Communication method and related device

Abstract

A communication method and a related device. By means of the communication method and the related device, a network device can realize, on the basis of first information sent by a terminal device, the retransmission of some or all TBs among M first TBs that are wrongly received, so as to recover data; moreover, the terminal device can make full use of cached resources to perform data recovery, such that the success rate and reliability of retransmission decoding can be improved, thereby improving the communication efficiency. In the method, first data received by the terminal device comprises N first TBs, N being greater than 1; and then, the first information sent by the terminal device is used for indicating that M first TBs among the N first TBs are wrongly received, and the terminal device can subsequently perform soft-combining decoding on the basis of K second TBs included in second data of the same process, and K first TBs.

Description

A communication method and related equipment

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on November 17, 2023, with application number 202311554262.8 and application name “A Communication Method and Related Equipment”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular to a communication method and related equipment. Background Art

[0003] Wireless communication can be carried out between two or more communication nodes, typically network devices and terminal devices, without the use of conductors or cables. During communication, a failure to receive correct information by the receiver is called a bit error (or reception error, parsing error, etc.). Generally, upon discovering a bit error, the receiver can request the sender to retransmit the erroneous data.

[0004] For example, the sender is a network device and the receiver is a terminal device. The data sent by the network device is generally a transport block (TB). If the terminal device determines that a bit error has occurred in the received data transmission, the terminal device can feedback a negative acknowledgement (NACK) via a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ). Accordingly, the network device can determine to retransmit the TB based on the NACK.

[0005] However, the data sent by the network device may include two or more TBs. In this case, if errors occur, how to retransmit the data is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] This application provides a communication method and related devices that enable a network device to retransmit some or all of M first TBs received in error, based on first information sent by a terminal device, to recover data. Furthermore, the terminal device can fully utilize cached resources for data recovery, improving the success rate and reliability of retransmission decoding, thereby enhancing communication efficiency.

[0008] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is executed by a terminal device (or terminal), or the method is executed by some components in the terminal device (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or the method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the terminal device functions. In the first aspect and its possible implementation, the method is described as being executed by a terminal device. In this method, the terminal device receives first data of a first process, the first data including N first TBs, N being an integer greater than 1; the terminal device sends first information, the first information being used to indicate that M first TBs are received incorrectly, the M first TBs being included in the N first TBs, M being a positive integer less than or equal to N; the terminal device receives second data of the first process, the second data including K second TBs, the K second TBs being retransmissions of K first TBs in the M first TBs; wherein K is less than or equal to M; the terminal device performs soft combining decoding based on the K first TBs and the K second TBs.

[0009] Based on the above technical solution, the first data received by the terminal device includes N first TBs, where N is greater than 1. Thereafter, the first information sent by the terminal device is used to indicate that M of the N first TBs have been received incorrectly, and the subsequent terminal device can perform soft merging decoding with the K first TBs based on the K second TBs contained in the second data of the same process. In other words, when the number of first TBs contained in the data sent by the network device is greater than 1, the terminal device can indicate that M of the N first TBs have been received incorrectly through the first information, and the subsequent network device can retransmit some or all of the M first TBs. Thus, the network device can retransmit some or all of the M first TBs that have been received incorrectly based on the first information sent by the terminal device to recover the data.

[0010] Furthermore, the K second TBs included in the second data received by the terminal device are retransmissions of K first TBs among the M first TBs received in error. The terminal device performs soft-combining decoding based on the cached K first TBs received in error and the retransmitted K second TBs. This allows the terminal device to fully utilize cached resources for data recovery, improving the success rate and reliability of retransmission decoding, and thereby enhancing communication efficiency.

[0011] It should be noted that during the communication process between the network device and the terminal device, the network device can configure one or more processes for the data communicated between the two, and transmit data through the one or more processes. In this application, the process can be replaced by a thread.

[0012] It should be understood that in the one or more processes, the network device can send one or more TBs to the terminal device in any one process. For the any one process, the one or more TBs in the process can be referred to as data (e.g., first data, second data, or third data mentioned later, etc.). Alternatively, the one or more TBs in the process can be referred to as TB groups, TB sets, etc. In other words, the data involved in this application can be replaced by TB groups, TB sets, etc. For example, the first data can be replaced by the first TB group (or the first TB set), the second data can be replaced by the second TB group (or the second TB set), the third data can be replaced by the third TB group (or the third TB set), etc.

[0013] In this application, the reception error can be understood as a decoding error, a parsing error, unsuccessful decoding, unsuccessful parsing, unsuccessful reception and other terms. Accordingly, the reception error can also be replaced by the other terms.

[0014] In this application, soft combining decoding can be understood as combining decoding based on buffered soft information and retransmission information. Accordingly, soft combining decoding can be replaced by other terms such as soft combining processing and retransmission soft combining.

[0015] Optionally, the K first TBs are K TBs with smaller index values ​​among one or more TBs that receive errors in the M first TBs; the K first TBs are K TBs with larger index values ​​among one or more TBs that receive errors in the M first TBs; the indexes of the K first TBs in the M first TBs are preconfigured or dynamically configured.

[0016] Optionally, the first data of the first process may be initially transmitted data or retransmitted data, which is not limited here.

[0017] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receives second information, where the second information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged by the terminal device in the first process is P, and K is less than or equal to P.

[0018] Based on the above technical solution, the terminal device can also receive second information, so that the terminal device can determine the number of TBs to be soft-merged in the first process based on the second information, and subsequently the terminal device can perform soft-merging decoding of the retransmitted data based on the number P indicated by the second information.

[0019] In addition, through the indication method of the second information, when the number of processes between the network device and the terminal device is greater than 1, the network device can indicate the corresponding number of TBs to be soft-merged for different processes, thereby improving the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0020] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, before the terminal device receives the second information, the method further includes: the terminal device sends third information, where the third information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging processing in the first process.

[0021] Optionally, the third information may indicate the number of one or more TBs supported by the terminal device for soft merging processing in the first process.

[0022] Further optionally, the values ​​of the one or more TB quantities are all greater than or equal to P.

[0023] Further optionally, one of the values ​​of the one or more TB quantities is P.

[0024] Based on the above technical solution, before the terminal device receives the second information, the terminal device may further send to the network device third information indicating the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging in the first process. This enables the network device to send the second information to the terminal device based on the capability indicated by the third information, thereby enabling the network device to adapt the value P indicated by the second information to the capability of the terminal device.

[0025] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receives fourth information, where the fourth information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged in at least two processes performed by the terminal device is P, and the at least two processes include the first process.

[0026] Based on the above technical solution, the terminal device can also receive fourth information, so that the terminal device can determine the number of TBs to be soft-merged in at least two processes based on the fourth information, and the at least two processes include the first process. Subsequently, the terminal device can perform soft-merging decoding of the retransmitted data in the at least two processes based on the number P indicated by the second information.

[0027] In addition, through the indication method of the fourth information, when the number of processes between the network device and the terminal device is greater than 1, the network device can indicate the same number of TBs for soft merging processing through the fourth information, which can reduce overhead.

[0028] Optionally, the at least two processes may include other processes in addition to the first process, such as a second process, a third process, etc.

[0029] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, before the terminal device receives the second information, the method further includes: the terminal device sends fifth information, where the fifth information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging processing in the at least two processes.

[0030] Based on the above technical solution, before the terminal device receives the fourth information, the terminal device may further send to the network device fifth information indicating the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging in the at least two processes. This enables the network device to send the fourth information to the terminal device based on the capability indicated by the fifth information, thereby enabling the network device to adapt the value P indicated by the fourth information to the capability of the terminal device.

[0031] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, when M is less than or equal to P, K is equal to M.

[0032] Based on the above technical solution, after a terminal device receives N first TBs of a first process, if the number M of TBs received with errors is less than or equal to the number P of TBs soft-combined by the terminal device, the number K of retransmitted TBs included in the second data received by the terminal device is equal to the number M of TBs received with errors indicated by the terminal device via the first information. In other words, all M first TBs received with errors indicated by the terminal device via the first information can be retransmitted and decoded via soft-combining decoding.

[0033] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, when M is greater than P, K is equal to P and K is less than M.

[0034] Based on the above technical solution, after the terminal device receives N first TBs of the first process, if the number of TBs received with errors is greater than the number P of TBs soft-combined by the terminal device, the number K of retransmitted TBs included in the second data received by the terminal device is less than the number M of TBs received with errors indicated by the terminal device via the first information. In other words, P (or K, because K is equal to P here) of the M first TBs received with errors indicated by the terminal device via the first information can be retransmitted and decoded using soft-combined decoding.

[0035] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the second data further includes MK third TBs, where the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs in the M first TBs.

[0036] Based on the above technical solution, when the number K of retransmitted TBs contained in the second data received by the terminal device is less than the number M of TBs with reception errors indicated by the terminal device through the first information, the other MK first TBs other than the K first TBs in the M first TBs may not be retransmitted and decoded through soft combining decoding. To this end, the terminal device may also receive MK third TBs in the second data of the first process, where the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs other than the K first TBs in the M first TBs, so that the terminal device can recover data based on the MK third TBs.

[0037] It should be understood that, since the number of TBs soft-combined by the terminal device in the first process is P, when the number K of retransmitted TBs included in the second data received by the terminal device is less than the number M of TBs with reception errors indicated by the terminal device through the first information, the terminal device may decode the MK third TBs using a method other than the soft-combining decoding method. For example, the terminal device may decode the MK third TBs based on the decoding method for the newly transmitted data.

[0038] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receives third data, the third data includes MK third TBs, and the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the MK first TBs.

[0039] Based on the above technical solution, when the number K of retransmitted TBs contained in the second data received by the terminal device is less than the number M of TBs received errors indicated by the terminal device through the first information, the other MK first TBs other than the K first TBs in the M first TBs may not be retransmitted and decoded through soft combining decoding. To this end, the terminal device may also receive MK third TBs in third data different from the second data, and the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs other than the K first TBs in the M first TBs, so that the terminal device can recover data based on the MK third TBs.

[0040] Optionally, the third data is data different from the second data. The third data may be transmitted through the first process or other processes, which is not limited here.

[0041] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device discarding decoding soft information of MK first TBs other than the K first TBs in the M first TBs.

[0042] Based on the above technical solution, when the number K of retransmitted TBs contained in the second data received by the terminal device is less than the number M of TBs with reception errors indicated by the terminal device through the first information, the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs in the M first TBs may not be retransmitted and decoded through soft combined decoding. To this end, the terminal device can discard (or confirm the discarding of) the decoding soft information of the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs in the M first TBs, which can save the consumption of the terminal device's cache space and reduce the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0043] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second data further includes Q fourth TBs, the Q fourth TBs are different from the K second TBs, and Q is a positive integer.

[0044] Based on the above technical solution, in addition to including K retransmissions of the first TBs (i.e., K second TBs), the second data may also include Q fourth TBs that are different from the second TBs, so that the network device can carry the retransmitted K second TBs in the second data in the first process, and the network device can also carry other newly transmitted TBs in the second data, thereby making full use of the data transmission of the first process and reducing transmission delay.

[0045] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first information includes any one of the following:

[0046] N bits, where the N bits are used to indicate whether the N first TBs are received successfully or incorrectly;

[0047] Indexes of the M first TBs;

[0048] The index and value MK of the K first TBs.

[0049] Based on the above technical solution, the first information can be implemented through any of the above items, so that the network device can determine M first TB reception errors based on any of the above items, thereby improving the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0050] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, before the terminal device receives the first data, the method also includes: the terminal device receives indication information for indicating a redundant version of the first data; before receiving the second data, the method also includes: the terminal device receives indication information for indicating a redundant version of the second data.

[0051] Based on the above technical solution, for data transmitted by a process (such as the first data or the second data), the network device can send indication information for indicating the redundant version of the data, so that the terminal device can determine the redundant version of each data based on the indication information, and determine the decoding method of the data based on the redundant version of each data.

[0052] Exemplarily, since the K second TBs in the second data are retransmissions of the K first TBs in the first data, the above-mentioned indication information can indicate that the redundant version of the first data is different from the redundant version of the second data, so that the terminal device can determine to decode the K second TBs in the second data by soft merging decoding based on the different redundant versions.

[0053] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, before receiving the first data, the method also includes: the terminal device receives indication information for indicating the redundant versions corresponding to the N first TBs; before receiving the second data, the method also includes: the terminal device receives indication information for indicating the redundant versions corresponding to the K second TBs, wherein the redundant versions corresponding to the K first TBs among the N first TBs are different from or the same as the redundant versions corresponding to the K second TBs.

[0054] Based on the above technical solution, for one or more TBs contained in the data transmitted by a process (for example, N first TBs in the first data or K second TBs in the second data), the network device can send indication information for indicating the redundant versions of the one or more TBs, so that the terminal device can determine the redundant version of each TB based on the indication information, and determine the decoding method of the data based on the redundant version of each TB.

[0055] For example, since the K second TBs in the second data are retransmissions of the K first TBs in the first data, the above-mentioned indication information can indicate the redundant versions of the K second TBs in the second data corresponding to the K first TBs in the first data, so that the terminal device can determine the decoding of the K second TBs in the second data by soft merging decoding based on the redundant version.

[0056] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving indication information for indicating that K second TBs in the second data are used for soft merging decoding.

