Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a communication method and a communication apparatus. The method comprises: by means of first RAT, receiving first information from a network device, wherein the first information is used for indicating time-frequency resources of SSBs of second RAT; and by means of the first RAT, receiving a PDSCH from the network device, wherein the time-frequency resources of the SSBs of the second RAT are not used for transmitting the PDSCH. By means of the method, the network device can indicate the time-frequency resources of the SSBs of the second RAT to a terminal device by means of the first RAT, thereby making the first RAT share a spectrum with the second RAT.

Description

Communication method and communication device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on January 30, 2024, with application number 202410132379.5 and invention name “A communication method and communication 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 more specifically, to a communication method and a communication device. Background Art

[0003] Spectrum sharing can transmit new and old standard data in the same spectrum through frequency division multiplexing or time division multiplexing. When the new and old standards are handed over, smooth evolution between different standards can be achieved, ensuring the performance experience of users of the old standard while accelerating the pace of deployment of the new standard and maximizing spectrum utilization.

[0004] In future communication technologies, for example, when new radio (NR) and sixth generation (6G) communication technologies share spectrum, how to achieve spectrum sharing is crucial for the rational use of spectrum resources. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present application provides a communication method to achieve reasonable sharing of spectrum resources.

[0006] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method may be executed by a terminal device or by a component of the terminal device (e.g., a chip, circuit, or chip system). For ease of understanding, the following description is based on the example of execution by a terminal device.

[0007] The method includes: receiving first information from a network device through a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the first information is used to indicate the time-frequency resources of a synchronization signal block (SSB) of a second RAT; and receiving a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) from the network device through the first RAT, wherein the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT are not used to transmit the PDSCH.

[0008] Based on the above technical solution, the network device can indicate the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT to the terminal device through the first RAT, so that the first RAT and the second RAT can share the spectrum.

[0009] In one implementation, receiving first information from a network device through a first RAT includes: receiving the first information through a first cell of the first RAT, where frequency domain resources of the first cell include M downlink carriers, where M is an integer greater than 1.

[0010] Based on the above solution, the first cell includes at least two downlink carriers, so that the terminal device can use a larger spectrum when accessing the first cell. Compared with carrier aggregation, the overhead of cell management can be reduced.

[0011] In one implementation, the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT include time-frequency resources of N SSBs, and the time-frequency resources of the N SSBs correspond one-to-one to N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers, where N is a positive integer.

[0012] Based on the above solution, each carrier in the first cell can be configured with at least one SSB of the second RAT, so that the transmission resources of each carrier can be better utilized and resource utilization can be improved.

[0013] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the M downlink carriers include a first carrier and a second carrier, and the method further includes: receiving first carrier information and second carrier information from a network device through a first RAT, the first carrier information being used to indicate the configuration of a resource block group (RBG) and / or a precoding resource block group (PRG) of the first carrier, and the second carrier information being used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the second carrier.

[0014] Based on the above scheme, the first carrier information and the second carrier information can indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of carriers of different carrier types. Further, the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of shared carriers and non-shared carriers can be independent of each other.

[0015] In one implementation, the first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a first carrier type, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a second carrier type, where the first carrier type and the second carrier type are different.

[0016] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be executed by a network device or by a component of the network device (e.g., a chip, circuit, or chip system). For ease of understanding, the following description is based on the example of execution by a network device.

[0017] The method includes: sending first information to a terminal device through a first RAT, where the first information is used to indicate the time-frequency resources of the SSB of a second RAT; sending PDSCH to the terminal device through the first RAT, where the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT are not used to transmit PDSCH.

[0018] In one implementation, sending the first information to the terminal device through the first RAT includes: sending the first information to the terminal device through the first cell of the first RAT, the frequency domain resources of the first cell include M downlink carriers, and M is an integer greater than 1.

[0019] In one implementation, the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT include time-frequency resources of N SSBs, and the time-frequency resources of the N SSBs correspond one-to-one to N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers, where N is a positive integer.

[0020] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the M downlink carriers include a first carrier and a second carrier, and the method further includes: sending first carrier information and second carrier information to the terminal device through the first RAT, the first carrier information being used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the first carrier, and the second carrier information being used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the second carrier.

[0021] In one implementation, the first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a first carrier type, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a second carrier type, where the first carrier type and the second carrier type are different.

[0022] It should be understood that the beneficial effects of the second aspect and any implementation thereof can refer to the first aspect and any implementation thereof.

[0023] In a third aspect, a communication method is provided. This method can be executed by a terminal device or by a component of the terminal device (e.g., a chip, circuit, or chip system). For ease of understanding, the following description is based on the example of execution by a terminal device.

[0024] The method includes: receiving first information from a network device through a first cell of a first RAT, where the first information is used to indicate a first time-frequency resource, and the frequency domain resources of the first cell include M downlink carriers, where M is an integer greater than 1; receiving a PDSCH from the network device through the first RAT, and the first time-frequency resource is not used to transmit the PDSCH.

[0025] Based on the above solution, in a scenario where the first cell includes multiple downlink carriers, the network device can indicate to the first terminal device the resources that are not used to transmit PDSCH, so that the first terminal device can communicate with the network device using time-frequency resources other than the first time-frequency resources, thereby improving communication efficiency.

[0026] On the other hand, since the first cell includes multiple downlink carriers, the terminal device can use a larger spectrum when accessing the first cell, which can reduce the overhead of cell management compared to carrier aggregation.

[0027] In one implementation, the first time-frequency resources include N time-frequency resources, the N time-frequency resources correspond one-to-one to N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers, and N is a positive integer.

[0028] Based on the above solution, each carrier in the first cell may include at least one resource that is not used for transmitting the PDSCH, thereby making better use of the transmission resources of each carrier and improving resource utilization.

[0029] In one implementation, the first information includes a first bitmap and a second bitmap, the first bitmap is used to indicate the time domain resources in the first time-frequency resources, and the second bitmap is used to indicate the frequency domain resources in the first time-frequency resources.

[0030] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the M downlink carriers include a first carrier and a second carrier, and the method further includes: receiving first carrier information and second carrier information from a network device through a first RAT, the first carrier information being used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the first carrier, and the second carrier information being used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the second carrier.

[0031] Based on the above scheme, the first carrier information and the second carrier information can indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of carriers of different carrier types. Further, the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of shared carriers and non-shared carriers can be independent of each other.

[0032] In one implementation, the first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a first carrier type, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a second carrier type, where the first carrier type and the second carrier type are different.

[0033] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided. This method can be performed by a network device or by a component of the network device (e.g., a chip, circuit, or chip system). For ease of understanding, the following description is based on the example of a network device performing the method.

[0034] The method includes: sending first information to a terminal device through a first cell of a first RAT, where the first information is used to indicate a first time-frequency resource, and the frequency domain resources of the first cell include M downlink carriers, where M is an integer greater than 1; sending PDSCH to the terminal device through the first RAT, and the first time-frequency resource is not used to transmit PDSCH.

