Error-tolerant communication method and apparatus

Abstract

An error-tolerant communication method and apparatus. The method comprises: an access network device sends a plurality of data units to a terminal, the plurality of data units corresponding to a first feature stream; and the terminal sends feedback information for the plurality of data units on the basis of the transmission condition of the plurality of data units and an error tolerance range of the first feature stream. By means of the solution, the terminal performs feedback on the basis of the transmission condition of the plurality of data units and the error tolerance range of the first feature stream, and does not necessarily perform transmission error feedback for a data unit having a transmission error (for example, does not necessarily feed back a NACK for a data unit having a transmission error), thereby reducing the number of retransmissions, and improving communication efficiency.

Description

Fault-tolerant communication methods and devices

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202410875374.1, filed on June 28, 2024, entitled "Fault-Tolerant Communication Method and Apparatus", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a fault-tolerant communication method and apparatus. Background Technology

[0003] With the fifth generation (5 th With the continuous development of 5G communication systems, data transmission latency is constantly decreasing and transmission capacity is increasing. 5G communication systems are gradually penetrating into multimedia services with high real-time requirements and large data capacity demands, such as video transmission, cloud gaming (CG), extended reality (XR), and intelligent robots. As these multimedia services become increasingly widespread, improving transmission efficiency is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed.

[0004] The transport block (TB) level cyclic redundancy check (CRC) feedback method first appends a checksum of a certain length to the bits to be transmitted before sending it to the receiving end. Upon receiving the data, the receiving end verifies its correctness against the received data and the checksum; if an error is found, it sends a feedback for retransmission.

[0005] However, to meet bit-level CRC check requirements, multiple retransmissions may be required, which reduces transmission efficiency and may increase transmission latency.

[0006] Therefore, how to transmit data in order to improve transmission efficiency and reduce transmission latency is an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0007] This application provides a communication method and apparatus to reduce the number of retransmissions, improve transmission efficiency, and reduce transmission latency.

[0008] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a terminal side, for example, a terminal or a communication module / processing module in the terminal, or a circuit or chip responsible for communication function in the terminal (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip containing a modem core, or a circuit or chip responsible for processing function in the terminal (such as a graphics processing unit (GPU)). Taking the case where the method is applied to a terminal, in the method, the terminal receives a plurality of data units, the plurality of data units corresponding to a first feature stream; and the terminal sends feedback information for the plurality of data units based on transmission conditions of the plurality of data units and a fault tolerance range of the first feature stream.

[0009] By using the above method, the terminal can feed back based on the transmission conditions of the plurality of data units and the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream, and it is not necessary to feed back transmission errors for data units with transmission errors (for example, it is not necessary to feed back a non-acknowledgement (NACK) for data units with transmission errors), which can reduce the number of retransmissions and improve communication efficiency.

[0010] In a possible design, the method further includes that the terminal receives first information, the first information indicating the fault tolerance range.

[0011] By using the above design, the fault tolerance range of different feature streams can be flexibly obtained, and the transmission conditions can be accurately fed back according to the fault tolerance range.

[0012] In another possible design, the sending of the feedback information for the plurality of data units based on the transmission conditions of the plurality of data units and the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream includes: sending the feedback information for the plurality of data units based on the fault tolerance range and one or more of the following: the number of data units with correct transmission and / or the number of data units with incorrect transmission in the plurality of data units; the amount of data carried on the data units with correct transmission and / or the amount of data carried on the data units with incorrect transmission in the plurality of data units; the weight corresponding to the data units with correct transmission and / or the weight corresponding to the data units with incorrect transmission in the plurality of data units.

[0013] With the above design, the transmission of the plurality of data units can be accurately determined to meet the fault tolerance range based on the fault tolerance range, and the number of correctly transmitted data units and / or the number of incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units. The more the number of correctly transmitted data units and / or the fewer the number of incorrectly transmitted data units, the better the terminal can recover the information of the first feature stream.

[0014] The transmission of the plurality of data units can be accurately determined to meet the fault tolerance range based on the fault tolerance range, and the amount of data carried by the correctly transmitted data units and / or the amount of data carried by the incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units. The more the amount of data carried by the correctly transmitted data units and / or the less the amount of data carried by the incorrectly transmitted data units, the better the terminal can recover the information of the first feature stream.

[0015] The transmission of the plurality of data units can be accurately determined to meet the fault tolerance range based on the fault tolerance range, and the weight corresponding to the correctly transmitted data units and / or the weight corresponding to the incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units. The greater the weight corresponding to the correctly transmitted data units and / or the smaller the weight corresponding to the incorrectly transmitted data units, the better the terminal can recover the information of the first feature stream.

[0016] In yet another possible design, the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range when one or more of the following conditions are met:

[0017] The number of correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for more than a first threshold of the number of the plurality of data units; the number of incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for less than a second threshold of the number of the plurality of data units; the amount of data carried by the correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for more than a third threshold of the amount of data carried by the plurality of data units; the amount of data carried by the incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for less than a fourth threshold of the amount of data carried by the plurality of data units; the sum of the weights corresponding to the correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units is greater than a fifth threshold; and the sum of the weights corresponding to the incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units is less than a sixth threshold.

[0018] With the above design, one or more of the following is compared with the corresponding threshold value: the number of correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units, the number of incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units, the amount of data carried on the correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units, the amount of data carried on the incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units, the sum of the weights corresponding to the correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units, and the sum of the weights corresponding to the incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units, to accurately determine whether the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range. In the case where the transmission meets the fault tolerance range, ACK is still sent for the incorrectly transmitted data units, which can reduce the number of retransmissions and improve transmission efficiency.

[0019] It can be understood that the above manner of determining whether the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range can be independently implemented or combined for implementation. For example, the amount of data carried on some of the plurality of data units is different, and in the case where the number of correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, it can be further determined whether the amount of data carried on the correctly transmitted data units is greater than the second threshold value. In the case where the amount of data carried on the correctly transmitted data units is greater than the second threshold value, it is determined that the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range. For another example, the weights corresponding to some of the plurality of data units are different, and in the case where the number of correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, it can be further determined whether the sum of the weights corresponding to the correctly transmitted data units is greater than or equal to the fifth threshold value. If yes, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range; otherwise, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units does not meet the fault tolerance range.

[0020] In another possible design, the method further includes: receiving the second information, the second information indicating the correspondence between the plurality of data units and the first feature flow.

[0021] With the above design, ACK is still sent for the incorrectly transmitted data units, which can reduce the number of retransmissions and improve transmission efficiency.

[0022] In another possible design, the method further includes: receiving second information, the second information indicating the correspondence between the plurality of data units and the first feature flow.

[0023] With the above design, when the terminal receives multiple data units, the relationship between the multiple data units and the first feature flow can be determined according to the correspondence, and then how to perform feedback can be determined based on the transmission condition of the multiple data units and the fault tolerance range of the first feature flow.

[0024] In yet another possible design, the data unit is a physical layer data unit, the data carried in the multiple data units belongs to one or more data packets, and the one or more data packets carry the same second identifier, which is used to identify the first feature flow.

[0025] With the above design, the correspondence between the multiple data units and the first feature flow can be indicated by a second identifier, so that when the terminal receives multiple data units, the relationship between the multiple data units and the first feature flow can be determined according to the second identifier, and then how to perform feedback can be determined based on the transmission condition of the multiple data units and the fault tolerance range of the first feature flow. For example, ACK is still sent for a data unit with a transmission error, which can reduce the number of retransmissions and improve transmission efficiency.

[0026] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a network side, for example, an access network device on the network side, a module (for example, a circuit, a chip or a chip system, etc.) in the access network device, or a logic node, a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the access network device. Taking the case where the method is applied to the access network device, in the method, the access network device transmits multiple data units, the multiple data units correspond to a first feature flow; receives feedback information of the multiple data units, the feedback information is obtained based on a transmission condition of the multiple data units and a fault tolerance range of the first feature flow; and performs retransmission based on the feedback information of the multiple data units.

[0027] With the above method, the access network device can perform retransmission for part of the data units with transmission errors according to the feedback of the terminal, which can reduce the number of retransmissions and improve communication efficiency.

