[0052] In the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this application, terms such as "first," "second," "third," and "fourth" are used to distinguish different objects and do not indicate a particular order. Also, the terms "comprise" and "have," as well as any other variations thereof, are intended to refer to a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally include additional steps or units that are not listed, or may optionally include additional steps or units that are specific to the process, method, product, or device.

[0053] The term "embodiment" as used herein means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described with reference to the embodiment may be included in one or more embodiments of the present application. Phrases appearing in various places in the present specification may not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, and are not an embodiment that is independent of or optional with respect to another embodiment. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.

[0054] The terms "example" or "for example" are used in this application to denote serving as an example, illustration, or explanation. Any embodiment or design scheme described in this application as an "example," "such as," or "for example" should not be described as preferred or having more advantages over another embodiment or design scheme. Strictly speaking, the use of terms such as "example," "such as," and "for example" is intended to present the related concept in a particular manner.

[0055] It should be understood that in this application, "when" and "if" refer to the device performing the corresponding process in a target situation and are not intended to imply a time limit. These terms do not imply that the device is required to have a definitive operation during implementation, nor do they imply any other limitations.

[0056] In this application, "simultaneously" may be understood to mean at the same time, within a certain period of time, or at the same periodicity, and may be specifically understood with reference to the context.

[0057] In this application, unless otherwise specified, the singular forms of elements are intended to denote one or more, but not one and only one.

[0058] Additionally, the terms "system" and "network" may be used interchangeably herein.

[0059] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, "B corresponding to A" indicates that B is associated with A and B can be determined based on A. However, it should be further understood that determining B based on A does not mean that B is determined based only on A. B may alternatively be determined based on A and / or other information.

[0060] As used herein, terms such as “component,” “module,” and “system” are used to refer to computer-related entities, hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software running on it. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable file, a thread of execution, a program, and / or a computer. As illustrated through the use of diagrams, both computing devices and applications running on computing devices may be components. One or more components may reside within a process and / or thread of execution, and a component may be located on one computer and / or distributed across two or more computers. Additionally, these components may execute from various computer-readable media that store various data structures. For example, components may communicate using local and / or remote processes based on signals, for example, having one or more data packets (e.g., data from two components interacting with another component in a local system, a distributed system, and / or over a network such as the Internet that interacts with other systems using signals).

[0061] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to a sidelink communication system, or to another communication system operating in an unlicensed spectrum, such as a long term evolution (LTE) system, a new radio access technology (NR) communication system, or a next-generation wireless local area network (WLAN) system, or may be a future communication system operating in an unlicensed spectrum, such as a sixth generation (6G) system or a seventh generation (7G) system. It may be understood that a "communication system operating in an unlicensed spectrum" referred to in the present application means that the communication system operates in an unlicensed spectrum in some cases, and it is clear that the communication system may alternatively operate in a licensed spectrum in some cases.

[0062] It should be understood that the network architectures and service scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute limitations on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. With the evolution of communication network architectures and the emergence of new service scenarios, those skilled in the art may know that the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to similar technical problems.

[0063] FIG. 1 is a diagram of the architecture of a communication system according to one embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system includes a radio access network 100. 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 may be connected to the radio access network device in a wireless manner. The terminal devices may be connected to each other in a wired or wireless manner, and the radio access network devices may be connected to each other in a wired or wireless manner. It may be understood that FIG. 1 is merely a diagram. The communication system may further include other network devices, for example, a core network device, a wireless relay device, and a wireless backhaul device, which are not shown in FIG. 1 .

[0064] A radio access network device, sometimes abbreviated as a network device, is an access device used by a terminal 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 base station (next-generation NodeB (gNB)) for a fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication system, a next-generation base station 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 completes some functions of a base station, such as a central unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU). The CU in this specification completes the functions of a radio resource control protocol and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of a base station, and may further complete the function of a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP). The DU completes the functions of the radio link control layer and medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and may also complete some or all of the physical layer functions. For a specific description of the aforementioned protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The radio access network device may be a macro base station (such as 110a in FIG. 1), a micro base station or an indoor base station (such as 110b in FIG. 1), or a relay node, a donor node, or the like. The specific technology and device form used by the radio access network device are not limited in the embodiments of this application.For ease of explanation, the following uses an example in which a base station is used as the radio access network device for explanation.

[0065] A terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities and may send signals to or receive signals from a base station. A terminal device may also be referred to as a terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminal devices may be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), the 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 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 form used by the terminal are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0066] The base station and the terminal may be fixed or mobile. The base station and the terminal may be deployed on the ground, including indoor or outdoor devices, handheld devices, or vehicle-mounted devices, or may be deployed on water, or may be deployed on an aircraft, a balloon, or a satellite. The application scenario of the base station and the terminal is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0067] The roles of a base station and a terminal may be relative. For example, helicopter or unmanned aerial vehicle 120i in FIG. 1 may be configured as a mobile base station. With respect to terminal 120j accessing wireless access network 100 through 120i, terminal 120i is a base station. However, with respect to base station 110a, 120i is a terminal. In other words, communication between 110a and 120i is performed based on a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, communication between 110a and 120i may alternatively be performed based on an interface protocol between base stations. In this case, with respect to 110a, 120i is also a base station. Therefore, both base stations and terminals 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 functionality.

[0068] Communications between base stations and terminals, between base stations, or between terminals may be performed using licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Communications may be performed using spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or both spectrum below and above 6 GHz.

[0069] This application mainly focuses on the case where communication between terminals is performed using an unlicensed spectrum. It may be understood that the interface between terminals is a PC5 interface, and the interface between a terminal and a base station is a Uu interface. A terminal may perform sidelink communication with another terminal using an unlicensed spectrum, and communication between the terminal and the terminal device may be unicast communication, multicast communication, or broadcast communication. In sidelink communication, one or more antennas may be configured in the terminal for receiving and transmitting messages / information / data, etc. It may be understood that the terminal may further include multiple components (e.g., a processor, a modulator, a multiplexer, a demodulator, or a demultiplexer) related to transmitting and receiving messages / information / data.

[0070] In the embodiments of the present application, the device configured to perform the functions of the terminal may be a terminal, or may be a device capable of supporting the terminal in performing the functions, such as a chip system, a communication module, or a modem. The device may be installed in the terminal. In this embodiment of the present application, the chip system may include a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete components. In the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are described by using an example in which the device for performing the functions of the terminal is a terminal, and the terminal is a UE. In the embodiments of the present application, the specific technology and the specific device form used by the terminal device are not limited.

