Communication method and apparatus, and computer readable storage medium

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and apparatus, and a computer readable storage medium. The method may comprise: a terminal device sending indication information to a network device, wherein the indication information is used for determining a first time unit, and the first time unit is a time unit for measuring an SSB in an SMTC; and performing uplink and downlink transmission with the network device on a second time unit, wherein the second time unit is a time unit in the SMTC other than the first time unit. Embodiments of the present application can avoid resource waste and improve the capacity of a network system.

Description

Communication method, device and computer-readable storage medium

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on February 6, 2024, with application number 202410174393.1 and application name “A communication method, device and computer-readable storage medium”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular to a communication method, device, and computer-readable storage medium. Background Art

[0003] For extended reality (XR) transmission services and video transmission services, the current new radio (NR) specification allows the network to configure a search threshold (such as s-MeasureConfig) for terminal devices in connected mode to reduce co-frequency measurements. If the network configures a search threshold for the terminal device, the terminal device is allowed not to perform measurements on non-serving cells, thereby reducing scheduling restrictions. However, if the terminal device does not perform co-frequency measurements, this may result in idle scheduling opportunities. Since the network side does not know when the terminal device reaches the search threshold, the network device still needs to comply with the predefined scheduling restrictions, resulting in a decrease in the capacity of the network system. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, apparatus, and computer-readable storage medium that can improve the capacity of a network system.

[0005] In the first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a terminal device, or to a device in a terminal device (for example, a chip, or a chip system, or a circuit), or a device that can be used with a terminal device. The following description is given by taking the application to a terminal device as an example. The method may include: the terminal device sends indication information to a network device, and the indication information is used to determine a first time unit, where the first time unit is a time unit for measuring an SSB in a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB)) measurement timing configuration (SMTC); and performs uplink and downlink transmission with the network device on a second time unit, where the second time unit is a time unit other than the first time unit in the SMTC.

[0006] In the solution provided in this embodiment, the terminal device can notify the network device SMTC through indication information which time units are used for co-frequency measurement SSB (the first time unit mentioned in the embodiment of the present application), thereby transmitting data with the network device in the time unit in the SMTC where co-frequency measurement SSB is not performed (the second time unit mentioned in the embodiment of the present application). Unlike performing co-frequency measurement SSB on all time units in the SMTC, the embodiment of the present application performs measurement on the time unit that requires co-frequency measurement SSB according to the indication information, and the remaining time units in the SMTC can be used to transmit data, thereby avoiding resource waste and improving the capacity of the network system.

[0007] In one possible implementation, the indication information indicates the time slot in the SMTC for measuring SSB. Through the solution provided by this embodiment, the terminal device can notify the network device through the indication information which time slots in the SMTC will be used for measuring SSB in the current SMTC and / or all subsequent SMTCs, so that the network device can transmit data with the terminal device in the time slot where SSB is not measured, thereby avoiding resource waste and improving the capacity of the network system.

[0008] In one possible implementation, when the indication information indicates the time slot in the SMTC for measuring SSB, the indication information also indicates the symbol in the time slot in the SMTC for measuring SSB. Through the solution provided by this embodiment, the terminal device can notify the network device of which time slots and which symbols in the SMTC will be used to measure SSB in the current SMTC and / or all subsequent SMTCs through two-level indication (the first level indicates the time slot, and the second level indicates the symbol in the time slot), thereby achieving more detailed resource indication, allowing the network device to transmit data with the terminal device in the time slot and symbol where SSB is not measured, thereby avoiding resource waste and improving the capacity of the network system.

[0009] In one possible implementation, when the indication information indicates the time slot in which the SSB is measured in the SMTC, the indication information also indicates the SSB corresponding to the time slot in which the SSB is measured in the SMTC. Through the solution provided by this embodiment, the terminal device can notify the network device of which SSBs in which time slots in the SMTC will be measured in the current SMTC and / or all subsequent SMTCs through two-level indication (the first level indicates the time slot, and the second level indicates the SSB corresponding to the time slot), and then determine the first time unit based on the SSB and the predefined time-frequency pattern, so as to achieve more detailed resource indication, so that the network device transmits data with the terminal device in the time slot and symbol where the SSB is not measured, thereby avoiding resource waste and improving the capacity of the network system.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the indication information indicates the information of the beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC. Through the solution provided by this embodiment, the terminal device notifies the network device through the indication information which beams will be measured in the current SMTC and / or all the next SMTCs, for example, it can be indicated by a beam index. So that the network device can determine the SSB based on the information of the beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC indicated by the indication information and the correspondence between the beam and the SSB (for example, one beam corresponds to one SSB), and determine the time unit for measuring the SSB in the SMTC based on the position of the SSB in the time domain in the SSB and the predefined time domain pattern, so that the network device transmits data with the terminal device in the time slot and symbol where the SSB is not measured, thereby avoiding waste of resources and improving the capacity of the network system.

[0011] In one possible implementation method, the indication information indicates that the beam for measuring SSB in SMTC is an adjacent beam to the beam currently used by the terminal device. Through the solution provided by this embodiment, the terminal device can notify the network device which beams will be measured in the current SMTC and / or all subsequent SMTCs through the indication information. Furthermore, the terminal device can report based on the beam currently in use. Since the terminal device may switch beams to adjacent beams of the current beam, it is only necessary to indicate that the beam for measuring SSB in SMTC is an adjacent beam to the beam currently used by the terminal device, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0012] In a possible implementation, the method may further include: after the terminal device sends indication information to the network device, activating the timer; within the activation duration of the timer, measuring the SSB at the first time unit according to the indication information.

[0013] In a possible implementation, the method may further include: when the timer times out, measuring the SSB at all time units in the SMTC.

[0014] In a possible implementation, the method may further include: the terminal device sending the activation duration of the timer to the network device.

[0015] In a possible implementation, the method may further include: the terminal device sends the index of the antenna panel used by the terminal device in the SMTC to the network device. Through the solution provided by this embodiment, when the terminal device has multiple antenna panels, the terminal device sends the antenna panel used in the SMTC to the network device, so that the network device can obtain the measurement results of multiple antenna panels (multiple SMTCs correspond to multiple antenna panels), and further know whether the measurement results of the multiple antenna panels are balanced, etc., so that the measurement results of the multiple antenna panels can be used as the basis for subsequent decision-making switching and scheduling. For example, the network device can use the measurement results of the antenna panel to decide whether to switch to the antenna panel corresponding to the best measurement result, or the network device can also comprehensively determine whether to schedule multi-stream data and use a suitable modulation and coding scheme (MCS) based on the measurement results of multiple antenna panels.

[0016] In one possible implementation, the antenna panel used by the terminal device in the SMTC includes a first antenna panel and a second antenna panel. The method may also include: using the first antenna panel to measure SSB in the first time unit in the SMTC, and using the second antenna panel to perform uplink and downlink services in the second time unit in the SMTC.

[0017] In a possible implementation manner, the indication information is carried by one of radio resource control (RRC), medium access control control element (MAC CE) or uplink control information (UCI).

[0018] In a possible implementation, uplink and downlink transmission includes monitoring downlink control information (DCI), transmitting and / or receiving uplink and downlink channels or signals.

[0019] In the second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a network device, or to a device in a network device (for example, a chip, or a chip system, or a circuit), or a device that can be used in combination with a network device. The following description is given using the application to a network device as an example. The method may include: the network device receives indication information from a terminal device; determining a first time unit based on the indication information, where the first time unit is a time unit for measuring the SSC in the SMTC; performing uplink and downlink transmission with the terminal device on a second time unit, where the second time unit is a time unit other than the first time unit in the SMTC.

[0020] In the solution provided in this embodiment, the network device can determine which time units in the SMTC the terminal device uses to perform the same-frequency measurement SSB (the first time unit mentioned in the embodiment of the present application) through the indication information, thereby performing data transmission with the terminal device on the time unit in the SMTC where the same-frequency measurement SSB is not performed (the second time unit mentioned in the embodiment of the present application). Unlike the case where the terminal device performs the same-frequency measurement SSB on all time units in the SMTC, and therefore all time units in the SMTC cannot perform data transmission with the terminal device, resulting in a small network system capacity, the embodiment of the present application performs measurement on the time unit that requires the same-frequency measurement SSB according to the indication information, and the remaining time units in the SMTC can be used to transmit data, thereby avoiding resource waste and improving the capacity of the network system.

[0021] It should be understood that the executor of the second aspect can be a network device, and the specific content of the second aspect corresponds to the content of the first aspect. The corresponding features of the second aspect and the beneficial effects achieved can refer to the description of the first aspect. To avoid repetition, the detailed description is appropriately omitted here.

