Communication method, apparatus and system, and storage medium

Abstract

A communication method, apparatus and system, and a storage medium. According to the present application, system information and a synchronization sequence are sent in a same information block, so that the time delay of a terminal device initiating a random access can be reduced, improving the efficiency of the random access; or a network device sends at least one information block at a position spaced N time units apart from a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block, the at least one information block carrying information necessary for the terminal device to initiate the random access and position information of a network side, so that the terminal device can access a cell in time, reducing the access time delay.

Description

Communication method, device, system and storage medium

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on November 2, 2023, with application number 202311452402.0 and invention name “Communication Method, Device, System and Storage Medium”, 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 in particular to a communication method, device, system and storage medium. Background Art

[0003] The ultimate wide-coverage communication system can support even wider service coverage. For example, in non-terrestrial networks (NTN) communication systems, satellites / high-altitude platforms, serving as access network equipment for NTN systems, can cover large areas, enabling communication services in areas such as oceans and forests.

[0004] During the initial access phase, the access network equipment in the NTN system needs to scan all beams in sequence and configure random access resources for the terminal device. The access network equipment can broadcast different synchronization signals / physical broadcast channel blocks (SS / PBCH block or SSB) for different communication areas and distinguish them by the index number (index) of the SSB. After receiving the SSB, the terminal device completes timing synchronization and confirms the time-frequency position of the system information block 1 (SIB1) according to the information indication in the SSB and completes the parsing of SIB1 to obtain the cell information. According to the search space of the system information block 19 (SIB19) configured in SIB1, SIB19 is detected and data parsed to obtain the satellite's ephemeris information. After obtaining the cell information and / or ephemeris information, the terminal device initiates random access on the corresponding uplink resource according to the configuration information and SSB index in SIB1 and / or SIB19.

[0005] The above initial access process needs to first obtain SSB and then obtain cell information from SIB1. This requires two steps of information acquisition, which produces a certain delay and affects the access delay.

[0006] In view of this, in the extremely wide coverage communication scenario, the network changes rapidly, and how to reduce the access delay of terminal devices is an urgent problem that needs to be solved.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] The present application provides a communication method, apparatus, system and storage medium to reduce the access delay of terminal devices.

[0009] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, wherein the method is implemented by a terminal device or a chip or circuit for the terminal device.

[0010] The method includes: receiving an information block in a time slot, wherein the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information, wherein the system information includes location information of a network device and random access configuration information; and initiating random access to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence based on the system information. By transmitting the system information including the location information of the network device and the synchronization sequence in the same information block, the method reduces the delay for a terminal device to initiate random access and improves the efficiency of random access.

[0011] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving a random access response sent by the network device with a beam of a first beam width; sending message 3 during the random access process; receiving message 4 sent by the network device with a beam of the first beam width; and sending message 5 during the random access process.

[0012] In another possible implementation, the information block consists of multiple information blocks, which are contiguous in the time domain. With this implementation, multiple information blocks are contiguous in the time domain, allowing a terminal device to collect all of these information blocks in a centralized time domain when searching for an information block and determine the information block to use. This centralized pattern design reduces access latency for terminal devices, enabling earlier access. The centralized information block provides system information for multiple consecutive time slots, allowing terminal devices to perform joint demodulation and reception of system information from adjacent time slots, thereby improving performance.

[0013] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which is implemented by a network device or a chip or circuit used for a network device.

[0014] The method includes: transmitting an information block in a time slot, wherein the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information, wherein the system information includes location information of a network device and random access configuration information; and receiving, based on the system information, a random access request initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence. By transmitting the system information including the location information of the network device and the synchronization sequence in the same information block, this method can reduce the delay in random access initiated by a terminal device and improve the efficiency of random access.

[0015] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: sending a random access response with a beam of a first beam width; receiving message 3 in the random access process on the beam of the first beam width; sending message 4 on the beam of the first beam width; and receiving message 5 in the random access process on the first beam width.

[0016] In another possible implementation, the information block is a plurality of information blocks, and the plurality of information blocks are continuous in the time domain, and the plurality of information blocks correspond to multiple network coverage areas. With this implementation, the plurality of information blocks are configured to be continuous in the time domain, so that when a terminal device searches for an information block, it can collect all the information blocks in the centralized time domain and determine the information block to be used. The centralized pattern design reduces the access delay of the terminal device, allowing the terminal device to access earlier. The centralized information block provides system information for multiple consecutive time slots, and the terminal device can perform joint demodulation and reception of system information from adjacent time slots, thereby improving performance.

[0017] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the information block is carried on a first beam, and the beamwidth of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beamwidth. With this implementation, the information block can be sent via the wide beam.

[0018] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any one implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the network coverage corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage of the beam sent with the first beam width.

[0019] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the bandwidth corresponding to the information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks. With this implementation, the system information occupies a small bandwidth in the frequency domain, and power aggregation can be used to increase the link budget of downlink transmission, thereby increasing the number of transmittable information bits.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any one of the implementations of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, in the information block, the synchronization sequence and the system information are continuous in the time domain, and the time domain position of the synchronization sequence is located before the time domain position of the system information. With this implementation, the synchronization sequence is used for timing and synchronization and is placed at the beginning of the time slot to ensure that the sequence detection is completed as soon as possible. In addition, the synchronization sequence is placed centrally, which can free up more continuous time domain resources for the subsequent transmission of system information. The system information occupies continuous time domain resources, and more resources can be used to transmit the system information required for access, thereby increasing the number of transmittable information bits.

[0021] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the information block further includes multiple demodulation reference signals, where the multiple demodulation reference signals are used to demodulate the system information. With this implementation, considering that the time-frequency offset may be too large under extremely wide coverage, multiple demodulation reference signals are required for joint demodulation, performance optimization, and improved transmission performance.

[0022] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel. With this implementation, carrying the information block on the physical downlink shared channel can carry more transmission bits than the existing method of transmitting the MIB on a control channel.

[0023] In combination with the first aspect or the second aspect or any one implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the system information also includes at least one of the following: general configuration of uplink transmission, general configuration of downlink transmission, the number of the information blocks, the period of the information blocks, and the pattern of the information blocks.

[0024] According to a third aspect, a communication method is provided, which is implemented by a terminal device or a chip or circuit used for the terminal device.

[0025] The method includes: receiving at least one information block in a time slot, wherein each information block in the at least one information block includes location information of a network device and random access configuration information, and the information block is separated from a synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and initiating random access to a cell synchronized with the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block based on each information block. Using this method, a terminal device receives at least one information block sent by a network device at a location separated by N time units from a synchronization signal / broadcast signal block, and the at least one information block carries the necessary information for the terminal device to initiate random access, thereby enabling the terminal device to access the cell in a timely manner and reducing access delay.

[0026] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving a random access response sent by the network device with a beam of a first beam width; sending message 3 during the random access process; receiving message 4 sent by the network device with a beam of the first beam width; and sending message 5 during the random access process.

[0027] In another possible implementation, the at least one information block is contiguous in the time domain. With this implementation, at least one information block is configured to be contiguous in the time domain. This allows a terminal device to collect all of these information blocks in a centralized time domain when searching for an information block and determine the information block to use. This centralized pattern design reduces access latency for terminal devices, enabling earlier access. The centralized information block provides system information for multiple consecutive time slots, allowing terminal devices to perform joint demodulation and reception of system information from adjacent time slots, thereby improving performance.

[0028] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, which is implemented by a network device or a chip or circuit used for a network device.

[0029] The method includes: sending at least one information block in a time slot, wherein each information block in the at least one information block includes location information of the network device and random access configuration information, and the information block is separated from the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and receiving, based on each information block, a random access initiated to a cell synchronized with the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block. Using this method, the network device sends at least one information block at a location separated by N time units from the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block, and the at least one information block carries the necessary information for the terminal device to initiate random access, thereby enabling the terminal device to access the cell in a timely manner and reducing access delay.

[0030] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: sending a random access response with a beam of a first beam width; receiving message 3 in the random access process on the beam of the first beam width; sending message 4 on the beam of the first beam width; and receiving message 5 in the random access process on the first beam width.

[0031] In another possible implementation, the at least one information block is continuous in the time domain, and each of the at least one information block corresponds to at least one network coverage area. With this implementation, multiple information blocks are configured to be continuous in the time domain, so that when a terminal device searches for an information block, it can collect all of these information blocks in a centralized time domain and determine the information block to use. The centralized pattern design reduces the access latency of the terminal device, allowing the terminal device to access earlier. The centralized information block provides system information for multiple consecutive time slots, and the terminal device can perform joint demodulation and reception of system information from adjacent time slots, thereby improving performance.

[0032] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one of the implementations of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is used to indicate the time-frequency resource position of each information block. With this implementation, unlike the existing synchronization signal / broadcast signal block, in this implementation, the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block can be used to indicate the time-frequency resource position of the corresponding information block. After the terminal device receives the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block, it can determine the time-frequency resource position of the information block corresponding to the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block based on the information carried in the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block.

