Communication method, and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and an apparatus, which can improve the PBCH reception performance of a narrowband terminal while saving overhead of a common channel. The method comprises: a RAN node determining the length of a coded bit sequence of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) on the basis of a first value E1; determining the coded bit sequence on the basis of the length of the coded bit sequence and an information bit sequence of the PBCH; determining M symbols of the PBCH on the basis of the coded bit sequence; and mapping first M1 symbols among the M symbols to a first time-frequency resource, and mapping the remaining M-M1 symbols to a second time-frequency resource, M and M1 being positive integers greater than 1. The first value E1 is a product of M1 and a modulation order, and M1 is the number of effective resource elements (REs) in the first time-frequency resource. The first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource form a PBCH time-frequency resource, and subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap. A first-type terminal acquires first M1 symbols mapped on the first time-frequency resource, and a second-type terminal acquires M symbols mapped on the PBCH time-frequency resource.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on January 31, 2024, with application number 202410146549.5 and application name “Communication Method and Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications, and in particular to communication methods and devices. Background Art

[0003] The services of the fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication system mainly include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services, ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) services, and massive machine type communication (mMTC) services.

[0004] mMTC typically requires low energy consumption, low cost, low speed, and enhanced coverage. Narrower bandwidth is the most direct way to reduce terminal costs. Therefore, based on different services, a communication system may have multiple terminals with different bandwidths, such as eMBB terminals and reduced capability (RedCap) terminals. RedCap terminals have a smaller bandwidth than eMBB terminals.

[0005] Typically, for different types of terminals, the network side can send dedicated physical broadcast channels (PBCH) for terminal access. Although this solution effectively guarantees the performance of initial access for narrowband terminals, it significantly increases the overhead of the network side's public channels.

[0006] However, if the narrowband terminal is made to directly receive the PBCH currently designed for the eMBB terminal in order to save overhead, the PBCH reception performance of the narrowband terminal will be greatly deteriorated. Summary of the Invention

[0007] The present application provides a communication method and apparatus that can improve the PBCH reception performance of narrowband terminals.

[0008] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be executed by a RAN node, or by a module (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system) applied to the RAN node, or by a logical node, logical module, or software that implements all or part of the RAN node's functions. The method includes: determining the length of a coded bit sequence of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) based on a first value E1; determining the coded bit sequence based on the length of the coded bit sequence and the information bit sequence of the PBCH; determining M symbols of the PBCH based on the coded bit sequence; mapping the first M1 symbols of the M symbols to a first time-frequency resource, and mapping the remaining M-M1 symbols to a second time-frequency resource, where M1 is the number of valid resource elements (RE) in the first time-frequency resource, and M and M1 are positive integers greater than 1. The first value E1 is the product of M1 and the modulation order. The first time-frequency resource is a PBCH time-frequency resource. The PBCH time-frequency resource consists of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource. The subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap.

[0009] Based on this solution, when the RAN node determines the PBCH coded bit sequence based on the PBCH information bit sequence, the length of the coded bit sequence is determined based on the number of information bits that the first time-frequency resource can carry. The number of information bits that the first time-frequency resource can carry is the first value, and the product of the number of valid REs in the first time-frequency resource and the modulation order can be understood as the number of information bits that the first time-frequency resource can carry. Therefore, it can be considered that the first time-frequency resource can map (or carry) all PBCH information bits. Therefore, when the first M1 of the M PBCH symbols are mapped to the first time-frequency resource, if a narrowband terminal can receive the information carried on the first time-frequency resource, the narrowband terminal can more likely demodulate the complete system information, thereby improving the PBCH reception performance of the narrowband terminal, such as lowering the SNR operating point of the narrowband terminal receiving the PBCH and improving the PBCH reception quality. In addition, the wideband terminal can receive the complete PBCH on the PBCH time-frequency resource, which means that there is no need to send the PBCH to narrowband terminals and wideband terminals separately, thus saving common channel overhead.

[0010] In one possible design, the length of the coded bit sequence is 2 n , n is determined according to the length of the rate matching output sequence, and the length of the rate matching output sequence is a first value.

[0011] In one possible design, n is determined based on the length of the rate matching output sequence and at least one of: a minimum code rate, a length of the information bit sequence of the PBCH, a minimum value of n, or a maximum value of n.

[0012] In one possible design, M symbols of the PBCH are determined based on a coded bit sequence, including: determining a first sequence based on the coded bit sequence, the length of the coded bit sequence, and the length of the first sequence, where the length E of the first sequence is the product of the number of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources and the modulation order Q; scrambling the first sequence and performing Q-order modulation on the scrambled first sequence to obtain M symbols of the PBCH, where M is the number of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources.

[0013] In one possible design, determining the first sequence according to the coding bit sequence, the length of the coding bit sequence, and the first sequence includes: determining the second sequence according to the coding bit sequence, the length of the coding bit sequence, and the length of the second sequence, wherein the length of the second sequence is the first value E1; repeating the second sequence times, and the third sequence is obtained. E represents the length of the first sequence. Indicates rounding X upwards; the first E elements of the third sequence are used as the first sequence.

[0014] In one possible design, the second sequence satisfies: sub,i =y mod(i,N)

[0015] Among them, f sub,i Represents the i-th element of the second sequence, i=0,1,…,E1-1,y mod(i,N) It represents the mod(i,N)th element of the coded bit sequence after sub-block interleaving, where N represents the length of the coded bit sequence and mod(i,N) represents the modulus of i over N.

[0016] In one possible design, the first sequence satisfies: i =y mod(i,N)

[0017] Among them, f i Represents the i-th element of the first sequence, i=0,1,…,E-1, y mod(i,N) It represents the mod(i,N)th element of the coded bit sequence after sub-block interleaving, where N represents the length of the coded bit sequence and mod(i,N) represents the modulus of i over N.

[0018] In one possible design, M satisfies: M = E / Q

[0019] Wherein, E represents the length of the first sequence, M symbols are obtained by scrambling and Q-order modulation of the first sequence, and Q represents the modulation order; and / or, M1 satisfies: M1=E1 / Q

[0020] Wherein, E1 represents the first value, and Q represents the modulation order.

[0021] In a possible design, the valid REs are REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources except for REs used to map the demodulation reference signal DMRS.

[0022] In one possible design, the bandwidth of the first time-frequency resource is less than or equal to the maximum receiving bandwidth of the first category of terminals; the bandwidth of the PBCH time-frequency resource is greater than the maximum receiving bandwidth of the first category of terminals and less than or equal to the maximum receiving bandwidth of the second category of terminals.

[0023] Based on this possible design, the bandwidth of the first time-frequency resource is less than or equal to the maximum receive bandwidth of the first category of terminals, enabling the first category of terminals to receive all information on the first time-frequency resource. This ensures that the first category of terminals can receive the first M1 symbols of the PBCH, thereby improving PBCH reception performance for the first category of terminals. Furthermore, the bandwidth of the PBCH time-frequency resource is less than or equal to the maximum receive bandwidth of the second category of terminals, ensuring PBCH reception performance for the second category of terminals.

[0024] In one possible design, the first time-frequency resource is a common PBCH time-frequency resource for the first category of terminals and the second category of terminals, and the second time-frequency resource is a PBCH time-frequency resource exclusive to the second category of terminals relative to the first category of terminals.

[0025] Based on this possible design, the first type of terminal can receive all the information on the first time-frequency resource, that is, it is guaranteed that the first type of terminal can receive the first M1 symbols of the PBCH, thereby improving the PBCH reception performance of the first type of terminal; and the second type of terminal can receive the complete PBCH on the complete PBCH time-frequency resource, thereby ensuring the PBCH reception performance of the second type of terminal.

[0026] In one possible design, the subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resources are continuous in the frequency domain.

[0027] In one possible design, the mapping order of the first M1 symbols on the first time-frequency resource is the same as the mapping order of the remaining M-M1 symbols on the second time-frequency resource.

[0028] Based on this possible design, the mapping order of PBCH symbols on the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource is the same, which can reduce the processing complexity of the RAN node and the terminal.

[0029] In one possible design, the mapping order of the first M1 symbols on the first time-frequency resource is: first, the subcarrier index from low to high, and then the time domain symbol index from low to high.

[0030] In one possible design, the union of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM symbols occupied by the first time-frequency resources and the second time-frequency resources is the OFDM symbol occupied by the PBCH time-frequency resources.

[0031] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be executed by a first-class terminal, or by a module (such as a processor, chip, or chip system) applied to the first-class terminal, or by a logical node, logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the first-class terminal. The method includes: obtaining M1 symbols of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), where M1 is the number of valid resource elements (RE) in a first time-frequency resource; determining the length of a coded bit sequence of the PBCH based on a first value (E1), where the first value (E1) is the product of M1 and a modulation order; determining the coded bit sequence based on the M1 symbols and the length of the coded bit sequence; and determining the information bit sequence of the PBCH based on the coded bit sequence. The M1 symbols are mapped to a first time-frequency resource, the first time-frequency resource belongs to a PBCH time-frequency resource, the PBCH time-frequency resource consists of a first time-frequency resource and a second time-frequency resource, and the subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap. The M1 symbols are the first M1 symbols of the M symbols of the PBCH, and the remaining M-M1 symbols of the M symbols are mapped to the second time-frequency resource, where M and M1 are positive integers greater than 1. The technical effects brought about by the second aspect can refer to the technical effects brought about by the above-mentioned first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0032] In one possible design, the length of the coded bit sequence is 2 n , n is determined according to the length of the rate matching output sequence, and the length of the rate matching output sequence is a first value.

[0033] In one possible design, n is determined based on the length of the rate matching output sequence and at least one of: a minimum code rate, a length of the information bit sequence of the PBCH, a minimum value of n, or a maximum value of n.

[0034] In one possible design, determining a coded bit sequence based on M1 symbols and the length of the coded bit sequence includes: demodulating M1 symbols to obtain a fourth sequence; descrambling the fourth sequence to obtain a fifth sequence, where the length of the fifth sequence is a first value E1; determining a sixth sequence based on the fifth sequence and the length of the coded bit sequence, where the length of the sixth sequence is equal to the length of the coded bit sequence; and performing sub-block deinterleaving on the sixth sequence to obtain a coded bit sequence.

[0035] In one possible design, the sixth sequence consists of the first N elements of the fifth sequence, where N represents the length of the coded bit sequence.

[0036] In one possible design, the union of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM symbols occupied by the first time-frequency resources and the second time-frequency resources is the OFDM symbol occupied by the PBCH time-frequency resources.

[0037] In a third aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be executed by a second-category terminal, or by a module (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system) applied to the second-category terminal, or by a logical node, logical module, or software that implements all or part of the functions of the second-category terminal. The method includes: obtaining M symbols of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH); determining the length of a coded bit sequence of the PBCH based on a first value E1, where the first value E1 is the product of M1 and the modulation order, and M1 is the number of effective resource elements (RE) in a first time-frequency resource; determining a coded bit sequence based on the M symbols and the length of the coded bit sequence; and determining an information bit sequence of the PBCH based on the coded bit sequence. The M symbols are mapped to a PBCH time-frequency resource, which consists of a first time-frequency resource and a second time-frequency resource, where the subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap. M1 consecutive symbols of the M symbols are mapped to the first time-frequency resource, and the remaining M-M1 symbols are mapped to the second time-frequency resource, where M and M1 are positive integers greater than 1. Among them, the technical effects brought about by the third aspect can refer to the technical effects brought about by the above-mentioned first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0038] In one possible design, the length of the coded bit sequence is 2 n , n is determined according to the length of the rate matching output sequence, and the length of the rate matching output sequence is a first value.