[0022] In a possible implementation manner, the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

[0023] In a possible implementation manner, when the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC, the indication information also indicates the symbol in the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

[0024] In a possible implementation, when the indication information indicates the time slot in which the SSB is measured in the SMTC, the indication information further indicates the SSB corresponding to the time slot in which the SSB is measured in the SMTC;

[0025] Determining the time unit for measuring SSB in the synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block SSB measurement timing configuration SMTC according to the indication information includes: determining the time unit for measuring SSB in the SMTC according to the SSB corresponding to the time slot for measuring SSB in the SMTC indicated by the indication information and the position of the SSB in the time domain in the predefined time domain pattern; wherein different subcarrier spacings support different maximum numbers of SSBs and time domain patterns.

[0026] In a possible implementation manner, the indication information indicates information of a beam for measuring SSB in the SMTC;

[0027] Determining the time unit for measuring SSB in the synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block SSB measurement timing configuration SMTC according to the indication information includes: determining the SSB according to the information of the beam for measuring SSB in the SMTC indicated by the indication information and the correspondence between the beam and the SSB; determining the time unit for measuring SSB in the SMTC according to the position of the SSB in the time domain in the SSB and a predefined time domain pattern; wherein different subcarrier spacings support different maximum numbers of SSBs and time domain patterns.

[0028] In one possible implementation, the indication information indicates that the beam for measuring SSB in the SMTC is an adjacent beam to the beam currently used by the terminal device.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the method may further include: the network device receiving an activation duration of a timer from the terminal device.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the method may further include: the network device receiving, from the terminal device, an index of an antenna panel used by the terminal device in the SMTC.

[0031] In a possible implementation manner, the indication information is carried by one of RRC, MAC CE or UCI.

[0032] In a possible implementation, uplink and downlink transmission includes monitoring DCI, transmitting and / or receiving uplink and downlink channels or signals.

[0033] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication device comprising a module / unit for executing any of the methods described in the first aspect and its possible implementations. The device may be a terminal device, a module (e.g., a chip, a chip system, or a processor) applied to a terminal device, or a logical node, a logical module, or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the terminal device.

[0034] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising a module / unit for performing any of the methods described in the second aspect and its possible implementations. The device may be a network device, or a module (e.g., a chip, a chip system, or a processor) applied to a network device, or a logical node, logic module, or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the network device.

[0035] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be a terminal device or a device in a terminal device (e.g., a chip, a chip system, or a circuit). The communication device may include a processor coupled to a memory, the memory being used to store programs or instructions. When the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the communication device executes the method performed by the terminal device or the device in the terminal device in the above method embodiment.

[0036] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be a network device or a device in a network device (e.g., a chip, a chip system, or a circuit). The communication device may include a processor coupled to a memory, the memory being used to store programs or instructions. When the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the communication device executes the method performed by the network device or the device in the network device in the above method embodiment.

[0037] In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or computer instructions. When the computer program or computer instructions are run on a computer, the computer executes the method in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0038] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising program instructions, which, when run on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0039] In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a chip system comprising a processor for implementing the functions of each of the above methods. In one possible implementation, the chip system may further comprise a memory for storing program instructions and / or data. The chip system may be composed of a chip alone or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0040] In the tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes a terminal device and a network device. When the terminal device and the network device are running in the communication system, they are used to execute any one of the methods described in the first to second aspects above. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for describing the embodiments.

[0042] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a mobile communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] FIG2 is an interactive diagram of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] FIG3 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] FIG4 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] FIG5 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] FIG6 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0048] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, " / " means "or", for example, A / B can mean A or B. "And / or" in this application is merely a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, "at least one" can refer to one or more, and "a plurality" can refer to two or more. "First", "second", etc. do not limit the quantity and execution order, and "first", "second", etc. do not limit them to be necessarily different.

[0049] It should be noted that, in this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0050] In the description of this application, "indication" may include direct indication and indirect indication, and may also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information (such as the indication information described below) is called information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated. For example, the information to be indicated can be directly indicated, such as indicating the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. For another example, the information to be indicated can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, and there is an association between the other indicated information and the information to be indicated. For another example, only a part of the information to be indicated can be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. In addition, the indication of specific information can be achieved by means of the pre-agreed (such as specified in the protocol) order of arrangement of each information, thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent.

[0051] The following is a description of the technical terms that may appear in the examples of this application. The terms used in the embodiments of this application are only used to explain the specific examples of this application and are not intended to limit this application. It should be understood that the definitions of each technical term below are only examples. For example, with the continuous development of technology, the scope of the above definitions may also change, and the examples of this application do not limit them.

[0052] (1) Extended reality (XR)

[0053] In recent years, with the continuous development of the fifth-generation (5G) communication system, data transmission latency has been continuously reduced and transmission capacity has become increasingly larger. 5G communication systems have gradually penetrated into some multimedia services with strong real-time requirements and large data capacity requirements, such as video transmission, cloud gaming (CG) and XR, among which XR includes virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

[0054] With the rapid increase in communication transmission rates, real-time video transmission has gradually become one of the core services in current networks. The continuous advancement and improvement of extended reality technology has also led to the rapid development of related industries. Today, VR technology, as a type of XR, has entered various fields closely related to people's production and daily life, such as education, entertainment, military, medical care, environmental protection, transportation, and public health. Compared with traditional video services, VR offers advantages such as multiple perspectives and strong interactivity, providing users with a brand new visual experience.

[0055] In addition to smartphones, people are increasingly looking to enhance their XR experience through terminal devices such as head-mounted displays (HMDs) or smart glasses (such as VR glasses and AR glasses). Unlike smartphones, head-mounted displays and smart glasses require more consideration of power consumption. Smart glasses, in particular, are very small in size, similar to prescription glasses, and are expected to be worn for long periods of time, so power consumption control is significantly higher than that of smartphones. In cloud gaming, the UE can be a smartphone or a tablet. For long-term cloud gaming experiences, the power consumption of the device and the battery life are also important aspects to consider. Therefore, as XR devices become increasingly lightweight, the power consumption of the device has become a key issue in current research while ensuring user experience.

[0056] (2) Synchronous Signal Measurement Timing Configuration (SMTC)

[0057] To avoid high power consumption caused by unnecessary searches by terminal devices, NR introduces the concept of SMTC. SMTC is a window configured by the network for terminal devices to perform SSB measurements. The UE only needs to perform SSB measurements within the SMTC window and does not need to perform SSB measurements outside the window. SMTC period and offset can be configured based on the SSB period and offset. Terminal devices measure NR SSBs based on the SMTC window configured by the network. SMTC can be configured for SSBs at different frequencies. For intra-frequency measurements in connected mode, the network can configure up to two SMTC windows per frequency for the terminal device. For inter-frequency measurements in connected mode, the network can configure up to one SMTC window per frequency for the terminal device. The configuration parameters of an SMTC window include: SMTC timing: The period and offset of the SMTC window. The SMTC period can be 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, or 160 ms. SMTC duration: The length of the SMTC window, which also has a granularity of 1 ms and can be 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 meters.

[0058] (3) Measuring gap

[0059] Currently, network equipment can configure neighboring cell measurement methods for terminal devices based on their capabilities, such as inter-frequency and inter-system measurement control tasks. These methods can be broadly categorized into two types: Cell Measurement Method 1: Measurement based on gaps (measurement gaps). During the measurement gaps, the terminal device interrupts data transmission and reception with the serving cell to perform neighboring cell measurements. Cell Measurement Method 2: No-gap neighboring cell measurement, i.e., measurement not based on measurement gaps.

[0060] (4) For a half-frame containing an SS / PBCH block, the first symbol index of the candidate SS / PBCH block is determined according to the SCS of the SS / PBCH block as follows, where index 0 corresponds to the first symbol of the first time slot in the half-frame.

[0061] Case A: 15 kHz SCS, the index of the first symbol of the candidate SS / PBCH block is {2, 8} + 14·n. For operation without shared spectrum channel access: for carrier frequencies less than or equal to 3 GHz, n = 0, 1; for carrier frequencies greater than 3 GHz in FR1, n = 0, 1, 2, 3. For operation with shared spectrum channel access: as described in [15, TS 37.213], n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4.

[0062] Case B: 30 kHz SCS, the index of the first symbol of the candidate SS / PBCH block is {4, 8, 16, 20} + 28·n. For carrier frequencies less than or equal to 3 GHz, n = 0; for carrier frequencies greater than 3 GHz in FR1, n = 0, 1.

[0063] Case C: 30 kHz SCS, the index of the first symbol of the candidate SS / PBCH block is {2, 8} + 14·n. For operation without shared spectrum channel access: For paired spectrum operation, for carrier frequencies less than or equal to 3 GHz, n = 0, 1; for carrier frequencies within FR1 greater than 3 GHz, n = 0, 1, 2, 3. For unpaired spectrum operation, for carrier frequencies less than 1.88 GHz, n = 0, 1; for carrier frequencies within FR1 greater than or equal to 1.88 GHz, n = 0, 1, 2, 3. For operation using shared spectrum channel access: n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

[0064] Case D: 120 kHz SCS, the index of the first symbol of the candidate SS / PBCH block is {4, 8, 16, 20} + 28·n. For carrier frequencies in FR2, n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18.

