Communication method and related apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and a related apparatus. In the method, during an uplink transmission process between a first communication apparatus and a third communication apparatus, the first communication apparatus can perform uplink transmission on an uplink between the first communication apparatus and the third communication apparatus on the basis of a downlink signal which satisfies a first condition of a downlink of a second communication apparatus. Therefore, when the first communication apparatus does not receive a downlink signal from the third communication apparatus (for example, the third communication apparatus does not send a downlink signal), the first communication apparatus can also perform uplink transmission on an uplink of the third communication apparatus by means of detecting a downlink signal of a downlink of another communication apparatus, which reduces the detection of the downlink signal of the third communication apparatus by the first communication apparatus, thus reducing the complexity and power consumption of the first communication apparatus.

Description

A communication method and related apparatus

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202411955710.X, filed on December 25, 2024, entitled “A Communication Method and Related Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and related apparatus. Background Technology

[0003] Wireless communication can be a transmission communication between two or more communication nodes that does not propagate through conductors or cables. These communication nodes generally include network devices and terminal devices.

[0004] In communication systems, the demand for wireless data traffic is growing rapidly. To meet this increasing demand, the network capacity and transmission rate of wireless communication systems can be improved by deploying massive MIMO antennas and transceiver modules that support high-frequency signals. Consequently, the power consumption of terminal devices equipped with these transceiver modules will increase.

[0005] Therefore, how to reduce the power consumption of terminal devices is a technical problem that urgently needs to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This application provides a communication method and related apparatus for reducing device power consumption.

[0007] This application provides a communication method applied to a first communication device. For example, the first communication device may be a communication equipment (such as a terminal device), or it may be a component of a communication equipment (such as a processor, circuit, chip, or chip system responsible for communication functions), or it may be a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the communication equipment. The following description uses a first communication device as an example. In this method, the first communication device receives a downlink signal from a second communication device. If the downlink signal satisfies a first condition and the timing advance (TA) corresponding to a first resource satisfies a second condition, the first communication device sends second information based on the first resource, which is used for uplink transmission between the first communication device and a third communication device.

[0008] Based on the above scheme, the first communication device can receive downlink signals from the second communication device, and when the downlink signal satisfies a first condition and the TA corresponding to the first resource satisfies a second condition, the first communication device sends second information based on the first resource. The first resource is used for uplink transmission between the first and third communication devices. In other words, during uplink transmission between the first and third communication devices, the first communication device can perform uplink transmission on the uplink between the first and third communication devices based on the downlink signal of the second communication device that satisfies the first condition. Therefore, even if the first communication device does not receive a downlink signal from the third communication device (e.g., the third communication device does not send a downlink signal), the first communication device can still perform uplink transmission on the uplink of the third communication device by detecting the downlink signal of the downlink of other communication devices, reducing the measurement of the downlink signal of the third communication device by the first communication device and lowering the complexity and power consumption of the first communication device.

[0009] Furthermore, in the above scheme, the third communication device can achieve uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device without sending downlink signals, so that the third communication device can dynamically shut down the downlink transmission module (or does not need to configure downlink resources or downlink transmission devices), thereby reducing the power consumption of the third communication device.

[0010] Furthermore, in the above scheme, during the uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device, the first communication device can perform uplink transmission on the uplink between the first communication device and the third communication device based on the condition that the TA corresponding to the first resource meets the second condition. This allows for the use of the effective resources of the TA for uplink transmission as much as possible, and also enables the rapid confirmation of the link status, reducing invalid transmissions, thereby improving the uplink transmission success rate, avoiding retransmissions or reducing the number of retransmissions, and further reducing the power consumption of the first communication device.

[0011] Optionally, the second and third communication devices can be network devices. For example, the second and third communication devices can be different transmission and reception points (TRPs), which can be deployed on the same physical device or on different physical devices.

[0012] Optionally, the downlink signal involved in this application may be a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB or S-SS / PSBCH block), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), or other signals defined by the future network.

[0013] As an example, a downlink signal satisfying the first condition can be understood as having good signal reception quality and / or good link quality of the downlink transmitting the downlink signal. For example, a downlink signal satisfying the first condition includes at least one of the following: the reference signal received power (RSRP) of the downlink signal is greater than or equal to a threshold, or the difference between the RSRP of the downlink signal and the RSRP of historically received downlink signals is less than or equal to a threshold. Optionally, the threshold involved in this application can be configured by the network device or pre-configured by a protocol or standard.

[0014] As an example, the TA corresponding to the first resource satisfying the second condition can be understood as the TA corresponding to the first resource being valid, and / or the TA corresponding to the first resource not yet being invalid. For example, the TA corresponding to the first resource satisfying the second condition includes at least one of the following: the timing advance timer (TAT) corresponding to the first resource is active, the TAT corresponding to the first resource has not expired, or the difference between the RSRP of the downlink signal and the RSRP of the historically received downlink signal is less than or equal to a threshold.

[0015] Optionally, the TA mentioned in this application can be replaced with a timing advance group (TAG), or another name defined in the future network definition.

[0016] Optionally, the uplink transmission involved in this application can be an uplink scheduling-free transmission. For example, the first resource is used for uplink scheduling-free transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device. In this way, scheduling-free resources can be reserved for uplink transmission, reducing the signaling overhead of scheduling.

[0017] For example, uplink transmission can be used to transmit uplink data and / or uplink signaling, etc. The uplink transmission involved in this application includes, but is not limited to, transmission based on random access (RA), transmission based on configured grant (CG) resources in 5th generation (5G) new radio (NR) systems, transmission based on preconfigured uplink resources (PUR) in long term evolution (LTE) systems, transmission based on semi-persistent scheduling resources in LTE systems, transmission based on semi-static channel state information (SP-CSI), small data transmission (SDT), or other transmissions defined by future networks to avoid dynamic granting.

[0018] For example, the second information transmitted via the first resource can be uplink data and / or uplink signaling transmitted using uplink unlicensed resources. This second information can be carried on a data channel (such as a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)), a control channel (such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)), or a physical random access channel (PRACH). The channel or signal transmitted in unlicensed transmission is related to the unlicensed transmission scenario or the technology used in the unlicensed transmission. For example, unlicensed transmission based on two-step random access can transmit PRACH and / or PUSCH. Similarly, unlicensed transmission based on PUR, SPS, or CG can transmit PUSCH.

[0019] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first communication device receiving first information for configuring the first resource.

[0020] Based on the above scheme, the first communication device can also receive first information for configuring the first resource, so that the first communication device can perform uplink transmission based on the specified first resource, thereby improving the success rate of uplink transmission.

[0021] Optionally, the first information may come from a second communication device, or the first information may come from a third communication device (for example, the third communication device sends the first information when it has downlink transmission capability).

[0022] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first information is further used to configure N second resources, which are respectively used for uplink transmission between N communication devices and the first communication device, where N is a positive integer; when the downlink signal satisfies the first condition, the first communication device sends the second information based on K of the N second resources, where K is an integer less than or equal to N.

[0023] Based on the above scheme, in addition to configuring the first resource, the first information can also be used to configure N second resources. Furthermore, when the downlink signal meets the first condition, the first communication device sends the second information based on K of the N second resources, so that the first communication device can send the second information with more resources, thereby improving the success rate of receiving the second information. This can reduce uplink transmission latency, avoid retransmission or reduce the number of retransmissions, and further reduce the power consumption of the first communication device.

[0024] Optionally, the process of the first communication device sending second information in the K second resources includes: when the downlink signal satisfies the first condition and the TA corresponding to the K second resources satisfies the second condition, the first communication device sends second information in the K second resources.

[0025] Optionally, the first communication device can obtain the configuration of N second resources through other information / signaling / messages besides the first information. For example, the first information is used to configure the first resource, and one or more other information is used to configure the N second resources. That is, the first resource and any two of the N second resources can be configured through the same information / signaling / message, or they can be configured through different information / signaling / messages.

[0026] Optionally, the N communication devices include the second communication device. In this way, the first communication device may send second information to the second communication device that sends the downlink signal. For example, if the downlink signal meets the first condition, the first communication device can determine that the downlink quality between the first communication device and the second communication device is good. Therefore, the first communication device can also send second information through the uplink with the second communication device to improve the success rate of receiving the second information, reduce uplink transmission latency, avoid retransmissions or reduce the number of retransmissions, and further reduce the power consumption of the first communication device.

[0027] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first information includes at least one of the following:

[0028] The first indication information indicates that the transmission method corresponding to the first resource and the second resource includes round-robin and / or concurrent transmission; or,

[0029] The second instruction information indicates the resource location of the first resource in a resource set, the resource set including the first resource and the second resource; or,

[0030] The third instruction information indicates the resource location of the second resource within the resource set; or,

[0031] The fourth indication information indicates the maximum duration between the arrival time and the transmission time of the second information; or,

[0032] The fifth instruction indicates the number of repetitions of the first resource and / or the second resource; or,

[0033] The sixth instruction indicates the number of retransmissions for the first resource and / or the second resource; or,

[0034] The seventh instruction information indicates the configuration information of the first resource and the second resource; or,

[0035] The eighth indication information indicates the value K; or,

[0036] The ninth instruction message indicates the TA of the first resource; or,

[0037] The tenth instruction message indicates the TA of the second resource.

[0038] Based on the above scheme, the first information can be included by including at least one of the above to improve the flexibility of the scheme implementation.

[0039] Optionally, the configuration information of the first resource and the second resource is used to configure at least one of the following:

[0040] The sending port information corresponding to the first resource and the sending port information corresponding to the second resource; or,

[0041] The time-domain transmission interval between the first resource and the second resource; or,

[0042] The overlapping time-domain resources between the first resource and the second resource are used for the transmission of the first resource or for the transmission of the second resource; or,

[0043] The relationship between the first resource and the second resource.

[0044] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first communication device receiving response information of the second information.

[0045] Based on the above scheme, after the first communication device sends the second information on one or more resources (e.g., one or more of the first resource and N second resources mentioned above), the first communication device can receive the response information of the second information, enabling the first communication device to determine, based on the response information, that the network side (e.g., the second communication device and / or the third communication device) has successfully received the second information. Furthermore, the first communication device can also determine the availability of the current uplink based on the response information of the second information, and can continue to send other uplink data and / or uplink signaling on that uplink to implement other uplink transmission processes.

[0046] Optionally, the response information of the second information involved in this application may be a configured grant response (CG-Response) or other information / signaling / messages defined in the future network.

[0047] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the response information of the second information includes eleventh indication information, which is used to determine the resource where the TA is valid and / or the resource where the TA is invalid; wherein the resource where the TA is valid is part or all of one or more of the resources that sent the second information, and the resource where the TA is invalid is part or all of one or more of the resources that sent the second information.

[0048] Based on the above scheme, after the first communication device sends second information on one or more resources (e.g., one or more of the first resources and N second resources), the response information of the second information received by the first communication device may include eleventh indication information, and the first communication device may determine the resources where the TA is valid and / or the resources where the TA is invalid based on the eleventh indication information.

[0049] In this way, the first communication device can determine the valid resources of the TA through the eleventh indication information, so that the first communication device can subsequently perform uplink transmission on the valid resources of the TA, thereby improving the success rate of uplink transmission.

[0050] And / or, the first communication device can determine the resource that TA has failed through the eleventh indication information, so that the first communication device can suspend or clear the resource that TA has failed, thereby saving cache overhead and further reducing power consumption.

[0051] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first communication device reactivating the TA timer corresponding to the TA-valid resource based on the eleventh indication information; and / or, the first communication device activating the TA timer corresponding to the TA-invalid resource based on the eleventh indication information.

[0052] Based on the above scheme, the first communication device can reactivate the TA timer corresponding to the TA valid resource, so that the first communication device can subsequently detect the TA valid resource based on the reactivated TA timer to obtain more uplink transmission opportunities.

[0053] And / or, the first communication device can activate the TA timer corresponding to the TA-invalidated resource, so that the first communication device can suspend or clear the TA-invalidated resource to save cache overhead and further reduce power consumption.

[0054] Optionally, the eleventh indication information includes the resource index of the resource for which the TA is valid, and / or the resource index of the resource for which the TA is invalid.

[0055] Optionally, the eleventh indication information includes a bitmap containing bit information used to indicate resources where the TA is valid and / or resources where the TA is invalid.

[0056] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: if no response information for the second information is received within a first time range, the first communication device deactivates the TA timer corresponding to the TA-invalidated resource; wherein the TA-invalidated resource is one or more resources that sent the second information.

[0057] Based on the above scheme, if no response information for the second information is received within the first time frame, the first communication device can determine that the second information may not have been successfully received, for example, the uplink transmitting the second information may not be able to transmit the uplink information correctly. Therefore, the first communication device can deactivate the TA timer corresponding to the resource with TA failure, enabling the first communication device to suspend or clear the TA-failed resource, thereby saving buffer overhead and further reducing power consumption.

[0058] For example, the first time range can be determined by a timer. For instance, the time unit that starts the timer can be the time unit for sending the second information, or the next time unit adjacent to the time unit for sending the second information.

[0059] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the third communication device is used only for uplink (UL-only) transmission within a second time frame.

[0060] Based on the above scheme, within the second time range, the third communication device is only used for uplink transmission, that is, the third communication device can dynamically shut down the downlink transmission module (or does not need to configure downlink resources or downlink transmission devices), thereby reducing the power consumption of the third communication device.

[0061] Optionally, at least one of the start time, end time, and duration of the second time range can be pre-configured or configured by the network device. For example, the start time may be the activation time of the third communication device. For example, the duration may be infinity.

[0062] Optionally, "the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission" can be understood as meaning that the communication method between the third communication device and the terminal device is only uplink. The communication method between the third communication device and other network devices (such as other access network devices or other core network devices) is not limited; for example, the third communication device can communicate with other network devices via wired or wireless means.

[0063] Optionally, the fact that the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission can be understood as the third communication device having one or more of the following characteristics:

[0064] It only has uplink receiving capability, without configuring downlink transmission reference signal, downlink control channel, downlink data channel, downlink bandwidth, downlink frame structure, or downlink time slot. It can also have uplink carrier only, uplink carrier available but downlink carrier unavailable, downlink carrier unavailable, carrier being uplink carrier, only including uplink carrier, carrier including uplink carrier but not including downlink carrier, uplink transmission activated (or enabled, enabled, activated, etc.), and downlink transmission deactivated (or turned off, hibernated, silent, prohibited, disabled, etc.).

