Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, which relate to the technical field of mobile communications, and are used for aligning a time when a non-terrestrial access network device sends a signal to an uplink node with a time when the non-terrestrial access network device sends a signal to a downlink node. The method comprises: a first communication apparatus receiving first information from a first network device, wherein the first information comprises position information and / or speed information of a second network device, or, the first information comprises an offset of a transmission time of a first signal, with the offset of the transmission time of the first signal being determined on the basis of the position information and / or speed information of the second network device; the first communication apparatus determining first timing information on the basis of the first information; and the first communication apparatus also receiving the first signal from the first network device on the basis of the first timing information.

Description

A communication method and apparatus

[0001] Cross-reference to Related Applications

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202411325177.9, filed on September 20, 2024, and entitled "A communication method and apparatus", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present application relates to the field of mobile communication technology, and in particular, to a communication method and apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0004] Non-terrestrial networks (NTN) communication systems have a wider coverage range than traditional communication systems, and can overcome natural geographical obstacles such as oceans, deserts, and mountains. In order to overcome the shortcomings of traditional communication systems, NTN communication systems can be an effective supplement to traditional communication systems. In the NTN communication scenario, non-ground access network devices such as unmanned aerial vehicles, high altitude platform stations (HAPS), or satellites can provide data transmission, voice communication, and other services for terminals.

[0005] Currently, in the NTN scenario, how the non-ground access network device aligns the time of sending signals to the uplink node and the downlink node, and / or how the non-ground access network device aligns the time of receiving signals sent by the uplink node and the time of receiving signals sent by the downlink node, become technical problems to be solved. SUMMARY

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and apparatus to align the time of sending signals to the uplink node and the downlink node by the non-ground access network device, and / or to align the time of receiving signals sent by the uplink node and the time of receiving signals sent by the downlink node by the non-ground access network device in the NTN scenario.

[0007] In the first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be executed by a first communication apparatus, or in other words, the method can be applied to the first communication apparatus. In the absence of special description, the "first communication apparatus" in the present application can refer to a terminal device itself, a component (for example, a functional module, a communication module, a processor, a circuit, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) in the terminal device, or a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the terminal device functions. Wherein, the terminal device can be a terminal device accessing a non-ground access network device.

[0008] Taking the first communication device as an execution subject, the method comprises: the first communication device receives first information from a first network device, the first information comprising position information and / or speed information of a second network device; or, the first information comprising an offset of a sending time of a first signal, the offset of the sending time of the first signal being determined according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device; the first communication device determines first timing information according to the first information; and the first communication device can also receive the first signal from the first network device according to the first timing information.

[0009] Based on the first aspect, the first communication device can determine first timing information according to first information from a first network device, and receive a first signal from the first network device according to the first timing information. In the NTN network, the first network device can serve as a non-terrestrial access device. This method can support the first network device to align the time of sending signals to an uplink node and a downlink node, wherein the first communication device, as a downlink node of the first network device, can receive the first signal from the first network device according to the first information. In addition, the second network device can serve as an uplink node of the first network device. It can be understood that in the case of the first network device aligning the time of sending signals to the uplink node and the downlink node, the interference between the uplink and downlink signals can be reduced.

[0010] In a possible implementation, the first information comprises position information and / or speed information of the second network device, and the first communication device can further obtain position information and / or speed information of the first network device; the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device and the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device.

[0011] Based on this implementation, in the case that the first information comprises position information and / or speed information of the second network device, the first communication device can accurately and efficiently determine the first timing information according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device and the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device.

[0012] In a possible implementation, the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to a relative position between the first network device and the second network device and / or a relative speed between the first network device and the second network device; wherein the relative position between the first network device and the second network device is determined according to position information of the first network device and position information of the second network device, and the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device is determined according to speed information of the first network device and speed information of the second network device.

[0013] According to the implementation, in a case where the first information comprises position information and / or speed information of the second network device, the first communication apparatus can determine the first timing information according to relative position and / or relative speed between the first network device and the second network device.

[0014] In a possible implementation, the first information comprises position information and / or speed information of the second network device, and the first information comprises first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device, the ephemeris information being used to indicate the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device.

[0015] According to the implementation, in a case where the second network device is deployed on a satellite, the first information can be used to indicate ephemeris information of the second network device, and the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device is indicated by the ephemeris information.

[0016] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device, and the first indication information comprises an identifier of the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device, the identifier being used to indicate the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device from ephemeris information of a plurality of satellites; or the first indication information comprises the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device.

[0017] According to the implementation, in a case where the second network device is a neighbor satellite, the ephemeris information of the second network device is contained in a neighbor satellite ephemeris list, and the first information can comprise an index or identifier of the ephemeris information of the second network device in the neighbor satellite ephemeris list, and the complete ephemeris information of the second network device does not need to be carried, so that the indication overhead of the ephemeris information can be reduced. In a case where the second network device is not a neighbor satellite and is not contained in the neighbor satellite ephemeris list, the first information can carry the ephemeris information of the second network device.

[0018] In a possible implementation, the first information comprises the offset; and the first communication apparatus can determine the first timing information according to the offset and third timing information, the third timing information being determined according to relative position between the first communication apparatus and the first network device and / or relative speed between the first communication apparatus and the first network device.

[0019] According to the implementation, in a case where the first information comprises an offset of a sending time of the first signal, the first communication apparatus can accurately and efficiently determine the first timing information according to the third timing information and the offset.

[0020] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be executed by a second communication device, or in other words, the method can be applied to the second communication device. In the absence of special description, the "second communication device" in the present application can refer to the first network device itself, or a component (for example, a functional module, a communication module, a processor, a circuit, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) in the first network device, or a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the first network device. The first network device can be a non-ground access network device.

[0021] Taking the second communication device as an execution subject, the method comprises: the second communication device sends a first signal to a first communication device according to second timing information, wherein the second timing information is determined according to the relative position between the first network device and the second network device and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device; and the second communication device sends first information to the first communication device, wherein the first information is used by the first communication device to determine first timing information for receiving the first signal, and the first information comprises position information and / or speed information of the second network device; or the first information comprises an offset of the sending time of the first signal, and the offset of the sending time of the first signal is determined according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device.

[0022] The second timing information can be understood as the time at which the second communication device sends the first signal.

[0023] In a possible implementation, the second communication device can further send a second signal to the second network device according to the second timing information, and the boundary of the time unit corresponding to the first signal is aligned with the boundary of the time unit corresponding to the second signal.

[0024] Based on the implementation, the second communication device can send the second signal to the second network device and the first signal to the first communication device according to the second timing information, so as to realize the first network device aligning the time of sending signals to the uplink node and the downlink node.

[0025] As a manner of determining the second timing information, the second communication apparatus can determine the second timing information according to the timing advance and the relative position information and / or the relative speed between the second communication apparatus and the second network device. For example, as the second communication apparatus gradually moves away from the second network device, the timing advance between the second communication apparatus and the second network device gradually increases, and thus the time delay can be compensated by the relative position information and / or the relative speed between the second communication apparatus and the second network device. It can be understood that the relative position information and / or the relative speed between the second communication apparatus and the second network device is determined according to the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device and the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device.

[0026] The timing advance between the second communication apparatus and the second network device can be understood as the timing advance between the uplink time unit and the corresponding downlink time unit between the second communication apparatus and the first network device. The uplink time unit and the corresponding downlink time unit have the same index. According to the timing advance, the transmission time of the first signal and / or the second signal is determined, which is beneficial to signal synchronization. It can be understood that for the communication between the second communication apparatus and the second network device, the uplink direction refers to the uplink of the second communication apparatus to the second network device, and the downlink direction refers to the direction of the second network device to the second communication apparatus.

[0027] For example, the second communication apparatus receives the downlink signal carried in the downlink time unit with index x from the second network device at time t1, and adjusts the timing advance according to the timing advance and the relative position information and / or the relative speed between the second communication apparatus and the second network device, and determines the starting time of the uplink time unit with index x according to the time t1 and the adjusted timing advance. The time can be used as the transmission time of the first signal and / or the second signal, that is, the time is the second timing information.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the first information includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device. The ephemeris information is used to indicate the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the first indication information includes an identifier of the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device, and the identifier is used to indicate the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device from a plurality of ephemeris information of satellites; or the first indication information includes the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device.

[0030] The technical effects brought by the second aspect and any possible implementation manners thereof can refer to the beneficial effect descriptions of the solutions in the first aspect and the corresponding implementation manners, which will not be repeated here.

[0031] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be executed by a first communication device, or in other words, the method can be applied to the first communication device. In the absence of special description, the "first communication device" in the present application can refer to a terminal device itself, a component (for example, a functional module, a communication module, a processor, a circuit, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) in the terminal device, or a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the terminal device functions. The terminal device can be a terminal device accessing a non-terrestrial access network device.

[0032] Taking the first communication device as an execution subject, the method includes: the first communication device receives second information, the second information being used to indicate a first time deviation, the first time deviation being a time deviation between a time when a first network device sends a third signal to a second network device and a time when the first network device receives a fourth signal from the second network device; determining fourth timing information according to the first time deviation; and the first communication device sends a fifth signal to the first network device according to the fourth timing information.

[0033] Based on the third aspect, the first communication device can determine the fourth timing information according to the second information, and send the fifth signal to the first network device according to the fourth timing information. The second information is used to indicate a time deviation between a time when the first network device sends the third signal to the second network device and a time when the first network device receives the fourth signal from the second network device. Based on this implementation manner, the first network device can align the time of receiving the signal sent by the uplink node with the time of receiving the signal sent by the downlink node, so as to reduce the interference between the received signal sent by the uplink node and the signal sent by the downlink node.

[0034] In a possible implementation manner, the second information is also used to indicate time information corresponding to the first time deviation and / or a relative position between the first network device and the second network device.

[0035] Based on the implementation, the time information corresponding to the first time offset can be a starting position of an uplink time unit and / or a downlink time unit of the second network device. The time information corresponding to the first time offset can be used as time information when the first time offset takes effect, and the relative position between the first network device and the second network device can be understood as the relative position information between the first network device and the second network device when the first time offset takes effect. Therefore, the implementation can support the first communication apparatus to accurately determine the taking effect time of the first time offset.

[0036] In a possible implementation, the first communication apparatus can further receive second indication information from the first network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate a correspondence between the relative position between the first network device and the second network device and the time information.

[0037] Based on the implementation, the first communication apparatus can determine the applicable first time offset according to the correspondence between the time information and the relative position between the first network device and the second network device.

[0038] In a possible implementation, the first communication apparatus can further receive first information from the first network device, where the first information includes position information and / or speed information of the second network device, or the first information includes a transmission time offset of the first signal, and the transmission time offset of the first signal is determined according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device; determine first timing information according to the first information; and receive the first signal from the first network device according to the first timing information.

[0039] Based on the implementation, the non-terrestrial access network device can be aligned to transmit signals at the uplink node and the downlink node, and to receive signals transmitted by the uplink node and signals transmitted by the downlink node.

[0040] In a possible implementation, if the index of the time unit corresponding to the fifth signal is the same as the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal, the fourth timing information is determined according to the first time offset and fifth timing information, and the fifth timing information is determined according to the relative position between the first communication apparatus and the first network device and / or the relative speed between the first communication apparatus and the first network device.

[0041] Based on the implementation, accurate determination of the fourth timing information can be achieved.

[0042] In a possible implementation, if a difference between an index of a time unit corresponding to the fifth signal and an index of a time unit corresponding to the fourth signal is n, where n is a positive integer, the fourth timing information is determined according to the first time offset, fifth timing information, and the n, where the fifth timing information is determined according to a relative position between the first communication device and the first network device and / or a relative speed between the first communication device and the first network device.

[0043] Based on the implementation, accurate determination of the fourth timing information can be achieved.

[0044] For example, the fifth timing information can be determined according to a timing advance between the first communication device and the first network device. The timing advance between the first communication device and the first network device can be understood as a time advance between an uplink time unit and a corresponding downlink time unit between the first communication device and the first network device, where the uplink time unit and the corresponding downlink time unit have the same index. The sending time of the fifth signal is determined according to the timing advance, which is beneficial to signal synchronization.

