Cell activation method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a cell activation method and an apparatus. In the method, a first message received by a terminal device is used for activating a first cell that is only used for uplink transmission, and then the terminal device may send a second message used for indicating that the terminal device has completed the activation of the first cell. Therefore, the terminal device can activate the first cell that is only used for uplink transmission and can communicate with a network device by means of the first cell. In some implementations, the terminal device may determine time-frequency synchronization information of the first cell on the basis of a downlink signal of a second cell, or the terminal device may determine the transmission power of an uplink channel of the first cell on the basis of the downlink signal of the second cell, or the terminal device may perform radio resource management of the first cell on the basis of the downlink signal of the second cell. Therefore, since the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, the number of downlink carriers needing to be tested by the terminal device is reduced, thus reducing the complexity and power consumption of the terminal device.

Description

A cell activation method and device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on August 11, 2023, with application number 202311013853.4 and application name “A Cell Activation 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 wireless communication technology, and in particular to a cell activation method and device. Background Art

[0003] Wireless communication can be the transmission of information between two or more communication nodes without using conductors or cables, or over the air. For example, communication nodes include network devices and terminal devices. Generally, terminal devices can access network devices and receive scheduling and instruction information from them to achieve wireless communication.

[0004] With the continuous emergence of new services such as high-definition video and virtual reality (VR) / augmented reality (AR), the demand for wireless data traffic in wireless communication systems is rapidly increasing. To meet this growing demand for wireless transmission, the deployment of large-scale antennas and transceiver modules that support high-frequency signals can increase the network capacity and transmission rate of wireless communication systems. Consequently, the power consumption of the terminal devices equipped with these transceiver modules will increase.

[0005] Therefore, how to reduce the power consumption of terminal equipment is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] The present application provides a cell activation method and device for reducing the power consumption of terminal devices.

[0008] In the first aspect of the present application, a cell activation method is provided, which is executed by a terminal device (or terminal), or the method is executed by some components in the terminal device (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or the method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the terminal device functions. In the first aspect and its possible implementation, the method is described as being executed by a terminal device. In the method, the terminal device receives a first message, and the first message is used to activate a first cell, and the first cell is only used for uplink transmission; the first cell is associated with a second cell, and the second cell is at least used for downlink transmission, and the first message is a radio resource control (RRC) or a medium access control control element (MAC CE); the terminal device sends a second message, and the second message is used to indicate that the first cell has been activated, and the second message is a random access preamble (abbreviated as preamble), a sounding reference signal (SRS) or a feedback message of the first message.

[0009] Based on the above technical solution, the first message received by the terminal device is used to activate the first cell used only for uplink transmission. Afterwards, the terminal device can send a second message to instruct the terminal device to complete the activation of the first cell, so that the terminal device can activate the first cell used only for uplink transmission and communicate with the network device through the first cell. Therefore, because the first cell is used only for uplink transmission, the number of downlink carriers that the terminal device needs to detect is reduced, thereby reducing the complexity and power consumption of the terminal device.

[0010] In addition, the network equipment can dynamically shut down the downlink transmission module of the network equipment according to the changes in the downlink traffic volume in the cell, and switch between the uplink transmission mode only and the uplink and downlink transmission mode, thereby reducing the power consumption of the network equipment.

[0011] In the present application, the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, which can be understood as the first cell being able to communicate based on an uplink carrier but not based on a downlink carrier. Accordingly, the first cell being only used for uplink transmission can be replaced with the first cell having only an uplink carrier available, the uplink carrier of the first cell being available and the downlink carrier of the first cell being unavailable, the downlink carrier of the first cell being unavailable, the carrier of the first cell being an uplink carrier, the first cell only including an uplink carrier, the carrier of the first cell including an uplink carrier and not including a downlink carrier, the uplink transmission of the first cell being activated, turned on, enabled or enabled, and the downlink transmission of the first cell being deactivated, turned off, dormant, silent, prohibited or disabled. Similarly, a cell (such as the second cell, or the third cell mentioned later, etc.) is at least used for downlink transmission, which can be understood as the cell being at least able to communicate based on a downlink carrier, and optionally, the cell being also able to communicate based on an uplink carrier. Correspondingly, the cell is at least used for downlink transmission can be replaced by at least one of the uplink carrier of the cell is available, the downlink carrier of the cell is available, the carrier of the cell at least includes a downlink carrier, and the downlink transmission of the cell is activated, turned on, enabled or enabled.

[0012] Optionally, the first cell used only for uplink transmission may be referred to as an uplink only (UL only) cell.

[0013] Optionally, the configuration of the first cell may include at least one of the following: an index of the serving cell (i.e., the first cell), a physical cell identifier (PCI), uplink carrier configuration information, the position of the first symbol of the uplink and downlink demodulation reference signals (DMRS), the downlink (DL) configuration of the (time division duplexing, TDD) cell, the uplink (UL) configuration of the TDD cell, the frequency band associated with the downlink carrier, the absolute frequency number of the common physical resource block 0 associated with the downlink carrier, cross-carrier scheduling configuration, timing advance group identity (ID), indication information that the downlink carrier is unavailable, and downlink carrier indication information.

[0014] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first cell is in an activated state, and the method also includes: the terminal device receives scheduling information of the first cell through a fifth cell; wherein, the resources carrying the scheduling information of the first cell are determined by first configuration information, and the resources indicated by the first configuration information are the same as the resources indicated by the search space configuration information corresponding to the self-scheduling of the fifth cell.

[0015] Based on the above technical solution, when the first cell is in an activated state, the terminal device can receive the scheduling information of the first cell through the fifth cell to realize cross-carrier scheduling of the first cell for uplink transmission only. The resources carrying the scheduling information of the first cell are determined by the first configuration information, and the resources indicated by the first configuration information are the same as the resources indicated by the search space configuration information corresponding to the self-scheduling of the fifth cell, that is, the cross-carrier scheduling resources of the first cell used only for uplink transmission share the self-scheduling resources of other cells, which can save the overhead of resource configuration and improve resource utilization. Optionally, the other cells include scheduling cells and cells jointly scheduled with the first cell. Optionally, the predefined resources carrying the scheduling information of the first cell are the same as the resources indicated by the search space configuration information corresponding to the self-scheduling of the fifth cell. Optionally, the resources carrying the scheduling information are control channel resources used for blind detection of DCI, such as one or more control channel elements (CCE) indexed CCEs.

[0016] Optionally, the first configuration information is included in the cell configuration information of the first cell, or the first configuration information is included in the uplink carrier configuration information of the first cell, or the first configuration information is included in the downlink carrier configuration information of the first cell, or the first configuration information is independent of the cell configuration information of the first cell, which is not limited here.

[0017] Optionally, the first cell is associated with K cells, the K cells include at least the second cell, the K cells are all used for at least downlink transmission, and K is a positive integer; when the value of K is 1, the fifth cell is the K cells (that is, the fifth cell and the second cell are the same cell); when the value of K is greater than 1, the fifth cell is any one of the K cells.

[0018] The second aspect of the present application provides a cell activation method, which is executed by a network device, or the method is executed by some components in the network device (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or the method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the network device functions. In the second aspect and its possible implementation, the cell activation method is described as being executed by a first network device. In this method, the first network device determines a first message, and the first message is used to activate a first cell, and the first cell is only used for uplink transmission; the first cell is associated with a second cell, and the second cell is at least used for downlink transmission, and the first message is an RRC message or a MAC CE; the first network device sends the first message.

[0019] Based on the above technical solution, the first message sent by the first network device is used to activate the first cell used only for uplink transmission. After receiving the first message, the terminal device can activate the first cell used only for uplink transmission and can communicate with the network device through the first cell. Therefore, because the first cell is used only for uplink transmission, the communication mode between the terminal device and the first cell is uplink transmission. In turn, the terminal device does not need to configure / use the downlink carrier of the first cell, which can reduce the capability requirements of the terminal device and reduce the complexity and power consumption of the terminal device.

