Communication method and device

Abstract

This application discloses a communication method and apparatus. The method includes: a terminal device receiving first configuration information from an access network device, the first configuration information being for configuring M CG resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals, the M CG resources being used by the terminal device to transmit uplink information when the terminal is in an unconnected state; and receiving first reconfiguration information from the access network device after the terminal enters an unconnected state, the first reconfiguration information being for updating downlink reference signals corresponding to some or all of the M CG resources. In the above-mentioned scheme, by configuring the M CG resources to correspond to the N downlink reference signals, the reception performance of the access network device can be effectively improved. Through the first reconfiguration information, the correspondence between the CG resources and the downlink reference signals is updated. In this way, when the terminal device moves in an RRC unconnected state, the correspondence can be adjusted timely and flexibly to ensure data transmission of the terminal device in an RRC unconnected state.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This application relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular to communication methods and apparatus. [Background technology]

[0002] In a fifth generation (5G) communication system, a terminal device has three radio resource control (RRC) states: an RRC-connected state, an RRC-idle state, and an RRC-inactive state. A terminal device in an RRC-connected state may perform data transmission with an access network device. However, if a terminal device in an RRC-inactive state (or an RRC-idle state) is to perform data transmission with an access network device, the terminal device must first complete multiple information exchanges to enter a connected state. In other words, a terminal device in an RRC-inactive state must first enter an RRC-connected state and then perform data transmission with an access network device.

[0003] In order to reduce the power consumption of a terminal device in an RRC inactive state, a solution for small data transmission scenarios is currently provided. Specifically, the terminal device may transmit uplink data to the access network device when the terminal device is in an RRC inactive state, and does not need to transmit uplink data after entering an RRC connected state. However, as a solution for small data transmission scenarios, further research is still needed to improve the receiving performance of the access network device receiving small data. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a communication method and apparatus for improving the reception performance of an access network device that receives uplink data transmitted from a terminal device on a CG resource.

[0005] According to a first aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a communication method. The method is used to implement a function on a terminal device side. For example, the method may be applied to a terminal device or a chip of the terminal device. This embodiment of this application does not limit the specific implementation of the method. Using an example in which the method is applied to a terminal device, in the method, the terminal device receives first configuration information from an access network device, and the first configuration information is for configuring M CG resources corresponding to N downlink reference signals. Optionally, when the terminal device is in an unconnected state, the terminal device may transmit uplink information on the CG resource based on the first configuration information. The uplink information may be information carried on a PUSCH and / or a PUCCH.

[0006] In this manner, the access network device may configure the M CG resources for the terminal device to correspond to the N downlink reference signals. Therefore, when the terminal device transmits uplink data (e.g., small data) on the CG resources corresponding to the downlink reference signals, the access network device may receive the uplink data on the CG resources using the corresponding receiving beam, so that the receiving performance of the access network device receiving the uplink data can be effectively improved.

[0007] In a possible design, the terminal device may further receive first reconfiguration information from the access network device after the terminal device enters an unconnected state, the first reconfiguration information being for updating downlink reference signals corresponding to some or all of the M CG resources, where M and N are positive integers. Optionally, the first reconfiguration information may be carried in a DCI, MAC CE, or RRC message. Alternatively, the first reconfiguration information may also be carried in a message transmitted in a random access process, such as MsgB in a two-step random access process, or Msg2 or Msg4 in a four-step random access process.

[0008] In the above-mentioned scheme, the access network device may send the first reconfiguration information to the terminal device to update the correspondence between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal. In this way, when the terminal device moves in an RRC unconnected state, the correspondence between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal can be timely and flexibly adjusted, so that after selecting the current downlink reference signal, the terminal device has more CG resources for transmitting uplink data, and can ensure the data transmission of the terminal device in an RRC unconnected state.

[0009] In a possible design, when the first reconfiguration information is carried in a DCI, the DCI further includes second information, where the second information includes HARQ feedback information and / or scheduling information, where the HARQ feedback information indicates whether uplink data of the terminal device is successfully received, and the scheduling information is for scheduling a PUSCH or a PDSCH of the terminal device. Optionally, the uplink information includes the uplink data.

[0010] In a possible design, the M CG resources corresponding to the N downlink reference signals includes at least one of: the M CG resources belonging to one or more CG resource sets, each CG resource belonging to one of the CG resource sets, each CG resource set corresponding to one or more downlink reference signals of the N downlink reference signals; the M CG resources are in one or more periods, each CG resource being in one of the periods, each period corresponding to one or more downlink reference signals of the N downlink reference signals; and the one or more CG resources in the M CG resources correspond to one or more downlink reference signals of the at least one downlink reference signal.

[0011] In the above-mentioned method, when the access network device configures M CG resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals, the access network device configures the correspondence based on multiple possible granularities (e.g., configures CG resources based on granularities such as "set", "period", and "number"), so that the correspondence is flexible and the terminal device also has a high degree of freedom in selecting CG resources, thereby facilitating data transmission in an RRC non-connected state.

[0012] In a possible design, the M CG resources belong to W CG resource sets, the W CG resource sets include a first CG resource set, and the first configuration information includes at least one of a type of a downlink reference signal corresponding to the first CG resource set, an identifier of the downlink reference signal corresponding to the first CG resource set, and a measurement threshold (e.g., a first threshold) of the downlink reference signal. When a measurement value of the downlink reference signal is equal to or greater than the first threshold, the terminal device may transmit uplink data using the CG resource corresponding to the downlink reference signal.

[0013] In a possible design, the method further includes receiving P downlink reference signals from the access network device, the P downlink reference signals including N downlink reference signals, where P is a positive integer and P is greater than or equal to N, and then sending first information to the access network device based on measurements of the P downlink reference signals. In this specification, the first information may be for requesting an update of the correspondence relationship between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal.

[0014] In the above-mentioned method, the terminal device may actively request the access network device to update the correspondence between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal. For example, the access network device may update the correspondence based on the first information after receiving the first information. If the first information is not received, the access network device may not temporarily update the correspondence.

[0015] In a possible design, the N downlink reference signals include a first downlink reference signal, and the method further includes transmitting the first information to the access network device on a CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal.

[0016] In a possible design, the method further includes transmitting uplink data to the access network device on a CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal.

[0017] In the above-mentioned scheme, the terminal device may transmit the first information and the uplink data together on a CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal, so as to make better use of the CG resource.

[0018] In a possible design, before transmitting the first information on the CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal to the access network device, the method further includes selecting a first downlink reference signal from the N downlink reference signals based on measurement values ​​of the N downlink reference signals, wherein the measurement value of the first downlink reference signal is greater than or equal to a first threshold or the measurement value of the first downlink reference signal is greater than or equal to measurement values ​​of other downlink reference signals among the N downlink reference signals.

[0019] In a possible design, the P downlink reference signals include a second downlink reference signal, a measurement value of the second downlink reference signal being greater than a measurement value of the first downlink reference signal, the first information includes a measurement value of the first downlink reference signal and a measurement value of the second downlink reference signal, the first information includes an index of the second downlink reference signal, or the first information includes measurement values ​​of the P downlink reference signals.

[0020] In a possible design, the M CG resources include a first CG resource, the first configuration information is for configuring the first CG resource and configuring the first CG resource to correspond to a first downlink reference signal, and the first reconfiguration information is for configuring the first CG resource to correspond to a second downlink reference signal.

[0021] In a possible design, the M CG resources further include a second CG resource, the first configuration information is for configuring the second CG resource and configuring the second CG resource to correspond to a second downlink reference signal, and the first reconfiguration information is further for configuring the second CG resource to correspond to the first downlink reference signal.

[0022] In a possible design, the P downlink reference signals include a third downlink reference signal, and the method further includes initiating a random access process based on a random access resource corresponding to the third downlink reference signal, wherein the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used in the random access process.

[0023] In a possible design, the M CG resources include a third CG resource, the first configuration information is for configuring the third CG resource and configuring the third CG resource to correspond to a fourth downlink reference signal, and the first reconfiguration information is for configuring the third CG resource to correspond to the third downlink reference signal.

[0024] In a possible design, the M CG resources further include a fourth CG resource, the first configuration information is for configuring the fourth CG resource and configuring the fourth CG resource to correspond to a third downlink reference signal, and the first reconfiguration information is further for configuring the fourth CG resource to correspond to a fourth downlink reference signal.

[0025] In a possible design, the M CG resources include a fifth CG resource, and a HARQ process identifier corresponding to the fifth CG resource is obtained based on a first offset, and the first offset is determined based on a downlink reference signal corresponding to the fifth CG resource.

[0026] In the above-mentioned method, the HARQ process identifier corresponding to a CG resource is related to the downlink reference signal corresponding to the CG resource, thereby increasing the number of CG resources corresponding to a specific HARQ process identifier, i.e., increasing the selection opportunities of terminal devices, and reducing the transmission delay of uplink data.

[0027] In a possible design, the method further includes receiving second configuration information from the access network device, the second configuration information being for configuring a maximum number of retransmissions of an HARQ process corresponding to the HARQ process identifier and / or a validity period of an HARQ process corresponding to the HARQ process identifier.

[0028] In the above manner, resource waste caused by a terminal device performing excessive retransmissions in a HARQ process corresponding to a HARQ process identifier can be effectively avoided.

[0029] According to a second aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a communication method. The method is used to implement a function on the access network device side. For example, the method may be applied to an access network device or a chip in the access network device. This embodiment of this application does not limit the specific implementation of the method. Using an example in which the method is applied to an access network device, in the method, the access network device sends first configuration information to a terminal device, the first configuration information is for configuring M configuration grant CG resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals, and the M CG resources are for receiving uplink information from the terminal device when the terminal device is in an unconnected state, and after the terminal device enters an unconnected state, the access network device may receive uplink information on the CG resources based on the first configuration information.

[0030] In a possible design, the access network device may send first reconfiguration information to the terminal device when the terminal device is in an unconnected state, the first reconfiguration information being for updating downlink reference signals corresponding to some or all of the M CG resources, where M and N are positive integers.

[0031] For a description of the M configured grant CG resources corresponding to the N downlink reference signals, a description of the first reconfiguration information, etc., please refer to the first aspect. The details will not be described again here.

[0032] In a possible design, transmitting the first reconfiguration information to the terminal device includes receiving first information from the terminal device and transmitting the first reconfiguration information to the terminal device based on the first information.

[0033] In a possible design, the N downlink reference signals include a first downlink reference signal, and the method further includes receiving first information from the terminal device on a CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal.

[0034] In a possible design, the method further includes receiving uplink data from the terminal device on a CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal.

[0035] In a possible design, a measurement value of the first downlink reference signal is greater than or equal to a first threshold, or a measurement value of the first downlink reference signal is greater than or equal to a measurement value of other downlink reference signals among the N downlink reference signals.

[0036] In a possible design, the method further includes transmitting P downlink reference signals, where the P downlink reference signals include N downlink reference signals, P is a positive integer, P is greater than or equal to N, the P downlink reference signals include a second downlink reference signal, and the first information includes a measurement value of the first downlink reference signal and a measurement value of the second downlink reference signal, where the measurement value of the second downlink reference signal is greater than the measurement value of the first downlink reference signal, the first information includes an index of the second downlink reference signal, or the first information includes the measurement values ​​of the P downlink reference signals.

[0037] In a possible design, the M CG resources include a first CG resource, the first configuration information is for configuring the first CG resource and configuring the first CG resource to correspond to a first downlink reference signal, and the first reconfiguration information is for configuring the first CG resource to correspond to a second downlink reference signal.

[0038] In a possible design, the M CG resources further include a second CG resource, the first configuration information is for configuring the second CG resource and configuring the second CG resource to correspond to a second downlink reference signal, and the first reconfiguration information is further for configuring the second CG resource to correspond to the first downlink reference signal.

[0039] In a possible design, the method further includes transmitting P downlink reference signals, the P downlink reference signals including N downlink reference signals, P is a positive integer, P is greater than or equal to N, the P downlink reference signals including a third downlink reference signal, the first information is carried in a first message, the first message is used in a random access process, and resources for carrying the first message are random access resources corresponding to the third downlink reference signal.

[0040] In a possible design, the M CG resources include a third CG resource, the first configuration information is for configuring the third CG resource and configuring the third CG resource to correspond to a fourth downlink reference signal, and the first reconfiguration information is for configuring the third CG resource to correspond to the third downlink reference signal.

[0041] In a possible design, the M CG resources further include a fourth CG resource, the first configuration information is for configuring the fourth CG resource and configuring the fourth CG resource to correspond to a third downlink reference signal, and the first reconfiguration information is further for configuring the fourth CG resource to correspond to a fourth downlink reference signal.

[0042] In a possible design, the M CG resources include a fifth CG resource, and a HARQ process identifier corresponding to the fifth CG resource is obtained based on a first offset, and the first offset is determined based on a downlink reference signal corresponding to the fifth CG resource.

[0043] In a possible design, the method further includes sending second configuration information to the terminal device, where the second configuration information is for setting a maximum number of retransmissions of the HARQ process corresponding to the HARQ process identifier and / or a validity period of the HARQ process corresponding to the HARQ process identifier.

[0044] It should be noted that the method described in the second aspect corresponds to the method described in the first aspect. For the advantageous effects of the related technical features in the method described in the second aspect, please refer to the description of the first aspect. The details will not be described again here.

[0045] According to a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device may be a terminal device or a chip that may be disposed inside the terminal device. The communication device has a function for implementing the first aspect. For example, the communication device includes corresponding modules, units, or means for performing steps of the first aspect. The functions, units, or means may be implemented by software or hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software.

[0046] In a possible design, the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit. The communication unit may be configured to receive and receive signals to implement communication between the communication device and another device. For example, the communication unit may be configured to receive configuration information from an access network device. The processing unit may be configured to perform a part of the internal operation of the communication device. Functions performed by the processing unit and the communication unit may correspond to operations in the first aspect.

[0047] In a possible design, the device may include a processor and may further include a transceiver. The transceiver is configured to receive and transmit signals, and the processor uses the transceiver to complete a method according to any one of the possible designs or implementations of the first aspect. The communication device may further include one or more memories. The memory may be coupled to the processor, and the memory may store computer programs or instructions for implementing the functionality in the first aspect. The processor may execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory. When the computer programs or instructions are executed, the communication device is capable of implementing a method according to any one of the possible designs or implementations of the first aspect.

