Communication method and apparatus, storage medium, and computer program product

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and apparatus, a storage medium, and a computer program product, which are used for improving the throughput of a communication system. In the present application, a terminal apparatus receives first information from a first communication apparatus. The first information comprises information of a second communication apparatus. On the basis of the first information, the terminal apparatus receives a second synchronization signal from the second communication apparatus. The terminal apparatus receives third data. The third data comprises first data and second data. The first data and the second data occupy a first resource. The first data is from the first communication apparatus, and the second data is from the second communication apparatus. The terminal apparatus acquires the first data and the second data from the third data. Since a plurality of communication apparatuses send different data to the terminal apparatus on the same resource, the throughput of a communication system can be improved according to the solution. Moreover, since the terminal apparatus can receive the second synchronization signal on the basis of the first information, the complexity of the terminal apparatus maintaining synchronization with the second communication apparatus can be reduced.

Description

A communication method, apparatus, storage medium, and computer program product

[0001] Cross-reference to Related Applications

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202410433055.5, filed on April 11, 2024, and entitled “A communication method, apparatus, storage medium, and computer program product”, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method, apparatus, storage medium, and computer program product. BACKGROUND

[0004] Currently, the 5th generation (5G) new radio (NR) technology is evolving from revision (R) 18 to R19. At the same time, the NR technology has also entered the commercial deployment stage from the standardization stage. The NR standard protocol can be a wireless communication technology designed for terrestrial cellular network scenarios, which can provide users with ultra-low latency, ultra-reliability, ultra-high rate, and ultra-quantity connection wireless communication services. Compared with terrestrial communication, non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication has the characteristics of large coverage area and flexible networking, and can achieve seamless global network coverage. NTN communication includes networking using unmanned aerial vehicles, high-altitude platforms, satellites, and other devices to provide data transmission, voice communication, and other services for user equipment (UE).

[0005] For terrestrial communication and / or non-terrestrial communication, there is an urgent need for a solution to improve the throughput of a communication system. SUMMARY

[0006] The present application provides a communication method, apparatus, storage medium, and computer program product for transmitting different data to the same terminal device on the same resource by multiple communication devices, thereby improving the throughput of the communication system.

[0007] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be executed by a terminal device. The terminal device can include a terminal device or a chip system inside the terminal device.

[0008] The terminal device receives first information from the first communication device. The first information comprises information of the second communication device, and the first information is used to assist the terminal device to receive a synchronization signal of the second communication device. The terminal device receives a second synchronization signal from the second communication device based on the first information. The terminal device receives third data. The third data comprises first data and second data, the first data occupies a first resource. The second data occupies the first resource, the first data is from the first communication device, and the second data is from the second communication device. The terminal device obtains the first data and the second data from the third data.

[0009] In the method provided in the application, a plurality of communication devices (for example, the first communication device and the second communication device) can use the same resource (for example, time-frequency and / or frequency domain resource) to transmit different data to the same terminal device, so as to improve the throughput and / or spectral efficiency of the communication system.

[0010] The difference between the downlink timing corresponding to the first communication device and the downlink timing corresponding to the second communication device can be greater than the cyclic prefix, or can be less than or equal to the cyclic prefix. When the time difference of data from a plurality of communication devices arriving at the terminal device is large, the terminal device can also better recover the data sent by each communication device from the received data. Based on this, it can be seen that in the scheme provided in the application, whether the time difference of data from a plurality of communication devices arriving at the terminal device is small or large, the application example can be applicable. Again, in the NTN network, the difference between the downlink timings of a plurality of satellite devices can be greater than the cyclic prefix (cyclic prefix, CP), that is, the time difference of data from a plurality of satellite devices arriving at the terminal device can be large, so the application example can also be applicable to the NTN network. The scheme provided in the application can reduce the restriction on the data sent by the satellite device, so as to reduce the complexity of data transmission on the satellite device side, thereby improving the throughput and / or spectral efficiency of the NTN communication system.

[0011] In a possible implementation, the terminal device can maintain synchronization with multiple communication devices, but the terminal device can establish a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a first communication device without establishing an RRC connection with other communication devices. For example, the terminal device receives a first synchronization signal of the first communication device, and then establishes an RRC connection with the first communication device. The terminal device receives a second synchronization signal of a second communication device, and does not establish an RRC connection with the second communication device. The communication device that establishes an RRC connection with the terminal device can also be referred to as a primary communication device (for example, a primary satellite device). The other communication devices that do not establish an RRC connection with the terminal device, but the terminal device maintains downlink synchronization with the communication devices, can be referred to as secondary communication devices (for example, secondary satellite devices). Since the terminal device only establishes an RRC connection with the first communication device, the scheme can reduce the complexity of the scheme on the terminal device side. Since the terminal device can synchronize with multiple communication devices, the terminal device can decode data transmitted by multiple communication devices on the same resource, and then recover data transmitted by each of the multiple communication devices.

[0012] In a possible implementation, the first information can include information of the second communication device. The first information can be used to assist the terminal device in receiving a synchronization signal of the second communication device. In this way, the terminal device can receive the synchronization signal from the second communication device based on the first information, and then the complexity of blind detection of the terminal device can be reduced, the complexity of receiving the synchronization signal of the second communication device can be reduced, and the efficiency of successfully receiving the synchronization signal can be improved.

[0013] For example, the first information includes information used to indicate at least one of the following: an index of information of the second communication device; ephemeris information of the second communication device; a cell identifier corresponding to the second communication device; a measurement timing configuration corresponding to the second communication device; a frequency point of a synchronization signal of the second communication device; polarization information of the synchronization signal of the second communication device; and sequence information corresponding to the synchronization signal of the second communication device.

[0014] In a possible implementation, the terminal device sends second information to the first communication device. The second information indicates that the terminal device supports a first data transmission manner, and / or a number of multiple communication devices that the terminal device supports to transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource.

[0015] For example, the first data transmission manner includes that multiple communication devices transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource. For another example, the first data transmission manner includes that multiple communication devices transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource, and a difference between downlink timings corresponding to data transmitted by two communication devices of the multiple communication devices to the terminal device on the same resource is greater than a cyclic prefix.

[0016] In a case that the second information comprises information indicating that the terminal device supports the first data transmission manner, the first communication device can determine the capability of the terminal device based on the content of the second information, i.e. whether the terminal device supports the first data transmission manner. Then the first communication device can configure the data transmission manner for the terminal device based on the capability of the terminal device. For example, the first communication device can configure multiple communication devices to transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource for the terminal device supporting the first data transmission manner, so as to improve the throughput and / or spectral efficiency of the communication system. For another example, the first communication device can configure data transmission of a single communication device for the terminal device not supporting the first data transmission manner, so as to avoid the data transmission manner exceeding the capability of the terminal device, and then causing the occurrence of the data transmission failure.

[0017] In a case that the second information comprises the number of the multiple communication devices supported by the terminal device to transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource, the first communication device configures different data transmission manners for the terminal devices based on the capability of each terminal device. For example, the number of the communication devices configured by the first communication device to transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource can not exceed the capability range of the terminal device, so as to prevent the occurrence of the communication failure. On the other hand, the more the number of the communication devices supported by the terminal device, the more the number of the communication devices configured by the first communication device for the terminal device. It can be seen that the first communication device can flexibly configure in combination with the capability of each terminal device, so that the scheme can be better compatible with the terminal devices with different capabilities, thereby maximizing the throughput and / or communication spectral efficiency of the communication system.

[0018] In a possible implementation, the terminal device transmits third information. The third information indicates at least one of the following: the terminal device detects the synchronization signal of the second communication device; and the terminal device establishes downlink timing synchronization with the second communication device. The terminal device can transmit the third information after receiving the synchronization signal of the at least one communication device, or after establishing the downlink timing synchronization with the at least one communication device, so as to indicate to the first communication device which communication devices the terminal device can receive data from, and then make the first communication device configure the communication devices which can transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource for the terminal device.

[0019] In a possible implementation, the third information comprises at least one of the following: an index corresponding to the information of the second communication device, an identifier of the second communication device, an identifier of a cell corresponding to the second communication device, and measurement result information corresponding to the second communication device. The measurement result information may, for example, comprise at least one of the following: signal detection result, link quality, channel quality, and signal quality.

[0020] In a case that the third information comprises information corresponding to the second communication device, the first communication device can find the association between the index and the communication device according to the index corresponding to the information of the second communication device, and then determine the communication device corresponding to the index as the communication device from which the terminal device detects the synchronization signal or establishes the downlink timing synchronization. This scheme can reduce the bits occupied by the information in the third information, thereby reducing the signaling overhead.

[0021] In a case that the third information comprises the measurement result information corresponding to the second communication device, the first communication device can know the link quality corresponding to the second communication device, and then can configure the secondary communication device for the terminal device in combination with the link quality, for example, can configure the communication device with better link quality as the secondary communication device, thereby improving the communication performance.

[0022] In a possible implementation, the terminal device receives fourth information. The fourth information comprises information indicating the second communication device, and the fourth information indicates that the first communication device and the second communication device transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource. The terminal device maintains synchronization with the downlink timing of the second communication device based on the fourth information. The communication device indicated by the fourth information can be understood as an activated communication device, or a communication device configured as a secondary communication device. It can be seen from this scheme that the first communication device can select part or all of the communication devices from which the terminal device can receive the synchronization signal as the secondary communication devices (for example, can be selected based on the link quality), so as to subsequently transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource together with the secondary communication devices. In another aspect, in this scheme, since the first communication device can select the secondary communication devices to be activated, the first communication device can select more suitable communication devices as the secondary communication devices based on various factors, for example, can select the secondary communication devices based on the load amount and / or the link quality of the secondary communication devices, and the like, and this scheme can improve the communication performance.

[0023] In a possible implementation, the fourth information further indicates that the terminal device selects a first data processing manner to receive data from the first communication device and the second communication device. The first data processing manner has the ability to process data transmitted through a first data transmission manner. In a case that the fourth information indicates the data processing manner of the terminal device, the terminal device can process the received data based on the fourth information in a suitable data processing manner, thereby improving the probability of correct data reception, and improving the communication performance.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the terminal device receives fifth information. The fifth information indicates that the second communication device stops sending data to the terminal device on the same resource as the first communication device. The terminal device stops maintaining synchronization of downlink timing with the second communication device. The communication device indicated by the fifth information can be understood as a communication device that is deactivated or a communication device that no longer belongs to the secondary communication device. After the terminal device receives the fifth information, the terminal device can stop maintaining synchronization of downlink timing with the second communication device. In this way, the complexity of the scheme can be reduced.

[0025] In a possible implementation, the first communication device is a first satellite device, and the second communication device is a second satellite device. The scheme provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied regardless of whether the time difference between the data of the multiple communication devices arriving at the terminal device is small or large. In addition, in an NTN network, the difference between the downlink timings of multiple satellite devices can be greater than the CP, that is, the time difference between the data arriving at the terminal device from the multiple satellite devices can be large. Therefore, the embodiments of the present application can also be applicable to an NTN network, and the scheme provided in the present application can reduce the restriction on the data sent by the satellite device, thereby reducing the complexity of data transmission on the satellite device side, and then improving the throughput and / or spectral efficiency of the NTN communication system.

[0026] In a possible implementation, the terminal device obtains the first data from the third data. The terminal device obtains fourth data based on the first data and the influence of the channel on the signal, and the fourth data includes the first data affected by the channel. The terminal device removes the fourth data from the third data to obtain fifth data. The terminal device obtains the second data from the fifth data. Through the above scheme, the interference of the signals sent by the multiple communication devices to the terminal device can be eliminated. Moreover, the interference elimination method can better obtain the data sent by the multiple communication devices from the received superimposed signal.

[0027] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a first communication device. The first communication device can include a network device or a chip system inside the network device. For example, the first communication device can include a satellite device or a chip (or chip system) inside the satellite device. For another example, the first communication device can include a ground station or a chip (or chip system) inside the ground station. The ground station can include a network device (for example, an access network device) deployed on the ground.

[0028] The first communication device sends first information. The first information includes information of the second communication device, and the first information is used to assist a terminal device in receiving a synchronization signal of the second communication device. The first communication device sends first data to the terminal device on a first resource, and the first resource is also used for the second communication device to send second data to the terminal device.

[0029] In the method provided in the present application, the plurality of communication devices (e.g., the first communication device and the second communication device) can use the same resource (e.g., time-frequency and / or frequency domain resource) to transmit different data to the same terminal device, thereby improving the throughput and / or spectral efficiency of the communication system.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the first communication device sends configuration information of the first resource to the second communication device. In this way, the second communication device can determine the first resource based on the configuration information of the first resource, and then transmit data to the terminal device on the first resource. In this scheme, the first communication device can directly determine which resources are used by the plurality of communication devices to transmit data, and the complexity of the scheme of the first communication device can be reduced.

[0031] The first communication device sends second data to the second communication device. In this way, the first communication device can allocate data transmitted by other communication devices to the terminal device. For example, the first communication device can allocate data transmitted by each communication device to the terminal device more reasonably based on factors such as workload, link quality, and the like, thereby improving the communication performance.

[0032] In a possible implementation, the first communication device sends information for indicating the first region to the second communication device. The terminal device is located in the first region. For example, the information for indicating the first region includes: wave position information in the first region, and / or, location information of the terminal device. In a possible implementation, the information for indicating the first region is used to enable the second communication device to send a synchronization signal to the first region. After receiving the information for indicating the first region, the second communication device can determine the region where the terminal device is located, and then can send a synchronization signal to the region, so as to subsequently enable the terminal device to maintain synchronization with the second communication device.