[0020] In addition, the network equipment can dynamically shut down the downlink transmission module of the network equipment according to the changes in the downlink traffic volume in the cell, and switch between the uplink transmission mode only and the uplink and downlink transmission mode, thereby reducing the power consumption of the network equipment.

[0021] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first cell is in an activated state, and the method also includes: the first network device sends scheduling information of the first cell through the fifth cell; wherein, the resources carrying the scheduling information of the first cell are determined by first configuration information, and the resources indicated by the first configuration information are the same as the resources indicated by the search space configuration information corresponding to the self-scheduling of the fifth cell.

[0022] Based on the above technical solution, when the first cell is in an activated state, the terminal device can receive the scheduling information of the first cell through the fifth cell to realize cross-carrier scheduling of the first cell for uplink transmission only. The resources carrying the scheduling information of the first cell are determined by the first configuration information, and the resources indicated by the first configuration information are the same as the resources indicated by the search space configuration information corresponding to the self-scheduling of the fifth cell, that is, the cross-carrier scheduling resources of the first cell used only for uplink transmission share the self-scheduling resources of other cells, which can save the overhead of resource configuration and improve resource utilization. Optionally, the other cells include scheduling cells and cells jointly scheduled with the first cell. Optionally, the predefined resources carrying the scheduling information of the first cell are the same as the resources indicated by the search space configuration information corresponding to the self-scheduling of the fifth cell. Optionally, the resources carrying the scheduling information are control channel resources used for blind detection of DCI, such as CCE corresponding to one or more CCE indexes.

[0023] Optionally, the first configuration information is included in the cell configuration information of the first cell, or the first configuration information is included in the uplink carrier configuration information of the first cell, or the first configuration information is included in the downlink carrier configuration information of the first cell, or the first configuration information is independent of the cell configuration information of the first cell, which is not limited here.

[0024] Optionally, the first cell is associated with K cells, and the K cells are all used for at least downlink transmission, where K is a positive integer; when the value of K is 1, the fifth cell is the K cells; when the value of K is greater than 1, the fifth cell is any one of the K cells.

[0025] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: the first network device receiving a second message, where the second message is used to indicate that the first cell has been activated, and the second message is a feedback message of the first message.

[0026] Based on the above technical solution, the first network device can also receive a second message, so that the first network device can clearly determine that the terminal device has completed the activation of the first cell based on the second message, and subsequently the first network device (that is, the first network device can include the first cell) can receive uplink information from the terminal device through the first cell.

[0027] Optionally, the uplink information of the terminal device includes uplink data, uplink signaling, uplink signals, etc. For example, the uplink information of the terminal device can be carried on one or more channels of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and a physical random access channel (PRACH).

[0028] The third aspect of the present application provides a cell activation method, which is executed by a network device, or the method is executed by some components in the network device (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or the method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the network device functions. In the third aspect and its possible implementation, the cell activation method is described as being executed by a second network device. In this method, the second network device receives a second message, which is used to instruct the terminal device to complete the activation of the first cell, and the second message is a random access preamble or SRS; wherein the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, the first cell is associated with the second cell, the second cell is at least used for downlink transmission, and the first message is an RRC message or MAC CE; the second network device receives uplink information from the terminal device.

[0029] Based on the above technical solution, the first cell is used only for uplink transmission, and the second message received by the second network device is used to instruct the terminal device to complete the activation of the first cell. Subsequently, the second network device can receive uplink information from the terminal device, that is, the second network device can conduct uplink communication with the terminal device through the first cell. Therefore, because the first cell is used only for uplink transmission, the communication mode between the terminal device and the first cell is uplink transmission, which means that the terminal device does not need to configure / use the downlink carrier of the first cell, which can reduce the capability requirements of the terminal device and reduce the complexity and power consumption of the terminal device.

[0030] In addition, the first cell in the second network device can enable the terminal device to communicate with the network device through the first cell without configuring / using a downlink carrier, which can reduce the power consumption of the second network device.

[0031] The fourth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which can implement the method in any possible implementation of any aspect of the first to third aspects mentioned above. The device includes corresponding units or modules for executing the above methods. The units or modules included in the device can be implemented by software and / or hardware. For example, the device can be a terminal device or a network device, or the device can be a component in a terminal device or a network device (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or the device can also be a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the terminal device or the network device. Among them, the device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit, and the component modules of the communication device can also be used to execute the steps performed in each possible implementation of any aspect of the first to third aspects, and achieve corresponding technical effects. For details, please refer to the above description and will not be repeated here.

[0032] A fifth aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising at least one processor, which is used to execute programs or instructions in a memory so that the device implements the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or enables the device to implement the method described in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0033] A sixth aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising at least one logic circuit and an input / output interface; the logic circuit is used to execute the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or to execute the method described in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0034] A seventh aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is used to store one or more computer-executable instructions. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in any possible implementation of any aspect of the first to second aspects above.

[0035] An eighth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a computer program product. When the computer program in the computer program product is executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in any possible implementation of any one of the first to second aspects above.

[0036] A ninth aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system comprising at least one processor for supporting a communication device to implement functions involved in any possible implementation of any one of the first to second aspects above.

[0037] In one possible design, the chip system may further include a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the first communication device. The chip system may be composed of a chip or may include a chip and other discrete components. Optionally, the chip system may further include an interface circuit that provides program instructions and / or data to the at least one processor. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by the present application;

[0039] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a carrier aggregation communication scenario involved in this application;

[0040] FIG3 is another schematic diagram of a carrier aggregation communication scenario involved in this application;

[0041] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a cell activation method provided in this application;

[0042] FIG5 is another schematic diagram of the cell activation method provided in this application;

[0043] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0044] FIG7 is another schematic diagram of the communication device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0045] First, some of the terms used in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0046] (1) Configuration and pre-configuration: In this application, configuration and pre-configuration will be used at the same time. Configuration refers to the network equipment such as base stations or servers sending some parameter configuration information or parameter values ​​to the terminal through messages or signaling, so that the terminal can determine the communication parameters or resources during transmission based on these values ​​or information. Pre-configuration is similar to configuration. It can be a way for network equipment such as base stations or servers to send parameter information or values ​​to the terminal through a communication link or carrier; it can also be a way to give the definition of corresponding parameters or parameter values ​​in the standard, or by setting the relevant parameters or values ​​in the terminal device in advance. This application does not limit this. Furthermore, these values ​​and parameters can be changed or updated.

[0047] (2) In this application, “used for indication” can include direct indication and indirect indication. When describing that a certain indication information is used to indicate A, it can be understood that the indication information carries A, directly indicates A, or indirectly indicates A.

[0048] In this application, the information indicated by the indication information is referred to as the information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated. For example, it can be implemented by direct indication, such as by indicating the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. It can also be implemented by indirectly indicating other information, wherein there is an association between the other information and the information to be indicated. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of specific information can also be achieved with the help of the arrangement order of each information agreed in advance (for example, stipulated in the protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent.

[0049] The information to be indicated can be sent as a whole, or divided into multiple sub-information and sent separately, and the sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be the same or different. The specific sending method is not limited in this application. Among them, the sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be pre-defined, for example, pre-defined according to the protocol, or configured by the transmitting device by sending configuration information to the receiving device. Among them, the configuration information can, for example, but not limited to, include one or a combination of at least two of RRC signaling, medium access control (MAC) layer signaling and physical layer signaling. Among them, MAC layer signaling, for example, includes MAC CE; physical layer signaling, for example, includes downlink control information (DCI).

