Capability reporting method and apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a capability reporting method and apparatus, which are used for reducing signaling overheads of capability reporting of a terminal device. In the method, various uplink transmission modes are indicated by means of one piece of BC capability information, and the various uplink transmission modes can share downlink capability information, such that by means of one piece of BC capability information, capabilities corresponding to various uplink transmission modes can be reported. Compared with a mode of performing reporting by means of a plurality of pieces of BC capability information for various uplink transmission modes, the present application can reduce repeated reporting of capability information in downlink bands, thereby saving on overheads of capability reporting.

Description

A capability reporting method and device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on April 1, 2024, with application number 202410387151.0 and application name "A Capability Reporting Method and Device", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

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

[0004] Due to different hardware conditions or software versions, the capabilities of different terminal devices may also vary. To better serve terminal devices, network devices need to know the capabilities of terminal devices so that they can configure and schedule them. Terminal device capability information may include the following parameters: the frequency bands and frequency band combinations supported by the terminal device, the maximum channel bandwidth capability of the carrier, the number of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) layers, and the modulation order.

[0005] Currently, the capabilities of terminal devices can be divided into several levels, which include:

[0006] User equipment (UE)-level capabilities (also known as terminal-level capabilities or per-UE capabilities): Applicable to all frequency bands and frequency band combinations. Per-UE capabilities include hardware and / or software version information, PDCP layer capabilities, etc.

[0007] Band-level capabilities (also called per-band capabilities) are typically related to the RF capabilities of the terminal device. Per-band capabilities may include the band's extended cyclic prefix (CP), modulation scheme, power level, and MIMO capabilities. The frequency bands supported by the terminal device can be represented using a band list data structure.

[0008] - Band combination (BC) level capability (also called BC level capability or per BC capability), which is related to the band combination capability. The band combination is mainly related to the carrier aggregation and dual connection (DC) capabilities supported by the terminal device.

[0009] Based on the current signaling architecture for terminal devices to report BC-level capabilities, the signaling overhead of capability reporting is relatively large. Summary of the Invention

[0010] The present application provides a capability reporting method and apparatus for reducing the signaling overhead of terminal device capability reporting.

[0011] In the first aspect, the present application provides a capability reporting method, the execution subject of the method can be a terminal device, or a chip or circuit on the terminal device side. Taking the terminal device as an example, the method includes: receiving a capability query message and sending the capability information of the terminal device. The capability information of the terminal device indicates the capability information of the first frequency band combination, the first frequency band combination includes N uplink frequency bands, and N is an integer greater than 1; the capability information of the first frequency band combination also includes first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that the N uplink frequency bands support at least one of the following three uplink transmission modes: carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, or uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, or a single frequency band.

[0012] In this application, the capabilities corresponding to multiple uplink transmission modes are reported in a single BC capability information, so that multiple uplink transmission modes can share the capability information of the downlink frequency band. Compared with the method of reporting multiple BC capability information for multiple uplink transmission modes, this application can reduce the repeated reporting of downlink frequency band capability information, thereby saving the overhead of capability reporting.

[0013] In a second aspect, the present application provides a capability reporting method, which can be performed by a network device or a chip or circuit on the network device side. Taking the network device as an example, the method includes: sending a capability query message and receiving capability information of a terminal device, where the capability information of the terminal device indicates a first frequency band combination, where the first frequency band combination includes N uplink frequency bands, where N is an integer greater than 1; the capability information also includes first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that the N uplink frequency bands support at least one of the following three uplink transmission modes: multi-band carrier aggregation, multi-band uplink transmission switching, or single frequency band.

[0014] In this application, the capabilities corresponding to multiple uplink transmission modes are reported in a single BC capability information, so that multiple uplink transmission modes can share the capability information of the downlink frequency band. Compared with the method of reporting multiple BC capability information for multiple uplink transmission modes, this application can reduce the repeated reporting of downlink frequency band capability information, thereby saving the overhead of capability reporting.

[0015] Based on the first and second aspects above, the following designs can be adopted:

[0016] In one possible design, the first indication information indicates that the uplink transmission mode supported by N uplink frequency bands is a single-frequency band, including: the first indication information indicates that uplink signal transmission is supported on one frequency band among the N uplink frequency bands; or the first indication information indicates that uplink signal transmission is not supported on multiple frequency bands among the N uplink frequency bands. Through the above design, even if the terminal device reports multiple uplink frequency bands in the first frequency band combination, the network device can determine that the uplink transmission mode of the terminal device is a single-frequency band, thereby improving communication performance.

[0017] In one possible design, the first frequency band combination also includes P downlink frequency bands, where P is an integer greater than 0; the capability information of the first frequency band combination also includes capability information of the P downlink frequency bands, wherein the capability information of the P downlink frequency bands corresponds to an uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, an uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, and an uplink transmission mode of a single frequency band. The above design, by enabling multiple uplink transmission modes to share the capability information of the downlink frequency band, can reduce repeated reporting of the capability information of the downlink frequency band, thereby saving the overhead of capability reporting.

[0018] In one possible design, the capability information of the first frequency band combination further indicates the maximum number of uplink frequency bands supported by the terminal device for simultaneously sending uplink signals. Through the above approach, the accuracy of the terminal device's reporting can be further improved.

[0019] In one possible design, the capability information of the first frequency band combination further indicates Q uplink frequency band groups, where one uplink frequency band group includes one or more uplink frequency bands among N uplink frequency bands, and Q is an integer greater than 0; the Q uplink frequency band groups include at least one of the following: at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, or at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for a single frequency band. The above method enables the network device to determine multiple BCs based on one BC capability information by reporting the uplink frequency band group, thereby further improving the accuracy of the terminal device's reporting.

[0020] In one possible design, the capability information of the first frequency band combination indicates Q uplink frequency band groups, including: the capability information of the first frequency band combination includes an identifier of the uplink frequency band in each uplink frequency band group in the Q uplink frequency band groups; or, the capability information of the first frequency band combination includes a bit map, the bit map includes Q bits, and the Q bits correspond one-to-one to the Q uplink frequency band groups.

[0021] In one possible design, the first indication information includes first sub-information and / or second sub-information, the first sub-information is used to indicate that the first frequency band combination supports a single-band uplink transmission mode or a multi-band uplink transmission mode, and the second sub-information is used to indicate that under the multi-band uplink transmission mode, the first frequency band combination supports an uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation or an uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching.

[0022] In one possible design, the first indication information includes 3 bits, and the 3 bits correspond one-to-one to three uplink sending modes.

[0023] In one possible design, the first indication information includes at least two bits, the at least two bits correspond to three value states, and the three value states correspond one-to-one to three uplink sending modes.

[0024] In one possible design, the capability information of the first frequency band combination includes at least one of the following capability information sets: a first capability information set, a second capability information set, a third capability information set, or a fourth capability information set. The first capability information set corresponds to a single-band uplink transmission mode, the second capability information set corresponds to an uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, the third capability information set corresponds to an uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, and the fourth capability information set corresponds to an uplink transmission mode of a single-band uplink transmission mode, an uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, and an uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands.

[0025] The above scheme reports the possibly different PerBC capabilities under different sending modes through multiple capability sets separately, and reports the possibly identical PerBC capabilities through one capability information set. On the one hand, it can ensure that different sending modes can be aggregated and reported in one BC capability information to save signaling overhead. On the other hand, it can ensure that when the BC capabilities corresponding to different sending modes are different, they can be reported independently to bring greater flexibility.

[0026] In one possible design, the N uplink frequency bands include Q1 uplink frequency band groups that support a single-band uplink transmission mode, where Q1 is an integer greater than 0, and the first capability information set includes at least one of the following capability information subsets: Q1 first capability information subsets or second capability information subsets, wherein the Q1 first capability information subsets correspond one-to-one to the Q1 uplink frequency band groups, and the second capability information subset corresponds to the Q1 uplink frequency band groups;

[0027] And / or, the N uplink frequency bands include Q2 uplink frequency band groups that support an uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, Q2 is an integer greater than 0, and the second capability information set includes at least one of the following capability information subsets: Q2 third capability information subsets, or a fourth capability information subset, wherein the Q2 third capability information subsets correspond one-to-one to the Q2 uplink frequency band groups, and the fourth capability information subset corresponds to the Q2 uplink frequency band groups;

[0028] And / or, the N uplink frequency bands include Q3 uplink frequency band groups that support an uplink transmission method for multi-band carrier aggregation, Q3 is an integer greater than 0, and the third capability information set includes at least one of the following capability information subsets: Q3 fifth capability information subsets, or sixth capability information subsets, wherein the Q3 fifth capability information subsets correspond one-to-one to the Q3 uplink frequency band groups, and the sixth capability information subset corresponds to Q3 uplink frequency band groups.

[0029] The above scheme reports the possibly different PerBC capabilities of different uplink frequency band groups through multiple capability information subsets, and reports the possibly identical PerBC capabilities through one capability information subset. On the one hand, it can ensure that multiple BC capabilities are reported in one BC to save signaling overhead. On the other hand, it can ensure that when the BC capabilities corresponding to different uplink frequency band groups are different, they can be reported independently to bring greater flexibility.

[0030] In a third aspect, the present application provides a capability reporting method, which can be executed by a terminal device or a chip or circuit on the terminal device side. Taking the terminal device as an example, the method includes: receiving a capability query message and sending capability information of the terminal device, where the capability information of the terminal device includes first information, where the first information indicates a first subcarrier spacing list corresponding to a first carrier in a first frequency band combination, where the first subcarrier spacing list includes M subcarrier spacings supported by the first carrier, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0031] This application indicates the SCS list supported by the CC in the capability information of the frequency band combination, so that multiple SCSs can be reported in one FSPC. This can avoid repeated reporting of multiple rows of FS or repeated reporting of multiple BCs due to only different SCSs, thereby reducing the signaling overhead of reporting capabilities.

[0032] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a capability reporting method, which can be performed by a network device or a chip or circuit on the network device side. Taking a network device as an example, the method includes: sending a capability query message and receiving capability information of a terminal device, where the capability information of the terminal device includes first information, where the first information indicates a first subcarrier spacing list corresponding to a first carrier in a first frequency band combination, where the first subcarrier spacing list includes M subcarrier spacings supported by the first carrier, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0033] This application indicates the SCS list supported by the CC in the capability information of the frequency band combination, so that multiple SCSs can be reported in one FSPC. This can avoid repeated reporting of multiple rows of FS or repeated reporting of multiple BCs due to only different SCSs, thereby reducing the signaling overhead of reporting capabilities.

[0034] Based on the third and fourth aspects above, the following design can be made:

[0035] In one possible design, the capability information of the terminal device also includes second information, where the second information indicates a second subcarrier spacing list corresponding to the second carrier in the first frequency band combination, and the second subcarrier spacing list includes N subcarrier spacings supported by the second carrier, where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1; the terminal device supports a subcarrier spacing combination consisting of a first subcarrier spacing of the first carrier and a second subcarrier spacing of the second carrier, where the first subcarrier spacing is any subcarrier spacing in the first subcarrier spacing list, and the second subcarrier spacing is any subcarrier spacing in the second subcarrier spacing list.

[0036] In one possible design, the capability information of the terminal device also includes third information, where the third information indicates one or more subcarrier spacing combinations supported by the first frequency band combination, where a subcarrier spacing combination includes the subcarrier spacing supported by each frequency band in the first frequency band combination. Compared with the above-mentioned full permutation combination, the flexibility of reporting capabilities can be further improved.

[0037] In one possible design, the subcarrier spacing supported by the first frequency band in the subcarrier spacing combination is a subcarrier spacing supported by all carriers of the first frequency band, and the first frequency band is any frequency band in the first frequency band combination. In the above method, by reporting the subcarrier spacing combination based on the frequency band, the reporting overhead can be further reduced.

[0038] In one possible design, the subcarrier spacing supported by the first frequency band in the subcarrier spacing combination is a subcarrier spacing supported by W carriers of the first frequency band, the first frequency band is any frequency band in the first frequency band combination, and W is an integer greater than or equal to 1. In the above manner, by reporting the subcarrier spacing combination based on carrier reporting, the flexibility of the reporting capability can be further improved.

[0039] In one possible design, the capability information of the terminal device includes the first frequency band combination and the capability information of the first frequency band combination; the third information is included in the capability information of the first frequency band combination.

[0040] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a capability reporting method, which can be performed by a terminal device or a chip or circuit on the terminal device side. Taking the terminal device as an example, the method includes: receiving a capability query message and sending capability information of the terminal device, where the capability information of the terminal device indicates a first frequency band combination, where the first frequency band combination includes N uplink frequency bands, where N is an integer greater than 1; the capability information also indicates the total transmission capability on the first frequency band combination, as well as the transmission capability on the first frequency band and the transmission capability on the second frequency band in the first frequency band combination.

