Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and provides a communication method and apparatus. The method comprises: receiving first information from a network device, wherein the first information is used for indicating whether the network device sends second information, and the second information comprises at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS or a first SSS; and processing the second information on the basis of the first information. According to the embodiments, a network device can indicate to a terminal device whether the network device sends at least one of a PBCH, a PSS or an SSS, so that the terminal device can process on the basis of requirements of the terminal device. The network device does not send second information to another terminal device that does not require the network device to send the second information, thereby reducing the resource overhead of the network device. In the early application of the 6G technology, the number of 6G terminal devices is small, so that the solution can reduce the resource overhead and the network energy consumption, and can reduce the effect on the performance of 5G users.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on December 29, 2023, with application number 202311873063.3 and application name “Communication Method and Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and more particularly, to a communication method and apparatus. Background Art

[0003] The fifth generation (5 th generation, 5G) wireless access technology and the sixth generation (6 th The spectrum of 5G SSB and 6G SSB (6G generation) can be shared, and the synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB) can be used for cell access, etc. 5G SSB and 6G SSB may be incompatible. On the one hand, on the same carrier (or cell), network equipment has to send both 5G SSB and 6G SSB, and the air interface resource overhead of SSB will double. On the other hand, network equipment in 6G wireless access technology will support more antennas to achieve massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission. This requires network equipment to send more beams to complete beam scanning, resulting in a further increase in the air interface resource overhead of SSB.

[0004] SSB may include synchronization signals and broadcast channels, wherein the synchronization signals may include primary synchronization signals (PSS) and secondary synchronization signals (SSS), and the broadcast channels may be physical broadcast channels (PBCH). In order to save the overhead of synchronization signals, relevant technical solutions make 6G PSS and 6G SSS compatible with 5G PSS and 5G SSS, respectively. In other words, 6G SSB and 5G SSB can share 5G PSS and 5G SSS signals. 6G PBCH can be used to transmit 6G system information. Since 6G PBCH is sent along with 5G SSB, the number of 6G PBCH sent is large, resulting in a large overhead of air interface resources. However, in the early stage of 6G technology deployment, there are few 6G users and many 5G users. The larger 6G PBCH resource overhead corresponds to fewer 6G users, resulting in a waste of resources.

[0005] Therefore, how to save resource overhead and reduce network energy consumption is an urgent problem to be solved.

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and device that can save resource overhead and reduce network energy consumption.

[0007] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: receiving first information from a network device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, the second information including at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS or a first SSS; and processing the second information according to the first information.

[0008] The method can be executed by a terminal device, or by a component in the terminal device (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the terminal device functions.

[0009] Optionally, the first PBCH may be called a 6G PBCH; the first PSS may be called a 6G PSS; and the first SSS may be called a 6G SSS.

[0010] Through the above embodiment, the network device can instruct the terminal device whether to send at least one of PBCH, PSS or SSS, so that the terminal device can process according to its own needs. For example, if a terminal device requires the network device to send the second information, then the terminal device can request the network device to send the second information after receiving the first information instructing the network device not to send the second information. For other terminal devices that do not require the network device to send the second information, the network device may not send the second information, thereby saving the resource overhead of the network device. In the early stage of the application of 6G technology, the number of 6G terminal devices is relatively small, and the number of 5G terminal devices is relatively large. The above solution supports the network device to send 6G PBCH, 6G PSS or 6G SSS according to the needs of 6G terminal devices, thereby saving resource overhead, reducing network energy consumption, and also reducing the performance impact on 5G users.

[0011] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first information includes a second PSS and a second SSS, the first PSS and the first SSS are information used in the first wireless access technology, and the second PSS and the second SSS are information used in the second wireless access technology; wherein, when the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS meets a preset condition, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information.

[0012] Through the above embodiment, the first information may include the second PSS and the second SSS. The phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS can indicate whether the network device should send the second information, thereby enabling the terminal device to process the information according to its needs. Furthermore, the process of parsing the synchronization signal places lower requirements on the terminal device, which can reduce the complexity of the terminal device.

[0013] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first information is carried in a second PBCH, the first PBCH is information used in a first radio access technology, and the second PBCH is information used in a second radio access technology.

[0014] It is understood that physical channels often undergo processes such as scrambling, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), channel coding, and rate matching, which improve the transmission reliability of the physical channel. Since the PBCH is a physical channel, carrying the first information in the second PBCH can improve the transmission reliability of the first information, thereby allowing the terminal device to reliably know whether the network device has sent the second information.

[0015] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, when the first information does not include a reference signal, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information; when the first information includes the reference signal, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information.

[0016] Through the above solution, the terminal device can determine whether the network device sends the second information by detecting whether the reference signal exists, thereby reducing the complexity of the terminal device in knowing whether the network device sends the second information.

[0017] With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the reference signal is a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the first PBCH.

[0018] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first information is used to indicate whether the second information of the at least one beam direction is sent.

[0019] Through the above embodiment, the terminal device can determine whether the network device sends the second information in at least one beam direction based on the first information. In this way, the terminal device can determine whether to request the second information of one or more beam directions according to its own needs. For example, the terminal device receives the second information with the best quality in a certain beam direction. When the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information in the beam direction, regardless of whether the network device sends the second information in other beam directions, the terminal device can request the network device to send the second information in the beam direction with the best reception quality of the terminal device, thereby improving the reception performance. For the network device, if the terminal device requests the second information of some beam directions, the network device only sends the second information of the requested beam direction, and does not send the second information of other beam directions that the terminal device does not need, thereby saving air interface resource overhead and reducing network energy consumption.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the second information is processed based on the first information, including: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, sending third information to the network device, wherein the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

[0021] Through the above embodiment, the terminal device can request the network device to send the second information through the third information according to its own needs. For other terminal devices that do not send a request, the network device may not send the second information, thereby saving network device resource overhead.

[0022] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, after sending the third information to the network device, the method also includes: receiving fourth information from the network device, wherein the fourth information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information; sending fifth information to the network device, wherein the fifth information is used to request the network device to send the second information, and the transmission power corresponding to the fifth information is greater than the transmission power corresponding to the third information.

[0023] The network device may not receive the request from the terminal device. In this case, the network device may still not send the second information. In the above embodiment, after the terminal device requests the network device to send the second information, if the network device still does not send the second information, the terminal device can send the request at a higher transmission power. The above solution can improve the success rate of the terminal device's request for the second information.

[0024] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the third information includes at least one of a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, a sounding reference signal (SRS), a reference signal based on a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence, and a reference signal based on a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence.

[0025] The PN sequence may include or be called a pseudo-random sequence.

[0026] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, sending third information to the network device when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information includes: sending the third information to the network device on the resources corresponding to the third information when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information and the resources corresponding to the third information are configured.

[0027] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, when the first information does not include configuration information of the resources corresponding to the third information, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information; or, when the first information indicates that the resources corresponding to the third information are not configured, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information.

[0028] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: sending first information to a terminal device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether a network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS or a first SSS.

[0029] The method may be executed by a network device, or by a component in the network device (eg, a processor, a chip, or a chip system), or by a logic module or software that implements all or part of the network device's functions.

[0030] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first information includes a second PSS and a second SSS, the first PSS and the first SSS are information used in the first wireless access technology, and the second PSS and the second SSS are information used in the second wireless access technology; wherein, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS meets a preset condition.

[0031] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first information is carried in a second PBCH, the first PBCH is information used in a first radio access technology, and the second PBCH is information used in a second radio access technology.

[0032] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the first information does not include a reference signal; when the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information, the first information includes the reference signal.

[0033] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the reference signal is a DMRS of the first PBCH.

[0034] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first information is used to indicate whether the second information of the at least one beam direction is sent.

[0035] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, receiving third information from the terminal device, wherein the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

[0036] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the third information includes at least one of a PRACH preamble code, an SRS, a reference signal based on a ZC sequence, and a reference signal based on a PN sequence.

[0037] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, receiving the third information from the terminal device includes: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information and the resources corresponding to the third information are configured, receiving the third information from the terminal device on the resources corresponding to the third information.

[0038] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, when the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information, the first information does not include configuration information of the resources corresponding to the third information, or the first information indicates that the resources corresponding to the third information are not configured.

[0039] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processing circuit (also referred to as a processor) and an input / output interface (also referred to as an interface circuit), the input / output interface being used to input and / or output signals, the processing circuit being used to execute the first aspect and any possible method of the first aspect, or the processing circuit being used to execute the second aspect and any possible method of the second aspect.

[0040] In conjunction with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the processor is configured to communicate with other devices via an interface circuit and execute the first aspect and any possible method of the first aspect, or execute the second aspect and any possible method of the second aspect. The processor includes one or more.

[0041] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may include a device or module for performing the functions of the communication device.

[0042] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the communication device may include a module or unit corresponding to the method / operation / step / action described in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect. The module or unit may be a hardware circuit, software, or a combination of hardware circuit and software.

[0043] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the communication device may include a module or unit corresponding to the method / operation / step / action described in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect. The module or unit may be a hardware circuit, software, or a combination of hardware circuit and software.

[0044] In a fifth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer program or the instruction is run on a computer, the first aspect and any possible method of the first aspect are executed, or the second aspect and any possible method of the second aspect are executed.

[0045] In a sixth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program or instructions, which, when run on a computer, causes the first aspect and any possible method of the first aspect to be executed, or causes the second aspect and any possible method of the second aspect to be executed.

[0046] In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor connected to a memory and configured to call a program stored in the memory to execute any possible method of the first aspect, or to execute any possible method of the second aspect. The memory may be located within or outside the communication device. The processor may include one or more processors.

[0047] In one implementation, the communication device of the second, third, fourth or seventh aspect may be a chip or a chip system.

[0048] In an eighth aspect, a chip device is provided, comprising a processor for calling a computer program or computer instruction in a memory so that the processor executes any one of the implementation methods of the above-mentioned first aspect.

[0049] In combination with the eighth aspect, in certain implementations of the eighth aspect, the processor is coupled to the memory through an interface.

[0050] In the ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, including a terminal device and a network device, the terminal device is used to execute the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation method of the first aspect, and the network device is used to execute the above-mentioned second aspect and any possible implementation method of the second aspect.

[0051] The description of the advantageous effects of any of the second to ninth aspects etc. may refer to the description of the advantageous effects of the first aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0052] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable.