[0028] In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving third information from a server, the third information being carried in control plane signaling or user plane signaling, and the third information indicating the fault tolerance range of the first feature flow.

[0029] In another possible design, the method further includes: transmitting first information, the first information indicating the fault tolerance range of the first feature flow.

[0030] In yet another possible design, the receiving of the feedback information of the multiple data units includes: receiving ACK for at least one data unit with a transmission error in the multiple data units.

[0031] In yet another possible design, the method further includes sending second information indicating the correspondence between the multiple data units and the first feature flow.

[0032] In yet another possible design, the method further includes receiving fourth information from the server, the fourth information indicating the correspondence between the multiple data units and the first feature flow.

[0033] In yet another possible design, the data unit can be a data packet at the application layer / high layer. The data packet can carry a first identifier, which is used to identify the first feature flow, i.e., to inform the access network device of the correspondence between the data packet and the first feature flow through the first identifier. The multiple data units can carry the first identifier, which indicates that the multiple data units correspond to the first feature flow.

[0034] With the above design, when the access network device receives the multiple data units, the access network device can determine the correspondence between the multiple data units and the first feature flow based on the first identifier, and the access network device can indicate the correspondence between the multiple data units and the first feature flow to the terminal.

[0035] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a terminal side, e.g., a terminal or a communication module / processing module in the terminal, or a circuit or chip (e.g., a modem chip, also referred to as a baseband chip, or a SoC chip or SIP chip containing a modem core) responsible for communication functions in the terminal, or a circuit or chip (e.g., a GPU) responsible for processing functions in the terminal. Taking the case where the method is applied to a terminal as an example, in the method, the terminal receives multiple data units; sends feedback information of the multiple data units; and in the case where transmission of at least two data units in the multiple data units is erroneous, receives retransmission of part of the data units in the at least two data units.

[0036] With the above method, in the case where transmission of at least two data units in the multiple data units is erroneous, the terminal can receive retransmission of part of the data units in the at least two data units, which reduces the number of retransmissions and improves transmission efficiency.

[0037] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a network side, e.g., an access network device on the network side, a module (e.g., a circuit, a chip or a chip system, etc.) in the access network device, or a logic node, a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the access network device. Taking the case where the method is applied to an access network device as an example, in the method, the access network device sends multiple data units; receives feedback information of the multiple data units; and in the case where transmission of at least two data units in the multiple data units is erroneous, sends retransmission of part of the data units in the at least two data units.

[0038] In the case where transmission of at least two data units in the multiple data units is erroneous, the access network device sends retransmission of part of the data units in the at least two data units.

[0039] By using the method, after the access network device receives the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream sent by the server and the feedback information of the terminal for the plurality of data units, the access network device can send retransmission of part of the data units in the at least two data units to the terminal based on the transmission condition of the plurality of data units and the fault tolerance range, in the case that the transmission of the at least two data units fails, thereby reducing the number of retransmissions and improving the transmission efficiency.

[0040] In a fifth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which has the function of implementing the first aspect, for example, the communication apparatus includes a module or unit or means corresponding to the operations of the first aspect, which can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0041] For example, the communication apparatus includes a communication unit, and can also include a processing unit and a storage unit; wherein:

[0042] The communication unit is configured to receive a plurality of data units, the plurality of data units corresponding to a first feature stream; and the communication unit is further configured to send feedback information for the plurality of data units based on a transmission condition of the plurality of data units and a fault tolerance range of the first feature stream.

[0043] In a possible design, the communication unit is further configured to receive first information, the first information indicating the fault tolerance range.

[0044] In another possible design, the communication unit is further configured to send the feedback information for the plurality of data units based on the fault tolerance range and one or more of the following: a number of data units in the plurality of data units that are transmitted correctly and / or a number of data units in the plurality of data units that are transmitted incorrectly; an amount of data carried on the data units in the plurality of data units that are transmitted correctly and / or an amount of data carried on the data units in the plurality of data units that are transmitted incorrectly; a weight corresponding to the data units in the plurality of data units that are transmitted correctly and / or a weight corresponding to the data units in the plurality of data units that are transmitted incorrectly.

[0045] In yet another possible design, the transmission condition of the plurality of data units satisfies the fault tolerance range when one or more of the following is met:

[0046] The number of correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for more than a first threshold of the number of the plurality of data units; the number of incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for less than a second threshold of the number of the plurality of data units; the amount of data carried on the correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for more than a third threshold of the amount of data carried on the plurality of data units; the amount of data carried on the incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for less than a fourth threshold of the amount of data carried on the plurality of data units; the sum of weights corresponding to the correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units is greater than a fifth threshold; and the sum of weights corresponding to the incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units is less than a sixth threshold.

[0047] In yet another possible design, the communication unit is further configured to send the ACK for at least one incorrectly transmitted data unit in the plurality of data units.

[0048] In yet another possible design, the communication unit is further configured to receive second information, where the second information indicates the correspondence between the plurality of data units and the first feature flow.

[0049] In a sixth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which comprises the functions of the second aspect. For example, the communication apparatus comprises modules or units or means corresponding to the operations of the second aspect, which can be implemented by software or hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0050] For example, the communication apparatus comprises a communication unit, and can further comprise a processing unit and a storage unit; where:

[0051] The communication unit is configured to send a plurality of data units, where the plurality of data units correspond to a first feature flow; the communication unit is further configured to receive feedback information of the plurality of data units, where the feedback information is obtained based on transmission of the plurality of data units and a fault-tolerant range of the first feature flow; and the communication unit is further configured to perform retransmission based on the feedback information of the plurality of data units.

[0052] In a possible design, the communication unit is further configured to receive third information from a server, where the third information is carried in control plane signaling or user plane signaling, and the third information indicates the fault-tolerant range of the first feature flow.

[0053] In another possible design, the communication unit is further configured to send first information, where the first information indicates the fault-tolerant range of the first feature flow.

[0054] In yet another possible design, the communication unit is further configured to receive the ACK for at least one incorrectly transmitted data unit in the plurality of data units.

[0055] In a possible design, the communication unit is further configured to send second information, where the second information indicates the correspondence between the multiple data units and the first feature stream.

[0056] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which has the function of implementing the third aspect, for example, the communication apparatus includes a module or unit or means corresponding to the operation of the third aspect, which can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by the combination of software and hardware.

[0057] For example, the communication apparatus includes a communication unit, and can further include a processing unit and a storage unit, where:

[0058] The communication unit is configured to receive the multiple data units, and further configured to send feedback information of the multiple data units, and further configured to receive retransmission of part of the data units in the at least two data units in the case of transmission error of the at least two data units.

[0059] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which has the function of implementing the fourth aspect, for example, the communication apparatus includes a module or unit or means corresponding to the operation of the fourth aspect, which can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by the combination of software and hardware.

[0060] For example, the communication apparatus includes a communication unit, and can further include a processing unit and a storage unit, where:

[0061] The communication unit is configured to send the multiple data units, and further configured to receive feedback information of the multiple data units, and further configured to send retransmission of part of the data units in the at least two data units in the case of transmission error of the at least two data units.

[0062] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which includes an interface circuit and one or more processors. The one or more processors are coupled with a memory. The memory is configured to store part or all of the computer program or instructions necessary for implementing the function of the first aspect or the third aspect. The one or more processors can execute the computer program or instructions, when the computer program or instructions are executed, so that the communication apparatus implements the method in any possible design or implementation manner of the first aspect or the third aspect. The interface circuit is configured to implement the communication function within the communication apparatus and / or the communication function of the communication apparatus and other devices or components.

[0063] In a possible design, the processor is configured to communicate with other apparatuses or components via the interface circuit.

[0064] In a possible design, the communication apparatus further includes the memory.

[0065] The communication apparatus described above can be a terminal, a communication / processing module in the terminal, a chip responsible for a communication function (such as a modem chip, also referred to as a baseband chip) or an SoC or SIP chip including a modem module in the terminal, or a circuit or chip responsible for a processing function (such as a GPU) in the terminal.