[0035] In one implementation, the first time-frequency resources include N time-frequency resources, the N time-frequency resources correspond one-to-one to N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers, and N is a positive integer.

[0036] In one implementation, the first information includes a first bitmap and a second bitmap, the first bitmap is used to indicate the time domain resources in the first time-frequency resources, and the second bitmap is used to indicate the frequency domain resources in the first time-frequency resources.

[0037] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the M downlink carriers include a first carrier and a second carrier, and the method further includes: sending first carrier information and second carrier information to the terminal device through the first RAT, the first carrier information being used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the first carrier, and the second carrier information being used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the second carrier.

[0038] In one implementation, the first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a first carrier type, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a second carrier type, where the first carrier type and the second carrier type are different.

[0039] It should be understood that the beneficial effects of the fourth aspect and any of its implementations can refer to the third aspect and any of its implementations.

[0040] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided. The device may be a terminal device or a component of the terminal device (eg, a chip, a circuit, or a chip system).

[0041] The device includes: an interface unit, used to receive first information from a network device through a first RAT, the first information being used to indicate the time-frequency resources of an SSB of a second RAT; the interface unit is also used to receive a PDSCH from the network device through the first RAT, wherein the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT are not used to transmit the PDSCH.

[0042] In one implementation, the interface unit is specifically configured to: receive the first information through a first cell of the first RAT, where the frequency domain resources of the first cell include M downlink carriers, where M is an integer greater than 1.

[0043] In one implementation, the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT include time-frequency resources of N SSBs, and the time-frequency resources of the N SSBs correspond one-to-one to N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers, where N is a positive integer.

[0044] In combination with the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, the M downlink carriers include a first carrier and a second carrier, and the interface unit is further used to: receive first carrier information and second carrier information from the network device through the first RAT, the first carrier information being used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the first carrier, and the second carrier information being used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the second carrier.

[0045] In one implementation, the first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a first carrier type, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a second carrier type, where the first carrier type and the second carrier type are different.

[0046] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided. The device may be a network device or a component of a network device (eg, a chip, a circuit, or a chip system).

[0047] The device includes: an interface unit, used to send first information to a terminal device through a first RAT, the first information being used to indicate the time-frequency resources of the SSB of a second RAT; the interface unit is also used to send PDSCH to the terminal device through the first RAT, wherein the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT are not used to transmit PDSCH.

[0048] In one implementation, the interface unit is specifically configured to: send first information to the terminal device through a first cell of a first RAT, where frequency domain resources of the first cell include M downlink carriers, where M is an integer greater than 1.

[0049] In one implementation, the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT include time-frequency resources of N SSBs, and the time-frequency resources of the N SSBs correspond one-to-one to N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers, where N is a positive integer.

[0050] In combination with the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, the M downlink carriers include a first carrier and a second carrier, and the interface unit is specifically used to: send first carrier information and second carrier information to the terminal device through the first RAT, the first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the first carrier, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the second carrier.

[0051] In one implementation, the first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a first carrier type, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a second carrier type, where the first carrier type and the second carrier type are different.

[0052] In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be a terminal device or a component of the terminal device (eg, a chip, a circuit, or a chip system).

[0053] The device includes: an interface unit, used to receive first information from a network device through a first cell of a first RAT, the first information is used to indicate a first time-frequency resource, the frequency domain resources of the first cell include M downlink carriers, and M is an integer greater than 1; the interface unit is also used to: receive a PDSCH from the network device through the first RAT, and the first time-frequency resource is not used to transmit the PDSCH.

[0054] In one implementation, the first time-frequency resources include N time-frequency resources, the N time-frequency resources correspond one-to-one to N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers, and N is a positive integer.

[0055] In one implementation, the first information includes a first bitmap and a second bitmap, the first bitmap is used to indicate the time domain resources in the first time-frequency resources, and the second bitmap is used to indicate the frequency domain resources in the first time-frequency resources.

[0056] In combination with the seventh aspect, in certain implementations of the seventh aspect, the M downlink carriers include a first carrier and a second carrier, and the interface unit is further used to: receive first carrier information and second carrier information from the network device through the first RAT, the first carrier information being used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the first carrier, and the second carrier information being used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the second carrier.

[0057] In one implementation, the first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a first carrier type, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a second carrier type, where the first carrier type and the second carrier type are different.

[0058] In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be a network device or a component of a network device (eg, a chip, a circuit, or a chip system).

[0059] The device includes: an interface unit, used to send first information to a terminal device through a first cell of a first RAT, the first information is used to indicate a first time-frequency resource, the frequency domain resources of the first cell include M downlink carriers, and M is an integer greater than 1; the interface unit is also used to: send PDSCH to the terminal device through the first RAT, and the first time-frequency resource is not used to transmit PDSCH.

[0060] In one implementation, the first time-frequency resources include N time-frequency resources, the N time-frequency resources correspond one-to-one to N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers, and N is a positive integer.

[0061] In one implementation, the first information includes a first bitmap and a second bitmap, the first bitmap is used to indicate the time domain resources in the first time-frequency resources, and the second bitmap is used to indicate the frequency domain resources in the first time-frequency resources.

[0062] In combination with the eighth aspect, in certain implementations of the eighth aspect, the M downlink carriers include a first carrier and a second carrier, and the interface unit is further used to: send first carrier information and second carrier information to the terminal device through the first RAT, the first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the first carrier, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the second carrier.

[0063] In one implementation, the first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a first carrier type, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of a second carrier type, where the first carrier type and the second carrier type are different.

[0064] In a ninth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a memory for storing programs; and at least one processor for executing computer programs or instructions stored in the memory to execute the method provided by any one of the above aspects or its implementation.

[0065] In one implementation, the apparatus is a terminal device or a network device.

[0066] In another implementation, the device is a chip, a chip system or a circuit used in a terminal device or a network device.

[0067] In a tenth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: at least one processor and a communication interface, wherein the at least one processor is configured to retrieve a computer program or instruction stored in a memory through the communication interface to execute the method provided by any one of the above aspects or implementations thereof. The communication interface may be implemented in hardware or software.

[0068] In one implementation, the apparatus further includes a memory.

[0069] In an eleventh aspect, a processor is provided for executing the methods provided in the above aspects.

[0070] For the operations such as sending and acquiring / receiving involved in the processor, unless otherwise specified, or if they do not conflict with their actual functions or internal logic in the relevant descriptions, they can be understood as operations such as processor output, reception, and input, or as sending and receiving operations performed by the radio frequency circuit and antenna. This application does not limit this.

[0071] In a twelfth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores program code for execution by a device, and the program code includes a method for executing any one of the above aspects or its implementation method.

[0072] In a thirteenth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when run on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method provided by any one of the above aspects or its implementation.

[0073] In a fourteenth aspect, a chip is provided, comprising a processor and a communication interface, wherein the processor reads instructions stored in a memory through the communication interface and executes the method provided by any one of the above aspects or implementations thereof. The communication interface may be implemented in hardware or software.

