Internet of things device access method, and apparatus, device and storage medium

Abstract

The present application belongs to the technical field of Internet of Things. Disclosed are an Internet of Things device access method, and an apparatus, a device and a storage medium. The method comprises: sending a first instruction to an Internet of Things device, wherein the first instruction is used for instructing the Internet of Things device to update a first counter, and the first counter is used for triggering the Internet of Things device to perform transmission on a first transmission resource. Thus, an Internet of Things device can update a first counter on the basis of the indication of a first instruction, thereby ensuring that the Internet of Things device can access a first time-domain resource within a current inventory round.

Description

Access method, device and equipment of Internet of Things equipment and storage medium TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of Internet of Things, and particularly relate to an access method, device and equipment of Internet of Things equipment and storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] In the Internet of Things communication scenario, the Internet of Things equipment may fail in random access.

[0003] In this case, how to make the Internet of Things equipment that fails in random access complete access as soon as possible is still a problem under discussion.

[0004] SUMMARY

[0005] Embodiments of the present application provide an access method, device and equipment of Internet of Things equipment and storage medium. The technical solution is as follows:

[0006] On the one hand, the present application provides an access method of Internet of Things equipment, which is executed by a network device or an intermediate node, and the method comprises:

[0007] sending a first instruction to the Internet of Things equipment, the first instruction being used to instruct the Internet of Things equipment to update a first counter, the first counter being used to trigger the Internet of Things equipment to transmit in a first transmission resource.

[0008] On the other hand, the present application provides an access method of Internet of Things equipment, which is executed by the Internet of Things equipment, and the method comprises:

[0009] receiving a first instruction, the first instruction being used to instruct the Internet of Things equipment to update a first counter, the first counter being used to trigger the Internet of Things equipment to transmit in a first transmission resource.

[0010] On the other hand, the present application provides an access device, which comprises:

[0011] a sending module, configured to send a first instruction to the Internet of Things equipment, the first instruction being used to instruct the Internet of Things equipment to update a first counter, the first counter being used to trigger the Internet of Things equipment to transmit in a first transmission resource.

[0012] On the other hand, the present application provides an access device, which comprises:

[0013] a receiving module, configured to receive a first instruction, the first instruction being used to instruct the Internet of Things equipment to update a first counter, the first counter being used to trigger the Internet of Things equipment to transmit in a first transmission resource.

[0014] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network device, comprising:

[0015] a processor;

[0016] a transceiver connected to the processor;

[0017] a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

[0018] The processor is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to implement the access method of the Internet of Things device according to the above aspects.

[0019] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an intermediate node, comprising:

[0020] a processor;

[0021] a transceiver connected to the processor;

[0022] a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

[0023] The processor is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to implement the access method of the Internet of Things device according to the above aspects.

[0024] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an Internet of Things device, comprising:

[0025] a processor;

[0026] a transceiver connected to the processor;

[0027] a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

[0028] The processor is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to implement the access method of the Internet of Things device according to the above aspects.

[0029] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores a computer program for being executed by a processor to implement the access method of the Internet of Things device.

[0030] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, which comprises a programmable logic circuit and / or program instructions, and when the chip is running on a communication device, is used to implement the access method of the Internet of Things device.

[0031] In an aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which comprises computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium; a processor of a communication device reads the computer instructions from the computer readable storage medium and executes the computer instructions, so that the communication device implements the access method of the Internet of Things device.

[0032] In an aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program, which is executed by a processor of a communication device to implement the access method of the Internet of Things device.

[0033] The technical scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application can have the following beneficial effects:

[0034] By sending the first instruction to the Internet of Things device, the Internet of Things device can update the first counter based on the indication of the first instruction, so as to ensure that the Internet of Things device can access the first time domain resource within the current inventory round, which is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the Internet of Things device access. For example, the Internet of Things device that fails to inventory or fails to identify within the current inventory round can complete the access without waiting for the next inventory round. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0035] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by the related art;

[0036] FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of radio frequency energy harvesting provided by the related art;

[0037] FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a backscatter communication process provided by the related art;

[0038] FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of resistance load modulation provided by the related art;

[0039] FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by the related art;

[0040] FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by the related art;

[0041] FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a frame structure provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of an access method of an Internet of Things device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of an access method of an Internet of Things device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of an access method of an Internet of Things device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] Figure 11 shows a flow chart of a method for accessing an Internet of Things device according to an embodiment of the application;

[0046] Figure 12 shows a flow chart of a method for accessing an Internet of Things device according to an embodiment of the application;

[0047] Figure 13 shows a flow chart of a method for accessing an Internet of Things device according to an embodiment of the application;

[0048] Figure 14 shows a schematic diagram of a method for accessing an Internet of Things device according to an embodiment of the application;

[0049] Figure 15 shows a schematic diagram of a method for accessing an Internet of Things device according to an embodiment of the application;

[0050] Figure 16 shows a schematic diagram of a method for accessing an Internet of Things device according to an embodiment of the application;

[0051] Figure 17 shows a block diagram of a structure of an access apparatus according to an embodiment of the application;

[0052] Figure 18 shows a block diagram of a structure of an access apparatus according to an embodiment of the application;

[0053] Figure 19 shows a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0054] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the embodiments of this application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail here, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, unless otherwise indicated, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with this application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatuses and methods consistent with some aspects of this application as detailed in the appended claims. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without inventive effort in relation to the embodiments of this application are within the scope of protection of this application. The terminology used in this disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit this disclosure. The singular forms “a,” “the,” and “the” used in this disclosure and the appended claims are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term “and / or” as used herein refers to and includes any or all possible combinations of one or more associated listed items. It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used in this disclosure to describe various information, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish information of the same type from one another. For example, without departing from the scope of this disclosure, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information. Depending on the context, the word “if” as used herein may be interpreted as “when”, “when”, or “in response to determination”.

[0055] First, the relevant technologies involved in the embodiments of this application will be introduced:

[0056] Zero-power communication:

[0057] Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 provided by related technologies, which includes a network device 120 and a zero-power device 140.

[0058] The network device 120 is configured to send a wireless powering signal, a downlink communication signal to the zero-power device 140, and receive a backscatter signal from the zero-power device 140. The zero-power device 140, also referred to as an ambient power enabled IoT device or an Ambient IoT device or an AMP device, includes an energy harvesting module 141, a backscatter communication module 142, and a low-power computing module 143. The energy harvesting module 141 can harvest energy carried by radio waves (wireless signals) in the space for driving the low-power computing module 143 of the zero-power device 140 and implementing backscatter communication. After the zero-power device 140 obtains energy, the zero-power device 140 can receive control signaling from the network device 120 and send data to the network device 120 based on the control signaling in a backscatter manner. The data sent can be data (such as an identity or pre-written information, such as a production date, a brand, a manufacturer, and the like) stored in the zero-power device 140 itself. In some embodiments, the zero-power device 140 can also be referred to as a passive IoT device.

[0059] The zero-power device 140 can further include a sensor module 144 and a memory 145. The sensor module 144 can include various sensors, and the zero-power device 140 can report data collected by the various sensors based on a zero-power mechanism. The memory 145 is configured to store some basic information (such as an article identifier) or obtain environmental temperature, environmental humidity, and the like.

[0060] The zero-power device 140 does not need a battery itself, and the low-power computing module 143 can implement simple signal demodulation, decoding or encoding, modulation, and the like. Therefore, the zero-power device 140 only needs a very simple hardware design, so that the zero-power device 140 has a very low cost and a very small size.

[0061] The network device 120 includes but is not limited to a cellular network device, such as a 5G / 6G network device, a base station device, a WiFi / WLAN network device, such as an access point (AP), a router, and a mobile access point, such as a mobile phone.

[0062] The zero-power device 140 includes but is not limited to a handheld device, a wearable device, a vehicle-mounted device, and an IoT device, and the zero-power device 140 can be at least one of a mobile phone, a tablet computer, an e-book reader, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a television, a game console, an Augmented Reality (AR) terminal, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal, a Mixed Reality (MR) terminal, a wearable device, a handheld controller, an electronic tag, and a controller.

[0063] Next, the key technologies of zero-power communication are introduced:

[0064] Radio Frequency Power Harvesting;

[0065] FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of Radio Frequency Power Harvesting provided by the related art. Radio Frequency Power Harvesting is based on the principle of electromagnetic induction, using a Radio Frequency (RF) module to pass through electromagnetic induction, and a capacitor C and a load resistor R L are connected in parallel, to achieve the collection of spatial electromagnetic wave energy, and to obtain the energy required to drive the zero-power device to work, such as: for driving low-power demodulation modules, modulation modules, sensors, and memory reading, etc. Therefore, the zero-power device does not need a traditional battery.

[0066] Back Scattering;

[0067] FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of the process of Back Scattering provided by the related art. The zero-power device 140 receives the wireless signal carrier 131 sent by the Transmit (TX) 121 of the network device 120 using an Amplifier (AMP) 122, and modulates the wireless signal carrier 131, loads the information to be sent using a logic processing module 147, and collects the radio frequency energy using an energy collection module 141. The zero-power device 140 radiates the modulated reflected signal 132 using an antenna 146, and this information transmission process is called Back Scattering. The Receive (RX) 123 of the network device 120 receives the modulated reflected signal 132 using a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) 124. Back Scattering and load modulation are inseparable. Load modulation adjusts and controls the circuit parameters of the oscillation circuit of the zero-power device 140 according to the beat of the data stream, so that the size of the impedance of the electronic tag and other parameters change, completing the modulation process.

[0068] The load modulation technology mainly includes resistance load modulation and capacitance load modulation. FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of resistance load modulation provided by the related art. In resistance load modulation, the load resistor R L is connected in parallel with a third resistor R3, and a switch S based on binary coding control is used to turn on or off, and the on-off of the third resistor R3 will cause the voltage on the circuit to change, and the load resistor R L is connected in parallel with a first capacitor C1, and the load resistor R LThe second resistor R2 is in series with the first resistor R1, and the first resistor R1 is in series with the first inductor L1. The first inductor L1 is coupled with the second inductor L2, and the second inductor L2 is in series with the second capacitor C2. Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) can be achieved, that is, the amplitude of the backscatter signal of the zero-power device is adjusted to achieve signal modulation and transmission. Similarly, in the capacitor load modulation, the on-off of the capacitor can change the resonant frequency of the circuit, and Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) can be achieved, that is, the working frequency of the backscatter signal of the zero-power device is adjusted to achieve signal modulation and transmission.

[0069] The zero-power device modulates the incoming signal by means of load modulation to achieve the process of backscatter communication. The zero-power device has the following advantages: it does not actively transmit signals, so it does not need a complex radio frequency link such as a power amplifier (PA) and a radio frequency filter; it does not need to actively generate a high-frequency signal, so it does not need a high-frequency crystal oscillator; by means of backscatter communication, signal transmission does not consume the energy of the zero-power device itself.