[0071] In some scenarios, the UE may alternatively be configured to function as a base station, e.g., the UE may function as a scheduling entity providing sidelink signals between vehicular UEs (vehicle-to-everything, V2X), device-to-device (D2D), peer-to-peer (P2P), etc.

[0072] In some scenarios, the UE may alternatively be configured to function as a relay node, e.g., the UE may function as a relay or integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node and be configured to provide wireless backhaul services to terminal devices.

[0073] Optionally, a typical application scenario of sidelink communication is Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X). The method provided in the present application may be applied to a V2X scenario (e.g., the aforementioned scenario of communication between 120a and 120b in FIG. 1), a Sidelink UE-to-Network Relay scenario, and a Sidelink UE-to-UE Relay scenario. FIG. 2 is a diagram of a Sidelink UE-to-Network Relay scenario according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2, the Sidelink UE-to-Network Relay scenario includes a Remote UE and a Relay UE, and further includes a base station. The method provided in the present application may be applied to communication between a Remote UE and a Relay UE. FIG. 3 is a diagram of a Sidelink UE-to-UE Relay scenario according to an embodiment of the present application. 3, the Sidelink UE-to-UE Relay scenario includes a Source UE, a Relay UE, and a Target UE. The method provided in this application may be applied to communication between the Source UE and the Relay UE and / or communication between the Relay UE and the Target UE.

[0074] In embodiments of the present application, the term "wireless communication" may be abbreviated to "communication," and the term "communication" may alternatively be written as "data transmission," "information transmission," or "transmission."

[0075] The following explains and describes some terms related to this application to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0076] (1) How UE acquires sidelink resources There are two ways for a UE to acquire sidelink resources. One is the base station scheduling mode (also called mode 1), and the other is the autonomous contention mode (also called mode 2). When operating in mode 1, the UE acquires SL resources from the base station. Specifically, the base station may schedule SL resources for the UE using downlink control information (DCI) or configure an SL configuration grant for the UE using a radio resource control (RRC) message. When operating in mode 2, the UE may receive an SL resource pool configuration from the base station or obtain it from pre-configuration, and then select SL resources from the SL resource pool for transmission. Specifically, the SL resources may be selected randomly or based on the results of sensing or partial sensing.

[0077] (2) Listen-before-talk (LBT) channel contention access mechanism To use the unlicensed spectrum fairly, terminals and network devices need to perform an LBT process (channel access process) before transmitting data. Typically, LBT is performed at the granularity of a channel (e.g., a 20 MHz channel). Before transmitting a signal (e.g., a data signal) on a channel, a device may first detect whether the channel is idle, for example, whether a nearby device occupies the channel to transmit a signal. This detection process may be called clear channel assessment (CCA) or a channel access process. There are two types of channel access processes: a first type channel access process and a second type channel access process.

[0078] A first type (type 1) channel access process (also referred to as a fixed-duration-based channel access process) may be a fixed-duration-based energy detection. In a specific bandwidth, for example 20 MHz, if the energy of a signal received by a device (which may be a terminal device or a network device) for a fixed duration is equal to or less than a first preset threshold, the channel is considered idle, and the device can perform data transmission using the idle channel. If the energy of the signal received for the fixed duration is greater than the first preset threshold, the channel is considered busy, and the device does not perform data transmission using the busy channel.

[0079] A second type (type 2) channel access process (also referred to as a fallback-based channel access process) may be a fallback mechanism-based energy detection process. For a specific bandwidth, a window is defined, which defines a range of the number of detected slots. The device randomly selects a value A from the window (or range of values). After the device detects at least A idle slots, the channel is considered idle, and the device can perform data transmission using the idle channel. If there are no idle slots or the number of idle slots is less than A, the channel is considered busy, and the device does not perform data transmission using the busy channel. An idle slot means that the energy of the signal received in one slot is equal to or less than a second preset threshold. The first and second preset thresholds may be predefined, for example, by a protocol. In addition, the values ​​of the first and second preset thresholds may be the same or different.

[0080] Type 1 is used as an example. When performing type 1 (fixed duration-based energy detection) LBT (i.e., the first type of channel access process), the device needs to determine the contention window size (CW size) and channel occupancy time (COT) based on the channel access priority class (CAPC). The relationship between CAPC and COT is shown in Table 1 below. The first column in Table 1 indicates the CAPC value, and a smaller CAPC value indicates a higher priority level. The fifth column in Table 1 indicates the size of the COT (unit: milliseconds) corresponding to different CAPC values. The meanings of the other columns in Table 1 may be understood to refer to existing standards, such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specification (TS) 37.213V17.2.0, or to other versions of the technical specification. Details will not be described herein.

[0081] [Table 1]

[0082] By performing the channel access process, two results can be obtained: the channel access process is completed (also called LBT success) and the channel access process is not completed (also called LBT failure). For example, there are multiple time domain start positions in the time-frequency resource that can be used for data transmission. If the channel is determined to be idle before any time domain start position, the channel access process can be considered completed. If the channel is determined to be busy before all time domain start positions, the channel access process can be considered not completed.

[0083] (3) Unlicensed spectrum-based Uu communications In this specification, Uu communication refers to communication between a UE and a base station over an air interface. When both the base station and the UE operate in a licensed spectrum, after the base station schedules uplink resources for the UE, the UE can directly use the uplink resources to perform uplink transmission. However, when both the base station and the UE operate in an unlicensed spectrum, please refer to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of performing uplink transmission based on an unlicensed spectrum according to an embodiment of the present application. After the base station schedules uplink resources for the UE, the UE may still need to perform LBT on the uplink resources, and can perform uplink transmission using the uplink resources only after the LBT is successful. In other words, if an LBT is performed on a scheduled uplink resource and the LBT fails, the scheduled uplink resource cannot be used.

[0084] For unlicensed spectrum communications over the Uu interface (NR-U), a base station may configure a CAPC corresponding to each data radio bearer (DRB). Specifically, the logical channel (LCH) configuration associated with a DRB may include a CAPC configuration. When a base station configures a CAPC for a DRB, it must consider the 5G QoS Identifier (5QI) corresponding to all Quality of Service (QoS) flows mapped to the DRB and must also consider fairness between different service types and transmissions. A mapping table between standardized 5QIs and CAPCs is defined in the standard (in other words, the CAPC used by the QoS flow corresponding to the standardized 5QI is defined). As shown in Table 2, a lower CAPC value indicates a higher priority level. The value in the second column indicates the index value corresponding to the standardized 5QI. The 5QI corresponding to CAPC 4 is not currently clearly defined. In addition, for a QoS flow corresponding to a non-standardized 5QI, it is specified that the CAPC of the standardized 5QI corresponding to the QoS flow whose QoS characteristics most closely match those of the QoS flow is used as the CAPC of the QoS flow.

