Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

Disclosed in the present application are a communication method and apparatus. The method comprises: encoding first semantic information, in order to obtain first information, wherein the first information comprises M code blocks, a first bit position where a first bit is located within the M code blocks is determined on the basis of the priority of the first bit, the first bit is obtained by encoding first feature data comprised in the first semantic information, and the first feature data is feature data in original data corresponding to the first semantic information. In the embodiments of the present application, a bit position where a bit is located within M code blocks can be determined on the basis of the priority of the bit. For example, higher-priority bits can be located at higher-priority bit positions within the M code blocks. Higher-priority bit positions can have smaller transmission errors, and thus the error rate of the higher-priority bits during transmission can be reduced, thereby improving the accuracy of semantic information transmission, and thus increasing the success rate of recovering original data on the basis of the semantic information.

Description

A communication method and apparatus

[0001] Cross-references to related applications

[0002] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202411049627.6, filed on July 31, 2024, entitled "A Communication Method and Apparatus", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and apparatus. Background Technology

[0004] To achieve intelligent communication, semantic communication has emerged as a new development direction. Semantic communication involves: the sending end extracting semantic information from raw data such as image data and video data, encoding this semantic information to obtain encoded semantic information, and then sending the encoded semantic information to the receiving end; the receiving end decoding the encoded semantic information to obtain the original semantic information, and then performing semantic processing on the original semantic information to obtain the original data. In semantic communication, communication is conducted by transmitting the semantic information corresponding to the raw data. Compared to directly transmitting the raw data, this reduces the amount of data transmitted, thereby lowering the bandwidth requirements.

[0005] Currently, extracting semantic information from raw data essentially involves extracting the feature data of that raw data. This can be understood as semantic information comprising one or more feature data points from the raw data. Different feature data points in the raw data have varying degrees of importance; more important feature data contributes significantly to the receiver's reconstruction of the raw data, while less important feature data contributes less. Therefore, if errors occur in the more important feature data within the semantic information transmitted between the sender and receiver, the receiver may be unable to accurately reconstruct the raw data. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This application provides a communication method and apparatus to improve the accuracy of semantic information transmission.

[0007] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a communication method, which can be executed by a semantic information sending device (e.g., a terminal device or a network device). The terminal device is, for example, a terminal equipment, or other equipment including terminal equipment functions, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of the terminal equipment, and is, for example, disposed within the terminal equipment. The network device is, for example, a network equipment, or other equipment including network equipment functions, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of the network equipment, and is, for example, disposed within the network equipment.

[0008] The method includes: encoding first semantic information to obtain first information, wherein the first information includes M encoding blocks, the position of the first bit within the M encoding blocks is determined according to the priority of the first bit, the first bit is obtained by encoding first feature data included in the first semantic information, the first feature data is feature data in the original data corresponding to the first semantic information, and M is a positive integer; and sending the first information.

[0009] In this embodiment, the bit position of a bit within M coding blocks can be determined based on the bit's priority. For example, a higher-priority bit can be located at a higher-priority bit position within the M coding blocks. The transmission error at higher-priority bit positions can be smaller, thereby reducing the error rate of higher-priority bits during transmission, improving the accuracy of semantic information transmission, and thus increasing the success rate of recovering the original data from the semantic information.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the priority of the first bit is determined based on the importance level of the first feature data, wherein the importance level of the first feature data is used to indicate the importance level of the first feature data in the original data.

[0011] In this implementation, the priority of a bit can be correlated with the importance level of the corresponding feature data in the original data. For example, if the feature data corresponding to a bit has a high importance level in the original data, then the bit has a high priority. Features with a high importance level in the original data can contribute more to the recovery of the original data at the receiving end. Therefore, by reducing the error rate of higher-priority bits during transmission, the error rate of higher-importance feature data in the original data during transmission can be reduced, thereby improving the success rate of recovering the original data based on semantic information.

[0012] In one possible implementation, the priority of the first bit position is determined based on the error information corresponding to the first bit position, wherein the error information is used to represent the error rate of the bit located at the first bit position during transmission.

[0013] In this implementation, there can be a correlation between a higher priority bit position and the error rate of the bit located at that position during transmission. For example, if the error rate of the bit located at that position is lower during transmission, then that bit position has a higher priority. Thus, higher priority bits can be located in higher priority bit positions within M coding blocks to reduce the error rate of higher priority bits during transmission, improve the accuracy of semantic information transmission, and thereby increase the success rate of recovering the original data from the semantic information.

[0014] In one possible implementation, there is a mapping relationship between the priority of the first bit and the priority of the second bit position within the M coded blocks, wherein the second bit position is the first bit position, or the first bit position is determined based on the second bit position.

[0015] In this implementation, the priority of a bit can be correlated with its position within the M coding blocks. For example, a bit with priority 1 should be located at the priority 1 bit position within the M coding blocks, and a bit with priority 2 should be located at the priority 2 bit position within the M coding blocks. This ensures that higher-priority bits are located at higher-priority bit positions within the M coding blocks, resulting in smaller transmission errors for higher-priority bit positions and thus reducing the error rate of higher-priority bits during transmission. Furthermore, the actual bit position of a bit within the M coding blocks (e.g., the actual first bit position of the first bit) can be the same as or different from the bit position that the bit should be located within the M coding blocks (e.g., the second bit position that the first bit should be located), making the relationship between the bit and its position within the M coding blocks more flexible.

[0016] In one possible implementation, the first bit has the highest priority, and the first bit position includes K1 bit positions within the first coding block of the M coding blocks. The K1 bit positions are the highest priority bit positions within the first coding block, and K1 is a positive integer.

[0017] In this implementation, bits corresponding to the same priority can be located at the same bit position within M coding blocks. For example, the highest priority bit can be located at the highest priority bit position within M coding blocks. The transmission error at the highest priority bit position can be smaller, thereby reducing the error rate of the highest priority bit during transmission, improving the accuracy of semantic information transmission, and thus increasing the success rate of recovering the original data from the semantic information.

[0018] In one possible implementation, the first bit includes a number of bits greater than the number of highest priority bit positions within the first coding block. The first bit position also includes K2 bit positions within the first coding block, wherein the priority of the K2 bit positions is lower than the priority of the K1 bit positions, and K2 is a positive integer.

[0019] In this implementation, bits corresponding to the same priority can be located in bit positions within M coding blocks where the priority is different from the bit's priority (e.g., lower). For example, if the number of bit positions with the same priority as the bit in one of the M coding blocks is insufficient, the remaining bit will be preferentially located in bit positions within that coding block where the priority is lower. In other words, if bits corresponding to the same priority have already occupied all bit positions within one coding block, the remaining bits of that priority will then be located in bit positions within another coding block. This ensures that higher-priority bits are located in higher-priority bit positions within the M coding blocks as much as possible, reducing the error rate of higher-priority bits during transmission and reducing complexity.

[0020] In one possible implementation, the K2 bit positions have a higher priority than the remaining bit positions within the first coded block.

[0021] In this implementation, for bits of the same priority, if the number of bit positions with the same priority as the given bit within one of the M coding blocks is insufficient, the remaining bit will be preferentially located at a bit position within the same coding block with a priority only lower than the given bit. For example, priority 1 is greater than priority 2, and priority 2 is greater than priority 3. For a priority 1 bit, if the number of priority 1 bit positions within a coding block is insufficient, the remaining priority 1 bit will be preferentially located at a priority 2 bit position within the same coding block; if the number of priority 2 bit positions within the same coding block is insufficient, the remaining priority 1 bit will then be located at a priority 3 bit position within the same coding block. This ensures that higher priority bits are located at higher priority bit positions within the M coding blocks as much as possible, reducing the error rate of higher priority bits during transmission.

[0022] In one possible implementation, the first bit includes a number of bits greater than the number of highest priority bit positions within the first coding block. The first bit position also includes K3 bit positions within the second coding block of the M coding blocks, where K3 are the highest priority bit positions within the second coding block and K3 is a positive integer.

