Sidelink communication method and apparatus

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a sidelink communication method and apparatus, used for counting the number of transmissions of an SL PRS. The method comprises: a terminal device at a sending end determining to use a first resource to send a first SL PRS, wherein the first resource is a resource reserved for SCI corresponding to a second SL PRS, and the second SL PRS is sent before the first SL PRS; and determining that a transmission count corresponding to the first SL PRS is equal to a transmission count corresponding to the second SL PRS plus 1. In this solution, the SL PRS sent by using a resource reserved for previously transmitted SCI is counted as one retransmission, so as to achieve the counting of the number of SL PRS transmissions, thereby supporting congestion control for SL PRS and improving system communication performance.

Description

Sidelink 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 September 27, 2023, with application number 202311290639.3 and application name “A Side Link 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 sidelink communication method and device. Background Art

[0004] Currently, sidelink (SL) communications support data retransmission. This means that if the receiver incorrectly decodes a transport block (TB) carried by the physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), it can instruct the transmitter to retransmit the TB. The receiver can then combine the initial and retransmitted results for decoding to improve decoding accuracy. In principle, after receiving a negative acknowledgement (NACK) from the receiver, the transmitter can initiate retransmissions an unlimited number of times until it receives an acknowledgment (ACK) from the receiver. However, a large number of retransmissions can cause network congestion. To avoid network congestion, SL communications introduce congestion control. This means that when the number of retransmissions for a TB reaches a threshold, the TB is no longer retransmitted. In this data retransmission scheme, the transmitter and receiver identify or recognize whether the data is a new transmission or a retransmission based on the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (ID) and the new data indicator (NDI) field.

[0005] In practice, in addition to data retransmission, positioning reference signal (PRS) retransmissions can also cause network congestion. However, SL PRSs do not have HARQ process IDs, making it impossible to count which SL PRSs are initial transmissions and which are retransmissions. Consequently, it is impossible to count the number of SL PRS transmissions, making it impossible to perform congestion control for SL PRSs, impacting system communication performance.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] The embodiments of the present application provide a sidelink communication method and apparatus for implementing statistics on the number of SL PRS transmissions to support congestion control for the SL PRS and improve system communication performance.

[0008] In the first aspect, a sidelink communication method is provided, which can be applied to a transmitting terminal device or a chip in the transmitting terminal device. Taking the application of the method to the transmitting terminal device as an example, the method includes: determining to use a first resource to send a first sidelink (sidelink, SL) positioning reference signal (Positioning reference signal, PRS), the first resource is a resource reserved for sidelink control signaling (sidelink control information, SCI) corresponding to a second SL PRS, and the second SL PRS is sent before the first SL PRS; determining that the number of transmissions corresponding to the first SL PRS is the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS plus 1.

[0009] The embodiment of the present application counts the SL PRS sent using the resources reserved by the previously transmitted SCI as a retransmission, thereby realizing statistics on the number of SL PRS transmissions, thereby supporting congestion control for the SL PRS and improving system communication performance.

[0010] In one possible design, the first resource is a resource in a dedicated resource pool, which is used to send the SL PRS but cannot be used to send a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

[0011] In other words, the embodiment of the present application can be used to calculate the number of transmissions of the SL PRS in the dedicated resource pool.

[0012] In one possible design, the SCI reserved resources corresponding to the second SL PRS are non-periodic reserved resources.

[0013] For example, when the initially transmitted SCI reservation resources are non-periodic reservations, the SCI reservation resources corresponding to the second SL PRS are non-periodic reservation resources; when the initially transmitted SCI reservation resources are periodic reservations, the SCI reservation resources corresponding to the second SL PRS are non-periodic reservation resources within a single cycle.

[0014] In one possible design, the sending time of the first SL PRS and the sending time of the second SL PRS are within a preset time range.

[0015] In this way, it is possible to count the number of SL PRS transmissions sent within a preset time range, thereby helping to control the statistical quantity of the SL PRS transmission count according to actual needs. For example, when the transmitting terminal device needs to have more retransmission opportunities, the preset time range can be set to be shorter, so that the maximum value of the statistical result is smaller; for example, when the transmitting terminal device needs to have fewer retransmission opportunities, the preset time range can be set to be longer, so that the maximum value of the statistical result is larger. Through this implementation method, the flexibility of SL PRS transmission count statistics can be improved.

[0016] In a possible design, the preset time range is a period corresponding to the periodic reservation resource.

[0017] In this way, when the initial SCI reservation resource is a periodic reservation, the number of SL PRS transmissions sent in a single cycle can be counted. This avoids counting the number of SL PRS transmissions across cycles (because the SL PRS initially transmitted in a new cycle should be a new transmission, not a retransmission, relative to the SL PRS sent in the old cycle), thereby improving the reliability of the solution.

[0018] In one possible design, the preset time range is a time window.

[0019] In this way, the number of transmissions of the SL PRS sent within a time window can be counted.

[0020] In a possible design, the position of a time window in the time domain is determined according to the position of the sending time of the first SL PRS in the time domain.

[0021] In other words, the position of the time window can slide over time.

[0022] In a possible design, a time window is a time window in which the first SL PRS is sent among multiple time windows that appear periodically in the time domain.

[0023] In other words, the position of the time window may be fixed.

[0024] In one possible design, if the number of transmission times corresponding to the first SL PRS reaches a threshold, retransmission of the SL PRS is stopped.

[0025] In this way, congestion control can be performed on the SL PRS, thereby improving the system communication performance.

[0026] On the second aspect, a side link communication method is provided, which can be applied to a transmitting terminal device or a chip in the transmitting terminal device. Taking the application of the method to the transmitting terminal device as an example, the method includes: determining to send a first SL PRS, wherein the SCI corresponding to the first SL PRS includes a first identifier; adding 1 to the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the first identifier.

[0027] The embodiment of the present application utilizes the identifier included in the SCI to count the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the same identifier, thereby realizing the statistics of the number of SL PRS transmissions, thereby supporting congestion control for the SL PRS and improving the system communication performance.

