Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and a communication apparatus, which can reduce interference caused by a signal of a neighboring cell to physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) reception or synchronization signal block (SSB) reception on a serving cell when a time domain characteristic configuration of an SSB of the serving cell changes, thereby improving communication performance. The method comprises: receiving first information, wherein the first information is used for indicating reserved resources corresponding to SSBs of a plurality of periodicities, and the periodicity of the reserved resources is less than or equal to the minimum periodicity among the plurality of periodicities; and on the basis of the first information, determining the reserved resources, wherein a PDSCH is not received on the reserved resources. The present application can reduce interference caused by a signal of a neighboring cell to PDSCH reception or SSB reception on a serving cell when a time domain characteristic configuration of an SSB of the serving cell changes, thereby improving communication performance.

Description

Communication method and communication apparatus

[0001] The present application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202411096548.0, filed on August 9, 2024, and entitled "Communication method and communication apparatus", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, in particular to a communication method and a communication apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0003] Signal interference can affect the communication effect, especially for terminal devices at the edge of the coverage range of the serving cell, which can receive signal interference from the neighboring cell (referred to as the neighboring cell). If the serving cell is a network energy saving (NES) cell, the network device of the serving cell can configure time domain characteristic configuration information of the synchronization signal block (SS / PBCH block, SSB) to the terminal device, including the period of the SSB or the number and position of the beams of the SSB.

[0004] Currently, for the serving cell and the neighboring cell of the serving cell, if the SSB periods of the two cells are consistent, the time-frequency resources occupied by the SSBs will be configured as the same time-frequency resources. When the time domain characteristic configuration of the SSB on the serving cell changes, assuming that the neighboring cell still transmits the SSB according to the previously configured SSB period, if the period of the SSB on the serving cell changes from short to long, the SSB transmitted by the neighboring cell will interfere with the reception of the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) of the serving cell, resulting in a loss of PDSCH reception performance; if the period of the SSB on the serving cell changes from long to short, the PDSCH transmitted by the neighboring cell will interfere with the transmission of the SSB of the serving cell, resulting in a loss of SSB synchronization performance. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a communication method and a communication apparatus, which are beneficial to reducing the interference of the signal of the neighboring cell on the reception of the PDSCH or the reception of the SSB on the serving cell when the time domain characteristic configuration of the SSB of the serving cell changes, thereby improving the communication performance.

[0006] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

[0007] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal device, or by a component of the terminal device, such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the terminal device.

[0008] The method comprises: receiving first information, the first information being used to indicate reserved resources corresponding to synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) of a plurality of periods, a period of the reserved resources being less than or equal to a minimum period in the plurality of periods; and determining the reserved resources according to the first information, and not receiving a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on the reserved resources.

[0009] Based on the scheme, the network device indicates the reserved resources corresponding to SSBs of a plurality of periods of a serving cell to the terminal device, so that the terminal device determines the reserved resources. The network device performs rate matching based on the reserved resources, that is, the network device does not transmit a PDSCH on the reserved resources, and the terminal device does not receive a PDSCH on the reserved resources. The period of the reserved resources is less than or equal to a minimum period in the plurality of periods. In this way, no matter how the network device of the serving cell dynamically adjusts the SSB period, rate matching in the serving cell is implemented based on the reserved resources, and even if a neighbor cell still transmits SSBs of a specific period on frequency domain resources, the terminal device can normally receive a PDSCH or an SSB on the serving cell. Therefore, in the method of the embodiment of the application, the rate matching mode of the terminal device is irrelevant to the time domain characteristics of an SSB actually transmitted at a moment, which is beneficial to reducing interference of signals of a neighbor cell to PDSCH reception or SSB reception on a serving cell when time domain characteristic configuration of the SSB of the serving cell is changed, thereby improving communication performance.

[0010] In some possible designs, the period of the reserved resources does not dynamically change with the period of time domain resources of a currently transmitted SSB.

[0011] Based on this design, the rate matching mode of the terminal device is irrelevant to the time domain characteristics of an SSB actually transmitted at a moment, which is beneficial to reducing interference of signals of a neighbor cell to PDSCH reception or SSB reception on a serving cell when time domain characteristic configuration of the SSB of the serving cell is changed, thereby improving communication performance.

[0012] In some possible designs, the period of the reserved resources is a greatest common divisor of the plurality of periods.

[0013] Based on this design, resource utilization can be improved as much as possible, thereby improving communication performance.

[0014] In some possible designs, the first information is used to configure the reserved resources corresponding to the SSBs on a network energy saving cell.

[0015] In this design, the first information is information specially used for a network energy saving cell. Specifically, the first information can be carried on a new information element specially used for configuring SSB reserved resources for a network energy saving cell.

[0016] In some possible designs, the first information includes at least one of the following: a periodicity of the SSBs; a beam pattern of the SSBs; frequency information of the SSBs; or a subcarrier spacing of the SSBs.

[0017] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be performed by a network device, or by a component of the network device, such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system.

[0018] The method includes: transmitting first information, the first information being used to indicate reserved resources corresponding to a plurality of periodic synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), a periodicity of the reserved resources being less than or equal to a minimum periodicity of the plurality of periodic SSBs; performing physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling according to the reserved resources, and not transmitting a PDSCH on the reserved resources.

[0019] In some possible designs, the periodicity of the reserved resources does not dynamically change with a periodicity of time domain resources of a currently transmitted SSB.

[0020] In some possible designs, the periodicity of the reserved resources is a greatest common divisor of the plurality of periodic SSBs.

[0021] In some possible designs, the first information is used to configure the reserved resources corresponding to the SSBs on a network energy saving cell.

[0022] In some possible designs, the first information includes at least one of the following: a periodicity of the SSBs; a beam pattern of the SSBs; frequency information of the SSBs; or a subcarrier spacing of the SSBs.

[0023] In a third aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be performed by a second network device (i.e., a network device of a second cell), or by a component of the second network device, such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the second network device.

[0024] The method includes: receiving second information from a first network device, the second information being used to indicate reserved resources corresponding to a changed synchronization signal block (SSB) of a first cell, the first cell being a network energy saving cell; performing rate matching based on the second information and using the reserved resources, and not transmitting a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on the reserved resources.

[0025] Based on the scheme, the first network device indicates the reserved resource corresponding to the changed SSB to the second network device, and the second network device can perform rate matching based on the second information, and does not transmit a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on the reserved resource. In the method of the embodiment of the application, the second network device can perform rate matching on the reserved resource of the changed SSB based on the first cell, which is beneficial to reducing the interference of the signal of the neighboring cell on the PDSCH reception or SSB reception of the serving cell when the time domain characteristic configuration of the SSB of the serving cell is changed, thereby improving the communication performance.

[0026] In some possible designs, the second information includes at least one of the following: a period of the changed SSB; a beam pattern of the changed SSB; frequency information of the changed SSB; or a subcarrier spacing of the changed SSB.

[0027] In some possible designs, the second information is transmitted through an Xn interface.

[0028] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be performed by a first network device (i.e., a network device of a first cell) or a component of the first network device, such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the first network device.

