Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus. A network device transmits first configuration information to a first terminal device, and transmits second configuration information to a second terminal device, the first configuration information and the second configuration information being used by the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform correlated joint transmission; the second terminal device transmits first data to the first terminal device, and processes the first data on the basis of the second configuration information; and the first terminal device receives the first data from the second terminal device, and processes the first data on the basis of the first configuration information. According to the solution, the first terminal device and the second terminal device can perform the same processing on the same data and transmit the same data on an air interface, so that the first terminal device and the second terminal device can execute correlated joint transmission, thereby achieving the effect of saving the resource overhead.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on August 25, 2023, with application number 202311085366.9 and application name “A Communication Method and Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and device. Background Art

[0004] Currently, communication systems can support multi-path relay (also known as multi-path relay) technology. For example, a remote terminal device (Remote UE) can communicate with a network device (such as a base station) through a direct link and an indirect link at the same time. On the direct link, the Remote UE communicates directly with the base station through an air interface (such as the universal terrestrial radio access network-user (Uu or Uu) interface). On the indirect link, the Remote UE communicates with the base station through a relay terminal device (Relay UE). The Remote UE can send and receive the same or different data simultaneously through two links, which can improve the throughput and reliability of data transmission and reception.

[0005] However, in a multi-path relay scenario, data transmission between the relay UE and the remote UE is performed independently. The base station allocates resources to the relay UE and the remote UE independently, and the relay UE and the remote UE need to occupy two air interface transmission resources.

[0006] When the Remote UE sends the same data simultaneously through two links, the Relay UE and the Remote UE have to occupy two air interface transmission resources, resulting in a high resource overhead.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus for enabling a Relay UE and a Remote UE to generate and send the same uplink data, so that the Relay UE and the Remote UE perform related joint transmission, thereby saving air interface transmission resources.

[0009] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be applied to a first terminal device or a chip in the first terminal device. Taking the method applied to the first terminal device as an example, the method includes: receiving first configuration information from a network device, the first configuration information being used by the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission, the first terminal device being used for communication between a second terminal device and the network device; receiving first data from the second terminal device, the first data being uplink data of the second terminal device; processing the first data based on the first configuration information to generate second data; and sending the second data to the network device. The first terminal device is, for example, a relay UE, and the second terminal device is, for example, a remote UE.

[0010] In the above scheme, the first terminal device processes the uplink data (i.e., the first data) of the second terminal device based on the first configuration information sent by the network device. Since the first configuration information is used for the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission, the processing of the first data performed by the first terminal device will be the same as the processing of the first data performed by the second terminal device. The data (i.e., the second data) sent by the first terminal device on the air interface is the same as the data sent by the second terminal device on the air interface, which enables the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission, thereby saving air interface transmission resources.

[0011] In one possible design, the first configuration information includes one or more of the following: a first number of antenna ports, a first rank parameter, and a first coherent codebook set; the first number of antenna ports is equal to the sum of the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device and the number of antenna ports of the second terminal device.

[0012] It can be understood that in this design, the first data can be a media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) or a transport block (TB), or it can be a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) PDU, etc., and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0013] In this way, it can be ensured that the processing of the first data by the first terminal device at the physical layer is the same as the processing of the first data by the second terminal device at the physical layer.

[0014] In one possible design, the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device is the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device that can be used to transmit uplink data (such as first data) of the second terminal device, and the antenna ports of the first terminal device that can be used to transmit uplink data of the second terminal device can be all antenna ports or part of the antenna ports of the first terminal device.

[0015] In one possible design, the method may further include: receiving first indication information from a network device, the first indication information indicating that first configuration information is used for the first terminal device to perform related joint sending.

[0016] In this way, the first terminal device can determine the first configuration information for the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission based on the first indication information, and then process the first data based on the first configuration information when performing the related joint transmission, thereby improving the reliability of the solution.

[0017] In one possible design, the first indication information includes an identifier of the second terminal device.

[0018] In this way, the first terminal device can determine that the first terminal device and the second terminal device cooperate to perform related joint transmission, or in other words, the first configuration information is associated with the second terminal device.

[0019] In one possible design, before processing the first data based on the first configuration information, first scheduling information can also be obtained, and the first scheduling information is used to schedule the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission.

[0020] In this way, the first terminal device can start to perform relevant joint transmission based on the scheduling of the network device, thereby improving the reliability of the solution.

[0021] In one possible design, the first scheduling information is received from a network device. In another possible design, the first scheduling information is received from a second terminal device. For example, the network device first sends second scheduling information to the second terminal device, where the second scheduling information is used to schedule the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission. The second terminal device sends the first scheduling information to the first terminal device based on the second scheduling information. The first scheduling information is the same as or different from the second scheduling information.

[0022] This design provides two methods for scheduling the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission, and the solution is highly flexible.

[0023] In one possible design, the first scheduling information indicates the execution of related joint transmission; or, the first scheduling information corresponds to the first identifier of the first terminal device; or, the first scheduling information corresponds to the first downlink control information (DCI) format; or, the first scheduling information indicates the first carrier, and the first carrier is used for related joint transmission.

[0024] Of course, the above are only some examples of the first scheduling information and are not limited thereto.

[0025] In one possible design, the first configuration information includes the configuration of the first bearer; the first bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, and the first wireless bearer is an end-to-end wireless bearer between the second terminal device and the network device; the first bearer is used for related joint transmission.

[0026] It can be understood that in this design, the first data can be PDCP PDU, etc., and this embodiment of the present application does not limit it.

[0027] In this way, the first terminal device processes the data (such as the first data) of the end-to-end wireless bearer (i.e., the first wireless bearer) of the second terminal device and the network device based on the first bearer. Since the first bearer is used for related joint transmission, the processing of the first data by the first terminal device based on the first bearer is the same as the processing of the first data by the second terminal device based on the bearer of the second terminal device associated with the first wireless bearer (such as the second bearer).

[0028] In one possible design, the configuration of the first bearer includes an identifier of the first wireless bearer; or, the configuration of the first bearer includes an identifier of the first logical channel, and the identifier of the first logical channel is associated with the first wireless bearer.

[0029] Of course, the actual manner of associating the first bearer with the first radio bearer is not limited to the above two.

[0030] In one possible design, the first configuration information indicates reconfiguration of a bearer for the first terminal device. The method may further include: configuring the first bearer according to the first configuration information; after data transmission associated with the third bearer is completed, releasing the third bearer, the third bearer being used for non-related joint transmission, and the third bearer being associated with the first radio bearer; or releasing the third bearer and configuring the first bearer according to the first configuration information, the third bearer being used for non-related joint transmission, and the third bearer being associated with the first radio bearer; and retransmitting data of the first radio bearer based on the first configuration information.

[0031] In this way, the bearer of the first terminal device can be reconfigured. The bearer before reconfiguration is the third bearer used for non-related joint transmission, and the bearer after reconfiguration is the first bearer used for related joint transmission. Of course, in actual applications, the bearer before reconfiguration can also be the first bearer used for related joint transmission, and the bearer after reconfiguration can also be the third bearer used for non-related joint transmission.

[0032] In one possible design, the method may also include: receiving a first message from a network device; activating the first bearer or deactivating a third bearer based on the first message, the third bearer being used for non-related joint transmission, and the third bearer being associated with the first wireless bearer.

[0033] In this way, the first terminal device performs relevant joint transmission based on the first bearer when the first bearer is activated, thereby improving the reliability of the solution.

[0034] In one possible design, the method may also include: sending first information and / or second information to the network device based on the first bearer, the first information is generated by the first terminal device, and the second information is generated by the second terminal device.

[0035] In this way, the first terminal device aligns the data transmission content by interacting with the second terminal device, thereby ensuring the reliability of the related joint transmission.

[0036] In one possible design, the method may further include: sending first information to the network device based on a fifth bearer, where the first information is generated by the first terminal device, and the fifth bearer is used for non-related joint transmission. The fifth bearer is the same as or different from the third bearer.

[0037] In this way, the first terminal device transmits data different from that of the second terminal device side based on the bearer used for non-related joint transmission, thereby ensuring the reliability of related joint transmission.

[0038] In one possible design, the first information is used to indicate the reception status of the first terminal device for the downlink data of the network device, and the second information is used to indicate the reception status of the second terminal device for the downlink data of the network device. Of course, the actual implementation of the first information and the second information is not limited to this.

[0039] According to a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to a second terminal device or a chip in the second terminal device. Taking the application of the method to the second terminal device as an example, the method includes: receiving second configuration information from a network device; the second configuration information is used by the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission, and the second terminal device communicates with the network device through the first terminal device; sending first data to the first terminal device, the first data being the uplink data of the second terminal device; and processing the first data based on the second configuration information to generate third data, and sending the third data to the network device.

[0040] In the above scheme, the second terminal device processes the uplink data of the second terminal device (i.e., the first data) based on the second configuration information sent by the network device. Since the second configuration information is used for the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission, the processing of the first data by the second terminal device will be the same as the processing of the first data by the first terminal device. The data sent by the second terminal device on the air interface (i.e., the third data) is the same as the data sent by the first terminal device on the air interface, which enables the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission, thereby saving air interface transmission resources.

[0041] In one possible design, the second configuration information includes one or more of the following: a second number of antenna ports, a second rank parameter, and a second coherent codebook set; the second number of antenna ports is equal to the sum of the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device and the number of antenna ports of the second terminal device.

[0042] It can be understood that in this design, the first data can be a MAC PDU or TB, or a PDCP PDU, etc., and this embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0043] In this way, it can be ensured that the processing of the first data by the second terminal device at the physical layer is the same as the processing of the first data by the first terminal device at the physical layer.

[0044] In one possible design, the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device is the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device that can be used to transmit uplink data (such as first data) of the second terminal device, and the antenna ports of the first terminal device that can be used to transmit uplink data of the second terminal device can be all antenna ports or part of the antenna ports of the first terminal device.

[0045] In one possible design, the method may further include: receiving second indication information from the network device, the second indication information indicating that the second configuration information is used for the second terminal device to perform related joint sending.

[0046] In this way, the second terminal device can determine the second configuration information based on the second indication information for the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission, and then subsequently process the first data based on the second configuration information when performing the related joint transmission, thereby improving the reliability of the solution.

[0047] In one possible design, the second indication information includes an identifier of the first terminal device.

[0048] In this way, the first terminal device can determine that the first terminal device and the second terminal device cooperate to perform related joint transmission, or in other words, the first configuration information is associated with the second terminal device.

[0049] In one possible design, before processing the second data based on the second configuration information, second scheduling information can also be obtained, and the second scheduling information is used to schedule the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission.

[0050] In this way, the second terminal device can start to perform related joint transmission based on the scheduling of the network device, thereby improving the reliability of the solution.

[0051] In one possible design, first scheduling information can also be sent to the first terminal device based on the second scheduling information, and the first scheduling information is used to schedule the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission.

[0052] In one possible design, the second scheduling information indicates the execution of related joint transmission; or, the second scheduling information corresponds to the first identifier of the second terminal device; or, the second scheduling information corresponds to the first DCI format; or, the second scheduling information indicates the first carrier, and the first carrier is used for related joint transmission.

[0053] Of course, the above are only some examples of the second scheduling information and are not limited thereto.

[0054] In one possible design, the second configuration information includes the configuration of the second bearer; the second bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, and the first wireless bearer is an end-to-end wireless bearer between the second terminal device and the network device; the second bearer is used for related joint transmission.

[0055] It can be understood that in this design, the first data can be PDCP PDU, etc., and this embodiment of the present application does not limit it.

[0056] In this way, the second terminal device processes the data (such as the first data) of the end-to-end wireless bearer (i.e., the first wireless bearer) of the second terminal device and the network device based on the second bearer. Since the second bearer is used for related joint transmission, the processing of the first data by the second terminal device based on the first bearer is the same as the processing of the first data by the first terminal device based on the bearer of the first terminal device associated with the first wireless bearer (such as the first bearer).

[0057] In one possible design, the second configuration information indicates the reconfiguration of the bearer of the second terminal device; the method may also include: configuring the second bearer according to the second configuration information; after the data transmission associated with the fourth bearer is completed, releasing the fourth bearer, the fourth bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, and the fourth bearer is used for non-related joint transmission; or, releasing the fourth bearer and configuring the second bearer according to the second configuration information, the fourth bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, and the fourth bearer is used for non-related joint transmission; retransmitting the data of the first wireless bearer based on the second configuration information.

[0058] In this way, the bearer of the second terminal device can be reconfigured. The bearer before reconfiguration is the fourth bearer used for non-related joint transmission, and the bearer after reconfiguration is the second bearer used for related joint transmission. Of course, in actual applications, the bearer before reconfiguration can also be the second bearer used for related joint transmission, and the bearer after reconfiguration can also be the fourth bearer used for non-related joint transmission.

[0059] In one possible design, a second message can also be received from the network device; the second bearer is activated or the fourth bearer is deactivated according to the second message, the fourth bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, and the fourth bearer is used for non-related joint transmission.

[0060] In this way, the second terminal device performs relevant joint transmission based on the second bearer when the second bearer is activated, thereby improving the reliability of the solution.

[0061] In one possible design, the first information and / or the second information can also be sent to the network device based on the second bearer, where the first information is generated by the first terminal device and the second information is generated by the second terminal device.

[0062] In this way, the second terminal device aligns the data transmission content by interacting with the first terminal device to ensure the reliability of the related joint transmission.

[0063] In one possible design, second information may be sent to the network device based on a sixth bearer, where the second information is generated by the second terminal device and the sixth bearer is used for non-related joint transmission. The sixth bearer may be the same as or different from the fourth bearer.

[0064] In this way, the second terminal device transmits data different from that of the first terminal device based on the bearer used for non-related joint transmission, thereby ensuring the reliability of related joint transmission.

[0065] In one possible design, the first information is used to indicate the reception status of the first terminal device for the downlink data of the network device, and the second information is used to indicate the reception status of the second terminal device for the downlink data of the network device. Of course, the actual implementation of the first information and the second information is not limited to this.

[0066] According to a third aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to a network device (such as a base station) or a chip in a network device (such as a base station). Taking the application of the method to a network device as an example, the method includes: sending first configuration information to a first terminal device; sending second configuration information to a second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device communicates with the network device through the relay of the first terminal device, and the first configuration information and the second configuration information are used by the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform related joint sending.

