Communication method, communication apparatus, and computer-readable storage medium

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a communication method, a communication apparatus and a computer-readable storage medium. The method comprises: sending first information, wherein the content of the first information is used for indicating a current area where a terminal device is located, and / or a transmission resource for the first information is used for indicating the current area, and the current area is selected from a first set, which comprises a near-field area and a far-field area. By means of the solution provided in the present application, it can be determined whether the terminal device is located in a near-field area or a far-field area of a network device, which facilitates subsequently performing targeted configuration on the basis of channel characteristics of the area where the terminal device is located, thereby ensuring the communication performance.

Description

Communication method, communication device, and computer-readable storage medium

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on November 3, 2023, with application number 202311459439.6 and invention name “Communication Method, Communication Device and Computer-readable 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, a communication device, and a computer-readable storage medium. Background Art

[0003] In traditional Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems, due to the small number of antennas on network devices and the small aperture of the antenna array, the near-field area of ​​the antenna array is very small, and the distance between the terminal device and the network device is often greater than the Rayleigh distance. Therefore, the near-field area of ​​the network device is usually ignored, and it is usually assumed that the terminal device is in the far-field area of ​​the antenna array of the network device.

[0004] Summary of the Invention

[0005] One of the technical objectives of this application is to provide a communication method, a communication device and a computer-readable storage medium that can determine whether a terminal device is in the near-field area or the far-field area of ​​a network device, which is conducive to the subsequent targeted configuration of the network device to ensure communication performance.

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a terminal device, and the method includes: sending first information, the content of the first information is used to indicate the current area where the terminal device is located, and / or, the transmission resource of the first information is used to indicate the current area; wherein, the current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: a near-field area and a far-field area.

[0007] Optionally, the first information is a random access request, wherein, in response to the current area being the near-field area, the first information is carried on a first random access channel RACH resource; in response to the current area being the far-field area, the first information is carried on a second RACH resource.

[0008] Optionally, sending the first information includes: sending a first scheduling request SR in response to the current area being the near-field area; and sending a second SR in response to the current area being the far-field area.

[0009] Optionally, sending the first information includes: sending the first information in response to the current area being a near-field area; and / or sending the first information in response to a change in the area where the terminal device is located.

[0010] Optionally, the first information includes second information and / or third information, the second information is used to indicate the current area where the terminal device is located, and the third information is used to determine the current area.

[0011] Optionally, the second information includes at least one of the following: a type identifier of the first measurement, a type identifier of the channel transmission, a type identifier of the parameter configuration used for the first measurement, a type identifier of the parameter configuration used for the channel transmission, parameter configuration information for the first measurement, and parameter configuration information for the channel transmission.

[0012] Optionally, the third information is obtained based on the measurement of the first downlink signal, and the measurement start time of the first downlink signal is the first time unit or the second time unit after the first time unit, wherein the first time unit is at least one of the following: the time unit when the beam report or CSI report is triggered, the time unit when the new beam indication is received, the time unit when the new beam is applied, the time unit when the beam switching is performed, the time unit when the cell switching command is received, the time unit when the cell activation is performed, the time unit when the cell activation command is received, the time unit when the instruction to measure the first downlink signal is received, the time unit when at least one of the location information, distance information and angle information of the terminal device is detected to have changed and / or the change of at least one of the location information, distance information and angle information reaches a threshold value, the time unit when the first downlink signal is received during random access, and the time unit when the first downlink signal is received in the radio resource control RRC connection state.

[0013] Optionally, the first set also includes: a critical area.

[0014] Optionally, the method further includes: receiving fourth information, the fourth information including indication information and / or enabling information, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the current area, and the enabling information is used to enable the first measurement or channel transmission in the current area.

[0015] Optionally, the method further includes: receiving fifth information, the fifth information including: parameter configuration corresponding to the current area, the parameter configuration corresponding to the current area being used for the first measurement and / or channel transmission within the current area.

[0016] Optionally, the current area is the critical area, and the method further includes: receiving configuration information of a second downlink signal, where the second downlink signal is used for channel estimation of the critical area; and sending a channel estimation result of the critical area.

[0017] Optionally, the method further includes: reporting the first measurement result in the near-field area and / or the first measurement result in the far-field area.

[0018] Optionally, the first measurement result in the near-field area includes at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the near-field area; the first measurement result in the far-field area includes at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the far-field area.

[0019] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication method, which is applied to a network device, and the method includes: receiving first information, the content of the first information is used to indicate the current area where the terminal device is located, and / or, the transmission resource of the first information is used to indicate the current area; wherein, the current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: a near-field area and a far-field area.

[0020] Optionally, the method further includes: performing a second measurement; and determining the current area where the terminal device is located based on the content of the first information and / or the transmission resources of the first information, and the measurement result of the second measurement.

[0021] Optionally, the method further includes: in response to the first information being carried on a first random access channel RACH resource, determining that the current area is the near-field area; in response to the first information being carried on a second random access channel RACH resource, determining that the current area is the far-field area.

[0022] Optionally, the method further includes: in response to the first information being a first scheduling request SR, determining that the current area is the near-field area; in response to the first information being a second SR, determining that the current area is the far-field area.

[0023] Optionally, the first information includes second information and / or third information, the second information is used to indicate the current area where the terminal device is located, and the third information is used to determine the current area.

[0024] Optionally, the second information includes at least one of the following: a type identifier of the first measurement, a type identifier of the channel transmission, a type identifier of the parameter configuration used for the first measurement, a type identifier of the parameter configuration used for the channel transmission, parameter configuration information for the first measurement, and parameter configuration information for the channel transmission.

[0025] Optionally, the first set also includes: a critical area.

[0026] Optionally, the method further includes: sending fourth information, the fourth information including indication information and / or enabling information, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the current area, and the enabling information is used to enable the first measurement or channel transmission in the current area.

[0027] Optionally, the method further includes: sending fifth information, the fifth information including: parameter configuration corresponding to the current area, the parameter configuration corresponding to the current area is used for the first measurement and / or channel transmission within the current area.

[0028] Optionally, the current area is the critical area, and the method further includes: sending configuration information of a second downlink signal, where the second downlink signal is used for channel estimation of the critical area; and receiving a channel estimation result of the critical area.

[0029] Optionally, the method further includes: receiving a first measurement result in the near-field region and / or a first measurement result in the far-field region.

[0030] Optionally, the first measurement result in the near-field area includes at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the near-field area; the first measurement result in the far-field area includes at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the far-field area.

[0031] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device, comprising: a sending module for sending first information, the content of the first information being used to indicate the current area where the terminal device is located, and / or, the transmission resource of the first information being used to indicate the current area; wherein the current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: a near-field area and a far-field area.

[0032] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device, which includes: a receiving module for receiving first information, the content of the first information is used to indicate the current area where the terminal device is located, and / or, the transmission resources of the first information are used to indicate the current area; wherein, the current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: a near-field area and a far-field area.

[0033] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the communication method provided in any aspect is executed.

[0034] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program that can be run on the processor, and the processor executes the steps of the communication method of the first aspect when running the computer program.

[0035] In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device, including a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program that can be run on the processor, and when the processor runs the computer program, it executes the steps of the communication method provided in the second aspect.

[0036] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip (or a communication device) on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by the chip, the method provided in any aspect is executed.

[0037] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip module having a computer program stored thereon. When the computer program is executed by the chip module, the method provided in any aspect is executed.

[0038] In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program. When the computer program runs on a computer, it enables the computer to execute the method provided in any aspect.

[0039] In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, comprising an apparatus for executing the method of the first aspect and an apparatus for executing the method provided by the second aspect.

