Communication method and communication device

Abstract

Provided are a communication method and a communication device. The communication method comprises: when a first condition is satisfied, a first device treats a first data packet that has not been received as having been received, wherein the first condition is determined on the basis of a second data packet received by the first device, and the first data packet and the second data packet are data packets transmitted in a radio link control (RLC) acknowledgment mode. The first device determines whether to treat a data packet that has not been received as having been received, and by treating a data packet that has not been received as having been received, trigger of unnecessary retransmission is avoided, thereby facilitating reducing latency and saving transmission resources.

Description

Communication methods and communication equipment Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and more specifically, to a communication method and a communication device. Background Technology

[0002] The radio link control (RLC) layer includes three operating modes: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). In AM mode, when the receiver does not receive data packets from the transmitter, it can instruct the transmitter to retransmit these packets via an RLC status report. However, the current retransmission mechanism has a relatively large data packet transmission delay. Especially for certain data services with high reliability and low latency requirements, the existing AM mode cannot meet their needs.

[0003] Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a communication method and a communication device. The various aspects covered by this application are described below.

[0005] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: under the condition of satisfying a first condition, a first device regards a first data packet that has not been received as having been received, the first condition being determined based on a second data packet received by the first device, wherein the first data packet and the second data packet are data packets transmitted in Radio Link Control (RLC) acknowledgment mode.

[0006] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: a second device sending first information to a first device, the first information being used to determine whether an unreceived first data packet is regarded as received, the first information being associated with a second data packet received by the first device, and the first data packet and the second data packet being data packets transmitted in RLC acknowledgment mode.

[0007] Thirdly, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processing unit, configured to determine, based on first information, whether to regard an unreceived first data packet as received, wherein the first information is associated with a second data packet received by the first device, and the first data packet and the second data packet are data packets transmitted in RLC acknowledgment mode.

[0008] Fourthly, a communication device is provided, comprising: a transmitting unit for transmitting first information to a first device, the first information being used to determine whether an unreceived first data packet is regarded as received, the first information being associated with a second data packet received by the first device, the first data packet and the second data packet being data packets transmitted in RLC acknowledgment mode.

[0009] Fifthly, a communication device is provided, including a processor, a memory, and a transceiver, wherein the memory is used to store one or more computer programs, and the processor is used to invoke the computer programs in the memory to cause the communication device to perform some or all of the steps in the method of the first aspect.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, including a processor, a memory, and a transceiver, wherein the memory is used to store one or more computer programs, and the processor is used to invoke the computer programs in the memory to cause the communication device to perform some or all of the steps in the method of the second aspect.

[0011] Seventhly, embodiments of this application provide a communication system, which includes the aforementioned communication devices, such as the first device and the second device. In some implementations, the communication system further includes other devices that interact with the communication devices.

[0012] Eighthly, embodiments of this application provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program that causes communication devices, such as a first device and a second device, to perform some or all of the steps in the methods described above.

[0013] Ninthly, embodiments of this application provide a computer program product, wherein the computer program product includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program operable to cause communication devices, such as a first device and a second device, to perform some or all of the steps of the methods described in the foregoing aspects. In some implementations, the computer program product may be a software installation package.

[0014] In a tenth aspect, embodiments of this application provide a chip including a memory and a processor, the processor being able to call and run a computer program from the memory to implement some or all of the steps described in the methods of the foregoing aspects.

[0015] In this embodiment of the application, the first device determines whether to treat an unreceived data packet as received, and by treating an unreceived data packet as received, unnecessary retransmissions are avoided, which helps to reduce latency and save transmission resources. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a possible application of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of this application.

[0017] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a possible protocol layer according to an embodiment of this application.

[0018] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of data packet retransmission in AM mode.

[0019] Figures 4 to 7 are schematic diagrams illustrating the changes in the state parameters of the receiving end.

[0020] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the sending end instructing the receiving end not to retransmit data packets according to an embodiment of this application.

[0021] Figure 9 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of this application.

[0022] Figure 10 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to another embodiment of this application.

[0023] Figure 11 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of this application.

[0024] Figure 12 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of this application.

[0025] Figure 13 is a schematic block diagram of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0026] The technical solutions in this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. For ease of understanding, the communication terms and processes that may be involved in the embodiments of this application will first be introduced with reference to Figures 1 to 4.

[0027] Communication system

[0028] The technical solutions of this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as 5th generation (5G) systems, new radio (NR) systems, long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, and LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems. The technical solutions of this application can also be applied to future communication systems, such as 6th generation (6G) mobile communication systems and satellite communication systems.

[0029] Figure 1 illustrates a wireless communication system 100 used in an embodiment of this application. The wireless communication system 100 may include a network device 110 and a terminal device 120. The network device 110 can provide communication coverage for a specific geographical area and can communicate with the terminal device 120 located within that coverage area.

[0030] For example, Figure 1 illustrates a network device 110 and two terminal devices 120. Optionally, the wireless communication system 100 may include multiple network devices 100, and the coverage area of ​​each network device 100 may include other numbers of terminal devices 110. In addition, the wireless communication system 100 may also include other network entities such as a network controller and a mobility management entity.

[0031] In this application embodiment, the terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal equipment, wireless communication equipment, user agent, or user device. For example, a terminal device can be a device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to a user, and can be used to connect people, objects, and machines, such as home appliances, sensors, electronic tags, etc., with wireless connectivity. The terminal device can also be a wireless terminal in a smart home, a wireless terminal in an IWSN (Internet Wireless Network), a wireless terminal in smart logistics and smart warehousing, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical surgery, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, etc.

[0032] A network device can be a device used to communicate with a terminal device. A network device can also be an access network device or a radio access network device; for example, a network device can be a base station. In the embodiments of this application, the network device can refer to a radio access network (RAN) node or device that connects a terminal device to a wireless network. A base station can broadly encompass various names listed below, or can be replaced by names such as: NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), next-generation NodeB (gNB), relay station, access point, transmitting and receiving point (TRP), transmitting point (TP), master station (MeNB), secondary station (SeNB), multi-mode radio (MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, access point (AP), transmission node, transceiver node, baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), centralized unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), positioning node, etc. A base station can be a macro base station, micro base station, relay node, donor node, or similar entities, or combinations thereof. A base station can also refer to a communication module, modem, or chip installed within the aforementioned equipment or apparatus. A base station can also be a mobile switching center, or a device that performs base station functions in device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, a network-side device in a 6G network, or a device performing base station functions in future communication systems. Base stations can support networks using the same or different access technologies. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technologies or device forms used in the network equipment.

[0033] Base stations can be fixed or mobile. For example, a helicopter or drone can be configured to act as a mobile base station, and one or more cells can move depending on the location of the mobile base station. In other examples, a helicopter or drone can be configured as a device to communicate with another base station.

[0034] In some deployments, network devices may refer to either a CU or a DU; alternatively, network devices may include both a CU and a DU. Optionally, a gNB may include an AAU.

[0035] Network devices and terminal devices can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on water; and they can also be deployed in the air on airplanes, balloons, and satellites. This application does not limit the scenario in which the network devices and terminal devices are located.

[0036] RLC layer working mode

[0037] To achieve air interface data transmission, wireless cellular networks employ corresponding protocol layers in both network devices and terminal devices to perform different functions. For example, as shown in Figure 2, network devices and terminal devices may include protocol layers such as the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, the Relay Communication Capability (RLC) layer, the Media Access Control (MAC) layer, and the Physical (PHY) layer. Specifically, the PDCP layer is responsible for security, integrity protection, and in-order transmission; the RLC layer is responsible for data forwarding, segmentation, retransmission, discarding, and RLC reconstruction; the MAC layer is responsible for allocating transmission opportunities to each data ratio bearer (DRB) and organizing transport blocks for transmission; and the PHY layer is responsible for transmitting data over the radio interface.

[0038] The technical solution of this application mainly relates to the RLC layer. The RLC layer is located between the PDCP layer and the MAC layer. It communicates with the PDCP layer through the RLC channel and with the MAC layer through the logical channel (LCH). The functions of the RLC layer are implemented by RLC entities, which are created when the RLC bearer is established and deleted when the RLC bearer is released. Each RLC entity can be configured by the radio resource control (RRC) layer and includes three operating modes: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM), to cater to different service requirements.

[0039] TM mode, also known as transparent transmission mode, is primarily used for paging, broadcasting, and other information transmission. For RLC entities using TM mode, the data is transparent; the RLC entity does not modify the data in any way, such as segmenting the RLC service data unit (SDU) or adding any header information. The TM entity consists of a transmission buffer that stores the RLC SDU, and its function is to buffer and forward data. When the MAC layer notifies the TM entity of a transmission opportunity, the TM entity directly sends the RLC SDU from the transmission buffer to the MAC layer without any modification.

[0040] UM mode provides an unreliable service and cannot guarantee 100% successful data transmission. For RLC entities using UM mode, after receiving data from higher layers, they generate an unacknowledged mode data (UMD) protocol data unit (PDU) for each RLC SDU. This PDU includes header information, and the generated UMD PDU is buffered in the transport buffer. When the MAC layer instructs them to send RLC PDUs, they segment some RLC SDUs if necessary, regenerating the RLC header and RLC PDUs to ensure that the total size of the final sent RLC PDUs equals the total size indicated by the MAC layer. In UM mode, the sender is only responsible for sending data and does not care whether the receiver successfully receives the data; the receiver, after receiving the data, does not send an acknowledgment to the sender regarding whether it has correctly received the data. Therefore, UM mode can deliver data to the peer RLC entity in order with the shortest possible latency. UM mode is mainly suitable for services that are sensitive to latency but allow for a certain packet loss rate, such as NR voice calls (VoNR) and other services.

[0041] AM mode provides a reliable service, primarily suitable for services that are not sensitive to latency but are sensitive to errors, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) services. To ensure successful transmission of each data item, AM mode is configured with Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) error correction. After sending data, the sending end needs to wait for the receiving end to confirm whether the data was received correctly. If a negative confirmation is received, the sending end will retransmit the data that the receiving end failed to receive. Therefore, AM mode can provide reliable data transmission to upper layers, ensuring that data is delivered correctly and in order to the peer. In AM mode, multiple retransmissions are allowed when data transmission fails. When the maximum number of retransmissions is reached, the wireless interface quality is considered too poor, and an RRC (Recurrent Recording) re-establishment is initiated. Therefore, AM mode has a relatively high data transmission latency.

[0042] Status parameters in AM mode

[0043] The basic design idea of ​​AM mode is to ensure the successful transmission of each data packet through retransmission. The retransmission process is triggered by the RLC status report sent by the receiver. The receiver maintains relevant status parameters and continuously updates the status parameters based on the RLC sequence number (SN) carried in the header of the received data packet. When certain conditions are met, the receiver sends an RLC status report to the sender to urge the sender to retransmit the data packet. It is important to note that while the sequence number of the data sent by the sender increases sequentially, due to the Hybrid Automatic Repeat-Request Acknowledgment (HARQ) retransmission at the MAC layer, the sequence number of the data packet received by the receiver may not be monotonically increasing. Therefore, the receiver is designed with status parameters to trigger the RLC status report.

[0044] For example, Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of the retransmission triggering process in AM mode. The first device is the receiver, and the second device is the transmitter. For instance, the first device is the terminal device 120 shown in Figure 1, and the second device is the network device 110 shown in Figure 1; or, the second device is the network device 110 shown in Figure 1, and the first device is the terminal device 120 shown in Figure 1.

[0045] As shown in Figure 3, in step 111, the second device sends a data packet to the first device.

[0046] If the first device is a terminal device and the second device is a network device, then the data packet is a downlink data packet; if the second device is a network device and the first device is a terminal device, then the data packet is an uplink data packet.

[0047] In step 112, the first device determines whether to send an RLC status report based on the current status parameters.

[0048] If it is determined that an RLC status report will be sent, steps 113 and 114 are executed.

[0049] In step 113, the first device sends an RLC status report to the second device.

[0050] In step 114, the second device retransmits the data packet based on the RLC status report.

