Signal transmission method, signal transmission system, related device and storage medium

Abstract

Disclosed in the embodiments of the present application are a signal transmission method, a signal transmission system, a related device and a storage medium, which are applied to the technical field of mobile communications, and are configured to achieve low-complexity blind detection for a terminal device. The method comprises: sending configuration information to a terminal device, wherein the configuration information is configured to indicate a configuration method for a downlink signal, and the downlink signal is configured to bear control information; and sending a target message to the terminal device, wherein the target message comprises the downlink signal and an indication signal, and the indication signal is used by the terminal device to perform synchronization. The embodiments of the present application enable A-IoT to achieve clock signal synchronization in low-power mode.

Description

A signal transmission method, signal transmission system, related equipment and storage medium

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on December 18, 2023, with application number CN202311755609.5 and invention name “A signal transmission method, signal transmission system, related equipment and storage medium”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of mobile communication technology, and in particular to a signal transmission method, a signal transmission system, related equipment and a storage medium. Background Art

[0003] With the increasing popularity of machine-type communications (MTC) and the Internet of Things (IoT) within 5G NR systems, more and more IoT devices have been deployed in our daily lives. IoT modules communicate with base stations using standard cellular protocols. However, since base stations need to cover as large an area as possible, IoT modules must be able to communicate even at great distances from the base stations. This means that IoT devices still consume up to 30mA of current during wireless communication, requiring high-capacity batteries to operate. This also makes it difficult to reduce the size of IoT modules, increasing the cost of IoT devices.

[0004] Ambient IoT (A-IoT) is a class of ultra-low-power IoT devices, primarily categorized as active or passive. Active A-IoT is an active tag or terminal that utilizes energy stored in its own energy storage module to transmit wireless communication signals. Passive A-IoT, on the other hand, primarily draws energy from external RF signals and communicates via backscattered RF signals, ultimately achieving ultra-low or even zero power consumption. A-IoT downlink signal reception utilizes a more complex low-power receiver architecture, implemented through the introduction of a low-power crystal oscillator.

[0005] Since A-IoT needs to ensure synchronization performance when receiving PDCCH, the frequency of the crystal oscillator will decrease when A-IoT is in low power mode, making it difficult to achieve good timing synchronization and stable frequency.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] The embodiments of the present application provide a signal transmission method, a signal transmission system, related equipment, and a storage medium, which are applied to the field of mobile communication technology and are used to realize clock signal synchronization of A-IoT in a low-power mode.

[0008] The first aspect of the embodiment of the present application provides a signal transmission method. Optionally, the execution subject of the method can be a network device, or a component applied to the network device (such as a processor, chip, or chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the network device functions. In this method, the network device is responsible for configuring the downlink signal and sending the configuration method as configuration information to the terminal device. The network device sends a target message to the terminal device according to the configuration method, wherein the target message includes a downlink signal and an indication signal, and the indication signal is used for synchronization of the terminal device.

[0009] The second aspect of the embodiment of the present application provides a signal transmission method. Optionally, the execution subject of the method can be a terminal device, or a component or device applied to the terminal device (such as a processor, chip, or chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the terminal device functions. Taking the terminal device as an example, the terminal device receives configuration information from the network device, and the configuration information includes the configuration method of the downlink signal. The terminal device receives a target message from the network device, and the target message includes a downlink signal and an indication signal.

[0010] In an embodiment of the present application, since the target message includes an indication signal for synchronization, the terminal device can perform clock synchronization according to the indication signal, thereby solving the problem of clock signal asynchrony caused by the reduction of crystal oscillator frequency in low power mode.

[0011] A third aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which may be a network device, a component (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system) used in a network device, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the network device functions. The communication device includes:

[0012] A first sending unit, configured to send configuration information to a terminal device, where the configuration information is used to indicate a configuration mode of a downlink signal, where the downlink signal is used to carry control information;

[0013] The second sending unit is used to send a target message to the terminal device, where the target message includes the downlink signal and an indication signal, and the indication signal is used for synchronization of the terminal device.

[0014] A fourth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which is a terminal device, or may be a component or device (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system) applied to the terminal device, or may be a logic module or software (e.g., a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU)) that implements all or part of the terminal device's functions. The communication device includes:

[0015] a first receiving unit, configured to receive configuration information from a network device, wherein the configuration information is used to indicate a configuration mode of a downlink signal, and the downlink signal is used to carry control information;

[0016] The second receiving unit is used to receive a target message from the network device, where the target message includes the downlink signal and an indication signal, and the indication signal is used for synchronization of the terminal device.