[0039] In one possible design, n is determined based on the length of the rate matching output sequence and at least one of: a minimum code rate, a length of the information bit sequence of the PBCH, a minimum value of n, or a maximum value of n.

[0040] In one possible design, a coded bit sequence is determined based on M symbols and the length of the coded bit sequence, including: demodulating the M symbols to obtain a seventh sequence; descrambling the seventh sequence to obtain an eighth sequence, where the length E of the eighth sequence is the product of the number of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources and the modulation order Q; determining a ninth sequence based on the eighth sequence and the length of the coded bit sequence, where the length of the ninth sequence is equal to the length of the coded bit sequence; and performing sub-block deinterleaving on the ninth sequence to obtain a coded bit sequence.

[0041] In one possible design, the ninth sequence consists of the first N elements of the eighth sequence, where N represents the length of the coded bit sequence.

[0042] In one possible design, the union of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM symbols occupied by the first time-frequency resources and the second time-frequency resources is the OFDM symbol occupied by the PBCH time-frequency resources.

[0043] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing various methods. The communication device includes modules, units, or means corresponding to the methods. The modules, units, or means can be implemented in hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the functions.

[0044] In some possible designs, the communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The processing module may be configured to implement the processing functionality of any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof. The transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module, respectively configured to implement the receiving functionality and the transmitting functionality of any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof.

[0045] In some possible designs, the transceiver module may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver or a communication interface.

[0046] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store computer instructions, and when the processor executes the instructions, the communication device executes the method described in any one of the aspects.

[0047] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is used to communicate with a module outside the communication device; the processor is used to execute a computer program or instruction so that the communication device executes the method described in any aspect.

[0048] In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: at least one processor; the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instruction stored in a memory, so that the communication device performs the method described in any one of the aspects. The memory may be coupled to the processor, or may be independent of the processor.

[0049] In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided (for example, the communication device may be a chip or a chip system), which includes a processor for implementing the functions involved in any one of the first to third aspects.

[0050] In some possible designs, the communication device includes a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data.

[0051] In some possible designs, when the device is a chip system, it can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0052] It can be understood that the communication device provided in the fourth to eighth aspects can be the RAN node in the first aspect, or it can be a module or unit (for example, a chip, or a chip system, or a circuit) in the RAN node that corresponds one-to-one to the method / operation / step / action described in the first aspect, or it can be a module or unit that can be used in conjunction with the RAN node, or it can also be a logical node, logical module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the RAN node.

[0053] Alternatively, the communication device may be the first type of terminal in the second aspect, or a module or unit (for example, a chip, or a chip system, or a circuit) in the first type of terminal that corresponds one-to-one to the method / operation / step / action described in the second aspect, or a module or unit that can be used in conjunction with the first type of terminal, or may also be a logical node, logical module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the first type of terminal.

[0054] Alternatively, the communication device may be the second type terminal in the third aspect, or a module or unit (for example, a chip, or a chip system, or a circuit) in the second type terminal that corresponds one-to-one to the method / operation / step / action described in the third aspect, or a module or unit that can be used in combination with the second type terminal, or a logical node, logical module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the second type terminal.

[0055] In the ninth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer-readable storage medium is run on a communication device, the communication device can execute the method described in any one of the first to third aspects.

[0056] In a tenth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a communication device, enables the communication device to execute the method described in any one of the first to third aspects.

[0057] In an eleventh aspect, a communications system is provided, comprising a RAN node, a first-category terminal, and a second-category terminal. The RAN node is configured to perform the method described in the first aspect and any possible design thereof, the first-category terminal is configured to perform the method described in the second aspect and any possible design thereof, and the second-category terminal is configured to perform the method described in the third aspect and any possible design thereof.

[0058] Among them, the technical effects brought about by any design method in the fourth to eleventh aspects can refer to the technical effects brought about by different design methods in the first to third aspects, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0059] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency resource grid provided by this application;

[0060] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the time-frequency position of a PBCH provided in this application;

[0061] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a narrowband terminal receiving PBCH provided by the present application;

[0062] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of the performance of a narrowband terminal and a traditional terminal receiving PBCH provided by the present application;

[0063] FIG5 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system provided by the present application;

[0064] FIG6 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0065] FIG7 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0066] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of the locations of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource provided in this application;

[0067] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a mapping provided by this application;

[0068] 10-12 are schematic diagrams of the structure of the communication device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0069] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, " / " indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship, for example, A / B can represent A or B; "and / or" in this application is merely a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist, for example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural.

[0070] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more than two. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or plural.

[0071] In addition, to facilitate the clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "first" and "second" are used to distinguish between identical or similar items with substantially the same functions and effects. Those skilled in the art will understand that the words "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity or execution order, and the words "first" and "second" do not necessarily mean different.

[0072] In the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of this application should not be construed as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner to facilitate understanding.

[0073] It will be understood that the “embodiment” mentioned throughout the specification means that the specific features, structures or characteristics related to the embodiment are included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, the various embodiments throughout the specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, these specific features, structures or characteristics can be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. It will be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence number of each process does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiment of the present application.

[0074] It can be understood that in this application, "when" and "if" both mean that corresponding processing will be taken under certain objective circumstances, and do not limit the time, nor do they require any judgment action when implementing, nor do they mean that there are other limitations.

[0075] It is understood that some optional features in the embodiments of the present application may, in certain scenarios, be implemented independently of other features, such as the solution on which they are currently based, to solve corresponding technical problems and achieve corresponding effects. They may also be combined with other features in certain scenarios as needed. Accordingly, the devices provided in the embodiments of the present application may also implement these features or functions accordingly, which will not be described in detail here.

[0076] In this application, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can refer to each other. In the various embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified and there is no logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments based on their inherent logical relationships. The following description of the embodiments of this application does not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this application.

[0077] In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, a brief introduction to the relevant technologies of the present application is first given as follows.

[0078] 1. New radio (NR):

[0079] The fifth-generation (5G) mobile communications technology, NR, features a new air interface design based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and is the foundation of next-generation cellular communications. NR services primarily include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), and massive machine-type communication (mMTC).

[0080] In NR, the basic unit in the frequency domain is a subcarrier, and the subcarrier spacing (SCS) can be 15kHz, 30kHz, etc. In the NR physical layer, the unit of uplink or downlink frequency domain resources is the resource block (RB), and each RB consists of 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain.

[0081] For example, the NR downlink time-frequency resource grid is shown in Figure 1. = represents the number of downlink RBs. Each element on the resource grid is called a resource element (RE). An RE is the smallest physical resource, consisting of a subcarrier within an OFDM symbol. The uplink time-frequency resource grid is similar to the downlink time-frequency resource grid and will not be described in detail here.

[0082] 2. Synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SS / PBCH block, SSB):

[0083] In NR, the SSB includes the primary synchronization signal (PSS), the secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and the physical broadcast channel (PBCH). The PBCH carries the master information block (MIB).

[0084] In the time domain, one SSB occupies four consecutive OFDM symbols, which are numbered 0 to 3 in ascending time order. In the frequency domain, one SSB occupies 240 consecutive subcarriers, which are numbered 0 to 239 in ascending frequency order.

[0085] It should be noted that the numbering of the four OFDM symbols is relative to the starting position of the SSB time domain, and the numbering of the 240 subcarriers is relative to the starting position of the SSB frequency domain. For example, the mapping method of PSS, SSS, PBCH and PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) is shown in Table 1.

[0086] Table 1

[0087] Among them, the DMRS of PBCH is mapped to one subcarrier in every 4 subcarriers, and v represents the offset of the subcarrier used to map DMRS in every 4 subcarriers. For example, the value of v can be 0, 1, 2, 3, which respectively indicates that DMRS is mapped on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th subcarrier in every 4 subcarriers.

[0088] Based on Table 1, the structure of SSB can be shown in Figure 2. Among them, PBCH occupies 3 OFDM symbols in the time domain, and occupies subcarriers numbered 0-239 in the frequency domain corresponding to OFDM symbols numbered 1 and 3, and occupies subcarriers numbered 0-47 and 192-239 in the frequency domain corresponding to OFDM symbol numbered 2.

[0089] In addition, the mapping order of the modulation symbols obtained based on the information carried by the PBCH on the time-frequency resources occupied by the PBCH follows the rule of "frequency domain first, time domain second". Based on the examples in Table 1 and Figure 1, the modulation symbols are first mapped on subcarriers 0-239 in ascending order of subcarrier numbers in OFDM symbol 1, then on subcarriers 0-47 and 192-239 in descending order of subcarrier numbers in OFDM symbol 2, and finally on subcarriers 0-239 in descending order of subcarrier numbers in OFDM symbol 3.

[0090] 3. Internet of Things (IoT):

[0091] IoT stands for "Internet of Things." It extends the internet's user-side capabilities to any object, enabling information exchange and communication between them. This type of communication is also known as machine-type communications (MTC). The communicating nodes are called IoT terminals or IoT devices. Typical IoT applications include connected vehicles, smart communities, industrial monitoring and control, smart metering, smart grids, smart agriculture, smart transportation, smart homes, and environmental monitoring.

[0092] Because the IoT needs to be applied in a variety of scenarios, from outdoor to indoor, above ground to underground, it places many unique requirements on IoT design. For example, in some scenarios, IoT terminals are used in environments with poor coverage. For example, electricity and water meters are often installed indoors or even in basements, where wireless network signals are weak. Therefore, coverage enhancement technologies are needed. Alternatively, in some scenarios, the number of IoT terminals far exceeds the number of devices used for interpersonal communication, necessitating large-scale deployment. Therefore, IoT terminals must be available and used at a very low cost. Furthermore, in some scenarios, IoT terminals transmit very small data packets and are not sensitive to latency, requiring low-speed data rates. Furthermore, in most cases, IoT terminals are battery-powered, yet in many scenarios, they are required to last for more than ten years without battery replacement, requiring them to operate with extremely low power consumption.

[0093] In other words, MTC has requirements such as coverage enhancement, low cost, low speed, and low energy consumption. Narrower bandwidth is the most direct way to reduce terminal costs. Therefore, there may be multiple terminals with different bandwidths in the network. For example, in the fourth generation (4G) long term evolution (LTE) system, there are traditional LTE terminals and narrowband IoT (NB-IoT); in the NR system, there are eMBB terminals and reduced capability (RedCap) terminals.

[0094] In LTE systems, the network sends separate PBCHs for traditional LTE terminals and NB-IoT terminals. While this solution effectively ensures the initial access performance of NB-IoT terminals, it significantly increases the network's public signaling overhead. Therefore, in future IoT systems, the ideal goal remains a broadband-narrowband integrated design, in which the network sends a single PBCH for access by both broadband and narrowband terminals.

[0095] However, in the NR system, if a narrowband terminal is allowed to directly receive the PBCH designed for a traditional terminal (such as an eMBB terminal), the PBCH reception performance of the narrowband terminal will be greatly deteriorated.

[0096] For example, assuming a subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, the PBCH design shown in Figure 2 occupies a bandwidth of 7.2 megahertz (MHz). If a narrowband terminal with a 3 MHz bandwidth exists in the system (both the RF and baseband bandwidths are 3 MHz), this narrowband terminal can only receive a portion of the PBCH. For example, as shown in Figure 3 (a), it receives information on the 72 subcarriers (6 RBs, 2.16 MHz bandwidth) at the low-frequency edge of the existing PBCH; or, as shown in Figure 3 (b), it receives information on the center 72 subcarriers. Accordingly, the PBCH reception performance of this narrowband terminal and a traditional terminal is shown in Figure 4.