[0070] Next, the classification of the zero-power device is introduced:

[0071] Based on the energy source and use mode of the zero-power device, the zero-power device can be divided into the following types:

[0072] · Passive zero-power device;

[0073] The zero-power device does not need an internal battery. When the zero-power device is close to a network device, the zero-power device is in the near-field range formed by the antenna radiation of the network device, for example, the network device is a reader / writer of a radio frequency identification (RFID) system. Therefore, the antenna of the zero-power device generates an induced current through electromagnetic induction, and the induced current drives the low-power chip circuit of the zero-power device. The zero-power device can realize demodulation of the forward link signal and signal modulation of the backlink, etc. For the backscatter link, the zero-power device can use backscatter or active transmission with extremely low power to transmit signals. The passive zero-power device does not need an internal battery to drive it, and it is a truly zero-power device. The passive zero-power device does not need a battery, and the radio frequency circuit and the baseband circuit are very simple, for example, it does not need LNA, PA, crystal oscillator, analog-to-digital converter (ADC), etc. It has the advantages of small size, light weight, very low price, long service life, etc.

[0074] • Semi-passive zero-power device;

[0075] The semi-passive zero-power device does not have a conventional battery installed therein. The radio wave energy collected by the radio frequency energy collection module is stored in an energy storage unit, such as a capacitor. The energy storage unit obtains energy and drives the low-power chip circuit of the zero-power device. The zero-power device realizes demodulation of the forward link signal and modulation of the backward link signal.

[0076] The semi-passive zero-power device does not need a built-in battery to drive the forward link or the backward link. The energy stored in the capacitor used in the working process is derived from the radio energy collected by the radio frequency energy collection module. The semi-passive zero-power device is a truly zero-power device. The semi-passive zero-power device inherits many advantages of the passive zero-power device, such as small size, light weight, very low price, long service life, and many other advantages.

[0077] • Active zero-power device;

[0078] Some zero-power devices used in some scenarios can also be active zero-power devices. The active zero-power device can have a built-in battery. The battery is used to drive the low-power chip circuit of the zero-power device. The zero-power device realizes demodulation of the forward link signal and modulation of the backward link signal. However, for the backscatter link, the zero-power device can use backscatter or active transmission with extremely low power consumption to transmit signals. Therefore, the zero-power of the active zero-power device mainly reflects that the signal transmission of the backward link does not need to consume the power of the zero-power device, but uses the backscatter mode. In the active zero-power device, the built-in battery supplies power to the RFID chip, increases the read-write distance of the tag, and improves the reliability of communication. Therefore, the active zero-power device can be applied in some scenarios with relatively high requirements for communication distance and reading delay.

[0079] Next, the classification of zero-power devices based on the type of transmitter is introduced:

[0080] • Zero-power device based on backscatter;

[0081] The zero-power device uses the backscatter mode described above for uplink data transmission. The zero-power device does not have an active transmitter for active transmission, but only has a backscatter transmitter. Therefore, when the zero-power device transmits uplink data, the network device needs to provide a carrier. The zero-power device performs backscatter based on the carrier to realize uplink data transmission.

[0082] • Zero-power device based on active transmitter;

[0083] Such zero-power devices use an active transmitter with active transmission capability for uplink data transmission, so when sending uplink data, the zero-power device can use its own active transmitter to send uplink data without the need for a network device to provide a carrier. The active transmitter suitable for zero-power devices may be, for example, an ultra-low-power ASK transmitter, an ultra-low-power FSK transmitter, etc. Based on current implementation, the overall power consumption of such a transmitter can be reduced to 400-600 microwatts when transmitting a 100-microwatt signal.

[0084] · Zero-power devices with both backscattering and active transmitters;

[0085] Such zero-power devices can support both backscattering and active transmitters. The zero-power device can determine whether to use backscattering or active transmitter for active transmission based on different situations (such as different power situations, different available environmental energy situations), or based on the scheduling of the network device.

[0086] · Cellular passive Internet of Things:

[0087] Cellular Internet of Things is booming, and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has standardized Narrow Band-Internet of Things (NB-IoT), Machine-Type Communications (MTC), RedCap, and other Internet of Things technologies, but there are still many scenarios where Internet of Things communication needs cannot be met, for example:

[0088] · Severe communication environment;

[0089] Some Internet of Things scenarios may face extreme environments such as high temperature, extremely low temperature, high humidity, high pressure, high radiation, or high-speed motion. For example, ultra-high voltage substations, high-speed train track monitoring, high-cold environment monitoring, industrial production lines, etc. In these scenarios, due to the working environment limitations of conventional power supplies, Internet of Things terminal devices will not be able to work. In addition, extreme working environments are also not conducive to the maintenance of Internet of Things terminal devices, such as replacing batteries.

[0090] · Extremely small terminal form factor requirements;

[0091] Certain IoT communication scenarios, such as food traceability, commodity circulation, and smart wearable, require terminals to have extremely small sizes to facilitate use in these scenarios. For example, IoT terminal devices for commodity management in the circulation link are usually in the form of electronic tags, which are embedded in commodity packaging in a very small form. For another example, light and portable wearable IoT terminal devices can meet user needs while improving user experience.

[0092] • Extremely low-cost IoT communication requirements;

[0093] Numerous IoT communication scenarios require IoT terminal devices to be low-cost enough to enhance competitiveness relative to other alternative technologies. For example, in logistics or warehousing scenarios, in order to facilitate the management of a large number of circulating items, IoT terminal devices can be attached to each item to complete the precise management of the entire logistics process and cycle through communication between the IoT terminal device and the logistics network. These scenarios require IoT terminal devices to be competitively priced.

[0094] Zero-power IoT, also known as ambient power enabled IoT or Ambient IoT or AMP, or passive IoT. Ambient IoT devices refer to IoT devices that are driven by various environmental energies, such as wireless radio frequency energy, light energy, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, and other environmental energies. Such devices can have no energy storage capability or have very limited energy storage capability (such as using a capacitor with a capacity of tens of microfarads). Compared with existing IoT devices, Ambient IoT devices have many advantages, such as no conventional battery, no maintenance, small size, low complexity and low cost, long service life, and the like. They can be widely used in various industries, such as logistics for vertical industries, smart warehousing, smart agriculture, energy and power, industrial Internet, and the like; and can also be applied to smart wearables, smart home, and other personal applications.

[0095] Zero-power IoT can be used in at least four types of scenarios:

[0096] (1) Object identification, such as logistics, production line product management, and supply chain management;

[0097] (2) Environmental monitoring, such as temperature, humidity, and harmful gas monitoring of working and natural environments;

[0098] (3) Positioning, such as indoor positioning, smart object finding, and production line object positioning;

[0099] (4) Intelligent control, such as intelligent control of various appliances in smart homes (turning on / off air conditioners, adjusting temperature), and intelligent control of various facilities in agricultural greenhouses (automatic irrigation, fertilization).

[0100] Next, Ambient IoT is introduced:

[0101] In New Radio (NR) system and Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) system, battery-free and low-cost devices can support low-cost massive deployment and maintenance-free of IoT devices. Currently, the standard is studying how to support ambient energy-based IoT devices in NR system and WiFi system, called ambient IoT, AMP IoT device, which works on the energy collected from ambient energy. The source of ambient energy can be wireless signal, solar energy, thermal energy, etc. Such devices are similar to passive or semi-passive devices in zero-power communication.

[0102] In the research project on Ambient IoT devices, Ambient IoT devices are roughly divided into three types of devices: device A, device B and device C, each with corresponding complexity and communication capability.

[0103] • Device A: no energy storage capability, cannot send independent signals, i.e. uses backscattering transmission mode;

[0104] • Device B: has energy storage capability, cannot send independent signals, i.e. uses backscattering transmission mode can use stored energy to amplify backscattering signals;

[0105] • Device C: has energy storage capability, can send independent signals, i.e. has active transmission capability.

[0106] Among them, device A has the lowest complexity and power consumption, which can be as low as 1 μW, but its communication distance is limited, generally only a few meters. Device A needs network devices to provide carrier signals for backscattering transmission. Device C generally has a large-capacity capacitor to store energy from the environment, and the power consumption can support several hundred μW, which can support active signal emission and has a large communication distance. Device C does not need network devices to provide carrier signals because it can actively transmit. The complexity and power consumption of device B are between device A and device C.

[0107] In addition, the ambient energy harvesting supported by zero-power terminals can also have multiple types, such as wireless radio frequency, solar energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, etc. Among them, zero-power terminals based on wireless radio frequency energy harvesting may need network to provide wireless radio frequency energy signal.

[0108] Next, the topology of the Internet of Things device under the 5G network is introduced:

[0109] In some embodiments, the topology 1 is shown in FIG. 5. In the topology 1, the Internet of Things device 130 directly communicates with the network device 120. The communication between the network device 120 and the Internet of Things device 130 includes data and / or signals. It should be noted that in the communication structure shown in the topology 1, there can be data and / or signals sent from the first network device to the first Internet of Things device, and the data and / or signals sent by the first Internet of Things device are received by the second network device, that is, the network device and the Internet of Things device are not necessarily one-to-one.

[0110] In some embodiments, the topology 2 is shown in FIG. 6. In the topology 2, the Internet of Things device 130 communicates with the intermediate node 110. In the topology 2, the intermediate node 110 can be a relay device, an integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, a relay terminal, a repeater, etc. The intermediate node 110 transmits data and / or signals between the network device 120 and the Internet of Things device 130.

[0111] In some embodiments, the above FIG. 1, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 respectively show different structure diagrams of the communication system provided by the embodiments of the present application. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication system shown in FIG. 6 is taken as an example for description. The communication system includes a network device 120, an intermediate node 110 and an Internet of Things device 130. Among them:

[0112] The network device 120 in the present application provides wireless communication functions, which includes but is not limited to: an evolved node B (eNB), a radio network controller (RNC), a node B (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (for example, a home evolved node B or a home node B, HNB), a baseband unit (BBU), an access point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission point (TP) or a transmission and reception point (TRP), etc., and can also be a next generation node B (gNB) or a transmission point (TRP or TP) in a 5G mobile communication system, or an antenna panel or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G system, or a network node constituting a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU) or a distributed unit (DU), etc., or a base station in a beyond fifth generation (B5G) mobile communication system, a sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system, etc., or a core network (CN), a fronthaul, a backhaul, a radio access network (RAN), a network slice, etc., or a serving cell, a primary cell (Pcell), a primary secondary cell (PSCell), a special cell (SpCell), a secondary cell (Scell), a neighboring cell, etc., of a terminal device. th

[0113] ​The intermediate node 110 in the present application can also be referred to as a relay device. The intermediate node 110 can also be understood as a terminal device, or referred to as a user equipment (UE), an access terminal, a user unit, a user station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, a user apparatus. The intermediate node 110 includes but is not limited to handheld devices, wearable devices, vehicle-mounted devices, and Internet of Things devices, such as mobile phones, tablet computers, e-book readers, laptop computers, desktop computers, televisions, game consoles, mobile Internet devices (MIDs), augmented reality (AR) terminals, virtual reality (VR) terminals, and mixed reality (MR) terminals, wearable devices, game controllers, electronic tags, controllers, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical treatment, wireless terminals in smart grid, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart city, wireless terminals in smart home, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), television set top boxes (STBs), customer premise equipment (CPE), and the like.

