Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications. Provided are a communication method and apparatus, which are used for improving the feature flow transmission efficiency and reducing the transmission delay. The method comprises: receiving first information and second information, wherein the first information is used for indicating fault-tolerant transmission capabilities of N data flows, the second information is used for indicating that the N data flows correspond to data units, and N is a positive integer; receiving the data units; and on the basis of the first information and the second information, determining whether to re-transmit some or all of the data units.

Description

Communication method and apparatus

[0001] The present application claims priority from the Chinese patent application No. 202411396612.7 filed on September 30, 2024, and entitled "A communication method and apparatus", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

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

[0003] With the continuous development of the 5th-generation mobile communication technology (5G), the data transmission capacity of communication services is becoming larger and larger, and the requirements for transmission delay or transmission efficiency are becoming higher and higher, such as high-definition video calls, intelligent robots, unmanned driving, or extended reality (XR) services.

[0004] At present, the feature stream transmission based on an artificial intelligence (AI) coding system has high transmission efficiency, wherein the data key features extracted by an AI source encoder are referred to as feature streams. Specifically, the sending end transmits the feature streams to the receiving end through a wireless channel after channel coding, modulation, and other processing. Correspondingly, the receiving end can recover the source through an AI source decoder or directly perform related data processing tasks after demodulation and channel decoding of the feature streams.

[0005] Among them, the feature stream transmission has certain fault tolerance characteristics, and when the communication channel quality is poor and the feature stream transmission part is wrong, it also has good decoding performance. However, the fault tolerance capability of the feature stream transmission is related to the source characteristics, AI source coding and decoding performance, etc., and has a certain upper limit value and may change. Therefore, at present, if the feature stream transmission is wrong or decoding fails, the sending end needs to perform multiple retransmissions until the receiving end decodes correctly, which is low in communication efficiency and large in transmission delay. SUMMARY

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and apparatus for improving the feature stream transmission efficiency and reducing the transmission delay.

[0007] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

[0008] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a receiving end of data transmission, such as a network device or a terminal, a communication module / processing module in the network device or the terminal, a circuit or chip responsible for communication function in the network device or the terminal (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip containing a modem core), or a circuit or chip responsible for processing function in the network device or the terminal (such as a graphics processing unit (GPU), an artificial intelligence (AI) processor, or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)). For example, the method is applied to a network device or a terminal. The method comprises: receiving first information and second information, the first information being used to indicate the fault-tolerant transmission capability of N data streams, and the second information being used to indicate that the N data streams correspond to data units, N being a positive integer; receiving the data units; and determining whether to retransmit part or all of the data units according to the first information and the second information.

[0009] By using the above method, during data stream transmission, the sending end can indicate the fault-tolerant transmission capability corresponding to the data stream to be sent to the receiving end, and indicate the data units corresponding to the data stream, so that the receiving end can determine whether retransmission is needed after receiving the data stream according to the indicated fault-tolerant transmission capability. By using the fault-tolerant feature of data stream transmission, unnecessary retransmission overhead can be avoided, retransmission delay can be reduced, and transmission efficiency can be improved.

[0010] It should be noted that the data stream described in the present application can be replaced by a feature stream, a data feature stream, or feature information, which refers to the feature information corresponding to a signal source obtained by the sending end extracting the key features of the signal source by using an AI data processing algorithm during image, voice, or video signal source data transmission. The present application does not limit the name of this data transmission mode.

[0011] In a possible design, the determining whether to retransmit part or all of the data units according to the first information and the second information comprises: determining the data units to be retransmitted in the data units according to the first information and the second information.

[0012] In the above embodiment, the receiving end can obtain the fault-tolerant transmission capability according to the transmitted first information, and determine the data units of the data stream according to the second information, so as to determine which data units in the data units need to be retransmitted, thereby reducing unnecessary retransmission overhead as much as possible and improving transmission efficiency.

[0013] In a possible design, the error-tolerant transmission capability is indicated by a first threshold, which is a maximum value of a ratio of a number of data streams with transmission errors in the N data streams to N.

[0014] In the above embodiment, the sending end can indicate the error-tolerant transmission capability by using the maximum ratio of allowed transmission errors in the data streams, so that the receiving end can use the transmission error ratio indicated by the first threshold as a judgment threshold for determining whether to perform retransmission, thereby reducing retransmission overhead and improving transmission efficiency.

[0015] In a possible design, determining whether to retransmit part or all of the data units according to the first information and the second information includes: determining not to retransmit the data units in a case where a number of data streams with transmission errors in the N data streams is less than or equal to the first threshold, where M is a positive integer and M is less than or equal to N.

[0016] In the above embodiment, the receiving end obtains a ratio of actual transmission errors, for example, M / N, according to a number of data streams with actual transmission errors in the N data streams, and compares the ratio with a maximum ratio of allowed transmission errors indicated by the first information, i.e., the first threshold, and determines that the actual transmission meets the required error-tolerant transmission capability in a case where the ratio of actual transmission errors is less than or equal to the first threshold, and thus retransmission is not needed, thereby reducing retransmission overhead and transmission delay and improving transmission efficiency.

[0017] In a possible design, determining whether to retransmit part or all of the data units according to the first information and the second information includes: determining to retransmit a first data unit in a case where a number of data streams with transmission errors in the N data streams is greater than the first threshold, where the first data unit corresponds to i data streams in the M data streams, M and i are positive integers, i is less than or equal to M, and M is less than or equal to N.

[0018] In the above embodiment, the receiving end obtains a ratio of actual transmission errors, for example, M / N, according to a number of data streams with actual transmission errors in the N data streams, and compares the ratio with a maximum ratio of allowed transmission errors indicated by the first information, i.e., the first threshold, and determines that the actual transmission does not meet the required error-tolerant transmission capability in a case where the ratio of actual transmission errors is greater than the first threshold, and thus retransmission is needed, and in a case where only the data unit corresponding to part of the data streams with transmission errors needs to be retransmitted, retransmission overhead and transmission delay can be reduced to a certain extent and transmission efficiency can be improved in the scenario where retransmission is needed.

[0019] In a possible design, the error-tolerant transmission capability is indicated by a first mode, and the first mode indicates data streams with allowed transmission errors and / or data streams with disallowed transmission errors in the N data streams.

[0020] In the above embodiments, the transmitter can indicate the error-tolerant transmission capability by indicating which data streams of the N data streams are allowed to have transmission errors and / or are not allowed to have transmission errors, so that the receiver can use the indication of the first mode as a judgment condition for whether retransmission is needed, thereby reducing retransmission overhead and improving transmission efficiency.

[0021] In a possible design, determining whether to retransmit part or all of the data units according to the first information and the second information includes: in a case where a first data stream of the N data streams, which is indicated by the error-tolerant transmission capability indication as not allowed to have transmission errors, has a transmission error, determining to retransmit a second data unit corresponding to the first data stream.

[0022] In the above embodiments, the receiver determines, according to the first mode and a data stream of the N data streams that actually has a transmission error, whether retransmission is needed, where if a data stream indicated by the first mode as not allowed to have transmission errors has a transmission error, such as a first data stream, it is determined that retransmission is needed, and conversely, if all data streams indicated by the first mode as not allowed to have transmission errors have no transmission errors, it is determined that retransmission is not needed. For a scenario where it is determined that retransmission is needed, only data units corresponding to part of the data streams of the data stream that has a transmission error need to be retransmitted, thereby reducing retransmission overhead, reducing transmission latency, and improving transmission efficiency.

[0023] In a possible design, the first information is further used to indicate data recovery quality of the N data streams under the error-tolerant transmission capability.

[0024] In the above embodiments, the first information can further indicate data recovery quality corresponding to the error-tolerant transmission capability, i.e., a size of data recovery quality that can be achieved by the receiver when performing data recovery under the error-tolerant transmission capability indicated by the first information, so that the receiver can flexibly select an actual error-tolerant transmission requirement according to the indicated data recovery quality, such as selecting an error-tolerant transmission capability that meets a service requirement according to data recovery quality required by the service.

[0025] In a possible design, the second information includes a preset identifier, and the preset identifier is used to indicate a first or last data unit corresponding to the N data streams.

[0026] In the above embodiments, the transmitter can indicate, to the receiver, a first or last data unit corresponding to the N data streams by using a preset identifier, so that the receiver can determine a starting position or ending position of receiving the N data streams according to the preset identifier. Optionally, the receiver can distinguish different data stream groups according to the preset identifier, and perform decoding and retransmission indication in units of data stream groups, thereby improving communication efficiency.

[0027] In one possible design, the logical channel or the logical channel group used for transmitting the N data streams has the error-tolerant transmission capability.

[0028] In a second aspect, the method can be applied at a transmitting end of data transmission, such as a terminal or a network device, e.g., an access network device, a module (e.g., a circuit, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) in the access network device, or a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the access network device. For example, the method is applied at a terminal or a network device. The method includes: sending first information and second information, the first information being used to indicate an error-tolerant transmission capability of N data streams, the second information being used to indicate that the N data streams correspond to data units, N being a positive integer; and sending data units corresponding to the N data streams.

[0029] In one possible design, the error-tolerant transmission capability is indicated by a first threshold, the first threshold being a maximum value of a ratio of a number of data streams with transmission errors in the N data streams to N.

[0030] In one possible design, the error-tolerant transmission capability is indicated by a first mode, the first mode indicating data streams with allowed transmission errors and / or data streams with disallowed transmission errors in the N data streams.

