Information transmission method and communication apparatus

Abstract

An information transmission method and a communication apparatus. An energy harvesting node (for example, a terminal device) may feed back, to an energy providing apparatus (for example, a device having a function of sending a wireless charging signal, such as a network device), energy information acquired by the energy harvesting node from a surrounding environment, for example, energy acquired from a received radio frequency signal, energy acquired from a received communication signal, energy acquired from environmental energy (such as light energy, kinetic energy, and thermal energy), etc., so that the energy providing apparatus can use the information to accurately determine whether wireless charging needs to be performed on the energy harvesting node, a specific configuration of a sent wireless charging signal, and the like. The accuracy and efficiency of determining whether charging needs to be performed on energy harvesting nodes can be improved, thereby improving the accuracy and efficiency of charging power allocation and charging resource scheduling, and improving the utilization rate of resources.

Description

Method and communication apparatus for information transmission

[0001] The present application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202411012358.6, filed on July 26, 2024, and entitled "Method and communication apparatus for information transmission", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication, and more particularly, to a method and communication apparatus for information transmission. BACKGROUND

[0003] At present, there are a large number of internet of things (IoT) devices in the network. These IoT devices are low in cost and small in size, and cannot carry a large-capacity battery, facing the problem of short standby life. Therefore, it is necessary to wirelessly charge these IoT devices.

[0004] At present, a network device can be used to send a wireless charging signal to an IoT device to charge the IoT device, but the efficiency of charging power allocation and charging resource scheduling of the wireless charging signal is relatively low, which affects the utilization rate of charging resources and leads to waste of charging resources. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a method and communication apparatus for information transmission. The accuracy and efficiency of wireless charging power allocation and charging resource scheduling for energy harvesting nodes (such as terminal devices) can be improved.

[0006] In a first aspect, a method for information transmission is provided. The execution subject of the method can be an energy harvesting node (such as a terminal device), a chip, a chip system, or a processor supporting the energy harvesting node to implement the method, or a logic node, a logic module, or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the energy harvesting node, etc. The method comprises: obtaining first information, the first information comprising information corresponding to energy obtained from the surrounding environment, the first information being related to wireless charging configuration; and sending the first information.

[0007] The method for information transmission provided in the first aspect can enable the energy collection node to feed back information corresponding to energy obtained from the surrounding environment, such as energy obtained from received radio frequency signals, energy obtained from received communication signals, energy obtained from environmental energy, and the like, to the device that transmits the wireless charging signal, that is, the device having the function of transmitting the wireless charging signal, so that the device that transmits the wireless charging signal can accurately determine whether the energy collection node needs to be wirelessly charged, and the specific configuration of the wireless charging signal, and the like. The accuracy and efficiency of determining whether the energy collection node needs to be charged can be improved, thereby improving the accuracy and efficiency of charging power allocation and charging resource scheduling, and improving the utilization rate of resources.

[0008] For example, the environmental energy can include at least one kind of energy existing in the natural environment, such as light energy, heat energy, kinetic energy, and the like.

[0009] For example, the kinetic energy can include wind energy, that is, the wind energy can be a specific implementation manner of the kinetic energy.

[0010] For example, the first information related to the wireless charging configuration can be understood as: the first information is used for the device that transmits the wireless charging signal to determine the wireless charging configuration. The wireless charging configuration can include whether the energy collection node needs to be wirelessly charged (whether the wireless charging signal is transmitted to the energy collection node), time-frequency resources occupied by the wireless charging signal, power size of the wireless charging signal, and the like.

[0011] In some possible implementation manners, the energy collection node can transmit the first information to the network device based on the request information of the network device, or can actively determine when to transmit the first information to the network device.

[0012] For example, the energy collection node can periodically transmit the first information, or transmit the first information when a first condition (that is, a specific event occurs) is met, and the like.

[0013] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment includes at least one of the following information:

[0014] First energy information, the first energy information corresponding to energy obtained from received radio frequency signals;

[0015] Second energy information, the second energy information corresponding to energy obtained from received first communication signals, the first communication signals being communication signals carrying communication data;

[0016] Third energy information, the third energy information corresponding to energy obtained from light energy;

[0017] Fourth energy information, the fourth energy information corresponding to energy obtained from heat energy;

[0018] fifth energy information, the fifth energy information corresponding to energy obtained from kinetic energy;

[0019] sixth energy information, the sixth energy information corresponding to total energy obtained from the surrounding environment.

[0020] The total energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment includes at least two of the sum of energy obtained from the received radio frequency signal, energy obtained from the received first communication signal, energy obtained from light energy, energy obtained from thermal energy, and energy obtained from kinetic energy (such as wind energy).

[0021] The radio frequency signal received by the energy collection node includes the first radio frequency signal and / or the second radio frequency signal. The second radio frequency signal is a radio frequency signal other than the first radio frequency signal in the radio frequency signal received by the energy collection node. The first radio frequency signal (which can also be referred to as the first communication signal) carries communication data between the energy collection node and other devices. The second radio frequency signal does not carry communication data between the energy collection node and other devices. The energy obtained by the energy collection node from the received radio frequency signal includes the sum of energy obtained from the received first radio frequency signal and energy obtained from the received second radio frequency signal. The energy obtained by the energy collection node from the received first radio frequency signal or the received second radio frequency signal is part of the energy obtained from the received radio frequency signal.

[0022] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first energy information includes charging power of energy obtained from the received radio frequency signal; the second energy information includes charging power of energy obtained from the received first communication signal; the third energy information includes charging power of energy obtained from light energy; the fourth energy information includes charging power of energy obtained from thermal energy; the fifth energy information includes charging power of energy obtained from kinetic energy; and the sixth energy information includes charging power of total energy obtained from the surrounding environment. In this implementation manner, by reporting the charging power provided by different energy sources, the implementation manner is simple, and the complexity of implementation can be reduced. Moreover, the efficiency and accuracy of determining whether to send the wireless charging signal can be improved.

[0023] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first energy information includes a ratio of a charging power of energy obtained from the received radio frequency signal to a required charging power; the second energy information includes a ratio of a charging power of energy obtained from the received first communication signal to the required charging power; the third energy information includes a ratio of a charging power of energy obtained from light energy to the required charging power; the fourth energy information includes a ratio of a charging power of energy obtained from thermal energy to the required charging power; the fifth energy information includes a ratio of a charging power of energy obtained from kinetic energy to the required charging power; and the sixth energy information includes a ratio of a charging power of total energy obtained from the surrounding environment to the required charging power. In this implementation, by reporting the proportion of the charging power provided by different energy sources to the required charging power of the energy collection node, the implementation is flexible, can reduce the size of the data to be reported, reduce the communication resource overhead, and improve the utilization rate of the communication resource. Moreover, the efficiency and accuracy of determining whether to send the wireless charging signal to the terminal device can also be improved.

[0024] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first energy information includes a charging level corresponding to the charging power of the energy obtained from the received radio frequency signal; the second energy information includes a charging level corresponding to the charging power of the energy obtained from the received first communication signal; the third energy information includes a charging level corresponding to the charging power of the energy obtained from light energy; the fourth energy information includes a charging level corresponding to the charging power of the energy obtained from thermal energy; the fifth energy information includes a charging level corresponding to the charging power of the energy obtained from kinetic energy; and the sixth energy information includes a charging level corresponding to the charging power of the total energy obtained from the surrounding environment. Different charging levels correspond to different charging power ranges. In this implementation, by reporting the charging level corresponding to the charging power provided by different energy sources, the implementation is flexible, can reduce the size of the data to be reported, reduce the resource overhead, and improve the utilization rate of the communication resource. Moreover, the efficiency and accuracy of determining whether to send the wireless charging signal to the terminal device can also be improved.

[0025] For example, the range of the charging power corresponding to each charging level of a certain terminal device can be divided according to the required charging power of the terminal. That is, the number of charging levels corresponding to the terminal device and the range of the charging power corresponding to each charging level can be determined according to the required charging power of the terminal. The number of charging levels corresponding to different terminal devices can be different, and the range of the charging power corresponding to the same charging level can also be different.

[0026] For example, the range of the charging power corresponding to each charging level can be preset or preconfigured. In other words, the number of charging levels corresponding to different terminal devices can be the same, and the range of the charging power corresponding to the same charging level can also be the same.

[0027] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: sending second information, the second information including wireless charging demand information, the wireless charging demand information including at least one of required energy, residual energy, required charging power, or indication information indicating whether a wireless charging signal needs to be sent. In this implementation, the energy collection node can report its own wireless charging demand, so that the device sending the wireless charging signal can more accurately determine whether the energy collection node needs to be wirelessly charged and the specific configuration of the wireless charging signal by using the information and the information corresponding to the energy collected from the surrounding environment. The accuracy and efficiency of charging power allocation and charging resource scheduling are further improved, and the utilization rate of resources is improved.

[0028] For example, the second information and the first information can be sent through the same signaling or different signaling.

[0029] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, in a case where the total energy collected from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required energy, or the charging power of the total energy collected from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required charging power, the wireless charging demand information includes indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal needs to be sent; or in a case where the total energy collected from the surrounding environment is greater than or equal to the required energy, or the charging power of the total energy collected from the surrounding environment is greater than or equal to the required charging power, the wireless charging demand information includes indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal does not need to be sent.

[0030] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the information corresponding to the energy collected from the surrounding environment includes second energy information; in a case where the total energy collected from the surrounding environment in the time period during which the first communication signal is continuously sent is less than or equal to the required energy, the wireless charging demand information includes indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal needs to be sent; or in a case where the total energy collected from the surrounding environment in the time period during which the first communication signal is continuously sent is greater than or equal to the required energy, the wireless charging demand information includes indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal does not need to be sent. In this implementation, in the scenario of simultaneous data and energy transmission, whether the communication signal received by the energy collection node is sufficient to meet the wireless charging demand of the energy collection node can be determined. On the basis of ensuring that data can be normally transmitted, the accuracy and efficiency of determining whether the energy collection node needs to be charged can be improved.

[0031] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving the wireless charging signal; and charging by using the wireless charging signal.

[0032] In a second aspect, a method for information transmission is provided. The execution subject of the method can be a device (e.g., a network device, a terminal device, etc.) that transmits a wireless charging signal, a chip, a chip system, or a processor that supports the device to implement the method, or a logic node, a logic module, or software that can implement all or part of the function of the device, etc. The method includes: receiving first information, the first information including information corresponding to energy collected from a surrounding environment; and determining a wireless charging configuration according to the first information.

[0033] In the method for information transmission provided in the second aspect, the device that transmits the wireless charging signal can obtain information corresponding to energy collected from the surrounding environment by the energy collection node, such as energy collected from received radio frequency signals, energy collected from received communication signals, energy collected from environmental energy, etc. Thus, the device can accurately determine whether the energy collection node needs to be wirelessly charged and the specific configuration of the wireless charging signal, etc. by using the information. The accuracy and efficiency of determining whether the energy collection node needs to be charged can be improved, thereby improving the accuracy and efficiency of charging power allocation and charging resource scheduling, and improving the utilization rate of resources.

[0034] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the method further includes: receiving second information, the second information including wireless charging demand information, the wireless charging demand information including at least one of required energy, residual power, required charging power, or indication information indicating whether the wireless charging signal needs to be transmitted. In this implementation, the device that transmits the wireless charging signal can more accurately determine whether the energy collection node needs to be wirelessly charged and the specific configuration of the wireless charging signal, etc. by using the information and the information corresponding to energy collected from the surrounding environment. The accuracy and efficiency of charging power allocation and charging resource scheduling are further improved, and the utilization rate of resources is improved.

[0035] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, determining the wireless charging configuration according to the first information includes: in a case where the total energy collected from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required energy, or in a case where the charging power of the total energy collected from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required charging power, determining the wireless charging configuration includes: determining to transmit the wireless charging signal.

[0036] For example, wireless charging configuration may include: whether wireless charging of the energy harvesting node is required (whether to send a wireless charging signal to the energy harvesting node), the time and frequency resources occupied by the wireless charging signal, the power of the wireless charging signal, etc.

[0037] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment includes second energy information. Determining the wireless charging configuration based on the first information includes: determining the total energy obtained from the surrounding environment during the period of continuous transmission of the first communication signal; and determining the wireless charging configuration when the total energy obtained from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required energy includes: determining to transmit a wireless charging signal.

[0038] For details regarding the specific content of the information related to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment, please refer to the explanation of the implementation method in the first aspect above, which will not be repeated here.

[0039] For the beneficial effects of the various possible implementation methods of the second aspect, please refer to the description of the beneficial effects of the implementation methods of the first aspect above, which will not be repeated here.

[0040] Thirdly, a communication device is provided, comprising: a module (e.g., including a processing module and an interface module) for performing the steps of the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof; or, a module for performing the steps of the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0041] Fourthly, a communication device is provided, the device comprising at least one processor and a memory, the at least one processor being configured to execute: the method of the first aspect above or any possible implementation thereof, or the method of the second aspect above or any possible implementation thereof.

