Information transmission method, communication apparatus, storage medium, and program product

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an information transmission method, a communication apparatus, a storage medium, and a program product. The information transmission method comprises: sending an uplink channel, the uplink channel carrying media access control layer information, the media access control layer information comprising uplink control information.

Description

Information transmission methods, communication devices, storage media, and software products

[0001] This disclosure claims priority to Chinese patent application No. 202410682703.0, filed on May 28, 2024, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to an information transmission method, communication device, storage medium, and program product. Background Technology

[0003] When terminals send back uplink control information (UCI), they need to do so within a predetermined timeframe, resulting in tight latency requirements. For example, when sending back channel state information via UCI, the terminal needs to promptly send the UCI back to the base station.

[0004] In environments where channel state information does not change significantly, terminals do not need to send UCIs in a timely manner when reporting UCIs. Summary of the Invention

[0005] On the one hand, an information transmission method is provided. This information transmission method includes: transmitting an uplink channel; the uplink channel carries media access control layer information, which includes uplink control information.

[0006] On the other hand, an information transmission method is provided. This information transmission method includes: receiving an uplink channel; the uplink channel carries media access control layer information, the media access control layer information including uplink control information.

[0007] In another aspect, an information transmission device is provided. This information transmission device includes: a transmitting unit; the transmitting unit is used to transmit an uplink channel; the uplink channel carries media access control layer information, the media access control layer information including uplink control information.

[0008] In another aspect, an information transmission device is provided. This information transmission device includes: a receiving unit; the receiving unit is used to receive an uplink channel; the uplink channel carries media access control layer information, the media access control layer information including uplink control information.

[0009] In another aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes a memory and a processor. The memory and the processor are coupled; the memory is used to store a computer program; and the processor, when executing the computer program, implements the information transmission method described in any of the preceding aspects.

[0010] In another aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. This computer-readable storage medium stores computer program instructions that, when executed by a processor, implement the information transmission method described in any of the preceding aspects.

[0011] In another aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising computer program instructions. When executed by a processor, the computer program instructions implement the information transmission method described in any of the preceding aspects. Attached Figure Description

[0012] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in this disclosure, the accompanying drawings used in some embodiments of this disclosure will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely drawings of some embodiments of this disclosure, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings.

[0013] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an extended application scenario of a 5G network according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 2 is a system architecture diagram according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0015] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating an information transmission method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a MAC PDU carrying a MAC CE according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a multi-type MAC sub-header according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a MAC CE including a first field and a second field according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a MAC CE structure including a third field according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a MAC CE structure including a fourth field according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a MAC CE including a fifth field according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 10 is a flowchart illustrating another information transmission method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0026] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions of the embodiments of this disclosure, the technical solutions of this disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this disclosure, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this disclosure.

[0027] It should be noted that, in this disclosure, the words "exemplarily" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or explanations. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplarily" or "for example" in this disclosure should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of the words "exemplarily" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a specific manner.

[0028] Hereinafter, the terms "first," "second," etc., are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, a feature defined with terms such as "first," "second," etc., may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature.

[0029] In the description of this disclosure, unless otherwise stated, the symbol “ / ” means “or”, for example, A / B can mean A or B. The term “and / or” in this document merely represents a description of the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist; for example, A and / or B can mean: only A, only B, and A and B. Furthermore, “at least one” means one or more, and “more than one” means two or more.

[0030] Currently, the future 6th generation mobile communication technology (6G) network has multiple goals, including: inclusivity, ubiquitous connectivity, sustainability, innovation, enhanced privacy and security, standardization, and interoperability. 6G networks aim to connect people, machines, and various other things, with trends including: ubiquitous artificial intelligence, ubiquitous computing power, immersive multimedia and multi-sensory interaction, digital twins and virtual worlds, smart industry, digital health, ubiquitous connectivity, converged sensing communications, and sustainable development. Furthermore, in future 6G networks, both the air interface and the wireless network will require enhancements, with the air interface involving enhanced coding techniques and waveform design. Enhanced waveform design includes orthogonal, biorthogonal and nonorthogonal, nonorthogonal multiple access and unlicensed access, extreme multiple input multiple output (MIMO), self-interference cancellation technology in full-duplex systems, reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), holographic radio, angular momentum communication, communication in sub-1THz and 1THz frequency bands, and ultra-high accuracy positioning technology. As an enabling network, 6G networks include quality of service (QoS) guarantee mechanisms, deterministic radio networks, converged radio access network (RAN) architectures, artificial intelligence (AI) RAN, network node cooperation and aggregation, user-centric networks (UCNs) centered on user equipment (UE), digital twin networks, interoperability with non-terrestrial networks (NTNs), and ultra-dense networks (UDNs).

[0031] In addition, 6G networks also include extensions to three application scenarios of 5G networks. The three application scenarios of 5G networks are: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type communication (mMTC), and ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC).

[0032] Figure 1 illustrates an expanded application scenario diagram for 5G networks. The three application scenarios of 5G networks are expanded into six application scenarios: Immersive Communication, Hyper Reliable and Low-Latency Communication, Massive Communication, Ubiquitous Connectivity, Integrated Artificial Intelligence and Communication, and Integrated Sensing and Communication.

[0033] Immersive communications, an extension of the eMBB scenario, includes extended reality (XR), remote multi-sensory telepresence, and holographic communications.

[0034] Ultra-reliable low-latency communication includes fully automated industrial communication, such as robot interaction, emergency services, telemedicine, and power transmission and distribution monitoring.

[0035] Massive communications has enabled expanded and new applications in smart cities, transportation, logistics, health, energy, environmental monitoring, agriculture, and many other fields, such as those requiring a variety of battery-free or long-life IoT devices.

[0036] Ubiquitous connectivity, with a focus on areas currently lacking or with limited coverage.

[0037] The integration of artificial intelligence and communications includes assisted autonomous driving, autonomous collaboration between devices for medical assistance applications, offloading of heavy computational operations across devices and networks, creation and prediction of digital twins, and collaborative robots assisted by 6G networks.

[0038] Sensing communication, in typical scenarios, includes assisted navigation, activity detection and motion tracking (e.g., pose / gesture recognition, fall detection, vehicle / pedestrian detection), environmental monitoring (e.g., rain / pollution detection), and providing sensing data / information about the surrounding environment for AI, XR and digital twin applications.

[0039] To meet the ubiquitous connectivity needs, especially in areas with little or no coverage, interoperability between terrestrial networks and NTNs is the most important technological direction. NTN primarily involves communication with ground terminals via satellites and spacecraft in transparent or non-transparent ways. Whether it's a high-Earth orbit, medium-Earth orbit, or low-Earth orbit satellite, the distance between it and the ground terminal is far greater than the distance between the ground base station and the terminal. This results in propagation delays between the satellite and the terminal that far exceed the transmission delays of normal terrestrial networks, posing a significant challenge to signal transmission and rendering conventional terrestrial network communication technologies unsuitable for NTN networks.