[0031] In one possible design, the first information is further used to indicate a data recovery quality of the N data streams under the error-tolerant transmission capability.

[0032] In one possible design, the second information includes a preset identifier, the preset identifier being used to indicate a first or a last data unit corresponding to the N data streams.

[0033] In one possible design, the logical channel or the logical channel group used for transmitting the N data streams has the error-tolerant transmission capability.

[0034] In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a communication apparatus, which has the functions of the first aspect, e.g., the communication apparatus includes modules or units or means corresponding to the operations of the first aspect, which are specifically implemented by software, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0035] In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides a communication apparatus, which has the functions of the second aspect, e.g., the communication apparatus includes modules or units or means corresponding to the operations of the second aspect, which are specifically implemented by software, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0036] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which comprises an interface circuit and one or more processors. The one or more processors are coupled with a memory. The memory is configured to store part or all of the necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions related to the first aspect described above. The one or more processors can execute the computer programs or instructions, which, when executed, cause the communication apparatus to implement the method in any possible design or implementation manner of the first aspect described above. The interface circuit is configured to implement the communication function within the communication apparatus and / or the communication function of the communication apparatus with other apparatuses or components.

[0037] In a possible design, the processor is configured to communicate with other apparatuses or components via the interface circuit.

[0038] In a possible design, the communication apparatus can further include the memory.

[0039] The communication apparatus described above can be a terminal, a communication / processing module in the terminal, a chip responsible for communication function (such as a modem chip, also referred to as a baseband chip) or an SoC or SIP chip containing a modem module in the terminal, or a circuit or chip responsible for processing function (such as a GPU, an AI processor, or an ASIC) in the terminal.

[0040] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which comprises an interface circuit and one or more processors. The one or more processors are coupled with a memory. The memory is configured to store part or all of the necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions related to the second aspect described above. The one or more processors can execute the computer programs or instructions, which, when executed, cause the communication apparatus to implement the method in any possible design or implementation manner of the second aspect described above. The interface circuit is configured to implement the communication function within the communication apparatus and / or the communication function of the communication apparatus with other apparatuses or components.

[0041] In a possible design, the processor is configured to communicate with other apparatuses or components via the interface circuit.

[0042] In a possible design, the communication apparatus can further include the memory.

[0043] The communication apparatus described above can be a terminal, a communication / processing module in the terminal, a chip responsible for communication function (such as a modem chip, also referred to as a baseband chip) or an SoC or SIP chip containing a modem module in the terminal, or a circuit or chip responsible for processing function (such as a GPU, an AI processor, or an ASIC) in the terminal.

[0044] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication system, which comprises the data transmission receiving end in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, and comprises the data transmission sending end in any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

[0045] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores computer readable instructions, when the computer readable instructions are read and executed by a computer, the computer executes the method in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0046] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, when the computer program product is read and executed by a computer, the computer executes the method in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0047] The technical effects brought by the possible implementation manners of the second aspect to the ninth aspect can refer to the technical effects brought by the possible implementation manners of the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0048] It can be understood that the schemes in the above aspects can be combined as long as the schemes are not contradictory. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0049] FIGS. 1-3 are schematic diagrams of architectures of communication systems provided by embodiments of the present application;

[0050] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a flow of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] FIGS. 5-7 are schematic diagrams of flows of feature streaming provided by embodiments of the present application;

[0052] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of layer-by-layer processing of a data packet provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a terminal provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0055] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, but not all the embodiments of the present application.

[0056] First, the implementation scenario of the embodiments of the present application will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0057] The method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, including but not limited to: non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication system, narrow band-internet of things (NB-IoT), long term evolution (LTE) system, 5G mobile communication system, and future mobile communication system, etc.

[0058] FIG. 1 shows a possible, non-limiting system diagram. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system 10 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., 110a and 110b in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120j in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 120). Other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in FIG. 1), etc., can also be included in the RAN 100. The terminal 120 is connected to the RAN node 110 in a wireless manner. The RAN node 110 is connected to the core network 200 in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 100 can be different physical devices respectively, or can be the same physical device integrated with the logical functions of the core network and the logical functions of the radio access network.

[0059] The RAN 100 can be a 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) related cellular system, such as a 4G, 5G mobile communication system, or a future-oriented evolution system. The RAN 100 can also be an open radio access network (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system. The RAN 100 can also be a communication system that combines two or more of the above systems.

[0060] The RAN node 110, which can also be referred to as an access network device, a RAN entity, or an access node, etc., forms part of the communication system, and is configured to facilitate the wireless access by the terminals. The RAN nodes 110 in the communication system 10 can be of the same type or can be of different types. In some scenarios, the roles of the RAN node 110 and the terminal 120 are relative, e.g., the network element 120i in Figure 1 can be a helicopter or a drone, which can be configured to move as a mobile base station, and for a terminal 120j accessing the RAN 100 via the network element 120i, the network element 120i is a base station; but for the base station 110a, the network element 120i is a terminal. The RAN nodes 110 and the terminals 120 are sometimes referred to as communication devices, e.g., the network elements 110a and 110b in Figure 1 can be understood as communication devices with base station functionalities, and the network elements 120a-120j can be understood as communication devices with terminal functionalities

[0061] In a possible scenario, the RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system, etc. The RAN node can be a macro base station (e.g., 110a in Figure 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (e.g., 110b in Figure 1), a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a CRAN scenario. Optionally, the RAN node can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or a vehicle-mounted device, etc. For example, the access network device in vehicle to everything (V2X) technology can be a road side unit (RSU). All or part of the functions of the RAN node in this application can also be implemented by software functions running on hardware, or by virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). The RAN node can also be provided with a communication module, circuit or chip for performing corresponding communication functions, and program instructions for performing corresponding communication functions. The RAN node in this application can also be a logical node, a logical module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the RAN node.

[0062] In another possible scenario, a terminal is assisted by multiple RAN nodes to implement wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of functions of a base station. For example, a RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU), etc. The CU and the DU can be separately arranged, or can also be included in the same network element, for example, in 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 processing unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0063] 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 an ORAN system, the CU can also be referred to as an O-CU (open CU), the DU can also be referred to as an O-DU, the CU-CP can also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, and the RU can also be referred to as an O-RU. For the convenience of description, the CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU are taken as examples for description in this application. Any one 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.

[0064] A terminal can be a device or module with corresponding communication functions and can access the above-mentioned communication system. The terminal can also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. The terminal can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous 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, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, wearable device, vehicle, unmanned aerial vehicle, helicopter, airplane, ship, robot, mechanical arm, smart home device, transport vehicle with wireless communication function, communication module, etc. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the device form of the terminal. The terminal is usually provided with a communication module, circuit or chip for performing corresponding communication functions. The terminal is also configured with program instructions for performing corresponding communication functions.

[0065] In order to support artificial intelligence (AI) technology in a wireless network, an AI node can also be introduced in the network.

[0066] The AI node can be deployed in one or more of the following positions in the communication system: access network node (RAN node), terminal device, or core network device, etc., or the AI node can also be deployed separately, for example, in a position other than any of the above devices, such as a host or cloud server of an over the top (OTT) system. The AI node can communicate with other devices in the communication system, which can be one or more of the following: network device, terminal device, or core network element, etc.

[0067] It can be understood that the present application does not limit the number of AI nodes. For example, when there are multiple AI nodes, the multiple AI nodes can be divided based on functions, such as different AI nodes responsible for different functions.

[0068] It can also be understood that the AI node can be a separate device, can be integrated into the same device to implement different functions, or can be a network element in a hardware device, or a software function running on a dedicated hardware, or a virtualized function instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform), and the present application does not limit the specific form of the above-mentioned AI node.

[0069] An AI node can be an AI network element or an AI module.

[0070] Figure 2 illustrates a possible application framework in a communication system. As shown in Figure 2, network elements in the communication system are connected through interfaces (e.g., NG, Xn) or air interfaces. One or more AI modules (only one is shown in Figure 2 for clarity) are deployed in one or more of the network element nodes, such as a core network device, an access network node (RAN node), a terminal, or one or more devices in operations administration and maintenance (OAM). The access network node can be a single RAN node or can include multiple RAN nodes, e.g., including a CU and a DU. The CU and / or the DU can also be provided with one or more AI modules. The CU can also be split into a CU-CP and a CU-UP, and the CU-CP and / or the CU-UP can be provided with one or more AI modules.

[0071] An AI module is used to implement a corresponding AI function. AI modules deployed in different network elements can be the same or different. The model of an AI module can implement different functions according to different parameter configurations. The model of an AI module can be configured based on one or more of the following parameters: a structural parameter (e.g., at least one of a number of neural network layers, a neural network width, a connection relationship between layers, a weight of a neuron, an activation function of a neuron, or a bias in the activation function), an input parameter (e.g., a type of input parameter and / or a dimension of the input parameter), or an output parameter (e.g., a type of output parameter and / or a dimension of the output parameter). The bias in the activation function can also be referred to as a bias of a neural network.

[0072] In one example, the neural network described above can be a deep neural network (DNN), a convolutional neuron network (CNN), a recurrent neural network (RNN), or a generative adversarial network (GAN).

[0073] A DNN is an artificial neural network architecture that has multiple layers of nonlinear transformation units stacked together in a hierarchical structure, forming a deep computational model. Compared with a shallow neural network, a deep neural network has more hidden layers, allowing the network model to capture more complex internal structures of data and high-level abstract features.

