Communication methods and apparatus

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and provides communication methods and apparatus. A method comprises: a first communication apparatus receives a first parameter, the first parameter being associated with the maximum value of the time-domain length of a first physical channel; and the first communication apparatus sends in a first time unit the first physical channel. In the present application, after receiving the first parameter associated with the maximum value of the time-domain length of the first physical channel, the first communication apparatus may determine the maximum value of the time-domain length of the first physical channel in the first time unit with reference to the first parameter. By constraining the time-domain length of the first physical channel, the present application can balance data transmission overheads and data transmission reliability.

Description

Communication method and apparatus

[0001] Cross-reference to Related Applications

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202410783345.2, filed on June 17, 2024, and entitled “A Communication Method and Apparatus”, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0004] The rapid development of Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology makes the interconnection of all things gradually become a reality, but the battery life of IoT terminals is short, which increases the difficulty and cost of terminal maintenance, and becomes the main bottleneck restricting the development of IoT. Backscatter communication based on wireless power transmission, envelope detection demodulation and reflection scattering modulation technology is expected to solve the terminal life and maintenance problems, making it possible for the next generation of terminals to be ultra-low cost, high density and maintenance-free passive IoT.

[0005] The widely used radio frequency identification (RFID) system is a kind of backscatter communication system. The typical RFID system architecture includes a reader and a tag, and the reader and the tag can interact with each other. The ambient Internet-of-Things (A-IoT) system currently discussed by the third generation partnership project (3GPP) is similar to the RFID system, and the system includes A-IoT terminals similar to the tag and network devices or conventional user equipment (UE) with reader functions. In order to improve the channel estimation performance of the A-IoT terminal to the reader data transmission and improve the reception reliability of the data, a data transmission structure including a midamble is proposed. However, the introduction of the midamble will increase the transmission overhead, and how to balance the transmission overhead and the transmission reliability of the data is a problem to be solved. SUMMARY

[0006] The application provides a communication method and device, which adjusts the length of data segmentation by sending a first parameter associated with the maximum value of the time domain length of a first physical channel, so as to balance the transmission overhead of data and the transmission reliability of data.

[0007] In a first aspect, the application provides a communication method, which can be executed by a first communication device. In the application, the first communication device can be an A-IoT terminal, which can be a circuit, a chip, etc. The application does not specifically limit this.

[0008] The method can be applied to a 5th generation (5G) communication system or a future communication network, which is not specifically limited in the application. The following is executed:

[0009] The first communication device receives a first parameter associated with the maximum value of the time domain length of a first physical channel, and the first communication device sends the first physical channel in a first time unit.

[0010] It should be noted that the first physical channel can be understood as a continuous part of a PDRCH (physical device to reader channel) or an APUSCH (ambient physical uplink shared channel), which can be used to carry information to be sent by the first communication device. The first time unit is a time domain resource carrying the first physical channel.

[0011] In the application, after the first communication device receives the first parameter associated with the maximum value of the time domain length of the first physical channel, the first communication device can determine the time domain length of the first physical channel according to the first parameter. The end of each segment needs an indication or identification (such as a known sequence). When the maximum value of the time domain length of the first physical channel indicated by the first parameter is large, a smaller transmission overhead can be obtained; when the maximum value of the time domain length of the first physical channel indicated by the first parameter is small, a larger transmission overhead is needed, but the transmission reliability can be guaranteed.

[0012] In a second aspect, the application provides a communication method, which can be executed by a second communication device. In the application, the second communication device can be a reader, which can be a network device or a conventional UE (user equipment), a circuit, a chip, etc. The application does not specifically limit this.

[0013] The method can be applied to a 5G communication system or a future communication network, which is not specifically limited in the application. The following is executed:

[0014] The second communication device sends the first parameter; and the second communication device receives the first physical channel in the first time unit, and a maximum value of a time domain length of the first physical channel is associated with the first parameter.

[0015] In an optional mode, the first communication device can also determine the time domain length of the first physical channel according to the first parameter.

[0016] In the present application, after the first communication device receives the first parameter, the determination of the time domain length of the first physical channel in the first time unit according to the first parameter can ensure the reliability of the data transmission in the first time unit.

[0017] In an optional mode, the first reference signal and the second physical channel are sent in the first time unit, the first physical channel is adjacent to the first reference signal, the first reference signal is adjacent to the second physical channel, the first physical channel is before the first reference signal, and the first reference signal is before the second physical channel.

[0018] In the present application, the introduction of the first reference signal can correct the time deviation of the data transmission from the A-IoT terminal to the reader, and improve the reception reliability of the data.

[0019] In an optional mode, the first parameter is associated with a chip length of the first physical channel.

[0020] It should be noted that the chip length can be understood as the minimum transmission time unit of D2R (i.e., the data transmission structure between the A-IoT terminal and the reader), for example, chip length. The chip length can be directly indicated by the D2R scheduling information, or indirectly indicated by the D2R transmission bandwidth, the transmission bandwidth, and the line code repetition number. When the chip length is indicated by the D2R transmission bandwidth, the transmission bandwidth, and the line code repetition number, the chip length is equal to twice the reciprocal of the D2R double-sideband transmission bandwidth, or the chip length is equal to the reciprocal of the D2R single-sideband transmission bandwidth.

[0021] In an optional mode, the time domain length is N times of the chip length, and N is a positive integer.

[0022] In an optional mode, N satisfies the following formula: N = A / T,

[0023] wherein A is a positive real number, and T is the chip length.

[0024] In an optional mode, the first parameter is 40 milliseconds, 50 milliseconds, 160 milliseconds, 200 milliseconds, 320 milliseconds, 400 milliseconds, 640 milliseconds, or 800 milliseconds.

[0025] It should be noted that the value of the first parameter is related to the capability of the first communication device. When the sampling frequency offset (SFO) of the first communication device is less than 10... 5 When the fraction is parts per million (ppm), the first parameter takes the first value; otherwise, it takes the second value. The first value is greater than the second value. For example, the SFO of the first communication device is 10. 4 ppm, where the first parameter takes the first value. Based on this method, a sparser reference signal can be configured when the SFO is small to save resource overhead, while a denser reference signal can be configured when the SFO is large to ensure transmission reliability.

[0026] In one alternative approach, at least one of the first reference signals occupies multiple consecutive chips. Each chip in the A-IoT terminal carries high / low level or positive / negative phase information, and the reference signal includes multiple levels or positive / negative phase information; therefore, multiple bits of the reference signal are carried across multiple chips. Furthermore, due to the large SFO (Size of Default) of the A-IoT terminal, if the multiple chips occupied by the reference signal are not consecutive, the reception performance of the reference signal will deteriorate.

[0027] In one alternative approach, the format of the reference signal is related to the capabilities of the first communication device. When the first communication device is a second-type or third-type device (e.g., the SFO of the first communication device is 10), the format is adjusted accordingly. 4 When ppm), the SFO of the first communication device is less than 10. 5 The reference signal (ppm) can be comb-shaped or occupy multiple discontinuous chips; otherwise, it can be block-shaped or occupy multiple consecutive chips. It's understood that the time-domain characteristic of a comb-shaped reference signal is that the chip interval between two adjacent modulation bits is L chip lengths. L is a positive integer, for example, L can be 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Based on this method, when the reference signal is comb-shaped, reference signals from different users can be transmitted alternately, improving transmission efficiency.