[0041] The present application can jointly constrain the uplink transmission mode on the first frequency band combination through the total transmission capability on the first frequency band combination and the transmission capability on a single frequency band, thereby realizing the reporting of multiple BC capabilities in one BC capability information and reducing the capability reporting overhead of the terminal device.

[0042] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a capability reporting method, which can be performed by a network device or a chip or circuit on the network device side. Taking the network device as an example, the method includes: sending a capability query message and receiving capability information of a terminal device, wherein the capability information of the terminal device indicates a first frequency band combination, wherein the first frequency band combination includes N uplink frequency bands, where N is an integer greater than 1; the capability information also indicates the total transmission capability on the first frequency band combination, as well as the transmission capability on the first frequency band and the transmission capability on the second frequency band in the first frequency band combination.

[0043] The present application can jointly constrain the uplink transmission mode on the first frequency band combination through the total transmission capability on the first frequency band combination and the transmission capability on a single frequency band, thereby realizing the reporting of multiple BC capabilities in one BC capability information and reducing the capability reporting overhead of the terminal device.

[0044] Based on the fifth and sixth aspects above, the following design can be made:

[0045] In one possible design, the capability information also includes first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that the N uplink frequency bands support at least one of the following three uplink transmission modes: multi-band carrier aggregation, multi-band uplink transmission switching, or single-band. By reporting the capabilities corresponding to multiple uplink transmission modes in one BC capability information, the accuracy of terminal capability reporting can be further improved.

[0046] In one possible design, the capability information of the first frequency band combination further indicates the maximum number of uplink frequency bands supported by the terminal device for simultaneously sending uplink signals. Through the above approach, the accuracy of the terminal device's reporting can be further improved.

[0047] In one possible design, the capability information of the first frequency band combination further indicates Q uplink frequency band groups, where one uplink frequency band group includes one or more uplink frequency bands among N uplink frequency bands, and Q is an integer greater than 0; the Q uplink frequency band groups include at least one of the following: at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, or at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for a single frequency band. The above method enables the network device to determine multiple BCs based on one BC capability information by reporting the uplink frequency band group, thereby further improving the accuracy of the terminal device's reporting.

[0048] In one possible design, the capability information of the first frequency band combination indicates Q uplink frequency band groups, including: the capability information of the first frequency band combination includes an identifier of the uplink frequency band in each uplink frequency band group in the Q uplink frequency band groups; or, the capability information of the first frequency band combination includes a bit map, the bit map includes Q bits, and the Q bits correspond one-to-one to the Q uplink frequency band groups.

[0049] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a capability reporting method, which can be executed by a terminal device or a chip or circuit on the terminal device side. Taking the terminal device as an example, the method includes: receiving a capability query message and sending capability information of the terminal device. The capability query message includes first information, and the first information is used to query the capability of the first frequency band corresponding to the first subcarrier spacing; accordingly, the capability information of the terminal device includes capability information of the first frequency band corresponding to the first subcarrier spacing.

[0050] When querying the terminal device's capabilities, the network device indicates one or more SCSs supported by the network device for the queried band. Thus, when reporting capabilities, the terminal device only reports the capabilities corresponding to the SCSs indicated by the network device as being interested in the band. Compared to the method where the terminal device reports all SCSs supported by the frequency band, this method can reduce the overhead of the terminal device's capability reporting.

[0051] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a capability reporting method, which can be performed by a network device or a chip or circuit on the network device side. Taking the network device as an example, the method includes: sending a capability query message and receiving capability information of a terminal device, where the capability query message includes first information, and the first information is used to query the capability of a first frequency band corresponding to a first subcarrier spacing; accordingly, the capability information of the terminal device includes capability information of the first frequency band corresponding to the first subcarrier spacing.

[0052] When querying the terminal device's capabilities, the network device indicates one or more SCSs supported by the network device for the queried band. Thus, when reporting capabilities, the terminal device only reports the capabilities corresponding to the SCSs indicated by the network device as being interested in the band. Compared to the method where the terminal device reports all SCSs supported by the frequency band, this method can reduce the overhead of the terminal device's capability reporting.

[0053] Based on the seventh and eighth aspects above, the following design can be adopted:

[0054] In one possible design, the terminal device supports multiple subcarrier spacings for the first frequency band, and the multiple subcarrier spacings include the first subcarrier spacing.

[0055] In one possible design, the first subcarrier spacing is an uplink subcarrier spacing or a downlink subcarrier spacing.

[0056] In a ninth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device capable of implementing any of the methods provided in the first, third, fifth, or seventh aspects above. The communication device may be implemented in hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0057] In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a processor configured to support the communication device in executing the corresponding functions of the terminal device in the method described above. The communication device may also include a memory, which may be coupled to the processor and stores program instructions and data necessary for the communication device. Optionally, the communication device also includes an interface circuit configured to support communication between the communication device and a device such as a network device.

[0058] In one possible implementation, the communication device includes corresponding functional modules for implementing the steps in the above method. The functions can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0059] In one possible embodiment, the structure of the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit, which can perform the corresponding functions in the above method examples. For details, please refer to the description of the method provided in the first aspect, the third aspect, the fifth aspect or the seventh aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0060] In a tenth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device capable of implementing any of the methods provided in the second aspect, the fourth aspect, the sixth aspect, or the eighth aspect. The communication device can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

[0061] In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a processor configured to support the communication device in executing the corresponding functions of the network device in the method described above. The communication device may also include a memory, which may be coupled to the processor and stores program instructions and data necessary for the communication device. Optionally, the communication device also includes an interface circuit configured to support communication between the communication device and a device such as a terminal device.

[0062] In one possible implementation, the communication device includes corresponding functional modules for implementing the steps in the above method. The functions can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0063] In one possible embodiment, the structure of the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit, which can perform the corresponding functions in the above method examples. For details, please refer to the description of the method provided in the second aspect, fourth aspect, sixth aspect or eighth aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0064] In the eleventh aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit being used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, the processor being used to implement the methods of the aforementioned first aspect, third aspect, fifth aspect, or seventh aspect and any possible design through logic circuits or execution code instructions.

[0065] In the twelfth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit being used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, the processor being used to implement the methods in the aforementioned second aspect, fourth aspect, sixth aspect, eighth aspect, and any possible design through logic circuits or execution code instructions.

[0066] In the thirteenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a processor, the method of the aforementioned first aspect, third aspect, fifth aspect, seventh aspect, and any possible design of any aspect is implemented.

[0067] In the fourteenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a processor, the method of the aforementioned second aspect, fourth aspect, sixth aspect, eighth aspect, and any possible design of any aspect is implemented.

[0068] In a fifteenth aspect, a chip system is provided, comprising a processor and possibly a memory, for implementing the methods of the first, third, fifth, or seventh aspects, or any possible design of any of the above aspects. The chip system may be composed solely of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0069] In a sixteenth aspect, a chip system is provided, comprising a processor and possibly a memory, for implementing the methods of the second aspect, fourth aspect, sixth aspect, or eighth aspect, or any possible design of any of the aforementioned aspects. The chip system may be composed of a chip alone, or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0070] In the seventeenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the device described in the first aspect (such as a terminal device) and the device described in the second aspect (such as a network device).

[0071] In the eighteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the device described in the third aspect (such as a terminal device) and the device described in the fourth aspect (such as a network device).

[0072] In the nineteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the device described in the fifth aspect (such as a terminal device) and the device described in the sixth aspect (such as a network device).

[0073] In the twentieth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the device described in the seventh aspect (such as a terminal device) and the device described in the eighth aspect (such as a network device).

[0074] The technical effects that can be achieved by the technical solutions in any of the above-mentioned aspects 9 to 20 can be described with reference to the technical effects that can be achieved by the technical solutions in the above-mentioned first aspect, and the repetitions will not be repeated. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0075] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of an open communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of an open access network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of carrier aggregation according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] FIG5A is a schematic diagram of capability information of a frequency band combination according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG5B is a schematic diagram of a feature set combination according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0081] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of another feature set combination according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0082] FIG7 is a flow chart of a capability reporting method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0083] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of first indication information according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0084] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of capability information of a frequency band combination according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0085] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of capability information of another frequency band combination according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0086] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a technical effect of an embodiment of the present application;

[0087] FIG12 is a schematic diagram of another technical effect of an embodiment of the present application;

[0088] FIG13 is a schematic diagram of capability information of a frequency band combination according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0089] FIG14 is a schematic diagram of capability information of another frequency band combination according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0090] FIG15 is a flow chart of a capability reporting method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0091] FIG16 is a schematic diagram of capability information of a frequency band combination according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0092] FIG17 is a flow chart of a capability reporting method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0093] FIG18 is a flow chart of a capability reporting method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0094] FIG19 is a schematic diagram of capability information of a frequency band combination according to background technology;

[0095] FIG20 is a schematic diagram of capability information of a frequency band combination according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0096] FIG21 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0097] FIG22 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0098] The embodiments of the present application provide a variety of capability reporting methods, all of which are applicable to reporting of limited capabilities of terminal devices. The solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0099] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various wireless communication systems. For example, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to communication systems related to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as long term evolution (LTE) communication systems, sixth generation (5G) mobile communication systems, or can also be applied to other next generation mobile communication systems, such as sixth generation (6G) communication systems, or other similar communication systems. Other similar communication systems may include wireless fidelity (WIFI), vehicle to everything (V2X), internet of things (IoT) systems, narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) systems, and the like.

[0100] Please refer to Figure 1, which shows a network architecture of a communication system. The network architecture may include at least one network device and at least one terminal device. Figure 1 takes at least one terminal device as a terminal device and at least one network device as an example. The network device may be an access network device, or the network device includes an access network device and a core network. The network architecture shown in Figure 1 is only a schematic, and the number of terminal devices and / or network devices may be less or more. The communication system described in the embodiment of the present application is to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the communication system to which the embodiment of the present application is applicable. It is known to those skilled in the art that with the evolution of network architecture, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems. When applying the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application to other communication systems, the devices, components, modules, etc. in the embodiment can be replaced with corresponding devices, components, modules in other communication systems without limitation.

[0101] The network devices involved in the embodiments of the present application are mainly access network devices. Therefore, in the following text, unless otherwise specified, the "network devices" referred to are radio access network (RAN) devices, which can be referred to as access network devices for short. RAN can be a 3GPP-related cellular system, for example, a 5G mobile communication system, or a future-oriented evolution system (such as a 6G mobile communication system). RAN can also be an open access network (open RAN, O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN), or a virtualized radio access network (virtualized RAN, vRAN), etc. RAN can also be a communication system that is a fusion of two or more of the above systems. RAN devices can also be referred to as RAN nodes, RAN entities, or access nodes, etc.

[0102] In one possible scenario, a RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB), a next-generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, or a base station in a future mobile communication system. A RAN node can be a macro base station, a micro base station, an indoor station, a relay node, a donor node / host node, or a wireless controller. A RAN node can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle, or an onboard device. For example, a RAN node in V2X technology can be a roadside unit (RSU).

[0103] In another possible scenario, the RAN node may be a module or unit that performs part of the functions of the base station; or multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminal devices in achieving wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively perform part of the functions of the base station. For example, the RAN node may be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). The functions of the CU may be implemented by one entity, or by different entities. For example, the functions of the CU may be further divided, that is, the control plane and the user plane may be separated and implemented by different entities, namely the control plane CU entity (i.e., CU-control plane (CP) entity) and the user plane CU entity (i.e., CU-user plane (UP) entity). The CU-CP entity and the CU-UP entity may be coupled with the DU to jointly perform the functions of the RAN node. The CU and DU may be set separately, or may be included in the same network element, such as the baseband unit (BBU).

[0104] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (Open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples for description. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0105] CU and DU can be configured according to the protocol layer functions of the wireless network they implement: for example, CU is configured to implement the functions of the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer and above protocol layers (such as the radio resource control (RRC) layer and / or the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, etc.); DU is configured to implement the functions of the protocol layers below the PDCP layer (such as the radio link control (RLC), MAC layer, and / or physical (PHY) layer, etc.). For a detailed description of each of the above protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of 3GPP or the technical specifications of other applicable communication protocols. The above division of the processing functions of CU and DU according to the protocol layer is only an example, and can also be divided in other ways, which is not limited by this application.

