Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application belongs to the field of communications. Provided are a communication method and apparatus, which are used for further improving the flexibility of scheduling HARQ feedback resources. The method comprises: a terminal device receiving first information from a network device, wherein the first information is used for scheduling the transmission of first data on a plurality of frequency-domain resource sets, the first data is borne on a first frequency-domain resource set, the first information includes a first index, and the first index is associated with first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback information of the first data; the terminal device receiving second information from the network device, wherein the second information indicates a first resource corresponding to the first index; and the terminal device sending the first HARQ feedback information on the first resource.

Description

Communication methods and devices

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202510492136.7, filed on April 17, 2025, entitled "Communication Method and Apparatus", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly to a communication method and apparatus. Background Technology

[0003] Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) is a method to improve data transmission reliability. It originated from the Stop-and-Wait Protocol and is characterized by the data receiver sending feedback information to the data sender. Currently, HARQ feedback resources can be indicated by downlink control information (DCI).

[0004] However, the resources currently used to carry data transmission and those used to carry HARQ feedback have a relatively fixed time-series correspondence, making the scheduling of HARQ feedback resources very inflexible. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This application provides a communication method and apparatus to further improve the scheduling flexibility of HARQ feedback resources.

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

[0007] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, applied to a terminal device or a chip of a terminal device, the method comprising: receiving first information, the first information being used to schedule the transmission of first data on multiple frequency domain resource sets, the first data being carried on a first frequency domain resource set; wherein the first information includes a first index, the first index being associated with first Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback information of the first data; receiving second information, the second information indicating a first resource corresponding to the first index; and sending first HARQ feedback information on the first resource.

[0008] Therefore, this method uses a first index to associate the first HARQ feedback information of the first data, and then uses the second information to indicate the first resource corresponding to the first index. This decouples the data transmission resources and the data feedback resources through different information indications, without having to reserve feedback resources in advance when scheduling data, thus improving the flexibility of HARQ feedback scheduling.

[0009] In one possible implementation, the first resource belongs to a first frequency domain resource set, or the first resource belongs to a second frequency domain resource set, which in turn belongs to multiple frequency domain resource sets. That is, the terminal device can send HARQ feedback information for the first data on the frequency domain resource set where the first data resides, or it can send HARQ feedback information for the received data across frequency domain resource sets, improving the flexibility of feedback. For example, the frequency domain resource set can be a carrier wave.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the first index is also associated with a first HARQ-ACK codebook, which includes at least first HARQ feedback information. That is, if multiple first data items need to be scheduled, by associating the first index with the HARQ feedback information of these multiple first data items, and thus associating the first index with the first HARQ-ACK codebook, the HARQ feedback information of all the multiple first data items is associated with the first HARQ-ACK codebook. Therefore, in subsequent HARQ feedback processes, it is not necessary to indicate feedback resources for each of the multiple first data items; the first resource corresponding to the first index can be indicated through the second information, reducing the indication overhead required for feedback.

[0011] In one possible implementation, the first information also includes a first field, the value of which represents the cumulative number of {serving cell index / carrier index, PDCCH monitoring opportunity} pairs to which the scheduled PDSCH belongs up to the current PDCCH monitoring time. The values ​​of the first field are in ascending order of serving cell index / carrier index first, then PDCCH monitoring opportunity. Here, one {serving cell index / carrier index, PDCCH monitoring opportunity} pair represents one potential PDSCH scheduling opportunity.

[0012] In dynamic HARQ codebook feedback scenarios, since the terminal device only sends HARQ feedback information at locations in the codebook where data transmission occurs, transmission failure will result in abnormal feedback information, and the codebook cannot be received correctly. Therefore, the first field can represent the number of times the first data has been scheduled from the time the first information is received to the current PDCCH monitoring time. Thus, the number of data currently being transmitted can be determined based on the first field, and the value of the received first field can be used to determine whether data has been lost.

[0013] Optionally, the first information also includes a second field, the value of which represents the total number of {serving cell index / carrier index, PDCCH monitoring time} pairs belonging to all possible scheduled PDSCHs up to the current PDCCH monitoring time. In conjunction with the foregoing explanation, the second field can represent the total number of first data that may be scheduled (i.e., need to send feedback information) on all frequency domain resource sets from the time the first information is received to the current PDCCH monitoring time. Therefore, in multi-carrier data scheduling (such as carrier aggregation) scenarios, the total number of data that may be transmitted on all carriers can be determined based on the second field, thus allowing for the determination of whether data has been lost by combining the received values ​​of the first and second fields.

[0014] In one possible implementation, the first aspect of the method further includes: receiving third information, the third information being used to schedule the transmission of second data on multiple frequency domain resource sets, the second data being carried on the third frequency domain resource set; wherein the third information includes a second index, the second index being associated with second HARQ feedback information of the second data; and sending the second HARQ feedback information.

[0015] Optionally, the method of the first aspect further includes: receiving fourth information, the fourth information indicating a second resource corresponding to the second index; sending second HARQ feedback information includes: sending the second HARQ feedback information on the second resource. It can be understood that if the second index is different from the first index, different information can be used to indicate the resources corresponding to different indices, making HARQ feedback scheduling more flexible.

[0016] Optionally, the second index is the same as the first index, and sending the second HARQ feedback information includes sending the second HARQ feedback information on the first resource. It is understood that, with the same index, there is no need for different data to repeatedly indicate the same feedback resource, reducing the indication overhead required for feedback.

[0017] Optionally, the second index is different from the first index, and sending the second HARQ feedback information includes sending the second HARQ feedback information on the first resource.

[0018] Optionally, both the first index and the second index are associated with the second HARQ-ACK codebook, which includes HARQ feedback information for multiple data points, including the first data point and the second data point.

[0019] Optionally, the first index indicates the cumulative number of data scheduled up to the time limit of the first time-domain resource set, where the first time-domain resource is the time-domain resource for scheduling the first data; alternatively, the first index may also indicate the cumulative number of HARQ feedback information bits in the scheduled data up to the time limit of the first time-domain resource set; alternatively, the first index may also indicate the position of the first HARQ feedback information bit in the scheduled data up to the time limit of the first time-domain resource set in the corresponding HARQ-ACK feedback codebook. The second index indicates the cumulative number of data scheduled up to the time limit of the second time-domain resource set, where the second time-domain resource is the time-domain resource for scheduling the second data; the second index may also indicate the cumulative number of HARQ feedback information bits in the scheduled data up to the time limit of the second time-domain resource set, and the position of the first HARQ feedback information bit in the scheduled data up to the time limit of the second time-domain resource set in the corresponding HARQ-ACK feedback codebook. The first time-domain resource set is used to schedule multiple data corresponding to the second HARQ-ACK codebook.

[0020] Optionally, the first time-domain resource set is indicated by the first information.

[0021] Optionally, the first time-domain resource set includes all time-domain resources from the last time-domain resource that did not receive data to the third time-domain resource.

[0022] Optionally, the third time domain resource is determined based on the time unit where the first resource is located, or it is determined based on the time unit where the first resource is located and the uplink data processing capability of the terminal device.

[0023] Optionally, the third time domain resource is determined based on the time domain resource carrying the second information, or it is determined based on the time domain resource of the second information and the uplink data processing capability of the terminal device.

[0024] Optionally, the third time-domain resource is indicated by the first information.

[0025] Optionally, the first index represents the cumulative number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits in the {serving cell, PDCCH detection time} of the scheduled HARQ-ACK feedback bits up to the current PDCCH monitoring time; or, the first index represents the cumulative number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits associated with the PDSCH transmission corresponding to the scheduled PDCCH monitoring time in the {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring time} or {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time}, {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time, HARQ-ACK codebook} up to the current PDCCH monitoring time.

[0026] Alternatively, the first index represents the cumulative number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits associated with the PDSCH transmission corresponding to the scheduled PDCCH monitoring time up to the current PDCCH monitoring time in the {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring time} or {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time}, {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time, HARQ-ACK codebook}.

[0027] Optionally, when the number of serving cells or carriers is greater than 1, the first index includes first index #1 and first index #2. First index #1 represents the cumulative number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits in the {serving cell, PDCCH detection time} of the scheduled HARQ-ACK feedback bits up to the current PDCCH monitoring time.

[0028] Alternatively, the first index #1 represents the cumulative number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits associated with the PDSCH transmission corresponding to the scheduled PDCCH monitoring time up to the current PDCCH monitoring time in the relevant {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring time} or {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time}, {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time, HARQ-ACK codebook}.

[0029] The first index #2 represents the total number of all HARQ-ACK information bits in the {serving cell, PDCCH detection time} of all potentially scheduled HARQ-ACK feedback bits up to the current PDCCH monitoring time.

[0030] Alternatively, the first index #2 represents the total number of HARQ-ACK information bits associated with the PDSCH transmission corresponding to all possible PDCCH monitoring times up to the current PDCCH monitoring time in the {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring time} or {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time}, {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time, HARQ-ACK codebook}.

[0031] Based on the above explanation, in a dynamic HARQ codebook feedback scenario, since the terminal device only sends HARQ feedback information at locations in the codebook where data transmission exists, transmission failure will result in abnormal feedback information, and the codebook cannot be received correctly. Therefore, the first index (or first index #1) can represent the number of times the first data has been scheduled from the time the first information is received to the current PDCCH monitoring time. Thus, based on the first index (or first index #1), the current amount of data transmitted can be determined, and the value of the received first index (or first index #1) can be used to determine whether data has been lost. Furthermore, in multi-carrier data scheduling, such as in carrier aggregation scenarios, the first index #2 can represent the total number of first data that may be scheduled (i.e., need to send feedback information) on all carriers from the time the first information is received to the current PDCCH monitoring time. Therefore, based on the first index #2, the total amount of data that may be transmitted on all carriers can be determined, and by combining the received first index #1 and first index #2, it can be determined whether data has been lost, or in multi-carrier scenarios.

[0032] In one possible implementation, the first information is the first downlink control information (DCI), and the second information is the second downlink control information (DCI).

[0033] Optionally, the first DCI and the second DCI may have different formats.

[0034] In one possible implementation, the transmission unit of the first data includes at least one of a transport block TB, a code block CB, a sub-transport block sub-TB, or a code block group CBG.

[0035] In one possible implementation, the set of frequency domain resources is the carrier wave.

[0036] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, applied to a network device or a chip of a network device, the method comprising: sending first information, the first information being used to schedule the transmission of first data on multiple frequency domain resource sets, the first data being carried on a first frequency domain resource set; wherein the first information includes a first index, the first index being associated with first Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback information of the first data; sending second information, the second information indicating a first resource corresponding to the first index; and receiving first HARQ feedback information on the first resource.