[0085] [Table 2]

[0086] 5QI is used to represent a group of QoS characteristics, which may include one or more of a resource type, a default priority level, a priority level, a packet delay budget (PDB), a packet error rate (PER), a default maximum data burst volume (DMDV), and a default averaging window.

[0087] (4) QoS flow for SL communication For SL communication, QoS flow can also support two methods: standardized PC5 QoS Identifier (standardized PQI) and non-standardized PQI. There is also a mapping table between standardized PQI and CAPC. For details, please refer to the mapping relationship between 5QI and CAPC in Table 2. Details will not be described in this specification.

[0088] In the case of standardized PQIs, each PQI corresponds to a group of QoS characteristics, including one or more of a resource type, a default priority level, a packet delay budget (PDB), a packet error rate (PER), a default maximum data burst volume (DMDV), and a default averaging window. In addition, the standardized PQIs may be used in conjunction with a priority level indicated by a higher layer. The priority level may be used to override the default priority level corresponding to the standardized PQI.

[0089] In the case of non-standardized PQI, the V2X layer may provide a specific set of non-standardized QoS characteristics for the Access Stratum (AS).

[0090] For the mapping relationship between the standardized PQI and the QoS characteristics, please refer to the following Tables 3 and 4. Tables 3 and 4 are the mapping relationship between the standardized PQI and the QoS characteristics, respectively, and are tables defined for V2X and ProSe.

[0091] [Table 3A] [Table 3B]

[0092] [Table 4A] [Table 4B]

[0093] First, the technical problem to be specifically solved in this application is analyzed and proposed. The UE may obtain the SL DRB configuration using RRC dedicated signaling, a System Information Block (SIB) message, a pre-configuration message, etc. Specifically, there may be several different cases:

[0094] (1) When the UE is in RRC connected mode, the UE reports QoS parameters using a Sidelink UE information (SUI) message, and the base station configures the SL DRB configuration and the mapping relationship between the QoS flow and the SL DRB using RRC dedicated signaling.

[0095] (2) When the UE is in RRC idle mode / RRC inactive mode, the base station uses an SIB message to configure the SL DRB configuration and the mapping relationship between the QoS flow and the SL DRB.

[0096] (3) When the UE is in out of coverage (OOC) mode, the UE uses the SL DRB configuration and the mapping relationship between the QoS flow and the SL DRB in the pre-configuration message.

[0097] In addition, a default SL DRB configuration may also be supported. Specifically, when the UE cannot find a corresponding QoS flow in the stored explicit mapping relationship between QoS flows and SL DRBs, the QoS flow is mapped to a default SL DRB for transmission. The explicit mapping relationship between a QoS flow and an SL DRB may be expressed by indicating a mapping relationship between a QoS flow identifier and an SL DRB, or by indicating a mapping relationship between a QoS parameter (e.g., a QoS file or a QoS profile) corresponding to the QoS flow and an SL DRB. The mapping relationship between a QoS flow and an SL DRB may be such that multiple QoS flows are mapped to one SL DRB. In other words, one SL DRB may carry data transmissions of multiple QoS flows.

[0098] This solution has the following drawbacks:

[0099] This affects the performance and fairness of the entire SL-U communication. Specifically, when multiple QoS flows are mapped to one SL DRB for transmission, the QoS characteristics of these QoS flows may differ significantly (e.g., the PDBs (packet delay budgets) of different QoS flows may differ significantly). In particular, when a UE is in RRC idle mode / RRC inactive mode / OOC mode, considering signaling overhead and the possibility that QoS flows may also correspond to non-standardized PQIs, the network cannot explicitly map all QoS flows corresponding to non-standardized PQIs to a non-default SL DRB for transmission. In other words, many QoS flows corresponding to non-standardized PQIs are ultimately mapped to the default SL DRB for transmission, and the QoS characteristics of these QoS flows corresponding to non-standardized PQIs may differ significantly. This means that the CAPCs corresponding to these QoS flows may also differ significantly. Therefore, for the SL DRB used to transmit these QoS flows, the CAPCs of the SL DRBs may not be configured, or may be configured but inappropriately. This affects the performance and fairness of the entire SL-U communication. For example, if the CAPC of the SL DRB is not configured, the transmission of these QoS flows may not be performed, or may be performed based on inappropriate CAPC.

[0100] In order to solve the problems of performance and fairness of the entire SL-U communication, the above-mentioned existing shortcomings are comprehensively considered, and the technical problems to be actually solved in this application include:

[0101] The CAPC corresponding to the SL DRB is appropriately configured or appropriately determined to ensure the performance and fairness of the entire SL-U communication. In an embodiment of the present application, after obtaining the SL DRB configuration, the terminal device may determine the CAPC of the SL DRB established based on the SL DRB configuration based on one or more QoS flows associated with the SL DRB configuration. There may be one or more established SL DRBs. When there are multiple SL DRBs, each SL DRB corresponds to a different CAPC, which alleviates the problem of the quality and fairness of SL-U communication being affected when the CAPC of the SL DRB is not configured or the configured CAPC is inappropriate in the network, in order to ensure the quality and fairness of SL-U communication for different service requirements. In addition, in a scenario where a default SL DRB is used, after obtaining multiple different default SL DRB configurations, the terminal device may correspondingly establish multiple default SL DRBs. Each of the multiple different default SL DRB configurations is associated with a different CAPC configuration. In other words, the CAPCs of all the multiple default SL DRBs correspondingly established by the terminal device based on the configuration are different. This ensures that the CAPC corresponding to the QoS flow transmitted on the same default SL DRB is the same in order to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and fairness of transmission for different service requirements.

[0102] In order to better understand the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the following will describe the technical solutions of the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application with reference to more accompanying drawings.

[0103] In order to facilitate a clear description of the technical solution of the present application, the technical solution of the present application is described in multiple embodiments of the present application. For details, please refer to the following. In this application, unless otherwise specified, identical or similar parts of embodiments or implementations will be cross-referenced. In the embodiments of the present application and the implementations / implementation methods within the embodiments, the terms and / or descriptions will be consistent and cross-referenced between various embodiments and between implementations / implementation methods within the embodiments, unless otherwise specified or unless a logical contradiction occurs. Technical features in different embodiments and implementations / implementation methods of the embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments, implementations, or implementation methods based on their internal logical relationships. The following implementations of the present application are not intended to limit the protection scope of the present application.