[0033] In a possible implementation, the first communication device sends sixth information to the second communication device. The sixth information is used to instruct the second communication device to stop transmitting data to the terminal device on the same resource as the first communication device.

[0034] In a possible implementation, the sixth information is further used to instruct the second communication device to stop sending a synchronization signal to the region where the terminal device is located. After receiving the sixth information, the second communication device can stop sending a synchronization signal to the region where the terminal device is located, thereby reducing the power consumption of the second communication device.

[0035] In a possible implementation, the difference between the downlink timing corresponding to the first communication device and the downlink timing corresponding to the second communication device is greater than a cyclic prefix. For related content and beneficial effects, refer to the foregoing description of the first aspect or possible implementations of the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0036] In a possible implementation, the first information has the related content and beneficial effects as described above in the first aspect or the possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0037] In a possible implementation, the first communication device receives the second information. The second information has the related content and beneficial effects as described above in the first aspect or the possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0038] In a possible implementation, the first communication device receives the third information. The third information has the related content and beneficial effects as described above in the first aspect or the possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0039] In a possible implementation, the first communication device transmits the fourth information. The fourth information has the related content and beneficial effects as described above in the first aspect or the possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0040] In a possible implementation, the first communication device transmits the fifth information. The fifth information has the related content and beneficial effects as described above in the first aspect or the possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0041] In a possible implementation, the first communication device is a first satellite device, and the second communication device is a second satellite device.

[0042] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a second communication device. The second communication device can include a network device or a chip system inside the network device. For example, the second communication device can include a satellite device or a chip (or chip system) inside the satellite device. For another example, the second communication device can include a ground station or a chip (or chip system) inside the ground station. The ground station can include a network device (e.g., an access network device) deployed on the ground, for example.

[0043] The second communication device transmits a second synchronization signal. The second communication device transmits second data to the terminal device on a first resource, and the first resource is also used for the first communication device to transmit first data to the terminal device.

[0044] In the method provided by the present application, multiple communication devices (e.g., the first communication device and the second communication device) can use the same resource (e.g., time-frequency and / or frequency domain resource) to transmit different data to the same terminal device, so as to improve the throughput and / or spectral efficiency of the communication system.

[0045] In a possible implementation, the second communication device receives the configuration information of the first resource and / or the second data. The related content and beneficial effects are described above in the second aspect or the possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0046] In a possible implementation, the second communication device receives information indicating the first region, and the terminal device is located in the first region. The second communication device transmits the second synchronization signal to the first region. In a possible implementation, the information indicating the first region includes: wave position information within the first region, and / or, location information of the terminal device. For details and advantages, refer to the foregoing description of the second aspect or the possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0047] In a possible implementation, the second communication device receives sixth information. The sixth information is used to instruct the second communication device to stop transmitting data to the terminal device by using a first transmission mode, and the first transmission mode includes that the second communication device and the first communication device transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource. The second communication device stops transmitting the second synchronization signal to the region where the terminal device is located. For details and advantages, refer to the foregoing description of the second aspect or the possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0048] In a possible implementation, a difference between the downlink timing corresponding to the first communication device and the downlink timing corresponding to the second communication device is greater than a cyclic prefix. For details and advantages, refer to the foregoing description of the first aspect, the possible implementation of the first aspect, the second aspect, or the possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0049] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device can be the terminal device, the first communication device, or the second communication device. The communication device can include a communication unit and a processing unit to perform any one of the first aspect to the third aspect, or perform any one of the possible implementation of the first aspect to the third aspect. The communication unit is configured to perform functions related to transmission and reception. The communication unit can be referred to as a transceiver unit. Optionally, the communication unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. In one design, the communication device is a communication chip, the processing unit can be one or more processors or processor cores, and the communication unit can be an input / output circuit, an input / output interface, or an antenna port of the communication chip.

[0050] In another design, the communication unit can be a transmitter and a receiver, or the communication unit can be a transmitter and a receiver.

[0051] Optionally, the communication device further includes various modules that can be used to perform any one of the first aspect to the third aspect, or perform any one of the possible implementation of the first aspect to the third aspect.

[0052] In a fifth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which can be the terminal apparatus, the first communication apparatus or the second communication apparatus. The communication apparatus can include a processor and a memory to perform any one of the first aspect to the third aspect, or perform any possible implementation of the first aspect to the third aspect. Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes a transceiver, the memory is configured to store a computer program or instructions, and the processor is configured to invoke and run the computer program or instructions from the memory, and when the processor executes the computer program or instructions in the memory, the communication apparatus performs any one of the first aspect to the third aspect, or performs any possible implementation of the first aspect to the third aspect.

[0053] Optionally, the processor is one or more, and the memory is one or more.

[0054] Optionally, the memory can be integrated with the processor, or the memory is disposed separately from the processor.

[0055] Optionally, the transceiver can include a transmitter (transmitter) and a receiver (receiver).

[0056] In a sixth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which can be the terminal apparatus, the first communication apparatus or the second communication apparatus. The communication apparatus can include a processor to perform any one of the first aspect to the third aspect, or perform any possible implementation of the first aspect to the third aspect. The processor is coupled with a memory. Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes the memory. Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled with the communication interface.

[0057] In an implementation form, when the communication apparatus is the terminal apparatus, the first communication apparatus or the second communication apparatus, the communication interface can be a transceiver, or an input / output interface. Optionally, the transceiver can be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input / output interface can be an input / output circuit.

[0058] In yet another implementation form, when the communication apparatus is a chip or a chip system, the communication interface can be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or related circuit on the chip or the chip system. The processor can also be embodied as a processing circuit or a logic circuit.

[0059] In a seventh aspect, a system is provided, which includes the terminal apparatus.

[0060] In a possible implementation form, the system can further include the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus.

[0061] In an eighth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which includes a computer program (which can also be referred to as code or instructions) that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform any one of the first aspect to the third aspect, or any possible implementation of the first aspect to the third aspect.

[0062] In a ninth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program (which can also be referred to as code or instructions) that, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform any one of the first aspect to the third aspect, or any possible implementation of the first aspect to the third aspect.

[0063] In a tenth aspect, a processing apparatus is provided, which includes an interface circuit and a processing circuit. The interface circuit can include an input circuit and an output circuit. The processing circuit is configured to receive a signal through the input circuit and transmit a signal through the output circuit, so that any one of the first aspect to the third aspect, or any possible implementation of the first aspect to the third aspect is implemented.

[0064] In a specific implementation process, the processing apparatus can be a chip, the input circuit can be an input pin, the output circuit can be an output pin, and the processing circuit can be a transistor, a gate circuit, a flip-flop, and various logic circuits, etc. The input signal received by the input circuit can be received and input by, for example but not limited to, a receiver, the signal output by the output circuit can be output to and transmitted by, for example but not limited to, a transmitter, and the input circuit and the output circuit can be the same circuit which is used as the input circuit and the output circuit at different times. The specific implementation of the processor and various circuits is not limited in the present application.

[0065] In an implementation manner, when the communication apparatus is a terminal apparatus, a first communication apparatus, or a second communication apparatus. The interface circuit can be a radio frequency processing chip in the terminal apparatus, the first communication apparatus, or the second communication apparatus, and the processing circuit can be a baseband processing chip in the terminal apparatus, the first communication apparatus, or the second communication apparatus.

[0066] In another implementation manner, the communication apparatus can be part of a device in the terminal apparatus, the first communication apparatus, or the second communication apparatus, such as a system chip or a communication chip, etc. The interface circuit can be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin, or a related circuit on the chip or the chip system. The processing circuit can be a logic circuit on the chip. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0067] FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

[0068] FIG. 1B illustrates another network structure of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied;

[0069] FIG. 1C illustrates another network structure of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied;

[0070] FIG. 1D illustrates another network structure of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied;

[0071] FIG. 1E illustrates another network structure of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied;

[0072] FIG. 1F illustrates another network structure of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied;

[0073] FIG. 1G illustrates another network structure of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied;

[0074] FIG. 2 illustrates a possible procedure of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] FIG. 3 illustrates a possible arrival of information transmitted by a plurality of communication devices to a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG. 4 illustrates a possible procedure of a method for acquiring data by a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] FIG. 5 illustrates a possible procedure of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG. 6 illustrates a structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] FIG. 7 illustrates another structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG. 8 illustrates another structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0081] The following describes terms and names related to embodiments of the present application.

[0082] (1) Resource

[0083] The resource in embodiments of the present application can include, for example, a time domain resource and / or a frequency domain resource.

[0084] (1.1) Time domain resource

[0085] A time domain resource can include at least one of a radio frame, a subframe, a slot, a mini slot, or a symbol (e.g., orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), such as discrete fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM), orthogonal time frequency and space (OTFS), etc.).

[0086] A time domain unit can include a radio frame, a subframe, a slot, a mini slot, or an OFDM symbol. A time domain unit can also include a resource aggregated by multiple radio frames or multiple subframes or multiple slots or multiple mini slots or multiple OFDM symbols. Wherein, a radio frame can include multiple subframes, a subframe can include one or more slots, and a slot can include at least one symbol. Alternatively, a radio frame can include multiple slots, and a slot can include at least one symbol. It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, an OFDM symbol can also be referred to as a symbol.

[0087] According to different subcarrier spacings, the length of each symbol can be different, and thus the length of a slot can be different. For example, the length of a slot corresponding to a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz is 0.5 ms, the length of a slot corresponding to a subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz is 0.125 ms, and so on.

[0088] In the embodiments of the present application, the time domain unit can also be replaced by a time domain resource unit or a time domain unit, etc.

[0089] (1.2) Frequency domain resource.

[0090] In frequency domain, a frequency domain resource can include one or more frequency domain units. A frequency domain unit can be one resource block (RB), one physical resource block (PRB), one subcarrier, one resource block group (RBG), one predefined subband, one precoding resource block group (PRG), one resource pool, one bandwidth part (BWP), one resource element (RE) (also referred to as resource unit or resource particle), one carrier, one serving cell. The PRB and the RB can be replaced with each other. Optionally, a resource pool can include one or more resources, which can include at least one of time domain resource, frequency domain resource, code domain resource, or space domain resource. The number and size of resources included in the resource pool can be predetermined or configured by signaling.

[0091] A subcarrier or a RE refers to a smallest frequency domain unit in a specific symbol in a multi-carrier system. Sub-carrier spacing (SCS) is the interval between the center positions or peak positions of two adjacent subcarriers in the frequency domain in an OFDM system. In 5G NR, multiple subcarrier spacings are introduced, and different carriers can have different subcarrier spacings. The baseline is 15 kHz, which can be 15 kHz x 2n, n is an integer, from 3.75, 7.5 to 480 kHz. In the embodiments of the present application, the RE can refer to the resource unit of time-frequency resource, which can be regarded as the smallest time-frequency resource unit. In the present application, subcarrier and RE can be used interchangeably, and they contain the same.

[0092] A subchannel is the smallest unit of frequency domain resources occupied by a physical sidelink shared channel, and a subchannel can include one or more resource blocks (RBs). The bandwidth of a wireless communication system in the frequency domain can include multiple RBs, for example, in the LTE system, the included physical resource blocks (PRBs) can be 6, 15, 25, 50, etc. In the frequency domain, one RB can include a number of subcarriers, for example, in the LTE system, one RB includes 12 subcarriers, wherein each subcarrier interval can be 15 kHz, of course, other subcarrier intervals can also be used, such as 3.75 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, or 120 kHz subcarrier interval, which is not limited here.

[0093] A frequency domain unit can include one RE, one RB, one channel, one sub channel, one carrier, or one bandwidth part (BWP), etc. A frequency domain unit can also include a resource composed of multiple REs or multiple RBs or multiple sub channels or multiple carriers or multiple BWPs. In embodiments of the present application, a channel can be equivalent to a resource block set (RB set), and the frequency domain bandwidth of one RB set can be 20 megahertz (MHz).

[0094] In embodiments of the present application, a frequency domain unit can also be replaced by a frequency domain resource unit or a frequency unit, etc.

[0095] A frequency domain resource set can include one or more frequency domain units. A frequency domain resource set can also be referred to as a frequency domain resource set, a frequency domain resource group, etc. A frequency domain resource set may, for example, include a resource block set (RB set), one RB, one sub channel, one resource pool, one carrier, or one BWP.

[0096] (2) Reference signal.

[0097] The reference signal in embodiments of the present application can include at least one of a positioning reference signal (PRS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a phase-tracking reference signal (PTRS), or a synchronization signal and physical layer sidelink broadcast channel block (SSB).

[0098] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: a terrestrial communication system, an NTN communication system, for example, a satellite communication system. Among them, the satellite communication system can be integrated with a mobile communication system. For example, the mobile communication system can be a fourth generation (4th Generation, 4G) communication system (for example, a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, WiMAX) communication system, a fifth generation (5th Generation, 5G) communication system (for example, a new radio (new radio, NR) system), and a future mobile communication system. The mobile communication system can also be a vehicle to everything (vehicle to everything, V2X) system and an internet of things (internet of things, IoT) system.

[0099] (3) Region.

[0100] Region (for example, the first region related in the embodiments of the present application): Unless otherwise specified, the "region" in the following embodiments of the present application refers to a geographical region. The region is fixed relative to the earth, or it is understood that the region refers to a geographical region fixed relative to the earth. For example, the region can have at least one of the following properties: shape, contour, size, radius, area, geographical location, etc.

[0101] The "region" can also have a height attribute, that is, the region can be understood as a geographical region at a given height or height range. By default, the region can refer to a geographical region with an altitude of 0 kilometers (km) or an altitude around 0 km (such as in the range of [-2, 2] km) above sea level, or a geographical region with a certain average altitude. In addition, it can also refer to a geographical region with a specific height or a specific height range, for example, a geographical region with an altitude of 10 km, or a geographical region with an altitude around 10 km (such as in the range of [7, 13] km).

