Method and apparatus for inter-node carrier aggregation in wireless communication system

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method performed by a user equipment in a wireless communication system is provided, comprising: receiving, from a first node, a first configuration message for configuring inter-node carrier aggregation, and receiving, from a first node, a first indication message used to activate or deactivate a serving cell belonging to different nodes, or receiving, from a first node, a second indication message used to indicate an uplink channel resource, wherein the inter-node carrier aggregation is configured to enable the serving cell of the user equipmentUE to belong to at least two different nodes; and wherein the first configuration message includes identity information of the serving cell, and includes uplink channel resource indication information in the case that the serving cell includes an uplink channel, and includes associated uplink channel resource indication information in the case that the serving cell does not include an uplink channel.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTER-NODE CARRIER AGGREGATION IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

[0001] The present application relates to wireless communication technology, and in particular to methods performed by nodes in a wireless communication system and each node.

[0002] 5G mobile communication technologies define broad frequency bands such that high transmission rates and new services are possible, and can be implemented not only in "Sub 6GHz" bands such as 3.5GHz, but also in "Above 6GHz" bands referred to as mmWave including 28GHz and 39GHz. In addition, it has been considered to implement 6G mobile communication technologies (referred to as Beyond 5G systems) in terahertz bands (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands) in order to accomplish transmission rates fifty times faster than 5G mobile communication technologies and ultra-low latencies one-tenth of 5G mobile communication technologies.

[0003] At the beginning of the development of 5G mobile communication technologies, in order to support services and to satisfy performance requirements in connection with enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), there has been ongoing standardization regarding beamforming and massive MIMO for mitigating radio-wave path loss and increasing radio-wave transmission distances in mmWave, supporting numerologies (for example, operating multiple subcarrier spacings) for efficiently utilizing mmWave resources and dynamic operation of slot formats, initial access technologies for supporting multi-beam transmission and broadbands, definition and operation of BWP (BandWidth Part), new channel coding methods such as a LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) code for large amount of data transmission and a polar code for highly reliable transmission of control information, L2 pre-processing, and network slicing for providing a dedicated network specialized to a specific service.

[0004] Currently, there are ongoing discussions regarding improvement and performance enhancement of initial 5G mobile communication technologies in view of services to be supported by 5G mobile communication technologies, and there has been physical layer standardization regarding technologies such as V2X (Vehicle-to-everything) for aiding driving determination by autonomous vehicles based on information regarding positions and states of vehicles transmitted by the vehicles and for enhancing user convenience, NR-U (New Radio Unlicensed) aimed at system operations conforming to various regulation-related requirements in unlicensed bands, NR UE Power Saving, Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) which is UE-satellite direct communication for providing coverage in an area in which communication with terrestrial networks is unavailable, and positioning.

[0005] Moreover, there has been ongoing standardization in air interface architecture / protocol regarding technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for supporting new services through interworking and convergence with other industries, IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) for providing a node for network service area expansion by supporting a wireless backhaul link and an access link in an integrated manner, mobility enhancement including conditional handover and DAPS (Dual Active Protocol Stack) handover, and two-step random access for simplifying random access procedures (2-step RACH for NR). There also has been ongoing standardization in system architecture / service regarding a 5G baseline architecture (for example, service based architecture or service based interface) for combining Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for receiving services based on UE positions.

[0006] As 5G mobile communication systems are commercialized, connected devices that have been exponentially increasing will be connected to communication networks, and it is accordingly expected that enhanced functions and performances of 5G mobile communication systems and integrated operations of connected devices will be necessary. To this end, new research is scheduled in connection with eXtended Reality (XR) for efficiently supporting AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and the like, 5G performance improvement and complexity reduction by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), AI service support, metaverse service support, and drone communication.

[0007] Furthermore, such development of 5G mobile communication systems will serve as a basis for developing not only new waveforms for providing coverage in terahertz bands of 6G mobile communication technologies, multi-antenna transmission technologies such as Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas and large-scale antennas, metamaterial-based lenses and antennas for improving coverage of terahertz band signals, high-dimensional space multiplexing technology using OAM (Orbital Angular Momentum), and RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface), but also full-duplex technology for increasing frequency efficiency of 6G mobile communication technologies and improving system networks, AI-based communication technology for implementing system optimization by utilizing satellites and AI (Artificial Intelligence) from the design stage and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions, and next-generation distributed computing technology for implementing services at levels of complexity exceeding the limit of UE operation capability by utilizing ultra-high-performance communication and computing resources.

[0008] Considering the development of wireless communication from generation to generation, the technologies have been developed mainly for services targeting humans, such as voice calls, multimedia services, and data services. Following the commercialization of 5th-generation (5G) communication systems, it is expected that the number of connected devices will exponentially grow. Increasingly, these will be connected to communication networks. Examples of connected things may include vehicles, robots, drones, home appliances, displays, smart sensors connected to various infrastructures, construction machines, and factory equipment. Mobile devices are expected to evolve in various form-factors, such as augmented reality glasses, virtual reality headsets, and hologram devices. In order to provide various services by connecting hundreds of billions of devices and things in the 6th-generation (6G) era, there have been ongoing efforts to develop improved 6G communication systems. For these reasons, the 6G communication system is called a beyond 5G system.

[0009] 6G communication systems, which are expected to be commercialized around 2030, will have a peak data rate of tera (1,000 giga)-level bps and a radio latency less than 100μsec, and thus will be 50 times as fast as 5G communication systems and have the 1 / 10 radio latency thereof.

[0010] In order to achieve such high data rates and ultra-low latency, it has been considered to implement 6G communication systems in the Terahertz (e.g., 95 GHz to 3 THz band). It is expected that since path loss and atmospheric absorption in the terahertz band are more severe than those in the millimeter wave (mmWave) band introduced in 5G, technologies capable of ensuring signal transmission distance (i.e., coverage) will become more critical. As the main technologies to ensure coverage, it is necessary to develop radio frequency (RF) elements, antennas, a new wave with better coverage than orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), beamforming, and massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas and multi-antenna transmission techniques such as massive antennas. In addition, new technologies to improve signal coverage in the terahertz band, such as metamaterial-based lenses and antennas, orbital angular momentum (OAM), and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), have been discussed.

[0011] Moreover, in order to improve the spectral efficiency and the overall network performances, the following technologies have been developed for 6G communication systems: a full-duplex technology for enabling an uplink transmission and a downlink transmission to simultaneously use the same frequency resource at the same time; a network technology for utilizing satellites, high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), and the like in an integrated manner; an improved network structure for supporting mobile base stations and the like and enabling network operation optimization and automation and the like; a dynamic spectrum sharing technology via collision avoidance based on a prediction of spectrum usage; an use of artificial intelligence (AI) in wireless communication for improvement of overall network operation by utilizing AI from a designing phase for developing 6G and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions; and a next-generation distributed computing technology for overcoming the limit of user equipment (UE) computing ability through reachable super-high-performance communication and computing resources (such as mobile edge computing (MEC), clouds, and the like) over the network. In addition, through designing new protocols to be used in 6G communication systems, developing mechanisms for implementing a hardware-based security environment and safe use of data, and developing technologies for maintaining privacy, attempts to strengthen the connectivity between devices, optimize the network, promote softwarization of network entities, and increase the openness of wireless communications are continuing.

[0012] It is expected that research and development of 6G communication systems in hyper-connectivity, including person to machine (P2M) as well as machine to machine (M2M), will allow the next hyper-connected experience. Particularly, it is expected that services such as truly immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile hologram, and digital replica could be provided through 6G communication systems. In addition, services such as remote surgery for security and reliability enhancement, industrial automation, and emergency response will be provided through the 6G communication system such that the technologies could be applied in various fields such as industry, medical care, automobiles, and home appliances.

[0013] In order to improve the throughput of user equipment, dual connectivity technology has become one of the important technologies. That is, one user equipment can establish connections with two base stations at the same time and perform data transmission. However, since one user equipment needs to maintain connections with two base stations, dual connectivity technology increases the complexity of resource management and mobility management of the user equipment, resulting in an increase in the design complexity of the user equipment. In future 6G systems, on the basis of improving the throughput of the user equipment, how to reduce the complexity of user equipment is an urgent problem that needs to be solved.

[0014] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a network node, a method performed by a node, a network node, and a node. The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows:

[0015] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment in a wireless communication system, including: receiving, from a first node, a first configuration message transmitted by a first node for configuring inter-node carrier aggregation; and receiving, from a first node, a first indication message used to activate or deactivate a serving cell belonging to different nodes, or receiving, from a first node, a second indication message used to indicate an uplink channel resource; wherein the inter-node carrier aggregation is configured to enable the serving cell of the UE to belong to at least two different nodes; and wherein the first configuration message includes identity information of the serving cell, uplink channel resource indication information in case that the serving cell includes an uplink channel, and associated uplink channel resource indication information in case that the serving cell does not include an uplink channel.

[0016] A method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a first configuration message for configuring inter-node carrier aggregation, transmitting, to the UE, a first indication message used to activate or deactivate a serving cell belonging to different nodes, or transmitting, to the UE, a second indication message used to indicate an uplink channel resource, wherein the inter-node carrier aggregation is configured to enable the serving cell of the UE to belong to at least two different nodes, and wherein the first configuration message includes identity information of the serving cell, and includes uplink channel resource indication information in the case that the serving cell includes an uplink channel, and includes associated uplink channel resource indication information in the case that the serving cell does not include an uplink channel.

[0017] A user equipment in a wireless communication system, comprising: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, and configured to: receive, from a first node, a first configuration message for configuring inter-node carrier aggregation; and receive, from the first node, a first indication message used to activate or deactivate a serving cell belonging to different nodes, or receive, from the first node, a second indication message used to indicate an uplink channel resource; wherein the inter-node carrier aggregation is configured to enable the serving cell of the UE to belong to at least two different nodes; and wherein the first configuration message includes identity information of the serving cell, uplink channel resource indication information in case that the serving cell includes an uplink channel, and associated uplink channel resource indication information in case that the serving cell does not include an uplink channel.

[0018] A first node in a wireless communication system, comprising: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, and configured to: transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a first configuration message for configuring inter-node carrier aggregation, and transmit, to the UE, a first indication message used to activate or deactivate a serving cell belonging to different nodes, or transmit, to the UE, a second indication message used to indicate an uplink channel resource, wherein the inter-node carrier aggregation is configured to enable the serving cell of the UE to belong to at least two different nodes, and wherein the first configuration message includes identity information of the serving cell, uplink channel resource indication information in case that the serving cell includes an uplink channel, and associated uplink channel resource indication information in case that the serving cell does not include an uplink channel.

[0019] Figure 1 is an exemplary architecture of a wireless network.

[0020] Figure 2 is an exemplary structural diagram of a base station.

[0021] Figure 3 is an exemplary structural diagram of a user equipment.

[0022] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of carrier aggregation and dual connectivity.

[0023] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of inter-node carrier aggregation.

[0024] Figure 6 is a first schematic diagram of a signaling flow of user equipment configuration.

[0025] Figure 7 is a second schematic diagram of a signaling flow of user equipment configuration.

[0026] Figure 8 is a third schematic diagram of a signaling flow of user equipment configuration.

[0027] Figure 9 is a first schematic diagram of uplink channel resource allocation.

[0028] Figure 10 is a second schematic diagram of uplink channel resource allocation.

[0029] Figure 11 illustrates an exemplary structure applicable to various nodes of the present disclosure.

[0030] The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure defined by the claims and their equivalents. This description includes various specific details to facilitate understanding but should only be considered as exemplary. Therefore, those skilled in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications can be made to the various embodiments described herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, for the sake of clarity and conciseness, descriptions of well-known functions and structures may be omitted. In the present disclosure, elements expressed in the singular form may also be understood to be expressed in the plural form. Similar words such as singular forms "a", "an" or "the" do not express a limitation of quantity, but express the existence of at least one of the referenced item, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. For example, reference to "a component surface" includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

[0031] The terms and expressions used in the following specification and claims are not limited to their dictionary meanings, but are only used by the inventors to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be obvious to those skilled in the art that the following descriptions of various embodiments of the present disclosure are provided for illustration usages only and are not intended to limit the usages of the present disclosure as defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0032] It should be understood that singular forms of "a", "an" and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Thus, for example, a reference to a "component surface" includes a reference to one or more such surfaces.

