Communication method and related product

Abstract

A communication method and a related product. The method comprises: a network device corresponding to a first cell sends first information to a terminal device, the first information indicating whether the first cell assists a second cell in performing retransmission; and in response to the first information indicating that the first cell assists the second cell in performing retransmission, the network device sends first data to the terminal device, the first data being a retransmission of second data sent by the second cell. By using the solution of the present application, the network device corresponding to the first cell indicates to the terminal device that the first cell assists the second cell in performing retransmission, and in response to the indication, the network device retransmits data of the second cell to the terminal device, so that the first cell can cooperate with the second cell to perform retransmission, thereby avoiding the problem of unnecessary retransmissions resulting from ACK loss due to limited coverage of the second cell, and improving the transmission efficiency.

Description

Communication method and related products

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202410636348.3, filed on May 21, 2024, and entitled "Communication method and related products", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and related products. BACKGROUND

[0003] Currently, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission on high frequency bands relies on high frequency cells. Due to the narrowness of high frequency beams, when the coverage is limited, even if the receiving end has successfully received and sent an acknowledgement (ACK) to the sending end, the sending end cannot receive the feedback information of successful transmission due to the loss of ACK, so the sending end will retransmit the same code block group (CBG) or transport block (TB). At this time, unnecessary retransmission will greatly reduce the transmission efficiency.

[0004] Therefore, in the case of limited high frequency coverage, how to overcome the problem of unnecessary retransmission caused by ACK loss to improve transmission efficiency is a problem to be solved. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a communication method and related products, so that the first cell can cooperate with the second cell to perform retransmission, thereby avoiding the problem of unnecessary retransmission caused by ACK loss in the case of limited coverage of the second cell, and improving the transmission efficiency.

[0006] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be applied to a terminal device, such as a terminal device or a communication module in a terminal device, or a circuit or chip responsible for communication functions in a terminal device (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP chip) containing a modem core). The above method is taken as an example of application to a terminal device.

[0007] The method comprises: a terminal device receiving first information indicating whether a first cell assists a second cell in retransmission; and in response to the first information indicating that the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission, the terminal device receiving first data from the first cell, the first data being retransmission of second data sent by the second cell.

[0008] The first cell can be referred to as a helper cell, and the second cell can be referred to as a cell being helped. The helper cell can also be referred to as a cooperating cell, an auxiliary cell, or other names, which are not limited in the present application. The cell being helped can also be referred to as a cell being cooperated, a cell being assisted, or other names, which are not limited in the present application. Exemplarily, the first cell and the second cell are in different frequency bands. In one example, the first cell can be a low-frequency cell, and the second cell can be a high-frequency cell. In another example, the first cell can be a high-frequency cell, and the second cell can be a low-frequency cell.

[0009] With the method, the terminal device receives an indication from a network device corresponding to the first cell that the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission, and receives data of the second cell retransmitted by the network device according to the indication, so that the first cell can cooperate with the second cell in retransmission, avoiding unnecessary retransmission caused by ACK loss in the case of limited coverage of the second cell, and improving transmission efficiency.

[0010] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further comprises receiving second information, wherein the second information comprises an identifier of the second cell.

[0011] With this implementation, the network device corresponding to the first cell indicates to the terminal device that the first cell can assist one second cell in retransmission, i.e., the first cell and the second cell are in a one-to-one correspondence. The second information can comprise an identifier of the second cell configured by the network device of the first cell, or a link, an index, or any other form that can represent the relationship between the first cell and the second cell.

[0012] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. Exemplarily, the method can be applied to the network device side, such as a network device or a communication module in the network device, or a circuit or chip responsible for communication functions in the network device. The above method is taken as an example applied to the network device side.

[0013] The method comprises: a network device sending first information indicating whether a first cell assists a second cell in retransmission; and in response to the first information indicating that the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission, the network device sending first data of the first cell, the first data being retransmission of second data sent by the second cell.

[0014] The first cell can be referred to as a helper cell, and the second cell can be referred to as a helped cell. The helper cell can also be referred to as a cooperating cell, an auxiliary cell, or other names, which are not limited in the present application. The helped cell can also be referred to as a cooperated cell, an auxiliary cell, or other names, which are not limited in the present application. Exemplarily, the first cell and the second cell are in different frequency bands. In one example, the first cell can be a low-frequency cell, and the second cell can be a high-frequency cell. In another example, the first cell can be a high-frequency cell, and the second cell can be a low-frequency cell.

[0015] With the method, the network device corresponding to the first cell instructs the terminal device to assist the second cell in retransmission, and the network device retransmits data of the second cell to the terminal device according to the instruction, so that the first cell can cooperate with the second cell to retransmit, and the problem of unnecessary retransmission caused by ACK loss in the case of limited coverage of the second cell is avoided, and the transmission efficiency is improved.

[0016] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: the network device configuring the first cell to assist the retransmission of the second cell.

[0017] With the method in the implementation, the network device can pre-configure the first cell to assist one or more second cells in retransmission.

[0018] In combination with the second aspect, in another possible implementation, the method further includes: sending second information, wherein the second information includes an identifier of the second cell.

[0019] A third aspect provides a communication apparatus for implementing the communication method in the first aspect or any of the implementations of the first aspect. The apparatus can be a terminal device, or a module (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system or circuit) applied to a terminal device, or a logic node, a logic module, or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of a terminal device.

[0020] A fourth aspect provides a communication apparatus for implementing the communication method in the second aspect or any of the implementations of the second aspect. The apparatus can be a network device, or a module (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system or circuit) applied to a network device, or a logic node, a logic module, or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of a network device.

[0021] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus in the third aspect to the fourth aspect comprises units, modules or means for performing the method in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect or any one of the implementations. The units, modules or means can be implemented by software or hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0022] Exemplarily, the communication apparatus comprises a transceiver and a processing unit; wherein:

[0023] When the communication apparatus is used to implement the method in the first aspect or any one of the implementations of the first aspect, the transceiver is configured to receive first information, the first information indicating whether the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission; and the transceiver is further configured to receive first data from the first cell in response to the first information indicating that the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission, the first data being retransmission of second data sent by the second cell.

