Communication method, communication apparatus, chip system, storage medium, and program product

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of communications, and provide a communication method, a communication apparatus, a chip system, a storage medium, and a program product, which are beneficial for increasing the success rate of data transmission and shortening the transmission delay. In the method, a first device can include first indication information in one or more of at least one data packet generated by the first device when there is a second data packet having an enhanced polling indication and no discarding indication among the at least one data packet, the first indication information being used for requesting a receiving end to feed back a state report; the first device may further include a first data packet in the at least one data packet for sending when the first data packet among the at least one data packet generated by the first device has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and no retransmission of the first data packet has occurred, and / or has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and no autonomous retransmission of the first data packet has occurred.

Description

Communication methods, communication devices, chip systems, storage media, and software products

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese patent application filed on March 28, 2025, with application number 202510390657.1 and entitled "Communication Method, Communication Device, Chip System, Storage Medium and Program Product", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method, communication device, chip system, storage medium and program product. Background Technology

[0003] With the advancement of technology, electronic devices are being used more and more widely, such as in the extended reality (XR) service field. XR integrates virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies. By utilizing computer graphics, perception technology, and human-computer interaction technology, XR merges virtual information with real-world scenes, enabling users to interact with the virtual world in real time. It can be applied to gaming, artistic creation, education, and healthcare, providing users with an immersive experience. XR service data packets primarily consist of video / images and interactive commands, requiring networks with high throughput, low latency, and high reliability.

[0004] However, in some implementations, to avoid data loss, the sending device retransmits data based on acknowledged mode (AM). That is, after sending a data packet, the sending device needs to receive a status report from the receiving end for that data packet. The status report contains feedback that the data packet failed to transmit before the data packet is retransmitted. Obviously, this will cause a certain transmission delay, which is not suitable for services with strict requirements for data transmission timeliness, such as XR. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This application provides a communication method, communication device, chip system, storage medium, and program product, which are applied in the field of communication technology and are beneficial to improving data transmission success rate and shortening transmission latency.

[0006] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application propose a communication method applied to a first device, which may be, for example, a terminal device, a chip, a logic module, or software within the terminal device; this application does not limit the specific device to this method. The method includes: generating at least one data packet, wherein one or more of the at least one data packet includes first indication information, and / or, the at least one data packet includes a first data packet with no status report and autonomous retransmission, the first indication information being used to request a status report from the receiving end; wherein, if a second data packet with an enhanced polling indication and no discard indication exists in the at least one data packet, the first indication information is included in one or more of the at least one data packet; if the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and no retransmission has occurred, and / or, if the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and no autonomous retransmission has occurred, the at least one data packet includes the first data packet; and transmitting the at least one data packet.

[0007] In this embodiment, if a second data packet with an enhanced polling indication but no discard indication exists in at least one of the at least one data packets it generates, the first device may include first indication information in one or more data packets within that at least one data packet. This first indication information is used to request a status report from the receiving end. In this way, the first device can promptly request a status report and retransmit data packets based on the reception status indication for the sent data packets in the status report, which helps reduce the time the first device waits for a status report and shortens the data packet transmission latency. Alternatively, if a first data packet in at least one of its generated data packets has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted, and / or has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and the first data packet has not been autonomously retransmitted, the first device may include the first data packet in at least one data packet for transmission. In this way, the first device can perform autonomous retransmission based on the conditions for the first data packet proposed in this application without waiting for a status report, shortening the latency caused by status report interaction and improving the data packet transmission success rate.

[0008] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first device includes a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer and a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, wherein the PDCP layer is the upper layer of the RLC layer, and the at least one data packet is generated by the RLC layer; the enhanced polling indication for the second data packet is transmitted by the PDCP layer to the RLC layer when the remaining time of the third data packet is less than or equal to a first threshold and the third data packet has been transmitted to the RLC layer, wherein the third data packet is the data packet of the second data packet at the PDCP layer, and the remaining time of the third data packet is determined by a first timer in the PDCP layer corresponding to the third data packet; the autonomous retransmission indication for the first data packet is transmitted by the PDCP layer to the RLC layer when the remaining time of the fourth data packet is less than or equal to a second threshold and the fourth data packet has been transmitted to the RLC layer, wherein the fourth data packet is the data packet of the first data packet at the PDCP layer, and the remaining time of the fourth data packet is determined by a second timer in the PDCP layer corresponding to the fourth data packet.

[0009] In this embodiment, the enhanced polling indication can be passed to the RLC layer by the PDCP layer of the first device when the remaining time of the data packet is less than or equal to a first threshold, based on an existing timer (discardTimer or discardTimerForLowImportance). Similarly, the autonomous retransmission indication can be passed to the lower layer by the PDCP layer of the first device when the remaining time of the data packet is less than or equal to a second threshold, triggering enhanced polling and / or autonomous retransmission by the RLC layer. This allows the first device to detect the remaining time of the data packet without introducing a new timer, further triggering enhanced polling and / or autonomous retransmission by the RLC layer. Furthermore, enhanced polling facilitates the first device obtaining status reports from the second device in a timely manner, enabling timely retransmission of unsuccessfully received data packets; autonomous retransmission eliminates the need to wait for status reports from the second device, allowing the first device to retransmit data packets promptly and autonomously, thereby reducing data packet transmission latency.

[0010] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the PDCP layer supports a first parameter, which indicates that the PDCP layer allows processing at the granularity of a data packet set. The method further includes: when the remaining time of the third data packet is less than or equal to a first threshold and the third data packet has been delivered to the RLC layer, the PDCP layer transmits an enhanced polling indication to the RLC layer for all data packets in the data packet set to which the third data packet belongs; when the remaining time of the fourth data packet is less than or equal to a second threshold and the fourth data packet has been delivered to the RLC layer, the PDCP layer transmits an autonomous retransmission indication to the RLC layer for all data packets in the data packet set to which the fourth data packet belongs.

[0011] In this embodiment of the application, based on the first parameter, PDCP can pass the enhanced polling indication and / or autonomous retransmission indication for each data packet in a data packet set to the lower layer at the granularity of the data packet set, when there are data packets in a data packet set that satisfy the conditions for sending the enhanced polling indication and / or autonomous retransmission indication, without having to wait for each data packet in the data packet set to satisfy the conditions for sending the enhanced polling indication and / or autonomous retransmission indication, which helps to simplify the processing of the PDCP layer.

[0012] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, the RRC message including the first threshold and the second threshold.

[0013] In some implementations, the first and second thresholds can be configured by the network side to the first device when the PDCP entity of the first device is established. For example, they can be passed from the RRC layer of the second device to the RRC layer of the first device via control plane signaling, and then decoded by the RRC layer of the first device and passed to the lower layer (PDCP layer).

[0014] In some implementations, the duration of the timer (discardTimer or discardTimerForLowImportance) in the PDCP layer can be configured in a similar way to the configuration of the first and second thresholds, which will not be elaborated further.

[0015] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: if the second timer expires, the PDCP layer transmits a discard indication for the first data packet to the RLC layer; if the first timer expires, the PDCP layer transmits a discard indication for the second data packet to the RLC layer.

[0016] It should be understood that if the PDCP layer supports the first parameter mentioned above, if the second timer expires, the PDCP layer will transmit a discard indication for each data packet in the set to which the first data packet belongs to the RLC layer; if the first timer expires, the PDCP layer will transmit a discard indication for each data packet in the set to which the second data packet belongs to the RLC layer.

[0017] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first device includes a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, the RLC layer including a first buffer for buffering data packets that have been transmitted at least once; the first data packet is a data packet in the first buffer, the sequence number of the first data packet is greater than a first variable, the first variable being the maximum sequence number of a data packet that was transmitted in the previous transmission opportunity and has an voluntary retransmission indication but no drop indication.

[0018] It should be understood that data packets with autonomous retransmission indications but no drop indications sent in the previous transmission opportunity have already been autonomously retransmitted in the previous transmission opportunity. The first variable is the maximum sequence number of the data packets with autonomous retransmission indications but no drop indications sent in the previous transmission opportunity. If the sequence number of the first data packet is greater than the first variable, it means that the first data packet is a data packet with autonomous retransmission indications but no drop indications. In the case that it has no drop indications, the first data packet can be autonomously retransmitted in this transmission opportunity.

[0019] As can be seen, in the embodiments of this application, the introduction of the first variable helps to ensure that data packets with autonomous retransmission instructions are retransmitted only once, which helps to avoid resource waste.

[0020] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the second data packet did not trigger polling.

[0021] In other words, the first device can also include the first indication information in one or more of the at least one data packets it generates, even if the second data packet has an enhanced polling indication but no drop indication and no polling has been triggered. Thus, for a data packet with an enhanced polling indication but no drop indication, the data packet can trigger polling at most once, which helps reduce the timing of polling triggers and saves unnecessary signaling overhead.

[0022] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the sequence number of the second data packet is greater than the second variable, which is the maximum sequence number of the data packets sent in the previous transmission opportunity that had an enhanced polling indication and no drop indication.

[0023] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first device includes a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer and a Media Access Control (MAC) layer, wherein the MAC layer is a lower layer of the RLC layer, and the at least one data packet is sent by the RLC layer using a transmission opportunity notified by the MAC layer.

[0024] Secondly, this application provides a communication method that can be applied to a second device, such as a network device, a chip, logic module, or software within the network device; this application does not limit the specific device to this method. The method includes:

[0025] Receive at least one data packet from a first device, wherein one or more of the at least one data packet includes first indication information, and / or, the at least one data packet includes a first data packet with no state report and autonomous retransmission, wherein the first indication information is used to request the receiving end to provide a state report; wherein, if there is a second data packet with enhanced polling indication and no drop indication in the at least one data packet, the at least one data packet includes the first indication information; if the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no drop indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted, and / or, if the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no drop indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted, the at least one data packet includes the first data packet;

[0026] The at least one data packet is processed.