[0028] In one possible design, the resources reserved by the SCI are resources in a dedicated resource pool, which is a resource pool used to send SL PRS but cannot be used to send PSSCH.

[0029] In other words, the embodiment of the present application can calculate the number of transmission times of the SL PRS in the dedicated resource pool.

[0030] In one possible design, the first identifier is used by the receiving end to perform combined measurement on SL PRSs of different transmissions corresponding to the first identifier.

[0031] In this way, the number of transmissions of the SL PRS is counted by using the identifier for performing the combined measurement, and there is no need to design an additional identifier to count the number of transmissions of the SL PRS. The implementation is simple and reliable.

[0032] In one possible design, the sending time of the first SL PRS is within a preset time range.

[0033] In this way, it is possible to count the number of SL PRS transmissions sent within a preset time range, thereby helping to control the statistical quantity of the SL PRS transmission count according to actual needs. For example, when the transmitting terminal device needs to have more retransmission opportunities, the preset time range can be set to be shorter, so that the maximum value of the statistical result is smaller; for example, when the transmitting terminal device needs to have fewer retransmission opportunities, the preset time range can be set to be longer, so that the maximum value of the statistical result is larger. Through this implementation method, the flexibility of SL PRS transmission count statistics can be improved.

[0034] In a possible design, the preset time range is a time window.

[0035] In this way, the number of SL PRS transmissions can be counted according to the identifier within a time window.

[0036] In a possible design, the position of a time window in the time domain is determined according to the position of the sending time of the first SL PRS in the time domain.

[0037] In other words, the position of the time window can slide over time.

[0038] In a possible design, a time window is a time window in which the first SL PRS is sent among multiple time windows that appear periodically in the time domain.

[0039] In other words, the position of the time window may be fixed.

[0040] In one possible design, if the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the first identifier reaches a threshold, the transmission of the SL PRS corresponding to the first identifier is stopped.

[0041] In this way, congestion control can be performed on the SL PRS, thereby improving the system communication performance.

[0042] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a module, a unit or a technical means for executing the method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect.

[0043] Exemplarily, the device may include a processing module for determining to use a first resource to send a first SL PRS, the first resource is the SCI reserved resource corresponding to the second SL PRS, and the second SL PRS is sent before the first SL PRS; and determining that the number of transmissions corresponding to the first SL PRS is the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS plus 1.

[0044] Optionally, the device may further include a transceiver module configured to send a first SL PRS using the first resource.

[0045] In a fourth 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.

[0046] Exemplarily, the apparatus may include a processing module configured to determine to send a first SL PRS, wherein the SCI corresponding to the first SL PRS includes a first identifier; and increment the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the first identifier by 1.

[0047] Optionally, the device may further include a transceiver module configured to send the first SL PRS.

[0048] In a fifth 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.

[0049] In a sixth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and when the computer-executable instructions are called by the computer, the computer-executable instructions are used to execute the method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect, or to execute the method described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect.

[0050] In the seventh aspect, a computer program product is provided, which includes a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or the instructions are run by a communication device, the method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect is executed, or the method described in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect is executed.

[0051] For the technical effects that can be achieved in the above-mentioned third to seventh 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 second aspects, and this application will not repeat them here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0052] 1 to 3 are schematic diagrams of the architectures of several communication systems to which the embodiments of the present application may be applied;

[0053] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a possible network architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] FIG5 is a flow chart of a sidelink communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] FIG6A is a schematic diagram of a non-periodic reservation;

[0056] FIG6B is a schematic diagram of a periodic reservation;

[0057] FIG7A is a schematic diagram of a sliding time window;

[0058] FIG7B is a schematic diagram of a fixed time window;

[0059] FIG8 is a flowchart of another sidelink communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0062] Below, some terms in this application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0063] (1) Sidelink (SL): a link between terminal devices based on the proximity-based services communication 5 (PC5) interface communication, analogous to an uplink or downlink communication link. The sidelink in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as a sidelink communication link, side link, side link, direct link, side link, or auxiliary link.

[0064] For example, the links of device-to-device (D2D) communication, long term evolution (LTE) vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, new radio (NR) V2X communication, and sidelink on unlicensed spectrum (SL-U) communication are all sidelinks.

[0065] (2) Resource pool: This can be understood as a collection of time-frequency resources. The frequency domain resources contained in a resource pool are continuous. The time domain resources contained in a resource pool can be continuous or discontinuous. Different resource pools are distinguished by SL resource pool identifiers (e.g., SL-ResourcePoolID). Terminal devices receive on the receiving resource pool and transmit on the transmitting resource pool. If resource pools have the same resource pool index, it can be considered that the time-frequency resources of the resource pools are completely overlapping.

[0066] In the sidelink on unlicensed spectrum (SL-U), since the frequency band is shared by various forms of terminal devices, such as SL terminal devices and wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) terminal devices and Bluetooth terminal devices transmitting on the same frequency band. Therefore, there is not necessarily a concept of SL dedicated resource pool. The SL resource pool can also be understood as: a set of resources that can be used for SL transmission. In this embodiment, the resource pool can also be referred to as a channel, an operating channel, a nominal channel bandwidth, or a bandwidth. That is, the resource pool, channel, and bandwidth are all used to represent a set of resources that can be used for SL transmission.

[0067] There are two resource selection modes for NR SL:

[0068] Resource selection mode 1 (mode 1): The network device selects SL resources from a transmit resource pool for the transmitting terminal device. The network device can select one or more (e.g., three) SL resources from a transmit resource pool at a time. The resource pool can be configured by the network device, by a higher layer, or by pre-configuration.

[0069] Resource selection mode 2 (mode 2): The transmitting terminal device selects SL resources from the transmitting resource pool. The transmitting terminal device can select one or more (for example, three) SL resources at a time. The resource pool can be configured by the network device, upper layer, or pre-configured.

[0070] A terminal device in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state can be configured by a network device to use mode 1 or mode 2, while a terminal device in an RRC idle state or inactive state can only use mode 2.

