Communication methods and communication apparatuses

Abstract

Provided in the embodiments of the present application are communication methods and communication apparatuses, which can improve the reliability of data transmission. A method comprises: a first entity sends first information to a second entity, the first information being used for the second entity to perform a first operation on a first protocol data unit (PDU), and the first operation comprising one or more of the following: blind retransmission or enhanced polling.

Description

Communication methods and communication devices Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communications, and more specifically, to communication methods and communication devices. Background Technology

[0002] With the continuous development of technology and business needs, extended reality (XR) is considered an attractive new business for the future. XR is a general term encompassing augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR). XR services and applications typically have high throughput, low latency, and high reliability requirements. Cloud gaming is another application with similar requirements. XR and cloud gaming are important applications that 5G and future mobile communication systems will support. Compared to traditional voice, file download, web browsing, and video interaction services, XR services have significantly different characteristics, especially in terms of real-time and high reliability requirements, which place new demands on the radio link control (RLC) layer protocol functions. The real-time requirement manifests in two aspects:

[0003] 1. Service data packets have strict latency requirements. Data packets exceeding the latency budget will be considered useless at the application layer due to being outdated. For example, certain types of video data can only be correctly decoded and reconstructed if the client's XR application correctly receives all relevant data packets within the required time window; otherwise, all data packets for a frame may be outdated and useless. From the perspective of conserving limited wireless air interface resources, identifying and discarding these outdated data packets, especially enhancing the discarding of useless packets involving RLC layer protocols, is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed.

[0004] II. One of the six major use cases emphasized by IMT-2030 (6G) is immersive communication. Immersive communication is a further extension of XR-type services, and its service characteristics and technical requirements are mostly similar to or need to be further enhanced than XR. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This application provides a communication method and a communication device that can improve the reliability of data transmission.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, this application adopts the following technical solution:

[0007] Firstly, a communication method is provided. This method can be executed by a first entity, or by a component of the first entity, such as a processor, chip, or chip system of the first entity, or by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the first entity. Taking the method being executed by the first entity as an example, the method includes: the first entity sending first information to a second entity, the first information being used by the second entity to perform a first operation on a first protocol data unit (PDU), the first operation including one or more of the following: blind retransmission, or enhanced polling.

[0008] The communication method provided in this application embodiment involves a first entity sending first information to a second entity, enabling the second entity to perform blind retransmission of the first PDU based on the first information, and / or enhance polling operations, thereby improving the reliability of data transmission.

[0009] Secondly, a communication method is provided. This method can be executed by a second entity, or by a component of the second entity, such as a processor, chip, or chip system of the second entity, or by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the second entity. Taking the method being executed by a second entity as an example, the method includes: the second entity receiving first information from a first entity, the first information being used by the second entity to perform a first operation on a first protocol data unit (PDU), the first operation including one or more of the following: blind retransmission, or enhanced polling; the second entity performing the first operation on the first PDU according to the first information.

[0010] The communication method provided in this application embodiment allows a second entity to receive first information from a first entity. The second entity can then perform blind retransmission of the first PDU based on the first information, and / or enhance polling operations, thereby improving the reliability of data transmission.

[0011] Thirdly, a communication method is provided. This method can be executed by a third entity, or by a component of the third entity, such as a processor, chip, or chip system of the third entity, or by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the third entity. Taking the method being executed by a third entity as an example, the method includes: the third entity receiving first indication information from a second entity, the first indication information being used to instruct the second entity to adjust the configuration of a discard timer; the third entity receiving a first protocol data unit (PDU) according to the first indication information.

[0012] Fourthly, a communication device is provided for implementing the various methods described above. The communication device may be a first entity as described in the first aspect, or a device included in the first entity, such as a chip; or, the communication device may be a second entity as described in the second aspect, or a device included in the second entity, such as a chip; or, the communication device may be a third entity as described in the third aspect, or a device included in the third entity, such as a chip.

[0013] The communication device includes modules, units, or means that implement the above methods. These modules, units, or means can be implemented in hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

[0014] In some possible designs, the communication device may include a processing module and a communication module. The communication module may include an output module (or transmitting module) and an input module (or receiving module), respectively used to implement the output (or transmitting) and input (or receiving) functions in any of the above aspects and any possible designs. The processing module can be used to implement the processing functions in any of the above aspects and any possible designs.

[0015] Optionally, the communication device also includes a storage module for storing program instructions and data.

[0016] Fifthly, a communication device is provided, comprising: at least one processor configured to execute a computer program or instructions, or to cause the communication device to perform the method described in any of the preceding aspects via logic circuitry. The communication device may be a first entity as described in the first aspect, or a device included in the first entity, such as a chip; or, the communication device may be a second entity as described in the second aspect, or a device included in the second entity, such as a chip; or, the communication device may be a third entity as described in the third aspect, or a device included in the third entity, such as a chip.

[0017] In some possible designs, the communication device also includes a memory for storing configuration files of computer instructions and / or logic circuits. Optionally, the memory is integrated with the processor, or the memory is independent of the processor.

[0018] In one possible design, the communication device also includes a communication interface for inputting and / or outputting signals.

[0019] In some possible designs, the communication interface is an interface circuit used to read and write computer instructions. For example, the interface circuit is used to receive computer execution instructions (which are stored in memory and may be read directly from memory or may be transmitted through other devices) and transmit them to the processor.

[0020] In some possible designs, this communication interface is used to communicate with modules outside the communication device.

[0021] In some possible designs, the communication device can be a chip system. When the communication device is a chip system, the chip system may include chips, or it may contain chips and other discrete components.

[0022] A sixth aspect provides a communication device, comprising: a logic circuit and an interface circuit; the interface circuit being used for inputting information and / or outputting information; the logic circuit being used to execute the method described in any of the preceding aspects, processing the input information and / or generating output information. The communication device may be a first entity as described in the first aspect, or a device included in the first entity, such as a chip; or, the communication device may be a second entity as described in the second aspect, or a device included in the second entity, such as a chip; or, the communication device may be a third entity as described in the third aspect, or a device included in the third entity, such as a chip.

[0023] In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the method described in any of the preceding aspects to be performed.

[0024] Eighthly, a computer program product is provided that, when executed by a processor, causes the method described in any of the preceding aspects to be performed.

[0025] It is understood that when the communication device provided by any of the fourth to sixth aspects is a chip, the above-mentioned sending action / function can be understood as output information, and the above-mentioned receiving action / function can be understood as input information.

[0026] Ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, the communication system comprising a first entity of the first aspect, a second entity of the second aspect, and a third entity of the third aspect.

[0027] The technical effects of any of the design methods in aspects four through six 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

[0028] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the communication system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0029] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the communication device 200 provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0030] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an example of the communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0031] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the process by which the PDCP transmitting entity instructs the RLC transmitting entity to perform blind retransmission of the first PDU according to an embodiment of this application;

[0032] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the process by which the PDCP sending entity sends the remaining time to the RLC sending entity according to an embodiment of this application;

[0033] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the process by which the PDCP sending entity instructs the RLC sending entity to perform enhanced polling on the first PDU according to an embodiment of this application;

[0034] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the process by which the PDCP sending entity sends the remaining time to the RLC sending entity according to an embodiment of this application;

[0035] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the existing discard timer configuration;

[0036] Figure 9 shows a schematic diagram of the format of PDCP controlling PDU;

[0037] Figure 10 shows a schematic diagram of the RLC control PDU format;

[0038] Figure 11 shows a schematic diagram of the MAC CE format;

[0039] Figure 12 is a flowchart illustrating another example of the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0040] Figure 13 is a schematic flowchart of another example of the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0041] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of the pull mode sending window and receiving window provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0042] Figure 15 is a flowchart illustrating another example of the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0043] Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of the third instruction information provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0044] Figure 17 is a flowchart illustrating another example of the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0045] Figure 18 is a flowchart illustrating another example of the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0046] Figure 19 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0047] In the description of this application, unless otherwise stated, " / " indicates that the objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B can mean A or B. "And / or" in this application is merely a description of the relationship between the 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, and B exists alone. A and B can be singular or plural.

[0048] In the description of this application, unless otherwise stated, "multiple" means two or more. "At least one of the following or similar expressions" refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or multiple items. For example, at least one of a, b and / or c can represent: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0049] Furthermore, to facilitate a clear description of the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, the terms "first" and "second" are used in the embodiments of this application to distinguish identical or similar items with substantially the same function and effect. Those skilled in the art will understand that the terms "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity or execution order, and the terms "first" and "second" are not necessarily different.

[0050] In the embodiments of this application, the terms "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate that something is an example, illustration, or description. Any embodiment or design that is described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of this application should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or design. Specifically, the use of terms such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a specific manner to facilitate understanding.

[0051] It is understood that the term "embodiment" used throughout the specification means that a specific feature, structure, or characteristic related to an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of this application. Therefore, various embodiments throughout the specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, these specific features, structures, or characteristics can be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It is understood that in the various embodiments of this application, the sequence number of each process does not imply the order of execution; the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0052] It is understood that in this application, "...when" and "if" both refer to the corresponding processing that will be carried out under certain objective circumstances, and are not limited to a specific time, nor do they require a judgment action to be performed during implementation, nor do they imply any other limitations.

[0053] It is understood that some optional features in the embodiments of this application can be implemented independently in certain scenarios without relying on other features, such as the current solution on which they are based, to solve the corresponding technical problems and achieve the corresponding effects. Alternatively, they can be combined with other features as needed in certain scenarios. Correspondingly, the apparatus given in the embodiments of this application can also implement these features or functions, which will not be elaborated here.

[0054] In this application, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other. In the various embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terminology and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be mutually referenced. Technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments based on their inherent logical relationships. The following descriptions of the embodiments of this application do not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this application.

[0055] To facilitate the reader's understanding, the relevant technologies involved in the embodiments of this application will be briefly introduced below.

[0056] I. Modes supported by the RLC layer.

[0057] 1. Transparent mode (TM): After receiving the service data unit (SDU) / protocol data unit (PDU) from the upper / lower layer protocol entity, the corresponding sending / receiving RLC entity does not add / remove the RLCPDU header (RLC PDU header) and transmits it transparently to the lower / upper layer protocol entity.

[0058] 2. Unacknowledged mode (UM): After receiving the SDU / PDU from the upper / lower layer protocol entity, the corresponding sending / receiving RLC entity will choose whether to perform SDU segmentation / reassembly operations based on the SDU size and available resources. If segmentation / reassembly is not required, no RLC PDU header is added / removed, and the SDU is transparently transmitted to the lower / upper layer protocol entity. If segmentation / reassembly is required, an RLC PDU header will be added / removed, including the PDU's sequence number (SN), and SDU segmentation / reassembly will be performed based on the SN.

[0059] 3. Acknowledgement mode (AM mode): After the corresponding sending / receiving RLC entity receives the SDU / PDU from the upper / lower layer protocol entity, it will add / remove the RLC PDU header. The header includes the PDU's SN. It will then perform SDU segmentation / reassembly operations based on the SN and Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) operations based on sliding window technology.

[0060] In this embodiment of the application, based on the functional characteristics of different transmission modes, TM mode is mainly used to transmit signaling data related to initial access or broadcast / multicast; UM mode is mainly used for transmitting service data with high real-time requirements and low reliability requirements, such as voice and ordinary video services; AM mode is the acknowledgment mode, mainly used to transmit signaling and service data with high reliability requirements and low real-time requirements.

[0061] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system includes: a first entity, a second entity, and a third entity.

[0062] In one possible implementation, a first entity is used to send first information to a second entity. The second entity is used to receive the first information from the first entity and perform a first operation on the first PDU based on the first information. A third entity is used to send first instruction information to the second entity.

[0063] The first information is used by the second entity to perform a first operation on the first PDU. The first operation includes one or more of the following: blind retransmission, or enhanced polling.

[0064] The first instruction information is used to instruct the second entity to adjust the configuration of the discard timer.

[0065] Optionally, the first entity can be a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) transmitting entity, the second entity can be an RLC transmitting entity, and the third entity can be an RLC receiving entity. Alternatively, in other cases, the first, second, and third entities can be other devices, which are not limited in this embodiment.

[0066] The first entity involved in the embodiments of this application can be a module of an access network device or a module of a terminal device; the second entity involved in the embodiments of this application can be a module of an access network device or a module of a terminal device; the third entity involved in the embodiments of this application can be a module of an access network device or a module of a terminal device, and the embodiments of this application do not limit this.