[0053] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of SSB.

[0054] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of an SSB transmission pattern.

[0055] FIG4 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0056] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a 6G SSB according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0057] FIG6 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0058] FIG7 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0059] FIG8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0060] FIG9 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0061] It should be understood that the term "and / or" in this document simply describes an association between related objects, indicating that three possible relationships exist. For example, "A and / or B" can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone. Furthermore, the character " / " in this document generally indicates that the related objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0062] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0063] This application will present various aspects, embodiments, or features in the context of systems that may include multiple devices, components, modules, etc. It should be understood and appreciated that each system may include additional devices, components, modules, etc., and / or may not include all of the devices, components, modules, etc. discussed in conjunction with the figures. Furthermore, combinations of these aspects may also be used.

[0064] Additionally, in the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" and "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary" should not be construed as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of the word "exemplary" is intended to present concepts in a concrete manner.

[0065] The business scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. Ordinary technicians in this field will know that with the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0066] References to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" in this specification mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in conjunction with that embodiment is included in one or more embodiments of the present application. Thus, phrases such as "in one embodiment," "in some embodiments," "in other embodiments," and "in yet other embodiments" appearing in various places in this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, but rather mean "one or more, but not all, embodiments," unless otherwise specifically stated. The terms "including," "comprising," "having," and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to," unless otherwise specifically stated.

[0067] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, including but not limited to: global system for mobile communications (GSM), enhanced data rate for GSM evolution (EDGE), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), code division multiple access 2000 (CDMA2000), time division-synchronization code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA), long term evolution (LTE), LTE frequency division duplex (FDD), LTE time division duplex (TDD), world wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system or new radio (NR) system, narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) system, enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC) system, enhanced mobile broadband (EMB) system. Mobile broadband (eMBB) systems, ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) systems, satellite communication systems or LTE-machine-to-machine (LTE-M) systems, and future sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication systems.

[0068] It should be noted that in the embodiments of this application, the term "communication" can also be described as "data transmission," "signal transmission," "information transmission," or "transmission." In the embodiments of this application, transmission can include sending or receiving. For example, transmission can be uplink transmission, such as a terminal device sending a signal to a network device; transmission can also be downlink transmission, such as a network device sending a signal to a terminal device.

[0069] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to embodiments of the present application. As shown in Figure 1 , communication system 100 may include multiple communication devices, which can wirelessly communicate with each other using air interface resources. Air interface resources may include at least one of time domain resources, frequency domain resources, code resources, and space resources. For example, the communication devices may include network device 110 and terminal device 120.

[0070] The network device 110 may be a device for communicating with the terminal device 120, such as a base station for accessing the terminal device 120 to a radio access network (RAN). A base station may sometimes also be referred to as an access network device or an access network node. It is understandable that in systems using different wireless access technologies, the names of devices having base station functions may be different. For ease of description, in the embodiments of the present application, devices that provide wireless communication access functions for terminal devices are collectively referred to as base stations. In the embodiments of the present application, the network device 110 includes but is not limited to various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations (also called small stations), relay stations, access points, etc. The network device 110 includes an evolved node B (eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, a radio network controller (RNC), a node B (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home evolved node B (HNB), a base band unit (BBU), an access point, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission point (TP) or a transmission and reception point (TRP) in a wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, etc. It can also be a next-generation base station node (gNB) or a transmission point (TRP or TP) in a 5G system, one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G system, a network node constituting a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU) or a distributed unit (DU), and network equipment in future 6G networks.

[0071] Network equipment can include a baseband unit (BBU) and a remote radio unit (RRU). The BBU and RRU can be located in different locations. For example, the RRU can be remotely located in a high-traffic area, while the BBU is located in a central equipment room. The BBU and RRU can also be located in the same location, such as in the same equipment room. The BBU and RRU can also be separate components within the same rack.

[0072] In the embodiments of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device may be the network device, or may be a device capable of supporting the network device in implementing the function, such as a chip system, which may be installed in the network device. In the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are described by assuming that the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device is the network device, and the network device is a base station as an example.

[0073] The terminal device 120 can be any device with wireless transceiver capabilities. The terminal device 120 can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on the water (such as a ship); it can also be deployed in the air (for example, on an airplane, a balloon, and a satellite). The terminal device 120 can also be called user equipment (UE), access terminal, terminal, subscriber unit (subscriber unit), user station, mobile station, mobile station (MS), remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless network device, user agent, or user device. In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device 120 includes, but is not limited to, a cellular phone, a mobile phone, a wireless data card, a wireless modem, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a smart phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handset with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, an unmanned aerial vehicle device, a terminal device in the Internet of Things or the Internet of Vehicles, and any form of terminal in a future network, a relay user device, or a terminal in a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN). The terminal device 120 may also be a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, a terminal device in industrial control, a terminal device in self-driving, a terminal device in remote medical, a terminal device in a smart grid, a terminal device in a smart city, a terminal device in a smart home, etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this.

[0074] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device may be a terminal device, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system, which may be installed in the terminal. The chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device is a terminal device, which may also be referred to as a terminal. The following may take the terminal device as an example to describe the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0075] It should be noted that the above-mentioned communication system 100 may be a spectrum sharing communication system, for example, a 5G and 6G spectrum sharing communication system. In a spectrum sharing communication system, the terminal device 120 may include a 5G terminal and a 6G terminal.

[0076] It should be understood that FIG1 is only a simplified schematic diagram for ease of understanding, and the communication system 100 may further include other network devices or other terminal devices, which are not shown in FIG1 .

[0077] The network device 110 and the terminal device 120 can communicate via a wireless link. The transmission link from the network device 110 to the terminal device 120 can be called a downlink (DL) or a downlink channel, which is used to transmit downlink signals. The transmission link from the terminal device 120 to the network device 110 can be called an uplink (UL) or an uplink channel, which is used to transmit uplink signals. Exemplarily, the network device 110 can send a downlink reference signal, such as a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) or a UE-specific reference signal (UE-specific reference signal), to the terminal device 120 via a downlink channel for channel state information measurement, data demodulation, beam training, time-frequency parameter tracking, etc. The terminal device 120 can send an uplink reference signal, such as an SRS or a DMRS, to the network device 110 via an uplink channel for uplink and downlink channel measurement, data demodulation, etc. The network device 110 and the terminal device 120 can also perform downlink data transmission via a downlink channel and perform uplink data transmission via an uplink channel.

[0078] Wireless communication can also be performed between the network device 110 and other network devices, and wireless communication can also be performed between the terminal device 120 and other terminal devices.

[0079] In an embodiment of the present application, the network device 110 provides services for a cell, and the terminal device 110 communicates with the network device 110 through the transmission resources (e.g., frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources) used by the cell, such as the cell 130 shown in FIG1 . The network device 110 may be a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay station, or an access point. The cell 130 may belong to a macro base station, or to a base station corresponding to a small cell. The small cells here may include: metro cells, micro cells, pico cells, femto cells, etc. Small cells are relative to macro cells. Macro cells generally have a larger coverage area (e.g., a radius of more than 500 meters) and high transmission power, while small cells have the characteristics of a smaller coverage area (e.g., a radius of tens of meters) and low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-speed data transmission services.

[0080] In the early stages of NR network construction, operators hoped to quickly introduce NR networks. However, NR terminal penetration was generally low, and NR traffic growth rates varied across regions. This made refarming LTE spectrum from NR spectrum to NR spectrum challenging, hindering NR network deployment. NR frequency bands include frequency range 1 (FR1) and FR2. FR1 includes the C-band (4-8 GHz), while FR2 includes bands above 6 GHz, such as millimeter wave bands. However, high-frequency bands have poor coverage, so NR also hopes to utilize some of LTE's lower-frequency bands for communication to ensure coverage. Therefore, the standard introduces dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) between LTE and NR. Dynamic spectrum sharing enables the transmission of 4G and 5G data on the same frequency band through frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or time division multiplexing (TDM). For example, dynamic resource allocation can be achieved based on 4G and 5G traffic volume, either at the millisecond level in the time domain or at the resource block (RB) level in the frequency domain.

[0081] Dynamic spectrum sharing enables smooth evolution between different standards, ensuring the performance experience of existing 4G users, minimizing the impact on existing 4G users, and accelerating the pace of 5G deployment. To enable 4G and 5G to more efficiently utilize spectrum resources on the same carrier, the standard incorporates various technologies, such as rate matching (RB-level rate matching or resource element (RE)-level rate matching), redesigning the time-domain position of the NR SSB, and changing the time-domain position of the NR DMRS. These technologies aim to reduce resource conflicts between 4G and 5G channels / signals, thereby reducing interference to both. For example, when LTE and NR share spectrum, since LTE continuously transmits CRS, it is necessary to avoid resource conflicts between NR channels and signals and CRS resources. Therefore, NR's PDCCH, PDSCH, DMRS, etc. must not conflict with LTE's CRS. For example, NR's PDSCH must be rate-matched when it conflicts with CRS, and DMRS symbols that conflict with CRS must be relocated to other symbols.

[0082] In 5G wireless access technology, SSB may include synchronization signals and broadcast channels. Specifically, the synchronization signals may include PSS and SSS; the broadcast channel may be PBCH. One SSB may occupy four consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in the time domain and 20 consecutive RBs in the frequency domain. The first symbol of the SSB may be PSS, and the third symbol may be SSS. Both PSS and SSS may occupy 127 subcarriers. PBCH may be distributed in the 2nd to 4th symbols of the SSB. In the 2nd and 4th symbols, PBCH may occupy 240 subcarriers, and a portion of REs may be unused on both sides of the SSS of the 3rd symbol.

[0083] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an SSB. The subcarrier positions occupied by the PSS, SSS, and PBCH in one SSB may be shown in Figure 2.

[0084] The frequency domain bandwidth of SSB under different subcarriers is shown in Table 1.

[0085] Table 1

[0086] Among them, the SSB frequency domain bandwidth includes 20 RBs.

[0087] System information can include MIB and multiple SIBs, with SIB1 being one of the multiple SIBs. One function of SSB is cell access. For example, through SSB, a terminal device can receive master information block (MIB) information, thereby obtaining system information block 1 (SIB1) associated with the SSB and accessing the cell.

