Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and in particular to a communication method and apparatus, for use in solving the problem of how a terminal device integrated with two or more capabilities communicates with a network device. The method comprises: receiving a paging message, wherein the paging message is used for paging a first-type terminal device, and the first-type terminal device has at least two working modes of an ambient Internet of Things terminal device; and if the at least two working modes of the ambient Internet of Things terminal device are provided, sending a random access request. By indicating the type (i.e., dual-mode (or multi-mode)) of a paged terminal device in the paging message, the network device can obtain the capabilities of the terminal device.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on November 13, 2023, with application number 202311509934.3 and application name "A Communication Method and Device", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and device. Background Art

[0004] Passive radio frequency identification (RFID) technology works by converting wireless signals from a reader into energy, which it then uses to power itself. In the development of communications, to save power in terminal devices, the introduction of RFID technology into communication networks has been proposed, for example in the ambient Internet of Things (A-IoT). A-IoT is based on the cellular network communication infrastructure and consists of readers and writers (and passive / semi-passive / active tags. In this scenario, the tags are terminals in the cellular network, such as extremely low-power, extremely low-complexity IoT terminals. The readers and writers can be base stations. Currently, terminal devices in A-IoT can be divided into three categories: Class A devices (Device A), Class B devices (Device B), and Class C devices (Device C). Among them, Device A has no energy storage and no independent signal generation / amplification function. Device B has energy storage but no ability to generate signals independently. The use of energy stored by Device B may include methods to reflect signals. Device C has energy storage and also has the ability to generate signals independently. The communication methods of different device types may be different. For example, Device A and Device B rely on the continuous wave sent by the base station to send data, while Device C can generate the carrier itself to send data. For another example, the large frequency deviation of the internal crystal oscillator of Device A and Device B will cause it to be unable to accurately synchronize with the network time. Therefore, the access process is asynchronous access, and Device The crystal oscillator of C can be synchronized with the network time, so the access process can be synchronous access.

[0005] However, the current research on Class A devices (Device A), Class B devices (Device B), and Class C devices (Device C) is independent of each other, and does not take into account that the terminal devices in A-IoT may integrate two or three capabilities of Device A, Device A, or Device C at the same time. That is, the terminal devices may have the capabilities of both passive and active devices. If the terminal devices only execute each active or passive module independently without optimizing the process, the base station may not be able to switch the communication mode in time. For example, when the terminal device switches to the passive module, the base station still considers the terminal device to be an active terminal, which may cause the terminal service to be unable to proceed smoothly.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] The present application provides a communication method and apparatus for solving the problem of how a terminal device integrating two or more capabilities communicates with a network device.

[0008] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, wherein the execution subject of the method may be a terminal device or a chip, a chip system or a circuit located in the terminal device. Taking the execution subject as the first terminal device as an example, the method may be implemented through the following steps: the first terminal device receives a paging message, and the paging message is used to page a first type of terminal device, and the first type of terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device; if the first terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device, the first terminal device sends a random access request.

[0009] This application considers introducing a terminal device with at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device. Since the research on different working modes is independent of each other and the communication methods are different, the network device indicates the type of the paged terminal device in the paging message, so that the network device can obtain the capabilities of the terminal device (that is, obtain the working mode supported by the terminal device), which helps the network device and the terminal device align the communication methods, thereby improving communication performance.

[0010] In one possible design, the paging message also indicates the operating mode that the first type of terminal device needs to support. The above method indicates the specific operating mode in the paging message, so that the terminal device that supports the operating mode indicated by the paging message responds to the network device, allowing the network device to obtain the operating mode supported by the paged terminal device.

[0011] In one possible design, the method further includes: the first terminal device sends information A, where the information A is used to indicate the working mode supported by the first terminal device. The above method allows the network device to obtain the working mode supported by the paging terminal device by actively reporting the specific working mode through the first terminal device.

[0012] On the second aspect, a communication method is provided. The execution subject of the method can be a terminal device or a chip, chip system or circuit located in the terminal device. Taking the execution subject as the first terminal device as an example, the method can be implemented through the following steps: the first terminal device sends a first indication information, and the first indication information indicates the working mode supported by the first terminal device, wherein the first terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device.

[0013] This application considers introducing terminal devices with at least two working modes of environmental Internet of Things terminal devices. Since the research on different working modes is independent of each other and the communication methods are different, the terminal device reports the working mode it supports, so that the network device can obtain the capabilities of the terminal device (that is, obtain the working mode of the terminal device), which helps the network device and the terminal device align the communication methods, thereby improving communication performance.

[0014] In one possible design, the first indication information is carried in a random access request, or the first indication information is carried in a registration request.

[0015] In this manner, the first terminal device reports the working mode in a random access request or a registration request, so that the network device can learn about the capabilities of the first terminal device as early as possible.

[0016] The first terminal device reports the working mode in the random access request, and the network device can determine the random access method of the first terminal device based on the working mode. For example, if the first terminal device operates in the third mode, a synchronous access method can be adopted, such as receiving system messages, synchronization signals, etc., confirming random access resources, and performing clock synchronization / frame synchronization with the network device. The access method can be based on 2-step or 4-step random access. If the first terminal device operates in the first mode or the second mode, it does not support system messages, nor does it support precise clock / frame synchronization with the network device. Therefore, it can rely on downlink trigger signals (such as Query signaling, QueryRep signaling) for asynchronous access, such as an asynchronous access method based on Aloha.

[0017] The first terminal device reports the working mode in the registration request, and the network device can trigger the downlink service according to the working mode of the first terminal device. For example, if the first terminal device works in the first mode / second mode, the network device can send a carrier and / or energy signal (or control / trigger other terminal devices or network devices to send a carrier and / or energy signal) to enable the first terminal device working in the first mode / second mode to perform a reflection communication mode. If the first terminal device works in the third mode, the network device may not need to send a carrier and / or energy signal (the network device may not need to control / trigger other terminals or network devices to send a carrier and / or energy signal). In addition, if the first terminal device works in the first mode / second mode, it may not receive system messages to confirm random access resources, confirm frame number information, cell identification (ID) and other information, nor does it need to rely on synchronization signals for synchronization. If the first terminal device works in the third mode, it may receive system messages and / or synchronization signals from the network device to confirm random access resources, confirm frame number information, cell ID and other information, and perform synchronization.

[0018] Based on the first and second aspects above, the following design is provided:

[0019] In one possible design, the working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal device include: a first mode, a second mode, or a third mode, wherein the first mode and the second mode support reflective communication, the third mode supports active communication, and the power consumption in the first mode is less than that in the second mode.

[0020] In one possible design, the method further includes: the first terminal device receiving a first message, where the first message is used to instruct the first terminal device to switch an operating mode. In this manner, the network device can flexibly switch the operating mode of the terminal device, instructing the terminal device to adopt different operating modes in different scenarios, which is beneficial for improving communication quality or saving power consumption of the terminal device.

[0021] In one possible design, before receiving the first message, the method further includes: the first terminal device sends at least one of the following: information indicating reference signal quality, information indicating power, information indicating data volume, or service type. In this way, the terminal device reports its own communication parameters for reference by the network device. For example, the network device can flexibly switch the operating mode of the terminal device according to the communication scenario (e.g., low signal quality scenario, high signal quality scenario, low power scenario, high power scenario, etc.).

[0022] In one possible design, before receiving the first message, the method further includes: the first terminal device sends at least one of the following: first information, second information, third information, or service type, wherein the first information is used to indicate the relationship between the reference signal quality and the first signal quality threshold value, the second information is used to indicate the relationship between the power and the first power threshold value, and the third information is used to indicate the relationship between the data volume and the first data volume threshold value. In one possible design, the method further includes: the first terminal device receives at least one of the following: the first signal quality threshold value, the first power threshold value, or the first data volume threshold value. The above method can further enhance the flexibility of switching working modes by configuring threshold values ​​through network devices.

[0023] In one possible design, the method further includes: the first terminal device determines to switch the operating mode based on at least one of the following: fourth information, fifth information, sixth information, or service type, the fourth information including reference signal quality and a second signal quality threshold value, the fifth information including power level and a second power level threshold value, and the sixth information including data volume and a second data volume threshold value; and sends a second message, where the second message is used to request to switch the operating mode. In this way, the terminal device can switch the operating mode according to demand and request to switch to the operating mode in different scenarios, which is beneficial to improving communication quality or saving power consumption of the terminal device, etc.

[0024] In one possible design, the method further includes: the first terminal device receives at least one of the following: a second signal quality threshold value, a second power threshold value, and a second data volume threshold value. The above method can further enhance the flexibility of switching working modes by configuring threshold values ​​through network devices.

[0025] In one possible design, the method also includes: the first terminal device sends third indication information, and the third indication information indicates the working mode of the first terminal device.

[0026] According to a third aspect, a communication method is provided. The execution subject of the method may be a network device or a chip, chip system or circuit located in the network device. Taking the execution of the network device as an example, the method can be implemented by the following steps: the network device sends a paging message, and the paging message is used to page a first type of terminal device. The first type of terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device; the network device receives a random access request.

[0027] In one possible design, the paging message also indicates the working mode that the first type of terminal device needs to support.

[0028] In one possible design, the method also includes: the network device receives information A, where information A is used to indicate the working mode supported by the first terminal device.

[0029] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided. The executing entity of the method can be a network device or a chip, chip system or circuit located in the network device. Taking the network device as an example, the method can be implemented through the following steps: the network device receives second indication information, and the second indication information indicates the working mode supported by the first terminal device, wherein the first terminal device has at least two working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal device.

[0030] In one possible design, the second indication information is carried in a random access request, or the second indication information is carried in a registration request.

[0031] Based on the third and fourth aspects above, the following designs are included:

[0032] In one possible design, the method also includes: the network device sends a first message, and the first message is used to indicate switching of the working mode.

[0033] In one possible design, the method also includes: the network device receives at least one of the following: indication information of reference signal quality, indication information of power level, indication information of data volume, or service type; and determines the working mode of the switching terminal device based on at least one of the following: reference signal quality, power level, data volume, or service type.

[0034] In one possible design, the method also includes: the network device receives at least one of the following: first information, second information, third information, or service type, wherein the first information is used to indicate the relationship between the reference signal quality and the first signal quality threshold value, the second information is used to indicate the relationship between the power level and the first power level threshold value, and the third information is used to indicate the relationship between the data volume and the first data volume threshold value; and determines the working mode of the switching terminal device based on at least one of the following: first information, second information, third information, or service type.

[0035] In one possible design, the method also includes: the network device sends at least one of the following: a first signal quality threshold value, a first power threshold value, or a first data volume threshold value.

[0036] In one possible design, the method also includes: the network device receives a second message, and the second message is used to request switching the working mode.

[0037] In one possible design, the method also includes: the network device sends at least one of the following: a second signal quality threshold value, a second power threshold value, and a second data volume threshold value.

[0038] In one possible design, the method also includes: the network device receives third indication information, and the third indication information indicates the working mode of the first terminal device.

[0039] In a fifth aspect, a communication method is provided, wherein the executing entity of the method may be a core network device or a chip, chip system or circuit located in the core network device. Taking the core network device as an example, the method can be implemented through the following steps: the core network device receives first indication information from a first terminal device, and the first indication information indicates a working mode supported by the first terminal device, wherein the first terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device; the core network device sends second indication information to the network device, and the second indication information indicates a working mode supported by the first terminal device.