[0051] In AM mode, the receiver needs to maintain the following state parameters, where RX represents the receiver:

[0052] The first parameter (denoted as RX_Next) indicates the next sequence number after the last correctly received data packet, and can serve as the bottom edge of the receive window. The receive window is [RX_Next, RX_Next + AM_Window_Size], where AM_Window_Size is the length of the receive window, typically chosen as 2. SN / 2, assuming the length of the SN is 12 bits, the length of the receive window can be chosen to be 2. 12 The length corresponding to 2 data packets;

[0053] The second parameter (denoted as RX_Highest_Status) is used to indicate the sequence number updated when the t-Reasembly Timer times out. It corresponds to ACK_SN when the RLC status report is triggered, or rather, the maximum value that ACK_SN can be set in the RLC status report.

[0054] The third parameter (denoted as RX_Next_Highest) is used to indicate the next sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet with the highest sequence number that has been received;

[0055] The fourth parameter (denoted as RX_Next_Status_Trigger) is used to indicate the sequence number of the next incorrectly received data packet after the sequence number of the data packet that triggered the reassembly timer.

[0056] At the RLC layer, explicit acknowledgments are not sent for each data packet. Instead, the receiver typically sends RLC status reports for multiple data packets to reduce overhead. Conditions that trigger an RLC status report may include one or more of the following: the receiver receives polling information from the sender; the reassembly timer times out; or the t-StatusProhibit timer times out.

[0057] The reassembly timer is used to detect packet loss in the underlying transmission. When a hole appears in the receive window of the receiver's RLC entity, i.e., the sequence number (SN) of the received data packets is not continuous, the reassembly timer is started. When the hole between the sequence numbers indicated by RX_Next and RX_Next_status_trigger is filled, the reassembly timer is stopped and cleared. When the reassembly timer expires, the receiver's RLC entity triggers an RLC status report and sends the RLC status report to the sender's RLC entity.

[0058] The following describes the state parameters maintained by the receiver in detail with reference to Figures 4 to 7. Here, it is assumed that the size of the receiver window (AM_Window_Size) is 10.

[0059] In the initial state, RX_Next, RX_Highest_Status, RX_Next_Highest, and RX_Next_Status_Trigger are all set to 0.

[0060] When received in sequence, as shown in Figure 4, RX_Next, RX_Highest_Status, and RX_Next_Highest are updated sequentially; RX_Next_Status_Trigger remains unchanged and the reassembly timer is not started.

[0061] Specifically, as shown in Figure 4, upon receiving a data packet with SN=0, RX_Next_Status_Trigger remains at its initial value (SN=0), while RX_Next, RX_Highest_Status, and RX_Next_Highest are all updated to SN=1. Upon receiving a data packet with SN=1, RX_Next_Status_Trigger remains at its initial value (SN=0), while RX_Next, RX_Highest_Status, and RX_Next_Highest are all updated to SN=2. Upon receiving a data packet with SN=2, RX_Next_Status_Trigger remains at its initial value (SN=0), while RX_Next, RX_Highest_Status, and RX_Next_Highest are all updated to SN=3. If an RLC status report is assembled at this time, ACK_SN=3 will be entered in the RLC status report.

[0062] In a non-ideal situation, as shown in Figure 4, suppose the receiver receives data packets with SN=0, SN=5, and SN=8 in sequence. When the receiver receives the data packet with SN=5, since the transmitter sends data packets in ascending order of SN, the receiver can determine that the transmitter has already sent data packets with SN=1, SN=2, SN=3, and SN=4. However, these four data packets have undergone HARQ retransmission, so they have not been received yet. Therefore, the receiver starts a reassembly timer to wait for these four data packets.

[0063] Specifically, as shown in Figure 4, after receiving the data packet with SN=5, RX_Highest_Status remains SN=0, RX_Next is updated to SN=1, and RX_Next_Status_Trigger and RX_Next_Highest are updated to SN=6. After receiving the data packet with SN=8, RX_Highest_Status remains SN=0, RX_Next is updated to SN=1, RX_Next_Status_Trigger remains SN=6, and RX_Next_Highest is updated to SN=9. Here, when the data packet with SN=8 is received, the previously started reassembly timer has not yet timed out. Therefore, the data packet that triggers the reassembly timer is still the data packet with SN=5, and thus RX_Next_Status_Trigger remains SN=6, which follows SN=5. Of course, if the previously started reassembly timer has already timed out before receiving the data packet with SN=8, then the reassembly timer can be triggered again when the data packet with SN=8 is received. In this case, RX_Next_Status_Trigger is updated to SN=9.

[0064] Based on the situation shown in Figure 4, if the receiver receives data packets with SN=1, SN=2, SN=3 and SN=4 during the operation of the reassembly timer, i.e. before the reassembly timer expires, then the corresponding status parameters are updated based on Figure 5.

[0065] Specifically, as shown in Figure 5, after receiving the data packet with SN=4, RX_Next is updated to SN=6. It is then determined that RX_Next_Status_Trigger = RX_Next, the reassembly timer is stopped, and then it is determined that RX_Next_Highest > RX_Next + 1, the reassembly timer is restarted to wait for data packets with SN=6 and SN=7, and RX_Next_Status_Trigger is set to SN=9. Here, stopping the reassembly timer does not trigger an RLC status report; an RLC status report is only triggered when the reassembly timer times out. If an RLC status report is assembled at this time, ACK_SN=6 is filled in the RLC status report, and the physical layer HARQ retransmission is reserved during the reassembly timer's operation.

[0066] Based on the situation shown in Figure 5, if the receiver does not receive data packets SN=1, SN=2, SN=3 and SN=4 during the reassembly timer operation, it sends an RLC status report to the sender when the reassembly timer expires, instructing the sender to perform retransmission, and updates the corresponding status parameters based on Figure 7.

[0067] Specifically, as shown in Figure 7, when the reassembly timer times out, RX_Highest_Status is updated to SN=6. It is determined that RX_Next_Highest > RX_Highest_Status + 1, so the reassembly timer is restarted, and RX_Next_Status_Trigger is set to SN=9. If an RLC status report is reassembled at this time, the RLC status report will contain ACK_SN=0 and NACK_SN=1, 2, 3, 4, indicating that the physical layer will no longer report data packets with SN=1, SN=2, SN=3, and SN=4.

[0068] Based on the above description, due to the relatively large data transmission latency in AM mode, certain data services with high reliability and low latency requirements, such as extended reality (XR) services, require AM mode for data transmission to ensure reliability. Furthermore, because XR services have a burst characteristic—meaning service data arrives at the access layer in packet clusters—and have a short latency budget, if transmission fails before the budget expires, even if it succeeds later, it is meaningless to the receiving end and wastes transmission resources.

[0069] Therefore, in this embodiment of the application, the sending end can send a notification to the receiving end to inform the receiving end which data packets will no longer be transmitted. For example, as shown in Figure 8, taking the first device as the receiving end and the second device as the sending end as an example.

[0070] As shown in Figure 8, in step 121, the second device sends data packet cluster 1 to the first device.

[0071] Among them, data packet cluster 1 includes multiple data packets with consecutive sequence numbers, such as SN=0 to SN=49, a total of 50 data packets.

[0072] In step 122, the first device sends an RLC status report to the second device.

[0073] During the initial transmission, some data packets are transmitted successfully, while others fail. The first device can use an RLC status report to notify the second device which data packets were transmitted successfully and which failed. For example, if the first data packet in a data packet cluster fails to transmit, then the RLC status report will include the first data packet as a data packet that was not successfully transmitted.

[0074] In step 123, the second device retransmits the first data packet based on the RLC status report.

[0075] During retransmission, if the PDCP discard timer maintained by the PDCP layer of the second device times out, the PDCP layer notifies the RLC layer that the discard timer for the first data packet has expired. Normally, if the RLC layer has already started retransmitting the first data packet, it does not delete the first data packet but continues transmitting it.

[0076] In recent discussions, the behavior of the sending end has been modified. Even if the first data packet has already started transmission at the RLC layer, the second device still deletes the first data packet and will not send it to the first device again. Although the second device's PDCP layer notifies the RLC layer that the first data packet, which has not yet been successfully transmitted, does not need to be transmitted, the first device is unaware of this. Therefore, it will trigger an RLC status report due to the reassembly timer timeout, but the second device will not trigger a retransmission based on this RLC status report.

[0077] Therefore, step 124 can be performed.

[0078] In step 124, the second device sends a notification to the first device to indicate that the first data packet will no longer be retransmitted.

[0079] In other words, after the second device deletes the first data packet, the first device knows that the second device will not retransmit the first data packet. The first device can modify the status parameters on its own and will no longer trigger the RLC status report.

[0080] In step 125, the second device sends data packet cluster 2 to the first device.

[0081] Packet cluster 2 can include multiple packets with consecutive sequence numbers, such as 50 packets from SN=50 to SN=999.

[0082] As mentioned above, if the second device notifies the first device that it will no longer transmit data packets, then signaling overhead needs to be increased, occupying additional air interface transmission resources.

[0083] In view of this, this application provides a data transmission scheme in AM mode. The first device determines whether to treat unreceived data packets as received, and treats unreceived data packets as received to avoid triggering unnecessary retransmissions, which helps to reduce latency and save transmission resources.

[0084] The data packets described in this application embodiment include, for example, SDUs and / or SDU fragments, or PDUs and / or PDU fragments. Taking SDUs and SDU fragments as an example, each SDU has a sequence number. Multiple fragments of an SDU have the same sequence number, all using the sequence number of their respective SDUs. The RLC status report generated by the first device can specifically indicate which SDUs or which fragments of an SDU were successfully or unsuccessfully transmitted.

[0085] Figure 9 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of this application. The method 200 shown in Figure 9 can be executed by a first device, which can be a receiving end, and its peer device is a second device, which can be a sending end. As an example, the first device is a terminal device and the second device is a network device, or the first device is a network device and the second device is a terminal device. As shown in Figure 9, method 200 may include some or all of the following steps.

[0086] In step 210, if the first condition is met, the first device treats the unreceived first data packet as if it has been received. The first condition is determined based on the second data packet received by the first device, and both the first and second data packets are data packets transmitted in RLC Acknowledgment Mode (RLC AM mode).

[0087] Here, the first device does not actually receive the first data packet, but it can determine whether to consider the first data packet as received based on a first condition. For example, if the first data packet that was not received meets the first condition, the first data packet is considered as received; and / or, if the first data packet that was not received does not meet the first condition, the first data packet is not considered as received.

[0088] Optionally, if the first data packet is considered to have been received, the first device may not trigger an RLC status report; or, the first device may trigger an RLC status report but the RLC status report does not indicate that the first data packet was not received.

[0089] Specifically, the reassembly timer associated with the first data packet has not expired before the first data packet is considered to have been received. Thus, when the first data packet is considered to have been received, the reassembly timer is stopped, and therefore the RLC status report will not be triggered due to the reassembly timer expiring. If the RLC status report is triggered for other reasons when the first data packet is considered to have been received, the RLC status report will not indicate that the first data packet was not received because the first data packet has already been considered to have been received.

[0090] In addition, there is another scenario: before the first data packet is considered received, if an RLC status report is triggered due to a reassembly timer timeout or other reasons, and the RLC status report includes information indicating that the first data packet was not received, the first device can cancel the RLC status report and re-trigger the RLC status report based on the updated status parameters. The re-triggered RLC status report will not indicate that the first data packet was not received. Here, triggering the RLC status report does not mean that the RLC status report has been sent to the second device. Therefore, before the RLC status report is sent to the second device, the first device can cancel the RLC status report and regenerate it.

[0091] Optionally, if the first device has already triggered and sent an RLC status report, and the sent RLC status report indicates that the first data packet has not been received, then after the first device regards the first data packet as received, it can trigger an RLC status report again to indicate to the second device that the first data packet has been received. The second sent RLC status report shall prevail.

[0092] In all the above scenarios, the second device will not receive an indication from the first device that the first data packet was not successfully transmitted. Therefore, it will not trigger a retransmission of the first data packet, which helps to reduce latency and save transmission resources. Furthermore, the first device will not initiate uplink scheduling requests (SRs) or buffer status reports (BSRs) for the RLC status report, simplifying the process for the first device.