[0065] Case E: 240 kHz SCS, the index of the first symbol of the candidate SS / PBCH block is {8, 12, 16, 20, 32, 36, 40, 44} + 56·n. For carrier frequencies within FR2-1, n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8.

[0066] Case F: 480 kHz SCS, the index of the first symbol of the candidate SS / PBCH block is {2, 9} + 14·n. For carrier frequencies in FR2-2, n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31.

[0067] First, in order to facilitate the understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the technical problems that the present application specifically aims to solve are further analyzed and proposed.

[0068] According to the existing protocol (38.133), when a terminal device uses the SSB in the SMTC to perform L1-RSRP measurements on the FR2 serving cell and the co-frequency neighboring cell, the scheduling is restricted, and "the terminal device does not expect to send the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) / physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) / channel sounding reference signal (SRS) or receive the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) / channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)..." That is to say, for the SSB to be measured, scheduling is restricted from the first symbol to the last symbol. Since the network equipment does not know when the terminal device will perform co-frequency neighboring cell measurements and which SSBs will be measured, this actually means that each time slot within the SMTC window for measuring the SSB is subject to the scheduling restrictions specified by RAN4. Therefore, assuming that the SMTC window is 5 milliseconds per 20 millisecond time period, if 64 SSBs are to be measured, the network equipment cannot assume that it can schedule the terminal device for nearly 20% of the time, resulting in a problem of low network system capacity.

[0069] Currently, there are many technical solutions for implementing scheduling constraints, some of which are exemplified below:

[0070] Solution: The current NR specification allows the network to configure a search threshold (such as s-MeasureConfig) for terminal devices in connected mode to reduce co-frequency measurements. If the network configures a search threshold for the terminal device, the terminal device is allowed to not perform measurements on non-serving cells, thereby reducing scheduling constraints.

[0071] The disadvantage of this solution is that if the terminal device does not perform co-frequency measurements, this may lead to idle scheduling opportunities. Since the network side does not know when the terminal device reaches the search threshold, the network device still needs to comply with the predefined scheduling restrictions, resulting in a decrease in the capacity of the network system.

[0072] Therefore, the technical problems to be solved by the present application may include: the network system complies with predefined scheduling restrictions, thereby causing the capacity of the network system to decrease. In an embodiment of the present application, the network device can determine which time units (such as time slots or symbols) the SMTC uses for co-frequency measurement based on the instructions of the terminal device, thereby performing uplink and downlink scheduling on all time units of the SMTC notified by the terminal device that are not to be measured, thereby improving the capacity of the network system.

[0073] It should be understood that the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: global system for mobile communication (GSM) system, code division multiple access (CDMA) system, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (GPRS), long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (TDD) system, universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) system, enhanced data rate for GSM evolution (EDGE) system, and world-wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) system. The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to other communication systems, such as public land mobile network (PLMN) systems, advanced long term evolution (LTE advanced, LTE-A) systems, fifth generation mobile communication (5G) systems, new radio (NR) systems, open access networks (open RAN, ORAN) systems, machine to machine communication (machine to machine, M2M) systems, or other communication systems evolved in the future, etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this. The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to other communication systems, as long as there are entities in the communication system that can send control information and send (and / or receive) transmission blocks, and there are other entities in the communication system that can receive control information and receive (and / or send) transmission blocks.

[0074] Please refer to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a mobile communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, the mobile communication system may include at least one network device (network device 102 as shown in Figure 1), and optionally, the communication system may also include a terminal device 101.

[0075] The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application is an entity on the user side for receiving or transmitting signals, such as user equipment, access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device. The terminal device can also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, an RSU device, a terminal in a 5G network or a terminal in a future evolved public land mobile communication network (PLMN), etc., and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this. It can be understood that the terminal device may include one or more antennas. In addition, the terminal device may additionally include a transmitter and a receiver. Those skilled in the art will understand that they may include multiple components related to signal transmission and reception (such as processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers or antennas, etc.).

[0076] As an example and not a limitation, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices may also be called wearable smart devices, which are a general term for wearable devices that are intelligently designed and developed using wearable technology for daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not only hardware devices, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include those that are fully functional, large in size, and can achieve complete or partial functions without relying on smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as those that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to be used in conjunction with other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0077] The network device in the embodiment of the present application is an entity for transmitting or receiving signals, and may be a device for communicating with a terminal. The network device may include, but is not limited to, a base station in the above-mentioned communication system, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation base station (next generation NodeB, gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, a next-generation base station in a sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication system, a network device or a module of a network device in an open access network ORAN (open RAN, ORAN) system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system. The network device may also be a chip, module, or unit that can implement some functions of a base station. In a network structure, the network device may include a centralized unit (CU) node, a distributed unit (DU) node, or a RAN device including a CU node and a DU node. In the ORAN system, the CU may also be referred to as an O-CU, and the DU may also be referred to as an O-DU.

[0078] The network device may be a macro base station, a micro base station or an indoor station, a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario. Optionally, the network device may also be a server, a wearable device, or an in-vehicle device. For example, the network device in vehicle to everything (V2X) technology may be a road side unit (RSU). The multiple network devices in the communication system may be base stations of the same type or different types. The base station may communicate with the terminal or communicate with the terminal through a relay station. The terminal may communicate with multiple base stations in different access technologies.

[0079] The network equipment and / or terminal can be fixed or mobile. The network equipment and / or terminal can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface; can also be deployed on aircraft, balloons and artificial satellites in the air. The present disclosure does not limit the application scenarios of network equipment and terminals. The network equipment and terminal equipment can be deployed in the same scenario or different scenarios. For example, the network equipment and terminal equipment are deployed on land at the same time; or, the network equipment is deployed on land and the terminal equipment is deployed on the water surface, etc., and no further examples are given.

[0080] In an embodiment of the present application, a terminal device or a network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a central processing unit (CPU), a memory management unit (MMU), and memory (also called main memory). The operating system can be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processing through processes, such as a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a Windows operating system. The application layer includes applications such as browsers, address books, word processing software, and instant messaging software. In addition, the embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. As long as it is possible to communicate according to the method provided in the embodiment of the present application by running a program that records the code of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, for example, the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be a terminal device or a network device, or a functional module in the terminal device or the network device that can call a program and execute the program.

[0081] In addition, various aspects or features of the present application can be implemented as methods, apparatus, or articles of manufacture using standard programming and / or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used in this application covers computer programs that can be accessed from any computer-readable device, carrier, or medium. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, or magnetic tapes, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), cards, sticks, or key drives, etc.). In addition, the various storage media described herein may represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" may include, but is not limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and / or carrying instructions and / or data.

[0082] It should be noted that the number and type of network devices and terminal devices included in the network architecture shown in Figure 1 are merely examples, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. For example, more or fewer terminal devices that communicate with the network devices may also be included. For the sake of simplicity, they are not described one by one in the accompanying drawings. In addition, in the network architecture shown in Figure 1, although network devices and terminal devices are shown, the application scenario may not be limited to including network devices and terminal devices. For example, core network devices or devices for carrying virtualized network functions may also be included. These are obvious to those skilled in the art and will not be described one by one here.

[0083] This application provides a variety of communication methods, which will be described below through the following embodiments. Some of these communication methods are only applicable to certain processes, while others can be applied to any one or more processes. It should be understood that these communication methods can be used in combination with each other.

[0084] It should be understood that communication methods may change as technical solutions evolve, and the technical solutions provided in this application are not limited to the process described below. Furthermore, the description of the scenarios in the embodiments of this application is only an example, and does not limit the solutions of the embodiments of this application to be applicable only to the described scenarios. They are also applicable to scenarios with similar problems.

[0085] The terminal device in the following embodiments (such as the embodiment corresponding to Figure 2 below) can be a terminal device in the network architecture shown in Figure 1, and the function performed by the terminal device in this embodiment can also be performed by a device in the terminal device (for example, a chip, or a chip system, or a circuit). The network device in the following embodiments can be a network device in the network architecture shown in Figure 1, and the function performed by the network device in this embodiment can also be performed by a device in the network device (for example, a chip, or a chip system, or a circuit). The embodiments of this application are described here in a unified manner and will not be repeated later.

[0086] The following describes a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. Referring to Figure 2, Figure 2 is an interactive diagram of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 2, the positioning method may include the following steps.

[0087] S201: The terminal device sends instruction information to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the instruction information from the terminal device.