[0097] Referring to FIG4 , when a narrowband terminal with a bandwidth of 3 MHz receives the 72 subcarriers in the center of the PBCH, the block error rate (BLER) is 1 at any signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) operating point, that is, the narrowband terminal cannot operate normally when receiving information on the 72 subcarriers in the center of the PBCH.

[0098] In addition, when a narrowband terminal with a bandwidth of 3 MHz receives 72 subcarriers at the low-frequency edge of the PBCH, the BLER is 10 -2 In this case, the SNR operating point is 16.0 decibels (dB). However, in reality, a narrowband terminal with a bandwidth of 3MHz can receive information on 192 REs on the 72 subcarriers at the low-frequency edge (excluding DMRS, PBCH modulation symbols can be received on 144 REs, and when PBCH uses QPSK modulation, a total of 288 bits of coded information are received). Traditional terminals can receive the entire PBCH, that is, receive information on the 576 REs occupied by the PBCH (excluding DMRS, PBCH modulation symbols can be received on 432 REs, and when PBCH uses QPSK modulation, a total of 864 bits of coded information are received).

[0099] In other words, compared to traditional terminals, this narrowband terminal with a bandwidth of 3MHz loses one-third of its resources, and therefore one-third of its coding information. From a resource conversion perspective, the ideal performance difference between a narrowband terminal and a traditional terminal when one-third of its resources are lost should be 4.7dB. However, as shown in Figure 4, the performance difference between the narrowband terminal and the traditional terminal reaches 13.2dB, indicating a significant deterioration in the narrowband terminal's reception performance.

[0100] Based on this, the present application provides a communication method, when the RAN node determines the coding bit sequence of the PBCH based on the information bit sequence of the PBCH, the length of the coding bit sequence is determined according to the number of information bits that can be carried by the first time-frequency resource. Therefore, it can be considered that all the information bits of the PBCH can be mapped (or carried) on the first time-frequency resource. And the RAN maps the first M1 symbols of the M symbols of the PBCH to the first time-frequency resource, and maps the remaining M-M1 symbols to the second time-frequency resource. The first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource constitute the PBCH time-frequency resource. If the narrowband terminal can receive the information carried on the first time-frequency resource, it can enable the narrowband terminal to obtain relatively complete system information, thereby improving the PBCH reception performance of the narrowband terminal.

[0101] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be used in various communication systems, which may be third generation partnership project (3GPP) communication systems, for example, 4G systems such as LTE systems, 5G systems such as NR systems, LTE and 5G hybrid networking systems, non-terrestrial networks (NTN), or other next-generation communication systems such as 5.5G systems, sixth generation (6G) systems, etc. The communication system may also be a non-3GPP communication system without limitation.

[0102] Among them, the above-mentioned communication system applicable to this application is only an example, and the communication system applicable to this application is not limited to this. The communication system provided by this application does not impose any limitations on the solution of this application. It is uniformly explained here and will not be repeated below.

[0103] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a possible, non-limiting system. As shown in Figure 5 , communication system 50 includes a radio access network (RAN) 500 and a core network (CN) 600. RAN 500 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., 510a and 510b in Figure 5 , collectively referred to as 510) and at least one terminal (e.g., 520a-520j in Figure 5 , collectively referred to as 520). RAN 500 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay equipment and / or wireless backhaul equipment (not shown in Figure 5 ).

[0104] The terminals in the embodiments of the present application may include first-category terminals and second-category terminals. The maximum operating bandwidth / maximum receiving bandwidth of the first-category terminals is smaller than the maximum operating bandwidth / maximum receiving bandwidth of the second-category terminals. The second-category terminals may also be referred to as traditional terminals, ordinary terminals, non-reduced-capability terminals, or normal terminals.

[0105] For example, the maximum operating bandwidth / maximum receiving bandwidth of the first category of terminals can be 5 MHz or 3 MHz, and of course it can also be other bandwidths, which is not specifically limited in this application. The first category of terminals may include reduced capability (RedCap) terminals, enhanced RedCap (eRedCap) terminals, NR light terminals, long range radio (LoRa) terminals, NB-IoT terminals, weightless terminals, Sigfox terminals, and other narrowband IoT terminals. The second category of terminals may be enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) terminals.

[0106] In the communication system shown in Figure 5, terminal 520 is wirelessly connected to RAN node 510. RAN node 510 is wirelessly or wiredly connected to core network 600. The core network equipment in core network 600 and RAN node 510 in RAN 500 can be different physical devices, or they can be the same physical device that integrates core network logical functions and radio access network logical functions.

[0107] The RAN 500 may be a 3GPP-related cellular system, such as a 4G or 5G mobile communication system, or a future-oriented evolutionary system (such as a 6G mobile communication system). The RAN 500 may also be an open access network (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system. The RAN 500 may also be a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems.

[0108] The RAN node 510, which may also sometimes be referred to as an access network device or access network apparatus, a RAN entity or an access node, etc., constitutes a part of the communication system to help the terminal achieve wireless access. The multiple RAN nodes 510 in the communication system 10 may be nodes of the same type or nodes of different types. In some scenarios, the roles of the RAN node 510 and the terminal 520 are relative. For example, the network element 520i in Figure 5 may be a helicopter or a drone, which may be configured as a mobile base station. For the terminal 520j that accesses the RAN 500 through the network element 520i, the network element 520i is a base station; but for the base station 510a, the network element 520i is a terminal. The RAN node 510 and the terminal 520 are sometimes referred to as communication devices. For example, the network elements 510a and 510b in Figure 5 may be understood as communication devices with base station functions, and the network elements 520a-520j may be understood as communication devices with terminal functions.

[0109] In one possible scenario, a RAN node may be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a next generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system. A RAN node may be a macro base station (such as 510a in FIG5 ), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 510b in FIG5 ), a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a CRAN scenario. Optionally, a RAN node may also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle, or an onboard device. For example, an access network device in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology may be a road side unit (RSU). All or part of the functions of a RAN node in this application may also be implemented by software functions running on hardware, or by virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (such as a cloud platform). A RAN node in this application may also be a logical node, a logical module, or software that implements all or part of the functions of a RAN node.

[0110] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist the terminal in achieving wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the RAN node can be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be set separately, or they can be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0111] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (Open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples for description. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0112] A terminal may also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminals can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, etc. A terminal may be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, wearable device, vehicle, drone, helicopter, airplane, ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home device, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the device form of the terminal.

[0113] It should be noted that the communication system described in the embodiment of the present application is intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application. Ordinary technicians in this field can know that with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0114] The following describes the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application, taking the interaction between a terminal and a RAN node as an example, in conjunction with the communication system shown in Figure 5. It should be noted that in the following embodiments of the present application, the message names, parameter names, or information names between the terminal and the RAN node are merely examples, and other names may be used in other embodiments, and the method provided in the present application is not specifically limited to this.

[0115] It is understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal or RAN node may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application. These steps or operations are merely examples, and the embodiments of the present application may also perform other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, the various steps may be performed in a different order than those presented in the embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all operations in the embodiments of the present application need to be performed.

[0116] It is understandable that this application uses the RAN node and the terminal as examples to illustrate the execution entities of the interaction diagram, but this application does not limit the execution entities of the interaction diagram. For example, the method executed by the RAN node in this application can also be executed by a module applied to the RAN node (such as a chip, chip system, or processor), and can also be implemented by a logical node, logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the RAN node functions; the method executed by the terminal in this application can also be executed by a module applied to the terminal (such as a chip, chip system, or processor), and can also be implemented by a logical node, logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the terminal functions.

[0117] 6 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication method may include the following steps:

[0118] S601. The RAN node determines a length N of a coded bit sequence of a PBCH according to a first value E1.

[0119] Among them, the first value E1 is the product of M1 and the modulation order Q of PBCH, or it can also be understood that the first value E1 is the number of bits carried in the first time-frequency resource. M1 is the number of valid REs in the first time-frequency resource. The modulation order of PBCH can be understood as the modulation order used when modulating PBCH. For the sake of convenience, the modulation order of PBCH is referred to as the modulation order below. Exemplarily, the modulation order is determined by the modulation method adopted by the RAN node when modulating PBCH, and the modulation method may include QPSK, quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), such as 16-QAM, 64QAM, etc. For example, when the modulation method is QPSK, the modulation order is 2; when the modulation method is 16-QAM, the modulation order is 4.

[0120] The first time-frequency resource belongs to the PBCH time-frequency resource. The PBCH time-frequency resource is composed of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource. The frequency domain locations of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap. Exemplarily, the PBCH time-frequency resource can be understood as the time-frequency resource occupied by the PBCH.

[0121] In a possible implementation, valid REs may be understood as REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources other than REs used to map reference signals, where the reference signal is DMRS or the reference signal may include but is not limited to DMRS. In this case, M1 is equal to the total number of REs in the first time-frequency resource minus the number of REs in the first time-frequency resource used to map reference signals. Alternatively, valid REs may be understood as REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources used to map PBCH symbols; alternatively, valid REs may be understood as REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources other than REs not used to map PBCH symbols, where REs not used to map PBCH symbols may include REs used to map reference signals or idle REs (such as REs set to 0).

[0122] It is understood that the PBCH symbol refers to a modulation symbol or a complex symbol obtained by modulating a bit or a complex symbol obtained by scrambling and modulating a bit. In the following embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, a symbol refers to a modulation symbol or a complex symbol.

[0123] It should be noted that modulation symbols / complex symbols and OFDM symbols are two different concepts. Modulation symbols / complex symbols carry information, while OFDM symbols represent resources in the time domain.

[0124] In one possible implementation, the frequency domain positions of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap, which can be understood as: the subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap, or the RBs occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap. The subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap, which can also be understood as: the index of the subcarriers included in the first time-frequency resource is different from the index of the subcarriers included in the second time-frequency resource.

[0125] In one possible implementation, the union of the OFDM symbols occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource is the OFDM symbol occupied by the PBCH time-frequency resource. Exemplarily, the OFDM symbols occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource may partially overlap or completely overlap. If the OFDM symbols completely overlap, the OFDM symbols occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource can be considered to be the same.

[0126] In one possible implementation, the bandwidth of the first time-frequency resource is less than or equal to the maximum receiving bandwidth / maximum operating bandwidth of the first category of terminals, meaning that the first category of terminals are capable of receiving all information on the first time-frequency resource. The bandwidth of the PBCH time-frequency resource is greater than the maximum receiving bandwidth / maximum operating bandwidth of the first category of terminals and less than or equal to the maximum receiving bandwidth / maximum operating bandwidth of the second category of terminals. This means that the first category of terminals cannot receive all information on the PBCH time-frequency resource, while the second category of terminals are capable of receiving all information on the PBCH time-frequency resource.

[0127] In one possible implementation, the first time-frequency resources may be understood as common PBCH time-frequency resources for first-category terminals and second-category terminals, and the second time-frequency resources may be understood as PBCH time-frequency resources specific to the second-category terminals relative to the first-category terminals. For example, the common PBCH time-frequency resources may be understood as PBCH time-frequency resources that can be received by both first-category terminals and second-category terminals. The PBCH time-frequency resources specific to the second-category terminals relative to the first-category terminals may be understood as PBCH time-frequency resources that can be received by the second-category terminals but cannot be supported or used by the first-category terminals.