[0093] In some implementations, the first condition is determined based on first information, which is associated with the second data packet. For example, the first information includes time-related information and / or sequence number information of the second data packet.

[0094] Optionally, the time-related information of the second data packet may include one or more of the following: the time when the second data packet was received; the time when the second data packet was sent; and the timestamp in the Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) header of the second data packet.

[0095] The receiving time of the second data packet is the time when the first device receives the second data packet; the timestamp in the RTP header of the second data packet can refer to the sampling time or the generation time of the second data packet. The RTP layer is a higher protocol layer above the RRC layer and the IP layer; the sending time of the second data packet is the time when the second device sends the second data packet.

[0096] Because air interface transmission of data packets takes time, the sending time and receiving time of the second data packet will differ. The difference between the sending and receiving times of the second data packet can be at least the air interface transmission duration. For example, the first device can determine the sending time of the second data packet based on its sending time and the air interface transmission duration, and the second device can also determine the receiving time of the second data packet based on the same data packet's sending time and air interface transmission duration.

[0097] This application does not limit the type of time-related information of the second data packet. For example, the type of time-related information of the second data packet may include one or more of the following: absolute time; system frame number (SFN) of the current cell; time slot number; symbol.

[0098] The first device can determine which unreceived data packets are considered received based on the time-related information of the second data packet. For example, the time-related information of the second data packet is used to determine the waiting time for the first data packet; if the first data packet is not received after the waiting time, it is considered received. That is, the first condition includes either not being received after the waiting time or not being received before the waiting time.

[0099] The first device can also determine which unreceived data packets are considered received based on the sequence number of the second data packet. For example, if the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a preset value, the first data packet is considered received. That is, the first condition includes the fact that the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than the preset value.

[0100] This application does not limit the method of obtaining the first information. For example, the first information can be obtained in one or more of the following ways: pre-agreed; determined by the first device; sent by the second device.

[0101] If the first information is sent through the second device, the first information may optionally be carried in one or more of the following: PDCP header; RLC header; MAC header; PDCP control PDU; RLC control PDU; MAC CE.

[0102] The following describes in detail, with reference to Embodiments 1 and 2, how the first device uses the first information to determine whether to regard a first data packet that has not been received as having been received.

[0103] Example 1

[0104] In Example 1, the second data packet and the first data packet are located in the same receiving window.

[0105] In some implementations, the second data packet may include one or more of the following: the data packet with the highest sequence number among the data packets received in the receiving window; the last data packet received among the data packets received in the receiving window; the data packet with the lowest sequence number among the data packets received in the receiving window; and the earliest data packet received among the data packets received in the receiving window.

[0106] In some implementations, the first information includes time-related information of the second data packet, which is used to determine the first moment. Specifically, if the first data packet is not received after the first moment, or if it was not received before the first moment, the first data packet is considered to have been received. In other words, the first condition includes either not being received before the first moment or not being received after the first moment.

[0107] The first device can determine the first moment based on the time-related information of the second data packet, and then determine which unreceived data packets can be considered as received based on the first moment. For example, if the current moment is already the first moment and the first device has still not received the first data packet, it will give up waiting for the first data packet and consider the first data packet as received.

[0108] In some implementations, the first moment can be a first preset duration following the moment indicated by the time-related information of the second data packet. For example, if the time-related information of the second data packet includes the reception time of the second data packet or a timestamp in the RTP header, then the first moment can be a first preset duration following the reception time of the second data packet or that timestamp. The first preset duration can be pre-agreed upon or sent by the second device.

[0109] In some implementations, the first data packet is considered received if the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a first preset value. The first preset value may be pre-agreed upon or sent by the second device. The first preset value is, for example, a positive integer. In other words, the first condition includes the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet being less than the first preset value.

[0110] The following are examples of possible locations at the first moment.

[0111] For example, if the data packet with the highest sequence number among the data packets received within the current receiving window is the second data packet, then the first device can determine whether it needs to wait for data packets that were not received before the second data packet, such as the first data packet, based on the reception time of the second data packet. Specifically, if the reception time of the second data packet is T1, and the first preset duration is assumed to be T1', then when the current time reaches T1+T1', the first device determines that it no longer needs to wait for the first data packet and considers the first data packet as having been received.

[0112] For example, if the second data packet has the highest sequence number among the data packets already received within the current receiving window, the first device can determine whether it needs to wait for previously unreceived data packets, such as the first data packet, based on the timestamp in the RTP header of the second data packet. Specifically, if the timestamp in the RTP header of the second data packet is T2, and the first preset duration is assumed to be T2', then when the current time reaches T2+T2', the first device determines that it no longer needs to wait for the first data packet and considers the first data packet as already received.

[0113] For example, if the last data packet received within the current receiving window is the second data packet, the first device can determine whether it needs to wait for previously unreceived data packets, such as the first data packet, based on the reception time of the second data packet. Specifically, if the reception time of the second data packet is T3, and the first preset duration is assumed to be T3', then when the current time reaches T3+T3', the first device determines that it no longer needs to wait for the first data packet and considers the first data packet as already received.

[0114] For example, if the last data packet received within the current receiving window is the second data packet, the first device can determine whether it needs to wait for previously unreceived data packets, such as the first data packet, based on the timestamp in the RTP header of the second data packet. Specifically, if the timestamp in the RTP header of the second data packet is T4, and the first preset duration is assumed to be T4', then when the current time reaches T4+T4', the first device determines that it no longer needs to wait for the first data packet and considers the first data packet as already received.

[0115] It should be noted that the data packet with the highest sequence number may be different from the last received data packet. Data packets sent by the second device in sequence number order may be received by the first device in a different order due to HARQ retransmission or other reasons. For example, as shown in Figure 7, the data packet with sequence number SN=5 may be received before the data packet with sequence number SN=1.

[0116] For example, if the data packet with the lowest sequence number among the data packets already received within the current receiving window is the second data packet, then the first device can determine, based on the reception time of the second data packet, whether it needs to wait for other data packets not yet received within the current receiving window, such as all or part of the data packets within the receiving window, including the first data packet. Specifically, if the reception time of the second data packet is T5, and the first preset duration is assumed to be T5', then when the current time reaches T5+T5', the first device determines that it no longer needs to wait for all data packets within the receiving window, or determines that it no longer needs to wait for data packets not received within the range of [T5, T5+T5'] from time T5 to time T5+T5', and considers these data packets as already received.

[0117] For example, if the data packet with the lowest sequence number among the data packets already received within the current receiving window is the second data packet, then the first device can determine, based on the timestamp in the RTP header of the second data packet, whether it needs to wait for other data packets not yet received within the current receiving window, such as all or part of the data packets within the receiving window, including the first data packet. Specifically, if the timestamp in the RTP header of the second data packet is T6, and the first preset duration is assumed to be T6', then when the current time reaches T6+T6', the first device determines that it no longer needs to wait for all data packets within the receiving window, or determines that it no longer needs to wait for data packets not received within the range of [T6, T6+T6'] from time T6 to time T6+T6' within the receiving window, and considers these data packets as already received.

[0118] For example, if the earliest received data packet within the current receiving window is the second data packet, the first device can determine, based on the reception time of the second data packet, whether it needs to wait for other unreceived data packets within the current receiving window, such as all or part of the data packets within the receiving window, including the first data packet. Specifically, if the reception time of the second data packet is T7, and the first preset duration is assumed to be T7', then when the current time reaches T7+T7', the first device determines that it no longer needs to wait for all data packets within the receiving window, or determines that it no longer needs to wait for data packets within the range of [T7, T7+T7'] from T7 to T7+T7' within the receiving window, and considers these data packets as already received.

[0119] For example, if the earliest received data packet within the current receiving window is the second data packet, the first device can determine, based on the timestamp in the RTP header of the second data packet, whether it needs to wait for other unreceived data packets within the current receiving window, such as all or part of the data packets within the receiving window, including the first data packet. Specifically, if the timestamp in the RTP header of the second data packet is T8, and the first preset duration is assumed to be T8', then when the current time reaches T8+T8', the first device determines that it no longer needs to wait for all data packets within the receiving window, or determines that it no longer needs to wait for data packets within the range of [T8, T8+T8'] from time T8 to time T8+T8', and treats these data packets as already received.

[0120] Similarly, the data packet with the lowest sequence number may be different from the earliest received data packet. Data packets sent by the second device in sequence number order may be received by the first device in a different order due to HARQ retransmission or other reasons. For example, a data packet with sequence number SN=0 may be received after a data packet with sequence number SN=1.

[0121] It can be understood that the first data packet and the second data packet are located within the same receiving window; or, the first data packet and the second data packet are located within a predetermined time period of the same receiving window. The start time of the predetermined time period is determined based on the time-related information of the second data packet, such as the receiving time of the second data packet or the time corresponding to the timestamp in the RTP header. The end time of the predetermined time period can be the first time mentioned above. For example, the predetermined time period can be [T5, T5+T5'], [T6, T6+T6'], [T7, T7+T7'], or [T8, T8+T8'].

[0122] As another example, if the second data packet is the earliest received data packet or the data packet with the smallest sequence number within the current receiving window, the first device may also assume that it does not need to wait for data packets with sequence numbers M1 after the sequence number of the second data packet; or, if the second data packet is the latest received data packet or the data packet with the largest sequence number within the current receiving window, the first device may also assume that it does not need to wait for data packets with sequence numbers M2 before the sequence number of the second data packet. Here, M1 and M2 can be pre-agreed upon or sent by the second device.

[0123] Example 2

[0124] In Example 2, the first data packet and the second data packet belong to the same data packet cluster. For example, the second data packet is the first data packet in the data packet cluster.

[0125] The first data packet in a data packet cluster can be determined by the first device or indicated by the second device. For example, the sequence number of the second data packet can be the data packet with the smallest sequence number that the first device has received in that data packet cluster; or, the sequence number of the second data packet can be indicated by the second device.

[0126] Specifically, if the first data packet in a data packet cluster is determined by the first device, the first device can use the data packet with the smallest sequence number in its received current data packet cluster as the first data packet in that cluster. However, this data packet is not necessarily the first data packet sent by the second device in that data packet cluster. For example, a data packet cluster includes 50 data packets from SN=0 to SN=49, and the first data packet in the cluster is the data packet with SN=0. Assuming the first device receives data packets with the smallest sequence number SN=1, and the data packet with SN=0 has not yet been received due to HARQ or other reasons, the first device will use the data packet with SN=1 as the first data packet in the current data packet cluster. For the first device, this data packet cluster includes 50 data packets from SN=1 to SN=50. However, because NR Release 19 enhanced the RLC retransmission for the second device, the sender will retransmit data packets faster, so this situation is less likely to occur.

[0127] If the information of the first data packet in a data packet cluster is sent by the second device, the second device can send the sequence number of the first data packet in the data packet cluster to the first device. As an example, if the data packet cluster includes 50 data packets with SN=0 to SN=49, the second device can send the first data packet with SN=0 to the first device. Even if the first device receives the data packet with sequence number SN=1 first, it will still treat the data packet with SN=0 as the first data packet in the data packet cluster when it receives the data packet with SN=0.

[0128] In some implementations, the first information includes time-related information of the second data packet, which is used to determine the second time point. Specifically, if the first data packet is not received after the second time point, or if it was not received before the first time point, the first data packet is considered to have been received. In other words, the first condition includes either not being received before the second time point or not being received after the first time point.

[0129] The first device can determine the second time based on the time-related information of the second data packet, and then determine which unreceived data packets can be considered as received based on the second time. For example, if the current time is already the second time and the first device has still not received the first data packet, it will give up waiting for the first data packet and consider the first data packet as received.

[0130] In some implementations, the second moment can be a second preset duration following the moment indicated by the time-related information of the second data packet. For example, if the time-related information of the second data packet includes the reception time or the transmission time of the second data packet, then the second moment can be a second preset duration following the reception time or the transmission time of the second data packet.

[0131] The following are several methods for determining the second preset duration.

[0132] Method 1

[0133] In some implementations, the first information also includes time-related information about the data packet cluster, and the second preset duration can be determined based on the time-related information about the data packet cluster.

