Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and a communication apparatus. The communication method comprises: a sending end sends an MAC sub-PDU to a receiving end, wherein an RRC message comprised in the MAC sub-PDU comprises one or more of a UL CCCH message, a UL CCCH1 message, or a UL DCCH message. Specifically, the header of the MAC sub-PDU comprises an LCID domain, and the sending end can transmit indication information for assisting in communication by means of the LCID domain. In addition, the MAC sub-PDU further comprises a first domain, and when the value of the first domain is different, meaning represented by the LCID domain is determined on the basis of different LCID tables. The first domain is carried in the MAC sub-PDU, so that the meaning represented by the LCID domain can be determined on the basis of the value of the first domain and the value of the LCID domain, without independently depending on the value of the LCID domain, and thus more pieces of indication information can be indicated by means of the LCID domain, improving the user experience.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on August 11, 2023, with application number 202311017692.6 and application name “Communication Method and Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a communication method and apparatus. Background Art

[0003] In wireless communications, a transmitter and receiver may exchange some indication information to assist in communication, such as information indicating the device type and information indicating the logical channel. This indication information may be carried in messages at various protocol layers, including but not limited to radio resource control (RRC) messages or media access control (MAC) packets. When the indication information is carried in a MAC packet, it may be carried in the header of a MAC packet data unit (PDU), a MAC service data unit (SDU), or a MAC control element (CE).

[0004] Indication information can be indicated using the LCID field in the MAC PDU header. However, as standards evolve, more and more content that needs to be indicated is introduced, and the existing LCID indication method is no longer sufficient. Therefore, how to indicate more content using the existing fields has become an urgent problem to be solved.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a communication method that can indicate more indication information through existing fields, enrich the service types of terminal devices and improve user experience.

[0007] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a sending end, wherein the sending end can be a terminal device, a network device, or a chip of a terminal device, a chip of a network device, etc., without limitation.

[0008] The communication method includes: determining a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, the MAC sub-PDU including an RRC message, the RRC message including an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU including a logical channel identifier LCID field, the MAC sub-PDU including a first field; sending the MAC sub-PDU; wherein, when the first field takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined according to different LCID tables.

[0009] Based on the above scheme, the MAC sub-PDU determined by the sending end includes, in addition to the LCID field, a first field that affects the meaning represented by the LCID field. Specifically, the value of the first field is used to indicate which LCID table the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined based on, so that the meaning represented by the LCID field can be determined based on the value of the first field and the value of the LCID field, and no longer depends solely on the value of the LCID field, so that more indication information can be indicated by the LCID field. For example, in this scheme, there can be multiple LCID tables that represent the value of the LCID field and the meaning represented by the LCID field. When actually determining the meaning represented by the LCID field, the LCID table used can be determined based on the value of the first field, and then the meaning represented by the LCID field can be determined based on the value of the LCID field and the determined LCID table. Compared with determining the meaning represented by the LCID field based solely on the value of the LCID field, more indication information is indicated by the LCID field. Furthermore, expanding the information that the LCID field can indicate can enrich the service types of the terminal device and improve the user experience.

[0010] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field, including: the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes the first field; or the RRC message includes the first field.

[0011] Based on the above scheme, the first domain can be carried in the header of the MAC sub-PDU, or it can also be carried in the RRC message in the MAC sub-PDU. This scheme does not limit the specific carrying method of the first domain. It can be used as a domain in the header of the MAC sub-PDU or as a domain in the RRC message in the MAC sub-PDU, thereby improving the flexibility of the scheme.

[0012] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the LCID table is a correspondence between the index value of the LCID field and the meaning represented by the index value of the LCID field.

[0013] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, before sending the MAC sub-PDU, the method further includes: determining whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU.

[0014] Based on the above solution, before sending a MAC sub-PDU to a receiving end, the sending end can determine that the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU, thereby avoiding the MAC sub-PDU sent to the receiving end not being correctly parsed by the receiving end, resulting in communication errors.

[0015] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, determining whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU includes: receiving indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU; or, determining whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU based on whether the receiving end supports the characteristics indicated by the MAC sub-PDU.

[0016] Based on the above solution, the transmitting end can determine whether the receiving end can parse the MAC sub-PDU by using an indication sent by the receiving end. Alternatively, the receiving end can determine whether the receiving end supports parsing the corresponding MAC sub-PDU based on the features supported by the receiving end without explicitly sending an indication indicating whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU. In this solution, the transmitting end can determine whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU to be sent in different ways, thereby increasing the flexibility of the solution.

[0017] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the indication information is carried in dedicated signaling, multicast signaling, or broadcast signaling.

[0018] Based on the above solution, the receiving end may send the indication information to the sending end in the form of broadcast, multicast or unicast, which is not limited in this solution.

[0019] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, sending the MAC sub-PDU includes: sending the MAC sub-PDU during a random access process.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, if the first field is carried in the header of the MAC sub-PDU, the size of the header of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the size of the LCID field is 6 bits, and the size of the first field is 1 or 2 bits.

[0021] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, if the first field is carried in the RRC message in the MAC sub-PDU, the size of the header of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, and the header of the MAC sub-PDU also includes two reserved fields, the size of the LCID field is 6 bits, and the size of each of the reserved fields is 1 bit.

[0022] Based on the above scheme, the size of the header of the above MAC sub-PDU is one byte, that is, the scheme can indicate more indication information through the LCID field without increasing the size of the MAC sub-PDU. Furthermore, expanding the information that the LCID field can indicate can enrich the service types of the terminal device and improve the user experience.

[0023] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be performed by a receiving end, wherein the transmitting end can be a terminal device, a network device, or a chip of a terminal device, a chip of a network device, etc., without limitation. For example, the transmitting end in the first aspect described above is a terminal device or a chip of a terminal device, and the receiving end can be a network device or a chip of a network device.

[0024] The communication method includes: receiving a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, the MAC sub-PDU including an RRC message, the RRC message including an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU including a logical channel identifier LCID field, and the MAC sub-PDU including a first field; determining the meaning represented by the LCID field according to the value of the first field and the value of the LCID field, wherein when the first field takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined according to different LCID tables.

[0025] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field, including: the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes the first field; or the RRC message includes the first field.

[0026] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the LCID table is a correspondence between the index value of the LCID field and the meaning represented by the index value of the LCID field.

[0027] In conjunction with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, before receiving the MAC sub-PDU, the method further includes: sending indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate support for parsing the MAC sub-PDU. For instructions related to the indication information, refer to the description in the first aspect and are not repeated here.

[0028] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the indication information is carried in dedicated signaling, multicast signaling, or broadcast signaling.

[0029] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, receiving the MAC sub-PDU includes: receiving the MAC sub-PDU during a random access process.

[0030] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, if the first field is carried in the header of the MAC sub-PDU, the size of the header of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the size of the LCID field is 6 bits, and the size of the first field is 1 or 2 bits.

[0031] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, if the first field is carried in the RRC message in the MAC sub-PDU, the size of the header of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, and the header of the MAC sub-PDU also includes two reserved fields, the size of the LCID field is 6 bits, and the size of each of the reserved fields is 1 bit.

[0032] The technical effects of the method shown in the above second aspect and its possible design can refer to the technical effects in the first aspect and its possible design.

[0033] On the third aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a sending end, wherein the sending end can be a terminal device, a network device, or a chip of a terminal device, a chip of a network device, etc., without limitation.

[0034] The communication method includes: determining a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, the MAC sub-PDU including an RRC message, the RRC message including an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU including a logical channel identifier LCID field, the header size of the MAC sub-PDU being one byte, the size of the LCID field being N bits, and N being an integer greater than 6; and sending the MAC sub-PDU.

[0035] Based on the above scheme, the size of the LCID field included in the header of the MAC sub-PDU determined by the sending end is greater than 6 bits. Compared with the LCID field when the size of the LCID field is 6 bits, the value range of the LCID field in this scheme is larger and the meanings it can represent are also more. Therefore, more indication information can be indicated through the LCID field. Furthermore, expanding the information that the LCID field can indicate can enrich the service types of the terminal device and improve the user experience.