[0114] The intermediate node 110 and the network device 120 communicate with each other through a certain air interface technology, such as a Uu interface. For example, there are two communication scenarios between the intermediate node 110 and the network device 120: uplink communication scenario and downlink communication scenario. Among them, the uplink communication refers to the intermediate node 110 sending signals to the network device 120; the downlink communication refers to the network device 120 sending signals to the intermediate node 110.

[0115] The Internet of Things device 130 in this application, which can also be referred to as an Ambient IoT device, can also be referred to as a zero-power device. In the related art, there is bidirectional communication between the intermediate node 110 and the Internet of Things device 130. The intermediate node 110 transmits a carrier wave to the Internet of Things device 130, and transmits data and / or signals to the Internet of Things device 130, and receives data and / or signals reflected by the Internet of Things device 130.

[0116] In some embodiments, the Internet of Things device 130 can also directly communicate with the network device 120.

[0117] Next, the frame structure used in the uplink transmission and downlink transmission in the Internet of Things communication will be introduced:

[0118] The downlink transmission in the Internet of Things communication is analogous to the transmission from the reader to the tag in the RFID system in the above-mentioned FIG. 7. It includes the network device transmitting signals to the Internet of Things device, or the intermediate node transmitting signals to the Internet of Things device. Optionally, the network device or the intermediate node transmitting signals to the Internet of Things device can be understood as the reader side transmitting signals to the Internet of Things device side, or it can be referred to as Reader-to-Device (R2D) transmission. The R2D transmission can be understood as the downlink transmission in the Internet of Things communication herein.

[0119] The uplink transmission in the Internet of Things communication is analogous to the transmission from the tag to the reader in the RFID system in the above-mentioned FIG. 7. It includes the Internet of Things device transmitting signals to the network device, or the Internet of Things device transmitting signals to the intermediate node. Optionally, the Internet of Things device transmitting signals to the network device or the intermediate node can be understood as the Internet of Things device side transmitting signals to the reader side, or it can be referred to as Device-to-Reader (D2R) transmission. The D2R transmission can be understood as the uplink transmission in the Internet of Things communication herein.

[0120] In the related art, as shown in FIG. 7, the frame structure used in the uplink transmission and downlink transmission in the Internet of Things communication includes the following two kinds:

[0121] The first kind includes a preamble, a control channel, and a data channel;

[0122] The second kind includes a preamble and a data channel.

[0123] The common point of the above two structures is that a preamble is designed before the control channel and / or the data channel for timing calibration, and the preamble can also be used for simple indication of control information. The different point is whether to design a control channel separately. For example, in part (a) of FIG. 7, a control channel is designed separately for transmission of control information, and a data channel is used to carry data information, the functions of the two channels are different, and the control channel and the data channel can use different code rates and different encoding methods. In part (b) of FIG. 7, there is no separate control channel, so the data channel can carry control information and data information at the same time.

[0124] In the related art, Internet of Things services mainly include the following two kinds:

[0125] One is a device-terminated (DT) service, and the other is a device-originated-device-terminated triggered (DO-DTT) service. DT mainly refers to executing a specific action by a command sent in the downlink, for example, sending a command of "turn on the air conditioner" to the Internet of Things device in the smart home scenario, and the Internet of Things device performs the corresponding operation. DO-DTT mainly refers to triggering information reporting of the Internet of Things device by a command sent in the downlink, and a typical scenario is warehouse inventory or sensor sensing, for example, triggering a plurality of tags to report device identifiers or sensor data by triggering information.

[0126] Considering that the number of Internet of Things devices in the above scenarios can be large, especially in the DO-DTT service, the goods in the warehouse are all pasted with labels. How to report information and avoid conflicts between each other is a problem to be solved. The aloha mechanism based on slots in RFID can be used as a baseline.

[0127] Next, the RFID query process in the related art is introduced.

[0128] In some embodiments, the network device or the intermediate node can also be understood as a reader (Reader) in the RFID query process, and the Internet of Things device can also be understood as an electronic tag (Tag).

[0129] For example, FIG. 8 shows a mechanism for inventory in a prior art RFID system, i.e., a slot-based aloha mechanism. Although it is a slot-based mechanism, since the RFID system is an asynchronous system, the length, the start position and the end position of each slot are not fixed. Within an inventory round, the start position and the end position of each slot are actually defined according to the Query instruction and the Query Repeat instruction. The Query Repeat instruction can also be referred to as Query Rep.

[0130] For example, in FIG. 8, slot 0 is the end time of the Query instruction sent by the reader to the end time of the next Query Rep instruction. After that, the start time of each slot is the end time of the previous slot, and the end time of each slot is the end time of the Query Rep instruction of the current slot. In other words, each time the reader sends a Query Rep instruction, it indicates the end of the current slot and the beginning of a new slot. It should be noted that the end position of the last slot of an inventory round can be indicated by the Query instruction of the next inventory round, i.e., the end time of the Query instruction of the last slot indicates the end of the current inventory round and the beginning of the next inventory round.

[0131] The following is an example of a tag set including tag a, tag b and tag c.

[0132] First, the reader sends a select instruction, which is used to determine the tag set for inventory. For example, assuming that there are a large number of tags in the warehouse, the reader needs to determine which tag or tags to inventory using the select instruction, i.e., the tags that receive the select instruction will determine whether to participate in this inventory.

[0133] The reader sends a Query instruction after sending the Select instruction. The Query instruction includes a Q value. The tag that is performing the inventory generates a random integer between 0 and 2 Q-1 after receiving the Q value, and uses the random integer as the starting value of the counter (e.g., the counter value). Thereafter, the tag that is performing the inventory decreases the counter value by 1 (e.g., decreases the counter value by 1) each time it receives a QueryRep instruction. When the counter value of a tag is 0, the tag can access the channel in the current slot.

[0134] For example, in FIG. 8, assume that the counter value of tag a is 0 in slot 0. Tag a can access the channel in slot 0. Assume that the counter value of tag b and tag c is 2 in slot 0. Tag b and tag c need to receive two QueryRep instructions, i.e., the counter value of tag b and tag c is decreased from 2 to 0 in slot 2. Tag b and tag c can access the channel in slot 2 at the earliest.

[0135] Note that the slot index in an inventory round is also related to the Q value. For example, assume that the slot index starts from 0. An inventory round can include two slots, i.e., the slot index includes 0 and 2 Q . Q-1 .

[0136] In summary, different tags can access the channel in different slots in an inventory round by randomly generating the counter value.

[0137] When one tag accesses in one time slot, for example, tag a accesses in slot 0 in Fig. 8, tag a first sends a random number 16 (RN16) as a temporary identification to the reader, and the reader sends a response message including the same RN16 to tag a after receiving the RN16 sent by tag a. If the RN16 received by tag a is consistent with the RN16 sent by tag a, tag a sends an electronic product code (EPC) to the reader, and the reader sends a query repetition (QueryRep) instruction after receiving the EPC. The QueryRep instruction is used to indicate to tag a that the EPC has been received, the inventory of tag a is successful, and is also used to indicate to all tags to reduce the value of the respective counters by 1, i.e., to start a new time slot. In the new time slot, other tags except tag a can access. It should be noted that in the above access process of tag a, if there is a signaling loss or transmission error, the inventory of tag a fails. For example, it is assumed that after tag a sends the RN16 to the reader, the reader does not receive the RN16, and the inventory of tag a fails, and tag a can only wait for the next inventory round.

[0138] Since the initial values of the counters generated by the tags are random, there will be 0 to 2 Q-1 Some values may not be selected by any tag, and there will be no tag in the corresponding time slot to report information. For example, in slot 1 in Fig. 8, since the initial value of the counter generated by the tag is 1, there is no information reported in slot 1. On the contrary, when the initial values of the counters generated by multiple tags are the same, multiple tags will report information in the same time slot. In this case, information collision may occur, for example, the RN16 sent by multiple tags collides, and the reader cannot identify the RN16 of any tag. This is because the waveform received by the reader is the superposition of multiple random sequences, and there is no design of orthogonal characteristics between multiple RN16, so the tags that collide cannot access and fail to inventory, and can only wait for the next inventory round.

[0139] The reader sends a Query instruction every time, which indicates the end of the previous inventory round and the beginning of a new inventory round. In the next inventory round, the tags that are not successfully inventoried or accessed in the current inventory round will continue to be inventoried. For example, in FIG. 8, the tags that are not successfully inventoried in the first inventory round will continue to be inventoried in the second inventory round. The Q value indicated in the Query instruction can be different for different inventory rounds. For example, if the reader finds that there are many slots without tag access in the first inventory round, the Q value can be reduced in the second inventory round. Conversely, if the reader finds that there are many collisions in the first inventory round, the Q value can be increased in the second inventory round. For example, for each inventory round, the reader can increase or decrease or keep the same or set to any allowed value as the Q value in the previous inventory round, and then indicate to the tags in the new inventory round through the Query instruction. For example, when Q = 0, the entire inventory process ends.

[0140] Based on the above description of FIG. 8, in the process of inventorying the tags by the reader, there can be abnormal situations such as the tags not being successfully inventoried or not being successfully identified. At this time, the reader can only wait for the next inventory round to re-inventory the tags. There is no related solution for how to re-inventory the tags in the current inventory round.

[0141] In an embodiment of the present application, a method for accessing an Internet of Things device is provided, and the reader can re-inventory the tags that fail to be inventoried or identified in the current inventory round. FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of a method for accessing an Internet of Things device according to an example embodiment of the present application. The method is performed by a network device or an intermediate node, and the method includes:

[0142] Step 220: The network device or the intermediate node sends a first instruction to the Internet of Things device.

[0143] The first instruction is used to instruct the Internet of Things device to update a first counter, and the first counter is used to trigger the Internet of Things device to transmit in a first transmission resource. Optionally, the Internet of Things device can also be referred to as an Ambient IoT device or a zero-power device.

[0144] In the embodiments of the present application, the Internet of Things device refers to a device with communication capability, such as a capability of communicating with a network device or an intermediate node. Alternatively, the Internet of Things device refers to a device within the signal coverage of a network device or an intermediate node. Exemplarily, the Internet of Things device herein can be understood as a set of Internet of Things devices with communication capability. For example, the label a, the label b and the label c in the above FIG. 8 can be understood as the Internet of Things device herein, and the reader in the above FIG. 8 can be understood as the network device or the intermediate node.

[0145] In some embodiments, the first counter is a counter used by the Internet of Things device in a current inventory round. The first counter is used for counting in the current inventory round, and the value of the first counter is reduced by one each time a time domain resource passes. Alternatively, the value of the first counter is reduced by one each time a QueryRep instruction is received. The QueryRep instruction is used to indicate the end of the current time domain resource and the start of the next time domain resource.

[0146] In some embodiments, the transmission resource includes a time domain resource and a frequency domain resource. Since the embodiments of the present application mainly focus on the access occasion of the Internet of Things device, the above-mentioned first counter is used to trigger the Internet of Things device to transmit in the first transmission resource, and can also be understood as: the first counter is used to trigger the Internet of Things device to access in the first time domain resource.