[0027] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first data packet is a data packet in the first buffer of the first device, the first buffer being used to buffer data packets that have been sent at least once, the sequence number of the first data packet being greater than a first variable, the first variable being the maximum sequence number of a data packet in the last transmission opportunity sent by the first device that has an voluntary retransmission indication and no drop indication.

[0028] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second data packet has not triggered polling.

[0029] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the sequence number of the second data packet is greater than the second variable, which is the maximum sequence number of the data packet that the first device sent in the last transmission opportunity had an enhanced polling indication and no drop indication.

[0030] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes:

[0031] Send a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, the RRC message including the first threshold and the second threshold.

[0032] The beneficial effects of the second aspect and its implementation method can be referred to the description of the first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0033] Thirdly, a communication apparatus is provided for performing the method in any possible implementation of the first or second aspect described above. Specifically, the apparatus includes a module for performing the method in any possible implementation of the first or second aspect described above.

[0034] Fourthly, this application provides yet another communication device, including a processor coupled to a memory, which can be used to execute instructions in the memory to implement the method in any of the possible implementations of the first or second aspect described above. Optionally, the device further includes a memory. Optionally, the device further includes a communication interface, to which the processor is coupled.

[0035] In one implementation, the device is a terminal device. When the device is a terminal device, the aforementioned communication interface can be a transceiver, or an input / output interface.

[0036] In another implementation, the device is a chip configured in a terminal device. When the device is a chip configured in a terminal device, the aforementioned communication interface can be an input / output interface.

[0037] Fifthly, a processor is provided, comprising: an input circuit, an output circuit, and a processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to receive signals through the input circuit and transmit signals through the output circuit, causing the processor to execute the method in any possible implementation of the first or second aspect described above.

[0038] In the specific implementation process, the processor can be a chip, the input circuit can be an input pin, the output circuit can be an output pin, and the processing circuit can be a transistor, gate circuit, flip-flop, and various logic circuits. The input signal received by the input circuit can be received and input by, for example, but not limited to, a receiver, and the signal output by the output circuit can be output to, for example, but not limited to, a transmitter and transmitted by the transmitter. Furthermore, the input circuit and the output circuit can be the same circuit, which is used as the input circuit and the output circuit at different times. This application does not limit the specific implementation of the processor and various circuits.

[0039] A sixth aspect provides a processing apparatus including a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to read instructions stored in the memory and to receive signals via a receiver and transmit signals via a transmitter to execute the method in any of the possible implementations of the first or second aspect described above.

[0040] Optionally, the processor may be one or more, and the memory may be one or more.

[0041] Optionally, the memory may be integrated with the processor, or the memory may be separated from the processor.

[0042] In the specific implementation process, the memory can be a non-transitory memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), which can be integrated with the processor on the same chip or set on different chips. This application does not limit the type of memory or the way the memory and processor are set.

[0043] It should be understood that the relevant data interaction process, such as sending instruction information, can be a process of outputting instruction information from the processor, and receiving capability information can be a process of the processor receiving input capability information. Specifically, the processed output data can be output to the transmitter, and the input data received by the processor can come from the receiver. Here, the transmitter and receiver can be collectively referred to as transceivers.

[0044] The processing device in the sixth aspect above can be a chip. The processor can be implemented in hardware or software. When implemented in hardware, the processor can be a logic circuit, integrated circuit, etc. When implemented in software, the processor can be a general-purpose processor that reads software code stored in memory. The memory can be integrated into the processor or located outside the processor and exist independently.

[0045] In a seventh aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising: a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions), which, when the computer program is run, causes a computer to perform the method in any possible implementation of the first or second aspect described above.

[0046] Eighthly, a computer-readable storage medium is provided that stores a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions) that, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the methods in any possible implementation of the first or second aspect described above. Attached Figure Description

[0047] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0048] Figure 2A is a schematic diagram of a user plane protocol stack provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0049] Figure 2B is a schematic diagram of a control plane protocol stack provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0050] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the cache area of ​​an RLC entity provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0051] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the cache area of ​​another RLC entity provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0052] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the cache area of ​​another RLC entity provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0053] Figure 6 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0054] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0055] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0056] The technical solutions in this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0057] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, the following points are explained first:

[0058] First, in the embodiments of this application, the terms "first" and "second" are used to distinguish identical or similar items with essentially the same function and effect. For example, the first value and the second value are only used to distinguish different values ​​and do not limit their order. Those skilled in the art will understand that the terms "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity or execution order, and the terms "first" and "second" do not necessarily imply that they are different.

[0059] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of this application, the words "exemplarily" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or explanations. Any embodiment or design scheme described as "exemplarily" or "for example" in this application should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or design schemes. Specifically, the use of the words "exemplarily" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a specific manner.

[0060] In the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "a plurality of" refers to two or more than two. The expression "and / or" is used to describe the association relationship between associated objects, which means that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, both A and B exist, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following associated objects are in an "or" relationship. The expression "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of the listed items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, where a, b and c can be single or multiple.

[0061] Second, "transmit" and "receive" in the embodiments of the present application indicate the direction of signal transmission. For example, "transmitting information to a second device" can be understood that the destination of the information is the second device, which may include direct transmission over the air interface, and may also include indirect transmission over the air interface by other units or modules. "Receiving configuration information from the second device" can be understood that the source of the configuration information is the second device, which may include direct reception from the second device over the air interface, and may also include indirect reception from the second device over the air interface via other units or modules. "Transmit" can also be understood as "output" of a chip interface, and "receive" can also be understood as "input" of a chip interface.

[0062] In other words, transmitting and receiving may be performed between devices, for example, between the second device and the first device; or may be performed inside a device, for example, transmitting or receiving between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules inside the device via a bus, wiring or an interface.

[0063] It can be understood that before information is transmitted from a source end to a destination end, necessary processing such as encoding and modulation may be performed, and after receiving the information from the source end, the destination end may also perform corresponding processing such as decoding and demodulation, so as to interpret valid information from the source end. Similar expressions in the present application can be understood similarly, and details are not described herein again.

[0064] Third, for ease of understanding, multiple examples of messages or signals are provided herein, such as a first signal, a second signal, a first message, a second message, a third message, etc. These signals, messages and names are all examples, and shall not constitute any limitation to the present application.

[0065] Fourth, in the embodiments of this application, "instruction" can include direct instruction and indirect instruction, as well as explicit instruction and implicit instruction. The information indicated by a certain piece of information is called the information to be instructed. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to instruct the information to be instructed, such as, but not limited to, directly instructing the information to be instructed, such as the information to be instructed itself or its index. It can also indirectly instruct the information to be instructed by instructing other information, where there is a relationship between the other information and the information to be instructed; or it can only instruct a part of the information to be instructed, while the other parts of the information to be instructed are known or pre-agreed upon. For example, the instruction of specific information can be achieved by using a pre-agreed (e.g., protocol predefined) arrangement order of various pieces of information, thereby reducing instruction overhead to a certain extent. This application does not limit the specific method of instruction.

[0066] It is understandable that, for the sender of the instruction information, the instruction information can be used to indicate the information to be indicated, and for the receiver of the instruction information, the instruction information can be used to determine the information to be indicated.

[0067] Fifth, the tables in the embodiments of this application are merely examples. The values ​​of the information in each table are only examples and can be configured to other values; this application is not limited thereto. The tables do not limit the scope of protection of this application. For example, appropriate modifications and adjustments can be made based on the tables described above, such as splitting, merging, etc. Furthermore, the parameter names shown in the headings of each table can also use other names understandable to the communication device, and the values ​​or representations of the parameters can also be other values ​​or representations understandable to the communication device. Moreover, in the implementation of the above tables, other data structures can also be used, such as arrays, queues, containers, stacks, linear lists, pointers, linked lists, trees, graphs, structures, classes, heaps, hash tables, or hash tables, etc.

[0068] Sixth, in the embodiments of this application, descriptions such as "when," "under the circumstances," "if," and "if" all refer to the fact that the device (e.g., network device or terminal device) will make corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances. They are not time limits, nor do they require the device (e.g., network device or terminal device) to make a judgment action when implementing it, nor do they mean that there are other limitations.

[0069] Seventh, the predefined terms in this application can be understood as: definition, pre-defined, storage, pre-storage, pre-negotiation, pre-configuration, solidification, or pre-firing.

[0070] Eighth, the term "storage" in this application can refer to storage in one or more memories. These memories can be separate installations or integrated into an encoder, decoder, processor, or communication device. Alternatively, some memories can be separately installed, while others are integrated into the decoder, processor, or communication device. The type of memory can be any form of storage medium, and this application does not limit this.

[0071] Ninth, several embodiments are described in detail below with reference to multiple flowcharts. However, it should be understood that these flowcharts and their corresponding descriptions are for illustrative purposes only and should not constitute any limitation on this application. Not every step in each flowchart is necessarily required; for example, some steps can be skipped. Furthermore, the execution order of each step is not fixed and is not limited to what is shown in the figures. The execution order of each step should be determined by its function and internal logic.

[0072] The system architecture and application scenarios involved in the embodiments of this application will be described below. It should be understood that the system architecture and application scenarios described in the embodiments of this application are for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0073] The technical solutions of this application can be applied to communication scenarios under various communication systems, such as: Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) systems, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) systems, 5th Generation (5G) systems, new radio access technology (NR), or other future communication systems, as well as vehicle-to-other devices (V2X). V2X can include vehicle-to-network (V2N), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), etc., and Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. Evolution-Vehicle (LTE-V), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), Long Term Evolution-Machine (LTE-M), machine-to-machine (M2M), etc.

[0074] Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary communication system 100 according to an embodiment of this application. The communication system 100 may include at least one terminal device and at least one network device. The terminal device and the network device can communicate via a wireless link.