[0128] S602: The RAN node determines a coded bit sequence of the PBCH according to a length N of the coded bit sequence and an information bit sequence of the PBCH.

[0129] Exemplarily, the information bit sequence includes payload bits (e.g., scrambled payload bits) and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits. The CRC bits may also be referred to as CRC check bits. The RAN node scrambles the payload bits to obtain scrambled payload bits. The CRC bits are then obtained based on the scrambled payload bits and a PBCH CRC generator polynomial. The RAN node may then encode the information bit sequence according to the length of the coded bit sequence to obtain a coded bit sequence.

[0130] S603: The RAN node determines M symbols of the PBCH according to the coded bit sequence, where M is a positive integer greater than 1. For example, M is the number of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources.

[0131] In a possible implementation, the M symbols of the PBCH may also be referred to as a PBCH symbol set or symbol sequence. The M symbols may be represented as d PBCH (0),d PBCH (1),d PBCH (2),…,d PBCH (M-1).

[0132] For example, the RAN node may perform sub-block interleaving on the coded bit sequence, perform bit selection on the sub-block interleaved sequence based on the length of the coded bit sequence, and then scramble and modulate the bit-selected output sequence to obtain M PBCH symbols. The detailed implementation of step S603 will be described in subsequent embodiments and is not detailed here. For example, sub-block interleaving and bit selection may be collectively referred to as rate matching.

[0133] S604: The RAN node maps the first M1 symbols of the M PBCH symbols to the first time-frequency resource, and maps the remaining M-M1 symbols to the second time-frequency resource. M1 is a positive integer greater than 1.

[0134] In one possible implementation, M1 is the number of valid REs in the first time-frequency resource, M1 = E1 / Q, where E1 is a first value and Q is the modulation order. M-M1 is the number of valid REs in the second time-frequency resource. The first M1 symbols of the PBCH are mapped to M1 valid REs in the first time-frequency resource, and the remaining M-M1 symbols are mapped to M-M1 valid REs in the second time-frequency resource.

[0135] Exemplarily, the RAN node may first determine the number of valid REs in the first time-frequency resource as M1, and then determine the symbols mapped to the first time-frequency resource based on M1, that is, determine the symbols mapped to the first time-frequency resource as the first M1 symbols of the PBCH.

[0136] In a possible implementation, after step S604, the communication method provided by the present application further includes the following step S605:

[0137] S605: The RAN node sends a PBCH. Correspondingly, the first type of terminal receives part of the PBCH, and the second type of terminal receives the PBCH.

[0138] It can be understood that the first type of terminal receives part of the PBCH on the first time-frequency resource, or in other words, the first type of terminal receives part of the PBCH carried by the first time-frequency resource. The second type of terminal receives the complete PBCH on the PBCH time-frequency resource.

[0139] Optionally, the RAN node sending the PBCH can also be understood as the RAN node sending a wireless signal carrying the PBCH. After step S604, the RAN node can sequentially perform digital-to-analog conversion, inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), and cyclic prefix (CP) addition on the symbols carried on all subcarriers in each OFDM symbol of the PBCH time-frequency resource to obtain the wireless signal carrying the PBCH.

[0140] Optionally, receiving a portion of the PBCH by the first category terminal can also be understood as receiving a radio signal carrying a portion of the PBCH, that is, receiving a radio signal on the first time-frequency resource, where the radio signal carries a portion of the PBCH; or can be understood as demodulating a portion of the PBCH or detecting a portion of the PBCH. Receiving the PBCH by the second category terminal can also be understood as receiving a radio signal carrying the PBCH, or demodulating the PBCH or detecting the PBCH.

[0141] As shown in FIG7 , after receiving part of the PBCH on the first time-frequency resource, the first type of terminal may execute the following steps S606a-S609a; after receiving the PBCH on the PBCH time-frequency resource, the second type of terminal may execute the following steps S606b-S609b:

[0142] S606a: The first type of terminal obtains M1 symbols of the PBCH.

[0143] Among them, the M1 symbols are mapped to the first time-frequency resource, that is, the first type of terminal obtains the M1 symbols mapped on the first time-frequency resource. The first time-frequency resource belongs to the PBCH time-frequency resource, and the PBCH time-frequency resource is composed of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource. The frequency domain positions of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap. The M1 symbols are the first M1 symbols of the M symbols of the PBCH, and the remaining M-M1 symbols of the M symbols of the PBCH are mapped to the second time-frequency resource. Furthermore, the union of the OFDM symbols occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource is the OFDM symbol occupied by the PBCH time-frequency resource. Please refer to the relevant description in the above step S601 and will not be repeated here.

[0144] Optionally, the first type of terminal obtaining the M1 symbols mapped on the first time-frequency resource can be understood as: the first type of terminal obtaining the M1 symbols from the wireless signal on the first time-frequency resource. For example, the first type of terminal can sequentially perform down-conversion, analog-to-digital converter (ADC), serial-to-parallel conversion (S->P), and fast Fourier transform (FFT) of the time domain signal carried on each OFDM symbol on the wireless signal received on the first time-frequency resource to obtain the M1 symbols mapped on the first time-frequency resource.

[0145] As a possible implementation, the first-category terminal does not need to determine M1 before step S606a. The first-category terminal is able to obtain M1 PBCH symbols because the RAN node maps (or transmits) M1 PBCH symbols on the first time-frequency resource. That is, the number of PBCH symbols obtained by the first-category terminal is determined by the number of symbols mapped by the RAN node on the first time-frequency resource. After receiving and processing the wireless signal on the first time-frequency resource, the first-category terminal learns the number of PBCH symbols it has obtained.

[0146] S607a: The first type of terminal determines the length N of the coded bit sequence of the PBCH according to the first value E1.

[0147] The first value E1 is the product of the number M1 of valid REs in the first time-frequency resource and the modulation order Q. For details, see step S601. The method for determining the coded bit sequence length of the PBCH based on the first value E1 will be described in detail in subsequent embodiments and will not be elaborated on here.

[0148] S608a: The first type of terminal determines a coded bit sequence according to M1 symbols of the PBCH and the length N of the coded bit sequence.

[0149] For example, the first type of terminal may demodulate and descramble the M1 symbols to obtain a sequence having a length of the first value E1. Based on the sequence having the first value E1 and the length of the coded bit sequence, a sequence having a length equal to N is obtained. Sub-block deinterleaving is then performed on the sequence having the length N to obtain a coded bit sequence. The detailed implementation of step S608a will be described in subsequent embodiments and is not further described here.

[0150] S609a: The first type of terminal determines the information bit sequence of the PBCH according to the coded bit sequence.

[0151] For example, the first-category terminal may perform channel decoding on the coded bit sequence to obtain an information bit sequence. The information bit sequence includes scrambled payload bits and CRC bits, as described in step S602. The scrambled payload bits are then verified using the CRC bits. If the verification succeeds, the scrambled payload bits are obtained. Subsequently, the first-category terminal descrambles the scrambled payload bits to obtain the payload bits, and accesses the network based on the information indicated by the payload bits.

[0152] S606b: The second type of terminal obtains M symbols of the PBCH.

[0153] Among them, the M symbols are mapped to the PBCH time-frequency resources, which are composed of a first time-frequency resource and a second time-frequency resource, and the frequency domain positions of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap. The first M1 symbols of the M symbols are mapped to the first time-frequency resource, and the remaining M-M1 symbols are mapped to the second time-frequency resource. Furthermore, the union of the OFDM symbols occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource is the OFDM symbol occupied by the PBCH time-frequency resource. Please refer to the relevant description in the above step S601, which will not be repeated here.

[0154] Optionally, the second-category terminal obtaining the M PBCH symbols can be understood as: the second-category terminal obtaining the M symbols from the wireless signal carrying the PBCH on the PBCH time-frequency resources. For example, the second-category terminal may sequentially perform down-conversion, ADC, serial-to-parallel conversion, and FFT of the time domain signal carried on each OFDM symbol on the wireless signal received on the PBCH time-frequency resources to obtain the M PBCH symbols.

[0155] As a possible implementation, the second-category terminal does not need to determine M and M1 before step S606b. The second-category terminal is able to obtain M symbols of the PBCH because the RAN node maps (or sends) M symbols of the PBCH on the PBCH time-frequency resources, and because the RAN node maps the first M1 symbols to the first time-frequency resource and the remaining M-M1 symbols to the second time-frequency resource. Therefore, the second-category terminal obtains M1 symbols on the first time-frequency resource and M-M1 symbols on the second time-frequency resource.

[0156] Optionally, the second type of terminal may first obtain all symbols (i.e., M symbols) on the PBCH time-frequency resource, and then based on the mapping rule (i.e., the first M1 symbols are mapped to the first time-frequency resource, and the remaining M-M1 symbols are mapped to the second time-frequency resource), restore the complete M symbols in the same transmission order according to the M1 symbols obtained on the first time-frequency resource and the M-M1 symbols obtained on the second time-frequency resource. For example, the second type of terminal may concatenate (or splice) the M1 symbol obtained on the first time-frequency resource and the M-M1 symbols obtained on the second time-frequency resource to obtain the complete M symbols.

[0157] S607b: The second type of terminal determines the length N of the coded bit sequence of the PBCH according to the first value E1.

[0158] The first value E1 is the product of the number M1 of valid REs in the first time-frequency resource and the modulation order Q. For details, see step S601. The method for determining the coded bit sequence length of the PBCH based on the first value E1 will be described in detail in subsequent embodiments and will not be elaborated on here.

[0159] S608b: The second type of terminal determines a coded bit sequence according to the M symbols of the PBCH and the length N of the coded bit sequence.

[0160] Exemplarily, the second type of terminal can demodulate and descramble the M symbols to obtain a sequence of length E, and then obtain a sequence of length N based on the sequence of length E and the length of the coded bit sequence. Sub-block deinterleaving is then performed on the sequence of length N to obtain the coded bit sequence. The second value E is the product of the number M of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resource and the modulation order Q, i.e., M = E / Q. The second value E can be understood as the number of information bits that the PBCH time-frequency resource can carry. The detailed implementation of step S608b will be described in subsequent embodiments and is not detailed here.

[0161] S609b: The second type of terminal determines the information bit sequence of the PBCH according to the coded bit sequence.

[0162] For example, the second type of terminal can perform channel de-coding on the coded bit sequence to obtain an information bit sequence (including scrambled payload bits and CRC bits), then use the CRC bits to verify the scrambled payload bits. If the verification is successful, the scrambled payload bits are obtained. Subsequently, the second type of terminal descrambles the scrambled payload bits to obtain payload bits, and accesses the network based on the information indicated by the payload bits.

[0163] Based on this solution, when the RAN node determines the PBCH coded bit sequence based on the PBCH information bit sequence, the length of the coded bit sequence is determined based on the number of information bits that the first time-frequency resource can carry. The number of information bits that the first time-frequency resource can carry is the first value, and the product of the number of valid REs in the first time-frequency resource and the modulation order can be understood as the number of information bits that the first time-frequency resource can carry. Therefore, it can be considered that all information bits of the PBCH can be mapped (or carried) on the first time-frequency resource. Therefore, when the first M1 symbols of the M PBCH symbols are mapped to the first time-frequency resource, if a narrowband terminal can receive the information carried on the first time-frequency resource, the narrowband terminal can demodulate the complete system information with a greater probability, thereby improving the PBCH reception quality and, in turn, the PBCH reception performance of the narrowband terminal.

