NTN communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides an NTN communication method and a communication apparatus. The NTN communication method comprises: a network device allocates, to a terminal device in an inactive state, a first resource for sending an uplink alert signal (a first signal) and a second resource for receiving a downlink alert signal (a second signal), and consequently the terminal device sends the first signal on the basis of signal quality and can receive the second signal sent by the network device. When the terminal device is in an inactive state, alert signals can be transmitted with the network device by means of the first resource and the second resource; and it is ensured, via indication by the alert signals, that a paging message is successfully received, and direct communication between the terminal device and the network device is realized.

Description

NTN communication method and communication device

[0001] 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 202311289133.0 and invention name “A method and communication device for NTN communication”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and more particularly, to a method and a communication device for non-terrestrial networks (NTN). Background Art

[0003] Satellite networks are a hot topic of research in the world today. Satellite communication technology has become increasingly mature. For example, non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) use radio frequency networks or network segments onboard satellites to achieve communication, which can provide wider coverage. Satellite base stations are also less susceptible to damage from natural disasters or external forces.

[0004] In NTN networks, round-trip transmission delays are long and path loss is high. For direct connection requirements of terminal devices, if the current signal of the terminal device deteriorates, for example, if it is in an obstructed state, even using a large number of repetitions of ground coverage and the lowest modulation and coding methods cannot meet the decoding requirements, making communication between the terminal device and the satellite difficult.

[0005] In the NTN scenario, a communication method is urgently needed to enable direct communication between terminal devices and satellites when the signal status is poor.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] The present application provides a NTN communication method and a communication device to ensure that a terminal device can achieve direct communication with a satellite even when the signal status is poor.

[0008] In a first aspect, a method for non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication is provided. The method may be executed by a network device, or may be executed by a chip or circuit configured in the network device, which is not limited in this application.

[0009] The method includes: determining at least one first resource and at least one second resource, each of the at least one first resource is used for the terminal device to send at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each of the at least one second resource is used for the terminal device to receive at least one second signal, each first resource includes an uplink scheduled time-frequency resource, and each second resource includes a downlink scheduled time-frequency resource; sending the at least one first resource and the at least one second resource before the terminal device enters an inactive state.

[0010] Based on the above technical solution, the network device configures a first resource for sending an uplink alarm signal (first signal) and a second resource for receiving a downlink alarm signal (second signal) for a terminal device in an inactive state, so that the terminal device can send the first signal based on signal quality and can receive the second signal sent by the network device. It can be understood that when the terminal device is in an inactive state, it can transmit the alarm signal to the network device through the first resource and the second resource, and ensure the successful reception of the paging message based on the indication of the alarm signal, thereby realizing direct communication between the terminal device and the network device.

[0011] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: sending the at least one second signal before sending the paging message.

[0012] In this technical solution, the terminal device sends an uplink alarm signal based on the signal quality. After receiving the uplink alarm signal, the network device sends a downlink alarm signal before sending a paging message. The signal quality is adjusted based on the downlink alarm signal received by the terminal device to ensure that the terminal device can successfully receive the paging message and realize direct communication.

[0013] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, all first resources in at least one first resource or all second resources in at least one second resource have a mapping relationship with part or all third resources in at least one third resource, and the at least one third resource is a downlink synchronization resource or random access resource configured by the network device.

[0014] In this technical solution, the first resource and the second resource configured by the network device can be configured based on downlink synchronization resources or random access resources, and the design method in the existing standards can be reused as much as possible, which not only increases the flexibility of the resource configuration but also reduces the implementation complexity.

[0015] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, all first resources in at least one first resource or all second resources in at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the downlink synchronization signal blocks in at least one downlink synchronization signal block.

[0016] In this technical solution, the first resource and the second resource configured by the network device are associated with the downlink synchronization signal block. The resources configured by the network device can correspond one-to-one with all downlink synchronization signal blocks or one-to-one with a portion of the synchronization signal blocks. That is, all downlink synchronization signal blocks configured by the network device have resource (first resource or second resource) mappings, or a portion of all downlink synchronization signal blocks configured by the network device have resource mappings. This increases the flexibility of resource configuration.

[0017] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the random access resources corresponding to some or all downlink synchronization signal blocks release their resources for transmitting the first resource or the second resource.

[0018] In this technical solution, for a downlink synchronization signal block with resource mapping, its corresponding random access resource releases its resources for mapping the first resource or the second resource.

[0019] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, all first resources in the at least one first resource or all second resources in the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the random access resources in the at least one random access resource.

[0020] In this technical solution, the first resource and the second resource configured by the network device are associated with the random access resources. The resources configured by the network device can correspond one-to-one with all random access resources or one-to-one with part of the random access resources, thereby increasing the flexibility of resource configuration.

[0021] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, each first resource of the at least one first resource or each second resource of the at least one second resource is offset from the corresponding random access resource by a value X in time and frequency.

[0022] In this technical solution, the resources (first resources or second resources) configured by the network device correspond one-to-one to the random access resources, but they cannot overlap in time-frequency position, otherwise it may affect the transmission of the first resource or the second resource. Therefore, each first resource or second resource can have a certain offset X with the corresponding random access resource in time-frequency position, so as to ensure the transmission of the first resource or the second resource.

[0023] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first resource is used to send the first signal when the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the downlink signal meets the first condition, and the first condition includes at least one of the following three items: the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold or the amplitude of the simultaneous decrease reaches the corresponding threshold; the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold within the first time period or the amplitude of the simultaneous decrease reaches the corresponding threshold; the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell both drop to the corresponding threshold at the same time or the amplitude of the simultaneous decrease reaches the corresponding threshold when measured K times.

[0024] In this technical solution, the terminal device determines whether the signal quality meets the requirements for sending the first signal from different angles and conditions. The judgment conditions are more flexible and more complex, which can increase the accuracy of the judgment.

[0025] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: sending first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate to the terminal device that the second resource is activated.

[0026] In this technical solution, the network device sends a first indication message according to the decrease in transmission power, which is used to indicate that the second resource of the terminal device has been activated. Before sending the paging message, the network device can send at least one second signal to the terminal device, and the terminal device can receive the second signal based on the second resource.

[0027] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first indication information includes a first time period, and the first indication information indicates to the terminal device that the second resource is activated during the first time period.

[0028] In this technical solution, the network device can predict the movement trajectory, and thus can predetermine the timing for the transmission power to decrease. Therefore, the first indication information can specifically indicate the first time period for the transmission power to decrease. The transmission power decreases during this first time period, and the terminal device receives the second signal based on the second resource during this first time period.

[0029] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the second resource is activated after receiving at least one first signal.

[0030] In this technical solution, after the terminal device sends at least one first signal, the network device receives the first signal and activates the second resource, that is, the network device can send the second signal on the second resource, avoiding unnecessary downlink signal transmission and reducing resource loss.

[0031] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the terminal device does not receive the second signal within a second time period, and the second resource is deactivated.

[0032] In this technical solution, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, they are no longer used for other signaling transmissions, but are specifically used to transmit alarm signals. If it is found that the device has not received the alarm signal within a period of time, the second resource can be deactivated to avoid resource waste.

[0033] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, after the terminal device sends the first signal, the terminal device receives feedback information from the network device, and the first resource is deactivated.

[0034] In this technical solution, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the terminal device sends a first signal based on the first resource, and then receives feedback information from the network device. Based on the feedback information, the terminal device can determine that the network device has received the first signal, and the subsequent first signal can be considered invalid, and there is no need to continue sending the first signal, thereby avoiding unnecessary signaling overhead.

[0035] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, after the network device sends the second signal and receives feedback information from the terminal device, the first resource and the second resource are deactivated.

[0036] In this technical solution, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the network device receives feedback information from the terminal device after sending the second signal to the terminal device. Based on the feedback information, the network device can determine that the terminal device has received the second signal, and there is no need to continue transmitting the first signal and the second signal, and deactivate the first resource and the second resource, thereby avoiding unnecessary signaling overhead and saving resources.

[0037] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving second indication information, where the second indication information is determined by the terminal device based on the quality of the downlink signal; and determining to deactivate the first resource and the second resource based on the second indication information.

[0038] In this technical solution, the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the current cell and the neighboring cell has recovered to a certain threshold based on the signal quality of the downlink signal. When the requirements of direct communication are met, there is no need to use an alarm signal to instruct the terminal device to adjust the signal quality. The first resource and the second resource can be deactivated, thereby reducing the transmission of unnecessary alarm signals and reducing resource reservation.

[0039] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first signal or the second signal is associated with an identifier of the terminal device.

[0040] In this technical solution, each of the at least one first resource configured by the network device is used for multiple UEs to send uplink alarm signals based on the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each of the at least one second resource configured by the network device is used for multiple terminal devices to receive downlink alarm signals. Different UEs send different uplink alarm signals, and the network device sends different downlink alarm signals to different UEs. Therefore, the UE's identity ID corresponds one-to-one to the corresponding alarm signal. After the network device receives the first signal associated with the terminal device identifier based on the first resource, it can send the second signal associated with the terminal device identifier on the corresponding second resource. The terminal device receives the second signal of the associated identifier and determines that the network device has successfully received the alarm signal of the terminal device.

[0041] In a second aspect, a method for non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication is provided. The method may be executed by a terminal device, or may be executed by a chip or circuit configured in the terminal device, which is not limited in this application.

[0042] The method includes: receiving at least one first resource and at least one second resource before entering an inactive state, each first resource of the at least one first resource is used for the terminal device to send at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each second resource of the at least one second resource is used for the terminal device to receive at least one second signal, each first resource includes an uplink scheduled time-frequency resource, and each second resource includes a downlink scheduled time-frequency resource; receiving the second signal before receiving a paging message.