[0040] Compared with the prior art, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application has the following beneficial effects:

[0041] In the solution of the embodiment of the present application, a terminal device sends first information to a network device, wherein the content of the first information is used to indicate the current area where the terminal device is located, and / or the transmission resource of the first information is used to indicate the current area, wherein the current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: a near-field area and a far-field area. Thus, the network device can determine whether the terminal device is in the near-field area or the far-field area of ​​the network device based on the content of the first information and / or the transmission resource of the first information, thereby being able to perform targeted configuration based on the channel characteristics of the area where the terminal device is located, which is conducive to ensuring the communication performance of the terminal device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0042] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] FIG2 is a schematic diagram showing the characteristics of electromagnetic waves in the far field;

[0044] FIG3 is a schematic diagram showing the characteristics of electromagnetic waves in the near field region;

[0045] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of signaling interaction in a first communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of signaling interaction of a second communication method in an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of signaling interaction in a third communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG7 is a flow chart of a fourth communication method in an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of signaling interaction in a fifth communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] FIG9 is a flow chart of a sixth communication method in an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] FIG10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] FIG11 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] FIG12 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] FIG13 is a schematic diagram of a region division in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0055] The communication systems to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable include, but are not limited to, long term evolution (LTE) systems, fifth generation (5G) systems (such as new radio (NR) systems), and future evolution systems or multiple communication convergence systems. Among them, the 5G system can be a non-standalone (NSA) 5G system or a standalone (SA) 5G system. The solutions of the embodiments of the present application can also be applicable to new communication systems in the future, for example, a sixth generation (6G) communication system, a seventh generation (7G) communication system, and the like.

[0056] This application mainly relates to the communication between terminal devices (or simply referred to as terminals) and network devices.

[0057] The terminal equipment in the embodiments of the present application may refer to various forms of user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station (MS), remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal equipment (Terminal Equipment), wireless communication equipment, user agent or user device. The terminal may also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal in a future 5G network or a terminal in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this. In some embodiments of the present application, the terminal equipment may be an electronic device with a wireless data transmission function. In other embodiments of the present application, the terminal equipment may also be a device with a transceiver function, such as a chip system. The chip system may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0058] The network device in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as an access network device, for example, a base station (BS) (also referred to as a base station device), which is a device deployed in a radio access network (RAN) to provide wireless communication functions. For example, in the second-generation (2G) network, the device providing the base station function includes a base transceiver station (BTS), the device providing the base station function in the 3G network includes a node B (Node B), and the device providing the base station function in the 4G network includes an evolved node B (eNB). In wireless local area networks (WLAN), the device providing the base station function is an access point (AP), and the device providing the base station function in NR is the next generation node base station (gNB), and the further evolved node B (ng-eNB), wherein the gNB and the terminal communicate using NR technology, and the ng-eNB and the terminal communicate using evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) technology, and both gNB and ng-eNB can be connected to the 5G core network. The network device in the embodiment of the present application also includes a device that provides base station functions in a future new communication system. In some embodiments, the network device may also be a device that provides wireless communication functionality for the terminal device, such as a chip system. For example, the chip system may include a chip and may also include other discrete devices.

[0059] The Rayleigh distance (also known as the Fraunhofer distance) is usually used to measure the division between the near field and the far field. The Rayleigh distance can be expressed by the following formula: d = 2 × D 2 / λ; where d represents the Rayleigh distance, D represents the aperture of the antenna array, and λ represents the wavelength. The higher the operating frequency of the antenna array, the smaller the wavelength. If the distance between the terminal device and the network device is greater than the Rayleigh distance, the terminal device is considered to be in the far-field area of ​​the network device. If the distance between the terminal device and the network device does not exceed the Rayleigh distance, the terminal device is considered to be in the near-field area of ​​the network device. In traditional MIMO systems, due to the small aperture of the antenna array of the network device and the low operating frequency, the value of the Rayleigh distance is very small, and the near-field area of ​​the network device is usually ignored. It is assumed that the terminal device is in the far-field area of ​​the antenna array of the network device. However, with the increase in communication frequency and the increase in the scale of the antenna array, the Rayleigh distance also increases significantly, and the range of the near-field area gradually becomes non-negligible. The terminal device may be located in the near-field area of ​​the network device.

[0060] Referring to Figure 1, Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of a communication method in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, the network device 10 is configured with an extremely large aperture array (ELAA) 101, and the ELAA operates at a frequency of 60GHz. In this case, the Rayleigh distance d can reach about 100m. For terminal devices that are less than 100 meters away from the network device, these terminal devices are located in the near-field area 11. For terminal devices that are more than 100 meters away from the network device, these terminal devices are located in the far-field area 12.

[0061] 2 and 3 , FIG2 is a schematic diagram showing characteristics of electromagnetic waves in a far-field region, and FIG3 is a schematic diagram showing characteristics of electromagnetic waves in a near-field region.

[0062] As shown in FIG. 2 , the electromagnetic waves 102 emitted by the antenna elements of the ELAA 101 experience the same scatterers in the far field region. Therefore, the electromagnetic waves 102 in the far field region can be approximated as plane waves (Planar Wavefronts) 103 .

[0063] As shown in FIG3 , the electromagnetic wave 102 emitted by each antenna element of the ELAA 101 is approximately a spherical wave 104 in the near field. Therefore, the channel characteristics in the near field include at least one of the following:

[0064] (1) Due to the presence of nonlinear signal phase caused by spherical waves, traditional far-field codebooks based on plane waves are difficult to ensure good orthogonality in the near-field region. In addition, traditional discrete Fourier transform (DFT) codebooks do not consider the influence of the distance dimension. Therefore, codebooks for the far-field region are not suitable for the near-field region, and new codebook designs are needed for the near-field region.

[0065] (2) Due to the increased size of the antenna array and the near-field distribution of terminal devices, antenna elements in different areas of the antenna array experience different propagation environments, making the channel more susceptible to spatial non-stationary characteristics. That is, for a large-scale antenna array, the reflected (or scattered) signals from certain scatterers in the environment may only be received by antenna elements in a certain local area of ​​the array; vice versa, only the transmitted signals from antenna elements in a certain local area of ​​the antenna array can be reflected (or scattered) by certain scatterers in the environment. This will cause different terminal devices to be mapped to different areas of the antenna array, which poses more challenges to both channel measurement and beamforming.

[0066] (3) The rank of the channel in the near field area will change with the distance.

[0067] As can be seen from the above, due to the different electromagnetic wave characteristics in the far-field area and the near-field area, network equipment needs to be configured differently for terminal devices located in the far-field area and terminal devices located in the near-field area to meet the communication needs or measurement needs of the current area.

[0068] In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. In the scheme of the embodiment of the present application, a terminal device sends a first message to a network device, wherein the content of the first message is used to indicate the current area where the terminal device is located, and / or the transmission resource of the first message is used to indicate the current area, wherein the current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: a near-field area and a far-field area. Thus, the network device can accurately determine whether the terminal device is in the near-field area or the far-field area of ​​the antenna array based on the content of the first message and / or the transmission resource of the first message, thereby being able to perform targeted configuration based on the channel characteristics of the area where the terminal device is located, which is conducive to ensuring the communication performance of the terminal device.

[0069] The specific embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0070] Example 1

[0071] 4 is a schematic diagram of signaling interaction of the first communication method in an embodiment of the present application. The communication method shown in FIG4 may include S41 to S43. In this application, the S in each step number represents a step.

[0072] S41, the terminal device measures the first downlink signal and obtains a measurement result of the first downlink signal.

[0073] S42: The terminal device sends first information to the network device, where the first information includes a measurement result of the first downlink signal. Correspondingly, the network device receives the first information.

[0074] S43, the network device determines the current area where the terminal device is located based on the measurement result of the first downlink signal.

[0075] In S41, the terminal device measures the first downlink signal. The first downlink signal may be any existing appropriate downlink signal, such as a synchronization signal block (SSB), a positioning reference signal (PRS), a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), etc., but is not limited thereto. Alternatively, the first downlink signal may be a downlink signal defined by a future protocol, such as a downlink signal dedicated to communication in the near-field area in the future, or a downlink signal dedicated to measurement in the near-field area in the future, but is not limited thereto.

[0076] In a specific implementation, the terminal device may start measuring the first downlink signal at the first time unit or at a second time unit after the first time unit to obtain a measurement result of the first downlink signal. The second time unit is later than the first time unit, and the second time unit is separated from the first time unit by X time units, where X is a natural number, and the specific value of X can be determined by the terminal device itself, or the specific value of X can be pre-configured by the network device, or the value of X can be pre-defined by the protocol. It should be noted that the time unit in this article can refer to a symbol, a time slot, a frame, a subframe, etc., but is not limited thereto.