[0147] In some embodiments, the time domain resource includes at least one of the following: a symbol, a symbol group, a time slot, a sub-time slot, a frame, a sub-frame. The specific type of the time domain resource in the embodiments of the present application is not limited. Alternatively, the embodiments of the present application are described by taking one time domain resource corresponding to one time slot as an example. Exemplarily, assuming that the value of the first counter in the time slot 0 (slot 0) is 2, after the end of the time slot 0 (slot 0) and the start of the time slot 1 (slot 1), the value of the first counter will be reduced from 2 to 1. When the value of the first counter is reduced to 0, the Internet of Things device accesses in the current time slot.

[0148] In some embodiments, the first time domain resource is a time domain resource in the current inventory round. Exemplarily, the first time domain resource is a time domain resource corresponding to the target value (such as 0) of the first counter.

[0149] In some embodiments, if the first counter has a value of 0 corresponding to the first time domain resource, the IoT device attempts to access the first time domain resource. Or the IoT device transmits using an uplink transmission resource in the first time domain resource. Optionally, the uplink transmission resource is scheduled by the network device or the intermediate node. Optionally, the frame structure corresponding to the uplink transmission resource includes the frame structure in (a) or the frame structure in (b) shown in FIG. 7. If the frame structure corresponding to the uplink transmission resource is the frame structure in (a) shown in FIG. 7, the control channel is an IoT uplink control channel, for example, a Physical Device to Reader Control Channel (PDRCCH), and the data channel is an IoT uplink data channel, for example, a Physical Device to Reader Shared Channel (PDRSCH) or a Physical Device to Reader Channel (PDRCH).

[0150] In some embodiments, the value of the first counter is determined based on the first value. For example, at the beginning of the current inventory round, the first value includes the Q value in the Query instruction. For example, after receiving the Query instruction, the IoT device obtains the Q value from the Query instruction, then generates a random integer between 0 and 2 Q-1之 , and uses the random integer as the starting value of the first counter.

[0151] In some embodiments, the time slot index in an inventory round is also related to the first value. For example, assuming that the time slot index starts from 0, an inventory round can include 2 Q time slots, i.e., the time slot index includes 0 to 2 Q-1 .

[0152] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the first instruction is also used to trigger updating the remaining time domain resources. For example, assuming that before the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction, the time slot index includes 0 to 2 Q1-1， , and Q1 represents the first value before the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction. If the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction in time slot 1, the number of remaining time domain resources will be updated from 2 Q1 to 2 Q2, Q2 represents the first value after the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction. That is, after the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction, the time slot index includes 0 to 2 Q2-1 . Or it is understood that after the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction, the time slot index of the remaining time domain resource starts from 0 again.

[0153] By sending the first instruction to the Internet of Things device, the Internet of Things device can update the first counter based on the indication of the first instruction to ensure that the Internet of Things device can access the first time domain resource within the current inventory round, which is beneficial to improve the efficiency of Internet of Things device access. For example, the Internet of Things device that fails to inventory or fails to identify within the current inventory round can complete access without waiting for the next inventory round.

[0154] Based on the above embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the first instruction is introduced as follows:

[0155] In some embodiments, the first instruction includes a first information field, the first information field being used to instruct the Internet of Things device to update the first value or maintain the first value unchanged, the first value being used to generate the updated start value of the first counter.

[0156] For example, the first value includes the Q value in the Query instruction. That is, the first information field is used to instruct the Internet of Things device to update the Q value or maintain the Q value unchanged.

[0157] In some embodiments, the Internet of Things device receives the Query instruction at the start time of the current inventory round, and the Query instruction includes the first value (Q value).

[0158] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the first counter corresponds to a new start value after each update. For example, assuming that before the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction, the start value of the first counter is determined based on Q1, Q1 represents the first value before the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction. After the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction, the Internet of Things device updates Q1 or maintains Q1 unchanged to obtain Q2, Q2 represents the first value after the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction. After the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction, the start value of the first counter is determined based on Q2.

[0159] In some embodiments, in a case that the first information field indicates the first value, the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to increase the first value; in a case that the first information field indicates the second value, the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to decrease the first value; in a case that the first information field indicates the third value, the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to maintain the first value unchanged.

[0160] For example, assuming that the first information field includes 2 bits, or the first information field is 2-bit information. Optionally, in a case that the first information field is 00, the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to increase the first value; in a case that the first information field is 01, the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to decrease the first value; in a case that the first information field is 10, the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to maintain the first value unchanged. Or, in a case that the first information field is 01, the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to increase the first value; in a case that the first information field is 10, the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to decrease the first value; in a case that the first information field is 11, the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to maintain the first value unchanged. It should be noted that the values {00, 01, 10, 11} of the first information field are taken as an example for illustration, and other combinations can also be used to instruct to increase the first value or decrease the first value or maintain the first value unchanged.

[0161] In some embodiments, in a case that the first value is the minimum value, and the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to decrease the first value, the IoT device maintains the first value unchanged. For example, assuming that the Q value is 0, and the first information field indicates the second value, the Q value is maintained as 0 unchanged.

[0162] In some embodiments, in a case that the first value is the maximum value, and the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to increase the first value, the IoT device maintains the first value unchanged. For example, assuming that the Q value is Y (representing the maximum value), and the first information field indicates the first value, the Q value is maintained as Y unchanged.

[0163] By carrying the first information field in the first instruction, the IoT device is instructed to update the first value. Since the first value is related to the start value of the first counter, updating the first value can achieve updating the first counter.

[0164] In some embodiments, the first instruction indirectly indicates the updated first value through the first information field, and the updated first value is related to the first value before updating. For example, the first instruction indirectly indicates Q2 through the first information field, Q2 represents the first value updated after the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction. Q2 is related to Q1, Q1 represents the first value not updated before the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction. For example, Q2 is equal to Q1+1. For details, see the introduction of the first information field above.

[0165] In some embodiments, the first instruction directly indicates the updated first value. For example, the first instruction directly indicates Q2, where Q2 represents the updated first value after the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction. Q2 is used to generate the updated start value of the first counter.

[0166] In some embodiments, the first instruction further includes a second information field, which is used to indicate that the IoT device responds to the first instruction or does not respond to the first instruction.

[0167] In some embodiments, the second information field is used to indicate that the IoT device responds to the first instruction in a case where the first instruction is associated with a second instruction. The second instruction is prior to the first instruction, and the second instruction is used to indicate the start of a current inventory round. The second instruction is used to indicate the start of a current inventory round.

[0168] Optionally, the second instruction includes a query instruction sent by the network device or the intermediate node to the IoT device at the start of the current inventory round. When the first instruction is associated with the query instruction, the IoT device will respond to the first instruction. That is, the IoT device that responds to the first instruction is a device that has communication capability with the network device or the intermediate node within the current inventory round. Or, it can be understood that the IoT device that responds to the first instruction is a tag that is inventoried by the reader within the current inventory round. In the embodiments of the present application, inventory can also be understood as attempting to access.

[0169] In some embodiments, the first instruction carries a first set of device identification information, and the second instruction carries a second set of device identification information. The first set of device identification information includes one or more first device identification information, and the second set of device identification information includes one or more second device identification information.

[0170] In some embodiments, the first instruction is associated with the second instruction includes that the first set of device identification information is a subset of the second set of device identification information.

[0171] In some embodiments, the first device identification information and the second device identification information both represent IoT device identification information.

[0172] For example, the second set of device identification information includes device identification information of all the Internet of Things devices to be inventoried in the current inventory round. The first set of device identification information includes device identification information of the Internet of Things devices corresponding to the first instruction that still need to be inventoried in the current inventory round. For example, it is assumed that the second instruction indicates that all the Internet of Things devices to be inventoried in the current inventory round include {Internet of Things device 1, Internet of Things device 2, and Internet of Things device 3}. Among them, the Internet of Things device 1 has completed the inventory before the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction. Or it is understood that the network device or the intermediate node has completed the inventory of the Internet of Things device 1 before sending the first instruction. In the case that the first instruction carries two device identification information corresponding to the Internet of Things device 2 and the Internet of Things device 3, it is considered that the first instruction is associated with the second instruction. If the first instruction carries two device identification information corresponding to the Internet of Things device 2 and the Internet of Things device 4, it is considered that the first instruction is not associated with the second instruction.

[0173] It needs to be understood that in the same Internet of Things communication scenario, there can be multiple Internet of Things devices, but the network device or the intermediate node can only inventory part of the Internet of Things devices in one inventory round. For example, it is assumed that it includes {Internet of Things device 1, Internet of Things device 2, Internet of Things device 3, and Internet of Things device 4}. Optionally, the network device or the intermediate node inventories {Internet of Things device 1, Internet of Things device 2, and Internet of Things device 3} in the first inventory round and inventories {Internet of Things device 4} in the second inventory round.

[0174] Optionally, the Internet of Things device responding to the first instruction includes the Internet of Things device corresponding to the first set of device identification information in the first instruction. The Internet of Things device corresponding to the first set of device identification information includes the Internet of Things device that fails in the current inventory round and / or the Internet of Things device that is still in the inventory process. For example, it is assumed that all the Internet of Things devices to be inventoried in the current inventory round include {Internet of Things device 1, Internet of Things device 2, Internet of Things device 3, and Internet of Things device 4}. Among them, the Internet of Things device 1 has completed the inventory before the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction, the Internet of Things device 2 fails in the inventory, and the Internet of Things device 3 and the Internet of Things device 4 are still in the inventory. Then the Internet of Things device responding to the first instruction includes {Internet of Things device 2, Internet of Things device 3, and Internet of Things device 4}.

[0175] In some embodiments, the first device identification information and the second device identification information both represent network device or intermediate node identification information.

[0176] For example, the second set of device identification information includes the device identification information corresponding to the network device 1, which is used to indicate that the network device 1 performs inventory on the IoT device in the current inventory round. When the first set of device identification information also includes the device identification information corresponding to the network device 1, it is considered that the first instruction and the second instruction are sent by the same network device, i.e., the first instruction is associated with the second instruction. When the first set of device identification information does not include the device identification information corresponding to the network device 1, it is considered that the first instruction and the second instruction cannot correspond to the same network device, i.e., the first instruction is not associated with the second instruction.

[0177] In a further embodiment based on the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction to the IoT device only when the first condition is met.

[0178] FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of an access method of an IoT device according to an example embodiment of the present application. The method is performed by a network device or an intermediate node, and the step 220 can be replaced by the following sub-steps:

[0179] Step 221: The network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction to the IoT device only when the first condition is met.

[0180] In some embodiments, the first condition is used to trigger the network device or the intermediate node to send the first instruction to the IoT device.

[0181] In some embodiments, the first condition includes that the network device or the intermediate node does not receive the first information. Optionally, the first information includes the identification corresponding to the IoT device.

[0182] In some embodiments, the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction to the IoT device when the network device or the intermediate node does not receive the first information. Optionally, the first information includes at least one of the following: information carrying the device identification, the first response information.

[0183] In some embodiments, the information carrying the device identification includes information carrying the temporary device identification, such as RN16. The information carrying the device identification also includes information carrying the electronic product identification, such as EPC.