[0040] In one possible design, the first indication information is carried in the registration request.

[0041] In one possible design, the second indication information is carried in a paging message.

[0042] In one possible design, the second indication information indicates the operating mode supported by the first terminal device, specifically: the second indication information is a first identifier, and the first identifier is used to characterize the operating mode of the terminal device. The above design, by predefining the association between the identifier and the operating mode, enables the network device to determine the operating mode supported by the terminal device based on the first identifier. Moreover, compared with the method of indicating a specific operating mode, the above method can save signaling resources.

[0043] In one possible design, the working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal device include: a first mode, a second mode, or a third mode, wherein the first mode and the second mode support reflective communication, the third mode supports active communication, and the power consumption in the first mode is less than that in the second mode.

[0044] In the sixth aspect, a communication method is provided. The executing subject of the method can be a first terminal device or a chip, chip system or circuit located in the first terminal device. Taking the first terminal device as an example, the method can be implemented through the following steps: the first terminal device receives a first message, and the first message is used to indicate the switching of the working mode of the first terminal device. The first terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device.

[0045] This application considers introducing a terminal device with at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device. Since the research on different working modes is independent of each other and the communication methods are different, the network device can flexibly control the working mode of the terminal device through the above method, so that the network device can align the communication method with the terminal device, thereby improving the communication performance.

[0046] In one possible design, the working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal device include: a first mode, a second mode, or a third mode, wherein the first mode and the second mode support reflective communication, the third mode supports active communication, and the power consumption in the first mode is less than that in the second mode.

[0047] In one possible design, before receiving the first message, the method also includes: the first terminal device sends at least one of the following: indication information of reference signal quality, indication information of power level, indication information of data volume, or service type.

[0048] In one possible design, before receiving the first message, the method also includes: the first terminal device sends at least one of the following: first information, second information, third information, or service type, wherein the first information is used to indicate the relationship between the reference signal quality and the first signal quality threshold value, the second information is used to indicate the relationship between the power and the first power threshold value, and the third information is used to indicate the relationship between the data volume and the first data volume threshold value.

[0049] Through the above two methods, network equipment can flexibly switch the working mode of terminal equipment according to communication scenarios (such as low signal quality scenarios, high signal quality scenarios, low power scenarios, high power scenarios, etc.), and instruct terminal equipment to adopt different working modes in different scenarios, which is conducive to improving communication quality or saving terminal equipment power consumption, etc.

[0050] For example, when indoor coverage is good or the first terminal device is close to the network device, the first mode / second mode is used to reduce terminal device power consumption. When outdoor coverage is poor or the first terminal device is far from the network device, the third mode is switched to ensure communication coverage requirements. The operating mode can also be switched according to service requirements. For example, for sensing services, if the amount of data to be transmitted is large and / or the transmission delay requirement is high, the third mode is switched. For inventory services, if the amount of data to be transmitted is small and / or the transmission delay requirement is not high, the first mode / second mode is switched. Mobile original (MO) services use the third mode, and mobile terminated (MT) services can use the first mode / second mode. The operating mode can also be switched according to link quality. For example, when the link quality is good, the first mode / second mode is used. For example, a less complex encoding method (such as adjusting the encoding method, adjusting parameters such as bit rate) and reducing bandwidth configuration can be used to save communication resources and reduce terminal power consumption. When the link quality is poor, the third mode is used to improve communication quality or coverage. The operating mode can also be switched according to the battery level of the first terminal device. The power consumption of the first mode is lower than that of the second mode and lower than that of the third mode, thereby reducing terminal device power consumption.

[0051] In one possible design, the method further includes: the first terminal device receiving at least one of the following: a first signal quality threshold value, a first power threshold value, or a first data volume threshold value. The above method can further enhance the flexibility of switching working modes by configuring threshold values ​​through network devices.

[0052] In one possible design, the method also includes: the first terminal device sends third indication information, and the third indication information indicates the working mode of the first terminal device.

[0053] In the seventh aspect, a communication method is provided. The executor of the method can be a network device or a chip, chip system or circuit located in the network device. Taking the network device as an example, the method can be implemented by the following steps: the network device sends a first message, and the first message is used to indicate the switching of the working mode of the first terminal device. The first terminal device has at least two working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal device.

[0054] In one possible design, the working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal device include: a first mode, a second mode, or a third mode, wherein the first mode and the second mode support reflective communication, the third mode supports active communication, and the power consumption in the first mode is less than that in the second mode.

[0055] In one possible design, before sending the first message, the method also includes: the network device receives at least one of the following: indication information of reference signal quality, indication information of power level, indication information of data volume, or service type.

[0056] In one possible design, before sending the first message, the method also includes: the network device receives at least one of the following: first information, second information, third information, or service type, wherein the first information is used to indicate the relationship between the reference signal quality and the first signal quality threshold value, the second information is used to indicate the relationship between the power and the first power threshold value, and the third information is used to indicate the relationship between the data volume and the first data volume threshold value.

[0057] In one possible design, the method also includes: the network device sends at least one of the following: a first signal quality threshold value, a first power threshold value, or a first data volume threshold value.

[0058] In one possible design, the method also includes: the network device receives third indication information, and the third indication information indicates the working mode of the first terminal device.

[0059] Some possible designs and beneficial effects of the seventh aspect can be referred to the sixth aspect and will not be repeated here.

[0060] In an eighth aspect, a communication method is provided, wherein the executing subject of the method may be a terminal device or a chip, a chip system or a circuit located in the terminal device. Taking the executing subject as the first terminal device as an example, the method can be implemented by the following steps: the first terminal device determines the working mode of the switching terminal device based on at least one of the following: fourth information, fifth information, sixth information, or service type, the fourth information includes reference signal quality and second signal quality threshold value, the fifth information includes power and second power threshold value, the sixth information includes data volume and second data volume threshold value, and the first terminal device has at least two working modes of environmental Internet of Things terminal devices; the first terminal device sends a second message, and the second message is used to request switching of the working mode.

[0061] In the above manner, the terminal device can switch the working mode according to demand and request to switch to the working mode in different scenarios, which is beneficial to improving communication quality or saving power consumption of the terminal device, etc.

[0062] In one possible design, the working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal device include: a first mode, a second mode, or a third mode, wherein the first mode and the second mode support reflective communication, the third mode supports active communication, and the power consumption in the first mode is less than that in the second mode.

[0063] In one possible design, the method further includes: the first terminal device receives at least one of the following: a second signal quality threshold value, a second power threshold value, and a second data volume threshold value. The above method can further enhance the flexibility of switching working modes by configuring threshold values ​​through network devices.

[0064] In the ninth aspect, a communication method is provided, wherein the executing subject of the method may be a network device or a chip, chip system or circuit located in the network device. Taking the executing subject as an example, the method can be implemented by the following steps: the network device receives a second message, and the second message is used to request switching the working mode of the first terminal device, and the first terminal device has at least two working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal device.

[0065] In one possible design, the working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal device include: a first mode, a second mode, or a third mode, wherein the first mode and the second mode support reflective communication, the third mode supports active communication, and the power consumption in the first mode is less than that in the second mode.

[0066] In one possible design, the method also includes: the network device sends at least one of the following: a second signal quality threshold value, a second power threshold value, and a second data volume threshold value.

[0067] Some possible designs and beneficial effects of the ninth aspect can be referred to the eighth aspect and will not be repeated here.

[0068] In a tenth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, which is a terminal device or a chip in a terminal device. The communication device has the function of implementing any of the methods provided in the first aspect, the second aspect, the sixth aspect, or the seventh aspect. The communication device can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

[0069] In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor configured to support the communication device in executing the corresponding functions of the terminal device in the method described above. The communication device may also include a memory, which may be coupled to the processor and stores program instructions and data necessary for the communication device. Optionally, the communication device also includes an interface circuit for supporting communication between the communication device and other devices, such as network equipment, such as the transmission and reception of data or signals. Exemplarily, the communication interface may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, or other type of communication interface.

[0070] In one possible design, the communication device includes corresponding functional modules for implementing the steps in the above method. The functions can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0071] In one possible design, the structure of the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit, which can perform the corresponding functions in the above method examples. For details, please refer to the description of the method provided in the first aspect, the second aspect, the sixth aspect or the seventh aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0072] In an eleventh aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, which is a network device or a chip in a network device. The communication device has the function of implementing any of the methods provided in the third aspect, the fourth aspect, the eighth aspect, or the ninth aspect. The communication device can be implemented in hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

[0073] In one possible design, the communication device includes: a processor configured to support the communication device in executing the corresponding functions of the network device in the method shown above. The communication device may also include a memory, which may be coupled to the processor and stores the necessary program instructions and data for the communication device. Optionally, the communication device also includes an interface circuit, which is used to support communication between the communication device and devices such as terminal devices and core network devices, such as the transmission and reception of data or signals. Exemplarily, the communication interface can be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, or other type of communication interface.

[0074] In one possible design, the communication device includes corresponding functional modules for implementing the steps in the above method. The functions can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0075] In one possible design, the structure of the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit, which can perform the corresponding functions in the above method examples. For details, please refer to the description of the method provided in the third aspect, fourth aspect, eighth aspect or ninth aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0076] In a twelfth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, which is a core network device or a chip in a core network device. The communication device has the function of implementing any of the methods provided in the fifth aspect. The communication device can be implemented in hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0077] In one possible design, the communication device includes: a processor configured to support the communication device in executing the corresponding functions of the core network device in the method shown above. The communication device may also include a memory, which may be coupled to the processor and stores the necessary program instructions and data for the communication device. Optionally, the communication device also includes an interface circuit, which is used to support communication between the communication device and a network device or other device, such as the transmission and reception of data or signals. Exemplarily, the communication interface may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, or other type of communication interface.

[0078] In one possible design, the communication device includes corresponding functional modules for implementing the steps in the above method. The functions can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0079] In one possible design, the structure of the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit, which can perform the corresponding functions in the above method example. For details, please refer to the description of the method provided in the fifth aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0080] In the thirteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit being used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, the processor being used to implement the methods of the aforementioned first aspect, second aspect, sixth aspect, seventh aspect, and any possible design through logic circuits or execution code instructions.

[0081] In the fourteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit being used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, the processor being used to implement the methods in the aforementioned third aspect, fourth aspect, eighth aspect, ninth aspect, and any possible design through logic circuits or execution code instructions.

[0082] In the fifteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit being used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, the processor being used to implement the method in the fifth aspect and any possible design through logic circuits or executing code instructions.

[0083] In the sixteenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a processor, it implements the method in any one of the aforementioned aspects one to nine and any possible design.

[0084] In the seventeenth aspect, a computer program product storing instructions is provided, which, when executed by a processor, implements the method in any one of the aforementioned aspects one to nine and any possible design.

[0085] In an eighteenth aspect, a chip system is provided, comprising a processor and possibly a memory, for implementing the method of any of the aforementioned aspects one through nine, and any possible designs. The chip system may be comprised of a chip alone, or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0086] In the nineteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the device described in the first aspect (such as a terminal device) and the device described in the third aspect (such as a network device).

[0087] In the twentieth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the device described in the second aspect (such as a terminal device) and the device described in the fourth aspect (such as a network device).

