Carrier sending methods and apparatuses, device and storage medium

Abstract

The present application belongs to the field of Ambient power communications. Disclosed are carrier sending methods and apparatuses, a device and a storage medium. A method comprises: receiving first information, the first information being used for determining a first time node, the first time node being used for determining the time when a carrier providing node sends a carrier, the first information comprising information transmitted by a network device or an intermediate node, the intermediate node being used for implementing bidirectional communication between the network device and an Ambient power device, and the carrier being used for backscattering of the Ambient power device. The present application can enable carrier providing nodes to send carriers on demand instead of continuously sending carriers, thereby avoiding excessive power consumption and continuous interferences from carrier providing nodes when continuously sending carriers.

Description

Carrier transmission method, apparatus, device and storage medium TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of ambient energy communication, and in particular to a carrier transmission method, apparatus, device and storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the continuous evolution of wireless communication technology, Internet of Things (IoT) technology is applied to all aspects of production and life. Ambient energy devices in the IoT field, such as Ambient power enabled IoT (A-IoT) devices, support external transmission through backscattering. The carrier used by the ambient energy device for backscattering can be provided by a device other than the ambient energy device.

[0003] For the implementation of providing a carrier to an ambient energy device, further discussion and research are needed.

[0004] SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a carrier transmission method, apparatus, device and storage medium. The technical solution is as follows:

[0006] According to an aspect of the present application, a carrier transmission method is provided, the method is performed by a carrier providing node, and the method comprises:

[0007] receiving first information, the first information being used to determine a first time node;

[0008] The first time node is used to determine the time when the carrier providing node transmits a carrier, the first information includes information transmitted by a network device or an intermediate node, the intermediate node is used to realize bidirectional communication between the network device and an ambient energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the ambient energy device.

[0009] According to another aspect of the present application, a carrier transmission method is provided, the method is performed by a network device, and the method comprises:

[0010] sending first information, the first information being used for the carrier providing node to determine a first time node;

[0011] The first time node is used to determine the time when the carrier providing node transmits a carrier, and the carrier is used for backscattering of an ambient energy device.

[0012] According to another aspect of the present application, a carrier transmission method is provided, the method is performed by an intermediate node, and the method comprises:

[0013] sending first information, the first information being used for a carrier providing node to determine a first time node;

[0014] wherein the first time node is used for determining a time at which the carrier providing node transmits a carrier, the intermediate node is used for implementing bidirectional communication between a network device and an ambient energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the ambient energy device.

[0015] According to another aspect of the present application, a carrier transmitting apparatus is provided, the apparatus comprising:

[0016] a receiving module configured to receive first information, the first information being used for determining a first time node;

[0017] wherein the first time node is used for determining a time at which the apparatus transmits a carrier, the first information comprises information transmitted by a network device or an intermediate node, the intermediate node is used for implementing bidirectional communication between the network device and an ambient energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the ambient energy device.

[0018] According to another aspect of the present application, a carrier transmitting apparatus is provided, the apparatus comprising:

[0019] a sending module configured to send first information, the first information being used for a carrier providing node to determine a first time node;

[0020] wherein the first time node is used for determining a time at which the carrier providing node transmits a carrier, and the carrier is used for backscattering of an ambient energy device.

[0021] According to another aspect of the present application, a carrier transmitting apparatus is provided, the apparatus comprising:

[0022] sending first information, the first information being used for a carrier providing node to determine a first time node;

[0023] wherein the first time node is used for determining a time at which the carrier providing node transmits a carrier, the apparatus is used for implementing bidirectional communication between a network device and an ambient energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the ambient energy device.

[0024] According to another aspect of the present application, a carrier providing node is provided, the carrier providing node comprising: a processor; a transceiver connected to the processor; a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the carrier providing node is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to implement the carrier transmitting method according to the above aspect.

[0025] According to another aspect of the present application, a network device is provided, comprising: a processor; a transceiver connected to the processor; a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the network device is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to implement the carrier sending method according to the above aspect.

[0026] According to another aspect of the present application, an intermediate node is provided, comprising: a processor; a transceiver connected to the processor; a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the intermediate node is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to implement the carrier sending method according to the above aspect.

[0027] According to another aspect of the present application, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which stores executable instructions, the executable instructions are loaded and executed by a processor to implement the carrier sending method according to the above aspect.

[0028] According to another aspect of the present application, a chip is provided, which comprises programmable logic circuit and / or program instructions, when the chip is running on a computer device, for implementing the carrier sending method according to the above aspect based on the programmable logic circuit and / or program instructions.

[0029] According to another aspect of the present application, a computer program product or computer program is provided, which comprises computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium, the computer instructions are read and executed by a processor from the computer readable storage medium, so that the computer device executes the carrier sending method according to the above aspect.

[0030] The technical scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application has at least the following beneficial effects:

[0031] By determining the start time and duration of the carrier sent by the carrier providing node according to the first information sent by the network device or the intermediate node, the carrier providing node can send the carrier on demand instead of continuously sending the carrier, which can avoid the situation that the carrier providing node consumes a large amount of electricity and continuously interferes in the case of continuously sending the carrier. Moreover, the time period of sending the carrier can be accurately controlled, which helps to improve the resource utilization rate. In addition, the carrier providing node can determine the start time and duration of sending the carrier without frequent information interaction with the network device, which greatly saves the signaling and overhead. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0032] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings in the following description only constitute some embodiments of the present application, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative effort.

[0033] Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a low-power communication system according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of radio frequency energy harvesting according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0035] Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a backscatter communication process according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of resistance load modulation according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0037] Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a first topology according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a second topology according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a transmission process according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a carrier transmission process in the first topology according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a carrier transmission process in the second topology according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a process of providing a carrier to an environmental energy device according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture of a communication system according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0044] Fig. 12 is a flowchart of a carrier transmission method according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0045] Fig. 13 is a flowchart of a carrier transmission method according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0046] Fig. 14 is a flowchart of a carrier transmission method according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Fig. 15 is a flowchart of a carrier transmission method according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a process of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0049] FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a process of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0050] FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of a process of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0051] FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a method of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0052] FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of a process of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0053] FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of a process of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0054] FIG. 22 is a flowchart of a method of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0055] FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram of a process of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0056] FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of a process of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0057] FIG. 25 is a block diagram of a carrier transmitting apparatus according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0058] FIG. 26 is a block diagram of a carrier transmitting apparatus according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0059] FIG. 27 is a block diagram of a carrier transmitting apparatus according to an example embodiment of the present application;

[0060] FIG. 28 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device according to an example embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0061] For the purpose of the present application, the technical solutions and the advantages will be more clearly understood, the following will be further described in detail with the help of the accompanying drawings. Here will be described in detail the example embodiments, the example representation in the drawings. The following description relates to the drawings, unless otherwise indicated, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements. The following example embodiments described in the embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present application. Rather, they are merely examples of devices and methods consistent with some aspects of the present application as detailed in the appended claims.

[0062] The terminology used in this application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in this application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that the term "and / or," as used herein, refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0063] It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc. can be used herein to describe various information, these terms are not intended to denote a temporal sequence. The terms so used are merely used to distinguish one piece of information from another. For example, a first information can be termed a second information, and similarly, a second information can be termed a first information without departing from the scope of the present application. Depending on the context, the word "if' as used herein can be interpreted to mean "when" or "in response to determining".

[0064] The technical solutions described in some embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system, Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, Advanced Long Term Evolution (LTE-A) system, New Radio (NR) system, evolved system of NR system, LTE-based access to unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) system, NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum (NR-U) system, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) system, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) system, Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) system, 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5G) system, cellular Internet of Things system, cellular passive Internet of Things system, and can also be applied to the evolved system after 5G NR system, and can also be applied to 6th Generation Mobile Communication Technology (6G) system and the evolved system thereafter.

[0065] It should be understood that in some embodiments of the present application, "5G" can also be referred to as "5G NR" or "NR".

[0066] It should be understood that in the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "corresponding" can represent a direct or indirect corresponding relationship between the two, can also represent an associated relationship between the two, or can indicate a relationship such as indicated, configured, and the like.

[0067] The principle of low-power Internet of Things communication is introduced:

[0068] Low-power Internet of Things communication is a kind of ultra-low-power Internet of Things communication technology. Low-power Internet of Things can also be called zero-power Internet of Things, ambient energy Internet of Things (Ambient IoT, A-IoT), or passive Internet of Things. Ambient energy devices (A-IoT devices) in low-power Internet of Things refer to IoT devices that use various ambient energies such as wireless radio frequency energy, light energy, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, etc. to drive themselves. Such devices can have no energy storage capability, or can have very limited energy storage capability (such as using a capacitor with a capacity of tens of microfarads). Compared with other IoT devices, ambient energy devices have many advantages such as no need for conventional batteries, no maintenance, small size, low complexity, low cost, long service life, etc.

[0069] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a low-power communication system according to an example embodiment of the present application. The low-power communication system 100 includes a network device 120 and an ambient energy device 140. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device 140 includes a device that uses various ambient energies such as wireless radio frequency energy, light energy, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, etc. to drive itself, and has the characteristics of low power consumption or zero power consumption. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device 140 includes at least one of a zero-power device, a zero-power Internet of Things device, an ambient energy Internet of Things (A-IoT) device, and a passive Internet of Things device. In some embodiments, low-power communication in the present application is equivalent to / replaceable by zero-power communication, and low-power Internet of Things in the present application is equivalent to / replaceable by zero-power Internet of Things.

[0070] The network device 120 is used to send wireless energy supply signals, downlink communication signals to the ambient energy device 140, and receive backscatter signals from the ambient energy device 140. The ambient energy device 140, also known as an ambient energy Internet of Things (Ambient IoT) device, includes an energy harvesting module 141, a backscatter communication module 142, and a low-power computing module 143. The energy harvesting module 141 can harvest energy carried by radio waves in space to drive the low-power computing module 143 of the ambient energy device 140 and implement backscatter communication. After the ambient energy device 140 obtains energy, it can receive control signaling from the network device 120 and send data to the network device 120 based on backscatter. The data sent can come from data stored in the ambient energy device 140 itself (such as an identity or pre-written information such as the production date, brand, and manufacturer of a product).

[0071] The environmental energy device 140 can further include a sensor module 144 and a memory 145. The sensor module 144 can include various sensors, and the environmental energy device 140 can report data collected by the various sensors based on a low-power mechanism. The memory 145 is used to store some basic information (such as an article identifier) or to store sensed data such as an environmental temperature and an environmental humidity.

[0072] The environmental energy device 140 does not need a battery itself, and a low-power computing module 143 can be used to implement simple signal demodulation, decoding or encoding, modulation, and other simple operation work. Therefore, the environmental energy device 140 only needs a very simple hardware design, so that the environmental energy device 140 has a very low cost and a very small size.

[0073] The network device 120 includes but is not limited to a cellular network device such as a 5G / 6G network device and a base station device, a WiFi / WLAN network device such as an access point (AP), a router, and a mobile access point such as a mobile phone.

[0074] The environmental energy device 140 includes but is not limited to a handheld device, a wearable device, a vehicle-mounted device, and an Internet of Things device, and the environmental energy device 140 can be at least one of a mobile phone, a tablet computer, an electronic book reader, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a television, a game console, an Augmented Reality (AR) terminal, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal, a Mixed Reality (MR) terminal, a wearable device, a handle, an electronic tag, and a controller.

[0075] Key technologies of low-power communication mainly include radio frequency energy harvesting and backscattering communication. Next, the low-power communication is further introduced:

[0076] Radio frequency energy harvesting (Radio Frequency Power Harvesting).

[0077] FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of radio frequency energy harvesting according to an example embodiment of the present application. Radio frequency energy harvesting is based on the principle of electromagnetic induction. A radio frequency module (RF) is connected to a capacitor C and a load resistor R L in a parallel relationship through electromagnetic induction, so as to collect spatial electromagnetic wave energy and obtain energy required for driving the environmental energy device to work, such as driving a low-power demodulation module, a modulation module, a sensor, and memory reading. Therefore, the environmental energy device does not need a traditional battery.

[0078] Backscattering communication.

[0079] Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of a backscatter communication process according to an example embodiment of the present application. The ambient energy device 140 receives the wireless signal carrier 131 transmitted by the transmit (TX) module 121 of the network device 120 using the amplifier (AMP) 122, and modulates the wireless signal carrier 131, loads the information to be transmitted using the logic processing module 147, and collects the radio frequency energy using the energy harvesting module 141. The ambient energy device 140 radiates the modulated reflected signal 132 using the antenna 146, and this information transmission process is called backscatter communication. The receive (RX) module 123 of the network device 120 receives the modulated reflected signal 132 using the low noise amplifier (LNA) 124. Backscatter and load modulation are inseparable. Load modulation adjusts and controls the circuit parameters of the ambient energy device 140 according to the beat of the data stream, so that the size of the electronic tag impedance and other parameters change, completing the modulation process.

[0080] The load modulation technology mainly includes resistance load modulation and capacitance load modulation. Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram of resistance load modulation according to an example embodiment of the present application. In resistance load modulation, the load resistance R L The third resistance R3 is connected in parallel, and the control switch S based on binary coding is used to turn on or off, and the on-off of the third resistance R3 will cause the voltage on the circuit to change, and the load resistance R L The first capacitance C1 is connected in parallel, and the load resistance R L The second resistance R2 is connected in series, and the first inductance L1 is connected in series with the second resistance R2. The first inductance L1 is coupled with the second inductance L2, and the second inductance L2 is connected in series with the second capacitance C2. Amplitude shift keying (ASK) can be achieved, that is, the amplitude of the backscatter signal of the ambient energy device is adjusted to realize the modulation and transmission of the signal. Similarly, in capacitance load modulation, the on-off of the capacitance can realize the change of the circuit resonance frequency, and realize frequency shift keying (FSK), that is, the working frequency of the backscatter signal of the ambient energy device is adjusted to realize the modulation and transmission of the signal.

[0081] The ambient energy device modulates the incoming signal by means of load modulation to realize the process of backscatter communication. The ambient energy device has the following advantages: (1) it does not actively emit signals, so it does not need a complex radio frequency link, such as a power amplifier (PA), a radio frequency filter, etc.; (2) it does not need to actively generate high-frequency signals, so it does not need a high-frequency crystal oscillator; (3) by means of backscatter communication, signal transmission does not consume the energy of the ambient energy device itself.

[0082] • Application scenarios of low-power communication.

[0083] Low-power communication can be widely used in various industries due to its significant advantages such as extremely low cost, low power consumption (zero power consumption), small size, etc. For example, it can be applied to vertical industries such as logistics, intelligent warehousing, smart agriculture, energy and power, industrial internet, etc.; it can also be applied to personal application scenarios such as smart wearables, smart home, etc.

[0084] • Classification of ambient energy devices.

[0085] Based on the energy source and usage of the ambient energy device, the ambient energy device can be classified as follows:

[0086] (1) Passive ambient energy device.

[0087] The ambient energy device does not need an internal battery. When the ambient energy device is close to the network device, the ambient energy device is within the near-field range formed by the antenna radiation of the network device. For example, the network device is a reader / writer of a radio frequency identification (RFID) system. Therefore, the antenna of the ambient energy device generates an induced current through electromagnetic induction, which drives the low-power chip circuit of the ambient energy device. The ambient energy device can demodulate the forward link (downlink, from the network device to the ambient energy device) signal and modulate the backward link (uplink, from the ambient energy device to the network device) signal, etc. For the backscatter link, the ambient energy device can use backscatter or active transmission with extremely low power to transmit signals.

[0088] The passive ambient energy device does not need an internal battery to drive it, whether for the forward link or the backward link. It is a truly low-power (zero-power) device. The passive ambient energy device does not need a battery, and the radio frequency circuit and baseband circuit are very simple, for example, it does not need LNA, PA, crystal oscillator, analog-to-digital converter (ADC), etc. It has the advantages of small size, light weight, very low price, long service life, etc.

[0089] (2) Semi-passive ambient energy device.

[0090] The semi-passive environmental energy device does not install a conventional battery itself, can collect radio wave energy using a radio frequency energy collection module, or collect energy using a solar energy, light energy, thermal energy, kinetic energy, etc. energy corresponding collection module, and stores the collected energy in an energy storage unit. Exemplarily, the energy storage unit is a capacitor. After the energy storage unit obtains energy, it can drive the low-power chip circuit of the environmental energy device. Realize the demodulation of the forward link signal, and the signal modulation of the back link, etc. For the backscatter link, the environmental energy device can use backscatter or extremely low-power active transmission to transmit signals.

[0091] The semi-passive environmental energy device does not need to be built-in battery to drive, and the energy used in work is stored in the capacitor and comes from the radio energy collected by the radio frequency energy collection module. It is a truly low-power (zero-power) device. The semi-passive environmental energy device inherits many advantages of the passive environmental energy device, such as: small size, light weight, very cheap price, long service life, etc.

[0092] (3) Active environmental energy device.

[0093] Some environmental energy devices used in some scenarios can also be active environmental energy devices. This type of environmental energy device can be built-in battery (can use conventional battery, such as dry battery, rechargeable lithium battery, etc.). The battery is used to drive the low-power chip circuit of the environmental energy device. Realize the demodulation of the forward link signal, and the signal modulation of the back link, etc. But for the backscatter link, the environmental energy device can use backscatter or extremely low-power active transmission to transmit signals. Therefore, the low power consumption of the active environmental energy device mainly reflects that the signal transmission of the back link does not need to consume the power of the environmental energy device itself, but uses the backscatter mode. Although the active environmental energy device uses a battery, due to the use of ultra-low-power communication technology, the power consumption is very low, so the working life of the battery can be greatly improved. In the active environmental energy device, the built-in battery supplies power to the RFID chip, increases the read-write distance of the tag, and improves the reliability of communication. Therefore, it can be applied in some scenarios with relatively high requirements on communication distance, reading delay, etc.

[0094] ·Classification of environmental energy devices based on transmitter type.

[0095] The business type of low-power Internet of Things is similar to other Internet of Things business types, and the above industry is the main business. According to the way the environmental energy device transmits data, the environmental energy device can be divided into the following types:

[0096] (1) Environmental energy device based on backscatter.

[0097] Such an ambient energy device uses the above-mentioned backscattering mode for uplink data transmission. Such an ambient energy device does not have an active transmitter for active emission, but only has a backscattering transmitter. Therefore, when such an ambient energy device transmits uplink data, the network device needs to provide a carrier, and the ambient energy device performs backscattering based on the carrier to realize uplink data transmission.

[0098] (2) Ambient energy device based on active transmitter.

[0099] Such an ambient energy device uses an active transmitter with active emission capability for uplink data transmission, so that when such an ambient energy device transmits uplink data, it can use its own active transmitter to transmit uplink data, without the need for the network device to provide a carrier. The active transmitter suitable for the ambient energy device may be, for example, an ultra-low-power ASK transmitter, an ultra-low-power FSK transmitter, etc. Based on the current implementation, the overall power consumption of such a transmitter can be reduced to 400-600 microwatts when transmitting a 100-microwatt signal.

[0100] (3) Ambient energy device with both backscattering and active transmitter.