[0075] In one possible scenario, the network device can act as the transmitter and the terminal device as the receiver, with the network device sending downlink signals to the terminal device; in another possible scenario, the network device can act as the receiver and the terminal device as the transmitter, with the terminal device sending uplink signals to the network device.

[0076] In this application embodiment, the network device can be any device with wireless transceiver capabilities. This device includes, but is not limited to: evolved Node B (eNB), next-generation Node B (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, Radio Network Controller (RNC), Node B (NB), Base Station Controller (BSC), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), home base station (e.g., Home evolved Node B, or Home Node B (HNB), Baseband Unit (BBU), Access Point (AP), wireless relay node, wireless backhaul node, transmission point (TP), or transmission and reception point in a Wireless Fidelity (WIFI) system. It can also refer to a gNB (transmission point, TRP), a transmission point (TRP or TP), an antenna panel (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G system, or a network node that constitutes a gNB or transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU) or a distributed unit (DU).

[0077] In some deployments, a gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a distribution unit (DU). The gNB may also include an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU implements some of the gNB's functions, and the DU implements others. For example, the CU handles non-real-time protocols and services, implementing radio resource control (RRC) and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer functions. The DU handles physical layer protocols and real-time services, implementing radio link control (RLC), media access control (MAC), and physical (PHY) layer functions. The AAU implements some physical layer processing functions, radio frequency processing, and active antenna-related functions. Since RRC layer information ultimately becomes PHY layer information, or is derived from PHY layer information, in this architecture, higher-layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, can be considered to be sent by the DU, or by the DU+AAU. It is understood that network devices can be devices that include one or more of the following: CU nodes, DU nodes, and AAU nodes. In addition, the CU can be classified as a network device in the radio access network (RAN) or as a network device in the core network (CN), and this application does not limit this.

[0078] Network equipment provides services to cells. Terminal devices communicate with cells through transmission resources (e.g., frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources) allocated by the network equipment. The cell can belong to a macro base station (e.g., macro eNB or macro gNB) or to a base station corresponding to a small cell. Small cells can include: metro cells, micro cells, pico cells, femto cells, etc. These small cells have the characteristics of small coverage area and low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-speed data transmission services.

[0079] In the embodiments of this application, the terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment, access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication equipment, user agent, or user device. The terminal devices in the embodiments of this application may be mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, virtual reality (VR) terminal devices, augmented reality (AR) terminal devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical care, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, terminal devices in 5G networks, or terminal devices in future evolved public land mobile networks (PLMNs), etc. This application does not limit the specific form of the terminal device.

[0080] Wearable devices, also known as wearable smart devices, are a general term for devices that utilize wearable technology to intelligently design and develop everyday wearables, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. Wearable devices are portable devices worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories. Wearable devices are not merely hardware devices; they achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly defined, wearable smart devices include those with comprehensive functions, large sizes, and the ability to perform complete or partial functions without relying on a smartphone, such as smartwatches or smart glasses. They also include devices focused on a specific application function that require the use of other devices, such as smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0081] Furthermore, terminal devices can also be terminal devices in Internet of Things (IoT) systems. IoT is an important component of future information technology development, and its main technical feature is connecting objects to networks through communication technologies, thereby realizing an intelligent network that enables human-machine interconnection and machine-to-machine interconnection.

[0082] To facilitate understanding of this application, the technical terms involved in this application will be explained below.

[0083] 1. User plane protocol stack and control plane protocol stack

[0084] In mobile communication networks (such as LTE and 5G), the user plane protocol stack is responsible for handling the transmission of user data, including operations such as data encapsulation, encryption, and forwarding. Figure 2A exemplarily illustrates the user plane protocol stack structure of terminal devices and network devices. As shown in Figure 2A, the key layers of the user plane protocol stack structure of both terminal devices and network devices include: Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC), and Physical Layer (PHY).

[0085] Taking the sending of data from a terminal device to a network device as an example, the data processing process corresponding to the user plane of the terminal device, from the upper layer to the lower layer, can include: the application layer generating user data and passing it to SDAP; SDAP receiving the data from the application layer, called the Service Data Unit (SDAP SDU) corresponding to the Service Data Adaptation Protocol; the SDAP layer processing the SDAP, for example, adding a Quality of Service (QoS) identifier to the SDAP SDU, and then encapsulating the processed SDAP SDU into a Protocol Data Unit (SDAP PDU) corresponding to the Service Data Adaptation Protocol and passing it to the lower layer; the SDAP PDU being passed to the PDCP layer can be called a PDCP SDU; PDCP can encrypt, compress the header, and segment the PDCP SDU to generate a PDCP PDU to pass to the lower layer; the PDCP PDU being passed to the RLC layer can be called an RLC SDU; RLC can segment the RLC SDU, add header information, and generate an RLC PDU, and can transmit / retransmit the RLC PDU to the lower layer when indicated by the lower layer; RLC... When a PDU is passed to the MAC layer, it is called a MAC SDU. The MAC layer can add header information such as start of frame and target terminal identifier to the MAC SDU, map it to the logical channel to generate a MAC PDU and pass it to the lower layer. The PHY layer can modulate the MAC PDU and map it to the physical channel, and then send the signal to the network device through the wireless channel.

[0086] In this embodiment, the processing of RLC SDU by the RLC layer may include adding information such as a polling identifier to the header of the RLC SDU to generate an RLC PDU, as described in this embodiment, but this application does not limit this to that.

[0087] Correspondingly, after a network device receives a wireless signal from a terminal device, its user plane processing from the lower layer to the upper layer includes: the network device's PHY performs processing on the wireless signal, such as demodulation, decoding, and beamforming, before transmitting it to the MAC layer; the MAC layer extracts the MAC SDU from the data from the PHY and transmits the MAC SDU to the RLC layer; the MAC SDU transmitted to the RLC layer is called the RLC PDU, and the RLC layer can perform reassembly, reordering, and other processing on the RLC PDU to generate an RLC SDU that is transmitted to the upper layer; the PLC SDU transmitted to the PDCP layer is called the PDCP PDU, and the PDCP layer can perform decryption, decompression of the header, and other processing on the PDCP PDU to generate a PDCP SDU that is transmitted to the upper layer; the PDCP SDU transmitted to the SDAP layer is called the SDAP PDU, and the SDAP layer can map QoS data based on the header information of the SDAP PDU, generate an SDAP SDU, and transmit it to the upper layer.

[0088] It should be understood that the process of a network device sending data to a terminal device can be similar to the process of a terminal device sending data to a network device, and will not be described again.

[0089] Figure 2B illustrates the control plane protocol stack structure of the terminal device and the network device, respectively. As shown in Figure 2B, the key layers of the control plane protocol stack structure of both the terminal device and the network device include: non-access stratum (NAS), radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio link control (RLC), medium access control (MAC), and physical layer (PHY).

[0090] In one implementation, the NAS layer on the network side can be deployed in the access and mobility management function (AMF) of the core network, as shown in Figure 2B.

[0091] In this embodiment, the autonomous retransmission threshold and the enhanced polling threshold can be transmitted from the network device's RRC to the terminal device's RRC layer via control plane signaling, and then decoded by the terminal device's RRC layer and transmitted to the lower layer (PDCP layer). The autonomous retransmission threshold and the enhanced polling threshold can be transmitted during the establishment of the terminal device's PDCP entity, but this application does not specifically limit this.

[0092] In this embodiment of the application, when the RLC PDU passed from the RLC layer of the terminal device to the lower layer contains an enhanced polling instruction, the RLC PDU can be passed to the RLC layer of the network device through the aforementioned user plane link. Then, the RLC layer of the network device can pass the status report of the received data packets to the RLC layer through the control plane link. However, this application does not specifically limit this.

[0093] 2. SDU and PDU

[0094] An SDU can be understood as a data packet received by this layer from the upper layer. For example, a data packet received by RLC from the upper layer PDCP is called an RLC SDU.

[0095] A PDU is a data packet processed by this layer after processing an SDU (e.g., adding header information). For example, the data packet that the RLC processes the RLC SDU and delivers to the lower-layer MAC is an RLC PDU.

[0096] In some implementations, the RLC layer has three transmission modes: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). Therefore, taking RLC PDU as an example, RLC PDU can be divided into the following modes: transparent mode data PDU (TMD PDU), unacknowledged mode data PDU (UMD PDU), and acknowledged mode data PDU (AMD PDU).

[0097] 3. Parameters related to PDCP entities: PDU set, Protocol Data Unit discard set (pdu-SetDiscard), and discard timer (discardTimer).

[0098] 3.1 PDU Set

[0099] A PDU set contains one or more PDUs used to carry the payload of an information unit generated at the application layer (e.g., a frame or video clip of an application service). Generally, PDUs belonging to the same set have the same QoS requirements, such as the same packet delay budget (PDB), which can also be understood as the remaining time. PDUs in a PDU set correspond to the same PDCP SDU.

[0100] 3.2, pdu-SetDiscard

[0101] This can also be understood as a setting parameter related to PDU set dropping. If the PDCP entity supports configuring this parameter, then all packets in a PDU set will undergo the same (dropping) process.

[0102] 3.3 DiscardTimer

[0103] The duration of discardTimer can be configured by radio resource control (RRC) in the control plane protocol stack.

[0104] PDCP may also include a discard timer for low-importance packets, the duration of which can also be configured by RRC.

[0105] When the PDCP layer receives a PDCP SDU from the upper layer, if the PDCP SDU belongs to a low-importance PDU set, the SDU discarding behavior based on the parameter used to identify the relative importance of the PDU set (PDU Set Importance, PSI) is activated, and the discardTimerForLowImportance associated with the PDCP SDU is started; otherwise, the discardTimer associated with the PDCP SDU is started. The discardTimer can also be understood as a discard timer configured for important data packets.