[0017] Based on aspects 1 to 4 of the embodiments of the present application, optionally, the target message includes multiple downlink signals, including at least a first downlink signal and a second downlink signal. The target message includes multiple indication signals, including at least a first indication signal and a second indication signal. The first indication signal corresponds to a first coverage level of the first downlink signal, and the second indication signal corresponds to a second coverage level of the second downlink signal.

[0018] Based on the first to fourth aspects of the embodiments of the present application, optionally, the time position of the first indication signal is before the first downlink signal, the time position of the second indication signal is before the second downlink signal, and the time position of the first downlink signal is before the second indication signal. In terms of the order of reception, the terminal device receives the first indication signal, the first downlink signal, the second indication signal, and the second downlink signal, respectively.

[0019] In this embodiment, the terminal device can detect downlink signals of different coverage levels sequentially in time, without the need for additional storage to perform multiple blind detections on the stored baseband signals, thereby achieving low-complexity blind detection and saving energy consumption.

[0020] Based on the first to fourth aspects of the embodiments of the present application, optionally, the time position of the first indication signal is before the second indication signal, the time position of the first downlink signal is before the second downlink signal, and the time position of the second indication signal is before the first downlink signal. In terms of the order of reception, the terminal device receives the first indication signal, the second indication signal, the first downlink signal, and the second downlink signal, respectively.

[0021] In this embodiment, the indication signal and the corresponding downlink signal are separated. If the terminal device does not detect the required indication signal, it does not need to receive subsequent corresponding downlink signal data, thereby saving energy consumption.

[0022] Based on the first to fourth aspects of the embodiments of the present application, optionally, the downlink signal is a PDCCH and the indication signal is a preamble code.

[0023] Based on the first to fourth aspects of the embodiments of the present application, optionally, the configuration information includes a reference start frame, and the terminal device can determine the starting position of the data in the target message based on the reference start frame, thereby determining different PDCCH candidate sets.

[0024] Based on the first to fourth aspects of the embodiments of the present application, optionally, the configuration information also includes the lengths of multiple PDCCH candidate sets from a reference start frame, and the terminal device can determine different PDCCH candidate sets based on the length and the position of the reference start frame.

[0025] Based on the first to fourth aspects of the embodiments of the present application, optionally, the configuration information includes the time-frequency resource lengths of multiple PDCCH candidate sets, and the terminal device can directly determine different PDCCH candidate sets based on the time-frequency resource lengths.

[0026] Based on the first to fourth aspects of the embodiments of the present application, optionally, the target message includes multiple search spaces, each search space includes M PDCCH candidate sets, and M is a preset positive integer.

[0027] In an embodiment of the present application, since the storage capacity of the low-power terminal device is limited to a certain extent, the number of PDCCH candidate sets included in each search space needs to be limited. The specific value of M is related to the maximum storage capacity of the terminal device, thereby reducing the number of blind detections of the terminal device and further reducing the complexity of blind detection.

[0028] Based on the first to fourth aspects of the embodiments of the present application, optionally, the configuration information includes one or more of the coverage level corresponding to the PDCCH sent by the network device, the length of the corresponding preamble code, the code rate in the search space, the code rate, and the number of repetitions.

[0029] Based on the first to fourth aspects of the embodiments of the present application, optionally, the configuration information also includes one or more configuration sets and corresponding search space types, and each configuration set includes one or more PDCCH candidate sets.

[0030] A fifth aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be a terminal device, or a component or device applied to a terminal device (such as a processor, chip, or chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the terminal device. Alternatively, the communication device may be a network device, or a component applied to a network device (such as a processor, chip, or chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software (such as a CU, DU, or RU, etc.) that can implement all or part of the functions of the network device. The communication device includes:

[0031] A processor is configured to execute a program so that the communication device executes the method according to the first aspect or the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0032] Optionally, the communication device further includes a memory, and the processor is coupled to the memory; the memory is used to store programs.

[0033] A sixth aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a chip or chip system, which includes at least one processor and a communication interface, the communication interface and the at least one processor are interconnected through lines, and the at least one processor is used to run computer programs or instructions to perform the signal transmission method described in any one of the possible implementation methods of the first to second aspects above.

[0034] A seventh aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a signal transmission system, comprising a communication device that performs the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof, and a communication device that performs the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0035] An eighth aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to execute the method as described in the first aspect above, or enable the computer to execute the method as described in the second aspect above.

[0036] A ninth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method as described in the first aspect above, or enables the computer to execute the method as described in the second aspect above.