[0045] For example, the first communication device receives a downlink signal carried in a downlink time unit with index x from the first network device at time t2, and accordingly, the first communication device can determine the starting position of an uplink time unit with index x originally used to send an uplink signal according to the time t2 and the timing advance, that is, determine the fifth timing information. In this application, it can be considered that the first communication device compensates the fifth timing information according to the first time offset, that is, actually sends the fifth signal through the uplink time unit with index x according to the fourth timing information.

[0046] In a possible implementation, the first communication device can receive a broadcast message of the first network device, and the second information is included in the broadcast message.

[0047] Based on the implementation, the first network device can send the second information through broadcasting.

[0048] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be executed by a second communication device, or in other words, the method can be applied to the second communication device. In the absence of special description, the "second communication device" in the present application can refer to the first network device itself, or a component (for example, a functional module, a communication module, a processor, a circuit, a chip, or a chip system) in the first network device, or a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the first network device. The first network device can be a non-terrestrial access network device.

[0049] With the second communication device as an execution subject, the method comprises: the second communication device sending second information, the second information being used for indicating a first time offset, the first time offset being a time offset between a time when a first network device sends a third signal to a second network device and a time when the first network device receives a fourth signal from the second network device; and the second communication device receiving a fifth signal from a first communication device, the fifth signal being sent according to fourth timing information, the fourth timing information being determined according to the first time offset.

[0050] In a possible implementation, the second information is also used for indicating time information corresponding to the first time offset and / or a relative position between the first network device and the second network device.

[0051] In a possible implementation, the second communication device can also send second indication information, the second indication information being used for indicating a correspondence between the relative position between the first network device and the second network device and the time information.

[0052] In a possible implementation, the second communication device can also send, to the first communication device, a first signal according to second timing information, the second timing information being determined according to a relative position between the first network device and the second network device and / or a relative speed between the first network device and the second network device; and send, to the first communication device, first information, the first information being used by the first communication device to determine first timing information for receiving the first signal, the first information comprising position information and / or speed information of the second network device; or the first information comprising a transmission time offset of the first signal, the transmission time offset of the first signal being determined according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device.

[0053] In a possible implementation, the second communication device can also send, to the second network device, a second signal according to the second timing information, a boundary of a time unit corresponding to the first signal being aligned with a boundary of a time unit corresponding to the second signal.

[0054] In a possible implementation, if an index of a time unit corresponding to the fifth signal is the same as an index of a time unit corresponding to the fourth signal, the fourth timing information is determined according to the first time offset and fifth timing information, the fifth timing information being determined according to a relative position between the first communication device and the first network device and / or a relative speed between the first communication device and the first network device.

[0055] In a possible implementation, if the difference between the index of the time unit corresponding to the fifth signal and the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal is n, n is a positive integer, the fourth timing information is determined according to the first time offset, the fifth timing information, and the n, wherein the fifth timing information is determined according to the relative position between the first communication device and the first network device and / or the relative speed between the first communication device and the first network device.

[0056] In a possible implementation, the second communication device can send a broadcast message, and the second information is included in the broadcast message.

[0057] The technical effects brought by the fourth aspect and any possible implementation thereof can be referred to the description of the beneficial effects of the solutions in the third aspect and the corresponding implementation, which will not be repeated here.

[0058] In the fifth aspect, a communication device is provided. The device can implement the method in any of the first aspect to the fourth aspect and any possible implementation thereof. The device has the functions of the first communication device or the second communication device. The device is, for example, a terminal device, or a functional module in a terminal device, or a first network device or a functional module in a first network device, etc.

[0059] In an optional implementation, the device can include a module corresponding to each of the methods / operations / steps / actions in any of the first aspect to the fourth aspect and any possible implementation thereof. The module can be a hardware circuit, software, or a combination of hardware circuit and software. In an optional implementation, the device includes a processing unit (also referred to as a processing module) and a communication unit (also referred to as a transceiver module, a communication module, etc.). The transceiver unit can implement the sending function and the receiving function. When the transceiver unit implements the sending function, it can be referred to as a sending unit (also referred to as a sending module). When the transceiver unit implements the receiving function, it can be referred to as a receiving unit (also referred to as a receiving module). The sending unit and the receiving unit can be the same functional module, which is referred to as a transceiver unit and can implement the sending function and the receiving function. Alternatively, the sending unit and the receiving unit can be different functional modules, and the transceiver unit refers to these functional modules in general.

[0060] For example, when the device is used to implement the method in any of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, the device can include a communication unit (or a transceiver unit) and a processing unit.

[0061] In a sixth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication apparatus, including a processor configured to execute a computer program (or computer executable instructions) stored in a memory, when the computer program (or computer executable instructions) is executed, causing the apparatus to perform the method in any one of the first aspect to the fourth aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof.

[0062] In a possible implementation, the processor and the memory are integrated together.

[0063] In another possible implementation, the memory is located outside the communication apparatus.

[0064] The communication apparatus further includes a communication interface configured to enable the communication apparatus to communicate with other devices, such as transmitting or receiving data and / or signals. For example, the communication interface can be a transceiver, a circuit, a bus, a module or other types of communication interface.

[0065] In a seventh aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, the computer readable storage medium is configured to store a computer program or instructions, when the computer program or instructions is executed, causing the method in any one of the first aspect to the fourth aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof and the method shown in any possible implementation manner thereof to be implemented.

[0066] In an eighth aspect, a computer program product including instructions is provided, when the computer program product is executed on a computer, causing the method in any one of the first aspect to the fourth aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof to be implemented.

[0067] In a ninth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication apparatus configured to perform the method in any one of the first aspect to the fourth aspect and any possible implementation manner thereof. The communication apparatus is, for example, the first communication apparatus or the second communication apparatus.

[0068] In a tenth aspect, a chip system is provided. The chip system includes a logic circuit (or, the chip system includes a processor, which can include the logic circuit, etc.). The chip system can also include an input / output interface. The input / output interface can be configured to input a message and / or output a message. The input / output interface can be a same interface that is configured to both transmit and receive. Alternatively, the input / output interface can include an input interface and an output interface. The input interface can be configured to receive a message. The output interface can be configured to transmit a message. The logic circuit can be configured to perform operations other than transmitting and receiving in the method of any of the first aspect to the fourth aspect and any possible implementation thereof. The logic circuit can be configured to transmit a message to the input / output interface and / or receive a message from the input / output interface. The chip system can be configured to implement the method of any of the first aspect to the fourth aspect and any possible implementation thereof. The chip system can be implemented by a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0069] Optionally, the chip system can further include a memory. The memory can be configured to store instructions. The logic circuit can be configured to invoke the instructions stored in the memory to implement corresponding functions.

[0070] In an eleventh aspect, a communication method is provided. As an implementation manner, the communication method can include the method implemented by the first communication device in the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof and the method implemented by the second communication device in the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof. Alternatively, the communication method can include the method implemented by the first communication device in the third aspect and any possible implementation thereof and the method implemented by the second communication device in the fourth aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0071] In a twelfth aspect, a communication system is provided. As an implementation manner, the communication system can include a first communication device and a second communication device. The first communication device can be configured to implement the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof. The second communication device can be configured to implement the method in the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof. Alternatively, the first communication device can be configured to implement the method in the third aspect and any possible implementation thereof. The second communication device can be configured to implement the method in the fourth aspect and any possible implementation thereof. Optionally, the communication system can further include a second network device.

[0072] The technical effects brought by the fifth aspect to the twelfth aspect above can be referred to the descriptions of the beneficial effects of the corresponding solutions in the first aspect to the fourth aspect, which will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0073] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of an NTN communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of alignment of downlink reception and uplink reception of an IAB node according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of alignment of uplink transmission and downlink transmission of an IAB node according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of alignment of uplink transmission and downlink transmission of a first network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a first time offset according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0081] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of another first time offset according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0082] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of alignment of uplink transmission and downlink transmission and alignment of uplink reception and downlink reception of a first network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0083] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of another alignment of uplink transmission and downlink transmission and alignment of uplink reception and downlink reception of a first network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0084] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0085] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of another structure of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0086] The specific implementation manners of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0087] The embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems. For example, the communication system can include a cellular system, such as a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, a general packet radio service (GPRS), a long term evolution (LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (TDD), a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), a 5th generation (5G) system or a new radio (NR), or a future communication system or other similar communication system. For another example, the communication system can include a non-cellular system, such as an ultra wide band (UWB) system, a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WIMAX) communication system or a WiFi system.

[0088] Fig. 1 shows a possible, non-limiting system diagram. As shown in Fig. 1, the communication system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. The RAN can also be referred to as an access network (AN). Optionally, the communication system can also include an Internet 300. The RAN 100 can include at least one RAN device (e.g., 110a and 110b in Fig. 1) and at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120j in Fig. 1). The terminal is connected to the RAN device wirelessly, and the RAN device is connected to the core network through wireless or wired means. The core network device and the RAN device can be independent and different physical devices, or they can be integrated into the same physical device. The terminal and the terminal, and the RAN device and the RAN device can be connected to each other through wired or wireless means. Fig. 1 is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system can also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in Fig. 1.

[0089] The present application can be applied to at least 4G and / or 5G networks. That is, the core network can include core network devices in a 5G communication system and / or core network devices in a 5G communication system.

[0090] For example, the core network device in the 5G communication system can include an AMF network element, a session management function (SMF) network element, and a user plane function (UPF), etc.

[0091] The AMF network element is mainly used for mobility management and access management functions. In the 5G communication system, the AMF network element can be used for mobility management, access authentication or authorization, etc.

[0092] The SMF network element can be used to manage the session of the terminal device (including the establishment, modification and release of the session), select and reselect the user plane function network element, allocate the internet protocol (IP) address of the terminal device, control the quality of service (QoS), etc.

[0093] The UPF network element can be used to perform forwarding and receiving of user data in the terminal device. A session (or connection, link, etc.) for transmitting user data can be established between the UPF network element and the access network device. The UPF network element can receive user data from a data network and transmit the user data to the terminal device through the session between the UPF network element and the access network device. The UPF network element can also receive user data sent by the terminal device through the session and forward the data to the data network. The transmission resources and scheduling functions provided by the UPF network element for the terminal device can be managed and controlled by the session management function network element.

[0094] It can be understood that the AMF can also be replaced by an access management network element. The access management network element in the present application can be used to manage the access control and / or mobility of the terminal device. In actual application, the access management network element can include the mobility management function in the MME in the network framework in LTE. That is, in 4G, the access management network element can be MME. The access management network element can also include the access management function, which can be responsible for the registration of the terminal device, mobility management, tracking area update process, reachability detection, selection of the session management function network element, management of mobile state conversion, etc. For example, in 5G, the access management network element can be an AMF network element; in future communication systems, the access management network element can still be an AMF network element, or have other names, which are not limited in the present application. When the access management network element is an AMF network element, the AMF can provide Namf services.

[0095] In the present application, the access network device can represent the base station and other wireless access network devices, unless otherwise specified.

[0096] The access network device can be an apparatus in the RAN that provides priority and / or wireless communication functions for the terminal device, referred to as a RAN device or (R)AN device. The RAN can be an access network in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), for example, a 4th generation (4G), 5G, or future communication network. The RAN can also be an open RAN (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a communication network of two or more of the above networks. The RAN device can be a base station in a long term evolution (LTE) or LTE advanced (LTE-A) communication system, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB / eNB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, an access node in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, a long range radio (LoRa) system, or a vehicle-to-everything system. The RAN device can also be a module or unit that completes part of the functions of a base station, for example, a CU, a DU, a CU-user plane (UP), or an RU, etc. For example, the CU is configured to implement the functions of the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer and above protocol layers (such as the radio resource control (RRC) layer and / or the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, etc.); the DU is configured to implement the functions of the PDCP layer below protocol layers (such as the radio link control (RLC) layer, the media access control (MAC) layer, and / or the physical (PHY) layer, etc.). For specific descriptions of the above protocol layers, refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3GPP. The CU and the DU can be separately arranged or can be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU).The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, for example, included in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH). Any of the CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module. The wireless access network device can also be a macro base station (such as 110a in FIG. 1), or a micro base station or indoor station (such as 110b in FIG. 1), and can also be a relay node or a donor node, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the wireless access network device. For ease of description, the base station can be taken as an example of the wireless access network device in this application.

