Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus, for use in reducing the probability of random access failures of terminal devices and improving the accuracy of triggering corresponding events. The method comprises: receiving first information used for indicating an index of an RO; and sending a preamble on a first RO in a candidate RO set, wherein the candidate RO set is determined on the basis of the first information. The first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit, and the candidate RO set comprises an RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit; or, the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit and an SBFD time unit, and the candidate RO set comprises: the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit and the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit; or, the first information corresponds to an SBFD time unit, and the candidate RO set comprises the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit.

Description

Communication method and apparatus

[0001] Cross-reference to Related Applications

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202410980648.3, filed on July 19, 2024, and entitled "A Communication Method and Apparatus", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

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

[0004] Currently, it is proposed that the transmission of a physical random access channel (PRACH) can be performed on a subband full duplex (SBFD) time unit. The SBFD time unit includes both subband resources for uplink transmission and subband resources for downlink transmission. Due to the introduction of the SBFD time unit, how a terminal device supporting SBFD determines random access resources becomes a technical problem to be solved urgently. SUMMARY

[0005] The communication method and apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application are used to reduce the probability of random access failure of a terminal device and improve the accuracy of triggering a corresponding event.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method. The execution subject of the method can be a terminal device, or a chip or circuit on the terminal device side. Taking the terminal device as an example, the method includes: receiving first information, the first information being used to indicate the index of a random access channel occasion; and sending a preamble on a first random access channel occasion in a candidate random access channel occasion set, the candidate random access channel occasion set being determined according to the first information. The first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit, and the candidate random access channel occasion set includes a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit. Alternatively, the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit and an SBFD time unit, and the candidate random access channel occasion set includes a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit and a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit. Alternatively, the first information corresponds to an SBFD time unit, and the candidate random access channel occasion set includes a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit.

[0007] The application determines the RO according to the RO index indicated by the first information, so that the terminal device and the network device align the ROs of triggering the corresponding events, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure and improving the accuracy of triggering the corresponding events. Moreover, the scheme that the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit can achieve forward compatibility by using the scheme that the legacy UE (i.e., the terminal device not supporting SBFD) determines the RO according to the RO index indicated by the mask index. In the scheme that the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit and the SBFD time unit and the scheme that the first information corresponds to the SBFD time unit, the first information can be used to indicate the RO selection on the SBFD time unit, so that the terminal device can perform random access faster, thereby triggering the corresponding random access events faster, for example, faster informing the network device of beam failure, faster requesting the broadcast of system messages, faster performing cell switching, and the like.

[0008] In a possible design, the time unit corresponding to the first information is predefined.

[0009] In a possible design, the time unit corresponding to the first information is indicated by the network device.

[0010] In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving second information; and wherein the second information indicates that the first information is applied to the SBFD time unit, and the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit and the SBFD time unit; or the second information indicates that the first information is not applied to the SBFD time unit, and the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit. In this way, the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit by default, and whether it corresponds to the SBFD time unit is indicated by the second information, so that the understanding of the index of the RO by the terminal device and the network device can be aligned, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure and improving the accuracy of triggering the corresponding events.

[0011] In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving third information, the third information being used to indicate the index of the random access channel occasion, and the third information corresponding to the SBFD time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions further including the random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the third information on the SBFD time unit. In this way, the RO on the SBFD time unit is indicated by the third information, so that the understanding of the index of the RO by the terminal device and the network device can be aligned, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure and improving the accuracy of triggering the corresponding events.

[0012] In a possible design, the method further includes: determining the first random access channel occasion according to at least one of the following factors: the time domain position of the random access channel occasion in the set of candidate random access channel occasions, network load, or path loss. In this way, random access can be performed faster, network load can be reduced, and the success rate of random access can be improved.

[0013] In one possible design, the SBFD time units and the non-SBFD time units correspond to different PRACH configuration indexes. In this way, the RO indexes on the SBFD time units and the non-SBFD time units are independently ordered.

[0014] In one possible design, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used to configure random access resources for one of the following random access events: a first message request system message based random access, beam failure recovery, or cell handover. Alternatively, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used to configure random access resources for a downlink control channel triggered random access event.

[0015] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The execution subject of the method can be a network device, or a chip or circuit on the network device side. Taking the network device as an example, the method includes: sending first information, the first information being used to indicate an index of a random access channel occasion; and receiving a preamble at a first random access channel occasion, the first random access channel occasion being one of a set of candidate random access channel occasions. The first information corresponds to an SBFD time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions includes a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on a non-SBFD time unit. Alternatively, the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit and an SBFD time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions includes a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit and a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit. Alternatively, the first information corresponds to an SBFD time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions includes a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit.

[0016] The application determines the RO according to the RO index indicated by the first information, so that the terminal device and the network device align the ROs of triggering the corresponding events, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure and improving the accuracy of triggering the corresponding events. Moreover, the scheme corresponding to the non-SBFD time unit uses the RO index indicated by the mask index to determine the RO of the legacy UE, i.e., the terminal device not supporting SBFD, which can realize forward compatibility. In the scheme corresponding to the non-SBFD time unit and the SBFD time unit and the scheme corresponding to the SBFD time unit, the first information can be used to indicate the RO selection on the SBFD time unit, so that the terminal device can perform random access faster, thereby triggering the corresponding random access events faster, such as faster informing the network device of beam failure, faster requesting the broadcast of system messages, faster performing cell switching, and the like.

[0017] In a possible design, the time unit corresponding to the first information is predefined.

[0018] In a possible design, the time unit corresponding to the first information is indicated by the network device.

[0019] In a possible design, the method further includes: sending second information; wherein the second information indicates that the first information is applied to the SBFD time unit, and the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit and the SBFD time unit; or the second information indicates that the first information is not applied to the SBFD time unit, and the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit. In this way, the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit by default, and whether it corresponds to the SBFD time unit is indicated by the second information, so that the understanding of the terminal device and the network device on the index of the RO can be aligned, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure and improving the accuracy of triggering the corresponding events.

[0020] In a possible design, the method further includes: sending third information, the third information being used to indicate the index of the random access channel occasion, and the third information corresponding to the SBFD time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions further including the random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the third information on the SBFD time unit. In this way, the RO on the SBFD time unit is indicated by the third information, so that the understanding of the terminal device and the network device on the index of the RO can be aligned, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure and improving the accuracy of triggering the corresponding events.

[0021] In a possible design, the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit correspond to different physical random access channel configuration indexes (PRACH configuration indexes). In this way, the RO indexes on the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit are independently sorted.

[0022] In a possible design, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for one of the following random access events: a first message request system information based on random access, beam failure recovery, or cell handover. Alternatively, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for a downlink control channel triggered random access event.

[0023] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, and an execution subject of the method can be a terminal device, or a chip or circuit at a terminal device side. Taking the terminal device as an example, the method includes: receiving first information, the first information being used for indicating an index of a random access channel occasion; determining at least one random access channel occasion according to the first information and a bias; and sending a preamble at one of the at least one random access channel occasion.

[0024] The present application determines the RO according to the RO index indicated by the first information, so that the terminal device and the network device align the ROs for triggering the corresponding event, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure and improving the accuracy of triggering the corresponding event. In addition, the terminal device supporting SBFD considers the bias (i.e., the number of ROs on the SBFD time unit) when determining the RO, so that the ROs for random access determined by the terminal device supporting SBFD and the terminal device not supporting SBFD are the same, thereby the network device can not distinguish between the two types of terminal devices when configuring resources and receiving preambles, and the processing complexity of the network device is reduced.

[0025] In a possible design, the bias is the number of random access channel occasions included in the SBFD time unit.

[0026] In a possible design, the method further includes: determining the first random access channel occasion according to at least one of the following factors: a time domain position of a random access channel occasion in the set of candidate random access channel occasions, network load, or path loss. In this way, random access can be performed faster, network load can be reduced, and the success rate of random access can be improved.

[0027] In a possible design, the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit correspond to different physical random access channel configuration indexes (PRACH configuration indexes). In this way, the RO indexes on the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit are independently sorted.

[0028] In a possible design, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for one of the following random access events: a first message based random access requesting system information, beam failure recovery, or cell handover. Alternatively, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for a downlink control channel triggered random access event.

[0029] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, and an execution subject of the method can be a terminal device, or a chip or circuit at a terminal device side. Taking the terminal device as an example, the method includes: receiving first information and second information, the first information being used for indicating an index of a random access channel occasion, and the second information being used for indicating preamble resources corresponding to a terminal device supporting SBFD; determining at least one random access channel occasion according to the first information; and sending a preamble indicated by the second information on one of the at least one random access channel occasion.

[0030] In the present application, a network device allocates special preamble resources for a terminal device supporting SBFD for a certain event, so that the terminal device determines, according to the preamble, that the random access is initiated by the terminal device supporting SBFD for requesting a corresponding event, thereby improving the accuracy of the terminal device supporting SBFD triggering the corresponding event.

[0031] In a possible design, the method further includes: determining the first random access channel occasion according to at least one of the following factors: a time domain position of a random access channel occasion in a candidate random access channel occasion set, network load, or path loss. In this way, the random access can be performed faster, the network load can be reduced, and the success rate of the random access can be improved.

[0032] In a possible design, the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit correspond to different physical random access channel configuration indexes (PRACH configuration indexes). In this way, the RO indexes on the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit are independently sorted.

[0033] In a possible design, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for one of the following random access events: a first message based random access requesting system information, beam failure recovery, or cell handover. Alternatively, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for a downlink control channel triggered random access event.

[0034] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the execution subject of the method can be a network device, or a chip or circuit on the network device side. Taking the network device as an example, the method comprises: sending first information and second information, the first information being used for indicating the index of a random access channel occasion, and the second information being used for indicating the preamble resource corresponding to a terminal device supporting SBFD; determining at least one random access channel occasion according to the first information; and receiving the preamble indicated by the second information on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information after the random access channel occasion indexes on the non-SBFD time unit and the SBFD time unit are uniformly sorted.