[0057] Based on the above technical solution, the terminal device can also receive indication information for indicating that the K second TBs in the second data are used for soft merging decoding, so that after receiving the second data, the terminal device can determine based on the indication information to decode the K second TBs in the second data by soft merging decoding.

[0058] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving indication information for indicating that the number of retransmitted TBs for soft combining decoding included in the second data is K.

[0059] Based on the above technical solution, the terminal device can also receive indication information indicating that the number of retransmitted TBs for soft merging decoding contained in the second data is K, so that after receiving the second data, the terminal device can determine the number of TBs for soft merging decoding in the second data based on the indication information.

[0060] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving sixth information, where the sixth information is used to indicate that the number of TBs in the first process is N.

[0061] Based on the above technical solution, the terminal device can also receive the sixth information, so that the terminal device can determine the number of TBs transmitted in the first process based on the sixth information, and subsequently the terminal device can receive data in the first process based on the number N indicated by the sixth information.

[0062] In addition, through the indication method of the sixth information, when the number of processes between the network device and the terminal device is greater than 1, the network device can indicate the corresponding number of transmitted TBs for different processes respectively, so as to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0063] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receives seventh information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate that the number of TBs of at least two processes is N, and the at least two processes include the first process.

[0064] Based on the above technical solution, the terminal device can also receive the seventh information, so that the terminal device can determine the number of TBs transmitted in at least two processes based on the seventh information, and the at least two processes include the first process. Subsequently, the terminal device can receive data in the at least two processes based on the number N indicated by the seventh information.

[0065] In addition, through the indication method of the seventh information, when the number of processes between the network device and the terminal device is greater than 1, the network device can indicate the same number of transmission TBs through the seventh information, which can reduce overhead.

[0066] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first information is carried on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and a time domain position (eg, time slot position) X of the PUCCH satisfies:

[0067] Where n represents the timestamp index of the PUCCH timestamp that overlaps with the timestamp of the last TB in the time domain among the N first TBs, k represents the scheduling timing parameter indicated by the physical downlink shared uplink channel to hybrid automatic repeat request feedback (PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback) signaling, and K offset represents the scheduling offset, μ is the subcarrier spacing of PUCCH transmission, It's K offset subcarrier spacing configuration.

[0068] Based on the above technical solution, the transmission resources of the first information sent by the terminal device can be determined in the above manner, so that the network device can receive the first information in the PUCCH based on the above manner.

[0069] The second aspect of the present application provides a communication method, which is executed by a network device, or the method is executed by some components in the network device (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or the method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the network device functions. In the second aspect and its possible implementation, the method is described as being executed by a network device. In this method, the network device sends the first data of the first process, and the first data includes N first transmission blocks TB, where N is an integer greater than 1; the network device receives first information, and the first information is used to indicate that M first TBs are received incorrectly, and the M first TBs are included in the N first TBs, where M is a positive integer less than N; the network device sends the second data of the first process, and the second data includes K second TBs, and the K second TBs are retransmissions of K first TBs in the M first TBs; wherein K is less than or equal to M; wherein the K first TBs and the K second TBs are used for soft combined decoding.

[0070] Based on the above technical solution, the first data sent by the network device includes N first TBs, where N is greater than 1. Thereafter, the first information received by the network device is used to indicate that M of the N first TBs have been received incorrectly, and the subsequent terminal device can perform soft merging decoding with the K first TBs based on the K second TBs contained in the second data of the same process. In other words, when the number of first TBs contained in the data sent by the network device is greater than 1, the terminal device can indicate that M of the N first TBs have been received incorrectly through the first information, and the subsequent network device can retransmit some or all of the M first TBs. Thus, the network device can retransmit some or all of the M first TBs that have been received incorrectly based on the first information sent by the terminal device to recover the data.

[0071] Furthermore, the K second TBs included in the second data received by the terminal device are retransmissions of K first TBs among the M first TBs received in error. The terminal device performs soft-combining decoding based on the cached K first TBs received in error and the retransmitted K second TBs. This allows the terminal device to fully utilize cached resources for data recovery, improving the success rate and reliability of retransmission decoding, and thereby enhancing communication efficiency.

[0072] Optionally, the K first TBs are K TBs with smaller index values ​​among one or more TBs that receive errors in the M first TBs; the K first TBs are K TBs with larger index values ​​among one or more TBs that receive errors in the M first TBs; the indexes of the K first TBs in the M first TBs are preconfigured or dynamically configured.

[0073] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sends second information, where the second information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged by the terminal device in the first process is P, and K is less than or equal to P.

[0074] Based on the above technical solution, the network device can also send a second information so that the terminal device can determine the number of TBs to be soft-merged in the first process based on the second information. Subsequently, the terminal device can perform soft-merging decoding of the retransmitted data based on the number P indicated by the second information.

[0075] In addition, through the indication method of the second information, when the number of processes between the network device and the terminal device is greater than 1, the network device can indicate the corresponding number of TBs to be soft-merged for different processes, thereby improving the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0076] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, before the network device sends the second information, the method further includes: the network device receives third information, where the third information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging processing in the first process.

[0077] Based on the above technical solution, before the network device sends the second information, the terminal device may further send to the network device third information indicating the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging in the first process. This enables the network device to send the second information to the terminal device based on the capability indicated by the third information, thereby enabling the network device to adapt the value P indicated by the second information to the capability of the terminal device.

[0078] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sends fourth information, where the fourth information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged by the terminal device in at least two processes is P, and the at least two processes include the first process.

[0079] Based on the above technical solution, the network device can also send a fourth information so that the terminal device can determine the number of TBs to be soft-merged in at least two processes based on the fourth information, and the at least two processes include the first process. Subsequently, the terminal device can perform soft-merging decoding of the retransmitted data in the at least two processes based on the number P indicated by the second information.

[0080] In addition, through the indication method of the fourth information, when the number of processes between the network device and the terminal device is greater than 1, the network device can indicate the same number of TBs for soft merging processing through the fourth information, which can reduce overhead.

[0081] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, before the network device receives the second information, the method further includes: the network device receives fifth information, where the fifth information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging processing in the at least two processes.

[0082] Based on the above technical solution, before the network device sends the fourth information, the terminal device may further send to the network device fifth information indicating the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging in the at least two processes. This enables the network device to send the fourth information to the terminal device based on the capability indicated by the fifth information, thereby enabling the network device to adapt the value P indicated by the fourth information to the capability of the terminal device.

[0083] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, when M is less than or equal to P, K is equal to M.

[0084] Based on the above technical solution, after a terminal device receives N first TBs of a first process, if the number M of TBs received with errors is less than or equal to the number P of TBs soft-combined by the terminal device, the number K of retransmitted TBs included in the second data received by the terminal device is equal to the number M of TBs received with errors indicated by the terminal device via the first information. In other words, all M first TBs received with errors indicated by the terminal device via the first information can be retransmitted and decoded via soft-combining decoding.

[0085] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, when M is greater than P, K is equal to P and K is less than M.

[0086] Based on the above technical solution, after the terminal device receives N first TBs of the first process, if the number of TBs received with errors is greater than the number P of TBs soft-combined by the terminal device, the number K of retransmitted TBs included in the second data received by the terminal device is less than the number M of TBs received with errors indicated by the terminal device via the first information. In other words, P of the M first TBs received with errors (or K, since K is equal to P here) indicated by the terminal device via the first information can be retransmitted and decoded via soft-combined decoding.

[0087] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the second data further includes MK third TBs, where the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs in the M first TBs.

[0088] Based on the above technical solution, when the number K of retransmitted TBs contained in the second data received by the terminal device is less than the number M of TBs with reception errors indicated by the terminal device through the first information, the other MK first TBs other than the K first TBs in the M first TBs may not be retransmitted and decoded through soft combining decoding. To this end, the terminal device may also receive MK third TBs in the second data of the first process, where the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs other than the K first TBs in the M first TBs, so that the terminal device can recover data based on the MK third TBs.

[0089] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sending third data, the third data including MK third TBs, and the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the MK first TBs.

[0090] Based on the above technical solution, when the number K of retransmitted TBs contained in the second data received by the terminal device is less than the number M of TBs received errors indicated by the terminal device through the first information, the other MK first TBs other than the K first TBs in the M first TBs may not be retransmitted and decoded through soft combining decoding. To this end, the terminal device may also receive MK third TBs in third data different from the second data, and the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs other than the K first TBs in the M first TBs, so that the terminal device can recover data based on the MK third TBs.

[0091] Optionally, the third data is data different from the second data. The third data may be transmitted through the first process or other processes, which is not limited here.

[0092] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the second data further includes Q fourth TBs, the Q fourth TBs are different from the K second TBs, and Q is a positive integer.

[0093] Based on the above technical solution, in addition to including K retransmissions of the first TBs (i.e., K second TBs), the second data may also include Q fourth TBs that are different from the second TBs, so that the network device can carry the retransmitted K second TBs in the second data in the first process, and the network device can also carry other newly transmitted TBs in the second data, thereby making full use of the data transmission of the first process and reducing transmission delay.

[0094] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first information includes any one of the following:

[0095] N bits, where the N bits are used to indicate whether the N first TBs are received successfully or incorrectly;

[0096] Indexes of the M first TBs;

[0097] The index and value MK of the K first TBs.

[0098] Based on the above technical solution, the first information can be implemented through any of the above items, so that the network device can determine M first TB reception errors based on any of the above items, thereby improving the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0099] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, before the network device sends the first data, the method also includes: the network device sends indication information for indicating a redundant version of the first data; before the network device sends the second data, the method also includes: the network device sends indication information for indicating a redundant version of the second data.

[0100] Based on the above technical solution, for data transmitted by a process (such as the first data or the second data), the network device can send indication information for indicating the redundant version of the data, so that the terminal device can determine the redundant version of each data based on the indication information, and determine the decoding method of the data based on the redundant version of each data.

[0101] Exemplarily, since the K second TBs in the second data are retransmissions of the K first TBs in the first data, the above-mentioned indication information can indicate that the redundant version of the first data is different from the redundant version of the second data, so that the terminal device can determine to decode the K second TBs in the second data by soft merging decoding based on the different redundant versions.

[0102] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, before the network device sends the first data, the method also includes: the network device sends indication information for indicating the redundant versions corresponding to the N first TBs; before the network device sends the second data, the method also includes: the network device sends indication information for indicating the redundant versions corresponding to the K second TBs, wherein the redundant versions corresponding to the K first TBs among the N first TBs are different from or the same as the redundant versions corresponding to the K second TBs.

[0103] Based on the above technical solution, for one or more TBs contained in the data transmitted by a process (for example, N first TBs in the first data or K second TBs in the second data), the network device can send indication information for indicating the redundant versions of the one or more TBs, so that the terminal device can determine the redundant version of each TB based on the indication information, and determine the decoding method of the data based on the redundant version of each TB.

[0104] For example, since the K second TBs in the second data are retransmissions of the K first TBs in the first data, the above-mentioned indication information can indicate the redundant versions of the K second TBs in the second data corresponding to the K first TBs in the first data, so that the terminal device can determine the decoding of the K second TBs in the second data by soft merging decoding based on the redundant version.

[0105] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sending indication information for indicating that K second TBs in the second data are used for soft combining and decoding.

[0106] Based on the above technical solution, the network device can also send indication information for indicating that the K second TBs in the second data are used for soft merging decoding, so that after receiving the second data, the terminal device can determine to decode the K second TBs in the second data by soft merging decoding based on the indication information.

[0107] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sending indication information for indicating that the number of retransmitted TBs for soft combining and decoding included in the second data is K.

[0108] Based on the above technical solution, the network device can also send indication information to indicate that the number of retransmitted TBs for soft merging decoding contained in the second data is K, so that after receiving the second data, the terminal device can determine the number of TBs for soft merging decoding in the second data based on the indication information.

[0109] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sending sixth information, where the sixth information is used to indicate that the number of TBs in the first process is N.

[0110] Based on the above technical solution, the network device can also send sixth information, so that the terminal device can determine the number of TBs transmitted in the first process based on the sixth information, and then the terminal device can receive data in the first process based on the number N indicated by the sixth information.

[0111] In addition, through the indication method of the sixth information, when the number of processes between the network device and the terminal device is greater than 1, the network device can indicate the corresponding number of transmitted TBs for different processes respectively, so as to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0112] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sends seventh information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate that the number of TBs of at least two processes is N, and the at least two processes include the first process.

[0113] Based on the above technical solution, the network device can also send the seventh information, so that the terminal device can determine the number of TBs transmitted in at least two processes based on the seventh information, and the at least two processes include the first process. Subsequently, the terminal device can receive data in the at least two processes based on the number N indicated by the seventh information.

[0114] In addition, through the indication method of the seventh information, when the number of processes between the network device and the terminal device is greater than 1, the network device can indicate the same number of transmission TBs through the seventh information, which can reduce overhead.

[0115] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first information is carried on a physical uplink control channel PUCCH, and a time domain position (eg, time slot position) X of the PUCCH satisfies:

[0116] Among them, n represents the time slot index of the PUCCH time slot overlapping with the time slot of the last TB in the time domain of the N first TBs, k represents the scheduling timing parameter indicated by the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback signaling, K offset represents the scheduling offset, μ is the subcarrier spacing of PUCCH transmission, It's K offset subcarrier spacing configuration.