[0088] Since SSB includes PSS and SSS, and PBCH includes PBCH DMRS, SSB can also be used by UE to perform time-frequency tracking (or time-frequency synchronization), beam management, radio resource management (RRM) measurement, radio link monitoring (RLM) measurement, channel state information (CSI) measurement, etc.

[0089] A beam is a spatial communication resource. Network devices or terminal devices can shape the transmission beam using an antenna array in analog, digital, or hybrid ways. Different beams are generally considered to be different spatial resources. Therefore, different beams can be used to transmit the same information to cover multiple spatial regions, or to transmit different information to maximize spatial resources. Beams can be divided into transmit and receive beams for network devices, and transmit and receive beams for terminal devices.

[0090] In NR networks, SSBs can be transmitted using the aforementioned multiple beams. An SSB corresponds to a transmission period, which can be 20 milliseconds (ms) in low frequency (or FR1). Within each SSB transmission period, the gNB can transmit multiple SSBs from different beams using a time-division method within a short duration. The collection of multiple SSBs within this short duration is called an SS burst.

[0091] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the SSB transmission pattern. Figure 3 includes (a) to (e). Each grid represents an OFDM symbol, and each time slot includes 14 OFDM symbols. SSBs in different beam directions are filled with different shading patterns, and different SSB identifiers are marked below different OFDM symbol positions. The SSB in each beam direction occupies 4 OFDM symbols.

[0092] In NR systems, depending on the operating frequency band, SSBs from different beams can be multiplexed using different time domain patterns. As shown in Figure 3(a), when the SSB subcarrier spacing is 15 kHz, the SS burst length is 2 ms, meaning that the SSB can be transmitted within two 1 ms time slots. Within this SS burst, up to four SSBs can be transmitted in different directions. These four SSBs can be denoted as SSB0, SSB1, SSB2, and SSB3. It should be noted that the gNB does not necessarily need to transmit SSBs in all four directions. The gNB can configure the actual number of SSBs to be transmitted and the symbol positions used for SSB transmission through system messages. For example, the gNB can transmit only SSB0 and SSB1, or only SSB1 and SSB3.

[0093] When the subcarrier spacing of the SSB is 30 kHz, the time domain transmission pattern can support two types of SSB patterns. For example, one type can be seen in (b) and (c) in Figure 3, and the other type can be seen in (d) and (e) in Figure 3.

[0094] When the SSB subcarrier spacing is 30 kHz, an SS burst can be 2 ms long and contain four 0.5 ms time slots. The gNB can transmit up to eight SSBs in different directions within an SS burst. These eight SSBs can be designated as SSB0, SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, SSB4, SSB5, SSB6, and SSB7. Similar to the 15 kHz case, the gNB does not necessarily need to transmit all eight SSBs. The gNB can choose to transmit SSBs in one, two, four, or eight beam directions, or even in any beam direction. The four symbols of each SSB in Figure 3 can carry the same content as in Figure 2.

[0095] When a UE is powered on and camped on a cell or switched to a cell, it can measure multiple SSBs within an SSB period of the cell to determine the beam with the best reception quality. The UE can then select a beam based on the measured SSB beam quality during subsequent cell access and uplink and downlink data transmission.

[0096] As shown above, the SSB may include PSS, SSS, and PBCH. PBCH may be used to carry system information. PBCH may use a PBCH payload to carry information. The PBCH payload may include high-layer signaling (23 bits in total) and 8 bits of non-high-layer signaling information. In addition, the high-layer signaling may include 1 bit of indication information, for example, the indication information may be called a broadcast control channel-broadcast channel message type (BCCH-BCH-MessageType). The indication information may be used to indicate whether the high-layer RRC message carried by the PBCH is a MIB or another type. If the indication information indicates that the high-layer signaling carried by the PBCH is a MIB, then the 23-bit high-layer signaling is a MIB, or in other words, the PBCH payload may include a MIB. If the indication information indicates that the high-layer signaling carried by the PBCH is another type, such as a message class extension, then the 23-bit high-layer signaling is another type of signaling, or in other words, the PBCH payload may include another type of signaling.

[0097] The SSB in the 6G wireless access technology may be incompatible with the SSB in the 5G wireless access technology. Alternatively, the SSB in the 6G wireless access technology may be different from the SSB in the 5G wireless access technology. Alternatively, the resources corresponding to the SSB in the 6G wireless access technology may be different from the resources corresponding to the SSB in the 5G wireless access technology.

[0098] 5G and 6G wireless access technologies can share spectrum. On the one hand, on the same carrier (or cell), network equipment needs to send both 5G SSB and 6G SSB, which doubles the air interface resource overhead for SSB. On the other hand, network equipment in 6G wireless access technology can support more antennas, enabling massive MIMO transmission. This requires network equipment to send more beams to complete beam scanning, further increasing the air interface resource overhead for SSB. Among them, carriers that send both 5G SSB and 6G SSB, or carriers that support both 5G and 6G wireless access technologies, can be called 5G-6G DSS carriers. In other words, the cell where the network equipment is located supports 5G-6G DSS.

[0099] To save on synchronization signal (PSS and SSS) overhead, related technical solutions make 6G PSS and 6G SSS compatible with 5G PSS and 5G SSS, respectively. In other words, 6G SSB and 5G SSB can share 5G PSS and 5G SSS signals. 6G PBCH can be used to transmit 6G system information. Because 6G PBCH is sent along with 5G SSB, the number of 6G PBCH transmissions is large, resulting in high air interface resource overhead. However, in the early stages of 6G technology deployment, there were few 6G users and many 5G users. The larger 6G PBCH resource overhead corresponded to fewer 6G users, resulting in a waste of resources.

[0100] For example, there may be no 6G users in some cells or in some beam directions, but the network equipment has been sending 6G PBCH, which not only wastes spectrum resources but also wastes the power consumption of the network equipment.

[0101] FIG4 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method 400 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Method 400 can save resource overhead and reduce network energy consumption. Method 400 is described below in conjunction with FIG4.

[0102] S410: The terminal device receives first information from the network device. Correspondingly, the network device sends the first information to the terminal device.

[0103] The first information may be used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information may include at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS, or a first SSS.

[0104] The second information may also be referred to as a 6G SSB. The 6G SSB here may include at least one of a 6G PBCH, a 6G PSS, or a 6G SSS. The second information may also be referred to as a 6G PBCH, a 6G PSS, or a 6G SSS. The terminal device demodulates the 6G PBCH to obtain the 6G system information.

[0105] For example, 6G SSB includes 6G PBCH, 6G PSS, and 6G SSS, and the second information is 6G SSB. That is, the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends 6G SSB.

[0106] Optionally, the pattern of the second information is predefined by the protocol. For example, (a) to (e) in FIG3 can be used as different second information patterns respectively.

[0107] In some optional embodiments, the second information is information carried by a preset channel or a preset signal. For example, the second information is information carried by the first PBCH, the first PSS, or the first SSS. Whether the network device sends the second information can be understood as whether the network device sends a signal on the time-frequency resources corresponding to the first PBCH, the first PSS, or the first SSS, that is, whether the network device sends the first PBCH, the first PSS, or the first SSS.

[0108] The second information may include one or more beam directions. That is, optionally, when the second information is one, the first information may be used to indicate whether the network device transmits second information for one or more beam directions in the second information pattern. For example, if the second information pattern includes beam direction #0 and beam direction #1, the first information may indicate whether the network device transmits second information for beam direction #0 and / or beam direction #1.

[0109] Optionally, in the case where there are multiple second information, the second information can be used to indicate whether the network device sends second information of one or more beam directions in the second information patterns corresponding to these second information. For example, the second information pattern corresponding to the second information #0 includes beam direction #0 and beam direction #1, and the second information pattern corresponding to the second information #1 includes beam direction #2, beam direction #3, and beam direction #4. Then, the first information can indicate whether the network device sends the second information #0 of beam direction #0 and / or beam direction #1, and / or the first information can indicate whether the network device sends the second information #1 of beam direction #2, beam direction #3, and / or beam direction #4.

[0110] The first PBCH may be called a 6G PBCH; the first PSS may be called a 6G PSS; and the first SSS may be called a 6G SSS. In other words, the first PBCH may be a PBCH in a 6G radio access technology or a 6G communication technology; the first PSS may be a PSS in a 6G radio access technology or a 6G communication technology; and the first SSS may be an SSS in a 6G radio access technology or a 6G communication technology.

[0111] Optionally, the terminal device operates on a carrier shared by 5G-6G spectrum.

[0112] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a 6G SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that Figure 5 is provided for illustrative purposes only, and this application does not limit the resources corresponding to the 6G SSB. In Figure 5, unfilled boxes represent 5G SSBs. The specific meanings of the boxes can be found in the description of Figure 2 above and are not further described here. In Figure 5, the horizontal direction represents the time domain; for example, one grid can correspond to one OFDM symbol; the vertical direction represents the frequency domain; for example, one grid can correspond to one or more RBs.

[0113] This application does not limit the resources corresponding to the first PBCH. As an example, the first PBCH may correspond to the OFDM symbol occupied by the 5G PBCH, for example, the first PBCH may correspond to the second and fourth OFDM symbols in the 5G SSB; the RB occupied by the first PBCH may be different from the RB occupied by the 5G PBCH, for example, the RB occupied by the first PBCH may be adjacent to the RB occupied by the 5G PBCH, or near the RB occupied by the 5G PBCH. For example, see (a) in Figure 5.

[0114] As another example, the OFDM symbol corresponding to the first PBCH may be different from the OFDM symbol corresponding to the 5G SSB. For example, the OFDM symbol corresponding to the first PBCH may be before or after the OFDM symbol corresponding to the 5G SSB. The frequency range of the RB occupied by the first PBCH may be the same as the frequency range of the RB occupied by the 5G SSB. For example, see (b) or (c) in Figure 5.

[0115] This application does not limit the resources corresponding to the first PSS or the first SSS. As an example, the first PSS or the first SSS may correspond to multiple consecutive OFDM symbols, each OFDM symbol corresponding to a first PSS or a first SSS, or each OFDM symbol corresponding to a beam direction of the first PSS or the first SSS; the frequency range corresponding to the first PSS or the first SSS in each OFDM symbol may be the same. For example, see (d) in Figure 5.