[0023] In this implementation, bits corresponding to the same priority can only be located in bit positions within M coding blocks that have the same priority as the current bit (e.g., equal to the current bit's priority). For example, if the number of bit positions with the same priority as the current bit in one of the M coding blocks is insufficient, the remaining bit will be preferentially located in a bit position with the same priority in another coding block. In other words, if bits of the same priority have already occupied all bit positions with the same priority in one coding block, the remaining bits of that priority will then be located in a bit position in another coding block. This maximizes the chances of higher-priority bits being located in higher-priority bit positions within the M coding blocks, thereby reducing the error rate of higher-priority bits during transmission.

[0024] In one possible implementation, a second message is received or transmitted, wherein the second message is used to indicate the mapping relationship between the priority of the bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of the bit positions within a coding block.

[0025] This embodiment provides multiple ways for the sending end and receiving end to pre-agree on the mapping relationship between the priority of bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of bit positions within a coding block. For example, the sending end determines the mapping relationship and then informs the receiving end; or the receiving end determines the mapping relationship and then informs the sending end. This makes the method of pre-agreeing on the mapping relationship between the sending end and the receiving end more flexible.

[0026] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving third information, wherein the third information is used to indicate the priority of some or all bit positions within a coding block, or to indicate the highest priority bit position within a coding block.

[0027] This implementation provides multiple ways to pre-agree on the priorities of different bit positions within a coding block between the sender and receiver. For example, the receiver can inform the sender of the priorities of some or all bit positions within a coding block. For instance, if a coding block contains 150 bit positions, the priorities of bit positions 1 to 50 are priority 1, bit positions 51 to 100 are priority 2, and bit positions 101 to 150 are priority 3, making the priorities determined by the sender more precise. Alternatively, the receiver can only inform the sender of the highest priority bit positions within a coding block, such as bit positions 1 to 50, thereby reducing information overhead.

[0028] In one possible implementation, the third information is used to indicate the position of the highest priority bit within a coding block; the method further includes: receiving fourth information; wherein the fourth information is used to indicate: the mapping relationship between the position of the highest priority bit within the coding block and a first encoding parameter, the first encoding parameter being used to encode the first semantic information; and / or, the position of the highest priority bit within the coding block being updated.

[0029] In this implementation, since different bit positions within a coding block correspond to different encoding parameters (e.g., code length, code rate, etc.), meaning the highest-priority bit position within a coding block differs for different encoding parameters, if the receiver only informs the sender of the highest-priority bit position within a coding block, the sender and receiver need to renegotiate the highest-priority bit position within a coding block when the agreed-upon encoding parameters are updated. For example, the receiver can directly inform the sender of the association between the encoding parameters and the highest-priority bit position within a coding block; or, for instance, the receiver can inform the sender of the updated highest-priority bit position within a coding block. This ensures the accuracy of the highest-priority bit position agreed upon between the sender and receiver within a coding block.

[0030] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: sending fifth information, wherein the fifth information is used to indicate that the sending device of the semantic information supports a first transmission mechanism, the first transmission mechanism being used to indicate that there are bit positions with different priorities within a coding block; and receiving sixth information, wherein the sixth information is used to indicate that the communication between the sending device and the receiving device of the semantic information adopts the first transmission mechanism.

[0031] In this embodiment, the sending end and the receiving end can agree in advance on the transmission mechanism used for communication between them, such as using a transmission mechanism with different priority bit positions within a coding block, thereby improving the communication efficiency between the sending end and the receiving end.

[0032] Secondly, embodiments of this application also provide a communication method, which can be executed by a receiving device for semantic information (e.g., a terminal device or a network device). The terminal device is, for example, a terminal equipment, or other equipment including terminal equipment functions, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of the terminal equipment, and is, for example, disposed within the terminal equipment. The network device is, for example, a network equipment, or other equipment including network equipment functions, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of the network equipment, and is, for example, disposed within the network equipment.

[0033] The method includes: sending or receiving second information, wherein the second information is used to indicate a mapping relationship between the priority of bits corresponding to feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of bit positions within a coded block.

[0034] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving first information; decoding the first information to obtain the first semantic information.

[0035] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: sending third information, wherein the third information is used to indicate the priority of some or all bit positions within a coding block, or to indicate the highest priority bit position within a coding block.

[0036] In one possible implementation, the third information is used to indicate the position of the highest priority bit within a coding block; the method further includes: sending fourth information; wherein the fourth information is used to indicate: the mapping relationship between the position of the highest priority bit within the coding block and a first encoding parameter, the first encoding parameter being used to encode the first semantic information; and / or, the position of the highest priority bit within the coding block being updated.

[0037] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving fifth information, wherein the fifth information is used to indicate that the transmitting device of the semantic information supports a first transmission mechanism, the first transmission mechanism being used to indicate that there are bit positions with different priorities within a coding block; and sending sixth information, wherein the sixth information is used to indicate that the communication between the transmitting device and the receiving device of the semantic information adopts the first transmission mechanism.

[0038] The beneficial effects of the second aspect and its implementation can be referred to the beneficial effects of the first aspect and any of its implementations.

[0039] Thirdly, embodiments of this application also provide a communication device. The communication device can be a semantic information transmitting device (e.g., a terminal device or a network device) as described in the first aspect. The communication device possesses the functions of the aforementioned semantic information transmitting device. This communication device is, for example, a terminal device, or other device including terminal device functions, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of a terminal device, and is, for example, disposed within a terminal device. Alternatively, the communication device is, for example, a network device, or other device including network device functions, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of a network device, and is, for example, disposed within a network device.

[0040] In one optional implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also called a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also called a transceiver module). The transceiver unit is capable of transmitting and receiving functions. When the transceiver unit performs the transmitting function, it can be called a transmitting unit (sometimes also called a transmitting module), and when the transceiver unit performs the receiving function, it can be called a receiving unit (sometimes also called a receiving module). The transmitting unit and the receiving unit can be the same functional module, which is called the transceiver unit and can perform both transmitting and receiving functions; or, the transmitting unit and the receiving unit can be different functional modules, and the transceiver unit is a collective term for these functional modules.

[0041] In one optional implementation, the processing unit is configured to encode the first semantic information to obtain first information, wherein the first information includes M coding blocks, the position of the first bit within the M coding blocks is determined according to the priority of the first bit, the first bit is obtained by encoding the first feature data included in the first semantic information, the first feature data is feature data in the original data corresponding to the first semantic information, and M is a positive integer. The transceiver unit is configured to transmit the first information.

[0042] Fourthly, embodiments of this application also provide a communication device. The communication device can be a receiving end device (e.g., a terminal device or a network device) for semantic information as described in the second aspect above. The communication device possesses the functions of the aforementioned receiving end device for semantic information. This communication device is, for example, a terminal device, or other device including terminal device functions, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of a terminal device, and is, for example, disposed within a terminal device. Alternatively, the communication device is, for example, a network device, or other device including network device functions, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of a network device, and is, for example, disposed within a network device.

[0043] In one optional implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also called a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also called a transceiver module). The transceiver unit is capable of transmitting and receiving functions. When the transceiver unit performs the transmitting function, it can be called a transmitting unit (sometimes also called a transmitting module), and when the transceiver unit performs the receiving function, it can be called a receiving unit (sometimes also called a receiving module). The transmitting unit and the receiving unit can be the same functional module, which is called the transceiver unit and can perform both transmitting and receiving functions; or, the transmitting unit and the receiving unit can be different functional modules, and the transceiver unit is a collective term for these functional modules.

[0044] In one optional implementation, the transceiver unit is configured to send or receive second information, wherein the second information is configured to indicate the mapping relationship between the priority of the bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of the bit positions within a coding block.

[0045] Fifthly, a communication device is provided, which can be a semantic information transmitting device (e.g., a terminal device or a network device) as described in the first aspect. The communication device possesses the functions of the aforementioned semantic information transmitting device. This communication device is, for example, a terminal device, or other device including terminal device functions, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of a terminal device, and is, for example, disposed within a terminal device. Alternatively, the communication device is, for example, a network device, or other device including network device functions, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of a network device, and is, for example, disposed within a network device.