[0050] (3) Reference signal (RS). In a communication system, it is necessary to estimate the uplink or downlink channel in order to send and receive data, obtain system synchronization, and feedback channel information. Channel estimation refers to the process of reconstructing or recovering the received signal in order to compensate for the signal distortion caused by channel fading and noise fading. It uses reference signals known in advance by the transmitter and receiver to measure the time and frequency domain changes of the channel. The above-mentioned reference signals are also called reference signals. They are distributed on different resource elements (REs) in the two-dimensional space of time and frequency within the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol and have known amplitude and phase.

[0051] (4) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application can be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, "at least one of A, B and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC or ABC. In addition, unless otherwise specified, the ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, timing, priority or importance of multiple objects.

[0052] (5) "Sending" and "receiving" in the embodiments of the present application indicate the direction of signal transmission. In the present application, when entity A sends information to entity B, it can be that A sends it directly to B, or that A sends it indirectly to B through other entities. Similarly, when entity B receives information from entity A, it can be that entity B directly receives the information sent by entity A, or that entity B indirectly receives the information sent by entity A through other entities. Entities A and B here can be RAN nodes or terminals, or modules inside RAN nodes or terminals. The sending and receiving of information can be the information interaction between a RAN node and a terminal, for example, the information interaction between a base station and a terminal; the sending and receiving of information can also be the information interaction between two RAN nodes, for example, the information interaction between a CU and a DU; the sending and receiving of information can also be the information interaction between different modules inside a device, for example, the information interaction between a terminal chip and other modules of the terminal, or the information interaction between a base station chip and other modules in the base station. "Sending" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface.

[0053] (6) Carrier aggregation, which can be the aggregation of two or more component carriers (CCs) to support a larger transmission bandwidth.

[0054] To efficiently utilize fragmented spectrum, carrier aggregation (CA) supports aggregation of different component carriers. For example, the different component carriers may include component carriers of the same or different bandwidths, or adjacent or non-adjacent component carriers within the same frequency band, or component carriers within different frequency bands.

[0055] In addition, in a CA scenario, the cell accessed by the terminal device may include a PCell and a SCell. The PCell may be determined during connection establishment, and the SCell may be added / modified / released via an RRC connection reconfiguration message after the initial security activation procedure.

[0056] A serving cell is a cell that provides services (e.g., uplink and downlink transmission) to a terminal device. If the terminal device is in the RRC_CONNECTED state but CA is not configured, the terminal device can have one serving cell, namely, the PCell. If the terminal device is in the RRC_CONNECTED state and CA is configured, the terminal device's serving cell set includes the PCell and one or more SCells. In other words, a serving cell can refer to both a PCell and an SCell. A PCell or SCell is also a serving cell.

[0057] (7) PRACH uplink access. After the cell search process, the terminal device has achieved downlink synchronization with the cell and can receive downlink data. It also needs to achieve uplink synchronization before uplink transmission. Therefore, it establishes a connection with the cell and achieves uplink synchronization through the random access process.

[0058] Specifically, the PRACH is used to transmit a preamble, which is sent by the user equipment as part of the random access process. The preamble notifies the base station of a random access request and enables the base station to estimate the transmission delay between it and the user equipment. This allows the base station to calibrate the uplink timing and communicate this calibration information to the user equipment via an uplink timing advance command.

[0059] Generally, each cell can have 64 available preamble sequences. The terminal device will select one of the sequences or be assigned a sequence by the base station to transmit on the PRACH. These sequences can be divided into two parts, used for contention-based random access and non-contention-based random access. The preambles used for contention-based random access can be divided into group A (group A) and group B (group B) (group B may not exist). The main function is to add certain prior information so that the base station can allocate appropriate uplink resources to message 3 (Msg3). For non-contention-based random access, such as handover, the preamble used can be directly specified by the base station and is a reserved preamble other than group A and group B to avoid conflicts.

[0060] (8) Secondary cell activation and deactivation. Generally, for terminal devices, except for PCell, other configured SCells are not immediately usable upon configuration. To better manage the battery consumption of terminal devices configured with CA, this can be achieved through the SCell activation / deactivation mechanism.

[0061] The PCell generally does not support activation / deactivation. In other words, the PCell of the terminal device is always in the active state.

[0062] (9) Search space blind detection. Generally, the uplink data transmission and downlink data reception of the terminal require scheduling by the base station. The scheduling information is sent through the DCI carried by the PDCCH. The terminal does not know the exact location of the PDCCH, so the terminal performs blind detection (BD) in the search space (SS).

[0063] Among them, when the terminal determines the search space, it mainly includes: determining the CORESET, determining the search space identifier, and determining the starting CCE and ending CCE positions corresponding to the physical downlink control channel candidate (PDCCH candidates) resources. For example, the terminal may implement the following steps: first, according to the current search space and the associated CORESET configuration, determine the candidate PDCCH situation, wherein the time domain starting symbol position is determined by the current search space configuration, and the number of time domain symbols is determined by the CORESET associated with this search space. Then, according to the current search space and the associated CORESET configuration, determine the CCE index of each candidate PDCCH in the CORESET (that is, the starting position of the CCE and the number of CCEs), and the specific CCE is determined by the search space function. Finally, the terminal can identify its own DCI by attempting a blind detection of the CRC at the listening position.

[0064] Please refer to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system 1000 used in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may also include the Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (such as 110a and 110b in Figure 1, collectively referred to as 110), and may also include at least one terminal (such as 120a-120j in Figure 1, collectively referred to as 120). The RAN 100 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in Figure 1). The terminal 120 is connected to the RAN node 110 wirelessly, and the RAN node 110 is connected to the core network 200 wirelessly or by wire. The core network equipment in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 100 may be independent and different physical devices, or they may be the same physical device that integrates the logical functions of the core network equipment and the logical functions of the RAN node. Terminals and RAN nodes may be connected to each other via wired or wireless means.

[0065] RAN100 may be an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) system, a new radio (NR) system, or a future radio access system defined in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). RAN100 may also include two or more of the aforementioned different radio access systems. RAN100 may also be an open RAN (O-RAN).

[0066] A RAN node, also known as a radio access network device, RAN entity, or access node, facilitates wireless access to a communication system by a terminal. In one application scenario, a RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB) in a fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication system, a next-generation base station in a sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication system, or a base station in a future mobile communication system. A RAN node can be a macro base station (such as 110a in Figure 1), a micro base station, an indoor station (such as 110b in Figure 1), a relay node, or a donor node.

[0067] In another application scenario, multiple RAN nodes can collaborate to help terminals achieve wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing portions of the base station's functions. For example, a RAN node can be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). The CU implements the base station's radio resource control protocol and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) functions, and can also implement the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) functions; the DU implements the base station's radio link control layer and MAC layer functions, and can also implement some or all of the physical layer functions. For detailed descriptions of each of the above protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of 3GPP. The RU can be used to implement the transmission and reception of radio frequency signals. The CU and DU can be two independent RAN nodes, or they can be integrated into the same RAN node, such as in a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in radio frequency equipment, such as a remote radio unit (RRU) or an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU can be further divided into two types of RAN nodes: CU-control plane and CU-user plane.

[0068] In different systems, RAN nodes may have different names. For example, in an O-RAN system, a CU may be called an open CU (O-CU), a DU may be called an open DU (O-DU), and a RU may be called an open RU (O-RU). The RAN node in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module. For example, the RAN node may be a server loaded with the corresponding software module. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the RAN node. For ease of description, the following description takes a base station as an example of a RAN node.

[0069] A terminal is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities that can send signals to a base station or receive signals from a base station. A terminal may also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminals can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, etc. A terminal can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable device, vehicle, airplane, ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home device, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal.