[0117] Based on the above technical solution, the transmission resources of the first information sent by the terminal device can be determined in the above manner, so that the network device can receive the first information in the PUCCH based on the above manner.

[0118] A third aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which is a terminal device, or a component of a terminal device (such as a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the terminal device's functions. In the third aspect and its possible implementations, the communication device is described as an example of a terminal device.

[0119] The device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit; the transceiver unit is used to receive first data of a first process, the first data including N first transmission blocks TB, N is an integer greater than 1; the transceiver unit is also used to send first information, the first information is used to indicate that M first TBs are received incorrectly, the M first TBs are included in the N first TBs, M is a positive integer less than or equal to N; the transceiver unit is also used for second data of the first process, the second data including K second TBs, the K second TBs are retransmissions of K first TBs in the M first TBs; wherein K is less than or equal to M; the processing unit is used to perform soft combining decoding based on the K first TBs and the K second TBs.

[0120] In a possible implementation of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to receive second information, where the second information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged by the terminal device in the first process is P, and K is less than or equal to P.

[0121] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to send third information, where the third information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft combining processing in the first process.

[0122] In a possible implementation of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to receive fourth information, where the fourth information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged in at least two processes performed by the terminal device is P, and the at least two processes include the first process.

[0123] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to send fifth information, where the fifth information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging processing in the at least two processes.

[0124] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, when M is less than or equal to P, K is equal to M.

[0125] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, when M is greater than P, K is equal to P and K is less than M.

[0126] In a possible implementation of the third aspect, the second data further includes MK third TBs, where the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs in the M first TBs.

[0127] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to receive third data, where the third data includes MK third TBs, and the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the MK first TBs.

[0128] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the processing unit is further configured to discard decoding soft information of MK first TBs other than the K first TBs in the M first TBs.

[0129] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the second data further includes Q fourth TBs, the Q fourth TBs are different from the K second TBs, and Q is a positive integer.

[0130] In a possible implementation of the third aspect, the first information includes any one of the following:

[0131] N bits, where the N bits are used to indicate whether the N first TBs are received successfully or incorrectly;

[0132] Indexes of the M first TBs;

[0133] The index and value MK of the K first TBs.

[0134] In a possible implementation of the third aspect,

[0135] The K first TBs are K TBs with smaller index values ​​among one or more TBs received incorrectly in the M first TBs;

[0136] The K first TBs are K TBs with larger index values ​​among one or more TBs received incorrectly in the M first TBs;

[0137] The indexes of the K first TBs in the M first TBs are preconfigured or dynamically configured.

[0138] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to receive indication information for indicating a redundant version of the first data; the transceiver unit is further used to receive indication information for indicating a redundant version of the second data.

[0139] In a possible implementation of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to receive indication information for indicating the redundant versions corresponding to the N first TBs; the transceiver unit is further used to receive indication information for indicating the redundant versions corresponding to the K second TBs, wherein the redundant versions corresponding to the K first TBs among the N first TBs are different from or the same as the redundant versions corresponding to the K second TBs.

[0140] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive indication information for indicating that K second TBs in the second data are used for soft combining and decoding.

[0141] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive indication information indicating that the number of retransmitted TBs for soft combining and decoding included in the second data is K.

[0142] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive sixth information, where the sixth information is configured to indicate that the number of TBs in the first process is N.

[0143] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to receive seventh information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate that the number of TBs of at least two processes is N, and the at least two processes include the first process.

[0144] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the first information is carried on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and a time domain position (eg, time slot position) X of the PUCCH satisfies:

[0145] Among them, n represents the time slot index of the PUCCH time slot overlapping with the time slot of the last TB in the time domain of the N first TBs, k represents the scheduling timing parameter indicated by the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback signaling, K offset represents the scheduling offset, μ is the subcarrier spacing of PUCCH transmission, It's K offset subcarrier spacing configuration.

[0146] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which is a network device, or a component of a network device (such as a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the network device's functions. In the fourth aspect and its possible implementations, the communication device is described as a network device.

[0147] The device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit; the transceiver unit is used to send first data of a first process, the first data including N first transmission blocks TB, N is an integer greater than 1; the transceiver unit is also used to receive first information; the processing unit is used to determine M first TB reception errors based on the first information, the M first TBs are included in the N first TBs, M is a positive integer less than N; the transceiver unit is also used to send second data of the first process, the second data including K second TBs, the K second TBs are retransmissions of K first TBs in the M first TBs; wherein K is less than or equal to M; wherein the K first TBs and the K second TBs are used for soft combined decoding.

[0148] In a possible implementation of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to send second information, where the second information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged by the terminal device in the first process is P, and K is less than or equal to P.

[0149] In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to receive third information, where the third information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft combining processing in the first process.

[0150] In a possible implementation of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to send fourth information, where the fourth information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged in at least two processes performed by the terminal device is P, and the at least two processes include the first process.

[0151] In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to receive fifth information, where the fifth information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging processing in the at least two processes.

[0152] In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, when M is less than or equal to P, K is equal to M.

[0153] In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, when M is greater than P, K is equal to P and K is less than M.

[0154] In a possible implementation of the fourth aspect, the second data further includes MK third TBs, where the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs in the M first TBs.

[0155] In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to send third data, where the third data includes MK third TBs, and the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the MK first TBs.

[0156] In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the second data further includes Q fourth TBs, the Q fourth TBs are different from the K second TBs, and Q is a positive integer.

[0157] In a possible implementation of the fourth aspect, the first information includes any one of the following:

[0158] N bits, where the N bits are used to indicate whether the N first TBs are received successfully or incorrectly;

[0159] Indexes of the M first TBs;

[0160] The index and value MK of the K first TBs.

[0161] In a possible implementation of the fourth aspect,

[0162] The K first TBs are K TBs with smaller index values ​​among one or more TBs received incorrectly in the M first TBs;

[0163] The K first TBs are K TBs with larger index values ​​among one or more TBs received incorrectly in the M first TBs;

[0164] The indexes of the K first TBs in the M first TBs are preconfigured or dynamically configured.

[0165] In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to send indication information for indicating a redundant version of the first data; the transceiver unit is further used to send indication information for indicating a redundant version of the second data.

[0166] In a possible implementation of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to send indication information for indicating the redundant versions corresponding to the N first TBs; the transceiver unit is further used to send indication information for indicating the redundant versions corresponding to the K second TBs, wherein the redundant versions corresponding to the K first TBs among the N first TBs are different from or the same as the redundant versions corresponding to the K second TBs.

[0167] In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to send indication information for indicating that K second TBs in the second data are used for soft combining and decoding.

[0168] In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to send indication information indicating that the number of retransmitted TBs for soft combining and decoding included in the second data is K.

[0169] In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to send sixth information, where the sixth information is configured to indicate that the number of TBs in the first process is N.

[0170] In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit is further used to send seventh information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate that the number of TBs of at least two processes is N, and the at least two processes include the first process.

[0171] In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the first information is carried on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and a time domain position (eg, time slot position) X of the PUCCH satisfies:

[0172] Among them, n represents the time slot index of the PUCCH time slot overlapping with the time slot of the last TB in the time domain of the N first TBs, k represents the scheduling timing parameter indicated by the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback signaling, K offset represents the scheduling offset, μ is the subcarrier spacing of PUCCH transmission, It's K offset subcarrier spacing configuration.

[0173] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising at least one processor coupled to a memory; the memory is used to store programs or instructions; wherein the at least one processor is used to execute the program or instructions so that the device implements the method described in any one of the first to second aspects and any possible implementation methods thereof.

[0174] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication device comprising at least one logic circuit and an input / output interface; the logic circuit is used to execute the method described in any one of the first to second aspects and any possible implementation thereof.

[0175] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in any one of the first to second aspects above and any possible implementation thereof.

[0176] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product (or computer program), which includes computer program code. When the computer program code is executed on a processor, the processor executes the method described in any one of the first to second aspects above and any possible implementation thereof.

[0177] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a chip system comprising at least one processor for supporting a communication device to implement the functions involved in any one of the first to second aspects and any possible implementation thereof.

[0178] In one possible design, the chip system may further include a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the first communication device. The chip system may be composed of a chip or may include a chip and other discrete components. Optionally, the chip system may further include an interface circuit that provides program instructions and / or data to the at least one processor.

[0179] In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, comprising the communication device of the third aspect and the communication device of the fourth aspect. Alternatively, the communication system comprises the terminal device of any of the above aspects and any implementation thereof, and the network device of any of the above aspects and any implementation thereof.

[0180] It should be understood that the technical effects brought about by any design method in the third to tenth aspects can be referred to the technical effects brought about by the different design methods in the above-mentioned first to second aspects, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0181] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by the present application;

[0182] FIG2a is a schematic diagram of a satellite communication process in a transparent transmission mode provided by the present application;

[0183] FIG2 b is another schematic diagram of the satellite communication process in the transparent transmission mode provided by the present application;

[0184] FIG2c is a schematic diagram of a satellite communication process in a regeneration mode provided by the present application;

[0185] FIG2 d is another schematic diagram of the satellite communication process in the regeneration mode provided by the present application;

[0186] FIG2e is a schematic diagram of a satellite communication process in a 5G system provided by this application;

[0187] FIG3a is a schematic diagram of HARQ retransmission involved in this application;

[0188] FIG3 b is another schematic diagram of HARQ retransmission involved in this application;

[0189] FIG4 is another schematic diagram of the communication method provided by the present application;

[0190] FIG5a is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation of data retransmission implemented by the communication method provided in this application;

[0191] FIG5 b is a schematic diagram showing a simulation result of the communication method provided in the present application;

[0192] FIG6a is another schematic diagram of implementing data retransmission by the communication method provided in this application;

[0193] FIG6 b is another schematic diagram of implementing data retransmission using the communication method provided by the present application;

[0194] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0195] FIG8 is another schematic diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0196] FIG9 is another schematic diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0197] FIG10 is another schematic diagram of the communication device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0198] First, some of the terms used in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0199] (1) Terminal device: It can be a wireless terminal device that can receive network device scheduling and instruction information. The wireless terminal device can be a device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to the user, or a handheld device with wireless connection function, or other processing device connected to a wireless modem.

[0200] The terminal device may be any communication kit with wireless communication capabilities (the kit may include, for example, an antenna, a power supply module, cables, and a Wi-Fi module). The terminal device may also be a communication module with satellite communication capabilities, a satellite phone or its components, or a very small aperture terminal (VSAT). The terminal device may be a mobile terminal device, such as a mobile phone (also known as a "cellular" phone, mobile phone), a computer, and a data card. For example, the terminal device may be a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer-built-in, or vehicle-mounted mobile device that exchanges voice and / or data with a wireless access network. Examples include personal communication service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet computers, and computers with wireless transceiver capabilities. A wireless terminal device may also be referred to as a system, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a mobile station (MS), a remote station, an access point (AP), a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a user agent, a subscriber station (SS), a customer premises equipment (CPE), a terminal, a user equipment (UE), a mobile terminal (MT), an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), etc. A terminal device may also be a wearable device or a next-generation communication system, for example, a terminal device in a future communication system or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), etc. Of course, a terminal device in this application may also refer to a chip, a modem, a system on a chip (SoC) or a communication platform that may include a radio frequency (RF) part, etc., which is mainly responsible for relevant communication functions in the device.

[0201] (2) Network equipment: It can be a device in a wireless network. For example, the network equipment can be a radio access network (RAN) node (or device) that connects a terminal device to a wireless network, which can also be called a base station. Currently, some examples of RAN equipment include: a new generation base station in a future communication system, a transmission reception point (TRP), an evolved Node B (eNB), a radio network controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., home evolved Node B, or home Node B, HNB), a base band unit (BBU), or a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) access point (AP). In addition, in a network structure, the network equipment can include a centralized unit (CU) node, a distributed unit (DU) node, or a RAN device including a CU node and a DU node.

[0202] In some implementations, the network equipment may also include satellites, aircraft, drones, and ground station equipment connected to the satellites, aircraft, and drones.

[0203] Among them, the network device can send configuration information to the terminal device (for example, carried in a scheduling message and / or an indication message), and the terminal device further performs network configuration according to the configuration information, so that the network configurations between the network device and the terminal device are aligned; or, through the network configuration preset in the network device and the network configuration preset in the terminal device, the network configurations between the network device and the terminal device are aligned. Specifically, "alignment" means that when there are interactive messages between the network device and the terminal device, the two have a consistent understanding of the carrier frequency for sending and receiving interactive messages, the determination of the interactive message type, the meaning of the field information carried in the interactive message, or other configurations of the interactive message.

[0204] In addition, in other possible cases, the network device may be another device that provides wireless communication functions for the terminal device. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form used by the network device. For the convenience of description, the embodiments of this application are not limited.

[0205] In the embodiments of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device may be the network device, or may be a device capable of supporting the network device in implementing the function, such as a chip system, which may be installed in the network device. In the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are described by taking the network device as an example.

[0206] (3) Configuration and pre-configuration: In this application, configuration and pre-configuration are used simultaneously. Configuration refers to the network device sending some parameter configuration information or parameter values ​​to the terminal device through messages or signaling, so that the terminal device can determine the communication parameters or resources during transmission based on these values ​​or information. Pre-configuration is similar to configuration, and can be parameter information or parameter values ​​negotiated in advance between the network device and the terminal device, or parameter information or parameter values ​​used by the network device or terminal device as specified by the standard protocol, or parameter information or parameter values ​​pre-stored in the network device or terminal device. This application does not limit this.