[0029] The method includes: determining second information, the second information being used to indicate a reserved resource corresponding to a changed synchronization signal block (SSB) of a first cell; and sending the second information to a second network device.

[0030] In some possible designs, the second information includes at least one of the following: a period of the changed SSB; a beam pattern of the changed SSB; frequency information of the changed SSB; or a subcarrier spacing of the changed SSB.

[0031] In some possible designs, the second information is transmitted through an Xn interface.

[0032] In a fifth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which includes: a transceiver module and a processing module; the transceiver module is configured to receive first information, the first information being used to indicate a reserved resource corresponding to a plurality of periods of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), and a period of the reserved resource being less than or equal to a minimum period in the plurality of periods; and the processing module is configured to determine the reserved resource according to the first information, and not receive a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on the reserved resource.

[0033] In some possible designs, the period of the reserved resource does not dynamically change with a period of a time domain resource of a currently transmitted SSB.

[0034] In some possible design, the period of the reserved resource is a greatest common divisor of the multiple periods.

[0035] In some possible design, the first information is used for configuring the reserved resource corresponding to the SSB on a network energy saving cell.

[0036] In some possible design, the first information comprises at least one of: a period of the SSB; a beam pattern of the SSB; frequency information of the SSB; or a subcarrier spacing of the SSB.

[0037] In a sixth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided. The communication apparatus includes: a transceiver configured to send first information, the first information being used for indicating reserved resources corresponding to synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) in multiple periods, a period of the reserved resources being less than or equal to a minimum period in the multiple periods; and a processor configured to perform physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling according to the reserved resources, and not to send a PDSCH on the reserved resources.

[0038] In some possible design, the period of the reserved resource does not dynamically change with a period of time domain resources of a current transmitted SSB.

[0039] In some possible design, the period of the reserved resource is a greatest common divisor of the multiple periods.

[0040] In some possible design, the first information is used for configuring the reserved resource corresponding to the SSB on a network energy saving cell.

[0041] In some possible design, the first information comprises at least one of: a period of the SSB; a beam pattern of the SSB; frequency information of the SSB; or a subcarrier spacing of the SSB.

[0042] In some possible design, the transceiver is further configured to receive second information, the second information being used for indicating a change of a period of SSBs; and the processor is further configured to determine the reserved resources according to the first information in response to the second information.

[0043] In a seventh aspect, a communication apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes: a transceiver and a processor. The transceiver is configured to receive second information from a first network device, the second information being used for indicating reserved resources corresponding to changed synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) of a first cell, the first cell being a network energy saving cell. The processor is configured to perform rate matching using the reserved resources based on the second information, and not to transmit a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on the reserved resources.

[0044] In some possible design, the second information includes at least one of the following: a period of the changed SSB; a beam pattern of the changed SSB; frequency information of the changed SSB; or a subcarrier spacing of the changed SSB.

[0045] In some possible design, the second information is transmitted through an Xn interface.

[0046] In an eighth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which includes: a transceiver and a processor. The processor is configured to determine second information, the second information being used to indicate reserved resources corresponding to changed synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) of a first cell; and the transceiver is configured to send the second information to a second network device.

[0047] In some possible design, the second information includes at least one of the following: a period of the changed SSB; a beam pattern of the changed SSB; frequency information of the changed SSB; or a subcarrier spacing of the changed SSB.

[0048] In some possible design, the second information is transmitted through an Xn interface.

[0049] In a ninth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which includes: a processor and a memory. The memory is configured to store computer instructions, and when the processor executes the instructions, the communication apparatus performs the method in any of the above aspects. The communication apparatus can be the terminal device in the first aspect, or an apparatus including the terminal device, or an apparatus included in the terminal device; or the communication apparatus can be the network device in the second aspect, the third aspect or the fourth aspect, or an apparatus including the network device, or an apparatus included in the network device, such as a chip.

[0050] In a tenth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which includes: an interface circuit and a logic circuit. The interface circuit can be a code / data read / write interface circuit, and is configured to obtain input information and / or output information. The logic circuit is configured to perform the method in any of the above aspects, and processes the input information and / or generates the output data. The communication apparatus can be the terminal device in the first aspect, or an apparatus including the terminal device, or an apparatus included in the terminal device, such as a chip; or the communication apparatus can be the network device in the second aspect, the third aspect or the fourth aspect, or an apparatus including the network device, or an apparatus included in the network device.

[0051] In an eleventh aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which comprises at least one processor; the processor is configured to execute computer programs or instructions stored in a memory, so as to enable the communication apparatus to perform the method in any of the preceding aspects. The memory can be coupled with the processor, or can be independent of the processor. The communication apparatus can be the terminal device in the first aspect, or an apparatus comprising the terminal device, or an apparatus comprised in the terminal device, such as a chip; or the communication apparatus can be the network device in the second, third or fourth aspect, or an apparatus comprising the network device, or an apparatus comprised in the network device.

[0052] In a twelfth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores instructions that, when executed on a communication apparatus, enable the communication apparatus to perform the method in any of the preceding aspects.

[0053] In a thirteenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which contains instructions that, when executed on a communication apparatus, enable the communication apparatus to perform the method in any of the preceding aspects.

[0054] In a fourteenth aspect, a communication apparatus (for example, the communication apparatus can be a chip or a chip system) is provided, which comprises a processor configured to implement the functions in any of the preceding aspects. In a possible design, the communication apparatus further comprises a memory configured to store necessary program instructions and data. When the communication apparatus is a chip system, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or can comprise a chip and other discrete components.

[0055] In a fifteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which comprises the terminal device in any of the preceding aspects and the network device in any of the preceding aspects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0056] FIG. 1 shows a structural schematic diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of carrier aggregation provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a frame structure of 5G time domain resources provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a time-frequency domain structure of an SSB provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of beam sweeping of an SSB provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram of an SSB burst set transmission period provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] FIG. 7 shows a structural schematic diagram of another communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] FIG. 8 shows a communication system schematic diagram for communication between a serving cell and a neighbor cell provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] FIG. 9 shows a flow schematic diagram of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] FIG. 10 shows a process schematic diagram when dynamically adjusting SSB period on a serving cell provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0066] FIG. 11 shows a flow schematic diagram of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] FIG. 12 shows a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG. 13 shows a structural schematic diagram of another communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] FIG. 14 shows an architecture schematic diagram of a baseband unit provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0070] The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0071] FIG. 1 is an architecture schematic diagram of a communication system 1000 provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system 1000 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100, wherein the RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (such as 110a and 110b in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 110), and can also include at least one terminal (such as 120a-120j in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 120). The RAN 100 can also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in FIG. 1). The terminals 120 are connected to the RAN nodes 110 in a wireless manner. Terminals and terminals, and RAN nodes and RAN nodes can be connected to each other in a wired or wireless manner. The communication system 1000 can also include a core network 200. The RAN nodes 110 are connected to the core network 200 in a wireless or wired manner. The core network devices in the core network 200 and the RAN nodes 110 in the RAN 100 can be independent and different physical devices, or can be the same physical device integrated with the logical functions of the core network devices and the logical functions of the RAN nodes. The communication system 1000 can also include the Internet 300.