[0036] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, at least one bit among the N bits occupied by the LCID field is a bit occupied by the reserved field in the header of a traditional MAC sub-PDU, and the header of the traditional MAC sub-PDU has a reserved field occupying two bits and an LCID field occupying 6 bits.

[0037] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, before sending the MAC sub-PDU, the method further includes: determining whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU.

[0038] Based on the above solution, before sending a MAC sub-PDU to a receiving end, the sending end can determine that the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU, thereby avoiding the MAC sub-PDU sent to the receiving end not being correctly parsed by the receiving end, resulting in errors.

[0039] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, determining whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU includes: receiving indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU; or, determining whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU based on whether the receiving end supports the characteristics indicated by the MAC sub-PDU.

[0040] Based on the above solution, the transmitting end can determine whether the receiving end can parse the MAC sub-PDU by using an indication sent by the receiving end. Alternatively, the receiving end can determine whether the receiving end supports parsing the corresponding MAC sub-PDU based on the features supported by the receiving end without explicitly sending an indication indicating whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU. In this solution, the transmitting end can determine whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU to be sent in different ways, thereby increasing the flexibility of the solution.

[0041] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the indication information is carried in dedicated signaling, multicast signaling, or broadcast signaling.

[0042] Based on the above solution, the receiving end may send the indication information to the sending end in the form of broadcast, multicast or unicast, which is not limited in this solution.

[0043] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, sending the MAC sub-PDU includes: sending the MAC sub-PDU during a random access process.

[0044] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the header of the MAC sub-PDU further includes less than two reserved fields.

[0045] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be performed by a receiving end, wherein the transmitting end can be a terminal device, a network device, or a chip of a terminal device, a chip of a network device, etc., without limitation. For example, the transmitting end in the third aspect described above is a terminal device or a chip of a terminal device, and the receiving end can be a network device or a chip of a network device.

[0046] The communication method includes: receiving a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, the MAC sub-PDU including an RRC message, the RRC message including an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU including a logical channel identifier LCID field, the header size of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the size of the LCID field is N bits, and N is an integer greater than 6; and determining the meaning represented by the LCID field according to the value of the LCID field.

[0047] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, before receiving the MAC sub-PDU, the method further includes: sending indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate support for parsing the MAC sub-PDU.

[0048] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the indication information is carried in dedicated signaling, multicast signaling, or broadcast signaling.

[0049] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the header of the MAC sub-PDU further includes less than two reserved fields.

[0050] The technical effects of the method shown in the above fourth aspect and its possible design can refer to the technical effects in the third aspect and its possible design.

[0051] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, which is configured to execute the method provided in the first or third aspect. Specifically, the device may include units and / or modules, such as a processing unit and / or a communication unit, configured to execute the method provided in any one of the above implementations of the first or third aspect.

[0052] Exemplarily, when the communication device is the transmitting end in the first aspect above, the processing unit is used to determine the media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, the MAC sub-PDU includes a radio resource control RRC message, the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, and the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field; the communication unit is used to send the MAC sub-PDU; wherein, when the first field takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined according to different LCID tables.

[0053] Exemplarily, when the communication device is the transmitting end in the third aspect above, the processing unit is used to determine the media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, the MAC sub-PDU includes an RRC message, the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, the header size of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the size of the LCID field is N bits, and N is an integer greater than 6; the communication unit is used to send the MAC sub-PDU.

[0054] In one implementation, the apparatus is a terminal device. When the apparatus is a terminal device, the communication unit may be a transceiver or an input / output interface; and the processing unit may be at least one processor. Optionally, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input / output interface may be an input / output circuit.

[0055] Exemplarily, when the communication device is the transmitting end in the first aspect above, the processor is used to determine the media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, the MAC sub-PDU includes a radio resource control RRC message, the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, and the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field; the transceiver is used to send the MAC sub-PDU; wherein, when the first field takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined according to different LCID tables.

[0056] Exemplarily, when the communication device is the transmitting end in the third aspect above, the processor is used to determine the media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, the MAC sub-PDU includes an RRC message, the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, the header size of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the size of the LCID field is N bits, and N is an integer greater than 6; the transceiver is used to send the MAC sub-PDU.

[0057] In another implementation, the device is a chip, chip system, or circuit used in a terminal device. When the device is a chip, chip system, or circuit used in a terminal device, the communication unit may be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip, chip system, or circuit; and the processing unit may be at least one processor, processing circuit, or logic circuit.

[0058] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, the device being configured to execute the method provided in the second or fourth aspect. Specifically, the device may include units and / or modules, such as a processing unit and / or a communication unit, for executing the method provided in any one of the above implementations of the second or fourth aspect.

[0059] Exemplarily, when the communication device is the receiving end in the second aspect above, the communication unit is used to receive a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, the MAC sub-PDU includes an RRC message, the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, and the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field; the processing unit is used to determine the meaning represented by the LCID field based on the value of the first field and the value of the LCID field, wherein when the first field takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined according to different LCID tables.

[0060] Exemplarily, when the communication device is the receiving end in the fourth aspect above, the communication unit is used to receive a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, the MAC sub-PDU includes an RRC message, the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, the header size of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the size of the LCID field is N bits, and N is an integer greater than 6; the processing unit is used to determine the meaning represented by the LCID field according to the value of the LCID field.

[0061] In one implementation, the apparatus is a network device. When the apparatus is a network device, the communication unit may be a transceiver or an input / output interface; and the processing unit may be at least one processor. Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Alternatively, the input / output interface may be an input / output circuit.

[0062] Exemplarily, when the communication device is the receiving end in the second aspect above, the transceiver is used to receive a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, the MAC sub-PDU includes an RRC message, the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, and the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field; the processor is used to determine the meaning represented by the LCID field based on the value of the first field and the value of the LCID field, wherein when the first field takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined according to different LCID tables.

[0063] Exemplarily, when the communication device is the receiving end in the fourth aspect above, the transceiver is used to receive a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, the MAC sub-PDU includes an RRC message, the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, the header size of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the size of the LCID field is N bits, and N is an integer greater than 6; the processor is used to determine the meaning represented by the LCID field according to the value of the LCID field.

[0064] In another implementation, the device is a chip, chip system, or circuit used in a network device. When the device is a chip, chip system, or circuit used in a network device, the communication unit may be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip, chip system, or circuit; and the processing unit may be at least one processor, processing circuit, or logic circuit.

[0065] In the seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes: a memory for storing programs; and at least one processor for executing computer programs or instructions stored in the memory to execute any one of the above-mentioned implementations of the first to fourth aspects, or the method provided by any one of the above-mentioned implementations of the second to fourth aspects.

[0066] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a processor for executing the methods provided in the above aspects.

[0067] For the operations such as sending and acquiring / receiving involved in the processor, unless otherwise specified, or if they do not conflict with their actual functions or internal logic in the relevant descriptions, they can be understood as processor output, reception, input and other operations, and can also be understood as sending and receiving operations performed by the radio frequency circuit and antenna. This application does not limit this.

[0068] In a ninth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a program code for execution by a device, wherein the program code includes a method for executing any one of the above-mentioned implementations of the first to fourth aspects.

[0069] In a tenth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when run on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method provided in any one of the above-mentioned implementations of the first to fourth aspects.

[0070] In the eleventh aspect, a chip is provided, which includes a processor and a communication interface. The processor reads instructions stored in the memory through the communication interface and executes the method provided by any one of the above-mentioned implementation methods of the first to fourth aspects.

[0071] Optionally, as an implementation method, the chip also includes a memory, in which a computer program or instruction is stored, and the processor is used to execute the computer program or instruction stored in the memory. When the computer program or instruction is executed, the processor is used to execute the method provided in any one of the above implementation methods.

[0072] In a twelfth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising the transmitting end of the first aspect and the receiving end of the second aspect above.

[0073] In a thirteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising the transmitting end of the third aspect and the receiving end of the fourth aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0074] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable.

[0075] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the format of a MAC PDU.

[0076] (a) to (c) in FIG. 3 are schematic diagrams of the format of the MAC subheader.