[0037] The beneficial effects of the fifth aspect to the ninth aspect can be understood by referring to the beneficial effects of the first aspect and its corresponding implementation method to the fourth aspect and its corresponding implementation method, and the details will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] FIG1 is a system architecture diagram of a signal transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a signal transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a signal format of a target message according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of another signal format of a target message according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of another signal format of a target message according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of another signal format of a target message according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of another signal format of a target message according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a communication device in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] The embodiments of the present application provide a signal transmission method, a signal transmission system, related equipment, and a storage medium, which are applied to the field of mobile communication technology and are used to realize clock signal synchronization of A-IoT in a low-power mode.

[0050] The embodiments of the present application are described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, with the development of technology and the emergence of new scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0051] The terms "first", "second" etc. in the specification, claims and drawings of the present application are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequential order. It should be understood that the terms used in this way can be interchangeable under appropriate circumstances, and this is merely a way of distinguishing the objects of the same attributes when describing them in the embodiments of the present application. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any of their variations are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, so that the process, method, system, product or equipment comprising a series of units need not be limited to those units, but may include other units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or equipment.

[0052] Please refer to FIG1 , and the following briefly describes the system architecture on which the signal transmission method in the embodiment of the present application is based.

[0053] As shown in Figure 1, network device 1, network device 2, terminal device 1, terminal device 2, terminal device 3, terminal device 4, terminal device 5, terminal device 6, terminal device 7, and terminal device 8 constitute a communication system. In this communication system, network device 1 can send information to one or more terminal devices among terminal device 1 to terminal device 6. Network device 1 can also send information to terminal device 7 or terminal device 8 through network device 2. In addition, terminal device 4, terminal device 5, and terminal device 6 can also constitute a communication system. In this communication system, terminal device 4 can send information to terminal device 5 or terminal device 6. Network device 2, terminal device 7, and terminal device 8 can also constitute a communication system. In this communication system, network device 2 can send information to one or more terminal devices among terminal device 7 and terminal device 8.

[0054] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the type of communication system. For example, the communication system may be a wireless local area network (WLAN) or other types of wireless communication systems, such as a long term evolution (LTE) system, an advanced LTE (LTE-A) system, a frequency division duplex (FDD) system, a time division duplex (TDD) system, a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), a world-wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, a new radio (NR), satellite communication, fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G) and future communication systems.

[0055] The terminal device in Figure 1 can be called user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), or mobile terminal (MT), etc. Specifically, the terminal device in Figure 1 can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, or a computer with wireless transceiver function. It can also be a virtual reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in telemedicine, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, an in-vehicle terminal, a vehicle with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication capability, an intelligent connected vehicle, a drone with UAV to UAV (U2U) communication capability, etc. The terminal device in Figure 1 can be a terminal device that supports wake-up receiver, a terminal device that does not support wake-up receiver, or a terminal device that supports reflection communication (such as a tag), and the specific details are not limited here.

[0056] The network device in Figure 1 can be any device with wireless transceiver functions, mainly used to implement wireless physical control functions, resource scheduling and wireless resource management, wireless access control and mobility management, and provide reliable wireless transmission protocols and data encryption protocols. Specifically, the network device can be a device that supports wired access or a device that supports wireless access. Exemplarily, the network device can be an access network (AN) device, a radio access network (RAN) device, or an open radio access network (O-RAN) device. RAN devices can be base stations, evolved NodeBs (eNodeBs), transmission reception points (TRPs), next-generation base stations (gNBs) in fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication systems, next-generation base stations in sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication systems, base stations in future mobile communication systems, wireless fidelity (WiFi) systems, long-range radio (LoRa) systems, or access nodes in Internet of Vehicles systems. The RAN device can also be a module or unit that performs some of the functions of the base station, for example, it can be a CU, DU or RU. The CU here performs the functions of the radio resource control protocol and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and can also perform the function of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP); the DU performs the functions of the radio link control layer and medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and can also perform some or all of the physical layer functions. For detailed descriptions of the above-mentioned protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The CU and DU can be set separately, or they can be included in the same network element, such as the baseband unit (BBU).The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, for example, in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU) or a remote radio head (RRH). In different systems, CU, DU or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, and RU may also be called O-RU. Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0057] Currently, A-IoT needs to ensure synchronization performance when receiving PDCCH. However, when A-IoT is in low-power mode, the frequency of the crystal oscillator will decrease, making it difficult to achieve good timing synchronization and stable frequency.