[0065] As an example implementation, the third communication device lacks downlink transmission capability or is not configured with downlink transmission-related information. This downlink transmission-related information may include at least one of the following: downlink reference signal related information, downlink control channel transmission related information, downlink data channel transmission related information, downlink frame structure related information, downlink time slot related information, or downlink bandwidth related information. The absence of downlink reference signal related information can be replaced with the absence of downlink reference signal configuration. Similarly, the absence of downlink control channel transmission related information can be replaced with the absence of downlink control channel transmission. The absence of downlink data channel transmission related information can also be replaced with the absence of downlink data channel transmission. The absence of downlink frame structure related information can be replaced with parameters related to downlink frame structure configuration. The absence of downlink time slot related information can also be replaced with parameters related to downlink time slot configuration. Finally, the absence of downlink bandwidth related information can be replaced with the absence of downlink bandwidth configuration.

[0066] As another implementation example, the third communication device has uplink transmission capability; and / or, the third communication device configures uplink transmission-related information. Uplink transmission-related information may include at least one of the following: uplink reference signal information, uplink control channel transmission information, uplink data channel transmission information, uplink frame structure-related information, uplink timeslot-related information, or uplink bandwidth-related information. The information configuring the uplink reference signal can also be replaced with configuring the uplink reference signal. The information configuring the uplink control channel transmission can also be replaced with configuring uplink control channel transmission. The information configuring the uplink data channel transmission can also be replaced with configuring uplink data channel transmission. The information configuring the uplink frame structure can also be replaced with configuring uplink frame structure-related parameters. The information configuring the uplink timeslot-related information can also be replaced with configuring uplink timeslot-related parameters. The information configuring the uplink bandwidth-related information can also be replaced with configuring uplink bandwidth. Thus, the terminal device can send information, such as a preamble, to the third communication device.

[0067] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first communication device transmits second information based on the first resource, including: within the second time range, the first communication device transmits the second information based on the first resource.

[0068] Based on the above scheme, the first communication device can send second information based on the first resources of the third communication device within the second time range during which the third communication device is only used for uplink transmission, so that the first communication device can achieve uplink coverage enhancement based on the third communication device and improve uplink transmission performance.

[0069] A second aspect of this application provides a communication method applied to a second communication device. For example, the second communication device may be a communication equipment (such as a network device), or it may be a component of the communication equipment (e.g., a processor, circuit, chip, or chip system responsible for communication functions). Alternatively, the second communication device may be a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the communication equipment's functions. The following description uses a second communication device as an example. In this method, the second communication device sends a downlink signal; the second communication device receives third information, which is used to determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to a first resource are valid. The first resource is used for uplink transmission between the first and third communication devices; wherein the third information is associated with the downlink signal.

[0070] For example, the transmission parameters can be understood as the link parameters of the first resource. Optionally, the transmission parameters of the first signal are associated with the transmission parameters of the first resource. For example, the TA value of the first resource can be used to send the first signal.

[0071] For example, the transmission parameters described above may include one or more of the following parameters: TA (Transmission Aspect Ratio), period of time-domain resources, open-loop power control related parameters, waveform, redundancy version sequence, repetition count, frequency hopping mode, resource allocation type, number of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes, DMRS related parameters, modulation and coding scheme table, resource block group (RBG) size, time-domain resources, frequency-domain resources, or modulation and coding scheme (MCS). For example, the transmission parameters described above may include at least TA.

[0072] Based on the above scheme, after the second communication device sends a downlink signal, for the first communication device, if the downlink signal satisfies the first condition and the TA corresponding to the first resource satisfies the second condition, the first communication device can send second information to the third communication device based on the first resource, thereby enabling the second communication device to send third information to the third communication device based on the second information. In other words, during the uplink transmission between the first and third communication devices, the first communication device can perform uplink transmission on the uplink between the first and third communication devices based on the downlink signal of the second communication device that satisfies the first condition. Thus, even if the first communication device does not receive a downlink signal from the third communication device (e.g., the third communication device does not send a downlink signal), the first communication device can still perform uplink transmission on the uplink of the third communication device by detecting the downlink signal of the downlink of other communication devices, reducing the first communication device's need to detect the downlink signal of the third communication device and reducing the complexity and power consumption of the first communication device.

[0073] Furthermore, in the above scheme, the third communication device can achieve uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device without sending downlink signals, so that the third communication device can dynamically shut down the downlink transmission module (or does not need to configure downlink resources or downlink transmission devices), thereby reducing the power consumption of the third communication device.

[0074] Furthermore, in the above scheme, during the uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device, the first communication device can perform uplink transmission on the uplink between the first communication device and the third communication device based on the condition that the TA corresponding to the first resource meets the second condition. This allows for the use of the effective resources of the TA for uplink transmission as much as possible, thereby improving the uplink transmission success rate, avoiding retransmissions or reducing the number of retransmissions, and further reducing the power consumption of the first communication device.

[0075] Optionally, the third information is used to determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource are valid. This can be understood as the third information being used to determine that the uplink is valid, and the first resource is the transmission resource on that link.

[0076] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the method further includes: the second communication device sending first information for configuring the first resource.

[0077] Based on the above scheme, the second communication device can also send first information for configuring the first resource, so that the first communication device can perform uplink transmission based on the specified first resource, thereby improving the success rate of uplink transmission.

[0078] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first information is further used to configure N second resources, which are respectively used for uplink transmission between the N communication devices and the first communication device, where N is a positive integer.

[0079] Based on the above scheme, in addition to configuring the first resource, the first information can also be used to configure N second resources. Furthermore, when the downlink signal meets the first condition, the first communication device sends the second information based on K of the N second resources, so that the first communication device can send the second information with more resources, thereby improving the success rate of receiving the second information. This can reduce uplink transmission latency, avoid retransmission or reduce the number of retransmissions, and further reduce the power consumption of the first communication device.

[0080] Optionally, the N communication devices include the second communication device. In this way, the first communication device may send second information to the second communication device that sends the downlink signal. For example, if the downlink signal meets the first condition, the first communication device can determine that the downlink quality between the first communication device and the second communication device is good. Therefore, the first communication device can also send second information through the uplink with the second communication device to improve the success rate of receiving the second information, reduce uplink transmission latency, avoid retransmissions or reduce the number of retransmissions, and further reduce the power consumption of the first communication device.

[0081] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first information includes at least one of the following:

[0082] The first indication information indicates that the transmission method corresponding to the first resource and the second resource includes round-robin and / or concurrent transmission; or,

[0083] The second instruction information indicates the resource location of the first resource in a resource set, the resource set including the first resource and the second resource; or,

[0084] The third instruction information indicates the resource location of the second resource within the resource set; or,

[0085] The fourth indication information indicates the maximum duration between the arrival time and the transmission time of the second information; or,

[0086] The fifth instruction indicates the number of repetitions of the first resource and / or the second resource; or,

[0087] The sixth instruction indicates the number of retransmissions for the first resource and / or the second resource; or,

[0088] The seventh instruction information indicates the configuration information of the first resource and the second resource; or,

[0089] The eighth indication information indicates the value K; or,

[0090] The ninth instruction message indicates the TA of the first resource; or,

[0091] The tenth instruction message indicates the TA of the second resource.

[0092] Based on the above scheme, the first information can be included by including at least one of the above to improve the flexibility of the scheme implementation.

[0093] Optionally, the configuration information of the first resource and the second resource is used to configure at least one of the following:

[0094] The sending port information corresponding to the first resource and the sending port information corresponding to the second resource; or,

[0095] The time-domain transmission interval between the first resource and the second resource; or,

[0096] The overlapping time-domain resources between the first resource and the second resource are used for the transmission of the first resource or for the transmission of the second resource; or,

[0097] The relationship between the first resource and the second resource.

[0098] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the third information is determined based on the second information carried on the first resource, and the method further includes: the second communication device sending response information of the second information.

[0099] Based on the above scheme, after receiving the second information, the third communication device can send third information to the second communication device based on the second information. This allows the second communication device to send a response to the second information based on the third information. Subsequently, the first communication device can confirm that the network side has successfully received the second information based on the response to the second information. Furthermore, the first communication device can also determine the availability of the current uplink based on the response to the second information. The first communication device can then continue to send other uplink data and / or uplink signaling on that uplink to achieve other uplink transmission processes.

[0100] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the response information of the second information includes eleventh indication information, which is used to determine the resources for which the TA is valid and / or the resources for which the TA is invalid; wherein the resources for which the TA is valid are some or all of the one or more resources that sent the second information, and the resources for which the TA is invalid are some or all of the one or more resources that sent the second information.

[0101] Based on the above scheme, the response information that the second communication device can send based on the third information may include the eleventh indication information, and the first communication device can determine the resources that the TA is valid and / or the resources that the TA is invalid based on the eleventh indication information.

[0102] In this way, the first communication device can determine the valid resources of the TA through the eleventh indication information, so that the first communication device can subsequently perform uplink transmission on the valid resources of the TA, thereby improving the success rate of uplink transmission.

[0103] And / or, the first communication device can determine the resource that TA has failed through the eleventh indication information, so that the first communication device can suspend or clear the resource that TA has failed, thereby saving cache overhead and further reducing power consumption.

[0104] Optionally, the eleventh indication information includes the resource index of the resource for which the TA is valid, and / or the resource index of the resource for which the TA is invalid.

[0105] Optionally, the eleventh indication information includes a bitmap containing bit information used to indicate resources where the TA is valid and / or resources where the TA is invalid.

[0106] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission within the second time frame.

[0107] Based on the above scheme, within the second time range, the third communication device is only used for uplink transmission, that is, the third communication device can dynamically shut down the downlink transmission module (or does not need to configure downlink resources or downlink transmission devices), thereby reducing the power consumption of the third communication device.

[0108] A third aspect of this application provides a communication method applied to a third communication device. For example, the third communication device may be a communication equipment (such as a terminal device or network device), or it may be a component of a communication equipment (such as a processor, circuit, chip, or chip system responsible for communication functions), or it may be a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the communication equipment. The following description uses a third communication device as an example. In this method, the third communication device receives second information carried on a first resource, which is used for uplink transmission between the first and third communication devices. The third communication device sends third information based on the second information, which is used to determine the validity of the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource.

[0109] Based on the above scheme, after the second communication device sends a downlink signal, for the first communication device, if the downlink signal satisfies the first condition and the TA corresponding to the first resource satisfies the second condition, the first communication device can send second information to the third communication device based on the first resource, thereby enabling the second communication device to send third information to the third communication device based on the second information. In other words, during the uplink transmission between the first and third communication devices, the first communication device can perform uplink transmission on the uplink between the first and third communication devices based on the downlink signal of the second communication device that satisfies the first condition. Thus, even if the first communication device does not receive a downlink signal from the third communication device (e.g., the third communication device does not send a downlink signal), the first communication device can still perform uplink transmission on the uplink of the third communication device by detecting the downlink signal of the downlink of other communication devices, reducing the first communication device's need to detect the downlink signal of the third communication device and reducing the complexity and power consumption of the first communication device.

[0110] Furthermore, in the above scheme, the third communication device can achieve uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device without sending downlink signals, so that the third communication device can dynamically shut down the downlink transmission module (or does not need to configure downlink resources or downlink transmission devices), thereby reducing the power consumption of the third communication device.

[0111] Furthermore, in the above scheme, during the uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device, the first communication device can perform uplink transmission on the uplink between the first communication device and the third communication device based on the condition that the TA corresponding to the first resource meets the second condition. This allows for the use of the effective resources of the TA for uplink transmission as much as possible, thereby improving the uplink transmission success rate, avoiding retransmissions or reducing the number of retransmissions, and further reducing the power consumption of the first communication device.

[0112] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission within the second time frame.

[0113] Based on the above scheme, within the second time range, the third communication device is only used for uplink transmission, that is, the third communication device can dynamically shut down the downlink transmission module (or does not need to configure downlink resources or downlink transmission devices), thereby reducing the power consumption of the third communication device.

[0114] A fourth aspect of this application provides a communication device that performs the functions described in the first aspect. For example, the communication device includes modules, units, or means corresponding to the operations involved in the first aspect. These modules, units, or means can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of both. For instance, the device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit. The transceiver unit receives downlink signals from a second communication device. When the downlink signal satisfies a first condition and the TA corresponding to the first resource satisfies a second condition, the processing unit sends second information based on the first resource, which is used for uplink transmission between the first and third communication devices.

[0115] In the fourth aspect of this application, the constituent modules of the communication device can also be used to perform the steps executed in various possible implementations of the first aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects. For details, please refer to the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0116] A fifth aspect of this application provides a communication device that performs the functions described in the second aspect above. For example, the communication device includes modules, units, or means corresponding to the operations involved in the second aspect. These modules, units, or means can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of both. For instance, the device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit; the processing unit determines or generates a downlink signal; the transceiver unit transmits the downlink signal; and the transceiver unit also receives third information, which determines that transmission parameters corresponding to a first resource are valid. The first resource is used for uplink transmission between a first communication device and a third communication device; wherein the third information is associated with the downlink signal.

[0117] In the fifth aspect of this application, the constituent modules of the communication device can also be used to perform the steps executed in various possible implementations of the second aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects. For details, please refer to the second aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0118] A sixth aspect of this application provides a communication device that performs the functions described in the third aspect above. For example, the communication device includes modules, units, or means corresponding to the operations involved in the third aspect. These modules, units, or means can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of both. For instance, the device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit. The transceiver unit receives second information carried on a first resource, which is used for uplink transmission between a first communication device and a third communication device. The processing unit sends third information based on the second information, which is used to determine if the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource are valid.

[0119] In the sixth aspect of this application, the constituent modules of the communication device can also be used to perform the steps executed in various possible implementations of the third aspect and achieve the corresponding technical effects. For details, please refer to the third aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0120] A seventh aspect of this application provides a communication device including at least one processor for executing computer programs or instructions to enable the device to implement any one of the first to third aspects and any possible implementation thereof.

[0121] Optionally, the at least one processor is coupled to a memory for storing computer programs or instructions.

[0122] Optionally, the communication device includes the memory. Optionally, the memory is integrated with at least one processor.

[0123] The eighth aspect of this application provides a communication device including at least one logic circuit and an input / output interface; the logic circuit is used to perform the method as described in any one of the possible implementations of the first to third aspects.

[0124] In one possible implementation, the communication device is a chip or chip system.

[0125] A ninth aspect of this application provides a communication system including the first and second communication devices described above. Optionally, the communication system further includes the third communication device described above.

[0126] The tenth aspect of this application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing one or more computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor, perform a method as described in any possible implementation of any of the first to third aspects above.

[0127] The eleventh aspect of this application provides a computer program product (or computer program) in which, when the computer program in the computer program product is executed by the processor, the processor executes any possible implementation of any of the first to third aspects of the method described above.

[0128] The twelfth aspect of this application provides a chip or chip system including at least one processor for supporting a communication device in implementing any possible implementation of any of the first to third aspects described above. For example, the chip may be a baseband chip, a modem chip, a system-on-a-chip (SoC) chip containing a modem core, a system-in-package (SIP) chip, or a communication module, etc.