[0077] FIG4 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in this application.

[0078] FIG5 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 10 provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0079] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of another communication device 20 provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0080] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 30 provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0081] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0082] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: fifth generation (5G) system or new radio (NR), long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (TDD), etc. The technical solutions provided in the present application can also be applied to future communication systems, such as the sixth generation mobile communication system. The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to device to device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine to machine (M2M) communication, machine type communication (MTC), and Internet of Things (IoT) communication system or other communication systems.

[0083] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable is first described in detail using the communication system shown in FIG1 as an example. FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable. As shown in FIG1 , the communication system 100 may include at least one network device, such as the network device 110 shown in FIG1 ; the communication system 100 may also include at least one terminal device, such as the terminal device 120 shown in FIG1 . The network device 110 and the terminal device 120 may communicate via a wireless link. Each communication device, such as the network device 110 and the terminal device 120, may be configured with multiple antennas. For each communication device in the communication system 100, the configured multiple antennas may include at least one transmitting antenna for sending signals and at least one receiving antenna for receiving signals. Therefore, communication between the communication devices in the communication system 100, such as the network device 110 and the terminal device 120, may be achieved through multi-antenna technology.

[0084] As an example and not a limitation, the network device and the terminal device in the scenario shown in Figure 1 can communicate in a variety of ways, such as communication between the network device and the terminal device through point-to-point transmission, communication between the network device and the terminal device through multi-hop (or relay) transmission, communication between multiple network devices and terminal devices through dual connectivity (DC) or multi-connection transmission, etc.

[0085] The embodiments of the present application do not impose any restrictions on the communication mode between the network device and the terminal device. For example, the transmission between the network device and the terminal device can be uplink, downlink, access link, backhaul link or sidelink.

[0086] The terminal equipment in the embodiments of the present application may refer to an access terminal, a user unit, a user station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a relay station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a user equipment (UE), a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user device. The terminal equipment may also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network, or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0087] As an example and not a limitation, in the embodiments of the present application, wearable devices may also be referred to as wearable smart devices, which are a general term for wearable devices that are intelligently designed and developed using wearable technology for daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not just hardware devices, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include those that are fully functional, large in size, and can achieve complete or partial functions without relying on smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as those that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to be used in conjunction with other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0088] Furthermore, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a terminal device in an IoT system. The IoT is an important component of the future development of information technology. Its main technical feature is to connect objects to the network through communication technology, thereby realizing an intelligent network that interconnects humans and machines and things. In the embodiments of the present application, IoT technology can achieve massive connections, deep coverage, and terminal power saving through, for example, narrowband (NB) technology.

[0089] The network device in the embodiment of the present application can be any device with wireless transceiver capabilities for communicating with a terminal device. The device includes but is not limited to: an evolved Node B (eNB), a radio network controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home evolved NodeB (HeNB, or home Node B, HNB), a baseband unit (BBU), an access point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission point (TP) or a transmission and reception point (TRP), etc. It can also be a gNB in ​​a 5G system, such as NR, or a transmission point (TRP or TP), one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G system, or a network node constituting a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU) or a distributed unit (DU), etc.

[0090] In some deployments, a gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU implements some gNB functions, while the DU implements some gNB functions. For example, the CU is responsible for processing non-real-time protocols and services, implementing the functions of the radio resource control (RRC) and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layers. The DU is responsible for processing physical layer protocols and real-time services, implementing the functions of the radio link control (RLC), media access control (MAC), and physical (PHY) layers. The AAU implements some physical layer processing functions, RF processing, and active antenna-related functions. Because RRC layer information ultimately becomes PHY layer information, or is converted from PHY layer information, in this architecture, higher-layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, can also be considered to be sent by the DU, or by both the DU and the AAU. It is understood that a network device can be a device that includes one or more of a CU node, a DU node, or an AAU node. In addition, the CU may be classified as a network device in an access network (radio access network, RAN), or may be classified as a network device in a core network (core network, CN), which is not limited in this application.

[0091] In an embodiment of the present application, a terminal device or a network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a central processing unit (CPU), a memory management unit (MMU), and memory (also called main memory). The operating system can be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processing through processes, such as a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a Windows operating system. The application layer includes applications such as browsers, address books, word processing software, and instant messaging software. In addition, the embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. As long as it is possible to communicate according to the method provided in the embodiment of the present application by running a program that records the code of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, for example, the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be a terminal device or a network device, or a functional module in the terminal device or the network device that can call a program and execute the program.

[0092] In addition, various aspects or features of the present application can be implemented as methods, apparatus, or articles of manufacture using standard programming and / or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used in this application covers computer programs that can be accessed from any computer-readable device, carrier, or medium. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, or magnetic tapes, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), cards, sticks, or key drives, etc.). In addition, the various storage media described herein may represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable storage medium" may include, but is not limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and / or carrying instructions and / or data.

[0093] It should be understood that Figure 1 takes the communication between a network device and a terminal device as an example to simply illustrate a communication scenario to which the present application can be applied, and does not impose any restrictions on other scenarios to which the present application can be applied.

[0094] It should also be understood that FIG1 is merely a simplified schematic diagram for ease of understanding, and the communication system may further include other network devices or other terminal devices, which are not shown in FIG1 .

[0095] For example, the communication system may also include core network equipment for managing terminal equipment and network equipment configuration, such as access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, session management function (SMF) network element, user plane function (UPF) network element, policy control function (PCF) network element, etc.

[0096] To facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, before introducing the solutions of the embodiments of the present application based on the 5G architecture, we first briefly describe some terms or concepts in 5G that may be involved in the embodiments of the present application.

[0097] 1. MAC packet data unit (PDU) format: Contains at least one MAC subPDU (MAC subPDU), which includes a MAC subheader (MAC subheader). In addition, a MAC subPDU also includes a MAC SDU, a MAC control element (CE), or padding.

[0098] For ease of understanding, the format of the MAC PDU is briefly described with reference to Figure 2. As can be seen from Figure 2, a MAC PDU includes at least one MAC subPDU (e.g., MAC subPDU#1, MAC subPDU#2, MAC subPDU#3, MAC subPDU#4, and MAC subPDU#5 shown in Figure 2), wherein each MAC subPDU includes a MAC subheader.

[0099] Exemplarily, the MAC subPDU may further include a MAC SDU, such as MAC subPDU#1 and MAC subPDU#2 shown in FIG2 . Optionally, the MAC subPDU including the MAC SDU may be referred to as a MAC subPDU including a MAC SDU.

[0100] Exemplarily, the MAC subPDU may further include a MAC CE, such as MAC subPDU#3 and MAC subPDU#4 shown in FIG2 . Optionally, a MAC subPDU including a MAC CE may be referred to as a MAC subPDU including a MAC CE. The sizes of the MAC CEs included in different MAC subPDUs may be different. For example, the MAC CE included in MAC subPDU#3 is a fixed-sized MAC CE, and the MAC CE included in MAC subPDU#4 is a variable-sized MAC CE.

[0101] Exemplarily, the MAC subPDU may further include padding, such as MAC subPDU#5 shown in FIG2 . Optionally, the MAC subPDU including padding may be referred to as a MAC subPDU including padding.

[0102] 2. MAC subheader: The MAC subheader contains at least one of the following fields: R field (reserved field, reserved for future use, set to 0), LCID field (logical channel identification field, used to identify the logical channel instance of the corresponding MAC SDU or identify the type of MAC CE or identify padding or identify whether the eLCID field exists), eLCID field (extended logical channel identification field, used to identify the logical channel instance of the corresponding MAC SDU or identify the type of MAC CE), L field (length field, used to identify the length of the corresponding MAC SDU or identify the length of a MAC CE of variable size), F field (format field, used to identify the size of the length field), as shown in (a) of Figure 3.

[0103] The MAC subheader has multiple formats. As one example, when the MAC SDU contained in the MAC subPDU carries a UL CCCH message, a UL CCCH1 message, or an uplink dedicated control channel (DCCH) message, the corresponding MAC subheader contains an R field and an LCID field.

[0104] For ease of understanding, two possible MAC subheader formats are briefly described with reference to (b) and (c) in FIG3 .