[0101] Such an ambient energy device can support both backscattering and active transmitter. The ambient energy device can determine whether to use backscattering or active transmitter for active transmission according to different situations (such as different power situations, different available ambient energy situations), or based on the scheduling of the network device.

[0102] • Introduce cellular Internet of Things.

[0103] The cellular Internet of Things is booming. For example, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has standardized NarrowBand-Internet of Things (NB-IoT), Machine-Type Communications (MTC), Reduced Capability (RedCap), and other Internet of Things technologies, but there are still many scenarios where Internet of Things communication needs cannot be met, for example:

[0104] Severe communication environment.

[0105] Some Internet of Things scenarios may face extreme environments such as high temperature, extremely low temperature, high humidity, high pressure, high radiation, or high-speed motion. For example, an ultra-high voltage substation, a high-speed train track monitoring, an environment monitoring in a high-cold region, and an industrial production line. In these scenarios, the existing Internet of Things terminal devices will not work due to the working environment limitation of the conventional power supply. In addition, the extreme working environment is not conducive to the maintenance of the Internet of Things terminal device, such as replacing the battery.

[0106] Terminal form requirement of extremely small size.

[0107] Some Internet of Things communication scenarios, such as food traceability, commodity circulation, and smart wearable, require the terminal to have an extremely small size to facilitate use in these scenarios. For example, an Internet of Things terminal device for commodity management in the circulation link is usually in the form of an electronic tag, which is embedded in the commodity packaging in a very small form. For another example, a lightweight wearable Internet of Things terminal device can meet user needs while improving user experience.

[0108] Internet of Things communication requirement of extremely low cost.

[0109] Many Internet of Things communication scenarios require the cost of the Internet of Things terminal device to be low enough to improve the competitiveness relative to other alternative technologies. For example, in a logistics or warehouse scenario, in order to facilitate the management of a large number of circulating goods, an Internet of Things terminal device can be attached to each item, thereby completing the precise management of the entire logistics process and cycle through the communication between the Internet of Things terminal device and the logistics network. These scenarios require the price of the Internet of Things terminal device to be competitive enough.

[0110] With the increase of 5G industry application scenarios, the types and application scenarios of connected objects are increasing, and there will be higher requirements for the price and power consumption of communication terminals. The application of battery-free, low-cost environmental networking devices has become a key technology for cellular Internet of Things, enriching the types and quantities of 5G network link terminals and truly realizing the Internet of Everything.

[0111] Exemplarily, the environmental device can be used in at least the following four types of scenarios:

[0112] · Object identification, such as logistics, production line product management, and supply chain management;

[0113] · Environmental monitoring, such as temperature, humidity, and harmful gas monitoring of working and natural environments;

[0114] · Positioning, such as indoor positioning, intelligent lost object finding, and production line object positioning;

[0115] · Intelligent control, such as intelligent control of various appliances in a smart home (such as turning on / off an air conditioner and adjusting the temperature) and intelligent control of various facilities in an agricultural greenhouse (such as automatic irrigation and fertilization).

[0116] Introduction of ambient energy device:

[0117] In NR system and WiFi system, battery-free and low-cost devices can support the low-cost massive deployment and maintenance-free of IoT devices. Currently, in NR system and WiFi system, IoT devices based on ambient energy are supported, which are called ambient energy devices (A-IoT devices). The energy required for the operation of ambient energy devices is derived from ambient energy collection, and the source of ambient energy can be wireless signals, solar energy, thermal energy, etc. Such devices are similar to passive or semi-passive devices in low-power communication.

[0118] Currently, ambient energy devices are roughly divided into three types, each with different complexity and communication capabilities.

[0119] Ambient energy device A (Device A): without energy storage capability, cannot transmit independent signals, i.e., uses backscattering transmission mode.

[0120] Ambient energy device B (Device B): with energy storage capability, cannot transmit independent signals, i.e., uses backscattering transmission mode, can amplify backscattering signals using stored energy.

[0121] Ambient energy device C (Device C): with energy storage capability, can transmit independent signals, i.e., has active transmission capability.

[0122] Among them, ambient energy device A has the lowest complexity and power consumption, which can be as low as 1 μW, but its communication distance is limited, generally only a few meters. Ambient energy device A needs network devices to provide carrier signals for backscattering transmission. Ambient energy device C generally has a large-capacity capacitor to store energy from the environment, and its power consumption can support several hundred μW, and it can support active signal transmission with a larger communication distance. Ambient energy device C does not need network devices to provide carrier signals because it can actively transmit. The complexity and power consumption of ambient energy device B are between those of ambient energy device A and ambient energy device C.

[0123] In addition, ambient energy devices support various types of energy harvesting, such as wireless radio frequency, solar energy, thermal energy, and mechanical energy. Among them, ambient energy devices based on wireless radio frequency energy harvesting may need network to provide wireless radio frequency energy supply signals.

[0124] Introduction of the topology structure related to ambient energy devices:

[0125] Currently, at least the following two types of ambient energy devices exist:

[0126] • First type of ambient energy device: Ambient energy device with peak power consumption of ~1 uW, with energy storage capability, initial sampling frequency offset of 10 X ppm, without uplink and / or downlink power amplifier, transmitting uplink transmission by backscattering on an external carrier.

[0127] • Second type of ambient energy device: Ambient energy device with peak power consumption of less than a few hundred uW, with energy storage capability, initial sampling frequency offset of 10 X ppm, possibly with uplink and / or downlink power amplifier, transmitting uplink transmission by backscattering on an external carrier.

[0128] In some embodiments, the ambient energy device involves two topologies (deployment scenarios).

[0129] For example, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a first topology according to an example embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, Topology 1 (Topology 1) can be represented as a base station (BS) 501 ambient energy device 502. The base station 501 and the ambient energy device 502 directly perform bidirectional signaling and / or data communication. The base station 501 that transmits information to the ambient energy device 502 and the base station 501 that receives information transmitted by the ambient energy device 502 can be two different base stations 501.

[0130] For example, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a second topology according to an example embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 6, Topology 2 (Topology 2) can be represented as a base station 601 intermediate node 602 ambient energy device 603. The ambient energy device 603 and the intermediate node 602 perform bidirectional communication, and the intermediate node 602 can relay signaling and / or data between the base station 601 and the ambient energy device 603. In some embodiments, the intermediate node 602 is a terminal under network control, and the intermediate node 602 is located indoors. In some embodiments, the intermediate node 602 includes a relay, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a terminal, a repeater, etc.

[0131] For the backscattering environment energy device shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the carrier wave used for backscattering can be provided by the base station (corresponding to topology 1), or provided by the intermediate node (corresponding to topology 2), or also provided by a third node other than the base station and the intermediate node, for example, a carrier wave providing node, also known as a carrier wave node (CWN).

[0132] Introduce the services related to the environment energy device:

[0133] Currently, the environment energy device mainly involves two services, one is device terminated (Device-Terminated, DT), and the other is device originated-device triggered terminated (Device-Originated-Device-Terminated Triggered, DO-DTT). DT mainly refers to executing specific actions by the environment energy device through the downlink command, for example, issuing a command of "turning on the air conditioner" to the environment energy device in the smart home scene, and the environment energy device performs the corresponding operation. DO-DTT mainly refers to triggering the environment energy device to report information through the downlink command, and the typical scene is warehouse inventory or sensor sensing, for example, triggering a number of environment energy devices (such as zero-power tags) to report identity documents (Identity Document, ID) or sensor data through the trigger information.

[0134] Considering that the number of environment energy devices in the above-mentioned scenarios can be large, especially in the DO-DTT service, the goods in the warehouse are all pasted with zero-power tags, how these large number of zero-power tags report information and avoid conflicts between each other is a problem to be solved. The slot-based ALOHA mechanism in radio frequency identification (Radio Frequency Identification, RFID) can be used as a baseline scheme. Among them, the ALOHA mechanism is a transmission mechanism based on the ALOHA protocol, and the ALOHA protocol is a network protocol.

[0135] For example, FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a transmission procedure according to an example embodiment of the present application. The transmission procedure shown in FIG. 7 reflects the mechanism of inventory in RFID system, i.e. the slotted ALOHA mechanism. Although it is a slotted mechanism, since RFID system is an asynchronous system, it results in that the length of each slot, the start and end position are not fixed. The start and end position of each slot in an inventory round is actually defined according to the query instruction and the query repeat instruction. For example, the slot 0 in the inventory round 1 in FIG. 7 is the end time of the query instruction sent by the reader (which can be understood as the base station or intermediate node in A-IoT) to the end time of the next query repeat instruction. After that, the start and end of each slot in the inventory round 1 are the end time of the query repeat instruction in the previous slot and the current slot. In other words, the reader indicates the start of a new slot and the end of the current slot every time it sends a query repeat instruction. It should be pointed out that the end position of the last slot in the inventory round can be indicated by the query instruction in the next inventory round, i.e. the end time of the query instruction, which also indicates the start position of the start slot (the first slot) in the next inventory round.

[0136] Continuing to refer to FIG. 7, the reader sends a select instruction, which is used to determine the set of tags to be inventoried, for example, there are a large number of tags in the warehouse, and the select instruction is used to determine the tags to be inventoried, i.e. the tags will determine whether to participate in this inventory when receiving the select instruction. After the select instruction, the reader sends a query instruction, which includes a Q value. The tags to be inventoried obtain the Q value and generate a random integer between 0 and (2 Q -1), for example, a counter. After that, the counter of each tag will be reduced by 1 every time it receives a query repeat instruction, i.e. every time a new slot starts, and when the counter of a tag is reduced to 0, it can access in the corresponding slot. For example, in FIG. 7, the counter generated by tag a is 0, so it can directly access in slot 0. The counters generated by tag b and tag c are 2, so they need to receive two query repeat instructions, i.e. the counter will be reduced to 0 in slot 2, so tag b and tag c access in slot 2. It can be understood that the initial value of the counter also corresponds to the slot index in an inventory round (if the slot index starts from 0), i.e. an inventory round includes 2 Q slots, the index from 0 to 2 Q -1. In summary, different tags access in different slots by randomly generating counter values.

[0137] When a tag accesses a new time slot, for example, tag a in time slot 0 in Figure 7, tag a first sends a 16-bit random sequence RN16 to the reader as a temporary identifier. Upon receiving RN16, the reader sends a response to tag a, including the same RN16. If the RN16 received by tag a matches the previously sent RN16, tag a sends an Electronic Product Code (EPC) to the reader. Upon receiving the EPC, the reader sends a duplicate query command. This command indicates to tag a that the EPC has been received and the inventory check is successful, and also instructs all tags participating in the inventory check to decrement their respective counter values ​​by 1, thus starting a new time slot. Other tags can then access the new time slot. It should be noted that if signaling loss or transmission errors occur during tag a's access process, the inventory check for tag a will fail. For example, if tag a sends RN16 to the reader but the reader does not receive RN16, then the inventory count for tag a fails. It can only wait for the next inventory cycle to receive a query command and regenerate the counter value based on the Q value therein, so that it can re-report information in the next inventory cycle.

[0138] Because each label is between 0 and 2 Q The counter values ​​generated between -1 and -1 are random, which can lead to some values ​​not being selected by any tag, resulting in no tag reporting information in the corresponding time slot. For example, time slot 1 in Figure 7. Conversely, when multiple tags happen to select the same counter value, they will report information in the same time slot. In this case, a transmission collision occurs, and the reader cannot recognize the RN16 of any tag. This is because the waveform received by the reader is a superposition of multiple random sequences, and the multiple RN16 values ​​are not designed with orthogonality. Therefore, the tags that collide cannot be connected, and the inventory fails. They need to wait until the next inventory cycle to be inventoried again. For example, in Figure 7, if tags b and c both report RN16 in time slot 2, a collision occurs, and both tags b and c need to wait until inventory cycle 2 to report information.

[0139] The reader sends a query instruction every time, which indicates the end of the previous inventory cycle and the start of a new inventory cycle. For example, in inventory cycle 2, the tags that were not successfully inventoried in inventory cycle 1 are continued to be inventoried. The Q value indicated in the query instruction can be adjusted between inventory cycles. For example, if the reader finds that there are many slots without tag access in the previous inventory cycle, the Q value can be reduced in the next inventory cycle. Conversely, if the reader finds that there are many collisions in the previous inventory cycle, the Q value can be increased in the next inventory cycle. Exemplarily, at the beginning of each inventory cycle, the reader can increase or decrease the Q value by 1 or keep it unchanged or set it to any allowed value relative to the previous inventory cycle, and then indicate it to the tags through the corresponding query instruction. Exemplarily, when Q = 0, the above inventory process ends.

[0140] The transmission of the carrier wave in A-IoT is introduced as follows:

[0141] The carrier wave (CW) used for backscattering by devices (such as environmental energy devices) in A-IoT can be considered in two forms: single-tone or multi-tone. Single-tone includes a single-frequency sinusoidal wave, i.e., only a single frequency of radio wave, and its characteristics in the frequency domain are represented as an impulse at a certain frequency point. Multi-tone is a radio wave composed of at least two different single-frequency sinusoidal waves, i.e., a time-domain waveform composed of at least two different single-frequency sinusoidal waves. After the CW is sent from the carrier-providing node to the device (such as a tag), the device modulates data information onto the CW and then sends it to the reader through backscattering.

[0142] For the above two topologies, the CW can be provided by a base station (BS), an intermediate node, or a third node other than the BS and the intermediate node, such as a CWN. In addition, the transmission of the CW in the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) of the frequency division duplexing (FDD) frequency band is also a problem that needs to be further explored.

[0143] Exemplarily, FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the transmission process of the carrier wave in the first topology according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8 and the topology 1 shown in FIG. 5, considering the providing node of the CW, the uplink and downlink resources where the CW and the reflected wave are located, the transmission process of the CW can be divided into the following schemes:

[0144] Scheme 1-1: The base station 801 provides the CW to the device 802, and the CW is transmitted in the DL spectrum.

[0145] Scheme 1-2: The base station 801 provides the CW to the device 802, and the CW is transmitted in the UL spectrum;

[0146] Scheme 1-3: The external node (CWN 803) provides the CW to the device 802, and the CW is transmitted in the DL spectrum;

[0147] Scheme 1-4: The external node (CWN 803) provides the CW to the device 802, and the CW is transmitted in the UL spectrum.

[0148] For example, FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a carrier transmission process in a second topology according to an example embodiment of the present application. In combination with the topology 2 shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 6, considering the providing node of the CW, the uplink and downlink resources where the CW and the reflected wave are located, the transmission process of the CW can be divided into the following schemes:

[0149] Scheme 2-1: The base station 901 and the intermediate node (terminal 902) are transmitted through the Uu link, the intermediate node (terminal 902) provides the CW to the device 903, and the CW is transmitted in the DL spectrum;

[0150] Scheme 2-2: The base station 901 and the intermediate node (terminal 902) are transmitted through the Uu link, the intermediate node (terminal 902) provides the CW to the device 903, and the CW is transmitted in the UL spectrum;

[0151] Scheme 2-3: The base station 901 and the intermediate node (terminal 902) are transmitted through the Uu link, the external node (CWN 904) provides the CW to the device 903, and the CW is transmitted in the DL spectrum;

[0152] Scheme 2-4: The base station 901 and the intermediate node (terminal 902) are transmitted through the Uu link, the external node (CWN 904) provides the CW to the device 903, and the CW is transmitted in the UL spectrum.

[0153] As can be seen from the above, in the two different topologies shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the base station, the intermediate node, and the external node other than the base station and the intermediate node can all provide the carrier to the ambient energy device for the ambient energy device to perform backscattering, but the implementation method of providing the carrier to the ambient energy device still needs to be further discussed and researched.

[0154] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a process of providing a carrier wave to an ambient energy device according to an example embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 10, in the topology 1 described above, the base station 1001 (reader) sends a Reader-To-Device (R2D) transmission to the ambient energy device 1002, and the CWN 1003 is a terminal for providing a carrier wave to the ambient energy device 1002. The ambient energy device 1002 sends a signal by backscattering, thereby sending a Device-To-Reader (D2R) transmission to the base station 1001, and the base station 1001 decodes the reflected signal. Specifically, the CWN 1003 provides a carrier wave to the ambient energy device 1002, and the carrier wave can be a single-frequency sinusoidal wave. After the ambient energy device 1002 receives the carrier wave, the ambient energy device 1002 modulates data to be transmitted onto the carrier wave, for example, by using an On Off Keying (OOK) modulation method, thereby generating a modulated waveform for transmission to the base station 1001.

[0155] There are two assumptions for the way of providing a carrier wave to an ambient energy device. One assumption is that the carrier wave is continuously provided to the ambient energy device, i.e., there is always a carrier wave available when the ambient energy device needs to backscatter. The other assumption is that the carrier wave is not continuously provided, but is provided to the ambient energy device when it needs. For the first assumption, if the carrier wave is continuously provided, the power consumption of the carrier wave providing end will be very large, and the continuous carrier wave will also interfere with the reflected wave of the ambient energy device. In addition, if the base station or the intermediate node is the carrier wave providing end, the requirements for the base station and the intermediate node will also be very high, such as supporting full duplex, high complexity, etc. For the second assumption, i.e., the carrier wave is provided only when needed or intermittently, how the carrier wave providing end knows when to provide the carrier wave and how long the carrier wave is provided are problems that need to be further solved. The method provided by the present application is used to solve the problems involved in the implementation of the second assumption described above.

[0156] The method provided in the application realizes that the start time and duration of the carrier transmission are determined by the carrier providing end (for example, the CWN) according to the R2D transmission (including at least one of service data information, control information, a preamble and clock acquisition information) sent by the network device or the intermediate node. The carrier providing end can transmit the carrier on demand instead of continuously transmitting the carrier, and the situation that the carrier providing end consumes a large amount of power and continuously interferes can be avoided. In addition, the time period of the carrier transmission can be accurately controlled, which helps to improve the resource utilization. In addition, the carrier providing end can determine the start time and duration of the carrier transmission without frequent information interaction with the network device (or the control node of the carrier providing end), which greatly saves the signaling and overhead.

[0157] FIG. 11 shows a schematic diagram of a system architecture of a communication system 1100 provided in an embodiment of the application. The system architecture can include a terminal 10, an access network device 20 and a core network device 30.

[0158] The terminal 10 can refer to a UE (User Equipment), an access terminal, a user unit, a user station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a wireless communication device, a user agent or a user device. Alternatively, the terminal can also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) phone, a WLL (Wireless Local Loop) station, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal in a 5GS (5th Generation System) or a terminal in a future evolved PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network), etc. The embodiments of the application are not limited thereto. For the convenience of description, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as terminals. In some embodiments, the terminal 10 is implemented as an intermediate node, which is used to relay signaling and / or data between the network device and the ambient energy device. In some embodiments, the terminal 10 is implemented as a carrier providing node, which is used to provide a carrier to the ambient energy device, so that the ambient energy device can perform backscattering through the carrier to transmit externally.

[0159] It should be noted that the number of terminals 10 is usually multiple, and one or more terminals 10 can be distributed in the cell managed by each access network device 20. In addition, one or more terminals 10 can also be distributed outside the cell managed by the access network device 20. Among them, different terminals 10 can communicate based on sidelink.