[0067] In the above scheme, the network device sends the first configuration information and the second configuration information to the first terminal device and the second terminal device respectively, so that the first terminal device and the second terminal device can perform the same processing on the same data (i.e., the uplink data of the second terminal device, such as the first data) based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information, and then generate the same data (such as the second data and the third data), so that the data (such as the second data and the third data) sent by the first terminal device and the second terminal device on the air interface are consistent, thereby enabling the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission, thereby achieving the effect of saving resource overhead.

[0068] In one possible design, the first configuration information includes one or more of the following: a first number of antenna ports, a first rank parameter, and a first coherent codebook set; the second configuration information includes one or more of the following: a second number of antenna ports, a second rank parameter, and a second coherent codebook set; wherein the first number of antenna ports and the second number of antenna ports are the same, the first rank parameter and the second rank parameter are the same, and the first coherent codebook set and the second coherent codebook set are the same. It will be understood that in this design, the first data can be a MAC PDU or TB, or can also be a PDCP PDU, etc., and this is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0069] In one possible design, the number of the first antenna ports or the number of the second antenna ports is equal to the sum of the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device and the number of antenna ports of the second terminal device.

[0070] In one possible design, the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device is the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device that can be used to transmit uplink data (such as first data) of the second terminal device, and the antenna ports of the first terminal device that can be used to transmit uplink data of the second terminal device can be all antenna ports or part of the antenna ports of the first terminal device.

[0071] In one possible design, the method may also include: sending first indication information to the first terminal device, the first indication information indicating that the first configuration information is used for the first terminal device to perform related joint sending; and / or, sending second indication information to the second terminal device; the second indication information indicating that the second configuration information is used for the second terminal device to perform related joint sending.

[0072] In one possible design, the first indication information includes an identifier of the second terminal device; and / or, the second indication information includes an identifier of the first terminal device.

[0073] In one possible design, the first configuration information includes the configuration of a first bearer, which is associated with the first wireless bearer; and / or the second configuration information includes the configuration of a second bearer, which is associated with the first wireless bearer; the first wireless bearer is an end-to-end wireless bearer between the first terminal device and the network device.

[0074] It can be understood that in this design, the first data can be PDCP PDU, etc., and this embodiment of the present application does not limit it.

[0075] In one possible design, the configuration of the first bearer includes an identifier of the first wireless bearer; or, the configuration of the first bearer includes an identifier of the first logical channel, and the identifier of the first logical channel is associated with the first wireless bearer.

[0076] In one possible design, the configuration of the first bearer and the configuration of the second bearer include the same logical channel parameter configuration.

[0077] In one possible design, the configuration of the first bearer and the configuration of the second bearer include the same radio link control (RLC) configuration parameters; wherein the RLC configuration parameters include one or more of the following: RLC transmission mode, the transmission mode is acknowledged mode (AM) mode or unacknowledged mode (UM); the serial number (SN) length in the RLC PDU header; in AM mode, the maximum number of retransmissions of the RLC transmitter; a polling retransmission timer; a polling protocol data unit; and a polling byte.

[0078] In one possible design, the first configuration information indicates reconfiguration of the bearer of the first terminal device; and / or, the second configuration information indicates reconfiguration of the bearer of the second terminal device.

[0079] In one possible design, a first message can also be sent to the first terminal device, the first message is used to activate the first bearer or deactivate the third bearer, the third bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, and the third bearer is used for non-related joint transmission; and / or, a second message is sent to the second terminal device, the second message is used to activate the second bearer or deactivate the fourth bearer, the fourth bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, and the fourth bearer is used for non-related joint transmission.

[0080] In one possible design, the method may also send first scheduling information to the first terminal device, the first scheduling information being used to schedule the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission; and / or, send second scheduling information to the second terminal device, the second scheduling information being used to schedule the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission.

[0081] In one possible design, the first scheduling information indicates the execution of related joint transmission; or, the first scheduling information corresponds to the first identifier of the first terminal device; or, the first scheduling information corresponds to the first DCI format; or, the first scheduling information indicates the first carrier, and the first carrier is used for related joint transmission; or, the second scheduling information indicates the execution of related joint transmission; or, the second scheduling information corresponds to the first identifier of the second terminal device; or, the second scheduling information corresponds to the first DCI format; or, the second scheduling information indicates the first carrier, and the first carrier is used for related joint transmission.

[0082] The beneficial effects of each design method in the third aspect can refer to the beneficial effects of the corresponding design in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0083] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a module, a unit or a technical means for executing the method as described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect.

[0084] Exemplarily, the device may include:

[0085] a transceiver module configured to receive first configuration information from a network device, the first configuration information being used by a first terminal device to perform related joint transmission, the first terminal device being used for communication between a second terminal device and the network device; and receive first data from a second terminal device, the first data being uplink data of the second terminal device;

[0086] The processing module is used to process the first data based on the first configuration information to generate second data; and send the second data to the network device.

[0087] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a module, a unit or a technical means for executing the method described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect.

[0088] Exemplarily, the device may include:

[0089] a transceiver module configured to receive second configuration information from the network device; the second configuration information is used by the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission, the second terminal device communicating with the network device through the first terminal device; and to send first data to the first terminal device, the first data being uplink data of the second terminal device;

[0090] The processing module is used to process the first data based on the second configuration information, generate third data, and send the third data to the network device.

[0091] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a module, unit or technical means for executing the method described in the third aspect or any possible design of the third aspect.

[0092] Exemplarily, the apparatus may include: a transceiver module for sending first configuration information to a first terminal device; and sending second configuration information to a second terminal device; wherein the second terminal device communicates with the network device through the relay of the first terminal device, and the first configuration information and the second configuration information are used by the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform related joint sending.

[0093] In the seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor, the processor being coupled to a memory, the memory being used to store programs or instructions, and when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the communication device executes the method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect, or the communication device executes the method described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect, or the communication device executes the method described in the third aspect or any possible design of the third aspect.

[0094] In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein the storage medium stores a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are executed by a communication device, the method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect is implemented, or the method described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect is implemented, or the method described in the third aspect or any possible design of the third aspect is implemented.

[0095] In the ninth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, causes the method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect to be executed, or causes the method described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect to be executed, or causes the method described in the third aspect or any possible design of the third aspect to be executed.

[0096] In the tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising a first terminal device, a second terminal device and a network device; the first terminal device is used to execute the method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect, the second terminal device is used to execute the method described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect, and the network device is used to execute the method described in the third aspect or any possible design of the third aspect.

[0097] For the technical effects that can be achieved in the above-mentioned fourth to tenth aspects, please refer to the description of the technical effects that can be achieved by the corresponding design schemes in the above-mentioned first to third aspects, and this application will not repeat them here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0098] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application;

[0099] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a user plane protocol stack of a UE;

[0100] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a virtual network;

[0101] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of base station side collaboration;

[0102] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the communication architecture from the edge link UE to the network relay;

[0103] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the protocol stack of SL U2N Relay;

[0104] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a multi-path relay communication architecture;

[0105] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a multi-path relay protocol stack architecture based on UE-to-UE connection;

[0106] FIG9 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0107] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of a related joint transmission provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0108] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a MAC layer offload architecture;

[0109] FIG12 is a schematic diagram of a PDCP layer offload architecture;

[0110] FIG13 is a schematic diagram of several specific configurations of the first terminal device and the second terminal device;

[0111] FIG14 is a schematic diagram of several specific configurations of the first terminal device and the second terminal device;

[0112] FIG15 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0113] FIG16 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0114] FIG17 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a chip provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0115] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: fifth-generation (5G) communication systems, sixth-generation (6G) communication systems or other future evolution systems, or various other wireless communication systems using wireless access technologies, etc., can all adopt the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0116] For example, FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system that can be applied in an embodiment of the present application. The communication system 1000 includes a wireless access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may also include the Internet 300. The wireless access network 100 includes at least one access network device, such as 110a and 110b in FIG1 , and also includes at least one terminal device, such as 120a-120j in FIG1 . 110a is a base station, 110b is a micro station, 120a, 120e, 120f, and 120j are mobile phones, 120b is a car, 120c is a gas pump, 120d is a home access point (HAP) arranged indoors or outdoors, 120g is a laptop computer, 120h is a printer, and 120i is a drone. The same terminal device or access network device can provide different functions in different application scenarios. For example, in FIG1 , there are mobile phones 120 a , 120 e , 120 f , and 120 j . Mobile phone 120 a can access base station 110 a , connect to car 120 b , communicate directly with mobile phone 120 e , and access HAP. Mobile phone 120 b can access HAP and communicate directly with mobile phone 120 a . Mobile phone 120 f can be connected as micro station 110 b , connect to laptop computer 120 g , and connect to printer 120 h . Mobile phone 120 j can control drone 120 i .

[0117] The terminal device is connected to the access network device, which is in turn connected to the core network. The core network device and the access network device can be independent and distinct physical devices, or they can integrate the functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the access network device into the same physical device, or they can integrate some of the functions of the core network device and some of the functions of the access network device into one physical device. Terminal devices and access network devices can be connected to each other via wired or wireless means. Figure 1 is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system can also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in Figure 1.

[0118] The access network device 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 base station in a sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, etc.; it can also be a module or unit that performs some of the functions of a base station, for example, a centralized unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU). The access network device can be a macro base station (such as 110a in Figure 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in Figure 1), a relay node or a donor node, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the access network device. In the embodiments of the present application, a base station is used as an example of an access network device for description.

[0119] In one possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist the terminal in achieving wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the RAN node can be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be set separately, or they can be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0120] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an open radio access network (O-RAN or open RAN or ORAN) system, CU may also be called O-CU (open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, this application takes CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples for description. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0121] Terminal devices may also be referred to as terminals, user equipment (UE), mobile stations, mobile terminals, etc. Terminal devices can be widely used in various scenarios, for example, 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. Terminal devices may be mobile phones, tablet computers, computers with wireless transceiver functions, wearable devices, vehicles, drones, helicopters, airplanes, ships, robots, robotic arms, smart home devices, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal devices.

[0122] Base stations and UEs can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; on water; or in the air on aircraft, balloons, and satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of base stations and UEs.

[0123] The roles of base stations and UEs can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 1 can be configured as a mobile base station. To devices 120j accessing the wireless access network 100 via 120i, 120i is a base station. However, to base station 110a, 120i is a UE, 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 UEs 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 UE functionality.

[0124] Communication between base stations and UEs, between base stations, and between UEs 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.

[0125] To facilitate understanding of the solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the nouns or terms involved in the embodiments of the present application are explained below.

[0126] 1. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO): Multiple-antenna technology, also known as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) or MIMO, uses multiple transmit and receive antennas at the transmitter and receiver, respectively, enabling signals to be transmitted and received via these antennas, thereby improving communication quality. Typically, a MIMO system with M transmit antennas and N receive antennas is called an M×N MIMO system.

[0127] 2. Power gain: The gain achieved by increasing the transmit power at the transmitter. In a MIMO system, if the transmit power of a single antenna remains unchanged, using multiple antennas increases the total transmit power. For example, if there are n transmit antennas, the total transmit power is n times that of a single antenna, resulting in a gain of 10log(n)dB, thereby increasing the signal coverage.

[0128] 3. Diversity gain: When the same channel reaches the receiver via different paths, the performance gain achieved by reducing the fluctuation of the signal-to-noise ratio of the combined signal by exploiting the independence of spatial channel fading is called diversity gain. Diversity gain improves the stability of the signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver, thereby enhancing wireless signal reception reliability, which translates into improved system capacity and coverage performance.

[0129] 4. Sidelink communication:

[0130] In a wireless communication system, data communication can be carried out between UEs through the network, or directly between UEs without the help of the network. The interface between UEs is called the PC5 interface, which is similar to the Uu interface between UEs and base stations. The link between UEs is called sidelink. A typical application scenario of sidelink communication is vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In the vehicle network, each vehicle is a UE, and data can be transmitted directly between UEs through sidelink without going through the network, which can effectively reduce communication delays. It is understandable that the side link can also be called side link, side link, side link, etc.

[0131] 5. Radio Bearer (RB): A radio bearer is a collective term for a series of protocol entities (or protocol layers) and configurations allocated by a base station to a UE. These include the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity, the radio link control (RLC) protocol entity, the medium access control (MAC) protocol entity, and a series of resources allocated by the physical layer (PHY). Figure 2 shows the UE user plane protocol stack.

[0132] Radio bearers are divided into data radio bearers (DRBs) and signaling radio bearers (SRBs). The former is used to carry data, and the latter is used to carry signaling messages. In sidelink communication scenarios, communication between UEs is carried out through sidelink radio bearers (SLRBs), including sidelink DRBs and sidelink SRBs.

[0133] In the 3GPP protocol, the radio bearer configuration generally only includes the configuration of the PDCP layer and the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer. The protocol entity below the RLC layer is called the RLC bearer, and the corresponding configuration is given in the RLC bearer configuration.

[0134] 6. An RLC bearer refers to the protocol entities and configurations below the RLC layer. It is the lower layer of a radio bearer and includes a series of resources such as RLC protocol entities and logical channels. An RLC bearer is associated with one logical channel. Typically, an RLC bearer is associated with one PDCP entity, meaning that one RLC serves one radio bearer RB.

[0135] 7. Logical channel packetization: During uplink transmission, the MAC layer of the UE performs logical channel packetization based on the scheduling of the base station. Specifically, the RLC layer delivers data to the MAC layer through different logical channels. One RLC bearer is associated with one logical channel. The MAC obtains data from different logical channels according to the resource size configured by the base station through the logical channel priority (LCP) process, and then packets it to generate a MAC protocol data unit (PDU), and then delivers the MAC PDU to the physical layer for processing. The data sent from the MAC layer to the physical layer is organized in the form of a transport block (TB). One TB corresponds to a data block containing one MAC PDU. From the above perspective, one TB can be equivalent to one MAC PDU.

[0136] 8. RLC status report: When the RLC layer transmission mode is acknowledged mode (AM) mode, the receiving end sends an RLC status report to the sending end to indicate the data reception status, thereby triggering the sending end to retransmit the data.

[0137] It can be understood that the transmission modes of the RLC layer include a transparent mode (TM), an unacknowledged mode (UM) and an acknowledged mode.

[0138] TM: The RLC entity is unidirectional and independently sends and receives data; the sending entity does not add additional information to the data.

[0139] UM: As in transparent mode, the RLC entity is unidirectional and independently sends and receives data. The sending entity adds the necessary control protocol overhead to the higher-layer PDU and, if necessary, segments the RLC SDU. Delivery to the peer entity is not guaranteed.