[0033] The terms "include" or "may include" refer to the existence of a corresponding disclosed function, operation or component that can be used in various embodiments of the present disclosure, and do not limit the existence of one or more additional functions, operations or features. In addition, the terms "including" or "having" can be interpreted as indicating certain characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, components or combinations thereof, but should not be interpreted as excluding the possibility of the existence of one or more other characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, components or combinations thereof.

[0034] The term "or" used in various embodiments of the present disclosure includes any of the listed terms and all combinations thereof. For example, "a or b" may include a, may include b, or may include both a and b.

[0035] Unless defined differently, all terms (including technical terms or scientific terms) used in this disclosure have the same meaning as those understood by those skilled in the art in this disclosure. Common terms, as defined in dictionaries, are interpreted as having meanings consistent with the context in the relevant technical fields, and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal way unless explicitly defined in this disclosure.

[0036] Figures discussed below and various embodiments for describing the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are only for illustration and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any way. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure can be implemented in any suitably arranged system or device.

[0037] FIGURE 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network shown in FIGURE 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 could be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0038] As shown in FIGURE 1, the wireless network includes a base station (next generation nodeB, gNB or gNodeB) 101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. The gNB 101 communicates with the gNB 102 and the gNB 103. The gNB 101 also communicates with at least one network 130, such as the Internet, a proprietary Internet Protocol (IP) network, or other data network.

[0039] The gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first multiple user equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of the gNB 102. The first multiple UEs includes a UE 111, which may be located in a small business; a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); a UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R1); a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R2); and a UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cell phone, a wireless laptop, a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA), or the like. The gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a second multiple UEs within a coverage area 125 of the gNB 103. The second multiple UEs includes the UE 115 and the UE 116, as well as subscriber stations (SS, for example, UEs) 117, 118 and 119. In some embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 may communicate with each other and with the UEs 111-116 using existing wireless communication techniques, and one or more of the UE 111-119 may communicate directly with each other (e.g., UEs 117-119) using other existing or proposed wireless communication techniques.

[0040] Depending on the network type, the term "base station" or "BS" can refer to any component (or collection of components) configured to provide wireless access to a network, such as transmit point (TP), transmit-receive point (TRP), an enhanced (or "evolved") base station (eNodeB or eNB), a 5G base station (gNB), a macrocell, a femtocell, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (AP), or other wirelessly enabled devices. Base stations may provide wireless access in accordance with one or more wireless communication protocols, e.g., 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), high speed packet access (HSPA), Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, etc. For the sake of convenience, the various names for a base station-type apparatus and functionality are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. Also, depending on the network type, the term "user equipment" (UE) can refer to any component such as a mobile station (MS), subscriber station (SS), remote terminal, wireless terminal, receive point, or user device. For the sake of convenience, the various names for a user equipment-type device and functionality are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to remote wireless equipment that wirelessly accesses a BS, whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile telephone or smartphone) or is normally considered a stationary device (such as a desktop computer or vending machine).

[0041] Dotted lines show the approximate extents of the coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as approximately circular for the purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending upon the configuration of the gNBs and variations in the radio environment associated with natural and man-made obstructions.

[0042] As described in more detail below, one or more of the UEs 111-119 include circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, and one or more of the gNBs 101-103 includes circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof.

[0043] Although FIGURE 1 illustrates one example of a wireless network, various changes may be made to FIGURE 1. For example, the wireless network could include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Also, the gNB 101 could communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 could communicate directly with the network 130 and provide UEs with direct wireless broadband access to the network 130. Further, the gNBs 101, 102, and / or 103 could provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

[0044] FIGURE 2 illustrates an example base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the gNB 102 illustrated in FIGURE 2 is for illustration only, and the gNBs 101 and 103 of FIGURE 1 could have the same or similar configuration. However, gNBs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIGURE 2 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a gNB.

[0045] As shown in FIG 2, the gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 200a-200n, multiple radio frequency (RF) transceivers 201a-201n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 203, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 204. The gNB 102 also includes a controller / processor 205, a memory 206, and a backhaul or network interface 207.

[0046] The RF transceivers 201a-201n receive, from the antennas 200a-200n, incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs in the network 100. The RF transceivers 201a-201n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals are sent to the RX processing circuitry 204, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. The RX processing circuitry 204 transmits the processed baseband signals to the controller / processor 205 for further processing.

[0047] The TX processing circuitry 203 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, web data, electronic mail, or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 205. The TX processing circuitry 203 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate processed baseband or IF signals. The RF transceivers 201a-201n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from the TX processing circuitry 203 and up-converts the baseband or IF signals to RF signals that are transmitted via the antennas 201a-201n.

[0048] The controller / processor 205 can include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 205 could control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceivers 201a-201n, the RX processing circuitry 204, and the TX processing circuitry 203 in accordance with well-known principles. The controller / processor 205 could support additional functions as well, such as more advanced wireless communication functions.

[0049] For instance, the controller / processor 205 could support beam forming or directional routing operations in which outgoing signals from multiple antennas 200a-200n are weighted differently to effectively steer the outgoing signals in a desired direction. Any of a wide variety of other functions could be supported in the gNB 102 by the controller / processor 205.

[0050] The controller / processor 205 is also capable of executing programs and other processes resident in the memory 206, such as an operating system (OS). The controller / processor 205 can move data into or out of the memory 206 as required by an executing process.

[0051] The controller / processor 205 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 207. The backhaul or network interface 207 allows the gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or over a network. The interface 207 could support communications over any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when the gNB 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such as one supporting 5G, LTE, or LTE-A), the interface 207 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs over a wired or wireless backhaul connection. When the gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the interface 207 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate over a wired or wireless local area network or over a wired or wireless connection to a larger network (such as the Internet). The interface 207 includes any suitable structure supporting communications over a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or RF transceiver.

[0052] The memory 206 is coupled to the controller / processor 205. Part of the memory 206 could include a random access memory (RAM), and another part of the memory 206 could include a Flash memory or other read only memory (ROM).

[0053] Although FIGURE 2 illustrates one example of gNB 102, various changes may be made to FIGURE 2. For example, the gNB 102 could include any number of each component shown in FIGURE 2. As a particular example, an access point could include a number of interfaces 207, and the controller / processor 205 could support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another particular example, while shown as including a single instance of TX processing circuitry 203 and a single instance of RX processing circuitry 204, the gNB 102 could include multiple instances of each (such as one per RF transceiver). Also, various components in FIGURE 2 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components could be added according to particular needs.

[0054] FIGURE 3 illustrates an example user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the UE 116 illustrated in FIGURE 3 is for illustration only, and the UEs 111-115 and 117-119 of FIGURE 1 could have the same or similar configuration. However, UEs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIGURE 3 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a UE.

[0055] As shown in FIGURE 3, the UE 116 includes an antenna 301, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 302, TX processing circuitry 303, a microphone 304, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 305. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 306, a controller or processor 307, an input / output (I / O) interface (IF) 308, an input device 309, a touchscreen display 310, and a memory 311. The memory 311 includes an OS 312 and one or more applications 313.

[0056] The RF transceiver 302 receives, from the antenna 301, an incoming RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the network 100. The RF transceiver 302 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an IF or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is sent to the RX processing circuitry 305, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuitry 305 transmits the processed baseband signal to the speaker 306 (such as for voice data) or to the processor 307 for further processing (such as for web browsing data).

[0057] The TX processing circuitry 303 receives analog or digital voice data from the microphone 304 or other outgoing baseband data (such as web data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from the processor 307. The TX processing circuitry 303 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 302 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuitry 303 and up-converts the baseband or IF signal to an RF signal that is transmitted via the antenna 301.

[0058] The processor 307 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute the OS 312 stored in the memory 311 in order to control the overall operation of the UE 116. For example, the processor 307 could control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceiver 302, the RX processing circuitry 305, and the TX processing circuitry 303 in accordance with well-known principles. In some embodiments, the processor 307 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0059] The processor 307 is also capable of executing other processes and programs resident in the memory 311, such as processes for CSI reporting on uplink channel. The processor 307 can move data into or out of the memory 311 as required by an executing process. In some embodiments, the processor 307 is configured to execute the applications 313 based on the OS 312 or in response to signals received from gNBs or an operator. The processor 307 is also coupled to the I / O interface 308, which provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I / O interface 308 is the communication path between these accessories and the processor 307.

[0060] The processor 307 is also coupled to the touchscreen display 310. The user of the UE 116 can use the touchscreen display 310 to enter data into the UE 116. The touchscreen display 310 may be a liquid crystal display, light emitting diode display, or other display capable of rendering text and / or at least limited graphics, such as from web sites.

[0061] The memory 311 is coupled to the processor 307. Part of the memory 311 could include RAM, and another part of the memory 311 could include a Flash memory or other ROM.

[0062] Although FIGURE 3 illustrates one example of UE 116, various changes may be made to FIGURE 3. For example, various components in FIGURE 3 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components could be added according to particular needs. As a particular example, the processor 307 could be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Also, while FIGURE 3 illustrates the UE 116 configured as a mobile telephone or smartphone, UEs could be configured to operate as other types of mobile or stationary devices.

[0063] The text and drawings of this disclosure are provided as examples only to assist in understanding the present disclosure. They should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any way. Although certain embodiments and examples have been provided, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art, based upon this disclosure, that changes can be made to the embodiments and examples shown without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

[0064] The message names in the disclosure are only examples, and other message names can be used.

[0065] The "first" and "second" included in the message name of the disclosure are only used to distinguish one message from another, and do not represent the execution or transmission order.

[0066] Detailed description of steps irrelevant to the disclosure is omitted in the present invention.

[0067] In the disclosure, the steps in each procedure can be executed in combination with each other or independently. The execution steps of each process are only examples, and other possible execution steps and / or orders are not excluded.

[0068] In the present disclosure, the base station can be one of the following types (other types that can be used for user terminal access are not excluded):

[0069] >Long Term Evolution (LTE) base station;

[0070] >5G base station;

[0071] >6G base station

[0072] >RAN node;

[0073] >Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) base station;

[0074] >High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) base station;

[0075] >Drone base station; and

[0076] >WIFI access point.

[0077] In wireless networks, in order to improve the throughput of user equipment, the network can configure the user equipment with multiple different carriers, allowing it to transmit data on multiple cells. As shown in Figure 4 (a), one implementation of this method is Carrier Aggregation (CA), that is, multiple cells configured for user equipment belong to one base station, or a distribution unit of one base station. In one example, these cells belong to a same cell group; another implementation of this method is dual-connectivity (DC), as shown in Figure 4 (b), that is, the multiple cells configured for the user equipment belong to two different base stations, or belong to two different distribution units (the two different distribution units may belong to the same base station or to different base stations), the cells of each node belong to a same cell group, so the user equipment in the figure is served by two different cell groups, and the cells in each cell group belong to one node; furthermore, another implementation of this method is multi-connectivity (MC), that is, the multiple cells configured for the user equipment belong to at least two different base stations, or belong to at least two different distribution units. (the at least two different distribution units may belong to a same base station or to different base stations). Among these methods, carrier aggregation has higher spectral efficiency. This is because the resources of different cells can be flexibly scheduled by one base station or one distribution unit. In the dual-connectivity / multi-connection mechanism, each base station connected to the user equipment can only schedule the resources of some cells, resulting in dual-connectivity / multi-connectivity cannot fully utilize the spectrum resources allocated to user equipment. Moreover, compared with dual connectivity / multi-connectivity, the complexity of carrier aggregation (including the complexity on the network side and the complexity on the user side) is relatively low. In order to fully utilize the advantages of carrier aggregation technology, how to implement carrier aggregation among multiple base stations is an important research direction in future 6G system. The invention provides a method for realizing inter-node carrier aggregation. Specifically, as shown in Figure 5, taking carrier aggregation of two base stations as an example, one user equipment is configured with multiple serving cells, some of which belong to base station 1 and some of which belong to base station 2. Unlike dual connectivity / multi-connectivity, the multiple serving cells are configured to the user equipment in a carrier aggregation manner (in one example, these cells belong to a same cell group), then the user equipment cannot perceive that these serving cells belong to different base stations, which can simplify the configuration signaling of the user equipment; furthermore, in order to obtain the performance of carrier aggregation, signaling interaction occurs between two or more base stations serving user equipment. In addition to the user equipment, the present invention may involve the following possible nodes:

[0078] >First node: a base station, or a centralized unit of a base station, or a control plane part of a centralized unit of a base station. In one example, the first node may be the first base station, or a centralized unit of the first base station, or a control plane part of a centralized unit of the first base station.