[0043] Based on the above technical solution, before the terminal device enters the inactive state, it is configured with a first resource for sending an uplink alarm signal (first signal) and a second resource for receiving a downlink alarm signal (second signal), so that the terminal device can send the first signal based on the signal quality and can receive the second signal sent by the network device. It can be understood that when the terminal is in the inactive state, it can transmit the alarm signal to the network device through the first resource and the second resource, and ensure the successful reception of the paging message based on the indication of the alarm signal, thereby realizing direct communication between the terminal device and the network device.

[0044] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal.

[0045] In this technical solution, the terminal device sends an uplink alarm signal based on the signal quality. After receiving the uplink alarm signal, the network device sends a downlink alarm signal before sending a paging message. The signal quality is adjusted based on the downlink alarm signal received by the terminal device to ensure that the terminal device can successfully receive the paging message and realize direct communication.

[0046] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, all first resources in at least one first resource or all second resources in at least one second resource have a mapping relationship with part or all third resources in at least one third resource, and the at least one third resource is a downlink synchronization resource or random access resource configured by the network device.

[0047] In this technical solution, the first resource and the second resource configured by the network device can be configured based on downlink synchronization resources or random access resources, and the design method in the existing standards can be reused as much as possible, which not only increases the flexibility of the resource configuration but also reduces the implementation complexity.

[0048] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, all first resources in at least one first resource or all second resources in at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the downlink synchronization signal blocks in at least one downlink synchronization signal block.

[0049] In this technical solution, the first resource and the second resource configured by the network device are associated with the downlink synchronization signal block. The resources configured by the network device can correspond one-to-one with all downlink synchronization signal blocks or one-to-one with a portion of the synchronization signal blocks. That is, all downlink synchronization signal blocks configured by the network device have resource (first resource or second resource) mappings, or a portion of all downlink synchronization signal blocks configured by the network device have resource mappings. This increases the flexibility of resource configuration.

[0050] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the random access resources corresponding to some or all downlink synchronization signal blocks release their resources for transmitting the first resource or the second resource.

[0051] In this technical solution, for a downlink synchronization signal block with resource mapping, its corresponding random access resource releases its resources for mapping the first resource or the second resource.

[0052] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, all first resources in the at least one first resource or all second resources in the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the random access resources in the at least one random access resource.

[0053] In this technical solution, the first resource and the second resource configured by the network device are associated with the random access resources. The resources configured by the network device can correspond one-to-one with all random access resources or one-to-one with part of the random access resources, thereby increasing the flexibility of resource configuration.

[0054] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, each first resource of the at least one first resource or each second resource of the at least one second resource is offset from the corresponding random access resource by a value X in time and frequency.

[0055] In this technical solution, the resources (first resources or second resources) configured by the network device correspond one-to-one to the random access resources, but they cannot overlap in time-frequency position, otherwise it may affect the transmission of the first resource or the second resource. Therefore, each first resource or second resource can have a certain offset X with the corresponding random access resource in time-frequency position, so as to ensure the transmission of the first resource or the second resource.

[0056] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method also includes: sending the first signal when determining that the signal quality of the downlink signal meets a first condition, the first condition including at least one of the following three items: the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches the corresponding threshold; the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold within the first time period or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches the corresponding threshold; the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell both drop to the corresponding threshold at the same time or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches the corresponding threshold when measured K times.

[0057] In this technical solution, the terminal device determines whether the signal quality meets the requirements for sending the first signal from different angles and conditions. The judgment conditions are more flexible and more complex, which can increase the accuracy of the judgment.

[0058] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: receiving first indication information; and determining that the second resource is activated according to the first indication information.

[0059] In this technical solution, the network device sends a first indication message according to the decrease in transmission power, the terminal device receives the first indication message, and determines that the second resource has been activated according to the first indication message. Before sending the paging message, the network device can send at least one second signal to the terminal device, and the terminal device can receive the second signal based on the second resource.

[0060] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first indication information includes a first time period, and the first indication information indicates to the terminal device that the second resource is activated during the first time period.

[0061] In this technical solution, the network device can predict the movement trajectory, and thus can predetermine the timing for the transmission power to decrease. Therefore, the first indication information can specifically indicate the first time period for the transmission power to decrease. The transmission power decreases during this first time period, and the terminal device receives the second signal based on the second resource during this first time period.

[0062] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the second resource is activated after sending at least one first signal.

[0063] In this technical solution, after the terminal device sends at least one first signal, the network device receives the first signal and activates the second resource, that is, the network device can send the second signal on the second resource, avoiding unnecessary downlink signal transmission and reducing resource loss.

[0064] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the terminal device does not receive the second signal within a second time period, and the second resource is deactivated.

[0065] In this technical solution, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, they are no longer used for other signaling transmissions, but are specifically used to transmit alarm signals. If it is found that the device has not received the alarm signal within a period of time, the second resource can be deactivated to avoid resource waste.

[0066] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, after the terminal device sends the first signal, the terminal device receives feedback information from the network device, and the first resource is deactivated.

[0067] In this technical solution, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the terminal device sends a first signal based on the first resource, and then receives feedback information from the network device. Based on the feedback information, the terminal device can determine that the network device has received the first signal, and the subsequent first signal can be considered invalid, and there is no need to continue sending the first signal, thereby avoiding unnecessary signaling overhead.

[0068] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, after the network device sends the second signal and receives feedback information from the terminal device, the first resource and the second resource are deactivated.

[0069] In this technical solution, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the network device receives feedback information from the terminal device after sending the second signal to the terminal device. Based on the feedback information, the network device can determine that the terminal device has received the second signal, and there is no need to continue transmitting the first signal and the second signal, and deactivate the first resource and the second resource, thereby avoiding unnecessary signaling overhead and saving resources.

[0070] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending second indication information based on the quality of the downlink signal, wherein the second indication information is used to indicate deactivation of the first resource and the second resource.

[0071] In this technical solution, the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the current cell and the neighboring cell has recovered to a certain threshold based on the signal quality of the downlink signal. When the requirements of direct communication are met, there is no need to use an alarm signal to instruct the terminal device to adjust the signal quality. The first resource and the second resource can be deactivated, thereby reducing the transmission of unnecessary alarm signals and reducing resource reservation.

[0072] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first signal or the second signal is associated with an identifier of the terminal device.

[0073] In this technical solution, each of the at least one first resource configured by the network device is used for multiple UEs to send uplink alarm signals based on the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each of the at least one second resource configured by the network device is used for multiple terminal devices to receive downlink alarm signals. Different UEs send different uplink alarm signals, and the network device sends different downlink alarm signals to different UEs. Therefore, the UE's identity ID corresponds one-to-one to the corresponding alarm signal. After the network device receives the first signal associated with the terminal device identifier based on the first resource, it can send the second signal associated with the terminal device identifier on the corresponding second resource. The terminal device receives the second signal of the associated identifier and determines that the network device has successfully received the alarm signal of the terminal device.

[0074] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided. The device may be a network device, or a chip or circuit configured in the network device, which is not limited in this application.

[0075] The device includes: a processing unit, used to determine at least one first resource and at least one second resource, each first resource of the at least one first resource is used for the terminal device to send at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each second resource of the at least one second resource is used for the terminal device to receive at least one second signal, each first resource includes a time-frequency resource for uplink scheduling, and each second resource includes a time-frequency resource for downlink scheduling; a transceiver unit, used to send the at least one first resource and the at least one second resource before the terminal device enters an inactive state.

[0076] Based on the above technical solution, the network device configures a first resource for sending an uplink alarm signal (first signal) and a second resource for receiving a downlink alarm signal (second signal) for a terminal device in an inactive state, so that the terminal device can send the first signal based on signal quality and can receive the second signal sent by the network device. It can be understood that when the terminal is in an inactive state, it can transmit the alarm signal to the network device through the first resource and the second resource, and ensure the successful reception of the paging message based on the indication of the alarm signal, thereby realizing direct communication between the terminal device and the network device.

[0077] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to send the at least one second signal before sending the paging message.

[0078] In this technical solution, the terminal device sends an uplink alarm signal based on the signal quality. After receiving the uplink alarm signal, the network device sends a downlink alarm signal before sending a paging message. The signal quality is adjusted based on the downlink alarm signal received by the terminal device to ensure that the terminal device can successfully receive the paging message and realize direct communication.

[0079] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, all first resources in at least one first resource or all second resources in at least one second resource have a mapping relationship with part or all third resources in at least one third resource, and the at least one third resource is a downlink synchronization resource or random access resource configured by the network device.

[0080] In this technical solution, the first resource and the second resource configured by the network device can be configured based on downlink synchronization resources or random access resources, and the design method in the existing standards can be reused as much as possible, which not only increases the flexibility of the resource configuration but also reduces the implementation complexity.

[0081] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, all first resources in at least one first resource or all second resources in at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the downlink synchronization signal blocks in at least one downlink synchronization signal block.

[0082] In this technical solution, the first resource and the second resource configured by the network device are associated with the downlink synchronization signal block. The resources configured by the network device can correspond one-to-one with all downlink synchronization signal blocks or one-to-one with a portion of the synchronization signal blocks. That is, all downlink synchronization signal blocks configured by the network device have resource (first resource or second resource) mappings, or a portion of all downlink synchronization signal blocks configured by the network device have resource mappings. This increases the flexibility of resource configuration.

[0083] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the random access resources corresponding to some or all downlink synchronization signal blocks release their resources for transmitting the first resource or the second resource.

[0084] In this technical solution, for a downlink synchronization signal block with resource mapping, its corresponding random access resource releases its resources for mapping the first resource or the second resource.

[0085] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, all first resources in the at least one first resource or all second resources in the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the random access resources in the at least one random access resource.

[0086] In this technical solution, the first resource and the second resource configured by the network device are associated with the random access resources. The resources configured by the network device can correspond one-to-one with all random access resources or one-to-one with part of the random access resources, thereby increasing the flexibility of resource configuration.

[0087] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, each first resource of the at least one first resource or each second resource of the at least one second resource is offset from the corresponding random access resource by a value X in time and frequency.