[0106] Figure 2 shows an example diagram of an O-RAN system. It should be understood that the O-RAN system may also include other components in addition to the components shown in Figure 2, which are not specifically limited here. As shown in Figure 2, the access network equipment can communicate with the core network (CN) via a backhaul link and can communicate with the terminal device via the air interface. For example, the access network equipment may include a baseband unit (BBU) and a radio unit (RU). The BBU includes at least one CU and at least one DU, and the CU and DU can communicate via at least one midhaul link. The RU can implement the functions of the lower physical layer (Lower PHY) and radio frequency (RF). In some examples, the RU can be a 3GPP transmission reception point (TRP) or a remote radio head (RRH) or other entity with similar functions. In some examples, the Low-PHY may include PHY processing, such as fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), digital beamforming, and filtering. The BBU can communicate with the CN via a backhaul link, and the RU can communicate with at least one terminal device via an air interface. The BBU can communicate with at least one RU via a fronthaul link. The BBU and RU can be co-located or not.

[0107] Figure 3 shows the network element function division and protocol layer structure of an O-RAN device. It should be noted that the configuration of the CU and DU shown in Figure 3 is only an example, and the functions of the CU and DU can also be configured as needed. For example, the CU or DU can be configured to have the functions of more protocol layers, or the CU or DU can be configured to have partial processing functions of the protocol layer. The DU and RU can be co-located or not. The DU and RU can exchange control plane information and user plane information via the lower-layer split-control, user and synchronization (lower-layer split CUS-plane, LLS-CUS) interface over the fronthaul link. The LLS-CUS may include an LLS-C interface and an LLS-U interface that provide the control plane (C-Plane) and user plane (U-Plane) respectively. In some examples, the control plane (C-Plane) refers to the real-time control between the DU and RU. The DU and RU exchange management information via the LLS-M interface of the fronthaul link, and the management plane (M-Plane) refers to the non-real-time management operation between the DU and RU.

[0108] The DU and RU can work together to implement the functions of the PHY layer. A DU can be connected to one or more RUs. The functions of the DU and RU can be configured in various ways according to the design. For example, the DU is configured to implement the baseband function, and the RU is configured to implement the mid-RF function. For another example, the DU is configured to implement the high-layer functions in the PHY layer, and the RU is configured to implement the low-layer functions in the PHY layer or to implement the low-layer functions and the RF functions. The high-layer functions in the physical layer may include a part of the functions of the physical layer, which is closer to the MAC layer, and the low-layer functions in the physical layer may include another part of the functions of the physical layer, which is closer to the mid-RF side.

[0109] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the network device can be the network device itself, or a device that can support the network device to implement the functions, such as a chip system or a combination of devices or components that can implement the functions of the network device, and the device can be installed in the network device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form used by the network device.

[0110] In the embodiments of the present application, any device capable of performing data communication with a base station can be considered a terminal device. A terminal device is also referred to as a terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station, or mobile terminal. Terminal devices can be widely used in various scenarios, such as D2D communication, V2X communication, machine-type communication (MTC), IoT, virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, or smart city. For example, a terminal device can be: a mobile phone, a computer, a mobile internet device (MID), a wearable device, a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, a robotic arm, a camera, a robot, or a smart home device (such as a TV, air conditioner, vacuum cleaner, speaker, set-top box), a relay, a customer premise equipment (CPE), etc.

[0111] The various terminal devices introduced above, if located on a vehicle (for example, placed / installed in a vehicle), can be considered as on-board terminal devices. The on-board terminal device can be an on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit built into the vehicle as one or more components or units, and the vehicle can implement the method of the present application through the built-in on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit. The on-board terminal device can be a complete vehicle device, an on-board module, a vehicle, an on-board unit (OBU), a roadside unit RSU, a vehicle-mounted system (or a vehicle-mounted sending unit) (telematics box, T-box), a chip or a system on chip (SOC), etc. The above chip or SOC can be installed in a vehicle, OBU, RSU or T-box.

[0112] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the terminal device can be the terminal device itself, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device in implementing the functions, such as a chip system or a combination of devices or components capable of implementing the functions of the terminal device, which can be installed in the terminal device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form used by the terminal device.

[0113] The network architecture and business scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. A person skilled in the art will appreciate that, with the evolution of the network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are equally applicable to similar technical problems.

[0114] The technical background of this application is introduced below.

[0115] Carrier aggregation is a common method for increasing communication bandwidth. Carrier aggregation involves using multiple carriers to simultaneously serve UEs. Carrier aggregation can be performed on multiple carriers within a single frequency band or across multiple frequency bands. Figure 4 shows a multi-band example, where Band A has one carrier serving a UE, Band B has two carriers serving a UE, and Band C has two carriers serving a UE.

[0116] In order to better provide services to terminal devices, network devices need to know the capabilities of the terminal devices so as to configure and schedule them.

[0117] In the 5G system, the capabilities of terminal devices can be divided into several levels. The hierarchical structure represents the data structure of terminal capability information. The capability level of terminal devices may include:

[0118] UE-level capabilities (also known as terminal device-level capabilities or per-UE capabilities): Applicable to all frequency bands and frequency band combinations. Per-UE capabilities include terminal device hardware and / or software version information, PDCP layer capabilities, etc.

[0119] Band-level capabilities (also called per-band capabilities) are typically related to the RF capabilities of the terminal device. Per-band capabilities may include the band's extended cyclic prefix (CP), modulation scheme, power level, and MIMO capabilities. The frequency bands supported by the terminal device can be represented using a band list data structure.

[0120] -Band combination (BC) level capability (also referred to as BC-level capability or per BC capability), which is a capability related to the band combination, and the band combination is mainly related to the capabilities of carrier aggregation and dual connection (DC) supported by the terminal device. A band combination can be composed of one or more bands and carriers included in the bands that are supported by the terminal device for carrier aggregation or dual connection. That is to say, for a band combination reported by the terminal device, the network device can configure the carriers included in the bands in the band combination to the terminal device for carrier aggregation or dual connection transmission. In addition, from the perspective of the capability signaling structure, the capabilities of a single band or a single carrier can also be reported through the signaling structure of the band combination. The band combination supported by a terminal device is usually related to the radio frequency capability and baseband capability of the terminal device.

[0121] The information of per BC capability can adopt the data structure of the frequency band combination list. The frequency band combination list contains at least one frequency band combination supported by the terminal device, and each frequency band combination indicates the frequency band (band) contained in the frequency band combination. The capability information of the frequency band combination can be shown in Figure 5A. Each frequency band combination is associated with a feature set combination (FSC), and the FSC contains the capability information of each frequency band in the frequency band combination (per BC per band capability) and the capability information of the component carrier on the frequency band (per CC capability). The FSC can be shown in Figure 5B. The per CC capability refers to the capability for the component carrier on the frequency band in the frequency band combination. The information of per CC capability can adopt the data structure of the carrier list. Each component carrier is associated with a feature set per CC (FSPC), and the FSPC indicates the capability of the corresponding component carrier, such as the subcarrier spacing (SCS) supported by the carrier, the maximum number of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) layers, the maximum carrier bandwidth, etc. Band 1 in band combination BC 1 can correspond to a carrier list, which includes 3 component carriers (CC1, CC2, CCx), indicating that the terminal device supports up to 3 consecutive component carriers on band 1. Taking CC1 as an example, CC1 is associated with FSPC 1, which indicates CC1's MIMO capability, channel state information (CSI) measurement capability, modulation type, etc. Each FSPC includes a FeatureSetDownlinkPerCC information element for reporting downlink transmission capability and a FeatureSetUplinkPerCC information element for reporting uplink transmission capability, which are used to indicate the uplink transmission capability and downlink transmission capability of the terminal device, respectively. Therefore, the per CC capability can also be called the feature set per CC (FSPC) capability.

[0122] The terminal device can report the combination of per BC per band capabilities in a frequency band combination by reporting one or more lines of feature sets (FS). Figure 6 shows an example of a schematic diagram of reporting different capabilities of a frequency band combination (such as per CC capabilities and / or per BC per band capabilities) through multiple lines of feature sets (FS) in a capability signaling structure. As shown in Figure 6, the frequency band combination BC 1 consists of band A, band B and band C. For the frequency band combination BC 1, the terminal device can report 3 lines of FS, each corresponding to a combination of BC capabilities that the terminal device can support. In the first line of FS, the FS of band A is FS1 (which can be understood as the FS ID is 1, similar below), the FS of band B is FS2, and the FS of band C is FS3. They can be regarded as a combination of BC capabilities that the network can configure for the terminal device. In the second row of FS, the FS for band A is still FS1, the FS for band B is FS4, and the FS for band C is FS5. Since the FS for band B is different from the FS for band B in the first row of FS, and the FS for band C is different from the FS for band C in the first row of FS, the BC capability combination corresponding to the second row of FS is different from that in the first row. Different FSs correspond to different carrier capabilities. For example, if a terminal device supports four carriers, the first row of FS can report that there is one carrier on band A (indicating that the terminal device supports one component carrier on band A, and similarly below), one carrier on band B, and two carriers on band C. The second row of FS can report that there is one carrier on band A, two carriers on band B, and one carrier on band C. Based on the capability information reported by the terminal device shown in Figure 6, when configuring the frequency band combination BC 1 for the terminal device, the network device can configure the carrier for the terminal device's operation based on the feature set of each frequency band in the same row of FS. When the network device needs to switch configurations, it can send RRC reconfiguration signaling to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to switch to the configuration corresponding to the feature set in the second row.

[0123] The FS ID of a frequency band can be zero. For example, in the third row of FS in Figure 6, the FS ID of band C is FS 0, indicating that the terminal device does not have uplink transmission capability and downlink transmission capability on band C, that is, it does not support receiving downlink signals and sending uplink signals on the carrier of band C.

[0124] The above describes the relevant content of terminal device capability reporting. The following describes three problems that currently exist in terminal device capability reporting.

[0125] Question 1:

[0126] Due to the asymmetric data rate and traffic requirements for uplink and downlink, with the downlink rate requirement typically higher than the uplink rate requirement, the number of uplink carriers currently supported by a UE is typically smaller than the number of downlink carriers supported. When reporting per-BC capabilities, it is possible that the downlink carriers may be located in the same band, but the uplink carriers may be located in different bands. In this case, the UE needs to report the capabilities using multiple per-BC capability information messages. For example, assume that the UE supports two downlink bands (i.e., bandA + bandB), each with one carrier, and a single uplink carrier (one carrier). The uplink single carrier can be located on either bandA or bandB. In this case, the UE needs to report these capabilities using two per-BC capability information messages: per-BC capability information for (bandA+bandB) / bandA and per-BC capability information for (bandA+bandB) / bandB. Reporting capabilities for different uplink and downlink pairs increases the signaling overhead for the UE to report per-BC capabilities.

[0127] Question 2:

[0128] In carrier aggregation technology, concurrent transmission is allowed across multiple carriers. For example, if the capability of two uplink CCs is reported for a frequency band combination, this indicates that the UE supports simultaneous uplink signal transmission on both CCs. However, in practice, considering UE costs, the number of UE transmit channels is limited. For example, if a UE only supports two transmit channels, the UE can only transmit uplink signals using two-layer MIMO on CC1 or CC2, or using one-layer MIMO on both CC1 and CC2. The UE's uplink communication may have three modes, as shown in Table 1.

[0129] Table 1

[0130] When reporting UE capabilities, the UE can instruct the network device that CC1 supports a maximum of 2 layers of MIMO, and CC2 supports a maximum of 2 layers of MIMO, but does not support the simultaneous use of 2 layers of MIMO on CC1 and 2 layers of MIMO on CC2. The network device can dynamically schedule the UE to switch between the three transmission modes mentioned above. This per BC capability that supports uplink transmission switching (UplinkTxSwitching) is reported through a separate BC list. That is, there is a BC list corresponding to carrier aggregation (CA) / dual connectivity (DC) capabilities in the UE capabilities, and a BC list corresponding to uplink transmission switching. It can be seen that the signaling overhead of the UE reporting per BC capability is also relatively large.

[0131] Question 3:

[0132] As described above, the UE can report the subcarrier spacing supported for a carrier at the FSPC level. For the FR1 frequency range, the current protocol-defined subcarrier spacing includes 15 kHz, 30 kHz, and 60 kHz. For higher frequency ranges, there are also 120 kHz, 480 kHz, and 960 kHz subcarrier spacing. Currently, each carrier can report its supported SCS in the corresponding FSPC. When a UE supports multiple SCSs, it must report them using multiple FS lines or multiple BCs. For example, for a bandA (1cc) + bandB (1cc) combination, the UE can support three combinations: bandA (1cc 15 kHz) + bandB (1cc 15 kHz), bandA (1cc 30 kHz) + bandB (1cc 30 kHz), and bandA (1cc 15 kHz) + bandB (1cc 30 kHz). These combinations must be reported using three FS lines or three BCs. This indicates that the overhead of UE reporting capability information is relatively high.