[0071] The SL resource pool used to send SL PRS can be divided into two types: dedicated resource pool and shared resource pool. The resources in the dedicated resource pool can be specifically used to transmit SL PRS. For example, in order to provide the possibility of greater bandwidth, they are specially designed to ensure SL PRS transmission and cannot be used to transmit PSSCH. The resources in the shared resource pool can be used to transmit PSSCH or SL PRS. In one possible example, the terminal device can divide some symbols from the symbols occupied by PSSCH to send to SL PRS.

[0072] (3) Time domain resources: Time domain resources include symbols, slots, mini-slots, partial slots, sub-frames, radio frames (or frames), and sensing slots.

[0073] A time slot may include at least one symbol, for example, 14 symbols or 12 symbols. Time slots may have different time slot types, each containing a different number of symbols. For example, a mini slot may contain less than 7 symbols, 2 symbols, 3 symbols, or 4 symbols, while a normal slot may contain 7 symbols or 14 symbols.

[0074] Depending on the subcarrier spacing, the length of each symbol can be different, and therefore the time slot length can be different. For example, a time slot length corresponding to a 15kHz subcarrier spacing is 0.5ms, a time slot length corresponding to a 60kHz subcarrier spacing is 0.125ms, and so on.

[0075] (4) Frequency domain resources: Frequency domain resources include subchannels, bands, carriers, bandwidth parts (BWPs), resource blocks (RBs), or resource pools.

[0076] A subchannel is the smallest unit of frequency domain resources occupied by the physical sidelink shared channel. A subchannel can include one or more resource blocks (RBs). The frequency domain bandwidth of a wireless communication system can include multiple RBs. For example, in the various possible bandwidths of an LTE system, the number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) included can be 6, 15, 25, 50, and so on.

[0077] In the frequency domain, an RB may include several subcarriers. For example, in LTE and NR systems, an RB includes 12 subcarriers, where each subcarrier spacing may be 15 kHz. Of course, other subcarrier spacings may also be used, such as 3.75 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz or 120 kHz subcarrier spacing, which is not limited here.

[0078] Subcarrier or resource element (RE). Subcarrier or RE refers to a minimum frequency resource unit on a specific symbol in a multi-carrier system. In the embodiment of the present application, RE may refer to a resource unit of time-frequency resources, for example, it can be regarded as the minimum time-frequency resource unit. For example, 1 RE occupies 1 symbol in the time domain and 1 subcarrier in the frequency domain, that is, 1 subcarrier in 1 symbol in the time domain is 1 RE. In the present application, subcarriers and resource elements can be used interchangeably, and their contents are the same.

[0079] 5) Sidelink control signaling (SCI): also known as sidelink control information. SCI includes two levels of SCI, namely, first-stage SCI (1st-stage SCI) and second-stage SCI (2nd-stage SCI).

[0080] The first-level SCI is carried on the physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), which is used to schedule the second-level SCI and the physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH). Because the SL is a distributed system, the receiving terminal device must correctly decode the first-level SCI before decoding the PSSCH. In the embodiment of the present application, the information carried by the PSSCH is described as data channel information. The data channel information includes data information and the second-level SCI.

[0081] In order to reduce the complexity of blind decoding of PSCCH by terminal devices, the time-frequency resource position of PSCCH is relatively fixed, and the format of the first-level SCI carried on PSCCH is also relatively unique. That is, the terminal device does not need to blindly detect the time-frequency resource position where PSCCH is located, nor does it need to blindly detect SCI of different formats. The terminal device can detect whether there is a first-level SCI at the fixed time-frequency resource position of PSCCH. PSCCH exists in all or part of the subchannels in each time slot. For example, the time domain starting position of a PSCCH is the second symbol used for SL transmission in each time slot, and the number of continuously occupied symbols is 2 or 3. The frequency domain starting position of a PSCCH is the RB with the smallest index on each subchannel, and the number of continuously occupied RBs is at least 10 and does not exceed the size of the subchannel.

[0082] For SL communication and shared resource pool, the first-level SCI includes a frequency domain resource allocation (frequency resource assignment) field and a time domain resource allocation (time resource assignment) field. Among them, the frequency domain resource allocation field indicates the frequency domain resources of PSSCH, and the time domain resource allocation field indicates the time domain resources of PSSCH. Optionally, the first-level SCI also includes a resource reservation period (resource reservation period) field. Among them, the resource reservation period field indicates the period of PSSCH reserved resources. The value of the resource reservation period field is configured by the network device, or pre-configured (pre-configuration), or predefined. For example, the network device indicates the time domain resources, frequency domain resources and period of PSSCH to the terminal device through radio resource control (RRC) signaling. Among them, the content indicated by the above RRC signaling can be determined based on sl-ResourceReservePeriod.

[0083] The second-stage SCI is carried in the PSSCH. The second-stage SCI does not occupy the resources of the PSCCH, demodulation reference signal (DMRS) and phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS). The second-stage SCI is mainly used for the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of the NR SL, such as indicating the HARQ process number (process number), source ID (source ID), destination ID (destination ID) and other related information. The format of the second-stage SCI is indicated by the second-stage SCI format (2nd-stage SCI format) field in the first-stage SCI.

[0084] For the dedicated resource pool, the first-level SCI includes a time resource assignment field and an SL PRS resource indication field. The time resource assignment field indicates the reserved time slot of the SL PRS, and the SL PRS resource indication field indicates the specific SL PRS resource index reserved in the reserved time slot of the SL PRS. Optionally, the first-level SCI also includes a resource reservation period field. The resource reservation period field indicates the period of the SL PRS reserved resources. The value of the resource reservation period field is configured by the network device, or preconfigured, or predefined. For example, the network device indicates the time domain resources, frequency domain resources and period of the PSSCH to the terminal device through radio resource control (RRC) signaling. The content of the above RRC signaling indication can be determined based on sl-ResourceReservePeriod.

[0085] 6) In the description of this application, words such as "first" and "second" are only used for the purpose of distinguishing the description and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or order.

[0086] In the description of this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b, and c, where a, b, and c can be single or plural.