[0048] In a possible design, the apparatus may include a processor, the processor configured to be coupled to a memory. The memory may store computer programs or instructions for implementing the functionality of the first aspect. The processor may execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory. When the computer programs or instructions are executed, the communication apparatus is enabled to implement a method according to any one of the possible designs or implementations of the first aspect.

[0049] In a possible design, a communications device includes a processor and an interface circuit, the processor configured to communicate with another device via the interface circuit and to perform a method according to any one of the possible designs or implementations of the first aspect.

[0050] According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device may be an access network device, or may be a chip that may be disposed in the access network device. The communication device has a function of implementing the second aspect. For example, the communication device includes a corresponding module, unit, or means for performing the operations in the second aspect. The module, unit, or means may be implemented by software or hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing the corresponding software.

[0051] In a possible design, the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit. The communication unit may be configured to receive and receive signals to implement communication between the communication device and another device. For example, the communication unit is configured to receive uplink information from a terminal device. The processing unit may be configured to perform a part of an internal operation of the communication device. Functions performed by the processing unit and the communication unit may correspond to operations in the second aspect.

[0052] In a possible design, the device may include a processor and may further include a transceiver. The transceiver is configured to receive and transmit signals, and the processor uses the transceiver to complete a method according to any one of the possible designs or implementations of the second aspect. The communication device may further include one or more memories. The memory may be coupled to the processor, and the memory may store computer programs or instructions for implementing the functionality of the second aspect. The processor may execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory. When the computer programs or instructions are executed, the communication device is capable of implementing a method according to any one of the possible designs or implementations of the second aspect.

[0053] In a possible design, the apparatus may include a processor, the processor coupled to a memory. The memory may store computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions of the second aspect. The processor may execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory. When the computer programs or instructions are executed, the communication apparatus is capable of implementing the method of any one of the possible designs or implementations of the second aspect.

[0054] In a possible design, the communications device includes a processor and an interface circuit, the processor configured to communicate with another device via the interface circuit and to perform a method according to any one of the possible designs or implementations of the second aspect.

[0055] It will be understood that in the third or fourth aspect, the processor may be implemented by hardware or software. When the processor is implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, etc. When the processor is implemented by software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor and is implemented by reading software code stored in a memory. Furthermore, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may be integrated with the processor, or the memory and the processor are separately arranged. In a particular implementation process, the memory and the processor may be integrated in one chip or arranged in different chips. The type of memory and the manner in which the memory and the processor are arranged are not limited in this embodiment of this application.

[0056] According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, the communication system including a communication device according to the third aspect of the invention and a communication device according to the fourth aspect of the invention.

[0057] According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer readable storage medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon that, when read and executed by a computer, enable the computer to perform a method of any one of the possible designs of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0058] According to a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product which, when read and executed by a computer, enables the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible designs of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0059] According to an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, the chip including a processor, coupled to a memory, configured to read and execute a software program stored in the memory to implement a method according to any one of the possible designs of the first or second aspect.

[0060] These and other aspects of the present application may be more succinctly and understandably described in the following description of the embodiments. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0061] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of this application can be applied. [Diagram 2] 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of this application can be applied. [Diagram 3] 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of this application can be applied.

[0062] [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of switching between three RRC states by a terminal device according to an embodiment of this application;

[0063] [Diagram 5]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an SSB according to one embodiment of the present application.

[0064] [Figure 6] 1 is a schematic diagram of a synchronization signal burst set according to one embodiment of the present application.

[0065] [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the correspondence between an SSB and an RO process according to one embodiment of the present application.

[0066] [Figure 8] 1 is a schematic diagram of two random access processes according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0067] [Figure 9] 1 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to a communication method according to embodiment 1 of the present application;

[0068] [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a beam corresponding to SSB according to one embodiment of the present application.

[0069] [Figure 11] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the correspondence between CG resources and downlink reference signals according to an embodiment of this application; [Figure 12] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the correspondence between CG resources and downlink reference signals according to an embodiment of this application; [Figure 13] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the correspondence between CG resources and downlink reference signals according to an embodiment of this application;

[0070] [Figure 14] 4 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to a communication method according to Embodiment 2 of the present application.

[0071] [Figure 15] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the corresponding relationship between CG resources and downlink reference signals according to an embodiment of this application;

[0072] [Figure 16] FIG. 2 is a possible schematic block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0073] [Figure 17] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device according to an embodiment of this application;

[0074] [Figure 18] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an access network device according to an embodiment of this application; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0075] The technical solutions in the embodiments of this application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of this application.

[0076] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application may be applied to various communication systems, such as long term evolution (LTE) systems, 5th generation (5G) mobile communication systems, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) systems, future communication systems, systems in which multiple communication systems are aggregated, etc., without being limited by the embodiments of this application. 5G is also called new radio (NR).

[0077] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application may be applied to communication between communication devices. The communication between communication devices may include, but is not limited to, communication between an access network device and a terminal device, communication between an access network device and an access network device, and / or communication between a terminal device and a terminal device. In the embodiments of this application, the term "communication" may also be described as "transmission", "information transmission", "data transmission", "signal transmission", etc. Transmission may include sending and / or receiving. The communication between an access network device and a terminal device is used as an example to describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application. Those skilled in the art may also use the technical solutions in communication between another scheduling entity and a subordinate entity, such as communication between a macro base station and a micro base station, such as communication between a first terminal device and a second terminal device. The scheduling entity may allocate radio resources, such as air interface resources, to the subordinate entity.

[0078] First, some terms in the embodiments of this application are explained in order to facilitate the understanding of those skilled in the art.

[0079] (1) Terminal device: A terminal device, sometimes called terminal for short, is a wireless terminal device capable of performing wireless communication with an access network device. For example, the terminal device may receive scheduling information and instruction information from the access network device. The wireless terminal device may be a device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to a user, a handheld device with wireless connectivity, or another processing device. The terminal device may communicate with one or more core networks or the Internet using a radio access network (RAN).

[0080] The terminal device may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, on the water (such as a ship), or in the air (such as an aircraft, a balloon, or a satellite), including handheld or vehicle-mounted. The terminal device may be user equipment (UE). The UE includes a handheld device, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, or a computing device with wireless communication capabilities. For example, the UE may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, or a computer with wireless transceiver capabilities. Alternatively, the terminal device may be a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medicine, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, etc. In an embodiment of this application, the apparatus configured to implement the function of the terminal device may be a terminal device, or may be an apparatus, such as a chip system, that can assist the terminal device in implementing the function. The apparatus may be mounted on a terminal device or used in conjunction with a terminal device. In the embodiments of this application, the chip system may include a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete components. The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are described using an example in which the apparatus configured to implement the functions of the terminal device is a terminal device.

[0081] (2) Access network device: An access network device may be a device in a wireless network. For example, an access network device may be a RAN node that connects a terminal device to a wireless network, and may also be referred to as a RAN device or a base station. Some examples of access network devices are next generation NodeB (gNodeB), transmission reception point (TRP), evolved NodeB (eNB), radio network controller (RNC), NodeB (NodeB, NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (BTS), home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB or home NodeB, HNB), baseband unit (BBU), wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) access point (AP), etc. In a network structure, the access network device may be a central unit (CU) node, a distributed unit (DU) node, or an access network device including a CU node and a DU node. In another possible case, the access network device may be other devices that provide wireless communication functions to terminal devices. The specific technology and the specific device form used by the access network device are not limited in the embodiments of this application. For convenience of description, in the embodiments of this application, the device that provides wireless communication functions to terminal devices is called an access network device. In the embodiments of this application, the device configured to implement the functions of the access network device may be an access network device, or may be a device, such as a chip system, that can support the access network device in implementing the functions.The apparatus may be mounted on an access network device or used in conjunction with an access network device. The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are described using an example in which the apparatus configured to implement the functions of the access network device is an access network device.

[0082] (3) The terms "system" and "network" may be used interchangeably in the embodiments of this application. "At least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. The term "and / or" is an association relationship for describing related objects, and indicates that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may represent the following three cases: only A exists, both A and B exist, and only B exists, where A and B are singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates an "or" relationship between related objects. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions indicate any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or multiple items. For example, "at least one of A, B, and C" includes A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A, B and C. Unless otherwise specified, ordinal terms such as "first" and "second" referred to in the embodiments of this application are intended to distinguish between multiple objects, and are not intended to limit the number, order, chronology, priority, or importance of the multiple objects.

[0083] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of this application is applicable. As shown in FIG. 1, a terminal device may access a wireless network and use the wireless network to obtain a service of an external network (e.g., the Internet) or to communicate with another device, e.g., another terminal device. The wireless network includes a RAN and a core network (CN). The RAN is configured to connect a terminal device (e.g., terminal device 1301 or terminal device 1302) to the wireless network. The CN is configured to manage the terminal device and provide a gateway for communicating with the external network.

[0084] The RAN may include one or more access network devices, such as access network device 1101 and access network device 1102.

[0085] The CN may include one or more CN devices, such as CN device 120. When the network architecture shown in FIG. 1 is applicable to a 5G communication system, the CN may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) entity, a session management function (SMF) entity, and a user plane function (UPF) entity.

[0086] It should be understood that the number of devices in the communication system shown in Figure 1 is used only as an example, and this embodiment of the application is not limited thereto. In a practical application, the communication system may include more terminal devices and more access network devices, and may further include other devices.

[0087] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another network architecture to which an embodiment of this application is applicable. As shown in FIG. 2, the network architecture includes a CN device, an access network device, and a terminal device. The access network device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. The baseband device may be implemented by one node or multiple nodes. The radio frequency device may be implemented remotely and independently from the baseband device, or may be integrated into the baseband device. Alternatively, some functions of the radio frequency device may be integrated independently and some functions may be integrated into the baseband device. For example, in an LTE communication system, the access network device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. The radio frequency device may be remotely disposed with respect to the baseband device. For example, a remote radio unit (RRU) is a remote radio unit disposed with respect to the BBU.

[0088] The communication between the access network device and the terminal device conforms to a certain protocol layer structure. For example, the control plane protocol layer structure may include protocol layer functions such as a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a media access control (MAC) layer, and a physical layer. The user plane protocol layer structure may include protocol layer functions such as a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, a MAC layer, and a physical layer. In a possible implementation, a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer may be further included above the PDCP layer in the user plane protocol layer structure.

[0089] The access network device may use one node to implement the functions of protocol layers such as the RRC layer, the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, the MAC layer, and the physical layer, or may use multiple nodes to implement the functions of protocol layers. For example, in an evolved structure, the access network device includes a CU and a DU, and multiple DUs are centrally controlled by one CU. As shown in FIG. 2, the CU and the DU may be assigned based on the protocol layers of the wireless network. For example, the CU is assigned the functions of the PDCP layer and the protocol layers above the PDCP layer, and the DU is assigned the functions of the protocol layers below the PDCP layer, such as the RLC layer, the MAC layer, and the physical layer.

[0090] Such allocation in the protocol layer is only an example. This allocation is also performed in other protocol layers, such as the RLC layer, so that the CU is assigned the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer, and the DU is assigned the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer. Alternatively, the allocation is performed within the protocol layer. For example, the CU is assigned some functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer, and the DU is assigned the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer. Additionally, the division may alternatively be performed in other manners, for example, the division is performed based on delay. The DU is set with functions whose processing time needs to meet the delay requirement, and the CU is set with functions whose processing time does not need to meet the delay requirement.

[0091] Additionally, the radio frequency device may be independently integrated, may not be located in the DU, or may be integrated in the DU. Alternatively, a part of the radio frequency device may be remotely integrated in the DU. This is not a limitation in the present specification.

[0092] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of another network architecture to which an embodiment of this application is applicable. Compared with the network architecture shown in Figure 2, in Figure 3, the control plane (CP) and user plane (UP) of the CU are further separated and divided into different entities for implementation. The different entities are a control plane (CP) CU entity (i.e., a CU-CP entity) and a user plane (UP) CU entity (i.e., a CU-UP entity), respectively.

[0093] In the above network architecture, a signal generated by a CU may be transmitted to a terminal device using a DU, or a signal generated by a terminal device may be transmitted to a CU using a DU. For example, signaling in the RRC layer or the PDCP layer is finally processed as signaling in the PHY layer and transmitted to a terminal device, or is converted from signaling received in the PHY layer. In this architecture, it is also conceivable that signaling in the RRC layer or the PDCP layer is transmitted by a DU, or by a DU and a radio frequency device.

[0094] The network architecture shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, or FIG. 3 may be applicable to communication systems of various radio access technologies (RATs), for example, a 4G communication system, a 5G communication system, or a transition system between a 4G communication system and a 5G communication system. The transition system may also be called a 4.5G communication system, and of course may be a future communication system. The network architecture and service scenarios described in the embodiments of this application are intended to more clearly explain the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, but do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application. Those skilled in the art may know that the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are also applicable to similar technical problems as communication network architectures develop and new service scenarios emerge.

[0095] The devices in the following embodiments of this application may be located in a terminal device or an access network device based on the functions implemented by the devices. When the above-mentioned CU-DU structure is used, the access network device may be a CU, a DU, or an access network device including a CU and a DU.

[0096] Hereinafter, we will first describe the relevant technical features in the embodiments of this application. Please note that the description is intended to facilitate the understanding of the embodiments of this application, but should not be construed as limiting the protection scope of this application.

[0097] 1. RRC state of terminal device

[0098] In the network architecture shown in Figure 1, Figure 2 or Figure 3, the terminal device may perform an RRC connection setup process with the access network device. After the RRC connection with the access network device is set up, the RRC state of the terminal device is an RRC connected state. Subsequently, the RRC state of the terminal device may be switched to an RRC idle state, an RRC connected state, and an RRC inactive state.

[0099] First, the three RRC states of a terminal device are described.

