Radio link monitoring method, and device, system, storage medium, and program product

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a radio link monitoring method, and a device, a system, a storage medium, and a program product. The method is executed by a terminal device. The method comprises: performing radio link monitoring on a radio frame, wherein the radio frame is a radio frame for a downlink signal and / or data transmitted in an IoT-NTN TDD mode. The embodiments of the present disclosure can improve the accuracy of radio link monitoring.

Description

Wireless link detection methods, devices, systems, storage media, and software products Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a wireless link detection method, device, system, storage medium, and program product. Background Technology

[0002] In mobile communication systems, the stability and reliability of the wireless link are crucial. Currently, in the process of radio link monitoring (RLM), terminal devices can detect the wireless link by periodically measuring reference signals, thereby determining whether a radio link failure (RLF) has occurred. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a wireless link detection method, device, system, storage medium, and program product, to improve the accuracy of wireless link detection by terminal devices.

[0004] In a first aspect, embodiments of this disclosure propose a wireless link detection method, executed by a terminal device, the method comprising:

[0005] Perform wireless link detection within the wireless frame;

[0006] Among them, a wireless frame is a wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in the time division duplex (TDD) mode of Internet of Things non-terrestrial network (IoT-NTN).

[0007] In this embodiment of the disclosure, in the IoT-NTN scenario, the terminal device performs wireless link detection on wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Since the wireless frame is used for IoT-NTN TDD mode, that is, the downlink signals and / or data of IoT-NTN are transmitted in the wireless frame, the terminal device can perform wireless link detection on the wireless frame, which can avoid the impact of performing wireless link detection on wireless frames that are not used for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0008] Secondly, embodiments of this disclosure propose a wireless link detection method, executed by a network device, the method comprising:

[0009] Configure the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame;

[0010] Among them, the wireless frame is the wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0011] In this embodiment of the disclosure, in the IoT-NTN scenario, the network device performs wireless link detection by configuring the terminal device to perform wireless link detection on wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Since the wireless frame is used for IoT-NTN TDD mode, that is, the wireless frame transmits IoT-NTN downlink signals and / or data. Therefore, by configuring the terminal device to perform wireless link detection on the wireless frame, the network device can avoid the impact of performing wireless link detection on wireless frames that are not used for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection by the terminal device.

[0012] Thirdly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a terminal device, including:

[0013] The processing module is used to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame;

[0014] Among them, the wireless frame is the wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0015] Fourthly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a network device, including:

[0016] The processing module is used to configure the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame;

[0017] Among them, the wireless frame is the wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0018] Fifthly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a communication device for performing the methods described in the first aspect and optional embodiments thereof, or for performing the methods described in the second aspect and optional embodiments thereof.

[0019] In a sixth aspect, embodiments of this disclosure provide a communication system including a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is configured to implement the methods described in the first aspect and optional embodiments thereof, and the network device is configured to implement the methods described in the second aspect and optional embodiments thereof.

[0020] In a seventh aspect, embodiments of this disclosure provide a storage medium storing instructions that, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method described in the first aspect and its optional implementation, as well as the second aspect and its optional implementation.

[0021] Eighthly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a program product including at least one of a program and instructions, wherein when the program and at least one of the instructions are executed by a communication device, the method described in the first aspect and the optional implementations in the first aspect, the second aspect, and the optional implementations in the second aspect are implemented. Attached Figure Description

[0022] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this disclosure, the accompanying drawings required for the description of the embodiments are introduced below. The following drawings are only some embodiments of this disclosure and do not impose specific limitations on the protection scope of this disclosure.

[0023] Figure 1a is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0024] Figure 1b is a schematic diagram of an NTN communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0025] Figure 1c is a schematic diagram of an NTN communication system architecture in transparent mode provided by an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0026] Figure 1d is a schematic diagram of an NTN communication system architecture in regeneration mode provided by an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0027] Figure 1e is a schematic diagram of the frame structure of the Iridium communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0028] Figure 1f is a schematic diagram of a frame structure provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0029] Figure 1g is a schematic diagram of an RLF processing flow provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0030] Figure 2a is an exemplary flowchart of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0031] Figure 2b is an exemplary flowchart of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0032] Figure 2c is an exemplary flowchart of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0033] Figure 2d is an exemplary flowchart of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0034] Figure 2e is an exemplary interactive schematic diagram of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0035] Figure 2f is an exemplary interactive schematic diagram of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0036] Figure 3 is an exemplary flowchart of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0037] Figure 4a is an exemplary structural diagram of the terminal device proposed in an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0038] Figure 4b is an exemplary structural diagram of the network device proposed in an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0039] Figure 5a is an exemplary structural schematic diagram of the communication device proposed in an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0040] Figure 5b is an exemplary structural diagram of the chip proposed in an embodiment of this disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0041] This disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a wireless link detection method, device, system, storage medium, and program product, to improve the accuracy of wireless link detection by terminal devices.

[0042] In a first aspect, embodiments of this disclosure propose a wireless link detection method, executed by a terminal device, the method comprising:

[0043] Perform wireless link detection within the wireless frame;

[0044] Among them, the wireless frame is the wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0045] In this embodiment of the disclosure, in the IoT-NTN scenario, the terminal device performs wireless link detection on wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Since the wireless frame is used for IoT-NTN TDD mode, that is, the downlink signals and / or data of IoT-NTN are transmitted in the wireless frame, the terminal device can perform wireless link detection on the wireless frame, which can avoid the impact of performing wireless link detection on wireless frames that are not used for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0046] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the method further includes:

[0047] Receive indication information sent by network devices, which indicates whether to perform wireless link detection in a radio frame or in a subframe within a radio frame.

[0048] In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the terminal device receives an indication message sent by the network device, and is thus able to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame or a subframe of the wireless frame according to the indication message, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0049] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the method further includes:

[0050] Determine the configuration information of the network device, which represents the wireless frame configuration of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0051] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the terminal device determines the configuration information of the network device, thereby determining the wireless frame configuration of the downlink signal and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode based on the configuration information, obtaining the frame structure of the wireless frame, and then performing wireless link detection on the wireless frame of the downlink signal and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode based on the frame structure of the wireless frame, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0052] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, performing wireless link detection within a wireless frame includes:

[0053] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection in the wireless frame;

[0054] or,

[0055] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection in subframes of the wireless frame.

[0056] In this embodiment, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection on the wireless frame or a subframe within the wireless frame, providing high flexibility in wireless link quality detection. Furthermore, since the wireless frame is a wireless frame for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, performing wireless link quality detection on the wireless frame or a subframe within the wireless frame by the physical layer of the terminal device avoids the impact of performing wireless link quality detection on wireless frames not used for downlink signals and / or data transmission in IoT-NTN TDD mode on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0057] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, when the terminal device is in discontinuous reception (DRX) mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs radio link quality detection in the radio frame, including:

[0058] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle.

[0059] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode during each DRX cycle. This avoids the impact of performing wireless link quality detection on wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data not used for IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission during the DRX cycle on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0060] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs radio link quality detection in subframes of the radio frame, including:

[0061] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one subframe of the wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle.

[0062] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one subframe of a wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode during each DRX cycle. This avoids the impact of performing wireless link quality detection on the overall detection result on subframes of wireless frames not used for downlink signals and / or data transmission in IoT-NTN TDD mode during the DRX cycle, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0063] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs radio link quality detection in the radio frame, including:

[0064] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0065] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. This avoids the impact of performing wireless link quality detection on wireless frames that are not used for downlink signals and / or data transmission in IoT-NTN TDD mode on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0066] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs radio link quality detection in subframes of the radio frame, including:

[0067] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection in subframes of each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0068] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on subframes of each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. This avoids the impact of performing wireless link quality detection on subframes of wireless frames that are not used for downlink signals and / or data transmission in IoT-NTN TDD mode on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0069] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, performing wireless link detection in a wireless frame includes at least one of the following:

[0070] The radio resource control (RRC) layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting on the radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode;

[0071] The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting on the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode;

[0072] The RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting in subframes of the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode;

[0073] The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting in subframes of the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0074] In this embodiment, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting in wireless frames or subframes within wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. This out-of-sync counting offers high flexibility. Furthermore, since the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode are specifically for IoT-NTN TDD, the accuracy of out-of-sync counting can be improved, erroneous RLF judgments reduced, and consequently, the accuracy of wireless link detection performed by the terminal device improved.

[0075] In this embodiment, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting in wireless frames or subframes within wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Early-out-of-sync counting offers high flexibility. Furthermore, since wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode are specifically for IoT-NTN TDD, the accuracy of early-out-of-sync counting can be improved, thereby enhancing the accuracy of wireless link detection by the terminal device.

[0076] Secondly, embodiments of this disclosure propose a wireless link detection method, executed by a network device, the method comprising:

[0077] Configure the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame;

[0078] Among them, the wireless frame is the wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0079] In this embodiment of the disclosure, in the IoT-NTN scenario, the network device performs wireless link detection by configuring the terminal device to perform wireless link detection on wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Since the wireless frame is used for IoT-NTN TDD mode, that is, the wireless frame transmits IoT-NTN downlink signals and / or data. Therefore, by configuring the terminal device to perform wireless link detection on the wireless frame, the network device can avoid the impact of performing wireless link detection on wireless frames that are not used for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection by the terminal device.

[0080] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, configuring the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in a wireless frame includes:

[0081] Send indication information to the terminal device. The indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame, or in a subframe of the wireless frame.

[0082] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the network device sends an instruction message to the terminal device, instructing the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame or a subframe of the wireless frame, thereby improving the accuracy of the terminal device's wireless link detection.

[0083] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the indication information is used to instruct the physical layer of the terminal device to perform wireless link quality detection in the wireless frame;

[0084] or,

[0085] The instruction information is used to instruct the physical layer of the terminal device to perform wireless link quality detection in subframes of the wireless frame.

[0086] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the network device can instruct the physical layer of the terminal device to perform wireless link quality detection on the wireless frame or a subframe within the wireless frame via indication information, thus providing high flexibility in wireless link quality detection. Furthermore, since the wireless frame is a wireless frame for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, instructing the physical layer of the terminal device to perform wireless link quality detection on the wireless frame or a subframe within the wireless frame avoids the impact of performing wireless link quality detection on wireless frames not used for downlink signals and / or data transmission in IoT-NTN TDD mode on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection performed by the terminal device.

[0087] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the indication information is used to indicate:

[0088] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle.

[0089] or,

[0090] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one subframe of the wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle.

[0091] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the network device can instruct the physical layer of the terminal device to perform wireless link quality detection on at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle through indication information. This can avoid the impact of performing wireless link quality detection on wireless frames that are not used for downlink signals and / or data transmission in IoT-NTN TDD mode within the DRX cycle on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection by the terminal device.

[0092] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the indication information is used to indicate:

[0093] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode;

[0094] or,

[0095] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection in subframes of each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0096] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the network device can instruct the physical layer of the terminal device to perform wireless link quality detection on each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode through indication information. This can avoid the impact of performing wireless link quality detection on wireless frames that are not used for downlink signals and / or data transmission in IoT-NTN TDD mode on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection by the terminal device.

[0097] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following:

[0098] The RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting on the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode;

[0099] The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting on the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode;

[0100] The RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting in subframes of the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode;

[0101] The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting in subframes of the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0102] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the network device can instruct the RRC layer of the terminal device to perform out-of-sync counting in wireless frames or subframes within wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode via indication information. This out-of-sync counting offers high flexibility. Furthermore, since the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode are specifically for IoT-NTN TDD, the accuracy of out-of-sync counting can be improved, erroneous RLF judgments reduced, and consequently, the accuracy of wireless link detection performed by the terminal device improved.