[0067] Optionally, the terminal equipment involved in this application may be user equipment (UE), access terminal, terminal unit, user station, terminal station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, user terminal equipment (TE), mobile device, wireless communication device, terminal agent, tablet computer, handheld device with wireless communication function, computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, vehicle-mounted device, vehicle-mounted communication module, wearable device, or terminal device in a 5G network or a public land mobile network (PLMN) evolved after 5G. The access terminal may be a cellular phone, cordless phone, session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld device with wireless communication function, computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, vehicle-mounted device, drone, robot, point of sale (POS) machine, customer-premises equipment (CPE), or wearable device, virtual reality (VR) device. Wireless terminals can be categorized into various types, including VR (Augmented Reality) terminal devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, self-driving, remote medical, smart grid, transportation safety, smart city, and smart home. Alternatively, a terminal can be a communication-enabled terminal within the Internet of Things (IoT), such as a V2X terminal (e.g., vehicle-to-everything (V2X) terminal, a D2D communication terminal, or an M2M communication terminal. Terminals can be mobile or fixed. Furthermore, this application does not limit the device form of the terminal; the apparatus used to implement the terminal device's function can be the terminal device itself, or it can be an apparatus capable of supporting the terminal device in implementing that function, such as a chip system. This apparatus can be installed in the terminal device or used in conjunction with the terminal device. In this application, the chip system can consist of chips or include chips and other discrete components.

[0068] Optionally, the access network equipment involved in this application can be an evolved base station (NodeB, eNB, or e-NodeB) in a long-term evolution (LTE) system or an enhanced LTE (LTE-A) system, such as a traditional macro base station (eNB) and a micro base station (eNB) in a heterogeneous network scenario. Alternatively, it can include a next-generation node B (gNB) in a new radio (NR) system. Alternatively, it can include a transmission reception point (TRP), a home base station (e.g., a home evolved NodeB, or a home Node B, HNB), a base band unit (BBU), a base band pool (BBU pool), or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (AP), etc. Alternatively, it can include base stations in non-terrestrial networks (NTNs), i.e., those deployed on flying platforms or satellites. In NTNs, access network devices can act as Layer 1 (L1) relays, base stations, or integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes. Alternatively, access network devices can be devices that implement base station functions in IoT, such as those implementing base station functions in drone communication, V2X, D2D, or machine-to-machine (M2M) communication.

[0069] In some possible scenarios, access network equipment can also be modules or units capable of implementing some of the functions of a base station. For example, the first network device can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU), etc. The CU and DU can be set up separately or included in the same network element, such as in a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in radio equipment or radio units, such as in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0070] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meaning. For example, an access network device can be a network device or a module of a network device in an Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) system. In an ORAN system, CU can also be called open (O)-CU, DU can also be called O-DU, CU-CP can also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP can also be called O-CU-UP, and RU can also be called O-RU. Any of the units among CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented through a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0071] Optionally, the base station in the embodiments of this application may include various forms of base stations, such as: macro base station, micro base station (also known as small station), relay station, access point, home base station, TRP, transmitting point (TP), mobile switching center, etc., and the embodiments of this application do not specifically limit them.

[0072] Optionally, the user plane function network element involved in this application can be a UPF network element of the 5G communication architecture, or a network element with user plane function network element function in other communication systems. The session management function network element involved in this application can be an SMF network element of the 5G communication architecture, or a network element with session management function network element function in other communication systems. This application does not limit this.

[0073] The functions of the first, second, and third entities involved in this application can be implemented by the communication device 200 shown in FIG2. FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the communication device 200 provided in an embodiment of this application. The communication device 200 includes one or more processors 201, a communication line 202, and at least one communication interface (FIG2 is only an example illustrating the inclusion of a communication interface 204 and a processor 201), and optionally may also include a memory 203.

[0074] The processor 201 may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits used to control the execution of the program of the present application.

[0075] The communication line 202 may include a path for connecting different components.

[0076] The communication interface 204 can be a transceiver module used to communicate with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, RAN, wireless local area networks (WLAN), etc. For example, the transceiver module can be a transceiver or similar device. Optionally, the communication interface 204 can also be a transceiver circuit located within the processor 201, used to implement the processor's signal input and signal output.

[0077] The memory 203 can be a device with storage functionality. For example, it can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device capable of storing static information and instructions; random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device capable of storing information and instructions; electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM); compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage; optical disc storage (including compressed optical discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital universal optical discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.); magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices; or any other medium capable of carrying or storing desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and accessible by a computer, but not limited to these. The memory can exist independently and be connected to the processor via communication line 202. The memory can also be integrated with the processor.

[0078] The memory 203 stores computer execution instructions for implementing the scheme of this application, and its execution is controlled by the processor 201. The processor 201 executes the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 203, thereby implementing the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0079] Alternatively, in this embodiment, the processor 201 may execute the processing-related functions of the communication method provided in the following embodiments of this application, and the communication interface 204 may be responsible for communicating with other devices or communication networks. This embodiment does not specifically limit this.

[0080] Optionally, the computer execution instructions in the embodiments of this application may also be referred to as application code, and the embodiments of this application do not specifically limit this.

[0081] In a specific implementation, as one example, processor 201 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG2.

[0082] In a specific implementation, as one embodiment, the communication device 200 may include multiple processors, such as processors 207 and 201 in FIG. 2. Each of these processors may be a single-core processor or a multi-core processor. The processors here may include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following: a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a microcontroller unit (MCU), or an artificial intelligence processor, etc., and various computing devices that run software. Each computing device may include one or more cores for executing software instructions to perform calculations or processing.

[0083] In a specific implementation, as one embodiment, the communication device 200 may further include an output device 205 and an input device 206. The output device 205 communicates with the processor 201 and can display information in various ways. For example, the output device 205 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light-emitting diode (LED) display device, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device, or a projector, etc. The input device 206 communicates with the processor 201 and can receive user input in various ways. For example, the input device 206 may be a mouse, keyboard, touchscreen device, or sensing device, etc.

[0084] The aforementioned communication device 200 may sometimes be referred to as a communication device, which can be a general-purpose device or a special-purpose device. For example, the communication device 200 may be a desktop computer, a portable computer, a web server, a handheld computer (PDA), a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless terminal device, an embedded device, or a device with a similar structure to that shown in Figure 2. The embodiments of this application do not limit the type of communication device 200.

[0085] Furthermore, the composition shown in Figure 2 does not constitute a limitation on the communication device. In addition to the components shown in Figure 2, the communication device may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or have different component arrangements.

[0086] The communication method provided in the embodiments of this application will now be described with reference to the communication system shown in Figure 3.

[0087] It should be noted that in the following embodiments of this application, the message names, parameter names, or information names between network elements are just examples. Other names may also be used in other embodiments. The communication method provided in this application does not specifically limit these names.

[0088] It is understood that in the embodiments of this application, each network element can execute some or all of the steps in the embodiments of this application. These steps or operations are merely examples, and the embodiments of this application can also perform other operations or variations of various operations. Furthermore, the steps can be executed in different orders as presented in the embodiments of this application, and it is not necessary to execute all the operations in the embodiments of this application.

[0089] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an example of the communication method provided in this application embodiment. This method can be applied to the communication system shown in Figure 1, and is illustrated using the interaction of a first entity, a second entity, and a third entity as an example. Of course, the entity executing the action of the first entity in this method can also be a device / module within the first entity, such as a chip, processor, or processing unit within the first entity; the entity executing the action of the second entity in this method can also be a device / module within the second entity, such as a chip, processor, or processing unit within the second entity; the entity executing the action of the third entity in this method can also be a device / module within the third entity, such as a chip, processor, or processing unit within the third entity. This application embodiment does not specifically limit this. In this application embodiment, the processing performed by a single executing entity (e.g., the processing performed by the first entity, the second entity, and the third entity) can also be divided into multiple executing entities, which can be logically and / or physically separated. For example, as shown in Figure 3, method 300 includes at least one of the following steps:

[0090] S310, the first entity sends first information to the second entity. Correspondingly, the second entity receives the first information from the first entity.

[0091] In this embodiment, the first information is used by the second entity to perform a first operation on the first PDU. The first operation includes one or more of the following: blind retransmission, or enhanced polling. The two first operations will be described in detail below.

[0092] The first operation is blind retransmission:

[0093] Option 1:

[0094] In this embodiment of the application, the first entity sends first information to the second entity, including: when a first condition is met, the first entity sends first information to the second entity, and the first information instructs the second entity to perform blind retransmission of the first PDU.

[0095] The first condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is less than the first threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is equal to the first threshold.

[0096] Optionally, the first information may include one or more of the following: the sequence number SN corresponding to the first PDU, the first PDU, indication information for blind retransmission of the first PDU, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

[0097] Option 2:

[0098] In this embodiment of the application, the first information includes the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU. Optionally, the first information includes the first PDU, or, in other words, the first entity carries the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU when sending the first PDU to the second entity.

[0099] Alternatively, as one possible implementation, the first information includes indication information for blind retransmission of the first PDU. For example, when the first implementation sends the first PDU to the second entity, it carries the indication information for blind retransmission of the first PDU.

[0100] Alternatively, as a possible implementation, the first information includes the type of the first PDU, and the second entity can perform blind retransmission of the first PDU based on its type. For example, when the first entity sends the first PDU to the second entity, it categorizes the first PDU and sends the type information of the first PDU to the second entity. At the same time, it configures the second entity to perform blind retransmission based on the type of the PDU.

[0101] Alternatively, as a possible implementation, the second entity can be configured to perform blind retransmission of all PDUs according to the data radio bearer (DRB), or the second entity can be configured or instructed to perform blind retransmission of the first PDU in other ways. This application embodiment does not limit this.

[0102] The first operation is enhanced polling:

[0103] Option 1:

[0104] In this embodiment of the application, the first entity sends first information to the second entity, including: when a third condition is met, the first entity and the second entity send the first information, and the first information instructs the second entity to perform enhanced polling on the first PDU.

[0105] The third condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is less than the third threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is equal to the third threshold.

[0106] Optionally, the first information includes one or more of the following: the SN corresponding to the first PDU, the first PDU, indication information for enhanced polling of the first PDU, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

[0107] Option 2:

[0108] In this embodiment of the application, the first information includes the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU. Optionally, the first information includes the first PDU, or, in other words, the first entity carries the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU when sending the first PDU to the second entity.

[0109] S320, the second entity performs a first operation on the first PDU based on the first information.

[0110] For Scheme 1, where the first operation is blind retransmission, the second entity performs blind retransmission of the first PDU based on the first information.

[0111] For example, taking the first entity as the PDCP sending entity, the second entity as the RLC sending entity, and the third entity as the RLC receiving entity as an example, this implementation method is explained. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the process by which the PDCP sending entity instructs the RLC sending entity to perform blind retransmission of the first PDU according to an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 4, on the PDCP sending entity side, for each received PDU, a discard timer is started for the PDU, and the remaining time of the discard timer is used as the remaining time of the PDU transmission. A blind retransmission threshold is configured in the PDCP sending entity to initiate the blind retransmission operation of the PDU. When the following conditions occur, an indication message is sent to the corresponding RLC sending entity to perform a blind retransmission operation on the PDU:

[0112] remaining time <= blind retransmission threshold or remaining time < blind retransmission threshold

[0113] The indication information includes at least one of the following: the SN corresponding to the PDU, the PDU itself, blind retransmission indication, and remaining time.

[0114] For Scheme 2 where the first operation is blind retransmission, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes: the second entity determines a first duration based on the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU, the first duration begins when the second entity receives the first information, and the duration of the first duration is the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

[0115] In one possible implementation, the second entity can determine the first duration by starting a timer, or the second entity can determine the first duration in other ways, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0116] In this embodiment of the application, the second entity performs a first operation on the first PDU based on the first information, including: if the second condition is met, the second entity performs blind retransmission on the first PDU.

[0117] The second condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first duration is less than the second threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first duration is equal to the second threshold.

[0118] For example, taking the first entity as the PDCP sending entity, the second entity as the RLC sending entity, and the third entity as the RLC receiving entity as an example, this implementation method will be described. Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the process by which the PDCP sending entity sends the remaining time to the RLC sending entity according to an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 5, in the PDCP sending entity, for each PDU received, a discard timer is started according to the PDU, and the remaining time of the discard timer is used as the remaining time for the transmission of the PDU. The PDCP sending entity sends the PDU and the corresponding remaining time to the RLC sending entity. The RLC sending entity starts a timer according to the PDU, for example, Tx-timer 1, and configures the timeout of the timer as the remaining time. The RLC sending entity configures a blind retransmission threshold for initiating blind retransmission operation of the PDU. When the remaining time of the Tx-timer 1 timer is less than or equal to the blind retransmission threshold, a predetermined number of blind retransmissions are performed for the PDU.

[0119] For the examples shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5 above, the RLC sending entity will perform a predetermined number of blind retransmissions for the relevant PDU. Optionally, these blind retransmissions are performed within a certain time (e.g., remaining time); alternatively, these blind retransmissions are performed at equal time intervals between any two adjacent retransmissions within a certain time; alternatively, the time interval between any two adjacent retransmissions is greater than a predetermined time interval, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0120] In this scheme, the RLC sending entity performs a blind retransmission operation on the first PDU before its transmission timeout, based on the remaining time of the first PDU, which can improve the reliability of transmission.

[0121] For Scheme 1, where the first operation is enhanced polling, the second entity performs enhanced polling based on the first information.

[0122] Optionally, when the first entity is a terminal device, the communication method provided in this embodiment further includes: the access network device sending a first signaling message to the first entity. Correspondingly, the first entity receives the first signaling message from the access network device.