[0035] In the present application, the network device allocates special preamble resources for the terminal device supporting SBFD for a certain event, so that the terminal device determines that the random access is initiated by the terminal device supporting SBFD for requesting a corresponding event, thereby improving the accuracy of the terminal device supporting SBFD triggering the corresponding event.

[0036] In a possible design, the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit correspond to different physical random access channel configuration indexes (PRACH configuration indexes). In this way, the RO indexes on the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit are sorted independently.

[0037] In a possible design, the first message is used for configuring random access resources for one of the following random access events: a first message based on random access requesting a system message, beam failure recovery, or cell switching. Alternatively, the first information is carried in the first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for a downlink control channel triggered random access event.

[0038] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the execution subject of the method can be a terminal device, or a chip or circuit on the terminal device side. Taking the terminal device as an example, the method comprises: receiving a first message, the first message carrying first information and second information, the first information corresponding to a non-SBFD time unit and a SBFD time unit, the second information corresponding to a non-SBFD time unit, the first information and the second information both being used for indicating the index of a random access channel occasion, and the random access channel occasions indicated by the first information and the second information being the same; determining at least one random access channel occasion according to the first information; and sending a preamble on one of the at least one random access channel occasion.

[0039] The method is for the unified sorting scene of the indexes of the ROs on the SBFD time units and the indexes of the ROs on the non-SBFD time units, carries the mask indexes corresponding to the two types of terminal devices in the message used for configuring the PRACH resources, and the ROs determined by the two types of terminal devices according to the corresponding mask indexes are the same, so that the network device can not distinguish the two types of terminal devices when receiving the preamble, and the processing complexity of the network device is reduced.

[0040] In a possible design, the method further includes determining the first random access channel occasion according to at least one of the following factors: a time domain position of the random access channel occasion in the set of candidate random access channel occasions, network load, or path loss. In this way, the random access can be performed faster, the network load is reduced, and the success rate of the random access is improved.

[0041] In a possible design, the SBFD time units and the non-SBFD time units correspond to different PRACH configuration indexes. In this way, the RO indexes on the SBFD time units and the non-SBFD time units are independently sorted.

[0042] In a possible design, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for one of the following random access events: a first message request system message based on random access, beam failure recovery, or cell switching. Alternatively, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for a downlink control channel triggered random access event.

[0043] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication method, and an execution subject of the method can be a network device, a chip or circuit on the network device side. Taking the network device as an example, the method includes the following steps: sending a first message, the first message carrying first information and second information, the first information corresponding to non-SBFD time units and SBFD time units, the second information corresponding to non-SBFD time units, the first information and the second information both being used for indicating indexes of random access channel occasions, the random access channel occasions indicated by the first information and the second information being the same; receiving a preamble from a terminal device supporting SBFD on one of at least one random access channel occasion indicated by the first information; or receiving a preamble from a terminal device not supporting SBFD on one of at least one random access channel occasion indicated by the second information.

[0044] The method is for the unified sorting scene of the indexes of the ROs on the SBFD time units and the indexes of the ROs on the non-SBFD time units, carries the mask indexes corresponding to the two types of terminal devices in the message used for configuring the PRACH resource, and the ROs determined by the two types of terminal devices according to the corresponding mask indexes are the same, so that the network device can not distinguish the two types of terminal devices when receiving the preamble, and the processing complexity of the network device is reduced.

[0045] In a possible design, the SBFD time units and the non-SBFD time units correspond to different physical random access channel configuration indexes (PRACH configuration indexes). In this way, the RO indexes on the SBFD time units and the non-SBFD time units are independently sorted.

[0046] In a possible design, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for one of the following random access events: a first message requesting a system message based on random access, beam failure recovery, or cell switching. Alternatively, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for a downlink control channel triggered random access event.

[0047] In an eighth aspect, the present application also provides a communication apparatus, which has any method provided in the first aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect or the sixth aspect. The communication apparatus can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0048] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus includes a processor configured to support the communication apparatus to perform the corresponding functions of the terminal device in the above method. The communication apparatus can also include a memory coupled to the processor, which stores the necessary program instructions and data of the communication apparatus. Optionally, the communication apparatus also includes an interface circuit for supporting the communication between the communication apparatus and devices such as network devices.

[0049] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus includes corresponding functional modules for implementing the steps in the above method. The functions can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0050] In a possible implementation, the structure of the communication apparatus includes processing units and communication units, which can perform the corresponding functions in the above method examples, and specific descriptions can be referred to the method provided in any of the first aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect or the sixth aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0051] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which implements any of the methods provided in the second aspect or the fifth aspect or the seventh aspect. The communication apparatus can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0052] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus includes a processor configured to support the communication apparatus to perform the corresponding functions of the network device in the above methods. The communication apparatus can further include a memory coupled to the processor, which stores the necessary program instructions and data for the communication apparatus. Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes an interface circuit for supporting the communication between the communication apparatus and other devices such as terminal devices.

[0053] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus includes corresponding functional modules for implementing the steps in the above methods. The functions can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0054] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus includes processing units and communication units, which can perform the corresponding functions in the above method examples, as described in the methods provided in any of the second aspect or the fifth aspect or the seventh aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0055] In a tenth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which includes a processor and an interface circuit for receiving signals from other communication apparatuses outside the communication apparatus and transmitting the signals to the processor or sending signals from the processor to other communication apparatuses outside the communication apparatus, and the processor is configured to implement the methods in any of the first aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect or the sixth aspect and any possible design by logic circuit or executing code instructions.

[0056] In an eleventh aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which includes a processor and an interface circuit for receiving signals from other communication apparatuses outside the communication apparatus and transmitting the signals to the processor or sending signals from the processor to other communication apparatuses outside the communication apparatus, and the processor is configured to implement the methods in any of the second aspect or the fifth aspect or the seventh aspect and any possible design by logic circuit or executing code instructions.

[0057] In a twelfth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, and the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are executed by a processor, the method in any possible design of any one of the first aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect or the sixth aspect is implemented.

[0058] In a thirteenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, and the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are executed by a processor, the method in any possible design of any one of the second aspect or the fifth aspect or the seventh aspect is implemented.

[0059] In a fourteenth aspect, a chip system is provided, and the chip system includes a processor, and can further include a memory, and is used to implement the method in any possible design of any one of the first aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect or the sixth aspect. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0060] In a fifteenth aspect, a chip system is provided, and the chip system includes a processor, and can further include a memory, and is used to implement the method in any possible design of any one of the second aspect or the fifth aspect or the seventh aspect. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0061] In a sixteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, and the system includes the apparatus of the first aspect, and the apparatus of the second aspect.

[0062] In a seventeenth aspect, a communication system is provided, and the system includes the apparatus of the third aspect, and an apparatus that implements a network device function.

[0063] In an eighteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, and the system includes the apparatus of the fourth aspect, and the apparatus of the fifth aspect.

[0064] In a nineteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, and the system includes the apparatus of the sixth aspect, and the apparatus of the seventh aspect.

[0065] The technical effects that can be achieved by the technical solutions in any one of the eighth aspect to the nineteenth aspect described above can be described with reference to the technical effects that can be achieved by the technical solutions in the first aspect described above, and the repeated parts will not be described herein. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0066] FIG. 1 is a time slot diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] FIG. 2 is an SBFD diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a random access procedure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of independent sequencing according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0070] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of unified sequencing according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a protocol stack of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0073] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of an O-RAN system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a network element function division and a protocol layer structure of an O-RAN device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a flow of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a RO according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a RO according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a RO according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a flow of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a RO according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0081] FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a flow of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0082] FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a RO according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0083] FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of a flow of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0084] FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0085] FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0086] In the following, first, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0087] (1) Frequency division duplex (FDD), uplink and downlink signals can be transmitted on the same time slot or OFDM symbol, as shown in (a) of FIG. 1, on time slot 0, downlink signals can be received on a downlink bandwidth part (BWP), i.e., DL BWP, and uplink signals can be transmitted on an uplink BWP, i.e., UL BWP, wherein the DL BWP and the UL BWP are located in different carriers, i.e., separated in the frequency domain. In the figure, D represents a downlink time slot, U represents an uplink time slot, and F represents a flexible time slot.

[0088] (2) Time division duplex (TDD), the center frequency points of the DL BWP and the UL BWP are the same, and at the same time, only uplink signals or downlink signals can be transmitted. As shown in (b) of FIG. 1, time slot 0 is a DL time slot, and on time slot 0, only downlink signals can be received, time slot 4 is a UL time slot, and on time slot 4, only uplink signals can be transmitted, and time slot 3 is a flexible time slot, on which uplink signals or downlink signals can be transmitted, but not both.

[0089] (3) SBFD, which refers to configuring resources for transmitting uplink signals and receiving downlink signals at the same time on a symbol or time slot of TDD. In the SBFD scheme, a component carrier (CC) is divided into multiple non-overlapping subbands, and the transmission directions of different subbands can be different. For example, the time-frequency division of two typical SBFD schemes is shown in FIG. 2, wherein the horizontal direction represents the time domain, and the vertical direction represents the frequency domain. DL represents a downlink resource for downlink data or control information transmission, and UL represents an uplink resource for uplink data or control information transmission. A time period that has both DL and UL is referred to as an SBFD time slot or an SBFD symbol, and a time period that only includes uplink resources is referred to as an uplink time slot or an uplink symbol. In (a) of FIG. 2, time slots 1, 2, and 3 are SBFD time slots, and in the SBFD time slots, the frequency domain resources in the middle of the carrier are uplink resources, and the frequency domain resources at both ends of the carrier are downlink resources. In (b) of FIG. 2, time slots 1, 2, and 3 are SBFD time slots, and in the SBFD time slots, the frequency domain resources in the upper half of the carrier are downlink resources, and the frequency domain resources in the lower half of the carrier are uplink resources.

[0090] (4) Random access procedure.