[0024] Optionally, the transceiver is further configured to receive second information, wherein the second information comprises an identifier of the second cell.

[0025] When the communication apparatus is used to implement the method in the second aspect or any one of the implementations of the second aspect, the processing unit is configured to generate first information, the first information indicating that the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission; the transceiver is configured to send the first information; and the transceiver is further configured to send first data of the first cell in response to the first information indicating that the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission, the first data being retransmission of second data sent by the second cell.

[0026] Optionally, the processing unit is further configured to configure the first cell to assist the second cell in retransmission.

[0027] Optionally, the processing unit is further configured to generate second information, wherein the second information comprises an identifier of the second cell; and the transceiver is further configured to send the second information.

[0028] In another possible implementation, the communication apparatus in the third aspect to the fourth aspect comprises a processor coupled with a memory; the processor is configured to enable the apparatus to perform the corresponding functions in the above communication method. The memory is configured to be coupled with the processor, and stores programs (instructions) and / or data necessary for the apparatus. Optionally, the communication apparatus can further comprise a communication interface configured to enable the apparatus to communicate with other network elements. Optionally, the memory can be located inside the communication apparatus, or located outside the communication apparatus.

[0029] In a further possible implementation form of the communication apparatus in the third aspect to the fourth aspect, the communication apparatus comprises a processor and a transceiver, the processor is coupled to the transceiver, and the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instructions to control the transceiver to receive and send information; and when the processor executes the computer program or instructions, the processor is further configured to implement the above method through a logic circuit or an execution code instruction. The transceiver can be a transceiver, a transceiver circuit or an input / output interface, configured to receive a signal from another communication apparatus outside the communication apparatus and transmit the signal to the processor or send a signal from the processor to another communication apparatus outside the communication apparatus. When the communication apparatus is a chip, the transceiver is a transceiver circuit or an input / output interface.

[0030] When the communication apparatus in the third aspect to the fourth aspect is a chip, the sending unit can be an output unit such as an output circuit or a communication interface; and the receiving unit can be an input unit such as an input circuit or a communication interface. When the communication apparatus is a terminal device, the sending unit can be a transmitter or a transmitter; and the receiving unit can be a receiver or a receiver.

[0031] In combination with the first aspect to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the first information further indicates an identity of the second cell.

[0032] With this implementation, by indicating whether the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission and indicating the identity of the second cell through the same information, the operation of both the sending end and the receiving end can be simplified.

[0033] In combination with the first aspect to the fourth aspect, in a further possible implementation, the first information indicates that the first cell assists one or more second cells in retransmission, and the second information indicates a subset of the one or more second cells indicated by the first information.

[0034] With this implementation, the first information indicates that the first cell assists one or more second cells in retransmission, the second information indicates one of the one or more second cells (i.e., indicates the second cell currently to be assisted in retransmission by the first cell), and the second information indicates a subset of the one or more second cells indicated by the first information.

[0035] In combination with the first aspect to the fourth aspect, in a further possible implementation, the second information indicates an identity of the one of the one or more second cells; or the second information indicates a sequence number of the one of the one or more second cells.

[0036] With reference to the first aspect to the fourth aspect, in a further possible implementation of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, a length of the second information is associated with a number of the second cells assisted by the first cell.

[0037] For example, the length of the second information is associated with the number of the second cells assisted by the first cell. wherein L is a number of bits occupied by the field; and N represents the number of the second cells that can be assisted by the first cell, N being an integer greater than or equal to 1. represents rounding up.

[0038] With reference to the first aspect to the fourth aspect, in a further possible implementation of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, the number of the second cells assisted by the first cell is a second cell configured by a network device, or the number of the second cells assisted by the first cell is all second cells.

[0039] With the method in this implementation, the network device corresponding to the first cell can pre-configure one or more second cells assisted by the first cell, and the second cell indicated by the second information is one of the pre-configured one or more second cells; or the network device corresponding to the first cell can not pre-configure the second cell assisted by the first cell, and the second cell indicated by the second information is one of all the second cells, which can be the second cells partially or totally overlapped with the coverage of the first cell.

[0040] With reference to the first aspect to the fourth aspect, in a further possible implementation of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, a hybrid automatic repeat process identifier corresponding to the first data is associated with a hybrid automatic repeat process identifier corresponding to the second data.

[0041] With the method in this implementation, by associating the hybrid automatic repeat process identifier corresponding to the first data with the hybrid automatic repeat process identifier corresponding to the second data, the receiving and data processing operations of the terminal device can be simplified.

[0042] With reference to the first aspect to the fourth aspect, in a further possible implementation of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, the hybrid automatic repeat process identifier corresponding to the first data is one-to-one corresponding to the hybrid automatic repeat process identifier corresponding to the second data.

[0043] With reference to the first aspect to the fourth aspect, in a further possible implementation of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, the first cell and the second cell are in different frequency bands.

[0044] For example, the first cell can be a low-frequency cell, and the second cell can be a high-frequency cell; or the first cell can be a high-frequency cell, and the second cell can be a low-frequency cell.

[0045] In a possible implementation of the first aspect and the second aspect, the first information carries at least one of the following signaling: downlink control information, radio resource control signaling, and medium access control control element; and / or the second information carries at least one of the following signaling: downlink control information, radio resource control signaling, and medium access control control element.

[0046] In a fifth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or instructions, when the computer program or instructions are executed, implementing the method in the above aspects.

[0047] In a sixth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which contains instructions, when the instructions are run on a communication device, causing the communication device to perform the method in the above aspects.

[0048] In a seventh aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the communication device in the third aspect and the communication device in the fourth aspect.

[0049] In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes one or more processors. The one or more processors can invoke a computer program or instructions in a memory, when the computer program or instructions are executed, causing the communication device to implement the method in any possible design or implementation manner in the above first aspect or second aspect.

[0050] In a possible design, the communication device can further include the memory. The memory can be used to store part or all of the necessary computer program or instructions for implementing the functions in the above first aspect or second aspect.

[0051] In a possible design, the communication device can further include an interface circuit, and the processor can be configured to communicate with other devices or components through the interface circuit.