[0123] The first signaling is used to indicate the masking configuration information for enhanced polling. This masking configuration information may include one or more of the following: information enabling the masking configuration, or duration information corresponding to the masking configuration. For example, the first signaling may be radio resource control (RRC) signaling, or other signaling; this embodiment does not limit the specific type of signaling used.

[0124] Alternatively, the shielding configuration information for enhanced polling can also be predefined. For example, the duration corresponding to the shielding configuration can be predefined. This application embodiment does not limit this.

[0125] For example, taking the first entity as the PDCP sending entity, the second entity as the RLC sending entity, and the third entity as the RLC receiving entity as an example, this implementation method will be described. Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the process by which the PDCP sending entity instructs the RLC sending entity to perform enhanced polling on the first PDU according to an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 6, in the PDCP sending entity, for each received PDU, a discard timer is started according to the PDU, and the remaining timeout of the discard timer is used as the remaining time for the transmission of the PDU. A threshold for starting the enhanced polling operation is configured in the PDCP sending entity. When the following conditions occur, an indication message is sent to the RLC sending entity to start the enhanced polling operation.

[0126] The remaining time of the first PDU is less than or equal to the enhanced polling threshold or the remaining time. <enhanced pollingthreshold

[0127] The indication information includes at least one of the following: the SN corresponding to the PDU, the PDU itself, the enhanced polling operation indication, and the remaining time.

[0128] Additionally, to prevent other PDUs from meeting the second condition too frequently within a short period and triggering the enhanced polling operation too often, a blocking operation can be introduced when starting the enhanced polling operation of the first PDU. This blocking operation can be set to prevent other PDUs from triggering the enhanced polling operation again for a set period of time. This blocking operation can include at least one of the following:

[0129] Other PDUs can only trigger the enhanced polling operation again after the discard timer corresponding to the PDU that triggered the enhanced polling operation expires.

[0130] Alternatively, when a PDU triggers an enhanced polling operation, a masking timer is started, and other PDUs can only trigger the enhanced polling operation again after the masking timer expires.

[0131] For Scheme 2 where the first operation is enhanced polling, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes: the second entity determines the first duration based on the remaining duration corresponding to the first PDU. For a description of the first duration, please refer to Scheme 2 where the first operation is blind retransmission. This application embodiment will not repeat the description here.

[0132] In this embodiment of the application, the second entity performs a first operation on the first PDU based on the first information, including: satisfying the fourth condition, the second entity performs enhanced polling on the first PDU.

[0133] The fourth condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first duration is less than the fourth threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first duration is equal to the fourth threshold.

[0134] Optionally, when the second entity is a terminal device-side second entity, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes: the access network device sending a second signaling to the second entity. Correspondingly, the second entity receives the second signaling from the access network device.

[0135] The second signaling is used to indicate the masking configuration information for enhanced polling. This masking configuration information may include one or more of the following: information enabling the masking configuration, or duration information corresponding to the masking configuration. For example, the second signaling may be RRC signaling, or other signaling; this embodiment does not limit the specific type of signaling used.

[0136] Alternatively, the shielding configuration information for enhanced polling can also be predefined. For example, the duration corresponding to the shielding configuration can be predefined. This application embodiment does not limit this.

[0137] For example, taking the first entity as the PDCP sending entity, the second entity as the RLC sending entity, and the third entity as the RLC receiving entity as an example, this implementation method will be described. Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the process by which the PDCP sending entity sends the remaining time to the RLC sending entity according to an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 7, in the PDCP sending entity, for each PDU received, a discard timer is started according to the PDU, and the remaining time of the discard timer is used as the remaining time for the transmission of the PDU. The PDCP sending entity sends the PDU and the corresponding remaining time to the RLC sending entity. The RLC sending entity starts a timer Tx-timer 2 (transmission timer) according to the PDU, and configures the timeout of the timer as the remaining time. An enhanced polling threshold is configured in the RLC sending entity to start the enhanced polling operation. When the remaining time of the Tx-timer 2 timer of a certain PDU is less than or equal to the enhanced polling threshold, the enhanced polling operation is started, and enhanced polling indication information is sent to the RLC receiving entity.

[0138] To prevent other PDUs from meeting the fourth condition too frequently within a short period and triggering the enhanced polling operation too often, a blocking operation can be introduced when initiating the enhanced polling operation. This blocking operation can be set to prevent other PDUs from triggering the enhanced polling operation again for a set period of time. This blocking operation can include at least one of the following:

[0139] Other PDUs can only trigger the enhanced polling operation again after the Tx-timer 2 timer corresponding to the PDU that triggered the enhanced polling operation expires.

[0140] When a PDU triggers an enhanced polling operation, a mask timer is started. Other PDUs can only trigger the enhanced polling operation again after this mask timer expires. The mask timer is either predefined or configured via an RRC message.

[0141] During a shielding operation, such as when a shielding timer is running, if a PDU meets the conditions for triggering enhanced polling, the associated timer can be reset and / or restarted.

[0142] For the examples shown in Figure 6 and Figure 7 above, the RLC sending entity initiates an enhanced polling operation, sending enhanced polling indication information to the RLC receiving entity. Optionally, this enhanced polling indication information is sent within a certain time (e.g., remaining time); alternatively, this enhanced polling indication information is sent at equal time intervals between any two adjacent transmissions within a certain time; alternatively, the time interval between any two adjacent transmissions of this enhanced polling indication information is greater than a predetermined time interval. Optionally, the content of the enhanced polling indication information can be the same as or different from that of the traditional polling indication, and this embodiment of the application does not limit this.

[0143] In this embodiment of the application, the RLC sending entity may run both enhanced polling and normal polling mechanisms at the same time. The main difference between the two is that the triggering reasons are different, but the functions and effects are the same or similar. Therefore, it is necessary to coordinate the two polling mechanisms.

[0144] Optionally, when the second entity is a terminal device, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes: the access network device sending a third signaling to the second entity. Correspondingly, the second entity receives the third signaling from the access network device.

[0145] The third signaling is used to indicate the shielding configuration information for polling. The shielding configuration information for polling includes one or more of the following: enabling the shielding configuration information for enhanced polling, the duration corresponding to the enhanced polling shielding configuration, enabling the information for the traditional polling shielding configuration, or the duration corresponding to the traditional polling shielding configuration.

[0146] Optionally, the third signaling can be RRC signaling, or the third signaling can be other signaling, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0147] Alternatively, as a possible implementation, the duration corresponding to the polling masking configuration can be enhanced, and / or the duration corresponding to the traditional polling masking configuration can be predefined, which is not limited in this application embodiment.

[0148] For example, when a normal polling operation is triggered (i.e., the RLC transmitting entity sends a polling indication to the RLC receiving entity), a masking timer is started. This masking operation applies to normal polling and / or enhanced polling. That is, other PDUs can only trigger enhanced polling operations and / or trigger the next normal polling operation, and / or start (if the timer is not running) and / or restart (if the timer is running) the associated t-PollRetransmit timer, after the masking timer expires. Optionally, the duration of the masking timer is predefined; or, the duration of the masking timer is configured via RRC signaling, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0149] For example, when an enhanced polling operation is triggered (i.e., the RLC transmitting entity sends a polling indication to the RLC receiving entity), a masking timer is started. This masking operation applies to normal polling and / or enhanced polling, meaning that the next normal polling operation and / or other PDUs can only be triggered after the masking timer expires. Optionally, the duration of the masking timer is predefined; or, the duration of the masking timer is configured via RRC signaling, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0150] For example, when the enhanced polling operation is triggered, the t-PollRetransmit timer associated with the start (if the timer t-PollRetransmit is not running) and / or restart (if the timer t-PollRetransmit is running) is activated.

[0151] Optionally, the aforementioned masking timer can be a new timer, or it can be based on the existing timer t-PollRetransmit and introduce a new timing threshold (timeout threshold). That is, t-PollRetransmit corresponds to two timing thresholds, one for the aforementioned masking operation and the other for the normal polling operation.

[0152] Optionally, during a masking operation, such as during the operation of a masking timer, if a PDU meets the conditions for triggering enhanced polling, the triggering event is recorded, and the enhanced polling operation can be triggered as soon as possible after the masking timer expires.

[0153] Optionally, during a masking operation, such as while the masking timer is running, if normal polling is triggered, start (if the timer is not running) and / or restart (if the timer is running) the associated t-PollRetransmit timer.

[0154] Optionally, if normal polling is triggered during the shielding operation, such as during the shielding timer, the triggering event is recorded, and the normal polling operation can be triggered as soon as possible after the shielding timer expires.

[0155] Optionally, during the masking operation, such as during the masking timer's operation, if the t-PollRetransmit timer times out, the timeout event is recorded, and the normal polling operation can be triggered as soon as possible after the masking timer times out.

[0156] Optionally, triggering the enhanced polling operation includes at least one or more of the following operations: including a poll instruction message in an RLC PDU (such as an AMD PDU) (setting the poll instruction bit to "1" or "0"), setting the status variable PDU_WITHOUT_POLL to 0; setting the status variable BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL to 0; and setting the status variable POLL_SN to the highest SN submitted to the lower-level RLCPDU (such as an AMD PDU).

[0157] Optionally, the masking timer is stopped when the Status report received by the RLC sending entity includes ACK or NACK confirmation information for an RLC PDU with SN equal to POLL_SN.

[0158] In one possible implementation, after the second entity activates the blind retransmission operation, it can also initiate polling based on the number of blind retransmissions each time the blind retransmission operation is triggered. Optionally, this polling can be traditional polling or enhanced polling, and this embodiment of the application does not limit it in this way.

[0159] That is, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes: when the fifth condition is met, the second entity polls the first PDU.

[0160] The fifth condition includes one or more of the following: the number of times the second entity performs blind retransmission of the first PDU is greater than the fifth threshold, or the number of times the second entity performs blind retransmission of the first PDU is equal to the fifth threshold.

[0161] For example, the second entity can set a blind retransmission counter. Each time a blind retransmission operation is triggered, the blind retransmission count counter is restarted (including resetting and / or starting). The blind retransmission count counter is incremented by 1 for each blind retransmission. When the number of blind retransmissions is greater than or equal to a fifth threshold, a polling operation is triggered. Furthermore, when the third entity receives a status report and confirms that the status of the PDU being blindly retransmitted is ACK (acknowledgment of receipt), the blind retransmission operation of that PDU is stopped.

[0162] In this scheme, the second entity can perform enhanced polling operations in a timely manner based on the remaining duration of the first PDU. Before the transmission of the first PDU times out, the third entity is triggered to report the status, thereby triggering retransmission and improving the reliability of transmission.

[0163] It should be noted that in the embodiments of this application, the first threshold, the second threshold, the third threshold, the fourth threshold, and the fifth threshold may be different from each other, or at least two of the first threshold, the second threshold, the third threshold, the fourth threshold, and the fifth threshold may be the same. For example, the first threshold and the second threshold may be the same, or the third threshold and the fourth threshold may be the same. The embodiments of this application do not limit this.

[0164] It should be noted that, for example, the second entity receives an SDU from the first entity. The second entity can process the SDU to obtain a PDU, and then send the PDU to the third entity. For ease of description, this application embodiment is described with both the sent and received items being PDUs. However, the reader should understand that, for example, the second entity receives an SDU from the first entity, and the second entity sends a PDU to the third entity. This application embodiment is described uniformly here, and will not be repeated below.

[0165] For example, Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of an existing discard timer. As shown in Figure 8, taking the second entity as the RLC transmitting entity and the third entity as the RLC receiving entity as an example, in the existing scheme, in the method for the RLC receiving entity to identify PDU transmission delay exceeding the budget, the configuration of the receive discard timer t-RxDiscard is as follows:

[0166] In one possible scenario, if the timeout duration is set unreasonably and is too long, as shown in Case 1 of Figure 8, the RLC receiving entity may delay identification, deeming certain PDUs as having exceeded their transmission delay budget (t-RxDiscard timer expired) and discarding them as useless packets. Simultaneously, it sends a status report to the RLC sending entity, which will then discard the PDU due to the timeout. Therefore, it can be detected that the RLC receiving and sending entities have inconsistent results when identifying PDUs with excessive transmission delays. This discrepancy arises because the RLC receiving entity's receive discard timer is set too long. Therefore, it is necessary for the RLC sending entity to dynamically adjust the configuration information of the RLC receiving entity's receive discard timer based on this inconsistency detection result.