[0091] In the LTE system and the NR system, a terminal device completes uplink time synchronization with a base station through a random access (RA) procedure, and establishes a radio resource control (RRC) connection with the base station through the random access procedure. After the terminal device and the base station establish the RRC connection, uplink and downlink service data transmission can be performed.

[0092] Taking the NR system as an example, in the NR system, the random access procedure type includes two types: Type-1 (Type-1) RA procedure and Type-2 (Type-2) RA procedure. The Type-1 RA procedure is also referred to as a four-step RA (4-step RA) procedure, and the Type-2 RA procedure is also referred to as a two-step RA (2-Step RA) procedure.

[0093] As shown in FIG. 3, it is a Type-1 RA procedure provided by the present application.

[0094] Step 301, a terminal device sends a preamble to a network device through a physical random access channel (PRACH).

[0095] The preamble can also be referred to as a preamble sequence or a random access preamble or a random access preamble sequence, and is a message 1 (msg1) of a four-step random access procedure.

[0096] The terminal device randomly selects a random access channel occasion (RO) associated with the SSB index in the RO according to the system message sent by the network device and the selected index of the synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SS / PBCH block or SSB) for sending the preamble; the RO can be understood as a time-frequency resource used by the terminal device for random access, and the RO can also be referred to as a physical random access channel occasion or a RACH occasion or an RA occasion, etc. The network device preconfigures the association between the RO and the SSB index. After determining the time-frequency resource (i.e., the RO), the terminal device selects a preamble in the selected RO for sending; up to 64 preambles can be transmitted simultaneously on one RO, and the terminal device selects one of the 64 preambles.

[0097] Step 302, the network device sends a random access response (RAR) to the terminal device.

[0098] The RAR is also referred to as message 2 (msg2) of the random access procedure, and the RAR can include scheduling information of message 3 (msg3) and the like, i.e., an uplink grant (UL grant).

[0099] After the terminal device sends the preamble, the terminal device starts a random access response window, and detects msg2 in the window. If the terminal device successfully detects the RAR of itself, the random access is successful, and the terminal device continues to send msg3 according to the indication of the RAR.

[0100] In step 303, the terminal device sends msg3 to the network device.

[0101] The terminal device sends msg3 on the resource indicated by the uplink grant of the RAR, and msg3 is carried by a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0102] In order to distinguish different terminal devices, the terminal device carries an identifier that can uniquely identify the terminal device in msg3.

[0103] In step 304, the network device sends a contention resolution message to the terminal device that successfully accesses.

[0104] The contention resolution message can also be referred to as message 4 (msg4). When multiple terminal devices access at the same time, according to msg4, it can be determined which terminal device successfully performs random access.

[0105] The Type-2 RA procedure is based on the Type-1 RA, and the first four steps are combined into two steps. In the Type-2 RA procedure, the terminal device sends msgA, which can be understood as a message obtained by combining msg1 and msg3 in the Type-1 RA. After receiving msgA, the network device sends msgB, which can be understood as a message obtained by combining msg2 and msg4 in the Type-1 RA.

[0106] In the embodiments of this application, "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 can represent the following three cases: A exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists 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 can represent a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0107] In addition, unless otherwise stated, the ordinal numbers mentioned in the embodiments of this application are used to distinguish a plurality of objects, and are not used to limit the size, content, order, timing, priority or importance of the plurality of objects.

[0108] The foregoing introduces some concepts related to the embodiments of the present application. The following introduces the technical background related to the embodiments of the present application.

[0109] The RACH includes a contention-based RACH and a non-contention-based RACH. The contention-based RACH performs random access when events such as the terminal device switching from an idle state to a connected state, the terminal device needing to establish a radio resource control (RRC) connection, etc. occur. For example, the non-contention-based RACH performs random access when events such as the terminal device performing cell switching, the terminal device requesting a certain type of on-demand subscription system message, etc. occur. In some events of the non-contention-based RACH, the network device configures dedicated RACH resources. For example, the network device can configure dedicated RACH resources for on-demand subscription system messages, and the terminal device can request the network device to send the system message based on the configured RACH resources. The network device can include a mask index (ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex) in the signaling of the configured dedicated RACH resources, which can indicate the dedicated RO resources. The terminal device determines the corresponding RO index according to the mask index by looking up the table. For example, the terminal device can determine the RO index by Table 1.

[0110] Table 1

[0111] According to Table 1, if the ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex is 9, the terminal device can determine that the RO index is 0 / 2 / 4, etc. even index.

[0112] In the SBFD scenario, the RO index sorting can have the following two possibilities: one is independent sorting, and the other is unified sorting. Among them, the independent sorting refers to the sorting of the RO index on the SBFD time slot and the non-SBFD time slot being independent of each other, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the RO index on the SBFD time slot and the non-SBFD time slot are both sorted from 0. The unified sorting refers to the RO index on the adjacent SBFD time slot and the non-SBFD time slot being continuous, for example, as shown in FIG. 5.

[0113] Since the SBFD time unit includes both sub-band resources for uplink transmission and sub-band resources for downlink transmission, there is no clear scheme for the terminal device supporting SBFD to determine the corresponding RO according to the RO index corresponding to the mask index, and therefore the terminal device supporting SBFD cannot determine the PRACH resource triggering a certain event, resulting in the inability to trigger the corresponding event. For example, taking the independent sorting scenario shown in FIG. 4 as an example, the RO index indicated by the ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex configured by the network device is 1 and 2, but the terminal device cannot determine which RO1 and RO2 on which time unit the RO index 1 and 2 refer to. For another example, taking the unified sorting scenario shown in FIG. 5 as an example, the RO index indicated by the ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex configured by the network device is 1 and 2, but the terminal device cannot determine whether the RO index 1 and 2 refer to RO1 and RO2 in the RO sorting of only the non-SBFD time unit (i.e., corresponding to RO3 and RO4 in the unified sorting), or the RO1 and RO2 in the unified sorting. This results in the terminal device sending a preamble at a wrong RO and failing to be received by the network device, resulting in random access failure, or sending a preamble at a wrong RO and failing to trigger the occurrence of the corresponding event.

[0114] Based on this, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication method and device, which can reduce the probability of random access failure of the terminal device supporting SBFD and improve the accuracy of triggering the corresponding event by explicitly providing a rule for the terminal device supporting SBFD to determine the corresponding RO according to the RO index corresponding to the mask index. The method and the device are based on the same technical concept, and since the principles of the method and the device for solving the problem are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be mutually referred to, and the repeated parts will not be described again.

[0115] The communication method provided in the application can be applied to a communication system, which can be a third generation partnership project (3GPP) related communication system. For example, the communication system can be a long term evolution (LTE) system, a 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system (for example, a new radio (NR) communication system), or can also be applied to other next generation mobile communication systems, or other similar communication systems. Other similar communication systems can include wireless fidelity (WIFI), vehicle to everything (V2X), internet of things (IoT) system, narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) system, etc.

[0116] Please refer to FIG. 6, which shows a communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable. The communication system includes a radio access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system can also include the Internet.

[0117] The radio access network 100 can include at least one network device and at least one terminal device. For example, the radio access network 100 includes two network devices 110a and 110b and terminal devices 120a to 120j. The number of terminal devices and / or network devices shown in FIG. 6 can be less or more. The communication system described in the embodiments of the present application is for more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable. For example, the communication system can also include other devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, etc., which are not shown in FIG. 6. Those skilled in the art can know that, as the network architecture evolves, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems. When applying the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application to other communication systems, the devices, components, modules, etc. in the embodiments can be replaced by corresponding devices, components, modules in other communication systems, without limitation.

[0118] In embodiments of the present application, the network device refers to a radio access network (RAN) device. The RAN can be a 3GPP related cellular system, for example, a 5G / new radio (NR) mobile communication system, or a future-oriented evolved system (for example, a 6G mobile communication system). The RAN can also be an open RAN (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a virtualized RAN (vRAN), etc. The RAN can also be a communication system that combines two or more of the above systems. The RAN device can also be referred to as a RAN node, a RAN entity, or an access node, etc.

[0119] 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 next generation network device in a 6G mobile communication system, a network device in a future mobile communication system, etc. The RAN node can be a macro network device, a micro network device, an indoor station, a relay node, a donor node / host node, or a radio controller, etc. The RAN node can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or a vehicle-mounted device, etc. For example, the RAN node in V2X technology can be a road side unit (RSU).

[0120] In another possible scenario, a RAN node can be a module or unit that completes part of the functions of a network device; or multiple RAN nodes cooperate to assist a terminal device to implement wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of the functions of a network device. For example, a RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU), etc. The functions of the CU can be implemented by one entity, or can also be implemented by different entities. For example, the functions of the CU can be further divided, that is, the control plane and the user plane are separated and implemented by different entities, respectively, as a control plane CU entity (that is, a CU-control plane (CP) entity) and a user plane CU entity (that is, a CU-user plane (UP) entity). The CU-CP entity and the CU-UP entity can be coupled with the DU to jointly complete the functions of the RAN node. The CU and the DU can be separately arranged, or can also be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). Any one of the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), the DU, and the 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.

[0121] In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), the DU, or the 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, the CU-CP, the CU-UP, the DU, and the RU are taken as examples for description in this application.

[0122] The CU and the DU can be configured according to protocol layer functions of the wireless network they implement: for example, the CU is configured to implement functions of a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer and protocol layers above the PDCP layer (such as a radio resource control (RRC) layer and / or a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, etc.); the DU is configured to implement functions of protocol layers below the PDCP layer (such as a radio link control (RLC), a media access control (MAC) layer, and / or a physical (PHY) layer, etc.). For specific descriptions of the above protocol layers, reference can be made to relevant technical specifications of the 3GPP or technical specifications of other applicable communication protocols.