[0037] In one possible implementation, the first resource belongs to a first frequency domain resource set, or the first resource belongs to a second frequency domain resource set, which in turn belongs to multiple frequency domain resource sets.

[0038] In one possible implementation, the first index is the index of the first resource.

[0039] In one possible implementation, the first index is also associated with a first hybrid automatic repeat request response message (HARQ-ACK) codebook, which includes at least the first HARQ feedback information.

[0040] In one possible implementation, the first information also includes a first field, the value of which represents the cumulative number of {serving cell index / carrier index, PDCCH monitoring opportunity} pairs to which the scheduled PDSCH belongs up to the current PDCCH monitoring time. The values ​​of the first field are in ascending order of serving cell index / carrier index first, then PDCCH monitoring opportunity. Here, one {serving cell index / carrier index, PDCCH monitoring opportunity} pair represents one potential PDSCH scheduling opportunity.

[0041] Optionally, the first information also includes a second field, the value of which represents the total number of {serving cell index / carrier index, PDCCH monitoring time} pairs to which all potentially scheduled PDSCHs belong, up to the current PDCCH monitoring time.

[0042] In one possible implementation, the second aspect of the method further includes: sending third information, the third information being used to schedule the transmission of second data on multiple frequency domain resource sets, the second data being carried on a third frequency domain resource set; wherein the third information includes a second index, the second index being associated with second HARQ feedback information of the second data; and receiving the second HARQ feedback information.

[0043] Optionally, the method of the second aspect further includes: sending fourth information, the fourth information indicating a second resource corresponding to the second index; receiving second HARQ feedback information includes: receiving second HARQ feedback information on the second resource.

[0044] Optionally, the second index is the same as the first index, and receiving the second HARQ feedback information includes receiving the second HARQ feedback information on the first resource.

[0045] Optionally, both the first index and the second index are associated with the second HARQ-ACK codebook, which includes HARQ feedback information for multiple data points, including the first data point and the second data point.

[0046] Optionally, the first index indicates the cumulative number of data scheduled up to the end of the first time-domain resource set, where the first time-domain resource is the time-domain resource for scheduling the first data; the second index indicates the cumulative number of data scheduled up to the end of the second time-domain resource set, where the second time-domain resource is the time-domain resource for scheduling the second data; wherein, the first time-domain resource set is used to schedule multiple data corresponding to the second HARQ-ACK codebook.

[0047] Optionally, the first time-domain resource set includes all time-domain resources from the last time-domain resource that did not receive data to the third time-domain resource.

[0048] Optionally, the third time-domain resource is determined based on the time-domain resources included in the first resource.

[0049] In one possible implementation, the first information is the first downlink control information (DCI), and the second information is the second downlink control information (DCI).

[0050] Optionally, the first DCI and the second DCI may have different formats.

[0051] In one possible implementation, the first data includes at least one of transport block TB, code block CB, sub-transport block sub-TB, or code block group CBG.

[0052] In one possible implementation, the set of frequency domain resources is the carrier wave.

[0053] It is understandable that the technical effects of the method described in the second aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the method described in the first aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

[0054] Thirdly, a communication device is provided, the communication device including a module for performing the method described in any one of the first to second aspects.

[0055] In one possible design, the communication device described in the third aspect may further include a transceiver. This transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver can be used for communication between the communication device described in the third aspect and other communication devices.

[0056] In one possible design, the communication device described in the third aspect may further include a memory. This memory may be integrated with the processor or disposed separately. The memory may be used to store instructions relating to the methods of any of the first to second aspects.

[0057] In the embodiments of this application, the communication device described in the third aspect may be a network device, or a chip (system) or other component or assembly disposed in the network device, or a device containing the network device.

[0058] It is understood that the technical effects of the device described in the third aspect can also be referred to the relevant descriptions of the methods in any of the first to second aspects above, and will not be repeated here.

[0059] Fourthly, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes a processor coupled to a memory, the processor being configured to execute instructions stored in the memory such that the communication device performs the method described in any one of the first to second aspects.

[0060] In one possible design, the communication device described in the fourth aspect may further include a transceiver. This transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver can be used for communication between the communication device described in the fourth aspect and other communication devices.

[0061] In the embodiments of this application, the communication device described in the fourth aspect may be a network device described in any one of the first to second aspects, or a chip (system) or other component or assembly disposed in the network device, or a device containing the network device.

[0062] Furthermore, the technical effects of the communication device described in the fourth aspect can be referred to the technical effects of the method described in any one of the first or second aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0063] Fifthly, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory being used to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of the first to second aspects.

[0064] In one possible design, the communication device described in the fifth aspect may further include a transceiver. This transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver can be used by the communication device described in the fifth aspect to communicate with other communication devices.

[0065] In the embodiments of this application, the communication device described in the fifth aspect may be a network device described in any one of the first to second aspects, or a chip (system) or other component or assembly disposed in the network device, or a device containing the network device.

[0066] Furthermore, the technical effects of the communication device described in the fifth aspect can be referred to the technical effects of the method described in any one of the first or second aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0067] A sixth aspect provides a chip comprising: a controller and an interface circuit, wherein the controller is configured to interact with other devices via the interface circuit to perform the method as described in any one of the first to second aspects.

[0068] A seventh aspect provides a communication system. The communication system includes a first manager for performing the method described in the first aspect, and a second manager for performing the method described in the second aspect.

[0069] Eighthly, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, the computer-readable storage medium including storage of a computer program or instructions that, when executed, cause the method described in any one of the first to second aspects to be performed.

[0070] A ninth aspect provides a computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions that, when executed, cause the method described in any one of the first to second aspects to be performed. Attached Figure Description

[0071] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of data transmission using a stop-and-wait protocol;

[0072] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of data transmission through multiple HARQ processes;

[0073] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a code block group (CBG) retransmission method;

[0074] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the time slot offset between downlink data and uplink feedback;

[0075] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a HARQ codebook feedback;

[0076] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram showing how the network device instructs the UE to send the number of HARQ feedback messages through the downlink allocation index field in the DCI;

[0077] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the time slot offset values ​​between multiple downlink data and one uplink feedback;

[0078] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the communication system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0079] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the communication system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0080] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the communication system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0081] Figure 11 is a flowchart illustrating the communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0082] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the communication method provided in the embodiment of this application;

[0083] Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of the principle of the communication method provided in the embodiment of this application;

[0084] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of the communication method provided in the embodiment of this application.

[0085] Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of the principle of the communication method provided in the embodiment of this application;

[0086] Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of the communication method provided in the embodiment of this application.

[0087] Figure 17 is a schematic diagram of the communication method provided in the embodiment of this application.

[0088] Figure 18 is a schematic diagram of the communication method provided in the embodiment of this application;

[0089] Figure 19 is a schematic diagram of the communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0090] Figure 20 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the communication device provided in the embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0091] For ease of understanding, the technical terms involved in this embodiment will be introduced below.

[0092] 1. Retransmission mechanism:

[0093] Retransmission refers to the process of retransmitting data after a transmission failure. Currently, there are three main retransmission mechanisms.

[0094] (1) Medium Access Control (MAC) Layer Retransmission: The HARQ mechanism of the MAC layer is a commonly used retransmission mechanism. This HARQ mechanism means that after receiving information, the receiving end immediately feeds back the result of whether the information transmission was successful or failed to the sending end, thus achieving fast retransmission. To reduce feedback overhead, HARQ feedback does not include cyclic redundancy check (CRC) verification. Therefore, the reliability of HARQ feedback is low, and MAC layer retransmission is sometimes considered lossy retransmission.

[0095] (2) Radio Link Control (RLC) Layer Retransmission: The Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) mechanism of the RLC layer can supplement the MAC layer retransmission. This ARQ mechanism means that the receiver uses CRC checksums to determine if the received data is correct and feeds back the result to the transmitter. If an error is received, the transmitter retransmits the data after receiving the feedback until the receiver receives it correctly. Compared to the HARQ mechanism, the RLC layer retransmission feedback status report has a lower transmission frequency, so the overhead required to achieve a lower feedback error rate is relatively small. Furthermore, RLC layer retransmission feedback is sent via PDSCH, and the corresponding feedback is protected by CRC, thus achieving very high feedback reliability.

[0096] RLC layer data retransmission typically uses an acknowledgment mode. In acknowledgment mode, when the receiver receives an erroneous protocol data unit (PDU), it notifies the sender to retransmit via a status report. The status report can be sent proactively by the receiver or requested by the sender. For example, if the sender's transmit buffer runs out of space due to unacknowledged PDUs, the sender can request the receiver to send a status report.

[0097] (3) Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer retransmission: mainly used in scenarios where terminal devices hand over cells across base stations. Since the relevant configurations and caches of lower-layer protocols (RLC layer and MAC layer) are cleared during the handover process, but not of the PDCP layer, the PDCP layer retransmission function can ensure as much as possible that data is not lost due to the terminal device handover.

[0098] 2. Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process:

[0099] The process of the sender initially sending a transport block (TB) to the receiver is called initial transmission, and the process of sending the transport block again is called retransmission. HARQ is a retransmission mechanism that combines forward error correction (FEC) and automatic repeat request (ARQ). FEC is an error control method where the signal is pre-encoded according to a specific algorithm before being sent to the transmission channel, adding redundant codes containing the signal's inherent characteristics. The receiver decodes the received signal according to the corresponding algorithm to identify and correct errors that occurred during transmission. ARQ refers to the receiver using CRC checksums to determine the correctness of the received data and feeding back the result to the sender. If an error is received, the sender retransmits the data after receiving the feedback until the receiver receives it correctly.

[0100] The HARQ mechanism first uses the FEC algorithm to encode the channel, adding redundant information with error detection and correction capabilities to the transmitted information. The receiver decodes the received signal using the corresponding reverse algorithm. If an error is detected, it attempts to correct it. If the error is corrected, the data transmission is successful. If not, the ARQ mechanism is used to immediately notify the sender to retransmit. If the error persists, a retransmission is requested again until the correct data is received.

[0101] As an example, the HARQ process can use a stop-and-wait protocol to send data. The stop-and-wait protocol means that after the sender sends a data block (TB), it waits for an acknowledgment; the receiver can reply with ACK or NACK using 1 bit of information; the receiver then sends the next TB after receiving the ACK. Here, ACK indicates that the TB was successfully received and successfully decoded; NACK indicates that the TB was not successfully received, and / or, the TB was not successfully decoded.

[0102] Figure 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of data transmission using a stop-and-wait protocol. As shown in Figure 1, the sending end sends the first TB, the receiving end receives the first TB, and reports the reception status of the first TB back to the sending end; the sending end receives the reception status of the first TB, and if the reception status of the first TB indicates that the first TB was successfully received, the sending end sends the second TB; otherwise, the sending end continues to send the first TB; and so on.