[0028] In one alternative approach, the first reference signal and the first physical channel occupy the same frequency domain resources. Different parts of the first time unit (i.e., the first reference signal and the first physical channel) occupying the same frequency domain resources facilitate filtering at the receiver.

[0029] In an alternative, the first communication device receives a second parameter from the second communication device, the second parameter being associated with a number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit, the second parameter indicating at least one of: a data amount scheduled for the first communication device, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) length, a rate of a line code, a rate of a forward error correction (FEC) code, and a repetition number.

[0030] The data amount scheduled for the first communication device can be understood as a number of bits of a transport block size (TBS). The repetition number can be understood as a repetition number of the TBS, a repetition number after the TBS+CRC, a repetition number of the line code, a repetition or lengthening of the chip length, a repetition of the coded bits or a chip repetition, etc.

[0031] In an alternative, the number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit is associated with at least one of:

[0032] a data amount scheduled for the first communication device, a CRC length, a rate of a line code, a rate of an FEC code, and a repetition number.

[0033] The number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit can be determined based on the data amount scheduled for the first communication device, the CRC length, the rate of the line code, the rate of the FEC code, and the repetition number.

[0034] In an alternative, the time domain length of the second physical channel is less than or equal to the time domain length of the first physical channel.

[0035] Based on this, the number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit is as evenly divided as possible.

[0036] In an alternative, the first communication device transmits a third physical channel in the first time unit, the time domain length of the third physical channel being equal to the time domain length of the first physical channel; the third physical channel is after the first physical channel and before the second physical channel, the first reference signal comprises two reference signals, and the third physical channel is between the two reference signals.

[0037] Based on this, the time domain position relationship of the first physical channel, the reference signal, and the third physical channel can be determined, so that the receiving end can correctly demodulate the first physical channel and the third physical channel.

[0038] In an alternative, the first parameter and the second parameter are carried in a same message or a same physical device reader channel (PRDCH).

[0039] Based on this, signaling overhead can be saved and data transmission efficiency can be improved.

[0040] In an alternative, the first communication device determines the number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit; and determines the time domain length of the first physical channel according to the first parameter and the number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit.

[0041] Based on the number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit and the time domain length of the first physical channel determined according to the first parameter, the data transmission requirement of the first communication device can be better adapted, and the data transmission overhead and data transmission reliability can be better balanced.

[0042] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which can be an A-IoT terminal or a network device with reader function or a conventional UE. The communication device has the functions of the first aspect or the second aspect, for example, the communication device includes modules or units or means corresponding to the steps of the first aspect or the second aspect. The functions or units or means can be implemented by software or by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software.

[0043] In a possible design, the communication device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit. The transceiver unit can be configured to transceive signals to implement communication between the communication device and another device. The processing unit can be configured to perform some internal operations of the communication device. The transceiver unit can be referred to as an input output unit, a communication unit, etc. The transceiver unit can be a transceiver. The processing unit can be a processor, a processing circuit, a logic circuit, etc. When the communication device is a module (for example, a chip) in a communication device, the transceiver unit can be an input output interface, an input output circuit, an input output pin, etc. The transceiver unit can also be referred to as an interface, a communication interface, or an interface circuit, etc. The processing unit can be a processor, a processing circuit, a logic circuit, etc.

[0044] In yet another possible design, the communication apparatus includes a processor, and can further include a transceiver for transceiving signals. The processor executes program instructions to perform the method in any possible design or implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect. The communication apparatus can further include one or more memories coupled with the processor. The memories can store the necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions related to the first aspect or the second aspect. The processor can execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memories, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, the communication apparatus can perform the method in any possible design or implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0045] In yet another possible design, the communication apparatus includes a processor, and the processor can be coupled with a memory. The memory can store the necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions related to the first aspect or the second aspect. The processor can execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memories, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, the communication apparatus can perform the method in any possible design or implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0046] In yet another possible design, the communication apparatus includes a processor and an interface circuit. The processor can be configured to communicate with other apparatuses through the interface circuit, and perform the method in any possible design or implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0047] It can be understood that, in the third aspect, the processor can be implemented by hardware or software. When implemented by hardware, the processor can be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like. When implemented by software, the processor can be a general-purpose processor, which reads software codes stored in the memory to implement the functions. In addition, the processor can be one or more, and the memory can be one or more. The memory can be integrated with the processor, or the memory and the processor can be separately arranged. In a specific implementation process, the memory and the processor can be integrated on the same chip, or can be separately arranged on different chips. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the type of the memory and the arrangement of the memory and the processor.

[0048] In a fourth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication system, which includes the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus. The first communication apparatus is configured to perform the method in any possible design or implementation of the first aspect, and the second communication apparatus is configured to perform the method in any possible design or implementation of the second aspect.

[0049] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a chip system, which comprises a processor and can further comprise a memory. The processor is configured to implement the method of the first aspect or the second aspect. The chip system can be composed of a chip or can comprise a chip and other discrete devices. The memory is configured to store data related to the implementation of any possible design of the first aspect or the second aspect, such as the association relationship. The processor is configured to implement the processing procedure related to any possible design of the first aspect or the second aspect. Here, no specific limitation is made.

[0050] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, which can be a volatile storage medium or a non-volatile storage medium. The computer readable storage medium stores computer readable instructions. When the computer readable instructions are run on a computer, the computer is caused to perform the method of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0051] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any embodiment of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0052] The technical effects achieved by the second aspect to the seventh aspect can refer to the technical effects achieved by the corresponding possible design of the first aspect, which will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0053] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] FIG. 2A shows a schematic diagram of communication between a network device and an A-IoT terminal according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] FIG. 2B shows a schematic diagram of communication between another network device and an A-IoT terminal according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] FIG. 3A shows a schematic diagram of a data transmission structure of a D2R according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] FIG. 3B shows a schematic diagram of another data transmission structure of a D2R according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] FIG. 5A shows a schematic diagram of a structure of a first time unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] FIG. 5B shows a schematic diagram of a structure of a first time unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] FIG. 6A shows a schematic diagram of a data transmission structure of a D2R according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] FIG. 6B shows a schematic diagram of another data transmission structure of a D2R according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram of still another data transmission structure of a D2R according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] FIG. 8A shows a schematic diagram of a data transmission structure of a D2R according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] FIG. 8B shows a schematic diagram of another data transmission structure of a D2R according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0066] FIG. 9 shows a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] FIG. 10 shows a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG. 11 shows a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0069] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings. The specific operation methods in the method embodiments can also be applied to the device embodiments or system embodiments. In the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, the meaning of "a plurality of" is two or more. Therefore, the implementation of the device and the method can be referred to each other, and the repeated parts will not be described again.