[0040] For example, in terrestrial network communication, terminals need to respond to UCI at agreed-upon times, adhering to strict timing constraints, resulting in tight latency requirements. However, NTN networks are characterized by propagation delays between satellites and terminals that far exceed those of normal terrestrial networks. This poses a significant challenge to existing UCI transmission methods with relatively tight timing constraints. Considering the relatively stable channel conditions during satellite-to-ground communication due to atmospheric vacuum and direct sunlight, relaxing the timing requirements for UCI transmission is reasonable. UCI transmission does not need to maintain overly strong timing constraints with the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) and downlink reference signals; quasi-synchronous or asynchronous control information reporting is acceptable. Therefore, how to transmit UCI in these environments is a pressing technical problem that needs to be solved.

[0041] In one implementation, some terminals are classified as slow terminals (i.e., terminals whose channel state environment does not change much) in certain scenarios (e.g., terminals that do not move for a long time or terminals with very stable channel statistical characteristics). These terminals, like those in the NTN network, can accept longer air interface delays when reporting UCIs without having to follow strict timing constraints.

[0042] To address the aforementioned technical problems, this disclosure provides an information transmission method: a first node can transmit an uplink channel. The uplink channel carries Media Access Control (MAC) information, which includes uplink control information. Since MAC information has a relatively high transmission latency, using MAC information to carry uplink control information can adapt to environments with minimal channel state changes, resulting in a more flexible latency.

[0043] The information transmission method provided in this disclosure can be applied to the communication system shown in FIG2. As shown in FIG2, the communication system includes: a first node 201 and a second node 202.

[0044] The first node 201 can be a terminal (e.g., an IoT device), and the second node 202 can be a base station. Figure 2 illustrates this using the example of the first node 201 being a terminal and the second node 202 being a base station.

[0045] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the first node 201 can send an uplink channel to the second node 202. The uplink channel carries media access control layer information, including uplink control information. Since the first node 201 has a high latency in sending the media access control layer information, the latency of the first node 201 in feeding back the uplink control information is also high, thereby meeting the requirements of environments where the channel state does not change significantly.

[0046] It should be noted that Figure 2 is only an exemplary framework diagram. The number of devices included in Figure 2 and the names of each device are not limited. In addition to the devices shown in Figure 2, the communication system may also include other devices, such as relay nodes.

[0047] The application scenarios of the embodiments disclosed herein are not limited. The system architecture and business scenarios described in the embodiments of this disclosure are for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of this disclosure, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of this disclosure. As those skilled in the art will know, with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of this disclosure are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0048] The information transmission method provided by the embodiments of this disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0049] The information transmission method provided in this disclosure can be applied to the first node 201 in the communication system shown in FIG2. FIG3 shows a schematic flowchart of an information transmission method, as shown in FIG3, the information transmission method includes S301.

[0050] S301, The first node sends the uplink channel.

[0051] The uplink channel carries Media Access Control (MAC) information, which includes uplink control information. In some embodiments, the uplink channel includes a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and / or a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). The uplink control information includes uplink control information generated by the physical layer.

[0052] The first node experiences a relatively long transmission time and significant latency when transmitting Media Access Control (MAC) information. The latency is also high after receiving the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or downlink reference signal. Therefore, the high latency of carrying uplink control information via MAC is suitable for environments with minimal channel state changes. In some embodiments, the uplink control information is 8-bit aligned; if the uplink control information is insufficient to fill each byte, reserved (R) bits are used for padding.

[0053] In addition, the first node can move the uplink control information that was originally transmitted directly by the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or PUSCH of the physical layer to the media access control layer (MAC) for transmission, and can reuse it on the MAC control element (MAC CE), with the PUSCH carrying the MAC CE for transmission.

[0054] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the uplink control information includes at least one of the following: scheduling request (SR), channel state information (CSI), acknowledgment (ACK), and negative acknowledgment (NACK). The CSI includes at least one of the following: Channel State Information Reference Signal Resource Indicator (CSI), Synchronization Signal Block Resource Indicator (SSBRI), Rank Indication (RI), Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), Layer Identity (LI), L1-Reference Signal Receiving Power (L1-RSRP), and L1-Signal to Interference Plus Noise Ratio (L1-SINR).

[0055] The following section will describe the MAC CE that carries uplink control information and the MAC layer information that carries the MAC CE.

[0056] Figure 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of a MAC PDU carrying a MAC CE. A MAC protocol data unit (MAC PDU) used to form an uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) consists of multiple MAC sub-protocol data units (MAC subPDUs). These MAC subPDUs can be of several types. One type of MAC subPDU includes a MAC service data unit (MAC SDU); another type includes a MAC subPDU that includes a MAC CE; another type only carries the MAC subheader, possibly with some padding information; and a third type carries both the MAC subheader and its corresponding padding information.

[0057] The MAC subPDU, including the MAC CE, includes a MAC subPDU carrying MAC CE1 and a MAC subPDU carrying MAC CE2. The MAC subPDU carrying MAC CE1 includes a MAC header and a fixed-size MAC CE. The MAC subPDU carrying MAC CE2 includes a MAC header and a variable-size MAC CE.

[0058] In addition, the information fields in the MAC subheader contain supplementary explanatory information to indicate (or inform) the specific information following the MAC subheader. The MAC subheader may include the R field, F field, L field, and logical channel ID (LCID). The logical channel ID (LCID) in the MAC subheader indicates the logical channel instance of the corresponding MAC SDU or the type of MAC CE, or padding information. The LCID can also be extended to become an eLCID (extended LCID). The L field in the MAC subheader corresponds to the length of the MAC SDU or MAC CE, in bytes. The F field in the MAC subheader is a format field indicating the length of the L field. The R field in the MAC subheader contains reserved information bits. Each MAC subheader and all information outside the subheader is 8-bit aligned.

[0059] In some embodiments, the PUSCH carries a Media Access Control Data Unit (MAC PDU); the MAC PDU includes at least one Subprotocol Data Unit (MAC subPDU); the MAC subPDU includes a MAC CE, and uplink control information is carried in the MAC CE. It should be understood that, in the embodiments of this disclosure, the MAC subPDU to which the MAC CE carrying uplink control information belongs is one of the aforementioned MAC subPDUs that includes a MAC CE.

[0060] In this embodiment of the disclosure, uplink control information can be carried in the MAC CE in the following ways:

[0061] Method 1: Uplink control information is carried in a single MAC CE. For example, the first node can place multiple types of uplink control information in the same MAC CE and set an LCID.

[0062] Method 2: Different types of uplink control information are carried in different MAC CEs. For example, the first node can also place different types of uplink control information in different MAC CEs, such as a MAC CE specifically for transmitting ACK / NACK, or a MAC CE specifically for transmitting CSI, and the LCID value in different MAC CEs is different.

[0063] Method 3: Some or all of the uplink control information is carried in a MAC CE. For example, the first node can also place different types of uplink control information in different MAC CEs, such as a MAC CE specifically for transmitting ACK / NACK, or a MAC CE specifically for transmitting CSI, and the LCID value in different MAC CEs is different.

[0064] Furthermore, in Method 3, when carrying uplink control information, the MAC CE can either carry all the information in the uplink control information within the MAC CE, or divide the uplink control information into multiple types and carry them in different MAC CEs respectively. That is, each MAC CE carries a portion of the uplink control information, thereby reflecting the flexibility of control. In some embodiments, one MAC CE carrying a portion of the uplink control information can correspond to one LCID.