[0066] In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which includes an interface circuit and one or more processors. The one or more processors are coupled with a memory. The memory is configured to store part or all of a computer program or instructions necessary for implementing the functions described in the second aspect or the fourth aspect. The one or more processors can execute the computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are executed, cause the communication apparatus to implement the method in any possible design or implementation manner of the second aspect or the fourth aspect. The interface circuit is configured to implement a communication function within the communication apparatus and / or a communication function between the communication apparatus and other apparatuses or components.

[0067] In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a communication system, which includes the communication apparatus as described in the fifth aspect or any possible design of the fifth aspect, and the communication apparatus as described in the sixth aspect or any possible design of the sixth aspect.

[0068] In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, which includes the communication apparatus as described in the seventh aspect or any possible design of the seventh aspect, and the communication apparatus as described in the eighth aspect or any possible design of the eighth aspect.

[0069] In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer-readable instructions. When a computer reads and executes the computer-readable instructions, the computer executes the method in any possible design of the first aspect to the fourth aspect.

[0070] In a fourteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product. When a computer reads and executes the computer program product, the computer executes the method in any possible design of the first aspect to the fourth aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0071] FIG. 1 is a possible, non-limiting system schematic diagram;

[0072] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of parallel transmission of multiple hybrid automatic repeat processes;

[0073] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of retransmission based on code block groups;

[0074] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of semantic communication transmission;

[0075] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of transport block transmission;

[0076] FIGS. 6 and 7 are schematic diagrams of a communication method provided by embodiments of the present application;

[0077] FIG. 8 is a possible exemplary block diagram of a communication apparatus involved in embodiments of the present application;

[0078] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a terminal provided by embodiments of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0079] FIG. 1 shows a possible, non-limiting system. As shown in FIG. 1, a communication system 10 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., 110a and 110b in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120j in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 120). The RAN 100 can further include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in FIG. 1), etc. The terminal 120 is connected to the RAN node 110 in a wireless manner. The RAN node 110 is connected to the core network 200 in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 100 can be different physical devices respectively, or can be the same physical device integrated with the logical functions of the core network and the logical functions of the radio access network. The RAN 100, the core network 200 can be further connected to the Internet 300.

[0080] The RAN 100 can be a 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) related cellular system, such as a 4G, 5G mobile communication system, or a future-oriented evolution system. The RAN 100 can also be an open radio access network (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system. The RAN 100 can also be a communication system in which two or more of the above systems are integrated.

[0081] The RAN node 110, which can also be referred to as an access network device, a RAN entity, or an access node, etc., forms part of the communication system, and is configured to facilitate the wireless access by the terminals. The RAN nodes 110 in the communication system 10 can be of the same type or can be of different types. In some scenarios, the roles of the RAN node 110 and the terminal 120 are relative, e.g., the network element 120i in Figure 1 can be a helicopter or a drone, which can be configured to move as a mobile base station, and for a terminal 120j accessing the RAN 100 via the network element 120i, the network element 120i is a base station; but for the base station 110a, the network element 120i is a terminal. The RAN nodes 110 and the terminals 120 are sometimes referred to as communication devices, e.g., the network elements 110a and 110b in Figure 1 can be understood as communication devices with base station functionalities, and the network elements 120a-120j can be understood as communication devices with terminal functionalities.

[0082] In a possible scenario, the RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system, etc. The RAN node can be a macro base station (e.g., 110a in Figure 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (e.g., 110b in Figure 1), a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a CRAN scenario. Optionally, the RAN node can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or a vehicle-mounted device, etc. For example, the access network device in vehicle to everything (V2X) technology can be a road side unit (RSU). All or part of the functions of the RAN node in this application can also be implemented by software functions running on hardware, or by virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). The RAN node can also be provided with a communication module, circuit or chip for performing corresponding communication functions, and program instructions for performing corresponding communication functions. The RAN node in this application can also be a logical node, a logical module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the RAN node.

[0083] In another possible scenario, a terminal is assisted by multiple RAN nodes to implement wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of functions of a base station. For example, a RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU), etc. The CU and the DU can be separately arranged, or can also be included in the same network element, for example, in a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, for example, included in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna processing unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0084] In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an ORAN system, the CU can also be referred to as an 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 RU can also be referred to as an O-RU. For the convenience of description, the CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU are taken as examples for description in this application. Any one of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0085] A terminal can be a device or module with corresponding communication functions and can access the above-mentioned communication system. The terminal can also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. The terminal can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, remote medical treatment, smart power grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, wearable device, vehicle, unmanned aerial vehicle, helicopter, airplane, ship, robot, mechanical arm, smart home device, transport vehicle with wireless communication function, communication module, etc. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the device form of the terminal. The terminal is usually provided with a communication module, circuit or chip for performing corresponding communication functions. The terminal is also configured with program instructions for performing corresponding communication functions.

[0086] In recent years, with the continuous development of 5G communication systems, the data transmission delay is continuously reduced, and the transmission capacity is getting larger and larger, and 5G communication systems gradually penetrate some real-time strong, large data capacity required multimedia services, such as video transmission, cloud games, XR and intelligent robots, etc., wherein XR includes virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

[0087] With the rapid improvement of communication transmission rate, real-time video transmission service has gradually become one of the core services in the current network. The continuous progress and improvement of extended reality technology have also brought about the vigorous development of related industries. Today, as a kind of XR, VR technology has entered various fields closely related to people's production and life, such as education, entertainment, medical treatment, environmental protection, transportation, public health, etc. Compared with traditional video services, VR has the advantages of multi-view and strong interactivity, providing users with a completely new visual experience. In addition to smartphones, people are increasingly hoping to enhance XR experience through head-mounted displays (HMDs) or smart glasses (such as VR glasses, AR glasses) and other user equipment (UE).

[0088] Intelligent robots have also begun to play an important role in various fields. First, intelligent robots have broad application prospects in the industrial field. They can complete heavy, repetitive and dangerous work on the production line, improve production efficiency and quality, bring higher automation level, reduce labor cost and improve work environment safety. Second, intelligent robots also have great development potential in the service field. They can be used in healthcare, catering, hotel, retail and other industries to provide more convenient and efficient services. For example, intelligent robots can play the role of medical assistants, helping doctors perform surgery, care for patients and provide rehabilitation treatment; in the catering industry, intelligent robots can replace human labor to complete ordering, delivery and cleaning work; in the retail industry, intelligent robots can provide customers with product information and shopping recommendations. In addition, intelligent robots can also be applied to education and entertainment fields. They can be learning and entertainment partners, providing personalized educational content and gaming experiences for children. The emergence of intelligent robots can also broaden people's horizons and help them better understand the world and technological development.

[0089] Therefore, with the increasing popularity of XR devices and intelligent robots, how to improve transmission efficiency on the basis of ensuring user experience has become a key issue in current research.

[0090] Improving transmission efficiency involves how to transmit data. The following describes the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) mechanism of the media access control (MAC) layer:

[0091] The HARQ mechanism of the MAC layer is the most commonly used retransmission mechanism, which immediately feeds back the success or failure of information transmission to the sender by the receiver, to realize fast retransmission.

[0092] As shown in FIG. 2, an illustration of parallel transmission of multiple HARQ processes, the HARQ mechanism uses the stop-and-wait protocol, which includes the following two features:

[0093] 1. The receiver sends feedback information to the sender. In the case of correct or incorrect reception, the receiver needs to feed back the reception status to the sender.

[0094] 2. The sender continues to send information only after receiving the confirmation information from the receiver. Before the previous information is confirmed, the next information will not be sent.

[0095] The stop-and-wait protocol requires the sender to stop and wait for the feedback of the receiver after sending information, which results in low throughput. Therefore, HARQ adopts multiple stop-and-wait processes for parallel processing, and while one process is waiting for an acknowledgement, the sender can continue to send information using another process; similarly, while the receiver is processing the information received by one process, it can continue to receive information using another process. Multiple HARQ processes are processed in parallel to form a HARQ entity, and one uplink or downlink carrier corresponds to one HARQ entity. A HARQ entity supports a maximum of 16 HARQ processes. When multiple processes are used for transmission, each process has an independent HARQ feedback. HARQ feedback refers to the feedback information sent by the receiver in the HARQ mechanism. The sender determines whether the data is successfully transmitted according to the feedback information of the receiver, and ACK indicates successful transmission and NACK indicates failed transmission.