[0074] A CNN is a deep neural network with a convolutional structure. A CNN includes a feature extractor composed of convolutional layers and subsampling layers. The feature extractor can be viewed as a filter, and the convolution process can be viewed as convolving an input image or a convolutional feature map with a trainable filter.

[0075] An RNN is a type of recursive neural network that takes sequence data as input, performs recursion in the direction of evolution of the sequence, and all nodes (recurrent units) are connected in a chain.

[0076] A GAN is a deep learning model. It is composed of a generator and a discriminator, and is trained through adversarial learning. The purpose is to estimate the latent distribution of data samples and generate new data samples.

[0077] An AI module can have one or more models. A model can infer an output, which includes a parameter or multiple parameters. The learning process, training process, or inference process of different models can be deployed in different nodes or devices, or can be deployed in the same node or device.

[0078] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a possible application framework in a communication system. As shown in FIG. 3, the communication system includes a RAN intelligent controller (RIC). For example, the RIC can be the AI module described above, and is used to implement AI-related functions. The RIC includes a near-real time RIC (near-RT RIC) and a non-real time RIC (Non-RT RIC). The non-real time RIC mainly processes non-real-time information, such as data that is not sensitive to latency, which can be on the order of seconds. The real-time RIC mainly processes near-real-time information, such as data that is relatively sensitive to latency, which is on the order of tens of milliseconds.

[0079] The near-real-time RIC is used for model training and inference. For example, it is used to train an AI model, and inference is performed using the AI model. The near-real-time RIC can obtain network-side and / or terminal-side information from RAN nodes (such as CUs, CU-CPs, CU-UPs, DUs, and / or RUs) and / or terminals. This information can be used as training data or inference data. The near-real-time RIC can deliver inference results to RAN nodes and / or terminals. The CU and the DU, and / or the DU and the RU, can interact with the inference results. For example, the near-real-time RIC delivers inference results to the DU, and the DU sends them to the RU.

[0080] The non-real-time RIC is also used for model training and inference. For example, the non-real-time RIC is used for training an AI model, and inference is performed using the model. The non-real-time RIC can obtain network-side and / or terminal-side information from a RAN node (for example, a CU, a CU-CP, a CU-UP, a DU, and / or a RU) and / or a terminal. The information can be used as training data or inference data, and the inference result can be delivered to the RAN node and / or the terminal. The inference result can be exchanged between the CU and the DU, and / or between the DU and the RU, for example, the non-real-time RIC delivers the inference result to the DU, and the DU delivers the inference result to the RU.

[0081] The near-real-time RIC and the non-real-time RIC can also be separately provided as a network element, respectively. The near-real-time RIC and the non-real-time RIC can also be part of other devices, for example, the near-real-time RIC is provided in a RAN node (for example, a CU, a DU), and the non-real-time RIC is provided in an OAM, a cloud server, a core network device, or other network devices.

[0082] It should be noted that the functions of other network elements included in FIGS. 1-3 can be referred to the related descriptions in the conventional technologies, which will not be repeated here. The network architecture shown in FIGS. 1-3 is only used for example, and is not used to limit the technical solutions of the present application. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that other network elements or devices can also be included in the specific implementation process, and the number of access network devices, terminal devices, and / or core network devices can also be determined according to specific needs.

[0083] Optionally, each network element shown in FIGS. 1-3 can be a device, or a functional module in the device, or a logical functional unit. It can be understood that the above functions can be network elements in a hardware device, such as a communication chip in a mobile phone, or a software function running on a dedicated hardware, or a virtualized function instantiated on a platform (for example, a cloud platform).

[0084] It can be understood that the devices or network elements in the communication system of FIGS. 1-3 can communicate directly or through forwarding by other devices, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0085] It can be understood that FIGS. 1-3 are only schematic diagrams, and do not constitute a limitation on the applicable scenarios of the technical solutions provided by the present application. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the communication system can include fewer devices or network elements than those shown in FIGS. 1-3, or the communication system can include other devices or other network elements, and the number of devices or network elements in the communication system can also be determined according to specific needs.

[0086] It should be noted that the names of messages between various network elements in the following embodiments of the present application or the names of various parameters in the messages are only examples, and other names can also be used in specific implementation, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations thereto.

[0087] It can be understood that part or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application are only examples, and other steps or variations of various steps can also be performed. In addition, various steps can be performed in different orders as presented in the embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all steps in the embodiments of the present application are performed.

[0088] In the present application, “sending information” can be understood as a device sending information to another device, or also can be understood as a logical module in a device sending information to another logical module. For example, “the access network device sending information” can be understood as the access network device sending information to another device (such as a terminal), or can be understood as a logical module 1 in the access network device sending information to a logical module 2 in the access network device.

[0089] In the present application, “receiving information” can be understood as a device receiving information from another device, or also can be understood as a logical module in a device receiving information from another logical module. For example, “the access network device receiving information” can be understood as the access network device receiving information from another device (such as a terminal), or can be understood as a logical module 1 in the access network device receiving information from a logical module 2 in the access network device.

[0090] In the present application, “sending information to … (such as a terminal)” or related illustrations in the drawings can be understood as that the destination of the information is the terminal. It can include directly or indirectly sending information to the terminal. “Receiving information from … (such as a terminal)” or “receiving information sent by … (such as a terminal)” or related illustrations in the drawings can be understood as that the source of the information is the terminal, which can include directly or indirectly receiving information from the terminal. The information can be processed as necessary between the source and the destination of the information, such as format change, etc., but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in the present application can be understood similarly, and will not be described here.

[0091] The present application can be applied to the scene of feature flow transmission.

[0092] Feature flow: when transmitting image, voice or video source data, the sender extracts the key features of the source through AI data processing algorithm, and obtains the feature information corresponding to the source.

[0093] For example, the sending end extracts features based on an AI source encoder for a specific source part, such as a voice segment or a specific video frame. The extracted feature information can be a plurality of floating-point numbers. The floating-point numbers are divided into N groups, and one group is one feature stream. The N feature streams can be referred to as one feature stream group, which corresponds to one video frame or one voice frame. N is a positive integer.

[0094] Feature stream group: all feature streams obtained by source encoding of a source encoding unit (such as one video frame or one voice frame).

[0095] Optionally, the grouping manner of the plurality of floating-point numbers in the feature information can be determined by a specific feature extraction scheme. For details, refer to the related technical description, which is not limited in the present application.

[0096] The N feature streams in one feature stream group are feature information corresponding to one video frame or one voice frame.

[0097] Specifically, the sending end transmits the feature stream to the receiving end through a wireless channel after channel encoding, modulation, and other processing. Correspondingly, the receiving end can recover the source by an AI source decoder or directly perform a related data processing task after demodulation and channel decoding of the feature stream.

[0098] It should be noted that the feature stream described in the present application can also be referred to as a data stream, a data feature stream, or feature information. The feature stream group can also be referred to as a data stream group. The present application does not limit the name of the data transmission method.

[0099] Currently, if transmission errors or decoding failures occur in feature stream transmission, the sending end needs to perform multiple retransmissions until the receiving end decodes correctly, which is low in communication efficiency and large in transmission delay. The present application provides a communication method and device. By interacting between the sending end and the receiving end, the fault tolerance capability of the current feature stream transmission is used to enable the receiving end to determine whether the feature stream with transmission errors needs to be retransmitted according to the fault tolerance capability, and to determine the minimum transmission unit required for retransmission, so as to improve the efficiency of feature stream transmission and reduce the transmission delay.

[0100] The communication method and device provided by the present application are further described below with reference to the drawings. It can be understood that the network device and the terminal are taken as examples of the execution subject of the interaction in the present application, but the present application is not limited to the execution subject of the interaction. For example, the method performed by the network device in the present application can also be implemented by a module (such as a circuit, a chip or a chip system, etc.) in the network device, or a logical node, a logical module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the network device; the method performed by the terminal in the present application can also be implemented by a communication / processing module in the terminal or a circuit or chip (such as a modem chip (also known as a baseband chip), or a SoC chip / SIP chip containing a modem core, or a GPU / AI processor / ASIC) responsible for communication / processing functions in the terminal.

[0101] As shown in FIG. 4, the present application provides a communication method applied to the interaction between a sending terminal and a receiving terminal for feature streaming. Exemplarily, the sending terminal can be a terminal or a network device, and correspondingly, the receiving terminal can be a network device or a terminal. The communication method can include the following steps.

[0102] 401: The sending terminal sends first information and second information, the first information is used to indicate the fault-tolerant transmission capability of N data streams, and the second information is used to indicate that the N data streams correspond to data units. Correspondingly, the receiving terminal receives the first information and the second information.

[0103] Wherein, N is a positive integer.

[0104] The first information is used to indicate the fault-tolerant transmission capability corresponding to the N data streams to be sent, wherein the fault-tolerant transmission capability can indicate whether the data stream to be sent allows transmission errors and the upper threshold value of the transmission errors, that is, the worst case of the transmission errors that can be allowed.

[0105] In an embodiment, the data stream can be carried in one or more data units for transmission, and the data unit can be a transport block (TB). That is, the sending terminal can carry the data stream based on the TB unit and send it to the receiving terminal.

[0106] In an embodiment, the sending terminal can send the TB in code block (CB) units, that is, the data unit can also be CB. One TB can include multiple CBs.