[0184] In some embodiments, the first response information includes information of the IoT device responding to the third instruction. The third instruction is used to indicate the end of the current time domain resource and the start of the next time domain resource. For example, assuming that the network device or the intermediate node sends the third instruction in the nth time domain resource, the third instruction is used to indicate the end of the nth time domain resource and the start of the (n+1)th time domain resource, where n is a positive integer. Optionally, the third instruction includes a Query Rep instruction sent by the network device or the intermediate node at the end of the current time domain resource.

[0185] In some embodiments, the case where the network device or the intermediate node does not receive the first information includes at least one of the following:

[0186] Case one: the IoT device fails to send the first information successfully;

[0187] Case two: the IoT device sends the first information successfully, but the network device or the intermediate node does not receive it.

[0188] In some embodiments, in the case where the IoT device fails to send the first information successfully, the network device or the intermediate node cannot receive the first information.

[0189] In some embodiments, in the case where the IoT device sends the first information successfully, the network device or the intermediate node may fail to decode the first information due to poor channel quality or interference, so as to consider that the network device or the intermediate node does not receive the first information. There may also be a collision of multiple first information sent by multiple IoT devices, so that the first information cannot be received by the network device or the intermediate node. There may also be that the first information sent by the IoT device is lost in the transmission process and fails to be successfully transmitted to the network device or the intermediate node, so that the network device or the intermediate node cannot receive the first information.

[0190] In some embodiments, the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction to the IoT device only in the case where the IoT device fails to access. For example, in the case where the network device or the intermediate node does not receive the first information, it indicates that the IoT device fails to access, and the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction.

[0191] The network device or the intermediate node sends a first instruction to the IoT device under the first condition, so that the IoT device can update the first counter based on the indication of the first instruction, to ensure that the IoT device can access the first time domain resource in the current inventory round, thereby improving the efficiency of the IoT device access. For example, the IoT device that fails to inventory or identify in the current inventory round can complete the access without waiting for the next inventory round.

[0192] FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of an access method of an IoT device according to an example embodiment of the present application. The method is performed by the IoT device, and the method includes:

[0193] Step 320: The IoT device receives a first instruction.

[0194] The first instruction is used to instruct the IoT device to update the first counter, and the first counter is used to trigger the IoT device to transmit in the first transmission resource. Optionally, the IoT device can also be referred to as an Ambient IoT device, or a zero-power device.

[0195] In the embodiments of the present application, the IoT device refers to a device with communication capability, such as a device with the capability of communicating with the network device or the intermediate node. Alternatively, the IoT device refers to a device within the signal coverage range of the network device or the intermediate node. For example, the IoT device herein can be understood as a set of IoT devices with communication capability. For example, the tags a, b and c in the above FIG. 8 can be understood as the IoT devices herein, and the reader in the above FIG. 8 can be understood as the network device or the intermediate node.

[0196] In some embodiments, the first counter is a counter used by the IoT device in the current inventory round. The first counter is used to count in the current inventory round, and the value of the first counter decreases by one for each time domain resource. Alternatively, it can be understood that the value of the first counter decreases by one for each received QueryRep instruction. The QueryRep instruction is used to indicate the end of the current time domain resource and the start of the next time domain resource.

[0197] In some embodiments, the transmission resource includes a time domain resource and a frequency domain resource. Since the embodiments of the present application mainly focus on the access timing of the IoT device, the above-mentioned first counter is used to trigger the IoT device to transmit in the first transmission resource, which can also be understood as: the first counter is used to trigger the IoT device to access the first time domain resource.

[0198] In some embodiments, the time domain resource comprises at least one of a symbol, a symbol group, a time slot, a sub-time slot, a frame, a sub-frame. The specific type of the time domain resource in the embodiments of the present application is not limited. Optionally, the embodiments of the present application are described by taking one time domain resource corresponding to one time slot as an example. For example, assuming that the value of the first counter in the time slot 0 is 2, after the end of the time slot 0 and the start of the time slot 1, the value of the first counter will be reduced from 2 to 1. When the value of the first counter is reduced to 0, the Internet of Things device accesses in the current time slot.

[0199] In some embodiments, the first time domain resource is a time domain resource in a current inventory round. For example, the first time domain resource is a time domain resource corresponding to the target value (such as 0) of the first counter.

[0200] In some embodiments, if the value corresponding to the first time domain resource of the first counter is 0, the Internet of Things device attempts to access in the first time domain resource. Or the Internet of Things device transmits in the first time domain resource using the uplink transmission resource. Optionally, the uplink transmission resource is scheduled by the network device or the intermediate node. Optionally, the frame structure corresponding to the uplink transmission resource comprises the frame structure in the (a) part or the frame structure in the (b) part shown in FIG. 7. If the frame structure corresponding to the uplink transmission resource is the frame structure in the (a) part shown in FIG. 7, the control channel is the Internet of Things uplink control channel, for example, the Physical Device to Reader Control Channel (PDRCCH), and the data channel is the Internet of Things uplink data channel, for example, the Physical Device to Reader Shared Channel (PDRSCH) or the Physical Device to Reader Channel (PDRCH).

[0201] In some embodiments, the value of the first counter is determined based on the first value. For example, at the beginning of the current inventory round, the first value comprises the Q value in the Query instruction. For example, after receiving the Query instruction, the Internet of Things device obtains the Q value from the Query instruction, then generates a random integer between 0 and 2 Q-1 and takes the random integer as the starting value of the first counter.

[0202] In some embodiments, the time slot index in one inventory round is also related to a first value. For example, assuming the time slot index starts from 0, one inventory round can include 2 Q time slots, i.e., the time slot index includes 0 to 2 Q-1 .

[0203] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the first instruction is also used to trigger updating of the remaining time domain resources. For example, assuming that before the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction, the time slot index includes 0 to 2 Q1-1 , Q1 represents the first value before the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction. The network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction at time slot 1, and the number of the remaining time domain resources will be updated from 2 Q1 - 2 to 2 Q2 , Q2 represents the first value after the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction. That is, after the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction, the time slot index includes 0 to 2 Q2-1 . Or it can be understood that after the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction, the time slot index of the remaining time domain resources starts from 0 again.

[0204] By receiving the first instruction, the Internet of Things device can update the first counter based on the indication of the first instruction, so as to ensure that the Internet of Things device can access the first time domain resource in the current inventory round, which is beneficial to improving the efficiency of the Internet of Things device access. For example, the Internet of Things device that fails to inventory or fails to identify in the current inventory round can complete access without waiting for the next inventory round.

[0205] In some embodiments, the first instruction is introduced in detail in the above embodiments.

[0206] In some embodiments, the first instruction is sent by the network device or the intermediate node when a first condition is met. The first condition is introduced in detail in step 221.

[0207] In some embodiments, the first instruction is sent by the network device or the intermediate node when the Internet of Things device fails to access. For example, if the network device or the intermediate node does not receive the first information, it means that the Internet of Things device fails to access, and at this time the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction.

[0208] In some embodiments, the situation in which the Internet of Things device fails to access includes at least one of the following:

[0209] The IoT device fails to send the first information;

[0210] The IoT device fails to receive the second information;

[0211] The identification information received by the IoT device does not match the identification information sent by the IoT device.

[0212] In some embodiments, in the case that the IoT device fails to send the first information, the network device or the intermediate node fails to successfully receive the first information, and the IoT device fails to access the network device or the intermediate node. The first information is introduced in step 221 above.

[0213] In some embodiments, the case that the IoT device fails to receive the second information includes:

[0214] The network device or the intermediate node fails to send the second information; or,

[0215] The network device or the intermediate node sends the second information, but the IoT device fails to receive the second information.

[0216] Optionally, the second information includes Response information sent by the network device or the intermediate node in response to the received RN16. Alternatively, the second information includes a QueryRep instruction sent by the network device or the intermediate node after receiving the EPC.

[0217] In some embodiments, the identification information sent by the IoT device includes device identification information of the IoT device. Optionally, the identification information sent by the IoT device is carried in the RN16, which is used to indicate the device identification corresponding to the IoT device. After receiving the device identification of the IoT device, the network device or the intermediate node sends Response information to the IoT device, and the Response information also carries the device identification of the IoT device. When the Response information received by the IoT device matches the device identification in the RN16 sent by the IoT device, the physical network device continues to send the EPC. When the Response information received by the IoT device does not match the device identification in the RN16 sent by the IoT device, the physical network device does not continue to send the EPC, and the IoT device fails to access.

[0218] In some embodiments, in the case that the IoT device fails to access, the IoT device waits for the network device or the intermediate node to send a first instruction, which is used to indicate how to update the first counter, so that the IoT device can complete the access based on the updated first counter in the first time domain resource.

[0219] However, the network device or the intermediate node can not immediately send the first instruction. For example, it is assumed that the IoT device determines access failure at the i th time domain resource and waits for the network device or the intermediate node to send the first instruction. However, the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction at the i+3 th time domain resource, that is, the IoT device cannot receive the first instruction and update the value of the first counter before entering the i+1 th time domain resource. At this time, the IoT device can automatically update the value of the first counter to the second value without affecting the access process in the i+1 th time domain resource and the i+2 th time domain resource. The value of i is a positive integer.

[0220] FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of an access method of an IoT device according to an example embodiment of the present application. The method is performed by the IoT device, and the method comprises:

[0221] Step 420: In the case that the IoT device fails to access and receives the third instruction, the value of the first counter is updated to the second value.

[0222] In some embodiments, the access failure of the IoT device is described in the above embodiments.

[0223] In some embodiments, the third instruction comprises a Query Rep instruction sent by the network device or the intermediate node at the end of the current time domain resource. That is, the IoT device fails to access in the current time domain resource and does not receive the first instruction in the current time domain resource.

[0224] In some embodiments, the second value is predefined, or the second value is a fixed value, or the second value is determined based on the first value. Optionally, the second value plus one is equal to the power value with 2 as the base number and the first value as the exponent. For example, the second value is A, or the second value is 2 Q -1.

[0225] By automatically updating the value of the first counter, the IoT device can still wait to receive the first instruction in the current inventory round in the case of access failure, and then update the first counter, which is beneficial to improve the access efficiency of the IoT device. For example, the IoT device that fails to inventory or identify in the current inventory round can complete access without waiting until the next inventory round.

[0226] In some embodiments, the above-mentioned embodiments shown in FIG. 9 and the embodiments shown in FIG. 11 can be combined to implement a new embodiment. As shown in FIG. 13, the method is jointly performed by the network device and the IoT device, or jointly performed by the intermediate node and the IoT device, and the method comprises:

[0227] Step 1: the network device or intermediate node sends a first instruction to the IoT device;

[0228] The detailed implementation is described above in step 220.

[0229] Step 2: the IoT device receives the first instruction;

[0230] The detailed implementation is described above in step 320.

[0231] Next, taking the reader in the inventory process as the network device or intermediate node, and taking the tags a, b, c, d and e included in an inventory round as the IoT device, the access method of the IoT device is illustrated as an example.

[0232] For example, as shown in FIG. 14, the reader sends an instruction to the tag through the frame structure in part (a) or the frame structure in part (b) shown in FIG. 7. For example, the instruction sent by the reader is carried in the data channel or the control channel of the frame structure in part (a) shown in FIG. 7. For example, the instruction sent by the reader is carried in the data channel of the frame structure in part (b) shown in FIG. 7. In addition, the tag sends an instruction to the reader through the frame structure in part (a) or the frame structure in part (b) shown in FIG. 7.