[0046] The communication device includes a processor for performing the functions of the semantic information transmitting device described in the first aspect above. Optionally, the communication device also includes a memory. The memory stores a computer program, and the processor is coupled to the memory. When the processor reads the computer program or instructions, it causes the communication device to perform the methods executed by the semantic information transmitting device in the above aspects.

[0047] Sixthly, a communication device is provided, which can be a receiving end device (e.g., a terminal device or a network device) for semantic information as described in the second aspect above. The communication device possesses the functions of the aforementioned receiving end device for semantic information. This communication device is, for example, a terminal device, or other device including terminal device functions, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of a terminal device, and is, for example, disposed within a terminal device. Alternatively, the communication device is, for example, a network device, or other device including network device functions, or a chip system (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functions of a network device, and is, for example, disposed within a network device.

[0048] The communication device includes a processor for performing the functions of the semantic information receiving device described in the second aspect above. Optionally, the communication device also includes a memory. The memory stores a computer program, and the processor is coupled to the memory. When the processor reads the computer program or instructions, it causes the communication device to perform the methods executed by the semantic information receiving device in the above aspects.

[0049] A seventh aspect provides a communication system including a semantic information transmitting device (e.g., a terminal device or a network device). The transmitting device is used to perform the method described in the first aspect. For example, the transmitting device can be implemented using the communication device described in the third or fifth aspect.

[0050] Optionally, the communication system further includes a receiving end device (e.g., a terminal device or a network device) for receiving semantic information. This receiving end device is used to execute the method described in the second aspect above. For example, the terminal device can be implemented using the communication device described in the fourth or sixth aspect.

[0051] Eighthly, a computer-readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program or instructions that, when executed, cause the method performed by a transmitting device (e.g., a terminal device or a network device) or a receiving device (e.g., a terminal device or a network device) of semantic information in the above aspects to be implemented.

[0052] Ninthly, a computer program product containing instructions is provided, which, when the computer program or instructions are run on a computer, causes the methods described in the above aspects to be implemented.

[0053] In a tenth aspect, a chip system is provided, including a processor and an interface, the processor being configured to call and execute instructions from the interface to enable the chip system to implement the methods described above. Attached Figure Description

[0054] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0055] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an encoding block provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0056] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a semantic communication system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0057] Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0058] Figure 5a is a schematic diagram of a bit and M coded blocks provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0059] Figure 5b is a schematic diagram of another bit and M coded blocks provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0060] Figure 5c is a schematic diagram of another bit and M coded blocks provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0061] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0062] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0063] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of this application clearer, the embodiments of this application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0064] The technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to communication systems related to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication systems, 5th Generation (5G) mobile communication systems (specifically, New Radio (NR) communication systems, or NR communication systems that introduce Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) technology), or they can be applied to other next-generation mobile communication systems, or other similar communication systems, or they can be applied to communication systems in the future evolution process. Other similar communication systems may include Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), Internet of Things (IoT) systems, Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) systems, or the Industrial Internet, etc.

[0065] Referring to Figure 1, it is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication system provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system 1000 may include a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may also include the Internet 300.

[0066] The wireless access network 100 includes at least one access network device (such as access network devices 110a and 110b in Figure 1, collectively referred to as access network device 110) and at least one terminal device (such as terminal devices 120a-120j in Figure 1, collectively referred to as terminal device 120). The wireless access network 100 may also include other devices, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in Figure 1). The terminal device 120 is wirelessly connected to the access network device 110. The access network device 110 is wirelessly or wired connected to the core network 200. The core network device 210 in the core network 200 and the access network device 110 in the wireless access network 100 can be different physical devices, or they can be the same physical device integrating core network logical functions and wireless access network logical functions.

[0067] The radio access network 100 can be a 3GPP-related communication system (such as a 5G mobile communication system) or another next-generation mobile communication system (such as a 6G mobile communication system). The radio access network 100 can also be an open RAN (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a WiFi system. The radio access network 100 can also be a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems.

[0068] Access network equipment 110, also known as RAN node, RAN entity, or access node, is used to help terminal equipment 120 achieve wireless access.

[0069] In one possible scenario, a 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 6G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system. A RAN node can be a macro base station (as shown in Figure 1, 110a), a micro base station or indoor station (as shown in Figure 1, 110b), a relay node or donor node, or a radio controller in a CRAN scenario. Optionally, a RAN node can also be a server, wearable device, vehicle, or in-vehicle equipment. For example, in V2X technology, the RAN node can be a roadside unit (RSU).

[0070] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes can collaborate to assist terminal device 120 in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes each implementing a portion of the base station's functions. For example, RAN nodes can be central units (CUs), distributed units (DUs), CU-control plane (CPs), CU-user plane (UPs), or radio units (RUs), etc. CUs and DUs can be configured separately or included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). RUs can be included in radio frequency equipment or radio frequency units, such as remote radio units (RRUs), active antenna units (AAUs), or remote radio heads (RRHs). The CU can perform the functions of the radio resource control (RRC) protocol and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and can also perform the functions of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP). The DU can perform the functions of the radio link control (RLC) layer and medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and can also perform some or all of the physical (PHY) layer functions. For specific descriptions of the above protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of 3GPP.

[0071] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meaning. For example, in an ORAN system, CU can also be called O-CU (open CU), DU can also be called O-DU, CU-CP can also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP can also be called O-CU-UP, and RU can also be called O-RU. For ease of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU as examples. Any of the units among CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented through software modules, hardware modules, or a combination of software and hardware modules.

[0072] Terminal device 120, also known as terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc., can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), V2X communication, machine-type communication (MTC), IoT communication, virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, etc. Terminal device 120 can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable device, vehicle, drone, helicopter, airplane, ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home device, etc.

[0073] In this embodiment, the functions of access network device 110 can also be performed by modules (such as chips or modems) within access network device 110, or by devices containing the functions of access network device 110. Similarly, the functions of terminal device 120 can be performed by modules (such as chips or modems) within terminal device 120, or by devices containing the functions of terminal device 120. Likewise, the functions of core network device 210 can be performed by modules (such as chips or modems) within core network device 210, or by devices containing the functions of core network device 210. This embodiment does not limit the specific technologies or device forms used in access network device 110, terminal device 120, and core network device 210.

[0074] The communication system applicable to the embodiments of this application has been briefly introduced above. The relevant technical solutions involved in the embodiments of this application are described below.

[0075] 1) Low-density parity check (LDPC) codes are a type of linear block code with a sparse parity check matrix, meaning that only a small number of elements in the check matrix are "1", and the majority are "0". LDPC utilizes the sparsity of the matrix, making the decoding complexity linearly related only to the code length, and can still be decoded effectively even with long code lengths.

[0076] Generally, in LDPC codes, a transport block may include one or more code blocks (CBs), and a code block includes one or more bit positions. The error rate of bits at different bit positions during transmission may be different. The error rate during transmission can be understood as the bit error rate during transmission, or it can be understood as the probability or number of errors after a certain number of transmissions. For example, Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a code block provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 2, the horizontal axis represents the bit positions within a code block, and the vertical axis represents the bit error rate of the bits at those bit positions during transmission. A code block includes 300 bit positions. The bit error rate of the bits at the 1st to 100th bit positions during transmission is 25%, the bit error rate of the bits at the 101st to 200th bit positions during transmission is 50%, and the bit error rate of the bits at the 201st to 300th bit positions during transmission is 15%.

[0077] 2) Semantic communication refers to the process where the sending end extracts semantic information from raw data such as image data and video data, encodes the semantic information to obtain encoded semantic information, and then sends the encoded semantic information to the receiving end; the receiving end decodes the encoded semantic information to obtain the original data, and then performs semantic processing on the semantic information.

[0078] In semantic communication, communication is carried out by transmitting semantic information corresponding to the original data. Compared with communicating by transmitting the original data, this reduces the amount of data transmitted, thereby reducing the demand for transmission bandwidth.