[0102] In a possible implementation, the above region fixed relative to the earth can also be referred to as "wave position", "geographical region" and the like. Of course, there can be other names, and the name of the region fixed relative to the earth is not limited in the present application.

[0103] The shapes, contours, sizes, radii, and areas of different regions can be the same or different. Different regions have different geographical locations. Different regions can or can not overlap.

[0104] In a possible implementation, the region is fixed relative to the earth, which can be understood as that the outline, size or geographical position of the region does not change, for example, the outline, size or geographical position of the region does not change over time. Alternatively, the region is fixed relative to the earth, which can be understood as that the outline of the region and the points in the region can be described by the earth-fixed coordinate system, or the coordinates of each point on the outline of the region in the earth-fixed coordinate system are fixed and unchanged.

[0105] In a possible implementation, the shape of the region can be a regular hexagon, or other shapes such as a regular pentagon, a circle, an ellipse, etc. Alternatively, the shape of the region can also be irregular, which is not limited.

[0106] For example, the shape of the region can be defined by a protocol or defined by a network device. The shapes of the regions defined by different network devices can be the same or different. The same network device can also define multiple shapes of the region. Similarly, the size, radius or area of the region can be defined by a protocol or defined by a network device. The size, radius or area of the region defined by different network devices can be the same or different. The same network device can also define multiple sizes, multiple radii or multiple areas of the region.

[0107] In a possible implementation, the earth surface can be divided into multiple regions, and the multiple regions can be indexed (for example, numbered). The terminal device and the network device can agree on the numbering method of the regions (for example, whether to start from 1 or from 0) and the correspondence between the regions and the indexes. Alternatively, the protocol can define the numbering method of the regions and the correspondence between the regions and the indexes. Based on the index of the region, the geographical position and other information of the region can be determined.

[0108] Optionally, the multiple divided regions can completely cover the earth surface, for example, any position on the earth surface belongs to a region; alternatively, the multiple divided regions can cover part of the geographical position on the earth, for example, the multiple regions can not cover the south pole and / or the north pole of the earth, that is, the south pole and / or the north pole can not exist in the region.

[0109] Optionally, the division method of the multiple regions can be defined by a protocol or defined by a network device. The division methods defined by different network devices can be the same or different. The same network device can also define multiple division methods.

[0110] As a first possible partitioning manner, the earth surface can be partitioned using a grid of latitude and longitude with a granularity, for example, the earth surface can be partitioned using a grid of latitude and longitude with a granularity of 1 degree. If only this discretization is used, the whole world can be partitioned into 360x360=129600 regions, and the terminal device and the network device can agree on the indices of the 129600 regions as 0, 1, …, 129599, or can also agree on the indices as 1, 2, …, 129600.

[0111] Alternatively, when the height attribute of the geographical region is introduced, multiple grids partitioning the earth surface can be defined, for example, the grid at an altitude of 0 km or in the range of [-2, 2] km can be partitioned using a grid of latitude and longitude with a granularity of 1 degree, resulting in 129600 regions. The grid at an altitude of 10 km or in the range of [7, 13] km can be partitioned using a grid of latitude and longitude with a granularity of 1 degree, resulting in 129600 regions. When indexing these regions, the index range needs to be expanded, for example, the total index is 0, 1, …, 129599, 129600, 129601, …, 259199, where the first 129600 serial numbers represent the region index at an altitude of 0 km or in the range of [-2, 2] km, and the last 129600 serial numbers represent the region index at an altitude of 10 km or in the range of [7, 13] km.

[0112] For example, in the case of a network device being a LEO satellite, a relatively small granularity can be used for discretization; in the case of a network device being a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, a relatively large granularity can be used for discretization.

[0113] As a second possible partitioning manner, the earth surface can be partitioned using multiple grids of latitude and longitude with different granularities, for example, a grid of latitude and longitude with a granularity of 1 degree is used to partition a part of the earth surface or a part of an administrative region, and a grid of latitude and longitude with a granularity of 2 degrees is used to partition another part of the earth surface or administrative region.

[0114] Alternatively, after introducing the height attribute of the geographical region, the earth surface at an altitude of 0 km can be partitioned using a grid of latitude and longitude with a granularity of 1 degree, and the earth surface at an altitude of 10 km can be partitioned using a grid of latitude and longitude with a granularity of 2 degrees.

[0115] As a third possible partitioning manner, the earth surface can be partitioned according to administrative regions. For example, a township-level administrative region is taken as a region.

[0116] As a fourth possible division manner, for a GEO satellite, the projection of a beam of the GEO satellite on the ground can be regarded as a region. Since the GEO satellite is stationary relative to the earth, the projection of the beam of the GEO satellite on the ground can be considered as fixed relative to the earth.

[0117] In actual applications, the earth surface can be divided in combination of multiple division manners, for example, the earth surface or part of the administrative regions can be divided into a longitude and latitude grid with a granularity of 1, and the other part of the earth surface or administrative regions can be divided according to administrative regions.

[0118] In a possible implementation, in the case of dividing the earth surface into multiple regions, the same earth surface range can be divided into regions at different levels. For example, for a certain earth surface range, the first level of region division can be performed on a longitude and latitude grid with a granularity of 10 degrees, the second level of region division can be performed on a longitude and latitude grid with a granularity of 6, and the third level of region division can be performed on a longitude and latitude grid with a granularity of 1. At this time, in the earth surface range, the number of regions at the first level is greater than the number of regions at the second level, and the number of regions at the second level is greater than the number of regions at the third level. In addition, in this scenario, the regions at each level can be numbered separately.

[0119] FIG. 1A exemplarily shows an architecture schematic diagram of a communication system 1000 to which embodiments of the present application are applicable. As shown in FIG. 1A, the communication system includes a radio access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 can also include an Internet 300. The radio access network 100 can include at least one radio access network device (such as 110a and 110b in FIG. 1A), and can also include at least one terminal device (such as 120a-120j in FIG. 1A). The terminal device is connected to the radio access network device in a wireless manner, and the radio access network device is connected to the core network in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device and the radio access network device can be independent and different physical devices, can be integrated into the same physical device with the functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the radio access network device, or can be a physical device integrated with part of the functions of the core network device and part of the functions of the radio access network device. The terminal device and the terminal device, and the radio access network device and the radio access network device can be connected to each other in a wired or wireless manner. FIG. 1A is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system can also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in FIG. 1A.

[0120] The network device involved in the embodiments of the present application includes, for example, a radio access network (RAN) device. The radio access network device can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a transmission point (TP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system, etc.; it can also be a module or unit that completes part of the functions of a base station, for example, it can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). The CU here completes the functions of the radio resource control protocol and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and can also complete the function of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP); the DU completes the functions of the radio link control layer and the medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and can also complete part of the physical layer or the entire physical layer; the specific description of the above-mentioned protocol layers can refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). The CU and the DU can be separately arranged or can be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna processing unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH). In different systems, the CU, the DU, or the RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an open radio access network (ORAN) system, the CU can also be referred to as an open-CU (O-CU), the DU can also be referred to as an open-DU (O-DU), and the RU can also be referred to as an open-RU (O-RU).Any of the CU (or CU control plane (CU-CP), CU user plane (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. The CU-CP can also be referred to as an open CU-CP (O-CU-CP), and the CU-UP can also be referred to as an open CU-UP (O-CU-UP).

[0121] FIG. 1B exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of an O-RAN system architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application. The O-RAN system in the embodiment provided in the present application can include other components in addition to the components shown in FIG. 1B. As shown in FIG. 1B, an access network device (RAN, which can be an eNB or a gNB or a next-generation access network device) communicates with a core network (CN) through a backhaul link and communicates with a user equipment (UE) through an air interface. For example, a baseband unit (BBU) in the access network device communicates with the core network through the backhaul link, and a radio unit (RU) in the access network device communicates with at least one UE through the air interface. The BBU communicates with at least one RU through a front-haul link, and the BBU and the RU can be co-located or can not be co-located. The BBU includes at least one control unit (CU) and at least one distributed unit (DU), which can communicate through at least one mid-haul link. In the embodiment of the present application, the first communication device can configure the information of the secondary communication device for the terminal device (for example, the UE), and can also send signaling for activating or deactivating one or more communication devices to the terminal device, and the sending of the signaling can be performed by the CU and / or the DU in the first communication device to the terminal device.

[0122] FIG. 1C illustrates an O-RAN system architecture provided by embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1C, the O-RAN can include an O-CU-CP, an O-CU-UP, an O-DU, and an O-RU. The system architecture can also include an open cloud (O-cloud), a service management and orchestration framework, an open eNB (O-eNB), and near (near)-real time (RT) RIC and non-real time (RT) RIC. The non-RT RIC can implement monitoring, configuration, management, and control of radio resources of at least one of the O-CU-CP, the O-CU-UP, the DU, or the O-eNB. As shown in FIG. 1C, interfaces defined by 3GPP include, for example, El, Fl (e.g., Fl-c, Fl-u), NG (e.g., NG-c, NG-u), Xn (e.g., Xn-c, Xn-u), and X2 (e.g., X2-c, X2-u). For example, the O-RAN communication system also includes some interfaces, such as Ol, O2, E2, Al, Open-front hual (FH) (e.g., Open-FH control (M)-plane, and Open-FH control, user, and synchronization (CUS)-plane). The names of the interfaces and the connection modes of the various units shown in FIG. 1C are examples, and in actual applications, the O-RAN system can include more or fewer interfaces, or more or fewer units.

[0123] The radio access network device can be a macro base station (e.g., 110a in FIG. 1A), a micro base station or an indoor station (e.g., 110b in FIG. 1A), a relay node or a donor node, etc. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form of the radio access network device. For ease of description, the following describes a base station as an example of the radio access network device.

[0124] The terminal device can also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal device, etc. The terminal device can be widely applied to various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, automatic driving, remote medical treatment, smart power grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal device can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, wearable device, vehicle, unmanned aerial vehicle, helicopter, airplane, ship, robot, mechanical arm, smart home device, sensor, etc. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0125] The terminal device can establish a connection with the operator network through an interface (such as N1, etc.) provided by the operator network, and use data and / or voice services provided by the operator network. The terminal device can also access the domain name system (DNS) through the operator network, use operator services deployed on the DNS, and / or services provided by a third party. The third party can be a service provider other than the operator network and the terminal device, and can provide the terminal device with data and / or voice services. The specific form of the third party can be determined according to the actual application scenario, and is not limited here.

[0126] The terminal device can also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal device, etc. The terminal device can be widely applied to various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, automatic driving, remote medical treatment, smart power grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal device can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, wearable device, vehicle, unmanned aerial vehicle, helicopter, airplane, ship, robot, mechanical arm, smart home device, road side unit (RSU), etc. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0127] The base station and the terminal device can be fixed in position or movable. The base station and the terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can be deployed on water; and can be deployed on an airplane, a balloon, and a man-made satellite in the air. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of the base station and the terminal device.

[0128] The roles of the base station and the terminal device can be relative. For example, the helicopter or the unmanned aerial vehicle 120i in FIG. 1A can be configured as a mobile base station. For the terminal device 120j that accesses the wireless access network 100 through 120i, the terminal device 120i is a base station. However, for the base station 110a, 120i is a terminal device, that is, 110a communicates with 120i through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i can also communicate through a base station-to-base station interface protocol. In this case, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, the base station and the terminal device can be collectively referred to as a communication device. 110a and 110b in FIG. 1A can be referred to as a communication device with a base station function, and 120a-120j in FIG. 1A can be referred to as a communication device with a terminal device function.

[0129] The base station and the terminal device, the base station and the base station, and the terminal device and the terminal device can communicate through a licensed frequency spectrum, an unlicensed frequency spectrum, or both. The communication can be performed through a frequency spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), a frequency spectrum above 6 GHz, or both. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the frequency spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0130] In embodiments of the present application, the functions of the base station can also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station or a control subsystem containing base station functions. The control subsystem containing base station functions herein can be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart cities. The functions of the terminal device can also be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal device or a device containing terminal device functions.

[0131] In this application, the base station sends a downlink signal or downlink information to the terminal device, and the downlink information is carried on a downlink channel; the terminal device sends an uplink signal or uplink information to the base station, and the uplink information is carried on an uplink channel. In order to communicate with the base station, the terminal device needs to establish a wireless connection with the cell controlled by the base station. The cell that establishes a wireless connection with the terminal device is called the service cell of the terminal device. When the terminal device communicates with the service cell, it will also be interfered by signals from neighboring cells.

[0132] The core network involved in the embodiments of the present application can include network devices for processing and forwarding signaling and data of users. For example, it includes core network devices such as access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), user plane gateway, and positioning management device. The user plane gateway can be a server with functions of mobility management, routing, forwarding, and the like for user plane data, and is generally located at the network side, such as a serving gateway (SGW), a packet data network gateway (PGW), a user plane function (UPF), and the like. The AMF and the SMF are equivalent to the mobility management entity (MME) in the long term evolution (LTE) system. The AMF is mainly responsible for admission, and the SMF is mainly responsible for session management. Of course, other network elements can also be included in the core network, which are not listed here.

[0133] FIG. 1A is only a schematic diagram, and the wireless communication system can also include other devices, such as core network devices, wireless relay devices, and / or wireless backhaul devices, and the like, which are not shown in FIG. 1A.