[0104] FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method may be applied to a terminal device. The terminal device may be any terminal or module used in a terminal in FIG. 1. Alternatively, the terminal device may be any UE in FIG. 2, such as a Relay UE or a Remote UE. Alternatively, the terminal device may be any UE in FIG. 3, such as a Source UE, a Relay UE, or a Target UE. In other words, the terminal devices in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 may be configured to support and perform step S500 and step S501 of the method process shown in FIG. 5. Step S500 and step S501 are as follows:

[0105] Step S500: The UE obtains a first sidelink data radio bearer SL DRB configuration.

[0106] Specifically, the UE may acquire the first SL DRB configuration using a SIB message, or may acquire the first SL DRB configuration using a pre-configuration message, or may acquire the first SL DRB configuration using RRC-dedicated signaling. The first SL DRB configuration may or may not include a CAPC configuration. This is not specifically limited herein.

[0107] Step S501: The UE determines a CAPC of the SL DRB based on one or more quality of service flows associated with a first SL DRB configuration.

[0108] Specifically, the UE may determine the CAPC of the SL DRB based on one or more QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration. In other words, the UE may determine the CAPC of the SL DRB based on the QoS flows mapped to the SL DRB, and the SL DRB is established based on the first SL DRB configuration.

[0109] In a possible implementation, there is one SL DRB. In other words, the UE may determine the CAPC of the SL DRB based on one or more associated QoS flows. Specifically, the UE may first determine one or more CAPCs corresponding to one or more QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration, and then determine the target CAPC of the one or more CAPCs as the CAPC of the SL DRB. Note that after the CAPC of the SL DRB is determined, all transmissions of one or more QoS flows may be performed using the SL DRB. Therefore, the UE may determine the CAPC corresponding to the SL DRB based on multiple QoS flows to ensure the quality and fairness of SL-U communication for different service requirements, in order to mitigate the problem that the quality and fairness of SL-U communication are affected when the CAPC of the SL DRB is not configured or the configured CAPC is inappropriate for the network.

[0110] Optionally, the target CAPC may include one or more of the following CAPCs: (1) The CAPC of a quality of service flow having the smallest or largest packet delay budget of one or more quality of service flows associated with a first SL DRB configuration, e.g., if there are three associated QoS flows (including f1, f2, and f3), and the packet delay budget of f1 is the smallest and the packet delay budget of f3 is the largest, the CAPC corresponding to f1 or f3 may be determined as the CAPC of the SL DRB, CAPC; (2) A CAPC of a quality of service flow having the lowest or highest default priority level of one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration. In the above example, if the default priority level of f1 is the lowest and the default priority level of f3 is the highest, the CAPC corresponding to f1 or f3 may be determined as the CAPC of the SL DRB. (3) A CAPC of a quality of service flow having the lowest or highest priority level of one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration. In the above example, if the priority level of f1 is the lowest and the priority level of f3 is the highest, the CAPC corresponding to f1 or f3 may be determined as the CAPC of the SL DRB. (4) The CAPC of the quality of service flow having the smallest or largest packet error rate of one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration. In the above example, if the packet error rate of f1 is the smallest and the packet error rate of f3 is the largest, the CAPC corresponding to f1 or f3 may be determined as the CAPC of the SL DRB. (5) A maximum CAPC value, a minimum CAPC value, or an average CAPC value of one or more CAPCs corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration. In the above example, if the CAPC of f1 is 1, the CAPC of f2 is 2, and the CAPC of f3 is 3, the CAPC (1 or 3) or the average CAPC (2) corresponding to f1 or f3 may be determined as the CAPC of the SL DRB. The maximum CAPC value, the minimum CAPC value, or the average CAPC value of CAPC; or (6) A CAPC of one or more CAPCs corresponding to the maximum number of quality of service flows and corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration, in the above example, if the CAPC of f1 is 1, the CAPC of f2 is 1, and the CAPC of f3 is 3, then CAPC(1) corresponding to f1 and f2 may be determined as the CAPC of the SL DRB.

[0111] Optionally, the CAPC corresponding to each QoS flow may be determined in the following manner.

[0112] (1) If a QoS flow is a QoS flow corresponding to a standardized PQI, the CAPC corresponding to the QoS flow is the CAPC corresponding to the standardized PQI (in other words, the CAPC may be determined based on a mapping table between the standardized PQI and the CAPC).

[0113] (2) If a QoS flow corresponds to a non-standardized PQI, the CAPC corresponding to the QoS flow can be determined in the following manner.

[0114] 1) If the priority level of a non-standardized PQI is within a preset range (or the QoS flow is a Mission Critical QoS flow), the CAPC of the QoS flow may be determined as 1 or 2. For example, if the priority level of a non-standardized PQI is 1 or 2 (i.e., the preset range is 1 or 2), the CAPC of the QoS flow may be determined as 1 or 2.

[0115] 2) The CAPC of the standardized PQI whose PDB is closest to the PDB of the QoS flow is determined as the CAPC of the QoS flow. The standardized PQI whose PDB is closest to the PDB means that the difference between the PDB of the standardized PQI and the PDB of the QoS flow is smallest. It can be understood that the CAPC of the standardized PQI whose characteristics are closest to the default priority level, priority level, or characteristics such as packet error rate of the QoS flow may alternatively be used as the CAPC of the QoS flow.

[0116] Optionally, the UE may first attempt to determine the CAPC of the QoS flow using Method 1. When determining that the CAPC of the QoS flow cannot be determined using Method 1, the UE may determine the CAPC of the QoS flow using Method 2.

[0117] It should be noted that the target CAPC may be determined by the UE based on a combination of the aforementioned methods. Alternatively, the target CAPC may be determined by the UE based on other service characteristics (such as resource type, default maximum data burst volume, and default averaging window) of one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration, or by another rule (e.g., configured and determined based on network status). It may be understood that the quantity of QoS flows in the foregoing example may alternatively be a value other than 3. This is not specifically limited herein.