[0096] If the sender transmits in code block (CB) units, the receiver can only feed back the CBs that are decoded incorrectly, so the sender only needs to retransmit the CBs that are decoded incorrectly. Compared with retransmitting the entire transmission block (TB), the retransmission overhead is reduced. However, if CB is used for feedback, the amount of feedback information increases because a TB contains multiple CBs, which will increase the overhead of control signaling. Therefore, a compromise is introduced in new radio (NR), which is CB group (CBG)-based retransmission. As shown in FIG. 3, which is a schematic diagram of CBG-based retransmission, a CBG contains one or more CBs, and feedback is based on CBG, and retransmission is also performed only on the erroneous CBG. Compared with retransmitting the entire TB, CBG-based retransmission can reduce resource consumption; compared with CB-level feedback, CBG-based feedback can reduce signaling overhead. According to the number of CBs in the initial transmission, the TB can be divided into 2, 4, 6, or 8 CBGs, and the UE is indicated by a high-layer signaling parameter. Once the CBG division is completed, the mapping relationship between the CBG and the CB is fixed and will not change even after multiple retransmissions, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the retransmitted information.

[0097] However, the above-mentioned TB-level CRC check feedback method appends a check code to the data to be sent and then sends it to the receiving end. After receiving the data, the receiving end verifies whether the received data is correct according to the received data and the check code, and feeds back retransmission if it is incorrect.

[0098] For example, for an artificial intelligence (AI) based video coding system, the transmitted feature stream has fault tolerance characteristics, and even if part of the received bits is erroneous, the quality of the video can still be recovered at the receiving end through the repair of the receiving end generator.

[0099] As shown in the architecture diagram of the semantic communication transmission in FIG. 4, the input data is sequentially encoded by the semantic source encoder and the channel encoder to extract semantic information related to the receiver task, which can be used for source signal recovery or intelligent task execution. Unlike the traditional separate method, the AI neural network based source channel joint coding architecture does not collapse when the channel quality is below a certain threshold. The extracted feature stream is transmitted, which has certain fault tolerance characteristics.

[0100] As shown in the transmission diagram of one transmission block in FIG. 5, one TB includes 8 CBs, CB1-CB8, among which CB2, CB6 and CB8 are transmitted with errors, and the other CBs are transmitted correctly. If the CRC check feedback method at the transmission block level is used, it is judged that the TB transmission is erroneous, and CB2, CB6 and CB8 need to be retransmitted. However, when the receiving end receives the retransmitted CB2, CB6 and CB8, the packet delay budget (PDB) has been exceeded, which will cause resource waste and increase the delay.

[0101] Therefore, the present application provides a communication scheme, in which the terminal feeds back based on the transmission situation of multiple data units and the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream, and does not necessarily feed back the transmission error (for example, does not necessarily feed back NACK) for the data unit with transmission error, so as to reduce the retransmission times and improve the communication efficiency.

[0102] The communication method and device are further described below with reference to the drawings. It can be understood that the server, the access network device and the terminal are taken as examples of the execution subject of the interaction in the present application, but the present application is not limited to the execution subject of the interaction. For example, the method executed by the access network device in the present application can also be implemented by a module (such as a circuit, a chip or a chip system, etc.) in the access network device, or a logical node, a logical module or software capable of implementing all or part of the function of the access network device; the method executed by the server in the present application can also be implemented by a module (such as a circuit, a chip or a chip system, etc.) in the server, or a logical node, a logical module or software capable of implementing all or part of the function of the server; the method executed by the terminal in the present application can also be implemented by a communication / processing module or a circuit or chip (such as a modem chip (also known as a baseband chip), or a SoC chip containing a modem core, or a SIP chip, or a GPU) responsible for communication / processing function in the terminal.

[0103] As shown in FIG. 6, it is a flow diagram of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. Exemplarily, the method can include the following steps:

[0104] S601. The server sends third information to the access network device through the core network.

[0105] Correspondingly, the access network device receives the third information.

[0106] The third information indicates the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream.

[0107] In the embodiment, the server is the source side of the transmission of the feature stream, and the server can determine the fault tolerance range of different feature streams. Therefore, the server indicates the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream to the access network device. The first feature stream can be any feature stream of a current frame being transmitted or to be transmitted.

[0108] The feature stream refers to a set of data used to represent a feature in a frame. The data in the set has at least one same feature or belongs to a same feature channel. The set is a set of data belonging to the feature. Based on the feature, the data in the frame is divided. Different feature streams have different importance for the recovery of the frame. The recovery of the frame has a corresponding error tolerance range, which helps the receiving end to determine whether retransmission is needed based on the feature stream and the corresponding error tolerance range when some data transmission errors occur in the feature stream. For example, a picture frame can include one or more feature streams, such as a background feature stream and a character feature stream, or data of different feature channels extracted by a neural network. Different feature streams can be carried in different quality of service (QoS) flows. Different QoS flows can be mapped to different radio bearers. Alternatively, different feature streams can be carried in the same QoS flow, and different feature streams in the same QoS flow are mapped to different radio bearers. Alternatively, different feature streams can also be carried on corresponding logical channels / radio bearers.

[0109] The error tolerance range can also be referred to as error tolerance capability, etc. For example, the error tolerance range can be a tolerable packet error rate or bit error rate.

[0110] One expression of the error tolerance range is the maximum tolerable packet loss rate of a feature stream. For example, a picture frame has a total of two feature streams, of which feature stream #1 can tolerate a maximum of 10% bit transmission error; feature stream #2 can tolerate a maximum of 1% bit transmission error; or feature stream #1 needs at least 90% bit transmission to be correct; feature stream #2 needs at least 99% bit transmission to be correct.

[0111] Another expression of the error tolerance range is that a feature stream has a corresponding contribution value (or experience score) for the recovery of information. When the sum of the contribution values of all successfully received data packets is greater than a set minimum threshold, it means that the information can be recovered well; otherwise, it means that the information recovery does not reach the preset experience score.

[0112] When the error is within the error tolerance range, the application layer of the receiving side (i.e., the terminal) can correctly recover the information; otherwise, the application layer cannot correctly recover the information.

[0113] In one implementation, this third information is carried on control plane signaling. For each of the multiple frame frames, if the loss information due to the characteristic flow error in the recovery of that frame is the same or similar, the core network can notify the access network device through control plane signaling. For example, the server can inform the access network device through the session management function (SMF) network element.

[0114] In another implementation, this third information is carried on user plane signaling. For each of the multiple frame frames, the loss of information due to the characteristic flow error in frame recovery varies significantly, and this can be communicated to the access network device via user plane signaling. For example, the server can place this information in the packet header and inform the access network device through the user plane function (UPF) element. Further, for example, this fault tolerance range can be placed in the extension header of the GPRS tunneling protocol-user plane (GTP-U).

[0115] Alternatively, the fault tolerance range of the first characteristic flow can be set in the access network device through operation administration and maintenance (OAM). Therefore, step S601 is optional and is shown as a dashed line in the figure.

[0116] S602. The access network device sends the first information to the terminal.

[0117] Accordingly, the terminal receives this first information.

[0118] After receiving the aforementioned fault tolerance range from the server, or after obtaining the aforementioned fault tolerance range configured in the OAM, the access network device sends first information to the terminal, wherein the first information indicates the aforementioned fault tolerance range.

[0119] For example, the aforementioned first information may be carried in at least one of the following signaling: downlink control information (DCI), radio resource control (RRC) signaling, and media access control-control element (MAC CE).

[0120] Alternatively, the aforementioned fault tolerance range can also be predefined. For example, it may be programmed into the terminal before it leaves the factory. Therefore, step S602 is optional and is indicated by a dashed line in the figure.

[0121] S603. The server sends the plurality of data units to the access network device through the core network.

[0122] Correspondingly, the access network device receives the plurality of data units.

[0123] The plurality of data units correspond to the first feature flow. In other words, the information of the first feature flow can be carried on one or more data units. The data unit can be, for example, a TB, a CB, a CBG, etc.

[0124] Corresponding to the case where the third information is carried on the user plane signaling described above, if the fault tolerance range of the first feature flow changes greatly in the data of different frames, the third information can be carried on the plurality of data units for transmission.

