Coordinated transmission method, device and apparatus, and storage medium

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a coordinated transmission method, device and apparatus, and a storage medium. The method comprises: a first terminal performs, on the basis of time information identifiers of data packets to be transmitted in a plurality of associated transmission carriers, coordinated transmission of said data packets, wherein the time information identifiers are used for identifying temporal relationships among different data packets, and the transmission carriers comprise one or more of a data stream, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

Description

Cooperative transmission method, device, apparatus and storage medium

[0001] Cross-reference to Related Applications

[0002] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202411285769.2, filed on September 13, 2024, entitled “Cooperative transmission method, device, apparatus and storage medium”, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of wireless communication, and particularly relates to a cooperative transmission method, device, apparatus and storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0004] Immersive services require a large number of concurrent data streams to be delivered, and there are strict time requirements between different streams. Only when the information in each dimension is strictly synchronized in time and space, can the user have a sense of being immersed. Therefore, how to improve the synchronization effect of immersive multimedia data to ensure user experience is an important technical problem to be solved. SUMMARY

[0005] The present disclosure provides a cooperative transmission method, device, apparatus and storage medium to improve the synchronization effect of immersive multimedia data to ensure user experience.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a cooperative transmission method applied to a first terminal, comprising:

[0007] Performing cooperative transmission of the to-be-sent data packets based on time information identifiers of the to-be-sent data packets in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other.

[0008] The time information identifier is used to identify the time relationship of different data packets, and the transmission carrier includes one or more of a data stream, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

[0009] In some embodiments, performing cooperative transmission of the to-be-sent data packets based on time information identifiers of the to-be-sent data packets in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other includes:

[0010] Performing packet grouping and sending of the to-be-sent data packets based on the time information identifiers of the to-be-sent data packets and a cooperative sending rule, the cooperative sending rule including: a sending time difference between the to-be-sent data packets with the same time information identifier in the plurality of transmission carriers being less than or equal to a first time difference, and a sending time difference between the to-be-sent data packets with different time information identifiers in the plurality of transmission carriers being less than or equal to a second time difference.

[0011] The second time difference is determined based on the first time difference, the granularity of the time information identifier, and a difference between time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted identified by different time information identifiers.

[0012] In some embodiments, the method further comprises one or more of:

[0013] sending a BSR or a DSR to the network device, the BSR or the DSR containing the time information identifier of the data packets to be transmitted in the logical channel;

[0014] transmitting and / or discarding the data packets according to the time information identifier indicated by the network device;

[0015] sending the time information identifier of the first data packet to one or more second terminals associated with the first terminal, the first data packet being the latest data packet transmitted by the first terminal to the network device; or transmitting and / or discarding the data packets according to the time information identifier indicated by the second terminal associated with the first terminal;

[0016] indicating the first time information identifier to the network device, the first time information identifier being used by the network device to transmit and / or discard the data packets.

[0017] In some embodiments, the method further comprises:

[0018] in a case where the data packets to be transmitted cannot be transmitted according to the coordinated transmission rule according to the configured CG resource, requesting a dynamic scheduling resource from the network device for transmitting the data packets to be transmitted.

[0019] In some embodiments, the first time difference is configured by the network or determined based on the granularity of the time information identifier and a synchronization threshold between the plurality of transmission carriers.

[0020] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packets to be transmitted in the logical channel comprises any one of:

[0021] the time information identifier of the first SDU of the logical channel group;

[0022] the time information identifier of the first SDU of the logical channel;

[0023] the time information identifier of the first SDU of the logical channel with the highest priority in the logical channel group.

[0024] In some embodiments, transmitting and / or discarding the data packets according to the time information identifier indicated by the network device comprises:

[0025] transmitting and / or discarding the data packets according to the time information identifier indicated by the network device through a MAC CE, an RLC control PDU, or a PDCP control PDU.

[0026] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packet to be transmitted is determined based on a time stamp of the data packet to be transmitted or provided by a higher layer.

[0027] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packet to be transmitted is determined based on a time stamp of the data packet to be transmitted, comprising:

[0028] The time information identifier of the data packet to be transmitted is determined based on the time stamp of the data packet to be transmitted and one or more of the following:

[0029] The reference time point, the offset, the length of the time information identifier, and the coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier.

[0030] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packet to be transmitted is determined based on the following formula: TN = Floor(a x (Ttimestamp - Tref - Offset)) mod 2 N

[0031] In the formula, TN represents the time information identifier of the data packet to be transmitted, a represents the coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier, Ttimestamp represents the time stamp of the data packet to be transmitted, Tref represents the reference time point, Offset represents the offset, N represents the length of the time information identifier, Floor represents the floor function, and mod represents the modulo operation.

[0032] In a second aspect, the disclosure also provides a cooperative transmission method applied to a network device, comprising:

[0033] Performing cooperative transmission of the data packets to be transmitted based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other.

[0034] The time information identifier is used to identify the time relationship of different data packets, and the transmission carrier comprises one or more of a data flow, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

[0035] In some embodiments, performing cooperative transmission of the data packets to be transmitted based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other, comprises:

[0036] Performing packet grouping and transmission of the data packets to be transmitted based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted and a cooperative transmission rule, wherein the cooperative transmission rule comprises that the transmission time difference between the data packets to be transmitted with the same time information identifier in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a first time difference, and the transmission time difference between the data packets to be transmitted with different time information identifiers in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a second time difference.

[0037] The second time difference is determined based on the first time difference, the granularity of the time information identifier, and the difference between the time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted with different time information identifiers.

[0038] In some embodiments, the method further comprises one or more of:

[0039] scheduling resources according to the time information indication of the pending data packets in the logical channel included in the BSR or DSR sent by the terminal;

[0040] sending and / or discarding data packets according to the time information indication indicated by the terminal;

[0041] indicating a second time information indication to the terminal, the second time information indication being used by the terminal to send and / or discard data packets.

[0042] In some embodiments, the first time difference is configured by the network or determined based on the time information indication granularity and a synchronization threshold among the multiple transmission carriers.

[0043] In some embodiments, the time information indication of the pending data packets in the logical channel comprises any one of:

[0044] the time information indication of the first SDU of the logical channel group;

[0045] the time information indication of the first SDU of the logical channel;

[0046] the time information indication of the first SDU of the logical channel with the highest priority in the logical channel group.

[0047] In some embodiments, the sending and / or discarding data packets according to the time information indication indicated by the terminal comprises:

[0048] sending and / or discarding data packets according to the time information indication indicated by the terminal through a MAC CE, a RLC control PDU or a PDCP control PDU.

[0049] In some embodiments, the time information indication of the pending data packets is provided by a higher layer or determined based on the time stamp of the pending data packets.

[0050] In some embodiments, the determination based on the time stamp of the pending data packets comprises:

[0051] the determination is based on the time stamp of the pending data packets and one or more of:

[0052] the reference time point, the offset, the length of the time information indication, and a coefficient related to the time information indication granularity.

[0053] In some embodiments, the time information indication of the pending data packets is determined based on the following formula: TN = Floor(a x (Ttimestamp - Tref - Offset)) mod 2 N

[0054] In the formula, TN represents time information identification of the data packet to be sent, a represents a coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identification, Ttimestamp represents a timestamp of the data packet to be sent, Tref represents a reference time point, Offset represents an offset, N represents the length of the time information identification, Floor represents a down rounding, and mod represents a remainder operation.

[0055] In a third aspect, the present disclosure also provides a first terminal, comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor.

[0056] The memory is configured to store a computer program; the transceiver is configured to transceive data under the control of the processor; and the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

[0057] Based on the time information identification of the data packet to be sent in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other, the data packet to be sent is cooperatively transmitted.

[0058] The time information identification is used to identify the time relationship of different data packets, and the transmission carrier includes one or more of a data flow, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

[0059] In some embodiments, based on the time information identification of the data packet to be sent in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other, the data packet to be sent is cooperatively transmitted, comprising:

[0060] Based on the time information identification of the data packet to be sent and the cooperative sending rule, the data packet to be sent is packaged and sent, and the cooperative sending rule includes that the sending time difference between the data packets to be sent with the same time information identification in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a first time difference, and the sending time difference between the data packets to be sent with different time information identifications in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a second time difference.

[0061] The second time difference is determined based on the first time difference, the granularity of the time information identification, and the difference between the time information identifications of the data packets to be sent with different time information identifications.

[0062] In some embodiments, the operation further comprises one or more of the following:

[0063] The BSR or DSR contains the time information identification of the data packet to be sent in the logical channel.

[0064] According to the time information identification indicated by the network device, the data packet is sent and / or discarded.

[0065] sending, to the network device, a time information identifier of the first data packet, the first data packet being a data packet newly sent by the first terminal to the network device; or sending and / or discarding the data packet according to a time information identifier indicated by a second terminal associated with the first terminal;

[0066] indicating, to the network device, a first time information identifier, the first time information identifier being used by the network device to send and / or discard the data packet.

[0067] In some embodiments, the operation further includes:

[0068] In a case where the data packet to be sent cannot be sent according to the cooperative sending rule according to the configured CG resource, requesting a dynamic scheduling resource from the network device for sending the data packet to be sent.

[0069] In some embodiments, the first time difference is configured by the network or determined based on a time information identifier granularity and a synchronization threshold among the multiple transmission carriers.

[0070] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent in the logical channel includes any one of:

[0071] a time information identifier of a first SDU of the logical channel group;

[0072] a time information identifier of a first SDU of the logical channel;

[0073] a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel with the highest priority in the logical channel group.

[0074] In some embodiments, sending and / or discarding the data packet according to the time information identifier indicated by the network device includes:

[0075] sending and / or discarding the data packet according to a time information identifier indicated by the network device through a MAC CE, an RLC control PDU, or a PDCP control PDU.

[0076] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent is provided by a higher layer or determined based on a time stamp of the data packet to be sent.

[0077] In some embodiments, determining based on the time stamp of the data packet to be sent includes:

[0078] determining based on the time stamp of the data packet to be sent and one or more of:

[0079] a reference time point, an offset, a length of the time information identifier, a coefficient related to a time information identifier granularity.

[0080] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packet to be transmitted is determined based on the following formula: TN = Floor(a x (Ttimestamp - Tref - Offset)) mod 2 N

[0081] In the formula, TN represents the time information identifier of the data packet to be transmitted, a represents a coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier, Ttimestamp represents the timestamp of the data packet to be transmitted, Tref represents a reference time point, Offset represents an offset, N represents the length of the time information identifier, Floor represents the floor function, and mod represents the modulo operation.