[0088] The terminal device may send indication information to the network device, and the indication information is used to determine the time unit for measuring the SSB in the SMTC. The time unit may be a frame, a subframe, a slot, a mini slot, a symbol, or a transmission time interval (TTI), etc., and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this. In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the length of the SMTC may be 5ms, or other lengths, such as 10ms, 20ms, etc., and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

[0089] The instruction information may be implemented in the following ways:

[0090] The first possible implementation method: the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring SSB in the SMTC. Specifically, the terminal device can use the indication information to inform the network device which time slots in the SMTC will be used to measure SSB in the current SMTC and / or all subsequent SMTCs. The number of time slots can be determined by the sub-carrier space (SCS). For example, for 30Khz, a 5ms SMTC can include 10 time slots; for 120Khz, a 5ms SMTC can include 40 time slots. The indication information can indicate to the network device in the form of a bitmap whether the time slot in the SMTC is to measure SSB. The bitmap can be a whitelist, that is, for example, "1" can be used to indicate that SSB is measured on the time slot, and "0" can be used to indicate that SSB is not measured on the time slot; it can also be a blacklist, that is, "0" can be used to indicate that SSB is measured on the time slot, and "1" can be used to indicate that SSB is not measured on the time slot. In one embodiment, taking SCS=30Khz and a 5ms SMTC including 10 time slots as an example, the indication information can be 10 bits, and each bit corresponds to indicating whether the terminal device measures SSB in each time slot. For example, if the indication information is 1111000000, it can indicate that the terminal device measures SSB in time slots 0 to 3 (the 1st to 4th time slots) in an SMTC, and does not measure SSB in time slots 4 to 9 (the 5th to 10th time slots). In one embodiment, taking SCS=120Khz and a 5ms SMTC including 40 time slots as an example, the indication information can be 40 bits, and each bit corresponds to indicating whether the terminal device performs measurement in each time slot. For example, the indication information is 11110000001111000000 1111000000 1111000000, which may indicate that the terminal device measures SSB in time slots 0 to 3, 10 to 13, 20 to 23, and 30 to 33 in an SMTC, and does not measure SSB in time slots 4 to 9, 14 to 19, 24 to 29, and 34 to 39.

[0091] The second possible implementation: when the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring SSB in the SMTC, the indication information also indicates the symbol in the time slot for measuring SSB in the SMTC. Specifically, the terminal device can be divided into two levels for indication, the first level indicates the time slot (for details, please refer to the first possible implementation method mentioned above), and the second level indicates the symbol in the time slot. The number of time slots can be determined by the SCS, and 1 time slot corresponds to 14 symbols. Similarly, the indication information can indicate to the network device in the form of a bitmap whether the time slots and symbols in the SMTC are to measure SSB. For example, if the bitmap corresponding to a time slot is "1", it means that the terminal device measures SSB on the time slot in an SMTC, and further indicates whether SSB is measured on each symbol of all symbols in the time slot. For example, for 30Khz, the indication information can be up to 10+10*14 bits, that is, 10 bits are used to indicate whether the terminal device measures SSB in 10 time slots, and 10*14 bits are used to indicate whether the terminal device measures SSB on all symbols in each time slot. For example, 1 time slot corresponds to 14 symbols. For each time slot, 14 bits can be used to indicate whether each symbol in all symbols corresponding to the time slot is measured. In one embodiment, an example is given in which SCS=30Khz and a 5ms SMTC includes 10 time slots. For example, the indication information is 111100000000111100111100 0011110011110000111100111100111100 or the indication information is 100111100111100 1 001111001111001 00111100111100 1 00111100111100 0 0 0 0 0. The difference between the two indication information is that the terminal device can first be uniformly instructed whether to measure SSB on all 10 time slots, and then be instructed whether to measure SSB on each symbol of all symbols in the time slot where SSB measurement is required, or can be instructed separately for each time slot and all symbols corresponding to the time slot. Both of these indication information can indicate that the terminal device measures SSB on time slots 0 to 3 in an SMTC, and does not measure SSB on time slots 4 to 9, and further measures SSB on symbols 2 to 5 and 8 to 11 in each time slot from 0 to 3, and does not measure SSB on symbols 0 to 1, 6 to 7, and 12 to 13.In one embodiment, SCS=30Khz and a 5ms SMTC including 10 time slots are used as an example for illustration. For example, the indication information is 111100000000111100111100, which may also indicate that the terminal device measures SSB on time slots 0 to 3 in an SMTC, and does not measure SSB on time slots 4 to 9. Furthermore, SSB is measured on symbols 2 to 5 and 8 to 11 in each time slot in time slots 0 to 3, and does not measure SSB on symbols 0 to 1, 6 to 7, and 12 to 13. It can be understood that since the indication of whether the symbols of each time slot in time slot 0 to time slot 3 are measured for SSB is the same, it is only necessary to indicate whether all the symbols of any time slot in time slot 0 to time slot 3 are measured for SSB. That is to say, on the basis of using 10 bits to indicate whether the SSB is measured for 10 time slots, only 14 bits are needed to indicate whether the symbols of any time slot in time slot 0 to time slot 3 are measured for SSB, without the need for 14*4 bits to indicate separately, thereby achieving the effect of saving bits.

[0092] Among them, if the bitmap corresponding to a certain time slot is "0", it means that the terminal device does not measure SSB in the time slot in an SMTC. It is not necessary to indicate all symbols of the time slot. Not indicating symbols that do not need to measure SSB can save signaling bits, thereby saving signaling overhead. It can be understood that if the indication information indicates that a time slot in the SMTC does not measure SSB, there is no need for the second-level indication described above.

[0093] The third possible implementation: when the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring SSB in SMTC, the indication information also indicates the SSB corresponding to the time slot for measuring SSB in SMTC. Specifically, the terminal device can be divided into two levels for indication, the first level indicates the time slot (for details, please refer to the first possible implementation method mentioned above), and the second level indicates the SSB corresponding to the time slot. The number of time slots can be determined by SCS, and 1 time slot corresponds to 2 SSBs. Similarly, the indication information can indicate to the network device in the form of a bitmap whether the time slots and SSBs in SMTC are measured. For example, if the bitmap corresponding to a time slot is "1", it means that the terminal device measures SSB on the time slot in an SMTC, and further indicates whether each SSB in all SSBs corresponding to the time slot is measured. For example, for 30Khz, the indication information can be up to 10+10*2 bits, that is, 10 bits are used to indicate whether the terminal device measures SSB in 10 time slots, and 10*2 bits are used to indicate whether the terminal device measures all SSBs in each time slot. For example, 1 time slot corresponds to 2 SSBs. For each time slot, 2 bits can be used to indicate whether each SSB in all SSBs corresponding to the time slot is measured. In one embodiment, SCS=30Khz and a 5ms SMTC including 10 time slots are used as an example for illustration. For example, the indication information is 1111000000 01 11 11 10 or the indication information is 101 1 10 1 11 1 100 0 0 0 0 0. The difference between the two indication information is that the terminal device can be uniformly instructed whether to measure SSB on all 10 time slots first, and then instructed whether to measure on each SSB of all SSBs on the time slot where SSB measurement is required, or each time slot and all SSBs corresponding to the time slot can be instructed separately. Both types of indication information can indicate that the terminal device measures SSB on time slots 0 to 3 in an SMTC, does not measure SSB on time slots 4 to 9, and further measures the second SSB of time slot 0, the two SSBs of time slots 1 and 2, and the first SSB of time slot 3.

[0094] Among them, for a bitmap corresponding to a certain time slot being "0", it means that the terminal device does not measure the SSB in the time slot in an SMTC. It is not necessary to indicate all SSBs corresponding to the time slot. Not indicating the SSBs that do not need to be measured can save signaling bits, thereby saving signaling overhead. It is understandable that if the indication information indicates that a time slot in the SMTC does not measure the SSB, there is no need for the second-level indication described above.

[0095] A fourth possible implementation method: The indication information indicates information about the beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC, for example, a beam index. Specifically, the terminal device may use the indication information to inform the network device which beams will be measured in the current SMTC and / or all subsequent SMTCs, and may use the beam index to indicate this. For example, assuming that the network device has configured 8 beams for the terminal device, 8 bits may be used to indicate whether the 8 beams will be measured. That is, each bit may represent a beam. For example, if the indication information is 00111100, it may indicate that the terminal device will measure the 3rd to 6th beams.