[0100] (1) RRC connection state

[0101] For example, when a terminal device is in the RRC connected state, there is an RRC connection between the terminal device and the access network device. In this case, the access network device knows that the terminal device is in the coverage or management range of the access network device. For example, the access network device knows that the terminal device is in the coverage or management range of a cell managed by the access network device. The core network knows the coverage or management range of the access network device in which the terminal device is located, and the core network knows the access network devices that can locate or find the terminal device.

[0102] Furthermore, when the terminal device is in the RRC connected state, the access network device and the terminal device may transmit a data channel and / or a control channel specific to the terminal device to transmit terminal device specific information or unicast information. For example, the access network device may transmit a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) specific to the terminal device to the terminal device, and / or the terminal device may transmit a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and / or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) specific to the terminal device to the access network device. The terminal device may receive an uplink scheduling indication or a downlink scheduling indication transmitted by the access network device via the PDCCH. The terminal device may transmit hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information to the access network device via the PUCCH to indicate the downlink data demodulation status of the terminal device.

[0103] (2) RRC idle state

[0104] For example, when the terminal device is in an RRC idle state, the RRC connection between the terminal device and the access network is released. In this case, the terminal device may receive paging messages, broadcast channels, and / or system information from the access network device.

[0105] Furthermore, when the terminal device is in the RRC idle state, the access network device may not know whether the terminal device is in the coverage or management range of the access network device. For example, the access network device may not know whether the terminal device is in the coverage or management range of a cell managed by the access network device. The core network may not know the coverage or management range of the access network device in which the terminal device is located, and the core network may not know which access network device can locate or find the terminal device.

[0106] (3) RRC idle state

[0107] For example, when the terminal device is in an RRC inactive state, there is no RRC connection between the terminal device and the access network device. In this case, the access network device may not know whether the terminal device is in the coverage or management range of the access network device. For example, the access network device may not know whether the terminal device is in the coverage or management range of a cell managed by the access network device. The core network may know the coverage or management range of the access network device or the access network device in which the terminal device is located, but the core network may not know which access network device or multiple access network devices can locate or find the terminal device.

[0108] Additionally, when the terminal device is in an RRC inactive state, the terminal device may receive paging messages, synchronization signals, broadcast messages, and / or system information from the access network device.

[0109] In the embodiment of this application, the RRC inactive state and the RRC idle state may be collectively referred to as the RRC disconnected state.

[0110] 4 is a schematic diagram of switching of the above three RRC states by a terminal device according to an embodiment of this application. As shown in FIG. 4, the following possible switching cases may be included:

[0111] (1) RRC connected state → RRC idle state

[0112] For example, the access network device may send an RRC connection release message to the terminal device, causing the terminal device to switch from an RRC connected state to an RRC idle state.

[0113] (2) RRC connected state → RRC inactive state

[0114] For example, the access network device may send an RRC connection suspend message or an RRC connection release message to the terminal device, which may result in the terminal device switching from an RRC connected state to an RRC inactive state.

[0115] (3) RRC idle state → RRC connected state

[0116] For example, the terminal device may enable the terminal device to switch from an RRC idle state to an RRC connected state through an RRC connection setup process with the access network device. The RRC connection setup process may be triggered by an upper layer of the terminal device. For example, when the terminal device needs to transmit uplink data, the upper layer of the terminal device triggers the RRC connection setup process. Alternatively, the RRC connection setup process may be triggered by the access network device. For example, when the terminal device is in an RRC idle state, the access network device sends a paging message to the terminal device, where the paging message includes an identifier of the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device triggers the RRC connection setup process after receiving the paging message from the access network device.

[0117] Specifically, the RRC connection setup process may be that the terminal device sends an RRC connection request message to the access network device. If the access network device sends an RRC connection setup message to the terminal device after the access network device receives the request message, it means that the access network device accepts the access of the terminal device, and the RRC state of the terminal device may be switched to the RRC connected state. If the access network device sends an RRC connection reject message to the terminal device, it means that the access network device rejects the access of the terminal device, and the RRC state of the terminal device continues to be the RRC idle state.

[0118] (4) RRC non- active Status → RRC connected status

[0119] For example, when the terminal device is in an RRC inactive state, the RRC state of the terminal device may be switched to an RRC connected state through an RRC connection setup process or an RRC connection resumption process.

[0120] In the RRC inactive state, after the terminal device receives a paging message from the access network device or after a trigger by the upper layer of the terminal device is executed, the terminal device may initiate an RRC connection resume procedure to attempt to resume the RRC connection between the terminal device and the access network device and enter the RRC connected state. For example, the RRC connection resume procedure between the terminal device and the access network device may include the terminal device sending an RRC connection resume request message to the access network device, and the access network device sending an RRC connection setup message or an RRC connection resume message to the terminal device after receiving the request, so that the state of the terminal device is switched to the RRC connected state. Alternatively, the access network device sends an RRC release message to the terminal device, so that the state of the terminal device is switched from the RRC inactive state to the RRC idle state. Alternatively, the access network device sends an RRC connection reject message to the terminal device, so that the terminal device continues in the RRC inactive state.

[0121] (5) RRC non- active State → RRC idle state

[0122] For example, when the terminal device is in an RRC inactive state, the access network device may enable the terminal device to switch from the RRC inactive state to an RRC idle state through a release procedure.

[0123] 2. Beam

[0124] In a communication system (e.g., a 5G communication system or a future communication system), a higher carrier frequency (e.g., 6 giga hertz (GHz) or higher), such as the 28 GHz band, the 38 GHz band, or the 72 GHz band, is used to implement wireless communication with a wider bandwidth and a higher transmission rate. However, the radio signal of such a carrier frequency may suffer from more serious fading during space propagation, and even the radio signal is difficult to detect at the receiving end. Therefore, in the communication system, beamforming (BF) technology is used to obtain a well-directional beam, which increases the antenna gain and increases the power in the transmission direction. Beamforming in a communication system is not limited to the high band, but may also be applied to the low band below 6 GHz.

[0125] A beam may be understood as a communication resource, and a beam may be a wide beam, a narrow beam, or another type of beam. Different beams may be considered as different communication resources, and the same information or different information may be transmitted using different beams. The beam includes a transmit beam and a receive beam. A transmit beam may be a signal strength distribution formed in different directions in space when a signal is transmitted using an antenna. A receive beam may be a distribution in which an antenna array strengthens or weakens reception of a wireless signal in different directions in space. A transmit beam may be implemented by configuring a transmit filter, and a receive beam may be implemented by configuring a receive filter. The filters in the embodiments of this application may include digital filters, analog filters, or digital-analog hybrid filters. This is not specifically limited.

[0126] For example, the access network device may transmit a downlink reference signal using a transmit beam x. Correspondingly, the terminal device may receive the downlink reference signal using a receive beam y. In this case, the transmit beam x and the receive beam y may be understood as a beam pair. Furthermore, when the measurement value of the downlink reference signal received by the terminal device using the receive beam y is large, the receiving performance of the access network device receiving the signal transmitted by the terminal device using the receive beam x′ based on the spatial channel interaction is also good. The receive beam x′ has a high correlation degree with the transmit beam x, specifically, the parameters of the receive filter corresponding to the receive beam x′ and the parameters of the transmit filter corresponding to the transmit beam x are the same or very close to each other, which is reflected in the results. In other words, the forming effect of the receive beam x′ and the forming effect of the transmit beam x are the same or similar.

[0127] SSB

[0128] In the network architecture shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, or FIG. 3, a terminal device may receive a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SS / PBCH block, which may also be referred to as SSB for short) transmitted by an access network device to implement synchronization with the access network device, obtain system information, etc.

[0129] (1) SSB formation

[0130] In the embodiment of this application, the SSB may include a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH). As shown in FIG. 5, in the time domain, one SSB occupies four orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, which are denoted as symbols 0 to 3. In the frequency domain, one SSB occupies 20 resource blocks (RBs) (one RB includes 12 subcarriers), i.e., 240 subcarriers, and the subcarrier numbers are 0 to 239. The PSS is located on the central 127 subcarriers of symbol 0, and the SSS is located on the central 127 subcarriers of symbol 2. There are different guard subcarriers to protect the PSS and SSS. The guard subcarriers are not intended to carry any signal. Subcarriers are reserved separately on both sides of the SSS as guard subcarriers. In Figure 5, the blank areas on both sides of the SSS are guard subcarriers. The PBCH occupies all subcarriers in Symbol 1 and Symbol 3, and in all subcarriers in Symbol 2, it occupies a portion of the remaining subcarriers other than the subcarriers occupied by the SSS (i.e., the subcarriers other than the guard subcarriers in the remaining subcarriers).

[0131] (2) SSB transmission mechanism

[0132] For a cell (or carrier), the access network device may transmit SSBs at different instants using different transmission beams to complete the broadcast beam coverage of the cell. As shown in FIG. 6, the access network device may transmit SSB#0 using transmission beam 0, transmit SSB#1 using transmission beam 1, transmit SSB#2 using transmission beam 2, etc. In this case, it will be understood that transmission beam 0 corresponds to SSB#0, transmission beam 1 corresponds to SSB#1, and transmission beam 2 corresponds to SSB#2.

[0133] In the beam scanning process, the set of SSBs transmitted by the access network device may be referred to as a synchronization signal burst set (SS burst set) or SSB burst set. The period of the SS burst set is equivalent to the period of the SSBs corresponding to a particular beam and may be set to 5 ms (milliseconds), 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, 160 ms, etc.

[0134] For example, one SS burst set in the grant spectrum has at most 4, 8, or 64 SSBs. When the carrier band is less than 3 GHz, one SS burst set has at most 4 SSBs. Each SS burst set is within a time interval of 5 ms. See FIG. 6 for an example of an SS burst set. In FIG. 6, an example is used in which the period of the SS burst set is 20 ms and one SS burst set includes P SSBs, where P is a positive integer. In FIG. 6, the P SSBs are within a time period of 5 ms out of 20 ms.

[0135] (3) The correspondence between SSB and random access channel (RACH) occasions (RO for short)

[0136] The access network device may indicate the correspondence between the SSB and the RO to the terminal device. For example, the network device may indicate the correspondence between the SSB and the RO to the terminal device using system information. In another possible example, the correspondence between the SSB and the RO may also be predefined using a protocol. The RO may be understood as a random access resource or a random access opportunity, i.e., a time-frequency resource for carrying a random access preamble.

[0137] For example, when indicating the correspondence between SSBs and ROs to the terminal device, the access network device may indicate the number of SSBs corresponding to one RO and the number of candidate preambles corresponding to one SSB in one RO. Using an example in which an SSB burst set includes four SSBs (SSB1 to SSB4) and the frequency division multiplexing parameter of the RO is 4 (in other words, the four ROs are for frequency division multiplexing in one time unit), the correspondence between SSBs and ROs is described below with reference to two examples.

[0138] In Example 1, refer to (a) of FIG. 7. The access network device indicates that the number of SSBs corresponding to one RO is 1 / 8, and indicates that the number of candidate preambles corresponding to one SSB in one RO is 4. In this case, the number of SSBs corresponding to one RO is 1 / 8, in other words, 8 ROs correspond to one SSB. Therefore, the 8 ROs in the first two time units correspond to SSB1, the 8 ROs in the next two time units correspond to SSB2, and so on. Additionally, the indexes of the preambles corresponding to each RO are 0 to 3. When the terminal device obtains through measurement that the measurement value of SSB1 is high, the terminal device may select to transmit any one of the preambles with indexes 0 to 3 on any one of the 8 ROs corresponding to SSB1.

[0139] In Example 2, refer to (b) of FIG. 7. The access network device indicates that the number of SSBs corresponding to one RO is 2, and indicates that the number of candidate preambles corresponding to one SSB in one RO is 16. In this case, the number of SSBs corresponding to one RO is 2. Thus, the RO at the first frequency domain position in the first time unit corresponds to SSB1 and SSB2, the RO at the second frequency domain position in the first time unit corresponds to SSB3 and SSB4, the RO at the third frequency domain position in the first time unit corresponds to SSB1 and SSB2, the RO at the fourth frequency domain position in the first time unit corresponds to SSB3 and SSB4, etc. Additionally, the index of the preamble corresponding to SSB1 is 0-15, the index of the preamble corresponding to SSB2 is 16-31, the index of the preamble corresponding to SSB3 is 0-15, and the index of the preamble corresponding to SSB4 is 16-31. When the terminal device obtains through measurement that the measurement value of SSB1 is high, the terminal device may select to transmit any one of the preambles with indexes 0 to 15 on any one of the ROs corresponding to SSB1.

[0140] It should be noted that the time unit in the above two examples may include one or more symbols, or may include one or more slots. The embodiment of this application does not limit the specific length of the time unit.

[0141] Based on the above description of the relevant technical features, for a terminal device in an RRC non-connected state (using the RRC inactive state as an example), before 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) Release 16, the terminal device is not supported in the RRC inactive state when performing unicast data transmission. Specifically, the terminal device may perform unicast data transmission only after the RRC connection is resumed and the terminal device enters the RRC connected state. However, in some scenarios, the data packets that need to be transmitted by the terminal device in the RRC inactive state are usually small (i.e., small data). Every time the terminal device performs data transmission, an RRC connection setup process occurs, which causes unnecessary power consumption and signaling overhead to enter the RRC connected state from the RRC inactive state.

[0142] There may be multiple small data transmission scenarios, which may specifically cover smartphone-related services, such as WeChat or QQ instant messages, application (APP) heartbeat packets, or push messages, and non-smartphone-related services, such as periodic data (e.g., heartbeat packets) of a wearable device, or periodic data transmitted by an industrial wireless sensor network. Additionally, the specific size of the small data may not be limited in the embodiments of this application. For example, a data packet of 100 to 300 bytes may be considered small data. In another example, a data packet that may be transmitted in one slot may be considered small data (e.g., when quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) is for modulation for one slot with a bandwidth resource of 5M and a subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, about 500 bytes may be transmitted). In another example, a user plane data packet and / or a control plane data packet transmitted in an RRC inactive state may be considered small data.

[0143] In a small data transmission scenario, the terminal device may be supported to perform small data transmission when the terminal device is in an RRC inactive state without performing a state switch, thereby significantly reducing the signaling overhead and power consumption of the terminal device.

[0144] For example, the terminal device performing small data transmission when the terminal device is in an RRC inactive state may be specifically implemented using the following two methods.