[0077] The first time unit may be at least one of the following: a time unit in which a beam report or a channel state information (CSI) report is triggered (for example, a time unit in which the terminal device receives a report trigger instruction, the report trigger instruction is used to trigger a beam report or a CSI report), a time unit in which a new beam indication is received, a time unit in which the terminal device applies a new beam, a time unit in which the terminal device performs beam switching, a time unit in which the terminal device performs cell switching, a time unit in which the terminal device receives a cell switching command, a time unit in which the terminal device performs cell activation, a time unit in which the terminal device receives a cell activation command, a time unit in which the terminal device receives an instruction to measure a first downlink signal, a time unit in which the terminal device detects a change in at least one of the position information, distance information, and angle information, and a time unit in which the terminal device detects a change in at least one of the position information, distance information, and angle information reaching a threshold value. The new beam indication may be a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state, Quasi Co-Location (QCL) information, QCL parameters, etc., that is, the network device indicates the new beam to the terminal device through the TCI state, QCL information, and QCL parameters. For details about the location information, distance information, and angle information, please refer to the relevant description below.

[0078] In addition, the first time unit may also be any time unit in which the first downlink signal is received during the random access process or a specific time unit in which the first downlink signal is received. For example, the first downlink signal may be an SSB, and the terminal device may measure the SSB during the random access process and determine the current area where the terminal device is located based on the measurement result of the SSB. Alternatively, the first time unit may also refer to any time unit in which the terminal device receives the first downlink signal or a specific time unit in which the first downlink signal is received in a radio resource control (RRC) connection state.

[0079] As a possible implementation method, the terminal device can perform one or more measurements on the first downlink signal within a measurement time window, the starting time unit of the measurement time window is the first time unit or the second time unit, and the length of the measurement time window can be pre-configured by the network device, or can also be pre-defined by the protocol.

[0080] Furthermore, the measurement result of the first downlink signal may include at least one of the following: quality information of the first downlink signal, path loss of the downlink (referred to as downlink path loss), time information of the first downlink signal, location information of the terminal device, distance information of the terminal device, and angle information of the terminal device.

[0081] Specifically, the quality information may include any one or more of the following: Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Receiving Quality (RSRQ), Signal to Interference & Noise Ratio (SINR), Received Signal Code Power (RSCP), Received Signal Channel Power (RSCP), Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), Carrier to Interference Ratio (CIR), etc.

[0082] The time information of the first downlink signal may refer to any one or more items: time of arrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), etc. of the first downlink signal.

[0083] The location information of the terminal device may refer to the absolute location of the terminal device, for example, the longitude and latitude of the terminal device, etc. Alternatively, the location information of the terminal device may refer to the relative location of the terminal device, for example, the location of the terminal device relative to the network device.

[0084] The distance information of a terminal device may refer to the distance between the terminal device and the network device, that is, the distance information refers to the distance of the terminal device relative to the network device. More specifically, the distance information may refer to the vertical distance between the terminal device and the antenna array or antenna panel of the network device, or may refer to the straight-line distance between the center points of the terminal device and the antenna array or antenna panel of the network device.

[0085] The angle information of the terminal device may refer to the angle of the terminal device relative to the network device. Specifically, the angle information may refer to the angle of the terminal device relative to the antenna array or antenna panel of the network device. For example, the angle may be a vertical angle or a horizontal angle. The angle information of the terminal device can be used to assist in calculating the distance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0086] From the above, the terminal device obtains the measurement result of the first downlink signal.

[0087] In S42, the terminal device reports the measurement result of the first downlink signal to the network device.

[0088] Specifically, the terminal device sends first information to the network device, where the first information includes third information, and the third information is the measurement result of the first downlink signal.

[0089] In a specific implementation, the first information may be carried on at least one of the following: a beam report, a CSI report, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource, or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource. The beam report and the CSI report may be reports triggered by the report trigger instruction described above. The PUSCH may be the most recently available uplink granted PUSCH resource that can accommodate the first information. The PUCCH resource may be the most recently available PUCCH resource that can accommodate the first information, or the PUCCH resource may be a reserved PUCCH resource that can accommodate the first information.

[0090] In S43, after receiving the first information, the network device may determine the current area where the terminal device is located based on the measurement result of the first downlink signal. In an embodiment of the present application, the current area may be an area in the first set.

[0091] In one case, the first set includes: a near-field region and a far-field region.

[0092] The near-field region may refer to an area where the distance from a network device is less than or equal to the Rayleigh distance, and the far-field region may refer to an area where the distance from a network device is greater than the Rayleigh distance. In other words, the boundary between the near-field and far-field regions is a circle with the network device as the center and the Rayleigh distance as the radius. It should be noted that other dividing lines may be used to distinguish the near-field and far-field regions, and the near-field and far-field regions may be pre-defined by the protocol.

[0093] In another embodiment, the first set may include a near-field area, a far-field area, and a critical area. Compared to the above solution, this solution can provide a more detailed division of the coverage area of ​​the network device. In particular, when a terminal device is located in the critical area between the near-field area and the far-field area, the network device can be more accurately configured to ensure communication performance.

[0094] Specifically, the critical region may be an area near a dividing line, where the dividing line may be a circle with the network device as the center and the Rayleigh distance as the radius. For example, the scope of the critical region may be predefined by the protocol. For example, the critical region may be an area whose distance from the dividing line is less than or equal to a threshold value.

[0095] Referring to Figure 13, Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of a region division according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 13, the distance between the boundary line of the near-field region and the dividing line 131 is a first threshold value D1, the distance between the boundary line 132 of the far-field region and the dividing line 131 is a second threshold value D2, the area outside the boundary line 132 is the far-field region, the critical region is located between the near-field region and the far-field region, and the far-field region is located outside the critical region.

[0096] In other embodiments, the critical region may also refer to an overlapping portion of the near-field region and the far-field region.

[0097] Continuing to refer to FIG. 4 , in S43 , the network device determines the current area where the terminal device is located based on the measurement result reported by the terminal device.

[0098] In an example, the measurement result includes the distance between the terminal device and the network device. The network device can determine the current area where the terminal device is located based on the distance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0099] In another example, the measurement result reported by the terminal device does not include the distance between the terminal device and the network device. In this case, the network device can determine the distance between the terminal device and the network device based on the measurement result, thereby determining the current area where the terminal device is located.

[0100] It should be noted that the specific method by which the network device determines the current area of ​​the terminal device in S43 may depend on the autonomous decision or specific implementation of the network device, and this embodiment does not limit this.

[0101] From the above, in the solution of embodiment 1, the terminal device reports the measurement results to the network device to assist the network device in determining the current area where the terminal device is located. The adoption of the above solution is beneficial for the network device to subsequently perform targeted configuration according to the area where the terminal device is located, which is beneficial for ensuring the communication performance of the terminal device.

[0102] For more details about the first embodiment, please refer to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments below, which will not be repeated here.

[0103] Example 2

[0104] 5, which is a schematic diagram of signaling interaction of a second communication method in an embodiment of the present application, the communication method shown in FIG5 may include S51 and S52.

[0105] S51, the terminal device measures the first downlink signal, and determines the current area where the terminal device is located based on the measurement result of the first downlink signal;

[0106] For specific details about the terminal device's measurement of the first downlink signal and the measurement result of the first downlink signal, please refer to the above description of Example 1 and will not be repeated here.

[0107] Furthermore, in the solution of embodiment 2, the terminal device determines the current area where the terminal device is located based on the measurement result of the first downlink signal.

[0108] The following describes a specific example in which the terminal device determines the current area where the terminal device is located based on the measurement result of the first downlink signal.

[0109] Example 1: The network device configures the range of each area in the first set to the terminal device through the first high-layer signaling, and the terminal device determines the current area based on the measurement result and the first high-layer signaling.

[0110] For example, the terminal device may determine its current area based on the first higher layer signaling and the location information in the measurement result.