[0079] For example, Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a semantic communication system provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 3, this semantic communication system includes a sending end device, a receiving end device, and a channel for communication between the sending end device and the receiving end device. The sending end device includes a semantic extraction module and a channel coding module; the receiving end device includes a channel decoding module (or channel decoding module) and a semantic understanding module. The algorithms in the semantic extraction module and the semantic understanding module include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: neural networks, deep neural networks (DNN), convolutional neural networks (CNN), recurrent neural networks (RNN), or generative adversarial networks (GAN).

[0080] In the semantic communication system shown in Figure 3, the transmitting device extracts semantic information from the original data through its own semantic extraction module, and then performs channel coding on the semantic information through the channel coding module before sending it to the receiving device. The receiving device performs channel decoding on the signal from the transmitting device through the channel decoding module to obtain the semantic information, and then processes the semantic information through its own semantic understanding module to obtain the original data.

[0081] Currently, extracting semantic information from raw data essentially involves extracting the feature data of that raw data. This can be understood as semantic information comprising one or more feature data points from the raw data. Different feature data points in the raw data have varying degrees of importance; highly important feature data contributes significantly to the receiver's reconstruction of the raw data, while less important feature data contributes less. Therefore, if highly important feature data is corrupted during the transmission of semantic information between the sender and receiver, the receiver may be unable to accurately reconstruct the raw data.

[0082] Therefore, embodiments of this application provide a communication method for improving the accuracy of semantic information transmission.

[0083] In the embodiments of this application, "when," "if," and "if" all refer to the device taking corresponding actions under certain objective circumstances, and are not time-limited, nor do they require the device to perform a judgment action, nor do they imply any other limitations. Unless otherwise specified, "if" and "if" can be substituted, and "when" and "in the case of" can be substituted. "When" and "if" / "if" can be substituted.

[0084] In the embodiments of this application, the terms "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate that something is an example, illustration, or description. Any embodiment or design that is described as "exemplary" or "for example" in this application should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of the terms "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a specific manner.

[0085] In this document, "used for indication" can include both direct and indirect indication. For example, when descriptive information I is used to indicate information J, it can mean that information I directly indicates information J or indirectly indicates information J, but it does not necessarily mean that information I carries information J.

[0086] Let information J, indicated by information I, be called the information to be indicated. In practice, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated, such as, but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be indicated, such as the information itself or its index. It can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, where there is a relationship between the other information and the information to be indicated. It can also indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other parts are known or pre-agreed upon. For example, the indication of specific information can be achieved by using a pre-agreed (e.g., protocol-defined) order of various pieces of information, thereby reducing indication overhead to some extent. Simultaneously, common parts of various pieces of information can be identified and indicated uniformly to reduce the indication overhead caused by individually indicating the same information.

[0087] Furthermore, the specific instruction method can also be any existing instruction method, such as, but not limited to, the above-mentioned instruction methods and their various combinations. As described above, for example, when multiple pieces of information of the same type need to be indicated, the instruction methods for different pieces of information may differ. In specific implementation, the required instruction method can be selected according to specific needs. This application embodiment does not limit the selected instruction method. Therefore, the instruction methods involved in this application embodiment should be understood to cover various methods that enable the party to be instructed to obtain the information to be indicated.

[0088] In the embodiments of this application, "send" and "receive" indicate the direction of signal transmission. For example, "send information to XX" can be understood as the destination of the information being XX, which may include direct transmission via the air interface or indirect transmission via the air interface by other units or modules. "Receive information from YY" can be understood as the source of the information being YY, which may include direct reception from YY via the air interface or indirect reception from YY via the air interface by other units or modules. "Send" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receive" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface.

[0089] Information may undergo necessary processing, such as encoding and modulation, between the source and destination ends, but the destination end can understand the valid information from the source end. Similar statements in the embodiments of this application can be understood in a similar way, and will not be repeated here.

[0090] In this application embodiment, the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, refers to "singular nouns or plural nouns," that is, "one or more." "At least one" means one or more, and "more than one" means two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " can indicate that the related objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B means: A or B. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c means: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0091] In this application, the ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the size, content, order, timing, priority, or importance of the multiple objects. For example, "first information" and "second information" refer to two different pieces of information, and do not indicate a difference in priority or importance between the two pieces of information. For a technical feature, the technical features within that technical feature are distinguished by "A," "B," "C," and "D," and there is no sequential or hierarchical order among the technical features described by "A," "B," "C," and "D." For example, in this document, situation A and situation B are only used to distinguish different contents, and do not limit the sequential or hierarchical order, priority, or importance between situation A and situation B.

[0092] The solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application is applied to the communication system shown in Figure 1 as an example. The communication system and application scenarios described in the embodiments of this application are for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application. As those skilled in the art will know, with the evolution of communication systems and the emergence of new application scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0093] The following describes the communication method provided in this application, using an embodiment executed by a terminal device and a network device (e.g., an access network device and / or a core network device), as an example. The steps executed by the terminal device can be implemented by the terminal device itself or by components within the terminal device (such as chips, processing units, or processor modules). The terminal device can be the terminal device shown in Figure 1, or it can be the chip (system) within the terminal device in Figure 1. The steps executed by the network device can be implemented by the network device itself or by components within the network device (such as baseband chips, or other processing units or processor modules). For example, the network device can be the network device in Figure 1, or it can be the chip (system) within the network device in Figure 1.

[0094] Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 4 illustrates the method using a terminal device as the sender of semantic information and a network device as the receiver of semantic information as an example. It should be understood that the embodiments of this application are not limited to the terminal device as the sender of semantic information and the network device as the receiver of semantic information. For example, a network device can act as the sender of semantic information and a terminal device can act as the receiver of semantic information; or, one terminal device can act as the sender of semantic information and another terminal device can act as the receiver of semantic information; or, one network device can act as the sender of semantic information and another network device can act as the receiver of semantic information. As shown in Figure 4, the flow of this communication method includes the following steps.

[0095] S401. The terminal device encodes the first semantic information to obtain first information, wherein the first information includes M coding blocks, the position of the first bit in the M coding blocks is determined according to the priority of the first bit, the first bit is obtained by encoding the first feature data included in the first semantic information, the first feature data is the feature data in the original data corresponding to the first semantic information, and M is a positive integer.

[0096] In this embodiment, the terminal device can extract first semantic information from the raw data to be transmitted using a semantic extraction model. The raw data can be one or more types of raw data, including image data, text data, video data, or audio data; this application does not specifically limit this type. The semantic extraction model can be a model based on one or more algorithms selected from neural networks, DNN, CNN, RNN, or GAN; this application does not specifically limit this type.

[0097] It can be understood that the first semantic information can be composed of one or more feature data (or slice data) from the original data corresponding to the first semantic information. Different feature data may have different levels of importance within the original data. During the transmission of the first semantic information, the loss of higher-importance feature data contributes more to the network device's recovery of the original data after receiving the first semantic information, while the loss of lower-importance feature data contributes less. In other words, if the network device receives the first semantic information but lacks higher-importance feature data from the original data, it will be unable to recover the original data; however, if higher-importance feature data is missing, the original data can still be recovered.

[0098] For example, the first semantic information is composed of five feature data points from the original data corresponding to the first semantic information: feature data 1, feature data 2, feature data 3, feature data 4, and feature data 5. The importance levels of these five feature data points in the original data are, in descending order: level 1, level 2, level 3, level 4, and level 5. Level 1 is the highest level, and level 5 is the lowest level. After receiving the first semantic information, if the network device is missing feature data of importance level 1, 2, 3, or 4, the network device will be unable to recover the original data. However, if feature data of importance level 5 is missing, the network device can still recover the original data.

[0099] After the terminal device extracts the first semantic information from the original data to be transmitted using a semantic extraction model, the terminal device can encode the first semantic information to obtain first information. The first information includes M encoded blocks, where M is a positive integer. This application does not limit the name of the first information.

[0100] It is understandable that the terminal device can encode the first semantic information to obtain one or more bits, and sort the one or more bits to obtain M coded blocks.