[0133] Based on this, embodiments of the present application provide a capability reporting method and apparatus for reducing the signaling overhead of terminal device capability reporting. The method and apparatus are based on the same inventive concept. Since the method and apparatus solve similar problems, the implementation of the apparatus and method can refer to each other, and any repetitions will not be repeated.

[0134] In the embodiments of this application, "when," "if," and "if" all indicate that the device will perform a corresponding action under certain objective circumstances. They do not limit the time, do not require the device to perform a judgment action when implemented, and do not imply any other limitations. Unless otherwise specified, "if" and "if" are interchangeable, and "when" and "under the circumstances" are interchangeable. "When" and "if" are interchangeable.

[0135] In the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "more" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: the existence of A alone, the existence of A and B at the same time, and the existence of B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0136] Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" in the embodiments of this application are used to distinguish multiple objects and are not used to limit the size, content, order, timing, priority, or importance of the multiple objects. For example, the first frequency band and the second frequency band are only used to distinguish different frequency bands and do not indicate differences in bandwidth, location, priority, or importance between the two frequency bands.

[0137] In the embodiment of the present application, in the single-band uplink transmission mode, the single-band may include a single CC or multiple consecutive CCs.

[0138] In the uplink transmission mode of multi-band carrier aggregation, multiple bands can correspond to multiple cells or a single cell, where a cell can correspond to one carrier or multiple carriers, which is not specifically limited in this application.

[0139] Multiple frequency bands correspond to a single cell. It can be understood that carriers on multiple bands together constitute a cell, and the network equipment performs cell management (such as adding / releasing / modifying cells).

[0140] This application does not limit the naming of the uplink transmission method. For example, "multi-band carrier aggregation" can also be called "multi-band concurrency", "CA between multiple bands", "inter-band CA", "CA", etc. "Multi-band uplink transmission switching" can also be called "uplink transmission switching (uplink Tx Switching)", "uplink transmission channel switching", etc.

[0141] In this application, an uplink frequency band may refer to an uplink frequency band entity (band entry). The same frequency band number may be reported through multiple band entries. Each band entry contains contiguously aggregated carriers, and different band entries represent non-contiguous carriers within the frequency band. For example, for the frequency band combination n41A-n41A, it represents two non-contiguously aggregated single carriers within the frequency band number n41, where each n41 is counted as an uplink band entry. That is, the frequency band combination n41A-n41A can be considered to include two uplink frequency band entities.

[0142] In this application, the transmission capability can also be described as the maximum number of transmission channels, the maximum number of MIMO layers, the maximum number of antennas, etc.

[0143] In this application, a carrier may also be referred to as a component carrier, and a capability information set may also be referred to as a feature set.

[0144] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0145] Regarding questions one and two:

[0146] Figure 7 shows a flow chart of a capability reporting method provided in an embodiment of the present application. In this method, by indicating multiple uplink transmission modes in a single BC capability information, multiple uplink transmission modes can share downlink capability information, thereby enabling a single BC capability information to report the capabilities corresponding to multiple uplink transmission modes. Compared to the method of reporting multiple BC capability information for multiple uplink transmission modes, the present application can reduce the repeated reporting of capability information for downlink frequency bands, thereby saving the overhead of capability reporting.

[0147] The method specifically includes:

[0148] S701: A network device sends a capability query message, and a terminal device receives the capability query message accordingly.

[0149] The capability query message is used to query the capability information of the terminal device.

[0150] S702: The terminal device sends capability information of the terminal device, and the network device receives the capability information of the terminal device accordingly.

[0151] In the present application, the capability information of a terminal device indicates capability information of a first frequency band combination, where the first frequency band combination includes N uplink frequency bands, where N is an integer greater than 1. The capability information of the first frequency band combination includes first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that the N uplink frequency bands support at least one of the following three uplink transmission modes: multi-band carrier aggregation, multi-band uplink transmission switching, or single-band transmission. As shown in Figure 8 .

[0152] When the first indication information indicates that the uplink transmission mode supported by the N uplink frequency bands is a single frequency band, it may specifically indicate that uplink signals are supported to be transmitted on one frequency band among the N uplink frequency bands, where the one frequency band may be any one of the N uplink frequency bands. Specifically, the first indication information indicates that uplink signals are supported to be simultaneously transmitted on one or more carriers in one frequency band among the N uplink frequency bands.

[0153] Alternatively, when the first indication information indicates that the uplink transmission mode supported by the N uplink frequency bands is a single frequency band, it may also specifically indicate that simultaneous transmission of uplink signals on multiple frequency bands among the N uplink frequency bands is not supported.

[0154] In addition, the first frequency band combination may further include P downlink frequency bands, where P is an integer greater than 0. Accordingly, the capability information of the first frequency band combination may further include capability information of the P downlink frequency bands, wherein the capability information of the P downlink frequency bands corresponds to an uplink transmission mode of multi-band carrier aggregation, an uplink transmission mode of multi-band uplink transmission switching, and an uplink transmission mode of a single frequency band. In this mode, the above three uplink transmission modes can share the capability information of the P downlink frequency bands.

[0155] For example, as shown in Figure 9, taking the terminal device supporting the frequency band combination {bandA+bandB+bandC} as an example, it is assumed that the terminal device supports carrier aggregation of three frequency bands, namely {bandA+bandB+bandC}, in the downlink direction, and supports a single frequency band in the uplink direction. The terminal device only needs to report one BC, which includes the downlink frequency band {bandA+bandB+bandC} and the uplink frequency band {bandA+bandB+bandC}. At the same time, the terminal device also indicates that the uplink transmission mode is a single frequency band, that is, the uplink frequency band supported by the UE is any one of {bandA}, {bandB}, or {bandC}. In this application, the capability information of the downlink supported {band+bandB+bandC} does not need to be reported repeatedly.

[0156] Compared to the method of reporting the capability information of multiple frequency band combinations (BCs), that is, the capability information of the terminal device includes the capability information of BC 1, the capability information of BC 2, and the capability information of BC 3, wherein the capability information of BC 1 indicates the downlink capability information of {bandA+bandB+bandC} and the uplink capability information of bandA, the capability information of BC 2 indicates the downlink capability information of {bandA+bandB+bandC} and the uplink capability information of bandB, and the capability information of BC 3 indicates the downlink capability information of {bandA+bandB+bandC} and the uplink capability information of bandC. Through the solution of the present application, the terminal device can indicate the three different BC capability information actually supported (that is, the capability information of BC1, the capability information of BC2, and the capability information of BC3 mentioned above) by reporting one BC capability information, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0157] For another example, as shown in Figure 10, assuming that the terminal device supports carrier aggregation of three frequency bands {bandA+bandB+bandC} in the downlink direction, supports uplink transmission switching of {bandA+bandB} in the uplink direction, and also supports carrier aggregation of {bandA+bandB} in the uplink direction. The terminal device can report only one BC, which includes the downlink frequency bands {bandA+bandB+bandC} and the uplink frequency bands {bandA+bandB}. At the same time, the terminal device also indicates that the uplink transmission mode is multi-band carrier aggregation and multi-band uplink transmission switching, that is, the terminal device supports uplink transmission switching of {bandA+bandB} and carrier aggregation of {band+bandB}.

[0158] Compared to the method of reporting the capability information of multiple frequency band combinations (BCs), the terminal device needs to report two BCs separately: one BC includes the downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC} / uplink {band+bandB} frequency band combination that supports uplink transmission switching, and the other BC includes the downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC} / uplink {band+bandB} frequency band combination that supports carrier aggregation. Through the method provided in the present application, the capability information of {band+bandB+bandC} supported by the downlink does not need to be reported repeatedly. It can be seen that through the solution of the present application, the terminal device can indicate the two different BC capability information actually supported by reporting one BC capability information, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0159] In one possible implementation, under the two uplink transmission modes of uplink transmission switching and carrier aggregation, the uplink capability (for example, the uplink feature set) corresponding to the same uplink frequency band can be the same. For example, in the example shown in Figure 10 above, the terminal device supports uplink carrier aggregation of {bandA+bandB} and uplink transmission switching of {bandA+bandB}. Then, under the two transmission modes of uplink transmission switching and carrier aggregation, the uplink capability of bandA (for example, the uplink feature set corresponding to bandA) can be the same, and the uplink capability of bandB (for example, the uplink feature set corresponding to bandB) can be the same.

[0160] Four ways in which the first indication information indicates an uplink sending mode are introduced below.

[0161] Method 1: The first indication information includes 3 bits, which correspond to the three uplink transmission modes mentioned above. For example, the first bit indicates whether the uplink transmission mode of a single frequency band is supported, the second bit indicates whether the uplink transmission mode of multi-frequency band carrier aggregation is supported, and the third bit indicates whether the uplink transmission mode of multi-frequency band uplink transmission switching is supported.

[0162] Mode 2: The first indication information includes at least two bits, and the at least two bits correspond to three value states, and the three value states correspond one-to-one to three uplink transmission modes. For example, the first indication information includes 2 bits. When the value of the first indication information is 01, it indicates a single-band uplink transmission mode. When the value of the first indication information is 10, it indicates an uplink transmission mode that supports carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands. When the value of the first indication information is 11, it indicates an uplink transmission mode that supports uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands.

[0163] The above indication is only an example, and this application does not limit the correspondence between the value of the first indication information and the uplink sending method.

[0164] Method three: The first indication information includes the first sub-information and / or the second sub-information, the first sub-information is used to indicate that the first frequency band combination supports the single-band uplink transmission mode or the multi-band uplink transmission mode, and the second sub-information is used to indicate that under the multi-band uplink transmission mode, the first frequency band combination supports the uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation or the uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching.

[0165] Method 4: The first indication information indicates the maximum number of uplink frequency bands that the terminal device supports for simultaneously sending uplink signals. In this method, the single-band uplink sending method can be regarded as a special case of the multi-band uplink sending method. If the maximum number of uplink frequency bands that the terminal device supports for simultaneously sending uplink signals is 1, it indicates that the single-band uplink sending method is supported. If the maximum number of uplink frequency bands that the terminal device supports for simultaneously sending uplink signals is greater than 1, it indicates that the multi-band uplink sending method is supported.

[0166] The number may be at a radio access technology (RAT) granularity (perRAT granularity), i.e., the maximum number of uplink frequency bands supported by terminal devices for simultaneous uplink signal transmission is different in different RATs. Alternatively, the number may be at a frequency range (FR) granularity, i.e., the maximum number of uplink frequency bands supported by terminal devices for simultaneous uplink signal transmission is different for different frequency ranges.

[0167] Optionally, if the first indication information uses the above-mentioned method one to method three to indicate the uplink sending method, the first indication information can further indicate the maximum number of uplink frequency bands supported by the terminal device for simultaneously sending uplink signals. The indication method can refer to the relevant description of method four.

[0168] In one possible implementation, if the terminal device reports to the network device that it supports an uplink transmission mode of multiple frequency bands, but does not indicate the maximum number of uplink frequency bands that the terminal device supports for simultaneously sending uplink signals, or the maximum number of uplink frequency bands that the terminal device supports for simultaneously sending uplink signals is default, it can be understood that the terminal device supports carrier aggregation and / or uplink transmission switching among the above-mentioned N uplink frequency bands.

[0169] It is understandable that when a terminal device indicates support for carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, it may also indicate that the terminal device is able to support the capability of falling back to a single frequency band.

[0170] The structure of the capability information of the first frequency band combination will be described in detail below.

[0171] In this application, the capabilities corresponding to multiple uplink transmission modes are reported in a single BC capability information, so that multiple uplink transmission modes can share the capability information of the downlink frequency band. Compared with the method of reporting multiple BC capability information for multiple uplink transmission modes, this application can reduce the repeated reporting of downlink frequency band capability information, thereby saving the overhead of capability reporting.

[0172] For example, through the solution of this application, the terminal device can indicate the multiple different BC capability information actually supported by reporting one BC capability information, thereby saving signaling overhead. For example, taking the example shown in Figure 9 as an example, the effect of this application can be shown in Figure 11. Or, taking the example shown in Figure 10 above as an example, the effect of this application can be shown in Figure 12.

[0173] Optionally, the capability information of the first frequency band combination may further include the uplink capability information of the N uplink frequency bands. Two implementations of indicating the uplink capability information of the N uplink frequency bands are described below.