[0118] In a possible implementation, there are multiple SL DRBs (i.e., at least two SL DRBs), and each of the at least two SL DRBs corresponds to a different CAPC. Specifically, the UE may determine the quantity of the at least two SL DRBs based on the quantity of CAPCs corresponding to one or more QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration and establish the at least two SL DRBs. The quantity of the at least two SL DRBs may be equal to or greater than the quantity of CAPCs corresponding to one or more QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration, and some or all of the CAPCs of the at least two SL DRBs correspond to the CAPCs of one or more quality of service flows, respectively. For example, if the quantity of CAPCs corresponding to one or more QoS flows is 2 (not necessarily 2), one CAPC value is 1 and the other CAPC value is 2, the quantity of the at least two SL DRBs may be 2, and the CAPC value of one SL DRB is 1 and the CAPC value of the other SL DRB is 2. It may be understood that the quantity of at least two SL DRBs may alternatively be 3 or 4 (or even greater), provided that these SL DRBs include one SL DRB with a CAPC value of 1 and one SL DRB with a CAPC value of 2. The CAPC value of another SL DRB may be 1, 2, or another value. This is not specifically limited herein. Optionally, at least two SL DRBs correspond to different CAPCs, and parameters other than the CAPC may be the same (the logical channel identifier LCID may also be different). It should be noted that multiple QoS flows may correspond to the same destination. It should be further noted that when a UE establishes multiple SL DRBs with the same CAPC value based on the same SL DRB configuration, the multiple SL DRBs with the same CAPC value may be distinguished using different logical channel identifiers (LCIDs). Details will not be described herein.Therefore, the UE establishes multiple SL DRBs based on the SL DRB configuration, and as a result, transmission of the QoS flow corresponding to CAPC is actually performed in each SL DRB to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and transmission fairness for different service requirements.

[0119] In a possible implementation, in addition to step S500 and step S501, the process of the communication method provided in this embodiment of the present application may further include step S502. Step S502: Determine that the first SL DRB configuration satisfies a first preset condition. Specifically, before determining the CAPC of the SL DRB, the UE may first determine whether the first SL DRB configuration satisfies the first preset condition. After determining that the first SL DRB configuration satisfies the first preset condition, the UE may determine the CAPC of the SL DRB based on one or more QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB. The first preset condition may include one or more of the following conditions: (1) The first SL DRB configuration is the default SL DRB configuration; (2) The first SL DRB configuration is obtained using a system information block (SIB) or a pre-configuration message; (3) The first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration, or (4) The CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate. (It can be understood that (3) and (4) do not occur simultaneously, and the first SL DRB configuration does not satisfy both (3) and (4).)

[0120] Furthermore, the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration being inappropriate means: 1) multiple QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration correspond to different CAPCs; 2) the maximum difference between the CAPCs corresponding to multiple QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is equal to or greater than a first threshold. For example, if the first threshold is 2 and the CAPCs corresponding to multiple QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration include a CAPC with a value of 1 and a CAPC with a value of 3, this condition may be considered to be met. In other words, the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate, and the UE may determine that the first SL DRB configuration satisfies the first preset condition. 3) The number of multiple QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is equal to or greater than a second threshold. Specifically, when the number of multiple QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration exceeds a certain quantity (e.g., 5, i.e., the second threshold is 5), the UE may also directly determine that the first SL DRB configuration satisfies the first preset condition. 4) The minimum CAPC value corresponding to the multiple quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is greater than the CAPC value provided by the first SL DRB configuration (or the highest priority level of CAPC corresponding to the multiple quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is less than or equal to the priority level of CAPC provided by the first SL DRB configuration). Note that the first threshold and the second threshold may alternatively be other values. The first threshold or the second threshold may be predefined in a protocol, configured by the network (e.g., configured by a base station using RRC dedicated signaling or an SIB message), pre-configured, or configured by another UE. This is not specifically limited herein.

[0121] Optionally, when the first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate, the UE sends an indication message to the access network device (base station), the indication message indicating that the first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate, and the UE receives a second SL DRB configuration sent by the access network device, the second SL DRB configuration being different from the first SL DRB configuration. Alternatively, when the first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate, if the terminal device is in radio resource control (RRC) idle mode or RRC inactive mode, the terminal device enters RRC connected mode (e.g., triggers execution of an RRC setup process or an RRC resume process) and receives a second SL DRB configuration sent by the access network device, where the second SL DRB configuration is different from the first SL DRB configuration. The indication message sent by the UE may be sent by the UE using an SUI message when the UE enters RRC connected mode or is in mode1 mode. Furthermore, the indication message may also include the CAPC determined by the UE for the SL DRB. Note that the second SL DRB configuration being different from the first SL DRB configuration may include a case where only the CAPC configuration is different but the other configurations are the same, and a case where the CAPC configuration is different and the other configurations are also different. This is not specifically limited herein.

[0122] It should be noted that the multiple QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration may be understood as all QoS flows mapped to the SL DRB, or as multiple QoS flows of all QoS flows that need to be actually transmitted and are mapped to the SL DRB. The SL DRB is an SL DRB established based on the first SL DRB configuration. Alternatively, the multiple QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration may be understood as multiple QoS flows that have data (in other words, transmission requirements) and are associated with the current first SL DRB configuration. Optionally, the multiple QoS flows may be multiple QoS flows corresponding to the same destination. In other words, the number of multiple QoS flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration may be greater than the number of QoS flows actually transmitted on the SL DRB. For example, the first SL DRB configuration is associated with QoS flow1, QoS flow2, and QoS flow3, but only QoS flow1 and QoS flow2 need to be transmitted on the SL DRB. In this case, the multiple QoS flows may be QoS flow1 and QoS flow2, but not QoS flow3. This is not specifically limited herein.

[0123] In a possible implementation, in addition to step S500 and step S501, the process of the communication method provided in this embodiment of the present application may further include step S503 and step S504. Step S503: Obtain multiple default SL DRB configurations. Step S504: Establish multiple default SL DRBs based on the multiple default SL DRB configurations. Each of the multiple default SL DRB configurations is associated with a different CAPC configuration. In other words, steps S500 to S501 may be combined with another communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. For a description of the other communication method, please refer to the related description of FIG. 6. Details will not be described in this specification.

[0124] 6 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. This method can be applied to a terminal device, and the terminal device has the same meaning as the terminal device applied to FIG. 5. The method process shown in FIG. 6 includes steps S600 and S601. Steps S600 and S601 are as follows:

[0125] Step S600: The UE obtains multiple default SL DRB configurations.