[0123] For example, referring to FIG. 7, two typical protocol stack diagrams of the network device provided in the embodiments of the present application are shown. In the network device (1), the network device is divided into a CU and a DU, the CU is configured to implement functions of a PDCP layer and protocol layers above the PDCP layer (such as an RRC layer and / or an SDAP layer, etc.); the DU is configured to implement functions of protocol layers below the PDCP layer (such as an RLC layer, a MAC layer, and / or a PHY layer, etc.). The CU and the DU communicate based on an F1 interface. In the network device (2), the network device is divided into a CU and a DU, wherein the CU includes a CU-CP and a CU-UP, the CU-CP is used to implement control plane functions of the CU, and the CU-UP is used to implement user plane functions of the CU. The CU-CP and the CU-UP can communicate based on an E1 interface, the CU-CP and the DU communicate based on an F1 interface supporting a control plane (also referred to as F1-C), and the CU-UP and the DU communicate based on an F1 interface for a user plane (also referred to as F1-U). The CU-CP is configured to implement control plane functions of a PDCP layer and RRC layer functions, and the CU-UP is configured to implement user plane functions of the PDCP layer and functions of an SDAP layer. The DU is configured to implement functions of protocol layers below the PDCP layer (such as an RLC layer, a MAC layer, and / or a PHY layer, etc.).

[0124] The above-mentioned processing functions of the CU and the DU are merely examples according to the protocol layer division, and the division can be performed in other manners, which is not limited in the present application. For example, in one design, the CU or the DU can also be divided into partial processing functions with protocol layers. In one design, partial functions of the RLC layer and functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer are arranged in the CU, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are arranged in the DU.

[0125] In another possible design, the functions of the PHY layer are jointly implemented by the DU and the RU, or described as moving part of the PHY layer functions of the DU to the RU. One DU can be connected with one or more RUs. The functions of the DU and the RU can be configured in multiple manners according to the design. For example, the DU is configured to implement baseband functions, and the RU is configured to implement intermediate frequency functions. For another example, the DU is configured to implement high-layer functions in the PHY layer, and the RU is configured to implement low-layer functions in the PHY layer or implement the low-layer functions and the intermediate frequency functions. The high-layer functions in the PHY layer can include part of the functions of the PHY layer, which are closer to the MAC layer, and the low-layer functions in the PHY layer can include another part of the functions of the PHY layer, which are closer to the intermediate frequency side. The present application does not limit the specific functions of the DU and the RU. The interface between the DU and the RU can be referred to as a front-haul interface. In one design, the CU can have no PDCP layer, for example, the CU only includes the RRC layer. The CU-CP has no PDCP-C. The CU-UP can have no PDCP-U, or have no CU-UP. In one design, the DU can have no RLC layer, for example, the DU only has the MAC and the higher PHY layer.

[0126] When the RAN is an O-RAN, it can also have an artificial intelligence (AI) function, for example, the O-RAN includes an intelligent controller. The intelligent controller can be a non-real time RAN intelligent controller (non-real time RIC / non-RT RIC / NRT RIC), or a near-real time RAN intelligent controller (near-real time RIC / near-RT RIC / nRT RIC). The non-real time RIC can be used to implement non-real time intelligent management of the RAN function, can implement a workflow including model training and model updating, and guide applications / functions in the nRT RIC based on a policy. The near-real time RIC can be used to implement near-real time intelligent management of the RAN. Through data collection and related operations on the E2 interface, near-real time control and optimization of modules and resources of the O-RAN are implemented.

[0127] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device can be the network device itself, or a device capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system or a combination device or component that can implement the function of the network device, which can be installed in the network device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device.

[0128] In the embodiments of the present application, all devices capable of communicating data with the network device can be regarded as terminal devices. The terminal device is also called a terminal, a terminal device, a user equipment (UE), a user device, a mobile station, or a mobile terminal, etc. The terminal device can be widely applied to various scenes, for example, the terminal device can be a mobile phone, a computer, a mobile internet device (MID), a wearable device, a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, a station (STA), a mechanical arm, a camera, a robot, a vehicle, a drone, a helicopter, an airplane, a ship, or a smart home device (such as a television, an air conditioner, a sweeping machine, a sound box, a set-top box), a relay, a customer premise equipment (CPE), etc.

[0129] In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device can also be a terminal device in an IoT system, for example, a water meter, an electricity meter, etc. IoT is an important part of future information technology development, and its main technical feature is to connect objects through communication technology and network, so as to realize the intelligent network of man-machine interconnection and object-object interconnection.

[0130] Among them, when the terminal device is applied to V2X, it can also be called V2X device, for example, smart car or intelligent car, digital car, unmanned car or driverless car or pilotless car or automobile, self-driving car or autonomous car, pure EV or Battery EV, hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), range extended EV (REEV), plug-in HEV (PHEV), new energy vehicle, RSU.

[0131] As introduced above, various terminal devices can be considered as vehicle-mounted terminal devices if they are located on a vehicle (for example, placed / installed in the vehicle). The vehicle-mounted terminal device can be built-in as one or more components or units in a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle-mounted module group, a vehicle-mounted component, a vehicle-mounted chip or a vehicle-mounted unit of the vehicle. The vehicle can implement the method of the present application through the built-in vehicle-mounted module, vehicle-mounted module group, vehicle-mounted component, vehicle-mounted chip or vehicle-mounted unit. The vehicle-mounted terminal device can be a whole vehicle device, a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle, an on board unit (OBU), an RSU, a telematics box (T-box), a chip or a system on chip (SOC), etc. The above chip or SOC can be installed in the vehicle, OBU, RSU or T-box.

[0132] FIG. 8 shows an example diagram of an O-RAN system. It should be understood that the O-RAN system can also include other components than those shown in FIG. 8, which are not specifically limited herein. As shown in FIG. 8, the access network device can communicate with the core network (CN) through a backhaul link, and can communicate with the terminal device through an air interface. For example, the access network device can include a baseband unit (BBU) and a radio unit (RU). The BBU includes at least one CU and at least one DU, and the CU and the DU can communicate through at least one midhaul link. The RU can implement the functions of the lower physical layer (Lower PHY) and the radio frequency (RF). In some examples, the RU can be a 3GPP transmission reception point (TRP) or a remote radio head (RRH) or other similar functional entity. In some examples, the Low-PHY can include part of the PHY processing, such as fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), digital beamforming and filtering, and other processing functions. The BBU can communicate with the CN through a backhaul link, and the RU can communicate with at least one terminal device through an air interface. The BBU can communicate with at least one RU through a front-haul link, and the BBU and the RU can be co-located or not co-located.

[0133] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a network element function split and protocol layer structure of an O-RAN device. It should be noted that the configuration of the CU and the DU shown in FIG. 9 is merely an example, and the CU and the DU can be configured to have functions as needed. For example, the CU or the DU can be configured to have more protocol layer functions, or the CU or the DU can be configured to have partial processing functions of the protocol layer. The DU and the RU can be co-located or not co-located. The DU and the RU can exchange control plane information and user plane information via a lower-layer split-CUS-plane (LLS-CUS) interface through a fronthaul link. The LLS-CUS can include an LLS-C interface and an LLS-U interface that provide a control plane (C-Plane) and a user plane (U-Plane), respectively. In some examples, the control plane (C-Plane) refers to real-time control between the DU and the RU. The DU and the RU have an LLS-M interface of the fronthaul link to exchange management information, and the management plane (M-Plane) refers to non-real-time management operations between the DU and the RU.

[0134] The DU and the RU can cooperate to jointly implement the functions of the PHY layer. One DU can be connected to one or more RUs. The functions of the DU and the RU can be configured in multiple ways according to design. For example, the DU is configured to implement baseband functions, and the RU is configured to implement intermediate radio frequency functions. For another example, the DU is configured to implement high-layer functions in the PHY layer, and the RU is configured to implement low-layer functions in the PHY layer or to implement the low-layer functions and radio frequency functions. The high-layer functions in the PHY layer can include a part of the functions of the PHY layer that are closer to the MAC layer, and the low-layer functions in the PHY layer can include another part of the functions of the PHY layer that are closer to the intermediate radio frequency side.

[0135] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device can be the terminal device itself, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, such as a chip system or a combination device or component that can implement the function of the terminal device, which can be installed in the terminal device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0136] Taking a network device as a network device and a terminal device as a UE as an example, the network device and the UE can be fixed in position or movable. The network device and the UE can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface; and can also be deployed on an airplane, a balloon, and a man-made satellite. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of the network device and the UE.

[0137] The network architecture and service scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are used to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of network architecture and the appearance of new service scenarios, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0138] It can be understood that the present application does not particularly limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application. In the following various embodiments, the method executed by the terminal device can also be applied to a module or a chip in the terminal device, and the method executed by the network device can also be applied to a module or a chip in the network device, as long as the method according to the embodiments of the present application can be used to communicate by running a program in which the code of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application is recorded. Hereinafter, the interaction between the terminal device and the network device is taken as an example for description.

[0139] In the following various embodiments of the present application, the terminal device and the network device are devices supporting SBFD, unless otherwise specified.

[0140] The time unit can be, but is not limited to, a time slot, a symbol, a frame, etc., or the time unit can also include multiple time slots or multiple symbols or multiple frames, etc.

[0141] The technical features related to the embodiments of the present application are introduced below.

[0142] As shown in FIG. 10, it is a flowchart of a communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application. The method is for the scenario of independent ordering of the index of RO on the SBFD time unit and the index of RO on the non-SBFD time unit. By specifying the scheme of determining the RO by the terminal device according to the RO index indicated by the first information, the terminal device and the network device align the understanding of the index of RO, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure and improving the accuracy of triggering the corresponding event.

[0143] The independent ordering of the index of RO on the SBFD time unit and the index of RO on the non-SBFD time unit can also be understood as that the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit are both ordered from 0. The SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit can correspond to different PRACH configuration indexes (PRACH configuration index).

[0144] The method includes:

[0145] S1001, the network device sends first information. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information.