[0233] First, the reader sends a select instruction to determine that the tags to be inventoried include tags a, b, c, d and e. Then, the reader sends a query instruction to indicate that a new inventory round is started, such as the first inventory round. The query instruction contains a Q value. The query instruction means that the first time slot in the current inventory round starts, such as time slot 0.

[0234] After receiving the query instruction, the tags a, b, c, d and e generate 0 to 2 Q-1a random integer between 0 and 7, and the random integer is used as the start value of the first counter. Alternatively, the random integers selected by different tags are the same or different. For example, in slot 0, the random integer selected by tag a is 0, the random integer selected by tag b is 1, the random integer selected by tag c is 1, the random integer selected by tag d is 2, and the random integer selected by tag e is 4.

[0235] Since the value of the first counter of tag a in slot 0 is 0, tag a performs access in slot 0. For example, tag a sends RN16 to the reader. After the reader receives RN16, the reader sends all or part of the received RN16 to tag a as feedback information. After tag a receives the feedback information, tag a finds that the feedback information matches the previously sent RN16, and then sends EPC to the reader. After the reader receives EPC, the reader sends a QueryRep instruction. On the one hand, the QueryRep instruction is used to indicate that the reader confirms that it has received the EPC sent by tag a. On the other hand, the QueryRep instruction is used to indicate that the current time domain resource ends and the next time domain resource starts. For example, slot 0 ends and slot 1 starts. At this time, tag a feeds back a response information to the reader in response to the QueryRep instruction, and then tag a performs inventory successfully.

[0236] The first counter of the tag b (tag b) is decreased by 1 after the tag b (tag b) receives the QueryRep instruction from the reader (reader) in the time slot 0 (slot 0). The first counter of the tag c (tag c) is decreased by 1 after the tag c (tag c) receives the QueryRep instruction from the reader (reader) in the time slot 0 (slot 0). The first counter of the tag d (tag d) is decreased by 1 after the tag d (tag d) receives the QueryRep instruction from the reader (reader) in the time slot 0 (slot 0). The first counter of the tag e (tag e) is decreased by 1 after the tag e (tag e) receives the QueryRep instruction from the reader (reader) in the time slot 0 (slot 0). The first counter of the tag a (tag a) is not decreased after the tag a (tag a) receives the QueryRep instruction from the reader (reader) in the time slot 0 (slot 0). The first counter of the tag b (tag b) is 0 at the beginning of the time slot 1 (slot 1). The first counter of the tag c (tag c) is 0 at the beginning of the time slot 1 (slot 1). The first counter of the tag d (tag d) is 1 at the beginning of the time slot 1 (slot 1). The first counter of the tag e (tag e) is 3 at the beginning of the time slot 1 (slot 1). The first counter of the tag a (tag a) is N / A at the beginning of the time slot 1 (slot 1).

[0237] The first counter of the tag b (tag b) is decreased by 1 after the tag b (tag b) receives the QueryRep instruction from the reader (reader) in the time slot 0 (slot 0). The first counter of the tag c (tag c) is decreased by 1 after the tag c (tag c) receives the QueryRep instruction from the reader (reader) in the time slot 0 (slot 0). The first counter of the tag d (tag d) is decreased by 1 after the tag d (tag d) receives the QueryRep instruction from the reader (reader) in the time slot 0 (slot 0). The first counter of the tag e (tag e) is decreased by 1 after the tag e (tag e) receives the QueryRep instruction from the reader (reader) in the time slot 0 (slot 0). The first counter of the tag a (tag a) is not decreased after the tag a (tag a) receives the QueryRep instruction from the reader (reader) in the time slot 0 (slot 0). The first counter of the tag b (tag b) is 0 at the beginning of the time slot 1 (slot 1). The first counter of the tag c (tag c) is 0 at the beginning of the time slot 1 (slot 1). The first counter of the tag d (tag d) is 1 at the beginning of the time slot 1 (slot 1). The first counter of the tag e (tag e) is 3 at the beginning of the time slot 1 (slot 1). The first counter of the tag a (tag a) is N / A at the beginning of the time slot 1 (slot 1).

[0238] Since the reader does not send the first command in slot 1, after slot 2 starts, tag b and tag c change the value of the first counter from 0 to A, which can be a predefined value or set to a value. In addition, the value of the first counter of tag d and tag e is decreased by 1. For example, at the beginning of slot 2, the value of the first counter corresponding to tag d is 0, and the value of the first counter corresponding to tag e is 2. At this time, tag d sends RN16 to the reader. After the reader receives RN16, it sends all or part of the received RN16 as feedback information to tag d. After receiving the feedback information, tag d finds that it matches the previously sent RN16, and sends EPC to the reader. After receiving the EPC, the reader sends a QueryRep command. On the one hand, the QueryRep command is used to indicate that the reader has received the EPC sent by tag d; on the other hand, the QueryRep command is used to indicate that the current time domain resource ends and the next time domain resource starts. For example, slot 2 ends and slot 3 starts. At this time, tag d feeds back a response information to the reader in response to the QueryRep command, and tag d is successfully inventoried.

[0239] The remaining three tags (tag) other than tag a and tag d decrease the value of the first counter by 1 after receiving the QueryRep command of the reader in slot 2. For example, at the beginning of slot 3, the value of the first counter corresponding to tag b is A-1, the value of the first counter corresponding to tag c is A-1, and the value of the first counter corresponding to tag e is 1. The three tags (tag) will not send RN16 in slot 3.

[0240] Meanwhile, the reader sends a first command at the end of slot 3 instead of a QueryRep command. The first command indicates to adjust the Q value to Q-1, where Q is the Q value indicated in the Query command that triggered the start of the current inventory round, which can be understood as the last Query command received and responded to by the tag.

[0241] Tags b, c and e consider that slot 3 ends and the next slot starts after receiving the first command and adjusting the Q value to Q-1. They then re-enter the 0 to 2 (Q-1)-1 A random integer is generated and used as the new start value of the first counter. This is done to give a tag that failed to be inventoried after sending RN16 a chance to be inventoried again. The reason for this is that the tag will not be able to re-enter the random access procedure until the first counter reaches 0. By adjusting the first counter to a larger value, the tag will continue to decrease the first counter until it reaches 0 again, at which point it will send RN16 and have a chance to be inventoried. This does not immediately give the tag a chance to re-enter the random access procedure, and does not affect the fairness of the random access procedure.

[0242] The next slot is slot 0, since the first counter is maintained by the tag and the counting of slots is described from the perspective of the tag, which updates the first counter based on the commands received from the reader. The first command adjusts the Q value saved by the tag and revalues the first counter of the tags to be inventoried in the current inventory round, which can be understood as the start of the counting of slots. In the new slot 0, the first counter of tag b has a value of 0, the first counter of tag c has a value of 3, and the first counter of tag e has a value of 2.

[0243] Since the value of the first counter of tag b is 0, tag b sends RN16 to the reader. After receiving RN16, the reader sends all or part of the received RN16 as feedback information to tag b. After receiving the feedback information, tag b finds that the feedback information matches the previously sent RN16, and then sends EPC to the reader. After receiving the EPC, the reader sends a QueryRep instruction. On the one hand, the QueryRep instruction confirms that the EPC of tag b is received, and on the other hand, the QueryRep instruction indicates the end of slot 0 and the start of slot 1. In one aspect, the QueryRep instruction is used to indicate that the reader confirms that the EPC sent by tag b is received; in another aspect, the QueryRep instruction is used to indicate that the current time domain resource ends and the next time domain resource starts. For example, slot 0 ends and slot 1 starts. At this time, tag b feeds back a response information to the reader in response to the QueryRep instruction, and then tag b completes the inventory.

[0244] Further, as shown in FIG. 15, the first round of inventory shown in FIG. 14 is continued.

[0245] The reader sends a QueryRep instruction in slot 0 to indicate that slot 0 ends and slot 1 starts. After receiving the QueryRep instruction, tag c and tag e each decrease the value of the first counter by 1. For example, at the start of slot 1, the value of the first counter corresponding to tag c is 2, and the value of the first counter corresponding to tag e is 1. Since the values of the first counters corresponding to tag c and tag e are not 0, no tag sends RN16 in slot 1. The reader sends a QueryRep instruction to indicate that slot 1 ends and slot 2 starts.

[0246] The tag c (tag c) and the tag e (tag e) each decrease the value of the first counter by 1 after receiving the repeated query (QueryRep) instruction sent by the reader (reader) in the time slot 1 (slot 1). For example, at the beginning of the time slot 2 (slot 2), the value of the first counter corresponding to the tag c (tag c) is 1, and the value of the first counter corresponding to the tag e (tag e) is 0. At this time, the tag e (tag e) sends the RN16 to the reader (reader). After receiving the RN16, the reader (reader) sends all or part of the received RN16 to the tag e (tag e) as the feedback (Response) information. However, after receiving the feedback (Response) information, the tag e (tag e) finds that the feedback (Response) information does not match the previously sent RN16, and thus the tag e (tag e) does not send the EPC to the reader (reader) but waits for the reader (reader) to resend the instruction. If the reader (reader) sends the first instruction for indicating the end of the time slot 2 (slot 2) and the beginning of the next time slot, the first instruction indicates that the Q value remains unchanged. After receiving the first instruction, the Q value of the tag e (tag e) remains Q-1, and a random integer in the range of 0 to 2 (Q-1)-1 (Q-1)-1

[0247] For example, at the end of slot 2 and the beginning of new slot 0, the value of the first counter re-generated by tag c is 1, and the value of the first counter re-generated by tag e is 0. Then, tag e sends RN16 to the reader. After receiving RN16, the reader sends all or part of the received RN16 as feedback information to tag e. After receiving the feedback information, tag e finds that the feedback information matches the previously sent RN16, and then sends EPC to the reader. After receiving EPC, the reader sends a QueryRep instruction. On the one hand, the QueryRep instruction is used to indicate that the reader confirms receiving the EPC sent by tag e; on the other hand, the QueryRep instruction is used to indicate the end of the current time domain resource and the beginning of the next time domain resource. For example, the end of slot 0 and the beginning of slot 1. At this time, tag e sends a response information to the reader in response to the QueryRep instruction, and then tag e completes the inventory.

[0248] Further, as shown in FIG. 16, the first round of inventory shown in FIG. 15 is continued.

[0249] The reader sends a QueryRep instruction in slot 0 to indicate the end of slot 0 and the beginning of slot 1. After receiving the QueryRep instruction, tag c decrements the value of the first counter by 1. For example, at the beginning of slot 1, the value of the first counter corresponding to tag c is 0. At this time, tag c sends RN16 to the reader. After receiving RN16, the reader sends all or part of the received RN16 as feedback information to tag c. After receiving the feedback information, tag c finds that the feedback information matches the previously sent RN16, and then sends EPC to the reader. However, after receiving EPC, the reader does not send a QueryRep instruction to indicate the beginning of the next slot, but sends a first instruction to indicate the beginning of the next slot.