[0134] FIGS. 1D and 1E exemplarily show network architecture diagrams of several communication systems to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable. The communication system can include satellites, network devices, and terminal devices, and the like. The communication system can also include gateways and core network devices. FIGS. 1D and 1E exemplarily show the network architecture of a fusion network of NTN and ground network. The following will be introduced in conjunction with the drawings.

[0135] The satellite can be a highly elliptical orbiting (HEO) satellite, a GEO satellite, a medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite, and a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the working mode of the satellite. For example, the working mode of the satellite can be a transparent mode or a regenerative mode. FIG. 1D schematically illustrates the case where the working mode of the satellite is the transparent mode, and FIG. 1E schematically illustrates the case where the working mode of the satellite is the regenerative mode.

[0136] When the satellite works in the transparent mode, the satellite has the function of transparent forwarding of relaying. The gateway has the function of a network device (such as a base station) or part of the function of a network device (such as a base station), and at this time, the gateway can be regarded as a network device (such as a base station). Alternatively, the network device (such as a base station) can be deployed separately from the gateway, and then the time delay of the feeder link includes the time delays of the satellite to the gateway and the gateway to the gNB. The transparent mode discussed later is an example where the gateway and the gNB are together or close to each other. For the case where the gateway is far away from the gNB, the time delay of the feeder link is the sum of the time delays of the satellite to the gateway and the gateway to the gNB.

[0137] When the satellite works in the regenerative mode, the satellite has data processing capability and has the function of a network device (such as a base station) or part of the function of a network device (such as a base station), and at this time, the satellite can be regarded as a network device (such as a base station).

[0138] The satellite can perform wireless communication with the terminal through broadcast communication signals and navigation signals, etc. Optionally, each satellite can provide communication services, navigation services, positioning services, etc. for terminal devices through multiple beams. For example, each satellite uses multiple beams to cover a service area, and the relationship between different beams can be one or more of time division, frequency division, and space division.

[0139] The gateway (or ground station, earth station, gateway station, gateway station) can be used to connect the satellite and the network device on the ground (such as the base station on the ground). One or more satellites can be connected to one or more network devices on the ground (such as base stations on the ground) through one or more gateways, which are not limited herein. The link between the satellite and the terminal is called a service link, and the link between the satellite and the gateway is called a feeder link. The network device can be deployed separately from the gateway, and then the time delay of the feeder link can include the time delays of the satellite to the gateway and the gateway to the network device.

[0140] The network device in the embodiments of the present application can include a network device deployed on a satellite (such as a satellite base station), can include a network device deployed on a gateway, and can include a network device deployed on the ground (such as a ground base station). For example, the network device can be a radio access network (RAN) node, a RAN node in an O-RAN system, and the like shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C. For related content, refer to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here.

[0141] The core network (CN) is a device disposed on the ground and capable of communicating with the NTN device in the NTN system. For example, the CN can be the CN involved in FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C. For related content, refer to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here.

[0142] The terminal can be the terminal involved in FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C. For related content, refer to the foregoing description, which will not be repeated here.

[0143] The embodiments of the present application can also be applicable to other communication system architectures, such as an air to ground (ATG) communication system, which includes at least one network device and at least one high-altitude terminal. The high-altitude terminal includes, for example, a high-altitude aircraft and an on-board terminal, and the like. The satellite in FIGS. 1D and 1E can be replaced by other relay devices, such as a high altitude platform station (HAPS) or other NTN devices. The communication system shown in FIGS. 1D or 1E is an example and does not limit the communication system to which the method provided by the embodiments of the present application is applicable.

[0144] It can be understood that the embodiments of the present application can also be applicable to an air to ground (ATG) communication system. As an example, refer to FIG. 1F, which is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of another communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable. The communication system includes at least one network device and at least one high-altitude terminal device. The high-altitude terminal device includes, for example, a high-altitude aircraft and an on-board terminal device, and the like.

[0145] FIG. 1G exemplarily shows another possible communication system architecture to which the embodiments of the present application can be applied. As shown in FIG. 1G, the communication system includes a first communication device, a second communication device and a terminal device. The terminal device can be the terminal or the chip system inside the terminal referred to in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E or FIG. 1F. The first communication device in the embodiments of the present application can be the satellite or the chip system inside the satellite in FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E or FIG. 1F, or the network device (such as an access network device, a ground station, etc.) or the chip system inside the network device referred to in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E or FIG. 1F. The second communication device in the embodiments of the present application can be the satellite or the chip system inside the satellite in FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E or FIG. 1F, or the network device (such as an access network device, a ground station, etc.) or the chip system inside the network device referred to in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E or FIG. 1F.

[0146] The communication device in the embodiments of the present application can also be replaced by a cell. For example, the first communication device can also be replaced by a cell, a first cell or a primary cell. The second communication device can be replaced by a cell, a second cell or a secondary cell. The secondary communication device referred to in the embodiments of the present application can also be replaced by a secondary cell. When the first communication device is a first cell and the second communication device is a second cell, the first cell and the second cell can respectively belong to cells within coverage ranges of different network devices, or the first cell and the second cell belong to cells within a coverage range of the same network device, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. When the first communication device is a first cell and the second communication device is a second cell, the scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application can also be referred to as multi-cell joint transmission. When the difference between the downlink timings corresponding to the signals transmitted by the two communication devices is greater than CP, the transmission mode can be referred to as multi-cell joint asynchronous transmission. When the difference between the downlink timings corresponding to the signals transmitted by the two communication devices is less than or equal to CP, the transmission mode can be referred to as multi-cell joint quasi-synchronous transmission. In the embodiments of the present application, when the difference between the downlink timings corresponding to the signals transmitted by the two communication devices is equal to CP, the transmission mode is multi-cell joint quasi-synchronous transmission, which is taken as an example for description in the embodiments of the present application. In other possible implementation manners, when the difference between the downlink timings corresponding to the signals transmitted by the two communication devices is equal to CP, the transmission mode can also be referred to as multi-cell joint asynchronous transmission, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. When the difference between the downlink timings corresponding to the signals transmitted by the two communication devices is equal to CP, if the transmission mode is multi-cell joint asynchronous transmission, the transmission mode can refer to the processing mode of the terminal device when the difference between the downlink timings corresponding to the signals transmitted by the two communication devices is greater than CP, which is not described herein.

[0147] The first communication device and the second communication device in the embodiments of the present application can be the same type of device or different types of devices. For example, the first communication device is a first satellite device, and the second communication device is a second satellite device. In this case, the scheme provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be referred to as multi-satellite joint transmission. When the difference between the downlink timings corresponding to the signals transmitted by the two communication devices is less than the CP, this transmission method can be referred to as multi-satellite joint quasi-synchronous transmission. When the difference between the downlink timings corresponding to the signals transmitted by the two communication devices is equal to the CP, this transmission method can also be referred to as multi-satellite joint quasi-synchronous (or asynchronous) transmission. When the difference between the downlink timings corresponding to the signals transmitted by the two communication devices is greater than the CP, this transmission method can be referred to as multi-satellite joint asynchronous transmission. In the embodiments of the present application, when the first communication device and the second communication device are satellite devices, the first communication device can work in a transparent mode or a regenerative mode, and the second communication device can work in a transparent mode or a regenerative mode. The working modes of the first communication device and the second communication device can be the same or different. The satellite devices (for example, the first satellite device and the second satellite device) in the embodiments of the present application can be the satellites in FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E or FIG. 1F or the chip systems inside the satellites. For another example, the first communication device and the second communication device are two network devices (for example, access network devices, ground stations, etc.). For another example, the first communication device is a first satellite device, and the second communication device is a network device (for example, an access network device, a ground station, etc.).

[0148] In FIG. 1G, the first communication device and the second communication device are taken as examples of satellite devices. In actual applications, the first communication device and the second communication device can also be other devices.

[0149] Based on the contents shown in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E, FIG. 1F or FIG. 1G and the other contents described above, FIG. 2 exemplarily shows a possible flowchart of a communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application. For ease of understanding, the interaction between the terminal device, the first communication device and the second communication device is taken as an example for introduction in FIG. 2. The related examples of the terminal device, the first communication device and the second communication device can be referred to the description of FIG. 1G, and will not be described herein again.

[0150] The following will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0151] In step 201, the first communication device sends first information.

[0152] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information.

[0153] The first information comprises information of the second communication device. The first information can be used to assist the terminal device to receive a synchronization signal of the second communication device. In this way, the terminal device can receive the synchronization signal from the second communication device based on the first information, and then the complexity of blind detection of the terminal device can be reduced, the complexity of receiving the synchronization signal of the second communication device can be reduced, and the efficiency of successfully receiving the synchronization signal can be improved.

[0154] In a possible implementation, the first information can comprise one or more of the following information A1 (an index of information of the second communication device), information A2 (ephemeris information of the second communication device), information A3 (a cell identity corresponding to the second communication device), information A4 (a measurement timing configuration corresponding to the second communication device), information A5 (a frequency point of a second synchronization signal), information A6 (polarization information of the second synchronization signal), and information A7 (sequence information corresponding to the second synchronization signal).

[0155] The information A1 is an index of information of the second communication device.

[0156] The terminal device can obtain information of at least one communication device (for example, at least one satellite device), and each information can correspond to an index. The information of the second communication device belongs to the information of the at least one communication device. After the terminal device receives the first information, the terminal device can find the association between the index and the information of the communication device according to the index in the first information, and then find the information of the communication device associated with the index in the first information, and take the information of the communication device as the information of the second communication device.

[0157] Taking the second communication device as an example, the information of one communication device is introduced. For example, the information of the second communication device can comprise one or more of the following: ephemeris information of the second communication device, a cell identity corresponding to the second communication device, a measurement timing configuration corresponding to the second communication device, a frequency point of a synchronization signal of the second communication device, polarization information of the synchronization signal of the second communication device, and sequence information corresponding to the synchronization signal of the second communication device. The sequence information corresponding to the synchronization signal of the second communication device can comprise information of a sequence used to generate the synchronization signal of the second communication device, for example.

[0158] The information of several communication devices is exemplarily shown in Table 1. Taking the second row of Table 1 as an example (the header of the table is regarded as the first row, and in other possible embodiments, the header can not be regarded as the first row, in which case, the second row of Table 1 can also be referred to as the first row of Table 1), the index of this row is 0, which means the index of the information of the communication device is 0. The information of the communication device with index 0 includes ephemeris information ephemeris #0 of the communication device, cell identification #0 of the communication device, downlink synchronization signal frequency point f #0 of the communication device, SMTC #0 of the communication device, and the polarization information of the communication device is left polarization, and the sequence information #1 of the synchronization signal sent by the communication device. The meanings of the other rows in Table 1 are similar, and are not described again. In one possible embodiment, one communication device can correspond to one or more measurement timing configurations, and Table 1 takes one communication device configuring one measurement timing configuration as an example, and the measurement timing configuration is SMTC.

[0159] The information of the communication device shown in Table 1 is an example, and in actual application, the information of the communication device can include more or less information, for example, the information of the communication device can not include the cell identification. The table form given in Table 1 is an example, and in actual application, the rows and / or columns of Table 1 can be changed, and Table 1 can include more or less rows and / or columns.

[0160] Examples of the information of the communication device in Table 1

[0161] In one possible embodiment, the terminal device can obtain the information of the at least one communication device (for example, at least one secondary satellite device) in various ways, for example, the information of the at least one communication device (for example, at least one secondary satellite device) can be defined by a protocol, or pre-configured, or sent by the first communication device to the terminal device. For example, the first communication device can send the information of the at least one communication device through a broadcast message, so as to reduce the signaling overhead.

[0162] Information A2, ephemeris information of the second communication device.

[0163] In the case of the second communication device being a satellite device, the ephemeris information of the second communication device can include, for example, velocity information of the satellite device, motion trajectory information of the satellite device, position information of the satellite device, and time information corresponding to the position information of the satellite device.

[0164] Information A3, cell identification corresponding to the second communication device.

[0165] The cell corresponding to the second communication device can include one or more cells within a signal coverage of the second communication device. The cell identifier corresponding to the second communication device can include, for example, a physical cell identifier (PCI) of the cell.

[0166] The information A4 can include a measurement timing configuration corresponding to the second communication device.

[0167] The measurement timing configuration corresponding to the second communication device can include, for example, an SMTC.

[0168] The SMTC corresponding to the second communication device can include, for example, a timing configuration issued by the second communication device to the terminal device when the terminal device performs SSB-based measurement on a certain cell corresponding to the second communication device. For example, the SMTC corresponding to the second communication device includes an SMTC periodicity, an SMTC duration, and an SMTC offset.

[0169] The SMTC periodicity can represent a repetition period of the measurement action. The SMTC periodicity can be no less than an SSB scanning periodicity of the cell to be measured. In this way, the terminal device can reduce the power waste by reducing the invalid search and measurement of SSB.

[0170] The SMTC offset can represent a starting subframe of the measurement action in a period. The SMTC offset can determine the SMTC starting offset (the time at which the measurement starts after the start of each SMTC period).

[0171] The SMTC duration can represent a duration of the measurement action after the start of the measurement action. The SMTC duration can be greater than or equal to an effective scanning time in each SSB scanning period of the cell to be measured. For example, the effective scanning time of the SSB scanning period is 4 milliseconds (ms), and the SMTC duration needs to be greater than or equal to 4 ms, so that the terminal device can detect all potential SSBs.

[0172] In one possible implementation, the SMTC starting frame number and the SMTC starting subframe number can be calculated according to the following formulas (1) and (2):

[0173] SFN mod T = FLOOR(offset / 10) …… formula (1)

[0174] subframe = offset mod 10 …… formula (2)

[0175] In the formula (1) and the formula (2), SFN is the starting frame number of the SMTC, T = periodicty / 10, periodicty is the SMTC period (or period length), offset is the SMTC offset, subframe is the starting subframe number of the SMTC, mod is the modulo operation, and FLOOR is the floor function.