[0096] The fifth possible implementation method: the indication information indicates that the beam for measuring SSB in SMTC is an adjacent beam to the beam currently used by the terminal device. Specifically, the terminal device can inform the network device which beams will be measured in the current SMTC and / or all subsequent SMTCs through the indication information, and the indication can be made in the form of a bitmap. Since the terminal device may switch beams to adjacent beams of the current beam, the terminal device can report based on the beam currently in use. It only needs to indicate that the beam for measuring SSB in SMTC is an adjacent beam to the beam currently used by the terminal device. In one embodiment, 5 bits can be used to report the indication information. For example, if the terminal device reports the indication information as 11011 and reports that beam 3 is currently in use, it can indicate that the terminal device wants to measure beam 1, beam 2, beam 3, beam 4 and beam 5. In one embodiment, 8 bits can be used to report indication information. For example, if the terminal device reports indication information as 00 110110 and reports that beam 5 is currently in use, it can indicate that the terminal device wants to measure beams 3 to 7. For another example, if the terminal device reports indication information as 0011 1100 and does not report the current beam (because the network knows which beam the terminal device is currently in when in a connected state), if the terminal device is currently in beam 18, it can indicate that the terminal device wants to measure beams 16 to 20. The bit length of the indication information can be customized and is not restricted. Since the terminal device may switch beams to adjacent beams of the current beam, signaling overhead can be saved by only instructing the terminal device to measure adjacent beams of the currently used beam.

[0097] The above indication information may be carried by one of radio resource control (RRC), medium access control element (MAC CE) or UCI.

[0098] In one possible implementation, in combination with the first to fifth possible implementations described above, before the terminal device sends the above indication information, the terminal device may also send first information, where the first information is used to indicate whether the terminal device measures SSB in each of the next at least one SMTC. In other words, the network device may determine, based on the first information, which SMTCs in which the terminal device measures SSB and which SMTCs do not measure SSB but perform uplink and downlink services in the next at least one SMTC. The first information and the above indication information may be sent through different signaling or through the same signaling. In other words, the first information may be included in the above indication information. For example, the first information may indicate to the network device in the form of a bitmap whether each SMTC in at least one SMTC measures SSB. If the first information is 1010, it may indicate that the terminal device measures SSB in the first and third SMTCs of the next four or periodically every four SMTCs, and performs uplink and downlink services in the second and fourth SMTCs. Similarly, the first information may be carried by one of RRC, MAC CE, or UCI.

[0099] It can be understood that when the terminal device indicates to measure SSB in a certain SMTC, the terminal device can further indicate the time unit for measuring SSB in a specific SMTC through the above-mentioned indication information (that is, the first to fifth possible implementation methods described in this step S201).

[0100] Furthermore, the terminal device may also send the antenna panel (panel) index used by the terminal device in the SMTC to the network device. For example, taking the above-mentioned first possible implementation method as an example, for 30Khz, the 5ms SMTC may include 10 time slots. If the indication information is 1010000000 01, it may indicate that the terminal device uses the same antenna panel when measuring SSB on time slot 0 and time slot 2, that is, uses the antenna panel with an index of 1. In other words, the terminal device may not change the currently used antenna panel when performing the measurement. If the indication information is 1010000000 01 10, it may indicate that the terminal device uses different antenna panels when measuring SSB on time slot 0 and time slot 2, that is, uses the antenna panel with an index of 1 on time slot 0 and uses the antenna panel with an index of 2 on time slot 2. In other words, the terminal device may change the currently used antenna panel when performing the measurement, such as switching to an antenna panel with a better signal, to improve the communication quality.

[0101] Furthermore, the antenna panels used by the terminal device in the SMTC include a first antenna panel and a second antenna panel. The first antenna panel is used to measure SSB in the first time unit in the SMTC, and the second antenna panel is used to perform uplink and downlink services in the second time unit in the SMTC. Exemplarily, the terminal device can indicate to the network device the antenna panel (such as the first antenna panel) used by the terminal device to measure SSB in the SMTC and the antenna panel (such as the second antenna panel) used to perform uplink and downlink services. For example, if the indication information is 1010000000 01 10, it can indicate that the terminal device uses the same antenna panel when measuring SSB on time slot 0 and time slot 2, that is, the antenna panel with index 1 is used when measuring SSB on time slot 0 and time slot 2, and the antenna panel with index 2 is used when performing uplink and downlink services on time slot 1 and time slot 3 to time slot 9.

[0102] When a terminal device has multiple antenna panels, the terminal device sends the antenna panels used in the SMTC to the network device, allowing the network device to obtain the measurement results of multiple antenna panels (multiple SMTCs correspond to multiple antenna panels) and further understand whether the measurement results of the multiple antenna panels are balanced. The measurement results of the multiple antenna panels can then be used as the basis for subsequent decisions on switching and scheduling. For example, the network device can use the measurement results of the antenna panels to determine whether to switch to the antenna panel with the best measurement result, or it can combine the measurement results of multiple antenna panels to determine whether to schedule multi-stream data and use the appropriate modulation and coding scheme (MCS).

[0103] S202: The network device determines a first time unit according to the instruction information, wherein the first time unit is a time unit for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

[0104] Corresponding to the first possible implementation of the indication information in S201 above, the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring SSB in the SMTC. The network device can determine the first time unit based on the indication information. Specifically, the time slot for measuring SSB in the SMTC indicated by the indication information can be determined as the first time unit, and the other time slots in the SMTC except the first time unit can be determined as the second time unit. Corresponding to the above embodiment, if the indication information is 1111000000, it can indicate that the terminal device measures SSB on time slots 0 to 3 in an SMTC, and does not measure SSB on time slots 4 to 9. Then the network device can determine time slots 0 to 3 in an SMTC as the first time unit, and time slots 4 to 9 as the second time unit. For example, if the indication information is 1111000000 1111000000 1111000000 1111000000, it may indicate that the terminal device measures SSB on time slots 0 to 3, 10 to 13, 20 to 23, and 30 to 33 in an SMTC, and does not measure SSB on time slots 4 to 9, 14 to 19, 24 to 29, and 34 to 39. Therefore, the network device may determine that time slots 0 to 3, 10 to 13, 20 to 23, and 30 to 33 in an SMTC are the first time unit, and time slots 4 to 9, 14 to 19, 24 to 29, and 34 to 39 are the second time unit.

[0105] Corresponding to the second possible implementation manner of the indication information in S201 above, when the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC, the indication information further indicates the symbol in the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC. The network device determines the first time unit based on the indication information. Specifically, the network device may determine the time slot and symbol for measuring the SSB in the SMTC indicated by the indication information as the first time unit, and determine the other time slots and symbols in the SMTC except the first time unit as the second time unit. Corresponding to the above embodiment, the indication information is 1111000000 00111100111100 00111100111100 00111100111100 00111100111100 or the indication information is 100111100111100 1 001111001111001 00111100111100 1 00111100111100 0 0 0 0 0 may indicate that the terminal device measures SSB on time slots 0 to 3 in an SMTC, and does not measure SSB on time slots 4 to 9. Further, the terminal device measures SSB on symbols 2 to 5 and 8 to 11 in each time slot from 0 to 3, and does not measure SSB on symbols 0 to 1, 6 to 7, and 12 to 13. Then, the network device may determine that symbols 2 to 5 and 8 to 11 in time slots 0 to 3 in an SMTC are the first time unit, and symbols 0 to 1, 6 to 7, 12 to 13 in time slots 0 to 3, and time slots 4 to 9 are the second time unit.

[0106] Corresponding to the third possible implementation of the indication information in S201 above, when the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring SSB in SMTC, the indication information also indicates the SSB corresponding to the time slot for measuring SSB in SMTC. The network device determines the first time unit according to the indication information. Specifically, the network device can determine the pattern of SSB transmission based on the carrier frequency and SCS (such as Case A to Case F in the above technical terminology description, only Case A to Case F are used as examples here, and with the continuous development of technology, there may be more Cases), and then determine the time slot and symbol for measuring SSB based on the pattern and the indication information reported by the terminal device. Among them, the position protocol of SSB in the time domain has been given, and different subcarrier spacings support different maximum numbers of SSBs and time domain patterns. The maximum number of SSBs (beams) is defined as 4 for Sub3G, FDD, and TDD below 2.4G, and 8 for TDD above 2.4G. For Sub3G to Sub6G, the maximum is 8 SSBs, and for 6G and above, the maximum is 64 SSBs. Each SSB has a unique number (SSB index). For low frequencies, this number can be directly obtained from the pilot signal of the PBCH channel. For high frequencies, the lower 3 bits are obtained from the PBCH pilot signal, and the upper 3 bits are obtained from the management information base (MIB) information.

[0107] Assuming SCS = 30Khz, the carrier frequency is between 3G and 6G, and the network device has configured 8 beams (beam 1 to beam 8) for the terminal device, in the case of Case C, the network device determines that beam 1 is sent from symbol 2 to symbol 5 of time slot 0 in SMTC, beam 2 is sent from symbol 8 to symbol 11 of time slot 0 in SMTC, beam 3 is sent from symbol 2 to symbol 5 of time slot 1 in SMTC, beam 4 is sent from symbol 8 to symbol 11 of time slot 1 in SMTC, beam 5 is sent from symbol 2 to symbol 5 of time slot 2 in SMTC, beam 6 is sent from symbol 8 to symbol 11 of time slot 2 in SMTC, beam 7 is sent from symbol 2 to symbol 5 of time slot 3 in SMTC, and beam 8 is sent from symbol 8 to symbol 11 of time slot 3 in SMTC.