[0167] In another possible scenario, if the timeout duration is set unreasonably and is too short, as shown in Case 2 of Figure 8, the RLC receiving entity may prematurely identify certain PDUs as exceeding the transmission delay budget (t-RxDiscard timer expires) and discard them as useless packets, even if the PDU has not yet been discarded by the RLC sending entity due to the discard timer expires, and continues to be transmitted. The RLC receiving entity can measure statistics on the PDUs discarded due to exceeding the transmission delay budget, such as the number per unit time, or the percentage of PDUs discarded due to exceeding the transmission delay budget per unit time, such as the ratio of PDUs discarded due to exceeding the transmission delay budget to PDUs that were successfully received, or the ratio of PDUs discarded due to exceeding the transmission delay budget to PDUs that were successfully received plus PDUs that were partially received but ultimately failed. When the proportion exceeds a certain predefined or pre-configured threshold (standard predefined or configured via RRC), the RLC receiving entity can send an indication message of "timeout duration set too short" to the RLC sending entity via an RLC Control PDU. It can also send statistical information about PDUs dropped due to transmission delay exceeding the budget, obtained from the aforementioned measurements, to the RLC sending entity. For example, the "timeout duration set too short" indication message can be reported to the RLC sending entity via a Status report. This can be achieved by redefining one or more reserved R bits in the existing RLC standard's Status report, or by including new fields, to report the "timeout duration set too short" indication message and / or statistical information, or by defining a new RLC Control PDU to send this indication message.

[0168] Furthermore, changes in wireless interface conditions and dynamic activation / deactivation of different transmission mechanisms, such as dynamic activation / deactivation of blind retransmission mechanisms, can also affect transmission performance and latency. Therefore, it is necessary for the RLC transmitting entity to dynamically adjust the configuration information of the RLC receiving entity's discard timer.

[0169] To enable the RLC transmitting entity to dynamically configure the receive discard timer configuration information of the RLC receiving entity, optionally, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes:

[0170] S330, the second entity sends a first instruction message to the third entity. Correspondingly, the third entity receives the first instruction message from the second entity.

[0171] In this embodiment of the application, the first indication information is used to indicate the adjusted configuration of the discard timer of the second entity. Optionally, the first indication information includes the duration corresponding to the adjusted discard timer.

[0172] In one possible implementation, the first indication information is carried in a newly added PDCP control PDU. Figure 9 shows a schematic diagram of the PDCP control PDU format. As shown in Figure 9, the PDCP control PDU includes the following information:

[0173] D / C: Data or control PDU indication. In this embodiment, this bit information can be set to 0 to indicate that the PDU is a control PDU. Alternatively, this bit information can be set to 1 to indicate that the PDU is a control PDU; this embodiment does not limit the choice.

[0174] PDU Type: The PDU type indicates the configuration information used by this PDCP Control PDU to dynamically adjust the RLC receive discard timer corresponding to the PDCP transmitting entity belonging to the same DRB.

[0175] As one possible implementation, based on the current standard definition of the PUD Type field, as shown in Table 1 below, one of the Reserved bits 011 to 111 is selected to indicate the configuration information used by the PDU to dynamically adjust the RLC receive discard timer.

[0176] Table 1

[0177] Receive Discard Timer Duration RxDiscard time: The timeout duration of the RLC receive discard timer will be adjusted to the duration indicated by this field.

[0178] Alternatively, this field can be configured using the following two methods:

[0179] Absolute time: The unit can be ms (milliseconds), s (seconds), m (minutes), etc., or event units such as time slots and symbols related to the radio frame definition. The length is 0 to 127 units of duration, or further extended to the number of bytes.

[0180] Time Index: The correspondence between the index and the actual duration is defined by a table, as shown in Table 2 below.

[0181] Table 2

[0182] In another possible implementation, the first instruction information is carried in a newly added RLC control PDU. Figure 10 shows a schematic diagram of the RLC control PDU format. As shown in Figure 10, the RLC control PDU includes the following information:

[0183] D / C: Data or control PDU indication. In this embodiment, this bit information can be set to 0 to indicate that the PDU is a control PDU. Alternatively, this bit information can be set to 1 to indicate that the PDU is a control PDU. This embodiment does not limit the choice.

[0184] CPT: Control PDU type, used to indicate the configuration information of the receive discard timer of the RLC receiving entity.

[0185] As one possible implementation, based on the current standard definition of the CPT field, as shown in Table 3 below, one of the 001 to 111 of the Reserved field is selected to indicate that the PDU is used to dynamically adjust the RLC receive discard timer configuration information.

[0186] Table 3

[0187] RxDiscard time: The timeout duration of the RLC receive discard timer will be adjusted to the duration indicated by this field. For details, please refer to the description above, which will not be repeated here.

[0188] In another possible implementation, the first indication information is carried in the MAC-CE control signaling. Figure 11 shows a schematic diagram of the MAC CE format. As shown in Figure 11, the MAC CE includes the following information:

[0189] LCID: Used to indicate the type of the MAC CE. The length of the LCID can also include 1 byte or 2 bytes of eLCID (see 3GPP 38.321 protocol for details); based on the current standard definition, a Reserved value can be selected to indicate the MAC CE used to dynamically adjust the RLC receive discard timer configuration information.

[0190] Real LCID: Logical Channel Identifier, used to identify the RLC entity to which this configuration information applies. The length may also include a 1-byte or 2-byte eLCID (see 3GPP 38.321 protocol for details).

[0191] RxDiscard time: The timeout duration of the RLC receive discard timer will be adjusted to the duration indicated by this field. For details, please refer to the description above, which will not be repeated here.

[0192] Alternatively, as one possible implementation, the first instruction information may be carried by other information, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

[0193] Optionally, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes:

[0194] S340, the third entity receives the first PDU according to the adjusted discard timer configuration.

[0195] In this scheme, the RLC transmitting entity can dynamically adjust the configuration information of the RLC receiving entity's discard timer, which can minimize or avoid inconsistencies between the RLC transmitting and receiving entities when identifying PDUs with transmission delays exceeding the budget. On the one hand, this improves the real-time performance of transmission; on the other hand, it accurately identifies PDUs with transmission delays exceeding the budget, reducing unnecessary transmissions.

[0196] It should be understood that steps S330 and / or S340 can constitute another example of the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application, as shown in FIG12. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S310 and / or S320. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S330 and / or S340. Optionally, the communication method may further include the following steps S370 and / or S380 and / or S390. Optionally, the communication method may further include the following steps S3100 and / or S3110 and / or S3120 and / or S3130. Optionally, the communication method may further include the following steps S3140 and / or S3150.

[0197] In existing schemes, when the wireless transmission environment changes, or the RLC receiver detects a high number or proportion of PDUs dropped due to transmission delay exceeding the budget, the current wireless transmission environment is considered poor, or vice versa. Alternatively, the RLC receiver may detect a poor wireless transmission environment through other methods, such as a high PER (Percentage Error Rate) measured by the receiver, or vice versa. Therefore, a scheme that dynamically adjusts the activation or deactivation of blind retransmissions or enhances polling is needed.

[0198] Optionally, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes:

[0199] S350, the third entity sends a second instruction message to the second entity. Correspondingly, the second entity receives the second instruction message from the third entity.

[0200] In this embodiment of the application, the second indication information is used to indicate the activation of the second entity or the deactivation of the first operation; optionally, the second indication information may indicate the adjusted relevant parameters, such as the number of blind retransmissions.

[0201] Optionally, the second indication information can be carried in a newly added field in the status report, or in a reserved field. Optionally, the second indication information can be carried in a newly added PDCP control PDU, as shown in Figure 9, and will not be described again here. Optionally, the second indication information can be carried in a newly added RLC control PDU, as shown in Figure 10, and will not be described again here. Optionally, the second indication information can be carried in MAC-CE control signaling, as shown in Figure 11, and will not be described again here. Alternatively, the second indication information can be carried in other information, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0202] Optionally, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes:

[0203] S360, the second entity is activated according to the second instruction information, or deactivates the first operation.

[0204] In this scheme, the RLC receiver can dynamically activate / deactivate blind retransmission and / or enhanced polling mechanisms, and / or adjust relevant parameters, thereby dynamically adapting to the dynamically changing wireless transmission environment. When the wireless transmission environment deteriorates, activating blind retransmission and / or enhanced polling mechanisms, and / or adjusting relevant parameters, increases retransmission frequency and improves transmission reliability. Conversely, when the wireless transmission environment improves, deactivating blind retransmission and / or enhanced polling mechanisms, and / or adjusting relevant parameters, reduces unnecessary retransmissions and improves system transmission efficiency.

[0205] It should be understood that steps S350 and / or S360 can constitute another example of the communication method provided in this application embodiment, as shown in FIG13. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S310 and / or S320. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S330 and / or S340. Optionally, the communication method may further include the following steps S370 and / or S380 and / or S390. Optionally, the communication method may further include the following steps S3100 and / or S3110 and / or S3120 and / or S3130. Optionally, the communication method may further include the following steps S3140 and / or S3150.

[0206] In existing solutions, push-mode sending and receiving windows introduce unnecessary transmission delays, making it impossible for the RLC receiving entity to accurately discard PDUs with over-budget transmission delays based on the actual remaining time. Therefore, this application provides a novel mechanism for maintaining sending and receiving windows, which enables more efficient data transmission. This mechanism can also be called pull-mode sending and receiving windows, or HM mode; this application does not limit the specific name of this mechanism.

[0207] Optionally, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes:

[0208] S370, based on receiving the first PDU from the first entity, the second entity determines the SN of the first PDU.

[0209] S380, the second entity determines the transmission window based on the SN of the first PDU.

[0210] Wherein, at least one PDU within the sending window satisfies the first rule, the first rule including:

[0211] The SN of the PDU within the sending window is greater than, and / or equal to, the first difference; and the SN of the PDU within the sending window is less than the first variable.

[0212] Wherein, the first difference is the difference between the first variable and the first constant, the first variable is an integer greater than or equal to 0, the first variable is the SN of the first PDU incremented by 1, and the first constant is the size of the sending window.

[0213] Among them, the PDUs sent outside the window satisfy the second rule, which includes:

[0214] The SN of the PDU sent outside the window is less than the first difference.

[0215] Optionally, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes: the second entity updates the third variable to the SN of the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs that have not been discarded in the sending window, and the third variable is equal to the SN of the next PDU waiting for confirmation message.

[0216] Optionally, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes:

[0217] S390, the third entity determines the receiving window for receiving the first PDU based on the SN of the first PDU.

[0218] If the SN of the first PDU is greater than, and / or equal to, the second variable is updated to the SN of the first PDU by 1, and / or the second variable is updated to the SN of the first PDU.

[0219] The receiving window for receiving the first PDU satisfies the third rule, which includes: the SN of the PDU within the receiving window is greater than, and / or equal to, the second difference; and the SN of the PDU within the receiving window is less than the second variable.

[0220] The second difference is the difference between the second variable and the second constant. The second variable is an integer greater than or equal to 0. The second variable is the SN of the PDU with the largest SN in the receiving window plus 1. The second constant is the size of the receiving window.

[0221] If the SN of the first PDU is less than that of the second variable, then the first PDU is placed within the receiving window, i.e., the receiving window is not moved.

[0222] Among them, the PDUs outside the receiving window satisfy the fourth rule, which includes: the SN of the PDUs outside the receiving window is less than the second difference.

[0223] Optionally, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes:

[0224] The third entity updates the fourth variable to the SN of the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs waiting to be reassembled in the receiving window, and the fourth variable is equal to the value of the earliest SN of the reassembled PDU.

[0225] For example, Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of the pull mode sending window and receiving window provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 14, the explanation will be based on the example of the second entity being the RLC sending entity and the third entity being the RLC receiving entity.

[0226] In this example, the RLC sending entity maintains a sending window based on the pull window model according to the following rules:

[0227] A SN is within the transmission window, that is, it satisfies the first rule: TX_Next - HM_Window_Size <= SN < TX_Next. Here, TX_Next - HM_Window_Size is the above-mentioned first difference, TX_Next is the above-mentioned first variable, and HM_Window_Size is the above-mentioned first constant. Otherwise, a SN is outside the transmission window, that is, it satisfies the second rule.

[0228] Here, TX_Next: The state variable of the RLC transmission entity. This state variable stores the value of the SN to be assigned to the next newly generated PDU and serves as the upper boundary of the transmission window. It is initially set to 0 and is updated when the RLC transmission entity constructs a PDU with SN = TX_Next and containing the RLC SDU or the last segment of the RLC SDU.

[0229] Here, HM_Window_Size is a constant. Optionally, this constant is shared by each RLC transmission entity and each RLC reception entity. The size of this constant depends on the length of the SN used.

[0230] When the RLC transmission entity receives a new SDU from the upper layer (such as the PDCP layer):

[0231] In this example, the RLC transmission entity sets the SN of the SDU to TX - Next, constructs a PDU, and at the same time increments TX_Next by 1, moves the transmission window, and sends the PDU through the transmission window mechanism, including sending it to the lower layer (such as the MAC layer).

[0232] In this example, the RLC transmission entity stops transmission or retransmits, and / or discards any PDU with SN outside the transmission window.

[0233] In this example, if TX_Next_Ack, that is, the third variable, is outside the transmission window, then update TX_Next_Ack to the SN corresponding to the PDU with the earliest SN among the PDUs waiting for acknowledgment in the transmission window.

[0234] Here, TX_Next_Ack: This state variable stores the value of the SN of the next RLC SDU that needs to be correctly acknowledged in sequence. It is initially set to 0 and is updated when the RLC transmission entity receives a correct acknowledgment of the RLC SDU with SN = TX_Next_Ack.

