Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, which are used for improving the signal coverage performance of terminal devices in a radio resource control idle state or a radio resource control inactive state. The method comprises: a first communication apparatus receiving a first synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block and a first channel state information reference signal in a radio resource control idle state or a radio resource control inactive state, wherein the first synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block is one of M synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel blocks, the first channel state information reference signal is one of N channel state information reference signals, there is a correlation between the M synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel blocks and the N channel state information reference signals, and N is greater than or equal to M; and in the radio resource control idle state or the radio resource control inactive state, receiving a first physical downlink control channel on the basis of the first channel state information reference signal, or receiving a first physical downlink shared channel on the basis of the first synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block or the first channel state information reference signal.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on February 2, 2024, with application number 202410164194.2 and invention name "A Communication Method and Device", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

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

[0004] The fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication technology, New Radio (NR), has seen rapid commercialization worldwide in recent years and has achieved significant success. Research on the next generation, the sixth-generation (6G), mobile communication systems has also begun. Compared to 5G technology, 6G will support higher service rates and lower latency, resulting in higher spectrum requirements.

[0005] For a terminal device in a radio resource control (RRC) idle state or an RRC inactive state, how to improve signal coverage performance is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and apparatus for improving the signal coverage performance of a terminal device in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state.

[0007] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method may be implemented by a first communication device or a terminal device. The first communication device may be a terminal device. The first communication device may also be a component in the terminal device. The component in this application may include, for example, at least one of a chip, a chip system, a processor, a transceiver, a processing unit, or a transceiver unit. Taking the execution subject as the first communication device as an example, the communication method provided in the present application may include the following steps: the first communication device receives a first synchronization signal broadcast block (synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block, SSB) and a first channel state information reference signal (channel state-information reference signal, CSI-RS) in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state, where the first SSB is one of M SSBs, and the first CSI-RS is one of N CSI-RSs, and the M SSBs correspond to the N CSI-RSs, where M and N are both positive integers greater than or equal to 1, and N is greater than or equal to M; the first communication device receives a first physical downlink control channel according to the first CSI-RS in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state, or receives a first physical downlink shared channel according to the first SSB or the first CSI-RS in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state, where the first physical downlink control channel is used to schedule the first physical downlink shared channel.

[0008] Based on the first aspect, the first communication device can receive the first physical downlink control channel based on the first SSB in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state, or the first physical downlink shared channel based on the first SSB or the first CSI-RS, wherein the first SSB is one of the M SSBs, the first CSI-RS is one of the N CSI-RSs, and there is a correspondence between the M SSBs and the N CSI-RSs. Therefore, downlink transmission can be performed based on CSI-RS and SSB, which can improve the channel coverage performance of the terminal device during the initial access process. In addition, the method can enhance channel coverage without increasing the number of SSBs or increasing the number of SSB beams as little as possible, that is, it can reduce the resource overhead of the reference signal as much as possible while improving the coverage of each channel during the initial access process.

[0009] In this application, in some cases, "channel" can be optionally replaced by "channel / signal" or "signal".

[0010] The first physical downlink control channel and / or the first physical downlink control channel may come from a second communication device. The second communication device may be an access network device, such as a base station.

[0011] In one possible implementation, the first communication device may receive the first physical downlink control channel according to the first CSI-RS, where the first physical downlink control channel is one of N physical downlink control channels, and the N physical downlink control channels correspond to the N CSI-RSs.

[0012] In this implementation, optionally, the N physical downlink control channels may be repeatedly transmitted physical downlink control channels.

[0013] In one possible implementation, the N physical downlink control channels correspond to the N CSI-RSs, including: the N physical downlink control channels are quasi co-located (QCL) with the N CSI-RSs; or, the demodulation reference signals (DMRS) of the N physical downlink control channels are quasi co-located with the N CSI-RSs.

[0014] Quasi-co-location means that the large-scale parameters of the channel experienced by a symbol on one antenna port (AP) (or simply port) can be inferred from the channel experienced by a symbol on another antenna port, thus assuming the two antenna ports are quasi-co-located. When receiving two quasi-co-located channels / signals, one channel / signal can be received in the same manner as the other, reducing reception complexity and improving reception performance. Therefore, this implementation reduces the reception complexity of the first physical downlink control channel and improves reception performance.

[0015] The N physical downlink control channels and the N CSI-RSs may correspond one to one. Any one of the N physical downlink control channels may be quasi-co-located with the CSI-RS corresponding to the physical downlink control channel among the N CSI-RSs; or the DMRS of any one of the N physical downlink control channels may be quasi-co-located with the CSI-RS corresponding to the physical downlink control channel among the N CSI-RSs.

[0016] In one possible implementation, the first communication device may receive the first physical downlink shared channel according to the first SSB, where the first physical downlink shared channel is one of M physical downlink shared channels, and the M physical downlink shared channels correspond to the M SSBs.

[0017] In one possible implementation, there is a corresponding relationship between the M physical downlink shared channels and the M SSBs, including: the M physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the M SSBs; or, the DMRS of the M physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the M SSBs.

[0018] The M physical shared control channels may correspond one-to-one to the M SSBs. Any physical downlink shared channel among the M physical downlink shared channels may be quasi-co-located with an SSB among the M SSBs corresponding to the physical downlink shared channel; or the DMRS of any physical downlink shared channel among the M physical downlink shared channels may be quasi-co-located with an SSB among the M SSBs corresponding to the physical downlink shared channel.

[0019] Based on this implementation, the reception complexity of the first physical downlink shared channel can be reduced and the reception performance can be improved.

[0020] In one possible implementation, the first communication device may receive the first physical downlink shared channel according to the first CSI-RS, where the first physical downlink shared channel is one of N physical downlink shared channels, and the N physical downlink shared channels correspond to the N CSI-RSs.

[0021] In one possible implementation, there is a correspondence between the N physical downlink shared channels and the N CSI-RSs, including: the N physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs; or, the demodulation reference signal DMRS of the N physical downlink shared channels is quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs.

[0022] The N physical shared control channels and the N CSI-RSs can correspond one to one. Any one of the N physical downlink shared channels is quasi-co-located with the CSI-RS corresponding to the physical downlink shared channel among the N CSI-RSs; or the DMRS of any one of the N physical downlink shared channels is quasi-co-located with the CSI-RS corresponding to the physical downlink shared channel among the N CSI-RSs.

[0023] Based on this implementation, the reception complexity of the first physical downlink shared channel can be reduced and the reception performance can be improved.

[0024] In one possible implementation, each of the N physical downlink shared channels carries a system information block (SIB); or, each of the M physical downlink shared channels carries a system information block SIB; or, each of the N physical downlink shared channels carries a paging message; or, each of the M physical downlink shared channels carries a paging message.

[0025] Based on this implementation, the first physical downlink shared channel in this application can carry SIB or paging messages.

[0026] In a possible implementation, the first communication device may receive the first physical downlink control channel according to the first CSI-RS, and the first physical downlink control channel corresponds to the first CSI-RS.

[0027] In one possible implementation, there is a corresponding relationship between the first physical downlink control channel and the first CSI-RS, including: the first physical downlink control channel and the first CSI-RS are quasi-co-located; or the demodulation reference signal DMRS of the first physical downlink control channel is quasi-co-located with the first CSI-RS.

[0028] Based on this implementation, the reception complexity of the first physical downlink control channel can be reduced and the reception performance can be improved.

[0029] In a possible implementation manner, the first communication device may receive the first physical downlink shared channel according to the first CSI-RS, and the first physical downlink shared channel and the first CSI-RS are in a corresponding relationship.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the first physical downlink shared channel and the first CSI-RS have a corresponding relationship, including: the first physical downlink shared channel and the first CSI-RS are quasi-co-located; or the demodulation reference signal DMRS of the first physical downlink shared channel and the first CSI-RS are quasi-co-located.

[0031] Based on this implementation, the reception complexity of the first physical downlink shared channel can be reduced and the reception performance can be improved.

[0032] In a possible implementation manner, the first physical downlink shared channel carries random access message 2 or random access message B or random access message 4.

[0033] In a possible implementation, the first communication device may further use a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource to send a random access preamble, where the first PRACH resource corresponds to the first CSI-RS.

[0034] Based on this implementation, the network device can only send the first physical downlink control channel and the first physical downlink shared channel corresponding to the first CSI-RS, without having to send the physical downlink control channel and the physical downlink shared channel corresponding to all N CSI-RSs, thereby reducing transmission overhead.

[0035] In one possible implementation, the M SSBs correspond to the N CSI-RSs, including: any SSB among the M SSBs is quasi-co-located with Q CSI-RSs among the N CSI-RSs, where Q is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1. That is, any SSB among the M SSBs can be quasi-co-located with one or more CSI-RSs among the N CSI-RSs, thereby achieving flexible transmission.

[0036] In one possible implementation, any one of the M SSBs is used to indicate configuration information of one or more CSI-RSs among the N CSI-RSs, and the configuration information includes at least one of the following configuration information: time domain resource information, frequency domain resource information, code domain resource information, and power control information.

[0037] Based on this implementation method, any SSB among the M SSBs can be used to indicate one or more of the time domain resource information, frequency domain resource information, code domain resource information or power control information of one or more CSI-RS among the N CSI-RSCSI-RSs to achieve flexible configuration of the CSI-RS.