[0108] Corresponding to the above embodiment, if the indication information is 1111000000 01 11 11 10 or the indication information is 1 01 1 10 1 11 1 10 0 0 0 0 0 0, it means that the terminal device measures SSB on time slots 0 to 3 in an SMTC, does not measure SSB on time slots 4 to 9, and further measures the second SSB of time slot 0, the two SSBs of time slots 1 and 2, and the first SSB of time slot 3. In the case of Case C, the network device determines to measure SSB on symbols 8 to 11 of time slot 0, symbols 2 to 5 and 8 to 11 of time slots 1 to 2, and symbols 2 to 5 of time slot 3 in the SMTC. It can then be further determined that symbols 8 to 11 of time slot 0, symbols 2 to 5 and 8 to 11 of time slots 1 to 2, and symbols 2 to 5 of time slot 3 in an SMTC are the first time unit, and symbols 0 to 7 and 12 to 13 of time slot 0, symbols 0 to 1, 6 to 7 and 12 to 13 of time slots 1 to 2, symbols 0 to 1, 6 to 13 of time slot 3, and time slots 4 to 9 are the second time unit.

[0109] Corresponding to the fourth possible implementation of the indication information in the above S201, the indication information indicates the information of the beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC. The network device determines the first time unit according to the indication information. Specifically, the network device can determine the pattern of SSB transmission according to the carrier frequency and SCS (for example, Case A to Case F in the above technical terminology description, only Case A to Case F are used as examples here, and with the continuous development of technology, there may be more Cases), and then determine the time slot and symbol of the measurement beam according to the pattern and the indication information reported by the terminal device. Specifically, the SSB can be determined first according to the information of the beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC indicated by the indication information and the correspondence between the beam and the SSB (for example, one beam corresponds to one SSB), and then the time slot and symbol corresponding to the measured SSB can be determined according to the SSB and the pattern.

[0110] Assuming SCS = 30Khz, the carrier frequency is between 3G and 6G, and the network device has configured 8 beams (beam 1 to beam 8) for the terminal device, in the case of Case C, the network device determines that beam 1 is sent from symbol 2 to symbol 5 of time slot 0 in SMTC, beam 2 is sent from symbol 8 to symbol 11 of time slot 0 in SMTC, beam 3 is sent from symbol 2 to symbol 5 of time slot 1 in SMTC, beam 4 is sent from symbol 8 to symbol 11 of time slot 1 in SMTC, beam 5 is sent from symbol 2 to symbol 5 of time slot 2 in SMTC, beam 6 is sent from symbol 8 to symbol 11 of time slot 2 in SMTC, beam 7 is sent from symbol 2 to symbol 5 of time slot 3 in SMTC, and beam 8 is sent from symbol 8 to symbol 11 of time slot 3 in SMTC.

[0111] Corresponding to the above embodiment, if the indication information is 00111100, it indicates that the terminal device will measure beams 3 to 6. In Case C, the network device determines to measure SSB at symbols 2 to 5 and 8 to 11 of time slots 1 and 2 in the SMTC. It can further determine that symbols 2 to 5 and 8 to 11 of time slots 1 and 2 in the SMTC are the first time unit, and symbols 0 to 1, 6 to 7, 12 to 13 of time slots 1 and 2, as well as time slot 0 and time slot 3 to 9 are the second time unit.

[0112] Corresponding to the fifth possible implementation of the indication information in S201 above, the indication information indicates that the beam for measuring SSB in SMTC is an adjacent beam to the beam currently used by the terminal device. The network device determines the first time unit based on the indication information. Specifically, the network device can determine the adjacent beam of the beam currently used by the terminal device based on the indication information and the downlink beam currently used by the terminal device. According to the carrier frequency and SCS, the pattern of SSB transmission is determined (such as Case A to Case F in the above technical terminology description, only Case A to Case F are used as examples here, and with the continuous development of technology, there may be more Cases), and then the time slot and symbol of the measurement beam are determined according to the pattern and the indication information reported by the terminal device. For specific implementation, please refer to the corresponding fourth possible implementation method above, which will not be repeated here.

[0113] In one possible implementation, in combination with the first to fifth possible implementations of the corresponding indication information, before receiving the above-mentioned indication information, the network device may further receive first information sent by the terminal device, and based on the first information, may determine in which SMTCs of the next at least one SMTC the terminal device measures the SSB, and in which SMTCs the terminal device does not measure the SSB but performs uplink and downlink services. Corresponding to the above embodiment, if the first information is 1010, the network device may determine that the terminal device measures the SSB in the first and third SMTCs of the next four or periodically every four SMTCs, and performs uplink and downlink services in the second and fourth SMTCs.

[0114] It can be understood that when the terminal device instructs to measure SSB in a certain SMTC, the network device can further determine the time unit for measuring SSB in the specific SMTC through the indication information reported by the above terminal device (that is, the corresponding first to fifth possible implementation methods described in this step S202).

[0115] S203: The network device and the terminal device perform uplink and downlink transmission in a second time unit, where the second time unit is a time unit other than the first time unit in the SMTC.

[0116] After the network device determines the first time unit according to the indication information, in the next at least one SMTC, the network device can know that the terminal device measures SSB in the first time unit in the SMTC, then the network device can perform uplink and downlink transmission with the terminal device in the second time unit, and the terminal device can perform uplink and downlink transmission with the network device in the second time unit until the terminal device sends new indication information again, the network device can determine the new first time unit and the new second time unit in the SMTC according to the new indication information, and in the next at least one SMTC, the terminal device measures SSB in the new first time unit, and the network device and the terminal device perform uplink and downlink transmission in the new second time unit.

[0117] Among them, uplink and downlink transmission may include monitoring DCI, transmitting and / or receiving uplink and downlink channels or signals, which can be understood as transmitting PUCCH / PUSCH / SRS or receiving PDCCH / PDSCH / CSI-RS.

[0118] Uplink transmission can carry data or signaling, including but not limited to PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, etc. In other words, the uplink transmission can be the transmission of uplink signaling, such as PUCCH; the transmission of uplink data, such as PUSCH; the transmission of uplink signals, such as SRS; or any combination of uplink signaling, uplink data, and uplink signals, such as PUCCH+PUSCH, PUCCH+SRS, PUSCH+SRS, or PUCCH+PUSCH+SRS.

[0119] Downlink transmission can carry, but is not limited to, PDSCH, PDCCH, CSI-RS, etc. In other words, the downlink transmission can be the transmission of downlink control signaling, such as PDCCH; downlink data, such as PDSCH; downlink signals, such as CSI-RS; or any combination of downlink control signaling, downlink data, and downlink signals, such as PDCCH+PDSCH, PDCCH+CSI-RS, PDSCH+CSI-RS, or PDCCH+PDSCH+CSI-RS.

[0120] Furthermore, a time can be configured for the validity of the indication information. For example, a time can be predefined by the protocol. In each SMTC within the time, the terminal device measures the SSB in the first time unit indicated by the indication information, and performs uplink and downlink transmission with the network device in the second time unit. If the time expires, it is restored to the default, that is, the SSB is measured in all time units in the SMTC, and the time is reset each time the terminal device reports the indication information. For another example, the terminal device can report the time to the network device, and the time can be reported through RRC, MAC CE or UCI. Exemplarily, the terminal device sends the activation duration of the timer to the network device. After sending the indication information to the network device, the timer can be activated, and in each SMTC within the activation duration of the timer, the terminal device measures the SSB in the first time unit according to the indication information. When the timer times out, the SSB is measured in all time units in the SMTC.

[0121] It should be understood that in this embodiment, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiment of this application.

[0122] In the solution provided in this embodiment, the terminal device can notify the network device SMTC through indication information which time units are used for co-frequency measurement SSB, thereby enabling data transmission with the network device in the time units in the SMTC where co-frequency measurement SSB is not performed. Unlike performing co-frequency measurement SSB on all time units in the SMTC, the embodiment of the present application performs measurement on the time units that require co-frequency measurement SSB according to the indication information, and the remaining time units in the SMTC can be used to transmit data, thereby avoiding resource waste and improving the capacity of the network system.

[0123] The above content describes the method embodiments provided by the present application. In order to facilitate better implementation of the above schemes of the embodiments of the present application, the embodiments of the present application also provide corresponding devices.

[0124] In the embodiment of the present application, the functional modules of the communication device can be divided according to the above method example. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods.