[0107] Optionally, multiple CBs can be grouped into a code block group (CBG), that is, one CBG can include multiple CBs. Wherein, one TB can include one or more CBGs.

[0108] That is, the second information can indicate that the N data streams correspond to one or more data units carrying the data streams. That is, the second information can be used to indicate information of data units occupied by the N data streams.

[0109] For example, the data unit can be a TB, and the N data streams correspond to 2 TBs; the data unit can be a CBG, and the N data streams correspond to 4 CBGs of 2 TBs. For another example, the data unit can be a CB, and the N data streams correspond to 8 CBs of 2 TBs, wherein 2 CBs are a CBG, that is, the N data streams correspond to 4 CBGs.

[0110] In an embodiment, the second information can include a preset identifier, and the preset identifier is used to indicate a first or last data unit corresponding to the N data streams. That is, the receiving end receives the second information, and can distinguish a starting data unit or a last data unit corresponding to the N data streams according to the preset identifier, so as to determine a transmission position of the N data streams. For example, the preset identifier can be 00, 000, 111, etc., which is not limited.

[0111] 402: The sending end transmits data units corresponding to the N data streams. Correspondingly, the receiving end receives the data units.

[0112] As described above, a plurality of data streams can form a data stream group.

[0113] For example, in the embodiments of the present application, a case where N data streams form a data stream group is introduced.

[0114] Optionally, transmitting a data stream group can need to occupy a plurality of TBs, such as a plurality of TBs occupied by the N data streams.

[0115] Correspondingly, the receiving end receives data units corresponding to the N data streams, and includes decoding the data units corresponding to the N data streams, so as to obtain an actual transmission situation of the data units, such as transmission correctness or transmission error.

[0116] In an embodiment, transmission correctness of a TB or a CB can be obtained by a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) method. To perform CRC, the sending end can append a CRC check code of R bits in length after K bits of data to be transmitted, and then transmit to the receiving end. After receiving the data, the receiving end can verify whether the received data is correct according to the received data and the CRC check code.

[0117] Optionally, in the embodiments of the present application, only the CRC check is taken as an example, and other check methods can also be included, and the check method of the present application for data stream transmission correctness is not limited.

[0118] 403: The receiving end determines whether to retransmit part or all of the data units according to the first information and the second information.

[0119] Specifically, the receiving end can determine the fault-tolerant transmission capability corresponding to the N data streams according to the first information, and determine the total data units occupied by the N data streams according to the second information.

[0120] The receiving end can determine whether to retransmit part or all of the data units corresponding to the N data streams according to the actual transmission of the data units in step 402, in combination with the fault-tolerant transmission capability and the total data units occupied by the N data streams.

[0121] In an embodiment, if the fault-tolerant transmission capability indicates that the N data streams allow partial transmission errors, and the actual transmission of the N data streams is better than the upper threshold, such as the actual transmission is better than the worst transmission condition that can allow transmission errors, the receiving end can correctly decode the data streams.

[0122] On the contrary, if the actual transmission of the N data streams is worse than the upper threshold, such as the actual transmission is worse than the worst condition that can allow transmission errors, the receiving end cannot correctly decode the data streams, and the sending end needs to retransmit.

[0123] Therefore, in the above embodiment of the present application, the sending end indicates the fault-tolerant transmission capability corresponding to the data streams to be sent to the receiving end, such as step 1 in FIG. 5. Then, the sending end encodes the fault-tolerant data streams and sends the data streams to the receiving end through a wireless channel (step 2), the receiving end can receive and decode the data streams, and the receiving end determines whether to retransmit according to the fault-tolerant transmission capability and the actual transmission, such as step 3 in FIG. 5. Thus, unnecessary retransmission overhead can be avoided, and transmission efficiency can be improved.

[0124] In an embodiment, if the receiving end determines that part of the data units need to be retransmitted according to the fault-tolerant transmission capability and the actual transmission, the receiving end can send a retransmission indication to the sending end. As shown in step 4 in FIG. 5, the receiving end can send information of the data units to be retransmitted to the sending end, such as the number or position of the data units to be retransmitted, indicating which TB, CBG or CB needs to be retransmitted.

[0125] Exemplarily, the receiving end is a base station, the sending end is a UE, and the retransmission granularity is a CBG. The base station can schedule the UE to retransmit the CBGs by configuring a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process index number and CBG transmission information (CBGTI) in downlink control information (DCI), for example, by indicating CBG information to be retransmitted through the CBGTI field.

[0126] It should be noted that the present application can be applied to a data stream transmission scenario between a terminal and a network device, or a data stream transmission scenario between terminals, or a data stream transmission scenario between network devices. In different transmission scenarios, the specific implementation steps may be different, and it may not be necessary to perform all the steps in the embodiments of the present application.

[0127] In an implementation, the fault-tolerant transmission capability can be indicated by a first threshold value, which is a maximum value of a ratio of a number of data streams that are allowed to have transmission errors to N. That is, if the maximum number of data streams that are allowed to have transmission errors in N data streams is n, the first threshold value can be n / N. For example, the first threshold value can be 10%, which can indicate that one data stream is allowed to have transmission errors in 10 data streams; or the first threshold value can be 20%, which can indicate that one data stream is allowed to have transmission errors in 5 data streams, or two data streams are allowed to have transmission errors in 10 data streams, and the like.

[0128] Optionally, the first information can indicate the first threshold value, or the first information includes the first threshold value.

[0129] In an implementation, a plurality of possible values of the first threshold value and indexes corresponding to the values can be pre-configured.

[0130] Exemplarily, the configuration information of the first threshold value is shown in Table 1 below. The first threshold value is a data stream transmission error ratio, and the index corresponding to the first threshold value is a MaxErrorRatio field (the specific name of the field is not limited in the present application). Subsequently, in step 401, the MaxErrorRatio field can be carried in the first information to indicate one data stream transmission error ratio shown in Table 1 below.

[0131] Table 1, configuration information of the first threshold value

[0132] For example, if the MaxErrorRatio field in the first information indicates 00, the maximum data stream transmission error ratio of the N data streams is 10%; if the MaxErrorRatio field in the first information indicates 10, the maximum data stream transmission error ratio of the N data streams is 30%.

[0133] Further, in an embodiment, the receiving end can determine the data unit to be retransmitted according to the first information and the second information.

[0134] In this embodiment, the receiving end determines whether to retransmit part or all of the data units according to the first information and the second information, which can specifically include that the receiving end determines according to the actual transmission of the N data streams, if M data streams of the N data streams are in error, and in the case that M / N is less than or equal to the first threshold, the receiving end determines not to retransmit the data units. Wherein, M is a positive integer and M is less than or equal to N.

[0135] For example, if N is 10 and M is 1, i.e. one of the 10 data streams is in error, the actual transmission error ratio is 10%, and if the first information indicates that the first threshold is 10%, the receiving end determines not to retransmit.

[0136] Conversely, in an embodiment, the receiving end determines according to the actual transmission of the N data streams, if M data streams of the N data streams are in error, and in the case that M / N is greater than the first threshold, determines to retransmit part or all of the data units.

[0137] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the receiving end can be agreed that less than the first threshold determines not to retransmit, and correspondingly greater than or equal to the first threshold determines to retransmit, according to the comparison of the actual transmission error ratio of the data stream and the first threshold; or, it can be agreed that less than or equal to the first threshold determines not to retransmit, and correspondingly greater than the first threshold determines to retransmit. The present application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0138] Further, the receiving end can select a retransmission mode with less retransmission data units under the premise of improving transmission performance in the case of indicating fault-tolerant transmission capability, so as to reduce the overhead of data retransmission. Specifically, the receiving end can determine the data units corresponding to the part of the data streams in error in actual transmission.

[0139] In an embodiment, the data unit granularity of the receiving end retransmission data can be TB, CBG or CB, etc., and the present application does not make limitations on this. Wherein, the retransmission overhead with CBG as the retransmission granularity is lower than the retransmission overhead with TB as the retransmission granularity; correspondingly, the retransmission overhead with CB as the retransmission granularity is lower than the retransmission overhead with CBG as the retransmission granularity.

[0140] Exemplarily, taking the case of determining the retransmission of the first data unit at the receiving end as an example. The first data unit corresponds to i data streams in M data streams, M and i are positive integers, i is less than or equal to M, and M is less than or equal to N.

[0141] That is, the receiving end does not need to retransmit all data units corresponding to the aforementioned M data streams with transmission errors, but can retransmit data units corresponding to i data streams in the M data streams.

[0142] Optionally, i can be greater than or equal to The first threshold value is R. That is, the number of data streams retransmitted as the retransmission unit can be at least

[0143] For example, in 10 data stream transmission, the fault-tolerant transmission capability indicated by the first information is 10%, that is, only 1 data stream transmission error is allowed, and the actual transmission detected by the receiving end is 2 data stream transmission errors. The sending end only needs to retransmit the data units corresponding to 1 data stream in the 2 data streams with transmission errors, so as to improve the data recovery performance.

[0144] In addition, optionally, when the initial transmission error rate of the data stream is high, the sending end can also appropriately increase the number of retransmitted characteristic streams to avoid multiple retransmissions caused by retransmission errors.

[0145] For example, in 10 data stream transmission, the fault-tolerant transmission capability indicated by the first information is 10%, that is, only 1 data stream transmission error is allowed, and the actual transmission detected by the receiving end is 4 data stream transmission errors. The sending end can retransmit data units corresponding to 2 data streams in the 4 data streams with transmission errors to avoid retransmission errors.