[0164] The above describes the overall process of the communication method provided by this application. The following describes in detail the specific implementation of each step in the above method.

[0165] In one possible implementation, the above-mentioned first time-frequency resources or the above-mentioned second time-frequency resources can be understood as two types of time-frequency resources. The subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resources are continuous in the frequency domain, or in other words, the first time-frequency resources include multiple subcarriers that are continuous in the frequency domain. The second time-frequency resources can be understood as the resources in the PBCH time-frequency resources other than the first time-frequency resources, that is, the resources in the PBCH time-frequency resources other than the first time-frequency resources can be collectively referred to as the second time-frequency resources. The subcarriers occupied by the second time-frequency resources can be continuous or discontinuous, without limitation.

[0166] As a possible example, the frequency domain resources of the first time-frequency resource are part of the frequency domain resources at the low-frequency edge of the PBCH time-frequency resource, and the frequency domain resources of the second time-frequency resource are the remaining frequency domain resources of the PBCH time-frequency resource. Taking the time-frequency resource as (k, l), k represents the subcarrier index, and l represents the OFDM symbol index as an example, assuming that the PBCH time-frequency resource is as shown in Table 1, that is, the PBCH time-frequency resource is represented as (0~239,1), (0~47,2), (192~239,2) and (0~239,3), then the OFDM symbol number and subcarrier number occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource respectively can be as shown in Table 2, and accordingly, the position diagram of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource can be shown as (a) in Figure 8. For example, in the embodiment of the present application, the number can also be called an index or a serial number, and the three can be replaced with each other.

[0167] Table 2

[0168] That is, the first time-frequency resource can be expressed as (0-71, 1), (0-47, 2), and (0-71, 3), and the second time-frequency resource can be expressed as (72-239, 1), (192-239, 2), and (72-239, 3).

[0169] Taking the PBCH time-frequency resources and the location of the DMRS in the PBCH as shown in Table 1 as an example, the number of effective REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources is 432. Effective REs refer to REs other than those occupied by DMRS. If the modulation order Q is 2, for example, the modulation scheme is quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), then the second value E = 432 × 2 = 864.

[0170] When the first time-frequency resources are represented as (0-71, 1), (0-47, 2), and (0-71, 3), and the positions of the DMRS in the PBCH are as shown in Table 1, the number of effective REs in the first time-frequency resources is 144. If the modulation order Q is 2, for example, the modulation mode is QPSK, then the first value E1 = 144 × 2 = 288.

[0171] The second time-frequency resources are represented as (72-239, 1), (192-239, 2), and (72-239, 3). When the DMRS positions in the PBCH are as shown in Table 1, the number of effective REs in the second time-frequency resources is 288. Taking the modulation order Q = 2 as an example, the number of effective REs in the second time-frequency resources is (E - E1) / 2 = 288.

[0172] As another possible example, the frequency domain resources of the first time-frequency resource are part of the frequency domain resources at the high-frequency edge of the PBCH time-frequency resource, and the frequency domain resources of the second time-frequency resource are the remaining frequency domain resources of the PBCH time-frequency resource. Assuming that the PBCH time-frequency resources are as shown in Table 1, the OFDM symbol numbers and subcarrier numbers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource, respectively, can be as shown in Table 3. Correspondingly, the position diagram of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource can be as shown in (b) of Figure 8.

[0173] Table 3

[0174] That is, the first time-frequency resource can be expressed as (167-239, 1), (192-239, 2), and (167-239, 3), and the second time-frequency resource can be expressed as (0-166, 1), (0-47, 2), and (0-166, 3).

[0175] Tables 2 and 3 above are described using the example of 72 subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource. Of course, the number of subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource may also be other values, such as 144. When the first time-frequency resource occupies 144 subcarriers, taking the PBCH time-frequency resources shown in Table 1 as an example, the OFDM symbol numbers and subcarrier numbers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource, respectively, may exist in the three cases shown in Tables 4, 5, and 6.

[0176] Table 4

[0177] Table 5

[0178] Table 6

[0179] The number of effective REs in the first time-frequency resource, the first value E1, the second value E, etc. in the scenarios shown in Tables 3 to 6 above can all be calculated based on the position of the DMRS in the PBCH shown in Table 1, and will not be repeated here.

[0180] Regarding the above steps S601, S607a, and S607b, the RAN node or the terminal determines the length N of the coded bit sequence of the PBCH according to the first value E1:

[0181] In one possible implementation, the length of the coded bit sequence N=2 n Where n is determined according to the length of the rate matching output sequence, which is the first value E1. That is, the length of the coded bit sequence is calculated as 2 n When the value of n is substituted, the value of the length of the rate matching output sequence substituted in is equal to the first value.

[0182] Optionally, n is determined according to the length of the rate-matched output sequence and at least one of the following: the minimum code rate, the length of the information bit sequence of the PBCH, the minimum value of n, or the maximum value of n. Exemplarily, the minimum code rate refers to the minimum code rate of channel coding. The minimum code rate, the minimum value of n, or the maximum value of n may be predefined by the protocol or preconfigured by the RAN node, and the present application does not make specific limitations thereto.

[0183] Exemplarily, the calculation process of the value of n is as follows:

[0184] 1) If and K / E1 < B, then Otherwise where A and B are constants, for example, A = 9 / 8 and B = 9 / 16. K is equal to the length of the information bit sequence of the PBCH. <{

[0185] Taking the OFDM symbol numbers and subcarrier numbers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource as shown in Table 2, the number of valid REs in the first time-frequency resource is 144, the modulation order Q is 2, the first value E1 = 144×2 = 288, A = 9 / 8, B = 9 / 16, the length of the information bit sequence is 56, the information bit sequence includes payload bits and CRC bits, where the length of the payload bits is 32 and the length of the CRC bits is 24, that is, K = 56 as an example, then n1 = 8.

[0186] 2) where R min represents the minimum code rate, and the value is a predefined value. For example, the value can be predefined by the protocol or the RAN node. Taking K = 56 and R min = 1 / 8 as an example, n2 = 9.

[0187] 3) Determine n max , n min . Where n max represents the maximum value of n, and n min represents the minimum value of n, and the values are both predefined values. For example, the values can be predefined by the protocol or the RAN node. Exemplarily, n max = 9, n min = 5.

[0188] 4) n = max{min{n1, n2, n max}, n min}. Based on the above example, n = 8, and the length N of the coded bit sequence is 2 8 = 256.

[0189] In a possible implementation, the RAN node determines the M symbols of the PBCH according to the coded bit sequence in step S603, which may include S6031-S6032:

[0190] S6031. Determine a first sequence according to the coded bit sequence, the length of the coded bit sequence, and the length of the first sequence, where the length of the first sequence is a second value E.

[0191] As a possible implementation, the RAN node can perform sub-block interleaving on the coded bit sequence to obtain an interleaved sequence, denoted as y0,y1,…,y N Then, bit selection is performed on the interleaved sequence according to the length of the coded bit sequence to determine the first sequence. For example, there may be the following two situations when performing bit selection:

[0192] Case 1: The length of the bit selection is the first value E1.

[0193] In this case, the RAN node may determine the second sequence based on the coded bit sequence, the length of the coded bit sequence, and the length of the second sequence, wherein the length of the second sequence is the first value E1, and the second sequence may be understood as an output sequence of bit selection.

[0194] Exemplarily, when the length of the output sequence E1 of the bit selection is greater than the length N of the coded bit sequence, the second sequence satisfies: sub,i =y mod(i,N)

[0195] Among them, f sub,i represents the i-th element of the second sequence, i = 0, 1, ..., E1-1, that is, the second sequence can be expressed as f sub,0 ,f sub,1 ,f sub,2 ,…,f sub,E1-1 .y mod(i,N) It represents the mod(i, N)th element of the coded bit sequence after sub-block interleaving, where mod(i, N) represents the modulus of i over N. N represents the length of the coded bit sequence.

[0196] Since the first value E1 is the number of information bits that the first time-frequency resource can carry, and the first time-frequency resource is part of the PBCH time-frequency resource, it is necessary to repeat the second sequence to obtain a first sequence of length E in order to transmit the first sequence on the PBCH time-frequency resource. That is, after determining the second sequence, the RAN node may further perform the following steps:

[0197] Repeat the second sequence times, and obtain the third sequence, where E represents the length of the first sequence, Indicates rounding X upwards;

[0198] Take the first E elements of the third sequence as the first sequence.

[0199] For example, taking the length of the coded bit sequence N=256, the first value E1=288, and the second value E=864 as an example, the above process can be as follows: the 256-bit sequence y0, y1, ..., y after the sub-block interleaving is 255 The first 32 bits are concatenated in the sequence y0,y1,…,y 255 After that, the bit selection output sequence f with a length of 288 is obtained sub,0 ,f sub,1 ,f sub,2 ,…,f sub,287 . Match the rate output sequence f sub,0 ,f sub,1 ,f sub,2 ,…,f sub,287 repeat After that, take the first 864 bits as the first sequence, that is, the first sequence is f sub,0 ,f sub,1 ,…,f sub,287 ,f sub,0 ,f sub,1 ,…,f sub,287 ,f sub,0 ,f sub,1 ,…,f sub,287 .

[0200] Case 2: The length of the bit selection is the second value E. Alternatively, the length of the bit selection output sequence is the second value E.

[0201] In this case 2, the bit selection output sequence is the first sequence. Exemplarily, when the length of the bit selection output sequence E1 is greater than the length N of the coded bit sequence, the second sequence satisfies: i =y mod(i,N)

[0202] Among them, f i Represents the i-th element of the first sequence, i = 0, 1, ..., E-1. mod(i,N) It represents the mod(i, N)th element of the coded bit sequence after sub-block interleaving, where mod(i, N) represents the modulus of i over N. N represents the length of the coded bit sequence.

[0203] For example, taking the length of the coded bit sequence N=256 and the second value E=864 as an example, based on the above process, the first sequence can be expressed as f0, f1, f2, ..., f 863 .

[0204] S6032: Scramble the first sequence and perform Q-order modulation on the scrambled first sequence to obtain M symbols of the PBCH, where M is the number of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources.

[0205] For example, the modulation order Q=2, and accordingly, the modulation mode can be QPSK, and of course, it can also be other modulation modes with a modulation order of 2, without limitation. In addition, the modulation order Q can also have other values, which are not specifically limited in this application.

[0206] In a possible implementation, when rate matching is performed according to situation 1 in the above step S6031, the M1 symbols mapped to the first time-frequency resource are not necessarily the first M1 symbols of the M symbols of the PBCH. For example, the M1 symbols may also be the M1 symbols obtained by scrambling and modulating any second sequence.

[0207] In a possible implementation, in step S604, the mapping order of the first M1 symbols of the M PBCH symbols on the first time-frequency resource is the same as the mapping order of the remaining M-M1 symbols on the second time-frequency resource. Of course, the mapping order of the M1 symbols on the first time-frequency resource may be different from the mapping order of the remaining M-M1 symbols on the second time-frequency resource.