[0103] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the network device can instruct the RRC layer of the terminal device to perform early-out-of-sync counting in wireless frames or subframes within wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode via indication information. Early-out-of-sync counting offers high flexibility. Furthermore, since wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode are specifically for IoT-NTN TDD, the accuracy of early-out-of-sync counting can be improved, thereby enhancing the accuracy of wireless link detection by the terminal device.

[0104] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, configuring the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in a wireless frame includes:

[0105] Determine the configuration information, which represents the wireless frame configuration for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0106] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the network device determines configuration information, thereby enabling it to determine the wireless frame configuration of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. This helps the terminal device obtain the frame structure of the wireless frame and facilitates the terminal device in performing wireless link detection based on the frame structure of the wireless frame in the downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, thus improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0107] Thirdly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a terminal device, including:

[0108] The processing module is used to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame;

[0109] Among them, the wireless frame is the wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0110] Fourthly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a network device, including:

[0111] The processing module is used to configure the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame;

[0112] Among them, the wireless frame is the wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0113] Fifthly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a communication device for performing the methods described in the first aspect and optional embodiments thereof, or for performing the methods described in the second aspect and optional embodiments thereof.

[0114] In a sixth aspect, embodiments of this disclosure provide a communication system including a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is configured to implement the methods described in the first aspect and optional embodiments thereof, and the network device is configured to implement the methods described in the second aspect and optional embodiments thereof.

[0115] In a seventh aspect, embodiments of this disclosure provide a storage medium storing instructions that, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method described in the first aspect and its optional implementation, as well as the second aspect and its optional implementation.

[0116] Eighthly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a program product including at least one of a program and instructions, wherein when the program and at least one of the instructions are executed by a communication device, the method described in the first aspect and the optional implementations in the first aspect, the second aspect, and the optional implementations in the second aspect are implemented.

[0117] In a ninth aspect, embodiments of this disclosure provide a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the methods described in the first aspect and its optional implementations, as well as the second aspect and its optional implementations.

[0118] In a tenth aspect, embodiments of this disclosure provide a chip or chip system. The chip or chip system includes processing circuitry configured to perform the methods described according to the first aspect and its optional implementations, the second aspect, and its optional implementations.

[0119] It is understood that the aforementioned terminal devices, network devices, communication systems, storage media, program products, computer programs, chips, or chip systems are all used to execute the methods proposed in the embodiments of this disclosure. Therefore, the beneficial effects they can achieve can be referred to the beneficial effects in the corresponding methods, and will not be repeated here.

[0120] This disclosure provides wireless link detection methods, devices, systems, storage media, and program products. In some embodiments, the terms "wireless link detection method" can be used interchangeably with "communication method," "link detection method," and "wireless link processing method," and the terms "wireless link detection device" can be used interchangeably with "communication device," "link detection device," and "wireless link processing device," and the terms "wireless link detection system" can be used interchangeably with "communication system," "link detection system," and "wireless link processing system."

[0121] This disclosure is not exhaustive, but merely illustrative of some embodiments, and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of this disclosure. Unless otherwise specified, each step in a particular embodiment can be implemented as an independent embodiment, and the steps can be arbitrarily combined. For example, a solution after removing some steps in a particular embodiment can also be implemented as an independent embodiment, and the order of the steps in a particular embodiment can be arbitrarily interchanged. Furthermore, the optional implementation methods in a particular embodiment can be arbitrarily combined; moreover, the embodiments can be arbitrarily combined, for example, some or all steps of different embodiments can be arbitrarily combined, and a particular embodiment can be arbitrarily combined with the optional implementation methods of other embodiments. In all embodiments of this disclosure, unless otherwise specified or logically conflicting, the terminology and / or descriptions between the 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.

[0122] The terminology used in the embodiments of this disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure.

[0123] In this embodiment of the disclosure, unless otherwise stated, elements expressed in the singular form, such as "a," "an," "the," "the," "the," "the," "the," "the," "this," etc., can mean "one and only one," or "one or more," "at least one," etc. For example, when using articles such as "a," "an," "the," etc. in translation, the noun following the article can be understood as either a singular expression or a plural expression.

[0124] In the embodiments disclosed herein, "multiple" refers to two or more.

[0125] In some embodiments, the terms “at least one of A or B, at least one of A and B”, “one or more”, “a plurality of”, “multiple”, etc., may be used interchangeably.

[0126] In some embodiments, the notation "at least one of A and B", "A and / or B", "A in one case, B in another", "in response to one case A, in response to another case B", etc., may include the following technical solutions depending on the situation: in some embodiments, A (execute A regardless of whether there is a branch B); in some embodiments, B (execute B regardless of whether there is a branch A); in some embodiments, execution is selected from A and B (A and B are selectively executed); in some embodiments, both A and B are executed. The same applies when there are more branches such as A, B, C, etc.

[0127] In some embodiments, the notation "A or B" may include the following technical solutions, depending on the situation: in some embodiments, A (execute A regardless of whether a branch B exists); in some embodiments, B (execute B regardless of whether a branch A exists); in some embodiments, execution is selected from A and B (A and B are selectively executed). The same applies when there are more branches such as A, B, and C.

[0128] The prefixes "first," "second," etc., used in the embodiments of this disclosure are merely for distinguishing different descriptive objects and do not impose restrictions on the position, order, priority, quantity, or content of the descriptive objects. The description of the descriptive objects is found in the claims or the context of the embodiments, and the use of prefixes should not constitute unnecessary restrictions. For example, if the descriptive object is a "field," the ordinal numbers preceding "field" in "first field" and "second field" do not restrict the position or order of the "fields." "First" and "second" do not restrict whether the "fields" they modify are in the same message, nor do they restrict the order of "first field" and "second field." Similarly, if the descriptive object is a "level," the ordinal numbers preceding "level" in "first level" and "second level" do not restrict the priority between "levels." Furthermore, the number of descriptive objects is not limited by ordinal numbers and can be one or more. For example, in "first device," the number of "devices" can be one or more. Furthermore, the objects modified by different prefixes can be the same or different. For example, if the object being described is "device", then "first device" and "second device" can be the same device or different devices, and their types can be the same or different. Similarly, if the object being described is "information", then "first information" and "second information" can be the same information or different information, and their content can be the same or different.

[0129] In some embodiments, “including A,” “containing A,” “for indicating A,” and “carrying A” can be interpreted as directly carrying A or indirectly indicating A.

[0130] In some embodiments, terms such as "time / frequency" and "time-frequency domain" refer to the time domain and / or frequency domain.

[0131] In some embodiments, terms such as “in response to…”, “in response to determining…”, “in the case of…”, “when…”, “when…”, “if…”, etc. can be used interchangeably. These descriptions all refer to the device making a corresponding action under certain objective circumstances. They do not necessarily limit the time, nor do they require the device to make a judgment action when implementing it, nor do they mean that there must be other limitations.

[0132] In some embodiments, the terms “greater than,” “greater than or equal to,” “not less than,” “more than,” “more than or equal to,” “not less than,” “higher than,” “higher than or equal to,” “not lower than,” and “above” can be used interchangeably, as can the terms “less than,” “less than or equal to,” “not greater than,” “less than,” “less than or equal to,” “not more than,” “lower than,” “lower than or equal to,” “not higher than,” and “below”.

[0133] In some embodiments, devices, etc., may be interpreted as physical or virtual, and their names are not limited to those described in the embodiments. Terms such as “device,” “equipment,” “circuit,” “network element,” “network function,” “network device,” “function,” “node,” “unit,” “section,” “system,” “network,” “chip,” “chip system,” “entity,” and “subject” are interchangeable.

[0134] In some embodiments, "network" can be interpreted as devices included in a network (e.g., access network devices, core network devices, etc.).

[0135] In some embodiments, the terms "access network device (AN device)," "radio access network device (RAN device)," "base station (BS)," "radio base station," "fixed station," "node," "access point," "transmission point (TP)," "reception point (RP)," "transmission / reception point (TRP)," "panel," "antenna panel," "antenna array," "cell," "macro cell," "small cell," "femto cell," "pico cell," "sector," "cell group," "serving cell," "carrier," "component carrier," and "bandwidth part (BWP)" can be used interchangeably.

[0136] In some embodiments, the terms "terminal", "terminal device", "user equipment (UE)", "user terminal", "mobile station (MS)", "mobile terminal (MT)", "subscriber station", "mobile unit", "subscriber unit", "wireless unit", "remote unit", "mobile device", "wireless device", "wireless communication device", "remote device", "mobile subscriber station", "access terminal", "mobile terminal", "wireless terminal", "remote terminal", "handset", "user agent", "mobile client", and "client" can be used interchangeably.

[0137] In some embodiments, access network devices, core network devices, or network devices can be replaced with terminal devices. For example, embodiments of this disclosure can also be applied to structures where communication between access network devices, core network devices, or network devices and terminal devices is replaced with communication between multiple terminal devices (e.g., device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), etc.). In this case, the terminal devices can also be configured to have all or part of the functions of the access network devices. Furthermore, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" can be replaced with terms corresponding to communication between terminal devices (e.g., "sidelink"). For example, uplink channel, downlink channel, etc., can be replaced with sidelink channel, and uplink link, downlink, etc., can be replaced with sidelink link.

[0138] In some embodiments, the terminal device may be replaced by an access network device, a core network device, or a network device. In this case, the access network device, core network device, or network device may also be configured to have all or some of the functions of the terminal device.

[0139] In some embodiments, the acquisition of data, information, etc., may comply with the laws and regulations of the country where the location is situated.

[0140] In some embodiments, data, information, etc., may be obtained with the user's consent.

[0141] Furthermore, each element, each row, or each column in the table of this disclosure can be implemented as an independent embodiment, and any combination of any element, any row, or any column can also be implemented as an independent embodiment.

[0142] Figure 1a is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 1a, the communication system 1100 includes a terminal device 1101 and a network device 1102.

[0143] In some embodiments, terminal device 1101 includes, for example, at least one of the following: mobile phone, wearable device, Internet of Things device, car with communication function, smart car, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, virtual reality (VR) terminal device, augmented reality (AR) terminal device, wireless terminal device in industrial control, wireless terminal device in self-driving, wireless terminal device in remote medical surgery, wireless terminal device in smart grid, wireless terminal device in transportation safety, wireless terminal device in smart city, and wireless terminal device in smart home, but is not limited thereto.

[0144] In some embodiments, network device 1102 may include at least one of access network device and core network device.

[0145] In some embodiments, the access network device is, for example, a node or device that connects a terminal device to a wireless network. The access network device may include at least one of the following in a 5G communication system: evolved Node B (eNB), next-generation eNB (ng-eNB), next-generation Node B (gNB), node B (NB), home node B (HNB), home evolved node B (HeNB), radio backhaul device, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (BTS), base band unit (BBU), mobile switching center, base station in a 6G communication system, open RAN, cloud RAN, base station in other communication systems, and access node in a Wi-Fi system, but is not limited thereto.

[0146] In some embodiments, the technical solutions of this disclosure can be applied to the Open RAN architecture. In this case, the interfaces between or within access network devices involved in the embodiments of this disclosure can be transformed into internal interfaces of Open RAN. The processes and information interactions between these internal interfaces can be implemented by software or programs.

[0147] In some embodiments, the access network device may be composed of a central unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). The CU may also be called a control unit. The CU-DU structure can separate the protocol layer of the access network device. Some of the protocol layer functions are centrally controlled by the CU, while the remaining part or all of the protocol layer functions are distributed in the DU and centrally controlled by the CU. However, this is not the only possibility.