[0070] Base stations and terminals can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; on water; or on aircraft, balloons, and satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of base stations and terminals.

[0071] The roles of base stations and terminals can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 1 can be configured as a mobile base station. To terminals 120j accessing the wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal 120i is a base station. However, to base station 110a, 120i is a terminal, meaning that communication between 110a and 120i occurs via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, communication between 110a and 120i can also occur via a base station-to-base station interface protocol. In this case, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, base stations and terminals can be collectively referred to as communication devices. 110a and 110b in Figure 1 can be referred to as communication devices with base station functionality, while 120a-120j in Figure 1 can be referred to as communication devices with terminal functionality.

[0072] Communication between base stations and terminals, between base stations, and between terminals can be carried out through authorized spectrum, unauthorized spectrum, or both; communication can be carried out through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or spectrum below 6 GHz and spectrum above 6 GHz. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0073] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the base station may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station, or by a control subsystem that includes the base station functions. The control subsystem that includes the base station functions here may be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, smart transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal may also be performed by a module (such as a chip or modem) in the terminal, or by a device that includes the terminal functions.

[0074] In this application, a base station sends downlink signals or downlink information to a terminal, and the downlink information is carried on a downlink channel; the terminal sends uplink signals or uplink information to the base station, and the uplink information is carried on an uplink channel. In order to communicate with the base station, the terminal needs to establish a wireless connection with the cell controlled by the base station. The cell with which the terminal has established a wireless connection is called the serving cell of the terminal. When the terminal communicates with the serving cell, it will also be subject to interference from signals in neighboring cells.

[0075] In wireless communication systems (such as the one shown in Figure 1), the demand for wireless data traffic is rapidly increasing with the emergence of new services such as high-definition video and VR / AR. To meet this growing demand for wireless transmission, the deployment of large-scale antennas and transceiver modules that support high-frequency signals can increase the network capacity and transmission rate of wireless communication systems. Consequently, the power consumption of the terminal devices and / or network equipment that deploy these transceiver modules will increase.

[0076] In addition, another way to increase the network capacity and transmission rate of wireless communication systems can be achieved by further exploiting the frequency resources of wireless communication. Generally speaking, from the perspective of exploiting frequency resources, a larger transmission bandwidth can provide greater network capacity and higher transmission rate. However, due to the limitations of the actually deployed spectrum bandwidth resources and the processing capabilities of the terminal, large-bandwidth continuous spectrum resources are very scarce. In other words, the bandwidth of a single carrier is limited. To this end, carrier aggregation technology is a key technology to solve the problem of limited bandwidth of a single carrier. It aggregates two or more CCs together to serve terminal devices to support a larger transmission band.

[0077] Figure 2 shows an example implementation of CA. In the CA scenario shown in Figure 2, one or more network devices (only one network device is shown in the figure as an example) can provide n carriers (n is an integer greater than 1), each of which can provide a cell. In other words, there can be n carriers serving a terminal device, meaning the terminal device has n serving cells. The n serving cells of a terminal device include one PCell and one or more SCells.

[0078] Currently, in the implementation of CA technology, all cells used for CA include at least one downlink carrier (i.e., a downlink CC). Taking Figure 3 as an example, one implementation of a cell used for CA, shown as cell 1, includes a downlink CC but no uplink CC; another implementation of a cell used for CA, shown as cell 2, includes a downlink CC and an uplink CC; and another implementation of a cell used for CA, shown as cell 3, includes a downlink CC, an uplink CC, and another uplink CC (which may be called a supplementary uplink CC). However, in the current implementation of CA technology, any cell needs to configure / use a downlink carrier so that a terminal device can obtain downlink synchronization and downlink channel quality information of the cell through the downlink carrier, thereby enabling the terminal device to access the cell and obtain network services. This method of configuring / using downlink carriers will inevitably increase the power consumption of the terminal device (and / or the network equipment in which the cell is located).

[0079] In summary, increasing the network capacity and transmission rate of wireless communication systems, whether through the deployment of large-scale antennas and transceiver modules supporting high-frequency signals or through CA technology, inevitably leads to increased power consumption in terminal devices (and / or network equipment). Therefore, reducing the power consumption of terminal devices is a pressing technical issue.

[0080] To solve the above problems, the present application provides a cell activation method and device for reducing the power consumption of terminal devices, which will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0081] Please refer to FIG4 , which is a schematic diagram of an implementation of the cell activation method provided in this application. The method includes the following steps.

[0082] It should be noted that, in FIG4 , the method is illustrated by taking the terminal device and the first network device as the execution subjects of the interaction diagram as an example, but the present application does not limit the execution subjects of the interaction diagram. For example, the execution subject of S401-S402 in FIG4 and the corresponding implementation is the terminal device, and the execution subject may also be a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the terminal device to implement the method, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the terminal device. The first network device in S401-S402 in FIG4 and the corresponding implementation may also be replaced by a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the first network device to implement the method, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the first network device. Similarly, in the method shown in FIG5 below, the execution subject may be a terminal device, a first network device, a second network device, or other devices, or a chip, chip system, or processor that implements the method, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the terminal device.

[0083] S401. A first network device sends a first message, and a terminal device receives the first message. The first message is used to activate a first cell, which is used only for uplink transmission; the first cell is associated with a second cell, which is used at least for downlink transmission. The first message is an RRC message or a MAC CE.

[0084] It should be understood that when a terminal device is within the coverage of a network signal, the terminal device can access the network device and receive the scheduling and instruction information of the network device to achieve wireless communication. The signal coverage range of the network device for sending or receiving signals can be called a cell, and the terminal device located within the cell range can establish a connection with the cell through a wireless channel to obtain network services. Different signal coverage ranges can be called different cells. Generally, a network device can include one or more cells. The first cell and the second cell mentioned above can be located in the same network device, that is, the first cell and the second cell are deployed at the same physical site; or, the first cell and the second cell can be located in different network devices, that is, the first cell and the second cell are deployed at different physical sites.

[0085] In the present application, the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, which can be understood as the first cell being able to communicate based on an uplink carrier but not based on a downlink carrier. Accordingly, the first cell being only used for uplink transmission can be replaced with the first cell having only an uplink carrier available, the uplink carrier of the first cell being available and the downlink carrier of the first cell being unavailable, the downlink carrier of the first cell being unavailable, the carrier of the first cell being an uplink carrier, the first cell only including an uplink carrier, the carrier of the first cell including an uplink carrier and not including a downlink carrier, the uplink transmission of the first cell being activated, turned on, enabled or enabled, and the downlink transmission of the first cell being deactivated, turned off, dormant, silent, prohibited or disabled. Similarly, a cell (such as the second cell, or the third cell mentioned later, etc.) is at least used for downlink transmission, which can be understood as the cell being at least able to communicate based on a downlink carrier, and optionally, the cell being also able to communicate based on an uplink carrier. Correspondingly, the cell is at least used for downlink transmission can be replaced by at least one of the uplink carrier of the cell is available, the downlink carrier of the cell is available, the carrier of the cell at least includes a downlink carrier, and the downlink transmission of the cell is activated, turned on, enabled or enabled.

[0086] Optionally, the first cell used only for uplink transmission may be called a UL only cell.

[0087] Optionally, in addition to RRC information or MAC CE, the first message may also be implemented through other downlink messages / information / signaling, such as DCI.

[0088] S402. The terminal device sends a second message, and the first network device receives the second message accordingly. The second message is used to indicate that the first cell has been activated, and the second message is a preamble, SRS, or a feedback message of the first message.

[0089] Optionally, when the second message is feedback of the first message, the second message may include hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information.