[0052] The communication device can be a terminal, or a communication module in the terminal, or a chip responsible for communication functions such as a Modem chip (also known as a baseband chip) or a SoC or SIP chip containing a modem module. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0053] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a possible, non-limiting communication system;

[0054] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a transmission of a HARQ process;

[0055] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a communication scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] FIG. 5 is a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] FIG. 6 is a structural schematic diagram of another communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0059] The scheme of the present application will be further described below with reference to the drawings.

[0060] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a possible, non-limiting communication system. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system 1000 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. The communication system 1000 can also include the Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes one or more RAN nodes (e.g., 110a and 110b in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 110) and one or more terminal devices (e.g., 120a-120j in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 120). Other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in FIG. 1), can also be included in the RAN 100. The terminal devices 120 are connected to the RAN nodes 110 in a wireless manner. The RAN nodes 110 are connected to the core network 200 in a wireless or wired manner. The core network devices in the core network 200 and the RAN nodes 110 in the RAN 100 can be different physical devices respectively, or can be the same physical device integrated with the logical functions of the core network and the logical functions of the radio access network.

[0061] The RAN 100 can be a 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP)-related cellular system, such as a 4G, 5G mobile communication system, or a future-oriented evolution system. The RAN 100 can also be an open radio access network (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system. The RAN 100 can also be a communication system in which two or more of the above systems are integrated.

[0062] The RAN node 110, which can also be referred to as an access network device, a RAN entity, or an access node, etc., forms part of the communication system, and is configured to facilitate wireless access to the communication system for terminal devices. The RAN nodes 110 in the communication system 1000 can be of the same type or different types. In some scenarios, the roles of the RAN node 110 and the terminal device 120 are relative, e.g., the network element 120i in Figure 1 can be a helicopter or a drone, which can be configured to move as a mobile base station, and for those terminal devices 120j accessing the RAN 100 via the network element 120i, the network element 120i is a base station; but for the base station 110a, the network element 120i is a terminal device. Both the RAN node 110 and the terminal device 120 are sometimes referred to as communication apparatuses, e.g., the network elements 110a and 110b in Figure 1 can be understood as communication apparatuses with base station functionalities, and the network elements 120a-120j can be understood as communication apparatuses with terminal device functionalities.

[0063] In a possible scenario, the RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a base station in a future mobile communication network system, or an access node in a WiFi system, etc. The RAN node can be a macro base station (e.g., 110a in Figure 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (e.g., 110b in Figure 1), a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a CRAN scenario. Optionally, the RAN node can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or a vehicle-mounted device, etc. For example, the access network device in vehicle to everything (V2X) technology can be a road side unit (RSU).

[0064] In another possible scenario, a terminal device is assisted by multiple RAN nodes to implement wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of functions of a base station. For example, a RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a central unit-control plane (CU-CP), a central unit-user plane (CU-UP), or a radio unit (RU), etc. The CU and the DU can be separately arranged, or can be included in the same network element, for example, in a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, for example, in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna processing unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0065] In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), the DU, or the 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 open-CU (O-CU), the DU can also be referred to as an open-distributed unit (O-DU), the CU-CP can also be referred to as an open-central unit-control plane (O-CU-CP), the CU-UP can also be referred to as an open-central unit-user plane (O-CU-UP), and the RU can also be referred to as an open-radio unit (O-RU). For the convenience of description, the CU, the CU-CP, the CU-UP, the DU, and the RU are taken as examples for description in this application. Any one of the CU (or the CU-CP, the CU-UP), the DU, and the RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0066] The terminal device can also be referred to as a terminal, a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal device, etc. The terminal device can be widely applied to various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, automatic driving, remote medical treatment, smart power grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal device can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a wearable device, a vehicle, a drone, a helicopter, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a mechanical arm, a smart home device, etc. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the device form of the terminal device.

[0067] The communication between the access network device and the terminal device complies with a certain protocol layer structure. The protocol layer can include a control plane protocol layer and a user plane protocol layer. The control plane protocol layer can include at least one of the following: a radio resource control (RRC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a media access control (MAC) layer, or a physical (PHY) layer, etc. The user plane protocol layer can include at least one of the following: a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, a MAC layer, or a physical layer, etc.

[0068] The base station and the terminal device can be fixed in position or mobile. The base station and the terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on water surface; can also be deployed on an airplane, a balloon and a man-made satellite. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of the base station and the terminal device.

[0069] The roles of the base station and the terminal device can be relative, for example, the helicopter or the unmanned aerial vehicle 120i in FIG. 1 can be configured as a mobile base station, and for those terminal devices 120j that access the wireless access network 100 through 120i, the terminal device 120i is a base station; but for the base station 110a, 120i is a terminal device, that is, 110a communicates with 120i through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i can also communicate through a base station-to-base station interface protocol, at this time, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, the base station and the terminal device can be collectively referred to as a communication device, 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication device with a base station function, and 120a-120j in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication device with a terminal device function.

[0070] In the embodiments of the present application, the base station is also referred to as an access network device, and the device for implementing the function of the access network device can be an access network device; or can be a device capable of supporting the access network device to implement the function, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit plus a software module. The device can be installed in the access network device or used in combination with the access network device. In the embodiments of the present application, only the device for implementing the function of the access network device is taken as an example to illustrate the access network device, and the scheme of the embodiments of the present application is not limited.

[0071] It can be understood that the present application can be applied between the access network device and the terminal device.

[0072] It should be understood that the number and type of devices in the communication system shown in FIG. 1 are only illustrative, and the present application is not limited thereto. In actual applications, more terminal devices, more access network devices, and other network elements, such as core network devices, and / or network elements for implementing artificial intelligence functions, can also be included in the communication system.

[0073] It can be understood that all or part of the functions implemented by one or more of the terminal device, the access network device, the core network device, or the network element for implementing the artificial intelligence function can be virtualized, that is, implemented by one or more of a special processor or a general processor and a corresponding software module. Among them, the terminal device and the access network device involve the interface of the air interface transmission, and the transceiving function of the interface can be implemented by hardware. The core network device, such as an operation administration and maintenance (OAM) network element, can be virtualized. Alternatively, one or more functions of the virtualized terminal device, access network device, core network device, or network element for implementing the artificial intelligence function can be implemented by a cloud device, such as a cloud device in an over the top (OTT) system.