[0082] In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure also provides a network device, comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor;

[0083] The memory is configured to store a computer program; the transceiver is configured to transceive data under the control of the processor; and the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

[0084] Coordinating transmission of the data packets to be transmitted based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other;

[0085] The time information identifier is used to identify the time relationship between different data packets, and the transmission carrier includes one or more of a data flow, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

[0086] In some embodiments, the coordinating transmission of the data packets to be transmitted based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other comprises:

[0087] Based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted and the coordinated transmission rule, the data packets to be transmitted are packaged and transmitted, and the coordinated transmission rule comprises: the transmission time difference between the data packets to be transmitted with the same time information identifier in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a first time difference, and the transmission time difference between the data packets to be transmitted with different time information identifiers in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a second time difference.

[0088] The second time difference is determined based on the first time difference, the granularity of the time information identifier, and the difference between the time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted with different time information identifiers.

[0089] In some embodiments, the operation further comprises one or more of the following:

[0090] Resource scheduling is performed according to the time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted in the logical channels included in the BSR or DSR transmitted by the terminal;

[0091] transmit and / or discard the data packet according to the time information identity indicated by the terminal;

[0092] indicating to the terminal a second time information identity, the second time information identity being used by the terminal to transmit and / or discard the data packet.

[0093] In some embodiments, the first time difference is configured by the network or determined based on a time information identity granularity and a synchronization threshold among the multiple transmission carriers.

[0094] In some embodiments, the time information identity of the data packet to be transmitted in the logical channel comprises any one of the following:

[0095] a time information identity of a first SDU of the logical channel group;

[0096] a time information identity of a first SDU of the logical channel;

[0097] a time information identity of a first SDU of a logical channel with the highest priority in the logical channel group.

[0098] In some embodiments, transmitting and / or discarding the data packet according to the time information identity indicated by the terminal comprises:

[0099] transmitting and / or discarding the data packet according to the time information identity indicated by the terminal through a MAC CE, an RLC control PDU or a PDCP control PDU.

[0100] In some embodiments, the time information identity of the data packet to be transmitted is provided by a higher layer or determined based on a timestamp of the data packet to be transmitted.

[0101] In some embodiments, determining based on the timestamp of the data packet to be transmitted comprises:

[0102] determining based on the timestamp of the data packet to be transmitted and one or more of the following:

[0103] a reference time point, an offset, a length of the time information identity, a coefficient related to a granularity of the time information identity.

[0104] In some embodiments, the time information identity of the data packet to be transmitted is determined based on the following formula: TN = Floor(a x (Ttimestamp - Tref - Offset)) mod 2 N

[0105] wherein TN represents the time information identity of the data packet to be transmitted, a represents a coefficient related to a granularity of the time information identity, Ttimestamp represents a timestamp of the data packet to be transmitted, Tref represents a reference time point, Offset represents an offset, N represents a length of the time information identity, Floor represents a floor function, and mod represents a modulo operation.

[0106] In a fifth aspect, the present disclosure provides a cooperative transmission device, comprising:

[0107] a first transmission unit configured to perform cooperative transmission of data packets to be transmitted based on time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted in a plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other;

[0108] wherein the time information identifiers are used to identify time relationships of different data packets, and the transmission carriers comprise one or more of data streams, radio bearers, and logical channels.

[0109] In a sixth aspect, the present disclosure provides a cooperative transmission device, comprising:

[0110] a second transmission unit configured to perform cooperative transmission of data packets to be transmitted based on time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted in a plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other;

[0111] wherein the time information identifiers are used to identify time relationships of different data packets, and the transmission carriers comprise one or more of data streams, radio bearers, and logical channels.

[0112] In a seventh aspect, the present disclosure provides a non-transitory readable storage medium storing a program for causing a processor to perform the cooperative transmission method of the first aspect or the cooperative transmission method of the second aspect.

[0113] In an eighth aspect, the present disclosure provides a communication device storing a program for causing the communication device to perform the cooperative transmission method of the first aspect or the cooperative transmission method of the second aspect.

[0114] In a ninth aspect, the present disclosure provides a processor-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a processor to perform the cooperative transmission method of the first aspect or the cooperative transmission method of the second aspect.

[0115] In a tenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a chip product storing a program for causing the chip product to perform the cooperative transmission method of the first aspect or the cooperative transmission method of the second aspect.

[0116] The method, device, apparatus and storage medium for cooperative transmission provided by the present disclosure can identify the time relationship of different data packets by introducing time information identifiers, and perform cooperative transmission of the data packets to be sent based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent in the multiple transmission carriers associated with each other, so that the data packets to be sent can be sent in alignment at the sending end, and compared with the solution in which the receiving end needs to buffer a certain amount of data packets to perform alignment according to the timestamp information, the present disclosure can effectively reduce the time delay, improve the synchronization effect, and further improve the user experience. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0117] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure or the related art, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments or the related art description will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present disclosure, and other drawings can be obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor.

[0118] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a cooperative transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0119] FIG. 2 is an example diagram of a PDCP PDU containing a 16-bit TN number provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0120] FIG. 3 is an example diagram of a base station indicating a TN number to a UE provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0121] FIG. 4 is an example diagram of a UE interacting TN number information provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0122] FIG. 5 is an example diagram of a DSR MAC CE containing a TN number provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0123] FIG. 6 is an example diagram of a DSR MAC CE containing a TN number provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0124] FIG. 7 is an example diagram of indicating a TN number by a MAC CE provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0125] FIG. 8 is an example diagram of indicating a TN number by a PDCP control PDU provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0126] FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a cooperative transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0127] FIG. 10 is a structural diagram of a first terminal provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0128] FIG. 11 is a structural diagram of a network device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0129] FIG. 12 is a structural schematic diagram of a cooperative transmission device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0130] FIG. 13 is a structural schematic diagram of a cooperative transmission device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0131] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "and / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B can represent the following three cases: A exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after it.

[0132] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "a plurality of" means two or more, and other quantifiers are similar.

[0133] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the terms "first", "second", and the like are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the terms used in this way can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances, so that the embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein, and the objects distinguished by "first", "second" are generally of the same type and do not limit the number of objects, for example, the first object can be one or more.

[0134] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative labor fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0135] In order to more clearly understand the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, first introduce some technical contents related to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0136] 1. Immersive communication

[0137] Immersive communication refers to using human senses and cognition to create a sense of being there for users through technical means, thereby providing a series of high-fidelity experience services. High-fidelity experience can be realized based on the combination of various multimedia technologies, such as perception information acquisition, media processing, media transmission, media synchronization and media presentation. The immersive services of the sixth generation mobile communication technology (6th Generation, 6G) can be divided into holographic communication, immersive extended reality (Extended Reality, XR), sensory interconnection, etc.

[0138] The immersive multimedia data needs thousands of concurrent data streams for transmission, such as holographic data and its format list, holographic data transmission priority, audio stream, video stream, text data, haptic feedback data, haptic control data, etc. Especially for holographic services, about 800-1000 concurrent streams need to be supported, and there are strict time requirements between different streams to ensure internal consistency. When implementing haptic communication, interactive haptic or vibration haptic information captured by multiple sensors needs to be transmitted synchronously with video and audio signals. Only when the information in each dimension is strictly time-synchronized, can the user have an immersive experience.

[0139] 2. Audio-video synchronization

[0140] In the related art, audio-video synchronization mainly adopts an application layer timestamp method, and audio stream and video stream are independently transmitted. The receiving end needs to buffer a certain amount of data packets to align according to the timestamp information. This scheme will increase the time delay, although it has little effect on video playing and other services, but it will have a significant impact on the application of 6G's three immersive services (holographic communication, immersive XR, and sensory interconnection), that is, the increase in time delay reduces the user experience.

[0141] The present disclosure identifies the time relationship of different data packets by introducing a time information identifier, and performs cooperative transmission of the to-be-transmitted data packets based on the time information identifier of the to-be-transmitted data packets in the mutually associated multiple transmission carriers. The to-be-transmitted data packets can be aligned and transmitted at the sending end. Compared with the scheme in which the receiving end needs to buffer a certain amount of data packets to align according to the timestamp information, the time delay can be effectively reduced, the synchronization effect can be improved, and the user experience can be improved.

[0142] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a cooperative transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, which is applied to a first terminal. As shown in FIG. 1, the method includes the following steps:

[0143] Step 101, cooperative transmission of the to-be-transmitted data packets is performed based on the time information identifier of the to-be-transmitted data packets in the mutually associated multiple transmission carriers; wherein the time information identifier is used to identify the time relationship of different data packets, and the transmission carrier includes one or more of a data stream, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

[0144] Specifically, the mutually associated multiple transmission carriers refer to multiple transmission carriers that need to be synchronously transmitted, for example, an immersive service corresponds to multiple data streams / radio bearers / logical channels for data transmission, and the multiple data streams / radio bearers / logical channels are the mutually associated multiple transmission carriers.

[0145] It should be noted that the technical solutions of the present disclosure are applicable to one or more terminals (or user equipment, User Equipment, UE) to cooperatively transmit data in multiple transmission carriers, for example, one UE can perform cooperative transmission of data packets in the multiple transmission carriers, and the UE is the first terminal; or multiple UEs can cooperatively perform cooperative transmission of data packets in the multiple transmission carriers, in which case the first terminal can be any UE in the multiple UEs, which is not limited herein.

[0146] It should be noted that the technical solutions of the present disclosure are applicable to data transmission between the UE and a network device (for example, a base station), for example, one or more UEs perform data transmission with the base station through multiple transmission carriers associated with each other.

[0147] In some embodiments, when performing data transmission, the first terminal can determine the transmission time information (such as the order of transmission time, the time point of transmission, the transmission time difference between data packets, etc.) of the data packets to be transmitted by the first terminal based on the time information identifier of the data packets to be transmitted in the multiple transmission carriers associated with each other, and then transmit the data packets to be transmitted by the first terminal based on the transmission time information, so that the data packets to be transmitted can be aligned and transmitted at the sending end. In this way, the cooperative transmission of the data packets to be transmitted in the multiple transmission carriers associated with each other can effectively improve the synchronization effect and ensure user experience.

[0148] The time information identifier in the present disclosure can be mutually replaced with "time information number", "time number", "time identifier", "TN (timing number) number" or other similar terms with similar meanings.