[0103] In other words, the stop-and-wait protocol has the following two characteristics:

[0104] (1) The receiver sends feedback information to the sender. Regardless of whether the reception is correct or not, the receiver needs to provide feedback on the reception status to the sender.

[0105] (2) The sender must receive confirmation from the receiver before continuing to send messages. The next message will not be sent until the previous message has been confirmed.

[0106] Stop-and-wait protocols require the sender to pause and wait for feedback from the receiver after each message transmission, resulting in low throughput. Therefore, HARQ employs multiple stop-and-wait processes (i.e., HARQ processes) in parallel. Specifically, while one HARQ process is waiting for acknowledgment, the sender can use another HARQ process to continue sending messages; similarly, while the receiver is processing messages received by one HARQ process, it can use another HARQ process to continue receiving messages. Multiple HARQ processes processing in parallel form a HARQ entity, with one HARQ entity corresponding to each uplink or downlink carrier. As an example, a single HARQ entity supports a maximum of 16 HARQ processes.

[0107] Figure 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of data transmission through multiple HARQ processes. As shown in Figure 2, the sending end sends TB 1 through HARQ process 0, and after sending TB 1, the sending end can send TB 2 through HARQ process 1; and after sending TB 2, the sending end can send TB 3 through HARQ process 2; and so on. Furthermore, after receiving a TB, the receiving end can report the reception status of the TB to the sending end, allowing the sending end to determine whether to retransmit the TB or send a new TB through the HARQ process containing that TB based on the reception status. As shown in Figure 2, taking TB 1 as an example, the receiving end feeds back the reception status of TB 1 to the sending end through HARQ process 0. If the receiving end sends back NACK to the sending end, it means that TB 1 was not successfully received. Based on the feedback from the receiving end, the sending end continues to retransmit TB 1 through HARQ process 0. Assuming that the receiving end successfully receives the retransmitted TB 1, the receiving end sends ACK to the sending end. Based on the feedback from the receiving end, the sending end determines that TB 1 was successfully received, so the sending end sends a new TB (such as TB 6) through HARQ process 0; and so on.

[0108] Considering the possibility of multiple HARQ processes operating in parallel, these processes can be numbered, such as each HARQ process corresponding to a HARQ process number. This allows the receiving end to determine which HARQ process a received data transfer (TB) belongs to. The HARQ process number can also be called a HARQ process identifier (ID). A single HARQ process number can be used to specify a single HARQ process. For example, a network device can use 4 or 5 bits in the DCI to indicate the HARQ process number to the terminal device, allowing the terminal device to determine which HARQ process the current uplink or downlink transmission belongs to. Detailed descriptions of the fields included in the DCI information and their meanings can be found in existing descriptions and will not be repeated here.

[0109] 3. New Data Indicator (NDI):

[0110] After the receiving end determines which HARQ process the received TB belongs to, it can determine whether the TB is initial transmission or retransmission based on the NDI. This NDI can be carried in the DCI. Specifically, each HARQ process can store an NDI value, which can be 0 or 1. The sending end uses the NDI value's flip to indicate whether the current transmission is initial or retransmission. If the NDI value sent this time is opposite to the previously sent NDI value (i.e., NDI flips), it indicates that the data being sent is initial transmission; if the NDI value sent this time is the same as the previously sent NDI value (i.e., NDI does not flip), it indicates that the data being sent is retransmission. For example: Suppose that in a new HARQ process 0, the initial NDI value is 0. When the sender transmits a new TB0 to the receiver in process 0, it sends an NDI value of 0 to the receiver via the DCI information.

[0111] For example, using the NDI flipping mechanism to transmit data, suppose that in a certain HARQ process, the initial NDI value is 0. When the sender transmits a new TB 1 to the receiver in this HARQ process, the NDI value sent to the receiver is 0. If TB 1 is successfully received, the receiver sends an ACK. After receiving the ACK, the sender sends a new TB (such as TB 2) to the receiver in HARQ process 0, at which time the NDI value is flipped to 1 and sent to the receiver. The receiver, based on the NDI value of 1, determines that this transmission is the first transmission. If TB 2 is not successfully received, the receiver sends a NACK. After receiving the NACK, the sender determines that TB 2 needs to be retransmitted. When the sender retransmits TB 2, the NDI value sent to the receiver remains unchanged at 1. The receiver, based on the NDI value of 1, determines that this transmission is a retransmission; and so on.

[0112] 4. Downlink HARQ transmission and uplink HARQ transmission:

[0113] During downlink transmission, the network device sends data to the terminal device, and the terminal device can send HARQ feedback to the network device to indicate whether the data was successfully received. Specifically, if the terminal device successfully receives the data, it sends an ACK to the network device; if the terminal device fails to receive the data, it sends a NACK to the network device. The network device determines whether to retransmit the data based on the ACK or NACK.

[0114] During uplink transmission, the terminal device sends data to the network device, and the network device does not need to send ACK or NACK feedback to the terminal device. Specifically, after the network device schedules uplink transmission through DCI, the terminal device sends data to the network device based on DCI; if the network device successfully receives the data, the network device directly schedules the new data transmission; the terminal device sends the new data after receiving the new transmission instruction, and retransmits the data if it receives the retransmission instruction.

[0115] 5. Retransmission based on code block group CBG;

[0116] In NR systems, data transmission rates can reach the gigabit per second (Gbit / s) level, and a terabyte (TB) can contain multiple code blocks (CBs). If HARQ feedback is performed based on a TB, a decoding error in that TB will cause the entire TB to be retransmitted. In reality, the entire TB may only have a few CB decoding errors. When the TB is large, retransmitting the entire TB results in low resource utilization and significant resource waste.

[0117] Therefore, the standard defines CBG-based retransmission, which groups multiple CBs into a single CBG and performs feedback based on each CBG. During retransmission, only the erroneous CBG is retransmitted. Compared to retransmitting the entire TB, CBG-based retransmission reduces resource consumption. Compared to feeding back feedback on each CB, CBG-based feedback reduces signaling overhead. Currently, depending on the number of CBs in the initial transmission, the TB can be divided into 2, 4, 6, or 8 CBGs, and this is indicated to the UE via the higher-layer signaling parameter `maxCodeBlockGroupsPerTransportBlock`. Once the CBGs are divided, the mapping relationship between each CBG and the CB is fixed and remains unchanged even after multiple retransmissions, thus ensuring the accuracy of the retransmitted information.

[0118] Figure 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of CBG retransmission. As shown in Figure 3, one TB is divided into four CBGs, such as CBG0, CBG1, CBG2, and CBG3. When one CB block in CBG1 is corrupted, only this CBG1 needs to be transmitted, and the other CBGs do not need to be retransmitted.

[0119] 6. HARQ codebook feedback;

[0120] Network devices can control transmission timing through the HARQ feedback timing field K1 in the DCI. The HARQ feedback timing field K1 represents the time slot offset between the UE receiving PDSCH data and the UE sending HARQ feedback information. If the UE receives PDSCH data in time slot n, then the UE will send the corresponding HARQ feedback information in time slot n+K1. Simultaneously, network devices can also schedule the HARQ feedback resource corresponding to the PDSCH transmission (i.e., the PUCCH resource indicator) and power control information on that PUCCH resource within the same DCI, i.e.:

[0121] PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator-3bits;

[0122] PUCCH resource indicator-3bits;

[0123] TPC command for scheduled PUCCH-2bits.

[0124] Figure 4 illustrates the time slot offset between downlink data and uplink feedback. As shown in Figure 4, assuming the HARQ feedback timing field K1 = 6 in the DCI sent by the network device, and the UE receives downlink data (e.g., PDSCH) in slot 0, the UE can send HARQ feedback information to the network device for the downlink data in slot 6, such as whether the downlink data was successfully received or whether the downlink data was successfully parsed.

[0125] Due to the TDD time slot allocation, the UE may need to send multiple HARQ feedbacks at the same time domain location. The HARQ codebook may contain one or more HARQ feedbacks, which may include TB-level HARQ feedbacks or CBG-level HARQ feedbacks. In carrier aggregation scenarios, it may also contain HARQ feedbacks from multiple subcarriers.

[0126] Figure 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of HARQ codebook feedback. As shown in Figure 5, for semi-static codebook feedback, taking an 8:2 time slot ratio as an example, "D" represents the downlink slot, "U" represents the uplink slot, and "S" represents the uplink / downlink coexistence slot. Assuming the UE can receive data from a maximum of 3 carriers simultaneously, and the K1 value received by the UE is configured as {1, 3, 4, 6} (K1 value is the configuration of the primary carrier in multi-carrier scenarios), then for the HARQ feedback time slot (taking slot 8 as an example), the UE can feed back HARQ information from slots 2, 4, 5, and 7 on slot 8, regardless of whether the UE receives data in these time slots. Wherein:

[0127] (1) Carrier 1 transmits and receives data based on a single TB, and data is transmitted on slot 2, slot 4, slot 5 and slot 7 (e.g. TB1, TB2, TB3 and TB4).

[0128] (2) Carrier 2 transmits and receives feedback based on TB, with a maximum of 2 TBs transmitted per time slot, and one TB (e.g., TB1) is transmitted on slot 2 and two TBs (e.g., TB2 and TB3) are transmitted on slot 5.

[0129] (3) Carrier 3 transmits and receives feedback based on CBG. Up to 4 CBGs can be transmitted in each time slot. For example, maxCodeBlockGroupsPerTransportBlock is configured as “n4”, and 4 CBGs (e.g., CBG0, CBG1, CBG2 and GG3) are transmitted in slot 2, and 2 CBGs (e.g., CBG0 and CBG1, and no data in the other two CBGs) are transmitted in slot 5.

[0130] Assuming the data on each carrier is correctly received by the UE, the HARQ information fed back by the UE on slot 8 is a sequence of bits concatenated from the feedback sequences of carrier 1 (as shown in Figure 5 ①), carrier 2 (as shown in Figure 5 ② and ③), and carrier 3 (as shown in Figure 5 ④, ⑤, ⑥, and ⑦). For example, if bit "1" indicates data transmission and bit "0" indicates no data transmission, then:

[0131] (1) The user receives only 1 TB on carrier 1, therefore the HARQ information fed back for each downlink transmission on carrier 1 is 1 bit. The feedback sequence on carrier 1 is shown in ①, where ACK represents the feedback information when data is received. For example, the feedback sequence on carrier 1 is 1111.