[0235] In this example, the RLC reception entity maintains a reception window based on the pull window model according to the following rules:

[0236] A SN is within the receive window, that is, it satisfies the third rule: RX_Next_Highest - HM_Window_Size <= SN < RX_Next_Highest. Among them, RX_Next_Highest - HM_Window_Size is the second difference value mentioned above, RX_Next_Highest is the second variable mentioned above, and HM_Window_Size is the second constant mentioned above.

[0237] Otherwise, a SN is outside the receive window, that is, it satisfies the fourth rule.

[0238] Among them, RX_Next_Highest: The status variable of the RLC receive entity, which stores the value after the SN of the UMD PDU with the highest SN in the received UMD PDUs. It serves as the upper boundary of the reordering window. It is initially set to 0.

[0239] When the RLC receive entity receives a PDU from the lower layer (such as the MAC layer):

[0240] If the SN corresponding to the PDU is greater than RX_Next_Highest, RX_Next_Highest is incremented by 1 and the receive window is moved.

[0241] If RX_Next_Reassembly, that is, the fourth variable, is outside the receive window, update RX_Next_Reassembly to the SN corresponding to the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs waiting for reordering in the receive window, stop requesting retransmission, and / or discard any PDU with an SN outside the receive window.

[0242] Among them, RX_Next_Reassembly: This status variable stores the value of the earliest sequence number (SN) that is still considered for reordering in the receive window. It is initially set to 0.

[0243] In this scheme, the RLC transmit entity and the RLC receive entity respectively maintain a transmit window and a receive window based on the pull window model, and preferentially transmit newly arrived data packets, thereby reducing the transmission delay.

[0244] It should be understood that steps S370, and / or S380, and / or S390 can constitute another example of the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application, as shown in FIG15. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S310, and / or S320. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S330, and / or S340. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S350, and / or S360. Optionally, the communication method may further include the following steps S3100, and / or S3110, and / or S3120, and / or S3130. Optionally, the communication method may further include the following steps S3140, and / or S3150.

[0245] The following will explain the situation where the second entity discards the PDU.

[0246] In one possible implementation, the second entity can discard PDUs that exceed the latency budget. From the application layer perspective, data packets exceeding the transmission latency budget are considered useless due to being outdated. From the transport layer perspective, if these useless data packets can be identified based on the transmission latency budget, and their transmission can be discarded and terminated, the effectiveness and efficiency of the transmission network can be improved.

[0247] Optionally, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes:

[0248] S3100, the second entity discards the first PDU if the transmission duration of the first PDU exceeds the first duration.

[0249] For example, the first entity sends the first PDU and the corresponding remaining time to the second entity. The second entity starts a timer, namely Tx-timer 3 (transmission timer), and configures the timeout of this timer to the remaining time. When Tx-timer 3 times out, the PDU is considered a useless data packet because the transmission delay budget has been exhausted. It should be noted that, due to different functions, Tx-timer 3 can be the same timer as Tx-timer 1 or Tx-timer 2 mentioned above, or it can be a different timer. This embodiment of the application does not limit this.

[0250] Alternatively, for example, in the first entity, upon receiving a PDU, a discard timer is started, and the remaining time of the discard timer is used as the remaining time for the transmission of the PDU. When the timer expires and the remaining time is 0, the PDU is considered a useless data packet because the transmission delay budget has been exhausted.

[0251] Optionally, the first entity may send an indication message to the second entity, indicating that the first PDU is discarded by the first entity because the transmission duration exceeds the delay budget, and / or, the transmission is stopped or retransmitted.

[0252] In another possible implementation, the second entity can discard PDUs outside the aforementioned transmission window. When the second entity receives a new PDU and assembles it for transmission, it will move the transmission window, and PDUs removed from the window will be terminated / retransmitted and / or discarded.

[0253] Optionally, when the second entity discards useless data packets, it performs at least one of the following operations: stops transmission or retransmits, and / or discards the data packets; if the SN of the discarded data packet is equal to TX_Next_Ack, then updates TX_Next_Ack to the SN of the PDU that has not been discarded and is waiting for acknowledgment in the sending window with the earliest SN.

[0254] In this embodiment of the application, in order to keep the sending window of the second entity and the receiving window of the third entity synchronized, the second entity needs to send information about terminated transmission / retransmission and / or discarded data packets to the third entity.

[0255] Optionally, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes:

[0256] S3110, the second entity is discarded, and / or, transmission is stopped or the first PDU outside the transmission window is retransmitted.

[0257] Optionally, in response to the two possible implementations described above, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes:

[0258] S3120, the second entity sends a third instruction message to the third entity. Correspondingly, the third entity receives the third instruction message from the second entity.

[0259] In this embodiment, the third indication information is used to indicate that the second entity has discarded the first PDU and / or to stop transmission or retransmit it. In this embodiment, the third indication information may be carried in a status report, or it may be carried in other information; this embodiment does not limit this.

[0260] The second entity may send a third indication message to the third entity when the first PDU outside the transmission window is dropped, and / or stopped or retransmitted.

[0261] Exemplarily, when the above-mentioned event of discarding the first PDU occurs, the second entity triggers the transmission of a Transmission Status Report. In the Transmission Status Report, it includes the SN information of all the PDUs that have been discarded but have not received the ACK confirmation from the third entity; or, it only includes the SN information of the PDU that triggers this discard event.

[0262] Among them, the second entity sends the third indication information to the third entity, including: the duration for which the second entity discards the first PDU exceeds the second duration, and the second entity sends the third indication information to the third entity. That is, the second entity can send the third indication information to the third entity after the second duration has elapsed since the discard and / or the stop of transmitting or blindly retransmitting the first PDU outside the transmission window.

[0263] Exemplarily, when the above-mentioned event of discarding the first PDU occurs, a timer is started, and when the timer expires, the second entity triggers the transmission of the Transmission Status Report.

[0264] For example, when the above-mentioned event of discarding the first PDU occurs, a timer is started, that is, t-TxDiscard (transmission discard timer). At the same time, a status variable TX_Discard can be used to record the SN of the PDU that triggers this event, or record the value of TX_NEXT + N (N can be 0, 1 or other positive integers) when this event occurs.

[0265] Optionally, when the second entity is a terminal device on the second entity side, the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application further includes: the access network device sends the fourth signaling to the second entity. Correspondingly, the second entity receives the fourth signaling from the access network device.

[0266] In the embodiments of the present application, the fourth signaling is used to indicate the second duration. The fourth signaling can be an RRC signaling or other signaling, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this. That is, the timeout value setting of the above-mentioned t-TxDiscard can be configured statically or reconfigured through RRC.

[0267] Again, for example, during the running of the timer t-TxDiscard, if TX_Discard < TX_Next_Ack, that is, the PDUs with SN less than or equal to TX_Discard have all received the ACK confirmation reception information from the third entity through the Status report, then stop t-TxDiscard.

[0268] For example, when timer t-TxDiscard times out, the second entity triggers the transmission of a Transmission Status Report. The Transmission Status Report includes the SN information of all PDUs whose SN is less than or equal to TX_Discard.

[0269] If it is detected that there are still PDUs greater than TX_Discard that have been discarded, then t-TxDiscard is restarted.

[0270] S3130, the third entity performs the second operation according to the third instruction information.

[0271] In this embodiment of the application, the second operation includes one or more of the following: stopping the request to retransmit the first PDU, and / or discarding the first PDU; setting the first PDU to have been successfully received, or submitting a portion of the received first PDU to the upper layer; if the SN of the first PDU is equal to the fourth variable, updating the fourth variable to the SN of the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs waiting to be reassembled that have not been indicated to be discarded in the receiving window; if the first PDU is not in the receiving window, ignoring the third indication information; or, if the first PDU is not in the receiving window, sending the fourth indication information to the second entity, the fourth indication information being used to indicate that the third entity has discarded or abandoned the request to blindly retransmit the first PDU.

[0272] Alternatively, if the third indication information also indicates the discarding information of other PDUs besides the first PDU, for example, after receiving the third indication information, the third entity may perform at least one of the following operations: for the PDU indicated as discarded, stop requesting retransmission of the PDU and / or discard the PDU; for the PDU indicated as discarded, set the PDU as successfully received and / or deliver the received PDUs to the upper layer (such as the first entity); if the SN indicated as discarded is equal to RX_Next_Reassembly, update RX_Next_Reassembly to the SN with the smallest SN among the PDUs waiting to be reassembled without the indication of discarding in the receiving window (without affecting the receiving window); in the subsequent Status report, set the status to ACK for the PDU indicated as discarded and the SN; if the Transmission Status Report indicates that the SN is not in the receiving window, ignore the indication information corresponding to the SN; if the Transmission Status Report indicates that the SN is not in the receiving window, trigger the sending of a Status report as if a PDU transmission failure at a lower layer (such as the MAC layer) is detected.

[0273] In the embodiments of the present application, the third indication information includes one or more of the following: the SN information of the first PDU, the SN information of at least one PDU whose SN is less than that of the first PDU and is discarded by the second entity.

[0274] Exemplarily, FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of the third indication information provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 16, the third indication information may include one or more of the following:

[0275] D / C and CPT: Indicate the PDU type and the type of the RLC control PDU. It should be noted that specific CPT values need to be defined for this function.

[0276] LastDiscard_SN: Represents the largest SN among the discarded PDUs after the current second entity discards the PDUs for which the RLC SN has been sent or allocated; when the third entity receives this field, it is considered that at least one PDU before the LastDiscard_SN of the second entity has been discarded.

[0277] Discard_SN: Represents the SN of other discarded PDUs before LastDiscard_SN. It should be noted that since there may be multiple discarded PDUs, there may be multiple Send_SNs.

[0278] Combination of Discard_SN and Discard Range: Represents that there are a continuous number of PDUs discarded after Discard_SN, and Discard Range represents the number of continuously discarded PDUs. When the third entity receives this field, it is considered that the PDUs starting from Discard_SN and continuously for Discard Range are all discarded PDUs.

[0279] Further, the third entity determines the discarded PDUs according to the third indication information. For the PDUs with SN < LastDiscard_SN in the receive window, if they are indicated as discarded PDUs in the Transmission Status Report, they are considered PDUs that do not need to be waited for further; otherwise, they are considered PDUs that need to be waited for further reception.

[0280] In this solution, the second entity can discard the PDUs with transmission delay exceeding the budget based on the remaining time of the PDUs, or preferentially transmit new PDUs and discard old PDUs (the send window moves), avoiding and reducing the transmission of useless data packets, and improving the utilization efficiency of wireless resources.

[0281] It should be understood that steps S3100, and / or S3110, and / or S3120, and / or S3130 can constitute another example of the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application, as shown in FIG17. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S310, and / or S320. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S330, and / or S340. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S350, and / or S360. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S370, and / or S380, and / or S390. Optionally, the communication method may further include the following steps S3140, and / or S3150.

[0282] In this embodiment of the application, the third entity can detect the reception status of the PDU based on the reception window, and then indicate to the second entity that the PDU has been discarded or abandoned and request retransmission of the first PDU.

[0283] In one possible implementation, a third entity can detect PDUs whose transmission delay exceeds the delay budget and then indicate that they have been dropped or abandoned in requesting blind retransmission.

[0284] For example, let's take the third entity as the RLC receiving entity and the second entity as the RLC sending entity as an example. The RLC receiving entity can detect data packets whose transmission delay exceeds the budget based on a timer and the SN gap in the receiving window, and consider these data packets as outdated and useless data packets (or data packets that do not need to be retransmitted). These data packets are discarded and set to ACK status in the Status report. Specifically, for the RLC receiving entity in HM mode, detecting the SN gap of the received PDU, that is, detecting the case where the SN of the successfully received PDUs in the receiving window is not continuous, includes at least one of the following processes and methods:

[0285] (1) When an SN gap is detected, a timer, t-RxDiscard2 (receive discard timer 2), is started. The timeout value of t-RxDiscard2 can be set by static configuration or reconfiguration through RRC, or dynamically adjusted by user plane control PDU. The specific configuration can be referred to the description in the above embodiment and will not be repeated here. The value of RX_Next_Highest+N (N can be 0, 1 or other positive integers) is recorded by a state variable RX_Discard2. Alternatively, if multiple SN gaps are detected at the same time, the upper boundary of the earliest SN gap (i.e., the later SN in the SN gap) is recorded by a state variable RX_Discard2.

[0286] (2) When the t-RxDiscard2 timer is running, if RX_Next = RX-Discard2, or RX-Discard2 = RX_Next+1 and SN = RX_Next, the PDU has not been sent, the subsequent segment has been successfully received but the previous segment has not been successfully received, then the timer is stopped.

[0287] (3) When the t-RxDiscard2 timer expires, if RX_Next is less than RX-Discard2, then PDUs whose SN is less than and / or equal to RX-Discard2 and have not been successfully received are considered useless PDUs. Retransmission requests are abandoned and / or these PDUs are discarded. RX-Next is then moved to RX-Discard2 and to the first subsequent PDU that has not been successfully received (without affecting the receive window). If a gap is detected again at this time, the timer is restarted, and the operation is repeated. Simultaneously, the RLC receiving entity triggers the sending of a Status report to the RLC receiving entity, in which the discarded useless PDUs are set to the Acknowledged Received (ACK) status.