[0146] The first information is used to indicate the index of the RO. For example, the first information is a mask index (ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex), and the first information can indicate the index of the RO through a correspondence table between the mask index and the RO index (for example, Table 7.4-1: PRACH Mask Index values in TS 38.321 v18.2.0 protocol). For another example, the first information can also be a ra-AssociationPeriodIndex (a parameter used to identify the association period) and the like.

[0147] In a possible implementation, the network device can send the first information through a first message for PRACH resource configuration.

[0148] Optionally, the first message can be used to configure the PRACH resource for a random access-based first message request system message event, or it can also be understood that the PRACH resource indicated by the first message is used to request the network device to broadcast the system message. The terminal device can initiate random access based on the PRACH resource to request the network device to send the system message. For example, it is assumed that there are multiple system messages that are not broadcast in the network, and the terminal device learns through a system information block (SIB) 1. When the media access control (MAC) layer determines that the condition for obtaining the system message is met, the terminal device starts the RACH process, and the resource used can be the PRACH resource configured by the first message.

[0149] Alternatively, the first message can also be used to configure the PRACH resource for a beam failure recovery event, or it can also be understood that the PRACH resource indicated by the first message is used to notify the network device of the occurrence of beam failure to trigger beam failure recovery. The terminal device can initiate random access based on the PRACH resource to notify the network device of the occurrence of beam failure, so as to trigger the beam failure recovery.

[0150] Alternatively, the first message can also be used to configure the PRACH resource for a cell switching event, or it can also be understood that the PRACH resource indicated by the first message is used to request cell switching. The terminal device can initiate random access based on the PRACH resource to request the network device to perform cell switching.

[0151] Alternatively, the first message can also be used to configure PRACH resources for a RACH event triggered by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), for example, there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device, but the terminal device is in an uplink out-of-sync state, etc. The terminal device can initiate random access based on the PRACH resources to establish an RRC connection with the network device. In this way, the first message can be downlink control information (DCI).

[0152] S1002, the terminal device sends a preamble on a first RO in the candidate RO set. Correspondingly, the network device receives the preamble on the candidate RO set.

[0153] Optionally, after receiving the preamble on the candidate RO set, the network device can determine that the terminal device triggers an event, for example, the PRACH resource indicated by the first message is used to request the network device to broadcast a certain system message, and after receiving the preamble on the candidate RO set, the network device can determine that the terminal device requests to broadcast a certain system message, so as to broadcast the system message. For another example, the PRACH resource indicated by the first message is used to inform the network device of beam failure, and after receiving the preamble on the candidate RO set, the network device can determine that the terminal device has beam failure, so as to perform beam failure recovery with the terminal device. Other events are similar and will not be listed one by one here.

[0154] In this application, the candidate RO set is determined according to the first information.

[0155] Specifically, the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit, and the candidate RO set includes the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit. This way can also be understood as that the terminal device determines the RO on the non-SBFD time unit according to the first information. For example, taking the scenario shown in FIG. 4 as an example, assuming that the first information indicates that the index of the RO is 1 and 2. The first RO can be RO1 or RO2 on the non-SBFD time unit, as shown in FIG. 11. This way can realize forward compatibility by using the scheme of determining the RO according to the RO index indicated by the mask index for legacy UEs, i.e., terminal devices not supporting SBFD.

[0156] Alternatively, the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit and the SBFD time unit, and the candidate RO set includes: the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit, and the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit. This mode can also be understood as that the terminal device determines the RO on the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit according to the first information. For example, taking the scenario shown in FIG. 4 as an example, assuming that the first information indicates that the indexes of the ROs are 1 and 2. The first RO can be RO1 on the SBFD time unit, RO2 on the SBFD time unit, RO1 on the non-SBFD time unit, or RO2 on the non-SBFD time unit, as shown in FIG. 12. In this mode, the mask index can be used to indicate the RO selection on the SBFD time unit, so that the terminal device can perform random access faster, thereby triggering the corresponding random access event to occur faster, for example, notifying the network device of beam failure faster, requesting the broadcast of system messages faster, performing cell switching faster, and the like.

[0157] Alternatively, the first information corresponds to the SBFD time unit, and the candidate RO set includes the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit. This mode can also be understood as that the terminal device determines the RO on the SBFD time unit according to the first information. For example, taking the scenario shown in FIG. 4 as an example, assuming that the first information indicates that the indexes of the ROs are 1 and 2. The first RO can be RO1 or RO2 on the SBFD time unit, as shown in FIG. 13. In this mode, the mask index can be used to indicate the RO selection on the SBFD time unit, so that the terminal device can perform random access faster, thereby triggering the corresponding random access event to occur faster, for example, notifying the network device of beam failure faster, requesting the broadcast of system messages faster, performing cell switching faster, and the like.

[0158] The specific type of time unit to which the first information corresponds can be defined by a protocol, for example, the protocol defines that the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit, or the protocol defines that the first information corresponds to the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit, or the protocol defines that the first information corresponds to the SBFD time unit.

[0159] Alternatively, the specific type of time unit to which the first information corresponds can also be indicated by the network device.

[0160] For example, the network device can further send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to indicate whether the first information corresponds to the SBFD time unit. If the second information indicates that the first information corresponds to the SBFD time unit, the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit and the SBFD time unit. If the second information indicates that the first information does not correspond to the SBFD time unit, the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit. In this way, the first information corresponds to the non-SBFD time unit by default, and whether the first information corresponds to the SBFD time unit is indicated by the second information, so that the understanding of the index of the RO by the terminal device and the network device can be aligned, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure.

[0161] Optionally, the second information can indicate whether the first information corresponds to the SBFD time unit through different values. Alternatively, the network device can also indicate whether the first information corresponds to the SBFD time unit by whether the second information is sent to the terminal device. Alternatively, the second information can also be set to true or false to indicate whether the first information corresponds to the SBFD time unit.

[0162] For another example, the network device can further send the first information and the third information to the terminal device, where the first information and the third information are used to indicate the index of the RO, the first information corresponds to the SBFD time unit, the third information corresponds to the SBFD time unit, and the candidate RO set includes the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit and the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the third information on the SBFD time unit.

[0163] According to the foregoing description, the first message can be a DCI used to configure the PRACH resource for the RACH event triggered by the PDCCH. If the network device indicates that the first information corresponds to the time unit, the first information and the second information (or the first information and the third information) can be implemented through two fields in the DCI, or can also be implemented through two DCIs. Optionally, if the first information and the second information (or the first information and the third information) are implemented through two DCIs, the terminal device supporting the SBFD can detect the two DCIs. The two DCIs can be sent in different search spaces. And / or, the two DCIs can also be scrambled by different radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs).

[0164] The terminal device can determine at least one of the following factors when selecting the first RO from the candidate RO set: time domain position of the RO, network load, or path loss. For example, in terms of the time domain position of the RO, the terminal device can select the first RO based on the time domain proximity principle, which can enable faster random access. In terms of network load, the terminal device can select the first RO based on the principle of small network load, for example, if the network load on the SBFD time unit is small, the terminal device can preferentially select the RO on the SBFD time unit, which can reduce network load. In terms of path loss, the terminal device can select the first RO based on the principle of small path loss, for example, if the path loss value on the SBFD time unit is small, the terminal device can preferentially select the RO on the SBFD time unit, which can improve the success rate of random access. In terms of the time domain position of the RO and network load, the terminal device can select the first RO based on the principle of small network load, and if there are multiple candidate ROs with small network load, the terminal device can select the first RO from the multiple ROs based on the time domain proximity principle. The above selection schemes are only examples, and other selection schemes are not listed here.

[0165] The method is for the scenario of independent sorting of the index of the RO on the SBFD time unit and the index of the RO on the non-SBFD time unit. By specifying the scheme for the terminal device to determine the RO according to the RO index indicated by the first information, the terminal device and the network device align the understanding of the index of the RO, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure and improving the accuracy of triggering the corresponding event.

[0166] As shown in FIG. 14, it is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method is for the scenario of unified sorting of the index of the RO on the SBFD time unit and the index of the RO on the non-SBFD time unit. By specifying the scheme for the terminal device to determine the RO according to the RO index indicated by the first information, the terminal device and the network device align the understanding of the index of the RO, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure and improving the accuracy of triggering the corresponding event.

[0167] The unified sorting of the index of the RO on the SBFD time unit and the index of the RO on the non-SBFD time unit can be understood as that the indexes of the ROs on adjacent time units are continuous, and the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit can correspond to the same PRACH configuration index.

[0168] The method includes:

[0169] S1401, the network device sends first information. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information.

[0170] The first information is used to indicate the index of the RO. For example, the first information is a mask index (ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex), and the first information can indicate the index of the RO through a correspondence table between the mask index and the RO index (for example, Table 7.4-1: PRACH Mask Index values in TS 38.321 v18.2.0 protocol). In this way, the first information can correspond to a non-SBFD time unit by default. For another example, the first information can also be a ra-AssociationPeriodIndex (a parameter used to identify the association period) and the like.

[0171] In a possible implementation, the network device can send the first information through a first message for PRACH resource configuration. The first message can refer to the related description in the method described in FIG. 10, and will not be repeated here.

[0172] In S1402, the terminal device determines at least one RO according to the first information and the offset.

[0173] The offset can be the number of ROs included in the SBFD time unit. It should be noted that the offset is only an example of naming, and in specific implementation, it can also be named as other, for example, offset value, interval and the like.

[0174] As an example, the at least one RO can be the RO corresponding to the index obtained by adding the offset to the RO index indicated by the first information. For example, taking the scenario shown in FIG. 5 as an example, assuming that the first information indicates that the indexes of the ROs are 1 and 2, the terminal device can determine to perform random access on RO3 and RO4.