[0132] (2) A user can receive a maximum of 2 TBs simultaneously on carrier 2. Therefore, the HARQ information feedback for each downlink transmission on carrier 2 is 2 bits. Even if only one TB is received on slot 2, NACK can still be fed back in the bits corresponding to the TB for which no data was received. The feedback sequence on carrier 2 is shown in ② and ③, where NACK represents the feedback information when no data is received. For example, the feedback sequence on carrier 2 is 1010 0010.

[0133] (3) A user can receive a maximum of 4 CBGs simultaneously on carrier 3. Therefore, the HARQ information fed back for each downlink transmission on carrier 3 is 4 bits. Even if only 2 CBGs are received on slot 5, NACK can still be fed back on the bits corresponding to the CBGs for which no data was received. The feedback sequences on carrier 3 are shown in ④, ⑤, ⑥, and ⑦. For example, the feedback sequence on carrier 3 is 1010101010001000.

[0134] As shown in Figure 5, the Type 1 semi-static HARQ codebook feedback sequence contains 7 x 4 = 28 bits, but only 13 bits are actually valid feedback. Therefore, the disadvantage of the Type 1 semi-static codebook is that it consumes more resources, because HARQ feedback is required regardless of whether there is data transmission in the corresponding TB or CBG.

[0135] In contrast, the Type 2 HARQ codebook is a dynamic codebook, and its configuration differs from that of a semi-static codebook. Regarding dynamic codebook feedback, the UE only sends HARQ feedback information to locations where data transmission occurs. That is, the codebook size dynamically changes with the number of scheduled carriers, TBs, or CBGs. Corresponding to the scenario in Figure 5 above, the UE can send back 13 HARQ feedback messages corresponding to the ACK.

[0136] If DCI reception is normal, the dynamic codebook has a clear advantage in terms of resource consumption. However, when DCI reception is abnormal, the number of HARQ feedback messages sent by the UE may be inconsistent with the number of TBs or CBGs sent by the network device. This will result in all feedback contained in the current codebook not being received correctly.

[0137] To address this issue, the NR protocol uses the DAI field in the DCI to indicate the number of HARQ feedback messages sent by the UE. The DAI field comprises the following two parts:

[0138] (1) DAI counter (cDAI): Indicates the number of downlink scheduled transmissions of TB or CBG from the time the UE receives the DCI to the current time. The counting is performed first in the carrier dimension and then in the time dimension.

[0139] (2) Total DAI (tDAI) under carrier aggregation configuration: indicates the total number of downlink transmissions on all carriers so far.

[0140] cDAI and tDAI are both decimal, and are represented by 2-bit loopbacks, meaning that the signaling uses the decimal count value modulo 4.

[0141] Figure 6 illustrates how a network device instructs the UE to send the number of HARQ feedback messages via the downlink allocation index field in the DCI. As shown in Figure 6, the horizontal axis represents the time domain (e.g., time slots), and the vertical axis represents the frequency domain (e.g., carriers). Assuming each time slot transmits one TB, a DAI of (5, 5) indicates cDAI = 5 and tDAI = 5, meaning the current transmission is the 6th data (e.g., TB or CBG), and a total of 6 data have been transmitted so far. A DAI of (7, 7) indicates cDAI = 7 and tDAI = 7, meaning the current transmission is the 8th data, and a total of 8 data have been transmitted so far. Therefore, when packet loss occurs on carrier 1, the UE can determine from tDAI that 8 acknowledgment messages are needed, and can determine from cDAI that the 7th data has been lost.

[0142] 7. Time-domain unit and frequency-domain unit:

[0143] Data or information can be carried using time-frequency resources.

[0144] In the time domain, time-domain resources can include one or more time-domain units (or time units). A time-domain unit can be a radio frame (RF), a subframe, a slot, a mini-slot, a partial slot, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, or a collection of time-domain resources. One or more time units can be continuous or discrete in the time domain.

[0145] In the frequency domain, frequency domain resources can include one or more frequency domain units. A frequency domain unit can be a resource element (RE), a resource block (RB), a set of resource blocks (RBs), a subchannel, a resource pool, bandwidth, a bandwidth part (BWP), a carrier, a component carrier (CC), a channel, or interlaced RBs, etc.

[0146] Therefore, based on the above description of the background, it can be seen that the current feedback scheme mainly has the following two problems.

[0147] Question 1: For any downlink data, the uplink feedback resource where its corresponding feedback information is located is often indicated by the time slot offset value in the DCI that schedules the downlink data. In other words, there is a strict time correspondence between the data and the corresponding feedback resource, and this relationship is fixed at the time of data scheduling, which makes the scheduling of feedback resources very inflexible.

[0148] Question 2: Referring to Figure 7, which illustrates the time slot offset values ​​between multiple downlink data and one uplink feedback, it can be seen that when scheduling multiple downlink data, and the uplink feedback resources corresponding to their feedback information are located in the same resource, the DCI needs to indicate the time slot offset value corresponding to each of the multiple data individually. For example, it indicates K1=6 for downlink data 1, K1=5 for downlink data 2, and K1=4 for downlink data 3. This requires at least 3 bits to indicate the same feedback resource, resulting in a waste of DCI indication overhead.

[0149] In summary, to address the aforementioned technical problems, this embodiment proposes the following technical solution to improve the scheduling flexibility of HARQ feedback.

[0150] The technical solution in this embodiment will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0151] The technical solution of this embodiment can be applied to various communication systems, such as wireless fidelity (WiFi) systems, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication systems, device-to-device (D2D) communication systems, 4G such as long term evolution (LTE) systems, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, 5G such as new radio (NR) systems, and future communication systems, etc.

[0152] This embodiment will present various aspects, embodiments, or features relating to a system that may include multiple devices, components, modules, etc. It should be understood and appreciated that individual systems may include additional devices, components, modules, etc., and / or may not include all the devices, components, modules, etc. discussed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Furthermore, combinations of these approaches may also be used.

[0153] Furthermore, in this embodiment, words such as "exemplary" and "for example" are used to indicate that something is an example, illustration, or description. Any embodiment or design that is described as "exemplary" in this embodiment should not be construed as being better or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of the term "exemplary" is intended to present the concept in a concrete manner.

[0154] In this embodiment, the terms "information," "signal," "message," "channel," and "signaling" can sometimes be used interchangeably. It should be noted that, without emphasizing their distinction, their intended meanings are consistent. Similarly, "of," "corresponding (relevant)," and "corresponding" can sometimes be used interchangeably. Again, without emphasizing their distinction, their intended meanings are consistent. Furthermore, the " / " mentioned in this embodiment can be used to represent an "or" relationship. It can be understood that in this embodiment, "instruction" can include direct instruction, indirect instruction, explicit instruction, and implicit instruction. When describing an instruction as indicating A, it can be understood that the instruction carries A, directly indicates A, or indirectly indicates A.

[0155] In this embodiment, the information indicated by the instruction information is called the information to be instructed. In specific implementations, there are many ways to indicate the information to be instructed, such as, but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be instructed, such as the information to be instructed itself or its index; or indirectly indicating the information to be instructed by indicating other information, where there is a correlation between the other information and the information to be instructed; or indicating only a part of the information to be instructed, while the other parts are known or pre-agreed upon. For example, the instruction of specific information can be achieved by using a pre-agreed (e.g., protocol-defined) arrangement of various pieces of information, thereby reducing instruction overhead to some extent.

[0156] The information to be instructed can be sent as a whole or divided into multiple sub-information messages, and the sending period and / or timing of these sub-information messages can be the same or different. This embodiment does not limit the specific sending method. The sending period and / or timing of these sub-information messages can be predefined, for example, according to a protocol, or configured by the transmitting device by sending configuration information to the receiving device.

[0157] The network architecture and business scenarios described in this embodiment are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of this embodiment and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in this embodiment. As those skilled in the art will know, with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in this embodiment are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0158] To facilitate understanding of this embodiment, the communication system applicable to this embodiment will first be described in detail using the communication system shown in Figure 8 as an example. For example, Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system to which the communication method provided in this embodiment applies.

[0159] As shown in Figure 8, this communication system mainly includes network devices and terminal devices. Optionally, it may also include a core network and the Internet. (Not shown). This communication system may include at least one network device and at least one terminal device. The terminal devices are connected to the network devices wirelessly, and the network devices are connected to the core network wirelessly or via a wired connection. The core network devices and network devices can be independent physical devices, or the functions of the core network devices and the logical functions of the network devices can be integrated on the same physical device. Alternatively, a single physical device can integrate some of the functions of the core network devices and some of the functions of the network devices. Terminal devices and network devices can be interconnected via wired or wireless connections.

[0160] There can be multiple network devices, such as a first network device, a second network device, a third network device, etc. A network device can be a device with wireless transceiver capabilities, or it can be a chip or chip system located in the access network (AN) of the communication system, used to provide access services to the terminal. For example, a network device can be called a radio access network (RAN) device, specifically a next-generation mobile communication system, such as the access network device of a future communication system, such as a future communication system base station. In next-generation mobile communication systems, network devices can also have other naming conventions, all of which are covered within the scope of protection of this embodiment, and this embodiment does not impose any limitations on them. Alternatively, network equipment can also include 5G, such as a gNB in ​​a New Radio (NR) system, or one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) in a 5G base station. It can also be network nodes constituting a gNB, transmission and reception point (TRP) or transmission point (TP), or transmission measurement function (TMF), such as a central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), CU-control plane (CP), CU-user plane (UP), or radio unit (RU), RSU with base station functionality, or wired access gateway, or 5G core network elements. Alternatively, network equipment can also include: access points (APs) in Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) systems, wireless relay nodes, wireless backhaul nodes, various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations (also called small cells), relay stations, access points, wearable devices, vehicle-mounted equipment, etc.

[0161] In this network, CU and DU can be configured separately or included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). RU can be included in radio frequency equipment or radio frequency units, such as remote radio units (RRUs), active antenna units (AAUs), or remote radio heads (RRHs). It is understood that network equipment can be CU nodes, DU nodes, or a combination of CU and DU nodes. Furthermore, CUs can be classified as network equipment in the access network (RAN) or in the core network (CN); there are no restrictions on this classification.

[0162] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meaning. For example, in an ORAN system, CU can also be called O-CU (open CU), DU can also be called O-DU, CU-CP can also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP can also be called O-CU-UP, and RU can also be called O-RU. For ease of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU as examples. Any of the units among CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this embodiment can be implemented through a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of software and hardware modules.

[0163] In this embodiment, the form of the network device is not limited. The device used to implement the function of the network device can be the network device itself, or it can be a device that supports the network device in implementing the function, such as a chip system. The device can be installed in the network device or used in conjunction with the network device.