[0033] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one of the implementations of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is used to indicate the index of the time domain offset value and / or the index of the frequency domain offset value, the time domain offset value is the time domain offset value between each information block and the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block corresponding to each information block, and the frequency domain offset value is the offset value of the frequency domain starting or ending position between each information block and the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block corresponding to each information block. Exemplarily, the time domain offset value can be a time slot offset value. With this implementation, the time domain position of the information block corresponding to the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block can be indicated by several bits in the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block, and the frequency domain position of the information block corresponding to the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block can be indicated by several bits in the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block.

[0034] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any implementation of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, each information block is carried on a first beam, and the beamwidth of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beamwidth. With this implementation, at least one information block is transmitted via a wide beam, thereby improving coverage performance.

[0035] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one implementation of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, the network coverage corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage of the beam sent with the first beam width.

[0036] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any implementation of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, the bandwidth corresponding to each information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks. With this implementation, the information block occupies a small bandwidth in the frequency domain, and power aggregation can be used to increase the link budget for downlink transmission, thereby increasing the number of transmittable information bits.

[0037] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one implementation of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, each information block also includes multiple demodulation reference signals, and the multiple demodulation reference signals are used to demodulate the system information.

[0038] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any implementation of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, the at least one information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel. With this implementation, carrying the at least one information block on the physical downlink shared channel can carry more transmission bits than the existing method of transmitting the MIB on a control channel.

[0039] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any one implementation of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in another possible implementation, each of the information blocks also includes at least one of the following: a general configuration for uplink transmission, a general configuration for downlink transmission, the number of the information blocks, the period of the information blocks, and the pattern of the information blocks.

[0040] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device can implement the method described in the first aspect. For example, the communication device can be a chip or a terminal device. The method can be implemented through software, hardware, or hardware executing corresponding software.

[0041] In one possible implementation, the device includes: a transceiver unit and a processing unit; wherein: the transceiver unit is used to receive an information block in a time slot, wherein the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information, and the system information includes location information of the network device and configuration information of random access; and the transceiver unit is further used to initiate random access to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence based on the system information.

[0042] Optionally, the transceiver unit is also used to receive a random access response sent by the network device with a beam of the first beam width; the transceiver unit is also used to send message 3 during the random access process; the transceiver unit is also used to receive message 4 sent by the network device with a beam of the first beam width; and the transceiver unit is also used to send message 5 during the random access process.

[0043] Optionally, the multiple information blocks are continuous in the time domain.

[0044] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device can implement the method described in the second aspect. For example, the communication device can be a chip or a terminal device. The method can be implemented through software, hardware, or hardware executing corresponding software.

[0045] In one possible implementation, the device includes: a transceiver unit and a processing unit; wherein: the transceiver unit is used to send an information block in a time slot, wherein the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information, and the system information includes location information of the network device and configuration information of random access; and the transceiver unit is also used to receive, based on the system information, a random access initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence.

[0046] Optionally, the transceiver unit is further used to send a random access response using a beam of a first beam width; the transceiver unit is further used to receive message 3 during the random access process on a beam of the first beam width; the transceiver unit is further used to send message 4 on a beam of the first beam width; and the transceiver unit is further used to receive message 5 during the random access process on the first beam width.

[0047] In combination with the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or any one implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the information block is carried on a first beam, and the beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width.

[0048] In combination with any one of the implementations of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the network coverage corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage of the beam sent with the first beam width.

[0049] In combination with any implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the information block is a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks are continuous in the time domain, and the plurality of information blocks correspond to a plurality of network coverage ranges.

[0050] In combination with the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or any one implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the bandwidth corresponding to the information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks.

[0051] In combination with any one of the implementations of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, in the information block, the synchronization sequence and the system information are continuous in the time domain, and the time domain position of the synchronization sequence is located before the time domain position of the system information.

[0052] In combination with the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or any implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the information block also includes multiple demodulation reference signals, and the multiple demodulation reference signals are used to demodulate the system information.

[0053] In combination with the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or any one implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

[0054] In combination with the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect or any one implementation of the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect, optionally, the system information also includes at least one of the following: general configuration of uplink transmission, general configuration of downlink transmission, the number of the information blocks, the period of the information blocks, and the pattern of the information blocks.

[0055] In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device can implement the method described in the third aspect. For example, the communication device can be a chip or a terminal device. The method can be implemented through software, hardware, or hardware executing corresponding software.

[0056] In one possible implementation, the device includes: a transceiver unit and a processing unit; wherein: the transceiver unit is used to receive at least one information block in a time slot, wherein each information block in the at least one information block includes location information of the network device and configuration information of random access, and the information block is separated from the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and the transceiver unit is further used to initiate random access to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block based on each information block.

[0057] Optionally, the transceiver unit is also used to receive a random access response sent by the network device with a beam of the first beam width; the transceiver unit is also used to send message 3 during the random access process; the transceiver unit is also used to receive message 4 sent by the network device with a beam of the first beam width; and the transceiver unit is also used to send message 5 during the random access process.

[0058] Optionally, the at least one information block is continuous in the time domain.

[0059] In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device can implement the method of the fourth aspect. For example, the communication device can be a chip or a terminal device. The method can be implemented through software, hardware, or hardware executing corresponding software.

[0060] In one possible implementation, the device includes: a transceiver unit and a processing unit; wherein: the transceiver unit is used to send at least one information block in a time slot, wherein each information block in the at least one information block includes location information of the network device and configuration information of random access, and the information block is spaced N time units from the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; and the transceiver unit is also used to receive, based on each information block, a random access initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block.

[0061] Optionally, the transceiver unit is further used to send a random access response using a beam of a first beam width; the transceiver unit is further used to receive message 3 during the random access process on a beam of the first beam width; the transceiver unit is further used to send message 4 on a beam of the first beam width; and the transceiver unit is further used to receive message 5 during the random access process on the first beam width.

[0062] Optionally, the at least one information block is continuous in the time domain, and the at least one information block corresponds to at least one network coverage range respectively.

[0063] In combination with the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or any one implementation of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is used to indicate the time-frequency resource position of each information block.

[0064] In combination with any one of the implementations of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is used to indicate the index of a time domain offset value and / or the index of a frequency domain offset value, the time domain offset value being the time domain offset value between each information block and the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block corresponding to each information block, and the frequency domain offset value being the offset value of the frequency domain starting or ending position between each information block and the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block corresponding to each information block. Exemplarily, the time domain offset value may be a time slot offset value.

[0065] In combination with any implementation of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, each information block is carried on a first beam, and the beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width.

[0066] In combination with any one of the implementations of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, the network coverage corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage of the beam sent with the first beam width.

[0067] In combination with the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or any one implementation of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, the bandwidth corresponding to each information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks.

[0068] In combination with the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or any one implementation of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, each information block also includes multiple demodulation reference signals, and the multiple demodulation reference signals are used to demodulate the system information.

[0069] In combination with the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or any one implementation of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, the at least one information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

[0070] In combination with the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect or any one of the implementations of the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, optionally, each of the information blocks also includes at least one of the following: a general configuration for uplink transmission, a general configuration for downlink transmission, the number of the information blocks, the period of the information blocks, and the pattern of the information blocks.

[0071] In another possible implementation, the communication device in the fifth to eighth aspects is used to execute the methods in the above aspects and their various possible implementations.

[0072] In another possible implementation, the communication device in the fifth to eighth aspects above includes a processor coupled to a memory; the processor is configured to support the device in performing the corresponding functions in the above communication method. The memory is used to couple with the processor, which stores the necessary computer programs (or computer executable instructions) and / or data for the device. Optionally, the communication device may further include a communication interface for supporting communication between the device and other network elements, such as sending or receiving data and / or signals. Exemplarily, the communication interface may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module or other type of communication interface. Optionally, the memory may be located inside the communication device and integrated with the processor; it may also be located outside the communication device.

[0073] In another possible implementation, the communication device in the fifth to eighth aspects includes a processor and a transceiver, the processor being coupled to the transceiver, and the processor being used to execute a computer program or instruction to control the transceiver to receive and send information; when the processor executes the computer program or instruction, the processor is also used to implement the above method through a logic circuit or execution code instruction. The transceiver may be a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, or an input / output interface, configured to receive signals from other communication devices other than the communication device and transmit them to the processor, or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices other than the communication device. When the communication device is a chip, the transceiver is a transceiver circuit or an input / output interface.

[0074] When the communication device in aspects 5 to 8 above is a chip, the transmitting unit may be an output unit, such as an output circuit or a communication interface; and the receiving unit may be an input unit, such as an input circuit or a communication interface. When the communication device is a terminal device, the transmitting unit may be a transmitter or a transmitter; and the receiving unit may be a receiver or a receiver.

[0075] In a ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising a communication device as described in the fifth aspect or any one of the implementations of the fifth aspect, and at least one communication device as described in the sixth aspect or any one of the implementations of the sixth aspect.

[0076] In the tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising a communication device as described in the seventh aspect or any one of the implementations of the seventh aspect, and at least one communication device as described in the eighth aspect or any one of the implementations of the eighth aspect.