[0087] In the description of this application, "and / or" describes the relationship between associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, "A and / or B" can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. A and B can be singular or plural. " / " means "or", for example, a / b means a or b.

[0088] In order to more clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the communication method and device provided by the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0089] This application can be applied to sidelink communication scenarios. In this application, the terminal device can be located within the coverage of the network device or outside the coverage of the network device. The terminal device within the coverage area can also communicate directly with the terminal device outside the coverage area (also known as sidelink communication). For example, Figures 1 to 3 show the architecture of various communication systems to which the embodiments of this application can be applied.

[0090] Figure 1 shows the architecture of a communication system in which a terminal device is located within the coverage of a network device (in-coverage), and the communication system includes cellular communication and direct communication between terminal devices. The communication system shown in Figure 1 may include at least one network device and at least two terminal devices, and Figure 1 only shows one network device and two terminal devices (such as terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 shown in Figure 1). Among them, terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 are both within the coverage of the network device, and terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 can communicate with the network device through the Uu port. For example, the network device can send information to terminal device 1 through a downlink, and terminal device 1 can send information to the network device through an uplink, and the communication between the network device and terminal device 2 is similar. Terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 can communicate directly through a side link, that is, PC5 communication.

[0091] Figure 2 shows the architecture of a communication system in which some terminal devices are located within the coverage of a network device (partial coverage), and the communication system includes cellular communication and direct communication between terminal devices. The communication system shown in Figure 2 may include at least one network device and at least two terminal devices, some of the terminal devices are located within the coverage of the network device, and the other terminal devices are located outside the coverage of the network device. Figure 2 only shows one network device and two terminal devices (terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 as shown in Figure 2), terminal device 1 is within the coverage of the network device, and terminal device 2 is outside the coverage of the network device. Among them, terminal device 1 can communicate with the network device through the Uu port, for example, the network device can send information to terminal device 1 through a downlink, and terminal device 1 can send information to the network device through an uplink. Terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 can communicate directly through a side link, that is, PC5 communication.

[0092] Figure 3 shows the architecture of a communication system in which a terminal device is located outside the coverage of a network device (out-of-coverage), and the communication system includes direct communication between the terminal devices. The communication system shown in Figure 3 may include at least two terminal devices, both of which are located outside the coverage of the network device. Figure 3 only shows two terminal devices (terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 as shown in Figure 3). Among them, terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 can communicate directly via a side link, that is, PC5 communication.

[0093] In the system shown in Figure 1, Figure 2, or Figure 3, terminal device 1 can serve as a sending terminal device, and terminal device 2 can serve as a receiving terminal device; or, terminal device 2 can serve as a sending terminal device, and terminal device 1 can serve as a receiving terminal device, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0094] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a possible network architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG4 , a possible network architecture applicable to the present application may include three parts: a terminal device (such as terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 shown in FIG1 , FIG2 , or FIG3 ), an access network device (such as a next generation (NG) radio access network ((R)AN) device), and a core network.

[0095] (1)Terminal equipment.

[0096] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may include a user equipment (UE)-location management component (LMC). The UE-LMC may be a component or application with partial location management function (LMF) function deployed on the terminal device, used to support the positioning service of the PC5 interface. The LMC in each terminal device in Figure 4 is shown as a dotted line to indicate that the terminal device side may include the LMC or may not include the LMC. Figure 4 uses an example in which both terminal devices include the LMC.

[0097] The terminal devices shown in FIG4 in the embodiment of the present application may be terminal devices in the respective communication systems shown in FIG1 to FIG3 , for example, terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 may be the two terminal devices located within the coverage range of the network device shown in FIG1 . For another example, a portion of terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 may be the terminal devices located within the coverage range of the network device shown in FIG2 , and another portion of terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 may be the terminal devices located outside the coverage range of the network device shown in FIG2 . Terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 may be the two terminal devices located outside the coverage range of the network device shown in FIG3 .

[0098] Terminal devices can also be referred to as terminals, user equipment (UE), mobile stations, mobile terminals, etc. Terminal devices can be fixed devices, mobile devices, handheld devices, wearable devices, vehicle-mounted devices, or wireless devices built into the above devices (for example, communication modules or chip systems, etc.). Terminal devices can be widely used in various scenarios, such as self-driving, remote medical, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, drones, robots, and other scenarios, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, self-driving, remote medical, smart grid, autonomous driving, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal device may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a wearable device, a vehicle, a drone, a helicopter, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a robotic arm, a smart home device, a mobile station (MS), a subscriber unit, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a wireless modem, a handheld device (handset), a laptop computer, or a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0099] (2) Network equipment.

[0100] The network equipment may include access network equipment and / or core network equipment.

[0101] (2.1) Access network equipment.

[0102] The access network (AN) 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, a micro base station or an indoor station, 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.

[0103] Base stations and terminal devices can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, 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 terminal devices.

[0104] In one possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminals in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing parts of the base station's functionality. For example, a 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 configured separately or included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0105] 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.

[0106] (2.2) Core network equipment.

[0107] The core network includes network elements such as the access and mobility management function (AMF) and the location management function (LMF). It also includes the evolved server mobile location center (E-SMLC), unified data management (UDM), and application function (AF). Base stations and AMF network elements can communicate via the NG-C interface, with the AMF serving as a router for communication between the gNB and the LMF. The LMF network element estimates the location of terminal devices, and communication between the AMF and LMF occurs via the NLs interface.

[0108] Referring to FIG5 , which is a flowchart of a sidelink communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, the method can be applied to the communication system shown in FIG4 . The method can be specifically executed by a transmitting terminal device or a chip in the transmitting terminal device, and the method includes:

[0109] S501: Determine to use a first resource to send a first SL PRS, where the first resource is a resource reserved by the SCI corresponding to a second SL PRS, and the second SL PRS is sent before the first SL PRS;

[0110] Among them, the SCI can be a first-level SCI.