[0175] In this way, the ROs for random access determined by the terminal device supporting SBFD and the terminal device not supporting SBFD are the same, so that the network device can not distinguish between the two types of terminal devices when configuring PRACH resources and receiving preambles, reducing the processing complexity of the network device. For example, taking the above example, as shown in FIG. 15, since only the ROs on the non-SBFD time unit are available for the terminal device not supporting SBFD, for the terminal device not supporting SBFD, only the ROs on the non-SBFD time unit are uniformly sorted, and the ROs determined by the terminal device according to the first information are the ROs corresponding to indexes 1 and 2 in the sorting of the ROs on the non-SBFD time unit, which correspond to RO3 and RO4 in the uniform sorting. For the terminal device supporting SBFD, the ROs on the SBFD time unit and the ROs on the non-SBFD time unit are available, so for the terminal device supporting SBFD, the ROs on the SBFD time unit and the ROs on the non-SBFD time unit are uniformly sorted, and the indexes 3 and 4 are determined by the terminal device according to the first information and the offset, so the ROs determined by the terminal device are RO3 and RO4 in the uniform sorting. It can be seen that the ROs for random access determined by the terminal device supporting SBFD and the terminal device not supporting SBFD are RO3 and RO4 in the uniform sorting. Therefore, the network device can determine that the terminal device requesting to broadcast a certain system message sends the preamble after receiving the preamble on RO3 or RO4.

[0176] In S1403, the terminal device sends a preamble on one of the at least one RO. Correspondingly, the network device receives the preamble on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit.

[0177] Optionally, the network device can determine that the terminal device triggers a certain event after receiving the preamble on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit. For example, the PRACH resource indicated by the first message is used to request the network device to broadcast a certain system message, and the network device can determine that the terminal device requests to broadcast a certain system message after receiving the preamble on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit, so that the network device can broadcast the system message. For another example, the PRACH resource indicated by the first message is used to notify the network device of beam failure, and the network device can determine that the terminal device has beam failure after receiving the preamble on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit, so that the network device can perform beam failure recovery with the terminal device. Other events are similar and will not be listed one by one here.

[0178] The scheme in which the terminal device selects the RO in the at least one RO can be specifically described as follows with reference to the method in which the terminal device selects the first RO from the candidate RO set in FIG. 10, and the description is not repeated here.

[0179] The method is proposed for the scenario in which the indexes of the ROs on the SBFD time units and the indexes of the ROs on the non-SBFD time units are uniformly sorted. By causing the terminal device supporting the SBFD to consider the bias (that is, the number of the ROs on the SBFD time units) when determining the RO, the terminal device supporting the SBFD and the terminal device not supporting the SBFD determine the same RO for random access, so that the network device can not distinguish between the two types of terminal devices when configuring the resources and receiving the preamble, and the processing complexity of the network device is reduced.

[0180] As shown in FIG. 16, it is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method is proposed for the scenario in which the indexes of the ROs on the SBFD time units and the indexes of the ROs on the non-SBFD time units are uniformly sorted. The difference between the method and the method described in FIG. 14 is that the network device does not distinguish between the two types of terminal devices when configuring the PRACH resources and receiving the preamble in the method described in FIG. 14, but the network device does not distinguish between the two types of terminal devices when configuring the PRACH resources in the method described in FIG. 15, and the corresponding preamble resources are configured for the two types of terminal devices respectively, so that the terminal device requests to trigger the corresponding event according to the configured PRACH resources and preamble resources.

[0181] The method includes the following steps.

[0182] In S1601, the network device sends the first information and the second information. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information and the second information.

[0183] The first information is used to indicate the index of the RO. For example, the first information is a mask index (ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex). For another example, the first information can also be a parameter such as ra-AssociationPeriodIndex (the parameter is used to indicate the identification of the association period).

[0184] The second information indicates the preamble resource corresponding to the terminal device supporting the SBFD, for example, ra-PreambleStartIndex. The first information and the second information can be sent through one message or different messages.

[0185] In a possible implementation manner, the network device can send the first information through a first message used for PRACH resource configuration. The first message can be described with reference to the related description in the method in FIG. 10, and the description is not repeated here.

[0186] Optionally, the network device can also send the first information and third information to the terminal device that does not support SBFD, the third information being used to indicate the preamble resource corresponding to the terminal device that does not support SBFD. The second information and the third information can be different.

[0187] S1602, the terminal device determines at least one RO according to the first information.

[0188] For example, taking the first information as a mask index as an example, the terminal device can determine the index of the RO according to the first information and a correspondence table (for example, Table 7.4-1: PRACH Mask Index values in TS38.321 v18.2.0 protocol) between the mask index and the index of the RO.

[0189] It can be understood that for the terminal device that supports SBFD, the ROs on the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit are all available, so for the terminal device that supports SBFD, the RO indexes on the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit are uniformly sorted, and the terminal device can determine the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information according to the indexes of the ROs on the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit after the uniform sorting.

[0190] For the terminal device that does not support SBFD, only the ROs on the non-SBFD time unit are available, so for the terminal device that does not support SBFD, only the RO indexes on the non-SBFD time unit are sorted, and the terminal device can determine the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information according to the indexes of only the ROs on the non-SBFD time unit after the uniform sorting.

[0191] For example, taking the scenario shown in FIG. 5 as an example, as shown in FIG. 17, assuming that the RO indexes indicated by the first information are 1 and 2, the terminal device that supports SBFD determines the ROs as RO1 and RO2 after the uniform sorting of the RO indexes on the SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit, and the terminal device that does not support SBFD determines the ROs as RO1 and RO2 after the uniform sorting of only the RO indexes on the non-SBFD time unit.

[0192] S1603, the terminal device sends the preamble indicated by the second information on one of the at least one RO. Correspondingly, the network device receives the preamble indicated by the second information on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information after the uniform sorting of the RO indexes on the non-SBFD time unit and the SBFD time unit.

[0193] Optionally, after the network device receives the preamble indicated by the second information on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information after the RO indexes on the non-SBFD time units and the SBFD time units are uniformly sorted, the network device can determine that the terminal device supporting SBFD triggers a certain event. For example, the PRACH resource indicated by the first message is used to request the network device to broadcast a certain system message, and after the network device receives the preamble indicated by the second information on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information after the RO indexes on the non-SBFD time units and the SBFD time units are uniformly sorted, the network device can determine that the terminal device supporting SBFD requests to broadcast a certain system message, and thus the network device can broadcast the system message. For another example, the PRACH resource indicated by the first message is used to inform the network device that a beam failure occurs, and after the network device receives the preamble indicated by the second information on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information after the RO indexes on the non-SBFD time units and the SBFD time units are uniformly sorted, the network device can determine that the terminal device supporting SBFD has a beam failure, and thus the network device can perform beam failure recovery with the terminal device. Other events are similar, and thus are not listed one by one here.

[0194] Since the terminal device supporting SBFD and the terminal device not supporting SBFD determine different ROs according to the first information, for the RO determined by the terminal device supporting SBFD, there can be other terminal devices (for example, the terminal device not supporting SBFD) performing random access on the RO, but the terminal device does not request to trigger a corresponding event, and thus the network device can misjudge the terminal device supporting SBFD initiating random access on the RO as not requesting the corresponding event, or misjudge the terminal device not supporting SBFD initiating random access on the RO as requesting the corresponding event. In the present application, the network device allocates special preamble resources for the terminal device supporting SBFD for a certain event, so that the terminal device determines that the random access is initiated by the terminal device supporting SBFD requesting the corresponding event, and thus the accuracy of the terminal device supporting SBFD triggering the corresponding event can be improved.

[0195] As shown in FIG. 18, a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown. The method and the method shown in FIG. 14 are both proposed for the scenario of unified ordering of the indexes of ROs in SBFD time units and the indexes of ROs in non-SBFD time units. The difference is that in the method shown in FIG. 14, the implementation behavior of the terminal device supporting SBFD is used to make the ROs determined by the terminal device supporting SBFD and the terminal device not supporting SBFD the same, so that the network device does not need to distinguish between the two types of terminal devices when configuring PRACH resources and receiving preambles. In the method shown in FIG. 18, the network device configures the RO indexes corresponding to the two types of terminal devices when configuring PRACH resources, so that the ROs determined by the terminal device supporting SBFD and the terminal device not supporting SBFD are the same, so that the network device does not need to distinguish between the two types of terminal devices when receiving preambles.

[0196] The method comprises:

[0197] S1801, the network device sends a first message. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first message.

[0198] The first message carries first information and second information, the first information corresponds to non-SBFD time units and SBFD time units, the second information corresponds to non-SBFD time units, and the first information and the second information are both used to indicate the indexes of ROs. The ROs indicated by the first information and the second information are the same. For example, taking the scenario shown in FIG. 5 as an example, the first information can indicate indexes 3 and 4. The second information can indicate indexes 1 and 2, that is, indicate the ROs corresponding to indexes 1 and 2 when the ROs of non-SBFD time units are ordered, and the two ROs correspond to ROs 3 and 4 when ordered uniformly.

[0199] Since only the ROs in non-SBFD time units are available for the terminal device not supporting SBFD, for the terminal device not supporting SBFD, the ROs can be determined according to the second information. For the terminal device supporting SBFD, the ROs in SBFD time units and non-SBFD time units are both available, so for the terminal device supporting SBFD, the ROs can be determined according to the first information. In this way, the ROs for random access determined by the terminal device supporting SBFD and the terminal device not supporting SBFD are the same, so that the network device does not need to distinguish between the two types of terminal devices when receiving preambles, thereby reducing the processing complexity of the network device.

[0200] The first information and the second information can indicate the index of the RO through a correspondence table of mask indexes and RO indexes (for example, Table 7.4-1: PRACH Mask Index values in TS 38.321 v18.2.0 protocol). Alternatively, the first information and the second information can also indicate the index of the RO through a parameter such as ra-AssociationPeriodIndex (the parameter is used to identify the association period).

[0201] The first message can refer to the related description in the method described in FIG. 10, which will not be repeated here.

[0202] S1802, the terminal device determines at least one RO according to the first information.

[0203] For example, taking the mask index as the first information and the second information as an example, the terminal device can determine the index of the RO according to the first information and a correspondence table of mask indexes and RO indexes (for example, Table 7.4-1: PRACH Mask Index values in TS 38.321 v18.2.0 protocol).