[0250] Tag C receives the first command instead of the QueryRep command sent by the reader after sending the EPC. At this time, from the perspective of Tag C, Tag C considers itself still not identified by the reader. Therefore, after Tag C receives the first command, Tag C adjusts the Q value according to the first command. For example, if the first command indicates that the Q value remains unchanged, Tag C generates a random integer in the range of 0 to 2 (Q-1)-1 and takes the random integer as the new start value of the first counter.

[0251] For example, at the end of slot 1 and the beginning of new slot 0, the value of the first counter generated by Tag C is 1, and RN16 will not be sent in this slot. The reader sends the QueryRep command to indicate the end of slot 0 and the beginning of slot 1.

[0252] After receiving the QueryRep command sent by the reader in slot 0, Tag C decrements the value of the first counter by 1. For example, at the beginning of slot 1, the value of the first counter corresponding to Tag C is 0. At this time, Tag C sends RN16 to the reader. After receiving RN16, the reader sends all or part of the received RN16 as feedback information to Tag C. After receiving the feedback information, Tag C finds that it matches the previously sent RN16, and sends EPC to the reader. After receiving the EPC, the reader sends the QueryRep command. On the one hand, the QueryRep command is used to indicate that the reader confirms receiving the EPC sent by Tag C; on the other hand, the QueryRep command is used to indicate the end of the current time domain resource and the beginning of the next time domain resource. For example, slot 1 ends and slot 2 begins. At this time, Tag C feeds back a response information to the reader in response to the QueryRep command, and Tag C is successfully inventoried.

[0253] FIG. 17 shows a structural block diagram of an access device according to an example embodiment of the present application. The access device can be implemented as part of a network device or an intermediate node, and the device includes:

[0254] The sending module 1710 is configured to send a first instruction to the IoT device.

[0255] The first instruction is used to instruct the IoT device to update a first counter, and the first counter is used to trigger the IoT device to transmit in a first transmission resource. Optionally, the IoT device can also be referred to as an Ambient IoT device, or a zero-power device.

[0256] In the embodiments of the present application, the IoT device refers to a device with communication capability, such as a device with the capability of communicating with the access device. Alternatively, the IoT device refers to a device within the signal coverage of the access device. Exemplarily, the IoT device herein can be understood as a set of IoT devices with communication capability.

[0257] In some embodiments, the first counter is a counter used by the IoT device in a current inventory round. The first counter is used to count in the current inventory round, and the value of the first counter is decremented by one for each time-domain resource. Alternatively, it can be understood that the value of the first counter is decremented by one for each received QueryRep instruction. The QueryRep instruction is used to indicate the end of the current time-domain resource and the start of the next time-domain resource.

[0258] In some embodiments, the transmission resource includes a time-domain resource and a frequency-domain resource. Since the embodiments of the present application mainly focus on the access occasion of the IoT device, the above-mentioned first counter used to trigger the IoT device to transmit in the first transmission resource can also be understood as: the first counter is used to trigger the IoT device to access in the first time-domain resource.

[0259] In some embodiments, the time-domain resource includes at least one of the following: a symbol, a symbol group, a time slot, a sub-time slot, a frame, and a subframe. The specific type of the time-domain resource is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. Optionally, the embodiments of the present application are described by taking one time-domain resource corresponding to one time slot as an example. Exemplarily, assuming that the value of the first counter in slot 0 is 2, the value of the first counter will be reduced from 2 to 1 after the end of slot 0 and the start of slot 1. When the value of the first counter is reduced to 0, the IoT device accesses in the current time slot.

[0260] In some embodiments, the first time domain resource is a time domain resource within a current inventory round. For example, the first time domain resource is a time domain resource corresponding to a value of the first counter being a target value (e.g., 0).

[0261] In some embodiments, if the value of the first counter corresponding to the first time domain resource is 0, the IoT device attempts to access at the first time domain resource. Alternatively, the IoT device transmits using an uplink transmission resource at the first time domain resource. Optionally, the uplink transmission resource is scheduled by the access device. Optionally, the frame structure corresponding to the uplink transmission resource includes the frame structure in (a) or the frame structure in (b) of FIG. 7. If the frame structure corresponding to the uplink transmission resource is the frame structure in (a) of FIG. 7, the control channel is an IoT uplink control channel, e.g., a Physical Device to Reader Control Channel (PDRCCH), and the data channel is an IoT uplink data channel, e.g., a Physical Device to Reader Shared Channel (PDRSCH) or a Physical Device to Reader Channel (PDRCH).

[0262] In some embodiments, the value of the first counter is determined based on the first value. For example, at the beginning of a current inventory round, the first value includes a Q value in a Query instruction. For example, after receiving the Query instruction, the IoT device obtains the Q value from the Query instruction, then generates a random integer between 0 and 2 Q-1 , and uses the random integer as the starting value of the first counter.

[0263] In some embodiments, the time slot index within an inventory round is also related to the first value. For example, assuming that the time slot index starts from 0, an inventory round can include 2 Q time slots, i.e., the time slot index includes 0 to 2 Q-1 .

[0264] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the first instruction is also used to trigger updating the remaining time domain resources. For example, assuming that before the access device sends the first instruction, the time slot index includes 0 to 2 Q1-1 .Q1 represents a first value before the access device sends the first instruction. If the access device sends the first instruction in slot 1, the number of remaining time domain resources will be updated from 2 Q1 to 2 Q2 Q2 represents a first value after the access device sends the first instruction. That is, after the access device sends the first instruction, the slot index includes 0 to 2 Q2-1 . Or it can be understood that after the access device sends the first instruction, the slot index of the remaining time domain resources starts from 0 again.

[0265] For example, the first instruction is introduced in detail in the above embodiments.

[0266] The sending module 1710 is further configured to send the first instruction to the Internet of Things device in a case where a first condition is met.

[0267] In some embodiments, the first condition is used to trigger the access device to send the first instruction to the Internet of Things device.

[0268] In some embodiments, the first condition includes that the access device does not receive first information. Optionally, the first information includes an identifier corresponding to the Internet of Things device.

[0269] In some embodiments, the access device sends the first instruction to the Internet of Things device in a case where the access device does not receive the first information. Optionally, the first information includes at least one of the following: information carrying a device identifier, first response information.

[0270] In some embodiments, the information carrying the device identifier includes information carrying a temporary device identifier, such as RN16. The information carrying the device identifier also includes information carrying an electronic product identifier, such as an EPC.

[0271] In some embodiments, the first response information includes information of the Internet of Things device responding to a third instruction. The third instruction is used to indicate the end of the current time domain resource and the start of the next time domain resource. For example, it is assumed that the access device sends the third instruction in the nth time domain resource, and the third instruction is used to indicate the end of the nth time domain resource and the start of the (n+1)th time domain resource, where n is a positive integer. Optionally, the third instruction includes a QueryRep instruction sent by the access device at the end of the current time domain resource.

[0272] In some embodiments, the case where the access device does not receive the first information includes at least one of the following:

[0273] Case one: the Internet of Things device does not successfully send the first information;

[0274] Case two: the Internet of Things device successfully sends the first information, but the access device does not receive it.

[0275] In some embodiments, in case the IoT device fails to send the first information, the access device is sure that the first information is not received.

[0276] In some embodiments, in case the IoT device succeeds to send the first information, the access device fails to decode the first information due to poor channel quality or interference, and thus considers that the first information is not received. There can also be multiple first information sent by multiple IoT devices colliding, and thus the first information is not received by the access device. There can also be the first information sent by the IoT device lost during transmission, and thus the first information is not successfully transmitted to the access device, and thus the first information is not received by the access device.

[0277] In some embodiments, the access device sends the first instruction to the IoT device in case the IoT device fails to access. For example, in case the access device does not receive the first information, it means that the IoT device fails to access, and thus the access device sends the first instruction.

[0278] In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises a receiving device 1720, configured to receive the instruction and / or information sent by the IoT device.

[0279] FIG. 18 illustrates a structural block diagram of an access device according to an example embodiment of the present application. The access device can be implemented as part of an IoT device, and the device comprises:

[0280] The receiving module 1810 is configured to receive the first instruction.

[0281] The first instruction is used to instruct the access device to update a first counter, and the first counter is used to trigger the access device to transmit in a first transmission resource. Optionally, the access device can also be referred to as an Ambient IoT device, and can also be referred to as a zero-power device.

[0282] In the embodiments of the present application, the access device refers to a device with communication capability, such as a device with the capability of communicating with a network device or an intermediate node. Alternatively, the access device refers to a device within the signal coverage of a network device or an intermediate node. For example, the access device can be understood as a set of access devices with communication capability.

[0283] In some embodiments, the first counter is a counter used by the access device in a current inventory round. The first counter is used to count in the current inventory round, and the value of the first counter is decremented by one for each time-domain resource. Or, it can be understood that the value of the first counter is decremented by one for each received QueryRep instruction. The QueryRep instruction is used to indicate the end of the current time-domain resource and the start of the next time-domain resource.

[0284] In some embodiments, the transmission resource includes a time-domain resource and a frequency-domain resource. Since the embodiments of the present application mainly focus on the access occasion of the Internet of Things device, the above-mentioned first counter is used to trigger the Internet of Things device to transmit in the first transmission resource, and it can also be understood that the first counter is used to trigger the Internet of Things device to access in the first time-domain resource.

[0285] In some embodiments, the time-domain resource includes at least one of the following: a symbol, a symbol group, a time slot, a sub-time slot, a frame, and a subframe. The specific type of the time-domain resource in the embodiments of the present application is not limited. Optionally, the embodiments of the present application are described by taking one time-domain resource corresponding to one time slot as an example. For example, assuming that the value of the first counter in slot 0 is 2, after the end of slot 0 and the start of slot 1, the value of the first counter will be reduced from 2 to 1. When the value of the first counter is reduced to 0, the access device accesses in the current time slot.

[0286] In some embodiments, the first time-domain resource is a time-domain resource in a current inventory round. For example, the first time-domain resource is a time-domain resource corresponding to the target value (such as 0) of the first counter.

[0287] In some embodiments, if the first counter corresponds to 0 at the first time domain resource, the access device attempts to access at the first time domain resource. Or the access device transmits at the first time domain resource using an uplink transmission resource. Optionally, the uplink transmission resource is scheduled by the network device or the intermediate node. Optionally, the frame structure corresponding to the uplink transmission resource includes the frame structure in (a) part or the frame structure in (b) part of FIG. 7. If the frame structure corresponding to the uplink transmission resource is the frame structure in (a) part of FIG. 7, the control channel is an uplink control channel of the Internet of Things, for example, a Physical Device to Reader Control Channel (PDRCCH), and the data channel is an uplink data channel of the Internet of Things, for example, a Physical Device to Reader Shared Channel (PDRSCH) or a Physical Device to Reader Channel (PDRCH).

[0288] In some embodiments, the value of the first counter is determined based on the first value. For example, at the beginning of a current inventory round, the first value includes a Q value in a Query instruction. For example, after receiving the Query instruction, the access device obtains the Q value from the Query instruction, and then generates a random integer between 0 and 2 Q-1 , and uses the random integer as the starting value of the first counter.

[0289] In some embodiments, the time slot index in an inventory round is also related to the first value. For example, assuming that the time slot index starts from 0, an inventory round can include 2 Q time slots, i.e., the time slot index includes 0 to 2 Q-1 .