[0074] Before describing the scheme of the embodiments of the present application, first, the HARQ technology involved in the embodiments of the present application is introduced:

[0075] The process of sending TB or CBG to the receiving end for the first time by the sending end is called initial transmission, and the process of sending TB or CBG to the receiving end again is called retransmission. In new radio (NR), the retransmission mechanism mainly includes HARQ retransmission at the MAC layer, automatic repeat request (ARQ) retransmission at the RLC layer, and PDCP layer retransmission. Among them, HARQ retransmission is the most common retransmission mechanism, which realizes fast retransmission by feeding back the success or failure of information transmission from the receiving end to the sending end.

[0076] The HARQ mechanism uses a stop-and-wait protocol, mainly including the following two characteristics:

[0077] (1) The receiving end will send feedback information to the sending end. That is, whether the receiving end receives successfully or not, it needs to send the receiving situation to the sending end.

[0078] (2) The sending end must receive the confirmation information of the receiving end before continuing to send information. That is, the next information will not be sent until the previous information is not confirmed.

[0079] Obviously, the stop-and-wait protocol results in low throughput. In order to further improve the throughput, HARQ adopts multiple stop-and-wait protocols to process in parallel: when one process is waiting for an acknowledgement, the sender can continue to send information using another process; similarly, when the receiver is processing the information received by one process, the receiver can continue to receive information using another process. When multiple processes are used for transmission, each process has an independent HARQ feedback. HARQ feedback refers to the feedback information sent by the receiver in the HARQ mechanism, and the sender determines whether the data is successfully transmitted according to the feedback information of the receiver: ACK indicates successful transmission; negative acknowledgement (NACK) indicates transmission failure. In addition, in order for the receiver to be able to distinguish which of the multiple parallel processes a TB or CBG belongs to when receiving the TB or CBG, each HARQ process needs to be numbered. The network device can indicate the HARQ process number (HARQ Process ID) to the UE through 4 bits in the downlink control information (DCI) information.

[0080] Transmission of high and low frequency ends:

[0081] In the transmission of the low frequency band, a small number of transmitting antennas are generally used, and the transmitting beam is wide and the distribution angle is wide. In the high frequency band, multiple antennas are generally used for transmission, and the corresponding transmitting beam is narrow and the distribution angle is narrow, which can easily lead to coverage limitation problems.

[0082] HARQ retransmission of high and low frequency cells is implemented by itself. Taking the first HARQ process of a downlink (DL) transmission that needs to be retransmitted between a network device and a terminal device in a high frequency cell as an example, a transmission diagram of one HARQ process is shown in FIG. 2. The network device sends CBG1 to the terminal device, and the terminal device feeds back NACK to the network device after receiving. The network device retransmits, i.e., re-sends CBG1 to the terminal device after receiving the NACK. If the transmission is successful, the terminal device sends ACK to the network device, and the network device starts to transmit CBG2 after receiving. If the terminal device does not receive ACK, it continues to retransmit CBG1 to the terminal device. It can be understood that the above process can also be used for transmission of multiple transport block sets (TBS).

[0083] As can be seen, the high frequency band uses high frequency HARQ retransmission. However, due to the narrow high frequency beam, when the coverage is limited, even if the receiver has successfully received and sent ACK to the sender, the sender cannot receive the feedback information of successful transmission due to the loss of ACK, so the sender will retransmit the same CBG or TBS. At this time, unnecessary retransmission will greatly reduce the transmission efficiency.

[0084] Thus, in the case of limited high frequency coverage, it is necessary to overcome the problem of unnecessary retransmission caused by ACK loss to improve transmission efficiency.

[0085] To this end, the present application provides a communication scheme, a network device corresponding to a first cell instructs a terminal device to assist a second cell in retransmission, and the network device retransmits data of the second cell to the terminal device according to the instruction, so that the first cell can cooperate with the second cell in retransmission, avoiding the problem of unnecessary retransmission caused by ACK loss in the case of limited coverage of the second cell, and improving transmission efficiency.

[0086] As shown in FIG. 3, a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown. The method may, for example, include the following steps:

[0087] S301. The network device corresponding to the first cell sends first information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information.

[0088] In this embodiment, the second cell is currently performing data transmission with the terminal device (for example, the network device corresponding to the second cell sends second data to the terminal device, and the second data can be initial transmission data), however, due to limited coverage of the second cell or network problems, the feedback information sent by the terminal device to the network device of the second cell may not be received by the second cell. As shown in FIG. 4, a schematic diagram of a communication scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown. In order to avoid unnecessary retransmission of the second cell, the first cell can assist (or help, cooperate) the second cell in retransmission. The first cell can be referred to as a helper cell, and the second cell can be referred to as a cell being helped. Wherein, the helper cell can also be referred to as a cooperating cell, an auxiliary cell, or other names, which are not limited by the present application; the cell being helped can also be referred to as a cell being cooperated, a cell being assisted, or other names, which are not limited by the present application. For example, the frequency bands of the first cell and the second cell are different. In one example, the first cell can be a low frequency cell, and the second cell can be a high frequency cell; in another example, the first cell can be a high frequency cell, and the second cell can be a low frequency cell. Wherein, the network device corresponding to the first cell and the network device corresponding to the second cell can be the same network device, or different network devices.

[0089] The first cell and the second cell do not overlap, partially overlap, or fully overlap in coverage, and the first cell can receive feedback information sent by the terminal device. When the feedback information is ACK, the network device of the first cell can forward the feedback information to the network device of the second cell, and the network device of the second cell determines not to retransmit. When the feedback information is NACK, the network device of the first cell can forward the feedback information to the network device of the second cell, and the network device of the first cell determines to assist the second cell in retransmission. Exemplarily, the network device can be the RAN node 110 in the communication system.