[0079] >Second node: a base station, or a centralized unit of a base station, or a control plane part of a centralized unit of a base station. The node is different from the first node. In one example, the second node may be the second base station, or a centralized unit of the second base station, or a control plane part of a centralized unit of the second base station.

[0080] >Third node: a distribution unit of a base station. In one example, the third node is a first distribution unit;

[0081] >Fourth node: a distribution unit of the base station, this node is a distribution unit that is different from the third node, and in one example the fourth node is a second distribution unit.

[0082] In one example, when the first node is a centralized unit of the base station or a control plane part of the centralized unit of the base station, the above-mentioned third node and fourth node are distribution units connected to the first node; In another example, when the first node and the second node are centralized units of the base station or control plane parts of the centralized unit of the base station, the third node is a distribution unit connected to the first node, and the fourth node is a distribution unit connected to the second node. Further, when the user equipment is configured with carrier aggregation among multiple base stations or multiple distribution units, the signaling interaction between base stations in the present invention (such as the signaling interaction between the first node and the second node) can be used for interaction between any two base stations or signaling interaction between centralized units and distributed units of base stations (such as the above-mentioned signaling interaction between the first node and the third node / fourth node, or the signaling interaction between the first node and the third node and between the second node and the fourth node can be the signaling interaction between any centralized units and distribution units).

[0083] In the present invention, the uplink channel is a channel used to transmit specific uplink control information. Examples of the uplink control information include a Scheduling Request (SR), a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), acknowledge / negative acknowledge (ACK / NACK) information of a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ), etc. In one example, the uplink channel is a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH); in another example, the uplink channel is a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). The uplink channel may also be other types of channels, such as physical channels, logical channels, etc.

[0084] In the present invention, the serving cells of user equipment can be divided into two categories, one is a cell that includes the above-mentioned "uplink channel" (such as the first cell), and one is a cell that does not include the above-mentioned "uplink channel" (such as the second cell). These two types of cells may belong to the same node or different nodes. For the first cell, the user equipment can use the uplink channel of the cell to transmit uplink control information, such as transmitting SR to request resources for uplink data transmission, such as transmitting CQI to provide the network side with the measurements on the first cell of user equipment, such as transmitting HARQ ACK / NACK to indicate whether the downlink data is correctly received by the user equipment. For the second cell, since the above-mentioned "uplink channel" is not included, the user equipment cannot transmit the above-mentioned uplink control information on the second cell, such as the SR cannot be transmitted through the second cell, and the CQI cannot be transmitted through the second cell (for example, the CQI information of the second cell cannot be transmitted to the network side through the second cell), HARQ ACK / NACK cannot be transmitted through the second cell (for example, the data received by the user equipment in the second cell cannot be informed through the second cell to the network side whether the data is received correctly by the user equipment). Through the configuration method of the present invention, the second cell can be configure an associated cell. An example of the associated cell is the first cell. The user equipment can transmit the above uplink control information through the uplink channel of the first cell. Furthermore, the first cell and the second cell may belong to the same node or may belong to different nodes.

[0085] In the present invention, the data flow indicates all data that the user equipment needs to transmit, and the data included in the data flow may be at least one of the following types: a radio bearer (RB), a data radio bearer (DRB), a signaling radio bearer (SRB), a radio link control bearer (RLC bearer), session data, packet data unit session (PDU Session) data, flow data, Quality of Service flow (QoS flow) data, Internet Protocol (IP) flow data. In one example, the data flow of the user equipment may include all DRBs configured for the user equipment, or all RBs. When serving cells belonging to different nodes are configured for the user equipment, the above-mentioned data flows of the user equipment may be transmitted in the serving cells of different nodes, and then different nodes need to transmit different amounts of data flows of user equipment, resulting in that the resources allocated by different nodes are different. For example, when the user equipment is configured with serving cells belonging to two different base stations, the data flow of the user equipment may have different allocation methods between the two base stations. For example, a data flow allocation method is: one base station carries 80% of the data flow, and the other base station carries 20% of the data flow; another allocation method is: one base station carries 40% of the data flow, and the other base station carries 60% of the data flow. These two methods result in different resource allocation at the two base stations. The method can dynamically adjust resource allocation of user equipment on different nodes according to data flow allocation among different nodes. In the present invention, in order to indicate different allocation methods of data flows of user equipment among nodes, an identity information (the following identity information of the data flow, identity information of the configuration of the data flow) can be used to indicate an allocation method, and associate the configuration of resource allocation of the uplink channel based on the identity information. The user equipment can determine the configuration of resource allocation of the uplink channel through the identity information indicated by the network (for a detailed description, see the description in "Dynamically Changing Configuration of an Uplink Channel Resource of a User Equipment" below).

[0086] Taking multiple cells configured for the user equipment belonging to two different base stations as an example, the present invention includes the following process, as shown in Figure 6:

[0087] Step 1-1: a first node (first base station) transmits a first request message to the second node (second base station), the function of which is to request to configure multiple different serving cells for the user equipment. In one example, a part of the multiple serving cells belongs to the first node, and the other part belongs to the second node. This message is used to configure carrier aggregation of serving cells belonging to different nodes for the user equipment (such as inter-node carrier aggregation, inter-base station carrier aggregation, node aggregation, base station aggregation). The message includes at least one of the following information:

[0088] >first indication information, which is used to indicate to configure multiple serving cells belonging to different nodes for the user equipment. The indication information can be explicit indication information or implicit indication information. Further, the multiple serving cells are configured to the user equipment in a carrier aggregation manner (that is, the user equipment cannot perceive that these cells belong to different nodes). In one example, the information indicates that multiple serving cells configured for the user equipment belong to two base stations or to at least two base stations. In another example, the information indicates that inter base station / node CA is configured for the user equipment. In another example, the information indicates that the inter base station aggregation is configured for the user equipment. In another example, the information indicates that the inter node aggregation is configured for the user equipment. In one example, the information indicates that the multiple serving cells configured for the user equipment belong to two distribution units or belong to at least two distribution units. After receiving this information, the second node can learn that multiple serving cells belonging to different nodes are to be configured for the user equipment, and then can determine which configurations the second node needs to generate and which configurations from the first node need to be adopted. The beneficial effect of this information is to reduce unnecessary configurations, thereby reducing signaling overhead for configuring user equipment

[0089] >identity request information, which is used to indicate information related to identity used when configuring the user equipment. In one example (Embodiment 1), this information is allocated by the first node to the second node, that is, the second node allocates identity information to the user equipment based on this information. In another example (Embodiment 2), the information indicates range information related to the identity allocated by the first node to the second node. After receiving the information, the second node will allocate the identity information to the user equipment based on the information. In another example (Embodiment 3), the information indicates partial information of the identity information allocated by the first node to the second node (such as the prefix information in the identity information, that is, the first few bits of information), the second node regenerates other information in the identity information (such as other bits in the identity information except the prefix part) based on this information. In order to configure user equipment with cells belonging to multiple different nodes, some identity information needs to be set uniformly by the nodes, thereby avoiding conflicts in identity information used among nodes. The beneficial effect of this information is to ensure that nodes use unified identity information to configure user equipment and avoid configuration conflicts. The information includes at least one of the following:

[0090] >>first identity information indicating identity information that the first node allocates to the second node or that the first node expects the second node to use. After receiving this information, the second node will allocate identity information to the user equipment based on the information. Further, optionally, in the feedback message transmitted by the second node (step 1-2 below), the second node may also indicate whether it uses this identity information or indicate the identity information used by the second node. The information includes at least one of the following:

[0091] >>>identity information of a user equipment, which identifies the configured user equipment, such as Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI).

[0092] >>>identity information of a cell, which indicates the identity information of the cell configured to the user equipment, and the cell may be the cell served by the second node. In one example, the information is the index information of the cell (Cell Index).

[0093] >>>identity information of a logical channel, which indicates the logical channel of the user equipment, such as a logical channel identity

[0094] >>>identity information of a logical channel group, which indicates the identity information of a logical channel group of the user equipment, such as a logical channel group identity. This logical channel group may contain at least one logical channel.

[0095] >>>identity information of a scheduling request, which indicates the scheduling request resource identity information of the user equipment, such as Scheduling request identity.

[0096] >>>identity information of a timing advance group, which indicates the Identity information of a timing advance group of the user equipment, such as Timing advance group (TAG).

[0097] >>>energy saving configuration identity information, which indicates the identity of the energy saving configuration of the user equipment. In one example, the energy saving configuration can be a discontinuous reception configuration (such as DRX configuration), or a discontinuous reception group configuration (such as DRX group configuration).

[0098] >>first identity range information, which indicates a range of identity information that the first node allocates to the second node, or a range of identity information that the first node expects the second node to use, or available identity information (e.g., a list of available identity information). After receiving the information, the second node will allocate identity information to the user equipment based on the information, and the allocated identity information is selected from the range indicated by the range information. Further, in the feedback message transmitted by the second node (steps 1-2 as described below), the second node may also indicate the identity information used by the second node. The information includes at least one of the following:

[0099] >>>range information of a user equipment identity, which indicates a range of identity information configured to the user equipment.

[0100] >>>range information of a cell identity, which indicates a range of cell identities configured to the user equipment.

[0101] >>>range information of a logical channel identity, which indicates a range of logical channel identities configured to the user equipment.

[0102] >>>range information of a logical channel group identity, which indicates a range of logical channel group identities configured to the user equipment.

[0103] >>>range information of a scheduling request identity, which indicates a range of scheduling request resource identities allocated to the user equipment.

[0104] >>>range information of a timing advance group identity, which indicates a range of timing advance group identities configured to the user equipment.

[0105] >>>range information of an energy saving configuration identity, which indicates a range of the energy saving configuration identities of the user equipment. In one example, the energy saving configuration can be a discontinuous reception configuration (such as DRX configuration), or a discontinuous reception group configuration (such as DRX group configuration).

[0106] Any of the above range information may include at least one of the following information: identity list information (The information includes at least one identity information. In one example, when the information includes multiple identity information, the multiple identity information may be discontinuous identity information), starting information (i.e. starting position information, e.g., starting information of the identity), ending information (i.e., ending position information, e.g., ending information of the identity), length information (i.e., length information of the range, e.g., number information of the identity information).

[0107] >first partial identity information, which indicates partial information of the identity information allocated to the second node by the first node, or partial information of the identity information that the first node expects the second node to use, or partial information of the available identity information. In one example, the partial information may be prefix information of the identity, in another example, the partial information may be suffix information of the identity, and in another example, the partial information may be information at a specific bit position (such as indicating the partial information by way of a bitmap, for example, for the identity information containing 5 bits, if the bitmap corresponding to a given partial information is "10101", it means that the information contained in the first partial identity information is the information of the 1 / 3 / 5th bit position in the identity information, or the information of the 2 / 4th bit position in the identity information). After receiving the information, the second node will allocate other partial information of the identity information to the user equipment based on the information (that is, information not included in the first partial identity information). Further, in the feedback message transmitted by the second node (steps 1-2 described below), the second node may also indicate the identity information used by the second node, or indicate partial information of the identity information used by the second node (For example, information not included in the first partial identity information). The information includes at least one of the following information:

[0108] >>first partial information of a user equipment identity, which indicates partial identity information configured to a user equipment.