[0058] Therefore, referring to FIG2 , a signal transmission method in an embodiment of the present application includes:

[0059] 201. The network device sends configuration information to the terminal device;

[0060] Terminal devices primarily receive the corresponding DCI by monitoring a set of PDCCH candidates. This means that the terminal device attempts to decode each PDCCH in the set based on the DCI format it needs to monitor until it successfully decodes the desired DCI. To minimize the complexity of PDCCH blind detection, the PDCCH search space is divided into two types: the common search space (CSS) and the UE-specific search space (USS). The CSS is further divided into a Type-1 CSS for paging and a Type-2 CSS for random access.

[0061] In the embodiment of the present application, the network device needs to notify the terminal in advance of the specific configuration of different types of search spaces to facilitate blind detection or detection of PDCCH. Since the search space introduces a preamble code, and the length of the preamble code corresponds to the coverage level, the network device can broadcast the configuration of different coverage levels of the current terminal device in the system message, specifically one or more of the number of coverage levels, code rate, code rate, and number of repetitions. The specific configuration example table is shown in Table 1 below:

[0062] Table 1:

[0063] Table 1 includes 6 coverage levels, corresponding to 3-bit indicator bits. For example, 000 represents coverage level 1, 001 represents coverage level 2, 010 represents coverage level 3, 011 represents coverage level 4, 100 represents coverage level 5, and 101 represents coverage level 6. This coverage level representation is only an example. In actual applications, there may be other coverage level representations, which are not limited here. Each coverage level corresponds to a different code rate, number of repetitions, and length of the PDCCH candidate. The coverage level is positively correlated with the relative gain, and negatively correlated with the code rate and the number of chips per orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.

[0064] In practical applications, the configuration information may not include the length of the PDCCH candidate. For example, the PDCCH includes an end identifier, and when the terminal device detects the end identifier, the detection of a PDCCH candidate is completed. Alternatively, the terminal device may calculate the length of the PDCCH candidate, which is not limited here.

[0065] It is understandable that the relative gains of different coverage levels can be calculated by the terminal device, so the configuration information may not include the relative gains, which is not specifically limited here.

[0066] In some possible implementations, the configuration information includes eight coverage levels, as shown in Table 2:

[0067] Table 2

[0068] In Table 2, PDCCH candidates are divided into 8 coverage levels, each corresponding to a 3-bit indicator. For example, 001 represents coverage level 1, and 111 represents coverage level 8. This coverage level representation is only an example. In actual applications, other coverage level representations may be used, and the specific details are not limited here. In the embodiments of the present application, the number of coverage levels corresponding to PDCCH candidates is not limited. In actual applications, the configuration information may include configurations corresponding to multiple coverage levels, and the specific details are not limited here.

[0069] For a certain type of PDCCH search space, the network device may preset one or more configuration sets in the configuration information summary. The network device may directly select a configuration set from multiple PDCCH candidate configuration sets, as shown in Table 3:

[0070] Table 3

[0071] As shown in Table 3, the configuration information includes multiple configuration sets, each of which includes multiple PDCCH candidates. For example, each configuration set includes three PDCCH candidates. In the embodiment of the present application, there is no limitation on the number of configuration sets and the number of PDCCH candidates included in each configuration set. For example, each configuration set may include four PDCCH candidates, and the specific value is related to the storage capacity of the terminal device. For example, Table 3 includes six configuration sets, which require a 3-bit indicator to indicate.

[0072] The configuration information also includes the preamble code corresponding to the PDCCH search space, as shown in Table 4:

[0073] Table 4:

[0074] As shown in Table 4, the configuration information includes six states of preamble codes, each corresponding to a different length. A 3-bit indicator is required in the configuration information to indicate the preamble code.

[0075] In this embodiment, for a certain type of search space, the configuration information includes the PDCCH configuration method, as shown in Table 1 or Table 2, and the preamble configuration method, as shown in Table 4. Therefore, a total of 6 bits are required to indicate the search space configuration. Because there are three types of search spaces that require independent indication, a total of 18 bits are required in the configuration information to indicate the configuration of all PDCCH search spaces.

[0076] It should be understood that, in this embodiment, the six states of preamble codes in Table 4 are merely examples, and in actual applications, the configuration information may include more or fewer preamble codes, which is not specifically limited here.

[0077] When the configuration information includes multiple configuration sets, as shown in Table 3, for a certain type of PDCCH search space, a configuration set is directly selected from multiple PDCCH candidate configuration sets. Table 3 lists six configuration sets, requiring three bits to indicate them. The PDCCH search space preamble has six states, requiring three bits to indicate them. Therefore, for a certain type of search space, a total of six bits are required to indicate the PDCCH configuration. Considering that three types of search spaces require independent indication, a total of 18 bits are required to indicate the configuration of all PDCCH search spaces.