[0090] In a possible implementation, the association of a first cell with a second cell includes: the first signal of the second cell is used to determine at least one of the time-frequency synchronization of the first cell, the transmit power of the uplink channel of the first cell, and the RRM of the first cell. Specifically, for a terminal device, it is generally necessary to obtain relevant information of a cell (such as determining the time-frequency synchronization, transmit power of the uplink channel, and RRM of the cell) through downlink transmission (such as downlink signaling / downlink signal / downlink information, etc.). Since the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, the first cell cannot determine the relevant information of the first cell through the downlink transmission of the first cell. For this reason, the relevant information of the first cell can refer to the relevant information of other cells. Accordingly, the association of the first cell with the second cell can be understood as the relevant information of the first cell can refer to the relevant information of the second cell, that is, the time-frequency synchronization information of the second cell can be used to determine the time-frequency synchronization of the first cell, the path loss determined by the second cell can be used to determine the transmit power of the uplink channel of the first cell, and the RRM measurement result confirmed by the second cell can be used to determine the RRM of the first cell. Specifically, the signal / information / signaling sent downlink by the second cell can be used to determine at least one of the time and frequency synchronization of the first cell, the transmission power of the uplink channel of the first cell and the RRM of the first cell, so as to enable communication between the terminal device and the first cell that only transmits uplink.

[0091] It should be noted that the first signal of the second cell is used to determine the time-frequency synchronization of the first cell, which can be replaced by: the terminal device can determine the time-frequency synchronization information of the first cell based on the time-frequency synchronization information of the second cell, such as shared time-frequency synchronization information. The first signal of the second cell is used to determine the transmission power of the uplink channel of the first cell, which can be replaced by: the terminal device can determine the transmission power of the uplink channel of the first cell based on the downlink signal of the second cell. The first signal of the second cell is used to determine the RRM of the first cell, which can be replaced by: the terminal device can determine the RRM of the uplink channel of the first cell based on the RRM of the second cell.

[0092] Optionally, the RRM of the first cell may include at least one of intra-frequency cell measurement, inter-frequency cell measurement, and inter-radio access technology (RAT) measurement.

[0093] For example, when a terminal device activates a cell, it may be necessary to obtain information used for cell activation, such as automatic gain control (AGC), time-frequency synchronization information, and other information, through the cell's downlink reference signal. Accordingly, when a first cell is associated with other cells (such as a second cell, and a third cell and a fourth cell that may appear later), the terminal device can obtain information used for cell activation through the other cells and activate the first cell based on the information. The following describes the implementation process of a terminal device activating a first cell in conjunction with some implementation methods.

[0094] Implementation method 1: The terminal device does not expect the second cell to be in a deactivated state.

[0095] Optionally, the terminal device does not expect the second cell to be in a deactivated state, and may instead expect the second cell to be in an activated state.

[0096] In implementation mode one, the terminal device does not expect the second cell to be in a deactivated state, that is, when the terminal device receives a first message for activating a first cell used only for uplink transmission, the terminal device expects the second cell to be in an activated state. That is, in implementation mode one, a cell (e.g., a second cell) that is pre-configured or pre-defined to be associated with a cell for uplink transmission only (e.g., the first cell) cannot be deactivated, that is, the cell for uplink transmission only is independently activated and deactivated. In other words, the terminal device can determine the behavior of the terminal device to activate the second cell based on the first message.

[0097] Optionally, if the terminal device does not expect the second cell to be in a deactivated state, the first message may include configuration information of the first cell. In other words, the first cell configuration is activated, and after the first cell configuration is completed, if the second cell is in a deactivated state, the terminal device will activate the second cell, and the terminal device determines that the second cell cannot be deactivated.

[0098] Exemplarily, the cell configuration information of the first cell may include at least one of the following: the index of the serving cell (i.e., the first cell), PCI, uplink carrier configuration information, the position of the first symbol of uplink and downlink DMRS, DL configuration of the TDD cell, UL configuration of the TDD cell, frequency band associated with the downlink carrier, the absolute frequency number of the common physical resource block 0 associated with the downlink carrier, frequency band associated with the uplink carrier, the absolute frequency number of the common physical resource block 0 associated with the uplink carrier, cross-carrier scheduling configuration, timing advance group identifier, downlink carrier unavailable indication information, and downlink carrier indication information.

[0099] It is understandable that since the first cell is used only for uplink transmission, the configuration information of the first cell may include relevant configuration information of one or more uplink carriers of the first cell, and may not include relevant configuration information of the downlink carrier. For example, for the TDD frequency band, the frequency band associated with the downlink carrier and the absolute frequency number of the common physical resource block 0 associated with the downlink carrier may not be configured, but the frequency band associated with the uplink carrier and the absolute frequency number of the common physical resource block 0 associated with the uplink carrier need to be configured.

[0100] Optionally, when the terminal device does not expect the second cell to be in a deactivated state, the first message may include activation signaling of the first cell, such as MAC CE, DCI, etc. Correspondingly, when the first message includes MAC CE, the feedback of the first message contained in the second message may be HARQ-ACK information of MAC CE.

[0101] In addition, the sign of successful cell activation is generally that the terminal device reports a valid channel state information report. In the implementation shown in Figure 4, since the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, this will cause the first cell to be unable to send down the CSI-RS, and thus cause the terminal device to be unable to obtain the channel state information report of the first cell. For this reason, in implementation method one, the sign of the terminal device activating the first cell will become the terminal device sending the second message. In other words, in the activation process of the first cell, the starting time point of activation is the moment when the terminal device receives the first message in step S401 (or the moment when the first network device sends the first message), and the end time point can be the moment when the terminal device sends the second message in step S402 (or the moment when the second network device receives the second message).

[0102] Implementation method 2: the first message is an RRC message, and when the second cell is in an activated state, the first message is used to activate the first cell.

[0103] In implementation method two, when the terminal device determines that the second cell is in an activated state, the first message received by the terminal device is used to indicate the activation of the first cell, that is, the terminal device can jointly determine the need to activate the first cell through the activation state of the second cell and the first message.

[0104] As an implementation example, in implementation method 2, if the second cell associated with the first cell is the PCell of the terminal device, then the activation state and deactivation state of the first cell are associated with (or bound to) the PCell. That is, if the cell associated with the first cell is the PCell, then the first cell enters the activation state after configuration, and no additional activation signaling is required. In other words, the first message can include the configuration information of the first cell.

[0105] As another implementation example, in implementation mode 2, if the second cell associated with the first cell is an SCell and the SCell is in an activated state, then the first cell enters the activation process immediately after configuration, and no additional activation signaling is required. In other words, the first message can include the configuration information of the first cell.

[0106] As another implementation example, in implementation method 2, if the second cell associated with the first cell is an SCell, and the SCell is in a deactivated state, the network device needs to instruct the associated cell to enter an activated state and activate the first cell at the same time. No independent signaling is required to activate the first cell, and the activation delay of the first cell is the same as that of the associated cell. In other words, the first message may include activation signaling of the second cell (such as MAC CE, DCI, etc.), and the activation signaling of the second cell is used to indicate the activation of the second cell, and the activation signaling of the second cell is also used to indicate the activation of the first cell.

[0107] Optionally, in implementation method 2, when the network device instructs the terminal to deactivate the associated cell, it also implicitly instructs the deactivation of the first cell. That is, the activation status of the first cell and the second cell are predefined to be bound. When the network-side device instructs the second cell to activate, it also implicitly instructs the activation of the first cell. When the network-side device instructs the second cell to deactivate, it also implicitly instructs the deactivation of the first cell. The activation and deactivation delay of the first cell is the same as that of the second cell.

[0108] Implementation method three: the first cell is further associated with a third cell, and the third cell is at least used for downlink transmission; when at least one of the second cell and the third cell is in an activated state, the first message is used to activate the first cell.