[0038] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method may be implemented by a second communication device or a network device. The second communication device may be an access network device (or alternatively, a network device, such as a base station). The second communication device may also be a component in the access network device. The components in this application may include, for example, at least one of a chip, a chip system, a processor, a transceiver, a processing unit, or a transceiver unit. Taking the execution subject as a second communication device as an example, the communication method provided in the present application may include the following steps: the second communication device sends M SSBs and N CSI-RSs, the M SSBs corresponding to the N CSI-RSs, wherein M and N are both positive integers greater than or equal to 1, and N is greater than or equal to M; the second communication device sends a first physical downlink control channel, the first physical downlink control channel corresponding to a first CSI-RS, wherein the first CSI-RS is one of the N CSI-RSs, or sends a first physical downlink shared channel, the first physical downlink shared channel corresponding to a first CSI-RS or a first SSB, the first CSI is one of the N CSI-RSs, and the first SSB is one of the M SSBs, wherein the first physical downlink control channel is used to schedule the first physical downlink shared channel. The first physical downlink shared channel can be used to carry one of an SIB, a paging message, a random access message 2, a random access message B, or a random access message 4.

[0039] The first physical downlink control channel corresponds to the first CSI-RS, which can be understood as the first physical downlink control channel being transmitted through the first CSI-RS. The first physical downlink shared channel corresponds to the first CSI-RS, which can be understood as the first physical downlink shared channel being transmitted through the first CSI-RS. The first physical downlink shared channel corresponds to the first SSB, which can be understood as the first physical downlink shared channel being transmitted through the first SSB.

[0040] In a possible implementation, the second communication device may send N physical downlink control channels, where the first physical downlink control channel is one of the N physical downlink control channels, and the N physical downlink control channels correspond to the N CSI-RSs.

[0041] In one possible implementation, there is a correspondence between the N first physical downlink control channels and the N CSI-RSs, including: the N physical downlink control channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs; or, the demodulation reference signal DMRS of the N physical downlink control channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs.

[0042] In a possible implementation, the second communication device may send M physical downlink shared channels, where the first physical downlink shared channel is one of the M physical downlink shared channels, and the M physical downlink shared channels correspond to the M SSBs.

[0043] In one possible implementation, there is a corresponding relationship between the M physical downlink shared channels and the M SSBs, including: the M physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the M SSBs; or, the demodulation reference signal DMRS of the M physical downlink shared channels is quasi-co-located with the M SSBs.

[0044] In a possible implementation, the second communication device may send N physical downlink shared channels, where the first physical downlink shared channel is one of the N physical downlink shared channels, and the N physical downlink shared channels correspond to the N CSI-RSs.

[0045] In a possible implementation, the N physical downlink shared channels and the N CSI-RSs have a corresponding relationship, including:

[0046] The N physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs; or,

[0047] The demodulation reference signals DMRS of the N physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs.

[0048] In one possible implementation, each of the N physical downlink shared channels carries a system information block SIB; or, each of the M physical downlink shared channels carries a system information block SIB; or, each of the N physical downlink shared channels carries a paging message; or, each of the M physical downlink shared channels carries a paging message.

[0049] In a possible implementation, there is a correspondence between the first physical downlink control channel and the first CSI-RS, and the first CSI-RS is one of the N CSI-RSs.

[0050] In one possible implementation, there is a corresponding relationship between the first physical downlink control channel and the first CSI-RS, including: the first physical downlink control channel and the first CSI-RS are quasi-co-located; or the demodulation reference signal DMRS of the first physical downlink control channel is quasi-co-located with the first CSI-RS.

[0051] In a possible implementation manner, there is a correspondence between the first physical downlink shared channel and a first CSI-RS, and the first CSI-RS is one of the N CSI-RSs.

[0052] In a possible implementation, a correspondence between the first physical downlink shared channel and the first CSI-RS includes:

[0053] The first physical downlink shared channel is quasi-co-located with the first CSI-RS; or,

[0054] The demodulation reference signal DMRS of the first physical downlink shared channel is quasi co-located with the first CSI-RS.

[0055] In a possible implementation manner, the first physical downlink shared channel carries random access message 2 or random access message B or random access message 4.

[0056] In a possible implementation, the second communication device may further use a first PRACH resource to receive a preamble, where the first PRACH resource corresponds to a first CSI-RS, and the first CSI-RS is one of the N CSI-RSs.

[0057] In one possible implementation, there is a corresponding relationship between the M SSBs and the N CSI-RSs, including: any SSB among the M SSBs is quasi-co-located with Q CSI-RSs among the N CSI-RSs, where Q is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0058] In one possible implementation, any one of the M SSBs is used to indicate configuration information of one or more CSI-RSs among the N CSI-RSs, and the configuration information includes at least one of the following configuration information: time domain resource information, frequency domain resource information, code domain resource information, and power control information.

[0059] The technical effects brought about by the above second aspect can be found in the description of the beneficial effects of the corresponding scheme in the above first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0060] In any possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the N CSI-RSs are multiplexed by at least one of the following methods: time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), and code division multiplexing (CDM).

[0061] In any possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the primary synchronization signal (PSS) or secondary synchronization signal (SSS) or physical broadcast channel (PBCH) of any SSB among the M SSBs is used to indicate the configuration information of one or more CSI-RSs among the N CSI-RSs.

[0062] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided. The device can implement the method described in any possible implementation of any of the first and second aspects. The device has the functions of the first or second communication device described above. The device can be, for example, a terminal device, a functional module in a terminal device, a network device, or a functional module in a network device.

[0063] In an optional implementation, the device may include a module corresponding to the method / operation / step / action described in any possible implementation of any aspect of the first to second aspects, and the module may be a hardware circuit, or software, or a hardware circuit combined with software. In an optional implementation, the device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a communication unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module, a communication module, etc.). The transceiver unit can implement a sending function and a receiving function. When the transceiver unit implements the sending function, it can be called a sending unit (sometimes also referred to as a sending module). When the transceiver unit implements the receiving function, it can be called a receiving unit (sometimes also referred to as a receiving module). The sending unit and the receiving unit can be the same functional module, which is called a transceiver unit, and the functional module can implement a sending function and a receiving function; or, the sending unit and the receiving unit can be different functional modules, and the transceiver unit is a general term for these functional modules.

[0064] Exemplarily, when the apparatus is used to execute the method described in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect, the apparatus may include a communication unit and a processing unit.

[0065] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device, comprising one or more processors for executing a computer program (or computer executable instructions) stored in a memory. When the computer program (or computer executable instructions) is executed, the device executes the method described in any possible implementation of any one of the first to second aspects.

[0066] In one possible implementation, one or more processors and memory are integrated together;

[0067] In another possible implementation, the memory is located outside the communication device.

[0068] The communication device also includes a communication interface, which is used for the communication device to communicate with other devices, such as sending or receiving data and / or signals. Exemplarily, the communication interface can be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module or other type of communication interface.

[0069] In a fifth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which is used to store computer programs or instructions. When the computer-readable storage medium is executed, the method described in any possible implementation of any aspect from the first to the second aspect and the method shown in any possible implementation thereof are implemented.

[0070] In a sixth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a computer, enables the method described in any possible implementation of any one of the first to second aspects to be implemented.

[0071] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device for executing the method described in any possible implementation of any one of the first to second aspects above.

[0072] In an eighth aspect, a chip or chip system is provided, comprising circuits (such as analog circuits and / or logic circuits; or, it can be understood that the chip system includes one or more processors, one or more of which may include circuits, etc.), and may also include input and output interfaces. The input and output interfaces can be used to input messages and output messages. The input and output interfaces can be the same interface, i.e., the same interface can implement both sending and receiving functions; or, the input and output interfaces can include an input interface and an output interface, with the input interface being used to implement the receiving function, i.e., for receiving messages, and the output interface being used to implement the sending function, i.e., for sending messages. The circuit can be used to perform the operations described in any possible implementation of any of the first and second aspects above, except for the sending and receiving functions; the circuit can also be used to transmit messages to the input and output interfaces, or to receive messages from other communication devices via the input and output interfaces. The chip system can be used to implement the methods described in any possible implementation of any of the first and second aspects above. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or it can include a chip and other discrete components.

[0073] Optionally, the chip system may further include a memory, which may be used to store instructions, and the circuit may call the instructions stored in the memory to implement corresponding functions.

[0074] In the ninth aspect, a communication method is provided, which may include the method implemented by the first communication device as shown in the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof, and the method implemented by the second communication device as shown in the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0075] In a tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which may include a first communication device and a second communication device. The first communication device may be used to implement the method of the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof, and the second communication device may be used to implement the method of the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0076] The technical effects brought about by the above third to tenth aspects can be found in the description of the beneficial effects of the corresponding scheme in the above first aspect, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0077] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a wireless communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of an SSB transmission method;

[0079] FIG3 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG4 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between M SSBs and N CSI-RSs provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0081] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of the relationship between a PDCCH and a PDSCH provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0082] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of another relationship between PDCCH and PDSCH provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0083] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of another relationship between PDCCH and PDSCH provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0084] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of an inter-port multiplexing method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0085] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of another inter-port multiplexing method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0086] FIG10 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between an SSB port and a CSI-RS port provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0087] FIG11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0088] FIG12 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0089] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the application scenarios used in the present application are described using the communication system architecture shown in FIG1 as an example. FIG1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a possible, non-limiting system. As shown in FIG1 , a communication system 1000 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. The RAN 100 includes at least one network device (such as 110a and 110b in FIG1 , collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal device (such as 120a-120j in FIG1 , collectively referred to as 120). The RAN 100 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in FIG1 ). The terminal device 120 is wirelessly connected to the network device 110. The network device 110 is wirelessly or wiredly connected to the core network 200. The core network device in the core network 200 and the network device 110 in the RAN 100 may be different physical devices, or they may be the same physical device that integrates the core network logical functions and the radio access network logical functions.