[0097] In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, the CU can also be referred to as O-CU (open CU), the DU can also be referred to as O-DU, the CU-CP can also be referred to as O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be referred to as O-CU-UP, and the RU can also be referred to as O-RU. For ease of description, the CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU are taken as examples for description in this application. Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0098] In the embodiments of this application, the form of the access network device is not limited, and the device for implementing the function of the access network device can be the access network device; or can be a device capable of supporting the access network device to implement the function, such as a module or a chip system. The device can be installed in the access network device or used in combination with the access network device.

[0099] In this application, core network devices can be deployed in the core network 200.

[0100] The steps of different embodiments in this application can be used in combination, which is not limited herein.

[0101] In this application, the network device can represent the access network device and the core network device.

[0102] It can be understood that the network device can be referred to as a communication apparatus. For example, the network device can be understood as an apparatus having a network device function. For example, the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device can be the network device; or part of the elements in the network device, for example, a CU, a DU or an RU, etc. The apparatus for implementing the function of the network device can also be an apparatus capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, for example, a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit plus a software module, which can be installed in the network device or can be used in matching with the network device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0103] The terminal can also be referred to as a terminal device, a UE, a station (STA), a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal, etc. The terminal can be widely applied to various scenarios, for example, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, automatic driving, remote medical treatment, smart power grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a wearable device, a vehicle, a drone, a helicopter, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a mechanical arm, a smart home device, etc.

[0104] Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form of the terminal. It can be understood that the terminal can be referred to as a communication apparatus. For example, the terminal can be understood as an apparatus having a terminal function. For example, the apparatus for implementing the function of the terminal can be the terminal; or an apparatus capable of supporting the terminal to implement the function, for example, a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit plus a software module, which can be installed in the terminal or can be used in matching with the terminal.

[0105] The network device and the terminal can be fixed in position or movable. The network device and / or the terminal can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface; can also be deployed on an airplane, a balloon and a man-made satellite. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of the network device and the terminal.

[0106] The roles of the network device and the terminal can be relative. For example, the helicopter or the drone 120i in FIG. 1 can be configured as a mobile base station or an AP, and for the terminal 120j that accesses the wireless access network 100 through the drone 120i, the drone 120i is a network device; but for the network device 110a, the drone 120i is a terminal, that is, the 110a and the 120i communicate through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, the 110a and the 120i can also communicate through an interface protocol between network devices and network devices, and at this time, the 120i is also a network device relative to the 110a. Therefore, the network device and the terminal can be collectively referred to as a communication apparatus, and the 110a and the 110b in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication apparatus with a network device function, and the 120a-120j in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication apparatus with a terminal function.

[0107] In this application, the network device and the terminal, the network device and the network device, and the terminal and the terminal can communicate through the licensed spectrum, or through the unlicensed spectrum (or referred to as the license-exempt spectrum), or through the licensed spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum at the same time; can communicate through the spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), or through the spectrum above 6 GHz, or through the spectrum below 6 GHz and the spectrum above 6 GHz at the same time. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0108] In this application, "sending" and "receiving" represent the direction of signal transmission. For example, "sending information to XX" can be understood as that the destination of the information is XX, and "sending information" can include direct sending or indirect sending through other communication devices, communication apparatuses, units or modules. "Receiving information from YY" can be understood as that the source of the information is YY, and "receiving information" can include direct receiving from YY or indirect receiving from YY through other communication devices, communication apparatuses, units or modules. In addition, "sending" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface. In other words, "sending" or "receiving" can be performed between devices, for example, the base station and the terminal send or receive through the air interface respectively, and "sending" or "receiving" can also be performed within the device, for example, sending or receiving between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules within the device through the bus, wire or interface.

[0109] In this application, "for indicating" can include "for directly indicating" and "for indirectly indicating". When describing that "information" is "for indicating A", it can include that the information directly indicates A or indirectly indicates A, and does not mean that A is necessarily carried in the information.

[0110] If the information indicated by one information is referred to as to-be-indicated information, there are many ways to indicate the to-be-indicated information in the implementation process, for example, but not limited to, the to-be-indicated information can be directly indicated, such as the to-be-indicated information itself or an index of the to-be-indicated information. The to-be-indicated information can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, where the other information and the to-be-indicated information have an association relationship. The to-be-indicated information can also be only partially indicated, and the other part of the to-be-indicated information is known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of a specific information can also be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each information agreed in advance (for example, specified by a protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. At the same time, the common part of each information can be identified and uniformly indicated to reduce the indication overhead caused by separately indicating the same information.

[0111] In addition, the specific indication manner can also be other manners, for example, but not limited to, the above-mentioned indication manners and various combinations thereof. The specific details of various indication manners are not described herein, and will not be described herein. As can be seen from the above, for example, when multiple information of the same type needs to be indicated, the indication manners of different information can be different. In the implementation process, the required indication manner can be selected according to the specific needs, and the selected indication manner is not limited by the embodiments of the present application. In this way, the indication manners involved in the embodiments of the present application should be understood as covering various methods that can enable the to-be-indicated party to know the to-be-indicated information.

[0112] The to-be-indicated information can be sent as a whole, or can be sent separately into multiple sub-information, and the sending period and / or sending occasion of the sub-information can be the same or different. The specific sending method is not limited by the present application. The sending period and / or sending occasion of the sub-information can be pre-defined, for example, pre-defined according to a protocol, or configured by the transmitting end device by sending configuration information to the receiving end device. Taking the configuration of the access network device to the UE as an example, the configuration information can include, for example, but not limited to, one or a combination of at least two of RRC signaling (or RRC message), MAC layer signaling, and PHY layer signaling. The MAC layer signaling includes, for example, a MAC control element (CE). The PHY layer signaling includes, for example, at least one of downlink control information (DCI).

[0113] In the embodiments shown below, the first, second, and various numerical numbers are only used for differentiation for convenience of description, and do not limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. For example, different indication information is differentiated.

[0114] The "preset" or "predefined" or "preconfigured" can be implemented by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables or other means for indicating relevant information in devices (e.g., including terminals and network devices), and can also be pre-defined in a protocol. The specific implementation mode is not limited in the present application. Wherein, "storing" can mean storing in one or more memories. The one or more memories can be separately arranged, or integrated in the encoder or decoder, processor, or communication device. The one or more memories can be part of the separately arranged, and part of the integrated in the decoder, processor, or communication device. The type of memory can be any form of storage medium, which is not limited in the present application.

[0115] In the present application, the descriptions of "A is determined according to B", "A is related to B", "A is related to B", "A is determined according to B", "A is determined according to B", "B is used to determine A" and the like have the same meaning and can be replaced with each other.

[0116] The embodiments of the present application can be applied to a communication system integrating terrestrial communication system and non-terrestrial communication system, which can also be referred to as NTN system. Wherein, the terrestrial communication system can be, for example, LTE system, UMTS, 5G communication system, or various future communication systems, etc., which is not limited here. For the NTN system, the access network device can be a non-terrestrial access network device deployed in non-terrestrial, for example, the non-terrestrial access network device can be deployed in unmanned aerial vehicle, HAPS or satellite, etc.

[0117] Wherein, the NTN communication system has a wider coverage range than the traditional communication system, and can overcome natural geographical obstacles such as oceans, deserts and mountains. In order to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional communication system, the NTN communication system can be an effective supplement to the traditional communication system. According to the different orbital heights, the satellite communication system can be divided into three kinds: high orbit (geostationary earth orbit, GEO) satellite communication system, medium orbit (medium earth orbit, MEO) satellite communication system, and low orbit (low earth orbit, LEO) satellite communication system. The GEO satellite communication system can also be referred to as synchronous orbit satellite system. Generally, compared with terrestrial communication, NTN has different channel characteristics (e.g., large transmission delay, large Doppler frequency offset, etc.). Exemplarily, the round-trip delay of GEO satellite communication system is 238-270 milliseconds (ms), and the round-trip delay of LEO satellite communication system is 8ms-20ms.

[0118] In the NTN communication scenario, non-ground access network devices such as unmanned aerial vehicles, HAPS or satellites can provide data transmission, voice communication and other services for terminals. In the following, satellite base stations are mainly described, but this does not mean that it is limited to this. The satellite base station can be understood as a base station deployed on a satellite, or the satellite can be understood as a base station. The satellite base station can have the processing function of an access network device (such as an eNB or gNB), or in other words, the satellite base station can be used to provide wireless access services for terminal devices.

[0119] Taking the satellite base station as an example of the non-ground access network device, FIG. 2 shows an exemplary system architecture of the NTN communication system in the NTN scenario. As can be seen, the terminals in the NTN communication system can access the network through the satellite base station (such as satellite base station #1 or satellite base station #2). As shown in FIG. 2, terminal #1 can access the network through satellite base station #1, and terminal #2 can access the network through satellite base station #2. In addition, the satellite base station and the ground station can be connected through the NG interface, and the ground station can be connected with the core network element. For example, the ground station can be connected with the control plane core network element such as AMF and / or SMF, and the ground station can also be connected with the user plane core network element such as UPF.

[0120] In addition, multiple satellite base stations can be connected through the Xn interface. For example, satellite base station #1 and satellite base station #2 can be connected through the Xn interface. For example, in the case where the satellite base station #1 is connected with the ground station to connect the terminal due to the reason that the coverage range of the satellite base station #1 exceeds the location of the ground station, the satellite base station #1 can forward the signals or information between the satellite base station #1 and the ground station through the satellite base station #2. For example, the satellite base station #1 can send signals to the ground station through the satellite base station #2, and / or the satellite base station #1 can receive signals from the ground station through the satellite base station #2.

[0121] The embodiments of the present application can be applicable to the scenario of a base station (gNB processed payload based on relay-like architectures) with integrated access and backhaul (IAB) function. Specifically, the satellite base station can be an IAB with integrated access and backhaul. In addition, the embodiments of the present application can also be applicable to the scenario with or without inter-satellite links.

[0122] For example, as shown in FIG. 2, in a scenario where terminal #1 can access satellite base station #1, satellite base station #1 is connected with satellite base station #2, and satellite base station #2 is connected with a ground station, terminal #1, satellite base station #1, satellite base station #2, or the ground station, etc. can be regarded as an IAB node. Among them, satellite base station #2 can be regarded as the parent node of satellite base station #1, and terminal #1 can be regarded as the child node of satellite base station #1.

[0123] Similarly, in a scenario where terminal #1 accesses satellite base station #1, and satellite base station #1 is connected with a ground station, the ground station can be regarded as the parent node of satellite base station #1, and terminal #1 can be regarded as the child node of satellite base station #1. In a scenario where terminal #2 accesses satellite base station #2, and satellite base station #2 is connected with a ground station, the ground station can be regarded as the parent node of satellite base station #2, and terminal #2 can be regarded as the child node of satellite base station #2.

[0124] It can be understood that when the time at which the access network device sends a signal to the uplink node is aligned with the time at which the access network device sends a signal to the downlink node, the interference between the signals sent by the access network device to the uplink node and the downlink node can be reduced. When the time at which the access network device receives a signal sent by the uplink node is aligned with the time at which the access network device receives a signal sent by the downlink node, the interference between the signals received by the access network device from the uplink node and the downlink node can be reduced. However, since in the NTN scenario, the access network device is often a movable entity such as a satellite base station, the transmission delay between the access network device and the uplink node and the transmission delay between the access network device and the downlink node are variable, and therefore, in the NTN scenario, how the access network device aligns the time at which it sends a signal to the uplink node and the downlink node, and / or how it aligns the time at which it receives a signal sent by the uplink node and a signal sent by the downlink node, become technical problems to be solved.

[0125] In this application, the uplink direction can refer to the direction in which a terminal sends a signal to a network device, for example, the signal sending direction of the terminal to the access network device (such as a satellite base station), the signal sending direction of the access network device to the ground station, or the signal sending direction of the ground station to the core network element, etc. can be referred to as the uplink direction. The downlink direction can refer to the direction in which a network device sends a signal to a terminal, for example, the signal sending direction of the core network element to the ground station, the signal sending direction of the ground station to the access network device, or the signal sending direction of the access network device (such as a satellite base station) to the terminal, etc. can be referred to as the downlink direction.