[0207] Furthermore, these values ​​and parameters can be changed or updated.

[0208] (4) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application can be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, "at least one of A, B and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC or ABC. In addition, unless otherwise specified, the ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, timing, priority or importance of multiple objects.

[0209] (5) “Sending” and “receiving” in the embodiments of the present application indicate the direction of signal transmission. For example, “sending information to XX” can be understood as the destination of the information being XX, which can include direct sending through the air interface, as well as indirect sending through the air interface by other units or modules. “Receiving information from YY” can be understood as the source of the information being YY, which can include direct receiving from YY through the air interface, as well as indirect receiving from YY through the air interface from other units or modules. “Sending” can also be understood as the “output” of the chip interface, and “receiving” can also be understood as the “input” of the chip interface.

[0210] In other words, sending and receiving can be performed between devices, for example, between a network device and a terminal device, or can be performed within a device, for example, sending or receiving between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules within the device through a bus, wiring or interface.

[0211] It is understandable that information may be processed between the source and destination of information transmission, such as coding, modulation, etc., but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in this application can be understood similarly and will not be repeated.

[0212] (6) In the embodiments of the present application, "indication" may include direct indication and indirect indication, and may also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information (such as the indication information described below) is called information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated, such as but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated may also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, wherein the other information is associated with the information to be indicated; or only a part of the information to be indicated may be indicated, while the other part of the information to be indicated is known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of specific information may be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each information agreed in advance (such as predefined by the protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. The present application does not limit the specific method of indication. It is understandable that for the sender of the indication information, the indication information can be used to indicate the information to be indicated, and for the receiver of the indication information, the indication information can be used to determine the information to be indicated.

[0213] (7) Soft information: The decoder at the receiving end calculates the log likelihood ratio (LLR) of the bit value during decoding, which can be considered as the "soft" output of the decoder. In this application, soft output can refer to decoder output that has not yet been finalized (e.g., the bit value has not yet been determined to be 1 or 0), but can still provide useful information (e.g., in subsequent decoding iterations). Such soft output can be probabilistic in nature (e.g., LLR).

[0214] (8) Soft combining: The soft information of the received erroneous data packet is stored in a buffer (e.g., HARQ buffer) and combined with the soft information of the subsequently received retransmitted data packet to obtain a data packet that is more reliable than decoding each separately (the soft combining process). The combined data is then decoded.

[0215] Exemplarily, a soft combining scheme is chase combining, that is, the retransmitted bit information is the same as the original transmission.

[0216] Exemplarily, another soft-merging solution is incremental redundancy, that is, each retransmission is different from the initial transmission. For example, the transmitter can generate multiple coding bit sets, each of which carries the same system information and different redundant information. Whenever retransmission is required, a different coding bit set is transmitted from the previous time, and the receiver merges the retransmitted data with the previously transmitted data. In addition, the coding bits of each retransmission are set into a redundant version (RV). It can be understood that as the number of retransmissions increases, redundant information continues to accumulate, and the channel coding efficiency continues to decrease, thereby achieving better decoding results (increasing the decoding success rate).

[0217] In this application, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can refer to each other. In the various embodiments of this application, and the various methods / designs / implementations in each embodiment, if there is no special explanation and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments and the various methods / designs / implementations in each embodiment are consistent and can be referenced to each other. The technical features in different embodiments and the various methods / designs / implementations in each embodiment can be combined to form new embodiments, methods, or implementations according to their inherent logical relationships. The following description of the implementation methods of this application does not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this application.

[0218] The present application can be applied to a long term evolution (LTE) system, a new radio (NR) system, or a new wireless vehicle to everything (NR V2X) system; it can also be applied to a system with a hybrid LTE and 5G network; or a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT), or a drone communication system; or a communication system that supports multiple wireless technologies such as LTE and NR technologies; or a non-ground communication system, such as a satellite communication system, a high-altitude communication platform, etc. Alternatively, the communication system may also be applicable to narrowband-internet of things (NB-IoT), enhanced data rate for GSM evolution (EDGE), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), code division multiple access 2000 (CDMA2000), time division-synchronization code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA), and future-oriented communication technologies. Or it may be other communication systems, wherein the communication system includes network equipment and terminal equipment, the network equipment serves as a configuration information sending entity, and the terminal equipment serves as a configuration information receiving entity. Specifically, in the communication system, there is an entity that sends configuration information to another entity, and sends data to another entity, or receives data sent by another entity; another entity receives the configuration information, and sends data to the configuration information sending entity according to the configuration information, or receives data sent by the configuration information sending entity. Among them, the present application can be applied to terminal devices in a connected state or an active state (active), and can also be applied to terminal devices in a non-connected state (inactive) or an idle state (idle).

[0219] Please refer to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system 1000 used in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may also include the Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (such as 110a and 110b in Figure 1, collectively referred to as 110), and may also include at least one terminal (such as 120a-120j in Figure 1, collectively referred to as 120). The RAN 100 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in Figure 1). The terminal 120 is connected to the RAN node 110 wirelessly, and the RAN node 110 is connected to the core network 200 wirelessly or by wire. The core network equipment in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 100 may be independent and different physical devices, or they may be the same physical device that integrates the logical functions of the core network equipment and the logical functions of the RAN node. Terminals and RAN nodes may be connected to each other via wired or wireless means.

[0220] It should be noted that the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is applicable to a communication system that integrates terrestrial communication and satellite communication, and the communication system may also be referred to as a non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication system. In other words, the RAN100 in Figure 1 may include a terrestrial base station, wherein the terrestrial base station may include a TN cell (i.e., the signal of the TN cell can be transmitted and received through the terrestrial base station); and the RAN100 in Figure 1 may also include a non-terrestrial base station. Taking the non-terrestrial base station as a satellite as an example, the satellite may include an NTN cell (i.e., the signal of the NTN cell can be transmitted and received through the satellite). The terrestrial communication system may be, for example, a long term evolution (LTE) system, a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), a 5G communication system or a new radio (NR) system, or a communication system that is the next step in the development of the 5G communication system, etc., which is not limited here.

[0221] Compared to traditional mobile communication systems, satellite communications offer advantages such as wider coverage, communication costs unrelated to transmission distance, and the ability to overcome natural geographical obstacles such as oceans, deserts, and mountains. To overcome the shortcomings of traditional communication networks, satellite communications can serve as an effective supplement to traditional networks. It is generally believed that non-terrestrial network communications have different channel characteristics than terrestrial network communications, such as longer transmission delays and greater Doppler frequency deviations. For example, the round-trip delay for GEO satellite communications is 238 to 270 milliseconds (ms). The round-trip delay for LEO satellite communications is 8 to 20 ms. Satellite communication systems can be categorized into three types based on their orbital altitude: high Earth orbit (GEO) satellite communication systems, also known as synchronous orbit satellite systems; medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite communication systems; and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication systems.

[0222] GEO satellites, also known as geostationary orbit satellites, orbit at an altitude of 35,786 kilometers (km). Their primary advantages are stationary relative to the Earth and wide coverage. However, GEO satellites also have significant disadvantages: their distance from Earth requires larger antennas; their transmission latency is relatively high, around 0.5 seconds, making them inadequate for real-time services; and their orbital resources are relatively limited, resulting in high launch costs and a lack of coverage in polar regions. MEO satellites, orbiting at altitudes between 2,000 and 35,786 km, can achieve global coverage with a relatively small number of satellites. However, their transmission latency is higher than that of LEO satellites, and they are primarily used for positioning and navigation. Furthermore, satellites orbiting at altitudes between 300 and 2,000 km are called low-Earth Orbit (LEO). LEO satellites are lower than MEO and GEO satellites, resulting in lower data transmission latency, less power consumption, and relatively lower launch costs. Consequently, LEO satellite communication networks have made significant progress in recent years and garnered significant attention.

[0223] In a possible implementation, satellite equipment can be divided into a transparent mode and a regenerative mode according to its working mode.

[0224] The following will exemplify these two modes through the implementation methods shown in Figures 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d.

[0225] In the transparent transmission mode implementation shown in Figure 2a, the satellite and gateway (i.e., the NTN Gateway in Figure 2a) act as relays, namely the Remote Radio Unit (RRU) shown in Figure 2a. This relay process is required for communication between the terminal device and the gNB. In other words, in transparent transmission mode, the satellite performs relay forwarding functions.

[0226] For example, in the transparent transmission mode implementation shown in Figure 2b, when a satellite (including a GEO satellite, MEO satellite, or LEO satellite) operates in transparent transmission mode, it performs relay forwarding. Gateway stations have base station functions or partial base station functions; in this case, the gateway stations can be considered base stations. Alternatively, base stations can be deployed separately from gateway stations, in which case the feeder link latency includes both the satellite-to-gateway latency and the gateway-to-gNB latency.

[0227] Optionally, the transparent transmission mode can be based on the case where the gateway station and the gNB are together or located close to each other. For the case where the gateway station and the gNB are far apart, the feeder link delay can be calculated by adding the delay from the satellite to the gateway station and the delay from the gateway station to the gNB.

[0228] In the regenerative mode implementation shown in Figure 2c, the satellite and gateway (i.e., the NTN Gateway in Figure 2c) function as gNBs, enabling communication with end devices. In other words, in regenerative mode, the satellite assumes the functionality of a base station, or some of its functions, and can be considered a base station.

[0229] Exemplarily, in the implementation of the regeneration mode shown in Figure 2d, when the satellite (including GEO satellite, MEO satellite, LEO satellite, etc.) operates in the regeneration mode, compared with the implementation shown in Figure 2b, the satellite has the function of a base station or partial base station function. At this time, the satellite can be regarded as a base station.

[0230] It's important to note that NTN and terrestrial base stations can interconnect through a common core network. Interfaces defined between base stations can also enable more timely collaboration and interconnection. In NR, the interface between base stations is called the Xn interface, and the interface between base stations and the core network is called the NG interface. In a converged network, NTN nodes and terrestrial nodes can achieve interoperability and collaboration using these interfaces.

[0231] It should be noted that the present application can be applied to a long term evolution (LTE) system, a new radio (NR) system, or a future communication system.

[0232] Taking 5G as an example, a 5G satellite communication system architecture is shown in Figure 2e. Ground-based terminal devices access the network via the 5G New Air Interface (NR). 5G base stations are deployed on satellites and connected to the terrestrial core network via wireless links. Furthermore, wireless links exist between satellites, enabling signaling exchanges and user data transmission between base stations. The devices and interfaces in Figure 2e are described below:

[0233] 5G core network: Provides services such as user access control, mobility management, session management, user security authentication, and billing. It consists of multiple functional units, which can be divided into control plane and data plane functional entities. The access and mobility management function (AMF) is responsible for user access management, security authentication, and mobility management. The user plane function (UPF) is responsible for managing user plane data transmission, traffic statistics, and other functions. The session management function (SMF) is primarily responsible for session management in mobile networks, such as session establishment, modification, and release.

[0234] Ground station: responsible for forwarding signaling and service data between satellite base stations and 5G core network.

[0235] 5G New Air Interface: The wireless link between the terminal and the base station.

[0236] Xn interface: The interface between 5G base stations, mainly used for signaling interactions such as switching.

[0237] NG interface: The interface between the 5G base station and the 5G core network, which mainly interacts with the core network's non-access stratum (NAS) signaling and user service data.

[0238] In addition, the network devices in the terrestrial network communication system and the satellites in the NTN communication system can be uniformly regarded as network devices. The device used to implement the function of the network device can be a network device; it can also be a device that can support the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which can be installed in the network device. When describing the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application below, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described by taking the device used to implement the function of the network device as a satellite as an example. It can be understood that when the method provided by the embodiments of the present application is applied to the terrestrial network communication system, the actions performed by the satellite can be applied to the base station or network device for execution.

[0239] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device may be a terminal device; or it may be a device capable of supporting the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system, which may be installed in the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are described by taking the case where the device for realizing the function of the terminal device is a terminal or UE as an example.

[0240] In addition, the above-mentioned satellites can be geostationary satellites, non-geostationary satellites, artificial satellites, low-orbit satellites, medium-orbit satellites, high-orbit satellites, etc., which are not specifically limited in this application.

[0241] The above content introduces various scenarios of wireless communication involved in this application. It should be understood that the above content is only an exemplary description of the scenarios in which this application can be applied. This application can also be applied to other application scenarios, which are not limited here. The following will introduce the wireless communication process involved in this application.

[0242] In the communication systems shown in Figures 1 / 2a / 2b / 2c / 2d / 2e, when the receiver fails to receive correct information during data transmission and reception, this is called a bit error (or reception error, parsing error, etc.). Generally, after discovering a bit error, the receiver can request the sender to retransmit the erroneous data.

[0243] One retransmission scheme is physical (PHY) layer / medium access control (MAC) layer retransmission. The HARQ mechanism at the MAC layer is the most commonly used retransmission mechanism. It enables fast retransmission by immediately sending feedback on the success or failure of information transmission from the receiver to the sender.