[0106] When the discardTimer or discardTimerForLowImportance of a PDCP SDU expires, if the PDCP entity supports the pdu-SetDiscard parameter, the PDCP will discard all PDCP SDUs and their corresponding PDCP PDUs belonging to the PDU set to which the PDCP SDU belongs; otherwise, the PDCP SDU and its corresponding PDCP PDU will be discarded.

[0107] Furthermore, if PDCP subsequently receives PDCP SDUs from the upper layer that still belong to the same PDU set, then those SDUs are also discarded; if the corresponding PDCP PDUs have been submitted to the lower layer, then PDCP instructs the lower layer to discard these packets.

[0108] 4. Polling (POLL) mechanism of the sending AM RLC entity

[0109] The AM RLC entity at the transmitting end can poll its counterpart AM RLC entity at the receiving end to trigger a status report at the AM RLC entity at the receiving end. This status report can include information on the success or failure of receiving some SDUs.

[0110] It should be understood that when there is data packet transmission in RLC, the transmission of the data packet requires the lower layer to indicate the transmission opportunity (or it can also be understood as indicating and allocating transmission resources) before it can be transmitted to the lower layer.

[0111] For AM RLC, when the lower layer notifies of a transmission opportunity, for each AMD PDU that submits a transmission, if the AMD PDU contains an RLC SDU that has not been transmitted before or an RLC SDU segment that contains a byte segment that has not been transmitted before, the implementation of the sending AM RLC entity can be in the following two ways.

[0112] Method 1:

[0113] Increment PDU_WITHOUT_POLL by one, and increment BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL by each new data field element byte of the AMD PDU data field it maps to; if PDU_WITHOUT_POLL >= pollPDU, or BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL >= pollByte, then polling is included in the current AMD PDU. Here, PDU_WITHOUT_POLL records the number of AMD PDUs that do not contain polling; BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL records the number of bytes of unacknowledged RLC SDUs or RLC SDU segments in these AMD PDUs; pollPDU and pollByte are thresholds set for PDU_WITHOUT_POLL and BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL respectively, which can be configured by upper layers (such as RRC).

[0114] In other words, for AM RLC, whenever an AMD PDU containing an RLC SDU or RLC SDU segment that has not been previously transmitted is transferred: PDU_WITHOUT_POLL + 1, BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL + the number of bytes of all new data fields in the AMD PDU. Then, if PDU_WITHOUT_POLL >= pollPDU or BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL >= pollByte, the current AMD PDU must contain polling.

[0115] For example, if in the initial state pollPDU = 2, pollByte = 100, PDU_WITHOUT_POLL = 0, and BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL = 0, when transmitting the first AMD PDU (50 bytes): PDU_WITHOUT_POLL = 1, BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL = 50; when transmitting the second AMD PDU (60 bytes): PDU_WITHOUT_POLL = 2, satisfying the threshold-triggered polling, and BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL = 110, also satisfying the threshold-triggered polling. Therefore, AM RLC should set the Poll flag in the second AMD PDU.

[0116] Method 2:

[0117] If, after transmitting the current AMD PDU, both the transfer buffer and the retransmission buffer become empty (i.e., the buffer does not contain the transmitted RLC PDU or the RLC PDU segment awaiting acknowledgment); or, if a new RLC PDU cannot be transmitted after transmitting the AMD PDU (e.g., due to window freeze), then polling is included in the current AMD PDU.

[0118] For example, after AM RLC sends the first AMD PDU, the transfer buffer is empty, but the retransmission buffer is not empty (the retransmission buffer includes PDUs waiting for status reports to confirm whether retransmission is needed). If the retransmission buffer is also empty after sending the second AMD PDU, then since both buffers are empty after the transfer, AM RLC should set the Poll flag in the second AMD PDU.

[0119] It should be understood that RLC SDUs received from the upper layer are placed in the transmission buffer, and RLC SDUs that have been transmitted by the RLC are placed in the retransmission buffer.

[0120] In some implementations, if there is still data to be transmitted at the upper layer after the current AMD PDU is transmitted (i.e., the application layer has not finished sending the data), polling can be avoided even if the RLC buffer is empty, thus avoiding wasting resources. However, this application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0121] An RLC SDU can be understood as directly carrying data from the upper layer, maintaining the integrity and order of the data; an RLC SDU segment can be understood as a segment of a complete RLC SDU divided into for easier transmission when the SDU size exceeds the transmission limit. The receiving end can reassemble these segments into the original SDU.

[0122] In one possible implementation, AM RLC can encapsulate the polling indication in the header of the RLC PDU. Optionally, the RLC PDU header can include a 1-bit indicator bit to indicate whether the sender of the AM RLC entity requests a status report from its peer AM RLC entity.

[0123] For example, the RLC PDU header may include a 1-bit indicator bit that can be identified by the P field. When P is 1, it can indicate that the sender of the AM RLC entity requests a status report from its peer AM RLC entity. When P is 0, it can indicate that the sender of the AM RLC entity has not requested a status report from its peer AM RLC entity. However, the embodiments of this application do not specifically limit the value of P and the meaning of the value.

[0124] 5. Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) mechanism of the sending AM RLC entity

[0125] The transmitting AM RLC can receive STATUS PDUs from its peer AM RLC entity (the receiving AM RLC entity). The STATUS PDU can contain information such as the SDUs or SDU segment SNs of successful and failed receptions within a certain range, and segment positions.

[0126] In some implementations, when the sending AM RLC entity receives an acknowledgment (ACK) of an RLC SDU or RLC SDU segment from its peer AM RLC entity via a STATUS PDU, the sending AM RLC entity can: ① report success to the upper layer: notify the upper layer (such as the PDCP layer) that the RLC SDU or RLC SDU segment has been reliably delivered; ② update TX_Next_Ack: set TX_Next_Ack to the smallest SN among the unacknowledged RLC SDUs, and this SN satisfies TX_Next_Ack≤SN≤TX_Next.

[0127] TX_Next_Ack can be understood as the next expected acknowledgment sequence number (SN), representing the sequence number of the next RLC SDU that the AM RLC entity transmitter expects to receive. It marks the maximum sequence number of the acknowledged RLC SDU + 1, that is, the SN of the earliest unacknowledged RLC SDU. TX_Next can be understood as the next transmission sequence number, representing the sequence number of the highest unacknowledged RLC SDU that can be sent at present. It marks the right boundary of the transmission window, that is, the maximum SN of the RLC SDU that can be sent.

[0128] Updating TX_Next_Ack can be understood as the sending AM RLC entity removing the successfully received SDU from the retransmission buffer.

[0129] In some implementations, when the sending AM RLC entity receives a negative acknowledgment (NACK) for an RLC SDU or RLC SDU segment from its peer AM RLC entity via a STATUS PDU, if the SN of the corresponding RLC SDU is within the range of TX_Next_Ack <= SN <= the highest SN of the AMD PDU submitted to the lower layer, the sending AM RLC entity may consider retransmitting the RLC SDU or RLC SDU segment that has received the negative acknowledgment.

[0130] When the sending AM RLC entity retransmits an RLC SDU or RLC SDU segment for the first time, the RETX_COUNT (retransmission counter) of the corresponding RLC SDU can be initialized to 0. However, if the RLC SDU is not marked as "waiting for retransmission," and the RETX_COUNT of the RLC SDU does not increase due to other negative acknowledgments in the same STATUS PDU, then the RETX_COUNT of the RLC SDU is incremented by 1. If RETX_COUNT reaches maxRetxThreshold (maximum retransmission threshold), it indicates to the upper layer that "maximum retransmission count has been reached," and the transmission of the RLC SDU is abandoned.

[0131] When the lower layer notifies the AM RLC of a transmission opportunity, the AM RLC can divide the RLC SDU that needs to be retransmitted into multiple RLC SDU segments as needed, and generate an appropriate AMD PDU based on the size of the transmission opportunity provided by the lower layer, and submit it to the lower layer. Furthermore, when forming a new AMD PDU, the sender of the AM RLC entity can simply map the original RLC SDU or RLC SDU segments to the data field of the new AMD PDU, modify the header of the new AMD PDU, and set the P(Poll) field according to the polling mechanism to request the receiver to send a STATUS PDU.

[0132] In one possible implementation, retransmitted packets can have a higher priority than the initial packets.

[0133] As mentioned above, in some implementations, to avoid data loss, the sending RLC performs data retransmission based on acknowledged mode (AM). That is, after transmitting the RLC PDU, the sending RLC needs to receive a status report from the receiving RLC for that RLC PDU. This status report contains a transmission failure feedback (NACK) for the RLC PDU before retransmitting the RLC PDU. Obviously, this will cause a certain transmission delay, and is therefore not suitable for services with strict requirements for data transmission timeliness, such as extended reality (XR).

[0134] How to reduce the transmission latency of data packets has become an urgent technical problem to be solved.

[0135] In view of this, embodiments of this application provide a communication method, a communication device, a chip system, a storage medium, and a program product. When a transmitting device generates at least one data packet containing a second data packet with an enhanced polling indication but no discard indication, it may include first indication information in one or more data packets within the at least one data packet. This first indication information is used to request a status report from the receiving end. In this way, the transmitting end can promptly request a status report and then retransmit the data packet based on the reception status indication for the transmitted data packet in the status report, thereby reducing the time the transmitting end waits for a status report. And / or, the transmitting device may also include a first data packet within the at least one data packet in which: there is an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted; and / or, there is an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and the first data packet has not been autonomously retransmitted. In this way, the transmitting device can perform autonomous retransmission without a status report based on the conditions proposed in this application, which is beneficial for improving the data packet transmission success rate and shortening the latency caused by the interaction of status reports.