[0149] In some embodiments, the time information identifier can be included in the packet header of the data packet.

[0150] It should be noted that the data packet in the present disclosure can include a packet data unit (Packet Data Unit, PDU) or a service data unit (Service Data Unit, SDU) of each user plane protocol layer. The user plane protocol layer includes, for example, a media access control (Media Access Control, MAC) layer, a radio link control (Radio Link Control, RLC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (Packet Data Convergence Protocol, PDCP) layer, a service data adaptation protocol (Service Data Adaptation Protocol, SDAP) layer, etc.

[0151] As shown in FIG. 2 is an example diagram of a PDCP PDU containing a 16-bit TN number provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, in FIG. 2, the PDCP TN is the TN number of the PDCP SDU contained in the PDCP PDU, the D / C field indicates whether the PDCP PDU is a data plane packet or a control plane packet, R is a reserved field, PDCP SN indicates the serial number (SN) of the PDCP SDU, Oct indicates the byte, cont. indicates the count value, MAC-I indicates the integrity message authentication code (MAC-I), and M is the total number of bytes of the PDCP PDU.

[0152] The data flow in the present disclosure can refer to a quality of service (QoS) flow.

[0153] The radio bearer in the present disclosure can refer to a data radio bearer (DRB).

[0154] The cooperative transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure can identify the time relationship of different data packets by introducing a time information identifier, and perform cooperative transmission of the to-be-sent data packets based on the time information identifiers of the to-be-sent data packets in the mutually associated multiple transmission carriers, so that the to-be-sent data packets can be sent in alignment at the sending end. Compared with the scheme in which the receiving end needs to buffer a certain amount of data packets to align according to the timestamp information, the present disclosure can effectively reduce the latency and improve the synchronization effect, thereby improving the user experience.

[0155] In some embodiments, based on the time information identifiers of the to-be-sent data packets in the mutually associated multiple transmission carriers, the cooperative transmission of the to-be-sent data packets is performed, including:

[0156] Based on the time information identifiers of the to-be-sent data packets and the cooperative sending rule, the to-be-sent data packets are packaged and sent, and the cooperative sending rule includes: the sending time difference between the to-be-sent data packets with the same time information identifier in the multiple transmission carriers is less than or equal to a first time difference, and the sending time difference between the to-be-sent data packets with different time information identifiers in the multiple transmission carriers is less than or equal to a second time difference.

[0157] The second time difference is determined based on the first time difference, the time information identifier granularity, and the difference between the time information identifiers of the to-be-sent data packets with different time information identifiers.

[0158] Specifically, when performing data transmission, in order to improve the synchronization effect, the data packet can be packaged and sent according to the above-mentioned cooperative sending rule. For multiple data packets to be sent with the same TN number, the sending time difference thereof can be within the range of the first time difference, and for multiple data packets to be sent with different TN numbers, the sending time difference thereof can be determined based on the first time difference, the granularity of the TN number, and the difference between the TN numbers of the multiple data packets to be sent with the different TN numbers.

[0159] For example, assuming that the multiple transmission bearers associated with each other include DRB1 and DRB2, the PDU with the TN number 1 in DRB1 and the PDU with the TN number 1 in DRB2 can be sent with the first time difference, and the sending time difference between the PDU with the TN number 1 in DRB1 and the PDU with the TN number 5 in DRB2 can be the first time difference + the granularity of the TN number x (5-1).

[0160] The time information identifies the granularity (or the granularity of the TN number) for representing the time range of a TN number, as the minimum granularity of quantifying time. The granularity of the TN number can be set according to the synchronization requirement between the service flows, and is not specifically limited, for example, the granularity of the TN number can be 10 ms, 20 ms, etc.

[0161] For the case of cooperative transmission of multiple UEs, the multiple UEs can interact with each other on the TN number information of the data packets to be sent or sent, or the network device can indicate the TN number information to the multiple UEs so that the multiple UEs perform data cooperative transmission.

[0162] In some embodiments, the first time difference can be a time difference value or a range interval related to the synchronization threshold between the multiple transmission bearers associated with each other. The synchronization threshold can also be referred to as the synchronization delay, which is defined as the maximum tolerable time interval between events occurring at the same time in two transmission bearers. The data between the transmission bearers satisfying the synchronization threshold can be considered to be synchronized, and the synchronization threshold can be asymmetric. For example, the synchronization delay of an audio stream and a video stream is [-100, 50] ms, and the granularity of the TN number is 10 ms. The sending time difference between the audio SDU and the video SDU with the same TN number can be [-90, 40] ms, which is the first time difference. The negative number indicates that the audio is later than the video, and the positive number indicates that the video is later than the audio.

[0163] For another example, the synchronization delay of a radio bearer 1 and a radio bearer 2 is [-100, 80] ms, and the granularity of the TN number is 20 ms. The PDU with the TN number X on the radio bearer 1 and the data packet with the TN number [X-4, X+3] on the radio bearer 2 can be transmitted at the same time.

[0164] By packetizing and sending the data packets according to the above-mentioned cooperative sending rule, the data packets with the same TN number can be sent within a certain time range, and the time difference of sending the data packets with different TN numbers can be adjusted according to the time difference of sending the data packets with the same TN number, so that the data packets to be sent can be sent in alignment at the sending end, and the synchronization effect is ensured.

[0165] In some embodiments, the method further comprises one or more of the following:

[0166] (1) sending a buffer status report (BSR) or a delay status report (DSR) to the network device, the BSR or the DSR containing time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent in the logical channel.

[0167] For example, before the first terminal sends the uplink data, the BSR or the DSR can be sent to the network device according to the TN number of the data packets to be sent, and the TN number of the data packets to be sent in the logical channel is carried in the BSR or the DSR, so that the network device can perform resource scheduling on the multiple transmission carriers associated with each other based on the TN number carried in the BSR or the DSR, thereby improving the synchronization effect of cooperative transmission.

[0168] (2) sending and / or discarding the data packets according to the time information identifiers indicated by the network device.

[0169] For example, in the case where the network device is the receiving end and one or more UEs (including the first terminal) are the sending end, for the data packets transmitted on the multiple transmission carriers associated with each other, the network device can determine whether the sending behavior of the sending end needs to be adjusted according to the TN number difference of the data packets received on different transmission carriers at the same time, and if the TN number difference exceeds the TN number threshold of synchronization (which can be determined according to the synchronization threshold and the granularity of the TN number), the network device can indicate a TN number to the one or more UEs, so that the one or more UEs can take the indicated TN number as the latest synchronization reference to adjust the sending of subsequent data packets. For example, the data packets with a TN number greater than or equal to the indicated TN number are sent, and / or the data packets with a TN number less than the indicated TN number are discarded.

[0170] In some embodiments, the TN number indicated by the network device can be determined according to the maximum value of the TN numbers of the data packets currently received by the network device on different transmission carriers and the synchronized TN number threshold. Taking the multiple transmission carriers associated with each other including DRB1 of UE1 and DRB2 of UE2 as an example, the base station can determine whether to adjust the transmission behavior of the UE based on the TN numbers of the data packets transmitted on DRB1 and DRB2 at the same time. Assuming that the granularity of the TN number is 10 ms and the synchronization delay between DRB1 and DRB2 is [-50, 50] ms, when the difference between the TN numbers of the data packets currently received by the base station on DRB1 and DRB2 is greater than 4, it is determined that the UE with slow transmission needs to be adjusted. For example, assuming that the TN numbers of the data packets currently received by the base station on DRB1 and DRB2 are 100 and 106 respectively, the base station can indicate a TN number 102 to UE1, and UE1 discards the data packets with a TN number less than 102 and starts transmitting the data packets with a TN number greater than or equal to 102 according to the TN number 102 indicated by the base station.

[0171] In this embodiment, the network device can indicate the TN number to the UE, which is beneficial to timely adjust the transmission behavior of the UE and ensure the synchronization effect of the collaborative transmission.

[0172] FIG. 3 is an example flowchart of indicating the TN number to the UE by the base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, UE1 and UE2 are two terminals associated with the immersive service. The interaction process shown in FIG. 3 mainly includes:

[0173] Step 3-1, UE1 and UE2 each establish a radio resource control (RRC) connection with the network, and establish a DRB for the immersive service stream transmitted by each of them.

[0174] Step 3-2, UE1 and UE2 each transmit data to the network through the established DRB. In this step, UE1 and UE2 perform collaborative transmission on the data to be transmitted on the DRBs associated with each other according to the TN numbers of the data packets to be transmitted.

[0175] Step 3-3, the base station determines the synchronization of the data transmitted by the DRBs of UE1 and UE2 based on the association information of the immersive service (the association information can come from the core network or be reported by the UE), and determines whether the difference between the TN numbers of the data packets of UE1 and UE2 received at the same time exceeds the TN number threshold of synchronization based on the TN numbers of the data packets transmitted by the DRBs of UE1 and UE2 associated with each other. For example, the TN number granularity is 10 ms, the synchronization delay of the DRB of UE1 and the DRB of UE2 is [-50, 50] ms, and when the base station currently receives the data packets of UE1 and UE2, the difference between the TN numbers of the data packets of UE1 and UE2 is greater than 4 (the value is the TN number threshold of synchronization), the sending UE needs to be adjusted, and here the base station currently receives the data packet of UE1 with a TN number of 100 and the data packet of UE2 with a TN number of 106. Since (106-100) is greater than 4, the base station needs to adjust the sending behavior of the slow sending UE.

[0176] Step 3-4, the base station determines to indicate a TN number to UE1 according to the maximum value (i.e., 106) of the TN numbers of the data packets of UE1 and UE2 currently received and the TN number threshold (i.e., 4) of synchronization, that is, the TN number = 106-4 = 102, and the base station indicates the TN number 102 to UE1 through a MAC CE (Control Element).

[0177] Step 3-5, after receiving the indication sent by the base station, UE1 discards the data packets with a TN number less than 102 and starts sending the data packets with a TN number greater than or equal to 102.

[0178] Step 3-6, UE2 continues data transmission.

[0179] (3) sending time information identification of the first data packet to one or more second terminals associated with the first terminal, the first data packet being the latest data packet sent by the first terminal to the network device; or sending and / or discarding data packets according to the time information identification indicated by the second terminal associated with the first terminal.

[0180] For example, for the case of multiple UE cooperative transmission, the multiple UEs are associated with each other, and the network device can configure the first terminal to periodically send the TN number of the latest data packet sent by the first terminal to the network device to other associated UEs, so that other associated UEs can adjust the sending of data packets based on the TN number. Assuming that the TN number of the latest data packet sent by the first terminal to the network device is 102, other associated UEs can discard the data packets with a TN number less than 102 and start sending the data packets with a TN number greater than or equal to 102 according to the TN number indicated by the first terminal.