[0078] 202. The network device sends a target message to the terminal device;

[0079] For A-IoT, since downlink transmission of A-IoT uses a more complex low-power receiver architecture and requires the introduction of a low-power crystal oscillator, it is difficult for A-IoT to achieve good timing synchronization and stable frequency. Therefore, it is necessary to send a preamble to A-IoT to assist with timing synchronization and frequency offset estimation to ensure system transmission performance. The function of the preamble is to synchronize the clocks between the sender and receiver. When the sender sends data, it adds the preamble as the message header and sends it to the receiver. When the receiver receives the preamble, it adjusts its byte clock according to the protocol and prepares to receive the data from the sender.

[0080] The target message includes the PDCCH and preamble, where the PDCCH carries scheduling and other control information, specifically including transmission format, resource allocation, uplink scheduling permission, power control, and uplink retransmission information. The preamble is used for clock synchronization between network equipment and terminal equipment, and to indicate the coverage level of the PDCCH. It should be understood that the actual functions of the PDCCH and preamble in the embodiments of the present application are not limited by specific names and can also be other names, which are not specifically limited here.

[0081] The PDCCH and the preamble can be arranged in series, as shown in FIG3 .

[0082] The target message in Figure 3 includes multiple search spaces. The signal format in each search space is a preamble concatenated with a PDCCH. Each PDCCH candidate corresponds to a different coverage level and does not overlap in time. For the same coverage level, the number of PDCCH candidates in each search space is 1. When the configuration information includes the position of the reference start frame and the length from each starting subframe to the reference start frame, the terminal device can determine the position of the starting subframe of each PDCCH candidate, thereby distinguishing different search spaces. As shown in Figure 3, the position of the reference start frame is the starting subframe of PDCCH candidate 1, the starting subframe of PDCCH candidate 2 is 8 lengths away from the reference start frame, and the starting subframe of PDCCH candidate 3 is 20 lengths away from the reference start frame.

[0083] Figure 4 shows another signal format for the target message. The preambles of different PDCCH candidates are combined to form the preamble space. The PDCCH data portions of different PDCCH candidates are combined to form the PDCCH space. The PDCCH space follows the preamble space, and different preambles correspond to different search spaces. As shown in Figure 4, the reference start frame is the preamble of PDCCH candidate 1. The starting subframe of the PDCCH corresponding to this preamble is 12 meters away from the reference start frame. The starting subframe of the PDCCH of PDCCH candidate 2 is 17 meters away from the reference start frame.

[0084] The PDCCH and the preamble may be specifically arranged in such a way that PDCCH candidates of different coverage levels overlap, different PDCCH candidates are multiplexed in the time dimension, and the preamble is concatenated with the PDCCH of the corresponding coverage level and is located before the PDCCH.

[0085] As shown in Figure 5, for USS or Type-2 CSS, the target message includes three PDCCH candidate sets, each of which includes one or more PDCCH candidates at the same coverage level. The three sets overlap in time domain, and the search space supports multiple repeated values. For Type-1 CSS, since the search space corresponding to the paging message does not distinguish between coverage enhancement (CE) levels, the terminal device can start from the starting subframe of the search space and blindly detect the first PDCCH candidate in Figure 5, as shown in Figure 6.

[0086] FIG7 shows another signal format of the target message. Compared with FIG5 , in which the preamble codes corresponding to different PDCCH candidates adopt the left-alignment strategy, the preamble codes corresponding to different PDCCH candidates in FIG7 adopt the right-edge alignment strategy.

[0087] In the embodiment of the present application, since the preamble code can help the terminal device achieve signal synchronization, including the preamble code in the target message can enable A-IoT to achieve signal synchronization in low power consumption mode.

[0088] 203. The terminal device detects the target message.

[0089] When the signal format in the target message is as shown in Figure 3, the terminal device can detect PDCCHs of different coverage levels in time. When the required PDCCH candidate is not detected, the detected part will be discarded. Therefore, no additional storage is required to perform multiple blind detections on the stored baseband signal, thereby achieving low-complexity blind detection and saving energy consumption.

[0090] When the signal format in the target message is as shown in FIG4 , since the preamble and the PDCCH are separated, if the terminal device does not detect the required preamble, it does not need to receive the subsequent corresponding PDCCH data, thereby saving energy consumption.

[0091] When the signal format in the target message is as shown in any one of Figures 5 to 7, since the PDCCH candidate space of the target message at different coverage levels adopts a time domain stacking design scheme, that is, PDCCH supports multiple coverage levels, it can improve resource utilization while limiting the complexity of PDCCH blind detection during terminal device detection.