[0088] In a twenty-first aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising a terminal device, a network device, and a core network device, wherein the terminal device sends instruction information to the core network device via the network device, the instruction information indicating an operating mode of the terminal device, wherein the terminal device has at least two operating modes of an ambient Internet of Things terminal device. Upon receiving the instruction information, the core network device indicates the operating mode of the terminal device to the network device.

[0089] In the twenty-second aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the device described in the sixth aspect (such as a terminal device) and the device described in the eighth aspect (such as a network device).

[0090] In the twenty-third aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the device described in the seventh aspect (such as a terminal device) and the device described in the ninth aspect (such as a network device).

[0091] In the twenty-fourth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes a first terminal device and a network device, wherein the network device sends a paging message, the paging message is used to page a first type of terminal device, and the first type of terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device; if the first terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device, the first terminal device sends a random access request.

[0092] In aspect 25, a communication system is provided, comprising a first terminal device and a network device, wherein the first terminal device sends first indication information to the network device, the first indication information indicating an operating mode supported by the first terminal device, wherein the first terminal device has at least two operating modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device.

[0093] In aspect 26, a communication system is provided, comprising a first terminal device and a network device, wherein the first terminal device sends first indication information to a core network device, the first indication information indicating a working mode supported by the first terminal device, wherein the first terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device; and the core network device sends second indication information to the network device, the second indication information indicating a working mode supported by the first terminal device.

[0094] In aspect twenty-seven, a communication system is provided, comprising a first terminal device and a network device, wherein the network device sends a first message, the first message being used to indicate switching of an operating mode of the first terminal device, and the first terminal device having at least two operating modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device.

[0095] In aspect 28, a communication system is provided, comprising a first terminal device and a network device, wherein the first terminal device determines the working mode of the switching terminal device based on at least one of the following: fourth information, fifth information, sixth information, or service type, the fourth information comprises a reference signal quality and a second signal quality threshold value, the fifth information comprises a power level and a second power level threshold value, the sixth information comprises a data volume and a second data volume threshold value, and the first terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device; the first terminal device sends a second message to the network device, and the second message is used to request switching of the working mode.

[0096] The technical effects that can be achieved by the technical solutions in any of the tenth to twenty-third aspects mentioned above can be described with reference to the technical effects that can be achieved by the technical solutions in the first to ninth aspects mentioned above, and the repetitions will not be repeated. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0097] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0098] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of another communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0099] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a UE transmitting data in a first mode and a UE transmitting data in a second mode according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0100] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a UE sending data in a third mode according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0101] FIG5 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0102] FIG6 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0103] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a reporting working mode according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0104] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a reporting working mode according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0105] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a process of switching working modes according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0106] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of a process of switching working modes according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0107] FIG11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0108] FIG12 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0109] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method that can be used for communication between Internet of Things (IoT) terminals, including ambient IoT (A-IoT), narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), etc. IoT technology is widely used in various industries. For example, IoT technology can be applied to logistics, warehousing, industrial manufacturing, identity recognition, or environmental monitoring, agriculture, animal husbandry, and forestry. For example, logistics management is a typical application that implements logistics management by taking inventory of tags on objects. Taking inventory of tags means that a reader performs an inventory operation on some tags within the coverage area to obtain the identification of the tags within the coverage area of ​​the reader.

[0110] The IoT is based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. RFID is a contactless communication technology that uses radio frequency communication. Its principle is that data communication between a reader and a tag is achieved through radio waves, without contact.

[0111] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to IoT systems, such as A-IoT systems; they can also be applied to communication systems related to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system, the 5th Generation (5G) mobile communication system, or they can also be applied to other next-generation mobile communication systems, such as the 6th Generation (6G) communication system, or other similar communication systems. Other similar communication systems may include wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), vehicle to everything (V2X), and the like.

[0112] Please refer to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication system includes at least one terminal device and at least one network device. Figure 1 takes a communication system including one terminal device and one network device as an example. The network architecture shown in Figure 1 is only a schematic, and the number of terminal devices and / or network devices may be less or more. Optionally, the communication system of the present application may also include core network devices, such as access and mobility management function (AMF) network elements and application function (AF) network elements. It should be understood that the above-mentioned communication system may also include other core network devices, which are not limited here.

[0113] The communication system described in the embodiment of the present application is intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiment of the present application and does not constitute a limitation on the communication systems to which the embodiment of the present application is applicable. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, with the evolution of network architecture, the technical solutions provided in the embodiment of the present application are equally applicable to similar technical problems. When applying the technical solutions of the embodiment of the present application to other communication systems, the devices, components, modules, etc. in the embodiment can be replaced with corresponding devices, components, modules in other communication systems without limitation.

[0114] Any device capable of communicating data with a network device is considered a terminal device. Terminal devices are also referred to as terminals, terminal devices, user equipment (UE), mobile stations, or mobile terminals. For example, terminal devices can include: mobile phones, computers, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, robotic arms, cameras, robots, or smart home devices (such as TVs, air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, speakers, set-top boxes), relays, customer premise equipment (CPE), and devices with tagging capabilities. For example, terminal devices can be tags in IoT / A-IoT. Figure 1 uses an A-IoT terminal as an example. For ease of description, the following detailed description uses a terminal as an example.

[0115] Tags, also known as RFID tags, electronic tags, A-IoT terminals, or A-IoT devices, are typically attached to objects to identify them. Tags receive radio frequency signals from a reader and, using the energy gained from the induced current, transmit information stored in their internal chip. Alternatively, tags can actively transmit signals of a specific frequency to the reader, which then reads the information. Tags feature a relatively simple design, integrating application layer signaling with air interface signaling, resulting in low power consumption.

[0116] Both the tag device and the reader / writer can be implemented based on the infrastructure of the cellular network, or the tag device and the reader / writer can be devices within the cellular network. For example, the reader / writer functionality can be implemented by a network device or terminal, while the tag device can be implemented by a terminal within the cellular network. For example, the tag device can be an extremely low-power, low-complexity IoT terminal. When a terminal functions as a tag device, it can conduct contactless data communication with a network device or another terminal.

[0117] The various terminals introduced above, if located on a vehicle (e.g., placed / installed in a vehicle), can be considered as on-board terminals. An on-board terminal can be an on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip, or on-board unit built into a vehicle as one or more components or units. An on-board terminal can also be a complete vehicle device, an on-board module, a vehicle, an on-board unit (OBU), a roadside unit (RSU), a telematics box (T-box), a chip or a system on chip (SOC), etc. The above chip or SOC can be installed in a vehicle, OBU, RSU, or T-box.

[0118] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the terminal can be the terminal itself, or it can be a device that can support the terminal to implement the functions, such as a chip system or a combination of devices or components that can implement the terminal functions, and the device can be installed in the terminal. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form used by the terminal. For example, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal can be in the form of a tag or other terminal form.

[0119] The network devices involved in the embodiments of the present application are mainly access network devices. Therefore, in the following text, unless otherwise specified, the "network devices" referred to are radio access network (RAN) devices, which can be referred to as access network devices for short. The RAN may be a 3GPP-related cellular system, such as an LTE system, a new radio (NR) system, or a future-oriented evolution system (such as a 6G mobile communication system). The RAN may also be an open access network (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a virtualized RAN (vRAN). The RAN may also be a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems. A RAN device may also be referred to as a RAN node, a RAN entity, or an access node. For example, a RAN node may be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB), a next-generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, or a base station in a future mobile communication system. A RAN node may be a RAN node in V2X technology, an RSU, an access node in a Wi-Fi system, or the like.

[0120] A RAN node may also be a module or unit that performs some of the functions of a base station; or multiple RAN nodes may collaborate to assist a terminal in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes respectively performing some of the functions of a base station. For example, a RAN node may be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). In different systems, CU, DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meanings. For example, in an ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (Open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For ease of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU as examples for description. CU and DU may be configured according to the protocol layer functions of the wireless network they implement, and the embodiments of this application do not limit which protocol layers the CU and DU are configured with. Any of the CU, DU, and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0121] In an embodiment of the present application, the network device may have a built-in reader / writer. When the terminal is a tag, the tag and the network device can communicate through the Uu port, as shown in Figure 1. The functions of the reader / writer can be further separated, and the reader / writer is divided into a receiver (receiver) and an exciter (helper). The receiver is also called a receiving end or a receiving unit, and the exciter is also called an excitation end or an excitation unit. The excitation unit is equivalent to the transmitter in the reader / writer, and the receiving unit is equivalent to the receiver in the reader / writer. When the reader / writer is implemented in a separated architecture, different entities of the reader / writer can be deployed on different network devices, as shown in Figure 2. In Figure 2, the exciter is deployed on the first network device to perform the sending function of the reader / writer; the receiver is deployed on the second network device to perform the receiving function of the reader / writer.

[0122] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the network device can be the network device itself, or a device that can support the network device to implement the functions, such as a chip system or a combination of devices or components that can implement the functions of the network device, which can be installed in the network device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form used by the network device.

[0123] In the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "more" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: the existence of A alone, the existence of A and B at the same time, and the existence of B 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 items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0124] Furthermore, unless otherwise indicated, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" in the embodiments of this application are used to distinguish between multiple objects and are not used to limit the size, content, order, timing, priority, or importance of the multiple objects. For example, the first information and the second information are only used to distinguish different information and do not indicate a difference in priority or importance between the two pieces of information.

[0125] It should be noted that, in this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0126] The terms "including," "having," and any variations thereof mentioned in the following description of the embodiments of the present application are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product, or apparatus comprising a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally include other steps or units not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units inherent to the process, method, product, or apparatus.

[0127] Environmental IoT terminals can be of the following three types: passive terminals: devices without energy storage and independent signal generation, such as devices with backscatter transmission that have this characteristic, such as device A; semi-passive terminals: devices with energy storage but without independent signal generation, such as devices with backscatter transmission that have this characteristic, such as device B, where the use of stored energy may include amplification of reflected signals; active terminals: devices with energy storage and independent signal generation, such as active wireless radio frequency (RF) components for transmission, such as device C.

[0128] The three types of terminals have different communication methods due to many factors, such as capabilities (for example, the capability of device C is higher than that of device A and device B), power consumption requirements (for example, the power consumption of device C > the power consumption of device B > the power consumption of device A), costs (for example, the cost of device C > the cost of device B > the cost of device A), hardware complexity (for example, the hardware complexity of device C is higher than the hardware complexity of device A and the hardware complexity of device B), and business requirements (for example, device A and device B mainly provide inventory services, while device C can support more services such as sensor reporting).

[0129] For example, for device A and device B, the large frequency deviation of the internal crystal oscillator will make it impossible to accurately synchronize with the network time, so the access process is asynchronous access. For device C, the crystal oscillator can achieve synchronization with the network time, so the access process can be synchronous access. In addition, there are other differences. For example, considering the differences in complexity and power consumption, device C can support some complex processes, such as measurement, active initiation (mobile original, MO) and passive initiation (mobile terminated, MT) services, while device A and device B do not support more complex measurements (or may support simplified measurements), such as only considering supporting MT services. Alternatively, device C supports system messages, while device A and device B do not support system messages.