[0140] AM: Unlike TM and UM, the RLC entity is bidirectional, divided into a receiving side and a transmitting side. The transmitting side adds the necessary control protocol overhead to the higher-layer data before transmission. If necessary, it also needs to segment the RLC SDU and ensure delivery to the peer entity, which adds the requirement to support ARQ retransmission. In AM mode, the receiving end sends an RLC status report to the transmitting end to indicate the data reception status, thereby triggering the transmitting end to retransmit the data.

[0141] The receiving end feeds back the RLC status report in two scenarios:

[0142] Scenario 1: The sender notifies the receiver to feedback a status report, which is a passive response.

[0143] In scenario 1, the transmitter instructs the receiver to send a status report by using a bit in the RLC PDU header, namely the polling bit in the RLC header. Setting the polling bit to 1 indicates that an RLC status report has been triggered at the receiver.

[0144] Scenario 2: The receiving end actively provides status reports.

[0145] In scenario 2, after the reassembly timer times out, the RLC receiving end checks whether there is any message that is not received correctly. If there is any message that is not received correctly, a status report is immediately triggered.

[0146] 9. RAN-side collaboration technology: This technology enables multiple base stations or cells to simultaneously serve the same user. This creates a user-centric virtual network that moves with the user, ensuring a high-speed, low-latency, and zero-interruption user experience regardless of the user's location in the system, as shown in Figure 3. RAN-side collaboration technologies include, but are not limited to, dual connectivity (DC), carrier aggregation (CA), and coordinated multipoint transmission / reception (CoMP).

[0147] 10. Coherent Joint Transmission (CJT): This refers to the combined beamforming of multiple antennas, allowing the transmitted signals to be co-directionally superimposed, achieving higher beamforming gain. Figure 4 illustrates an example of base station-side collaboration for downlink coherent joint transmission. Two base stations transmit the same data to the UE via downlink MIMO. Through beamforming, the signals from the two base stations are coherently added or combined at the UE, improving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the receiving signal, thereby achieving coherent gain or array gain.

[0148] It can be understood that the related joint transmission may also have other names, for example, it may also be called related joint transmission, coherent joint transmission, etc.

[0149] 11. Sidelink UE-to-Network Relay (also known as sidelink UE-to-Network Relay, SL UE-to-Network Relay, or SL U2N Relay): SL U2N Relay is a technology in which a UE helps another UE communicate with a base station. Figure 5 shows the communication architecture of Rel-17 SL U2N Relay. A remote UE (Remote UE) communicates with a base station through the collaboration of a relay UE (Relay UE). The remote UE and relay UE communicate via sidelink, with the corresponding interface called PC5. The relay UE and base station are directly connected, communicating via the Uu interface.

[0150] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the protocol stack of L2 SL U2N Relay, where (a) in Figure 6 is the user plane protocol stack, and (b) in Figure 6 is the control plane protocol stack. This protocol architecture adds a sidelink relay adaptation protocol (SRAP) layer between the RLC layer and the PDCP layer. The main function of the SRAP layer is to multiplex and demultiplex radio bearers, that is, to support the multiplexing of different radio bearers onto one RLC bearer and the corresponding demultiplexing process. The data packets of the Remote UE are relayed below the PDCP layer of the Relay UE, that is, the Relay UE only maintains the relayed RLC bearer, including the RLC layer, MAC layer, and PHY layer. Therefore, there are end-to-end PDCP layers, SDAP layers, and RRC layers between the Remote UE and the base station, but no end-to-end RLC layers, MAC layers, and PHY layers.

[0151] 12. Multi-path relay (also known as multi-path relay):

[0152] The "path" in the embodiments of the present application refers to a communication path or a communication link.

[0153] Multi-path relay technology is an evolution of SL U2N relay. Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of the multi-path relay communication architecture. A remote UE communicates with the base station simultaneously through a direct link and an indirect link. A direct link can also be referred to as a direct link, and an indirect link can also be referred to as an indirect link, an indirect link, or a relay link.

[0154] The Remote UE and Relay UE are located within the cell coverage of the same base station. On a direct link, the Remote UE communicates directly with the base station via the Uu interface. On an indirect link, the Remote UE communicates with the base station via the Relay UE. The Remote UE and Relay UE can communicate via a sidelink or a non-3GPP link. The Remote UE can simultaneously send and receive the same or different data on both links to improve data throughput and reliability.

[0155] Based on the two-link connection, the Remote UE's radio bearer data can be configured in four transmission modes: always transmitted on the direct link, always transmitted on the indirect link, PDCP replication, and PDCP splitting. If configured for PDCP replication, the Remote UE's data will be replicated at the PDCP layer and the replicated data will be delivered to the Uu RLC of the direct link and the PC5 RLC of the indirect link for transmission, thereby ensuring reliability through multipath transmission. If configured for PDCP splitting, the PDCP layer will deliver the data to the Uu RLC of the direct link or the PC5 RLC of the indirect link for transmission according to certain rules, thereby improving the transmission rate through dual-link transmission.

[0156] In one possible implementation, in a multi-path relay communication architecture, the radio bearer data of the Remote UE is offloaded at the PDCP layer, that is, the radio bearer data of the Remote UE can be delivered from the PDCP entity to the RLC entity on the Uu or the RLC entity on the PC5. As shown in Figure 8, a multi-path relay protocol stack architecture for establishing a UE-to-UE connection based on sidelink is added to the SL U2N Relay protocol stack architecture (as shown in Figure 5) to provide a protocol stack for direct communication between the Remote UE and the base station.

[0157] In the above architecture, the Remote UE performs dual-link data transmission through a direct link (i.e., Uu interface) and an indirect link (i.e., PC5 interface). Data replication can be used to improve data transmission reliability, and data diversion can be used to increase data transmission rate.

[0158] However, data transmission between the Relay UE and the Remote UE is performed independently. The base station schedules the Relay UE and the Remote UE for uplink transmission respectively. For example, the base station allocates air interface transmission resources to the Relay UE and the Remote UE respectively. Therefore, the size and time of the resources allocated to the Relay UE and the Remote UE are completely independent.

[0159] When the remote UE's radio bearer data is configured as PDCP replication transmission mode, although redundant transmission can improve data transmission reliability, the relay UE and remote UE need to occupy two air interface transmission resources to transmit the same data, which will increase resource overhead.

[0160] In view of this, a technical solution of an embodiment of the present application is provided, which can be applied to scenarios of multi-UE collaboration, for example, in the multi-path relay scenario shown in Figure 7, to enable the Relay UE and the Remote UE to generate and send the same uplink data, so that the Relay UE and the Remote UE perform related joint transmission, thereby achieving the effect of improving the UE uplink transmission capability and saving resource overhead.

[0161] Referring to FIG. 9 , which is a flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, the method includes steps S101 to S105 .

[0162] S101: A network device sends first configuration information to a first terminal device; in response, the first terminal device receives the first configuration information.

[0163] S102. The network device sends second configuration information to the second terminal device; accordingly, the second terminal device receives the second configuration information;

[0164] It can be understood that this application does not limit the order of step S101 and step S102, that is, step S101 and step S102 can be executed simultaneously, step S101 can be executed first and then step S102, or step S102 can be executed first and then step S101.

[0165] In an embodiment of the present application, the second terminal device can communicate directly with the network device (for example, based on the Uu interface), the second terminal device can communicate directly with the first terminal device (for example, based on the PC5 interface, WiFi, Bluetooth, wired link, etc.), and the first terminal device can communicate directly with the network device (for example, based on the Uu interface). The second terminal device can also communicate with the network device through the relay of the first terminal device, that is, the first terminal device can act as a relay to assist the second terminal device in communicating with the network device. As an example, the second terminal device is the Remote UE shown in Figure 7, the first terminal device is the Relay UE shown in Figure 7, and the network device is the base station shown in Figure 7. For ease of description, the embodiment of the present application takes the second terminal device being the Remote UE and the first terminal device being the Relay UE as an example.

[0166] In one possible scenario, the first configuration information and the second configuration information are used by the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission. Related joint transmission means that the antennas of the first terminal device and the second terminal device jointly perform beamforming and send the same data to the network device through uplink MIMO, so that the signals sent by the first terminal device and the second terminal device can be superimposed in the same direction, thereby enabling the network device to obtain higher beamforming gain. In other words, the first terminal device and the second terminal device send the same uplink data to the network device on the same resources through joint precoding.

[0167] In an embodiment of the present application, the first terminal device performing the related joint transmission may include: receiving first data from the second terminal device, processing the first data based on the first configuration information, and sending the processed data (i.e., the second data). In an embodiment of the present application, the second terminal device performing the related joint transmission may include: sending the first data to the first terminal device, processing the first data based on the second configuration information, and sending the processed data (i.e., the third data).

[0168] It can be understood that the correlated joint transmission in the embodiments of the present application can also be replaced by other terms such as uplink correlated joint transmission, uplink CJT, uplink coherent transmission, and coherent transmission.

[0169] See Figure 10, which is a schematic diagram of a related joint transmission provided by an embodiment of the present application. [H1, H2] in Figure 10 represents the channel coding matrix of the Remote UE and the Relay UE, represents the antenna coding matrix of the Remote UE and the Relay UE, X' is the uplink data of the Remote UE, X represents the uplink data sent on the air interface after the Remote UE and the Relay UE process X', and N represents noise; f1 represents the carrier transmitting X, Y is the signal received by the network device, and is the coherent superposition result of the uplink signal sent by the first terminal device and the uplink signal sent by the second terminal device.

[0170] In some embodiments, the first configuration information and the second configuration information are used by the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission, which may specifically include: the first configuration information and the second configuration information are used by the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform the same processing on the same data (X' shown in Figure 10), thereby generating the same data (X shown in Figure 10). The same data generated by the first terminal device and the second terminal device refers to data to be sent on the air interface, such as data processed by the PHY layer.

[0171] Accordingly, the first configuration information sent by the network device to the first terminal device is used by the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission, and specifically may include the first configuration information being used by the first terminal device to process data. Accordingly, the second configuration information sent by the network device to the second terminal device is used by the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission, and specifically may include the second configuration information being used by the second terminal device to process data.

[0172] The data processed by the first terminal device and the second terminal device is the uplink data of the second terminal device (i.e., the remote UE), and specifically can be data processed by any protocol layer of the second terminal device, such as PDCP PDU or RLC SDU, or RLC PDU or MAC SDU, or MAC PDU or TB, etc. Accordingly, the second configuration information may include the configuration of at least one protocol layer of the second terminal device, and the first configuration information may include the configuration of at least one protocol layer of the first terminal device.

[0173] In one possible scenario, the first configuration information and the second configuration information are associated, or in other words, the first configuration information and the second configuration information have an association relationship. The association relationship may include: the first configuration information and the second configuration information are used by the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform the same processing on the same data (X' as shown in Figure 10), thereby generating the same data (X as shown in Figure 10). The same data generated by the first terminal device and the second terminal device refers to data to be sent on the air interface, such as data output by the PHY layer.

[0174] Similarly, the data processed by the first terminal device and the second terminal device is the uplink data of the second terminal device (i.e., the remote UE), which can specifically be the data processed by any protocol layer of the second terminal device, such as PDCP PDU or RLC SDU, or RLC PDU or MAC SDU, or MAC PDU or TB, etc. Correspondingly, the second configuration information may include the configuration of at least one protocol layer of the second terminal device, and the first configuration information may include the configuration of at least one protocol layer of the first terminal device.

[0175] Of course, the above two possible situations are merely exemplary descriptions of the functions, effects, or definitions of the first configuration information and the second configuration information. In actual situations, the functions, effects, or definitions of the first configuration information and the second configuration information can also be described in other ways, and the embodiments of this application do not limit this.

[0176] For the convenience of description, the embodiments of the present application are mainly described by taking the first configuration information and the second configuration information being used by the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform related joint sending as an example.

[0177] It can be understood that before the network device sends the first configuration information and the second configuration information, the network device needs to first configure multiple paths for the second terminal device, such as a direct link with the network device, and a non-direct link between the second terminal device based on the first terminal device and the network device. For relevant explanations of direct links and non-direct links, please refer to the previous terminology explanations, which will not be repeated here.

[0178] Optionally, before sending the first configuration information and the second configuration information, the network device further determines to configure the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform related joint sending.

[0179] In specific implementation, the network device determines whether to configure the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission based on one or more of the information such as the uplink transmission performance requirements of the first terminal device (such as high requirements for data transmission reliability), the channel conditions of the first terminal device and the second terminal device, the distance between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, the link type between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the interface delay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0180] For example, the network device determines whether the channel conditions of the first terminal device and the second terminal device meet the preset channel conditions based on the channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) measurement results or the sounding reference signal (SRS) measurement results of the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and only when they meet the conditions can the first terminal device and the second terminal device be configured to perform related joint transmission. For example, the network device determines whether the distance between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is within a preset range, and only when the distance between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is within the preset range can the first terminal device and the second terminal device be configured to perform related joint transmission. For example, the network device determines whether the reliability of the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device meets the requirements for configuring related joint transmission, specifically, when the delay of the link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is less than the preset delay, the first terminal device and the second terminal device can be configured to perform related joint transmission. Of course, the above are only examples, and are not limited to these.

[0181] In this way, the first terminal device and the second terminal device can be configured to perform related joint transmission only when the first terminal device and the second terminal device support performing related joint transmission, which can improve the reliability of the solution.

[0182] 103. The second terminal device sends the first data to the first terminal device, and accordingly, the first terminal device receives the first data; and S104. The second terminal device processes the first data based on the second configuration information, generates third data, and sends the third data to the network device, and accordingly, the network device receives the third data.

[0183] The first data is uplink data of the second terminal device, and is also the same data that the first terminal device and the second terminal device need to process. The first data can be data processed by any protocol layer of the second terminal device, such as PDCP PDU or RLC SDU, or RLC PDU or MAC SDU, or MAC PDU or TB, etc.

[0184] Here are a few possible scenarios:

[0185] Example 1: UE collaboration based on MAC layer offload architecture:

[0186] The first data is the data processed by the MAC layer of the second terminal device (i.e., Remote UE), such as a MAC PDU or TB. When the MAC layer of the second terminal device (i.e., Remote UE) delivers the MAC PDU or TB to its own PHY layer, it also copies the MAC PDU or TB and delivers it to the PHY layer of the first terminal device (i.e., Relay UE), as shown in Figure 11. Alternatively, when the MAC layer of the second terminal device (i.e., Remote UE) delivers the MAC PDU or TB to its own PHY layer, the MAC layer of the second terminal device (i.e., Remote UE) will also be used to generate the MAC SDU (or RLC PDU) and the packetization control information (i.e., the first data) and deliver them to the first terminal device. The MAC layer of the first terminal device packages the MAC SDU (or RLC PDU) based on the packetization control information, thereby obtaining the same MAC PDU or TB.