[0088] In this technical solution, the resources (first resources or second resources) configured by the network device correspond one-to-one to the random access resources, but they cannot overlap in time-frequency position, otherwise it may affect the transmission of the first resource or the second resource. Therefore, each first resource or second resource can have a certain offset X with the corresponding random access resource in time-frequency position, so as to ensure the transmission of the first resource or the second resource.

[0089] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the first resource is used to send the first signal when the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the downlink signal meets the first condition, and the first condition includes at least one of the following three items: the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold or the amplitude of the simultaneous decrease reaches the corresponding threshold; the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold within the first time period or the amplitude of the simultaneous decrease reaches the corresponding threshold; the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell both drop to the corresponding threshold at the same time or the amplitude of the simultaneous decrease reaches the corresponding threshold when measured K times.

[0090] In this technical solution, the terminal device determines whether the signal quality meets the requirements for sending the first signal from different angles and conditions. The judgment conditions are more flexible and more complex, which can increase the accuracy of the judgment.

[0091] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to send first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate to the terminal device that the second resource is activated.

[0092] In this technical solution, the network device sends a first indication message according to the decrease in transmission power, which is used to indicate that the second resource of the terminal device has been activated. Before sending the paging message, the network device can send at least one second signal to the terminal device, and the terminal device can receive the second signal based on the second resource.

[0093] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the first indication information includes a first time period, and the first indication information indicates to the terminal device that the second resource is activated during the first time period.

[0094] In this technical solution, the network device can predict the movement trajectory, and thus can predetermine the timing for the transmission power to decrease. Therefore, the first indication information can specifically indicate the first time period for the transmission power to decrease. The transmission power decreases during this first time period, and the terminal device receives the second signal based on the second resource during this first time period.

[0095] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the transceiver unit activates the second resource after receiving at least one first signal.

[0096] In this technical solution, after the terminal device sends at least one first signal, the transceiver unit receives the first signal and activates the second resource, that is, the network device can send the second signal on the second resource, avoiding unnecessary downlink signal transmission and reducing resource loss.

[0097] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the terminal device does not receive the second signal within a second time period, and the second resource is deactivated.

[0098] In this technical solution, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, they are no longer used for other signaling transmissions, but are specifically used to transmit alarm signals. If it is found that the device has not received the alarm signal within a period of time, the second resource can be deactivated to avoid resource waste.

[0099] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, after the transceiver unit sends the first signal, the terminal device receives feedback information from the network device, and the first resource is deactivated.

[0100] In this technical solution, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the terminal device sends a first signal based on the first resource, and then receives feedback information from the network device. Based on the feedback information, the terminal device can determine that the network device has received the first signal, and the subsequent first signal can be considered invalid, and there is no need to continue sending the first signal, thereby avoiding unnecessary signaling overhead.

[0101] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, after the network device sends the second signal and receives feedback information from the terminal device, the first resource and the second resource are deactivated.

[0102] In this technical solution, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the network device receives feedback information from the terminal device after sending the second signal to the terminal device. Based on the feedback information, the network device can determine that the terminal device has received the second signal, and there is no need to continue transmitting the first signal and the second signal, and deactivate the first resource and the second resource, thereby avoiding unnecessary signaling overhead and saving resources.

[0103] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to receive second indication information, where the second indication information is determined by the terminal device based on the quality of the downlink signal; the processing unit is further used to determine the deactivation of the first resource and the second resource based on the second indication information.

[0104] In this technical solution, the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the current cell and the neighboring cell has recovered to a certain threshold based on the signal quality of the downlink signal. When the requirements of direct communication are met, there is no need to use an alarm signal to instruct the terminal device to adjust the signal quality. The first resource and the second resource can be deactivated, thereby reducing the transmission of unnecessary alarm signals and reducing resource reservation.

[0105] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first signal or the second signal is associated with an identifier of the terminal device.

[0106] In this technical solution, each of the at least one first resource configured by the network device is used for multiple UEs to send uplink alarm signals based on the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each of the at least one second resource configured by the network device is used for multiple terminal devices to receive downlink alarm signals. Different UEs send different uplink alarm signals, and the network device sends different downlink alarm signals to different UEs. Therefore, the UE's identity ID corresponds one-to-one to the corresponding alarm signal. After the network device receives the first signal associated with the terminal device identifier based on the first resource, it can send the second signal associated with the terminal device identifier on the corresponding second resource. The terminal device receives the second signal of the associated identifier and determines that the network device has successfully received the alarm signal of the terminal device.

[0107] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided. The device may be a terminal device, or a chip or circuit configured in the terminal device, which is not limited in this application.

[0108] The device includes: a transceiver unit, used to receive at least one first resource and at least one second resource before entering an inactive state, each first resource of the at least one first resource is used for the terminal device to send at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each second resource of the at least one second resource is used for the terminal device to receive at least one second signal, each first resource includes a time-frequency resource for uplink scheduling, and each second resource includes a time-frequency resource for downlink scheduling; the transceiver unit is also used to receive the second signal before receiving a paging message.

[0109] Based on the above technical solution, before the terminal device enters the inactive state, it is configured with a first resource for sending an uplink alarm signal (first signal) and a second resource for receiving a downlink alarm signal (second signal), so that the terminal device can send the first signal based on the signal quality and can receive the second signal sent by the network device. It can be understood that when the terminal is in the inactive state, it can transmit the alarm signal to the network device through the first resource and the second resource, and ensure the successful reception of the paging message based on the indication of the alarm signal, thereby realizing direct communication between the terminal device and the network device.

[0110] In combination with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the device further includes a processing unit, configured to send at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal.

[0111] In this technical solution, the terminal device sends an uplink alarm signal based on the signal quality. After receiving the uplink alarm signal, the network device sends a downlink alarm signal before sending a paging message. The signal quality is adjusted based on the downlink alarm signal received by the terminal device to ensure that the terminal device can successfully receive the paging message and realize direct communication.

[0112] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, all first resources in at least one first resource or all second resources in at least one second resource have a mapping relationship with part or all third resources in at least one third resource, and the at least one third resource is a downlink synchronization resource or random access resource configured by the network device.

[0113] In this technical solution, the first resource and the second resource configured by the network device can be configured based on downlink synchronization resources or random access resources, and the design method in the existing standards can be reused as much as possible, which not only increases the flexibility of the resource configuration but also reduces the implementation complexity.

[0114] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, all first resources in at least one first resource or all second resources in at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the downlink synchronization signal blocks in at least one downlink synchronization signal block.

[0115] In this technical solution, the first resource and the second resource configured by the network device are associated with the downlink synchronization signal block. The resources configured by the network device can correspond one-to-one with all downlink synchronization signal blocks or one-to-one with a portion of the synchronization signal blocks. That is, all downlink synchronization signal blocks configured by the network device have resource (first resource or second resource) mappings, or a portion of all downlink synchronization signal blocks configured by the network device have resource mappings. This increases the flexibility of resource configuration.

[0116] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the random access resources corresponding to some or all downlink synchronization signal blocks release their resources for transmitting the first resource or the second resource.

[0117] In this technical solution, for a downlink synchronization signal block with resource mapping, its corresponding random access resource releases its resources for mapping the first resource or the second resource.

[0118] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, all first resources in the at least one first resource or all second resources in the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the random access resources in the at least one random access resource.

[0119] In this technical solution, the first resource and the second resource configured by the network device are associated with the random access resources. The resources configured by the network device can correspond one-to-one with all random access resources or one-to-one with part of the random access resources, thereby increasing the flexibility of resource configuration.

[0120] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, each first resource of the at least one first resource or each second resource of the at least one second resource is offset from the corresponding random access resource by a value X in time and frequency.

[0121] In this technical solution, the resources (first resources or second resources) configured by the network device correspond one-to-one to the random access resources, but they cannot overlap in time-frequency position, otherwise it may affect the transmission of the first resource or the second resource. Therefore, each first resource or second resource can have a certain offset X with the corresponding random access resource in time-frequency position, so as to ensure the transmission of the first resource or the second resource.

[0122] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the processing unit is further used to determine whether to send the first signal when the signal quality of the downlink signal meets the first condition, and the first condition includes at least one of the following three items: the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold or the amplitude of the simultaneous decrease reaches the corresponding threshold; the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold within the first time period or the amplitude of the simultaneous decrease reaches the corresponding threshold; the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell both drop to the corresponding threshold at the same time or the amplitude of the simultaneous decrease reaches the corresponding threshold when measured K times.

[0123] In this technical solution, the terminal device determines whether the signal quality meets the requirements for sending the first signal from different angles and conditions. The judgment conditions are more flexible and more complex, which can increase the accuracy of the judgment.

[0124] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to receive first indication information; and the processing unit is further used to determine that the second resource is activated based on the first indication information.

[0125] In this technical solution, the network device sends a first indication message according to the decrease in transmission power, the terminal device receives the first indication message, and determines that the second resource has been activated according to the first indication message. Before sending the paging message, the network device can send at least one second signal to the terminal device, and the terminal device can receive the second signal based on the second resource.

[0126] In combination with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the first indication information includes a first time period, and the first indication information indicates to the terminal device that the second resource is activated during the first time period.

[0127] In this technical solution, the network device can predict the movement trajectory, and thus can predetermine the timing for the transmission power to decrease. Therefore, the first indication information can specifically indicate the first time period for the transmission power to decrease. The transmission power decreases during this first time period, and the terminal device receives the second signal based on the second resource during this first time period.

[0128] In combination with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the second resource is activated after the transceiver unit sends at least one first signal.

[0129] In this technical solution, after the terminal device sends at least one first signal, the network device receives the first signal and activates the second resource, that is, the network device can send the second signal on the second resource, avoiding unnecessary downlink signal transmission and reducing resource loss.

[0130] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the terminal device does not receive the second signal within a second time period, and the second resource is deactivated.