[0129] In one possible design, the chip or chip system may further include a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the communication device. The chip system may consist of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices. Optionally, the chip system may also include interface circuitry that provides program instructions and / or data to the at least one processor.

[0130] The technical effects of any of the design methods in aspects four through twelfth can be found in the technical effects of the different design methods in aspects one through three above, and will not be repeated here. Attached Figure Description

[0131] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the communication system provided in this application;

[0132] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the communication system provided in this application;

[0133] Figures 3 to 5 are some schematic diagrams of the communication method provided in this application;

[0134] Figures 6 to 9 are some schematic diagrams of the communication device provided in this application. Detailed Implementation

[0135] First, some terms used in the embodiments of this application will be explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0136] (1) Configuration and Pre-configuration: In this application, both configuration and pre-configuration are used. Configuration refers to the process by which network devices such as base stations or servers send configuration information or parameter values ​​to the terminal via messages or signaling, so that the terminal can determine the communication parameters or resources for transmission based on these values ​​or information. Pre-configuration is similar to configuration. It can be a method by which network devices such as base stations or servers send parameter information or values ​​to the terminal via a communication link or carrier; it can also be a method by defining the corresponding parameters or parameter values ​​in a standard, or by setting the relevant parameters or values ​​in the terminal device in advance. This application does not limit this method. Furthermore, these values ​​and parameters can be changed or updated.

[0137] (2) In this application, “for indicating” can include for direct indication and for indirect indication. When describing a certain indication information for indicating A, it can be understood that the indication information carries A, directly indicates A or indirectly indicates A.

[0138] In this application, the information indicated by the instruction information is called the information to be instructed. In specific implementation, there are many ways to instruct the information to be instructed. For example, it can be implemented through direct instruction, such as through the information to be instructed itself or its index. It can also be implemented indirectly by instructing other information, where there is a relationship between the other information and the information to be instructed. Alternatively, only a part of the information to be instructed can be indicated, while the other parts are known or pre-agreed upon. For example, the instruction of specific information can be achieved by using a pre-agreed (e.g., protocol-defined) arrangement of various pieces of information, thereby reducing instruction overhead to some extent.

[0139] The information to be instructed can be sent as a whole or divided into multiple sub-information messages, and the sending period and / or timing of these sub-information messages can be the same or different. This application does not limit the specific sending method. The sending period and / or timing of these sub-information messages can be predefined, for example, according to a protocol, or configured by the transmitting device by sending configuration information to the receiving device. This configuration information can include, for example, but not limited to, one or a combination of at least two of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, media access control (MAC) layer signaling, and physical layer signaling. MAC layer signaling includes, for example, a MAC control element (CE); physical layer signaling includes, for example, downlink control information (DCI).

[0140] (3) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of this application can be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "more than one" means two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the related objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, "at least one of A, B and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC or ABC. And, unless otherwise specified, the ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of this application are used to distinguish multiple objects and are not used to limit the order, sequence, priority or importance of multiple objects.

[0141] (4) In the embodiments of this application, "send" and "receive" indicate the direction of signal transmission. For example, "send information to device X" can be understood as the destination of the information being device X, which may include sending directly through the air interface or sending indirectly through the air interface by other units or modules. "Receive information from device Y" can be understood as the source of the information being device Y, which may include receiving directly from device Y through the air interface or receiving indirectly from device Y through the air interface by other units or modules. "Send" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receive" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface.

[0142] For example, consider the communication process between entity A and entity B. In this application, entity A sends information to entity B, either directly or indirectly through other entities. Similarly, entity B receives information from entity A, either directly or indirectly through other entities. Entities A and B can be radio access network (RAN) nodes or terminals, or modules within RAN nodes or terminals. The sending and receiving of information can be an interaction between a RAN node and a terminal, such as between a base station and a terminal; it can also be an interaction between two RAN nodes, such as between a central unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU); or it can be an interaction between different modules within a device, such as between a terminal chip and other modules of the terminal, or between a base station chip and other modules of the base station.

[0143] (5) Grant-based (GB) transmission, also known as uplink transmission based on dynamic grant. GB transmission can refer to the technology by which terminal devices dynamically grant, dynamically schedule, or dynamically configure resources based on downlink control information (DCI) issued by network devices, and then perform uplink transmission based on the dynamically granted, dynamically scheduled, or dynamically configured resources.

[0144] (6) Unlicensed transmission, also known as grant-free (GF) transmission. GF transmission refers to the technology by which terminal devices transmit uplink data without requiring network equipment to issue DCI for dynamic authorization, scheduling, or resource configuration. Unlicensed transmission includes one or more of the following: transmission based on random access (RA), transmission based on configured grant (CG) resources in 5th generation (5G) new radio systems, transmission based on preconfigured uplink resource (PUR) in long term evolution (LTE) systems, transmission based on semi-persistent scheduling resources in LTE systems, transmission based on semi-static channel state information (SP-CSI), small data transmission (SDT), or other technologies that transmit data without dynamic authorization. Among them, RA includes two-step random access (2-step RA) and four-step random access (4-step RA).

[0145] As an example, when a terminal device performs unlicensed transmission, it can transmit one or more of the following: data channels (such as PUSCH), control channels (such as the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)), physical random access channels (PRACH), or physical layer signals (such as reference signals). The channels or signals transmitted in unlicensed transmission are related to the scenario of unlicensed transmission or the technology used. For example, unlicensed transmission based on two-step random access can transmit PRACH and / or PUSCH. As another example, unlicensed transmission based on PUR, SPS, or CG can transmit PUSCH.

[0146] As an example, unlicensed resources refer to resources agreed upon in the protocol or configured by the network device for terminal devices for unlicensed transmission. Exemplarily, unlicensed resources may include one or more of the following resources: time-domain resources, frequency-domain resources, spatial-domain resources, beam-domain resources, code-domain resources, sequence resources, and power-domain resources. Among these, code-domain resources may include a signature for non-orthogonal multiple access. Sequence resources (also known as pilot resources) may include one or more of the following: demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequences, preamble sequences, or sequences used by other reference signals (RS).

[0147] As an example, unlicensed resources can be configured in one or more of the following ways: radio resource control (RRC) signaling, media access control (MAC) control element (CE), or DCI. DCI configuration of unlicensed resources can include semi-static or static configuration. Furthermore, when configuring unlicensed resources, protocols or network devices can also agree on or configure transmission parameters for unlicensed transmission. These transmission parameters can include one or more of the following: time-domain resource period, open-loop power control parameters, waveform, redundancy version sequence, repetition count, frequency hopping mode, resource allocation type, number of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes, DMRS parameters, modulation and coding scheme table, resource block group (RBG) size, time-domain resources, frequency-domain resources, or modulation and coding scheme (MCS). It is understood that unlicensed resources can be periodic.

[0148] (7) GF blind detection reception differs from dynamic scheduling. Because network devices in the GF mechanism may not know whether data has been sent by a terminal device on the currently configured GF resource, the network device must first determine whether a target signal exists on the GF resource. In this determination process, the network device assumes that a terminal device is sending a signal under a certain transmission configuration on the GF resource, and then detects the received signal according to each transmission configuration. If any of the detected configurations meets a preset condition, the network device considers that a terminal device has used that configuration to send data on the GF resource, and performs subsequent data reception processing according to that configuration; if no configuration meets the preset condition, it is assumed that no terminal device has sent data, and the processing flow is interrupted.

[0149] (8) Small Data Transmission (SDT). With the development of mobile internet applications, intermittent small data transmissions, characterized by large data arrival intervals and low data volume per transmission, are increasingly common on smartphones. These include instant messages from some instant messaging applications, heartbeat packets generated by email clients and other apps, and notifications pushed by various application servers. In the field of Internet of Things (IoT) applications, the periodic location information from smartwatches, the periodic reading reports from smart meters and water meters, and the periodic or event-triggered reports from sensors such as temperature and pressure also exhibit the characteristics of intermittent small data transmission.

[0150] In the 3G era, the Cell Forward Access Channel (Cell_FACH) state enables terminal devices to transmit small data in a connectionless manner. In this state, the terminal device is not controlled by the network. Cell_FACH is a customized state for small data transmission.

[0151] However, in the 4G era, without the introduction of a similar Cell_FACH state, LTE systems could only support connection-based data transmission. This meant that when any data was to be transmitted, the terminal device had to undergo a series of signaling procedures to enter the Radio Resource Control (RRC_CONNECTED) state, establishing a radio link (RL) between the terminal device and the cell before data transmission could begin under network scheduling. When no further data was to be transmitted, the RL was released, and the terminal device returned to the connection suspend state or the Radio Resource Control (RRC_IDLE) state. This frequent RL establishment and release process not only incurred significant control signaling overhead but also introduced user plane data transmission delays, making network resource utilization highly redundant and inefficient, and particularly uneconomical for intermittent small data transmissions.

[0152] In the 5G era, 5G system design aims to efficiently and flexibly support intermittent small data transmissions, reducing overall signaling overhead through efficient signaling mechanisms. The 5G standard introduced Radio Resource Control (RRC_INACTIVE) in Release 15, which can reduce latency and save terminal power to some extent. However, in Releases 15 / 16, RRC_INACTIVE does not support data transmission. When data transmission is needed, regardless of the packet size or transmission frequency, the terminal device must revert to the RRC_CONNECTED state and then subsequently enter the RRC_INACTIVE state. This operation leads to unnecessary power consumption and signaling overhead. To more efficiently support small data transmission, Release 17 introduced a small data transmission mechanism in the RRC_INACTIVE state, namely SDT. SDT reuses and enhances the RRC_INACTIVE state already supported in R15 / R16, and the basic technologies for configuring authorization of 4-step random access channel (RACH) / 2-step RACH and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) Type 1. In scenarios where RL establishment and release operations are not required, terminal devices can directly initiate small data transmissions in the RRC_INACTIVE state.

[0153] In the NR protocol, considering that SDT was originally designed for small data, a terminal in the RRC_INACTIVE state must meet certain conditions when initiating an SDT procedure, including at least one of the following:

[0154] 1) The amount of uplink data waiting to be transmitted on all radio bearers with SDT enabled must not exceed a data volume threshold, i.e., the data to be transmitted is “small data”.

[0155] 2) The cell signal meets the condition that the RSRP measured by the terminal device is higher than a threshold configured by the network device;

[0156] 3) SDT transmission has available and effective resources.

[0157] If the above conditions are met, the terminal device selects SDT resources according to the network device configuration and initiates the SDT process using configured grant small data transmission (CG-SDT) resources, 2-step RA-SDT resources, or 4-step RA-SDT resources.

[0158] For example, initiating an SDT procedure using CG-SDT resources: Considering the design of 5G supporting multiple SSB beams within a cell, to enable the terminal to select the SSB beam with better signal when initiating the CG-SDT procedure, an association is established between the CG-SDT resource and the SSB. This is configured via RRC signaling to associate the CG-SDT resource with a group of SSBs. The network device also configures an SSB-RSRP threshold for beam selection for the terminal. When initiating the CG-SDT procedure and subsequently using CG-SDT resources for uplink transmission, the terminal selects an SSB beam with a measured RSRP higher than this threshold and selects the CG-SDT resource associated with that SSB beam, then sends the first uplink message of the SDT on the PUSCH channel.

[0159] For example, using 2-step RA-SDT resources to initiate the SDT procedure: The terminal uses the 2-step RACH procedure and sends the first uplink message of the SDT in MsgA. After initiating 2-step RA-SDT, if the terminal receives a random access backoff indication in MsgB, or if MsgA is repeatedly sent more than a certain number of times, the terminal can back off from 2-step RA-SDT to 4-step RA-SDT.

[0160] For example, using 4-step RA-SDT resources to initiate the SDT process: The terminal uses the 4-step RACH process to send the first uplink message of SDT in Msg3.

[0161] Optionally, in addition to RRC signaling (such as an RRC ResumeRequest message), the first uplink message of the SDT may also include terminal application data, depending on the amount of data that can be transmitted. The purpose of the RRC signaling is to provide the network device with necessary information such as the terminal's identifier, enabling the network device to configure the terminal's SDT process.

[0162] Optionally, for CG-SDT, when using Type 1 configured licensed resources for the initial PUSCH transmission and subsequent uplink transmissions, the terminal needs to determine whether the configured licensed resources are valid to ensure successful data transmission. 5G R17 employs a mechanism combining a timer and an RSRP change threshold for verification. A timer for maintaining time alignment is introduced at the MAC layer. When the terminal receives configuration instructions for this timer from the network device via RRC signaling, the timer is started. Before the timer expires, the terminal considers the uplink transmission of CG-SDT to be time-aligned with the network device and the configured licensed resources to be valid. When the terminal receives a Timing Advance (TA) adjustment instruction from the network device via the MAC layer, the timer is restarted. If this timer expires, the terminal considers the configured licensed resources invalid and releases them. Furthermore, the terminal also performs time alignment verification based on RSRP. That is, compared to the previous uplink transmission, if the terminal measures a change in the RSRP value exceeding the RSRP change threshold set by the network device, the configured licensed resources are also invalid.

[0163] Optionally, the SDT process will continue after it is initiated. The SDT process will terminate when the network device notifies the terminal to stop the SDT process via RRC signaling (such as an RRC Release message), or when the network device controls the terminal to switch to the RRC_IDLE or RRC_CONNECTED state via RRC signaling. Additionally, the SDT process will also terminate when the terminal reselects to another cell or detects a failure in the SDT transmission process.

[0164] Optionally, during the SDT process, the network device can switch the terminal from the SDT process to a non-SDT process. For example, if the amount of data transmitted increases, the network device can use RRC signaling to switch the terminal to the RRC_CONNECTED state, so that the terminal can transmit data in the RRC_CONNECTED state.

[0165] As can be seen from the above analysis, the terminal in the RRC_INACTIVE state can remain in the RRC_INACTIVE state from the initiation of the SDT process to the termination of the SDT transmission. This avoids the repeated switching between the RRC_INACTIVE state and the RRC_CONNECTED state in R15 / R16, and also reduces the air interface signaling overhead for intermittent small data transmission.

[0166] (9) Transmission and reception point (TRP) is an important concept in communication networks (such as NR networks), especially in massive MIMO and beamforming technologies. A TRP can be understood as a physical entity responsible for the transmission and reception of wireless signals. For example, a TRP is an antenna array consisting of one or more antenna elements, available for network use, located in a specific geographical location within a specific area; one TRP corresponds to one coverage area.

[0167] Typically, a TRP can contain multiple antenna ports for implementing multi-antenna technologies such as MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) and beamforming. A TRP can be fixed or mobile (e.g., a TRP mounted on a drone or vehicle). The TRP is responsible for converting signals from baseband to radio frequency (RF) signals (transmit) and from RF to baseband (receive), and can also manage and allocate wireless resources, including spectrum resources and time slot resources.