[0160] The access network device 20 is a device deployed in the access network to provide wireless communication functions for the terminal 10. The access network device 20 can include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, access points, etc. In systems using different wireless access technologies, the names of devices with access network device functions may be different, for example, in the 5G NR system, it is called gNodeB or gNB. As the communication technology evolves, the name of “access network device” may change. For convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present application, the above-mentioned devices providing wireless communication functions for the terminal 10 are collectively referred to as access network devices. Optionally, through the access network device 20, a communication relationship can be established between the terminal 10 and the core network device 30. Illustratively, in the long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system, the access network device 20 can be an EUTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) or one or more eNodeBs in the EUTRAN; in the 5G NR system, the access network device 20 can be a RAN or one or more gNBs in the RAN.

[0161] The function of the core network device 30 is mainly to provide user connection, management of users, and completion of bearer for services, and to provide an interface to an external network as a bearer network. For example, the core network device in the 5G NR system can include an AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function) entity, a UPF (User Plane Function) entity, and an SMF (Session Management Function) entity, etc. The access network device 20 and the core network device 30 can be collectively referred to as network devices.

[0162] In one example, the access network device 20 and the core network device 30 communicate with each other through some air technology, such as the NG interface in the 5G NR system. The access network device 20 and the terminal 10 communicate with each other through some air technology, such as the Uu interface. The terminal 10 and the terminal 10 communicate with each other through some air technology, such as the PC5 interface.

[0163] FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a method of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application. The method can be performed by a carrier-providing node. The method includes:

[0164] At step 1202, receiving first information.

[0165] The first information includes information transmitted by a network device or an intermediate node, i.e., the first information is information transmitted by the network device, or the first information is information transmitted by the intermediate node. In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted by the network device via R2D transmission. In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted by the intermediate node via R2D transmission, in which case the first information transmitted by the intermediate node can be information directly forwarded by the intermediate node from the network device, or can be information retransmitted by the intermediate node after processing the information transmitted by the network device, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0166] In some embodiments, the target of the first information transmission includes at least one of the ambient energy device and the carrier-providing node. For example, the first information is information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node to the ambient energy device via R2D transmission. In this case, the target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device, which is used to receive and decode the first information transmitted via the R2D transmission. Alternatively, the target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device and / or the carrier-providing node, i.e., the carrier-providing node can also be one of the destinations of the R2D transmission. The R2D transmission includes transmission on the R2D link, and due to the propagation characteristics of radio waves in space, even if the carrier-providing node is not the target of the R2D transmission, the carrier-providing node can also receive the transmission on the R2D link.

[0167] The intermediate node is used to implement bidirectional communication between the network device and the ambient energy device. The intermediate node is located between the network device and the ambient energy device, and has a communication connection with the network device and the ambient energy device, respectively. In some embodiments, the intermediate node is used to relay signaling and / or data between the network device and the ambient energy device. In some embodiments, the intermediate node includes at least one of a relay, an IAB node, a terminal, and a repeater. In some embodiments, the intermediate node is a terminal under network control.

[0168] In some embodiments, the ambient energy device includes a device driven by using ambient energy, such as radio frequency energy, light energy, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, etc. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device has no energy storage capability or has limited energy storage capability. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device is equivalent to / replaceable by a zero-power device, a zero-power Internet of Things device, an ambient energy Internet of Things (A-IoT) device, or a passive Internet of Things device.

[0169] The carrier providing node comprises any node supporting providing a carrier to the ambient energy device. The carrier providing node is configured to provide a carrier to the ambient energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the ambient energy device, and the ambient energy device implements outward transmission through the backscattering. In some embodiments, the carrier provided by the carrier providing node to the ambient energy device comprises a single-frequency sinusoidal wave. The carrier providing node is in communication connection with the network device. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node comprises a CWN. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is implemented as a terminal type node.

[0170] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is different from the network device and the intermediate node. In this case, the carrier providing node comprises a third-party node other than the network device and the intermediate node in the topology 1 shown in FIG. 5 or the topology 2 shown in FIG. 6. In the case where the carrier providing node belongs to the topology 1, the first information is the information transmitted by the network device. In the case where the carrier providing node belongs to the topology 2, the first information is the information transmitted by the intermediate node or the network device.

[0171] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is the intermediate node. In this case, the carrier providing node is the intermediate node in the topology 2 shown in FIG. 6, and the first information is the information transmitted by the network device. At this time, the carrier providing node is configured to not only implement bidirectional communication between the network device and the ambient energy device, but also provide the carrier used for backscattering to the ambient energy device.

[0172] The first information is used by the carrier providing node to determine a first time node, and the first time node is used by the carrier providing node to determine the time of sending the carrier. In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of the following information: service data information; control information; clock acquisition information; and a preamble. The service data information comprises information related to the service of the ambient energy device, the control information is used to control the ambient energy device, the clock acquisition information is used to instruct to acquire the clock of the ambient energy device, and the preamble is used for the access process of the ambient energy device.

[0173] In some embodiments, the time of sending the carrier by the carrier providing node comprises at least one of the start time of sending the carrier and the duration of sending the carrier. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of sending the carrier by the carrier providing node according to the first time node. The carrier providing node determines the duration of sending the carrier by the carrier providing node according to the implementation of the carrier providing node, the indication of the network, the protocol predefinition, or other information.

[0174] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node further receives configuration information, which is used to determine the second information, and the second information and the first time node are used to determine the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier. In some embodiments, the second information is carried in the configuration information, or information used to determine the second information is carried in the configuration information. In some embodiments, the configuration information is transmitted by the network device to the carrier providing node. In some embodiments, the second information includes at least one of the following: a time offset value; a time duration value; a time interval; a carrier transmission number; a time advance; and a duration extension. In some embodiments, the time offset value, the time duration value, the time interval, the time advance, and the duration extension have at least one of the following units: microsecond, millisecond, and second.

[0175] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the first time node and the second information. The carrier providing node determines the start time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to at least one of the first time node and the second information. The carrier providing node determines the duration of the carrier provided by the carrier providing node according to the second information.

[0176] After determining the time at which the carrier is transmitted, the carrier providing node transmits the carrier at the determined time, so that the ambient energy device can receive the carrier and transmit outwardly by backscattering. In some embodiments, after receiving the carrier, the ambient energy device modulates the data to be transmitted onto the carrier, for example, by using OOK modulation, thereby generating a modulated waveform for outward transmission.

[0177] For the first case of determining the time at which the carrier is transmitted:

[0178] In the first case, the carrier providing node cannot decode the service data information and / or control information in the first information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node, so as to obtain accurate scheduling information. The scheduling information is used to schedule the third information, which includes information transmitted by the ambient energy device to the network device or the intermediate node according to the first information. In the case where the first information is transmitted by the network device, the third information is transmitted by the ambient energy device to the network device according to the first information. In the case where the first information is transmitted by the intermediate node, the third information is transmitted by the ambient energy device to the intermediate node according to the first information. In some embodiments, the third information is transmitted by D2R transmission. In this case, the carrier providing node can determine the time at which the carrier is transmitted by judging that the network device or the intermediate node transmits the first information (initiates R2D transmission) through the clock acquisition information or the preamble in the first information, predicting that the ambient energy device will soon transmit the third information (initiates D2R transmission), and determining the time at which the carrier is transmitted.

[0179] For determining the first time node:

[0180] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node according to the clock acquisition information or the preamble. In some embodiments, the first time node is a time unit in which a transmission time of first information containing the clock acquisition information or the preamble is located, the transmission time including at least one of a sending time and a receiving time, and the carrier providing node determines that the first information is received can be understood as that the carrier providing node determines that the R2D transmission is received.

[0181] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node according to the time at which the first information is received, in the case that the format of the first information conforms to a fixed pattern corresponding to the clock acquisition information. The carrier providing node determines that the format of the first information conforms to the fixed pattern can be understood as that the carrier providing node determines that the R2D transmission is received. In some embodiments, the fixed pattern corresponding to the clock acquisition information is a combination of at least one of a high level and a low level. In some embodiments, the fixed pattern corresponding to the clock acquisition information is predefined by a communication protocol.

[0182] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node according to the time at which the first information is received, in the case that the sequence of the first information is related to or identical to a local sequence. The local sequence corresponds to the preamble, and the local sequence is a sequence corresponding to the preamble. The carrier providing node determines that the sequence of the first information is related to or identical to the local sequence can be understood as that the carrier providing node determines that the R2D transmission is received. In some embodiments, the local sequence is a combination of at least one of 0 and 1. In some embodiments, the local sequence is predefined by a communication protocol.

[0183] For determining the time of sending the carrier:

[0184] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the second information according to the received configuration information, and determines the start time and the duration of sending the carrier one or more times according to the second information and the first time node. In the case that the carrier providing node determines the time of sending the carrier once, the carrier providing node determines the start time and the duration of sending the carrier once; in the case that the carrier providing node determines the time of sending the carrier multiple times, the carrier providing node determines the start time and the duration of sending the carrier each time. In some embodiments, in the case that the carrier providing node determines the time of sending the carrier multiple times, the carrier providing node further determines at least one of the number of times of sending the carrier and the interval between adjacent times of sending the carrier.

[0185] In some embodiments, the second information comprises a time duration value. In determining the time for transmitting the carrier once, the carrier providing node determines a start time for transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and a duration for transmitting the carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time for transmitting the carrier as the first time node, i.e., the carrier providing node starts transmitting the carrier at the first time node. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the duration for transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the time duration value.

[0186] In some embodiments, the second information comprises a time offset value and a time duration value. In determining the time for transmitting the carrier once, the carrier providing node determines a start time for transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the time offset value, and a duration for transmitting the carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time for transmitting the carrier as the sum of the first time node and the time offset value, or the difference between the first time node and the time offset value, i.e., the carrier providing node starts transmitting the carrier at a time point after the first time node by the time offset value, or the carrier providing node starts transmitting the carrier at a time point before the first time node by the time offset value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the duration for transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the time duration value.

[0187] In some embodiments, the second information comprises a time offset value, a time duration value, a time interval, and a number of times for transmitting the carrier. In determining the time for transmitting the carrier multiple times, the carrier providing node determines a start time for transmitting the carrier for the first time according to the first time node and the time offset value, a duration for transmitting the carrier each time according to the time duration value, and an interval between adjacent transmissions of the carrier according to the time interval. The number of times for transmitting the carrier is used to indicate the number of times for transmitting the carrier by the carrier providing node. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time for transmitting the carrier for the first time as the sum of the first time node and the time offset value, or the difference between the first time node and the time offset value, i.e., the carrier providing node starts transmitting the carrier for the first time at a time point after the first time node by the time offset value, or the carrier providing node starts transmitting the carrier for the first time at a time point before the first time node by the time offset value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the duration for transmitting the carrier each time to be greater than or equal to the time duration value, and the duration for transmitting the carrier each time is the same or different. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the interval between adjacent transmissions of the carrier in the process of transmitting the carrier multiple times.

[0188] For example, after determining the start time for transmitting the carrier for the first time, the carrier providing node can determine the start time for transmitting the carrier for the subsequent time according to the above-mentioned time interval, and the start time for transmitting the carrier for the subsequent time is the end time for transmitting the carrier for the previous time plus the above-mentioned time interval.

[0189] For the second case of determining the time of sending the carrier:

[0190] In the second case, the carrier providing node is able to decode the service data information and / or the control information in the first information sent by the network device or the intermediate node, so as to obtain accurate scheduling information for scheduling the third information, which includes the information transmitted by the ambient energy device to the network device or the intermediate node according to the first information. In some embodiments, the third information is sent through D2R transmission. In this case, the carrier providing node can obtain the start transmission time of the third information by receiving / decoding the service data information on the R2D link, or receiving / decoding the control information on the R2D link, or receiving / decoding the service data information and the control information on the R2D link, which can be understood as obtaining the start time of the D2R transmission. After obtaining the start transmission time of the third information, the carrier providing node can determine the time of sending the carrier according to the time.

[0191] For determining the first time node:

[0192] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node according to at least one of the service data information and the control information in the first information. It can be understood that the carrier providing node determines the first time node according to the received R2D transmission, which is used to transmit at least one of the service data information and the control information. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node by decoding at least one of the service data information and the control information in the first information to obtain the start transmission time of the third information. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node as the start transmission time of the third information.

[0193] For determining the time of sending the carrier:

[0194] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the second information according to the received configuration information, so as to determine the start time and the duration of sending the carrier one or more times according to the second information and the first time node.

[0195] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time duration value. In the process of determining the time of sending the carrier by the carrier providing node, the carrier providing node determines the start time of sending the carrier according to the first time node, and determines the duration of sending the carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node as the start time of sending the carrier, that is, the carrier providing node starts to send the carrier from the first time node. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines that the duration of sending the carrier is greater than or equal to the time duration value.

[0196] In some embodiments, the second information comprises a time duration value and a time advance. In determining the time of transmitting the carrier by the carrier providing node, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the time advance, and determines the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time advance and the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the time of transmitting the carrier starting from the time of the first time node advancing the time advance as the start time of transmitting the carrier, i.e. the carrier providing node starts transmitting the carrier from the time of the first time node advancing the time advance. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the duration of transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the sum of the time duration value and the time advance.

[0197] In some embodiments, the second information comprises a time duration value and a time advance. In determining the time of transmitting the carrier by the carrier providing node, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the time advance, and determines the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time advance and the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the time of transmitting the carrier starting from the time of the first time node advancing the time advance as the start time of transmitting the carrier, i.e. the carrier providing node starts transmitting the carrier from the time of the first time node advancing the time advance. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the duration of transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the sum of the time duration value and the time advance.

[0198] In some embodiments, the second information comprises a time duration value and a time advance. In determining the time of transmitting the carrier by the carrier providing node, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the time advance, and determines the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time advance and the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the time of transmitting the carrier starting from the time of the first time node advancing the time advance as the start time of transmitting the carrier, i.e. the carrier providing node starts transmitting the carrier from the time of the first time node advancing the time advance. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the duration of transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the sum of the time duration value and the time advance.

[0199] For the third case of determining the time of transmitting the carrier:

[0200] In the third case, the first information is information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node to the environmental energy device under the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism. For an introduction of the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism, reference can be made to the related description of FIG. 7, and the embodiments of the present application do not repeat the same.

[0201] The first manner for determining the time of transmitting the carrier is as follows:

[0202] In the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism, the reader (the network device or the intermediate node) can be divided into multiple inventory cycles for round-robin inventory, and a new round of inventory cycle can be started by sending a query instruction. In the first manner, the time of transmitting the carrier by the carrier-providing node can be determined in the dimension of the inventory cycle.

[0203] In some embodiments, the first time node determined by the carrier-providing node is related to the query instruction sent by the reader. In the case where the first information is the query instruction in the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism, the carrier-providing node determines the first time node according to the transmission time of the first information, which can be understood as that the first time node is determined according to the transmission time of the R2D transmission carrying the query instruction, that is, the carrier-providing node does not update the time of transmitting the carrier when receiving other transmissions sent by the reader. In some embodiments, the carrier-providing node determines the end time of the transmission time of the first information as the first time node.

[0204] In some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of the service data information and the control information, and the carrier-providing node determines that the first information is the query instruction by decoding at least one of the service data information and the control information. It can be understood that the carrier-providing node decodes the control information and / or the data information carried by the R2D transmission, so as to know that the reader sends the query instruction.

[0205] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time duration value, and the time duration value is related to a first parameter in the query instruction, and the first parameter is used to indicate the maximum number of time slots in one inventory cycle of the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism. For example, the purpose of making the time duration value related to the first parameter is to make the duration of transmitting the carrier cover the entire inventory cycle. In some embodiments, the first parameter includes the Q value in the query instruction. In some embodiments, the time duration value is equal to the product of the maximum duration and the above-mentioned maximum number of time slots, and the maximum duration is the maximum duration of one time slot in one inventory cycle of the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

[0206] It should be noted that, as mentioned earlier, in the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism, each time slot is not of fixed duration. If an environmental energy device is connected within a time slot, that time slot will have a longer duration; if no environmental energy device is connected within a time slot, that time slot will have a shorter duration. To ensure that the duration covers the entire inventory cycle, the maximum duration (K) of a time slot within the inventory cycle can be limited, and the maximum number of time slots in the inventory cycle is 2. Q -1, then the duration value is equal to K*(2 Q -1). When the carrier providing node receives the query command again, it will re-determine the start time and duration of the carrier transmission and transmit the carrier accordingly.

[0207] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier based on the first time node and the duration of transmitting the carrier based on the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node as the start time of transmitting the carrier and the time duration value as the duration of transmitting the carrier.

[0208] Regarding the second method for determining the timing of carrier transmission:

[0209] In the second approach, the time at which the carrier-providing node transmits the carrier can be defined by the time slot dimension.

[0210] In some embodiments, the first time node determined by the carrier providing node is related to the query command and query repeat command sent by the reader. When the first information is a query command or query repeat command in a slot-based ALOHA mechanism, the carrier providing node determines the first time node based on the transmission time of the first information. This can be understood as the first time node being determined based on the transmission time of the R2D transmission carrying the query command or query repeat command; that is, the carrier providing node will not update the transmission time of the carrier when it receives other transmissions sent by the reader. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node as the end time of the transmission of the first information.

[0211] In some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of service data information and control information. The carrier providing node determines that the first information is a query instruction or a query repeat instruction by decoding at least one of the service data information and control information. This can be understood as the carrier providing node determining that the reader has sent a query instruction or a query repeat instruction by decoding the control information and / or data information carried in the R2D transmission.

[0212] In some embodiments, the second information comprises a time duration value, the time duration value being related to a time length of a time slot in a polling cycle of the time slot based ALOHA mechanism. For example, the time duration value is related to a time length of a time slot so that the time duration of the transmission carrier can cover the whole time slot. In some embodiments, the time duration value is equal to a maximum time length, the maximum time length being a maximum time length of a time slot in a polling cycle of the time slot based ALOHA mechanism.

[0213] It should be noted that according to the foregoing, each time slot in the time slot based ALOHA mechanism is not a fixed time length. To ensure that the time duration value can cover the whole time slot, a maximum time length of a time slot in a polling cycle can be defined, and the time duration value can be equal to the maximum time length. When the carrier providing node receives the query instruction or the query repetition instruction again, the start time and the time duration of the transmission carrier can be determined again, and the transmission carrier can be transmitted based on the start time and the time duration.

[0214] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of the transmission carrier according to the first time node, and determines the time duration of the transmission carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of the transmission carrier as the first time node, and determines the time duration of the transmission carrier as the time duration value.

[0215] The third way of determining the time of the transmission carrier is as follows:

[0216] In the third way, in the process of polling the ambient energy device by the reader, the state of the ambient energy device cannot be known in advance by the reader, i.e., the reader does not know whether the ambient energy device will be accessed in each time slot. However, the reader expects that the ambient energy device will send the corresponding information (D2R transmission) each time the reader sends the first information (R2D transmission). In the third way, for the carrier providing node, it can be understood that as long as it is determined that the reader sends the first information, it is necessary to provide the backscattering carrier for the ambient energy device by default.