[0125] Further, the server can also send fourth information to the access network device through the core network, the fourth information indicating the correspondence between the plurality of data units and the first feature flow. The server can place the information in the packet header of the data packet and inform the access network device through the UPF network element. Further, for example, the correspondence can be placed in the extension header of GTP-U.

[0126] S604. The access network device sends the plurality of data units to the terminal.

[0127] Correspondingly, the terminal receives the plurality of data units.

[0128] After receiving the plurality of data units sent by the server, the access network device sends the plurality of data units to the terminal. The plurality of data units correspond to the first feature flow.

[0129] Further, the access network device can also send second information to the terminal, the second information indicating the correspondence between the plurality of data units and the first feature flow. Illustratively, the second information can be carried in at least one of the following signaling: DCI, RRC signaling, MAC CE.

[0130] Illustratively, the data unit can refer to a data packet at the application layer / high layer. The data packet can carry a first identifier for identifying the first feature flow, i.e., the correspondence between the data packet and the first feature flow is informed to the access network device through the first identifier. The plurality of data units can carry the first identifier, indicating that the plurality of data units correspond to the first feature flow.

[0131] Illustratively, the data unit can also refer to a data unit at the physical layer (e.g., TB / CB / CBG). The data carried in the plurality of data units belongs to one or more data packets, and the one or more data packets carry the same second identifier for identifying the first feature flow. That is, the correspondence between the plurality of data units and the first feature flow is informed to the terminal through the second identifier. The second information described above includes the second identifier.

[0132] S605. The terminal sends feedback information for the plurality of data units based on the transmission condition of the plurality of data units and the fault tolerance range of the first feature flow.

[0133] Correspondingly, the access network device receives the feedback information of the plurality of data units.

[0134] After the terminal receives the plurality of data units sent by the access network device, the terminal checks whether each data unit in the plurality of data units is transmitted incorrectly, and determines how to feed back after the transmission error.

[0135] The transmission condition of the plurality of data units includes the following two conditions:

[0136] One condition is that all the plurality of data units are transmitted correctly.

[0137] Suppose the plurality of data units are a plurality of CBs or CBGs, and a TB includes a plurality of CBs or CBGs. In this embodiment, whether the transmission of the entire TB is correct can be determined according to the TB-level CRC check. If the entire TB is checked correctly, the terminal can feed back a TB-level ACK, that is, the terminal regards the plurality of CBs or CBGs as a whole, that is, a TB, and feeds back an ACK. Alternatively, the terminal can also feed back an ACK for each CB or CBG.

[0138] Another condition is that there are some data units transmitted incorrectly and some data units transmitted correctly in the plurality of data units.

[0139] Still referring to the above example, if the entire TB is checked incorrectly, further CRC check is performed on the plurality of CBs or CBGs to determine whether the plurality of CBs or CBGs are transmitted correctly.

[0140] If there are data units transmitted incorrectly in the plurality of data units (for example, CBs or CBGs), the terminal determines whether the transmission condition of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range based on the transmission condition of the plurality of data units and the fault tolerance range of the first feature flow. The determination method can be as follows:

[0141] The first method is to determine whether the transmission condition of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range based on the fault tolerance range, and the number of data units transmitted correctly and / or the number of data units transmitted incorrectly in the plurality of data units.

[0142] In one example, if the number of data units transmitted correctly in the plurality of data units accounts for more than a first threshold value of the number of the plurality of data units, it is considered that the transmission condition of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range; and if the number of data units transmitted correctly in the plurality of data units accounts for less than or equal to the first threshold value of the number of the plurality of data units, it is considered that the transmission condition of the plurality of data units does not meet the fault tolerance range.

[0143] In yet another example, if the number of correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for greater than or equal to a first threshold of the number of the plurality of data units, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range; if the number of correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for less than the first threshold of the number of the plurality of data units, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units does not meet the fault tolerance range.

[0144] Still taking the transmission example of the transmission block shown in FIG. 5 as an example, CB1-CB8 correspond to the feature stream 1, and the fault tolerance range of the feature stream 1 is that the number of correctly transmitted data units accounts for greater than 50% of the number of the plurality of data units. In FIG. 5, the number of correctly transmitted CBs accounts for more than 50%, that is, the number of correctly transmitted CBs is sufficient to recover the information of the feature stream 1.

[0145] The second way is to determine whether the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range based on the fault tolerance range, and the amount of data carried on the correctly transmitted data units and / or the amount of data carried on the incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units.

[0146] In one example, if the amount of data carried on the correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for greater than a second threshold of the amount of data carried on the plurality of data units, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range; if the amount of data carried on the correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for less than or equal to the second threshold of the amount of data carried on the plurality of data units, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units does not meet the fault tolerance range.

[0147] In yet another example, if the amount of data carried on the correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for greater than or equal to a second threshold of the amount of data carried on the plurality of data units, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range; if the amount of data carried on the correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units accounts for less than the second threshold of the amount of data carried on the plurality of data units, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units does not meet the fault tolerance range.

[0148] The third way is to determine whether the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range based on the fault tolerance range, and the weight corresponding to the correctly transmitted data units and / or the weight corresponding to the incorrectly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units.

[0149] In this embodiment, each data unit in the plurality of data units has a certain contribution value for the recovery of the information of the first feature stream. Exemplarily, the contribution value can be represented by the weight corresponding to the data unit. If the sum of the weights corresponding to the data units that are correctly transmitted in the plurality of data units is greater than or equal to a fifth threshold value, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range; or if the sum of the weights corresponding to the data units that are incorrectly transmitted in the plurality of data units is less than or equal to a sixth threshold value, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range. Generally, the sixth threshold value is less than the fifth threshold value.

[0150] For example, CB1-CB4 correspond to the first feature stream, and the sum of the weights corresponding to the data units that are correctly transmitted in CB1-CB4 needs to exceed 90 points, so that the application side of the terminal can well recover the information of the feature stream. It is assumed that the weight value of CB1 is 40 points, the weight value of CB2 is 30 points, the weight value of CB3 is 20 points, and the weight value of CB4 is 10 points. At this time, CB1 and CB2 are correctly transmitted, and CB3 and CB4 are incorrectly transmitted. The sum of the weights of CB1 and CB2 is 70 points, and therefore, the transmission of the plurality of transmission units does not meet the fault tolerance range.

[0151] It can be understood that the above-mentioned manner of judging whether the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range can be independently implemented or combined for implementation. For example, the data amount carried on the data units that are correctly transmitted in the plurality of data units is different, and in the case where the number of the data units that are correctly transmitted in the plurality of data units accounts for more than or equal to a first threshold value of the number of the plurality of data units, it can be further judged whether the data amount carried on the data units that are correctly transmitted accounts for more than a second threshold value of the data amount carried on the plurality of data units. In the case where the data amount carried on the data units that are correctly transmitted accounts for more than the second threshold value of the data amount carried on the plurality of data units, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range. For another example, the weights corresponding to the data units in the plurality of data units are different, and in the case where the number of the data units that are correctly transmitted in the plurality of data units accounts for more than or equal to the first threshold value of the number of the plurality of data units, it can be further judged whether the sum of the weights corresponding to the data units that are correctly transmitted is greater than or equal to the fifth threshold value, and if yes, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range; otherwise, it is considered that the transmission of the plurality of data units does not meet the fault tolerance range.

[0152] After judging whether the transmission of the plurality of data units meets the fault tolerance range, feedback information for the plurality of data units is further sent in the case of meeting:

[0153] One manner is to feed back according to the TB level, that is, to report that the TB transmission is incorrect, and the access network device can obtain correct data through scheduling TB level retransmission.

[0154] Another way is to feed back all the CB / CBGs with transmission errors (or decoding errors) according to the CB / CBG level, i.e., to report the CB / CBGs with errors. The access network device can obtain the correct data through scheduling CB / CBG level retransmission.