[0109] >>first partial information of a cell identity, which indicates partial information of a cell identity configured to a user equipment.

[0110] >>first partial information of a logical channel identity, which indicates indicate partial information of a logical channel identity configured to a user equipment.

[0111] >>first partial information of a logical channel group identity, which indicates partial information of a logical channel group identity configured to a user equipment.

[0112] >>first partial information of a scheduling request identity, which indicates partial information of a scheduling request identity configured to a user equipment.

[0113] >>first partial information of a timing advance group identity, which indicates partial information of a timing advance group identity configured to a user equipment.

[0114] >>first partial information of a power saving configuration identity, which indicates partial information of a power saving configuration identity of a user equipment. In one example, the energy saving configuration can be a discontinuous reception configuration (such as DRX configuration), or a discontinuous reception group configuration (such as DRX group configuration).

[0115] >first configuration request information, which includes requesting configuration information required when the second node serves the user equipment. After receiving this information, the second node will determine the configuration information required to serve the user equipment based on the resource status of the second node, and feed back the configuration information at the second node in the following steps 1-2. The information includes at least one of the following information:

[0116] >>information related to data flow, which includes information on the data flow requesting the second node to serve the user equipment. The beneficial effect of this information is to indicate the data flow of the user equipment that needs to be served by the second node, thereby helping the second node to configure appropriate resources to serve the user equipment, reducing the waste of resources. Furthermore, the second node can generate different configurations based on different data flows, thereby facilitating to dynamically change the configuration of user equipment and reducing signaling overhead when configuring user equipment. The data contained in the data flow can be at least one of the following types (the data type here is only an example and does not exclude other types of data): a radio bearer (RB), a data radio bearer (DRB), a signaling radio bearer (SRB), a radio link control bearer (RLC bearer), session data, packet data unit session (PDU Session) data, flow data, Quality of Service flow (QoS flow) data, Internet Protocol (IP) flow data. In one example, the information may be list information, which contains one or more information related to data flow. Further, the multiple information related to data flow may be related to the same data (such as the same one or more DRBs), or related to different data like different (such as the different one or more DRBs). For information related to data flow, the information includes at least one of the following information:

[0117] >>>identity information of data flow, or identity information of the configuration of the data flow, which identifies the data flow requested to be served by the second node or the configuration of the data flow, such as traffic (configuration) identity.

[0118] >>>indication information of the data volume of the data flow, which indicates the data volume requested to be served by the second node, in one example, the information is percentage information or absolute value information, that is, the percentage of the data volume requested to be served by the second node to the total data volume, or the absolute data volume. Further, the information may also be list information, the list information includes one or more indication information of the data volume of the data flow, each indication information indicates the data volume requested to be served by the second node. After receiving this information, the second node can generate different configurations according to different data volumes.

[0119] >>>Quality of Service (QoS) parameter information of the data flow, which indicates QoS parameters of the data flow requested to be served by the second node. Further, the information may be list information, the list information includes one or more QoS parameter information of the data flow, each QoS parameter information indicates the QoS parameters of the data flow requested to be served by the second node. After receiving this information, the second node can generate different configurations according to different QoS parameters.

[0120] >>>data indication information, which indicates information of data contained in the data flow requested to be served by the second node. In one example, the above-mentioned "data flow" contains multiple different types of data. For each type of data, the information can be list information, and the list information contains one or more data indication information. Further, the multiple data indication information may be related to the same data (such as the same one or more DRBs), or may be related to different data (such as different one or more DRBs). For one data indication information, the information includes at least one of the following information:

[0121] >>>>data identity information, which identifies a type of data requested to be served by the second node, such as RB ID, DRB ID, SRB ID, RLC bearer ID, Session ID, PDU Session ID, flow ID, QoS flow ID, IP flow ID, etc.

[0122] >>>>indication information of a data type, which indicates a type of data, and the information may include at least one of the following information:

[0123] >>>>>indication information of a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer termination node, which is used to indicate whether the PDCP layer of the data is terminated at the second node, i.e., whether the second node serves the PDCP layer of the data.

[0124] >>>>>Indication information of a lower layer serving node, which is used to indicate whether the second node serves a lower layer protocol of the data, such as Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol, logical channel, etc

[0125] >>>>Quality of Service (QoS) parameter information of the data, which indicates QoS parameters of a type of data requested to be served by the second node. Further, the information may be list information, the list information includes one or more QoS parameter information of the data, each QoS parameter information indicates the QoS parameters of the data requested to be served by the second node. After receiving this information, the second node can generate different configurations according to different QoS parameters;

[0126] >>>>indication information of the data volume of the data, which indicates the data volume of a type of data requested to be served by the second node, in one example, the information is percentage information or absolute value information, that is, the percentage of the type of data requested to be served by the second node to all the data of the type, or the absolute data volume. Further, the information may also be list information, the list information includes one or more indication information of the data volume, each indication information indicates the data volume requested to be served by the second node. After receiving this information, the second node can generate different configurations according to different data volumes;

[0127] >information related to a serving cell, which includes information on the cell of the user equipment requested to be served by the second node. In one example, the cell indicated by the information is a cell selected by the first node that needs to be configured to the user equipment by the second node. In another example, the cell indicated by the information is the cell that the first node requests the second node to configure to the user equipment. In another example, the cell indicated by the information is the cell measured by the user equipment provided by the first node to the second node, and the second node selects a suitable cell from the information to configure it to the user equipment. For one cell, this information includes at least one of the following information:

[0128] >>first cell identity information.

[0129] >>measurement information of the cell, which includes the measurement results of the cell (such as the cell indicated by the above-mentioned "first cell identity information"), such as Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Receiving Quality (RSRQ), Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR). In one example, the measurement result may be the result of Layer 3 (L3) measurement, and in another example, the measurement result may be the result of Layer 1 (L1) measurement

[0130] >>indication information of a first cell type, which indicates the type of cell configured for the user equipment (the cell indicated by the above-mentioned "first cell identity information"). In one example, the type indicated by the information is a primary cell, in another example, the type indicated by the information is a primary secondary cell (or primary secondary cell group cell), in another example, the type indicated by the information is a secondary cell, in another example, the type indicated by the information is a PUCCH cell (i.e., a cell that includes PUCCH). In another example, the type indicated by the information is a non-PUCCH cell (i.e., a cell that does not include PUCCH).

[0131] >>first uplink channel indication information, which indicates whether the cell configured for the user equipment (such as the cell indicated by the above-mentioned "first cell identity information") includes an uplink channel. In one example, the uplink channel may be PUCCH. In another example, the uplink channel may be PUSCH. In another example, the uplink channel may be a channel containing specific uplink control information. Examples of the uplink control information include a Scheduling Request (SR), a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), acknowledge / negative acknowledge (ACK / NACK) information of a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ), etc.

[0132] >>first associated uplink channel indication information, which indicates the information on the uplink channel associated with the cell identified by the above-mentioned "first cell identity information". In one example, the uplink information (such as uplink control information) transmitted by the user equipment for the cell identified by the "first cell identify information" needs to be transmitted through the uplink channel indicated by the information, and the information includes at least one of the following information:

[0133] >>>identity information of a first associated cell, which indicates the cell where the associated uplink channel is located. In one example, the cell indicated by the information may not be the cell served by the second node, then in the process of data transmission between the user equipment and the second node, if the user equipment needs to transmit information (such as, SR, CQI, HARQ ACK / NACK, these information is used to help the user equipment to transmit data with the second node) on the uplink channel (PUCCH), the user equipment needs to transmit it on the uplink channel of the cell indicated by the information.

[0134] >>>priority indication information, which indicates the priority of the user equipment to use the uplink channel. The uplink channel is the uplink channel on the cell indicated by the above-mentioned "identity information of a first associated cell". Further, the above-mentioned "first associated uplink channel indication information" may also be list information, which includes one or more associated cells. Optionally, the order of these cells in the list also indicates the priority of these cells, such as the closer to the front (top) of the list, the higher the priority, or closer to the back (bottom) of the list, the higher the priority.

[0135] >information related to a resource request, which includes information related to the resource requested to be configured by the second node, and the second node can allocate the resource to the user equipment based on the information. The beneficial effect of this information is that the first node can determine the resource allocation of the second node based on the data volume of the user equipment, thereby reducing unnecessary resource waste. This information contains at least one of the following information:

[0136] >>cell identify information

[0137] >>uplink channel resource indication information, which indicates the resources of the uplink channel requested by the first node. In one example, the uplink channel may be PUCCH. In another example, the uplink channel may be PUSCH. In another example, the uplink channel may be a channel containing specific uplink control information. Examples of the uplink control information include a Scheduling Request, a Channel Quality Indicator, HARQ ACK / NACK information, etc. Further, the information may also be list information, which includes one or more uplink channel resource indication information. For each uplink channel resource indication information, the information includes at least one of the following information:

[0138] >>>starting position indication information, which indicates the starting position of the requested uplink channel resource, such as a slot number, a subframe number, a symbol number, etc.;

[0139] >>>length indication information, which indicates the length of the requested uplink channel resource, such as the number of slots, the number of subframes, the number of symbols, etc.;

[0140] >>>ending position indication information, which indicates the ending position of the requested uplink channel resource, such as a slot number, a subframe number, a symbol number, etc.;

[0141] >>>frequency domain indication information, which indicates frequency domain location information of the requested uplink channel resource;

[0142] >>>Time division multiplex TDM pattern indication information, indicates the TDM pattern of the requested uplink channel resources. The TDM pattern is used to indicate whether the uplink channel is available on each time unit (such as a slot, a subframe, a symbol, etc.). In one example, the information may be a bitmap, the position of each bit corresponds to a time unit, and the value of each bit indicates whether the uplink channel on the time unit corresponding to the bit is available (such as "1" means available and "0" means unavailable, or "0" means available and "1" means unavailable).

[0143] >first general (common) configuration request information including configuration information applicable to different nodes (such as different base stations serving user equipment). That is, different nodes use the information in the "first general (common) configuration request information" to configure / serve the user equipment, then the different nodes use the same configuration information, that is, when the second node receives the information, the second node directly applies the configuration contained in the information, but cannot modify the configuration contained in the information. In one implementation, the information may also be named first inter base station configuration request information, first inter node configuration request information, first node general (common) configuration request information, and first cell group configuration request information. After the second node receives the information, in one example, the second node configures the cell serving the user equipment according to the information, that is, the configuration used by the second node is the configuration contained in the information. In another example, the second node determines whether it can configure a serving cell for the user equipment based on the information, or determines whether it provides a service for the user equipment. Further, if it cannot configure a serving cell for the user equipment (it cannot provide a service for the user equipment) according to the configuration indicated by the information, the second node may reject the request of the first node. In another example, the second node may modify the configuration information in the "first general (common) configuration request information" and feed back the modified configuration information to the first node through the following steps 1-2. This information indicates a general (common) configuration among nodes, reducing the signaling overhead for configuring the user equipment (since multiple nodes can share the same configuration information). The information includes at least one of the following information:

[0144] >>medium access control configuration information, which indicates the configuration information of the Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol layer. This information contains at least one of the following information (in one example, the information contained in this information can be referred to the MAC-CellGroupConfig information in 3GPP TS38.331):

[0145] >>>configuration information of Buffer Status Reporting (BSR), which includes the configuration information required by the user equipment to report buffer status. This information includes at least one of the following information: timer information for periodic buffer status reporting, buffer status retransmission timer information, etc. In one example, this information can refer to BSR-Config information in 3GPP TS 38.331;

[0146] >>>configuration information of Power Headroom Reporting (PHR), which information includes the configuration information required by the user equipment to report power headroom, and this information includes at least one of the following information: period timer information for power headroom reporting, timer information that prohibits power headroom reporting, etc. In one example, this information can refer to PHR-Config information in 3GPP TS38.331;

[0147] >>physical layer configuration information, which indicates the physical layer configuration information applicable to a cell configured to the user equipment, the information including at least one of the following information (in one example, the information included in the information can refer to PhysicalCellGroupConfig in 3GPP TS 38.331):

[0148] >>>spatial bundling indication information, which indicates whether spatial bundling can be used when feeding back acknowledge / negative acknowledge (ACK / NACK) information of Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ). Furthermore, the indication information can be for the uplink control channel (such as PUCCH: Physical uplink control channel), or can be for the uplink shared channel (such as PUSCH: Physical uplink shared channel).