[0168] Alternatively, a TRP is typically uniquely identified by a Transmitter Receiver Point Identifier (TRP ID). The TRP ID is an integer used to uniquely identify a TRP within an access network (e.g., a next-generation radio access network) node. For example, the TRP ID typically ranges from 1 to 65535.

[0169] Optionally, network devices (e.g., location management function (LMF) or central unit (CU)) may request TRP information. This information includes, but is not limited to, one or more of the following:

[0170] TRP ID: A unique identifier for the TRP, Position Reference Signal (PRS) configuration, SSB configuration, Physical Cell Identifier (PCI), Cell Global Identifier (CGI) (e.g., CGI for NR), Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (ARFCN) (e.g., NR ARFCN for NR), System Frame Number (SFN), Initial Time, Spatial Direction Information (e.g., spatial direction information of the TRP), Geographic Coordinates (e.g., geographic coordinates of the TRP), TRP Type (e.g., type of TRP, including fixed or mobile), or, Beam Antenna Information (e.g., beam antenna information of the TRP).

[0171] (10) Distributed Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MMIMO). Among them, a distributed Massive MIMO cell can refer to a cell that combines m (m is a positive integer) consecutively covered TRPs operated by radio frequency modules operating on the same frequency band into a single cell, with the aim of eliminating interference between TRPs and improving the peak rate of the cell.

[0172] (11) Antenna Port: This can be simply called a port. It can be understood as the transmitting antenna that is identified by the receiving end, or a transmitting antenna that can be distinguished in space. An antenna port can be pre-configured for each virtual antenna. Each virtual antenna can be a weighted combination of multiple physical antennas. Each antenna port can correspond to a reference signal. Therefore, each antenna port can be called a port of a reference signal, such as a CSI-RS port, demodulation reference signal (DMRS), SRS port, etc.

[0173] In this context, an antenna port is a logical concept, and there is generally no direct correspondence between an antenna port and a physical antenna. An antenna port is typically associated with a reference signal, and its meaning can be understood as a transmit / receive interface on the channel through which the reference signal passes. For low frequencies, an antenna port may correspond to one or more antenna elements that jointly transmit the reference signal; the receiver can treat them as a whole without distinguishing between individual elements. For high-frequency systems, an antenna port may correspond to a beam; similarly, the receiver only needs to treat this beam as an interface and does not need to distinguish between individual elements.

[0174] Optionally, in the following implementation, the communication ports (including receiving ports and / or transmitting ports) between the first communication device and other communication devices may be the same or different. For example, the first communication device may include one or more communication ports for communication with the second communication device, and the first communication device may include one or more communication ports for communication with the third communication device, which may be the same or different.

[0175] Furthermore, a port group can refer to a collection of multiple antenna ports. One approach is to group multiple digital ports of a network device to form multiple port groups. Another approach (especially in hybrid digital-analog beamforming architectures) is that a port group can be multiple digital ports corresponding to the same analog beam, also simply called a port group or digital-analog port group. Alternatively, a port group can be a collection of digital ports corresponding to multiple analog beams, also simply called a port group or digital-analog port group. Or, multiple digital ports of the same analog beam can be divided into multiple subsets, each subset being called a port group or digital-analog port group.

[0176] Please refer to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the communication system 1000 used in the embodiments of this application. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may also include an Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (110a and 110b in Figure 1, collectively referred to as 110), and may also include at least one terminal (120a-120j in Figure 1, collectively referred to as 120). The RAN 100 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in Figure 1). The terminal 120 is wirelessly connected to the RAN node 110, and the RAN node 110 is wirelessly or wiredly connected to the core network 200. The core network equipment in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 100 can be independent and different physical devices, or they can be the same physical device integrating the logical functions of the core network equipment and the logical functions of the RAN node. Terminals can be connected to each other, as can RAN nodes, via wired or wireless means.

[0177] RAN100 can be an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) system, a new radio (NR) system, or a future radio access system as defined in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). RAN100 can also include two or more of the above-mentioned different radio access systems. RAN100 can also be an open RAN (O-RAN).

[0178] RAN nodes, also known as radio access network devices, RAN entities, or access nodes, are used to help terminals access communication systems wirelessly. In one application scenario, an RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, or a base station in a future mobile communication system. RAN nodes can be macro base stations (as shown in Figure 1, 110a), micro base stations or indoor stations (as shown in Figure 1, 110b), and can also be relay nodes or donor nodes.

[0179] In another application scenario, multiple RAN nodes can collaborate to help terminals achieve wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing different functions of the base station. For example, a RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). Here, the CU performs the functions of the base station's Radio Resource Control (RRC) and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), and can also perform the functions of the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP). The DU performs the functions of the base station's Radio Link Control (RANC) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers, and can also perform some or all of the physical layer functions. For specific descriptions of these protocol layers, refer to the relevant 3GPP technical specifications. The RU can be used to implement radio frequency signal transmission and reception. The CU and DU can be two independent RAN nodes or integrated into the same RAN node, such as within a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in radio frequency equipment, such as in a remote radio unit (RRU) or an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU can be further divided into two types of RAN nodes: CU-control plane and CU-user plane.

[0180] In different systems, RAN nodes may have different names. For example, in an open access network (open RAN, O-RAN, or ORAN) system, a CU can also be called an O-CU (open CU), a DU can also be called an O-DU, a CU-CP can also be called an O-CU-CP, a CU-UP can also be called an O-CU-UP, and a RU can also be called an O-RU. For ease of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU as examples. Any of the units among CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented through software modules, hardware modules, or a combination of software modules and hardware modules.

[0181] Communication between access network devices and terminal devices follows a specific protocol layer structure. This protocol layer may include a control plane protocol layer and a user plane protocol layer. The control plane protocol layer may include at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) layer, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, radio link control (RLC) layer, media access control (MAC) layer, or physical (PHY) layer, etc. The user plane protocol layer may include at least one of the following: service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, or physical layer, etc.

[0182] The correspondence between network elements and their achievable protocol layer functions in the ORAN system can be found in Table 1 below.

[0183] Table 1

[0184] For ease of description, the following text uses a base station as an example of a RAN node.

[0185] A terminal is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities, capable of sending signals to or receiving signals from a base station. Terminals can also be called terminal equipment, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminals can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, etc. Terminals can be mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable devices, vehicles, airplanes, ships, robots, robotic arms, smart home devices, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology or device form used in the terminal.

[0186] Base stations and terminals can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on water; and they can be deployed on aircraft, balloons, and satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of the base stations and terminals.

[0187] For example, a base station can be deployed entirely on a satellite, or only some of its functions can be deployed on a satellite. For instance, the radio frequency unit (RU) of a base station can be deployed on a satellite, while other parts are deployed on the ground. Another example is that the RU and DU of a base station can be deployed on a satellite, while the CU is deployed on the ground. Similarly, core network equipment can also be deployed on satellites. For example, some core network user plane elements can be deployed on satellites to support direct interaction between terminals via satellite, eliminating the need for ground-based communication. Some core network control plane elements can also be deployed on satellites. For example, deploying mobility management and session management elements on satellites can support emergency disaster relief services in situations where there is no terrestrial network. For example, network equipment may be deployed on non-terrestrial platforms, including but not limited to low-Earth orbit satellites, medium-Earth orbit satellites, high-Earth orbit satellites, high-altitude platforms, and high-altitude platforms such as drones.

[0188] The roles of base stations and terminals can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 1 can be configured as a mobile base station. For terminals 120j that access the wireless access network 100 through 120i, terminal 120i is a base station; however, for base station 110a, 120i is a terminal, meaning that 110a and 120i communicate via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i can also communicate via a base station-to-base station interface protocol. In this case, relative to 110a, 120i is also a base station. Therefore, both base stations and terminals can be collectively referred to as communication devices. 110a and 110b in Figure 1 can be called communication devices with base station functions, and 120a-120j in Figure 1 can be called communication devices with terminal functions.

[0189] In the embodiments of this application, the functions of the base station can be executed by modules (such as chips) within the base station, or by a control subsystem that includes base station functions. This control subsystem, including base station functions, can be a control center in the aforementioned application scenarios such as smart grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart cities. Similarly, the functions of the terminal can be executed by modules (such as chips or modems) within the terminal, or by a device that includes terminal functions.

[0190] In a communication system (such as the system shown in Figure 1), during the signal transmission and reception process of network devices, the network device used to transmit downlink signals and the network device used to receive uplink signals are the same network device; for example, this same network device can be the same transmission reception point (TRP). In this case, the uplink and downlink can be considered reciprocal. Therefore, the terminal device can obtain the downlink channel quality information through the downlink signal measurement results of a network device, and determine the validity of the uplink of that network device based on the downlink channel quality information. However, in a communication system, a network device may be unable to transmit downlink signals for various reasons, such as the network device not being configured with downlink resources or the network device lacking devices for downlink transmission. In this case, how the terminal device determines the validity of the uplink of the network device is a technical problem that urgently needs to be solved. This technical problem will be described below with some examples.

[0191] To improve peak cell rates and edge coverage, distributed Massive MIMO can be introduced, which merges m consecutive coverage TRPs (Transmission Points) operating on the same frequency band into a single cell. TRPs can communicate with each other, facilitating the elimination of interference. Generally, TRPs are symmetrical, meaning they possess both uplink and downlink links, allowing them to obtain complete uplink and downlink channel information within their coverage area. However, in future networks, asymmetric TRPs may emerge, where a TRP may only have an uplink or only a downlink. For example, a TRP with only an uplink can be called a UL-Only TRP. As the name suggests, this TRP only has an uplink, and its radio channel only supports reception, not transmission. Such TRPs are often used at cell edges to improve uplink coverage. Another possibility is that, due to network energy conservation, network equipment may disable the downlink transmission function of some TRPs, making these TRPs asymmetric TRPs with only uplink links.

[0192] The introduction of asymmetric TRPs significantly changes the network architecture, potentially leading to a situation where the number of available uplinks for terminal devices exceeds the number of available downlinks. For ease of description later, a TRP with downlinks can be called an anchor TRP, and a TRP with only uplinks can be called a UL-only TRP.

[0193] As shown in the example in Figure 2, the network device containing the transmitting module capable of sending downlink signals may connect to one or more receiving modules that are solely for receiving uplink signals via wired or wireless connections. These receiving modules can be referred to as uplink-only (UL Only) modules or UL Only nodes (nodes 1 and 2 in Figure 2). It is understood that in Figure 2, the network device can be an Anchor TRP, and nodes 1 and 2 can be UL-only TRPs.

[0194] In Figure 2, for downlink transmission, terminal device 1, terminal device 2 and terminal device 3 can all receive downlink signals through the network device in Figure 2.

[0195] In Figure 2, for uplink transmission, the uplink signal sent by terminal device 1 can be transmitted through node 1, the uplink signal sent by terminal device 2 can be transmitted through the network device (assuming that the network device in Figure 2 has an uplink), and the uplink signal sent by terminal device 3 can be transmitted through node 2.

[0196] Optionally, in Figure 2, Node 1 and Node 2 can connect to the network device in various ways, and can also send the received uplink signals to the network device for further processing. For example, Node 1 can connect to the network device via a wired or wireless connection. Alternatively, Node 1 can connect to the network device via a switch (or router, remote radio head (RRH), etc.).

[0197] Furthermore, UL Only nodes may lack downlink resources or the network equipment may not have devices for downlink transmission, meaning these UL Only nodes only have uplink receiving capabilities and do not actively transmit any signals. Therefore, uplink capacity can be increased without increasing network interference. Moreover, since no transmit radio frequency link is required, the cost of UL Only nodes is also significantly reduced.

[0198] Generally, since different TRPs may be located in different places, the terminal device can have independent link parameters to each TRP, including one or more of path loss, TA, and power control factor. Under the symmetric TRP assumption, each TRP can obtain its downlink reference measurements, such as SSB measurements and CSI-RS measurements. Taking a TDD system as an example, the characteristic of the dissimilarity between uplink and downlink channels can be utilized to infer the uplink quality based on the downlink measurement results. For example, in CG-SDT transmission, the terminal device can infer the uplink quality from the SSB measurements and select the CG resource associated with the SSB that meets the conditions for transmission. Suppose that SSB1 is associated with TRP1 and SSB2 is associated with TRP2, and the channel quality indicated by the SSB2 measurement is better than that indicated by the SSB1 measurement, then the terminal device can choose the CG resource of SSB2 for transmission, that is, the terminal device will choose to communicate uplink with TRP2.

[0199] Optionally, for simplicity, TA will also be included in the definition of CG resources below. For example, even if two CG resources use the same time-frequency resources and the same modulation and coding parameters, they are still considered two different CG resources if their associated TA values ​​are different. Furthermore, the two TAs mentioned above may appear as two separate tags. That is, if two CG resources belong to different tags, then these two resources can be called two different CG resources.

[0200] However, in scenarios involving UL-only TRPs (such as the scenario shown in Figure 2), since the UL-only TRP may not have a downlink (e.g., only the Anchor TRP has a downlink), the SSB can obtain the downlink status from the terminal device to the Anchor TRP, but cannot obtain the downlink status between the terminal device and the UL-only TRP. Therefore, in this case, only an initial uplink communication link can be established with the Anchor TRP. Subsequently, the terminal device obtains communication resources dedicated to the UL-only TRP from the Anchor TRP and establishes an uplink with the UL-only TRP through the Anchor TRP. Taking Figure 2 as an example, in this case, node 2 is close to terminal device 3, and its TA value and path loss are both lower than those of the Anchor TRP.

[0201] Furthermore, when the terminal device is in RRC_CONNECTED state, the network device can maintain the two links of the terminal device separately, for example, using the SRS of the dedicated TRP for measurement and maintenance. That is, the terminal device can maintain two TA values, TA1 and TA2, and their corresponding power control parameters. However, when the terminal device enters the RRC_INACTIVE state, the frequency of the above maintenance will be significantly reduced or even canceled. Therefore, link parameters relying on uplink channel measurements become unreliable. At this point, it is necessary to rely on downlink measurements, such as SSB measurements, and use the difference between uplink and downlink channels to infer the reliability of the uplink parameters. This is feasible for the uplink where the Anchor TRP is located, because the Anchor TRP is a symmetrical TRP. However, it is not feasible for UL-only TRPs.

[0202] Taking Figure 2 as an example, suppose terminal device 3 moves from its current location. It's possible that terminal device 3 has left the coverage area of ​​the UL-only TRP (i.e., node 2), and the uplink has failed. However, if the distance, angle, and other parameters from the terminal device 3's position before and after its movement to the AnchorTRP (i.e., the network device) are the same or similar, the SSB measurement result of the AnchorTRP may not change significantly. Since the transmission path of the AnchorTRP's SSB is very different from the transmission path of the UL-only TRP's uplink signal, relying on the SSB measurement result to determine the validity of the UL-only TRP's uplink poses a risk if the terminal device initiates CG-SDT transmission. For example, when the terminal device selects the link parameters associated with the UL-only TRP for transmission, inaccurate TA values ​​may lead to transmission failure.

