Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, which are used for achieving the advantage of being capable of taking a plurality of forwarding modes into consideration. The method comprises: a terminal device receiving first information on a first BWP, wherein the first information is used for configuring a plurality of BWPs; among the plurality of BWPs, a first part of BWPs belongs to a first BWP group, and a second part of BWPs belongs to a second BWP group; the BWPs in the first BWP group are synchronous in terms of time and frequency, and the BWPs in the second BWP group are synchronous in terms of time and frequency; the first BWP group is not synchronous with the second BWP group in terms of time and frequency; and the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or the second BWP group. On the basis of the method, by means of configuring different BWP groups for a terminal device, the terminal device can transmit different services by means of the different BWP groups. For example, the terminal device can realize, by means of different BWP groups, service transmission in a transparent forwarding mode and service transmission in a regenerative forwarding mode, such that the advantage of being capable of taking a plurality of forwarding modes into consideration is achieved.

Description

Communication method and apparatus

[0001] Cross-reference to Related Applications

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202410650498.X, filed on May 23, 2024, and entitled "A Communication Method and Apparatus", 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 and apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0004] In a satellite communication system, a satellite acts as a relay node to transmit a signal from a sending terminal at a geographic location on the earth's surface to a receiving terminal at another geographic location on the earth's surface. In the relay process, some satellites use a transparent forwarding mode, and some satellites use a regenerative forwarding mode. The transparent forwarding mode refers to that the satellite only performs frequency conversion and amplification processing on the received signal and then transmits the signal to the receiving terminal. The regenerative forwarding mode refers to that the satellite not only performs frequency conversion and amplification processing on the received signal, but also performs demodulation and decoding processing to regenerate the signal and then transmits the signal to the receiving terminal.

[0005] Compared with the transparent forwarding mode, the satellite can more flexibly perform scheduling and beam direction selection in the regenerative forwarding mode, and the demodulation performance is usually higher than that in the transparent forwarding mode. Compared with the regenerative forwarding mode, the transparent forwarding mode has the following advantages: forward compatibility (that is, any signal can be forwarded, for example, an operator can change the communication protocol in its operation without re-launching the satellite), and lower latency in some business configurations (compared with the regenerative mode, there is no need to perform demodulation and decoding, scheduling, and re-encoding and modulation).

[0006] However, the advantages of the two forwarding modes cannot be considered at present. SUMMARY

[0007] Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus to realize the advantages of considering multiple forwarding modes.

[0008] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a communication device, the communication device can be a terminal device, or can be a component (such as a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit or a functional module, etc.) in the terminal device. The method can include: receiving first information on a first bandwidth part (BWP), the first information being used for configuring a plurality of BWPs; a first part of the BWPs belonging to a first BWP group, and a second part of the BWPs belonging to a second BWP group; wherein, the BWPs in the first BWP group are time and frequency synchronized, the BWPs in the second BWP group are time and frequency synchronized, the first BWP group and the second BWP group are time and frequency unsynchronized, and the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or the second BWP group.

[0009] Based on the above communication method, by configuring different BWP groups for the terminal device, the terminal device can transmit different services through different BWP groups. For example, the terminal device can realize service transmission in a transparent forwarding mode and service transmission in a regenerative forwarding mode through different BWP groups, so that the advantages of multiple forwarding modes can be taken into account.

[0010] In a possible design, second information can be received on the first BWP, the second information can be used to indicate that the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or belongs to the second BWP group. In this way, the terminal device can learn the grouping of the first BWP, so that the terminal device can accurately transmit corresponding services.

[0011] In a possible design, the second information can also be used to indicate a first timing advance (TA) corresponding to the first BWP group; or, the second information can also be used to indicate a second TA corresponding to the second BWP group. In this way, the terminal device can use a TA that is consistent with the working BWP.

[0012] In a possible design, third information can be received on the first BWP, the third information can also be used to indicate the BWP group to which each BWP in the plurality of BWPs belongs. In this way, the terminal device can explicitly determine the BWP group to which each BWP belongs, so that whether time and frequency synchronization is needed can be determined when BWP switching is subsequently performed.

[0013] In a possible design, BWPs in the first BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded through the transparent forwarding mode, and BWPs in the second BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded through the regenerative forwarding mode; or, BWPs in the first BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded through the regenerative forwarding mode, and BWPs in the second BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded through the transparent forwarding mode. In this way, the transparent forwarding mode service and the regenerative forwarding mode service can be respectively transmitted to one terminal device through different BWPs, and service transmission can be more flexible and accurate.

[0014] In a possible design, BWP switching indication information is received on the first BWP, the BWP switching indication information is used to indicate switching to a second BWP, the second BWP being one of the plurality of BWPs; the terminal device switches from the first BWP to the second BWP; and when the first BWP and the second BWP belong to different BWP groups, time and frequency synchronization is performed. Based on this, the terminal device can accurately perform BWP switching.

[0015] In a possible design, the first BWP group can include a first default BWP, and the second BWP group can include a second default BWP. In this way, different BWP groups can respectively include respective default BWPs, so that when there is no service transmission, the terminal device can switch to the default BWP included in the BWP group in which the current working BWP is located, thereby reducing power consumption caused by switching to the default BWP in the other group for time and frequency synchronization and saving switching overhead.

[0016] In a possible design, the first BWP is an initial BWP.

[0017] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be applied to a communication apparatus. The communication apparatus can be an access network device, or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, or a functional module) in the access network device. Alternatively, the communication apparatus can be a satellite, or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, or a functional module) in the satellite. The method can include: transmitting first information on a first BWP, the first information being used to configure a plurality of BWPs; a first part of the plurality of BWPs belonging to a first BWP group, and a second part of the plurality of BWPs belonging to a second BWP group; wherein BWPs in the first BWP group are time and frequency synchronized, BWPs in the second BWP group are time and frequency synchronized, and the first BWP group and the second BWP group are time and frequency unsynchronized; and the first BWP belonging to the first BWP group or the second BWP group.

[0018] Based on the above communication method, by configuring different BWP groups for the terminal device, the terminal device can transmit different services through different BWP groups. For example, the terminal device can implement service transmission in transparent forwarding mode and service transmission in regenerative forwarding mode through different BWP groups, so that the advantages of multiple forwarding modes can be considered.

[0019] In one possible design, second information is sent on the first BWP, and the second information is used to indicate that the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or belongs to the second BWP group. In this way, the terminal device can learn the grouping of the first BWP, so that the terminal device can accurately transmit the corresponding service.

[0020] In one possible design, the second information is also used to indicate a first timing advance (TA) corresponding to the first BWP group; or the second information is also used to indicate a second TA corresponding to the second BWP group. In this way, the terminal device can use a TA that conforms to the working BWP.

[0021] In one possible design, third information is sent on the first BWP, and the third information is also used to indicate the BWP group to which each BWP in the plurality of BWPs belongs. In this way, the terminal device can explicitly determine the BWP group to which each BWP belongs, so that whether time and frequency synchronization needs to be performed can be determined when BWP switching is subsequently performed.

[0022] In one possible design, the BWPs in the first BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded through transparent forwarding mode, and the BWPs in the second BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded through regenerative forwarding mode; or the BWPs in the first BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded through regenerative forwarding mode, and the BWPs in the second BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded through transparent forwarding mode. In this way, the terminal device can be respectively transmitted with services in transparent forwarding mode and services in regenerative forwarding mode through different BWPs, and service transmission can be more flexible and accurate.

[0023] In one possible design, BWP switching indication information is sent on the first BWP, and the BWP switching indication information is used to indicate switching to a second BWP, and the second BWP is one of the plurality of BWPs. Based on this, the terminal device can accurately perform BWP switching.

[0024] In a possible design, the first BWP group includes a first default BWP, and the second BWP group includes a second default BWP. In this way, different BWP groups can respectively include respective default BWPs, so that the terminal device can switch to the default BWP included in the BWP group in which the current working BWP is located when there is no service transmission, thereby reducing power consumption caused by switching to the default BWP of another group for time and frequency synchronization and saving switching overhead.

[0025] In a possible design, the first BWP is an initial BWP.