[0146] Exemplarily, as shown in FIG. 6, taking the transmission of characteristic streams as an example, the retransmitted data unit takes CBG as an example. One characteristic stream group has 4 characteristic streams, and the 4 characteristic streams occupy 2 TBs. Among them, 1 TB includes 2 CBGs, and 1 CBG includes 2 CBs.

[0147] Specifically, the number of CBs occupied by the 4 characteristic streams is 1, 2, 3, and 2, respectively.

[0148] As shown in FIG. 6, the first feature stream in the feature stream group occupies 1 CB, which is CB0 of CBG0 of TB1. The second feature stream in the feature stream group occupies 2 CBs, which are CB1 of CBG0 of TB1 and CB2 of CBG1. The third feature stream in the feature stream group occupies 3 CBs, which are CB3 of CBG1 of TB1, CB0 of CBG0 of TB2 and CB1 of CBG0 of TB2. The fourth feature stream in the feature stream group occupies 2 CBs, which are CB2 and CB3 of CBG1 of TB2.

[0149] In one example, as shown in FIG. 6, if the first information indicates that the maximum data stream transmission error ratio of the feature stream group is 25%, and the receiving end determines that only one feature stream transmission error exists, for example, the third feature stream transmission error (e.g., CB0 transmission error of CBG0 of TB2), no retransmission is needed.

[0150] In another example, as shown in FIG. 7, if the receiving end determines that 2 feature stream transmission errors exist, for example, the second feature stream and the third feature stream transmission errors, according to the maximum data stream transmission error ratio, the sending end only needs to retransmit the data unit corresponding to one of the feature streams with transmission errors, for example, the data unit corresponding to the second feature stream or the data unit corresponding to the third feature stream.

[0151] One possible retransmission manner is to select the CBG causing the feature stream transmission error, and preferentially select the CBG of the feature stream with less number of CBGs with transmission errors, so as to reduce the retransmission overhead.

[0152] In the above example, as shown in FIG. 7, for the second feature stream, there is 1 CBG transmission error; for the third feature stream, there are 2 CBG transmission errors, and the sending end can select the feature stream with less number of CBGs with transmission errors for retransmission, that is, retransmit the CBG with transmission error corresponding to the second feature stream. In this example, the feature stream with less number of CBGs with transmission errors is the second feature stream, therefore, the receiving end can indicate the sending end to retransmit CBG0 of TB1.

[0153] In one implementation manner, in the embodiment of the present application, the second information sent by the sending end to the receiving end can be used to indicate that the N feature stream groups correspond to the data units occupied, so that the receiving end can determine the data units corresponding to the N feature streams.

[0154] For example, the second information includes a preset identifier, and the preset identifier is used to indicate the first or last data unit corresponding to the N data streams of one data stream group. The receiving end can distinguish different data stream groups according to the preset identifier, and perform decoding and retransmission indication in units of data stream groups.

[0155] As shown in FIG. 8, in a terminal or a network device, in a process of transferring a data packet from an upper layer to a lower layer, such as a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer and a medium access control (MAC) layer, a packet header of a data packet of a lower layer is parsed and re-added, and the data packet is encapsulated as a service data unit (SDU).

[0156] For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a data packet n, a data packet n+1 and a data packet m, an SDAP layer entity receives a data packet from an application layer, adds an SDAP packet header, encapsulates the data packet as an SDAP SDU, and transfers the data packet to a PDCP layer.

[0157] In an embodiment of the present application, a data stream identity (ID) corresponding to a data packet can be added in a packet header of the data packet. In addition, when segmentation and reassembly of the data packet is involved, the data stream ID is updated accordingly. In combination with the data stream ID in a packet header of each data packet of the MAC layer, a corresponding relationship between each data stream and each CB can be obtained.

[0158] In a physical layer, data of one data stream can be filled in multiple CBs. For example, a number of CBs occupied by one data stream can be where K is a bit length of one CB. Optionally, if the last CB occupied by one data stream is not filled, NULL bits can be filled at the end of the CB.

[0159] For example, the CB length K can be 8448 and 3840 bits.

[0160] For example, a preset identity can be added in a packet header of a first or last CB corresponding to N data streams of a data stream group. For example, the preset identity can be 00, and according to the preset identity 00, a number and a position of CBs occupied by the N data streams can be determined.

[0161] In a possible implementation, the second information can be used to indicate a corresponding relationship between a feature stream in a feature stream group and a data unit occupied by the feature stream.

[0162] For example, the second information can further indicate the number of data units corresponding to the characteristic flow, or indicate the corresponding relationship between the characteristic flow and the data units occupied by the characteristic flow in the characteristic flow group.

[0163] For example, the second information can include a data stream ID for indicating the data stream corresponding to the CB.

[0164] For example, the second information can include the identification of the data stream corresponding to the data stream in the N data stream groups, and the number of data stream identifications can represent the number of CBs occupied by the data stream.

[0165] For example, in order to locate the CBs occupied by a characteristic flow group, the characteristic flow ID can be set as the binary representation of the serial number of each characteristic flow in the characteristic flow group, and the characteristic flow ID of each CB of the last characteristic flow in the characteristic flow group can be set as all 0.

[0166] For example, a characteristic flow group includes 4 characteristic flows, the ID of the first characteristic flow can be 01, the ID of the second characteristic flow can be 10, the ID of the third characteristic flow can be 11, and the ID of the fourth characteristic flow can be 00. According to the fact that the 4 characteristic flows occupy 8 consecutive CBs, the number of CBs occupied by the 4 characteristic flows is 1, 2, 3, and 2 respectively, the second information can be indicated as: the characteristic flow ID of the corresponding 8 consecutive CBs, i.e. [01, 10, 10, 11, 11, 11, 00, 00].

[0167] In another example, a characteristic flow group includes 3 characteristic flows, the ID of the first characteristic flow can be 01, the ID of the second characteristic flow can be 10, and the ID of the third characteristic flow can be 00 or 11. If the 3 characteristic flows occupy 6 consecutive CBs, the number of CBs occupied by the 3 characteristic flows is 1, 2, and 3 respectively, the second information can be indicated as: [01, 10, 10, 11, 11, 11], or as [01, 10, 10, 00, 00, 00].

[0168] For example, if a characteristic flow group includes 7 characteristic flows, at least three bits are needed to indicate the ID of a characteristic flow, such as characteristic flow ID can be 001, 010, 011, 100, etc., and the characteristic flow ID of each CB of the last characteristic flow in the characteristic flow group can be set as 000 or 111.

[0169] In another embodiment, the fault-tolerant transmission capability indicated by the first information can be indicated by the first mode, wherein the first mode can indicate the data stream allowing transmission error in the N data streams, and / or the data stream not allowing transmission error.

[0170] That is, the error-tolerant transmission capability can be indicated by indicating a worst error pattern that the data stream group can tolerate.

[0171] In one possible implementation, the error-tolerant transmission capability can be indicated by a bit sequence, such as a WorstErrorPattern sequence (the specific name of the sequence is not limited in the present application). In the sequence, a bit position of 0 can indicate that a data stream of a corresponding sequence number in the data stream group is allowed to have a transmission error, and a bit position of 1 can indicate that the data stream is not allowed to have a transmission error.

[0172] Optionally, when determining the WorstErrorPattern sequence, the sender can consider the importance of different data streams in the data stream group, i.e., the importance for source recovery. For example, a bit position of 1 can be assigned to a data stream of a higher importance in the data stream group, and a bit position of 0 can be assigned to a data stream of a lower importance.

[0173] For example, a feature stream group includes 10 feature streams, and the corresponding WorstErrorPattern includes 10 bit positions, such as 1101011110. This indicates that, in the 10 feature streams of the feature stream group, the feature streams of sequence numbers 3, 5, and 10 are allowed to have transmission errors, and the three feature streams do not need to be retransmitted. Correspondingly, the feature streams of other sequence numbers are not allowed to have transmission errors, and any transmission error needs to be retransmitted.

[0174] Based on the above-described implementation, the receiver performs step 403, i.e., the receiver determines whether to retransmit part or all of the data units according to actual transmission of the N data streams and according to the first information and the second information.

[0175] Specifically, in the N data streams, if all of the data streams that are not allowed to have transmission errors according to the error-tolerant transmission capability indication are correctly transmitted, retransmission is not needed. If any of the data streams that are not allowed to have transmission errors according to the error-tolerant transmission capability indication has a transmission error, part or all of the data units corresponding to the data stream having the transmission error need to be retransmitted.

[0176] For example, in the N data streams, a first data stream that is not allowed to have a transmission error according to the error-tolerant transmission capability indication has a transmission error. It is determined to retransmit a second data unit, which corresponds to the first data stream.

[0177] For example, the receiver can obtain an actual transmission pattern according to actual transmission, such as an ActualErrorPattern sequence (the specific name of the sequence is not limited in the present application). In the sequence, a bit position of 0 can indicate that a data stream of a corresponding sequence number in the data stream group actually has a transmission error, and a bit position of 1 can indicate that the data stream actually has no transmission error.

[0178] Specifically, if the bit positions with 1 in the ActualErrorPattern sequence include all the bit positions with 1 in the WorstErrorPattern, the transmission of the N data streams is successful, and no retransmission is needed.