[0111] For another example, the first high-layer signaling may include the distances between the boundaries of each area in the first set and the network devices. The terminal device can determine its current area based on the first high-layer signaling and the distance information. The distance information can be obtained by the terminal device directly measuring the first downlink signal. Alternatively, it can be inferred from the measurement results of the first downlink signal. For example, the terminal device can infer the distance information based on the measured downlink path loss.

[0112] Example 2: The network device configures the sixth information to the terminal device through the second high-layer signaling. The sixth information may include the measurement result value range corresponding to each area in the first set. The terminal device determines its current area based on the measurement results and the sixth information.

[0113] As described above, through S51, the terminal device determines the current area where it is located.

[0114] S52: The terminal device sends first information to the network device, where the first information includes second information indicating the current area. Correspondingly, the network device receives the first information.

[0115] Exemplarily, the second information may include at least one information bit, and the value of at least one information bit is used to represent the current area. The number of information bits depends on the number of areas included in the first set. For example, the second information may include 1 information bit. If the value of the information bit is 1, it indicates that the current area is a near-field area. If the value of the information bit is 0, it indicates that the current area is a far-field area. For another example, the second information may include 2 information bits. If the values ​​of these 2 information bits are 11, it indicates that the current area is a near-field area. If the value of the information bit is 00, it indicates that the current area is a far-field area. If the value of the information bit is 01 or 10, it indicates that the current area is a critical area.

[0116] As another example, the second information may include identification information. Specifically, the second information may include at least one of the following: a type identifier of the first measurement, a type identifier of the channel transmission, a type identifier of the parameter configuration used for the first measurement, and a type identifier of the parameter configuration used for the channel transmission.

[0117] The first measurement may be a physical layer measurement. For example, the first measurement may be at least one of the following: CSI measurement, beam measurement, positioning measurement, etc. Alternatively, the first measurement may be an RRC layer measurement. For example, the first measurement may be a cell measurement, etc. It should be noted that this embodiment does not limit the measurement object and measurement method of the first measurement. Various measurements defined by the protocol may be used. This document mainly uses CSI measurement and beam measurement as examples for specific description.

[0118] In the first example, the first measurement can have multiple types, and the types of the first measurement correspond one-to-one with the regions in the first set. That is, different regions correspond to different types of first measurements. The network device can determine the current region of the terminal device based on the type identifier of the first measurement in the second information.

[0119] For example, the first set includes a near-field area and a far-field area, and the first measurement has a first type and a second type, the first type corresponds to the near-field area, and the second type corresponds to the far-field area. If the second information includes the first type identifier, it indicates that the current area where the terminal device is located is the near-field area; if the second information includes the second type identifier, it indicates that the current area where the terminal device is located is the far-field area.

[0120] For another example, the first set includes a near-field area, a far-field area, and a critical area, and the first measurement has a first type, a second type, and a third type, the first type corresponding to the near-field area, the second type corresponding to the far-field area, and the third type corresponding to the critical area. If the second information includes a first type identifier, it indicates that the current area where the terminal device is located is a near-field area; if the second information includes a second type identifier, it indicates that the current area where the terminal device is located is a far-field area; if the second information includes a third type identifier, it indicates that the current area where the terminal device is located is a critical area.

[0121] In a second example, the network device configures multiple sets of parameter configurations for the first measurement for the terminal device. The set of parameter configurations for the first measurement may include at least one of the following configurations: a reference signal (RS) configuration for the first measurement, a report configuration for the first measurement, a beam configuration for the first measurement, and a codebook configuration for the first measurement.

[0122] Assuming that the first measurement is a CSI measurement, each set of parameter configurations for the CSI measurement includes at least one of the following: an RS configuration for the CSI measurement, a report configuration for the CSI measurement, a candidate beam set for the CSI measurement, and a candidate codebook set for the CSI measurement. Furthermore, assuming that the first measurement is a beamform measurement, each set of parameter configurations for the beamform measurement includes at least one of the following: an RS configuration for the beamform measurement, a report configuration for the beamform measurement, a candidate beam set for the beamform measurement, and a candidate codebook set for the beamform measurement.

[0123] Furthermore, each set of parameter configurations for the first measurement has a type identifier, and the type identifier can indicate the type of the first measurement. As described above, the type of the first measurement corresponds one-to-one to the area in the first set, and for this reason, the type identifier of the parameter configuration also corresponds one-to-one to the area in the first set. That is, the type identifier of each set of parameter configurations can indicate the area to which the set of parameter configurations is applicable. The network device can determine the current area where the terminal device is located based on the type identifier of the parameter configuration for the first measurement in the second information. For example, the first set includes a near-field area and a far-field area, and the network device configures a set of CSI report configurations for the near-field area and the far-field area respectively. Among them, the type identifiers of the CSI report configuration corresponding to the near-field area and the CSI report configuration of the far-field area are different.

[0124] In the third example, channel transmission can have multiple types, and the types of channel transmission correspond one-to-one to the areas in the first set. That is, different areas correspond to different types of channel transmission. Among them, the channel may include at least one of the following: PUSCH, PUCCH, Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Random Access Channel (RACH), etc. The network device can determine the current area where the terminal device is located based on the type identifier of the channel transmission in the second information.

[0125] For example, taking PUSCH as an example, the first set includes a near-field area and a far-field area, and PUSCH transmission has a fourth type and a fifth type, the fourth type corresponds to the near-field area, and the fifth type corresponds to the far-field area. If the second information contains the fourth type identifier, it indicates that the current area where the terminal device is located is the near-field area. If the second information contains the fifth type identifier, it indicates that the current area where the terminal device is located is the far-field area. For another example, the first set includes a near-field area, a far-field area and a critical area, and PUSCH transmission has a fourth type, a fifth type and a sixth type, the fourth type corresponds to the near-field area, the fifth type corresponds to the far-field area, and the sixth type corresponds to the critical area. If the second information contains the fourth type identifier, it indicates that the current area where the terminal device is located is the near-field area. If the second information contains the fifth type identifier, it indicates that the current area where the terminal device is located is the far-field area. If the second information contains the sixth type identifier, it indicates that the current area where the terminal device is located is the critical area.

[0126] In the fourth example, the network device configures multiple sets of parameter configurations for channel transmission for the terminal device. For example, taking PUSCH transmission as an example, each set of parameter configurations for PUSCH transmission may include at least one of the following: RS configuration required for scheduling PUSCH (such as SRS resources for codebook-based uplink transmission or SRS resources for non-codebook uplink transmission), power control parameter configuration, candidate beam set, time-frequency resource configuration, etc.

[0127] Furthermore, each set of parameter configurations for channel transmission has a type identifier, which can indicate the type of channel transmission. As described above, the type of channel transmission corresponds one-to-one to the area in the first set, and for this reason, the type identifier of the parameter configuration also corresponds one-to-one to the area in the first set. The network device can determine the current area where the terminal device is located based on the type identifier of the parameter configuration for channel transmission in the second information. For example, the first set includes a near-field area and a far-field area, and the network device configures a set of SRS configurations for codebook-based PUSCH resource transmission for the near-field area and the far-field area respectively. Among them, the type identifiers of the SRS configuration corresponding to the near-field area and the SRS configuration of the far-field area are different.

[0128] As another example, the second information may include parameter configuration information. It should be noted that, unlike the parameter configuration and parameter configuration type identifier mentioned above, parameter configuration information may refer to a portion of parameters within the parameter configuration. Specifically, while a set of parameter configurations described above corresponds to a region in the first set, in this example, a set of parameter configurations may include parameter configuration information corresponding to each region in the first set.

[0129] Specifically, the second information may include at least one of the following: parameter configuration information used for the first measurement, and parameter configuration information used for channel transmission.

[0130] In the fifth example, the second information may include parameter configuration information for the first measurement corresponding to the current area. Correspondingly, the network device determines the current area based on the parameter configuration information for the first measurement in the second information.

[0131] Specifically, a parameter configuration set for the first measurement includes parameters required for performing the first measurement in each area in the first set, and the second information may include a portion of parameters required for performing the first measurement in the current area. Accordingly, the network device determines the current area of ​​the terminal device based on the parameters included in the second information.