[0174] Implementation method 1, the capability information of the first frequency band combination may include at least one of the following capability information sets: a first capability information set, a second capability information set, a third capability information set, or a fourth capability information set, wherein the first capability information set corresponds to the uplink transmission mode of a single frequency band, the second capability information set corresponds to the uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, the third capability information set corresponds to the uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, and the fourth capability information set corresponds to the uplink transmission mode of a single frequency band, the uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, and the uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands.

[0175] It can be understood that the above-mentioned first capability information set, second capability information set, third capability information set, or fourth capability information set can be used to indicate perBC (per frequency band combination) capability parameters, such as sounding reference signal (SRS) carrier rotation capability, SRS Tx Switching capability, perBC uplink transmission power, etc.

[0176] It can be understood that the first capability information set may include capability information specific to the single-band uplink transmission mode, or it can also be understood that the first capability information set is only applicable to the single-band uplink transmission mode.

[0177] The second capability information set may include capability information specific to the uplink transmission mode of inter-band uplink transmission switching, or it may be understood that the second capability information set is only applicable to the uplink transmission mode of inter-band uplink transmission switching.

[0178] The third capability information set may include capability information specific to the uplink transmission mode of multi-band carrier aggregation. Alternatively, it can be understood that the third capability information set is only applicable to the uplink transmission mode of multi-band carrier aggregation.

[0179] The fourth capability information set may include capability information that can be shared by the above three sending modes, or it can also be understood that the fourth capability information set can be applicable to the above three sending modes.

[0180] In the above implementation, the uplink capability information for a single-band uplink transmission mode may include the contents of a first capability information set and a fourth capability information set. The uplink capability information for an uplink transmission mode for multi-band uplink transmission switching may include the contents of a second capability information set and a fourth capability information set. The uplink capability information for an uplink transmission mode for multi-band carrier aggregation may include the contents of a third capability information set and a fourth capability information set.

[0181] The above method can reduce the repeated reporting of capability information common to the three uplink transmission modes, thereby further reducing the capability reporting overhead of the terminal device.

[0182] For example, assuming that through this solution, the terminal device uses a signaling structure of BC capability information, and the BC capability information indicates downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandA+bandB}, and indicates support for two uplink transmission modes: uplink transmission switching and carrier aggregation.

[0183] As shown in Figure 13, uplink transmission switching and carrier aggregation may correspond to the same perBC capability. The above solution enables the terminal device to centrally report the same PerBC capability under the actually supported uplink transmission mode in a signaling structure of BC capability information. For example, when the network device configures bandA+bandB for uplink transmission switching and bandA+bandB for carrier aggregation, the SRS carrier rotation capability supported by the terminal device is capability 1. In this solution, the SRS carrier rotation capability can be reported as capability 1 in the fourth capability information set.

[0184] Uplink transmission switching and carrier aggregation may also correspond to different perBC capabilities. The above solution enables the terminal device to report the different PerBC capabilities corresponding to the actually supported uplink transmission modes in the signaling structure of a BC capability information. For example, when the network device configures bandA+bandB for uplink transmission switching, the terminal device supports a transmission power level (power class, PC) of PC2; when the network device configures bandA+bandB for carrier aggregation, the terminal device supports a transmission power level of PC3; then, in the above solution, the transmission power level reported in the second capability set can be PC2, and the transmission power level reported in the third capability set can be PC3.

[0185] It can be seen that the above scheme reports the possibly different PerBC capabilities under different sending modes through multiple capability sets separately, and reports the possibly identical PerBC capabilities through one capability information set. On the one hand, it can ensure that different sending modes are aggregated and reported in one BC capability information to achieve the purpose of saving signaling overhead. On the other hand, it can ensure that when the BC capabilities corresponding to different sending modes are different, they can be reported independently to bring greater flexibility.

[0186] Implementation method 2, the capability information of the first frequency band combination may include at least one of the following capability information sets: capability information set A, capability information set B or capability information set C, wherein capability information set A corresponds to the uplink transmission mode of a single frequency band, capability information set B corresponds to the uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, and capability information set C corresponds to the uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands.

[0187] It can be understood that the above capability information set A, capability information set B, or capability information set C can be used to indicate perBC (per frequency band combination) capability parameters, such as SRS carrier rotation capability, SRS Tx Switching capability, perBC uplink transmission power, etc.

[0188] It can be understood that capability information set A may include all capability information of the uplink transmission mode of a single frequency band, capability information set B may include all capability information of the uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, and capability information set C may include all capability information of the uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands.

[0189] In the above method, the capability information of the three uplink transmission modes is reported independently, which can improve the flexibility of capability reporting.

[0190] For example, assuming that through this solution, the terminal device uses a signaling structure of BC capability information, and the BC capability information indicates downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandA+bandB}, and indicates support for two uplink transmission modes: uplink transmission switching and carrier aggregation. As shown in Figure 14. The above solution enables the terminal device to report different PerBC capabilities corresponding to the actually supported uplink transmission modes in a signaling structure of BC capability information. For example, when the network device configures bandA+bandB for uplink transmission switching, the transmission power level (power class, PC) supported by the terminal device is PC2; when the network device configures bandA+bandB for carrier aggregation, the transmission power level supported by the terminal device is PC3; and the SRS carrier rotation capability when the network device configures bandA+bandB for uplink transmission switching and bandA+bandB for carrier aggregation is capability 1. In the above solution, the transmit power level reported in capability information set B is PC2, and the SRS carrier rotation capability is reported as capability 1; the transmit power level reported in capability information set C is PC3, and the SRS carrier rotation capability is reported as capability 1. As can be seen, the above solution reports the potentially different PerBC capabilities under different transmission modes through multiple capability sets. This ensures that when the BC capabilities corresponding to different transmission modes are different, they can be reported independently, providing greater flexibility.

[0191] Furthermore, the capability information sets corresponding to the above three uplink transmission modes can be reported in the following two ways:

[0192] Mode A: The capability information set corresponding to an uplink transmission mode may include multiple capability information subsets A and a second capability information subset B, wherein the multiple capability information subsets A correspond one-to-one to the multiple uplink frequency band groups corresponding to the uplink transmission mode, or it can also be understood that the capability information subset A applies only to the corresponding uplink frequency band group. The capability information subset B corresponds to the multiple uplink frequency band groups corresponding to the uplink transmission mode, or it can also be understood that the capability information subset B applies to the multiple uplink frequency band groups corresponding to the uplink transmission mode.

[0193] For example, for a single-band uplink transmission mode, assume that N uplink frequency bands include Q1 uplink frequency band groups that support the single-band uplink transmission mode, where Q1 is an integer greater than 0. The capability information set corresponding to the single-band uplink transmission mode (which may be the first capability information set in implementation manner 1 or the capability information set A in implementation manner 2) includes at least one of the following capability information subsets: Q1 first capability information subsets or a second capability information subset, where the Q1 first capability information subsets correspond one-to-one to the Q1 uplink frequency band groups, and the second capability information subset corresponds to the Q1 uplink frequency band groups.

[0194] For example, assume that the terminal device reports the three different BCs actually supported through a BC signaling structure (i.e., downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, and indicates that the uplink supports a single frequency band), namely BC1: downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandA}; BC2: downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandB}; BC3: downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandC}).

[0195] These three different BCs may correspond to the same perBC capability. The above solution allows the terminal device to centrally report the same perBC capability for these three BCs in a single BC capability information signaling structure. For example, if the SRS carrier rotation capability supported by the three BCs is capability 1, in this solution, the SRS carrier rotation capability can be reported as capability 1 in the second capability information subset.

[0196] These three different BCs may also correspond to different perBC capabilities. This solution enables the terminal device to report the different perBC capabilities corresponding to the above three BCs in the signaling structure of a BC. For example, the transmit power class (PC) supported under BC1 is PC2, the transmit power class supported under BC2 is PC3, and the transmit power class supported under BC3 is PC1.5; then, in this solution, the transmit power class reported in the first capability information subset corresponding to BC 1 is PC2, the transmit power class reported in the first capability information subset corresponding to BC 2 is PC3, and the transmit power class reported in the first capability information subset corresponding to BC 3 is PC1.5.

[0197] For the uplink transmission mode of multi-band uplink transmission switching, assume that the N uplink frequency bands include Q2 uplink frequency band groups that support the uplink transmission mode of multi-band uplink transmission switching, where Q2 is an integer greater than 0. The capability information set corresponding to the uplink transmission mode of multi-band uplink transmission switching (which may be the second capability information set in implementation manner 1 or capability information set B in implementation manner 2) includes at least one of the following capability information subsets: Q2 third capability information subsets or a fourth capability information subset, where the Q2 third capability information subsets correspond one-to-one to the Q2 uplink frequency band groups, and the fourth capability information subset corresponds to the Q2 uplink frequency band groups.

[0198] For example, assume that the terminal device reports three different BCs actually supported through a BC signaling structure (i.e., downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, and indicates support for uplink transmission switching), namely BC4: downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandA+bandB} uplink transmission switching; BC5: downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandB+bandC} uplink transmission switching; BC6: downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandA+bandB+bandC} uplink transmission switching).

[0199] These three different BCs may correspond to the same perBC capability. The above solution allows the terminal device to centrally report the same perBC capability for these three BCs in a single BC capability information signaling structure. For example, if the SRS carrier rotation capability supported by the three BCs is capability 1, in this solution, the SRS carrier rotation capability can be reported as capability 1 in the fourth capability information subset.

[0200] These three different BCs may also correspond to different perBC capabilities. This solution enables the terminal device to report the different perBC capabilities corresponding to the above three BCs in the signaling structure of a BC. For example, the transmit power class (PC) supported under BC4 is PC2, the transmit power class supported under BC5 is PC3, and the transmit power class supported under BC6 is PC1; then, in this solution, the transmit power class reported in the third capability information subset corresponding to BC4 is PC2, the transmit power class reported in the third capability information subset corresponding to BC5 is PC3, and the transmit power class reported in the third capability information subset corresponding to BC6 is PC1.

[0201] For the uplink transmission mode of multi-band carrier aggregation, it is assumed that the N uplink frequency bands include Q3 uplink frequency band groups that support the uplink transmission mode of multi-band carrier aggregation, where Q3 is an integer greater than 0. The capability information set corresponding to the uplink transmission mode of multi-band carrier aggregation (which may be the third capability information set in implementation manner 1 or the capability information set C in implementation manner 2) includes at least one of the following capability information subsets: Q3 fifth capability information subsets or sixth capability information subsets, where the Q3 fifth capability information subsets correspond one-to-one to the Q3 uplink frequency band groups, and the sixth capability information subset corresponds to the Q3 uplink frequency band groups.

[0202] For example, assume that the terminal device reports two different BCs actually supported through a BC signaling structure (i.e., downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, and indicates support for carrier aggregation), namely BC7: downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandA+bandB} carrier aggregation; BC8: downlink {bandA+bandB+bandC}, uplink {bandB+bandC} carrier aggregation.

[0203] These two different BCs may correspond to the same perBC capability. The above solution allows the terminal device to centrally report the same perBC capability for both BCs in a single BC capability information signaling structure. For example, if the SRS carrier rotation capability supported by both BCs is capability 1, in this solution, the SRS carrier rotation capability can be reported as capability 1 in the sixth capability information subset.

[0204] These two different BCs may also correspond to different perBC capabilities. This solution enables the terminal device to report the different perBC capabilities corresponding to the above two BCs in the signaling structure of a BC. For example, the transmit power class (PC) supported under BC4 is PC2, the transmit power class supported under BC5 is PC3, and the transmit power class supported under BC6 is PC1; then in this solution, the transmit power class reported in the fifth capability information subset corresponding to BC 4 is PC2, the transmit power class reported in the fifth capability information subset corresponding to BC 5 is PC3, and the transmit power class reported in the fifth capability information subset corresponding to BC 6 is PC1.

[0205] The above scheme reports the possibly different PerBC capabilities of different uplink frequency band groups through multiple capability information subsets, and reports the possibly identical PerBC capabilities through one capability information subset. On the one hand, it can ensure that multiple BC capabilities are reported in one BC to save signaling overhead. On the other hand, it can ensure that when the BC capabilities corresponding to different uplink frequency band groups are different, they can be reported independently to bring greater flexibility.

[0206] In mode B, a capability information set corresponding to an uplink transmission mode may include multiple capability information subsets C, wherein the multiple capability information subsets C correspond one-to-one to the multiple uplink frequency band groups corresponding to the uplink transmission mode. The specific method is similar to the above implementation mode 2 and will not be further described here.