[0126] For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the satellite base station #2 or the ground station can be an uplink node of the satellite base station #1, and the terminal #1 can be a downlink node of the satellite base station #1. For another example, the ground station can be an uplink node of the satellite base station #2, and the satellite base station #1 or the terminal #2 can be a downlink node of the satellite base station #2. As an example, for the IAB scenario, the uplink node can be a parent node, and the downlink node can be a child node.

[0127] In this application, the time at which the access network device transmits a signal to the uplink node is aligned with the time at which the access network device transmits a signal to the downlink node, which can include any one or more of the following cases:

[0128] Case 1: In one time unit, the access network device transmits an uplink signal to the uplink node and transmits a downlink signal to the downlink node. For example, at the start of a time unit, the access network device transmits an uplink signal to the uplink node and transmits a downlink signal to the downlink node.

[0129] Case 2: In one time unit, the access network device transmits an uplink signal to the uplink node, and in another time unit, the access network device transmits a downlink signal to the downlink node. For example, at the start of a time unit, the access network device transmits an uplink signal to the uplink node, and at the start of another time unit, the access network device transmits a downlink signal to the downlink node. That is, in this application, the access network device is not required to transmit an uplink signal to the uplink node and transmit a downlink signal to the downlink node in the same time unit.

[0130] In this application, a time unit can be one or more time slots, one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or subframes, or a unit with other time domain lengths, such as 1 ms, etc., which is not specifically limited.

[0131] In addition, the time at which the access network device receives a signal transmitted by the uplink node is aligned with the time at which the access network device receives a signal transmitted by the downlink node, which can include any one or more of the following cases:

[0132] Case 1: In one time unit, the access network device receives a signal transmitted by the uplink node and receives a signal transmitted by the downlink node. For example, at the start of a time unit, the access network device receives a signal transmitted by the uplink node and receives a signal transmitted by the downlink node.

[0133] Case 2: In one time unit, the access network device receives the signal sent by the uplink node, and in another time unit, the access network device receives the signal sent by the downlink node. For example, at the starting position of one time unit, the access network device receives the signal sent by the uplink node, and at the starting position of another time unit, the access network device receives the signal sent by the downlink node. That is, in the present application, it is not required that the access network device receives the signal sent by the uplink node and the signal sent by the downlink node in the same time unit.

[0134] It can be understood that the transmission time A is boundary-aligned with the transmission time B, which means that the time interval between the transmission time A and the transmission time B is an integer multiple of the length of the time unit.

[0135] With reference to the IAB mechanism, the time at which the IAB node receives the downlink signal from the parent node and the time at which the IAB node receives the uplink signal from the child node are aligned. In the case where the distance between the IAB node and the parent node is different from the distance between the IAB node and the child node, the transmission delay of the downlink signal and the transmission delay of the uplink signal are different, i.e., as shown in FIG. 3, if it is desired that the time at which the signal sent by the parent node and the signal sent by the child node reaches the IAB node is aligned, the parent node and the child node respectively send signals at different times. It can be understood that one alignment manner is shown as manner 1 in FIG. 3, i.e., the index of the time unit of the signal sent by the parent node is the same as the index of the time unit of the signal sent by the child node. Another alignment manner is shown as manner 2 in FIG. 3, i.e., the index of the time unit of the signal sent by the parent node can be different from the index of the time unit of the signal sent by the child node.

[0136] Similarly, the time when the IAB node transmits a signal to the parent node and the time when the IAB node transmits a signal to the child node can be aligned. As shown in FIG. 4, the uplink reception time unit and the downlink transmission time unit of the parent node are aligned, for example, the IAB node transmits an uplink signal and a downlink signal in the time unit with index 0, respectively, wherein the uplink signal transmitted by the IAB node arrives at the parent node after the start of the time unit with index 0 due to the transmission delay, and the downlink signal arrives at the child node after the start of the time unit with index 0 due to the transmission delay. Since the positions of the IAB node, the parent node and the child node are relatively fixed in the IAB system, that is, the transmission delay between the IAB node and the parent node, and the transmission delay between the IAB node and the child node are determined, therefore, the parent node transmits a signal to the IAB node according to a fixed timing advance, which is related to the transmission delay of the parent node transmitting a signal to the IAB node, and the child node transmits a signal to the IAB node according to a fixed timing advance, which is related to the transmission delay of the child node transmitting a signal to the IAB node, so as to ensure that the IAB node receives the downlink signal from the parent node and the uplink signal from the child node at the same time. In addition, the uplink signal transmitted by the IAB node to the parent node and the downlink signal transmitted by the IAB node to the child node are aligned, the parent node can receive a signal from the IAB node according to a set timing advance, which is related to the transmission delay of the IAB node transmitting a signal to the parent node, and the child node can receive a signal from the IAB node according to a set timing advance, which is related to the transmission delay of the IAB node transmitting a signal to the child node.

[0137] However, in the NTN system, due to the mobility of the access network device, the transmission delay between the access network device and the uplink node, and the transmission delay between the access network device and the downlink node are uncertain, which brings great difficulty to align the time when the access network device transmits a signal to the uplink node and the time when the access network device transmits a signal to the downlink node, and / or align the time when the access network device receives a signal transmitted by the uplink node and the time when the access network device receives a signal transmitted by the downlink node. In addition, in some scenarios, the uplink node can also be a device in motion such as a satellite base station, which makes it more difficult to align the time when the access network device transmits a signal to the uplink node and the time when the access network device transmits a signal to the downlink node, and / or align the time when the access network device receives a signal transmitted by the uplink node and the time when the access network device receives a signal transmitted by the downlink node.

[0138] The application provides a communication method for aligning the time of sending signals by an access network device to an uplink node with the time of sending signals to a downlink node, and / or aligning the time of receiving signals sent by the uplink node with the time of receiving signals sent by the downlink node, thereby reducing transmission interference. The method for aligning the time of sending signals by the access network device to the uplink node with the time of sending signals to the downlink node is introduced by the flowchart in FIG. 5, and the method for aligning the time of receiving signals sent by the uplink node with the time of receiving signals sent by the downlink node is introduced by the flowchart in FIG. 7. The communication method can be implemented by one or more of a terminal (or terminal device), a first network device (or first network element), a second network device (or second network element), or by a device or component in the one or more network elements or devices.

[0139] In the flowcharts in FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, the execution subject is taken as an example of a first communication device, a first network device, and a second network device. The first communication device can be a terminal or a module or chip in the terminal.

[0140] The first network device can be an access network device providing access services for the terminal. It can be understood that the first network device can be deployed on a satellite. Taking a 4G network as an example, the first network device can be an MME deployed on a satellite. For another example, taking a 5G network as an example, the first network device can be an AMF deployed on a satellite.

[0141] The second network device can be an uplink node of the first network device, such as an upper-layer network node. For example, the first network device establishes a connection with a ground station through the second network device. The second network device can be a satellite base station or other network device or network element connected with the first network device.

[0142] The actions performed by the first communication device in the application can also be replaced by a terminal or a module or chip in the terminal, the actions performed by the first network device can also be replaced by a module or chip in the first network device, and the actions performed by the second network device can also be replaced by a module or chip in the second network device.

[0143] The communication system and service scenarios (or application scenarios) described in the embodiments of the application are used to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the application. It can be known by those skilled in the art that, with the evolution of network architecture and the appearance of new service scenarios (or new application scenarios), the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0144] As a possible implementation scenario, the first communication apparatus can be terminal #1 in FIG. 2, the first network device can be satellite base station #1 in FIG. 2, and the second network device can be satellite base station #2 in FIG. 2. In this scenario, terminal #1 accesses satellite base station #1, and satellite base station #1 connects to the ground station through satellite base station #2.

[0145] As another possible implementation scenario, the first communication apparatus can be terminal #1 in FIG. 2, the first network device can be satellite base station #1 in FIG. 2, and the second network device can be the ground station in FIG. 2. In this scenario, terminal #1 accesses satellite base station #1, and satellite base station #1 connects to the ground station through the NG interface.

[0146] As another possible implementation scenario, the first communication apparatus can be terminal #2 in FIG. 2, the first network device can be satellite base station #2 in FIG. 2, and the second network device can be the ground station in FIG. 2. In this scenario, terminal #2 accesses satellite base station #2, and satellite base station #2 connects to the ground station through the NG interface.

[0147] It can be understood that the above possible scenarios are only examples, and the present application is not limited to be applied in the above scenarios.

[0148] The manner of aligning the time of sending a signal to an uplink node and the time of sending a signal to a downlink node of an access network device will be described below in combination with the flow shown as S101-S103 in FIG. 5. In the flow of FIG. 5, the first communication apparatus can be regarded as a downlink node of the first network device. The second network device can be regarded as an uplink node of the first network device. The position of the first network device and / or the position of the second network device is variable. For example, the first network device and / or the second network device are deployed on a non-ground device such as a drone, HAPS, or satellite, or on a ground mobile entity such as a train or a car.

[0149] S101: The first network device sends a first signal to the first communication apparatus according to second timing information.

[0150] In the present application, the timing information can also be referred to as time information. For example, the timing information can be sending timing information of a signal or receiving timing information of a signal. The sending timing information of a signal is used to determine the sending time of the signal, and the receiving timing information of a signal can be used to determine the receiving time of the signal. It can be understood that the timing information can be the sending time or receiving time of an uplink signal or a downlink signal. For an uplink signal, its sending time can be determined according to the receiving time of a downlink signal of the communication apparatus and the timing advance. The receiving time of the downlink signal can be referred to as downlink timing information.

[0151] The second timing information can be used to determine the time at which the first network device transmits the first signal. For example, the second timing information is the time at which the first network device transmits the first signal. For another example, it can also be considered that the second timing information is different from the time at which the first network device transmits the first signal by an integer multiple of the length of the time unit, that is, the time at which the first network device transmits the first signal can be determined according to the second timing information and the length of the integer multiple of the time unit.

[0152] Alternatively, the first network device can transmit the second signal to the second network device according to the second timing information.

[0153] In addition, the second timing information can be used to determine the time at which the first network device transmits the second signal. For example, the second timing information is the time at which the first network device transmits the second signal. For another example, it can also be considered that the second timing information is different from the time at which the first network device transmits the second signal by an integer multiple of the length of the time unit, that is, the time at which the first network device transmits the second signal can be determined according to the second timing information and the length of the integer multiple of the time unit.

[0154] It can be understood that the transmission time of the first signal and the transmission time of the second signal in the present application can be aligned. For example, the first network device transmits the first signal and the second signal at the same time according to the second timing information. For another example, the first network device can also transmit the first signal and the second signal at different times, wherein the time unit in which the first signal is located and the time unit in which the second signal is located are adjacent or separated by one or more time units.

[0155] It can be understood that the second network device is an uplink node of the first network device, and therefore, the process of communication between the first network device and the second network device needs to ensure that the uplink and downlink time units of the second network device are aligned, that is, the signal transmitted by the first network device needs to reach the second network device within the uplink time unit of the second network device. In order to satisfy that the uplink and downlink time units of the second network device are aligned, the first network device determines the timing advance of transmitting the second signal, that is, determines the second timing information, according to the downlink signal received from the second network device, the relative position between the first network device and the second network device, and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device, and transmits the second signal according to the second timing information, so that the uplink and downlink time units of the same index of the second network device are aligned. The index of the time unit at which the signal transmitted by the first network device reaches the second network device can be the same as or different from the index of the time unit at which the signal transmitted by the first network device reaches the first communication device, which is not specifically limited.

[0156] For example, the first network device sends the second signal to the second network device at time #1 (i.e. the start position of the time unit with index 0) shown in FIG. 6, so that the second signal reaches the second network device at the start time of the time unit 0, i.e. the second network device receives the second signal at the start time of the time unit 0. The time #1 can be considered as the second timing information. The time interval between the time #1 and the time unit 0 can be considered as the transmission delay of sending the signal from the first network device to the second network device, denoted as Tp.