[0204] S1803, the terminal device sends a preamble on one of the at least one RO. Correspondingly, the network device receives the preamble on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information and the second information.

[0205] Optionally, after the network device receives the preamble on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information and the second information, the network device can determine that the terminal device triggers an event. For example, the PRACH resource indicated by the first message is used to request the network device to broadcast a certain system message, and the network device can determine that the terminal device requests to broadcast a certain system message after receiving the preamble on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information and the second information, so as to broadcast the system message. For another example, the PRACH resource indicated by the first message is used to notify the network device of beam failure, and the network device can determine that the terminal device has beam failure after receiving the preamble on the RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information and the second information, so as to perform beam failure recovery with the terminal device. Other events are similar, which will not be listed one by one here.

[0206] The scheme of the terminal device selecting the RO from the at least one RO can refer to the related description of the terminal device selecting the first RO from the candidate RO set in the method described in FIG. 10, which will not be repeated here.

[0207] The method is aimed at the uniform sorting scene of the indexes of ROs on SBFD time units and the indexes of ROs on non-SBFD time units. The method carries the mask indexes corresponding to the two types of terminal devices in the message used for configuring PRACH resources, and the ROs determined by the corresponding mask indexes of the two types of terminal devices are the same. Therefore, the network device can not distinguish between the two types of terminal devices when receiving the preamble, thereby reducing the processing complexity of the network device.

[0208] Based on the same inventive concept as the method embodiment, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The structure of the communication device can be as shown in FIG. 19, which includes a communication unit 1901 and a processing unit 1902.

[0209] In an embodiment, the communication device can be specifically used to implement the method performed by the terminal device in the embodiment of FIG. 10. The device can be the terminal device itself, or a chip or chip set or part of a chip in the terminal device for executing the related method functions. The processing unit 1902 is configured to receive first information through the communication unit 1901, the first information being used to indicate the index of a random access channel occasion; and send a preamble on a first random access channel occasion through the communication unit 1901, the first random access channel occasion being one of the candidate random access channel occasion set. The first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit, and the candidate random access channel occasion set includes a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit; or the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit and a SBFD time unit, and the candidate random access channel occasion set includes a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit and a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit; or the first information corresponds to a SBFD time unit, and the candidate random access channel occasion set includes a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit.

[0210] Optionally, the communication unit 1901 is further configured to receive second information; wherein the second information indicates that the first information is applied to a SBFD time unit, and the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit and a SBFD time unit; or the second information indicates that the first information is not applied to a SBFD time unit, and the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit.

[0211] Optionally, the communication unit 1901 is further configured to receive third information, the third information being used to indicate an index of a random access channel occasion, and the third information corresponding to a SBFD time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions further comprising a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the third information on the SBFD time unit.

[0212] Optionally, the processing unit 1902 is further configured to determine the first random access channel occasion according to at least one of the following factors: a time domain position of a random access channel occasion in the set of candidate random access channel occasions, network load, or path loss.

[0213] In an embodiment, the communication device can be specifically configured to implement the method performed by the network device in the embodiment of FIG. 10. The device can be the network device itself, or a chip or chip set or a part of a chip in the network device for performing the functions of the related method. The processing unit 1902 is configured to: transmit first information through the communication unit 1901, the first information being used to indicate an index of a random access channel occasion; and receive a preamble through the communication unit 1901 at a first random access channel occasion, the first random access channel occasion being one of the set of candidate random access channel occasions; wherein the first information corresponds to a non-sub-band full-duplex (SBFD) time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions comprises a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on a non-SBFD time unit; or the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit and a SBFD time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions comprises: a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on a non-SBFD time unit, and a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on a SBFD time unit; or the first information corresponds to a SBFD time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions comprises a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit.

[0214] Optionally, the communication unit 1901 is further configured to transmit second information; wherein the second information indicates that the first information is applied to a SBFD time unit, and the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit and a SBFD time unit; or the second information indicates that the first information is not applied to a SBFD time unit, and the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit.

[0215] Optionally, the communication unit 1901 is further configured to send third information, the third information being used for indicating an index of a random access channel occasion, and the third information corresponding to an SBFD time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions further comprises a random access channel occasion corresponding to the index indicated by the third information on the SBFD time unit.

[0216] In an embodiment, the communication device can be specifically used to implement the method performed by the terminal device in the embodiment of FIG. 14. The device can be the terminal device itself, or a chip or chip set or part of a chip in the terminal device for performing the functions of the related method. The communication unit 1901 is configured to receive first information, the first information being used for indicating an index of a random access channel occasion; the processing unit 1902 is configured to determine at least one random access channel occasion according to the first information and a bias; and the communication unit 1901 is further configured to send a preamble on one of the at least one random access channel occasion.

[0217] Optionally, the processing unit 1902 is further configured to determine the first random access channel occasion according to at least one of the following factors: a time domain position of a random access channel occasion in the set of candidate random access channel occasions, network load, or path loss.

[0218] In an embodiment, the communication device can be specifically used to implement the method performed by the terminal device in the embodiment of FIG. 16. The device can be the terminal device itself, or a chip or chip set or part of a chip in the terminal device for performing the functions of the related method. The communication unit 1901 is configured to receive first information and second information, the first information being used for indicating an index of a random access channel occasion, and the second information indicating a preamble resource corresponding to a terminal device supporting SBFD; the processing unit 1902 is configured to determine at least one random access channel occasion according to the first information; and the communication unit 1901 is further configured to send a preamble indicated by the second information on one of the at least one random access channel occasion.

[0219] Optionally, the processing unit 1902 is further configured to determine the first random access channel occasion according to at least one of the following factors: a time domain position of a random access channel occasion in the set of candidate random access channel occasions, network load, or path loss.

[0220] In an embodiment, the communication apparatus can be specifically used to implement the method performed by the network device in the embodiment of FIG. 16. The apparatus can be the network device itself, or a chip or chip set or part of a chip in the network device for performing the functions of the related method. The processing unit 1902 is configured to send, through the communication unit 1901, first information and second information, the first information being used to indicate an index of a random access channel occasion, and the second information being used to indicate a preamble resource corresponding to a terminal device supporting sub-band full duplex (SBFD); and receive, through the communication unit 1901, the preamble indicated by the second information on a random access occasion (RO) corresponding to the index indicated by the first information after uniform sorting of RO indexes in a non-SBFD time unit and an SBFD time unit.

[0221] In an embodiment, the communication apparatus can be specifically used to implement the method performed by the terminal device in the embodiment of FIG. 18. The apparatus can be the terminal device itself, or a chip or chip set or part of a chip in the terminal device for performing the functions of the related method. The communication unit 1901 is configured to receive a first message carrying first information and second information, the first information corresponding to a non-SBFD time unit and an SBFD time unit, and the second information corresponding to a non-SBFD time unit, the first information and the second information both being used to indicate an index of a random access channel occasion, and the first information and the second information indicating the same random access channel occasion; and the processing unit 1902 is configured to determine at least one random access channel occasion according to the first information; and the communication unit 1901 is further configured to send a preamble on one of the at least one random access channel occasion.

[0222] Optionally, the processing unit 1902 is further configured to determine the first random access channel occasion according to at least one of the following factors: a time domain position of a random access channel occasion in the set of candidate random access channel occasions, network load, or path loss.

[0223] In an implementation, the communication apparatus can be specifically used to implement the method performed by the network device in the embodiment of FIG. 18. The apparatus can be the network device itself, or a chip or chip set or part of a chip in the network device for performing the functions of the related method. The processing unit 1902 is configured to send, by the communication unit 1901, a first message carrying first information and second information, the first information corresponding to non-sub-band full duplex (SBFD) time units and SBFD time units, and the second information corresponding to non-SBFD time units, the first information and the second information both being used to indicate an index of a random access channel occasion, and the first information and the second information indicating the same random access channel occasion. The communication unit 1901 is configured to receive, by the communication unit 1901, a preamble from a terminal device supporting SBFD in one of the at least one random access channel occasion indicated by the first information. The communication unit 1901 is configured to receive, by the communication unit 1901, a preamble from a terminal device not supporting SBFD in one of the at least one random access channel occasion indicated by the second information.

[0224] The division of the modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, another division manner can be used. In addition, each function module in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated in one processor, or can be physically separated, or two or more modules can be integrated in one module. The integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software function module. It can be understood that the functions or implementation of each module in the embodiments of the present application can be further referred to the related description of the method embodiments.

[0225] In one possible manner, the communication apparatus can be as shown in FIG. 20. The apparatus can be a communication device or a chip in the communication device. The communication device can be the first device in the above embodiments. The apparatus includes a processor 2101 and a communication interface 2102, and can further include a memory 2103. The processing unit 1902 can be the processor 2101. The communication unit 1901 can be the communication interface 2102. Optionally, the processor 2101 and the memory 2103 can be integrated together.

[0226] The processor 2101 can be a CPU, or a digital processing unit, etc. The communication interface 2102 can be a transceiver, or an interface circuit such as a transceiver circuit, or a transceiver chip, etc. The apparatus further includes a memory 2103 for storing programs executed by the processor 2101. The memory 2103 can be a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), etc., or a volatile memory such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory 2103 can be any other medium capable of carrying or storing desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and capable of being accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto.

[0227] The processor 2101 is configured to execute the program codes stored in the memory 2103, and specifically configured to perform the actions of the processing unit 1902 described above, which are not repeated here. The communication interface 2102 is specifically configured to perform the actions of the communication unit 1901 described above, which are not repeated here.

[0228] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific connection medium between the communication interface 2102, the processor 2101 and the memory 2103. In FIG. 20, the memory 2103, the processor 2101 and the communication interface 2102 are connected through a bus 2104, which is represented by a thick line in FIG. 20, and the connection mode between other components is only schematically illustrated and is not limited. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For convenience of representation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 20, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0229] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer software instructions required for execution by the processor, which contains programs required for execution by the processor.