[0134] Optionally, the time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: the air interface transmission delay budget of the data packet cluster; the timeout information of the data packet cluster; and the clearing time of the data packet cluster indicated by the second device.

[0135] The air interface transmission delay budget for a data packet cluster is related to the time it takes for the data packet cluster to arrive at the second device. The arrival time of the data packet cluster at the air interface of the second device may be subject to clock jitter. If the data packet cluster arrives at the air interface of the second device late, the air interface transmission delay budget is short; if the data packet cluster arrives at the air interface of the second device early, the air interface transmission delay budget is long.

[0136] The timeout information of a data packet cluster may include one or more of the following: the timeout time of the data packet cluster; the timeout time of the first data packet in the data packet cluster; the timeout time of the last data packet in the data packet cluster; the timeout time of the earliest timed-out data packet in the data packet cluster; and the timeout time of the latest timed-out data packet in the data packet cluster.

[0137] Typically, the timeout values ​​of individual packets within a packet cluster may differ because the packets vary in importance, resulting in different transmission delay budgets. More important packets have larger transmission delay budgets, while less important packets have smaller budgets. Therefore, the timeout value of each packet does not always increase sequentially. However, if we assume that all packets arrive at the same time—for example, by forcibly aligning their arrival times—then the timeout values ​​of all packets will be the same, which becomes the timeout value of the packet cluster as described above.

[0138] The clearing time for the data packet cluster indicated by the second device can be a time when the second device determines that it no longer needs to wait for the first data packet. If the clearing time has already arrived and the first device has not yet received the first data packet, then the first device does not need to continue waiting for the first data packet and considers the first data packet as having been received.

[0139] This application does not limit the type of time-related information of data packet clusters. For example, the type of time-related information of data packet clusters includes one or more of the following: absolute time; SFN of the current cell; time slot number; symbol.

[0140] In some implementations, the second preset duration can be recorded by a timer of the first device. The start time of this timer is the time indicated by the time-related information of the second data packet, such as the reception or transmission time of the second data packet. Here, the reception or transmission time of the second data packet, i.e., the reception or transmission time of the first data packet in the current data packet cluster, can be the reception or transmission time of the data packet with the smallest sequence number in the data packet cluster. As mentioned above, the data packet with the smallest sequence number in the data packet cluster can be determined by the first device or sent by the second device.

[0141] For example, the first data packet in a data packet cluster is the second data packet. The first information sent by the second device to the first device includes time-related information of the data packet cluster, such as the air interface transmission delay budget, the timeout information, and the settlement time. If the reception or transmission time of the second data packet is T9, and the air interface transmission delay budget, the timeout time, or the settlement time is equal to the second preset duration T9', then when the current time reaches T9+T9', the first device determines that it no longer needs to wait for all or part of the unreceived data packets in the data packet cluster, including the first data packet, and considers these data packets as received. The part of the data packets mentioned here may be, for example, data packets with lower importance levels.

[0142] For example, if the first data packet in a data packet cluster is the second data packet, the terminal device starts a timer when it receives the second data packet. If the receiving or sending time of the second data packet is T10, and the second preset duration is T10', the first device starts a timer at time T10. If the first device has not received the first data packet by the time recorded by the timer reaches the second preset duration, it does not need to wait for all or part of the unreceived data packets in the data packet cluster, including the first data packet, and treats these data packets as received. The part of the data packets mentioned here may be, for example, data packets with lower importance levels.

[0143] Furthermore, in some implementations, the first information may also include the number of data packets in the data packet cluster and / or the data volume of the data packet cluster. The number of data packets in the data packet cluster and the data volume of the data packet cluster are used to determine the data packets belonging to that data packet cluster, that is, to determine which data packets belong to that data packet cluster. For example, the first device can determine which data packets are included in the data packet cluster based on the sequence number of the first data packet (i.e., the second data packet) in the data packet cluster and the number of data packets in the data packet cluster. Assuming that the sequence number of the second data packet is SN=0, and there are 50 data packets in the data packet cluster, then the data packet cluster includes data packets from SN=0 to SN=49. In this way, when the second time point is reached from the current time point, unreceived data packets belonging to the same data packet cluster as the second data packet, such as the first data packet, can be treated as received without waiting.

[0144] Method 2

[0145] In some implementations, the first information also includes the number of data packets in the data packet cluster, and the second preset duration is the time elapsed since the first device received that number of data packets starting from the second data packet. For example, if the sequence number of the second data packet is SN=0, and there are 50 data packets in the data packet cluster, then the second preset duration is the time elapsed since the second device received data packets from SN=0 to SN=49.

[0146] The first device can determine the second time based on the reception or transmission time of the second data packet and the number of data packets in the data packet cluster. Then, it can determine which unreceived data packets can be considered received based on the second time. For example, the second time is the time when the first device has received all data packets of that number since receiving the second data packet. If the first device has not received the first data packet in the data packet cluster by the time the second time arrives, it will abandon waiting for the first data packet and consider the first data packet as received.

[0147] In some implementations, the number of data packets carried in the first information can be recorded by a counter on the first device, with the counter's start time being the time the second data packet is received or sent. Here, the time the second data packet is received or sent, i.e., the time the first data packet in the current data packet cluster is received or sent, can be the time the data packet with the smallest sequence number in that data packet cluster is received or sent. As mentioned above, the data packet with the smallest sequence number in that data packet cluster can be determined by the first device or sent by the second device.

[0148] For example, the first data packet in a data packet cluster is the second data packet, and the first information sent by the second device to the first device includes the number of data packets in the data packet cluster. If the reception or transmission time of the second data packet is T11, the number of data packets in the data packet cluster is N, and the time when the first device finishes receiving N data packets from time T11 is T11', then when the current time reaches T11+T11', the first device determines that it no longer needs to wait for all or part of the unreceived data packets in the data packet cluster, including the first data packet, and considers these data packets as already received. The part of the data packets mentioned here may be, for example, data packets with lower importance levels.

[0149] For example, if the first data packet in a data packet cluster is the second data packet, the terminal device starts a counter when it receives the second data packet. If the reception or transmission time of the second data packet is T12, and the first device starts a timer at time T12, and the number of data packets in the data packet cluster is N, then when the counter reaches N, the first device has not yet received the first data packet when the current time reaches T12+T12'. Therefore, it does not need to wait for all or part of the unreceived data packets in the data packet cluster, including the first data packet, and treats these data packets as received. The part of the data packets mentioned here may be, for example, data packets with lower importance levels.

[0150] In Embodiment 2, in other implementations, the first information includes the sequence number of the second data packet. The first data packet is considered received if the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a second preset value. The second preset value may be pre-agreed or sent by the second device. The second preset value may be, for example, a positive integer.

[0151] In other words, the first condition includes a difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet being less than a second preset value. The first device can treat data packets that have not been received in the data packets corresponding to the sequence numbers whose difference with the second data packet's sequence number is less than the second preset value as having been received.

[0152] The above describes how the first device determines whether to treat an unreceived data packet as received. The following describes how the first device determines whether to perform this operation.

[0153] In some implementations, the communication method of this application embodiment may further include the first device determining whether to perform a first operation based on second information, the first operation including, for example, the aforementioned determination of whether to regard an unreceived data packet as received.

[0154] Optionally, the second information may include indication information for indicating whether to perform the first operation, that is, the second information is used to indicate whether the first device performs the first operation; or, the second information may include information associated with the first operation.

[0155] The first operation may be associated with one or more of the following: logical channel (LCH), logical channel group (LCG), service type, and terminal device information.

[0156] If the second information indicates a specific logical channel, the first device performs the first operation only for data packets transmitted on that logical channel; if the second information indicates a specific logical channel group, the first device performs the first operation only for data packets transmitted on that logical channel group; if the second information indicates a specific service type, such as an XR service, the first device performs the first operation only for data packets of that service type, such as an XR service; if the second information indicates certain or a certain type of terminal devices, the first device performs the first operation if it is a terminal device indicated by the second information.

[0157] Here, the terminal device information may include one or more of the following: the protocol version supported by the terminal device; and the device information of the terminal device. For example, regarding the protocol version supported by the terminal device, a higher version terminal device, such as Release 19 or above, can perform the first operation, while a lower version terminal device, such as Release 18 or below, does not perform the first operation.

[0158] The second information may include one or more pieces of information associated with the first operation. For example, if the second information includes a logical channel group and a service type such as XR service, then the first device may perform the first operation on data packets on the logical channel used for transmitting XR service in the logical channel group; or, for example, if the second information includes information about the terminal device and information about the logical channel, then when the first device is the terminal device indicated by the second information, the first device performs the first operation on data packets on the logical channel indicated by the second information.

[0159] Furthermore, optionally, the second information may also indicate the method used to perform the first operation, i.e., which of the aforementioned methods the first device uses to determine whether to treat an unreceived data packet as received. Of course, the first device may also choose one of the methods to determine whether to treat an unreceived data packet as received.

[0160] Optionally, the second information can be obtained through one or more of the following methods: prior agreement; determination by the first device; and transmission by the second device.

[0161] If the second information is sent through the second device, the second information may be carried in one or more of the following: RRC signaling; RLC control signaling.

[0162] In some implementations, the first device may also send third information to the second device, which indicates whether the first device has the capability to perform the first operation. This capability may be associated with one or more of the following: frequency range (FR), logical channel, logical channel group, and terminal device information. Optionally, the third information may also be provided by other devices; for example, if the first device is a terminal device and the second device is a network device, the third information may be provided by the core network to the second device.

[0163] Based on the above description, if the first device determines that it considers a first data packet that has not been received as received, then the first device needs to update its maintained status parameters. For example, the aforementioned first parameter (RX_Next), second parameter (RX_Highest_Status), third parameter (RX_Next_Highest), and fourth parameter (RX_Next_Status_Trigger).

[0164] In some implementations, if a first data packet that has not been received is treated as received, the status parameters maintained by the first device are updated based on the status of data packets with the second sequence number and preceding sequence numbers.

[0165] The second sequence number can be defined in two ways: if the first data packet is considered received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the first data packet; or, if multiple unreceived data packets are considered received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the last data packet among the multiple data packets, including the first data packet. In other implementations, the second sequence number can also be indicated by a second device.

[0166] In some implementations, the status parameters can be updated in one or more of the following ways: the first parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the second sequence number; the second parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the next received data packet after the first parameter; if the sequence number indicated by the third parameter is before the second sequence number, it is updated to the sequence number indicated by the third parameter plus 1, or it remains unchanged if it is after the second sequence number; the fourth parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next segment of unreceived data packets after the second sequence number. Here, the next segment of unreceived data packets refers to one or more consecutive unreceived data packets. For example, the data packets SN=6 and SN=7 shown in Figure 5 can be called an unreceived segment of data packets, and the data packets SN=1, SN=2, SN=3, and SN=4 can be called an unreceived segment of data packets.

[0167] Based on the situation shown in Figure 5, if the first device does not receive data packets SN=1, SN=2, SN=3, and SN=4 during the reassembly timer operation, and the first device determines that it does not need to wait for data packets SN=1, SN=2, SN=3, and SN=4, the second sequence number is SN=4. The first device considers the data packets SN=1, SN=2, SN=3, and SN=4 as received. At this time, the data packets SN=1, SN=2, SN=3, and SN=4 are considered received, and RX_Next is updated to SN=6. RX_Next_Highest is SN=9, which is after the second sequence number SN=4, so it remains unchanged. It is determined that RX_Next_Status_Trigger = RX_Next, and the reassembly timer is stopped. It is determined that RX_Next_Highest > RX_Next + 1, and the reassembly timer is restarted to wait for data packets SN=6 and SN=7, and RX_Next_Status_Trigger is set to SN=9. Specifically, if the first device determines that it does not need to wait for packets with SN=6 and SN=7, RX_Highest_Status is updated to SN=9; if the first device still needs to wait for packets with SN=6 and SN=7, RX_Highest_Status is updated to SN=6.

[0168] Optionally, when the first device updates the status parameters maintained by the receiving end, the first device may send a fourth message to the second device. The fourth message is used by the second device to update the status parameters maintained by the sending end. For example, the fourth message may indicate whether the first device has updated the status parameters, or the fourth message may include one or more of the updated status parameters.