[0026] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a communication device supporting transparent forwarding mode and regenerative forwarding mode. The communication device can be a satellite (or other device), or can be a component (such as a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, or a functional module) in the satellite (or other device). The method can include: receiving a first signal, determining a forwarding mode of the first signal according to the first signal, and processing the first signal according to the forwarding mode of the first signal. The forwarding mode is transparent forwarding mode or regenerative forwarding mode.

[0027] Based on the above communication method, the transparent forwarding mode and the regenerative forwarding mode can be supported at the same time, so that the advantages of the two forwarding modes can be taken into account.

[0028] In a possible design, after processing the first signal according to the forwarding mode of the first signal, a second signal can be transmitted, where the second signal is a signal processed from the first signal. In this way, the service corresponding to the forwarding mode can be accurately transmitted and forwarded.

[0029] In a possible design, the method of determining the forwarding mode of the first signal according to the first signal can include: determining that the forwarding mode of the first signal is the transparent forwarding mode when the first signal is received on a first resource; or determining that the forwarding mode of the first signal is the regenerative forwarding mode when the first signal is received on a second resource; and the first resource and the second resource are different. In this way, the forwarding mode of the first signal can be accurately determined based on the resource on which the first signal is received, so that the processing of the first signal can be accurately performed.

[0030] In a possible design, any one of the first resource and the second resource includes one or more of the following: a frequency domain resource, a time domain resource, or a code domain resource.

[0031] In a possible design, the method of processing the first signal according to the forwarding mode of the first signal can be: processing the first signal by a first circuit when it is determined that the forwarding mode is the transparent forwarding mode; and processing the first signal by a second circuit when it is determined that the forwarding mode is the regenerative forwarding mode, where the first circuit and the second circuit are connected in parallel. In this way, the first signal can be processed accurately by the circuit corresponding to the different forwarding mode.

[0032] In a possible design, the method of processing the first signal by the first circuit can be: performing frequency conversion processing, filtering processing and amplification processing on the first signal by the first circuit. In this way, the signal corresponding to the transparent forwarding mode can be processed.

[0033] In a possible design, the method of processing the first signal by the second circuit can be: performing frequency conversion processing, filtering processing, demodulation processing, decoding processing, encoding processing, modulation processing and amplification processing on the first signal by the second circuit. In this way, the signal corresponding to the regenerative forwarding mode can be processed.

[0034] In a possible design, the method of sending the second signal when it is determined that the forwarding mode is the regenerative forwarding mode can be: sending the second signal by multiple beam directions. In this way, the satellite can send the second signal by the regenerative forwarding mode.

[0035] In a fourth aspect, the present application also provides a communication apparatus, which can be a terminal device or a component (for example, a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit or a functional module, etc.) in the terminal device. The communication apparatus has the function of implementing the method in the first aspect or the method in each possible design example of the first aspect. The function can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0036] In a possible design, the structure of the communication apparatus can include a processing unit, and optionally a transceiving unit. These units can perform the functions of the method in the first aspect or the method in each possible design example of the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0037] In a possible design, the communication apparatus can include one or more processors, and optionally, a memory and / or a transceiver, where the transceiver is configured to receive and / or transmit data, messages, information, and the like, and to communicate with other devices in the system. The processors are configured to support the communication apparatus to perform the corresponding functions in the methods in the first aspect or various possible design examples of the first aspect. The memory is coupled to the processors, and stores program instructions and data necessary for the communication apparatus.

[0038] In a fifth aspect, the present application also provides a communication apparatus, which can be an access network device, or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, or a functional module) in the access network device. Alternatively, the communication apparatus can be a satellite, or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, or a functional module) in the satellite. The communication apparatus has the functions of implementing the methods in the second aspect or various possible design examples of the second aspect. The functions can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions.

[0039] In a possible design, the communication apparatus can include a processing unit, and optionally, a transceiving unit. The units can perform the functions of the methods in the second aspect or various possible design examples of the second aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0040] In a possible design, the communication apparatus can include one or more processors, and optionally, a memory and / or a transceiver, where the transceiver is configured to receive and / or transmit data, messages, information, and the like, and to communicate with other devices in the system. The processors are configured to support the communication apparatus to perform the corresponding functions in the methods in the second aspect or various possible design examples of the second aspect. The memory is coupled to the processors, and stores program instructions and data necessary for the communication apparatus.

[0041] In a sixth aspect, the present application also provides a communication apparatus, which can support transparent forwarding mode and regenerative forwarding mode. The communication apparatus can be a satellite (or another device), or a component (e.g., a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, or a functional module) in the satellite (or another device). The communication apparatus has the functions of implementing the methods in the third aspect or various possible design examples of the first aspect. The functions can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions.

[0042] In a possible design, the communication apparatus can include a processing unit, and optionally further include a transceiver unit, which can perform the functions of the method in the third aspect or in various possible design examples of the third aspect. Details are not repeated here.

[0043] In a possible design, the communication apparatus can include one or more processors, and optionally further include a memory and / or a transceiver, where the transceiver is configured to receive and / or transmit data, messages, information, and the like, and to perform communication interaction with other devices in a system, and the processor is configured to support the communication apparatus to perform corresponding functions in the third aspect or in various possible design examples of the third aspect. The memory is coupled to the processor, and stores program instructions and data necessary for the communication apparatus.

[0044] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which can include a first device and a terminal device. The terminal device can be configured to implement the method in the first aspect or in various possible design examples of the first aspect. The first device can be configured to implement the method in the second aspect or in various possible design examples of the second aspect.

[0045] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which can include a communication apparatus configured to implement the third aspect or various possible design examples of the third aspect.

[0046] In a ninth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided in an embodiment of the present application, which stores program instructions. When the program instructions are run on a computer, the computer is caused to perform the method in the first aspect and any possible design thereof, or the method in the second aspect and any possible design thereof, or the method in the third aspect and any possible design thereof. Exemplarily, the computer readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. For example but not limited to: the computer readable medium can include a non-transitory computer readable medium, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically EPROM (EEPROM), a CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0047] In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, including a computer program or instructions, which, when executed on a computer, causes the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect to be performed.

[0048] In an eleventh aspect, the present application also provides a chip or chip system, including one or more processors coupled with at least one memory for reading and executing program instructions stored in the memory, so that the chip or chip system implements the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect.

[0049] The technical effects of each of the fourth aspect to the eleventh aspect and each possible implementation of the fourth aspect to the eleventh aspect can refer to the technical effects of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect, which will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0050] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system provided by the present application;

[0051] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a satellite transmitting signals in a transparent repeating mode provided by the present application;

[0052] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a satellite transmitting signals in a regenerative repeating mode provided by the present application;

[0053] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a BWP provided by the present application;

[0054] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0055] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a service time slot in a transparent repeating mode and a service time slot in a regenerative repeating mode provided by the present application;

[0056] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of grouping of a BWP provided by the present application;

[0057] FIG. 8 is a flowchart of another communication method provided by the present application;

[0058] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of signals in a transparent repeating mode and signals in a regenerative repeating mode being transmitted in an FDM manner provided by the present application;

[0059] Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of connection of a first circuit and a second circuit according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of connection of a first circuit and a second circuit according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0061] Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of transmission of a second signal according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0064] Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and device, which can take into account advantages of multiple forwarding modes. The method and device according to the present application are based on the same technical concept, and the implementation of the device and the method can be referred to each other, and the repeated parts will not be described herein.

[0065] In the description of the present application, the terms "first", "second", etc. are used only for distinguishing the purposes of description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance, nor indicating or implying sequence.

[0066] In the description of the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and more means two or more. "At least one of the following" or the like means any combination of the items, including any combination of single item or multiple items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can mean a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, wherein a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0067] In the description of the present application, "and / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and / or B can mean that A exists alone, A and B exist together, B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. " / " means "or", for example, a / b means a or b.

[0068] In order to more clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the communication method and device provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0069] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system, a 4th generation (4G) mobile communication system (such as a long term evolution (LTE) system), a 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system (such as a new radio (NR) system), and a future evolved communication system (such as a 6th generation (6G) mobile communication system).

[0070] For example, FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an architecture of a possible communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system can include at least one terminal device (two terminal devices, i.e., terminal device 1 and terminal device 2, are shown in FIG. 1), a satellite, a gateway station, an access network device, and a core network.