[0090] The RAN 100 may be a cellular system related to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as a 4th generation (4G), long term evolution (LTE), 5th generation (5G), new radio (NR) mobile communication system, or an evolutionary system after 5G (such as a 6th generation (6G) mobile communication system). The RAN 100 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 100 may also be a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems.

[0091] The apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the network device 110 or to the terminal device 120. It is understood that FIG1 only shows a possible communication system architecture to which the embodiment of the present application can be applied, and in other possible scenarios, the communication system architecture may also include other devices.

[0092] Another communication system used in the embodiment of the present application may include a first communication device and a second communication device.

[0093] In one implementation method, the first communication device is a network device or a module for a network device, and the second communication device is a terminal device or a module for a terminal device, wherein the network device is, for example, an access network device. The first communication device and the second communication device communicate via an air interface.

[0094] In another implementation method, the first communication device is a terminal device or a module for a terminal device, and the second communication device is a network device or a module for a network device. The first communication device and the second communication device communicate with each other via an air interface.

[0095] In another implementation method, the first communication device is a network device or a module for a network device, and the second communication device is a network device or a module for a network device. The first communication device and the second communication device communicate with each other via an air interface or a wired manner.

[0096] In another implementation method, the first communication device is a terminal device or a module for a terminal device, and the second communication device is a terminal device or a module for a terminal device. The first communication device and the second communication device communicate with each other via an air interface.

[0097] Of course, the first communication device and the second communication device in the embodiment of the present application can also be other types of devices. For example, the first communication device can also be a cloud device or a cloud server and the second communication device can be a cloud device or a cloud server. This application does not limit this.

[0098] In the implementation of this application, a terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities, and may specifically refer to user equipment (UE), access terminal, subscriber unit, user station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, or user device. The terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on water (such as ships); and can also be deployed in the air (such as aircraft, balloons, and satellites). The terminal device may be a cellular phone, a mobile phone, a tablet computer (pad), a handheld device, a laptop computer, a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant computer, a wireless modem, a machine type communication terminal, a satellite terminal, a vehicle (e.g., a car, a bicycle, an electric car, an airplane, a ship, a train, a high-speed rail, etc.) onboard equipment, a robotic arm, a workshop equipment, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, a smart bracelet, a pedometer, etc.), a drone, a robot, a smart point of sale (POS) machine, a customer-premises equipment (CPE), a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a terminal device in industrial control, a terminal device in self-driving, a terminal device in remote medical care, a terminal device in a smart grid, a terminal in transportation safety, a terminal device in a smart city, a smart home, or a similar terminal device. The terminal device may also be other devices with terminal functions. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the device form of the terminal. The device for realizing the function of the terminal device may be a terminal device; or it may be a device that can support the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system. The device may be installed in the terminal device or used in combination with the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0099] In the implementation of this application, the network device is a device with wireless transceiver functions, which is used to communicate with the terminal device or other network devices; it can also be a device that can access the terminal device to the wireless network, such as a radio access network (RAN) device or node. The network devices in the embodiments of the present application may include various forms of base stations, such as: base stations, evolved NodeBs (eNodeBs), next generation NodeBs (gNodeBs, gNBs), macro base stations, micro base stations (also known as small stations), relay stations, access points, devices that implement base station functions in communication systems evolved after the fifth generation (5G) technology, access points (APs) in wireless local area networks (WLANs), integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, transmission points (TRPs), transmitting points (TPs), mobile switching centers, and devices that perform base station functions in device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, etc., and may also include non-terrestrial communication networks (non-terrestrial networks). A base station is a network device in a wireless network (NTN) communication system, which can be deployed on a high-altitude platform or satellite. In some possible scenarios, different network devices respectively implement part of the functions of a base station. For example, a network device 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 a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).It is understood that the network device may be a CU node, a DU node, or a device including a CU node and a DU node. In addition, the CU may be classified as a network device in the access network RAN, or may be classified as a network device in the core network CN, without limitation herein.

[0100] 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 an open access network (open RAN, 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.

[0101] In the embodiments of the present application, the form of the network device is not limited. The device used to implement the function of the network device can be a network device; it can also be a device that can support the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system. The device can be installed in the network device or used in conjunction with the network device.

[0102] It can be understood that the network devices and terminal devices, the network devices and the network devices, and the terminal devices in this application can communicate through authorized spectrum, can communicate through unauthorized spectrum, or can communicate through both authorized spectrum and unauthorized spectrum. In addition, the network devices and the terminal devices, the network devices and the network devices, and the terminal devices can communicate through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), for example, through 700 / 900 megahertz (MHz), 2.1 / 2.6 / 3.5GHz frequency bands, or through spectrum above 6GHz, for example, through millimeter waves, terahertz (THz) waves, and can also use spectrum below 6GHz and spectrum above 6GHz for communication at the same time. The embodiments of this application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0103] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the network device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the network device, or by a control subsystem that includes the network device functions. The control subsystem that includes the network device 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 device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal device, or by a device that includes the terminal device functions.

[0104] Throughout the evolution of communication systems, high throughput and a large number of connections have always been core challenges for wireless communication networks. To address these challenges, 5G communications have proposed applications such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC), and massive machine-type communication (mMTC) as technical goals. The 6G communication system, which will evolve after 5G, will inevitably evolve towards higher throughput, lower latency, higher reliability, a larger number of connections, and greater spectrum utilization.

[0105] The following is an introduction to the technical terms involved in this application.

[0106] (1)SSB

[0107] The SSB consists of the PSS, SSS, and PBCH. The PSS and SSS are primarily used for time-frequency synchronization and for defining the cell's physical cell identity (PCI). The PBCH or PBCH payload carries a minimum amount of system information, known as the master information block (MIB). The MIB carries information about parameters used in SIB1 transmissions, such as subcarrier spacing, the control resource set (CORESET) that schedules SIB1, and the search space set (SS set).

[0108] In NR, SSBs are transmitted using a beam scanning mechanism. Beam scanning involves transmitting SSBs in different beam directions using time division multiplexing. The collection of SSBs within a beam scanning cycle is called a synchronization signal burst set (SS burst set). An SS burst set can be defined as a 5-millisecond (ms) time interval. By using beamforming for SSBs, the energy of the SSBs transmitted in each beam direction is more concentrated, thereby improving coverage. Each SSB transmitted in each beam direction has a unique identifier, and each SSB represents an SSB beam. For example, in frequency range 1 (FR1), each cell supports up to eight SSB beams, and the eight SSB beams are SSB#0 to SSB#7. Frequency range 1 can refer to the sub-6 GHz frequency band. Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of multiple SSBs transmitted using TDM within an SS burst set cycle.

[0109] Among them, SSB can be periodically repeated in the time domain. For example, the period size can be 5ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms or 160ms. The repeated transmission here can be considered as the repetition of the SS burst set, that is, the multiple SSB beams contained in an SS burst set are repeatedly transmitted as a whole. For terminal devices performing cell search, it can be assumed that the repetition period of SSB is 20ms. In addition, the MIB change period can be 80ms, which means that for terminal devices performing cell search, the SSB is repeatedly transmitted 4 times within 80ms.

[0110] It should be noted that for different SSB transmission beams, the optimal receiving beams are also different. Therefore, in addition to the network device (such as the terminal) side using beam scanning to send SSB, the terminal device side also uses beam scanning to receive SSB, so as to obtain the optimal transmission beam and receiving beam pair.

[0111] (2)SIB

[0112] The system information transmission process mainly involves the terminal device receiving some necessary parameters related to cell residence and access from the network equipment, including various system information blocks such as SIB1, SIB2 and other SIBs. For terminal devices in RRC idle state or RRC inactive state, they also need to monitor paging messages sent by the network equipment.

[0113] Generally speaking, for a terminal device in the initial access, after detecting the SSB, it can receive SIB1 based on the SIB1 reception-related parameters obtained from the MIB. In NR, SIB1 is carried by the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and scheduled by the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). Specifically, the PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI). The DCI includes information such as the time domain resources, frequency domain resources, and modulation and coding scheme of the PDSCH transmission. Similar to the SSB transmission mechanism, SIB1 is also transmitted using beam scanning, that is, in each SSB beam direction, the network device uses the SSB beam to send the PDCCH and PDSCH of SIB1. For the terminal device, the PDCCH and PDSCH of the SIB1 associated with it can be received in the same way as the SSB is received.

[0114] After receiving SIB1, the terminal device can continue to receive other SIBs or paging messages as needed. The transmission method of other SIBs and paging messages can be similar to that of SIB1.

[0115] It should be noted that SIB1, like other SIBs and SSBs, is transmitted periodically. For SIB1, the system information it carries changes every 160ms, and can be transmitted repeatedly within 160ms at a 20ms interval. For SIBs other than SIB1, the transmission period is the same as that configured for SIB1.

[0116] (3) Random access (RA)

[0117] In NR, the terminal device completes uplink time synchronization with the network device through the random access process and establishes an RRC connection with the network device. In NR, the random access process types include type-1 random access (type-1 RA) and type-2 random access (type-2 RA). Among them, the type-1 RA process is also called the four-step random access (4-step RA) process, and the type-2 RA process is also called the two-step random access (2-step RA) process.