[0187] In this scenario, the first terminal device and the second terminal device perform the same PHY layer processing on the same MAC PDU or TB based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information respectively to generate the same data (such as second data and third data).

[0188] Example 2: UE collaboration based on PDCP layer offload architecture:

[0189] The first data is data processed by the PDCP layer of the second terminal device (i.e., Remote UE), such as a PDCP PDU or RLC SDU. When the PDCP layer of the second terminal device (i.e., Remote UE) delivers the PDCP PDU (i.e., the first data) to its own RLC layer, it also copies the PDCP PDU and delivers it to the RLC layer of the first terminal device (i.e., Relay UE), as shown in Figure 12.

[0190] The first terminal device and the second terminal device respectively perform the same RLC, MAC, PHY and other protocol layer processing on the same PDCP PDU based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information to generate the same data (such as the second data and the third data).

[0191] Of course, the above two diversion architectures are only examples. In actual applications, diversion can also be performed at other protocol layers, that is, the first data delivered by the second terminal device to the first terminal device can also be data processed by other protocol layers except PDCP and MAC layers.

[0192] In a specific implementation, when the second terminal device delivers the first data to the first terminal device, the first data may be delivered based on a 3GPP method or a non-3GPP method. For example, taking the scenario shown in FIG12 as an example, the second terminal device may deliver the PDCP PDU to the RLC layer of the second terminal device based on other communication protocol architectures such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

[0193] S105. The first terminal device processes the first data received from the second terminal device based on the first configuration information, generates second data, and sends the second data to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the second data.

[0194] The second data obtained by the first terminal device after processing the first data based on the first configuration information and the third data obtained by the second terminal device after processing the first data based on the second configuration information are the same.

[0195] When the first terminal device sends the second data and the second terminal device sends the third data, the first terminal device and the second terminal device send the same data (i.e., the second data and the third data) to the network device on the same transmission resources (e.g., time-frequency resources) and perform coherent superposition of the signals. For example, the first terminal device maps the second data to the antenna and transmits it, forming a first antenna signal to be transmitted, and the second terminal device maps the third data to the antenna and transmits it, forming a second antenna signal to be transmitted. The first antenna signal and the second antenna signal are superimposed in the same direction during the transmission process, and after being transmitted through the channel, they reach the network device. The network device obtains the uplink transmission signal from the superimposed signal and obtains the uplink data of the second terminal, i.e., the first data, through processing of the protocol stack.

[0196] In the above scheme, in a multi-path relay scenario, the network device sends the first configuration information and the second configuration information to the relay UE (i.e., the first terminal device) and the remote UE (i.e., the second terminal device), respectively. The relay UE and the remote UE perform the same processing on the same data (i.e., the uplink data of the second terminal device, i.e., the first data) based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information, respectively, and then generate the same data (i.e., the second data and the third data), so that the data sent by the relay UE and the remote UE on the air interface (i.e., the second data and the third data) are consistent, thereby enabling the relay UE and the remote UE to perform related joint transmission, thereby achieving the effect of improving the UE uplink transmission capability and saving resource overhead.

[0197] In one possible design, the first configuration information and the second configuration information may include a PHY layer configuration (or referred to as PHY layer configuration information or PHY layer configuration parameters or PHY layer parameters, etc.). Exemplarily, the PHY layer configuration in the first configuration information may include one or more of the following: a first number of antenna ports, a first rank parameter, and a first coherent codebook set; the PHY layer configuration in the second configuration information may include one or more of the following: a second number of antenna ports, a second rank parameter, and a second coherent codebook set.

[0198] In order to ensure that the PHY layer of the first terminal device and the PHY layer of the second terminal device perform the same processing on the same data, the number of first antenna ports and the second number of antenna ports are the same, the first rank parameter and the second rank parameter are the same, and the first coherent codebook set and the second coherent codebook set are the same.

[0199] The first antenna port number (or the second antenna port number) can be less than or equal to the sum of the antenna port number of the first terminal device and the antenna port number of the second terminal device, and the first antenna port number (or the second antenna port number) is greater than the antenna port number of the second terminal device.

[0200] Optionally, the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device may specifically be the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device that can be used to transmit uplink data (such as first data) of the second terminal device. The antenna ports of the second terminal device that can be used to transmit the first data may be all antenna ports of the second terminal device, or may be part of the antenna ports of the second terminal device. In other words, some or all of the antenna ports of the first terminal device can be used to perform related joint transmission (i.e., sending the second data).

[0201] For example, the first terminal device has antenna port 1, antenna port 2, and antenna port 3, and the second terminal device has antenna port 4, antenna port 5, and antenna port 6. Then: antenna ports 1 to 3 of the first terminal device and antenna ports 4 to 6 of the second terminal device are all used to perform related joint transmission, and the number of first antenna ports or the number of second antenna ports is 6; or, some antenna ports of the first terminal device, such as antenna port 1 and antenna ports 4 to 6 of the second terminal device, are used to perform related joint transmission, and the number of first antenna ports or the number of second antenna ports is 4.

[0202] It can be understood that this design approach is applicable to the MAC layer offload architecture shown in FIG11 , and is also applicable to the PDCP layer offload architecture shown in FIG12 .

[0203] Through this design approach, it can be ensured that the relay UE (ie, the first terminal device) and the remote UE (ie, the second terminal device) perform the same PHY layer processing on the data.

[0204] In one possible design, the first configuration information may include the configuration of the first bearer (or called the configuration information of the first bearer or the configuration parameters of the first bearer, etc.), the first bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, or the first bearer is a mirror bearer; and / or, the second configuration information may include the configuration of the second bearer (or called the configuration information of the second bearer or the configuration parameters of the second bearer, etc.), the second bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, or the second bearer is a mirror bearer.

[0205] The first radio bearer is an end-to-end radio bearer between the first terminal device and the network device. For example, the configuration of the first radio bearer includes the configuration of the PDCP layer and the SDAP layer. The data of the first radio bearer (which may be referred to as the first radio bearer data) is the data transmitted on the first radio bearer.

[0206] A mirrored bearer can be understood as follows: if a bearer on one terminal device has an associated bearer on another terminal device, then these two bearers are mirrored bearers, and the two associated bearers are used to perform the same processing on the same data.

[0207] In some embodiments, the first bearer is associated with the first radio bearer, including: the first bearer is used to transmit or process data of the first radio bearer, or the network device associates the first radio bearer with the first bearer. The second bearer is associated with the first radio bearer, including: the second bearer is used to transmit or process data of the first radio bearer, or the network device associates the first radio bearer with the second bearer.

[0208] In a specific implementation, the second bearer is associated with the first radio bearer, and the network device configures the first bearer to be associated with the first radio bearer. For example, the network device can carry the identifier of the first radio bearer in the configuration of the first bearer (optionally, it can also carry the identifier of the second terminal device, used to indicate that the first radio bearer is the radio bearer of the second terminal device), and the first terminal device can determine that the first bearer is associated with the first radio bearer based on the identifier, and then the first terminal device processes the data of the first radio bearer based on the first bearer. Since the first bearer and the second bearer are both associated with the first radio bearer, the first bearer and the second bearer can be associated, that is, the first bearer and the second bearer are used to process the data of the same radio bearer.

[0209] In another specific implementation, the second bearer is associated with the first radio bearer, the identifier of the first logical channel is associated with the first radio bearer (such as the data of the first radio bearer is transmitted in the first logical channel), and the network device configures the first bearer to be associated with the identifier of the first logical channel. For example, the network device can carry the identifier of the first logical channel in the configuration of the first bearer, and the first terminal device can determine that the first bearer is associated with the identifier of the first logical channel based on the identifier; since the identifier of the first logical channel is associated with the first radio bearer, the first terminal device can determine that the first bearer is associated with the first radio bearer based on the identifier of the first logical channel carried in the configuration of the first bearer, and then process the data of the first radio bearer (that is, the data corresponding to the first logical channel) based on the first bearer. Since the first bearer and the second bearer are both associated with the first radio bearer, it is possible to associate the first bearer with the second bearer, that is, the first bearer and the second bearer are used to process data of the same radio bearer.

[0210] Optionally, the first configuration information may include an indication information for indicating that the configured first bearer has a second bearer associated with a second terminal device, or for indicating that the configured first bearer is a mirror bearer. In one possible case, the indication information may be 1-bit indication information, for example: when the value of the 1-bit indication information is 0, it indicates that the first bearer does not have an associated bearer or indicates that the first bearer is not a mirror bearer; when the value of the 1-bit indication information is 1, it indicates that the first bearer has an associated second bearer of the second terminal or indicates that the first bearer is a mirror bearer; or, when the value of the 1-bit indication information is 1, it indicates that the first bearer does not have an associated bearer or indicates that the first bearer is not a mirror bearer; when the value of the 1-bit indication information is 0, it indicates that the first bearer has an associated second bearer of the second terminal or indicates that the first bearer is a mirror bearer.

[0211] Similarly, the second configuration information may include an indication information for indicating that the second bearer is associated with the first bearer of the first terminal device or that the configured second bearer is a mirror bearer. Specific implementation methods can refer to the first configuration information and will not be described in detail.

[0212] The following describes in detail the configuration of the first bearer and the configuration of the second bearer, taking the PDCP offload architecture shown in FIG12 as an example:

[0213] The configuration of the first bearer (or the first configuration information) may include the configuration of the RLC bearer (or referred to as RLC bearer configuration information, RLC bearer configuration parameters, or RLC bearer parameters, etc.). The RLC bearer configuration may specifically include at least one of the following: configuration of the RLC layer, configuration of the logical channel (or referred to as logical channel configuration information, logical channel configuration parameters, or logical channel parameters, etc.), configuration of the logical channel group (or referred to as logical channel group configuration information, logical channel group configuration parameters, or logical channel group parameters, etc.).

[0214] The configuration of the first bearer may further indicate that the first bearer is associated with the first radio bearer. For example, the configuration of the first bearer includes a first radio bearer identifier.

[0215] Optionally, the first configuration information also includes the configuration of the PDCP layer. The configuration of the PDCP layer is used to configure the PDCP layer of the first terminal device. The configuration of the RLC is used to configure the RLC layer of the first terminal device. The configuration of the logical channel can be used to configure the logical channel of the first terminal device. The configuration of the logical channel group is used to configure the logical channel group of the second terminal device or can indicate the logical channel group of the second terminal device, as well as which logical channels each logical channel group contains, etc.

[0216] In some embodiments, the configuration of the RLC bearer is also used to configure the MAC layer and PHY layer of the first terminal device. For example, the configuration of the MAC process or resources, and the configuration of the PHY layer parameters (such as the number of antenna ports, rank parameters, coherent codebook, etc.) are configured. Alternatively, the first configuration information includes the configuration of the MAC layer and PHY layer, and the configuration of the RLC bearer does not include the configuration of the MAC layer and PHY layer.

[0217] For ease of distinction, the embodiments of the present application use "first" to express information, parameters, entities, or resources related to the first configuration information, such as the first PDCP layer, the first RLC bearer, the first logical channel, the first logical channel group, the first MAC layer, the first PHY layer, etc.

[0218] Similarly, the configuration of the second bearer (or the second configuration information) may include the configuration of the RLC bearer of the second terminal device. The configuration of the RLC bearer includes at least one of the configuration of the RLC layer, the configuration of the logical channel, the configuration of the logical channel group, etc. The configuration of the RLC bearer is used to configure the RLC layer of the second terminal device (optionally, the configuration of the RLC bearer is also used to configure the MAC layer and the PHY layer of the second terminal device). The configuration of the logical channel can be used to configure the logical channel of the second terminal device. The configuration of the logical channel group can be used to configure the logical channel group of the second terminal device or can indicate the logical channel group, and which logical channels each logical channel group contains, etc. Optionally, the second configuration information also includes: the configuration of the PDCP layer, which is used to configure the PDCP layer of the second terminal device.

[0219] For ease of distinction, the embodiments of the present application use "second" to express information, parameters, entities, or resources related to the second configuration information, such as the second PDCP layer, the second RLC bearer, the second logical channel, the second logical channel group, the second MAC layer, the second PHY layer, etc.

[0220] Of course, the above example uses the PDCP offload architecture. The actual offload architecture is not limited to this. When offloading traffic at other protocol layers above the PDCP layer (such as SDAP), the configuration of the mirrored bearers (i.e., the first bearer and the second bearer) can also include PDCP layer configuration. For configuration details under other offload architectures, please refer to the configuration ideas under the PDCP offload architecture and will not be further elaborated here.

[0221] Based on the above-mentioned first configuration information and second configuration information, the second terminal device can copy the data (corresponding to the first data mentioned above) generated by the second PDCP layer (i.e., the PDCP layer associated with the first bearer), i.e., the PDCP PDU of the second terminal device, and deliver one PDCP PDU to the RLC layer of the second terminal device, and the other PDCP PDU to the RLC layer of the first terminal device. The first terminal device processes the PDCP PDU based on the first bearer, for example, the RLC layer of the first terminal device (i.e., the first RLC layer) processes the PDCP PDU, generates an RLC PDU, and delivers it to the MAC layer of the first terminal device (i.e., the first MAC layer) through a logical channel. The second terminal device processes the PDCP PDU based on the second bearer, for example, the RLC layer of the second terminal device (i.e., the second RLC layer) processes the PDCP PDU, generates an RLC PDU, and delivers it to the MAC layer of the second terminal device (i.e., the second MAC layer) through a logical channel. Since the first bearer and the second bearer are associated bearers or mirror bearers, the first terminal device and the second terminal device process the PDCP PDU in the same way, for example, the first RLC layer and the second RLC layer process the PDCP PDU in the same way, the generated RLC PDU is also the same, the logical channel carrying the RLC PDU is also the same, and so on.

[0222] Optionally, when the second terminal device delivers the PDCP PDU to the RLC layer of the first terminal device, it can also indicate the logical channel identifier (LCH identity, LCID) or radio bearer identifier corresponding to the PDCP PDU, so that the first terminal device can determine the first bearer based on the identifier, and thus process the PDCP PDU based on the first bearer.