[0111] The resources reserved by SCI can also be called reserved resources, which can be specifically time-frequency resources. The reserved resources can be understood as the SCI sent by the terminal device reserving certain time-frequency resources after the SCI. In practice, there is another way of saying that the time-frequency resources scheduled by the SCI in the current time slot are classified as reserved resources. In the application embodiment, the concept of reserved resources used when counting the number of SL PRS transmissions refers to the resources after the time slot where the SCI is located as an example. In actual situations, when the time corresponding to the reserved resources arrives, the terminal device can transmit SL PRS on the reserved resources, or it may not use the reserved resources, that is, the reserved resources are not used.

[0112] The reserved resources can be periodic or non-periodic. For example, for a non-periodic SL service, when reserving resources for the service, the terminal device can perform a non-periodic reservation, such as SCI only reserving resources for the next PRS transmission. For example, for a periodic SL service, when reserving resources for the service, the terminal device can perform a periodic reservation, such as SCI reserving resources for one or more periods. Furthermore, in the presence of a periodic reservation, the terminal device can also perform one or more non-periodic reservations within a single period of the periodic reservation.

[0113] In the case of periodic reservation, different resources in the same cycle can transmit multiple SL PRSs, or the latter SL PRS transmission in two adjacent SL PRS transmissions in the same cycle is a retransmission of the previous SL PRS transmission; resources in different cycles transmit different SL PRSs, or the SL PRS transmission in the latter of two adjacent cycles is a new transmission relative to the SL PRS transmission in the previous cycle. In the case of no periodic reservation (or in the case of only non-periodic reservation), the latter SL PRS transmission in two adjacent SL PRS transmissions is a retransmission of the previous SL PRS transmission.

[0114] It can be understood that periodic SL services refer to the transmission of SL service data according to a fixed period, while aperiodic SL services refer to the transmission of SL service data without a fixed transmission period.

[0115] In an embodiment of the present application, the first resource is a non-periodic reservation resource, for example, the first resource is a resource reserved by executing a non-periodic reservation, as shown in FIG6A ; or, the first resource is a resource reserved by executing a non-periodic reservation within a period corresponding to a periodic reservation, as shown in FIG6B . FIG6A and FIG6B take the example of the SCI and SL PRS being transmitted on different symbols, and different SL PRSs occupy the same bandwidth in the frequency domain.

[0116] In one possible design, the second SL PRS is sent before the first SL PRS, which may be: the second SL PRS is the previous SL PRS of the first SL PRS, that is, no other SL PRS is sent between the first SL PRS and the second SL PRS.

[0117] Optionally, the transmitting terminal device further determines the first resource. For example, in resource selection mode 1, the transmitting terminal device may obtain the first resource selected for the transmitting terminal device from a network device (e.g., a base station). In resource selection mode 2, the transmitting terminal device may select the first resource from a resource pool.

[0118] S502: Determine that the number of transmissions corresponding to the first SL PRS is the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS plus 1.

[0119] The number of transmissions refers to the number of transmissions of the SL PRS (abbreviated as SL PRS transmission number or transmission number).

[0120] Specifically, when the resources used to transmit the first SL PRS (i.e., the first resources) are the resources reserved by the SCI corresponding to the previously transmitted SL PRS (i.e., the second SL PRS), the first SL PRS is counted as a retransmission, so the number of transmissions corresponding to the first SL PRS is the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS plus 1. For example, if the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS is 1 (for example, the second SL PRS is an initial transmission), then the number of transmissions corresponding to the first SL PRS is 2 (that is, the first SL PRS is a retransmission), or if the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS is 2 (for example, the second SL PRS is a retransmission), then the number of transmissions corresponding to the first SL PRS is 3 (that is, the first SL PRS is a retransmission).

[0121] It can be understood that the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS in step S502 refers to the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS when or after it is determined that the first SL PRS is sent using the first resource. Before determining that the first SL PRS is sent using the first resource, and when or after determining that the second SL PRSS is sent using the second resource, the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS may be the same as or different from the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS in step S502. In other words, the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS may change over time. For example, when the time window exemplified in the following text slides, the SL PRS covered by the time window (i.e., the statistical range of the number of SL PRS transmissions) will change, which in turn will cause the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS to change. For details, please refer to the example given in Figure 7A below.

[0122] In some embodiments, determining the number of transmissions corresponding to the first SL PRS is the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS plus 1 can also be described as: updating the number of SL PRS transmissions; or, adding 1 to the number of SL PRS transmissions, etc., which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0123] In the above scheme, the transmitting terminal device counts the SL PRS sent using the SCI reserved resources corresponding to the previous (such as the last) SL PRS transmission as a retransmission, thereby realizing the statistics of the number of SL PRS transmissions, thereby supporting congestion control of PRS and improving system communication performance.

[0124] In one possible design, the first resource (i.e., the resource reserved by the SCI) is a resource in a dedicated resource pool, which is a resource pool used to send SL PRS but cannot be used to send PSSCH. In other words, the embodiment of the present application can be used to calculate the number of SL PRS transmissions in the dedicated resource pool and provide support for SL PRS congestion control on the dedicated resource pool.

[0125] In a possible design, the transmitting terminal device may only count the number of transmissions of the SL PRS sent within a preset time range. Correspondingly, the sending time of the first SL PRS and the sending time of the second SL PRS are within the preset time range.

[0126] In a specific implementation, the preset time range is within a period corresponding to the periodic reservation resource. For example, the preset time range is within a period corresponding to the periodic reservation resource.

[0127] For example:

[0128] 1) The transmitting terminal device determines the resources used for the initial transmission through resource selection mode 1 or 2;

[0129] 2) The transmitting terminal device sends SCI-1 and SL PRS-1 on the initial transmission resource, and records this transmission as the first transmission. SCI-1 can reserve periodic resources and / or non-periodic resources.

[0130] When SCI-1 reserves periodic resources, it specifies a reservation period. For example, a reservation period of 100ms means that periodic SL PRS resources with a period of 100ms are reserved. A reservation period of 0ms can also mean that no periodic resources are reserved.

[0131] When SCI-1 reserves aperiodic resources, the reserved aperiodic resources are resources in 1-2 time slots out of a maximum of 32 logical time slots after the initial transmission. For ease of description, the aperiodic resources reserved by SCI-1 are referred to as resource-1.