[0148] In some embodiments, the core network equipment may be a single device, including a first network element, a second network element, etc., or it may be multiple devices or a group of devices, each including all or part of the first network element, the second network element, etc. Network elements may be virtual or physical. The core network may include, for example, at least one of the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), 5G Core Network (5GCN), and Next Generation Core (NGC).

[0149] It is understood that the communication system described in this disclosure is for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of this disclosure, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions proposed in this disclosure. As those skilled in the art will know, with the evolution of system architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions proposed in this disclosure are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0150] The following embodiments of this disclosure can be applied to the communication system 1100 shown in FIG1a, or to some of the main bodies, but are not limited thereto. The main bodies shown in FIG1a are illustrative. The communication system may include all or some of the main bodies in FIG1a, or it may include other main bodies outside of FIG1a. The number and form of each main body are arbitrary. Each main body may be physical or virtual. The connection relationship between the main bodies is illustrative. The main bodies may not be connected or may be connected. The connection may be in any way, such as direct connection or indirect connection, wired connection or wireless connection.

[0151] The embodiments disclosed herein can be applied to Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LTE-Beyond (LTE-B), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4th generation mobile communication system (4G), 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), 5G new radio (NR), Future Radio Access (FRA), New-Radio Access Technology (RAT), New Radio (NR), New radio access (NX), Future generation radio access (FX), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), CDMA2000, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), and IEEE 802.20, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth (a registered trademark), Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) networks, Device-to-Device (D2D) systems, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) systems, Internet of Things (IoT) systems, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) systems, systems utilizing other communication methods, and next-generation systems built upon them, etc. Furthermore, multiple systems can be combined (e.g., a combination of LTE or LTE-A with 5G).

[0152] NTN is a key technology introduced in 5G. It uses satellites (or drones) instead of terrestrial base stations to provide wireless resources and communication services to terminals on the ground. Compared to terrestrial cellular communication, satellite communication is not limited by geography and can cover areas that are difficult for general terrestrial communication to reach.

[0153] The process of communication based on NTN technology can be seen in the example in Figure 1b.

[0154] Figure 1b is a schematic diagram of an NTN communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 1b, it includes a terminal device 1201, a satellite 1202, and an NTN ground station 1203.

[0155] In some embodiments, the link between NTN ground station 1203 and satellite 1202 is a feeder link, which is mainly used to transmit signals from NTN ground station 1203 to satellite 1202. In some embodiments, the link between terminal device 1201 and satellite 1202 is a service link, which is mainly used to transmit signals from satellite 1202 to terminal device 1201.

[0156] Referring to Figure 1b, satellite 1202 can transmit signals by emitting beams towards the Earth. To ensure coverage and improve the system capacity of the satellite communication system, satellite 1202 can employ multi-beam coverage of the ground. The coverage area of ​​the multi-beam system can be referred to as the beam footprint. In some embodiments, different satellites can employ different beam shapes and coverage areas to meet the communication needs of different regions. The area of ​​the Earth's surface that satellite 1202 can observe can be referred to as the field of view of satellite 1202.

[0157] In the NTN communication process illustrated in Figure 1b, depending on the different ways satellite 1202 processes signals, it can be divided into transparent transmission mode and regeneration mode.

[0158] Figure 1c is a schematic diagram of an NTN communication system architecture in transparent transmission mode provided by an embodiment of this disclosure. Referring to Figure 1c, it includes a terminal device 1301, a satellite 1302, and a base station 1303. Communication is possible between the terminal device 1301 and the satellite 1302, and between the satellite 1302 and the base station 1303. In the architecture illustrated in Figure 1c, the satellite 1302 and the NTN ground station together constitute a remote radio unit (RRU). The network formed between the terminal device 1301, the satellite 1302, and the base station 1303 can be called an NTN. The terminal device 1301 and the base station 1303 communicate via the Uu interface, the base station 1303 communicates with the core network via the NG interface, the base station 1303 accesses the data network through the core network, and the core network and the data network communicate via the N6 interface.

[0159] In the transparent transmission mode illustrated in Figure 1c, the NTN ground station transmits the base station's signal to satellite 1302. Satellite 1302 converts the signal to the satellite frequency band and then transmits it to terminal device 1301 via the satellite frequency band. During this process, satellite 1302 only performs frequency conversion and signal amplification; it does not demodulate the signal. In the NTN communication system architecture illustrated in Figure 1c, satellite 1302 can be considered as a relay device between terminal device 1301 and base station 1303.

[0160] Figure 1d is a schematic diagram of an NTN communication system architecture in regeneration mode provided by an embodiment of this disclosure. Referring to Figure 1d, it includes a terminal device 1401 and a satellite 1402. Wireless communication is possible between the terminal device 1401 and the satellite 1402.

[0161] In the architecture shown in Figure 1d, the network formed between terminal device 1401 and satellite 1402 can be called NTN. Terminal device 1401 and satellite 1402 communicate via the Uu interface, satellite 1402 communicates with the core network via the NG interface, satellite 1402 accesses the data network through the core network, and the core network and data network communicate via the N6 interface.

[0162] In the regeneration mode illustrated in Figure 1d, satellite 1402 functions as a base station. The NTN ground station sends the base station signal to satellite 1402, which demodulates and decodes the signal before re-encoding and modulating it (this process is called regeneration). The regenerated signal is then sent to terminal device 1401 via the satellite frequency band.

[0163] In some embodiments, the NTN network architecture can be used for signal and / or data transmission in IoT NTN scenarios, i.e., allocating time slots for IoT NTN mode during the TDD cycle of NTN.

[0164] Please refer to Figure 1e, which is a schematic diagram of the frame structure of the Iridium communication system according to an embodiment of this disclosure. Currently, the Iridium communication system uses the 1616-1626.5MHz spectrum, and its frame structure is shown in Figure 1e. The length of one TDD cycle is 90ms.

[0165] Within a 90ms TDD cycle, there is a simplex time slot, four uplink time slots (UL1 to UL4 in Figure 1e), and four downlink time slots (DL1 to DL4 in Figure 1e). The duration of the simplex time slot is 20.300ms, and the duration of both the uplink and downlink time slots is 8.267ms. Guard intervals are also set between adjacent time units; for example, the guard interval before a simplex time slot is 1.000ms, the guard interval between a simplex time slot and UL1 is 1.260ms, the guard interval between UL2 and UL3 is 0.233ms, the guard interval between UL4 and DL1 is 0.253ms, the guard interval between DL2 and DL3 is 0.113ms, the guard interval after DL4 is 0.013ms, and so on.

[0166] In some embodiments, for the frame structure of the Iridium communication system exemplified in Figure 1e, one uplink time slot and one downlink time slot can be allocated for IoT-NTN mode within a 90ms TDD cycle. Signal and / or data transmission between IoT devices and network devices can be performed in the uplink and downlink time slots allocated to IoT-NTN mode, while the remaining time units within the TDD cycle are still used for the original Iridium communication system. In this way, the Iridium communication system can be compatible with IoT-NTN mode.

[0167] In some embodiments, IoT NTN compatible with the Iridium system is referred to as IoT NTN TDD mode.

[0168] In some embodiments, the duration of both the uplink and downlink time slots allocated to the IoT-NTN mode is 8ms.

[0169] In some embodiments, for the frame structure exemplified in FIG1e, the FDD frame structure mode is used during resource allocation.

[0170] Please refer to Figure 1f, which is a schematic diagram of a frame structure provided according to an embodiment of this disclosure. Figure 1f illustrates multiple system frames. In some embodiments, a system frame may also be called a radio frame. Each system frame can be represented by a system frame number (SFN), such as SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, SFN=10, SFN=11, SFN=12, etc. in Figure 1f. The hyperframe number (HFN) is a higher-level counter, such as HFN=0, HFN=1 in Figure 1f. The HFN can be used in conjunction with the SFN to extend the counting range of the frame period. A subframe is the basic unit for hierarchically dividing time resources in a wireless communication system and is also the core scheduling unit in the frame structure, belonging to the second layer of the frame structure. A system frame may include multiple subframes. For example, if the duration of a system frame is 10ms, a system frame can be divided into 10 subframes, each with a duration of 1ms.

[0171] In some embodiments, the duration of a system frame can be 10ms. For downlink, not every system frame is used for downlink transmission in IoT-NTN mode. The downlink duration allocated to IoT-NTN mode occupies two consecutive system frames. Furthermore, considering that the DL / UL duration of IoT NTN is 8ms, while a radio frame / system frame of the FDD frame structure of IoT NTN is 10ms, eight subframes of the FDD frame structure are selected as the DL / UL duration of IoT NTN. For example, the DL duration of IoT NTN occupies eight subframes in two consecutive system frames, specifically: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 (8ms). Subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are subframes in the first system frame, and 0 is a subframe in the second system frame.

[0172] Taking the frame structure illustrated in Figure 1f as an example, Figure 1f illustrates DL durations including: DL#1, DL#2...DL#113, DL#114, DL#115, etc. Different DL durations are located in different TDD cycles.

[0173] For DL#1, the two consecutive system frames occupied by DL#1 are SFN=0 and SFN=1 in HFN=0. Specifically, DL#1 occupies subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in SFN=0, and subframe 0 in SFN=1.

[0174] For DL#2, the two consecutive system frames occupied by DL#2 are SFN=9 and SFN=10 in HFN=0. Specifically, DL#2 occupies subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in SFN=9, and subframe 0 in SFN=10.

[0175] For DL#114, the two consecutive system frames occupied by DL#114 are SFN=2 and SFN=3 in HFN=1. Specifically, DL#114 occupies subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in SFN=2, and subframe 0 in SFN=3.

[0176] For downlink time slot DL#115, DL#115 occupies two consecutive system frames: SFN=11 and SFN=12 in HFN=1. Specifically, DL#115 occupies subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in SFN=11, and subframe 0 in SFN=15.

[0177] In some embodiments, the interval between any two adjacent DL durations is 90ms. For example, the time interval between DL#2 and DL#1 is 90ms; the time interval between DL#14 and DL#13 is 90ms; and the time interval between DL#115 and DL#114 is 90ms.

[0178] The above embodiments introduced the frame structure of the Iridium communication system compatible with IoT-NTN mode. The radio link monitoring (RLM) process will be introduced below.

[0179] Radio link failure (RLF) is a connection interruption event triggered by a terminal device in a wireless communication system due to poor quality of the radio link or handover failure.

[0180] Please refer to Figure 1g, which is a schematic diagram of an RLF processing flow provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 1g, the terminal device is initially in normal operation. The RLF processing flow is mainly divided into two stages. The first stage is mainly the fault detection of the wireless link, and the second stage is mainly the recovery of the wireless link.

[0181] In the first phase, the physical layer of the terminal device continuously monitors the quality of the wireless link. If the quality of the wireless link continues to deteriorate, an out-of-sync (RLF) event is determined to have occurred. Specifically, the network device can pre-configure a consecutive out-of-sync event count threshold N310 and a T310 timer (also known as a fault detection wait timer) duration T1. The terminal device measures the quality of the wireless link, and when it detects that the quality of the wireless link is lower than the quality threshold, it can report an out-of-sync event. When the number of consecutive out-of-sync events reaches N310, the terminal device starts the T310 timer. If synchronization fails to be restored during the execution of the T310 timer, the process proceeds to the second phase. In the first phase, the terminal device is in a connected state (RRC_CONNECTED).

[0182] In the second phase, the terminal device can attempt to re-establish the RRC connection. During this phase, the terminal device can start a T311 / T301 timer (also known as an idle-state fallback timeout timer), which has a runtime of T2. If the re-establishment is successful within the timer's runtime, it indicates that the wireless link has returned to normal. If the re-establishment fails within the timer's runtime, the terminal device falls back to the idle state (RRC_IDLE).