[0203] To solve the above problem, there are two possible solutions.

[0204] Method ①: The terminal device randomly selects a resource of a TRP for uplink transmission.

[0205] For example, taking uplink transmission as SDT as an example. To prevent TA failure, the current CG-SDT scheme introduces a timer configuration authorization small data transmission time alignment timer (cg-SDT-TimeAlignmentTimer). When the terminal device enters the RRC_INACTIVE state from RRC_CONNECTED, it can activate cg-SDT-TimeAlignmentTimer and start timing. Thereafter, the terminal device only starts CG-SDT when cg-SDT-TimeAlignmentTimer is active and other CG-SDT startup conditions are met (e.g., SSB measurement conditions are met). The terminal device cannot start CG-SDT if cg-SDT-TimeAlignmentTimer fails.

[0206] In method ①, in scenarios involving both Anchor TRPs and UL-only TRPs, the terminal device can maintain two TA values ​​for these two TRPs, assuming timers (e.g., two cg-SDT-TimeAlignmentTimers) are configured for each TA. When the terminal device enters the RRC_INACTIVE state, it can activate both cg-SDT-TimeAlignmentTimers. Therefore, when the terminal device wants to perform CG-SDT transmission, it can select the CG resource associated with the TA where the cg-SDT-TimeAlignmentTimer is still active for CG-SDT transmission.

[0207] However, in method ①, when both TAs corresponding to cg-SDT-TimeAlignmentTimer are valid, the terminal device still needs to make a selection. If a random selection method is used, the terminal device may still mistakenly select a link that is actually invalidated by the UL-only TRP for transmission. This will cause CG-SDT transmission failure and may also lead to unnecessary retransmission of CG-SDT by the terminal device, resulting in increased power consumption of the terminal device.

[0208] Method 2: The terminal device uses the uplink resources of Anchor TRP for uplink transmission by default. For example, the uplink resources of UL-only TRP are unavailable by default for the terminal device.

[0209] In method ②, in scenarios involving both Anchor TRPs and UL-only TRPs, since the downlink signals (e.g., SSB) received by the terminal device only reflect the downlink quality of the Anchor TRP, the network device can designate the CG resource where the DL-TRP resides to be responsible for CG-SDT transmission. For example, even if the TA associated cg-SDT-TimeAlignmentTimer of the UL-only TRP is not invalid, the terminal device only considers the validity of the TA associated cg-SDT-TimeAlignmentTimer of the Anchor TRP, and only starts CG-SDT transmission when the TAG associated cg-SDT-TimeAlignmentTimer is valid. This ensures that the terminal device always transmits on an uplink with valid link parameters.

[0210] However, some problems still exist in method ②. For example, the terminal device may be far from the Anchor TRP, resulting in large path loss and poor transmission performance. Taking Figure 2 above as an example, if the terminal device 3 moves, but its new location is still within the coverage area of ​​the UL-Only TRP, then method ② will cause the terminal device to lose the benefits of near-point transmission, affecting uplink transmission performance.

[0211] To address the aforementioned problems, this application provides a communication method and related apparatus, which will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0212] Please refer to Figure 3, which is a schematic diagram of an implementation of the communication method provided in this application. The method includes the following steps. In Figure 3, the method is illustrated by taking a first communication device and other communication devices (such as a second communication device and a third communication device) as the execution subjects of the interaction, but this application does not limit the execution subjects of the interaction. For example, the communication device can be a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device), or a chip, baseband chip, modem chip, SoC chip (such as an SoC chip containing a modem core), SIP chip, communication module, chip system, processor, logic module, or software in the communication device.

[0213] As an example, the first communication device can be a terminal device, and the second and third communication devices can be network devices (e.g., the second and third communication devices can be TRPs; as in the previous example, the second communication device can be an Anchor TRP with downlink transmission, and the third communication device can be a UL-Only TRP with uplink transmission). Optionally, the network devices can be access network devices or ORAN devices (including at least one of O-CU, O-DU, and O-RU).

[0214] S301. The second communication device sends a downlink signal, and the first communication device receives the downlink signal accordingly.

[0215] Optionally, the downlink signal involved in this application may be a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB or S-SS / PSBCH block), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), or other signals defined by the future network.

[0216] S302. When the downlink signal satisfies the first condition and the TA corresponding to the first resource satisfies the second condition, the first communication device sends second information based on the first resource, and correspondingly, the third communication device can receive the second information. The first resource is used for uplink transmission between the first and third communication devices.

[0217] As an example, a downlink signal satisfying the first condition can be understood as having good signal reception quality and / or good link quality of the downlink transmitting the downlink signal. For example, a downlink signal satisfying the first condition includes at least one of the following: the reference signal received power (RSRP) of the downlink signal is greater than or equal to a threshold, or the difference between the RSRP of the downlink signal and the RSRP of historically received downlink signals is less than or equal to a threshold. Optionally, the threshold involved in this application can be configured by the network device or pre-configured by a protocol or standard.

[0218] As an example, the TA corresponding to the first resource satisfying the second condition can be understood as the TA corresponding to the first resource being valid, and / or the TA corresponding to the first resource not yet being invalid. For example, the TA corresponding to the first resource satisfying the second condition includes at least one of the following: the timing advance timer (TAT) corresponding to the first resource is active, the TAT corresponding to the first resource has not expired, or the difference between the RSRP of the downlink signal and the RSRP of the historically received downlink signal is less than or equal to a threshold.

[0219] Optionally, the uplink transmission involved in this application can be an uplink scheduling-free transmission. For example, the first resource is used for uplink scheduling-free transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device. In this way, scheduling-free resources can be reserved for uplink transmission, reducing the signaling overhead of scheduling.

[0220] For example, uplink transmission can be used to transmit uplink data and / or uplink signaling, etc. The uplink transmission involved in this application includes, but is not limited to, transmission based on random access (RA), transmission based on configured grant (CG) resources in 5th generation (5G) new radio (NR) systems, transmission based on preconfigured uplink resources (PUR) in long term evolution (LTE) systems, transmission based on semi-persistent scheduling resources in LTE systems, transmission based on semi-static channel state information (SP-CSI), small data transmission (SDT), or other transmissions defined by future networks to avoid dynamic granting.

[0221] For example, the second information transmitted via the first resource can be uplink data and / or uplink signaling transmitted using uplink unlicensed resources. This second information can be carried on a data channel (such as a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)), a control channel (such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)), or a physical random access channel (PRACH). The channel or signal transmitted in unlicensed transmission is related to the unlicensed transmission scenario or the technology used in the unlicensed transmission. For example, unlicensed transmission based on two-step random access can transmit PRACH and / or PUSCH. Similarly, unlicensed transmission based on PUR, SPS, or CG can transmit PUSCH.

[0222] Based on the scheme shown in Figure 3, the first communication device can receive a downlink signal from the second communication device in step S301. Furthermore, if the downlink signal satisfies a first condition and the TA corresponding to the first resource satisfies a second condition, the first communication device sends second information based on the first resource in step S302. The first resource is used for uplink transmission between the first and third communication devices. In other words, during uplink transmission between the first and third communication devices, the first communication device can perform uplink transmission on the uplink between the first and third communication devices based on the downlink signal of the second communication device that satisfies the first condition. Therefore, even if the first communication device does not receive a downlink signal from the third communication device (e.g., the third communication device does not send a downlink signal), the first communication device can still perform uplink transmission on the uplink of the third communication device by detecting the downlink signal of other communication devices, reducing the first communication device's need to detect the downlink signal of the third communication device and thus reducing the complexity and power consumption of the first communication device.

[0223] Furthermore, in the scheme shown in Figure 3, the third communication device can achieve uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device without sending downlink signals, so that the third communication device can dynamically shut down the downlink transmission module (or does not need to configure downlink resources or downlink transmission devices), thereby reducing the power consumption of the third communication device.

[0224] Furthermore, in the scheme shown in Figure 3, during the uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device, the first communication device can perform uplink transmission on the uplink between the first communication device and the third communication device based on the condition that the TA corresponding to the first resource meets the second condition. This allows for the use of the effective resources of the TA for uplink transmission as much as possible, thereby improving the uplink transmission success rate, avoiding retransmissions or reducing the number of retransmissions, and further reducing the power consumption of the first communication device.

[0225] In one possible implementation of the method shown in Figure 3, the third communication device is used only for uplink (UL-only) transmission within the second time period. In other words, within the second time period, the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission, meaning that the third communication device can dynamically shut down the downlink transmission module (or does not need to configure downlink resources or downlink transmission devices), thereby reducing the power consumption of the third communication device.

[0226] Optionally, at least one of the start time, end time, and duration of the second time range can be pre-configured or configured by the network device. For example, the start time may be the activation time of the third communication device. For example, the duration may be infinity.

[0227] Optionally, "the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission" can be understood as meaning that the communication between the third communication device and the terminal device (e.g., the first communication device) is only uplink-based. The communication method between the third communication device and other network devices (e.g., other access network devices or other core network devices, such as the second communication device) is not limited; for example, the third communication device can communicate with other network devices via wired or wireless means.

[0228] Optionally, the fact that the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission can be understood as the third communication device having one or more of the following characteristics:

[0229] It only has uplink receiving capability, without configuring downlink transmission reference signal, downlink control channel, downlink data channel, downlink bandwidth, downlink frame structure, or downlink time slot. It can also have uplink carrier only, uplink carrier available but downlink carrier unavailable, downlink carrier unavailable, carrier being uplink carrier, only including uplink carrier, carrier including uplink carrier but not including downlink carrier, uplink transmission activated (or enabled, enabled, activated, etc.), and downlink transmission deactivated (or turned off, hibernated, silent, prohibited, disabled, etc.).

[0230] As an example implementation, the third communication device lacks downlink transmission capability or is not configured with downlink transmission-related information. This downlink transmission-related information may include at least one of the following: downlink reference signal related information, downlink control channel transmission related information, downlink data channel transmission related information, downlink frame structure related information, downlink time slot related information, or downlink bandwidth related information. The absence of downlink reference signal related information can be replaced with the absence of downlink reference signal configuration. Similarly, the absence of downlink control channel transmission related information can be replaced with the absence of downlink control channel transmission. The absence of downlink data channel transmission related information can also be replaced with the absence of downlink data channel transmission. The absence of downlink frame structure related information can be replaced with parameters related to downlink frame structure configuration. The absence of downlink time slot related information can also be replaced with parameters related to downlink time slot configuration. Finally, the absence of downlink bandwidth related information can be replaced with the absence of downlink bandwidth configuration.

[0231] As another implementation example, the third communication device has uplink transmission capability; and / or, the third communication device configures uplink transmission-related information. Uplink transmission-related information may include at least one of the following: uplink reference signal information, uplink control channel transmission information, uplink data channel transmission information, uplink frame structure-related information, uplink timeslot-related information, or uplink bandwidth-related information. The information configuring the uplink reference signal can also be replaced with configuring the uplink reference signal. The information configuring the uplink control channel transmission can also be replaced with configuring uplink control channel transmission. The information configuring the uplink data channel transmission can also be replaced with configuring uplink data channel transmission. The information configuring the uplink frame structure can also be replaced with configuring uplink frame structure-related parameters. The information configuring the uplink timeslot-related information can also be replaced with configuring uplink timeslot-related parameters. The information configuring the uplink bandwidth-related information can also be replaced with configuring uplink bandwidth. Thus, the terminal device can send information, such as a preamble, to the third communication device.

[0232] In one possible implementation of the method shown in Figure 3, step S302, where the first communication device sends the second information based on the first resource, includes: within the second time range, the first communication device sends the second information based on the first resource. Thus, the first communication device can send the second information based on the first resource of the third communication device within the second time range during which the third communication device is only used for uplink transmission, enabling the first communication device to achieve uplink coverage enhancement and improve uplink transmission performance based on the third communication device.

[0233] In one possible implementation of the method shown in Figure 3, the second information sent by the first communication device in step S302 may be transmitted successfully (e.g., the third communication device successfully receives the second information) or it may fail to be transmitted (e.g., the link between the first and third communication devices is unavailable, or there is significant transmission interference, which may cause transmission failure). If the second information is transmitted successfully, the third communication device can process it. As mentioned earlier, the first resource used to carry the second information can be an uplink scheduling-free resource. Therefore, the third communication device can respond to the successfully received second information. The subsequent response process of the third communication device will be illustrated below with reference to Figure 4.

[0234] As shown in the example in Figure 4, compared to the scheme shown in Figure 3, the process after step S302 includes the following steps:

[0235] S303. The third communication device sends third information, and correspondingly, the second communication device receives the third information. The third information is used to determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource are valid; that is, the second communication device can determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource are valid based on the third information.

[0236] For example, the transmission parameters involved in this application may include one or more of the following parameters: TA, period of time-domain resources, open-loop power control related parameters, waveform, redundancy version sequence, repetition count, frequency hopping mode, resource allocation type, number of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes, DMRS related parameters, modulation and coding scheme table, resource block group (RBG) size, time-domain resources, frequency-domain resources, or modulation and coding scheme (MCS). For example, the above transmission parameters include at least TA.

[0237] Optionally, the third information is used to determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource are valid. This can be understood as the third information being used to determine that the uplink is valid, and the first resource is the transmission resource on that link. That is, the second communication device can determine that the transmission parameters of the uplink between the first and third communication devices are valid based on the third information.

[0238] As an example, in step S303, the third communication device can forward the received second information to the second communication device. For instance, the second information received by the third communication device in step S302 and the third information sent by the second communication device in step S303 can be the same. This reduces the processing complexity of the third communication device. For example, the second information sent by the first communication device can be uplink data. In this case, the third communication device may not have higher-level processing capabilities (e.g., MAC layer, RRC layer, or other protocol layers). Therefore, the third communication device can send the second information to the second communication device so that the second communication device can perform subsequent processing on the second information.

[0239] For example, if the second communication device has high-level processing capabilities, after receiving uplink data from the third communication device (e.g., the aforementioned second information is uplink data), the second communication device can process the uplink data locally and generate or determine response information for the second information involved in step S304 based on the processing result.

[0240] For example, if the second communication device does not have high-level processing capabilities, after receiving uplink data from the third communication device (e.g., the second information mentioned above is uplink data), the second communication device can send the uplink data to other communication devices that have high-level processing capabilities, so that the other communication devices can process the uplink data and, based on the processing result, instruct the second communication device to generate or determine the response information of the second information involved in step S304.