[0070] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to a 5G system, or to a future communication system or other similar communication system. In addition, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to a cellular link, a public land mobile network (PLMN), a machine to machine (M2M) network, an internet of things (IoT) network, or other networks. They can also be applied to a link between devices, such as a device to device (D2D) link. The D2D link can also be referred to as a sidelink, and the sidelink can also be referred to as an edge link or a secondary link. In the embodiments of the present application, the above-mentioned terms all refer to a link established between devices of the same type, and have the same meaning. The devices of the same type can be a link between terminal devices, a link between base stations, or a link between relay nodes, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0071] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system includes a radio access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system can also include an Internet 300. The radio access network 100 can include at least one radio access network device (such as 110a and 110b in FIG. 1), and can also include at least one terminal (such as 120a-120j in FIG. 1). The terminal is connected to the radio access network device in a wireless manner, and the radio access network device is connected to the core network in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device and the radio access network device can be independent and different physical devices, or the functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the radio access network device can be integrated on the same physical device, or a physical device can integrate the functions of part of the core network device and the functions of part of the radio access network device. The terminals and the terminals, and the radio access network devices and the radio access network devices can be connected to each other in a wired or wireless manner. FIG. 1 is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system can also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in FIG. 1.

[0072] The radio access network device can be a base station, an evolved node B (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation node B (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, a next generation node B in a future communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, etc. It can also be a module or unit that completes part of the function of a base station. In some deployments, a gNB can include a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). The CU implements part of the function of the gNB, and the DU implements part of the function of the gNB. Illustratively, the CU is responsible for processing non-real-time protocols and services. For example, it implements radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) functions, functions of the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, etc. The DU is responsible for processing physical layer protocols and real-time services. For example, it implements functions of the radio link control (RLC) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, and the physical (PHY) layer, etc. The gNB can also include an active antenna unit (AAU). The AAU implements part of the physical layer processing function, the radio frequency processing function, and the related function of the active antenna. Since the information of the RRC layer will eventually become the information of the PHY layer, or be converted from the information of the PHY layer. Therefore, in this architecture, high-layer signaling (such as RRC layer signaling) can also be considered as being sent by the DU, or by the DU and the AAU. It can be understood that the network device can be a device including one or more of the CU node, the DU node, and the AAU node. In addition, the CU can be a network device in a radio access network (RAN), and the CU can be a network device in a core network (CN), which is not limited in the present application. In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, the network device serves a cell, and a terminal device communicates with the network device through transmission resources (such as frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources) used by the cell. The cell can be a cell corresponding to the network device (such as a base station). The cell can belong to a macro base station, or belong to a base station corresponding to a small cell.Exemplarily, the small cell can include a metro cell, a micro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and the like. Due to the small coverage and low transmit power of the small cell, the small cell can provide a high-rate data transmission service. In addition, in other possible cases, the network device can be another apparatus providing a wireless communication function for a terminal device. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form of the network device. For example, in an open radio access network (ORAN) system, the CU can also be referred to as an O-CU (open CU), the DU can also be referred to as an O-DU, the CU-CP can also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, and the radio unit (RU) can also be referred to as an O-RU. For the convenience of description, the CU, the CU-CP, the CU-UP, the DU, and the RU are taken as examples for description in the present application. Any one of the CU (or the CU-CP, the CU-UP), the DU, and the RU in the present application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module. The specific description of each protocol layer can be based on the related technical specifications of 3GPP. The wireless access network device can be a macro base station (such as 110a in FIG. 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in FIG. 1), a relay node or a donor node, and the like. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form of the wireless access network device.

[0073] The terminal can also be referred to as a terminal device, a UE, a mobile station, a mobile terminal (MT), and the like. The terminal can be widely applied to various scenarios, such as D2D, vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), IoT, virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, remote medical treatment, smart power grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, and the like. The terminal can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a wearable device, a vehicle, a drone, a helicopter, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a mechanical arm, a smart home device, and the like. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form of the terminal.

[0074] The network device and the terminal can be fixed in position or movable. The network device and the terminal can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can be deployed on water; and can be deployed on an airplane, a balloon, and a man-made satellite. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of the network device and the terminal.

[0075] The roles of the network device and the terminal can be relative. For example, the helicopter or the drone 120i in FIG. 1 can be configured as a mobile network device, and for the terminal 120j that accesses the wireless access network 100 through 120i, 120i is a network device; but for the network device 110a, 120i is a terminal, that is, 110a and 120i communicate through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i can also communicate through an interface protocol between network devices and network devices, and in this case, 120i is also a network device relative to 110a. Therefore, the network device and the terminal can be collectively referred to as a communication apparatus, and 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication apparatus with a network device function, and 120a-120j in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication apparatus with a terminal function.

[0076] In embodiments of the present application, the functions of the network device can also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the network device, or by a control subsystem containing network device functions. The control subsystem containing network device functions herein can be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal can also be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal, or by a device containing terminal functions.

[0077] When the terminal is applied to IoT, the terminal can be referred to as an A-IoT terminal (tag), and the device communicating with the A-IoT terminal can be referred to as a reader / writer. The scenario in which the network device directly communicates with the A-IoT terminal is shown in FIG. 2A, and the network device and the A-IoT terminal can directly transmit data. Among them, the channel sent by the network device to the A-IoT terminal can be referred to as PRDCH or ambient physical downlink shared channel (APDSCH). Correspondingly, the channel sent by the A-IoT terminal to the network device can be referred to as PDRCH or APUSCH.

[0078] The scenario in which the network device and the A-IoT terminal communicate through an intermediate node is shown in FIG. 2B. The network device can transmit data to the A-IoT terminal through the intermediate node. The intermediate node can be a UE. The network device and the UE are connected through a Uu interface. The UE and the A-IoT terminal can exchange data. In the intermediate node topology, the channel through which the UE sends data to the A-IoT terminal can be referred to as a PRDCH. Correspondingly, the channel through which the A-IoT terminal sends data to the UE can be referred to as a PDRCH.

[0079] In the above-mentioned FIG. 2A, the network device has or integrates the function of a reader / writer. In FIG. 2B, the UE has or integrates the function of a reader / writer. The A-IoT terminal can be passive (for example, device 1), semi-passive (for example, passive 2a), or active (for example, device 2b), and obtain energy through solar energy, radio frequency, wind energy, water energy, or tidal energy. The application does not specifically limit the way of obtaining energy. These A-IoT terminals can not be equipped with or depend on a power supply device such as a battery or have only limited energy storage capacity, and support data sensing, transmission, and distributed computing by obtaining energy from the environment.

[0080] Regarding the type of A-IoT terminal, the A-IoT terminal can be divided into devices with different capabilities as follows:

[0081] The first type of device (which can be referred to as device 1) includes the following characteristics: does not support uplink and downlink amplification, and the uplink is transmitted in a backscattering manner based on an externally provided carrier;

[0082] The second type of device (which can be referred to as device 2a) includes one of the following characteristics: supports uplink or downlink amplification, and the uplink is transmitted in a backscattering manner based on an externally provided carrier;

[0083] The third type of device (which can be referred to as device 2b) includes one of the following characteristics: supports uplink or downlink amplification, and the uplink is transmitted in a manner of internally generated carrier;

[0084] Optionally, the peak power consumption of the first type of device is about 1 microwatt (uw), the peak power consumption of the second type of device is less than or equal to several hundred uw, and the peak power consumption of the third type of UE is less than or equal to several hundred uw.