[0183] In cellular communication systems, when a terminal device is in a connected state, it needs to continuously monitor the quality of the wireless link to quickly detect physical layer problems (such as signal degradation or link interruption). This process relies on the coordination of the physical layer (PHY) and the RRC layer, using "out-of-sync" and "in-sync" status indicators to assess the health of the wireless link. If the wireless link quality remains substandard, the terminal device will trigger the RLF recovery procedure to ensure communication reliability.

[0184] In some embodiments, the terminal device needs to perform physical layer problem detection to determine whether an RLF has occurred.

[0185] For example, in the scenario of monitoring the source PCell under the dual active protocol stack (DAPS) bearer configuration, if the terminal device has been configured with DAPS bearer (dual connectivity scenario), and the physical layer of the terminal device continuously reports N310 out-of-sync times to the source PCell, and the T304 timer is running, the link recovery timer T310 of the source PCell is started, and an attempt is made to restore the link before T310 times out.

[0186] For example, if the physical layer continuously reports out-of-sync indications to PCell N310 times, and the following timers are not currently running: T300, T301, T304, T311, T316, then PCell's timer T310 is started, and the wireless link recovery waiting period begins.

[0187] For example, if the physical layer continuously reports out-of-sync to PSCell (primary cell of secondary cell group) N313 times and timer T307 is not running, then timer T313 is started to monitor the link status of PSCell.

[0188] In some embodiments, other secondary cells (SCells) do not perform autonomous physical layer monitoring and recovery operations, except for PSCell.

[0189] In some embodiments, to improve the response speed to wireless link failures, the terminal device also supports early detection at the physical layer. If the physical layer of the terminal device continuously reports "early-out-of-sync" to PCell N310 times, timer T314 is started, with a runtime of the same as T310, thereby triggering the recovery process in advance to reduce the risk of service interruption.

[0190] In summary, the terminal device determines whether a Radio Link Failure (RLF) has occurred by receiving the number of out-of-sync indications. Out-of-sync information is sent from the physical layer to the RRC layer. The terminal device should monitor the downlink radio link quality of the primary cell to indicate the out-of-sync / synchronization status to higher layers.

[0191] If the terminal device is configured with an auxiliary cell group (SCG) and a higher layer provides the parameter rlf-TimersAndConstantsSCG and it is not set to release, the terminal device should monitor the downlink radio link quality of the SCG's PSCell to indicate the desynchronization / synchronization status to the higher layer.

[0192] In non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device should evaluate the radio link quality in each radio frame. This radio link quality can be evaluated based on a defined previous time period and compared with a threshold defined by relevant tests (Q). out and Q in (Compare)

[0193] In DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device should evaluate the radio link quality at least once per DRX cycle. This quality evaluation is based on a defined previous time period and compared with a threshold defined by the relevant test (Q). out and Q in (Compare)

[0194] If higher-layer signaling instructs certain subframes to be used for restricted radio link detection, then radio link quality should not be monitored in any subframes other than those instructions.

[0195] In a wireless frame used to evaluate wireless link quality, when the wireless link quality is below a threshold Q... out When this happens, the physical layer of the terminal device should indicate a loss of synchronization to a higher layer.

[0196] When the wireless link quality is higher than the threshold Q in At that time, the physical layer of the terminal device should indicate synchronization to higher layers in the radio frame used to evaluate the quality of the radio link.

[0197] For IoT-NTN TDD using the IoT NTN FDD resource allocation method, the DL duration period is 90ms. Therefore, there is no downlink signal transmission within 90ms between two adjacent DL durations, or the radio frame between two adjacent DL durations is not used for IoT-NTN TDD. If the terminal device still performs RLM according to the FDD frame structure, it may lead to incorrect out-of-sync counts and / or incorrect early-out-of-sync counts, resulting in low RLM accuracy.

[0198] Based on this, the present disclosure provides a wireless link detection method in which the terminal device performs wireless link detection on wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. This avoids the impact of performing wireless link detection on wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data not used for IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0199] Referring to Figure 2a, Figure 2a is an exemplary flowchart of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 2a, the wireless link detection method includes the following steps:

[0200] Step S2101: When the terminal device is in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle; or, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one subframe in a wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle.

[0201] In some embodiments, the terms “radio”, “wireless”, “radio access network (RAN)”, “access network (AN)”, and “RAN-based” can be used interchangeably.

[0202] DRX is a mechanism for optimizing the power consumption of terminal devices. By periodically shutting down the receiving circuitry, the terminal device listens to network signals only during the active period and enters a sleep state at other times, thereby significantly reducing the power consumption of the terminal device. If the terminal device is in DRX mode, it only listens to network signals during the active period and remains in a sleep state (i.e., the sleep period) at other times, without listening to network signals.

[0203] In some embodiments, the terminal device may be an Internet of Things (IoT) device.

[0204] In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle.

[0205] In some embodiments, the terms “frame”, “radio frame”, “subframe”, “slot”, “sub-slot”, “mini-slot”, “symbol”, “symbol”, “transmission time interval (TTI)”, and “duration” can be used interchangeably.

[0206] In some embodiments, the terms radio frame, radio frame number, system frame, and system frame number can be used interchangeably.

[0207] In some embodiments, wireless link quality detection may also be referred to as wireless link quality monitoring.

[0208] The DRX cycle refers to the time interval between the start of one activation period and the start of the next activation period for a terminal device. The size of the DRX cycle is usually configured by the network device, which is typically dynamically configured based on actual service requirements and network policies.

[0209] The TDD period refers to the frame structure period of the Iridium satellite communication system. The Iridium communication system uses a 90ms frame structure, meaning the TDD period is 90ms. The size of the TDD period is usually determined by factors such as the orbital characteristics of the Iridium satellite and the communication protocol.

[0210] The DRX cycle and TDD cycle are two independent cycles. The start times of the DRX cycle and TDD cycle can be the same or different; the end times of the DRX cycle and TDD cycle can also be the same or different. The lengths of the DRX cycle and TDD cycle can be the same or different. Each TDD cycle includes one DL duration. The number of DL durations included in a DRX cycle is usually determined by factors such as the start time of the DRX cycle, the length of the DRX cycle, and the start time of the TDD cycle.

[0211] In some embodiments, a DRX cycle may include multiple radio frames. For example, the length of a DRX cycle may be 40ms-2.56s, and the length of a radio frame may be 10ms, thus a DRX cycle may include multiple radio frames.

[0212] Within a DRX cycle, there may be one or more radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Specifically, a TDD cycle may include one DL duration, which occupies two consecutive radio frames. The period of the DL duration is 90ms. Therefore, within a DRX cycle, there is a DL duration every 90ms, and the radio frames occupied by the DL duration are the radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0213] For any given DRX cycle, which includes one or more wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection on at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within that DRX cycle. Specifically, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection on every wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within that DRX cycle, or it can perform wireless link quality detection on a subset of the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within that DRX cycle.

[0214] For example, taking Figure 1f as an example, if the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within a DRX cycle include SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, and SFN=10 in Figure 1f, then the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in at least one of these four wireless frames.

[0215] For example, the physical layer of a terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in the two radio frames SFN=0 and SFN=1; for example, the physical layer of a terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in the two radio frames SFN=9 and SFN=10; the physical layer of a terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in the four radio frames SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, and SFN=10, and so on.

[0216] In some embodiments, for radio frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode within a DRX cycle, the terminal device does not perform radio link quality detection on those radio frames. Taking Figure 1f as an example, if the radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within a DRX cycle include SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, and SFN=10 in Figure 1f, then the radio frames between SFN=1 and SFN=9 belong to the radio frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode, and the terminal device does not perform radio link quality detection on the radio frames between SFN=1 and SFN=9.

[0217] In some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device may perform one wireless link quality test or multiple wireless link tests on at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within the DRX cycle.

[0218] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within the DRX period. Specifically, this process could involve the terminal device receiving a downlink reference signal sent by the network device within at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within the DRX period and measuring the quality of the downlink reference signal. The terminal device can then compare the measured quality of the downlink reference signal with a quality threshold to determine whether an out-of-sync indication and / or an early-out-of-sync indication need to be reported based on the comparison result.

[0219] In some embodiments, the terms "synchronization signal (SS)," "synchronization signal block (SSB)," "reference signal (RS)," "pilot," and "pilot signal" can be used interchangeably.

[0220] In some embodiments, terms such as "certain," "preset," "default," "set," "indicated," "a certain," "any," and "first" can be used interchangeably. "Certain A," "preset A," "default A," "set A," "indicated A," "a certain A," "any A," and "first A" can be interpreted as A pre-defined in a protocol or the like, or as A obtained through setting, configuration, or instruction, or as specific A, a certain A, any A, or first A, but are not limited thereto.

[0221] In some embodiments, the quality of the downlink reference signal may include one or more of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), and signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR).

[0222] In some embodiments, if the quality of the downlink reference signal is less than or equal to a first quality threshold, the physical layer of the terminal device reports an out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer.

[0223] In some embodiments, if the quality of the downlink reference signal is less than or equal to a second quality threshold, the physical layer of the terminal device reports an early-out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer.

[0224] In some embodiments, the first quality threshold is less than the second quality threshold.

[0225] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode during each DRX cycle. This avoids the impact of performing wireless link quality detection on wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data not used for IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission during the DRX cycle on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0226] In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in subframes of at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle.

[0227] For details regarding DRX mode, DRX cycle, and at least one IoT-NTN TDD mode wireless frame transmitted within each DRX cycle, please refer to the relevant content in the above embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0228] In some embodiments, for any IoT-NTN TDD mode radio frame transmitted within a DRX period, the subframe in that radio frame refers to the subframe occupied by the DL duration. Taking Figure 1f as an example, for DL#1, it belongs to one DL duration, and DL#1 occupies two consecutive radio frames, namely SFN=0 and SFN=1. Furthermore, DL#1 occupies the following subframes in SFN=0: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and subframe 0 in SFN=1.

[0229] In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in subframes of at least one IoT-NTN TDD mode wireless frame transmitted within each DRX cycle. The subframes in which the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection can be all subframes in the wireless frame, or all or part of the subframes occupied by the DL duration.

[0230] For example, for a wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within a DRX period, subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in this wireless frame are subframes occupied by DL duration, that is, subframes used for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Then, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The physical layer of the terminal device can also perform wireless link quality detection in subframes 3, 4, and 5. The physical layer of the terminal device can also perform wireless link quality detection in subframes 5, 6, and 7, and so on.

[0231] In some embodiments, for subframes of radio frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode within a DRX period, the terminal device does not perform radio link quality detection in those subframes. Taking Figure 1f as an example, if the radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within a DRX period include SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, and SFN=10 in Figure 1f, then the radio frames between SFN=1 and SFN=9 belong to the radio frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode, and the terminal device does not perform radio link quality detection in the subframes of the radio frames between SFN=1 and SFN=9. For the radio frame SFN=1, although it belongs to the IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission, only subframe 0 is used for IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission. The other subframes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are not used for IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission. Therefore, the physical layer of the terminal device does not perform radio link quality detection in subframes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of SFN=1.

[0232] In some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device may perform one wireless link quality test or multiple wireless link tests in a subframe of at least one IoT-NTN TDD mode wireless frame transmitted within the DRX cycle.