[0116] As another example, the first PSS or the first SSS may correspond to multiple discontinuous OFDM symbols, and the frequency ranges corresponding to the first PSS or the first SSS in each OFDM symbol may be the same (see, for example, (e) in FIG5 ).

[0117] In some optional embodiments, the 5G PSS and the 6G PSS may correspond to the same resources. Alternatively, the 5G PSS and the 6G PSS may also share the same signals, i.e., 6G SSB and 5G SSB may reuse the PSS. In other optional embodiments, the 5G PSS and the 6G PSS may correspond to different resources. In some optional embodiments, the 5G SSS and the 6G SSS may correspond to the same resources. Alternatively, the 5G SSS and the 6G SSS may also share the same signals, i.e., 6G SSB and 5G SSB may reuse the SSS. In other optional embodiments, the 5G SSS and the 6G SSS may correspond to different resources.

[0118] For example, 6G SSB may correspond to four discontinuous OFDM symbols, and the frequency range corresponding to each OFDM symbol of 6G SSB may be the same. For example, see (e) in FIG5 .

[0119] In some other optional embodiments, the second information may also be referred to as 5G SSB, where the 5G SSB may include at least one of 5G PBCH, 5G PSS or 5G SSS.

[0120] This application does not limit the name of the first information. For example, the first information may be referred to as indication information or reference information. For another example, the first information may have other names. The first information may also be referred to as a first message, a first indication, a first signal, or a first reference signal. For example, the first information may be referred to as a reference signal, a 5G reference signal, or a 6G reference signal. For another example, the first information may be a 6G PSS or a 6G SSS.

[0121] This application does not limit the specific form of the first information. For example, the first information can be 1 bit, where a 0 bit indicates that the network device does not send the second information, and a 1 bit indicates that the network device sends the second information; or, where a 0 bit indicates that the network device sends the second information, and a 1 bit indicates that the network device does not send the second information.

[0122] For another example, when the first information is carried by a reference signal, the reference signal includes a sequence set. For example, the reference signal includes M sequences, and these M sequences correspond to N states respectively. That is, the first information can represent one of the N states. When the network device sends the first sequence of the M sequences, the first information is in the first state, which is used to instruct the network device not to send (send) the second information. When the network device sends the second sequence of the M sequences, the first information is in the second state, which is used to instruct the network device to send (not send) the second information. Wherein, M and N are positive integers.

[0123] Optionally, the first information is carried by a reference signal, and the first information may be on the OFDM symbol following the OFDM symbol corresponding to the 5G SSB, and the RB corresponding to the first information has the same frequency range as the RB corresponding to the second SSS. For example, referring to Figure 2, the resource corresponding to the first information may be located on the 4th OFDM symbol (not shown in Figure 2) following the 0th to 3rd OFDM symbols corresponding to the 5G SSB, and occupy RBs with subcarrier numbers 56 to 182. The sequence used by the first information may be the same as or similar to the sequence of the 5G PSS or 5G SSS. The first information may also have other forms, and some embodiments will be shown later, which will not be described here.

[0124] This application does not limit the manner in which the network device sends the first information. For example, the network device may broadcast the first information. Alternatively, the network device may send the first information in the form of unicast, multicast, or groupcast.

[0125] S420: The terminal device processes the second information according to the first information.

[0126] For example, if the first information instructs the network device not to send the second information, and the terminal device needs to receive the second information, the second information is requested from the network device. For another example, if the first information instructs the network device not to send the second information, and the terminal device does not need to receive the second information, no processing is performed. For another example, if the first information instructs the network device to send the second information, and the terminal device needs to receive the second information, the request information does not need to be sent to the network device, and the second information can be directly received. For another example, if the first information instructs the network device to send the second information, and the terminal device does not need to receive the second information, the network device is requested not to send the second information.

[0127] Through the above embodiment, the network device can instruct the terminal device whether to send at least one of PBCH, PSS or SSS, so that the terminal device can process according to its own needs. For example, a terminal device requires the network device to send the second information. After receiving the first information instructing the network device not to send the second information, the terminal device can request the network device to send the second information. In the early stage of the application of 6G technology, such as the 5G-6G spectrum sharing scenario, the number of 6G terminal devices is small and the number of 5G terminal devices is large. The above solution supports the network device to send 6G PBCH, 6G PSS or 6G SSS according to the needs of the 6G terminal device, thereby saving resource overhead, reducing network energy consumption, and also reducing the performance impact on 5G users.

[0128] Optionally, this embodiment can also be used in a 6G dedicated carrier scenario, that is, a non-spectrum sharing scenario.

[0129] Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiment, the first information includes a second PSS and a second SSS, the first PSS and the first SSS are information used in the first wireless access technology, and the second PSS and the second SSS are information used in the second wireless access technology; wherein, when the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS meets a preset condition, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information. Otherwise, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information. In other words, when the first information instructs the network device not to send the second information, the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS meets the preset condition.

[0130] In other words, the phase difference between the 5G PSS and the 5G SSS may be used to indicate whether the second information is to be sent.

[0131] The second PSS can be called a 5G PSS, and the second SSS can be called a 5G SSS. In other words, the second PSS can be a PSS in 5G wireless access technology or 5G communication technology, and the second SSS can be an SSS in 5G wireless access technology or 5G communication technology. The resources corresponding to the 5G PSS and 5G SSS can be found above and are not detailed here.

[0132] The first radio access technology is different from the second radio access technology. Exemplarily, the first radio access technology is 6G radio access technology, and the second radio access technology is 5G radio access technology.

[0133] In some optional embodiments, the resources corresponding to the second PSS and the first PSS may be the same, and / or the resources corresponding to the second SSS and the first SSS may be the same. Furthermore, the second PSS and the first PSS may correspond to the same signal, and / or the second SSS and the first SSS may correspond to the same signal. For example, 6G SSB and 5G SSB share PSS and SSS. In other optional embodiments, the resources corresponding to the second PSS and the first PSS may be different, and / or the resources corresponding to the second SSS and the first SSS may be different.

[0134] This application does not limit the scope of the preset condition. In some optional embodiments, the preset condition may be a preset threshold. For example, 180 degrees. Thus, when the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS is less than or equal to 180 degrees, that is, less than or equal to the preset threshold, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information. Otherwise, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information. Alternatively, when the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS is greater than or equal to 180 degrees, that is, greater than or equal to the preset threshold, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information. Otherwise, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information. The threshold can also be set to other values, such as 160 degrees. In some optional embodiments, the threshold is not set too small. This is because, during the communication process, phase noise (for example, due to device noise) itself will cause a certain phase difference between SSS and PSS, such as a phase difference of about 10 degrees.

[0135] By setting the phase difference between SSS and PSS at the transmitting end to be greater than a certain threshold by the network device, the terminal device can detect whether the phase difference is caused by phase noise or is set by the network device for transmitting information.

[0136] In other optional embodiments, the preset condition may be a preset range, for example, 90 degrees to 120 degrees. Thus, if the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS is greater than 90 degrees and less than 120 degrees, i.e., falls within the preset range, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to transmit the second information. Otherwise, the first information is used to instruct the network device to transmit the second information.

[0137] Optionally, the above threshold or preset range may be configured by the network device or predefined by the protocol.

[0138] In some other optional embodiments, when the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS meets a preset condition, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information. Otherwise, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information.

[0139] Through the above embodiment, the first information may include the second PSS and the second SSS. The phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS can indicate whether the network device should send the second information, thereby enabling the terminal device to process the information according to its needs. Furthermore, the process of parsing the synchronization signal places lower requirements on the terminal device, which can reduce the complexity of the terminal device.

[0140] It should be noted that the second PSS and the second SSS can be used by the terminal device to obtain time and frequency synchronization. Method 400 may also include: the terminal device receives the second PSS and the second SSS from the network device. Correspondingly, the network device sends the second PSS and the second SSS to the terminal device. This application does not limit the timing of the terminal device receiving the second PSS and the second SSS, and the terminal device can receive the second PSS and the second SSS at any time. In other words, the terminal device can receive the second PSS and the second SSS before or after executing any step of method 400. In other words, the terminal device can receive the second PSS and the second SSS before or after executing any step of method 400. In other words, the terminal device can receive the PSS and SSS of 5G for time and frequency synchronization.

[0141] In some other optional embodiments, the first information includes a first PSS and a first SSS; wherein, when a phase difference between the first PSS and the first SSS satisfies a preset condition, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send (transmit) the second information; otherwise, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send (not send) the second information. In other words, when the first information instructs the network device not to send the second information, the phase difference between the first PSS and the first SSS satisfies the preset condition.

[0142] In other words, the phase difference between the 6G PSS and the 6G SSS may be used to indicate whether the second information (6G PBCH) is to be transmitted.

[0143] For example, the PSS and SSS in the 6G SSB are definitely sent, but whether the PBCH in the 6G SSB is sent is indicated by the PSS and SSS of the 6G SSB.

[0144] Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiment, the first information is carried in a second PBCH, the first PBCH is information used in a first radio access technology, and the second PBCH is information used in a second radio access technology.

[0145] In other words, the information carried by the 5G PBCH can be used to indicate whether to send the second information.

[0146] Exemplarily, the first information may be carried in a reserved bit of the second PBCH. However, this application is not limited thereto, and the first information may also be carried in other bits of the second PBCH. One or more bits carried by the second PBCH may serve as the first information, and the one or more bits may be used to indicate whether the network device transmits the second information.

[0147] The second PBCH may be referred to as a 5G PBCH. In other words, the second PBCH may be a PBCH in a 5G wireless access technology or a 5G communication technology. The resources corresponding to the 5G PBCH can be found above and will not be described here.

[0148] The first radio access technology is different from the second radio access technology. Exemplarily, the first radio access technology is 6G radio access technology, and the second radio access technology is 5G radio access technology.

[0149] In some optional embodiments, the resources corresponding to the second PBCH and the first PBCH may be different.

[0150] It is understandable that physical channels often undergo processes such as scrambling, CRC, channel coding, and rate matching, which improve the transmission reliability of the physical channels. Since the PBCH is a physical channel, carrying the first information in the second PBCH can improve the transmission reliability of the first information, thereby allowing the terminal device to reliably know whether the network device is sending the second information.

[0151] Optionally, in other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, when the first information does not include a reference signal, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information; when the first information includes the reference signal, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information.