[0145] (1) Data transmission based on Random Access (RA)

[0146] Different from conventional random access, data transmission based on random access means that a terminal device transmits uplink data (for simplicity, the data described below in the embodiments of this application represent user plane data unless otherwise specified) to an access network device or receives downlink data in a random access process.

[0147] For example, the random access process may include a four-step random access process and a two-step random access process. In the four-step random access process, the terminal device may transmit uplink data using message 3 (Msg3) and receive downlink data using message 4 (Msg4). Alternatively, in the two-step random access process, the terminal device may transmit uplink data using message A (MsgA) and receive downlink data using message B (MsgB).

[0148] Figure 8(a) is a schematic diagram of a four-step random access process according to an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 8(a), the four-step random access process may include the following steps:

[0149] S8011: The terminal device sends a random access preamble to the access network device via a physical random access channel (PRACH), i.e., sends a message 1 (Msg1) to the access network device.

[0150] For example, the preamble may be a sequence that is used by the access network device to determine a timing advance (TA) of the terminal device.

[0151] S8012: After detecting the random access preamble sent by the terminal device, the access network device sends a random access response (RAR) to the terminal device, i.e., sends a message 2 (Msg2) to the terminal device. The message 2 may indicate a resource location of the PUSCH.

[0152] S8013: The terminal device transmits a message 3 to the access network device via a PUSCH based on a resource location of the PUSCH indicated by the message 2. The message 3 may include uplink data, such as uplink small data. Optionally, the message 3 may further include an identifier of the terminal device.

[0153] S8014: The access network device receives message 3 and sends message 4 to the terminal device, where message 4 may include feedback information and notify the terminal device whether the uplink data has been successfully received.

[0154] It should be noted that the PRACH resource, the preamble, and the resource for receiving the RAR in the above four-step random access process may all be configured by the access network device for the terminal device, for example, the access network device may configure dedicated resources for the terminal device when the terminal device is in a connected state, or may broadcast resources for contention in a system message.

[0155] Figure 8(b) is a schematic diagram of a two-step random access process according to an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 8(b), the two-step random access process may include the following steps:

[0156] S8021: The terminal device transmits a message A to the access network device. Specifically, the terminal device transmits a random access preamble to the access network device through a PRACH, and transmits uplink data (e.g., uplink small data) to the access network device through a corresponding PUSCH. Optionally, the terminal device may also transmit an identifier of the terminal device.

[0157] S8022: After receiving the message A, the access network device sends a message B to the terminal device. The message B includes an RAR, and the RAR may include feedback information of the message A and notify the terminal device whether the uplink data has been successfully received.

[0158] The PRACH resource, the preamble, the PUSCH resource (including the resource of the Modulated Reference Signal (DMRS) in the PUSCH), and the resource for receiving the RAR in the above-mentioned two-step random access process may be configured by the access network device for the terminal device. For example, the access network device may configure dedicated resources for the terminal device when the terminal device is in a connected state, or may broadcast the resources for contention in a system message.

[0159] (2) Data transmission based on configured grant (CG) resources

[0160] Data transmission based on CG resources means that the access network device may configure resources for uplink data (e.g., PUSCH) transmission to the terminal device. When the terminal device needs to transmit uplink data, the terminal device uses the CG resources to directly transmit data to the access network device without receiving a dynamic grant from the access network device and without transmitting a preamble. Data transmission based on CG resources may also be called grant free (GF) data transmission. Because the terminal device does not need to transmit a preamble, the signaling overhead and power consumption of the terminal device can be further reduced compared to the data transmission solution based on random access.

[0161] However, in data transmission based on CG resources, the terminal device in the RRC inactive state does not have the same beam management process as that in the RRC connected state. Therefore, the access network device usually does not know the location information (or channel information) of the terminal device in the RRC inactive state, and further does not know which receiving beam is for receiving the uplink data transmitted by the terminal device on the CG resource. When the access network device does not know the channel information of the terminal device, if the access network device uses an omnidirectional antenna to receive the uplink data, it will cause a degradation of the receiving performance. A performance improvement method is to rely on digital filtering processing. However, when there is no channel information of the terminal device, the receiving complexity of the access network device increases significantly.

[0162] On this basis, the relevant implementation of data transmission based on CG is studied in the embodiments of this application.

[0163] Hereinafter, the embodiments of this application will be described in detail with reference to the first to third embodiments.

[0164] EMBODIMENT 1 To solve the problem that the degradation of the receiving performance is caused by the access network device not knowing the channel information of the terminal device, a possible idea is to set up a correspondence between the CG resource and the channel information, in this way, the access network device can receive uplink data on the CG resource using the corresponding receiving beam based on the channel information corresponding to the CG resource, thereby improving the receiving performance of the uplink data.

[0165] Specifically, the access network device may periodically broadcast the downlink reference signal. When the terminal device is in an RRC unconnected state, it is a basic behavior that the terminal device measures the downlink reference signal. In addition, based on the spatial channel reciprocity relationship, when the terminal device measures the downlink reference signal, when the measurement value of the downlink reference signal is large (for example, the measurement value of the downlink reference signal 1 is large and the beam used by the access network device to transmit the downlink reference signal 1 is the transmission beam x), the reception performance of the access network device receiving the signal transmitted by the terminal device using the corresponding receiving beam x' is also good. The communication method provided in embodiment 1 of this application may include the following steps: The access network device may transmit first configuration information to the terminal device, where the first configuration information is for configuring M CG resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals, and the N downlink reference signals include the downlink reference signal 1. In addition, the terminal device may transmit uplink data on the CG resource corresponding to the downlink reference signal 1 after entering the RRC unconnected state. Correspondingly, the access network device may use the corresponding receiving beam to receive uplink data transmitted by the terminal device on the CG resource, where M and N are positive integers. Compared with a scheme in which the access network device does not know the channel information of the terminal device and uses an omnidirectional antenna to receive uplink data, this scheme can effectively improve the receiving performance of the access network device.

[0166] Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 9, the communication method provided in embodiment 1 of this application will be described in detail.

[0167] 9 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to the communication method according to Embodiment 1 of this application. As shown in FIG. 9, the method includes the following steps:

[0168] Optionally, at S900, the terminal device enters an RRC connected state.

[0169] Here, the terminal device may switch the RRC state to an RRC connected state through an RRC connection setup process or an RRC connection resumption procedure.

[0170] Optionally, in S901, the access network device sends first configuration information to the terminal device, where the first configuration information is for configuring M CG resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals.

[0171] Correspondingly, at S902, the terminal device may receive first configuration information from the access network device.

[0172] Here, the access network device may further configure M CG resources for the terminal device. In one example, the access network device may configure M CG resources for the terminal device using the first configuration information. In other words, the first configuration information may be for configuring M CG resources and configuring the M CG resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals. There may be multiple ways in which the access network device transmits the first configuration information to the terminal device. For example, the access network device may transmit an RRC message to the terminal device, where the RRC message includes the first configuration information. For example, the RRC message may be an RRC connection release message or another possible message. This is not specifically limited.

[0173] In yet another example, the access network device may configure M CG resources for the terminal device using the third configuration information. For example, the access network device may use the same message to transmit the first configuration information and the third configuration information to the terminal device. Alternatively, the access network device may use different messages to transmit the first configuration information and the third configuration information to the terminal device. For example, the access network device may first transmit an RRC message 1 to the terminal device, where the RRC message 1 includes the third configuration information, and transmit an RRC message 2 to the terminal device, where the RRC message 2 includes the first configuration information.

[0174] The M CG resources are explained below.

[0175] The M CG resources may be used by the terminal device to transmit uplink information to the access network device when the terminal device is in an RRC unconnected state. For example, the M CG resources are dedicated for transmitting uplink information by the terminal device when the terminal device is in an RRC unconnected state. As another example, the M CG resources may be used by the terminal device to transmit uplink information when the terminal device is in an RRC connected state, or may be used by the terminal device to transmit uplink information when the terminal device is in an RRC unconnected state. The uplink information may include uplink data and / or uplink signaling, and the uplink signaling may include at least one of signaling at a physical layer, signaling at a MAC layer, and signaling at an RRC layer. The uplink data and / or uplink signaling may be carried on a PUSCH and / or a PUCCH specific to the terminal device.

[0176] In this embodiment of the application, the CG resource may support multiple possible granularities, such as a granularity of a "set", a granularity of a "period", and a granularity of a "number". For example, one set of CG resources may correspond to one period (length), and one period may include one or more CG resources. One CG resource may be for one data transmission. Multiple CG resources included in one period may be for repeatedly transmitting the same data, and the redundant versions of the data transmitted through the multiple CG resources may be the same or different. In other words, multiple CG resources included in one period may be understood as multiple repetition opportunities. Any two different CG resources of the multiple CG resources in one period may be divided by time and / or frequency. This is not limited.

[0177] The access network device transmits configuration information of W CG resource sets to the terminal device (e.g., using the first configuration information), where W is a positive integer. For example, W=3, and the W CG resource sets may include a first CG resource set, a second CG resource set, and a third CG resource set. Using the first CG resource set as an example, the configuration information of the first CG resource set may include at least one of: (1) a duration of a period corresponding to the first CG resource set; (2) a number of repetitions in a period, a number of repetition opportunities included in a period, or a number of CG resources included in a period; and (3) time-frequency location information of each CG resource in a period. Optionally, one CG resource set may also be referred to as, but is not limited to, a group of CG resources or another name.

[0178] Optionally, the configuration information of the first CG resource set may further include one or more of other possible information, such as frequency hopping indication information (indicating intra-slot or inter-slot frequency hopping), DMRS configuration information (indicating the type, location, length, and / or whether the DMRS is precoded), a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) table, a resource allocation scheme (indicating type 0, type 1, or dynamic switching), power control indication information, the number of HARQ processes (which may be one of 1 to 16, for example), and a redundancy version used during the repetition, which is not specifically limited.

[0179] The N downlink reference signals will be described.

[0180] For example, the downlink reference signal may be an SSB, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a positioning reference signal (PRS), a downlink DMRS, or other possible downlink reference signal, which is not specifically limited. In this embodiment of this application, an example in which the downlink reference signal is an SSB is used for illustration.

[0181] As mentioned above, one SS burst set may include multiple SSBs. For example, if one SS burst set includes four SSBs, i.e., SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, and SSB4, N may be a positive integer less than or equal to 4. In other words, the N downlink reference signals may include at least one of SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, or SSB4. As another example, if one SS burst set includes eight SSBs, i.e., SSB1, SSB2, ..., and SSB8, N may be a positive integer less than or equal to 8. In other words, the N downlink reference signals may include at least one of SSB1, SSB2, ..., or SSB8.

[0182] It is described that M CG resources correspond to N downlink reference signals.

[0183] For example, there may be multiple specific correspondence manners in which M CG resources correspond to N downlink reference signals. Three possible correspondence manners are described below.

[0184] (1) Corresponding method 1: M CG resources correspond to N downlink reference signals in the granularity of "set". For example, M CG resources may belong to one or more CG resource sets, and each CG resource may belong to only one CG resource set. Each CG resource set may correspond to one or more downlink reference signals of the N downlink reference signals. Additionally, one downlink reference signal may also correspond to one or more CG resource sets.

[0185] For example, M CG resources belong to W CG resource sets. Using an example where W=3, the W CG resource sets may include a first CG resource set, a second CG resource set, and a third CG resource set. For example, the M CG resources may include all CG resources included in the first CG resource set, all CG resources included in the second CG resource set, and all CG resources included in the third CG resource set. The N downlink reference signals include SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, and SSB4. As shown in FIG. 10, SSB1 corresponds to transmit beam 1, SSB2 corresponds to transmit beam 2, SSB3 corresponds to transmit beam 3, and SSB4 corresponds to transmit beam 4. In this case, the possible corresponding cases are as follows. As shown in FIG. 11, the first CG resource set corresponds to SSB1, the second CG resource set corresponds to SSB2, and the third CG resource set corresponds to SSB3 and SSB4. In this case, it will be understood that all CG resources included in the first CG resource set correspond to SSB1, all CG resources included in the second CG resource set correspond to SSB2, and all CG resources included in the third CG resource set correspond to SSB3 and SSB4.

[0186] In another example, M CG resources belong to W CG resource sets. Using an example where W=3, the W CG resource sets may include a first CG resource set, a second CG resource set, and a third CG resource set. For example, the first CG resource set includes two CG resources in one period, the second CG resource set includes three CG resources in one period, and the third CG resource set includes three CG resources in one period. In this case, the M resources are 2+3+3=8 CG resources. In this case, the possible corresponding cases are as follows: The first CG resource set may correspond to SSB1, the second CG resource set may correspond to SSB2, and the third CG resource set may correspond to SSB3 and SSB4. In this case, it will be understood that the two CG resources in each period of the first CG resource set correspond to SSB1, the three CG resources in each period of the second CG resource set correspond to SSB2, and the three CG resources in each period of the third CG resource set correspond to SSB3 and SSB4.

[0187] When the access network device configures M CG resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals in a corresponding manner, for any one of the CG resource sets, possible configuration examples are as follows: ConfiguredGrantConfig(CG resource set configuration information)::=SEQUENCE{ ... CorrespondingRS ENUMERATED {SSB, CSI-RS, PRS} OPTIONAL, (The type of downlink reference signal corresponding to the CG resource set is, for example, either SSB, CSI-RS, or PRS.) CorrespondingRSIndex-1 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL, (Index of corresponding first downlink reference signal) CorrespondingRSIndex-2 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL, (Index of corresponding second downlink reference signal) RSRPofRS RSRP OPTIONAL, (When the RSRP obtained by measuring the downlink reference signal is equal to or greater than a threshold value corresponding to the RSRP (for example, a first threshold value described later), this means that uplink data may be transmitted using the CG resource corresponding to the downlink reference signal) ...}

[0188] (2) Corresponding method 2: M CG resources correspond to N downlink reference signals in the granularity of "period". For example, M CG resources are in one or more periods, and each CG resource can have only one period. Each period may correspond to one or more downlink reference signals of the N downlink reference signals. Additionally, one downlink reference signal may correspond to one or more periods.