[0131] In this technical solution, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, they are no longer used for other signaling transmissions, but are specifically used to transmit alarm signals. If it is found that the device has not received the alarm signal within a period of time, the second resource can be deactivated to avoid resource waste.

[0132] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, after the transceiver unit sends the first signal, the terminal device receives feedback information from the network device, and the first resource is deactivated.

[0133] In this technical solution, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the terminal device sends a first signal based on the first resource, and then receives feedback information from the network device. Based on the feedback information, the terminal device can determine that the network device has received the first signal, and the subsequent first signal can be considered invalid, and there is no need to continue sending the first signal, thereby avoiding unnecessary signaling overhead.

[0134] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, after the network device sends the second signal and receives feedback information from the terminal device, the first resource and the second resource are deactivated.

[0135] In this technical solution, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the network device receives feedback information from the terminal device after sending the second signal to the terminal device. Based on the feedback information, the network device can determine that the terminal device has received the second signal, and there is no need to continue transmitting the first signal and the second signal, and deactivate the first resource and the second resource, thereby avoiding unnecessary signaling overhead and saving resources.

[0136] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the processing unit is further used to send second indication information based on the quality of the downlink signal, and the second indication information is used to indicate deactivation of the first resource and the second resource.

[0137] In this technical solution, the terminal device determines that the signal quality of the current cell and the neighboring cell has recovered to a certain threshold based on the signal quality of the downlink signal. When the requirements of direct communication are met, there is no need to use an alarm signal to instruct the terminal device to adjust the signal quality. The first resource and the second resource can be deactivated, thereby reducing the transmission of unnecessary alarm signals and reducing resource reservation.

[0138] In combination with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the first signal or the second signal is associated with an identifier of the terminal device.

[0139] In this technical solution, each of the at least one first resource configured by the network device is used for multiple UEs to send uplink alarm signals based on the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each of the at least one second resource configured by the network device is used for multiple terminal devices to receive downlink alarm signals. Different UEs send different uplink alarm signals, and the network device sends different downlink alarm signals to different UEs. Therefore, the UE's identity ID corresponds one-to-one to the corresponding alarm signal. After the network device receives the first signal associated with the terminal device identifier based on the first resource, it can send the second signal associated with the terminal device identifier on the corresponding second resource. The terminal device receives the second signal of the associated identifier and determines that the network device has successfully received the alarm signal of the terminal device.

[0140] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, the device being configured to execute the method provided in any of the first or second aspects. Specifically, the communication device may include units and / or modules, such as a processing unit and / or a communication unit, configured to execute the method provided in any of the above-mentioned implementations of any of the first or second aspects.

[0141] In one implementation, the communication device includes a communication unit and a processing unit. The communication unit may be a transceiver or an input / output interface; the processing unit may be at least one processor. Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Alternatively, the input / output interface may be an input / output circuit.

[0142] In another implementation, the communication device is a chip, chip system, or circuit in a network device. When the communication device is a chip, chip system, or circuit in a network device, the communication unit may be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip, chip system, or circuit; and the processing unit may be at least one processor, processing circuit, or logic circuit.

[0143] In the sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, including a processor and, optionally, a memory, wherein the processor is used to control a transceiver to send and receive signals, the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program from the memory so that the sending device executes the method in any possible implementation of any aspect of the first or second aspect mentioned above.

[0144] Optionally, there are one or more processors and one or more memories.

[0145] Optionally, the memory may be integrated with the processor, or the memory may be provided separately from the processor.

[0146] Optionally, the network device further includes a transceiver, which may specifically be a transmitter (transmitter) and a receiver (receiver).

[0147] In the seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or code. When the computer program or code is run on a computer, the computer executes the method in any possible implementation of any aspect of the first or second aspect above.

[0148] In the eighth aspect, a chip is provided, comprising at least one processor, which is coupled to a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program, and the processor being used to call and run the computer program from the memory, so that a sending device equipped with the chip system executes a method in any possible implementation of any of the above-mentioned first or second aspects.

[0149] The chip may include an input circuit or interface for sending information or data, and an output circuit or interface for receiving information or data.

[0150] In a ninth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which includes: a computer program code, which, when the computer program code is executed by a sending device, executes the method in any possible implementation of any aspect of the first or second aspect.

[0151] The beneficial effects of the fifth to ninth aspects can refer to the beneficial effects of the first to fourth aspects and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0152] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture 100 of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0153] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of an architecture 200 of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0154] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of an architecture 300 of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0155] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of an architecture 400 of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0156] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of an architecture 500 of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0157] FIG6 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0158] FIG7 is a structural block diagram of a communication device applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0159] FIG8 is a structural block diagram of a communication device applicable to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0160] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0161] The technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: fifth generation (5G) or new radio (NR) systems, long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, etc. The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to future communication systems, such as the sixth generation mobile communication system. The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to device to device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine to machine (M2M) communication, machine type communication (MTC), and Internet of Things (IoT) communication systems or other communication systems.

[0162] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of this application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application. Obviously, the embodiments described are part of the embodiments of this application, not all of them. Based on the embodiments in this application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0163] First, a communication system applicable to this application is briefly introduced as follows.

[0164] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture 100 of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, a terrestrial mobile terminal (UE) accesses the network via the 5G new air interface. The 5G access network equipment is deployed on a satellite and connected to the terrestrial core network via a wireless link. At the same time, a wireless link exists between the satellites to complete the signaling interaction and user data transmission between the access network equipment. The various network elements in Figure 1 and their interfaces are described as follows:

[0165] Terminal device: A mobile device that supports the 5G new air interface, typically a mobile phone, tablet, or other mobile device. It can access the satellite network through the air interface and initiate calls, access the Internet, and perform other services.

[0166] 5G access network equipment: mainly provides wireless access services, dispatches wireless resources to access terminals, and provides reliable wireless transmission protocols and data encryption protocols, such as base stations.

[0167] 5G core network: This network provides services such as user access control, mobility management, session management, user security authentication, and billing. It consists of multiple functional units, divided into control plane and data plane functional entities. The Access and Mobility Management Element (AMF) is responsible for user access management, security authentication, and mobility management. The User Plane Element (UPF) manages user plane data transmission, traffic statistics, and other functions.

[0168] Ground station: responsible for forwarding signaling and business data between satellite access network equipment and 5G core network.

[0169] 5G New Air Interface: The wireless link between the terminal and access network equipment.

[0170] Xn interface: The interface between 5G access network devices, mainly used for signaling interaction such as switching.

[0171] NG interface: The interface between 5G access network equipment and 5G core network, mainly used for interacting with core network NAS and other signaling, as well as user business data.

[0172] In the non-terrestrial network (NTN), various NTN-based NG-RAN architectures are defined. The following example illustrates the RAN architecture applicable to NTN.

[0173] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an architecture 200 of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application. The architecture shown in Figure 2 is called transparent satellite RAN architecture (RAN architecture with transparent satellite). As shown in Figure 2, in the transparent transmission scenario, the role of the satellite is to achieve frequency conversion and wireless frequency amplification, which is equivalent to an analog RF repeater. Therefore, the satellite copies the NR Uu wireless interface signal from the feeder link (between the NTN gateway and the satellite) to the service link (between the satellite and the UE), and vice versa. The satellite radio interface SRI (Satellite Radio Interface) on the feeder link transmits the NR-Uu interface signal, that is, the satellite does not terminate the NR Uu interface signal, but copies the signal. The NTN gateway supports all necessary functions for forwarding the NR-Uu interface signal. Different transmission satellites can be connected to the same ground gNB.

[0174] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of another architecture 300 of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application. The name of the architecture shown in Figure 3 is regenerative satellite without ISL (inter-satellite link). In this architecture, the satellite acts as a base station to regenerate the signal received from the ground, that is, the service link between the UE and the satellite transmits the NR-Uu wireless interface signal, and the feeder link between the NTN gateway and the satellite transmits the satellite radio interface (SRI) signal. The SRI interface is a transmission link between the NTN gateway and the satellite. The NG interface signal is transmitted to the NTN gateway through the SRI interface, and then forwarded by the NTN gateway and transmitted to the core network equipment on the ground. The process of transmitting the NG interface signal from the ground core network equipment to the satellite base station is similar and will not be repeated here.

[0175] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of another architecture 400 of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application. The architecture shown in Figure 4 is called a regenerative satellite with an intersatellite link (ISL). In this scenario, the satellite also acts as a base station. The difference from the previous scenario is that an ISL exists in this scenario. The ISL is an inter-satellite transmission link. As shown in the above figure, a UE served by an onboard base station can access the 5G core network through the ISL. Base stations on different satellites can be connected to the same terrestrial 5G core network.

[0176] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of another architecture 500 of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application. The architecture shown in Figure 5 is named NG-RAN with a regenerative satellite based on gNB-DU. In this scenario, the CU and DU of the base station are separated. The satellite is on board as the DU of the base station. The satellite regenerates the signal received from the ground, that is, the service link between the UE and the satellite transmits the NR-Uu radio interface signal, and the feeder link between the NTN gateway and the satellite transmits the satellite radio interface (SRI) signal. The satellite radio interface is a transmission link that can transmit the logical interface F1 signal of the 3GPP standard. On the satellite radio interface, the F1 protocol signal is transmitted. The satellite can provide inter-satellite links (ISLs) between satellites. The NTN gateway is a transmission network layer node and supports all necessary transmission protocols. DUs on different satellites can be connected to the same ground CU.

[0177] It should be noted that the above RAN architecture is only an example and may also be used in other NTN architectures, or 4G, 5G, and future wireless network architectures. The embodiments of this application are not limited to this.

[0178] In NTN networks, round-trip transmission delays are long and path loss is high. For direct connection requirements of terminal devices, if the current signal of the terminal device deteriorates, for example, if it is in an obstructed state, even using a large number of repetitions of ground coverage and the lowest modulation and coding methods cannot meet the decoding requirements, making communication between the terminal device and the satellite difficult.