[0233] The physical layer of the terminal device performs radio link quality detection in a subframe of at least one IoT-NTN TDD mode radio frame within the DRX period. Specifically, this process could involve the terminal device receiving a downlink reference signal sent by the network device and measuring its quality within a subframe of at least one IoT-NTN TDD mode radio frame within the DRX period. The terminal device can then compare the measured downlink reference signal quality with a quality threshold to determine whether an out-of-sync indication and / or an early-out-of-sync indication need to be reported.

[0234] In some embodiments, the quality of the downlink reference signal may include one or more of the following: the RSRP of the downlink reference signal, the RSRQ of the downlink reference signal, and the SINR of the downlink reference signal.

[0235] In some embodiments, if the quality of the downlink reference signal is less than or equal to a first quality threshold, the physical layer of the terminal device reports an out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer.

[0236] In some embodiments, if the quality of the downlink reference signal is less than or equal to a second quality threshold, the physical layer of the terminal device reports an early-out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer.

[0237] In some embodiments, the first quality threshold is less than the second quality threshold.

[0238] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one subframe of a wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode during each DRX cycle. This avoids the impact of performing wireless link quality detection on the overall detection result on subframes of wireless frames not used for downlink signals and / or data transmission in IoT-NTN TDD mode during the DRX cycle, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0239] In some embodiments, the steps and their optional implementations in other embodiments described before or after this embodiment, as well as other related parts in the specification, can be referred to, and will not be repeated here.

[0240] Referring to Figure 2b, Figure 2b is a second exemplary flowchart of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 2b, the wireless link detection method includes the following steps:

[0241] Step S2201: When the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode; or, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on subframes in each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0242] DRX is a mechanism for optimizing the power consumption of terminal devices. By periodically shutting down the receiver circuitry, the terminal device only listens to network signals during the active window and enters a sleep state the rest of the time, thereby significantly reducing the power consumption of the terminal device. If the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, it can continuously listen to network signals.

[0243] In some embodiments, the terminal device may be an Internet of Things (IoT) device.

[0244] When the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0245] When the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the wireless link quality is not checked when the physical layer of the terminal device transmits wireless frames in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0246] In some embodiments, "the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode", "the physical layer of the terminal device does not perform wireless link quality detection on wireless frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode", and "the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on wireless frames not transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode" can be interchanged.

[0247] For example, taking Figure 1f as an example, within HFN=0, the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode include SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, SFN=10, ... in Figure 1f, that is, the wireless frames occupied by the following DL durations: DL#1, DL#2, DL#3, ..., DL#113. The physical layer of the terminal device can then perform wireless link quality detection on the aforementioned wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Wireless frames between two adjacent DL durations belong to each wireless frame transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode, and the physical layer of the terminal device does not perform wireless link quality detection on each wireless frame transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode. For example, in Figure 1f, the wireless frames between SFN=1 and SFN=9 belong to the wireless frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode, and the terminal device does not perform wireless link quality detection on the wireless frames between SFN=1 and SFN=9.

[0248] In some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode; in some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in a portion of the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0249] In some embodiments, the wireless frames transmitted in the physical layer IoT-NTN TDD mode of the terminal device can undergo one wireless link quality test or multiple wireless link tests.

[0250] In IoT-NTN TDD mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on the wireless frames transmitted. Specifically, this process could involve the terminal device receiving downlink reference signals sent by the network device within the IoT-NTN TDD mode wireless frames and measuring the quality of the downlink reference signals. The terminal device can then compare the measured quality of the downlink reference signals with a quality threshold to determine whether an out-of-sync indication and / or an early-out-of-sync indication need to be reported based on the comparison result.

[0251] In some embodiments, the quality of the downlink reference signal may include one or more of the following: the RSRP of the downlink reference signal, the RSRQ of the downlink reference signal, and the SINR of the downlink reference signal.

[0252] In some embodiments, if the quality of the downlink reference signal is less than or equal to a first quality threshold, the physical layer of the terminal device reports an out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer.

[0253] In some embodiments, if the quality of the downlink reference signal is less than or equal to a second quality threshold, the physical layer of the terminal device reports an early-out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer.

[0254] In some embodiments, the first quality threshold is less than the second quality threshold.

[0255] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. This avoids the impact of performing wireless link quality detection on wireless frames that are not used for downlink signals and / or data transmission in IoT-NTN TDD mode on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0256] In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in subframes of each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0257] For details on wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, please refer to the relevant content in the above embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0258] In some embodiments, for any IoT-NTN TDD mode transmitted radio frame, the subframe in the radio frame refers to the subframe occupied by the DL duration. Taking Figure 1f as an example, for DL#1, it belongs to one DL duration, and DL#1 occupies two consecutive radio frames, namely SFN=0 and SFN=1. Furthermore, DL#1 occupies the following subframes in SFN=0: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and subframe 0 in SFN=1.

[0259] In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in subframes of each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. The subframes in which the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection can be all subframes in the wireless frame, or all or part of the subframes occupied by the DL duration.

[0260] For example, for a wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in the wireless frame are subframes occupied by DL duration, that is, subframes used for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Then, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The physical layer of the terminal device can also perform wireless link quality detection in subframes 3, 4, and 5. The physical layer of the terminal device can also perform wireless link quality detection in subframes 5, 6, and 7, and so on.

[0261] In some embodiments, for subframes in a non-IoT-NTN TDD mode radio frame, the terminal device does not perform radio link quality detection in those subframes. Taking Figure 1f as an example, if the IoT-NTN TDD mode radio frame includes SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, and SFN=10 in Figure 1f, then the radio frame between SFN=1 and SFN=9 belongs to the non-IoT-NTN TDD mode radio frame, and the terminal device does not perform radio link quality detection in the subframes between SFN=1 and SFN=9. For the radio frame SFN=1, although it belongs to the IoT-NTN TDD mode radio frame, only subframe 0 is used for IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission; the remaining subframes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are not. Therefore, the physical layer of the terminal device does not perform radio link quality detection in subframes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of SFN=1.

[0262] In some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device may perform one wireless link quality test or multiple wireless link tests in a subframe of a wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0263] In the IoT-NTN TDD mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection in subframes of the wireless frame. Specifically, this process could involve the terminal device receiving a downlink reference signal from the network device and measuring its quality within the subframe. The terminal device then compares the measured downlink reference signal quality with a quality threshold to determine whether an out-of-sync indication and / or an early-out-of-sync indication need to be reported. The wireless link quality detection process can be found in step S2101 of the embodiment shown in Figure 2a, and will not be repeated here.

[0264] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on subframes of each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. This avoids the impact of performing wireless link quality detection on subframes of wireless frames that are not used for downlink signals and / or data transmission in IoT-NTN TDD mode on the overall detection results, thereby improving the accuracy of wireless link detection.

[0265] In some embodiments, the steps and their optional implementations in other embodiments described before or after this embodiment, as well as other related parts in the specification, can be referred to, and will not be repeated here.

[0266] Referring to Figure 2c, which is an exemplary flowchart of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the wireless link detection method includes the following steps:

[0267] Step S2301: The RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting on the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode; or, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting on the subframes in the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0268] In some embodiments, the terminal device can be an Internet of Things (IoT) device. The terminal device can be in DRX mode or in non-DRX mode.

[0269] In some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device may perform wireless link quality detection and determine whether it is necessary to report an out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer of the terminal device based on the result of the wireless link quality detection.

[0270] In some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device may perform wireless link quality detection in one or more wireless frames.

[0271] Specifically, the terminal device can receive the downlink reference signal sent by the network device in the radio frame and measure the quality of the downlink reference signal. Then, the terminal device can compare the measured quality of the downlink reference signal with a first quality threshold, and determine whether an out-of-sync indication needs to be reported based on the comparison result.

[0272] In some embodiments, the quality of the downlink reference signal may include one or more of the following: the RSRP of the downlink reference signal, the RSRQ of the downlink reference signal, and the SINR of the downlink reference signal.

[0273] In some embodiments, if the quality of the downlink reference signal is less than or equal to a first quality threshold, the physical layer of the terminal device reports an out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer. Correspondingly, the RRC layer of the terminal device receives the out-of-sync indication.

[0274] In some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device may perform wireless link quality detection only on wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. In this case, the RRC layer of the terminal device receives the out-of-sync indication on the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0275] In some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection on wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode and wireless frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode. In this case, the RRC layer of the terminal device receives out-of-sync indications on wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode and / or out-of-sync indications on wireless frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0276] In some embodiments, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting on radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. That is, if the physical layer of the terminal device performs radio link quality detection on radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode and sends an out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer of the terminal device based on the detection result, the RRC layer of the terminal device counts it as one out-of-sync occurrence.

[0277] In some embodiments, the RRC layer of the terminal device does not perform out-of-sync counting for radio frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode. That is, if the physical layer of the terminal device performs radio link quality detection on radio frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode and sends an out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer of the terminal device based on the detection result, the RRC layer of the terminal device does not count it as an out-of-sync occurrence.

[0278] For example, taking Figure 1f as an example, if the wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode includes SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, and SFN=10 in Figure 1f.

[0279] In one implementation, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection during these four radio frames and determine whether to report an out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer of the terminal device based on the detection results. Since these four radio frames are all radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, if the physical layer of the terminal device reports an out-of-sync indication, the RRC layer of the terminal device will perform out-of-sync counting.

[0280] In one implementation, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in the 11 wireless frames from SFN=0 to SFN=10, and determine whether to report an out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer of the terminal device based on the detection results. Since only SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, and SFN=10 of the 11 wireless frames belong to the IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission frames, if the physical layer of the terminal device reports an out-of-sync indication, the RRC layer of the terminal device will perform out-of-sync counting in these 4 wireless frames.

[0281] In some embodiments, "out-of-sync counting is performed on wireless frames transmitted by the RRC layer of the terminal device in IoT-NTN TDD mode", "out-of-sync counting is performed on wireless frames transmitted by the RRC layer of the terminal device in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode", and "out-of-sync counting is not performed on wireless frames transmitted by the RRC layer of the terminal device in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode" can be interchanged.

[0282] In some embodiments, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting in subframes of wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0283] In some embodiments, for any wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, the subframe in the wireless frame refers to the subframe occupied by the DL duration. For a description of the subframes in the wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, please refer to the relevant content of step S2101 in Figure 2a, which will not be repeated here.

[0284] In some embodiments, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting on subframes within a radio frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. The subframes for which the RRC layer performs out-of-sync counting can be all subframes within the radio frame, or all or part of the subframes occupied by the DL duration.

[0285] For example, for a wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within a DRX period, subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in this wireless frame are subframes occupied by DL duration, that is, subframes used for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Then, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The physical layer of the terminal device can also perform wireless link quality detection in subframes 3, 4, and 5. The physical layer of the terminal device can also perform wireless link quality detection in subframes 5, 6, and 7, and so on.

[0286] In some embodiments, for subframes in a radio frame transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode, the RRC of the terminal device does not perform out-of-sync counting in the subframes of that radio frame.

[0287] Taking Figure 1f as an example, if the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within a DRX cycle include SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, and SFN=10 in Figure 1f, then the wireless frames between SFN=1 and SFN=9 belong to the non-IoT-NTN TDD mode wireless frames. The RRC layer of the terminal device does not perform out-of-sync counting in the subframes of the wireless frames between SFN=1 and SFN=9. For the wireless frame SFN=1, although it belongs to the IoT-NTN TDD mode wireless frame, only subframe 0 is used for IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission. The remaining subframes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are not used for IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission. Therefore, the RRC layer of the terminal device does not perform out-of-sync counting in the subframes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of SFN=1.