[0157] That is, the second timing information can be determined according to the relative position between the first network device and the second network device and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device. The application does not make specific requirements for the determination method of the second timing information.

[0158] As one of the determination methods of the second timing information, the first network device can determine the second timing information according to the timing advance and the relative position information and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device. For example, as the first network device and the second network device gradually move away from each other, the timing advance between the first network device and the second network device gradually increases, so that the time delay can be compensated by the relative position information and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device. It can be understood that the relative position information and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device is determined according to the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device and the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device. In the application, the relative position between devices can be indicated by the distance between devices, or in other words, the "relative position" can be replaced by "distance".

[0159] The timing advance between the first network device and the second network device described above can be understood as the time advance between the uplink time unit and the corresponding downlink time unit between the first network device and the second network device. The uplink time unit and the corresponding downlink time unit of the second signal have the same index. The transmission time of the first signal and / or the second signal is determined according to the timing advance, which is beneficial to realize signal synchronization. It can be understood that for the communication between the first network device and the second network device, the uplink direction refers to the uplink of the first network device to the second network device, and the downlink direction refers to the direction of the second network device to the first network device.

[0160] For example, the first network device receives the downlink signal carried in the downlink time unit with index x from the second network device at time t1. The first network device can determine the starting time of the uplink time unit with index x according to the timing advance and the relative position information and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device, and the time t1 and the timing advance, and the time can be used as the time for sending the first signal and / or the second signal, i.e., the time is the second timing information.

[0161] For example, if the starting times of the downlink time unit 1 and the downlink time unit 2 of the second network device are Ta1 and Ta2 respectively, and the signals sent by the second network device to the first network device arrive at the first network device at times Ta1' and Ta2' respectively. Wherein, Ta1' and Ta2' are the downlink timing information of the first network device. Correspondingly, the first network device determines the sending times Tb1 and Tb2 of the uplink signals corresponding to the uplink time unit 0 and the uplink time unit 1 respectively according to Ta1', Ta2', the relative position and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device. Tb1 and / or Tb2 can be used as the second timing information, for example, the first signal and the second signal can be sent at Tb1, or can be sent at Tb2. Wherein, the interval between Tb1 and Ta1' is the transmission delay of 2 times Ta1', and the interval between Tb2 and Ta2' is the transmission delay of 2 times Ta2'. The transmission delay is the distance between the first network device and the second network device / light speed, wherein " / " represents division operation. It can be understood that the transmission delay of 2 times Ta1' is the timing advance at Ta1', and the transmission delay of 2 times Ta2' is the timing advance at Ta2'.

[0162] It can be understood that the second timing information in the present application can also be replaced by the timing advance determined according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device. For example, the timing advance is determined according to the relative position information and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device. Correspondingly, the first network device can send the first signal and / or the second signal according to the timing advance. For example, the first network device determines the time for sending the first signal and / or the second signal according to the time of receiving the downlink signal and the timing advance.

[0163] S102: The first network device sends the first information. Wherein, the first information is used by the first communication device to determine the first timing information for receiving the first signal.

[0164] Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the first information.

[0165] It can be understood that the present application does not limit the execution timing between S101 and S102. S101 can be executed before S102, or S102 can be executed before S101.

[0166] The first timing information can be used to determine the time when the first communication device receives the first signal. For example, the first timing information is the time when the first communication device receives the first signal. For another example, it can also be considered that the first timing information is different from the time when the first communication device receives the first signal by an integer multiple of the length of the time unit, that is, the time when the first communication device receives the first signal can be determined according to the first timing information and the length of the integer multiple of the time unit.

[0167] It can be understood that the first timing information can be related to the second timing information. For example, when the first timing information is the time when the first communication device receives the first signal, and the second timing information is the time when the first network device sends the first signal, the first timing information and the second timing information satisfy: taking the second timing information as Ta, the first timing information can be recorded as Ta", wherein Ta and Ta" can satisfy: Ta" = Ta + deltaTa, deltaTa = (the distance between the first network device and the first communication device at the time of Ta) / the speed of light. Wherein " / ", represents division operation. Wherein, the distance between the first network device and the first communication device is determined according to the relative position between the first network device and the first communication device at the time of Ta, or can be determined according to the relative position between the first network device and the first communication device at a certain time before Ta and the relative speed between the first network device and the first communication device.

[0168] In a possible implementation, the first information includes or is used to indicate the position information and / or speed information of the second network device. The position information is, for example, the height, longitude, latitude, etc. of the second network device. The speed information is, for example, the moving speed information of the second network device, such as including angular speed information or linear speed information, etc.

[0169] For example, the first information can carry the position information and / or speed information of the second network device. For another example, the first information can carry other information used to indicate the position and / or speed of the second network device. Taking the first network device and the second network device respectively deployed in different satellites as an example, the information used to indicate the position and / or speed of the second network device can include the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device.

[0170] The ephemeris information in this application is used to indicate the position and / or coverage of the satellite. For example, the ephemeris information can be the motion law information of the satellite, for example, including the orbital parameters, angular velocity, speed and the like of the satellite, and the communication device can calculate the position of the satellite on the orbit at each moment based on the information. The ephemeris information can be represented as a simple correspondence, for example, the satellite position information corresponding to each moment / period. The ephemeris information can also be represented as a satellite coverage map, for example, satellite coverage availability information, the satellite coverage map can divide the earth's surface into a plurality of grid points, and show the grid points covered and not covered by the satellite at each moment. For example, the running period of the satellite around the earth is one hour, and the accuracy is minute. The satellite corresponds to a satellite coverage map every minute, some grid points in the map are bright and some are dark, and the bright grid points represent the grid points covered by the satellite at the corresponding moment in each cycle.

[0171] It is explained herein that the ephemeris information involved in this application includes but is not limited to traditional ephemeris information, satellite map information and deployment information of the gateway station. Among them, the traditional ephemeris information includes but is not limited to orbital parameters, or parameters such as the position of the satellite calculated based on the orbital parameters. It can be understood that the traditional ephemeris information can be used to calculate, predict, depict or track the time, position, speed and the like of the satellite flight. Exemplarily, the traditional ephemeris information can be 17 bytes of information to represent the position (78 bits) and speed (54 bits), or the traditional ephemeris information can be 18 bytes of information to represent the orbital parameters (such as semi-major axis, range, eccentricity, perigee angle distance and the like). The satellite map information can be the range covered by the satellite on the map at each moment. The specific form, content and name of the ephemeris information in this application are not limited, and can be referred to the definition of the ephemeris information in the protocol. For example, the ephemeris information in this application can also be referred to as satellite coverage information (satellite coverage availability information).

[0172] In this application, the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device can be mainly used to determine the position and / or speed of the second network device.

[0173] As an example, the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device can be contained in a list of ephemeris information of neighboring satellites known to the first communication device. The list of ephemeris information of neighboring satellites can contain a plurality of ephemeris information. Optionally, the list of ephemeris information of neighboring satellites can also contain indexes or identifiers of the plurality of ephemeris information. Alternatively, the indexes of the ephemeris information can be the order of the ephemeris information in the list of ephemeris information of neighboring satellites, and the list of ephemeris information of neighboring satellites does not need to contain the indexes or identifiers of the ephemeris information. The list of ephemeris information of neighboring satellites can be a list of ephemeris information of neighboring satellites of a satellite base station where the first network device is located. In this example, the first information can contain an index or identifier of the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device in the list of ephemeris information of neighboring satellites. Accordingly, the first communication device can determine the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device according to the index or identifier, and determine the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device according to the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device.

[0174] In this example, since the list of ephemeris information of neighboring satellites can be known to the first communication device, in this example, only the index or identifier of the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device in the list of ephemeris information of neighboring satellites needs to be carried in the first information, and the complete ephemeris information does not need to be carried, which can reduce the transmission overhead.

[0175] As another example, the first information can contain the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device. For example, in the case that the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device is not contained in the list of ephemeris information of neighboring satellites, the first information can carry the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device. It can be understood that in this example, the first information can carry part or all of the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device. The part or all of the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device can be used to determine the position and / or the speed of the second network device. It can also be understood that in the case that part of the ephemeris information can support the determination of the position and / or the speed of the second network device, the complete ephemeris information does not need to be carried in the first information to reduce the indication overhead. For example, the first information can contain the orbital parameters, angular velocity, speed, etc. of the satellite.

[0176] The following describes a manner of determining the first timing information according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device in combination with manner 1.

[0177] In manner 1, when the first information includes the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device, the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device. That is, in manner 1, the first timing information can be determined according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device.

[0178] It can be understood that, since the time (e.g., the second timing information) at which the first network device transmits the first signal is related to the relative position between the first network device and the second network device and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device, and the second timing information is related to the first timing information, the first timing information can be determined according to the relative position between the first network device and the second network device and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device.

[0179] The relative position between the first network device and the second network device can be determined according to the position information of the first network device and the position information of the second network device, and the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device can be determined according to the speed information of the first network device and the speed information of the second network device.

[0180] The position information and / or the speed information of the first network device can be determined by ephemeris information corresponding to the first network device. The ephemeris information corresponding to the first network device can be known information to the first communication device. For example, before accessing the first network device, the first communication device can receive a broadcast message from the first network device, and the broadcast message can carry the ephemeris information corresponding to the first network device.

[0181] Therefore, in the manner 1, a possible implementation manner is that the first communication device can determine the relative position and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device according to the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device and the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device, and then determine the first timing information according to the relative position and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device.

[0182] For example, the relative position and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device and the first timing information can satisfy a functional relationship, and the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the functional relationship. Optionally, in the functional relationship, the relative position and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device can be taken as an independent variable, and the first timing information can be taken as a dependent variable.

[0183] As an example of a functional relationship, assume that the first network device sends signals to the first communication apparatus in three consecutive downlink time units, where the sending times of the signals are Ta1, Tb1, and Tc1, respectively, and the first communication apparatus receives the three signals at times Ta1', Tb1', and Tc1', respectively. As the relative position and / or relative speed between the first network device and the second network device changes, the times at which the signals that were originally supposed to arrive at the first communication apparatus periodically change, for example, the signal originally supposed to arrive at the first communication apparatus at Ta1' arrives at the first communication apparatus at Ta1", the signal originally supposed to arrive at the first communication apparatus at Ta2' arrives at the first communication apparatus at Ta2", and so on. The change in the arrival times of the signals is related to the change in the relative position between the first network device and the second network device, for example, in a functional relationship. Thus, the function can describe the rule according to which the times at which the signals arrive at the first communication apparatus change as the relative position between the first network device and the second network device changes. Thus, the first communication apparatus can determine the relative position between the first network device and the second network device after obtaining the position information and / or speed information of the second network device, and determine the times at which the signals arrive at the first communication apparatus at the relative position according to the functional relationship, i.e., determine the first timing information.

[0184] Optionally, the first communication apparatus can also determine the first timing information in combination with the start position of the uplink time unit and / or the start position of the downlink time unit of the second network device and the functional relationship. For example, in the case where the start position of the uplink time unit and / or the start position of the downlink time unit of the second network device is known, the times at which the periodic signals arrive at the first communication apparatus can be obtained according to the functional relationship, and the first timing information can be one of the time information. The first network device can send the start position of the uplink time unit and / or the start position of the downlink time unit of the second network device through a broadcast message.

[0185] In addition, it can also be considered that the relative position and / or relative speed between the first network device and the second network device and the first timing information have a corresponding relationship, i.e., in mode 1, the first communication apparatus does not need to obtain the first timing information by performing a functional calculation process, but can also determine the first timing information by querying the corresponding relationship. The form of the corresponding relationship can be an input-output table, or an input-output information pair, which is not specifically limited.

[0186] Optionally, the function relationship or the corresponding relationship can be sent by the first network device or another network device, or can be predefined. For example, the first network device broadcasts the function relationship or the corresponding relationship. When the first communication apparatus obtains the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device through the first information, the first communication apparatus can determine the relative position and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device according to the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device and the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device, and determine the first timing information according to the function relationship or the corresponding relationship.