[0179] In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication solution to ensure that a terminal device can achieve direct communication with a satellite even when the signal status is poor.

[0180] The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiment provided by the present application can be applied to the communication system shown in Figures 1 to 5 above, without limitation.

[0181] The solution of this application is described in detail below.

[0182] Figure 6 is a schematic flowchart of a method for NTN communication provided in an embodiment of the present application. For ease of description, method 600 is illustrated below using the interaction between a network device and a terminal device as an example. It is understood that the terminal device can be a component of the terminal device (e.g., a chip or circuit), or the network device can be a component of the network device (e.g., a chip or circuit), without limitation.

[0183] Among them, the network equipment includes satellites or access network equipment corresponding to satellites, which is not limited in this application.

[0184] The method 600 shown in FIG. 6 may include the following steps.

[0185] S610: A network device determines at least one first resource and at least one second resource.

[0186] Each first resource of the at least one first resource is used by the terminal device to send at least one first signal.

[0187] Each second resource in the at least one second resource is used by the terminal device to receive at least one second signal.

[0188] First, the first signal and the second signal will be described.

[0189] In the present application, the first signal and the second signal may be alarm signals.

[0190] The first signal may be understood as an uplink alarm signal, and the second signal may be understood as a downlink alarm signal.

[0191] In this application, the network device receives an uplink alarm signal from the terminal device, and the network device may send a downlink alarm signal before sending a paging message to the terminal device.

[0192] Exemplarily, the alarm signal may be a pseudo-random sequence.

[0193] For example, the alarm signal can be a sequence with a narrow bandwidth and a high number of repetitions, with a link budget significantly higher than that of data transmission. Specifically, an example of this is the preamble sequence for single-subcarrier access in narrowband-internet of things (NB-IoT).

[0194] Next, the first resource and the second resource are described.

[0195] The network device may determine one or more first resources, each first resource being used for the terminal device to transmit a first signal.

[0196] The network device may determine one or more second resources, each second resource being used for the terminal device to receive the second signal.

[0197] The first resource includes time-frequency resources for uplink scheduling, and the second resource includes time-frequency resources for downlink scheduling.

[0198] It can be understood that the first resource is the time-frequency resource for the terminal device to send the first signal, and the second resource is the time-frequency resource for the terminal device to receive the second signal.

[0199] In a possible implementation, all first resources or all second resources configured in the network device have a mapping relationship with part or all of the third resources.

[0200] The third resource may be a downlink synchronization resource or an access resource configured by the network device.

[0201] An optional understanding is that the time-frequency resources of the first resource or the time-frequency resources of the second resource are related to the time-frequency resources of the third resource.

[0202] Exemplarily, all first resources in at least one first resource or all second resources in at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all downlink synchronization signal blocks (synchronization signal block, SSB) in at least one downlink synchronization signal block.

[0203] An optional understanding is that the first resource or the second resource configured by the network device is associated with the downlink SSB, and each first resource or second resource corresponds to an SSB.

[0204] For all SSBs configured in the network device, each SSB may correspond to a first resource or a second resource, or a part of the SSBs may correspond to a first resource or a second resource.

[0205] The network device can configure an index set of a part of the SSBs in the entire SSB, that is, the SSB indicated by the index in the index set corresponds to the first resource or the second resource.

[0206] For example, the network device is configured with M SSBs, and the N first resources determined by the network device correspond one-to-one to the N SSBs in the M SSBs, or in other words, each SSB in the N SSBs corresponds to a first resource.

[0207] For another example, the network device is configured with N SSBs, and the N first resources determined by the network device correspond one-to-one to the N SSBs, or in other words, each of the N SSBs corresponds to a first resource.

[0208] It should be noted that one SSB can correspond to multiple uplink resources of multiple terminal devices, and this embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0209] It should be noted that some or all SSBs are mapped with first resources or second resources. For these SSBs with resource mapping, the first resources or second resources used to send alarm signals have a certain offset X in time-frequency position with the random access occasion (RACH occasion, RO) resources.

[0210] In the present application, the offset X may be configured by the network device or agreed upon by the protocol, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0211] It can be understood that for SSB without resource mapping, there are no corresponding resources for sending uplink alarm signals.

[0212] In a possible implementation, when the RO resource conflicts with the first resource or the second resource in the time domain, the first resource or the second resource is transmitted first, that is, the RO resource is released.

[0213] Exemplarily, all first resources in the at least one first resource or all second resources in the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all random access resources in the at least one random access resource.

[0214] In an optional understanding, the first resource or the second resource configured by the network device is associated with the random access RO resource, and each first resource or second resource corresponds to one RO resource.

[0215] For all RO resources configured in the network device, each RO resource may correspond to a first resource or a second resource, or a part of the RO resources may correspond to a first resource or a second resource.

[0216] The first resource or the second resource has a certain offset X with respect to the corresponding RO resource in terms of time and frequency position.

[0217] In the present application, the offset X may be configured by the network device or agreed upon by the protocol, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0218] Exemplarily, the random access resources corresponding to some or all downlink synchronization signal blocks release their resources for transmitting the first resource or the second resource.

[0219] An optional understanding is that part or all of the SSBs are mapped with the first resource or the second resource. For these SSBs with resource mapping, their configured RO resources can release their resources to carry the first resource or the second resource.

[0220] It is understandable that for SSBs without resource mapping, there are no corresponding resources for sending alarm signals, and RO resources can be configured, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0221] In this application, the first resource and the second resource are configured based on the RO resource and the SSB, and the design method in the existing standard is reused as much as possible, which not only increases the flexibility of the resource configuration but also reduces the implementation complexity.

[0222] S620: The network device sends at least one first resource and at least one second resource before the terminal device enters an inactive state.

[0223] Accordingly, the terminal device receives at least one first resource and at least one second resource before entering the inactive state.

[0224] It should be understood that after the terminal device enters the inactive state, when the signal quality drops to a certain level, the terminal device cannot directly connect to the network device. Therefore, the network device sends uplink resources and downlink resources before the terminal device enters the inactive state.

[0225] Exemplarily, the network device instructs the terminal device to send the at least one first resource and the at least one second resource when releasing a radio resource control (RRC) connection.

[0226] In one possible implementation, after receiving the first resource, the terminal device sends at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal. After receiving the first signal, the network device sends at least one second signal before sending the paging message.

[0227] It can be understood that when the terminal device detects that the signal quality of the downlink signal is poor (reaching a certain threshold), the terminal device sends at least one first signal based on the first resource. After the network device receives the first signal, when it determines to page the terminal device, it can first send at least one second signal to the terminal device. When the terminal device receives the at least one second signal, it can adjust the signal quality to ensure that the paging is successful. If the paging fails, the network device can continue to send the second signal to the terminal device until the paging is successful.

[0228] For example, the terminal device is a mobile phone. When the mobile phone receives a second signal in a shielded environment, the paging requirement can be determined by the second signal. The terminal device can then be moved out of the shielded environment so that the satellite paging message can be received, ensuring a successful direct connection.

[0229] In a possible implementation, the terminal device may measure signal quality and send at least one first signal when the signal quality meets a first condition.

[0230] Exemplarily, the first condition includes at least one of the following three items:

[0231] 1. The signal quality of the local cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches the corresponding threshold.

[0232] 2. The signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to corresponding thresholds or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches corresponding thresholds within the first time period.

[0233] 3. The signal quality of the local cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell both drop to the corresponding threshold value at the same time or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches the corresponding threshold value during K measurements.

[0234] The above conditions are merely exemplary. The first condition may also include other methods for measuring cell signal quality, which is not limited in this application.

[0235] The signal quality can be described using parameters such as reference signal receiving power (RSRP) and reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) used to represent radio resource management (RRM) measurement results. Other parameters indicating signal quality may also be used, which is not limited in the present embodiment.

[0236] The thresholds corresponding to the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell may be the same or different, and this embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0237] In this application, the terminal device judges the signal quality according to the new measurement criteria, and determines whether it is necessary to send an uplink alarm signal from different angles and different conditions. More complex judgment conditions can increase the accuracy of the judgment.

[0238] In this application, after the configuration of the first resource and the second resource is sent to the terminal device, the first resource and the second resource can carry the alarm signal (the first signal or the second signal) only after they are activated. In other words, the first resource or the second resource can be used to transmit other data in the deactivated state. Only after activation can they be used to transmit the alarm signal.

[0239] The following describes how to activate the first resource and the second resource in the embodiment of the present application.

[0240] Exemplarily, the activation method of the first resource may be any of the following:

[0241] In a possible implementation, when the terminal device receives the first resource, the first resource is activated.

[0242] In a possible implementation, the terminal device determines that the first resource has been activated according to an instruction from the network device.

[0243] In a possible implementation, the terminal device determines that the first resource has been activated according to a timing relationship agreed upon in a protocol.

[0244] Exemplarily, the activation method of the second resource may be any of the following:

[0245] In a possible implementation, the second resource is activated when the terminal device receives the configuration of the second resource.

[0246] In a possible implementation, it is determined that the second resource has been activated according to a timing relationship agreed upon in a protocol.

[0247] In a possible implementation, the network device may send first indication information to the terminal device, indicating that the second resource has been activated.

[0248] It should be understood that the network device may need to reduce its transmit power at irregular time periods due to interference avoidance or other requirements to reduce interference and impact on other systems. The network device may pre-send first indication information to the terminal device to indicate that the second resource of the terminal device has been activated. Before sending the paging message, the network device may send at least one second signal to the terminal device, and the terminal device may receive the second signal based on the second resource.

[0249] Correspondingly, after receiving the second signal, the terminal device can adjust the signal quality to ensure that the paging message from the network device can be received.

[0250] In one possible implementation, a network device (e.g., a satellite) can predict the trajectory of motion, so the timing for reducing power can also be predetermined. When the network device sends a first indication message, it can indicate a first time period, used to indicate that the second resource of the terminal device is activated in the first time period; accordingly, after the terminal device receives the first indication message, it receives a second signal based on the second resource within the first time period.