[0132] 3) The transmitting terminal device uses the non-periodic resources reserved by SCI-1 (i.e., resource-1) to send SCI-2 and SL PRS-2. Since SCI-2 and SL PRS-2 are transmitted using the non-periodic resources reserved by SCI-1, if the transmission of SCI-2 and SL PRS-2 is not later than the next periodic transmission corresponding to the periodic reservation of the initial transmission, then SL PRS-2 is a retransmission, and this transmission is recorded as the second transmission. It should be understood that SCI-2 can continue to reserve resources in 1-2 time slots out of a maximum of 32 logical time slots after this transmission. For the sake of convenience of description, the non-periodic resources reserved by SCI-2 are recorded as resource-2 here.

[0133] 4) The transmitting terminal device transmits SCI-3 and SL PRS-3 using the aperiodic resources reserved by SCI-2 (i.e., Resource-2). Since SCI-3 and SL PRS-3 are transmitted using the aperiodic resources reserved by SCI-2, if the transmission of SCI-3 and SL PRS-3 does not occur later than the next periodic transmission corresponding to the periodic reservation of the initial transmission, then SL PRS-3 is considered a retransmission and this transmission is recorded as the third transmission.

[0134] By analogy, that is, if the transmitting terminal device uses the non-periodic resources reserved for the N-1th transmission to send SCI-N and SL PRS-N during the Nth transmission, then the Nth transmission is recorded as a retransmission, and the number of transmissions is increased by 1, and N is a positive integer greater than 1.

[0135] 5) If the transmitting terminal device transmits SCI-M and SL PRS-M using resources other than the non-periodic resources reserved for the M-1th transmission during the Mth transmission, the number of transmissions shall be restarted for the Mth transmission. Alternatively, if the transmitting terminal device transmits SCI-M and SL PRS-M using the non-periodic resources reserved for the M-1th transmission during the Mth transmission, but the Mth transmission is sent later than the next period corresponding to the periodic reservation of the initial transmission (i.e., the initial transmission and the Mth transmission are not in the same period), the number of transmissions shall be restarted for the Mth transmission. Wherein, M is a positive integer greater than 1.

[0136] It can be understood that the resources corresponding to the initial transmission and the resources corresponding to the retransmission (time-frequency resources, such as the index of the OFDM symbol, the RE index within the symbol, etc.) may be different, but the source ID, destination ID, priority and other fields in the SCI corresponding to the initial transmission and the retransmission must be guaranteed to be consistent. The same source ID field ensures that the transmitting terminal devices corresponding to the initial transmission and the retransmission are the same; the same destination ID field ensures that the receiving terminal devices corresponding to the initial transmission and the retransmission are the same; the same priority field ensures that the priorities corresponding to the initial transmission and the retransmission remain unchanged. The destination ID here can be a unicast destination ID; it can also be a multicast destination ID, corresponding to the multicast receiving terminal device group information; it can also be a broadcast destination ID, corresponding to the broadcast service type, and this application does not impose any restrictions.

[0137] In this way, when there is periodic SL service, only the SL PRS within a single cycle is counted, avoiding counting the number of SL PRS transmissions across cycles (because the SL PRS initially transmitted in the new cycle should be a new transmission, not a retransmission, relative to the SL PRS sent in the old cycle), thereby improving the reliability of the solution.

[0138] In another specific implementation, the preset time range is within a time window. For example, the preset time range is a time window.

[0139] In some embodiments, the position of the time window in the time domain is determined according to the position of the sending moment of the first SL PRS in the time domain.

[0140] Exemplarily, the sending terminal device can obtain the network device's configuration of the time window, which can include the window length W (i.e., the length of the time window). The window length can be the number of physical time slots, milliseconds, seconds, system frames, subframes, or logical time slots, etc., without limitation.

[0141] Accordingly, the transmitting terminal device determines at time T (such as the time of sending the first SL PRS) that the number of SL PRS transmissions is the number of SL PRS transmissions within the time period (TW, T] or [TW, T] or [TW, T).

[0142] It can be understood that since the time window corresponding to each SL PRS is determined by the sending time of the SL PRS, the time windows corresponding to different SL PRS may be different. In other words, the position of the time window may slide over time. As the time window slides, some previously transmitted SL PRS (called historical SL PRS) may move out of the time window. In this case, the historical SL PRS that moves out of the time window will not be within the statistical range, so the number of transmissions corresponding to the historical SL PRS in the time window needs to be updated.

[0143] For example, referring to FIG7A , at time t1, the time window includes PRS-1, PRS-2, PRS-3, PRS-4, and PRS-5, and their corresponding transmission times are 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. At time t2, due to the sliding of the time window, PRS-1 moves out of the time window, and PRS-6 is added to the time window. That is, the time window includes PRS-2, PRS-3, PRS-4, PRS-5, and PRS-6. The transmission times corresponding to PRS-2, PRS-3, PRS-4, and PRS-5 need to be reduced by 1, respectively, and the transmission times corresponding to PRS-2, PRS-3, PRS-4, and PRS-5 are updated to 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. The transmission time corresponding to PRS-6 is the updated transmission time corresponding to PRS-5 plus 1, that is, the transmission time corresponding to PRS-6 is 4+1=5. It will be understood that the time window shown in FIG7A is only an example and is not limited to this.

[0144] In some other embodiments, the time window is a time window where the first SL PRS is sent among a plurality of time windows that appear periodically in the time domain. In other words, the position of the time window may be fixed.

[0145] Exemplarily, the transmitting terminal device can obtain the network device's configuration of the time window, which can include the period of the time window. Optionally, it can also include at least one of the starting position, ending position, or window length of the time window. When the starting position is not configured, the transmitting terminal device can default to the time window starting from system frame 0, subframe 0, or the first logical time slot 0, that is, the starting position is 0. The period (or starting position, ending position, or window length, etc.) can be the number of physical time slots, milliseconds, seconds, system frames, subframes, or logical time slots, etc., without limitation.