[0288] In some embodiments, the following statements can be interchanged: "The RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting in subframes of radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode", "The RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting in subframes of radio frames not transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode", and "The RRC layer of the terminal device does not perform out-of-sync counting in subframes of radio frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode".

[0289] In subframes of radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting. Specifically, this process could involve the terminal device receiving a downlink reference signal sent by the network device within a subframe of the IoT-NTN TDD mode radio frame and measuring the quality of the downlink reference signal. The terminal device then compares the measured quality of the downlink reference signal with a quality threshold to determine whether an out-of-sync indication needs to be reported. For example, if the quality of the downlink reference signal is less than or equal to a first quality threshold, the physical layer of the terminal device reports an out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer. Since the downlink reference signal is received within a subframe of the IoT-NTN TDD mode radio frame, the RRC layer of the terminal device records one out-of-sync event, incrementing the out-of-sync indication count by 1.

[0290] In this embodiment, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting in wireless frames or subframes within wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. This out-of-sync counting offers high flexibility. Furthermore, since the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode are specifically for IoT-NTN TDD, the accuracy of out-of-sync counting can be improved, erroneous RLF judgments reduced, and consequently, the accuracy of wireless link detection performed by the terminal device improved.

[0291] In some embodiments, the steps and their optional implementations in other embodiments described before or after this embodiment, as well as other related parts in the specification, can be referred to, and will not be repeated here.

[0292] Referring to Figure 2d, which is an exemplary flowchart of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the wireless link detection method includes the following steps:

[0293] Step S2401: The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting on the radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode; or, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting on the subframes in the radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0294] In some embodiments, the terminal device can be an Internet of Things (IoT) device. The terminal device can be in DRX mode or in non-DRX mode.

[0295] In some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device may perform wireless link quality detection and determine whether it is necessary to report an early-out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer of the terminal device based on the result of the wireless link quality detection.

[0296] In some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device may perform wireless link quality detection in one or more wireless frames.

[0297] Specifically, the terminal device can receive the downlink reference signal sent by the network device in the radio frame and measure the quality of the downlink reference signal. Then, the terminal device can compare the measured quality of the downlink reference signal with a first quality threshold, and determine whether an early-out-of-sync indication needs to be reported based on the comparison result.

[0298] In some embodiments, the quality of the downlink reference signal may include one or more of the following: the RSRP of the downlink reference signal, the RSRQ of the downlink reference signal, and the SINR of the downlink reference signal.

[0299] In some embodiments, if the quality of the downlink reference signal is less than or equal to a second quality threshold, the physical layer of the terminal device reports an early-out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer. Correspondingly, the RRC layer of the terminal device receives the early-out-of-sync indication.

[0300] In some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device may perform wireless link quality detection only on wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. In this case, the RRC layer of the terminal device receives the early-out-of-sync indication on the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0301] In some embodiments, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection on wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode and wireless frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode. In this case, the RRC layer of the terminal device receives the early-out-of-sync indication on the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode and / or the early-out-of-sync indication on the wireless frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0302] In some embodiments, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting on radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. That is, if the physical layer of the terminal device performs radio link quality detection on radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode and sends an early-out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer of the terminal device based on the detection result, the RRC layer of the terminal device counts it as one early-out-of-sync count.

[0303] In some embodiments, the RRC layer of the terminal device does not perform early-out-of-sync counting for radio frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode. That is, if the physical layer of the terminal device performs radio link quality detection on radio frames transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode and sends an early-out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer of the terminal device based on the detection result, the RRC layer of the terminal device does not count it as an early-out-of-sync count.

[0304] For example, taking Figure 1f as an example, if the wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode includes SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, and SFN=10 in Figure 1f.

[0305] In one implementation, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection during these four wireless frames and determine whether to report an out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer of the terminal device based on the detection results. Since these four wireless frames are all wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, if the physical layer of the terminal device reports an out-of-sync indication, the RRC layer of the terminal device will perform an early-out-of-sync count.

[0306] In one implementation, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in the 11 wireless frames from SFN=0 to SFN=10, and determine whether to report an early-out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer of the terminal device based on the detection results. Since only SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, and SFN=10 of the 11 wireless frames belong to the IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission frames, if the physical layer of the terminal device reports an early-out-of-sync indication, the RRC layer of the terminal device will perform early-out-of-sync counting in these 4 wireless frames.

[0307] In some embodiments, "early-out-of-sync counting is performed on wireless frames transmitted by the RRC layer of the terminal device in IoT-NTN TDD mode", "early-out-of-sync counting is performed on wireless frames transmitted by the RRC layer of the terminal device in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode", and "early-out-of-sync counting is not performed on wireless frames transmitted by the RRC layer of the terminal device in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode" can be interchanged.

[0308] In some embodiments, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting in subframes of wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0309] In some embodiments, for any wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, the subframe in the wireless frame refers to the subframe occupied by the DL duration. For a description of the subframes in the wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, please refer to the relevant content of step S2101 in Figure 2a, which will not be repeated here.

[0310] In some embodiments, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting on subframes within a radio frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. The subframes for which the RRC layer performs early-out-of-sync counting can be all subframes within the radio frame, or all or part of the subframes occupied by the DL duration.

[0311] For example, for a wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within a DRX period, subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in this wireless frame are subframes occupied by DL duration, that is, subframes used for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Then, the physical layer of the terminal device can perform wireless link quality detection in subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The physical layer of the terminal device can also perform wireless link quality detection in subframes 3, 4, and 5. The physical layer of the terminal device can also perform wireless link quality detection in subframes 5, 6, and 7, and so on.

[0312] In some embodiments, for subframes in a radio frame transmitted in non-IoT-NTN TDD mode, the terminal device's RRC does not perform early-out-of-sync counting in the subframes of that radio frame.

[0313] Taking Figure 1f as an example, if the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within a DRX cycle include SFN=0, SFN=1, SFN=9, and SFN=10 in Figure 1f, then the wireless frames between SFN=1 and SFN=9 belong to the non-IoT-NTN TDD mode wireless frames. The RRC layer of the terminal device does not perform early-out-of-sync counting in the subframes of the wireless frames between SFN=1 and SFN=9. For the wireless frame SFN=1, although it belongs to the IoT-NTN TDD mode wireless frame, only subframe 0 is used for IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission. The remaining subframes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are not used for IoT-NTN TDD mode transmission. Therefore, the RRC layer of the terminal device does not perform early-out-of-sync counting in the subframes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of SFN=1.

[0314] In some embodiments, the following statements can be interchanged: "The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting on subframes in radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode," "The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting on subframes in radio frames not transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode," and "The RRC layer of the terminal device does not perform early-out-of-sync counting on subframes in radio frames not transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode."

[0315] In subframes of radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting. Specifically, this process could involve the terminal device receiving a downlink reference signal sent by the network device within a subframe of the IoT-NTN TDD mode radio frame and measuring the quality of the downlink reference signal. The terminal device then compares the measured downlink reference signal quality with a quality threshold to determine whether an early-out-of-sync indication needs to be reported. For example, if the downlink reference signal quality is less than or equal to a second quality threshold, the physical layer of the terminal device reports an early-out-of-sync indication to the RRC layer. Since the downlink reference signal was received within a subframe of the IoT-NTN TDD mode radio frame, the RRC layer of the terminal device records one early-out-of-sync indication, incrementing the early-out-of-sync indication count by 1.

[0316] In this embodiment, the RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting in wireless frames or subframes within wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Early-out-of-sync counting offers high flexibility. Furthermore, since wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode are specifically for IoT-NTN TDD, the accuracy of early-out-of-sync counting can be improved, thereby enhancing the accuracy of wireless link detection by the terminal device.

[0317] In some embodiments, the steps and their optional implementations in other embodiments described before or after this embodiment, as well as other related parts in the specification, can be referred to, and will not be repeated here.

[0318] Referring to Figure 2e, Figure 2e is an exemplary interactive schematic diagram of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 2e, the wireless link detection method includes the following steps:

[0319] Step S2501: The network device determines the configuration information.

[0320] Configuration information is used to represent the wireless frame configuration of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0321] In some embodiments, the names of information, etc., are not limited to the names described in the embodiments. Terms such as "information", "message", "signal", "signaling", "report", "configuration", "indication", "instruction", "command", "channel", "parameter", "domain", "field", "symbol", "symbol", "codebook", "codeword", "codepoint", "bit", "data", "program", and "chip" can be used interchangeably.

[0322] In some embodiments, the process of a network device determining configuration information is specifically the process of configuring the frame structure of wireless frames for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0323] For example, within a 90ms TDD cycle, one uplink time slot and one downlink time slot can be allocated for IoT-NTN mode. Signal and / or data transmission between IoT devices and network devices can occur within the uplink and downlink time slots allocated to IoT-NTN mode, while the remaining time units within the TDD cycle are still used for the original Iridium communication system.

[0324] The downlink duration allocated to the IoT-NTN mode occupies two consecutive system frames. Furthermore, the DL duration occupies eight subframes within those two consecutive system frames, specifically: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0 (8ms). Subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are subframes within the first system frame, and subframe 0 is a subframe within the second system frame.

[0325] The frame structure can be found in the relevant descriptions in Figures 1e and 1f, and will not be repeated here.

[0326] Step S2502: The terminal device determines the configuration information of the network device.

[0327] Configuration information is used to represent the wireless frame configuration of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0328] In some embodiments, the terminal device may be an Internet of Things (IoT) device.

[0329] The terminal device determines the configuration information of the network device. For details on the configuration information, please refer to the relevant content in step S2501, which will not be repeated here.

[0330] The configuration information is used to represent the radio frame configuration of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. The terminal device determines the configuration information of the network device, thereby being able to determine the radio frame configuration of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, and further determine which radio frames belong to the downlink signals and / or data radio frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0331] In step S2503, the network device sends indication information to the terminal device. The indication information is used to indicate whether wireless link detection is performed in the radio frame or in a subframe of the radio frame.

[0332] In some embodiments, the radio frame is a radio frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Accordingly, the indication information is used to instruct radio link detection to be performed on radio frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, or the indication information is used to instruct subframes in radio frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode to perform radio link detection.

[0333] In some embodiments, "acquire," "get," "obtain," "receive," "transmit," "bidirectional transmission," and "send and / or receive" can be used interchangeably and can be interpreted as receiving from other entities, acquiring from protocols, acquiring from higher layers, obtaining through self-processing, or autonomous implementation. Protocols include, for example, at least one of the 3GPP protocol, Wi-Fi protocol, and audio and / or video protocols.

[0334] In some embodiments, terms such as “send,” “transmit,” “report,” “distribute,” “transfer,” “bidirectional transmission,” “send and / or receive” can be used interchangeably.

[0335] Step S2504: The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link detection in the wireless frame, or the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link detection in a subframe of the wireless frame; wherein, the wireless frame is a wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0336] In some embodiments, the terminal device receives indication information sent by the network device, which instructs the wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode to perform wireless link detection. Accordingly, the terminal device performs wireless link detection on the wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0337] The terminal device performs wireless link detection on the wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, which may include the following implementation methods:

[0338] Method 1: When the terminal device is in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle. The implementation process of Method 1 can be found in the relevant description in the embodiment shown in Figure 2a above, and will not be repeated here.

[0339] Method 2: When the terminal device is not in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. The implementation process of Method 2 can be found in the relevant description in the embodiment of Figure 2b above, and will not be repeated here.

[0340] Method 3: The RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting on the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. The implementation process of Method 3 can be found in the relevant description in the embodiment shown in Figure 2c above, and will not be repeated here.

[0341] Method 4: The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting on the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. The implementation process of Method 4 can be found in the relevant description in the embodiment shown in Figure 2d above, and will not be repeated here.