[0217] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines a first time point related to a transmission time of the first information, and a time duration value in the second information is related to a transmission time of the third information. The third information is transmitted by the environment-capable device to the network device or the intermediate node according to the first information under the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism. In some embodiments, the first information includes any information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node to the environment-capable device under the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism. For example, the first time point is related to a transmission sent by the reader, and the carrier providing node does not distinguish any information sent by the R2D transmission, and the time duration value is related to the D2R transmission corresponding to the R2D transmission. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the transmission time of the first information as the first time point. In some embodiments, the time duration value is equal to the transmission time length of the third information.

[0218] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of the carrier transmission according to the first time point, and determines the duration of the carrier transmission according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time point as the start time of the carrier transmission, and determines the time duration value as the duration of the carrier transmission.

[0219] In summary, the method provided by the embodiment determines the start time and the duration of the carrier transmission by the carrier providing node according to the first information sent by the network device or the intermediate node. The carrier providing node can transmit the carrier on demand instead of continuously transmitting the carrier, which can avoid the situation of the carrier providing node consuming a large amount of power and continuously interfering under the condition of continuously transmitting the carrier. In addition, the time period of the carrier transmission can be accurately controlled, which helps to improve the resource utilization. The carrier providing node can determine the start time and the duration of the carrier transmission without frequent information interaction with the network device, which greatly saves the signaling and overhead.

[0220] The method provided in the embodiment further determines the second information according to the configuration information, and determines the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the second information and the first time node, so that the time at which the carrier is transmitted is determined according to the configuration of the network and the current transmission condition, and the accuracy of transmitting the carrier is improved. The first time node is determined according to the clock acquisition information or the preamble, so that the start time of transmitting the carrier can be accurately determined even when the carrier providing node cannot decode the first information. The first information is identified according to the format of the information or the sequence of the information, so that the received information can be simply and accurately identified. The first time node is determined according to the service data information and / or the control information, so that the time at which the environmental energy device transmits the information can be accurately determined when the carrier providing node can decode the first information, and the accuracy of determining the start time of transmitting the carrier is improved. The duration of transmitting the carrier is determined according to the time duration value and the time offset value, so that the duration of transmitting the carrier each time can be flexibly determined according to the configuration of the network. The start time and the duration of transmitting the carrier are determined according to the time offset value, the time duration value, the time interval and the number of times of transmitting the carrier, so that the start time and the duration of transmitting the carrier each time can be flexibly determined according to the configuration of the network. The start time and the duration of transmitting the carrier are determined according to the time advance amount and the duration extension amount, so that a certain amount of time is reserved before and after the transmission of the environmental energy device according to the time advance amount and the duration extension amount, and the carrier providing node can accurately provide the carrier for the environmental energy device when the environmental energy device transmits according to its own clock. For the slotted ALOHA mechanism, when the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier is defined in the dimension of the inventory cycle, the time duration value is related to the first parameter, so that the duration of transmitting the carrier can cover the entire inventory cycle. When the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier is defined in the dimension of the time slot, the time duration value is related to the duration of one time slot, so that the duration of transmitting the carrier can cover the entire time slot. When the type of the information transmitted by the reader is not considered, the first time node is related to the transmission time of the first information, and the time duration value is related to the transmission time of the third information, so that the carrier providing node can accurately provide the carrier for the environmental energy device when the environmental energy device transmits.

[0221] FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a carrier transmission method provided in an example embodiment of the present application. The method can be performed by a network device. The method includes:

[0222] Step 1302: transmitting first information.

[0223] In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted by the network device through the R2D transmission. In some embodiments, the transmission target of the first information comprises at least one of the ambient energy device and the carrier providing node. For example, the first information is transmitted by the network device through the R2D transmission to the ambient energy device. In this case, the transmission target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device, and the ambient energy device is configured to receive and decode the first information transmitted through the R2D transmission. Alternatively, the transmission target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device and / or the carrier providing node, i.e., the carrier providing node can also be one of the destinations of the R2D transmission. The R2D transmission comprises a transmission on the R2D link, and due to the propagation characteristics of radio waves in space, the carrier providing node can receive the transmission on the R2D link even if the carrier providing node is not the target of the R2D transmission.

[0224] In some embodiments, the ambient energy device comprises a device driven by using ambient energy, such as wireless radio frequency energy, light energy, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, etc. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device has no energy storage capability or has limited energy storage capability. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device is equivalent to / replacable by a zero-power device, a zero-power Internet of Things (IoT) device, an ambient energy IoT (A-IoT) device, a passive IoT device.

[0225] The carrier providing node comprises any node supporting providing a carrier to the ambient energy device. The carrier providing node is configured to provide a carrier to the ambient energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the ambient energy device, and the ambient energy device implements external transmission through backscattering. In some embodiments, the carrier provided by the carrier providing node to the ambient energy device comprises a single-frequency sinusoidal wave. The carrier providing node has a communication connection with the network device. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node comprises a CWN. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is implemented as a terminal type node.

[0226] The first information is used for the carrier providing node to determine the first time node, and the first time node is used for the carrier providing node to determine the time of transmitting the carrier. In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of the following information: service data information; control information; clock acquisition information; preamble. The service data information comprises information related to the service of the ambient energy device, the control information is used for controlling the ambient energy device, the clock acquisition information is used for indicating to acquire the clock of the ambient energy device, and the preamble is used for the access process of the ambient energy device.

[0227] In some embodiments, the first information is information transmitted by the network device to the ambient energy device under a time-slot based ALOHA mechanism. For an introduction of the time-slot based ALOHA mechanism, reference can be made to the related description of FIG. 7, which will not be repeated herein. In some embodiments, the first information includes a query instruction in the time-slot based ALOHA mechanism. In some embodiments, the first information includes a query instruction and a query repetition instruction in the time-slot based ALOHA mechanism. In some embodiments, the first information includes any information transmitted by the network device to the ambient energy device in the time-slot based ALOHA mechanism.

[0228] In some embodiments, the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier includes at least one of a start time and a duration of the carrier. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the first time node. The carrier providing node determines the duration of the carrier according to its own implementation, an indication of the network, a protocol predefinition, or other information.

[0229] In some embodiments, the network device further transmits configuration information, which is used by the carrier providing node to determine the second information, and the second information and the first time node are used to determine the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier. In some embodiments, the configuration information carries the second information, or the configuration information carries information used to determine the second information. In some embodiments, the second information includes at least one of the following: a time offset value; a time duration value; a time interval; a number of times of carrier transmission; a time advance amount; and a duration extension amount. In some embodiments, the time offset value, the time duration value, the time interval, the time advance amount, and the duration extension amount have at least one of the following units: microsecond, millisecond, and second.

[0230] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the first time node and the second information. The carrier providing node determines the start time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to at least one of the first time node and the second information. The carrier providing node determines the duration of the carrier according to the second information.

[0231] After determining the time at which the carrier is transmitted, the carrier providing node transmits the carrier at the determined time, so that the ambient energy device receives the carrier and transmits outwardly by backscattering. In some embodiments, after receiving the carrier, the ambient energy device modulates data to be transmitted onto the carrier, for example, by using an OOK modulation manner, thereby generating a modulated waveform for outward transmission.

[0232] To sum up, the method provided in this embodiment can determine the starting time and duration of the transmission of the carrier by the carrier providing node according to the first information transmitted by the network device. The carrier providing node can transmit the carrier on demand instead of continuously transmitting the carrier, and the situation of large power consumption and continuous interference of the carrier providing node can be avoided. The time period of the transmission of the carrier can be accurately controlled, and the resource utilization rate can be improved. The carrier providing node can determine the starting time and duration of the transmission of the carrier without frequent information interaction with the network device, and the signaling and overhead can be greatly saved.

[0233] The method provided in this embodiment can determine the transmission time of the carrier according to the configuration and the current transmission situation, and improve the accuracy of the transmission of the carrier. For the slotted ALOHA mechanism, the carrier providing node can flexibly transmit the carrier according to the demand of the environmental energy device.

[0234] FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a carrier transmission method provided in an example embodiment of the present application. The method can be performed by an intermediate node. The method comprises the following steps:

[0235] Step 1402: transmitting first information.

[0236] In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted by the intermediate node through R2D transmission. In this case, the first information transmitted by the intermediate node can be the information transmitted by the network device and directly forwarded by the intermediate node, or can be the information retransmitted by the intermediate node after processing the information transmitted by the network device, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In some embodiments, the transmission target of the first information comprises at least one of the environmental energy device and the carrier providing node. For example, the first information is transmitted by the intermediate node to the environmental energy device through R2D transmission. In this case, the transmission target of the R2D transmission is the environmental energy device, and the environmental energy device is used to receive and decode the first information transmitted through the R2D transmission. Alternatively, the transmission target of the R2D transmission is the environmental energy device and / or the carrier providing node, that is, the carrier providing node can also be one of the destinations of the R2D transmission. The R2D transmission comprises transmission on the R2D link. Due to the propagation characteristics of radio waves in space, even if the carrier providing node is not the target of the R2D transmission, the carrier providing node can also receive the transmission on the R2D link.

[0237] The intermediate node is configured to implement bidirectional communication between the network device and the ambient energy device. The intermediate node is located between the network device and the ambient energy device, and has a communication connection with the network device and the ambient energy device respectively. In some embodiments, the intermediate node is configured to relay signaling and / or data between the network device and the ambient energy device. In some embodiments, the intermediate node comprises at least one of a relay, an IAB node, a terminal, and a repeater. In some embodiments, the intermediate node is a terminal under network control.

[0238] In some embodiments, the ambient energy device comprises a device driven by using ambient energy, such as wireless radio frequency energy, light energy, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, etc. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device has no energy storage capability or has limited energy storage capability. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device is equivalent to / replaceable by a zero-power device, a zero-power Internet of Things device, an ambient energy Internet of Things (A-IoT) device, and a passive Internet of Things device.

[0239] The carrier providing node comprises any node supporting providing a carrier to the ambient energy device. The carrier providing node is configured to provide a carrier to the ambient energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the ambient energy device, and the ambient energy device implements external transmission through backscattering. In some embodiments, the carrier provided by the carrier providing node to the ambient energy device comprises a single-frequency sine wave. The carrier providing node has a communication connection with the network device. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node comprises a CWN. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is implemented as a terminal type node.

[0240] The first information is used for the carrier providing node to determine a first time node, and the first time node is used for the carrier providing node to determine a time of sending the carrier. In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of the following information: service data information; control information; clock acquisition information; and a preamble. The service data information comprises information related to a service of the ambient energy device, the control information is used for controlling the ambient energy device, the clock acquisition information is used for indicating to acquire a clock of the ambient energy device, and the preamble is used for an access process of the ambient energy device.

[0241] In some embodiments, the first information is information transmitted by the intermediate node to the ambient energy device under a time slot-based ALOHA mechanism. For the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism, refer to the related description of FIG. 7, and the embodiments of the present application do not repeat the same. In some embodiments, the first information comprises a query instruction in the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism. In some embodiments, the first information comprises a query instruction and a query repetition instruction in the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism. In some embodiments, the first information comprises any information transmitted by the network device to the ambient energy device in the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

[0242] In some embodiments, the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier comprises at least one of a start time and a duration of the carrier. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the first time node. The carrier providing node determines the duration of the carrier according to its own implementation, an indication of the network, a protocol predefinition, or other information.

[0243] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node further receives configuration information, which is used to determine second information, and the second information and the first time node are used to determine the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier. In some embodiments, the second information is carried in the configuration information, or information used to determine the second information is carried in the configuration information. In some embodiments, the configuration information is sent by the network device to the carrier providing node. In some embodiments, the second information comprises at least one of the following: a time offset value; a time duration value; a time interval; a number of times of carrier transmission; a time advance; and a duration extension. In some embodiments, the time offset value, the time duration value, the time interval, the time advance, and the duration extension have at least one of the following units: microsecond, millisecond, and second.

[0244] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the first time node and the second information. The carrier providing node determines the start time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to at least one of the first time node and the second information. The carrier providing node determines the duration of the carrier according to the second information.

[0245] After determining the time at which the carrier is transmitted, the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the determined time, so that the environmental energy device can receive the carrier and transmit outwardly by backscattering. In some embodiments, after receiving the carrier, the environmental energy device modulates the data to be transmitted onto the carrier, for example, by using OOK modulation, thereby generating a modulated waveform for outward transmission.

[0246] In summary, the method provided in the embodiment determines the start time and the duration of the carrier transmitted by the carrier providing node according to the first information transmitted by the intermediate node. The carrier providing node can transmit the carrier on demand instead of continuously transmitting the carrier, which can avoid the situation of the carrier providing node consuming a large amount of power and continuously interfering. In addition, the time period of the carrier transmission can be accurately controlled, which helps to improve the resource utilization. Furthermore, the carrier providing node can determine the start time and the duration of the carrier transmission without frequent information interaction with the network device, which greatly saves the signaling and overhead.

[0247] The method provided in the embodiment also realizes that the carrier providing node can flexibly send a carrier according to the needs of the environment energy device in the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism by providing the node with the time for sending the carrier according to the second information and the first time node based on the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

[0248] The application determines the start time and duration of sending a carrier by the carrier providing node according to the first information sent by the network device or the intermediate node, in combination with the second information determined according to the configuration information. The carrier providing node can send a carrier on demand instead of continuously sending a carrier, which can avoid the situation that the carrier providing node consumes a large amount of power and continuously interferes in the case of continuously sending a carrier. Moreover, the application can also accurately control the time period of sending a carrier, which helps to improve the resource utilization rate. In addition, the carrier providing node can determine the start time and duration of sending a carrier without frequent information interaction with the network device, which greatly saves the signaling and overhead. The process of determining the time of sending a carrier by the carrier providing node can be divided into the following three cases:

[0249] The first case: the carrier providing node cannot decode the first information sent by the network device or the intermediate node.

[0250] The second case: the carrier providing node can decode the first information sent by the network device or the intermediate node.

[0251] The third case: the first information is the information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node to the environment energy device in the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

[0252] For the above first case:

[0253] FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a carrier sending method provided in an example embodiment of the application. The method can be used in the system shown in FIG. 11. The method comprises the following steps:

[0254] Step 1502: The network device sends first information to the carrier providing node.

[0255] In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted by the network device via the R2D transmission. In some embodiments, the target of the transmission of the first information comprises at least one of the ambient energy device and the carrier providing node. For example, the first information is transmitted to the ambient energy device via the R2D transmission. In this case, the target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device, which is configured to receive and decode the first information transmitted via the R2D transmission. Alternatively, the target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device and / or the carrier providing node, i.e., the carrier providing node can also be one of the destinations of the R2D transmission. The R2D transmission comprises a transmission on the R2D link. Due to the propagation characteristics of radio waves in space, the carrier providing node can receive the transmission on the R2D link even if the carrier providing node is not the target of the R2D transmission.

[0256] In some embodiments, the ambient energy device comprises a device that is driven by using ambient energy, e.g., wireless radio frequency energy, light energy, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, etc. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device has no or limited energy storage capability. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device is equivalent to / replaceable by a zero-power device, a zero-power Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Ambient Energy IoT (A-IoT) device, a passive IoT device.

[0257] The carrier providing node comprises any node that supports providing a carrier to the ambient energy device. The carrier providing node is configured to provide a carrier to the ambient energy device, which is used for backscattering by the ambient energy device to implement an outward transmission. In some embodiments, the carrier provided by the carrier providing node to the ambient energy device comprises a single-frequency sinusoidal wave. The carrier providing node has a communication connection with the network device. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node comprises a CWN. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is implemented as a terminal-type node.

[0258] The first information is used by the carrier providing node to determine the first time node, which is used by the carrier providing node to determine the time of transmitting the carrier. In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of the following: service data information; control information; clock acquisition information; and a preamble. The service data information comprises information related to the service of the ambient energy device. The control information is used to control the ambient energy device. The clock acquisition information is used to indicate the acquisition of the clock of the ambient energy device. The preamble is used in the access process of the ambient energy device.

[0259] Step 1504: The intermediate node transmits the first information to the carrier providing node.

[0260] In some embodiments, the first information is sent by the intermediate node through R2D transmission. In this case, the first information sent by the intermediate node can be the information sent by the network device directly forwarded by the intermediate node, or the information sent by the intermediate node after processing the information sent by the network device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0261] The intermediate node is configured to implement bidirectional communication between the network device and the environmental energy device. The intermediate node is located between the network device and the environmental energy device, and has a communication connection with the network device and the environmental energy device respectively. In some embodiments, the intermediate node is configured to relay signaling and / or data between the network device and the environmental energy device. In some embodiments, the intermediate node comprises at least one of a relay, an IAB node, a terminal, and a repeater. In some embodiments, the intermediate node is a terminal under network control.

[0262] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is different from the network device and the intermediate node. In this case, the carrier providing node comprises a third party node in addition to the network device and the intermediate node in the topology 1 shown in FIG. 5 or the topology 2 shown in FIG. 6. In the case where the carrier providing node belongs to the topology 1, the first information is the information transmitted by the network device. In the case where the carrier providing node belongs to the topology 2, the first information is the information transmitted by the intermediate node or the network device.

[0263] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is the intermediate node. In this case, the carrier providing node is the intermediate node in the topology 2 shown in FIG. 6, and the first information is the information transmitted by the network device. At this time, in addition to being configured to implement bidirectional communication between the network device and the environmental energy device, the carrier providing node is also configured to provide the carrier used for backscattering to the environmental energy device.

[0264] It should be noted that the steps 1502 and 1504 are parallel steps, and the first information in the steps 1502 and 1504 is the same. When the method provided by the embodiments of the present application is executed, one of the steps 1502 and 1504 can be executed. For example, in the topology 1 of the environmental energy device, the step 1502 is executed; in the topology 2 of the environmental energy device, the step 1504 is executed.

[0265] Step 1506: The network device sends configuration information to the carrier providing node.

[0266] The configuration information is used to determine the second information, and the second information and the first time node are used to determine the time at which the carrier providing node sends the carrier. In some embodiments, the second information is carried in the configuration information, or information used to determine the second information is carried in the configuration information.

[0267] In some embodiments, the second information comprises at least one of: a time offset value; a time duration value; a time interval; a carrier transmission number; a time advance value; and a time duration extension value. In some embodiments, the time offset value, the time duration value, the time interval, the time advance value, and the time duration extension value are in at least one of: microsecond, millisecond, and second.

[0268] At step 1508, the carrier providing node determines a first time node according to the clock acquisition information or the preamble, and determines a time for transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the second information.

[0269] In the first case, the carrier providing node cannot decode the service data information and / or the control information in the first information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node, so as to obtain accurate scheduling information. The scheduling information is used for scheduling third information, which comprises information transmitted by the ambient energy device to the network device or the intermediate node according to the first information. In the case where the first information is transmitted by the network device, the third information is transmitted by the ambient energy device to the network device according to the first information. In the case where the first information is transmitted by the intermediate node, the third information is transmitted by the ambient energy device to the intermediate node according to the first information. In some embodiments, the third information is transmitted by D2R transmission. In this case, the carrier providing node can determine that the network device or the intermediate node transmits the first information (initiates R2D transmission) by the clock acquisition information or the preamble in the first information, so as to predict that the ambient energy device will transmit the third information (initiates D2R transmission), and thus determine the time for transmitting the carrier.