[0118] During a type-1 RA, the terminal sends a preamble, or Random Access Message 1 (Msg1), via the PRACH. After sending Msg1, the terminal initiates a random access response window and listens for a random access response (RAR) from the network device, or Random Access Message 2 (Msg2). If the terminal successfully detects its own RAR, it continues to send Random Access Message 3 (Msg3) according to the RAR's instructions. Msg3 primarily serves to send an RRC connection establishment request. If the terminal does not receive its own RAR, it considers the RA to have failed and re-initiates the RA process according to the fallback parameters indicated by the network device until the maximum number of random access attempts is reached. After sending Msg3, the terminal listens for and receives Random Access Message 4 (Msg4) sent by the network device. Msg4 carries a contention resolution flag and air interface parameter configuration specific to the terminal. If the terminal successfully receives Msg4, the RA is considered successful; otherwise, it fails. If successful, the terminal continues to send Msg5, which primarily sends an RRC establishment completion command. If it fails, the terminal re-initiates the random access process according to the backoff parameter indicated by the network device until the maximum number of random access attempts is reached.

[0119] The Type-2 RA process can be understood as combining the first four steps of the Type-1 RA process into two. Specifically, the terminal sends a random access message A (MsgA), which includes a preamble and a terminal identifier. In response, the network device sends a random access message B (MsgB) to the terminal, which includes a conflict resolution identifier and air interface parameter configuration specific to the terminal. In other words, MsgA corresponds to Msg1 and Msg3, and MsgB corresponds to Msg2 and Msg4.

[0120] In NR, PRACH resources are associated with SSBs. In other words, each SSB is associated with its own PRACH resource. PRACH resources associated with different SSB beams use different time domain resources, frequency domain resources, or code domain resources. For example, different SSBs are associated with different random access channel occasions (RACH occasions, ROs), where an RO can be considered as a block of time-frequency resources for transmitting a preamble.

[0121] When initiating an RA, the terminal device can select one of the SSBs and use the PRACH resources associated with the SSB to send the preamble. When the network device replies to the terminal device with Msg2 / Msg4 / MsgB, it can use the SSB associated with the PRACH resources used by the detected preamble to send the Msg2 / Msg4 / MsgB. Similarly, the terminal device also receives the corresponding Msg2 / Msg4 / MsgB by receiving the SSB associated with the preamble it sent.

[0122] It can be understood that PRACH resources are associated with SSB. On the one hand, it enables Msg2 / Msg4 / MsgB to be transmitted using beamforming, thereby improving the coverage performance of Msg2 / Msg4 / MsgB. On the other hand, it enables Msg2 / Msg4 / MsgB to be sent only on the SSB beam associated with the PRACH resource, without the need to scan and send on all SSB beams like SIB or paging, thereby reducing resource overhead and improving system efficiency.

[0123] Currently, for terminals in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state, how to improve signal coverage performance is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.

[0124] To address the above technical issues, the present application provides a communication method. This communication method can be implemented by a first communication device and a second communication device. Optionally, the first communication device can serve as a terminal device, and the second communication device can serve as a network device. The first communication device can be a terminal device, or a component such as a module or chip within the terminal device. The second communication device can be a network device, or a component such as a module or chip within the network device, such as a RAN or other access network device.

[0125] The following describes this method in conjunction with the process shown in Figure 3. In Figure 3, a terminal device is used as the first communication device, and a network device is used as the second communication device. The terminal device mentioned below can be replaced by a terminal, a terminal device, a UE, a first communication device, etc., and the network device can be replaced by a base station, an access network device, a second communication device, etc., without specific limitation.

[0126] S101: A network device sends M SSBs and N CSI-RSs.

[0127] Wherein, M and N are both positive integers greater than or equal to 1, and N is greater than or equal to M. For example, M is a value such as 8, 16, or 32, and is not specifically limited.

[0128] In this application, there is a correspondence between M SSBs and N CSI-RSs. The correspondence between M SSBs and N CSI-RSs can be reflected as follows: any SSB among the M SSBs is quasi-co-located with Q CSI-RSs among the N CSI-RSs, where Q is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1. In addition, any CSI-RS among the N CSI-RSs is quasi-co-located with one SSB among the M SSBs. The advantage of quasi-co-location is that when a terminal device receives a certain CSI-RS, it can receive the CSI-RS according to the SSB that is quasi-co-located with the CSI-RS, which can improve the reception performance of the CSI-RS and reduce the processing complexity of the terminal device.

[0129] In this application, "corresponding relationship" can also be described as "association relationship", "corresponding" can also be described as "association", and "corresponding" can also be described as "associated".

[0130] In this application, quasi-co-location means that the large-scale parameters of the channel experienced by a symbol on one antenna port can be inferred from the channel experienced by a symbol on another antenna port. In other words, the two antenna ports are considered to be quasi-co-located, or the signals transmitted by the two antenna ports are quasi-co-located.

[0131] As an example, as shown in FIG4 , each of the M SSBs can be quasi-co-located with (N / M) CSI-RSs, that is, Q = N / M, where Q is greater than 1. FIG4 uses Q = 4 as an example, and this application does not limit Q to other values.

[0132] In a possible embodiment, the value of Q may be predefined or preconfigured.

[0133] In this application, predefined may refer to predefined configuration information such as factory configuration, or defined by relevant protocols such as 3GPP. In addition, in this application, preconfigured may refer to configuration by the base station through a prior message or signaling configuration. For example, after determining the configuration information, the base station configures the relevant configuration information to the terminal device through messages or information such as RRC messages, MAC control elements (CEs), or downlink control information (DCIs).

[0134] In a possible embodiment, any SSB and one or more CSI-RSs associated therewith may be multiplexed and transmitted using a TDM method, or multiplexed and transmitted using an FDM method, or multiplexed and transmitted using a TDM method and an FDM method.

[0135] In S101, the network device sends M SSBs and N CSI-RSs, which can be replaced by the description that the network device outputs M SSBs and N CSI-RSs. For example, "output" can refer to the network device sending M SSBs and N CSI-RSs to the terminal device. For another example, "output" can also refer to the baseband unit in the network device outputting M SSBs and N CSI-RSs to the radio frequency unit. For another example, "output" can also refer to the radio frequency unit in the network device sending M SSBs and N CSI-RSs to the terminal device through the air interface.

[0136] S102: The terminal device receives the first SSB and the first CSI-RS in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state.

[0137] For a terminal in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state, during the initial access process, the terminal device can detect the SSB to search for cells, obtain PCI, and perform time and frequency synchronization with the cell. The terminal device does not have to receive all N SSBs, but can receive one or more SSBs according to the implementation, that is, the first SSB can be a part of the M SSBs, such as the first SSB is an SSB. The terminal device can also detect the CSI-RS to obtain more detailed beam information. The terminal device can receive one or more CSIs among the N CSI-RSs according to the implementation, that is, the first CSI-RS can be a part of the N CSI-RSs, such as the first CSI-RS is a CSI-RS.

[0138] By extension, for non-initial access processes, the terminal device can also receive the SSB and / or CSI-RS for time-frequency synchronization, or for various measurement processes such as channel state measurement, wireless resource management measurement, or for the source of quasi-co-location relationship for other channels or signal transmissions.

[0139] S103: The network device sends a first PDCCH. The first PDCCH may be used to schedule a first PDSCH. The first PDSCH may be used to carry one of an SIB, a paging message, random access message 2, random access message B, or random access message 4. Alternatively, the first PDSCH may carry other downlink information transmitted for a terminal device in an RRC idle or inactive state.

[0140] Accordingly, the terminal device can receive the first PDCCH according to the first CSI-RS in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state.

[0141] By extension, the terminal device may also receive the first PDCCH according to the first SSB in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state, or receive the first PDCCH according to the first SSB and the first CSI-RS.

[0142] In S103, the network device sends the first PDCCH, which can be replaced by the following description: the network device outputs the first PDCCH. For example, "output" can refer to the network device sending the first PDCCH to the terminal device. For another example, "output" can refer to the baseband unit in the network device outputting the first PDCCH to the radio frequency unit. For another example, "output" can refer to the radio frequency unit in the network device sending the first PDCCH to the terminal device via the air interface.

[0143] S104: The network device sends a first PDSCH.

[0144] Accordingly, the terminal device can receive the first PDSCH according to the first SSB or the first CSI-RS in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state.

[0145] In S104, the network device sends the first PDSCH, which can be replaced by the following description: the network device outputs the first PDSCH. For example, "output" can refer to the network device sending the first PDSCH to the terminal device. For another example, "output" can refer to the baseband unit in the network device outputting the first PDSCH to the radio frequency unit. For another example, "output" can refer to the radio frequency unit in the network device sending the first PDSCH to the terminal device via the air interface.

[0146] Based on the method shown in Figure 3, the terminal device can receive the first PDCCH based on the first SSB in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state, or the first physical downlink shared channel based on the first SSB or the first CSI-RS, wherein the first SSB is one of the M SSBs, the first CSI-RS is one of the N CSI-RSs, and there is a correspondence between the M SSBs and the N CSI-RSs, and the correspondence is, for example, a quasi-co-location relationship. Therefore, downlink transmission can be performed based on CSI-RS and SSB, which can improve the channel coverage performance of the terminal device during the initial access process. In addition, the method can enhance channel coverage without increasing the number of SSBs or increasing the number of SSBs less, that is, it can reduce the resource overhead of the channel as much as possible while improving the coverage of each channel during the initial access process.