[0042] Fifthly, a communication device is provided, the device comprising at least one processor (processing circuit) and interface circuit, the at least one processor being configured to execute: the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof, or the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0043] For example, the communication device can be an energy harvesting node, or a chip, chip system, or processor in the energy harvesting node.

[0044] For example, an energy harvesting node may include a terminal device. The terminal device may include an IoT device.

[0045] For example, the communication device can be a device that transmits a wireless charging signal, a chip, a chip system, or a processor in the device that transmits the wireless charging signal, or the like, and can also be a logic node, a logic module, or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the device that transmits the wireless charging signal.

[0046] For example, the device that transmits the wireless charging signal can include a network device or the like.

[0047] In a sixth aspect, an energy harvesting node is provided, which includes the communication device provided in the third aspect, or the communication device provided in the fourth aspect, or the communication device provided in the fifth aspect.

[0048] In a seventh aspect, a device that transmits a wireless charging signal is provided, which includes the communication device provided in the third aspect, or the communication device provided in the fourth aspect, or the communication device provided in the fifth aspect.

[0049] In an eighth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which includes a computer program that, when executed by a processor, is configured to perform the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

[0050] In a ninth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program that, when executed, is configured to perform the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

[0051] In a tenth aspect, a chip is provided, which includes a processor that is configured to call and run a computer program from a memory, so that a communication device in which the chip is installed performs the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

[0052] In an eleventh aspect, a chip or a system on chip is provided, which includes a logic circuit that is configured to implement the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect. Optionally, the chip or the system on chip can further include an interface circuit.

[0053] In a twelfth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the energy harvesting node of the sixth aspect and the device for transmitting the wireless charging signal of the seventh aspect. Optionally, the communication system can further include a core network device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0054] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied.

[0055] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another example of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied.

[0056] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an example of a communication architecture to which embodiments of the present application can be applied.

[0057] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of another example of a communication architecture to which embodiments of the present application can be applied.

[0058] FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of an example of a method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0059] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an example of energy harvesting by a terminal device from the surrounding environment according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0060] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of another example of energy harvesting by a terminal device from the surrounding environment according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0061] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of yet another example of energy harvesting by a terminal device from the surrounding environment according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0062] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an example of time-frequency resources used for information reporting by a terminal device and time-frequency resources used for receiving a communication signal and a charging signal according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0063] FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0064] FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of another example of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0065] FIG. 12 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0066] FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram of another example of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0067] FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0068] FIG. 15 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0069] The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0070] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, " / " means or, for example, A / B can mean A or B; "and / or" herein only describes the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can mean that A exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, "multiple" means two or more than two.

[0071] Hereinafter, the terms "first" and "second" are only used for description purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined with "first" and "second" can explicitly or implicitly include one or more features. In the description of the embodiments, unless otherwise specified, the meaning of "multiple" is two or more than two.

[0072] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device or the network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes central processing unit (CPU), memory management unit (MMU), memory (also known as main memory) and other hardware. The operating system can be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processing through processes, such as Linux operating system, Unix operating system, Android operating system, iOS operating system or windows operating system, etc. The application layer includes browsers, address books, word processing software, instant messaging software, etc. Moreover, the present application does not particularly limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided by the present application, as long as it can communicate according to the method provided by the present application by running the program whose code records the method provided by the present application, for example, the execution subject of the method provided by the present application can be a terminal device or a network device, or a functional module in the terminal device or the network device that can call and execute the program.

[0073] Moreover, various aspects or features of the disclosure can be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and / or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used in the disclosure is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., EPROM, card, stick, or key drive, etc.). Additionally, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine- readable medium" can include, without being limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and / or carrying instruction(s) and / or data.

[0074] With the development of wireless networks and the evolution of service requirements, there are a large number of energy collection nodes (illustrated by taking IoT devices as an example) in the network. These IoT devices are low in cost and small in size, and cannot carry large-capacity batteries, and are faced with the problem of short standby life. In order to solve this problem, many manufacturers propose to use environmental energy collection to provide IoT devices with a constant supply of energy. Wireless radio frequency energy is one of the candidate energy sources. Wireless radio frequency energy can be understood as energy generated by wireless electromagnetic waves. Its advantages are that the energy size and energy source are controllable, and it has certain penetration and long transmission distance.

[0075] For IoT devices that need to be charged, the wireless radio frequency energy collection method mainly collects energy generated by wireless electromagnetic waves existing in the natural environment. The wireless electromagnetic waves existing in the natural environment can be wireless electromagnetic waves or radio frequency (RF) signals emitted by any communication device around the IoT device. However, because the wireless electromagnetic waves existing in the natural environment are not matched and cooperatively optimized, for example, the power of the wireless electromagnetic waves is low, the source of the wireless electromagnetic waves is unstable, and some wireless electromagnetic wave signals may change at any time, etc., the efficiency of wireless radio frequency energy collection is very low, which cannot meet the daily use requirements of IoT devices.

[0076] At present, a large number of network devices (for example, base stations) are deployed in a cellular mobile communication network. The base stations have multiple antennas, can transmit an electromagnetic wave signal of any design, and can provide a directional beam to enhance the radio frequency energy in some directions, frequency bands, and time periods, thereby greatly improving the low efficiency of energy transmission. Therefore, wireless energy transfer (WPT) through the base station is one of the important ways to solve the short battery life of IoT devices in the future.

[0077] In addition to collecting the above wireless radio frequency energy, the energy collection node (such as an IoT device) can also collect energy from environmental energy (such as light energy, kinetic energy, and thermal energy) to prolong its service life. Environmental energy is an environmentally friendly energy, but its main drawback is that the uncertainty of time, place, and weather conditions makes it difficult to guarantee the quality of service. However, environmental energy can be used as a supplement to wireless energy transfer to further improve the energy collection efficiency of the receiving end.

[0078] In the scenario of charging the energy collection node using the electromagnetic wave signal transmitted by the base station, the energy collection node can send a wireless charging (wireless charging) request to the base station, and the wireless charging request carries auxiliary information. After receiving the wireless charging request, the base station provides a wireless charging configuration for the energy collection node, and the energy collection node receives the wireless charging signal (also referred to as the wireless charging signal) transmitted by the base station according to the wireless charging configuration, and uses the wireless charging signal to charge or charge the energy collection node. The auxiliary information reported by the energy collection node can include the remaining power of the energy collection node, the expected charging speed, the speed information of the energy collection node, the position information, or the quality information of the downlink signal received by the energy collection node.

[0079] However, in the above scheme, the information fed back by the energy collection node to the base station only involves the information related to the reception of radio frequency energy by the energy collection node, or in other words, the information fed back by the energy collection node to the base station is only the wireless charging demand information of the energy collection node. The base station may reduce the efficiency of energy charging power allocation and energy charging resource scheduling based on this information, thereby reducing the utilization rate of the energy charging resource and causing waste of the energy charging resource.

[0080] For example, the energy harvesting node can also harvest energy from the surrounding environment, or in the case that there is already wireless communication between the energy harvesting node and the base station, the wireless communication signals between the two can themselves provide energy for the energy harvesting node, but if the energy harvesting node does not feed back this information to the base station, it can cause the energy provided by the wireless charging signals sent by the base station to the energy harvesting node to not match the energy actually needed by the energy harvesting node. For example, the energy (or power) provided by the wireless charging signals sent by the base station to the energy harvesting node can be greater than the energy actually needed by the energy harvesting node, i.e., the base station can send too many unnecessary wireless charging signals, and wireless charging signals also need to occupy communication resources (such as time-frequency resources), causing the base station to allocate too many unnecessary charging resources for the energy harvesting node, resulting in a problem of waste of charging resources. For example, charging resources can include time-frequency resources used by the base station to send wireless charging signals, etc.

[0081] In view of this, the present application provides a method of information transmission and a communication device, and the energy harvesting node can feed back energy information harvested from the surrounding environment to the device providing energy. Further, the device providing energy can determine whether the energy harvesting node needs to be charged and how much energy needs to be provided according to the above information, which can improve the accuracy and efficiency of charging power allocation and charging resource scheduling for the energy harvesting node, avoid waste of charging resources, and improve resource utilization.

[0082] It can be understood that the method provided by the present application can be applied in a scenario of wireless charging between any two or more devices (such as between terminal devices, between a terminal device and a network device, such as between network devices), as long as the communication devices can respectively send and receive wireless charging signals and can harvest energy from the surrounding environment.

[0083] It should also be understood that the wireless charging signal and the communication signal both belong to radio frequency signals, and the power, corresponding frequency, time-frequency resources occupied, or beam direction of the two signals can be different. The wireless charging signal does not carry communication data, and in some cases. The communication signal can be used for communication and charging at the same time. For example, in the case that the power of the communication signal is relatively large, the communication signal can be used for charging the terminal device at the same time. However, in general, since the power of the communication signal is relatively small, although the communication signal can charge the terminal device (such as a mobile phone) at the same time, the charging power is relatively small, and the charging energy of the communication signal is much smaller than the power consumption of the terminal device. That is, in general, the charging power provided by the communication signal to the terminal device is much smaller than the charging power required by the terminal device.

[0084] It should also be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, "wireless communication" can also be expressed as "communication", "data transmission", "information transmission", etc. "Wireless charging" can also be expressed as "charging", "energy transmission", "charging", "wireless energy transmission", "wireless charging", "wireless energy transmission", "radio frequency energy transmission", "radio frequency energy transmission", "radio frequency charging", or "radio frequency charging", etc. If not specially stated, the meanings are the same, and different expressions can be replaced with each other.

[0085] In order to facilitate the understanding of the embodiments of the present application, first, a communication system suitable for the embodiments of the present application is briefly introduced.

[0086] For example, Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example of a communication system suitable for the embodiments of the present application.

[0087] Fig. 1a shows a point-to-point single connection scenario between a base station (network device) and a terminal device, Fig. 1b shows a multi-hop connection scenario between a network device and a terminal device through a relay node, Fig. 1c shows a dual connectivity (DC) scenario between a terminal device and multiple network devices, and Fig. 1d shows a dual connectivity scenario between a terminal device and multiple relay nodes.

[0088] For example, in the scenarios shown in Fig. 1, the network device can perform wireless charging on the terminal device, one network device can perform wireless charging on another network device, the network device can perform wireless charging on the relay node, the relay node can perform wireless charging on the network device, one relay node can perform wireless charging on another relay node, the relay node can perform wireless charging on the terminal device, or multiple network devices or multiple relay nodes can perform wireless charging on one terminal device. In the process of wireless charging, the method provided by the present application can be used.

[0089] For example, Fig. 2 is another example of a communication system 20 suitable for the embodiments of the present application. As shown in Fig. 2, the communication system 20 includes a radio access network (RAN) 200, a core network (CN) 230 and an Internet 240. The RAN 200 includes at least one RAN node (such as nodes 210a and 210b in Fig. 2, collectively referred to as 210) and at least one terminal (such as 220a-220j in Fig. 2, collectively referred to as 220). The RAN 200 can also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in Fig. 2), etc. For example, "node" can also be referred to as "network element", for example, nodes 210a and 210b can also be referred to as network elements 210a and 210b, and nodes 220a-220j can also be referred to as network elements 220a-220j.

[0090] The terminal 220 is connected to the RAN node 210 through wireless or wired means. Different terminals are connected through wireless or wired means for communication. The RAN node 210 is connected to the core network 230 through wireless or wired means. The core network device in the core network 230 and the RAN node 210 in the RAN 200 can be different physical devices respectively, or can be the same physical device integrating the functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the RAN node 210, or can be a physical device integrating part of the functions of the core network device and part of the functions of the RAN node 210.

[0091] The communication system shown in FIG. 1 or the RAN 200 shown in FIG. 2 can be a third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project, 3GPP) related cellular system, for example, a long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (Frequency Division Duplex, FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (Time Division Duplex, TDD), a universal mobile communication system (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS), a worldwide microwave access (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, WiMAX) communication system, a 4G, 5G mobile communication system (including independent networking and non-independent networking), a new radio (New Radio, NR), a future communication network, a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN), or also an open access network (open RAN, O-RAN or ORAN) system, or also a communication system combining two or more of the above systems. The embodiments of the present application are not limited here.

[0092] The RAN node 210, which can also be referred to as an access network device, a radio access network device, a network device, a RAN entity or an access node, etc., constitutes part of the communication system to help terminals realize wireless access. The plurality of RAN nodes 210 in the communication system 20 can be nodes of the same type or nodes of different types.

[0093] In some scenarios, the roles of the RAN nodes 210 and the terminals 220 are relative, for example, the network element 220i in FIG. 2 can be a helicopter or a drone, which can be configured to move a base station, for those terminals 220j accessing to the RAN 200 through the network element 220i, the network element 220i is a base station; but for the base station 210a, the network element 220i is a terminal. That is, the base station 210a and the terminal 220i communicate through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, the base station 210a and the network element 220i can also communicate through a base station-to-base station interface protocol, at this time, the network element 220i is also a base station relative to 210a. The RAN nodes 210 and the terminals 220 are sometimes referred to as communication apparatuses, for example, the network elements 210a and 210b in FIG. 2 can be understood as communication apparatuses with base station functions, and the network elements 220a-220j can be understood as communication apparatuses with terminal functions.