[0244] Another retransmission scheme is radio link control (RLC) retransmission. The RLC layer's automatic repeat request (ARQ) mechanism complements the MAC layer's retransmission mechanism. Compared to the HARQ mechanism, the RLC layer's retransmission feedback status report transmission frequency is lower, resulting in lower feedback overhead. However, its retransmission latency is significantly greater than that of the PHY / MAC layer's retransmission. Therefore, combining MAC layer HARQ and RLC layer ARQ can meet the data transmission requirements of various application scenarios.

[0245] Another retransmission solution is packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) retransmission. PDCP retransmission is primarily used when a terminal device switches cells across access network devices (such as gNBs). Because lower-layer protocol configurations and caches (such as the RLC and MAC layers) are cleared during handover, while the PDCP layer is not, the PDCP retransmission function ensures data is not lost during handover.

[0246] The following describes the implementation of HARQ retransmission, which involves the Stop-and-Wait Protocol. The Stop-and-Wait Protocol requires the sender to stop sending after each TB and wait for confirmation from the receiver.

[0247] For example, using Figure 3a as an example, after the sender sends the first TB, the receiver can provide feedback indicating the first TB's reception result. Furthermore, if the first TB's reception result indicates successful reception, the sender sends the second TB, and the receiver can provide feedback indicating the second TB's reception result. Similarly, after receiving feedback indicating successful reception of a TB, the sender can send the next TB.

[0248] Among them, the stop-and-wait protocol has the following two characteristics:

[0249] Feature 1: The receiver will send feedback information to the sender, and regardless of whether the reception is correct or not, the reception status needs to be fed back to the sender.

[0250] Feature 2: The sender will not send any more messages until it receives confirmation from the receiver. In other words, the next message will not be sent until the previous message has been confirmed.

[0251] In the above implementation, the stop-and-wait protocol requires the sender to stop and wait for feedback from the receiver after each transmission, which results in very low throughput. Therefore, HARQ uses multiple stop-and-wait processes in parallel. While one process is waiting for confirmation, the sender can continue sending information using another process. Similarly, while the receiver is processing information received by one process, it can continue receiving information using another process. Multiple HARQ processes running in parallel form a HARQ entity, with each uplink or downlink carrier corresponding to a HARQ entity. The current NR protocol defines a HARQ entity that supports up to 32 HARQ processes.

[0252] Generally, the maximum number of processes only indicates the upper limit of the number of processes; not all processes will be used. When using multiple processes for transmission, each process can have independent HARQ feedback. HARQ feedback refers to the feedback information sent by the receiver in the HARQ mechanism. The sender uses the receiver's feedback to determine whether the data has been successfully transmitted. An acknowledgment (ACK) indicates successful reception or transmission, while a negative acknowledgement (NACK) indicates a failed reception or transmission.

[0253] For example, taking the three HARQ processes in Figure 3b as an example, the three HARQ processes are HARQ process 0, HARQ process 1, and HARQ process 2. Compared with the implementation process in Figure 3a, in Figure 3b, ACK / NACK can be fed back independently for the three HARQ processes.

[0254] As can be seen from the above introduction to HARQ retransmission, when the sender is a network device and the receiver is a terminal device, the data sent by the network device is generally a transport block (TB). If the terminal device determines that a bit error has occurred in the received data transmission, the terminal device can feedback a negative acknowledgement (NACK) through a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ). Accordingly, the network device can determine to retransmit the TB based on the NACK.

[0255] In the above implementation, the data transmitted in a HARQ process is a TB, and a HARQ feedback (such as ACK / NACK) is specific to that TB. This implementation approach may present some issues in certain scenarios. For example, in an NTN scenario, to improve the throughput of the NTN system, a new feature called "disable HARQ feedback" can be added. After disabling feedback for the HARQ process, the terminal does not feedback the decoding result or returns a NACK regardless of whether the decoding is correct or not. For example, if SCS = 120KHz, when the satellite orbit altitude is greater than 110km, the round trip time (RTT) is greater than 4ms. At this time, the 32-process HARQ cannot fully utilize the time domain resources of the round trip delay (assuming that one TB occupies one time slot and one TB occupies one process; when the subcarrier is 120KHz, the slot length is 0.125ms. When 32 processes are in parallel, the time domain resources occupy 0.125*32=4ms. When the RTT is greater than 4ms, the 32 processes will not be able to fully occupy the time domain resources). Therefore, it is necessary to turn off the feedback of some or all HARQ processes to fully utilize the time domain resources.

[0256] In summary, the current NR-NTN system feeds back ACK / NACK in TB units. The maximum number of HARQ processes supported by NR-NTN is 32. When the RTT is large, the PHY / MAC layer HARQ feedback can only be disabled, and PHY / MAC layer retransmission is not supported at this time. To ensure correct transmission, RLC layer retransmission is used for data packets with decoding errors to ensure system reliability. When PHY / MAC layer retransmission is not supported, the physical layer target block error rate (target BLER) must be set to 0.01 to ensure that the error rate of data received by the RLC layer (such as protocol data unit (PDU)) is no more than 1%. When HARQ feedback is disabled, the physical layer target block error rate (target BLER) must be set to 0.01. Compared with setting the physical layer target block error rate (target BLER) to 0.1 without disabling HARQ feedback, the spectrum efficiency will be reduced.

[0257] In other words, to avoid or reduce spectrum efficiency degradation, network devices may transmit multiple TBs in a single HARQ process. For example, the data sent by a network device may include two or more TBs. In this case, if bit errors occur, how to retransmit the data remains unresolved in the implementation processes shown in Figures 3a and 3b above.

[0258] To address the aforementioned issues, this application provides a communication method and related devices that enable a network device to retransmit some or all of the M first TBs that were received incorrectly, based on first information sent by a terminal device, to recover the data. Furthermore, the terminal device can fully utilize cache resources for data recovery, improving the success rate and reliability of retransmission decoding, thereby enhancing communication efficiency. This method will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0259] Please refer to FIG4 , which is a schematic diagram of the communication method provided in this application. The method includes the following steps.

[0260] It should be noted that this application uses network devices and terminal devices as examples of the execution subjects of the interactive diagram to illustrate the method provided by this application, but this application does not limit the execution subjects of the interactive diagram. For example, the method executed by the network device can also be executed by a module of the network device (such as a chip, a chip system, or a processor), and can also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the network device. The method executed by the terminal device can also be executed by a module of the terminal device (such as a chip, a chip system, or a processor), and can also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the terminal device functions.

[0261] The method shown in FIG4 includes steps S401 to S404 , and each step will be described below.

[0262] S401. A network device sends first data of a first process, and correspondingly, a terminal device receives the first data of the first process, wherein the first data includes N first TBs, where N is an integer greater than 1.

[0263] S402. The terminal device sends first information, and the network device receives the first information accordingly, wherein the first information is used to indicate that M first TBs are received incorrectly, where the M first TBs are included in the N first TBs, and M is a positive integer less than or equal to N.

[0264] S403. The network device sends the second data of the first process, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second data of the first process, wherein the second data includes K second TBs, and the K second TBs are retransmissions of K first TBs among the M first TBs.

[0265] S404. The terminal device performs soft combining decoding based on the K first TBs and the K second TBs.

[0266] It should be noted that during the communication process between the network device and the terminal device, the network device can configure one or more processes for the data communicated between the two, and transmit data through the one or more processes. In this application, the process can be replaced by a thread.

[0267] It should be understood that in the one or more processes, the network device can send one or more TBs to the terminal device in any one process. For the any one process, the one or more TBs in the process can be referred to as data (e.g., first data, second data, or third data mentioned later, etc.). Alternatively, the one or more TBs in the process can be referred to as TB groups, TB sets, etc. In other words, the data involved in this application can be replaced by TB groups, TB sets, etc. For example, the first data can be replaced by the first TB group (or the first TB set), the second data can be replaced by the second TB group (or the second TB set), the third data can be replaced by the third TB group (or the third TB set), etc.

[0268] In this application, the reception error can be understood as a decoding error, a parsing error, unsuccessful decoding, unsuccessful parsing, unsuccessful reception and other terms. Accordingly, the reception error can also be replaced by the other terms.

[0269] In this application, soft combining decoding can be understood as combining decoding based on buffered soft information and retransmission information. Accordingly, soft combining decoding can be replaced by other terms such as soft combining processing and retransmission soft combining.

[0270] In one possible implementation, in step S404, the terminal device may perform soft-combining decoding based on different transmissions within the same process. To improve the success rate of soft-combining decoding by the terminal device, the terminal device may determine the number of TBs to be soft-combined within the first process based on instructions from the network device. This will be described below with reference to some implementation examples.

[0271] Implementation example 1: Before step S404, the method further includes: the terminal device receives second information, where the second information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged by the terminal device in the first process is P, and K is less than or equal to P.

[0272] In implementation example one, the terminal device can also receive second information, so that the terminal device can determine the number of TBs to be soft-merged in the first process based on the second information, and subsequently the terminal device can perform soft-merging decoding of the retransmitted data based on the number P indicated by the second information.

[0273] In addition, through the indication method of the second information, when the number of processes between the network device and the terminal device is greater than 1, the network device can indicate the corresponding number of TBs to be soft-merged for different processes, thereby improving the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0274] In a possible implementation of Example 1, before the terminal device receives the second information, the method further includes: the terminal device sends third information, where the third information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging processing in the first process.

[0275] Specifically, before the terminal device receives the second information, the terminal device may further send to the network device third information indicating the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging in the first process, so that the network device can send the second information to the terminal device based on the capability indicated by the third information, thereby enabling the network device to adapt the value P indicated by the second information to the capability of the terminal device.

[0276] Optionally, the third information may indicate the number of one or more TBs supported by the terminal device for soft merging processing in the first process.

[0277] Further optionally, the values ​​of the one or more TB quantities are all greater than or equal to P.

[0278] Further optionally, one of the values ​​of the one or more TB quantities is P.

[0279] As an implementation example, the third information received by the terminal device can be implemented in the manner shown in Table 1 below.

[0280] Table 1

[0281] As shown in Table 1, the network device can configure the number of TBs used for soft-merging decoding for different processes corresponding to different process numbers. This allows the network device to indicate the corresponding number of TBs to be transmitted for different processes, thereby improving the flexibility of the solution implementation. It is understood that the first process described above can be any process with process numbers 0 to 3 in Table 1.

[0282] Implementation example 2: Before step S404, the method further includes: the terminal device receives fourth information, where the fourth information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged by the terminal device in at least two processes is P, and the at least two processes include the first process.

[0283] Specifically, the terminal device can also receive fourth information, so that the terminal device can determine the number of TBs to be soft-merged in at least two processes based on the fourth information, and the at least two processes include the first process. Subsequently, the terminal device can perform soft-merging decoding of the retransmitted data in the at least two processes based on the number P indicated by the second information.

[0284] In addition, through the indication method of the fourth information, when the number of processes between the network device and the terminal device is greater than 1, the network device can indicate the same number of TBs for soft merging processing through the fourth information, which can reduce overhead.

[0285] Optionally, the at least two processes may include other processes in addition to the first process, such as a second process, a third process, etc.

[0286] Optionally, the second information and the fourth information may be carried in a configuration message of the network device, such as an RRC message, DCI or MAC CE.

[0287] In a possible implementation of Example 2, before the terminal device receives the second information, the method further includes: the terminal device sends fifth information, where the fifth information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging in the at least two processes. Specifically, before the terminal device receives the fourth information, the terminal device may also send fifth information to the network device, which is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging in the at least two processes. This enables the network device to send the fourth information to the terminal device based on the capability indicated by the fifth information, thereby enabling the network device to adapt the value P indicated by the fourth information to the capability of the terminal device.

[0288] In a possible implementation, the first information sent by the terminal device in step S402 includes any one of the following information A to information C:

[0289] Information A, N bits, the N bits are used to indicate whether the N first TBs are received successfully or incorrectly.

[0290] Information B, index of the M first TBs.

[0291] Information C, index and value MK of the K first TBs.

[0292] Specifically, the first information can be implemented through any of the above items, so that the network device can determine M first TB reception errors based on any of the above items, thereby improving the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0293] As an implementation example, take the value of N as 10, the value of M as 5, and the value of K as 2. That is, the first data received by the terminal device in step S401 includes 10 first TBs, and the terminal device determines that the first 5 first TBs of the 10 first TBs are received incorrectly.

[0294] For example, if the first information is information A described above, it can specifically be 10 bits, "0000011111." Each bit in the 10-bit position can indicate whether the corresponding TB was received successfully or incorrectly, with a value of 0 indicating a reception error and a value of 1 indicating successful reception. Accordingly, a value of 0 for the first five bits indicates a reception error for the first five TBs, and a value of 1 for the last five bits indicates successful reception for the first five TBs.

[0295] For another example, if the first information is the aforementioned information B, the first information may specifically be the indexes of the first five first TBs, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. In other words, based on the index values ​​"1, 2, 3, 4, and 5," the network device may determine that the first TBs with index values ​​"1, 2, 3, 4, and 5" among the 10 first TBs have been received incorrectly.

[0296] For another example, when the first information is the above-mentioned information C, the first information may specifically include the indexes of two first TBs "for example, 1, 2" and a value of 3 (that is, the difference between M and K is 3). In other words, the network device can determine that the first TB with index values ​​of "1, 2" in the 10 first TBs has a reception error based on the index value "1, 2", and the network device can also determine that in addition to the first TB with index values ​​of "1, 2" in the 10 first TBs, there are 3 other first TB reception errors. Among them, the first TB with index values ​​of "1, 2" can be soft-merged and decoded by the second data retransmitted in step S403. Optionally, the other 3 first TBs can be transmitted in other ways (for example, in accordance with the method of newly transmitting data) so that the terminal device can recover the data of the other 3 first TBs.