[0077] In the eleventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the program or instruction is executed by a processor, the method as described in the first aspect or any one of the implementations of the first aspect is implemented, or the method as described in the second aspect or any one of the implementations of the second aspect is implemented, or the method as described in the third aspect or any one of the implementations of the third aspect is implemented, or the method as described in the fourth aspect or any one of the implementations of the fourth aspect is implemented.

[0078] In the twelfth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which, when executed on a computing device, implements the method as described in the first aspect or any one of the implementations of the first aspect, or implements the method as described in the second aspect or any one of the implementations of the second aspect, or implements the method as described in the third aspect or any one of the implementations of the third aspect, or implements the method as described in the fourth aspect or any one of the implementations of the fourth aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0079] FIG1 is a simplified schematic diagram of a wireless communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG2A is a schematic diagram of an NTN scenario based on transparent load;

[0081] FIG2B is a schematic diagram of an NTN scenario based on regenerative load;

[0082] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an extremely wide coverage scenario;

[0083] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the process of initial access and service data transmission phase of NR;

[0084] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of the format of NR's SSB;

[0085] FIG6 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0086] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of the format of an information block provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0087] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of an access and data transmission process provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0088] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a beam according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0089] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of transmission of multiple information blocks according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0090] FIG11 is a flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0091] FIG12 is a schematic diagram of the format of an information block in a single time slot provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0092] FIG13 is a schematic diagram of the format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0093] FIG14 is a schematic diagram of another format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0094] FIG15 is a schematic diagram of another format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0095] FIG16 is a schematic diagram of another format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0096] FIG17 is a schematic diagram of another format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0097] FIG18 is a schematic diagram of another format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0098] FIG19 is a schematic diagram of another format of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0099] FIG20 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0100] Figure 21 is a structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0101] The embodiments of the present application are described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0102] The technical solution provided by this application can be applied to various communication systems. For example, the communication system can be a fourth generation (4 th generation, 4G) communication systems (such as long term evolution (LTE) systems), fifth generation (5 th generation (5G) communication systems, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) or wireless local area network (WLAN) systems, or integrated systems of multiple systems, or future communication systems such as the sixth generation (6 thgeneration, 6G) communication system, etc. Among them, the 5G communication system can also be called a new radio (NR) system.

[0103] A network element in a communication system can send a signal to another network element or receive a signal from another network element. The signal may include information, signaling, or data, etc. The network element can also be replaced by an entity, a network entity, a device, a terminal device, a communication module, a node, a communication node, etc. The present application uses the network element as an example for description. For example, the communication system may include at least one terminal device and at least one access network device. The access network device can send a downlink signal to the terminal device, and / or the terminal device can send an uplink signal to the access network device. In addition, it can be understood that if the communication system includes multiple terminal devices, the multiple terminal devices can also send signals to each other, that is, the signal sending network element and the signal receiving network element can both be terminal devices.

[0104] The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to wireless communication systems such as 5G, 6G, and satellite communication. Referring to Figure 1, Figure 1 is a simplified schematic diagram of the wireless communication system provided in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, the wireless communication system includes a wireless access network 100. The wireless access network 100 can be a next-generation (e.g., 6G or higher) wireless access network, or a traditional (e.g., 5G, 4G) wireless access network. One or more terminal devices (120a-120g, collectively referred to as 120) can be connected to each other, or connected to one or more network devices (110a~110c, collectively referred to as 110) in the wireless access network 100, and the connection method can be wired or wireless. Optionally, Figure 1 is only a schematic diagram, and the wireless communication system may also include other devices, such as core network devices, wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices, etc., which are not drawn in Figure 1.

[0105] Optionally, in actual applications, the wireless communication system may include multiple network devices (also called access network devices) and multiple terminal devices at the same time. A network device can serve one or more terminal devices at the same time. A terminal device can also access one or more network devices at the same time. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the number of terminal devices and network devices included in the wireless communication system.

[0106] The network device may be an entity on the network side for transmitting or receiving signals. The network device may be an access device for a terminal device to access the wireless communication system in a wireless manner, such as a base station. The base station can broadly cover various names as follows, or be replaced with the following names, such as: radio access network (RAN) node, NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), next generation NodeB (gNB), access network equipment in open radio access network (O-RAN), relay station, access point, transmission point (TRP), transmitting point (TP), master-eNB (MeNB), secondary eNB (SeNB), multi-standard radio (MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, access point (AP), transmission node, transceiver node, building baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), centralized unit (centralized The term "network device" refers to a network device that is a mobile switching center, a device that performs base station functions in device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, a network-side device in a 6G network, and a device that performs base station functions in future communication systems. The network device may support networks with the same or different access technologies.The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device.

[0107] Network devices can be fixed or mobile. For example, base stations 110b and 110c are stationary and are responsible for wireless transmission and reception in one or more cells from terminal device 120. The helicopter or drone 120c shown in Figure 1 can be configured to act as a mobile base station, and one or more cells can move according to the location of the mobile base station 120c. In other examples, the helicopter or drone (120c) can be configured to act as a terminal device communicating with satellite base station 110a.

[0108] In this application, the communication device used to implement the above-mentioned access network function can be an access network device, a network device having some of the access network functions, or a device capable of supporting the implementation of the access network function, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit and a software module. The device can be installed in the access network device or used in combination with the access network device. In the method of this application, the communication device used to implement the access network device function is described as an access network device.

[0109] A terminal device may be an entity on the user side for receiving or transmitting signals, such as a mobile phone. The terminal device may be used to connect people, objects, and machines. The terminal device may communicate with one or more core networks through a network device. The terminal device includes a handheld device with wireless connection capabilities, other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, or a vehicle-mounted device. The terminal device may be a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer-built-in, or vehicle-mounted mobile device. The terminal device 120 may be widely used in various scenarios, such as cellular communication, D2D, V2X, point-to-point (P2P), machine-to-machine (M2M), machine type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, drones, robots, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and mobility, etc.Some examples of the terminal device 120 include: user equipment (UE) of the 3GPP standard, fixed equipment, mobile equipment, handheld equipment, wearable equipment, cellular phones, smart phones, session initiated protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal computers, smart books, vehicles, satellites, global positioning system (GPS) equipment, target tracking equipment, drones, helicopters, aircraft, ships, remote control equipment, smart home equipment, industrial equipment, personal communication service (PCS) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless network cameras, tablet computers, handheld computers, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices such as smart watches, VR devices, AR devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, terminals in vehicle networking systems, wireless terminals in self-driving cars, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, and smart cities. The terminal device 120 may be a wireless terminal in a city, such as a smart gas pump, a terminal device on a high-speed rail, and a wireless terminal in a smart home, such as a smart speaker, a smart coffee machine, a smart printer, etc. The terminal device 120 may be a wireless device in the above various scenarios or a device for being set in a wireless device, for example, a communication module, a modem or a chip in the above device. The terminal device may also be referred to as a terminal, a terminal device, a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), etc. The terminal device may also be a terminal device in a future wireless communication system. The terminal device may be used in a dedicated network device or a general device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0110] Alternatively, a terminal device can function as a base station. For example, a UE can act as a dispatching entity, providing sidelink signals between UEs in V2X, D2D, or P2P scenarios. As shown in Figure 1, a cell phone 120a and a car 120b communicate with each other using sidelink signals. Cell phone 120a and smart home device 120e communicate without relaying the communication signals through base station 110b.

[0111] In this application, the communication device used to implement the functions of the terminal device can be a terminal device, or a terminal device with some of the functions of the above terminal devices, or a device that can support the implementation of the functions of the above terminal devices, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the terminal device or used in combination with the terminal device. In this application, the chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices. In the technical solution provided in this application, the communication device is described as a terminal device or UE as an example.

[0112] Optionally, a wireless communication system is typically composed of cells, with base stations providing cell management and communication services to multiple mobile stations (MS) in the cell. The base station includes a baseband unit (BBU) and a remote radio unit (RRU). The BBU and RRU can be placed in different locations, for example: the RRU is remote and placed in an area with high traffic volume, while the BBU is placed in a central computer room. The BBU and RRU can also be placed in the same computer room. The BBU and RRU can also be different components under the same rack. Optionally, a cell can correspond to a carrier or component carrier.

[0113] In some deployments, the network devices mentioned in the embodiments of this application may include a CU, a DU, a CU and a DU, or a control plane CU node (CU-CP), a user plane CU node (CU-UP), and a DU node. For example, the network devices may include a gNB-CU-CP, a gNB-CU-UP, and a gNB-DU.

[0114] In some deployments, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminals in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing portions of the base station's functionality. For example, a RAN node can be a CU, DU, CU-CP, CU-UP, or radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be separate or included in the same network element, such as the BBU. The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio unit, such as an RRU, AAU, or RRH.

[0115] The RAN node may support one or more types of fronthaul interfaces, with different fronthaul interfaces corresponding to DUs and RUs with different functions. If the fronthaul interface between the DU and the RU is a common public radio interface (CPRI), the DU is configured to implement one or more baseband functions, and the RU is configured to implement one or more radio frequency functions. If the fronthaul interface between the DU and the RU is another type of interface, relative to the CPRI, some of the downlink and / or uplink baseband functions, such as precoding, digital beamforming (BF), or one or more of inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) for downlink, are moved from the DU to the RU for implementation; and for uplink, one or more of digital beamforming (BF), or fast Fourier transform (FFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) removal, are moved from the DU to the RU for implementation. In one possible implementation, the interface may be an enhanced common public radio interface (eCPRI). In the eCPRI architecture, the division between the DU and RU is different, corresponding to different types (category, Cat) of eCPRI, such as eCPRI Cat A, B, C, D, E, and F.