[0342] In some embodiments, the terminal device receives indication information sent by the network device, which instructs subframes in the radio frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode to perform radio link detection. Accordingly, the terminal device performs radio link detection in subframes in the radio frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0343] The terminal device performs wireless link detection in subframes of the wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. For example, this can include the following implementation methods:

[0344] Method 5: When the terminal device is in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one subframe of the wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle. The implementation process of Method 5 can be found in the relevant description in the embodiment shown in Figure 2a above, and will not be repeated here.

[0345] Method 6: When the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection in subframes of each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. The implementation process of Method 6 can be found in the relevant description in the embodiment of Figure 2b above, and will not be repeated here.

[0346] Method 7: The RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-sync counting on subframes within the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. The implementation process of Method 7 can be found in the relevant description in the embodiment shown in Figure 2c above, and will not be repeated here.

[0347] Method 8: The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early-out-of-sync counting on subframes within the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. The implementation process of Method 8 can be found in the relevant description in the embodiment shown in Figure 2d above, and will not be repeated here.

[0348] The wireless link detection method disclosed in this embodiment may include at least one of steps S2501 to S2504. For example, step S2504 may be implemented as a standalone embodiment, step S2503 + step S2504 may be implemented as a standalone embodiment, and step S2501 + step S2502 + step S2503 + step S2504 may be implemented as a standalone embodiment, but is not limited thereto.

[0349] In some embodiments, steps S2501 and S2503 may be performed in an alternate order or simultaneously, and steps S2502 and S2503 may be performed in an alternate order or simultaneously. Steps S2501, S2502, and S2503 are optional, and one or more of these steps may be omitted or substituted in different embodiments.

[0350] In some embodiments, the steps and their optional implementations in other embodiments described before or after this embodiment, as well as other related parts in the specification, can be referred to, and will not be repeated here.

[0351] Referring to Figure 2f, Figure 2f is an exemplary interactive schematic diagram of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 2f, the wireless link detection method includes the following steps:

[0352] Step S2601: The network device configures the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame; wherein, the wireless frame is a wireless frame of downlink signal and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0353] In some embodiments, the terminal device may be an Internet of Things (IoT) device.

[0354] In some embodiments, the network device configures the terminal device to perform wireless link detection on the radio frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. For example, the network device may determine configuration information, and the terminal device may determine the configuration information of the network device. This configuration information is used to represent the radio frame configuration of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. This implementation process can be referred to in the relevant content of steps S2501 and S2502 in Figure 2e, and will not be repeated here.

[0355] In some embodiments, the network device configures the terminal device to perform wireless link detection on radio frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in OT-NTN TDD mode. For example, the network device may send indication information to the terminal device, which indicates that wireless link detection should be performed on the radio frame, or on a subframe within the radio frame. This implementation process can be found in step S2503 of Figure 2e, and will not be repeated here.

[0356] In step S2602, the terminal device performs wireless link detection in the wireless frame; wherein, the wireless frame is a wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0357] The terminal device performs wireless link detection on the wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode. Specifically, it may include one or more of the modes 1 to 8 in step S2504 of Figure 2e. For details, please refer to the relevant descriptions in Figures 2a to 2e, which will not be repeated here.

[0358] The wireless link detection method disclosed in this embodiment may include at least one of steps S2601 to S2602. For example, step S2602 may be implemented as a standalone embodiment, and steps S2601 and S2602 may be implemented as standalone embodiments, but are not limited thereto.

[0359] In some embodiments, step S2601 is optional, and one or more of these steps may be omitted or substituted in different embodiments.

[0360] In some embodiments, the steps and their optional implementations in other embodiments described before or after this embodiment, as well as other related parts in the specification, can be referred to, and will not be repeated here.

[0361] Referring to Figure 3, Figure 3 is an exemplary flowchart of a wireless link detection method provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 3, the wireless link detection method includes the following steps:

[0362] Step S3101: The terminal device performs wireless link detection in the wireless frame; wherein, the wireless frame is a wireless frame of downlink signal and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0363] In some embodiments, the terminal device may be an Internet of Things (IoT) device.

[0364] In some embodiments, wireless link detection may also be referred to as wireless link monitoring.

[0365] In some embodiments, the terminal device can autonomously determine the radio frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, and perform radio link detection in the radio frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0366] In some embodiments, the terminal device can autonomously determine the subframes in the radio frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, and perform radio link detection in the subframes of the radio frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0367] In some embodiments, the network device may configure the wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted by the terminal device in IoT-NTN TDD mode for wireless link detection.

[0368] In some embodiments, the network device may configure the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in subframes of the wireless frames of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0369] In some embodiments, the steps and their optional implementations in other embodiments described before or after this embodiment, as well as other related parts in the specification, can be referred to, and will not be repeated here.

[0370] The following is an exemplary embodiment of the wireless link detection method provided according to embodiments of this disclosure:

[0371] In some embodiments, the wireless link detection method of this disclosure is applied to IoT NTN TDD mode.

[0372] In some embodiments, the IoT-NTN TDD mode uses an FDD frame structure, where a portion of the frames are used by IoT-NTN TDD. For example, every 90ms there is a DL duration and a UL duration for IoT-NTN TDD, where the duration of both the UL and DL durations is 8ms. The interval between the UL and DL durations of IoT-NTN is 50ms.

[0373] In some embodiments, each DL duration occupies two consecutive radio frames (two SFNs). More specifically, each DL duration occupies subframes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the first radio frame, and subframe 0 of the second radio frame.

[0374] In some embodiments, the wireless link detection method includes: a terminal device determining the wireless frames for RLM based on the configuration of a network device; that is, the terminal device only performs RLM on the wireless frames configured by the network device.

[0375] In some embodiments, the network device configures a radio frame / radio frame number for the terminal device, which is used by the terminal device to perform RLM.

[0376] In some embodiments, the terminal device does not count out-of-sync in downlink radio frames / system frames / subframes / times that are not used for IoT NTN TDD mode transmission.

[0377] In some embodiments, the terminal device does not count early-out-of-sync in downlink radio frames / system frames / subframes / times that are not used for IoT NTN TDD mode transmission.

[0378] In some embodiments, the terminal device counts out-of-sync only in downlink radio frames / system frames / subframes / times used for IoT NTN TDD mode transmission.

[0379] In some embodiments, the terminal device counts early-out-of-sync only in downlink radio frames / system frames / subframes / times used for IoT NTN TDD mode transmission.

[0380] In some embodiments, for non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device evaluates the radio link quality in each radio frame / system frame / subframe / time for DL ​​duration.

[0381] In some embodiments, for non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device does not evaluate the radio link quality in downlink radio frames / system frames / subframes / times that are not used for IoT NTN TDD mode transmission.

[0382] In some embodiments, for DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device evaluates the radio link quality once per radio frame / system frame / subframe / time for DL ​​duration at least once per DRX cycle.

[0383] It should be noted that, unless otherwise specified, each step in the embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented as an independent embodiment, and the steps can be arbitrarily combined. The order of the steps in any embodiment of this disclosure can be arbitrarily interchanged, and the optional implementation methods in any embodiment can be arbitrarily combined. Furthermore, different embodiments can be arbitrarily combined; for example, some or all of the steps in different embodiments can be arbitrarily combined, one embodiment can be arbitrarily combined with the optional implementation methods of other embodiments, and so on.

[0384] This disclosure also proposes an apparatus (also referred to as a communication device, etc.) for implementing any of the above methods. For example, an apparatus is proposed that includes units or modules for implementing the steps performed by the terminal in any of the above methods. Furthermore, another apparatus is proposed that includes units or modules for implementing the steps performed by a network device (e.g., an access network device, a core network functional node, a core network device, etc.) in any of the above methods.

[0385] It should be understood that the division of units or modules in the above device is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, they can be fully or partially integrated into a single physical entity, or they can be physically separated. Furthermore, the units or modules in the device can be implemented by a processor calling software: for example, the device includes a processor connected to a memory containing instructions. The processor calls the instructions stored in the memory to implement any of the above methods or to implement the functions of the units or modules in the above device. The processor can be, for example, a general-purpose processor, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or a microprocessor, and the memory can be internal or external to the device. Alternatively, the units or modules in the device can be implemented in the form of hardware circuits. The functionality of some or all of the units or modules can be achieved through the design of these hardware circuits, which can be understood as one or more processors. For example, in one implementation, the hardware circuit is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The functionality of some or all of the units or modules is achieved through the design of the logical relationships between the components within the circuit. In another implementation, the hardware circuit can be implemented using a programmable logic device (PLD). Taking a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) as an example, it can include a large number of logic gates. The connection relationships between the logic gates are configured through configuration files, thereby achieving the functionality of some or all of the units or modules. All units or modules of the above device can be implemented entirely through processor-called software, entirely through hardware circuits, or partially through processor-called software with the remaining parts implemented through hardware circuits.

[0386] In this embodiment, the processor is a circuit with signal processing capabilities. In one implementation, the processor can be a circuit with instruction read and execute capabilities, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a graphics processing unit (GPU) (which can be understood as a microprocessor), or a digital signal processor (DSP). In another implementation, the processor can implement certain functions through the logical relationships of hardware circuits. The logical relationships of the aforementioned hardware circuits are fixed or reconfigurable. For example, the processor is a hardware circuit implemented using an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a programmable logic device (PLD), such as an FPGA. In a reconfigurable hardware circuit, the process of the processor loading a configuration document and configuring the hardware circuit can be understood as the process of the processor loading instructions to implement the functions of some or all of the above units or modules. Furthermore, it can also be a hardware circuit designed for artificial intelligence, which can be understood as an ASIC, such as a Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU), a Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), or a Deep Learning Processing Unit (DPU).

[0387] Figure 4a is an exemplary structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of this disclosure. The terminal device 4100 is used to perform any of the above methods. In some embodiments, as shown in Figure 4a, the terminal device 4100 may include:

[0388] Processing module 4101 is used to perform wireless link detection in wireless frames;

[0389] Among them, the wireless frame is the wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0390] In some embodiments, a transceiver module 4102 is further included, for:

[0391] Receive indication information sent by network devices, which indicates whether to perform wireless link detection in a radio frame or in a subframe within a radio frame.

[0392] In some embodiments, the processing module 4101 is further configured to:

[0393] Determine the configuration information of the network device, which represents the wireless frame configuration of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0394] In some embodiments, the processing module 4101 is specifically used for:

[0395] Perform wireless link quality detection on wireless frames;

[0396] or,

[0397] Wireless link quality is detected in subframes within a wireless frame.

[0398] In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the processing module 4101 is specifically used for:

[0399] Wireless link quality is detected for at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle.

[0400] In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the processing module 4101 is specifically used for:

[0401] Wireless link quality is detected in at least one subframe of a wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle.

[0402] In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the processing module 4101 is specifically used for:

[0403] Wireless link quality is detected for each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0404] In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the processing module 4101 is specifically used for:

[0405] In each subframe of the wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, wireless link quality is detected.

[0406] In some embodiments, the processing module 4101 is specifically used for at least one of the following:

[0407] In the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, out-of-step counting is performed;

[0408] Early step loss counting is performed on wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode;

[0409] In the subframes of the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode, out-of-step counting is performed;

[0410] Early step loss counting is performed in subframes of wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0411] Optionally, the processing module 4101 is used to execute other processing steps performed by the network device in any of the above methods (e.g., steps S2101, S2201, S2301, S2401, S2502, S2504, S2602, S3101, but not limited thereto), which will not be elaborated here.