[0147] The following describes how to implement the M SSBs in S101 and S102.

[0148] In the present application, the M SSBs may have different identifiers (IDs), indexes, or numbers. The M SSBs may be transmitted using a TDM method or an FDM method. Alternatively, some of the M SSBs may be transmitted using a TDM method, while another part of the M SSBs may be transmitted using an FDM method.

[0149] Optionally, each SSB may contain PSS, SSS, and MIB.

[0150] The following describes the implementation of the N CSI-RSs in S101 and S102.

[0151] In a possible embodiment, the N CSI-RSs have different IDs, and each ID corresponds to a CSI-RS port (or simply port). In this case, any CSI-RS among the N CSI-RSs has only one port, or in other words, any CSI-RS is a single-port CSI-RS.

[0152] In another possible embodiment, the N CSI-RSs have less than N different IDs. For example, one or more CSI-RSs associated with the same SSB share the same ID. In this embodiment, the CSI-RSs sharing the same ID can support one or more ports. Taking the example of Q>1 CSI-RSs associated with each SSB, the N CSI-RSs can be considered as (N / Q) multi-port CSI-RSs, where any one of the (N / Q) multi-port CSI-RSs supports Q ports.

[0153] In one implementation of the present application, the time-domain positions of the N CSI-RSs may be predefined or preconfigured. In another implementation, the N CSI-RSs are defined within a time period. In this case, the time-domain positions of the N CSI-RSs may be considered relative time-domain positions within the time period. The length of the time period may be 5 ms, similar to the length of an existing SS burst set, or may be 10 ms, 20 ms, or another length.

[0154] The N CSI-RSs defined within the time period described above may be referred to as a CSI-RS burst set. Optionally, referring to an SSBburst set, a CSI-RS burst set may be periodically transmitted repeatedly, with a period of 5ms, 10ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms, 160ms, or 320ms, etc., without specific limitation.

[0155] In another implementation of the present application, the time domain positions of N CSI-RSs may be indicated by M SSBs. For example, any one of the M SSBs may be used to indicate configuration information of one or more CSI-RSs among the N CSI-RSs. The configuration information of any CSI-RS may include at least one of the following configuration information: time domain resource information, frequency domain resource information, code domain resource information, and power control information.

[0156] Specifically, any SSB can be used to indicate the configuration information of one or more CSI-RSs associated with the SSB. The configuration information of the CSI-RS can be carried on one or more of the PSS, SSS, or PBCH. For example, the SSB can be used to indicate the configuration information of Q CSI-RSs associated with the SSB. Alternatively, the SSB can be used to indicate the configuration information of all CSI-RSs. As an example, when the configurations of the CSI-RSs corresponding to any two SSBs among M SSBs are the same, the configuration information of all CSI-RSs can be indicated by one SSB.

[0157] The implementation of S103 is introduced below.

[0158] As an example, in S103, the network device may send N PDCCHs, and the first PDCCH may be one of the N PDCCHs. There may be a corresponding relationship between the N PDCCHs and the N CSI-RSs, for example, the N PDCCHs and the N CSI-RSs are quasi-co-located, or the DMRSs of the N PDCCHs and the N CSI-RSs are quasi-co-located. It can also be understood that there is a corresponding relationship between the first PDCCH among the N PDCCHs and the first CSI-RS among the N CSI-RSs, for example, the N PDCCHs correspond one-to-one to the N CSI-RSs. For example, the first PDCCH and its corresponding first CSI-RS are quasi-co-located, or the DMRS of the first PDCCH and the first CSI-RS corresponding to the first PDCCH are quasi-co-located.

[0159] In this example, the N PDCCHs may be sent according to the N CSI-RSs. For example, the network device may send one of the N PDCCHs according to one of the N CSI-RSs at different times.

[0160] In this application, transmitting PDCCH according to CSI-RS may mean that the network device uses the CSI-RS beam to send the PDCCH corresponding to the CSI-RS, or that the network device uses the same spatial filter as that used to send the CSI-RS to send the PDCCH corresponding to the CSI-RS to ensure that the PDCCH and the corresponding CSI-RS are quasi-co-located.

[0161] Exemplarily, this example may be applicable to transmission of system information or paging messages. For example, the first PDCCH may be used to schedule SIB or paging messages, that is, the first PDSCH may carry SIB or paging messages.

[0162] As another example, in S103, the network device may send a first PDCCH, and there may be a corresponding relationship between the first PDCCH and the first CSI-RS, for example, the first PDCCH and the first CSI-RS are quasi-co-located, or the DMRS of the first PDCCH and the first CSI-RS are quasi-co-located.

[0163] In this example, the network device may send the first PDCCH only according to the first CSI-RS to schedule the first PDSCH.

[0164] Exemplarily, this example can be applicable to the random access process, for example, the first PDCCH can be used to schedule one of random access message 2, random access message B or random access message 4, that is, the first PDSCH can carry one of random access message 2, random access message B or random access message 4.

[0165] The implementation of S104 is introduced below.

[0166] As an example, in S104, the network device may send M PDSCHs, and the first PDSCH may be one of the M PDSCHs. The M PDSCHs may correspond to the M SSBs, for example, the M PDSCHs are quasi-co-located with the M SSBs, or the DMRSs of the M PDSCHs are quasi-co-located with the M SSBs. It can also be said that the first PDSCH corresponds to the first SSB, for example, the M PDSCHs correspond one-to-one with the M SSBs. For example, the first PDSCH is quasi-co-located with its corresponding first SSB, or the DMRS of the first PDSCH is quasi-co-located with the first SSB corresponding to the first PDSCH.

[0167] Accordingly, the terminal device can receive the first PDSCH according to the first SSB in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state.

[0168] In this example, the M PDSCHs may be transmitted according to the M SSBs. For example, the network device may transmit one of the M PDSCHs according to one of the M SSBs at different times.

[0169] In this application, transmitting PDSCH according to SSB may mean that the network device uses an SSB beam to send the PDSCH corresponding to the SSB, or that the network device uses the same antenna as that used to send the SSB to send the PDSCH corresponding to the SSB to ensure that the PDSCH and the corresponding SSB are quasi-co-located.

[0170] Exemplarily, this example may be applicable to transmission of system information or transmission of a paging message, for example, the first PDSCH may carry an SIB or a paging message.

[0171] As another example, in S104, the network device may send N PDSCHs, and the first PDSCH may be one of the N PDSCHs. There may be a corresponding relationship between the N PDCCHs and the N CSI-RSs, for example, the N PDSCHs are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs, or the DMRSs of the N PDCCHs are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs. It can also be said that there is a corresponding relationship between the first PDSCH and the first CSI-RS, for example, the N PDSCHs are in one-to-one correspondence with the N CSI-RSs. There may be a quasi-co-located relationship between the first PDSCH and the first CSI-RS corresponding to the first PDSCH, or the DMRS of the first PDSCH is quasi-co-located with the first CSI-RS corresponding to the first PDSCH.

[0172] In this example, N PDSCHs may be sent according to N CSI-RSs. For example, the network device may send one of the N PDSCHs according to one of the N CSI-RSs at different times.

[0173] In this application, transmitting PDSCH according to CSI-RS may mean that the network device uses the CSI-RS beam to send the PDSCH corresponding to the CSI-RS, or that the network device uses the same antenna as that for sending the CSI-RS to send the PDCCH corresponding to the CSI-RS to ensure that the PDCCH and the corresponding CSI-RS are quasi-co-located.

[0174] Exemplarily, this example may be applicable to transmission of system information or transmission of a paging message. For example, the first PDSCH may carry an SIB or a paging message.

[0175] As another example, in S103, the network device may send a first PDSCH, and there may be a corresponding relationship between the first PDSCH and the first CSI-RS, for example, the first PDSCH and the first CSI-RS are quasi-co-located, or the DMRS of the first PDSCH and the first CSI-RS are quasi-co-located.

[0176] In this example, the network device may transmit the first PDSCH only according to the first CSI-RS.

[0177] Exemplarily, this example may be applicable to a random access procedure, for example, the first PDSCH may carry one of random access message 2, random access message B, or random access message 4.

[0178] An exemplary transmission method for the first PDSCH carrying SIB1 is described below in conjunction with Figure 5. Figure 5 takes the example of any SSB corresponding to Q=4 CSI-RSs, and the case where Q takes other values ​​can be implemented with reference to Figure 5.

[0179] As shown in Figure 5, the PDCCH that schedules SIB1 (represented as SIB1 PDCCH in Figure 5) is transmitted according to N CSI-RS beams, and the PDSCH that carries SIB1 (represented as SIB1 PDSCH in Figure 5) is transmitted according to M SSB beams. That is, the network device can send N SIB1 PDCCHs and M SIB1 PDSCHs. The SIB1 PDSCH shown in Figure 5 is one of the M SIB1 PDSCHs, and the SIB1 PDSCH corresponds to the first SSB, and the first SSB is one of the M SSBs. In addition, the SIB1 PDCCH shown in Figure 5 is Q SIB1 PDCCHs among the N SIB1 PDCCHs, and the Q SIB1 PDCCHs are respectively transmitted according to the Q CSI-RS corresponding to the first SSB. It can be understood that SIB1 PDCCH can also be described as a PDCCH that carries DCI scrambled by the system information-radio network temporary indentifier (SI-RNTI). The SI-RNTI scrambled DCI may be used to schedule SIB1.