[0152] In other words, when the first information instructs the network device not to send the second information, the first information does not include a reference signal; when the first information instructs the network device to send the second information, the first information includes the reference signal.

[0153] This application does not limit the reference signal. The reference signal can be in any form and can also have other names.

[0154] In some other optional embodiments, when the first information does not include a reference signal, the first information is used to instruct the network device to transmit the second information; when the first information includes the reference signal, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to transmit the second information. In other words, when the first information instructs the network device not to transmit the second information, the first information includes a reference signal; when the first information instructs the network device to transmit the second information, the first information does not include the reference signal.

[0155] Through the above solution, the terminal device can determine whether the network device sends the second information by detecting whether the reference signal exists, thereby reducing the complexity of the terminal device in knowing whether the network device sends the second information.

[0156] Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiment, the reference signal is the DMRS of the first PBCH.

[0157] In other words, the first information may include the DMRS of the 6G PBCH.

[0158] The resource format of the DMRS of the first PBCH may be the same as or correspond to the resource format of the DMRS of the second PBCH. In other words, the resource mapping of the DMRS of the first PBCH may be the same as or correspond to the resource mapping of the DMRS of the second PBCH.

[0159] Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, the first information is used to indicate whether the second information of at least one beam direction is sent.

[0160] In other words, the first information may be used to indicate the beam range in which the second information is transmitted. Alternatively, the first information may be used to indicate whether the second information is transmitted for one or more beam directions. Alternatively, the first information may be used to indicate whether the second information is transmitted in one or more beam directions. For example, the first information may instruct the network device not to transmit the second information for beam direction #0, and instruct the network device to transmit the second information for beam direction #1.

[0161] In some optional embodiments, the first information may be associated with the second information of one or more beam directions. Alternatively, the first information may be associated with one or more beam directions. The first information may be used to indicate whether the network device transmits the second information in the one or more beam directions associated with the first information.

[0162] Different beam directions may correspond to different SSB indexes (or indexes of the second information, or indexes of the 6G SSB). In some optional embodiments, the first information may be associated with at least one SSB index. The association relationship between the first information and the at least one SSB index may be predefined, or determined according to a predefined rule, or indicated by signaling.

[0163] Optionally, different beam directions correspond to different precoding or transmission weights in the digital domain or the analog domain.

[0164] Under 5G-6G spectrum sharing, if the number of 5G SSBs and 6G SSBs in an SS burst is the same, it can be assumed that the index of the 5G SSB and the index of the 6G SSB correspond one-to-one, and the beam directions of the 5G SSB and 6G SSB with the same index are the same.

[0165] Optionally, the first information is associated with the second information in all beam directions, that is, the first information is associated with the 6G SSB index in all beam directions. The first information indicates whether the second information is sent, which can mean that the first information indicates whether the second information is sent in all beam directions.

[0166] Optionally, the first information corresponds to an index of a 6G SSB, and the first information also corresponds to an index of a 5G SSB, and the index of the 6G SSB corresponding to the first information is the same as the index of the 5G SSB. For example, if the first information is carried by a 5G PSS and SSS, or by a 5G PBCH, the first information naturally corresponds to an index of a 5G SSB.

[0167] As an example, when the first information is carried on the second PBCH, the second PBCH may be used to indicate whether the second information is sent in the beam direction corresponding to the second PBCH. Alternatively, the second PBCH may be used to indicate whether the second information is sent in all beam directions. Alternatively, the second PBCH may be used to indicate whether the second information is sent in multiple beam directions. The multiple beam directions may include the beam direction corresponding to the second PBCH and beam directions adjacent to the beam direction corresponding to the second PBCH.

[0168] In some optional embodiments, the second PBCH may be associated with an index of the second information. Alternatively, the second PBCH may be associated with a beam direction of the second information. In this way, the second PBCH may be used to instruct the network device whether to transmit the second information in the beam direction associated with the second PBCH.

[0169] In other optional embodiments, the second PBCH can be used to instruct the network device whether to send the second information in multiple beam directions. The second information in the above-mentioned multiple beam directions belongs to the same second information pattern. In other optional embodiments, the second PBCH can be used to instruct the network device whether to send the second information in all beam directions corresponding to the second information. The above-mentioned all beam directions may be all beam directions in the second information pattern. Furthermore, the second PBCH can be used to instruct the network device to send the second information in all beam directions corresponding to the second information, or not to send the second information in all beam directions corresponding to the second information.

[0170] As another example, when the first information includes a second PSS and a second SSS, the first information may be used to indicate whether the second information is transmitted in a beam direction corresponding to the second PSS or the second SSS. Alternatively, the first information may be used to indicate whether the second information is transmitted in multiple beam directions. The multiple beam directions may include a beam direction corresponding to the second PSS or the second SSS, and a beam direction adjacent to the beam direction corresponding to the second PSS or the second SSS.

[0171] Through the above embodiment, the terminal device can determine whether the network device sends the second information in at least one beam direction based on the first information. In this way, the terminal device can determine whether to request the second information of one or more beam directions according to its own needs. For example, the terminal device receives the second information with the best quality in a certain beam direction. When the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information in the beam direction, regardless of whether the network device sends the second information in other beam directions, the terminal device can request the network device to send the second information in the beam direction with the best reception quality of the terminal device, thereby improving the reception performance. For the network device, if the terminal device requests the second information of some beam directions, the network device only sends the second information of the requested beam direction, and does not send the second information of other beam directions that the terminal device does not need, thereby saving air interface resource overhead and reducing network energy consumption.

[0172] For example, the beam directions of 5G SSB and 6G SSB correspond one to one. The terminal device can determine the beam direction with better reception quality of 5G SSB by detecting the signal strength of 5G PSS and SSS, and then infer the beam direction with better reception quality of 6G SSB.

[0173] It should be noted that the present application also provides another communication method A, which includes: a terminal device detecting a reference signal; if the terminal device does not detect the reference signal, the terminal device sending third information to a network device, where the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information. The fact that the terminal device does not detect the reference signal may indicate that the network device does not send the second information at this time.

[0174] The resource corresponding to the reference signal may be predefined, determined according to a predefined rule, or configured by signaling. The terminal device may detect the reference signal on the resource corresponding to the reference signal, for example, on a certain time-frequency resource. If the terminal device does not detect the reference signal, the terminal device may determine that the network device does not send the second information. Consequently, the terminal device may send the third information to the network device.

[0175] When the terminal device detects the reference signal, the terminal device can determine that the network device sends the above-mentioned second information.

[0176] For example, the reference signal is a 6G PBCH DMRS. The terminal device determines whether the 6G PBCH is transmitted by detecting whether the 6G PBCH DMRS is present. If the 6G PBCH DMRS is not detected, the network device determines that the 6G PBCH is not transmitted. The terminal device may send a third message to the network device, requesting the network device to transmit the second message (6G PBCH).

[0177] For example, the reference signal may be a newly introduced reference signal, and the time-frequency position of the reference signal is different from the time-frequency position of 5G SSB and the time-frequency position of 6G SSB.

[0178] Alternatively, the above-mentioned another communication method A includes: the terminal device detects a reference signal; when the terminal device detects the reference signal, the terminal device sends third information to the network device, and the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

[0179] Alternatively, the above-mentioned another communication method A includes: the terminal device detects a reference signal; and the terminal device determines whether the network device sends the second information based on the detection result of the reference signal.

[0180] For example, as described above, the reference signal corresponds to a sequence set, and each sequence corresponds to a state of a reference signal. When the reference signal is in a first state, the network device is instructed not to send the second information; when the reference signal is in a second state, the network device is instructed to send the second information.

[0181] Alternatively, the above-mentioned another communication method A includes: the terminal device detects a reference signal; the terminal device determines whether to send third information to the network device based on the detection result of the reference signal, and the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

[0182] For other descriptions of the reference signal, please refer to the description of the reference signal included in the first information, which will not be repeated here.

[0183] Optionally, in some implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, the terminal device determines whether the second information of at least one beam direction is sent by detecting a reference signal.

[0184] As an example, the reference signal is the DMRS of the first PBCH, and the terminal device can detect the DMRS of the first PBCH in a certain beam direction. If the DMRS exists, it can be determined that the network device will send the second information in the beam direction. Alternatively, if the DMRS exists, it can be determined that the network device will send the second information in multiple beam directions. The second information in multiple beam directions belongs to a pattern of second information. The above-mentioned multiple beam directions may include a beam direction corresponding to the first PBCH and a beam direction adjacent to the beam direction corresponding to the first PBCH.

[0185] As another example, the reference signal is a newly introduced reference signal. The terminal device detects the reference signal and determines whether the network device transmits the second information in the beam direction corresponding to the reference signal. Alternatively, the terminal device determines whether the network device transmits the second information in multiple beam directions. The multiple beam directions may include the beam direction corresponding to the reference signal and beam directions adjacent to the beam direction corresponding to the reference signal.

[0186] Optionally, the multiple beam directions may be all beam directions.

[0187] Optionally, the association relationship between the reference signal and the beam direction of the second information is predefined by the protocol or indicated by signaling. For example, the protocol predefines the correspondence between the reference signal and the index of the 6G SSB. It should be understood that two methods are described above for determining whether the network device sends the second information, namely, by the method indicated by the first information, or by detecting the reference signal (detecting the presence or absence of the reference signal, or detecting the status of the reference signal). The steps of the embodiment described below can be combined with these two methods respectively to form different implementation methods. For the convenience of description, the following description is made by the method indicated by the first information, and it should be understood that it can also be replaced by the method of detecting the reference signal.

[0188] In some optional embodiments, multiple second information patterns are predefined, determined by predefined rules, or configured by a network device through signaling. The multiple second information patterns may have different periods. Alternatively, the multiple second information patterns may correspond to the same period, and the second information included in the multiple second information patterns may have different numbers of beam directions. For example, the second information in one second information pattern may be transmitted in four beam directions within a period, while the second information in another second information pattern may be transmitted in eight beam directions within the same period.

[0189] The first information / reference signal (by detecting the presence or absence of a reference signal, or detecting different states of the reference signal) can indicate the second information pattern (or the currently effective second information pattern) sent by the network device on the DSS carrier currently accessed by the terminal device. For example, it can indicate the identifier / number of the second information pattern. In other words, the first information / reference signal can instruct the network device to switch between different second information patterns.