[0241] Optionally, if the second communication device does not have high-level processing capabilities, the third communication device sends the second information to other communication devices that have high-level processing capabilities. The other communication device processes the second information and, based on the processing result, instructs the second communication device to generate or determine response information related to the second information involved in step S304.

[0242] As another example, in step S303, the third communication device can process the received second information and then send the third information back to the second communication device. For example, the second information received by the third communication device in step S302 and the third information sent by the second communication device in step S303 may be different. The third information sent by the second communication device in step S303 may be indication information, which indicates at least one of the following: the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource are valid, the TA corresponding to the first resource is valid, the uplink between the first and third communication devices is valid, or the third communication device has successfully received the second information. In this way, the transmission overhead between the second and third communication devices can be reduced. For example, the second information sent by the first communication device may be uplink data. In this case, the third communication device may have higher-level processing capabilities (e.g., MAC layer, RRC layer, or other protocol layers).

[0243] S304. The second communication device sends a response message for the second information, and correspondingly, the first communication device can receive the response message for the second information.

[0244] Optionally, the response information of the second information involved in this application may be a configured grant response (CG-Response) or other information / signaling / messages defined in the future network.

[0245] As shown in Figure 4, after the first communication device sends second information on one or more resources (such as one or more of the first resources mentioned above and the N second resources mentioned below), the first communication device can receive response information for the second information, enabling it to determine that the network side has successfully received the second information based on the response information. Furthermore, the first communication device can also determine the availability of the current uplink based on the response information, and can continue to send other uplink data and / or uplink signaling on that uplink to achieve other uplink transmission processes.

[0246] In one possible implementation, the method shown in Figure 4 may also include:

[0247] S300. The second communication device sends first information, and correspondingly, the first communication device receives the first information, which is used to configure the first resource. Thus, the first communication device can also receive the first information used to configure the first resource, enabling the first communication device to perform uplink transmission based on the specified first resource, thereby improving the success rate of uplink transmission.

[0248] Optionally, the first information may originate from a second communication device, or from a third communication device (e.g., the third communication device sends the first information when it has downlink transmission capability), or from other network devices. That is, step S300 is an optional step.

[0249] In one possible implementation, the first information is further used to configure N second resources, which are used for uplink transmission between the N communication devices and the first communication device, where N is a positive integer.

[0250] As shown in the example in Figure 5, compared to the process shown in Figure 4, the following steps may also be included.

[0251] Step A. The first communication device sends second information to K communication devices. Correspondingly, 0, 1, or more of the K communication devices receive the second information, where K is a positive integer. These K communication devices are included in N communication devices. Accordingly, the first communication device can send the second information to the K communication devices from among K second resources out of N second resources.

[0252] As an example, when the downlink signal satisfies the first condition, the first communication device sends the second information based on K of the N second resources, where K is an integer less than or equal to N.

[0253] As another example, if the downlink signal satisfies the first condition and the TA corresponding to the K second resources satisfies the second condition, the first communication device sends the second information on the K second resources.

[0254] Similarly, the second information sent by the first communication device in step A may be transmitted successfully (e.g., some or all of the K communication devices successfully receive the second information), or it may fail to be transmitted (e.g., the link between the first communication device and the K communication devices is unavailable, or there is significant transmission interference, which may cause transmission failure). If the second information is transmitted successfully, the K communication devices can process it. As mentioned above, the second resource used to carry the second information can be an uplink scheduling-free resource. Therefore, the K communication devices can respond to the successful reception of the second information as described in step B below.

[0255] For example, in step A, if the downlink signal satisfies the first condition, or if the downlink signal satisfies the first condition and the TAs corresponding to the N second resources satisfy the second condition, the first communication device may send second information in the N second resources, for example, N equals K.

[0256] Alternatively, in step A, if the downlink signal satisfies the first condition, or if the downlink signal satisfies the first condition and the TAs corresponding to the N second resources satisfy the second condition, the first communication device may select K second resources from the N second resources to send the second information.

[0257] For example, the first communication device can randomly select K second resources from N second resources.

[0258] For example, the first communication device can be determined based on the offset between the uplink power of N corresponding to N second resources and the uplink power corresponding to the second communication device. Specifically, the first communication device can be determined based on the offset between the uplink power of N corresponding to N UL-only TRPs and the uplink power of the Anchor TRP. The larger the offset between the N uplink power of a particular UL-only TRP and the uplink power of the Anchor TRP, the more power the first communication device can use to communicate with that UL-only TRP, thus reducing device power consumption and improving uplink transmission success rate.

[0259] In step B, K communication devices send one or more pieces of information to the second communication device. This information is used to determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to the second resource are valid. For example, after K communication devices successfully receive the second information, this information becomes K pieces of information, and the second communication device can determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to the K resources are valid based on these K pieces of information.

[0260] It should be understood that any of the information involved in step B can refer to the implementation process of the third information mentioned above.

[0261] Optionally, the interaction process between any of the K communication devices and the second communication device can refer to the interaction process between the third communication device and the second communication device described above.

[0262] Therefore, the first communication device can use more resources to send the second information, thereby improving the success rate of receiving the second information. This can reduce uplink transmission latency, avoid retransmission or reduce the number of retransmissions, and further reduce the power consumption of the first communication device.

[0263] Optionally, the first communication device can obtain the configuration of N second resources through other information / signaling / messages besides the first information. For example, the first information is used to configure the first resource, and one or more other information is used to configure the N second resources. That is, the first resource and any two of the N second resources can be configured through the same information / signaling / message, or they can be configured through different information / signaling / messages.

[0264] Optionally, the aforementioned K communication devices include the second communication device. In this way, the first communication device may send second information to the second communication device that sends the downlink signal. For example, if the downlink signal meets the first condition, the first communication device can determine that the downlink quality between the first communication device and the second communication device is good. Therefore, the first communication device can also send the second information through the uplink with the second communication device (for example, in step A of FIG5, the resources for the first communication device to send the second information may include the uplink resources corresponding to the second communication device), thereby improving the success rate of receiving the second information, reducing uplink transmission latency, avoiding retransmissions or reducing the number of retransmissions, and further reducing the power consumption of the first communication device.

[0265] In one possible implementation, as can be seen from the above process, the first information received by the first communication device may be used not only to indicate the first resource, but also to indicate N second resources. For example, the first information includes at least one of the following first indication information to tenth indication information.

[0266] The first instruction information indicates that the transmission method corresponding to the first resource and the second resource includes round-robin and / or concurrent transmission.

[0267] As an example, the transmission method corresponding to the first and second resources includes round-robin, which can be understood as the first and second resources being partially or completely identical in the time domain. The round-robin mechanism ensures that the first communication device uses a reliable link for transmission, giving it the opportunity to use a UL-only TRP link with better transmission quality to complete the transmission, thus improving transmission efficiency. Furthermore, network devices (such as the second and / or third communication devices) can obtain the status of multiple uplinks corresponding to multiple resources through round-robin, which can be used to guide subsequent transmissions.

[0268] As an example, the transmission methods corresponding to the first and second resources include concurrency. This can be understood as follows: in the airspace, the transmission port corresponding to the first resource and the transmission port corresponding to the second resource are partially different or completely different. For example, the first communication device has the capability of uplink transmission switching (UL Tx Switching). Taking the number of second resources as 1, assuming the first communication device contains 4 antennas, it will be divided into 2 groups, each with 2 antennas, corresponding to different TAGs. At this time, the second information on the first resource can be transmitted on the first group of antennas using the first TA value, and the second information on the second resource can be transmitted on the second group of antennas using the second TA value. Optionally, the network device can send the corresponding CG transmission configuration according to the antenna grouping situation, including time and frequency resources, transmission antennas (ports), and power / or control parameters, etc. Thus, the concurrency mechanism can ensure that the first communication device will use a reliable link for transmission, giving the first communication device the opportunity to use a UL-only TRP link with better transmission quality to complete the transmission and improve transmission efficiency. In addition, network devices (such as the second and / or third communication devices) can obtain the status of multiple uplinks corresponding to multiple resources through concurrency, which can be used to guide subsequent transmissions.

[0269] Optionally, the transmission methods corresponding to the first resource and the second resource include round-robin and concurrent transmission. This can be understood as either the first resource or the second resource being used to transmit the second information multiple times (for example, the multiple transmissions can be repeated transmissions, retransmissions, etc.), and at least one first resource and at least one second resource are transmitted in round-robin mode (i.e., these two resources have some or all the same time-domain resources), and at least one first resource and at least one second resource are transmitted concurrently (i.e., the transmission ports corresponding to these two resources are partially different or completely different).

[0270] The second instruction information indicates the resource location of the first resource in a resource set, which includes the first resource and the second resource.

[0271] The third instruction information indicates the location of the second resource within the resource set.

[0272] Optionally, the second and / or third indication information may indicate the resource pattern of the resource set, which includes the first resource and the second resource.

[0273] As an example, the second and / or third indication information may indicate whether to use the first resource or the second resource for transmission first in the time domain.

[0274] Optionally, if the first resource supports repetition transmission, the second and / or third indication information may indicate that the first resource is used for one or more repetition transmissions before the second resource is used for transmission.

[0275] Alternatively, if the second resource supports repeated transmissions, the second and / or third indication information may indicate that the second resource is used for one or more repeated transmissions before the first resource is used for transmission.

[0276] Alternatively, if both the first and second resources support repeated transmissions, the second and / or third indication information may indicate that the second resource is used for one or more repeated transmissions before the first resource is used for one or more repeated transmissions.

[0277] Alternatively, if both the first and second resources support repeated transmissions, the second and / or third indication information may indicate that the first resource is used for one or more repeated transmissions before the second resource is used for one or more repeated transmissions.

[0278] The fourth indication information indicates the maximum duration between the arrival time and the transmission time of the second information.

[0279] For example, the second information can be information (or data) sent from a higher layer to a lower layer of the first communication device. For instance, the higher layer can be any of the RRC layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, or MAC layer, and the lower layer can be the physical layer. Correspondingly, the arrival time of the second information can indicate the time when the second information is sent from the higher layer or arrives at the lower layer. Since the first communication device can perform some signal processing on the second information at the lower layer (e.g., encoding, rate matching, modulation, resource mapping, etc.), these signal processing processes may have some processing delays. Therefore, by using the maximum duration indicated by the fourth indication information, the first communication device can perform signal processing within the time interval between the arrival time of the second information and the transmission time of the most recent resource (e.g., the first resource and / or the second resource). If the time interval is less than or equal to the maximum duration, the first communication device can determine that the most recent resource can transmit the second information and perform transmission processing; if the time interval is greater than the maximum duration, the first communication device can determine that the most recent resource may not be able to transmit the second information, and the first communication device can choose not to perform transmission processing to reduce unnecessary overhead and save power.

[0280] The fifth instruction indicates the number of times the first resource and / or the second resource are repeated.

[0281] For example, based on the fifth indication information, the first communication device can repeatedly transmit the second information on the first resource and / or the second resource to improve the uplink transmission performance of the second information.

[0282] The sixth instruction indicates the number of retransmissions for the first resource and / or the second resource.

[0283] For example, based on the sixth indication information, the first communication device can retransmit the second information once or multiple times on the first resource and / or the second resource. For instance, if the second information fails to be received successfully due to transmission interference or other reasons, the first communication device is allowed to retransmit it once or multiple times to improve the uplink transmission performance of the second information.

[0284] The seventh instruction information indicates the configuration information of the first resource and the second resource.

[0285] For example, the seventh indication information may indicate at least one of the time-domain resource configuration, frequency-domain resource configuration, modulation and coding parameters, or spatial-domain resource configuration (e.g., port configuration) of the first resource and / or the second resource.

[0286] Optionally, if the seventh indication information indicates the configuration information of the first resource, the configuration information of the first resource can be used to configure the CG resource, for example, the CG resource is the CG resource of the third communication device (i.e., UL-only TRP).

[0287] Alternatively, if the seventh indication information indicates the configuration information of the first resource, this configuration information can be used to configure resources dedicated to the aforementioned round-robin operation, or resources dedicated to the aforementioned concurrent operation, or resources dedicated to both round-robin and concurrent operation. That is, the first resource can be a resource dedicated to concurrent and / or round-robin operation. In this way, the configuration information of the first resource can be used to configure resources dedicated to concurrent and / or round-robin operation, so that when the network side (e.g., the second communication device) detects the second information on the first resource, it can realize that the first communication device is currently performing a round-robin / concurrent operation. Accordingly, the network side can process the detection results earlier to reduce processing latency.

[0288] Similarly, when the seventh instruction information indicates the configuration information of the second resource, the configuration information of at least one second resource can be used to configure the CG resource, for example, the CG resource is the CG resource of the third communication device (i.e., Anchor TRP).

[0289] Alternatively, if the seventh instruction information indicates the configuration information of the second resource, the configuration information of at least one second resource can be used to configure a resource dedicated to the aforementioned round-robin operation, or the configuration information of at least one second resource can be used to configure a resource dedicated to the aforementioned concurrent operation, or the configuration information of at least one second resource can be used to configure a resource dedicated to both round-robin and concurrent operation. That is, the second resource can be a resource dedicated to concurrent and / or round-robin operation. In this way, the configuration information of the second resource can be used to configure a resource dedicated to concurrent and / or round-robin operation, so that when the network side (e.g., the third communication device, one or more of the K communication devices) detects the second information on the second resource, it can realize that the second communication device is currently performing a round-robin / concurrent operation. Accordingly, the network side can perform some processing on the detection result earlier to reduce processing latency.

[0290] The eighth instruction information indicates the value K.

[0291] For example, the first communication device can send second information to K communication devices in step A above based on the value K indicated by the eighth indication information. When N is greater than K, the first communication device does not need to send second information to all of the N communication devices, thereby reducing transmission overhead.

[0292] The ninth instruction message indicates the TA of the first resource.

[0293] For example, the first communication device can determine the TA (and / or the TAG to which the TA belongs) of the first resource through the ninth indication information, so that the first communication device can perform uplink transmission based on the configured TA and / or TAG. For example, the first communication device can determine whether the second condition corresponding to the first resource is met based on the TA and / or TAG, so that the first communication device can send second information through the first resource if the second condition is met.

[0294] The tenth instruction message indicates the TA of the second resource.

[0295] For example, the first communication device can determine the TA (and / or the TAG to which the TA belongs) of the second resource through the tenth indication information, so that the first communication device can perform uplink transmission based on the configured TA and / or TAG. For example, the first communication device can determine whether the second condition corresponding to the second resource is met based on the TA and / or TAG, so that the first communication device can send second information through one or more second resources when the second condition is met.

[0296] Optionally, in the configuration information of the first resource and the second resource indicated by the seventh instruction information, at least one of the following information A to information D is configured.

[0297] Information A: The sending port information corresponding to the first resource and the sending port information corresponding to the second resource.