[0116] Taking eCPRI Cat A as an example, for downlink transmission, based on layer mapping, the DU is configured to implement layer mapping and one or more functions preceding it (i.e., one or more of coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, and layer mapping). Other functions after layer mapping (e.g., RE mapping, digital beamforming (BF), or one or more of inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) / cyclic prefix (CP) addition) are moved to the RU for implementation. For uplink transmission, based on RE demapping, the DU is configured to implement demapping and one or more functions preceding it (i.e., one or more of decoding, rate matching, descrambling, demodulation, inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT), channel equalization, and RE demapping). Other functions after demapping (e.g., one or more of digital BF or FFT / CP removal) are moved to the RU for implementation. It is understandable that for the functional description of DU and RU corresponding to various types of eCPRI, reference can be made to the eCPRI protocol, which will not be described in detail here.

[0117] In one possible design, the processing unit for implementing baseband functions in the BBU is called a baseband high layer (BBH) unit, and the processing unit for implementing baseband functions in the RRU / AAU / RRH is called a baseband low layer (BBL) unit.

[0118] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called an open-centralized unit (O-CU), DU may also be called an open-distributed unit (O-DU), CU-CP may also be called an open-centralized unit-control plane (O-CU-CP), CU-UP may also be called an open-centralized unit-user plane (O-CU-UP), and RU may also be called an open-radio unit (O-RU). Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0119] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the network device can be a network device; it can also be a device that can support the network device to implement the functions, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit and a software module. The device can be installed in the network device or used in conjunction with the network device. In the embodiments of the present application, only the device for implementing the functions of the network device is used as an example to illustrate, and does not constitute a limitation on the solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0120] It is understandable that the present application can be applied between network devices and terminal devices.

[0121] The communication between the network device and the terminal device follows a certain protocol layer structure. The protocol layer structure may include a control plane protocol layer structure and a user plane protocol layer structure. For example, the control plane protocol layer structure may include the functions of the radio resource control (RRC) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, the radio link control (RLC) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, and the physical layer. For example, the user plane protocol layer structure may include the functions of the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, the MAC layer, and the physical layer. In one possible implementation, a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer may also be included above the PDCP layer.

[0122] Optionally, the protocol layer structure between the network device and the terminal device may further include an artificial intelligence (AI) layer for transmitting data related to AI functions.

[0123] Taking data transmission between network devices and terminal devices as an example, data transmission needs to pass through the user plane protocol layers, such as the SDAP layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, and physical layer. The SDAP layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, and physical layer can also be collectively referred to as the access layer. Data transmission is divided into sending or receiving based on the direction of transmission, and each of these layers is further divided into a sending part and a receiving part. Taking downlink data transmission as an example, after the PDCP layer obtains data from the upper layer, it transmits the data to the RLC layer and MAC layer. The MAC layer then generates a transport block, which is then wirelessly transmitted through the physical layer. Data is encapsulated accordingly in each layer. For example, data received by a layer from the layer above it is considered a service data unit (SDU) of that layer. After encapsulation by that layer, it becomes a protocol data unit (PDU) and is then passed to the next layer.

[0124] For example, a terminal device may also include an application layer and a non-access layer. The application layer can be used to provide services to applications installed in the terminal device. For example, downlink data received by the terminal device can be sequentially transmitted from the physical layer to the application layer, which then provides it to the application. For another example, the application layer can obtain data generated by the application and sequentially transmit the data to the physical layer for transmission to other communication devices. The non-access layer can be used to forward user data, such as forwarding uplink data received from the application layer to the SDAP layer, or forwarding downlink data received from the SDAP layer to the application layer.

[0125] It should be understood that the number and type of each device in the communication system shown in Figure 1 are for illustration only, and the present application is not limited to this. In actual applications, the communication system may also include more terminal devices, more access network devices, and other network elements, such as core network devices, and / or network elements for implementing artificial intelligence functions.

[0126] It is understandable that all or part of the functions implemented by one or more of the terminal equipment, access network equipment, core network equipment, or network elements for implementing artificial intelligence functions can be virtualized, that is, implemented by one or more of the proprietary processors or general-purpose processors and the corresponding software modules. Among them, since the terminal equipment and the access network equipment involve interfaces for air interface transmission, the transceiver functions of the interfaces can be implemented by hardware. Core network equipment, such as operation administration and maintenance (OAM) network elements, can be virtualized. Optionally, one or more functions of the virtualized terminal equipment, access network equipment, core network equipment, or network elements for implementing artificial intelligence functions can be implemented by cloud devices, such as cloud devices in over the top (OTT) systems.

[0127] The following first introduces several concepts involved in this application:

[0128] (1) NTN network:

[0129] An NTN network utilizes radio frequency resources from satellites (or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or high altitude platform stations (HAPS)). Compared to terrestrial cellular networks (such as 5G mobile communication systems), NTN networks offer wide coverage, low latency, broadband, and low cost. As a supplement and extension of terrestrial networks, NTN networks can achieve wide-area seamless coverage that neither wired telephone networks nor terrestrial mobile communication networks can achieve, effectively addressing internet access challenges in areas lacking communication infrastructure. With a large number of satellites deployed in low-Earth orbit, the round-trip data transmission latency between satellites and ground-based terminal devices is significantly reduced, reaching a low latency of tens of milliseconds. The use of high-frequency bands, multi-spot beams, and frequency reuse technologies has significantly enhanced satellite communication capabilities, reducing unit bandwidth costs and meeting the demands of high-information-rate services. Compared to terrestrial 5G base stations and submarine fiber optic cables, NTNs offer significant cost advantages. Modern small satellites are inexpensive to develop and manufacture, and software-defined technologies can further extend the service life of in-orbit satellites. NTN networks can be used in scenarios such as global coverage (such as remote areas and ocean-going ships), emergency rescue (such as disaster monitoring and emergency communications), the Internet of Everything, and high-speed mobility (such as high-speed rail and airplanes).

[0130] Typical scenarios for NTN networks to provide terminal device access include transparent payloads and regenerative payloads. As shown in Figure 2A, a schematic diagram of an NTN scenario based on transparent payloads, a transparent payload changes the frequency carrier of the uplink RF signal, filtering and amplifying it before downlink transmission. This payload only has an RF processing unit and does not perform baseband demodulation, decoding, or other processing. Therefore, the signal waveform is unchanged and repeated. As shown in Figure 2B, a schematic diagram of an NTN scenario based on regenerative payloads, a regenerative payload transforms and amplifies the uplink RF (radio frequency, RF) signal before downlink transmission. Signal conversion refers to digital processing, which can include demodulation, decoding, re-encoding, remodulation, and / or filtering. This is effectively equivalent to having all or part of the base station functions on a satellite (or UAS platform).

[0131] The above-mentioned NTN network generally has the following elements:

[0132] (1) There are one or more gateways connecting the NTN network and the common data network.

[0133] (2) Feeder link: The wireless link between the gateway and the satellite (or UAS platform).

[0134] (3) Service link: The wireless link between the terminal device and the satellite (or UAS platform).

[0135] (4) Satellites (or UAS platforms) can realize transparent payloads and regenerative payloads.

[0136] (5) Whether the satellite constellation has an inter-satellite link (ISL) is optional. ISLs require that the satellites be regenerative payloads (i.e., if ISLs are present, the satellites must be regenerative payloads). ISLs can operate in either RF or optical bands.

[0137] (6) The terminal device is served by a satellite (or UAS platform) within the target service area.

[0138] (2) Extremely wide coverage:

[0139] 6G and future communication systems may consider extreme wide coverage scenarios. Extreme wide coverage scenarios have the following characteristics:

[0140] First, in the extreme wide coverage scenario, the transmission distance is long, the path loss is large, and the power on the access network equipment and terminal equipment side is limited.

[0141] Second, the access network equipment is located at a higher position, and the channel between the access network equipment and the terminal equipment is close to the line of sight (LOS).

[0142] Third, with extremely wide coverage, it is necessary to meet the access of terminal devices within the full coverage and ensure the performance of terminal devices.

[0143] This extreme wide coverage scenario can meet a variety of requirements. For example, one scenario involves satellite coverage, which covers a large area. Another scenario involves ultra-large ground coverage, covering tens of kilometers. Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of an extreme wide coverage scenario.

[0144] Since satellites have the advantage of being less susceptible to natural disasters or external damage, they can be used as access network equipment (such as base stations) in mobile communication systems to provide communication services to areas such as oceans and forests. Unlike ground base stations, satellites move faster relative to the ground and the signal propagation distance is longer, which makes the signal path loss of satellites as base stations greater. The communication mechanism designed for terminal devices and ground base stations in current mobile communication systems cannot be directly applied between terminal devices and satellite base stations. Therefore, in order to enable satellites to serve as base stations to provide communication services to terminal devices, how to overcome the signal path loss of the communication signal between the terminal device and the satellite base station to improve coverage, and how to ensure that the terminal device can stably complete initial access and reduce access delay are currently urgent issues that need to be addressed.