[0164] There can be one or more terminal devices, such as a first terminal device, a second terminal device, a third terminal device, etc. A terminal device can be a terminal device with transceiver capabilities, or it can be a chip or chip system installed in that terminal device. This terminal device can also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal equipment, subscriber unit, user station, mobile station (MS), mobile station, remote station, remote terminal equipment, mobile device, user terminal equipment, terminal equipment, wireless communication equipment, user agent, or user apparatus. The terminal devices in this embodiment can be mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones, tablets, wireless data cards, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless modems, handsets, laptop computers, machine-type communication (MTC) terminal devices, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, virtual reality (VR) terminal devices, augmented reality (AR) terminal devices, smart home devices (e.g., refrigerators, televisions, air conditioners, electricity meters, etc.), intelligent robots, robotic arms, workshop equipment, wireless terminal devices in autonomous driving, wireless terminal devices in industrial control, wireless terminal devices in self-driving, wireless terminal devices in remote medical care, wireless terminal devices in smart grids, wireless terminal devices in transportation safety, wireless terminal devices in smart cities, and smart homes. The terminal device in this embodiment can be a wireless terminal device (e.g., a vehicle-mounted terminal device), a roadside unit (RSU) with terminal device functionality, or an aerial device (e.g., an intelligent robot, a hot air balloon, a drone, or an airplane). The terminal device in this embodiment can also be an onboard module, onboard unit, onboard component, onboard chip, or onboard unit built into a vehicle as one or more components or units. The terminal device can also be other devices with terminal device functionality; for example, it can be a device that performs terminal device functionality in D2D communication.

[0165] This embodiment does not limit the form of the terminal device. The device used to implement the functions of the terminal device can be the terminal device itself, or it can be a device that supports the terminal device in implementing the functions, such as a chip system. The device can be installed in the terminal device or used in conjunction with the terminal device. In this embodiment, the chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete components.

[0166] In this communication system, network devices can schedule data transmission and feedback using different information to provide more flexible feedback. For example, the network device sends a first message to the terminal device, which receives the first message. This first message is used to schedule data transmission, and the data is carried in one of multiple frequency domain resource sets. The first message also includes an index associated with the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback information for the data. Then, the network device sends a second message to the terminal device, indicating the resource corresponding to the index. The terminal device receives the second message and sends the HARQ feedback resource for the data on the corresponding resource according to the second message. Therefore, this method decouples data transmission resources from data feedback resources through different information indications, eliminating the need to reserve feedback resources in advance when scheduling data, thus improving the flexibility of HARQ feedback scheduling.

[0167] For example, as shown in Figure 9, which is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system to which the communication method provided in this embodiment applies, the technical solution provided in this application can also be applied to vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, and vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication. Furthermore, the vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology supported by V2X can be extended to device-to-device (D2D) communication systems in any system (not shown in Figure 9), and can also be applied to vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication systems, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication systems, and Internet of Things (IoT) communication systems, etc.

[0168] For example, Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system to which the communication method provided in this embodiment is applicable. As shown in Figure 10, when this solution is applied to a system where terminal devices communicate directly with each other, such as V2X and D2D, the terminal devices can all be within the coverage area of ​​the network device, or all be outside the coverage area of ​​the network device, or partially within the coverage area of ​​the network device and partially outside the coverage area of ​​the network device. That is, this solution is applicable to communication scenarios with and without network coverage, and the user can choose the resources independently.

[0169] It should be noted that the network architecture and business scenarios described in this embodiment are for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of this embodiment, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in this embodiment. As those skilled in the art know, with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in this embodiment are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0170] It is understood that Figures 8-10 are simplified schematic diagrams for ease of understanding. The communication system may also include other network devices and / or other terminal devices, which are not shown in Figures 8-10.

[0171] The communication method and apparatus of this application embodiment will be further described below with reference to Figures 11-18. It is understood that this application uses network devices and terminal devices as examples of the execution subjects in the interaction illustration, but this application does not limit the execution subjects in the interaction illustration. Furthermore, the processing performed by a single execution subject can also be divided into multiple execution subjects, which can be logically and / or physically separated. For example, the processing performed by the network device can be divided into execution by at least one of CU, DU, RU, etc. The interaction flow between devices in the above-described communication system will be specifically described below through method embodiments. The communication method provided by the embodiments of this application can be applied to the above-described communication system and specifically applied to various scenarios involved in the above-described communication system, which will be described in detail below.

[0172] As shown in Figure 11, the specific process of this method is as follows:

[0173] S1101, the network device sends the first information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information from the network device.

[0174] The first information is used to schedule the transmission of the first data on multiple frequency domain resource sets. For example, the first information can be implemented using existing signaling, such as DCI, to reduce the implementation difficulty, or it can be a newly defined signaling that is decoupled from the existing signaling to make the transmission of the first information more flexible. The specific implementation is not limited.

[0175] A frequency domain resource set is a collection of multiple frequency domain resources. For example, a frequency domain resource set can be a component carrier (CC), a collection of multiple control resource sets (CORESET), a collection of multiple bandwidth parts (BWP), or a collection of frequency domain resources defined in the future, etc., without any specific restrictions. For ease of understanding, the following explanation will use a carrier as an example for the frequency domain resource set; other cases can be understood by referring to the same explanation.

[0176] The first data scheduled by the first information can be one or more. For example, a first data can refer to data carried on a downlink channel, which can be a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical reception link shared channel (PRxSCH). PRxSCH can be a physical layer data channel with functions similar to PDSCH, or a physical layer data channel newly introduced in future communication systems. Of course, future communication systems may still use PDSCH to represent the physical downlink data channel or physical reception link data channel of the terminal device; no specific limitation is imposed. Furthermore, the transmission unit of any first data can be at least one of a transport block (TB), a code block (CB), a sub-TB, or a code block group (CBG). For ease of understanding, unless otherwise specified below, the following explanation will use the example of the first information scheduling a first data, and the first data being transmitted in the form of a transport block (TB), and will not be elaborated further.

[0177] For example, the first information may indicate information about a first frequency domain resource set, which belongs to multiple frequency domain resource sets. The first data may be transmitted on at least one frequency domain resource in the first frequency domain resource set. For instance, the first information may indicate the identifier, index, or ID of a first carrier, and the first carrier may belong to multiple carriers. The information of each carrier in the multiple carriers may be predefined or configured in the terminal device, or may be indicated to the terminal device by the network device, without limitation. It is understood that the first frequency domain resource set may also be one or more frequency domain resource sets. For example, if the first information schedules multiple first data sets, assuming the first carrier includes CC1 and / or CC2, the first information may indicate that all the multiple first data sets are carried on one first carrier (such as CC1), or it may indicate that some of the first data sets are carried on one first carrier (such as CC1), and other first data sets are carried on different first carriers (such as CC2), without specific limitations.

[0178] The first information includes a first index, which is associated with the first HARQ feedback information of the first data. The first HARQ feedback information of the first data includes: an ACK message indicating successful reception of the first data and a NACK message indicating failure to receive the first data.

[0179] For example, the first index can be a virtual index, a number, or an ID.

[0180] In one possible implementation, the first index can be associated with a first HARQ-ACK codebook, and the first HARQ-ACK codebook includes at least the first HARQ feedback information of the first data. This association can be predetermined, for example, the first index is an index of the first HARQ-ACK codebook, or there is a first pre-aligned correspondence between the first index and the index of the first HARQ-ACK codebook between the terminal device and the network device. It can also be flexibly configured, for example, new information can be used to indicate the first HARQ-ACK codebook associated with the first index.

[0181] Alternatively, the first index can be associated with a resource carrying the first HARQ feedback information of the first data, such as a first resource. For example, the first index may be an index of the first resource, or there may be a second pre-aligned correspondence between the first index and the index of the first resource between the terminal device and the network device, or the correspondence between the first index and the first resource may be indicated by new information. In summary, the first index can be used to determine information about the resource associated with the first HARQ feedback information of the first data. For example, referring to Figure 12, which shows a schematic diagram of the principle of the communication method provided in this embodiment, it illustrates a possible association between data, index, and HARQ feedback resource. In this case, a first piece of information (such as DCI#1) schedules two pieces of first data (such as PDSCH#1 and PDSCH#2), and both PDSCH#1 and PDSCH#2 correspond to a first index (such as index i), which is associated with a HARQ feedback resource.

[0182] In one possible implementation, the first index can also be associated with HARQ feedback information of other data besides the first data. As can be seen from the above description, for multiple data associated with the same index, their HARQ feedback information can be located in the same HARQ-ACK codebook, or in other words, their HARQ feedback information is carried on the same first resource and sent.

[0183] It is understandable that when the first index is associated with HARQ feedback information for multiple data, only one new message is needed to indicate the same feedback resource for multiple different data. Compared with the scheme of indicating feedback resources for different data separately, it can significantly reduce the overhead of indicating feedback resources.

[0184] In one possible implementation, the first information also includes a first field. The value of the first field represents the cumulative number of {serving cell index / carrier index, PDCCH monitoring opportunity} pairs to which scheduled PDSCHs belong, up to the current PDCCH monitoring time. The values ​​of the first field are in ascending order: first serving cell index / carrier index, then PDCCH monitoring opportunity. One {serving cell index / carrier index, PDCCH monitoring opportunity} pair represents one potential PDSCH scheduling opportunity. In a dynamic HARQ codebook feedback scenario, since the terminal device only sends HARQ feedback information at locations in the codebook where data transmission exists, transmission failure will result in abnormal feedback information, and the codebook cannot be correctly received. Therefore, the first field can represent the number of times the first data has been scheduled from the time the first information is received to the current PDCCH monitoring time. Thus, the number of data currently transmitted can be determined based on the first field, and the value of the received first field can be used to determine whether data has been lost.

[0185] For example, the first information also includes a second field, the value of which represents the total number of {serving cell index / carrier index, PDCCH monitoring time} pairs to which all potentially scheduled PDSCHs belong, up to the current PDCCH monitoring time. In conjunction with the foregoing explanation, the second field can represent the total number of first data items that may be scheduled (i.e., need to send feedback information) on all frequency domain resource sets from the time the first information is received to the current PDCCH monitoring time. Therefore, in multi-carrier data scheduling (such as carrier aggregation) scenarios, the total number of data items that may be transmitted on all carriers can be determined based on the second field, thereby allowing for the determination of whether data loss has occurred by combining the received values ​​of the first and second fields. The explanations of the first and second fields can also be found in the background section on downlink allocation indexes, and will not be repeated here.

[0186] S1102, the network device sends the second information to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the second information from the network device.

[0187] The second information indicates the first resource corresponding to the first index, wherein the first resource is used to carry the first HARQ feedback information of the first data. The second information can reuse existing signaling, such as DCI, to reduce the implementation difficulty, or it can be a newly defined signaling, decoupled from the existing signaling, to make the transmission of the second information more flexible. The specific implementation is not limited.