[0071] The terminal device, also referred to as user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), etc., is a device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to users. For example, the terminal device can include a handheld device having wireless connection capability, a car-mounted device, etc. Currently, the terminal device can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palm computer, a mobile internet device (MID), a wearable device, a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, an extended reality (XR) device, a mixed reality (MR) device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical surgery, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, or a wireless terminal in smart home, etc. The terminal device can also be a device-to-device (D2D) terminal device, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication terminal device, a smart vehicle, a telematics box (TBOX), a machine-to-machine / machine-type communications (M2M / MTC) terminal device, an internet of things (IoT) terminal device. For example, the terminal device can be a vehicle, a ship, or an aircraft, etc. a carrier or a terminal type road unit, or a communication module or chip built-in a vehicle or a road unit. For example, the terminal device can be a vehicle-mounted module. The terminal device can also be a road side unit (RSU).

[0072] In this application, the terminal device can also be a functional module, a chip or a chip system. Optionally, the functional module, the chip or the chip system can be arranged in the terminal device.

[0073] A gateway station, which can also be understood as a satellite gateway (also known as a hub or concentrator), is a ground station that transmits data from the satellite to a local area network. The gateway station can house antennas and equipment that convert radio frequency (RF) signals to internet protocol (IP) signals for ground connections.

[0074] An access network device is a device for providing access for a terminal device. The access network device can include a radio access network (RAN) device, such as a base station. In this application, the access network device is located on the ground, and an example access network device can also be referred to as a ground station. The access network device can be a base station, an evolved Node B (eNB or e-NodeB) in a long term evolution (LTE) system or a long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, a next generation NodeB in a 6th generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, an access node in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, and the like, and can also be an access network device in an open RAN (ORAN) system, and the like. Optionally, the access network device can also be a module or unit that completes part of the functions of a base station, for example, the access network device can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU), and the like. Here, the CU 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 functions of the physical layer or all the functions of the physical layer. In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an ORAN system, the CU can also be referred to as an O-CU, the DU can also be referred to as an open (O)-DU, the CU-CP can also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, and the RU can also be referred to as an O-RU.

[0075] The access network device can be a macro base station, a micro base station (also referred to as a small station) or an indoor station, and can also be a relay node or a donor node, etc. The access network device can also be a radio network controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (for example, a home evolved NodeB or a home Node B, HNB), a baseband unit (BBU) or a remote radio unit (RRU), or a wireless fidelity (Wifi) access point (AP), or a baseband pool (BBU pool) and an RRU in a cloud radio access network (CRAN), etc. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form of the access network device.

[0076] In the present application, the access network device can also be a functional module, a chip or a chip system. Optionally, the functional module, the chip or the chip system can be arranged in the access network device.

[0077] The satellite can also be referred to as a space base station. The satellite plays the role of a relay node, amplifies the signal of a sending end at a geographical position on the earth's surface, and sends the signal to a receiving end at another geographical position. For example, the satellite can send the signal of a terminal device to an access network device. In the present application, the satellite supports transparent forwarding mode and regenerative forwarding mode.

[0078] Different services or different terminal devices can use different forwarding modes. For example, the forwarding modes suitable for service 1 and service 2 in FIG. 1 can be different.

[0079] In the present application, the satellite can schedule services using the regenerative forwarding mode for transmission. The access network device on the ground can schedule services using the transparent forwarding mode for transmission. The satellite and the access network device can negotiate information through an Xn interface, for example, negotiate bandwidth part (BWP) allocation, BWP switching of a terminal device, etc.

[0080] The core network can include a plurality of core network elements. For example, taking the 5G core network as an example, the 5G core network can include an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, a session management function (SMF) network element, a user plane function (UPF) network element, a policy control function (PCF) network element, a unified data management (UDM) network element, and the like. It should be understood that the 5G core network can also include other core network elements, which are not listed here one by one.

[0081] The UPF is responsible for user plane functions of the core network, including providing user message forwarding, processing, connection with a data network (DN), session anchor, quality of service (QoS) policy implementation, and the like.

[0082] The AMF is mainly used for mobility management and access management, etc., for example, the AMF can have mobility management, access authentication or authorization, and the like. In addition, the AMF is also responsible for delivering user policies between the terminal device and the PCF network element.

[0083] The SMF is used to implement session management, including providing session management for UE sessions (such as session establishment, modification, release), execution of control policies issued by the PCF, selection and control of the UPF, IP address allocation of the UE, and the like.

[0084] The PCF is used to be responsible for policy control functions, including being responsible for charging, QoS bandwidth guarantee, mobility policy management, terminal device access policy, and the like for session, service flow level policy control functions.

[0085] The UDM is responsible for unified data management functions, including subscription management, access authorization, authentication information generation, and the like for users.

[0086] It should be understood that the above only takes the 5G core network as an example for description, and in future communications, the core network elements can also have other names, which are not limited by the present application.

[0087] In some descriptions of the present application below, a network device is taken as an example for description. The network device involved in the present application below can include an access network device or a core network element, and the like.

[0088] The communication system described in the embodiments of the present application is used to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of network architecture and the appearance of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0089] The related terms or technologies involved in the embodiments of the present application are explained below. It should be noted that these explanations are to make the embodiments of the present application easier to understand, and should not be regarded as a limitation on the scope of protection required by the present application.

[0090] 1) Transparent forwarding mode

[0091] The so-called transparent forwarding mode refers to that the satellite only performs frequency conversion and amplification on the received signal, and then sends the processed signal to the receiving end.

[0092] For example, FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a satellite transmitting a signal in a transparent forwarding mode. It is assumed that a ground station (here, the sending end) transmits a signal to a terminal device (here, the receiving end). The ground station transmits the signal to be transmitted on a feeder link. The feeder link refers to a communication channel at a certain frequency used by the satellite and the ground station for communication. For example, it is assumed that the frequency of the feeder link is 15 gigahertz (GHz), and the ground station will up-convert the signal to the 15 GHz communication channel and send it to the satellite.

[0093] After the satellite receives the signal on the feeder link through the receiving antenna, a transponder is used to perform transparent forwarding mode processing. It should be noted that a communication system of a satellite usually includes multiple transponders, and different transponders use different frequencies and beam directions. Here, only one transponder is used as an example for illustration.

[0094] For example, a transponder in a satellite performs low noise amplification (LNA) and radio frequency filtering (RF) on the signal received by the satellite through a receiving antenna, and then performs down-conversion on the signal through a mixer 1 to convert the signal to an intermediate frequency. At the intermediate frequency, the transponder performs intermediate frequency amplification, filtering, and other processing on the signal, and then converts the signal to the frequency of a service link through a mixer 2. The service link refers to a communication channel at a certain frequency used by the satellite to communicate with a terminal device. For example, assuming that the frequency of the service link is 2 GHz, the mixer 2 converts the signal to 2 GHz. The transponder amplifies the converted signal through a high-power amplifier, and then transmits the processed signal to a transmitting antenna to send the signal to the terminal device on the service link.

[0095] As described above, the transponder in the satellite only performs frequency conversion, filtering, amplification, and other processing on the signal, and does not demodulate and decode the signal transmitted by the ground station, and is therefore referred to as a transparent repeating mode.

[0096] 2) Regenerative repeating mode

[0097] The regenerative repeating mode refers to a mode in which the satellite not only performs frequency conversion and amplification on the received signal, but also performs demodulation and decoding on the signal, and then re-generates the signal and transmits the regenerated signal to the receiving end.

[0098] For example, FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a satellite transmitting a signal in a regenerative repeating mode. It is assumed that a ground station (here, the transmitting end) transmits a signal to a terminal device (here, the receiving end). The ground station transmits the signal to be transmitted on a feeder link. The feeder link refers to a communication channel at a certain frequency used by the satellite to communicate with the ground station. For example, assuming that the frequency of the feeder link is 15 GHz, the ground station up-converts the signal to the communication channel at 15 GHz and transmits the signal to the satellite.

[0099] After the satellite receives the signal on the feeder link through a receiving antenna, a transponder performs processing in the regenerative repeating mode. It should be noted that a communication system of a satellite usually includes multiple transponders, and different transponders use different frequencies and beam directions. Here, only one transponder is used as an example for illustration.