[0190] The implementation of the first information / reference signal is as described above.

[0191] For example, the second PBCH can be used to indicate to the network device at least one second information pattern sent by the DSS carrier currently accessed by the terminal device. Where the "at least one second information pattern" is a plurality of second information patterns, these second information patterns may have different periods or include second information with different numbers of beam directions. Alternatively, the second PBCH can be used to indicate whether the network device is sending at least one second information pattern. For example, the second PBCH can carry an identifier of the second information pattern.

[0192] Because different second information patterns have different SSB periods or different numbers of beams included in SS burst sets, different resource overheads can be achieved. For example, when there are no 6G terminal devices, or there are few 6G terminal devices, or when 6G terminal devices are only present in certain beam directions, the network device can switch to a second information pattern with a longer SSB period or a fewer number of beams. Conversely, the network device can switch to a second information pattern with a shorter SSB period or a larger number of beams, which can reduce 6G SSB resource overhead (6G PBCH, 6G PSS, and / or 6G SSS) and save network energy consumption.

[0193] When the first information / reference signal instructs the network device to transmit the second information according to the first pattern (i.e., the first second information pattern), third information can be sent to the network device to request the network device to transmit the second information according to the second pattern (i.e., the second second information pattern). In other words, the network device can switch the second information pattern based on the request of the terminal device.

[0194] Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, S420 includes: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the terminal device sends third information to the network device, wherein the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

[0195] Accordingly, the method 400 further includes: when the first information instructs the network device not to send the second information, the network device receives third information from the terminal device, wherein the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

[0196] Further, S420 may include: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information of the first beam direction, the terminal device sends third information to the network device, wherein the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information of the second beam direction. The first beam direction may be one or more beam directions. The second beam direction may be one or more beam directions. The first beam direction may include the second beam direction, so that among the multiple beam directions not sent by the network device, some or all of the beam directions are required by the terminal device, and the terminal device may request the above-mentioned some or all of the beam directions (i.e., the second beam direction). Further, the third information may be used to request the sending of the second beam direction, as well as the second information of the beam directions adjacent to the second beam direction.

[0197] Optionally, the second beam direction includes the first beam direction. For example, the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information of all beam directions. This is conducive to better serving terminal devices in a mobile state.

[0198] It can be understood that if the terminal device determines that the network device does not send the second information of the beam direction required by the terminal device, it can request the network device to send the beam direction required by the terminal device and the second information of the beam direction adjacent to the required beam direction.

[0199] In some optional embodiments, the third information may be carried in a wake-up signal (WUS).

[0200] Through the above embodiment, the terminal device can request the network device to send the second information through the third information according to its own needs. For other terminal devices that do not send a request, the network device may not send the second information, thereby saving network device resource overhead.

[0201] In other optional embodiments, S420 includes: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the terminal device does not process. In other words, S420 includes: the terminal device determines that the network device does not send the second information based on the first information. In the case that the terminal device does not need the second information, and the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, no processing may be performed, so that the network device does not send the second information to the terminal device. Further, S420 may include: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information in at least one beam direction, the terminal device does not process. In other words, S420 may include: when the terminal device determines that the network device does not send the second information in at least one beam direction based on the first information. In the case that the terminal device does not need the second information in one or more beam directions, and the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information in the above-mentioned beam directions, no processing may be performed, so that the network device does not send the second information in the above-mentioned beam directions to the terminal device.

[0202] In other optional embodiments, S420 includes: if the first information instructs the network device to send the second information, the terminal device does not process it. Alternatively, S420 includes: the terminal device determines, based on the first information, that the network device sends the second information. If the terminal device requires the second information and the first information instructs the network device to send the second information, no processing may be performed, and the network device sends the second information to the terminal device. Further, S420 may include: if the first information instructs the network device to send second information for at least one beam direction, the terminal device does not process it. Alternatively, S420 includes: if the terminal device requires second information for one or more beam directions and the first information instructs the network device to send the second information for the aforementioned beam directions, no processing may be performed, and the network device sends the second information for the aforementioned beam directions to the terminal device. It is understandable that the terminal device does not process it because the terminal device does not need to send the third information to the network device. Since the network device is determined to send the second information based on the first information, the terminal device can directly receive the second information.

[0203] In other optional embodiments, S420 includes: when the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information, the terminal device sends information to the network device, and the information is used to request or instruct the network device not to send the second information. When the terminal device does not need the second information, and the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information, the terminal device can instruct the network device not to send the second information, thereby saving the overhead of air interface resources. Further, S420 may include: when the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information of at least one beam direction, the terminal device sends information to the network device, and the information is used to request or instruct the network device not to send the second information of one or more beam directions. The one or more beam directions may be part or all of the at least one beam direction indicated by the first information. When the terminal device does not need the second information of one or more beam directions, and the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information of one or more beam directions, the terminal device can instruct the network device not to send the second information of the above-mentioned beam directions, thereby saving the overhead of air interface resources.

[0204] Optionally, in other implementation scenarios of the above embodiment, the third information includes at least one of a PRACH preamble, an SRS, a ZC sequence-based reference signal, and a PN sequence-based reference signal. In other words, the third information may be carried by one of these signals or sequences. However, this application is not limited to this, and the third information may also be in other forms, or the third information may include other information.

[0205] Optionally, in other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, after sending the third information to the network device, the method 400 also includes: the terminal device receives fourth information from the network device, wherein the fourth information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information; the terminal device sends fifth information to the network device, wherein the fifth information is used to request the network device to send the second information, and the transmission power corresponding to the fifth information is greater than the transmission power corresponding to the third information.

[0206] Correspondingly, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the network device receives the third information from the terminal device, including: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information and the resources corresponding to the third information are configured, the network device receives the third information from the terminal device on the resources corresponding to the third information.

[0207] It should be noted that the third information and the fifth information sent by the terminal device have different transmission powers. For the network device, the third information received by the network device may be the third information sent by the terminal device or the fifth information sent by the terminal device. The third information and the fifth information sent by the terminal device may carry the same information content or different information content, which is not limited in this application. The description of the fifth information sent by the terminal device can refer to the description of the third information sent by the terminal device above and is not repeated here.

[0208] A preset time may be allowed between the terminal device sending the third information and receiving the fourth information. For example, after the terminal device sends the third information, it may re-detect whether the network device sends the second information after a preset time interval T, for example, within the SSB period after the interval T. If the network device still does not send the second information, the terminal device continues to send the request (i.e., the fifth information). Alternatively, in other optional embodiments, after receiving the fourth information, the terminal device still sends the third information to the network device. That is, the terminal device may repeatedly send the third information at the same power.

[0209] It should be noted that this application uses the third and fifth messages as examples, but does not limit the terminal device to only sending two requests. It is understood that if the network device still does not send the second message after the terminal device sends the fifth message, the terminal device can send the request again. The request sent again can further increase the transmission power compared to the fifth message, and can also use the transmission power of the third or fifth message, or other transmission power.

[0210] The network device may not receive the request from the terminal device. In this case, the network device may still not send the second information. In the above embodiment, after the terminal device requests the network device to send the second information, if the network device still does not send the second information, the terminal device can send the request at a higher transmission power. The above solution can improve the success rate of the terminal device's request for the second information.

[0211] Optionally, in other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the third information is sent to the network device, including: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, and the resources corresponding to the third information are configured, the terminal device sends the third information to the network device on the resources corresponding to the third information.

[0212] The resource corresponding to the third information may also be called a WUS resource or other name. For ease of description, the resource corresponding to the third information may be a WUS resource as an example below, but it is clear to those skilled in the art that the resource corresponding to the third information may also be other resources.

[0213] The resources corresponding to the third information are configured, which can be understood as WUS resources being predefined by the protocol, determined according to predefined rules, or configured by network equipment. For example, the standard may predefine the relative time-frequency position relationship between 5G SSB or 6G SSB and WUS resources. For another example, a 6G UE receives configuration information for a DSS carrier on a 6G dedicated carrier, which includes configuration information for WUS resources.

[0214] If the network device detects a WUS sent by a terminal device on a configured WUS resource, the network device may transmit the second information at the time-frequency position of the second information associated with the WUS resource. In other words, the resources corresponding to the third information may be associated with the resources corresponding to the second information, and the network device may transmit the second information on some of the resources among all the resources corresponding to the second information. These some resources are associated with the resources corresponding to the third resource.

[0215] Alternatively, the network device may send the second information at all time-frequency positions of the second information.

[0216] Optionally, in other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, when the first information does not include configuration information of the resources corresponding to the third information, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information; or, when the first information indicates that the resources corresponding to the third information are not configured (or are not effective), the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information.

[0217] Correspondingly, when the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information, the first information does not include configuration information of the resource corresponding to the third information, or the first information indicates that the resource corresponding to the third information is not configured (or is not effective).

[0218] In other words, if the WUS resource is not configured (or not effective), the terminal device can determine that the network device sends the second information. That is, by indicating that the WUS resource is not configured (or not effective), the network device is implicitly instructed to send the second information.

[0219] It can be understood that since the WUS resource is not configured (or is not effective), the terminal device cannot send the third information on the WUS resource, thereby sending a request to the network device. Therefore, in this case, the network device sends the second information.

[0220] For example, the configuration information in the first information is expressed in the form of a second PSS and a second SSS. For details, please refer to the above embodiment in which the second PSS and the second SSS indicate whether the network device sends the second information through a phase difference. Unlike the above embodiment, the second PSS and the second SSS in the embodiment here can be used to indicate whether the resources of the third information are configured (or whether they are effective). For another example, the configuration information in the first information is expressed in the form of a first PBCH. For details, please refer to the above embodiment in which the first PBCH indicates whether the network device sends the second information, except that the first PBCH here is used to indicate whether the resources of the third information are configured (or whether they are effective). For another example, the configuration information in the first information is expressed in the form of a reference signal. For details, please refer to the above embodiment in which the reference signal indicates whether the network device sends the second information, except that the existence or non-existence of the reference signal (or the different states of the reference signal) here is used to indicate whether the resources of the third information are configured (or whether they are effective).

[0221] Optionally, the time and frequency resources of the WUS are pre-defined by the protocol, and the network device only needs to indicate whether the WUS resources are effective.