[0136] Furthermore, the enhanced polling indication is passed from the PDCP layer at the sending end to the RLC layer when the remaining time of the data packet is less than or equal to the enhanced polling threshold based on the existing timer. The discretionary retransmission indication is passed from the PDCP layer at the sending end to the lower layer when the remaining time of the data packet is less than or equal to the discretionary retransmission threshold based on the existing timer, thus triggering enhanced RLC polling and / or discretionary retransmission. In this way, the sending end can detect the remaining time of the data packet without introducing a new timer, further triggering enhanced RLC polling and / or discretionary retransmission. Moreover, enhanced polling helps the sending end obtain status reports from the receiving end in a timely manner, facilitating timely retransmission of unsuccessfully received data packets; discretionary retransmission, on the other hand, does not require waiting for status reports from the receiving end, allowing the sending end to retransmit promptly and autonomously, thereby reducing data packet transmission latency.

[0137] The communication method provided in this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0138] The method provided in this application embodiment can be applied to the communication system 100 shown in FIG1. ​​It should be understood that the terminal device and network device involved in this application can be the device itself, or a chip, chip system or processor that supports the device in implementing the communication method provided in this application, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the communication method. This application does not limit the specific form of the terminal device and network device used to execute the embodiments of this application.

[0139] Furthermore, in implementing the embodiments of this application, the terminal device can be either a sending device or a receiving device, and the network device can also be either a sending device or a receiving device. For example, the terminal device may be a sending device and the network device may be a receiving device; or, the network device may be a sending device and the terminal device may be a receiving device; or, one terminal device may be a sending device and the other a receiving device; or, one network device may be a sending device and the other a receiving device. This application does not specifically limit these possibilities.

[0140] The communication method provided in this application is first described from the perspective of the transmitting device. In one possible implementation, the transmitting device may include at least a PDCP entity and an RLC entity. The transmitting device involved in the embodiments of this application has the following two possible implementations.

[0141] The first implementation of the sending device:

[0142] When the PDCP entity of the transmitting device receives a PDCP SDU from the upper layer, PDCP starts timer 1.

[0143] Furthermore, if the remaining time of timer 1 corresponding to the PDCP SDU of the transmitting device is less than or equal to the enhanced polling threshold, and the PDCP PDU associated with the PDCP SDU has been submitted to the lower layer, the PDCP entity of the transmitting device provides the RLC entity with an enhanced polling indication for the RLC SDU associated with the PDCP PDU; and / or, if the remaining time of timer 1 corresponding to the PDCP SDU of the transmitting device is less than or equal to the autonomous retransmission threshold, and the PDCP PDU associated with the PDCP SDU has been submitted to the lower layer, the PDCP entity of the transmitting device provides the RLC entity with an autonomous retransmission indication for the RLC SDU associated with the PDCP PDU.

[0144] After this, if the PDCP SDU has not been delivered to the lower layer when the timer 1 corresponding to the PDCP SDU expires, the PDCP layer discards the SDU; if the PDCP PDU associated with the PDCP SDU has been submitted to the lower layer, the PDCP layer provides the RLC entity with a PDCP PDU discard instruction associated with the PDCP SDU, instructing the RLC layer to discard the RLC SDU associated with the PDCP PDU.

[0145] Optionally, timer 1 can be discardTimer or discardTimerForLowImportance as described above. When timer 1 is discardTimer or discardTimerForLowImportance, the execution logic of the PDCP entity is similar to that described above, and will not be repeated here.

[0146] Optionally, the autonomous retransmission threshold can be represented by autonomousReTxThreshold, and the enhanced polling threshold can be represented by enhancedPollingThreshold, but this application does not specifically limit either of them. In the embodiments of this application, both the enhanced polling threshold and the autonomous retransmission threshold can be less than the threshold of timer 1.

[0147] It should be noted that the PDCP PDU involved in the embodiments of this application can be understood as PDCP Data PDU, that is, the PDU in the PDCP layer that is specifically responsible for carrying user data.

[0148] It should be understood that for the PDCP entity at the sending end, if the PDCP entity supports configuring pdu-SetDiscard, the implementation of the PDCP entity is similar to the description of pdu-SetDiscard above, and will not be repeated here.

[0149] Furthermore, the RLC entity at the transmitting end receives the RLC SDU from the PDCP.

[0150] It should be understood that after an RLC entity generates an RLC PDU based on an RLC SDU, it needs to wait for a transmission opportunity indicated by a lower layer (such as the MAC layer) before it can transmit the RLC PDU. The RLC PDU waiting to be transmitted can be understood as the RLC PDU submitted for transmission by the RLC entity. The RLC PDU submitted for transmission can be buffered in the RLC entity's transmission buffer or retransmission buffer. One or more RLC PDUs can be transmitted in a single transmission opportunity.

[0151] When a transmission opportunity is notified at the lower layer, if an RLC SDU corresponding to an RLC PDU submitted for transmission by an RLC entity receives an enhanced polling indication, does not receive a discard indication, and has not triggered polling, then the sending RLC entity carries a polling identifier in one or more RLC PDUs that can be transmitted in the latest transmission opportunity; and / or, if an RLC SDU corresponding to an RLC PDU submitted for transmission by an RLC entity receives an autonomous retransmission indication, does not receive a discard indication, and has not been retransmitted and / or has not been autonomously retransmitted, then the sending RLC entity retransmits the RLC PDU corresponding to that RLC SDU in one or more RLC PDUs that can be transmitted in the latest transmission opportunity.

[0152] It should be understood that in some implementations, the SDU that receives the discard instruction may also be in a "stop retransmission" state. The SDU will still be kept in the buffer until the receiving end determines that the SDU is outdated and returns an ACK to the sending end device. Only then will the RLC layer of the sending end device discard the SDU.

[0153] Optionally, the RLC PDU involved in the embodiments of this application may also be called an AMD PDU, but this application does not specifically limit it in this regard.

[0154] The following describes the specific implementation of the RLC entity in the first implementation of the transmitting device, using concrete examples.

[0155] In one possible implementation, for an RLC PDU submitted for transmission by an RLC entity, if the sending RLC entity determines that the SN of an RLC PDU that received an enhanced polling indication but did not receive a discard indication is greater than variable 1, it carries a polling identifier in one or more RLC PDUs that can be transmitted in the latest transmission opportunity. Variable 1 stores the maximum SN of the RLC PDUs that received an enhanced polling indication but did not receive a discard indication among those transmitted by the RLC entity using the previous transmission opportunity. Variable 1 can be updated after each transmission opportunity.

[0156] It should be understood that the SN of an RLC PDU is arranged in ascending order according to the time of its submission.

[0157] In another possible implementation, for an RLC PDU submitted for transmission by an RLC entity, if the sending RLC entity determines that the SN of an RLC PDU that has received an voluntary retransmission instruction but not a discard instruction is greater than variable 2 in the retransmission buffer, it retransmits the RLC PDU in the latest transmission opportunity.

[0158] Among them, variable 2 is used to store the maximum SN of RLC PDUs that received an autonomous retransmission indication but did not receive a discard indication in the RLC PDUs transmitted by the RLC entity during the last transmission opportunity. Variable 2 can also be updated after each transmission opportunity.

[0159] The specific implementation of the RLC entity in the first implementation of the transmitting device is described below with reference to Figures 3, 4 and 5.

[0160] Figure 3 illustrates, for example, the buffer of the RLC entity at the transmitting end, which includes PDU 0, PDU 1, PDU 2 and PDU 3, wherein PDU 0 and PDU 2 have received enhanced polling instructions and have not received discard instructions.

[0161] In one implementation, if PDU 0, PDU 1, PDU 2, and PDU 3 are all PDUs in the transmission buffer, that is, PDU 0 to PDU 3 are all initial transmission data packets, then when the contents of the RLC entity's buffer are as shown in Figure 3, and the RLC receives a transmission opportunity notified by the lower layer, one or more of the PDUs 0, PDU 1, PDU 2, and PDU 3 that can be transmitted in this transmission opportunity contain a polling identifier, and the value of variable 1 is updated to 2.

[0162] Figure 4 illustrates, for example, the buffer of the RLC entity at the sending end after sending the PDU corresponding to Figure 3. The transmitted PDUs 0, 1, 2 and 3 are placed in the retransmission buffer. The transmission buffer includes PDUs 4, 5 and 6. None of PDUs 4, 5 and 6 have received an enhanced polling instruction.

[0163] If, in the case shown in Figure 4, the RLC receives a transmission opportunity notified by the lower layer, then since there is no new RLC PDU in the submitted transmission RLC PDU (i.e., the RLC PDU in the buffer) that received the enhanced polling indication but did not receive the discard indication, that is, the value of variable 1 is still 2, which does not satisfy the condition that "the SN of the RLC PDU that received the enhanced polling indication but did not receive the discard indication in the submitted transmission RLC PDU is greater than variable 1", the RLC PDU transmitted in this transmission opportunity does not contain the polling identifier.

[0164] Optionally, if PDU 2 in Figure 4 receives an autonomous retransmission instruction but does not receive a discard instruction and has not yet performed an autonomous retransmission, then PDU 2 will be retransmitted in this transmission opportunity, and the value of variable 2 will be updated to 2. For example, the PDUs transmitted in this transmission opportunity include PDU 2, PDU 4, PDU 5, and PDU 6.

[0165] Figure 5 illustrates, for example, the buffer of the RLC entity at the transmitting end based on Figure 4. All transmitted PDUs (including retransmitted PDUs) are placed in the retransmission buffer, which includes PDU 0, PDU 1, PDU 2, PDU 3, PDU 4, PDU 5, and PDU 6. The transmission buffer includes PDU 7, where PDU 5 has received an enhanced polling instruction.