[0085] Optionally, the maximum initial sampling clock deviation of the first type of device is 10 ppm, X1 can be 5 or 4 or 3 or 2, the maximum initial sampling clock deviation of the second type of device is 10 ppm, and X2 can be 5 or 4 or 3 or 2. X1 The maximum initial sampling clock deviation of the third type of device is 10 ppm. X2 The maximum initial sampling clock deviation of the third type of device is 10 ppm. X3ppm, X3 can be 5 or 4 or 3 or 2.

[0086] A-IoT terminal has at least one of the following distinguishing features compared with existing new radio (NR) terminals (for example, R15, R16, R17 NR terminals), which are described below taking the A-IoT terminal as an example:

[0087] 1) The maximum bandwidth of the A-IoT terminal can be less than the maximum bandwidth of the terminal in R15 and R16 (for example, the maximum bandwidth of the terminal in R15 and R16 is 100MHz). The maximum bandwidth of the A-IoT terminal can be less than the bandwidth of the reduced capability (RedCap) in R17 (for example, the bandwidth of the RedCap is 20MHz). For example, the maximum bandwidth of the A-IoT terminal is 1 resource block (RB), 1.44MHz, 1.5MHz, 2.88MHz, 3MHz, etc. This is only illustrative and is not specifically limited.

[0088] 2) The A-IoT terminal supports one transmit and one receive or one transmit and two receives.

[0089] 3) The uplink transmission channel (also known as the device-reader transmission channel) (also known as PDRCH) is not aligned with the start and / or boundary of the slot, frame, symbol, etc. of NR.

[0090] 4) The uplink data transmission (also known as the device-reader data transmission) adopts a single carrier waveform.

[0091] 5) The downlink transmission channel (also known as the reader-device transmission channel) (also known as PRDCH) is not aligned with the start and / or end boundary of the slot, frame, etc. of NR; the downlink transmission channel is aligned with the start and / or end boundary of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of NR.

[0092] 6) The downlink data transmission (also known as the reader-device data transmission) adopts an OFDM waveform.

[0093] 7) The supported modulation is at least one of on-off keying (OOK), frequency-shift keying (FSK), binary phase shift keying (BPSK), and Minimum shift keying (MSK). FSK can also be referred to as binary frequency-shift keying (BFSK or 2FSK) or OOK-FSK.

[0094] 8) The uplink data transmission (or device-to-reader data transmission) is based on single carrier waveform or single carrier baseband waveform.

[0095] The data transmission structure between A-IoT terminal and reader (or D2R) is shown in FIG. 3A and 3B. FIG. 3A shows three parts of information in one D2R transmission, which are preamble, PDRCH, or APUSCH, and postamble.

[0096] FIG. 3B shows four parts of information in one D2R transmission, which are preamble, PDRCH, or APUSCH, midamble (also referred to as reference signal), and postamble. The PDRCH can be divided into multiple sub-blocks by midamble, and there can be one or more midambles in one D2R transmission. FIG. 3B takes PDRCH as an example for illustration.

[0097] With the D2R data transmission structure shown in FIG. 3B, on the one hand, the midamble can provide a decoding reference point for the reader, so that the reader can start decoding after receiving a part of PDRCH, reducing the buffer of the reader. On the other hand, as a known reference signal of the reader, the midamble can also be used for channel estimation and interference, improving the accuracy of channel estimation and interference estimation, and thus improving the reception performance of D2R transmission.

[0098] The application provides a communication method, and proposes a configurable midamble density scheme to balance the transmission overhead of data and the transmission reliability of data. Referring to FIG. 4, the method can be performed through the interaction of a first communication device and a second communication device. The first communication device can be an A-IoT terminal, which can be a circuit, a chip, etc. The second communication device can be a reader-writer, which can be a network device or a conventional user equipment (UE) having the function of a reader-writer, a circuit, a chip, etc. For details, refer to the description of FIGS. 2A-3B, which will not be repeated here. The first communication device or the second communication device in FIG. 4 can be one or more, and only one is taken as an example for illustration.

[0099] The method can be applied to a 5G communication system or a future communication system above 5G, and can also be applied to a non-terrestrial communication system, which is not specifically limited in the application. It should be noted that FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of the method embodiment of the application, which shows the detailed communication steps or operations of the method, but these steps or operations are only examples, and other operations or variations of the operations in FIG. 4 can also be performed by the embodiments of the application. In addition, the steps in FIG. 4 can be performed in different order from that shown in FIG. 4, and it is possible that not all the operations in FIG. 4 are performed. The method is performed as follows:

[0100] In step 401, the second communication device determines a first parameter, which is associated with the maximum value of the time domain length of a first physical channel.

[0101] It should be noted that the first physical channel can be understood as a PDRCH in a D2R transmission structure, or a continuous part of an APUSCH, which can be used to carry data information to be sent by the first communication device, for example, the PDRCH between the preamble and the midamble in FIG. 3B. In specific applications, the first physical channel can be carried in a first time unit. The time unit of the first time unit can be seconds, milliseconds, or multiple chip lengths, etc., which is not specifically limited here.

[0102] In addition to transmitting the first physical channel, a second physical channel and the first reference signal can also be transmitted in the first time unit. The first physical channel and the first reference signal are adjacent, the first reference signal and the second physical channel are adjacent, the first physical channel is before the first reference signal, and the first reference signal is before the second physical channel. One or more reference signals (i.e., midamble) can be included in the first reference signal. Here, the positional relationship of one first physical channel, one reference signal, and one second physical channel is taken as an example for illustration. Reference is made to FIG. 5A, which illustrates the positional relationship between the physical channels and the reference signal, where the PDRCH includes the first physical channel and the second physical channel. Since the first time unit shown in FIG. 5A includes only one reference signal, it is equivalent to the first reference signal.

[0103] In addition to transmitting the first physical channel, the second physical channel, and the first reference signal, a third physical channel can also be transmitted in the first time unit. The time domain length of the third physical channel is equal to that of the first physical channel. The third physical channel is after the first physical channel and before the second physical channel. Two reference signals are included in the first reference signal, and the third physical channel is between the two reference signals. The third physical channel can be one or more. Based on this, the time domain positional relationship of the first physical channel, the reference signal, and the third physical channel can be determined, so that the receiving end can correctly demodulate the first physical channel and the third physical channel. Here, the positional relationship of the first physical channel, multiple reference signals, multiple third physical channels, and the second physical channel is taken as an example for illustration. Reference is made to FIG. 5B, which illustrates the positional relationship between the physical channels and the reference signal, where the PDRCH includes the first physical channel, the second physical channel, and the two third physical channels. The first physical channel, the second physical channel, and the two third physical channels are separated by the three reference signals. Since the first time unit shown in FIG. 5B includes three reference signals, the three reference signals collectively constitute the first reference signal.

[0104] It should be noted that in specific applications, in addition to the first physical channel, the PDRCH also includes another part of the physical channel with the same time domain length as the first physical channel. This other part of the physical channel can be referred to as a second physical channel or a third physical channel. The first time unit can include the first physical channel, the reference signal, and the second physical channel (or the third physical channel), which is not specifically limited in the present application.