[0090] When the network device of the first cell determines that the first cell can assist the second cell in retransmission, the network device corresponding to the first cell sends first information to the terminal device, where the first information indicates whether the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission. After receiving the first information, the terminal device can know whether the first cell will assist the second cell in retransmission, so that, when the first information indicates that the first cell will assist the second cell in retransmission, the terminal device can combine the data from the network device of the first cell with the data previously received from the network device of the second cell for processing, to improve the reliability of the data. When the first information indicates that the first cell will not assist the second cell in retransmission, the terminal device combines the data from the network device of the second cell for processing.

[0091] Exemplarily, the first information can be carried in at least one of the following signaling: downlink control information (DCI), medium access control-control element (MAC-CE), and RRC signaling.

[0092] Exemplarily, a 1-bit field (i.e., the first information) can be added to the above signaling to indicate whether the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission. The 1-bit field can be, for example, as shown in Table 1:

[0093] Table 1

[0094] According to Table 1, when the 1-bit field is “0”, it indicates that the first cell does not assist the second cell in retransmission; when the 1-bit field is “1”, it indicates that the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission.

[0095] It can be understood that the representation of the first information is only an example, and the application does not limit this. The first cell assisting the second cell in retransmission can also be indicated in other ways.

[0096] After receiving the signaling, the terminal device can determine whether the first cell will assist the second cell in retransmission according to the value of the 1-bit in the signaling.

[0097] Exemplarily, before step S301, in one way, the network device corresponding to the first cell can also configure the second cell which the first cell assists in retransmission.

[0098] The network device corresponding to the first cell can have the following two configuration ways:

[0099] One configuration way is to configure the first cell to assist one second cell in retransmission, i.e., the first cell and the second cell are in one-to-one correspondence. For this configuration way, once the first cell is determined, the second cell which is assisted is also determined.

[0100] Another configuration way is to configure the first cell to assist multiple second cells in retransmission, i.e., the first cell and the second cell are in one-to-many correspondence. For this configuration way, when the first cell is determined, the second cell which is assisted cannot be determined.

[0101] For the above two configurations, specifically in the configuration, one way is to configure the first cell with the identity of the second cell which is assisted. The identity of the cell can be any value or symbol which can distinguish, mark or locate the cell.

[0102] Another way is to configure the second cell which is assisted with the identity of the helper cell (i.e., the first cell).

[0103] Still another way can be to configure the correspondence between the first cell and the second cell, which can be an index (i.e., the index of the correspondence between the first cell and the second cell), a link of the correspondence between the first cell and the second cell or any other form which can represent the relationship between the two.

[0104] After the network device corresponding to the first cell configures the second cell which the first cell assists in retransmission, the above configuration can be saved.

[0105] Taking the link of the correspondence between the first cell and the second cell as an example, Table 2 shows that the first cell and the second cell are in one-to-one correspondence. Specifically, when the identity of the first cell is x1, the identity of the second cell which is assisted is y1; when the identity of the first cell is x2, the identity of the second cell which is assisted is y2.

[0106] Table 2

[0107] Table 3 illustrates the one-to-many correspondence between the first cell and the second cell. Specifically, when the identity of the first cell is x1, the identity of the second cell that the first cell can assist can be y1, y2, … yN, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1. n

[0108] Table 3

[0109] The network device of the first cell determines that the first cell can assist the second cell in retransmission, and indicates the terminal device that the first cell will assist the second cell in retransmission. After the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission, or in the process of assisting the second cell in retransmission, the network device of the first cell can indicate the terminal device the second cell that the first cell assists. Illustratively, the network device corresponding to the first cell sends second information to the terminal device, where the second information indicates the second cell.

[0110] Wherein, the network device corresponding to the first cell indicates the terminal device the second cell that the first cell assists, which can have the following implementation ways:

[0111] In one implementation way, the network device corresponding to the first cell indicates the terminal device through the second information that the first cell can assist one second cell in retransmission, i.e. the one-to-one correspondence between the first cell and the second cell. The second information can include the identity of the second cell configured by the network device of the first cell, or include the link, index or any other form that can represent the relationship between the first cell and the second cell.

[0112] In another implementation way, the first information indicates that the first cell assists one or more second cells in retransmission, the second information indicates one of the one or more second cells (i.e. indicates the second cell that the first cell currently assists in retransmission), and the second information indicates a subset of the one or more second cells indicated by the first information. Illustratively, based on the network device of the first cell configuring the second cell that the first cell assists, or configuring the correspondence between the first cell and the second cell, a new field (including one or more bits) can be added in the existing signaling or indicated through the field in the new signaling.

[0113] Wherein, the length of the second information is associated with the number of the second cells that the first cell assists. Illustratively, the length of the second information is proportional to the number of the second cells that the first cell assists. Wherein, L is the number of bits occupied by the field; N represents the number of the second cells that the first cell can assist, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 1; represents rounding up.

[0114] ​When N = 1, L = 1, i.e. one first cell assists one second cell for retransmission, the first cell and the second cell are in one-to-one correspondence. For example, the correspondence between the first cell and the second cell indicated by the field can be shown in Table 4 or Table 5:

[0115] Table 4

[0116] In Table 4, the field takes "0" to indicate that there is no second cell corresponding to the first cell; the field takes "1" to indicate that the second cell corresponding to the first cell is the second cell identified as y1.

[0117] Table 5

[0118] In Table 5, the field takes "0" to indicate that there is no second cell corresponding to the first cell; the field takes "1" to indicate that the second cell corresponding to the first cell is the second cell with the serial number 1 in the one or more second cells configured above.

[0119] One first cell can also help multiple second cells for retransmission. The following takes one first cell that can help 3 second cells for retransmission as an example for illustration, and the number of second cells that one first cell can help is not limited in the present application.

[0120] When N = 3, L = 2, i.e. one first cell can help 3 second cells for retransmission, then the 2-bit field can be used for indication, which can be shown in Table 6 or Table 7 as follows:

[0121] Table 6

[0122] For example, in Table 6, the field can take "00", "01", "10", "11". The field takes "00" to indicate that there is no second cell corresponding to the first cell; the field takes "01", "10", "11" to indicate that there is a second cell corresponding to the first cell, and the identities of the corresponding second cells are y1, y2, y3 respectively.