[0166] If, as shown in Figure 5, the RLC receives a transmission opportunity notified by the lower layer, then the buffer contains a new PDU 5 that received an enhanced polling indication but did not receive a discard indication. The SN of PDU 5 is 5, which is greater than the value of variable 1, which was updated to 2 after the last transmission opportunity. Therefore, the RLC PDU transmitted in this transmission opportunity contains the polling identifier. Furthermore, the value of variable 1 updated after this transmission opportunity is 5.

[0167] Furthermore, since there are no new PDUs in the retransmission buffer that have received an autonomous retransmission instruction but not a discard instruction, that is, there are no PDUs with an SN greater than variable 2, and the value of variable 2 is still 2, there are no autonomous retransmission SDUs in this transmission opportunity.

[0168] In some implementations, referring to Figure 5, if the status report returned by the receiving end shows that PDU 0 and PDU 2 have been successfully received, the sending end RLC entity submits an indication of successful transmission of the SDU to the upper layer and no longer responds to other indications for the SDU provided by PDCP; if the status report returned by the receiving end shows that PDU 3 failed to be received, the RLC entity can retransmit PDU 3 according to the ARQ mechanism described above. In this case, the RLC can still respond to the enhanced polling indication and / or autonomous retransmission indication issued by PDCP for PDU 3; if the sending end RLC entity receives a discard indication from the upper layer for PDU 1, referring to the examples in Figures 3 to 5, based on the process in the preceding steps of Figure 5, PDU 1 has already been submitted to the lower layer, so the RLC entity stops retransmitting PDU 1.

[0169] The second implementation of the sending device:

[0170] The second implementation of the transmitting device is similar to the first implementation described above in that the implementation of the PDCP entity at the transmitting end is similar and will not be described again.

[0171] In this implementation, for the sending RLC entity, when the lower layer notifies it of a transmission opportunity, if an RLC SDU corresponding to an RLC PDU submitted for transmission by the RLC entity receives an enhanced polling indication but does not receive a discard indication, then the sending RLC entity carries a polling identifier in one or more RLC PDUs that can be transmitted in the latest transmission opportunity; and / or, if an RLC SDU corresponding to an RLC PDU submitted for transmission by the RLC entity receives an autonomous retransmission indication, does not receive a discard indication and has not been retransmitted and / or has been autonomously retransmitted, then the sending RLC entity retransmits the RLC PDU corresponding to that RLC SDU in the latest transmission opportunity.

[0172] The following description, in conjunction with Figures 3, 4, and 5, details the specific implementation of the RLC entity in the second implementation of the transmitting device.

[0173] With the RLC entity's buffer contents as shown in Figure 3, when the RLC receives a transmission opportunity notified by the lower layer, one or more of PDU 0, PDU 1, PDU 2, and PDU 3 that can be transmitted during this transmission opportunity contain a polling identifier. It should be noted that in this implementation, PDU 0 and PDU 2, which have received an enhanced polling instruction but not a discard instruction, may or may not undergo retransmission; this application does not impose any limitations on this.

[0174] If, as shown in Figure 4, the RLC receives a transmission opportunity from a lower layer, since there are still PDUs 0 and 2 in the buffer that have received the enhanced polling instruction but not the drop instruction, one or more RLC PDUs sent in this transmission opportunity may contain a polling identifier.

[0175] Furthermore, if, in the case shown in Figure 4, PDU 2 receives an autonomous retransmission instruction but does not receive a discard instruction and has not yet performed an autonomous retransmission, then PDU 2 will be retransmitted during this transmission opportunity, and the value of variable 2 will be updated to 2.

[0176] In the scenario shown in Figure 5, if the RLC receives a transmission opportunity notified by the lower layer, the RLC PDU transmitted during this transmission opportunity will contain a polling identifier because there are PDUs in the buffer that have received an enhanced polling indication but not a discard indication. Furthermore, since there are no new PDUs in the retransmission buffer that have received an autonomous retransmission indication but not a discard indication (i.e., no PDUs with a SN greater than variable 2), and the value of variable 2 remains 2, there are no autonomous retransmission SDUs in this transmission opportunity.

[0177] Figure 6 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method 600 provided in an embodiment of this application. This method 600 can be applied to the communication system 100 shown in Figure 1 and is described from the perspective of device interaction. It should be understood that the first device and the second device involved in this application can be the device itself, or a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the device in implementing the communication method provided in this application, or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the communication method. This application does not limit the specific presentation form of the terminal device and network device used to execute the embodiments of this application.

[0178] In one possible implementation, the first device can be the transmitting device described above, which can be a terminal device or a network device, and the second device can be the receiving device described above, which can be a terminal device or a network device. This application does not make any specific limitations on this.

[0179] Method 600 includes the following steps:

[0180] S601. The first device generates at least one data packet, wherein one or more of the at least one data packet includes first indication information, and / or, the at least one data packet includes a first data packet with no status report and autonomous retransmission, the first indication information being used to request the receiving end to provide a status report; wherein, if there is a second data packet with enhanced polling indication and no discard indication in the at least one data packet, the at least one data packet includes the first indication information; if the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted, and / or, if the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted, the at least one data packet includes the first data packet.

[0181] S602, the first device sends at least one data packet; correspondingly, the second device receives the at least one data packet.

[0182] S603, The second device processes at least one data packet.

[0183] It should be noted that the enhanced polling indication, discard indication, and autonomous retransmission indication described in S601 above can be understood as indication information for the data packet during the processing of the data packet within the first device, and are not information carried by the data packet itself.

[0184] For example, the phrase "the second data packet has an enhanced polling instruction but no drop instruction" described in the embodiments of this application can be understood as the second data packet having an enhanced polling instruction but no drop instruction during the internal processing of the first device, or it can be understood as an internal entity of the first device receiving a polling instruction for the second data packet from another internal entity but not receiving a drop instruction for the second data packet. Other similar descriptions can also be interpreted in accordance with this description, and will not be repeated one by one.

[0185] Optionally, the first data packet and the second data packet can be the same data packet or different data packets; this application does not specifically limit this.

[0186] The data packet includes first indication information, which can be understood as the meaning of the value of the field (e.g., the P field) encapsulated in the header of the data packet that indicates whether a status is requested, which means "request status report".

[0187] In this embodiment, if a second data packet with an enhanced polling indication but no discard indication exists in at least one of the at least one data packets it generates, the first device may include first indication information in one or more data packets within that at least one data packet. This first indication information is used to request a status report from the receiving end. In this way, the first device can promptly request a status report and retransmit data packets based on the reception status indication for the sent data packets in the status report, which helps reduce the time the first device waits for a status report and shortens the data packet transmission latency. Alternatively, if a first data packet in at least one of its generated data packets has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted, and / or has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and the first data packet has not been autonomously retransmitted, the first device may include the first data packet in at least one data packet for transmission. In this way, the first device can perform autonomous retransmission based on the conditions for the first data packet proposed in this application without waiting for a status report, shortening the latency caused by status report interaction and improving the data packet transmission success rate.

[0188] In some implementations, enhanced polling can be understood as polling that is more likely to trigger polling than the polling mechanism of related technologies, but this application does not make a specific limitation on this.

[0189] As an optional embodiment, the first device includes a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer and a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, where the PDCP layer is above the RLC layer, and at least one data packet is generated by the RLC layer. The enhanced polling indication for the second data packet is transmitted by the PDCP layer to the RLC layer when the remaining time of the third data packet is less than or equal to a first threshold and the third data packet has already been transmitted to the RLC layer. The third data packet is the data packet from when the second data packet was in the PDCP layer, and the remaining time of the third data packet is determined by a first timer in the PDCP layer corresponding to the third data packet. The autonomous retransmission indication for the first data packet is transmitted by the PDCP layer to the RLC layer when the remaining time of the fourth data packet is less than or equal to a second threshold and the fourth data packet has already been transmitted to the RLC layer. The fourth data packet is the data packet from when the first data packet was in the PDCP layer, and the remaining time of the fourth data packet is determined by a second timer in the PDCP layer corresponding to the fourth data packet.

[0190] In this embodiment, the enhanced polling indication is passed to the RLC layer by the PDCP layer of the first device when the remaining time of the data packet is less than or equal to a first threshold, based on the existing timer (discardTimer or discardTimerForLowImportance). The autonomous retransmission indication is passed to the lower layer by the PDCP layer of the first device when the remaining time of the data packet is less than or equal to a second threshold, based on the existing timer, to trigger enhanced polling and / or autonomous retransmission by the RLC layer. In this way, the first device can detect the remaining time of the data packet without introducing a new timer, further triggering enhanced polling and / or autonomous retransmission by the RLC layer. Furthermore, enhanced polling helps the first device obtain status reports from the second device in a timely manner, facilitating timely retransmission of unsuccessfully received data packets; autonomous retransmission eliminates the need to wait for status reports from the second device, allowing the first device to retransmit promptly and autonomously, thereby shortening data packet transmission latency.

[0191] It is understood that both the enhanced polling indication and the autonomous retransmission indication are transmitted to the lower layer when the PDCP layer detects that a certain data packet meets the conditions for sending the enhanced polling indication and / or the autonomous retransmission indication. The indication for a data packet may include the enhanced polling indication and / or the autonomous retransmission indication, and this application does not limit the order in which these two indications are triggered. The mechanism by which PDCP sends the enhanced polling indication and the autonomous retransmission indication can be considered independent.

[0192] Optionally, the first timer can be discardTimer or discardTimerForLowImportance as described above, and the second timer can also be discardTimer or discardTimerForLowImportance. This application does not specifically limit this.

[0193] It should be understood that the first timer is a timer started by the PDCP layer when the third data packet is received to detect the remaining time of the third data packet, and the second timer is a timer started by the PDCP layer when the fourth data packet is received to detect the remaining time of the fourth data packet. Both the first timer and the second timer can be timers of the discardTimer type, but this application does not limit them to this.