[0094] 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 base station in a 4th generation (4G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, etc. The RAN node can be a macro base station (such as 210a in FIG. 2), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 210b in FIG. 4), a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a CRAN scenario. Optionally, the RAN node can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or a vehicle-mounted device, etc. For example, an access network device in a vehicle to everything (V2X) technology can be a road side unit (RSU). All or part of the functions of the RAN node in this application can also be implemented by software functions running on hardware, or by virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (such as a cloud platform). The RAN node in this application can also be a logical node, a logical module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the RAN node.

[0095] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes cooperate to assist a terminal to implement wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of functions of a base station. For example, a RAN node can be a control unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU), etc. Optionally, a control unit can also be referred to as a centralized unit, and a radio unit can also be referred to as a wireless unit. The CU and the DU can be separately arranged, or can be included in the same network element, for example, a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio unit, for example, included in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna processing unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0096] For example, in the example shown in FIG. 2, the method provided in the present application can be used in the process of wireless charging between the terminal 220 and the network element 210a, between the terminal 220 and the network element 210b, between the network element 210a and the network element 210b, and between different terminals 220.

[0097] For example, the RAN node and the terminal can be fixed in position, or can be movable. The RAN node and the terminal can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can be deployed on the water surface; and can also be deployed on an airplane, a balloon, and a man-made satellite. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of the RAN node and the terminal.

[0098] In embodiments of the present application, the functions of the RAN node can also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the RAN node, or can be performed by a control subsystem containing RAN node functions. For example, the control subsystem containing RAN node functions can be a control center in application scenarios such as smart grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart cities. The functions of the terminal can also be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal, or can be performed by a device containing terminal functions.

[0099] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal can also be referred to as a terminal device, a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal, etc. The terminal can be widely applied to various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D) communication, V2X communication, machine-type communication (MTC), IOT, virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, automatic driving, remote medical treatment, smart power grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a wearable device, a vehicle, a drone, a helicopter, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a mechanical arm, a smart home device, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the device form of the terminal.

[0100] Optionally, in the embodiments of the present application, the RAN node can also be referred to as a network device, an access network device, or a radio access network device, etc. In the present application, the RAN node is referred to as a network device unless otherwise specified.

[0101] In the embodiments of the present application, as a possible implementation manner, the network device (or RAN) can include a CU, a DU, and a RU, etc. As another possible implementation manner, the network device (or RAN) can be a CU, a DU, or a RU, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0102] It should be understood that the communication system shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 is only exemplary and should not cause any limitation on the communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application. For example, more or fewer network nodes, such as terminal devices or RAN nodes, can be included in the communication system shown in FIG. 2, and the RAN nodes or terminal devices included in the communication system shown in FIG. 2 can be various forms of RAN nodes or terminal devices described above. The embodiments of the present application do not show them one by one in the figures.

[0103] FIG. 3 shows another example of a communication architecture applicable to the embodiments of the present application.

[0104] As shown in FIG. 3, the access network device communicates with the core network device through a backhaul link and communicates with the UE through an air interface. The access network device includes a BBU and at least one RU, and the BBU includes at least one CU and at least one DU. The BBU communicates with the core network through the backhaul link, and the RU in the access network device communicates with at least one UE through the air interface. The BBU communicates with at least one RU through a fronthaul link, and the BBU and the RU can be co-located or not co-located.

[0105] As shown in FIG. 3, the at least one CU and the at least one DU can communicate through at least one midhaul link.

[0106] FIG. 4 shows another example of a communication architecture suitable for embodiments of the present application.

[0107] As shown in FIG. 4, the CU is configured to perform part of layer 2 (L2) and layer 3 (L3) functions of a wireless communication protocol stack. The midhaul link is configured to carry data between the CU and the DU, and the backhaul link is configured to carry data between the CU and a core network device. The DU is configured to perform part of layer 1 (L1) and layer 2 functions, and the RU is configured to perform data computation and RF digital part functions of layer 1. Data between the RU and the DU is carried using a fronthaul link. The integrated DU includes the functions of the DU and the RU described above. For example, layer 1 includes a physical (PHY) layer, layer 2 includes a media access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and layer 3 includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, etc. In one implementation, a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer can also be included above the PDCP layer. Above the RRC layer, a non-access stratum (NAS) can also exist.

[0108] For example, the CPU can include an X86 architecture processor or an advanced RISC machine (ARM) processor. The RISC is a reduced instruction set computer. The X86 type chip or the chip based on the ARM architecture can process instructions from the core network device, some of the logical operations involved, such as simple summation and other underlying operation modules are processed by the FPGA, GPU or other accelerator, and the results are fed back to the CPU for further control operation. The CPU and the FPGA, GPU or other accelerator can be connected and communicated through a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) interface.

[0109] The DU is usually implemented using a multi-core processor and one or more hardware accelerators. For example, the DU can also include a CPU, and a chip of the type of FPGA, GPU or other accelerator. For example, the CPU can include an X86 architecture processor or an ARM processor. The X86 type chip or the chip based on the ARM architecture can process instructions from the CU, some of the logical operations involved, such as simple summation and other underlying operation modules are processed by the FPGA, GPU or other accelerator, and the results are fed back to the CPU for further control operation. The CPU and the FPGA, GPU or other accelerator can be connected and communicated through a PCIe interface, and connected with external devices through a gigabit Ethernet (GbE).

[0110] Part of the protocol stack functions performed by the DU can be implemented in software running on a multi-core processor (CPU), and the computation-intensive layer 1 and layer 2 functions can be offloaded to a hardware accelerator based on FPGA or GPU, or all layer 1 functions are offloaded to a hardware accelerator based on FPGA or GPU, while other protocol stack contents are implemented in software running on the processor (CPU); or all the protocol stack is implemented in software running on the processor. The hardware accelerator supports interconnection with an x86 or non-x86 processor.

[0111] On hardware, the CU or DU can include a chassis platform, a motherboard, peripherals, and cooling equipment. The motherboard contains processing units, memory, internal input / output (I / O) interfaces, and external connection ports. Its hardware accelerator design has interfaces, and the hardware function components include storage of software, hardware, and system debugging interfaces, a single-board management controller.

[0112] The RU includes three parts:

[0113] The first part is an O-RAN processing unit (OPU). The OPU can receive an enhanced common public radio interface (eCPRI) frame from the O-RAN fronthaul and perform encoding, scrambling, modulation, layer mapping, precoding, synchronization, beamforming, and resource unit mapping of the bottom layer (Layer 1) of the fronthaul interface. The OPU can be implemented by a CPU, an FPGA, or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Alternatively, the OPU can also be referred to as a fronthaul processing unit.

[0114] The second part is a digital processing unit (DPU) of the O-RU. The DPU is used to perform synchronization, digital down conversion (DDC) in the uplink, digital up conversion (DUC) in the downlink, crest factor reduction (CFR), and digital pre-distortion (DPD). The power amplifier efficiency is improved by reducing the peak to average power ratio (PAPR) or adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) of the RF front end. The DPU can be implemented by an FPGA or an ASIC.

[0115] The third part is an RF processing unit of the O-RU, which includes a transceiver module, an up / down converter, a power amplifier (PA), a low noise amplifier (LNA), a transmit or receive (Tx / Rx) filter. All conversions between the analog domain and the digital domain, including digital-to-analog conversion (DAC) and analog-to-digital conversion (ADC). For example, RF sampling, frequency conversion using RF, intermediate frequency (IF) and local oscillator (LO) mixing in upconversion and downconversion are all performed within the transceiver module.

[0116] It should be understood that the communication system or the communication architecture shown in FIGS. 1-4 is only exemplary and should not cause any limitation to the communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application. For example, more or less network nodes, such as terminal devices or RAN nodes, can be included in the communication system shown in FIGS. 1 or 2, and the RAN nodes or terminal devices included in the communication system shown in FIGS. 1 or 2 can be various forms of RAN nodes or terminal devices described above. The embodiments of the present application are not shown one by one in the figures.

[0117] The method for transmitting information provided by the present application is described below in conjunction with specific examples.

[0118] It should be understood that in the present application, the network device and the energy collection node (for example, the terminal device) are taken as examples of the execution subject of the method, and the method is described. As an example but not limitation, the terminal device in the present application can also be a chip, chip system, or processor, etc. that supports the terminal device to implement the method. The network device in the present application can also be a chip, chip system, or processor, etc. that supports the network device to implement the method, or can also be a logic node, logic module or software, etc. that can implement all or part of the network device function. The embodiments of the present application are not limited here.

[0119] The method for transmitting information provided by the present application is described below in conjunction with specific examples.

[0120] In the example shown in FIG. 5, the network device is taken as an example of the energy-providing apparatus, and the terminal device is taken as an example of the energy-harvesting node. It should be understood that in other implementations of the present application, the energy-providing apparatus can also be in other device forms, and the energy-harvesting node can also be in other device forms. The network device is merely a specific form or specific implementation of the energy-providing apparatus, and the terminal device is merely a specific form or specific implementation of the energy-harvesting node. The present application does not limit the specific device form of the energy-harvesting node and the energy-providing apparatus.

[0121] Optionally, in the present application, the energy-providing apparatus can also be referred to as a device that transmits a wireless charging signal.

[0122] In the present application, the terminal device can include an IoT device, or in other words, the IoT device can be a specific implementation form of the terminal device.

[0123] As shown in FIG. 5, the method 500 shown in FIG. 5 can include S510 to S530. The following describes each step in the method 500 in detail in combination with FIG. 5.

[0124] S510, the network device sends request information to the terminal device, where the request information is used to request the terminal device to report information corresponding to energy acquired from the surrounding environment.

[0125] That is, the request information is used to request the terminal device to send the first information. Then the terminal device can send the first information to the network device based on the request information, that is, perform S520.

[0126] Optionally, the request information in S510 can also carry indication information used to indicate a resource position used by the terminal device when reporting information. For example, the request information can carry indication information used to indicate a time-frequency resource position occupied (used) by the terminal device when reporting information corresponding to energy acquired from the surrounding environment.

[0127] Optionally, if the time-frequency resource occupied (used) by the terminal device when reporting information corresponding to energy acquired from the surrounding environment is predefined or configured, the request information in S510 can also not include the above-mentioned indication information.

[0128] It should be understood that S510 is an optional step, for example, the terminal device can also not send the first information based on the request of the network device. For example, the terminal device can actively determine when to send the first information to the network device.

[0129] Optionally, as a possible implementation, the request information in S510 can also request the terminal device to report its wireless charging demand, that is, the request information can also be used to request the terminal device to send the second information. Then, the terminal device can send the second information to the network device based on the request information. It can be understood that the second information can also be sent without the request of the network device, and the terminal device can determine when to send the second information to the network device. The second information includes the wireless charging demand information of the terminal device.

[0130] In S520, the terminal device sends the first information to the network device, and the first information includes the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment.

[0131] The terminal device can obtain the first information, and the first information includes the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment. The first information is related to the wireless charging configuration. Then, the terminal device sends the first information to the network device. Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can always or continuously collect (acquire) the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment.

[0132] Optionally, the terminal device obtaining the first information can also be described as the terminal device determining or generating the first information. The present application does not limit this in the embodiment.

[0133] The first information being related to the wireless charging configuration can be understood as: the first information is used for the network device to determine the wireless charging configuration.

[0134] For example, in the embodiment of the present application, the wireless charging configuration can include at least one of whether the terminal device needs to be wirelessly charged (that is, whether the wireless charging signal is sent to the terminal device), the time-frequency resource occupied by the wireless charging signal, or the power size of the wireless charging signal.

[0135] In some possible implementations, the terminal device can send the first information to the network device based on the request information, or can actively determine when to send the first information to the network device. It can be understood that the terminal device can directly or indirectly send the first information to the network device, and the present application does not limit this.

[0136] In some possible implementations, the wireless charging demand information of the terminal device and the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment by the terminal device can be sent to the network device through the same signaling or different signaling, and the present application does not limit this.

[0137] For example, the terminal device can carry the first information and / or the second information in uplink control information (uplink control information, UCI), uplink reference signal, or uplink data.

[0138] In some possible implementation manners, the wireless charging demand information of the terminal device can include at least one of the following: required energy (power) of the terminal device, residual power of the terminal device, required charging power of the terminal device, or indication information indicating whether a wireless charging signal needs to be sent to the terminal device.

[0139] The required energy (power) of the terminal device can be understood as how much power the terminal device needs to charge. For example, the unit can be milliamperetime (mAh), ampere-time (Ah), joule (J), millijoule (mJ), microjoule (uJ), and the like.

[0140] The residual power of the terminal device can be understood as how much power the terminal device currently has, and the unit can be joule (J), millijoule (mJ), microjoule (uJ), and the like.

[0141] For example, the sum of the residual power of the terminal device and the required power of the terminal device can be the maximum charging power of the terminal device (the maximum capacity of the terminal device battery, and the like).