[0123] Table 7

[0124] For example, in Table 7, the field can take "00", "01", "10", "11". The field takes "00" to indicate that there is no second cell corresponding to the first cell; the field takes "01", "10", "11" to indicate that there is a second cell corresponding to the first cell, and the corresponding second cells are the first, second and third of the 3 second cells configured above respectively.

[0125] In yet another implementation, the first information can also indicate the identity of the second cell, which can simplify the operation of the transceiver. That is, the second information in the above implementation can be the same as the first information. The first information indicates the identity of the second cell, which can refer to the description in the above implementation.

[0126] In yet another implementation, different from the above implementation, in this implementation, the network device corresponding to the first cell does not configure the second cell assisted by the first cell or the correspondence between the first cell and the second cell, and after the first cell indicates that the first cell assists one or more second cells in retransmission through the first information, the network device corresponding to the first cell indicates the second cell assisted by the first cell through the second information. In this case, a new field (including one or more bits) or new signaling can be added to the existing signaling to indicate the second cell assisted by the first cell.

[0127] In this case, the length of the second information is associated with the number of second cells assisted by the first cell. For example, the length of the second information is In this case, L is the number of bits occupied by the field; M represents the number of second cells that can be assisted by the first cell, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1. represents rounding up.

[0128] When M = 1, L = 1, that is, one first cell assists one second cell in retransmission, and the first cell and the second cell are in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0129] One first cell can also help multiple second cells in retransmission. The following takes one first cell that can help 7 second cells in retransmission as an example for description, and the number of second cells that can be helped by one first cell is not limited in the present application.

[0130] When M = 7, L = 3, which means that the first cell can help 7 second cells in retransmission, which can be indicated by a 3-bit field, as shown in Table 8 or Table 9.

[0131] Table 8

[0132] Table 9

[0133] The field can take 8 values of "000", "001", "010", "011", …, "111", wherein, when the field takes "000", it indicates that there is no second cell corresponding to the first cell. When the field takes "001", "010", "011", …, "111", it indicates that there is a second cell corresponding to the first cell. In Table 8, the identities of the second cells corresponding to the field taking "001", "010", "011", …, "111" are y1, y2, y3, …, y7 respectively. In Table 9, the second cells corresponding to the field taking "001", "010", "011", …, "111" are the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, …, 7th second cells respectively. All the second cells here can be cells partially or totally overlapping with the coverage of the first cell.

[0134] It should be noted that in the correspondence between the values of the field and the identities or serial numbers of the second cells, different field values can also correspond to the same identity or serial number of the second cell, which is not limited in the present application.

[0135] In another implementation, in which the network device of the first cell is not configured with the second cell assisted by the first cell or the correspondence between the first cell and the second cell, after the network device corresponding to the first cell indicates that the first cell assists one or more second cells in retransmission through the first information, the network device corresponding to the first cell indicates the identity of the second cell assisted by the first cell through the second information. The second cell assisted by the first cell here can be part or all of the second cells. All the second cells here can be cells partially or totally overlapping with the coverage of the first cell.

[0136] The above-mentioned second information can be carried in at least one of the following signaling: DCI, RRC signaling, MAC-CE.

[0137] S302. The network device corresponding to the first cell sends first data to the terminal device in response to the first information indicating that the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first data according to the first information and the second information.

[0138] The network device corresponding to the first cell sends first data to the terminal device after indicating that the first cell can assist the second cell in retransmission and indicating the second cell assisted by the first cell. The first data is the retransmission of the second data sent by the second cell. The terminal device receives the first data from the first cell according to the first information and the second information, and finally combines and decodes the first data and the second data.

[0139] Further, after receiving the second information, the terminal device determines the second cell according to the second information, and before performing step S302, the terminal device can further determine the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the first data. For example, the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the first data is associated with the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the second data. Further, the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the first data can be one-to-one corresponding to the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the second data, for example, if the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the second data is 0001, the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the first data is also 0001. By associating the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the first data with the HARQ process identifier corresponding to the second data, the receiving and data processing operations of the terminal device can be simplified.

[0140] According to the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the network device corresponding to the first cell instructs the terminal device to assist the second cell in retransmission, and the network device retransmits the data of the second cell to the terminal device according to the instruction, so that the first cell can cooperate with the second cell to perform retransmission, thereby avoiding unnecessary retransmission caused by ACK loss in the case of limited coverage of the second cell, and improving transmission efficiency.

[0141] It can be understood that the method and / or steps implemented by the network device in the above embodiments can also be implemented by a component (for example, a chip or a circuit) that can be used for the network device, and the method and / or steps implemented by the terminal device can also be implemented by a component (for example, a chip or a circuit) that can be used for the terminal device.

[0142] The above mainly introduces the scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application from the perspective of interaction between various network elements. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present application also provide a communication apparatus, which is used to implement the various methods described above. The communication apparatus can be the network device in the above method embodiments, or a component that can be used for the network device; or the communication apparatus can be the terminal device in the above method embodiments, or a component that can be used for the terminal device. It can be understood that the communication apparatus contains the corresponding hardware structure and / or software module for executing each function in order to implement the above functions. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in combination with the embodiments disclosed in the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is implemented in hardware or computer software driven hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0143] The embodiments of the present application can divide the functions of the communication device according to the method embodiments described above, for example, each function module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated in one processing unit. The integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of a software function module. It should be noted that the division of the modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical function division. When actually implemented, another division mode can be used.

[0144] Based on the same concept of the above communication method, the present application also provides a communication device as follows:

[0145] As shown in FIG. 5, a structure schematic diagram of a communication device provided by the embodiments of the present application is shown, which includes a transceiver unit 501 and a processing unit 502. Wherein:

[0146] Exemplarily, the transceiver unit 501 can include a receiving unit and a sending unit, which can be an integral whole or independent units.