[0176] For example, periodicty is 20 milliseconds (ms), offset is 1 ms, and the SMTC duration is 2 ms. The starting frame number of the SMTC is 0 and the starting subframe number of the SMTC is 1, which are calculated by the above formula (1) and (2). In combination with the starting frame number and the starting subframe number, the detection time can be further determined in combination with the duration.

[0177] Information A5, a frequency point of the synchronization signal of the second communication device.

[0178] The frequency point can be understood as a carrier frequency or a carrier frequency. For example, the frequency point can be 2 gigahertz (GHz), 20 GHz, or 30 GHz.

[0179] Information A6, polarization information of the synchronization signal of the second communication device.

[0180] The polarization information of the synchronization signal of the second communication device may, for example, include left polarization, right polarization, or linear polarization.

[0181] Information A7, sequence information corresponding to the synchronization signal of the second communication device.

[0182] The sequence information corresponding to the synchronization signal of the second communication device may, for example, include information of a sequence used to generate the synchronization signal, such as a sequence number of a root sequence used to generate the synchronization signal, an index number of the synchronization signal sequence (determining the corresponding synchronization sequence by looking up a table), and the like.

[0183] Step 202, the second communication device sends a second synchronization signal.

[0184] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second synchronization signal from the second communication device based on the first information.

[0185] In order to distinguish, the synchronization signal sent by the first communication device is referred to as the first synchronization signal in the embodiments of the present application, and the synchronization signal sent by the second communication device is referred to as the second synchronization signal. The “first” and “second” and the like (for example, the first synchronization signal, the second synchronization signal, and the like, for example, the first data, the second data, and the third data in the future) involved in the embodiments of the present application are for distinction, and have no other limiting meanings.

[0186] The terminal device can reduce the complexity of blind detection with the aid of the first information, thereby accelerating the speed of successfully receiving the second synchronization signal, and improving communication efficiency.

[0187] In step 203, the first communication device sends first data to the terminal device on the first resource.

[0188] In step 204, the second communication device sends second data to the terminal device on the first resource.

[0189] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first data and the second data.

[0190] In steps 203 and 204, since the resources of the first data and the second data are the same, the terminal device receives superimposed data of the first data and the second data. For distinction, the data received by the terminal device on the first resource in the embodiments of the present application is referred to as third data, and the third data includes the first data and the second data.

[0191] The first data is from the first communication device. The first resource is used for the first communication device to send the first data, and the first data occupies the first resource. The second data is from the second communication device. The first resource is also used for the second communication device to send the second data, and the second data occupies the first resource. The first data and the second data can be the same data or different data. Alternatively, the first data and the second data can carry the same information or different information.

[0192] In the embodiments of the present application, the first resource can include time domain resources and frequency domain resources. In this implementation, the time domain resources of the first data and the second data are the same, and the frequency domain resources are the same. In another possible implementation, the first resource can include time domain resources or frequency domain resources. In this implementation, the time domain resources of the first data and the second data are the same or the frequency domain resources are the same. The related concepts can be referred to the foregoing description, and will not be described again.

[0193] In step 205, the terminal device acquires the first data and the second data.

[0194] In step 205, the terminal device receives the third data. The terminal device acquires the first data and the second data from the third data.

[0195] In the embodiments of the present application, the difference between the downlink timing corresponding to the first communication device and the downlink timing corresponding to the second communication device can be less than CP, equal to CP, or greater than CP. The difference between the downlink timing corresponding to the first data and the downlink timing corresponding to the second data can be less than CP, equal to CP, or greater than CP.

[0196] The downlink timing in the embodiments of the present application can be replaced by downlink synchronization timing. The English name of the downlink timing can be called downlink timing. The downlink timing is used for the terminal device to determine the frame boundary, subframe boundary, slot boundary, symbol boundary, or receive window position of the frame sent by the communication device. For example, the difference between the downlink timing corresponding to the first communication device and the downlink timing corresponding to the second communication device can also be replaced by / included in: the downlink timing difference of the first communication device and the second communication device, the frame boundary difference of the frames of the downlink of the first communication device and the second communication device, the downlink timing difference, the synchronization position difference, etc. For another example, the difference between the downlink timing corresponding to the first communication device and the downlink timing corresponding to the second communication device can also be replaced by / included in: the time difference of the frame boundaries of the same frame number of the two downlink signals received by the terminal device from the first communication device and the second communication device respectively, the time difference of the slot boundaries of the same slot number, or the time difference of the symbol boundaries of the same symbol index number.

[0197] The difference between the downlink timing corresponding to the first communication device and the downlink timing corresponding to the second communication device can be a variable, which can be associated with the difference of the data transmission delays of the first communication device and the second communication device. The difference between the downlink timing corresponding to the first communication device and the downlink timing corresponding to the second communication device can be equal to or not equal to the difference of the data transmission delays of the first communication device and the second communication device.

[0198] For example, the first communication device is a first satellite device, and the second communication device is a second satellite device. The first satellite device and the second satellite device simultaneously send data (for example, first data and second data) to the terminal device, and the time difference of the arrival of the two data at the terminal device is the difference of the data transmission delays of the first satellite device and the second satellite device. However, in actual application, the satellite device can send information in advance or delay the time, and the relative position between the two satellite devices will also change during the movement of the satellite device, so the downlink timing difference of the first satellite device and the second satellite device is not necessarily equal to the difference of the data transmission delays of the first satellite device and the second satellite device. Because the distances between the two satellite devices and the terminal device are different, the distances between the satellite devices and the terminal device are far away, and the relative position between the two satellite devices will also change, so the difference of the distances between the two satellite devices and the terminal device will also change, which may also cause the time delay difference of the information sent by the two satellite devices to arrive at the terminal device to be large, thereby causing the time delay difference of the information sent by the two satellite devices to arrive at the terminal device to be greater than CP. In some cases, the time delay difference of the information sent by the two satellite devices to arrive at the terminal device is also less than or equal to CP.

[0199] FIG. 3 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of arrival of information transmitted by a plurality of communication devices to a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3, the data transmitted by the first communication device to the terminal device includes S1 and S2. The data transmitted by the second communication device to the terminal device includes S3. The time of arrival of the data transmitted by the first communication device at the terminal device is t0, and the time of arrival of the data transmitted by the second communication device at the terminal device is (t0+t1). t1 is the time difference of arrival of the data transmitted by the first communication device and the second communication device at the terminal device, and can also be understood as the difference between the downlink timing corresponding to the first communication device and the downlink timing corresponding to the second communication device. t1 can be less than or equal to CP, or greater than CP.

[0200] In the case where the difference between the downlink timing corresponding to the first communication device and the downlink timing corresponding to the second communication device is greater than CP, the terminal device can need a more complex solution to eliminate the interference between signals. In order to reduce the complexity of obtaining data at the terminal device, an embodiment of the present application provides a data processing method, which is referred to as a first data processing method in the embodiment of the present application for the sake of convenience. For example, the first data processing method includes: obtaining, by the terminal device, first data from third data. Obtaining, by the terminal device, fourth data based on the first data and the influence of the channel on the signal. The fourth data includes the first data affected by the channel. Removing, by the terminal device, the fourth data from the third data to obtain fifth data. Obtaining, by the terminal device, second data from the fifth data.

[0201] Taking FIG. 3 as an example, FIG. 4 exemplarily shows a method flowchart for obtaining data by a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4, the process can include the following steps.

[0202] (1) The first data transmitted by the first communication device arrives at the terminal device through the channel corresponding to the first communication device, and the second data transmitted by the second communication device arrives at the terminal device through the channel corresponding to the second communication device, the first data and the second data occupying the same resource. The terminal device receives third data (the third data including the first data and the second data). The terminal device decodes the first data (for example, S1 and S2) from the third data.

[0203] (2) Obtaining, by the terminal device, fourth data based on the first data and the influence of the channel on the signal. The fourth data includes the first data affected by the channel. For example, the terminal device reconstructs the signal according to the decoding results of the signals S1 and S2 to obtain the fourth data, for example, (S1*h1+S2*h2). Wherein h1 and h2 represent the influence of the channel on the signal.

[0204] (3) The terminal device removes the fourth data from the third data to obtain fifth data. For example, the terminal device uses the received superposition signal of the two communication devices (i.e., the third data) to subtract the recovered signal fourth data (S1*h1+S2*h2) to obtain the fifth data. This process can be understood as a successive interference cancellation (SIC) signal processing manner.

[0205] (4) The terminal device obtains the second data (e.g., S3) from the fifth data.

[0206] The above scheme can eliminate the interference of the signals transmitted by the plurality of communication devices to the terminal device. Moreover, the above interference cancellation method can better obtain the data respectively transmitted by the plurality of communication devices from the received superposition signal. For example, the terminal device can first treat the signal (e.g., the signal of the second communication device) other than the signal of the first communication device as an interference signal for interference cancellation or as noise for noise processing, and then recover the signal of the first communication device. Alternatively, the terminal device can perform interference cancellation on the signal of the second communication device, for example, can decode the signal of the second communication device, and then subtract the signal from the second communication device from the received signal to obtain the signal of the first communication device. This process can be understood as an interference cancellation processing manner. If the signal of the second communication device is processed in the interference cancellation manner, the terminal device needs to obtain the scrambling code, the encoding and modulation manner, the resource (e.g., the first resource) occupied by the signal of the second communication device, and the like. These information can be transmitted by the first communication device to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can perform interference cancellation on the received signal.

[0207] As can be seen from the scheme provided in FIG. 2, in the embodiments of the present application, the plurality of communication devices can use the same resource (e.g., time-frequency and / or frequency domain resource) to transmit different data to the same terminal device, thereby improving the throughput and / or spectral efficiency of the communication system.

[0208] In yet another aspect, since multiple communication devices use the same resource (e.g., time-frequency and / or frequency domain resource) to transmit different data to the same terminal device, in the scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application, when the time difference of data from multiple communication devices arriving at the terminal device is large, the terminal device can also better recover the data transmitted by each communication device from the received data (e.g., based on the scheme provided in the foregoing FIG. 4). Based on this, it can be seen that in the scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application, whether the time difference of data from multiple communication devices arriving at the terminal device is small or large, the embodiments of the present application can be applied. In addition, in the NTN network, the difference between the downlink timings of multiple satellite devices may be greater than the CP, that is, the time difference of data from multiple satellite devices arriving at the terminal device may be large, so the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to the NTN network. Moreover, when multiple satellite devices in the NTN network transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource (e.g., the same time domain resource and the same frequency domain resource), the scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application does not need to limit the difference between the downlink timings of multiple satellite devices to be less than or equal to the CP, that is, even if the difference between the downlink timings of multiple satellite devices is greater than the CP, in the scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device can also recover the data of each satellite device from the received data. It can be seen that the scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application provides a solution for multiple satellite devices in the NTN network to transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource (e.g., the same time domain resource and the same frequency domain resource), and the solution can reduce the restriction on the data transmission of the satellite device, thereby reducing the complexity of data transmission on the satellite device side.

[0209] The term "same resource" involved in the embodiments of the present application can be replaced by / included in "same time domain and frequency domain resource", or can be replaced by / included in "same time domain resource (the frequency domain resource may be the same or different)" or "same frequency domain resource (the time domain resource may be the same or different)", and there are various specific examples. The meaning of the term at other positions can be referred to the description at that place, and will not be described repeatedly. For ease of understanding, part of the content in the embodiments of the present application is introduced by taking "same resource" including "same time domain and frequency domain resource" as an example.

[0210] For example, when the first communication device is a first satellite device and the second communication device is a second satellite device. Since the satellite devices are always moving and the distance between the satellite devices and the terminal device is far, the distance difference between the two satellite devices and the terminal device is a variable, which may cause the time delay of the signals from the multiple satellite devices to the terminal device to be large (for example, the time delay of the signals from the multiple satellite devices to the terminal device is greater than the CP), so that the terminal device needs to receive the data from the multiple satellite devices asynchronously in the time domain (asynchronous reception refers to that the time delay of the signals from the multiple satellite devices to the terminal device is greater than the CP). The receiving end can recover the data sent by each satellite device by performing asynchronous interference cancellation on the received data (for example, the asynchronous interference cancellation can be the data processing manner provided in FIG. 4). The asynchronous interference cancellation of the receiving end requires the terminal device to continuously maintain the downlink signal timing synchronization with the multiple satellite devices, that is, the asynchronous interference cancellation method requires the terminal device to synchronize with the downlink signals of the multiple satellite devices to perform interference cancellation. In the scheme provided in the embodiments of the present application, the first communication device sends the first information to the terminal device, and the terminal device can receive the synchronization signal of the second communication device based on the first information, and then maintain the downlink signal timing synchronization with the second communication device, so as to facilitate the terminal device to recover the data sent by each satellite device by performing asynchronous interference cancellation on the received data. In the scheme, the terminal device can receive the synchronization signal of the second communication device based on the first information, and then reduce the complexity of the downlink signal synchronization between the terminal device and the second communication device, so as to improve the communication efficiency. For example, through link simulation verification, when the first communication device and the second communication device are satellite devices or chips or chip systems in the satellite devices, the communication system spectrum efficiency when the two satellite devices transmit data to the terminal device is 20% higher than that when a single satellite device transmits data to the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device can be a single antenna or a multi-antenna terminal.