[0100] For example, a transponder in a satellite receives a signal through a receiving antenna, and performs low noise amplification and radio frequency filtering on the received signal. The transponder then performs down conversion on the signal through a mixer 1 to convert the signal to an intermediate frequency. At the intermediate frequency, the transponder performs intermediate frequency amplification, filtering, and other processing on the signal. The transponder then converts the intermediate frequency signal to a baseband (BB), demodulates and decodes the received signal (for example, decoding of forward error correction code (FEC)), and obtains information bits transmitted by a ground station. The transponder then determines a beam direction, a resource to be used, a modulation and coding rate, and the like, through on board processing (OBP), re-encodes and modulates the information bits, and converts the signal to a frequency of a service link through a mixer 2. The service link refers to a communication channel at a certain frequency used for communication between the satellite and a terminal device. For example, assuming that the frequency of the service link is 2 GHz, the mixer 2 converts the signal to 2 GHz. The transponder amplifies the converted signal through a high power amplifier, and transmits the processed signal to a transmitting antenna to transmit the signal to the terminal device on the service link.

[0101] As described above, the transponder in the satellite not only performs frequency conversion, filtering, amplification, and the like on the signal, but also restores the signal transmitted by the ground station to a bit sequence through demodulation and decoding, and then re-encodes and modulates the bit sequence and transmits the re-encoded and modulated bit sequence, which is referred to as a regenerative repeating mode.

[0102] Compared with the transparent repeating mode, the satellite in the regenerative repeating mode can be more flexible in scheduling and beam direction selection, and the demodulation performance is usually higher than that in the transparent repeating mode. Compared with the regenerative repeating mode, the transparent repeating mode has the following advantages: forward compatibility (that is, any signal can be repeated, for example, an operator can change a communication protocol used in its business operation without re-launching the satellite), and lower latency in some service configurations (compared with the regenerative mode, no demodulation and decoding, no scheduling, no re-encoding and modulation, and the like are needed).

[0103] 3) Bandwidth Part (BWP)

[0104] A BWP refers to a carrier in a communication system, which can be divided into multiple narrower BWPs in frequency. A terminal device only works in one BWP at a certain time (that is, the transmission and reception of signals are limited within the bandwidth of the BWP), which helps to reduce the complexity and power consumption of the terminal device.

[0105] For example, as shown in FIG. 4, it is assumed that a carrier is divided into three BWPs, each of which has a different bandwidth. As shown in FIG. 4, one of the BWPs is set as an initial BWP. Usually, a carrier periodically transmits a synchronization signal block (SSB) burst on the initial BWP. The SSB burst contains synchronization signals and physical layer broadcast channel (PBCH) information.

[0106] When a terminal device accesses the system, it first performs cell search through the SSB, performs time and frequency synchronization (which can be referred to as time-frequency synchronization), and obtains the cell identification (ID) and some basic configuration information of the system from the SSB, and then the terminal device initiates a random access procedure. The signal transmission and reception in the random access procedure are all completed on the initial BWP. If the random access is successful, a connection (such as a radio resource control (RRC) connection) between the terminal device and the network is established.

[0107] After that, the network device can configure multiple BWPs for the terminal and activate one of them as an active BWP, that is, the terminal subsequently transmits and receives signals on the active BWP. The network device can also select another configured BWP as the active BWP after a period of time, at which time the terminal works on the other BWP.

[0108] Still taking FIG. 4 as an example, the terminal device can perform time-frequency synchronization, obtain system information, and then initiate random access through the SSB transmitted on the initial BWP (that is, BWP2). After the RRC connection is established, the network device can configure multiple BWPs for the terminal device, for example, configure BWP1 and BWP3. When BWP1 is indicated as the active BWP, the terminal device will switch to work on BWP1 thereafter. After a period of time, the network device can activate BWP3 for consideration of interference management or traffic management, and then the terminal device will switch to work on BWP3.

[0109] The multiple BWPs in a current carrier are synchronous in time and frequency, so that the terminal device does not need to re-synchronize time and frequency when switching from one BWP to another BWP.

[0110] The network device currently selects a default BWP from the multiple BWPs configured for the terminal device. In the default state, the terminal device works on the default BWP. After the network device instructs the terminal device to switch to another BWP, if there is no service for a period of time, the terminal device can start a timer. When the timer reaches the set time, the terminal device can automatically switch back to the default BWP.

[0111] Currently, in a satellite communication system, a satellite usually adopts a single transponder mode. For example, if the satellite adopts a transparent transponder mode, all transponders are transparent transponder mode, and such a satellite is also called a "transparent satellite". Or if the satellite adopts a regenerative transponder mode, all transponders are regenerative transponder mode, and such a satellite is also called a "regenerative satellite". The transparent mode and the regenerative mode described above each have advantages. Some types of services or terminal devices may be more suitable for transparent transponder mode service, while other types of terminal devices may be more suitable for regenerative mode service. At present, it is not possible to take into account the advantages of the two transponder modes. Based on this, the embodiment of the present application proposes a communication method that can take into account the advantages of the two transponder modes.

[0112] In the following embodiments, the communication method provided by the present application is described in detail taking a certain device as an example. It should be understood that the operations performed by the device can also be implemented by a processor in the device, or a chip or chip system, or a functional module, and the present application does not limit this.

[0113] Based on the above description, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application can be referred to Figure 5. The flow of the method can include:

[0114] Step 501: The first device sends first information on a first BWP. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information on the first BWP.

[0115] Optionally, the first device can be a ground access network device (i.e. a ground station) or a satellite.

[0116] The first information can be used to configure a plurality of BWPs; a first part of the plurality of BWPs belongs to a first BWP group, and a second part of the plurality of BWPs belongs to a second BWP group; the BWPs in the first BWP group are time and frequency synchronized, and the BWPs in the second BWP group are time and frequency synchronized; the first BWP group and the second BWP group are time and frequency unsynchronized; and the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or the second BWP group.

[0117] Optionally, time and frequency unsynchronized in the present application can also be referred to as time-frequency unsynchronized. Time-frequency unsynchronized can include the following understanding: either time or frequency is unsynchronized, or both time and frequency are unsynchronized.

[0118] The first BWP group and the second BWP group are time and frequency unsynchronized to transmit time and frequency unsynchronized services.

[0119] Optionally, the plurality of BWPs can only include the first part of the BWPs and the second part of the BWPs, or the plurality of BWPs can include a third part of the BWPs in addition to the first part of the BWPs and the second part of the BWPs, the third part of the BWPs belonging to a third BWP group, or the plurality of BWPs can include more than three parts of the BWPs, which are not limited in the present application. In the present application, only the first part of the BWPs belonging to the first BWP group and the second part of the BWPs belonging to the second BWP group are taken as examples for illustration.

[0120] Optionally, the first part of the BWPs and the second part of the BWPs are different. For example, there is no overlap between the BWPs included in the first part of the BWPs and the second part of the BWPs.

[0121] It should be understood that in some scenarios, the first part of the BWPs and the second part of the BWPs can also have overlapping or partially overlapping BWPs, which are not limited in the present application.

[0122] In some embodiments, the BWPs in the first BWP group can be used to transmit signals forwarded by a transparent forwarding mode, and the BWPs in the second BWP group can be used to transmit signals forwarded by a regenerative forwarding mode; or the BWPs in the first BWP group can be used to transmit signals forwarded by a regenerative forwarding mode, and the BWPs in the second BWP group can be used to transmit signals forwarded by a transparent forwarding mode. In this way, the services requiring transparent forwarding mode forwarding and the services requiring regenerative forwarding mode forwarding can be distinguished by different BWPs.

[0123] In some embodiments, in the case that there are both transparently forwarded mode traffic and regenerated forwarded mode traffic, the time of the signal corresponding to the transparently forwarded mode and the signal corresponding to the regenerated forwarded mode is not synchronized at the terminal device, and the timing advance (TA) size used is also not the same. An example is described in detail below with reference to FIG. 6.

[0124] The time slots of the transparently forwarded mode traffic and the time slots of the regenerated forwarded mode traffic are shown in FIG. 6.

[0125] Since the transparently forwarded mode traffic is scheduled by the ground station, the ground station is taken as the time reference point of the transparently forwarded mode traffic, and the time reference point is a node at which the time slot boundary of the signal in the “ground station -> satellite” direction and the time slot boundary of the signal in the “satellite -> ground station” direction are aligned. As can be seen from FIG. 6, the time slot boundaries of the two directions are aligned, for example, the start and end times of slot A and slot C are aligned.