[0074] Optionally, as an implementation method, the chip also includes a memory, in which a computer program or instruction is stored, and the processor is used to execute the computer program or instruction stored in the memory. When the computer program or instruction is executed, the processor is used to execute the method provided by any of the above aspects or its implementation methods.

[0075] When the method provided in this application is executed by a chip, this application does not limit the number of chips that implement the method. For example, the method can be executed by one chip or by two or more chips. Furthermore, when the number of chips implementing the method of this application is two or more, the chip manufacturers are not limited and can be the same manufacturer or different manufacturers.

[0076] In a fifteenth aspect, a computer program is provided, which, when run on a computer, enables the method provided by any one of the above aspects or its implementation to be executed.

[0077] In the sixteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising the terminal device and network device described above.

[0078] It should be understood that the beneficial effects of the fifth to sixteenth aspects and any implementation thereof can be referred to the first to fourth aspects and any implementation thereof. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0079] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system 1000 used in an embodiment of the present application.

[0080] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of carrier aggregation.

[0081] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of SSB.

[0082] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of an SSB time-domain transmission pattern.

[0083] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a BWP included in a carrier.

[0084] FIG6 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in this application.

[0085] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of carrier sharing provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0086] 8 and 9 are schematic diagrams of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0087] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system 1000 used in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1 , the communication system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may also include a core network 200 and the Internet 300.

[0088] The RAN 100 may include at least one RAN node (such as 110a and 110b in Figure 1, collectively referred to as 110), and may also include at least one terminal (such as 120a-120j in Figure 1, collectively referred to as 120). The RAN 100 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay equipment and / or wireless backhaul equipment (not shown in Figure 1). The terminal 120 is connected to the RAN node 110 via a wireless connection. Terminals and RAN nodes may be connected to each other via a wired or wireless connection. The RAN node 110 is connected to the core network 200 via a wireless or wired connection. The core network equipment in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 100 may be independent and different physical devices, or they may be the same physical device that integrates some or all of the logical functions of the core network equipment and some or all of the logical functions of the RAN node.

[0089] RAN100 can be an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) system, a NR system, a sixth generation (6G) radio access system, or a future radio access system defined in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system. RAN100 can also include two or more of the above different radio access systems. RAN100 can also be an open RAN (O-RAN).

[0090] A RAN node, also known as a radio access network device, RAN entity, or access node, helps terminals access a communication system wirelessly. In one application scenario, a RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB) in a fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication system, 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 can be a macro base station (such as 110a in Figure 1), a micro base station, an indoor station (such as 110b in Figure 1), a relay node, or a donor node.

[0091] In another application scenario, multiple RAN nodes can collaborate to help terminals achieve wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing portions of the base station's functions. For example, a RAN node can be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). The CU implements the base station's radio resource control protocol and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) functions, as well as the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) functions. The DU implements the base station's radio link control layer and medium access control (MAC) layer functions, as well as some or all of the physical layer functions. For detailed descriptions of each of these protocol layers, refer to the relevant 3GPP technical specifications. The RU can be used to implement the transmission and reception of radio frequency signals. The CU and DU can be two independent RAN nodes, or they can be integrated into the same RAN node, such as in a baseband unit (BBU). The RU may be included in a radio frequency device, such as a remote radio unit (RRU) or an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU may be further divided into two types of RAN nodes: the CU-control plane and the CU-user plane.

[0092] In different systems, RAN nodes may have different names. For example, in an O-RAN system, a CU may be referred to as an open CU (O-CU), a DU may be referred to as an open DU (O-DU), and a RU may be referred to as an open RU (O-RU). In the present application, a RAN node may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module. For example, a RAN node may be a server loaded with a corresponding software module. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form used by the RAN node. For ease of description, a network device or a base station is used as an example of a RAN node.

[0093] A terminal is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities that can send signals to a base station or receive signals from a base station. 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 can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable device, vehicle, airplane, ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home device, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal.

[0094] Base stations and terminals can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; on water; or on aircraft, balloons, and satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of base stations and terminals.

[0095] The roles of base stations and terminals can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 1 can be configured as a mobile base station. To terminals 120j accessing the wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal 120i is a base station. However, to base station 110a, 120i is a terminal, meaning that communication between 110a and 120i occurs via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, communication between 110a and 120i can also occur via a base station-to-base station interface protocol. In this case, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, base stations and terminals can be collectively referred to as communication devices. 110a and 110b in Figure 1 can be referred to as communication devices with base station functionality, while 120a-120j in Figure 1 can be referred to as communication devices with terminal functionality.

[0096] Communication between base stations and terminals, between base stations, and between terminals can be carried out through authorized spectrum, unauthorized spectrum, or both; communication can be carried out through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or spectrum below 6 GHz and spectrum above 6 GHz. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0097] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the base station may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station, or by a control subsystem that includes the base station functions. The control subsystem that includes the base station functions here may be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, smart transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal may also be performed by a module (such as a chip or modem) in the terminal, or by a device that includes the terminal functions.

[0098] In this application, a base station sends downlink signals or downlink information to a terminal, and the downlink information is carried on a downlink channel; the terminal sends uplink signals or uplink information to the base station, and the uplink information is carried on an uplink channel. In order to communicate with the base station, the terminal needs to establish a wireless connection with the cell controlled by the base station. The cell with which the terminal has established a wireless connection is called the serving cell of the terminal. When the terminal communicates with the serving cell, it will also be subject to interference from signals in neighboring cells.

[0099] In the embodiments of the present application, the time domain symbols may be orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols. Unless otherwise specified, the symbols in the embodiments of the present application refer to time domain symbols.

[0100] In this article, PDSCH is only used as an example of a downlink data channel. In different systems and different scenarios, the data channel may have different names, and the embodiments of this application do not limit this.

[0101] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, some basic concepts involved in the present application are briefly explained.

[0102] 1. Cell: It is a set of resources managed by the base station, including frequency domain resources and spatial domain resources. The frequency domain resources of a cell include uplink frequency domain resources and / or downlink frequency domain resources; the spatial domain resources of a cell can be the spatial domain resources corresponding to a beam or a group of beams, and can also be understood as a cell corresponding to a specific physical coverage area. In an embodiment of the present application, different cells can be managed by different base stations. For example, cell #1 and cell #2 can be managed by different base stations. In this case, it can be said that cell #1 and cell #2 do not share the same site. Cell #1 and cell #2 can also be managed by the same base station and have the same baseband processing unit and / or radio frequency processing unit. This application does not limit this.

[0103] 2. Carrier aggregation (CA): This technology aggregates two or more component carriers (CCs) to support a larger transmission bandwidth. CA technology in NR is used to increase the transmission bandwidth for a single user. Specifically, carrier aggregation technology can integrate multi-frequency resources. For example, CA technology can aggregate spectrum resources in the same or different frequency bands and provide them to terminals, thereby improving overall network resource utilization and user experience. For ease of understanding, Figure 2 briefly introduces CA technology.