[0181] For example, for the case of multiple UEs cooperative transmission, the multiple UEs are associated with each other, and the network device can configure a second terminal to periodically send, to other associated UEs, a TN number of a data packet newly sent by the second terminal to the network device, so that the other associated UEs can adjust the sending of the data packet based on the TN number. Assuming that the TN number of the data packet newly sent by the second terminal to the network device is 102, the other associated UEs (including the first terminal) can discard the data packets with a TN number less than 102 and start sending the data packets with a TN number greater than or equal to 102 according to the TN number indicated by the second terminal.

[0182] In this embodiment, the TN number information can be exchanged between the UEs for cooperative transmission, thereby facilitating timely adjustment of the sending behavior of each UE to ensure the synchronization effect of cooperative transmission.

[0183] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an example of exchanging TN number information between associated UEs according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, UE1, UE2, and UE3 are three terminals associated with an immersive service, and the three UEs cooperatively transmit the immersive service. The network configures UE1 to periodically send, to other UEs, a TN number of an SDU newly sent by UE1 to the base station, and the other UEs adjust their own sending of the SDU based on the TN number. The exchange process shown in FIG. 4 mainly includes:

[0184] Step 4-1: UE1, UE2, and UE3 each establish an RRC connection with the network and establish a DRB for the immersive service stream transmitted by each of them.

[0185] Step 4-2: UE1, UE2, and UE3 each perform data transmission with the network through the established DRB. In this step, UE1, UE2, and UE3 cooperatively transmit the data to be sent on the DRB associated with each other according to the TN number of the data packet to be sent.

[0186] Step 4-3: The base station configures UE1 to periodically send, to UE2 and UE3 through a direct communication (Sidelink, SL) interface (or PC5 interface), synchronization information of the associated logical channel sending data, which is specifically a TN number of an SDU newly sent by UE1 to the base station.

[0187] It should be noted that step 4-3 can be an independent step, or can be combined into step 4-1, that is, the base station configures UE1 to send the synchronization information to the associated UEs when UE1 establishes the DRB.

[0188] Step 4-4, UE1 periodically sends synchronization information to UE2 and UE3 based on the base station configuration. The sending mode can be unicast or groupcast. If unicast is used, UE1 needs to establish a direct link unicast connection with UE2 and UE3 first. The specific message can be a PC5-S (PC5 signaling) message, a PC5-RRC message, a SL MAC CE, or a SCI (Sidelink Control Information), etc.

[0189] Step 4-5, after receiving the synchronization information from UE1, UE2 and UE3 discard the SDUs with TN numbers earlier than the indicated TN number in the data packets to be sent, and start sending from the SDUs with TN numbers greater than or equal to the indicated TN number. UE1 continues data transmission.

[0190] (4) indicating the first time information identifier to the network device, the first time information identifier being used by the network device to send and / or discard data packets.

[0191] For example, in the case where the network device is the sending end and the first terminal is the receiving end, for the data packets transmitted on the multiple transmission bearers associated with each other, the first terminal can determine whether the sending behavior of the sending end needs to be adjusted according to the difference between the TN numbers of the data packets received on different transmission bearers at the same time. If the difference between the TN numbers exceeds a synchronization threshold (which can be determined according to the synchronization threshold and the granularity of the TN numbers), the first terminal can indicate a TN number (i.e., the first time information identifier) to the sending end, so that the sending end can take the TN number as the latest synchronization reference to adjust the sending of subsequent data packets. In some embodiments, the TN number indicated by the first terminal can be determined according to the maximum value of the TN numbers of the data packets currently received by the first terminal on different transmission bearers and the above-mentioned synchronization threshold.

[0192] Taking the multiple transmission bearers associated with each other including DRB1 and DRB2 as an example, the first terminal can determine whether the sending behavior of the base station needs to be adjusted based on the TN numbers of the data packets transmitted on DRB1 and DRB2 at the same time. Assuming that the granularity of the TN numbers is 10 ms and the synchronization delay between DRB1 and DRB2 is [-50, 50] ms, when the difference between the TN numbers of the data packets currently received by the first terminal on DRB1 and DRB2 is greater than 4, it is determined that the sending behavior of the base station needs to be adjusted. For example, assuming that the TN numbers of the data packets currently received by the first terminal on DRB1 and DRB2 are 100 and 106 respectively, the first terminal can indicate a TN number 102 to the base station, and the base station discards the data packets on DRB1 with TN numbers less than 102 and starts sending from the data packets with TN numbers greater than or equal to 102 according to the TN number 102 indicated by the first terminal.

[0193] In this embodiment, the first terminal can indicate the TN number to the network device, which is beneficial to timely adjust the sending behavior of the network device and ensure the synchronization effect of the cooperative transmission.

[0194] In some embodiments, the method further includes:

[0195] In a case where the configured configured grant (CG) resource cannot be used to send the to-be-sent data packet according to the cooperative sending rule, requesting a dynamic scheduling resource from the network device for sending the to-be-sent data packet.

[0196] For example, for a UE configured with a CG resource, if the TN number of a to-be-sent data packet in a plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other is the same as the TN number of a sent data packet in the plurality of transmission carriers, and the to-be-sent data packet cannot be sent according to the cooperative sending rule (i.e., the sending time difference between data packets with the same TN number is less than or equal to the first time difference) according to the configured CG resource, the UE can request a dynamic scheduling resource from the base station for sending the to-be-sent data packet, thereby ensuring the synchronization effect of the cooperative transmission.

[0197] In some embodiments, the first time difference is configured by the network or determined based on the granularity of the time information identifier and the synchronization threshold between the plurality of transmission carriers.

[0198] For example, the network (an access network or a core network element) can determine the first time difference according to the synchronization threshold (or synchronization delay) between the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other and the granularity of the TN number, and then configure the first time difference to the UE. Alternatively, the UE can calculate the first time difference based on the synchronization threshold between the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other and the granularity of the TN number.

[0199] Suppose the synchronization threshold between two transmission carriers associated with each other is [-100, 50] ms, and the granularity of the TN number is 10 ms, then the sending time difference between data packets with the same TN number in the two transmission carriers can be [-90, 40] ms, which is the first time difference.

[0200] The synchronization threshold and the granularity of the TN number can be set according to the synchronization requirement between traffic flows, which is not limited herein.

[0201] In this embodiment, the first time difference can be configured by the network or determined based on the granularity of the time information identifier and the synchronization threshold between the plurality of transmission carriers, so that the determination manner of the first time difference can be more flexible.

[0202] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the to-be-sent data packet in the logical channel includes any one of the following:

[0203] time information of the first SDU of the logical channel group;

[0204] time information of the first SDU of the logical channel;

[0205] time information of the first SDU of the logical channel with the highest priority in the logical channel group.

[0206] For example, the BSR or DSR sent by the first terminal to the network device contains information of multiple logical channel groups (LCG), one logical channel group can correspond to one TN number, which can be the TN number of the first SDU of the logical channel group, or can be the TN number of the first SDU of the logical channel with the highest priority in the logical channel group.

[0207] For another example, the BSR or DSR sent by the first terminal to the network device contains information of multiple logical channels, one logical channel can correspond to one TN number, which can be the TN number of the first SDU of the logical channel.

[0208] In this embodiment, the BSR or DSR sent by the first terminal to the network device carries the TN number in multiple different forms, which improves the flexibility of TN number indication.

[0209] FIG. 5 is an example diagram of a DSR MAC CE containing a TN number provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 5, the DSR MAC CE contains information of multiple logical channels, each logical channel corresponds to one TN number, which can be the TN number of the first SDU of the logical channel.

[0210] FIG. 6 is an example diagram of a DSR MAC CE containing a TN number provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 6, the DSR MAC CE contains information of multiple logical channel groups, one logical channel group can correspond to one TN number, which can be the TN number of the first SDU of the logical channel with the highest priority in the logical channel group.

[0211] The meanings of the other parameters in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 except TN (i.e., representing the TN number) can refer to the existing DSR MAC CE, which will not be described here in detail. For example, LCIDi (i = 1, …, n, n is the total number of LCIDs contained in the DSR MAC CE) represents different logical channel identifiers, R represents a reserved field, and Oct represents a byte. The LCGj (j = 0 ~ 7) field represents whether there is delay information (i.e., the remaining time and buffer size fields) for LCGj. If the LCGj field is set to 1, it indicates that the delay information of LCGj is reported. If the LCGj field is set to 0, it indicates that the delay information of LCGj is not reported. In FIG. 6, m is the total number of LCGs for which delay information is reported.

[0212] In some embodiments, the data packet is identified for sending and / or discarding according to time information indicated by the network device, including:

[0213] The data packet is identified for sending and / or discarding according to time information indicated by the network device through a MAC CE, an RLC control PDU, or a PDCP control PDU.

[0214] Specifically, in the case where the network device is the receiving end and one or more UEs (including the first terminal) are the sending end, the network device can indicate the TN number to the UE through a MAC CE, an RLC control PDU, or a PDCP control PDU, thereby improving the flexibility of TN number indication. FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are example diagrams for indicating the TN number through a MAC CE and a PDCP control PDU, respectively, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0215] The meanings of the parameters in FIG. 7 can refer to the descriptions of FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. In FIG. 8, the D / C field represents whether the PDU is a data plane packet or a control plane packet, the PDU type field indicates that the PDCP control PDU is of a TN coordination type, the PDCP TN field indicates the TN number, the cont. field represents a count value, the R field represents a reserved field, the Oct field represents a byte, and the S / D field indicates whether to send or discard. For example, when the S / D field takes a value of 0, it indicates to start sending from the PDCP SDU whose TN number is later than or equal to the TN number indicated by the PDCP TN field. When the S / D field takes a value of 1, it indicates to discard all PDCP SDUs whose TN number is earlier than or equal to the TN number indicated by the PDCP TN field.