[0065] The above describes the MAC CE and the MAC layer information carrying the MAC CE; the following will describe the MAC CE carrying uplink control information and the MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE.

[0066] I. MAC subheader corresponding to MAC CE

[0067] In some embodiments, the MAC subPDU including the MAC CE also includes a MAC subheader, which includes an LCID indicating the type of the MAC CE. The type of the MAC CE is related to the type of uplink control information included in the MAC CE. It should be understood that the type of the MAC CE can be determined based on the type of UCI it carries; different types of MAC CEs carry different types of UCIs.

[0068] The LCID in the MAC subheader can be used to indicate the type of the MAC CE in the same MAC subPDU as the MAC subheader. This type can be a MAC CE specifically for carrying uplink control information, a MAC CE carrying all types of uplink control information, or a MAC CE carrying one (or more) types of uplink control information. Thus, after receiving a MAC CE, the second node can determine the type of uplink control information contained in the MAC CE based on the LCID and the pre-defined correspondence between LCID and MAC CE types. For example, when the LCID indicates that the MAC CE carries all types of uplink control information, the second node can determine that the MAC CE contains all types of uplink control information.

[0069] Figure 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of the structure of multiple types of MAC subheaders. For example, taking a MAC CE carrying all types of uplink control information as an example, the MAC subheader corresponding to this MAC CE is shown in Figure 5. The MAC subheader includes LCID and an R field. The L and F fields are optional; that is, the L and F fields may or may not be present. LCID can be extended to eLCID. Both eLCID and L can be further extended to two or more bytes. For example, MAC subheader 1 only includes LCID and two R fields. MAC subheader 2 includes two R fields and LCID, as well as an eLCID extended from LCID. MAC subheader 3 includes an R field, an L field, an F field, and an LCID. MAC subheader 4 includes an R field, an L field, an F field, LCID, and an eLCID extended from LCID.

[0070] II. Description of different uplink control information indication methods in MAC CE

[0071] In some embodiments, the media access control layer information includes a MAC CE for carrying uplink control information. The MAC CE includes at least one of the following: a first field and a second field. The first field is used to indicate the cell associated with the uplink control information carried by the MAC CE; the second field is used to indicate the category of the uplink control information carried by the MAC CE.

[0072] It should be noted that terrestrial network communication systems primarily transmit control information, especially uplink physical layer (or lower layer) control information (i.e., UCI), through PUCCH or PUSCH. PUCCH is suitable for transmitting small-sized UCIs, such as small-sized ACK / NACK, SR, and CSI information reported based on periodic or semi-persistent scheduling reference signals. PUSCH is suitable for transmitting larger-sized UCIs, such as larger-sized ACK / NACK, SR, and CSI information reported based on aperiodic or semi-persistent scheduling reference signals. Furthermore, these larger UCIs are directly multiplexed onto the PUSCH without processing by the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio link control (RLC), and MAC layer, resulting in lower transmission latency and higher synchronization. That is, after receiving the PDSCH and downlink reference signals, the first node needs to promptly send the PUCH or PUCCH carrying the UCIs to the second node. The strong scheduling coupling of the UCIs ensures the timeliness of UCI feedback. In environments where channel quality remains relatively stable, the latency for terminal UCI transmission can be relaxed, eliminating the need for timely UCI transmission. Therefore, carrying the UCI via the MAC CE can make the transmission latency more manageable. However, the second node, upon receiving the MAC CE, needs to parse the UCI from it.

[0073] In this scenario, the first node can indicate the cell associated with the uplink control information carried by the MAC CE using a first field and indicate the category of the uplink control information carried by the MAC CE using a second field. Thus, when the second node receives a MAC CE carrying UCI, it can determine which cell the uplink control information belongs to using the first field and determine the category of the uplink control information using the second field. In some embodiments, when the first node is connected to a single cell, the uplink control information can be single-cell control information. Alternatively, when the first node implements carrier aggregation (CA) or dual connectivity (DC), it can implement multi-cell control; therefore, the uplink control information can include control information corresponding to multiple cells connected to the first node.

[0074] In one implementation, the first field includes at least one bit, with each bit corresponding to at least one cell. The value of the bit indicates whether the MAC CE carries uplink control information for the cell corresponding to that bit. When the second node receives the MAC CE, it can determine whether uplink control information related to the cell corresponding to that bit exists based on the bits in the first field, thereby distinguishing uplink control information for different cells. In some embodiments, the first and second fields can be Boolean values, where 0 indicates absence and bit 1 indicates presence; or 0 indicates presence and 1 indicates absence.

[0075] The second field includes at least one bit, with each bit corresponding to at least one type of uplink control information. The value of the bit indicates whether the MAC CE carries the type of uplink control information corresponding to that bit. The second node can determine whether the type of uplink control information corresponding to that bit exists based on the second field, thereby distinguishing different types of uplink control information. In some embodiments, the type of uplink control information indicated by the second field can also be a segment of uplink control information after it has been divided into multiple segments.

[0076] In one implementation, the correspondence between each bit in the first field and the cell is determined by any one of the following: predefined, higher-layer radio resource control (RRC) signaling indication (e.g., CSI-ReportConfig IE), or MAC signaling indication. The correspondence between each bit in the second field and the type of uplink control information is determined by any one of the following: predefined, RRC signaling indication, or MAC signaling indication. It should be understood that "predefined" can be an indication from the second node to the first node, or it can be configured by the first node itself.

[0077] It should be noted that since the uplink control information (such as type and quantity) carried by the MAC CE is not fixed, the length (or size) of the MAC CE is also not fixed, and the length of the MAC CE needs to be indicated by the L field in the MAC subheader.

[0078] When carrying uplink control information via MAC CE, the first node can design multi-level indication fields to indicate the uplink control information using fields (e.g., a first field and a second field). The multi-level indication fields can include two layers. When the first layer is the first field and the second layer is the second field, one first field can correspond to one second field; that is, the uplink control information corresponding to each cell can include multiple types of uplink control information. In some embodiments, for uplink control information that is difficult to classify (or does not need to be classified) (e.g., ACK / NACK information), this uplink control information can be a separate category. Furthermore, the multi-level indication fields can include only one layer, such as only the second field or the first field, or they can be extended to more layers. For example, for a MAC CE designed for a single cell, the first field may not exist, or if the uplink control information carried by the MAC CE is a fixed type or multiple types, the second field may not exist.

[0079] Figure 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of a MAC CE structure including a first field and a second field. For example, the eight bits C0-C7 in the first field correspond to eight cells. Following the first field, there is uplink control information indicating the corresponding cells. Taking the existence of uplink control information for all eight cells as an example (i.e., UCIs corresponding to C0 to C7), each uplink control information (e.g., at the very beginning) includes a second field indicating the type of uplink control information. Taking the UCI corresponding to C0 as an example, the beginning of the uplink control information for cell C0 includes eight types of UCIs corresponding to cell C0, namely, type one UCI corresponding to T0 to type one UCI corresponding to T7. For example, different types of UCI information (when the UCI includes CSI) may include ACK / NACK information T0, channel measurement information T1, channel interference measurement information T2, beam measurement information T3, etc. Alternatively, different types of UCIs can be UCIs reported simultaneously for the same purpose (e.g., CSI information), but belonging to different CSI-RS measurement resources; or UCIs belonging to different CSI-RSs can be different types of uplink control information; or a type of channel measurement information may include different types of measurement reports, etc.