[0126] When the transparently forwarded mode traffic arrives at the satellite, it experiences the propagation delay of the feeder link, so the signal in the “ground station -> satellite” direction is offset backwards, and the signal in the “satellite -> ground station” direction needs to be time advanced. For example, as can be seen from FIG. 6, the time of slot A at the satellite will be later than the time at the ground station. In order to make slot A and slot C align at the ground station, slot C at the satellite needs to be advanced compared to slot C at the ground station. As can be seen from FIG. 6, the uplink and downlink slot boundaries of the transparently forwarded mode traffic are no longer aligned at the satellite, because the satellite is not the time reference point of the transparently forwarded mode traffic.

[0127] However, for the regenerated forwarded mode traffic, the regenerated forwarded mode traffic is scheduled by the satellite, and the satellite is the reference point of the regenerated forwarded mode traffic. That is, the uplink and downlink time slots of the regenerated forwarded mode traffic are aligned at the satellite, as can be seen from FIG. 6, slot B in the “satellite -> terminal device” direction is aligned with slot D in the “terminal device -> satellite” direction. As can also be seen from FIG. 6, slot B and slot A cannot be aligned, and slot D and slot C cannot be aligned. That is, at the satellite, the time of the signal corresponding to the transparently forwarded mode and the signal corresponding to the regenerated forwarded mode is not synchronized (that is, the slot boundaries of the signals of the two forwarding modes are not aligned).

[0128] The transparent repeating mode service is transmitted to the terminal device via the satellite and further experiences the propagation delay of the service link, so the signal in the "satellite -> terminal device" direction is offset backward, and the signal in the "terminal device -> satellite" direction needs to be time-advanced. For example, as can be seen from FIG. 6, the time of slot A at the terminal device will be later than the time at the satellite. In order to enable slot A and slot C to be aligned at the ground station, slot C needs to be advanced at the terminal device relative to slot C at the satellite. At this time, the time advance amount τ(TA, transparent) of slot C relative to slot A can be the TA corresponding to the transparent repeating mode service.

[0129] The regenerative repeating mode service is transmitted to the terminal device via the satellite and experiences the propagation delay of the service link, so the signal in the "satellite -> terminal device" direction is offset backward, and the signal in the "terminal device -> satellite" direction needs to be time-advanced. For example, as can be seen from FIG. 6, the time of slot B at the terminal device will be later than the time at the satellite. In order to enable slot B and slot D to be aligned at the ground station, slot D needs to be advanced at the terminal device relative to slot D at the satellite. At this time, the time advance amount τ(TA, regnerative) of slot D relative to slot B is the TA corresponding to the regenerative repeating mode service.

[0130] As can be seen from FIG. 6, it is obvious that the TA of the transparent repeating mode service and the regenerative repeating mode service is different, that is, τ(TA, regnerative) ≠ τ(TA, transparent).

[0131] As can be seen from FIG. 6, it is also obvious that the signals corresponding to the transparent repeating mode and the regenerative repeating mode are not synchronized in time at the terminal device (the slot boundaries of the signals of the two modes are not aligned).

[0132] In addition, because the ground station and the satellite use different crystal oscillators to generate the carrier, the frequencies of the different crystal oscillators will have a deviation, and thus the frequencies of the transparent repeating mode service and the regenerative repeating mode service can also be unsynchronized.

[0133] Based on this, the transparent repeating mode service and the regenerative repeating mode service are respectively transmitted to a terminal device by two groups of BWPs that are unsynchronized in time and frequency, so that the service transmission is more flexible and accurate.

[0134] In some embodiments, the group of BWPs configured by the first device for the terminal device in the carrier can be predefined. Each BWP group can include one or more BWPs. Each BWP group can include a first BWP. The SSB burst can be transmitted on the first BWP, and the terminal device can use the SSB burst for synchronization. The terminal device can randomly select a first BWP for random access. After the random access is successful, the first device can transmit the first information to the terminal device on the first BWP, and configure multiple BWPs for the terminal device.

[0135] Optionally, the first information can be a radio resource control (RRC) message, downlink control information (DCI), or the like, or the first information can be information included in the RRC message or the DCI, or the like.

[0136] Optionally, the first BWP can be a first BWP. It should be understood that when the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group, the first BWP is the initial BWP of the first BWP group, and when the first BWP belongs to the second BWP group, the first BWP is the initial BWP of the second BWP group.

[0137] In an optional implementation, before the first device transmits the first information to the terminal device, the first device can further perform step 500: the first device transmits second information on the first BWP, and the terminal device receives the second information on the first BWP. The second information is used to indicate that the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or the second BWP group.

[0138] Optionally, the second information can be system information, or information included in the system information.

[0139] Optionally, when the second information is used to indicate that the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group, it can also be understood that the second information indicates that the first BWP is used to transmit signals transmitted by the transparent forwarding mode. When the second information is used to indicate that the first BWP belongs to the second BWP group, it can also be understood that the second information is used to indicate that the first BWP transmits signals transmitted by the regenerative forwarding mode.

[0140] In some embodiments, the second information can also be used to indicate a first TA corresponding to the first BWP group, or the second information can also be used to indicate a second TA corresponding to the second BWP group. It should be understood that when the second information indicates that the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group, the second information can also be used to indicate the first TA, and when the second information indicates that the first BWP belongs to the second BWP group, the second information can also be used to indicate the second TA.

[0141] The first TA can also be understood as a TA corresponding to a transparent forwarding mode, and the second TA can also be understood as a TA corresponding to a regenerative forwarding mode.

[0142] The first TA and the second TA can be different.

[0143] Optionally, when the second information indicates the first TA corresponding to the first BWP group, the second information can also indicate parameters for determining the first TA. Similarly, when the second information indicates the second TA corresponding to the first BWP group, the second information can also indicate parameters for determining the second TA. The present application does not make any limitation.

[0144] In an optional embodiment, the first device can further send third information on the first BWP, and correspondingly, the terminal device can receive the third information on the first BWP. The third information is used to indicate a BWP group to which each BWP in the plurality of BWPs belongs.

[0145] Optionally, the third information can be the same information as the first information, or the third information can be different information from the first information. For example, when the third information is different from the first information, the third information can be carried in the same message as the first information, or can be carried in different messages. The present application does not make any limitation.

[0146] In some embodiments, when the first device determines that other BWPs need to be activated, the first device can perform step 502: the first device sends BWP switching indication information on the first BWP, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the BWP switching indication information on the first BWP. The BWP switching indication information is used to indicate switching to a second BWP, and the second BWP is one of the plurality of BWPs. After receiving the BWP switching indication information, the terminal device switches from the first BWP to the second BWP. When the first BWP and the second BWP belong to different BWP groups, the terminal device performs time and frequency synchronization. When the first BWP and the second BWP belong to the same BWP group, since the BWPs in the same BWP group are time and frequency synchronized, the terminal device does not need to perform time and frequency synchronization.

[0147] Optionally, the first device can further indicate the terminal device to switch from the second BWP to a third BWP. Similarly, when the third BWP and the second BWP belong to different BWP groups, the terminal device performs time and frequency synchronization. When the third BWP and the second BWP belong to the same BWP group, the terminal device does not need to perform time and frequency synchronization.

[0148] For example, assuming that a carrier can include 5 BWPs, the first device can configure the 5 BWPs to correspond to two BWP groups, for example, BWP1-BWP3 belong to the first BWP group, and BWP4 and BWP5 belong to the second BWP group, as shown in FIG. 7. The initial BWP included in the first BWP group can be BWP2, and the initial BWP included in the second BWP group can be BWP5. For example, the terminal device selects BWP2 for random access, that is, the first BWP is BWP2, at this time, the first device can indicate the BWP group to which BWP2 belongs and the corresponding TA to the terminal device through the second information on BWP2. After the random access is successful, the first device can configure 4 BWPs for the terminal device through the first information, for example, BWP1, BWP3, BWP4 and BWP5 are configured for the terminal device. The first device can indicate that BWP1 and BWP3 belong to the first BWP group, and BWP4 and BWP5 belong to the second BWP group through the third information.