[0105] As shown in (b) of FIG3 , the MAC subheader includes an R field and an LCID field, wherein the R field and the LCID field occupy a total of 1 byte (Oct1 as shown in (b) of FIG3 ), 8 bits of the R field occupy 2 bits, and the LCID field occupies 6 bits.

[0106] As shown in (c) of Figure 3, the MAC subheader includes an R field, an LCID field, and an eLCID field. The R field and the LCID field occupy a total of 1 byte (as shown in Oct 1 of Figure 3 (c)), the R field occupies 2 bits, and the LCID field occupies 6 bits; the eLCID field occupies 1 byte (as shown in Oct 2 of Figure 3 (c)).

[0107] It should be noted that the MAC subheader format shown in (b) of Figure 3 does not include the eLCID field. The advantage of using a MAC subheader in this format is that the size of the MAC PDU does not need to be increased. In scenarios where uplink coverage is limited, the uplink resources allocated by the access network device each time are usually relatively small, because the smaller the data packet sent (including the MAC PDU), the easier it is to send successfully. Therefore, unless the coverage issue is not considered, the MAC subheader format of (b) in Figure 3 will be used first. Therefore, the following mainly uses the MAC subheader format shown in (b) of Figure 3 as an example for explanation. When the MAC subheader format is the MAC subheader format shown in (c) of Figure 3, the setting of the LCID field in the MAC subheader can refer to the setting of the LCID field in the MAC subheader shown in the MAC subheader format shown in (b) of Figure 3, and no repeated explanation will be given.

[0108] 3. Indication space of LCID domain: As shown above, the size of LCID domain is 6 bits, and the LCID value of LCID domain has 2 6 = 64. Different LCID values ​​represent different situations, and can indicate up to 64 different situations. In this case, the indication space size of the LCID field can be considered to be 64. The indication space of the LCID field can be understood as: the number of indication information indicated by the LCID field.

[0109] As shown in Table 1 below, different LCID values ​​represent different situations. Currently, 57 LCID values ​​are in use, and 7 reserved LCID values ​​can be used as new indications (the bold 37-42 in Table 1 below can be used as new indications).

[0110] Table 1

[0111] The first column index or code point in Table 1 can be determined by the value of the LCID field. For example, if the value of the LCID field is 000000, the index or code point is 0. The second column LCID value in Table 1 is understood as the meaning represented by the LCID field or the meaning indicated by the LCID value. For example, if the value of the LCID field is 000000 and the index or code point is 0, the meaning represented by the LCID field is that the MAC PDU contains a 64-bit CCCH message (i.e., CCCH1 message). Among them, the meaning represented by the LCID field includes: identifying the logical channel instance (logical channel number) corresponding to the MAC SDU, identifying the type of MAC CE, or identifying padding, etc.; the size of the index value can be equal to the numerical size of the LCID field.

[0112] Table 1 above summarizes the meanings (LCID values) corresponding to different LCID field values ​​(index values) in the MAC subheader format shown in Figure 3 (b), and can be referred to as an LCID table. The LCID table mentioned below can also be replaced with a correspondence, mapping, or association between LCID field values ​​and the meanings represented by the LCID field.

[0113] For example, when the MAC subheader includes an eLCID field, the LCID table involved in this application may also be a correspondence between code points, indexes, and the meanings (LCID values) represented by the LCID field, as shown in Table 2 below:

[0114] Table 2:

[0115] In this application, codepoints and index values ​​can be used interchangeably, or they can be used to identify each other, with a corresponding relationship. The index value can be equal to the value of the eLCID field, and codepoint values ​​are cumulative, starting at 0 and corresponding one-to-one with the eLCID value. For example, codepoint 0 corresponds to index 64, codepoint 1 corresponds to index 65, and so on.

[0116] In addition, it should be noted that the LCID values ​​shown in Table 1 and Table 2 above can refer to the description in the existing protocol (such as Table 6.2.1-2 and 6.2.2-2a in TS38321), which will not be repeated here.

[0117] In addition, in order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the following explanations are made.

[0118] First, in this application, "used to indicate" can include being used for direct indication and being used for indirect indication. When describing that a certain indication information is used to indicate A, it can include that the indication information directly indicates A or indirectly indicates A, but it does not mean that the indication information must include A.

[0119] The information indicated by the indication information is referred to as the information to be indicated. During the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can be sent as a whole or divided into multiple sub-information and sent separately. The transmission period and / or transmission timing of these sub-information can be the same or different. The specific transmission method is not limited in this application. The transmission period and / or transmission timing of these sub-information can be predefined, for example, according to a protocol, or can be configured by the transmitting device by sending configuration information to the receiving device.

[0120] Second, "at least one" shown in the present application refers to one or more, and "a plurality of" refers to two or more. In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, "first", "second" and various digital numbers (for example, "#1", "#2", etc.) are only for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the sequence number of each process below does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that the objects described in this way can be interchangeable under appropriate circumstances, so that the schemes other than the embodiments of the present application can be described. In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "410", "420" are only for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the order of execution of steps.

[0121] Third, in this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0122] Fourth, the "protocol" involved in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a standard protocol in the field of communications, for example, it may include an LTE protocol, an NR protocol, and related protocols used in future communication systems, which is not limited in this application.

[0123] Fifth, in the embodiments of the present application, "under the circumstances", "when", and "if" can sometimes be used interchangeably. It should be pointed out that when the distinction between them is not emphasized, the meanings they intend to express are consistent.

[0124] Sixth, in the embodiments of this application, various terms and English abbreviations, such as radio resource control (RRC), are provided for ease of description and should not constitute any limitation on this application. This application does not exclude the possibility of defining other terms in existing or future protocols that can achieve the same or similar functions.

[0125] Seventh, the term "and / or" in this document simply describes an association between related objects, indicating that three possible relationships exist. For example, "A and / or B" can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone. Furthermore, the character " / " in this document generally indicates that the related objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0126] The above text, in conjunction with Figure 1, briefly introduces the scenarios in which the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application can be applied, as well as the basic concepts that may be involved in the embodiment of the present application, and introduces the LCID domain and the indication space of the LCID domain in the basic concepts. As mentioned above, the current size of the indication space of the LCID domain is 64, and 57 LCID values ​​are currently in use. There are 7 reserved LCID values ​​that can be used as new indications. The problem is that with the evolution of the standard, more and more features are introduced into the standard, and many of these features require the use of new LCID values ​​to indicate new meanings to the receiving end. The reserved 7 values ​​are far from meeting the needs.

[0127] The present application provides a communication method that can be applied in the communication system shown in Figure 1. By setting the first field in the MAC sub-PDU, more situations that can be indicated by LCID values ​​are created without increasing the header size of the MAC sub-PDU, that is, the indication space of the LCID is increased.

[0128] It should be understood that the embodiments shown below do not particularly limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiments of the present application. As long as it is possible to communicate according to the method provided in the embodiments of the present application by running a program that records the code of the method provided in the embodiments of the present application. For example, the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiments of the present application can be a sending end and a receiving end, or a functional module in the sending end and the receiving end that can call and execute the program.

[0129] FIG4 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application, which includes the following steps:

[0130] S410: The transmitting end determines a MAC sub-PDU.

[0131] Exemplarily, the transmitting end determines a MAC PDU, which includes at least one MAC sub-PDU. For example, the format of the MAC PDU is as shown in FIG. 2 above, and is not further described here. The MAC sub-PDU shown in step S410 can be any one of the at least one MAC sub-PDU.

[0132] Specifically, the MAC sub-PDU may include an RRC message, which may include one or more of an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message, a UL CCCH1 message, or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message. For example, the MAC SDU included in the MAC sub-PDU carries a UL CCCH message, a UL CCCH1 message, or a UL DCCH message.

[0133] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field. For example, the LCID field may be the LCID field shown in FIG. 3 (a) above; or, the LCID field may be the LCID field shown in FIG. 3 (b) above; or, the LCID field may be the eLCID field shown in FIG. 3 (b) above; or, the LCID field may be both the LCID field and the eLCID field shown in FIG. 3 (b) above.