[0142] The required charging power (which can also be referred to as charging power) of the terminal device can be understood as how much power the terminal device can charge in a unit of time (for example, 1 s). For example, the required charging power of the terminal device can be the maximum charging rate of the terminal device, the threshold value at which a rectifier module in the terminal device is turned on, and the like. The charging power can be understood as the amount of power or energy that can be charged in a unit of time, and the unit can be watt (W), milliwatt (mW), microwatt (uW), decibel-milliwatt (dBm), and the like. Alternatively, the unit of the charging power can also be joule / second (J / s), millijoule / second (mJ / s), microjoule / second (uJ / s), joule / millisecond (J / ms), joule / microsecond (J / us), and the like. Wherein, 1 watt (1 W) = 1 joule / second (1 J / s).

[0143] It can be understood that the value obtained by dividing the required energy (power) of the terminal device by the required charging power of the terminal device is the length of time required to fully charge the terminal device. For example, it can be the length of time for which the wireless charging signal sent by the network device needs to be sustained.

[0144] In some possible implementation manners, the second information can further include at least one of the following: speed information, location information, or quality information of a received downlink signal of the terminal device.

[0145] In this application, the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment includes energy obtained by the terminal device from various energy sources, for example, energy provided by radio frequency signals, light energy, kinetic energy, thermal energy, and the like.

[0146] It should be understood that the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment (energy provided by various energy sources or converted energy) can be understood as the part of energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment and can be converted into the electric quantity of the terminal device. For example, if the terminal device obtains 20 millijoules of energy from the surrounding environment, it means that the terminal device can obtain 20 millijoules of electric quantity from the surrounding environment. If the charging (charging) power of the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment is 20 milliwatts (mW), it means that the terminal device can obtain 20 milliwatts of charging power from the surrounding environment.

[0147] In some possible implementation manners, the information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment can include information of specific electric quantity or charging power obtained by the terminal device from different forms of energy sources, that is, information of specific electric quantity or charging power can be carried to the energy sources corresponding to the information. For example, the information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment can include at least one of the following: specific electric quantity or charging power obtained by the terminal device from thermal energy, specific electric quantity or charging power obtained by the terminal device from kinetic energy, specific electric quantity or charging power obtained by the terminal device from light energy, and specific electric quantity or charging power obtained by the terminal device from radio frequency signals.

[0148] In some possible implementation manners, the information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment can include information of specific electric quantity or charging power, but can not carry energy source information corresponding to the information of specific electric quantity or charging power.

[0149] In some possible implementation manners, the terminal device can determine whether the terminal device needs to be charged in combination with the size of the charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment and the size of the charging power required by the terminal device.

[0150] For example, in a case where the sum of the charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment is greater than or equal to the charging power required by the terminal device, it is determined that the terminal device does not need to be charged, and in this case, the terminal device can send the indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal does not need to be sent to the network device. In a case where the sum of the charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the charging power required by the terminal device, it is determined that the terminal device needs to be charged, and in this case, the terminal device can send the indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal needs to be sent to the network device through the second information. That is, the second information (or the wireless charging demand information of the terminal device) can include the indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal does not need to be sent or the indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal needs to be sent.

[0151] Optionally, the terminal device can also determine a value (e.g., a size of charging power) required for charging the terminal device and report the value to the network device. In this case, the wireless charging requirement information of the terminal device can further include the value (e.g., the size of charging power) required for charging the terminal device.

[0152] In some possible implementation manners, the terminal device actively determining when to send the first information to the network device can include that the terminal device periodically sends the first information, or sends the first information according to event triggering.

[0153] The event triggering reporting can be understood as that the terminal device reports the first information when a first condition (i.e., a specific event occurs) is met. For example, if the remaining power of the terminal device is less than or equal to a threshold, the terminal device is triggered to report the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment by the terminal device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific event content.

[0154] In some possible implementation manners, the terminal device actively determining when to send the second information to the network device can include that the terminal device periodically sends the second information, or sends the second information according to event triggering.

[0155] In addition, the embodiments of the present application do not limit the period size of the terminal device periodically sending the first information and the second information. The period can be preset or configured by the network device. For example, the period of sending the first information and the period of sending the second information can be the same or different.

[0156] S530, the network device determines the wireless charging configuration according to the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment by the terminal device.

[0157] For example, the network device can send the wireless charging configuration to the terminal device according to the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment by the terminal device, when it is determined that the terminal device needs to be wirelessly charged (i.e., needs to send a wireless charging signal to the terminal device). For example, the network device can send information of time-frequency resources occupied by the wireless charging signal, power information of the wireless charging signal, and the like to the terminal device. After receiving the information, the terminal device can receive the wireless charging signal on the corresponding time-frequency resources.

[0158] When it is determined that the terminal device does not need to be wirelessly charged, the network device can not send the wireless charging configuration to the terminal device, or the network device can also send indication information to the terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device does not need to be wirelessly charged.

[0159] In some possible implementation manners, if the terminal device does not report its own wireless charging demand information, since the network device can know the maximum charging power of the terminal device in advance, the network device can determine whether to send a wireless charging signal to the terminal device according to the maximum charging power of the terminal device and the information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment.

[0160] For example, the network device can determine, in combination with the total charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment and the maximum charging power of the terminal device, that the terminal device does not need to be charged, that is, it is determined that the wireless charging signal does not need to be sent to the terminal device, in a case where the total charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment is greater than or equal to the maximum charging power of the terminal device. In a case where the total charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the maximum charging power of the terminal device, it is determined that the terminal device needs to be charged, that is, the wireless charging signal needs to be sent to the terminal device.

[0161] In some possible implementation manners, if the terminal device reports its own wireless charging demand information to the network device, the network device can determine whether to send a wireless charging signal to the terminal device according to the wireless charging demand information of the terminal device and the information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment.

[0162] For example, the network device can determine, in combination with the total charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment and the charging power required by the terminal device, that the terminal device does not need to be charged, that is, it is determined that the wireless charging signal does not need to be sent to the terminal device, in a case where the total charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment is greater than or the charging power required by the terminal device. In a case where the total charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the charging power required by the terminal device, it is determined that the terminal device needs to be charged, that is, the wireless charging signal needs to be sent to the terminal device. The charging power required by the terminal device is less than or equal to the maximum charging power of the terminal device.

[0163] Optionally, in some possible implementation manners, in a case where it is determined that the wireless charging signal needs to be sent to the terminal device, the network device can further determine the value of charging required for the terminal device, so as to determine the duration and power of the wireless charging signal that needs to be sent to the terminal device.

[0164] The network device can schedule corresponding charging resources according to the duration and power of the wireless charging signal that needs to be sent to the terminal device, and send a wireless charging signal with appropriate energy to the terminal device.

[0165] Correspondingly, the terminal device can receive the wireless charging signal for charging.

[0166] For example, the network device can know the total power of the terminal device in advance. The network device can determine how much power has been used or consumed by the terminal device according to the remaining power and the total power of the terminal device, and determine the required power of the terminal device as the used or consumed power. In the case that the total charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment is less than the required charging power of the terminal device, it can be determined that wireless charging is needed for the terminal device. Further, the network device can also determine how much power to provide for how long according to the difference between the required power of the terminal device and the total charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment. For example, the power of the wireless charging signal can be the difference between the required charging power of the terminal device and the total charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment, and the duration of the wireless charging signal can be the value obtained by dividing the required power of the terminal device by the difference.

[0167] For another example, if the network device receives the indication information sent by the terminal device for indicating that the wireless charging signal needs to be sent, the network device determines that the wireless charging signal needs to be sent to the terminal device. Further, the network device can also determine the power or energy of the wireless charging signal to be sent in combination with the information reported by the terminal device (such as the required charging power of the terminal device, the charging power obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment, the required power of the terminal device, etc.).

[0168] If the indication information sent by the terminal device for indicating that the wireless charging signal does not need to be sent is received, the network device determines that the wireless charging signal does not need to be sent to the terminal device.

[0169] In some possible implementation manners, the terminal device can send the indication information for indicating that the wireless charging signal does not need to be sent or the indication information for indicating that the wireless charging signal needs to be sent to the network device through separate signaling, that is, the wireless charging demand information of the terminal device can not include the indication information for indicating that the wireless charging signal does not need to be sent or the indication information for indicating that the wireless charging signal needs to be sent.

[0170] The method for transmitting information provided by the embodiments of the present application can be used for the terminal device to feed back the information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment to the network device. The network device can determine whether the terminal device needs to be charged and how much energy needs to be provided by using the information. The accuracy and efficiency of determining whether the terminal device needs to be charged can be improved.

[0171] Based on the above embodiments, in some possible implementation manners, the information corresponding to the energy acquired by the terminal device from the surrounding environment can include at least one of: information corresponding to the energy acquired by the terminal device from the received radio frequency signal (which can also be referred to as first energy information), information corresponding to the energy acquired by the terminal device from the received first communication signal (which can also be referred to as second energy information), information corresponding to the energy acquired by the terminal device from light energy (which can also be referred to as third energy information), information corresponding to the energy acquired by the terminal device from thermal energy (which can also be referreded to as fourth energy information), information corresponding to the energy acquired by the terminal device from kinetic energy (which can also be referred to as fifth energy information), or information corresponding to the total energy acquired by the terminal device from the surrounding environment (which can also be referred to as sixth energy information), wherein the first communication signal is a communication signal corresponding to the terminal device, that is, the first communication signal carries communication data between the terminal device and other devices, and the terminal device and the other devices perform data transmission by using the first communication signal. It can be understood that the energy in this paragraph can also be referred to as electric energy.

[0172] The total energy acquired by the terminal device from the surrounding environment includes at least two of the energy acquired from the received radio frequency signal, the energy acquired from the received first communication signal, the energy acquired from light energy, the energy acquired from thermal energy, and the energy acquired from kinetic energy.

[0173] For example, the terminal device can acquire energy from the surrounding environment to prolong its service life. For example, the terminal device can acquire energy from at least one of thermal energy, kinetic energy, light energy, a first communication signal, or radio frequency signal energy.

[0174] For example, the kinetic energy can include wind energy and the like.

[0175] The terminal device (referred to as a first terminal device for distinction) can acquire energy from the received radio frequency signal, wherein the radio frequency signal received by the first terminal device can include radio frequency signals transmitted by any other electronic device and receivable by the first terminal device. For example, the radio frequency signal received by the first terminal device can include radio frequency signals transmitted by a second terminal device and / or radio frequency signals transmitted by a network device, and the like. The second terminal device is another terminal device different from the first terminal device.

[0176] Optionally, the radio frequency signal transmitted by the second terminal device can include a radio frequency signal transmitted by the second terminal device to the first terminal device and / or a radio frequency signal transmitted to other devices. The radio frequency signal transmitted by the second terminal device to the first terminal device can be used for communication between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0177] The radio frequency signal transmitted by the network device can include a radio frequency signal transmitted by the network device to the first terminal device and / or a radio frequency signal transmitted by the network device to another device, and the radio frequency signal transmitted by the network device to the first terminal device can be used for communication (transmission of communication data) between the network device and the first terminal device.

[0178] In the embodiments of the present application, the radio frequency signal received by the first terminal device includes two types, the first type is a radio frequency signal carrying communication data between the first terminal device and other devices (for example, including the network device and the second terminal device), and the second type is a radio frequency signal not carrying communication data between the first terminal device and other devices (for example, including the network device and the second terminal device). For example, the first type of radio frequency signal can include a radio frequency signal transmitted by the network device and the second terminal device to the first terminal device, and the second type of radio frequency signal can include a radio frequency signal transmitted by the network device and the second terminal device to another device (different from the first terminal device) and received by the first terminal device. It can be understood that in the same time period, the first terminal device can receive the first type or the second type of radio frequency signal, or it can also receive the first type and the second type of radio frequency signal.

[0179] Optionally, the first type of radio frequency signal can be referred to as a first radio frequency signal (also referred to as a first communication signal). In other words, the first communication signal or the first radio frequency signal includes at least one of a radio frequency signal (communication signal) transmitted by the network device to the first terminal device or a radio frequency signal (communication signal) transmitted by the second terminal device to the first terminal device. The first communication signal is a communication signal between the first terminal device and other devices (for example, including the network device and the second terminal device), and the first communication signal carries communication data between the first terminal device and other devices, and the first terminal device and other devices use the first communication signal (first radio frequency signal) for data transmission.

[0180] Since the first communication signal (first radio frequency signal) is also a radio frequency signal received by the first terminal device, the energy obtained by the terminal device from the received first communication signal or first radio frequency signal is included in the energy obtained by the first terminal device from the received radio frequency signal.