[0155] Yet another way is to feed back based on the transmission situation of the multiple data units and the error tolerance range:

[0156] For the case where the transmission situation of the multiple data units meets the error tolerance range, even if there is a data unit transmission error in the multiple data units, in addition to feeding back ACK for the data units transmitted correctly, ACK is also fed back for the data units transmitted incorrectly. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 5, CB1-CB8 correspond to feature stream 1, and the error tolerance range of feature stream 1 is that the number of data units transmitted correctly accounts for more than 50% of the number of multiple data units. In FIG. 5, the number of CBs transmitted correctly accounts for more than 50%, i.e., the transmission situation of the multiple CBs meets the error tolerance range, then the terminal feeds back ACK for CB2, CB6 and CB8 instead of NACK, and at this time, the data can be submitted from the physical layer to the upper layer (generally, all CBs need to be correctly received to be submitted to the upper layer).

[0157] For the case where the transmission situation of the multiple data units exceeds the error tolerance range, ACK is fed back for the data units transmitted correctly, and for the data units transmitted incorrectly, the weight corresponding to the data unit can be considered to decide whether to feed back ACK or NACK. Still taking the above example, CB1-CB4 correspond to feature stream 1, and the sum of the weights corresponding to the data units transmitted correctly in CB1-CB4 needs to exceed 90 points for the application side of the terminal to well recover the information of the feature stream. Assuming that the weight value of CB1 is 40 points, the weight value of CB2 is 30 points, the weight value of CB3 is 20 points, and the weight value of CB4 is 10 points. At this time, CB1 and CB2 are transmitted correctly, and CB3 and CB4 are transmitted incorrectly. The weight value of CB3 is higher than that of CB4, and only CB3 needs to be retransmitted successfully, then the sum of the weights corresponding to the data units transmitted correctly in CB1-CB4 can exceed 90 points. Therefore, the terminal can only feed back NACK for CB3 and feed back ACK for CB4. Thus, the number of retransmissions can be reduced, and the communication efficiency can be improved.

[0158] Further, after the terminal sends the feedback information for the multiple data units, the access network device can schedule the retransmission of the data units with NACK.

[0159] The terminal receives the retransmitted data, decodes, and repeats the above steps until the maximum number of retransmissions is exceeded or the terminal feeds back ACK, i.e., the data packets received by the terminal can well recover the information.

[0160] According to the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal feeds back based on the transmission condition of the plurality of data units and the error tolerance range of the first feature stream, and transmission error feedback is not necessarily performed for the data unit with transmission error (for example, NACK is not necessarily fed back for the data unit with transmission error), which can reduce the retransmission times and improve the communication efficiency.

[0161] The above embodiment describes that the terminal feeds back based on the transmission condition of the plurality of data units and the error tolerance range of the first feature stream, and the access network device retransmits based on the feedback of the terminal. The following embodiment will describe that the terminal can still feed back according to the CRC check feedback method at the transmission block level, however, the access network device can retransmit part of the data units based on the transmission condition of the plurality of data units and the error tolerance range of the first feature stream.

[0162] As shown in FIG. 7, it is a flowchart of another communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. Exemplarily, the method can include the following steps:

[0163] S701. The server sends third information to the access network device through the core network.

[0164] Correspondingly, the access network device receives the third information.

[0165] The third information indicates the error tolerance range of the first feature stream.

[0166] In one implementation, the third information is carried on the control plane signaling.

[0167] In another implementation, the third information is carried on the user plane signaling.

[0168] Alternatively, the error tolerance range of the first feature stream can also be set into the access network device through the OAM mode. Therefore, the step S701 is optional, which is represented by a dashed line in the figure.

[0169] The specific implementation of the step can refer to the step S601 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, which will not be described here.

[0170] S702. The server sends a plurality of data units to the access network device through the core network.

[0171] Correspondingly, the access network device receives the plurality of data units.

[0172] S703. The access network device sends the plurality of data units to the terminal.

[0173] Correspondingly, the terminal receives the plurality of data units.

[0174] S704. The terminal sends feedback information of the plurality of data units to the access network device.

[0175] Correspondingly, the access network device receives the feedback information of the plurality of data units.

[0176] Different from the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, in the embodiment, the terminal can perform TB-level CRC check feedback, feed back NACK for the TB / CB / CBG with transmission error, and feed back ACK for the TB / CB / CBG with correct transmission.

[0177] S705. In a case where at least two data units in the plurality of data units have transmission error, the access network device sends retransmission of part of the data units in the at least two data units to the terminal.

[0178] Correspondingly, the terminal receives the retransmission of part of the data units in the at least two data units.

[0179] After the access network device receives the fault-tolerant range of the first feature stream sent by the server and the feedback information of the terminal for the plurality of data units, the access network device can send retransmission of part of the data units in the at least two data units to the terminal based on the transmission situation of the plurality of data units and the fault-tolerant range. In this way, the number of retransmissions can be reduced, and the transmission efficiency can be improved.

[0180] Wherein, the access network device determines whether to retransmit and which data units with transmission error need to be retransmitted based on the transmission situation of the plurality of data units and the fault-tolerant range, which can refer to the judgment manner of the terminal in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and will not be described here.

[0181] According to the communication method provided by the embodiment, after the access network device receives the fault-tolerant range of the first feature stream sent by the server and the feedback information of the terminal for the plurality of data units, the access network device can send retransmission of part of the data units in the at least two data units to the terminal based on the transmission situation of the plurality of data units and the fault-tolerant range, thereby reducing the number of retransmissions and improving the transmission efficiency.

[0182] In the present application, "sending information" can be understood as a device sending information to another device, or can also be understood as a logical module in a device sending information to another logical module. For example, "the access network device sending information" can be understood as the access network device sending information to another device (such as a terminal), or can be understood as a logical module 1 in the access network device sending information to a logical module 2 in the access network device.

[0183] In the present application, "receiving information" can be understood as a device receiving information from another device, or can also be understood as a logical module inside a device receiving information from another logical module. For example, "the access network device receiving information" can be understood as the access network device receiving information from another device (such as a terminal), or can be understood as a logical module 1 in the access network device receiving information from a logical module 2 in the access network device.

[0184] In the present application, "sending information to (for example, a terminal)" or related illustrations in the drawings can be understood as that the destination of the information is the terminal. It can include directly or indirectly sending information to the terminal. "Receiving information from (for example, a terminal)" or "receiving information sent by (for example, a terminal)" or "receiving information from (for example, a terminal)", or related illustrations in the drawings can be understood as that the source of the information is the terminal, and can include directly or indirectly receiving information from the terminal. The information can be processed as necessary between the source and the destination of the information, such as format change, etc., but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in the present application can be similarly understood, and will not be repeated here.

[0185] FIG. 8 shows a possible exemplary block diagram of a communication apparatus involved in the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8, the communication apparatus 800 can include modules or units for implementing the above-mentioned method embodiments. In a possible design, the communication apparatus 800 includes a processing unit 802 and a communication unit 803. Optionally, the communication apparatus 800 can further include a storage unit 801 for storing apparatus program code and / or data.

[0186] The communication apparatus 800 can be a terminal-side apparatus in the above-mentioned embodiments, for example, a terminal or a communication module in the terminal, or a circuit or chip responsible for communication function in the terminal.

[0187] For example, in an embodiment, the communication unit 803 is configured to receive a plurality of data units, the plurality of data units corresponding to a first feature stream; and the communication unit 803 is further configured to send feedback information for the plurality of data units based on transmission conditions of the plurality of data units and a fault tolerance range of the first feature stream.

[0188] In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to receive first information, the first information indicating the fault tolerance range.

[0189] In another possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to send the feedback information for the multiple data units based on the fault-tolerance range and one or more of the following: the number of correctly transmitted data units in the multiple data units and / or the number of incorrectly transmitted data units in the multiple data units; the amount of data carried on the correctly transmitted data units in the multiple data units and / or the amount of data carried on the incorrectly transmitted data units in the multiple data units; the weights corresponding to the correctly transmitted data units in the multiple data units and / or the weights corresponding to the incorrectly transmitted data units in the multiple data units.