[0126] Specifically, each of the multiple default SL DRB configurations is associated with a different CAPC configuration. For example, the multiple default SL DRB configurations include a first default SL DRB configuration, a second default SL DRB configuration, and a third default SL DRB configuration. The CAPC associated with the first default SL DRB configuration is 1, the CAPC associated with the second default SL DRB configuration is 2, and the CAPC associated with the third default SL DRB configuration is 3. In another example, the multiple default SL DRB configurations include a first default SL DRB configuration, a second default SL DRB configuration, a third default SL DRB configuration, and a fourth default SL DRB configuration. The CAPC associated with the first default SL DRB configuration is 1, the CAPC associated with the second default SL DRB configuration is 2, the CAPC associated with the third default SL DRB configuration is 3, and the CAPC associated with the fourth default SL DRB configuration is 4. It should be noted that multiple default SL DRB configurations may be acquired by the UE using a SIB message, a pre-configuration message, or RRC dedicated signaling, which is not specifically limited herein.

[0127] It may be understood that the multiple default SL DRB configurations may alternatively include more or fewer default SL DRB configurations that include different CAPC configurations, which is not specifically limited herein.

[0128] Optionally, multiple default SL DRB configurations may be specific to the same communication type, which may include one or more of unicast, multicast, and broadcast.

[0129] Step S601: The UE establishes multiple default SL DRBs based on multiple default SL DRB configurations.

[0130] Specifically, the UE may establish one or more default SL DRBs based on each of multiple default SL DRB configurations. For ease of understanding, an example is used in which the UE establishes one default SL DRB based on each default SL DRB configuration. If multiple different CAPCs associated with multiple default SL DRB configurations are 1, 2, and 3, respectively, the UE may establish three corresponding default SL DRBs. The CAPC values ​​of the three default SL DRBs are 1, 2, and 3, respectively, that is, the CAPCs correspond to the CAPC configurations of the multiple default SL DRB configurations.

[0131] In a possible implementation, in addition to steps S600 and S601 shown in FIG. 6, the communication method may further include step S602. Step S602: When a mapping rule for the corresponding SL DRB is not configured or stored for the QoS flow to be transmitted, map the QoS flow to a target default SL DRB among multiple default SL DRBs. The CAPC of the target default SL DRB is the same as the CAPC of the QoS flow to be transmitted. For example, when the CAPC corresponding to the default SL DRB is 1, if a mapping rule for the corresponding SL DRB is not configured (or stored) for the QoS flow and the CAPC corresponding to the QoS flow is 1, the QoS flow may be mapped to the default SL DRB. It can be understood that for default SL DRBs with different CAPCs, the scheme for mapping the QoS flow to the default SL DRB is similar. Based on this, the method can ensure that the CAPCs corresponding to multiple QoS flows transmitted on the same default SL DRB are the same, in order to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and transmission fairness for different service requirements. It should be noted that the SL DRB mapping rule may be an explicitly configured rule of mapping between QoS flows and SL DRBs. It should be further noted that the UE may alternatively establish multiple default SL DRBs with the same CAPC value based on the same default SL DRB configuration, and multiple default SL DRBs with the same CAPC value may be distinguished using different logical channel identifiers (LCIDs).

[0132] In conclusion, compared to a solution in which a UE performs transmission on multiple QoS flows using an SL DRB configuration delivered or pre-configured by a base station, i.e., using a CAPC configuration for an SL DRB delivered or pre-configured by a base station, in this embodiment of the present application, after acquiring an SL DRB configuration, the UE can determine the CAPC for the SL DRB established based on the SL DRB configuration based on one or more QoS flows associated with the SL DRB configuration. One or more established SL DRBs may exist. To mitigate the problem of the quality and fairness of SL-U communication being affected when the CAPC for the SL DRB is not configured or the configured CAPC is inappropriate in the network, the UE appropriately configures or appropriately determines the CAPC corresponding to the SL DRB based on one or more QoS flows to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and the fairness of transmission for different service requirements. In addition, in a scenario in which a default SL DRB is used, after acquiring multiple different default SL DRB configurations, the terminal device can correspondingly establish multiple default SL DRBs. Each of the multiple different default SL DRB configurations is associated with a different CAPC configuration. In other words, the CAPCs of the multiple default SL DRBs correspondingly established by the terminal device based on the configuration are all different. This ensures that the CAPCs corresponding to the QoS flows transmitted on the same default SL DRB are the same, so as to ensure the quality of SL-U communication and transmission fairness for different service requirements. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, the performance and fairness of SL-U can be ensured.

[0133] It should be noted that the CAPC configuration in the above embodiment may alternatively be equivalent to a logical channel priority level. In other words, a solution in which the UE can determine logical channel information, i.e., priority level, based on associated service data should also fall within the protection scope of the present application.

[0134] The above describes in detail the method in the embodiments of the present application. The following provides some related devices in the embodiments of the present application.

[0135] It can be understood that to implement the functions of the foregoing embodiments, the communication device includes corresponding hardware structures and / or software modules for performing the functions. Those skilled in the art should easily recognize that the units and method steps in the examples described in this application with reference to the embodiments disclosed in this application can be implemented by hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether the functions are performed through hardware or by hardware driven by computer software depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solutions.

[0136] 7 is a diagram of the structure of a communication device according to one embodiment of the present application. The communication device may be configured to implement the functions of the UE or access network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment, and thus may also implement the beneficial effects of the above-mentioned method embodiment. In this embodiment of the present application, the communication device may be one of the terminals 120a to 120j shown in FIG. 1, or may be a module (e.g., a chip) used in the terminal, or may be the access network device 110a or 110b shown in FIG. 1.

[0137] As shown in Figure 7, the communication device includes a transceiver unit 10 and a processing unit 20. The communication device may be configured to perform the functions of a UE or an access network device (base station) in the method embodiments shown in Figures 5 and 6.

[0138] When the communications device is configured to perform the functions of the UE in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 5 , the transceiver unit 10 may be configured to obtain a first sidelink data radio bearer SL DRB configuration, and the processing unit 20 may be configured to determine a CAPC for the SL DRB based on one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration, the SL DRB being an SL DRB established based on the first SL DRB configuration.

[0139] In a possible implementation, there is one SL DRB.

[0140] In a possible implementation, there are at least two SL DRBs, and each of the at least two SL DRBs has a different CAPC.

[0141] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 20 is specifically configured to determine, as the CAPC of the SL DRB, a target CAPC of one or more CAPCs corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration.

[0142] In possible implementations, the target CAPC includes any one or more of the following CAPCs: a CAPC for a quality of service flow having a minimum or maximum packet delay budget for one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; CAPC of a quality of service flow having the lowest or highest default priority level of one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; CAPC of the quality of service flow having the lowest or highest priority level of one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; the CAPC of the quality of service flow having the smallest or largest packet error rate of one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; one or more maximum, minimum, or average CAPC values ​​for one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; or A CAPC within the one or more CAPCs corresponding to the maximum quantity of quality of service flows and corresponding to the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration.