[0180] It can be understood that in the transmission mode of Figure 5, for the same SSB, its corresponding Q SIB1 PDCCHs are quasi-co-located with the Q CSI-RSs associated with its associated SSB, and the SIB1 PDSCH is quasi-co-located with the associated SSB.

[0181] In this example, each of the M SSBs is associated with Q = 4 SIB1 PDCCHs and 1 SIB1 PDSCH. Each of the Q SIB1 PDCCHs can be used to schedule the SIB1 PDCCH. For a given SSB, the Q SIB1 PDCCHs corresponding to it jointly schedule the same SIB1 PDSCH, meaning that the scheduling information carried by the Q SIB1 PDCCHs is the same. Therefore, the Q SIB1 PDCCHs can be considered to be repeatedly transmitted.

[0182] For the terminal device, one or more of the N SIB1 PDCCHs mentioned above and one or more of the M SIB1 PDSCHs mentioned above can be received according to the implementation. For example, the terminal device receives one SIB1 PDCCH among N SIB1 PDCCHs and one SIB1 PDSCH among M SIB1 PDSCHs, the SIB1 PDCCH being the first PDCCH, and the SIB1 PDSCH being the first PDSCH. When receiving the SIB1 PDCCH, the terminal device can receive the SIB1 PDCCH by receiving the associated CSI-RS (such as the first CSI-RS), and / or, when receiving the SIB1 PDSCH, the terminal device can receive the SIB1 PDSCH by receiving the associated SSB (such as the first SSB), so as to reduce the reception complexity of the terminal device.

[0183] In this example, the SIB1 PDSCH is not transmitted using a CSI-RS beam. This is because the SIB1 message is transmitted repeatedly every 20 ms. The terminal device can improve SSB demodulation performance by receiving the repeated SIB1 transmissions multiple times, thus reducing SIB1 resource overhead. The trade-off is that the terminal may take longer to receive SIB1.

[0184] Optionally, other SIBs or paging messages other than SIB1 can be transmitted with reference to the scheme shown in Figure 5. That is, for other SIBs or paging messages other than SIB1, the PDCCH can be transmitted based on N CSI-RSs, and the PDSCH can be transmitted based on M SSBs. For example, the SIB1 PDCCH in Figure 5 can be replaced by the PDCCH of other SIBs, and the SIB1 PDSCH can be replaced by the PDSCH of other SIBs; or, the SIB1 PDCCH in Figure 5 can be replaced by the PDCCH of the paging message, and the SIB1 PDSCH can be replaced by the PDSCH of the paging message.

[0185] Another exemplary transmission method for the first PDSCH carrying SIB1 is described below in conjunction with Figure 6. Figure 6 takes the example of any SSB corresponding to Q=4 CSI-RSs, and the case where Q takes other values ​​can be implemented with reference to Figure 6.

[0186] Specifically, the PDCCH that schedules SIB1 (represented as SIB1 PDCCH in Figure 6) is transmitted according to N CSI-RS beams, and the PDSCH that carries SIB1 (represented as SIB1 PDSCH in Figure 6) is transmitted according to N CSI-RS beams. That is, the network device can send N SIB1 PDCCHs, as well as N SIB1 PDSCHs. The SIB1 PDSCH shown in Figure 6 is Q of the M SIB1PDSCHs, and the Q SIB1 PDSCHs correspond to Q CSI-RSs, and the Q CSI-RSs correspond to the first SSB, which is one of the M SSBs. In addition, the SIB1 PDCCH shown in Figure 6 is Q of the N SIB1 PDCCHs, and the Q SIB1 PDCCHs are transmitted according to the Q CSI-RSs corresponding to the first SSB.

[0187] The difference between the transmission mode shown in Figure 6 and the transmission mode shown in Figure 5 is that in Figure 6, both SIB1 PDCCH and SIB1 PDSCH are transmitted based on N CSI-RSs. In Figure 5, SIB1 PDCCH is transmitted based on N CSI-RSs, and SIB1 PDSCH is transmitted based on M SSBs.

[0188] In the transmission scheme of Figure 6, any one of the N CSI-RSs can be associated with a pair of SIB1 PDCCH and SIB1 PDSCH. The SIB1 PDCCH in any pair schedules the SIB1 PDSCH in the pair. Any pair of SIB1 PDCCH and SIB1 PDSCH can be quasi-co-located with the associated CSI-RS.

[0189] In other words, for any of the M SSBs, Q pairs of SIB1 PDCCHs and SIB1 PDSCHs can be associated, and the SIB1 PDCCH in any pair schedules the SIB1 PDSCH in that pair. In the Q pairs of SIB1 PDCCHs and SIB1 PDSCHs associated with any SSB, the SIB1 PDCCH and SIB1 PDSCH are quasi-co-located with the M CSI-RSs associated with the associated SSB.

[0190] For the terminal device, one or more of the above-mentioned N SIB1 PDCCHs can be received, and one or more of the above-mentioned N SIB1 PDSCHs can be received according to the implementation. Moreover, when receiving SIB1 PDCCH / PDSCH, the terminal device can receive SIB1 PDCCH / PDSCH by receiving the associated CSI-RS. Specifically, when receiving SIB1 PDCCH, the terminal device can receive SIB1 PDCCH by receiving the associated CSI-RS (such as the first CSI-RS), and / or, when receiving SIB1 PDSCH, the terminal device can receive SIB1 PDSCH by receiving the associated CSI-RS (such as the first CSI-RS), so as to reduce the reception complexity of the terminal device.

[0191] The advantage of the transmission method shown in Figure 6 is that both SIB1 PDCCH and SIB1 PDSCH are transmitted using CSI-RS beams, improving the coverage performance of SIB1. In addition, compared with the transmission method shown in Figure 5, the time it takes for a terminal device to receive SIB1 may be shorter.

[0192] Optionally, other SIBs or paging messages other than SIB1 can be transmitted with reference to the scheme shown in FIG6 . That is, for other SIBs or paging messages other than SIB1, the PDCCH can be transmitted based on N CSI-RSs, and the PDSCH can be transmitted based on N CSI-RSs. For example, the SIB1 PDCCH in FIG6 can be replaced with the PDCCH of other SIBs, and the SIB1 PDSCH can be replaced with the PDSCH of other SIBs; or, the SIB1 PDCCH in FIG6 can be replaced with the PDCCH of the paging message, and the SIB1 PDSCH can be replaced with the PDSCH of the paging message.

[0193] Considering that the repetition period of other SIBs besides SIB1 is generally relatively long, such as 80ms, 160ms, 320ms, 640ms, or 1280ms, the use of the example shown in FIG5 may result in a longer time interval for the terminal device to receive other SIBs. Therefore, for other SIBs, the implementation shown in FIG6 may be preferred over the implementation shown in FIG5.

[0194] In addition, for paging messages, considering that paging messages are not periodically retransmitted, in order to improve the coverage performance of the PDSCH of the paging message, the implementation shown in Figure 6 can be preferred over the implementation shown in Figure 5. If the paging message also supports periodic retransmission, the PDCCH and PDSCH of the paging message can also be transmitted according to the transmission method shown in Figure 5.

[0195] 7 , an exemplary transmission method for a first PDSCH carrying a random access message is described below. The random access message includes random access message 2, random access message B, or random access message 4. For the random access message, both the PDCCH and the PDSCH may be associated with the CSI-RS.

[0196] As shown in Figure 7, the PDCCH of the random access message can be used to schedule the PDSCH, and the PDSCH can be used to carry the random access message. Both the PDCCH and the PDSCH are associated with one of the N CSI-RSs (e.g., the first CSI-RS, shown in black in Figure 7), which is associated with a PRACH resource. This PRACH can be the resource used by the terminal device to send the preamble.

[0197] For a terminal device, after receiving one or more CSI-RSs sent by a network device, a CSI-RS (such as a first CSI-RS) can be selected, and then the PRACH resources associated with the selected CSI-RS can be used to send a preamble. Among them, this application does not limit the way in which the terminal device selects the CSI-RS for sending the preamble. Thereafter, when receiving a random access message, the terminal device can assume that the PDCCH and PDSCH of the random access message are quasi-co-located with the selected CSI-RS, that is, it is assumed that the PDCCH and PDSCH of the random access message are quasi-co-located with the CSI-RS associated with the PRACH resources used by the terminal device to send the preamble.

[0198] For network devices, when sending random access messages, the PDCCH and PDSCH of the random access message can be sent in the same way as the CSI-RS associated with the PRACH resources used by the terminal device to send the preamble. For example, the network device can only send the PDCCH and PDSCH corresponding to the first CSI-RS, without having to send the PDCCH and PDSCH corresponding to all N CSI-RSs, which can reduce transmission overhead.

[0199] The above random access message may be any one or more of random access message 2, random access message B or random access message 4. In the same four-step random access process, random access message 2 and random access message 4 may be associated with the same CSI-RS.

[0200] In the present application, N CSI-RSs may be multiplexed and transmitted using one or more of TDM, FDM, or CDM.

[0201] In a possible embodiment, the CSI-RSs associated with different SSBs are multiplexed using TDM, and FDM and / or CDM is used between the Q CSI-RSs associated with any one of the M SSBs, or the Q ports of a CSI associated with an SSB.

[0202] For example, taking Q=4 as an example, several possible time-frequency structures of Q CSI-RSs associated with the same SSB are shown in Figure 8. In Figure 8, each grid represents a resource block (RB), the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents frequency.

[0203] For example, as shown in number a in FIG8 , port 0 and port 1 use CDM multiplexing transmission, port 2 and port 3 use CDM multiplexing transmission, and port 0 and port 1 as well as port 2 and port 3 use FDM multiplexing transmission.