[0288] Among them, the case of discontinuous SN includes at least two situations: RX_Next_Highest>RX_Next+1, or RX_Next_Highest=RX_Next+1 and SN=RX_Next, the subsequent segment of the PDU has been successfully received but the preceding segment has not been successfully received;

[0289] In another possible implementation, a third entity can detect a failure in the transmission of a PDU at a lower layer (such as the MAC layer) and then indicate that the request for blind retransmission has been dropped or abandoned.

[0290] For example, the second entity is the RLC transmitting entity and the third entity is the RLC receiving entity. The method for detecting PDU transmission failures at lower layers (such as the MAC layer) can refer to the reception failure detection method in the AM mode of the existing 3GPP RLC protocol. Specifically, for the RLC receiving entity in HM mode to detect the SN gap of the received PDUs, that is, to detect the case where the SNs of successfully received PDUs within the receiving window are discontinuous, at least one of the following processes and methods is included:

[0291] (1) When an SN gap is detected, start the t-Reassembly timer and use a status variable RX_Next_Status_Trigger to record the value of RX_Next_Highest at this time.

[0292] (2) When the t-Reassembly timer is running, if RX_Next_Status_Trigger = RX_Next, or RX_Next_Status_Trigger = RX_Next + 1 and SN = RX_Next, the PDU has not been sent, the subsequent segment has been successfully received but the previous segment has not been successfully received, or RX_Next_Status_Trigger exceeds the receive window and RX_Next_Status_Trigger is not equal to RX_Next + AM_Window_Size, then the timer is stopped.

[0293] (3) Set and update the value of the status variable RX_Highest_Status based on the PDU reception status.

[0294] (4) When the t-Reassembly timer times out, it is considered that the detection of the lower-layer transmission PDU has failed. The value of the status variable RX_Highest_Status is updated. If RX_Next_Highest > RX_Highest_Status + 1, or if RX_Next_Highest = RX_Highest_Status + 1 and the subsequent segment of the PDU with SN = RX_Highest_Status has been successfully received but the preceding segment has not been successfully received, the t-Reassembly timer is restarted, and the status variable RX_Next_Status_Trigger is set to RX_Next_Highest at this time. At the same time, the Rx RLC entity triggers the sending of a Status report to the Tx RLC entity, where ACK_SN = RX_Highest_Status in the Status report.

[0295] Among them, the case of discontinuous SN includes at least two situations: RX_Next_Highest>RX_Next+1, or RX_Next_Highest=RX_Next+1 and SN=RX_Next, the later segment of the PDU has been successfully received but the earlier segment has not been successfully received.

[0296] The subsequent segments of the PDU with RX_Next+1 and SN=RX_Next have been successfully received, but the preceding segments have not been successfully received.

[0297] Since there are two independent ways to trigger a Status report (in the application embodiment, the former can be referred to as Timeout SR and the latter as Failure SR), but the functions and effects of the two SRs are the same or similar, it is necessary to introduce a method to coordinate the two triggering methods, including at least one or more of the following methods:

[0298] If the t-StatusProhibit timer is not running, a failed SR will trigger the start of the t-StatusProhibit timer.

[0299] If the t-StatusProhibit timer is not running, the timeout SR will trigger the start of the t-StatusProhibit timer.

[0300] The timeout SR will trigger the start of another timer, namely t-StatusProhibit2, if the t-StatusProhibit2 timer is not running;

[0301] While the t-StatusProhibit timer is running, the RLC receiving entity cannot trigger the retransmission of a Status report again due to a failed SR. If there is one or more failed SRs during the period, the RLC receiving entity will trigger the retransmission of a Status report at the first opportune moment after the t-StatusProhibit timeout.

[0302] When the t-StatusProhibit timer is running, the Status report corresponding to the timeout SR will be sent normally. The ACK_SN in the Status report is set to the same value as that in the failed SR (such as the value of RX_Highest_Status), and the Status report is constructed based on the ACK_SN.

[0303] When the t-StatusProhibit timer is running, the Status report corresponding to the timeout SR will be sent normally, and the t-StatusProhibit timer will be restarted.

[0304] When the t-StatusProhibit timer is running, a timeout SR will trigger the start of t-StatusProhibit2.

[0305] During the execution of timer t-StatusProhibit2, timeout SRs and / or failure SRs cannot trigger the resending of a status report. □ During the execution of timer t-StatusProhibit2, if there are one or more timeout SRs, a status report will be triggered again at the first opportune moment after t-StatusProhibit expires.

[0306] When the SR sends a status report after a timeout, the status report only includes the reception status information of the PDUs whose transmission delay exceeded the budget.

[0307] When the timeout SR sends a Status report, the ACK_SN setting in the Status report is set to the SN with the largest SN among the PDUs whose transmission delay exceeds the budget, and the Status report is constructed based on the ACK_SN.

[0308] Optionally, the communication method provided in this application embodiment further includes:

[0309] S3140, the third entity sends a fourth instruction message to the second entity. Correspondingly, the second entity receives the fourth instruction message from the third entity.

[0310] In this embodiment of the application, the fourth indication information indicates that the third entity has discarded or abandoned the request to retransmit the first PDU.

[0311] S3150, the second entity performs the third operation according to the fourth instruction information.

[0312] In the embodiments of this application, the third operation includes one or more of the following:

[0313] Stop transmission or retransmit, and / or discard the first PDU;

[0314] Blind retransmission first PDU;

[0315] If the SN of the first PDU is equal to the third variable, update the third variable to the SN of the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs that have not been dropped in the sending window;

[0316] If the SN of the first PDU is less than the third variable, or if the first PDU is outside the transmission window, ignore the fourth indication information;

[0317] If the SN of the first PDU is less than that of the third variable, or if the first PDU is outside the transmission window, send the third indication information to the third entity.

[0318] In this scheme, the RLC receiving entity can identify SDUs or PDUs whose transmission delay exceeds the budget based on timers and SN gaps, and stop requesting retransmission of the PDU, and / or discard the PDU, sending a Status report to reduce unnecessary retransmissions and improve radio resource efficiency. It also provides a coordination mechanism between timeout SRs and failed SRs, controlling the SR transmission frequency and reducing system signaling overhead.

[0319] It should be understood that steps S3140 and / or S3150 can constitute another example of the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application, as shown in FIG18. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S310 and / or S320. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S330 and / or S340. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S350 and / or S360. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S370 and / or S380 and / or S390. Optionally, the communication method may further include the above-described steps S3100 and / or S3110 and / or S3120 and / or S3130.

[0320] It should be noted that the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application is also applicable to the cases of PDU sets (Set) and PDU bursts. For details, please refer to the relevant descriptions of PDUs, which are all within the protection scope of the embodiments of this application and will not be repeated here.

[0321] For example, in scenarios where the second entity is instructed to discard and / or stop transmission or blind retransmission, for scenarios supporting PDU Set or PDU Burst transmission (refer to the definition in the existing 3GPP protocol 23.501), when the RLC transmitting entity determines that a switch between different PDU Sets or PDU bursts has occurred, i.e., multiple PDUs of PDU Set N transmitted before a certain moment are followed by multiple PDUs of PDU Set M, the RLC transmitting entity will discard all PDUs that were not successfully transmitted in the previous PDU Set or PDU burst (including PDUs that were not transmitted and PDUs that were transmitted but not successfully acknowledged), and send the indication information of the switch between different PDU Sets or PDU bursts to the RLC receiving entity. The RLC receiving entity can then discard all PDUs that were not successfully received in the previous PDU Set or PDU burst in the receiving window according to this indication information. Furthermore, when switching between different PDU Sets or PDU bursts, a timer is set in both the RLC transmitting entity and the RLC receiving entity. After the timer expires, the RLC transmitting entity and the RLC receiving entity discard all PDUs to be transmitted or received from the previous PDU Set or PDU burst.

[0322] The above mainly describes the solutions provided by the embodiments of this application from the perspective of the interaction between the first entity, the second entity, and the third entity. Correspondingly, the embodiments of this application also provide a communication device for implementing the various methods described above. This communication device can be the first entity in the above method embodiments, or a device containing the first entity, or a component usable by the first entity; or, the communication device can be the second entity in the above method embodiments, or a device containing the second entity, or a component usable by the second entity; or, the communication device can be the third entity in the above method embodiments, or a device containing the third entity, or a component usable by the third entity. It is understood that, in order to implement the above functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should readily recognize that, in conjunction with the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein, this application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed by hardware or by computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0323] For example, Figure 19 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application, wherein the communication device includes a transceiver module 1910 and a processing module 1920. The transceiver module 1910, also known as a transceiver unit, is used to implement the transceiver function, and may be a transceiver circuit, transceiver, transceiver device, or communication interface.

[0324] Taking the communication device as the first entity in the above method embodiment (which may be a chip of the first entity, a module of the first entity, or a device inside the first entity) as an example:

[0325] In this embodiment of the application, the processing module 1920 is used to determine the first information.

[0326] In this embodiment of the application, the transceiver module 1910 is used to send first information to the second entity.

[0327] The first information is used by the second entity to perform a first operation on the first protocol data unit (PDU), and the first operation includes one or more of the following: blind retransmission, or enhanced polling.

[0328] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the transceiver module 1910 sends first information to the second entity, including: when a first condition is met, the transceiver module 1910 sends the first information to the second entity, and the first information instructs the second entity to perform blind retransmission of the first PDU; wherein, the first condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is less than a first threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is equal to the first threshold.

[0329] In this embodiment of the application, the first information includes one or more of the following: the sequence number SN corresponding to the first PDU, the first PDU, the indication information for blind retransmission of the first PDU, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

[0330] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the transceiver module 1910 sends first information to the second entity, including: satisfying a third condition, the first entity sends the first information to the second entity, and the first information instructs the second entity to perform enhanced polling on the first PDU; wherein, the third condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is less than a third threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is equal to the third threshold.

[0331] In this embodiment of the application, the first information includes one or more of the following: the serial number SN corresponding to the first PDU, the first PDU, indication information for enhanced polling of the first PDU, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

[0332] In one possible implementation of this application, the first information includes the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

[0333] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, when the communication device is a terminal device-side communication device, the transceiver module 1910 receives a first signaling from the access network device. The first signaling is used to indicate enhanced polling masking configuration information. The masking configuration information includes one or more of the following: masking operation enable information, or the duration information corresponding to the masking operation.

[0334] In one possible implementation of this application, the first entity is a Packet Data Convergence Layer Protocol (PDCP) transmitting entity, and the second entity is a Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) transmitting entity.

[0335] Optionally, the communication device may further include a storage module 1930, which can be used to store instructions and / or data, and the processing module 1920 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage module 1930.

[0336] In this embodiment, the first entity is presented as an integrated unit divided into functional modules. Here, "module" can refer to a specific ASIC, circuitry, a processor and memory executing one or more software or firmware programs, integrated logic circuitry, and / or other devices that can provide the aforementioned functions. In a simplified embodiment, those skilled in the art will recognize that the communication device can take the form of the communication device 200 shown in FIG2.

[0337] For example, the processor 201 in the communication device 200 shown in Figure 2 can call the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 203 to make the communication device 200 execute the communication method in the above method embodiment.

[0338] Specifically, the functions / implementation processes of the transceiver module 1910 and processing module 1920 in Figure 19 can be implemented by the processor 201 in the communication device 200 shown in Figure 2 calling computer execution instructions stored in the memory 403. Alternatively, the functions / implementation processes of the processing module 1920 in Figure 19 can be implemented by the processor 201 in the communication device 200 shown in Figure 2 calling computer execution instructions stored in the memory 203, and the functions / implementation processes of the transceiver module 1910 in Figure 19 can be implemented by the communication interface 204 in the communication device 200 shown in Figure 2.

[0339] Taking the communication device as the second entity in the above method embodiment (which may be a chip of the second entity, a module of the second entity, or an internal device of the second entity) as an example:

[0340] In this embodiment of the application, the transceiver module 1910 is used to receive first information from the first entity.

[0341] In this embodiment of the application, the processing module 1920 is used to perform the first operation on the first PDU according to the first information.

[0342] In this embodiment of the application, the first information is used by the second entity to perform a first operation on the first protocol data unit (PDU), and the first operation includes one or more of the following: blind retransmission, or enhanced polling;

[0343] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the first information is sent by the first entity to the communication device when a first condition is met, and the first information instructs the second entity to perform blind retransmission of the first PDU; wherein, the first condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is less than a first threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is equal to the first threshold.

[0344] In this embodiment of the application, the first information includes one or more of the following: the sequence number SN corresponding to the first PDU, the first PDU, the indication information for blind retransmission of the first PDU, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

[0345] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the first information includes the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU; the processing module 1920 is further configured to determine a first duration based on the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU, wherein the first duration begins when the second entity receives the first information and the duration of the first duration is the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

[0346] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the processing module 1920 performs a first operation on the first PDU based on the first information, including: satisfying a second condition, the processing module 1920 performs blind retransmission on the first PDU; wherein, the second condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first duration is less than a second threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first duration is equal to the second threshold.