[0125] Please refer to Figure 3, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device can be a terminal device or a device in a terminal device (for example, a chip, a chip system, or a circuit). As shown in Figure 3, the communication device 300 includes at least: a sending unit 301, a transmission unit 302, and a measurement unit 303; wherein:

[0126] A sending unit 301 is configured to send indication information to a network device, where the indication information is used to determine a first time unit, where the first time unit is a time unit for measuring SSB in the SMTC;

[0127] The transmission unit 302 is configured to perform uplink and downlink transmission with the network device in a second time unit, where the second time unit is a time unit other than the first time unit in the SMTC.

[0128] In one embodiment, the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

[0129] In one embodiment, when the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC, the indication information further indicates the symbol in the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

[0130] In one embodiment, when the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC, the indication information further indicates the SSB corresponding to the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

[0131] In one embodiment, the indication information indicates information of a beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

[0132] In one embodiment, the indication information indicates that the beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC is an adjacent beam to the beam currently used by the terminal device.

[0133] In one embodiment, the sending unit 301 is further configured to activate a timer after sending the indication information to the network device;

[0134] The device may also include:

[0135] The measuring unit 303 is configured to measure the SSB at a first time unit according to the indication information within the activation duration of the timer.

[0136] In one embodiment, the measuring unit 303 is further configured to measure the SSB at all time units in the SMTC when the timer expires.

[0137] In one embodiment, the sending unit 301 is further configured to send the activation duration of the timer to the network device.

[0138] In one embodiment, the sending unit 301 is further configured to send an index of the antenna panel used by the terminal device in the SMTC to the network device.

[0139] In one embodiment, the antenna panel used by the terminal device in the SMTC includes a first antenna panel and a second antenna panel, the measurement unit 303 is also used to use the first antenna panel to measure SSB in the first time unit in the SMTC, and the transmission unit 302 is also used to use the second antenna panel to perform uplink and downlink services in the second time unit in the SMTC.

[0140] In one embodiment, the indication information is carried by one of RRC, MAC CE or UCI.

[0141] For a more detailed description of the sending unit 301 , the transmission unit 302 and the measuring unit 303 , reference may be made to the relevant description of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG2 , which will not be repeated here.

[0142] Please refer to Figure 4, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device can be a network device or a device in a network device (for example, a chip, a chip system, or a circuit). As shown in Figure 4, the communication device 400 includes at least: a receiving unit 401, a determining unit 402, and a transmitting unit 403; wherein:

[0143] Receiving unit 401, configured to receive instruction information from a terminal device;

[0144] A determining unit 402 is configured to determine a first time unit according to the indication information, where the first time unit is a time unit for measuring the SSC in the SMTC;

[0145] The transmission unit 403 is configured to perform uplink and downlink transmission with the terminal device in a second time unit, where the second time unit is a time unit other than the first time unit in the SMTC.

[0146] In one embodiment, the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

[0147] In one embodiment, when the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC, the indication information further indicates the symbol in the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

[0148] In one embodiment, when the indication information indicates the time slot in which the SSB is measured in the SMTC, the indication information further indicates the SSB corresponding to the time slot in which the SSB is measured in the SMTC;

[0149] The determination unit 402 determines the time unit for measuring SSB in the synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block SSB measurement timing configuration SMTC according to the indication information, and is specifically used to: determine the time unit for measuring SSB in the SMTC according to the SSB corresponding to the time slot for measuring SSB in the SMTC indicated by the indication information and the position of the SSB in the time domain in the predefined time domain pattern; wherein different subcarrier spacings support different maximum numbers of SSBs and time domain patterns.

[0150] In one embodiment, the indication information indicates information of a beam in the SMTC for measuring the SSB;

[0151] The determining unit 402 determines, according to the indication information, a time unit for measuring the SSB in the synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block SSB measurement timing configuration SMTC, specifically configured to:

[0152] The SSB is determined according to the information of the beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC indicated by the indication information and the correspondence between the beam and the SSB; the time unit for measuring the SSB in the SMTC is determined according to the position of the SSB in the time domain in the SSB and a predefined time domain pattern; wherein different subcarrier spacings support different maximum numbers of SSBs and time domain patterns.

[0153] In one embodiment, the indication information indicates that the beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC is an adjacent beam to the beam currently used by the terminal device.

[0154] In one embodiment, the receiving unit 401 is further configured to receive an activation duration of a timer from the terminal device.

[0155] In one embodiment, the receiving unit 401 is further configured to receive, from the terminal device, an index of an antenna panel used by the terminal device in the SMTC.

[0156] In one embodiment, the indication information is carried by one of RRC, MAC CE or UCI.

[0157] For a more detailed description of the receiving unit 401 , the determining unit 402 and the transmitting unit 403 , reference may be made to the relevant description of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 , which will not be repeated here.

[0158] Please refer to Figure 5, which is a structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 5, the device 500 may include one or more processors 501, which may also be referred to as a processing unit, and may implement certain control functions. The processor 501 may be a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processor, etc. For example, it may be a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processing unit may be used to control a communication device (such as a base station, a baseband chip, a terminal, a terminal chip, a DU or a CU, etc.), execute software programs, and process data of software programs.

[0159] In an optional design, the processor 501 may also store instructions 503 and / or data, and the instructions 503 and / or data can be executed by the processor so that the device 500 performs the method described in the above method embodiment.

[0160] In another optional design, the processor 501 may include a transceiver unit for implementing receiving and transmitting functions. For example, the transceiver unit may be a transceiver circuit, an interface, an interface circuit, or a communication interface. The transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit for implementing the receiving and transmitting functions may be separate or integrated. The transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit may be used for reading and writing code / data, or the transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit may be used for transmitting or delivering signals.

[0161] In another possible design, the apparatus 500 may include a circuit that can implement the functions of sending, receiving, or communicating in the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0162] Optionally, the device 500 may include one or more memories 502, on which instructions 504 and / or data may be stored. The instructions 504 and / or data may be executed on the processor, causing the device 500 to perform the method described in the above method embodiment. Optionally, the memory may also store data. Optionally, the processor may also store instructions and / or data. The processor and memory may be provided separately or integrated together. For example, the corresponding relationship described in the above method embodiment may be stored in the memory or in the processor.

[0163] Optionally, the apparatus 500 may further include a transceiver 505 and / or an antenna 506. The processor 501 may be referred to as a processing unit, which controls the apparatus 500. The transceiver 505 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, a transceiver device, or a transceiver module, etc., which is configured to implement transceiver functions.

[0164] Optionally, the device 500 in the embodiment of the present application can be used to execute the method described in Figures 4 to 6 in the embodiment of the present application.

[0165] In one embodiment, the communication device 500 may be a terminal device, or a device in the terminal device (e.g., a chip, a chip system, or a circuit). When the computer program instructions stored in the memory 502 are executed, the processor 501 is configured to perform the operations performed by the measurement unit 303 in the above embodiment, and the transceiver 505 is configured to perform the operations performed by the sending unit 301 and the transmission unit 302 in the above embodiment. The transceiver 505 is further configured to send information to other communication devices outside the communication device. The above terminal device or the device in the terminal device may also be configured to perform the various methods performed by the terminal device in the method embodiment of FIG. 2 , which will not be described in detail.

[0166] In one embodiment, the communication device 500 can be a network device or a device in the network device (e.g., a chip, a chip system, or a circuit). When the computer program instructions stored in the memory 502 are executed, the processor 501 is used to perform the operations performed by the determining unit 402 in the above embodiment, and the transceiver 505 is used to perform the operations performed by the receiving unit 401 and the transmitting unit 403 in the above embodiment. The transceiver 505 is also used to receive information from other communication devices outside the communication device. The above network device or the device in the network device can also be used to perform the various methods performed by the network device in the method embodiment of Figure 2 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0167] The processor and transceiver described in this application can be implemented on an integrated circuit (IC), an analog IC, a radio frequency interface chip (RFIC), a mixed-signal IC, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a printed circuit board (PCB), an electronic device, etc. The processor and transceiver can also be manufactured using various IC process technologies, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS), P-type metal oxide semiconductor (positive channel metal oxide semiconductor, PMOS), bipolar junction transistor (BJT), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

[0168] The apparatus described in the above embodiments may be a first communication device or a second communication device, but the scope of the apparatus described in this application is not limited thereto, and the structure of the apparatus may not be limited to FIG5 . The apparatus may be an independent device or may be part of a larger device. For example, the apparatus may be:

[0169] (1) An independent integrated circuit (IC), or chip, or chip system or subsystem;

[0170] (2) having a set of one or more ICs, optionally including a storage component for storing data and / or instructions;

[0171] (3) ASIC, such as modem (MSM);

[0172] (4) Modules that can be embedded in other devices;

[0173] (5) Receivers, terminals, smart terminals, cellular phones, wireless devices, handheld devices, mobile units, vehicle-mounted devices, network devices, cloud devices, artificial intelligence devices, machine devices, home devices, medical devices, industrial equipment, etc.;

[0174] (6)Others, etc.