[0187] It can be understood that the function relationship or the corresponding relationship between the relative position between the first network device and the second network device and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device and the first timing information can also be replaced by a function relationship or a corresponding relationship between the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device, the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device, and the first timing information.

[0188] It can also be understood that the first information including the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device can also be replaced by the first information including the relative position information and / or the relative speed information between the first network device and the second network device. That is, the first communication apparatus can determine the relative position and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device, which can reduce the processing complexity of the first communication apparatus.

[0189] In addition, another possible implementation manner of the manner 1 can be that the first communication apparatus determines the first timing information according to the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device and the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device, without the need to determine the relative position between the first network device and the second network device and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device before determining the first timing information. For example, the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device, the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device, and the first timing information satisfy a function relationship or a corresponding relationship, and the first communication apparatus can determine the first timing information according to the function relationship or the corresponding relationship after receiving the first information and obtaining the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device.

[0190] As an example of a functional relationship, it can be considered that a signal sent by the first network device and originally arriving at the first communication apparatus periodically, the amount of change in the time of arrival of the signal at the first communication apparatus is related to the change in the relative position between the first network device and the second network device. Therefore, the function can describe the law that the amount of change in the time of arrival of the signal at the first communication apparatus changes with the change in the relative position between the first network device and the second network device, and the amount of change is the deviation between the time of original arrival of the signal at the first communication apparatus and the time of actual arrival of the signal at the first communication apparatus.

[0191] Optionally, in mode 1, the first communication apparatus can further determine the first timing information according to third timing information. The third timing information can be understood as timing information determined according to the relative position relationship between the first network device and the first communication apparatus. It can be understood that the third timing information can be the time at which the first communication apparatus originally receives the first signal.

[0192] For example, based on the above-mentioned functional relationship, the first communication apparatus can determine the relative position between the first network device and the second network device after obtaining the position information and / or speed information of the second network device, and determine the amount of change in the time of arrival of the signal at the first communication apparatus according to the functional relationship and the relative position between the first network device and the second network device. Further, the first communication apparatus can determine the first timing information according to the time of original arrival of the signal (i.e. the third timing information) and the amount of change.

[0193] Optionally, the first communication apparatus can also determine the first timing information in combination with the start position of the uplink time unit and / or the start position of the downlink time unit of the second network device and the above-mentioned functional relationship. For example, in the case where the start position of the uplink time unit and / or the start position of the downlink time unit of the second network device is known, the time information of the periodic signal arriving at the first communication apparatus can be obtained according to the functional relationship, and the first timing information can be one of the time information. Wherein, the first network device can send a reference point through a broadcast message, and the reference point can be used to determine the start position of the uplink time unit and / or the start position of the downlink time unit of the second network device. For example, the reference point is the start point of a system frame or a subframe, or can be other positions, such as the boundary position of a certain system message window.

[0194] In the present application, the third timing information is related to the transmission delay between the first network device and the first communication apparatus. For example, the third timing information can be determined according to the relative position information and / or the relative speed information between the first network device and the first communication apparatus. For example, the third timing information Ta2' satisfies: Ta2' = Ta2 + deltaTa2, where deltaTa2 = (the distance between the first network device and the first communication apparatus at the time of Ta2) / the speed of light.

[0195] The third timing information can be the time at which the first communication apparatus receives the first signal without considering the uplink-downlink time unit alignment of the second network device. Correspondingly, the time at which the first network device transmits the first signal without considering the uplink-downlink time unit alignment of the second network device can be referred to as the time at which the first network device originally transmits the first signal. It can be understood that the time at which the first network device originally transmits the first signal can be understood as a transmission timing determined according to the relative position and / or the relative speed (or the transmission delay) between the first network device and the first communication apparatus. The time at which the first network device originally transmits the first signal can correspond to the third timing information, that is, in the case where the first network device transmits the first signal at the time at which the first network device originally transmits the first signal, the first communication apparatus can receive the first signal according to the third timing information.

[0196] The third timing information can be considered as information known by the first communication apparatus. For example, the first network device indicates to the first communication apparatus the time at which the first signal originally arrives at the first communication apparatus, that is, indicates the third timing information. The first network device can also be configured to transmit a signal to the first communication apparatus periodically, and the first communication apparatus can determine a plurality of times at which the signal transmitted periodically by the first network device arrives at the first communication apparatus according to the period, where the first signal can be one of the signals transmitted periodically, and the third timing information can be the time at which the signal arrives at the first communication apparatus.

[0197] Due to the presence of the second network device, the time at which the first network device actually transmits the first signal can be earlier or later than the time at which the first network device originally transmits the first signal, and therefore, if the first communication apparatus still receives the signal according to the third timing information, signal detection can be missed or the overhead of the signal receiving process can be increased. In the case where the uplink-downlink time unit alignment of the second network device is considered, the time at which the first communication apparatus actually receives the first signal can be earlier or later than the third timing information, and therefore, the third timing information can be adjusted or updated to obtain the first timing information.

[0198] For example, the first network device indicates to the first communication device a time at which a first signal scheduled to arrive at the first communication device. A period at which the first network device transmits signals to the first communication device can also be set, and the first communication device can determine a time at which a signal scheduled to be periodically transmitted by the first network device arrives at the first communication device according to the period, where the first signal can be one of the periodically transmitted signals. In addition, the first communication device can also determine the third timing information according to information such as relative position and / or relative speed between the first communication device and the second communication device.

[0199] It can be considered that the first communication device can adjust, calibrate, or update the third timing information according to the position information and / or speed information of the second network device to obtain the first timing information. Therefore, it can also be considered that the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the relative position between the first network device and the second network device and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device and the third timing information.

[0200] Specifically, the manner in which the first communication device determines the first timing information according to the third timing information can be that the first communication device determines the first timing information according to the position information and / or speed information of the second network device and the third timing information. Specifically, the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the relative position and / or relative speed between the first network device and the second network device and the third timing information.

[0201] The relative position and / or relative speed between the first network device and the second network device, the third timing information, and the first timing information satisfy a functional relationship or other correspondence relationship, that is, the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the relative position and / or relative speed between the first network device and the second network device and the third timing information by function calculation or correspondence relationship query.

[0202] It can also be considered that the manner in which the first communication device determines the first timing information according to the third timing information can be that the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the position information and / or speed information of the first network device, the position information and / or speed information of the second network device, and the third timing information. Specifically, the position information and / or speed information of the first network device, the position information and / or speed information of the second network device, the third timing information, and the first timing information satisfy a functional relationship or other correspondence relationship, that is, the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the position information and / or speed information of the first network device, the position information and / or speed information of the second network device, and the third timing information by function calculation or correspondence relationship query.

[0203] In another possible implementation of the method 1, since the first timing information is associated with the second timing information, for example, the second timing information Ta and the first timing information Ta" can satisfy: Ta" = Ta + deltaTa, therefore in the method 1, the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the second timing information and the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device. At this time, the first information can further include the second timing information, or include parameters for calculating the second timing information. Wherein, the parameters for calculating the second timing information can include time information of an uplink time unit and / or a downlink time unit of the second network device. Accordingly, the first communication device can obtain the second timing information according to the first information, and then determine the first timing information according to the association between the first timing information and the second timing information and the second timing information. Wherein, the first communication device can determine the deltaTa according to the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device and the position information and / or the speed information of the first communication device.

[0204] Specifically, in the case that the first information includes the second timing information, the first communication device can obtain the second timing information from the first information after receiving the first information, and then determine the first timing information according to the relative position and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the first communication device.

[0205] In addition, in the case that the first information includes time information of an uplink time unit and / or a downlink time unit of the second network device, the first communication device can determine the second timing information according to the time information of the uplink time unit and / or the downlink time unit of the second network device in the first information, and according to the relative position and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device, or the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device and the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device, and then determine the deltaTa according to the relative position and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the first communication device, and determine the first timing information according to the second timing information and the deltaTa.

[0206] The above method 1 is only an exemplary description of the method for determining the first timing information according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device, and the method for determining the first timing information in the present application is not limited to the description herein.

[0207] In another possible implementation, the first information includes or is used to indicate a transmission time offset of the first signal, and the transmission time offset of the first signal is determined according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device. In this implementation, the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the transmission time offset of the first signal.

[0208] In the following, the manner of determining the first timing information according to the offset of the transmission time of the first signal will be introduced in manner 2.

[0209] In manner 2, when the first information comprises the offset of the transmission time of the first signal, the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the offset of the transmission time of the first signal. That is, in manner 2, the first timing information can be determined according to the offset of the transmission time of the first signal.

[0210] The offset of the transmission time of the first signal can be the time offset between the originally scheduled transmission time of the first signal by the first network device and the actual transmission time of the first signal (e.g. the second timing information). Due to the alignment of the uplink and downlink time units of the second network device, the first network device can transmit the first signal at a time earlier or later than the originally scheduled transmission time of the first signal, and the time earlier or later is the offset of the transmission time of the first signal.

[0211] In a possible implementation manner of manner 2, the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the third timing information and the offset. As described in manner 1, the third timing information can be considered as information known by the first communication device.

[0212] For example, the first network device originally transmits signals to the first communication device in three consecutive downlink time units, where the transmission times of the signals are respectively Ta, Tb and Tc, and correspondingly, the time points at which the first communication device originally receives the three signals are respectively Ta', Tb' and Tc', i.e. Ta', Tb' and Tc' are respectively the third timing information of the three consecutive signals transmitted by the first network device. The offset of the transmission time of the first signal can be the offset of the transmission time of the signals based on the originally scheduled transmission time, for example, the transmission time offsets of the signals corresponding to Ta, Tb and Tc are respectively △Ta, △Tb and △Tc, i.e. the actual transmission times of the signals by the first network device are Ta+△Ta, Tb+△Tb and Tc+△Tc. As an example, correspondingly, the times at which the signals arrive at the first communication device can be Ta'+△Ta, Tb'+△Tb and Tc'+△Tc. That is, Ta'+△Ta, Tb'+△Tb and Tc'+△Tc can be respectively taken as the first timing information corresponding to the three signals.

[0213] The above manner 2 is only an exemplary description of the manner of determining the first timing information according to the location information and / or the speed information of the second network device, and the manner of determining the first timing information by the present application is not limited to the description herein.

[0214] Methods 1 and 2 described above respectively illustrate the first information by taking examples where the first information includes the location information and / or speed information of the second network device, and the first information includes the offset of the transmission time of the first signal. It is understood that the first information in this application can also be considered to include first timing information or indication information of the first timing information; that is, the first timing information can be determined by the first network device. The method by which the first network device determines the first timing information can refer to Method 1 or Method 2. Accordingly, the terminal device can obtain the first timing information based on the first information without needing to obtain it through other calculation or processing steps, thus reducing the processing complexity of the first communication device.

[0215] Alternatively, the first information can be considered to include or be used to indicate the relative position information and / or relative speed information between the first network device and the second network device, so that the terminal device determines the first timing information based on the relative position information and / or relative speed information between the first network device and the second network device. The method by which the terminal device determines the first timing information based on the relative position information and / or relative speed information between the first network device and the second network device can be found in the description of Method 1. The difference is that the first communication device can obtain the relative position information and / or relative speed information between the first network device and the second network device based on the first information, without needing to refer to Method 1 and calculate the relative position information and / or relative speed information between the first network device and the second network device based on the position information and / or speed information of the first network device and the second network device. Therefore, the processing complexity of the first communication device can be reduced.

[0216] In one possible embodiment, the first information described above may be carried in a broadcast message sent by the first network device.

[0217] S103: The first communication device receives a first signal from the first network device according to the first timing information.

[0218] In S103, the first communication device can receive the first signal according to the first timing information after determining the first timing information.

[0219] For example, the first communication device can detect or receive the first signal transmitted over the air interface at the time indicated by the first timing information.

[0220] Based on S101, the first network device can ensure that the time of sending the first signal to the first communication device is aligned with the time of sending the second signal to the second network device. In addition, the first communication device can determine the first timing information according to the first information, so as to receive the first signal according to the first timing information, avoid missing the first signal, and avoid the power consumption overhead caused by long-time detection of the first signal.