[0297] In one possible implementation, before the terminal device receives the first data, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving indication information indicating a redundant version of the first data; and before receiving the second data, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving indication information indicating a redundant version of the second data. Specifically, for data transmitted by a process (e.g., the first data or the second data), the network device may send indication information indicating a redundant version of the data, so that the terminal device can determine the redundant version of each data based on the indication information, and determine a decoding method for the data based on the redundant version of each data.

[0298] Exemplarily, since the K second TBs in the second data are retransmissions of the K first TBs in the first data, the above-mentioned indication information can indicate that the redundant version of the first data is different from the redundant version of the second data, so that the terminal device can determine to decode the K second TBs in the second data by soft merging decoding based on the different redundant versions.

[0299] In one possible implementation, before receiving the first data, the method further includes: the terminal device receives indication information for indicating the redundant versions corresponding to the N first TBs; before receiving the second data, the method further includes: the terminal device receives indication information for indicating the redundant versions corresponding to the K second TBs, wherein the redundant versions corresponding to the K first TBs in the N first TBs are different from or the same as the redundant versions corresponding to the K second TBs. Specifically, for one or more TBs contained in data transmitted by a process (for example, the N first TBs in the first data or the K second TBs in the second data), the network device can send indication information for indicating the redundant versions of the one or more TBs, so that the terminal device can determine the redundant versions of each TB based on the indication information, and determine the decoding method of the data based on the redundant versions of each TB.

[0300] Exemplarily, since the K second TBs in the second data are retransmissions of the K first TBs in the first data, the above-mentioned indication information can indicate that the redundant version of the K first TBs in the first data is different from or the same as the redundant version of the K second TBs in the second data, so that the terminal device can determine to decode the K second TBs in the second data by soft merging decoding based on the redundant version.

[0301] Optionally, the indication information for indicating the redundancy version may be carried in an RRC message, DCI, or MAC CE, etc. Taking DCI as an example, the first data or the second data may be carried in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and the DCI may be a DCI in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for scheduling the PDSCH. The indication information may be carried in a field / information element / domain in the DCI for indicating the RV.

[0302] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving indication information for indicating that the K second TBs in the second data are to be used for soft-merging decoding. Specifically, the terminal device may further receive indication information for indicating that the K second TBs in the second data are to be used for soft-merging decoding, so that after receiving the second data, the terminal device can determine, based on the indication information, to decode the K second TBs in the second data using soft-merging decoding.

[0303] Optionally, the indication information for indicating that the K second TBs in the second data are used for soft combining decoding may be carried in an RRC message, DCI, or MAC CE, etc. Taking DCI as an example, the second data may be carried in a PDSCH, and the DCI may be a DCI in a PDCCH used to schedule the PDSCH.

[0304] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving indication information indicating that the number of retransmitted TBs for soft combining decoding included in the second data is K. Specifically, the terminal device may further receive indication information indicating that the number of retransmitted TBs for soft combining decoding included in the second data is K, so that after receiving the second data, the terminal device can determine the number of TBs for soft combining decoding in the second data based on the indication information.

[0305] Optionally, the indication information for indicating that the number of retransmitted TBs for soft combining decoding included in the second data is K may be carried in an RRC message, DCI, or MAC CE, etc. Taking DCI as an example, the second data may be carried in a PDSCH, and the DCI may be a DCI in a PDCCH used to schedule the PDSCH.

[0306] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving sixth information, where the sixth information is used to indicate that the number of TBs in the first process is N. Specifically, the terminal device may further receive the sixth information, so that the terminal device can determine the number of TBs transmitted in the first process based on the sixth information, and subsequently the terminal device may receive data in the first process based on the number N indicated by the sixth information.

[0307] In addition, through the indication method of the sixth information, when the number of processes between the network device and the terminal device is greater than 1, the network device can indicate the corresponding number of transmitted TBs for different processes respectively, so as to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0308] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving seventh information, the seventh indication information being used to indicate that the number of TBs transmitted in at least two processes is N, the at least two processes including the first process. Specifically, the terminal device may further receive the seventh information, enabling the terminal device to determine, based on the seventh information, the number of TBs transmitted in the at least two processes including the first process, and subsequently receiving data in the at least two processes based on the number N indicated by the seventh information.

[0309] In addition, through the indication method of the seventh information, when the number of processes between the network device and the terminal device is greater than 1, the network device can indicate the same number of transmission TBs through the seventh information, which can reduce overhead.

[0310] Optionally, the indication information for indicating that the number of retransmitted TBs for soft combining and decoding included in the second data is K may be carried in an RRC message, DCI or MAC CE, etc.

[0311] As an implementation example, taking the sixth information received by the terminal device as an example, the network device can be implemented in the manner shown in Table 2 below.

[0312] Table 2

[0313] As shown in Table 2, the network device can configure the number of TBs used for soft-merging decoding for different processes corresponding to different process numbers. Furthermore, the network device can configure the number of TBs transmitted for each process corresponding to different process numbers. This allows the network device to indicate the corresponding number of TBs to be transmitted for each process, thereby improving the flexibility of the solution implementation. It is understood that the first process described above can be any process with process numbers 0 to 3 in Table 2.

[0314] In one possible implementation, the first information sent by the terminal device in step S402 is used to indicate M first TB reception errors, where the terminal device can perform different processing methods when the value of M is different. The following will be introduced in detail with some implementation examples.

[0315] Implementation Example A. When M is less than or equal to P, K is equal to M.

[0316] In implementation example A, after the terminal device receives the N first TBs of the first process in step S401, if the number M of TBs received with errors is less than or equal to the number P of TBs soft-combined by the terminal device, the number K of retransmitted TBs included in the second data received by the terminal device in step S403 is equal to the number M of TBs received with errors indicated by the terminal device via the first information. In other words, all of the M first TBs received with errors indicated by the terminal device via the first information can be retransmitted and decoded via soft-combining decoding.

[0317] Implementation Example B. When M is greater than P, K is equal to P and K is less than M.

[0318] In implementation example B, after the terminal device receives N first TBs of the first process in step S401, if the number of TBs received with errors is greater than the number P of TBs for soft combining by the terminal device, the number K of retransmitted TBs included in the second data received by the terminal device in step S403 is less than the number M of TBs received with errors indicated by the terminal device through the first information. In other words, P first TBs (or K, because K is equal to P here) of the M first TBs received with errors indicated by the terminal device through the first information can be retransmitted and decoded through soft combining decoding.

[0319] Optionally, in step S404, the K first TBs decoded by the terminal device through soft bit merging are K TBs with smaller index values ​​among one or more TBs that are received incorrectly in the M first TBs indicated by the first information; the K first TBs are K TBs with larger index values ​​among one or more TBs that are received incorrectly in the M first TBs; the indexes of the K first TBs in the M first TBs are preconfigured or dynamically configured.

[0320] In a possible implementation of Example B, the second data also includes MK third TBs, which are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs in the M first TBs. Specifically, when the number K of retransmitted TBs contained in the second data received by the terminal device is less than the number M of TBs with reception errors indicated by the terminal device through the first information, the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs in the M first TBs may not be retransmitted and decoded by soft combining decoding. To this end, the terminal device can also receive MK third TBs in the second data of the first process, which are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs in the M first TBs, so that the terminal device can recover data based on the MK third TBs.

[0321] It should be understood that, since the number of TBs soft-combined by the terminal device in the first process is P, when the number K of retransmitted TBs included in the second data received by the terminal device is less than the number M of TBs with reception errors indicated by the terminal device through the first information, the terminal device may decode the MK third TBs using a method other than the soft-combining decoding method. For example, the terminal device may decode the MK third TBs based on the decoding method for the newly transmitted data.

[0322] In a possible implementation of Example B, the method further includes: the terminal device receives third data, the third data includes MK third TBs, and the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the MK first TBs. Specifically, when the number K of retransmitted TBs contained in the second data received by the terminal device is less than the number M of TBs with reception errors indicated by the terminal device through the first information, the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs in the M first TBs may not be retransmitted and decoded by soft combining decoding. To this end, the terminal device may also receive MK third TBs in third data different from the second data, and the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs in the M first TBs, so that the terminal device can recover data based on the MK third TBs.

[0323] Optionally, the third data is data different from the second data. The third data may be transmitted through the first process or other processes, which is not limited here.

[0324] In a possible implementation of Example B, the method further includes: the terminal device discards the decoding soft information of the other MK first TBs in the M first TBs except the K first TBs. Specifically, when the number K of retransmitted TBs contained in the second data received by the terminal device is less than the number M of TBs with reception errors indicated by the terminal device through the first information, the other MK first TBs in the M first TBs except the K first TBs may not be retransmitted and decoded by soft combined decoding. To this end, the terminal device can discard (or confirm the discarding of) the decoding soft information of the other MK first TBs in the M first TBs except the K first TBs, which can save the consumption of the cache space of the terminal device and reduce the power consumption overhead of the terminal device.

[0325] In one possible implementation, the second data received by the terminal device in step S403 also includes Q fourth TBs, where the Q fourth TBs are different from the K second TBs, where Q is a positive integer. Specifically, in addition to including the retransmissions of the K first TBs (i.e., the K second TBs), the second data may also include Q fourth TBs that are different from the K second TBs. This allows the network device to carry the retransmitted K second TBs in the second data of the first process while also carrying other newly transmitted TBs in the second data, thereby fully utilizing the data transmission of the first process and reducing transmission latency.

[0326] In a possible implementation, the first information is carried on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and a time domain position (eg, time slot position) X of the PUCCH satisfies:

[0327] Where n represents the timestamp index of the PUCCH timestamp that overlaps with the timestamp of the last TB in the time domain among the N first TBs, k represents the scheduling timing parameter indicated by the physical downlink shared uplink channel to hybrid automatic repeat request feedback (PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback) signaling, and K offset represents the scheduling offset, μ is the subcarrier spacing of PUCCH transmission, It's K offset subcarrier spacing configuration.

[0328] Specifically, the transmission resources of the first information sent by the terminal device can be determined in the above manner, so that the network device can receive the first information in the PUCCH based on the above manner.

[0329] Based on Figure 4 and the relevant technical solutions, the first data received by the terminal device in step S401 includes N first TBs, where N is greater than 1. Thereafter, the first information sent by the terminal device in step S402 is used to indicate that M of the N first TBs have been received incorrectly, and subsequently in step S404, the terminal device may perform soft merging decoding with the K first TBs based on the K second TBs contained in the second data of the same process. In other words, when the number of first TBs contained in the data sent by the network device is greater than 1, the terminal device may indicate that M of the N first TBs have been received incorrectly through the first information, and subsequently the network device may retransmit some or all of the M first TBs. Thus, the network device can retransmit some or all of the M first TBs that have been received incorrectly based on the first information sent by the terminal device to recover the data.

[0330] Furthermore, the K second TBs included in the second data received by the terminal device in step S403 are retransmissions of K first TBs among the M first TBs that were received in error. The terminal device performs soft-combining decoding based on the cached K first TBs that were received in error and the retransmitted K second TBs. This allows the terminal device to fully utilize cached resources for data recovery, improving the success rate and reliability of retransmission decoding, and thereby enhancing communication efficiency.

[0331] Figure 5a illustrates an application example of the technical solution shown in Figure 4 . In Figure 5a , the network device's retransmitted data includes TBs for soft combining and other TBs with reception errors. In other words, the second data sent by the network device in step S402 includes not only K second TBs but also MK third TBs.

[0332] It should be understood that in the examples shown in Figures 5a, 6a, and 6b, different TBs occupy different time domain resources, i.e., different TBs can be transmitted through different time slots. In actual applications, different TBs can be transmitted through various different methods such as time division, frequency division, or code division. The time division method here is only an example implementation.

[0333] In Figure 5a, assuming the round-trip delay is 40ms, SCS = 120KHz, and the TB group corresponding to the process includes x = 10 TBs. The number of TBs that support soft merging of retransmissions in the TB group of the process is n = 1. The network device determines the number of TBs in the TB group corresponding to the process based on the round-trip delay. For example, if the window length is quantified by the time slot length, the number of TBs in the TB group is The max_process_num number of threads satisfies the round-trip time duration. max_process_num represents the number of processes supported, and slot_duration represents the slot length.

[0334] In an implementation example, when process 1 in FIG5a is the first process in FIG4, the data transmitted by process 1 may be TB group 1. For example, the number of TBs in TB group 1 is 10 (i.e., N is 10), and the network device may indicate that the number of TBs to be soft-combined in the process is 1 (i.e., P is 1). In this example, after the terminal device receives 10 TBs in TB group 1 in the downlink (DL) (i.e., the first data received by the terminal device in step S401 includes TB1 to TB10), it determines that TB1 and TB3 are received incorrectly and the other TBs are received successfully. Accordingly, the terminal device may feedback TB1 and TB3 reception errors in the uplink (UL) (i.e., the first information sent by the terminal device in step S402 indicates TB1 and TB3 reception errors), and the network device may carry all retransmitted TBs in process 1, including retransmitted TB1 and retransmitted TB3 (i.e., the second data received by the terminal device in step S403 includes TB1 and TB3). Among them, the retransmitted TB1 is the TB used for soft merging decoding (that is, the terminal device performs soft merging decoding based on the retransmitted TB1 and the last transmitted TB1 in step S404), and the retransmitted TB3 is other retransmitted TBs, for example, decoded according to the newly transmitted data.