[0132] Taking the RS configuration for CSI measurement as an example, one RS configuration is used to configure a first RS resource set and a second RS resource set. The first RS resource set is used for the first measurement in the near-field area, and the second RS resource set is used for the first measurement in the far-field area. The second information may include information about the RS resource set required for the first measurement in the current area. Thus, the network device can determine the current area based on the RS resource set in the second information.

[0133] In the sixth example, the second information may include parameter configuration information for channel transmission corresponding to the current area. Correspondingly, the network device determines the current area based on the parameter configuration information for channel transmission in the second information.

[0134] Specifically, a set of channel transmission parameter configurations includes the parameters required for channel transmission within each zone in the first set. The second information may include a portion of the parameters required for channel transmission within the current zone. Accordingly, the network device determines the current zone of the terminal device based on the parameters included in the second information.

[0135] In one variation, if the second information includes both a type identifier corresponding to the near-field region and a type identifier corresponding to the far-field region, the second information may indicate that the current region is a critical region. Alternatively, if the second information includes both parameter configuration information corresponding to the near-field region and parameter configuration information corresponding to the far-field region, the second information may indicate that the current region is a critical region.

[0136] From the above, the second information can directly or indirectly indicate the current area where the terminal device is located.

[0137] In S51, the first information sent by the terminal device may also include a measurement result of the first downlink signal.

[0138] As described above, in the solution of Example 2, the terminal device determines its current area based on the measurement results and reports it to the network device to assist the network device in determining the current area of ​​the terminal device. The above solution is conducive to the network device's subsequent targeted configuration based on the area where the terminal device is located, which is conducive to ensuring the communication performance of the terminal device. For more details about Example 2, please refer to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments in this document and will not be repeated here.

[0139] Example 3

[0140] 6, which is a schematic diagram of signaling interaction in a third communication method according to an embodiment of the present application, the communication method shown in FIG6 may include S61.

[0141] S61, the terminal device sends first information to the network device, and the transmission resource of the first information is used to indicate the current area.

[0142] Prior to S61, the network device may send multiple sets of transmission resource configurations to the terminal device, with different sets of transmission resource configurations configuring different transmission resources. It should be noted that different transmission resources herein may refer to different time domain locations and / or different frequency domain locations. The transmission resource configurations may correspond one-to-one to each area in the first set, and the transmission resources configured by each transmission resource configuration are used to send the first information when the terminal device is located in the area corresponding to the transmission resource configuration.

[0143] Exemplarily, the near-field area corresponds to a first transmission resource, the far-field area corresponds to a second transmission resource, and the critical area corresponds to a third transmission resource. The first transmission resource, the second transmission resource, and the third transmission resource are different from each other. After the terminal device determines its current area, the terminal device can carry the first information on the transmission resource corresponding to the current area. Thus, after receiving the first information, the network device can determine the current area of ​​the terminal device based on the transmission resource of the first information.

[0144] In one possible implementation, the first information is a random access request, and the transmission resource of the first information is a RACH resource. If the terminal device determines that the current area is a near-field area, the terminal device uses the first RACH resource to send the random access request. That is, the first RACH resource is dedicated to random access in the near-field area. If the terminal device determines that the current area is a far-field area, the terminal device uses the second RACH resource to send the random access request. That is, the second RACH resource is dedicated to random access in the far-field area, and the second RACH resource is different from the first RACH resource. If the terminal device determines that the current area is a critical area, the terminal device uses a third RACH resource to send the random access request. That is, the third RACH resource is dedicated to random access in the critical area, the third RACH resource is different from the first RACH resource, and the third RACH resource is different from the second RACH resource. The RACH resource can be a RACH resource based on non-contention, but is not limited thereto. Thus, the network device can obtain the current area where the terminal device is located based on the RACH resource used by the terminal device to initiate random access.

[0145] In another possible implementation, a Scheduling Request (SR) is used to request transmission resources for uplink data from a network device. The network device may pre-configure multiple SR resources, and the SR resources correspond one-to-one to the areas in the first set. If the terminal device determines that the current area is a near-field area, the terminal device uses the first SR resource to request transmission resources for uplink data. That is, the first SR resource is dedicated to the near-field area. If the terminal device determines that the current area is a far-field area, the terminal device uses the second SR resource to request transmission resources for uplink data. That is, the second SR resource is dedicated to the far-field area, and the second SR resource is different from the first SR resource. If the terminal device determines that the current area is a critical area, the terminal device uses a third SR resource to request transmission resources for uplink data. That is, the third SR resource is dedicated to the critical area, the third SR resource is different from the first SR resource, and the third SR resource is different from the second SR resource. In other words, using the first SR resource to request transmission resources for uplink data can be referred to as sending the first SR, using the second SR resource to request transmission resources for uplink data can be referred to as sending the second SR, and using the third SR resource to request transmission resources for uplink data can be referred to as sending the third SR. Correspondingly, the network device can determine the current area where the terminal device is located based on the received SR or the SR resources used by the terminal device.

[0146] As described above, in the solution of Example 3, the terminal device determines its current area and indicates the current area to the network device via the transmission resource of the first information, thereby assisting the network device in determining the current area of ​​the terminal device. Adopting the above solution not only facilitates the subsequent targeted configuration of the network device based on the area where the terminal device is located, but also helps reduce signaling overhead.

[0147] It should be noted that the content of the first information corresponding to the third embodiment is not limited. For more details about the third embodiment, please refer to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments herein, which will not be repeated here.

[0148] Example 4

[0149] Referring to Figure 7 , Figure 7 is a schematic flow chart of a fourth communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication method illustrated in Figure 7 may include: S71. The steps illustrated in Figure 7 may be applied to a network device. For example, the steps may be performed by the network device or a chip or chip module with communication functionality within the network device. This embodiment is described using the network device as the execution subject.

[0150] S71: Perform a second measurement, and determine a current area where the terminal device is located based on a measurement result of the second measurement.

[0151] Specifically, the measurement result of the second measurement may include at least one of the following: quality information of the first uplink signal, time information of the first uplink signal, location information of the terminal device, distance information of the terminal device, angle information of the terminal device, and timing advance (TA) of the terminal device.

[0152] More specifically, the first uplink signal may be any suitable existing uplink signal, such as, but not limited to, a sounding reference signal (SRS). Alternatively, the first uplink signal may be an uplink signal defined by a future protocol, such as, but not limited to, an uplink signal dedicated to communication within a near-field area in the future, or an uplink signal dedicated to measurement within a near-field area in the future.

[0153] The time information of the first uplink signal may refer to at least one of the following: TOA, TDOA, etc. of the first uplink signal.

[0154] The location information, distance information, and angle information of the terminal device can be determined based on the measurement of the first uplink signal. For example, the network device can determine the location information, distance information, and / or angle information of the terminal device based on the quality information or time information of the first uplink signal. For the specific content of the location information, distance information, and angle information of the terminal device, please refer to the relevant description in Example 1 and will not be repeated here.

[0155] In addition, the network device may perform measurements on the RACH resources used by the terminal device to obtain the TA of the terminal device. Alternatively, the network device may determine the TA of the terminal device by measuring the first uplink signal.

[0156] Furthermore, the network device determines the current area where the terminal device is located based at least on the measurement result of the second measurement.

[0157] In one example, the network device determines the current area of ​​the terminal device based solely on the measurement result of the second measurement. That is, the network device can determine the current area of ​​the terminal device without relying on information reported by the terminal device. For example, the network device can determine the distance information of the terminal device based on the measurement result of the second measurement, thereby determining the current area of ​​the terminal device.

[0158] In another example, the network device determines the current area of ​​the terminal device based on the content and / or transmission resources of the first information and the measurement result of the second measurement.

[0159] Specifically, assuming that the current area determined by the network device based on the content of the first information and / or the transmission resource of the first information is recorded as the first current area, and the current area determined by the network device based on the second measurement is recorded as the second current area. The network device determines the current area where the terminal device is located based on the first current area and the second current area.

[0160] For example, if the first current area and the second current area are the same, the area may be determined as the current area where the terminal device is located. If the first current area and the second current area are different, the second current area may be determined as the current area where the terminal device is located.