[0134] It should be understood that the above is only an example of the possible forms of the LCID field involved in this embodiment, and does not constitute any limitation on the scope of protection of this application. The LCID field involved in this embodiment can also be the LCID field included in the header of the MAC sub-PDU defined in the future protocol, and no further examples will be given here.

[0135] For ease of description, the following description will be made using the LCID domain shown in FIG3(a) as an example.

[0136] As shown above, the indication space size of the LCID domain shown in FIG3 (a) is 64. In this embodiment, the indication space of the LCID domain can be expanded in the following two ways so that the indication space of the LCID domain is greater than 64. It should be noted that the LCID domain shown in FIG3 (a) is only an example and does not constitute any limitation on the scope of protection of this application. If the LCID domain is the eLCID domain shown in FIG3 (a), the following method of expanding the indication space can also expand the indication space of the eLCID domain.

[0137] Method 1: By carrying the first field in the MAC sub-PDU, the indication space of the LCID field is expanded.

[0138] In the case shown in the first embodiment, the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field. When the value of the first field is different, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined according to different LCID tables. The LCID table can indicate the correspondence between the index value or code point of the LCID field and the meaning represented by the index value or code point of the LCID field, and the index value or code point of the LCID field is determined based on the value of the LCID field.

[0139] As can be seen from the above, when the value of the first domain is different, the meaning represented by the LCID domain is determined according to different LCID tables, which can be understood as follows: the meaning represented by the LCID domain is determined according to the value of the first domain and the value of the LCID domain, or, the meaning represented by the LCID domain is related to the LCID domain and the first domain, or, the meaning represented by the LCID domain is determined based on the LCID domain and the first domain. Among them, the LCID table can be understood as a correspondence between an LCID index, a code point, and its meaning. When the first domain is a first value, the LCID index, the code point, and its meaning are in a first correspondence relationship, and when the first domain is a second value, the LCID index, the code point, and its meaning are in a second correspondence relationship.

[0140] It should be noted that this embodiment only limits the MAC sub-PDU determined by the transmitting end to include the first field, but does not impose any restrictions on the manner in which the first field is carried in the MAC sub-PDU, including but not limited to the following two possible implementations:

[0141] As a possible implementation, the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field. For example, the first field may be at least one R field included in the header of the MAC sub-PDU shown in FIG3(a) above.

[0142] In this implementation, at least one R field in the header of the MAC sub-PDU can be used in combination with the LCID field to determine multiple LCID field indication spaces of size 64.

[0143] It should be noted that when one of the two R domains in the header of the MAC sub-PDU is used, the R domain used is the first domain mentioned above. If it is necessary to further expand the LCID domain indication space, the other R domain of the two R domains in the header of the MAC sub-PDU can be reused. The other R domain used is the first domain or other names (such as the third domain, etc.).

[0144] In this implementation, if the LCID field is the LCID field included in the header of the MAC sub-PDU shown in (a) in Figure 3 above, the size of the MAC sub-PDU header is one byte, the size of the LCID field is 6 bits, and the size of the first field is 1 or 2 bits.

[0145] As another possible implementation manner, the MAC sub-PDU includes an RRC message, and the RRC message includes the first field.

[0146] In this implementation, at least one bit in the RRC message (eg, a reserved bit in the RRC message) can be combined with the LCID field to create multiple LCID field indication spaces of size 64.

[0147] In this implementation, if the LCID field is the LCID field included in the header of the MAC sub-PDU shown in (a) in the previous Figure 3, the size of the MAC sub-PDU header is one byte, the size of the LCID field is 6 bits, and the header of the MAC sub-PDU also includes two reserved fields, the size of the LCID field is 6 bits, and the size of each reserved field is 1 bit.

[0148] It should be understood that the above two implementations are merely examples of possible ways in which the first field may be carried and do not constitute any limitation on the scope of protection of this application. In this embodiment, the first field may also be carried in other locations in the MAC sub-PDU, which will not be described in detail here. Alternatively, the first field may also be sent to the receiving end via other messages. For example, before the sending end sends the MAC sub-PDU to the receiving end, the sending end has already provided the first field to the receiving end. This will not be described in detail here.

[0149] Compared to the indication space of the LCID domain introduced in the basic concept in the previous article, the indication space of the LCID domain in this embodiment is determined based on the LCID domain and the first domain, and is no longer determined based on the LCID domain alone, thereby expanding the indication space of the LCID domain, being able to indicate more indication information through the LCID domain, enriching the service types of the terminal device and improving the user experience. For example, in this solution, there can be multiple LCID tables that represent the value of the LCID domain and the meaning represented by the LCID domain. When actually determining the meaning represented by the LCID domain, the LCID table used can be determined based on the value of the first domain, and then the meaning represented by the LCID domain can be determined based on the value of the LCID domain and the LCID table obtained by the determination. Compared to determining the meaning represented by the LCID domain based only on the value of the LCID domain (such as Table 1 in the previous article), the indication space of the LCID domain is expanded.

[0150] In this embodiment, different values ​​of the first field determine the meaning represented by the LCID field based on different LCID tables. For example, when the value of the first field is a first value, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined based on the first LCID table; when the value of the first field is a second value, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined based on the second LCID table.

[0151] To facilitate understanding, the corresponding relationship between the value of the first field and the LCID table is explained below with reference to specific examples.

[0152] Example 1: The first field is 1 bit.

[0153] When the value of the first field is 0, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined according to the first LCID table. For example, the meanings corresponding to different LCID field values ​​are shown in Table 1 above. When the value of the first field is 1, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined according to the second LCID table.

[0154] For example, when the value of the first field is 1, the meanings corresponding to different values ​​of the LCID field are shown in Table 3 below. Table 3 may be a new table defined in a protocol (such as a MAC protocol). In Table 3, the meaning corresponding to the value of each LCID field may be the same as or different from the meaning shown in Table 1. As shown in Table 3 below:

[0155] Table 3

[0156] The first column in Table 3 above lists the index values ​​or code points corresponding to the LCID field values, which are the same as the index values ​​or code points shown in Table 1 above. The second column shows the meanings represented by different index values ​​or code points corresponding to the LCID field when the value of the first field is 1. The meanings can be the same as or different from those shown in Table 1. This is for example only and not for limitation.

[0157] The meaning represented by the LCID field in Table 3 can include one or more of the following:

[0158] a) Indicates the type of reduced capability device (Redcap) or enhanced reduced capability device (eRedcap);

[0159] b) Indicates a request for repeated transmission of the HARQ-ACK for message 4 on the PUCCH during the RACH process or a corresponding capability report (e.g., in non-terrestrial networks);

[0160] c) Indicates the limited capability of multi-SIM UE;

[0161] d) indicates the situation where at least one of the above-mentioned meanings is superimposed on each other, or indicates the situation where at least one of the above-mentioned meanings is superimposed on other meanings: for example, simultaneously indicating a) and b) or simultaneously indicating a), b) and c) or indicating a) and other meanings, etc.

[0162] It should be understood that the above is only an example to illustrate the possible meanings of different index values ​​in Table 3 and does not constitute any limitation on the scope of protection of this application.

[0163] Example 2: The first field is 2 bits.

[0164] When the value of the first field is 00, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined according to the first LCID table. For example, the meanings corresponding to different LCID field values ​​are shown in Table 1 above. When the value of the first field is 01, the meanings corresponding to different LCID field values ​​can be defined in a new table, such as Table a (similar to Table 2). Similarly, when the value of the first field is 10, the meanings corresponding to different LCID field values ​​can be defined in a new table, such as Table b. When the value of the first field is 11, the meanings corresponding to different LCID field values ​​can be defined in a new table, such as Table c.

[0165] Example 3: The first field is N bits.

[0166] The value of the first domain includes 2 N There are two possibilities, so the LCID table can have 2 N , 2 N The LCID tables include the traditional LCID table (e.g., Table 1), as well as Definition 2 N - 1 brand new table.

[0167] For example, when the values ​​of the LCID fields in different LCID tables are the same, the corresponding meanings in different tables may be the same or different.