[0221] The way of aligning the time of receiving the signal sent by the access network device with the time of receiving the signal sent by the uplink node will be described below in combination with the flow shown in S201-S203 in FIG. 7.

[0222] S201: The first network device sends second information, and the second information is used to indicate the first time offset. Correspondingly, the first communication device receives the second information and obtains the first time offset according to the second information.

[0223] The first time offset is the time offset between the time of sending the third signal by the first network device to the second network device and the time of receiving the fourth signal from the second network device by the first network device. It can also be considered that the first time offset is related to the time offset between the time of sending the third signal by the first network device to the second network device and the time of receiving the fourth signal from the second network device by the first network device.

[0224] The index of the time unit corresponding to the third signal is the same as or different from the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal. The time unit corresponding to the third signal refers to the time unit in which the first network device sends the third signal. The time unit corresponding to the fourth signal refers to the time unit in which the second network device sends the fourth signal. It can be considered that the first network device sends the third signal at the starting position of the time unit corresponding to the third signal. In addition, it can be considered that the second network device sends the fourth signal at the starting position of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal.

[0225] Taking FIG. 8 as an example, the third signal is the uplink signal sent by the first network device in the time unit with an index of 0, and the fourth signal is the downlink signal sent by the second network device in the time unit with an index of 0, that is, in the example of FIG. 8, the index of the time unit corresponding to the third signal is the same as the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal. At this time, the first time offset is the time offset between the time of sending the third signal by the first network device and the time of receiving the fourth signal. Correspondingly, in S202, the terminal device can determine the fourth timing information according to the first time offset, which can be referred to for details in S202, and will not be expanded here.

[0226] In addition, if the index of the time unit corresponding to the third signal is different from the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal, the second information can also be used to indicate a difference between the index of the time unit corresponding to the third signal and the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal. Accordingly, in S202, the terminal device can determine the fourth timing information according to the difference and the first time offset. For details, refer to the description in S202, which will not be expanded here.

[0227] Taking FIG. 9 as an example, the third signal is an uplink signal sent by the first network device in the time unit with an index of 0, and the fourth signal is a downlink signal sent by the second network device in the time unit with an index of 1, that is, the difference between the index of the time unit corresponding to the third signal and the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal is 1. In addition, if the index of the time unit of the fourth signal is less than the index of the time unit corresponding to the third signal, the difference can be negative.

[0228] In a possible implementation, the second information can also indicate time information corresponding to the first time offset. The time information corresponding to the first time offset can be the time when the first time offset takes effect. The first communication device can determine whether the first time offset takes effect according to the time information. The first time offset taking effect can mean that the first communication device can determine the fourth timing information according to the first time offset in S202. Conversely, if the first time offset does not take effect (or is invalid or inapplicable), the first communication device does not determine the fourth timing information according to the first time offset.

[0229] For example, the time information corresponding to the first time offset can be a start position of an uplink time unit and / or a downlink time unit of the second network device. For example, the time information is a time at which the third signal is received by the second network device or a time at which the fourth signal is transmitted. For example, the time of the third signal can be a start position of an uplink time unit at which the third signal is received by the second network device. For another example, the time of transmitting the fourth signal can be a start position of a downlink time unit at which the fourth signal is transmitted by the second network device. In addition, the time information corresponding to the first time offset can also be a start position of other uplink time units and / or downlink time units of the second network device. As an example, in S202, the first communication device can trigger determination of the fourth timing information according to the first time offset at the time indicated by the time information corresponding to the first time offset, and can subsequently perform S203 according to the fourth timing information. The time information corresponding to the first time offset can also be referred to as a reference point of the first time offset. The reference point can be indicated by a broadcast message of the first network device. For example, the broadcast message can carry start point information of a system frame or a subframe, or other positions such as a boundary position of a certain system message window, which can be used as the reference point. The reference point can be regarded as a start time of an uplink time unit and / or a downlink time unit of the second network device. The reference point can also be a predefined position, such as a position defined by a protocol. Specifically, the reference point can be an epoch time of ephemeris. That is, the first time offset can be a time point relative to the epoch time of ephemeris, and the timing advance offset of the remaining time points needs to be estimated according to the movement change between the first network device, the second network device and the first communication device.

[0230] In addition, the second information can also indicate a relative position and / or a relative speed between the first network device and the second network device corresponding to the first time offset. The relative position between the first network device and the second network device corresponding to the first time offset can be used as position information for the first time offset to take effect or not to take effect. It can also be considered that the second information can also indicate the relative position and / or the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device at the time indicated by the above-mentioned time information.

[0231] For example, the first communication device can determine whether the first time offset is valid according to a relative position and / or a relative speed between the first network device and the second network device, and a relative position and / or a relative speed between the first network device and the second network device corresponding to the first time offset. For example, the first time offset is valid in a case that the relative position between the first network device and the second network device is consistent with the relative position corresponding to the first time offset, or the relative position between the first network device and the second network device falls within a range of the relative position corresponding to the first time offset. For another example, the terminal device can determine whether the first time offset is valid according to a relative speed between the first network device and the second network device, and a relative speed between the first network device and the second network device corresponding to the first time offset.

[0232] Optionally, the first network device can further send, to the first communication device, a correspondence between time information corresponding to the first time offset and a relative position between the first network device and the second network device, which is used to determine the first time offset applicable to a certain time information and / or a relative position in a case that multiple first time offsets exist at different time instants or different relative positions, so as to avoid that the first communication device incorrectly uses the first time offset. For example, the first network device can send, to the first communication device, second indication information used to indicate the correspondence between the relative position and the time information.

[0233] In a possible embodiment, the above second information can be carried in a broadcast message sent by the first network device.

[0234] S202: The first communication device determines fourth timing information according to the second information.

[0235] In S202, the first communication device can determine the fourth timing information according to the first time offset.

[0236] Specifically, the first communication device can determine the fourth timing information according to the first time offset and fifth timing information. The fifth timing information can be determined according to a relative position between the first communication device and the first network device and / or a relative speed between the first communication device and the first network device. The fifth timing information can be understood as a time at which the first communication device originally plans to send the third signal. For example, the fifth timing information can be determined according to a timing advance amount between the first communication device and the first network device. The timing advance amount between the first communication device and the first network device can be understood as a time advance amount between an uplink time unit and a corresponding downlink time unit between the first communication device and the first network device. The uplink time unit and the corresponding downlink time unit have the same index. Determining the transmission time of the fifth signal according to the timing advance amount is conducive to signal synchronization.

[0237] For example, the first communication device receives the downlink signal carried in the downlink time unit with index x from the first network device at time t2, and accordingly, the first communication device can determine the starting position of the uplink time unit with index x originally used to send the uplink signal according to the time t2 and the timing advance, i.e., determine the fifth timing information. In this application, the first communication device can be considered to compensate the fifth timing information according to the first time offset, i.e., actually send the fifth signal through the uplink time unit with index x according to the fourth timing information.

[0238] Since the uplink and downlink time units of the second network device need to be aligned, the first communication device can adjust the fifth timing information according to the first time offset to obtain the fourth timing information, and send the third signal according to the fourth timing information in S203.

[0239] In this application, the fifth timing information can be considered as information known to the first communication device. For example, the first network device can indicate the sending time of the original third signal to the first communication device. The period of the signal sent by the first communication device to the first network device can also be set, and the first communication device can determine the time of the original periodic signal according to the period, wherein the third signal can be one of the periodic signals. For another example, the first communication device can also determine the fifth timing information according to the relative position and / or relative speed between the first communication device and the second communication device and other information.

[0240] In a possible implementation, the relationship among the first time offset, the fifth timing information and the fourth timing information can satisfy the following function relationship: the sum of the fifth timing information and the first time offset is the fourth timing information. Still taking FIG. 8 as an example, the index of the time unit corresponding to the third signal and the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal are both 0, i.e., the difference between the index of the time unit corresponding to the third signal and the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal is 0, and then the first communication device can determine that the fourth timing information is the sum of the fifth timing information and the first time offset. The first communication device can determine the fourth timing information according to the fifth timing information and the first time offset according to the relationship. In addition, the fourth timing information corresponding to the fifth timing information and the first time offset can also be determined by querying the corresponding relationship and the like.

[0241] In addition, if the second information indicates a difference between the index of the time unit corresponding to the third signal and the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal, the fourth timing information can be further determined according to the first time offset, the fifth timing information, and the difference. For example, the relationship among the first time offset, the fifth timing information, and the fourth timing information can satisfy the following function relationship: the fourth timing information is the sum of the fifth timing information and the first time offset minus the difference multiplied by the length of the time unit. Still taking FIG. 9 as an example, the difference between the index of the time unit corresponding to the third signal and the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal is 1, and the first communication apparatus can determine the fourth timing information as the sum of the fifth timing information and the first time offset minus the timing receiving difference between the two time units adjacent to the current time in the timing of the first communication apparatus, for example, the timing receiving difference is approximately equal to the length of the time unit. In addition, the fourth timing information corresponding to the fifth timing information, the first time offset, and the difference can also be determined by querying the corresponding relationship and the like.

[0242] It can also be considered that the fifth timing information is not necessarily a value that must be used in the process of determining the fourth timing information, that is, the fifth timing information does not necessarily need to be determined or introduced in the process of determining the fourth timing information. For example, the first communication apparatus can determine the fourth timing information according to the relative position and / or relative speed and the like between the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus and the first time offset.

[0243] S203: The first communication apparatus sends the fifth signal to the first network device according to the fourth timing information.

[0244] Correspondingly, the first network device receives the fifth signal from the first communication apparatus.

[0245] Based on the flow shown in FIG. 7, the time at which the first communication apparatus receives the signal (such as the fourth signal) from the second network device is aligned with the time at which the first communication apparatus receives the signal (such as the fifth signal) from the first communication apparatus.

[0246] In the above-mentioned flow of FIG. 7, the first time offset is taken as an example for introduction. It can be understood that the first information in the present application can also be considered to contain the fourth timing information or the indication information of the fourth timing information, that is, the first network device can determine the fourth timing information according to the first time offset and indicate the fourth timing information to the first communication apparatus. Correspondingly, the terminal device can obtain the fourth timing information according to the second information, without the need for further obtaining the fourth timing information through other calculation and processing steps, which can reduce the processing complexity of the first communication apparatus.

[0247] It can be understood that the flow shown in FIG. 5 and the flow shown in FIG. 7 can be implemented in combination to meet the requirement that the access network device sends signals to the uplink node and the downlink node at the same time, and meets the requirement that the access network device receives signals sent by the uplink node and signals sent by the downlink node at the same time. That is, the first network device can send the first signal to the first communication apparatus based on the flow shown in FIG. 5, and receive the fifth signal from the first communication apparatus based on the flow shown in FIG. 7, wherein the time of sending the signal is aligned with the time of receiving the fifth signal.

[0248] In a possible implementation, relationship 1, if the index of the time unit corresponding to the fifth signal is the same as the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal, the fourth timing information is determined according to the first time offset and the fifth timing information. At this time, the fifth timing information can be the same as the third timing information.

[0249] As shown in FIG. 10, the time unit corresponding to the fifth signal and the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal are both time units with index 0, and the fourth timing information of sending the fifth signal can be the sum of the fifth timing information and the first time offset.

[0250] Relationship 2, if the difference between the index of the time unit corresponding to the first signal and the index of the time unit corresponding to the fifth signal is n, n is a positive integer, then the fourth timing information is determined according to the first time offset, the fifth timing information and n. For example, the fourth timing information is the sum of the fifth timing information, the first time offset and the difference in timing receiving of adjacent n time units at the first communication apparatus.

[0251] In this implementation, the first network device can indicate the value of n to the first communication apparatus, that is, the first network device can determine which uplink time unit and which downlink time unit between the first communication apparatus and the first network device are aligned.

[0252] As shown in FIG. 11, the time unit corresponding to the fifth signal is the time unit with index 0, and the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal is the time unit with index 1, that is, n = 1, and the fourth timing information of sending the fifth signal can be the sum of the fifth timing information, the first time offset and the difference in timing receiving of adjacent two time units at the first communication apparatus, for example, the difference in timing receiving of adjacent two time units is equal to about 1 time unit length.