[0080] III. Description of the method for indicating uplink control information without a fixed length in MAC CE

[0081] In the above description, the first node can indicate the length of the entire MAC CE using the L and F fields, and divide the uplink control information into multiple layers using the first and second fields. For example, when only the first field is used, the uplink control information corresponding to one cell constitutes one layer; when only the second field is used, a type of uplink control information constitutes one layer; and when both the first and second fields are present, a type of uplink control information corresponding to one cell constitutes one layer. The second node can interpret the information in the MAC CE completely and unambiguously using either the L or F field, as well as the first and second fields. However, if the length of the information in each layer is uncertain, it becomes more difficult for the second node to interpret the information in the MAC CE using either the L or F field, as well as the first and second fields.

[0082] The length of the MAC CE carrying uplink control information is not fixed. It depends on the number of cells or carriers connected to the first node, the type of UCI reported, the length of each type of UCI, and the combination of various information types within the UCI. Especially when the uplink control information includes narrowband information (e.g., narrowband CSI), the number of narrowband segments is uncertain, allowing for a high degree of freedom in their selection. Therefore, the length of narrowband information varies significantly across different scenarios, making it very difficult for the second node to interpret the MAC CE when it includes narrowband information.

[0083] For example, uplink control information includes multiple types of information, multiple sizes of information, and information reported in multiple combinations. For instance, for CSI, CSI includes information such as CRI, SSBRI, RI, PMI, CQI, LI, RSRP, SINR, etc., and this information may be broadband information or narrowband information, may belong to different codebook types, and may need to be segmented into different segments for transmission.

[0084] Wideband CSI information is a measurement report that provides feedback after measuring the entire measurement bandwidth. Subband CSI information, on the other hand, is multiple measurement reports given for each subband after dividing the entire measurement bandwidth into multiple subbands. The complexity and workload of reporting subband CSI information are much greater than those of wideband CSI. However, even with wideband CSI, even if only one measurement report is reported, the size of the wideband CSI varies depending on the scenario, such as different antenna port configurations. Furthermore, the second node may require the first node to report different combinations of CSI information. For example, Type I codebook-type wideband CSI mainly includes RI, CRI, CQI, and wideband PMI; Type I codebook-type subband CSI can be divided into two segments: segment 1 contains RI, CRI, and the CQI of the first codeword (CW); segment 2 contains LI, PMI, and the CQI of the second codeword. Type II codebook-type UCI can also be divided into two segments: segment 1 contains RI, CQI, and the number of non-zero wideband amplitude coefficients in each layer; segment 2 contains LI and PMI. These information combinations are specifically configured by the RRC signaling reportQuantity.

[0085] To address the aforementioned difficulty in interpreting MAC CE, since MAC CE is sequentially decoded, and as control signaling, like the uplink and downlink control information UCI and DCI at the physical layer, it requires precise interpretation of each control bit (i.e., the bit carrying information). Therefore, one or more fields can be set in the MAC CE to indicate the length of the information following these fields. The following is a description of indicating variable-length uplink control information.

[0086] In some embodiments, where uplink control information can be categorized into uplink control sub-information, the types of uplink control sub-information constituting that uplink control information can be variable due to the variable length of a type of uplink control information. Therefore, the MAC CE also includes a third field, which indicates the category of uplink control sub-information carried by the MAC CE, where the uplink control sub-information is a sub-information of the uplink control information.

[0087] Therefore, when the second node interprets the MAC CE, it can determine which categories of uplink control sub-information exist in each type of uplink control information by interpreting the third field. Then, when the length of the uplink control sub-information is fixed, it can determine the total length of the uplink control information of that category, thereby simplifying the decoding difficulty and improving the decoding efficiency.

[0088] It is understandable that the lengths of information such as ACK, CRI, RI, broadband PMI, broadband CQI, LI, broadband RSRP, and broadband SINR can be fixed in certain scenarios or configurations.

[0089] In one implementation, the third field includes at least one bit, with each bit corresponding to at least one type of uplink control sub-information. The value of the bit indicates whether the MAC CE carries the corresponding type of uplink control sub-information. In some embodiments, the third field can be a Boolean value, where 0 indicates absence and bit 1 indicates presence; or 0 indicates presence and 1 indicates absence. The third field can be placed at the beginning of a type of uplink control information.

[0090] The first node can extend the multi-layered indication field to three layers, that is, add a third field to indicate whether there is at least one type of uplink control sub-information corresponding to each bit. A second field can correspond to a third field, that is, a third field can correspond to a type of UCI. In some embodiments, the correspondence between each bit in the third field and the uplink control sub-information is determined by any of the following: predefined, higher-layer radio resource control (RRC) signaling indication (e.g., CSI-ReportConfig IE), or MAC signaling indication.

[0091] Figure 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of a MAC CE structure including a third field. Referring to the embodiment shown in Figure 6, as shown in Figure 7, the MAC CE includes eight bits C0-C7 (i.e., the first field) corresponding to the eight cells and eight bits T0-T7 (i.e., the second field) corresponding to the eight types of uplink control information. The third field can also include multiple types of uplink control sub-information within a single UCI category. For example, in the uplink control information corresponding to cell C0, the T1 category uplink control information can include seven types of uplink control sub-information I0-I6 (i.e., the third field). I0-I6 can be placed at the beginning of the T1 category uplink control information. The seven types of uplink control sub-information corresponding to I0-I6 may include CRI (e.g., UCI of CRI), RI (e.g., UCI of RI), Wideband PMI (e.g., UCI of Wideband PMI), Wideband CQI (e.g., UCI of Wideband CQI), LI (e.g., UCI of LI), Wideband RSRP (e.g., UCI of Wideband RSRP), and Wideband SINR (e.g., UCI of Wideband SINR). The R field in the MAC sub-header is a reserved bit.

[0092] It should be noted that the first node can divide the uplink control information into multiple levels until the length of the uplink control information at the smallest level (i.e., the smallest type of information after multiple divisions of the uplink control information, such as uplink control sub-information or a type of information obtained by further division of uplink control sub-information) is fixed. Alternatively, the first node can also indicate the size of the uplink control information at the smallest level through higher-layer RRC signaling, MAC signaling, DCI signaling, or pre-configuration, thereby making the size of the uplink control information at the smallest level (or the lowest level) fixed.

[0093] In some other embodiments, when the length of the uplink control sub-information is not fixed, simply indicating a type of uplink control sub-information using the third field is insufficient for the second node to determine the length of that type of uplink control sub-information. Therefore, the MAC CE also includes a fourth field, which indicates the length of a type of uplink control sub-information; or, the fourth field indicates the length of a type of uplink control information.

[0094] Thus, for uplink control sub-information of varying lengths among the multiple types indicated by the third field, the length of such uplink control sub-information can be indicated by the fourth field. Alternatively, if a type of uplink control information is not classified as uplink control sub-information and its length is variable, the presence of such uplink control information in the MAC CE can be indicated by the second field, and its length by the fourth field. In some embodiments, the fourth field may be located earlier in the uplink control information it indicates. Uplink control information or uplink control sub-information of varying lengths may include ACK / NACK, wideband CSI (including ACK, CRI, SSBRI, RI, PMI, CQI, LI, RSRP, SINR), and subband CSI (including PMI, CQI, RSRP, SINR, etc.).