[0130] Currently, communication protocols are studied separately from device C and device A / B. Device A and device B share similar functions and service types, so they are often studied together. Consequently, protocol processes and technical solutions vary for different devices. However, a terminal may integrate the capabilities / communication modes of devices C, A, and B simultaneously—that is, possess the capabilities of both passive and active devices. Existing process designs don't account for this. Therefore, when a terminal integrates two or more capabilities, how to communicate with network devices becomes a pressing issue.

[0131] Based on this, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus. The method and apparatus are based on the same concept. Since the method and apparatus solve similar problems, the implementation of the apparatus and method can refer to each other, and the repetitive parts will not be repeated.

[0132] The communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application is particularly suitable for communication with A-IoT terminals (such as tags), and is of course also suitable for communication with other types of terminals.

[0133] The following describes the authentication method provided in the embodiments of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0134] For ease of understanding, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0135] 1. Slotted Aloha: Slotted Aloha divides the time domain into multiple discrete time slots, each equal to or longer than a frame. Tags can only transmit data at the beginning of a slot. The slots used for data transmission are controlled by the reader. Only when the reader has allocated all the slots can the tag use them to transmit data.

[0136] 2. Active communication capability: The ability to send signals directly without relying on energy signals, for example, generating carrier waves to send signals, or actively sending signals without relying on external carrier waves or energy.

[0137] 3. Reflection Communication Capability: This capability relies on the ability of an energy signal to reflect a signal. Optionally, the energy signal can reach a certain threshold when reflecting a signal. In the embodiments of this application, the term "operating mode" can also be replaced with "communication mode," "operating method," "communication method," "operating type," "communication type," "communication capability," and the like.

[0138] 4. The working mode of the environmental Internet of Things terminal involved in this application may include but is not limited to: the first mode, the second mode, or the third mode.

[0139] Exemplarily, the first mode, the second mode, or the third mode may further have at least one of the following differences:

[0140] 1) The power consumption of the UE in the first mode is less than the power consumption of the UE in the second mode and less than the power consumption of the UE in the third mode. For example, the power consumption of the UE in the first mode is in the microwatt level, the power consumption of the UE in the second mode is in the hundreds of microwatt level, and the power consumption of the UE in the third mode is in the tens of milliwatt level.

[0141] 2) In the first and second modes, the UE relies on the continuous wave sent by the network device (shown as gNB in ​​Figures 3 and 4) to transmit data, as shown in Figure 3. In the third mode, the UE can generate its own carrier to transmit data, as shown in Figure 4.

[0142] 3) The transmission rate of the UE in the first mode is less than the transmission rate of the UE in the second mode and less than the transmission rate of the UE in the third mode.

[0143] 4) The UE in the first mode and the UE in the second mode supports asynchronous slotted Aloha access, and the UE in the third mode supports synchronous random access.

[0144] 5) The UE in the first mode and the UE in the second mode do not support system messages, but the UE in the third mode supports system messages.

[0145] 6) The UE in the first mode and the UE in the second mode do not support measurement, but the UE in the third mode supports measurement.

[0146] 7) The UE in the first mode and the UE in the second mode supports reflection communication, and the UE in the third mode supports active communication.

[0147] 8) The UE in the first mode does not support energy storage, but the UE in the second mode and the UE in the third mode support energy storage.

[0148] Illustratively, the first mode may correspond to the working mode of device A described in the foregoing background, the second mode may correspond to the working mode of device B described in the foregoing background, and the third mode may correspond to the working mode of device C described in the foregoing background.

[0149] It is understandable that the first mode, the second mode, or the third mode may have other differences, which are not listed here. It should be noted that the first mode and the second mode may also be defined as one mode, and the third mode may be defined as another mode.

[0150] In the embodiments of the present application, the "working mode" can also be described as "mode", "working method", "method", "communication mode", "communication method" and so on.

[0151] 5. Select signaling can be used to paging device A / device B, or it can also be used to paging device C, which is not specifically limited here. Select signaling may include mask information, which is used to filter terminals. For example, the mask carried by the Select signaling is 4 bits of "0000", and the mask of a terminal (assuming it is terminal A) is "00001111". Since the first 4 bits of "00001111" are the mask carried by the Select signaling, terminal A meets the selection range of the Select signaling, and terminal A can respond to the Select signaling. Alternatively, the Select signaling can also carry the terminal identifier / group identifier. For example, the Select signaling includes a filter, which is used to filter the terminals to be paged. The filter can be the terminal identifier / group identifier, used to paging a certain terminal or a certain group of terminals; or, the filter can also indicate the type of terminal, that is, used to paging a class of terminals. It can be understood that the filter is used to filter terminals, and the filter can also be called filtering information. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific name of the filter.

[0152] The paging message can be used to page device C.

[0153] Query signaling can be used to trigger the start of an inventory process or to indicate the time / time slot resources used for random access. In a specific example, query signaling is used to determine the number of access resources to be allocated, and access resources are used to receive access information. For example, if eight access resources are allocated, after receiving query signaling, the terminal can randomly select one of the access resources and initiate access, send a random access request, or transmit uplink data on that access resource.

[0154] The naming of each message / signaling in this application is only an example. This application does not limit the specific naming of each message / signaling. As long as the function / limitation / meaning / description of the message can be met, it can be understood as the message. For example, paging message and Select signaling are only exemplary names of paging messages. As long as the function / limitation / meaning / description of the paging message in this application can be met, it can be understood as the paging message of this application. In the embodiments of this application, "electricity" can also be described as "energy", "capacitor energy storage", "battery energy storage", etc.

[0155] The following describes an example in which the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is executed by a core network device, a network device, and a terminal. The steps executed by the network device can be implemented by the RAN device itself, or by a component in the RAN device (such as a baseband chip, or other processing units or processor modules). For example, the network device can be the network device in Figure 1, or it can also be a chip (system) in the network device in Figure 1. The steps executed by the terminal can be implemented by the terminal itself, or by a component in the terminal (such as a chip, a processing unit, or a processor module). The terminal can be the terminal shown in Figure 1, or it can also be a chip (system) in the terminal in Figure 1. The terminal can be a UE or an A-IoT terminal, for example, the terminal can be a tag. The steps executed by the core network device can be implemented by the core network device itself, or by a component in the core network device (such as a chip, or other processing units or processor modules). The following description takes the core network device as an AMF network element as an example. It should be noted that the actions executed by the AMF network element can also be performed by other network elements, for example, a network element for managing tags. The network element for managing tags may be referred to as a tag management function (TMF) network element, or may be referred to as other elements, which are not specifically limited here.

[0156] Please refer to Figure 5, which shows a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, which is used by a network device to obtain the working mode of a terminal.

[0157] S501: A network device sends a paging message, and correspondingly, a first terminal receives the paging message.

[0158] The paging message is used to page the first type of terminal, which has at least two working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal. The working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal can be specifically referred to the relevant description of the background technology above, which will not be elaborated here.

[0159] In one possible implementation, a paging message may page a first-category terminal in the following manner: the paging message may page the first-category terminal by carrying a specific identifier, a specific bit field, a specific field, a specific field value, or a specific bit field padding, wherein the specific identifier, specific bit field, specific field, specific field value, or specific bit field padding is used to indicate that the first-category terminal is a terminal capable of two or more ambient IoT terminal operating modes. In this manner, if the first terminal supports at least two ambient IoT terminal operating modes, the first terminal can be understood as a first-category terminal.

[0160] Furthermore, the paging message may also indicate the working mode that the first type of terminal needs to support. Exemplarily, the paging message may indicate: support for the first mode and the third mode, or, the second mode and the third mode, or, support for the first mode, the second mode and the third mode, or, support for the first mode and the second mode. Alternatively, the paging message may indicate: having reflective communication capability, or having reflective communication capability and active communication capability. In this manner, if the first terminal supports at least two working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal, and the supported working mode is the working mode indicated by the paging message, the first terminal may be understood as a first type of terminal.

[0161] For example, a paging message can use two fields to indicate that the paged terminal needs to have at least two operating modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal and the operating mode of the paged terminal. For example, Field 1 in the paging message indicates that the paged terminal (i.e., the first type of terminal) needs to have at least two operating modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal, and Field 2 in the paging message indicates the operating mode of the paged terminal (i.e., the first type of terminal).

[0162] In another possible implementation, the paging message may also page the first category terminal in the following manner: the paging message may page the first category terminal by indicating the working mode that the first category terminal needs to support. For example, the paging message may indicate: support for the first mode and the third mode, or, support for the second mode and the third mode, or support for the first mode, the second mode, and the third mode, or support for the first mode and the second mode. Alternatively, the paging message may indicate: having reflective communication capability, or having reflective communication capability and active communication capability. In this manner, if the first terminal supports the working mode indicated by the paging message, the first terminal may be understood as a first category terminal.

[0163] For example, a paging message can indicate the operating mode of the first category terminal through a field. For example, Field 3 in the paging message indicates at least two operating modes, indicating that the first category terminal is a terminal with the operating mode indicated by Field 3. This implicitly indicates that the first category terminal needs to have at least two operating modes of an ambient IoT terminal.

[0164] Optionally, the paging message may carry a user identifier (UE ID, such as 5G-temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI), S-TMSI, etc.) or a group identifier (such as TMGI) or a mask to indicate. Based on this, upon receiving the paging message, the first terminal may match the user identifier or group identifier or mask, etc.

[0165] As a possible application scenario, if the network device does not know the current working mode of the first terminal, for example, the first terminal switches the working mode but does not report it to the network device, or for example, the first terminal does not report the initial working mode to the network device after startup, etc., in these scenarios, S501 can be implemented in any of the following three ways:

[0166] Method 1: The network device may first page the terminal using a paging message (e.g., a paging message) intended for paging device C. If the terminal cannot be paged (e.g., the number of paging message transmissions reaches a threshold) or the paging time reaches a threshold, the network device may page the terminal using a paging message (e.g., a Select signaling) intended for paging device A / B.

[0167] In this approach, a paging message intended for paging device C can be used to page a terminal operating in the third mode, while a paging message intended for paging device A / B can be used to page a terminal operating in the first or second mode. By using two paging phases, the network device can page a terminal even without knowing the terminal's current operating mode, thereby improving the paging success rate.

[0168] In the second approach, the network device can page the terminal using a paging message (e.g., Select signaling) intended for paging device A / B. If the terminal cannot be paged (e.g., the number of paging messages sent reaches a threshold) or the paging duration reaches a threshold, the network device can instruct the first terminal to switch its operating mode to the first mode / second mode. Furthermore, the network device can continue to page the terminal using paging messages intended for paging device A / B.

[0169] Optionally, the network device can instruct the first terminal to switch the working mode to the first mode / second mode under the triggering of the AMF network element.

[0170] The above method can page the terminal working in the first mode / second mode through the paging message used for paging device A / B, and by instructing the terminal to switch to the first mode / second mode, the terminal working in the third mode can be paged, so that the network device can page the terminal without knowing the current working mode of the terminal, thereby improving the success rate of paging.

[0171] In a third approach, the network device may page the terminal simultaneously with a paging message for paging device A / B and a paging message for paging device C. Alternatively, the network device may jointly page the terminal with a paging message for paging device A / B and a paging message for paging device C.