[0104] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a carrier aggregation scenario. As shown in Figure 2, the component carriers corresponding to cell #1, cell #2, and cell #3 are aggregated to provide service to the terminal. Cell #1 is the primary cell (PCell), and cells #2 and #3 are secondary cells (SCells). Among them, PCell is the cell where the terminal establishes the initial connection or the cell where the radio resource control (RRC) connection is reestablished. PCell is responsible for RRC communication between the terminal and the carrier unit corresponding to PCell is called primary component carrier (PCC) (as shown in Figure 2), the downlink (DL) carrier of PCell is called DL PCC, and the uplink (UL) carrier of PCell is called UL PCC; SCell is added during RRC reconfiguration to provide additional wireless resources. There is no RRC communication between SCell and UE. The carrier unit corresponding to SCell is called secondary component carrier (SCC) (as shown in Figure 2 SCC#1 and SCC#2), the downlink carrier of SCell is called DL SCC, and the uplink carrier of SCell is called UL SCC.

[0105] 3. Synchronization signal block (SSB)

[0106] SSB can also be called synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block. In 5G, SSB includes synchronization signal and PBCH. Specifically, the synchronization signal includes primary synchronization signal (PSS) and secondary synchronization signal (SSS).

[0107] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an SSB. As shown in Figure 3, one SSB occupies four consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain and 20 consecutive resource blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain. The first symbol of the SSB is the PSS, and the third symbol is the SSS. Both the PSS and SSS occupy 127 subcarriers, i.e., subcarriers 56 to 182 in Figure 3. The PBCH is distributed in the 2nd to 4th symbols of the SSB. In the 2nd and 4th symbols, the PBCH occupies 240 subcarriers, i.e., subcarriers 0 to 239 in Figure 3. On both sides of the SSS of the 3rd symbol, a portion of resource elements (REs) are unused. 48 REs are used on both sides of the SSS to send the PBCH, i.e., subcarriers 0 to 47 and subcarriers 192 to 239 in Figure 3, respectively. Among them, the PBCH is mainly used to carry system information.

[0108] One of the functions of SSB is cell access. Specifically, the master information block (MIB) information can be received through SSB, thereby obtaining the system information block (SIB) associated with the SSB and accessing the cell. Since SSB includes PSS and SSS, and PBCH includes PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS), SSB can also be used by terminal devices to perform time-frequency tracking (or time-frequency synchronization), beam management, radio resource management (RRM) measurement, radio link monitoring (RLM) measurement, channel state information (CSI) measurement, etc.

[0109] 4. Synchronization signal (SS) burst set

[0110] An SS burst set represents a collection of one or more SSBs. An SS burst set occurs in the first or second half of a radio frame. The SSB period can also be considered the SS burst set period. The maximum number of SSBs in an SS burst set, Lmax, represents the number of SSBs that a network device can potentially send in an SS burst set. The number of SSBs actually sent in an SS burst set is less than or equal to Lmax. Lmax is related to the frequency range. For example, when the carrier frequency is within FR1 and less than or equal to 3 GHz, Lmax = 4; when the carrier frequency is within FR1 and greater than 3 GHz, Lmax = 8; and when the carrier frequency is within FR2, Lmax = 64.

[0111] A beam is a spatial communication resource. Network devices or end devices can shape the transmission beam using an antenna array in analog, digital, or hybrid ways. Different beams are generally considered to be different spatial resources. Therefore, different beams can be used to transmit the same information to cover multiple spatial regions, or to transmit different information to maximize spatial resources.

[0112] Beams can be divided into transmit beams and receive beams of network devices and transmit beams and receive beams of terminal devices.

[0113] SSBs in NR networks are generally transmitted using the multiple beams described above. SSBs have a transmission cycle, which is typically 20ms at low frequencies (or frequency range 1, FR1). Within each SSB cycle, network devices can transmit SSBs from multiple different beams using time division within a short duration. This short duration is called an SS burst. In NR systems, SSBs from different beams are transmitted using different time domain patterns depending on the operating frequency band.

[0114] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of an SSB time domain transmission pattern. As shown in Figure 4, in case A, the subcarrier spacing is 15kHz, and the length of an SS burst is 2ms, that is, the network device can send SSB in two time slots of 1ms in length. A maximum of four SSBs in different directions can be sent in the SS burst, namely SSB0, SSB1, SSB2 and SSB3 in the figure. The padding in the figure is the symbol position where the SSB can be sent. It should be understood that in an SS burst, the network device does not necessarily need to send SSBs in all four directions. The network device can configure the number of SSBs actually sent and the symbol position used to send the SSB through system messages. For example, the network device can only send SSB0 and SSB1, or only send SSB1 and SSB3.

[0115] As shown in Figure 4, in Case B and Case C, the subcarrier spacing is 30kHz, which can support the two time domain transmission patterns shown in the figure. When the subcarrier spacing is 30kHz, the length of an SS burst is 2ms, consisting of 4 time slots of 0.5ms in length. In Figure 4, each filling pattern represents an SSB in a beam direction. The network device can choose to send SSBs in 1, 2, 4, or 8 beams. Up to 8 SSBs in different directions can be sent in an SS burst. The SSB in each beam direction occupies 4 OFDM symbols in the time domain resources. The content carried in the 4 OFDM symbols of the SSB can be as shown in Figure 3.

[0116] When the terminal device is turned on and resides in a cell or switches to a cell, it can measure multiple SSBs within an SSB cycle of the cell to determine the beam with the best reception quality. When selecting beams in subsequent cell access and uplink and downlink data transmission, the measured SSB beam quality can be used as a reference.

[0117] 5. Bandwidth Part (BWP): A BWP is a contiguous frequency resource on a carrier. One or more BWPs can be configured on a carrier. The bandwidth of a BWP on a carrier is less than or equal to the bandwidth of the carrier. When a BWP is configured and activated, it is called an active BWP.

[0118] For example, a terminal has one active downlink BWP on a downlink carrier and one active uplink BWP on an uplink carrier. Generally speaking, uplink data and control information transmitted by the terminal are sent within the active uplink BWP, and downlink data and control information are received within the active downlink BWP. For ease of understanding, Figure 5 briefly describes how a carrier includes a BWP.

[0119] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the BWPs included in a carrier. As can be seen from Figure 5, a 50 MHz carrier is configured with three BWPs: BWP#1, BWP#2, and BWP#3. BWP#1 has a bandwidth of 25 MHz, BWP#2 has a bandwidth of 10 MHz, and BWP#3 has a bandwidth of 50 MHz. BWP#2 is the active BWP.

[0120] In NR Rel-15, the maximum channel bandwidth per carrier is 400 MHz, and the maximum bandwidth supported by a terminal device can be less than 400 MHz. Each BWP corresponds to a numerology, bandwidth, and frequency location.

[0121] 6. RBG

[0122] An RBG is a group of consecutive centralized physical resource blocks, and an RBG is a unit for allocating service channel resources.