[0072] The RAN 100 can be an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) system, a new radio (NR) system, and a future wireless access system defined in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), and can also be a WiFi system. The RAN 100 can also include two or more different wireless access systems described above. The RAN 100 can also be an open RAN (O-RAN).

[0073] The RAN node, also referred to as a radio access network device, RAN entity, or access node, is used to help terminals access the communication system through wireless means. In an application scenario, the RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system. The RAN node can be a macro base station (such as 110a in FIG. 1), a micro base station or indoor station (such as 110b in FIG. 1), a relay node, or a donor node.

[0074] In another application scenario, wireless access can be achieved for a terminal through cooperation of multiple RAN nodes, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of functions of a base station. For example, a RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). Here, the CU implements functions of a radio resource control protocol and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of a base station, and can also implement a function of a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP); the DU implements functions of a radio link control layer and a medium access control (MAC) layer of a base station, and can also implement part of a physical layer or all of a physical layer; and specific descriptions about the protocol layers can refer to related technical specifications of 3GPP. The RU can be used to implement functions of transceiving a radio frequency signal. The CU and the DU can be two independent RAN nodes, or can be integrated in a same RAN node, for example, integrated in a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device, for example, included in a remote radio unit (RRU) or an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU can be further divided into two types of RAN nodes, CU-control plane and CU-user plane.

[0075] In different systems, the RAN node can have different names. For example, in an O-RAN system, the CU can be referred to as an open CU (O-CU), the DU can be referred to as an open DU (O-DU), and the RU can be referred to as an open RU (O-RU). The RAN node in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module. For example, the RAN node can be a server loaded with a corresponding software module. The embodiments of the present application do not limit specific technologies and specific device forms adopted by the RAN node. For ease of description, a base station is described as an example of the RAN node in the following.

[0076] A terminal is a device with wireless transceiver function, which can send signals to a base station or receive signals from a base station. A terminal can also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. A terminal can be widely applied in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, automatic driving, remote medical treatment, smart power grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. A terminal can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, wearable device, vehicle, airplane, ship, robot, mechanical arm, smart home device, etc. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form of the terminal.

[0077] A base station and a terminal can be in a fixed position or movable. A base station and a terminal can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on water surface; can also be deployed on an airplane, balloon and artificial satellite. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of a base station and a terminal.

[0078] The roles of a base station and a terminal can be relative, for example, the helicopter or drone 120i in FIG. 1 can be configured as a mobile base station, which is a base station for those terminals 120j accessing to the wireless access network 100 through 120i; but for the base station 110a, 120i is a terminal, that is, 110a and 120i communicate with each other through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i can also communicate with each other through a base station-to-base station interface protocol, in which case, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, a base station and a terminal can be collectively referred to as a communication device, 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication device with base station function, and 120a-120j in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication device with terminal function.

[0079] A base station and a terminal, a base station and a base station, a terminal and a terminal can communicate through licensed spectrum, can also communicate through unlicensed spectrum, and can also communicate through both licensed spectrum and unlicensed spectrum; can communicate through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), can also communicate through spectrum above 6 GHz, and can also communicate through both spectrum below 6 GHz and spectrum above 6 GHz. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0080] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the base station can also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station, or by a control subsystem containing the functions of the base station. The control subsystem containing the functions of the base station herein can be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal can also be performed by a module (such as a chip or modem) in the terminal, or by a device containing the functions of the terminal.

[0081] In the present application, the base station sends a downlink signal or downlink information to the terminal, and the downlink information is carried on a downlink channel; the terminal sends an uplink signal or uplink information to the base station, and the uplink information is carried on an uplink channel. In order for the terminal to communicate with the base station, it needs to establish a wireless connection on a cell controlled by the base station. The cell with which the terminal establishes a wireless connection is called the service cell of the terminal. When the terminal communicates with the service cell, it will also be interfered by signals from neighboring cells.

[0082] It can be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, PDSCH and PDCCH are only used as an example of a downlink data channel and a downlink control channel respectively. In different systems and different scenarios, data channels and control channels can have different names, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0083] In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, a brief introduction of the related technologies of the present application is first given.

[0084] 1. Carrier aggregation

[0085] The carrier aggregation (CA) technology in NR is used to increase the transmission bandwidth of a single user. Specifically, the carrier aggregation technology can realize multi-frequency resource integration, that is, aggregating spectrum resources of the same frequency band or different frequency bands for terminal use, thereby improving the overall network resource utilization and improving user experience. In general, CA is to aggregate 2 or more component carriers (CCs) together to support a larger transmission bandwidth.

[0086] Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of carrier aggregation provided by embodiments of the present application. As shown in Figure 2, in the carrier aggregation, the primary cell (PCell) is the cell for initial connection establishment of the UE, or the cell for radio resource control (RRC) connection reestablishment, or the primary cell specified in the handover process. In Figure 2, the PCell includes PCell F1, PCell F2 and PCell F3. The PCell is responsible for RRC communication with the UE. The carrier unit corresponding to the PCell is referred to as the primary carrier (PCC). Among them, the downlink carrier of the PCell is referred to as the DL PCC, and the uplink carrier of the PCell is referred to as the UL PCC.

[0087] The secondary cell (SCell) is added in the RRC reconfiguration, and is used to provide additional radio resources. There is no RRC communication between the SCell and the UE. The carrier unit corresponding to the SCell is referred to as the secondary carrier (SCC). As shown in Figure 2, PCell F2 and the UE correspond to SCC1, and PCell F3 and the UE correspond to SCC2. Among them, the downlink carrier of the SCell is referred to as the DL SCC, and the uplink carrier of the SCell is referred to as the UL SCC.

[0088] 2, Time domain resource of 5G NR

[0089] Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of the frame structure of the time domain resource of 5G provided by embodiments of the present application. As shown in Figure 3, in the time domain, the frame structure of 5G NR is as follows: wireless frame (frame): the LTE parameters are inherited, and the length is fixed to 10ms. The frame number range is 0-1023; subframe (subframe): the LTE parameters are inherited, and the length is fixed to 1ms. The subframe number range is 0-9; slot (slot): when the normal CP is used, the length is 14 symbols; symbol (symbol): the length is not fixed, and is related to the subcarrier spacing (SCS).

[0090] The scheduling time unit on the data domain of 5G NR is the slot. Although the length of the slot is fixed in the number of symbols, the length of the symbol is related to the SCS, so the length of the slot is not fixed. The slot is the minimum unit of data scheduling. For example, when the SCS = 15kHz, there is 1 slot in each subframe (1ms); and when the SCS = 120kHz, there are 8 slots in each subframe (1ms).

[0091] It should be understood that, for a symbol in a time slot, the symbol is a basic unit of modulation.

[0092] 3、SSB

[0093] SSB, which is a synchronization signal block, includes a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH). A UE performs cell search and measurement based on the SSB when moving in the system, selects a suitable SSB beam, and realizes UE initial access and mobility management.