[0161] In another example, if the current area determined by the network device based on the content of the first information and / or the transmission resources of the first information is a critical area, the network device may perform a second measurement and then determine the current area where the terminal device is located based on the measurement result of the second measurement. If the current area determined based on the content of the first information and / or the transmission resources of the first information is not a critical area, for example, the current area is a near-field area or a far-field area, the network device may not perform the second measurement and only determine the current area based on the content of the first information and / or the transmission resources of the first information. That is, the network device may further determine the current area where the terminal device is located through the second measurement when the area indicated by the terminal device is a critical area.

[0162] It should be noted that the specific method for the network device to determine the current area of ​​the terminal device may depend on the autonomous decision or specific implementation of the network device, and this embodiment does not limit this.

[0163] Optionally, the network device may also determine the current area of ​​the terminal device in combination with the antenna array size of the network device. Specifically, the antenna array size can be used to determine the boundary between the near-field area and the far-field area. For example, the network device can determine the Rayleigh distance based on the antenna array size. Furthermore, the network device can determine the location information or distance information of the terminal device based on the measurement result of the second measurement, or based on the measurement result of the second measurement and the content of the first information and / or the transmission resource of the first information. Furthermore, the network device can determine the current area where the terminal device is located based on the location information or distance information of the terminal device.

[0164] As described above, in the fourth embodiment, the network device performs the second measurement and determines the current area of ​​the terminal device based on the measurement result. The above solution is not only conducive to the subsequent targeted configuration of the network device based on the area where the terminal device is located, but also helps to reduce the energy consumption of the terminal device.

[0165] For more details about the fourth embodiment, please refer to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments in this document, which will not be repeated here.

[0166] Example 5

[0167] 8, which is a schematic diagram of signaling interaction in a fifth communication method according to an embodiment of the present application, the communication method shown in FIG8 may include S81.

[0168] S81: The network device sends fourth information and / or fifth information to the terminal device. The fourth information may include indication information and / or enabling information. The indication information is used to indicate the current area of ​​the terminal device, the enabling information is used to enable the first measurement or channel transmission in the current area, and the fifth information includes parameter configuration corresponding to the current area. In response, the terminal device receives the fourth information and / or the fifth information.

[0169] Before S81, the network device may first determine the current area where the terminal device is located. Specific details of how the network device determines the current area where the terminal device is located can be found in other embodiments herein and will not be repeated here.

[0170] In S81, the network device may send fourth information to the terminal device, where the fourth information may include indication information and / or enabling information.

[0171] The indication information may be used to indicate the current region of the terminal device. Thus, the terminal device can determine its own region based on the indication information. For example, the indication information may include at least one information bit, and the value of the at least one information bit indicates the current region. For the specific content of the indication information, please refer to the above description of the second information and will not be repeated here.

[0172] The enabling information may be used to enable the first measurement or channel transmission within the current area. Specifically, the enabling information may include at least one of the following: a type identifier corresponding to the current area. The type identifier herein may include at least one of the following: a type identifier for the first measurement, a type identifier for the channel transmission, a type identifier for the parameter configuration used for the first measurement, and a type identifier for the parameter configuration used for the channel transmission. For the specific content of the type identifier, reference may be made to the above description of the second information and will not be repeated here.

[0173] Accordingly, in response to the enabling information, the terminal device performs the first measurement or channel transmission in the current area. Taking the first measurement as an example, the terminal device can determine the area in which the network device enables the first measurement based on the type identifier of the first measurement or the type identifier of the parameter configuration used for the first measurement. For example, if the enabling information includes the first type identifier, the terminal device performs the first measurement in the near-field area; if the enabling information includes the second type identifier, the terminal device performs the first measurement in the far-field area.

[0174] In S81, the network device may send fifth information to the terminal device. The fifth information may include: a set of parameter configurations corresponding to the current area. The parameter configurations corresponding to the current area may be used for the first measurement and / or channel transmission within the current area. Alternatively, the fifth information may include parameter configuration information corresponding to the current area. For the specific content of the parameter configuration and parameter configuration information, please refer to the specific content of the above embodiment 2 and will not be repeated here.

[0175] For example, if the current area is a near-field area, the network device may send a parameter configuration for a first measurement in the near-field area to the terminal device. If the current area is a far-field area, the network device may send a parameter configuration for a first measurement in the far-field area to the terminal device. If the current area is a critical area, the network device may send a parameter configuration for a first measurement in the critical area to the terminal device. Compared to a solution in which the network device configures multiple sets of parameter configurations in advance, the above solution implements targeted configuration based on the current area where the terminal device is located, and is also beneficial for reducing the signaling overhead of the configuration.

[0176] Furthermore, after the terminal device receives the fourth information and / or the fifth information, the terminal device may perform the first measurement and / or channel transmission in the current area.

[0177] Taking the first measurement as an example, after performing the first measurement in the current area, the terminal device can report the first measurement result in the current area to the network device, wherein the first measurement result may include the optimal measurement result in the current area. For example, if the first measurement is a CSI measurement or a beam measurement, the first measurement result may be at least one optimal beam information or precoding information. The beam information may be any one of the following: beam identification information, reference signal resource identification information, reference signal resource indication, spatial relation information, spatial domain transmission filter information, spatial domain reception filter information, spatial filter information, TCI state, QCL information, QCL parameters, etc. For another example, if the first measurement is a cell measurement, the first measurement result may be one or more candidate cells with the best channel quality.

[0178] Taking the first measurement as CSI measurement or beam measurement as an example, the first measurement result reported by the terminal device may be as follows:

[0179] Case 1: The current area is a near-field area. After the terminal device performs the first measurement, it reports at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the near-field area.

[0180] Case 2: The current area is a far-field area. After the terminal device performs the first measurement, it reports at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the far-field area.

[0181] Case 3: The current area is a critical area. Case 3 can be further implemented in the following ways:

[0182] Mode a: The fifth information includes the parameter configuration or parameter configuration information corresponding to the critical area. After the terminal device performs the first measurement according to the fifth information, it reports the optimal measurement result in the critical area.

[0183] Method b: The fifth information includes parameter configuration or parameter configuration information corresponding to the near-field area. After the terminal device performs the first measurement according to the fifth information, it reports at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the near-field area; that is, the network device configures the terminal device to use the configuration corresponding to the near-field area for the first measurement or channel transmission.

[0184] Method c: The fifth information includes parameter configuration or parameter configuration information corresponding to the far-field area. After the terminal device performs the first measurement according to the fifth information, it reports at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the far-field area; that is, the network device configures the terminal device to use the configuration corresponding to the far-field area for the first measurement or channel transmission.

[0185] Method d: The fifth information includes the parameter configuration or parameter configuration information corresponding to the near-field area, and the parameter configuration or parameter configuration information corresponding to the far-field area. The terminal device performs a first measurement in the near-field area based on the parameter configuration or parameter configuration information corresponding to the near-field area to obtain at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the near-field area, and performs a first measurement in the far-field area based on the parameter configuration or parameter configuration information corresponding to the far-field area to obtain at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the far-field area.

[0186] Furthermore, in mode d, the terminal device may report the measurement results of at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the near-field area and at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the far-field area. Alternatively, the terminal device may compare the measurement results in the near-field area with the measurement results in the far-field area and report the better measurement result.

[0187] In a non-limiting example, if the content of the first information and / or the transmission resource of the first information indicates that the current area is a critical area, in this case, the network device can send configuration information of a second downlink signal to the terminal device, and accordingly, the terminal device receives the second downlink signal, and the second downlink signal is used for channel estimation in the critical area. This document does not limit the type of the second downlink signal. For example, the second downlink signal can be a CSI-RS.

[0188] Furthermore, the terminal device measures the second downlink signal, obtains a channel estimation result, and then reports the channel estimation result to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device can obtain channel information within the critical region based on the channel estimation result within the critical region. Furthermore, the network device can configure the parameter configuration or parameter configuration information required for channel transmission within the critical region based on this channel information, and can schedule channel transmission within the critical region based on the obtained channel information. This solution can more accurately determine the channel characteristics of the critical region and perform targeted configuration, which is beneficial for ensuring communication performance.