[0123] 7. PRG

[0124] Resources using the same precoding can be called a PRG, or a physical resource block (PRB) bundling. The granularity of PRG can also be called the granularity of PRB bundling. The granularity of PRG can be PRB or resources of other granularities, without limitation. For example, if the granularity of PRG is PRB, multiple PRBs in the frequency domain can use the same precoding. In this way, the receiving end can combine multiple PRBs for channel estimation, thereby improving the accuracy of channel estimation. In this case, a PRG can include the above-mentioned multiple PRBs. At present, NR stipulates that one or more consecutive PRBs are used as a PRB bundling or PRG, and the number of consecutive values ​​can be {2, 4, continuous scheduling bandwidth}.

[0125] As communications technology evolves, new standards will be introduced. Spectrum sharing, through frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or time division multiplexing (TDM), allows data from both new and legacy standards to be transmitted on the same spectrum. This enables smooth transition between the new and legacy standards, ensuring the optimal performance experience for legacy users while accelerating the deployment of new standards. Flexible spectrum allocation between new and legacy standards maximizes spectrum utilization.

[0126] For example, in the early stages of NR network construction, while operators sought to quickly introduce NR networks, they also faced low overall NR terminal penetration and inconsistent NR traffic growth rates across different regions. This made refarming spectrum from Long Term Evolution (LTE) bands to NR spectrum challenging, hindering NR network deployment. NR also operates in two frequency bands: FR1 and FR2. FR1 encompasses the C-band (4-8 GHz), while FR2 encompasses bands above 6 GHz, such as millimeter wave bands. However, high-frequency bands offer poor coverage, so NR also seeks to utilize some of LTE's lower-frequency bands for communication to ensure coverage. To address this, dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) between LTE and NR was introduced. Through frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or time division multiplexing (TDM), LTE and NR data can be transmitted on the same spectrum, ensuring the optimal performance experience for LTE users, minimizing the impact on existing LTE users, and accelerating NR deployment.

[0127] In future communication technologies, for example, when NR and 6G communication technologies share spectrum, how to achieve spectrum sharing is crucial for the rational use of spectrum resources.

[0128] In view of this, the present application provides a communication method and a communication device, so as to realize reasonable sharing of spectrum resources in a scenario where a cell includes multiple carriers.

[0129] It should be understood that the communication methods provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to systems that communicate using multi-antenna technology, such as the communication system 1000 shown in Figure 1. The communication system may include at least one network device and at least one terminal device. The network device and the terminal device can communicate using multi-antenna technology.

[0130] It should also be understood that the embodiments shown below do not specifically limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiments of the present application. As long as it is possible to communicate according to the method provided in the embodiments of the present application by running a program that records the code of the method provided in the embodiments of the present application. For example, the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiments of the present application can be a terminal device and a network device, or a functional module in the terminal device and the network device that can call and execute the program.

[0131] Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method 400 provided by the present application. As shown in Fig. 6, the method 400 includes the following steps.

[0132] S410, the network device sends first information to the first terminal device via the first RAT, and accordingly, the first terminal device receives the first information.

[0133] In this application, RAT is also called air interface access technology, which connects the terminal to the network node through a wireless medium to realize information transmission between the terminal and the network. RAT includes communication protocols, which are the protocols that signals transmitted through wireless channels should follow. Specifically, RAT can include 3GPP access technologies (for example, LTE, NR, 6G, etc.) and non-3GPP (non-3GPP) access technologies (such as WiFi, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), etc.).

[0134] In the present application, the first terminal device and the network device communicate through the first RAT, and the first RAT can be a 3GPP access technology, for example, the first RAT is LTE, NR, 6G, etc.

[0135] It should be understood that the first RAT may also be an access technology in future communication technologies, which is not limited in this application.

[0136] The first information is used to indicate the first time-frequency resource.

[0137] S420, the network device sends a PDSCH to the first terminal device via the first RAT, and correspondingly, the first terminal device receives the PDSCH.

[0138] Among them, the first time-frequency resource is not used to transmit the PDSCH. In other words, rate matching is performed around the first time-frequency resource. Before sending the PDSCH to the first terminal device, the network device may also send downlink control information to the first terminal device, where the downlink control information is used to schedule the above-mentioned PDSCH, and the downlink control information indicates the second time-frequency resource. The first time-frequency resource is not used to transmit the PDSCH, which can also be understood as the REs in the second time-frequency resource that overlap with the first time-frequency resource are not used to transmit the PDSCH.

[0139] In the present application, the first time-frequency resource indicated by the network device to the first terminal device is a resource not used to transmit PDSCH, so that the first terminal device can communicate with the network device using time-frequency resources other than the first time-frequency resource, thereby improving communication efficiency.

[0140] Some examples of the first time-frequency resource are given below.

[0141] Example 1: The first time-frequency resources include the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT, or in other words, the first time-frequency resources can be used to transmit the SSB of the second RAT.

[0142] The second RAT may also be a 3GPP access technology, for example, the second RAT may be LTE, NR, 6G, etc.

[0143] Optionally, the first RAT and the second RAT are different, for example, the first RAT is 6G and the second RAT is NR.

[0144] Optionally, the second terminal device and the network device communicate via a second RAT. In other words, the second terminal device and the first terminal device are terminal devices of different standards. In this case, the SSB of the second RAT can be understood as: the SSB transmitted by the network device to the second terminal device, and the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT can be understood as: the time-frequency resources used when the network device transmits the SSB to the second terminal device.

[0145] The structure of the SSB of the second RAT may be as shown in FIG3 .

[0146] In this example, the first information may include the time domain position, frequency domain position, subcarrier spacing, power, etc. of the SSB of the second RAT.

[0147] Taking NR as the second RAT as an example, the number of RBs occupied by NR's SSB in the frequency domain is fixed, and the number of symbols occupied in the time domain is also fixed (as shown in Figure 3). However, the position of NR's SSB in the frequency domain is random, and considering the relationship between NR's SSB and the beam, the transmission time of NR's SSB in the time domain is also flexible and variable. Therefore, through the first information, the time-frequency position of NR's SSB can be indicated to the first terminal device, so that the first terminal device can determine that the first time-frequency resource is not used to transmit the PDSCH transmitted to it by the network device.

[0148] As an implementation manner of this example, the time domain position of the SSB of the second RAT can be indicated by the period of the SSB and the SSB index in the SS burst set, as shown in FIG4 .