[0194] It should also be understood that the second data packet and the third data packet contain the same data content. In one possible implementation, the second data packet may contain the entire content of the third data packet, or the header information of the second data packet and the third data packet may be different. This application does not specifically limit this. The third data packet may, for example, be a PDCP SDU received by the PDCP layer from the upper layer as described above, or a PDCP PDU generated after processing the PDCP SDU. The second data packet may, for example, be a PCDP PDU (referred to as an RLC SDU in the RLC layer) received by the RLC layer from the PDCP layer as described above, or an RLC PDU generated after processing the RLC SDU. The relationship between the first data packet and the fourth data packet is similar and will not be repeated.

[0195] The first threshold can be the enhanced polling threshold described above, and the second threshold can be the autonomous retransmission threshold described above. This application does not limit the specific values ​​or the relationship between the first and second thresholds. In some implementations, both the first and second thresholds are less than the duration of the timer, and timers of the same type opened for different data packets can have the same duration.

[0196] As an optional embodiment, method 600 further includes: a second device sending a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, the RRC message including a first threshold and a second threshold; correspondingly, a first device receiving the RRC message and storing the first threshold and the second threshold.

[0197] In some implementations, the first and second thresholds can be configured by the network side to the first device when the PDCP entity of the first device is established. For example, they can be passed from the RRC layer of the second device to the RRC layer of the first device via control plane signaling, and then decoded by the RRC layer of the first device and passed to the lower layer (PDCP layer).

[0198] In some implementations, the duration of the timer (discardTimer or discardTimerForLowImportance) in the PDCP layer can be configured in a similar way to the configuration of the first and second thresholds, which will not be elaborated further.

[0199] As an optional embodiment, the PDCP layer supports a first parameter, which indicates that the PDCP layer allows processing at the granularity of a packet set. The method further includes: when the remaining time of the third packet is less than or equal to a first threshold and the third packet has been delivered to the RLC layer, the PDCP layer transmits an enhanced polling indication to the RLC layer for all packets in the packet set to which the third packet belongs; when the remaining time of the fourth packet is less than or equal to a second threshold and the fourth packet has been delivered to the RLC layer, the PDCP layer transmits an autonomous retransmission indication to the RLC layer for all packets in the packet set to which the fourth packet belongs.

[0200] Optionally, the first parameter can be, for example, pdu-SetDiscard as described above.

[0201] In this embodiment of the application, based on the first parameter, PDCP can pass the enhanced polling indication and / or autonomous retransmission indication for each data packet in a data packet set to the lower layer at the granularity of the data packet set, when there are data packets in a data packet set that satisfy the conditions for sending the enhanced polling indication and / or autonomous retransmission indication, without having to wait for each data packet in the data packet set to satisfy the conditions for sending the enhanced polling indication and / or autonomous retransmission indication, which helps to simplify the processing of the PDCP layer.

[0202] As an optional embodiment, method 600 further includes: if the second timer expires, the PDCP layer transmits a discard indication for the first data packet to the RLC layer; if the first timer expires, the PDCP layer transmits a discard indication for the second data packet to the RLC layer.

[0203] It should be understood that if the PDCP layer supports the first parameter mentioned above, if the second timer expires, the PDCP layer will transmit a discard indication for each data packet in the set to which the first data packet belongs to the RLC layer; if the first timer expires, the PDCP layer will transmit a discard indication for each data packet in the set to which the second data packet belongs to the RLC layer.

[0204] As an optional embodiment, the first device includes a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, the RLC layer includes a first buffer, the first buffer is used to buffer data packets that have been transmitted at least once; the first data packet is a data packet in the first buffer, the sequence number of the first data packet is greater than a first variable, the first variable is the maximum sequence number of a data packet that has an voluntary retransmission indication and no drop indication in the data packets transmitted by the previous transmission opportunity.

[0205] The previous transmission opportunity here can be understood as relative to the transmission opportunity utilized by the first device when sending at least one data packet in method 600 described above.

[0206] Optionally, the first buffer may be, for example, the retransmission buffer described above, and the first variable may be, for example, the variable 2 described above. The first variable may be represented as LAST_AT_SN, but this application does not specifically limit it.

[0207] It should be understood that data packets with autonomous retransmission indications but no drop indications sent in the previous transmission opportunity have already been autonomously retransmitted in the previous transmission opportunity. The first variable is the maximum sequence number of the data packets with autonomous retransmission indications but no drop indications sent in the previous transmission opportunity. If the sequence number of the first data packet is greater than the first variable, it means that the first data packet is a data packet with autonomous retransmission indications but no drop indications. In the case that it has no drop indications, the first data packet can be autonomously retransmitted in this transmission opportunity.

[0208] As can be seen, in the embodiments of this application, the introduction of the first variable helps to ensure that data packets with autonomous retransmission instructions are retransmitted only once, which helps to avoid resource waste.

[0209] As an optional embodiment, the second data packet has not triggered polling. That is, if the second data packet has an enhanced polling indication, no drop indication, and has not triggered polling, the first device may include the first indication information in one or more data packets of at least one data packet it generates in at least one data packet. In this way, for a data packet with an enhanced polling indication and no drop indication, the data packet can trigger polling at most once, which helps to reduce the timing of polling and save unnecessary signaling overhead.

[0210] Furthermore, a second variable can be introduced to limit the number of times the data packet triggers polling. The second variable can be, for example, the variable 1 described above, or LAST_POLL_SN, but this application does not make any specific restrictions on it.

[0211] In some implementations, the sequence number of the second data packet that can trigger polling is greater than the second variable, which is the maximum sequence number of the data packet that had an enhanced polling indication but no drop indication in the data packets sent by the previous transmission opportunity.

[0212] For specific examples of how the RLC layer enhances polling and performs autonomous retransmission, please refer to the descriptions in Figures 3, 4, and 5 above. To avoid redundancy, these descriptions will not be repeated.

[0213] As an optional embodiment, the first device includes a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer and a Media Access Control (MAC) layer, with the MAC layer being the lower layer of the RLC layer. At least one data packet is sent by the RLC layer using a transmission opportunity notified by the MAC layer.

[0214] It should be understood that the above method embodiments can be implemented independently or in combination. The order of the numbers of the above methods does not imply the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic.

[0215] The communication method of the embodiments of this application has been described in detail above with reference to Figures 3 to 6. The communication device of the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 7 and 8. The communication device includes modules or units for executing the corresponding parts of each of the above embodiments. Modules or units can be software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. The following only provides a brief illustrative example of the communication device; for details of the implementation, please refer to the description of the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated below.

[0216] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device 700 provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 7, the device 700 includes a processing module 701 and a transceiver module 702.

[0217] In one possible implementation, the communication device 700 may be the transmitting end device (first device) described above, which is used to implement the steps corresponding to the transmitting end device (first device) in the above method embodiments.

[0218] The processing module 701 is configured to generate at least one data packet, wherein one or more of the at least one data packet includes first indication information, and / or, the at least one data packet includes a first data packet with no state report and autonomous retransmission, wherein the first indication information is used to request the receiver to provide a state report; wherein, if there is a second data packet with enhanced polling indication and no discard indication in the at least one data packet, the at least one data packet includes the first indication information; if the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted, and / or, the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted, the at least one data packet includes the first data packet; the transceiver module 702 is configured to send at least one data packet.

[0219] Optionally, the communication device 700 includes a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer and a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer. The PDCP layer is the upper layer of the RLC layer, and at least one data packet is generated by the RLC layer. The enhanced polling indication for the second data packet is transmitted by the PDCP layer to the RLC layer when the remaining time of the third data packet is less than or equal to a first threshold and the third data packet has been transmitted to the RLC layer. The third data packet is the data packet when the second data packet was in the PDCP layer, and the remaining time of the third data packet is determined by a first timer in the PDCP layer corresponding to the third data packet. The autonomous retransmission indication for the first data packet is transmitted by the PDCP layer to the RLC layer when the remaining time of the fourth data packet is less than or equal to a second threshold and the fourth data packet has been transmitted to the RLC layer. The fourth data packet is the data packet when the first data packet was in the PDCP layer, and the remaining time of the fourth data packet is determined by a second timer in the PDCP layer corresponding to the fourth data packet.

[0220] Optionally, the PDCP layer supports a first parameter, which indicates that the PDCP layer allows processing at the granularity of a data packet set. The processing module 701 is further configured to: when the remaining time of the third data packet is less than or equal to a first threshold and the third data packet has been transmitted to the RLC layer, the PDCP layer transmits an enhanced polling indication corresponding to all data packets in the data packet set to which the third data packet belongs to the RLC layer; and when the remaining time of the fourth data packet is less than or equal to a second threshold and the fourth data packet has been transmitted to the RLC layer, the PDCP layer transmits an autonomous retransmission indication corresponding to all data packets in the data packet set to which the fourth data packet belongs to the RLC layer.

[0221] The transceiver module 702 is also used to receive Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages, the RRC messages including a first threshold and a second threshold.

[0222] The processing module 701 is further configured to: if the second timer expires, the PDCP layer transmits a discard indication for the first data packet to the RLC layer; if the first timer expires, the PDCP layer transmits a discard indication for the second data packet to the RLC layer.

[0223] Optionally, the RLC layer includes a first buffer, which is used to buffer data packets that have been sent at least once; the first data packet is a data packet in the first buffer, and the sequence number of the first data packet is greater than a first variable, which is the maximum sequence number of a data packet that has an voluntary retransmission indication and no drop indication in the data packets sent by the previous transmission opportunity.

[0224] Optionally, the second data packet did not trigger polling.

[0225] Optionally, the sequence number of the second data packet is greater than the second variable, which is the maximum sequence number of the data packets sent in the previous transmission opportunity that had an enhanced polling indication but no drop indication.