[0208] As a possible implementation, the mapping order of M1 symbols on the first time-frequency resource is: first the subcarrier index is from low to high, and then the OFDM symbol index is from low to high. For example, the position diagram of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource is shown in (a) of Figure 8, M1=144, M=432, and the M symbols of PBCH are represented by d PBCH (0),…,d PBCH (431) as an example, the RAN node will first transmit the first 144 symbols d in the order of (0~71,1), then (0~47,2) and finally (0~71,3). PBCH (0),…,d PBCH (143) is mapped to the valid RE of the first time-frequency resource, and the remaining 288 symbols d are mapped in the order of (72-239, 1), then (192-239, 2), and finally (72-239, 3). PBCH (144),…,d PBCH (431) is mapped to a valid RE in the second time-frequency resource.

[0209] As another possible implementation, the mapping order of M1 symbols on the first time-frequency resource is: first the subcarrier index from high to low, then the OFDM symbol index from high to low; or, first the subcarrier index from low to high, then the OFDM symbol index from high to low; or, first the subcarrier index from high to low, then the OFDM symbol index from low to high.

[0210] Among them, the mapping order of the remaining M-M1 symbols on the second time-frequency resource can refer to the mapping order of the M1 symbol on the first time-frequency resource, and will not be repeated here.

[0211] For example, taking the schematic diagram of the positions of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource as shown in (a) of FIG8 , with M1=144 and M=432 as an example, when rate matching is performed according to case 1 in step S6031 above, the sequence corresponding to the symbols mapped on the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource may be as shown in (a) of FIG9 . When rate matching is performed according to case 2 in step S6031 above, the sequence corresponding to the symbols mapped on the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource may be as shown in (b) of FIG9 .

[0212] Referring to (a) in FIG9 , the 256-bit sequence y0, y1, ..., y after sub-block interleaving is 255 The first 32 bits are concatenated in the sequence y0,y1,…,y 255 After that, the rate matching output sequence f with a length of 288 is obtained sub,0 ,f sub,1 ,f sub,2 ,…,f sub,287 , map the sequence to the first time-frequency resource. Then match the rate to the output sequence f sub,0 ,f sub,1 ,f sub,2 ,…,f sub,287 The data is copied twice and mapped to the second time-frequency resource.

[0213] Refer to (b) in Figure 9, the rate matching output sequence f0,f1,f2,…,f 863 The first 288 bits are mapped to the first time-frequency resource, and the remaining bits are mapped to the second time-frequency resource.

[0214] In another possible implementation, the RAN node determining the M symbols of the PBCH according to the coded bit sequence in step S603 may include S603A-S603C:

[0215] S603A: Determine a first sequence according to the coded bit sequence, the length of the coded bit sequence, and the length of the first sequence, where the length of the first sequence is a second value E. The implementation of step S6031 may be referred to above and will not be repeated here.

[0216] S603B: Perform bit interleaving on the first sequence.

[0217] In one possible way, bit interleaving can be understood as: exchanging the first E1 bits of the E bits in the first sequence to the coded bit number or index corresponding to the first time-frequency resource, and exchanging the remaining E-E1 bits to the bit number or index corresponding to the second time-frequency resource.

[0218] For example, if the first time-frequency resource is a time-frequency resource at the low-frequency edge of the PBCH time-frequency resource and occupies 72 subcarriers, then E1 is equal to 288. The coded bit numbers or indices corresponding to the first time-frequency resource are 0-107, 360-431, and 504-611, and the coded bit numbers or indices corresponding to the second time-frequency resource are 108-359, 432-503, and 612-863. Therefore, the RAN node swaps the first 288 bits of the 864 bits of the first sequence to positions with bit numbers or indices 0-107, 360-431, and 504-611, and swaps the last 576 bits of the coded bits to positions with bit numbers or indices 108-359, 432-503, and 612-863.

[0219] S603C: Scramble the first sequence after bit interleaving, and perform Q-order modulation on the scrambled first sequence to obtain M symbols of the PBCH, where M is the number of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources.

[0220] The first sequence after bit interleaving is the sequence obtained after executing step S603B above. The first sequence after scrambling is the sequence obtained by scrambling the sequence obtained after executing step S603B above. The specific implementation of S603C can be found in the description of step S6032 above and is not repeated here.

[0221] It should be noted that, when the RAN node determines the M symbols of the PBCH based on the above steps S603A-S603C, the above step S604 can be replaced by:

[0222] S604′: Map the M PBCH symbols to the PBCH time-frequency resources in a first order, wherein the first order is: first, subcarrier index from low to high, and then OFDM symbol index from low to high.

[0223] That is, the M symbols of PBCH are represented by d PBCH (0),d PBCH (1),d PBCH (2),…,d PBCH (M-1), the M symbols d PBCH(0),d PBCH (1),d PBCH (2),…,d PBCH The mapping order of (M-1) on the first time-frequency resource is: first, the subcarrier index is from low to high, and then the OFDM symbol index is from low to high.

[0224] Based on this method, after the coded bits are scrambled and modulated, the modulation symbols with high bit weights will be mapped to the time-frequency resources received by the narrowband terminal, so that the narrowband terminal has a greater probability of demodulating the complete system information, thereby improving the PBCH reception performance of the narrowband terminal.

[0225] In a possible implementation, in step S608a, the first type of terminal determines the coded bit sequence according to M1 symbols of the PBCH and the length N of the coded bit sequence, which may include:

[0226] a) demodulating the M1 symbols to obtain a fourth sequence. The length of the fourth sequence is the first value E1. Exemplarily, the first category of terminals demodulates the M1 symbols based on a modulation scheme (e.g., QPSK) employed by the RAN node. The modulation scheme may be predefined by a protocol or preconfigured by the RAN node, without limitation.

[0227] b) Descrambling the fourth sequence to obtain a fifth sequence, wherein the length of the fifth sequence is the first value E1. That is, the first type of terminal receives E1 bits on the first time-frequency resource.

[0228] c) Determine a sixth sequence based on the length of the fifth sequence and the coded bit sequence, wherein the length of the sixth sequence is equal to the length N of the coded bit sequence.

[0229] Exemplarily, the sixth sequence may be composed of the first N elements of the fifth sequence, where N represents the length of the coded bit sequence. Alternatively, the sixth sequence satisfies: i =f mod(i,E1)

[0230] Among them, y i represents the i-th element of the sixth sequence, i=0,1,…,N-1, f mod(i,E1) represents the mod(i, E1)th element of the fifth sequence, N represents the length of the coded bit sequence, and mod(i, E1) represents the modulo of i with respect to E1.

[0231] d) Perform sub-block deinterleaving on the sixth sequence to obtain a coded bit sequence, where the length of the coded bit sequence is N.

[0232] After step d), step S609a may be executed to obtain payload bits, and access the network according to the system information indicated by the payload bits. For details, please refer to the relevant description in the above step S609a, which will not be repeated here.

[0233] In a possible implementation, in step S608b, the second type of terminal determines the coded bit sequence according to the M symbols of the PBCH and the length N of the coded bit sequence, which may include:

[0234] A) demodulating the M symbols to obtain a seventh sequence, wherein the length of the seventh sequence is the second value E. Exemplarily, the second type of terminal demodulates the M symbols according to a modulation scheme (such as QPSK) adopted by the RAN node.

[0235] B) Descramble the seventh sequence to obtain an eighth sequence, wherein the length of the eighth sequence is the second value E. That is, the second type of terminal receives E bits on the PBCH time-frequency resource.

[0236] C) Determine a ninth sequence based on the eighth sequence and the length of the coded bit sequence, wherein the length of the ninth sequence is equal to the length N of the coded bit sequence.

[0237] Exemplarily, the ninth sequence may be composed of the first N elements of the eighth sequence, where N represents the length of the coded bit sequence. Alternatively, the ninth sequence satisfies: i =f mod(i,E)

[0238] Among them, y i represents the i-th element of the ninth sequence, i=0,1,…,N-1, f mod(i,E) represents the mod(i,E)th element of the eighth sequence, N represents the length of the coded bit sequence, and mod(i,E) represents the modulus of i with respect to E.

[0239] D) Perform sub-block deinterleaving on the ninth sequence to obtain a coded bit sequence.

[0240] After step D), step S609b may be executed to obtain payload bits, and access the network according to the system information indicated by the payload bits. For details, please refer to the relevant description in the above step S609b, which will not be repeated here.

[0241] Based on the above solution, the RAN node determines the length of the PBCH coded bit sequence based on the number of information bits that can be carried by the first time-frequency resource. Therefore, it can be assumed that all PBCH information bits can be mapped (or carried) on the first time-frequency resource. Therefore, when the first M1 symbols of the M PBCH symbols are mapped to the first time-frequency resource, if a narrowband terminal can receive the information carried on the first time-frequency resource, the narrowband terminal can demodulate the complete system information with a greater probability, thereby improving the PBCH reception performance of the narrowband terminal. In addition, the PBCH reception performance of the wideband terminal is not affected.

[0242] For example, taking the subcarrier spacing as 30 kHz, the OFDM symbols and subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource as shown in Table 2, when the BLER is 10 -2 The SNR of the second type of terminal receiving PBCH, the SNR of the first type of terminal receiving PBCH when PBCH is designed according to the current NR method, and the SNR of the first type of terminal receiving PBCH when PBCH is designed according to the method of this application are shown in Table 7.

[0243] Table 7

[0244] From Table 7, we can see that when BLER is 10 -2 In this case, the SNR operating point of the first type of terminal receiving PBCH is reduced from 16dB to 8.7dB, and the performance is improved by about 7dB, which significantly improves the PBCH reception performance of narrowband terminals, and the performance of broadband terminals receiving PBCH is not lost, realizing the integrated wide- and narrow-band PBCH design and reducing the public overhead of PBCH on the network side.

[0245] The communication method provided in this application is described above. In addition, this application also provides a communication device for implementing the functions described in the above method embodiments.

[0246] It is understandable that, in order to realize the above functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. It should be easily appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware 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 to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0247] The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method embodiment. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods.

[0248] Figure 10 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 100. The communication device 100 includes a processing module 1001 and a transceiver module 1002. The communication device 100 can be used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned RAN node or the first type terminal or the second type terminal.

[0249] In some embodiments, the communication device 100 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 10 ) for storing program instructions and data.

[0250] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1002, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is configured to implement a transmitting and / or receiving function. The transceiver module 1002 may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver, or a communication interface.

[0251] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1002 may include a receiving module and a sending module, which are respectively used to execute the receiving and sending steps performed by the RAN node or the first type terminal or the second type terminal in the above method embodiments, and / or used to support other processes of the technology described herein; the processing module 1001 may be used to execute the processing steps performed by the RAN node or the first type terminal or the second type terminal in the above method embodiments, and / or used to support other processes of the technology described herein.

[0252] When the communication device 100 is used to implement the functions of a RAN node:

[0253] Processing module 1001 is configured to determine the length of a coded bit sequence for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) based on a first value E1. Processing module 1001 is further configured to determine a coded bit sequence based on the length of the coded bit sequence and the information bit sequence of the PBCH. Processing module 1001 is further configured to determine M symbols of the PBCH based on the coded bit sequence. Processing module 1001 is further configured to map the first M1 symbols of the M symbols to a first time-frequency resource and map the remaining M-M1 symbols to a second time-frequency resource, where M1 is the number of valid resource elements (RE) in the first time-frequency resource, and M and M1 are positive integers greater than 1. The first value E1 is the product of M1 and the modulation order. The first time-frequency resource is a PBCH time-frequency resource. The PBCH time-frequency resource is composed of the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource. The subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap.