[0223] To ensure that the same PDCP PDU is processed identically by the RLC layer on both the first and second terminal devices, the RLC bearer configuration of the first terminal device and the RLC bearer configuration of the second terminal device must be consistent. For example, the configuration of the first bearer and the configuration of the second bearer both include one or more of the following RLC configuration parameters, and the values ​​of each parameter in the configuration of the first bearer and the configuration of the second bearer are the same:

[0224] 1) RLC transmission mode, used to indicate whether the transmission mode of the RLC layer is confirmed mode AM or unconfirmed mode UM;

[0225] 2) Sequence number length (SN-FieldLengthh), used to indicate the length of the SN number in the RLC PDU header;

[0226] 3) Maximum number of retransmissions (maxRetxThreshold), used to indicate the maximum number of retransmissions by the RLC transmitter in AM mode;

[0227] 4) Poll retransmit timer (t-PollRetransmit);

[0228] 5) Polling Protocol Data Unit (pollPDU);

[0229] 6) Poll Byte (pollByte).

[0230] In addition, the initial values ​​of the parameters applied in the user plane processes of the first RLC layer and the second RLC layer must be consistent, for example, both are 0; the RLC segmentation processing algorithms of the first RLC layer and the second RLC layer must be consistent.

[0231] Of course, in addition to the above RLC bearer configuration parameters, the configuration of the first bearer and the configuration of the second bearer may also include other parameters such as a reassembly timer (t-Reassembly) and a status prohibition timer (t-StatusProhibit). The values ​​of t-Reassembly or t-StatusProhibit in the configuration of the first bearer and the configuration of the second bearer may be the same or different.

[0232] In addition, the configuration of the first bearer and the configuration of the second bearer further include the same logical channel identifier, thereby ensuring that the first RLC layer and the second RLC layer deliver the RLC PDU to the MAC layer through the same logical channel.

[0233] Based on the above configuration of the RLC layer, the same PDCP PDU is processed identically at the RLC layer of the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and then delivered to the MAC layer.

[0234] Furthermore, in order to ensure that the MAC layer of the first terminal device and the MAC layer of the second terminal device perform the same MAC packet processing, the first bearer and the second bearer need to be configured with the same logical channel parameters. For example, the configuration of the first bearer and the configuration of the second bearer both include one or more of the following parameters, and the values ​​of each parameter in the configuration of the first bearer and the configuration of the second bearer are the same:

[0235] 1) Logical channel priority (LCP), which is used to indicate the priority of the logical channel in the packet assembly process;

[0236] 2) Prioritized bit rate (PRB);

[0237] 3) bucket size duration (BSD);

[0238] 4) an allowed subcarrier spacing (SCS) table (allowedSCS-list), used to indicate one or more allowed subcarrier spacings;

[0239] 5) Maximum physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) duration (maxPUSCH-Duration);

[0240] 6) Configured Grant Type 1 is allowed to be applied (configuredGrantType1Allowed), which is used to indicate whether the resource allocation method of configured Grant Type 1 can be applied for transmission.

[0241] 7) Allowed Serving Cells: used to indicate cells that are allowed to be used for transmission.

[0242] 8) Allowed hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) mode (allowed HARQ-mode), used to refer to the HARQ mode of transmitted data.

[0243] Based on the above logical channel parameters, the MAC layer of the relay UE (ie, the first terminal device) can perform the same MAC packet processing as the MAC layer of the remote UE (ie, the second terminal device), thereby generating the same MAC PDU.

[0244] In one possible design, the network device may further send configuration information for performing non-correlated joint transmission to the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device, so that the first terminal device and the second terminal device perform non-correlated joint transmission. The term "non-correlated joint transmission" may also be replaced by other names, such as normal uplink transmission, non-coherent transmission, uplink non-correlated joint transmission, etc., which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0245] Non-correlated joint transmission is a transmission mode different from correlated joint transmission.

[0246] In the embodiment of the present application, the non-correlated joint transmission of the second terminal device (i.e., Remote UE) includes the following two cases:

[0247] 1) The network device configures the second terminal device to send uplink data only through the direct link.

[0248] In this case, only the second terminal device processes and transmits the uplink data of the second terminal device, the second terminal device does not send the uplink data of the second terminal device to the first terminal device, and the first terminal device does not process the uplink data of the second terminal device.

[0249] 2) The network device configures the second terminal device to send uplink data through the direct link and through the first terminal device (ie, Relay UE).

[0250] In this case, the second terminal device sends its uplink data to the first terminal device. The first terminal device and the second terminal device can perform different processing on the same data (such as the uplink data of the second terminal device), thereby generating different data and transmitting them independently.

[0251] Exemplarily, the network device may send third configuration information to the first terminal device, where the third configuration information is used by the first terminal device to perform non-correlated joint transmission. For example, the third configuration information is used by the first terminal device to process uplink data of the second terminal device and generate data to be sent on the air interface.

[0252] Exemplarily, the network device may send fourth configuration information to the second terminal device, and the fourth configuration information is used by the second terminal device to perform non-correlated joint transmission. For example, the fourth configuration information is used by the second terminal device to process the uplink data of the second terminal device and generate data to be sent on the air interface. When the second terminal device processes the uplink data of the second terminal device based on the fourth configuration information, the second terminal device does not deliver the uplink data of the second terminal device to the first terminal device, that is, the second terminal device does not send the uplink data to the network device through the relay of the first terminal device; or, when the second terminal device processes the uplink data of the second terminal device based on the fourth configuration information, the second terminal device sends the uplink data to the network device through the relay of the first terminal device, but the first terminal device sends the uplink data of the second terminal device by performing non-joint coherent transmission, for example, processing the uplink data of the second terminal device based on the third configuration information of the first terminal device to generate data to be sent on the air interface.

[0253] It can be understood that when the first terminal device processes the same data (such as the uplink data of the second terminal device) based on the third configuration information and the second terminal device processes the same data based on the fourth configuration information, the data obtained after processing may be different.

[0254] Optionally, the network device may further send fifth configuration information to the first terminal device, where the fifth configuration information is used by the first terminal device to process uplink data of the first terminal device.

[0255] In different scenarios, the content of the third configuration information may be different, and the configuration content of the fourth information may be different, and specific reference may be made to the content of the first configuration information or the second configuration information.

[0256] Taking the MAC offload architecture as an example, the network device can configure and send two sets of PHY layer configurations to the first terminal device, one set of PHY layer configurations is used to perform related joint transmission, and the other set of PHY layer configurations is used to perform non-related joint transmission. For example, as shown in (a) in Figure 13, the network device can send first configuration information and third configuration information to the first terminal device, wherein the PHY layer configuration in the first configuration information may include the first number of antenna ports, the first rank parameter, the first coherent codebook set, etc., for performing related joint transmission, and the PHY layer configuration in the third configuration information may include the third number of antenna ports, the third rank parameter, the third coherent codebook set, etc., for performing non-related joint transmission. The third number of antenna ports is, for example, the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device.

[0257] Under the MAC offload architecture, the network device also sends two sets of PHY layer configurations to the second terminal device configuration, one set of PHY layer configurations is used to perform related joint transmission, and the other set of PHY layer configurations is used to perform non-related joint transmission. For example, as shown in (b) in Figure 13, the first terminal device and the second terminal device each have two sets of PHY layer configurations. The network device can send second configuration information and fourth configuration information to the second terminal device, wherein the PHY layer configuration in the second configuration information may include the second number of antenna ports, the second rank parameter, the second coherent codebook set, etc., for performing related joint transmission, and the PHY layer configuration in the fourth configuration information may include the fourth number of antenna ports, the fourth rank parameter, the fourth coherent codebook set, etc., for performing non-related joint transmission. The fourth number of antenna ports is, for example, the number of antenna ports of the second terminal device.

[0258] When the second terminal device is scheduled to perform related joint transmission (for example, the second scheduling information is received, and the second scheduling information is described below), the second terminal device has a MAC PDU or TB to send, the second terminal device sends the MAC PDU or TB to the first terminal device, and the second terminal device processes the MAC PDU or TB based on the second configuration information (i.e., the second number of antenna ports, the second rank parameter, the second coherent codebook set, etc.). When the second terminal device is scheduled to perform non-related joint transmission (for example, the fourth scheduling information is received, and the fourth scheduling information is described below), the second terminal device has a MAC PDU or TB to send, and the second terminal device processes the MAC PDU or TB based on the fourth configuration information (i.e., the fourth number of antenna ports, the fourth rank parameter, the fourth coherent codebook set, etc.). The second terminal device does not send the MAC PDU or TB to the first terminal device, or the second terminal device sends the MAC PDU or TB to the first terminal device and the first terminal device processes the MAC PDU or TB based on the PHY layer configuration in the third configuration information (such as the third number of antenna ports, the third rank parameter, the third coherent codebook set, etc.).

[0259] Optionally, the network device may further configure and send two sets of MAC layer configurations to the second terminal device, one set of MAC layer configurations being used to perform related joint transmission, and the other set of MAC layer configurations being used to perform non-related joint transmission.

[0260] Furthermore, the network device may also send a radio bearer configuration to the second terminal device to configure a radio bearer for the second terminal device, such as configuring an SRB or a DRB. The radio bearer configuration may include one or more of the configuration of the PDCP layer, the configuration of the RLC bearer, the configuration of the logical channel, the configuration of the logical channel group, etc. For each radio bearer configuration, an association indication information may also be included to indicate the radio bearer association-related joint transmission or non-association-related joint transmission configured by the radio bearer configuration. As shown in (c) in Figure 13, the second terminal device associates the data of different radio bearers (referred to as radio bearer data) to different MAC layers and PHY layers for processing.

[0261] Correspondingly, the MAC layer of the second terminal device can independently process the wireless bearer data associated with the relevant joint transmission and the wireless bearer data not associated with the relevant joint transmission, for example, independently perform the logical channel priority process and MAC layer packetization through different MAC processes or resources.

[0262] Specifically, during the uplink transmission process, the wireless bearer data of the second terminal device is submitted to the MAC layer through the PDCP layer and the RLC layer. The second terminal device can maintain two independent MAC processes or resources. Accordingly, the second terminal device manages the logical channels corresponding to the wireless bearers associated with the relevant joint transmission and the logical channels corresponding to the wireless bearers associated with the non-related joint transmission separately. When the second terminal device has uplink data transmission, it is necessary to send a buffer status report (BSR) to the network device to indicate the size of the uplink buffer data, and to indicate to the network device how many uplink transmission resources the second terminal device needs.

[0263] Specifically, the BSR may include the identifier of the logical channel group for transmitting uplink data, the total data size of the logical channel cache corresponding to the logical channel group, and the cache data size in the RLC layer and PDCP layer corresponding to each logical channel in the logical channel group.

[0264] In an embodiment of the present application, the second terminal device may distinguish the buffered data corresponding to the relevant joint transmission from the buffered data corresponding to the irrelevant joint transmission in the BSR, including but not limited to the following two methods:

[0265] 1. Differentiation by logical channel group identifier (ID): When configuring logical channel groups for radio bearers used for related joint transmission and radio bearers used for non-related joint transmission, the logical channel group ID is not reused. Therefore, the network device can determine the buffer data size corresponding to the related joint transmission and the buffer data size corresponding to the non-related joint transmission based on the logical channel group ID indicated in the BSR. In this manner, a single BSR can include both the buffer data size corresponding to the related joint transmission and the buffer data size corresponding to the non-related joint transmission; alternatively, a single BSR can carry only the buffer data size corresponding to the related joint transmission or the buffer data size corresponding to the non-related joint transmission.

[0266] 2. Differentiation through different control elements (MAC CE): The terminal device applies MAC CE to carry the BSR, and the MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE contains a specific LCID value, which is used to indicate to the network device that the MAC CE carries the BSR. The second terminal device can use different LCIDs to indicate the BSR corresponding to the relevant joint transmission and the BSR corresponding to the non-relevant joint transmission.

[0267] Based on the BSR reported by the second terminal device, the network device can allocate transmission resources (such as time-frequency resources) for related joint transmission or non-related joint transmission to the second terminal device. The MAC layer of the second terminal device performs packet processing based on the transmission resources configured by the network device. For the data corresponding to the related joint transmission, the MAC layer can also deliver the MAC PDU or TB, etc. to the first terminal device after packetization.

[0268] Taking the PDCP offload architecture as an example, the network device can configure two sets of bearers for the first terminal device, such as the first bearer and the third bearer, where the first bearer is used for related joint transmission and the third bearer is used for non-related joint transmission, that is, the third bearer is not a mirror bearer, or the third bearer does not have an associated bearer.

[0269] The third bearer may be associated with the first wireless bearer, that is, the third bearer may be used by the first terminal device to process uplink data of the second terminal device.

[0270] Optionally, the network device also configures a third set of bearers for the first terminal device, such as a fifth bearer, where the fifth bearer is associated with the second wireless bearer. The second wireless bearer is an end-to-end wireless bearer between the first terminal device and the network device, i.e., the fifth bearer is used to process data of the second wireless bearer (i.e., uplink data of the first terminal device).

[0271] The network device may configure two sets of bearers for the second terminal device, such as a second bearer and a fourth bearer, where the second bearer is used for related joint transmission and the fourth bearer is used for non-related joint transmission, i.e., the fourth bearer is not a mirrored bearer, or the fourth bearer has no associated bearer. The second bearer and the fourth bearer are both associated with the first radio bearer, i.e., both are used to process uplink data of the second terminal device.

[0272] As an example, as shown in (a) in Figure 14, the network device can send first configuration information and third configuration information to the first terminal device, wherein the first configuration information includes the configuration of the first bearer (the configuration of the first bearer can refer to the relevant introduction above), and the third configuration information includes the configuration of the third bearer. The content included in the configuration of the third bearer can refer to the content included in the configuration of the first bearer, for example, including the configuration of the RLC bearer (including at least one of the configuration of the RLC layer, the configuration of the logical channel, the configuration of the logical channel group, etc., and optionally also including the configuration of the MAC layer, the configuration of the PHY layer, etc.).

[0273] For ease of distinction, in the embodiments of the present application, information, parameters, entities, or resources related to the third configuration information are all expressed as "third", such as the third PDCP layer, the third RLC bearer, the third logical channel, the third logical channel group, the third MAC layer, the third PHY layer, etc. Optionally, the third configuration information also includes the configuration of the PDCP layer.

[0274] Similarly, the network device can also send second configuration information and fourth configuration information to the second terminal device, wherein the second configuration information includes the configuration of the second bearer (the configuration of the second bearer can refer to the relevant introduction above), and the fourth configuration information includes the configuration of the fourth bearer. The content included in the configuration of the fourth bearer can refer to the content included in the configuration of the second bearer, for example, including the configuration of the RLC bearer (including at least one of the configuration of the RLC layer, the configuration of the logical channel, the configuration of the logical channel group, etc., and optionally also including the configuration of the MAC layer, the configuration of the PHY layer, etc.). Optionally, the fourth configuration information also includes the configuration of the PDCP layer.