[0270] For determining the first time node:

[0271] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node according to the clock acquisition information or the preamble. In some embodiments, the first time node is a time unit in which a transmission time of the first information containing the clock acquisition information or the preamble is located, the transmission time comprising at least one of a sending time and a receiving time, and the carrier providing node determining that the first information is received can be understood as the carrier providing node determining that the R2D transmission is received.

[0272] In some embodiments, in the case where the format of the first information conforms to a fixed pattern corresponding to the clock acquisition information, the carrier providing node determines the first time node according to the time at which the first information is received. The carrier providing node determining that the format of the first information conforms to the fixed pattern can be understood as the carrier providing node determining that the R2D transmission is received. In some embodiments, the fixed pattern corresponding to the clock acquisition information is composed of at least one of a high level and a low level. In some embodiments, the fixed pattern corresponding to the clock acquisition information is predefined by a communication protocol.

[0273] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node according to a time at which the first information is received, in a case that the sequence of the first information is related to or identical to a local sequence. The local sequence corresponds to the preamble, and the local sequence is a sequence corresponding to the preamble. The carrier providing node determines that the sequence of the first information is related to or identical to the local sequence, which can be understood as that the carrier providing node determines that the R2D transmission is received. In some embodiments, the local sequence is formed by a combination of at least one of 0 and 1. In some embodiments, the local sequence is predefined by a communication protocol.

[0274] For determining the time of sending the carrier:

[0275] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the second information according to the received configuration information, and determines the start time and the duration of sending the carrier one or more times according to the second information and the first time node. In a case that the carrier providing node determines the time of sending the carrier once, the carrier providing node determines the start time and the duration of sending the carrier once; in a case that the carrier providing node determines the time of sending the carrier multiple times, the carrier providing node determines the start time and the duration of sending the carrier each time. In some embodiments, in a case that the carrier providing node determines the time of sending the carrier multiple times, the carrier providing node further determines at least one of the number of times of sending the carrier and the interval between adjacent times of sending the carrier.

[0276] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time duration value. In the process of determining the time of sending the carrier once, the carrier providing node determines the start time of sending the carrier according to the first time node, and determines the duration of sending the carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node as the start time of sending the carrier, i.e., the carrier providing node starts to send the carrier from the first time node. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines that the duration of sending the carrier is greater than or equal to the time duration value.

[0277] For example, FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of the process of sending the carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 16, the second information includes a time duration value 1601, and the first time node is determined according to the time of the R2D transmission 1602. The carrier providing node starts to send the carrier from the first time node, and determines the duration of sending the carrier according to the time duration value 1601.

[0278] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time offset value and a time duration value. In determining the time of transmitting the carrier by the carrier providing node, the carrier providing node determines a start time of transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the time offset value, and determines a duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier as the sum of the first time node and the time offset value, or the difference between the first time node and the time offset value, i.e., the carrier providing node starts to transmit the carrier at the time point of the first time node offset by the time offset value backward, or the carrier providing node starts to transmit the carrier at the time point of the first time node offset by the time offset value forward. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the duration of transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the time duration value.

[0279] For example, FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a process of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 17, the second information includes a time offset value 1701 and a time duration value 1702, and the first time node is determined according to the time of R2D transmission 1703. The carrier providing node starts to transmit the carrier at the time point of the first time node offset by the time offset value 1701 backward, and determines the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration value 1702.

[0280] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time offset value, a time duration value, a time interval, and a number of times of transmitting the carrier. In determining the time of transmitting the carrier by the carrier providing node, the carrier providing node determines a start time of transmitting the carrier for the first time according to the first time node and the time offset value, determines a duration of transmitting the carrier each time according to the time duration value, and determines an interval between adjacent times of transmitting the carrier according to the time interval. The number of times of transmitting the carrier is used to indicate the number of times of transmitting the carrier by the carrier providing node. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier for the first time as the sum of the first time node and the time offset value, or the difference between the first time node and the time offset value, i.e., the carrier providing node starts to transmit the carrier for the first time at the time point of the first time node offset by the time offset value backward, or the carrier providing node starts to transmit the carrier for the first time at the time point of the first time node offset by the time offset value forward. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the duration of transmitting the carrier each time to be greater than or equal to the time duration value, and the duration of transmitting the carrier each time is the same or different. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the time interval as the interval between any adjacent times of transmitting the carrier in the process of transmitting the carrier for multiple times.

[0281] For example, FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of a process of sending a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 18, the second information includes a time offset value 1801, a time duration value 1802, a time interval 1803, and a carrier sending times. The first time node is determined according to the time of the R2D transmission 1804. The carrier providing node determines to send the carrier three times according to the carrier sending times, and the carrier providing node sends the carrier for the first time at a time point after the first time node and offsetting the time offset value 1801, and determines the duration of each sending of the carrier according to the time duration value 1802, and determines the interval between adjacent two sending of the carrier according to the time interval 1803.

[0282] After determining the time of sending the carrier, the carrier providing node sends the carrier according to the determined time, so that the ambient energy device receives the carrier and transmits outwardly by backscattering. In some embodiments, after receiving the carrier, the ambient energy device modulates the data to be sent on the carrier, for example, can use OOK modulation, thereby generating a modulated waveform for outward transmission.

[0283] In summary, the method provided by the embodiment determines the start time and the duration of sending the carrier by the carrier providing node according to the first information sent by the network device or the intermediate node, which can realize that the carrier providing node sends the carrier on demand instead of continuously sending the carrier, and can avoid the situation that the carrier providing node consumes a large amount of power and continuously interferes in the case of continuously sending the carrier. In addition, the method can also realize accurate control of the time period of sending the carrier, which helps to improve the resource utilization rate. In addition, the method can realize that the carrier providing node does not need to frequently interact with the network device to determine the start time and the duration of sending the carrier, which greatly saves the signaling and overhead.

[0284] The method provided by the embodiment further determines the second information according to the configuration information, and determines the time of sending the carrier by the carrier providing node according to the second information and the first time node, which realizes that the time of sending the carrier is determined according to the configuration of the network and the current transmission situation, and helps to improve the accuracy of sending the carrier. By determining the first time node according to the clock acquisition information or the preamble, the start time of sending the carrier can be accurately determined in the case that the carrier providing node cannot decode the first information. By identifying the first information according to the format of the information or the sequence of the information, the received information is simply and accurately identified. By determining the duration of sending the carrier according to the time duration value and the time offset value, the duration of sending the carrier each time can be flexibly determined according to the configuration of the network. By determining the start time and the duration of sending the carrier according to the time offset value, the time duration value, the time interval, and the carrier sending times, the start time and the duration of sending the carrier each time can be flexibly determined according to the configuration of the network.

[0285] For the second case described above:

[0286] FIG. 19 is a flow chart illustrating a method of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application. The method can be used in the system of FIG. 11. The method includes the following steps:

[0287] Step 1902: The network device sends first information to the carrier providing node.

[0288] In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted by the network device via R2D transmission. In some embodiments, the target of the first information includes at least one of the ambient energy device and the carrier providing node. For example, the first information is transmitted to the ambient energy device via R2D transmission. In this case, the target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device, which is configured to receive and decode the first information transmitted via the R2D transmission. Alternatively, the target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device and / or the carrier providing node, i.e., the carrier providing node can also be one of the destinations of the R2D transmission. The R2D transmission includes transmission on the R2D link, and due to the propagation characteristics of radio waves in space, the carrier providing node can receive the transmission on the R2D link even if it is not the target of the R2D transmission.

[0289] In some embodiments, the ambient energy device includes a device that is driven by using ambient energy, such as radio frequency energy, light energy, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, etc. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device has no or limited energy storage capability. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device is equivalent to / replaceable by a zero-power device, a zero-power IoT device, an ambient energy IoT (A-IoT) device, a passive IoT device.

[0290] The carrier providing node includes any node that supports providing a carrier to the ambient energy device. The carrier providing node is configured to provide a carrier to the ambient energy device, which is used for backscattering by the ambient energy device to achieve external transmission. In some embodiments, the carrier provided by the carrier providing node to the ambient energy device includes a single-frequency sinusoidal wave. The carrier providing node has a communication connection with the network device. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node includes a CWN. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is implemented as a terminal-type node.

[0291] The first information is used by the carrier providing node to determine a first time node, which is used by the carrier providing node to determine a time for transmitting the carrier. In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of: service data information; control information; clock acquisition information; and a preamble. The service data information comprises information related to a service of the ambient energy device. The control information is used to control the ambient energy device. The clock acquisition information is used to indicate acquisition of a clock of the ambient energy device. The preamble is used in an access procedure of the ambient energy device.

[0292] At step 1904, the intermediate node transmits the first information to the carrier providing node.

[0293] In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted by the intermediate node via R2D transmission. In this case, the first information transmitted by the intermediate node can be information directly forwarded by the intermediate node, or information retransmitted by the intermediate node after processing the information transmitted by the network device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0294] The intermediate node is used to implement bidirectional communication between the network device and the ambient energy device. The intermediate node is located between the network device and the ambient energy device, and has a communication connection with the network device and the ambient energy device respectively. In some embodiments, the intermediate node is used to relay signaling and / or data between the network device and the ambient energy device. In some embodiments, the intermediate node comprises at least one of a relay, an IAB node, a terminal, and a repeater. In some embodiments, the intermediate node is a terminal under network control.

[0295] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is different from the network device and the intermediate node. In this case, the carrier providing node comprises a third party node other than the network device and the intermediate node in the topology 1 shown in FIG. 5 or the topology 2 shown in FIG. 6. In the case where the carrier providing node belongs to the topology 1, the first information is information transmitted by the network device. In the case where the carrier providing node belongs to the topology 2, the first information is information transmitted by the intermediate node or the network device.

[0296] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is the intermediate node. In this case, the carrier providing node is the intermediate node in the topology 2 shown in FIG. 6, and the first information is information transmitted by the network device. At this time, the carrier providing node is used to implement bidirectional communication between the network device and the ambient energy device, and is also used to provide the ambient energy device with a carrier for backscattering.

[0297] It should be noted that the step 1902 and the step 1904 are parallel steps, and the first information in the step 1902 and the step 1904 is the same. When the method provided in the embodiments of the present application is executed, one of the step 1902 and the step 1904 can be selected to be executed. For example, in the topology 1 of the ambient energy device, the step 1902 is executed; and in the topology 2 of the ambient energy device, the step 1904 is executed.

[0298] The step 1906: the network device sends configuration information to the carrier providing node.

[0299] The configuration information is used to determine the second information, and the second information and the first time node are used to determine the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier. In some embodiments, the second information is carried in the configuration information, or information used to determine the second information is carried in the configuration information.

[0300] In some embodiments, the second information includes at least one of the following information: a time offset value; a time duration value; a time interval; a carrier transmission number; a time advance amount; and a duration extension amount. In some embodiments, the time offset value, the time duration value, the time interval, the time advance amount, and the duration extension amount are in at least one of the following units: microsecond, millisecond, and second.

[0301] The step 1908: the carrier providing node determines the first time node according to the service data information and / or the control information, and determines the time at which the carrier is transmitted according to the first time node and the second information.

[0302] In the second case, the carrier providing node can decode the service data information and / or the control information in the first information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node, so as to obtain accurate scheduling information, and thus obtain the accurate start transmission time of the third information. The scheduling information is used to schedule the third information, and the third information includes information transmitted by the ambient energy device to the network device or the intermediate node according to the first information. In some embodiments, the third information is transmitted through D2R transmission. In this case, the carrier providing node can obtain the start transmission time of the third information by receiving / decoding the service data information on the R2D link, or receiving / decoding the control information on the R2D link, or receiving / decoding the service data information and the control information on the R2D link, which can be understood as obtaining the start time of the D2R transmission. After obtaining the start transmission time of the third information, the carrier providing node can determine the time at which the carrier is transmitted according to the time.

[0303] For determining the first time node:

[0304] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node according to at least one of the service data information and the control information in the first information. It can be understood that the carrier providing node determines the first time node according to the received R2D transmission, and the R2D transmission is used to transmit at least one of the service data information and the control information. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start transmission time of the third information by decoding at least one of the service data information and the control information in the first information, so as to determine the first time node. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start transmission time of the third information as the first time node.

[0305] For determining the time of transmitting the carrier:

[0306] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the second information according to the received configuration information, so as to determine the start time and the duration of transmitting the carrier one or more times according to the second information and the first time node.

[0307] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time duration value. In the process of determining the time of transmitting the carrier one time, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier according to the first time node, and determines the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier as the first time node, that is, the carrier providing node starts to transmit the carrier from the first time node. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines that the duration of transmitting the carrier is greater than or equal to the time duration value.

[0308] For example, FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of the process of transmitting the carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 20, the second information includes a time duration value 2001, and the first time node is determined by decoding the R2D transmission 2002 to obtain the time of the D2R transmission 2003. The carrier providing node starts to transmit the carrier from the first time node, and determines the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration value 2001.

[0309] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time duration value and a time advance. In the process of determining the time of transmitting the carrier one time, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the time advance, and determines the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time advance and the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier as the time of advancing the first time node by the time advance, that is, the carrier providing node starts to transmit the carrier from the time of advancing the first time node by the time advance. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines that the duration of transmitting the carrier is greater than or equal to the sum of the time duration value and the time advance.

[0310] In some embodiments, the second information comprises a time duration value and a time duration extension. In determining the time of transmitting the carrier, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the time duration value, and determines the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration extension. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier as the first time node, i.e., the carrier providing node starts transmitting the carrier from the first time node. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the duration of transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the sum of the time duration value and the time duration extension.

[0311] In some embodiments, the second information comprises a time duration value, a time advance value and a time duration extension. In determining the time of transmitting the carrier, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the time advance value, and determines the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time advance value, the time duration value and the time duration extension. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier as the time point of the first time node advanced by the time advance value, i.e., the carrier providing node starts transmitting the carrier from the time point of the first time node advanced by the time advance value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the duration of transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the sum of the time duration value, the time advance value and the time duration extension, which can be understood as that the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the time advance value in advance, and after determining the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration value from the first time node, determines the end time of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration extension. For example, after transmitting the carrier for the time duration value, the carrier providing node extends the time of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration extension.

[0312] For example, FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of a process of transmitting a carrier according to an example embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 21, the second information comprises a time advance value 2101, a time duration value 2102 and a time duration extension 2103. The first time node is determined by decoding the R2D transmission 2104 to obtain the time of the D2R transmission 2105. The carrier providing node transmits the carrier in advance of the first time node according to the time advance value 2101, and determines the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration value 2102 from the first time node, and after transmitting the carrier for the time duration value 2102, extends the time of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration extension 2103.

[0313] After determining the time of sending the carrier, the carrier providing node sends the carrier according to the determined time, so that the ambient energy device receives the carrier and transmits outward by backscattering. In some embodiments, after receiving the carrier, the ambient energy device modulates the data to be sent on the carrier, for example, by using OOK modulation, thereby generating a modulated waveform for outward transmission.

[0314] To sum up, the method provided in this embodiment determines the start time and duration of sending the carrier by the carrier providing node according to the first information sent by the network device or the intermediate node. The carrier providing node can send the carrier on demand instead of continuously sending the carrier, which can avoid the situation that the carrier providing node consumes a large amount of power and continuously interferes in the case of continuously sending the carrier. In addition, the method can also accurately control the time period of sending the carrier, which helps to improve the resource utilization. Moreover, the carrier providing node can determine the start time and duration of sending the carrier without frequent information interaction with the network device, which greatly saves the signaling and overhead.

[0315] The method provided in this embodiment further determines the second information according to the configuration information, and determines the time of sending the carrier by the carrier providing node according to the second information and the first time node, which realizes determining the time of sending the carrier according to the configuration of the network and the current transmission situation, and helps to improve the accuracy of sending the carrier. By determining the first time node according to the service data information and / or the control information, the method accurately determines the time of transmitting information by the ambient energy device in the case that the carrier providing node can decode the first information, thereby improving the accuracy of determining the start time of sending the carrier. By determining the start time and duration of sending the carrier according to the time advance and the duration extension, since the ambient energy device may have an inaccurate clock timing, the start time and end time of outward transmission by the ambient energy device may be advanced or delayed. By reserving a certain amount of time before and after the transmission of the ambient energy device according to the time advance and the duration extension, the carrier providing node can accurately provide the carrier for the ambient energy device when the ambient energy device transmits according to its own clock.

[0316] For the third case described above:

[0317] FIG. 22 is a flowchart of a carrier sending method provided in an example embodiment of the present application. The method can be used in the system shown in FIG. 11. The method includes the following steps:

[0318] Step 2202: The network device sends first information to the carrier providing node.

[0319] In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted by the network device through the R2D transmission. In some embodiments, the transmission target of the first information comprises at least one of the ambient energy device and the carrier providing node. For example, the first information is information transmitted to the ambient energy device through the R2D transmission. In this case, the transmission target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device, and the ambient energy device is configured to receive and decode the first information transmitted through the R2D transmission. Alternatively, the transmission target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device and / or the carrier providing node, that is, the carrier providing node can also be one of the destinations of the R2D transmission. The R2D transmission comprises transmission on the R2D link, and due to the propagation characteristics of radio waves in space, the carrier providing node can receive the transmission on the R2D link even if the carrier providing node is not the target of the R2D transmission.

[0320] In some embodiments, the ambient energy device comprises a device driven by using ambient energy, such as wireless radio frequency energy, light energy, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, and the like. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device has no energy storage capability or has limited energy storage capability. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device is equivalent to / replacable by a zero-power device, a zero-power Internet of Things (IoT) device, an ambient energy IoT (A-IoT) device, or a passive IoT device.

[0321] The carrier providing node comprises any node supporting providing a carrier to the ambient energy device. The carrier providing node is configured to provide a carrier to the ambient energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the ambient energy device, and the ambient energy device implements external transmission through backscattering. In some embodiments, the carrier provided by the carrier providing node to the ambient energy device comprises a single-frequency sinusoidal wave. The carrier providing node has a communication connection with the network device. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node comprises a CWN. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is implemented as a terminal type node.

[0322] The first information is used for the carrier providing node to determine the first time node, and the first time node is used for the carrier providing node to determine the time of transmitting the carrier.

[0323] Step 2204: The intermediate node transmits the first information to the carrier providing node.

[0324] In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted by the intermediate node through the R2D transmission. In this case, the first information transmitted by the intermediate node can be information directly forwarded by the intermediate node from the network device, or can be information retransmitted by the intermediate node after processing the information transmitted by the network device, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0325] The intermediate node is configured to implement bidirectional communication between the network device and the ambient energy device. The intermediate node is located between the network device and the ambient energy device, and has a communication connection with the network device and the ambient energy device respectively. In some embodiments, the intermediate node is configured to relay signaling and / or data between the network device and the ambient energy device. In some embodiments, the intermediate node comprises at least one of a relay, an IAB node, a terminal, and a repeater. In some embodiments, the intermediate node is a terminal under network control.