[0149] If the first device activates BWP1, that is, the first device instructs the terminal device to switch from BWP2 to BWP1, the terminal device works on BWP1 from BWP2, since BWP1 and BWP2 belong to the same BWP group, the two BWPs are time and frequency synchronized, and the TA used is also the same, so the terminal device does not need to re-synchronize time and frequency when performing BWP switching.

[0150] If the first device activates BWP5 after a period of time, that is, the first device instructs the terminal device to switch from BWP1 to BWP5, the terminal device works on BWP5 from BWP1, since BWP1 and BWP5 belong to different BWP groups, the two BWPs are not time and frequency synchronized, and the TA used is also not the same, so the terminal device needs to re-synchronize time and frequency when performing BWP switching.

[0151] It should be noted that the arrangement of the BWPs shown in FIG. 7 is only an example and does not limit the present application. In the present application, the arrangement of the BWPs included in the first BWP group and the second BWP group is not limited, for example, in addition to the arrangement shown in FIG. 7, there can be staggered arrangement, comb arrangement and the like, which will not be described one by one here.

[0152] In an optional implementation, the first BWP group can include a first default BWP, and the second BWP group can include a second default BWP. That is, a carrier can include multiple default BWPs based on the number of BWP groups.

[0153] Optionally, the default BWP included in each BWP group can be indicated by the first device or predefined, which is not limited in the present application.

[0154] In some embodiments, if the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group, i.e., the first BWP is used to transmit the signal sent in the transparent forwarding mode, the first information and other information are generated by the ground station, and the ground station sends the information to the terminal device through the satellite. After receiving the information sent by the ground station, the satellite sends the information to the terminal device in the transparent forwarding mode. If the first BWP belongs to the second BWP group, i.e., the first BWP is used to transmit the signal sent in the regenerative forwarding mode, the first information and other information are generated by the satellite, and the satellite directly sends the information to the terminal device.

[0155] Based on the above communication method, by configuring different BWP groups for the terminal device, the terminal device can transmit different services through different BWP groups. For example, the terminal device can realize service transmission in the transparent forwarding mode and service transmission in the regenerative forwarding mode through different BWP groups, so that the advantages of multiple forwarding modes can be taken into account.

[0156] The embodiments of the present application also provide another communication method, which can be applied to a communication device supporting the transparent forwarding mode and the regenerative forwarding mode. In this embodiment, the communication device is taken as an example of a satellite, and reference can be made to FIG. 8. The flow of the method can include:

[0157] Step 801: The satellite receives a first signal.

[0158] In some embodiments, the satellite can receive the first signal from the terminal device, or can also receive the first signal from the ground station.

[0159] Step 802: The satellite determines the forwarding mode of the first signal according to the first signal, and the forwarding mode can be the transparent forwarding mode or the regenerative forwarding mode.

[0160] In an optional implementation, the satellite determines the forwarding mode of the first signal according to the first signal, which can be realized by the following method: when receiving the first signal on the first resource, the satellite determines that the forwarding mode of the first signal is the transparent forwarding mode; or when receiving the first signal on the second resource, the satellite determines that the forwarding mode of the first signal is the regenerative forwarding mode; wherein the first resource and the second resource are different.

[0161] That is, the satellite can determine the forwarding mode of the first signal by judging on which resource the first signal is received.

[0162] Exemplarily, any one of the first resource and the second resource can include one or more of the following: a frequency domain resource, a time domain resource, or a code domain resource, etc.

[0163] The first resource and the second resource are different, which can be understood as at least one of the following being different between the first resource and the second resource: a frequency domain resource, a time domain resource, or a code domain resource, and the like.

[0164] In an example, on the feeder link, the signal in the transparent forwarding mode and the signal in the regenerative forwarding mode can be transmitted in a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) manner. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the signal in the regenerative forwarding mode can be transmitted using a channel with a frequency of f1. Since the satellite determines which transponder to use to transmit data in the regenerative forwarding mode, the signal can be transmitted on a unified channel. The signal in the transparent forwarding mode needs to be generated in advance at the ground station according to which transponder is used for transmission. The signals corresponding to different beam direction transponders can occupy different channels, for example, in FIG. 9, the signal in the transparent forwarding mode can be transmitted using channels with frequencies f2, f3, …, fn. Each channel corresponds to a signal with a different beam direction, and n is a positive integer. Based on the example shown in FIG. 9, the satellite can determine the forwarding mode of the first signal by determining at which frequency the first signal is received.

[0165] For the signal in the transparent forwarding mode, the beam direction used by the signal can be determined based on the channel used by the signal.

[0166] Step 803: The satellite processes the first signal according to the forwarding mode of the first signal.

[0167] In some embodiments, the satellite processes the first signal according to the forwarding mode of the first signal, which can be implemented by the following method: when it is determined that the forwarding mode is the transparent forwarding mode, the satellite processes the first signal through a first circuit; when it is determined that the forwarding mode is the regenerative forwarding mode, the satellite processes the first signal through a second circuit; and the first circuit and the second circuit are connected in parallel.

[0168] In the case where the satellite supports both the transparent forwarding mode and the regenerative forwarding mode, the satellite can include two circuits, a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit is used to process the signal in the transparent forwarding mode, and the second circuit is used to process the signal in the regenerative forwarding mode. Optionally, the first circuit and the second circuit can be included in the transponder of the satellite. It can also be understood that the transponder of the satellite includes a regenerative mode branch and a transparent mode branch.

[0169] Optionally, the first circuit and the second circuit can be connected in parallel in two ways as shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11. In FIG. 10, the first circuit and the second circuit can share the receiving end radio frequency part and the transmitting end radio frequency part, and the other parts are connected in parallel, for example, the first circuit and the second circuit shown in FIG. 10 can share the low noise amplifier, the radio frequency band pass filter, the mixer 1, the crystal oscillator 1 and the intermediate frequency amplifier, and share the mixer 2, the crystal oscillator 2 and the high power amplifier. In FIG. 11, the first circuit and the second circuit respectively contain respective circuit components, and the two circuits are completely connected in parallel.

[0170] It should be understood that the first circuit and the second circuit can also have other connection modes, which are not limited by the present application.

[0171] For example, the satellite processes the first signal through the first circuit, which can include: the satellite processes the first signal through the first circuit for frequency conversion, filtering and amplification. For example, the satellite first performs low noise amplification, radio frequency band pass filtering on the first signal, then down-converts the signal to intermediate frequency through the mixer 1, then performs intermediate frequency amplification through the intermediate frequency amplifier, then performs filtering through the intermediate frequency filter, then converts the signal to the frequency of the service link through the mixer 2, and finally amplifies through the high power amplifier.

[0172] For example, the satellite processes the first signal through the second circuit, which can include: the satellite processes the first signal through the second circuit for frequency conversion, filtering, demodulation, decoding, encoding, modulation and amplification. For example, the satellite first performs low noise amplification, radio frequency band pass filtering on the first signal, then down-converts the signal to intermediate frequency through the mixer 1, then performs intermediate frequency amplification through the intermediate frequency amplifier, then performs filtering through the intermediate frequency filter, then converts the signal to baseband, performs demodulation and decoding on the signal to obtain the information bits sent by the ground station, then performs on-board processing, then performs encoding and modulation on the information bits, then converts the signal to the frequency of the service link through the mixer 2, and finally amplifies through the high power amplifier.

[0173] In an embodiment, in the mode shown in FIG. 10, the first circuit and the second circuit can further include a combining module, which can be located before the mixer 2, and the combining module can be shared by the first circuit and the second circuit. The combining module can be used to combine the signals of the two circuits. In this way, as shown in FIG. 10, if there are signals in transparent forwarding mode and signals in regenerative forwarding mode at the same time, the satellite combines the signals when processing the signals, and then converts the combined signals to the frequency of the service link through the mixer 2, and finally amplifies through the high power amplifier.

[0174] In some embodiments, the satellite transmits the second signal after processing the first signal according to the first signal's retransmission mode, the second signal being the signal after processing the first signal. That is, the second signal is the signal after processing by the first circuit or the second circuit.

[0175] When it is determined that the first signal's retransmission mode is the regenerative retransmission mode, the satellite can transmit the second signal through multiple beam directions.

[0176] When it is determined that the first signal's retransmission mode is the transparent retransmission mode, since the signal of the transparent retransmission mode is of a fixed frequency, the satellite transmits the second signal through a corresponding beam.