[0149] For example, in this example, the information element structure of the first information is as follows:

[0150] RateMatchPatternNR-SSB::=SEQUENCE{

[0151] ssbSubcarrierSpacing ENUMERATED{kHz15,kHz30,kHz60,kHz120,kHz240}

[0152] absoluteFrequencySSB ARFCN-ValueNR

[0153] ssb-PositionsInBurst SEQUENCE{

[0154] inOneGroup BIT STRING(SIZE(8)),

[0155] groupPresence BIT STRING(SIZE(8))OPTIONAL

[0156] },

[0157] ssb-PeriodicityServingCell ENUMERATED{ms5,ms10,ms20,ms40,ms80,ms160},

[0158] ss-PBCH-BlockPower INTEGER(-60..50),

[0159] }

[0160] The ssb-PositionsInBurst may include the following:

[0161] ssb-PositionsInBurst CHOICE{

[0162] shortBitmap BIT STRING(SIZE(4)),

[0163] mediumBitmap BIT STRING(SIZE(8)),

[0164] longBitmap BIT STRING(SIZE(64))

[0165] }

[0166] Optionally, the time domain position of the SSB of the second RAT may also be indicated by the time domain starting position and the time length occupied by the SSB. Similarly, the frequency domain position of the SSB of the second RAT may also be indicated by the frequency domain starting position and the frequency range occupied in the frequency domain.

[0167] Based on the above solution, the network device can indicate the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT to the first terminal device through the first RAT, so that the first RAT and the second RAT can share the spectrum and improve the utilization rate of spectrum resources.

[0168] Optionally, in this example, the method 200 also includes: the first terminal device determines the time and frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT based on the first information.

[0169] Specifically, the first terminal device can determine the specific location occupied by the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT based on the communication protocol in the second RAT.

[0170] Example 2: The first time-frequency resource is a time-frequency resource that is not used to transmit PDSCH, or in other words, the first time-frequency resource is a time-frequency resource for rate matching of the first terminal device.

[0171] It should be understood that in Example 2, the purpose of the first time-frequency resource is similar to that of Example 1, and also includes the time-frequency resource of the SSB of the second RAT, or in other words, the first time-frequency resource is also used to transmit the SSB of the second RAT. The difference from Example 1 is that for the first terminal device, it cannot determine the relationship between the first time-frequency resource and the SSB of the second RAT, and it will directly use the first time-frequency resource as the resource for rate matching.

[0172] In this example, the first information may include frequency domain position, time domain position, period, subcarrier spacing, etc.

[0173] Specifically, the first information may include a first bitmap and a second bitmap, the first bitmap is used to indicate the time domain resources in the first time-frequency resources, and the second bitmap is used to indicate the frequency domain resources in the first time-frequency resources.

[0174] The number of bits of the first bitmap may be determined according to the number of symbols within 5 ms.

[0175] For example, when the maximum subcarrier spacing is 120 kHz, there are 40 time slots in 5 ms, and one time slot includes 14 symbols, that is, there are 560 symbols in 5 ms. Therefore, the first bitmap may include 560 bits. Similarly, when the maximum subcarrier spacing is 240 kHz, the first bitmap may include 1120 bits; when the maximum subcarrier spacing is 480 kHz, the first bitmap may include 2240 bits; when the maximum subcarrier spacing is 960 kHz, the first bitmap may include 4480 bits; when the maximum subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, the first bitmap may include 280 bits.

[0176] Exemplarily, 0 in the first bit map may indicate that the symbol does not belong to the first time-frequency resource (or, is used to transmit PDSCH, or, does not require rate matching), and 1 in the first bit map may indicate that the symbol belongs to the first time-frequency resource (or, is not used to transmit PDSCH, or, requires rate matching).

[0177] The number of bits of the second bitmap may be determined according to the maximum number of RBs on a carrier. For example, if the bandwidth of the carrier is 100 MHz and consists of 273 RBs, the second bitmap may include 273 bits.

[0178] Exemplarily, 0 in the second bit map may indicate that the RB does not belong to the first time-frequency resource (or, is used to transmit PDSCH, or, does not require rate matching), and 1 in the second bit map may indicate that the RB belongs to the first time-frequency resource (or, is not used to transmit PDSCH, or, requires rate matching).

[0179] Among them, the first time-frequency resource can be of BWP granularity, or in other words, each BWP is configured with one or more first time-frequency resources. In this case, the subcarrier spacing of the first time-frequency resource can be the same as the subcarrier spacing of the BWP. At this time, the number of bits of the second bit map is determined according to the maximum number of RBs on the BWP.

[0180] For example, in this example, the information element structure of the first information is as follows:

[0181] RateMatchPattern::=SEQUENCE{

[0182] rateMatchPatternId RateMatchPatternId,

[0183] resourceBlocks BIT STRING(SIZE(275)),symbolsInResourceBlock BIT STRING(SIZE(560))

[0184] PeriodicityServingCell ENUMERATED{ms5,ms10,ms20,ms40,ms80,ms160},

[0185] ssbSubcarrierSpacing ENUMERATED{kHz15,kHz30,kHz60,kHz120}

[0186] }

[0187] Based on the above solution, the network device can indicate to the first terminal device the resources not used for transmitting PDSCH, so that the first terminal device can communicate with the network device using time-frequency resources other than the first time-frequency resources, thereby improving communication efficiency.

[0188] Optionally, the first information is carried in RRC signaling.

[0189] In one implementation, S410 specifically includes: the network device sends first information to the first terminal device through the first cell of the first RAT.

[0190] In this application, the first cell is a cell managed by a network device.

[0191] It should be understood that the cells managed by the network device may include other cells except the first cell, or may only include the first cell, without limitation.

[0192] The first cell includes M downlink carriers, where M is an integer greater than 1.

[0193] It should be understood that the first cell includes M downlink carriers, which can be understood as M carriers for downlink signal transmission configured in the first cell. The M downlink carriers may belong to one frequency band or multiple frequency bands.

[0194] Based on the above solution, the first cell includes at least two downlink carriers, so that the terminal device can use a larger spectrum when accessing the first cell. Compared with carrier aggregation, the overhead of cell management can be reduced.

[0195] Optionally, in the above example 2, the first time-frequency resources include N time-frequency resources, the N time-frequency resources correspond one-to-one to N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers, and N is a positive integer.

[0196] It should be understood that the N time-frequency resources in the first time-frequency resources can be understood as N time-frequency resources that are not used to transmit the PDSCH.

[0197] Specifically, the N time-frequency resources correspond one-to-one to the N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers. It can be understood that: there can be N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers, and each of the N downlink carriers includes a frequency domain resource in the time-frequency resources that is not used to transmit PDSCH.

[0198] The M downlink carriers include frequency domain resources in the first time-frequency resources.

[0199] Optionally, in the above example 1, the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT may include time-frequency resources of N SSBs, that is, the N time-frequency resources are the time-frequency resources of N SSBs, and the time-frequency resources of N SSBs correspond one-to-one to the N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers.

[0200] Specifically, there may be N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers, and each of the N downlink carriers includes a frequency domain resource in the time-frequency resource of the SSB of the second RAT.

[0201] Among them, N downlink carriers among the M downlink carriers can be understood as N shared carriers, whose spectrum is shared by the first RAT and the second RAT.

[0202] Exemplarily, the time-frequency resources of N SSBs may also be referred to as N rate-matched time-frequency resources. When the second RAT is 5G, the signaling indicating the time-frequency resources of N SSBs may be:

[0203] RateMatchPatternNR-SSBList::=SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxNR-SSB-Patterns))OF RateMatchPatternNR-SSB

[0204] The value of maxNR-SSB-Patterns is N, which is a positive integer, such as 1, 3, or 6.