[0179] For example, if the bit positions with 1 in the ActualErrorPattern sequence do not include all the bit positions with 1 in the WorstErrorPattern, partial or full retransmission is needed for those data streams that are 1 in the WorstErrorPattern but 0 in the ActualErrorPattern.

[0180] Taking the example of the above Fig. 6, taking the transmission of four characteristic streams as an example, the WorstErrorPattern indicated by the first information is 1001, the receiving end receives the four characteristic streams, determines that the third characteristic stream is transmitted incorrectly, and the other characteristic streams are transmitted correctly, and then the ActualErrorPattern can be obtained as 1101, and no retransmission is needed.

[0181] In another example, the WorstErrorPattern indicated by the first information is 1011, the receiving end receives the four characteristic streams, determines that the third characteristic stream is transmitted incorrectly, and the other characteristic streams are transmitted correctly, and then the ActualErrorPattern can be obtained as 1101, since the first information indicates that the third characteristic stream is not allowed to be transmitted incorrectly, and the characteristic stream is actually transmitted incorrectly, which may affect the decoding performance, therefore the receiving end determines that the CBG corresponding to the third characteristic stream needs to be retransmitted. As shown in Fig. 7, the third characteristic stream occupies two CBGs, i.e. CBG1 of TB1 and CBG0 of TB2, therefore, the CBG1 of TB1 and the CBG0 of TB2 need to be retransmitted.

[0182] Specifically, the first mode includes at least one of the following: whether the data streams in the data stream group are allowed to be transmitted incorrectly, the serial numbers of the data streams in the data stream group that are allowed to be transmitted incorrectly, the serial numbers of the data streams in the data stream group that are not allowed to be transmitted incorrectly, the update of the serial numbers of the data streams in the data stream group that are allowed to be transmitted incorrectly relative to a preset mode, or the update of the serial numbers of the data streams in the data stream group that are not allowed to be transmitted incorrectly relative to a preset mode.

[0183] In an implementation manner, the sending end and the receiving end can pre-configure a candidate fault-tolerant mode set, and the first information can be used to indicate the selection of the first mode in the candidate fault-tolerant mode set.

[0184] The above indication manner can be applied to the case that the dimension of the fault-tolerant mode of the data stream transmitted by the sending end and the receiving end is large and the types are few, for example, the number of data streams in the data stream group is large, but the types of fault-tolerant modes are few, the fault-tolerant mode set can be pre-configured, and the first information can be used to indicate the first mode in the fault-tolerant mode set.

[0185] In another embodiment, the transmitter and the receiver can be preconfigured with a preset mode, and the first information can indicate an update of the current error tolerance mode relative to the preset mode, such as updating a certain data stream from allowing error transmission to not allowing error transmission, or updating a certain data stream from not allowing error transmission to allowing error transmission.

[0186] The above indication mode can be applied when the error tolerance mode of the data stream transmitted by the transmitter changes less over time, and the first information can indicate the update information of the current error tolerance mode relative to the preset mode.

[0187] In an embodiment, the first information can also be used to indicate the data recovery quality of the N data streams under the error tolerance transmission capability. That is, the first information can indicate to the receiver the data recovery of the N data streams under the error tolerance transmission capability indicated by the first information, such as different data can be used to represent that the data recovery is good or poor, and the data recovery quality can be quantified. Thus, the receiver can try to make the data recovery quality meet the business requirements according to the actual business requirements.

[0188] In an embodiment, a plurality of possible values of the data recovery quality and the indexes corresponding to the values can be preconfigured.

[0189] For example, the configuration information of the data recovery quality shown in Table 2 below, and the index corresponding to the data recovery quality is the Quality field (the specific name of the field is not limited in the present application). Subsequently, in step 401, the first information can carry the Quality field to indicate one of the data recovery qualities shown in Table 2.

[0190] Table 2, configuration information of data recovery quality

[0191] For example, if the Quality field in the first information indicates 000, the data recovery quality of the N data streams under the error tolerance transmission capability is 6%; if the Quality field in the first information indicates 100, the data recovery quality of the N data streams under the error tolerance transmission capability is 80%.

[0192] In an embodiment, the terminal can send a plurality of sets of error tolerance transmission capabilities and corresponding data recovery qualities to the base station, so that the base station can flexibly select, such as selecting the error tolerance transmission capability that meets the business requirements according to the data recovery quality required by the business.

[0193] For example, the terminal can indicate to the base station, by the first information, the first threshold and the data recovery quality corresponding to the first threshold, such as [MaxErrorRatio field, Quality field], [00, 111] and [01, 101] respectively, as shown in Table 1 and Table 2, that the data recovery quality can reach 95% when the feature stream transmission error ratio is 10%, and the data recovery quality can reach 85% when the feature stream transmission error ratio is 20%.

[0194] Similarly, in the implementation of indicating the fault-tolerant transmission capability by the first mode, the first information can also be used to indicate the data recovery quality of the N data streams in the first mode. For example, the terminal can send to the base station a plurality of groups of fault-tolerant transmission modes and data recovery quality, such as including WorstErrorPattern field and Quality field.

[0195] In an implementation, the logical channel or logic channel group used for transmitting the N data streams has fault-tolerant transmission capability, or the logical channel or logic channel group of the N data streams has enabled fault-tolerant transmission capability.

[0196] Optionally, when the sending end and the receiving end establish a connection, the sending end can report to the receiving end whether it has fault-tolerant transmission capability, or whether it enables the logical channel or logic channel group (LCG) corresponding to the transmission of the N data streams.

[0197] For example, in the scenario where the sending end is a UE and the receiving end is a base station, the UE can send to the base station whether it has fault-tolerant transmission capability, or whether it enables or disables fault-tolerant transmission capability when establishing a service connection with the base station.

[0198] Optionally, one service with fault-tolerant transmission capability can occupy one LCG (for example, exclusively occupy one LCG).

[0199] For example, in the scenario where the sending end is a UE and the receiving end is a base station, the base station can configure whether each LCG enables fault-tolerant transmission capability according to the fault-tolerant transmission capability of the UE and the current service demand for fault-tolerant transmission.

[0200] In a possible implementation, the UE can add an ErrorTolerantCapability field (the specific name of the field is not limited in the present application) in the radio resource control (RRC) signaling, including 1 bit, where bit position 0 indicates that the logical channel corresponding to the transmission of the N data streams does not have fault-tolerant transmission capability, and bit position 1 indicates that it has fault-tolerant transmission capability.

[0201] In another possible implementation, the UE can add an ErrorTolerantTransmission field (the application does not limit the specific name of the field) in RRC signaling, including i bits, where i can be the number of LCGs. That is, the ErrorTolerantTransmission field can be used to indicate whether one or more LCGs (for example, each LCG) of the i LCGs enable the error-tolerant transmission capability.

[0202] For example, a bit position 0 in the i bits can represent that the LCG corresponding to the bit position does not enable the error-tolerant transmission capability; and a bit position 1 can represent that the LCG enables the error-tolerant transmission capability.

[0203] In an implementation, the first information can be periodically transmitted, such as once per transmission of a TB.

[0204] Alternatively, the first information can also be triggered, such as when the sending end first sends a data stream to the receiving end, the first information can be sent to the receiving end to indicate the error-tolerant transmission capability, or when the error-tolerant transmission capability of the sending end changes, the updated error-tolerant transmission capability is sent to the receiving end.

[0205] In an implementation, in a scenario where the sending end is a terminal and the receiving end is a network device, the terminal sends the first information to the network device, and the first information can be carried in physical layer signaling such as uplink control information (UCI), can be carried in high layer signaling such as MAC control element (MAC CE) or RRC, or can be carried through a combination of the above signaling.

[0206] For example, the first information can be sent through UCI in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink share channel (PUSCH), or can be carried in the PUSCH through a MAC CE and a buffer status report (BSR).

[0207] The above mainly introduces the scheme provided by the application from the perspective of interaction between various network nodes. Correspondingly, the application further provides a communication apparatus, which can be each communication apparatus or node in the above method embodiments, or a component such as a chip that can be used for the above communication apparatus or node.

[0208] It should be understood that the communication apparatus described above includes corresponding hardware structure and / or software module for performing each function. Those skilled in the art can easily realize the units and algorithm operations of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed in the present document. The present application can be realized in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is realized in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to realize the described functions for specific applications, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0209] It should be understood that the above describes the interaction between each network element node only by way of example. In fact, the processing performed by the above communication apparatus or node is not limited to being performed by a single network element.

[0210] The present application can divide the functional modules of the communication apparatus according to the above method examples. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one module or unit. The above modules or units can be realized in the form of hardware or software functional modules. It should be understood that the division of modules or units in the present application is illustrative and is only a logical function division. Actual implementation can have another division manner.

[0211] In addition, the present application also provides a communication apparatus, and FIG. 9 shows a possible exemplary block diagram of the communication apparatus involved in the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 9, the communication apparatus 900 can include modules or units for realizing the above method embodiments.

[0212] In a possible design, the communication apparatus 900 includes a communication unit 901 and a processing unit 902. Optionally, the communication apparatus 900 can further include a storage unit 903 for storing device program codes and / or data.

[0213] The communication apparatus 900 can be the receiving end device or apparatus described in the above embodiments, for example, the receiving end can be a network device or terminal, or a communication module / processing module in the network device or terminal, or a circuit or chip responsible for communication function in the network device or terminal, etc.