[0095] It should be noted that for uplink control information and uplink control sub-information that do not exist or have a fixed length, there is no need for a fourth field to indicate them.

[0096] Figure 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of a MAC CE structure including a fourth field. Referring to the embodiment shown in Figure 7, as shown in Figure 8, the uplink control information for category T1 can also include I8-I... 11(That is, the fourth field), corresponding to four types of uplink control sub-information: Narrowband PMI (e.g., UCI of Subband PMI), Narrowband CQI (e.g., UCI of Subband CQI), Narrowband RSRP (e.g., UCI of Subband RSRP), and Narrowband SINR (e.g., UCI of Subband SINR). The I8-I sub-information in the uplink control sub-information... 11 The length is not fixed, therefore, I8-I 11 The corresponding fourth field indicates the length (size) of these uplink control sub-information messages: size of I8 (length of I8), size of I9 (length of I9), size of I... 10 (I 10 (length) size of I 11 (I 11 (length).

[0097] In some other embodiments, the MAC CE also includes a fifth field, which indicates the number of a type of uplink control sub-information; or, the fifth field indicates the number of a type of uplink control information.

[0098] When the number of uplink control sub-information included in a type of uplink control information is not fixed, simply indicating the existence of a type of uplink control sub-information using the third field is insufficient for the second node to determine the length of this type of uplink control information. Therefore, the MAC CE can also include a fifth field, which indicates the number of uplink control information or uplink control sub-information in a type. For example, a type of uplink control information may consist of multiple uplink control sub-information of the same type, and each uplink control sub-information may have the same length. In this way, even if the number of uplink control sub-information included in this type of uplink control information is uncertain, the first node can determine the number of uplink control sub-information in this type of uplink control information through the fifth field, thereby determining the length of this type of uplink control information.

[0099] In one implementation, the MAC CE may include a third field, a fourth field, and a fifth field. Thus, when a type of uplink control information includes multiple types of uplink control sub-information, and the number of these sub-information types varies, the first node can indicate uplink control sub-information of varying lengths through the fourth field, and indicate the number of uplink control sub-information types indicated by the fourth field through the fifth field. This eliminates the need for each uplink control sub-information to correspond to a separate fourth field, saving field space.

[0100] In another implementation, the number of uplink control sub-information or the number of uplink control information includes: the number of subbands in the Channel State Indication (CSI).

[0101] Since the variable length of uplink control information may be due to a variable number of subbands (e.g., the number of narrowbands), the number of uplink control information (or sub-information) indicated by the fifth field in the MAC CE can be the number of subbands in the CSI included in the MAC CE. Thus, with a fixed length for each subband, the first node can determine the length of the CSI-related uplink control information (or sub-information) by the number of subbands in the CSI.

[0102] Figure 9 shows a schematic diagram of a MAC CE including a fifth field. Referring to the embodiment shown in Figure 7, as shown in Figure 9, the uplink control information for category T1 can also include I8-I 11 (That is, the fourth field), corresponding to four types of uplink control sub-information: Narrowband PMI (UCI of Subband PMI), Narrowband CQI (UCI of Subband CQI), Narrowband RSRP (UCI of Subband RSRP), and Narrowband SINR (UCI of Subband SINR). In I8-I 11 The subsequent bit positions also include the number of subbands (i.e., the fifth field), which is used to indicate the number of narrowbands. In this way, the second node can determine the length of the narrowband uplink control sub-information in the T1 category of uplink control information based on the number of subbands.

[0103] In another implementation, the first node can divide the uplink control information into two parts. One part is uplink control information divided into multiple segments (for example, each segment is a type of uplink control sub-information or a type of uplink control information), and the other part is used to indicate the length of each segment, so that there is no need for the first, second, and third fields to indicate whether there is corresponding information.

[0104] It should be noted that a MAC CE may include at least one of the following: a first field, a second field, a third field, a fourth field, and a fifth field.

[0105] IV. Description of methods to reduce uplink control information bit error rate

[0106] For MAC PDUs, a MAC SDU formed by logical channels (common control channel (CCCH), dedicated control channel (DCCH), or dedicated transmission channel (DTCH), etc., non-MAC layer control signaling) is supplemented with a header to form multiple MAC subPDUs. A MAC CE is then supplemented with a header to form other MAC subPDUs. These subPDUs are then concatenated to form a single MAC PDU, which is subsequently transmitted to the physical layer via the UL-SCH. During transmission, all data uses the same encoding or quality protection methods; there are no different encoding or quality protection methods used compared to regular data or non-MAC layer control signaling.

[0107] However, because uplink control information is related to uplink scheduling and is therefore very important, its requirements for bit error rate (or block error rate) differ from those for ordinary data. Uplink control information requires a lower bit error rate and higher quality protection, meaning that the priority of quality protection for uplink control information needs to be increased during transmission.

[0108] In some embodiments, the target parameters of the MAC CE carrying uplink control information have a higher priority than the target parameters of the MAC CE that does not carry uplink control information. The target parameters include at least one of the following: the coding rate of the coding scheme, the order of the modulation scheme, or the position of the resource element RE mapped to the uplink demodulation reference signal.

[0109] When the MAC CE carrying uplink control information forms a MAC PDU, its priority in terms of target parameters should be higher when mapping the UL-SCH of the transmission channel to the PUSCH of the physical layer. For example, a coding scheme with a lower coding rate can be selected to encode the MAC CE, or a lower-order, more robust modulation scheme can be selected during modulation, or the MAC CE can be mapped to a position closer to the uplink demodulation reference channel during RE resource mapping.

[0110] In some embodiments, the PUSCH carrying the MAC CE is sent repeatedly. To prevent the uplink control information from being corrupted or lost, thus preventing the second node from successfully parsing the complete uplink control information, the first node can send the MAC CE multiple times, which is equivalent to reducing the coding rate. In this way, even if the uplink control information in one MAC CE is corrupted, the second node can still interpret the complete uplink control information through other MAC CEs.

[0111] In some other embodiments, the uplink control information is uplink control information after a first processing; the first processing includes at least one of the following: channel coding; adding cyclic redundancy check (CRC).

[0112] The first node can also encode and protect the uplink control information before multiplexing it to the MAC CE, i.e., perform initial processing on the uplink control information. Even if bits are lost during transmission, the second node can still decode the complete uplink control information after channel coding and CRC addition. Correspondingly, when the second node decodes the MAC CE, it needs to remove the CRC bits from the decoded uplink control information and perform channel decoding to obtain the complete uplink control information.

[0113] In another implementation, since uplink control information includes multiple types of information, different types of uplink control information require different levels of quality protection or have different priorities for target parameters. For example, ACK / NACK requires lower fault tolerance and a higher level of quality protection. However, CSI, especially sub-band CSI, can have higher fault tolerance and a lower level of quality protection. When multiple MAC CEs carry different types of uplink control information, the priorities of the multiple MAC CEs are different, and their target parameters can also be different.