[0177] For example, when the ground station directly transmits the first signal to the satellite through the feeder link, the signal of the transparent retransmission mode is transmitted by the ground station using a corresponding frequency to the satellite, and the satellite transmits the second signal to the terminal device according to the corresponding beam direction after processing. The signal of the regenerative retransmission mode is transmitted by the ground station to the satellite according to the frequency of the feeder link, and the ground station does not need to generate the signal of each beam respectively. After filtering, amplification, and frequency conversion, the satellite performs demodulation and decoding of the signal, and determines the resource allocation and scheduling information (including the beam direction used by the transmitted signal, the used resource, the modulation and coding rate, etc.) of each beam by itself, and transmits the encoded data to each beam corresponding transmission branch (here, the transmission branch of the regenerative retransmission mode includes an encoder and a modulator, a mixer 2, and a high-power amplifier). That is, the signal of the regenerative retransmission mode on the feeder link can be completed by receiving and demodulating the signal. The on-board processing of the satellite will allocate the received signal to each transmission branch, and each transmission branch will perform modulation, frequency conversion, and amplification processing. As shown in FIG. 12, the first circuit corresponding to the transparent retransmission mode can include multiple beam mode transmission branches (here, the transmission branch of the transparent retransmission mode includes an intermediate frequency filter, a mixer 2, and a high-power amplifier), and when the satellite transmits the signal corresponding to one beam in the second signal, the satellite will use one of the transmission branches to transmit, that is, the signal corresponding to one beam in the second signal is transmitted through one beam direction. The second circuit corresponding to the regenerative retransmission mode can include multiple transmission branches, and the multiple transmission branches correspond to multiple beam directions. When the satellite transmits the second signal, the satellite will use multiple transmission branches to transmit, that is, the second signal is transmitted through multiple beam directions.

[0178] Based on the above communication method, the satellite can support both the transparent retransmission mode and the regenerative retransmission mode, so as to take into account the advantages of both retransmission modes.

[0179] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device. Referring to FIG. 13, the communication device 1300 can include a transceiver unit 1301 and a processing unit 1302. The transceiver unit 1301 is configured to perform communication, such as receiving information (signals or data) or transmitting information (signals or data), and the processing unit 1302 is configured to control and manage the actions of the communication device 1300. The processing unit 1302 can also control the steps performed by the transceiver unit 1301.

[0180] For example, the communication device 1300 can be the terminal device in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a processor of the terminal device, a chip, a chip system, or a functional module, etc. Alternatively, the communication device 1300 can be the first device in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a processor of the first device, a chip, a chip system, or a functional module, etc. Alternatively, the communication device 1300 can be the satellite (or other communication device supporting transparent forwarding mode and regenerative forwarding mode) in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, a processor of the satellite (or other communication device supporting transparent forwarding mode and regenerative forwarding mode), a chip, a chip system, or a functional module, etc.

[0181] In one embodiment, when the communication device 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the terminal device in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the transceiver unit 1301 can be configured to receive first information on a first BWP, the first information being used to configure a plurality of BWPs, a first part of the BWPs belonging to a first BWP group and a second part of the BWPs belonging to a second BWP group, wherein the BWPs in the first BWP group are time and frequency synchronized, the BWPs in the second BWP group are time and frequency synchronized, the first BWP group and the second BWP group are time and frequency unsynchronized, and the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or the second BWP group. The processing unit 1302 can be configured to control the operation of the transceiver unit 1301.

[0182] In an optional implementation, the transceiver unit 1301 can also be configured to receive second information on the first BWP, the second information being used to indicate that the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or belongs to the second BWP group.

[0183] Optionally, the second information is also used to indicate a first timing advance (TA) corresponding to the first BWP group, or the second information is also used to indicate a second TA corresponding to the second BWP group.

[0184] In some embodiments, the transceiver 1301 can be further configured to receive third information on the first BWP, the third information being used to indicate a BWP group to which each BWP in the plurality of BWPs belongs.

[0185] In a possible manner, the BWPs in the first BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded by a transparent forwarding mode, and the BWPs in the second BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded by a regenerative forwarding mode; or, the BWPs in the first BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded by a regenerative forwarding mode, and the BWPs in the second BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded by a transparent forwarding mode.

[0186] In some embodiments, the transceiver 1301 can be further configured to receive BWP switching indication information on the first BWP, the BWP switching indication information being used to indicate switching to a second BWP, the second BWP being one of the plurality of BWPs; and the processing unit 1302 can be further configured to switch from the first BWP to the second BWP, and perform time and frequency synchronization when the first BWP and the second BWP belong to different BWP groups.

[0187] For example, the first BWP group includes a first default BWP, and the second BWP group includes a second default BWP.

[0188] For example, the first BWP is an initial BWP.

[0189] In another embodiment, when the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of the terminal device in the above-mentioned embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the transceiver 1301 can be configured to send first information on a first BWP, the first information being used to configure a plurality of BWPs, a first part of the plurality of BWPs belonging to a first BWP group, and a second part of the plurality of BWPs belonging to a second BWP group; wherein the BWPs in the first BWP group are time and frequency synchronized, the BWPs in the second BWP group are time and frequency synchronized, the first BWP group and the second BWP group are time and frequency unsynchronized, and the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or the second BWP group. The processing unit 1302 can be configured to control the operation of the transceiver 1301.

[0190] In a possible manner, the transceiver 1301 can be further configured to send second information on the first BWP, the second information being used to indicate that the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or belongs to the second BWP group.

[0191] Optionally, the second information is further used to indicate a first timing advance (TA) corresponding to the first BWP group; or the second information is further used to indicate a second TA corresponding to the second BWP group.

[0192] In some embodiments, the transceiver 1301 can be further configured to transmit third information on the first BWP, the third information being further used to indicate a BWP group to which each BWP in the plurality of BWPs belongs.

[0193] In one possible manner, the BWPs in the first BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded by a transparent forwarding mode, and the BWPs in the second BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded by a regenerative forwarding mode; or the BWPs in the first BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded by a regenerative forwarding mode, and the BWPs in the second BWP group are used to transmit signals forwarded by a transparent forwarding mode.

[0194] In some embodiments, the transceiver 1301 can be further configured to transmit BWP switching indication information on the first BWP, the BWP switching indication information being used to indicate switching to a second BWP, the second BWP being one of the plurality of BWPs.

[0195] Optionally, the first BWP group includes a first default BWP, and the second BWP group includes a second default BWP.

[0196] In some examples, the first BWP is an initial BWP.

[0197] In yet another embodiment, when the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the functions of a satellite (or other communication apparatus supporting a transparent forwarding mode and a regenerative forwarding mode) in the above-mentioned embodiment shown in FIG. 8, the transceiver 1301 can be configured to receive a first signal; the processing unit 1302 can be configured to determine a forwarding mode of the first signal according to the first signal, the forwarding mode being a transparent forwarding mode or a regenerative forwarding mode; and process the first signal according to the forwarding mode of the first signal.

[0198] In some embodiments, the transceiver 1301 can be further configured to, after the processing unit 1302 processes the first signal according to the forwarding mode of the first signal, transmit a second signal, the second signal being a signal processed from the first signal.

[0199] In an example, the processing unit 1302, when determining the forwarding mode of the first signal according to the first signal, can be configured to: determine that the forwarding mode of the first signal is the transparent forwarding mode when the transceiver unit 1301 receives the first signal on a first resource; or determine that the forwarding mode of the first signal is the regenerative forwarding mode when the transceiver unit 1301 receives the first signal on a second resource; the first resource and the second resource being different.

[0200] In an example, any one of the first resource and the second resource includes one or more of: a frequency domain resource, a time domain resource, or a code domain resource.

[0201] Optionally, the processing unit 1302, when processing the first signal according to the forwarding mode of the first signal, can be configured to: process the first signal through a first circuit when the forwarding mode is determined to be the transparent forwarding mode; and process the first signal through a second circuit when the forwarding mode is determined to be the regenerative forwarding mode; the first circuit and the second circuit being in parallel.

[0202] In an example, the processing unit 1302, when processing the first signal through the first circuit, can be configured to: perform frequency conversion processing, filtering processing, and amplification processing on the first signal through the first circuit.