[0207] It can be understood that a capability information subset C may include all capability information of the corresponding uplink frequency band group.

[0208] In the above manner, by independently reporting the capability information of multiple uplink frequency band groups, the complexity of the capability information structure can be reduced.

[0209] The above introduces the indication method of the uplink capability information of N uplink frequency bands. Optionally, if the first indication information indicates the uplink transmission method supported by the N uplink frequency bands, the terminal device can also report the uplink frequency band group corresponding to the uplink transmission method. Therefore, the capability information of the first frequency band combination can also indicate Q uplink frequency band groups, an uplink frequency band group includes one or more uplink frequency bands among the N uplink frequency bands, and Q is an integer greater than 0; the Q uplink frequency band groups include at least one of the following: at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands (such as the above-mentioned Q3 uplink frequency band groups), at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands (such as the above-mentioned Q2 uplink frequency band groups), or at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for a single frequency band (such as the above-mentioned Q1 uplink frequency band groups).

[0210] For example, for the {bandA+bandB+bandC+bandD} frequency band combination, the terminal device can indicate two uplink frequency band groups corresponding to the uplink transmission mode of multi-band carrier aggregation, namely {bandA+bandB} and {bandA+bandB+bandD}, indicating that uplink signals can be sent simultaneously on bandA and bandB, or uplink signals can be sent simultaneously on bandA, bandB and bandD. The terminal device can also indicate one uplink frequency band group corresponding to the uplink transmission mode of multi-band uplink transmission switching, namely {bandA+bandB}, indicating that uplink transmission channels can be switched between bandA and bandB. The terminal device can also indicate four uplink frequency band groups corresponding to the single-band uplink transmission mode, namely {bandA}, {bandB}, {bandC} and {bandD}, indicating that uplink signals can be sent only on one or more carriers of bandA, or only on one or more carriers of bandB, or only on one or more carriers of bandC, or only on one or more carriers of bandD.

[0211] Through the above method, the terminal device can report multiple BC capabilities through one BC capability information. For example, assuming that the first frequency band combination is {bandA+bandB+bandC+bandD}, the capability information of the first frequency band combination includes the downlink capability information of {bandA+bandB+bandC+bandD}, and the first indication information in the capability information of the first frequency band combination indicates the uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands and carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, and the capability information of the first frequency band combination also indicates two uplink frequency band groups corresponding to the uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, namely {bandA+bandB} and {bandA+bandB+bandD}, and one uplink frequency band group corresponding to the uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, namely {bandA+bandB}.

[0212] The capability information of the first frequency band combination can indicate three BC capabilities, the first BC capability is the downlink capability information of {bandA+bandB+bandC+bandD} and the uplink capability information of {bandA+bandB} uplink transmission switching, the second BC capability is the downlink capability information of {bandA+bandB+bandC+bandD} and the uplink capability information of {bandA+bandB}CA, and the third BC capability is the downlink capability information of {bandA+bandB+bandC+bandD} and the uplink capability information of {bandA+bandB+bandD}CA. It can be seen that the present application can indicate three BC capabilities through one per BC capability information. Compared with the method of indicating three BC capabilities through three per BC capability information, the present application can reduce the repeated reporting of the downlink capability information of {bandA+bandB+bandC+bandD}, thereby reducing the overhead of capability reporting.

[0213] The following introduces three indication methods of Q uplink frequency band groups.

[0214] Indication method 1: The capability information of the first frequency band combination may include an identifier / number of the uplink frequency band in each uplink frequency band group in the Q uplink frequency band groups. For example, the capability information of the first frequency band combination may include a list including an identifier / number of the uplink frequency band in each uplink frequency band group in the Q uplink frequency band groups.

[0215] Indication method two: the capability information of the first frequency band combination may include a first bitmap, wherein the first bitmap includes at least Q bits, and the Q bits correspond one-to-one to the above-mentioned Q uplink frequency band groups.

[0216] Indication method three: The capability information of the first frequency band combination may include a second bitmap, where the second bitmap includes R bits, where one bit corresponds to a combination of uplink frequency band groups. For example, for a three-band combination {band_1, band_2, band_3}, there are 7 combinations: ({band_1}, {band_2}, {band_3}, {band_1+band_2}, {band_1+band_3}, {band_2+band_3}, {band_1+band_2+band_3}). The second bitmap may include 7 bits, where bits 1 to 7 in the second bitmap correspond to the above 7 combinations, respectively.

[0217] It should be noted that the two implementation methods of indicating the uplink capability information of N uplink frequency bands can be implemented independently without relying on the method described in Figure 7. For example, the capability information corresponding to different uplink transmission modes can be respectively provided through multiple BC capability information. When reporting the capability information corresponding to multiple uplink transmission modes, the capability information of the terminal device may include capability information sets corresponding to the multiple uplink transmission modes, and a capability information set shared by the multiple uplink transmission modes.

[0218] Figure 7 illustrates a method for reporting the capabilities corresponding to multiple uplink transmission modes using a single BC capability message. This method allows multiple uplink transmission modes to share downlink capability information by indicating multiple uplink transmission modes in a single BC capability message. The following describes another capability reporting method, which enables reporting multiple BC capabilities in a single BC capability message by indicating the total transmission capability corresponding to a frequency band combination and the transmission capability corresponding to each frequency band.

[0219] FIG15 is a flow chart of another capability reporting method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method includes:

[0220] S1501: A network device sends a capability query message, and a terminal device receives the capability query message accordingly.

[0221] The capability query message is used to query the capability information of the terminal device.

[0222] S1502: The terminal device sends capability information of the terminal device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the capability information of the terminal device.

[0223] In the present application, the capability information of the terminal device indicates the capability information of the first frequency band combination, and the first frequency band combination includes N uplink frequency bands, where N is an integer greater than 1. The capability information of the first frequency band combination also indicates the total transmission capability on the first frequency band combination and the transmission capability on the first frequency band and the transmission capability on the second frequency band in the first frequency band combination. Exemplarily, for the frequency band combination {bandA, bandB, bandC}, the capability information of the frequency band combination may indicate that the total transmission channel on {bandA, bandB, bandC} is 3Tx, and may also indicate that the maximum transmission channel of bandA is 2Tx, the maximum transmission channel of bandB is 3Tx, and the maximum transmission channel of bandC is 2Tx. As shown in Figure 16.

[0224] It should be noted that only the first frequency band and the second frequency band in the first frequency band combination are used as an example here. In a specific implementation, the first frequency band combination can also include other frequency bands. Accordingly, the capability information of the first frequency band combination also indicates the transmission capability on other frequency bands.

[0225] The first frequency band combination may further include P downlink frequency bands, where P is an integer greater than 0. Accordingly, the capability information of the first frequency band combination may further include capability information of P downlink frequency bands. For details, please refer to the relevant description of the method described in FIG7 .

[0226] In one possible implementation, the network device may determine multiple uplink transmission modes for the first frequency band combination based on the total transmission capability of the first frequency band combination and the transmission capability of the first frequency band and the transmission capability of the second frequency band in the first frequency band combination. Taking the example shown in Figure 16 as an example, the network device may determine the 10 uplink transmission modes shown in Table 2.

[0227] Table 2

[0228] Furthermore, the capability information of the first frequency band combination may further include first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that the N uplink frequency bands support at least one of the following three uplink transmission modes: multi-band carrier aggregation, multi-band uplink transmission switching, or single-band. For specific implementation methods, please refer to the relevant description of Figure 7 and will not be repeated here.

[0229] Based on the above reporting method, an optional solution is that the network device can determine multiple uplink transmission modes of the first frequency band combination according to the total transmission capability on the first frequency band combination, the transmission capability on the first frequency band and the transmission capability on the second frequency band in the first frequency band combination, and the uplink transmission method indicated by the first indication information.

[0230] For example, taking the example shown in Figure 16, if the first indication information indicates the uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands and uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, combined with the total transmission capability on {bandA, bandB, bandC} and the transmission capability on each frequency band, the network device can determine multiple transmission modes. Specifically, when the terminal device supports the uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, each band shares 3Tx capabilities, and each band has a maximum of 1Tx capability (that is, transmission mode 10 in Table 2). When the terminal device supports the uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, the terminal device can dynamically switch among the transmission modes 1 to 10 in Table 2, such as sending uplink signals through 2Tx on bandA at time 1, sending uplink signals through 3Tx on bandB at time 2, sending uplink signals through 2Tx on bandA and 1Tx on bandB at time 3, and so on.

[0231] Optionally, the first indication information may further indicate the maximum number of uplink frequency bands supported by the terminal device for simultaneously sending uplink signals. For details, please refer to the relevant description of the fourth method in the method described in FIG.

[0232] Optionally, if the first indication information indicates the uplink transmission mode supported by N uplink frequency bands, the terminal device may also report the uplink frequency band group corresponding to the uplink transmission mode. For details, please refer to the description of the capability information indicating Q uplink frequency band groups of the first frequency band combination in the method described in Figure 7, which will not be repeated here.

[0233] In addition, the capability information of the first frequency band combination may further include uplink capability information of N uplink frequency bands. For details, please refer to the relevant description of the method shown in FIG7 .

[0234] The present application can jointly constrain the uplink transmission mode on the first frequency band combination through the total transmission capability on the first frequency band combination and the transmission capability on a single frequency band, thereby realizing the reporting of multiple BC capabilities in one BC capability information and reducing the capability reporting overhead of the terminal device.

[0235] The above describes two methods for reporting multiple BC capabilities using one BC capability information for questions 1 and 2. The following describes two methods for reporting capabilities for question 3.

[0236] Method 1:

[0237] This method involves the network device indicating one or more SCSs supported by the queried band when querying the terminal device's capabilities. This allows the terminal device to only report the capabilities corresponding to the SCSs indicated by the network device as being of interest for the band. Compared to a method where the terminal device reports all SCSs supported by the frequency band, this method can reduce the overhead of capability reporting for the terminal device.

[0238] FIG17 is a flow chart of a capability reporting method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method includes:

[0239] S1701: A network device sends a capability query message, and a terminal device receives the capability query message accordingly.

[0240] The capability query message includes first information, and the first information is used to query the capability of the terminal device under the first SCS. The first SCS may include one or more SCSs.

[0241] In one example, the capability query message may include an SCS field (also referred to as an SCS filter condition), which may indicate the SCS (i.e., the first SCS) that the network device queries (or requests, or is interested in). The first SCS is used to indicate that the terminal device reports the capability corresponding to the first SCS. In this manner, the first SCS does not have a corresponding frequency band, that is, the network device does not distinguish between frequency bands when querying the capability of the terminal device, then the first information is used to query the capability of the frequency band supported by the terminal device corresponding to the first SCS. Accordingly, the terminal device can report the capability of multiple frequency bands corresponding to the first SCS.

[0242] In another example, the capability query information may include a frequency band field (also referred to as a filtering condition for the frequency band), which may indicate the first frequency band queried (or requested, or of interest to) by the network, and the frequency band field may also include the above-mentioned SCS field, which may indicate the capability information of the terminal device based on the first SCS on the first frequency band queried by the network device. In this manner, the first SCS has a corresponding relationship with the first frequency band, and the first information is used to query the capability of the first frequency band corresponding to the first SCS. Accordingly, the terminal device can report the capability of the first frequency band corresponding to the first SCS.

[0243] It is understood that the network device can query the capabilities of Y frequency bands. For X frequency bands among the Y frequency bands, the network device can indicate the capabilities of each of the X frequency bands based on the SCS filtering conditions. The SCS filtering conditions of the X frequency bands can be the same or different. Y and X are both positive integers, and X is a subset of Y. It is understood that the X frequency bands can include a first frequency band, and the SCS filtering condition of the first frequency band is a first SCS.

[0244] In one possible implementation, the first frequency band may be indicated by a frequency band identifier or a frequency band number, such as a frequency band number indicated by FreqBandIndicatorNR. For example, the network device indicates querying the capability of band n78 based on 30 kHz, the capability of band n3 based on 15 kHz and 30 kHz, and so on.

[0245] In another possible implementation, the first frequency band may also be indicated by a frequency band type (such as a time division duplexing (TDD) band or a frequency division duplexing (FDD) band), or a frequency range (such as a frequency range (FR) 1 band, a FR2 band, or a FR2-2 band). For example, the network device indicates that the capability of the TDD band is to be queried based on 30 kHz; the network device indicates that the capability of the FDD band is to be queried based on 15 kHz. For another example, the network device indicates that the capability of the FR1 band is to be queried based on 30 kHz, the capability of the FR2 band is to be queried based on 15 kHz, and the capability of the FR2-2 band is to be queried based on 60 kHz.