[0092] In the embodiment of the present application, since the length of the preamble corresponds to the coverage level of the PDCCH, the terminal device can achieve signal synchronization and detect the coverage level of the PDCCH by detecting the preamble. By designing a downlink signal transmission method, the storage capacity requirement of A-IoT during blind detection is reduced.

[0093] The signal transmission method in the embodiment of the present application is described above. The communication device in the embodiment of the present application is described below. Please refer to Figure 8. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device can be a network device, or a component applied to the network device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the network device. It can implement the functions of the network device in the above method. One embodiment of the communication device includes:

[0094] A first sending unit 801 is configured to send configuration information to a terminal device, where the configuration information indicates a configuration mode of a downlink signal, and the downlink signal is used to carry control information;

[0095] The second sending unit 802 is used to send a target message to the terminal device, where the target message includes a downlink signal and an indication signal, and the indication signal is used for synchronization of the terminal device.

[0096] Referring to FIG. 9 , in an embodiment of the present application, the communication device may be a terminal device, or a component or device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system) applied to the terminal device, or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the terminal device, and may implement the functions of the terminal device in the above method. An embodiment of the communication device includes:

[0097] A first receiving unit 901 is configured to receive configuration information from a network device, where the configuration information indicates a configuration mode of a downlink signal, and the downlink signal is used to carry control information;

[0098] The second receiving unit 902 is used to receive a target message from a network device, where the target message includes a downlink signal and an indication signal, and the indication signal is used for synchronization of the terminal device.

[0099] Optionally, the target message includes multiple downlink signals, including at least a first downlink signal and a second downlink signal. The target message includes multiple indication signals, including at least a first indication signal and a second indication signal. The first indication signal corresponds to a first coverage level of the first downlink signal, and the second indication signal corresponds to a second coverage level of the second downlink signal.

[0100] Optionally, the time position of the first indication signal is before the first downlink signal, the time position of the second indication signal is before the second downlink signal, and the time position of the first downlink signal is before the second indication signal. In terms of the receiving order, the terminal device receives the first indication signal, the first downlink signal, the second indication signal, and the second downlink signal respectively.

[0101] Optionally, the time position of the first indication signal is before the second indication signal, the time position of the first downlink signal is before the second downlink signal, and the time position of the second indication signal is before the first downlink signal. In terms of the receiving order, the terminal device receives the first indication signal, the second indication signal, the first downlink signal, and the second downlink signal respectively.

[0102] Optionally, the downlink signal is PDCCH, and the indication signal is a preamble code.

[0103] Optionally, the configuration information includes a reference start frame, and the terminal device can determine the starting position of the data in the target message based on the reference start frame, thereby determining different PDCCH candidate sets.

[0104] Optionally, the configuration information also includes the lengths of multiple PDCCH candidate sets from a reference start frame, and the terminal device can determine different PDCCH candidate sets based on the lengths and the position of the reference start frame.

[0105] Optionally, the configuration information includes time-frequency resource lengths of multiple PDCCH candidate sets, and the terminal device can directly determine different PDCCH candidate sets based on the time-frequency resource lengths.

[0106] Optionally, the target message includes multiple search spaces, each search space includes M PDCCH candidate sets, and M is a preset positive integer.

[0107] Optionally, the configuration information includes one or more of the coverage level corresponding to the PDCCH sent by the network device, the length of the corresponding preamble code, the chip rate in the search space, the code rate, and the number of repetitions.

[0108] Optionally, the configuration information further includes one or more configuration sets and corresponding search space types, and each configuration set includes one or more PDCCH candidate sets.

[0109] Next, we will introduce a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. Please refer to Figure 10, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device can be a terminal device or network device in the above method embodiment, or a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the terminal device or network device to implement the above method. The communication device can be used to implement the method described in the above method embodiment. For details, please refer to the description of the above method embodiment.

[0110] The communication device may include one or more processors 1001, which are connected to a memory 1002, an input / output unit 1003, and a bus 1004. The processor 1001 may be a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processor. For example, it may be a baseband processor or a central processing unit (CPU). The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, while the CPU may be used to control the communication device (e.g., a base station, a baseband chip, a terminal, a terminal chip, a DU or a CU), execute software programs, and process data in the software programs.

[0111] Optionally, the communication device may include one or more memories 1002, on which instructions may be stored. The instructions may be executed on the processor 1001, causing the communication device to perform the method described in the above method embodiment. Optionally, the memory 1002 may also store data. The processor 1001 and memory 1002 may be provided separately or integrated together.