[0094] FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a time-frequency domain structure of an SSB provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4, each SS / PBCH Block occupies 4 consecutive symbols in the time domain and 20 RBs (i.e., 240 subcarriers) in the frequency domain. Among them, the PSS and the SSS occupy 127 subcarriers in the first symbol and the third symbol of the SSB, respectively. The PBCH (which includes a demodulation reference signal, i.e., DMRS) occupies the second symbol and the fourth symbol in the entire SSB, and additionally occupies 48 subcarriers at both ends of the third symbol.

[0095] The terminal acquires main information block (MIB) information according to the PBCH, thereby obtaining the most basic information about whether the cell is prohibited to access and the cell and the position information of system control block 1 (SIB1). After the terminal acquires the position information of SIB1 according to the MIB information indication, the terminal acquires SIB1 information at the corresponding position, and acquires the basic information required for cell selection during initial access to the network and the scheduling information of other SIBs. SIB1 can also be referred to as remaining minimum system information (RMSI).

[0096] FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of beam scanning of an SSB provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, in NR, the SSB is transmitted in the form of beam scanning, that is, the base station can transmit a beam direction at a certain time, and through multiple time points, different beams are transmitted to cover the required directions of the entire cell. It is noted that a total of N SS / PBCH Blocks are transmitted in different directions in a round of beam scanning, and the entire transmission in this round is referred to as an SSB Burst (SSB Burst set).

[0097] In order to avoid ambiguity, in the following, the general SSB is avoided as much as possible, and the single SSB signal occupying 4 symbols in the time domain is referred to as SS / PBCH Block, and the entire SS / PBCH Block transmitted in a round of beam scanning is referred to as SSB Burst.

[0098] Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram of a SSB burst set transmission period provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 6, NR stipulates that the terminal, when making initial access, the default SSB Burst period is 20 ms, and the transmission window of SSB Burst is in units of half frame (5 ms in length), that is: within the 20 ms period, the SSB burst set is always limited to a time interval of 5 ms (half frame in length), and the remaining 15 ms does not transmit SSB.

[0099] It should be understood that in the current communication system, SSB is periodically transmitted, and whether there is a demand on the network side and / or the user side, SSB Burst is continuously transmitted according to the configured period.

[0100] 4. Serving cell and neighbor cell

[0101] The serving cell (serving cell) is the cell connected by the terminal and the network, and the specific definition is: for the terminal in RRC connected state (RRC_CONNECTED state) and not configured with carrier aggregation characteristics, it has and only has one serving cell, that is, PCell. For the terminal in RRC_CONNECTED state and configured with carrier aggregation characteristics, the serving cell is used to represent a set of one or more cells composed of PCell and all SCells.

[0102] The neighbor cell (neighbor cell) refers to other cells adjacent to the service cell of the user on the network.

[0103] From the perspective of UE, the serving cell and the neighbor cell can belong to the same station or belong to different stations. Taking the same station scenario as an example, a single gNB is configured with 10 cells, which are respectively referred to as cell 1~cell 10, wherein cell 1 is the primary cell of UE#1, and cell 2 and cell 3 are the secondary cells of UE#1; at the same time, cell 7 is the primary cell of UE#2, and cell 8, cell 9 and cell 10 are the secondary cells of UE#2. Then, cell 1~cell 3 are the serving cells of UE#1, and cell 4~cell 10 are the neighbor cells of UE#1; cell 7~cell 10 are the serving cells of UE#2, and cell 1~cell 6 are the neighbor cells of UE#1.

[0104] When the UE moves to the edge of the coverage range of the service cell, the channels transmitted on the neighbor cells will cause interference to the communication between the UE and the service cell, which is called neighbor cell interference.

[0105] 5. Xn interface

[0106] The Xn interface is a logical interface between gNBs, or between next generation eNodeBs (ng-eNodeBs), or between a gNodeB and an ng-eNodeB. In NR, most of the signaling interactions between terminals can be transmitted through the Xn interface.

[0107] 6. Network energy saving

[0108] NR supports a variety of techniques for changing the signal transmission method in the time domain, thereby reducing the overhead and power consumption on the base station side, achieving the effect of network energy saving. A cell that can support the configuration of such a technique is referred to as a network energy saving cell (NES cell) hereinafter. A SSB-related NES technique is introduced below.

[0109] Currently, there are schemes that support changing the time domain characteristics of SSBs on a primary cell or a secondary cell. The base station sends signaling to the terminal to inform the terminal of the information of the changed time domain characteristics of the SSBs, and sends an SSB with different time domain characteristics. The terminal can receive the SSB according to the new configuration.

[0110] Specifically, the time domain characteristics that can be changed by the SSBs include the following cases:

[0111] 1) Change in units of SSB Burst: including changing the period of SSBs. For example, an SSB with a period of 20 ms is sent on the primary cell, and at a certain time, the base station instructs the terminal to send an SSB with a period of 160 ms.

[0112] 2) Change in units of SS / PBCH Block: including changing the position and number of SS / PBCH Blocks within an SSB Burst. For example, an SSB with a specific pattern is sent on the secondary cell, and at a certain time, the base station instructs the terminal to send an SSB with a new pattern, and the position or number of SS / PBCH Blocks within each SSB Burst changes compared to before.

[0113] In this way, the base station can dynamically adjust the period, number and position of beams of SSBs according to actual needs (for example, in the middle of the night, there are few users, and the SSB transmission method can be changed to one with a longer period and fewer beams), which achieves the effect of energy saving compared to the strategy of always sending SSB signals with a fixed period and the number and position of beams being fixed.

[0114] 7. Reserved resource

[0115] In NR, reserved resources refer to specific time-frequency resources that cannot be used for PDSCH channel transmission and reception, that is, the terminal does not expect to receive downlink data on such resources, and instead, such resources can be used for transmitting cell-common signals, avoiding neighbor cell-common signals, and the like. It should be understood that PDSCH refers to a physical downlink shared channel, which is mainly used for the base station to transmit service data to the terminal.

[0116] Exemplarily, the base station sends the terminal the configuration information of the reserved resources through an RRCReconfiguration message, and specifically, the information can be carried by an information element "RateMatchPattern". Specifically, the information element can include the following parameters:

[0117] 1) rateMatchPatternId: used to indicate the index of the pattern.

[0118] 2) patternType: used to indicate the type of the pattern, which can be divided into two types:

[0119] Bitmaps: the configuration information uses a bitmap to indicate the time-frequency domain position of the reserved resources to the terminal. Specifically, it includes: using a bitmap through resourceBlocks to indicate the RB occupied by the reserved resources in the frequency domain, using a bitmap through symbolsInResourceBlock to indicate the symbols in the time domain corresponding to the RB occupied by the reserved resources in the frequency domain, and using a bitmap through periodicityAndPattern to indicate the periodicity of the time-frequency domain resource indicated by resourceBlocks and symbolsInResourceBlock in the time domain.

[0120] controlResourceSet: the configuration information uses an index to indicate the time-frequency domain position of the reserved resources dedicated to a specific control resource set (CORESET) to the terminal.

[0121] Obviously, after the terminal receives the RateMatchPattern configuration, it can know the time-frequency resources that cannot be used for PDSCH.