[0335] In another implementation example, if process 2 in FIG. 5a is the first process in FIG. 4 , the data transmitted by process 2 may be TB group 2. For example, the number of TBs in TB group 2 is 10 (i.e., N is 10), and the network device may indicate that the number of TBs to be soft-combined in the process is 1 (i.e., P is 1). In this example, after receiving 10 TBs in TB group 1 in the downlink (DL) (i.e., the first data received by the terminal device in step S401 includes TB1 to TB10), the terminal device determines that TB2 is received incorrectly and the other TBs are received successfully. Accordingly, the terminal device may provide feedback in the uplink (UL) indicating a TB2 reception error (i.e., the first information sent by the terminal device in step S402 indicates a TB2 reception error), and the network device may carry all retransmitted TBs in process 1, including the retransmitted TB2 (i.e., the second data received by the terminal device in step S403 includes TB2). The retransmitted TB2 is the TB used for soft-combining decoding (i.e., the terminal device performs soft-combining decoding based on the retransmitted TB2 and the previously transmitted TB2 in step S404).

[0336] Optionally, the network device can reuse new data indication (NDI) signaling to indicate whether the data transmitted by the process is a new set of TB data or a retransmitted TB group (through NDI flip indication). If it is a retransmitted TB group, the first min (M, P) TBs support soft merging decoding. For example, NDI can indicate that the TB group is retransmitted, and the first min (M, P) TBs support soft merging decoding.

[0337] Optionally, the network device may multiplex RV signaling to indicate that the TB group supports HARQ soft combining to retransmit redundant versions of TB data.

[0338] Optionally, the network device may indicate through a control channel that the retransmission TB group includes the number of TBs for soft combining (ie, the number K).

[0339] In addition, based on the implementation example shown in FIG5 a , the spectrum efficiency of the retransmission scheme of the TB group based on the process window is simulated.

[0340] The simulation results are shown in Figure 5b. It can be seen that the solution proposed in this application (ie, TB group retransmission in Figure 5b) can improve the spectrum efficiency by 25% compared with the NR-NTN solution.

[0341] Based on the implementation example shown in Figure 5a, it can be seen that the retransmission TB group includes all decoding error TBs reported by the UE. It can be agreed that the order of the retransmission TBs in the retransmission TB group is consistent with the order of the error decoding TBs reported by the terminal device, and the first min (M, P) (that is, the minimum value of M and P, please refer to the previous description for the definition of M and P) in the retransmission TB group are used for soft merging decoding. In addition, in the TB group corresponding to each process, the first min (M, P) decoding error TBs are retransmitted using soft merging decoding, which can make full use of cache resources and improve the reliability of retransmission. Moreover, in large delay scenarios, this solution supports physical layer / MAC layer retransmission, and has higher transmission spectrum efficiency compared to NR-NTN. Moreover, in large delay scenarios, this solution has lower latency than NR-NTNT.

[0342] Figure 6a illustrates another application embodiment of the technical solution shown in Figure 4 . In Figure 6a , the network device's retransmitted data includes the TBs used for soft combining, but excludes other TBs with reception errors. In other words, the second data sent by the network device in step S402 includes the K second TBs but not the MK third TBs.

[0343] In one implementation example, process 1 in FIG6a is the first process in FIG4 . Compared to the implementation process shown in FIG5a , the retransmitted data in process 1 includes TB1 for soft combining and decoding, but does not include TB3 with reception errors. The TB3 with reception errors can be transmitted via the next iteration of process 1 or via another process, without limitation.

[0344] In another implementation example, when process 2 in FIG6a is the first process in FIG4 , compared with the implementation process shown in FIG5a , since the number of TBs received errors in process 2 is 1 and does not include other TBs received errors, the retransmission data of process 2 is the same as the implementation process shown in FIG5a .

[0345] It should be understood that the implementation process in FIG. 6 a may refer to the aforementioned FIG. 5 a and related descriptions.

[0346] Optionally, the network device indicates via NDI whether the process is transmitting a new set of TB data or a retransmitted TB group (via NDI flip indication). If it is a retransmitted TB group, min (M, P) TBs support soft combining decoding.

[0347] Optionally, the network device indicates the redundant versions of K TBs used for soft combining and decoding in the TB group through one RV signaling (i.e., the K second TBs are retransmitted using the same RV version). Alternatively, the network device indicates the redundant versions of K TBs used for soft combining and decoding (i.e., the K second TBs) through K RV signaling.

[0348] Optionally, the network device indicates the number of TBs for soft combining and decoding included in the retransmission TB group through a control channel.

[0349] Based on the implementation example shown in FIG6a , the number of retransmitted TBs in a retransmitted TB group does not exceed the number of soft-combined TBs supported by a single process, i.e., it only includes TBs retransmitted using soft-combining. Furthermore, the order of the retransmitted TBs in the retransmitted TB group is agreed to be consistent with the order of the TBs with error decoding reported by the UE. Furthermore, limiting the retransmitted TB group to include TBs with soft-combining decoding provides flexibility for retransmitting other TBs with reception errors (e.g., TB3 with reception errors in process 1 above), i.e., other TBs with reception errors can be sent in any other TB group.

[0350] Figure 6b illustrates another application embodiment of the technical solution shown in Figure 4 . In Figure 6b , the network device's retransmitted data includes TBs for soft combining, other TBs with reception errors, and newly transmitted TBs. In other words, the second data sent by the network device in step S402 may include not only K second TBs and MK third TBs (if any), but also Q fourth TBs.

[0351] In an implementation example, when process 1 in Figure 6b is the first process in Figure 4, the difference compared to the implementation process shown in Figure 5a is that the retransmitted data of process 1 includes TB1 for soft combining decoding and TB3 with reception errors, and also includes other new data, such as the TBs contained in the "new data" in "process 1 retransmission + new data" in Figure 6b, namely TB1 to TB8.

[0352] In another implementation example, when process 2 in Figure 6b is the first process in Figure 4, the difference compared to the implementation process shown in Figure 5a is that the retransmitted data of process 2 includes TB1 used for soft merging decoding, and also includes other new data, such as the TB contained in the "new data" in "process 2 retransmission + new data" in Figure 6b, namely TB1 to TB9.

[0353] It should be understood that the implementation process in FIG6b may refer to the aforementioned FIG5a and related descriptions.

[0354] Optionally, the network device may carry signaling in the control channel to indicate which TBs in a TB group of a certain process support soft merging and retransmission (for example, each TB supporting soft merging corresponds to an NDI, ie, K NDIs).

[0355] Optionally, the network device and the terminal device may agree that a process retransmits the first min (M, P) TBs in a TB group that support soft merging (eg, each TB that supports soft merging corresponds to one NDI, i.e., K NDIs).

[0356] Optionally, the network device can carry K NDI signaling signals via the control channel to indicate whether the K TB data in the TB group for soft-merging decoding are retransmissions or new data (via NDI flipping). In addition, the NDI indicates whether the TB group data is brand new data, or indicates that there is no TB in the TB group that requires soft-merging and all decoding is performed according to the normal decoding method or all decoding is performed according to the new data. The same NDI for two transmissions indicates that there is a TB transmission in the TB group that supports soft-merging.

[0357] Optionally, the network device may carry K RV signaling in the control channel to respectively indicate the redundant versions of K TBs in the TB group for soft combining and decoding.

[0358] Based on the implementation example shown in FIG6b , the retransmitted TB group includes retransmitted data and new data, which can fully utilize the process TB group data transmission and reduce the large packet data transmission delay.

[0359] Referring to Figure 7 , an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device 700. This communication device 700 can implement the functions of the communication device (the communication device being a terminal device or a network device) in the above-described method embodiment, thereby also achieving the beneficial effects of the above-described method embodiment. In this embodiment of the present application, the communication device 700 can be a communication device, or it can be an integrated circuit or component within the communication device, such as a chip.

[0360] In one possible implementation, when the device 700 is used to execute the method executed by the terminal device in the aforementioned Figure 4 and related embodiments, the device 700 includes a processing unit 701 and a transceiver unit 702; the transceiver unit 702 is used to receive first data of a first process, the first data including N first transmission blocks TB, N is an integer greater than 1; the transceiver unit 702 is also used to send first information, the first information is used to indicate that M first TBs are received incorrectly, the M first TBs are included in the N first TBs, M is a positive integer less than or equal to N; the transceiver unit is also used for the second data of the first process, the second data including K second TBs, the K second TBs are retransmissions of K first TBs in the M first TBs; wherein K is less than or equal to M; the processing unit 701 is used to perform soft combining decoding based on the K first TBs and the K second TBs.

[0361] In one possible implementation, when the device 700 is used to execute the method executed by the network device in the aforementioned Figure 4 and related embodiments, the device 700 includes a processing unit 701 and a transceiver unit 702; the transceiver unit 702 is used to send the first data of the first process, the first data including N first transmission blocks TB, N is an integer greater than 1; the transceiver unit 702 is also used to receive first information; the processing unit 701 is used to determine M first TB reception errors based on the first information, the M first TBs are included in the N first TBs, M is a positive integer less than N; the transceiver unit 702 is also used to send the second data of the first process, the second data including K second TBs, the K second TBs are retransmissions of K first TBs in the M first TBs; wherein K is less than or equal to M; wherein the K first TBs and the K second TBs are used for soft combined decoding.

[0362] It should be noted that, for details on the information execution process of the units of the above-mentioned communication device 700, please refer to the description in the method embodiment shown above in this application, and no further details will be given here.

[0363] Please refer to Fig. 8, which is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device 800 provided in this application. The communication device 800 includes a logic circuit 801 and an input / output interface 802. The communication device 800 may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

[0364] The transceiver unit 702 shown in FIG7 may be a communication interface, which may be the input / output interface 802 in FIG8 , which may include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communication interface may be a transceiver circuit, which may include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0365] Optionally, the input-output interface 802 is used to receive first data of a first process, the first data including N first transmission blocks TB, where N is an integer greater than 1; the input-output interface 802 is also used to send first information, the first information being used to indicate reception errors of M first TBs, the M first TBs being included in the N first TBs, where M is a positive integer less than or equal to N; the input-output interface 802 is also used for second data of the first process, the second data including K second TBs, the K second TBs being retransmissions of K first TBs in the M first TBs; wherein K is less than or equal to M; the logic circuit 801 is used to perform soft-combining decoding based on the K first TBs and the K second TBs.

[0366] Optionally, the input-output interface 802 is used to send the first data of the first process, the first data including N first transmission blocks TB, N is an integer greater than 1; the input-output interface 802 is also used to receive first information; the logic circuit 801 is used to determine M first TB reception errors based on the first information, the M first TBs are included in the N first TBs, M is a positive integer less than N; the input-output interface 802 is also used to send the second data of the first process, the second data including K second TBs, the K second TBs are retransmissions of K first TBs in the M first TBs; wherein K is less than or equal to M; wherein the K first TBs and the K second TBs are used for soft combined decoding.

[0367] The logic circuit 801 and the input / output interface 802 may also execute other steps executed by the terminal device or the network device in any embodiment and achieve corresponding beneficial effects, which will not be described in detail here.

[0368] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 701 shown in FIG. 7 may be the logic circuit 801 in FIG. 8 .

[0369] Optionally, the logic circuit 801 may be a processing device, and the functions of the processing device may be partially or entirely implemented by software. The functions of the processing device may be partially or entirely implemented by software.

[0370] Optionally, the processing device may include a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor reads and executes the computer program stored in the memory to perform corresponding processing and / or steps in any one of the method embodiments.

[0371] Alternatively, the processing device may include only a processor. A memory for storing the computer program is located outside the processing device, and the processor is connected to the memory via circuits / wires to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory. The memory and processor may be integrated or physically separate.

[0372] Optionally, the processing device may be one or more chips, or one or more integrated circuits. For example, the processing device may be one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), system-on-chips (SoCs), central processor units (CPUs), network processors (NPs), digital signal processors (DSPs), microcontroller units (MCUs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), or other integrated chips, or any combination of the above chips or processors.

[0373] Please refer to FIG. 9 , which shows a communication device 900 involved in the above embodiments provided in an embodiment of the present application. Specifically, the communication device 900 may be a communication device serving as a terminal device in the above embodiments.

[0374] Herein, a possible logical structure diagram of the communication device 900 is shown. The communication device 900 may include but is not limited to at least one processor 901 and a communication port 902 .

[0375] The transceiver unit 702 shown in FIG7 may be a communication interface, which may be the communication port 902 in FIG9 , which may include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communication port 902 may be a transceiver circuit, which may include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0376] Further optionally, the device may also include at least one of a memory 903 and a bus 904. In an embodiment of the present application, the at least one processor 901 is used to control and process the actions of the communication device 900.