[0146] Correspondingly, the transmitting terminal device determines at time T (such as the sending time of the first SL PRS) that the number of SL PRS transmissions is the number of SL PRS transmissions within the time window where time T is located, that is, the number of SL PRS transmissions within the time period of [kP+O, (k+1)P+] or [kP+O, (k+1)P+O) or (kP+O, (k+1)P+O], where k is 0 or a positive integer, and the value of k makes T belong to this time period. P is the period of the time window, and O is the starting position of the time window.

[0147] For example, referring to FIG7B , two time windows are illustrated: time window 1 includes PRS-1, PRS-2, PRS-3, PRS-4, and PRS-5, with corresponding transmission times of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively; at time t2, time window 2 includes PRS-6, PRS-7, and PRS-8, with corresponding transmission times of 1, 2, and 3, respectively. It will be understood that the time windows shown in FIG7B are merely examples and are not limited thereto.

[0148] In this way, the number of transmissions of the SL PRS sent within a time window can be counted.

[0149] It can be understood that there may be only one of the period and the time window, or they may exist at the same time. When the period and the time window exist at the same time, in some embodiments, one period corresponding to the periodic reservation resource may include one or more time windows. In this case, the statistical range of the SL PRS may not exceed one time window; in other embodiments, one time window may include one or more periods corresponding to the periodic reservation resource. In this case, the statistical range of the SL PRS may not exceed one period corresponding to the periodic reservation resource. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the positional relationship between the period and the time window.

[0150] In one possible design, if the number of transmissions corresponding to the first SL PRS reaches a threshold, the transmitting terminal device may stop retransmitting the SL PRS.

[0151] For example, the transmitting terminal device stops transmitting the first SL PRS on the first resource, for example, the physical layer of the transmitting terminal device discards the first SL PRS, or the MAC layer of the transmitting terminal device stops transmitting the first SL PRS.

[0152] For example, the SCI corresponding to the first SL PRS reserves the third resource. The transmitting terminal device can transmit the first SL PRS on the first resource, but the transmitting terminal device will not transmit the SL PRS on the third resource.

[0153] For example, the transmitting terminal device no longer reserves non-periodic resources (or no longer reserves resources for retransmitting the SL PRS).

[0154] In a specific implementation, the threshold may be a maximum number of SL PRS transmissions that is predefined or configured by signaling, for example, a maximum number of SL PRS transmissions determined according to the transmission priority and the current CBR.

[0155] In this way, congestion control can be performed on the SL PRS, thereby improving the system communication performance.

[0156] Referring to FIG8 , which is a flowchart of another sidelink communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, the method can be applied to the communication system shown in FIG4 . The method can be specifically performed by a transmitting terminal device or a chip in the transmitting terminal device, and the method includes:

[0157] S801: Determine to send a first SL PRS, where the SCI corresponding to the first SL PRS includes a first identifier;

[0158] In the embodiment of the present application, the identifier is an identifier used to count the number of SL PRS transmissions (abbreviated as SL PRS transmission times or transmission times). In a specific implementation, the identifier can also have other names, such as PRS identifier or side positioning reference signal process identifier (SL PRS Process ID), which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0159] In one possible design, the identifier may be an identifier used to allow the receiving end to perform combined measurements on multiple SL PRSs, such as a combination ID. In other words, the receiving end may perform combined measurements on multiple SL PRSs corresponding to the same identifier, for example, the first identifier is used by the receiving end to perform combined measurements on SL PRSs transmitted at different times corresponding to the first identifier.

[0160] S802: Increase the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the first identifier by 1.

[0161] Specifically, the transmitting terminal device accumulates the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the same identifier and uses the accumulated result as the number of SL PRS transmissions. For example, when it is determined to send the first SL PRS and the SCI corresponding to the first SL PRS contains the first identifier, the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the first identifier is increased by 1.

[0162] In some embodiments, adding 1 to the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the first identifier can also be described as: updating the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the first identifier, and so on, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0163] The following is a specific example to illustrate:

[0164] 1) The transmitting terminal device determines the initial transmission resource through resource selection mode 1 or 2; the transmitting terminal device sends SCI-1 and SL PRS-1 on the initial transmission resource. The SL PRS process ID indicated in SCI-1 is the value of XX. This transmission is recorded as the first SL PRS transmission with the SL PRS process ID of XX.

[0165] 2) The transmitting terminal device determines the retransmission resource through resource selection mode 1 or 2. The transmitting terminal device sends SCI-2 and SL PRS-2 on the retransmission resource. The SL PRS process ID indicated in SCI-2 is the value XX. The number of transmissions corresponding to the value XX is increased by 1. That is, this transmission is recorded as the second SL PRS transmission with the SL PRS process ID being the value XX.

[0166] 3) The transmitting terminal device determines the retransmission resource through resource selection mode 1 or 2. The transmitting terminal device sends SCI-3 and SL PRS-3 on the retransmission resource. The SL PRS process ID indicated in SCI-3 is the value XX. The number of transmissions corresponding to the value XX is increased by 1. That is, this transmission is recorded as the third SL PRS transmission with the SL PRS process ID being the value XX.

[0167] …

[0168] By analogy, if the SL PRS process ID corresponding to a certain SL PRS transmission of the transmitting terminal device changes, for example, to YY value, the number of transmissions corresponding to the YY value is increased by 1, and the number of transmissions corresponding to the XX value remains unchanged.

[0169] It can be understood that the resources corresponding to the initial transmission and the resources corresponding to the retransmission (time-frequency resources, such as the index of the OFDM symbol, the RE index within the symbol, etc.) may be different, but the source ID, destination ID, priority and other fields in the SCI corresponding to the initial transmission and the retransmission must be consistent.

[0170] The above solution uses the identifier in the SCI to count the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the same identifier (such as the first identifier), thereby realizing the statistics of the number of SL PRS transmissions, thereby supporting congestion control for the SL PRS and improving system communication performance.

[0171] In one possible design, the sending time of the first SL PRS is within a preset time range. Optionally, the preset time range can be a time window. For the specific implementation of the time window, please refer to the relevant design above and will not be repeated here.