[0275] For ease of distinction, the embodiments of the present application use "fourth" to express the information, parameters, entities, or resources related to the fourth configuration information, such as the fourth PDCP layer, the fourth RLC bearer, the fourth logical channel, the fourth logical channel group, the fourth MAC layer, the fourth PHY layer, etc.

[0276] Similarly, in order to isolate the data transmission of related joint transmission and non-related joint transmission, the network device can also respectively configure and send two sets of MAC layer configurations to the first terminal device and the second terminal device, one set of MAC layer configurations is used to perform related joint transmission, and the other set of MAC layer configurations is used to perform non-related joint transmission. The first terminal device and the second terminal device respectively maintain two sets of MAC layer processing processes or resources to perform related joint transmission and non-related joint transmission.

[0277] When the first terminal device and the second terminal device perform related joint transmission, the second terminal device can send a BSR to the network device to indicate the size of the cached data corresponding to the first wireless bearer data. The first terminal device may not report the size of the cached data corresponding to the first wireless bearer data, but the first terminal device can report the size of the cached data of its own wireless bearer data (such as the second wireless bearer data), that is, the first terminal device does not need to report the BSR for the mirror bearer.

[0278] In addition, the network device can also configure and send two sets of PHY layer configurations to the first terminal device and the second terminal device respectively, one set of PHY layer configurations is used to perform related joint transmission, and the other set of PHY layer configurations is used to perform non-related joint transmission.

[0279] In the above design, the network device configures multiple sets of parameters (such as two sets of physical layer configurations, two sets of bearer configurations, etc.) for the remote UE (i.e., the second terminal device) and performs resource isolation, thereby flexibly configuring the remote UE to perform related joint transmission or non-related joint transmission. The network device configures multiple sets of parameters (such as two sets of physical layer configurations, two sets of bearer configurations, etc.) for the relay UE (i.e., the first terminal device) and performs resource isolation, thereby flexibly configuring the relay UE to perform related joint transmission or non-related joint transmission. This improves the flexibility of uplink transmission.

[0280] In one possible design, when the network device sends first configuration information to the first terminal device, the network device may also send first indication information to the first terminal device, where the first indication information indicates that the first configuration information is used by the first terminal device to perform related joint sending; accordingly, the first terminal device receives the first indication information from the network device, and then the first terminal device may determine, based on the first indication information, that the first configuration information is used by the first terminal device to perform related joint sending.

[0281] In a specific implementation, the first indication information may be included in the first configuration information. Alternatively, the first indication information is not included in the first configuration information, but is included in other information or sent separately, for example, the first configuration information and the second indication information are respectively carried in different messages.

[0282] Optionally, the first indication information is a bit indication information in the first configuration information, and when the value of the bit is 0 (or 1), it indicates that the first configuration information is used for the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission. Specifically, for example, under the PDCP offload architecture, the bit is specifically used to indicate that the first bearer has a second bearer associated with a second terminal device, or to indicate that the first bearer is a mirror bearer.

[0283] Optionally, the first indication information may include an identifier of the second terminal device. Through the identifier, the first terminal device may determine that the first terminal device and the second terminal device cooperate to perform the related joint transmission, or in other words, the first configuration information is associated with the second terminal device.

[0284] Similarly, when the network device sends the second configuration information to the second terminal device, the network device may also send second indication information to the second terminal device, where the second indication information indicates that the second configuration information is used for the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission; accordingly, the second terminal device receives the second indication information from the network device, and then the second terminal device may determine, based on the second indication information, that the second configuration information is used for the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission. Similarly, the second indication information may be included in the second configuration information, or the second indication information may not be carried in the second configuration information.

[0285] In a specific implementation, the second indication information may be included in the second configuration information. Alternatively, the second indication information is not carried in the second configuration information, but is carried in other information or sent separately, for example, the first configuration information and the second indication information are carried in different messages.

[0286] Optionally, the second indication information is a bit indication information in the second configuration information, and when the value of the bit is 0 (or 1), it indicates that the second configuration information is used for the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission. For example, under the PDCP offload architecture, the bit is specifically used to indicate that the configured second bearer has the first bearer of the associated first terminal device, or is used to indicate that the configured second bearer is a mirror bearer.

[0287] Optionally, the second indication information may include an identifier of the first terminal device. Through the identifier, the first terminal device may determine that the first terminal device and the second terminal device cooperate to perform the related joint transmission, or in other words, the second configuration information is associated with the first terminal device.

[0288] Similarly, when the network device sends the third configuration information to the first terminal device, the network device may also send third indication information to the first terminal device, where the third indication information indicates that the third configuration information is used for the first terminal device to perform non-correlated joint transmission. Accordingly, the first terminal device receives the third indication information from the network device, and the first terminal device may determine, based on the third indication information, that the third configuration information is used for the first terminal device to perform non-correlated joint transmission. The specific implementation of the third indication information may refer to the first indication information or the second indication information.

[0289] Similarly, when the network device sends the fourth configuration information to the second terminal device, the network device may also send fourth indication information to the second terminal device, where the fourth indication information indicates that the fourth configuration information is used for the second terminal device to perform non-correlated joint transmission. Accordingly, the second terminal device receives the fourth indication information from the network device, and the second terminal device may determine, based on the fourth indication information, that the fourth configuration information is used for the second terminal device to perform non-correlated joint transmission. The specific implementation of the fourth indication information may refer to the first indication information or the second indication information.

[0290] Through the above design, the network device can indicate the role of the configuration information to the terminal device, and then the terminal device can perform the corresponding uplink transmission based on the corresponding configuration information. For example, the relay UE (i.e., the first terminal device) can determine the first configuration information for the relay UE to perform related joint transmission based on the first indication information, and the remote UE (i.e., the second terminal device) can determine the second configuration information for the remote UE to perform related joint transmission based on the second indication information, and then when the relay UE and the remote UE subsequently perform related joint transmission, the relay UE and the remote UE respectively process the data based on the first configuration information and the second configuration information, ensuring that the same data is processed in the same way. In this way, the reliability of the solution can be improved.

[0291] In one possible design, the network device may schedule the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission or unrelated joint transmission.

[0292] Exemplarily, the network device sends first scheduling information to a first terminal device (i.e., a relay UE), where the first scheduling information is used to schedule the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission. Furthermore, the network device sends second scheduling information to a second terminal device (i.e., a remote UE), where the second scheduling information is used to schedule the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission.

[0293] Alternatively, the network device sends second scheduling information to the second terminal device (i.e., Remote UE), and the second scheduling information is used to schedule the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission. And, the second terminal device sends first scheduling information to the first terminal device (i.e., Relay UE) based on the second scheduling information, and the first scheduling information is used to schedule the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission. The first scheduling information can be the same as the second scheduling information (i.e., the second terminal device directly forwards the second scheduling information sent by the network device to the first terminal device), and the first scheduling information can also be different from the second scheduling information (such as the second terminal device determines the first scheduling information based on the second scheduling information).

[0294] Alternatively, the network device sends first scheduling information to the first terminal device (i.e., Relay UE), and the first scheduling information is used to schedule the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission. And, the first terminal device sends second scheduling information to the second terminal device (i.e., Remote UE) based on the first scheduling information, and the second scheduling information is used to schedule the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission. The second scheduling information can be the same as the first scheduling information (i.e., the first terminal device directly forwards the first scheduling information sent by the network device to the second terminal device), and the second scheduling information can also be different from the first scheduling information (such as the first terminal device determines the second scheduling information based on the first scheduling information).

[0295] Correspondingly, after receiving the second scheduling information, the second terminal device performs relevant joint transmission (such as processing the first data based on the second configuration information). After receiving the first scheduling information, the first terminal device performs relevant joint transmission (such as processing the first data based on the first configuration information).

[0296] Of course, the network device may also schedule the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform non-correlated joint transmission. For example, the network device may send third scheduling information to the first terminal device, where the third scheduling information is used to schedule the first terminal device to perform non-correlated joint transmission; and / or the network device may send fourth scheduling information to the second terminal device, where the fourth scheduling information is used to schedule the second terminal device to perform non-correlated joint transmission.

[0297] Accordingly, the first terminal device and the second terminal device perform corresponding data processing and transmission based on the scheduling information sent by the network device. It can be understood that the first terminal device and the second terminal device perform data processing based on the scheduling information sent by the network device, including the MAC layer of the first terminal device and the second terminal device reading TB from the logical channel for packet processing.

[0298] In a specific implementation, the scheduling information used to schedule the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission (i.e., the first scheduling information) and the scheduling information used to schedule the first terminal device to perform non-related joint transmission (i.e., the third scheduling information) can be implemented by different types of scheduling information. Several possible examples are listed below:

[0299] Example 1: The scheduling information (such as DCI) sent by the network device includes an indication information for indicating whether to perform related joint transmission or to perform non-related joint transmission.

[0300] For example, the indication information can be 1-bit indication information, where the value of the bit is 0, which indicates that related joint transmission is performed; the value of the bit is 1, which indicates that non-related joint transmission is performed; or the value of the bit is 0, which indicates that non-related joint transmission is performed; the value of the bit is 1, which indicates that related joint transmission is performed.

[0301] Example 2: The first scheduling information and the third scheduling information correspond to different terminal identifiers of the first terminal device.

[0302] Exemplarily, the first terminal device may apply different terminal identifiers to receive different scheduling information (such as DCI). For example, the terminal identifier is specifically a cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI). If the first terminal device applies RNTI 1 to receive scheduling information (such as RNTI 1 is included in the scheduling information), the first terminal device performs related joint transmission; if the first terminal device applies RNTI 2 to receive scheduling information (such as RNTI 2 is included in the scheduling information), the first terminal device performs non-related joint transmission.

[0303] Example 3: The first scheduling information and the third scheduling information correspond to different DCI formats.

[0304] For example, the network device schedules the first terminal device to perform related joint transmission via a DCI in a first DCI format, and schedules the first terminal device to perform non-related joint transmission via a DCI in a second DCI format, i.e., the first scheduling information corresponds to the first DCI format, i.e., the third scheduling information corresponds to the second DCI format. The first DCI format and the second DCI format are different.

[0305] The DCI format includes, but is not limited to, DCI format 1, DCI format 2, etc.

[0306] (4) Related joint transmission and non-related joint transmission are associated with different carriers respectively. The network device can indicate the carrier in the scheduling information (such as DCI), and the first terminal device determines whether to perform related joint transmission or non-related joint transmission through the carrier indicated in the scheduling information.

[0307] For example, the first carrier is used for non-correlated joint transmission, and the second carrier is used for non-correlated joint transmission. Then the first scheduling information may indicate the first carrier, and the third scheduling information may indicate the second carrier.

[0308] Of course, the above four types are just examples and are not limited to them.

[0309] Similarly, the scheduling information used to schedule the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission (i.e., the second scheduling information) and the scheduling information used to schedule the second terminal device to perform non-related joint transmission (i.e., the fourth scheduling information) can also be implemented through different types of scheduling information. The specific implementation method can refer to the first scheduling information and the third scheduling information, which will not be repeated here.

[0310] Through the above design, the network device can flexibly schedule the relay UE (ie, the first terminal device) and / or the remote UE (ie, the second terminal device) to perform related joint transmission or related joint transmission, which can improve the flexibility and reliability of the solution.

[0311] In one possible design, the network device can reconfigure the bearer of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device. Reconfiguring the bearer includes modifying the original bearer (or called the configured bearer) or replacing the original bearer.

[0312] Take the case where the original bearer is a bearer for non-related joint transmission (such as the third bearer and the fourth bearer) and the reconfigured bearer is a bearer for related joint transmission (such as the first bearer and the second bearer) as an example:

[0313] The first configuration information indicates reconfiguring the bearer of the first terminal device, for example, the first configuration information is a first reconfiguration message or the first configuration information is carried in the first reconfiguration message. Accordingly, the first terminal device reconfigures the bearer, for example, configures the first bearer and releases the third bearer.

[0314] The second configuration information indicates reconfiguring the bearer of the second terminal device, for example, the second configuration information is a second reconfiguration message or the second configuration information is carried in the second reconfiguration message. The second terminal device reconfigures the bearer, for example, configures the second bearer and releases the fourth bearer.

[0315] In a specific implementation, in order to ensure lossless transmission of data during the bearer reconfiguration process, the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device may reconfigure the bearer based on the following two methods:

[0316] Method 1: Configure a new bearer and keep transmitting the original bearer data. Release the original bearer after the data transmission on the original bearer is completed.

[0317] Among them, the original bearer data, or the data associated with the original bearer, the data on the original bearer, etc., refers to the data being processed or to be processed on the original bearer. In the embodiment of the present application, this data can be referred to as in-transit data.

[0318] For example, the first terminal device configures a first bearer according to the first configuration information, and configures the first bearer to be associated with the first radio bearer; after the transmission of data associated with the third bearer (i.e., in-transit data) is completed, the third bearer is released. The third bearer is used for non-related joint transmission and is associated with the first radio bearer (i.e., the in-transit data is uplink data of the second terminal device).

[0319] For example, the second terminal device configures the second bearer according to the second configuration information, and configures the first bearer to be associated with the first radio bearer; after the data associated with the fourth bearer (i.e., in-transit data) is transmitted, the fourth bearer is released. The fourth bearer is associated with the first radio bearer (i.e., the in-transit data is uplink data of the second terminal device), and the fourth bearer is used for non-related joint transmission.

[0320] In a specific example, see (b) in Figure 14, taking the bearer as an RLC bearer as an example: the second terminal device was originally configured with a fourth bearer (i.e., the original RLC bearer), and the network device reconfigured the RLC bearer for the second terminal device, such as configuring a second bearer (i.e., a new RLC bearer), and the second bearer is a mirror bearer (or called a mirror RLC bearer), that is, the second bearer is associated with the first bearer of the first terminal device. After configuring the second bearer, the second terminal device copies the PDCP PDU of the radio bearer associated with the second bearer, and delivers it to the second bearer and to the first bearer of the first terminal device. During this process, the original RLC bearer (i.e., the fourth bearer) is kept from being released. When the second terminal device sends a PDCP PDU to the first terminal device, it can carry indication information to indicate which mirror bearer the PDCP PDU corresponds to, for example, the logical channel identifier or radio bearer identifier corresponding to the mirror bearer. After the in-transit data in the original RLC bearer is sent, the second terminal device releases the original RLC bearer.