[0211] Based on the contents shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F or 1G, FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 and the above-mentioned other contents, FIG. 5 exemplarily shows a possible flow diagram of a communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application. For the convenience of understanding, FIG. 5 takes the interaction between the terminal device, the first communication device and the second communication device as an example for introduction. The introduction of the terminal device, the first communication device and the second communication device can be referred to the related introduction of FIG. 2, and will not be repeated here.

[0212] In step 501, the terminal device establishes an RRC connection with the first communication device.

[0213] In the embodiments of the present application, in the process of establishing the RRC connection between the terminal device and the first communication device, the terminal device can first receive the synchronization signal (e.g., the first synchronization signal) from the first communication device, then synchronize with the first communication device, and then establish the RRC connection with the first communication device.

[0214] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device can maintain synchronization with multiple communication devices, but the terminal device can establish the RRC connection with the first communication device and does not need to establish the RRC connection with other communication devices. For example, the terminal device receives the first synchronization signal of the first communication device, then establishes the RRC connection with the first communication device, and receives the second synchronization signal of the second communication device, and does not establish the RRC connection with the second communication device. The communication device that establishes the RRC connection with the terminal device can also be referred to as the primary communication device (e.g., the primary satellite device); other communication devices that do not establish the RRC connection with the terminal device but the terminal device maintains the downlink synchronization of the communication device can be referred to as the secondary communication device (e.g., the secondary satellite device). Since the terminal device only establishes the RRC connection with the first communication device, the scheme can reduce the complexity of the scheme on the terminal device side. Since the terminal device can synchronize with multiple communication devices, the terminal device can decode the data transmitted by multiple communication devices on the same resource, and then recover the data transmitted by each of the multiple communication devices.

[0215] In step 502, the terminal device sends the second information to the first communication device.

[0216] Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the second information.

[0217] In a possible implementation, the second information can include the following information B1 (information used to indicate that the terminal device supports the first data transmission mode) and / or information B2 (information used to indicate the number of multiple communication devices that support the terminal device to transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource).

[0218] The information B1 is used to indicate that the terminal device supports the first data transmission mode.

[0219] In a possible implementation, the first data transmission mode includes that multiple communication devices transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource. The difference between the downlink timings corresponding to the data transmitted by two communication devices of the multiple communication devices to the terminal device on the same resource can be less than, equal to, or greater than the cyclic prefix. The first data transmission mode in the embodiments of the present application can also be replaced by other names, for example, it can be replaced by: data transmission mode, signal transmission mode, information transmission mode, transmission mode, multi-satellite joint transmission mode, or multi-cell joint transmission mode, etc.

[0220] In another possible implementation, the first data transmission manner comprises: the plurality of communication devices transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource, and a difference between downlink timings corresponding to data transmitted by any two of the plurality of communication devices to the terminal device on the same resource is greater than the cyclic prefix. In this implementation, the first data transmission manner can also be replaced by the multi-star joint asynchronous transmission manner or the multi-cell joint asynchronous transmission manner. In the embodiments of the present application, data transmitted by any two of the plurality of communication devices to the terminal device on the same resource can carry the same information or carry different information.

[0221] The terminal device supporting the first data transmission manner can need higher buffering capability and higher data processing capability. The terminal device supporting the first data transmission manner can be replaced by: the terminal device supporting asynchronous interference cancellation decoding (for example, SIC). Alternatively, the terminal device supporting the first data transmission manner can be replaced by / included with: when the terminal device receives data transmitted by the plurality of communication devices on the same resource, if a difference between downlink timings corresponding to data transmitted by any two of the plurality of communication devices to the terminal device on the same resource is greater than the cyclic prefix, the terminal device can recover data of each communication device from the received data.

[0222] In another possible implementation, the terminal device supporting the first data transmission manner can also be replaced by: the terminal device has the capability of simultaneously detecting synchronization signals of the plurality of communication devices and has the capability of maintaining timing synchronization with the plurality of communication devices. When the terminal device has the capability of maintaining timing synchronization with the plurality of communication devices, the terminal device maintains timing synchronization (for example, downlink timing synchronization) with the plurality of communication devices, and then the terminal device can receive different data transmitted by the plurality of communication devices on the same resource.

[0223] In a case where the second information comprises information used to indicate that the terminal device supports the first data transmission manner, the first communication device can determine the capability of the terminal device based on content of the second information, that is, whether the terminal device supports the first data transmission manner. Then, the first communication device can configure a data transmission manner for the terminal device based on the capability of the terminal device. For example, the first communication device can configure the terminal device supporting the first data transmission manner with data transmitted by the plurality of communication devices on the same resource, so as to improve throughput and / or spectral efficiency of the communication system. For another example, the first communication device can configure the terminal device not supporting the first data transmission manner with data transmission of a single communication device, so as to avoid the data transmission manner exceeding the capability of the terminal device, and then causing the occurrence of a data transmission failure.

[0224] Information B2, information used to indicate a number of the plurality of communication devices supporting the terminal device and transmitting data to the terminal device on the same resource.

[0225] The second information can indicate the number of communication devices supported by the terminal device, or the maximum number. For example, the information B2 indicates the number is five. Based on this, the first communication device can determine that the terminal device can support at most five communication devices to send data to the terminal device on the same resource. The data sent by two of the five communication devices (or any two of the five communication devices) can be the same or different. For example, the data sent by the five communication devices is the same, and for example, the data sent by any two of the five communication devices is different.

[0226] In the case where the second information includes the number of communication devices supported by the terminal device to send data to the terminal device on the same resource, the first communication device configures different data transmission modes for the terminal device based on the capabilities of the terminal devices. For example, the number of communication devices configured by the first communication device to send data to the terminal device on the same resource can not exceed the capability range of the terminal device, thereby preventing the occurrence of communication failure. On the other hand, the more the number of communication devices supported by the terminal device, the more the number of communication devices that can be configured by the first communication device for the terminal device. It can be seen that the first communication device can flexibly configure in combination with the capabilities of the terminal devices, so that the scheme can be better compatible with terminal devices of different capabilities, thereby maximizing the throughput and / or communication spectrum efficiency of the communication system.

[0227] The terminal device sending the second information can belong to the capability reporting of the terminal device. There are various occasions for the terminal device to send the second information, for example, the terminal device can actively report the capability information during the access system process or after completing the initial access. For another example, the first communication device sends information for querying the capability of the terminal device to the terminal device, and the terminal device sends the second information to the first communication device after receiving the information for querying the capability of the terminal device.

[0228] Step 503, the first communication device sends the first information.

[0229] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information.

[0230] The related content of step 503 can be referred to the related description of the foregoing step 201, and will not be described again.

[0231] The first information can include information of one or more communication devices. The information of one communication device included in the first information can be referred to the foregoing related introduction of the information of the second communication device. In the case where the first information includes information of multiple communication devices, the types of the information of the multiple communication devices can be the same or different. For example, the information of communication device #1 included in the first information is the ephemeris information of the communication device #1, and the information of communication device #2 included in the first information is the frequency point of the synchronization signal of the communication device #2.

[0232] The information about the communication device (e.g., the second communication device) included in the first information may be information about candidate secondary communication devices configured by the first communication device for the terminal device. In one possible implementation, the number of communication devices indicated by the first information does not include the maximum number of communication devices supported by the terminal device (e.g., the number of communication devices indicated by the aforementioned second information). In this way, the number of candidate secondary communication devices configured by the first communication device for the terminal device does not exceed the terminal device's capabilities, thereby avoiding communication errors.

[0233] Step 504: The terminal device sends third information.

[0234] Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the third information.

[0235] The third information indicates at least one of the following: the terminal device detecting a synchronization signal from at least one communication device (e.g., a second communication device); or the terminal device establishing downlink timing synchronization with at least one communication device (e.g., a second communication device). After receiving the synchronization signal from at least one communication device or establishing downlink timing synchronization with at least one communication device, the terminal device may transmit the third information to indicate to the first communication device which communication devices the terminal device can receive data from. This allows the first communication device to configure a communication device for the terminal device that can transmit data to the terminal device on the same resources, thereby improving the success rate of multiple communication devices transmitting data to the terminal device.

[0236] For example, the third information may include at least one of the following: an index corresponding to the information of at least one communication device (e.g., a second communication device), an identifier of at least one communication device (e.g., a second communication device), and an identifier of a cell corresponding to at least one communication device (e.g., a second communication device). For example, the third information includes an index corresponding to the information of the second communication device. The first communication device can search for the association between the index and the communication device (e.g., the association in Table 1 above) based on the index corresponding to the information of the second communication device, and then determine the communication device corresponding to the index (e.g., the communication device corresponding to the cell identifier associated with the index in Table 1) as the communication device that detects the synchronization signal or establishes downlink timing synchronization for the terminal device. This solution can reduce the bits occupied by the information in the third information, thereby reducing signaling overhead.

[0237] In one possible implementation, after receiving the synchronization signal of the second communication device, the terminal device may measure the signal from the second communication device and obtain measurement result information. The measurement result information may reflect link quality and / or signal quality, etc. For example, the measurement result information in the embodiment of the present application may include at least one of signal detection result, link quality, channel quality and signal quality. For example, the measurement result information may include signal to noise power ratio (SNR), bit energy to noise power spectral density ratio (Eb / N0), reference signal received power (RSRP), channel quality indicator (CQI), signal to interference plus noise power ratio (SINR), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or decoding performance (such as packet loss rate, etc.). Link quality can be determined by measurement result information (for example, based on a reference signal or a data signal), for example, link quality may include poor link quality or excellent link quality. For example, the third information may include at least one of the following: an index corresponding to information of at least one communication device (e.g., a second communication device), an identifier of at least one communication device (e.g., a second communication device), an identifier of a cell corresponding to at least one communication device (e.g., a second communication device), measurement result information corresponding to at least one communication device (e.g., a second communication device), and a link quality corresponding to at least one communication device (e.g., a second communication device). In this way, the first communication device can know the link quality corresponding to the communication device, and then can configure the auxiliary communication device for the terminal device in combination with the link quality. For example, a communication device with better link quality can be configured as an auxiliary communication device, thereby improving communication performance.

[0238] In another possible implementation, the terminal device may perform blind detection on the synchronization signal of the at least one communication device indicated by the first information based on the information of the at least one communication device indicated by the first information. The communication device reported by the terminal device through the third information belongs to the communication device indicated by the first information.

[0239] Step 505: The first communication device sends fourth information.

[0240] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the fourth information.

[0241] The fourth information includes information indicating at least one communication device (the at least one communication device includes the second communication device). For example, the fourth information includes at least one of the following: an index corresponding to information of the at least one communication device (e.g., the second communication device), an identifier of the at least one communication device (e.g., the second communication device), and an identifier of a cell corresponding to the at least one communication device (e.g., the second communication device). The terminal device can determine the communication device indicated by the fourth information based on the fourth information.

[0242] The communication device indicated by the fourth information may be understood as an activated communication device, or a communication device set as a secondary communication device.

[0243] This description uses the example of a first communication device configuring at least a second communication device as a secondary satellite device, or the first communication device activating the second communication device. In this example, the fourth information includes information indicating the second communication device. The fourth information indicates the second communication device. Alternatively, the fourth information indicates that the first communication device and the second communication device are transmitting data to the terminal device using the same resource. The difference between the downlink timings corresponding to the data transmitted by the first and second communication devices to the terminal device using the same resource may be greater than, less than, or equal to the cyclic prefix.

[0244] In another possible implementation, the fourth information indicates that the first communication device and the second communication device send data to the terminal device on the same resource, and the difference between the downlink timing corresponding to the data sent by the first communication device and the second communication device to the terminal device on the same resource is greater than the cyclic prefix. The terminal device determines that the communication device indicated by the fourth information is an activated communication device (or the communication device is an auxiliary communication device, or the communication device needs to be a communication device that transmits data on the same resource as the first communication device). It can be seen from this scheme that the first communication device can select some or all of the communication devices from the communication devices that the terminal device can receive the synchronization signal as auxiliary communication devices (for example, it can be selected based on link quality) so that it can subsequently send data to the terminal device on the same resource together with the auxiliary communication device. On the other hand, in this scheme, since the first communication device can select an auxiliary communication device for activation, the first communication device can select a more suitable communication device as an auxiliary communication device based on multiple factors. For example, the auxiliary communication device can be selected based on information such as the load amount and / or link quality of the auxiliary communication device. This scheme can improve communication performance.

[0245] In another possible implementation, the fourth information may also be used to indicate a data processing mode of the terminal device. For example, the fourth information includes information indicating a first data processing mode. For example, the fourth information instructs the terminal device to select the first data processing mode to receive data from the first communication device and the second communication device. The first data processing mode has the ability to process data transmitted via the first data transmission mode. The first data processing mode may, for example, include step 205 of FIG. 2 and / or the data processing mode shown in FIG. 4 . The first data processing mode may be replaced by other names, such as a data processing mode, a decoding mode, or a data decoding mode.

[0246] For example, the fourth information includes information for indicating the second communication device. After receiving the information, the terminal device determines that the first communication device activates the second communication device and determines that data from the first communication device and the second communication device need to be received using the first data processing method.

[0247] When the fourth information indicates the data processing method of the terminal device, the terminal device can process the received data using an appropriate data processing method based on the fourth information, thereby increasing the probability of correct data reception and thus improving communication performance.

[0248] Step 506: The terminal device determines that it needs to maintain downlink timing synchronization with the second communication device.

[0249] In step 506 , the terminal device maintains synchronization with the downlink timing of the first communication device, and may also maintain synchronization with the downlink timing of at least one communication device (the at least one communication device includes the second communication device).

[0250] In a possible implementation, the terminal device may determine at least one communication device indicated by the fourth information, and the communication device for which the terminal device maintains downlink timing synchronization belongs to the at least one communication device indicated by the fourth information.