[0143] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 20 determines the quantity of at least two SL DRBs based on the quantities of different CAPCs corresponding to one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration, establishes the at least two SL DRBs, and specifically configures the CAPCs of the at least two SL DRBs to respectively correspond to the CAPCs of the one or more quality of service flows.

[0144] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 20 is further configured to determine that the first SL DRB configuration satisfies a first preset condition, where the first preset condition includes one or more of the following conditions: The first SL DRB configuration is the default SL DRB configuration, The first SL DRB configuration is obtained using a system information block SIB or a pre-configuration message; The first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration, or The CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inadequate.

[0145] In a possible implementation, the inadequacy of the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration includes one or more of the following: the multiple quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration correspond to different CAPCs; a maximum difference between CAPCs corresponding to a plurality of quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is greater than or equal to a first threshold; a quantity of the plurality of quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is greater than or equal to a second threshold; or The minimum CAPC value corresponding to the multiple quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is greater than the CAPC value provided by the first SL DRB configuration.

[0146] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit 10 sends an indication message to the access network device when the first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate, and the indication message indicates that the first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate; and receives a second SL DRB configuration sent by the access network device, and the second SL DRB configuration is different from the first SL DRB configuration; or When the first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate, if the terminal device is in a radio resource control (RRC) idle mode or an RRC inactive mode, it enters an RRC connected mode and receives a second SL DRB configuration sent by the access network device, and the second SL DRB configuration is further configured to be different from the first SL DRB configuration.

[0147] In a possible implementation, the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration include a quality of service flow corresponding to a non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier, and the processing unit 20 is further configured to determine a CAPC for the quality of service flow corresponding to the non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier based on characteristic parameters of the quality of service flow corresponding to the non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier, the characteristic parameters indicating quality of service characteristics of the quality of service flow corresponding to the non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier, and the characteristic parameters including one or more of a packet delay budget, a default priority level, a priority level, and a packet error rate.

[0148] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit 10 is further configured to obtain multiple default SL DRB configurations, each of the multiple default SL DRB configurations being associated with a different CAPC configuration.

[0149] The processing unit 20 is further configured to establish multiple default SL DRBs based on the multiple default SL DRB configurations.

[0150] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 20 is further particularly configured to map a quality of service flow to be transmitted to a target default SL DRB of multiple default SL DRBs when a mapping rule for a corresponding SL DRB is not configured or stored for the quality of service flow to be transmitted, and the CAPC of the target default SL DRB is the same as the CAPC of the quality of service flow to be transmitted.

[0151] When the communication apparatus is configured to implement the functionality of an access network device (base station) in the method embodiment shown in Figure 5, the transceiver unit 10 is configured to receive an indication message sent by the terminal device and / or send a second SL DRB configuration to the terminal device. The processing unit 20 may be configured to determine and generate the second SL DRB configuration.

[0152] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit 10 is further configured to transmit multiple default SL DRB configurations, each of the multiple default SL DRB configurations being associated with a different CAPC configuration.

[0153] When the communication device is configured to implement the functions of the UE in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the transceiver unit 10 is configured to obtain multiple default SL DRB configurations, each of the multiple default SL DRB configurations being associated with a different CAPC configuration, and the processing unit 20 is configured to establish multiple default SL DRBs based on the multiple default SL DRB configurations.

[0154] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 20 is further configured to map a quality of service flow to be transmitted to a target default SL DRB of multiple default SL DRBs when a mapping rule for a corresponding SL DRB is not configured or stored for the quality of service flow to be transmitted, and the CAPC of the target default SL DRB is the same as the CAPC of the quality of service flow to be transmitted.

[0155] When the communication device is configured to implement the functionality of an access network device (base station) in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the transceiver unit 10 may be configured to transmit multiple default SL DRB configurations, each of the multiple default SL DRB configurations being associated with a different CAPC configuration, and the processing unit 20 may be configured to determine and generate the multiple default SL DRB configurations.

[0156] 8 is a diagram of another structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8, the communication device includes a processor 810 and an interface circuit 820. The processor 810 and the interface circuit 820 are coupled to each other. It may be understood that the interface circuit 820 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory 830 configured to store instructions to be executed by the processor 810, or to store input data required by the processor 810 to execute the instructions, or to store data generated after the processor 810 executes the instructions.

[0157] When the communications device is configured to perform the method shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6, the processor 810 is configured to perform the functions of the processing unit 20, and the interface circuit 820 is configured to perform the functions of the transceiver unit 10.

[0158] When the communication device is a chip used in a terminal, the chip in the terminal implements the functions of the UE or access network device (base station) in the above method embodiments. The chip in the terminal receives information from another module (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal, and the information is transmitted to the terminal by the other device. Alternatively, the chip in the terminal transmits information to another module (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal, and the information is transmitted to the other device by the terminal.

[0159] It may be understood that the processor 810 in an embodiment of the present 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. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0160] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer program code, which, when executed by a processor, enables the computer to perform the method of any one of the aforementioned embodiments.

[0161] An embodiment of the present application further provides a terminal device. The terminal device may exist in the form of a chip product. The terminal device includes a processor configured to support the terminal device in performing corresponding functions in the method of any one of the above-mentioned embodiments. The terminal device may further include a memory. The memory is coupled to the processor and configured to store program instructions and data required for the terminal device. The terminal device may further include a communication interface configured to perform communication between the terminal device and another device or a communication network.

[0162] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which, when run on a computer, enables the computer to perform the method in any one of the preceding embodiments.

[0163] One embodiment of the present application provides a chip system. The chip system includes a processor configured to support a device in performing the functions of the first aspect, for example, in generating or processing information in a manner for transferring register parameters of a block instruction. In a possible design, the chip system further includes a memory configured to store program instructions and data required for the device. The chip system may include a chip, or may include a chip and another discrete component.

[0164] In the above embodiments, the description of each embodiment focuses on each, and for the parts not described in detail in one embodiment, please refer to the related descriptions of other embodiments.

[0165] It should be noted that for simplicity of explanation, the above method embodiments are expressed as a series of operations. However, those skilled in the art should understand that the present application is not limited to the described order of operations, as some steps may be performed in other orders or simultaneously. It should be further appreciated by those skilled in the art that all the embodiments described herein belong to exemplary embodiments, and the associated operations and modules are not necessarily required by the present application.