[0172] Optionally, the network device may page the terminal using a paging message for paging device A / B and a paging message for paging device C under the triggering of the AMF network element. Alternatively, the network device may jointly page the terminal using a paging message for paging device A / B and a paging message for paging device C under the triggering of the AMF network element.

[0173] The above method uses two paging messages to page the terminal at the same time, so that the network device can page the terminal even if it does not know the current working mode of the terminal, thereby improving the success rate of paging.

[0174] In a fourth approach, the network device may page the terminal through a paging message capable of paging device A, device B, and device C.

[0175] This method designs a paging message that can page device A, device B and device C at the same time, so that the network device can page the terminal working in the first mode / second mode / third mode through a paging message. In this way, the network device can page the terminal without knowing the current working mode of the terminal, thereby improving the success rate of paging.

[0176] Optionally, if the first type of terminal is a terminal in the first mode and / or the second mode, the network device may also send Query signaling after sending the paging message. The Query signaling is device A or device B or a passive / semi-passive tag, used for asynchronous transmission, indicating the time resources allocated for terminal access. Furthermore, after sending the Query signaling, the network device may also send some signaling to trigger the first terminal to access, such as QueryRep signaling, to trigger the first terminal's random access opportunity.

[0177] If the first type of terminal is a terminal of the third mode, the network device may not send Query signaling after sending the paging message.

[0178] S502: If the first terminal has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal, the first terminal sends a random access request. Correspondingly, the network device receives the random access request.

[0179] Specifically, the first terminal has at least two working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal, which can also be understood as the first terminal belonging to the first category of terminals.

[0180] Optionally, if the paging message indicates the operating mode that the first type of terminal needs to support, the first terminal may further determine that it has the operating mode indicated by the paging message before sending the random access request.

[0181] In one possible implementation, if the paging message pages a first-category terminal device but does not indicate an operating mode that the first-category terminal needs to support, the first terminal may further send information A to the network device after receiving the paging message, where the information A is used to indicate the operating modes supported by the first terminal. For example, the first terminal may send information A via the aforementioned random access request.

[0182] In a possible implementation, if the first terminal operates in the third mode, the first terminal may further send a preamble before sending the random access request.

[0183] Optionally, after receiving the random access request, the network device may send a message to the first terminal for confirming or allowing the terminal to perform random access. Exemplarily, the message may be a random access response or a contention resolution identifier.

[0184] Furthermore, after the random access is successful (for example, after receiving the random access response), the first terminal can perform data transmission with the network device, for example, send uplink data to the network device, and / or receive downlink data from the network device.

[0185] As a possible implementation, the above step S502 can be replaced by, if the first terminal has at least two working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal, the first terminal responds to the above paging message, for example, the radio resource control (RRC) layer of the first terminal can forward the identifier in the paging message to the upper layer.

[0186] As another possible implementation, step S502 may be replaced by: if the first terminal has at least two operating modes of an ambient IoT terminal, the terminal transmits uplink data. Exemplarily, this approach can be applied to a single-user random access channel (RACH) process scenario. After receiving a paging message or other downlink triggering message, the first terminal can skip the RACH process and directly transmit uplink data. Alternatively, this approach can also include carrying uplink data in a random access request, such as in a short data transmission (SDT).

[0187] The above describes that the network device can obtain the working mode supported by the first terminal, that is, the capability of the first terminal. In a specific implementation, after obtaining the working mode supported by the first terminal, the network device can also obtain the working mode currently used by the first terminal.

[0188] In one implementation, the first terminal may adopt a default mode (e.g., the third mode, etc.) after initiating random access, so that the network device can determine that the operating mode of the first terminal is the default mode after the first terminal initiates random access. For example, assuming that the default mode is the third mode, the first terminal may adopt the third mode after initiating random access, so that the network device can determine that the operating mode of the first terminal is the third mode after the first terminal initiates random access. In this way, the communication behavior of the first terminal and the network device can be aligned.

[0189] Optionally, after the first terminal initiates random access, the network device may further instruct the first terminal with multiple operating modes to switch operating modes as needed. Alternatively, the first terminal with multiple operating modes may also request the network device to switch operating modes as needed. The specific switching method will be described below in connection with Figures 9 and 10.

[0190] This application considers introducing a terminal device with at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device. Since the research on different working modes is independent of each other and the communication methods are different, the network device indicates the type of the paged terminal (that is, it has dual mode (or multi-mode)) in the paging message, so that the network device can obtain the capabilities of the first terminal (that is, obtain the working mode supported by the first terminal), so that the network device has the ability to flexibly switch the working mode of the first terminal, which helps to align the communication methods of the network device and the terminal device, thereby improving communication performance.

[0191] The above describes a method for a network device to obtain the working mode of a terminal. In this method, the network device can obtain the working mode of the paged terminal by paging a terminal with multiple working modes. The following describes another method for a network device to obtain the working mode of a terminal. In this method, a first terminal can actively report its own working mode, so that the network device can obtain the working mode of the paged first terminal. As shown in Figure 6, the method includes:

[0192] S601: A first terminal sends first indication information.

[0193] The first indication information indicates an operating mode (or communication capability) supported by the first terminal, wherein the first terminal has at least two operating modes of an ambient IoT terminal. The operating modes of the ambient IoT terminal can be specifically described in the related description of the background technology above and will not be further described here.

[0194] Exemplarily, the first indication information may indicate: the first mode and the third mode, or the second mode and the third mode, or support for the first mode, the second mode, and the third mode, or support for the first mode and the second mode. Alternatively, the first indication information may indicate: having reflective communication capability, or having reflective communication capability and active communication capability.

[0195] As an example, the first indication information can directly indicate the working mode (or communication capability) supported by the first terminal. For example, when the first indication information is 000, it indicates the first mode; when the first indication information is 001, it indicates the second mode; when the first indication information is 010, it indicates the third mode; when the first indication information is 011, it indicates the first mode and the second mode; when the first indication information is 100, it indicates the first mode and the third mode; when the first indication information is 101, it indicates the second mode and the third mode; when the first indication information is 110, it indicates the first mode, the second mode, and the third mode, and so on. As another example, when the first indication information is 000, it indicates device A; when the first indication information is 001, it indicates device B; when the first indication information is 010, it indicates device C; when the first indication information is 011, it indicates device A and device B; when the first indication information is 100, it indicates device A and device C; when the first indication information is 101, it indicates device B and device C; when the first indication information is 110, it indicates device A, device B, and device C, and so on.

[0196] It should be understood that the above examples are merely illustrative, and this application does not limit the correspondence between the number of bits, status, and working mode of the first indication information, etc.

[0197] S602: The network device receives second indication information.

[0198] The second indication information indicates the working mode (or communication capability) supported by the first terminal. The form of the second indication information will be described below in conjunction with the specific implementation of S601 and S602.

[0199] In this application, the first terminal reports its own working mode, so that the network device can obtain the capabilities of the first terminal, so that the network device has the ability to flexibly switch the working mode of the first terminal, or communicate with the first terminal according to the working mode of the first terminal, for example, paging the first terminal according to the working mode of the first terminal, etc.

[0200] Two specific implementations of S601 and S602 are introduced below.

[0201] Implementation method 1:

[0202] The first terminal may send the first indication information to the network device. In this implementation, the first indication information and the second indication information are the same. For example, as shown in FIG7 , the first terminal sends a random access request to the network device, and the random access request carries the first indication information (i.e., the second indication information).

[0203] Exemplarily, the random access request may be message 3 (Msg3), where Msg3 may also be referred to as an RRC setup request, an RRC resume request, or an RRC re-establish request. Alternatively, the random access request may be a random number, such as RN16 / RN8, where RN16 is a 16-bit random number and RN8 is an 8-bit random number, with no limit on the number of bits, and is used for contention resolution between device A, device B, or a passive tag.

[0204] In the above implementation, before the first terminal sends a random access request, the network device may send a paging message to the first terminal. The paging message may carry a user identifier (UE ID, such as 5g-TMSI, S-TMSI, etc.) or a group identifier (such as TMGI) or a mask to indicate the user. Based on this, upon receiving the paging message, the first terminal may match the user identifier, group identifier, or mask.

[0205] If the network device pages a terminal in the first mode or the second mode (i.e., the first terminal is in the first mode or the second mode), the network device may also send Query signaling after sending the paging message. The Query signaling is used by device A or device B or a passive tag for asynchronous transmission, indicating the time resources allocated for access by the first terminal. Furthermore, after sending the Query signaling, the network device may also send some signaling to trigger the first terminal's access, such as QueryRep credit, to trigger the first terminal's random access opportunity.

[0206] If the network device pages a terminal in the third mode (ie, the first terminal is in the third mode), the network device may not send Query signaling after sending the paging message.

[0207] If the first terminal operates in the third mode, the first terminal may further send a preamble before sending the random access request.

[0208] Optionally, after receiving the random access request, the network device may send a random access response to the first terminal.

[0209] Optionally, after successful random access (for example, after receiving a random access response), the first terminal may perform data transmission with the network device, for example, send uplink data to the network device, and / or receive downlink data from the network device.

[0210] The first terminal reports the working mode in the random access request, and the network device can determine the random access method of the first terminal based on the working mode. For example, if the first terminal operates in the third mode, a synchronous access method can be adopted, such as receiving system messages, synchronization signals, etc., confirming random access resources, and performing clock synchronization / frame synchronization with the network device. The access method can be based on 2-step or 4-step random access. If the first terminal operates in the first mode or the second mode, it does not support system messages or precise clock / frame synchronization with the network device. Therefore, it can rely on downlink trigger signals (such as Query signaling and QueryRep signaling) for asynchronous access, such as an asynchronous access method based on Aloha.

[0211] Implementation method 2:

[0212] The first terminal may send the above-mentioned first indication information to the AMF network element. The AMF network element sends the second indication information to the network device after receiving the first indication information. For example, as shown in FIG8 , the first terminal may send a registration request to the AMF network element through the network device, and the registration request carries the above-mentioned first indication information. The AMF network element sends the above-mentioned second indication information to the network device. For example, the AMF network element may send the second indication information to the network device through a paging message or an NG application protocol (NG-AP) establishment message or other N2 message.

[0213] In this implementation, the second indication information may indirectly indicate the operating mode (or communication capability) of the first terminal. For example, the second indication information may be a first identifier that characterizes the operating mode of the first terminal. In this example, the network device may determine the operating mode of the first terminal based on the first identifier.

[0214] For example, the AMF network element allocates an identifier to device A in the first identifier set, allocates an identifier to device B in the second identifier set, allocates an identifier to device C in the third identifier set, allocates an identifier to the first terminal with the first mode and the second mode in the fourth identifier set, allocates an identifier to the first terminal with the first mode and the third mode in the fifth identifier set, allocates an identifier to the first terminal with the third mode and the second mode in the sixth identifier set, and allocates an identifier to the first terminal with the first mode, the second mode, and the third mode in the seventh identifier set. The first identifier set includes one or more identifiers, the second identifier set includes one or more identifiers, the third identifier set includes one or more identifiers, the fourth identifier set includes one or more identifiers, the fifth identifier set includes one or more identifiers, the sixth identifier set includes one or more identifiers, and the seventh identifier set includes one or more identifiers.