[0114] V. Determine the description of using MAC CE to carry uplink control information

[0115] In some embodiments, if a first condition is met, it is determined that uplink control information is carried based on MAC CE; the first condition includes at least one of the following: the code rate of the uplink control information is less than a preset code rate; the service corresponding to the uplink control information is a preset service; the order of the modulation scheme of the uplink control information is less than a preset order; the resource amount of the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) is less than a preset resource amount; the resources in the PUCCH are bundled; and the second node instructs the first node to carry uplink control information using MAC CE.

[0116] Before sending the MAC CE carrying uplink control information, the first node can determine whether to carry the uplink control information via the MAC CE based on a first condition. For example, if the bit rate of the uplink control information is less than a preset bit rate, or the service corresponding to the uplink control information is a preset service, or the order of the modulation scheme of the uplink control information is less than a preset order, the bit error rate of the uplink control information is high and cannot meet the quality requirements of the uplink control information. Therefore, the first node can determine that using the MAC CE to carry the uplink control information can achieve better quality protection, and thus the MAC CE can be used to carry the uplink control information.

[0117] For example, if the PUCCH resource size is less than the preset resource size, or if the PUCCH resources are bundled to carry uplink control information, the first node can determine that transmitting uplink control information via PUCCH has a low quality protection level. Therefore, it can use MAC CE to carry uplink control information. For another example, if the second node pre-instructs the first node to use MAC CE to carry uplink control information, it can be determined that uplink control information will be carried via MAC CE.

[0118] In one implementation, the preset service is one where the uplink information transmission requirement latency is greater than the preset transmission requirement latency. Thus, for services with higher transmission requirement latency, the first node can use a higher-latency MAC CE to carry uplink control information, while for services with lower transmission requirement latency, a conventional PUCCH can be used to carry uplink control information, thereby meeting the needs of different services.

[0119] VI. Determine the description of the fallback to MAC CE bearer uplink control information.

[0120] In some embodiments, if a second condition is met, it is determined that uplink control information is carried based on PUCCH or PUSCH; the second condition includes at least one of the following: the code rate of the uplink control information is greater than or equal to a preset code rate; the service corresponding to the uplink control information is not a preset service; the order of the modulation scheme of the uplink control information is greater than or equal to a preset order; the resource amount of PUCCH is greater than or equal to a preset resource amount; the resources in PUCCH use a non-bundling method; and the second node instructs the second node to carry uplink control information using PUCCH or PUSCH.

[0121] Before sending the MAC CE carrying uplink control information, the first node can determine whether to carry the uplink control information via the MAC CE based on a first condition. For example, if it is determined that the uplink control information has a high code rate, or the transmission delay of the service corresponding to the uplink control information is low, or the modulation order of the uplink control information is high, the bit error rate of the uplink control information will be high and cannot meet the quality requirements of the uplink control information. Therefore, the first node can decide to abandon the use of MAC CE to carry uplink control information, and thus fall back to the mode of carrying uplink control information via conventional PUCCH or fall back to the mode of multiplexing uplink control information to PUSCH.

[0122] The information transmission method provided in this disclosure can also be applied to the second node 202 in the communication system shown in FIG2. FIG10 shows a schematic flowchart of another information transmission method, which includes the following S1001.

[0123] S1001, The second node receives the uplink channel.

[0124] The uplink channel carries Media Access Control (MAC) information, which includes uplink control information. In some embodiments, the uplink channel includes the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

[0125] Because the first node has a relatively relaxed transmission delay when transmitting Media Access Control (MAC) information, it does not need to transmit MAC information promptly after receiving the PDSCH or downlink reference signal. Therefore, the higher latency of carrying uplink control information through MAC information is suitable for environments with minimal channel state changes.

[0126] In addition, the first node can move the uplink control information that was originally transmitted directly by the physical layer PUCCH or PUSCH to the MAC layer for transmission, and can reuse it on the MAC CE, with the PUSCH carrying the MAC CE for transmission.

[0127] It is understood that the description of the media access control layer information can be referred to the description of the media access control layer information transmitted by the first node in the uplink channel, and will not be repeated here in the embodiments of this disclosure.

[0128] It is understood that, in order to achieve the above-mentioned functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should readily recognize that, based on the algorithmic steps of the examples described in conjunction with the embodiments of this disclosure, this disclosure can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or by computer software driving 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 this disclosure.

[0129] This disclosure embodiment can divide the communication device into functional modules according to the above method embodiment. For example, each function can be divided into a separate functional module, or two or more functions can be integrated into one functional module. The integrated module can be implemented in hardware or software. It should be noted that the module division in this disclosure embodiment is illustrative and only represents one logical functional division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. The following description uses the example of dividing each functional module according to each function.

[0130] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this disclosure. The communication device can execute the communication method provided in the above-described method embodiments. As shown in Figure 11, the communication device includes: a transmitting unit 1101.

[0131] The transmitting unit 1101 is used to transmit the uplink channel; the uplink channel carries media access control layer information, which includes uplink control information.

[0132] In one implementation, the media access control layer information includes a media access control layer control element (MAC CE) for carrying uplink control information. The MAC CE includes at least one of the following: a first field and a second field; the first field is used to indicate the cell related to the uplink control information carried by the MAC CE; and the second field is used to indicate the category of the uplink control information carried by the MAC CE.

[0133] In one implementation, the first field includes at least one bit, with each bit corresponding to at least one cell; the value of the bit is used to indicate whether the MAC CE carries uplink control information for the cell corresponding to the bit.

[0134] In one implementation, the second field includes at least one bit, with each bit corresponding to at least one type of uplink control information; the value of the bit is used to indicate whether the MAC CE carries a type of uplink control information corresponding to the bit.

[0135] In one implementation, the uplink channel includes the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

[0136] In one implementation, the PUSCH carries a Media Access Control Data Unit (MAC PDU); the MAC PDU includes at least one Subprotocol Data Unit (MAC subPDU); the MAC subPDU includes a MAC CE, and uplink control information is carried in the MAC CE.

[0137] In one implementation, uplink control information is carried on a single MAC CE; or, different types of uplink control information are carried on different MAC CEs; or, some or all of the uplink control information is carried on a MAC CE.

[0138] In one implementation, the media access control layer information includes control information for a single cell; or, the media access control layer information includes control information for multiple cells.

[0139] In one implementation, the MAC subPDU including the MAC CE also includes a MAC subheader, which includes a logical channel identifier. The logical channel identifier is used to indicate the type of the MAC CE, and the type of the MAC CE is related to the type of uplink control information included in the MAC CE.

[0140] In one implementation, the correspondence between each bit in the first field and the cell is determined by any one of the following: predefined, higher-layer radio resource control (RRC) signaling indication, or MAC signaling indication.

[0141] In one implementation, the correspondence between each bit in the second field and the type of uplink control information is determined by any one of the following: predefined, RRC signaling indication, or MAC signaling indication.

[0142] In one implementation, the MAC CE also includes a third field, which indicates the category of uplink control sub-information carried by the MAC CE, where the uplink control sub-information is a sub-information of uplink control information.

[0143] In one implementation, the third field includes at least one bit, with each bit corresponding to at least one type of uplink control sub-information; the value of the bit is used to indicate whether the MAC CE carries a type of uplink control sub-information corresponding to the bit.