[0190] In yet another possible design, the transmission of the multiple data units satisfies the fault-tolerance range when one or more of the following is satisfied:

[0191] the number of correctly transmitted data units in the multiple data units accounts for more than a first threshold of the number of the multiple data units; the number of incorrectly transmitted data units in the multiple data units accounts for less than a second threshold of the number of the multiple data units; the amount of data carried on the correctly transmitted data units in the multiple data units accounts for more than a third threshold of the amount of data carried on the multiple data units; the amount of data carried on the incorrectly transmitted data units in the multiple data units accounts for less than a fourth threshold of the amount of data carried on the multiple data units; the sum of the weights corresponding to the correctly transmitted data units in the multiple data units is greater than a fifth threshold; and / or the sum of the weights corresponding to the incorrectly transmitted data units in the multiple data units is less than a sixth threshold.

[0192] In yet another possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to send an ACK for at least one incorrectly transmitted data unit in the multiple data units.

[0193] In yet another possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to receive second information indicating a correspondence between the multiple data units and the first feature stream.

[0194] For example, in another embodiment, the communication unit 803 is configured to receive the multiple data units; the communication unit 803 is further configured to send the feedback information for the multiple data units; and the communication unit 803 is further configured to receive a retransmission of some of the at least two data units in the case that the at least two data units are incorrectly transmitted.

[0195] In one possible design, when the communication apparatus 800 is a terminal or a communication module in a terminal, the functionality of the processing unit 802 can be implemented by one or more processors. Specifically, the processor can include a modem chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a SIP chip that includes a modem core. The functionality of the communication unit 803 can be implemented by a transceiver circuit.

[0196] In a possible design, when the communication apparatus 800 is a circuit or a chip responsible for communication functions in a terminal, such as a modem chip or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip including a modem core, the function of the processing unit 802 can be implemented by circuitry including one or more processors or processor cores in the chip. The function of the communication unit 803 can be implemented by interface circuitry or data transceiver circuitry on the chip.

[0197] In a possible design, when the communication apparatus 800 is a terminal or a processing module in a terminal, the function of the processing unit 802 can be implemented by one or more processors. Specifically, the processor can include a GPU, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip including a GPU. The function of the communication unit 803 can be implemented by transceiver circuitry.

[0198] In a possible design, when the communication apparatus 800 is a circuit or a chip responsible for processing functions in a terminal, such as a GPU or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip including a GPU, the function of the processing unit 802 can be implemented by circuitry including one or more processors or processor cores in the chip. The function of the communication unit 803 can be implemented by interface circuitry or data transceiver circuitry on the chip.

[0199] The communication apparatus 800 can be a network side device in the above-described embodiments, for example, an access network device or a communication module in an access network device, or a circuit or a chip responsible for communication functions in an access network device.

[0200] For example, in an embodiment, the communication unit 803 is configured to send a plurality of data units, the plurality of data units corresponding to a first feature stream; the communication unit 803 is further configured to receive feedback information of the plurality of data units, the feedback information being obtained based on transmission conditions of the plurality of data units and a fault tolerance range of the first feature stream; and the communication unit 803 is further configured to perform retransmission based on the feedback information of the plurality of data units.

[0201] In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to receive third information from a server, the third information being carried in control plane signaling or user plane signaling, and the third information indicating the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream.

[0202] In another possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to send first information, the first information indicating the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream.

[0203] In yet another possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to receive an ACK for at least one data unit with a transmission error in the plurality of data units.

[0204] In yet another possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to send second information indicating a correspondence between the plurality of data units and the first feature stream.

[0205] In yet another possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to receive fourth information from the server, the fourth information indicating a correspondence between the plurality of data units and the first feature stream.

[0206] In another embodiment, for example, the communication unit 803 is configured to send the plurality of data units; the communication unit 803 is further configured to receive feedback information for the plurality of data units; and the communication unit 803 is further configured to send retransmission of some of the at least two data units in case of transmission error of the at least two data units.

[0207] It is understood that the division of units in the above-described apparatus is merely a logical function division, one function unit can be used for one function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one function unit. In actual implementation, all or part of the units can be integrated into one physical entity, or distributed on different physical entities. In addition, the above-mentioned function units can be implemented in the form of hardware, or in the form of software, or in the form of combination of hardware and software. Whether a certain function is implemented in hardware or software depends on a specific application and design constraint condition of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can implement the described functions by using different methods for specific applications, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0208] In one example, the function units in any of the above-described apparatuses can be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above-described methods, such as one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or one or more central processing units (CPUs), one or more microcontroller units (MCUs), one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms.

[0209] In one example, the storage unit 801 can include a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, or the like.

[0210] Referring to FIG. 9, a structural schematic diagram of a terminal 900 is provided according to an embodiment of the present application. The terminal 900 can correspond to the terminal shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7, and is used to implement the operation of the terminal in the above embodiments. As shown in FIG. 9, the terminal includes one or more antennas 911, a radio frequency processing system 920, and a processor system 930.

[0211] In the downlink or sidelink direction, the radio frequency processing system 920 receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna 911, and sends the signal after radio frequency processing to the processor system 930 for further processing. In the uplink or sidelink direction, the processor system 930 sends the information on the terminal side after signal processing to the radio frequency processing system 920, and the radio frequency processing system 920 sends the signal after radio frequency processing through the antenna 911.

[0212] In one example, the radio frequency processing system 920, as a communication interface of the terminal for external communication, can include a radio frequency front end 921 (RFFE) and a radio frequency transceiver 922 (RF transceiver). The RFFE 921 is mainly used for one or more of shaping, passband selection, or gain processing of the RF signal received by the antenna or the RF signal to be sent through the antenna, and can include one or more of radio frequency switches, duplexers, filters, power amplifiers, antenna tuning, and low-noise amplifiers. The RFFE 921 can be a circuit system composed of a plurality of discrete devices, or can be integrated and packaged in one or more chips. The radio frequency transceiver 922 is used to process the RF signal received by the RFFE into a baseband / intermediate frequency signal for the processor system 930 to perform the next step of processing, and to process the baseband / intermediate frequency signal provided by the processor system 930 into an RF signal to send to the RFFE 921. The baseband / intermediate frequency signal transmitted between the radio frequency transceiver 922 and the processor system 930 can be a digital signal or an analog signal. The radio frequency transceiver 922 can be implemented by one or more chips, which are usually referred to as radio frequency integrated circuits (RFIC).

[0213] In one example, the processor system 930 can include one or more processors for processing signals and executing one or more communication protocols. Optionally, the processor system 930 can further include a memory 936. In one example, the one or more processors include at least one baseband processor 931 (also referred to as a modem processor). The memory 936 is used for storing data and / or computer program instructions. Optionally, the processor system 930 can further include one or more application processors 932 for implementing processing for an operating system of the terminal and an application layer. The application processor 932 can include, for example, a GPU. Optionally, the processor system 930 can further include one or more of a voice subsystem 933, a multimedia subsystem 934, or an interface circuit 935. The voice subsystem 933 is used for processing voice signals, the multimedia subsystem 934 is used for processing multimedia related operations such as video codec, image processing, etc., and the interface circuit 935 is used for implementing communication with other terminal components such as a display 940, an input device 950, a memory 960, etc. The above components in the processor system 930 can communicate with each other through a bus or a communication interface circuit.

[0214] In one example, the processor system 930 can be packaged as a processor chip such as a SoC chip or a SIP chip. In one example, the processor system 930 can be a system composed of multiple chips, for example, the baseband processor 931 can be packaged as a separate chip or packaged as a chip together with part or all of the circuitry of a radio frequency processing system.

[0215] In one example, the memory 936 can be an on-chip memory, i.e., located on the chip of the processor system 930. In one example, the memory 960 can be an off-chip memory, i.e., located outside the chip of the processor system 930.