[0181] Optionally, the second type of radio frequency signal can be referred to as a second radio frequency signal. In other words, the radio frequency signal received by the first terminal device includes the first radio frequency signal and / or the second radio frequency signal. The second radio frequency signal is a radio frequency signal other than the first radio frequency signal in the radio frequency signal received by the first terminal device, and the second radio frequency signal does not carry communication data between the first terminal device and other devices. The energy obtained by the first terminal device from the received radio frequency signal includes the sum of the energy obtained by the first terminal device from the received first radio frequency signal and the energy obtained by the first terminal device from the received second radio frequency signal. The energy obtained by the first terminal device from the received first radio frequency signal or the received second radio frequency signal is a part of the energy obtained by the first terminal device from the received radio frequency signal.

[0182] Optionally, as one possible implementation, the total energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment includes the sum of the energy obtained by the terminal device from the environmental energy in the surrounding environment and the energy obtained by the terminal device from the received radio frequency signal. For example, the environmental energy can include at least one natural environmental energy such as light energy, thermal energy, kinetic energy, etc.

[0183] Optionally, as another possible implementation, the total energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment includes the sum of the energy obtained by the terminal device from the environmental energy in the surrounding environment and the energy obtained by the terminal device from the received first radio frequency signal (first communication signal).

[0184] Optionally, as another possible implementation, the total energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment includes the sum of the energy obtained by the terminal device from the environmental energy in the surrounding environment and the energy obtained by the terminal device from the received second radio frequency signal.

[0185] Optionally, in some possible implementations of the present application, the information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment can be represented by the charging power of the obtained energy.

[0186] For example, the information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment can include at least one of the charging power obtained by the terminal device from light energy (or can be referred to as the charging power of the energy obtained from light energy or the charging power provided by light energy, etc.), the charging power obtained from thermal energy (the charging power provided by thermal energy), the charging power obtained from kinetic energy (the charging power provided by kinetic energy), the charging power obtained from the radio frequency signal (the charging power provided by the radio frequency signal), the charging power obtained from the first communication signal (the charging power provided by the first communication signal), or the total charging power obtained from the surrounding environment (the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment).

[0187] Optionally, the charging power provided by a certain energy can also be expressed as the charging power converted by the certain energy. For example, the charging power provided by the radio frequency signal can also be expressed as the charging power converted by the radio frequency signal, and the charging power provided by the heat energy can be expressed as the charging power converted by the heat energy.

[0188] For example, the terminal device can report that the radio frequency signal provides 1 uW of charging power, or the radio frequency signal provides -10 dBm of charging power.

[0189] For example, FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram of energy acquired by a terminal device from the surrounding environment. As shown in FIG. 6, the terminal device requires 2 mW of charging power, the radio frequency signal provides 1 mW of charging power, the heat energy provides 0.1 mW of charging power, the kinetic energy provides 0.1 mW of charging power, and the light energy provides 0.1 mW of charging power. The terminal device can report the values of the charging power provided by various energy sources to the network device.

[0190] For example, the terminal device can report to the network device that the terminal device requires 2 mW of charging power, the radio frequency signal provides 1 mW of charging power, the heat energy provides 0.1 mW of charging power, the kinetic energy provides 0.1 mW of charging power, and the light energy provides 0.1 mW of charging power.

[0191] For another example, the terminal device can report to the network device that the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment is 1.3 mW.

[0192] For another example, the terminal device can report to the network device that the terminal device requires 2 mW of charging power, the radio frequency signal provides 1 mW of charging power, the heat energy provides 0.1 mW of charging power, the kinetic energy provides 0.1 mW of charging power, and the light energy provides 0.1 mW of charging power. The total charging power provided by the surrounding environment is 1.3 mW.

[0193] For another example, the terminal device can report to the network device that the terminal device requires 2 mW of charging power, and the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment is 1.3 mW. In this case, the network device can determine that 0.7 mW of charging power can be provided to the terminal device, and thus determine the power of the wireless charging signal, for example, the power of the wireless charging signal can be 0.7 mW.

[0194] After receiving the information, if the network device determines that the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment is greater than or equal to the charging power required by the terminal device, the network device determines not to send the wireless charging signal to the terminal device. If the network device determines that the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the charging power required by the terminal device, the network device determines to send the wireless charging signal to the terminal device.

[0195] The terminal device can also determine the size relationship between the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment and the charging power required by the terminal device using the information, and if it is determined that the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment is greater than or equal to the charging power required by the terminal device, the wireless charging demand information can include indication information indicating that no wireless charging signal needs to be sent to the terminal device; if it is determined that the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the charging power required by the terminal device, the wireless charging demand information can include indication information indicating that a wireless charging signal needs to be sent to the terminal device.

[0196] By reporting the charging power provided by different energy sources to the network device, the implementation is simple, and the complexity of implementation can be reduced. Moreover, the efficiency and accuracy of the network device in determining whether to send a wireless charging signal to the terminal device can be improved.

[0197] Optionally, in some other possible implementation manners of the present application, the information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment can be represented by the ratio of the charging power of the obtained energy to the charging power required by the terminal device.

[0198] For example, the information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment can include at least one of the ratio of the charging power of the energy obtained from the received radio frequency signal to the charging power required by the terminal device, the ratio of the charging power of the energy obtained from the received first communication signal to the charging power required by the terminal device, the ratio of the charging power of the energy obtained from light energy to the charging power required by the terminal device, the ratio of the charging power of the energy obtained from thermal energy to the charging power required by the terminal device, the ratio of the charging power of the energy obtained from kinetic energy to the charging power required by the terminal device, and the ratio of the charging power of the total energy obtained from the surrounding environment to the charging power required by the terminal device.

[0199] For example, the charging power required by the terminal device is 2 mW, the charging power provided by the radio frequency signal is 0.5 mW, the charging power provided by the thermal energy is 0.1 mW, the charging power provided by the kinetic energy is 0.1 mW, and the charging power provided by the light energy is 0.1 mW. The proportion of the charging power provided by the radio frequency signal to the charging power required by the terminal device is 25%, the proportion of the charging power provided by the thermal energy to the charging power required by the terminal device is 0.05%, the proportion of the charging power provided by the light energy to the charging power required by the terminal device is 0.05%, and the proportion of the charging power provided by the kinetic energy to the charging power required by the terminal device is 0.05%. The terminal device can report the proportion of the charging power provided by various energy sources to the charging power required by the terminal device to the network device.

[0200] Optionally, the terminal device can further report to the network device a proportion of the total energy provided by the surrounding environment to the energy required by the terminal device (e.g., 25.15%).

[0201] After receiving the information, the network device can determine whether to send the wireless energy charging signal to the terminal device according to the proportion of the total energy provided by the surrounding environment to the energy required by the terminal device. If the proportion is greater than or equal to 100%, the network device can determine not to send the wireless energy charging signal to the terminal device. If the proportion is less than or equal to 100%, the network device can determine to send the wireless energy charging signal to the terminal device.

[0202] The terminal device can also determine the proportion of the total energy provided by the surrounding environment to the energy required by the terminal device according to the information. If the proportion is greater than or equal to 100%, the wireless energy charging demand information can include indication information indicating that the wireless energy charging signal does not need to be sent to the terminal device. If the proportion is less than or equal to 100%, the wireless energy charging demand information can include indication information indicating that the wireless energy charging signal needs to be sent to the terminal device.

[0203] Optionally, the information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment can also be represented by a ratio of the energy charging power of the obtained energy to the maximum energy charging power of the terminal device. In some possible implementation manners, the maximum energy charging power of the terminal device is the same as the energy required by the terminal device.

[0204] By reporting the proportion of the energy charging power provided by different energy sources to the energy required by the terminal device or the maximum energy charging power of the terminal device to the network device, the implementation manner is flexible, the size of data to be reported can be reduced, the communication resource overhead can be reduced, and the utilization rate of the communication resource can be improved. In addition, the efficiency and accuracy of the network device in determining whether to send the wireless energy charging signal to the terminal device can also be improved.

[0205] Optionally, in some other possible implementation manners of the present application, the information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment can be represented by an energy charging level corresponding to the energy charging power of the obtained energy.

[0206] For example, the energy required by the terminal device can be divided into different energy charging levels, and the energy charging power corresponding to different energy charging levels has different value ranges. Then, the terminal device can determine the energy charging level of the energy charging power provided by each energy source, and the terminal device can report the energy charging level corresponding to the energy charging power provided by different energy sources to the network device.

[0207] For example, FIG. 7 shows a diagram of energy acquired by a terminal device from the surrounding environment. As shown in FIG. 7, the terminal device requires 10 mW of charging power, charging level 1 corresponds to charging power less than or equal to 2.5 mW, charging level 2 corresponds to charging power greater than 2.5 mW and less than or equal to 5 mW, charging level 3 corresponds to charging power greater than 5 mW and less than or equal to 7.5 mW, charging level 4 corresponds to charging power greater than 7.5 mW and less than or equal to 10 mW, and charging level 5 corresponds to charging power greater than 10 mW.

[0208] In this example, the radio frequency signal provides 3 mW of charging power, the thermal energy provides 1 mW of charging power, the kinetic energy provides 2 mW of charging power, and the light energy provides 1.5 mW of charging power. The charging level corresponding to the charging power provided by the radio frequency signal is 2, and the charging level corresponding to the charging power provided by the other three energy sources is 1. The charging level corresponding to the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment is 3. The terminal device can report the charging level corresponding to the charging power provided by each energy source to the network device.

[0209] Optionally, the terminal device can also report the charging level corresponding to the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment to the network device.

[0210] After receiving the information, the network device can determine that the terminal device can acquire at least 2.5 mW of energy from the surrounding environment, and can determine that the terminal device requires a wireless charging signal based on the charging power required by the terminal device (10 mW).

[0211] If the network device receives the charging level corresponding to the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment (the value is 3), it can be determined that the terminal device can acquire at least 5 mW of energy from the surrounding environment, and it can be determined that the terminal device requires a wireless charging signal based on the charging power required by the terminal device (10 mW).

[0212] Optionally, in some possible implementations, if the charging level corresponding to the charging power provided by a certain energy source is the highest level, or the minimum value of the charging power corresponding to the charging level is greater than or equal to the charging power required by the terminal device, the terminal device can only feed back the charging level, and other charging levels can not be fed back.

[0213] For example, following the above example, if the charging power provided by the radio frequency signal corresponds to a charging level of 5, and the charging power provided by the other three energy sources corresponds to a charging level of 1, then the terminal device can simply report the charging level as 5 to the network device, without reporting that the charging power provided by the other three energy sources corresponds to a charging level of 1. The network device can determine that the terminal device can obtain at least 10mW of energy from the surrounding environment, and based on the charging power required by the terminal device (10mW), it can determine that it does not need to send a wireless charging signal to the terminal device.

[0214] Optionally, the terminal device can also use the charging power provided by various energy sources to determine the corresponding charging level and the charging power required by the terminal device to determine whether the indication information in the wireless charging demand information is used to indicate whether a wireless charging signal needs to be sent to the terminal device or not.

[0215] Optionally, in some possible implementations of this application, the range of charging power corresponding to each charging level for a certain terminal device can be determined based on the charging power required by the terminal. That is, the number of charging levels corresponding to a certain terminal device and the range of charging power corresponding to each charging level can be determined based on the charging power required by the terminal device. Different terminal devices may have different numbers of charging levels, and the range of charging power corresponding to the same charging level may also be different.

[0216] For example, for terminal device 1, if the required charging power is 10mW, the charging levels can be divided into 5 levels. Charging level 1 corresponds to a charging power less than or equal to 2.5mW; charging level 2 corresponds to a charging power greater than 2.5mW and less than or equal to 5mW; charging level 3 corresponds to a charging power greater than 5mW and less than or equal to 7.5mW; charging level 4 corresponds to a charging power greater than 7.5mW and less than or equal to 10mW; and charging level 5 corresponds to a charging power greater than 10mW. For terminal device 2, if the required charging power is 12mW, the charging levels can be divided into 4 levels. Charging level 1 corresponds to a charging power less than or equal to 4mW; charging level 2 corresponds to a charging power greater than 4mW and less than or equal to 8mW; charging level 3 corresponds to a charging power greater than 8mW and less than or equal to 12mW; and charging level 4 corresponds to a charging power greater than 12mW.

[0217] Optionally, in other possible implementations of this application, the range of charging power corresponding to each charging level can be preset or pre-configured. In other words, different terminal devices can have the same number of charging levels, and the range of charging power corresponding to the same charging level can also be the same.

[0218] It should also be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, the understanding of the terminal device and the network device on the classification of the charging levels is aligned or consistent.

[0219] If the range of the charging power of the charging level corresponding to a certain energy source is greater than the charging power required by the terminal device, the network device can not determine the specific value that exceeds, as long as it is determined that the energy provided by the energy source can meet the charging needs of the terminal device.

[0220] By reporting the charging levels corresponding to the charging power provided by different energy sources to the network device, the implementation is flexible, which can reduce the amount of data to be reported, reduce resource consumption, and improve the utilization of communication resources. In addition, it can also improve the efficiency and accuracy of the network device in determining whether to send a wireless charging signal to the terminal device.