[0122] After the RRC configuration is completed, NR also supports dynamically activating or deactivating part of the reserved resources. The base station first provides a plurality of groups in the RRC configuration, each group corresponding to a plurality of reserved resources, and then dynamically indicates the activation and deactivation of each group using downlink signaling. Specifically, one implementation supported by NR is:

[0123] One or two groups are provided in RRC configuration, called rateMatchPatternGroup1 and rateMatchPatternGroup2, each of which corresponds to up to 8 rateMatchPatterns.

[0124] There is an information field "Rate Matching Indicator" in DCI (such as DCI format 1_1) to indicate whether the rateMatchPatternId of a specific index is effective. The field can be 1 bit corresponding to rateMatchPatternGroup1; the field can also be 2 bits corresponding to rateMatchPatternGroup1 and rateMatchPatternGroup2. When a specific bit is 1, it means that the configuration of all reserved resources in the corresponding group is effective, and the terminal does not receive the PDSCH channel on the corresponding time-frequency domain resource; when a specific bit is 0, it means that the configuration of all reserved resources in the corresponding group is invalid, and the terminal can receive the PDSCH channel on the corresponding time-frequency domain resource.

[0125] 8. Rate-matching

[0126] When the base station has indicated the reserved resource to the terminal, the terminal does not receive the PDSCH channel on the corresponding time-frequency domain position, which is also called rate-matching.

[0127] Figure 7 shows a structural schematic diagram of another communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 7, the communication system 700 is also a commonly used architecture of RAN chip, which is divided into CU, DU and RU. The CU is a platform that performs upper layer L2 and L3 functions. The midhaul and backhaul interfaces are used to carry the traffic between the CU and the DU and between the CU and the core network. The DU performs L1 and part of L2 functions, and the RU performs L1 calculation and RF digital part functions; the fronthaul and backhaul interfaces are used to carry the traffic between the RU and the DU and between the CU and the DU. The integrated DU includes the above-mentioned DU and RU functions.

[0128] The CU / DU hardware includes a chassis platform, a mainboard, peripheral devices and cooling equipment. The mainboard contains a processing unit, a memory, an internal I / O interface and an external connection port. The hardware accelerator design has an interface, and the hardware function components include storage of software, hardware and system debugging interfaces, and a single board management controller.

[0129] A DU system is typically implemented using a multi-core processor and one or more hardware accelerators. Parts of the DU protocol stack can be implemented in software running on the multi-core processor, compute-intensive L1 and L2 functions can be offloaded to FPGA / GPU-based hardware accelerators; or all L1 functions are offloaded to FPGA / GPU-based hardware accelerators, while other protocol stack parts are implemented in software running on the processor; or the entire protocol stack is implemented in software running on the processor. The hardware accelerators are interconnected with x86 or non-x86 processors, and the accelerators have a multi-lane PCIe interface to the CPU and are externally connected via GbE.

[0130] An RU includes three parts: an OPU (O-RAN Processing Unit) receives eCPRI frames from O-RAN fronthaul and performs the fronthaul interface, the lowest layer L1 (encoding, scrambling, modulation, layer mapping, precoding), synchronization, beamforming, and resource unit mapping. The OPU can be implemented as a CPU, FPGA, or ASIC. A DPU (Digital Processing Unit of the O-RU) performs synchronization, DDC (digital down conversion in UL), DUC (digital up conversion in DL), CFR, and DPD to improve power amplifier efficiency by reducing PAPR / ACLR of the RF front end; the DPU can be implemented as an FPGA or ASIC. The RF processing unit of the O-RU includes a transceiver module, up / down converters, a power amplifier (PA), a low-noise amplifier (LNA), Tx / Rx filters. All conversions between the analog and digital domains (DAC and ADC) (e.g., (RF sampling, using RF, IF, and LO mixing for frequency conversion in upconversion and downconversion) are performed within the transceiver module. Note that the physical and logical partitions within the RF processing unit do not require specific boundaries. The RU communicates with an Ant (antenna).

[0131] Currently, FIG. 8 shows a communication system 800 schematic diagram for communication between a serving cell and a neighbor cell according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8, for a terminal at the edge of the coverage range of the serving cell 810, it will receive signal interference from the neighbor cell 820.

[0132] The serving cell 810 is an NES cell, that is, the base station can configure the terminal with the following time domain characteristics: the SSB is dynamically changed in time domain, that is, the SSB period or the number and position of the SSB beam is dynamically changed.

[0133] In a possible implementation, the neighbor cell 820 is not an NES cell, that is, the SSB on the neighbor cell is continuously sent according to a fixed configured period, specifically, the SSB sending period on the neighbor cell can be 20 ms.

[0134] In another possible implementation, the neighbor cell 820 is an NES cell, i.e., the time-domain characteristics of the SSB on the neighbor cell can also be dynamically changed.

[0135] Generally, if the SSBs on the serving cell and the neighbor cell have consistent periods, the time-frequency resources occupied by these SSBs are also configured to be consistent, so as to implement network functions such as layer 3 measurement. When the SSB characteristics on the serving cell are changed, the following problems can be caused.

[0136] In the first scenario, the SSB period on the serving cell is changed from short to long, and the neighbor cell SSB can interfere with the reception of the PDSCH of the serving cell. For example, there is SSB transmission with a period of 20 ms on the neighbor cell, and the SSB period on the serving cell is dynamically changed from 20 ms to 160 ms. At this time, the time-frequency resources originally used for transmitting the SSB with a period of 20 ms on the serving cell can be used to receive the PDSCH. Obviously, the SSB of the neighbor cell can interfere with the PDSCH of the serving cell, causing a loss in the reception performance of the PDSCH.

[0137] In the second scenario, the SSB period on the serving cell is changed from long to short, and the neighbor cell PDSCH can interfere with the SSB of the serving cell. For example, there is SSB transmission with a period of 20 ms on the neighbor cell, and the SSB period on the serving cell is dynamically changed from 20 ms to 5 ms. At this time, part of the time-frequency resources originally used for transmitting the PDSCH on the serving cell are used to transmit the SSB with a period of 5 ms. Obviously, the PDSCH of the neighbor cell can interfere with the SSB of the serving cell, causing a loss in the synchronization performance of the SSB.

[0138] For a terminal at the edge of the coverage of an NES serving cell, when the time-domain characteristics of the SSB of the serving cell are dynamically changed, the signals of the neighbor cell can interfere with the reception of the PDSCH or the SSB on the serving cell.

[0139] Based on this, the present application provides a communication method and a communication apparatus. The base station indicates the reserved resources corresponding to the SSBs with multiple periods of the serving cell to the terminal, so that the terminal determines the reserved resources. The base station performs rate matching based on the reserved resources, i.e., does not transmit the PDSCH on the reserved resources, and the terminal does not receive the PDSCH on the reserved resources. The period of the reserved resources is less than or equal to the minimum period in the multiple periods. In the method of the embodiment of the present application, the rate matching mode of the terminal is irrelevant to the time-domain characteristics of the SSB actually transmitted at a certain moment, which is beneficial to reducing the interference of the signals of the neighbor cell on the reception of the PDSCH or the SSB on the serving cell when the time-domain characteristics configuration of the SSB of the serving cell is changed, thereby improving the communication performance.