[0166] In some embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices may be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described are merely examples. For example, the division into units is merely a division of logical functions, and other divisions may be used in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not implemented. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented via some interfaces. Indirect couplings or communication connections between devices or units may be implemented in electronic or other forms.

[0167] The aforementioned units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and the parts shown as units may or may not be physical units, in other words, they may be located in one place or distributed over multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected based on actual requirements to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0168] In addition, the functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically alone, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit.

[0169] When the aforementioned integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, the integrated unit may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application may essentially, or a portion contributing to the prior art, or all or a portion of the technical solution may be implemented in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, specifically a processor of the computer device) to perform all or a portion of the steps of the method described in the embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium may include any medium capable of storing program code, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM), or a random access memory (RAM).

[0170] The foregoing embodiments are intended to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than to limit the present application. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that, without departing from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, they may still make modifications to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or make equivalent substitutions for some technical features thereof. [Explanation of symbols]

[0171] 100 Wireless Access Network 110a, 110b Base station, radio access network device 120a~120j terminal devices 10 Transceiver Unit 20 Processing Unit 810 processor 820 Interface Circuit 830 memory

Claims

1. A communication method applied to a terminal device, the method comprising: obtaining a first sidelink data radio bearer (SL DRB) configuration; determining a CAPC for an SL DRB based on one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration, the SL DRB being an SL DRB established based on the first SL DRB configuration; A method comprising:

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein there is one SL DRB.

3. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein there are at least two SL DRBs, each of the at least two SL DRBs having a different CAPC.

4. The method comprises: determining a target CAPC of one or more CAPCs corresponding to the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration as the CAPC of the SL DRB; 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

5. The target CAPC may include any one or more of the following CAPCs: a CAPC for a quality of service flow having a minimum or maximum packet delay budget of the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; CAPC of a quality of service flow having the lowest or highest default priority level of the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; a CAPC for a quality of service flow having the lowest or highest priority level of the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; a CAPC of a quality of service flow having a minimum or maximum packet error rate of the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; a maximum CAPC value, a minimum CAPC value, or an average CAPC value of the one or more CAPCs corresponding to the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; or a CAPC within the one or more CAPCs corresponding to a maximum number of quality of service flows and corresponding to the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; The method of claim 4.

6. The method comprises: determining the quantity of the at least two SL DRBs based on quantities of different CAPCs corresponding to the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration; and establishing the at least two SL DRBs, wherein CAPCs of the at least two SL DRBs respectively correspond to the CAPCs of the one or more quality of service flows.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

7. The method comprises: Determining that the first SL DRB configuration satisfies a first preset condition, wherein the first preset condition includes one or more of the following conditions: the first SL DRB configuration is a default SL DRB configuration, The first SL DRB configuration is obtained using a system information block (SIB) or a pre-configuration message; The first SL DRB configuration does not provide a corresponding CAPC configuration; or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate; 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

8. The inadequacy of the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration includes one or more of the following: a plurality of quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration correspond to different CAPCs; a maximum difference between CAPCs corresponding to a plurality of quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is greater than or equal to a first threshold; a quantity of a plurality of quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is greater than or equal to a second threshold; or a minimum CAPC value corresponding to a plurality of quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration is greater than the CAPC value provided by the first SL DRB configuration; The method of claim 7.

9. The method comprises: sending an indication message to an access network device when the first SL DRB configuration does not provide the corresponding CAPC configuration or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate, the indication message indicating that the first SL DRB configuration does not provide the corresponding CAPC configuration or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate; and receiving a second SL DRB configuration sent by the access network device, the second SL DRB configuration being different from the first SL DRB configuration; or entering an RRC connected mode when the terminal device is in a radio resource control (RRC) idle mode or an RRC inactive mode when the first SL DRB configuration does not provide the corresponding CAPC configuration or the CAPC configuration provided by the first SL DRB configuration is inappropriate, and receiving a second SL DRB configuration sent by an access network device, the second SL DRB configuration being different from the first SL DRB configuration; 9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

10. the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration include a quality of service flow corresponding to a non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier, and the method further comprises: determining a CAPC for the quality of service flow corresponding to the non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier based on characteristic parameters of the quality of service flow corresponding to the non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier, the characteristic parameters indicating quality of service characteristics of the quality of service flow corresponding to the non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier, the characteristic parameters including one or more of a packet delay budget, a default priority level, a priority level, and a packet error rate; 10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising:

11. the one or more quality of service flows associated with the first SL DRB configuration include the quality of service flow corresponding to a non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier, and the method further comprises: determining, as the CAPC of the quality of service flow corresponding to the non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier, a CAPC corresponding to a standardized PC5 quality of service identifier that is closest to a packet delay budget of the quality of service flow corresponding to the non-standardized PC5 quality of service identifier; 11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising:

12. The method comprises: obtaining a plurality of default SL DRB configurations, each of the plurality of default SL DRB configurations being associated with a different CAPC configuration; establishing a plurality of default SL DRBs based on the plurality of default SL DRB configurations; 12. The method of any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising:

13. The method comprises: When a corresponding SL DRB mapping rule is not configured or stored for a quality of service flow to be transmitted, mapping the quality of service flow to be transmitted to a target default SL DRB of the plurality of default SL DRBs, wherein the CAPC of the target default SL DRB is the same as the CAPC of the quality of service flow to be transmitted.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

14. 1. A communication method applied to an access network device, the method comprising: receiving an indication message sent by a terminal device and / or sending a second SL DRB configuration to the terminal device; A communication method, including:

15. 1. A communication method applied to a terminal device, said method comprising: obtaining a plurality of default SL DRB configurations, each of the plurality of default SL DRB configurations being associated with a different CAPC configuration; establishing a plurality of default SL DRBs based on the plurality of default SL DRB configurations; The communication method further comprises:

16. The method comprises: When a corresponding SL DRB mapping rule is not configured or stored for a quality of service flow to be transmitted, mapping the quality of service flow to be transmitted to a target default SL DRB of the plurality of default SL DRBs, wherein the CAPC of the target default SL DRB is the same as the CAPC of the quality of service flow to be transmitted.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

17. 1. A communication method applied to an access network device, the method comprising: transmitting a plurality of default SL DRB configurations, each of the plurality of default SL DRB configurations being associated with a different CAPC configuration; The communication method further comprises:

18. 18. 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 from the processor to another communication device, the processor configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 17 by using logic circuits or by executing code instructions.

19. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program or instructions, the computer program or instructions being executed by a communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 17.

20. A computer program comprising instructions for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 17 when the computer program is executed by a communications device.

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