[0377] In addition, the processor 901 can be a central processing unit, a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure of this application. The processor can also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, and so on. Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0378] It should be noted that the communication device 900 shown in Figure 9 can be specifically used to implement the steps implemented by the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiment and achieve the corresponding technical effects of the terminal device. The specific implementation methods of the communication device shown in Figure 9 can refer to the description in the aforementioned method embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0379] Please refer to Figure 10, which is a structural diagram of the communication device 1000 involved in the above-mentioned embodiments provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1000 can specifically be a communication device serving as a network device in the above-mentioned embodiments, wherein the structure of the communication device can refer to the structure shown in Figure 10.

[0380] The communication device 1000 includes at least one processor 1011 and at least one network interface 1014. Further optionally, the communication device also includes at least one memory 1012, at least one transceiver 1013 and one or more antennas 1015. The processor 1011, the memory 1012, the transceiver 1013 and the network interface 1014 are connected, for example, via a bus. In an embodiment of the present application, the connection may include various interfaces, transmission lines or buses, etc., which are not limited in this embodiment. The antenna 1015 is connected to the transceiver 1013. The network interface 1014 is used to enable the communication device to communicate with other communication devices through a communication link. For example, the network interface 1014 may include a network interface between the communication device and the core network device, such as an S1 interface, and the network interface may include a network interface between the communication device and other communication devices (such as other network devices or core network devices), such as an X2 or Xn interface.

[0381] The transceiver unit 702 shown in FIG7 may be a communication interface, which may be the network interface 1014 in FIG10 , which may include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the network interface 1014 may be a transceiver circuit, which may include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0382] Processor 1011 is primarily used to process communication protocols and communication data, control the entire communication device, execute software programs, and process software program data, for example, to support the communication device in performing the actions described in the embodiments. The communication device may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit. The baseband processor is primarily used to process communication protocols and communication data, while the central processing unit is primarily used to control the entire terminal device, execute software programs, and process software program data. Processor 1011 in Figure 10 may integrate the functions of both a baseband processor and a central processing unit. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the baseband processor and the central processing unit may also be independent processors interconnected via a bus or other technology. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a terminal device may include multiple baseband processors to accommodate different network standards, multiple central processing units to enhance its processing capabilities, and various components of the terminal device may be connected via various buses. The baseband processor may also be referred to as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit may also be referred to as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The functionality for processing communication protocols and communication data may be built into the processor or stored in memory as a software program, which is executed by the processor to implement the baseband processing functionality.

[0383] The memory is primarily used to store software programs and data. Memory 1012 can exist independently and be connected to processor 1011. Alternatively, memory 1012 and processor 1011 can be integrated together, for example, within a single chip. Memory 1012 can store program code for executing the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and execution is controlled by processor 1011. The various computer program codes executed can also be considered drivers for processor 1011.

[0384] Figure 10 shows only one memory and one processor. In an actual terminal device, there may be multiple processors and multiple memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device. The memory may be a storage element on the same chip as the processor, i.e., an on-chip storage element, or an independent storage element, which is not limited in the present embodiment.

[0385] The transceiver 1013 can be used to support the reception or transmission of radio frequency signals between the communication device and the terminal. The transceiver 1013 can be connected to the antenna 1015. The transceiver 1013 includes a transmitter Tx and a receiver Rx. Specifically, one or more antennas 1015 can receive radio frequency signals. The receiver Rx of the transceiver 1013 is used to receive the radio frequency signal from the antenna, convert the radio frequency signal into a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal, and provide the digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal to the processor 1011 so that the processor 1011 can further process the digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal, such as demodulation and decoding. In addition, the transmitter Tx in the transceiver 1013 is also used to receive a modulated digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal from the processor 1011, convert the modulated digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal into a radio frequency signal, and transmit the radio frequency signal through one or more antennas 1015. Specifically, the receiver Rx can selectively perform one or more stages of down-mixing and analog-to-digital conversion on the RF signal to obtain a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal. The order of the down-mixing and analog-to-digital conversion processes is adjustable. The transmitter Tx can selectively perform one or more stages of up-mixing and digital-to-analog conversion on the modulated digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain a RF signal. The order of the up-mixing and digital-to-analog conversion processes is adjustable. The digital baseband signal and the digital intermediate frequency signal may be collectively referred to as digital signals.

[0386] The transceiver 1013 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver device, etc. Optionally, a device in the transceiver unit that implements a receiving function may be referred to as a receiving unit, and a device in the transceiver unit that implements a transmitting function may be referred to as a transmitting unit. That is, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, an input port, a receiving circuit, etc., and the transmitting unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

[0387] It should be noted that the communication device 1000 shown in Figure 10 can be specifically used to implement the steps implemented by the network device in the aforementioned method embodiment, and to achieve the corresponding technical effects of the network device. The specific implementation methods of the communication device 1000 shown in Figure 10 can refer to the description in the aforementioned method embodiment, and will not be repeated here one by one.

[0388] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is used to store one or more computer-executable instructions. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in the possible implementation methods of the terminal device or network device in the above embodiments.

[0389] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product (or computer program). When the computer program product is executed by the processor, the processor executes the method of the possible implementation mode of the above-mentioned terminal device or network device.

[0390] An embodiment of the present application also provides a chip system, which includes at least one processor for supporting a communication device to implement the functions involved in the possible implementation methods of the above-mentioned communication device. Optionally, the chip system also includes an interface circuit, which provides program instructions and / or data to the at least one processor. In one possible design, the chip system may also include a memory, which is used to store the necessary program instructions and data for the communication device. The chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices, wherein the communication device can specifically be a terminal device or a network device in the aforementioned method embodiment.

[0391] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes the terminal device and network device in any of the above embodiments.

[0392] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0393] 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.

[0394] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0395] When the above-mentioned communication device is a chip applied to a terminal, the terminal chip implements the functions of the terminal in the above-mentioned method embodiment. When the terminal chip receives information from the base station, it can be understood that the information is first received by other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the terminal chip by these modules. When the terminal chip sends information to the base station, it can be understood that the information is first sent to other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the base station by these modules.

[0396] When the above-mentioned communication device is a chip applied to a base station, the base station chip implements the functions of the base station in the above-mentioned method embodiment. When the base station chip receives information from the terminal, it can be understood that the information is first received by other modules in the base station (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the base station chip by these modules. When the base station chip sends information to the terminal, it can be understood that the information is sent to other modules in the base station (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the terminal by these modules.

[0397] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0398] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware or in software instructions that can be executed by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, mobile hard disk, CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal. The processor and storage medium can also exist in a base station or a terminal as discrete components.

[0399] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage media.

[0400] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0401] It is understood that the various numbers used in the embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Receive first data of a first process, where the first data includes N first transmission blocks TB, where N is an integer greater than 1; Sending first information, where the first information is used to indicate that M first TBs are received incorrectly, where the M first TBs are included in the N first TBs, and M is a positive integer less than or equal to N; receiving second data of the first process, where the second data includes K second TBs, where the K second TBs are retransmissions of K first TBs among the M first TBs; wherein K is less than or equal to M; Soft combining decoding is performed based on the K first TBs and the K second TBs.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive second information, where the second information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged by the terminal device in the first process is P, and K is less than or equal to P.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that Before receiving the second information, the method further includes: Send third information, where the third information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging processing in the first process.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive fourth information, where the fourth information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged in at least two processes performed by the terminal device is P, and the at least two processes include the first process.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that Before receiving the second information, the method further includes: Send fifth information, where the fifth information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging processing in the at least two processes.

6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that: When M is less than or equal to P, K is equal to M.

7. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that: When M is greater than P, K is equal to P and K is less than M.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The second data also includes MK third TBs, and the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs among the M first TBs.

9. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Receive third data, where the third data includes MK third TBs, and the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the MK first TBs.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The second data also includes Q fourth TBs, where the Q fourth TBs are different from the K second TBs, and Q is a positive integer.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that: The first information includes any one of the following: N bits, the N bits are used to indicate whether the N first TBs are received successfully or incorrectly; Indexes of the M first TBs; The index and value MK of the K first TBs.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that: The K first TBs are K TBs with smaller index values ​​among one or more TBs that are received incorrectly in the M first TBs; The K first TBs are K TBs with larger index values ​​among one or more TBs that are received incorrectly in the M first TBs; The indexes of the K first TBs in the M first TBs are preconfigured or dynamically configured.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that: Before receiving the first data, the method further includes: Receiving indication information for indicating a redundant version of the first data; Before receiving the second data, the method further includes: Indication information for indicating a redundant version of the second data is received.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that: Before receiving the first data, the method further includes: Receiving indication information for indicating redundancy versions corresponding to the N first TBs; Before receiving the second data, the method further includes: Indication information for indicating redundancy versions corresponding to the K second TBs is received, wherein the redundancy versions corresponding to the K first TBs among the N first TBs are different from the redundancy versions corresponding to the K second TBs.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that The method further comprises: Indication information for indicating that K second TBs in the second data are used for soft combining decoding is received.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that The method further comprises: Indication information is received for indicating that the number of retransmitted TBs for soft combining decoding included in the second data is K.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sixth information is received, where the sixth information is used to indicate that the number of TBs in the first process is N.

18. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive seventh information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate that the number of TBs of at least two processes is N, and the at least two processes include the first process.

19. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 18, characterized in that The first information is carried on a physical uplink control channel PUCCH, and the time domain position X of the PUCCH satisfies: Wherein, n represents the time slot index of the PUCCH time slot overlapping with the time slot of the last TB in the time domain among the N first TBs, k represents the scheduling timing parameter indicated by the physical downlink shared channel to hybrid automatic repeat request feedback (PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback) signaling, K offset represents the scheduling offset, μ is the subcarrier spacing of PUCCH transmission, It's K offset subcarrier spacing configuration.

20. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Sending first data of a first process, where the first data includes N first transmission blocks TB, where N is an integer greater than 1; receiving first information, where the first information is used to indicate that M first TBs are received incorrectly, where the M first TBs are included in the N first TBs, and M is a positive integer less than N; Send second data of the first process, wherein the second data includes K second TBs, and the K second TBs are retransmissions of K first TBs among the M first TBs; wherein K is less than or equal to M; wherein the K first TBs and the K second TBs are used for soft combined decoding.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send the second information, where the second information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged by the terminal device in the first process is P, and K is less than or equal to P.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that Before sending the second information, the method further includes: Receive third information, where the third information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging processing in the first process.

23. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send fourth information, where the fourth information is used to indicate that the number of TBs soft-merged in at least two processes performed by the terminal device is P, and the at least two processes include the first process.

24. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that Before receiving the second information, the method further includes: Receive fifth information, where the fifth information is used to indicate the number of TBs that the terminal device supports for soft merging processing in the at least two processes.

25. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 24, characterized in that When M is less than or equal to P, K is equal to M.

26. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 24, characterized in that When M is greater than P, K is equal to P and K is less than M.

27. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that The second data also includes MK third TBs, and the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the other MK first TBs except the K first TBs among the M first TBs.

28. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send third data, where the third data includes MK third TBs, and the MK third TBs are retransmissions of the MK first TBs.

29. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 28, characterized in that The second data also includes Q fourth TBs, where the Q fourth TBs are different from the K second TBs, and Q is a positive integer.

30. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 29, characterized in that The first information includes any one of the following: N bits, the N bits are used to indicate whether the N first TBs are received successfully or incorrectly; Indexes of the M first TBs; The index and value MK of the K first TBs.

31. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 30, characterized in that The K first TBs are K TBs with smaller index values ​​among one or more TBs that are received incorrectly in the M first TBs; The K first TBs are K TBs with larger index values ​​among one or more TBs that are received incorrectly in the M first TBs; The indexes of the K first TBs in the M first TBs are preconfigured or dynamically configured.

32. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 31, characterized in that Before sending the first data, the method further includes: Sending indication information for indicating a redundant version of the first data; Before sending the second data, the method further includes: Send indication information for indicating a redundant version of the second data.

33. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 31, characterized in that Before sending the first data, the method further includes: Sending indication information for indicating redundancy versions corresponding to the N first TBs; Before sending the second data, the method further includes: Indication information for indicating redundancy versions corresponding to the K second TBs is sent, wherein the redundancy versions corresponding to the K first TBs among the N first TBs are different from the redundancy versions corresponding to the K second TBs.

34. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 33, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send indication information for indicating that K second TBs in the second data are used for soft combining decoding.

35. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 34, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send indication information for indicating that the number of retransmitted TBs for soft combining decoding included in the second data is K.

36. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 35, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send sixth information, where the sixth information is used to indicate that the number of TBs in the first process is N.

37. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 35, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send seventh information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate that the TB quantities of at least two processes are both N, and the at least two processes include the first process.

38. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 37, characterized in that The first information is carried on a physical uplink control channel PUCCH, and the time domain position X of the PUCCH satisfies: Wherein, n represents the time slot index of the PUCCH time slot overlapping with the time slot of the last TB in the time domain among the N first TBs, k represents the scheduling timing parameter indicated by the physical downlink shared channel to hybrid automatic repeat request feedback (PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback) signaling, K offset represents the scheduling offset, μ is the subcarrier spacing of PUCCH transmission, It's K offset subcarrier spacing configuration.

39. A communication device, characterized in that: Comprising means for performing the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 38.

40. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises at least one processor coupled to a memory; the at least one processor is configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 38.

41. A readable storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a computer program or instruction, and when the computer program or instruction is executed by the communication device, the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 38 is implemented.

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