[0112] Optionally, the communication device may further include a transceiver and an antenna. The transceiver may be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, or a transceiver circuit, etc., and is configured to implement transceiver functions. The transceiver may include a receiver and a transmitter. The receiver may be referred to as a receiver or a receiving circuit, etc., and is configured to implement a receiving function; the transmitter may be referred to as a transmitter or a transmitting circuit, etc., and is configured to implement a transmitting function.

[0113] In another possible design, processor 1001 may include a transceiver for implementing receiving and transmitting functions. For example, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit, an interface, or an interface circuit. The transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit for implementing the receiving and transmitting functions may be separate or integrated. The transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit may be used for reading and writing code / data, or the transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit may be used for transmitting or delivering signals.

[0114] In another possible design, processor 1001 may optionally store instructions that, when executed on processor 1001, may cause the communication device to perform the method described in the above method embodiment. The instructions may be fixed in processor 1001, in which case processor 1001 may be implemented by hardware.

[0115] In another possible design, the communication device may include a circuit, and the circuit may implement the function of transmitting or receiving or communicating the communication device or the first terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiment. The processor and transceiver described in the present application embodiment may be implemented in an integrated circuit (iMtegrated circuit, IC), an analog IC, a radio frequency integrated circuit RFIC, a mixed signal IC, an application specific integrated circuit (application specific iMtegrated circuit, ASIC), a printed circuit board (printed circuit board, PCB), an electronic device, etc. The processor and transceiver may also be manufactured using various IC process technologies, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), M-type metal oxide semiconductor (MKEMT), P-type metal oxide semiconductor (positive chaMMel CMOS), bipolar junction transistor (BJT), bipolar CKOS (BiCKOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

[0116] The communication device described in the above embodiments may be a terminal device or a network device, but the scope of the communication device described in the embodiments of the present application is not limited thereto, and the structure of the communication device may not be limited to FIG10. The communication device may be an independent device or may be part of a larger device. For example, the communication device may be:

[0117] (1) An independent integrated circuit (IC), or chip, or chip system or subsystem;

[0118] (2) A set of one or more ICs, optionally including a storage component for storing data and instructions;

[0119] (3) ASIC, such as modem (KSK);

[0120] (4) Modules that can be embedded in other devices;

[0121] (5) Receivers, terminals, smart terminals, cellular phones, wireless devices, handheld devices, mobile units, vehicle-mounted devices, network devices, cloud devices, artificial intelligence devices, etc.;

[0122] (6)Others, etc.

[0123] In the case where the communication device can be a chip or a chip system, please refer to the chip structure diagram shown in Figure 11. The chip 1100 shown in Figure 11 includes a processor 1101 and an interface 1102. Optionally, it may also include a memory 1103. The number of processors 1101 can be one or more, and the number of interfaces 1102 can be multiple.

[0124] For the case where the chip is used to implement the functions of the network device or terminal device in the embodiments of the present application:

[0125] The interface 1102 is used to receive or output signals;

[0126] The processor 1101 is configured to execute data processing operations of a network device or a terminal device.

[0127] It is understandable that some optional features in the embodiments of the present application may, in certain scenarios, be implemented independently of other features, such as the solution on which they are currently based, to solve corresponding technical problems and achieve corresponding effects. They may also be combined with other features in certain scenarios as needed. Accordingly, the communication device provided in the embodiments of the present application may also implement these features or functions accordingly, which will not be described in detail here.

[0128] It should be understood that the processor in the embodiment of the present application can be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, each step of the above method embodiment can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of the hardware in the processor or an instruction in the form of software. The above processor can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component.

[0129] It is understood that the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROK), a programmable read-only memory (PROK), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROK), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROK), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAK), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAK are available, such as static random access memory (SRAK), dynamic random access memory (DRAK), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAK), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAK), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAK), synchronous linked dynamic random access memory (SLDRAK), and direct memory bus random access memory (DR RAK). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0130] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to execute the method in the aforementioned embodiment.

[0131] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method in the aforementioned embodiment.

[0132] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0133] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0134] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0135] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into a single unit. The aforementioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional units.

[0136] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0137] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated therein. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a high-density digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state disk (SSD)).

Claims

1. A signal transmission method, characterized in that: include: Sending configuration information to a terminal device, where the configuration information is used to indicate a configuration mode of a downlink signal, where the downlink signal is used to carry control information; A target message is sent to the terminal device, wherein the target message includes the downlink signal and an indication signal, and the indication signal is used for synchronization of the terminal device.