[0175] Please refer to Figure 6, which is a structural diagram of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application. For ease of explanation, Figure 6 only shows the main components of the terminal device. As shown in Figure 6, the terminal device 600 includes a processor, a memory, a control circuit, an antenna, and input and output devices. The processor is mainly used to process communication protocols and communication data, as well as to control the entire terminal, execute software programs, and process data of software programs. The memory is mainly used to store software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used to transmit and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are mainly used to receive data input by users and output data to users.

[0176] When the terminal is powered on, the processor reads the software program from the storage unit, parses and executes the instructions of the software program, and processes the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs the baseband signal to the RF circuit. The RF circuit processes the baseband signal to obtain an RF signal and transmits the RF signal to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves via the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal, the RF circuit receives the RF signal via the antenna, which is further converted into a baseband signal and output to the processor. The processor converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0177] For ease of explanation, FIG6 shows only one memory and processor. In an actual terminal, there may be multiple processors and memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or storage device, etc., which is not limited in the present embodiment.

[0178] As an optional implementation, the processor may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit (CPU). The baseband processor is primarily responsible for processing communication protocols and communication data, while the CPU is primarily responsible for controlling the entire terminal, executing software programs, and processing software program data. The processor in Figure 6 integrates the functions of both the baseband processor and the CPU. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the baseband processor and the CPU may also be independent processors interconnected via a bus or other technology. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a terminal may include multiple baseband processors to accommodate different network standards, multiple CPUs to enhance its processing capabilities, and that the various components of the terminal may be connected via various buses. The baseband processor may also be referred to as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The CPU may also be referred to as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The functionality for processing communication protocols and communication data may be built into the processor or stored as a software program in a storage unit, with the processor executing the software program to implement the baseband processing functionality.

[0179] In one example, the antenna and control circuitry with transceiver functions can be considered the transceiver unit 601 of the terminal device 600, and the processor with processing functions can be considered the processing unit 602 of the terminal device 600. As shown in Figure 6, the terminal device 600 includes a transceiver unit 601 and a processing unit 602. The transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver, a transceiver device, etc. Optionally, the device in the transceiver unit 601 that implements the receiving function may be considered the receiving unit, and the device in the transceiver unit 601 that implements the transmitting function may be considered the transmitting unit, i.e., the transceiver unit 601 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. For example, the receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, a receiver, a receiving circuit, etc., and the transmitting unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc. Optionally, the receiving unit and the transmitting unit may be a single integrated unit or multiple independent units. The receiving unit and the transmitting unit may be located in a single geographic location or dispersed across multiple geographic locations.

[0180] In one embodiment, the processing unit 602 is configured to execute the operations performed by the measuring unit 303 in the above embodiment, and the transceiver unit 601 is configured to execute the operations performed by the sending unit 301 and the transmission unit 302 in the above embodiment. The terminal device 600 can also be configured to execute various methods executed by the terminal device in the method embodiment of FIG. 2 , which will not be described in detail.

[0181] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program is stored. When the program is executed by a processor, it can implement the process related to the terminal device in the method provided in the above method embodiment.

[0182] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. When the program is executed by a processor, the process related to the network device in the method provided in the above method embodiment can be implemented.

[0183] The present application also provides a computer program product that, when executed on a computer or processor, causes the computer or processor to perform one or more steps of any of the aforementioned methods. If the various components of the aforementioned devices are implemented as software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they may be stored in the computer-readable storage medium.

[0184] The present application also provides a chip system, including at least one processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface and the at least one processor are interconnected via a line, and the at least one processor is configured to execute a computer program or instruction to perform some or all of the steps described in any one of the method embodiments corresponding to FIG2 . The chip system may be composed of a chip alone, or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0185] An embodiment of the present application further discloses a communication system, which includes a terminal device and a network device. For a specific description, reference may be made to the method shown in FIG2 .

[0186] It should be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid-state drive (SSD), a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM) and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM). Memory is any other medium that can be used to carry or store a desired program code with an instruction or data structure form and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory in the embodiment of the present application can also be a circuit or other arbitrarily capable of implementing a storage function, for storing program instructions and / or data.

[0187] It should also be understood that the processor mentioned 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, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc.

[0188] It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) is integrated into the processor.

[0189] It should be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, but not be limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0190] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0191] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments provided herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0192] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0193] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0194] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0195] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0196] If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0197] The steps in the method of the embodiment of the present application can be adjusted in order, combined and deleted according to actual needs.

[0198] The modules / units in the device of the embodiment of the present application can be merged, divided and deleted according to actual needs.

[0199] As described above, the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than to limit them. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the above embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the above embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Sending indication information to a network device, where the indication information is used to determine a first time unit, where the first time unit is a time unit for measuring a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) measurement timing configuration (SMTC); Perform uplink and downlink transmission with the network device in a second time unit, where the second time unit is a time unit other than the first time unit in the SMTC.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that In a case where the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC, the indication information further indicates the symbol in the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

4. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that In a case where the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC, the indication information further indicates the SSB corresponding to the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein The indication information indicates information of the beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein The indication information indicates that the beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC is an adjacent beam to the beam currently used by the terminal device.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that The method further comprises: After sending the indication information to the network device, activating a timer; Within the activation duration of the timer, measure the SSB on the first time unit according to the indication information.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The method further comprises: When the timer expires, the SSB is measured over all time units in the SMTC.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending the activation duration of the timer to the network device.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sends the index of the antenna panel used by the terminal device in the SMTC.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The antenna panel used by the terminal device in the SMTC includes a first antenna panel and a second antenna panel, and the method further includes: The first antenna panel is used to measure SSB in the first time unit in the SMTC, and the second antenna panel is used to perform uplink and downlink services in the second time unit in the SMTC.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that The indication information is carried by one of a radio resource control RRC, a medium access control control element MAC CE or uplink control information UCI.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that The uplink and downlink transmission includes monitoring downlink control information DCI, transmitting and / or receiving uplink and downlink channels or signals.

14. A communication method, characterized in that: include; receiving instruction information from a terminal device; Determine a first time unit according to the indication information, where the first time unit is a time unit for measuring the synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block SSB measurement timing configuration SMTC; Perform uplink and downlink transmission with the terminal device in a second time unit, where the second time unit is a time unit other than the first time unit in the SMTC.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that In a case where the indication information indicates the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC, the indication information further indicates the symbol in the time slot for measuring the SSB in the SMTC.

17. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that In a case where the indication information indicates a timeslot in which the SSB is measured in the SMTC, the indication information further indicates an SSB corresponding to the timeslot in which the SSB is measured in the SMTC; The step of determining the time unit for measuring the SSB in the synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block SSB measurement timing configuration SMTC according to the indication information includes: The time unit for measuring SSB in SMTC is determined according to the SSB corresponding to the time slot for measuring SSB in SMTC indicated by the indication information and the position of SSB in the time domain in the predefined time domain pattern; wherein different subcarrier spacings support different maximum numbers of SSBs and time domain patterns.

18. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The indication information indicates information of the beam for measuring SSB in the SMTC; The step of determining the time unit for measuring the SSB in the synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block SSB measurement timing configuration SMTC according to the indication information includes: Determine the SSB according to information of the beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC indicated by the indication information and a correspondence between the beam and the SSB; The time unit for measuring the SSB in the SMTC is determined according to the position of the SSB in the time domain and the predefined time domain pattern; wherein different subcarrier spacings support different maximum numbers of SSBs and time domain patterns.

19. The method according to claim 14, wherein The indication information indicates that the beam for measuring the SSB in the SMTC is an adjacent beam to the beam currently used by the terminal device.

20. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Receive the activation duration of the timer from the terminal device.

21. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 20, characterized in that: The method further comprises: An index of an antenna panel used by the terminal device in the SMTC is received from the terminal device.

22. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 21, characterized in that The indication information is carried by one of a radio resource control RRC, a medium access control control element MAC CE or uplink control information UCI.

23. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 22, characterized in that The uplink and downlink transmission includes monitoring downlink control information DCI, transmitting and / or receiving uplink and downlink channels or signals.

24. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13; or a unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 23.

25. A communication device, characterized in that: The device comprises a processor configured to execute a computer program or instruction in a memory, wherein when the computer program or instruction is executed by the processor, the device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, or implements the method according to any one of claims 14 to 23.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that The communication device further includes the memory.

27. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or computer instructions. When the computer program or computer instructions are executed by the processor, the terminal device executes the method described in any one of claims 1 to 13, or the network device executes the method described in any one of claims 14 to 23.

28. A chip system, characterized in that: The method comprises at least one processor, a memory and an interface circuit, wherein the memory, the interface circuit and the at least one processor are interconnected via lines, and the at least one memory stores instructions; when the instructions are executed by the processor, the terminal device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, or the network device executes the method according to any one of claims 14 to 23.

29. A communication system, characterized in that: The method comprises a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, and the network device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 14 to 23.

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