[0172] In one possible design, if the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the first identifier reaches a threshold, the transmitting terminal device may also stop transmitting the SL PRS corresponding to the first identifier.

[0173] For example, the transmitting terminal device stops sending the first SL PRS, for example, the physical layer of the transmitting terminal device discards the data packet corresponding to the first SL PRS, or the MAC layer of the transmitting terminal device stops sending the first SL PRS.

[0174] For example, the transmitting terminal device may send the first SL PRS, but after sending the first SL PRS, it will no longer send the SL PRS corresponding to the first identifier.

[0175] For example, the transmitting terminal device no longer reserves retransmission resources for the SL PRS corresponding to the first identifier.

[0176] In a specific implementation, the threshold may be a maximum number of SL PRS transmissions that is predefined or configured by signaling, for example, a maximum number of SL PRS transmissions determined according to the transmission priority and the current CBR.

[0177] Through the above design, congestion control can be implemented on the SL PRS, thereby improving the system communication performance.

[0178] It can be understood that the above embodiments can be implemented separately or in combination with each other, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0179] 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.

[0180] Based on the same technical concept, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device comprising a module / unit / means for executing the method executed by the transmitting terminal device in the above method embodiments. The module / unit / means may be implemented via software or hardware, or the corresponding software implementation may be executed via hardware.

[0181] 9 , the apparatus may include a processing module 901. Optionally, the apparatus may further include a transceiver module 902.

[0182] Processing module 901 is configured to determine whether to use a first resource to send a first SL PRS, where the first resource is a resource reserved by the SCI corresponding to a second SL PRS, and the second SL PRS is sent before the first SL PRS; and to determine whether the number of transmissions corresponding to the first SL PRS is the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS plus 1. Transceiver module 902 is configured to send the first SL PRS using the first resource.

[0183] Alternatively, the processing module 901 is configured to determine to send a first SL PRS, wherein the SCI corresponding to the first SL PRS includes a first identifier, and increase the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the first identifier by 1. The transceiver module 902 is configured to send the first SL PRS.

[0184] 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.

[0185] Based on the same technical concept, referring to FIG10 , an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, including:

[0186] At least one processor 1001; and a communication interface 1003 communicatively connected to the at least one processor 1001; the at least one processor 1001 executes instructions stored in the memory 1002, so that the device executes the method steps performed by the sending terminal device in the above method embodiment through the communication interface 1003.

[0187] Optionally, the memory 1002 is located outside the device.

[0188] Optionally, the device includes the memory 1002, which is connected to the at least one processor 1001, and the memory 1002 stores instructions that can be executed by the at least one processor 1001.

[0189] Optionally, the memory 1002 is located outside the device.

[0190] Optionally, the apparatus includes the memory 1002, the memory 1002 being connected to the at least one processor 1001, and the memory 1002 storing instructions executable by the at least one processor 1001. FIG10 uses dashed lines to indicate that the memory 1002 is optional for the apparatus.

[0191] The processor 1001 and the memory 1002 may be coupled via an interface circuit or may be integrated together, which is not limited here.

[0192] The specific connection medium between the processor 1001, memory 1002, and communication interface 1003 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In Figure 10, the processor 1001, memory 1002, and communication interface 1003 are connected via a bus 1004. The bus is represented by a bold line in Figure 10. The connection methods between other components are only for schematic illustration and are not limiting. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, only one bold line is used in Figure 10, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0193] 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.

[0194] 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.

[0195] 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).

[0196] 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.

[0197] 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.

[0198] Based on the same technical concept, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer-executable instructions are stored. When the computer-executable instructions are called by the computer, the method described in the above method embodiment is executed.

[0199] Based on the same technical concept, an embodiment of the present application further 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 described in the above method embodiment is executed.

[0200] 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.

[0201] 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.

[0202] 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.

[0203] 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.

[0204] 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 sidelink communication method, characterized in that: include: Determine to use a first resource to send a first sidelink SL positioning reference signal PRS, where the first resource is a resource reserved by a sidelink control signaling SCI corresponding to a second SL PRS, and the second SL PRS is sent before the first SL PRS; Determine that the number of transmissions corresponding to the first SL PRS is the number of transmissions corresponding to the second SL PRS plus 1.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The SCI reserved resources are non-periodic reserved resources.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The sending time of the first SL PRS and the sending time of the second SL PRS are within a preset time range.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The preset time range is a period corresponding to the periodic reservation resource.

5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The preset time range is a time window.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The position of the time window in the time domain is determined according to the position of the sending time of the first SL PRS in the time domain.

7. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The one time window is a time window where the first SL PRS is sent among a plurality of time windows that appear periodically in the time domain.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The method further comprises: If the number of transmissions corresponding to the first SL PRS reaches a threshold, retransmission of the SL PRS is stopped.

9. A sidelink communication method, characterized in that: include: Determine to send a first sidelink SL positioning reference signal PRS, wherein the sidelink control signaling SCI corresponding to the first SL PRS includes a first identifier; Increase the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the first identifier by 1.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The first identifier is used by the receiving end to perform combined measurement on SL PRSs of different transmissions corresponding to the first identifier.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that The sending time of the first SL PRS is within a preset time range.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The preset time range is a time window.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The position of the time window in the time domain is determined according to the position of the sending time of the first SL PRS in the time domain.

14. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The one time window is a time window where the first SL PRS is sent among a plurality of time windows that appear periodically in the time domain.

15. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 14, characterized in that: The method further comprises: If the number of SL PRS transmissions corresponding to the first identifier reaches a threshold, transmission of the SL PRS corresponding to the first identifier is stopped.

16. 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 8, or comprises a module or a unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 9 to 15.

17. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor, wherein the processor is coupled to a memory, wherein the memory is used to store programs or instructions, and when the programs or instructions are executed by the processor, the communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 1-8, or the communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 9-15.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and when the computer-executable instructions are called by the computer, the computer-executable instructions are used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 or the method according to any one of claims 9 to 15.

19. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product stores instructions, and when the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, or execute the method according to any one of claims 9 to 15.

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