[0145] To support wider service coverage, access network equipment may need to provide network services for a larger communication area. For example, in non-terrestrial networks (NTNs), each satellite / high-altitude platform / base station typically covers a large area. Given a given link budget and system resources, the satellite network uses beam design to increase the coverage area of ​​a single beam, thereby improving overall satellite coverage. However, due to the limited coverage of a single beam, a single satellite still requires a large number of beams to achieve full coverage.

[0146] (3) Initial access of terminal equipment:

[0147] During the initial access phase, the satellite, as a network device, needs to sequentially scan all beams and configure random access resources for the terminal device. The random access process generally refers to the process from when the terminal device sends a random access preamble (preamble) to attempt to access the network device, to when a basic signaling connection is established between the terminal device and the network device. Currently, network devices can broadcast different SSBs for different communication areas and distinguish them by the SSB index number. Generally, different SSB index numbers represent downlink synchronization signals in different beam directions, covering and serving different areas. After receiving the SSB, the terminal device completes timing synchronization and confirms the time-frequency position of SIB1 based on the information indicated in the SSB. It then parses SIB1 to obtain cell information. It detects SIB19 based on the SIB19 search space configured in SIB1 and completes data parsing to obtain the satellite's ephemeris information. After obtaining the cell information and / or ephemeris information, the terminal device sends a random access preamble on the corresponding uplink resource based on the configuration information and the SSB index number. For the network device, the area where the terminal device is located can be determined through the received random access preamble and the corresponding uplink resources, and a connection can be established with the terminal device.

[0148] In the current NR technology, the initial access and service data transmission stages of NR are clearly defined:

[0149] Figure 4 shows the process flow of the initial access and service data transmission phase of NR. The figure uses the four-step random access process as an example, but in actual use, it can also be applied to the two-step random access process. Specifically, the process is as follows:

[0150] 1. Initial access phase: The network device (e.g., gNB) transmits the SSB synchronization channel using a wide beam, and other channels are associated with the SSB beam.

[0151] Step 1: The terminal device receives SIB1 based on the SSB and obtains cell information, random access opportunity (RO) resource configuration information, etc. from SIB1. Furthermore, the terminal device determines the RO resource to be used based on the SSB index and RO resource configuration information, and sends a physical random access channel (PRACH) on the RO resource associated with the SSB to initiate a random access request;

[0152] Step 2: The network device receives the above PRACH and sends a random access response (RAR) to the terminal device. The RAR schedules the terminal device to send message 3 (Msg3) of the random access process on the corresponding time-frequency resources to initiate a radio resource control (RRC) establishment request (RRCSetupRequest);

[0153] Step 3: After receiving the above Msg3, the network device sends message 4 (Msg4) in the random access process to the terminal device to perform RRC establishment (RRCSetup);

[0154] Step 4: After receiving the above message 4 (Msg4), the terminal device sends message 5 (Msg5) in the random access process, thereby completing the initial access process;

[0155] Second, during the service data transmission phase, network equipment obtains channel state information (CSI) or user location and uses narrow beams for service data transmission, improving link budget and communication rate.

[0156] However, referring to the initial access process of NR, the use of the same wide beam for SIB1 / RAR / Msg4 and SSB during the initial access process in the extreme wide coverage scenario will result in link budget issues. Using a wide beam during the access process can ensure comprehensive coverage, but the gain of a wide beam is low. The necessary signaling data channels such as SIB1 / RAR / Msg4 in the initial access process have higher demodulation thresholds than SSB. In summary, using a wide beam to send SSB can ensure demodulation performance, while sending PDSCH demodulation performance is insufficient.

[0157] Furthermore, obtaining the SSB message first and then obtaining the cell information from SIB1 requires two steps of information acquisition, which results in a certain delay and affects the access efficiency.

[0158] Among them, the format of NR's SSB is as follows:

[0159] Figure 5 shows the format of the NR SSB. The NR SSB includes the primary synchronization signal (PSS), the secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) (main information block (MIB)).

[0160] Among them, PSS is a sequence, occupying the first symbol of SSB and 127 resource elements (RE).

[0161] SSS is a sequence, occupying the third symbol of SSB and 127 RE resources.

[0162] The PBCH is a control channel, transmitted using a short code with Polar coding. It occupies symbols 2-4 of the SSB, occupying 240*2+48*2=576 REs, of which 25% is the demodulation reference signal (DMRS). The effective resources are 576*0.75=432 REs, modulated using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) to 432*2=864 bits (after encoding). The effective bits are 24 (MIB) + 8 (PBCH payload) + 24 (CRC) = 56 bits, with a code rate of 32 / 864 = 0.037.

[0163] The specific bits in the PBCH are divided into the major information block (MIB) information generated by the higher layers and the physical broadcast channel payload (PBCH payload) information generated by the physical layer. Specifically, the MIB includes the upper 6 bits of the system frame number, the time-frequency position of SIB1, and the DMRS configuration. The 8-bit information in the PBCH payload includes the lower 4 bits of the system frame number, the SSB index, and the half-frame indicator.

[0164] Among them, the format of LTE SSB is as follows:

[0165] SSB in LTE also includes PSS, SSS and PBCH.

[0166] The PSS is a ZC sequence of length 63, occupying 6 resource blocks (RBs). It is sent on the last orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of the first time slot of subframes 0 and 5 in frequency division duplexing (FDD). It is sent on the third OFDM symbol of subframes 1 and 6 in time division duplexing (TDD).

[0167] SSS is an M sequence, which is one symbol ahead of PSS in FDD and three symbols ahead of PSS in TDD.

[0168] PBCH is transmitted using the broadcast channel (BCH). The name of the information element is BCCH-BCH-Message. The specific information in the MIB includes the downlink system bandwidth (dl-Bandwidth), the physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH) configuration (phich-Config), the system frame number (systemFrameNumber), and the reserved bits (spare) totaling 24 bits.

[0169] However, whether it is the above-mentioned NR SSB design or the LTE SSB design, the MIB is transmitted using the control channel, and the number of bits carried is limited, which is not enough for the access process.

[0170] In view of this, the present application provides a communication solution, which can reduce the delay of terminal devices initiating random access and improve the efficiency of random access by sending system information including the location information of network devices and synchronization sequences in the same information block.

[0171] As shown in Figure 6, a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown. Exemplarily, the method may include the following steps:

[0172] S601. The network device sends an information block to the terminal device in a time slot. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the information block.

[0173] As shown in Figure 7, a format diagram of an information block provided in an embodiment of the present application is provided, and the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information. Among them, the synchronization sequence includes PSS and SSS. The system information carries the information used by the terminal device to initiate random access. Exemplarily, the number of bits of the system information can be on the order of 200 bits. The system information is different from the MIB in the existing PBCH and can be called an extended-major information block (MIB-E). Exemplarily, the system information includes the location information of the network device and the configuration information (rach-ConfigCommon) of random access.

[0174] Furthermore, the system information may also include at least one of the following: uplink transmission common configuration (uplinkConfigCommonSIB / BWP-UplinkCommon), downlink transmission common configuration (DownlinkConfigCommonSIB / BWP-DownlinkCommon), the number of information blocks, the period of information blocks, and the pattern of information blocks.

[0175] Furthermore, the above-mentioned information block may also include multiple DMRSs, which are used for demodulating the system information in the information block, channel estimation, and time-frequency offset estimation. Considering that the time-frequency offset may be too large under extremely wide coverage, multiple DMRSs are required for joint demodulation to optimize performance and improve transmission performance. As shown in Figure 7, an example is shown in which two DMRSs are included in the information block. The figure is only an example, and the positions of the two DMRSs can be any two symbols. In one example, the multiple DMRSs can be located between the system information. In another example, the DMRS can also be located between the synchronization sequence and the system information. In addition, the number of DMRSs can also be expanded to 1, 2, 3 or more, which can be selected and configured according to network performance, or pre-configured or agreed upon according to network performance.

[0176] In one implementation, in the above-mentioned information block, the synchronization sequence and the system information are continuous in the time domain, and the time domain position of the synchronization sequence is located before the time domain position of the system information. Still referring to Figure 7, the information block is carried on a time slot. Among them, PSS occupies the first symbol in the time slot, and SSS occupies the second symbol in the time slot, and sequence transmission is used. The sequences of PSS and SSS are used for timing and synchronization. Putting them at the beginning of the time slot can ensure that the sequence detection is completed as soon as possible. In addition, PSS and SSS are centrally configured, which can free up more continuous time domain resources for the subsequent transmission of system information. The system information occupies the 3rd to the 14th symbols in the time slot, and the system information occupies 12 consecutive symbols in the time domain. More resources can be used to transmit the system information required for access, thereby increasing the number of transmittable information bits.