[0215] Optionally, the AMF network element may also allocate an identifier only to the first terminal that supports dual mode (or multi-mode), that is, only one identifier is allocated to the first terminal that has the first mode and the second mode in the fourth identifier set, one identifier is allocated to the first terminal that has the first mode and the third mode in the fifth identifier set, one identifier is allocated to the first terminal that has the third mode and the second mode in the sixth identifier set, and one identifier is allocated to the first terminal that has the first mode, the second mode and the third mode in the seventh identifier set.

[0216] Alternatively, the second indication information may directly indicate the operating mode (or communication capability) of the first terminal. Optionally, the second indication information may be the same as the first indication information, or the second indication information may be different from the first indication information but in a similar form to the first indication information, which is not specifically limited here.

[0217] By reporting the working mode in the registration request, the network device can trigger the downlink service according to the working mode of the first terminal. For example, if the first terminal works in the first mode / second mode, the network device can send a carrier and / or energy signal (or control / trigger other terminals or network devices to send a carrier and / or energy signal) so that the first terminal working in the first mode / second mode performs a reflection communication mode. If the first terminal works in the third mode, the network device may not need to send a carrier and / or energy signal (the network device may not need to control / trigger other terminals or network devices to send a carrier and / or energy signal). In addition, if the first terminal works in the first mode / second mode, it may not receive system messages to confirm random access resources, confirm frame number information, cell identification (ID) and other information, nor does it need to rely on synchronization signals for synchronization. If the first terminal works in the third mode, it may receive system messages and / or synchronization signals from the network device to confirm random access resources, confirm frame number information, cell ID and other information, and perform synchronization.

[0218] Optionally, after acquiring the working mode of the first terminal, the network device may perform data transmission with the first terminal, for example, receive uplink data from the first terminal, and / or send downlink data to the first terminal.

[0219] 6 to 8, the network device can obtain the working mode of the first terminal. Optionally, the first terminal can also report the current working mode to the network device.

[0220] In addition, the network device may also instruct the first terminal with multiple working modes to switch working modes as needed. Alternatively, the first terminal with multiple working modes may also request the network device to switch working modes as needed.

[0221] The specific switching method will be described in detail in the following Figures 9 and 10.

[0222] This application considers introducing a terminal device with at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device. Since the research on different working modes is independent of each other and the communication methods are different, the first terminal reports its own working mode through a random access request or a registration request, so that the network device can obtain the capabilities of the first terminal (that is, obtain the working mode of the first terminal), which helps the network device and the terminal device to align the communication methods, thereby improving communication performance.

[0223] The above describes two methods for a network device to obtain the working mode of a first terminal. The following describes a method for a network device to instruct a first terminal with multiple working modes to switch working modes.

[0224] It should be noted that this method can be implemented independently without relying on the methods described in Figures 5 and 6, or it can be implemented in combination with Figures 5 or 6 as a solution. Specifically, if combined with the method described in Figure 5, after the network device obtains the working mode of the first terminal through the method described in Figure 5, the network device can instruct the first terminal to switch the working mode through the method described in Figure 9 during the subsequent data transmission process. Alternatively, if combined with the method described in Figure 6, after the network device obtains the working mode of the first terminal through the method described in Figure 6, the network device can instruct the first terminal to switch the working mode through the method described in Figure 9 during the subsequent data transmission process.

[0225] As shown in FIG9 , the method in which the network device instructs the first terminal to switch the working mode includes:

[0226] S901: The network device determines to switch the working mode of the first terminal.

[0227] The first terminal has at least two working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal. The working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal can be specifically referred to the relevant description of the background technology above, and will not be elaborated here.

[0228] Optionally, before S901 , the first terminal may send third indication information to the network device, where the third indication information indicates a current working mode of the first terminal.

[0229] In one possible implementation, the first terminal may send at least one of the following information to the network device: information indicating reference signal quality, information indicating power, information indicating data volume, or service type. The network device determines to switch the working mode of the first terminal based on the above information. The data volume may be a transport block size (TBS), or the amount of data in the buffer of the first terminal, or the amount of data required for transmission by the service. In a specific example, the information indicating the data volume may be a buffer status report (BSR).

[0230] Exemplarily, the power indication information may be the remaining power value of the first terminal, or may be the result of subtracting a preset power value from the remaining power value of the first terminal.

[0231] Optionally, in the above implementation, the network device may configure reference signal measurement parameters, such as reporting conditions, for the first terminal. Exemplarily, the reporting conditions may be reporting thresholds. When the reference signal quality meets the reporting conditions, the first terminal sends reference signal quality indication information to the network device. This approach can reduce reporting overhead.

[0232] Exemplarily, the indication information of the reference signal quality may be a parameter such as reference signal received power (RSRP) / reference signal received quality (RSRQ) / reference signal strength indication (RSSI) / signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) / signal to noise ratio (SNR) / block error rate (BLER) of the reference signal. Alternatively, the indication information of the reference signal quality may also be a dedicated measurement quantity designed for A-IOT low-power devices.

[0233] The reference signal may be an RS (reference signal), a synchronization signal, or other broadcast signals (such as a system message).

[0234] In another possible implementation, the first terminal may also send at least one of the following information to the network device: first information, second information, third information, or service type, where the first information is used to indicate the relationship between the reference signal quality and the first signal quality threshold, the second information is used to indicate the relationship between the power level and the first power level threshold, and the third information is used to indicate the relationship between the data volume and the first data volume threshold. The network device determines to switch the operating mode of the first terminal based on the above information.

[0235] In a specific implementation, the first information may indicate whether the reference signal quality is greater than (or less than) a first signal quality threshold. For example, when the first information is 0, it indicates that the reference signal quality is greater than (or less than) the first signal quality threshold; when the first information is 1, it indicates that the reference signal quality is not greater than (or less than) the first signal quality threshold. The second information may indicate whether the power level is greater than (or less than) the first power level threshold. For example, when the second information is 0, it indicates that the power level is greater than (or less than) the first power level threshold; when the second information is 1, it indicates that the power level is not greater than (or less than) the first power level threshold. The third information may indicate whether the data volume is greater than (or less than) the first data volume threshold. For example, when the third information is 0, it indicates that the data volume is greater than (or less than) the first data volume threshold; when the third information is 1, it indicates that the data volume is not greater than (or less than) the first data volume threshold.

[0236] In another specific implementation method, the first information may be indication information of the reference signal quality. In the implementation method, the first terminal may report the indication information of the reference signal quality when the reference signal quality is greater than (or less than) the first signal quality threshold value, thereby implicitly indicating that the reference signal quality is greater than (or less than) the first signal quality threshold value.

[0237] The second information may be information indicating the power level. In an implementation, the first terminal may report information indicating the power level when the power level is greater than (or less than) the first power level threshold value, thereby implicitly indicating that the power level is greater than (or less than) the first power level threshold value.

[0238] The third information may be information indicating the amount of data. In an implementation, the first terminal may report information indicating the amount of data when the amount of data is greater than (or less than) the first data amount threshold value, thereby implicitly indicating that the amount of data is greater than (or less than) the first data amount threshold value.

[0239] Optionally, in the two aforementioned implementations, the first signal quality threshold, the first power threshold, and the first data volume threshold may be indicated by the network device to the first terminal. For example, if the first terminal enters a non-transmission mode (e.g., an idle state or an inactive state), the network device may send the aforementioned thresholds via dedicated signaling or a system message. Alternatively, the aforementioned thresholds may be defined by a protocol.

[0240] In the above implementation, the first terminal may measure the reference signal from the network device to obtain the reference signal quality. Optionally, the first terminal may periodically measure the reference signal. The measurement period may be configured by the network device or defined by the protocol.

[0241] It should be noted that the above implementation is described by taking the first terminal measuring the reference signal as an example. In a specific implementation, the network device may also measure the reference signal from the first terminal to obtain the reference signal measurement result.

[0242] In another implementation, the AMF network element may also send a switching instruction to the network device based on the service type, where the switching instruction is used to instruct the first terminal to switch the working mode. Thus, the network device determines the working mode of the first terminal after receiving the switching instruction.

[0243] It should be understood that this application only lists some information that may affect the working mode, such as reference signal quality, power, data volume, service type, etc. In specific implementation, the network device can also determine whether the first terminal switches the working mode based on other information, which will not be listed one by one here.

[0244] In another implementation, the network device may also determine the operating mode of the first terminal based on the uplink signal quality. For example, if the network device determines that the uplink signal quality is poor, it may determine that the first terminal switches to the third mode. Exemplary methods for the network device to determine that the uplink signal quality is poor include, but are not limited to, if the number of uplink signal decoding failures (or errors) reaches a threshold, or if no uplink signal is received within a preset time period. This approach can improve uplink signal coverage and signal quality.

[0245] In another implementation, the network device may also determine whether to switch operating modes based on the presence of a helper device. The helper device may be a device that transmits a carrier wave (e.g., the first terminal or the network device), or a device that transmits a radio frequency signal / wireless charging signal for wireless charging of the first terminal (e.g., the first terminal or the network device).

[0246] If there is no excitation source, the network device may determine that the first terminal switches to the third mode; if there is an excitation source, the network device may determine that the first terminal switches to the first mode / the second mode.

[0247] S902: The network device sends a first message to the first terminal. Correspondingly, the first terminal receives the first message from the network device.

[0248] The first message is used to instruct switching of the working mode.

[0249] In one implementation, the first message may instruct the first terminal to switch operating modes. In this implementation, upon receiving the first message, the first terminal switches its current operating mode to another operating mode. For example, if the first terminal is currently operating in the first mode or the second mode, it switches to the third mode upon receiving the first message.

[0250] In another implementation, the first message may indicate the working mode after switching. For example, the first message may indicate the third mode, and the first terminal switches to the third mode after receiving the first message.

[0251] In another implementation, the first message may indicate the communication capability corresponding to the switched operating mode. For example, the first message may indicate reflective communication capability, and the first terminal switches to the first mode / second mode after receiving the first message. For another example, the first message may indicate active communication capability, and the first terminal switches to the third mode after receiving the first message.

[0252] Optionally, after receiving the first message, the first terminal may send a response message to the network device. This response message may indicate acceptance of the handover / successful handover, or may indicate rejection of the handover / failure of the handover. In this manner, the operating modes of the first terminal can be aligned between the network and the first terminal, which improves the communication quality between the first terminal and the network device.

[0253] The relationship between the above information and the working mode of the first terminal is described below with reference to specific examples.

[0254] Take business type as an example:

[0255] For example, if the service type is inventory type, the working mode of the first terminal may be indicated as the first mode or the second mode; if the service type is sensing type, the working mode of the first terminal may be indicated as the third mode.

[0256] Another example is that if the service type is MO service, the working mode of the first terminal can be indicated as the third mode.

[0257] If the service type is an MT service and the service is triggered by select signaling or query signaling, the operating mode of the first terminal may be indicated as the first mode or the second mode when the reference signal quality is greater than (or not less than) the first signal quality threshold value, and the operating mode of the first terminal may be indicated as the third mode when the reference signal quality is not greater than (or less than) the first signal quality threshold value. If the service type is an MT service and the service is triggered by a paging message, the operating mode of the first terminal may be indicated as the third mode.

[0258] Optionally, the number of access resources to be allocated may be related to the number of first terminals.

[0259] Alternatively, if the service type is MT service and the service is triggered by select signaling or query signaling, the first terminal may be instructed to operate in the first mode or the second mode. If the service type is MT service and the service is triggered by a paging message, the first terminal may be instructed to operate in the third mode.