[0168] The above-mentioned LCID table can also be called a corresponding relationship, a mapping relationship, an association relationship, etc. In this embodiment, there is no limitation on the name of the information representing the association relationship between the value of the LCID field and the meaning represented by the LCID field.

[0169] Since the value of the first domain is different, the LCID table based on which the meaning represented by the LCID domain is determined is different. For example, the transmitting end can set the value of the first domain according to the characteristics of the receiving end or the current transmission scenario. For example, if the value of the first domain is as shown in Example 1 above, if the transmitting end knows that the receiving end is a Redcap device, the transmitting end can set the value of the first domain to 1; for another example, if the value of the first domain is as shown in Example 1 above, if the transmitting end determines that the current transmission scenario is: during the RACH process, for the repeated transmission request of the HARQ-ACK of message 4 on the PUCCH or the corresponding capability report, the transmitting end can set the value of the first domain to 1.

[0170] It should be understood that the above is merely an example of how the transmitting end can set the value of the first field based on known information so that the receiving end can determine the meaning represented by the LCID field in the LCID table indicated by the first field. This does not constitute any limitation on the scope of protection of this application. For example, the value of the first field may be random or determined based on historical communication data, and these examples are not further described here.

[0171] In addition, in the above description, it is assumed that when the first field takes different values, different tables are defined accordingly. Another implementation method is to expand on the existing table. For example, when the first field takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID value is represented in different areas of the same table (each area can contain multiple rows of the table).

[0172] Method 2: Enlarging the size of the LCID field to expand the indication space of the LCID field.

[0173] In the case shown in the second method, the size of the LCID field is N bits, where N is an integer greater than 6.

[0174] Optionally, in the case shown in method 2, at least one of the R bits occupied by the reserved field in the header of the MAC sub-PDU is used as part of the LCID field and combined with the original LCID to form a new LCID field containing more bits.

[0175] For example, assuming that one R field in the header of the MAC sub-PDU is used, it can be combined with the original LCID field to form a 7-bit LCID field; assuming that two R fields in the header of the MAC sub-PDU are used, it can be combined with the original LCID field to form an 8-bit LCID field.

[0176] In the case shown in the second method, the LCID field can indicate more meanings, which is equivalent to forming a larger indication space. For example, the LCID field can indicate an indication space of a size of 128 or 256.

[0177] Different from the situation shown in the above-mentioned method 1, in the situation shown in the method 2, the size of the original table 1 is expanded (more values ​​greater than 63 are added on the basis of the original 64 values ​​to identify more meanings), rather than defining one or more new tables.

[0178] In the case shown in method 2, if the header of the MAC sub-PDU is the header of the MAC sub-PDU shown in (a) in Figure 3 above, the size of the header of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the size of the LCID field is greater than 6 bits, and the header of the MAC sub-PDU also includes less than two reserved fields.

[0179] Furthermore, after determining the MAC sub-PDU, the transmitting end may send the MAC sub-PDU to the receiving end. The method flow shown in FIG4 further includes:

[0180] S420: The transmitting end sends a MAC sub-PDU to the receiving end.

[0181] In this embodiment, the transmitting end sends a MAC sub-PDU to the receiving end during a random access process (including a four-step random access process or a two-step random access process). For example, the transmitting end may send the MAC sub-PDU to the receiving end via message 3 or message A.

[0182] As a possible implementation method, the sending end is a terminal device and the receiving end is an access network device. The terminal device can send a MAC sub-PDU to the access network device through a transmission link between the terminal device and the access network device.

[0183] As another possible implementation, the sending end is an access network device and the receiving end is a terminal device. The access network device can send a MAC sub-PDU to the terminal device via a transmission link between the terminal device and the access network device.

[0184] It should be understood that the transmission of a MAC sub-PDU does not limit the final transmission format over the air interface. For example, the transmitting end may further process the MAC PDU containing the MAC sub-PDU, convert it into a transport block or other form that can be transmitted over the air interface, and then transmit it over the air interface. Because the useful information transmitted is contained in the MAC sub-PDU, it is described here as transmitting a MAC sub-PDU.

[0185] It should be understood that this embodiment does not limit the specific entities of the transmitter and receiver, and any transceiver device that transmits a MAC sub-PDU can serve as the transmitter and receiver in this embodiment.

[0186] For example, when the transmitting end sends a MAC sub-PDU to the receiving end, the receiving end that supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU constructed according to the above-mentioned method one and method two can correctly parse the received MAC sub-PDU; the receiving end that does not support parsing the MAC sub-PDU constructed according to the above-mentioned method one and method two may parse the MAC sub-PDU according to the format of the MAC sub-PDU defined in the existing protocol after receiving the above-mentioned MAC sub-PDU, resulting in parsing failure. For example, some receiving ends believe that the reserved field in the header of the MAC sub-PDU must be 0, so if the transmitting end sends a MAC sub-PDU with an R field of 1 to such a receiving end, it is very likely that the receiving end cannot correctly parse the MAC sub-PDU or directly ignores the R field, resulting in inconsistent understanding between the transmitting end and the receiving end.

[0187] Specifically, in this embodiment, in order to prevent the transmitting end from sending the MAC sub-PDU to the receiving end that cannot correctly parse the MAC sub-PDU, it can be determined whether the receiving end can correctly parse the MAC sub-PDU before sending the MAC sub-PDU.

[0188] As a possible implementation method, the receiving end shown in this embodiment supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU, which can be understood as: the receiving end can recognize or correctly understand the format of the MAC sub-PDU, support the format of the MAC sub-PDU, support the MAC sub-PDU, or can parse the format of the MAC sub-PDU, etc.

[0189] When the first field is at least one R field in the header of the MAC sub-PDU, the format of the MAC sub-PDU may be a MAC sub-PDU including a header of the MAC sub-PDU of at least one R field whose value may not be 0; or

[0190] When the above-mentioned first field is a field in the RRC message in the MAC sub-PDU, the format of the MAC sub-PDU may be a MAC sub-PDU including an RRC message whose corresponding field may not be 0.

[0191] As another possible implementation method, the receiving end shown in this embodiment supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU, which can be understood as: the receiving end can recognize or correctly understand the format of the header of the MAC sub-PDU, support the format of the header of the MAC sub-PDU, support the header of the MAC sub-PDU, or can parse the format of the header of the MAC sub-PDU, etc.

[0192] When the above-mentioned first field is at least one R field in the header of the MAC sub-PDU, the format of the header of the MAC sub-PDU may be a header of the MAC sub-PDU including at least one R field whose value may not be 0.

[0193] Illustratively, in this embodiment, the transmitting end may determine that the transmitting end can parse the MAC sub-PDU through the following two possible implementations:

[0194] As a possible implementation, the receiving end sends specific indication information to the transmitting end, indicating whether the receiving end supports parsing the aforementioned MAC sub-PDU. For example, if the indication information value is a specific value (such as true), it indicates support; if the value is false, it indicates non-support. Furthermore, the absence of the indication information also indicates non-support. Alternatively, if the indication information is sent, it indicates support; otherwise, it indicates non-support.

[0195] Exemplarily, the MAC sub-PDU is the MAC sub-PDU shown in the above-mentioned method 1. The indication information indicates whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU whose meaning is determined based on the first field and the LCID field.

[0196] For example, the MAC sub-PDU is the MAC sub-PDU including the first field as shown in the above-mentioned method 1, and the first field is carried in the header of the MAC sub-PDU. The indication information is used to indicate whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU in which at least one value in the header of the MAC sub-PDU may not be a reserved field of 0.

[0197] For example, the MAC sub-PDU is the MAC sub-PDU including the first field as shown in the above method 1, and the first field is carried in the RRC message in the MAC sub-PDU. The indication information is used to indicate whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU determined based on the RRC message and the LCID field.

[0198] Exemplarily, the MAC sub-PDU is the MAC sub-PDU shown in the above-mentioned method 2. The indication information indicates whether the receiving end supports parsing a MAC sub-PDU whose LCID field size is greater than 6 bits.

[0199] Exemplarily, the indication information is carried in dedicated signaling, multicast signaling, or broadcast signaling.