[0105] In the present application, the introduction of the reference signal can correct the time deviation of the A-IoT terminal in transmitting data to the reader and improve the reception reliability of the data.

[0106] Specifically, the second communication device can determine the first parameter (wherein the first parameter can also be referred to as an insertion interval of the reference signal, a reference signal density, etc.) according to at least one of a demodulation requirement of the second communication device, a coverage between the first communication device and the second communication device, and a coverage measurement result between the first communication device and the second communication device.

[0107] For example, when the category of the first communication device is a first type of device or a second type of device, the demodulation requirement of the second communication device is high, and a smaller first parameter needs to be configured; when the category of the first communication device is a third type of device, the demodulation requirement of the second communication device is low, and a larger first parameter needs to be configured or the first parameter is not configured. The demodulation requirement can be understood as a demodulation signal noise ratio (SNR) requirement, which corresponds to different modulations. For example, the demodulation SNR requirement for amplitude modulation is high, and the demodulation SNR requirement for phase modulation is low.

[0108] For example, the coverage between the first communication device and the second communication device can be determined by a bandwidth or a repetition number of the second communication device scheduling the first communication device. For example, when the bandwidth of the second communication device scheduling the first communication device is small or less than a threshold value, such as 3 mega hertz (MHz), 4 physical resource blocks (PRBs), etc., a smaller first parameter needs to be configured; when the bandwidth of the second communication device scheduling the first communication device is large or greater than a threshold value, such as 3 MHz, 4 PRBs, etc., a larger first parameter needs to be configured or the first parameter is not configured. For another example, when the repetition number of the second communication device scheduling the first communication device is small or less than a repetition number threshold value, such as 8, 16, or 32, etc., a smaller first parameter needs to be configured; when the repetition number of the second communication device scheduling the first communication device is large or greater than a repetition number threshold value, such as 8, 16, or 32, etc., a larger first parameter needs to be configured or the first parameter is not configured.

[0109] For example, if the coverage measurement result obtained by the second communication device is less than a threshold value, the second communication device can be configured with a first parameter of W, where W can be 50 milliseconds. If the coverage measurement result obtained by the second communication device is greater than the threshold value, the second communication device may not configure the first parameter, or the first parameter may be infinity. Specifically, the measurement result can be a reference signal receiving power (RSRP) value based on the D2R signal. The D2R signal can be a known sequence, such as a preamble-only signal or a D2R signal containing only a preamble.

[0110] In one alternative approach, the value of the first parameter is related to the capability of the first communication device.

[0111] For example, when the SFO of the first communication device is less than 10 5 When the value is ppm, the first parameter takes the first value; otherwise, the first parameter takes the second value. The first value is greater than the second value.

[0112] For example, when the first communication device is a second type device or a third type device (e.g., the SFO of the first communication device is equal to 10), 4 When the value is ppm, the first parameter takes the first value; otherwise, the first parameter takes the second value.

[0113] Based on this method, configuring a sparser reference signal when the SFO is small can save resource overhead, while configuring a denser reference signal when the SFO is large can ensure transmission reliability. This is only an example and does not specifically limit how the first parameter is determined.

[0114] The first parameter can be characterized by a specific time interval value, or by the chip length associated with the first physical channel; these are not specifically limited here. The chip length can be understood as the smallest transmission time unit in D2R, for example, chip length. The chip length can be directly indicated by D2R scheduling information, or indirectly by D2R transmission bandwidth, transmission bandwidth, and line code repetition count. When the chip length is indicated by the D2R transmission bandwidth, the chip length is equal to twice the reciprocal of the D2R double-sideband transmission bandwidth, or the chip length is equal to the reciprocal of the D2R single-sideband transmission bandwidth. For example, when the double-sideband transmission bandwidth is 150kHz, the chip length is equal to 13.3µs. Similarly, when the single-sideband transmission bandwidth is 75kHz, the chip length is also equal to 13.3µs. The representation of the first parameter will be explained in the following cases.

[0115] Case 1: The first parameter is represented by a specific time interval value.

[0116] Exemplarily, the first parameter is 40 ms, 50 ms, 160 ms, 200 ms, 320 ms, 400 ms, 640 ms or 800 ms. Fig. 6A shows a D2R transmission structure with the first parameter being 50 ms, which is exemplified by taking one first physical channel (PDRCH), one reference signal (midamble) and one second physical channel (PDRCH) as an example. Fig. 6B shows a D2R transmission structure with the first parameter being 200 ms, which is exemplified by taking one first physical channel, one third physical channel and one second physical channel as an example.

[0117] Case 2: the first parameter is characterized by a chip length associated with the first physical channel

[0118] In one example, the time domain length of the first physical channel is N times of the chip length or the time domain length of the first physical channel is N chip lengths, N being a positive integer. N can satisfy the following formula (1):

[0119] wherein A is a positive real number and T is the chip length. The following takes an example of chip length being equal to 13.3us and the time interval of the first parameter being 50ms to illustrate how to determine the value of N. It is known that chip length = 13.3us and chip length*N = 50ms; then, N = 2 M = 4096, so the value of N is 4096. Similarly, when chip length is equal to 26.6us and the time interval of the first parameter is 50ms, N = 2048. Thus, under the same first parameter (50ms), the value of N changes with the change of the chip length, generally the greater the value of the chip length, the smaller the value of N, that is, the value of N is negatively related to the chip length.

[0120] In another example, the chip length associated with the first physical channel is Y times of the chip length and the time domain length of the first physical channel is N*Y times of the chip length. The following takes an example of the first parameter also being represented by two times of the chip length (for example, T pri ) to illustrate how to represent the first parameter by the multiple or coefficient N of T pri . Taking an example of T pri being equal to 26.6us and the time interval of the first parameter being 50ms to illustrate how to represent the first parameter by the multiple or coefficient N of T pri . It is known that T pri = 26.6us and T M *N = 50ms; then, N = 2 pri = 2048.N = 1024 when the first parameter is equal to 53.2us and the time interval of the first parameter is 50ms.

[0121] In addition, it should be noted that the first parameter is also associated with the time domain length of the second physical channel, and the time domain length of the second physical channel is less than or equal to the time domain length of the first physical channel. As shown in FIG. 7, the time domain length of the first physical channel is 50ms, the time domain length of the third physical channel is 50ms, and the time domain length of the second physical channel is 48ms. Based on this, the time domain length of the second physical channel is less than the time domain length of the first physical channel, and the time domain length of the third physical channel is the same as that of the first physical channel, so that the first time unit is divided as evenly as possible, and the accuracy of channel estimation is improved.

[0122] In addition, at least one of the first reference signals occupies a plurality of consecutive chips. The reference signal occupies the same frequency domain resource as the first physical channel in the frequency domain. The high and low levels or positive and negative phases of each chip of the A-IoT terminal carry information, and the reference signal includes a plurality of level information or positive and negative phase carrying information, so that a plurality of bits of the reference signal are carried by a plurality of chips. In addition, since the SFO of the A-IoT terminal is large, if the plurality of chips occupied by the reference signal are not consecutive, the reception performance of the reference signal will be poor. Different parts in the first time unit occupy the same frequency domain resource, which can facilitate filtering at the receiving end.