[0149] >>>HARQ ACK codebook indication information of a downlink channel, which indicates the codebook used by the downlink channel (e.g. PDSCH: Physical downlink shared channel) when transmitting HARQ ACK, e.g. Semi-static or dynamic.

[0150] >>>indication information of a maximum transmission power, which indicates the maximum transmission power of the user equipment. In one example, the transmission power indicated by the information is the transmission power in a specific frequency range.

[0151] >>>identity information of transmission power control, which indicates identity information used by the network side when performing power control (such as RNTI: Radio Network Temporary Identifier). In one example, the identity information can be identity information used for power control of a channel sounding reference signal (SRS). In another example, the identity information can be identity information used for PUCCH power control. In another example, the identity information can be identity information used for PUSCH power control.

[0152] Step 1-2: The second node transmits a first response message to the first node, the message containing the configuration information of the user equipment at the second node, and the message includes at least one of the following information:

[0153] >identity response information, which indicates information related to identity configured by the second node to the user equipment. In one example, the information is identity information of the user equipment generated by the second node. In another example, the information is identity information of the user equipment generated by the second node based on the information in the above-mentioned first request message (such as the above-mentioned "identity request information"), and the information includes at least one of the following information:

[0154] >>second identity information, which indicates identity information allocated by the second node, in one example, the information is self-allocated by the second node, in another example, the information is allocated by the second node based on information transmitted by the first node (such as the "identity request information" described above). The beneficial effect of this information is that conflicts in allocating identity information among nodes are avoided. The information includes at least one of the following:

[0155] >>>identity information of a user equipment, which identifies the configured user equipment, such as Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI).

[0156] >>>identity information of a cell, which indicates the identity information of the cell configured to the user equipment, the cell may be the cell served by the second node. In one example, the information is the index information of the cell (Cell Index).

[0157] >>>identity information of a logical channel, which indicates the logical channel of the user equipment, such as logical channel identity. Further, the information may also include identity information of the cell serving the logical channel identified by the identity information.

[0158] >>>identity information of a logical channel group, which indicates the identity information of a logical channel group of the user equipment, such as logical channel group identity. This logical channel group may contain at least one logical channel. Further, the information may also contain the identity information of the logical channels in the logical channel group identified by the identity information.

[0159] >>>identity information of a scheduling request, which indicates the identity information of a scheduling request of the user equipment, such as a scheduling request identity.

[0160] >>>identity information of a timing advance group, which indicates the identity information of a timing advance group of the user equipment, such as Timing advance group (TAG). Further, the information may also include identity information of the cell corresponding to the timing advance group identified by the identity information.

[0161] >>>energy saving configuration identity information, which indicates the identity of the energy saving configuration of the user equipment. In one example, the energy saving configuration can be a discontinuous reception configuration (such as DRX configuration), or a discontinuous reception group configuration (such as DRX group configuration). Furthermore, the information may also include identity information of the cell of the energy saving configuration using the identity information.

[0162] >>>second partial information of a user equipment identity, which indicates partial identity information configured to a user equipment. In one example, this information is information not included in the above-mentioned "first partial information of a user equipment identity" in the user equipment identity information.

[0163] >>>second partial information of a cell identity, which indicates partial information of a cell identity configured to a user equipment. In one example, this information is information not included in the above-mentioned "first partial information of a cell identity" in the cell identity information.

[0164] >>>second partial information of a logical channel identity, which indicates indicate partial information of a logical channel identity configured to a user equipment. In one example, this information is information not included in the above-mentioned "first partial information of a logical channel identity" in the logical channel identity. Further, the information may also include identity information of the cell serving the logical channel identified by the identity information.

[0165] >>>second partial information of a logical channel group identity, which indicates partial information of a logical channel group identity configured to a user equipment. In one example, this information is information not included in the above-mentioned "first partial information of a logical channel group identity" in the logical channel group identity information. Furthermore, the information may also include identity information of the logical channels in the logical channel group identified by the identity information.

[0166] >>>second partial information of a scheduling request identity, which indicates partial information of a scheduling request identity configured to a user equipment. In one example, this information is information not included in the above-mentioned "first partial information of a scheduling request identity" in the scheduling request identity information.

[0167] >>>second partial information of a timing advance group identity, which indicates partial information of a timing advance group identity configured to a user equipment. In one example, this information is information not included in the above-mentioned "first partial information of a timing advance group identity" in the timing advance group identity information. Further, the information may also include identity information of the cell corresponding to the timing advance group identified by the identity information.

[0168] >>>second partial information of a power saving configuration identity, which indicates partial information of a power saving configuration identity of a user equipment. In one example, the energy saving configuration can be a discontinuous reception configuration (such as DRX configuration), or a discontinuous reception group configuration (such as DRX group configuration). In one example, this information is information not included in the above-mentioned "first partial information of a power saving configuration identity" in the energy saving configuration identity information. Furthermore, this information may also include identity information of the cell of the energy saving configuration using the identity information.

[0169] >>identity failure information, or identity rejection information, which indicates identity information that cannot be used by the second node. In one example, when the above first request message contains "first identity information", if the second node cannot use this information (such as when the "first identity information" cannot be allocated to the user equipment), the second node may contain this "identity failure information". The information includes at least one of the following information:

[0170] >>>third identity information, which indicates unusable identity information, the information including at least one of the following: identity information of a user equipment, identity information of a cell, identity information of a logical channel, identity information of a logical channel group, identity information of a scheduling request, identity information of a timing advance group, and identity information of a power saving configuration;

[0171] >>>first cause information, which indicates a reason for the failure to use the identity, e.g., the identity information has been used by the second node.

[0172] >first configuration response information including configuration information when the second node serves the user equipment, and the configuration information is determined by the second node based on the information of the first node in step 1-1. This information contains at least one of the following information:

[0173] >>information related to an accepted data flow, which indicates data flows that can be accepted by the second node. The information has the beneficial effects of indicating the data flow accepted by the second node, helping the first node to configure the user equipment, and meeting the QoS requirements of the data flow transmission of the user equipment. The information includes at least one of the following information:

[0174] >>>identify Information of data flow.

[0175] >>>indication information of the accepted data volume, which indicates the volume of data flow of the user equipment that the second node can serve. In one example, this information indicates the (maximum / minimum) percentage or absolute value of the accepted data volume to the data volume requested by the second node (the data volume indicated by the "indication information of the data volume of the data flow" in step 1-1 above). In another example, this information indicates the (maximum or minimum) percentage or absolute value of the accepted data volume to the total data volume.

[0176] >>>accepted first QoS parameter information, which indicates the QoS parameter that can be satisfied by the second node.

[0177] >>>accepted data indication information, which indicates the data in the data flow that can be accepted by the second node, and the information includes at least one of the following information:

[0178] >>>>data identity information, which identifies a type of data requested to be served by the second node, such as RB ID, DRB ID, SRB ID, RLC bearer ID, Session ID, PDU Session ID, flow ID, QoS flow ID, IP flow ID, etc.

[0179] >>>>accepted second QoS parameter information, which indicates the QoS parameter that can be satisfied by the second node.

[0180] >>>>second indication information of the accepted data volume, which indicates the volume of data flow of the user equipment that the second node can serve. In one example, this information indicates the (maximum / minimum) percentage or absolute value of the accepted data volume to the data volume requested by the second node (the data volume indicated by the "indication information of the data volume of the data flow" in step 1-1 above). In another example, this information indicates the (maximum or minimum) percentage or absolute value of the accepted data volume to the total data volume.

[0181] >>information related to an accepted cell, which indicates the cells configured by the second node to the user equipment, the information may include information of one or more cells. For one cell, the information includes at least one of the following information (the beneficial effect of this information is to configure a suitable cell for the user equipment, and allocating suitable resources on the cell, reducing the waste of resources):

[0182] >>>second cell identity information

[0183] >>>indication information of a second cell type, which indicates the type of cell configured for the user equipment (the cell indicated by the above-mentioned "second cell identity information"). In one example, the type indicated by the information is a primary cell, in another example, the type indicated by the information is a primary secondary cell (or primary secondary cell group cell), in another example, the type indicated by the information is a secondary cell, in another example, the type indicated by the information is a PUCCH cell (i.e., a cell that includes PUCCH). In another example, the type indicated by the information is a non-PUCCH cell (i.e., a cell that does not include PUCCH).

[0184] >>>second uplink channel indication information, which indicates whether the cell configured for the user equipment (such as the cell indicated by the above-mentioned "second cell identity information") includes an uplink channel. In one example, the uplink channel may be PUCCH. In another example, the uplink channel may be PUSCH. In another example, the uplink channel may be a channel containing specific uplink control information. Examples of the uplink control information include a Scheduling Request (SR), a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), acknowledge / negative acknowledge (ACK / NACK) information of a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ), etc.

[0185] >>>second associated uplink channel indication information, which indicates the information on the uplink channel associated with the cell identified by the above-mentioned "second cell identity information". In one example, the uplink information (such as uplink control information) transmitted by the user equipment for the cell identified by the " second cell identify information" needs to be transmitted through the uplink channel indicated by the information, and the information includes at least one of the following information:

[0186] >>>>identity information of a second associated cell, which indicates the cell where the associated uplink channel is located. In one example, the cell indicated by the information may not be the cell served by the second node, then in the process of data transmission between the user equipment and the second node, if the user equipment needs to transmit information (such as, SR, CQI, HARQ ACK / NACK, these information is used to help the user equipment to transmit data with the second node) on the uplink channel (PUCCH), the user equipment needs to transmit it on the uplink channel of the cell indicated by the information.

[0187] >>>>priority indication information, which indicates the priority of the user equipment to use the uplink channel. The uplink channel is the uplink channel on the cell indicated by the above-mentioned "identity information of a second associated cell". Further, the above-mentioned "second associated uplink channel indication information" may also be list information, which includes one or more associated cells. Optionally, the order of these cells in the list also indicates the priority of these cells, such as the closer to the front (top) of the list, the higher the priority, or closer to the back (bottom) of the list, the higher the priority.

[0188] >>>indication information of associated energy saving configuration, which indicates the energy saving configuration associated with the cell indicated by the above-mentioned "second cell identity information". In one example, the energy saving configuration is a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, that is, when the user equipment transmits data on the cell indicated by the "second cell identity information", it needs to adopt the DRX configuration indicated by the indication information. The indication information may be identity information of DRX configuration, or identity information of a DRX group.

[0189] >>information related to resource configuration, which includes information related to resources configured by the second node to the user equipment. In one embodiment, the resources are resources of an uplink channel, and the uplink channel may be a channel containing specific uplink control information. Examples of the uplink control information include a Scheduling Request, a Channel Quality Indicator, HARQ ACK / NACK information, etc. In one example, the information may also be list information, which includes one or more information related to resource configuration. For one information related to resource configuration, the information includes at least one of the following information:

[0190] >>>cell identity information, which indicates a cell to which resources allocated to the user equipment belong.

[0191] >>>indication information of service data flow, which indicates the information of the data flow served by the resources configured to the user equipment, and the information contains at least one of the following information (for the description of the information contained in the information, please refer to the above "information related to data flow" in step 1-1):

[0192] >>>>identity information of data flow, or identity information of a configuration of data flow

[0193] >>>>indication information of the data volume of the data flow

[0194] >>>>QoS parameter information of the data flow

[0195] >>>>data indication information including at least one of:

[0196] >>>>>data identity information

[0197] >>>>>QoS parameter information of the data

[0198] >>>>>indication information of the data volume of the data

[0199] >>>resource configuration information, which indicates the information of resources configured for the user equipment. In one example, the information is used to indicate resource allocation of the uplink channel, and the information includes at least one of the following information:

[0200] >>>>cell identity information, which indicates the cell in which the allocated resources are located.