[0221] Optionally, as a possible implementation manner, the energy information provided by different energy sources can also be reported in different ways. For example, the energy information provided by the radio frequency signal is reported by using the charging level corresponding to the charging power provided by the radio frequency signal, the energy information provided by the kinetic energy is reported by using the charging power provided by the kinetic energy, and the energy information provided by the thermal energy is reported by using the ratio of the charging power obtained from the thermal energy to the charging power required by the terminal device. The embodiments of the present application are not limited here.

[0222] In other implementation manners of the present application, other ways can also be used to represent the size or rate of the electric energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment. The embodiments of the present application are not limited here.

[0223] Optionally, the terminal device can agree with the network device in advance on which way to use to report the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment to the network device. For example, the charging level corresponding to the charging power of the energy obtained from the surrounding environment is used to report to the network device. Alternatively, the terminal device can also select a way to report the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment to the network device. The embodiments of the present application are not limited here.

[0224] For example, FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of another example in which the terminal device obtains energy from the surrounding environment. As shown in FIG. 8, the terminal device requires 1 mW of charging power, and the radio frequency signal provides 1 mW of charging power, wherein the first radio frequency signal in the radio frequency signal provides 0.9 mW of charging power, the second radio frequency signal in the radio frequency signal provides 0.1 mW of charging power, the kinetic energy provides 0.1 mW of charging power, the light energy provides 0.1 mW of charging power, and the thermal energy provides 0.1 mW of charging power. The radio frequency signal includes the first radio frequency signal and the second radio frequency signal. The first radio frequency signal carries communication data between the first terminal device and the network device, and the first radio frequency signal can also be referred to as a first communication signal or a communication signal. The terminal device can report the values of the charging power provided by various energy sources to the network device, or can report the ratios of the charging power provided by various energy sources to the charging power required by the terminal device to the network device, or can report the charging levels corresponding to the charging power provided by various energy sources to the network device. Optionally, the scenario shown in FIG. 8 can also be referred to as a scenario of simultaneous transmission of data and energy, which can be understood as follows: the communication signal is used to charge the terminal device, or in other words, the communication signal simultaneously serves as a wireless charging signal.

[0225] As shown in FIG. 9, FIG. 9 shows a schematic diagram of time-frequency resources used by the terminal device to report information to the network device in the scenario shown in FIG. 8, and time-frequency resources used to receive a communication signal and a charging signal. If the terminal device transmits (reports) information corresponding to energy obtained from the surrounding environment (including charging power provided by the first radio frequency signal) and required charging power to the network device on the N1th time domain resource unit (e.g., the N1th symbol, time slot, subframe, etc.), the frequency domain resources occupied by the information (reported information) are f2 and f3. For example, f2 and f3 can each be one subcarrier. In other words, the resources occupied by the reported information are: frequency domain resources f2 and f3, and time domain resource N1. According to the information reported by the terminal device, the network device can determine that the charging power that can be provided by the surrounding environment in the N2th time domain resource unit and the N3th time domain resource unit can already meet the charging needs of the terminal. The time length of the first radio frequency signal (i.e., the communication signal shown in FIG. 9) transmitted by the network device to the terminal device is: the N2th time domain resource unit and the N3th time domain resource unit. In other words, the resources occupied by the communication signal are: frequency domain resources f2 and f3, and time domain resources including the N2th time domain resource unit and the N3th time domain resource unit. That is, the network device transmits the first radio frequency signal to the terminal device on the N2th time domain resource unit and the N3th time domain resource unit. In the N2th time domain resource unit and the N3th time domain resource unit, the charging power provided by the first radio frequency signal is 0.9 mW, the charging power provided by kinetic energy is 0.1 mW, the charging power provided by light energy is 0.1 mW, and the charging power provided by thermal energy is 0.1 mW, that is, in the time length during which the first radio frequency signal lasts, the charging power that can be provided by the surrounding environment can already meet the charging needs of the terminal.

[0226] Optionally, in some possible implementation manners, since the first radio frequency signal is a communication signal between the network device and the terminal device, the network device and the terminal device both know the time length during which the first radio frequency signal is continuously transmitted (e.g., the N2th time domain resource unit and the N3th time domain resource unit in FIG. 9). In addition, the terminal device also reports the charging power provided by the first radio frequency signal to the network device (e.g., 0.9 mW). The network device can determine how much electrical energy can be provided by the first radio frequency signal to the terminal device according to the charging power provided by the first radio frequency signal and the time length during which the first radio frequency signal lasts. For example, the product of the charging power provided by the first radio frequency signal and the time length during which the first radio frequency signal lasts can be the value of the electrical energy provided by the first radio frequency signal to the terminal device.

[0227] The network device can also calculate how much power the terminal device can charge (store) in the duration of the first radio frequency signal, and whether the terminal device can meet the power charging demand (the charging power required by the terminal device). It should be understood that, since the terminal device reports the power information obtained from the surrounding environment before the N1th time resource unit, after the N1th time resource unit, the charging power provided by the kinetic energy, the charging power provided by the light energy, the charging power provided by the thermal energy, and the charging power provided by the second radio frequency signal can change, for example, can become smaller or larger, or can become 0, etc. Since the first radio frequency signal is a radio frequency signal for transmitting data between the network device and the terminal device, the first radio frequency signal is relatively stable, that is, the charging power provided by the first radio frequency signal can remain unchanged. Therefore, the minimum value of the power that the terminal device can charge (store) in the duration of the first radio frequency signal can be the product of the length of the duration of the first radio frequency signal and the charging power provided by the first radio frequency signal.

[0228] For example, the value of the power that the terminal device can charge (store) in the duration of the first radio frequency signal can be the product of the length of the duration of the first radio frequency signal and the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment. The total charging power provided by the surrounding environment can be the sum of the charging power provided by the first radio frequency signal, the charging power provided by the kinetic energy, the charging power provided by the light energy, and the charging power provided by the thermal energy. Alternatively, the total charging power provided by the surrounding environment can be the sum of the charging power provided by the first radio frequency signal, the charging power provided by the second radio frequency signal, the charging power provided by the kinetic energy, the charging power provided by the light energy, and the charging power provided by the thermal energy.

[0229] If the power stored in the terminal device in the duration of the first radio frequency signal is less than or equal to the required power reported by the terminal device, the network device can send a wireless charging signal to the terminal device, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, after the communication signal is sent, the charging signal can continue to be sent at the frequency domain location (f2 and f3) of the communication signal. In other words, the resource occupied by the charging signal is: the frequency domain resource is f2 and f3, and the time domain resource includes the N4th time domain resource unit and the N5th time domain resource unit.

[0230] Alternatively, the frequency domain location occupied by the wireless charging signal sent by the network device to the terminal device can also be other frequency domain locations, for example, as shown in FIG. 9: f1 and f2, f3 and f4, f1, f3 and f4, f2, f3 and f4, or f1, f2, f3 and f4, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0231] Alternatively, the network device can also re-perform channel measurement / beam scanning, etc., to determine the time-frequency resource and beam used for sending the wireless charging signal, and then send the wireless charging signal to the terminal device.

[0232] The method for information transmission provided by the embodiments of the present application can determine whether the communication signal received by the terminal device is sufficient to meet the wireless charging demand of the terminal device in the scenario of simultaneous data and energy transmission. The accuracy and efficiency of determining whether the terminal device needs to be charged can be improved on the basis of ensuring that data can be normally transmitted, the accuracy and efficiency of charging resource scheduling can be improved, and the waste of charging resources can be avoided.

[0233] In the above example, the terminal device reports the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment, and the network device determines the wireless charging configuration according to the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment by the terminal device. Alternatively, in another possible implementation of the present application, if multiple RAN nodes complete the functions of the network device, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the core network device can send request information to the CU through the backhaul link, and the request information is used to request the terminal device to report the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment. Correspondingly, the CU receives the request information.

[0234] Alternatively, the CU can also generate the request information by itself. In other words, the core network device can also not send the request information to the CU.

[0235] The CU can send the request information to the DU through the middle transmission link. The DU sends the request information to the RU through the front transmission link, and the RU sends the request information to the terminal device through the air interface.

[0236] After receiving the request information, the terminal device feeds back first information to the RU, and the first information includes the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment by the terminal device.

[0237] Alternatively, the RU can also not send the request information to the terminal device, in which case the terminal device can also actively feed back the first information to the RU. After receiving the first information fed back by the terminal device, the RU returns the first information after frequency down-conversion processing to the DU for further processing. After receiving the information fed back by the RU, the DU processes the information and sends the processed information to the CU through the middle transmission link.

[0238] The CU can return the received information (the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment by the terminal device) to the core network device, or the CU can determine the wireless charging configuration according to the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment by the terminal device, and then send the wireless charging configuration to the core network device. Alternatively, the CU can also not feed back any information to the core network device.

[0239] If the CU does not feed back information to the core network device, the CU can send the wireless charging configuration to the DU through the middle transmission link, the DU sends the wireless charging configuration to the RU through the front transmission link, and finally the RU sends the wireless charging signal to the terminal device.

[0240] If the core network device receives information from the CU, the core network device can determine the wireless charging configuration according to the information, the core network can send the wireless charging configuration to the CU through the back transmission link, the CU finally sends the wireless charging configuration to the RU, and the RU sends the wireless charging signal to the terminal device.

[0241] In some possible implementation manners of the present application, for example, in the architecture shown in FIG. 4, the core network device can send request information to the CU through the back transmission link, the request information being used to request the terminal device to report information corresponding to energy obtained from the surrounding environment. After receiving the request information, the CPU (for example, an X86 type chip or a chip based on ARM architecture) in the CU processes the request information, some logical operations involved, for example, simple summation and other underlying operation modules are processed by the FPGA / GPU / other accelerator in the CU, and the result is fed back to the CPU after processing, and the CPU performs further control operations, for example, judges whether to send the processed information to the DU.

[0242] Optionally, the CU can also generate the request information by itself, for example, the CPU in the CU can generate the request information by itself. In other words, the core network device can also not send the request information to the CU.

[0243] The CU can send the processed request information to the DU through the middle transmission link, and after receiving the information from the CU, the CPU (for example, an X86 type chip or a chip based on ARM architecture) in the DU processes the information, some logical operations involved, for example, simple summation and other underlying operation modules are processed by the FPGA / GPU / other accelerator in the DU, and the result is fed back to the CPU after processing, and the CPU performs further control operations, for example, judges whether to send the processed information to the RU.

[0244] The DU can send the processed information to the RU through the front transmission link, and the OPU in the RU processes the information from the DU, for example, the OPU schedules the digital signal processing module (DPU) and the RF processing unit to process the signal from the DU according to the information from the DU.

[0245] After the RU processes the information, the RU can send the processed information to the terminal device through the air interface.

[0246] After receiving the information, the terminal device feeds back the first information to the RU, and the first information includes information corresponding to the energy obtained by the terminal device from the surrounding environment.

[0247] The RU sends the received first information to the DU for further processing after down-conversion processing. After receiving the information, the DU processes the information, and sends the processed information to the CU through the backhaul link. The CU processes the received information in the same way as in the architecture shown in FIG. 3.

[0248] The method for information transmission provided in the embodiments of the present application can enable the terminal device to feed back information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment to the device sending the wireless charging signal, for example, information including the energy obtained from the received radio frequency signal, the energy obtained from the received communication signal, the energy obtained from the environmental energy, and the like. The device sending the wireless charging signal can accurately determine whether to perform wireless charging for the terminal device and the specific configuration of the wireless charging signal by using the information. The accuracy and efficiency of determining whether to perform wireless charging for the terminal device can be improved, thereby improving the accuracy and efficiency of charging power allocation and charging resource scheduling and improving the utilization rate of resources.

[0249] It should be understood that the above is only to help those skilled in the art better understand the embodiments of the present application, and is not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art can obviously make various equivalent modifications or changes according to the above examples given, for example, some steps in the above method embodiments can not be necessary, or some steps can be newly added, etc. Or a combination of any two or more embodiments. Such modifications, changes or combinations also fall within the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

[0250] It should also be understood that the ways, cases, categories and division of embodiments in the embodiments of the present application are only for the convenience of description, and should not be considered as a special limitation. The features in various ways, categories, cases and embodiments can be combined without contradiction.

[0251] It should also be understood that the various numerical numbers involved in the embodiments of the present application are only for the convenience of differentiation, and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the serial number of the above processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of the processes should be determined according to its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0252] It should also be understood that the above description of the embodiments of the present application focuses on the differences between the various embodiments, and the same or similar parts not mentioned can be referred to each other. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0253] The method of the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above in combination with FIG. 1 to FIG. 9. Hereinafter, the communication device of the embodiment of the present application is described in detail in combination with FIG. 10 to FIG. 15.

[0254] The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of the energy collection node (for example, a terminal device) and the device (for example, a network device) that transmits the wireless charging signal according to the above method. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated in one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware. It should be noted that the division of the modules in the embodiment is illustrative, and is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, another division manner can be used.

[0255] It should be noted that the related content of each step involved in the method embodiment described above can be cited in the function description of the corresponding functional module, which will not be described here again.