[0216] In one example, the baseband processor 931 can include one or more processor cores 9311 and an interface circuit 9314. The one or more processor cores 9311 are configured to process signals and perform one or more communication protocols. Optionally, the baseband processor 931 can further include a memory 9312 configured to store at least part of corresponding computer program instructions and / or data. In one example, the one or more processor cores 9311 implement the above-mentioned operations (e.g., controlling the one or more antennas 911 to receive a plurality of data units; and controlling the one or more antennas 911 to transmit feedback information for the plurality of data units based on transmission conditions of the plurality of data units and a fault tolerance range of the first feature flow) by executing the computer program instructions stored in the memory 9312. In the present disclosure, the memory 9312 configured to store corresponding computer program instructions and / or data can mean that the memory 9312 is configured to store all corresponding computer program instructions and / or data for execution by the processor core 9311; or can mean that the memory 9312 is configured to store part of corresponding computer program instructions and / or data, which includes computer program instructions and / or data currently required for execution by the processor core 9311, and the memory 9312 can store different parts of computer program instructions and / or data for execution by the processor core 9311 multiple times to implement the above-mentioned operations. The interface circuit 9314 is configured as a communication interface to communicate with other components, such as transmitting signals with the radio frequency processing system 920, communicating with other subsystems and related components of the processor system 930 through a bus, such as transmitting data control signals with the application processor 932, and transmitting data or computer program instructions with the memory 936 or the memory 960. Optionally, in order to reduce the load of the processor core, a baseband signal processing circuit 9313 can be further provided to implement at least part of the processing of the baseband signal, including one or more of demodulation, modulation, encoding, or decoding of the signal.

[0217] In one example, the communication apparatus provided in the present application can be the terminal 900, including the communication module of the processor system 930 and the radio frequency processing system 920, the processor system 930, or the baseband processor 931.

[0218] The processor, processor system, application processor, baseband processor, processor circuit, or processor core can be collectively referred to as a processor, which can include one or a combination of a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor unit (MPU), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an artificial intelligence processor (AI processor), or a neural processing unit (NPU).

[0219] The above-mentioned memory can include one or more of the following storage media: random access memory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), phase-change memory (PCM), resistive RAM (ReRAM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), cache, register, read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), hard disk, etc. In one example, computer program instructions for implementing the above-embodiments can be stored on a non-volatile memory, such as at least part of the above-mentioned memory 960 (e.g., one or more of ROM, flash memory, EPROM, or hard disk). During terminal operation, the corresponding computer program instructions can be loaded in whole or in part into a memory with faster transmission speed than the processor, such as at least part of the above-mentioned memory 936 and / or memory 9312 (e.g., one or more of RAM, SRAM, DRAM, PCM, RERAM, MRAM, FRAM, cache, or register), for execution by the processor to implement the steps in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0220] In one example, the radio frequency transceiver 922 and the radio frequency front end 921 can also be packaged in one chip. In one example, the radio frequency transceiver 922, the radio frequency front end 921, and the baseband processor 931 can also be packaged in one chip.

[0221] The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application can be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. The "and / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can represent the cases of A alone, A and B together, and B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after it. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions means any combination of these items, including any combination of single or multiple items. For example, "at least one of A, B, or C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC, and "at least one of A, B, and C" can also be understood to include A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC. In addition, unless otherwise specified, the ordinal numbers "first", "second", etc. mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish a plurality of objects, and are not used to limit the order, time sequence, priority or importance of the plurality of objects.

[0222] 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 an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely 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, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0223] The present application is described with reference to flowcharts and / or block diagrams according to the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products of the present application. It should be understood that each flow and / or block in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, and the combination of flows and / or blocks in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus produce the functions specified in one or more flows in the flowcharts and / or one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0224] These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can direct the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to work in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium produce a product including instruction means, which implements the functions specified in one or more flows in the flowcharts and / or one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0225] These computer program instructions can also be loaded into a computer or other programmable data processing devices, so that a series of operational steps are performed on the computer or other programmable devices to generate computer-implemented processes, so that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable devices provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more flows in the flowchart and / or one or more blocks in the block diagram.

[0226] Obviously, various modifications and changes can be made to the present application by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, it is intended that the present application embrace all such modifications and changes and, accordingly, the application is not to be limited by the above-described one or more embodiments.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Receive multiple data units, the multiple data units corresponding to a first feature stream; Based on the transmission status of the plurality of data units and the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream, feedback information is sent for the plurality of data units.

2. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive first information, which indicates the fault tolerance range.

3. The method as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The step of sending feedback information for the multiple data units based on their transmission status and the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream includes: Based on the fault tolerance range, and one or more of the following, feedback information is sent for the plurality of data units: The number of correctly transmitted data units and / or the number of incorrectly transmitted data units among the plurality of data units; The amount of data carried on the correctly transmitted data unit and / or the amount of data carried on the incorrectly transmitted data unit are transmitted among the plurality of data units; The weights corresponding to the correctly transmitted data units and / or the weights corresponding to the incorrectly transmitted data units among the plurality of data units.

4. The method as described in claim 3, characterized in that, The transmission of the plurality of data units satisfies the fault tolerance range if one or more of the following conditions are met: The number of correctly transmitted data units in the plurality of data units is greater than a first threshold relative to the total number of the plurality of data units; The number of data units with transmission errors in the plurality of data units is less than a second threshold relative to the total number of the plurality of data units; The amount of data carried by the data unit that transmits the correct data unit among the plurality of data units is greater than the third threshold of the total amount of data carried by the plurality of data units. The amount of data carried on the data unit that has a transmission error in the plurality of data units is less than the fourth threshold; The sum of the weights corresponding to the correctly transmitted data units among the plurality of data units is greater than the fifth threshold; The sum of the weights corresponding to the data units that have transmitted errors among the plurality of data units is less than the sixth threshold.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, Sending feedback information for the plurality of data units includes: For at least one of the plurality of data units that has been transmitted incorrectly, an acknowledgment (ACK) message is sent.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive second information, which indicates the correspondence between the plurality of data units and the first feature stream.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, The data unit is a physical layer data unit, and the data carried in the multiple data units belong to the same one or more data packets. The one or more data packets carry the same second identifier, which is used to identify the first feature stream.

8. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Send multiple data units, the multiple data units corresponding to a first feature stream; Based on the transmission status of the plurality of data units and the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream, feedback information for the plurality of data units is received.

9. The method as described in claim 8, characterized in that, The method further includes: receiving third information from a server, the third information being carried in control plane signaling or user plane signaling, the third information indicating the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream.

10. The method as described in claim 8 or 9, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a first message, which indicates the fault tolerance range of the first feature stream.

11. The method according to any one of claims 8-10, characterized in that, Receiving feedback information for the plurality of data units includes: receiving an ACK for at least one of the plurality of data units that has a transmission error.

12. The method according to any one of claims 8-11, characterized in that, The method further includes sending second information, the second information indicating the correspondence between the plurality of data units and the first feature stream.

13. The method according to any one of claims 8-12, characterized in that, The method further includes: receiving fourth information from a server, the fourth information indicating the correspondence between the plurality of data units and the first feature stream.

14. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Receives multiple data units; Send feedback information from the plurality of data units; In the event of a transmission error in at least two of the plurality of data units, a retransmission of a portion of the data units in the at least two data units shall be received.

15. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Send multiple data units; Receive feedback information from multiple data units; In the event that at least two data units out of a plurality of data units are transmitted incorrectly, retransmission of at least two of the data units shall be sent.

16. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes modules or units for implementing the method as described in any one of claims 1-7, or modules or units for implementing the method as described in any one of claims 8-13, or modules or units for implementing the method as described in claim 14, or modules or units for implementing the method as described in claim 15.

17. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes modules or units for implementing the method as described in claim 16.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores instructions that, when executed, cause the method of any one of claims 1-7 to be performed, or the method of any one of claims 8-13 to be performed, or the method of claim 14 to be performed, or the method of claim 15 to be performed.

19. A computer program product, characterized in that, The system stores instructions that, when executed, cause the method as described in any one of claims 1-6 to be executed, or cause the method as described in any one of claims 8-13 to be executed, or cause the method as described in claim 14 to be executed, or cause the method as described in claim 15 to be executed.

20. A communication device, characterized in that, The device includes an interface circuit and one or more processors coupled to a memory for storing computer programs or instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-7, or cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 8-13, or cause the communication device to perform the method as described in claim 14, or cause the communication device to perform the method as described in claim 15.

21. A communication device, characterized in that, The device includes interface circuitry and one or more processors coupled to a memory for storing computer programs or instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the communication device to perform the method as described in claim 16.

22. The apparatus according to claim 20 or 21, characterized in that, The interface circuit is used to implement the communication functions within the communication device and / or the communication functions between the communication device and other devices or components.

23. A communication system, characterized in that, Includes the communication device as described in claim 16 or 20, and the communication device as described in claim 17 or 21.

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