[0201] >>>>starting position indication information, which indicates the starting position of the requested uplink channel resource, such as a slot number, a subframe number, a symbol number, etc.;

[0202] >>>>length indication information, which indicates the length of the requested uplink channel resource, such as the number of slots, the number of subframes, the number of symbols, etc.;

[0203] >>>>ending position indication information, which indicates the ending position of the requested uplink channel resource, such as a slot number, a subframe number, a symbol number, etc.;

[0204] >>>>frequency domain indication information, which indicates frequency domain location information of the requested uplink channel resource;

[0205] >>>>Time division multiplex TDM pattern indication information, indicates the TDM pattern of the requested uplink channel resources. The TDM pattern is used to indicate whether the uplink channel is available on each time unit (such as a slot, a subframe, a symbol, etc.). In one example, the information may be a bitmap, the position of each bit corresponds to a time unit, and the value of each bit indicates whether the uplink channel on the time unit corresponding to the bit is available (such as "1" means available and "0" means unavailable, or "0" means available and "1" means unavailable).

[0206] >>>>resource percentage indication information, which indicates the percentage of resources allocated by the second node or the percentage of resources required by the second node. In one example, the information indicates the percentage of the slot containing the uplink channel allocated by the second node (or the required slot containing the uplink channel) to the uplink resources (such as the uplink subframe).

[0207] In the above configuration information, "indication information of service data flow" and "resource configuration information" may be related to each other, That is, the above-mentioned resource configuration of the uplink channel can dynamically change as the service data flow changes (specific implementation is given in the following "Dynamically Changing Configuration of an Uplink Channel Resource of a User Equipment").

[0208] >lower layer configuration information, which includes the lower layer configuration information of the second node configuring the user equipment. The beneficial effect of this information is to configure cells of different nodes for the user equipment, and use different configurations for data transmission on the cells of different nodes to meet the QoS requirements of the user equipment's data. This information contains at least one of the following information:

[0209] >>configuration information of a PDCP layer, which includes configuration information of the PDCP protocol layer.

[0210] >>configuration information of an RLC layer, which includes configuration information of an RLC protocol layer.

[0211] >>configuration information of a logical channel, which includes the configuration information of a logical channel. In one example, the information includes identity information of the cell serving the logical channel.

[0212] >>configuration information of a scheduling request, which includes resource configuration information of a scheduling request. In one example, the information includes identity information of a scheduling request.

[0213] >>configuration information of a timing advance group, which includes information of a timing advance group, such as identity information of a timing advance group, identity information of a cell in the timing advance group, etc.

[0214] >>energy saving configuration information, which includes the energy saving configuration of the user equipment. In one example, the information is discontinuous reception DRX configuration information. Further, the information may include list information, the list information includes one or more DRX configuration information. For each DRX configuration information, it also includes the identity information of the DRX group and the information of the cell using the DRX configuration information.

[0215] >>configuration information of a cell, which includes configuration information of each cell configured by the second node to the user equipment.

[0216] >first general (common) configuration response information, which indicates general (common) configuration generated by the second node. In one example, this information indicates configuration information acceptable by the second node and applicable to different nodes. In one example, this information indicates whether the "first general (common) configuration request information" described above can be accepted. The beneficial effect of this information is to generate general (common) configuration information for user equipment among different nodes and reduce the signaling overhead of configuring user equipment. The information may include at least one of the following information:

[0217] >>medium access control configuration information, refer to the description in step 1-1 above.

[0218] >>physical layer configuration information, refer to the description in step 1-1 above.

[0219] >>first reason information, which indicates the reason why the second node does not accept the above-mentioned "first general (common) configuration request information", such as insufficient resources.

[0220] Step 1-3: the first node transmits a first configuration message to the user equipment, the function of which is to configure at least one serving cell for the user equipment (these serving cells may belong to different nodes). In one example, these serving cells are configured to the user equipment in a carrier aggregation manner, that is, the user equipment cannot perceive that these serving cells belong to different nodes. This has the beneficial effect of simplifying the configuration signaling of the user equipment and improving the service receiving efficiency of user equipment on these cells. The message includes at least one of the following information:

[0221] >serving cell configuration information, which contains information on the cells configured to the user equipment. These cells may belong to the same node or to different nodes, and may or may not contain uplink channels. For one cell, this information includes at least one of the following information:

[0222] >>third cell identity information

[0223] >>indication information of a third cell type, which indicates the type of cell configured for the user equipment (the cell indicated by the above-mentioned "third cell identity information"). In one example, the type indicated by the information is a primary cell, in another example, the type indicated by the information is a primary secondary cell (or primary secondary cell group cell), in another example, the type indicated by the information is a secondary cell, in another example, the type indicated by the information is a PUCCH cell (i.e., a cell that includes PUCCH). In another example, the type indicated by the information is a non-PUCCH cell (i.e., a cell that does not include PUCCH). In another example, the type indicated by the information is an anchor cell, such as the cell used by the user equipment when generating a security key.

[0224] >>resource indication information, which indicates resources related to the cell identified by the above-mentioned "third cell identity information". For different types of the cell, the information includes at least one of the following information (the beneficial effect of this information is to help user equipment determine configuration information used when performing data transmission, when the user data of the user equipment changes, appropriate configuration information is used for data transmission to improve resource utilization efficiency):

[0225] >>>uplink channel resource indication information. When the cell identified by the above-mentioned "third cell identity information" contains uplink channel resources, this information can be used to indicate the resource configuration information of the uplink channel. The uplink channel may be a channel containing specific uplink control information. Examples of the uplink control information include a Scheduling Request, a Channel Quality Indicator, HARQ ACK / NACK information, etc. This information can be list information, which contains one or more uplink channel resource indication information (that is, for the same cell, its uplink channel resources have multiple possible configurations, and the user equipment can use different configurations for data transmission on the uplink channel, in one example, the user equipment determines the configuration used based on subsequent signaling from the network side). For one uplink channel resource indication information, the information includes at least one of the following information:

[0226] >>>>starting position indication information, which indicates the starting position of the uplink channel resource, such as a slot number, a subframe number, a symbol number, etc.;

[0227] >>>>length indication information, which indicates the length of the uplink channel resource, such as the number of slots, the number of subframes, the number of symbols, etc.;

[0228] >>>>ending position indication information, which indicates the ending position of the uplink channel resource, such as a slot number, a subframe number, a symbol number, etc.;

[0229] >>>>frequency domain indication information, which indicates frequency domain location information of the uplink channel resource;

[0230] >>>>Time division multiplex TDM pattern indication information, indicates the TDM pattern of the uplink channel resources. The TDM pattern is used to indicate whether the uplink channel is available on each time unit (such as a slot, a subframe, a symbol, etc.). In one example, the information may be a bitmap, the position of each bit corresponds to a time unit, and the value of each bit indicates whether the uplink channel on the time unit corresponding to the bit is available (such as "1" means available and "0" means unavailable, or "0" means available and "1" means unavailable).

[0231] >>>>associated data flow information, which indicates the information of the data flow served by the above-mentioned uplink channel, such as the identity information of the data flow, the identity information of the configuration of the data flow, the identity information of the data, etc. This information, combined with the "uplink channel resource indication information" mentioned above, can determine different uplink channel configurations corresponding to different data flow configurations (such as different allocation methods of data flow of user equipment among nodes).

[0232] >>>>information of a third associated cell, which indicates the information of the cell served by the above uplink channel, such as the identity information of the cell, that is, the uplink control information on the cell indicated by the information can be transmitted through the cell indicated by the above "third cell identity information"

[0233] >>>associated uplink channel resource indication information. When the cell identified by the above-mentioned "third cell identity information" doesn't contain uplink channel resources, this information can be used to indicate the resource configuration information of the uplink channel used by the user equipment when transmitting the uplink control information for the cell identified by the "third cell identification information". The uplink channel may be a channel containing specific uplink control information. Examples of the uplink control information include a Scheduling Request, a Channel Quality Indicator, HARQ ACK / NACK information, etc. This information can be list information, which contains one or more uplink channel resource indication information (that is, for the same cell, its uplink channel resources have multiple possible configurations, and the user equipment can use different configurations for data transmission on the uplink channel, in one example, the user equipment determines the configuration used based on subsequent signaling from the network side). For one uplink channel resource indication information, the information includes at least one of the following information:

[0234] >>>>identity information of a fourth associated cell, which indicates the cell in which the associated uplink channel is located.

[0235] >>>>priority indication information, which indicates the priority of the user equipment to use the uplink channel. The uplink channel is the uplink channel on the cell indicated by the above-mentioned "identity information of a fourth associated cell". Further, the above-mentioned "associated uplink channel resource indication information" may also be list information, which includes one or more associated cells. Optionally, the order of these cells in the list also indicates the priority of these cells, such as the closer to the front (top) of the list, the higher the priority, or closer to the back (bottom) of the list, the higher the priority.

[0236] >>>>starting position indication information, which indicates the starting position of the uplink channel resource, such as a slot number, a subframe number, a symbol number, etc.;

[0237] >>>>length indication information, which indicates the length of the uplink channel resource, such as the number of slots, the number of subframes, the number of symbols, etc.;

[0238] >>>>ending position indication information, which indicates the ending position of the uplink channel resource, such as a slot number, a subframe number, a symbol number, etc.;

[0239] >>>>frequency domain indication information, which indicates frequency domain location information of the uplink channel resource;

[0240] >>>>Time division multiplex TDM pattern indication information, indicates the TDM pattern of the requested uplink channel resource. In one example, the information may be a bitmap, each bit indicates whether the uplink channel corresponding to the bit is available (such as "1" means available and "0" means unavailable, or "0" means available and "1" means unavailable).

[0241] >>>>associated information of data flow, which indicates information of the data flow served by the uplink channel, such as identity information of the data flow, identity information of a configuration of the data flow, identity information of the data, etc.

[0242] The above-mentioned "starting position indication information", "length indication information", "ending position indication information", "frequency domain indication information", and "time division multiplex pattern indication information" are used to indicate the resource configuration of the uplink channel. The uplink channel is in the cell indicated by the above-mentioned "identity information of a fourth associated cell".

[0243] >indication information of associated energy saving configuration, which indicates the energy saving configuration associated with the cell indicated by the above-mentioned "third cell identity information". In one example, the energy saving configuration is a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, that is, when the user equipment transmits data on the cell indicated by the "third cell identity information", it needs to adopt the DRX configuration indicated by the indication information. The indication information may be identity information of DRX configuration, or identity information of a DRX group.

[0244] >data configuration information, which indicates the information of the data configured for the user equipment. The beneficial effect of this information is that the user equipment can perform different data transmission according to different configurations and ensure the QoS requirements of different data. The information includes at least one of the following information:

[0245] >>data flow configuration information, which includes information on the data flow configured to the user equipment. For a description of this information, please refer to the description of the above "information related to data flow" in step 1-1.

[0246] >>data identity information, such as RB ID, DRB ID, SRB ID, RLC bearer ID, Session ID, PDU Session ID, flow ID, QoS flow ID, IP flow ID, etc

[0247] >>configuration information of a PDCP layer

[0248] >>configuration information of an RLC layer

[0249] >>configuration information of a logical channel. Further, the information also includes identity information of one or more cells serving the logical channel.

[0250] >data threshold information, which indicates the threshold information when the user equipment selects a specific cell or cell group for data transmission, such as when the data volume of the user equipment (such as the uplink data volume, or the downlink data volume, or the uplink and downlink data volume) exceeds the threshold indicated by the information, the user equipment can select a specific cell or cell group for data transmission. The beneficial effect of this information is that the user equipment can determine the cell for data transmission based on different data volumes, reducing energy consumption at the user equipment. The information includes at least one of the following:

[0251] >>threshold indication information, which indicates the size of the threshold, such as the number of bits, the number of data packets, the size of the data volume, etc

[0252] >>indication information of associated data, which indicates the data associated with the above-mentioned "threshold indication information". The information indicates the data associated with the above-mentioned "threshold indication information" by including at least one of the following information:

[0253] >>>identify information of data, such as RB ID, DRB ID, SRB ID, RLC bearer ID, Session ID, PDU Session ID, flow ID, QoS flow ID, IP flow ID, etc.