[0123] In an optional manner, the format of the reference signal is related to the capability of the first communication device. When the first communication device is a second type device or a third type device (for example, the SFO of the first communication device is 10 4 ppm), wherein the SFO of the first communication device is less than 10 5 ppm, the reference signal can be comb-shaped or occupy a plurality of non-consecutive chips, otherwise the reference signal is block-shaped or occupies a plurality of consecutive chips. It can be understood that the comb-shaped reference signal is characterized in the time domain that the interval between the two adjacent modulation bits occupies L chip lengths. L is a positive integer, for example, L can be 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.

[0124] Based on this manner, when the reference signal is comb-shaped, the reference signals of different users can be sent alternately to improve transmission efficiency.

[0125] Step 402, the second communication device sends the first parameter. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the first parameter.

[0126] Exemplarily, the first parameter can be indicated by a bit index, and different bit indexes correspond to different values of the first parameter. As shown in Table 1 and Table 2 below. Table 1 shows the first parameter characterized by a specific time interval value. Table 2 shows the first parameter characterized by a chip length associated with the first physical channel. For example, different first parameter values are indicated by 2 bits, and in Table 2, 00 indicates that the value of the first parameter is 2 12 · 26.6 / T pri , 01 indicates that the value of the first parameter is 2 14 · 26.6 / T pri , and T pri is 2 times the chip length, and the chip length is 26.6us, etc., which are only exemplarily described herein.

[0127] Table 1

[0128] Table 2

[0129] The bit index (or the first parameter) described above can be carried in a media access control control element (MAC CE), or a control field in a second time unit (the second time unit is sent by the second communication device to the first communication device, i.e., the time domain resource sent by R2D) or a data carrying channel (e.g., PRDCH) in R2D; wherein the MAC CE can be carried in the data carrying channel in R2D. The second time unit contains at least one time synchronization signal (such as preamble) and one PRDCH. Further, 1-bit indication information can also be carried in the preamble in the second time unit, for indicating whether there is a reference signal in the corresponding D2R transmission. When the reference signal is indicated to exist, the A-IoT terminal can further read the first parameter. Otherwise, the first parameter can not be read. The 1-bit indication information can be indicated before step 402, and after receiving the 1-bit indication information, the first communication device can determine whether to receive the first parameter. The 1-bit indication information can be indicated after step 402, and after receiving the 1-bit indication information, the first communication device can determine whether to perform further data processing based on the first parameter. Based on this, the power consumption of the first communication device can be saved.

[0130] In addition, the 1-bit indication information, the first parameter or the bit index described above can be sent to different types of first communication devices by broadcasting or unicast, which will not be described herein.

[0131] In step 403, the first communication device determines the first time unit according to the first parameter.

[0132] The first communication device can determine the time domain length of the first physical channel and / or the time domain length of the second physical channel according to the first parameter. After receiving the first parameter, the first communication device determines the time domain length of the first physical channel in the first time unit according to the first parameter, which can ensure the reliability of data transmission. For example, the first parameter is 200 milliseconds, and the time domain length of the first time unit is 180 milliseconds. Since the first parameter is not less than the time domain length of the first time unit, the first time unit only includes the first physical channel, and the time domain length of the first physical channel is 180 milliseconds. The first parameter is 200 milliseconds, and the time domain length of the first time unit is 800 milliseconds. Since the first parameter is less than the time domain length of the first time unit, and 800 milliseconds can be divided by 200 milliseconds, the first time unit includes two third physical channels and one second physical channel in addition to the first physical channel, and the time domain lengths of the first physical channel, the third physical channel and the second physical channel are the same, which are 200 milliseconds. The first parameter is 200 milliseconds, and the time domain length of the first time unit is 399 milliseconds. Since the first parameter is less than the time domain length of the first time unit, and 399 milliseconds cannot be divided by 200 milliseconds, the first time unit includes one second physical channel in addition to the first physical channel, and the time domain length of the first physical channel is 200 milliseconds, and the time domain length of the second physical channel is 199 milliseconds. The first parameter is 200 milliseconds, and the time domain length of the first time unit is 420 milliseconds. Since the first parameter is less than the time domain length of the first time unit, and 420 milliseconds cannot be divided by 200 milliseconds, the first time unit includes one third physical channel and one second physical channel in addition to the first physical channel, and the time domain lengths of the first physical channel and the third channel are 140 milliseconds, and the time domain length of the second physical channel is 140 milliseconds.

[0133] In an alternative, the first communication device further determines a number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit; and determines the time domain length of the first physical channel according to the first parameter and the number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit. The number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit is associated with at least one of the following parameters: a data amount (e.g. the number of bits of TBS) scheduled for the first communication device, a CRC length, a line code coding rate, a FEC coding rate, and a repetition number (e.g. a repetition number of TBS, a repetition number after TBS+CRC, a repetition number of line code, a repetition or lengthening of chip length, a repetition of coded bits or chip, etc.). The time domain length of the first physical channel determined according to the number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit and the first parameter is more adaptive to the data transmission requirement of the first communication device, and can better balance the data transmission overhead and the data transmission reliability.

[0134] For example, the first parameter is 50 ms, when the chip length of D2R transmission is equal to 26.6 us (corresponding to N equal to 2048), TBS is 400 bits, CRC length is 16 bits, Manchester coding (coding rate is 2) and convolution code (coding rate is 3) are used, the total number of chips Z of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit is equal to 2496 ((400+16)*2*3). The number of segments X of the first time unit is equal to Therefore, the first time unit is equally divided into two segments, and the length of each segment is Z / X = 1248, i.e. the time domain length of the first physical channel is 1248 chips, and the time domain length of the second physical channel is 1248 chips, as shown in FIG. 8A.

[0135] For example, the first parameter is 50 ms, when the chip length of D2R transmission is equal to 26.6 us (corresponding to N equal to 2048), TBS is 400 bits, CRC length is 16 bits, Manchester coding (coding rate is 2) and convolution code (coding rate is 3) are used, the total number of chips Z of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit is equal to 2496 ((400+16)*2*3). The number of segments X of the first time unit is equal to Therefore, the first time unit is equally divided into two segments, and the length of each segment is Z / X = 1248, i.e. the time domain length of the first physical channel is 1248 chips, and the time domain length of the second physical channel is 1248 chips, as shown in FIG. 8A. The length of the PDRCH of the last segment is the total length of the physical channels transmitted in the first time unit minus the total length of the first X-1 segments, i.e. 2496-500*4=496 chips. That is, the length of the first physical channel is 500 chips, the length of the X-2 third physical channels is 500 chips, and the length of the second physical channel in time domain is 496 chips, as shown in FIG. 8B.

[0136] In addition, the first communication device can further receive a second parameter from the second communication device, the second parameter being associated with the number of chips of the physical channels transmitted in the first time unit, and the second parameter indicating at least one of the following parameters: the amount of data scheduled for the first communication device, the CRC length, the line code coding rate, the FEC coding rate, and the repetition number. In the present application, the first communication device receives the second parameter from the second communication device, which can improve the data processing efficiency and reduce the time for the first communication device to actively acquire each parameter in the second parameter.