[0290] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the first instruction is also used to trigger updating of the remaining time domain resources. For example, assuming that before the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction, the time slot index includes 0 to 2 Q1-1 , and Q1 represents the first value before the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction. The network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction at time slot 1, and the number of remaining time domain resources is updated from 2 Q1 - 2 to 2 Q2 , and Q2 represents the first value after the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction. That is, after the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction, the time slot index includes 0 to 2Q2-1 Alternatively, it is understood that the time slot index of the remaining time domain resource is re-started from 0 after the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction.

[0291] In some embodiments, the first instruction is introduced in the above embodiments.

[0292] In some embodiments, the first instruction is sent by the network device or the intermediate node when the first condition is met. The first condition is introduced in the above step 221.

[0293] In some embodiments, the first instruction is sent by the network device or the intermediate node when the access device fails to access. For example, when the network device or the intermediate node does not receive the first information, it is indicated that the access device fails to access, and the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction.

[0294] In some embodiments, the failure of the access device to access includes at least one of the following:

[0295] The access device fails to send the first information;

[0296] The access device does not receive the second information;

[0297] The identification information received by the access device does not match the identification information sent.

[0298] In some embodiments, when the access device fails to send the first information, the network device or the intermediate node cannot successfully receive the first information, and the access device cannot access the network device or the intermediate node. The first information is introduced in the above step 221.

[0299] In some embodiments, the case where the access device does not receive the second information includes:

[0300] The network device or the intermediate node does not send the second information; or,

[0301] The network device or the intermediate node sends the second information, but the access device does not receive it.

[0302] Optionally, the second information includes Response information sent by the network device or the intermediate node for the received RN16. Alternatively, the second information includes QueryRep instruction sent by the network device or the intermediate node after receiving the EPC.

[0303] In some embodiments, the identification information sent by the access device comprises device identification information of the access device. Optionally, the identification information sent by the access device carries the device identification corresponding to the access device in the RN16. After receiving the device identification of the access device, the network device or the intermediate node sends feedback (Response) information to the access device, and the feedback (Response) information also carries the device identification of the access device. When the feedback (Response) information received by the access device matches the device identification in the RN16 sent by the access device, the physical network device continues to send the EPC. When the feedback (Response) information received by the access device does not match the device identification in the RN16 sent by the access device, the physical network device does not continue to send the EPC, and the access of the access device fails.

[0304] In some embodiments, in the case of access device access failure, the access device waits for the network device or the intermediate node to send a first instruction for indicating how to update the first counter, so that the access device can complete the access based on the updated first counter in the first time domain resource.

[0305] However, the network device or the intermediate node can not send the first instruction immediately. For example, it is assumed that the access device determines the access failure in the ith time domain resource and waits for the network device or the intermediate node to send the first instruction. However, the network device or the intermediate node sends the first instruction in the i+3th time domain resource, that is, the access device cannot receive the first instruction and update the value of the first counter before entering the i+1th time domain resource. At this time, the access device can automatically update the value of the first counter to the second value without affecting the access process in the i+1th time domain resource and the i+2th time domain resource. The value of i is a positive integer.

[0306] In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises:

[0307] The updating module 1820 is configured to update the value of the first counter to the second value in the case of access failure and receiving the third instruction.

[0308] In some embodiments, the access device access failure is described in the above embodiments.

[0309] In some embodiments, the third instruction comprises a repeated query (QueryRep) instruction sent by the network device or the intermediate node at the end of the current time domain resource. That is, the access device does not receive the first instruction in the current time domain resource after the access failure in the current time domain resource.

[0310] In some embodiments, the second value is predefined, or the second value is a fixed value, or the second value is determined based on the first value. Optionally, the second value plus one is equal to a power value with 2 as the base number and the first value as the exponent. For example, the second value is A, or the second value is 2 Q -1.

[0311] In some embodiments, the apparatus further includes a sending module 1830 configured to send signaling and / or information to a network device or an intermediate node.

[0312] It should be noted that the apparatus provided by the above embodiments, when implementing its functions, is only exemplified by the above division of various functional modules. In actual applications, the above functions can be completed by different functional modules according to actual needs, that is, the content structure of the device is divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the above-described functions.

[0313] FIG. 19 shows a structural diagram of a communication device (an Internet of Things device or a network device or an intermediate node) according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device can include a processor 6801, a receiver 6802, a transmitter 6803, a memory 6804, and a bus 6805.

[0314] The processor 6801 includes one or more processing cores. The processor 6801 performs various functional applications and information processing by running software programs and modules.

[0315] The receiver 6802 and the transmitter 6803 can be implemented as a transceiver 6806, which can be a communication chip.

[0316] The memory 6804 is connected to the processor 6801 through the bus 6805. The memory 6804 can be used to store computer programs, and the processor 6801 is configured to execute the computer programs to implement various steps performed by the Internet of Things device or the network device or the intermediate node in the above method embodiments.

[0317] Moreover, the memory 6804 can be realized by any type of volatile or nonvolatile storage devices, or a combination thereof, including, but not limited to, a RAM (Random-Access Memory) and a ROM (Read-Only Memory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), a flash memory or other solid-state storage technology, a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory), a DVD (Digital Video Disc), or other optical storage, a magnetic cassettes, a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices.

[0318] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is used for being executed by a processor of an Internet of Things device or a network device or an intermediate node, so as to realize each step in the access method of the Internet of Things device.

[0319] In some embodiments, the computer readable storage medium can include a ROM (Read-Only Memory), a RAM (Random-Access Memory), a SSD (Solid State Drives) or an optical disc, etc. Wherein, the random access memory can include a ReRAM (Resistance Random Access Memory) and a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory).

[0320] The embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, wherein the chip includes a programmable logic circuit and / or program instructions, and when the chip is running on an Internet of Things device or a network device or an intermediate node, is used for realizing each step in the access method of the Internet of Things device.

[0321] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product or a computer program, wherein the computer program product or the computer program includes computer instructions, the computer instructions are stored in a computer readable storage medium, and a processor of a communication device reads and executes the computer instructions from the computer readable storage medium, so as to realize each step in the access method of the Internet of Things device.

[0322] Those skilled in the art can understand that, in one or more examples described above, the functions described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions can be stored in a computer readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or codes on a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium includes computer storage medium and communication medium, wherein the communication medium includes any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. The storage medium can be any available medium accessible by a general or special purpose computer.

[0323] The above description is merely illustrative of the embodiments of the present application, and is not intended to limit the present application. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. An access method of an Internet of Things device, characterized by, The method is performed by a network device or an intermediate node, and the method comprises: sending a first instruction to an Internet of Things device, the first instruction being used to instruct the Internet of Things device to update a first counter, the first counter being used to trigger the Internet of Things device to transmit in a first transmission resource.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first instruction comprises a first information field, the first information field being used to instruct the Internet of Things device to update a first value or maintain the first value unchanged, the first value being used to generate an updated starting value of the first counter.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein in a case where the first information field indicates a first value, the first information field is used to instruct the Internet of Things device to increase the first value; in a case where the first information field indicates a second value, the first information field is used to instruct the Internet of Things device to decrease the first value; in a case where the first information field indicates a third value, the first information field is used to instruct the Internet of Things device to maintain the first value unchanged.

4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first instruction further comprises a second information field, the second information field being used to instruct the Internet of Things device to respond to the first instruction or not to respond to the first instruction.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, the second information field is used to instruct the Internet of Things device to respond to the first instruction in a case where the first instruction is associated with a second instruction; wherein the second instruction is received by the Internet of Things device before the first instruction.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, the first instruction carries a first set of device identification information, the first set of device identification information comprising one or more first device identification information, and the second instruction carries a second set of device identification information, the second set of device identification information comprising one or more second device identification information; the first instruction being associated with the second instruction comprises that the first set of device identification information is a subset of the second set of device identification information.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The method comprises: in a case where a first condition is met, sending the first instruction to the Internet of Things device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, The method comprises: in a case where the network device or the intermediate node does not receive first information, sending the first instruction to the Internet of Things device.

9. An access method of an Internet of Things device, characterized by, The method is performed by an Internet of Things device, and the method comprises: receiving a first instruction, the first instruction being used to instruct the Internet of Things device to update a first counter, the first counter being used to trigger the Internet of Things device to transmit in a first transmission resource.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first instruction comprises a first information field, the first information field being used to instruct the Internet of Things device to update a first value or maintain the first value unchanged, the first value being used to generate an updated starting value of the first counter.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein In a case where the first information field indicates a first value, the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to increase the first value; In a case where the first information field indicates a second value, the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to decrease the first value; In a case where the first information field indicates a third value, the first information field is used to instruct the IoT device to maintain the first value unchanged.

12. The method of any of claims 9-11, wherein: the first instruction further comprises a second information field, the second information field being used to instruct the IoT device to respond to the first instruction or not to respond to the first instruction.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein, the second information field is used to instruct the IoT device to respond to the first instruction in a case where the first instruction is associated with a second instruction. The second instruction is received by the IoT device before the first instruction.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein, The first instruction carries a first set of device identification information, the first set of device identification information comprising one or more first device identification information, and the second instruction carries a second set of device identification information, the second set of device identification information comprising one or more second device identification information. The first set of device identification information is a subset of the second set of device identification information.

15. The method of any of claims 9-14, wherein: the first instruction is sent by a network device or an intermediate node in a case where a first condition is satisfied.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein: the first instruction is sent by the network device or the intermediate node in a case where a first information is not received.

17. An access device, comprising: The apparatus comprises: a sending module configured to send a first instruction to an IoT device, the first instruction being used to instruct the IoT device to update a first counter, the first counter being used to trigger the IoT device to transmit in a first transmission resource.

18. An access device, comprising: The apparatus comprises: a receiving module configured to receive a first instruction, the first instruction being used to instruct the IoT device to update a first counter, the first counter being used to trigger the IoT device to transmit in a first transmission resource.

19. A network device, comprising: The network device comprises: a processor; a transceiver connected to the processor; a memory configured to store executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to implement the access method of the IoT device as claimed in any of claims 1-8.

20. An intermediate node, characterized by The intermediate node comprises: a processor; a transceiver connected to the processor; a memory configured to store executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to implement the access method of the IoT device as claimed in any of claims 1-8.

21. An Internet of Things device comprising: The IoT device comprises: a processor; a transceiver connected to the processor; a memory configured to store executable instructions of the processor; The processor is configured to load and execute the executable instructions to implement the access method of the Internet of Things device as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 16.

22. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is used by the processor to implement the access method of the Internet of Things device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 16.

23. A chip, characterized by The chip includes programmable logic circuit and / or program instructions, and when the chip is running on the communication device, the programmable logic circuit and / or program instructions are used to implement the access method of the Internet of Things device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 16.

24. A computer program product, characterised in that, The computer program product includes computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium; the processor of the communication device reads the computer instructions from the computer readable storage medium and executes the computer instructions, so that the communication device implements the access method of the Internet of Things device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 16.

25. A computer program, characterized in that, The computer program is executed by the processor of the communication device to implement the access method of the Internet of Things device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 16.

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