[0298] For example, the transmission port information corresponding to the first resource can indicate the port used by the first communication device when sending the second information using the first resource, such as a port index or port identifier. Similarly, the transmission port information corresponding to the second resource can indicate the port used by the first communication device when sending the second information using the second resource, such as a port index or port identifier. In this way, the first communication device can use a specified port to send the second information. Furthermore, in the above-described concurrent implementation process, the first communication device can use some or all different ports to send the second information, thereby obtaining the gain of concurrent transmission.

[0299] Information B, the time-domain transmission interval between the first resource and the second resource.

[0300] For example, the time-domain transmission interval between the first resource and the second resource can indicate, in the time domain, the number of time units between the end time unit of a certain first resource and the start time unit of the next adjacent second resource. This time unit can be a symbol, a time slot, etc. In this way, during the aforementioned round-robin transmission process, the first communication device can transmit the first and second resources based on a specified time-domain transmission interval to obtain the gain from round-robin transmission.

[0301] Information C, the overlapping time-domain resources between the first resource and the second resource are used for the transmission of the first resource or for the transmission of the second resource.

[0302] For example, there may be overlapping time-domain resources between the first resource and the second resource. In order to improve the success rate of information transmission, information C can be used to indicate whether the overlapping time-domain resources are used for the transmission of the first resource or for the transmission of the second resource.

[0303] For example, if information C indicates that the overlapping time domain resource is used for the transmission of the first resource, the first communication device can transmit the second information on other time domain resources in the second resource besides the overlapping time domain resource, or the first communication device can choose not to transmit the second information on the second resource, thereby reducing interference and improving the transmission success rate of the second information.

[0304] For example, if information C indicates that the overlapping time domain resource is used for the transmission of the second resource, the first communication device can transmit the second information on other time domain resources in the first resource besides the overlapping time domain resource, or the first communication device can choose not to transmit the second information on the first resource, which can reduce interference and improve the transmission success rate of the second information.

[0305] Information D: The relationship between the first resource and the second resource.

[0306] As an example, the association in information D indicates the temporal relationship between the first resource and the second resource. For instance, the temporal relationship between the first resource and the second resource can be indicated when they are far apart (e.g., the difference between the starting temporal index of the first resource and the starting temporal index of the second resource is greater than a certain threshold, or the difference between the ending temporal index of the first resource and the starting temporal index of the second resource is greater than a certain threshold, or the temporal interval between the first resource and the second resource is greater than a certain threshold, etc.), or when multiple users reuse the same CG resource simultaneously or take turns using the resources of CG1 or CG2.

[0307] Optionally, the thresholds involved in this application may be pre-configured by protocols or standards, or they may be configured by network devices or servers.

[0308] For example, if the first communication device sends the second information on the first resource at time t1 and the second information on the second resource at time t2, then when the receiver detects data on CG1 at time t1 and detects the second information carrying the same data on CG2 at time t2, the receiver knows that the first communication device has triggered the round-robin mechanism. This is beneficial for the receiver to issue a valid TAT instruction in subsequent instructions to adjust the subsequent uplink transmission process of the first communication device.

[0309] As an example, the association in information D indicates the spatial association between the first resource and the second resource. For instance, the spatial association between the first resource and the second resource could indicate that the second information is sent using one set of ports on the first resource and another set of ports on the second resource. In this way, the receiver of the second information can clearly determine that the two received second information messages have a round-robin and / or concurrent relationship through the sending ports of the second information. That is, the receiver knows that the first communication device has triggered a round-robin and / or concurrent mechanism, which is beneficial for the receiver to issue a valid TAT instruction in subsequent commands to adjust the subsequent uplink transmission process of the first communication device.

[0310] In one possible implementation, as can be seen from the above process, in addition to sending the second information based on the first resources, the first communication device can also send the second information based on K first resources. Correspondingly, the response information for the second information can also have multiple implementations. For example, the response information for the second information includes an eleventh indication, which is used to determine the resources where the TA is valid and / or the resources where the TA is invalid; wherein, the resources where the TA is valid are some or all of the one or more resources used to send the second information, and the resources where the TA is invalid are some or all of the one or more resources used to send the second information.

[0311] Therefore, after the first communication device sends second information on one or more resources (e.g., one or more of the first resources and N second resources mentioned above), the response information of the second information received by the first communication device may include eleventh indication information, and the first communication device may determine the resources where the TA is valid and / or the resources where the TA is invalid based on the eleventh indication information.

[0312] As an example, the first communication device can determine the valid resources of the TA through the eleventh indication information, so that the first communication device can subsequently perform uplink transmission on the valid resources of the TA, thereby improving the success rate of uplink transmission.

[0313] For example, the above method further includes: the first communication device reactivating the TA timer corresponding to the TA-valid resource based on the eleventh indication information; and / or, the first communication device reactivating the TA timer corresponding to the TA-invalid resource based on the eleventh indication information. Thus, the first communication device can reactivate the TA timer corresponding to the TA-valid resource, enabling the first communication device to subsequently detect the TA-valid resource based on the reactivated TA timer, thereby obtaining more uplink transmission opportunities.

[0314] As another example, the first communication device can determine the resource that TA has failed through the eleventh indication information, so that the first communication device can suspend or clear the resource that TA has failed, thereby saving cache overhead and further reducing power consumption.

[0315] For example, the above method further includes: the first communication device activating the TA timer corresponding to the TA-invalidated resource based on the eleventh indication information. Thus, the first communication device can activate the TA timer corresponding to the TA-invalidated resource, enabling the first communication device to suspend or clear the TA-invalidated resource, thereby saving cache overhead and further reducing power consumption.

[0316] Optionally, the aforementioned eleventh instruction information can be implemented in a variety of ways.

[0317] For example, the eleventh indication information includes the resource index of the resource for which the TA is valid, and / or the resource index of the resource for which the TA is invalid.

[0318] For example, the eleventh indication information includes a bitmap, which contains bits used to indicate resources for which the TA is valid and / or resources for which the TA is invalid. For instance, the bitmap may contain K+1 bits, the values ​​of which are used to indicate whether the TAs corresponding to the first resource and the K resources are valid, respectively. A value of 1 indicates validity and a value of 0 indicates invalidity, or a value of 0 indicates validity and a value of 1 indicates invalidity.

[0319] Optionally, the number of resource indexes indicated by the eleventh indication information, the number of bits contained in the bitmap, and other information can be configured through the first information or other information.

[0320] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: if no response information for the second information is received within a first time range, the first communication device deactivates the TA timer corresponding to the resource with TA failure; wherein the TA-failed resource is one or more resources that sent the second information. Thus, if no response information for the second information is received within the first time range, the first communication device can determine that the second information may not have been successfully received, for example, the uplink transmitting the second information may not have correctly transmitted the uplink information. Therefore, the first communication device can deactivate the TA timer corresponding to the TA-failed resource (for example, the first communication device can deactivate the TA timers corresponding to the first resource and all second resources), enabling the first communication device to suspend or clear the TA-failed resource, thereby saving buffer overhead and further reducing power consumption.

[0321] For example, the first time range can be determined by a timer. For instance, the time unit that starts the timer can be the time unit for sending the second information, or the next time unit adjacent to the time unit for sending the second information.

[0322] Please refer to Figure 6. This application embodiment provides a communication device 600, which can realize the functions of the second communication device or the first communication device in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments. In this application embodiment, the communication device 600 can be the first communication device (or the second communication device), or it can be an integrated circuit or component inside the first communication device (or the second communication device), such as a chip.

[0323] It should be noted that the transceiver unit 602 may include a transmitting unit and a receiving unit, which are used to perform transmitting and receiving respectively.

[0324] In one possible implementation, when the device 600 is used to execute the method performed by the first communication device in the aforementioned embodiments, the transceiver unit 602 is used to receive a downlink signal from the second communication device; when the downlink signal satisfies a first condition and the TA corresponding to the first resource satisfies a second condition, the processing unit 601 is used to send second information based on the first resource, the first resource being used for uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device.

[0325] Optionally, the transceiver unit 602 is further configured to receive first information, which is used to configure the first resource.

[0326] Optionally, the first information is further used to configure N second resources, which are respectively used for uplink transmission between N communication devices and the first communication device, where N is a positive integer; the processing unit 601 sends the second information based on the first resources, including: when the downlink signal satisfies the first condition, the processing unit 601 sends the second information based on K of the N second resources, where K is an integer less than or equal to N.

[0327] Optionally, the first information includes at least one of the following:

[0328] The first indication information indicates that the transmission method corresponding to the first resource and the second resource includes round-robin and / or concurrent transmission; or,

[0329] The second instruction information indicates the resource location of the first resource in a resource set, the resource set including the first resource and the second resource; or,

[0330] The third instruction information indicates the resource location of the second resource within the resource set; or,

[0331] The fourth indication information indicates the maximum duration between the arrival time and the transmission time of the second information; or,

[0332] The fifth instruction indicates the number of repetitions of the first resource and / or the second resource; or,

[0333] The sixth instruction indicates the number of retransmissions for the first resource and / or the second resource; or,

[0334] The seventh instruction information indicates the configuration information of the first resource and the second resource; or,

[0335] The eighth indication information indicates the value K; or,

[0336] The ninth instruction message indicates the TA of the first resource; or,

[0337] The tenth instruction message indicates the TA of the second resource.

[0338] Optionally, the configuration information of the first resource and the second resource is used to configure at least one of the following: the transmission port information corresponding to the first resource and the transmission port information corresponding to the second resource; or, the time domain transmission interval between the first resource and the second resource; or, the overlapping time domain resources between the first resource and the second resource are used for the transmission of the first resource or for the transmission of the second resource; or, the association relationship between the first resource and the second resource.

[0339] Optionally, the N communication devices include the second communication device.

[0340] Optionally, the transceiver unit 602 is also used to receive response information from the second information.

[0341] Optionally, the response information of the second information includes eleventh indication information, which is used to determine the resources where the TA is valid and / or the resources where the TA is invalid; wherein the resources where the TA is valid are some or all of the one or more resources that sent the second information, and the resources where the TA is invalid are some or all of the one or more resources that sent the second information.

[0342] Optionally, the processing unit 601 is further configured to reactivate the TA timer corresponding to the TA-valid resource based on the eleventh indication information; and / or, the processing unit 601 is further configured to activate the TA timer corresponding to the TA-invalid resource based on the eleventh indication information.

[0343] Optionally, the eleventh indication information includes the resource index of the resource for which the TA is valid, and / or the resource index of the resource for which the TA is invalid.

[0344] Optionally, the method further includes: if no response information for the second information is received within a first time range, the processing unit 601 is further configured to deactivate the TA timer corresponding to the TA-invalidated resource; wherein the TA-invalidated resource is one or more resources that sent the second information.

[0345] Optionally, within the second time frame, the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission.

[0346] Optionally, the processing unit 601 sends the second information based on the first resource, including: within the second time range, the processing unit 601 sends the second information based on the first resource.

[0347] Optionally, the first condition indicates that the reference signal received power (RSRP) of the downlink signal is greater than or equal to a threshold, and / or that the difference between the RSRP of the downlink signal and the RSRP of historically received downlink signals is less than or equal to a threshold.

[0348] Optionally, the second condition indicates that the timing advance timer (TAT) corresponding to the first resource is active, and / or that the TAT corresponding to the first resource has not yet timed out.

[0349] In one possible implementation, when the device 600 is used to execute the method performed by the second communication device in the foregoing embodiments, the processing unit 601 is used to determine or generate a downlink signal; the transceiver unit is used to transmit the downlink signal; the transceiver unit 602 is used to receive third information, the third information being used to determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource are valid, the first resource being used for uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device; wherein, the third information is associated with the downlink signal.

[0350] Optionally, the transceiver unit 602 is further configured to send first information, which is used to configure the first resource.

[0351] Optionally, the first information is further used to configure N second resources, which are used for uplink transmission between the N communication devices and the first communication device, where N is a positive integer.

[0352] Optionally, the first information includes at least one of the following:

[0353] The first indication information indicates that the transmission method corresponding to the first resource and the second resource includes round-robin and / or concurrent transmission; or,

[0354] The second instruction information indicates the resource location of the first resource in a resource set, the resource set including the first resource and the second resource; or,

[0355] The third instruction information indicates the resource location of the second resource within the resource set; or,

[0356] The fourth indication information indicates the maximum duration between the arrival time and the transmission time of the second information; or,

[0357] The fifth instruction indicates the number of repetitions of the first resource and / or the second resource; or,

[0358] The sixth instruction indicates the number of retransmissions for the first resource and / or the second resource; or,

[0359] The seventh instruction information indicates the configuration information of the first resource and the second resource; or,

[0360] The eighth indication information indicates the value K; or,

[0361] The ninth instruction message indicates the TA of the first resource; or,

[0362] The tenth instruction message indicates the TA of the second resource.

[0363] Optionally, the configuration information of the first resource and the second resource is used to configure at least one of the following: the transmission port information corresponding to the first resource and the transmission port information corresponding to the second resource; or, the time domain transmission interval between the first resource and the second resource; or, the overlapping time domain resources between the first resource and the second resource are used for the transmission of the first resource or for the transmission of the second resource; or, the association relationship between the first resource and the second resource.

[0364] Optionally, the N communication devices include the second communication device.

[0365] Optionally, the third information is determined based on the second information carried on the first resource, and the method further includes: the transceiver unit 602 is also used to send response information of the second information.

[0366] Optionally, the response information of the second information includes eleventh indication information, which is used to determine the resources where the TA is valid and / or the resources where the TA is invalid; wherein the resources where the TA is valid are some or all of the one or more resources that sent the second information, and the resources where the TA is invalid are some or all of the one or more resources that sent the second information.

[0367] Optionally, the eleventh indication information includes the resource index of the resource for which the TA is valid, and / or the resource index of the resource for which the TA is invalid.

[0368] Optionally, within the second time frame, the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission.

[0369] In one possible implementation, when the device 600 is used to execute the method performed by the third communication device in the aforementioned embodiments, the transceiver unit 602 is used to receive second information, which is carried on a first resource, and the first resource is used for uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device; the processing unit 601 is used to send third information based on the second information, and the third information is used to determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource are valid.

[0370] Optionally, within the second time frame, the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission.

[0371] Optionally, the uplink transmission includes uplink unscheduled transmission.

[0372] It should be noted that the information execution process of the unit of the above-mentioned communication device 600 can be specifically described in the method embodiments shown above in this application, and will not be repeated here.

[0373] Please refer to Figure 7, which is another schematic structural diagram of the communication device 700 provided in this application. The communication device 700 includes a logic circuit 701 and an input / output interface 702. The communication device 700 can be a chip or an integrated circuit.