[0326] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is different from the network device and the intermediate node. In this case, the carrier providing node comprises a third party node in addition to the network device and the intermediate node in the topology 1 shown in FIG. 5 or the topology 2 shown in FIG. 6. In the case where the carrier providing node belongs to the topology 1, the first information is the information transmitted by the network device. In the case where the carrier providing node belongs to the topology 2, the first information is the information transmitted by the intermediate node or the network device.

[0327] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is the intermediate node. In this case, the carrier providing node is the intermediate node in the topology 2 shown in FIG. 6, and the first information is the information transmitted by the network device. At this time, in addition to being configured to implement bidirectional communication between the network device and the ambient energy device, the carrier providing node is also configured to provide the carrier for backscattering to the ambient energy device.

[0328] It should be noted that the steps 2202 and 2204 are parallel steps, and the first information in the steps 2202 and 2204 is the same. When the method provided by the embodiments of the present application is executed, one of the steps 2202 and 2204 can be executed. For example, in the topology 1 of the ambient energy device, the step 2202 is executed; in the topology 2 of the ambient energy device, the step 2204 is executed.

[0329] Step 2206: The network device sends configuration information to the carrier providing node.

[0330] The configuration information is used to determine the second information, and the second information and the first time node are used to determine the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier. In some embodiments, the second information is carried in the configuration information, or information used to determine the second information is carried in the configuration information.

[0331] In some embodiments, the second information comprises at least one of the following information: a time offset value; a time duration value; a time interval; a carrier transmission number; a time advance amount; and a duration extension amount. In some embodiments, the time offset value, the time duration value, the time interval, the time advance amount, and the duration extension amount have a unit of at least one of microsecond, millisecond, and second.

[0332] Step 2208: The carrier providing node determines a first time node according to the first information, and determines the time of sending the carrier according to the first time node and the second information.

[0333] In the third case, the first information is information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node to the environmental energy device under the time slot based ALOHA mechanism. For the introduction of the time slot based ALOHA mechanism, reference can be made to the related description of FIG. 7, and the embodiments of the present application do not repeat them here.

[0334] For the first way of determining the time of sending the carrier:

[0335] In the time slot based ALOHA mechanism, the reader (network device or intermediate node) can be divided into multiple inventory cycles for round-robin inventory, and a new round of inventory cycle can be instructed to start by sending a query instruction. In the first way, the time of sending the carrier by the carrier providing node can be determined in the dimension of the inventory cycle.

[0336] In some embodiments, the first time node determined by the carrier providing node is related to the query instruction sent by the reader. In the case where the first information is the query instruction in the time slot based ALOHA mechanism, the first time node is determined by the carrier providing node according to the sending time of the first information, which can be understood as that the first time node is determined according to the sending time of the R2D transmission carrying the query instruction, that is, the sending time of the carrier will not be updated when the carrier providing node receives other transmissions sent by the reader. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the end time of the sending time of the first information as the first time node.

[0337] In some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of service data information and control information, and the carrier providing node determines that the first information is the query instruction by decoding at least one of the service data information and the control information. It can be understood that the carrier providing node decodes the control information and / or data information carried by the R2D transmission, so as to know that the reader sends the query instruction.

[0338] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time duration value, and the time duration value is related to a first parameter in the query instruction, and the first parameter is used to indicate the maximum number of slots in one inventory cycle of the time slot based ALOHA mechanism. For example, the purpose of making the time duration value related to the first parameter is to make the duration of sending the carrier cover the entire inventory cycle. In some embodiments, the first parameter includes the Q value in the query instruction. In some embodiments, the time duration value is equal to the product of the maximum duration and the above-mentioned maximum number of slots, and the maximum duration is the maximum duration of one slot in one inventory cycle of the time slot based ALOHA mechanism.

[0339] It should be noted that, as mentioned earlier, in the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism, each time slot is not of fixed duration. If an environmental energy device is connected within a time slot, that time slot will have a longer duration; if no environmental energy device is connected within a time slot, that time slot will have a shorter duration. To ensure that the duration covers the entire inventory cycle, the maximum duration (K) of a time slot within the inventory cycle can be limited, and the maximum number of time slots in the inventory cycle is 2. Q -1, then the duration value is equal to K*(2 Q -1). When the carrier providing node receives the query command again, it will re-determine the start time and duration of the carrier transmission and transmit the carrier accordingly.

[0340] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of transmitting the carrier based on the first time node and the duration of transmitting the carrier based on the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node as the start time of transmitting the carrier and the time duration value as the duration of transmitting the carrier.

[0341] For example, Figure 23 is a schematic diagram of a carrier transmission process provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 23, the carrier providing node determines a first time node based on the transmission time of the query instruction 2301. The second information includes a time duration value, which is not less than the duration of the entire inventory period 2302. The carrier providing node starts transmitting the carrier from the first time node and determines the duration of the transmitted carrier according to the time duration value.

[0342] Regarding the second method for determining the timing of carrier transmission:

[0343] In the second approach, the time at which the carrier-providing node transmits the carrier can be defined by the time slot dimension.

[0344] In some embodiments, the first time node determined by the carrier providing node is related to the query command and query repeat command sent by the reader. When the first information is a query command or query repeat command in a slot-based ALOHA mechanism, the carrier providing node determines the first time node based on the transmission time of the first information. This can be understood as the first time node being determined based on the transmission time of the R2D transmission carrying the query command or query repeat command; that is, the carrier providing node will not update the transmission time of the carrier when it receives other transmissions sent by the reader. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node as the end time of the transmission of the first information.

[0345] In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of service data information and control information, and the carrier providing node determines that the first information is the query instruction or the query repetition instruction by decoding the at least one of the service data information and the control information. It can be understood that the carrier providing node decodes the control information and / or the data information carried by the R2D transmission, so as to know that the reader sends the query instruction or the query repetition instruction.

[0346] In some embodiments, the second information comprises a time duration value, and the time duration value is related to a time length of a time slot in one inventory cycle of the time slot based ALOHA mechanism. For example, the purpose of making the time duration value related to the time length of the time slot is to make the time length of the transmitted carrier cover the whole time slot. In some embodiments, the time duration value is equal to a maximum time length, and the maximum time length is a maximum time length of a time slot in one inventory cycle of the time slot based ALOHA mechanism.

[0347] It should be noted that according to the foregoing content, it can be known that each time slot in the time slot based ALOHA mechanism is not a fixed time length. In order to ensure that the time duration value can cover the whole time slot, the maximum time length of a time slot in the inventory cycle can be limited, and the time duration value is equal to the maximum time length. When the carrier providing node receives the query instruction or the query repetition instruction again, the start time and the time length of the transmitted carrier are determined again, and the carrier is transmitted according to the start time and the time length.

[0348] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of the transmitted carrier according to the first time node, and determines the time length of the transmitted carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of the transmitted carrier as the first time node, and determines the time length of the transmitted carrier as the time duration value.

[0349] For example, FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of a process of transmitting a carrier provided by an example embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 24, the carrier providing node determines a first time node according to the transmission time of the query instruction 2401 or the query repetition instruction 2402. The second information comprises a time duration value, and the time duration value is not less than the time length of the whole time slot 2403. The carrier providing node starts to transmit the carrier from the first time node, and determines the time length of the transmitted carrier according to the time duration value.

[0350] For the third way of determining the time of transmitting the carrier:

[0351] In the third mode, the reader cannot know the state of the ambient energy device in advance during the inventory of the ambient energy device by the reader, i.e. the reader does not know whether the ambient energy device will access in each time slot. However, the reader expects the ambient energy device to send the corresponding information (D2R transmission) each time the reader sends the first information (R2D transmission). In the third mode, for the carrier providing node, it can be understood that as long as it is determined that the reader sends the first information, it is necessary to provide the backscattering carrier for the ambient energy device by default.

[0352] In some embodiments, the first time node determined by the carrier providing node is related to the transmission time of the first information, and the time duration value in the second information is related to the transmission time of the third information. The third information includes the information transmitted by the ambient energy device to the network device or the intermediate node according to the first information under the time slot based ALOHA mechanism. In some embodiments, the first information includes any information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node to the ambient energy device under the time slot based ALOHA mechanism. For example, the first time node is related to the transmission sent by the reader, the carrier providing node does not distinguish the information sent by the R2D transmission, and the time duration value is related to the D2R transmission corresponding to the R2D transmission. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the transmission time of the first information as the first time node. In some embodiments, the time duration value is equal to the transmission time length of the third information.

[0353] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time of the carrier transmission according to the first time node, and determines the duration of the carrier transmission according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the first time node as the start time of the carrier transmission, and determines the time duration value as the duration of the carrier transmission.

[0354] After determining the time of the carrier transmission, the carrier providing node will transmit the carrier according to the determined time, so that the ambient energy device receives the carrier and transmits externally by backscattering. In some embodiments, after receiving the carrier, the ambient energy device modulates the data to be transmitted onto the carrier, for example, can use OOK modulation, thereby generating a modulated waveform for external transmission.

[0355] In summary, the method provided in this embodiment determines the start time and duration of carrier transmission by the carrier-providing node based on first information sent by the network device or intermediate node. This allows the carrier-providing node to transmit carriers on demand, rather than continuously, avoiding the excessive power consumption and continuous interference that occur with continuous carrier transmission. Furthermore, it enables precise control of the carrier transmission time period, helping to improve resource utilization. Additionally, it allows the carrier-providing node to determine the start time and duration of carrier transmission without frequent information interaction with the network device, significantly saving signaling and overhead.

[0356] The method provided in this embodiment further determines the carrier transmission time of the carrier-providing node by determining the second information based on the configuration information, and then determines the carrier transmission time based on the second information and the first time node. This enables the determination of the carrier transmission time based on the network configuration and the current transmission situation, which helps improve the accuracy of carrier transmission. For the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism, when defining the carrier transmission time of the carrier-providing node in the dimension of inventory period, by relating the time duration value to the first parameter, it can be ensured that the duration of the transmitted carrier can cover the entire inventory period. When defining the carrier transmission time of the carrier-providing node in the dimension of time slot, by relating the time duration value to the duration of a time slot, it can be ensured that the duration of the transmitted carrier can cover the entire time slot. Without considering the type of information transmitted by the reader, by relating the first time node to the transmission time of the first information and the time duration value to the transmission time of the third information, it can be ensured that the carrier-providing node can accurately provide carrier for the environmental energy device during transmission.

[0357] It should be noted that the order of the method steps provided in the embodiments of this application can be appropriately adjusted, and the steps can be added or removed as appropriate. Furthermore, different steps can be freely combined to form new embodiments. Any variations that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application should be included within the protection scope of this application, and therefore will not be elaborated further. In addition, the order of the different situations described above does not have a preferred meaning, but is only for convenience of description.

[0358] Figure 25 is a block diagram of a carrier transmission apparatus provided in an exemplary embodiment of this application. This apparatus can be implemented as a carrier providing node, or as part of a carrier providing node, through software, hardware, or a combination of both. The apparatus includes a receiving module 2501 and a determining module 2502.

[0359] The receiving module 2501 is used to receive the first information.

[0360] The first information includes information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node, i.e., the first information is information transmitted by the network device, or the first information is information transmitted by the intermediate node. In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted by the network device through R2D transmission. In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted by the intermediate node through R2D transmission, in which case the first information transmitted by the intermediate node can be information transmitted by the network device and directly forwarded by the intermediate node, or can be information retransmitted by the intermediate node after processing the information transmitted by the network device, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0361] In some embodiments, the sending target of the first information includes at least one of the ambient energy device and the apparatus. For example, the first information is information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node to the ambient energy device through R2D transmission. In this case, the sending target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device, which is used to receive and decode the first information transmitted through the R2D transmission. Alternatively, the sending target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device and / or the apparatus, i.e., the apparatus can also be one of the destinations of the R2D transmission. The R2D transmission includes transmission on the R2D link, and due to the propagation characteristics of radio waves in space, even if the apparatus is not the target of the R2D transmission, the apparatus can also receive the transmission on the R2D link.

[0362] The intermediate node is used to implement bidirectional communication between the network device and the ambient energy device. The intermediate node is located between the network device and the ambient energy device, and has a communication connection with the network device and the ambient energy device respectively. In some embodiments, the intermediate node is used to relay signaling and / or data between the network device and the ambient energy device. In some embodiments, the intermediate node includes at least one of a relay, an IAB node, a terminal, and a repeater. In some embodiments, the intermediate node is a terminal under network control.

[0363] In some embodiments, the ambient energy device includes a device driven by using ambient energy, such as wireless radio frequency energy, light energy, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, etc. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device has no energy storage capability or has limited energy storage capability. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device is equivalent to / replacable by a zero-power device, a zero-power Internet of Things device, an ambient energy Internet of Things (A-IoT) device, and a passive Internet of Things (passive IoT) device.

[0364] The apparatus includes any node that supports providing a carrier to an ambient energy device. The apparatus is configured to provide a carrier to an ambient energy device, the carrier being used for backscattering by the ambient energy device to achieve an outward transmission. In some embodiments, the carrier provided by the apparatus to the ambient energy device includes a single frequency sinusoidal wave. The apparatus has a communication connection with a network device. In some embodiments, the apparatus includes a CWN. In some embodiments, the apparatus is implemented as a terminal type node.

[0365] In some embodiments, the apparatus is different from the network device and the intermediate node. In this case, the apparatus includes a third party node other than the network device and the intermediate node in the topology 1 shown in FIG. 5 or the topology 2 shown in FIG. 6. In the case where the apparatus belongs to the topology 1, the first information is information transmitted by the network device. In the case where the apparatus belongs to the topology 2, the first information is information transmitted by the intermediate node or the network device.

[0366] In some embodiments, the apparatus is the intermediate node. In this case, the apparatus is the intermediate node in the topology 2 shown in FIG. 6, and the first information is information transmitted by the network device. In this case, the apparatus is configured to implement bidirectional communication between the network device and the ambient energy device, and to provide a carrier used for backscattering by the ambient energy device.

[0367] The first information is used by the apparatus to determine a first time node, which is used by the apparatus to determine a time at which the carrier is transmitted. In some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of the following: service data information; control information; clock acquisition information; and a preamble. The service data information includes information related to a service of the ambient energy device, the control information is used to control the ambient energy device, the clock acquisition information is used to indicate acquisition of a clock of the ambient energy device, and the preamble is used in an access procedure of the ambient energy device.

[0368] In some embodiments, the time at which the carrier is transmitted by the apparatus includes at least one of a start time and a duration of the carrier. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the start time at which the carrier is transmitted by the apparatus according to the first time node. The apparatus determines the duration of the carrier transmitted by the apparatus according to its own implementation, an indication of the network, a protocol predefinition, or other information.

[0369] In some embodiments, the receiving module 2501 is configured to receive configuration information, wherein the configuration information is used to determine second information, and the second information and the first time node are used to determine the time at which the apparatus transmits a carrier. In some embodiments, the configuration information carries the second information or information used to determine the second information. In some embodiments, the configuration information is transmitted by a network device to the apparatus. In some embodiments, the second information includes at least one of the following: a time offset value; a time duration value; a time interval; a carrier transmission number; a time advance value; and a time duration extension value. In some embodiments, the time offset value, the time duration value, the time interval, the time advance value, and the time duration extension value are in at least one of the following units: microsecond, millisecond, and second.

[0370] In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the time at which the apparatus transmits a carrier according to the first time node and the second information. The apparatus determines the start time at which the apparatus transmits a carrier according to at least one of the first time node and the second information. The apparatus determines the duration of the carrier transmitted by the apparatus according to the second information.

[0371] After determining the time at which the carrier is transmitted, the apparatus transmits the carrier at the determined time, so that the ambient energy device can receive the carrier and transmit outwardly by backscattering. In some embodiments, after receiving the carrier, the ambient energy device modulates data to be transmitted onto the carrier, for example, by using OOK modulation, thereby generating a modulated waveform for outward transmission.

[0372] For the first case of determining the time at which the carrier is transmitted:

[0373] In the first case, the apparatus cannot decode the service data information and / or control information in the first information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node, so as to obtain accurate scheduling information. The scheduling information is used to schedule third information, wherein the third information includes information transmitted by the ambient energy device to the network device or the intermediate node according to the first information. In the case where the first information is transmitted by the network device, the third information is transmitted by the ambient energy device to the network device according to the first information. In the case where the first information is transmitted by the intermediate node, the third information is transmitted by the ambient energy device to the intermediate node according to the first information. In some embodiments, the third information is transmitted by D2R transmission. In this case, the apparatus can determine the time at which the carrier is transmitted by judging that the network device or the intermediate node transmits the first information (initiates R2D transmission) through the clock acquisition information or the preamble in the first information, predicting that the ambient energy device will soon transmit the third information (initiates D2R transmission), and determining the time at which the carrier is transmitted.

[0374] For determining the first time node:

[0375] In some embodiments, the determining module 2502 is configured to determine the first time node according to the clock acquisition information or the preamble. In some embodiments, the first time node is a time unit in which the transmission time of the first information containing the clock acquisition information or the preamble is located, the transmission time including at least one of the sending time and the receiving time, and the determination of the receiving of the first information by the apparatus can be understood as the determination of the receiving of the R2D transmission by the apparatus.

[0376] In some embodiments, the determining module 2502 is configured to determine the first time node according to the time at which the first information is received, when the format of the first information conforms to a fixed pattern corresponding to the clock acquisition information. The determination of the format of the first information by the apparatus conforming to the fixed pattern can be understood as the determination of the receiving of the R2D transmission by the apparatus. In some embodiments, the fixed pattern corresponding to the clock acquisition information is a combination of at least one of a high level and a low level. In some embodiments, the fixed pattern corresponding to the clock acquisition information is predefined by a communication protocol.

[0377] In some embodiments, the determining module 2502 is configured to determine the first time node according to the time at which the first information is received, when the sequence of the first information is related to or identical to a local sequence. The local sequence corresponds to the preamble, and the local sequence is a sequence corresponding to the preamble. The determination of the sequence of the first information by the apparatus being related to or identical to the local sequence can be understood as the determination of the receiving of the R2D transmission by the apparatus. In some embodiments, the local sequence is a combination of at least one of 0 and 1. In some embodiments, the local sequence is predefined by a communication protocol.

[0378] For determining the time of sending the carrier:

[0379] In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the second information according to the received configuration information, and the determining module 2502 is configured to determine the start time and the duration of sending the carrier once or multiple times according to the second information and the first time node. When the apparatus determines the time of sending the carrier once, the apparatus determines the start time and the duration of sending the carrier once; and when the apparatus determines the time of sending the carrier multiple times, the apparatus determines the start time and the duration of sending the carrier each time. In some embodiments, when the apparatus determines the time of sending the carrier multiple times, the apparatus further determines at least one of the number of times of sending the carrier and the interval between adjacent sending of the carrier.