[0169] Figure 10 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method according to another embodiment of this application. The method 300 shown in Figure 10 can be executed by a second device, which can be a receiving end, with its peer device being a first device, which can also be a receiving end. As an example, the first device is a terminal device and the second device is a network device, or vice versa. As shown in Figure 10, method 300 may include some or all of the following steps.

[0170] In step 310, the second device sends first information to the first device. This first information is used to determine whether an unreceived first data packet is considered received. The first information is associated with a second data packet received by the first device. Both the first and second data packets are data packets transmitted in RLC acknowledgment mode.

[0171] It is understood that the content included in the first information in method 300 can be all the content that the first information in method 200 may include and that can be provided by the second device.

[0172] In some implementations, the first data packet is considered to have been received, wherein the first device does not trigger an RLC status report; or, the first device triggers an RLC status report and the RLC status report does not indicate that the first data packet was not received.

[0173] In some implementations, the first data packet and the second data packet belong to the same data packet cluster.

[0174] In some implementations, the second data packet is the first data packet in the data packet cluster.

[0175] In some implementations, the second data packet is the data packet with the smallest sequence number in the data packet cluster already received by the first device; or, the sequence number of the second data packet is indicated by the second device.

[0176] In some implementations, the first information is used to determine the second time point, wherein if the first data packet is not received after the second time point, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

[0177] In some implementations, the first information is used to determine the second preset duration, where the second time is the second preset duration after the time the second data packet is received or sent.

[0178] In some implementations, the first information includes time-related information about data packet clusters, which is used to determine the second preset duration.

[0179] In some implementations, the time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: the air interface transmission delay budget of the data packet cluster; the timeout information of the data packet cluster; and the settlement time of the data packet cluster.

[0180] In some implementations, the timeout information of a data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: the timeout time of the data packet cluster; the timeout time of the first data packet in the data packet cluster; the timeout time of the last data packet in the data packet cluster; the timeout time of the earliest timed-out data packet in the data packet cluster; and the timeout time of the latest timed-out data packet in the data packet cluster.

[0181] In some implementations, the second preset duration is recorded by a timer of the first device, and the timer starts at the moment the second data packet is received or sent.

[0182] In some implementations, the time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: absolute time; system frame number; time slot number; symbol.

[0183] In some implementations, the first information also includes the number of packets in the packet cluster and / or the data volume of the packet cluster, which is used to determine the packets belonging to the packet cluster.

[0184] In some implementations, the first information includes the number of data packets in the data packet cluster, and the second preset duration is the time elapsed since the first device received the number of data packets starting from the second data packet.

[0185] In some implementations, the number of data packets is recorded by a counter on the first device, and the counter is started at the moment the second data packet is received or sent.

[0186] In some implementations, the first information includes the sequence number of the second data packet. If the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a second preset value, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

[0187] In some implementations, the first information is carried in one or more of the following: PDCP header; RLC header; MAC header; PDCP control signaling; RLC control signaling; MAC CE.

[0188] In some implementations, the second device sends second information to the first device, the second information being used to determine whether to perform a first operation, the first operation including determining whether to treat unreceived data packets as received.

[0189] In some implementations, the second information includes indication information for indicating whether to perform the first operation; or, the second information includes information associated with the first operation.

[0190] In some implementations, the first operation is associated with one or more of the following: logical channel, logical channel group, service type, and terminal device information.

[0191] In some implementations, the terminal device information includes one or more of the following: the protocol version supported by the terminal device; and the device information of the terminal device.

[0192] In some implementations, the second information is carried in one or more of the following: RRC signaling; RLC control signaling.

[0193] In some implementations, method 300 may further include the second device receiving third information sent by the first device, the third information being used to indicate whether the first device has the capability to perform the first operation.

[0194] In some implementations, the capability is associated with one or more of the following: frequency band, logical channel, logical channel group, and terminal device information.

[0195] In some implementations, when the first data packet is considered to have been received, the status parameters of the data packets maintained by the first device are updated based on the status of data packets with the second sequence number and preceding sequence numbers.

[0196] In some implementations, if the first data packet is considered to have been received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the first data packet; or, if multiple unreceived data packets are considered to have been received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the last data packet among the multiple data packets, including the first data packet.

[0197] In some implementations, the status parameter includes one or more of the following: a first parameter indicating the next sequence number after the last correctly received data packet; a second parameter indicating the sequence number updated when the reassembly timer times out; a third parameter indicating the next sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet with the highest sequence number; and a fourth parameter indicating the sequence number of the next incorrectly received data packet after the sequence number of the data packet that triggered the reassembly timer.

[0198] In some implementations, the first parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the second sequence number; the second parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the next received data packet after the first parameter; if the sequence number indicated by the third parameter is before the second sequence number, it is updated to the sequence number indicated by the third parameter plus 1, or it remains unchanged if it is after the second sequence number; the fourth parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the second sequence number.

[0199] In some implementations, method 300 may further include: the second device receiving an RLC status report sent by the first device, wherein the RLC status report is an RLC status report triggered by the first device based on updated status parameters.

[0200] In some implementations, the first data packet includes SDU and / or fragments of SDU.

[0201] It is understood that the specific details of the various implementations of method 300 shown in Figure 10 can be found in the aforementioned description of method 200. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0202] The method embodiments of this application have been described in detail above with reference to Figures 1 to 10. The apparatus embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 11 to 13. It should be understood that the descriptions of the method embodiments correspond to the descriptions of the apparatus embodiments; therefore, any parts not described in detail can be referred to the foregoing method embodiments.

[0203] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of this application. The communication device 400 shown in Figure 11 can be the first device described above, and the communication device 400 includes a processing unit 410. Optionally, the communication device 400 further includes a transceiver unit 420. The processing unit 410 is configured to determine, based on first information, whether to consider an unreceived first data packet as received, wherein the first information is associated with a second data packet received by the first device, and the first data packet and the second data packet are data packets transmitted in RLC acknowledgment mode.

[0204] In some implementations, the first data packet is considered to have been received, wherein the first device does not trigger an RLC status report; or, the first device triggers the RLC status report and the RLC status report does not indicate that the first data packet was not received.

[0205] In some implementations, the first information includes time-related information and / or sequence number information of the second data packet.

[0206] In some implementations, the time-related information of the second data packet includes one or more of the following: the time when the second data packet is received; the time when the second data packet is sent; and the timestamp in the RTP header of the second data packet.

[0207] In some implementations, the time difference between the sending time of the second data packet and the receiving time of the second data packet is the air interface transmission time.

[0208] In some implementations, the time-related information of the second data packet includes one or more of the following: absolute time; system frame number; time slot number; symbol.

[0209] In some implementations, the first data packet and the second data packet are located within the same receiving window.

[0210] In some implementations, the second data packet includes one or more of the following: the data packet with the highest sequence number among the data packets received in the receiving window; the last data packet received among the data packets received in the receiving window; the data packet with the lowest sequence number among the data packets received in the receiving window; and the earliest data packet received among the data packets received in the receiving window.

[0211] In some implementations, the first information includes time-related information of the second data packet, which is used to determine a first moment. If the first data packet is not received after the first moment, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

[0212] In some implementations, the time-related information of the second data packet includes the reception time of the second data packet or the timestamp in the RTP header, wherein the first time is a first preset duration after the reception time of the second data packet or the timestamp.

[0213] In some implementations, the first information includes the sequence number of the second data packet, wherein the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a first preset value, and the first data packet is considered to have been received.

[0214] In some implementations, the first data packet and the second data packet belong to the same data packet cluster.

[0215] In some implementations, the second data packet is the first data packet in the data packet cluster.

[0216] In some implementations, the second data packet is the data packet with the smallest sequence number in the data packet cluster already received by the first device; or, the sequence number of the second data packet is indicated by the second device.

[0217] In some implementations, the first information includes time-related information of the second data packet, which is used to determine a second moment, wherein if the first data packet is not received after the second moment, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

[0218] In some implementations, the time-related information of the second data packet includes the time of receipt or transmission of the second data packet, and the second time is a second preset duration after the time of receipt or transmission of the second data packet.

[0219] In some implementations, the first information also includes time-related information of the data packet cluster, and the second preset duration is determined based on the time-related information of the data packet cluster.

[0220] In some implementations, the time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: the air interface transmission delay budget of the data packet cluster; the timeout information of the data packet cluster; and the settlement time of the data packet cluster.

[0221] In some implementations, the timeout information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: the timeout time of the data packet cluster; the timeout time of the first data packet in the data packet cluster; the timeout time of the last data packet in the data packet cluster; the timeout time of the earliest timed-out data packet in the data packet cluster; and the timeout time of the latest timed-out data packet in the data packet cluster.

[0222] In some implementations, the time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: absolute time; system frame number; time slot number; symbol.

[0223] In some implementations, the second preset duration is recorded by a timer of the first device, and the start time of the timer is the time when the second data packet is received or sent.

[0224] In some implementations, the first information may also include the number of data packets in the data packet cluster and / or the data volume of the data packet cluster, wherein the number of data packets in the data packet cluster and the data volume of the data packet cluster are used to determine the data packets belonging to the data packet cluster.

[0225] In some implementations, the first information may also include the number of data packets in the data packet cluster, and the second preset duration is the time elapsed since the first device received the number of data packets of the specified number from the second data packet.

[0226] In some implementations, the number of data packets is recorded by a counter of the first device, and the counter is started at the time of receiving or sending the second data packet.

[0227] In some implementations, the first information includes the sequence number of the second data packet, and the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a second preset value, in which case the first data packet is considered to have been received.

[0228] In some implementations, the first information is obtained through one or more of the following methods: prior agreement; determination by the first device; and transmission by the second device.

[0229] In some implementations, the first information is carried in one or more of the following: PDCP header; RLC header; MAC header; PDCP control signaling; RLC control signaling; MAC CE.

[0230] In some implementations, the processing unit 410 is further configured to: determine whether to perform a first operation based on second information, the first operation including determining whether to treat an unreceived data packet as received.

[0231] In some implementations, the second information includes indication information for indicating whether to perform the first operation; or, the second information includes information associated with the first operation.

[0232] In some implementations, the first operation is associated with one or more of the following: logical channel, logical channel group, service type, and terminal device information.

[0233] In some implementations, the information of the terminal device includes one or more of the following: the protocol version supported by the terminal device; and the device information of the terminal device.

[0234] In some implementations, the second information is obtained through one or more of the following methods: prior agreement; determination by the first device; and transmission by the second device.

[0235] In some implementations, the second information is carried in one or more of the following: RRC signaling; RLC control signaling.

[0236] In some implementations, the transceiver unit 420 is used to send third information to the second device, the third information being used to indicate whether the first device has the capability to perform the first operation.

[0237] In some implementations, the capability is associated with one or more of the following: frequency band, logical channel, logical channel group, and terminal device information.

[0238] In some implementations, when the first data packet is considered to have been received, the status parameters of the data packets maintained by the first device are updated based on the status of data packets with the second sequence number and preceding sequence numbers.

[0239] In some implementations, when the first data packet is considered to have been received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the first data packet; or, when multiple unreceived data packets are considered to have been received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the last data packet among the multiple data packets, including the first data packet.

[0240] In some implementations, the status parameters include one or more of the following: a first parameter indicating the next sequence number after the last correctly received data packet; a second parameter indicating the sequence number updated when the reassembly timer times out; a third parameter indicating the next sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet with the highest sequence number that was received; and a fourth parameter indicating the next incorrectly received sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet that triggered the reassembly timer.

[0241] In some implementations, the first parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the second sequence number; the second parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the next received data packet after the first parameter; if the sequence number indicated by the third parameter is before the second sequence number, it is updated to the sequence number indicated by the third parameter plus 1, or it remains unchanged if it is after the second sequence number; the fourth parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the second sequence number.

[0242] In some implementations, the processing unit 410 is further configured to: cancel the RLC status report when the RLC status report has been triggered and the RLC status report indicates that the first data packet has not been received, and re-trigger the RLC status report based on the updated status parameters.

[0243] In some implementations, the first data packet includes SDUs and / or fragments of SDUs.