[0254] Optionally, the processing module 1001 is further used to determine the M symbols of the PBCH based on the coding bit sequence, including: the processing module 1001 is further used to determine the first sequence based on the coding bit sequence, the length of the coding bit sequence and the length of the first sequence, the length E of the first sequence is the product of the number of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources and the modulation order Q; the processing module 1001 is further used to scramble the first sequence and perform Q-order modulation on the scrambled first sequence to obtain M symbols of the PBCH, where M is the number of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources.

[0255] Optionally, the processing module 1001 is further configured to determine the first sequence according to the coded bit sequence, the length of the coded bit sequence, and the length of the first sequence, including: the processing module 1001 is further configured to determine the second sequence according to the coded bit sequence, the length of the coded bit sequence, and the length of the second sequence, wherein the length of the second sequence is the first value E1; the processing module 1001 is further configured to repeat the second sequence times, and the third sequence is obtained. E represents the length of the first sequence. represents rounding X upwards; the processing module 1001 is further configured to use the first E elements of the third sequence as the first sequence.

[0256] Optionally, the second sequence satisfies: f sub,i =y mod(i,N)

[0257] Among them, f sub,i Represents the i-th element of the second sequence, i=0,1,…,E1-1,y mod(i,N) It represents the mod(i,N)th element of the coded bit sequence after sub-block interleaving, where N represents the length of the coded bit sequence and mod(i,N) represents the modulus of i over N.

[0258] Optionally, the first sequence satisfies: fi =y mod(i,N)

[0259] Among them, f i Represents the i-th element of the first sequence, i=0,1,…,E-1, y mod(i,N) It represents the mod(i,N)th element of the coded bit sequence after sub-block interleaving, where N represents the length of the coded bit sequence and mod(i,N) represents the modulus of i over N.

[0260] Optionally, the transceiver module 1002 is configured to send PBCH.

[0261] When the communication device 100 is used to implement the functions of the first type of terminal, in a possible implementation manner:

[0262] Processing module 1001 is configured to obtain M1 symbols of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), where M1 is the number of effective resource elements (RE) in a first time-frequency resource. Processing module 1001 is further configured to determine the length of the PBCH's coded bit sequence based on a first value (E1), where the first value (E1) is the product of M1 and the modulation order. Processing module 1001 is further configured to determine the coded bit sequence based on the M1 symbols and the length of the coded bit sequence. Processing module 1001 is further configured to determine the PBCH's information bit sequence based on the coded bit sequence. The M1 symbols are mapped to a first time-frequency resource, which is a PBCH time-frequency resource. The PBCH time-frequency resource consists of a first time-frequency resource and a second time-frequency resource, and the subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap. The M1 symbols are the first M1 symbols of the M PBCH symbols, and the remaining M-M1 symbols of the M symbols are mapped to a second time-frequency resource, where M and M1 are positive integers greater than 1.

[0263] Optionally, the processing module 1001 is further used to determine the coded bit sequence based on M1 symbols and the length of the coded bit sequence, including: the processing module 1001 is further used to demodulate M1 symbols to obtain a fourth sequence; the processing module 1001 is further used to descramble the fourth sequence to obtain a fifth sequence, and the length of the fifth sequence is the first value E1; the processing module 1001 is further used to determine a sixth sequence based on the fifth sequence and the length of the coded bit sequence, and the length of the sixth sequence is equal to the length of the coded bit sequence; and sub-block deinterleaving the sixth sequence to obtain a coded bit sequence.

[0264] Optionally, the sixth sequence consists of the first N elements of the fifth sequence, where N represents the length of the coded bit sequence.

[0265] Optionally, the transceiver module 1002 is configured to receive PBCH.

[0266] When the communication device 100 is used to implement the functions of the second type of terminal, in a possible implementation manner:

[0267] Processing module 1001 is configured to obtain M symbols of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH). Processing module 1001 is further configured to determine the length of the PBCH's coded bit sequence based on a first value E1, where the first value E1 is the product of M1 and the modulation order, and M1 is the number of effective resource elements (RE) in a first time-frequency resource. Processing module 1001 is further configured to determine the coded bit sequence based on the M symbols and the length of the coded bit sequence. Processing module 1001 is further configured to determine the PBCH's information bit sequence based on the coded bit sequence. The M symbols are mapped to a PBCH time-frequency resource, which is composed of a first time-frequency resource and a second time-frequency resource, where the subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap. Of the M symbols, M1 consecutive symbols are mapped to the first time-frequency resource, and the remaining M-M1 symbols are mapped to the second time-frequency resource, where M and M1 are positive integers greater than 1.

[0268] Optionally, the processing module 1001 is further used to determine the coded bit sequence based on the M symbols and the length of the coded bit sequence, including: the processing module 1001 is further used to demodulate the M symbols to obtain a seventh sequence; the processing module 1001 is further used to descramble the seventh sequence to obtain an eighth sequence, where the length E of the eighth sequence is the product of the number of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources and the modulation order Q; the processing module 1001 is further used to determine a ninth sequence based on the eighth sequence and the length of the coded bit sequence, where the length of the ninth sequence is equal to the length of the coded bit sequence; the processing module 1001 is further used to perform sub-block deinterleaving on the ninth sequence to obtain a coded bit sequence.

[0269] Optionally, the ninth sequence is composed of the first N elements of the eighth sequence, where N represents the length of the coded bit sequence.

[0270] Optionally, the transceiver module 1002 is configured to receive PBCH.

[0271] When the communication device 100 is used to implement the functions of a RAN node, a first-category terminal, or a second-category terminal:

[0272] Optionally, the length of the coded bit sequence is 2 n , n is determined according to the length of the rate matching output sequence, and the length of the rate matching output sequence is a first value.

[0273] Optionally, n is determined based on the length of the rate matching output sequence and at least one of the following: the minimum code rate, the length of the information bit sequence of the PBCH, the minimum value of n, or the maximum value of n.

[0274] Optionally, the valid RE is the RE in the PBCH time-frequency resource except the RE used to map the demodulation reference signal DMRS.

[0275] Optionally, the bandwidth of the first time-frequency resource is less than or equal to the maximum receiving bandwidth of the first category of terminals; the bandwidth of the PBCH time-frequency resource is greater than the maximum receiving bandwidth of the first category of terminals and less than or equal to the maximum receiving bandwidth of the second category of terminals.

[0276] Optionally, the first time-frequency resource is a common PBCH time-frequency resource for the first category of terminals and the second category of terminals, and the second time-frequency resource is a PBCH time-frequency resource exclusive to the second category of terminals relative to the first category of terminals.

[0277] Optionally, the subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resources are continuous in the frequency domain.

[0278] Optionally, the mapping order of the first M1 symbols on the first time-frequency resource is the same as the mapping order of the remaining M-M1 symbols on the second time-frequency resource.

[0279] Optionally, the mapping order of the first M1 symbols on the first time-frequency resource is: first, the subcarrier index from low to high, and then the time domain symbol index from low to high.

[0280] Optionally, the union of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM symbols occupied by the first time-frequency resources and the second time-frequency resources is the OFDM symbol occupied by the PBCH time-frequency resources.

[0281] Among them, all relevant contents of each step involved in the above method embodiment can be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module and will not be repeated here.

[0282] In the present application, the communication device 100 may be presented in the form of various functional modules divided in an integrated manner. The "module" here may refer to a specific application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a circuit, a processor and memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and / or other devices that can provide the above functions.

[0283] In some embodiments, when the communication device 100 in Figure 10 is a chip or a chip system, the function / implementation process of the transceiver module 1002 can be implemented through the input and output interface (or communication interface) of the chip or chip system, and the function / implementation process of the processing module 1001 can be implemented through the processor (or processing circuit) of the chip or chip system.

[0284] Since the communication device 100 provided in this embodiment can execute the above method, the technical effects that can be obtained can refer to the above method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0285] As a possible product form, the first-category terminal or the second-category terminal or the RAN node described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented using the following: one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), controllers, state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware components, any other suitable circuits, or any combination of circuits capable of performing the various functions described throughout this application.

[0286] As another possible product form, the first-class terminal or the second-class terminal or the RAN node described in the embodiment of the present application can be implemented by a general bus architecture. For ease of explanation, refer to Figure 11, which is a structural diagram of a communication device 1100 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1100 includes a processor 1101 and a transceiver 1102. The communication device 1100 can be a first-class terminal, or a chip or chip system therein; or, the communication device 1100 can be a second-class terminal, or a chip or chip system therein; or, the communication device 1100 can be a RAN node, or a chip or module therein. Figure 11 only shows the main components of the communication device 1100. In addition to the processor 1101 and the transceiver 1102, the communication device can further include a memory 1103 and an input and output device (not shown in the figure).

[0287] Optionally, the processor 1101 is mainly used to process the communication protocol and communication data, as well as to control the entire communication device, execute the software program, and process the data of the software program, thereby implementing the method provided in the above method embodiment. The memory 1103 is mainly used to store the software program and data. The transceiver 1102 may include a radio frequency circuit and an antenna. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used to convert baseband signals into radio frequency signals and process radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used to transmit and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as a touch screen, display screen, keyboard, etc., are mainly used to receive data input by the user and output data to the user.

[0288] Optionally, the processor 1101 , the transceiver 1102 , and the memory 1103 may be connected via a communication bus.

[0289] When the communication device is powered on, the processor 1101 can read the software program in the memory 1103, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor 1101 performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs the baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit. The radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and then transmits the radio frequency signal to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the communication device, the radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 1101. The processor 1101 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0290] In another implementation, the RF circuit and antenna may be provided independently of the processor performing baseband processing. For example, in a distributed scenario, the RF circuit and antenna may be remotely arranged independent of the communication device.

[0291] In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art may conceive that the above-mentioned communication device 100 may take the form of the communication device 1100 shown in FIG. 11 .

[0292] As an example, the functions / implementation process of the processing module 1001 in FIG10 can be implemented by the processor 1101 in the communication device 1100 shown in FIG11 calling the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1103. The functions / implementation process of the transceiver module 1002 in FIG10 can be implemented by the transceiver 1102 in the communication device 1100 shown in FIG11.

[0293] As another possible product form, the first-category terminal, second-category terminal, or RAN node in this application may adopt the structure shown in Figure 12, or include the components shown in Figure 12. Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device 1200 provided in this application. The communication device 1200 may be a first-category terminal, or a chip or system-on-chip in a first-category terminal; or the communication device 1200 may be a second-category terminal, or a chip or system-on-chip in a second-category terminal; or it may be a RAN node, or a module, chip, or system-on-chip in a RAN node.

[0294] As shown in FIG12 , the communication device 1200 includes at least one processor 1201 and at least one communication interface ( FIG12 is merely an example of one communication interface 1204 and one processor 1201). Optionally, the communication device 1200 may further include a communication bus 1202 and a memory 1203.

[0295] The processor 1201 may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic device (PLD), or any combination thereof. The processor 1201 may also be other devices with processing capabilities, such as circuits, devices, or software modules, without limitation.

[0296] Communication bus 1202 is used to connect the various components in communication device 1200, enabling communication between them. Communication bus 1202 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, for example. This bus can be categorized as an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and so on. For ease of illustration, FIG12 shows a single thick line, but this does not necessarily indicate that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0297] Communication interface 1204 is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks. Exemplarily, communication interface 1204 can be a module, circuit, transceiver, or any other device capable of communication. Optionally, communication interface 1204 can also be an input / output interface within processor 1201, used to implement signal input and output to the processor.

[0298] The memory 1203 may be a device with a storage function, used to store instructions and / or data, wherein the instructions may be computer programs.