[0147] When the communication device 500 is used to realize the functions of the terminal device, the transceiver unit 501 is used to execute one or more actions performed by the terminal device in steps S301-S302 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

[0148] When the communication device 500 is used to realize the functions of the network device, the processing unit 502 is used to generate one or more of the first information and the first data; and the transceiver unit 501 is used to execute one or more actions performed by the network device in steps S301-S302 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

[0149] The specific implementation of the transceiver unit 501 and the processing unit 502 can refer to the related description in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

[0150] The division of the modules in the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical function division. When actually implemented, another division mode can be used. In addition, each function module in each example of the present application can be integrated in one processor, or can be a separate physical existence, or two or more modules can be integrated in one module. The integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of a software function module.

[0151] As shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a structure diagram of another communication apparatus provided by the embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 600 comprises a processor 601. Optionally, the communication apparatus 600 further comprises an interface circuit 602 (indicated by a dashed line in the figure), and the processor 601 and the interface circuit 602 are coupled with each other. It can be understood that the interface circuit 602 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication apparatus 600 further comprises a memory 603 (indicated by a dashed line in the figure), which is configured to store instructions executed by the processor 601, or store input data required by the processor 601 for executing instructions, or store data generated by the processor 601 after executing instructions.

[0152] When the communication apparatus 600 is used to implement the function of the terminal device, the interface circuit 602 is configured to implement one or more actions performed by the terminal device in steps S301-S302 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

[0153] When the communication apparatus 600 is used to implement the function of the network device, the processor 601 is configured to generate one or more of the first information and the first data; and the interface circuit 602 is configured to implement one or more actions performed by the network device in steps S301-S302 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6.

[0154] When the communication apparatus is a chip applied to the network device, the chip implements the function of the network device in the method embodiments. The chip receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device, and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device; or the chip sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device, and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device.

[0155] When the communication apparatus is a chip applied to the terminal device, the chip implements the function of the terminal device in the method embodiments. The chip receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device; or the chip sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device.

[0156] In addition, it should be noted that the foregoing transceiver unit and / or processing unit can be implemented by a virtual module. For example, the processing unit can be implemented by a software function unit or a virtual device, and the transceiver unit can be implemented by a software function or a virtual device. Alternatively, the processing unit or the transceiver unit can also be implemented by an entity device. For example, if the device is implemented by a chip / chip circuit, the transceiver unit can be an input / output circuit and / or a communication interface, which performs an input operation (corresponding to the foregoing receiving operation) and an output operation (corresponding to the foregoing sending operation); and the processing unit is an integrated processor or a microprocessor or an integrated circuit.

[0157] It can be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application can be a central processing unit (CPU), and can also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0158] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer readable storage medium, which stores computer programs or instructions, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, the method in the above embodiments is realized.

[0159] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product containing instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method in the above embodiments.

[0160] The embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, which comprises the communication device.

[0161] The embodiments of the present application further provide a circuit, which is coupled with a memory, and is used for executing the method shown in the above embodiments. The circuit can include a chip circuit.

[0162] The embodiments of the present application further provide a chip device, which comprises a processor, and is used for calling computer degrees or computer instructions stored in the memory, so that the processor executes the method provided by the embodiment shown in Fig. 3.

[0163] In a possible implementation manner, the input of the chip device corresponds to the receiving operation in the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, and the output of the chip device corresponds to the sending operation in the embodiment shown in Fig. 3.

[0164] Optionally, the processor is coupled with the memory through an interface.

[0165] Optionally, the chip device further comprises a memory, and the memory stores computer degrees or computer instructions.

[0166] When the communication device is a module applied to a network device, the network device module implements the functions of the network device in the method embodiments. The network device module receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device, and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device; or the network device module sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device, and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device. The network device module herein can be a baseband chip of the network device, or a CU, a DU or other module, or an apparatus under the O-RAN architecture, such as an open CU, an open DU, etc.

[0167] It should be noted that one or more of the above units or units can be realized by software, hardware or a combination of both. When any of the above units or units is realized by software, the software exists in the form of computer program instructions and is stored in the memory, and the processor can be used to execute the program instructions and realize the above method flow.

[0168] In this application, the processor can be a general processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, which can realize or execute the methods, steps and logic block diagrams disclosed in this application. The general processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. The steps of the method disclosed in this application can be directly embodied as hardware processor execution or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.

[0169] When the above units or units are realized by hardware, the hardware can be any one or any combination of CPU, microprocessor, digital signal processing (DSP) chip, microcontroller unit (MCU), artificial intelligence processor, ASIC, SoC, FPGA, programmable logic device (PLD), special digital circuit, hardware accelerator or non-integrated discrete device, which can run necessary software or not dependent on software to execute the above method flow.

[0170] Optionally, the embodiments of the present application also provide a chip system, comprising: one or more processors and an interface, the one or more processors are coupled with the memory through the interface, when the one or more processors run the computer program or instructions in the memory, the chip system executes the method in any of the above method embodiments. Optionally, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or can contain a chip and other discrete devices, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitation to this.

[0171] The memory in the present application can also be a circuit or any other device capable of realizing a storage function, used for storing program instructions and / or data. The memory can be any other medium capable of carrying or storing desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and accessible by a computer, but is not limited thereto. For example, the memory can be a non-volatile memory such as a digital versatile disc (DVD), a hard disk drive (HDD), or a solid-state drive (SSD), etc., and can also be a volatile memory such as a random-access memory (RAM).

[0172] It can be understood that in the present application, "indication" can include direct indication, indirect indication, display indication, and implicit indication. When it is described that certain indication information is used to indicate A, it can be understood that the indication information carries A, directly indicates A, or indirectly indicates A. In the present application, the information indicated by the indication information is referred to as the to-be-indicated information. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the to-be-indicated information, for example but not limited to, the to-be-indicated information can be directly indicated, such as the to-be-indicated information itself or an index of the to-be-indicated information, or the to-be-indicated information can be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, where the other information and the to-be-indicated information have an association relationship. The to-be-indicated information can also be indicated only in part, and the other part of the to-be-indicated information is known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of a specific information can also be realized by means of the arrangement order of each information agreed in advance (for example, a protocol stipulates), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. The to-be-indicated information can be sent as a whole, or can be sent separately into multiple sub-information, and the sending period and / or sending occasion of the sub-information can be the same or different. The specific sending method is not limited in the present application. The sending period and / or sending occasion of the sub-information can be pre-defined, for example, pre-defined according to a protocol, or can be configured by the transmitting end device by sending configuration information to the receiving end device.