[0177] In one implementation, the bandwidth corresponding to the above information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks. Taking an SCS of 30kHz as an example, the bandwidth corresponding to the above information block is 12RB, corresponding to a small bandwidth of 4.32MHz. In this implementation, the system information occupies a small bandwidth in the frequency domain, and power aggregation can be used to increase the link budget of downlink transmission, thereby increasing the number of transmittable information bits. The MIB in NR generally occupies 20 RBs, and when SCS = 30kHz, a bandwidth of 7.2MHz is required.

[0178] In one implementation, the information block is carried on the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). In this implementation, using the PDSCH to carry the information block of this embodiment can carry more transmission bits than the existing MIB transmission via the PBCH control channel. For example, the PDSCH can carry thousands of bits, while the PBCH can carry tens of bits.

[0179] In this embodiment, the synchronization sequence and system information are included in one information block and sent to the terminal device at the same time. The terminal device can receive the synchronization sequence and system information at the same time without the need for two-step information acquisition as in the prior art, thereby reducing the access delay of the terminal device.

[0180] S602. The terminal device initiates a random access request to the cell synchronized with the synchronization sequence based on the system information. Correspondingly, the network device receives the random access request.

[0181] After receiving the above information block, the terminal device parses and obtains the synchronization sequence and system information in the information block. The terminal device can synchronize with a cell in the network device based on the synchronization sequence. Then, based on the system information, the terminal device initiates random access to the cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence. Initiating random access specifically refers to the terminal device sending a random access request to the network device. The random access request is carried on the physical random access channel (PRACH). The random access request includes a random access preamble. The random access request can also be called message 1 (Msg1).

[0182] Furthermore, after receiving the random access request sent by the terminal device, the network device sends a reserved system information block (SIB-R) and a random access response to the terminal device using a beam of the first beam width. After receiving the random access response, the terminal device sends message 3 of the random access process to the network device. After receiving message 3 of the random access process on the beam of the first beam width, the network device sends message 4 to the terminal device using the beam of the first beam width. And after receiving message 4, the terminal device sends message 5 of the random access process to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives message 5 of the random access process on the beam of the first beam width.

[0183] Among them, the above-mentioned SIB-R is the remaining system information in the existing SIB1 except for the system information in the above-mentioned information block. That is, the system information of this embodiment carries the information necessary for the terminal device to initiate random access, which reduces the amount of carried information compared to SIB1 and can improve transmission performance. For example, under the same time-frequency resources, the number of transmission bits is reduced, which is equivalent to reducing the transmission bit rate, thereby improving transmission performance. For example, the reduction in the number of transmission bits can also reduce the occupied time-frequency resources, thereby reducing resource occupancy overhead, thereby improving performance. It is also possible to further improve transmission performance by reducing the frequency domain resource occupancy, thereby using power aggregation and other methods.

[0184] In one implementation, the information block is carried on a first beam, and the beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width. That is, sending the information block via a wide beam can improve coverage performance.

[0185] As shown in Figure 8, a schematic diagram of an access and data transmission process provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown. The network device sends a synchronization sequence and system information via a wide beam, and the synchronization sequence and system information are included in a single information block. As shown in Figure 9, a schematic diagram of the beams in an embodiment of the present application is shown. The wide beam is equivalent to multiple regional narrow beams. In Figure 9, one wide beam is equivalent to three regional narrow beams. After receiving the information block, the terminal device initiates random access to the network device. After receiving the random access request sent by the terminal device, the network device sends SIB-R and random access response to the terminal device on multiple regional narrow beams. Therefore, the system information in the above information block can be referred to as cell-level system information, and SIB-R can be referred to as regional system information. After receiving the random access response, the terminal device sends message 3 of the random access process to the network device. After receiving the random access request, the network device can determine the location of the terminal device, and thus can determine a regional narrow beam from the multiple regional narrow beams. Exemplarily, the location of the terminal device can be a coarse-grained location used to determine the regional narrow beam to which the terminal device belongs. Alternatively, the terminal device may report specific location information. After receiving message 3 during the random access process on a specific regional narrow beam, the network device sends message 4 to the terminal device on the same regional narrow beam. Furthermore, after receiving message 4, the terminal device sends message 5 during the random access process to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives message 5 during the random access process on the same regional narrow beam. The network device sending message 4 and receiving messages 3 and 5 during the random access process on the specific regional narrow beam can improve transmission performance.

[0186] After the terminal device completes the random access process, the network device transmits data with the terminal device on a narrow beam with the granularity of the terminal device (referred to as "data transmission").

[0187] In the extremely wide coverage scenario, the network equipment needs a large number of beams to complete full coverage, that is, the network equipment needs to send the above-mentioned multiple information blocks in multiple beam directions. As shown in Figure 10, it is a transmission diagram of multiple information blocks in an embodiment of the present application, and the above-mentioned multiple information blocks are continuous in the time domain. Taking the subcarrier spacing SCS = 30kHz as an example, a system frame (each system frame corresponds to a system frame number (SFN)) includes 20 time slots, and each information block occupies 1 time slot. For example, assume that a maximum of L information blocks can be sent in an information block period. Wherein, L represents the maximum number of information blocks and can take different values. In Figure 10, a maximum of 32 (L = 32) information blocks (information block #0 to information block #L-1, that is, information block #0 to information block #31) can be sent in one information block period, and multiple information blocks are configured to be continuous in the time domain, so that when the terminal device searches for information blocks, it can concentrate on receiving these multiple information blocks in the time domain and determine the information block to be used. The centralized pattern design reduces access latency for terminal devices, enabling earlier access. The centralized information block provides system information for multiple consecutive time slots, allowing terminal devices to jointly demodulate and receive system information from adjacent time slots, improving performance.

[0188] For a network device that sends multiple information blocks, these multiple information blocks correspond to multiple network coverage areas. Each information block is carried on a first beam, and the network coverage area corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage area of ​​a beam sent with the first beam width. That is, the information blocks are sent via a wide beam.

[0189] In addition, each information block can have an index for identification. For example, the information block in time slot 0 has an index of 0, the information block in time slot 1 has an index of 1, and so on. This index can be carried in the information block. In one example, the index can be carried in system information. It can be indicated by a specific bit or in combination with at least one of the time domain resource and frequency domain resource location. In another example, the index can also be carried in one or more of the PSS, SSS, and system information.

[0190] According to a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, by sending system information including location information of a network device and a synchronization sequence in the same information block, the delay for a terminal device to initiate random access can be reduced, thereby improving the efficiency of random access.

[0191] The above embodiment redefines the format of SSB. In the following embodiment, it will be described that the existing format of SSB is not changed, but system information is additionally transmitted.

[0192] As shown in Figure 11, it is a flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Exemplarily, the method may include the following steps:

[0193] S1101. A network device sends at least one information block to a terminal device in a time slot. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the at least one information block in the time slot.

[0194] In this embodiment, the time-frequency position of the existing SSB is retained unchanged. The SSB includes the PSS, SSS, and MIB. An additional information block is defined. The information block is used to carry the information necessary for the terminal device to initiate random access. The information block includes the location information of the network device and the configuration information of the random access (rach-ConfigCommon). The location information of the network device and the configuration information of the random access can be referred to as MIB-E. The MIB-E carries the information necessary for the terminal device to initiate random access. Exemplarily, the number of bits of the MIB-E can be on the order of 200 bits.

[0195] Furthermore, the MIB-E may also include at least one of the following: uplink transmission common configuration (uplinkConfigCommonSIB / BWP-UplinkCommon), downlink transmission common configuration (DownlinkConfigCommonSIB / BWP-DownlinkCommon), the number of information blocks, the period of information blocks, and the pattern of information blocks.

[0196] Furthermore, each information block may further include one or more DMRSs, which are used to demodulate the MIB-E in the information block.

[0197] In this embodiment, the network device can send at least one information block in one time slot. As shown in Figure 12, a format diagram of an information block in a single time slot provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown. The MIB-E in one information block occupies 6 symbols and is configured with a DMRS of 1 symbol. A total of 2 information blocks can be placed in the entire time slot. Information block #0 occupies the time domain resources of the first half of the time slot, and information block #1 occupies the time domain resources of the second half of the time slot. When the number of information bits of the information block is limited and / or the link budget (i.e., transmission performance, which is related to power and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)) is sufficient, an information block can occupy up to 7 symbols, and 2 information blocks can be placed in 1 time slot. And since the number of time domain symbols occupied by MIB-E is not large, 1 DMRS can be used for channel estimation and / or time-frequency offset estimation, etc.

[0198] In the extreme wide coverage scenario, the network equipment needs a large number of beams to achieve full coverage, that is, the network equipment needs to send multiple SSBs and multiple information blocks in multiple beam directions. In an example, as shown in Figure 13, a format diagram of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application is provided. Multiple SSBs and multiple information blocks can be sent in one system frame. In this embodiment, the information block and the SSB are separated by N time units, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0. In Figure 13, information blocks #0-1 and SSB #6-7 are separated by 4 time slots. Different SSBs and information blocks correspond to different network coverage ranges. For example, in Figure 13, SSB #0 and information #0 correspond to network coverage range 0; SSB #1 and information #1 correspond to network coverage range 1; and so on.