[0251] It is understood that if the network device's transmit power is reduced to a level that renders communication impossible, the terminal device can avoid attempting to communicate with the current satellite by reselecting the cell or entering a power-saving mode. If the network device appropriately reduces power, the terminal device can continue to receive downlink signals. The downlink signal can be enhanced based on existing technologies, such as by scaling the number of repetitions and corresponding resources. This is not limited in the present embodiments.

[0252] In one possible implementation, after the terminal device sends at least one first signal, the second resource corresponding to the subsequent second signal is activated.

[0253] It should be understood that when the terminal device does not send the first signal on the first resource, the second resource corresponding to the second signal will not be activated, and the second resource can be used for downlink data transmission. When the terminal device measures that the signal quality meets the first condition, the terminal device sends the first signal. After receiving the first signal, the network device activates the second resource. The second resource can be used to transmit the second signal but not for downlink data transmission. The terminal device receives the second signal on the second resource.

[0254] In one possible implementation, when the first resource is activated, the second resource is activated at the same time, or when the second resource is activated, the first resource is activated at the same time. The activation method can be agreed upon by the protocol, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0255] In one possible implementation, the number of resources activated each time and the activation time can be configured by the network device, or can also be agreed upon by the protocol, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0256] In this application, activation of resources may also be understood as effectiveness, and activated or effective resources may be used to transmit alarm signals.

[0257] The above resource activation methods are merely exemplary and are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0258] The following describes the deactivation method of the first resource and the second resource in the embodiment of the present application.

[0259] In a possible implementation, after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the terminal device does not receive the second signal within a second time period, and the terminal device stops receiving the second signal (the second resource has been deactivated).

[0260] It is understood that after the second resource is activated, the terminal device will receive the second signal on the second resource, or in other words, the second resource is no longer used for downlink data transmission, but is only used to transmit the downlink alarm signal (second signal). If the terminal device does not receive the second signal within a period of time (second time period), then the second resource can be understood to have been deactivated, or it can also be understood to be invalid. It is understood that after the second resource is deactivated, it may be used for downlink data transmission.

[0261] In a possible implementation, after the terminal device sends the first signal, it receives feedback information from the network device, and the terminal device stops sending the first signal (the first resource has been deactivated).

[0262] It can be understood that after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the terminal device can send the first signal based on the first resource, and the terminal device can receive the second signal based on the second resource. When the terminal device sends the first signal and receives feedback information from the network device, and the feedback information indicates that the network device has received the first signal, then the subsequent first signal can be considered invalid, and the first resource can be considered to be deactivated, or deactivated for a period of time. The terminal device can stop sending the first signal, or the terminal device stops sending subsequent first signals for a period of time, and can try to continue sending subsequent first signals after a period of time. This application does not limit this.

[0263] In a possible implementation, the network device sends a second signal and receives feedback information from the terminal device, and the first resource and the second resource are deactivated.

[0264] It can be understood that after the first resource and the second resource are activated, the terminal device can send the first signal based on the first resource, and the terminal device can receive the second signal based on the second resource. When the network does not send the second signal and receives feedback information from the terminal device, and the feedback information indicates that the terminal device has received the second signal, then the subsequent second signal can be considered invalid, and the second resource can be considered to be deactivated. Similarly, the subsequent first signal of the terminal device can also be considered invalid, and the first resource can be considered to be deactivated. The terminal device can stop sending the first signal, or the terminal device stops sending the subsequent first signal for a period of time, and can try to continue sending the subsequent first signal after a period of time. The network device can stop sending the second signal, or the network device stops sending the subsequent second signal for a period of time, and can try to continue sending the subsequent second signal after a period of time. This application does not limit this.

[0265] In a possible implementation, the network device receives the second indication information, and determines to stop transmitting the first signal and the second signal (deactivate the first resource and the second resource) according to the second indication information.

[0266] It can be understood that the terminal device can determine whether to send the second indication information based on the quality of the downlink signal. For example, when the signal quality of the current cell and the neighboring cell detected by the terminal device returns to a certain threshold, the network device can be instructed to deactivate the first resource and the second resource, and the terminal device stops sending the first signal and the network device stops sending the second signal.

[0267] It can also be understood that the first resource and the second resource are deactivated within a period of time. After a period of time, the terminal device can continue to send the first signal and the network device can continue to send the second signal.

[0268] Exemplarily, the second indication information may be indicated by random access, or may be notified by other signaling, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0269] In this technical solution, when the terminal recovers to a normal coverage situation, unnecessary uplink and downlink alarm signal transmission and resource reservation can be reduced, thereby saving power consumption and resources.

[0270] In this application, the activation and deactivation methods of uplink resources and downlink resources are more flexible, reducing resource waste and terminal power consumption.

[0271] In this application, the first resources and the second resources configured by the network device to the terminal device can be used to transmit alarm signals with one terminal device, or can be used to transmit alarm signals with multiple terminal devices, that is, the same resources can be used to transmit alarm signals to multiple terminal devices. This solution is explained below.

[0272] In one possible implementation, each of the at least one first resource configured by the network device is used for multiple UEs to send uplink alarm signals based on the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each of the at least one second resource configured by the network device is used for multiple terminal devices to receive downlink alarm signals.

[0273] It should be noted that different UEs send different uplink warning signals, and network devices send different downlink warning signals to different UEs. Therefore, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the UE's identity ID and the corresponding warning signal.

[0274] In a possible implementation, the first signal or the second signal is associated with an identifier of the terminal device.

[0275] Specifically, after the network device receives a first signal associated with the terminal device identifier based on the first resource, it can send a second signal associated with the terminal device identifier on the corresponding second resource. The terminal device receives the second signal of the associated identifier and determines that the network device has successfully received the alarm signal of the terminal device.

[0276] For example, UE#1 sends a first signal #1 to a network device based on a first resource, and UE#2 sends a first signal #2 to a network device based on the first resource, wherein the first signal #1 is associated with the ID of UE#1, and the first signal #2 is associated with the ID of UE#2. After the network device receives the first signal #1, it can send the second signal #1 to UE#1 based on the second resource; similarly, after the network device receives the first signal #2, it can send the second signal #2 to UE#2 based on the second resource.

[0277] It can be understood that when the downlink alarm signal sent by the network device does not match the identifier of the terminal device, the terminal device can continue to send subsequent uplink alarm signals until the network device successfully receives the alarm signal from the terminal device and stops sending the uplink alarm signal. It can also determine to stop sending subsequent uplink alarm signals based on a timer. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0278] Based on the above technical solution, the network device configures resources for transmitting alarm signals to the terminal device in the non-activated state. The terminal device sends an uplink alarm signal based on the signal quality. After receiving the uplink alarm signal, the network device sends a downlink alarm signal before sending a paging message. The signal quality is adjusted based on the downlink alarm signal received by the terminal device to ensure that the terminal device can successfully receive the paging message and achieve direct communication. Among them, the resources used to transmit the alarm signal can be based on RO resources and SSB configuration, and the design method in the existing standard can be reused as much as possible, which not only increases the flexibility of the resource configuration but also reduces the implementation complexity. In addition, the terminal device judges the signal quality according to the new measurement criteria, and judges whether it is necessary to send an uplink alarm signal from different angles and different conditions. More complex judgment conditions can increase the accuracy of the judgment. Furthermore, the activation and deactivation methods of uplink and downlink resources are more flexible, reducing resource waste and terminal power consumption.

[0279] It should be understood that other possible implementations of the embodiments of the present application are similar to the above-mentioned method 600. Please refer to the description of method 600 and will not be repeated here.

[0280] It should be understood that the size of the serial numbers of the above processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0281] The above mainly introduces the solution provided by the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of the interaction between various network elements. It can be understood that each network element, such as a transmitting end device or a receiving end device, includes a hardware structure and / or software module corresponding to the execution of each function in order to implement the above functions. Those skilled in the art should be aware that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in a hardware or computer software driven hardware manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0282] In the embodiment of the present application, the functional modules of the transmitting device or the receiving device can be divided according to the above method example. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. The following is an example of dividing each functional module according to each function.

[0283] The method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above in conjunction with FIG6 . Below, the apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail in conjunction with FIG7 and FIG8 . It should be understood that the description of the apparatus embodiment corresponds to the description of the method embodiment. Therefore, for matters not described in detail, reference can be made to the method embodiment above. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0284] FIG7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0285] The device 700 includes a transceiver unit 710 and a processing unit 720 , wherein the transceiver unit 710 can be used to implement corresponding communication functions, and the processing unit 720 can be used to perform data processing.

[0286] Optionally, the transceiver unit 710 may also be referred to as a communication interface or communication unit, and may include a transmitting unit and / or a receiving unit. The transceiver unit 710 may be a transceiver (including a transmitter and / or a receiver), an input / output interface (including an input and / or output interface), a pin, or a circuit. The transceiver unit 710 may be configured to perform the transmitting and / or receiving steps in the above-described method embodiments.

[0287] Optionally, the processing unit 720 may be a processor (may include one or more), a processing circuit with processor functions, etc., and may be used to execute other steps except sending and receiving in the above method embodiment.

[0288] Optionally, the apparatus 700 further includes a storage unit, which may be a memory, an internal storage unit (e.g., a register, a cache, etc.), an external storage unit (e.g., a read-only memory, a random access memory, etc.), etc. The storage unit is used to store instructions, and the processing unit 720 executes the instructions stored in the storage unit to enable the communication apparatus to perform the above method.

[0289] In one design, the apparatus 700 can be used to perform the actions performed by the network device in each of the above method embodiments, for example, the apparatus 700 can be used to perform the actions performed by the network device in the above method 600. In this case, the apparatus 700 can be a component of the network device, the transceiver unit 710 is used to perform the transceiver-related operations on the network device side in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 720 is used to perform the processing-related operations of the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0290] For example, the processing unit 720 is used to determine at least one first resource and at least one second resource, each first resource of the at least one first resource is used for the terminal device to send at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each second resource of the at least one second resource is used for the terminal device to receive at least one second signal, each first resource includes an uplink scheduled time-frequency resource, and each second resource includes a downlink scheduled time-frequency resource; the transceiver unit 710 is used to send the at least one first resource and the at least one second resource before the terminal device enters an inactive state.