[0189] From the above, in the scheme of embodiment four, the network device enables and configures the measurement or transmission within the area based on the current area where the terminal device is located, so that the terminal device can perform targeted beam measurement, channel measurement, signal transmission, etc., which is conducive to ensuring the performance of the communication system.

[0190] For more details about the fifth embodiment, please refer to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments in this document, which will not be repeated here.

[0191] Example 6

[0192] Referring to Figure 9 , Figure 9 is a schematic flow chart of a sixth communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication method illustrated in Figure 9 may include: S91. The steps illustrated in Figure 9 may be applied to a terminal device. For example, the steps may be performed by the terminal device or a chip or chip module with communication functionality in the terminal device. This embodiment is described using the terminal device as the execution subject.

[0193] S91, sending first information, the content of the first information is used to indicate the current area where the terminal device is located, and / or the transmission resource of the first information is used to indicate the current area; wherein, the current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: near-field area and far-field area.

[0194] Furthermore, the first set may also include a critical region.

[0195] In the first example, the terminal device may periodically send the first information, wherein the period for the terminal device to send the first information may be configured by the network device or predefined by a protocol.

[0196] In the second example, the terminal device may execute S91 when the current area is a near-field area. For example, considering that the range of the near-field area is smaller, the probability of the terminal device being in the near-field area is much lower than the probability of being in the far-field area. In order to save signaling overhead, the network device generally only configures the terminal device with parameter configurations corresponding to the far-field area for the first measurement and / or channel transmission in the far-field area. In this case, the terminal device may send the first information when detecting that it is in the near-field area, so that the network device learns that the terminal device is in the near-field area, thereby promptly configuring the terminal device with parameter configurations corresponding to the near-field area for the first measurement and / or channel transmission in the near-field area.

[0197] In the third example, the terminal device may execute S91 when the area in which it is located changes. That is, the terminal device may send the first information to the network device when it detects that the area in which it is located has changed. As a result, the network device can promptly learn that the area in which the terminal device is located has been updated, and the network device can configure the parameters required for the first measurement or channel transmission based on the current area. For the terminal device, after reporting the first information and receiving a set of parameter configurations corresponding to the current area or parameter configuration information corresponding to the current area, the terminal device can release the set of parameter configurations corresponding to the original area or the parameter configuration information corresponding to the original area, which is beneficial to reducing the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0198] In the fourth example, the terminal device can send the first information when detecting that the current area is a critical area, so that the network device knows that the terminal device is located in the fuzzy area between the near-field area and the far-field area. The network device needs to further clarify the channel characteristics of the area where the terminal device is located and perform targeted configuration.

[0199] In a fifth example, the terminal device may send the first information when the measurement result of the first downlink signal falls within a corresponding value range. The value range may correspond to the type of the measurement result. As described above, the type of the measurement result of the first downlink signal may include at least one of the following: quality information, downlink path loss, time information, location information of the terminal device, distance information of the terminal device, and angle information of the terminal device.

[0200] Specifically, each measurement result may correspond to at least one value range, and each value range may correspond to an area in the first set. The terminal device may send the first information when the value of the measurement result falls within any value range corresponding to the measurement result, so that the network device knows the area where the terminal device is located.

[0201] Taking downlink path loss as an example, the value range corresponding to the downlink path loss may include: a range less than the first threshold value and / or a range greater than the second threshold value. If the downlink path loss value of the first downlink signal falls within the value range corresponding to the downlink path loss, the terminal device may send the first information. In other words, if the downlink path loss of the first downlink signal is less than the first threshold value, the terminal device may send the first information for the network device to determine that the current area where the terminal device is located is a near-field area; if the downlink path loss of the first downlink signal is greater than the second threshold value, the terminal device may send the first information for the network device to determine that the current area where the terminal device is located is a far-field area. The first threshold value and the second threshold value may be configured by the network device or pre-defined by the protocol.

[0202] Taking distance information as an example, the range of values ​​corresponding to the distance information can include: less than a third threshold value and / or greater than the third threshold value. If the obtained distance value falls within the range of values ​​corresponding to the distance information, the terminal device can send the first information. In other words, if the distance value of the terminal device relative to the network device is less than the third threshold value, the terminal device can send the first information so that the network device can determine that the current area of ​​the terminal device is a near-field area; if the distance value of the terminal device relative to the network device is greater than the third threshold value, the terminal device can send the first information so that the network device can determine that the current area of ​​the terminal device is a far-field area. The third threshold value can be configured by the network device or pre-defined by the protocol.

[0203] For more details about the sixth embodiment, please refer to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments in this document, which will not be repeated here.

[0204] It should be noted that the various embodiments provided herein can be used individually or in combination with each other to achieve different technical effects.

[0205] It can be understood that, in a specific implementation, the above method can be implemented in the form of a software program, which runs in a processor integrated inside a chip or chip module; or, the method can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and software, for example, using a dedicated chip or chip module, or using a dedicated chip or chip module in combination with a software program.

[0206] Referring to Figure 10, Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device shown in Figure 10 can be deployed in a terminal device. The device shown in Figure 10 may include:

[0207] The sending module 101 is used to send first information, the content of the first information is used to indicate the current area where the terminal device is located, and / or the transmission resource of the first information is used to indicate the current area; wherein the current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: near-field area and far-field area.

[0208] Optionally, the communication module may be a communication interface, a transceiver, etc.

[0209] In a specific implementation, the communication device shown in Figure 10 may correspond to a chip with communication function in a terminal device; or correspond to a chip or chip module with communication function in a terminal device, or correspond to a terminal device.

[0210] Referring to Figure 11, Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device shown in Figure 11 can be deployed in a network device. The device shown in Figure 11 may include:

[0211] The receiving module 111 is used to receive first information, wherein the content of the first information is used to indicate the current area where the terminal device is located, and / or the transmission resource of the first information is used to indicate the current area; wherein the current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: a near-field area and a far-field area.

[0212] Optionally, the receiving module 111 may be a communication interface, a transceiver, etc.

[0213] In a specific implementation, the communication device shown in FIG11 may correspond to a chip with a communication function in a network device; or correspond to a chip or chip module with a communication function in a network device, or correspond to a network device.

[0214] For more information about the working principle, working method, beneficial effects, etc. of the communication device in the embodiment of the present application, please refer to the relevant description of the method above and will not be repeated here.

[0215] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the method is executed when the computer program is executed by a computer. The storage medium may include a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, etc. The storage medium may also include a non-volatile memory or a non-transitory memory, etc.

[0216] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program executable on the processor, and the processor executes the steps of the above method when executing the computer program. The communication device may be a terminal device or a network device, wherein the terminal device may be, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a computer, a tablet computer, an in-vehicle terminal, or a wearable device.

[0217] Referring to Figure 12, Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a communication device in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device shown in Figure 12 can be the terminal device mentioned above, or it can be the network device mentioned above. The communication device shown in Figure 12 includes a memory 121, a processor 122, and a transceiver 123. The processor 122 is coupled to the memory 121 and the transceiver 123. The memory 121 can be located inside the communication device or outside the communication device. The memory 121, the processor 122, and the transceiver 123 can be connected via a communication bus. The transceiver 123 is used to communicate with other devices.

[0218] Optionally, the transceiver 123 may be a transmitter or a receiver. The memory 121 stores a computer program that can be executed on the processor 122. When the processor 122 executes the computer program, the transceiver 123 executes the steps of the method provided in the above embodiment, and / or when the processor 122 executes the computer program, the transceiver 123 executes the steps of the method provided in the above embodiment.

[0219] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the processor 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, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0220] It should also be understood that the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a ROM, a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0221] The above embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any other combination. When implemented using software, the above embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions or computer programs. When the computer instructions or computer program are loaded or executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer program can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center by wired or wireless means.