[0222] For another example, the first information is configuration information. In the case that the first information does not include the configuration information of the resource corresponding to the third information, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information.

[0223] In some optional embodiments, a first message may be associated with a resource corresponding to a third message. Thus, after receiving a first message, the terminal device may send the third message based on the resource corresponding to the third message associated with the first message. For example, when the first message is carried by 5G SSB or 5G PSS / SSS, one 5G SSB corresponds to one WUS resource. Alternatively, there is a one-to-one correspondence between 5G SSB and WUS resources, or a one-to-one correspondence in beam direction.

[0224] In other optional embodiments, multiple first information can be associated with a resource corresponding to the third information. In other words, multiple first information can be associated with one WUS resource. For example, one WUS resource can be associated with multiple 5G SSBs (in the beam direction). In this way, although the multiple first information received by the terminal device are different, the third information can be sent on the same WUS resource. It can be seen that the above solution saves uplink resource overhead.

[0225] In some other optional embodiments, all first information is associated with a resource corresponding to the third information. In other words, a WUS resource can be associated with the first information in all beam directions. In this way, any terminal device can send the third information on the WUS resource. For example, when the first information is 5G SSB, all 5G SSB beam directions (or indexes) are associated with the same WUS resource.

[0226] Furthermore, if different terminal devices send WUS (ie, the third information) on the same WUS resource, the WUS sent by different terminal devices are the same. In other words, the WUS is irrelevant to the terminal device number.

[0227] The association between the first information and the resources corresponding to the third information can be predefined, determined according to predefined rules, or configured by the network device. For example, the first information can indicate the WUS resource associated with the first information. For another example, a single first information can indicate the WUS resources associated with multiple first information (the multiple first information may or may not include the aforementioned first information). It is understood that the first information can carry fewer bits. In this way, the first information may only indicate whether a WUS resource exists (or is valid) and cannot indicate the specific WUS resource. WUS resources can be predetermined by predefined rules or network device configuration. In this way, the first information only needs to use fewer bits to indicate whether the associated WUS resource exists (or is valid). For example, if the first information is associated with WUS resource #1, the first information is 1 bit. When this bit is 0, it indicates that WUS resource #1 does not exist; when this bit is 1, it indicates that WUS resource #1 exists. In this way, the first information does not require more bits. For example, the first information does not need to carry a bit indicating the identifier of the WUS resource.

[0228] Optionally, the first information is associated with the third information by associating the time-frequency resources of the first information with the time-frequency resources of the third information.

[0229] Optionally, as described above, the WUS resource and the resource corresponding to the third information also have an association relationship. The association relationship may be pre-defined by a protocol, determined according to a pre-defined rule, or configured by a network device.

[0230] For example, the WUS resource corresponds to the index of 6G SSB.

[0231] The description of the association relationship between the WUS resource and the resource corresponding to the third information can refer to the above association relationship between the WUS resource and the resource corresponding to the first information, and will not be repeated here.

[0232] Optionally, the indexes (or beams) of the 5G SSB and the 6G SSB have a corresponding relationship (eg, a one-to-one correspondence).

[0233] FIG6 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method 600 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Method 600 can be combined with method 400. Method 600 is described below in conjunction with FIG6.

[0234] S610, the network device sends indication information to the terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate that the carrier or cell supports DSS.

[0235] As an example, the indication information can be carried by 5G SSS and 5G PSS, and the phase difference between 5G SSS and 5G PSS is used to indicate whether the carrier or cell supports 5G-6G DSS. For the specific solution, please refer to the aforementioned description of indicating whether the network device sends the second information through the phase difference between 5G SSS and 5G PSS. The difference is that the phase difference between 5G SSS and 5G PSS here indicates whether the carrier or cell supports 5G-6G DSS. It should be noted that if the indication information is expressed in the form of the phase difference between 5G SSS and 5G PSS, then the subsequent S620 and S610 here are one step, or two steps, without limitation. That is to say, 5G SSS and 5G PSS can not only indicate whether the carrier or cell supports 5G-6G DSS, but also enable the terminal device to obtain time and frequency synchronization.

[0236] Optionally, the order of S620 and S610 is not limited.

[0237] As another example, the indication information may be carried by another reference signal. When the reference signal is present, the indication information indicates that the carrier or cell supports DSS. If the reference signal is absent, the indication information indicates that the carrier or cell does not support DSS. The reference signal may be a 6G PSS, 6G SSS, or 6G PBCH DMRS. Alternatively, the reference signal may be a reference signal other than the 6G SSB.

[0238] As yet another example, the indication information may be newly defined information, for example, see the shaded portion in FIG. 5 .

[0239] In some optional embodiments, the terminal device may access the carrier or cell if it is determined that the carrier or cell supports DSS.

[0240] In other optional embodiments, the terminal device can first access a carrier or cell, for example, a carrier or cell that only supports 6G. In this case, the network device can configure a secondary cell for the terminal device (the original accessed cell serves as the primary cell), and the secondary cell can support DSS, that is, the secondary cell supports both 5G transmission and 6G transmission. The above solution is applicable to the scenario of carrier aggregation.

[0241] For a DSS carrier or cell, a pattern of the second information (eg, 6G SSB) may be predefined. In other words, the time-frequency position of the second information in the radio frame may be predefined.

[0242] S620: The network device sends a 5G PSS and a 5G SSS to the terminal device.

[0243] 5G PSS and 5G SSS can be used for terminal devices to obtain time and frequency synchronization. In other optional embodiments, 5G PSS and 5G SSS can also be used as first information to instruct the network device whether to send second information.

[0244] S410: The network device sends first information to the terminal device.

[0245] For the implementation of the first information, please refer to the above text. For example, the description of S410 in the above text will not be repeated here. It should be noted that when the first information is carried by the second PSS and the second SSS, S620 and S410 can be used as one step or two steps without limitation. This is because the 5G PSS and 5G SSS at this time have the function of enabling the terminal device to obtain time and frequency synchronization, and also have the function of instructing the network device whether to send the second information.

[0246] In method 600, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information.

[0247] S630: The terminal device sends third information to the network device.

[0248] For examples of the third information, please refer to the preceding text. It will be appreciated that method 600 assumes a scenario in which the first information instructs the network device not to send the second information, but the terminal device requires the network device to send the second information. Therefore, the terminal device sends the third information to the network device, requesting the network device to send the second information. However, this application is not limited to this scenario.

[0249] S640: The network device sends second information to the terminal device.

[0250] FIG7 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method 700 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Method 700 can be combined with method 400 and / or method 600. Method 700 is described below in conjunction with FIG7.

[0251] S610, the network device sends indication information to the terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate that the carrier or cell supports DSS.

[0252] The embodiments of the indication information can be found in the above text, for example, the above description of S610, which will not be repeated here.

[0253] S620: The network device sends a 5G PSS and a 5G SSS to the terminal device.

[0254] S410: The network device sends first information to the terminal device.

[0255] In method 700, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information. Furthermore, the terminal device requires the network device to send the second information.

[0256] S640: The network device sends second information to the terminal device.

[0257] That is, when the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information, and the terminal device requires the network device to send the second information, the terminal device can execute S640 to receive the second information without performing processing such as sending the third information.

[0258] It should be understood that in this application, the resources corresponding to information, signals or channels generally refer to time-frequency resources.

[0259] In the present application, the first information indicates whether the network device sends the second information, or the reference signal (by detecting the presence or different states of the reference signal) indicates whether the network device sends the second information. Optionally, if the first information / reference signal indicates that the network device sends the second information, it means that the network device sends the second information within the first duration, and / or, the first information / reference signal indicates that the network device does not send the second information, it means that the network device does not send the second information within the second duration. In other words, whether the network device sends the second information is associated with a certain duration, and the status of whether to send is only effective within a certain duration. The lengths of the first duration and the second duration can be the same or different.

[0260] The first duration and the second duration may be predefined by a protocol or indicated by a network device.

[0261] For example, the first duration or the second duration is equal to one SSB cycle (a 5G SSB cycle or a 6G SSB cycle) or multiple SSB cycles.

[0262] Optionally, if the first information / reference signal instructs the network device to send the second information, the state of sending the second information remains in effect, and the network device continues to send the second information until the network device instructs the network device not to send the second information through the first information / reference signal. If the first information / reference signal instructs the network device not to send the second information, the state of not sending the second information is only in effect for a second duration, after which the network device resumes sending the second information.

[0263] Optionally, if the first information / reference signal instructs the network device to transmit the second information, the state of transmitting the second information is effective only during a first duration, after which the network device stops transmitting the second information. If the first information / reference signal instructs the network device not to transmit the second information, the state of not transmitting the second information remains effective until the network device instructs the network device to transmit the second information via another first information / reference signal, at which point the network device resumes transmitting the second information within another first duration.

[0264] Optionally, within the first time period, if the network device indicates through the first information / reference signal not to send the second information, the network device stops sending the second information immediately (i.e., starting from the current SSB cycle, after the network device sends the first information / reference signal), or starting from the next SSB cycle, or starting after the end of the first time period.

[0265] Optionally, within the second time period, if the network device indicates to send the second information through the first information / reference signal, the network device resends the second information immediately (i.e., starting from the current SSB cycle, after the network device sends the first information / reference signal), or starting from the next SSB cycle, or starting after the end of the second time period.

[0266] Optionally, the first duration and / or the second duration takes effect only after a preset duration after the time-frequency resource carrying the first information / reference signal. That is, the second duration and / or the second duration does not take effect immediately, but has a certain starting time.

[0267] For example, the first duration / second duration begins to take effect (or starts timing) at the beginning of the next SSB cycle after the first information / reference signal indicates whether the network device sends the second information.

[0268] The following is an introduction to the device embodiment corresponding to the method embodiment of the present application. The following is only a brief introduction to the device, and the specific implementation steps and details of the solution can be referred to the method embodiment above.

[0269] To implement the various functions of the method provided herein, the communication device may include hardware structures and / or software modules, and the aforementioned functions may be implemented in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or a combination of hardware structures and software modules. Whether a particular one of the aforementioned functions is implemented in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or a combination of hardware structures and software modules depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0270] Figure 8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 800 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 800 includes a processor 810 and a communication interface 820, which may be interconnected via a bus 830. The communication device 800 may be a network device or a terminal device.