[0216] In some embodiments, the later or earlier can be directly judged based on the TN number. When the TN number is wrapped, the order judgment can be made according to the wrap processing rule. The wrap processing rule can be referred to the existing technical materials, and will not be described here. The TN number and the serial number (SN) can also be combined to judge the later and the earlier. The SN number represents the order of the PDCP SDU, and the TN number represents the generation time of each PDCP SDU. When the SN number is wrapped, the order judgment can be made according to the wrap processing rule. When the wrap occurs, the following rules are as follows: the sequence number shows a decreasing trend; the sequence number of the previous one is large, and the sequence number of the next one is small; the sequence number is crossed from the previous sequence number to the current sequence number 0; the distance between the sequence numbers is greater than half of the number of sequence number types; in general, the current sequence number can be considered as the smaller sequence number, that is, the current packet is an old packet.

[0217] For example, assuming that the UE receives the PDCP control PDU shown in FIG. 8 sent by the base station, the S / D field takes the value 0, the PDCP TN field is “0000 0000 1000 0001”, and the UE has 5 PDCP SDUs in the sending buffer. The TN number of the PDCP PDU1 to which the PDCP SDU1 belongs is “0000 0000 1000 0000”, the TN number of the PDCP PDU2 to which the PDCP SDU2 belongs is “0000 0000 1000 0000”, the TN number of the PDCP PDU3 to which the PDCP SDU3 belongs is “0000 0000 1000 0001”, the TN number of the PDCP PDU4 to which the PDCP SDU4 belongs is “0000 0000 1000 0011”, and the TN number of the PDCP PDU5 to which the PDCP SDU5 belongs is “0000 0000 1000 0101”. The UE judges that the PDCP PDU1 and the PDCP PDU2 are earlier than the indicated TN number based on the TN number, and directly discards the PDCP SDU1 and the PDCP SDU2. The PDCP PDU3 is equal to the indicated TN number, so the PDCP SDU3 needs to be sent within the TN number granularity (assuming 10 ms), and the PDCP SDU4 and the PDCP SDU5 can be sent in sequence after the PDCP SDU3, or the PDCP SDU4 is sent within the TN number granularity+2xTN number granularity (i.e., 30 ms), and the PDCP SDU5 is sent within the TN number granularity+4xTN number granularity (i.e., 50 ms).

[0218] In some embodiments, the time information of the data packet to be sent is provided by a high layer, or determined based on a timestamp of the data packet to be sent.

[0219] Specifically, the higher layer can refer to an application layer, a server or a core network element. The timestamp of the data packet can refer to a timestamp of generation of the data packet, and the granularity of the timestamp can be ms.

[0220] In some embodiments, when the TN number is provided by the higher layer, the synchronization threshold among the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other can also be provided by the higher layer.

[0221] It can be understood that a plurality of data packets of one data stream / radio bearer / logical channel can be the same TN number, and the TN number is only associated with time and can not be continuous.

[0222] The TN number of the data packet can be provided by the higher layer or determined by the sending end based on the timestamp of the data packet, so that the implementation of the scheme can be more flexible.

[0223] In some embodiments, the determination based on the timestamp of the data packet to be sent includes:

[0224] The determination based on the timestamp of the data packet to be sent and one or more of the following:

[0225] The reference time point, the offset, the length of the time information identifier, and the coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier.

[0226] The reference time point can be a fixed value or a network-configured value, and the granularity of the reference time point can be ms.

[0227] The offset can be network-configured, and the granularity of the offset can be ms. In some embodiments, if the offset is not configured, the default value can be 0.

[0228] The length of the TN number can be a fixed value or a network-configured length value, and the length of the TN number is a positive integer.

[0229] The coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier can be network-configured. In some embodiments, if the coefficient is not configured, the default value can be 1.

[0230] By determining the TN number of the data packet based on the timestamp of the data packet and one or more of the reference time point, the offset, the length of the time information identifier, and the coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier, the determined TN number can be more accurate and reasonable, and the determination method of the TN number can be more flexible.

[0231] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent is determined based on the following formula: TN = Floor(a x (Ttimestamp-Tref-Offset)) mod 2 N

[0232] TN=a·Ttimestamp-Tref-OffsetmodN, wherein TN represents time information identifier of the data packet to be transmitted, a represents a coefficient related to granularity of the time information identifier, Ttimestamp represents timestamp of the data packet to be transmitted, Tref represents a reference time point, Offset represents an offset, N represents length of the time information identifier, Floor represents down rounding, and mod represents a remainder operation. The reference time point refers to a time reference point for calculating the time information identifier, or can be described as a reference time point of the time information identifier, and the reference time point can be a fixed value or a network configured value. The offset refers to an offset for calculating the time information identifier, or can be described as an offset of the time information identifier, and the offset can be a network configured value.

[0233] For example, the network configures parameters Offset=0, Tref=0, N=12, and a=0.1 for a plurality of transmission bearers (for example, DRB1 and DRB2) associated with each other. Assuming that Ttimestamp of SDU1 of DRB1 is 1000, Ttimestamp of SDU2 of DRB1 is 1010, Ttimestamp of SDU1 of DRB2 is 1001, Ttimestamp of SDU2 of DRB2 is 1005, and Ttimestamp of SDU3 of DRB2 is 1011, TN of SDU1 of DRB1 is 100, TN of SDU2 of DRB1 is 101, TN of SDU1 of DRB2 is 100, TN of SDU2 of DRB2 is 100, and TN of SDU3 of DRB2 is 101.

[0234] FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a cooperative transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, which is applied to a network device (for example, a base station), as shown in FIG. 9, and the method comprises the following steps:

[0235] In step 901, based on time information identifiers of data packets to be transmitted in a plurality of transmission bearers associated with each other, the data packets to be transmitted are cooperatively transmitted, wherein the time information identifier is used to identify time relationship of different data packets, and the transmission bearer comprises one or more of a data flow, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

[0236] Specifically, the plurality of transmission bearers associated with each other refer to a plurality of transmission bearers that need to be synchronously transmitted, for example, a plurality of data flows / radio bearers / logical channels corresponding to one immersive service for data transmission, and the plurality of data flows / radio bearers / logical channels are the plurality of transmission bearers associated with each other.

[0237] It should be noted that the technical solution of the present disclosure is applicable to data transmission between a UE and a network device (for example, a base station), for example, one or more UEs perform data transmission with the base station through a plurality of transmission bearers associated with each other.

[0238] In some embodiments, when performing data transmission, the network device can determine the transmission time information (such as the order of transmission time, the time point of transmission, the transmission time difference between data packets, etc.) of the to-be-transmitted data packets based on the time information identifiers of the to-be-transmitted data packets in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other, and then transmit the to-be-transmitted data packets based on the transmission time information, so that the to-be-transmitted data packets can be transmitted in alignment at the sending end. By using this method to perform the cooperative transmission of the to-be-transmitted data packets in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other, the synchronization effect can be effectively improved, and the user experience can be ensured.

[0239] It should be noted that the data packets in the present disclosure can include PDUs or SDUs of each user plane protocol layer. The user plane protocol layer includes, for example, a MAC layer, an RLC layer, a PDCP layer, an SDAP layer, and the like.

[0240] The data flow in the present disclosure can refer to a QoS flow.

[0241] The wireless bearer in the present disclosure can refer to a DRB.

[0242] The cooperative transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can identify the time relationship of different data packets by introducing time information identifiers, and perform the cooperative transmission of the to-be-transmitted data packets based on the time information identifiers of the to-be-transmitted data packets in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other. The to-be-transmitted data packets can be transmitted in alignment at the sending end. Compared with the scheme in which the receiving end needs to buffer a certain amount of data packets to align according to the timestamp information, the time delay can be effectively reduced, the synchronization effect can be improved, and the user experience can be improved.

[0243] In some embodiments, the cooperative transmission of the to-be-transmitted data packets based on the time information identifiers of the to-be-transmitted data packets in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other includes:

[0244] Based on the time information identifiers of the to-be-transmitted data packets and the cooperative transmission rule, the to-be-transmitted data packets are packaged and transmitted. The cooperative transmission rule includes that the transmission time difference between the to-be-transmitted data packets with the same time information identifier in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a first time difference, and the transmission time difference between the to-be-transmitted data packets with different time information identifiers in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a second time difference.

[0245] The second time difference is determined based on the first time difference, the time information identifier granularity, and the difference between the time information identifiers of the to-be-transmitted data packets with different time information identifiers.

[0246] Specifically, in order to improve the synchronization effect, when performing data transmission, the data packets can be packaged and transmitted according to the above-mentioned cooperative transmission rule. For multiple data packets with the same TN number to be transmitted, the transmission time difference can be within the range of the first time difference. For multiple data packets with different TN numbers to be transmitted, the transmission time difference can be determined based on the first time difference, the granularity of the TN number, and the difference between the TN numbers of the multiple data packets with different TN numbers.

[0247] For example, assuming that the multiple transmission carriers associated with each other include DRB1 and DRB2, the PDU with TN number 1 in DRB1 and the PDU with TN number 1 in DRB2 can be transmitted with the first time difference, and the transmission time difference between the PDU with TN number 1 in DRB1 and the PDU with TN number 5 in DRB2 can be the first time difference + the granularity of the TN number x (5-1).

[0248] By packaging and transmitting the data packets according to the above-mentioned cooperative transmission rule, the data packets with the same TN number can be transmitted within a certain time range, and the transmission time difference of the data packets with different TN numbers can be adjusted according to the transmission time difference of the data packets with the same TN number, so that the data packets to be transmitted can be transmitted in alignment at the sending end, and the synchronization effect is guaranteed.

[0249] In some embodiments, the method further comprises one or more of the following:

[0250] (1) According to the time information identifier contained in the BSR or DSR sent by the terminal, resource scheduling is performed.

[0251] For example, for the case of dynamic scheduling, before the terminal transmits uplink data, the terminal can send BSR or DSR to the network device according to the TN number of the data packet to be transmitted, and carry the TN number of the data packet to be transmitted in the logical channel in the BSR or DSR, so that the network device can perform resource scheduling on the multiple transmission carriers associated with each other based on the TN number carried in the BSR or DSR, thereby improving the synchronization effect of cooperative transmission.

[0252] (2) According to the time information identifier indicated by the terminal, the data packets are transmitted and / or discarded.

[0253] For example, in a case that the network device is a sending end and the UE is a receiving end, the UE can determine whether to adjust the sending behavior of the sending end according to a difference between the TNs of the data packets on different transmission bearers received at the same time, and if the difference between the TNs exceeds a synchronized TN threshold (which can be determined according to a synchronization threshold and granularity of the TNs), the UE can indicate a TN to the sending end, so that the sending end can take the TN as a latest synchronization reference to adjust sending of subsequent data packets. In some embodiments, the TN indicated by the UE can be determined according to a maximum value of the TNs of the data packets on different transmission bearers currently received by the UE and the synchronized TN threshold.