[0101] For example, encoding the first semantic information yields 500 bits, with one coding block containing 250 bit positions. The terminal device can sort these 500 bits to obtain two coding blocks. As another example, encoding the first semantic information yields 500 bits, with one coding block containing 300 bit positions. Since the number of bits encoded from the first semantic information does not match the number of bit positions included in two coding blocks, the terminal device can sort these 500 bits along with 100 known bits to obtain two coding blocks.

[0102] In practice, the position of the first bit within the M coding blocks can be determined based on the priority of the first bit.

[0103] The first bit is obtained by encoding the first feature data included in the first semantic information; that is, the first bit corresponds to the first feature data. The first feature data can be one or more feature data in the original data corresponding to the first semantic information. The importance level of the first feature data is used to indicate the importance level of the first feature data in the original data corresponding to the first semantic information.

[0104] For example, the first semantic information is composed of five feature data points from the original data corresponding to the first semantic information, namely feature data 1, feature data 2, feature data 3, feature data 4, and feature data 5. Encoding the first semantic information yields 300 bits. Specifically, bit a corresponding to feature data 1 comprises 40 bits, bit b corresponding to feature data 2 comprises 100 bits, bit c corresponding to feature data 3 comprises 30 bits, bit d corresponding to feature data 3 comprises 70 bits, and bit 5 corresponding to feature data e comprises 60 bits.

[0105] The first bit may include one or more bits. The first bit position may include one or more bit positions. The number of bits included in the first bit is the same as the number of bit positions included in the first bit position. For example, if the first bit includes 300 bits, then the first bit position includes 300 bit positions.

[0106] It is understandable that if the first bit has a higher priority, then the first bit position of the first bit within the M coding blocks has a higher priority; if the first bit has a lower priority, then the first bit position of the first bit within the M coding blocks has a lower priority.

[0107] The priority of the first bit and the priority of the first bit position are introduced below.

[0108] 1) Priority of the first bit

[0109] The priority of the first bit can be determined based on the importance level of the first feature data corresponding to the first bit. For example, the higher the importance level of the first feature data corresponding to the first bit, the higher the priority of the first bit.

[0110] For example, as shown in Table 1, for bits a-e corresponding to feature data 1-feature data 5 respectively, the importance levels of feature data 1, feature data 2, feature data 3, feature data 4, and feature data 5 in the original data corresponding to the first semantic information are, in order, level 1, level 2, level 3, level 4, and level 5. Level 1 is the highest level, and level 5 is the lowest level. Then, the priorities of bit a corresponding to feature data 1, bit b corresponding to feature data 2, bit c corresponding to feature data 3, bit d corresponding to feature data 3, and bit e corresponding to feature data 4 are, in order, priority 1, priority 2, priority 3, priority 4, and priority 5. Priority 1 is the highest priority, and priority 5 is the lowest priority.

[0111] Table 1

[0112] 2) Priority of the first bit position

[0113] The priority of the first bit position can be determined based on the error information corresponding to that first bit position. This error information represents the error rate of the bit located at the first bit position during transmission. For example, the lower the error rate of the bit located at the first bit position during transmission, the higher the priority of that first bit position.

[0114] For example, as shown in Table 2, one of the M coding blocks contains 500 bits. For each of the 500 bits within a coding block, the error rate during transmission is as follows: bits at positions 1 to 100 have an error rate of 25%; bits at positions 101 to 200 have an error rate of 50%; and bits at positions 201 to 300 have an error rate of 15%. Therefore, the priority of bits 1 to 100 is priority 2, the priority of bits 101 to 200 is priority 3, and the priority of bits 201 to 300 is priority 1. Priority 1 is the highest priority, and priority 3 is the lowest priority.

[0115] Table 2

[0116] In other words, during the process of encoding the first semantic information into one or more bits and sorting these bits into M coding blocks, there can be a mapping relationship between the priority of a bit and the priority of its position within the M coding blocks. For example, a higher-priority bit can be located at a higher-priority bit position within the M coding blocks. Because higher-priority bit positions within the M coding blocks have a lower error rate during transmission, this reduces the error rate of higher-priority bits during transmission. Furthermore, since the one or more feature data corresponding to higher-priority bits have a higher importance level in the original data corresponding to the first semantic information, the transmission accuracy of the first semantic information can be improved, thereby increasing the success rate of recovering the original data corresponding to the first semantic information based on the first semantic information.

[0117] It is understandable that there can be a mapping relationship between the priority of a bit and the priority of its position within a coded block. For example, a priority 1 bit is located at a priority 1 bit position, and a priority 2 bit is located at a priority 2 bit position within a coded block. Alternatively, a priority 1 bit may be located at both priority 1 and priority 2 bit positions, and a priority 2 bit may be located at a priority 3 bit position.

[0118] In other words, there can be a mapping relationship between the priority of the first bit and the priority of the second bit position within M coding blocks. For example, the first bit with priority 1 is located at the second bit position with priority 1 within M coding blocks.

[0119] The second bit position can be the first bit position, or the first bit position can be determined based on the second bit position.

[0120] In other words, the first bit position mentioned above is the actual first bit position of the first bit within the M coding blocks, and the second bit position is the first bit position that the first bit should be within the M coding blocks. The first bit position can be the same as the second bit position (i.e., the second bit position is the first bit position) or different (i.e., the first bit position can be determined based on the second bit position).

[0121] The following section will describe different cases, taking the example where the priority of the first bit is the same as the priority of the second bit.

[0122] Case A: The positions of the first bit and the second bit are different.

[0123] It can be understood that one or more bits corresponding to the same priority can be located in one or more bit positions within M coding blocks where the priority of the one or more bits is different from that of the one or more bits (i.e., lower or higher than the priority of the one or more bits).

[0124] Specifically, when the first bit has the highest priority, the position of the first bit within the M coding blocks can include K1 bit positions within the first coding block of the M coding blocks. Here, the first coding block is any one of the M coding blocks, and the K1 bit positions are the highest priority bit positions within the first coding block, where K1 is a positive integer.

[0125] If the number of bits included in the first bit position is greater than the number of highest priority bit positions in the first coded block, then the first bit position may also include K2 bit positions in the first coded block. The priority of the K2 bit positions is lower than the priority of the K1 bit positions, and K2 is a positive integer. Optionally, the priority of the K2 bit positions is higher than the priority of the remaining bit positions in the first coded block.

[0126] For example, the number of bits included in the first bit can be less than the number of bit positions in a coding block.

[0127] Figure 5a is a schematic diagram of a bit and M coded blocks provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 5a, the first semantic information is encoded to obtain bits a, b, and c, which correspond to three priorities respectively. Bit a has priority 1, bit b has priority 2, and bit c has priority 3. Bit a contains 150 bits, bit b contains 100 bits, and bit c contains 150 bits. Priority 1 is higher than priority 2, and priority 2 is higher than priority 3.

[0128] A single coded block comprises 200 bit positions. The first 50 bits have priority 1, the 51st to 150th bits have priority 2, and the 151st to 200th bits have priority 1. Priority 1 is higher than priority 2.

[0129] The 400 bits in bits a, b, and c can be located in the 400-bit positions of two coding blocks (e.g., coding block 1 and coding block 2).

[0130] As shown in Table 3, the 150 bits in bit a of priority 1 can be located at the 1st to the 50th bit position in coding block 1 (priority 1), the 151st to the 200th bit position in coding block 1 (priority 1), and the 51st to the 100th bit position in coding block 1 (priority 2).

[0131] The 100 bits in bit b of priority 2 can be located at bit positions 101 to 150 in coded block 1 (priority 2), and bit positions 1 to 50 in coded block 2 (priority 1).

[0132] The 150 bits within bit c of priority 3 can be located at bit positions 151 to 200 within coded block 3 (priority 1), or bit positions 51 to 150 within coded block 3 (priority 2).

[0133] Table 3

[0134] For example, the number of bits included in the first bit can be greater than the number of bit positions in a coding block.