[0189] For example, M CG resources in multiple periods means that M CG resources are in multiple periods of one CG resource set, in other words, M CG resources include CG resources in multiple periods of a CG resource set. For example, M CG resources are in period i, period i+1, and period i+2 of a CG resource set, in other words, M CG resources include CG resources in period i, period i+1, and period i+2, where i may be a positive integer. N downlink reference signals include SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, and SSB4. As shown in FIG. 10, SSB1 corresponds to transmit beam 1, SSB2 corresponds to transmit beam 2, SSB3 corresponds to transmit beam 3, and SSB4 corresponds to transmit beam 4. In this case, the possible corresponding cases are as follows: Period i corresponds to SSB1, Period i+1 corresponds to SSB2, and Period i+2 corresponds to SSB3 and SSB4. Specifically, all CG resources in period i correspond to SSB1, all CG resources in period i+1 correspond to SSB2, and all CG resources in period i+2 correspond to SSB3 and SSB4.

[0190] As another example, M CG resources in multiple periods may also mean that M CG resources are in multiple periods of multiple CG resource sets. For example, M CG resources are in one or more periods (e.g., period i, period i+1, and period i+2) of a first CG resource set and one or more periods (e.g., period j, period j+1, and period j+2) of a second CG resource set. Specifically, M CG resources include CG resources in one or more periods of a first CG resource set and CG resources in one or more periods of a second CG resource set. N downlink reference signals include SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, and SSB4. As shown in FIG. 10, SSB1 corresponds to transmit beam 1, SSB2 corresponds to transmit beam 2, SSB3 corresponds to transmit beam 3, and SSB4 corresponds to transmit beam 4. In this case, the possible corresponding cases are as follows: As shown in FIG. 12, in the first CG resource set, period i corresponds to SSB1, period i+1 corresponds to SSB2, and period i+2 corresponds to SSB3 and SSB4. In the second CG resource set, period j and period j+1 correspond to SSB1, period j+2 corresponds to SSB2, and period j+3 corresponds to SSB3 and SSB4, where j may be a positive integer. The period of the first CG resource set and the period of the second CG resource set may correspond to downlink reference signals separately and independently. For example, when the CG resources in period i of the first CG resource set and the CG resources in period j of the second CG resource set overlap in the time domain, the period i of the first CG resource set and the period j of the second CG resource set may correspond to the same SSB or different SSBs. This is not specifically limited. Additionally, compared with the correspondence shown in FIG. 11, the correspondence shown in FIG. 12 allows the terminal device to have better freedom in selecting the period.

[0191] (3) Corresponding method 3: M CG resources correspond to N downlink reference signals in the granularity of "number". For example, one or more CG resources in the M CG resources correspond to one or more downlink reference signals of at least one downlink reference signal. In other words, one CG resource may correspond to one or more downlink reference signals, and / or one downlink reference signal may correspond to one or more CG resources.

[0192] For example, the M CG resources may be M CG resources in one CG resource set. Alternatively, the M CG resources may also be M CG resources in multiple CG resource sets. For example, the M CG resources may include M1 CG resources in a first CG resource set and M2 CG resources in a second CG resource set. M1 and M2 are positive integers, and M1+M2=M. The N downlink reference signals include SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, and SSB4. As shown in FIG. 10, SSB1 corresponds to transmit beam 1, SSB2 corresponds to transmit beam 2, SSB3 corresponds to transmit beam 3, and SSB4 corresponds to transmit beam 4. Using an example where the M CG resources may be M CG resources in one CG resource set, the possible corresponding cases are as follows: As shown in Fig. 13, in each period (e.g., period 1) of the CG resource set, the first CG resource corresponds to SSB1, the second CG resource corresponds to SSB2, and the third CG resource corresponds to SSB3 and SSB4. Additionally, compared with the correspondence shown in Fig. 11 or 12, the correspondence shown in Fig. 13 allows the terminal device to have better freedom in selecting a CG resource.

[0193] When configuring M CG resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals, the access network device may use one of the corresponding schemes 1, 2, and 3 separately, or may use two or three of the corresponding schemes 1, 2, and 3 in combination. Using an example in which the access network device uses the corresponding schemes 2 and 3 in combination, for example, the M CG resources are CG resources in W CG resource sets. For example, W=2, and the W CG resource sets may include a first CG resource set and a second CG resource set. The M CG resources include CG resources in period i, period i+1, and period i+2 of the first CG resource, and CG resources in period j and period j+1 of the second CG resource. The N downlink reference signals include SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, and SSB4. In this case, the possible corresponding cases are as follows: In the first CG resource set, period i corresponds to SSB1, period i+1 corresponds to SSB2, and period i+2 corresponds to SSB3 and SSB4. In the second CG resource set, the first and second CG resources in period j correspond to SSB1, the third CG resource in period j corresponds to SSB2, other CG resources in period j (e.g., the fourth, fifth, and sixth CG resources in period j) correspond to SSB3 and SSB4, and all CG resources in period j+1 correspond to SSB1.

[0194] S903: The terminal device enters an RRC unconnected state.

[0195] Here, there may be multiple ways for the terminal device to enter the RRC unconnected state. For example, the access network device may send an RRC connection release message to the terminal device, so that the terminal device may enter the RRC unconnected state after receiving the RRC connection release message. As another example, when the terminal device is in a weak coverage area, the signal reception quality is poor and the RRC connection state cannot be maintained, the terminal device may proactively enter the unconnected state.

[0196] Optionally, at S904, the access network device transmits P downlink reference signals, where the P downlink reference signals may include N downlink reference signals.

[0197] For example, if an SS burst set includes four SSBs, i.e., SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, and SSB4, P may be 4, and the P downlink reference signals include SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, and SSB4, and N may be a positive integer less than or equal to 4, and the N downlink reference signals include at least one of SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, and SSB4. For example, if an SS burst set includes eight SSBs, i.e., SSB1, SSB2, ..., SSB8, P may be 8, and the P downlink reference signals include SSB1, SSB2, ..., SSB8, and N is a positive integer less than or equal to 8, and the N downlink reference signals include at least one of SSB1, SSB2, and SSB8.

[0198] Optionally, in S905, the terminal device receives P downlink reference signals and measures the P downlink reference signals.

[0199] The terminal device may obtain measurement values ​​of P downlink reference signals by measuring the P downlink reference signals. The measurement values ​​of each downlink reference signal may include at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), and a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), which is not specifically limited.

[0200] Optionally, in S906, the terminal device transmits uplink data on a CG resource corresponding to the downlink reference signal 1 to the access network device.

[0201] When the terminal device determines that uplink data needs to be transmitted, it may select downlink reference signal 1 from the N downlink reference signals based on the measurement values ​​of the N downlink reference signals, and transmit the uplink data on the CG resource corresponding to downlink reference signal 1.

[0202] For example, there may be multiple ways in which the terminal device selects downlink reference signal 1 from N downlink reference signals based on the measurement values ​​of the N downlink reference signals. For example, the terminal device determines one or more downlink reference signals (e.g., downlink reference signal 1 and downlink reference signal 2) among the N downlink reference signals whose measurement values ​​are equal to or greater than a first threshold based on the measurement values ​​of the N downlink reference signals, and selects one downlink reference signal (e.g., downlink reference signal 1) from such downlink reference signals. The first threshold may be set according to actual requirements, which is not particularly limited. In another example, the terminal device selects a downlink reference signal (e.g., downlink reference signal 1) from the N downlink reference signals based on the measurement values ​​of the N downlink reference signals.

[0203] Optionally, in S907, the access network device receives uplink data on a CG resource corresponding to the downlink reference signal 1 using a corresponding receiving beam.

[0204] Using the correspondence shown in FIG. 11 as an example, if the terminal device obtains through measurement that the measurement value of SSB1 is the highest or higher, the terminal device may transmit uplink data on the CG resource corresponding to SSB1, for example, select a CG resource (e.g., CG resource 1) from the first CG resource set to transmit the uplink data. Correspondingly, after configuring the CG resource for the terminal device, the access network device may attempt to receive on the configured CG resource using a corresponding beam. For example, the access network device may attempt to receive on CG resource 1 using receive beam 1′, so that the uplink data transmitted by the terminal device can be received. The receive beam 1′ has a high correlation degree with the transmit beam 1.

[0205] If the terminal device obtains through measurement that the measurement value of SSB2 is the highest or higher, the terminal device may transmit uplink data on a CG resource corresponding to SSB2, for example, select a CG resource (e.g., CG resource 2) from the second CG resource set to transmit the uplink data. Correspondingly, the access network device may attempt to receive on CG resource 2 using receive beam 2', so that the uplink data transmitted by the terminal device can be received. The receive beam 2' has a high correlation with the transmit beam 2. For example, the receive beam 2' may be the same as or similar to the transmit beam 2.

[0206] If the terminal device obtains through the measurement that the measurement value of SSB3 (or SSB4) is the highest or higher, the terminal device may transmit uplink data on the CG resource corresponding to SSB3 (or SSB4), for example, select a CG resource (e.g., CG resource 3) from the third CG resource set to transmit the uplink data. Correspondingly, the access network device may attempt to receive on the CG resource 3 using the receiving beam 3′, so that the uplink data transmitted by the terminal device can be received. The receiving beam 3′ has a high correlation degree with the transmitting beam 3 and the transmitting beam 4. Alternatively, the access network device may receive the uplink data on the CG resource 3 using the receiving beam 3a′ or the receiving beam 3b′. The receiving beam 3a′ has a high correlation degree with the transmitting beam 3, and the receiving beam 3b′ has a high correlation degree with the transmitting beam 4.

[0207] Using the correspondence shown in FIG. 12 as an example, when the terminal device obtains through measurement that the measurement value of SSB1 is the highest or higher, the terminal device may transmit uplink data on the CG resource corresponding to SSB1, for example, select a CG resource from the period i of the first resource set to transmit the uplink data, and / or select a CG resource from the period j and / or j+1 of the second resource set to transmit the uplink data. Correspondingly, the access network device may try to receive in the period i of the first resource set, the period j of the second resource set, and the period j+1 of the second resource set using the receiving beam 1′. Other cases are similar to the description of FIG. 11, and the details will not be described again.

[0208] Using the correspondence shown in Figure 13 as an example, if the terminal device obtains through measurement that the measurement value of SSB1 is the highest or higher, the terminal device may transmit uplink data on the CG resource corresponding to SSB1, for example, select the first CG resource in the period of the first CG resource set to transmit the uplink data. Correspondingly, the access network device may try to receive on the first CG resource in each period of the first resource set using the receiving beam 1'. Other cases are similar to the description of Figure 11, and the details will not be described again.

[0209] The number of CG resources corresponding to different downlink reference signals among the N downlink reference signals may be the same or different. For example, the N downlink reference signals include a downlink reference signal 1 and a downlink reference signal 2, and the number of CG resources corresponding to the downlink reference signal 1 may be the same as or different from the number of CG resources corresponding to the downlink reference signal 2.

[0210] Also, when the terminal device is in the RRC connected state, the serving beam may be maintained between the terminal device and the access network device through the beam management process. However, when the terminal device enters the RRC unconnected state, the probability that the terminal device is in the coverage of the serving beam is the highest, and the probability that the terminal device is in the coverage of other beams is low. Assuming that the serving beam is the beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal 1, the measurement value of the downlink reference signal 1 obtained by the terminal device through measurement is usually the largest when the terminal device is in the coverage of the serving beam. Therefore, the number of CG resources corresponding to the downlink reference signal 1 may be set to be equal to or greater than the number of CG resources corresponding to another downlink reference signal among the N downlink reference signals. In this way, the terminal device can use the CG resources to transmit uplink data when the terminal device is in the RRC unconnected state, reducing the spatial detection overhead of the access network device on the CG resources.

[0211] The number of CG resources corresponding to the downlink reference signal may include at least one of the number of sets, the number of periods, and the number of CG resources corresponding to the downlink reference signal, which is not specifically limited.

[0212] In this manner, the access network device may configure the M CG resources to correspond to the N downlink reference signals for the terminal device. Thus, when the terminal device transmits uplink data on the CG resources corresponding to the downlink reference signals, the access network device may receive the uplink data on the CG resources using the corresponding receiving beam, so that the reception performance of the access network device can be effectively improved. According to yet another aspect, when the access network device configures the M CG resources to correspond to the N downlink reference signals, the access network device may configure the correspondence based on multiple possible granularities, so that the terminal device has a high degree of freedom in selecting the CG resources, thereby facilitating data transmission in an RRC non-connected state.

[0213] EMBODIMENT 2 As described in embodiment 1, the access network device may configure the terminal device so that M CG resources correspond to N downlink reference signals. However, since the terminal device has mobility, after a certain time has passed, the above-mentioned correspondence configured by the access network device for the terminal device may not be appropriate, which may affect data transmission of the terminal device in an RRC non-connected state.

[0214] For example, the downlink reference signals transmitted by the access network device to the terminal device include downlink reference signal 1 (corresponding to transmission beam 1), downlink reference signal 2 (corresponding to transmission beam 2), downlink reference signal 3 (corresponding to transmission beam 3), and downlink reference signal 4 (corresponding to transmission beam 4). The access network device configures M1 CG resources to correspond to the downlink reference signal 1, M2 CG resources to correspond to the downlink reference signal 2, M3 CG resources to correspond to the downlink reference signal 3, and downlink reference signal 4 does not correspond to the CG resource. For example, in time period T1, the terminal device is in the coverage of transmission beam 1 and may further transmit uplink data to the access network device on the CG resource corresponding to the downlink reference signal 1. However, in time period T2, the terminal device may move to the coverage of transmission beam 4. Because the downlink reference signal 4 does not correspond to the CG resource, the terminal device cannot transmit uplink data using the CG resource, which affects the data transmission of the terminal device in the RRC non-connected state.

[0215] Based on this, the communication method provided in the second embodiment of this application may include the following steps: A terminal device receives first configuration information from an access network device, the first configuration information is for configuring M CG resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals, and after the terminal enters an unconnected state, may receive first reconfiguration information from the access network device, the first reconfiguration information is for updating the downlink reference signals corresponding to some or all of the M CG resources. M and N are positive integers. In this way, the access network device may send the reconfiguration information to the terminal device to update the downlink reference signals corresponding to some or all of the M CG resources. In this way, when the terminal device moves in an RRC unconnected state, the corresponding relationship between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal can be adjusted timely and flexibly, and the data transmission of the terminal device in the RRC unconnected state can be ensured.