[0254] >>>identity information of data flow, or identity information of a configuration of the data flow, which indicates the configuration of the data flow of the user equipment among different nodes, such as the configuration of the data volume served by different nodes. For the configuration identified by this information, please refer to the description of the above "information related to data flow" in step 1-1.

[0255] >>>cell identity information, which indicates the identity information of the cell serving the data associated with the above-mentioned "threshold indication information", and the information may include the identity information of one or more cells.

[0256] >>indication information of an enabled cell, which indicates that when the data volume of the user equipment exceeds the threshold indicated by the above "threshold indication information", data can be transmitted on the cell indicated by the information. In one example, the information includes identity information of a cell. Further, the information may include identity information of one or more cells.

[0257] >>indication information of an enabled cell group, which indicates that when the data volume of the user equipment exceeds the threshold indicated by the above "threshold indication information", data can be transmitted on the cell group indicated by the information (the cell group includes one or more cells). In one example, the information includes identity information of the cell group.

[0258] >user configuration information, which contains other configurations required by the user equipment, and the information includes at least one of the following information:

[0259] >>general (common) configuration information, which is applicable to all cells configured to the user equipment, the information including at least one of:

[0260] >>>medium access control configuration information, refer to the description in step 1-1 above.

[0261] >>>physical layer configuration information, refer to the description in step 1-1 above.

[0262] >>energy saving configuration information, which includes the energy saving configuration of the user equipment. In one example, the information is discontinuous reception DRX configuration information. Further, the information may include list information, the list information includes one or more DRX configuration information. For each DRX configuration information, it also includes the identity information of the DRX group and the information of the cell using the DRX configuration information.

[0263] >>configuration information of a scheduling request, which includes resource configuration information of a scheduling request. In one example, the information includes identity information of a scheduling request.

[0264] >>configuration information of a timing advance group, which includes information of a timing advance group, such as identity information of a timing advance group, identity information of a cell in the timing advance group, etc.

[0265] Through the above process, multiple different serving cells can be configured for the user equipment, and these cells may belong to different nodes, but the user equipment cannot perceive that these cells belong to different nodes. The beneficial effects of the above process include: 1) when configuring serving cells of multiple nodes for user equipment, the signaling overhead required to configure user equipment can be reduced, 2) the processing load on the user equipment side is reduced (such as there is no need to establish multiple MAC entity), 3) user equipment can dynamically change the required configuration information according to the distribution of different data flows among different nodes, thereby effectively performing data transmission, reducing resource waste, and ensuring the QoS requirements of user equipment.

[0266] In the above process, the above-mentioned first request message and the first response message can be signaling messages between base stations, such as a inter node / base station fusion request message and a inter node / base station fusion response message, or other messages, and the above-mentioned first configuration message can be an RRC message, such as an RRC reconfiguration message, or other messages.

[0267] The above process is explained in terms of signaling interaction between the first node and the second node. In another example, the above-mentioned processes of steps 1-1 and 1-2 can also occur between the above-mentioned first node and the third node (such as replacing the second node in steps 1-1 and 1-2 with the third node), or between the second node and the fourth node (such as replacing the first node and the second node in steps 1-1 and 1-2 with the second node and the fourth node respectively).

[0268] Based on the above configuration process, the user is configured with serving cells belonging to different nodes. These serving cells are configured to the user equipment in a carrier aggregation manner. In one example, this configuration will configure a Primary Cell (PCell) and at least one Secondary Cell (SCell) for the user equipment. In order to improve the flexibility of using these serving cells, the present invention also proposes a method of dynamically changing the configuration of the user equipment. The method includes the following aspects:

[0269] Aspect 1: Dynamically changing a cell serving the user equipment

[0270] When the user equipment is configured with multiple serving cells, some serving cells can be dynamically activated or deactivated according to the user data volume. This has the advantage of reducing the energy consumption of the user equipment and improving the utilization efficiency of spectrum resources. The method includes the following steps, as shown in Figure 7:

[0271] Step 2-1: The network node, such as the first node or the second node, transmits a first indication message to the user equipment, such message is used to indicate activation or deactivation of the serving cell. In one example, the activated or deactivated cell is a cell belonging to another node than the network node. The message includes at least one of the following information:

[0272] >cell indication information. In one example, the cell indicated by the information is a secondary cell. In another example, the cell indicated by the information is a cell that contains an uplink channel. In another example, the cell identified by the information is a cell that does not contain an uplink channel. In another example, the cell identified by the information is a PUCCH cell. In another example, the cell identified by the information is a non-PUCCH cell. The cell indication information indicates the activated or deactivated cell. The above-mentioned uplink channel may be a channel containing specific uplink control information Examples of the uplink control information include a Scheduling Request, a Channel Quality Indicator, HARQ ACK / NACK information, etc. The information includes at least one of the following information:

[0273] >>identify information of a cell.

[0274] >>index information of a cell, which indicates a cell.

[0275] >>bitmap information, which indicates cells that need to be activated or deactivated. Each bit in the bitmap represents a cell.

[0276] >activation indication information, which is used to indicate activation or deactivation of the cell indicated by the above "cell indication information". In one example, when multiple cells are activated or deactivated, the information may include a bitmap information, each bit in the map represents a cell, and the value of each bit indicates whether the cell is activated or deactivated (e.g., "1" for activated and "0" for deactivated, or "1" for deactivated and "0" for activated.).

[0277] >first indication information of a configuration of data flow, which indicates the configuration of the data flow. In one example, the information may be identity information of the data flow, or identity information of the configuration of the data flow. The user equipment will determine the configuration it uses based on this information, such as the configuration of resources (such as uplink channel resources) indicated by the "resource indication information" in steps 1-3 above.

[0278] >access information, which indicates configuration information required to access the cell. Based on this information, the user equipment can access the activated cell indicated by the above-mentioned "cell indication information". Based on this information, the user equipment obtains the information required to access the activated cell (such as the secondary cell), reducing the delay of cell access. The information includes at least one of the following information:

[0279] >>random access information, which includes information required by the user equipment to perform random access, such as random access preamble index information and random access occasion indication information.

[0280] >>timing advance information, which indicates a timing advance for the user equipment to access the activated cell.

[0281] Step 2-2: The user equipment activates or deactivates the serving cell. If step 2-1 indicates to deactivate a cell, the user equipment may stop data transmission on the deactivated cell, and if step 2-1 indicates to activate a cell, the user equipment may access the activated cell according to the information in the first indication information. In one example, the user equipment can perform a random access process on the activated cell based on the information in the access information, or directly use the timing advance information in the access information to perform data transmission on the activated cell.

[0282] When the node that determines cell activation or deactivation is different from the node where the activated or deactivated cell is located, the above process also includes the following steps:

[0283] Step 2-3: Optionally (which may occur after step 2-1, or after step 2-2), the first node transmits a first notification message to the second node, or the second node to the first node, the message is used to provide information about activated or deactivated cells, the message includes at least one of the following information:

[0284] >identify information of an activated or deactivated cell.

[0285] >indication information of a configuration of data flow, which indicates the configuration of the data flow, in one example, the information may be identity information of the data flow, or identity information of the configuration of the data flow. The receiving node will determine the configuration it uses based on this information, such as the configuration of resources (such as uplink channel resources) indicated by the "resource indication information" in steps 1-3 above.

[0286] Aspect 2: Dynamically Changing Configuration of an Uplink Channel Resource of a User Equipment

[0287] When a user equipment is configured with multiple serving cells belonging to different nodes, the configuration of uplink channel resources used by the user equipment will also change according to the size of the user data volume served by each node. Therefore, the network side should dynamically change the configuration of uplink channel resources according to the distribution of data flows on different nodes. The benefits of this are to reasonably allocate uplink resources on different nodes, reduce resource waste, and improve the efficiency of each node serving different data flows. The method includes the following steps, as shown in Figure 8:

[0288] Step 3-1: The network node (such as the first node or the second node) transmits a second indication message to the user equipment, the message is used to indicate the configuration of the data flow of the user equipment, and the message includes at least one of the following information:

[0289] >second indication information of a configuration of data flow, which indicates the configuration of the data flow. In one example, the information may be identity information of the data flow, or identity information of the configuration of the data flow. The user equipment will determine the configuration it uses based on this information, such as the configuration of resources (such as uplink channel resources) indicated by the "resource indication information" in steps 1-3 above, and then determine the resources of the uplink channel.

[0290] >first indication information of an uplink channel resource, which information includes at least one of the following information:

[0291] >>fourth cell identity information, wherein the cell identified by the information is a cell including the uplink channel resource.

[0292] >>identity information of an associated cell, which indicates a cell associated with the above-mentioned "fourth cell identity information" that does not contain the uplink channel resource. In one example, the indication information includes identity information of a cell. In another example, the indication information includes index information of a cell, and the index information can be used to indicate the identity information of the cell. In another example, the indication information can be a bitmap information, and each bit in the bitmap information represents a cell, the bit value indicates whether it is associated with the above-mentioned "cell identity information" (for example, "1" means associated and "0" means not associated, or "0" means associated and "1" means not associated).

[0293] >The first indication information of the associated uplink channel resource includes at least one of the following information:

[0294] >>fifth cell identity information, wherein the cell identified by the information is a cell that does not include the uplink channel resource.

[0295] >>identity information of an associated cell, which indicates a cell associated with the above-mentioned " fifth cell identity information" that does not contain the uplink channel resource. In one example, the indication information includes identity information of a cell. In another example, the indication information includes index information of a cell, and the index information can be used to indicate the identity information of the cell. In another example, the indication information can be a bitmap information, and each bit in the bitmap information represents a cell, the bit value indicates whether it is associated with the above-mentioned "cell identity information" (for example, "1" means associated and "0" means not associated, or "0" means associated and "1" means not associated).

[0296] Step 3-2: the user equipment determines the configuration of the uplink channel resource. The uplink channel may be a channel containing specific uplink control information. Examples of the uplink control information include a Scheduling Request, a Channel Quality Indicator, HARQ ACK / NACK information, etc. Specifically, this step includes:

[0297] >determining a configuration of the uplink channel resource of a cell including an uplink channel.

[0298] If the "identity information of data flow" or "identity information of a configuration of data flow" indicated in step 3-1 is the same as the "associated data flow information" contained in the "uplink channel resource indication information" in the above step 1-3, and the cell containing the uplink channel resource is in an activated state, then the user equipment determines the resource of the uplink channel according to other information contained in the "uplink channel resource indication information" in the above steps 1-3 (such as starting position indication information, length indication information, ending position indication information, frequency domain indication information, time division multiplex pattern indication information). Figure 9 illustrates different uplink channel resource allocation methods corresponding to different "identity information of a configuration of data flow", that is, when the identity information of a configuration of data flow = 2, more uplink channel resources are allocated on cell 1., and when the identity information of a configuration of data flow = 1, fewer uplink channel resources are allocated on cell 1.

[0299] >determining a configuration of the uplink channel resource of a cell not including an uplink channel.