[0256] The energy collection node and the device that transmits the wireless charging signal provided by the embodiment of the present application are used to execute any one of the information transmission methods provided by the above method embodiments, and thus can achieve the same effect as the above implementation method. In one possible implementation manner, the energy collection node and the device that transmits the wireless charging signal can include a processing module, and optionally a storage module and a communication module. The processing module can be used to control and manage the actions performed by the energy collection node and the device that transmits the wireless charging signal. For example, it can be used to support the energy collection node and the device that transmits the wireless charging signal to perform steps related to processing information or data. The storage module can be used to support the storage of program codes and data, etc. The communication module can be used to support the communication between the energy collection node and the device that transmits the wireless charging signal and other devices.

[0257] The processing module can be at least one processor or controller. It can realize or execute various exemplary logical blocks, modules and circuits described in combination with the disclosure of the present application. The processor can also be a combination of implementation functions, such as one or more microprocessor combinations, digital signal processing (DSP) and microprocessor combinations, etc. The storage module can be a memory. The communication module can be a radio frequency circuit and other devices that interact with other electronic devices.

[0258] Exemplarily, FIG. 10 shows a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1000 of the embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1000 can correspond to the terminal device described in the above method 500, or can be a chip or component applied to the terminal device, and each module or unit in the communication device 1000 is respectively used to execute each action or processing process performed by the terminal device in the above method 500.

[0259] As shown in FIG. 10, the communication apparatus 1000 includes a processing unit 1010 and a transceiver unit 1020. The transceiver unit 1020 is configured to implement operations related to information transmission and reception. The processing unit can also be referred to as a processing module, and the transceiver unit can also be referred to as a communication unit or a communication module or a communication interface.

[0260] The processing unit 1010 is configured to obtain first information, the first information including information corresponding to energy obtained from a surrounding environment, and the first information being related to a wireless charging configuration.

[0261] The transceiver unit 1020 is configured to transmit the first information.

[0262] The communication apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application can feed back information corresponding to energy obtained from a surrounding environment to a device that transmits a wireless charging signal, so that the device that transmits the wireless charging signal can accurately determine whether the communication apparatus needs to be wirelessly charged and the specific configuration of the wireless charging signal, etc. using the information. The accuracy and efficiency of determining whether the communication apparatus needs to be charged can be improved.

[0263] In some possible implementation manners, the transceiver unit 1020 can periodically transmit the first information, or transmit the first information triggered by an event.

[0264] In some possible implementation manners, the transceiver unit 1020 is further configured to transmit second information, the second information including wireless charging demand information, the wireless charging demand information including at least one of required energy, remaining power, required charging power, or indication information indicating whether the wireless charging signal needs to be transmitted.

[0265] In some possible implementation manners, the information corresponding to energy obtained from the surrounding environment includes second energy information; in a case where the processing unit 1010 determines that total energy obtained from the surrounding environment in a time period during which the first communication signal is continuously transmitted is less than or equal to the required energy, the wireless charging demand information includes indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal needs to be transmitted; or in a case where the processing unit 1010 determines that total energy obtained from the surrounding environment in the time period during which the first communication signal is continuously transmitted is greater than or equal to the required energy, the wireless charging demand information includes indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal does not need to be transmitted.

[0266] In some possible implementation manners, the transceiver unit 1020 is further configured to receive the wireless charging signal; and the processing unit 1010 is further configured to charge using the wireless charging signal.

[0267] The specific content included in the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment and the specific content included in the wireless charging demand information can refer to the description of the corresponding part of the method 500, and will not be repeated here for brevity.

[0268] It should be understood that the specific process of each unit in the communication apparatus 1000 performing the corresponding steps described above can refer to the description of the terminal device related to the related embodiments of the method 500 in the foregoing, and will not be repeated here for brevity.

[0269] Optionally, the transceiver unit 1020 can include a receiving unit (module) and a sending unit (module) for performing the steps of receiving information and sending information by the terminal device in the foregoing method 500 embodiments.

[0270] Further, the communication apparatus 1000 can further include a storage unit. The transceiver unit 1020 can be a transceiver, an input / output interface or an interface circuit. The storage unit is used to store the instructions executed by the transceiver unit 1020 and the processing unit 1010. The transceiver unit 1020, the processing unit 1010 and the storage unit are coupled to each other. The storage unit stores instructions, the processing unit 1010 is used to execute the instructions stored in the storage unit, and the transceiver unit 1020 is used to realize the operation related to information transceiving according to the instructions stored in the storage unit.

[0271] It should be understood that the transceiver unit 1020 can be a transceiver, an input / output interface or an interface circuit. The storage unit can be a memory. The processing unit 1010 can be implemented by a processor.

[0272] For example, as shown in FIG. 11, the communication apparatus 1100 can include a processor 1110, a memory 1120, a transceiver 1130 and a bus system 1140. The various components of the communication apparatus 1100 are coupled together by the bus system 1140, which can include, in addition to a data bus, a power bus, a control bus, and a state signal bus, etc. However, for the sake of clarity, all of the various buses are shown as the bus system 1140 in FIG. 11. For ease of representation, only the schematic is shown in FIG. 11.

[0273] The communication apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. 10 or the communication apparatus 1100 shown in FIG. 11 can implement the steps performed by the terminal device in the foregoing method 500. Similar descriptions can refer to the description of the corresponding method. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0274] It should also be understood that the communication apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. 10 or the communication apparatus 1100 shown in FIG. 11 can be an energy collection node (such as a terminal device), or the energy collection node can include the communication apparatus 1000 shown in FIG. 10 or the communication apparatus 1100 shown in FIG. 11.

[0275] For example, FIG. 12 shows a schematic block diagram of a communication apparatus 1200 of embodiments of the present application, which can correspond to the network device described in the above method 500, or can be a chip or component applied to the network device, and each module or unit in the communication apparatus 1200 is respectively configured to perform each action or process performed by the network device in any possible implementation manner of the above method 500.

[0276] As shown in FIG. 12, the communication apparatus 1200 can include a transceiver unit 1210 and a processing unit 1220, the transceiver unit 1210 is configured to implement operations related to information transmission and reception.

[0277] The transceiver unit 1210 is configured to: receive first information, the first information including information corresponding to energy acquired from a surrounding environment.

[0278] The processing unit 1220 is configured to: determine a wireless charging configuration according to the first information.

[0279] The communication apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application can receive information corresponding to energy acquired from a surrounding environment fed back by an energy harvesting node, so as to accurately determine whether wireless charging is needed for the energy harvesting node and the specific configuration of the wireless charging signal, etc. by using the information. The accuracy and efficiency of determining whether wireless charging is needed for the energy harvesting node can be improved.

[0280] In some possible implementation manners, the transceiver unit 1210 is further configured to: receive second information, the second information including wireless charging demand information, the wireless charging demand information including at least one of required energy, residual power, required charging power, or indication information indicating whether a wireless charging signal needs to be sent.

[0281] In some possible implementation manners, the processing unit 1220 is further configured to: determine to send a wireless charging signal in a case where total energy acquired from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required energy, or in a case where a charging power of the total energy acquired from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required charging power.

[0282] In some possible implementation manners, the information corresponding to the energy acquired from the surrounding environment includes second energy information, and the processing unit 1220 is further configured to: determine total energy acquired from the surrounding environment in a time period during which the first communication signal is continuously sent; and determine to send a wireless charging signal in a case where the total energy acquired from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required energy.

[0283] The specific content included in the information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment and the specific content included in the wireless charging demand information can refer to the description of the corresponding part of the method 500, and will not be repeated here for brevity.

[0284] Further, the communication apparatus 1200 can further include a storage unit. The transceiver unit 1210 can be a transceiver, an input / output interface, or an interface circuit. The storage unit is configured to store instructions executed by the transceiver unit 1210 and the processing unit 1220. The transceiver unit 1210, the processing unit 1220, and the storage unit are coupled to each other. The storage unit stores instructions, the processing unit 1220 is configured to execute the instructions stored in the storage unit, and the transceiver unit 1210 is configured to perform specific signal transceiving under the control of the processing unit 1220.

[0285] It should be understood that the transceiver unit 1210 can be a transceiver, an input / output interface, or an interface circuit. The storage unit can be a memory. The processing unit 1310 can be implemented by a processor. As shown in FIG. 13, the communication apparatus 1300 can include a processor 1310, a memory 1320, and a transceiver 1330.

[0286] The communication apparatus 1200 shown in FIG. 12 or the communication apparatus 1300 shown in FIG. 13 can implement the steps performed by the network device in the foregoing method 500. Similar descriptions can refer to the descriptions in the corresponding method. To avoid repetition, they will not be repeated here.

[0287] It should also be understood that the communication apparatus 1200 shown in FIG. 12 or the communication apparatus 1300 shown in FIG. 13 can be a device (such as a network device) that transmits a wireless charging signal, or the device that transmits the wireless charging signal can include the communication apparatus 1200 shown in FIG. 12 or the communication apparatus 1300 shown in FIG. 13.

[0288] It should also be understood that the division of units in the above apparatus is only a logical division of functions, and all or part of them can be integrated into a physical entity, or physically separated. The units in the apparatus can all be implemented in the form of software called by a processing element; or all can be implemented in the form of hardware; or part of the units can be implemented in the form of software called by a processing element, and part of the units can be implemented in the form of hardware. For example, each unit can be a separately established processing element, or can be integrated into a chip of the apparatus, in addition, it can also be stored in the form of a program in the memory, and the function of the unit is called and executed by a processing element of the apparatus. Here, the processing element can also be referred to as a processor, which can be an integrated circuit with signal processing capability. In the implementation process, each step of the above method or each unit can be implemented by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processing element or in the form of software called by the processing element.

[0289] In one example, the units in any of the above apparatuses can be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement one or more of the above methods, e.g., one or more ASICs, or one or more DSPs, or one or more FPGAs, or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. In another example, when the units in the apparatuses can be implemented by means of a scheduler of processing elements, the processing elements can be general purpose processors, e.g., CPUs or other processors that can call programs. In yet another example, the units can be integrated together in a system-on-a-chip (SOC) form.

[0290] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a terminal device 1400 provided in the present application. The communication apparatus 1000 or the communication apparatus 1100 described above can be configured in the terminal device 1400. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 1000 or the communication apparatus 1100 itself can be the terminal device 1400. Alternatively, the terminal device 1400 can perform the actions performed by the terminal device in the method 500 described above. Optionally, for ease of illustration, FIG. 14 only shows the main components of the terminal device. As shown in FIG. 14, the terminal device 1400 includes a processor, a memory, a control circuit, an antenna, and an input / output device.

[0291] The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, and controlling the whole terminal device, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs, e.g., for supporting the terminal device to perform the actions described in the method embodiments of the information transmission described above. The memory is mainly used for storing software programs and data, e.g., storing the information corresponding to the energy acquired from the surrounding environment, the wireless charging demand information, and the like described in the embodiments above. The control circuit is mainly used for conversion between baseband signals and radio frequency signals, and processing of the radio frequency signals. The control circuit and the antenna together can also be called a transceiver, which is mainly used for transceiving radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. For example, transmitting the information corresponding to the energy acquired from the surrounding environment, the wireless charging demand information, or receiving the wireless charging signal, and the like described in the embodiments above. The input / output device, e.g., a touch screen, a display screen, a keyboard, and the like, is mainly used for receiving data input by a user and outputting data to the user.

[0292] When the terminal device is powered on, the processor can read the software program in the storage unit, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be transmitted wirelessly, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be transmitted (for example, information corresponding to energy obtained from the surrounding environment, wireless charging demand information, etc.), and outputs the baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit. The radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and transmits the radio frequency signal in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When signaling (such as the wireless charging signal, communication signal, etc. described above) is transmitted to the terminal device, the radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor. The processor converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0293] Those skilled in the art can understand that, for the convenience of description, FIG. 14 only shows one memory and one processor. In an actual terminal device, there can be multiple processors and memories. The memory can also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc., and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0294] For example, the processor can include a baseband processor and a central processor. The baseband processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor is mainly used for controlling the entire terminal device, executing software programs, and processing data of the software programs. The processor in FIG. 14 integrates the functions of the baseband processor and the central processor. Those skilled in the art can understand that the baseband processor and the central processor can also be independent processors interconnected through a bus or the like. Those skilled in the art can also understand that the terminal device can include multiple baseband processors to adapt to different network standards, and the terminal device can include multiple central processors to enhance its processing capability. Various buses can be used to connect the components of the terminal device. The baseband processor can also be referred to as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processor can also be referred to as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing communication protocols and communication data can be built into the processor, or can be stored in the storage unit in the form of a software program, and the processor executes the software program to realize the baseband processing function.

[0295] Exemplarily, in the embodiments of the present application, the antenna and the control circuit with the transceiving function can be regarded as the transceiving unit 1401 of the terminal device 1400, and the processor with the processing function can be regarded as the processing unit 1402 of the terminal device 1400. As shown in FIG. 14, the terminal device 1400 includes the transceiving unit 1401 and the processing unit 1402. The transceiving unit can also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver machine, a transceiving device, etc. Optionally, the device for realizing the receiving function in the transceiving unit 1401 can be regarded as a receiving unit, and the device for realizing the sending function in the transceiving unit 1401 can be regarded as a sending unit, that is, the transceiving unit 1401 includes the receiving unit and the sending unit. Exemplarily, the receiving unit can also be referred to as a receiver, a receiver circuit, etc., and the sending unit can be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitter circuit, etc.