[0291] Optionally, the transceiver unit 710 is further configured to send the at least one second signal before sending the paging message.

[0292] The transceiver unit 710 is further used to send first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the second resource of the terminal device is activated.

[0293] It should be understood that the transceiver unit 710 and the processing unit 720 may also perform other operations performed by the network device in the above method 600, which will not be described in detail here.

[0294] In one design, the apparatus 700 can be used to perform the actions performed by the terminal device in each of the above method embodiments, for example, the apparatus 700 can be used to perform the actions performed by the terminal device in the above method 600. In this case, the apparatus 700 can be a component of the terminal device, the transceiver unit 710 is used to perform the transceiver-related operations on the terminal device side in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 720 is used to perform the processing-related operations on the terminal device side in the above method embodiments.

[0295] For example, the transceiver unit 710 is used to receive at least one first resource and at least one second resource before entering an inactive state, each first resource of the at least one first resource is used for the terminal device to send at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each second resource of the at least one second resource is used for the terminal device to receive at least one second signal, each first resource includes a time-frequency resource for uplink scheduling, and each second resource includes a time-frequency resource for downlink scheduling; the transceiver unit 710 is also used to receive the second signal before receiving a paging message.

[0296] Optionally, the processing unit 720 is configured to send at least one first signal according to signal quality of the downlink signal.

[0297] Optionally, the processing unit 720 is used to send the first signal when it determines that the signal quality of the downlink signal meets the first condition, and the first condition includes at least one of the following three items: the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold or the amplitude of the simultaneous decrease reaches the corresponding threshold; the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold within the first time period or the amplitude of the simultaneous decrease reaches the corresponding threshold; the signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell both drop to the corresponding threshold at the same time or the amplitude of the simultaneous decrease reaches the corresponding threshold when measured K times.

[0298] Optionally, the transceiver unit 710 is used for first indication information; the processing unit is further used to determine that the second resource is activated according to the first indication information.

[0299] It should be understood that the transceiver unit 710 and the processing unit 720 can also perform other operations performed by the terminal device in the above method 600, which will not be described in detail here.

[0300] It should also be understood that the device 700 here is embodied in the form of a functional unit. The term "unit" here can refer to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (such as a shared processor, a dedicated processor or a group processor, etc.) and a memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, a combined logic circuit and / or other suitable components that support the described functions. In an optional example, those skilled in the art will understand that the device 700 can be specifically a network device in the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be used to execute the various processes and / or steps corresponding to the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiments. To avoid repetition, they will not be described here.

[0301] The apparatus 700 of each of the above-mentioned solutions has the function of implementing the corresponding steps performed by the device in the above-mentioned method, or the apparatus 700 of each of the above-mentioned solutions has the function of implementing the corresponding steps performed by the network device in the above-mentioned method. The functions can be implemented by hardware, or the corresponding software can be implemented by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions; for example, the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transceiver (for example, the sending unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transmitter, and the receiving unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a receiver), and other units, such as the processing unit, can be replaced by a processor to respectively perform the sending and receiving operations and related processing operations in each method embodiment.

[0302] In addition, the transceiver unit 710 may also be a transceiver circuit (for example, may include a receiving circuit and a sending circuit), and the processing unit may be a processing circuit.

[0303] It should be noted that the apparatus in FIG7 may be a network element or device in the aforementioned embodiment, or may be a chip or chip system, such as a system on chip (SoC). The transceiver unit may be an input / output circuit or a communication interface; the processing unit may be a processor, microprocessor, or integrated circuit integrated on the chip. This is not limited here.

[0304] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a communication architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 800 shown in Figure 8 includes a processor 810, a memory 820, and a transceiver 830. The processor 810 is coupled to the memory 820 and is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 820 to control the transceiver 830 to transmit and / or receive signals.

[0305] It should be understood that the processor 810 and memory 820 described above can be combined into a single processing device, with the processor 810 configured to execute program code stored in the memory 820 to implement the aforementioned functions. In a specific implementation, the memory 820 can also be integrated into the processor 810 or independent of the processor 810. It should be understood that the processor 810 can also correspond to the various processing units in the aforementioned communication device, and the transceiver 830 can correspond to the various receiving units and transmitting units in the aforementioned communication device.

[0306] It should also be understood that the transceiver 830 may include a receiver (or receiver) and a transmitter (or transmitter). The transceiver may further include an antenna, and the number of antennas may be one or more. The transceiver may also be a communication interface or interface circuit.

[0307] Specifically, the communication device 800 may correspond to the terminal device in the method 600 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 800 may include the units of the method performed by the network device in the method 600. It should be understood that the specific process of each unit performing the above-mentioned corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above-mentioned method embodiment and will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0308] When the communication device 800 is a chip, the chip includes an interface unit and a processing unit, wherein the interface unit may be an input / output circuit or a communication interface; and the processing unit may be a processor, microprocessor, or integrated circuit integrated on the chip.

[0309] During implementation, each step of the above method can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of the hardware in the processor or by instructions in the form of software. The steps of the method disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware processor, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, etc. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and completes the steps of the above method in conjunction with its hardware. To avoid repetition, it will not be described in detail here.

[0310] It should be noted that the processor in the embodiments of the present application can be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. During implementation, each step of the above method embodiment can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of the hardware in the processor or by instructions in the form of software. The above processor can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component. The various methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented or executed. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can also be any conventional processor. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware decoding processor, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art, such as random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and completes the steps of the above method in combination with its hardware.

[0311] The present application also provides a computer-readable medium having a computer program stored thereon, which implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0312] The present application also provides a computer program product, which implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0313] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated therein. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a high-density digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state disk (SSD)).

[0314] In the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" and "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary" should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of the word "exemplary" is intended to present concepts in a concrete way.

[0315] It should be understood that references to "embodiments" throughout this specification mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic associated with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, various embodiments throughout this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, these particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

[0316] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence number of each process does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiment of the present application. The names of all nodes and messages in this application are merely names set by this application for the convenience of description. The names in the actual network may be different. It should not be understood that this application limits the names of various nodes and messages. On the contrary, any name with the same or similar function as the node or message used in this application is regarded as the method or equivalent replacement of this application, and is within the scope of protection of this application.

[0317] It should also be understood that in this application, "when", "if" and "if" all mean that the UE or base station will take corresponding measures under certain objective circumstances. It does not limit the time, and does not require the UE or base station to take judgment actions when implementing it, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0318] Additionally, the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably. The term "and / or" is simply used to describe an association between related objects, indicating that three possible relationships exist. For example, "A and / or B" can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone.

[0319] As used herein, the term "at least one of" or "at least one of" refers to all or any combination of the listed items. For example, "at least one of A, B, and C" can mean: A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, B and C together, and A, B, and C together. As used herein, "at least one" means one or more. "A plurality" means two or more.

[0320] It should be understood that in each embodiment of the present application, the terms "include", "comprise", "have" and their variations all mean "including but not limited to", unless otherwise specifically emphasized.

[0321] It should be understood that in various embodiments of the present application, the first, second, and various numerical numbers are merely distinctions for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

[0322] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0323] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0324] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0325] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0326] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0327] If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0328] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication, characterized in that: Applied to network equipment, including: Determine at least one first resource and at least one second resource, each of the at least one first resource is used by the terminal device to send at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each of the at least one second resource is used by the terminal device to receive at least one second signal, each of the first resources includes a time-frequency resource for uplink scheduling, and each of the second resources includes a time-frequency resource for downlink scheduling; The at least one first resource and the at least one second resource are sent before the terminal device enters an inactive state.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method further comprises: The at least one second signal is sent before sending the paging message.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: All the first resources in the at least one first resource or all the second resources in the at least one second resource have a mapping relationship with part or all of the third resources in at least one third resource, and the at least one third resource is a downlink synchronization resource or access resource configured by the network device.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that All of the first resources in the at least one first resource or all of the second resources in the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the downlink synchronization signal blocks in the at least one downlink synchronization signal block.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The random access resources corresponding to part or all of the downlink synchronization signal blocks release their resources for transmitting the first resource or the second resource.

6. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that All of the at least one first resource or all of the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the at least one random access resource.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that: Each first resource in the at least one first resource or all second resources in the at least one second resource is offset from the corresponding random access resource by a value X in terms of time and frequency.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that The first resource is used for the terminal device to send the first signal when determining that the signal quality of the downlink signal meets a first condition, and the first condition includes at least one of the following three items: The signal quality of the local cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches the corresponding threshold; The signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to corresponding thresholds or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches corresponding thresholds within the first time period; The signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell both drop to the corresponding threshold at the same time or the amplitude of the drop reaches the corresponding threshold at the same time during the K measurements.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the second resource of the terminal device is activated.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The first indication information includes a first time period, and the first indication information indicates that the second resource is activated by the terminal device during the first time period.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The second resource is activated after receiving at least one of the first signals.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that After the first resource and the second resource are activated, if the terminal device does not receive the second signal within a second time period, the second resource is deactivated.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that After the terminal device sends the first signal, the terminal device receives feedback information from the network device, and the first resource is deactivated.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that After the network device sends the second signal and receives feedback information from the terminal device, the first resource and the second resource are deactivated.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving second indication information, where the second indication information is determined by the terminal device according to the quality of the downlink signal; Determine deactivation of the first resource and the second resource according to the second indication information.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that The first signal or the second signal is associated with an identifier of the terminal device.