[0205] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of carrier sharing provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 7, the first RAT is 6G, the second RAT is 5G, M is equal to 3, and N=2. Specifically, the 6G cell (an example of the first cell) includes 4 downlink carriers, denoted as carrier #1, carrier #2, carrier #3, and carrier #4, where carrier #1 and carrier #2 are both shared carriers of 5G and 6G, carrier #1 corresponds to 5G cell #1, carrier #2 corresponds to 5G cell #2, and 1 5G SSB is configured on carrier #1 and carrier #2 respectively, and carrier #3 and carrier #4 are 6G exclusive carriers. Therefore, the first time-frequency resource includes the time-frequency resources of 2 5G SSBs, and 2 of the 4 downlink carriers have a one-to-one correspondence with the time-frequency resources of these 2 5G SBBs, carrier #1 corresponds to the time-frequency resource of 1 5G SBB, and carrier #2 corresponds to the time-frequency resource of 1 5G SBB.

[0206] Based on the above solution, each carrier in the first cell can be configured with at least one SSB of the second RAT, so that the transmission resources of each carrier can be better utilized and resource utilization can be improved.

[0207] It should be understood that the above description uses the example that each carrier includes one time-frequency resource that is not used to transmit PDSCH. However, this application does not limit the number of time-frequency resources that are not used to transmit PDSCH included on each carrier. In other words, in this application, the first time-frequency resource may include N1 time-frequency resources, and N1 is greater than N. For example, continuing with the scenario in Figure 7 as an example, carrier #1 and carrier #2 can be configured with 2 5G SSBs respectively. At this time, the first time-frequency resource includes 4 5G SSB time-frequency resources, that is, N1=4=2N. And 2 of the 4 downlink carriers have a one-to-one correspondence with the time-frequency resources of these 4 5G SBBs, carrier #1 corresponds to 2 5G SBB time-frequency resources, and carrier #2 corresponds to 2 5G SBB time-frequency resources.

[0208] It should also be understood that the above description uses the example that the number of time-frequency resources not used for transmitting PDSCH included in each carrier is the same. However, this application is not limited to this. The number of time-frequency resources not used for transmitting PDSCH included on each carrier can be the same or different. For example, continuing with the scenario in Figure 7 as an example, carrier #1 can be configured with 2 5G SSBs, and carrier #2 can be configured with 1 5GSSB. At this time, the first time-frequency resources include 4 5G SSB time-frequency resources, that is, N1=4=2N. And 2 of the 4 downlink carriers have a one-to-one correspondence with the time-frequency resources of these 3 5G SBBs, carrier #1 corresponds to 2 5G SBB time-frequency resources, and carrier #2 corresponds to 1 5GSBB time-frequency resource.

[0209] Optionally, the M downlink carriers may be continuous or non-continuous in the frequency domain.

[0210] In this application, continuous carriers refer to two carriers belonging to the same frequency band and having continuous frequency domains. Non-continuous carriers include two situations:

[0211] Case 1: The two carriers belong to the same frequency band, but are not continuous in the frequency domain.

[0212] Case 2: The two carriers belong to different frequency bands.

[0213] The M downlink carriers may correspond to k frequency bands, where k is an integer less than or equal to M.

[0214] In one implementation, the M downlink carriers include a first carrier and a second carrier, and the method 400 further includes: S430, the network device sends the first carrier information and the second carrier information to the first terminal device through the first RAT, and accordingly, the first terminal device receives the first carrier information and the second carrier information.

[0215] The first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the first carrier, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG of the second carrier.

[0216] Specifically, the first carrier information can be used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of the first carrier type, and the second carrier information can be used to indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of the second carrier type, and the first carrier type and the second carrier type are different.

[0217] Optionally, in this implementation, the method 400 further includes: S440, determining the size of the RBG and / or PRG of the first carrier according to the first carrier information, and determining the size of the RBG and / or PRG of the second carrier according to the second carrier information.

[0218] Based on the above scheme, the first carrier information and the second carrier information can indicate the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of carriers of different carrier types. Further, the configuration of RBG and / or PRG of shared carriers and non-shared carriers can be independent of each other.

[0219] It should be understood that carrier types include DSS carriers and non-DSS (non-DSS) carriers. In order to implement multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) on a shared carrier, the configuration of the RBG and / or PRG on the shared carrier needs to be aligned with the second RAT. The CRB0 positions of the same numerology of the first RAT and the second RAT need to be aligned, and the RBG and / or PRG of the first terminal device and the second terminal device also need to be aligned. The configuration of the RBG and / or PRG on the non-shared carrier can be configured according to the requirements of the first RAT. Therefore, the RBG and / or PRG of the shared carrier and the RBG and / or PRG of the non-shared carrier can be configured independently. In other words, the DSS carrier corresponds to one configuration mode of RBG and / or PRG, and the non-DSS carrier corresponds to another configuration mode of RBG and / or PRG.

[0220] For example, continuing with the scenario in Figure 7, assuming that the bandwidth of carrier #1, carrier #2, carrier #3, and carrier #4 is all 20MHz, if BWP is configured on carrier #1, carrier #2, carrier #3, and carrier #4, then the RBG size of carrier #1 and carrier #2 can be configured based on the shared 5G cell, and carrier #3 and carrier #4 can jointly determine the RBG size. For example, the first terminal device determines that the RBG size configured on carrier #1 and carrier #2 is 4, and the RBG size configured on carrier #3 and carrier #4 is 8.

[0221] In one example, the first carrier information and the second carrier information are carrier types. For example, if the first carrier is a DSS carrier and the second carrier is a non-DSS carrier, the first carrier information is a DSS carrier and the second carrier information is a non-DSS carrier.

[0222] In one example, the first carrier information and the second carrier information are carrier groups. For example, if the first carrier is a DSS carrier and the second carrier is a non-DSS carrier, the first carrier information is carrier group 1 and the second carrier information is carrier group 2. The carriers in carrier group 1 are DSS carriers, and the carriers in carrier group 2 are non-DSS carriers.

[0223] It should be understood that the size of the serial numbers of the above processes 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 embodiments of the present application.

[0224] It should also be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their internal logical relationships.

[0225] It should also be understood that in some of the above embodiments, the devices in the existing network architecture are mainly used as examples for illustrative description (such as network devices, terminal devices, etc.), and it should be understood that the embodiments of the present application are not limited to the specific form of the devices. For example, devices that can achieve the same functions in the future are applicable to the embodiments of the present application.

[0226] It is understandable that in the above-mentioned various method embodiments, the methods and operations implemented by devices (such as network devices, terminal devices) can also be implemented by components of the devices (such as chips or circuits).

[0227] The communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application is described in detail above in conjunction with Figures 1 to 7. The above communication method is mainly described from the perspective of the interaction between the terminal device and the network device. It is understood that in order to implement the above functions, the terminal device and the network device include the corresponding hardware structure and / or software modules for performing each function.