[0347] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the first information is sent by the first entity to the communication device when a third condition is met, and the first information instructs the communication device to perform enhanced polling on the first PDU; wherein, the third condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is less than a third threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is equal to the third threshold.

[0348] In this embodiment of the application, the first information includes one or more of the following: the serial number SN corresponding to the first PDU, the first PDU, indication information for enhanced polling of the first PDU, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

[0349] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the processing module 1920 performs a first operation on the first PDU based on the first information, including: satisfying a fourth condition, the processing module 1920 performs enhanced polling on the first PDU; wherein, the fourth condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first duration is less than a fourth threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first duration is equal to the fourth threshold.

[0350] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, when the communication device is a terminal device-side communication device, the transceiver module 1910 is further configured to receive a second signaling from the access network device. The second signaling is used to indicate enhanced polling masking configuration information. The masking configuration information includes one or more of the following: masking operation enable information, or the duration information corresponding to the masking operation.

[0351] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, when the communication device is a terminal device-side communication device, the transceiver module 1910 is further configured to receive a third signaling from the access network device. The third signaling is used to indicate polling masking configuration information. The polling masking configuration information includes one or more of the following: enabling information for a masking operation, duration information corresponding to the masking operation, enabling information for an enhanced polling masking operation, duration information corresponding to the enhanced polling masking operation, enabling information for a traditional polling masking operation, or duration corresponding to the traditional polling masking operation.

[0352] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the processing module 1920 polls the first PDU when the fifth condition is met; wherein the fifth condition includes one or more of the following: the number of times the second entity performs blind retransmission of the first PDU is greater than the fifth threshold, or the number of times the second entity performs blind retransmission of the first PDU is equal to the fifth threshold.

[0353] In this embodiment of the application, the transceiver module 1910 is further configured to send a first indication information to a third entity, the first indication information being used to indicate the adjusted configuration of the discard timer of the second entity.

[0354] In one possible implementation of this application, the first indication information is carried in a newly added Packet Data Convergence Layer Protocol (PDCP) control unit (PDU).

[0355] In one possible implementation of this application, the first indication information is carried in a newly added Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) control information PDU.

[0356] In one possible implementation of this application, the first indication information is carried in the newly added Media Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) control signaling.

[0357] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the first indication information includes the adjusted duration corresponding to the discard timer.

[0358] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the transceiver module 1910 is further configured to receive second indication information from a third entity, the second indication information being used to instruct the second entity to activate or deactivate the first operation; the processing module 1920 is further configured to activate or deactivate the first operation according to the second indication information.

[0359] In one possible implementation of this application, the second indication information is carried in a newly added field or a reserved field of the status report.

[0360] In one possible implementation of this application, the second indication information is carried in a newly added control PDU.

[0361] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the control PDU includes one or more of the following: PDCP control PDU, RLC control PDU, or MAC-CE control signaling.

[0362] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, based on receiving the first PDU from the first entity, the processing module 1920 determines the sequence number SN of the first PDU; the processing module 1920 is further configured to determine a transmission window based on the SN of the first PDU; the PDUs within the transmission window satisfy a first rule, the first rule including: the sequence number SN of the PDUs within the transmission window is greater than, and / or equal to, a first difference; and the SN of the PDUs within the transmission window is less than a first variable; wherein, the first difference is the difference between the first variable and a first constant, the first variable is an integer greater than or equal to 0, the first variable is the SN of the first PDU increased by 1, and the first constant is the size of the transmission window.

[0363] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the processing module 1920 is further configured to discard, and / or stop transmitting or retransmit the PDU outside the transmission window; the PDU outside the transmission window satisfies a second rule; wherein the second rule includes: the SN of the PDU outside the transmission window is less than the first difference.

[0364] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the processing module 1920 is further configured to update the third variable to the SN of the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs that have not been discarded in the sending window, and the third variable is equal to the SN of the next PDU waiting for confirmation information.

[0365] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the processing module 1920 is further configured to discard the first PDU if the transmission duration of the first PDU exceeds the first duration.

[0366] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the transceiver module 1910 is further configured to send third indication information to the third entity, the third indication information being used to indicate that the second entity has discarded, and / or to stop transmitting or retransmit the first PDU.

[0367] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the transceiver module 1910 sends third indication information to the third entity, including: the processing module 1920 discards the first PDU for a duration exceeding a second duration, and the transceiver module 1910 sends the third indication information to the third entity.

[0368] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the third indication information is carried in the status report.

[0369] In one possible implementation of this application, the third indication information includes one or more of the following: the SN information of the first PDU, and the SN information of at least one PDU whose SN is less than that of the first PDU discarded by the second entity.

[0370] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the transceiver module 1910 is further configured to receive fourth indication information from a third entity, the fourth indication information being used to indicate that the third entity has discarded or abandoned the request for blind retransmission of the first PDU; in another possible implementation of this application embodiment, the processing module 1920 is further configured to perform a third operation according to the fourth indication information, the third operation including one or more of the following: stopping transmission or retransmission, and / or discarding the first PDU; retransmitting the first PDU; if the SN of the first PDU is equal to a third variable, updating the third variable to the SN of the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs that have not been discarded in the transmission window; if the SN of the first PDU is less than the third variable, or the first PDU is outside the transmission window, ignoring the fourth indication information; if the SN of the first PDU is less than the third variable, or the first PDU is outside the transmission window, sending the third indication information to the third entity.

[0371] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the fourth indication information is carried in the status report.

[0372] In one possible implementation of this application, the first entity is a Packet Data Convergence Layer Protocol (PDCP) transmitting entity, the communication device is a Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) transmitting entity, and the third entity is an RLC receiving entity.

[0373] Optionally, the communication device may further include a storage module 1930, which can be used to store instructions and / or data, and the processing module 1920 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage module 1930.

[0374] In this embodiment, the second entity is presented as an integrated unit divided into functional modules. Here, "module" can refer to a specific ASIC, circuitry, a processor and memory executing one or more software or firmware programs, integrated logic circuitry, and / or other devices that can provide the aforementioned functions. In a simplified embodiment, those skilled in the art will recognize that the communication device can take the form of the communication device 200 shown in FIG2.

[0375] For example, the processor 201 in the communication device 200 shown in Figure 2 can call the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 203 to make the communication device 200 execute the communication method in the above method embodiment.

[0376] Specifically, the functions / implementation processes of the transceiver module 1910 and processing module 1920 in Figure 19 can be implemented by the processor 201 in the communication device 200 shown in Figure 2 calling computer execution instructions stored in the memory 403. Alternatively, the functions / implementation processes of the processing module 1920 in Figure 19 can be implemented by the processor 201 in the communication device 200 shown in Figure 2 calling computer execution instructions stored in the memory 203, and the functions / implementation processes of the transceiver module 1910 in Figure 19 can be implemented by the communication interface 204 in the communication device 200 shown in Figure 2.

[0377] Taking the communication device as an example, which is the third entity in the above method embodiment (which may be a chip of the third entity, a module of the third entity, or a device inside the third entity):

[0378] In this embodiment of the application, the transceiver module 1910 is used to receive first indication information from the second entity.

[0379] In this embodiment of the application, the processing module 1920 is used to receive the first protocol data unit (PDU) according to the first indication information.

[0380] In this embodiment of the application, the first indication information is used to instruct the second entity to adjust the configuration of the discard timer;

[0381] In one possible implementation of this application, the first indication information is carried in a newly added Packet Data Convergence Layer Protocol (PDCP) control unit (PDU).

[0382] In one possible implementation of this application, the first indication information is carried in a newly added Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) control PDU.

[0383] In one possible implementation of this application, the first indication information is carried in the newly added Media Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) control signaling.

[0384] In one possible implementation of this application, the first indication information includes the adjusted duration corresponding to the discard timer.

[0385] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the transceiver module 1910 is further configured to send a second indication information to the second entity, the second indication information being used to instruct the second entity to activate or deactivate the first operation.

[0386] In one possible implementation of this application, the second indication information is carried in a newly added field or a reserved field of the status report.

[0387] In one possible implementation of this application, the second indication information is carried in a newly added control PDU.

[0388] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the control PDU includes one or more of the following: PDCP control PDU, RLC control PDU, or MAC-CE control signaling.

[0389] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the processing module 1920 is further configured to determine a receiving window for receiving the first PDU based on the serial number (SN) of the first PDU; if the SN of the first PDU is greater than, and / or equal to, a second variable, then the second variable is updated to the SN of the first PDU by 1, and / or the second variable is updated to the SN of the first PDU; the receiving window for receiving the first PDU satisfies a third rule, the third rule including: the SN of the PDUs within the receiving window is greater than, and / or equal to, a second difference; and the SN of the PDUs within the receiving window is less than the second variable; wherein, the second difference is the difference between the second variable and a second constant, the second variable is an integer greater than or equal to 0, the second variable is the SN of the PDU with the largest SN in the receiving window plus 1, and the second constant is the size of the receiving window.

[0390] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the PDU outside the receiving window satisfies a fourth rule, the fourth rule including: the SN of the PDU outside the receiving window is less than the second difference.

[0391] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the processing module 1920 is further configured to update the fourth variable to the SN of the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs waiting to be reassembled in the receiving window, wherein the fourth variable is equal to the value of the earliest SN considered to be reassembled.

[0392] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the transceiver module 1910 is further configured to receive third indication information from the second entity, the third indication information being used to indicate that the second entity has discarded and / or stopped transmission or blindly retransmitted the first PDU; the processing module 1920 is further configured to perform a second operation according to the third indication information, the second operation including one or more of the following: setting the first PDU to have been successfully received, or submitting a portion of the received first PDU to the upper layer; if the SN of the first PDU is equal to the fourth variable, updating the fourth variable to the SN of the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs waiting to be reassembled that have not been indicated to be discarded in the receiving window; if the first PDU is not in the receiving window, ignoring the third indication information; or, if the first PDU is not in the receiving window, sending fourth indication information to the second entity, the fourth indication information being used to indicate that the third entity has discarded or abandoned the request to retransmit the first PDU.

[0393] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the third indication information is carried in the status report.

[0394] In one possible implementation of this application, the third indication information includes one or more of the following: the SN information of the first PDU, and the SN information of at least one PDU whose SN is less than that of the first PDU discarded by the second entity.

[0395] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the transceiver module 1910 is further configured to send a fourth indication information to the second entity, the fourth indication information being used to indicate that the third entity has discarded or abandoned the request to retransmit the first PDU.

[0396] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the transceiver module 1910 sends a fourth indication information to the second entity, including: after a third duration, the transceiver module 1910 sends the fourth indication information to the second entity, the third duration starting from when the third entity detects a discontinuity in the SN of the PDU.

[0397] In one possible implementation of this application embodiment, the fourth indication information is carried in the status report.

[0398] In one possible implementation of this application, the second entity is a Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) transmitting entity, and the communication device is an RLC receiving entity.

[0399] Optionally, the communication device may further include a storage module 1930, which can be used to store instructions and / or data, and the processing module 1920 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage module 1930.

[0400] In this embodiment, the third entity is presented as an integrated functional module. Here, "module" can refer to a specific ASIC, circuitry, a processor and memory executing one or more software or firmware programs, integrated logic circuitry, and / or other devices that can provide the aforementioned functions. In a simplified embodiment, those skilled in the art will recognize that the communication device can take the form of the communication device 200 shown in FIG2.

[0401] For example, the processor 201 in the communication device 200 shown in Figure 2 can call the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 403 to make the communication device 200 execute the communication method in the above method embodiment.

[0402] Specifically, the functions / implementation processes of the transceiver module 1910 and processing module 1920 in Figure 19 can be implemented by the processor 201 in the communication device 200 shown in Figure 2 calling computer execution instructions stored in the memory 2403. Alternatively, the functions / implementation processes of the processing module 1920 in Figure 19 can be implemented by the processor 401 in the communication device 200 shown in Figure 2 calling computer execution instructions stored in the memory 203, and the functions / implementation processes of the transceiver module 1910 in Figure 19 can be implemented by the communication interface 204 in the communication device 200 shown in Figure 2.

[0403] It should be understood that one or more of the above modules or units can be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination of both. When any of the above modules or units are implemented by software, the software exists as computer program instructions and is stored in memory. The processor can be used to execute the program instructions and implement the above method flow. The processor can be built into a SoC (System-on-a-Chip) or ASIC, or it can be a separate semiconductor chip. In addition to the core that executes software instructions for computation or processing, the processor may further include necessary hardware accelerators, such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), or logic circuits that implement dedicated logic operations.

[0404] When the above modules or units are implemented in hardware, the hardware can be any one or any combination of a CPU, microprocessor, digital signal processing (DSP) chip, microcontroller unit (MCU), artificial intelligence processor, ASIC, SoC, FPGA, PLD, application-specific digital circuit, hardware accelerator, or non-integrated discrete device, which can run the necessary software or perform the above method flow independently of software.