[0251] The terminal device maintains downlink timing synchronization with the second communication device: it can be replaced by the terminal device continuously tracking the synchronization signal of the second communication device; or replaced by continuously receiving the synchronization signal of the second communication device; or replaced by the terminal device determining the frame boundary of the frame sent by the communication device.

[0252] Step 507: The first communication device sends information indicating the first area to the second communication device.

[0253] Correspondingly, the second communication device receives information indicating the first area.

[0254] The terminal device is located in the first area. The information used to indicate the first area includes: the wave position information within the first area, and / or the location information of the terminal device. The location information of the terminal device may, for example, include the coordinates of the location of the terminal device in a coordinate system, or include the administrative location of the terminal device, such as which road number it is located on. The wave position can be understood as a location area divided on the ground. The wave position information may include, for example, information for identifying the wave position, such as the wave position identifier. For the relevant content about the wave position and area, please refer to the above description and will not be repeated here.

[0255] After receiving the information indicating the first area, the second communication device may determine the area where the terminal device is located, and then may send a synchronization signal to the area, so that the terminal device can subsequently maintain synchronization with the second communication device.

[0256] Step 508: The second communication device sends a second synchronization signal to the first area.

[0257] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second synchronization signal.

[0258] The second communication device may send a synchronization signal to the first area after receiving the information indicating the first area, and the information indicating the first area may be used to enable the second communication device to send a synchronization signal to the first area. In step 508, the second communication device sending the second synchronization signal to the first area may include: the second communication device periodically sends the second synchronization signal to the first area with a shorter period duration (e.g., the first period duration). Alternatively, the second communication device sending the second synchronization signal to the first area may include: the second communication device continuously sends the second synchronization signal to the first area. Alternatively, the second communication device sending the second synchronization signal to the first area may include: the second communication device sends the second synchronization signal to the first area at a higher frequency (e.g., the first frequency).

[0259] In the embodiment of the present application, the second communication device may not have sent a synchronization signal to the first area before receiving the information indicating the first area. In this embodiment, the aforementioned step 504 may not be performed.

[0260] Alternatively, the second communication device may have already sent a synchronization signal to the first area before receiving the information indicating the first area. However, before step 508, the second communication device may have sent a synchronization signal to the first area less frequently, or the synchronization signal sent by the second communication device to the first area may have a longer period (e.g., the synchronization signal is sent at a second period, where the second period is greater than the first period), or the synchronization signal sent by the second communication device to the first area may have a lower frequency (e.g., a second frequency, where the second frequency is less than the first frequency).

[0261] For example, the second communication device periodically sends a synchronization signal to the first area with a longer second duration before step 508, and the second duration is greater than the first duration. In step 508, the second communication device may periodically send a synchronization signal to the area where the terminal device is located (i.e., the first area) with a shorter first duration based on the received information indicating the first area.

[0262] The relevant contents of step 508 may refer to the relevant description of the aforementioned step 202. For example, the terminal device may receive the second synchronization signal based on the first information, and the relevant contents will not be repeated here.

[0263] Steps 507 and 508 may be performed before step 505 or step 506. In this way, the terminal device may continue to receive the synchronization signal of the second communication device after receiving the fourth information. Alternatively, steps 507 and 508 may be performed after step 505 or step 506. After the terminal device determines based on the fourth information that it is necessary to maintain downlink timing synchronization of the second communication device, it may continue to search for the synchronization signal of the second communication device until the search is successful.

[0264] Step 509: The first communication device sends the configuration information of the first resource and / or the second data to the second communication device.

[0265] Correspondingly, the second communication device receives the configuration information of the first resource and / or the second data.

[0266] In embodiments of the present application, the configuration information of the first resource and / or the second data may also be obtained by the second communication device from another device. For example, the configuration information of the first resource may be sent by another network device to the second communication device. In another example, the second data may be sent by another network device to the second communication device. Figure 5 illustrates an example of a first communication device sending the configuration information of the first resource and / or the second data to a second communication device.

[0267] When a first communication device sends configuration information about a first resource to a second communication device, the second communication device can determine the first resource based on the configuration information and then send data to the terminal device on the first resource. In this solution, the first communication device can directly determine which resources are used in common by multiple communication devices to transmit data, which can reduce the complexity of the solution for the first communication device.

[0268] When a first communication device transmits second data to a second communication device, the first communication device may distribute data transmitted by other communication devices to the terminal device. For example, the first communication device may more reasonably distribute data transmitted by each communication device to the terminal device based on factors such as workload and link quality, thereby improving communication performance.

[0269] Step 510: The first communication device sends first data to the terminal device on a first resource.

[0270] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first data.

[0271] The relevant contents of step 510 can be found in the relevant description of the aforementioned step 203 and will not be repeated here.

[0272] Step 511: The second communication device sends second data to the terminal device on the first resource.

[0273] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second data.

[0274] The relevant contents of step 511 can be found in the relevant description of the aforementioned step 204 and will not be repeated here.

[0275] Step 512: The terminal device obtains the first data and the second data.

[0276] The relevant content of step 512 can be found in the relevant description of the aforementioned step 205 and will not be repeated here.

[0277] Step 513: The first communication device sends sixth information to the second communication device.

[0278] Correspondingly, the second communication device receives the sixth information.

[0279] The sixth information is used to instruct the second communication device to stop sending data to the terminal device through the same resource as the first communication device.

[0280] The sixth information is also used for the second communication device to stop sending the synchronization signal to the area where the terminal device is located.

[0281] After receiving the sixth information, the second communication device may stop sending the synchronization signal to the first area, or may continue sending the synchronization signal to the first area.

[0282] For example, after receiving the sixth information, the second communication device stops sending the synchronization signal to the first area with a shorter duration (such as the first duration) as a cycle, and instead sends the synchronization signal to the first area with a longer duration (such as the second duration) as a cycle.

[0283] For another example, after receiving the sixth information, the second communication device stops sending the synchronization signal to the first area at a higher frequency (eg, the first frequency), and instead sends the synchronization signal to the first area at a lower frequency (eg, the second frequency).

[0284] The above solutions can reduce the power consumption of the second communication device and also reduce the complexity of implementing the solutions on the communication device side.

[0285] Step 514: The first communication device sends fifth information.

[0286] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the fifth information.

[0287] The fifth information includes information indicating at least one communication device (the at least one communication device includes the second communication device). For example, the fifth information includes: an index corresponding to the information of the at least one communication device (e.g., the second communication device), an identifier of the at least one communication device (e.g., the second communication device), and an identifier of a cell corresponding to the at least one communication device (e.g., the second communication device). The terminal device can determine the communication device indicated by the fifth information based on the fifth information.

[0288] The communication device indicated by the fifth information may be understood as a deactivated communication device, or a communication device that no longer belongs to a secondary communication device.

[0289] This description uses the example of a first communication device deactivating at least a second communication device, or the first communication device determining that the second communication device is no longer a secondary communication device. In this example, the fifth information includes information indicating the second communication device. The fifth information instructs the second communication device. Alternatively, the fifth information instructs the second communication device to stop transmitting data to the terminal device using the same resources as the first communication device.

[0290] In another possible implementation, the fifth information may also be used to indicate a data processing mode for the terminal device. For example, the fifth information instructs the terminal device to stop using the first data processing mode to receive data from the first communication device and the second communication device. The first data processing mode may, for example, include step 205 of FIG. 2 and / or the data processing mode shown in FIG. 4 . For example, the fifth information includes information indicating the second communication device. After receiving this information, the terminal device determines that the first communication device has deactivated the second communication device and determines to stop receiving data from the first communication device and the second communication device using the first data processing mode.

[0291] After receiving the fifth information, the terminal device may stop maintaining downlink timing synchronization with the second communication device (e.g., stop searching for a synchronization signal sent by the second communication device, or stop determining frame boundaries of information sent by the second communication device). This can reduce the complexity of the solution.

[0292] In the embodiment of the present application, after the terminal device receives the fifth information, it can determine that the first communication device has stopped transmitting data to the terminal device on the same resource as the first communication device. However, the first communication device may continue to transmit data to the terminal device independently, or the second communication device may continue to transmit data to the terminal device independently, or the first communication device and a communication device other than the second communication device may transmit data to the terminal device on the same resource, and this embodiment of the present application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0293] In the embodiment of the present application, the information that the first communication device needs to send (such as the fourth information, the information for indicating the first area, the configuration information of the first resource sent by the first communication device to the second communication device, the fifth information, or one or more of the sixth information) can be carried in at least one of the broadcast information such as the system information block (SIB) 1, other system information (OSI), and the master system information block (MIB), and broadcast or multicasted by the first communication device to the terminal device. In this way, it is possible to avoid scheduling different resources for different terminal devices in order to send the above-mentioned signaling, thereby saving the signaling overhead of scheduling resources and reducing the complexity of system scheduling.

[0294] In another possible implementation, if the first communication device sends information (such as the fourth information, information indicating the first area, configuration information of the first resource sent by the first communication device to the second communication device, second data sent by the first communication device to the second communication device, the fifth information, or one or more of the sixth information) during the radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment phase and subsequent communication process, then this information can be carried in RRC signaling (for example, RRC setup message, RRC reconfiguration signaling, RRC resume signaling, etc.), downlink control information (DCI), group DCI, and medium access control (MAC) control element (CE). At least one of these information can be indicated through signaling or in a table format. Or the information that the first communication device needs to send (such as the fourth information, information for indicating the first area, configuration information of the first resource sent by the first communication device to the second communication device, the second data sent by the first communication device to the second communication device, the fifth information, or one or more of the sixth information) can be carried along with the data transmission or in a separately allocated physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). The information that the first communication device needs to indicate (such as the fourth information, information for indicating the first area, configuration information of the first resource sent by the first communication device to the second communication device, the second data sent by the first communication device to the second communication device, the fifth information, or one or more of the sixth information) can be sent by unicast or multicast. In this way, the information corresponding to each / each group of terminal devices can be flexibly controlled.

[0295] It is understandable that in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the first communication device, the second communication device, and the terminal device may include hardware structures and / or software modules that perform the corresponding functions. Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate that, in combination with the units and method steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or in a manner driven by computer software depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0296] Figures 6, 7 and 8 are schematic diagrams of the structures of possible communication devices provided by embodiments of the present application. These communication devices shown in Figures 6, 7 and 8 can be used to implement the functions of the terminal device, the first communication device or the second communication device in the above-mentioned method embodiment, and therefore can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above-mentioned method embodiment. In an embodiment of the present application, the communication device can be a terminal device as shown in Figures 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F or 1G, or a network device as shown in Figures 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F or 1G (such as a satellite device, or a network device deployed on the ground), or a chip (or chip system) applied to the terminal device or network device shown in Figures 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F or 1G.

[0297] As shown in Figure 6, communication device 1300 includes a processing unit 1310 and a transceiver unit 1320. Communication device 1300 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device, the first communication device, or the second communication device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 2. Transceiver unit 1320 may also be referred to as a communication unit. Transceiver unit 1320 may include a transmitting unit and a receiving unit.

[0298] When communication device 1300 is used to implement the functions of a terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in one possible implementation, transceiver unit 1320 is configured to receive first information from a first communication device, receive a second synchronization signal from a second communication device based on the first information, and receive third data. Processing unit 1310 is configured to obtain the first data and the second data from the third data.

[0299] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to send the second information to the first communication device.

[0300] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to send the third information.

[0301] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 2 or Figure 5, in one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to receive the fourth information. The processing unit 1310 is used to maintain downlink timing synchronization with the second communication device based on the fourth information.

[0302] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 2 or Figure 5, in one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to receive the fifth information. The processing unit 1310 is used to stop maintaining synchronization with the downlink timing of the second communication device.

[0303] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is used to establish an RRC connection with the first communication device.

[0304] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to send the first information and send the first data to the terminal device on the first resource.

[0305] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 2 or Figure 5, in one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to send the configuration information of the first resource and / or the second data to the second communication device.

[0306] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to send information indicating the first area to the second communication device.

[0307] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in a possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to send the sixth information to the second communication device.

[0308] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to receive the second information.

[0309] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to receive the third information.

[0310] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to send the fourth information.

[0311] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to send the fifth information.

[0312] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in one possible implementation, the processing unit 1310 is used to establish an RRC connection with the terminal device.

[0313] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the second communication device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 2 or Figure 5, in one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to send a second synchronization signal and send second data to the terminal device on the first resource.

[0314] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the second communication device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , in a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to receive configuration information of the first resource and / or the second data.

[0315] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the second communication device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 2 or Figure 5, in one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to receive information indicating the first area and send the second synchronization signal to the first area.

[0316] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the function of the second communication device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 2 or Figure 5, in one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1320 is used to receive the sixth information. The processing unit 1310 is used to stop sending the second synchronization signal to the area where the terminal device is located.

[0317] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 1310 and the transceiver unit 1320 , reference may be made to the relevant description in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 .

[0318] As shown in Figure 7, communication device 1400 includes a processor 1410 and an interface circuit 1420. Processor 1410 and interface circuit 1420 are coupled to each other. It will be understood that interface circuit 1420 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. The input / output interface is used to input and / or output information, where output can be understood as sending and input can be understood as receiving. Optionally, communication device 1400 may also include a memory 1430 for storing instructions executed by processor 1410, or storing input data required by processor 1410 to execute instructions, or storing data generated after processor 1410 executes instructions.

[0319] When the communication device 1400 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , the processor 1410 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 1310 , and the interface circuit 1420 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 1320 .

[0320] Referring to Figure 8 , the communication device shown in Figure 8 may also be a schematic diagram of a possible baseband architecture. As shown in Figure 8 , the communication device may include a processing system, which may include one or more processors, which may be configured to execute processes, such as process #1 through process #N shown in Figure 8 .