[0144] In one implementation, the MAC CE also includes a fourth field, which indicates the length of a type of uplink control sub-information; or, the fourth field indicates the length of a type of uplink control information.

[0145] In one implementation, the MAC CE also includes a fifth field, which indicates the number of a type of uplink control sub-information; or, the fifth field indicates the number of a type of uplink control information.

[0146] In one implementation, the number of uplink control sub-information or the number of uplink control information includes: the number of subbands in the Channel State Indication (CSI).

[0147] In one implementation, the target parameters of the MAC CE carrying uplink control information have a higher priority than the target parameters of the MAC CE that does not carry uplink control information. The target parameters include at least one of the following: the coding rate of the coding scheme, the order of the modulation scheme, or the position of the resource element RE mapped to the uplink demodulation reference signal.

[0148] In one implementation, the PUSCH carrying the MAC CE is sent repeatedly.

[0149] In one implementation, the uplink control information is the uplink control information after a first processing; the first processing includes at least one of the following: channel coding; adding cyclic redundancy check (CRC).

[0150] In one implementation, the device further includes a determining unit 1102.

[0151] The determining unit 1102 is used to determine uplink control information based on MAC CE when a first condition is met; the first condition includes at least one of the following: the code rate of the uplink control information is less than a preset code rate; the service corresponding to the uplink control information is a preset service; the order of the modulation scheme of the uplink control information is less than a preset order; the resource amount of the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) is less than a preset resource amount; the resources in the PUCCH are bundled; and the second node instructs the first node to use MAC CE to carry uplink control information.

[0152] In one implementation, the determining unit 1102 is further configured to determine, under a second condition, whether to carry uplink control information based on PUCCH or PUSCH; the second condition includes at least one of the following: the code rate of the uplink control information is greater than or equal to a preset code rate; the service corresponding to the uplink control information is not a preset service; the order of the modulation scheme of the uplink control information is greater than or equal to a preset order; the resource amount of PUCCH is greater than or equal to a preset resource amount; the resources in PUCCH use a non-bundling method; and the second node instructs the second node to carry uplink control information using PUCCH or PUSCH.

[0153] In one implementation, the preset service is one where the uplink information transmission delay is greater than the preset transmission delay.

[0154] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this disclosure. The communication device can execute the communication method provided in the above-described method embodiments. As shown in Figure 12, the communication device includes a receiving unit 1201.

[0155] The receiving unit 1201 is used to receive the uplink channel; the uplink channel carries media access control layer information, which includes uplink control information.

[0156] In one implementation, the media access control layer information includes a media access control layer control element (MAC CE) for carrying uplink control information. The MAC CE includes at least one of the following: a first field and a second field; the first field is used to indicate the cell related to the uplink control information carried by the MAC CE; and the second field is used to indicate the category of the uplink control information carried by the MAC CE.

[0157] In one implementation, the first field includes at least one bit, with each bit corresponding to at least one cell; the value of the bit is used to indicate whether the MAC CE carries uplink control information for the cell corresponding to the bit.

[0158] In one implementation, the second field includes at least one bit, with each bit corresponding to at least one type of uplink control information; the value of the bit is used to indicate whether the MAC CE carries a type of uplink control information corresponding to the bit.

[0159] In one implementation, the uplink channel includes the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

[0160] In one implementation, the PUSCH carries a Media Access Control Data Unit (MAC PDU); the MAC PDU includes at least one Subprotocol Data Unit (MAC subPDU); the MAC subPDU includes a MAC CE, and uplink control information is carried in the MAC CE.

[0161] In one implementation, uplink control information is carried on a single MAC CE; or, different types of uplink control information are carried on different MAC CEs; or, some or all of the uplink control information is carried on a MAC CE.

[0162] In one implementation, the media access control layer information includes control information for a single cell; or, the media access control layer information includes control information for multiple cells.

[0163] In one implementation, the MAC subPDU including the MAC CE also includes a MAC subheader, which includes a logical channel identifier. The logical channel identifier is used to indicate the type of the MAC CE, and the type of the MAC CE is related to the type of uplink control information included in the MAC CE.

[0164] In one implementation, the correspondence between each bit in the first field and the cell is determined by any one of the following: predefined, higher-layer radio resource control (RRC) signaling indication, or MAC signaling indication.

[0165] In one implementation, the correspondence between each bit in the second field and the type of uplink control information is determined by any one of the following: predefined, RRC signaling indication, or MAC signaling indication.

[0166] In one implementation, the MAC CE also includes a third field, which indicates the category of uplink control sub-information carried by the MAC CE, where the uplink control sub-information is a sub-information of uplink control information.

[0167] In one implementation, the third field includes at least one bit, with each bit corresponding to at least one type of uplink control sub-information; the value of the bit is used to indicate whether the MAC CE carries a type of uplink control sub-information corresponding to the bit.

[0168] In one implementation, the MAC CE also includes a fourth field, which indicates the length of a type of uplink control sub-information; or, the fourth field indicates the length of a type of uplink control information.

[0169] In one implementation, the MAC CE also includes a fifth field, which indicates the number of a type of uplink control sub-information; or, the fifth field indicates the number of a type of uplink control information.

[0170] In one implementation, the number of uplink control sub-information or the number of uplink control information includes: the number of subbands in the Channel State Indication (CSI).

[0171] In one implementation, the target parameters of the MAC CE carrying uplink control information have a higher priority than the target parameters of the MAC CE that does not carry uplink control information. The target parameters include at least one of the following: the coding rate of the coding scheme, the order of the modulation scheme, or the position of the resource element RE mapped to the uplink demodulation reference signal.

[0172] In one implementation, the PUSCH carrying the MAC CE is sent repeatedly.

[0173] In one implementation, the uplink control information is the uplink control information after a first processing; the first processing includes at least one of the following: channel coding; adding cyclic redundancy check (CRC).

[0174] In the case of implementing the functions of the integrated modules described above in hardware, this disclosure provides another structure of the communication device involved in the above embodiments. As shown in FIG13, the communication device 130 includes: a memory 1301, a processor 1302, a communication interface 1303, and a bus 1304.

[0175] The memory 1301 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device capable of storing static information and instructions; it may be a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device capable of storing dynamic information and instructions; it may also be an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device; or 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.

[0176] Processor 1302 may be a logic block, module, or circuit that implements or performs the various exemplary methods described in connection with embodiments of this disclosure. Processor 1302 may be a central processing unit, a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. Processor 1302 may also implement or perform the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with embodiments of this disclosure. Processor 1302 may also be a combination that implements computational functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP (digital signal processor) and a microprocessor, etc.

[0177] The communication interface 1303 is used to connect to other devices via a communication network. This communication network can be Ethernet, wireless access network, wireless local area network (WLAN), etc.

[0178] In one implementation, the memory 1301 can exist independently of the processor 1302. The memory 1301 can be connected to the processor 1302 via a bus 1304 and is used to store instructions or program code. When the processor 1302 calls and executes the instructions or program code stored in the memory 1301, it can implement the information transmission method provided in this embodiment of the disclosure.

[0179] In another implementation, the memory 1301 can also be integrated with the processor 1302.