[0188] It should be noted that the first information and the second information are different information. The first information is all or part of the first DCI, and the second information is all or part of the second DCI. In other words, the first information is carried in the first DCI, and the second information is carried in the second DCI. The formats of the first DCI and the second DCI can be different, so that the second information can be used only to indicate the first resource, saving DCI indication overhead. The formats of the first information and the second information can also be the same, thereby reducing the complexity of blind detection. No specific restrictions are imposed.

[0189] For example, the first information is all of the first DCI, and the second information is all of the second DCI. This can be understood as follows: the first information is used to schedule the transmission of the first data, and the first information includes field 1, which indicates the first index, or in other words, field 1 includes the first index. The second information includes fields 2 and 3, where field 2 indicates the first index and field 3 indicates the first resource. Optionally, the second information includes field 4, which indicates the TPC corresponding to the first index.

[0190] In one possible implementation, the second information may include a first index and an index of a first resource, or it may include a first index and an index of a first HARQ-ACK codebook, with the first HARQ-ACK codebook carried within the first resource for transmission. The resources required to transmit the first HARQ-ACK codebook may be pre-configured or defined between the network device and the terminal device, or they may be indicated to the terminal device by the network device through any information; no specific limitation is imposed.

[0191] In one possible implementation, the first resource belongs to a first frequency domain resource set. Since the first frequency domain resource set is the frequency domain resource set where the first data resides, the terminal device can send the HARQ feedback information of the received data on the frequency domain resource set where the received data resides. Alternatively, the first resource belongs to a second frequency domain resource set, such as CC2. The second frequency domain resource set is another frequency domain resource set different from the first frequency domain resource set among multiple frequency domain resource sets. For example, suppose the multiple frequency domain resource sets include CC1 and CC2, and the first data is carried on CC1. The first resource can belong to CC1 or CC2. That is to say, the terminal device can also send the HARQ feedback information of the received data on the same frequency domain resource set or across frequency domain resource sets, improving the flexibility of feedback.

[0192] In one possible implementation, the second information indicating the first resource for the first index can be the same or different. Referring to the relevant description of S1101, the same first index can be associated with HARQ feedback information for different data, and the different data can be carried on different frequency domain resource sets. For example, the second information can indicate different first resources for the same first index, and the frequency domain resource set in the first resource belongs to the frequency domain resource set where the corresponding received data is located; that is, the terminal device sends the HARQ feedback information for the received data on the frequency domain resource set where the received data is located. Alternatively, the second information can indicate the same first resource for the same first index; that is, the terminal device sends the HARQ feedback information for the received data across frequency domain resource sets. No specific limitations are imposed.

[0193] S1103, the terminal device sends the first HARQ feedback information on the first resource.

[0194] The terminal device can directly send the first HARQ feedback information on the first resource, or send the first HARQ-ACK codebook including the first HARQ feedback information on the first resource. For details, please refer to the relevant background technology mentioned above, which will not be repeated here.

[0195] In summary, in this embodiment, the network device can decouple data scheduling and feedback scheduling by associating a first index with the HARQ feedback information of the first data and indicating the first resource corresponding to the first index through second information different from the first information. This makes HARQ feedback scheduling more flexible. For example, the network device can flexibly schedule the first resource by judging the uplink resources and scheduling status, and can also avoid conflicts between uplink resources used for feedback and downlink resources used for data transmission. Furthermore, when the first index is associated with the HARQ feedback information of multiple data, only one new piece of information is needed to indicate the same feedback resource for multiple different data. Compared with the scheme of indicating feedback resources for different data separately, the overhead of indicating feedback resources can be significantly reduced.

[0196] In one possible implementation, there can be one or more first pieces of information. Multiple first pieces of information can be used to schedule different data and / or include different indexes. It is understood that the above mainly describes the case where there is only one first piece of information. The following will continue to describe the case where there are multiple first pieces of information. For ease of explanation, the following will use two first pieces of information as an example, and name one of the first pieces of information the third piece of information.

[0197] Therefore, the method may also include:

[0198] Step A: The network device sends third information. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the third information from the network device.

[0199] The third information is used to schedule the transmission of the second data on multiple frequency domain resource sets, and the second data is carried on a third frequency domain resource set; wherein, the third information includes a second index, the second index being associated with the second HARQ feedback information of the second data; and the second HARQ feedback information is sent.

[0200] It is understandable that the explanations of the third information, the second index, and the second data can still refer to the relevant content of the first information, the first index, and the first data in S1101, and will not be repeated here.

[0201] In one possible implementation, the second index is the same as the first index. That is, the terminal device can send second HARQ feedback information on the first resource associated with the first index indicated by the received second information, thus saving indication overhead.

[0202] In one possible implementation, the second index is a different index from the first index; for example, the value of the second index is different from the value of the first index. In this case, the method may further include step B: receiving fourth information, the fourth information indicating a second resource corresponding to the second index; sending second HARQ feedback information includes: sending second HARQ feedback information on the second resource.

[0203] It is understandable that the explanations of the fourth information and the second resource can still refer to the relevant content of the second information and the first resource in S1102, and will not be repeated here.

[0204] For example, when the second index is different from the first index, the second resource can be the same resource as the first resource, or in other words, the first HARQ feedback information of the first data and the second HARQ feedback information of the second data belong to the same HARQ-ACK codebook, that is, to realize the scheduling of feedback of multiple data on the same resource; for example, the second resource can also be a different resource from the first resource, which improves the flexibility of feedback scheduling.

[0205] For example, suppose there are multiple frequency domain resource sets including CC1 and CC2. First data is carried on CC1, and second data is carried on CC2. The first resource belongs to CC1. Then, the first index and the second index can be the same, such as both being index i, and the corresponding first resource belongs to CC1, as shown in Figure 13. Alternatively, the corresponding first resource can also belong to CC2, or the first resource belongs to CC1, and the second resource belongs to CC2. Or, the first index and the second index can be different, such as the first index being index i and the second index being index j, where i ≠ j. In this case, the first resource and the second resource can be the same, both belonging to CC1, or they can be different, such as the first resource belonging to CC1 and the second resource belonging to CC2, as shown in Figure 14. Only some possible implementation schemes are shown here. Based on the above, various relationships between indices and data feedback information, and / or relationships between indices and feedback resources can be arbitrarily combined, which will not be elaborated further.

[0206] In summary, please refer to Figure 15. Figure 15 shows a schematic diagram of the communication method provided in this embodiment, illustrating a possible association between data, index, codebook, and HARQ feedback resources. In this diagram, the first information (e.g., DCI#1) schedules two first data (e.g., PDSCH#1 and PDSCH#2), and both PDSCH#1 and PDSCH#2 correspond to a first index. The first index is associated with the first HARQ-ACK codebook (e.g., CB1), which is transmitted on one resource. The first information (e.g., DCI#1) schedules a second data (e.g., PDSCH#3), and both PDSCH#3 correspond to a second index. The second index is associated with the second HARQ-ACK codebook (e.g., CB2), which is transmitted on another resource.

[0207] Therefore, as shown in Figure 16, the solution of this embodiment demonstrates a possible relationship between data, indexes, codebooks, and HARQ feedback resources through the data (such as PDSCH#1 and PDSCH#2) scheduled by the first information (such as DCI#1). The first information (such as DCI#1) schedules two first data (such as PDSCH#1 and PDSCH#2), and both PDSCH#1 and PDSCH#2 correspond to a first index. The first index is associated with a first HARQ-ACK codebook (such as CB1), which is carried on one resource for transmission. The first information (such as DCI#1) schedules a second data (such as PDSCH#3), and both PDSCH#3 correspond to a second index. The second index is associated with a second HARQ-ACK codebook (such as CB2), which is carried on another resource for transmission.

[0208] In summary, in this embodiment, the network device can schedule multiple data through multiple first information, allowing data scheduled by different information to be associated with the same or different indices. Furthermore, it uses information different from the first information to indicate the resources corresponding to these indices, thus decoupling data scheduling from feedback scheduling. As shown in Figure 16, DCI#1 schedules PDSCH#1 to index 1, and DCI#2 indicates the HARQ feedback resource #1 corresponding to index 1. Similarly, DCI#1 schedules PDSCH#2 to index 2, and DCI#2 indicates the HARQ feedback resource #2 corresponding to index 1. Unlike existing DCI scheduling of PDSCH data, which uses K1 to indicate the corresponding feedback resource PUSCH, this eliminates strict time constraints, making HARQ feedback scheduling more flexible. For example, the network device can flexibly schedule the first resource by judging the uplink resources and scheduling status, and can also minimize conflicts between uplink resources used for feedback and downlink resources used for data transmission. Furthermore, for multiple data items in multiple information scheduling, if these multiple data items need to be fed back on the same resource, their corresponding indexes can be flexibly configured. Only one new message can be used to indicate the same feedback resource for multiple different data items. Compared with the scheme of indicating feedback resources for different data items separately, the overhead of indicating feedback resources can be significantly reduced.

[0209] In one possible implementation, combining the above-described S1101-S1103 and the relevant content of steps A and B, when the network device schedules multiple data, the first index can also indicate the cumulative number of data scheduled up to the time domain resource in the first time domain resource set, where the first time domain resource is the time domain resource for scheduling the first data. Alternatively, the first index can also indicate the cumulative number of HARQ feedback information bits in the data scheduled up to the time domain resource in the first time domain resource set. Or, the first index can also indicate the cumulative number of HARQ feedback information bits in the data scheduled up to the time domain resource in the first time domain resource set. The first HARQ feedback bit is located in the corresponding HARQ-ACK feedback codebook. Similarly, the second index can also indicate the cumulative number of scheduled data in the first time-domain resource set up to the second time-domain resource, where the second time-domain resource is the time-domain resource for scheduling the second data. Alternatively, the second index can also indicate the cumulative number of HARQ feedback bits in the scheduled data in the first time-domain resource set up to the time of the second time-domain resource, and the position of the first HARQ feedback bit in the scheduled data in the first time-domain resource set up to the time of the second time-domain resource in the corresponding HARQ-ACK feedback codebook.

[0210] The first time-domain resource set is a collection of multiple time-domain resources. A time-domain resource can be any of the following: a slot, an OFDM symbol, or a frame. There are no specific restrictions. Unless otherwise specified, the time-domain resources mentioned below refer to slots.