[0244] In some implementations, the first device is a terminal device or a network device.

[0245] It is understood that the processing unit 410 may be, for example, a processor 610, and the transceiver unit 420 may be, for example, a transceiver 630. Additionally, the communication device 400 may optionally include a memory 620, as shown in Figure 13.

[0246] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to another embodiment of this application. The communication device 500 shown in Figure 12 may be the second device described above, including a transceiver unit 510. The transceiver unit 510 is used to send first information to a first device, the first information being used to determine whether an unreceived first data packet is considered as received, the first information being associated with a second data packet received by the first device, and the first data packet and the second data packet being data packets transmitted in RLC acknowledgment mode.

[0247] In some implementations, the first data packet is considered to have been received, wherein the first device does not trigger an RLC status report; or, the first device triggers the RLC status report and the RLC status report does not indicate that the first data packet was not received.

[0248] In some implementations, the first data packet and the second data packet belong to the same data packet cluster.

[0249] In some implementations, the second data packet is the first data packet in the data packet cluster.

[0250] In some implementations, the second data packet is the data packet with the smallest sequence number in the data packet cluster already received by the first device; or, the sequence number of the second data packet is indicated by the second device.

[0251] In some implementations, the first information is used to determine a second time point, wherein if the first data packet is not received after the second time point, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

[0252] In some implementations, the first information is used to determine a second preset duration, where the second time is the second preset duration following the time of receiving or sending the second data packet.

[0253] In some implementations, the first information includes time-related information of the data packet cluster, which is used to determine the second preset duration.

[0254] In some implementations, the time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: the air interface transmission delay budget of the data packet cluster; the timeout information of the data packet cluster; and the settlement time of the data packet cluster.

[0255] In some implementations, the timeout information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: the timeout time of the data packet cluster; the timeout time of the first data packet in the data packet cluster; the timeout time of the last data packet in the data packet cluster; the timeout time of the earliest timed-out data packet in the data packet cluster; and the timeout time of the latest timed-out data packet in the data packet cluster.

[0256] In some implementations, the second preset duration is recorded by a timer of the first device, and the start time of the timer is the time when the second data packet is received or sent.

[0257] In some implementations, the time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: absolute time; system frame number; time slot number; symbol.

[0258] In some implementations, the first information may also include the number of data packets in the data packet cluster and / or the data volume of the data packet cluster, wherein the number of data packets in the data packet cluster or the data volume of the data packet cluster is used to determine the data packets belonging to the data packet cluster.

[0259] In some implementations, the first information includes the number of data packets in the data packet cluster, and the second preset duration is the time elapsed since the first device received the number of data packets of the specified number starting from the second data packet.

[0260] In some implementations, the number of data packets is recorded by a counter of the first device, and the counter is started at the time of receiving or sending the second data packet.

[0261] In some implementations, the first information includes the sequence number of the second data packet, and the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a second preset value, in which case the first data packet is considered to have been received.

[0262] In some implementations, the first information is carried in one or more of the following: PDCP header; RLC header; MAC header; PDCP control signaling; RLC control signaling; MAC CE.

[0263] In some implementations, the transceiver unit 510 is further configured to: send second information to the first device, the second information being used to determine whether to perform a first operation, the first operation including determining whether to treat an unreceived data packet as received.

[0264] In some implementations, the second information includes indication information for indicating whether to perform the first operation; or, the second information includes information associated with the first operation.

[0265] In some implementations, the first operation is associated with one or more of the following: logical channel, logical channel group, service type, and terminal device information.

[0266] In some implementations, the information of the terminal device includes one or more of the following: the protocol version supported by the terminal device; and the device information of the terminal device.

[0267] In some implementations, the second information is carried in one or more of the following: Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; Radio Resource Control (RLC) signaling.

[0268] In some implementations, the transceiver unit 510 is further configured to: receive third information sent by the first device, the third information being used to indicate whether the first device has the capability to perform the first operation.

[0269] In some implementations, the capability is associated with one or more of the following: frequency band, logical channel, logical channel group, and terminal device information.

[0270] In some implementations, when the first data packet is considered to have been received, the status parameters of the data packets maintained by the first device are updated based on the status of data packets with the second sequence number and preceding sequence numbers.

[0271] In some implementations, when the first data packet is considered to have been received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the first data packet; or, when multiple unreceived data packets are considered to have been received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the last data packet among the multiple data packets, including the first data packet.

[0272] In some implementations, the status parameters include one or more of the following: a first parameter indicating the next sequence number after the last correctly received data packet; a second parameter indicating the sequence number updated when the reassembly timer times out; a third parameter indicating the next sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet with the highest sequence number that was received; and a fourth parameter indicating the next incorrectly received sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet that triggered the reassembly timer.

[0273] In some implementations, the first parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the second sequence number; the second parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the next received data packet after the first parameter; if the sequence number indicated by the third parameter is before the second sequence number, it is updated to the sequence number indicated by the third parameter plus 1, or it remains unchanged if it is after the second sequence number; the fourth parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the second sequence number.

[0274] In some implementations, the transceiver unit 510 is further configured to: receive an RLC status report sent by the first device, wherein the RLC status report is an RLC status report triggered by the first device based on the updated status parameters.

[0275] In some implementations, the first data packet includes SDUs and / or fragments of SDUs.

[0276] In some implementations, the second device is a terminal device or a network device.

[0277] It is understood that the transceiver unit 510 may be, for example, a transceiver 630. Alternatively, the communication device 500 may also include a processor 610 and a memory 620, as shown in Figure 13.

[0278] Figure 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of this application. The dashed lines in Figure 13 indicate that the unit or module is optional. This apparatus can be used to implement the methods described in the above method embodiments. The apparatus may be, for example, a chip, a terminal device, or a network device.

[0279] As shown in Figure 13, the device 600 may include one or more processors 610. The processors 610 can support the device 600 in implementing the methods described in the above-described method embodiments. The processor 610 may be a general-purpose processor or a special-purpose processor. For example, the processor 610 may be a central processing unit (CPU). Alternatively, the processor 610 may also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0280] The apparatus 600 may further include one or more memories 620. The memories 620 store a program that can be executed by the processor 610, causing the processor 610 to perform the methods described in the foregoing method embodiments. The memories 620 may be independent of the processor 610 or integrated within the processor 610.

[0281] The device 600 may also include a transceiver 630. The processor 610 can communicate with other devices or chips via the transceiver 630. For example, the processor 610 can send and receive data with other devices or chips via the transceiver 630.

[0282] This application also provides a communication system. The system includes the first device and the second device described above. In some implementations, the system further includes other devices that interact with the first device or the second device.

[0283] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing a program. This computer-readable storage medium can be applied to a communication device, such as a first device or a second device, provided in this application, and the program causes a computer to execute the methods performed by the first device or the second device in various embodiments of this application.

[0284] This application also provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes a program. The computer program product can be applied to a communication device, such as a first device or a second device, provided in the embodiments of this application, and the program causes a computer to execute the methods performed by the first device or the second device in various embodiments of this application.

[0285] This application also provides a computer program. This computer program can be applied to the communication device provided in this application, such as the first device or the second device, and causes the computer to perform the methods described in the various embodiments of this application using the first device or the second device.

[0286] It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" in this application can be used interchangeably. Furthermore, the terminology used in this application is only for explaining specific embodiments of the application and is not intended to limit the application. The terms "first," "second," "third," and "fourth," etc., in the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this application are used to distinguish different objects, not to describe a specific order. In addition, the terms "comprising" and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion.

[0287] In the embodiments of this application, the term "instruction" can be a direct instruction, an indirect instruction, or an indication of a relationship. For example, A instructing B can mean that A directly instructs B, such as B being able to obtain information through A; it can also mean that A indirectly instructs B, such as A instructing C, so B can obtain information through C; or it can mean that there is a relationship between A and B.

[0288] In the embodiments of this application, "B corresponding to A" means that B is associated with A, and B can be determined based on A. However, it should also be understood that determining B based on A does not mean that B is determined solely based on A; B can also be determined based on A and / or other information.

[0289] In the embodiments of this application, the term "correspondence" can indicate a direct or indirect correspondence between two things, or an association between two things, or a relationship of instruction and being instructed, configuration and being configured, etc.

[0290] In this application embodiment, "predefined" or "preconfigured" can be implemented by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables, or other means that can be used to indicate relevant information in the device, such as a terminal device or a network device. This application does not limit the specific implementation method. For example, predefined can refer to what is defined in the protocol.

[0291] In the embodiments of this application, the term "and / or" is merely a description of the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A existing alone, A and B existing simultaneously, or B existing alone. Additionally, the character " / " in this document generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship.

[0292] In the embodiments of this application, "comprising" can refer to direct inclusion or indirect inclusion. Optionally, "comprising" mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be replaced with "indicating" or "used to determine". For example, "A includes B" can be replaced with "A indicates B" or "A is used to determine B".

[0293] In the various embodiments of this application, the order of the above-mentioned processes does not imply the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0294] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between devices or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0295] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0296] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit.

[0297] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved entirely or partially through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented entirely or partially in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave) means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can read or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available media can be magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes, etc., or optical media such as digital video discs (DVDs) or semiconductor media such as solid-state disks (SSDs).

[0298] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: If the first condition is met, the first device will treat the first data packet that has not been received as if it has been received. The first condition is determined based on the second data packet received by the first device. The first data packet and the second data packet are data packets transmitted in the Radio Link Control (RLC) acknowledgment mode.

2. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first data packet is considered to have been received, wherein the first device does not trigger an RLC status report; or, the first device triggers the RLC status report and the RLC status report does not indicate that the first data packet was not received.

3. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first condition is determined based on first information, which includes time-related information and / or sequence number information of the second data packet.

4. The communication method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The time-related information of the second data packet includes one or more of the following: The time of reception of the second data packet; The time of transmission of the second data packet; The timestamp in the Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) header of the second data packet.

5. The communication method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The time difference between the sending time of the second data packet and the receiving time of the second data packet is the air interface transmission time.

6. The communication method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that, The time-related information of the second data packet includes one or more of the following: absolute time; system frame number; time slot number; symbol.

7. The communication method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that, The first data packet and the second data packet are located within the same receiving window.

8. The communication method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The second data packet includes one or more of the following: The data packet with the highest sequence number among the data packets already received within the receiving window; The last data packet received among the data packets already received within the receiving window; The data packet with the lowest sequence number among the data packets already received within the receiving window; The earliest received data packet among the data packets already received within the receiving window.

9. The communication method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that, The first information includes time-related information of the second data packet, which is used to determine a first moment. If the first data packet is not received after the first moment, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

10. The communication method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The time-related information of the second data packet includes the reception time of the second data packet or the timestamp in the RTP header, wherein the first time is a first preset duration after the reception time of the second data packet or the timestamp.

11. The communication method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that, The first information includes the sequence number of the second data packet, wherein the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a first preset value, and the first data packet is considered to have been received.

12. The communication method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that, The first data packet and the second data packet belong to the same data packet cluster.

13. The communication method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The second data packet is the first data packet in the data packet cluster.

14. The communication method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The second data packet is the data packet with the smallest sequence number in the data packet cluster that the first device has received; or, the sequence number of the second data packet is sent by the second device.

15. The communication method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that, The first information includes time-related information of the second data packet, which is used to determine the second moment. If the first data packet is not received after the second moment, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

16. The communication method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The time-related information of the second data packet includes the time of receipt or transmission of the second data packet, and the second time is a second preset duration after the time of receipt or transmission of the second data packet.

17. The communication method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The first information also includes time-related information of the data packet cluster, and the second preset duration is determined based on the time-related information of the data packet cluster.

18. The communication method according to claim 17, characterized in that, The time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: The air interface transmission delay budget of the data packet cluster; Timeout information for the data packet cluster; The clearing time of the data packet cluster.

19. The communication method according to claim 18, characterized in that, The timeout information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: The timeout period of the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the first data packet in the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the last data packet in the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the earliest timed-out data packet in the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the latest timeout data packet in the data packet cluster.

20. The communication method according to any one of claims 17 to 19, characterized in that, The time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following types: absolute time; system frame number; time slot number; symbol.