[0214] For example, in an embodiment, the communication unit 901 is configured to receive first information and second information, the first information being used to indicate the fault-tolerant transmission capability of N data streams, and the second information being used to indicate that the N data streams correspond to a data unit, N being a positive integer.

[0215] The communication unit 901 is further configured to receive the data unit.

[0216] The processing unit 902 is configured to determine whether to retransmit part or all of the data units according to the first information and the second information.

[0217] In a possible design, the processing unit 902 is configured to determine a data unit to be retransmitted from the data units according to the first information and the second information.

[0218] In a possible design, the error-tolerant transmission capability is indicated by a first threshold, which is a maximum value of a ratio of a number of data streams with transmission errors in the N data streams to N.

[0219] In a possible design, the processing unit 902 is configured to determine not to retransmit the data units in a case where M / N is less than or equal to the first threshold, where M is a number of data streams with transmission errors in the N data streams, and M is a positive integer and less than or equal to N.

[0220] In a possible design, the processing unit 902 is configured to determine to retransmit a first data unit in a case where M / N is greater than the first threshold, where M is a number of data streams with transmission errors in the N data streams, and M and i are positive integers, i is less than or equal to M, and M is less than or equal to N, and the first data unit corresponds to i data streams in the M data streams.

[0221] In a possible design, the processing unit 902 is configured to determine to retransmit a second data unit in a case where a first data stream with no transmission error indicated by the error-tolerant transmission capability has transmission error, and the second data unit corresponds to the first data stream.

[0222] In a possible design, the error-tolerant transmission capability is indicated by a first mode, which indicates data streams with transmission error and / or data streams without transmission error in the N data streams.

[0223] In a possible design, the first information is further configured to indicate data recovery quality of the N data streams under the error-tolerant transmission capability.

[0224] In a possible design, the second information includes a preset identifier, which is configured to indicate a first or last data unit corresponding to the N data streams.

[0225] In a possible design, a logical channel or a logical channel group used for transmission of the N data streams has the error-tolerant transmission capability.

[0226] In addition, the communication apparatus 900 can be a transmitting end device or apparatus in the above-described embodiments, for example, the receiving end can be a network device or terminal, or a communication module / processing module in the network device or terminal, or a circuit or chip responsible for communication functions in the network device or terminal, etc.

[0227] For example, in an embodiment, the communication unit 901 is configured to transmit first information and second information, the first information is used to indicate a fault-tolerant transmission capability of N data streams, and the second information is used to indicate that the N data streams correspond to data units, N is a positive integer.

[0228] The communication unit 901 is further configured to transmit data units corresponding to the N data streams.

[0229] In a possible design, the fault-tolerant transmission capability is indicated by a first threshold value, and the first threshold value is a maximum value of a ratio of a number of data streams with transmission errors in the N data streams to N.

[0230] In a possible design, the fault-tolerant transmission capability is indicated by a first mode, and the first mode indicates data streams with allowed transmission errors and / or data streams without allowed transmission errors in the N data streams.

[0231] In a possible design, the first information is further used to indicate data recovery quality of the N data streams under the fault-tolerant transmission capability.

[0232] In a possible design, the second information includes a preset identifier, and the preset identifier is used to indicate a first or last data unit corresponding to the N data streams.

[0233] In a possible design, a logical channel or logical channel group used to transmit the N data streams has the fault-tolerant transmission capability.

[0234] In a possible design, when the communication apparatus 900 is a communication module in a terminal or network device, the function of the processing unit 902 can be implemented by one or more processors. Specifically, the processor can include a modem chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or SIP chip including a modem core. The function of the communication unit 901 can be implemented by a transceiver circuit.

[0235] In a possible design, when the communication apparatus 900 is a circuit or chip responsible for communication functions in a terminal or network device, such as a modem chip or a system on chip (SoC) chip or SIP chip including a modem core, the function of the processing unit 902 can be implemented by a circuit system including one or more processors or processor cores in the above chip. The function of the communication unit 901 can be implemented by an interface circuit or data transceiver circuit on the above chip.

[0236] In a possible design, when the communication apparatus 900 is a terminal or a processing module in a network device, the function of the processing unit 902 can be implemented by one or more processors. Specifically, the processor can include a GPU, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a SIP chip including a GPU. Alternatively, the processor can include an AI processor, or a SoC chip or a SIP chip including an AI processor. Alternatively, the processor can include an ASIC, or a SoC chip or a SIP chip including an ASIC. The function of the communication unit 901 can be implemented by a transceiver circuit.

[0237] In a possible design, when the communication apparatus 900 is a terminal or a processing module in a network device, the function of the processing unit 902 can be implemented by one or more processors. Specifically, the processor can include a GPU, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a SIP chip including a GPU. Alternatively, the processor can include an AI processor, or a SoC chip or a SIP chip including an AI processor. Alternatively, the processor can include an ASIC, or a SoC chip or a SIP chip including an ASIC. The function of the communication unit 901 can be implemented by a transceiver circuit.

[0238] It can be understood that the division of units in the apparatuses described above is merely a logical functional division, one function can correspond to one functional unit, or two or more functions can be integrated into one functional unit. In actual implementation, all or part of the units can be integrated into one physical entity, or distributed on different physical entities. In addition, the functional units described above can be implemented in the form of hardware, or in the form of software, or in the form of a combination of hardware and software. Whether a certain function is implemented in the form of hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional technicians can use different methods to implement the described functions for specific applications, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0239] In one example, the functional units in any of the above apparatuses can be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or one or more central processing units (CPUs), one or more microcontroller units (MCUs), one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms.

[0240] In one example, the storage unit 903 can include random access memory, flash memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, and / or registers, etc.

[0241] It can be understood that one or more of the above modules or units can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of both. When any of the above modules or units is implemented in software, the software exists in the form of computer program instructions, and is stored in a memory. A processor can be used to execute the program instructions and implement the above method procedures. The processor can be built in a system on chip (SoC) or an ASIC, or be a separate semiconductor chip. The processor further includes a core for executing software instructions to perform operations or processing, and can further include necessary hardware accelerators, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a logic circuit for implementing special logic operations.

[0242] When any of the above modules or units is implemented in hardware, the hardware can be any one or a combination of a CPU, a microprocessor, a digital signal processing (DSP) chip, a microcontroller unit (MCU), an artificial intelligence processor, an ASIC, a SoC, an FPGA, a PLD, a dedicated digital circuit, a hardware accelerator, or a non-integrated discrete device, which can run necessary software or be independent of software to perform the above method procedures.

[0243] Referring to FIG. 10, a structural schematic diagram of a terminal 1000 is provided according to an embodiment of the present application. The terminal 1000 can correspond to the transmitting terminal or the receiving terminal shown in the foregoing embodiments, and can be a terminal used to implement the above embodiments. As shown in FIG. 10, the terminal 1000 includes one or more antennas 1010, a radio frequency processing system 1020, and a processor system 1030.

[0244] In the downlink or sidelink direction, the radio frequency processing system 1020 receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna 1010, and sends the signal processed by the radio frequency processing to the processor system 1030 for further processing. In the uplink or sidelink direction, the processor system 1030 performs signal processing on the information at the terminal 1000 side, and sends the signal to the radio frequency processing system 1020. The radio frequency processing system 1020 performs radio frequency processing on the signal, and sends the signal through the antenna 1010.

[0245] In one example, the radio frequency processing system 1020, as a communication interface of the terminal 1000, can include a radio frequency front end 1021 (RFFE) and a radio frequency transceiver 1022. The RFFE 1021 is mainly used for one or more of shaping, passband selection, or gain processing of the RF signal received by the antenna or the RF signal to be sent through the antenna, and can include one or more of a radio frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a power amplifier, antenna tuning, and a low-noise amplifier. The RFFE 1021 can be a circuit system composed of a plurality of discrete devices, or can be integrated and packaged in one or more chips. The radio frequency transceiver 1022 is used to process the RF signal received by the RFFE into a baseband / intermediate frequency signal for the processor system 1030 to perform the next step of processing, and process the baseband / intermediate frequency signal provided by the processor system 1030 into an RF signal to send to the RFFE 1021. The baseband / intermediate frequency signal transmitted between the radio frequency transceiver 1022 and the processor system 1030 can be a digital signal or an analog signal. The radio frequency transceiver 1022 can be implemented by one or more chips, which are usually referred to as radio frequency chips (RFIC).

[0246] In one example, the processor system 1030 can include one or more processors for processing signals and for performing one or more communication protocols. Optionally, the processor system 1030 can also include memory 1036. In one example, the one or more processors include at least one baseband processor 1031 (also referred to as a modem processor). The memory 1036 is used for storing data and / or computer program instructions. Optionally, the processor system 1030 can also include one or more application processors 1032 for implementing processing of the terminal 1000 operating system and application programs. The application processor 1032 can include, for example, a GPU, an AI processor, or an ASIC. Optionally, the processor system 1030 can also include one or more of a voice subsystem 1033, a multimedia subsystem 1034, or an interface circuit 1035. The voice subsystem 1033 is used for processing voice signals, the multimedia subsystem 1034 is used for processing multimedia related operations, such as video codec, image processing, etc., and the interface circuit 1035 is used for implementing communication with other device components, such as the display 1040, the input device 1050, the memory 1060, etc. The above components in the processor system 1030 can communicate with each other through a bus or a communication interface circuit.