[0321] A processing system can be implemented using a bus architecture, typically represented by a bus. The bus can include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges, depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system. The bus communicatively couples various circuits together, including one or more processors (typically represented by a processor), memory, and computer-readable media (typically represented by computer-readable media, such as computer-readable media #1...computer-readable media #N shown in Figure 8). The bus can also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and, therefore, will not be described further. The bus interface provides an interface between the bus and transceivers, and between the bus and the interface.

[0322] The communication device may further include a transceiver (not shown in FIG8 ), which may also be replaced by an interface circuit or a communication interface, etc. The transceiver provides a communication interface or device for communicating with various other devices via a wireless transmission medium. The transceiver may be coupled to an antenna array, and the transceiver and antenna array may be used together to communicate with the corresponding network type. At least one interface (e.g., a network interface and / or a user interface) provides a communication interface or device for communicating via an internal bus or via an external transmission medium.

[0323] The processor is responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including executing software stored on a computer-readable medium. When the software is executed by the processor, the software causes the processing system to perform the various functions described below for any specific device. The functions that can be implemented by the processor, memory, and computer-readable medium may include: encoding, decoding, rate matching, rate dematching, scrambling, descrambling, modulation, demodulation, layer mapping, fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT), precoding, resource element (RE) mapping, channel equalization, RE demapping, digital beamforming (BF), adding CP, removing CP, etc. One or more of the following.

[0324] The signaling involved in the embodiments of the present application (such as the fourth information, the information for indicating the first area, the configuration information of the first resource sent by the first communication device to the second communication device, the second data sent by the first communication device to the second communication device, the fifth information, or one or more of the sixth information) can be implemented by a processor, a memory, and a computer-readable medium. For example, the above-mentioned signaling sent by the first communication device (such as a satellite device) to the terminal device is sent to the terminal device after the processor, memory, and computer-readable medium in Figure 8 process the above-mentioned parameters.

[0325] When the communication device shown in FIG. 8 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 , the processor 1410 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 1310 , and the interface circuit 1420 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 1320 .

[0326] When the above-mentioned communication device (such as the communication device shown in Figure 6, Figure 7 or Figure 8) is a chip applied to a terminal, the terminal chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The terminal chip receives information from the base station, which can be understood as the information being first received by other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the terminal chip by these modules. The terminal chip sends information to the base station, which can be understood as the information being first sent to other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the base station by these modules.

[0327] When the above-mentioned communication device (such as the communication device shown in Figure 6, Figure 7 or Figure 8) is a chip applied to a base station (such as a satellite base station), the base station chip implements the function of the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The base station chip receives information from the terminal, which can be understood as the information being first received by other modules in the base station (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the base station chip by these modules. The base station chip sends information to the terminal, which can be understood as the information being sent to other modules in the base station (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the terminal by these modules.

[0328] In this application, the sending of information from entity A to entity B can be directly from A to B, or indirectly from A to B via other entities. Similarly, the receiving of information from entity A by entity B can be directly from A by B, or indirectly from A by B via other entities. The entities A and B can be RAN nodes or terminals, or modules within RAN nodes or terminals. The sending and receiving of information can be the information exchange between RAN nodes and terminals, e.g., the information exchange between base stations and terminals; the sending and receiving of information can also be the information exchange between two RAN nodes, e.g., the information exchange between a CU and a DU; the sending and receiving of information can also be the information exchange between different modules within one apparatus, e.g., the information exchange between a terminal chip and other modules of the terminal, or the information exchange between a base station chip and other modules of the base station.

[0329] It can be understood that the processor (e.g., the processor 1410 in FIG. 7 and / or the processor in the processing system in FIG. 8) in the embodiments of the present application can be a central processing unit (CPU), and can also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0330] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware, or in software instructions executable by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, which can be stored in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an erasable programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor, so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal. The processor and the storage medium can also exist as discrete components in a base station or a terminal.

[0331] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer programs or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions of the embodiments are performed. The computer can be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user equipment or other programmable apparatus. The computer programs or instructions can be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transferred from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer programs or instructions can be transferred from one website site, computer, server or data center to another website site, computer, server or data center through wired or wireless manner. The computer readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center and the like integrated with one or more available media. The available media can be magnetic media, such as floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape; optical media, such as digital video disc; semiconductor media, such as solid state disk. The computer readable storage medium can be volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or can include both volatile and non-volatile storage media.

[0332] In various embodiments of the present application, the terms and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be referred to each other if there is no special description and logical conflict, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0333] In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. The "and / or" describes the association relationship between the associated objects, which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can represent the following cases: A exists alone, A and B exist together, B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the literal description of the present application, the character " / ", generally represents that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship; in the formula of the present application, the character " / ", represents that the associated objects before and after are in a "division" relationship. "Including at least one of A, B and C" can mean: including A; including B; including C; including A and B; including A and C; including B and C; including A, B and C.

[0334] It can be understood that various numbers (such as numerical numbers "first", "second", and the like, such as letter numbers "embodiment A1", "embodiment B1", "embodiment C1", and the like) involved in the embodiments of the present application are only for the convenience of differentiation in description, and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the serial number of the above processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of the processes should be determined according to its function and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method is applicable to a terminal device, and includes: receiving first information from a first communication device, where the first information includes information of a second communication device, and the first information is used to assist the terminal device in receiving a synchronization signal from the second communication device; receiving a second synchronization signal from the second communication device based on the first information; receiving third data, the third data including first data and second data, the first data occupying a first resource, the second data occupying the first resource, the first data coming from the first communication device, and the second data coming from the second communication device; The first data and the second data are obtained from the third data.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein A difference between a downlink timing corresponding to the first communication apparatus and a downlink timing corresponding to the second communication apparatus is greater than a cyclic prefix.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The first information includes information of the second communication device.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The first information includes information indicating at least one of the following: an index of the information of the second communication device; ephemeris information of the second communication device; a cell identifier corresponding to the second communication device; a measurement timing configuration corresponding to the second communication device; a frequency of a synchronization signal of the second communication device; polarization information of the synchronization signal of the second communication device; Sequence information corresponding to the synchronization signal of the second communication device.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: Second information is sent to the first communication device, where the second information indicates that the terminal device supports a first data transmission mode, where the first data transmission mode includes multiple communication devices sending data to the terminal device on the same resource.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The method further comprises: Second information is sent to the first communication device, where the second information indicates the number of multiple communication devices supported by the terminal device that send data to the terminal device on the same resource.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein: The first data transmission mode includes: a difference between downlink timings corresponding to data sent by two communication devices among the multiple communication devices to the terminal device on the same resource is greater than a cyclic prefix.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: The method further comprises: Sending a third message; The third information indicates at least one of the following: the terminal device detects the synchronization signal of the second communication device; the terminal device establishes downlink timing synchronization with the second communication device.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein The third information includes at least one of the following: an index corresponding to the information of the second communication device; an identifier of the second communication device; an identifier of a cell corresponding to the second communication device; The measurement result information corresponding to the second communication device includes at least one of a signal detection result, a link quality, a channel quality, and a signal quality.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein The method further comprises: receiving fourth information, the fourth information including information for indicating the second communication device, the fourth information indicating that the first communication device and the second communication device send data to the terminal device on the same resource; Based on the fourth information, synchronization with the downlink timing of the second communication device is maintained.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein The fourth information further instructs the terminal device to select a first data processing mode to receive data from the first communication device and the second communication device, where the first data processing mode has the capability of processing data transmitted via the first data transmission mode.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein: The method further comprises: receiving fifth information, the fifth information instructing the second communication device to stop sending data to the terminal device on the same resource as the first communication device; Stop maintaining synchronization with the downlink timing of the second communication device.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein: The first communication device is a first satellite device, and the second communication device is a second satellite device.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein: The acquiring the first data and the second data from the third data includes: Obtaining the first data from the third data; obtaining fourth data based on the first data and the influence of the channel on the signal, wherein the fourth data includes the first data influenced by the channel; removing the fourth data from the third data to obtain fifth data; The second data is obtained from the fifth data.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein: The first communication device is a first satellite device, and the second communication device is a second satellite device.

16. A communication method, characterized in that: The method is applicable to a first communication device, and the method includes: Sending first information, where the first information includes information of a second communication device, and the first information is used to assist the terminal device in receiving a synchronization signal from the second communication device; First data is sent to the terminal device on a first resource, and the first resource is also used for a second communication device to send second data to the terminal device.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein The method further comprises: Receive configuration information of the first resource and / or the second data.

18. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 17, wherein: The method further comprises: receiving information indicating a first area, wherein the terminal device is located in the first area; The sending of the second synchronization signal comprises: The second synchronization signal is sent to the first area.

19. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 18, wherein: The method further comprises: receiving sixth information, the sixth information being used to instruct the second communication device to stop sending data to the terminal device through a first transmission mode, where the first transmission mode includes the second communication device sending data to the terminal device using the same resources as the first communication device; Stop sending the second synchronization signal to the area where the terminal device is located.

20. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 19, wherein: A difference between a downlink timing corresponding to the first communication apparatus and a downlink timing corresponding to the second communication apparatus is greater than a cyclic prefix.

21. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, wherein: The first information may include information of the second communication device.

22. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 21, wherein: The first information includes information indicating at least one of the following: an index of the information of the second communication device; ephemeris information of the second communication device; a cell identifier corresponding to the second communication device; a measurement timing configuration corresponding to the second communication device; a frequency of a synchronization signal of the second communication device; polarization information of the synchronization signal of the second communication device; Sequence information corresponding to the synchronization signal of the second communication device.

23. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 22, wherein: The method further comprises: Second information is received, where the second information indicates that the terminal device supports a first data transmission mode, where the first data transmission mode includes multiple communication devices sending data to the terminal device on the same resource.

24. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 23, wherein: The method further comprises: Second information is received, where the second information indicates the number of multiple communication devices supported by the terminal device and transmitting data to the terminal device on the same resource.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein: The first data transmission mode includes: a difference between downlink timings corresponding to data sent by two communication devices among the multiple communication devices to the terminal device on the same resource is greater than a cyclic prefix.

26. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 25, wherein: The method further comprises: receiving third information; The third information indicates at least one of the following: the terminal device detects the synchronization signal of the second communication device; the terminal device establishes downlink timing synchronization with the second communication device.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein The third information includes at least one of the following: an index corresponding to the information of the second communication device; an identifier of the second communication device; an identifier of a cell corresponding to the second communication device; The measurement result information corresponding to the second communication device includes at least one of a signal detection result, a link quality, a channel quality, and a signal quality.

28. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 27, wherein: The method further comprises: Send fourth information, the fourth information including information for indicating the second communication device, the fourth information indicating that the first communication device and the second communication device send data to the terminal device on the same resources, and the fourth information is used by the terminal device to maintain synchronization with the downlink timing of the second communication device.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein: The fourth information further instructs the terminal device to select a first data processing mode to receive data from the first communication device and the second communication device, where the first data processing mode has the capability of processing data transmitted via the first data transmission mode.

30. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 29, wherein: The method further comprises: Sending fifth information, wherein the fifth information instructs the second communication device to stop sending data to the terminal device on the same resources as the first communication device, and the fifth information is used by the terminal device to stop maintaining synchronization with the downlink timing of the second communication device.

31. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 30, wherein: The method further comprises: Send the configuration information of the first resource and / or the second data to the second communication device.

32. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 31, wherein: The method further comprises: Information indicating a first area is sent to the second communication device, and the terminal device is located in the first area.

33. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 32, wherein: The method further comprises: Sixth information is sent to the second communication device, where the sixth information is used to instruct the second communication device to stop sending data to the terminal device using the same resources as the first communication device.

34. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 33, wherein: The first communication device is a first satellite device, and the second communication device is a second satellite device.

35. A communication method, characterized in that: The method is applicable to a second communication device, and the method includes: sending a second synchronization signal; The second data is sent to the terminal device on the first resource, and the first resource is also used by the first communication device to send the first data to the terminal device.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein: A difference between a downlink timing corresponding to the first communication apparatus and a downlink timing corresponding to the second communication apparatus is greater than a cyclic prefix.

37. The method according to claim 35 or 36, wherein The method further comprises: Receive configuration information of the first resource and / or the second data.

38. The method according to any one of claims 35 to 37, wherein: The method further comprises: receiving information indicating a first area, wherein the terminal device is located in the first area; The sending of the second synchronization signal comprises: The second synchronization signal is sent to the first area.

39. The method according to any one of claims 35 to 38, wherein The method further comprises: receiving sixth information, the sixth information being used to instruct the second communication device to stop sending data to the terminal device through a first transmission mode, where the first transmission mode includes the second communication device sending data to the terminal device using the same resources as the first communication device; Stop sending the second synchronization signal to the area where the terminal device is located.

40. The method according to any one of claims 35 to 39, wherein The first communication device is a first satellite device, and the second communication device is a second satellite device.

41. A communication device, characterized in that Comprising a module for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, or comprising a module for executing the method according to any one of claims 16 to 34, or comprising a module for executing the method according to any one of claims 35 to 40.

42. A communication device, characterized in that The method comprises a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices, and the processor is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, or the method according to any one of claims 16 to 34, or the method according to any one of claims 35 to 40 through a logic circuit or executing code instructions.

43. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The storage medium stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, or the method according to any one of claims 16 to 34, or the method according to any one of claims 35 to 40 is implemented.

44. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product stores a computer program, which includes program instructions. When the program instructions are executed by a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, or the method according to any one of claims 16 to 34, or the method according to any one of claims 35 to 40 is implemented.

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