21. The communication method according to any one of claims 17 to 20, characterized in that, The second preset duration is recorded by the timer of the first device, and the start time of the timer is the time when the second data packet is received or sent.

22. The communication method according to any one of claims 17 to 21, characterized in that, The first information also includes the number of data packets in the data packet cluster and / or the data volume of the data packet cluster, the number of data packets in the data packet cluster and the data volume of the data packet cluster being used to determine the data packets belonging to the data packet cluster.

23. The communication method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The first information also includes the number of data packets in the data packet cluster, and the second preset duration is the time elapsed since the first device received the number of data packets of the specified number of data packets starting from the second data packet.

24. The communication method according to claim 23, characterized in that, The number of data packets is recorded by a counter of the first device, and the counter is started at the time of receiving or sending the second data packet.

25. The communication method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that, The first information includes the sequence number of the second data packet. If the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a second preset value, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

26. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 25, characterized in that, The first information is obtained through one or more of the following methods: prior agreement; determination by the first device; and transmission by the second device.

27. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 26, characterized in that, The first information is carried in one or more of the following: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) header; RLC header; Media Access Control (MAC) header; PDCP control signaling; RLC control signaling; Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE).

28. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 27, characterized in that, Also includes: The first device determines whether to perform a first operation based on the second information, the first operation including determining whether to treat unreceived data packets as received.

29. The communication method according to claim 28, characterized in that, The second information includes indication information for indicating whether to perform the first operation; or, the second information includes information associated with the first operation.

30. The communication method according to claim 29, characterized in that, The first operation is associated with one or more of the following: logical channel, logical channel group, service type, and terminal device information.

31. The communication method according to claim 30, characterized in that, The information of the terminal device includes one or more of the following: the protocol version supported by the terminal device; and the device information of the terminal device.

32. The communication method according to any one of claims 27 to 31, characterized in that, The second information is obtained through one or more of the following methods: prior agreement; determination by the first device; and transmission by the second device.

33. The communication method according to claim 32, characterized in that, The second information is carried in one or more of the following: Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; Radio Resource Control (RLC) signaling.

34. The communication method according to any one of claims 28 to 33, characterized in that, Also includes: The first device sends a third message to the second device, the third message indicating whether the first device has the capability to perform the first operation.

35. The communication method according to claim 34, characterized in that, The capability is associated with one or more of the following: frequency band, logical channel, logical channel group, and terminal device information.

36. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 35, characterized in that, When the first data packet is considered to have been received, the status parameters of the data packets maintained by the first device are updated based on the status of data packets with the second sequence number and the sequence numbers preceding it.

37. The communication method according to claim 35, characterized in that, If the first data packet is considered to have been received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the first data packet; or, In the case where multiple unreceived data packets are treated as received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the last data packet among the multiple data packets, including the first data packet.

38. The communication method according to claim 36 or 37, characterized in that, The state parameters include one or more of the following: The first parameter indicates the next sequence number after the last correctly received data packet; The second parameter is used to indicate the sequence number to be updated when the recombination timer times out; The third parameter is used to indicate the next sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet with the highest sequence number that has been received; The fourth parameter indicates the next incorrectly received sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet that triggered the reassembly timer.

39. The communication method according to claim 38, characterized in that, The first parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the second sequence number; The second parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the next received data packet after the first parameter; If the serial number indicated by the third parameter is before the second serial number, it is updated to the serial number indicated by the third parameter plus 1; otherwise, it remains unchanged. The fourth parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet following the second sequence number.

40. The communication method according to any one of claims 36 to 39, characterized in that, Also includes: If an RLC status report has been triggered and the RLC status report indicates that the first data packet has not been received, the RLC status report is canceled, and the RLC status report is retried based on the updated status parameters.

41. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 40, characterized in that, The first data packet includes a Service Data Unit (SDU) and / or fragments of the SDU.

42. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 41, characterized in that, The first device is a terminal device or a network device.

43. A communication method, characterized in that, include: The second device sends first information to the first device. The first information is used to determine whether a first data packet that has not been received is considered to have been received. The first information is associated with a second data packet received by the first device. The first data packet and the second data packet are data packets transmitted in Radio Link Control (RLC) acknowledgment mode.

44. The communication method according to claim 43, characterized in that, The first data packet is considered to have been received, wherein the first device does not trigger an RLC status report; or, the first device triggers the RLC status report and the RLC status report does not indicate that the first data packet was not received.

45. The communication method according to claim 43 or 44, characterized in that, The first data packet and the second data packet belong to the same data packet cluster.

46. ​​The communication method according to claim 45, characterized in that, The second data packet is the first data packet in the data packet cluster.

47. The communication method according to claim 46, characterized in that, The second data packet is the data packet with the smallest sequence number in the data packet cluster that the first device has received; or, the sequence number of the second data packet is indicated by the second device.

48. The communication method according to any one of claims 45 to 47, characterized in that, The first information is used to determine the second time point, wherein if the first data packet is not received after the second time point, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

49. The communication method according to claim 48, characterized in that, The first information is used to determine the second preset duration, where the second time is the second preset duration after the receiving time or sending time of the second data packet.

50. The communication method according to claim 48, characterized in that, The first information includes time-related information of the data packet cluster, which is used to determine the second preset duration.

51. The communication method according to claim 50, characterized in that, The time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: The air interface transmission delay budget of the data packet cluster; Timeout information for the data packet cluster; The clearing time of the data packet cluster.

52. The communication method according to claim 51, characterized in that, The timeout information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: The timeout period of the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the first data packet in the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the last data packet in the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the earliest timed-out data packet in the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the latest timeout data packet in the data packet cluster.

53. The communication method according to any one of claims 50 to 52, characterized in that, The second preset duration is recorded by the timer of the first device, and the start time of the timer is the time when the second data packet is received or sent.

54. The communication method according to any one of claims 50 to 53, characterized in that, The time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following types: absolute time; system frame number; time slot number; symbol.

55. The communication method according to any one of claims 50 to 54, characterized in that, The first information also includes the number of data packets in the data packet cluster and / or the data volume of the data packet cluster, wherein the number of data packets in the data packet cluster or the data volume of the data packet cluster is used to determine the data packets belonging to the data packet cluster.

56. The communication method according to claim 49, characterized in that, The first information includes the number of data packets in the data packet cluster, and the second preset duration is the time elapsed since the first device received the number of data packets of the specified number starting from the second data packet.

57. The communication method according to claim 56, characterized in that, The number of data packets is recorded by a counter of the first device, and the counter is started at the time of receiving or sending the second data packet.

58. The communication method according to any one of claims 45 to 47, characterized in that, The first information includes the sequence number of the second data packet. If the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a second preset value, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

59. The communication method according to any one of claims 43 to 57, characterized in that, The first information is carried in one or more of the following: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) header; RLC header; Media Access Control (MAC) header; PDCP control signaling; RLC control signaling; Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE).

60. The communication method according to any one of claims 43 to 58, characterized in that, Also includes: The second device sends second information to the first device, the second information being used to determine whether to perform a first operation, the first operation including determining whether to treat unreceived data packets as received.

61. The communication method according to claim 60, characterized in that, The second information includes indication information for indicating whether to perform the first operation; or, the second information includes information associated with the first operation.

62. The communication method according to claim 61, characterized in that, The first operation is associated with one or more of the following: logical channel, logical channel group, service type, and terminal device information.

63. The communication method according to claim 62, characterized in that, The information of the terminal device includes one or more of the following: the protocol version supported by the terminal device; and the device information of the terminal device.

64. The communication method according to any one of claims 60 to 63, characterized in that, The second information is carried in one or more of the following: Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; Radio Resource Control (RLC) signaling.

65. The communication method according to any one of claims 60 to 64, characterized in that, Also includes: The second device receives third information sent by the first device, the third information being used to indicate whether the first device has the capability to perform the first operation.

66. The communication method according to claim 65, characterized in that, The capability is associated with one or more of the following: frequency band, logical channel, logical channel group, and terminal device information.

67. The communication method according to any one of claims 43 to 66, characterized in that, When the first data packet is considered to have been received, the status parameters of the data packets maintained by the first device are updated based on the status of data packets with the second sequence number and the sequence numbers preceding it.

68. The communication method according to claim 67, characterized in that, If the first data packet is considered to have been received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the first data packet; or, In the case where multiple unreceived data packets are treated as received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the last data packet among the multiple data packets, including the first data packet.

69. The communication method according to claim 67 or 68, characterized in that, The state parameters include one or more of the following: The first parameter indicates the next sequence number after the last correctly received data packet; The second parameter is used to indicate the sequence number to be updated when the recombination timer times out; The third parameter is used to indicate the next sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet with the highest sequence number that has been received; The fourth parameter indicates the next incorrectly received sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet that triggered the reassembly timer.

70. The communication method according to claim 69, characterized in that, The first parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the second sequence number; The second parameter is updated to the next unreceived data packet after the next received data packet following the first parameter. Serial number; If the serial number indicated by the third parameter is before the second serial number, it is updated to the serial number indicated by the third parameter plus 1; otherwise, it remains unchanged. The fourth parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet following the second sequence number.

71. The communication method according to any one of claims 67 to 70, characterized in that, Also includes: The second device receives an RLC status report sent by the first device, wherein the RLC status report is an RLC status report triggered by the first device based on the updated status parameters.

72. The communication method according to any one of claims 43 to 71, characterized in that, The first data packet includes a Service Data Unit (SDU) and / or fragments of the SDU.

73. The communication method according to any one of claims 43 to 72, characterized in that, The second device is a terminal device or a network device.

74. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device is a first device, comprising: The processing unit is configured to treat a first data packet that has not been received as received if a first condition is met. The first condition is determined based on a second data packet received by the first device. The first data packet and the second data packet are data packets transmitted in Radio Link Control (RLC) acknowledgment mode.

75. The communication device according to claim 74, characterized in that, The first data packet is considered to have been received, wherein the first device does not trigger an RLC status report; or, the first device triggers the RLC status report and the RLC status report does not indicate that the first data packet was not received.

76. The communication device according to claim 74 or 75, characterized in that, The first condition is determined based on first information, which includes time-related information and / or sequence number information of the second data packet.

77. The communication device according to claim 76, characterized in that, The time-related information of the second data packet includes one or more of the following: The time of reception of the second data packet; The time of transmission of the second data packet; The timestamp in the Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) header of the second data packet.

78. The communication device according to claim 77, characterized in that, The time difference between the sending time of the second data packet and the receiving time of the second data packet is the air interface transmission time.

79. The communication device according to claim 77 or 78, characterized in that, The time-related information of the second data packet includes one or more of the following: absolute time; system frame number; time slot number; symbol.

80. The communication device according to any one of claims 76 to 79, characterized in that, The first data packet and the second data packet are located within the same receiving window.

81. The communication device according to claim 77, characterized in that, The second data packet includes one or more of the following: The data packet with the highest sequence number among the data packets already received within the receiving window; The last data packet received among the data packets already received within the receiving window; The data packet with the lowest sequence number among the data packets already received within the receiving window; The earliest received data packet among the data packets already received within the receiving window.

82. The communication device according to claim 80 or 81, characterized in that, The first information includes time-related information of the second data packet, which is used to determine a first moment. If the first data packet is not received after the first moment, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

83. The communication device according to claim 82, characterized in that, The time-related information of the second data packet includes the reception time of the second data packet or the timestamp in the RTP header, wherein the first time is a first preset duration after the reception time of the second data packet or the timestamp.

84. The communication device according to claim 80 or 81, characterized in that, The first information includes the sequence number of the second data packet, wherein the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a first preset value, and the first data packet is considered to have been received.

85. The communication device according to any one of claims 76 to 79, characterized in that, The first data packet and the second data packet belong to the same data packet cluster.

86. The communication device according to claim 85, characterized in that, The second data packet is the first data packet in the data packet cluster.

87. The communication device according to claim 86, characterized in that, The second data packet is the data packet with the smallest sequence number in the data packet cluster that the first device has received; or, the sequence number of the second data packet is indicated by the second device.