[0200] For example, the receiving end is an access network device, the sending end is a terminal device, and the dedicated signaling can be RRC signaling; the broadcast signaling can be targeted at terminal devices in a cell or terminal devices in an area (for example, the broadcast signaling is a management information block (MIB), system information block 1 (SIB1) or other SIBs); multicast signaling can be targeted at a specific group of terminal devices.

[0201] In this implementation, after receiving the indication information, the sending end can determine whether the receiving end supports parsing the above-mentioned MAC sub-PDU based on the indication information, and send the MAC sub-PDU to the receiving end if supported.

[0202] As another possible implementation manner, the transmitting end determines whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU according to whether the receiving end supports the characteristics indicated by the above MAC sub-PDU.

[0203] In this implementation, the receiving end may not send additional explicit indication information to indicate whether it supports parsing the above MAC sub-PDU. Instead, the sending end infers whether the receiving end can support parsing the above MAC sub-PDU by reading the existing receiving end information.

[0204] For example, the receiving end information indicates that the receiving end supports the redcap feature, and the redcap type indication needs to be indicated through a new format MAC sub-PDU (that is, the MAC sub-PDU determined according to method one or method two mentioned above). The sending end knows that the receiving end supports the redcap feature, and can infer that the receiving end supports interpreting the new format MAC sub-PDU.

[0205] In addition, it should be noted that the above-mentioned sending end determining whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU is an optional step. For example, the sending end can send the MAC sub-PDU to the receiving end after receiving the indication information without determining that the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU.

[0206] Furthermore, after receiving the MAC sub-PDU, the receiving end can determine the meaning represented by the LCID field, and the method flow shown in FIG4 further includes:

[0207] S430: The receiving end determines the meaning represented by the LCID field.

[0208] As a possible implementation method, the MAC sub-PDU received by the receiving end is the MAC sub-PDU determined according to the above-mentioned method 1, and the receiving end can determine the meaning represented by the LCID field based on the value of the first field and the value of the LCID field.

[0209] For example, the receiving end determines the LCID table according to the value of the first field, and then determines the meaning represented by the LCID field according to the value of the LCID field and the LCID table.

[0210] When the LCID table is a correspondence between the index value of the LCID field and the meaning represented by the index value, the index value of the LCID field can be determined based on the value of the LCID field. Therefore, after the LCID table is determined based on the value of the first field, the meaning represented by the index value of the LCID field can be determined based on the index value of the LCID field and the LCID table.

[0211] When the LCID table represents a correspondence between code points in the LCID domain and the meanings represented by the code points, the code points in the LCID domain can be determined based on the value of the LCID domain. Thus, after the LCID table is determined based on the value of the first domain, the meaning represented by the code points in the LCID domain can be determined based on the LCID table.

[0212] As another possible implementation manner, the MAC sub-PDU received by the receiving end is the MAC sub-PDU determined according to the above-mentioned method 2, and the receiving end can determine the meaning represented by the LCID field according to the value of the LCID field.

[0213] In the communication method shown in Figure 4, the MAC sub-PDU determined by the sending end includes, in addition to the LCID field, a first field that affects the meaning represented by the LCID field, or the size of the LCID field is greater than 6 bits to expand the indication space of the LCID field, so that more indication information can be indicated through the LCID field, enriching the service types of the terminal device and improving the user experience.

[0214] It should be understood that the size of the sequence number of each of the above processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiment of the present application. For example, step S410 in the communication method shown in Figure 4 above is optional, that is, the sending end can send the MAC sub-PDU obtained by the above-mentioned method 1 or method 2 to the receiving end, but the determination step before the sending end is not mandatory, such as the sending end locally saves the MAC sub-PDU to be sent before sending the MAC sub-PDU, or the sending end generates the MAC sub-PDU before sending the MAC sub-PDU.

[0215] It should also be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their internal logical relationships.

[0216] It should also be understood that in some of the above embodiments, the devices in the existing network architecture are mainly used as examples for illustrative description (such as the transmitting end and the receiving end, etc.), and it should be understood that the embodiments of the present application are not limited to the specific form of the devices. For example, devices that can achieve the same functions in the future are applicable to the embodiments of the present application.

[0217] It is understandable that in the above-mentioned various method embodiments, the methods and operations implemented by devices (such as a transmitter and a receiver, etc.) may also be implemented by components of the devices (such as a chip or a circuit).

[0218] The communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application is described in detail above in conjunction with FIG4 . The communication method is primarily described from the perspective of interaction between a transmitting end and a receiving end. It is understood that, in order to implement the aforementioned functions, the transmitting end and the receiving end include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the respective functions.

[0219] Those skilled in the art should be aware that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0220] The communication device provided in this application is described in detail below in conjunction with Figures 5 to 7. It should be understood that the description of the device embodiment corresponds to the description of the method embodiment. Therefore, for matters not described in detail, please refer to the method embodiment above. For the sake of brevity, some contents will not be repeated.

[0221] In the embodiment of the present application, the functional modules of the transmitting end or the receiving end can be divided according to the above method example. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. The following is an example of dividing each functional module according to each function.

[0222] Figure 5 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 10 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The device 10 includes a transceiver module 11 and a processing module 12. The transceiver module 11 can implement corresponding communication functions, and the processing module 12 is used to process data. In other words, the transceiver module 11 is used to perform operations related to receiving and sending, while the processing module 12 is used to perform operations other than receiving and sending. The transceiver module 11 can also be referred to as a communication interface or a communication unit.

[0223] Optionally, the device 10 may further include a storage module 13, which may be used to store instructions and / or data. The processing module 12 may read the instructions and / or data in the storage module so that the device implements the actions of the devices in the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0224] In one design, the apparatus 10 may correspond to the transmitting end in the above method embodiment, or a component (such as a chip) of the transmitting end.

[0225] The device 10 can implement the steps or processes corresponding to those performed by the sending end in the above method embodiment, wherein the transceiver module 11 can be used to perform the sending and receiving related operations of the sending end in the above method embodiment, and the processing module 12 can be used to perform the processing related operations of the sending end in the above method embodiment.

[0226] In one possible implementation, processing module 12 is configured to determine a media access control (MAC) sub-packet data unit (PDU), wherein the MAC sub-PDU includes an RRC message, including an uplink common control channel (UL) CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message, or an uplink dedicated control channel (UL) DCCH message; the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier (LCID) field; and the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field. Transceiver module 11 is configured to transmit the MAC sub-PDU; wherein, when the first field takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined according to different LCID tables.

[0227] In another possible implementation, the processing module 12 is configured to determine a media access control (MAC) sub-packet data unit (PDU), wherein the MAC sub-PDU includes an RRC message, wherein the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel (UL) CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel (UL) DCCH message, and wherein the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier (LCID) field. The header size of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, and the size of the LCID field is N bits, where N is an integer greater than 6. The transceiver module 11 is configured to send the MAC sub-PDU.

[0228] When the device 10 is used to execute the method in FIG. 4 , the transceiver module 11 may be used to execute the steps of sending and receiving information in the method, such as step S420 ; the processing module 12 may be used to execute the processing steps in the method, such as step S410 .

[0229] It should be understood that the specific process of each unit executing the above corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiment, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

[0230] In another design, the device 10 may correspond to the receiving end in the above method embodiment, or a component of the receiving end (such as a chip).

[0231] The device 10 can implement the steps or processes corresponding to those executed by the receiving end in the above method embodiment, wherein the transceiver module 11 can be used to perform the transceiver-related operations of the receiving end in the above method embodiment, and the processing module 12 can be used to perform the processing-related operations of the receiving end in the above method embodiment.

[0232] In one possible implementation, a transceiver module 11 is configured to receive a media access control (MAC) sub-packet data unit (PDU), wherein the MAC sub-PDU includes an RRC message, wherein the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel (UL) CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel (UL) DCCH message, and wherein a header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier (LCID) field, and the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field. A processing module 12 is configured to determine, based on a value of the first field and a value of the LCID field, a meaning represented by the LCID field, wherein when the first field takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID field is determined according to different LCID tables.