[0204] As shown in number b in FIG8 , port 0 and port 1 use CDM multiplexing transmission, port 2 and port 3 use CDM multiplexing transmission, and port 0 and port 1 as well as port 2 and port 3 use TDM multiplexing transmission.

[0205] As shown in number c in FIG8 , ports 0 to 3 adopt CDM multiplexing transmission.

[0206] As shown in number d in FIG8 , ports 0 to 3 adopt FDM multiplexing transmission.

[0207] In addition, different orthogonal cover code (OCC) lengths may be used between the N CSI-RSs.

[0208] It can be understood that when Q=8, several possible time-frequency structures of Q CSI-RSs associated with the same SSB are shown in FIG9 .

[0209] [Corrected 17.03.2025 according to Rule 91] For example, as shown in number a in Figure 9, port 0 and port 1 use CDM multiplexing for transmission, port 2 and port 3 use CDM multiplexing for transmission, port 4 and port 5 use CDM multiplexing for transmission, and port 6 and port 7 use CDM multiplexing for transmission. In addition, port 0 and port 1, port 2 and port 3, port 4 and port 5, and port 6 and port 7 use FDM multiplexing for transmission.

[0210] [Corrected 17.03.2025 according to Rule 91] As shown in Figure 9, number b, port 0 and port 1 use CDM multiplexing for transmission, port 2 and port 3 use CDM multiplexing for transmission, port 4 and port 5 use CDM multiplexing for transmission, and port 6 and port 7 use CDM multiplexing for transmission. In addition, port 0 and port 1, and port 4 and port 5 use TDM multiplexing for transmission, and port 2 and port 3, and port 6 and port 7 use TDM multiplexing for transmission.

[0211] [Corrected 17.03.2025 according to Rule 91] As shown in Figure 9, number c, ports 0 to 3 use CDM multiplexing for transmission, and ports 4 to 7 use CDM multiplexing for transmission. Ports 0 to 3 and ports 4 to 7 use FDM multiplexing for transmission.

[0212] In one possible implementation, the multiplexing mode between the Q CSI-RSs associated with any one of the M SSBs, or the Q ports associated with one CSI, can be predefined or indicated by the base station. For example, the base station can indicate the multiplexing mode of the CSI-RS through the SSB. For example, the spare bit in the MIB can indicate the multiplexing mode. Alternatively, one of the 8 timing bits added in the PBCH payload can be used to indicate the multiplexing mode. and / or Bit, used to indicate the multiplexing mode. Indicates the bit information set carried in PBCH, and Respectively represent two bits in the above information set. For example, Indicates the first bit in the above bit set bits, Indicates the bit set For example, when the two bits are "00", it means the multiplexing mode is TDM; when the two bits are "01", it means the multiplexing mode is FDM; and when the two bits are "10", it means the multiplexing mode is CDM.

[0213] Optionally, the CSI-RS multiplexing mode may also be determined or indicated by the CSI-RS time-frequency resources. That is, different CSI-RS time-frequency resources may represent the multiplexing mode. In this case, the CSI-RS multiplexing mode may be indicated by the indication information of the CSI-RS time-frequency resources, so separate information or bits are not required to indicate the multiplexing mode.

[0214] In various embodiments of the present application, the bandwidth of the CSI-RS may be greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the SSB associated with the CSI-RS.

[0215] For example, the bandwidth of the CSI-RS and the bandwidth of the SSB associated with the CSI-RS are the same. As shown in number a in Figure 10, the bandwidth of the CSI-RS and the bandwidth of the SSB associated with the CSI-RS both occupy 20 physical resource blocks (PRBs) or 2 RBs.

[0216] For another example, the bandwidth of the CSI-RS may occupy part or all of the bandwidth of the initial downlink bandwidth part (bandwidth part, BWP). The initial downlink BWP may be defined by the frequency domain resources of CORESET0 configured in the MIB, and its definition method is not limited to the content of this application. At this time, the bandwidth of the CSI-RS may be greater than the bandwidth of the SSB associated with the CSI-RS. For example, as shown by number b in Figure 10, the bandwidth of the CSI-RS may occupy the entire bandwidth of the initial downlink BWP. When the bandwidth of the CSI-RS is greater than the bandwidth of the SSB associated with the CSI-RS, the terminal device may be supported to perform CSI measurement and reporting based on the CSI-RS in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state. The implementation method of the CSI reporting is, for example:

[0217] Method 1: CSI reporting through the random access process. For example, for the random access process, the terminal device can report the CSI measurement results through the uplink physical shared channel (PUSCH) used to carry random access message 3 and random access message A, or through the uplink control information (PUCCH) of random access message 4 or the PUCCH of random access message B. Among them, the PUCCH of random access message 4 can be used for hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement HARQ-ACK feedback of random access message 4, and the PUCCH of random access message B can be used for HARQ-ACK feedback of random access message B.

[0218] In this implementation, the performance of the random access process and subsequent channel or signal transmission can be improved.

[0219] Mode 2: CSI reporting is performed through a small data transmission (SDT) process. For example, if the terminal device supports SDT, the terminal device can report CSI measurement results through PUCCH or PUSCH. Among them, SDT can include RA-based SDT or non-RA-based SDT, which is not specifically limited. In this embodiment, the performance of SDT transmission can be improved.

[0220] In one possible implementation, in various embodiments of the present application, processes such as cell selection / reselection and idle state RRM measurement are still performed based on SSB. The CSI-RS in this application is only used for the transmission of SIB and other common channels / signals. The CSI-RS in this application can also be replaced by other reference signals. For example, the reference signal having the CSI-RS function in this application can have other names.

[0221] In one possible implementation manner, in various embodiments of the present application, the SSB associated with the CSI-RS may refer to a cell-defined SSB (CD-SSB). That is to say, a non-cell-defined SSB (NCD-SSB) may not be associated with the CSI-RS. Among them, the CD-SSB may be considered as an SSB associated with SIB1, and the NCD-SSB may be considered as an SSB not associated with SIB1. Since the CD-SSB is associated with SIB1, it can be used for the terminal device to obtain SIB1, and can be used for processes such as the initial access of the terminal device, while the NCD-SSB can only be used for measurement and cannot be used for processes such as the initial access of the terminal device.

[0222] It is understandable that in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the communication device provided in this application may include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the functions of the first communication device and / or the second communication device. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and method steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, this 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 by computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0223] Figures 11 and 12 are schematic diagrams of the structures of possible communication devices provided by embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the first communication device and / or the second communication device in the above-mentioned method embodiment, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above-mentioned method embodiment. Among them, the first communication device and / or the second communication device can be used as a terminal or a network device, respectively. In an embodiment of the present application, the communication device can be a terminal or a network device as shown in Figure 1, or it can be a module (such as a chip) applied to a terminal or a network device.

[0224] As shown in Figure 11, a communication device 1100 includes a processing unit 1110 and a transceiver unit (or interface unit) 1120. The communication device 1100 is used to implement the functions of a terminal or network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 3 above.

[0225] When communication apparatus 1100 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG3 , transceiver unit 1120 may be configured to transmit M SSBs and N CSI-RSs. Processing unit 1110 may be configured to generate M SSBs and N CSI-RSs. Transceiver unit 1120 may also be configured to transmit a first PDCCH and a first PDSCH.

[0226] When the communication apparatus 1100 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG3 : the transceiver unit 1120 may be configured to receive the first SSB and the first CSI-RS in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state. The transceiver unit 1120 may also be configured to receive the first PDCCH based on the first CSI-RS in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state, and receive the first PDSCH based on the first SSB or the first CSI-RS in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state.

[0227] For a more detailed description of the actions involved in the above-mentioned processing unit 1110 and the transceiver unit 1120, reference may be made to the relevant description in the method embodiment shown in FIG3 .

[0228] As shown in Figure 12, communication device 1200 includes one or more processors 1210 and an interface circuit 1220. Processor 1210 and interface circuit 1220 are coupled to each other. It will be appreciated that interface circuit 1220 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, communication device 1200 may also include a memory 1230 for storing instructions executed by processor 1210, input data required by processor 1210 to execute instructions, or data generated by processor 1210 after executing instructions.

[0229] When the communication device 1200 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 3 , the processor 1210 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 1110 , and the interface circuit 1220 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 1120 .

[0230] When the above-mentioned communication device is a module or chip applied to a terminal device, the module or chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The module or chip receives information through other modules (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information can be received by other modules over the air interface and then transmitted to the module or chip; or the module or chip sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the other modules send the information over the air interface.

[0231] When the above-mentioned communication device is a module or chip applied to a network device (such as a base station), the communication device implements the functions of the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The module or chip can be used to receive information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is received by other modules through the air interface; or, the module or chip can send information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and is used for other modules to send the information through the air interface. The module or chip here can be a baseband chip, or a CU, DU or other module, or a device under the O-RAN architecture, such as an open CU, open DU and other devices.

[0232] 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.

[0233] 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 the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or an O-RAN. The processor and the storage medium can also exist as discrete components in a base station or an O-RAN.

[0234] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions, which may also be referred to as a computer program, computer program code, etc. The instructions are executed on a computer, causing the computer to execute the method shown in FIG. 3 of the above method embodiment and in various embodiments of the present application.

[0235] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, including a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are executed on a computer, the method shown in FIG. 3 and various embodiments of the present application is implemented.