[0109] In implementation method three, in addition to being associated with the second cell, the first cell may also be associated with one or more other cells, including a third cell, i.e., the first cell is associated with a cell group. Thus, if the terminal device determines that at least one of the second cell and the second cell is activated, the first message received by the terminal device is used to instruct the activation of the first cell. In other words, the terminal device can determine that the first cell needs to be activated based on the activation status of the associated one or more cells and the first message.

[0110] Optionally, in implementations 2 and 3, the terminal device may determine that the first cell needs to be activated after receiving the first message. In other words, the network device configures the first message to indicate activation of the first cell. Thus, the first message can be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, the first message may include activation signaling for the first cell, such as MAC CE, DCI, etc.; or, for another example, the first message may include RRC configuration information for the first cell, so that the first cell enters an activated state immediately after configuration, eliminating the need for additional activation signaling and reducing overhead.

[0111] Exemplarily, in implementation method three, the first cell may be associated with a cell set (the cell set includes at least two cells containing downlink carriers), and when the first cell is activated, the activation state of the first cell is determined according to the activation state of the associated cell set. For example, it may be pre-configured or pre-defined that the first cell is activated (or the first cell cannot be deactivated) when at least one cell (such as the second cell or the third cell) in the associated cell set remains activated. Correspondingly, when all cells in the cell set are in a deactivated state, the first cell is deactivated.

[0112] Optionally, in implementation mode three, the terminal device may obtain first cell activation related information (such as AGC, time-frequency synchronization information, etc.) according to the priority of the cell in the associated cell set. The priority may be pre-configured or configured by the network device. For example, the size of the priority is positively correlated (or negatively correlated) with the size of the cell index of the cell in the associated cell set, which is not limited here.

[0113] It should be noted that the difference between implementation method three and implementation method two is that implementation method two is associated with the second cell, and implementation method three is associated with two or more cells (including the second cell and the third cell). The network device can indicate an activated cell in the cell group in the first message as a reference cell for the activation process of the first cell. The terminal device obtains the AGC, time-frequency synchronization information, etc. required in the activation process based on the downlink signal in the indicated cell, such as SSB and CSI-RS.

[0114] Alternatively, in implementation method three, the network device does not carry reference cell indication information in the activation command, and implicitly indicates through preconfigured or predefined rules. For example, the terminal device can determine the reference cell based on the difference between the cell frequency bands. The smaller the frequency band difference, the higher the priority. The difference between the frequency bands can be the difference between the midpoint frequencies of the two cells, or the difference between the absolute frequency point numbers, etc., which is not limited here.

[0115] Implementation method four: the second cell is in a deactivated state, the first message includes first indication information, the first indication information indicates a fourth cell, and the fourth cell is in an activated state.

[0116] In implementation method four, when the first cell is associated with the second cell, the first message may include first indication information indicating a fourth cell that is in an activated state, so that when the second cell associated with the first cell is in a deactivated state, the network device can indicate, through dynamic indication, that the activation state of the first cell is determined by the activation state of other cells.

[0117] Optionally, the fourth cell may be a cell used only for uplink transmission, or a cell used at least for downlink transmission, or a cell used for both uplink transmission and downlink transmission, which is not limited here.

[0118] Optionally, when the first indication information indicates the fourth cell, the first message may include activation signaling of the first cell, such as RRC, MAC CE, DCI, etc.

[0119] For example, in implementation method four, the network device sends a first message to indicate the reference cell during the activation of the first cell, and the terminal device implements cell activation based on the information in the indicated cell, such as through the fourth cell downlink signal, such as SSB, CSI-RS, to obtain the AGC and time-frequency synchronization information required during the activation process.

[0120] Specifically, in step S402, the first network device can receive a second message, so that the first network device can clarify that the terminal device has completed the activation of the first cell based on the second message, and subsequently the first network device (that is, the first network device can include the first cell) can receive uplink information from the terminal device through the first cell.

[0121] Optionally, the uplink information of the terminal device includes uplink data, uplink signaling, uplink signal, etc. For example, the uplink information of the terminal device may be carried on one or more channels of PUCCH, PUSCH, and PRACH.

[0122] Exemplarily, the terminal device may send at least one of the following uplink information: information carried on an uplink shared channel (UL-SCH), information carried on a RACH, information carried on a PUCCH, SRS, and the like.

[0123] Optionally, at least one uplink information sent by the terminal device may be sent via an uplink bandwidth part (BWP), wherein the uplink BWP may be configured to the terminal device via an RRC message, and the uplink BWP may be a continuous physical resource block in the frequency domain.

[0124] Optionally, in order to achieve better energy-saving effects for terminal devices, an energy-saving BWP (the bandwidth of the energy-saving BWP is smaller than the bandwidth of the uplink BWP) and a timer corresponding to the uplink BWP can be configured or pre-configured for a cell that transmits only uplink (e.g., the first cell). If there is no data communication between the network device and the terminal device within the timer, the terminal device switches from the currently activated uplink BWP to the energy-saving BWP, where the energy-saving BWP can also be configured to the terminal through an RRC message.

[0125] Optionally, the energy-saving BWP may be referred to as an uplink default BWP.

[0126] In one possible implementation, in the technical solution shown in Figure 4, the first cell is in an activated state (for example, after the terminal device sends the second message in step S402, the terminal device considers that the first cell is in an activated state), and the method also includes: the terminal device receives the scheduling information of the first cell through the fifth cell; wherein, the resources carrying the scheduling information of the first cell are determined by the first configuration information, and the resources indicated by the first configuration information are the same as the resources indicated by the search space configuration information corresponding to the self-scheduling of the fifth cell.

[0127] Specifically, when the first cell is in an activated state, the terminal device can receive the scheduling information of the first cell through the fifth cell to realize cross-carrier scheduling of the first cell for uplink transmission only. The resources carrying the scheduling information of the first cell are determined by the first configuration information, and the resources indicated by the first configuration information are the same as the resources indicated by the search space configuration information corresponding to the self-scheduling of the fifth cell, that is, the cross-carrier scheduling resources of the first cell used only for uplink transmission share the self-scheduling resources of other cells, which can save the overhead of resource configuration and improve resource utilization. Optionally, the other cells include scheduling cells and cells jointly scheduled with the first cell. Optionally, the predefined resources carrying the scheduling information of the first cell are the same as the resources indicated by the search space configuration information corresponding to the self-scheduling of the fifth cell. Optionally, the resources carrying the scheduling information are control channel resources used for blind detection of DCI, such as CCE corresponding to one or more CCE indices.

[0128] Optionally, the first configuration information is included in the cell configuration information of the first cell, or the first configuration information is included in the uplink carrier configuration information of the first cell, or the first configuration information is included in the downlink carrier configuration information of the first cell, or the first configuration information is independent of the cell configuration information of the first cell, which is not limited here.

[0129] It should be noted that in the CA scenario, for the cell scheduling of an SCell, two scheduling methods, self-scheduling and cross-carrier scheduling, are supported. Among them, the control information of self-scheduling is sent on the downlink carrier of the SCell, and the control information of cross-carrier scheduling is sent on the downlink carrier of other cells outside the SCell. The terminal device obtains the control information through the search space blind detection method described above to schedule the SCell. In the technical solution shown in Figure 4, since the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, the first cell may not have a downlink carrier. Accordingly, the scheduling of the first cell needs to be implemented through cross-carrier scheduling. In the above implementation method, the implementation of cross-carrier scheduling of the scheduling of the first cell through the downlink carrier of the fifth cell is taken as an example. The cross-carrier scheduling feature includes cross-carrier scheduling with the same subcarrier spacing and cross-carrier scheduling with different subcarrier spacing. Terminals that support only uplink transmission must support the cross-carrier scheduling feature, even if the terminal device does not report the ability to support cross-carrier scheduling. Optionally, a terminal that is predefined to support uplink-only transmission must support the cross-carrier scheduling feature with the same subcarrier spacing, or a terminal that is predefined to support uplink-only transmission must support cross-carrier scheduling with the same subcarrier spacing and cross-carrier scheduling with different subcarrier spacing. Optionally, a terminal that is predefined to support uplink-only transmission must also report capabilities related to cross-carrier scheduling.