[0321] In a specific example, see (c) in Figure 14, taking the RLC bearer as an example: the transmission mode of the wireless bearer data of the second terminal device is configured as PDCP replication, but is not configured for related joint transmission, that is, the PDCP PDU of the second terminal device is replicated at the PDCP layer and transmitted through multiple channels, but the uplink transmission between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is performed independently, such as the first terminal device transmits the PDCP PDU of the second terminal device based on the third bearer (that is, the original RLC bearer on the first terminal device side), and the second terminal device transmits the PDCP PDU of the second terminal device based on the fourth bearer (that is, the original RLC bearer on the second terminal device side). In addition, the first terminal device can also transmit the PDCP PDU of the first terminal device based on the fifth bearer. In this case, the network device configures the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission, then the first terminal device and the second terminal device need to establish a mirror bearer and execute the process of first maintaining and then releasing the original bearer.

[0322] Specifically, the first terminal device and the second terminal device establish a mirrored RLC bearer (such as the first bearer and the second bearer) according to the configuration information sent by the network device. During the process of the first terminal device receiving the PDCP PDU sent by the second terminal device, the first terminal device can determine that the data transmission of the original RLC bearer (such as the third bearer) is completed according to the local configuration policy or based on the indication of the second terminal device. For example, after receiving the mirrored bearer, the second terminal device sends an indication message to the first terminal device, so that the first terminal device releases the original RLC bearer; or, after the first terminal device does not receive the PDCP PDU sent by the second terminal device for more than a preset time, it determines that the data transmission on the original RLC bearer is completed and releases the original RLC bearer.

[0323] Method 2: Configure a new bearer and release the original bearer, and retransmit the released data in the original bearer.

[0324] For example, the first terminal device reconfigures the third bearer as the first bearer (or configures the first bearer and releases the third bearer) according to the first configuration information, the third bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, the third bearer is used for non-related joint transmission, the first bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, and is used for related joint transmission; the data of the first wireless bearer is retransmitted based on the first bearer configured based on the first configuration information.

[0325] For example, the second terminal device reconfigures the fourth bearer as the second bearer (or configures the second bearer and releases the fourth bearer) according to the second configuration information, the fourth bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, the fourth bearer is used for non-related joint transmission, the second bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, and is used for related joint transmission; the data of the first wireless bearer is retransmitted based on the second bearer configured based on the second configuration information.

[0326] Still taking the RLC bearer as an example: the first terminal device was originally configured with a third bearer (such as a third RLC bearer), and the second terminal device was originally configured with a fourth bearer (such as a fourth RLC bearer). The network device performs RLC bearer reconfiguration on the first terminal device and the second terminal device, such as: the network device sends the configuration of the first bearer (such as the first RLC bearer) to the first terminal device, and indicates in the configuration that the first bearer is a mirror bearer, and the network device sends the configuration of the second bearer (such as the first RLC bearer) to the second terminal device, and indicates in the configuration that the second bearer is a mirror bearer; after the first terminal device and the second terminal device respectively receive the configuration of the mirror bearer (i.e., the first bearer and the second bearer), they reset the user plane parameters of the third bearer and the fourth bearer according to the configuration of the mirror bearer. The timer related to the user plane processing, that is, RLC re-establishment (that is, the first terminal device reconfigures the third bearer as the first bearer, and the second terminal device reconfigures the fourth bearer as the second bearer); the first terminal device and the second terminal device also clear the in-transit data, which is the data mapped to the original RLC bearer (that is, the fourth bearer) received by the second terminal device after receiving the configuration of the mirror bearer. The first terminal device can determine which data are in-transit according to the indication of the second terminal device. For example, the second terminal device sends an indication message after sending the data packet of the original RLC bearer to the first terminal device, and then the first terminal device can determine that the data packet received before receiving the indication message is in-transit data; the second terminal device side also triggers the PDCP data recovery process. The PDCP data recovery process triggers the second terminal device to retransmit the data packet of the confirmation reception indication from the other end (that is, the network device) after the RLC re-establishment.

[0327] The above is an example in which the network device reconfigures the bearer used for non-related joint transmission (such as the third bearer, the fourth bearer) to a bearer used for related joint transmission (such as the first bearer, the first bearer). In actual applications, the network device can reconfigure the bearer used for related joint transmission (such as the third bearer, the fourth bearer) to a bearer used for non-related joint transmission (such as the first bearer, the first bearer), that is, the original bearer can also be a bearer used for related joint transmission, and the reconfigured bearer is a bearer used for non-related joint transmission.

[0328] For example, the network device first sends first configuration information and second configuration information to the first terminal device and the second terminal device respectively, so as to configure the first bearer and the second bearer for the first terminal device and the second terminal device respectively. During the process of the first terminal device and the second terminal device performing related joint transmission based on the first bearer and the second bearer, the network device further sends third configuration information (including the configuration of the third bearer) and fourth configuration information (the configuration of the fourth bearer) to the first terminal device and the second terminal device respectively, for reconfiguring the bearers of the first terminal device and the second terminal device, for example, the third configuration information is a third reconfiguration message or the third configuration information is carried in the third reconfiguration message, for example, the fourth configuration information is a fourth reconfiguration message or the fourth configuration information is carried in the fourth reconfiguration message. Accordingly, after the first terminal device receives the configuration of the third bearer, it can perform a process of first maintaining and then releasing the original bearer (first bearer) according to the above-mentioned method 1, or directly reconfigure the bearer according to the above-mentioned method 2 and retransmit the data released on the original bearer; after the second terminal device receives the configuration of the fourth bearer, it can perform a process of first maintaining and then releasing the original bearer (second bearer) according to the above-mentioned method 1, or directly reconfigure the bearer according to the above-mentioned method 2 and retransmit the data released on the original bearer.

[0329] Through the above design, the network device can reconfigure the bearers of the remote UE (i.e., the second terminal device) and the relay UE (i.e., the first terminal device), and achieve the effect of flexibly configuring the remote UE and the relay UE to perform related joint transmission or non-related joint transmission, thereby improving the flexibility of the solution.

[0330] In one possible design, the network device can activate or deactivate the bearers of the first terminal device and / or the second terminal device. For example, the network device can configure at least two sets of bearers (such as a first bearer and a third bearer) for the first terminal device, and / or configure at least two sets of bearers (such as a second bearer and a fourth bearer) for the second terminal device. The network device activates one set of bearers for each terminal device for uplink transmission.

[0331] For example, a network device may send a first message to a first terminal device, where the first message is used to activate a first bearer or deactivate a third bearer; and / or send a second message to a second terminal device, where the second message is used to activate a second bearer or deactivate a fourth bearer. In this way, the first bearer of the first terminal device and / or the second bearer of the second terminal device may be activated, allowing the first and second terminal devices to perform related joint transmission.

[0332] It is understood that after the first bearer is activated, if the original bearer (such as the third bearer) still has data being processed (i.e., there is data in transit), the first terminal device can first maintain the data processing flow of the original bearer. After the data transmission of the original bearer is completed, the first terminal device suspends the original bearer (i.e., suspends the use of the original bearer for data transmission). After the second bearer is activated, if the original bearer (such as the fourth bearer) still has data being processed, the second terminal device can first maintain the data processing flow of the original bearer. After the data transmission of the original bearer is completed, the second terminal device suspends the original bearer (i.e., suspends the use of the original bearer for data transmission).

[0333] For example, the network device may send a third message to the first terminal device, where the third message is used to deactivate the first bearer or activate the third bearer; and / or send a fourth message to the fourth terminal device, where the second message is used to deactivate the second bearer or activate the fourth bearer. In this way, the second bearer of the first terminal device and / or the fourth bearer of the second terminal device may be activated, allowing the first and second terminal devices to perform non-correlated joint transmission.

[0334] It is understandable that after the third bearer is activated, if the original bearer (such as the first bearer) still has data being processed (i.e., there is data in transit), the first terminal device can first maintain the data processing flow of the original bearer. After the data transmission of the original bearer is completed, the first terminal device suspends the original bearer (i.e., suspends the use of the original bearer for data transmission). After the fourth bearer is activated, if the original bearer (such as the second bearer) still has data being processed, the second terminal device can first maintain the data processing flow of the original bearer. After the data transmission of the original bearer is completed, the second terminal device suspends the original bearer (i.e., suspends the use of the original bearer for data transmission).

[0335] In a specific implementation, the activation or deactivation message (such as one or more of the first message, the second message, the third message or the fourth message) can be implemented through MAC CE.

[0336] Optionally, before the first bearer is activated or after it is deactivated, the first terminal device can reset the parameters for the user plane processing flow in the RLC entity corresponding to the first bearer, and before the second bearer is activated or after it is deactivated, the second terminal device can reset the parameters for the user plane processing flow in the RLC entity corresponding to the second bearer, so as to ensure that when the first terminal device and the second terminal device perform related joint transmission, the RLC processing flow of the first terminal device and the RLC processing flow of the second terminal device are consistent.

[0337] Through the above design method, the network equipment can flexibly select the activated bearer, and realize the flexible configuration of the remote UE (i.e., the second terminal device) and the relay UE (i.e., the first terminal device) to perform related joint transmission or non-related joint transmission, thereby improving the flexibility of the solution.

[0338] In one possible design, during the data processing of each protocol layer, the triggering mechanism of signaling such as the polling bit of the RLC layer, the uplink RLC status report of the RLC layer, and the uplink control information (UCI) of the PHY layer may cause the data generated by the first terminal device and the second terminal device to be different. In these scenarios, the first terminal device and the second terminal device can align the data transmission content at both ends through interaction, or set the resources used for related joint transmission not to apply the transmission of the above three control signalings, or the first terminal device and the second terminal device do not use the corresponding functions.

[0339] For example, during the process of performing related joint transmission between a first terminal device and a second terminal device, if the first terminal device generates first information, the first terminal device may send the first information to the second terminal device; and / or if the second terminal device generates second information while processing first data based on the second configuration, the second terminal device may send the second information to the first terminal device. Furthermore, the first terminal device may send the first information and / or the second information to the network device based on the first bearer, and the second terminal device may send the first information and / or the second information to the network device based on the second bearer, so that the first terminal device and the second terminal device send the same data.

[0340] Alternatively, during the process of the first terminal device and the second terminal device performing related joint transmission, if the first terminal device generates first information, the first terminal device may send the first information to the network device based on a fifth bearer, where the fifth bearer is used for non-related joint transmission, and the fifth bearer may be the third bearer, or the fifth bearer is different from the third bearer. During the process of the first terminal device and the second terminal device performing related joint transmission, if the second terminal device generates second information, the second terminal device may send the second information to the network device based on a sixth bearer, where the sixth bearer is used for non-related joint transmission, and the sixth bearer may be the fourth bearer, or the sixth bearer is different from the fourth bearer.

[0341] For example, the first information may indicate the reception status of the first terminal device for downlink data of the network device, such as the first information being an uplink RLC status report generated by the first terminal device, and the second information may indicate the reception status of the second terminal device for downlink data of the network device, such as the second information being an uplink RLC status report generated by the second terminal device. Alternatively, for example, the first information may be UCI generated by the first terminal device, and the second information may be UCI generated by the second terminal device.

[0342] The following is a detailed explanation with several specific examples:

[0343] Example 1: Processing of RLC polling bits

[0344] The polling bit is used by the transmitter (e.g., the first or second terminal device) to instruct the receiver (e.g., a network device) to send an RLC status report. After the transmitter triggers the polling bit, it uses the polling bit carried in the RLC PDU header to instruct the receiver to trigger an RLC status report. The transmitter triggers the polling bit based on the following three parameters: t-PollRetransmit, pollPDU, and pollByte.

[0345] In specific implementations, the sender triggers the polling bit in the following three situations:

[0346] (1) The sender maintains the variable PDU_WITHOUT_POLL, which is cumulatively updated to pollPDU, or the sender maintains the variable BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL, which is cumulatively updated to pollByte. PDU_WITHOUT_POLL accumulates the number of RLC PDUs sent by the sender since the last triggering of the polling bit, and BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL accumulates the total size of the data packets sent by the sender since the last triggering of the polling bit. pollPDU and pollByte are preset threshold values.

[0347] (2) t-PollRetransmit times out. t-PollRetransmit is the timer used to trigger the polling bit.

[0348] (3) After the AM RLC entity at the transmitting end sends an AMD PDU, the buffer of the RLC layer is empty or full.

[0349] For the above situations (1) and (2), the network device can configure the same t-PollRetransmit, pollPDU, and pollByte for the first terminal device and the second terminal device (such as the t-PollRetransmit value in the first configuration information is consistent with the t-PollRetransmit value in the second configuration information, the pollPDU value in the first configuration information is consistent with the pollPDU value in the second configuration information, and the pollByte value in the first configuration information is consistent with the pollByte value in the second configuration information) to ensure that the first terminal device and the second terminal device trigger the polling bit at the same time.

[0350] For the above situation (3), if the buffer is empty or full, the network device can configure the first terminal device and the second terminal device to always select the RLC SDU with the largest SN number to carry the Polling bit, thereby ensuring that the first terminal device and the second terminal device trigger the polling bit at the same time.

[0351] With respect to the above-mentioned situations (1) and (3), in order to avoid the problem that the transmission delay in the link transmission between the first terminal device and the second terminal device causes the RLC layer cache status of the first terminal device and the second terminal device to be inconsistent, thereby causing the polling bit triggering time to be inconsistent, the first terminal device and the second terminal device can perform any of the following methods:

[0352] 1. The first terminal device disables the active polling bit filling function, the second terminal device decides to fill in the polling bit, and the second terminal device instructs the first terminal device to fill in the SN number of the polling bit;

[0353] 2. The first terminal device only actively fills in the polling bit for the above situation (1). In the above situation (2) or (3), the second terminal device decides to fill in the polling bit and instructs the first terminal device to fill in the SN number of the polling bit;

[0354] 3. The PDCP layer of the second terminal device delays delivery of the PDCP PDU to the RLC layer based on the link delay to ensure synchronization of the RLC layer buffer states of the second terminal device and the first terminal device;

[0355] 4. The first terminal device configures a separate bearer for transmitting the polling bit, which is associated with the mirror bearer (such as the first bearer); and / or the second terminal device configures a separate bearer for transmitting the polling bit, which is associated with the mirror bearer (such as the second bearer).

[0356] 5. When the first terminal device and the second terminal device perform related joint transmission, the first terminal device and the second terminal device do not support (or do not trigger) the polling bit.

[0357] Of course, the above five methods are only examples and not limitations.

[0358] Example 2: Uplink RLC status report processing

[0359] The first terminal device or the second terminal device may trigger an uplink RLC status report when any of the following conditions is met. The uplink RLC status report is used to indicate a reception status of data sent by the network device by the terminal device:

[0360] 1. Receive the polling bit sent by the network device;

[0361] 2. t-Reassembly timed out.