[0412] Optionally, the transceiver module 4102 is used to perform at least one of the communication steps (such as step S2503, but not limited thereto) performed by the terminal 4100 in any of the above methods, which will not be described in detail here.

[0413] Figure 4b is an exemplary structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of this disclosure. Network device 4200 is used to perform any of the above methods. In some embodiments, as shown in Figure 4b, network device 4200 may include:

[0414] Processing module 4201 is used to configure the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in wireless frames;

[0415] Among them, the wireless frame is the wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0416] In some embodiments, a transceiver module 4202 is further included, for:

[0417] Send indication information to the terminal device. The indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame, or in a subframe of the wireless frame.

[0418] In some embodiments, the indication information is used to instruct the physical layer of the terminal device to perform wireless link quality detection in the wireless frame;

[0419] or,

[0420] The instruction information is used to instruct the physical layer of the terminal device to perform wireless link quality detection in subframes of the wireless frame.

[0421] In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in DRX mode, the indication information is used to indicate:

[0422] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle.

[0423] or,

[0424] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one subframe of the wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode within each DRX cycle.

[0425] In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the indication information is used to indicate:

[0426] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode;

[0427] or,

[0428] The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection in subframes of each wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0429] In some embodiments, the indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following:

[0430] The RRC layer of the terminal device performs step loss counting on the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode;

[0431] The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early step loss counting on the wireless frames transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode;

[0432] The RRC layer of the terminal device performs step loss counting in subframes of the wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode;

[0433] The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early step loss counting in subframes of the wireless frame transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0434] In some embodiments, the processing module 4201 is specifically used for:

[0435] Determine the configuration information, which represents the wireless frame configuration for downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

[0436] Optionally, the processing module 4201 is used to execute other processing steps performed by the network device in any of the above methods (such as step S2501, step S2601, but not limited thereto), which will not be described in detail here.

[0437] Optionally, the transceiver module 4202 is used to perform at least one of the communication steps (such as step S2503, but not limited thereto) performed by the terminal 4100 in any of the above methods, which will not be described in detail here.

[0438] Figure 5a is an exemplary structural diagram of the communication device proposed in an embodiment of this disclosure. The communication device 5100 can be a network device (e.g., access network device, core network device, etc.), a terminal device (e.g., user equipment, etc.), a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the network device in implementing any of the above methods, or a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the terminal device in implementing any of the above methods. The communication device 5100 can be used to implement the methods described in the above method embodiments; for details, please refer to the descriptions in the above method embodiments.

[0439] As shown in Figure 5a, the communication device 5100 is used to execute any of the above methods. In some embodiments, the communication device 5100 includes one or more processors 5101. The processor 5101 may be a general-purpose processor or a special-purpose processor, such as a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processing unit may be used to control communication devices (e.g., base stations, baseband chips, terminal devices, terminal device chips, DUs or CUs, etc.), execute programs, and process program data. Optionally, the communication device 5100 is used to execute any of the above methods. Optionally, one or more processors 5101 are used to invoke instructions to cause the communication device 5100 to execute any of the above methods.

[0440] In some embodiments, the communication device 5100 further includes one or more transceivers 5102. When the communication device 5100 includes one or more transceivers 5102, the transceiver 5102 performs at least one of the communication steps such as sending and / or receiving in the above method (e.g., step S2503, but not limited thereto), and the processor 5101 performs at least one of other steps (e.g., steps S2101, S2201, S2301, S2401, S2501, S2502, S2504, S2602, S3101, but not limited thereto). In optional embodiments, the transceiver may include a receiver and / or a transmitter, which may be separate or integrated. Optionally, the terms transceiver, transceiver unit, transceiver, transceiver circuit, interface circuit, interface, etc., can be used interchangeably; the terms transmitter, transmitting unit, transmitter, transmitting circuit, etc., can be used interchangeably; the terms receiver, receiving unit, receiver, receiving circuit, etc., can be used interchangeably.

[0441] In some embodiments, the communication device 5100 further includes one or more memories 5103 for storing data and / or instructions. Optionally, one or more processors 5101 are used to invoke instructions stored in the memory 5103 to cause the communication device 5100 to perform any of the above methods. Optionally, all or part of the memory 5103 may also be located outside the communication device 5100. In an optional embodiment, the communication device 5100 may include one or more interface circuits 5104. Optionally, the interface circuit 5104 is connected to the memory 5103 and can be used to receive data and / or instructions from the memory 5103 or other devices, and can be used to send data and / or instructions to the memory 5103 or other devices. For example, the interface circuit 5104 can read data and / or instructions stored in the memory 5103 and send the data and / or instructions to the processor 5101.

[0442] The communication device 5100 described in the above embodiments may be a network device or a terminal device, but the scope of the communication device 5100 described in this disclosure is not limited thereto, and the structure of the communication device 5100 may not be limited by FIG. 5a. The communication device may be a standalone device or may be part of a larger device. For example, the communication device may be: (1) a standalone integrated circuit IC, or chip, or chip system or subsystem; (2) a collection of one or more ICs, optionally, the IC collection may also include storage components for storing data, programs and / or instructions; (3) an ASIC, such as a modem; (4) a module that can be embedded in other devices; (5) a receiver, terminal device, smart terminal device, cellular phone, wireless device, handheld device, mobile unit, vehicle device, network device, cloud device, artificial intelligence device, etc.; (6) others, etc.

[0443] Figure 5b is an exemplary structural diagram of the chip proposed in an embodiment of this disclosure. For cases where the communication device 5100 can be a chip or a chip system, please refer to the structural diagram of the chip 5200 shown in Figure 5b, but it is not limited thereto.

[0444] Chip 5200 includes one or more processors 5201. Chip 5200 is used to perform any of the methods described above.

[0445] In some embodiments, chip 5200 further includes one or more interface circuits 5202. Optionally, terms such as interface circuit, interface, and transceiver pin can be used interchangeably. In some embodiments, chip 5200 further includes one or more memories 5203 for storing data and / or instructions. Optionally, all or part of the memories 5203 may be located outside of chip 5200. Optionally, the interface circuit 5202 is connected to the memories 5203, and the interface circuit 5202 can be used to receive data and / or instructions from the memories 5203 or other devices, and the interface circuit 5202 can be used to send data and / or instructions to the memories 5203 or other devices. For example, the interface circuit 5202 can read data and / or instructions stored in the memories 5203 and send the data and / or instructions to the processor 5201.

[0446] In some embodiments, the interface circuit 5202 performs at least one of the communication steps such as sending and / or receiving in the above-described method (e.g., step S2503, but not limited thereto). The interface circuit 5202 performing the communication steps such as sending and / or receiving in the above-described method refers, for example, to the interface circuit 5202 performing data and / or instruction interaction between the processor 5201, the chip 5200, the memory 5203, or the transceiver device. In some embodiments, the processor 5201 performs at least one of other steps (e.g., steps S2101, S2201, S2301, S2401, S2501, S2502, S2504, S2602, S3101, but not limited thereto).

[0447] The modules and / or devices described in the various embodiments, such as virtual devices, physical devices, and chips, can be combined or separated arbitrarily as needed. Optionally, some or all steps can also be performed collaboratively by multiple modules and / or devices, which is not limited here.

[0448] This disclosure also proposes a storage medium storing instructions that, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform any of the above methods. Optionally, the storage medium is an electronic storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium is a computer-readable storage medium, but not limited thereto; it may also be a storage medium readable by other devices. Optionally, the storage medium may be a non-transitory storage medium, but not limited thereto; it may also be a temporary storage medium.

[0449] This disclosure also proposes a program product, including a program and / or instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, cause the communication device to perform any of the above methods. Optionally, the program product is a computer program product. Optionally, the program product is stored on the storage medium.

[0450] This disclosure also proposes a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform any of the above methods.

[0451] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software 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 disclosure.

[0452] Those skilled in the art will understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0453] The above are merely specific embodiments of this disclosure, but the scope of protection of this disclosure is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this disclosure should be included within the scope of protection of this disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of this disclosure should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A wireless link detection method, characterized in that, The method, executed by a terminal device, includes: Perform wireless link detection within the wireless frame; The wireless frame is a wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in the time division duplex (TDD) mode of the Internet of Things-Non-terrestrial Network (IoT-NTN).

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: The system receives indication information sent by a network device, the indication information being used to instruct wireless link detection to be performed in the wireless frame, or in a subframe of the wireless frame.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: Determine the configuration information of the network device, wherein the configuration information represents the wireless frame configuration of the downlink signals and / or data transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The step of performing wireless link detection in a wireless frame includes: The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection in the wireless frame. or, The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection in the subframes of the wireless frame.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, When the terminal device is in discontinuous reception DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs radio link quality detection on the radio frame, including: The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one wireless frame transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode during each DRX cycle.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that, When the terminal device is in DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs radio link quality detection on subframes within the radio frame, including: The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one subframe of the wireless frame transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode during each DRX cycle.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4-6, characterized in that, When the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on the radio frame, including: The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection for each wireless frame transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode.

8. The method according to any one of claims 4-7, characterized in that, When the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the physical layer of the terminal device performs radio link quality detection on subframes within the radio frame, including: The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection in subframes of each wireless frame transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The wireless link detection in the wireless frame includes at least one of the following: The Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer of the terminal device performs out-of-step counting on the radio frames transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode. The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early step loss counting in the wireless frames transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode. The RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-step counting in subframes of the wireless frames transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode; The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early step loss counting in subframes of the wireless frames transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode.

10. A wireless link detection method, characterized in that, Performed by a network device, the method includes: Configure the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame; The wireless frame is a wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The configuration terminal device performs wireless link detection in the wireless frame, including: Send indication information to the terminal device, the indication information being used to instruct the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame, or in a subframe of the wireless frame.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The indication information is used to instruct the physical layer of the terminal device to perform wireless link quality detection in the wireless frame; or, The indication information is used to instruct the physical layer of the terminal device to perform wireless link quality detection in the subframes of the wireless frame.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, When the terminal device is in DRX mode, the indication information is used to indicate: The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one wireless frame transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode during each DRX cycle. or, The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection on at least one subframe of the wireless frame transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode during each DRX cycle.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that, When the terminal device is in non-DRX mode, the indication information is used to indicate: The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection for each wireless frame transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode. or, The physical layer of the terminal device performs wireless link quality detection in subframes of each wireless frame transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode.

15. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The instruction information is used to indicate at least one of the following: The RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-step counting in the wireless frames transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode. The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early step loss counting in the wireless frames transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode. The RRC layer of the terminal device performs out-of-step counting in subframes of the wireless frames transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode; The RRC layer of the terminal device performs early step loss counting in subframes of the wireless frames transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode.

16. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The configuration terminal device performs wireless link detection in the wireless frame, including: The configuration information is determined, which represents the wireless frame configuration of the downlink signals and / or data transmitted in the IoT-NTN TDD mode.

17. A terminal device, characterized in that, include: The processing module is used to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame; The wireless frame is a wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

18. A network device, characterized in that, include: The processing module is used to configure the terminal device to perform wireless link detection in the wireless frame; The wireless frame is a wireless frame of downlink signals and / or data transmitted in IoT-NTN TDD mode.

19. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device is used to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 or 10-16.

20. A communication system, characterized in that, The device includes a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 9, and the network device is configured to implement the method of any one of claims 10 to 16.

21. A storage medium storing instructions, characterized in that, When the instructions are executed on a communication device, the communication device performs the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9 or 10-16.

22. A program product comprising at least one of a program and instructions, characterized in that, When at least one of the programs or instructions is executed by a communication device, it implements the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 or 10-16.

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