[0173] One or more of the (items) referred to in the present application indicates one (item) or more (items). More (items) refers to two (items) or more than two (items). The "and / or" describes the associated relationship between associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can represent the existence of A alone, the existence of A and B at the same time, and the existence of B alone. The character " / " generally represents the relationship between the front and rear associated objects as "or". In addition, it should be understood that although the terms first, second, etc. may be used in the present application to describe various objects, these objects should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish each object from each other.

[0174] The terms "comprising" and "having" and any variations thereof mentioned above are intended to cover the non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product or device including a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but optionally also includes other steps or units not listed, or optionally also includes other steps or units inherent to the process, method, product or device. It should be noted that in the present application, the words "exemplary" or "for example" are used to mean serving as an example, illustration, or description. Any method or design scheme described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the present application should not be interpreted as more preferred or more advantageous than other methods or design schemes. Rather, the use of "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concept in a specific manner.

[0175] A network element in a communication system can send a signal to another network element or receive a signal from another network element. The signal can include information, signaling or data, etc. The network element can also be replaced by an entity, network entity, device, terminal device, communication module, node, communication node, etc. In the present application, the network element is taken as an example for description. For example, the communication system can include one or more terminal devices and one or more network devices. The network device can send a downlink signal to the terminal device, and / or the terminal device can send an uplink signal to the network device. In addition, it can be understood that if the communication system includes multiple terminal devices, the multiple terminal devices can also send signals to each other, that is, the sending network element and the receiving network element of the signal can be terminal devices.

[0176] In the above embodiments, all or part can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer can be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transferred from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions can be transferred from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center through wired (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode.

[0177] Although the present application is described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, other variations and modifications of the disclosed embodiments can be understood and implemented by those skilled in the art through viewing the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "one" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit can implement several functions listed in the claims. Some measures described in mutually different dependent claims can be combined and produce a good result.

[0178] It can be understood that various numerical designations involved in the embodiments of the present application are only for the convenience of description and do not limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the sequence number of the above processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of the processes should be determined by its function and inherent logic.

[0179] In the above embodiments, the description of each embodiment has its own focus, and the parts not described in detail in a certain embodiment can refer to the relevant description of other embodiments.

[0180] The components in the device of the embodiments of the present application can be combined, divided and deleted according to actual needs. Those skilled in the art can combine or combine the features of different embodiments and different embodiments described in the specification.

[0181] In this application, under the premise of no logical contradiction, examples can be referred to each other, for example, methods and / or terms between method embodiments can be referred to each other, for example, functions and / or terms between device embodiments can be referred to each other, and for example, functions and / or terms between device examples and method examples can be referred to each other.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: receiving first information indicating whether a first cell assists a second cell in retransmission; in response to the first information indicating that the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission, receiving first data from the first cell, the first data being retransmission of second data sent by the second cell.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further comprises: receiving second information, wherein the second information comprises an identity of the second cell.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, The first information further indicates the identity of the second cell.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, The first information indicates that the first cell assists one or more second cells in retransmission, and the second information indicates a subset of the one or more second cells indicated by the first information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, The second information indicates an identity of one of the one or more second cells; or The second information indicates a sequence number of the one second cell in the one or more second cells.

6. The method of claim 4 or 5, wherein, A length of the second information is associated with a number of second cells assisted by the first cell.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein, The number of second cells assisted by the first cell is a number of second cells configured by a network device, or the number of second cells assisted by the first cell is all second cells.

8. The method of any one of claims 1-7, wherein, A hybrid automatic repeat process identity corresponding to the first data is associated with a hybrid automatic repeat process identity corresponding to the second data.

9. The method of any one of claims 1-8, wherein, The first cell and the second cell are in different frequency bands.

10. The method of any one of claims 1-9, wherein, The first information carries at least one of the following signaling: downlink control information, radio resource control signaling, and medium access control control element; and / or The second information carries at least one of the following signaling: downlink control information, radio resource control signaling, and medium access control control element.

11. A communication method, comprising: The method comprises: sending first information indicating whether a first cell assists a second cell in retransmission; in response to the first information indicating that the first cell assists the second cell in retransmission, sending first data of the first cell, the first data being retransmission of second data sent by the second cell.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, The method further comprises: configuring the second cell assisted by the first cell in retransmission.

13. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein, The method further comprises: sending second information, wherein the second information comprises an identity of the second cell.

14. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein, The first information further indicates the identity of the second cell.

15. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein, The first information indicates that the first cell assists one or more second cells in retransmission, and the second information indicates a subset of the one or more second cells indicated by the first information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein, The second information indicates an identity of one of the one or more second cells; or The second information indicates a sequence number of the one second cell in the one or more second cells.

17. The method of claim 15 or 16, wherein, A length of the second information is associated with a number of second cells assisted by the first cell.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein, The number of second cells assisted by the first cell is a number of second cells configured by a network device, or the number of second cells assisted by the first cell is all second cells.

19. The method of any one of claims 11-18, wherein, A hybrid automatic repeat process identity corresponding to the first data is associated with a hybrid automatic repeat process identity corresponding to the second data.

20. The method of any one of claims 11-19, wherein, The first cell and the second cell are in different frequency bands.

21. The method of any one of claims 11-20, wherein, The first information carries at least one of the following signaling: downlink control information, radio resource control signaling, and medium access control control element; and / or The second information carries at least one of the following signaling: downlink control information, radio resource control signaling, and medium access control control element.

22. A communications device, characterized by The computer program product includes a computer program for implementing the method of any one of claims 1-10, or a computer program for implementing the method of any one of claims 11-21.

23. A communications device, characterized by The computer program product includes a computer program for implementing the method of any one of claims 1-10, or a computer program for implementing the method of any one of claims 11-21.

24. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer program product includes a computer program for implementing the method of any one of claims 1-10, or a computer program for implementing the method of any one of claims 11-21.

25. A computer program product, characterised in that, The computer program product includes a computer program for implementing the method of any one of claims 1-10, or a computer program for implementing the method of any one of claims 11-21.

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