[0374] In Figure 6, the transceiver unit 602 can be a communication interface, which can be the input / output interface 702 in Figure 7, and the input / output interface 702 can include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communication interface can also be a transceiver circuit, which can include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0375] Optionally, the input / output interface 702 is used to receive a downlink signal from the second communication device; when the downlink signal satisfies the first condition and the TA corresponding to the first resource satisfies the second condition, the logic circuit 701 is used to send second information based on the first resource, the first resource being used for uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device.

[0376] Optionally, logic circuit 701 is used to determine or generate downlink signal; the transceiver unit is used to transmit downlink signal; the input / output interface 702 is also used to receive third information, which is used to determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource are valid, and the first resource is used for uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device; wherein, the third information is associated with the downlink signal.

[0377] Optionally, the input / output interface 702 is used to receive second information, which is carried on a first resource, and the first resource is used for uplink transmission between a first communication device and a third communication device; the logic circuit 701 is used to send third information based on the second information, and the third information is used to determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource are valid.

[0378] The logic circuit 701 and the input / output interface 702 can also perform other steps performed by the first or second communication device in any embodiment and achieve corresponding beneficial effects, which will not be elaborated here.

[0379] In one possible implementation, the processing unit 601 shown in FIG6 can be the logic circuit 701 in FIG7.

[0380] Optionally, the logic circuit 701 can be a processing device, the functions of which can be partially or entirely implemented in software.

[0381] Optionally, the processing apparatus may include a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor reads and executes the computer program stored in the memory to perform the corresponding processing and / or steps in any of the method embodiments.

[0382] Optionally, the processing device may consist of only a processor. A memory for storing computer programs is located outside the processing device, and the processor is connected to the memory via circuitry / wires to read and execute the computer programs stored in the memory. The memory and processor may be integrated together or physically independent of each other.

[0383] Optionally, the processing device may be one or more chips, or one or more integrated circuits. For example, the processing device may be one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), system-on-chips (SoCs), central processing units (CPUs), network processors (NPs), digital signal processors (DSPs), microcontroller units (MCUs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), or other integrated chips, or any combination of the above chips or processors.

[0384] Please refer to Figure 8, which shows the communication device 800 involved in the above embodiments provided in the embodiments of this application. Specifically, the communication device 800 can be the communication device as a terminal device in the above embodiments. The communication device shown in Figure 8 is implemented through a terminal device (or a component in the terminal device).

[0385] The present invention is a possible logical structure diagram of the communication device 800, which may include, but is not limited to, at least one processor 801 and a communication port 802.

[0386] In Figure 6, the transceiver unit 602 can be a communication interface, which can be the communication port 802 in Figure 8. The communication port 802 can include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communication port 802 can also be a transceiver circuit, which can include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0387] Further optionally, the device may also include at least one of a memory 803 and a bus 804. In the embodiments of this application, the at least one processor 801 is used to control the operation of the communication device 800.

[0388] Furthermore, the processor 801 can be a central processing unit, a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field-programmable gate array, or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure of this application. The processor can also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, etc. Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0389] It should be noted that the communication device 800 shown in Figure 8 can be used to implement the steps implemented by the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiments and achieve the corresponding technical effects of the terminal device. The specific implementation of the communication device shown in Figure 8 can be referred to the description in the aforementioned method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0390] Please refer to Figure 9, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of the communication device 900 involved in the above embodiments provided in the embodiments of this application. Specifically, the communication device 900 can be a communication device as a network device in the above embodiments. The communication device shown in Figure 9 is implemented through a network device (or a component in a network device). The structure of the communication device can refer to the structure shown in Figure 9.

[0391] The communication device 900 includes at least one processor 911 and at least one network interface 914. Optionally, the communication device further includes at least one memory 912, at least one transceiver 913, and one or more antennas 915. The processor 911, memory 912, transceiver 913, and network interface 914 are connected, for example, via a bus. In this embodiment, the connection may include various interfaces, transmission lines, or buses, etc., and this embodiment is not limited thereto. The antenna 915 is connected to the transceiver 913. The network interface 914 enables the communication device to communicate with other communication devices through a communication link. For example, the network interface 914 may include a network interface between the communication device and core network equipment, such as an S1 interface, or a network interface between the communication device and other communication devices (e.g., other network devices or core network equipment), such as an X2 or Xn interface.

[0392] In Figure 6, the transceiver unit 602 can be a communication interface, which can be the network interface 914 in Figure 9. The network interface 914 can include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the network interface 914 can also be a transceiver circuit, which can include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0393] The processor 911 is primarily used to process communication protocols and communication data, control the entire communication device, execute software programs, and process data from these programs, for example, to support the actions described in the embodiments of the communication device. The communication device may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit (CPU). The baseband processor is primarily used to process communication protocols and communication data, while the CPU is primarily used to control the entire terminal device, execute software programs, and process data from these programs. The processor 911 in Figure 9 can integrate the functions of both a baseband processor and a CPU. Those skilled in the art will understand that the baseband processor and CPU can also be independent processors interconnected via technologies such as buses. Those skilled in the art will understand that a terminal device may include multiple baseband processors to adapt to different network standards, and multiple CPUs to enhance its processing capabilities. The various components of the terminal device can be connected via various buses. The baseband processor can also be described as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The CPU can also be described as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing communication protocols and communication data can be built into the processor or stored in memory as a software program, which is then executed by the processor to implement the baseband processing function.

[0394] The memory is primarily used to store software programs and data. The memory 912 can exist independently or be connected to the processor 911. Optionally, the memory 912 can be integrated with the processor 911, for example, integrated into a single chip. The memory 912 can store program code that executes the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, and its execution is controlled by the processor 911. The various types of computer program code being executed can also be considered as drivers for the processor 911.

[0395] Figure 9 shows only one memory and one processor. In actual terminal devices, there may be multiple processors and multiple memories. Memory can also be called storage medium or storage device, etc. Memory can be a storage element on the same chip as the processor, i.e., an on-chip storage element, or it can be a separate storage element; this application does not limit this.

[0396] Transceiver 913 can be used to support the reception or transmission of radio frequency (RF) signals between a communication device and a terminal. Transceiver 913 can be connected to antenna 915. Transceiver 913 includes a transmitter Tx and a receiver Rx. Specifically, one or more antennas 915 can receive RF signals. The receiver Rx of transceiver 913 receives the RF signals from the antennas, converts the RF signals into digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency (IF) signals, and provides the digital baseband signals or IF signals to processor 911 so that processor 911 can perform further processing on the digital baseband signals or IF signals, such as demodulation and decoding. Furthermore, the transmitter Tx in transceiver 913 is also used to receive modulated digital baseband signals or IF signals from processor 911, convert the modulated digital baseband signals or IF signals into RF signals, and transmit the RF signals through one or more antennas 915. Specifically, the receiver Rx can selectively perform one or more stages of downmixing and analog-to-digital conversion on the radio frequency signal to obtain a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency (IF) signal. The order of these downmixing and IF conversion processes is adjustable. The transmitter Tx can selectively perform one or more stages of upmixing and digital-to-analog conversion on the modulated digital baseband signal or digital IF signal to obtain a radio frequency signal. The order of these upmixing and IF conversion processes is also adjustable. The digital baseband signal and the digital IF signal can be collectively referred to as digital signals.

[0397] The transceiver 913 can also be called a transceiver unit, transceiver, transceiver device, etc. Optionally, the device in the transceiver unit that performs the receiving function can be regarded as the receiving unit, and the device in the transceiver unit that performs the transmitting function can be regarded as the transmitting unit. That is, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The receiving unit can also be called a receiver, input port, receiving circuit, etc., and the transmitting unit can be called a transmitter, transmitter, or transmitting circuit, etc.

[0398] It should be noted that the communication device 900 shown in Figure 9 can be used to implement the steps implemented by the network device in the aforementioned method embodiments and achieve the corresponding technical effects of the network device. The specific implementation of the communication device 900 shown in Figure 9 can be referred to the description in the aforementioned method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0399] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing one or more computer-executable instructions. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor performs the method described in the possible implementations of the first or second communication device in the foregoing embodiments.

[0400] This application also provides a computer program product (or computer program) that, when executed by a processor, executes the method described above for the possible implementation of the first or second communication device.

[0401] This application also provides a chip system including at least one processor for supporting a communication device in implementing the functions involved in the possible implementations of the communication device described above. Optionally, the chip system further includes an interface circuit that provides program instructions and / or data to the at least one processor. In one possible design, the chip system may also include a memory for storing the program instructions and data necessary for the communication device. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices, wherein the communication device may specifically be the first communication device or the second communication device in the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0402] This application also provides a communication system, which includes a first communication device and a second communication device in any of the above embodiments.

[0403] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be an indirect coupling or communication connection between apparatuses or units through some interfaces, and may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0404] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0405] Furthermore, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be implemented in hardware or as a software functional unit. If the integrated unit is implemented as a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes, or all or part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Receive downlink signals, the downlink signals being derived from a second communication device; When the downlink signal satisfies the first condition and the timing advance TA corresponding to the first resource satisfies the second condition, the second information is sent based on the first resource, and the first resource is used for uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive first information, which is used to configure the first resource.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The first information is further used to configure N second resources, wherein the N second resources are respectively used for uplink transmission between the N communication devices and the first communication device, and N is a positive integer; the method further includes: If the downlink signal satisfies the first condition, the second information is transmitted based on K of the N second resources, where K is an integer less than or equal to N.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The first information includes at least one of the following: The first indication information indicates that the transmission method corresponding to the first resource and the second resource includes round-robin and / or concurrent transmission; or, The second indication information indicates the resource location of the first resource in a resource set, wherein the resource set includes the first resource and the second resource; or, The third indication information indicates the resource location of the second resource within the resource set; or, The fourth indication information indicates the maximum duration between the arrival time and the transmission time of the second information; or, The fifth instruction indicates the number of times the first resource and / or the second resource are repeated; or, The sixth indication information indicates the number of retransmissions for the first resource and / or the second resource; or, The seventh instruction information indicates the configuration information of the first resource and the second resource; or, The eighth indication information indicates the value K; or, The ninth instruction information indicates the TA of the first resource; or, The tenth instruction message indicates the TA of the second resource.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The configuration information for the first resource and the second resource is used to configure at least one of the following: The sending port information corresponding to the first resource and the sending port information corresponding to the second resource; or, The time-domain transmission interval between the first resource and the second resource; or, The overlapping temporal resources between the first resource and the second resource are used for the transmission of the first resource or for the transmission of the second resource; or, The relationship between the first resource and the second resource.

6. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that, The N communication devices include the second communication device.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The method further includes: Response information received from the second information.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The response information of the second information includes an eleventh indication information, which is used to determine the resources that the TA is valid and / or the resources that the TA is invalid; Wherein, the valid resources of the TA are some or all of the one or more resources that sent the second information, and the invalid resources of the TA are some or all of the one or more resources that sent the second information.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The method further includes: Based on the eleventh indication information, the TA timer corresponding to the valid TA resource is reactivated; and / or, Activate the TA timer corresponding to the TA-invalidated resource based on the eleventh instruction information.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that, The eleventh indication information includes the resource index of the valid resource of the TA, and / or the resource index of the invalid resource of the TA.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that, The method further includes: If no response to the second information is received within the first time frame, the TA timer corresponding to the resource that has failed the TA is activated; wherein, the resource that has failed the TA is one or more resources that sent the second information.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that, Within the second time frame, the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, Sending the second information based on the first resource includes: Within the second time frame, the second information is sent based on the first resource.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that, The first condition indicates that the reference signal received power (RSRP) of the downlink signal is greater than or equal to a threshold, and / or the difference between the RSRP of the downlink signal and the RSRP of a historically received downlink signal is less than or equal to a threshold.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that, The second condition indicates that the timing advance timer (TAT) corresponding to the first resource is active, and / or that the TAT corresponding to the first resource has not yet timed out.

16. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Send downlink signal; Receive third information, the third information being used to determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource are valid, the first resource being used for uplink transmission between the first communication device and the third communication device; wherein, the third information is associated with the downlink signal.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send first information, which is used to configure the first resource.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that, The first information is also used to configure N second resources, which are used for uplink transmission between the N communication devices and the first communication device, where N is a positive integer.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, The first information includes at least one of the following: The first indication information indicates that the transmission method corresponding to the first resource and the second resource includes round-robin and / or concurrent transmission; or, The second indication information indicates the resource location of the first resource in a resource set, wherein the resource set includes the first resource and the second resource; or, The third indication information indicates the resource location of the second resource within the resource set; or, The fourth indication information indicates the maximum duration between the arrival time and the transmission time of the second information; or, The fifth instruction indicates the number of times the first resource and / or the second resource are repeated; or, The sixth indication information indicates the number of retransmissions for the first resource and / or the second resource; or, The seventh instruction information indicates the configuration information of the first resource and the second resource; or, The eighth indication information indicates the value K; or, The ninth instruction information indicates the TA of the first resource; or, The tenth instruction message indicates the TA of the second resource.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The configuration information for the first resource and the second resource is used to configure at least one of the following: The sending port information corresponding to the first resource and the sending port information corresponding to the second resource; or, The time-domain transmission interval between the first resource and the second resource; or, The overlapping temporal resources between the first resource and the second resource are used for the transmission of the first resource or for the transmission of the second resource; or, The relationship between the first resource and the second resource.

21. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 20, characterized in that, The method is applied to a second communication device, and the N communication devices include the second communication device.

22. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 21, characterized in that, The third information is determined based on the second information carried on the first resource, and the method further includes: The response information for sending the second information.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that, The response information of the second information includes an eleventh indication information, which is used to determine the resources that the TA is valid and / or the resources that the TA is invalid; Wherein, the valid resources of the TA are some or all of the one or more resources that sent the second information, and the invalid resources of the TA are some or all of the one or more resources that sent the second information.

24. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that, The eleventh indication information includes the resource index of the valid resource of the TA, and / or the resource index of the invalid resource of the TA.

25. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 24, characterized in that, Within the second time frame, the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission.

26. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Receive second information, the second information being carried on a first resource, the first resource being used for uplink transmission between a first communication device and a third communication device; Based on the second information, a third information is sent, wherein the third information is used to determine that the transmission parameters corresponding to the first resource are valid.

27. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that, Within the second time frame, the third communication device is used only for uplink transmission.

28. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 27, characterized in that, The uplink transmission includes uplink scheduling-free transmission.

29. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes a module for performing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 28.

30. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes at least one processor, said at least one processor being configured to execute a computer program or instructions causing the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 28.

31. The communication device according to claim 30, characterized in that, The communication device further includes a memory for storing the computer program or instructions.

32. A readable storage medium, characterized in that, The storage medium stores a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 28.

33. A computer program product, characterized in that, It includes a computer program or instructions that, when executed by a computer, implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 28.

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