[0228] It is understood that in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the terminal devices and network devices include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate that, in combination with the units and method steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, 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 hardware or in a manner driven by computer software depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0229] Figures 8 and 9 are schematic block diagrams of possible communication devices provided in embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the first terminal device or network device in the above method embodiment, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above method embodiment. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be the terminal 120 as shown in Figure 1, or the network device 110 as shown in Figure 1, or a module (such as a chip) applied to a terminal or network device.

[0230] As shown in Figure 8 , communication device 1200 includes a transceiver unit 1210. Transceiver unit 1210 can implement corresponding communication functions and may also be referred to as a communication interface or communication unit. Optionally, communication device 1200 also includes a processing unit 1220 for performing data processing. Communication device 1200 is used to implement the functions of the first terminal device or network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 6 .

[0231] When the communication device 1200 is used to implement the function of the first terminal device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 6, the transceiver unit 1210 is used to receive first information from the network device through the first RAT, and receive the PDSCH from the network device through the first RAT.

[0232] Optionally, the transceiver unit 1210 is further configured to receive first carrier information and second carrier information from a network device through the first RAT.

[0233] Optionally, the processing unit 1220 is configured to determine a size of an RBG and / or PRG of a first carrier according to the first carrier information, and determine a size of an RBG and / or PRG of a second carrier according to the second carrier information.

[0234] When the communication device 1200 is used to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 6, the transceiver unit 1210 is used to send the first information to the terminal device through the first RAT, and send the PDSCH to the terminal device through the first RAT.

[0235] Optionally, the transceiver unit 1210 is further configured to send the first carrier information and the second carrier information to the terminal device via the first RAT.

[0236] Optionally, the processing unit 1220 is configured to determine first information, first carrier information, second carrier information, and the like.

[0237] For a more detailed description of the transceiver unit 1210 and the processing unit 1220, as well as the meanings of terms such as first information, first carrier information, and second carrier information, reference may be made to the description in the method embodiment shown in FIG6 .

[0238] As shown in Figure 9, the communication device 1300 includes a processor 1310 and an interface circuit 1320. The processor 1310 and the interface circuit 1320 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 1320 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device 1300 may also include a memory 1330 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1310, or storing input data required by the processor 1310 to execute instructions, or storing data generated after the processor 1310 executes instructions. Sometimes, the interface circuit 1320 can also be understood as a part of the processor 1310, in which case the communication device 1300 includes the processor 1310.

[0239] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 6 , the processor 1310 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 1220 , and the interface circuit 1320 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 1210 .

[0240] When the communication device is a chip used in a terminal, the terminal chip implements the functions of the terminal in the above-mentioned method embodiment. When the terminal chip receives information from the network device, it can be understood that the information is first received by other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the terminal chip by these modules. When the terminal chip sends information to the network device, it can be understood that the information is first sent to other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the network device by these modules.

[0241] When the communication device is a chip used in a network device, the network device chip implements the functions of the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. When the network device chip receives information from the terminal, it can be understood that the information is first received by other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the network device chip by these modules. When the network device chip sends information to the terminal, it can be understood that the information is first sent to other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the terminal by these modules.

[0242] In this application, when entity A sends information to entity B, it can be done directly from A to B or indirectly through another entity. Similarly, when entity B receives information from entity A, it can be done directly from entity B or indirectly through another entity. Entities A and B herein can be RAN nodes or terminals, or modules within a RAN node or terminal. The sending and receiving of information can be information exchange between a RAN node and a terminal, for example, between a base station and a terminal; the sending and receiving of information can also be information exchange between two RAN nodes, for example, between a CU and a DU; the sending and receiving of information can also be information exchange between different modules within a device, for example, between a terminal chip and other modules in the terminal, or between a base station chip and other modules within the base station.

[0243] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0244] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware or in software instructions that can be executed by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, mobile hard disk, CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal. The processor and storage medium can also exist in a base station or a terminal as discrete components.

[0245] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage media.

[0246] In the above-mentioned embodiments, unless otherwise specified or provided for, the terms and / or descriptions of the different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other. The technical features of the different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0247] "At least one" in this document means one or more. "More than one" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the text description of this application, the character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship; in the formula of this application, the character " / " indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in a "division" relationship. "Including at least one of A, B and C" can mean: including A; including B; including C; including A and B; including A and C; including B and C; including A, B and C.

[0248] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the first, second, and various numerical numbers are merely distinctions for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: receiving first information from a network device via a first radio access technology RAT, where the first information is used to indicate time-frequency resources of a synchronization signal block SSB of a second RAT; A physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is received from the network device via the first RAT, wherein the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT are not used to transmit the PDSCH.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The receiving, through the first RAT, first information from the network device includes: The first information is received through a first cell of the first RAT, where frequency domain resources of the first cell include M downlink carriers, where M is an integer greater than 1.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT include time-frequency resources of N SSBs, and the time-frequency resources of the N SSBs correspond one-to-one to N downlink carriers of the M downlink carriers, where N is a positive integer.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that The M downlink carriers include a first carrier and a second carrier, and the method further includes: First carrier information and second carrier information are received from the network device through the first RAT, where the first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of the resource block group RBG or the precoding resource block group PRG of the first carrier, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of the RBG or PRG of the second carrier.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of an RBG or PRG of a first carrier type, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of an RBG or PRG of a second carrier type, where the first carrier type and the second carrier type are different.

6. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Sending first information to the terminal device through the first RAT, where the first information is used to indicate the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT; The PDSCH is sent to the terminal device via the first RAT, wherein the time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT are not used to transmit the PDSCH.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The sending the first information to the terminal device through the first RAT includes: The first information is sent to the terminal device through a first cell of the first RAT, where frequency domain resources of the first cell include M downlink carriers, where M is an integer greater than 1.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The time-frequency resources of the SSB of the second RAT include time-frequency resources of N SSBs, and the time-frequency resources of the N SSBs correspond one-to-one to N downlink carriers of the M downlink carriers, where N is a positive integer.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that The M downlink carriers include a first carrier and a second carrier, and the method further includes: First carrier information and second carrier information are sent to the terminal device through the first RAT, where the first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of the RBG or PRG of the first carrier, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of the RBG or PRG of the second carrier.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The first carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of an RBG or PRG of a first carrier type, and the second carrier information is used to indicate the configuration of an RBG or PRG of a second carrier type, where the first carrier type and the second carrier type are different.

11. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a module or unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, or comprises a module or unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 6 to 10.

12. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, and the processor is used to implement the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 through a logic circuit or execute code instructions, or to implement the method as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 10.

13. A chip, characterized in that: The invention comprises a processor coupled to a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program, and the processor being used to execute the computer program stored in the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, or to implement the method according to any one of claims 6 to 10.

14. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The storage medium stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is implemented, or the method according to any one of claims 6 to 10 is implemented.

15. A computer program product, characterized in that The invention comprises a computer program, which, when being executed, implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, or implements the method according to any one of claims 6 to 10.

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