[0271] Optionally, the communication device 800 may further include a memory 840. The memory 840 includes, but is not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM). The memory 840 is used for related instructions and data. The memory 840 may be integrated with the processor 810 or provided separately.

[0272] The processor 810 may be one or more central processing units (CPUs). In the case where the processor 810 is a CPU, the CPU may be a single-core CPU or a multi-core CPU. The processor 810 may be a signal processor, a chip, or other integrated circuit that can implement the method of the present application, or a portion of the circuitry used for processing functions in the aforementioned processor, chip, or integrated circuit. In addition, the communication interface 820 may also be an input / output interface, which is used for inputting or outputting signals or data, or may be an input / output circuit.

[0273] Exemplarily, when the communication device 800 is a terminal device, the processor 810 is used to perform the following operations: receive first information from a network device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS, or a first SSS; and process the second information based on the first information.

[0274] The above contents are merely exemplary descriptions. The communication device 800 is responsible for executing the methods or steps related to the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

[0275] Exemplarily, when the communication device 800 is a network device, the processor 810 is used to perform the following operations: sending first information to the terminal device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS or a first SSS.

[0276] The above contents are merely exemplary descriptions. The communication device 800 is responsible for executing the network device-related methods or steps in the above method embodiments.

[0277] It is understood that the communication interface 820 may also be referred to as a transceiver. The transceiver may include a transmitter and a receiver, where the transmitter is used to perform a transmission operation and the receiver is used to perform a reception operation. For example, the processor 810 is used to control the transceiver to receive and / or transmit signals.

[0278] It should be noted that the communication device 800 may include a transmitter but not a receiver. Alternatively, the communication device 800 may include a receiver but not a transmitter. The specific implementation depends on whether the above solution executed by the communication device 800 includes a sending action and a receiving action.

[0279] The above description is merely exemplary. For details, please refer to the contents of the above method embodiments. The implementation of each operation in FIG8 may also correspond to the corresponding description of the method embodiments shown in FIG4 to FIG7.

[0280] For example, the communication device 800 may be used to implement the solutions shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 7 .

[0281] When the communication apparatus 800 is a terminal device, the communication interface 820 may be configured to receive first information from a network device.

[0282] When the communication apparatus 800 is a network device, the communication interface 820 may be used to send the first information to the terminal device.

[0283] For other implementations, please refer to the detailed description of the embodiments shown in Figures 4 to 7 above, which will not be repeated here. It should be understood that the specific process of each component performing the above corresponding process has been described in detail in the above method embodiment, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

[0284] Figure 9 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device 900 according to an embodiment of the present application. Communication device 900 may be a terminal device or a network device, or a chip or module within the terminal device or network device, and is configured to implement the methods described in the embodiments of Figures 4 to 7. For details, please refer to the relevant descriptions of the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0285] The communication device 900 includes a transceiver unit 910. The transceiver unit 910 is described below by way of example.

[0286] The transceiver unit 910 may include a transmitting unit and a receiving unit. The transmitting unit is used to execute the transmitting action of the communication device 900, and the receiving unit is used to execute the receiving action of the communication device 900. For ease of description, the embodiment of the present application combines the transmitting unit and the receiving unit into a single transceiver unit. This is described here as a unified description and will not be repeated later. The transceiver unit 910 can implement corresponding communication functions. The transceiver unit 910 can also be referred to as a communication interface or communication module.

[0287] It should be noted that the communication device 900 may include a sending unit but not a receiving unit. Alternatively, the communication device 900 may include a receiving unit but not a sending unit. The specific implementation depends on whether the above solution executed by the communication device 900 includes a sending action and a receiving action.

[0288] Exemplarily, the transceiver unit 910 is configured to receive first information from a network device, etc.

[0289] Optionally, the communication device 900 may further include a processing unit 920, which is used to execute the content of the terminal device involving processing, coordination and other steps.

[0290] Exemplarily, the transceiver unit 910 is used to send first information, etc. to the terminal device.

[0291] Optionally, the communication device 900 may further include a processing unit 920, which is used to execute the content of steps involving processing, coordination, etc. of the network device.

[0292] The above contents are merely exemplary descriptions. The communication device 900 is responsible for executing the methods or steps related to the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments.

[0293] Optionally, the communication device 900 further includes a storage unit 930, which is configured to store a program or code for executing the aforementioned method. Alternatively, the storage unit 930 may be configured to store instructions and / or data, and the processing unit 920 may read the instructions and / or data in the storage unit 930 to enable the communication device 900 to implement the aforementioned method embodiments. For example, the communication device 900 may be configured to execute the solutions illustrated in Figures 4 to 7.

[0294] When the communication device 900 is a terminal device, the processing unit 920 can be used to receive first information from a network device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS or a first SSS; and process the second information based on the first information.

[0295] When the communication device 900 is a network device, the processing unit 920 can be used to send first information to the terminal device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS or a first SSS.

[0296] For other implementations, please refer to the detailed description of the embodiments shown in Figures 4 to 7 above, which will not be repeated here. It should be understood that the specific process of each component performing the above corresponding process has been described in detail in the above method embodiment, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

[0297] The device embodiments shown in Figures 8 and 9 are used to implement the contents described in Figures 4 to 7. The specific execution steps and methods of the devices shown in Figures 8 and 9 can refer to the contents described in the above method embodiments.

[0298] The present application also provides a communication device, including a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is used to store instructions, and the processor is used to call and execute the instructions stored in the memory, so that the communication device executes the methods in the above embodiments.

[0299] The present application also provides a chip, including a processor, for calling and executing instructions stored in a memory from the memory, so that a communication device equipped with the chip executes the methods in the above embodiments.

[0300] The present application also provides another chip, comprising: an input interface, an output interface, and a processor, wherein the input interface, the output interface, and the processor are connected via an internal connection path, and the processor is configured to execute code in a memory. When the code is executed, the processor is configured to perform the methods described in each of the above embodiments. Optionally, the chip also includes a memory configured to store computer programs or code.

[0301] The present application also provides a processor, which is coupled to a memory and is used to execute the methods and functions related to the communication device in any of the above embodiments.

[0302] In another embodiment of the present application, a computer program product including a computer program or instructions is provided. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the method of the aforementioned embodiment is implemented.

[0303] The present application also provides a computer program. When the computer program is executed in a computer, the methods of the aforementioned embodiments are implemented.

[0304] In another embodiment of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a computer, the methods of the aforementioned embodiments are implemented.

[0305] The present application also provides a communication system, including a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is used to execute the actions performed by the terminal device in the aforementioned method, and the network device is used to execute the actions performed by the network device in the aforementioned method.

[0306] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0307] 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.

[0308] 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 through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0309] 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.

[0310] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0311] If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several 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.

[0312] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, Including: Receiving first information from a network device, where the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first physical broadcast channel PBCH, a first primary synchronization signal PSS, or a first secondary synchronization signal SSS; Processing the second information according to the first information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The first information includes a second PSS and a second SSS, the first PSS and the first SSS are information used in a first radio access technology, and the second PSS and the second SSS are information used in a second radio access technology; where When a phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS satisfies a preset condition, the first information is used to indicate that the network device does not send the second information.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein The first information is carried on a second PBCH, the first PBCH is information used in a first radio access technology, and the second PBCH is information used in a second radio access technology.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The first information is used to indicate whether the second information in at least one beam direction is sent.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The processing the second information according to the first information includes: When the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, sending third information to the network device, where the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein After sending the third information to the network device, the method further includes: Receiving fourth information from the network device, where the fourth information is used to indicate that the network device does not send the second information; Sending fifth information to the network device, where the fifth information is used to request the network device to send the second information, and a transmission power corresponding to the fifth information is greater than a transmission power corresponding to the third information.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that, The third information includes at least one of a physical random access channel preamble, a sounding reference signal, a Zadoff-Chu sequence-based reference signal, or a pseudo-noise sequence-based reference signal.

8. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that, When the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, sending the third information to the network device includes: When the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information and resources corresponding to the third information are configured, sending the third information to the network device on the resources corresponding to the third information.

9. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein When the first information does not include configuration information of resources corresponding to the third information, the first information is used to indicate that the network device sends the second information; or When the first information indicates that the resources corresponding to the third information are not configured, the first information is used to indicate that the network device sends the second information.

10. A communication method, characterized in that, Including: Sending first information to a terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate whether a network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first physical broadcast channel PBCH, a first primary synchronization signal PSS, or a first secondary synchronization signal SSS.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The first information includes a second PSS and a second SSS. The first PSS and the first SSS are information used in a first radio access technology, and the second PSS and the second SSS are information used in a second radio access technology; Wherein, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS satisfies a preset condition.

12. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The first information is carried on a second PBCH. The first PBCH is information used in a first radio access technology, and the second PBCH is information used in a second radio access technology.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that, The first information is used to indicate whether the second information of at least one beam direction is sent.

14. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that, It further includes: When the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, receive third information from the terminal device, where the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein The third information includes at least one of a physical random access channel preamble, a sounding reference signal, a Zadoff-Chu sequence-based reference signal, and a pseudo-noise sequence-based reference signal.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that When the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, receiving the third information from the terminal device includes: When the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information and the resources corresponding to the third information are configured, receive the third information from the terminal device on the resources corresponding to the third information.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that, When the first information is used to indicate that the network device sends the second information, the first information does not include the configuration information of the resources corresponding to the third information, or the first information indicates that the resources corresponding to the third information are not configured.

18. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes a processing circuit and an input / output interface. The input / output interface is used to input and / or output signals. The processing circuit is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, or the processing circuit is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 10 to 17.

19. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes: A processor and a memory. A computer program or instruction is stored in the memory. The processor is used to, by executing the computer program or instruction, cause the communication device to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, or cause the communication device to execute the method according to any one of claims 10 to 17.

20. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, A computer program or instruction is stored on the computer-readable storage medium. When the computer program or the instruction runs on the computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 10 to 17 is executed.

21. A computer program product, characterized in that, It includes a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction runs, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 is implemented, or the method according to any one of claims 10 to 17 is implemented.

22. A communication system, characterized in that, It includes a terminal device and a network device. The terminal device is used to execute the method described in any one of claims 1 to 9, and the network device is used to execute the method described in any one of claims 10 to 17.

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