[0405] Optionally, embodiments of this application also provide a communication device (e.g., the communication device may be a chip or a chip system), which includes a processor for implementing the methods in any of the above method embodiments. In one possible design, the communication device further includes a memory. The memory is used to store necessary program instructions and data, and the processor can call the program code stored in the memory to instruct the communication device to execute the methods in any of the above method embodiments. Of course, the memory may not be included in the communication device. When the communication device is a chip system, it may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices; embodiments of this application do not specifically limit this.

[0406] Optionally, embodiments of this application also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions that, when run on a communication device, enable the communication device to execute the methods described in any of the above method embodiments or any implementation thereof.

[0407] Optionally, embodiments of this application also provide a communication system, which includes the communication device described in the above method embodiments.

[0408] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved, in whole or in part, through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software programs, implementation can be, in whole or in part, in the form of a computer program product. This computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the flow or function according to the embodiments of this application is generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible to a computer or a data storage device containing one or more servers, data centers, etc., that can be integrated with the medium. The available media can be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (e.g., DVDs), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid-state disks, SSDs).

[0409] Although this application has been described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, those skilled in the art, by reviewing the accompanying drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims, will understand and implement other variations of the disclosed embodiments in carrying out the claimed application. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "an" does not exclude multiple instances. A single processor or other unit can implement several functions listed in the claims. While different dependent claims may recite certain measures, this does not mean that these measures cannot be combined to produce good results.

[0410] Although this application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments, it is obvious that various modifications and combinations can be made thereto without departing from the scope of this application. Accordingly, this specification and drawings are merely illustrative descriptions of the application as defined by the appended claims, and are considered to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents within the scope of this application. Clearly, those skilled in the art can make various alterations and modifications to this application without departing from its scope. Thus, if such modifications and modifications fall within the scope of the claims and their equivalents, this application is also intended to include such modifications and modifications.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: The first entity sends first information to the second entity. The first information is used by the second entity to perform a first operation on the first protocol data unit (PDU). The first operation includes one or more of the following: blind retransmission, or enhanced polling.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first entity sends first information to the second entity, including: When the first condition is met, the first entity sends the first information to the second entity, and the first information instructs the second entity to perform blind retransmission of the first PDU. The first condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is less than the first threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is equal to the first threshold.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The first information includes one or more of the following: the sequence number SN corresponding to the first PDU, the first PDU, indication information for blind retransmission of the first PDU, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The first entity sends first information to the second entity, including: When the third condition is met, the first entity sends the first information to the second entity, and the first information instructs the second entity to perform enhanced polling on the first PDU; The third condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is less than the third threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is equal to the third threshold.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The first information includes one or more of the following: the sequence number (SN) corresponding to the first PDU, the first PDU, an indication for enhanced polling of the first PDU, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first information includes the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6 is characterized in that, When the first entity is a terminal device-side first entity, the method further includes: The first entity receives a first signaling from the access network device. The first signaling is used to indicate the masking configuration information of the enhanced polling. The masking configuration information includes one or more of the following: enabling information of the masking operation, or duration information corresponding to the masking operation.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The first entity is the Packet Data Convergence Layer Protocol (PDCP) transmitting entity, and the second entity is the Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) transmitting entity.

9. A communication method, characterized in that, include: The second entity receives first information from the first entity. The first information is used by the second entity to perform a first operation on the first protocol data unit (PDU). The first operation includes one or more of the following: blind retransmission, or enhanced polling. The second entity performs the first operation on the first PDU based on the first information.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The first information is sent from the first entity to the second entity when the first condition is met, and the first information instructs the second entity to perform blind retransmission of the first PDU; The first condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is less than the first threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is equal to the first threshold.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The first information includes one or more of the following: the sequence number SN corresponding to the first PDU, the first PDU, indication information for blind retransmission of the first PDU, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

12. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The first information includes the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU; The method further includes: The second entity determines a first duration based on the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU. The first duration begins when the second entity receives the first information and the duration of the first duration is the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The second entity performs a first operation on the first PDU based on the first information, including: If the second condition is met, the second entity performs blind retransmission of the first PDU; The second condition includes one or more of the following: The remaining time corresponding to the first duration is less than the second threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first duration is equal to the second threshold.

14. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, characterized in that, The first information is sent from the first entity to the second entity when the third condition is met, and the first information instructs the second entity to perform enhanced polling on the first PDU; The third condition includes one or more of the following: the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is less than the third threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU is equal to the third threshold.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that, The first information includes one or more of the following: the sequence number (SN) corresponding to the first PDU, the first PDU, an indication for enhanced polling of the first PDU, or the remaining time corresponding to the first PDU.

16. The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that, The second entity performs a first operation on the first PDU based on the first information, including: If the fourth condition is met, the second entity performs enhanced polling on the first PDU; The fourth condition includes one or more of the following: The remaining time corresponding to the first duration is less than the fourth threshold, or the remaining time corresponding to the first duration is equal to the fourth threshold.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, When the second entity is a second entity on the terminal device side, the method further includes: The second entity receives a second signaling from the access network device, the second signaling being used to indicate enhanced polling masking configuration information, the masking configuration information including one or more of the following: masking operation enable information, or masking operation duration information.

18. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 17, characterized in that, When the second entity is a second entity on the terminal device side, the method further includes: The second entity receives a third signaling from the access network device. The third signaling is used to indicate the polling masking configuration information, which includes one or more of the following: enabling information for the masking operation, duration information corresponding to the masking operation, enabling information for the enhanced polling masking operation, duration information corresponding to the enhanced polling masking operation, enabling information for the traditional polling masking operation, or duration information corresponding to the traditional polling operation.

19. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 18, characterized in that, The method further includes: If the fifth condition is met, the second entity polls the first PDU. The fifth condition includes one or more of the following: the number of times the second entity performs blind retransmission of the first PDU is greater than the fifth threshold, or the number of times the second entity performs blind retransmission of the first PDU is equal to the fifth threshold.

20. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 19, characterized in that, The method further includes: The second entity sends a first instruction message to the third entity, the first instruction message being used to instruct the third entity to adjust the configuration of the discard timer.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that, The first indication information includes information for adjusting the duration corresponding to the discard timer.

22. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 21, characterized in that, The method further includes: The second entity receives a second indication from the third entity, the second indication being used to instruct the second entity to activate or deactivate the first operation; The second entity is activated or deactivated according to the second instruction information.

23. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 22, characterized in that, The method further includes: Based on receiving the first PDU from the first entity, the second entity determines the sequence number SN of the first PDU; The second entity determines the transmission window based on the SN of the first PDU; The PDUs within the sending window satisfy a first rule, which includes: The sequence number SN of the PDU within the sending window is greater than, and / or equal to, the first difference; Furthermore, the SN of the PDU within the sending window is less than the first variable; Wherein, the first difference is the difference between the first variable and the first constant, the first variable is an integer greater than or equal to 0, the first variable is the SN of the first PDU incremented by 1, and the first constant is the size of the sending window.

24. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that, The method further includes: The second entity discards, and / or stops transmitting or retransmits the PDU outside the transmission window; The PDUs sent outside the window satisfy the second rule; The second rule includes: The SN of the PDU outside the transmission window is less than, and / or equal to, the first difference.

25. The method according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that, The method further includes: The second entity updates the third variable to the SN of the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs that have not been discarded in the sending window, and the third variable is equal to the SN of the next PDU waiting for confirmation information.

26. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 25, characterized in that, The method further includes: The second entity discards the first PDU if the transmission duration of the first PDU exceeds the first duration.

27. The method according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that, The method further includes: The second entity sends a third indication message to the third entity, the third indication message being used to indicate that the second entity has discarded and / or stopped transmitting or retransmitting the information of the first PDU.

28. The method according to claim 27, characterized in that, The second entity sends a third instruction message to the third entity, including: If the second entity discards the first PDU for a period exceeding the second duration, the second entity sends the third indication information to the third entity.

29. The method according to claim 27 or 28, characterized in that, The third indication information includes one or more of the following: the SN information of the first PDU, and the SN information of at least two PDUs, including the SN of the first PDU, discarded by the second entity.

30. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 36, characterized in that, The method further includes: The second entity receives a fourth indication from the third entity, the fourth indication being used to indicate that the third entity has discarded and / or abandoned the request to retransmit the first PDU; The second entity performs a third operation based on the fourth instruction information, the third operation including one or more of the following: Stop transmission or retransmit, and / or discard the first PDU; Retransmit the first PDU; If the SN of the first PDU is equal to the third variable, update the third variable to the SN of the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs that have not been dropped in the sending window; If the SN of the first PDU is less than the third variable, or if the first PDU is outside the transmission window, ignore the fourth indication information; If the SN of the first PDU is less than the third variable, or if the first PDU is outside the transmission window, the third indication information is sent to the third entity.

31. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 30, characterized in that, The first entity is a Packet Data Convergence Layer Protocol (PDCP) transmitting entity, the second entity is a Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) transmitting entity, and the third entity is an RLC receiving entity.

32. A communication method, characterized in that, include: The third entity receives a first instruction from the second entity, the first instruction being used to instruct the second entity to adjust the configuration of the discard timer; The third entity receives the first protocol data unit (PDU) according to the first instruction information.

33. The method according to claim 32, characterized in that, The first indication information includes the adjusted duration of the discard timer.

34. The method according to claim 32 or 33, characterized in that, The method further includes: The third entity sends a second instruction message to the second entity, which instructs the second entity to activate or deactivate the first operation.

35. The method according to any one of claims 32 to 34, characterized in that, The method further includes: The third entity determines the receiving window for receiving the first PDU based on the serial number (SN) of the first PDU; If the serial number SN of the first PDU is greater than, and / or equal to, the second variable is updated to the SN of the first PDU incremented by 1, and / or the second variable is updated to the SN of the first PDU; Wherein, the receiving window for receiving the first PDU satisfies a third rule, the third rule including: The SN of the PDU within the receiving window is greater than, and / or equal to, the second difference; Furthermore, the SN of the PDU within the receiving window is less than the second variable; Wherein, the second difference is the difference between the second variable and the second constant, the second variable is an integer greater than or equal to 0, the second variable is the SN of the PDU with the largest SN in the receiving window plus 1, and the second constant is the size of the receiving window.

36. The method according to claim 35, characterized in that, The PDU outside the receiving window satisfies the fourth rule, which includes: The SN of the PDU outside the receiving window is less than the second difference.

37. The method according to claim 35 or 36, characterized in that, The method further includes: The third entity updates the fourth variable to the SN of the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs waiting to be reassembled in the receiving window. The fourth variable is equal to the value of the SN corresponding to the earliest PDU that is considered to be reassembled.

38. The method according to claim 36 or 37, characterized in that, The method further includes: The third entity receives a third indication message from the second entity, the third indication message being used to indicate that the second entity has discarded and / or stopped transmitting or retransmitted the first PDU; The third entity performs a second operation based on the third instruction information, the second operation including one or more of the following: The first PDU has been successfully received, or a portion of the first PDU has been received and submitted to the upper layer. If the SN of the first PDU is equal to the fourth variable, update the fourth variable to the SN of the PDU with the smallest SN among the PDUs waiting to be reassembled that have not been indicated to be discarded in the receiving window; If the first PDU is not within the receiving window, the third indication information is ignored; or, If the first PDU is not in the receiving window, a fourth indication message is sent to the second entity. The fourth indication message is used to indicate that the third entity has discarded or abandoned the request to blindly retransmit the first PDU.

39. The method according to claim 38, characterized in that, The third indication information includes one or more of the following: the SN information of the first PDU, and the SN information of at least two PDUs, including the SN of the first PDU, discarded by the second entity.

40. The method according to any one of claims 32 to 39, characterized in that, The method further includes: The third entity sends a fourth indication message to the second entity, the fourth indication message being used to indicate that the third entity has discarded or abandoned the request to retransmit the first PDU.

41. The method according to claim 40, characterized in that, The third entity sends a fourth indication message to the second entity, including: If the third duration is exceeded, the third entity sends the fourth indication information to the second entity, the third duration being the period after the third entity detects a discontinuity in the serial number of the PDU.

42. The method according to any one of claims 32 to 41, characterized in that, The second entity is the Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) transmitting entity, and the third entity is the RLC receiving entity.

43. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, or the communication device includes a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 9 to 31, or the communication device includes a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 32 to 42.

44. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a processor; the processor is configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, or to cause the communication device to perform the method according to any one of claims 9 to 31, or to cause the communication device to perform the method according to any one of claims 32 to 42.

45. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium includes instructions that, when executed, cause the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 to be implemented, or cause the method according to any one of claims 9 to 31 to be implemented, or cause the method according to any one of claims 32 to 42 to be implemented.

46. ​​A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes instructions that, when executed, cause the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 to be implemented, or cause the method according to any one of claims 9 to 31 to be implemented, or cause the method according to any one of claims 32 to 42 to be implemented.

47. A communication system, characterized in that, The communication system includes the communication device as described in claims 43 and 44.

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