[0247] In one example, the processor system 1030 can be packaged as a processor chip, such as a SoC chip or a SIP chip. In one example, the processor system 1030 can be a system composed of multiple chips, for example, the baseband processor 1031 can be packaged separately as a chip, or packaged as a chip with part or all of the circuit of the radio frequency processing system.

[0248] In one example, the memory 1036 can be an on-chip memory, i.e., located on the chip of the processor system 1030. In one example, the memory 1060 can be an off-chip memory, i.e., located outside the chip of the processor system 1030.

[0249] In one example, the baseband processor 1031 can include one or more processor cores 10311 and interface circuit 10314. The one or more processor cores 10311 are configured to process signals and perform one or more communication protocols. Optionally, the baseband processor 1031 can also include a memory 10312 configured to store at least part of corresponding computer program instructions and / or data. In one example, the one or more processor cores 10311 implement the relevant operations in the above method embodiments by executing the computer program instructions stored in the memory 10312. In this disclosure, the memory 10312 configured to store corresponding computer program instructions and / or data can mean that the memory 10312 is configured to store all corresponding computer program instructions and / or data for execution by the processor core 10311; or can mean that the memory 10312 is configured to store part of the corresponding computer program instructions and / or data, which includes the computer program instructions and / or data currently required for execution by the processor core 10311, and the memory 10312 can store different parts of the computer program instructions and / or data for execution by the processor core 10311 multiple times to implement the relevant operations in the above method embodiments. The interface circuit 10314 is configured as a communication interface to communicate with other components, such as transmitting signals with the radio frequency processing system 1020, communicating with other subsystems and related components of the processor system 1030 through a bus, such as transmitting data control signals with the application processor 1032, and transmitting data or computer program instructions with the memory 1036 or the memory 1060. Optionally, in order to reduce the load of the processor core, a baseband signal processing circuit 10313 can also be provided to implement at least part of the processing work of the baseband signal, including one or more of demodulation, modulation, encoding or decoding of the signal.

[0250] In one example, the communication apparatus provided in the present application can be a terminal 1000, a communication module including the processor system 1030 and the radio frequency system 1020, the processor system 1030, or the baseband processor 1031.

[0251] The processor, processor system, application processor, baseband processor, processor circuit, or processor core can be collectively referred to as a processor, which can include one or a combination of a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor unit (MPU), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an artificial intelligence processor (AI processor), or a neural processing unit (NPU).

[0252] The above-mentioned memory can include one or more of the following storage media: random access memory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), phase-change memory (PCM), resistive RAM (ReRAM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), cache, register, read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), hard disk, etc. In one example, computer program instructions for implementing the above-embodiments can be stored on a non-volatile memory, such as at least part of the above-mentioned memory 1060 (e.g., one or more of ROM, flash memory, EPROM, or hard disk). During the running of the terminal 1000, the corresponding computer program instructions can be loaded in whole or in part into a memory with faster transmission speed to the processor, such as at least part of the above-mentioned memory 1036 and / or memory 10312 (e.g., one or more of RAM, SRAM, DRAM, PCM, RERAM, MRAM, FRAM, cache, or register), for execution by the processor to implement the steps in the above-embodied methods.

[0253] In one example, the radio frequency transceiver 1022 and the radio frequency front end 1021 can also be packaged in one chip. In one example, the radio frequency transceiver 1022, the radio frequency front end 1021, and the baseband processor 1031 can also be packaged in one chip.

[0254] The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application can be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. The "and / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can represent the cases of A alone, A and B together, and B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after it. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions means any combination of these items, including any combination of single or multiple items. For example, "at least one of A, B, or C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC, and "at least one of A, B, and C" can also be understood to include A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC. In addition, unless otherwise specified, the ordinal numbers "first", "second", etc. mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish a plurality of objects, and are not used to limit the order, time sequence, priority or importance of the plurality of objects.

[0255] 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. Moreover, 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 storage, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0256] The present application is described with reference to flowcharts and / or block diagrams according to the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products of the present application. It should be understood that each flow and / or block in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, and the combination of flows and / or blocks in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus produce the functions specified in one or more flows in the flowcharts and / or one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0257] These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can direct the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to work in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium produce a product including instruction means, which implements the functions specified in one or more flows in the flowcharts and / or one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0258] These computer program instructions can also be loaded into a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks.

[0259] Obviously, persons having ordinary skill in the art can make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the present application claims and their equivalents, they are also intended to be encompassed by the present application.

[0260] In a possible implementation, the present application further provides a chip system, comprising: at least one processor and an interface, the at least one processor being coupled with a memory through the interface, and when the at least one processor executes a computer program or instructions in the memory, the method in any of the above method embodiments is caused to be executed. In a possible implementation, the chip system further comprises the memory. Optionally, the chip system can be constituted by a chip, or can comprise a chip and other discrete devices, and the present application does not make a specific limitation in this regard.

[0261] Optionally, the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium. All or part of the processes in the above method embodiments can be instructed by a computer program to relevant hardware to complete, and the program can be stored in the above computer readable storage medium, and when the program is executed, can include the processes of the above method embodiments. The computer readable storage medium can be an internal storage unit of the communication device, for example, a hard disk or a memory of the communication device. The above computer readable storage medium can also be an external storage device of the communication device, for example, a plug-in hard disk, a smart media card (SMC), a secure digital (SD) card, a flash card, etc. Further, the above computer readable storage medium can include both the internal storage unit and the external storage device of the communication device. The above computer readable storage medium is used to store the above computer program and other programs and data required by the communication device. The above computer readable storage medium can also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or will be output.

[0262] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method can be implemented in other manners. For example, the embodiments of the apparatus described above are merely schematic, and the division of the modules or units is merely logical function division, and there can be another division manner in actual implementation. For example, a plurality of units or components can be combined or integrated into another device, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections between different units, or the among different units, can be indirect couplings or communication connections through some interfaces, devices or units, and can be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0263] The units described as separated components can or can not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units can be located in one place or can be distributed to multiple places. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purposes of the embodiments.

[0264] In addition, each functional unit in the embodiments of the present application can be integrated in a processing unit, or each unit can exist physically as a separate unit, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit. The integrated unit can be implemented in the form of hardware, or in the form of a software functional unit.

[0265] The above describes only specific embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or replacements within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be covered in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: receiving first information and second information, the first information being used for indicating a fault-tolerant transmission capability of N data streams, the second information being used for indicating that the N data streams correspond to data units, N being a positive integer; receiving the data units; determining, according to the first information and the second information, whether to retransmit part or all of the data units.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The determining, according to the first information and the second information, whether to retransmit part or all of the data units comprises: determining, according to the first information and the second information, data units to be retransmitted in the data units.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The fault-tolerant transmission capability is indicated by a first threshold value, the first threshold value being a maximum value of a ratio of a number of data streams with transmission errors in the N data streams to N.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, The determining, according to the first information and the second information, whether to retransmit part or all of the data units comprises: in a case where M / N is less than or equal to the first threshold value, determining not to retransmit the data units, when M data streams in the N data streams have transmission errors, M being a positive integer and M being less than or equal to N.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein, The determining, according to the first information and the second information, whether to retransmit part or all of the data units comprises: in a case where M / N is greater than the first threshold value, determining to retransmit first data units, when M data streams in the N data streams have transmission errors, the first data units corresponding to i data streams in the M data streams, M and i being positive integers, i being less than or equal to M, and M being less than or equal to N.

6. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein, The determining, according to the first information and the second information, whether to retransmit part or all of the data units comprises: in a case where a first data stream with no transmission error indicated by the fault-tolerant transmission capability in the N data streams has transmission error, determining to retransmit second data units, the second data units corresponding to the first data stream.

7. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: sending first information and second information, the first information being used for indicating a fault-tolerant transmission capability of N data streams, the second information being used for indicating that the N data streams correspond to data units, N being a positive integer; sending data units corresponding to the N data streams.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, The fault-tolerant transmission capability is indicated by a first threshold value, the first threshold value being a maximum value of a ratio of a number of data streams with transmission errors in the N data streams to N.

9. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that, The fault-tolerant transmission capability is indicated by a first mode, the first mode indicating data streams with transmission error allowed and / or data streams with no transmission error allowed in the N data streams.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The first information is further used for indicating data recovery quality of the N data streams under the fault-tolerant transmission capability.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that, The second information comprises a preset identifier, the preset identifier being used for indicating a first or last data unit corresponding to the N data streams.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that, A logical channel or a logical channel group used for transmitting the N data streams has the fault-tolerant transmission capability.

13. A communications device, characterized by The computer program or instructions, when executed, cause the method of any one of claims 1-12 to be performed.

14. A communications device, characterized by The computer program or instructions, when executed, cause the method of any one of claims 7-12 to be performed.

15. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program or instructions, characterized in that, The computer program or instructions, when executed, cause the method of any one of claims 1-12 to be performed.

16. A computer program product comprising computer program code in said computer program product, characterised in that, When the computer program code is run on a computer, the method as claimed in any one of claims 1-12 is caused to be performed.

17. A communications device, characterized by An apparatus comprising one or more processors coupled with a memory for storing computer programs or instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to implement the method as claimed in any one of claims 1-6 or 10-12.

18. A communications device, characterized by An apparatus comprising one or more processors coupled with a memory for storing computer programs or instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to implement the method as claimed in any one of claims 7-12.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 or 18, wherein, The interface circuitry is for enabling communications within the apparatus and / or between the apparatus and other apparatuses or components.

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