2. The signal transmission method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The indication signal corresponds to the coverage level of the downlink signal, the downlink signal includes a first downlink signal and a second downlink signal, the indication signal includes a first indication signal and a second indication signal, the first indication signal corresponds to a first coverage level of the first downlink signal, and the second indication signal corresponds to a second coverage level of the second downlink signal.

3. The signal transmission method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The time position of the first indication signal is before the first downlink signal, the time position of the second indication signal is before the second downlink signal, and the time position of the first downlink signal is before the second indication signal.

4. The signal transmission method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The time position of the first indication signal is before the second indication signal, the time position of the first downlink signal is before the second downlink signal, and the time position of the second indication signal is before the first downlink signal.

5. The signal transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The downlink signal is a physical downlink control channel PDCCH, and the indication signal is a preamble.

6. The signal transmission method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The configuration information includes a reference start frame, and the reference start frame is used by the terminal device to determine multiple PDCCH candidate sets.

7. The signal transmission method according to claim 6, characterized in that: The configuration information also includes the lengths of the multiple PDCCH candidate sets from the reference start frame.

8. The signal transmission method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The configuration information includes time resource lengths and / or frequency resource lengths of multiple PDCCH candidate sets.

9. The signal transmission method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that: The target message includes multiple search spaces, each of the search spaces includes M PDCCH candidate sets, and M is a preset positive integer.

10. The signal transmission method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that: The configuration information includes one or more of the coverage level, the length of the preamble, a chip rate, a code rate, and a number of repetitions in the search space.

11. The signal transmission method according to claim 10, characterized in that: The configuration information further includes one or more configuration sets and search space types corresponding to the one or more configuration sets, and each of the configuration sets includes one or more of the PDCCH candidate sets.

12. A signal transmission method, characterized in that: include: receiving configuration information from a network device, wherein the configuration information is used to indicate a configuration mode of a downlink signal, and the downlink signal is used to carry control information; A target message is received from the network device, wherein the target message includes the downlink signal and an indication signal, and the indication signal is used for synchronization of the terminal device.

13. The signal transmission method according to claim 12, characterized in that: The indication signal corresponds to the coverage level of the downlink signal, the downlink signal includes a first downlink signal and a second downlink signal, the indication signal includes a first indication signal and a second indication signal, the first indication signal corresponds to a first coverage level of the first downlink signal, and the second indication signal corresponds to a second coverage level of the second downlink signal.

14. The signal transmission method according to claim 13, characterized in that: The time position of the first indication signal is before the first downlink signal, the time position of the second indication signal is before the second downlink signal, and the time position of the first downlink signal is before the second indication signal.

15. The signal transmission method according to claim 13, characterized in that: The time position of the first indication signal is before the second indication signal, the time position of the first downlink signal is before the second downlink signal, and the time position of the second indication signal is before the first downlink signal.

16. The signal transmission method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, characterized in that: The downlink signal is a physical downlink control channel PDCCH, and the indication signal is a preamble.

17. The signal transmission method according to claim 16, characterized in that: The configuration information includes a reference start frame, and the reference start frame is used by the terminal device to determine multiple PDCCH candidate sets.

18. The signal transmission method according to claim 17, characterized in that: The configuration information also includes the lengths of the multiple PDCCH candidate sets from the reference start frame.

19. The signal transmission method according to claim 16, characterized in that: The configuration information includes time-frequency resource lengths of multiple PDCCH candidate sets.

20. The signal transmission method according to any one of claims 16 to 19, characterized in that: The target message includes multiple search spaces, each of the search spaces includes M PDCCH candidate sets, and M is a preset positive integer.

21. The signal transmission method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, characterized in that: The configuration information includes one or more of the coverage level, the length of the preamble, a chip rate, a code rate, and a number of repetitions in the search space.

22. The signal transmission method according to claim 21, characterized in that: The configuration information further includes one or more configuration sets, each of which includes one or more of the PDCCH candidate sets.

23. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises modules or units for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

24. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises modules or units for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 22.

25. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor, configured to execute a program so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

26. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor, configured to execute a program so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 12 to 22.

27. A signal transmission system, characterized in that: include: A communication device for executing the method according to any one of steps 1 to 11, and a communication device for executing the method according to any one of claims 12 to 22.

28. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or enable the computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 12 to 22.

29. A computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11, or causes the computer to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 22.

30. A chip, characterized in that: The chip comprises a processor coupled to a memory, wherein the chip is used to read and execute instructions stored in the memory to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or to execute the method according to any one of claims 12 to 22.

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