[0135] Figure 5b is a schematic diagram of another bit and M coding blocks provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 5b, the first semantic information is encoded to obtain bits a and bits b corresponding to two priorities, respectively. Bit a has a priority of priority 1, and bit b has a priority of priority 2. Bit a contains 150 bits, and bit b contains 50 bits. Priority 1 is higher than priority 2, and priority 2 is higher than priority 3.

[0136] A single coded block comprises 100 bit positions. Bit positions 1 through 50 have priority 1, and bit positions 51 through 100 have priority 2. Priority 1 has higher priority than priority 2.

[0137] The 200 bits in bit a and bit b can be located in the 200 bit positions in two coding blocks (e.g., coding block 1 and coding block 2).

[0138] As shown in Table 4, the 150 bits in bit a of priority 1 can be located in the first to the 50th bit position in coding block 1 (priority 1), the 51st to the 100th bit position in coding block 1 (priority 2), and the first to the 50th bit position in coding block 2 (priority 1).

[0139] The 300 bits within priority 2 bit b can be located at bit positions 51 to 100 within coded block 2 (priority 2).

[0140] Table 4

[0141] In other words, situation A above actually refers to the following: for one or more bits corresponding to the same priority, if the number of bit positions with a priority higher than or equal to the priority of the one or more bits in one of the M coding blocks is insufficient, then the remaining bits in the one or more bits will be preferentially located in bit positions with a priority lower than the priority of the one or more bits in the coding block.

[0142] For example, one or more bits corresponding to the same priority will be preferentially located in the position of a bit within a coding block with a higher priority than the one or more bits.

[0143] If there are not enough bit positions in the coding block with a priority higher than that of one or more bits, then the position is located at a bit position in the coding block with a priority equal to that of one or more bits.

[0144] If there are not enough bit positions in the coding block with a priority equal to the priority of the one or more bits, then the position is located in a bit position in the coding block with a priority lower than the priority of the one or more bits.

[0145] If there are not enough bit positions in the coding block with a priority lower than that of one or more bits, then place them in another coding block with a priority higher than that of one or more bits.

[0146] That is, for one or more bits corresponding to the same priority, if some bits of that priority have already occupied all bit positions in a coding block, then the remaining bits of that priority will be located in bit positions in another coding block. This is to reduce complexity while ensuring that higher priority bits are located in higher priority bit positions in M ​​coding blocks as much as possible.

[0147] Case B: The positions of the first bit and the second bit are the same.

[0148] It can be understood that one or more bits corresponding to the same priority can be located in one or more bit positions within M coding blocks that have the same priority as (i.e., equal to) the priority of the one or more bits.

[0149] Specifically, when the first bit has the highest priority, the position of the first bit within the M coding blocks can include K1 bit positions within the first coding block of the M coding blocks. Here, the first coding block is any one of the M coding blocks, and the K1 bit positions are the highest priority bit positions within the first coding block, where K1 is a positive integer.

[0150] If the number of bits included in the first bit position is greater than the number of highest priority bit positions in the first coded block, then the first bit position may also include K3 bit positions in the second coded block from among M coded blocks. Here, K3 bit positions are the highest priority bit positions in the second coded block, and K3 is a positive integer.

[0151] For example, Figure 5c is a schematic diagram of another bit and M coded blocks provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 5c, the first semantic information is encoded to obtain bits a, bit b, and bit c, which correspond to three priorities respectively. Bit a has priority 1, bit b has priority 2, and bit c has priority 3. Bit a contains 100 bits, bit b contains 100 bits, and bit c contains 100 bits. Priority 1 is higher than priority 2, and priority 2 is higher than priority 3.

[0152] A single coded block comprises 150 bit positions. The first 1 to the 50th bit positions have priority 1, the 51st to the 100th bit positions have priority 2, and the 101st to the 150th bit positions have priority 3. Priority 1 is higher than priority 2, and priority 2 is higher than priority 3.

[0153] The 300 bits in bits a, b, and c can be located in the 300 bit positions in two coding blocks (e.g., coding block 1 and coding block 2).

[0154] As shown in Table 5, the 100 bits in bit a of priority 1 can be located at the first to the 50th bit position in coded block 1 (priority 1), and at the first to the 50th bit position in coded block 2 (priority 1).

[0155] The 100 bits within priority 2 bit b can be located at bit positions 51 to 100 within coded block 1 (priority 2), and also at bit positions 51 to 100 within coded block 2 (priority 2).

[0156] The 100 bits within priority 3 can be located at bit positions 101 to 150 in coded block 1 (priority 3), and bit positions 101 to 150 in coded block 2 (priority 3).

[0157] Table 5

[0158] In other words, situation B above actually refers to the situation where, for one or more bits corresponding to the same priority, if the number of bit positions in one of the M coding blocks that have a priority equal to the priority of the one or more bits is insufficient, then the remaining bits in the one or more bits will be preferentially located in another coding block at bit positions that have a priority equal to the remaining bits in the one or more bits.

[0159] For example, one or more bits corresponding to the same priority will be preferentially located in the bit position within a coding block where the priority of the one or more bits is equal to that of the one or more bits.

[0160] If there are not enough bit positions in the coded block with a priority equal to the priority of one or more bits, then place them in another bit position in the coded block with a priority equal to the priority of one or more bits.

[0161] That is, for one or more bits corresponding to the same priority, if some bits of that priority have already occupied all the bit positions with the same priority in a coding block, then the remaining bits of that priority will be located in the bit positions with the same priority in another coding block. This is to ensure that higher priority bits are located in higher priority bit positions in M ​​coding blocks as much as possible, thereby reducing the error rate of higher priority bits during transmission.

[0162] In one possible implementation, before executing S401, the terminal device and the network device may further perform the following steps to pre-determine the mapping relationship between the priority of the bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of the bit positions within a coding block.

[0163] For example, step a1: The terminal device determines the mapping relationship between the priority of the bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of the bit positions within a coding block.

[0164] Step a2: The terminal device sends the second information, and the network device receives the second information accordingly.

[0165] The second information can be encapsulated or carried in uplink control information (UCI) messages or other messages; this application embodiment does not limit this. The second information can be used to indicate the mapping relationship between the priority of the bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of the bit positions within a coding block. This application embodiment does not limit the name of the second information.

[0166] For example, step b1: The network device determines the mapping relationship between the priority of the bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of the bit positions within a coding block.

[0167] Step b2: The network device sends the second information, and the terminal device receives the second information accordingly.

[0168] The second information can be encapsulated or carried in downlink control information (DCI) messages or other messages; this application embodiment does not limit this. The second information can be used to indicate the mapping relationship between the priority of the bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of the bit positions within a coding block. This application embodiment does not limit the name of the second information.

[0169] Specifically, the second information can directly indicate the mapping relationship between the priority of the bit corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of the bit position within a coding block; or, the second information can indirectly indicate the mapping relationship between the priority of the bit corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of the bit position within a coding block.

[0170] For example, the second information can indicate a label as shown in Table 6.

[0171] If the terminal device and the network device have agreed in advance on the priority of different bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information, and the priority of different bit positions within a coding block.

[0172] The priorities of bits a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, and j, obtained by encoding the first semantic information, are priority 1, priority 2, priority 3, priority 4, priority 5, priority 6, priority 7, priority 8, priority 9, and priority 10, respectively. Priority 1 is the highest priority, and priority 10 is the lowest priority.

[0173] A single coded block contains 300 bit positions. The priority of bit positions 1 to 100 is priority 1, the priority of bit positions 101 to 150 is priority 2, the priority of bit positions 151 to 200 is priority 3, and the priority of bit positions 201 to 300 is priority 4.

[0174] When the second information is used to indicate tag 5a, tag 5a can indicate that priority 1 bit a, priority 2 bit b, priority 3 bit c, priority 4 bit d and priority 5 bit e correspond to gear 1, while priority 6 bit f, priority 7 bit g, priority 8 bit h, priority 9 bit i and priority 10 bit j correspond to gear 2.

[0175] Tag 5a can also represent priority 1, where the first to the 100th bit positions correspond to priority 1 and priority 2, where the 101st to the 150th bit positions correspond to priority 2 and priority 3, where the 151st to the 300th bit positions correspond to priority 3.