[0299] Exemplarily, the memory 1203 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and / or instructions, or a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and / or instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, etc., without limitation.

[0300] It should be noted that the memory 1203 can exist independently of the processor 1201 or can be integrated with the processor 1201. The memory 1203 can be located within the communication device 1200 or outside the communication device 1200, without limitation. The processor 1201 can be used to execute instructions stored in the memory 1203 to implement the methods provided in the following embodiments of the present application.

[0301] As an optional implementation, the communication device 1200 may further include an output device 1205 and an input device 1206. The output device 1205 communicates with the processor 1201 and can display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 1205 can be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display device, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device, or a projector. The input device 1206 communicates with the processor 1201 and can receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 1206 can be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensor device.

[0302] In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art may conceive that the communication device 100 shown in FIG. 10 may take the form of the communication device 1200 shown in FIG. 12 .

[0303] As an example, the functions / implementation process of the processing module 1001 in FIG10 can be implemented by the processor 1201 in the communication device 1200 shown in FIG12 calling the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1203. The functions / implementation process of the transceiver module 1002 in FIG10 can be implemented by the communication interface 1204 in the communication device 1200 shown in FIG12.

[0304] It should be noted that the structure shown in Figure 12 does not constitute a specific limitation on the terminal or RAN node. For example, in other embodiments of the present application, the terminal or RA node may include more or fewer components than shown, or some components may be combined or separated, or arranged differently. The components shown in the figure may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0305] In some embodiments, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, which includes a processor for implementing the method in any of the above method embodiments.

[0306] As a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a memory. The memory is used to store necessary computer programs and data. The computer program may include instructions, and the processor may invoke the instructions in the computer program stored in the memory to instruct the communication device to execute any of the above-described method embodiments. Of course, the memory may not be located in the communication device.

[0307] As another possible implementation, the communication device also includes an interface circuit, which is a code / data read / write interface circuit, and the interface circuit is used to receive computer execution instructions (computer execution instructions are stored in a memory, may be read directly from the memory, or may pass through other devices) and transmit them to the processor.

[0308] As another possible implementation, the communication device further includes a communication interface, where the communication interface is used to communicate with a module outside the communication device.

[0309] It can be understood that the communication device can be a chip or a chip system. When the communication device is a chip system, it can be composed of chips or include chips and other discrete devices. The embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

[0310] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program or instruction stored thereon, which implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0311] The present application also provides a computer program product, which implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0312] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, for the sake of convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, devices, and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0313] It is understood that the systems, devices, and methods described in this application may also be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. 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. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interface, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, and may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0314] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, i.e., they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Components shown as units may or may not be physical units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the objectives of this embodiment as needed.

[0315] 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.

[0316] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more media integrated therein. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state drive (SSD)). In the embodiment of the present application, the computer may include the aforementioned device.

[0317] Although the present application is described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, in the process of implementing the claimed application, those skilled in the art can understand and implement other changes to the disclosed embodiments by reviewing the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "an" does not exclude multiple situations. A single processor or other unit can implement several functions listed in the claims. Certain measures are recorded in different dependent claims, but this does not mean that these measures cannot be combined to produce good results.

[0318] Although the present application has been described with reference to specific features and embodiments thereof, it is apparent that various modifications and combinations may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present application. Accordingly, this specification and the drawings are merely illustrative of the present application as defined by the appended claims and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of the present application. Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Determining the length of a coded bit sequence of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) based on a first value E1; the first value E1 is the product of M1 and the modulation order of the PBCH, where M1 is the number of effective resource elements (RE) in a first time-frequency resource; the first time-frequency resource belongs to a PBCH time-frequency resource, the PBCH time-frequency resource is composed of the first time-frequency resource and a second time-frequency resource, and subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap; Determine the coded bit sequence according to the length of the coded bit sequence and the information bit sequence of the PBCH; Determine M symbols of the PBCH according to the coded bit sequence; The first M1 symbols among the M symbols are mapped to the first time-frequency resource, and the remaining M-M1 symbols are mapped to the second time-frequency resource, where M and M1 are positive integers greater than 1.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The length of the coded bit sequence is 2 n , the n is determined according to the length of the rate matching output sequence, and the length of the rate matching output sequence is the first value.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The n is determined according to the length of the rate matching output sequence and at least one of the following: a minimum code rate, a length of the information bit sequence of the PBCH, a minimum value of n, or a maximum value of n.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The determining, according to the coded bit sequence, the M symbols of the PBCH includes: Determine the first sequence according to the coded bit sequence, the length of the coded bit sequence, and the length of the first sequence, where the length E of the first sequence is the product of the number of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resource and the modulation order Q; The first sequence is scrambled, and the scrambled first sequence is Q-order modulated to obtain M symbols of the PBCH, where M is the number of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The determining the first sequence according to the coded bit sequence, the length of the coded bit sequence, and the length of the first sequence includes: determining the second sequence according to the coded bit sequence, the length of the coded bit sequence, and the length of the second sequence, where the length of the second sequence is the first value E1; Repeat the second sequence times, and the third sequence is obtained, where E represents the length of the first sequence. Indicates rounding X upwards; The first E elements of the third sequence are used as the first sequence.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The second sequence satisfies: sub,i =y mod(i,N) Among them, f sub,i represents the i-th element of the second sequence, i=0,1,…,E1-1, y mod(i,N) It represents the mod(i, N)th element of the coded bit sequence after sub-block interleaving, N represents the length of the coded bit sequence, and mod(i, N) represents i modulo N.

7. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The first sequence satisfies: i =y mod(i,N) Among them, f i represents the i-th element of the first sequence, i=0,1,…,E-1, y mod(i,N) It represents the mod(i, N)th element of the coded bit sequence after sub-block interleaving, N represents the length of the coded bit sequence, and mod(i, N) represents i modulo N.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that The M satisfies: M=E / Q Wherein, E represents the length of the first sequence, the M symbols are obtained by scrambling and Q-order modulation of the first sequence, and Q represents the modulation order.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The valid REs are REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources except for REs used to map a demodulation reference signal DMRS.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that The bandwidth of the first time-frequency resource is less than or equal to the maximum receiving bandwidth of the first category of terminals; the bandwidth of the PBCH time-frequency resource is greater than the maximum receiving bandwidth of the first category of terminals and less than or equal to the maximum receiving bandwidth of the second category of terminals.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that The first time-frequency resource is a common PBCH time-frequency resource for first-category terminals and second-category terminals, and the second time-frequency resource is a PBCH time-frequency resource exclusive to the second-category terminals relative to the first-category terminals.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that The subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resources are continuous in the frequency domain.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that The mapping order of the first M1 symbols on the first time-frequency resource is the same as the mapping order of the remaining M-M1 symbols on the second time-frequency resource.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein: The mapping order of the first M1 symbols on the first time-frequency resource is: first, the subcarrier index is from low to high, and then the time domain symbol index is from low to high.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that The union of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM symbols occupied by the first time-frequency resources and the second time-frequency resources is the OFDM symbol occupied by the PBCH time-frequency resources.

16. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Obtain M1 symbols of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), where the M1 symbols are mapped to a first time-frequency resource, where the first time-frequency resource belongs to a PBCH time-frequency resource, where the PBCH time-frequency resource consists of the first time-frequency resource and a second time-frequency resource, and where subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap; wherein the M1 symbols are the first M1 symbols of the M symbols of the PBCH, and the remaining M-M1 symbols of the M symbols are mapped to the second time-frequency resource, where M and M1 are positive integers greater than 1; Determine the length of the coded bit sequence of the PBCH according to a first value E1, where the first value E1 is the product of the number of effective resource elements RE in the first time-frequency resource and the modulation order; Determining the coded bit sequence according to the M1 symbols and the length of the coded bit sequence; Determine the information bit sequence of the PBCH according to the coded bit sequence.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The length of the coded bit sequence is 2 n , the n is determined according to the length of the rate matching output sequence, and the length of the rate matching output sequence is the first value.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The n is determined according to the length of the rate matching output sequence and at least one of the following: a minimum code rate, a length of the information bit sequence of the PBCH, a minimum value of n, or a maximum value of n.

19. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that: The determining the coded bit sequence according to the M1 symbols and the length of the coded bit sequence includes: Demodulating the M1 symbols to obtain a fourth sequence; Descrambling the fourth sequence to obtain a fifth sequence, where the length of the fifth sequence is the first value E1; Determine a sixth sequence according to the fifth sequence and the length of the coded bit sequence, where the length of the sixth sequence is equal to the length N of the coded bit sequence; Sub-block deinterleaving is performed on the sixth sequence to obtain the coded bit sequence.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that The sixth sequence is composed of the first N elements of the fifth sequence, where N represents the length of the coded bit sequence.

21. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, characterized in that The union of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM symbols occupied by the first time-frequency resources and the second time-frequency resources is the OFDM symbol occupied by the PBCH time-frequency resources.

22. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Obtain M symbols of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), where the M symbols are mapped to a PBCH time-frequency resource, where the PBCH time-frequency resource consists of a first time-frequency resource and a second time-frequency resource, and where subcarriers occupied by the first time-frequency resource and the second time-frequency resource do not overlap; wherein M1 consecutive symbols of the M symbols are mapped to the first time-frequency resource, and the remaining M-M1 symbols are mapped to the second time-frequency resource, where M and M1 are positive integers greater than 1; Determine the length of the coded bit sequence of the PBCH according to a first value E1, where the first value E1 is the product of the number of effective resource elements RE in the first time-frequency resource and the modulation order; Determining the coded bit sequence according to the M symbols and the length of the coded bit sequence; Determine the information bit sequence of the PBCH according to the coded bit sequence.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that The length of the coded bit sequence is 2 n , the n is determined according to the length of the rate matching output sequence, and the length of the rate matching output sequence is the first value.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein The n is determined according to the length of the rate matching output sequence and at least one of the following: a minimum code rate, a length of the information bit sequence of the PBCH, a minimum value of n, or a maximum value of n.

25. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 24, characterized in that The determining the coded bit sequence according to the M symbols and the length of the coded bit sequence includes: Demodulating the M symbols to obtain a seventh sequence; descrambling the seventh sequence to obtain an eighth sequence, where a length E of the eighth sequence is a product of the number of valid REs in the PBCH time-frequency resources and the modulation order Q; Determine a ninth sequence according to the eighth sequence and the length of the coded bit sequence, where the length of the ninth sequence is equal to the length N of the coded bit sequence; Sub-block deinterleaving is performed on the ninth sequence to obtain the coded bit sequence.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that The ninth sequence is composed of the first N elements of the eighth sequence, where N represents the length of the coded bit sequence.

27. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 26, characterized in that: The union of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM symbols occupied by the first time-frequency resources and the second time-frequency resources is the OFDM symbol occupied by the PBCH time-frequency resources.

28. A communication device, characterized in that: The communication device includes a processor; the processor is used to run a computer program or instructions to enable the communication device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, or to enable the communication device to perform the method according to any one of claims 16 to 21, or to enable the communication device to perform the method according to any one of claims 22 to 27.

29. A chip or a chip system, characterized in that: The chip or chip system includes a processor, which is coupled to a memory, and the memory is used to store programs or instructions. When the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 16 to 21 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 22 to 27 is executed.

30. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions or programs. When the computer instructions or programs are executed on a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 16 to 21 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 22 to 27 is executed.

31. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product includes computer instructions; when part or all of the computer instructions are run on a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 16 to 21 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 22 to 27 is executed.

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