[0254] For example, in a case that the network device is a sending end and the UE is a receiving end, the UE can determine whether to adjust the sending behavior of the sending end according to a difference between the TNs of the data packets on different transmission bearers received at the same time, and if the difference between the TNs exceeds a synchronized TN threshold (which can be determined according to a synchronization threshold and granularity of the TNs), the UE can indicate a TN to the sending end, so that the sending end can take the TN as a latest synchronization reference to adjust sending of subsequent data packets. In some embodiments, the TN indicated by the UE can be determined according to a maximum value of the TNs of the data packets on different transmission bearers currently received by the UE and the synchronized TN threshold.

[0255] In this embodiment, the UE can indicate the TN to the network device, which is conducive to timely adjustment of the sending behavior of the network device and ensures synchronization effect of cooperative transmission.

[0256] (3) indicating the second time information identifier to the terminal, the second time information identifier being used for the terminal to send and / or discard data packets.

[0257] For example, in a case that the network device is a receiving end and one or more UEs are sending ends, the network device can determine whether to adjust the sending behavior of the sending end according to a difference between the TNs of the data packets on different transmission bearers received at the same time, and if the difference between the TNs exceeds a synchronized TN threshold (which can be determined according to a synchronization threshold and granularity of the TNs), the network device can indicate a TN (i.e., the second time information identifier) to the one or more UEs, so that the one or more UEs can take the TN as a latest synchronization reference to adjust sending of subsequent data packets. For example, the one or more UEs start sending from data packets with a TN greater than or equal to the indicated TN, and / or discard data packets with a TN less than the indicated TN.

[0258] In some embodiments, the TN number indicated by the network device can be determined according to the maximum value of the TN numbers of the data packets currently received by the network device on different transmission bearers and the synchronized TN number threshold. Taking the multiple transmission bearers associated with each other as an example, the multiple transmission bearers include DRB1 of UE1 and DRB2 of UE2, the base station can determine whether to adjust the transmission behavior of the UE based on the TN numbers of the data packets transmitted on DRB1 and DRB2 at the same time. Assuming that the granularity of the TN number is 10 ms and the synchronization delay between DRB1 and DRB2 is [-50, 50] ms, when the difference between the TN numbers of the data packets currently received by the base station on DRB1 and DRB2 is greater than 4, it is determined that the UE with slow transmission needs to be adjusted. For example, assuming that the TN numbers of the data packets currently received by the base station on DRB1 and DRB2 are 100 and 106 respectively, the base station can indicate a TN number 102 to UE1, and UE1 discards the data packets with the TN number less than 102 and starts transmitting the data packets with the TN number greater than or equal to 102 according to the TN number 102 indicated by the base station.

[0259] In the embodiment, the network device can indicate the TN number to the UE, which is beneficial to timely adjust the transmission behavior of the UE and ensure the synchronization effect of the collaborative transmission.

[0260] In some embodiments, the first time difference is configured by the network or determined based on the granularity and the synchronization threshold between the multiple transmission bearers.

[0261] For example, the core network can determine the first time difference according to the synchronization threshold between the multiple transmission bearers associated with each other (or the synchronization delay) and the granularity of the TN number, and then configure the network device. Alternatively, the network device can calculate the first time difference based on the synchronization threshold between the multiple transmission bearers associated with each other and the granularity of the TN number.

[0262] Assuming that the synchronization threshold between the two transmission bearers associated with each other is [-100, 50] ms and the granularity of the TN number is 10 ms, the transmission time difference between the data packets with the same TN number in the two transmission bearers can be [-90, 40] ms, which is the first time difference.

[0263] The synchronization threshold and the granularity of the TN number can be set according to the synchronization requirement between the service flows, which is not limited herein.

[0264] In the embodiment, the first time difference can be configured by the network or determined based on the granularity and the synchronization threshold between the multiple transmission bearers, so that the determination manner of the first time difference can be more flexible.

[0265] In some embodiments, the time information of the data packet to be transmitted in the logical channel comprises any one of the following:

[0266] the time information of the first SDU of the logical channel group;

[0267] the time information of the first SDU of the logical channel;

[0268] the time information of the first SDU of the logical channel with the highest priority in the logical channel group.

[0269] For example, the UE sends the BSR or DSR containing information of multiple LCGs to the network device, one logical channel group can correspond to one TN number, which can be the TN number of the first SDU of the logical channel group, or the TN number of the first SDU of the logical channel with the highest priority in the logical channel group.

[0270] For another example, the UE sends the BSR or DSR containing information of multiple logical channels to the network device, one logical channel can correspond to one TN number, which can be the TN number of the first SDU of the logical channel.

[0271] In this embodiment, the TN number carried in the BSR or DSR sent by the UE to the network device can have multiple different forms, which improves the flexibility of the TN number indication.

[0272] In some embodiments, the data packet is transmitted and / or discarded according to the time information indicated by the terminal, comprising:

[0273] The data packet is transmitted and / or discarded according to the time information indicated by the terminal through the MAC CE, RLC control PDU or PDCP control PDU.

[0274] Specifically, in the case of UE as the receiving end and the network device as the sending end, the UE can indicate the TN number to the network device through the MAC CE, RLC control PDU or PDCP control PDU, thereby improving the flexibility of the TN number indication.

[0275] In some embodiments, the time information of the data packet to be transmitted is provided by the higher layer, or determined based on the timestamp of the data packet to be transmitted.

[0276] Specifically, the higher layer can refer to the application layer, server or core network element. The timestamp of the data packet can refer to the timestamp of the generation of the data packet, and the granularity of the timestamp can be ms.

[0277] In some embodiments, when the TN number is provided by the higher layer, the synchronization threshold between multiple transmission carriers associated with each other can also be provided by the higher layer.

[0278] It can be understood that multiple data packets of one data stream / radio bearer / logical channel can have the same TN number, and the TN number is only associated with time and can not be continuous.

[0279] The TN number of the data packet can be provided by a higher layer or determined by the sending end based on the timestamp of the data packet, so that the implementation of the scheme can be more flexible.

[0280] In some embodiments, the determination based on the timestamp of the data packet to be sent comprises:

[0281] The determination based on the timestamp of the data packet to be sent and one or more of the following:

[0282] The reference time point, the offset, the length of the time information identifier, and the coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier.

[0283] The reference time point can be a fixed value or a network-configured value, and the granularity of the reference time point can be ms.

[0284] The offset can be network-configured, and the granularity of the offset can be ms. In some embodiments, if the offset is not configured, the default value can be 0.

[0285] The length of the TN number can be a fixed value or a network-configured length value, and the length of the TN number is a positive integer.

[0286] The coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier can be network-configured. In some embodiments, if the coefficient is not configured, the default value can be 1.

[0287] By determining the TN number of the data packet based on the timestamp of the data packet and one or more of the reference time point, the offset, the length of the time information identifier, and the coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier, the determined TN number can be more accurate and reasonable, and the determination method of the TN number can be more flexible.

[0288] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent is determined based on the following formula: TN = Floor(a x (Ttimestamp-Tref-Offset)) mod 2 N

[0289] TN=a·Ttimestamp-Tref-OffsetmodN, wherein TN represents time information identifier of the data packet to be sent, a represents a coefficient related to granularity of the time information identifier, Ttimestamp represents timestamp of the data packet to be sent, Tref represents a reference time point, Offset represents an offset, N represents length of the time information identifier, Floor represents down rounding, and mod represents a remainder operation. The reference time point refers to a time reference point for calculating the time information identifier, or can be described as a reference time point of the time information identifier, and the reference time point can be a fixed value or a network configured value. The offset refers to an offset for calculating the time information identifier, or can be described as an offset of the time information identifier, and the offset can be a network configured value.

[0290] For example, the network configures parameters Offset=0, Tref=0, N=12, and a=0.1 for a plurality of transmission bearers (taking DRB1 and DRB2 as examples) associated with each other. Assuming that Ttimestamp of SDU1 of DRB1 is 1000, Ttimestamp of SDU2 of DRB1 is 1010, Ttimestamp of SDU1 of DRB2 is 1001, Ttimestamp of SDU2 of DRB2 is 1005, and Ttimestamp of SDU3 of DRB2 is 1011, TN of SDU1 of DRB1 is 100, TN of SDU2 of DRB1 is 101, TN of SDU1 of DRB2 is 100, TN of SDU2 of DRB2 is 100, and TN of SDU3 of DRB2 is 101.

[0291] The methods provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure are based on the same technical concept, and therefore the implementation of each method can be referred to each other, and the repeated parts will not be described again.

[0292] FIG. 10 is a structural schematic diagram of a first terminal provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 10, the first terminal includes a memory 1020, a transceiver 1010, and a processor 1000; wherein the processor 1000 and the memory 1020 can also be arranged physically separately.

[0293] The memory 1020 is configured to store a computer program; and the transceiver 1010 is configured to transceive data under control of the processor 1000.

[0294] In FIG. 10, the bus architecture can include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, specifically the various circuitry of the one or more processors represented by the processor 1000 and the memory represented by the memory 1020 linked together. The bus architecture can also link various other circuitry such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, and power management circuitry, which are well known in the art, and therefore, the present disclosure will not further describe them. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1010 can be a plurality of elements, i.e., including a transmitter and a receiver, providing a unit for communicating with various other devices on transmission media, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, and the like. The user interface 1030 can also be an interface capable of externally connecting the required devices for different user equipment, including but not limited to a keypad, a display, a speaker, a microphone, a joystick, and the like.

[0295] The processor 1000 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1020 can store data used by the processor 1000 when performing operations.

[0296] The processor 1000 can be a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and the processor can also adopt a multi-core architecture.

[0297] The processor 1000 is used to execute the first terminal side method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure according to the executable instructions obtained by calling the computer program stored in the memory 1020.

[0298] FIG. 11 is a structural schematic diagram of a network device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 11, the network device includes a memory 1120, a transceiver 1110, and a processor 1100; wherein the processor 1100 and the memory 1120 can also be arranged physically separately.

[0299] The memory 1120 is used to store a computer program; and the transceiver 1110 is used to transceive data under the control of the processor 1100.

[0300] In FIG. 11, the bus architecture can include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, which link various circuits, including the processor(s) 1100 and the memory 1120, which are represented by one or more processors and memories, respectively. The bus architecture can also link various other circuits, such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and thus, the present disclosure will not further describe them. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1110 can be a plurality of elements, i.e., including a transmitter and a receiver, which provide a unit for communicating with various other devices on transmission media, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, and the like.