[0253] It can be understood that the fourth timing information in FIG. 11 can also be replaced by a timing advance, which is determined according to the first time offset. For example, the first time offset or the first time offset is used as the timing advance. Correspondingly, the first network device can determine the sending time of the fifth signal according to the timing advance and n. For example, the first network device determines the sending time of the fifth signal according to the sum of the time difference in timing of the first communication device between the time of receiving the downlink signal (i.e., the fifth timing information) and n time units.

[0254] It can be understood that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the terminal device or the network device includes the corresponding hardware structure and / or software module for performing each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and method steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed in the present application, the present application can be realized in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0255] FIGS. 12 and 13 are structural schematic diagrams of possible communication devices provided by the embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the first communication device or the first network device in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be a terminal device or a non-ground access network device, and can also be a module or component (such as a chip) applied to a terminal device or a non-ground access network device. For example, the communication device can be used to implement the functions of the first communication device or the first network device in the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 5 or 7.

[0256] The communication device 1200 shown in FIG. 12 includes a processing unit 1210 and a transceiver unit 1220. The communication device 1200 is used to implement the functions of the first communication device or the first network device in the above method embodiments. The processing unit 1210 can be used to perform the processing actions of the first communication device or the first network device, such as receiving and sending, and other actions. The transceiver unit 1220 may, for example, include a sending unit for performing sending of an address and / or a receiving unit for performing receiving actions.

[0257] For example, when the communication apparatus 1200 is configured to implement the functions of the first network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the transceiver 1220 can be configured to transmit the first information, and transmit the first signal according to the second timing information. The processing unit 1210 can be configured to generate the first information.

[0258] For example, when the communication apparatus 1200 is configured to implement the functions of the first network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the transceiver 1220 can be configured to transmit the first information, and transmit the first signal according to the second timing information. The processing unit 1210 can be configured to generate the first information.

[0259] For example, when the communication apparatus 1200 is configured to implement the functions of the first network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the transceiver 1220 can be configured to transmit the first information, and transmit the first signal according to the second timing information. The processing unit 1210 can be configured to generate the first information.

[0260] For example, when the communication apparatus 1200 is configured to implement the functions of the first network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the transceiver 1220 can be configured to transmit the first information, and transmit the first signal according to the second timing information. The processing unit 1210 can be configured to generate the first information.

[0261] For example, when the communication apparatus 1200 is configured to implement the functions of the first network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the transceiver 1220 can be configured to transmit the first information, and transmit the first signal according to the second timing information. The processing unit 1210 can be configured to generate the first information.

[0262] The communication apparatus 1300 shown in FIG. 13 includes a processor 1310 and an interface circuit 1320. The processor 1310 and the interface circuit 1320 are coupled with each other. It can be understood that the interface circuit 1320 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication apparatus 1300 can further include a memory 1330, configured to store instructions executed by the processor 1310 or store input data required by the processor 1310 to execute instructions or store data generated after the processor 1310 executes instructions.

[0263] When the communication apparatus 1300 is configured to implement the method embodiments, the processor 1310 is configured to implement the functions of the processing unit 1210, and the interface circuit 1320 is configured to implement the functions of the transceiver 1220.

[0264] It can be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application can be a central processing unit (CPU), and can also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), microprocessors without interlocked piped stages architecture (MIPS), advanced reduced instruction set computer (RISC) machines (ARM), network processors (NP), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0265] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be realized by hardware or by the processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an erasable programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor, so that the processor can read information from and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in the first communication device or the first network device.

[0266] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. The computer program refers to a set of instructions instructing an electronic computer or other devices with message processing capabilities to perform each step, usually written in a certain programming language, and running on a certain target architecture. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on the computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network or other programmable devices. The computer program or instructions can be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transferred from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, the computer program or instructions can be transferred from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center through a wired or wireless manner. The computer readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center and the like integrated with one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape; an optical medium, for example, a digital video disc; and a semiconductor medium, for example, a solid state disk. The computer readable storage medium can be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or can include both volatile and non-volatile storage media.

[0267] Based on the same technical concept, the embodiments of the present application also provide a computer readable storage medium including a program or instructions, when the program or instructions are run on a computer, the method in the above method embodiments is executed.

[0268] Based on the same technical concept, the embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product including instructions, when the instructions are run on a computer, the method in the above method embodiments is executed.

[0269] Based on the same technical concept, the embodiments of the present application also provide a communication system for implementing the method shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 7. The communication system can include a first communication device and a first network device. Optionally, the communication system can also include a second network device.

[0270] Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present application can be provided as a method, a system or a computer program product. Therefore, the present application can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application can take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk memory, CD-ROM, optical memory, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0271] In various embodiments of the present application, the terms and / or descriptions among different embodiments are consistent and can be referred to each other if there is no special description and logical conflict. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0272] In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. The association relationship of the associated objects is described by "and / or", which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can represent the following three cases: A exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the textual description of the present application, the character " / ", generally represents that the associated objects before and after it are in an "or" relationship; in the formula of the present application, the character " / ", represents that the associated objects before and after it are in a "division" relationship.

[0273] It can be understood that various numerical numbers involved in the embodiments of the present application are only distinguished for convenience of description, and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the serial number of the above processes does not mean the execution order, and the execution order of the processes should be determined according to its function and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method is applied to a first communication device, and comprises: receiving first information from a first network device, wherein the first information comprises position information and / or speed information of a second network device, or the first information comprises an offset of a transmission time of a first signal, and the offset of the transmission time of the first signal is determined according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device; determining first timing information according to the first information; and receiving the first signal from the first network device according to the first timing information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The first information comprises the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device, and the method further comprises: obtaining position information and / or speed information of the first network device; wherein the determining the first timing information according to the first information comprises: determining the first timing information according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device and the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The determining the first timing information according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device and the position information and / or the speed information of the first network device comprises: determining the first timing information according to a relative position between the first network device and the second network device and / or a relative speed between the first network device and the second network device; wherein the relative position between the first network device and the second network device is determined according to the position information of the first network device and the position information of the second network device, and the relative speed between the first network device and the second network device is determined according to the speed information of the first network device and the speed information of the second network device.

4. The method of any one of claims 1-3, wherein: the first information comprises first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device, and the ephemeris information is used to indicate the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein: the first indication information comprises an identifier of the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device, and the identifier is used to indicate the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device from ephemeris information of a plurality of satellites; or the first indication information comprises the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, the first information comprises the offset; the determining the first timing information according to the first information comprises: determining the first timing information according to the offset and third timing information, and the third timing information is determined according to a relative position between the first communication device and the first network device and / or a relative speed between the first communication device and the first network device.

7. A communication method characterized by comprising: comprising: sending a first signal to a first communication device according to second timing information, and the second timing information is determined according to a relative position between a first network device and a second network device and / or a relative speed between the first network device and the second network device; and ​ sending first information to the first communication device, the first information being used by the first communication device to determine first timing information for receiving the first signal, the first information comprising position information and / or velocity information of the second network device; or, the first information comprising an offset of a sending time of the first signal, the offset of the sending time of the first signal being determined according to the position information and / or the velocity information of the second network device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, The method further comprises: sending a second signal to the second network device according to the second timing information, a boundary of a time unit corresponding to the first signal being aligned with a boundary of a time unit corresponding to the second signal.

9. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein the first information comprises first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device, the ephemeris information being used to indicate position information and / or velocity information of the second network device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first indication information comprises an identity of the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device, the identity being used to indicate the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device from a plurality of ephemeris information of satellites; or the first indication information comprises the ephemeris information corresponding to the second network device.

11. A communication method, comprising: application to a first communication device or a chip of the first communication device, comprising: receiving second information, the second information being used to indicate a first time offset, the first time offset being a time offset between a time instant at which a first network device sends a third signal to a second network device and a time instant at which the first network device receives a fourth signal from the second network device; determining fourth timing information according to the first time offset; and sending a fifth signal to the first network device according to the fourth timing information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, The second information is further used to indicate time information corresponding to the first time offset and / or relative position between the first network device and the second network device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein, The method further comprises: receiving second indication information from the first network device, the second indication information being used to indicate a correspondence between relative position and time information between the first network device and the second network device.

14. The method of any one of claims 11-13, wherein, The method further comprises: receiving first information from the first network device, the first information comprising position information and / or velocity information of the second network device; or, the first information comprising an offset of a sending time of the first signal, the offset of the sending time of the first signal being determined according to the position information and / or the velocity information of the second network device; determining first timing information according to the first information; and receiving the first signal from the first network device according to the first timing information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, If the index of the time unit corresponding to the fifth signal is the same as the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal, the fourth timing information is determined according to the first time offset and fifth timing information, the fifth timing information being determined according to the relative position between the first communication device and the first network device and / or the relative speed between the first communication device and the first network device.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein, If the difference between the index of the time unit corresponding to the fifth signal and the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal is n, n being a positive integer, the fourth timing information is determined according to the first time offset, the fifth timing information and n, the fifth timing information being determined according to the relative position between the first communication device and the first network device and / or the relative speed between the first communication device and the first network device.

17. The method of any one of claims 11-16, wherein, The method further comprises: receiving second information, the second information being used for indicating a first time offset, the first time offset being a time offset between a time instant at which a third signal is transmitted by the first network device to a second network device and a time instant at which a fourth signal is received by the first network device from the second network device; 18. A method of communication, comprising: and receiving a fifth signal from a first communication device, the fifth signal being transmitted according to fourth timing information, the fourth timing information being determined according to the first time offset. The second information is further used for indicating time information corresponding to the first time offset and / or a relative position between the first network device and the second network device. The method further comprises:

19. The method of claim 18, wherein, transmitting second indication information, the second indication information being used for indicating a correspondence between a relative position between the first network device and the second network device and time information.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, The method further comprises: transmitting a first signal to the first communication device according to second timing information, the second timing information being determined according to a relative position between the first network device and the second network device and / or a relative speed between the first network device and the second network device; 21. The method of any one of claims 18-20, wherein, transmitting first information to the first communication device, the first information being used by the first communication device to determine first timing information for receiving the first signal, the first information comprising position information and / or speed information of the second network device; or, the first information comprising an offset of a transmission time of the first signal, the offset of the transmission time of the first signal being determined according to the position information and / or the speed information of the second network device. The method further comprises: transmitting a second signal to the second network device according to the second timing information, a boundary of a time unit corresponding to the first signal being aligned with a boundary of a time unit corresponding to the second signal.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein, ​ ​ 23. The method of claim 21 or 22, wherein, If the index of the time unit corresponding to the fifth signal is the same as the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal, the fourth timing information is determined according to the first time offset and fifth timing information, the fifth timing information being determined according to the relative position between the first communication device and the first network device and / or the relative speed between the first communication device and the first network device.

24. The method of claim 21 or 22, wherein, If the difference between the index of the time unit corresponding to the fifth signal and the index of the time unit corresponding to the fourth signal is n, n being a positive integer, the fourth timing information is determined according to the first time offset, fifth timing information and the n, the fifth timing information being determined according to the relative position between the first communication device and the first network device and / or the relative speed between the first communication device and the first network device.

25. The method of any one of claims 18-24, wherein, The sending of the second information comprises: The sending of the broadcast message, the broadcast message comprising the second information.

26. A communications device, characterized by The apparatus comprises means or modules for performing the method of any one of claims 1-6, or the apparatus comprises means or modules for performing the method of any one of claims 7-10, or the apparatus comprises means or modules for performing the method of any one of claims 11-17, or the apparatus comprises means or modules for performing the method of any one of claims 18-25.

27. A communications device, characterized by The apparatus comprises a processor configured to execute computer programs or instructions to implement the method of any one of claims 1-6, or to implement the method of any one of claims 7-10, or to implement the method of any one of claims 11-17, or to implement the method of any one of claims 18-25.

28. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The storage medium stores computer programs or instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, implement the method of any one of claims 1-6, or the method of any one of claims 7-10, or the method of any one of claims 11-17, or the method of any one of claims 18-25.

29. A computer program product, characterised in that, The computer program product, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1-6, or the method of any one of claims 7-10, or the method of any one of claims 11-17, or the method of any one of claims 18-25.

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