[0236] An embodiment of the present application also provides a chip or chip system, including circuits (such as analog circuits and / or logic circuits; or it can be understood that the chip system includes one or more processors, and one or more processors may include circuits, etc.), or it can be understood that the chip includes a processor. The circuit or processor is coupled to the memory and is used to execute the computer program or instructions stored in the memory, so that the methods shown in Figure 3 and the various embodiments of the present application are implemented. The chip or chip system may also include an input and output interface. For example, taking the chip implementing the function of an access network device as an example, the chip can receive information from other modules of the access network device (such as radio frequency or antenna, etc.) through the input and output interface, and the information may be sent by the terminal to the access network device. Alternatively, the chip can send information to other modules in the access network device (such as radio frequency or antenna, etc.) through the input and output interface, and the information is sent by the access network device to the terminal, etc.

[0237] The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, including a first communication device and a second communication device. The first communication device and the second communication device can be used to implement the functions of the terminal and the network device in the present application, respectively.

[0238] 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.

[0239] 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 by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0240] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more" 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.

[0241] It is understood that the various numbers used in the embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Receiving a first synchronization signal broadcast block SSB and a first channel state information reference signal CSI-RS in a radio resource control RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state, where the first SSB is one of M SSBs, the first CSI-RS is one of N CSI-RSs, and the M SSBs correspond to the N CSI-RSs, where M and N are both positive integers greater than or equal to 1, and N is greater than or equal to M; receiving a first physical downlink control channel according to the first CSI-RS in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state; or, A first physical downlink shared channel is received according to the first SSB or the first CSI-RS in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state, wherein the first physical downlink control channel is used to schedule the first physical downlink shared channel.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The receiving a first physical downlink control channel according to the first SSB or the first CSI-RS includes: The first physical downlink control channel is received according to the first CSI-RS, where the first physical downlink control channel is one of N physical downlink control channels, and the N physical downlink control channels correspond to the N CSI-RSs.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein The N physical downlink control channels and the N CSI-RSs have a corresponding relationship, including: The N physical downlink control channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs; or, The demodulation reference signals DMRS of the N physical downlink control channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The receiving a first physical downlink shared channel according to the first SSB or the first CSI-RS includes: The first physical downlink shared channel is received according to the first SSB, where the first physical downlink shared channel is one of M physical downlink shared channels, and there is a correspondence between the M physical downlink shared channels and the M SSBs.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein The M physical downlink shared channels and the M SSBs have a corresponding relationship, including: The M physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the M SSBs; or, The DMRSs of the M physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the M SSBs.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: The receiving a first physical downlink shared channel according to the first SSB or the first CSI-RS includes: The first physical downlink shared channel is received according to the first CSI-RS, where the first physical downlink shared channel is one of N physical downlink shared channels, and the N physical downlink shared channels correspond to the N CSI-RSs.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein The N physical downlink shared channels and the N CSI-RSs have a corresponding relationship, including: The N physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs; or, The demodulation reference signals DMRS of the N physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs.

8. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein Each of the N physical downlink shared channels carries a system information block SIB; or, Each of the M physical downlink shared channels carries an SIB; or, Each of the N physical downlink shared channels carries a paging message; or, Each of the M physical downlink shared channels carries a paging message.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein The receiving a first physical downlink control channel according to the first SSB or the first CSI-RS includes: The first physical downlink control channel is received according to the first CSI-RS, and there is a corresponding relationship between the first physical downlink control channel and the first CSI-RS.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein The first physical downlink control channel and the first CSI-RS have a corresponding relationship, including: The first physical downlink control channel is quasi-co-located with the first CSI-RS; or, The demodulation reference signal DMRS of the first physical downlink control channel is quasi co-located with the first CSI-RS.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1, 9-10, characterized in that: The receiving a first physical downlink shared channel according to the first SSB or the first CSI-RS includes: The first physical downlink shared channel is received according to the first CSI-RS, and the first physical downlink shared channel corresponds to the first CSI-RS.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein The first physical downlink shared channel and the first CSI-RS have a corresponding relationship, including: The first physical downlink shared channel is quasi-co-located with the first CSI-RS; or, The demodulation reference signal DMRS of the first physical downlink shared channel is quasi co-located with the first CSI-RS.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1, 9 to 12, wherein: The first physical downlink shared channel carries random access message 2 or random access message B or random access message 4.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1, 9 to 13, wherein: The method further comprises: A random access preamble is sent using a first physical random access channel PRACH resource, where the first PRACH resource corresponds to the first CSI-RS.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein The M SSBs and the N CSI-RSs have a corresponding relationship, including: Any SSB among the M SSBs is quasi-co-located with Q CSI-RSs among the N CSI-RSs, where Q is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein: Any SSB among the M SSBs is used to indicate configuration information of one or more CSI-RSs among the N CSI-RSs, and the configuration information includes at least one of the following configuration information: time domain resource information, frequency domain resource information, code domain resource information, and power control information.

17. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Send M SSBs and N CSI-RSs, where the M SSBs correspond to the N CSI-RSs, where M and N are both positive integers greater than or equal to 1, and N is greater than or equal to M; Sending a first physical downlink control channel, where the first physical downlink control channel corresponds to a first CSI-RS, wherein the first CSI-RS is one of the N CSI-RSs; or Sending a first physical downlink shared channel, where the first physical downlink shared channel corresponds to the first CSI-RS or the first SSB, and the first SSB is one of the M SSBs, wherein the first physical downlink control channel is used to schedule the first physical downlink shared channel; The first physical downlink shared channel carries one of an SIB, a paging message, a random access message 2, a random access message B or a random access message 4.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein The sending of the first physical downlink control channel includes: N physical downlink control channels are sent, where the first physical downlink control channel is one of the N physical downlink control channels, and the N physical downlink control channels correspond to the N CSI-RSs.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein The N first physical downlink control channels and the N CSI-RSs have a corresponding relationship, including: The N physical downlink control channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs; or, The DMRSs of the N physical downlink control channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs.

20. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 19, wherein: The sending of the first physical downlink shared channel includes: M physical downlink shared channels are sent, where the first physical downlink shared channel is one of the M physical downlink shared channels, and the M physical downlink shared channels correspond to the M SSBs.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein The M physical downlink shared channels and the M SSBs have a corresponding relationship, including: The M physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the M SSBs; or, The DMRSs of the M physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the M SSBs.

22. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 21, wherein: The sending of the first physical downlink shared channel includes: N physical downlink shared channels are sent, where the first physical downlink shared channel is one of the N physical downlink shared channels, and the N physical downlink shared channels correspond to the N CSI-RSs.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein The N physical downlink shared channels and the N CSI-RSs have a corresponding relationship, including: The N physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs; or, The demodulation reference signals DMRS of the N physical downlink shared channels are quasi-co-located with the N CSI-RSs.

24. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 23, wherein Each of the N physical downlink shared channels carries a SIB; or, Each of the M physical downlink shared channels carries an SIB; or, Each of the N physical downlink shared channels carries a paging message; or, Each of the M physical downlink shared channels carries a paging message.

25. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 24, wherein: The first physical downlink control channel and the first CSI-RS have a corresponding relationship, including: The first physical downlink control channel is quasi-co-located with the first CSI-RS; or, The demodulation reference signal DMRS of the first physical downlink control channel is quasi co-located with the first CSI-RS.

26. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 25, wherein: The first physical downlink shared channel and the first CSI-RS have a corresponding relationship, including: The first physical downlink shared channel is quasi-co-located with the first CSI-RS; or, The demodulation reference signal DMRS of the first physical downlink shared channel is quasi co-located with the first CSI-RS.

27. The method according to any one of claims 17, 25-26, characterized in that: The method further comprises: A preamble is received using a first PRACH resource, where the first PRACH resource corresponds to a first CSI-RS, and the first CSI-RS is one of the N CSI-RSs.

28. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 27, wherein: The M SSBs and the N CSI-RSs have a corresponding relationship, including: Any SSB among the M SSBs is quasi-co-located with Q CSI-RSs among the N CSI-RSs, where Q is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

29. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 28, wherein: Any SSB among the M SSBs is used to indicate configuration information of one or more CSI-RSs among the N CSI-RSs, and the configuration information includes at least one of the following configuration information: time domain resource information, frequency domain resource information, code domain resource information, and power control information.

30. A communication method, characterized in that: The second communication device sends M SSBs and N CSI-RSs, where the M SSBs correspond to the N CSI-RSs, where M and N are both positive integers greater than or equal to 1, and N is greater than or equal to M; The first communication device receives a first SSB and a first CSI-RS in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state, where the first SSB is one of the M SSBs and the first CSI-RS is one of the N CSI-RSs; The second communication device sends a first physical downlink control channel, and the first communication device receives the first physical downlink control channel according to the first CSI-RS in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state; or The second communication device sends a first physical downlink shared channel, and the first communication device receives the first physical downlink shared channel according to the first SSB or the first CSI-RS in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state; The first physical downlink control channel is used to schedule the first physical downlink shared channel.

31. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises one or more processors configured to execute computer programs or instructions to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, or to implement the method according to any one of claims 17 to 29.

32. A chip or a chip system, characterized in that: The method comprises a circuit configured to execute a computer program or instruction to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, or to implement the method according to any one of claims 17 to 29.

33. 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 16 is implemented, or the method according to any one of claims 17 to 29 is implemented.

34. A computer program product, characterized in that When the computer program product is executed by a computer, the computer executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, or executes the method according to any one of claims 17 to 29.

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