[0301] The processor 1100 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1120 can store data used by the processor 1100 when performing operations.

[0302] The processor 1100 can be a CPU, ASIC, FPGA, or CPLD, and the processor can also adopt a multi-core architecture.

[0303] The processor 1100 calls the computer program stored in the memory 1120 to execute the network device side method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure according to the executable instructions obtained.

[0304] It should be noted that the first terminal and the network device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can implement all the method steps achieved by the above-mentioned method embodiments and achieve the same technical effects. Therefore, the same parts and beneficial effects of the method embodiments will not be described in detail.

[0305] The cooperative transmission device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below. The cooperative transmission device described below can be referred to the cooperative transmission method described above.

[0306] FIG. 12 is a structural schematic diagram of a cooperative transmission device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 12, the device includes:

[0307] The first transmission unit 1210 is configured to perform cooperative transmission of the to-be-sent data packets based on time information identifiers of the to-be-sent data packets in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other.

[0308] The time information identifier is used to identify the time relationship of different data packets, and the transmission carrier includes one or more of a data flow, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

[0309] In some embodiments, performing cooperative transmission of the to-be-sent data packets based on the time information identifiers of the to-be-sent data packets in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other includes:

[0310] The time information identifier of the data packet to be sent is identified based on time information identifier of the data packet to be sent and a cooperative sending rule, and the data packet to be sent is packaged and sent according to the cooperative sending rule, wherein the cooperative sending rule comprises: a sending time difference between the data packets to be sent with the same time information identifier in the multiple transmission carriers is less than or equal to a first time difference, and a sending time difference between the data packets to be sent with different time information identifiers in the multiple transmission carriers is less than or equal to a second time difference;

[0311] The second time difference is determined based on the first time difference, a time information identifier granularity, and a difference between the time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent with different time information identifiers.

[0312] In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises a first processing unit configured to perform one or more of the following:

[0313] sending a BSR or a DSR to the network device, wherein the BSR or the DSR comprises the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent in the logical channel;

[0314] sending and / or discarding the data packet according to the time information identifier indicated by the network device;

[0315] sending the time information identifier of the first data packet to one or more second terminals associated with the first terminal, wherein the first data packet is the latest data packet sent by the first terminal to the network device, or sending and / or discarding the data packet according to the time information identifier indicated by the second terminal associated with the first terminal;

[0316] indicating the first time information identifier to the network device, wherein the first time information identifier is used by the network device to send and / or discard the data packet.

[0317] In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises a requesting unit configured to:

[0318] requesting a dynamic scheduling resource from the network device for sending the data packet to be sent in the case that the data packet to be sent cannot be sent according to the cooperative sending rule based on the configured CG resource.

[0319] In some embodiments, the first time difference is configured by the network or determined based on a time information identifier granularity and a synchronization threshold between the multiple transmission carriers.

[0320] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent in the logical channel comprises any one of the following:

[0321] the time information identifier of the first SDU of the logical channel group;

[0322] the time information identifier of the first SDU of the logical channel;

[0323] the time information identifier of the first SDU of the logical channel with the highest priority in the logical channel group.

[0324] In some embodiments, the data packet is identified for sending and / or discarding according to time information indicated by the network device, comprising:

[0325] The data packet is identified for sending and / or discarding according to time information indicated by the network device through a MAC CE, an RLC control PDU or a PDCP control PDU.

[0326] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent is provided by a higher layer or determined based on a timestamp of the data packet to be sent.

[0327] In some embodiments, the determination based on the timestamp of the data packet to be sent comprises:

[0328] The determination is based on the timestamp of the data packet to be sent and one or more of the following:

[0329] The reference time point, the offset, the length of the time information identifier, and the coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier.

[0330] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent is determined based on the following formula: TN = Floor(a x (Ttimestamp-Tref-Offset)) mod 2 N

[0331] In the formula, TN represents the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent, a represents the coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier, Ttimestamp represents the timestamp of the data packet to be sent, Tref represents the reference time point, Offset represents the offset, N represents the length of the time information identifier, Floor represents the floor function, and mod represents the modulo operation.

[0332] FIG. 13 is a structural schematic diagram of a cooperative transmission device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 13, the device comprises:

[0333] A second transmission unit 1310 is configured to perform cooperative transmission of the data packet to be sent based on the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other.

[0334] The time information identifier is used to identify the time relationship of different data packets, and the transmission carrier comprises one or more of a data flow, a radio bearer and a logical channel.

[0335] In some embodiments, the cooperative transmission of the data packet to be sent is performed based on the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other, comprising:

[0336] performing packet grouping and sending of the to-be-sent packets based on the time information identifier of the to-be-sent packets and a cooperative sending rule, the cooperative sending rule comprising: a sending time difference between to-be-sent packets with the same time information identifier in the multiple transmission carriers being less than or equal to a first time difference, and a sending time difference between to-be-sent packets with different time information identifiers in the multiple transmission carriers being less than or equal to a second time difference;

[0337] The second time difference is determined based on the first time difference, a time information identifier granularity, and a difference between time information identifiers of the to-be-sent packets with different time information identifiers.

[0338] In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises a second processing unit configured to perform one or more of the following:

[0339] performing resource scheduling based on the time information identifier of the to-be-sent packets in the logical channel included in the BSR or DSR sent by the terminal;

[0340] sending and / or discarding packets according to the time information identifier indicated by the terminal;

[0341] indicating a second time information identifier to the terminal, the second time information identifier being used by the terminal to send and / or discard packets.

[0342] In some embodiments, the first time difference is configured by the network or determined based on a time information identifier granularity and a synchronization threshold between the multiple transmission carriers.

[0343] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the to-be-sent packets in the logical channel comprises any one of the following:

[0344] a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel group;

[0345] a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel;

[0346] a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel with the highest priority in a logical channel group.

[0347] In some embodiments, the sending and / or discarding packets according to the time information identifier indicated by the terminal comprises:

[0348] sending and / or discarding packets according to the time information identifier indicated by the terminal through a MAC CE, an RLC control PDU, or a PDCP control PDU.

[0349] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the to-be-sent packets is provided by a higher layer or determined based on a time stamp of the to-be-sent packets.

[0350] In some embodiments, the determination based on the time stamp of the to-be-sent packets comprises:

[0351] determining based on the timestamp of the data packet to be sent and one or more of the following:

[0352] the reference time point, the offset, the length of the time information identifier, the coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier.

[0353] In some embodiments, the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent is determined based on the following formula: TN = Floor(a x (Ttimestamp-Tref-Offset)) mod 2 N

[0354] In the formula, TN represents the time information identifier of the data packet to be sent, a represents the coefficient related to the granularity of the time information identifier, Ttimestamp represents the timestamp of the data packet to be sent, Tref represents the reference time point, Offset represents the offset, N represents the length of the time information identifier, Floor represents the floor function, and mod represents the modulo operation.

[0355] It should be noted that the above-mentioned cooperative transmission device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can realize all the method steps realized by the method embodiments and achieve the same technical effects. Therefore, the same parts and beneficial effects of the method embodiments will not be described in detail.

[0356] It should be noted that the division of units in the embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrative, and is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, another division mode can be used. In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present disclosure can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically independently, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit.

[0357] The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software function unit and sold or used as an independent product, can be stored in a processor-readable storage medium. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of the present disclosure, essentially or in other words, the part that contributes to the related art or the whole or part of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present disclosure. The aforementioned storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various other media that can store program codes.

[0358] In another aspect, the embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a processor-readable storage medium, which stores a program for causing a processor to perform the cooperative transmission method provided by the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0359] It should be noted that the processor-readable storage medium provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can implement all the method steps implemented by the above-mentioned method embodiments, and can achieve the same technical effects. Therefore, the same parts and beneficial effects of the method embodiments will not be described in detail.

[0360] The processor-readable storage medium can be any available medium or data storage device that the processor can access, including but not limited to a magnetic memory (such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape, a magneto-optical disk (MO), etc.), an optical memory (such as a CD, a DVD, a BD, a HVD, etc.), and a semiconductor memory (such as a ROM, an EPROM, an EEPROM, a non-volatile memory (NAND FLASH), a solid-state disk (SSD), etc.).

[0361] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various systems. For example, the applicable systems can be a long term evolution (LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (TDD) system, a long term evolution advanced (LTE-A) system, a universal mobile system (UMTS), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) system, a 5G new radio (NR) system and its evolved communication system, a 6G (sixth generation mobile communication technology) system, and the like. The various systems can include terminal devices and network devices. The system can also include a core network part, such as an evolved packet system (EPC), a 5G core network (5GC), and the like.

[0362] The terminal involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure can refer to a device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to a user, a handheld device with wireless connection function, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, etc. In different systems, the name of the terminal can also be different, for example, in the 5G system, the terminal can be called user equipment (UE). The wireless terminal device can communicate with one or more core networks (CN) through a radio access network (RAN), and the wireless terminal device can be a mobile terminal device, such as a mobile phone (or called "cellular" phone) and a computer with a mobile terminal device, for example, it can be a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer-built-in or vehicle-mounted mobile device, which exchanges language and / or data with the radio access network. For example, personal communication service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. The wireless terminal device can also be called a system, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a mobile, a remote station, an access point, a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a user agent, a user device, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0363] The network device related to the embodiments of the present disclosure can be a base station, which can include a plurality of cells serving terminals. According to different application scenarios, the base station can also be referred to as an access point, or can be a device in an access network that communicates with wireless terminal devices through one or more sectors over an air interface, or other names. The network device can be used to exchange received air frames and Internet Protocol (IP) packets as a router between the wireless terminal device and the rest of the access network, which can include an Internet Protocol (IP) communication network. The network device can also coordinate the management of the properties of the air interface. For example, the network device related to the embodiments of the present disclosure can be a network device (Base Transceiver Station, BTS) in the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), or a network device (NodeB) in Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), or an evolved network device (evolutional Node B, eNB or e-NodeB) in a long term evolution (LTE) system, or a 5G base station (gNB) in a next generation system, or a Home evolved Node B (HeNB), a relay node, a femto, a pico, etc., which are not limited in the embodiments of the present disclosure. In some network structures, the network device can include a centralized unit (CU) node and a distributed unit (DU) node, and the centralized unit and the distributed unit can also be arranged geographically apart.