[0296] FIG. 15 is a structural schematic diagram of a network device 1500 provided by an embodiment of the present application, which can be used to realize the function of the network device in the above method. The network device 1500 includes one or more radio frequency units, such as a RRU 1501 and one or more BBUs 1502. The RRU 1501 can be referred to as a transceiving unit, a transceiver machine, a transceiving circuit, or a transceiver, etc., which can include at least one antenna 15011 and a radio frequency unit 15012. The RRU 1501 part is mainly used for the transceiving of radio frequency signals and the conversion between radio frequency signals and baseband signals, for example, for sending the wireless charging signal in the above embodiments to the terminal device. The BBU 1502 part is mainly used for baseband processing, controlling the network device, etc. The RRU 1501 and the BBU 1502 can be physically arranged together or physically arranged separately, that is, a distributed network device.

[0297] The BBU 1502 is the control center of the network device, which can also be referred to as a processing unit, and is mainly used to complete the baseband processing function, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulation, spreading, etc. For example, the BBU (processing unit) 1502 can be used to control the network device to perform the operation process of the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0298] In one example, the BBU 1502 can be composed of one or more single boards, and the single boards can collectively support a wireless access network of a single access mode (such as an LTE system or a 5G system) or can separately support wireless access networks of different access modes. The BBU 1502 further includes a memory 15021 and a processor 15022. The memory 15021 is configured to store necessary instructions and data. For example, the memory 15021 stores the wireless charging demand information in the above-described embodiments, information reported by a terminal device about energy obtained from a surrounding environment, and the like. The processor 15022 is configured to control the network device to perform necessary actions, such as controlling the network device to perform the operation procedures of the network device in the above-described method embodiments. The memory 15021 and the processor 15022 can serve one or more single boards. That is, the memory and the processor can be separately arranged on each single board. Alternatively, the memory and the processor can be shared by multiple single boards. In addition, each single board can further be provided with necessary circuits.

[0299] In a possible implementation, with the development of SoC technology, all or part of the functions of the 1502 part and the 1501 part can be implemented by SoC technology, for example, by a network device function chip that integrates a processor, a memory, an antenna interface, and the like. The program of the network device related function is stored in the memory, and the processor executes the program to implement the related function of the network device. Alternatively, the network device function chip can also read the memory outside the chip to implement the related function of the network device.

[0300] It should be understood that the structure of the network device in the example of FIG. 15 is only one possible form, and should not constitute any limitation on the embodiments of the present application. The present application does not exclude the possibility of other forms of network device structures that can appear in the future.

[0301] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the processor can be a CPU, and the processor can also be other general-purpose processors, DSPs, ASICs, FPGAs, or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, and the like. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can also be any conventional processor or the like.

[0302] It should also be understood that the memory in the embodiments of the present application can be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or can include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory can be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an EPROM, an electrically EPROM (EEPROM) or a flash memory. The volatile memory can be a random access memory (RAM) used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM) and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0303] The embodiments of the present application also provide a communication system, which comprises the energy collection node (e.g. terminal device) and the device (e.g. network device) for sending wireless charging signal.

[0304] Optionally, the communication system can further comprise a core network device.

[0305] For example, the core network device can send a request information to the energy collection node through the network device, the request information being used for requesting the terminal device to report the information corresponding to the energy acquired from the surrounding environment. The terminal device can report the information corresponding to the energy acquired from the surrounding environment to the core network device through the network device, and the core network device can determine the wireless charging configuration and then send the wireless charging configuration to the network device.

[0306] For another example, the terminal device can report the information corresponding to the energy acquired from the surrounding environment to the core network device through the network device, and the core network device can determine the wireless charging configuration and then send the wireless charging configuration to the network device.

[0307] The above-described embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, the above-described embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions or computer programs. When the computer instructions or computer programs are loaded or executed on a computer, the processes or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are wholly or partially generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions can be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center through wired (for example, infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) or wireless means.

[0308] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable medium for storing computer program codes, the computer program including instructions for executing any of the information transmission methods provided by the embodiments of the present application. The readable medium can be the memory of the above examples, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0309] The present application also provides a computer program product including instructions that, when executed, cause an energy harvesting node to perform operations corresponding to those of a terminal device in the above-described methods, or cause a device transmitting a wireless charging signal to perform operations corresponding to those of a network device in the above-described methods.

[0310] The embodiments of the present application also provide a chip including a processing unit, for example, a processor, and a communication unit, for example, an input / output interface, a pin, or a circuit, etc. The chip in the communication device is used to execute any of the information transmission methods provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0311] Optionally, any of the communication devices provided in the embodiments of the present application can include the chip.

[0312] The processor mentioned in any of the above can be a CPU, a microprocessor, an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of programs of the above-mentioned information transmission methods. The processing unit and the storage unit can be decoupled and arranged on different physical devices, and connected by wired or wireless means to realize the respective functions of the processing unit and the storage unit to support the chip to realize various functions in the above embodiments. Alternatively, the processing unit and the storage unit can be coupled on the same device.

[0313] Various objects in the present application are named, which can be understood that these specific names do not constitute a limitation on the related objects, and the names can be changed according to the scene, context or usage habits, etc. The technical meaning of the technical terms in the present application should be mainly determined according to the function and technical effect embodied / implemented in the technical scheme.

[0314] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the above-described system, device and unit can refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0315] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented by other ways. For example, the above-described device embodiments are only schematic, for example, the division of the unit is only a logical function division, and actual implementation can have another division manner, for example, a plurality of units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the shown or discussed mutual ones can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0316] The units described as separate components can or can not be physically separate, and the components shown as units can or can not be physical units, that is, they can be located in one place, or can be distributed on a plurality of network units. According to actual needs, part or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of the present embodiment scheme.

[0317] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited to this, any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical range disclosed in the present application, which should be covered in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of information transmission, characterized by, The method comprises: obtaining first information, the first information comprising information corresponding to energy obtained from the surrounding environment, the first information being related to wireless charging configuration; sending the first information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The sending of the first information comprises at least one of: periodically sending the first information, or sending the first information when a first condition is met.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The information corresponding to energy obtained from the surrounding environment comprises at least one of: first energy information corresponding to energy obtained from received radio frequency signals; second energy information corresponding to energy obtained from received first communication signals, the first communication signals being communication signals carrying communication data; third energy information corresponding to energy obtained from light energy; fourth energy information corresponding to energy obtained from thermal energy; fifth energy information corresponding to energy obtained from kinetic energy; sixth energy information corresponding to total energy obtained from the surrounding environment.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, The first energy information comprises charging power of energy obtained from received radio frequency signals; the second energy information comprises charging power of energy obtained from received first communication signals; the third energy information comprises charging power of energy obtained from light energy; the fourth energy information comprises charging power of energy obtained from thermal energy; the fifth energy information comprises charging power of energy obtained from kinetic energy; and the sixth energy information comprises charging power of total energy obtained from the surrounding environment.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein, The first energy information comprises a ratio of charging power of energy obtained from received radio frequency signals to required charging power; the second energy information comprises a ratio of charging power of energy obtained from received first communication signals to required charging power; the third energy information comprises a ratio of charging power of energy obtained from light energy to required charging power; the fourth energy information comprises a ratio of charging power of energy obtained from thermal energy to required charging power; the fifth energy information comprises a ratio of charging power of energy obtained from kinetic energy to required charging power; and the sixth energy information comprises a ratio of charging power of total energy obtained from the surrounding environment to required charging power.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein, The first energy information comprises a charging level corresponding to charging power of energy obtained from received radio frequency signals; the second energy information comprises a charging level corresponding to charging power of energy obtained from received first communication signals; the third energy information comprises a charging level corresponding to charging power of energy obtained from light energy; the fourth energy information comprises a charging level corresponding to charging power of energy obtained from thermal energy; the fifth energy information comprises a charging level corresponding to charging power of energy obtained from kinetic energy; and the sixth energy information comprises a charging level corresponding to charging power of total energy obtained from the surrounding environment, different charging levels corresponding to different charging power ranges.

7. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that, The method further comprises: sending second information, the second information comprising wireless charging demand information, the wireless charging demand information comprising at least one of required energy, residual power, required charging power, or indication information indicating whether a wireless charging signal needs to be sent. In a case where the total energy acquired from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required energy, or a case where a charging power of the total energy acquired from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required charging power, the wireless charging demand information comprises indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal needs to be sent; or, 8. The method of claim 7, wherein, In a case where the total energy acquired from the surrounding environment is greater than or equal to the required energy, or a case where a charging power of the total energy acquired from the surrounding environment is greater than or equal to the required charging power, the wireless charging demand information comprises indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal does not need to be sent. The information corresponding to the energy acquired from the surrounding environment comprises the second energy information; 9. The method of claim 7, wherein, In a case where the total energy acquired from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required energy within a time period during which the first communication signal is continuously sent, the wireless charging demand information comprises indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal needs to be sent; or, In a case where the total energy acquired from the surrounding environment is greater than or equal to the required energy within a time period during which the first communication signal is continuously sent, the wireless charging demand information comprises indication information indicating that the wireless charging signal does not need to be sent. The method further comprises:

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, receiving a wireless charging signal; charging using the wireless charging signal. The method comprises:

11. A method of information transmission, characterized by receiving first information, the first information comprising information corresponding to energy acquired from a surrounding environment; determining a wireless charging configuration according to the first information. The information corresponding to the energy acquired from the surrounding environment comprises at least one of:

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, first energy information corresponding to energy acquired from a received radio frequency signal; second energy information corresponding to energy acquired from a received first communication signal, the first communication signal being a communication signal carrying communication data; third energy information corresponding to energy acquired from light energy; fourth energy information corresponding to energy acquired from thermal energy; fifth energy information corresponding to energy acquired from kinetic energy; sixth energy information corresponding to total energy acquired from the surrounding environment. The first energy information comprises a charging power of energy acquired from a received radio frequency signal; the second energy information comprises a charging power of energy acquired from a received first communication signal; the third energy information comprises a charging power of energy acquired from light energy; the fourth energy information comprises a charging power of energy acquired from thermal energy; the fifth energy information comprises a charging power of energy acquired from kinetic energy; and the sixth energy information comprises a charging power of total energy acquired from the surrounding environment.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein, ​ 14. The method of claim 12, wherein, The first energy information includes a ratio of charging power of energy obtained from the received radio frequency signal to required charging power; the second energy information includes a ratio of charging power of energy obtained from the received first communication signal to required charging power; the third energy information includes a ratio of charging power of energy obtained from light energy to required charging power; the fourth energy information includes a ratio of charging power of energy obtained from thermal energy to required charging power; the fifth energy information includes a ratio of charging power of energy obtained from kinetic energy to required charging power; and the sixth energy information includes a ratio of charging power of total energy obtained from the surrounding environment to required charging power.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein, The first energy information includes a charging level corresponding to charging power of energy obtained from the received radio frequency signal; the second energy information includes a charging level corresponding to charging power of energy obtained from the received first communication signal; the third energy information includes a charging level corresponding to charging power of energy obtained from light energy; the fourth energy information includes a charging level corresponding to charging power of energy obtained from thermal energy; the fifth energy information includes a charging level corresponding to charging power of energy obtained from kinetic energy; and the sixth energy information includes a charging level corresponding to charging power of total energy obtained from the surrounding environment, and charging power ranges corresponding to different charging levels are different.

16. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, characterized in that, The method further includes: receiving second information, the second information including wireless charging demand information, the wireless charging demand information including at least one of required energy, remaining power, required charging power, or indication information indicating whether a wireless charging signal needs to be sent. determining a wireless charging configuration according to the first information, including:

17. The method of claim 16, wherein, in a case where total energy obtained from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required energy, or in a case where charging power of total energy obtained from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required charging power, determining that the wireless charging configuration includes determining to send a wireless charging signal. The information corresponding to the energy obtained from the surrounding environment includes the second energy information, and determining a wireless charging configuration according to the first information includes:

18. The method of claim 16, wherein, determining total energy obtained from the surrounding environment in a time period during which the first communication signal is continuously sent; in a case where total energy obtained from the surrounding environment is less than or equal to the required energy, determining that the wireless charging configuration includes determining to send a wireless charging signal. including:

19. A communications device, characterized by a unit for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, or a unit for performing the method according to any one of claims 11 to 18. The computer readable storage medium stores a computer program, the computer program including program instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, or the method according to any one of claims 11 to 18.

20. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, ​ 21. A chip, characterized by comprising a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, such that a communication device in which the chip is installed performs the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, or the method according to any one of claims 11 to 18.

22. A computer program product, characterised in that, comprising: a computer program which, when running on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, or the method according to any one of claims 11 to 18.

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