[0176] In other words, priority 1 bit a, priority 2 bit b, priority 3 bit c, priority 4 bit d, and priority 5 bit e can be located at bit positions 1 to 100 of priority 1 and bit positions 101 to 150 of priority 2. Priority 6 bit f, priority 7 bit g, priority 8 bit h, priority 9 bit i, and priority 10 bit j can be located at bit positions 151 to 300 of priority 3.

[0177] Table 6

[0178] For example, the second information can indicate a label as shown in Table 7.

[0179] If the terminal device and the network device have agreed in advance on the priority of different bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information, and the priority of different bit positions within a coding block.

[0180] The priorities of bits a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, and j, obtained by encoding the first semantic information, are priority 1, priority 2, priority 3, priority 4, priority 5, priority 6, priority 7, priority 8, priority 9, and priority 10, respectively. Priority 1 is the highest priority, and priority 10 is the lowest priority.

[0181] A single coded block contains 300 bit positions. The priority of bit positions 1 to 100 is priority 1, the priority of bit positions 101 to 150 is priority 2, the priority of bit positions 151 to 200 is priority 3, and the priority of bit positions 201 to 300 is priority 4.

[0182] When the second information is used to indicate tag 1b, tag 1b can indicate that priority 1 bit a corresponds to gear 1, priority 2 bit b corresponds to gear 2, priority 3 bit c corresponds to gear 3, priority 4 bit d, priority 5 bit e, priority 6 bit f, priority 7 bit g, priority 8 bit h, priority 9 bit i and priority 10 bit j correspond to gear 4.

[0183] Tag 1b can also represent priority 1, priority 2, priority 3, priority 4, priority 4, priority 5, priority 6, priority 7, priority 8, priority 9, priority 1 ...

[0184] In other words, priority 1 bit 'a' can be located from the 1st to the 100th bit position of priority 1. Priority 2 bit 'b' can be located from the 101st to the 150th bit position of priority 2. Priority 3 bit 'c' can be located from the 151st to the 200th bit position of priority 3. Priority 4 bit 'd', priority 5 bit 'e', ​​priority 6 bit 'f', priority 7 bit 'g', priority 8 bit 'h', priority 9 bit 'i', and priority 10 bit 'j' can be located from the 201st to the 300th bit position of priority 4.

[0185] Table 7

[0186] In one possible implementation, before executing S401, the terminal device and the network device may also perform the following steps to pre-determine the priority of different bit positions within a coding block.

[0187] Step c1: The network device sends the third information, and the terminal device receives the third information accordingly.

[0188] The third information can be used to indicate the priority of some or all bit positions within a coding block, or it can be used to indicate the highest priority bit position within a coding block. The embodiments of this application do not limit the name of the third information. A detailed description follows.

[0189] 1) Third information can be used to indicate the priority of some or all bit positions within a coded block.

[0190] The third information can be encapsulated or carried in an RRC message, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or other messages; this application embodiment does not limit this. The third information can directly indicate the priority of some or all of the bit positions within a coded block.

[0191] Alternatively, the third information can be encapsulated or carried in the DCI or other messages; this application does not limit this. The third information can indirectly indicate the priority of some or all bit positions within a coded block.

[0192] It is understandable that different encoding parameters (such as code length, code rate, base graph, etc.) correspond to different modes. The mode is used to represent the number of bit positions within a coding block and the priority of different bit positions within a coding block.

[0193] For example, encoding parameter 1 corresponds to pattern 1. Pattern 1 indicates that a coded block includes 150 bit positions, where the priority of bit positions 1 to 50 is priority 1, the priority of bit positions 51 to 100 is priority 2, and the priority of bit positions 101 to 150 is priority 3. Priority 1 is higher than priority 2, and priority 2 is higher than priority 3.

[0194] For example, encoding parameter 2 corresponds to mode 2. Mode 2 indicates that a coded block includes 200 bit positions. The priority of bit positions 1 to 150 is priority 1, the priority of bit positions 151 to 100 is priority 2, the priority of bit positions 101 to 150 is priority 3, and the priority of bit positions 151 to 200 is priority 4. Priority 1 is higher than priority 2, priority 2 is higher than priority 3, and priority 3 is higher than priority 4.

[0195] Therefore, the third information can directly indicate the aforementioned Mode 1 or Mode 2. Alternatively, the third information can indirectly indicate the index of the aforementioned Mode 1 or Mode 2. For example, a network device can send a DCI with a newly added field (Coded Block_Different Importance_Pattern, CB_DIT_pattern), which indicates index 1 as shown in Table 10. The terminal device can receive this DCI and determine the aforementioned Mode 1 based on index 1, as shown in Table 10. Table 8 can be pre-agreed upon by the terminal device and the network device, for example, the network device sends different modes corresponding to different coding parameters to the terminal device via RRC messages or MAC CE; or it can be defined by a standard, for example, adding different modes corresponding to different coding parameters to the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) table. This application does not limit this aspect.

[0196] Table 8

[0197] 2) The third information can be used to indicate the position of the highest priority bit within a coded block.

[0198] The third information may be encapsulated or carried in an RRC message, a MAC CE, or other messages; this application embodiment does not limit this.

[0199] For example, the third information can indicate the highest priority bit position within a coding block as bit positions 1 through 50.

[0200] As mentioned above, different bit positions within a coding block have different priorities depending on the coding parameters. In other words, the highest priority bit position within a coding block differs depending on the coding parameters. Therefore, after executing step c1, the terminal device and the network device can further execute the following steps to redefine the highest priority bit position within a coding block.

[0201] Step c2: The network device sends the fourth information, and the terminal device receives the fourth information accordingly.

[0202] The fourth piece of information may be encapsulated or carried in an RRC message, a MAC CE, or other messages; this application embodiment does not limit this. This application embodiment does not limit the name of the fourth piece of information.

[0203] The fourth information can be used to indicate the mapping relationship between the highest priority bit position within a coding block and the first coding parameter. The first coding parameter is used to encode the first semantic information. The first coding parameter can be pre-configured, standard-defined, or agreed upon in advance by the terminal device and network device; this application embodiment does not limit this.

[0204] For example, the fourth information can indicate the mapping relationship between the highest priority bit position within a coding block and the first coding parameter, as shown in Table 9. For coding parameter 1, a coding block contains 150 bit positions, with the 1st to 50th bit positions having the highest priority; for coding parameter 2, a coding block contains 200 bit positions, with the 1st to 150th bit positions having the highest priority; and for coding parameter 3, a coding block contains 250 bit positions, with the 50th to 150th bit positions having the highest priority.

[0205] Table 9

[0206] And / or, the fourth information can be used to indicate that the highest priority bit position within a coding block has been updated. For example, the fourth information can indicate that the highest priority bit position within a coding block has been updated to bit positions 1 through 150.

[0207] In one possible implementation, before executing S401, the terminal device and the network device may also perform the following steps to pre-agree that the communication between the terminal device and the network device will use a transmission mechanism in which there are bit positions with different priorities within a coding block.

[0208] Step d1: The terminal device sends the fifth information, and the network device receives the fifth information accordingly.

[0209] The fifth piece of information can be encapsulated or carried in a UCI or other message; this application embodiment does not limit this. The fifth piece of information can be used to indicate that the terminal device supports a first transmission mechanism, which indicates the existence of bit positions with different priorities within a coded block. This application embodiment does not limit the name of the fifth piece of information.

[0210] Step d2: The network device sends the sixth message, and the terminal device receives the sixth message accordingly.

[0211] The sixth information may be encapsulated or carried in an RRC message, a MAC CE, or other messages; this application embodiment does not limit this. The sixth information may be used to indicate that communication between the terminal device and the network device adopts the first transmission mechanism. This application embodiment does not limit the name of the sixth information.

[0212] S402, The terminal device sends the first information, and the corresponding network device receives the first information.

[0213] In this application embodiment, the first information may be encapsulated or carried in UCI or other messages, and this application embodiment does not limit this.