[0233] In another possible implementation, the transceiver module 11 is configured to receive a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, where the MAC sub-PDU includes an RRC message, which includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message. The header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, the header size of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the size of the LCID field is N bits, and N is an integer greater than 6. The processing module 12 is configured to determine the meaning represented by the LCID field based on the value of the LCID field.

[0234] When the device 10 is used to execute the method in FIG. 4 , the transceiver module 11 may be used to execute the steps of sending and receiving information in the method, such as step S420 ; the processing module 12 may be used to execute the processing steps in the method, such as step S430 .

[0235] It should be understood that the specific process of each unit executing the above corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiment, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

[0236] It should also be understood that the device 10 here is embodied in the form of a functional module. The term "module" here can refer to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (such as a shared processor, a dedicated processor or a group processor, etc.) and a memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, a combined logic circuit and / or other suitable components that support the described functions. In an optional example, those skilled in the art will understand that the device 10 can be specifically the transmitting end or the receiving end in the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be used to execute the various processes and / or steps corresponding to the transmitting end or the receiving end in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0237] The apparatus 10 of each of the above-described solutions has the function of implementing the corresponding steps performed by the devices (such as the transmitting end or the receiving end) in the above-described methods. This function can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions; for example, the transceiver module can be replaced by a transceiver (for example, the transmitting unit in the transceiver module can be replaced by a transmitter, and the receiving unit in the transceiver module can be replaced by a receiver), and other units, such as the processing module, can be replaced by a processor, respectively performing the transceiver operations and related processing operations in each method embodiment.

[0238] In addition, the transceiver module 11 may also be a transceiver circuit (for example, may include a receiving circuit and a sending circuit), and the processing module may be a processing circuit.

[0239] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of another communication device 20 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Device 20 includes a processor 21, which is configured to execute computer programs or instructions stored in memory 22, or read data / signaling stored in memory 22, to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments. Optionally, there may be one or more processors 21.

[0240] Optionally, as shown in FIG6 , the apparatus 20 further includes a memory 22 for storing computer programs or instructions and / or data. The memory 22 may be integrated with the processor 21 or may be separately provided. Optionally, there may be one or more memories 22 .

[0241] Optionally, as shown in Figure 6, the device 20 further includes a transceiver 23, which is used to receive and / or send signals. For example, the processor 21 is used to control the transceiver 23 to receive and / or send signals.

[0242] As a solution, the device 20 is used to implement the operations performed by the sending end in the above various method embodiments.

[0243] As another solution, the device 20 is used to implement the operations performed by the receiving end in the above various method embodiments.

[0244] It should be understood that the processor mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc.

[0245] It should also be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory and / or a non-volatile memory. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM). For example, RAM can be used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, RAM includes the following forms: static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0246] It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) can be integrated into the processor.

[0247] It should also be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0248] 7 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 30 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The chip system 30 (or also referred to as a processing system) includes a logic circuit 31 and an input / output interface 32.

[0249] The logic circuit 31 may be a processing circuit in the chip system 30. The logic circuit 31 may be coupled to a storage unit and call instructions in the storage unit so that the chip system 30 can implement the methods and functions of the various embodiments of the present application. The input / output interface 32 may be an input / output circuit in the chip system 30, outputting information processed by the chip system 30 or inputting data or signaling information to be processed into the chip system 30 for processing.

[0250] As a solution, the chip system 30 is used to implement the operations performed by the transmitting end or the receiving end in each of the above method embodiments.

[0251] For example, the logic circuit 31 is used to implement the processing-related operations performed by the transmitter or receiver in the above method embodiment; the input / output interface 32 is used to implement the sending and / or receiving-related operations performed by the transmitter or receiver in the above method embodiment.

[0252] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium on which computer instructions for implementing the methods executed by the sending end or the receiving end in the above-mentioned method embodiments are stored.

[0253] For example, when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer can implement the method performed by the sending end or the receiving end in each embodiment of the above method.

[0254] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed by a computer, implement the methods performed by a sending end or a receiving end in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0255] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, including the aforementioned transmitting end and receiving end.

[0256] The explanation of the relevant contents and beneficial effects of any of the above-mentioned devices can be referred to the corresponding method embodiments provided above, which will not be repeated here.

[0257] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0258] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. For example, the computer can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrations. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid state disk (SSD)). For example, the aforementioned available medium includes, but is not limited to, various media that can store program code, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0259] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Determine a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, wherein the MAC sub-PDU includes a radio resource control RRC message, wherein the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, wherein a header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, and wherein the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field; Sending the MAC sub-PDU; When the first domain takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID domain is determined according to different LCID tables.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The MAC sub-PDU includes a first field, including: The header of the MAC sub-PDU includes the first field; or the RRC message includes the first field.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The LCID table is a correspondence between the index value of the LCID domain and the meaning represented by the index value of the LCID domain.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that Before sending the MAC sub-PDU, the method further includes: Determine whether the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The determining that the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU includes: receiving indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU; or, According to whether the receiving end supports the characteristics indicated by the MAC sub-PDU, it is determined that the receiving end supports parsing the MAC sub-PDU.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The indication information is carried in dedicated signaling, multicast signaling, or broadcast signaling.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that The sending the MAC sub-PDU comprises: The MAC sub-PDU is sent during a random access procedure.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that If the first field is carried in the header of the MAC sub-PDU, the size of the header of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the size of the LCID field is 6 bits, and the size of the first field is 1 or 2 bits.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that If the first domain is carried in the RRC message in the MAC sub-PDU, the size of the header of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the header of the MAC sub-PDU also includes two reserved domains, the size of the LCID domain is 6 bits, and the size of each of the reserved domains is 1 bit.

10. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Receive a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, wherein the MAC sub-PDU includes a radio resource control RRC message, the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, the header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, and the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field; Determine the meaning represented by the LCID domain according to the value of the first domain and the value of the LCID domain, When the first domain takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID domain is determined according to different LCID tables.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The MAC sub-PDU includes a first field, including: The header of the MAC sub-PDU includes the first field; or the RRC message includes the first field.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that: The LCID table is a correspondence between the index value of the LCID domain and the meaning represented by the index value of the LCID domain.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that Before receiving the MAC sub-PDU, the method further includes: Send indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate support for parsing the MAC sub-PDU.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The indication information is carried in dedicated signaling, multicast signaling, or broadcast signaling.

15. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 14, characterized in that The receiving the MAC sub-PDU comprises: The MAC sub-PDU is received during a random access procedure.

16. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 15, characterized in that If the first field is carried in the header of the MAC sub-PDU, the size of the header of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the size of the LCID field is 6 bits, and the size of the first field is 1 or 2 bits.

17. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 15, characterized in that If the first domain is carried in the RRC message in the MAC sub-PDU, the size of the header of the MAC sub-PDU is one byte, the header of the MAC sub-PDU also includes two reserved domains, the size of the LCID domain is 6 bits, and the size of each of the reserved domains is 1 bit.

18. A communication device, characterized in that: The device comprises: a processing unit, configured to determine a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, wherein the MAC sub-PDU includes a radio resource control RRC message, wherein the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, wherein a header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, and wherein the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field; A transceiver unit, configured to send the MAC sub-PDU; When the first domain takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID domain is determined according to different LCID tables.

19. A communication device, characterized in that: The device comprises: A transceiver unit, configured to receive a media access control MAC sub-packet data unit PDU, wherein the MAC sub-PDU includes a radio resource control RRC message, wherein the RRC message includes an uplink common control channel UL CCCH message or a UL CCCH1 message or an uplink dedicated control channel UL DCCH message, wherein a header of the MAC sub-PDU includes a logical channel identifier LCID field, and the MAC sub-PDU includes a first field; a processing unit, configured to determine the meaning represented by the LCID field according to the value of the first field and the value of the LCID field, When the first domain takes different values, the meaning represented by the LCID domain is determined according to different LCID tables.

20. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor, configured to execute a computer program stored in a memory, so that the apparatus performs the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9; or, so that the apparatus performs the method according to any one of claims 10 to 17.

21. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises instructions for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 17.

22. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: include: The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program; when the computer program is executed on a computer, the computer is caused to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

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