[0260] Take the parameter signal quality as an example:

[0261] As an example, if the reference signal quality is greater than (or not less than) the first signal quality threshold, the operating mode of the first terminal may be instructed to switch to the first mode or the second mode. If the reference signal quality is not greater than (or less than) the first signal quality threshold, the operating mode of the first terminal may be instructed to switch to the third mode. The above approach helps ensure communication quality by switching to the third mode when the reference signal quality is poor (indicating poor channel quality), and switching to the first mode / second mode when the reference signal quality is relatively good (indicating relatively good channel quality) can reduce the power consumption of the first terminal and save power.

[0262] Take electricity as an example:

[0263] As an example, if the battery level is not greater than (or less than) a first battery level threshold, the first terminal may be instructed to switch its operating mode to the first mode or the second mode. If the battery level is greater than (or not less than) the first battery level threshold, the first terminal may be instructed to switch its operating mode to the third mode. By switching to the first mode or the second mode when the battery level is low, the above method can reduce power consumption and save power for the first terminal.

[0264] Take the amount of data as an example:

[0265] As an example, if the amount of data is not greater than (or less than) the first data amount threshold, the first terminal's operating mode may be instructed to switch to the first mode or the second mode. If the amount of data is greater than (or not less than) the first data amount threshold, the first terminal's operating mode may be instructed to switch to the third mode. Due to the transmission rate limitation of the first mode / second mode, when the amount of transmitted data is too large, it will result in a long transmission time and waste of resources. The third mode has a high transmission rate and can handle a larger amount of data. The above method can increase the transmission rate and save resources by switching to the third mode when the amount of data is large.

[0266] In the above manner, the network device can flexibly switch the working mode of the first terminal, and instruct the first terminal to adopt different working modes in different scenarios, which is conducive to improving communication quality or saving power consumption of the first terminal, etc. For example, when the signal quality is poor, the first terminal is instructed to switch to the third mode with better communication capability, which is conducive to improving the communication quality between the first terminal and the network device. For another example, when the battery power is low, the first terminal is instructed to switch to the first mode / second mode with lower power consumption. On the one hand, it can save the power consumption of the first terminal, and on the other hand, it can prevent the first terminal from being interrupted due to excessive power consumption.

[0267] The above describes a method in which a network device instructs a first terminal with multiple working modes to switch working modes. The following describes a method in which a first terminal requests to switch working modes.

[0268] It should be noted that this method can be implemented independently without relying on the methods described in Figures 5 and 6, or it can be implemented in combination with Figures 5 or 6 as a solution. Specifically, if combined with the method described in Figure 5, after the network device obtains the working mode of the first terminal through the method described in Figure 5, the first terminal can request to switch the working mode through the method described in Figure 10 during subsequent data transmission. Alternatively, if combined with the method described in Figure 6, after the network device obtains the working mode of the first terminal through the method described in Figure 6, the first terminal can request to switch the working mode through the method described in Figure 10 during subsequent data transmission.

[0269] Optionally, before or after the first terminal requests to switch the working mode, the network device may also instruct the first terminal to switch the working mode. For details, please refer to the method described in Figure 9, which is not specifically limited here.

[0270] As shown in FIG10 , the method for the first terminal to request switching the working mode includes:

[0271] S1001: The first terminal determines to switch the working mode.

[0272] The first terminal has at least two working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal. The working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal can be specifically referred to the relevant description of the background technology above, and will not be elaborated here.

[0273] In one possible implementation, the first terminal may determine to switch the operating mode based on at least one of the following: reference signal quality, power, data volume, or service type. The data volume may be TBS or the data volume in the first terminal's buffer.

[0274] Specifically, the first terminal can determine the switching working mode based on at least one of the following: fourth information, fifth information, sixth information, or service type, the fourth information includes reference signal quality and the second signal quality threshold value, the fifth information includes power and the second power threshold value, and the sixth information includes data volume and the second data volume threshold value.

[0275] Exemplarily, the indication information of the reference signal quality may be parameters such as RSRP / RSRQ / RSSI / SINR / SNR / BLER of the reference signal.

[0276] It should be understood that this application only lists some information that may affect the working mode, such as reference signal quality, power, data volume, service type, etc. In specific implementation, the network device can also determine whether the first terminal switches the working mode based on other information, which will not be listed one by one here.

[0277] Optionally, the second signal quality threshold, the second power threshold, and the second data volume threshold may be indicated by the network device to the first terminal. For example, if the first terminal enters a non-transmission mode (e.g., an idle state or an inactive state), the network device may send the above thresholds via dedicated signaling or a system message. Alternatively, the above thresholds may be defined by a protocol.

[0278] It should be noted that the second signal quality threshold value, the second power threshold value and the second data volume threshold value in the method described in Figure 10 are used for the terminal device to decide to switch the working mode, and the first signal quality threshold value, the first power threshold value and the first data volume threshold value in the method described in Figure 9 are used for the network device to decide to switch the working mode. The threshold values ​​used by the terminal device to decide to switch the working mode (i.e., the second signal quality threshold value, the second power threshold value and the second data volume threshold value) and the threshold values ​​used by the network device to decide to switch the working mode (i.e., the first signal quality threshold value, the first power threshold value and the first data volume threshold value) may be the same or different, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0279] In one example, the threshold values ​​used by the terminal device to decide to switch the working mode (i.e., the second signal quality threshold value, the second power threshold value, and the second data volume threshold value) are the same as the threshold values ​​used by the network device to decide to switch the working mode (i.e., the first signal quality threshold value, the first power threshold value, and the first data volume threshold value), that is, the two schemes of the terminal device deciding to switch the working mode and the network device deciding to switch the working mode are realized by the first signal quality threshold value, the first power threshold value, and the first data volume threshold value. In this example, the network device can configure (or protocol define) the first signal quality threshold value, the first power threshold value, and the first data volume threshold value, and the network device does not need to configure (or protocol define) the second signal quality threshold value, the second power threshold value, and the second data volume threshold value.

[0280] In the above example, in the scheme in which the terminal device decides to switch the working mode, the terminal device can determine whether to switch the working mode based on the first signal quality threshold value, the first power threshold value and the first data volume threshold value. In the scheme in which the network device decides to switch the working mode, the terminal device can report the relationship between the reference signal quality and the first signal quality threshold value, the relationship between the power and the first power threshold value, and the relationship between the data volume and the first data volume threshold value.

[0281] In the above implementation, the first terminal may measure the reference signal from the network device to obtain the reference signal quality. Optionally, the first terminal may periodically measure the reference signal. The measurement period may be configured by the network device or defined by the protocol.

[0282] In another implementation, the first terminal may also determine whether to switch the operating mode based on whether a helper device is present. The helper device may be a device that transmits a carrier wave (e.g., the first terminal or a network device), or a device that transmits a radio frequency signal / wireless charging signal (radio frequency / energy) for wireless charging of the first terminal (e.g., the first terminal or a network device).

[0283] If there is no excitation source, the first terminal may determine to switch to the third mode; if there is an excitation source, the first terminal may determine to switch to the first mode / the second mode.

[0284] S1002: The first terminal sends a second message to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the second message.

[0285] The second message is used to request switching of the working mode. The relationship between the above information and the working mode of the first terminal can be found in the relevant description of the method described in FIG9 , and will not be repeated here.

[0286] Exemplarily, the second message may be a random access request, such as Msg3, wherein Msg3 may refer to the relevant description in the method shown in Figure 6. That is, the first terminal may request to switch the working mode through a random access request.

[0287] Alternatively, the second message may also be a random number RN16 / RN8. That is, the first terminal may request to switch the working mode through the random number RN16 / RN8.

[0288] Optionally, after receiving the second message, the network device may send a response message to the second message to the first terminal. The response message may be a response message for indicating acceptance of switching / allowance of switching, or a response message for indicating refusal of switching. In this way, the working mode of the first terminal can be aligned on the network side and the first terminal side, which is beneficial to the communication quality between the first terminal and the network device. It can be understood that if the response message is used to indicate acceptance of switching / allowance of switching, the first terminal switches the working mode after receiving the response message. If the response message is used to indicate refusal of switching, the first terminal does not switch the working mode after receiving the response message.

[0289] In one implementation, the second message may request the first terminal to switch operating modes. In this implementation, after sending the second message (specifically, after receiving a response message indicating acceptance / permission of the switch), the first terminal switches the current operating mode to another operating mode. For example, if the first terminal is currently operating in the first mode or the second mode, it switches to the third mode after sending the second message.

[0290] In another implementation, the second message may indicate the working mode after switching. For example, the second message may indicate the third mode, and the first terminal switches to the third mode after sending the second message (specifically, after receiving a response message indicating acceptance / permission of switching).

[0291] In another implementation, the second message may indicate the communication capability corresponding to the switched operating mode. For example, the second message may indicate reflective communication capability, and the first terminal switches to the first mode / second mode after sending the second message (specifically, after receiving a response message indicating acceptance / permission of the switch). For another example, the second message may indicate active communication capability, and the first terminal switches to the third mode after sending the second message (specifically, after receiving a response message indicating acceptance / permission of the switch).

[0292] In the above manner, the first terminal can switch the working mode according to demand and request to switch to the working mode in different scenarios, which is beneficial to improving communication quality or saving power consumption of the first terminal, etc. For example, when the signal quality is poor, requesting to switch to the third mode with better communication capability is beneficial to improving the communication quality between the first terminal and the network device. For another example, when the battery power is low, requesting to switch to the first mode / second mode with lower power consumption can save the power consumption of the first terminal on the one hand, and prevent the first terminal from being interrupted due to excessive power consumption on the other hand.

[0293] Based on the same inventive concept as the method embodiment, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, the structure of which may be as shown in FIG11 , including a communication unit 1101 and a processing unit 1102 .

[0294] In one embodiment, a communication device can be specifically used to implement the method performed by the first terminal device in the embodiment of Figure 5. The device can be the first terminal device itself, or a chip, chipset, or a portion of a chip in the first terminal device that is used to perform the functions of the relevant method. The processing unit 1102 is configured to receive a paging message via the communication unit 1101, the paging message being used to page a first type of terminal device, the first type of terminal device having at least two operating modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device; and, via the communication unit 1101, send a random access request if the terminal device has at least two operating modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device.

[0295] In one embodiment, a communication device can be specifically used to implement the method performed by the first terminal device in the embodiment of FIG. 6 . The device can be the first terminal device itself, or a chip, chipset, or portion of a chip in the first terminal device that performs the functions of the related method. The processing unit 1102 is configured to send first indication information via the communication unit 1101, where the first indication information indicates an operating mode of the terminal device, wherein the terminal device has at least two operating modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device.

[0296] Furthermore, the communication device is configured to implement the method performed by the first terminal device in the embodiment of FIG5 or FIG6, and can also implement the method performed by the first terminal device in the embodiment of FIG9. Specifically, the processing unit 1102 is further configured to receive a first message through the communication unit 1101, where the first message is used to instruct the switching of the operating mode.

[0297] Optionally, the processing unit 1102 is further used to, before receiving the first message through the communication unit 1101, send at least one of the following through the communication unit 1101: indication information of reference signal quality, indication information of power, indication information of data volume, or service type.