[0364] Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present disclosure can be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Therefore, the present disclosure can take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Moreover, the present disclosure can take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, magnetic disk storage and optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0365] The computer executable instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operations steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks.

[0366] These processor executable instructions can also be stored in a processor readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the processor readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks.

[0367] These processor executable instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operations steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks.

[0368] Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present disclosure are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents, the present disclosure can be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

Claims

1. A method for coordinated transmission, applied to a first terminal, comprising: performing coordinated transmission of data packets to be transmitted based on time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted in a plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other; wherein the time information identifiers are used to identify time relationships of different data packets, and the transmission carriers comprise one or more of data flows, radio bearers, and logical channels.

2. The coordinated transmission method of claim 1, wherein, The performing of the coordinated transmission of the data packets to be transmitted based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other comprises: performing packet grouping and transmission of the data packets to be transmitted based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted and a coordinated transmission rule, wherein the coordinated transmission rule comprises that a transmission time difference between data packets to be transmitted with the same time information identifier in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a first time difference, and a transmission time difference between data packets to be transmitted with different time information identifiers in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a second time difference; the second time difference is determined based on the first time difference, a time information identifier granularity, and a difference between the time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted with different time information identifiers.

3. The coordinated transmission method of claim 1, wherein, The method further comprises one or more of the following: sending a BSR or a DSR to a network device, wherein the BSR or the DSR contains time information identifiers of data packets to be transmitted in a logical channel; transmitting and / or discarding data packets according to time information identifiers indicated by a network device; sending time information identifiers of first data packets to one or more second terminals associated with the first terminal, wherein the first data packets are the latest data packets transmitted by the first terminal to the network device, or transmitting and / or discarding data packets according to time information identifiers indicated by a second terminal associated with the first terminal; indicating a first time information identifier to a network device, wherein the first time information identifier is used by the network device to transmit and / or discard data packets.

4. The coordinated transmission method of claim 2, wherein, The method further comprises: in a case where the data packets to be transmitted cannot be transmitted according to the coordinated transmission rule based on configured CG resources, requesting dynamic scheduling resources from the network device for transmitting the data packets to be transmitted.

5. The coordinated transmission method of claim 2, wherein, The first time difference is configured by a network or determined based on a time information identifier granularity and a synchronization threshold between the plurality of transmission carriers.

6. The coordinated transmission method of claim 3, wherein, The time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted in the logical channel comprise any one of the following: a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel group; a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel; a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel with the highest priority in a logical channel group.

7. The coordinated transmission method of claim 3, wherein, The transmitting and / or discarding of data packets according to time information identifiers indicated by a network device comprises: transmitting and / or discarding data packets according to time information identifiers indicated by the network device through a MAC CE, an RLC control PDU, or a PDCP control PDU.

8. The coordinated transmission method of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein, The time information identifiers of the data packets to be transmitted are provided by a higher layer or determined based on time stamps of the data packets to be transmitted.

9. The coordinated transmission method of claim 8, wherein, The determining based on time stamps of the data packets to be transmitted comprises: determining based on the time stamps of the data packets to be transmitted and one or more of the following: The reference time point, the offset, the length of the time information identifier, and a coefficient related to granularity of the time information identifier.

10. The coordinated transmission method of claim 9, wherein, The time information of the data packet to be sent is determined based on the following formula: TN=Floor(a x (Ttimestamp-Tref-Offset)) mod 2 N In the formula, TN represents time information identifier of the data packet to be sent, a represents a coefficient related to granularity of the time information identifier, Ttimestamp represents a timestamp of the data packet to be sent, Tref represents a reference time point, Offset represents an offset, N represents a length of the time information identifier, Floor represents a floor function, and mod represents a modulo operation.

11. A cooperative transmission method applied to a network device, comprising: performing cooperative transmission of data packets to be sent based on time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent in a plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other; wherein the time information identifiers are used to identify time relationships of different data packets, and the transmission carriers include one or more of a data flow, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

12. The coordinated transmission method of claim 11, wherein, The performing of the cooperative transmission of the data packets to be sent based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other comprises: performing packet grouping and sending of the data packets to be sent based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent and a cooperative sending rule, wherein the cooperative sending rule comprises that a sending time difference between data packets to be sent with the same time information identifier in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a first time difference, and a sending time difference between data packets to be sent with different time information identifiers in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a second time difference; The second time difference is determined based on the first time difference, granularity of the time information identifier, and a difference between time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent with different time information identifiers.

13. The coordinated transmission method of claim 12, wherein, The method further comprises one or more of the following: performing resource scheduling according to time information identifiers of data packets to be sent in a logical channel included in a BSR or a DSR sent by a terminal; sending and / or discarding data packets according to time information identifiers indicated by the terminal; indicating a second time information identifier to the terminal, wherein the second time information identifier is used for the terminal to send and / or discard data packets.

14. The coordinated transmission method of claim 12, wherein, The first time difference is configured by the network or determined based on granularity of the time information identifier and a synchronization threshold between the plurality of transmission carriers.

15. The coordinated transmission method of claim 13, wherein, The time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent in the logical channel include any one of the following: a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel group; a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel; a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel with the highest priority in a logical channel group.

16. The coordinated transmission method of claim 13, wherein, The sending and / or discarding of data packets according to the time information identifiers indicated by the terminal comprises: sending and / or discarding data packets according to time information identifiers indicated by the terminal through a MAC CE, an RLC control PDU, or a PDCP control PDU.

17. The coordinated transmission method of any of claims 11 to 16, wherein, The time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent are provided by a higher layer or determined based on timestamps of the data packets to be sent.

18. The coordinated transmission method of claim 17, wherein, The determination based on the timestamps of the data packets to be sent comprises: determination based on the timestamps of the data packets to be sent and one or more of the following: The reference time point, the offset, the length of the time information identifier, and a coefficient related to granularity of the time information identifier.

19. The coordinated transmission method of claim 18, wherein, The time information of the data packet to be sent is determined based on the following formula: TN=Floor(a x (Ttimestamp-Tref-Offset)) mod 2 N In the formula, TN represents time information identifier of the data packet to be sent, a represents a coefficient related to granularity of the time information identifier, Ttimestamp represents a timestamp of the data packet to be sent, Tref represents a reference time point, Offset represents an offset, N represents a length of the time information identifier, Floor represents a floor function, and mod represents a modulo operation.

20. A first terminal comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor; the memory is configured to store a computer program; the transceiver is configured to transceive data under control of the processor; the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations: performing coordinated transmission of data packets to be sent based on time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent in a plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other; The time information identifier is used to identify the time relationship of different data packets, and the transmission carrier includes one or more of a data stream, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

21. The first terminal of claim 20, wherein, The coordinated transmission of the data packets to be sent based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent in the plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other comprises: performing packetization and sending of the data packets to be sent based on the time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent and a coordinated sending rule, wherein the coordinated sending rule comprises that a sending time difference between the data packets to be sent with the same time information identifier in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a first time difference, and a sending time difference between the data packets to be sent with different time information identifiers in the plurality of transmission carriers is less than or equal to a second time difference; The second time difference is determined based on the first time difference, granularity of the time information identifier, and a difference between the time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent with different time information identifiers.

22. The first terminal of claim 20, wherein, The operations further comprise one or more of the following: sending a BSR or a DSR to a network device, wherein the BSR or the DSR contains time information identifiers of data packets to be sent in a logical channel; sending and / or discarding data packets according to time information identifiers indicated by a network device; sending time information identifiers of first data packets to one or more second terminals associated with the first terminal, wherein the first data packets are the latest data packets sent by the first terminal to the network device, or sending and / or discarding data packets according to time information identifiers indicated by a second terminal associated with the first terminal; indicating a first time information identifier to a network device, wherein the first time information identifier is used by the network device to send and / or discard data packets.

23. The first terminal of claim 21, wherein, The operations further comprise: in a case where the data packets to be sent cannot be sent according to the coordinated sending rule according to configured CG resources, requesting dynamic scheduling resources from the network device for sending the data packets to be sent.

24. The first terminal of claim 21, wherein, The first time difference is configured by a network or determined based on granularity of the time information identifier and a synchronization threshold between the plurality of transmission carriers.

25. The first terminal of claim 22, wherein, The time information identifiers of the data packets to be sent in the logical channel comprise any one of the following: a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel group; a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel; a time information identifier of a first SDU of a logical channel with the highest priority in a logical channel group.

26. The first terminal of claim 22, wherein, The method further includes: The method further includes:

27. The first terminal according to any one of claims 20 to 26, wherein, The time information identifier of the to-be-transmitted data packet is provided by a higher layer or determined based on a timestamp of the to-be-transmitted data packet.

28. The first terminal of claim 27, wherein, The method further includes: The method further includes: The method further includes:

29. The first terminal of claim 28, wherein, The time information of the data packet to be sent is determined based on the following formula: TN=Floor(a x (Ttimestamp-Tref-Offset)) mod 2 N The method further includes: TN = a * Ttimestamp + Offset + N * Floor ( (Ttimestamp - Tref) / N ) mod a, wherein TN represents the time information identifier of the to-be-transmitted data packet, a represents a coefficient related to granularity of the time information identifier, Ttimestamp represents the timestamp of the to-be-transmitted data packet, Tref represents a reference time point, Offset represents an offset, N represents a length of the time information identifier, Floor represents a floor function, and mod represents a modulo operation.

30. A network device, comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor. The memory is configured to store a computer program. The transceiver is configured to transceive data under control of the processor. The processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations: performing coordinated transmission of to-be-transmitted data packets based on time information identifiers of the to-be-transmitted data packets in a plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other. The time information identifiers are used to identify time relationships of different data packets, and the transmission carriers include one or more of a data flow, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

31. A coordinated transmission apparatus, comprising: a first transmission unit configured to perform coordinated transmission of to-be-transmitted data packets based on time information identifiers of the to-be-transmitted data packets in a plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other. The time information identifiers are used to identify time relationships of different data packets, and the transmission carriers include one or more of a data flow, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

32. A coordinated transmission apparatus, comprising: a second transmission unit configured to perform coordinated transmission of to-be-transmitted data packets based on time information identifiers of the to-be-transmitted data packets in a plurality of transmission carriers associated with each other. The time information identifiers are used to identify time relationships of different data packets, and the transmission carriers include one or more of a data flow, a radio bearer, and a logical channel.

33. A processor-readable storage medium, the processor-readable storage medium storing a program, the program being configured to cause a processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10 or the method of any one of claims 11 to 19.

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