[0199] Among them, the position of SSB is in accordance with the existing definition; the information block is defined in a specific time domain position. For example, in Figure 13, SSB#0 to SSB#7 occupy time slots 0-3, and information blocks #0 to #7 occupy time slots 8-11. These multiple information blocks are continuous in the time domain, which can provide continuous time domain resources for the transmission of other data. In Figure 13, information blocks #0 to #7 are continuous in the time domain. The time domain resource positions in the figure are only examples. In fact, information blocks corresponding to different SSB indexes can also be in other time slots. Considering that the amount of information blocks that need to be transmitted is on the order of 100-200 bits and the link budget is limited, the information blocks need to occupy independent time domain resources and do not share the same time domain resources with SSB. Optionally, when the link budget is sufficient and / or the number of information bits is not large, the information blocks can also occupy the same time domain resources as SSB.

[0200] In another example, the information block corresponding to an SSB can also occupy one time slot for transmission. As shown in Figure 14, another information block and SSB format diagram provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown. One information block occupies one time slot, and information blocks #0 to #7 occupy a total of 8 time slots in a system frame. The specific number of symbols occupied by MIB-E can be flexibly defined based on the amount of data to be transmitted.

[0201] In another example, the information block corresponding to each SSB can also occupy discrete time slots. As shown in Figures 15 and 16, another format diagram of an information block and SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown. One information block occupies one time slot, and the time slots occupied by information blocks #0 to #7 are discrete. In this way, the vacant time slots in the system frame can be used to transmit other data corresponding to the same SSB, and can also provide information blocks with the opportunity for repeated transmission, thereby improving transmission performance and increasing the reliability of information block reception and demodulation.

[0202] In another example, multiple information blocks and multiple SSBs can be separated by a certain amount of time resources. Figure 17 shows another format diagram of information blocks and SSBs provided in an embodiment of the present application. Considering that a certain amount of processing time is required between the terminal device receiving the SSB for demodulation and receiving the information block, the intervals between the SSB and the information block can be configured with different time domain resources.

[0203] For a network device that transmits multiple information blocks, the multiple information blocks correspond to multiple network coverage areas. At least one information block may be carried on a first beam, and the network coverage area corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage area of ​​a beam transmitted with a first beam width. That is, the at least one information block is transmitted via a wide beam.

[0204] In addition, each information block can have an index for identification. For example, the information block in time slot 0 has an index of 0, the information block in time slot 1 has an index of 1, and so on. This index can be carried in the information block. It can be indicated by a specific bit or combined with at least one of the time domain resource location and the frequency domain resource location.

[0205] In one implementation, the bandwidth corresponding to each information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks. Taking an SCS of 30kHz as an example, the bandwidth corresponding to the information block in Figure 12 is 12RB, corresponding to a small bandwidth of 4.32MHz. In this implementation, the information block occupies a small bandwidth in the frequency domain, and power aggregation can be used to improve the link budget for downlink transmission, thereby increasing the number of transmittable information bits. In NR, the MIB generally occupies 20 RBs, and when the SCS = 30kHz, a bandwidth of 7.2MHz is required.

[0206] In one implementation, the at least one information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). In this implementation, the PDSCH can carry more transmission bits by carrying the information block of this embodiment. For example, the PDSCH can carry thousands of bits.

[0207] Unlike existing SSBs, the SSB of this embodiment can be used to indicate the time-frequency resource location of the corresponding information block. After receiving the SSB, the terminal device can determine the time-frequency resource location of the information block corresponding to the SSB based on the information carried in the SSB.

[0208] Exemplarily, the time domain position of the information block corresponding to the SSB can be indicated by several bits in the SSB, and the frequency domain position of the information block corresponding to the SSB can be indicated by several bits in the SSB. Exemplarily, the SSB is used to indicate the index of the time domain offset value and / or the index of the frequency domain offset value. The time domain offset value is the time domain offset value between each information block and the SSB corresponding to each information block, and the frequency domain offset value is the offset value of the frequency domain starting or ending position between each information block and the SSB corresponding to each information block. Exemplarily, the time domain offset value can be a time slot offset value. The predefined table index and / or formula parameter value of the time-frequency resource configuration can be indicated by several bits in the SSB. Among them, the specific parameters and values ​​in the predefined time-frequency resource configuration table are used to indicate the time-frequency resource position of the information block.

[0209] For example, in the time domain, the time domain search space of the information block is offset by X compared to the time slot where the SSB is located. Where n is the time slot, n MIB-E is the timeslot position of the information block or MIB-E, n SSB is the time slot position of the SSB. The value of X is determined by the index of Table 1 of the bit indication in the SSB. N is the number of SSBs in each time slot. Taking the format diagram of another information block and SSB provided in the embodiment of the present application shown in Figure 18 as an example, each time slot includes 2 SSBs, so N = 2. i is the index of the SSB; L is the number of SSBs per unit time. The unit time here can be the system frame level, such as 10ms, 20ms.

[0210] Assuming that the time domain position of SSB 0 is time slot 0, and the index of table 1 indicated is 4, then X=8. Therefore, the time domain position of the information block or MIB-E corresponding to SSB 0 is time slot The time domain position of the information block or MIB-E corresponding to SSB 1 is the time slot

[0211] Table 1 PDCCH monitoring opportunity parameters of information block

[0212] In the frequency domain, the frequency domain resource of the information block or MIB-E is offset by Y compared to the frequency domain resource where the SSB is located. For example f MIB-E_i The frequency domain start / end position of MIB-E, The frequency domain starting / ending position of SSB i. The value of Y is determined by the index of the bit indication table 2 in the SSB. For example, when Y = 0RB, it means that the starting position or ending position of the frequency domain resource of MIB-E is the same as the starting position or ending position of the frequency domain resource of SSB.

[0213] Table 2 COREST resource blocks of PDCCH monitoring opportunities of information blocks

[0214] The information block is located in the subsequent free time slots in the system frame. As shown in Figure 19, another format diagram of an information block and SSB is provided in an embodiment of the present application. When the number of SSBs exceeds 8, Figure 19 illustrates 16 SSBs: SSB#0 to SSB15. After every 8 SSBs, information blocks corresponding to 8 SSBs are arranged. This allows the terminal device to receive subsequent information blocks as quickly as possible after demodulating the SSBs to obtain the cell information required to initiate random access, thereby reducing access delay. The interval time slots between the SSBs and the information blocks shown in Figure 19 are for example only, and different configurations are possible. In one possible case, as shown in Figure 19, SSB#7 and information block #0 are placed next to each other. Under this arrangement, the terminal device can receive MIB-E faster.

[0215] S1102. The terminal device initiates random access to the cell synchronized based on the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block based on each information block.

[0216] After receiving at least one of the aforementioned information blocks, the terminal device can determine a preferred information block and then synchronize with a cell in the network device based on the SSB corresponding to the information block. The terminal device then initiates random access to the cell synchronized based on the SSB. Initiating random access specifically involves the terminal device sending a random access request to the network device. This random access request is carried on a physical random access channel. The random access request includes a random access preamble. This random access request may also be referred to as message 1.

[0217] Furthermore, after receiving the random access request sent by the terminal device, the network device sends a reserved system information block and a random access response to the terminal device using a beam with a first beam width. After receiving the random access response, the terminal device sends message 3 of the random access procedure to the network device. After receiving message 3 of the random access procedure on a beam with a first beam width, the network device sends message 4 to the terminal device using a beam with a first beam width. And after receiving message 4, the terminal device sends message 5 of the random access procedure to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives message 5 of the random access procedure on a beam with a first beam width.

[0218] The SIB-R is the remaining system information in the existing SIB1 except for the MIB-E in the information block. That is, the MIB-E of this embodiment carries the information necessary for the terminal device to initiate random access, which reduces the amount of carried information compared to SIB1 and can improve the link budget.

[0219] In one implementation, the at least one information block is carried on a first beam, and the beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width. That is, sending the at least one information block via a wide beam can improve coverage performance.

[0220] The network device can transmit SSBs and information blocks via a wide beam, which is equivalent to multiple regional narrow beams. After receiving the information block, the terminal device initiates random access to the network device. After receiving the random access request sent by the terminal device, the network device sends SIB-Rs and random access responses to the terminal device via multiple regional narrow beams. Therefore, MIB-E in the information block can be referred to as cell-level system information, and SIB-R can be referred to as regional system information. After receiving the random access response, the terminal device sends message 3 of the random access procedure to the network device. After receiving the random access request, the network device can determine the terminal device's location and thereby identify a regional narrow beam from the multiple regional narrow beams. For example, the terminal device's location can be a coarse-grained location used to determine the regional narrow beam to which the terminal device belongs. Alternatively, the terminal device can report specific location information. After receiving message 3 of the random access procedure on the determined regional narrow beam, the network device sends message 4 to the terminal device via the same regional narrow beam. Furthermore, after receiving message 4, the terminal device sends message 5 of the random access procedure to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives message 5 of the random access process on the area-level narrow beam. The network device sends message 4 and receives message 3 and message 5 of the random access process on the determined area-level narrow beam, which can improve transmission performance.

[0221] After the terminal device completes the random access process, the network device transmits data with the terminal device on a narrow beam with the granularity of the terminal device.