[0140] It should be understood that the communication method of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to the scenario of avoiding neighbor cell interference. Of course, the method can also be applied to other scenarios. The application does not specifically limit the applicable scenarios of the method, and the above exemplary scenarios do not constitute any limitation on the method.

[0141] It can be understood that the embodiments of the present application are described by taking the interaction between the network device and the terminal device as an example, and the network device and / or the terminal device can perform part or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application. These steps or operations are only examples, and the embodiments of the present application can also perform other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, the various steps can be performed in different orders according to the embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all operations in the embodiments of the present application are performed.

[0142] It should be noted that the names of messages between various network elements in the embodiments of the present application or the names of various parameters in the messages are only examples, and other names can also be used in specific implementations, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0143] The communication method and communication device provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings, taking the interaction between the network device and the terminal device as an example. It should be understood that the technical solutions of the present application can be applied to a wireless communication system, for example, the communication system 1000 shown in FIG. 1. Two communication devices in the wireless communication system can have a wireless communication connection relationship. One of the two communication devices can correspond to the base station 110 shown in FIG. 1; the other of the two communication devices can correspond to the terminal 120 shown in FIG. 1.

[0144] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to wireless communication between communication devices. The wireless communication between communication devices can include wireless communication between a network device and a terminal device, wireless communication between network devices, and wireless communication between terminal devices. In the embodiments of the present application, the term "wireless communication" can also be referred to as "communication", and the term "communication" can also be described as "data transmission", "information transmission" or "transmission".

[0145] In the present application, "sending information to a terminal device" can be understood as that the destination of the information is the terminal device, which can include directly or indirectly sending information to the terminal device. "Receiving information from a terminal device" can be understood as that the source of the information is the terminal device, which can include directly or indirectly receiving information from the terminal device. The information can be processed as necessary between the source and the destination of the information transmission, but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in the present application can be understood similarly, and will not be described here.

[0146] FIG. 9 shows a flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method 900 can be applied to the communication system 1000 shown in FIG. 1, can be applied to the communication system 700 shown in FIG. 7, can be applied to the communication system 800 shown in FIG. 8, and can be applied to other communication systems, which are not limited herein. For the communication system shown in FIG. 8, the network device refers to the network device in the serving cell 810, and the terminal device refers to the terminal device in the serving cell 810. The method 900 can be applied to other communication systems, which are not limited herein. The communication method 900 includes the following steps:

[0147] S901, the network device sends first information, and the terminal device receives the first information. The first information is used to indicate reserved resources corresponding to synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) of multiple periods. The period of the reserved resources is less than or equal to the minimum period in the multiple periods.

[0148] Optionally, the network device can provide a signal element dedicated to SSB reserved resource configuration information on an NES cell to the terminal device through an RRC configuration (RRCReconfiguration) message. The signal element is the first information described above.

[0149] For example, the first information can be named “RateMatchPatternNR-SSB”, but the first information can also have other names, which are not limited herein.

[0150] Optionally, the first information can include at least one of the following: a period of the SSB; a beam pattern of the SSB; frequency information of the SSB; and a subcarrier spacing of the SSB. The frequency information of the SSB can include an absolute frequency point and / or a center frequency point of the SSB, for example.

[0151] Through the first information, the terminal device can determine the reserved resources corresponding to the SSBs of multiple periods. It should be understood that the first information can also include other SSB parameters, which are not limited herein.

[0152] Optionally, the period of the reserved resources configured by the network device for the terminal device can also be the greatest common divisor of the multiple periods.

[0153] S902, the terminal device determines the reserved resources according to the first information. The terminal device does not receive a PDSCH on the reserved resources.

[0154] Optionally, the terminal device can perform rate matching around the reserved resources, which can also be understood as that the terminal device does not receive a PDSCH on the reserved resources.

[0155] Optionally, the period of the reserved resource does not dynamically change with the period of the time domain resource of the current SSB.

[0156] S903, the network device performs physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling according to the reserved resource. That is, the network device does not send PDSCH on the reserved resource, and the network device can schedule PDSCH on other resources except the reserved resource.

[0157] Exemplarily, the reserved resource can be a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs).

[0158] In a possible implementation, the network device can determine the reserved resource according to a preset rule, so as to indicate the reserved resource to the terminal device through the first information.

[0159] In another possible implementation, the network device and the terminal device can respectively determine the reserved resource according to a preset rule.

[0160] Exemplarily, the preset rule can be to select the minimum value in the plurality of periods as the period of the reserved resource. Alternatively, the preset rule can be to calculate the greatest common divisor in the plurality of periods as the period of the reserved resource.

[0161] It should be understood that the preset rule can be configured by the network device for the terminal device, or can be predefined by a protocol, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0162] Exemplarily, for three SSB periods of 5 ms, 20 ms and 160 ms, the greatest common divisor is 5 ms, so the terminal device can determine the period of the reserved resource as 5 ms, and perform rate matching according to the SSB period of 5 ms.

[0163] It should be understood that the period of the reserved resource can be referred to as a virtual SSB period, and the terminal device can record the reserved resource as a virtual SSB resource. The resource unit corresponding to the virtual SSB resource is not used for PDSCH transmission. In this way, no matter how the network device of the serving cell dynamically adjusts the SSB period, the terminal device can perform rate matching on the serving cell based on the reserved resource corresponding to the virtual SSB period. The network device will not send PDSCH on the reserved resource, and the terminal device will not receive PDSCH on the reserved resource.

[0164] In the embodiments of the present application, the network device indicates the reserved resource corresponding to the SSBs of multiple periods of the serving cell to the terminal device, so that the terminal device determines the reserved resource. The network device performs rate matching based on the reserved resource, the network device does not transmit PDSCH on the reserved resource, and the terminal device does not receive PDSCH on the reserved resource. The period of the reserved resource is less than or equal to the minimum period in the multiple periods. In this way, no matter how the network device of the serving cell dynamically adjusts the SSB period, the rate matching of the terminal device in the serving cell is implemented based on the reserved resource, so that even if the neighbor cell still transmits the SSBs of a specific period on the frequency domain resource, it will not interfere with the normal reception of the PDSCH or the SSB of the terminal device on the serving cell. Therefore, in the method of the embodiments of the present application, the rate matching mode of the terminal device is irrelevant to the time domain characteristics of the SSB actually transmitted at a moment, which is beneficial to reducing the interference of the signal of the neighbor cell to the reception of the PDSCH or the SSB on the serving cell when the time domain characteristics configuration of the SSB of the serving cell is changed, thereby improving the communication performance.

[0165] As an optional embodiment, before S902, the above method further includes: S904, the network device transmits third information, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the third information, where the third information is used to indicate that the period of the SSB is changed.

[0166] For example, in a scenario where three periods of SSBs are configured, the three periods are 5ms, 20ms and 160ms respectively, after the configuration of the three periods of SSBs is completed, the network device can dynamically adjust the transmission of SSBs with different time domain characteristics, and indicate this information to the terminal device through configuration signaling.