[0211] For example, if multiple data corresponding to the second HARQ-ACK codebook are scheduled in the same frequency domain resource set, the cumulative number of data scheduled up to the end of the first time domain resource can be considered only for the data in that frequency domain resource set. For example, suppose the last time domain resource for which no data has been received is slot0, and the third time domain resource is slot2. Then the first time domain resource set is a set including slot0, slot1, and slot2. And assume that the third data is scheduled on slot0, the first data is scheduled on slot1, and the second data is scheduled on slot2. At this time, the second HARQ-ACK codebook is composed of the third HARQ feedback information of the third data, the first HARQ feedback information of the first data, and the second HARQ feedback information of the second data in chronological order. Before the end of the first time domain resource, one data (i.e., the third data) has been scheduled, and two data (i.e., the third data and the first data) have been scheduled. Assuming that the index starts counting from zero, as described above, the first index index i = 1, and the second index index j = 2.

[0212] For example, if multiple data corresponding to the second HARQ-ACK codebook are scheduled in multiple frequency domain resource sets, then the cumulative number of data scheduled up to the first time domain resource or the cumulative number of feedback information bits needs to consider all data on these multiple frequency domain resource sets. For example, suppose the last time domain resource for which no data has been received is slot0, and the third time domain resource is slot2. Then the first time domain resource set is a set including slot0, slot1, and slot2. And assume that the third and fourth data are scheduled on slot0, and the third data is carried on CC1, the fourth data is carried on CC2, the first data is scheduled on slot1, and the first data can be located on CC1 or CC2, and the second data is scheduled on slot2, and the second data can be located on CC1 or CC2. At this point, the second HARQ-ACK codebook is composed of the third HARQ feedback information of the third data, the fourth HARQ feedback information of the fourth data, the first HARQ feedback information of the first data, and the second HARQ feedback information of the second data, arranged in the order of frequency domain first and then time domain. Two data items (i.e., the third data on CC1 and the fourth data on CC2) have been scheduled before the deadline for the first time domain resource. Assuming that the index starts counting from zero, based on the above description, we know that the first index index i = 2 and the second index index j = 3.

[0213] In one example, the first data can be transmitted in different transmission units. The first index is associated with the first HARQ feedback information in each unit. For example, as shown in Figure 17, let the first time-domain resource set be slot0, slot1, and slot2. Slot 0 schedules one TB of first data #1 to be transmitted, corresponding to one HARQ feedback information in the first HARQ-ACK codebook, and the index i corresponding to the first data #1 is 0. Slot 1 schedules one CBG of first data #2 to be transmitted, corresponding to three HARQ feedback information in the first HARQ-ACK codebook, and the index j corresponding to the first data #2 is 1. Slot 2 schedules one TB of first data #3 to be transmitted, corresponding to one HARQ feedback information in the first HARQ-ACK codebook, and the index m corresponding to the first data #3 is 4. The feedback information of the first data #1, the first data #2, and the first data #3 are all associated with the same codebook, that is, the same uplink resource U, and so on.

[0214] In one example, the first or second index can be represented using an X-bit loopback to save on indication overhead.

[0215] For example, assuming the first index is represented by x bits, and Td = 2^(x), then for the value of the first index, when the cumulative number of scheduled data in the first time domain resource set up to the time of the first time domain resource, or the cumulative number of HARQ feedback information bits in the scheduled data in the first time domain resource set up to the time of the first time domain resource is Y, Y is greater than or equal to 1, then the value of the first index satisfies: (Y-1)mod Td+1, where mod() represents the modulo function. For specific examples, please refer to Table 1 and Table 2.

[0216] Table 1 shows the possible values ​​for index 1 and index 2 (x = 2).

[0217] Table 2 shows the possible values ​​for index 1 (x = 1).

[0218] The values ​​for the first index, index 1, and index 2 above are merely examples for ease of understanding, and other solutions are not excluded.

[0219] As explained above, the values ​​of the first index and the second index corresponding to the same HARQ-ACK codebook may be the same or different. Therefore, by predefining a first time-domain resource set for scheduling the second HARQ-ACK codebook, it can be ensured that different indices associated with all data scheduled in the first time-domain resource set can be associated with the same HARQ-ACK codebook.

[0220] For example, the first time-domain resource set is directly indicated by the first information. For instance, the first information may directly indicate all time-domain resources included in the first time-domain resource set. For example, the first information may include a time-domain resource indication field, which directly indicates slot0, slot1, and slot2.

[0221] For example, the first time-domain resource set is determined based on all time-domain resources from the last time-domain resource for which no data was received to the third time-domain resource, where the third time-domain resource can be T as shown in Figure 17. For instance, the third time-domain resource can be determined based on the time-domain resources in the first resource set, such as subtracting t time-domain resources from time-domain resource slot#0 in the first resource, where t is related to the uplink data transmission capability of the terminal device. Another example is that the third time-domain resource can be determined based on the time-domain resource carrying the second information, such as time-domain resource slot#1 carrying the second information, or time-domain resources t times prior to time-domain resource slot#1 carrying the second information. Yet another example is that the third time-domain resource is directly indicated by the first information.

[0222] Specifically, in one example, the first index represents the cumulative number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits in the {serving cell, PDCCH detection time} of the scheduled HARQ-ACK feedback bits up to the current PDCCH monitoring time; or, the first index represents the cumulative number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits associated with the PDSCH transmission corresponding to the scheduled PDCCH monitoring time in the {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring time} or {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time}, {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time, HARQ-ACK codebook} up to the current PDCCH monitoring time.

[0223] Alternatively, the first index represents the cumulative number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits associated with the PDSCH transmission corresponding to the scheduled PDCCH monitoring time up to the current PDCCH monitoring time in the {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring time} or {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time}, {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time, HARQ-ACK codebook}.

[0224] Specifically, in one example, when the number of serving cells or carriers is greater than 1, the first index includes first index #1 and first index #2. First index #1 represents the cumulative number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits of the scheduled HARQ-ACK feedback bits in their respective {serving cell, PDCCH detection time} up to the current PDCCH monitoring time.

[0225] Alternatively, the first index #1 represents the cumulative number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits associated with the PDSCH transmission corresponding to the scheduled PDCCH monitoring time up to the current PDCCH monitoring time in the relevant {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring time} or {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time}, {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time, HARQ-ACK codebook}.

[0226] The first index #2 represents the total number of all HARQ-ACK information bits in the {serving cell, PDCCH detection time} of all potentially scheduled HARQ-ACK feedback bits up to the current PDCCH monitoring time.

[0227] Alternatively, the first index #2 represents the total number of HARQ-ACK information bits associated with the PDSCH transmission corresponding to all possible PDCCH monitoring times up to the current PDCCH monitoring time in the {serving cell, PDCCH monitoring time} or {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time}, {carrier, PDCCH monitoring time, HARQ-ACK codebook}.

[0228] In summary, in dynamic HARQ codebook feedback scenarios, since the terminal device only sends HARQ feedback information at locations in the codebook where data transmission exists, transmission failure will result in abnormal feedback information, and the codebook cannot be received correctly. Therefore, the first index (or first index #1) can represent the number of times the first data has been scheduled from the time the first information is received to the current PDCCH monitoring time. Thus, based on the first index (or first index #1), the current amount of data transmitted can be determined, and the value of the received first index (or first index #1) can be used to determine whether data has been lost. Furthermore, in multi-carrier data scheduling, such as carrier aggregation scenarios, the first index #2 can represent the total number of first data that may be scheduled (i.e., need to send feedback information) on all carriers from the time the first information is received to the current PDCCH monitoring time. Therefore, based on the first index #2, the total amount of data that may be transmitted on all carriers can be determined, and by combining the received first index #1 and first index #2, it can be determined whether data has been lost, or in multi-carrier scenarios.

[0229] In one possible implementation, after step S1101, the terminal device can also directly determine the associated first resource based on the first index.

[0230] For example, the first resource is predefined or preconfigured. Predefinition can include pre-defined features, such as protocol definitions, and pre-configuration can be achieved by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables, functions, text, strings, or other means that can be used to indicate relevant information (e.g., the first resource) in network devices and / or terminal devices. This application does not limit the specific implementation method.

[0231] Example 1: A terminal device can determine a first resource from a predefined or preconfigured resource pool by using a first index indicated by a network device. That is, the first resource associated with the first index is preconfigured. This implementation method can be considered as the terminal device using a resource pool independently.

[0232] For example, when the first index indicates the first resource, the number of bits occupied by the first index is log2M, where M represents the number of predefined or preconfigured feedback resources, the first resource belongs to M feedback resources, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 2. For example, M=8 indicates that the resource pool contains 8 resources (e.g., resources 1 to 8 corresponding to indices 1 to 8), and the number of bits occupied by the first index is 3. If the first index is "000", it means that the first resource is resource 1 associated with index 1; if the first index is "001", it means that the first resource is resource 2 associated with index 2; and so on. If the first index is "111", it means that the first resource is resource 8 associated with index 8.

[0233] Example 2: A terminal device can determine the first resource from a predefined or pre-configured resource pool by using the first index indicated by the network device and the radio network temporary identifier (RNTI). That is, the first resource associated with the first index is pre-configured. This implementation can be understood as multiple terminal devices sharing the same resource pool, where the RNTI is used to avoid resource selection conflicts between multiple terminal devices.

[0234] For example, when the first index indicates the first HARQ-ACK codebook, the index of the first resource corresponding to the first HARQ-ACK codebook is: (p+q)%R, where p represents the first index, q represents the RNTI of the terminal device, R represents the number of predefined or preconfigured feedback resources, the first resource belongs to R feedback resources, and the R feedback resources can belong to a predefined or preconfigured resource pool, where p and q are both integers greater than or equal to 1, and R is an integer greater than or equal to 2. Optionally, the sizes of the R feedback resources in the resource pool can be the same or different, without limitation. For example, R=8 indicates that the resource pool contains 8 resources (e.g., indices 1 to 8), assuming that UE1 and UE2 are both associated with the first index, such as index i="1", i.e., p=1. If RNTI=1 for UE1, i.e. q=1, then the resource number of the first resource of UE1 is “(1+1)%8=2”; if RNTI=2 for UE2, i.e. q=2, then the resource number of the first resource of UE2 is “(1+2)%8=3”.

[0235] As an example, as shown in Figure 18, assume that the resource pool starts with time slot x and occurs in period T. The resource pool includes 8 resources (e.g., resources 1 to 8 corresponding to indices 1 to 8). For the terminal device, assuming that the first index carried in the first information sent by the network device is index 2, the terminal device determines the resource 2 corresponding to index 2 from the resource pool, and then subsequently sends the first HARQ feedback result to the network device on resource 2.