[0226] Optionally, the Media Access Control (MAC) layer is the lower layer of the RLC layer, and at least one data packet is sent by the RLC layer using a transmission opportunity upon receiving a transmission opportunity notification from the MAC layer.

[0227] In another possible implementation, the communication device 700 may be the receiving device (second device) described above, which is used to implement the steps corresponding to the receiving device (second device) in the above method embodiments.

[0228] The transceiver module 702 is configured to receive at least one data packet, wherein one or more of the at least one data packet includes first indication information, and / or, at least one data packet includes a first data packet with no state report and autonomous retransmission, wherein the first indication information is used to request the receiver to provide a state report; wherein, in the case where at least one data packet contains a second data packet with enhanced polling indication and no discard indication, one or more of the at least one data packet includes the first indication information; and in the case where the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and no retransmission has occurred, and / or, the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no discard indication, and no autonomous retransmission has occurred, at least one data packet includes the first data packet; the processing module 701 is configured to process the at least one data packet.

[0229] Optionally, the first data packet is a data packet in the first buffer of the sending device. The first buffer is used to buffer data packets that have been sent at least once. The sequence number of the first data packet is greater than the first variable. The first variable is the maximum sequence number of the data packets sent by the sending device in the last transmission opportunity that has an voluntary retransmission indication and no drop indication.

[0230] Optionally, the second data packet did not trigger polling.

[0231] Optionally, the sequence number of the second data packet is greater than the second variable, which is the maximum sequence number of the data packets sent by the sending device in the previous transmission opportunity that had an enhanced polling indication but no drop indication.

[0232] The transceiver module 702 is also used to send a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, the RRC message including a first threshold and a second threshold.

[0233] It should be understood that the device 700 here is embodied in the form of a functional module. The term "module" here can refer to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), electronic circuitry, a processor (e.g., a shared processor, a proprietary processor, or a group processor, etc.) and memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, integrated logic circuitry, and / or other suitable components supporting the described functions. In an alternative example, those skilled in the art will understand that the device 700 may specifically be the transmitting end device (first device) or the receiving end device (second device) in the above embodiments. The device 700 can be used to execute the various processes and / or steps corresponding to the transmitting end device (first device) or the receiving end device (second device) in the above method embodiments; to avoid repetition, these will not be described again here.

[0234] The aforementioned device 700 has the function of implementing the corresponding steps performed by the transmitting end device (first device) or the receiving end device (second device) in the aforementioned method; the aforementioned function can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the aforementioned function.

[0235] In embodiments of this application, the device 700 in FIG7 can also be a chip, such as a System-on-a-Chip (SoC). Correspondingly, the transceiver module 702 can be the transceiver circuit of the chip, which is not limited here.

[0236] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device 800 provided in an embodiment of this application. The device 800 includes a processor 801, a transceiver 802, and a memory 803. The processor 801, transceiver 802, and memory 803 communicate with each other through an internal connection path. The memory 803 is used to store instructions, and the processor 801 is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory 803 to control the transceiver 802 to send and / or receive signals.

[0237] It should be understood that the device 800 may specifically be the terminal device in the above embodiments, and may be used to execute the various steps and / or processes corresponding to the terminal device in the above method embodiments. Optionally, the memory 803 may include read-only memory and random access memory, and provide instructions and data to the processor. A portion of the memory may also include non-volatile random access memory. For example, the memory may also store device type information. The processor 801 may be used to execute instructions stored in the memory, and when the processor 801 executes instructions stored in the memory, the processor 801 is used to execute the various steps and / or processes of the above method embodiments. The transceiver 802 may include a transmitter and a receiver, the transmitter may be used to implement the various steps and / or processes corresponding to the transceiver for performing a transmitting action, and the receiver may be used to implement the various steps and / or processes corresponding to the transceiver for performing a receiving action.

[0238] It should be understood that, in the embodiments of this application, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU), or it may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0239] In implementation, each step of the above method can be completed by integrated logic circuits in the processor's hardware or by instructions in software. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of this application can be directly manifested as execution by a hardware processor, or as a combination of hardware and software modules within the processor. The software modules can reside in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, or other mature storage media in the art. This storage medium is located in memory, and the processor executes the instructions in the memory, combining them with its hardware to complete the steps of the above method. To avoid repetition, detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0240] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program for implementing the methods shown in the above-described method embodiments.

[0241] This application also provides a computer program product, which includes computer program code or computer program instructions. When the computer program code or computer program instructions are run on a computer, the computer can perform the methods shown in the above-described method embodiments.

[0242] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the modules 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 application.

[0243] Those skilled in the art will understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and modules described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0244] In the embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of modules is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple modules or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between apparatuses or modules may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0245] The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. Similarly, the components shown as modules may or may not be physical modules; they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network modules. Some or all of the modules can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment, depending on actual needs.

[0246] In addition, the functional modules in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing module, or each module can exist physically separately, or two or more modules can be integrated into one module.

[0247] If a function is implemented as a software module and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or a part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods of the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0248] The above are merely specific embodiments of this application, but the protection scope of the embodiments of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the embodiments of this application should be included within the protection scope of the embodiments of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of the embodiments of this application should be determined by the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method includes: At least one data packet is generated, wherein one or more of the at least one data packet includes first indication information, and / or, the at least one data packet includes a first data packet with no state report and autonomous retransmission, wherein the first indication information is used to request the receiver to provide a state report; wherein, if there is a second data packet with enhanced polling indication and no drop indication in the at least one data packet, the at least one data packet includes the first indication information; if the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no drop indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted, and / or, if the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no drop indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted, the at least one data packet includes the first data packet; Send the at least one data packet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method is applied to a first device, which includes a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer and a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, wherein the PDCP layer is the upper layer of the RLC layer, and the at least one data packet is generated by the RLC layer. The enhanced polling indication for the second data packet is transmitted to the RLC layer by the PDCP layer when the remaining time of the third data packet is less than or equal to a first threshold and the third data packet has been transmitted to the RLC layer. The third data packet is the data packet when the second data packet is in the PDCP layer, and the remaining time of the third data packet is determined by the first timer in the PDCP layer corresponding to the third data packet. The autonomous retransmission indication of the first data packet is transmitted to the RLC layer by the PDCP layer when the remaining time of the fourth data packet is less than or equal to the second threshold and the fourth data packet has been transmitted to the RLC layer. The fourth data packet is the data packet when the first data packet is in the PDCP layer, and the remaining time of the fourth data packet is determined by the second timer in the PDCP layer corresponding to the fourth data packet.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The PDCP layer supports a first parameter, which indicates that the PDCP layer allows processing at the granularity of packet sets. The method further includes: When the remaining time of the third data packet is less than or equal to the first threshold and the third data packet has been delivered to the RLC layer, the PDCP layer transmits an enhanced polling indication to the RLC layer for all data packets in the data packet set to which the third data packet belongs. When the remaining time of the fourth data packet is less than or equal to the second threshold and the fourth data packet has been transmitted to the RLC layer, the PDCP layer transmits an autonomous retransmission indication to the RLC layer for all data packets in the data packet set to which the fourth data packet belongs.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, the RRC message including the first threshold and the second threshold.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that, The method further includes: If the second timer expires, the PDCP layer transmits a discard indication for the first data packet to the RLC layer; If the first timer expires, the PDCP layer transmits a discard indication for the second data packet to the RLC layer.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The method is applied to a first device, the first device including a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, the RLC layer including a first buffer, the first buffer being used to buffer data packets that have been sent at least once; The first data packet is a data packet from the first buffer. The sequence number of the first data packet is greater than the first variable, which is the maximum sequence number of a data packet that has an voluntary retransmission indication but no drop indication in the data packets sent by the previous transmission opportunity.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The second data packet did not trigger polling.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The sequence number of the second data packet is greater than the second variable, which is the maximum sequence number of the data packets sent in the previous transmission opportunity that had an enhanced polling indication but no drop indication.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, The method is applied to a first device, which includes a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer and a Media Access Control (MAC) layer, wherein the MAC layer is the lower layer of the RLC layer, and the at least one data packet is sent by the RLC layer using the transmission opportunity notified by the MAC layer.

10. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a second device, the method includes: Receive at least one data packet from a first device, wherein one or more of the at least one data packet includes first indication information, and / or, the at least one data packet includes a first data packet with no state report and autonomous retransmission, wherein the first indication information is used to request the receiving end to provide a state report; wherein, if there is a second data packet with enhanced polling indication and no drop indication in the at least one data packet, the at least one data packet includes the first indication information; if the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no drop indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted, and / or, if the first data packet has an autonomous retransmission indication, no drop indication, and the first data packet has not been retransmitted, the at least one data packet includes the first data packet; The at least one data packet is processed.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The first data packet is a data packet in the first buffer of the first device. The first buffer is used to buffer data packets that have been sent at least once. The sequence number of the first data packet is greater than the first variable. The first variable is the maximum sequence number of the data packets sent by the first device in the last transmission opportunity that has an voluntary retransmission indication and no drop indication.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that, The second data packet did not trigger polling.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that, The sequence number of the second data packet is greater than the second variable, which is the maximum sequence number of the data packet sent by the first device in the previous transmission opportunity that has an enhanced polling indication and no drop indication.

14. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, the RRC message including a first threshold and a second threshold.

15. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes modules for implementing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, or modules for implementing the method as described in any one of claims 10 to 14.

16. A communication device, characterized in that, include: A processor coupled to a memory for storing a computer program, which, when invoked by the processor, causes the apparatus to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, or the method as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 14.

17. A chip system, characterized in that, It includes at least one processor and a communication interface, the communication interface and the at least one processor being interconnected via a line, the at least one processor being configured to run a computer program or instructions to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, or to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 14.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program, the computer program including instructions for implementing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, or instructions for implementing the method as described in any one of claims 10 to 14.

19. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes computer program code that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, or the method as described in any one of claims 10 to 14.

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