[0167] Optionally, the third information can be carried in an RRC message or a media access control control element (MAC CE) or downlink control information (DCI) signaling, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0168] FIG. 10 shows a process diagram when dynamically adjusting the SSB period on the serving cell according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 10, the network device of the serving cell configures three SSB periods, 5 ms, 20 ms and 160 ms (not shown in the figure), after the configuration of the three periods of SSB is completed, the network device can dynamically adjust the transmission of SSB with different time domain characteristics, and indicates this information to the terminal device through the configuration signaling. For example, before a time T, a 5 ms period SSB is transmitted on the serving cell, at the time T, the network device indicates a 20 ms period SSB, and then the network device switches the SSB period on the serving cell to 20 ms. For the three SSB periods of 5 ms, 20 ms and 160 ms, the greatest common divisor is 5 ms, therefore, the network device and the terminal device of the serving cell can determine the reserved resource period as 5 ms, as shown in FIG. 10, the resources are divided into reserved resources and non-reserved resources, the non-reserved resources can be used to transmit PDSCH, the reserved resources include the actually transmitted SSB reserved resources and the non-transmitted SSB reserved resources, then although the SSB period becomes 20 ms, according to the method of the embodiment of the present application, the network device will not transmit PDSCH on the reserved resources, and the terminal device will not receive PDSCH on the reserved resources, even if the neighbor cell still transmits a specific period SSB on the reserved resources, it will not interfere with the normal reception of PDSCH or SSB of the terminal device on the serving cell.

[0169] The present application also provides another communication method, indicating the reserved resources corresponding to the changed SSB to the neighbor cell through the serving cell, so that the neighbor cell performs rate matching based on the reserved resources, i.e. does not transmit PDSCH on the reserved resources. In the method of the embodiment of the present application, the neighbor cell will not continue to transmit PDSCH on the time-frequency domain resources of the SSB transmitted after the serving cell changes the SSB period, which is beneficial to reduce the interference of the signals of the neighbor cell to the reception of PDSCH or SSB on the serving cell when the time domain characteristics configuration of the SSB of the serving cell is changed, thereby improving the communication performance.

[0170] FIG. 11 shows a flow diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method 1100 can be applied to the communication system 1000 shown in FIG. 1, can be applied to the communication system 700 shown in FIG. 7, and can be applied to the communication system 800 shown in FIG. 8. For the communication system shown in FIG. 8, the first cell refers to the serving cell 810, and the second cell refers to the neighbor cell 820, and can also be applied to other communication systems, which are not limited by the embodiments of the present application. The communication method 1100 includes the following steps:

[0171] S1101, The first network device determines second information, the second information being used to indicate reserved resources corresponding to a changed synchronization signal block (SSB) of a first cell.

[0172] The first network device is configured to manage the first cell, and the first cell can be a network energy saving (NES) cell. The network device of the NES cell can determine the second information, and the second information includes at least one of the following: a period of the changed SSB, a beam pattern of the changed SSB, frequency information of the changed SSB, or a subcarrier spacing of the changed SSB.

[0173] Optionally, the second information is transmitted through an Xn interface.

[0174] S1102, The first network device sends the second information to a second network device, and correspondingly, the second network device receives the second information from the first network device.

[0175] The second network device is configured to manage a second cell, and the second cell is a neighbor cell of the first cell. The first network device can send the second information to the second network device, and the second cell can also be an NES cell, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0176] S1103, The second network device performs rate matching based on the second information, and does not transmit a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on the reserved resources.

[0177] After receiving the second information, the second network device can perform rate matching according to the second information of the changed first cell, that is, does not transmit the PDSCH on the reserved resources. Therefore, when the second network device performs rate matching according to the SSB period, the second cell will not continue to transmit the PDSCH on the time-frequency domain resources of the SSB transmitted by the NES cell after the SSB period is changed, thereby avoiding interference with the SSB transmission of the NES cell.

[0178] For example, the NES cell is configured with two SSB periods, which are 5 ms and 20 ms respectively. At a certain moment, the first network device of the NES cell switches the SSB period from 20 ms to 5 ms, and informs the second network device of the neighbor cell of this information through the above-mentioned second information. The second network device of the neighbor cell performs rate matching on the time-frequency domain resources occupied by the SSB with the period of 5 ms, and does not transmit the PDSCH on the time-frequency domain resources.

[0179] It should be noted that the present application does not limit the channel not transmitted by the second network device of the neighboring cell on the time-frequency domain resource, and the second network device of the neighboring cell can also not send a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and the like on the time-frequency domain resource.

[0180] It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application show that the first cell and the second cell belong to two different network devices, and in other possible implementation manners, the first cell and the second cell can also belong to the same network device, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0181] In various embodiments of the present application, the terms and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be mutually referred to if there is no special description and logical conflict, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0182] It can be understood that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the network device and the terminal device comprise corresponding hardware structures and / or software modules for executing various functions. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and method steps of the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in the present application, the present application can be realized in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is executed by hardware or computer software driven hardware depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0183] In the above, in combination with FIG. 1 to FIG. 11, the communication method according to the embodiments of the present application is described in detail, and in the following, in combination with FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, the communication apparatus of the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail.

[0184] FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 are structural schematic diagrams of possible communication apparatuses provided by the embodiments of the present application. These communication apparatuses can be used to realize the functions of the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments, and thus can also realize the beneficial effects possessed by the above method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication apparatus can be the terminal 120 as shown in FIG. 1, or the base station 110 as shown in FIG. 1, or a module (such as a chip) applied to a terminal or a base station.

[0185] As shown in FIG. 12, the communication apparatus 1200 comprises a processing unit 1210 and a transceiver unit 1220. The communication apparatus 1200 is used to realize the functions of the terminal device or the network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 9 or FIG. 11.

[0186] When the communication apparatus 1200 is configured to implement the function of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the transceiver 1220 is configured to receive the first information, and the processing unit 1210 is configured to determine the reserved resource according to the first information.

[0187] When the communication apparatus 1200 is configured to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the transceiver 1220 is configured to send the first information, and the processing unit 1210 is configured to perform PDSCH scheduling according to the reserved resource, and not to send PDSCH on the reserved resource.

[0188] When the communication apparatus 1200 is configured to implement the function of the first network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 11, the transceiver 1220 is configured to receive the second information from the first network device, and the processing unit 1210 is configured to perform rate matching using the reserved resource based on the second information, and not to transmit PDSCH on the reserved resource.

[0189] When the communication apparatus 1200 is configured to implement the function of the second network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 11, the processing unit 1210 is configured to determine the second information, and the transceiver 1220 is configured to send the second information to the second network device, wherein the second information is used to indicate the reserved resource corresponding to the changed SSB of the first cell.

[0190] For more detailed description of the processing unit 1210 and the transceiver 1220, please refer to the related description in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 9 or FIG. 11.

[0191] As shown in FIG. 13, the communication apparatus 1300 includes a processor 1310 and an interface circuit 1320. The processor 1310 and the interface circuit 1320 are coupled with each other. It can be understood that the interface circuit 1320 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication apparatus 1300 can further include a memory 1330, which is used to store instructions executed by the processor 1310 or to store input data required by the processor 1310 to execute instructions or to store data generated after the processor 1310 executes instructions. Sometimes, the interface circuit 1320 can also be understood as a part of the processor 1310, and at this time, the communication apparatus 1300 includes the processor 1310.