[0246] S1702: The terminal device sends capability information of the terminal device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the capability information of the terminal device.

[0247] Among them, the capability information of the terminal device includes the capability information of the first frequency band corresponding to the first SCS. The specific reporting content corresponds to the query content of the network device. For example, the network device indicates to query the capability of band n78 based on 30Khz, and the terminal device can report the capability of band n78 based on 30Khz. For another example, the network device indicates to query the capability of FR1 frequency band based on 30Khz, and the terminal device can report the capability of the frequency band located in FR1 frequency band based on 30Khz. For another example, the network device indicates to query the capability of FDD frequency band based on 15kHz, and the terminal device can report the capability of FDD frequency band based on 15kHz.

[0248] For example, a capability query message can carry the following filtering conditions:

[0249] Band A: 15KHz SCS;

[0250] Band B: 30KHz SCS;

[0251] When reporting capability information, the terminal device includes the capability information of the frequency band combination of frequency band A. For the carriers included in frequency band A, only the 15 kHz SCS capability supported by the terminal device may be reported. In the capability information of the frequency band combination of frequency band B, only the 30 kHz SCS capability supported by the terminal device may be reported for the carriers included in frequency band B. Even if the terminal device also supports the 30 kHz SCS capability on frequency band A, the terminal device does not need to report this capability to the network device.

[0252] In one possible implementation, the first field may support more SCSs than the SCS queried by the network device, but the terminal device may only report the capability information of the first SCS corresponding to the first frequency band when reporting, and not report the capability information of the SCS not queried by the network device (i.e., SCS other than the first SCS).

[0253] In another possible implementation, the SCS supported by the first field may be less than the SCS queried by the network device. In this case, the terminal device may only report the capability information of the SCS supported by the first field when reporting. For the SCS not supported by the first frequency band in the first SCS, the terminal device may not report the capability information of this part of the SCS.

[0254] In an exemplary embodiment, the first SCS may include K1 downlink SCSs and / or K2 uplink SCSs. K1 and K2 are both positive integers.

[0255] This method involves the network device indicating one or more SCSs supported by the queried band when querying the terminal device's capabilities. This allows the terminal device to only report the capabilities corresponding to the SCSs indicated by the network device as being of interest for the band. Compared to a method where the terminal device reports all SCSs supported by the frequency band, this method can reduce the overhead of capability reporting for the terminal device.

[0256] Method 2:

[0257] Compared with method 1 which only reports the capability information of the SCS queried by the network device, method 2 can report all SCSs supported by the frequency band. Specifically, when the terminal device reports the capability information of the carrier, it can report one or more SCSs supported by the carrier through the SCS list. For example, an SCS list can be included in the FSPC of the carrier, and the SCS list includes one or more SCSs supported by the carrier. Compared with reporting multiple SCSs through a structure of multiple rows of FS or three BCs, this application can reduce the overhead of capability reporting of the terminal device.

[0258] FIG18 is a flow chart of a capability reporting method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method includes:

[0259] S1801: A network device sends a capability query message, and a terminal device receives the capability query message accordingly.

[0260] The capability query message is used to query the capability information of the terminal device.

[0261] S1802: The terminal device sends capability information of the terminal device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the capability information of the terminal device.

[0262] Among them, the capability information of the terminal device includes the capability information of the first frequency band combination, the capability information of the first frequency band combination includes first information, the first information indicates the first SCS list corresponding to the first carrier in the first frequency band combination, the first SCS list includes M SCSs supported by the first carrier (for example, 15K, 30K, 60K, etc.), and M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0263] It is understandable that the first frequency band combination also includes other carriers, such as a second carrier. Similarly, the capability information of the terminal device may also include second information, where the second information indicates a second SCS list corresponding to the second carrier in the first frequency band combination, and the second SCS list includes N SCSs supported by the second carrier (for example, 15K, 30K, 60K, etc.), where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0264] For example, for the frequency band combination: downlink {bandA(1cc)+bandB(1cc)}, uplink {bandA(1cc)}, for the downlink, the UE can support three combinations: bandA(1cc 15KHz)+bandB(1cc 15KHz), bandA(1cc 30KHz)+bandB(1cc 30KHz), and bandA(1cc 15KHz)+bandB(1cc 30KHz). According to the solution described in the background technology, the capability information of the first frequency band combination includes at least three feature sets, among which feature set 1 reports bandA(1cc 15KHz)+bandB(1cc 15KHz), feature set 2 reports bandA(1cc 30KHz)+bandB(1cc 30KHz), and feature set 3 reports bandA(1cc 15KHz)+bandB(1cc 30KHz), as shown in Figure 19. According to the method described in Figure 18 of the present application, the capability information of the first frequency band combination can report three SCS capabilities through the feature set of one frequency band A, as shown in Figure 20.

[0265] Optionally, the terminal device may support all permutations of SCSs supported by all CCs in the frequency band combination. For example, taking the first frequency band combination including the first carrier and the second carrier as an example, the terminal device may support an SCS combination consisting of the first SCS of the first carrier and the second SCS of the second carrier, where the first SCS is any SCS in the first SCS list, and the second SCS is any SCS in the second SCS list.

[0266] For example, for the frequency band combination {bandA(1cc)+bandB(1cc)}, the capability information of the frequency band combination may include SCS list 1 of 1CC on bandA and SCS list 2 of 1CC on bandB, where SCS list 1 includes 15K and 30K supported by 1CC on bandA. SCS list 2 includes 15KHz and 30KHz supported by 1CC on bandB. The terminal device can support four SCS combinations: {bandA 15K,bandB 30K}, {bandA 30K,bandB 30K}, {bandA 30K,bandB 15K}, and {bandA 15K,bandB 15K}.

[0267] It should be noted that the first frequency band combination including the first carrier and the second carrier is used as an example for description here, and the present application does not limit the first frequency band combination to only including two carriers.

[0268] Furthermore, the capability information of the first frequency band combination may further indicate a combination of one or more SCSs supported by the first frequency band combination. For example, the capability information of the first frequency band combination may further include third information indicating one or more SCS combinations supported by the first frequency band combination, where one SCS combination includes the SCSs supported by each frequency band in the first frequency band combination.

[0269] For example, for the frequency band combination {bandA(1cc)+bandB(1cc)}, the third information may indicate that the supported SCS combinations are {bandA 15K, bandB 30K} and {bandA 30K, bandB 30K}.

[0270] In one example, the third information may be an SCS combination list, where a row of the list indicates an SCS combination.

[0271] Compared with the above-mentioned full-permutation combination, the flexibility of reporting capabilities can be further improved.

[0272] Optionally, the combination of one or more SCSs supported by the above-mentioned first frequency band combination can be based on frequency band reporting. For example, assume that the first frequency band combination includes T frequency bands, and T is an integer greater than 1. An SCS combination includes T SCS values, and the T SCS values ​​correspond one-to-one to the T frequency bands in the first frequency band combination, and the carriers in one frequency band support the same SCS. For example, for the frequency band combination {bandA 2cc+bandB 1cc}, an SCS combination can include 2 SCS values, and these 2 SCS values ​​correspond one-to-one to bandA and bandB in the frequency band combination, and the 2CCs on bandA have the same SCS.

[0273] Based on this implementation, if the third information may be an SCS combination list, the number of SCS values ​​included in a row of the list may be equal to the number of frequency bands included in the first frequency band combination.

[0274] Alternatively, the combination of one or more SCSs supported by the first frequency band combination may be based on carrier reporting. For example, assuming that the first frequency band combination includes T frequency bands, the T frequency bands include a total of W carriers, where T is an integer greater than 1, and W is an integer greater than or equal to T. An SCS combination includes W SCS values, and the W SCS values ​​correspond one-to-one to the W frequency bands in the first frequency band combination.

[0275] For example, for the frequency band combination {bandA 2cc + bandB 1cc}, an SCS combination can include 3 SCS values. These 3 SCS values ​​correspond one-to-one to the 2 carriers of bandA and 1 carrier of bandB in the frequency band combination. The 2CCs on bandA have different SCSs.

[0276] Based on this implementation, if the third information can be an SCS combination list, the number of SCS values ​​included in a row of the list can be equal to the number of carriers included in the first frequency band combination.

[0277] According to Question 3 above, the current SCS capability is reported in the FSPC capability in the FS corresponding to each band in the BC, and each FSPC can only report one SCS, which will cause the UE to report multiple lines of FS or multiple BCs to express a combination of multiple SCSs, as shown in Figure 19. However, this application indicates the SCS list supported by the CC in the capability information of the frequency band combination, so that multiple SCSs can be reported in one FSPC, as shown in Figure 20. Therefore, it can avoid the repeated reporting of multiple lines of FS or multiple BCs due to only different SCSs, thereby reducing the signaling overhead of reporting capabilities.

[0278] It is understandable that the above-mentioned method 1 and method 2 can be implemented separately. Alternatively, the above-mentioned method 1 and method 2 can also be combined and implemented as a solution. For example, the network device indicates multiple SCSs of the frequency band through a capability query message, and the terminal device can use method 2 to report the terminal device's capability information when reporting its capabilities.

[0279] In addition, the above method 1 and / or method 2 can also be implemented in combination with the method described in Figure 7 and / or Figure 15.

[0280] Based on the same inventive concept as the method embodiment, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, the structure of which may be as shown in FIG. 21 , including a communication unit 2101 and a processing unit 2102 .

[0281] In one embodiment, the communication device can be specifically used to implement the method executed by the terminal device in the embodiment of Figure 7. The device can be the terminal device itself, or it can be a chip or chipset in the terminal device or a part of the chip for executing the function of the relevant method. Among them, the processing unit 2102 is used to receive the capability query message through the communication unit 2101, and to send the capability information of the terminal device. The capability information of the terminal device indicates the capability information of the first frequency band combination, and the first frequency band combination includes N uplink frequency bands, where N is an integer greater than 1; the capability information of the first frequency band combination also includes first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that the N uplink frequency bands support at least one of the following three uplink transmission methods: carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, or uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, or a single frequency band.

[0282] In one embodiment, the communication device can be specifically used to implement the method executed by the network device in the embodiment of Figure 7. The device can be the network device itself, or it can be a chip or chipset in the network device or a part of the chip for executing the function of the relevant method. Among them, the processing unit 2102 is used to send a capability query message through the communication unit 2101, and to receive the capability information of the terminal device. The capability information of the terminal device indicates a first frequency band combination, and the first frequency band combination includes N uplink frequency bands, where N is an integer greater than 1; the capability information also includes first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that the N uplink frequency bands support at least one of the following three uplink transmission modes: carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, or uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, or a single frequency band.

[0283] In one embodiment, a communication device can be specifically used to implement the method executed by the terminal device in the embodiment of Figure 18. The device can be the terminal device itself, or a chip or chipset in the terminal device, or a part of the chip used to execute the function of the relevant method. In particular, the processing unit 2102 is used to receive a capability query message through the communication unit 2101, and to send capability information of the terminal device, where the capability information of the terminal device includes first information, the first information indicating a first subcarrier spacing list corresponding to the first carrier in the first frequency band combination, the first subcarrier spacing list including M subcarrier spacings supported by the first carrier, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0284] In one embodiment, a communication device can be specifically used to implement the method executed by the network device in the embodiment of Figure 18. The device can be the network device itself, or a chip or chipset in the network device, or a part of the chip used to execute the function of the relevant method. In particular, the processing unit 2102 is used to send a capability query message through the communication unit 2101, and receive capability information of the terminal device, the capability information of the terminal device including first information, the first information indicating a first subcarrier spacing list corresponding to the first carrier in the first frequency band combination, the first subcarrier spacing list including M subcarrier spacings supported by the first carrier, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0285] The division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. In addition, the functional modules in the various embodiments of the present application can be integrated into a processor, or can exist physically separately, or two or more modules can be integrated into one module. The above-mentioned integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It is understood that the functions or implementations of the various modules in the embodiments of the present application can be further referred to the relevant description of the method embodiment.

[0286] In one possible embodiment, a communication device may be as shown in FIG22 . The device may be a communication device or a chip within the communication device, wherein the communication device may be a terminal device or a network device in the above embodiments. The device includes a processor 2201 and a communication interface 2202, and may also include a memory 2203. The processing unit 2102 may be the processor 2201. The communication unit 2101 may be the communication interface 2202. Optionally, the processor 2201 and the memory 2203 may be integrated.