[0180] Bus 1304 can be an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus, etc. Bus 1304 can be divided into address bus, data bus, control bus, etc. For ease of representation, only one thick line is used to represent bus 1304 in Figure 13, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0181] Some embodiments of this disclosure provide a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium) storing computer program instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the information transmission method as described in any of the above embodiments.

[0182] Exemplary examples show that the aforementioned computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, or magnetic tapes), optical disks (e.g., compact disks (CDs), digital versatile disks (DVDs), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMs), cards, sticks, or key drives, etc.). The various computer-readable storage media described in this disclosure may represent one or more devices for storing information and / or other machine-readable storage media. The term "machine-readable storage media" may include, but is not limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and / or carrying instructions and / or data.

[0183] This disclosure provides a computer program product containing instructions that, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the communication method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0184] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this disclosure, but the scope of protection of this disclosure is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this disclosure should be included within the scope of protection of this disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of this disclosure should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An information transmission method, applied to a first node, wherein, The method includes: Transmit the uplink channel; where, The uplink channel carries media access control layer information, which includes uplink control information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The Media Access Control (MAC) layer information includes a Media Access Control (MAC) Layer Control Element (CE) for carrying the uplink control information. The MAC CE includes at least one of the following: a first field and a second field; The first field is used to indicate the cell related to the uplink control information carried by the MAC CE; The second field is used to indicate the category of uplink control information carried by the MAC CE.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The first field includes at least one bit, and one bit corresponds to at least one cell; The value of the bit is used to indicate whether the MAC CE carries uplink control information of the cell corresponding to the bit.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The second field includes at least one bit, and one bit corresponds to at least one type of uplink control information; The value of the bit is used to indicate whether the MAC CE carries a type of uplink control information corresponding to the bit.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The uplink channel includes the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein, The PUSCH carries the Media Access Control Data Unit (MAC PDU). The MAC PDU includes at least one sub-protocol data unit (MAC subPDU); The MAC subPDU includes a MAC CE, and the uplink control information is carried in the MAC CE.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The uplink control information is carried in a MAC CE, or, Different types of uplink control information are carried in different MAC CEs; or, Some or all of the uplink control information is carried in the MAC CE.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The media access control layer information includes control information for a single cell; or, the media access control layer information includes control information for multiple cells.

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The MAC subPDU including the MAC CE includes a MAC subheader, which includes a logical channel identifier. The logical channel identifier is used to indicate the type of the MAC CE, and the type of the MAC CE is related to the type of uplink control information included in the MAC CE.

10. The method according to claim 3, wherein, The correspondence between each bit in the first field and the cell is determined by any one of the following: predefined, higher-layer radio resource control (RRC) signaling indication, or MAC signaling indication.

11. The method according to claim 4, wherein, The correspondence between each bit in the second field and the type of uplink control information is determined by any one of the following: predefined, RRC signaling indication, or MAC signaling indication.

12. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The MAC CE also includes a third field, which is used to indicate the category of uplink control sub-information carried by the MAC CE, wherein the uplink control sub-information is a sub-information of the uplink control information.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein, The third field includes at least one bit, and one bit corresponds to at least one type of uplink control sub-information; The value of the bit is used to indicate whether the MAC CE carries a type of uplink control sub-information corresponding to the bit.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein, The MAC CE also includes a fourth field, which indicates the length of a type of uplink control sub-information; or, the fourth field indicates the length of a type of uplink control information.

15. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein, The MAC CE also includes a fifth field, which indicates the number of a type of uplink control sub-information; or, the fifth field indicates the number of a type of uplink control information.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein, The number of uplink control sub-information of a certain type or the number of uplink control information of a certain type includes: the number of sub-bands in the Channel State Indication (CSI).

17. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The target parameters of the MAC CE carrying uplink control information have a higher priority than the target parameters of the MAC CE that does not carry uplink control information. The target parameters include at least one of the following: the coding rate of the coding scheme, the order of the modulation scheme, or the position of the resource element RE mapped to the uplink demodulation reference signal.

18. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The PUSCH carrying the MAC CE is transmitted repeatedly.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The uplink control information is the uplink control information after the first processing; the first processing includes at least one of the following: channel coding; adding cyclic redundancy check (CRC).

20. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The method further includes: If a first condition is met, it is determined that the uplink control information is carried by the MAC CE; the first condition includes at least one of the following: The code rate of the uplink control information is less than the preset code rate; The service corresponding to the uplink control information is a preset service; The modulation order of the uplink control information is less than the preset order; The amount of resources for the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) is less than the preset amount. Resources in PUCCH use a bundled approach. The second node instructs the first node to use the MAC CE to carry the uplink control information.

21. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The method further includes: If the second condition is met, it is determined that the uplink control information is carried based on PUCCH or PUSCH; the second condition includes at least one of the following: The code rate of the uplink control information is greater than or equal to the preset code rate; The service corresponding to the uplink control information is not a preset service; The order of the modulation scheme of the uplink control information is greater than or equal to a preset order; The resource quantity of PUCCH is greater than or equal to the preset resource quantity; Resources in PUCCH use a non-bundling method; The second node indicates that the second node uses PUCCH or PUSCH to carry the uplink control information.

22. The method according to claim 20 or 21, wherein, The preset service is a service where the uplink information transmission delay is greater than the preset transmission delay.

23. An information transmission method applied to a second node, wherein, The method includes: Receive uplink channel; where, The uplink channel carries media access control layer information, which includes uplink control information.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein, The Media Access Control (MAC) layer information includes a Media Access Control (MAC) Layer Control Element (CE) for carrying the uplink control information. The MAC CE includes at least one of the following: a first field and a second field; The first field is used to indicate the cell related to the uplink control information carried by the MAC CE; The second field is used to indicate the category of uplink control information carried by the MAC CE.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein, The first field includes at least one bit, and one bit corresponds to at least one cell; The value of the bit is used to indicate whether the MAC CE carries uplink control information of the cell corresponding to the bit.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein, The second field includes at least one bit, and one bit corresponds to at least one type of uplink control information; The value of the bit is used to indicate whether the MAC CE carries a type of uplink control information corresponding to the bit.

27. The method according to claim 24, wherein, The MAC CE also includes a third field, which is used to indicate the category of uplink control sub-information carried by the MAC CE, wherein the uplink control sub-information is a sub-information of the uplink control information.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein, The third field includes at least one bit, and one bit corresponds to at least one type of uplink control sub-information; The value of the bit is used to indicate whether the MAC CE carries a type of uplink control sub-information corresponding to the bit.

29. The method according to claim 27 or 28, wherein, The MAC CE also includes a fourth field, which indicates the length of a type of uplink control sub-information; or, the fourth field indicates the length of a type of uplink control information.

30. The method according to claim 27 or 28, wherein, The MAC CE also includes a fifth field, which indicates the number of a type of uplink control sub-information; or, the fifth field indicates the number of a type of uplink control information.

31. A communication device, comprising: A memory and a processor; wherein the memory and the processor are coupled; the memory is used to store instructions executable by the processor; and the processor executes the instructions to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-30.

32. A computer-readable storage medium, wherein, The computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-30.

33. A computer program product, wherein, The computer program product includes computing technology program instructions, which, when executed by a processor, implement the method according to any one of claims 1-30.

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