[0236] In this implementation, since the HARQ feedback resource pool is semi-statically configured, a strict timing control relationship still exists between PDSCH transmission and uplink feedback. That is, when the first index is carried in the first or third information, the terminal device can determine the corresponding HARQ feedback resource based on the first index; or, the terminal device can determine the specific location of the HARQ feedback resource for uplink feedback based on the received first index. However, for multiple PDSCH transmissions, there is no need to repeatedly indicate the same HARQ feedback resource, thus effectively saving DCI overhead and improving transmission performance.

[0237] The communication method provided by the embodiments of this application has been described in detail above with reference to Figures 11-18. The communication apparatus used to perform the communication method provided by the embodiments of this application is described in detail below with reference to Figures 19-20.

[0238] Figure 19 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Exemplarily, as shown in Figure 19, the communication device 1900 includes a transceiver module 1901 and a processing module 1902. For ease of explanation, Figure 19 only shows the main components of the communication device.

[0239] The communication device 1900 can be applied to the communication methods of Figures 11-18 above to realize the corresponding functions. For example, the transceiver module 1901 can be used to implement the transceiver function in the communication methods of Figures 11-18 above, and the processing module 1902 can be used to implement other functions in the communication methods of Figures 11-18 above besides the transceiver function.

[0240] Optionally, the transceiver module 1901 may include a transmitting module (not shown in FIG. 19) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG. 19). The transmitting module is used to implement the transmitting function of the communication device 1900, and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1900.

[0241] Optionally, the communication device 1900 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG19) that stores programs or instructions. When the processing module 1902 executes the program or instructions, the communication device 1900 can perform the functions in the methods shown in FIG11-FIG18.

[0242] It is understood that the communication device 1900 may be a network device, or a chip (system) or other component or assembly that can be set in the network device, or a device that includes the network device. This application does not limit this.

[0243] Furthermore, the technical effects of the communication device 1900 can be referenced by the technical effects of the communication method described above, and will not be repeated here.

[0244] Figure 20 is a second schematic diagram of the structure of the communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Exemplarily, the communication device can be a terminal, or a chip (system) or other component or assembly that can be disposed in the terminal. As shown in Figure 20, the communication device 2000 may include a processor 2001. Optionally, the communication device 2000 may further include a memory 2002 and / or a transceiver 2003. The processor 2001 is coupled to the memory 2002 and the transceiver 2003, for example, they can be connected via a communication bus.

[0245] The following is a detailed description of the various components of the communication device 2000, with reference to Figure 20:

[0246] The processor 2001 is the control center of the communication device 2000. It can be a single processor or a collective term for multiple processing elements. For example, the processor 2001 can be one or more central processing units (CPUs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of this application, such as one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), or one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

[0247] Optionally, the processor 2001 can perform various functions of the communication device 2000 by running or executing software programs stored in the memory 2002 and calling data stored in the memory 2002, such as performing the communication methods shown in Figures 11-18 above.

[0248] In a specific implementation, as one example, processor 2001 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 shown in FIG20.

[0249] In a specific implementation, as one embodiment, the communication device 2000 may also include multiple processors, such as processors 2001 and 2004 shown in FIG. 20. Each of these processors may be a single-core processor (single-CPU) or a multi-core processor (multi-CPU). Here, a processor may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0250] The memory 2002 is used to store the software program that executes the solution of this application, and is controlled by the processor 2001 to execute it. The specific implementation method can be referred to the above method embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

[0251] Optionally, the memory 2002 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device capable of storing static information and instructions, random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device capable of storing information and instructions, or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compressed optical discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital universal optical discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium capable of carrying or storing desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and accessible by a computer, but not limited thereto. The memory 2002 may be integrated with the processor 2001 or may exist independently and be coupled to the processor 2001 through the interface circuit of the communication device 2000 (not shown in FIG. 20). This application embodiment does not specifically limit this.

[0252] Transceiver 2003 is used for communication with other communication devices. For example, if communication device 2000 is a terminal, transceiver 2003 can be used to communicate with a network device or with another terminal device. As another example, if communication device 2000 is a network device, transceiver 2003 can be used to communicate with a terminal or with another network device.

[0253] Optionally, transceiver 2003 may include a receiver and a transmitter (not shown separately in Figure 20). The receiver is used to implement the receiving function, and the transmitter is used to implement the transmitting function.

[0254] Optionally, the transceiver 2003 can be integrated with the processor 2001 or exist independently and be coupled to the processor 2001 through the interface circuit of the communication device 2000 (not shown in FIG20). This application embodiment does not specifically limit this.

[0255] It is understood that the structure of the communication device 2000 shown in Figure 20 does not constitute a limitation on the communication device. Actual communication devices may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or have different component arrangements.

[0256] Furthermore, the technical effects of the communication device 2000 can be referred to the technical effects of the methods described in the above method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0257] It should be understood that the processor in the embodiments of this application can be a central processing unit (CPU), or it can 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 can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0258] It should also be understood that the memory in the embodiments of this application can be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. The volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of random access memory (RAM) are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous DRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous DRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous linked DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0259] The above embodiments can be implemented, in whole or in part, by software, hardware (such as circuits), firmware, or any other combination thereof. When implemented using software, the above embodiments can be implemented, in whole or in part, in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions or computer programs. When the computer instructions or computer programs are loaded or executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more sets of available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium. A semiconductor medium can be a solid-state drive.

[0260] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of this application, the order of the above-mentioned processes does not imply the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0261] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0262] Those skilled in the art will understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0263] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between apparatuses or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0264] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0265] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit.

[0266] If the aforementioned functions are implemented as software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they 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 portion of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0267] It should be understood that the term "and / or" in this article is merely a description of the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A alone, A and B simultaneously, or B alone. A and B can be singular or plural. Additionally, the character " / " in this article generally indicates an "or" relationship between the preceding and following related objects, but it can also represent an "and / or" relationship. Please refer to the context for a more accurate understanding.

[0268] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more than one" means two or more. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or multiple items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0269] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of this application, the order of the above-mentioned processes does not imply the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0270] In this application, descriptions such as "when," "under the circumstances," "if," and "if" all refer to the device taking corresponding actions under certain objective circumstances. They are not time limits, nor do they require the device to perform a judgment action during implementation, nor do they imply any other limitations.

[0271] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0272] Those skilled in the art will understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0273] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between apparatuses or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0274] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0275] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit.

[0276] If the aforementioned functions are implemented as software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they 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 portion of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0277] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, The method, which applies to a terminal device or a chip in a terminal device, includes: Receive first information, the first information being used to schedule the transmission of first data on multiple frequency domain resource sets, the first data being carried on a first frequency domain resource set; wherein, the first information includes a first index, the first index being associated with first Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback information of the first data; Receive second information, the second information indicating a first resource corresponding to the first index; Send the first HARQ feedback information on the first resource.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first resource belongs to the first frequency domain resource set, or the first resource belongs to the second frequency domain resource set, and the second frequency domain resource set belongs to the plurality of frequency domain resource sets.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first index is also associated with a first hybrid automatic repeat request response message (HARQ-ACK) codebook, which includes at least the first HARQ feedback information.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive third information, the third information being used to schedule the transmission of second data on the plurality of frequency domain resource sets, the second data being carried on the third frequency domain resource set; wherein, the third information includes the second index, the second index being associated with the second HARQ feedback information of the second data; Send the second HARQ feedback information.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The second index is the same as the first index, and sending the second HARQ feedback information includes: Send the second HARQ feedback information on the first resource.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that, Both the first index and the second index are associated with a second HARQ-ACK codebook, which includes HARQ feedback information for multiple data, including the first data and the second data.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The first index indicates the cumulative number of data that has been scheduled up to the time domain resource in the first time domain resource set, where the first time domain resource is the time domain resource that schedules the first data; The second index indicates the cumulative number of data that has been scheduled up to the second time-domain resource in the first time-domain resource set; the first time-domain resource is the time-domain resource for scheduling the second data. The first time-domain resource set is used to carry multiple data corresponding to the second HARQ-ACK codebook.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The first time-domain resource set includes all time-domain resources between the last time-domain resource that has not received data and the third time-domain resource.

9. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The third time-domain resource is determined based on the time-domain resources included in the first resource.

10. A communication method, characterized in that, The method, applicable to network devices or chips used in network devices, includes: Send first information, which is used to schedule the transmission of first data on multiple frequency domain resource sets, the first data being carried on a first frequency domain resource set; wherein, the first information includes a first index, the first index being associated with the first Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback information of the first data; Send a second message, the second message indicating a first resource corresponding to the first index; Receive the first HARQ feedback information on the first resource.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The first resource belongs to the first frequency domain resource set, or the first resource belongs to the second frequency domain resource set, and the second frequency domain resource set belongs to the plurality of frequency domain resource sets.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that, The first index is associated with the first hybrid automatic repeat request response message (HARQ-ACK) codebook, and the first HARQ-ACK codebook includes at least the first HARQ feedback information.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10-11, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a third message, the third message being used to schedule the transmission of second data on the plurality of frequency domain resource sets, the second data being carried on a third frequency domain resource set; wherein, the third message includes a second index, the second index being associated with second HARQ feedback information of the second data; Receive the second HARQ feedback information.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The second index is the same as the first index, and receiving the second HARQ feedback information includes: Receive the second HARQ feedback information on the first resource.

15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that, Both the first index and the second index indicate a second HARQ-ACK codebook, which includes HARQ feedback information for multiple data, including the first data and the second data.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The first index indicates the cumulative number of data that has been scheduled up to the time domain resource in the first time domain resource set, where the first time domain resource is the time domain resource that schedules the first data; The second index indicates the cumulative number of data that has been scheduled up to the first time domain resource in the first time domain resource set, where the first time domain resource is the time domain resource for scheduling the second data; The first time-domain resource set is used to schedule multiple data corresponding to the second HARQ-ACK codebook.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The first time-domain resource set includes all time-domain resources between the last time-domain resource that has not received data and the third time-domain resource.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that, The third time-domain resource is determined based on the time unit in which the first resource is located.

19. The method according to any one of claims 1-18, characterized in that, The first information is the first downlink control information (DCI), and the second information is the second downlink control information (DCI).

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The first DCI and the second DCI have different formats.

21. The method according to any one of claims 1-18, characterized in that, The first data includes at least one of transport block TB, code block CB, sub-transport block sub-TB, or code block group CBG.

22. The method according to any one of claims 1-18, characterized in that, The frequency domain resource set is a carrier wave.

23. A communication device, characterized in that, The apparatus includes modules for implementing the method as described in any one of claims 1-22.

24. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store computer instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-22.

25. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium includes a computer program or instructions that, when executed, cause the method as described in any one of claims 1-22 to be performed.

26. A computer program product, characterized in that, It includes a computer program or instructions that, when run, cause the method as described in any one of claims 1-22 to be performed.

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