[0287] The processor 2201 may be a CPU, a digital processing unit, or the like. The communication interface 2202 may be a transceiver, an interface circuit such as a transceiver circuit, or a transceiver chip, or the like. The device further includes: a memory 2203 for storing programs executed by the processor 2201. The memory 2203 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), or a volatile memory (volatile memory), such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory 2203 is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto.

[0288] The processor 2201 is used to execute the program code stored in the memory 2203, specifically to execute the actions of the processing unit 2102, which will not be described in detail in this application. The communication interface 2202 is specifically used to execute the actions of the communication unit 2101, which will not be described in detail in this application.

[0289] The specific connection medium between the communication interface 2202, processor 2201, and memory 2203 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In Figure 22, the embodiment of the present application shows that the memory 2203, processor 2201, and communication interface 2202 are connected via bus 2204. The bus is represented by a bold line in Figure 22. The connection method between other components is only for schematic illustration and is not intended to be limiting. Buses can be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of representation, only one bold line is used in Figure 22, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0290] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer software instructions required to execute the above-mentioned processor, which includes a program required to execute the above-mentioned processor.

[0291] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, including a communication device for implementing the transmitter function in the embodiment of FIG. 7 and a communication device for implementing the receiver function in the embodiment of FIG. 7 .

[0292] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, including a communication device for implementing the transmitter function in the embodiment of Figure 15 and a communication device for implementing the receiver function in the embodiment of Figure 15.

[0293] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, including a communication device for implementing the transmitter function in the embodiment of Figure 17 and a communication device for implementing the receiver function in the embodiment of Figure 17.

[0294] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, including a communication device for implementing the transmitter function in the embodiment of Figure 18 and a communication device for implementing the receiver function in the embodiment of Figure 18.

[0295] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application can adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment in combination with software and hardware. Moreover, the present application can adopt the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to magnetic disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that contain computer-usable program code.

[0296] The present application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the present application. It should be understood that each flow and / or box in the flow chart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the flow chart and / or box in the flow chart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce a device for implementing the functions specified in one or more flow charts and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0297] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a product including an instruction device that implements the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0298] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, so that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and / or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

[0299] Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A capability reporting method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receive capability query message; The capability information of the terminal device is sent, where the capability information of the terminal device indicates the capability information of the first frequency band combination, where the first frequency band combination includes N uplink frequency bands, where N is an integer greater than 1; the capability information of the first frequency band combination also includes first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that the N uplink frequency bands support at least one of the following three uplink transmission modes: carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, or a single frequency band.

2. A capability reporting method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Send capability query message; Receive capability information of a terminal device, where the capability information of the terminal device indicates a first frequency band combination, where the first frequency band combination includes N uplink frequency bands, where N is an integer greater than 1; the capability information also includes first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that the N uplink frequency bands support at least one of the following three uplink transmission modes: carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, or a single frequency band.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The first indication information indicating that the uplink transmission mode supported by the N uplink frequency bands is a single frequency band includes: The first indication information indicates that uplink signals can be sent on one of the N uplink frequency bands; or, The first indication information indicates that simultaneous transmission of uplink signals on multiple frequency bands among the N uplink frequency bands is not supported.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The first frequency band combination further includes P downlink frequency bands, where P is an integer greater than 0; The capability information of the first frequency band combination also includes the capability information of the P downlink frequency bands, wherein the capability information of the P downlink frequency bands corresponds to the uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, the uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, and the uplink transmission mode of the single frequency band.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The capability information of the first frequency band combination also indicates the maximum number of uplink frequency bands supported by the terminal device for simultaneously sending uplink signals.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The capability information of the first frequency band combination further indicates Q uplink frequency band groups, where one uplink frequency band group includes one or more uplink frequency bands of the N uplink frequency bands, and Q is an integer greater than 0; The Q uplink frequency band groups include at least one of the following: at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, or at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for a single frequency band.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein The capability information of the first frequency band combination indicates Q uplink frequency band groups, including: The capability information of the first frequency band combination includes an identifier of an uplink frequency band in each of the Q uplink frequency band groups; Alternatively, the capability information of the first frequency band combination includes a bit map, the bit map includes Q bits, and the Q bits correspond one-to-one to the Q uplink frequency band groups.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: The first indication information includes the first sub-information and / or the second sub-information, the first sub-information is used to indicate that the first frequency band combination supports a single-band uplink transmission mode or a multi-band uplink transmission mode, and the second sub-information is used to indicate that under the multi-band uplink transmission mode, the first frequency band combination supports an uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation or an uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: The first indication information includes 3 bits, and the 3 bits correspond one-to-one to the three uplink sending modes.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein The capability information of the first frequency band combination includes at least one of the following capability information sets: a first capability information set, a second capability information set, a third capability information set, or a fourth capability information set. The first capability information set corresponds to a single-band uplink transmission mode, the second capability information set corresponds to an uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, the third capability information set corresponds to an uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, and the fourth capability information set corresponds to an uplink transmission mode of a single-band uplink transmission mode, an uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, and an uplink transmission mode of carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein: The N uplink frequency bands include Q1 uplink frequency band groups that support a single-band uplink transmission mode, where Q1 is an integer greater than 0, and the first capability information set includes at least one of the following capability information subsets: Q1 first capability information subsets or second capability information subsets, wherein the Q1 first capability information subsets correspond one-to-one to the Q1 uplink frequency band groups, and the second capability information subset corresponds to the Q1 uplink frequency band group; And / or, the N uplink frequency bands include Q2 uplink frequency band groups that support an uplink transmission mode of uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, where Q2 is an integer greater than 0, and the second capability information set includes at least one of the following capability information subsets: Q2 third capability information subsets, or a fourth capability information subset, wherein the Q2 third capability information subsets correspond one-to-one to the Q2 uplink frequency band groups, and the fourth capability information subset corresponds to the Q2 uplink frequency band groups; And / or, the N uplink frequency bands include Q3 uplink frequency band groups that support an uplink transmission method for multi-band carrier aggregation, Q3 is an integer greater than 0, and the third capability information set includes at least one of the following capability information subsets: Q3 fifth capability information subsets, or sixth capability information subsets, wherein the Q3 fifth capability information subsets correspond one-to-one to the Q3 uplink frequency band groups, and the sixth capability information subset corresponds to the Q3 uplink frequency band groups.

12. A capability reporting method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receive capability query message; Send capability information of a terminal device, where the capability information of the terminal device includes first information, where the first information indicates a first subcarrier spacing list corresponding to a first carrier in a first frequency band combination, where the first subcarrier spacing list includes M subcarrier spacings supported by the first carrier, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

13. A capability reporting method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Send capability query message; Receive capability information of a terminal device, where the capability information of the terminal device includes first information, where the first information indicates a first subcarrier spacing list corresponding to a first carrier in a first frequency band combination, where the first subcarrier spacing list includes M subcarrier spacings supported by the first carrier, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein: The capability information of the terminal device also includes second information, where the second information indicates a second subcarrier spacing list corresponding to the second carrier in the first frequency band combination, where the second subcarrier spacing list includes N subcarrier spacings supported by the second carrier, where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1; The terminal device supports a subcarrier spacing combination consisting of a first subcarrier spacing of the first carrier and a second subcarrier spacing of the second carrier, the first subcarrier spacing is any subcarrier spacing in the first subcarrier spacing list, and the second subcarrier spacing is any subcarrier spacing in the second subcarrier spacing list.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein: The capability information of the terminal device also includes third information, which indicates one or more subcarrier spacing combinations supported by the first frequency band combination, wherein one subcarrier spacing combination includes the subcarrier spacing supported by each frequency band in the first frequency band combination.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein The subcarrier spacing supported by the first frequency band in the subcarrier spacing combination is a subcarrier spacing supported by all carriers of the first frequency band, and the first frequency band is any frequency band in the first frequency band combination.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein The subcarrier spacing supported by the first frequency band in the subcarrier spacing combination is a subcarrier spacing supported by W carriers of the first frequency band respectively, the first frequency band is any frequency band in the first frequency band combination, and W is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

18. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein: The capability information of the terminal device includes the first frequency band combination and the capability information of the first frequency band combination; The third information is included in the capability information of the first frequency band combination.

19. A capability reporting method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receive capability query message; The capability information of the terminal device is sent, where the capability information of the terminal device indicates a first frequency band combination, where the first frequency band combination includes N uplink frequency bands, where N is an integer greater than 1; the capability information also indicates the total transmission capability on the first frequency band combination and the transmission capability on the first frequency band and the transmission capability on the second frequency band in the first frequency band combination.

20. A capability reporting method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Send capability query message; Receive capability information of a terminal device, where the capability information of the terminal device indicates a first frequency band combination, where the first frequency band combination includes N uplink frequency bands, where N is an integer greater than 1; the capability information also indicates a total transmission capability on the first frequency band combination and a transmission capability on a first frequency band and a transmission capability on a second frequency band in the first frequency band combination.

21. The method according to claim 19 or 20, wherein: The capability information also includes first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that the N uplink frequency bands support at least one of the following three uplink transmission modes: carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, or single frequency band.

22. The method according to any one of claims 19 to 21, wherein: The capability information of the first frequency band combination also indicates the maximum number of uplink frequency bands supported by the terminal device for simultaneously sending uplink signals.

23. The method according to any one of claims 19 to 22, wherein: The capability information of the first frequency band combination also indicates Q uplink frequency band groups, one uplink frequency band group includes one or more uplink frequency bands among the N uplink frequency bands, and Q is an integer greater than 0; the Q uplink frequency band groups include at least one of the following: at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for carrier aggregation between multiple frequency bands, at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for uplink transmission switching between multiple frequency bands, or at least one uplink frequency band group that supports an uplink transmission method for a single frequency band.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein The capability information of the first frequency band combination indicates the Q uplink frequency band groups, including: the capability information of the first frequency band combination includes an identifier of the uplink frequency band in each uplink frequency band group in the Q uplink frequency band groups; or, the capability information of the first frequency band combination includes a bit map, the bit map includes Q bits, and the Q bits correspond one-to-one to the Q uplink frequency band groups.

25. A capability reporting method, characterized in that: The method comprises: receiving a capability query message, wherein the capability query message includes first information, and the first information is used to query a capability of the first frequency band corresponding to the first subcarrier spacing; Send capability information of a terminal device, wherein the capability information of the terminal device includes capability information of the first frequency band corresponding to the first subcarrier spacing.

26. A capability reporting method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Sending a capability query message, wherein the capability query message includes first information, and the first information is used to query the capability of the first frequency band corresponding to the first subcarrier spacing; Receive capability information of a terminal device, wherein the capability information of the terminal device includes capability information of the first frequency band corresponding to the first subcarrier spacing.

27. The method according to claim 25 or 26, wherein The terminal device supports multiple subcarrier spacings for the first frequency band, and the multiple subcarrier spacings include the first subcarrier spacing.

28. The method according to any one of claims 25 to 27, wherein: The first subcarrier spacing is an uplink subcarrier spacing or a downlink subcarrier spacing.

29. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a unit or module for executing the method according to any one of claims 1, 3-11, or the method according to any one of claims 12, 14-18, or the method according to any one of claims 19, 21-24, or the method according to any one of claims 25, 27-28.

30. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a unit or module for executing the method according to any one of claims 2 to 11, or the method according to any one of claims 13 to 18, or the method according to any one of claims 20 to 24, or the method according to any one of claims 26 to 28.

31. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is used to store program instructions, and when the processor executes the program instructions, the method according to any one of claims 1, 3-11, or the method according to any one of claims 12, 14-18, or the method according to any one of claims 19, 21-24, or the method according to any one of claims 25, 27-28 is executed.

32. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is used to store program instructions, and when the processor executes the program instructions, the method according to any one of claims 2 to 11, or the method according to any one of claims 13 to 18, or the method according to any one of claims 20 to 24, or the method according to any one of claims 26 to 28 is executed.

33. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-readable instructions. When the computer-readable instructions are executed on the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1, 3-11, or the method according to any one of claims 2-11, or the method according to any one of claims 12, 14-18, or the method according to any one of claims 13-18, or the method according to any one of claims 19, 21-24, or the method according to any one of claims 20-24, or the method according to any one of claims 25, 27-28, or the method according to any one of claims 26-28 is executed.

34. A computer program product, characterized in that When the computer program product is run on a device, the device is caused to perform the method according to any one of claims 1, 3-11, or the method according to any one of claims 2-11, or the method according to any one of claims 12, 14-18, or the method according to any one of claims 13-18, or the method according to any one of claims 19, 21-24, or the method according to any one of claims 20-24, or the method according to any one of claims 25, 27-28, or the method according to any one of claims 26-28.

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