[0130] In the above implementation, the first cell is associated with K (K is greater than or equal to 1) cells, the K cells include at least the second cell, and the fifth cell is one of the K cells. Wherein, when the value of K is 1, the K cells only include the fifth cell (that is, the fifth cell and the second cell are the same cell). At this time, the first cell can only be cross-carrier scheduled by the fifth cell. When the value of K is greater than 1, the fifth cell is any one of the K cells, and the scope of cross-carrier scheduling of the first cell is not limited. Any cell in the K cells can be configured to cross-carrier schedule the first cell. Optionally, any service cell of the terminal device can be configured to cross-carrier schedule the first cell, which is decoupled from the cell associated with the first cell.

[0131] As an implementation example, the first cell is configured for cross-carrier scheduling, such as when the fifth cell cross-carrier schedules the first cell. The terminal device needs to determine the position of the search space for scheduling the first cell on the search space of the fifth cell. Determining the position requires the search space-related configuration on the first cell, such as the search space ID, the aggregation level of blind detection, and the number of blind detections. Generally, the search space-related configuration of a cell is in the downlink BWP configuration, and in the above technical solution, since the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, the first cell may not have a downlink BWP configuration. For this reason, the search space-related configuration for cross-carrier scheduling can be configured in the configuration information of the first cell. Alternatively, the self-scheduling of the first cell and the fifth cell shares the search space, that is, the search space-related configuration for cross-carrier scheduling is the same as the search space configuration information corresponding to the self-scheduling of the fifth cell. Alternatively, the configuration information of the pre-configured or pre-defined first cell carries the search space-related configuration information in the first cell.

[0132] Based on the technical solution shown in Figure 4, the first message received by the terminal device in step S401 is used to activate the first cell used only for uplink transmission. Thereafter, the terminal device can send a second message in step S402 to instruct the terminal device to complete the activation of the first cell, so that the terminal device can activate the first cell used only for uplink transmission and can communicate with the network device through the first cell. In the implementation example shown in Figure 3 above, the cell and the downlink carrier have a strong binding relationship, and this restriction is suitable for downlink services with a large amount of data. For uplink services with a large amount of data or for service scenarios that require secondary cells to improve coverage, this restriction will increase the capability and complexity of the terminal device, that is, the terminal device needs to support additional downlink capabilities while obtaining the required uplink resources. In the technical solution shown in Figure 3, for the terminal device, since the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, the communication method between the terminal device and the first cell is the uplink transmission method, which makes the terminal device do not need to configure / use the downlink carrier of the first cell, which can reduce the capability requirements of the terminal device and reduce the complexity and power consumption of the terminal device.

[0133] In addition, the network equipment can dynamically shut down the downlink transmission module of the network equipment according to the changes in the downlink traffic volume in the cell, and switch between the uplink transmission mode only and the uplink and downlink transmission mode, thereby reducing the power consumption of the network equipment.

[0134] In the technical solution shown in FIG4 , the first network device may include one or more cells, i.e., signal transmission and reception of the one or more cells are performed by the first network device. The one or more cells may include the cell used to send the first message in step S401 and the first cell, so that the first network device can receive a second message from the terminal device in step S402. For example, the second message may include a random access preamble and / or an SRS sent by the terminal device to the first cell; for another example, the second message may include a feedback message of the first message sent by the terminal device to the cell that sent the first message in step S401.

[0135] In one possible implementation, the first network device may not include the first cell. For example, the first cell is located in another network device (e.g., the second network device). In this case, the second message sent by the terminal device in step S402 may no longer be received by the first network device. This situation will be described below with reference to the implementation process shown in FIG5 .

[0136] S501. A first network device sends a first message, and a terminal device receives the first message. The first message is used to activate a first cell, which is used only for uplink transmission; the first cell is associated with a second cell, which is used at least for downlink transmission. The first message is an RRC message or a MAC CE.

[0137] It should be noted that the implementation process of step S501 can refer to the implementation process of the aforementioned step S401 and achieve corresponding technical effects, which will not be repeated here.

[0138] S502. The terminal device sends a second message, and correspondingly, the first network device receives the second message, wherein the second message is used to indicate that the first cell has been activated, and the second message is a preamble or an SRS.

[0139] It should be noted that after step S502, the second network device may receive uplink information from the terminal device. The uplink information of the terminal device includes uplink data, uplink signaling, uplink signals, etc. For example, the uplink information of the terminal device may be carried on one or more channels of PUCCH, PUSCH, and PRACH.

[0140] Based on the technical solution shown in Figure 5, the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, and the second message received by the second network device in step S502 is used to instruct the terminal device to complete the activation of the first cell. Subsequently, the second network device can receive uplink information from the terminal device, that is, the second network device can communicate uplink with the terminal device through the first cell. Therefore, since the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, the communication mode between the terminal device and the first cell is the uplink transmission mode, and thus the terminal device does not need to configure / use the downlink carrier of the first cell, which can reduce the capability requirements of the terminal device and reduce the complexity and power consumption of the terminal device. In addition, the second network device can dynamically shut down the downlink transmission module of the network device according to the changes in the downlink traffic volume in the cell, and switch between the uplink transmission only mode and the uplink and downlink transmission mode, thereby reducing the power consumption of the network device.

[0141] Referring to Figure 6, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device 600. The communication device 600 can implement the functions of the communication device in the above-mentioned method embodiment (the communication device is a terminal device, a first network device, or a second network device), and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above-mentioned method embodiment. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device 600 can be a communication device, or it can be an integrated circuit or component within the communication device, such as a chip. The following embodiments are described using the communication device 600 as an example.

[0142] In one possible implementation, when the device 600 is used to execute the method executed by the terminal device in any of the aforementioned embodiments, the device 600 includes a processing unit 601 and a transceiver unit 602; the transceiver unit 602 is used to receive a first message, the first message is used to activate a first cell, and the first cell is only used for uplink transmission; the first cell is associated with a second cell, and the second cell is at least used for downlink transmission, and the first message is an RRC message or a MAC CE; the processing unit 601 is used to determine a second message, the second message is used to indicate that the first cell has been activated, and the second message is a random access preamble, a sounding reference signal SRS, or a feedback message of the first message; the transceiver unit 602 is also used to send the second message.

[0143] In one possible implementation, when the device 600 is used to execute the method executed by the first network device in any of the aforementioned embodiments, the device 600 includes a processing unit 601 and a transceiver unit 602; the processing unit 601 is used to determine a first message, which is used to activate a first cell, and the first cell is only used for uplink transmission; the first cell is associated with a second cell, and the second cell is at least used for downlink transmission, and the first message is an RRC message or a MAC CE; the transceiver unit 602 is used to send the first message.

[0144] In one possible implementation, when the device 600 is used to execute the method executed by the second network device in any of the aforementioned embodiments, the device 600 includes a processing unit 601 and a transceiver unit 602; the transceiver unit 602 is used to receive a second message; the processing unit 601 is used to determine that the terminal device completes the activation of the first cell based on the second message, and the second message is a random access preamble or a sounding reference signal SRS; wherein the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, the first cell is associated with the second cell, and the second cell is at least used for downlink transmission; the transceiver unit 602 is also used to receive uplink information from the terminal device.