[0192] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the method shown in FIG. 9 or FIG. 11, the processor 1310 is configured to implement the function of the processing unit 1310, and the interface circuit 1320 is configured to implement the function of the transceiver 1320.

[0193] When the communication apparatus is a chip applied to a terminal, the terminal chip implements functions of the terminal in the method embodiments. The terminal chip receives information from a base station, which can be understood as that the information is received by other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal first, and then is transmitted to the terminal chip by the modules. The terminal chip transmits information to the base station, which can be understood as that the information is transmitted to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal first, and then is transmitted to the base station by the modules.

[0194] When the communication apparatus is a chip applied to a base station, the base station chip implements functions of the base station in the method embodiments. The base station chip receives information from a terminal, which can be understood as that the information is received by other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the base station first, and then is transmitted to the base station chip by the modules. The base station chip transmits information to the terminal, which can be understood as that the information is transmitted to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the base station first, and then is transmitted to the terminal by the modules.

[0195] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a baseband unit 1400 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 14, in the baseband unit 1400, a bus 1404 communicatively couples various circuits including one or more processors 1401, one or more computer-readable storage media 1402, and a memory 1403. The bus 1404 can also link various other circuits (not shown), such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be further described. The bus 1404 connects a radio frequency unit and other interfaces through a bus interface 1405. The bus 1404 can include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges, depending on the specific application and overall design constraints.

[0196] The radio frequency unit includes an antenna array and communicates with various other devices through wireless transmission media. Signals received from the radio frequency unit can be passed through the bus interface 1405 and to the processor 1401 for processing, or the processor 1401 can process information and pass it to the radio frequency unit through the bus 1404 and the bus interface 1405 for transmission as signals from the radio frequency unit.

[0197] The processor 1401 can be a baseband processor or other suitable hardware configured to implement digital communication and signal processing. The processor 1401 is responsible for managing the bus 1404 and general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable storage medium 1402. The software, when executed by the processor 1401, can perform various digital communication and signal processing as described above.

[0198] It should be understood that the processor of the apparatus in the embodiments of the present application can be a central processing unit (CPU), and the processor can also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gates or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can also be any conventional processor.

[0199] In the present application, the sending of information from entity A to entity B can be direct sending from A to B, or indirect sending from A to B via other entities. Similarly, the receiving of information from entity A by entity B can be direct receiving of the information sent by entity A by entity B, or indirect receiving of the information sent by entity A by entity B via other entities. The entity A and the entity B can be RAN nodes or terminals, or can be modules inside RAN nodes or terminals. The sending and receiving of information can be information interaction between RAN nodes and terminals, for example, information interaction between base stations and terminals; the sending and receiving of information can also be information interaction between two RAN nodes, for example, information interaction between a CU and a DU; the sending and receiving of information can also be information interaction between different modules inside one apparatus, for example, information interaction between a terminal chip and other modules of the terminal, or information interaction between a base station chip and other modules of the base station.

[0200] It can be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application can be a central processing unit, and can also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0201] The present application also provides a computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program for implementing the method corresponding to the network device or the terminal device in the above embodiments.

[0202] The present application also provides a computer program product comprising a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions), which, when executed on a computer, can perform the method corresponding to the network device or the terminal device shown in the above embodiments.

[0203] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware or in software instructions executable by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, which can be stored in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an erasable programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only optical disk, or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor, so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an application-specific integrated circuit. In addition, the application-specific integrated circuit can be located in a base station or a terminal. The processor and the storage medium can also exist as discrete components in the base station or the terminal.

[0204] In the above embodiments, the implementation can be entirely or partially achieved by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, the implementation can be entirely or partially in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer programs or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are entirely or partially performed. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user equipment, or other programmable devices. The computer programs or instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another, for example, the computer programs or instructions can be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another by wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. integrated with one or more available media. The available media can be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disc; and a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state disk. The computer-readable storage medium can be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or can include both volatile and non-volatile storage media.

[0205] In various embodiments of the present application, the terms and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be mutually referred to if there is no special description and no logical conflict. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0206] In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, "multiple" means two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between the associated objects, which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist together, B exists alone, where A, B can be singular or plural. In the text description of the present application, the character " / ", generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship; in the formula of the present application, the character " / ", indicates that the associated objects before and after are in a "division" relationship. "Including at least one of A, B and C" can mean: including A; including B; including C; including A and B; including A and C; including B and C; including A, B and C.

[0207] It can be understood that various numerical numbers involved in the embodiments of the present application are only for convenient differentiation, and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the serial number of the above processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of the processes should be determined according to its function and inherent logic.

[0208] The above is only a specific embodiment of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto, any person skilled in the art can easily think of various equivalent modifications or replacements within the technical scope disclosed by the present application, and these modifications or replacements should be covered within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: receiving first information, the first information being used for indicating reserved resources corresponding to synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) of a plurality of periods, a period of the reserved resources being less than or equal to a minimum period in the plurality of periods; determining the reserved resources according to the first information, and not receiving a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on the reserved resources.

2. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: sending first information, the first information being used for indicating reserved resources corresponding to synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) of a plurality of periods, a period of the reserved resources being less than or equal to a minimum period in the plurality of periods; performing PDSCH scheduling according to the reserved resources, and not sending a PDSCH on the reserved resources.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The period of the reserved resources does not dynamically change with a period of time-domain resources of a currently transmitted SSB.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The period of the reserved resources is a greatest common divisor of the plurality of periods.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The first information is used for configuring the reserved resources corresponding to the SSBs on a network energy saving cell.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, The first information comprises at least one of: a period of the SSBs; a beam pattern of the SSBs; frequency information of the SSBs; or a subcarrier spacing of the SSBs.

7. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: receiving second information from a first network device, the second information being used for indicating reserved resources corresponding to changed synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) of a first cell, the first cell being a network energy saving cell; performing rate matching based on the second information, and not transmitting a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) on the reserved resources.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, The second information comprises at least one of: a period of the changed SSBs; a beam pattern of the changed SSBs; frequency information of the changed SSBs; or a subcarrier spacing of the changed SSBs.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that, The second information is transmitted through an Xn interface.

10. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: determining second information, the second information being used for indicating reserved resources corresponding to changed synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) of a first cell; sending the second information to a second network device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, The second information comprises at least one of: a period of the changed SSBs; a beam pattern of the changed SSBs; frequency information of the changed SSBs; or a subcarrier spacing of the changed SSBs.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that, The second information is transmitted through an Xn interface.

13. A communications device, characterized by comprising: a unit for implementing the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. A communications device, characterized by comprising a processor and an interface circuit for receiving signals from other communication devices and transmitting signals to the processor or sending signals from the processor to other communication devices, the processor being used for implementing the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 through a logic circuit or executing code instructions.

15. A computer readable storage medium characterized by: The storage medium stores a computer program or instructions, when the computer program or instructions are executed by a communication device, the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 is implemented.

16. A computer program product comprising computer programs or instructions, characterized in that, The computer program or instructions are executed by a communication device to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

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