[0203] In an example, the processing unit 1302, when processing the first signal through the second circuit, can be configured to: perform frequency conversion processing, filtering processing, demodulation processing, decoding processing, encoding processing, modulation processing, and amplification processing on the first signal through the second circuit.

[0204] In an example, when the forwarding mode is determined to be the regenerative forwarding mode, the transceiver unit 1301, when transmitting the second signal, can be configured to: transmit the second signal through multiple beam directions.

[0205] It should be noted that the division of units in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, another division manner can be used. The functional units in the embodiments of the present application can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit. The integrated unit can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit.

[0206] The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software function unit and sold or used as an independent product, can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present application essentially or say the part that contributes to the prior art or the whole or part of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a plurality of instructions to make a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor execute all or part of the steps of the method described in various embodiments of the present application. The foregoing storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various program code storage media.

[0207] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application also provide a communication device. Referring to FIG. 14, the communication device 1400 can include one or more processors 1402. Optionally, the communication device 1400 can also include a transceiver 1401. Optionally, the communication device 1400 can also include at least one memory 1403. The memory 1403 can be arranged inside the communication device 1400, or arranged outside the communication device 1400. The processor 1402 can control the transceiver 1401 to receive and send information, messages or data.

[0208] Specifically, the processor 1402 can be a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), or a combination of the CPU and the NP. The processor 1402 can further include a hardware chip. The hardware chip can be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD) or a combination thereof. The PLD can be a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a generic array logic (GAL) or any combination thereof.

[0209] The transceiver 1401, the processor 1402 and the memory 1403 are connected with each other. Optionally, the transceiver 1401, the processor 1402 and the memory 1403 are connected with each other through a bus 1404. The bus 1404 can be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For the convenience of indication, only one thick line is used in FIG. 14, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0210] In an optional implementation, the memory 1403 is configured to store programs, etc. Specifically, the programs can include program codes including computer operation instructions. The memory 1403 can include a RAM, and can also include a non-volatile memory such as one or more disk memories. The processor 1402 executes the programs stored in the memory 1403 to implement the above functions, thereby implementing the functions of the communication apparatus 1400.

[0211] For example, the communication apparatus 1400 can specifically implement the functions of the first device or the terminal device in the above-described embodiment shown in FIG. 5. Or implement the functions of the satellite in the above-described embodiment shown in FIG. 8.

[0212] In one embodiment, when the communication apparatus 1400 implements the functions of the first device in the above-described method embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the transceiver 1401 can implement the transceiving operations performed by the first device in the above-described method embodiment shown in FIG. 5, and the processor 1402 can implement the operations other than the transceiving operations performed by the first device in the above-described method embodiment shown in FIG. 5. For specific descriptions, refer to the related descriptions in the above method embodiments, which will not be described in detail here.

[0213] In another embodiment, when the communication apparatus 1400 implements the functions of the terminal device in the above-described method embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the transceiver 1401 can implement the transceiving operations performed by the terminal device in the above-described method embodiment shown in FIG. 5, and the processor 1402 can implement the operations other than the transceiving operations performed by the terminal device in the above-described method embodiment shown in FIG. 5. For specific descriptions, refer to the related descriptions in the above method embodiments, which will not be described in detail here.

[0214] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication system, which can include the first device and the terminal device and the like related to the above embodiments.

[0215] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication system, which can include the satellite and the like related to the above embodiments.

[0216] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a computer, can implement the communication method provided by the above method embodiments.

[0217] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product for storing a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a computer, can implement the communication method provided by the above method embodiments.

[0218] The embodiments of the present application further provide a chip or chip system, which includes a logic circuit for executing the communication method provided by the above method embodiments.

[0219] The embodiments of the present application further provide a chip or chip system, which includes one or more processors coupled with at least one memory, for invoking the program in the memory to make the chip or chip system implement the communication method provided by the above method embodiments.

[0220] The embodiments of the present application further provide a chip or chip system coupled with at least one memory, for implementing the communication method provided by the above method embodiments.

[0221] Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present application can be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Therefore, the present application can take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Moreover, the present application can take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0222] The computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

[0223] These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer- readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

[0224] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

[0225] Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present application are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the claims and their equivalents, the application can be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: Comprising: receiving first information on a first BWP, the first information being used for configuring a plurality of BWPs; a first part of the plurality of BWPs belongs to a first BWP group, and a second part of the plurality of BWPs belongs to a second BWP group; wherein, the BWPs in the first BWP group are time and frequency synchronized, the BWPs in the second BWP group are time and frequency synchronized; the first BWP group and the second BWP group are time and frequency unsynchronized; the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or the second BWP group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further comprises: receiving second information on the first BWP, the second information being used for indicating that the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or the second BWP group.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The second information is further used for indicating a first timing advance TA corresponding to the first BWP group; or The second information is further used for indicating a second TA corresponding to the second BWP group.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The method further comprises: receiving third information on the first BWP, the third information being used for indicating a BWP group to which each BWP in the plurality of BWPs belongs.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The BWPs in the first BWP group are used for transmitting signals forwarded through a transparent forwarding mode, and the BWPs in the second BWP group are used for transmitting signals forwarded through a regenerative forwarding mode; or, the BWPs in the first BWP group are used for transmitting signals forwarded through a regenerative forwarding mode, and the BWPs in the second BWP group are used for transmitting signals forwarded through a transparent forwarding mode.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, The method further comprises: receiving BWP switching indication information on the first BWP, the BWP switching indication information being used for indicating switching to a second BWP, the second BWP being one of the plurality of BWPs; switching from the first BWP to the second BWP; when the first BWP and the second BWP belong to different BWP groups, performing time and frequency synchronization.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein The first BWP group includes a first default BWP, and the second BWP group includes a second default BWP.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein The first BWP is an initial BWP.

9. A communication method characterized by comprising: Comprising: sending first information on a first BWP, the first information being used for configuring a plurality of BWPs; a first part of the plurality of BWPs belongs to a first BWP group, and a second part of the plurality of BWPs belongs to a second BWP group; wherein, the BWPs in the first BWP group are time and frequency synchronized, the BWPs in the second BWP group are time and frequency synchronized; the first BWP group and the second BWP group are time and frequency unsynchronized; the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or the second BWP group.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, The method further comprises: sending second information on the first BWP, the second information being used for indicating that the first BWP belongs to the first BWP group or the second BWP group.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, The second information is further used for indicating a first timing advance TA corresponding to the first BWP group; or The second information is further used for indicating a second TA corresponding to the second BWP group.

12. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 11, characterized in that, The method further comprises: transmit third information on the first BWP, the third information further indicating a BWP group to which each of the plurality of BWPs belongs.

13. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein, The BWP in the first BWP group is used for transmitting signals forwarded by a transparent forwarding mode, and the BWP in the second BWP group is used for transmitting signals forwarded by a regenerative forwarding mode; or the BWP in the first BWP group is used for transmitting signals forwarded by a regenerative forwarding mode, and the BWP in the second BWP group is used for transmitting signals forwarded by a transparent forwarding mode.

14. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, characterized in that, The method further comprises: transmitting BWP switching indication information on the first BWP, the BWP switching indication information indicating switching to a second BWP, the second BWP being one of the plurality of BWPs.

15. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 14, wherein, The first BWP group comprises a first default BWP, and the second BWP group comprises a second default BWP.

16. The method of any one of claims 9-15, wherein, The first BWP is an initial BWP.

17. A communications device, characterized by comprising means or modules for performing the method of any one of claims 1-8, or comprising means or modules for performing the method of any one of claims 9-16.

18. A communications device, characterized by comprising a processor configured to execute computer programs or instructions to implement the method of any one of claims 1-8, or to implement the method of any one of claims 9-16.

19. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer readable storage medium stores computer programs or instructions, when the computer programs or instructions are executed by a communication device, the method of any one of claims 1-8 is implemented, or the method of any one of claims 9-16 is implemented.

20. A computer program product, characterised in that, The computer program product contains computer programs or instructions, when the computer programs or instructions are executed by a computer, so that the method of any one of claims 1-8 is implemented or the method of any one of claims 9-16 is implemented.

21. A chip or chip system, characterized by The chip or chip system comprises a processor configured to execute the method of any one of claims 1-8, or to execute the method of any one of claims 9-16.

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