[0137] In addition, the first parameter and the second parameter are carried in the same message or the same PRDCH. For example, the first parameter and the second parameter are carried in a MAC CE or a physical layer control field in the PRDCH. Based on this, the signaling overhead can be saved and the data transmission efficiency can be improved.

[0138] In step 404, the first communication device transmits the first physical channel in the first time unit. Correspondingly, the second communication device receives the first physical channel in a time unit, demodulates the first time unit, and obtains the transmission information of the first communication device.

[0139] In the present application, after the first communication device receives the first parameter associated with the maximum value of the time domain length of the first physical channel, the first communication device can determine the time domain length of the first physical channel according to the first parameter. The end of each segment needs an indication or identification (such as a known sequence). When the maximum value of the time domain length of the first physical channel indicated by the first parameter is large, a smaller transmission overhead can be obtained; when the maximum value of the time domain length of the first physical channel indicated by the first parameter is small, a larger transmission overhead is needed, but the transmission reliability can be guaranteed.

[0140] In the present application, when the channel condition is good, the sparser reference signal density configuration (corresponding to a larger value of the first parameter associated with the time domain length of the first physical channel) in the present solution can be used to reduce the transmission overhead without sacrificing the transmission reliability. When the channel condition is poor, the denser reference signal density configuration (corresponding to a smaller value of the first parameter associated with the time domain length of the first physical channel) in the present solution can be used to sacrifice part of the transmission overhead to ensure the transmission reliability. The present application balances the transmission overhead of data and the transmission reliability of data by configuring the reference signal density (i.e., the first parameter associated with the time domain length of the first physical channel) under different channel conditions.

[0141] The above mainly introduces the solution provided by the embodiments of the present application from the perspective of device interaction. It can be understood that, in order to realize the above functions, each device can include a corresponding hardware structure and / or software module for executing each function. It should be easily realized by those skilled in the art that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in the present text, the embodiments of the present application can be realized in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is realized in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to realize the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0142] The embodiments of the present application can divide the functional units of the device according to the above method examples, for example, each functional unit can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in the form of hardware or software functional unit.

[0143] In the case of employing the integrated unit, FIG. 9 shows a possible exemplary block diagram of the communication apparatus involved in the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 9, the communication apparatus 900 can include a processing unit 901 and a transceiver unit 902. The processing unit 901 is configured to control and manage the actions of the communication apparatus 900. The transceiver unit 902 is configured to support the communication of the communication apparatus 900 with other devices. Optionally, the transceiver unit 902 can include a receiving unit and / or a transmitting unit, which are configured to perform the receiving and transmitting operations, respectively. Optionally, the communication apparatus 900 can further include a storage unit configured to store the program codes and / or data of the communication apparatus 900. The transceiver unit can be referred to as an input / output unit, a communication unit, etc., and can be a transceiver; the processing unit can be a processor. When the communication apparatus is a module (e.g., a chip) in a communication device, the transceiver unit can be an input / output interface, an input / output circuit or an input / output pin, etc., and can also be referred to as an interface, a communication interface or an interface circuit, etc.; the processing unit can be a processor, a processing circuit or a logic circuit, etc. Specifically, the communication apparatus can be the A-IoT terminal, the reader / writer, etc. described above.

[0144] In one example, the communication apparatus 900 is an A-IoT terminal, and the transceiver unit 902 is configured to receive a first parameter, the first parameter being associated with a maximum value of a time domain length of a first physical channel; and the transceiver unit 902 is further configured to transmit the first physical channel in a first time unit.

[0145] In another example, the communication apparatus 900 is a reader / writer, and the transceiver unit 902 is configured to transmit a first parameter; and the transceiver unit 902 is further configured to receive a first physical channel in a first time unit, a time domain length of the first physical channel being associated with the first parameter.

[0146] In an optional manner, when the communication apparatus 900 is an A-IoT terminal, the processing unit 901 is further configured to determine the time domain length of the first physical channel according to the first parameter.

[0147] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 902 is further configured to transmit a first reference signal and a second physical channel in the first time unit, the first physical channel being adjacent to the first reference signal, the first reference signal being adjacent to the second physical channel, the first physical channel being before the first reference signal, and the first reference signal being before the second physical channel.

[0148] In an optional manner, the first parameter is associated with a chip length of the first physical channel.

[0149] In an optional manner, the time domain length is N times of the chip length, N being a positive integer.

[0150] In an optional manner, N satisfies the following formula: N = A / T,

[0151] wherein A is a positive real number and T is a chip length.

[0152] In an optional mode, the first parameter is 40 ms, 50 ms, 160 ms, 200 ms, 320 ms, 400 ms, 640 ms or 800 ms.

[0153] In an optional mode, the first reference signal and the first physical channel occupy same frequency domain resource.

[0154] In an optional mode, when the communication apparatus 900 is an A-IoT terminal, the transceiver 902 is further configured to receive a second parameter from the reader / writer, the second parameter being associated with a number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit, the second parameter indicating at least one of the following parameters: a data amount scheduled for the first communication apparatus, a CRC length, a line code coding rate, a FEC coding rate and a repetition number.

[0155] In an optional mode, the number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit is associated with at least one of the following parameters: a data amount scheduled for the first communication apparatus, a CRC length, a line code coding rate, a FEC coding rate and a repetition number.

[0156] In an optional mode, a time domain length of the second physical channel is less than or equal to a time domain length of the first physical channel.

[0157] In an optional mode, the first parameter and the second parameter are carried in a same message.

[0158] In an optional mode, the transceiver 902 is further configured to transmit a third physical channel in the first time unit, a time domain length of the third physical channel being equal to a time domain length of the first physical channel; the third physical channel is after the first physical channel and before the second physical channel, the first reference signal including two reference signals, the third physical channel being between the two reference signals.

[0159] In an optional mode, when the communication apparatus 900 is an A-IoT terminal, the processing unit 901 is configured to determine a number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit; and determine a time domain length of the first physical channel according to the first parameter and the number of chips of the physical channel transmitted in the first time unit.

[0160] As shown in FIG. 10, a communication apparatus 1000 is further provided in the present application. The communication apparatus 1000 can be a chip or a chip system. The communication apparatus can be located in any device involved in the above-mentioned method embodiments, such as an access network device, a first core network device, etc., to perform the actions corresponding to the device.

[0161] Optionally, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0162] The communication apparatus 1000 includes a processor 1010.

[0163] The processor 1010 is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory 1020 to implement the actions of the device in any of the above method embodiments.

[0164] The communication apparatus 1000 can further include a memory 1020 configured to store a computer program.

[0165] Optionally, the memory 1020 and the processor 1010 are coupled. The coupling is an indirect coupling or a communication connection between devices, units or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms, for information interaction between devices, units or modules. Optionally, the memory 1020 and the processor 1010 are integrated together.

[0166] Optionally, the processor 1010 and the memory 1020 can be one or more, which is not limited.

[0167] Optionally, in actual application, the communication apparatus 1000 can include a transceiver 1030, or can not include the transceiver 1030, which is shown in the dashed box in the figure. The communication apparatus 1000 can interact with other devices through the transceiver 1030. The transceiver 1030 can be a circuit, a bus, a transceiver or any other device that can be used for information interaction.