[0380] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time duration value. In determining the time for transmitting the carrier once, the determining module 2502 is configured to determine a start time for transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and determine a duration for transmitting the carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the first time node as the start time for transmitting the carrier, i.e., the apparatus starts transmitting the carrier from the first time node. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the duration for transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the time duration value.

[0381] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time offset value and a time duration value. In determining the time for transmitting the carrier once, the determining module 2502 is configured to determine a start time for transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the time offset value and determine a duration for transmitting the carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the sum of the first time node and the time offset value, or the difference between the first time node and the time offset value, as the start time for transmitting the carrier, i.e., the apparatus starts transmitting the carrier at the time point obtained by shifting the first time node backward by the time offset value, or the apparatus starts transmitting the carrier at the time point obtained by shifting the first time node forward by the time offset value. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the duration for transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the time duration value.

[0382] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time offset value, a time duration value, a time interval, and a number of times for transmitting the carrier. In determining the time for transmitting the carrier multiple times, the determining module 2502 is configured to determine a start time for transmitting the carrier for the first time according to the first time node and the time offset value, determine a duration for transmitting the carrier each time according to the time duration value, and determine an interval between adjacent times for transmitting the carrier according to the time interval. The number of times for transmitting the carrier is used to indicate the number of times for transmitting the carrier by the apparatus. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the sum of the first time node and the time offset value, or the difference between the first time node and the time offset value, as the start time for transmitting the carrier for the first time, i.e., the apparatus starts transmitting the carrier for the first time at the time point obtained by shifting the first time node backward by the time offset value, or the apparatus starts transmitting the carrier for the first time at the time point obtained by shifting the first time node forward by the time offset value. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the duration for transmitting the carrier each time to be greater than or equal to the time duration value, and the duration for transmitting the carrier each time is the same or different. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the time interval to be the interval between any adjacent times for transmitting the carrier in the process of transmitting the carrier multiple times.

[0383] For the second case of determining the time for transmitting the carrier:

[0384] In the second case, the apparatus is capable of decoding service data information and / or control information in the first information sent by the network device or the intermediate node, so as to obtain accurate scheduling information, and thus obtain the accurate starting transmission time of the third information. The scheduling information is used for scheduling the third information, and the third information includes information transmitted by the ambient energy device to the network device or the intermediate node according to the first information. In some embodiments, the third information is sent through D2R transmission. In this case, the apparatus can obtain the starting transmission time of the third information by receiving / decoding service data information on the R2D link, or receiving / decoding control information on the R2D link, or receiving / decoding service data information and control information on the R2D link, which can be understood as obtaining the starting time of the D2R transmission. After obtaining the starting transmission time of the third information, the apparatus can determine the time of sending the carrier according to the time.

[0385] For determining the first time node:

[0386] In some embodiments, the determining module 2502 is configured to determine the first time node according to at least one of the service data information and the control information in the first information. It can be understood that the apparatus determines the first time node according to the received R2D transmission, and the R2D transmission is used to transmit at least one of the service data information and the control information. In some embodiments, the determining module 2502 is configured to determine the first time node by decoding at least one of the service data information and the control information in the first information to obtain the starting transmission time of the third information. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the starting transmission time of the third information as the first time node.

[0387] For determining the time of sending the carrier:

[0388] In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the second information according to the received configuration information, and the determining module 2502 is configured to determine the starting time and the duration of sending the carrier one or more times according to the second information and the first time node.

[0389] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time duration value. In the process of determining the time of sending the carrier, the determining module 2502 is configured to determine the starting time of sending the carrier according to the first time node, and determine the duration of sending the carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the first time node as the starting time of sending the carrier, that is, the apparatus starts to send the carrier from the first time node. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines that the duration of sending the carrier is greater than or equal to the time duration value.

[0390] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time duration value and a time advance. In determining the time of transmitting the carrier by the apparatus, the determining module 2502 is configured to determine the start time of transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the time advance, and determine the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time advance and the time duration value. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the time point of advancing the first time node by the time advance as the start time of transmitting the carrier, i.e., the apparatus starts transmitting the carrier at the time point of advancing the first time node by the time advance. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the duration of transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the sum of the time duration value and the time advance.

[0391] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time duration value and a time advance. In determining the time of transmitting the carrier by the apparatus, the determining module 2502 is configured to determine the start time of transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the time advance, and determine the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time advance and the time duration value. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the time point of advancing the first time node by the time advance as the start time of transmitting the carrier, i.e., the apparatus starts transmitting the carrier at the time point of advancing the first time node by the time advance. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the duration of transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the sum of the time duration value and the time advance.

[0392] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time duration value, a time advance and a time duration extension. In determining the time of transmitting the carrier by the apparatus, the determining module 2502 is configured to determine the start time of transmitting the carrier according to the first time node and the time advance, and determine the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time advance, the time duration value and the time duration extension. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the time point of advancing the first time node by the time advance as the start time of transmitting the carrier, i.e., the apparatus starts transmitting the carrier at the time point of advancing the first time node by the time advance. In some embodiments, the apparatus determines the duration of transmitting the carrier to be greater than or equal to the sum of the time duration value, the time advance and the time duration extension, which can be understood as that the apparatus advances the transmission of the carrier according to the time advance, and after determining the duration of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration value starting from the first time node, determines the end time of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration extension. For example, after transmitting the carrier for the time duration value, the apparatus extends the time of transmitting the carrier according to the time duration extension.

[0393] For the third case of determining the time of transmitting the carrier:

[0394] In the third case, the first information is the information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node to the environmental capable device under the slotted ALOHA mechanism. For the slotted ALOHA mechanism, refer to the related description of FIG. 7, which will not be repeated herein.

[0395] The first way for determining the time of sending the carrier wave:

[0396] In the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism, the reader (network device or intermediate node) can be divided into multiple inventory cycles for round-robin inventory, and a new round of inventory cycle can be indicated by sending a query instruction. In the first way, the time of sending the carrier wave of the device can be determined in the dimension of the inventory cycle.

[0397] In some embodiments, the first time node determined by the device is related to the query instruction sent by the reader. The determination module 2502 is configured to determine the first time node according to the sending time of the first information in the case that the first information is a query instruction in the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism. It can be understood that the first time node is determined according to the sending time of the R2D transmission carrying the query instruction, that is, the sending time of the carrier wave will not be updated when the device receives other transmissions sent by the reader. In some embodiments, the device determines the end time of the sending time of the first information as the first time node.

[0398] In some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of service data information and control information, and the determination module 2502 is configured to determine that the first information is a query instruction by decoding at least one of the service data information and the control information. It can be understood that the device decodes the control information and / or data information carried by the R2D transmission to know that the reader has sent a query instruction.

[0399] In some embodiments, the second information includes a time duration value, and the time duration value is related to a first parameter in the query instruction, and the first parameter is used to indicate the maximum number of slots in one inventory cycle of the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism. For example, the purpose of making the time duration value related to the first parameter is to make the duration of sending the carrier wave cover the entire inventory cycle. In some embodiments, the first parameter includes the Q value in the query instruction. In some embodiments, the time duration value is equal to the product of the maximum duration and the above-mentioned maximum number of slots, and the maximum duration is the maximum duration of one slot in one inventory cycle of the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

[0400] It should be noted that according to the foregoing content, each slot in the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism is not a fixed duration. If there is an environmental energy device accessing in the slot, the time occupied by the slot is longer. If there is no environmental energy device accessing in the slot, the time occupied by the slot is shorter. In order to ensure that the time duration value can cover the entire inventory cycle, the maximum duration (K) of one slot in the inventory cycle can be limited, and the maximum number of slots in the inventory cycle is 2 Q -1, then the time duration value is equal to K*(2 Q-1). When the device receives the query instruction again, it re-determines the start time and the duration of the transmission carrier.

[0401] In some embodiments, the device determines the start time of the transmission carrier according to the first time node, and determines the duration of the transmission carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the device determines the first time node as the start time of the transmission carrier, and determines the time duration value as the duration of the transmission carrier.

[0402] The second way of determining the time of the transmission carrier is as follows:

[0403] In the second way, the time of the transmission carrier of the device can be defined in the time slot dimension.

[0404] In some embodiments, the first time node determined by the device is related to the query instruction and the query repetition instruction sent by the reader. The determination module 2502 is configured to determine the first time node according to the sending time of the first information in the case that the first information is the query instruction or the query repetition instruction in the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism. It can be understood that the first time node is determined according to the sending time of the R2D transmission carrying the query instruction or the query repetition instruction, i.e., the time of the transmission carrier is not updated when the device receives other transmissions sent by the reader. In some embodiments, the device determines the end time of the sending time of the first information as the first time node.

[0405] In some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of the service data information and the control information, and the determination module 2502 is configured to determine that the first information is the query instruction or the query repetition instruction by decoding at least one of the service data information and the control information. It can be understood that the device decodes the control information and / or the data information carried by the R2D transmission, so as to know that the query instruction or the query repetition instruction is sent by the reader.

[0406] In some embodiments, the second information includes the time duration value, and the time duration value is related to the time length of a time slot in a check cycle of the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism. For example, the purpose of making the time duration value related to the time length of a time slot is to make the duration of the transmission carrier cover the entire time slot. In some embodiments, the time duration value is equal to the maximum time length, and the maximum time length is the maximum time length of a time slot in a check cycle of the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

[0407] It should be noted that according to the foregoing content, each time slot in the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism is not a fixed time length. To ensure that the time duration value can cover the entire time slot, the maximum time length of a time slot in the inventory cycle can be defined, and the time duration value is equal to the maximum time length. When the device receives the query instruction or the query repetition instruction again, the start time and the duration of the transmission carrier are determined again, and the transmission carrier is transmitted based on the start time and the duration.

[0408] In some embodiments, the device determines the start time of the transmission carrier according to the first time node, and determines the duration of the transmission carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the device determines the start time of the transmission carrier as the first time node, and determines the duration of the transmission carrier as the time duration value.

[0409] The third way of determining the time of the transmission carrier is as follows:

[0410] In the third way, in the process of inventorying the ambient energy device by the reader, the reader cannot know the state of the ambient energy device in advance, that is, the reader does not know whether the ambient energy device will access in each time slot. However, the reader expects the ambient energy device to send the corresponding information (D2R transmission) each time the reader sends the first information (R2D transmission). In the third way, for the device, it can be understood that as long as it is determined that the reader sends the first information, it is necessary to provide the backscattering carrier for the ambient energy device by default.

[0411] In some embodiments, the first time node determined by the device is related to the transmission time of the first information, and the time duration value in the second information is related to the transmission time of the third information. The third information includes the information transmitted by the ambient energy device to the network device or the intermediate node according to the first information under the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism. In some embodiments, the first information includes any information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node to the ambient energy device under the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism. For example, the first time node is related to the transmission sent by the reader, and the device does not distinguish the information sent by the R2D transmission, and the time duration value is related to the D2R transmission corresponding to the R2D transmission. In some embodiments, the device determines the transmission time of the first information as the first time node. In some embodiments, the time duration value is equal to the transmission duration of the third information.

[0412] In some embodiments, the device determines the start time of the transmission carrier according to the first time node, and determines the duration of the transmission carrier according to the time duration value. In some embodiments, the device determines the start time of the transmission carrier as the first time node, and determines the duration of the transmission carrier as the time duration value.

[0413] In some embodiments, the apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application includes a receiving module 2501 which supports performing all the receiving steps performed by the carrier providing node in the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0414] In some embodiments, the apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application includes a plurality of receiving modules 2501 which respectively support performing part of the receiving steps performed by the carrier providing node in the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0415] In some embodiments, the steps performed by different receiving modules 2501 are exactly the same, partially the same, or totally different.

[0416] In some embodiments, the apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application includes a determining module 2502 which supports performing all the sending steps performed by the carrier providing node in the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0417] In some embodiments, the apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application includes a plurality of determining modules 2502 which respectively support performing part of the sending steps performed by the carrier providing node in the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0418] In some embodiments, the steps performed by different determining modules 2502 are exactly the same, partially the same, or totally different.

[0419] To sum up, the apparatus provided by the embodiments can determine the starting time and the duration of the carrier sending by the apparatus according to the first information sent by the network device or the intermediate node. The apparatus can send the carrier on demand instead of continuously sending the carrier, which can avoid the situation that the apparatus consumes a lot of power and continuously interferes in the case of continuously sending the carrier. Moreover, the apparatus can accurately control the time period of the carrier sending, which helps to improve the resource utilization. In addition, the apparatus can determine the starting time and the duration of the carrier sending without frequently interacting with the network device, which greatly saves the signaling and overhead.

[0420] FIG. 26 is a block diagram of a carrier sending apparatus provided by an example embodiment of the present application. The apparatus can be implemented as a network device or a part of a network device by software or hardware or a combination of both. The apparatus includes a sending module 2601.

[0421] The sending module 2601 is configured to send the first information.

[0422] In some embodiments, the first information is sent by the apparatus via the R2D transmission. In some embodiments, the target of the sending of the first information comprises at least one of the ambient energy device and the carrier providing node. For example, the first information is sent by the apparatus via the R2D transmission to the ambient energy device. In this case, the target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device, which is configured to receive and decode the first information sent via the R2D transmission. Alternatively, the target of the R2D transmission is the ambient energy device and / or the carrier providing node, i.e., the carrier providing node can also be one of the destinations of the R2D transmission. The R2D transmission comprises a transmission on the R2D link, and due to the propagation characteristics of radio waves in space, the carrier providing node can receive the transmission on the R2D link even if the carrier providing node is not the target of the R2D transmission.

[0423] In some embodiments, the ambient energy device comprises a device that is driven by using ambient energy, e.g., wireless radio frequency energy, light energy, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, etc. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device has no or limited energy storage capability. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device is equivalent to / replaceable by a zero-power device, a zero-power Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Ambient-IoT (A-IoT) device, a passive IoT device.

[0424] The carrier providing node comprises any node that supports providing a carrier to the ambient energy device. The carrier providing node is configured to provide a carrier to the ambient energy device, which is used for backscattering by the ambient energy device to implement an outward transmission. In some embodiments, the carrier provided by the carrier providing node to the ambient energy device comprises a single-frequency sinusoidal wave. The carrier providing node has a communication connection with the apparatus. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node comprises a CWN. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is implemented as a terminal-type node.

[0425] The first information is used by the carrier providing node to determine a first time node, which is used by the carrier providing node to determine a time for sending the carrier. In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of the following: service data information; control information; clock acquisition information; a preamble. The service data information comprises information related to a service of the ambient energy device, the control information is used to control the ambient energy device, the clock acquisition information is used to indicate acquisition of a clock of the ambient energy device, and the preamble is used for an access procedure of the ambient energy device.

[0426] In some embodiments, the first information is information transmitted by the device to the ambient energy device under a time-slot based ALOHA mechanism. For an introduction of the time-slot based ALOHA mechanism, reference can be made to the related description of FIG. 7, which will not be repeated herein. In some embodiments, the first information includes a query instruction in the time-slot based ALOHA mechanism. In some embodiments, the first information includes a query instruction and a query repetition instruction in the time-slot based ALOHA mechanism. In some embodiments, the first information includes any information transmitted by the device to the ambient energy device in the time-slot based ALOHA mechanism.

[0427] In some embodiments, the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier includes at least one of a start time and a duration of the carrier. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the first time node. The carrier providing node determines the duration of the carrier according to its own implementation, an indication of the network, a protocol predefinition, or other information.

[0428] In some embodiments, the sending module 2601 is configured to send configuration information, which is used by the carrier providing node to determine second information, and the second information and the first time node are used to determine the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier. In some embodiments, the configuration information carries the second information, or the configuration information carries information used to determine the second information. In some embodiments, the second information includes at least one of the following information: a time offset value; a time duration value; a time interval; a number of times of carrier transmission; a time advance amount; and a duration extension amount. In some embodiments, the time offset value, the time duration value, the time interval, the time advance amount, and the duration extension amount have at least one of the following units: microsecond, millisecond, and second.

[0429] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the first time node and the second information. The carrier providing node determines the start time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to at least one of the first time node and the second information. The carrier providing node determines the duration of the carrier according to the second information.

[0430] After determining the time at which the carrier is transmitted, the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the determined time, so that the ambient energy device receives the carrier and transmits outwardly by backscattering. In some embodiments, after receiving the carrier, the ambient energy device modulates data to be transmitted onto the carrier, for example, by using an OOK modulation manner, thereby generating a modulated waveform for outward transmission.

[0431] In some embodiments, the device provided by the embodiments of the present application includes a sending module 2601, which supports performing all the sending related steps performed by the network device in the above various embodiments.

[0432] In some embodiments, the apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application includes a plurality of sending modules 2601, which respectively support performing the steps of the partial sending related steps performed by the network device in each of the above embodiments.

[0433] In some embodiments, the steps performed by different sending modules 2601 are completely the same, partially the same, or completely different.

[0434] In summary, the apparatus provided by the present embodiment determines the starting time and duration of the sending of the carrier by the carrier providing node according to the first information sent by the apparatus. The carrier providing node can send the carrier on demand instead of continuously sending the carrier, which can avoid the situation of the carrier providing node consuming a large amount of power and continuously interfering in the case of continuously sending the carrier. In addition, the time period of the carrier sending can be accurately controlled, which helps to improve the resource utilization. In addition, the carrier providing node can determine the starting time and duration of the sending of the carrier without frequent information interaction with the apparatus, which greatly saves the signaling and overhead.

[0435] FIG. 27 is a block diagram of a carrier sending apparatus provided by an example embodiment of the present application. The apparatus can be implemented as an intermediate node or a part of an intermediate node by software or hardware or a combination of both. The apparatus includes a sending module 2701.

[0436] The sending module 2701 is configured to send the first information.

[0437] In some embodiments, the first information is sent by the apparatus through R2D transmission. In this case, the first information sent by the apparatus can be the information sent by the network device directly forwarded by the apparatus, or the information sent by the network device processed by the apparatus and then re-sent, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application. In some embodiments, the sending target of the first information includes at least one of the environmental energy device and the carrier providing node. For example, the first information is the information sent by the apparatus to the environmental energy device through R2D transmission. In this case, the sending target of the R2D transmission is the environmental energy device, and the environmental energy device is configured to receive and decode the first information sent through the R2D transmission. Alternatively, the sending target of the R2D transmission is the environmental energy device and / or the carrier providing node, i.e., the carrier providing node can also be one of the destinations of the R2D transmission. The R2D transmission includes the transmission on the R2D link. Due to the propagation characteristics of radio waves in space, even if the carrier providing node is not the target of the R2D transmission, the carrier providing node can also receive the transmission on the R2D link.

[0438] The apparatus is configured to implement bidirectional communication between the network device and the ambient energy device. The apparatus is located between the network device and the ambient energy device, and has a communication connection with the network device and the ambient energy device respectively. In some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to relay signaling and / or data between the network device and the ambient energy device. In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises at least one of a relay, an IAB node, a terminal, and a repeater. In some embodiments, the apparatus is a terminal under network control.