[0145] It should be noted that, for details on the information execution process of the units of the above-mentioned communication device 600, please refer to the description in the method embodiment shown above in this application, and no further details will be given here.

[0146] Please refer to Figure 7, which is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device 700 provided in this application. The communication device 700 includes a logic circuit 701 and an input / output interface 702. The communication device 700 may be a chip or an integrated circuit. The transceiver unit 602 shown in Figure 6 may be a communication interface, which may be the input / output interface 702 in Figure 7. The input / output interface 702 may include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communication interface may be a transceiver circuit, which may include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0147] Optionally, the input-output interface 702 is used to receive a first message, which is used to activate a first cell, and the first cell is only used for uplink transmission; the first cell is associated with a second cell, and the second cell is at least used for downlink transmission, and the first message is an RRC message or a MAC CE; the logic circuit 701 is used to determine a second message, which is used to indicate that the first cell has been activated, and the second message is a random access preamble, a sounding reference signal SRS, or a feedback message of the first message; the input-output interface 702 is also used to send the second message.

[0148] Optionally, the logic circuit 701 is used to determine a first message, which is used to activate a first cell, and the first cell is only used for uplink transmission; the first cell is associated with a second cell, and the second cell is at least used for downlink transmission, and the first message is an RRC message or a MAC CE; the input and output interface 702 is used to send the first message.

[0149] Optionally, the input-output interface 702 is used to receive a second message; the logic circuit 701 is used to determine that the terminal device completes the activation of the first cell based on the second message, and the second message is a random access preamble or a sounding reference signal SRS; wherein the first cell is only used for uplink transmission, the first cell is associated with the second cell, and the second cell is at least used for downlink transmission; the input-output interface 702 is also used to receive uplink information from the terminal device.

[0150] The logic circuit 701 and the input / output interface 702 may also execute other steps executed by the terminal device or the network device in any embodiment and achieve corresponding beneficial effects, which will not be described in detail here.

[0151] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 601 shown in FIG. 6 may be the logic circuit 701 in FIG. 7 .

[0152] Optionally, the logic circuit 701 may be a processing device, and the functions of the processing device may be partially or entirely implemented by software. The functions of the processing device may be partially or entirely implemented by software.

[0153] Optionally, the processing device may include a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor reads and executes the computer program stored in the memory to perform corresponding processing and / or steps in any one of the method embodiments.

[0154] Alternatively, the processing device may include only a processor. A memory for storing the computer program is located outside the processing device, and the processor is connected to the memory via circuits / wires to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory. The memory and processor may be integrated or physically separate.

[0155] Optionally, the processing device may be one or more chips, or one or more processors.

[0156] It is understood that the processor 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), network processors (NP), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), programmable logic devices (PLD), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0157] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is used to store one or more computer-executable instructions. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in the possible implementation methods of the terminal device or network device in the above embodiments.

[0158] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product (or computer program). When the computer program product is executed by the processor, the processor executes the method of the possible implementation mode of the above-mentioned terminal device or network device.

[0159] An embodiment of the present application also provides a chip system, which includes at least one processor for supporting a communication device to implement the functions involved in the possible implementation methods of the above-mentioned communication device. Optionally, the chip system also includes an interface circuit, which provides program instructions and / or data to the at least one processor. In one possible design, the chip system may also include a memory, which is used to store the necessary program instructions and data for the communication device. The chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices, wherein the communication device can specifically be a terminal device or a network device in the aforementioned method embodiment.

[0160] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes the terminal device and the first network device in any of the above embodiments, or the communication system includes the terminal device and the second network device in any of the above embodiments, or the communication system includes the terminal device and the first network device and the second network device in any of the above embodiments.

[0161] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely 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. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0162] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0163] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0164] When the above-mentioned communication device is a chip applied to a terminal, the terminal chip implements the functions of the terminal in the above-mentioned method embodiment. When the terminal chip receives information from the base station, it can be understood that the information is first received by other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the terminal chip by these modules. When the terminal chip sends information to the base station, it can be understood that the information is first sent to other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the base station by these modules.

[0165] When the above-mentioned communication device is a chip applied to a base station, the base station chip implements the functions of the base station in the above-mentioned method embodiment. When the base station chip receives information from the terminal, it can be understood that the information is first received by other modules in the base station (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the base station chip by these modules. When the base station chip sends information to the terminal, it can be understood that the information is sent to other modules in the base station (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the terminal by these modules.

[0166] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware or in software instructions that can be executed by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, mobile hard disk, CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal. The processor and storage medium can also exist in a base station or a terminal as discrete components.

[0167] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage media.

[0168] 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 by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0169] It is understood that the various numbers used in the embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A cell activation method, characterized in that: Executed by a terminal or a module applied to a terminal, including: receiving a first message, where the first message is used to activate a first cell, where the first cell is used only for uplink transmission; the first cell is associated with a second cell, where the second cell is used at least for downlink transmission, and the first message is a radio resource control RRC message or a medium access control control element MAC CE; A second message is sent, where the second message indicates that the first cell has been activated, and the second message is a random access preamble, a sounding reference signal SRS, or a feedback message of the first message.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The associating the first cell with the second cell includes: The first signal of the second cell is used to determine at least one of the time and frequency synchronization of the first cell, the transmission power of the uplink channel of the first cell, and the radio resource management RRM of the first cell.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The terminal does not expect the second cell to be in a deactivated state.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The first message is an RRC message, and when the second cell is in an activated state, the first message is used to activate the first cell.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The first cell is also associated with a third cell, and the third cell is at least used for downlink transmission; When at least one of the second cell and the third cell is in an activated state, the first message is used to activate the first cell.

6. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The second cell is in a deactivated state, the first message includes first indication information, the first indication information indicates a fourth cell, and the fourth cell is in an activated state.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The first cell is in an activated state, and the method further includes: The scheduling information of the first cell is received through the fifth cell; wherein the resources carrying the scheduling information of the first cell are determined by first configuration information, and the resources indicated by the first configuration information are the same as the resources indicated by the search space configuration information corresponding to the self-scheduling of the fifth cell.

8. A cell activation method, characterized in that: Executed by a network device or a module applied to a network device, including: Sending a first message, where the first message is used to activate a first cell, where the first cell is only used for uplink transmission; the first cell is associated with a second cell, where the second cell is at least used for downlink transmission, and the first message is a radio resource control RRC message or a medium access control control element MAC CE; A second message is received, where the second message indicates that the first cell has been activated, and the second message is a random access preamble, a sounding reference signal SRS, or a feedback message of the first message.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The associating the first cell with the second cell includes: The first signal of the second cell is used to determine at least one of the time and frequency synchronization of the first cell, the transmission power of the uplink channel of the first cell, and the radio resource management RRM of the first cell.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: The terminal does not expect the second cell to be in a deactivated state.

11. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: The first message is an RRC message, and when the second cell is in an activated state, the first message is used to activate the first cell.

12. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: The first cell is also associated with a third cell, and the third cell is at least used for downlink transmission; When at least one of the second cell and the third cell is in an activated state, the first message is used to activate the first cell.

13. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: The second cell is in a deactivated state, the first message includes first indication information, the first indication information indicates a fourth cell, and the fourth cell is in an activated state.

14. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 13, characterized in that The first cell is in an activated state, and the method further includes: The scheduling information of the first cell is sent through the fifth cell; wherein the resources carrying the scheduling information of the first cell are determined by first configuration information, and the resources indicated by the first configuration information are the same as the resources indicated by the search space configuration information corresponding to the self-scheduling of the fifth cell.

15. A communication device, characterized in that: Comprising means for performing the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 14.

16. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises at least one processor coupled to a memory; the at least one processor is configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

17. A readable storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a computer program or an instruction. When the computer program or the instruction is executed by the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14 is implemented.

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