[0230] The embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system including a communication apparatus for realizing the functions of the terminal device in the embodiment of FIG. 10 and a communication apparatus for realizing the functions of the network device in the embodiment of FIG. 10.

[0231] The embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system including a communication apparatus for realizing the functions of the terminal device in the embodiment of FIG. 14 and a communication apparatus for realizing the functions of the network device in the embodiment of FIG. 14.

[0232] The embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, comprising a communication device for implementing the function of the terminal device in the embodiment of Figure 18 and a communication device for implementing the function of the network device in the embodiment of Figure 18.

[0233] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments of the present application can be readily used as a method, a system or a computer program product. Accordingly, the present application can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application can take the form of a computer program product on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, etc.) embodying computer readable program code.

[0234] The present application is described in reference to the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams according to the methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products of the present application. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams block or blocks.

[0235] These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer- readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function specified in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams block or blocks.

[0236] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams block or blocks.

[0237] Obviously, various modifications and changes can be made to the present application by those skilled in the art without departing from the true scope of the present application. Accordingly, it is intended that all such modifications and changes be included within the scope of the application as long as the modified and changed embodiments fall within the scope of the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method is applied to a terminal device supporting sub-band full duplex (SBFD), and the method comprises: receiving first information, the first information being used for indicating indexes of random access channel occasions; sending a preamble on a first random access channel occasion, the first random access channel occasion being one of the candidate random access channel occasion set; wherein the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit, and the candidate random access channel occasion set comprises random access channel occasions corresponding to indexes indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit; or, the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit and an SBFD time unit, and the candidate random access channel occasion set comprises random access channel occasions corresponding to indexes indicated by the first information on the non-SBFD time unit and random access channel occasions corresponding to indexes indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit; or, the first information corresponds to an SBFD time unit, and the candidate random access channel occasion set comprises random access channel occasions corresponding to indexes indicated by the first information on the SBFD time unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The time unit corresponding to the first information is predefined.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further comprises: receiving second information; wherein the second information indicates that the first information is applied to an SBFD time unit, and the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit and an SBFD time unit; or, the second information indicates that the first information is not applied to an SBFD time unit, and the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, The first information is applied to a non-SBFD time unit. The method further comprises: receiving third information, the third information being used for indicating indexes of random access channel occasions, and the third information corresponding to an SBFD time unit, and the candidate random access channel occasion set further comprising random access channel occasions corresponding to indexes indicated by the third information on the SBFD time unit.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein The method further comprises: determining the first random access channel occasion according to at least one of the following factors: time domain positions of random access channel occasions in the candidate random access channel occasion set, network load, or path loss.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, The SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit correspond to different physical random access channel configuration indexes (PRACH configuration indexes).

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein The first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for one of the following random access events: a first message request system message based on random access, beam failure recovery, or cell switching; or, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for a downlink control channel triggered random access event.

8. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: sending first information, the first information being used for indicating indexes of random access channel occasions; receiving a preamble on a first random access channel occasion, the first random access channel occasion being one of the candidate random access channel occasion set; The first information corresponds to a non-sub-band full duplex (SBFD) time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions includes a random access channel occasion corresponding to an index indicated by the first information on a non-SBFD time unit. Alternatively, the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit and an SBFD time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions includes a random access channel occasion corresponding to an index indicated by the first information on a non-SBFD time unit and a random access channel occasion corresponding to an index indicated by the first information on an SBFD time unit. Alternatively, the first information corresponds to an SBFD time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions includes a random access channel occasion corresponding to an index indicated by the first information on an SBFD time unit.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, The time unit corresponding to the first information is predefined.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein, The method further includes: sending second information; The second information indicates that the first information is applied to an SBFD time unit, and the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit and an SBFD time unit. Alternatively, the second information indicates that the first information is not applied to an SBFD time unit, and the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein, The first information is applied to a non-SBFD time unit. The method further includes: sending third information, the third information being used to indicate an index of a random access channel occasion, and the third information corresponding to an SBFD time unit, and the set of candidate random access channel occasions further including a random access channel occasion corresponding to an index indicated by the third information on an SBFD time unit.

12. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11, characterized in that, An SBFD time unit and a non-SBFD time unit correspond to different physical random access channel configuration indexes (PRACH configuration indexes).

13. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein, The first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used to configure random access resources for one of the following random access events: a first message request system message based on random access, beam failure recovery, or cell switching. Alternatively, the first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used to configure random access resources for a downlink control channel triggered random access event.

14. A communication method, comprising: The method is applied to a terminal device supporting sub-band full duplex (SBFD), and the method includes: receiving first information, the first information being used to indicate an index of a random access channel occasion; determining at least one random access channel occasion according to the first information and a bias; sending a preamble on one of the at least one random access channel occasion.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, The bias is a number of random access channel occasions included in an SBFD time unit.

16. The method of claim 14 or 15, wherein, The method further includes: determining the first random access channel occasion according to at least one of the following factors: a time domain position of a random access channel occasion in the set of candidate random access channel occasions, network load, or path loss.

17. The method of any one of claims 14-16, wherein, An SBFD time unit and a non-SBFD time unit correspond to the same physical random access channel configuration index (PRACH configuration index).

18. The method of any one of claims 14-17, wherein, The first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for one of the following random access events: a first message based random access requesting system messages, beam failure recovery, or cell switching. Alternatively, the first message is used for configuring random access resources for a downlink control channel triggered random access event.

19. A method of communication, comprising: The method is applied to a terminal device supporting sub-band full duplex (SBFD), and the method comprises: receiving first information and second information, wherein the first information is used for indicating an index of a random access channel occasion, and the second information is used for indicating preamble resources corresponding to the terminal device supporting SBFD; determining at least one random access channel occasion according to the first information; sending a preamble indicated by the second information on one of the at least one random access channel occasion.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, The method further comprises: determining the first random access channel occasion according to at least one of the following factors: a time domain position of a random access channel occasion in the set of candidate random access channel occasions, network load, or path loss.

21. The method of claim 19 or 20, wherein, An SBFD time unit and a non-SBFD time unit correspond to a same physical random access channel configuration index (PRACH configuration index).

22. The method of any one of claims 19-21, wherein, The first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for configuring random access resources for one of the following random access events: a first message based random access requesting system messages, beam failure recovery, or cell switching. Alternatively, the first message is used for configuring random access resources for a downlink control channel triggered random access event.

23. A method of communication, comprising: The method comprises: sending first information and second information, wherein the first information is used for indicating an index of a random access channel occasion, and the second information is used for indicating preamble resources corresponding to a terminal device supporting sub-band full duplex (SBFD); determining at least one random access channel occasion according to the first information; after the indices of the random access channel occasions on the non-SBFD time unit and the SBFD time unit are uniformly sorted, receiving a preamble indicated by the second information on an RO corresponding to the index indicated by the first information.

24. A method of communication, comprising: The method is applied to a terminal device supporting sub-band full duplex (SBFD), and the method comprises: receiving a first message carrying first information and second information, wherein the first information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit and an SBFD time unit, the second information corresponds to a non-SBFD time unit, and the first information and the second information are both used for indicating an index of a random access channel occasion, and the random access channel occasions indicated by the first information and the second information are the same; determining at least one random access channel occasion according to the first information; sending a preamble on one of the at least one random access channel occasion.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein, The method further comprises: determining the first random access channel occasion according to at least one of the following factors: a time domain position of a random access channel occasion in the set of candidate random access channel occasions, network load, or path loss.

26. The method of claim 24 or 25, wherein, The SBFD time unit and the non-SBFD time unit correspond to a same physical random access channel configuration index PRACH configuration index.

27. The method of any one of claims 24-26, wherein, The first information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used to configure random access resources for one of the following random access events: a first message request system message based on random access, beam failure recovery, or cell switching; Alternatively, the first message is used to configure random access resources for a downlink control channel triggered random access event.

28. A method of communication, comprising: The method comprises: sending a first message carrying first information and second information, the first information corresponding to a non-sub-band full-duplex (SBFD) time unit and an SBFD time unit, and the second information corresponding to a non-SBFD time unit, the first information and the second information both being used to indicate an index of a random access channel occasion, and the first information and the second information indicating a same random access channel occasion; receiving a preamble from an SBFD-enabled terminal device at one of the at least one random access channel occasion indicated by the first information; or receiving a preamble from a terminal device that does not support SBFD at one of the at least one random access channel occasion indicated by the second information. A computer program product comprising computer readable instructions stored on a computer readable medium that, when executed by a processor of a communication device, cause the method of any one of claims 1-7, or the method of any one of claims 14-18, or the method of any one of claims 19-22, or the method of any one of claims 24-27, or the method of any one of claims 8-13, or the method of 23, or the method of 28 to be performed.

29. A communications device, characterized by A computer program product comprising computer readable instructions stored on a computer readable medium that, when executed by a processor of a communication device, cause the method of any one of claims 1-7, or the method of any one of claims 14-18, or the method of any one of claims 19-22, or the method of any one of claims 24-27, or the method of any one of claims 8-13, or the method of 23, or the method of 28 to be performed.

30. A communications device, characterized by A computer program product comprising computer readable instructions stored on a computer readable medium that, when executed by a processor of a communication device, cause the method of any one of claims 1-7, or the method of any one of claims 14-18, or the method of any one of claims 19-22, or the method of any one of claims 24-27, or the method of any one of claims 8-13, or the method of 23, or the method of 28 to be performed.

31. A communications device, characterized by ​ 32. A communications device, characterized by ​ 33. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, ​ 34. A computer program product, characterised in that, When the computer program product is run on a device, it causes the device to perform the method of any one of claims 1-7, or the method of any one of claims 14-18, or the method of any one of claims 19-22, or the method of any one of claims 24-27, or the method of any one of claims 8-13 or 23 or 28.

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