[0216] Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 14, the communication method provided in the second embodiment of this application will be described in detail.

[0217] 14 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to a communication method according to Embodiment 2 of this application. As shown in FIG. 14, the method includes the following steps:

[0218] Optionally, at S1400, the terminal device enters an RRC connected state.

[0219] In S1401, the access network device sends first configuration information to the terminal device, where the first configuration information is for configuring M CG resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals.

[0220] Correspondingly, at S1402, the terminal device may receive first configuration information from the access network device.

[0221] Optionally, in S1403, the terminal device enters an RRC unconnected state.

[0222] Optionally, at S1404, the access network device transmits P downlink reference signals, where the P downlink reference signals may include N downlink reference signals.

[0223] Optionally, in S1405, the terminal device receives P downlink reference signals and measures the P downlink reference signals.

[0224] For specific implementations of S1400 to S1405, please refer to embodiment 1. The details will not be described again here.

[0225] Optionally, at S1406, the terminal device transmits first information to the access network device based on the measurement values ​​of the P downlink reference signals.

[0226] The first information may be for requesting an update of downlink reference signals corresponding to some or all of the M CG resources, or the first information may be for requesting an update of a correspondence relationship between the CG resources and the downlink reference signals. Alternatively, the first information may indicate a measurement value of one or more downlink reference signals of the P downlink reference signals. Alternatively, the first information may indicate a series of measurement values ​​of one or more downlink reference signals of the P downlink reference signals. Alternatively, the first information may indicate one or more downlink reference signals of the P downlink reference signals, where a measurement value of one or more downlink reference signals is greater than a measurement value of another reference signal, or a measurement value of one or more downlink reference signals is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0227] In this embodiment of the application, there may be multiple reasons for triggering the terminal device to transmit the first information to the access network device. For example, the P downlink reference signals include a first downlink reference signal and a second downlink reference signal, and further include other possible downlink reference signals. After the terminal device determines, based on the measurement values ​​of the P downlink reference signals, that the measurement value of the second downlink reference signal is greater than the measurement values ​​of other downlink reference signals among the P reference signals (i.e., the measurement value of the second downlink reference signal among the P downlink reference signals is the largest), the first information may be transmitted to the access network device if it is determined that at least one of the following cases 1 and 2 is satisfied. Case 1: The second downlink reference signal does not have a corresponding CG resource. In other words, the second downlink reference signal does not belong to the N downlink reference signals. Case 2: The number of CG resources corresponding to the second downlink reference signal is small. For example, the number of CG resources corresponding to the second downlink reference signal is smaller than the number of CG resources corresponding to another reference signal among the N downlink reference signals.

[0228] In this embodiment of the present application, there may be several specific manners for the terminal device to send the first information to the access network device. Three possible manners are described below:

[0229] (1) Implementation 1: The implementation is applicable to case 1 above.

[0230] The terminal device may select a first downlink reference signal from the N downlink reference signals based on the measurement values ​​of the N downlink reference signals, and transmit the first information to the access network device on the CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal. Optionally, the terminal device may further transmit uplink data to the access network device on the CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal. For a specific implementation of the terminal device selecting the first downlink reference signal from the N downlink reference signals, see the description in embodiment 1.

[0231] In an embodiment, the first information may include a measurement value of the first downlink reference signal and a measurement value of the second downlink reference signal. Alternatively, the first information may include an index of the second downlink reference signal (i.e., an index of the downlink reference signal having the largest measurement value among the P downlink reference signals). Alternatively, the first information may include the measurement values ​​of the P downlink reference signals. It can be understood that in this case, the terminal device explicitly requests to update the correspondence between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal.

[0232] (1) Implementation 2: The implementation is applicable to case 2 above.

[0233] As described above, the access network device may indicate the correspondence between the SSB and the random access resource to the terminal device. Thus, using an example in which the downlink reference signal is an SSB, the terminal device may initiate a random access process based on the random access resource corresponding to the second downlink reference signal, and transmit the first information to the access network device in the random access process. For example, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used in the random access process, or the first message is transmitted in the random access process. If the random access process is a two-step random access process, the first message is MsgA. If the random access process is a four-step random access process, the first message may be Msg1 or Msg3. Optionally, the terminal device may further transmit uplink data to the access network device via the random access process, for example, may transmit uplink data using MsgA or Msg3 in the random access process.

[0234] In an implementation, the first information may be a random access preamble. In this case, it will be understood that the terminal device is requesting an implicit update of the correspondence between the CG resources and the downlink reference signals. Alternatively, the first information may include measurements of the P downlink reference signals. In this case, it will be understood that the terminal device is requesting an explicit update of the correspondence between the CG resources and the downlink reference signals.

[0235] (2) Implementation 3: The implementation is applicable to case 3 above.

[0236] The terminal device may select a second downlink reference signal from the N downlink reference signals based on the measurements of the N downlink reference signals, and transmit the first information to the access network device on the CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal. Optionally, the terminal device may further transmit uplink data to the access network device on the CG resource corresponding to the second reference signal.

[0237] In an implementation, the first information may include measurements of the P downlink reference signals. It can be understood that in this case, the terminal device requests to explicitly update the correspondence between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal.

[0238] It should be noted that there may be multiple specific implementations in which the terminal device transmits the first information on the CG resource. For example, the terminal device may transmit a PUCCH on the CG resource, where the PUCCH includes the first information, and the PUCCH may be reused on a PUSCH on the CG resource. As another example, the terminal device may transmit a MAC control element (CE) on the CG resource, where the MAC CE includes the first information. As another example, the terminal device may transmit an RRC message on the CG resource, where the RRC message includes the first information.

[0239] Optionally, in S1407, the access network device receives first information and sends first reconfiguration information to the terminal device, where the first reconfiguration information is for updating downlink reference signals corresponding to some or all of the M CG resources.

[0240] Correspondingly, in S1408, the terminal device may receive first reconfiguration information.

[0241] For example, it is assumed that the first CG resource corresponds to the first downlink reference signal in the first configuration information. Using the above-mentioned embodiment 1, embodiment 2 or embodiment 3, when the access network device receives the first information transmitted by the terminal device, the first reconfiguration information transmitted by the access network device is for configuring the first CG resource to correspond to the second downlink reference signal. In this way, the terminal device may update the CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal to the CG resource corresponding to the second downlink reference signal after receiving the first reconfiguration information. Optionally, if the first configuration information also sets that the second CG resource corresponds to the second downlink reference signal, the first reconfiguration information may further set the second CG resource to correspond to the first downlink reference signal. In this way, the terminal device may further update the CG resource corresponding to the second downlink reference signal to the CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal after receiving the first reconfiguration information.

[0242] Additionally, in the above-mentioned implementation 1 or implementation 3, when the access network device receives the first information transmitted by the terminal device, the first reconfiguration information may be carried in a DCI, a MAC CE, or an RRC message. In a possible implementation, the DCI may include the second information, and the second information may include HARQ feedback information and / or scheduling information. The HARQ feedback information indicates whether the uplink data of the terminal device is successfully received (for example, after the terminal device transmits the uplink data to the access network device, the access network device may use the HARQ feedback information to inform the terminal device whether the uplink data is successfully received). The HARQ feedback information may be an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK). The scheduling information may be for scheduling subsequent uplink and downlink transmissions of the terminal device. For example, the scheduling information may be for scheduling a PUSCH or a PDSCH of the terminal device. In the above embodiment 2, when the access network device receives the first information sent by the terminal device, the first reconfiguration information is carried in the second message, and the second message is used in the above-mentioned random access process, or the second message is transmitted in the above-mentioned random access process. For example, the second message may be MsgB in the random access process, or may be Msg2 or Msg4 in the random access process.

[0243] The above describes an example in which the first reconfiguration information is for updating downlink reference signals corresponding to a part of the M CG resources. In another possible example, the first reconfiguration information may be for updating downlink reference signals corresponding to all of the M CG resources.

[0244] Hereinafter, the contents that may be included in the first reset information will be described with reference to several possible examples.

[0245] In one example, the M CG resources include CG resource 1, CG resource 2, CG resource 3, and CG resource 4, and the N downlink reference signals include SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, and SSB4. The first configuration information is configured such that CG resource 1 corresponds to SSB1, CG resource 2 corresponds to SSB2, CG resource 3 corresponds to SSB3, and CG resource 4 corresponds to SSB4. In this case, the first reconfiguration information may be 2 bits, and the value of the 2 bits indicates the number of cyclic shifts. For example, when the value of the 2 bits is "01", it indicates that one cyclic shift is performed. Specifically, CG resource 1 corresponds to SSB2, CG resource 2 corresponds to SSB3, CG resource 3 corresponds to SSB4, and CG resource 4 corresponds to SSB1. For example, when the value of the 2 bits is "10", it indicates that two cyclic shifts are performed. Specifically, CG resource 1 corresponds to SSB3, CG resource 2 corresponds to SSB4, CG resource 3 corresponds to SSB1, and CG resource 4 corresponds to SSB2. For example, when the value of the two bits is "11", it indicates that three cyclic shifts are performed. Specifically, CG resource 1 corresponds to SSB4, CG resource 2 corresponds to SSB1, CG resource 3 corresponds to SSB2, and CG resource 4 corresponds to SSB3. In this way, the first reconfiguration information has a small number of bits, so that it is easy to implement and downlink reference signals corresponding to multiple CG resources can be updated.

[0246] In yet another example, the contents included in the first reconfiguration information refer to the contents included in the first configuration information. The differences between the contents included in the first reconfiguration information and the contents included in the first configuration information are as follows. That is, the downlink reference signal corresponding to the CG resource set in the first reconfiguration information may be different from the downlink reference signal corresponding to the CG resource set in the first configuration information.

[0247] In yet another example, it is assumed that the first CG resource corresponds to the first downlink reference signal, and is configured in the first configuration information. Using the above-mentioned implementation 1, when the access network device receives the first information transmitted by the terminal device (i.e., the first information transmitted by the terminal device on the first CG resource), the first reconfiguration information transmitted by the access network device may include an index of a second downlink reference signal, and the index of the second downlink reference signal indicates that the downlink reference signal corresponding to the first CG resource (or all CG resources corresponding to the first downlink reference signal) has been updated to the second downlink reference signal.

[0248] It should be noted that step S1406 is an optional step. In other words, the terminal device may request the access network device to update the correspondence between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal by sending the first information. Then, the access network device sends the first reconfiguration information to the terminal device based on the request of the terminal device to update the correspondence between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal.

[0249] Alternatively, the access network device may proactively transmit the first reconfiguration information to update the correspondence between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal. In this case, the terminal device may not need to transmit the first information to the access network device. For example, when the terminal device selects a second downlink reference signal and transmits uplink data to the access network device on the CG resource corresponding to the second downlink reference signal, if the access network device determines that the number of CG resources corresponding to the second downlink reference signal is small, the first reconfiguration information may be proactively transmitted to increase the CG resource corresponding to the second downlink reference signal. For example, when the terminal device initiates a random access process based on the random access resource corresponding to the second downlink reference signal, the access network device may learn that the measurement value of the second downlink reference signal is maximum or larger, and the first reconfiguration information may be proactively transmitted to increase the CG resource corresponding to the second downlink reference signal.

[0250] It will be understood that if the access network device needs to update the correspondence between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal again after transmitting the first reconfiguration information to the terminal device, the access network device may then further transmit the second reconfiguration information to the terminal device to update the correspondence between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal.

[0251] In the above-mentioned scheme, the access network device may send reconfiguration information to the terminal device to update the correspondence between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal. In this way, when the terminal device moves in an RRC unconnected state, the correspondence between the CG resource and the downlink reference signal can be timely and flexibly adjusted, so that after selecting the current downlink reference signal, the terminal device has more CG resources for transmitting uplink data, and can ensure the data transmission of the terminal device in an RRC unconnected state.

[0252] EMBODIMENT 3 As described in embodiment 1 or embodiment 2, the access network device may configure the terminal device such that M CG resources correspond to N downlink reference signals. Based on this, embodiment 3 further considers a HARQ process ID corresponding to the CG resource.

[0253] In order to support parallel transmission of multiple data packets, data transmission may be performed between the terminal device and the access network device using multiple HARQ processes. It should be noted that parallel transmission is not equivalent to simultaneous transmission. The HARQ process may include the entire process from the first transmission until an ACK is finally received (in other words, information indicating that the receiver has confirmed that the data packet was correctly received) or may include the entire process from the first transmission until the maximum number of retransmissions is exceeded. Optionally, the two processes may include the processes of receiving a NACK, sending a retransmission, etc. The entire process may be marked by using a HARQ process identifier. In this way, since the HARQ process identifiers of the first transmission and the retransmission are the same, a relationship can be set up between the initially transmitted data packet and the retransmitted data packet, which can facilitate the correct reception of the receiver. When multiple HARQ processes are used between the terminal device and the access network device, it means that there may be multiple such processes in parallel. That is, when a HARQ process does not end, another HARQ process may be executed simultaneously.

[0254] In dynamic scheduling data transmission, the access network device may schedule the PUSCH / PDSCH using DCI, and the DCI may include a field indicating a HARQ process identifier. For example, 4 bits may indicate a HARQ process identifier (the HARQ process identifier ranges from 0 to 15) to mark the HARQ process identifier of the data packet transmitted on the PUSCH / PDSCH. However, in data transmission based on CG resources, there is no DCI for dynamic scheduling. Therefore, there is no way to dynamically determine the HARQ process identifier between the access network device and the terminal device. In this case, the scheme for determining the HARQ process identifier is as follows. That is, the HARQ process identifier of the data packet is determined based on the start time position (e.g., the start symbol) of the CG resource carrying the data packet. Specifically, the HARQ process identifier of the data packet may be determined between the terminal device and the access network device using the following formula:

number

[0255] Please refer to Table 1 for the meaning of each parameter in the above formula. [Table 1]

[0256] In the above-mentioned method for determining a HARQ process identifier, from the perspective of a CG resource, the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the CG resource in one period is generally the same, and the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the CG resource in an adjacent period may be different.