[0362] In the above scenario 1, the network device can send the same polling bit to the first terminal device and the second terminal device at the same time. However, the downlink reception status of the first terminal device and the second terminal device are different. Therefore, the first terminal device and the second terminal device may not trigger the uplink RLC status report at the same time, and the content of the RLC status report may not be the same. In this case, the first terminal device and the second terminal device can use any of the following methods to solve the problem:

[0363] Method 1: After the mirror bearer of the first terminal device and the second terminal device triggers the uplink RLC status report, the first terminal device and the second terminal device exchange uplink RLC status reports. During the interaction, the transmitting end can simultaneously indicate the identifier of the radio bearer (such as the first radio bearer) of the second terminal device corresponding to the uplink RLC status report, and the receiving end can submit the received uplink RLC status report to the corresponding RLC entity (that is, the RLC entity used for the relevant joint transmission, or the RLC entity corresponding to the mirror bearer) according to the identifier.

[0364] Mode 2: The uplink RLC status report is not transmitted on the mirror bearer, and the first terminal device and the second terminal device are respectively configured with separate bearers for transmitting the uplink RLC status report.

[0365] Example 3: UCI processing

[0366] In a specific implementation, when UCI transmission and PUSCH transmission are scheduled in the same time domain, the terminal device transmits UCI on the PUSCH channel, i.e., UCI is carried on the PUSCH channel. UCI includes: HARQ feedback and CSI feedback. However, the HARQ feedback and CSI feedback generated by the first terminal device and the second terminal device are not necessarily the same. In this case, the first terminal device and the second terminal device can solve the problem in any of the following ways:

[0367] Mode 1: The first terminal device and the second terminal device exchange UCI through the inter-UE link, each copy the other's UCI and then map all UCI to PUSCH for transmission;

[0368] Mode 2: UCI is not transmitted on the mirrored bearer. The first terminal device and the second terminal device are respectively configured with separate bearers for transmitting UCI messages.

[0369] Through the above design, it can be ensured that the first terminal device and the second terminal device trigger the same polling bit, uplink RLC status report and UCI signaling at the same time, thereby ensuring the reliability of the first terminal device and the second terminal device performing related joint transmission.

[0370] It is understandable that the above design methods can be implemented separately or in combination with each other, and this application does not limit them.

[0371] The method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and the device provided by the embodiment of the present application is described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0372] Based on the same technical concept, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device that includes modules / units / means for executing the methods executed by the devices in the above method embodiments. The modules / units / means can be implemented in software or hardware, or the corresponding software implementation can be executed by hardware.

[0373] For example, referring to FIG15 , a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application is provided. The device includes a transceiver module 201 and a processing module 202 .

[0374] When the apparatus is a first terminal device or is located in a first terminal device, the functions of the modules of the apparatus are as follows:

[0375] The transceiver module 201 is configured to receive first configuration information from a network device; the first configuration information is used by a first terminal device to perform related joint transmission, and the first terminal device is used by a second terminal device to communicate with the network device;

[0376] The transceiver module 201 is further configured to receive first data from a second terminal device, where the first data is uplink data of the second terminal device;

[0377] The processing module 202 is configured to process the first data based on the first configuration information to generate second data;

[0378] The transceiver module 201 is further configured to send second data to the network device.

[0379] When the apparatus is a second terminal device or is located in a second terminal device, the functions of the modules of the apparatus are as follows:

[0380] The transceiver module 201 is configured to receive second configuration information from a network device; the second configuration information is used by a second terminal device to perform related joint transmission, and the second terminal device communicates with the network device through the first terminal device;

[0381] The transceiver module 201 is further configured to send first data to the first terminal device, where the first data is uplink data of the second terminal device;

[0382] The processing module 202 is configured to process the first data based on the second configuration information to generate third data;

[0383] The transceiver module 201 is further configured to send the third data to the network device.

[0384] When the device is a network device or is located in a network device, the functions of the modules of the device are as follows:

[0385] The transceiver module 201 is configured to send first configuration information to a first terminal device;

[0386] The transceiver module 201 is further configured to send second configuration information to the second terminal device;

[0387] The second terminal device communicates with the network device through the relay of the first terminal device, and the first configuration information and the second configuration information are used for the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission.

[0388] Optionally, the processing module 202 is configured to generate first configuration information and second configuration information.

[0389] It should be understood that all relevant contents of each step involved in the above method embodiment can be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module and will not be repeated here.

[0390] Based on the same technical concept, referring to FIG16 , an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, including:

[0391] At least one processor 301; and a communication interface 303 communicatively connected to the at least one processor 301; the at least one processor 301 executes instructions stored in the memory 302, so that the apparatus executes the method steps executed by any device in the above method embodiment through the communication interface 303.

[0392] Optionally, the memory 302 is located outside the device.

[0393] Optionally, the device includes the memory 302, which is connected to the at least one processor 301, and the memory 302 stores instructions that can be executed by the at least one processor 301.

[0394] Optionally, the memory 302 is located outside the device.

[0395] Optionally, the apparatus includes the memory 302, the memory 302 is connected to the at least one processor 301, and the memory 302 stores instructions executable by the at least one processor 301. FIG16 uses dashed lines to indicate that the memory 302 is optional for the apparatus.

[0396] The processor 301 and the memory 302 may be coupled via an interface circuit or may be integrated together, which is not limited here.

[0397] The specific connection medium between the processor 301, memory 302, and communication interface 303 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In Figure 16, the processor 301, memory 302, and communication interface 303 are connected via bus 304. The bus is represented by a bold line in Figure 16. The connection between other components is only for illustrative purposes and is not intended to be limiting. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, Figure 16 only uses a single bold line, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0398] When the communication device is a chip used in a terminal, the terminal chip implements the functions of the terminal in the above method embodiments. The terminal chip receives information from other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the base station to the terminal; or the terminal chip sends information to other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal to the base station.

[0399] When the above-mentioned communication device is a module applied to a base station, the base station module implements the functions of the base station in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The base station module receives information from other modules in the base station (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal to the base station; or the base station module sends information to other modules in the base station (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the base station to the terminal. The base station module here can be the baseband chip of the base station, or it can be a DU or other module. The DU here can be a DU under the open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture.

[0400] Based on the same technical concept, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, see Figure 17, which may include a logic circuit and an input / output interface. Optionally, a memory may also be included. The input / output interface may be used to receive code instructions (the code instructions are stored in the memory, which may be read directly from the memory, or may be read from the memory through other devices) and transmit them to the logic circuit; the logic circuit may be used to run the code instructions to execute the method in the above method embodiment.

[0401] Alternatively, the input / output interface may be a signal transmission interface circuit between a logic circuit and a transceiver. For example, in a transmission scenario, the logic circuit is used to perform XX to obtain Y data (XX is a non-air interface operation, including but not limited to determination, judgment, processing, calculation, search, comparison, and other operations); the input / output interface may be used to send Y data to a transmitter (the transmitter is used to perform the transmission operation on the air interface). For another example, in a reception scenario, the input / output interface may be used to receive Z data from a receiver (the receiver is used to perform the reception operation on the air interface) and send the Z data to the logic circuit; the logic circuit is used to perform XX processing on the Z data (XX is a non-air interface operation, including but not limited to determination, judgment, processing, calculation, search, comparison, and other operations).

[0402] It should be understood that the processors mentioned in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by hardware or software. When implemented by hardware, the processor can be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, etc. When implemented by software, the processor can be a general-purpose processor that is implemented by reading software code stored in a memory.

[0403] Exemplarily, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc.

[0404] It should be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct RAM bus random access memory (DR RAM).

[0405] It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) can be integrated into the processor.

[0406] It should be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, but not be limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0407] Based on the same technical concept, an embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a communication device, the method steps performed by any device in the above method embodiment are implemented.

[0408] Based on the same technical concept, an embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or the instructions are run by a communication device, the method steps performed by any device in the above method embodiments are executed.

[0409] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application can adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment in combination with software and hardware. Moreover, the present application can adopt the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to magnetic disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that contain computer-usable program code.

[0410] The present application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the present application. It should be understood that each flow and / or box in the flow chart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the flow chart and / or box in the flow chart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce a device for implementing the functions specified in one or more flow charts and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0411] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a product including an instruction device that implements the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0412] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, so that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0413] Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Receiving first configuration information from a network device; the first configuration information is used by a first terminal device to perform related joint transmission, and the first terminal device is used by a second terminal device to communicate with the network device; receiving first data from the second terminal device, where the first data is uplink data of the second terminal device; Processing the first data based on the first configuration information to generate second data; The second data is sent to the network device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first configuration information includes one or more of the following: a first number of antenna ports, a first rank parameter, and a first coherent codebook set; the first number of antenna ports is equal to the sum of the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device and the number of antenna ports of the second terminal device.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive first indication information from the network device, where the first indication information indicates that the first configuration information is used by the first terminal device to perform the related joint sending.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The first indication information includes an identifier of the second terminal device.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The first configuration information includes configuration of the first bearer; The first bearer is associated with a first radio bearer, and the first radio bearer is an end-to-end radio bearer between the second terminal device and the network device; The first bearer is used for the related joint transmission.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The configuration of the first bearer includes an identifier of the first radio bearer; or, The configuration of the first bearer includes an identifier of a first logical channel, and the identifier of the first logical channel is associated with the first radio bearer.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that The first configuration information indicates reconfiguring the bearer of the first terminal device; The method also includes: configuring the first bearer according to the first configuration information; releasing the third bearer after data transmission associated with the third bearer is completed, the third bearer being used for non-related joint transmission and being associated with the first radio bearer; or, According to the first configuration information, a third bearer is released and the first bearer is configured, the third bearer is used for non-related joint transmission, and the third bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer; and data of the first wireless bearer is retransmitted based on the first configuration information.

8. A communication method, characterized in that: include: receiving second configuration information from the network device; the second configuration information is used by the second terminal device to perform related joint transmission, and the second terminal device communicates with the network device through the first terminal device; Sending first data to the first terminal device, where the first data is uplink data of the second terminal device; and processing the first data based on the second configuration information to generate third data, and sending the third data to the network device.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The second configuration information includes one or more of the following: a second number of antenna ports, a second rank parameter, and a second coherent codebook set; the second number of antenna ports is equal to the sum of the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device and the number of antenna ports of the second terminal device that can be used to transmit the first data.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive second indication information from the network device, where the second indication information indicates that the second configuration information is used by the second terminal device to perform the related joint sending.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The second indication information includes an identifier of the first terminal device.

12. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11, characterized in that: Before processing the second data based on the second configuration information, it also includes: acquiring second scheduling information, where the second scheduling information is used to schedule the second terminal device to perform the related joint transmission.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that Also includes: First scheduling information is sent to the first terminal device according to the second scheduling information, where the first scheduling information is used to schedule the first terminal device to perform the related joint transmission.

14. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 13, characterized in that: The second configuration information includes configuration of the second bearer; The second bearer is associated with a first radio bearer, and the first radio bearer is an end-to-end radio bearer between the second terminal device and the network device; The second bearer is used for the related joint transmission.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The second configuration information indicates reconfiguring the bearer of the second terminal device; The method also includes: configuring the second bearer according to the second configuration information; releasing the fourth bearer after data transmission associated with the fourth bearer is completed, the fourth bearer being associated with the first radio bearer, the fourth bearer being used for non-related joint transmission; or, Release a fourth bearer and configure the second bearer according to the second configuration information, the fourth bearer is associated with the first wireless bearer, and the fourth bearer is used for non-related joint transmission; and retransmit data of the first wireless bearer based on the second configuration information.

16. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Sending first configuration information to the first terminal device; Sending second configuration information to the second terminal device; The second terminal device communicates with the network device through the relay of the first terminal device, and the first configuration information and the second configuration information are used for the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform related joint sending.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The first configuration information includes one or more of the following: a first number of antenna ports, a first rank parameter, and a first coherent codebook set; The second configuration information includes one or more of the following: a second antenna port number, a second rank parameter, and a second coherent codebook set; Among them, the first number of antenna ports is the same as the second number of antenna ports, the first rank parameter is the same as the second rank parameter, and the first coherent codebook set is the same as the second coherent codebook set.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The first number of antenna ports or the second number of antenna ports is equal to the sum of the number of antenna ports of the first terminal device and the number of antenna ports of the second terminal device that can be used to transmit the first data.

19. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that: The method further comprises: sending first indication information to the first terminal device, where the first indication information indicates that the first configuration information is used for the first terminal device to perform the related joint sending; and / or, Sending second indication information to the second terminal device; the second indication information indicates that the second configuration information is used by the second terminal device to perform the related joint sending.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein: The first indication information includes an identifier of the second terminal device; and / or the second indication information includes an identifier of the first terminal device.

21. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, characterized in that: The first configuration information includes configuration of a first bearer, the first bearer being associated with a first radio bearer; and / or the second configuration information includes configuration of a second bearer, the second bearer being associated with the first radio bearer; The first radio bearer is an end-to-end radio bearer between the first terminal device and the network device.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that The configuration of the first bearer includes an identifier of the first radio bearer; or, The configuration of the first bearer includes an identifier of a first logical channel, and the identifier of the first logical channel is associated with the first radio bearer.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, characterized in that The configuration of the first bearer and the configuration of the second bearer include the same logical channel parameter configuration.

24. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 23, characterized in that The configuration of the first bearer and the configuration of the second bearer include the same radio link control RLC configuration parameters; The RLC configuration parameters include one or more of the following: RLC transmission mode, the transmission mode is an acknowledgement mode AM or an unacknowledgement mode UM; The length of the sequence number SN in the RLC PDU header; In AM mode, the maximum number of retransmissions by the RLC transmitter; Polling retransmission timer; Polling protocol data unit; Poll Bytes.

25. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a module or a unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, the method according to any one of claims 8 to 15, or the method according to any one of claims 16 to 24.

26. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor, the processor is coupled to a memory, the memory is used to store a program or instruction, when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, the communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 1-7, or the communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 8-15, or the communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 16-24.

27. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by the communication device, the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 7 is implemented, or the method as described in any one of claims 8 to 15 is implemented, or the method as described in any one of claims 16 to 24 is implemented.

28. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or the instructions are executed by a communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 8 to 15 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 16 to 24 is executed.

29. A communication system, characterized in that: including a first terminal device, a second terminal device and a network device; The first terminal device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, the second terminal device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 8 to 15, and the network device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 16 to 24.

Images