[0168] The specific connection medium between the transceiver 1030, the processor 1010 and the memory 1020 in the embodiments of the present application is not limited. In the embodiments of the present application, the memory 1020, the processor 1010 and the transceiver 1030 are connected through a bus in FIG. 10, and the connection mode between other components is only schematically illustrated and is not limited. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For convenience, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 10, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus. In the embodiments of the present application, the processor can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, which can implement or execute the disclosed methods, steps and logic block diagrams in the embodiments of the present application. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as execution completed by a hardware processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.

[0169] In the embodiments of the present application, the memory can be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), and can also be a volatile memory, such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory can also be any other medium capable of carrying or storing desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and capable of being accessed by a computer, but is not limited to this. The memory in the embodiments of the present application can also be a circuit or any other device capable of implementing a storage function, used for storing computer programs, program instructions and / or data.

[0170] Based on the above embodiments, referring to FIG. 11, the embodiments of the present application further provide another communication apparatus 1100, comprising: an interface circuit 1110 and a logic circuit 1120; the interface circuit 1110 can be understood as an input and output interface, and can be used to perform the transceiving steps of each device in any of the above method embodiments; the logic circuit 1120 can be used to run codes or instructions to perform the methods performed by each device in any of the above embodiments, and details are not repeated here.

[0171] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a computer readable storage medium storing instructions, when the instructions are executed, the methods performed by each device in any of the above method embodiments are implemented. The computer readable storage medium can include: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various media that can store program codes.

[0172] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication system, which comprises the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus mentioned in any of the above method embodiments, and can be used to perform the methods performed by each device in any of the above method embodiments.

[0173] Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present application can be provided as a method, a system or a computer program product. Therefore, the present application can take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Moreover, the present application can take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), optical storage, etc.) containing computer usable program codes.

[0174] The computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks or in conjunction with the flowchart blocks. These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer- readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

[0175] The computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks or in conjunction with the flowchart blocks. These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer- readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

[0176] The computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks or in conjunction with the flowchart blocks. These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer- readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a first communication device, comprising: Receive a first parameter, which is associated with the maximum value of the time domain length of the first physical channel; The first physical channel is transmitted in the first time unit.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: The time domain length of the first physical channel is determined based on the first parameter.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The method further includes: A first reference signal and a second physical channel are transmitted in the first time unit. The first physical channel is adjacent to the first reference signal, the first reference signal is adjacent to the second physical channel, the first physical channel precedes the first reference signal, and the first reference signal precedes the second physical channel.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The first parameter is associated with the chip length of the first physical channel.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The time domain length is N times the chip length, where N is a positive integer.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The N satisfies the following formula: N = A / T Wherein, A is a positive real number, and T is the chip length.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, The first parameter is 40 milliseconds, 50 milliseconds, 160 milliseconds, 200 milliseconds, 320 milliseconds, 400 milliseconds, 640 milliseconds, or 800 milliseconds.

8. The method according to any one of claims 3-7, characterized in that, The first reference signal occupies the same frequency domain resources as the first physical channel.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive a second parameter, which is associated with the number of chips transmitted through the physical channel in the first time unit, and the second parameter indicates at least one of the following parameters: The first communication device is configured with the following parameters: the amount of data scheduled, the length of the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) code, the line code encoding rate, the forward error correction (FEC) encoding rate, and the number of repetitions.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that, The number of chips transmitted in the physical channel in the first time unit is related to at least one of the following parameters: The first communication device is configured with the following parameters: the amount of data scheduled, the length of the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) code, the line code encoding rate, the forward error correction (FEC) encoding rate, and the number of repetitions.

11. The method according to any one of claims 3-10, characterized in that, The time domain length of the second physical channel is less than or equal to the time domain length of the first physical channel.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The method further includes: A third physical channel is transmitted on the first time unit, the time domain length of the third physical channel being equal to the time domain length of the first physical channel; the third physical channel is after the first physical channel and before the second physical channel, the first reference signal includes two reference signals, and the third physical channel is between the two reference signals.

13. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The first parameter and the second parameter are carried in the same message.

14. The method according to any one of claims 2-13, characterized in that, Determining the time-domain length of the first physical channel based on the first parameter includes: Determine the number of chips transmitted through the physical channel in the first time unit; The time domain length of the first physical channel is determined based on the first parameter and the number of chips transmitted in the first time unit.

15. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a second communication device, including: Send the first parameter; A first physical channel is received in a first time unit, and the maximum value of the time domain length of the first physical channel is associated with the first parameter.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The method further includes: A first reference signal and a second physical channel are received in the first time unit. The first physical channel is adjacent to the first reference signal, the first reference signal is adjacent to the second physical channel, the first physical channel precedes the first reference signal, and the first reference signal precedes the second physical channel.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that, The first parameter is associated with the chip length of the first physical channel.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that, The time domain length is N times the chip length, where N is a positive integer.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, The N satisfies the following formula: N = A / T Wherein, A is a positive real number, and T is the chip length.

20. The method according to any one of claims 15-19, characterized in that, The first parameter is 40 milliseconds, 50 milliseconds, 160 milliseconds, 200 milliseconds, 320 milliseconds, 400 milliseconds, 640 milliseconds, or 800 milliseconds.

21. The method according to any one of claims 16-20, characterized in that, The first reference signal occupies the same frequency domain resources as the first physical channel.

22. The method according to any one of claims 15-21, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a second parameter, which is associated with the number of chips transmitted through the physical channel in the first time unit, and the second parameter indicates at least one of the following parameters: The first communication device is configured with the following parameters: the amount of data scheduled, the length of the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) code, the line code encoding rate, the forward error correction (FEC) encoding rate, and the number of repetitions.

23. The method according to any one of claims 15-22, characterized in that, The number of chips transmitted in the physical channel in the first time unit is related to at least one of the following parameters: The first communication device is configured with the following parameters: the amount of data scheduled, the length of the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) code, the line code encoding rate, the forward error correction (FEC) encoding rate, and the number of repetitions.

24. The method according to any one of claims 16-23, characterized in that, The time domain length of the second physical channel is less than or equal to the time domain length of the first physical channel.

25. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that, The method further includes: A third physical channel is received in the first time unit, the time domain length of the third physical channel being equal to the time domain length of the first physical channel; the third physical channel is after the first physical channel and before the second physical channel, the first reference signal includes two reference signals, and the third physical channel is between the two reference signals.

26. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that, The first parameter and the second parameter are carried in the same message.

27. A communication device, characterized in that, include: At least one processor and memory; The memory is used to store computer programs or data; The at least one processor is configured to run part or all of the computer program or data to cause the method of any one of claims 1-26 to be performed.

28. A communication system, characterized in that, The communication system includes a first communication device and a second communication device, wherein the first communication device is used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1-14, and the second communication device is used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 15-26.

29. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the method as described in any one of claims 1-26 to be performed.

30. A computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions, characterized in that, When the computer program or instructions are run on a computer, the method as described in any one of claims 1-26 is performed.

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