[0222] According to a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, a network device sends at least one information block at a position N time units apart from a synchronization signal / broadcast signal block, and the at least one information block carries the necessary information for a terminal device to initiate random access, so that the terminal device can access the cell in a timely manner and reduce access delay.

[0223] In this application, "sending information to... (e.g., a terminal device)" or the related illustrations in the accompanying drawings can be understood as the destination end of the information being the terminal device. This can include sending information to the terminal device directly or indirectly. "Receiving information from... (e.g., a terminal device)" or "receiving information from... (e.g., a terminal device)", or the related illustrations in the accompanying drawings can be understood as the source end of the information being the terminal device, which can include receiving information from the terminal device directly or indirectly. The information may be processed as necessary between the source end and the destination end of the information transmission, such as format changes, etc., but the destination end can understand the valid information from the source end. Similar expressions in this application can be understood similarly and will not be repeated here.

[0224] It is understandable that this application uses terminal devices and network devices as examples of the execution entities of the interaction diagram, but this application does not limit the execution entities of the interaction diagram. For example, the terminal device in the method provided by this application can also be a chip, chip system, or processor applied to the terminal device, or a logical node, logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the terminal device; the network device in the method provided by this application can also be a chip, chip system, or processor applied to the network device, or a logical node, logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the network device functions.

[0225] It can be understood that in the above embodiments, the methods and / or steps implemented by the terminal device can also be implemented by components that can be used for the terminal device (such as chips or circuits); the methods and / or steps implemented by the network device can also be implemented by components that can be used for the network device (such as chips or circuits).

[0226] The above description mainly describes the solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application from the perspective of interaction between various devices. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present application also provide a communication device, which is used to implement the various methods described above. The communication device can be the terminal device in the above method embodiments, or a component that can be used in a terminal device; alternatively, the communication device can be the network device in the above method embodiments, or a component that can be used in a network device. It will be understood that, in order to implement the above functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to performing each function. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that, in combination with the various exemplary units and algorithm steps described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented in hardware or in a hardware-driven manner by computer software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professionals and technicians may 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.

[0227] In the embodiment of the present application, the functional modules of the communication device can be divided according to the above method embodiment. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing unit. 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. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods.

[0228] Figures 20 and 21 are schematic diagrams of the structures of possible communication devices provided in embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the terminal device or network device in the above-mentioned method embodiments, thereby also achieving the beneficial effects of the above-mentioned method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be one of the terminal devices 120a-120g shown in Figure 1, or a module (such as a chip) applied to the terminal device or network device.

[0229] As shown in Figure 20, the communication device 2000 includes a processing unit 2010 and a transceiver unit 2020. The communication device 2000 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device or network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 6 or Figure 11 above.

[0230] When the communication device 2000 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 6 or Figure 11: the transceiver unit 2020 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in steps S601 and S602 in the embodiment shown in Figure 6; or the transceiver unit 2020 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in steps S1101 and S1102 in the embodiment shown in Figure 11.

[0231] When the communication device 2000 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 6 or Figure 11: the transceiver unit 2020 is used to implement the functions of the network device in steps S601 and S602 in the embodiment shown in Figure 6; or the transceiver unit 2020 is used to implement the functions of the network device in steps S1101 and S1102 in the embodiment shown in Figure 11.

[0232] A more detailed description of the processing unit 2010 and the transceiver unit 2020 can be directly obtained by referring to the relevant description in the method embodiment shown in Figure 6 or Figure 11, and will not be repeated here.

[0233] As shown in Figure 21, communication device 2100 includes a processor 2110 and an interface circuit 2120. Processor 2110 and interface circuit 2120 are coupled to each other. It is understood that interface circuit 2120 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, communication device 2100 may also include a memory 2130 for storing instructions executed by processor 2110, input data required by processor 2110 to execute instructions, or data generated after processor 2110 executes instructions.

[0234] When the communication device 2100 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 11 , the processor 2110 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 2010 , and the interface circuit 2120 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 2020 .

[0235] When the communication device is a chip used in a terminal device, the terminal device chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The terminal device chip receives information from other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device; or the terminal device chip sends information to other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device.

[0236] When the communication device is a chip used in a network device, the network device chip implements the network device functions of the above method embodiments. The network device chip receives information from other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device; or the network device chip sends information to other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device.

[0237] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0238] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an erasable programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a network device or a terminal device. Of course, the processor and the storage medium can also be present in a network device or a terminal device as discrete components.

[0239] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive.

[0240] The at least one (item) involved in this application indicates one (item) or more (items). More than one (item) refers to two (items) or more than two (items). "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. In addition, it should be understood that although the terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe each object in this application, these objects should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish each object from each other.

[0241] The terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof mentioned in the following description of this application are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally include other steps or units that are not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units that are inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices. It should be noted that, in this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any method or design described in this application as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other methods or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way.

[0242] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0243] It is understood that the various numbers used in the embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receiving an information block in a time slot, wherein the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information, and the system information includes location information of a network device and configuration information of random access; Based on the system information, random access is initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving a random access response sent by the network device using a beam with a first beam width; Sending message 3 during random access; receiving a message 4 sent by the network device using a beam of the first beam width; Send message 5 in the random access procedure.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The information block is a plurality of information blocks, and the plurality of information blocks are continuous in the time domain.

4. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Sending an information block in a time slot, wherein the information block includes a synchronization sequence and system information, and the system information includes location information of a network device and configuration information of random access; Based on the system information, a random access initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization sequence is received.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending a random access response using a beam with a first beam width; Receiving message 3 of a random access procedure on a beam of the first beam width; Sending message 4 on the beam of the first beam width; A message 5 in a random access procedure is received on a beam of said first beamwidth.

6. The method according to claim 2 or 5, characterized in that The information block is carried on a first beam, and a beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The network coverage corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage of the beam sent with the first beam width.

8. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 7, characterized in that The information block is a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks are continuous in the time domain, and the plurality of information blocks correspond to a plurality of network coverage ranges.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The bandwidth corresponding to the information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that In the information block, the synchronization sequence and the system information are continuous in time domain, and the time domain position of the synchronization sequence is located before the time domain position of the system information.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that The information block also includes multiple demodulation reference signals, and the multiple demodulation reference signals are used to demodulate the system information.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that The information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that The system information further includes at least one of the following: general configuration of uplink transmission, general configuration of downlink transmission, the number of the information blocks, the period of the information blocks, and the pattern of the information blocks.

14. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receiving at least one information block in a time slot, wherein each information block in the at least one information block includes location information of a network device and configuration information of random access, and the information block is separated from a synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; Based on each information block, random access is initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving a random access response sent by the network device using a beam with a first beam width; Sending message 3 during random access; receiving a message 4 sent by the network device using a beam of the first beam width; Send message 5 in the random access procedure.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The at least one information block is continuous in the time domain.

17. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Send at least one information block in one time slot, wherein each information block in the at least one information block includes location information of the network device and configuration information of random access, and the information block is separated from the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block by N time units, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0; Based on the each information block, a random access initiated to a cell synchronized based on the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is received.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending a random access response using a beam with a first beam width; Receiving message 3 of a random access procedure on a beam of the first beam width; Sending message 4 on the beam of the first beam width; A message 5 in a random access procedure is received on said first beamwidth.

19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that The at least one information block is continuous in the time domain, and the at least one information block corresponds to at least one network coverage range respectively.

20. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, characterized in that The synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is used to indicate the time-frequency resource position of each information block.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein: The synchronization signal / broadcast signal block is used to indicate the index of the time domain offset value and / or the index of the frequency domain offset value, the time domain offset value is the time domain offset value between each information block and the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block corresponding to each information block, and the frequency domain offset value is the offset value of the frequency domain starting or ending position between each information block and the synchronization signal / broadcast signal block corresponding to each information block.

22. The method according to claim 15 or 18, characterized in that Each of the information blocks is carried on a first beam, and a beam width of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first beam width.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein: The network coverage corresponding to the first beam is greater than or equal to the coverage of the beam sent with the first beam width.

24. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 23, characterized in that The bandwidth corresponding to each information block is less than or equal to 20 resource blocks.

25. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 24, characterized in that Each of the information blocks also includes a plurality of demodulation reference signals, and the plurality of demodulation reference signals are used to demodulate the system information.

26. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 25, characterized in that The at least one information block is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

27. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 26, characterized in that Each of the information blocks further includes at least one of the following: a general configuration for uplink transmission, a general configuration for downlink transmission, the number of the information blocks, a period of the information blocks, and a pattern of the information blocks.

28. A communication device, characterized in that: The apparatus comprises means for performing the method of any one of claims 1-27.

29. A communication system, characterized in that: The method comprises a first communication device and a second communication device, wherein the first communication device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-3 and 6-13, and the second communication device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 4-13.

30. A communication system, characterized in that: The method comprises a first communication device and a second communication device, wherein the first communication device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 14-16 and 20-27, and the second communication device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 17-27.

31. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 27 when executing the computer program.

32. A computer-readable storage medium, wherein a computer program or instruction is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program or instruction is executed, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 27 is executed.

33. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises program instructions, and when the program instructions are executed, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 27 is implemented.

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