[0439] In some embodiments, the ambient energy device comprises a device driven by using ambient energy, such as wireless radio frequency energy, light energy, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, etc. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device has no energy storage capability or has limited energy storage capability. In some embodiments, the ambient energy device is equivalent to / replaceable by a zero-power device, a zero-power Internet of Things device, an ambient energy Internet of Things (A-IoT) device, and a passive Internet of Things (IoT) device.

[0440] The carrier providing node comprises any node supporting providing a carrier to the ambient energy device. The carrier providing node is configured to provide a carrier to the ambient energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the ambient energy device, and the ambient energy device implements external transmission through backscattering. In some embodiments, the carrier provided by the carrier providing node to the ambient energy device comprises a single-frequency sine wave. The carrier providing node has a communication connection with the network device. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node comprises a CWN. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node is implemented as a terminal type node.

[0441] The first information is used for the carrier providing node to determine a first time node, and the first time node is used for the carrier providing node to determine a time of sending the carrier. In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of the following information: service data information; control information; clock acquisition information; and a preamble. The service data information comprises information related to a service of the ambient energy device, the control information is used for controlling the ambient energy device, the clock acquisition information is used for indicating to acquire a clock of the ambient energy device, and the preamble is used for an access process of the ambient energy device.

[0442] In some embodiments, the first information is information transmitted by the apparatus to the ambient energy device based on a time slot-based ALOHA mechanism. For the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism, refer to the related description of FIG. 7, and the embodiments of the present application do not repeat the description. In some embodiments, the first information comprises a query instruction in the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism. In some embodiments, the first information comprises a query instruction and a query repetition instruction in the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism. In some embodiments, the first information comprises any information transmitted by the network device to the ambient energy device in the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

[0443] In some embodiments, the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier comprises at least one of a start time and a duration of the carrier. In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the start time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the first time node. The carrier providing node determines the duration of the carrier according to its own implementation, an indication of the network, a protocol predefinition, or other information.

[0444] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node further receives configuration information, which is used to determine second information, and the second information and the first time node are used to determine the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier. In some embodiments, the second information is carried in the configuration information, or information used to determine the second information is carried in the configuration information. In some embodiments, the configuration information is sent by a network device to the carrier providing node. In some embodiments, the second information comprises at least one of the following: a time offset value; a time duration value; a time interval; a number of times of carrier transmission; a time advance; and a duration extension. In some embodiments, the time offset value, the time duration value, the time interval, the time advance, and the duration extension have at least one of the following units: microsecond, millisecond, and second.

[0445] In some embodiments, the carrier providing node determines the time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the first time node and the second information. The carrier providing node determines the start time at which the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to at least one of the first time node and the second information. The carrier providing node determines the duration of the carrier according to the second information.

[0446] After determining the time at which the carrier is transmitted, the carrier providing node transmits the carrier according to the determined time, so that the ambient energy device can receive the carrier and transmit outwardly by backscattering. In some embodiments, after receiving the carrier, the ambient energy device modulates data to be transmitted onto the carrier, for example, by using OOK modulation, thereby generating a modulated waveform for outward transmission.

[0447] In some embodiments, the apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application comprises a sending module 2701, which supports performing all the sending-related steps performed by the intermediate node in the above-mentioned various embodiments.

[0448] In some embodiments, the apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application comprises a plurality of sending modules 2701, which respectively support performing part of the sending-related steps performed by the intermediate node in the above-mentioned various embodiments.

[0449] In some embodiments, the steps performed by different sending modules 2701 are completely the same, or partially the same, or completely different.

[0450] To sum up, the apparatus provided in the embodiment can determine the starting time and duration of the transmission of the carrier by the carrier providing node according to the first information transmitted by the apparatus. The carrier providing node can transmit the carrier on demand instead of continuously transmitting the carrier, and the situation of the carrier providing node consuming a large amount of power and continuously interfering can be avoided. The time period of the transmission of the carrier can be accurately controlled, and the resource utilization rate can be improved. The carrier providing node can determine the starting time and duration of the transmission of the carrier without frequent information interaction with the network device, and a large amount of signaling and overhead can be saved.

[0451] It should be noted that, in the implementation of the functions of the apparatus provided in the above embodiment, the above-mentioned various functional modules are only used as examples for division, and in actual application, the above-mentioned functions can be completed by different functional modules according to actual needs, that is, the content structure of the apparatus is divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the above-described functions.

[0452] As to the apparatus in the above embodiment, the specific manner in which each module performs operations has been described in detail in the embodiments of the method, and will not be described in detail here.

[0453] FIG. 28 is a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided in an example embodiment of the present application, which is a low-power apparatus or a first apparatus. The communication apparatus 2800 includes a processor 2801, a receiver 2802, a transmitter 2803, a memory 2804, and a bus 2805.

[0454] The processor 2801 includes one or more than one processing core. The processor 2801 performs various functional applications and information processing by running software programs and modules.

[0455] The receiver 2802 and the transmitter 2803 can be implemented as a communication component, which can be a communication chip.

[0456] The memory 2804 is connected to the processor 2801 through the bus 2805. The memory 2804 can be used to store at least one instruction, and the processor 2801 is configured to execute the at least one instruction to implement each step in the above method embodiments.

[0457] Further, memory 2804 can be realized by any type of volatile or nonvolatile storage devices, or a combination thereof, including but not limited to a magnetic disk or a optical disk, an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), an Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), a Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a magnetic memory, a flash memory, a Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM).

[0458] In some embodiments, the communication device is implemented as a carrier providing node, the processor 2801 is configured to receive first information, the first information being used for determining a first time node, wherein the first time node is used for determining a time at which the carrier providing node transmits a carrier, the first information comprising information transmitted by a network device or an intermediate node, the intermediate node being used for implementing bidirectional communication between the network device and an ambient energy device, the carrier being used for backscattering by the ambient energy device. In some embodiments, the processor 2801 is further configured to perform other processing-related steps in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0459] In some embodiments, the communication device is implemented as a network device, the processor 2801 is configured to transmit first information, the first information being used for a carrier providing node to determine a first time node, wherein the first time node is used for determining a time at which the carrier providing node transmits a carrier, the carrier being used for backscattering by an ambient energy device. In some embodiments, the processor 2801 is further configured to perform other processing-related steps in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0460] In some embodiments, the communication device is implemented as an intermediate node, the processor 2801 is configured to transmit first information, the first information being used for a carrier providing node to determine a first time node, wherein the first time node is used for determining a time at which the carrier providing node transmits a carrier, the intermediate node being used for implementing bidirectional communication between a network device and an ambient energy device, the carrier being used for backscattering by the ambient energy device. In some embodiments, the processor 2801 is further configured to perform other processing-related steps in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0461] In some embodiments, the receiver 2802 receives signals / data independently, or the processor 2801 controls the receiver 2802 to receive signals / data, or the processor 2801 requests the receiver 2802 to receive signals / data, or the processor 2801 cooperates with the receiver 2802 to receive signals / data.

[0462] In some embodiments, the transmitter 2803 transmits signals / data independently, or the processor 2801 controls the transmitter 2803 to transmit signals / data, or the processor 2801 requests the transmitter 2803 to transmit signals / data, or the processor 2801 cooperates with the transmitter 2803 to transmit signals / data.

[0463] In some embodiments, the processor 2801 and the receiver 2802 can be implemented as one module, or the processor 2801 can be implemented as a part of the receiver 2802.

[0464] In some embodiments, the receiver 2802 can be implemented as a receiver. Optionally, the receiver includes the processor 2801 or does not include the processor 2801.

[0465] In some embodiments, the processor 2801 and the transmitter 2803 can be implemented as one module, or the processor 2801 can be implemented as a part of the transmitter 2803.

[0466] In some embodiments, the transmitter 2803 can be implemented as a transmitter. Optionally, the transmitter includes the processor 2801 or does not include the processor 2801.

[0467] In an example embodiment, a computer readable storage medium is also provided, in which at least one instruction, at least one program, a code set or an instruction set is stored, and the at least one instruction, the at least one program, the code set or the instruction set is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the carrier sending method provided by each of the above method embodiments.

[0468] In an example embodiment, a chip is also provided, which includes a programmable logic circuit and / or program instructions, and when the chip is running on a communication device, is used to implement the carrier sending method provided by each of the above method embodiments based on the programmable logic circuit and / or program.

[0469] In an example embodiment, a computer program product is also provided, which, when running on a processor of a computer device, causes the computer device to perform the above carrier sending method.

[0470] In an example embodiment, a computer program is also provided, which comprises computer instructions, and a processor of a computer device executes the computer instructions, so that the computer device executes the above-mentioned carrier sending method.

[0471] Those skilled in the art can understand that, in one or more examples described above, the functions described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by hardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, the functions can be stored in a computer readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or codes on a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium includes a computer storage medium and a communication medium, wherein the communication medium includes any medium that facilitates the transfer of computer programs from one place to another. The storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a general or special purpose computer.

[0472] The above only describes example embodiments of the present application, and is not intended to limit the present application. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A carrier transmission method, characterized in that, The method is performed by a carrier-providing node, and the method includes: Receive first information, which is used to determine a first time node; Wherein, the first time node is used to determine the time when the carrier providing node sends the carrier, the first information includes information transmitted by the network device or intermediate node, the intermediate node is used to realize bidirectional communication between the network device and the environmental energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the environmental energy device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive configuration information, which is used to determine the second information; The second information and the first time node are used to determine the time when the carrier providing node sends the carrier.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The second information includes at least one of the following: Time offset; time duration; time interval; number of carrier transmissions; time advance; duration extension.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The first information includes at least one of the following: Business data information; control information; clock acquisition information; preamble; The service data information includes information related to the services of the environmental energy equipment, the control information is used to control the environmental energy equipment, and the clock acquisition information is used to indicate the acquisition of the clock of the environmental energy equipment.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The method further includes: The first time node is determined based on the information obtained from the clock or the preamble.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, Determining the first time node based on the information obtained from the clock includes: If the format of the first information conforms to the fixed format corresponding to the clock acquisition information, the first time node is determined based on the time when the first information is received.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The fixed format is composed of at least one combination of high and low levels.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that, The fixed format is predefined by the communication protocol.

9. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that, Determining the first time node based on the preamble includes: If the sequence of the first information is related to or the same as the local sequence, the first time node is determined according to the time when the first information is received, and the local sequence corresponds to the preamble.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The local sequence is a combination of at least one of 0 and 1.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that, The local sequence is predefined by the communication protocol.

12. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 11, characterized in that, The method further includes: The first time node is determined based on at least one of the business data information and the control information.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, Determining the first time node based on at least one of the business data information and the control information includes: By decoding at least one of the business data information and the control information in the first information, the start transmission time of the third information is obtained, thereby determining the first time node; The third information includes information transmitted by the environmental energy device to the network device or the intermediate node based on the first information.

14. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: Based on the second information and the first time point, determine the start time and duration of transmitting the carrier once or multiple times.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that, The second information includes a time duration value; determining the start time and duration of a single transmission of the carrier based on the second information and the first time node includes: The start time for transmitting the carrier is determined based on the first time node, and the duration for transmitting the carrier is determined based on the time duration value.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that, The second information includes a time offset value and a time duration value; determining the start time and duration of a single transmission of the carrier based on the second information and the first time node includes: The start time for transmitting the carrier is determined based on the first time node and the time offset value, and the duration for transmitting the carrier is determined based on the time duration value.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that, The second information includes a time offset value, a time duration value, a time interval, and the number of carrier transmissions; determining the start time and duration of multiple carrier transmissions based on the second information and the first time node includes: The start time of the first transmission of the carrier is determined based on the first time node and the time offset value, the duration of each transmission of the carrier is determined based on the time duration value, and the interval between two adjacent transmissions of the carrier is determined based on the time interval. The number of carrier transmissions is used to indicate the number of times the carrier providing node transmits the carrier.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that, The duration of each transmission of the carrier by the carrier-providing node is the same.

19. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, characterized in that, The duration for which the carrier-providing node transmits the carrier is greater than or equal to the duration value.

20. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, characterized in that, The second information includes a duration value and a timing advance; determining the start time and duration of a single carrier transmission based on the second information and the first time node includes: The start time for transmitting the carrier is determined based on the first time node and the time advance, and the duration for transmitting the carrier is determined based on the time advance and the time duration value.

21. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 20, characterized in that, The second information includes a time duration value and a duration extension; determining the start time and duration of a single carrier transmission based on the second information and the first time node includes: The start time for transmitting the carrier is determined based on the first time node, and the duration for transmitting the carrier is determined based on the time duration value and the duration extension amount.

22. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 21, characterized in that, The second information includes a time duration value, a time advance, and a duration extension; determining the start time and duration of a single carrier transmission based on the second information and the first time node includes: The start time for transmitting the carrier is determined based on the first time node and the time advance, and the duration for transmitting the carrier is determined based on the time advance, the time duration value, and the duration extension.

23. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 22, characterized in that, The first information is the information transmitted by the network device or the intermediate node to the environmental energy device under the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

24. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the first information is a query instruction in the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism, the first time node is determined based on the sending time of the first information.

25. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that, The first information includes at least one of business data information and control information; the method further includes: By decoding at least one of the business data information and the control information, the first information is determined to be the query instruction.

26. The method according to claim 24 or 26, characterized in that, The second information includes a time duration value; the time duration value is related to a first parameter in the query instruction, the first parameter being used to indicate the maximum number of time slots within an inventory cycle of the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

27. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that, The duration value is equal to the product of the maximum duration and the maximum number of time slots, where the maximum duration is the longest duration of a time slot within an inventory cycle of the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

28. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 27, characterized in that, The method further includes: If the first information is a query instruction or a query repetition instruction in the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism, the first time node is determined based on the sending time of the first information.

29. The method according to claim 28, characterized in that, The second information includes a time duration value; the time duration value is related to the duration of a time slot within an inventory cycle of the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

30. The method according to claim 29, characterized in that, The duration value is equal to the maximum duration, which is the maximum duration of a time slot within an inventory cycle of the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

31. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 30, characterized in that, The first time node is related to the transmission time of the first information, and the time duration value is related to the transmission time of the third information. The third information includes the information transmitted by the environmental energy device to the network device or the intermediate node based on the first information under the time slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

32. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 31, characterized in that, The first information is sent to at least one of the environmental energy device and the carrier providing node.

33. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 32, characterized in that, The carrier wave comprises a single-frequency sine wave.

34. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 33, characterized in that, The carrier providing node is different from the network device and the intermediate node, or the carrier providing node is the intermediate node.

35. A carrier transmission method, characterized in that, The method is performed by a network device, and the method includes: Send first information, which is used by the carrier providing node to determine the first time node; The first time node is used to determine the time when the carrier providing node transmits the carrier, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the environmental energy device.

36. The method according to claim 35, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send configuration information, which is used by the carrier providing node to determine second information; The second information and the first time node are used to determine the time when the carrier providing node sends the carrier.

37. The method according to claim 36, characterized in that, The second information includes at least one of the following: Time offset; time duration; time interval; number of carrier transmissions; time advance; duration extension.

38. The method according to any one of claims 35 to 37, characterized in that, The first information includes at least one of the following: Business data information; control information; clock acquisition information; preamble; The service data information includes information related to the services of the environmental energy equipment, the control information is used to control the environmental energy equipment, and the clock acquisition information is used to indicate the acquisition of the clock of the environmental energy equipment.

39. The method according to any one of claims 35 to 38, characterized in that, The first information is the information transmitted by the network device to the environmental energy device under the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

40. The method according to any one of claims 35 to 39, characterized in that, The first information is sent to at least one of the environmental energy device and the carrier providing node.

41. The method according to any one of claims 35 to 40, characterized in that, The carrier wave comprises a single-frequency sine wave.

42. A carrier transmission method, characterized in that, The method is executed by an intermediate node, and the method includes: Send first information, which is used by the carrier providing node to determine the first time node; Wherein, the first time node is used to determine the time when the carrier providing node sends the carrier, the intermediate node is used to realize bidirectional communication between the network device and the environmental energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the environmental energy device.

43. The method according to claim 42, characterized in that, The first information includes at least one of the following: Business data information; control information; clock acquisition information; preamble; The service data information includes information related to the services of the environmental energy equipment, the control information is used to control the environmental energy equipment, and the clock acquisition information is used to indicate the acquisition of the clock of the environmental energy equipment.

44. The method according to claim 42 or 43, characterized in that, The first information is the information transmitted by the intermediate node to the environmental energy device under the time-slot-based ALOHA mechanism.

45. The method according to any one of claims 42 to 44, characterized in that, The first information is sent to at least one of the environmental energy device and the carrier providing node.

46. ​​The method according to any one of claims 42 to 45, characterized in that, The carrier wave comprises a single-frequency sine wave.

47. A carrier transmission device, characterized in that, The device includes: The receiving module is used to receive first information, which is used to determine a first time node; Wherein, the first time node is used to determine the time when the device sends a carrier, the first information includes information transmitted by a network device or an intermediate node, the intermediate node is used to realize bidirectional communication between the network device and the environmental energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering by the environmental energy device.

48. A carrier transmission device, characterized in that, The device includes: The transmitting module is used to transmit first information, which is used by the carrier providing node to determine the first time node; The first time node is used to determine the time when the carrier providing node transmits the carrier, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the environmental energy device.

49. A carrier transmission device, characterized in that, The device includes: Send first information, which is used by the carrier providing node to determine the first time node; Wherein, the first time node is used to determine the time when the carrier providing node sends the carrier, the device is used to realize bidirectional communication between the network device and the environmental energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the environmental energy device.

50. A carrier providing node, characterized in that, The carrier providing node includes: processor; A transceiver connected to the processor; Memory for storing the executable instructions of the processor; The carrier providing node is configured to receive first information, which is used to determine a first time node; Wherein, the first time node is used to determine the time when the carrier providing node sends the carrier, the first information includes information transmitted by the network device or intermediate node, the intermediate node is used to realize bidirectional communication between the network device and the environmental energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the environmental energy device.

51. A network device, characterized in that, The network device includes: processor; A transceiver connected to the processor; Memory for storing the executable instructions of the processor; The network device is configured to send first information, which is used by the carrier providing node to determine a first time node. The first time node is used to determine the time when the carrier providing node transmits the carrier, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the environmental energy device.

52. An intermediate node, characterized in that, The intermediate nodes include: processor; A transceiver connected to the processor; Memory for storing the executable instructions of the processor; The intermediate node is configured to send first information, which is used by the carrier providing node to determine the first time node. Wherein, the first time node is used to determine the time when the carrier providing node sends the carrier, the intermediate node is used to realize bidirectional communication between the network device and the environmental energy device, and the carrier is used for backscattering of the environmental energy device.

53. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The readable storage medium stores executable instructions, which are loaded and executed by a processor to implement the carrier transmission method as described in any one of claims 1 to 46.

54. A chip, characterized in that, The chip includes a programmable logic circuit or a program, and the chip is used to implement the carrier transmission method as described in any one of claims 1 to 46 based on the programmable logic circuit or program.

55. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes computer instructions stored in a computer-readable storage medium, a processor of a computer device reading the computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executing the computer instructions to cause the computer device to perform the carrier transmission method as described in any one of claims 1 to 46.

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