[0222] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0223] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed methods, devices, and systems can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic; for example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation; for example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0224] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0225] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may be physically included separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of hardware plus software functional units. For example, for various devices and products applied to or integrated into a chip, the various modules / units contained therein may all be implemented in the form of hardware such as circuits, or at least some of the modules / units may be implemented in the form of software programs, which run on the processor integrated inside the chip, and the remaining (if any) modules / units may be implemented in the form of hardware such as circuits; for various devices and products applied to or integrated into a chip module, the various modules / units contained therein may all be implemented in the form of hardware such as circuits, and different modules / units may be located in the same component (such as a chip, circuit module, etc.) or different components of the chip module, or at least some of the modules / units may be located in the same component (such as a chip, circuit module, etc.) or different components of the chip module, or at least some of the modules / units may be located in the same component (such as a chip, circuit module, etc.) or different components of the chip module. The element can be implemented in the form of a software program, which runs on the processor integrated inside the chip module, and the remaining (if any) modules / units can be implemented in the form of hardware such as circuits; for various devices and products applied to or integrated in the terminal, the various modules / units contained therein can be implemented in the form of hardware such as circuits, and different modules / units can be located in the same component (for example, chip, circuit module, etc.) or different components in the terminal, or, at least some modules / units can be implemented in the form of a software program, which runs on the processor integrated inside the terminal, and the remaining (if any) modules / units can be implemented in the form of hardware such as circuits.

[0226] The above-mentioned integrated unit implemented in the form of a software functional unit can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The above-mentioned software functional unit is stored in a storage medium and includes a number of instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to perform some steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, ROM, random access memory RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, etc., various media that can store program code.

[0227] It should be understood that the term "and / or" as used herein simply describes an association between related objects, indicating that three possible relationships exist. For example, "A and / or B" can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone. Furthermore, the character " / " as used herein indicates that the related objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0228] The term "plurality" used in the embodiments of the present application refers to two or more.

[0229] In this application, "equal to" can be used in conjunction with "less than" or "greater than", but not with both "less than" and "greater than". When "equal to" is used in conjunction with "less than", the technical solution used for "less than" applies. When "equal to" is used in conjunction with "greater than", the technical solution used for "greater than" applies.

[0230] The first, second, etc. descriptions appearing in the embodiments of this application are only for illustration and distinction of the description objects. There is no order, nor does it indicate any special limitation on the number of devices in the embodiments of this application, and cannot constitute any limitation on the embodiments of this application.

[0231] Although the present application is disclosed as above, the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present application shall be based on the scope defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method is applied to a terminal device, and the method comprises: Sending first information, wherein the content of the first information is used to indicate a current area where the terminal device is located, and / or the transmission resource of the first information is used to indicate the current area; The current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: a near-field area and a far-field area.

2. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first information is a random access request, wherein: In response to the current area being the near field area, the first information is carried in a first random access channel RACH resource; In response to the current area being the far-field area, the first information is carried on a second RACH resource.

3. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Sending the first message includes: In response to the current area being the near-field area, sending a first scheduling request SR; In response to the current area being the far-field area, a second SR is sent.

4. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Sending the first message includes: In response to the current area being a near field area, sending the first information; and / or, In response to a change in the area where the terminal device is located, the first information is sent.

5. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first information includes second information and / or third information, the second information is used to indicate a current area where the terminal device is located, and the third information is used to determine the current area.

6. The communication method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The second information includes at least one of the following: The type identifier of the first measurement, the type identifier of the channel transmission, the type identifier of the parameter configuration used for the first measurement, the type identifier of the parameter configuration used for the channel transmission, the parameter configuration information used for the first measurement, and the parameter configuration information used for the channel transmission.

7. The communication method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The third information is obtained based on the measurement of the first downlink signal, and the measurement start time of the first downlink signal is the first time unit or the second time unit after the first time unit. The first time unit is at least one of the following: The time unit in which a beam report or a CSI report is triggered, the time unit in which a new beam indication is received, the time unit in which a new beam is applied, the time unit in which beam switching is performed, the time unit in which cell switching is performed, the time unit in which a cell switching command is received, the time unit in which cell activation is performed, the time unit in which a cell activation command is received, the time unit in which an instruction to measure the first downlink signal is received, the time unit in which a change is detected in at least one of the location information, distance information, and angle information of the terminal device and / or a change in at least one of the location information, distance information, and angle information reaches a threshold value, the time unit in which the first downlink signal is received during random access, and the time unit in which the first downlink signal is received in a radio resource control RRC connected state.

8. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first set also includes: a critical area.

9. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The method further comprises: receiving fourth information, the fourth information including indication information and / or enabling information, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the current area, and the enabling information is used to enable the Describing a first measurement or channel transmission in the current area.

10. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Fifth information is received, where the fifth information includes: a parameter configuration corresponding to the current area, where the parameter configuration corresponding to the current area is used for a first measurement and / or channel transmission within the current area.

11. The communication method according to claim 8, characterized in that: The current region is the critical region, and the method further includes: receiving configuration information of a second downlink signal, where the second downlink signal is used for channel estimation of the critical area; The channel estimation result of the critical area is sent.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Reporting a first measurement result in the near field area and / or a first measurement result in the far field area.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The first measurement result in the near field region includes at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the near field region; The first measurement result in the far-field region includes at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the far-field region.

14. A communication method, characterized in that: The method is applied to a network device, and the method comprises: receiving first information, wherein the content of the first information is used to indicate a current area where the terminal device is located, and / or the transmission resource of the first information is used to indicate the current area; The current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: a near-field area and a far-field area.

15. The communication method according to claim 14, characterized in that: The method further comprises: performing a second measurement; Based on the content of the first information and / or the transmission resources of the first information, and the measurement result of the second measurement, determine the current area where the terminal device is located.

16. The communication method according to claim 14, characterized in that: The method further comprises: In response to the first information being carried on a first random access channel RACH resource, determining that the current area is the near field area; In response to the first information being carried on a second random access channel RACH resource, it is determined that the current area is the far-field area.

17. The communication method according to claim 14, characterized in that: The method further comprises: In response to the first information being a first scheduling request SR, determining that the current area is the near-field area; In response to the first information being the second SR, the current area is determined to be the far-field area.

18. The communication method according to claim 14, characterized in that: The first information includes second information and / or third information, the second information is used to indicate a current area where the terminal device is located, and the third information is used to determine the current area.

19. The communication method according to claim 18, characterized in that: The second information includes at least one of the following: The type identifier of the first measurement, the type identifier of the channel transmission, the type identifier of the parameter configuration used for the first measurement, the type identifier of the parameter configuration used for the channel transmission, the parameter configuration information used for the first measurement, and the parameter configuration information used for the channel transmission.

20. The communication method according to claim 14, characterized in that: The first set also includes: a critical area.

21. The communication method according to any one of claims 14 to 20, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Send fourth information, where the fourth information includes indication information and / or enabling information, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the current area, and the enabling information is used to enable the first measurement or channel transmission in the current area.

22. The communication method according to any one of claims 14 to 20, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Send fifth information, the fifth information including: parameter configuration corresponding to the current area, the parameter configuration corresponding to the current area is used for the first measurement and / or channel transmission in the current area.

23. The communication method according to claim 20, characterized in that: The current region is the critical region, and the method further includes: Sending configuration information of a second downlink signal, where the second downlink signal is used for channel estimation of the critical area; A channel estimation result of the critical area is received.

24. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 23, characterized in that The method further comprises: A first measurement result in the near field region and / or a first measurement result in the far field region is received.

25. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that The first measurement result in the near field region includes at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the near field region; The first measurement result in the far-field region includes at least one optimal beam information or precoding information in the far-field region.

26. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A sending module, configured to send first information, wherein the content of the first information is used to indicate a current area where the terminal device is located, and / or a transmission resource of the first information is used to indicate the current area; The current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: a near-field area and a far-field area.

27. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A receiving module is used to receive first information, wherein the content of the first information is used to indicate the current area where the terminal device is located, and / or the transmission resource of the first information is used to indicate the current area; wherein the current area is selected from a first set, and the first set includes: a near-field area and a far-field area.

28. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program is executed by a processor, the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 or the communication method according to any one of claims 14 to 25 is executed.

29. A communication device comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program executable on the processor, wherein: When the processor runs the computer program, the steps of the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 are performed.

30. A communication device, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program executable on the processor, wherein: When the processor runs the computer program, the steps of the communication method according to any one of claims 14 to 25 are performed.

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