17. A method for non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication, characterized in that: Applied to terminal equipment, including: Before entering the inactive state, at least one first resource and at least one second resource are received, each of the at least one first resource The first resource is used for the terminal device to send at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal, each of the at least one second resource is used for the terminal device to receive at least one second signal, each of the first resources includes a time-frequency resource for uplink scheduling, and each of the second resources includes a time-frequency resource for downlink scheduling; The second signal is received prior to receiving the paging message.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The method further comprises: At least one of the first signals is sent according to the signal quality of the downlink signal.

19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that All the first resources in the at least one first resource or all the second resources in the at least one second resource have a mapping relationship with part or all of the third resources in at least one third resource, and the at least one third resource is a downlink synchronization resource or access resource configured by the network device.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that All of the first resources in the at least one first resource or all of the second resources in the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the downlink synchronization signal blocks in the at least one downlink synchronization signal block.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that The random access resources corresponding to part or all of the downlink synchronization signal blocks release their resources for transmitting the first resource or the second resource.

22. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that All of the at least one first resource or all of the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the at least one random access resource.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, characterized in that Each first resource in the at least one first resource or all second resources in the at least one second resource is offset from the corresponding random access resource by a value X in terms of time and frequency.

24. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 23, characterized in that The sending at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal includes: When it is determined that the signal quality of the downlink signal satisfies a first condition, the first signal is sent, where the first condition includes at least one of the following three items: The signal quality of the local cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches the corresponding threshold; The signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to corresponding thresholds or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches corresponding thresholds within the first time period; The signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell both drop to the corresponding threshold at the same time or the amplitude of the drop reaches the corresponding threshold at the same time during the K measurements.

25. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 24, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving first indication information; It is determined that the second resource is activated according to the first indication information.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that The first indication information includes a first time period, and the first indication information indicates that the second resource is activated by the terminal device during the first time period.

27. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 24, characterized in that The second resource is activated after sending at least one of the first signals.

28. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 27, characterized in that After the first resource and the second resource are activated, if the terminal device does not receive the second signal within a second time period, the second resource is deactivated.

29. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 27, characterized in that After the terminal device sends the first signal, the terminal device receives feedback information from the network device, and the first resource is deactivated.

30. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 27, characterized in that After the network device sends the second signal and receives feedback information from the terminal device, the first resource and the second resource are deactivated.

31. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 27, characterized in that The method further comprises: Second indication information is sent according to the quality of the downlink signal, where the second indication information is used to instruct deactivation of the first resource and the second resource.

32. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 31, characterized in that The first signal or the second signal is associated with an identifier of the terminal device.

33. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processing unit, configured to determine at least one first resource and at least one second resource, each of the at least one first resource being used by a terminal device to send at least one first signal according to the signal quality of a downlink signal, each of the at least one second resource being used by a terminal device to receive at least one second signal, each of the first resources comprising a time-frequency resource for uplink scheduling, and each of the second resources comprising a time-frequency resource for uplink scheduling. The two resources include time-frequency resources for downlink scheduling; a transceiver unit is used to send the at least one first resource and the at least one second resource before the terminal device enters an inactive state.

34. The communication device according to claim 33, characterized in that The transceiver unit is further configured to send the at least one second signal before sending the paging message.

35. The communication device according to claim 33 or 34, characterized in that: All the first resources in the at least one first resource or all the second resources in the at least one second resource have a mapping relationship with part or all of the third resources in at least one third resource, and the at least one third resource is a downlink synchronization resource or access resource configured by the network device.

36. The communication device according to claim 35, characterized in that All of the first resources in the at least one first resource or all of the second resources in the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the downlink synchronization signal blocks in the at least one downlink synchronization signal block.

37. The communication device according to claim 36, characterized in that: The random access resources corresponding to part or all of the downlink synchronization signal blocks release their resources for transmitting the first resource or the second resource.

38. The communication device according to claim 35, characterized in that All of the at least one first resource or all of the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the at least one random access resource.

39. The communication device according to claim 37 or 38, characterized in that: Each first resource in the at least one first resource or all second resources in the at least one second resource is offset from the corresponding random access resource by a value X in terms of time and frequency.

40. The communication device according to any one of claims 33 to 39, characterized in that: The first resource is used for the terminal device to send the first signal when determining that the signal quality of the downlink signal meets a first condition, and the first condition includes at least one of the following three items: The signal quality of the local cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches the corresponding threshold; The signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to corresponding thresholds or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches corresponding thresholds within the first time period; The signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell both drop to the corresponding threshold at the same time or the amplitude of the drop reaches the corresponding threshold at the same time during the K measurements.

41. The communication device according to any one of claims 33 to 40, characterized in that: The transceiver unit is further used to send first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate to the terminal device that the second resource is activated.

42. The communication device according to claim 41, characterized in that The first indication information includes a first time period, and the first indication information indicates that the second resource is activated by the terminal device during the first time period.

43. The communication device according to any one of claims 33 to 40, characterized in that: The transceiver unit activates the second resource after receiving at least one of the first signals.

44. The communication device according to any one of claims 33 to 43, characterized in that: After the first resource and the second resource are activated, if the terminal device does not receive the second signal within a second time period, the second resource is deactivated.

45. The communication device according to any one of claims 33 to 43, characterized in that: After the terminal device sends the first signal, the terminal device receives feedback information from the network device, and the first resource is deactivated.

46. ​​The communication device according to any one of claims 33 to 43, characterized in that: After the network device sends the second signal and receives feedback information from the terminal device, the first resource and the second resource are deactivated.

47. The communication device according to any one of claims 33 to 43, characterized in that: The transceiver unit is further used to receive second indication information, where the second indication information is determined by the terminal device according to the quality of the downlink signal; the processing unit is further used to determine the deactivation of the first resource and the second resource according to the second indication information.

48. The communication device according to any one of claims 33 to 47, characterized in that: The first signal or the second signal is associated with an identifier of the terminal device.

49. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A transceiver unit, configured to receive at least one first resource and at least one second resource before entering an inactive state, wherein each of the at least one first resource is used by the terminal device to send at least one first signal according to the signal quality of the downlink signal, and each of the at least one second resource is used by the terminal device to receive at least one second signal, wherein each first resource includes a time-frequency resource for uplink scheduling, and each second resource includes a time-frequency resource for downlink scheduling; the transceiver unit is also configured to receive the second signal before receiving a paging message.

50. The communication device according to claim 49, characterized in that The device further includes a processing unit configured to send at least one of the first signals according to the signal quality of the downlink signal.

51. The communication device according to claim 50, characterized in that All the first resources in the at least one first resource or all the second resources in the at least one second resource have a mapping relationship with part or all of the third resources in at least one third resource, and the at least one third resource is a downlink synchronization resource or access resource configured by the network device.

52. The communication device according to claim 50, characterized in that All of the first resources in the at least one first resource or all of the second resources in the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the downlink synchronization signal blocks in the at least one downlink synchronization signal block.

53. The communication device according to claim 52, characterized in that The random access resources corresponding to part or all of the downlink synchronization signal blocks release their resources for transmitting the first resource or the second resource.

54. The communication device according to claim 51, characterized in that All of the at least one first resource or all of the at least one second resource correspond one-to-one to part or all of the at least one random access resource.

55. The communication device according to claim 53 or 54, characterized in that: Each first resource in the at least one first resource or all second resources in the at least one second resource is offset from the corresponding random access resource by a value X in terms of time and frequency.

56. The communication device according to any one of claims 49 to 55, characterized in that: The processing unit is further configured to send the first signal when determining that the signal quality of the downlink signal meets a first condition, where the first condition includes at least one of the following three items: The signal quality of the local cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to the corresponding threshold or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches the corresponding threshold; The signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell simultaneously drop to corresponding thresholds or the amplitude of the simultaneous drop reaches corresponding thresholds within the first time period; The signal quality of the current cell and the signal quality of the neighboring cell both drop to the corresponding threshold at the same time or the amplitude of the drop reaches the corresponding threshold at the same time during the K measurements.

57. The communication device according to any one of claims 49 to 56, characterized in that: The transceiver unit is further used to receive first indication information; the processing unit is further used to determine that the second resource is activated according to the first indication information.

58. The communication device according to claim 57, characterized in that The first indication information includes a first time period, and the first indication information indicates that the second resource is activated by the terminal device during the first time period.

59. The communication device according to any one of claims 49 to 56, characterized in that: The second resource is activated after sending at least one of the first signals.

60. The communication device according to any one of claims 49 to 56, characterized in that: After the first resource and the second resource are activated, if the terminal device does not receive the second signal within a second time period, the second resource is deactivated.

61. The communication device according to any one of claims 49 to 56, characterized in that: After the terminal device sends the first signal, the terminal device receives feedback information from the network device, and the first resource is deactivated.

62. The communication device according to any one of claims 49 to 56, characterized in that: After the network device sends the second signal and receives feedback information from the terminal device, the first resource and the second resource are deactivated.

63. The communication device according to any one of claims 49 to 56, characterized in that: The transceiver unit is further used to send second indication information according to the quality of the downlink signal, where the second indication information is used to indicate deactivation of the first resource and the second resource.

64. The communication device according to any one of claims 49 to 63, characterized in that: The first signal or the second signal is associated with an identifier of the terminal device.

65. A communication device, characterized in that: Comprising means for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 16 or 17 to 32.

66. A communication device, characterized in that: The device comprises a processor coupled to a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program or instructions, the processor being used to execute the computer program or instructions in the memory, so that the device performs the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 16, or performs the method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 32.

67. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instruction, and when the computer program or instruction is executed on a computer, the computer executes the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 16, or executes the method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 32.

68. A chip system, characterized in that: include: A processor, used to call and run a computer program from a memory, so that a communication device equipped with the chip system executes the method described in any one of claims 1 to 16, or executes the method described in any one of claims 17 to 32.

69. A computer program product, characterized in that When the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer is enabled to execute the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, or to execute the steps of the method according to any one of claims 17 to 32.

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