[0257] For example, it is assumed that the access network device configures a CG resource set for the terminal device, and a correspondence relationship between the CG resource set and the downlink reference signal. The correspondence relationship between the CG resource set and the downlink reference signal is as follows: see FIG. 15. SSB1 corresponds to period 1, SSB2 corresponds to period 2, SSB3 corresponds to period 3, SSB4 corresponds to period 4, SSB1 corresponds to period 5, SSB2 corresponds to period 6, SSB3 corresponds to period 7, and SSB4 corresponds to period 8. It is further assumed that each system frame includes 10 slots, each slot includes 14 symbols, the length of each period is 1 slot, the frame number of the system frame including the first CG resource in period 1 is 0, the slot to which the first CG resource belongs is slot 0, the start symbol to which the first CG resource belongs is 0, the total number of HARQ processes is 16, and the value of harq-ProcID-Offset2 is 0.

[0258] In this case, for a CG resource in period 1 (eg, the first CG resource in period 1), the corresponding HARQ process identifier may be obtained as follows:

number

[0259] For a CG resource in period 2 (eg, the first CG resource in period 2), the corresponding HARQ process identifier may be obtained as follows:

number

[0260] For a CG resource in period 3 (eg, the first CG resource in period 3), the corresponding HARQ process identifier may be obtained as follows:

number

[0261] For a CG resource in period 4 (eg, the first CG resource in period 4), the corresponding HARQ process identifier may be obtained as follows:

number

[0262] The rest is inferred by analogy.

[0263] For the CG resource in period 5, the corresponding HARQ process identifier may be obtained as follows: HARQ process ID=4.

[0264] For the CG resource in period 6, the corresponding HARQ process identifier may be obtained as follows: HARQ process ID=5.

[0265] For the CG resource in period 7, the corresponding HARQ process identifier may be obtained as follows: HARQ process ID=6.

[0266] For the CG resource in period 8, the corresponding HARQ process identifier may be obtained as follows: HARQ process ID=7.

[0267] However, in some possible scenarios, some problems may occur when the above calculation method for HARQ process identifier is used. For example, in the above example, it is assumed that the measurement values ​​of SSB3 and SSB4 in SSB1 to SSB4 are all equal to or greater than the first threshold, and specifically, the terminal device may transmit uplink data on the CG resource corresponding to SSB3 or the CG resource corresponding to SSB4. If the terminal device finds that a HARQ process with a HARQ process ID equal to 3 is available, the terminal device can only select to transmit uplink data on the CG resource corresponding to SSB4, since the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the CG resource in period 4 is 3. However, the CG resource corresponding to SSB3 cannot transmit uplink data. Therefore, the selection of the CG resource by the terminal device is limited, and the transmission delay of the uplink data increases.

[0268] On this basis, in embodiment 3 of this application, for one CG resource among the M CG resources, a HARQ process identifier corresponding to the CG resource is obtained based on a first offset, and the first offset may be determined based on a downlink reference signal corresponding to the CG resource. For example, the first offset may be set by an access network device for a downlink reference signal corresponding to the CG resource.

[0269] In one example, the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the CG resource may be determined using the following formula:

number

[0270] harq-ProcID-offset-forSSB-n is the first offset.

[0271] For example, in the above example, offset 1, offset 2, offset 3, and offset 4 are introduced. Offset 1 may be determined based on SSB 1, e.g., offset 1=3. Offset 2 may be determined based on SSB 2, e.g., offset 2=2. Offset 3 may be determined based on SSB 3, e.g., offset 3=1. Offset 4 may be determined based on SSB 4, e.g., offset 4=0. In this case,

[0272] For the CG resource in period 1, the corresponding HARQ process identifier may be obtained as follows: HARQ process ID=3.

[0273] For the CG resource in period 2, the corresponding HARQ process identifier may be obtained as follows: HARQ process ID=3.

[0274] For the CG resource in period 3, the corresponding HARQ process identifier may be obtained as follows: HARQ process ID=3.

[0275] For the CG resource in period 4, the corresponding HARQ process identifier may be obtained as follows: HARQ process ID=3.

[0276] In this way, when the terminal device may transmit uplink data on a CG resource corresponding to SSB3 or a CG resource corresponding to SSB4, if the terminal device finds that a HARQ process with a HARQ process ID equal to 3 is available, the terminal device may select to transmit uplink data on a CG resource corresponding to SSB3 or may select to transmit uplink data on a CG resource corresponding to SSB4, thereby increasing the number of CG resources corresponding to the HARQ process identifier, i.e., the selection opportunities of the terminal device are increased, thereby facilitating reducing the transmission delay of uplink data.

[0277] Furthermore, when the terminal device transmits the initially transmitted data packet using a HARQ process and does not receive an ACK fed back from the access network device, the terminal device may perform retransmission using the HARQ process one or more times. In order to avoid resource waste caused by excessive retransmission by the terminal device, in a third embodiment of the present invention, the access network device may send second configuration information to the terminal device, where the second configuration information is for setting the maximum retransmission number of the HARQ process corresponding to the HARQ process identifier and / or the effective duration of the HARQ process corresponding to the HARQ process identifier. There may be multiple ways for the access network device to send the second configuration information to the terminal device. This is not limited in this embodiment of this application. For example, the access network device may use the same message to send the first configuration information and the second configuration information to the terminal device. In this way, after the terminal device finds that, for a HARQ process identifier, the retransmission count of the HARQ process corresponding to the HARQ process identifier reaches the maximum retransmission count or the duration of the HARQ process corresponding to the HARQ process identifier reaches the valid duration, the terminal device may discard the HARQ process. Optionally, the terminal device may initiate a random access process to the access network device to enter an RRC connected state, and may perform data transmission based on the random access.

[0278] In the first to third embodiments, please note the following.

[0279] (1) The first and second embodiments may be implemented separately, and the third embodiment may be implemented in combination with the first embodiment, or in combination with the second embodiment.

[0280] (2) The above focuses on the differences between the first and third embodiments. For contents other than the differences, the first to third embodiments may be mutually referred to.

[0281] (3) The step numbers of the flowcharts described in the first and second embodiments are merely examples for performing the procedures and do not constitute limitations on the order for performing the steps. In the embodiments of this application, there is no strict order of execution between steps that do not have a chronological dependency on each other. Additionally, not all steps shown in the flowcharts are essential steps, and some steps may be added to or deleted from the flowcharts based on actual requirements.

[0282] The foregoing mainly describes the solutions provided in the embodiments of this application from the perspective of the interaction between the access network device and the terminal device. It will be understood that in order to implement the aforementioned functions, the terminal device includes corresponding hardware structures and / or software modules for performing the functions. Those skilled in the art should easily recognize that in the embodiments of this application, the units and algorithm steps in the examples described with reference to the embodiments disclosed in this specification can be implemented by hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether the functions are performed by hardware or by hardware driven by computer software depends on the specific application and the design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions of each specific application, and such implementation should not be considered to go beyond the scope of this application.

[0283] In the embodiment of this application, the terminal device may be divided into functional units based on the above-mentioned method examples. For example, each functional module may be obtained through division based on each corresponding function, or two or more functions 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.

[0284] When an integrated unit is used, FIG. 16 is a possible schematic block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of this application. As shown in FIG. 16, the apparatus 1600 may include a processing unit 1602 and a communication unit 1603. The processing unit 1602 is configured to control and manage actions of the apparatus 1600. The communication unit 1603 is configured to support communication between the apparatus 1600 and other devices. Optionally, the communication unit 1603 may include a receiving unit and / or a transmitting unit, also called a transceiver unit, configured to perform receiving and transmitting operations, respectively. The apparatus 1600 may further include a storage unit 1601 configured to store program codes and / or data of the apparatus 1600.

[0285] The apparatus 1600 may be the terminal device in the above embodiment, or may be a chip disposed in the terminal device. The processing unit 1602 may assist the apparatus 1600 in performing the actions of the terminal device in the above method example. Alternatively, in the method example, the processing unit 1602 may mainly perform the internal actions of the terminal device, and the communication unit 1603 may support the communication between the apparatus 1600 and other devices.

[0286] The details are as follows: In one embodiment, the communication unit 1603 is configured to receive first configuration information from an access network device, the first configuration information being for configuring M configured grant CG resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals, and the M CG resources are used by the terminal device to transmit uplink information when the terminal is in an unconnected state, and receive first reconfiguration information from the access network device after the terminal enters an unconnected state, the first reconfiguration information being for updating the downlink reference signals corresponding to some or all of the M CG resources, where M and N are positive integers.

[0287] The apparatus 1600 may be an access network device in the above-mentioned embodiment, or may be a chip disposed in the access network device. The processing unit 1602 may support the apparatus 1600 in performing the actions of the access network device in the above-mentioned method example. Alternatively, in the method example, the processing unit 1602 may mainly perform the internal actions of the network device, and the communication unit 1603 may support the communication between the apparatus 1600 and other devices.

[0288] Specifically, in one embodiment, the communication unit 1603 is configured to: send first configuration information to the terminal device, where the first configuration information is for configuring M configured grant CG resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals, and the M CG resources are for receiving uplink information from the terminal device when the terminal is in an unconnected state; and send first reconfiguration information to the terminal device after the terminal enters an unconnected state, where the first reconfiguration information is for updating the downlink reference signals corresponding to some or all of the M CG resources, where M and N are positive integers.

[0289] The division into units in the device is merely a division of logical functions. In actual implementation, all or some of the units may be integrated into one physical entity or may be physically separated. Additionally, each unit in the device of the present invention may be implemented in a form in which software is called through a processing element, or may be implemented in a form in which all of the units are implemented in hardware, or some units may be implemented in a form in which software is called through a processing element, or some units may be implemented in a form in which some units are implemented in hardware. For example, each unit may be a processing element disposed separately, or may be integrated into a chip of the device for implementation. Additionally, each unit may alternatively be stored in a memory in the form of a program that is called by a processing element of the device to execute the function of the unit. Additionally, all or some of the units may be integrated or implemented independently. Here, the processing element is also called a processor, and may be an integrated circuit having a signal processing capability. In the implementation process, the operations in the above-mentioned method or unit may be implemented using a hardware integrated logic circuit in the processor element, or may be implemented in a form in which the processor element calls the software.

[0290] In one embodiment, any one of the aforementioned units in the apparatus may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the aforementioned method, such as one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), one or more microprocessors (digital signaling processors (DSPs)), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. In another example, the processing element may be a processor, such as a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU) or another processor that can call a program, when the unit in the apparatus may be implemented in a form in which the processing element schedules a program. In yet another example, the unit may be integrated and implemented in a form of a system-on-a-chip (SoC).

[0291] Said unit configured to receive is an interface circuit of the device and is configured to receive a signal from another device. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit of the chip and configured to receive a signal from another chip or device. Said unit configured to transmit is an interface circuit of the device and is configured to transmit a signal to another device. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit of the chip and configured to transmit a signal to another chip or device.

[0292] FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a terminal device according to an embodiment of this application. The terminal device may be a terminal device in the above-mentioned embodiment, and is configured to implement the operation of the terminal device in the above-mentioned embodiment. As shown in FIG. 17, the terminal device includes an antenna 1710, a radio frequency unit 1720, and a signal processing unit 1730. The antenna 1710 is connected to the radio frequency unit 1720. In the downlink direction, the radio frequency unit 1720 receives information transmitted by the network device using the antenna 1710, and transmits the information transmitted by the network device to the signal processing unit 1730 for processing. In the uplink direction, the signal processing unit 1730 processes the information of the terminal device and transmits the information to the radio frequency unit 1720. The radio frequency unit 1720 processes the information of the terminal device and transmits the information to the network device using the antenna 1710.

[0293] The signal processing unit 1730 may include a modem subsystem configured to process data of each communication protocol layer, may further include a central processing subsystem configured to process the operating system and application layers of the terminal device, and may additionally include other subsystems, such as a multimedia subsystem and a peripheral subsystem. The multimedia subsystem is configured to control the camera and screen display of the terminal device, and the peripheral subsystem is configured to connect to another device. The modem subsystem may be a separately disposed chip.

[0294] The modem subsystem may include one or more processing elements 1731, including, for example, a main control CPU and another integrated circuit. Additionally, the modem subsystem may further include a storage element 1732 and an interface circuit 1733. The storage element 1732 is configured to store data and programs. However, the programs used to execute the methods performed by the terminal device in the above-mentioned methods may not be stored in the storage element 1732, but may be stored in a memory outside the modem subsystem and loaded and used by the modem subsystem when used. The interface circuit 1733 is configured to communicate with another subsystem.

[0295] The modem subsystem may be implemented using a chip. The chip includes at least one processing element and an interface circuit. The processing element is configured to execute any method steps performed by the terminal device, and the interface circuit is configured to communicate with another apparatus. In one embodiment, the unit used by the terminal device to implement the steps in the aforementioned method may be implemented in the form of scheduling a program by the processing element. For example, an apparatus for a terminal device includes a processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls a program stored in the storage element to execute the method performed by the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The storage element may be a storage element located on the same chip as the processing element, i.e. an on-chip storage element.

[0296] In another implementation, the programs used to execute the methods executed by the terminal device in the above-mentioned methods may be in a storage element located on a different chip than the processing element, i.e., an off-chip storage element, in which case the processing element calls or loads the programs from the off-chip storage element to the on-chip storage element to call and execute the methods executed by the corresponding terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0297] In one implementation, the units used by the terminal device to implement the steps of the aforementioned method may be configured as one or more processing elements, which may be disposed on a modem subsystem, which may be integrated circuits, such as one or more ASICs, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, or a combination of these integrated circuits, which may be integrated together to form a chip.

[0298] The units used by the terminal device to implement the steps of the above-mentioned method may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a SOC. The SOC chip is configured to implement the above-mentioned communication method. At least one processing element and a storage element may be integrated into the chip, and the processing element calls a program stored in the storage element to implement the above-mentioned method executed by the terminal device. Alternatively, at least one integrated circuit may be integrated into the chip and configured to implement the above-mentioned method executed by the terminal device. Alternatively, with reference to the above-mentioned embodiment, the functions of some units are implemented in the form of a program called by the processing element, and the functions of some units are implemented in the form of an integrated circuit.