88. The communication device according to any one of claims 85 to 87, characterized in that, The first information includes time-related information of the second data packet, which is used to determine the second moment. If the first data packet is not received after the second moment, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

89. The communication device according to claim 88, characterized in that, The time-related information of the second data packet includes the time of receipt or transmission of the second data packet, and the second time is a second preset duration after the time of receipt or transmission of the second data packet.

90. The communication device according to claim 89, characterized in that, The first information also includes time-related information of the data packet cluster, and the second preset duration is determined based on the time-related information of the data packet cluster.

91. The communication device according to claim 90, characterized in that, The time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: The air interface transmission delay budget of the data packet cluster; Timeout information for the data packet cluster; The clearing time of the data packet cluster.

92. The communication device according to claim 91, characterized in that, The timeout information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: The timeout period of the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the first data packet in the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the last data packet in the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the earliest timed-out data packet in the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the latest timeout data packet in the data packet cluster.

93. The communication device according to any one of claims 90 to 92, characterized in that, The time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following types: absolute time; system frame number; time slot number; symbol.

94. The communication device according to any one of claims 90 to 93, characterized in that, The second preset duration is recorded by the timer of the first device, and the start time of the timer is the time when the second data packet is received or sent.

95. The communication device according to any one of claims 90 to 94, characterized in that, The first information also includes the number of data packets in the data packet cluster and / or the data volume of the data packet cluster, the number of data packets in the data packet cluster and the data volume of the data packet cluster being used to determine the data packets belonging to the data packet cluster.

96. The communication device according to claim 89, characterized in that, The first information also includes the number of data packets in the data packet cluster, and the second preset duration is the time elapsed since the first device received the number of data packets of the specified number of data packets starting from the second data packet.

97. The communication device according to claim 96, characterized in that, The number of data packets is recorded by a counter of the first device, and the counter is started at the time of receiving or sending the second data packet.

98. The communication device according to any one of claims 85 to 87, characterized in that, The first information includes the sequence number of the second data packet, wherein the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a second preset value, and the first data packet is considered to have been received.

99. The communication device according to any one of claims 85 to 98, characterized in that, The first information is obtained through one or more of the following methods: prior agreement; determination by the first device; and transmission by the second device.

100. The communication device according to any one of claims 85 to 99, characterized in that, The first information is carried in one or more of the following: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) header; RLC header; Media Access Control (MAC) header; PDCP control signaling; RLC control signaling; Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE).

101. The communication device according to any one of claims 85 to 100, characterized in that, The processing unit is also used for: Based on the second information, determine whether to perform the first operation, the first operation including determining whether to treat unreceived data packets as received.

102. The communication device according to claim 101, characterized in that, The second information includes indication information for indicating whether to perform the first operation; or, the second information includes information associated with the first operation.

103. The communication device according to claim 102, characterized in that, The first operation is associated with one or more of the following: logical channel, logical channel group, service type, and terminal device information.

104. The communication device according to claim 103, characterized in that, The information of the terminal device includes one or more of the following: the protocol version supported by the terminal device; and the device information of the terminal device.

105. The communication device according to any one of claims 101 to 104, characterized in that, The second information is obtained through one or more of the following methods: prior agreement; determination by the first device; and transmission by the second device.

106. The communication device according to claim 105, characterized in that, The second information is carried in one or more of the following: Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; Radio Resource Control (RLC) signaling.

107. The communication device according to any one of claims 101 to 105, characterized in that, It also includes a transceiver unit, used for: Send a third message to the second device, the third message being used to indicate whether the first device has the capability to perform the first operation.

108. The communication device according to claim 107, characterized in that, The capability is associated with one or more of the following: frequency band, logical channel, logical channel group, and terminal device information.

109. The communication device according to any one of claims 85 to 108, characterized in that, When the first data packet is considered to have been received, the status parameters of the data packets maintained by the first device are updated based on the status of data packets with the second sequence number and the sequence numbers preceding it.

110. The communication device according to claim 109, characterized in that, If the first data packet is considered to have been received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the first data packet; or, In the case where multiple unreceived data packets are treated as received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the last data packet among the multiple data packets, including the first data packet.

111. The communication device according to claim 109 or 110, characterized in that, The state parameters include one or more of the following: The first parameter indicates the next sequence number after the last correctly received data packet; The second parameter is used to indicate the sequence number to be updated when the recombination timer times out; The third parameter is used to indicate the next sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet with the highest sequence number that has been received; The fourth parameter indicates the next incorrectly received sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet that triggered the reassembly timer.

112. The communication device according to claim 111, characterized in that, The first parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the second sequence number; The second parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the next received data packet after the first parameter; If the serial number indicated by the third parameter is before the second serial number, it is updated to the serial number indicated by the third parameter plus 1; otherwise, it remains unchanged. The fourth parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet following the second sequence number.

113. The communication device according to any one of claims 109 to 112, characterized in that, The processing unit is also used for: If an RLC status report has been triggered and the RLC status report indicates that the first data packet has not been received, the RLC status report is canceled, and the RLC status report is retried based on the updated status parameters.

114. The communication device according to any one of claims 85 to 113, characterized in that, The first data packet includes a Service Data Unit (SDU) and / or fragments of the SDU.

115. The communication device according to any one of claims 85 to 114, characterized in that, The first device is a terminal device or a network device.

116. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device is a second device, comprising: The transceiver unit is used to send first information to the first device. The first information is used to determine whether a first data packet that has not been received is considered to have been received. The first information is associated with a second data packet received by the first device. The first data packet and the second data packet are data packets transmitted in Radio Link Control (RLC) acknowledgment mode.

117. The communication device according to claim 116, characterized in that, The first data packet is considered to have been received, wherein the first device does not trigger an RLC status report; or, the first device triggers the RLC status report and the RLC status report does not indicate that the first data packet was not received.

118. The communication device according to claim 116 or 117, characterized in that, The first data packet and the second data packet belong to the same data packet cluster.

119. The communication device according to claim 118, characterized in that, The second data packet is the first data packet in the data packet cluster.

120. The communication device according to claim 119, characterized in that, The second data packet is the data packet with the smallest sequence number in the data packet cluster that the first device has received; or, the sequence number of the second data packet is indicated by the second device.

121. The communication device according to any one of claims 118 to 120, characterized in that, The first information is used to determine the second time point, wherein if the first data packet is not received after the second time point, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

122. The communication device according to claim 121, characterized in that, The first information is used to determine the second preset duration, where the second time is the second preset duration after the receiving time or sending time of the second data packet.

123. The communication device according to claim 122, characterized in that, The first information includes time-related information of the data packet cluster, which is used to determine the second preset duration.

124. The communication device according to claim 123, characterized in that, The time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: The air interface transmission delay budget of the data packet cluster; Timeout information for the data packet cluster; The clearing time of the data packet cluster.

125. The communication device according to claim 124, characterized in that, The timeout information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following: The timeout period of the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the first data packet in the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the last data packet in the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the earliest timed-out data packet in the data packet cluster; The timeout time of the latest timeout data packet in the data packet cluster.

126. The communication device according to any one of claims 123 to 125, characterized in that, The second preset duration is recorded by the timer of the first device, and the start time of the timer is the time when the second data packet is received or sent.

127. The communication device according to any one of claims 123 to 126, characterized in that, The time-related information of the data packet cluster includes one or more of the following types: absolute time; system frame number; time slot number; symbol.

128. The communication device according to any one of claims 123 to 127, characterized in that, The first information also includes the number of data packets in the data packet cluster and / or the data volume of the data packet cluster, wherein the number of data packets in the data packet cluster or the data volume of the data packet cluster is used to determine the data packets belonging to the data packet cluster.

129. The communication device according to claim 122, characterized in that, The first information includes the number of data packets in the data packet cluster, and the second preset duration is the time elapsed since the first device received the number of data packets of the specified number starting from the second data packet.

130. The communication device according to claim 129, characterized in that, The number of data packets is recorded by a counter of the first device, and the counter is started at the time of receiving or sending the second data packet.

131. The communication device according to any one of claims 118 to 120, characterized in that, The first information includes the sequence number of the second data packet. If the difference between the sequence number of the first data packet and the sequence number of the second data packet is less than a second preset value, the first data packet is considered to have been received.

132. The communication device according to any one of claims 116 to 130, characterized in that, The first information is carried in one or more of the following: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) header; RLC header; Media Access Control (MAC) header; PDCP control signaling; RLC control signaling; Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE).

133. The communication device according to any one of claims 116 to 131, characterized in that, The transceiver unit is also used for: Send a second message to the first device, the second message being used to determine whether to perform a first operation, the first operation including determining whether to treat an unreceived data packet as if it had been received.

134. The communication device according to claim 133, characterized in that, The second information includes indication information for indicating whether to perform the first operation; or, the second information includes information associated with the first operation.

135. The communication device according to claim 134, characterized in that, The first operation is associated with one or more of the following: logical channel, logical channel group, service type, and terminal device information.

136. The communication device according to claim 135, characterized in that, The information of the terminal device includes one or more of the following: the protocol version supported by the terminal device; and the device information of the terminal device.

137. The communication device according to any one of claims 133 to 136, characterized in that, The second information is carried in one or more of the following: Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; Radio Resource Control (RLC) signaling.

138. The communication device according to any one of claims 133 to 137, characterized in that, The transceiver unit is also used for: The system receives third information sent by the first device, the third information being used to indicate whether the first device has the capability to perform the first operation.

139. The communication device according to claim 138, characterized in that, The capability is associated with one or more of the following: frequency band, logical channel, logical channel group, and terminal device information.

140. The communication device according to any one of claims 116 to 139, characterized in that, When the first data packet is considered to have been received, the status parameters of the data packets maintained by the first device are updated based on the status of data packets with the second sequence number and the sequence numbers preceding it.

141. The communication device according to claim 140, characterized in that, If the first data packet is considered to have been received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the first data packet; or, In the case where multiple unreceived data packets are treated as received, the second sequence number is the sequence number of the last data packet among the multiple data packets, including the first data packet.

142. The communication device according to claim 140 or 141, characterized in that, The state parameters include one or more of the following: The first parameter indicates the next sequence number after the last correctly received data packet; The second parameter is used to indicate the sequence number to be updated when the recombination timer times out; The third parameter is used to indicate the next sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet with the highest sequence number that has been received; The fourth parameter indicates the next incorrectly received sequence number after the sequence number of the data packet that triggered the reassembly timer.

143. The communication device according to claim 142, characterized in that, The first parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the second sequence number; The second parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet after the next received data packet after the first parameter; If the serial number indicated by the third parameter is before the second serial number, it is updated to the serial number indicated by the third parameter plus 1; otherwise, it remains unchanged. The fourth parameter is updated to the sequence number of the next unreceived data packet following the second sequence number.

144. The communication device according to any one of claims 140 to 143, characterized in that, The transceiver unit is also used for: Receive an RLC status report sent by the first device, wherein the RLC status report is an RLC status report triggered by the first device based on the updated status parameters.

145. The communication device according to any one of claims 116 to 144, characterized in that, The first data packet includes a Service Data Unit (SDU) and / or fragments of the SDU.

146. The communication device according to any one of claims 116 to 145, characterized in that, The second device is a terminal device or a network device.

147. A communication device, characterized in that, The device includes a transceiver, a memory, and a processor. The memory stores a program, and the processor invokes the program in the memory and controls the transceiver to receive or send signals so that the communication device performs the method according to any one of claims 1 to 42.

148. A communication device, characterized in that, The device includes a transceiver, a memory, and a processor. The memory stores a program, and the processor invokes the program in the memory and controls the transceiver to receive or send signals so that the communication device performs the method according to any one of claims 43 to 73.

149. An apparatus, characterized in that, Includes a processor for calling a program from memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 42, or the method according to any one of claims 43 to 73.

150. A chip, characterized in that, Includes a processor for calling a program from memory to cause the chip to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 42, or the method according to any one of claims 43 to 73.

151. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, It contains a program that causes a computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 42, or the method according to any one of claims 43 to 73.

152. A computer program product, characterized in that, Includes a program that causes a computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 42, or the method according to any one of claims 43 to 73.

153. A computer program, characterized in that, The computer program causes the computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 42, or the method according to any one of claims 43 to 73.

Images