[0214] S403. The network device decodes the first information to obtain the first semantic information.

[0215] In this embodiment of the application, after the network device receives the first information, the network device can decode the first information to obtain the first semantic information.

[0216] It is understandable that a network device can determine one or more bits corresponding to a feature data based on the identifier of each bit in M ​​coded blocks, and then decrypt the one or more bits to obtain the feature data.

[0217] For example, the first information includes two coded blocks, coded block 1 and coded block 2. Coded block 1 contains 300 bits, and coded block 2 contains 300 bits. The bits from bit position 1 to bit position 150 in coded block 1 are identified as identifier 1, and the bits from bit position 151 to bit position 300 in coded block 1 are identified as identifier 2. Similarly, the bits from bit position 1 to bit position 150 in coded block 1 and the bits from bit position 151 to bit position 300 in coded block 2 are identified as identifier 2. The network device can decrypt the bits from bit position 1 to bit position 150 in coded block 1 and the bits from bit position 151 to bit position 300 in coded block 1 and the bits from bit position 151 to bit position 300 in coded block 2 to obtain feature data 2. The first semantic information is composed of feature data 1 and feature data 2. The network device can also perform semantic processing on the first semantic information to obtain the original data corresponding to the first semantic information.

[0218] It is understood that the above embodiments of this application can be implemented individually or in combination with each other, and the embodiments of this application are not limited.

[0219] The methods provided by the embodiments of this application have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. The apparatus provided by the embodiments of this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0220] Based on the same technical concept, embodiments of this application provide a communication device, which includes a module / unit / means for executing the method performed by the device in the above-described method embodiments. This module / unit / means can be implemented in software, or in hardware, or implemented by hardware executing corresponding software.

[0221] For example, referring to FIG6, a schematic diagram of a communication device 600 is provided, which includes a transceiver module 601 and a processing module 602.

[0222] When the device 600 is a semantic information sending device (e.g., a terminal device or a network device), the functions of each module of the device 600 are as follows:

[0223] Processing module 602 is used to encode the first semantic information to obtain first information, wherein the first information includes M encoding blocks, the position of the first bit in the M encoding blocks is determined according to the priority of the first bit, the first bit is obtained by encoding the first feature data included in the first semantic information, the first feature data is the feature data in the original data corresponding to the first semantic information, and M is a positive integer;

[0224] The transceiver module 601 is used to send the first information.

[0225] Alternatively, when the device 600 is a receiving device for semantic information (e.g., a terminal device or a network device), the functions of each module of the device 600 are as follows:

[0226] The transceiver module 601 is used to send or receive second information, wherein the second information is used to indicate the mapping relationship between the priority of the bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of the bit positions within a coding block.

[0227] In practical implementation, the above-mentioned device 600 can have various product forms. Several possible product forms are introduced below.

[0228] Referring to Figure 7, which is a schematic diagram of another communication device, the communication device 700 includes a processor 701 and an interface circuit 702. The interface circuit 702 is used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor 701, or to send signals from the processor 701 to other communication devices outside the communication device. The processor 701 is used to implement the methods executed by the network device or terminal device in the above method embodiments through logic circuits or execution instructions.

[0229] The processor 701 and the interface circuit 702 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 702 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device 700 may also include a memory 703 for storing instructions executed by the processor 701, or storing input data required by the processor 701 to execute instructions, or storing data generated after the processor 701 executes instructions.

[0230] When the aforementioned communication device is a module applied to a network device or a terminal device, the module implements the functions of the network device or the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The module receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) in the network device or the terminal device, where the information is sent from the terminal device to the network device or from the network device to the terminal device; or, the module sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) in the network device or the terminal device, where the information is sent from the network device to the terminal device or from the terminal device to the network device.

[0231] It should be understood that the processor mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be implemented in hardware or software. When implemented in hardware, the processor can be a logic circuit, integrated circuit, etc. When implemented in software, the processor can be a general-purpose processor, implemented by reading software code stored in memory.

[0232] For example, the processor can be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0233] It should be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. The volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous linked dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0234] It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) can be integrated into the processor.

[0235] It should be noted that the memories described herein are intended to include, but are not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memories.

[0236] Based on the same technical concept, embodiments of this application also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a processor, causes the method executed by the network device or terminal device in the above method embodiments to be implemented.

[0237] Based on the same technical concept, this application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are executed by a processor, the method executed by the network device or terminal device in the above method embodiments is implemented.

[0238] Those skilled in the art will understand that embodiments of this application can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, this application can take the form of a completely hardware embodiment, a completely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, this application can take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0239] This application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to this application. It should be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart illustrations and / or one or more blocks of the block diagrams.

[0240] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement the functions specified in one or more flowcharts and / or one or more block diagrams.

[0241] These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process, such that the instructions, which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus, provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more flowcharts and / or one or more block diagrams.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Encode the first semantic information to obtain the first information, wherein the first information includes M coding blocks, the position of the first bit in the M coding blocks is determined according to the priority of the first bit, the first bit is obtained by encoding the first feature data included in the first semantic information, the first feature data is the feature data in the original data corresponding to the first semantic information, and M is a positive integer; Send the first message.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The priority of the first bit is determined according to the importance level of the first feature data, wherein the importance level of the first feature data is used to indicate the importance level of the first feature data in the original data.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The priority of the first bit position is determined based on the error information corresponding to the first bit position, wherein the error information is used to represent the error rate of the bit located at the first bit position during transmission.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, There is a mapping relationship between the priority of the first bit and the priority of the second bit position within the M coded blocks, wherein the second bit position is the first bit position, or the first bit position is determined based on the second bit position.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The first bit has the highest priority. The position of the first bit includes K1 bit positions within the first coding block of the M coding blocks. The K1 bit positions are the highest priority bit positions within the first coding block, and K1 is a positive integer.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The first bit includes a number of bits greater than the number of highest priority bit positions in the first coding block. The first bit position also includes K2 bit positions in the first coding block, wherein the priority of the K2 bit positions is lower than the priority of the K1 bit positions, and K2 is a positive integer.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The priority of the K2 bit positions is higher than the priority of the remaining bit positions in the first coding block.

8. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The first bit includes a number of bits greater than the number of highest priority bit positions in the first coding block. The first bit position also includes K3 bit positions in the second coding block of the M coding blocks. The K3 bit positions are the highest priority bit positions in the second coding block, and K3 is a positive integer.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive or send second information, wherein the second information is used to indicate the mapping relationship between the priority of the bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of the bit positions within a coding block.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive third information, wherein the third information is used to indicate the priority of some or all bit positions within a coding block, or to indicate the highest priority bit position within a coding block.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The third information is used to indicate the position of the highest priority bit within a coding block; the method further includes: Receive fourth information; wherein the fourth information is used to indicate: The mapping relationship between the highest priority bit position within a coding block and the first coding parameter, wherein the first coding parameter is used to encode the first semantic information; and / or, The position of the highest priority bit within a coding block is updated.

12. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Sending or receiving second information, wherein the second information is used to indicate the mapping relationship between the priority of the bits corresponding to the feature data included in the first semantic information and the priority of the bit positions within a coding block.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive the first message; The first information is decoded to obtain the first semantic information.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a third message, wherein the third message is used to indicate the priority of some or all bit positions within a coding block, or to indicate the highest priority bit position within a coding block.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that, The third information is used to indicate the position of the highest priority bit within a coding block; the method further includes: Send a fourth message; wherein the fourth message is used to indicate: The mapping relationship between the highest priority bit position within a coding block and the first coding parameter, wherein the first coding parameter is used to encode the first semantic information; and / or, The position of the highest priority bit within a coding block is updated.

16. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a module for performing the method as described in any one of claims 1-11, or a module for performing the method as described in any one of claims 12-15.

17. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a processor, which is configured to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-11, or the method as described in any one of claims 12-15.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the method as described in any one of claims 1-11 to be performed, or causes the method as described in any one of claims 12-15 to be performed.

19. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the method as described in any one of claims 1-11 to be performed, or causes the method as described in any one of claims 12-15 to be performed.

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