[0299] It is understood that the apparatus for the terminal device may include at least one processing element and an interface circuit, and the at least one processing element is configured to execute any of the methods executed by the terminal device provided in the above-mentioned method embodiments. The processing element may be a first manner. In other words, some or all of the steps executed by the terminal device are executed in a manner of calling a program stored in a storage element. Alternatively, the processing element may be a second manner. In other words, some or all of the steps executed by the terminal device are executed using integrated logic circuits of hardware in the processor element in combination with instructions. Of course, some or all of the steps executed by the terminal device may also be executed with reference to the first manner and the second manner.

[0300] The processing element here may be the same as that described above and may be implemented using a processor. The functionality of the processing element may be the same as that of the processing unit described in FIG. 16. For example, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, e.g., a CPU, or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above-mentioned method, e.g., one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors (DSPs), one or more FPGAs, or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. The storage element may be implemented using a memory. The functionality of the processing element may be the same as that of the storage unit described in FIG. 16. The storage element may be one memory or may be a collective term for multiple memories.

[0301] The terminal device shown in FIG. 17 can implement all the processes of the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiments. The operations and / or functions of all the modules in the terminal device shown in FIG. 17 are for implementing the corresponding procedures in the above-mentioned method embodiments, respectively. For details, please refer to the descriptions in the above-mentioned method embodiments. In order to avoid repetition, detailed descriptions are appropriately omitted in this specification.

[0302] FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an access network device according to an embodiment of this application. The access network device (or base station) may be used in the system architecture shown in FIG. 1 to perform the functions of the access network device in the embodiment of the aforementioned method. The access network device 180 may include one or more DUs 1801 and one or more CUs 1802. The DU 1801 may include at least one antenna 18011, at least one radio frequency unit 18012, at least one processor 18013, and at least one memory 18014. The DU 1801 is mainly configured to receive and transmit radio frequency signals, perform conversion between radio frequency signals and baseband signals, and perform partial baseband processing. The CU 1802 may include at least one processor 18022 and at least one memory 18021.

[0303] The CU1802 is mainly configured to perform baseband processing, control of the access network device, etc. The DU1801 and the CU1802 may be physically arranged together or physically separated, that is, the base station is a distributed base station. The CU1802 is a control center of the access network device, also called a processing unit, and is mainly configured to complete baseband processing functions. For example, the CU1802 may be configured to control the access network device to perform operation procedures related to the access network device in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0304] Additionally, optionally, the access network device 180 may include one or more radio frequency units, one or more DUs, and one or more CUs. The DU may include at least one processor 18013 and at least one memory 18014, the radio frequency unit may include at least one antenna 18011 and at least one radio frequency unit 18012, and the CU may include at least one processor 18022 and at least one memory 18021.

[0305] In one embodiment, the CU 1802 may include one or more boards. The boards may jointly support a radio access network having a single access indication (e.g., a 5G network) or may separately support radio access networks having different access standards (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or another network). The memory 18021 and the processor 18022 may provide one or more boards. In other words, the memory and the processor may be disposed on each board. Alternatively, the boards may share the same memory and the same processor. Additionally, the necessary circuitry is further disposed on each board. The processor 1801 may include one or more boards. The boards may jointly support a radio access network having a single access indication (e.g., a 5G network) or may separately support radio access networks having different access standards (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or another network). The memory 18014 and the processor 18013 may provide one or more boards. In other words, the memory and processor may be disposed on each board. Alternatively, multiple boards may share the same memory and the same processor. Additionally, necessary circuitry may also be disposed on each board.

[0306] The access network device shown in FIG. 18 can implement all the processes of the access network device in the above-mentioned method embodiments. The operations and / or functions of all the modules in the access network device shown in FIG. 18 are for implementing the corresponding procedures in the above-mentioned method embodiments, respectively. For details, please refer to the description in the method embodiments. In order to avoid repetition, details are omitted in this specification as appropriate.

[0307] Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of this application may be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Thus, this application may take the form of a hardware-only embodiment, a software-only embodiment, or an embodiment having a combination of software and hardware. Furthermore, this application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk memory, CD-ROM, optical memory, etc.) containing computer usable program code.

[0308] This application is described with reference to flowcharts and / or block diagrams of methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to this application. It is understood that each process and / or each block in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, and combinations of processes and / or blocks in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, may be implemented using computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, an embedded processor, or another programmable data processing device to produce a machine, such that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or another programmable data processing device produce an apparatus for implementing a particular function in one or more processes of the flowcharts and / or one or more blocks of the block diagrams.

[0309] These computer program instructions may be stored in a computer readable memory that can direct a computer or another programmable data processing device to operate in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable memory generate an artifact that includes an instruction apparatus that implements a particular function in one or more processes in the flowcharts and / or one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0310] These computer program instructions may be loaded into a computer or another programmable data processing device such that a sequence of operation steps are executed on the computer or another programmable device, thereby generating a computer-implemented process. Thus, the instructions executed on the computer or another programmable device provide steps for implementing a particular function in one or more processes in the flowcharts and / or one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0311] It is obvious that a person skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to this application without departing from the spirit and scope of this application. This application intends to cover these modifications and variations of this application, provided that they fall within the scope of protection defined by the following claims and their equivalent technologies.

Claims

1. 1. A communication method comprising: receiving first configuration information from an access network device, the first configuration information being for configuring M configuration grant (CG) resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals, the M CG resources being used by the terminal device to transmit uplink information when the terminal device is in an unconnected state; receiving P downlink reference signals from the access network device, the P downlink reference signals including the N downlink reference signals, P being a positive integer and greater than N; transmitting first information to the access network device based on measurements of the P downlink reference signals; receiving first reconfiguration information from the access network device when the terminal device is in the unconnected state, the first reconfiguration information being for updating downlink reference signals corresponding to some or all of the M CG resources; A method wherein M and N are positive integers.

2. The M CG resources correspond to N downlink reference signals, the M CG resources belong to one or more CG resource sets, each CG resource belongs to one of the CG resource sets, and each CG resource set corresponds to one or more downlink reference signals among the N downlink reference signals; The M CG resources are in one or more periods, each CG resource in one of the periods, each period corresponding to one or more downlink reference signals of the N downlink reference signals; and wherein one or more CG resources in the M CG resources correspond to one or more downlink reference signals in the N downlink reference signals.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the non-connected state indicates an RRC idle state.

4. The N downlink reference signals include a first downlink reference signal; The method comprises: The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising transmitting the first information to the access network device on a CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal.

5. The method comprises:

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: transmitting uplink data to the access network device on a CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal.

6. 6. The method of claim 4 or 5, wherein a measurement value of the first downlink reference signal is greater than or equal to a first threshold, or the measurement value of the first downlink reference signal is greater than or equal to measurement values ​​of other downlink reference signals among the N downlink reference signals.

7. the P downlink reference signals include a second downlink reference signal, and a measurement value of the second downlink reference signal is greater than the measurement value of the first downlink reference signal; the first information includes a measurement value of the first downlink reference signal and the measurement value of the second downlink reference signal; the first information includes an index of the second downlink reference signal; or The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the first information comprises measurements of the P downlink reference signals.

8. the M CG resources include a first CG resource, and the first configuration information is for configuring the first CG resource and for configuring the first CG resource to correspond to the first downlink reference signal; The method of claim 7 , wherein the first reconfiguration information is for configuring the first CG resource to correspond to the second downlink reference signal.

9. The M CG resources further include a second CG resource, and the first configuration information is for configuring the second CG resource and for configuring the second CG resource to correspond to the second downlink reference signal; The method of claim 8 , wherein the first reconfiguration information is further for configuring the second CG resource to correspond to the first downlink reference signal.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the first reconfiguration information is carried in a Downlink Control Information (DCI), a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE), or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message.

11. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the DCI further comprises second information, the second information comprising HARQ feedback information and / or scheduling information, the HARQ feedback information indicating whether uplink data of the terminal device has been successfully received, and the scheduling information for scheduling a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) or a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) of the terminal device.

12. the P downlink reference signals include a third downlink reference signal; The method includes initiating a random access process based on a random access resource corresponding to the third downlink reference signal; The method of claim 1 , wherein the first information is carried in a first message, the first message being used in a random access process.

13. the M CG resources include a third CG resource, and the first configuration information is for configuring the third CG resource and for configuring the third CG resource to correspond to a fourth downlink reference signal; The method of claim 12 , wherein the first reconfiguration information is for configuring the third CG resource to correspond to the third downlink reference signal.

14. the M CG resources include a fourth CG resource, and the first configuration information is for configuring the fourth CG resource and for configuring the fourth CG resource to correspond to the third downlink reference signal; The method of claim 13 , wherein the first reconfiguration information is further for configuring the fourth CG resource to correspond to the fourth downlink reference signal.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the first reconfiguration information is carried in a second message, the second message being used in the random access process.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein the M CG resources include a fifth CG resource, and a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier corresponding to the fifth CG resource is obtained based on a first offset, and the first offset is determined based on a downlink reference signal corresponding to the fifth CG resource.

17. The method further comprises:

17. The method of claim 16, comprising: receiving second configuration information from the access network device, the second configuration information being for configuring a maximum number of retransmissions of an HARQ process corresponding to the HARQ process identifier and / or a validity period of the HARQ process corresponding to the HARQ process identifier.

18. 1. A communication method comprising: transmitting first configuration information to a terminal device, the first configuration information being for configuring M configuration grant (CG) resources to correspond to N downlink reference signals, the M CG resources being for receiving uplink information from the terminal device when the terminal device is in an unconnected state; transmitting P downlink reference signals, the P downlink reference signals including the N downlink reference signals, P being a positive integer and greater than N; receiving first information from the terminal device; transmitting first reconfiguration information to the terminal device when the terminal device is in the unconnected state, the first reconfiguration information being for updating a downlink reference signal corresponding to a part or all of the M CG resources; A method wherein M and N are positive integers.

19. The M CG resources correspond to N downlink reference signals, the M CG resources belong to one or more CG resource sets, each CG resource belongs to one of the CG resource sets, and each CG resource set corresponds to one or more downlink reference signals among the N downlink reference signals; The M CG resources are in one or more periods, each CG resource is in one of the periods, and each period corresponds to one or more downlink reference signals of the N downlink reference signals; 20. The method of claim 18, comprising at least one of: one or more CG resources in the M CG resources corresponding to one or more downlink reference signals in the N downlink reference signals.

20. Transmitting the first reconfiguration information to the terminal device includes:

20. The method of claim 18 or 19, comprising: transmitting the first reconfiguration information to the terminal device based on the first information.

21. The N downlink reference signals include a first downlink reference signal; The method comprises: The method according to any one of claims 18 to 20, further comprising receiving the first information from the terminal device on a CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal.

22. The method further comprises:

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving uplink data from the terminal device on a CG resource corresponding to the first downlink reference signal.

23. 23. The method of claim 21 or 22, wherein a measurement value of the first downlink reference signal is greater than or equal to a first threshold, or a measurement value of the first downlink reference signal is greater than or equal to measurements of other downlink reference signals among the N downlink reference signals.

24. the P downlink reference signals include a second downlink reference signal; The first information includes a measurement value of the first downlink reference signal and a measurement value of the second downlink reference signal, and the measurement value of the second downlink reference signal is greater than the measurement value of the first downlink reference signal; the first information includes an index of the second downlink reference signal; or The method according to any one of claims 21 to 23, wherein the first information comprises measurements of the P downlink reference signals.

25. the M CG resources include a first CG resource, and the first configuration information is for configuring the first CG resource and for configuring the first CG resource to correspond to the first downlink reference signal; The method of claim 24, wherein the first reconfiguration information is for configuring the first CG resource to correspond to the second downlink reference signal.

26. The M CG resources further include a second CG resource, and the first configuration information is for configuring the second CG resource and for configuring the second CG resource to correspond to the second downlink reference signal; The method of claim 25, wherein the first reconfiguration information is further for configuring the second CG resource to correspond to the first downlink reference signal.

27. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 26, wherein the first reconfiguration information is carried in a DCI, a MAC CE, or an RRC message.

28. 28. The method of claim 27, wherein the DCI further includes second information, the second information including HARQ feedback information and / or scheduling information, the HARQ feedback information indicating whether uplink data of the terminal device has been successfully received, and the scheduling information is for scheduling a PUSCH or a PDSCH of the terminal device.

29. The P downlink reference signals include a third downlink reference signal, 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first information is carried in a first message, the first message is used in a random access process, and a random access resource used in the random access process is a random access resource corresponding to the third downlink reference signal.

30. the M CG resources include a third CG resource, and the first configuration information is for configuring the third CG resource and for configuring the third CG resource to correspond to a fourth downlink reference signal; 30. The method of claim 29, wherein the first reconfiguration information is for configuring the third CG resource to correspond to the third downlink reference signal.

31. the M CG resources further include a fourth CG resource, and the first configuration information is for configuring the fourth CG resource and for configuring the fourth CG resource to correspond to the third downlink reference signal; The method of claim 30, wherein the first reconfiguration information is further for configuring the fourth CG resource to correspond to the fourth downlink reference signal.

32. The method according to any one of claims 29 to 31, wherein the first reconfiguration information is carried in a second message, the second message being used in the random access process.

33. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 32, wherein the M CG resources include a fifth CG resource, and a HARQ process identifier corresponding to the fifth CG resource is obtained based on a first offset, and the first offset is determined based on a downlink reference signal corresponding to the fifth CG resource.

34. The method comprises:

34. The method of claim 33, comprising: transmitting second configuration information to the terminal device, the second configuration information being for configuring a maximum number of retransmissions of an HARQ process corresponding to the HARQ process identifier and / or a validity period of the HARQ process corresponding to the HARQ process identifier.

35. A communication device, comprising a module adapted to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

36. A communication device, comprising a module adapted to carry out the method according to any one of claims 18 to 34.

37. A computer readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions, the computer program or instructions implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17 or the method according to any one of claims 18 to 34 when executed by a communication device.

38. A communication system comprising: a communication device according to claim 35; and a communication device according to claim 36.

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