[0298] Optionally, the processing unit 1102 is further used to, before receiving the first message through the communication unit 1101, send at least one of the following through the communication unit 1101: first information, second information, third information, or service type, wherein the first information is used to indicate the relationship between the reference signal quality and the first signal quality threshold value, the second information is used to indicate the relationship between the power and the first power threshold value, and the third information is used to indicate the relationship between the data volume and the first data volume threshold value.

[0299] Optionally, the processing unit 1102 is further configured to receive, through the communication unit 1101 , at least one of the following: the first signal quality threshold value, the first power threshold value, or the first data volume threshold value.

[0300] Furthermore, the communication apparatus is configured to implement the method executed by the first terminal device in the embodiment of FIG. 5 or FIG. 6 , and may also implement the method executed by the first terminal device in the embodiment of FIG. 10 . Specifically, the processing unit 1102 is configured to determine whether to switch the operating mode based on at least one of the following: fourth information, fifth information, sixth information, or service type, the fourth information including reference signal quality and a second signal quality threshold value, the fifth information including power level and a second power level threshold value, and the sixth information including data volume and a second data volume threshold value; and the communication unit 1101 is configured to send a second message, the second message being used to request switching the operating mode.

[0301] Optionally, the processing unit 1102 is further configured to receive, through the communication unit 1101 , at least one of the following: the second signal quality threshold value, the second power threshold value, and the second data volume threshold value.

[0302] In one embodiment, a communication device can be specifically used to implement the method performed by the network device in the embodiment of Figure 5. The device can be the network device itself, or a chip, chipset, or a portion of a chip in the network device that performs the functions of the related method. The processing unit 1102 is configured to send a paging message via the communication unit 1101, the paging message being used to page a first type of terminal device, the first type of terminal device having at least two operating modes of an ambient Internet of Things terminal device; and receive a random access request via the communication unit 1101.

[0303] In one embodiment, a communication device can be specifically used to implement the method performed by the network device in the embodiment of FIG. 6 . The device can be the network device itself, or a chip, chipset, or portion of a chip in the network device that performs the functions of the related method. The processing unit 1102 is configured to receive second indication information via the communication unit 1101 , where the second indication information indicates an operating mode of the terminal device, wherein the terminal device has at least two operating modes of an environmental IoT terminal device.

[0304] Furthermore, the communication device is configured to implement the method performed by the network device in the embodiment of Figure 5 or Figure 6, and can also implement the method performed by the network device in the embodiment of Figure 9. Specifically, the processing unit 1102 is further configured to send a first message through the communication unit 1101, where the first message is used to instruct the switching of the working mode.

[0305] Optionally, the processing unit 1102 is further used to receive at least one of the following through the communication unit 1101: indication information of reference signal quality, indication information of battery power, indication information of data volume, or service type; and determine the working mode of the switching terminal device based on at least one of the following: the reference signal quality, the battery power, the data volume, or the service type.

[0306] Optionally, the processing unit 1102 is further used to receive at least one of the following through the communication unit 1101: first information, second information, third information, or service type, wherein the first information is used to indicate the relationship between the reference signal quality and the first signal quality threshold value, the second information is used to indicate the relationship between the power level and the first power level threshold value, and the third information is used to indicate the relationship between the data volume and the first data volume threshold value; and determine the working mode of the switching terminal device based on at least one of the following: the first information, the second information, the third information, or the service type.

[0307] Optionally, the processing unit 1102 is further configured to send at least one of the following through the communication unit 1101: the first signal quality threshold value, the first power threshold value, or the first data volume threshold value.

[0308] Furthermore, the communication device can implement the method executed by the network device in the embodiment of Figure 10 based on the method executed by the network device in the embodiment of Figure 5 or Figure 6. Specifically, the communication unit 1101 is further configured to receive a second message, wherein the second message is used to request switching the working mode.

[0309] Optionally, the communication unit 1101 is further configured to send at least one of the following: a second signal quality threshold value, a second power threshold value, and a second data volume threshold value.

[0310] In one embodiment, the communication device can be specifically used to implement the method executed by the core network device in the embodiment of Figure 6. The device can be the core network device itself, or it can be a chip or chipset in the core network device, or a part of the chip used to execute the function of the relevant method. Among them, the processing unit 1102 is used to receive first indication information from the terminal device through the communication unit 1101, where the first indication information indicates the working mode of the terminal device, where the terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device; and send second indication information to the network device through the communication unit 1101, where the second indication information indicates the working mode of the terminal device.

[0311] Optionally, the processing unit 1102 is specifically configured to: receive a registration request through the communication unit 1101, where the registration request carries the indication information.

[0312] Optionally, the processing unit 1102 is specifically configured to: send a paging message through the communication unit 1101, where the paging message carries the indication information.

[0313] The division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. In addition, the functional modules in the various embodiments of the present application can be integrated into a processor, or can exist physically separately, or two or more modules can be integrated into one module. The above-mentioned integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It is understood that the functions or implementations of the various modules in the embodiments of the present application can be further referred to the relevant description of the method embodiment.

[0314] In one possible embodiment, a communication device may be as shown in FIG12 . The device may be a communication device or a chip in a communication device, wherein the communication device may be a terminal device or a core network device in the above embodiments. The device includes a processor 1201 and a communication interface 1202, and may also include a memory 1203. The processing unit 1102 may be the processor 1201. The communication unit 1101 may be the communication interface 1202. Optionally, the processor 1201 and the memory 1203 may be integrated.

[0315] The processor 1201 may be a CPU, a digital processing unit, or the like. The communication interface 1202 may be a transceiver, an interface circuit such as a transceiver circuit, or a transceiver chip, or the like. The device further includes: a memory 1203 for storing programs executed by the processor 1201. The memory 1203 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), or a volatile memory (volatile memory), such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory 1203 is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto.

[0316] The processor 1201 is used to execute the program code stored in the memory 1203, specifically to execute the actions of the processing unit 1102, which will not be described in detail in this application. The communication interface 1202 is specifically used to execute the actions of the communication unit 1101, which will not be described in detail in this application.

[0317] The specific connection medium between the communication interface 1202, processor 1201, and memory 1203 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In Figure 12, the embodiment of the present application shows that the memory 1203, processor 1201, and communication interface 1202 are connected via bus 1204. The bus is represented by a bold line in Figure 12. The connection method between other components is only for schematic illustration and is not limiting. Buses can be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of representation, only one bold line is used in Figure 12, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0318] An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer software instructions required to be executed by the above-mentioned processor, which includes a program required to be executed by the above-mentioned processor.

[0319] The present application also provides a communication system including a communication device for implementing the terminal device function in the embodiment of Figure 4 and a communication device for implementing the core network device function in the embodiment of Figure 4. The system may also include a communication device for implementing the network device function in the embodiment of Figure 4.

[0320] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application can adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment in combination with software and hardware. Moreover, the present application can adopt the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to magnetic disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that contain computer-usable program code.

[0321] The present application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the present application. It should be understood that each flow and / or box in the flow chart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the flow chart and / or box in the flow chart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce a device for implementing the functions specified in one or more flow charts and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0322] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a product including an instruction device that implements the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0323] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, so that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0324] Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to this application without departing from the spirit and scope of this application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of this application fall within the scope of the claims of this application and their equivalents, this application is intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to a first terminal device, the method includes: receiving a paging message, where the paging message is used to page a first type of terminal device, where the first type of terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device; If the first terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device, a random access request is sent.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The paging message also indicates the working mode that the first type of terminal equipment needs to support.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal device include: a first mode, a second mode, or a third mode, wherein the first mode and the second mode support reflection communication, the third mode supports active communication, and the power consumption in the first mode is less than the power consumption in the second mode.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The method further comprises: A first message is received, wherein the first message indicates switching the working mode.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that Before receiving the first message, the method further includes: Send at least one of the following: indication information of reference signal quality, indication information of power level, indication information of data volume, or service type.

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that Before receiving the first message, the method further includes: Send at least one of the following: first information, second information, third information, or service type, wherein the first information is used to indicate the relationship between the reference signal quality and the first signal quality threshold value, the second information is used to indicate the relationship between the power and the first power threshold value, and the third information is used to indicate the relationship between the data volume and the first data volume threshold value.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive at least one of the following: the first signal quality threshold value, the first power threshold value, or the first data volume threshold value.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Determine the switching working mode according to at least one of the following: reference signal quality and second signal quality threshold, power and second power threshold, data volume and second data volume threshold, or service type; A second message is sent, where the second message is used to request switching of the working mode.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive at least one of the following: the second signal quality threshold value, the second power threshold value, and the second data volume threshold value.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The method comprises: Send third indication information, where the third indication information indicates an operating mode of the first terminal device.

11. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Sending a paging message, where the paging message is used to page a first type of terminal device, where the first type of terminal device has at least two working modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device; A random access request is received.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The paging message also indicates the working mode that the first type of terminal equipment needs to support.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that The working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal device include: a first mode, a second mode, or a third mode, wherein the first mode and the second mode support reflection communication, the third mode supports active communication, and the power consumption in the first mode is less than the power consumption in the second mode.

14. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that: The method further comprises: A first message is sent, where the first message indicates switching the working mode.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving at least one of the following: information indicating reference signal quality, information indicating power level, information indicating data volume, or service type; The working mode of the switching terminal device is determined according to at least one of the following: the reference signal quality, the power quantity, the data volume, or the service type.

16. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving at least one of the following: first information, second information, third information, or service type, wherein the first information is used to indicate the relationship between the reference signal quality and the first signal quality threshold value, and the second information is used to indicate the relationship between the power and the first power threshold value. The third information is used to indicate the size relationship between the data volume and the first data volume threshold value; The working mode of the terminal device is switched according to at least one of the following: the first information, the second information, the third information, or the service type.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send at least one of the following: the first signal quality threshold value, the first power threshold value, or the first data volume threshold value.

18. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, characterized in that: The method further comprises: A second message is received, where the second message is used to request switching of the working mode.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send at least one of the following: a second signal quality threshold value, a second power threshold value, and a second data volume threshold value.

20. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 19, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receive third indication information, where the third indication information indicates an operating mode of the first terminal device.

21. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receiving first indication information from a terminal device, where the first indication information indicates an operating mode supported by the terminal device, wherein the terminal device has at least two operating modes of an environmental Internet of Things terminal device; Sending second indication information to the network device, wherein the second indication information indicates an operating mode supported by the terminal device.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that The first indication information is carried in the registration request.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, characterized in that The second indication information is carried in a paging message.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein: The second indication information is a first identifier, and the first identifier is used to represent the working mode of the first terminal device.

25. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 24, characterized in that The working modes of the environmental Internet of Things terminal device include: a first mode, a second mode, or a third mode, wherein the first mode and the second mode support reflection communication, the third mode supports active communication, and the power consumption in the first mode is less than the power consumption in the second mode.

26. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a unit or module for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, or comprises a unit or module for executing the method according to any one of claims 11 to 20, or comprises a unit or module for executing the method according to any one of claims 21 to 25.

27. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer storage medium stores computer-readable instructions, and when the computer-readable instructions are executed on the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 11 to 20 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 21 to 25 is executed.

28. A computer program product, characterized in that When the computer program product is executed on a device, the device is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 25.

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