[0300] For a cell (first cell) configured to the user equipment that does not contain an uplink channel, the user equipment needs to determine a cell (second cell) associated with the first cell that contains an uplink channel. In one example, the user equipment may determine the second cell based on the "serving cell configuration information" in steps 1-3 above, and determine the cell associated with the second cell that do not contain the uplink channel resource based on the "information of a third associated cell" in the "uplink channel resource indication information", and then determine whether the first cell is associated with the second cell. In another example, the user equipment may determine the second cell associated with the first cell based on the "identity information of a fourth associated cell" in the "associated uplink channel resource indication information" in steps 1-3. In another example, the user equipment may determine the associated first cell and second cell according to the "uplink channel resource indication information" or "associated uplink channel resource indication information" in step 3-1. Further, optionally, if there are multiple second cells associated with the first cell determined by the above method, and each second cell is in an activated state, the user equipment can determine that cell with a higher priority as the second cell according to the "priority indication information" in step 1-3. After the second cell is determined, when the "identity information of data flow" or "identity information of a configuration of data flow" indicated in the above step 3-1 is the same as the "associated data flow information" contained in the "uplink channel resource indication information" in the above step 1-3, and the cell (second cell) containing the uplink channel resource is in the activated state, then the user equipment will use other information contained in the "uplink channel resource indication information" in the above steps 1-3 (such as starting position indication information, length indication information, ending position indication information, frequency domain indication information, time division multiplex pattern indication information) to determine the uplink channel resource of the second cell associated with the first cell. Figure 10 gives an example. Cell 1 does not contain an uplink channel, and cell 2 contains an uplink channel. In order to transmit the uplink control information required on cell 1, it needs to be transmitted through the uplink channel on cell 2. Furthermore, the resource allocation of the uplink channel on cell 2 is also different for different data flow allocation methods. For example, when the configured identity information of the data flow = 2, more uplink channel resources are allocated on cell 2, and when the configured identity information of the data flow = 1, fewer uplink channel resources are allocated on cell 2.

[0301] After deciding to change the configuration of the data flow, network nodes also need to exchange the latest the configuration information of the data flow, and the above process also includes the following steps:

[0302] Step 3-3: optionally (which may occur after step 3-1, or after step 3-2), the first node transmits a second notification message to the second node, or the second node to the first node, the message is used to provide the indication information of the configuration of the data flow, which indicates the configuration of the data flow. In one example, the information may be identity information of the data flow, or identity information of the configuration of the data flow. The receiving node will determine the configuration it uses based on this information, such as the configuration of resources (such as uplink channel resources) indicated by the "resource indication information" in steps 1-3 above.

[0303] The above-mentioned first indication message and second indication message may be messages including MAC control element, RRC messages, physical layer messages, or other types of messages.

[0304] Aspect 3: the user equipment dynamically selects different cells for data transmission

[0305] When the user equipment is configured with multiple serving cells, in order to reduce energy consumption, the user equipment can perform data transmission on more cells when the data volume transmitted is large. If the data volume is small, the user equipment can use fewer cells for data transmission. This has the advantage of reducing the energy consumption of the user equipment. To achieve this, the user equipment can determine whether to initiate data transmission on other cells based on the configuration information in steps 1-3. Specifically, the user equipment will perform the following behaviors:

[0306] >Determine whether the size of the specific data volume transmitted by the user equipment exceeds the configured "threshold indication information". This determination method can be implemented in the following ways:

[0307] >>Method 1: Judgment based on the data volume of all data transmitted. If the data volume of all data exceeds the threshold, perform subsequent actions.

[0308] >>Method 2: Judgment based on the data volume of specific data, which may be data indicated by at least one of the following information:

[0309] >>>data of specific identity information, such as the data indicated by "identity information of data" in "data threshold information" in steps 1-3 above.

[0310] >>>data served by a specific cell, such as the data served by the "cell identity information" in the "data threshold information" in steps 1-3 above.

[0311] >>>data of user equipment under a specific configuration of data flow, such as the data of the user equipment under the "identity information of data flow" or the "identity information of a configuration of data flow" in the "data threshold information" in steps 1-3 above.

[0312] >When the size of the specific data volume transmitted by the user equipment exceeds the configured "threshold indication information", the user equipment uses the " indication information of an enabled cell" or " indication information of an enabled cell group" in the above steps 1-3 for data transmission.

[0313] Figure 11 is a block diagram of a node according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. Here, the structure and function of a node are explained by taking it as an example, but it should be understood that the shown structure and function can also be applied to the base stations, the relay node and user equipment. Referring to Figure 11, the node 1100 includes a transceiver 1110, a controller 1120 and a memory 1130. Under the control of the controller 1120, which may be implemented as one or more processors, the node 1100 (including the transceiver 1110 and the memory 1130) is configured to perform the operations of the node described herein. Although the transceiver 1110, the controller 1120 and the memory 1130 are shown as separate entities, they may be implemented as a single entity, such as a single chip. The transceiver 1110, the controller 1120 and the memory 1130 may be electrically connected or coupled to each other. The transceiver 1110 can transmit and receive signals to and from other network entities, such as another node and / or UE. In one embodiment, the transceiver 1110 may be omitted. In this case, the controller 1120 may be configured to execute indications (including computer programs) stored in the memory 1130 to control the overall operation of the node 1100, thereby realizing the operation of the node described herein.

[0314] According to some embodiments, the user equipment described in the present disclosure may include a cellular or other communication device having a single-line display or a multi-line display or a cellular or other communication device without a multi-line display; PCS (Personal Communications Service), which can combine voice, data processing, fax and / or data communication capabilities; PDA(Personal Digital Assistant), which can include RF receiver, pager, Internet / Intranet access, web browser, notepad, calendar and / or GPS(Global Positioning System) receiver; a conventional laptop and / or palmtop computer or other device having and / or including a radio frequency receiver. As used herein, "terminal" and "terminal device" can be portable, transportable, installed in vehicles (air, sea and / or land), or suitable and / or configured to operate locally, and / or operate in any other location on the earth and / or space in a distributed form. The "terminal" and "terminal device" used here can also be communication terminals, internet terminals and music / video playing terminals, such as PDA, MID (Mobile Internet Device) and / or a mobile phone with music / video playing function, and smart TV, set-top box and other devices.

[0315] Those skilled in the art can realize that the disclosure can be realized in other specific forms without changing the technical idea or basic features of the disclosure. Therefore, it should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only examples and are not limited. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims rather than by the detailed description. Therefore, it is to be understood that all modifications or changes derived from the meaning and scope of the appended claims and their equivalents are within the scope of this disclosure.

[0316] In the above embodiments of the present disclosure, all operations and messages may be selectively performed or may be omitted. Furthermore, the operations in each embodiment do not need to be performed sequentially, and the order of the operations can be changed. Messages do not need to be transmitted in order, and the transmission order of messages may change. Each operation and each message transfer can be performed independently.

[0317] Although the present disclosure has been shown and described with reference to various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1.A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, comprising:receiving, from a first node, a first configuration message for configuring inter-node carrier aggregation; andreceiving, from the first node, a first indication message used to activate or deactivate a serving cell belonging to different nodes, or receiving, from the first node, a second indication message used to indicate an uplink channel resource,wherein the inter-node carrier aggregation is configured to enable the serving cell of the UE to belong to at least two different nodes; andwherein the first configuration message includes identity information of the serving cell, uplink channel resource indication information in case that the serving cell includes an uplink channel, and associated uplink channel resource indication information in case that the serving cell does not include an uplink channel.2.The method of claim 1,wherein the uplink channel is used to transmit at least one of the following control information: a scheduling request, a channel quality indicator, and acknowledge or negative acknowledge information of a hybrid automatic repeat request.3.The method of claim 1,wherein the uplink channel resource indication information includes at least one of the following information: starting position indication information, length indication information, ending position indication information, frequency domain indication information, time division multiplex pattern indication information used to indicate whether the uplink channel on each time unit is available, information used to indicate a data flow served by the uplink channel, and information used to indicate a cell served by the uplink channel.4.The method of claim 1,wherein the associated uplink channel resource indication information includes at least one of the following information:identity information used to indicate a cell where the associated uplink channel is located,indication information used to indicate a priority of using the uplink channel, and starting position indication information,length indication information,ending position indication information,frequency domain indication information,time division multiplex pattern indication information used to indicate whether the uplink channel on each time unit is available,information used to indicate a data flow served by the uplink channel, andinformation used to indicate a cell served by the uplink channel.5.The method of claim 1,wherein the first indication message includes at least one of: cell indication information used to indicate an activated or deactivated cell, first indication information for determining a configuration of the data flow of an uplink channel resource configuration, and access information used to indicate configuration information required to access a cell, andwherein the second indication message includes second indication information for determining the configuration of the data flow of an uplink channel resource configuration.6.The method of claim 1,wherein the first configuration message further includes at least one of the following information:indication information used to indicate a type of the serving cell,indication information used to indicate an energy saving configuration associated with the serving cell,information used to indicate data configuration,threshold information used to select a cell for data transmission,common configuration information applicable to all the serving cells,energy saving configuration information, configuration information for a scheduling request, andconfiguration information for a timing advance group.7.The method of claim 1,wherein the first configuration message is generated by the first node based on a first response message received from a second node containing configuration information of the UE, andwherein the first response message is in response to a first request message transmitted by the first node to the second node used to request to configure multiple different serving cells for the UE.8.A method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a first configuration message for configuring inter-node carrier aggregation,transmitting, to the UE, a first indication message used to activate or deactivate a serving cell belonging to different nodes, or transmitting, to the UE, a second indication message used to indicate an uplink channel resource,wherein the inter-node carrier aggregation is configured to enable the serving cell of the UE to belong to at least two different nodes, andwherein the first configuration message includes identity information of the serving cell, and includes uplink channel resource indication information in the case that the serving cell includes an uplink channel, and includes associated uplink channel resource indication information in the case that the serving cell does not include an uplink channel.9.The method of claim 8,wherein the uplink channel is used to transmit at least one of the following control information: a scheduling request, a channel quality indicator, and acknowledge or negative acknowledge information of a hybrid automatic repeat request.10.The method of claim 8,wherein the uplink channel resource indication information includes at least one of the following information: starting position indication information, length indication information, ending position indication information, frequency domain indication information, time division multiplex pattern indication information used to indicate whether the uplink channel on each time unit is available, information used to indicate a data flow served by the uplink channel, and information used to indicate a cell served by the uplink channel.11.The method of claim 8,wherein the associated uplink channel resource indication information includes at least one of the following information:identity information used to indicate a cell where the associated uplink channel is located,indication information used to indicate a priority of using the uplink channel, and starting position indication information,length indication information,ending position indication information,frequency domain indication information,time division multiplex pattern indication information used to indicate whether the uplink channel on each time unit is available,information used to indicate a data flow served by the uplink channel, andinformation used to indicate a cell served by the uplink channel.12.The method of claim 8,wherein the first indication message includes cell indication information used to indicate an activated or deactivated cell, first indication information for determining a configuration of the data flow of an uplink channel resource configuration, and access information used to indicate configuration information required to access a cell, andwherein the second indication message includes second indication information for determining the configuration of the data flow of an uplink channel resource configuration.13.The method of claim 8,wherein the first configuration message further includes at least one of the following information: indication information used to indicate a type of the serving cell, indication information used to indicate an energy saving configuration associated with the serving cell, information used to indicate data configuration, threshold information used to select a cell for data transmission, common configuration information applicable to all the serving cells, energy saving configuration information, configuration information for a scheduling request, and configuration information for a timing advance group.14.A user equipment in a wireless communication system, comprising:a transceiver; andat least one processor coupled to the transceiver, and configured to:receive, from a first node, a first configuration message for configuring inter-node carrier aggregation; andreceive, from the first node, a first indication message used to activate or deactivate a serving cell belonging to different nodes, or receive, from the first node, a second indication message used to indicate an uplink channel resource;wherein the inter-node carrier aggregation is configured to enable the serving cell of the UE to belong to at least two different nodes; andwherein the first configuration message includes identity information of the serving cell, uplink channel resource indication information in case that the serving cell includes an uplink channel, and associated uplink channel resource indication information in case that the serving cell does not include an uplink channel.15.A first node in a wireless communication system, comprising:a transceiver; andat least one processor coupled to the transceiver, and configured to:transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a first configuration message for configuring inter-node carrier aggregation, andtransmit, to the UE, a first indication message used to activate or deactivate a serving cell belonging to different nodes, or transmit, to the UE, a second indication message used to indicate an uplink channel resource,wherein the inter-node carrier aggregation is configured to enable the serving cell of the UE to belong to at least two different nodes, andwherein the first configuration message includes identity information of the serving cell, uplink channel resource indication information in case that the serving cell includes an uplink channel, and associated uplink channel resource indication information in case that the serving cell does not include an uplink channel.

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