CN107113636B

CN107113636B - Method and device for determining channel quality

Info

Publication number: CN107113636B
Application number: CN201580071819.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 大卫·简-玛丽·马瑞泽; 郑娟; 夏媛; 李强
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-08-14
Filing date: 2015-08-14
Publication date: 2020-12-15
Anticipated expiration: 2035-08-14
Also published as: WO2017028045A1; CN107113636A

Abstract

The invention provides a method for determining channel quality, which is used for improving the accuracy of the channel quality measured by user equipment served by an LTE base station in a time range in which the LTE base station does not transmit data on an unauthorized frequency band. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that user equipment determines a measurement time set of a target frequency band, wherein the target frequency band is the working frequency of a target cell, and the measurement time set is a time period which is before the starting time of the target cell for sending data in the target frequency band and meets a preset condition; and the user equipment measures the wireless condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set to obtain a measurement result.

Description

Method and device for determining channel quality

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for determining channel quality.

Background

The spectrum is the basis of wireless communication, and according to the newly released FCC (chinese: Federal Communications Commission; english: Federal Communications Commission) international spectrum white paper, the unlicensed (unlicensed) frequency band resource is greater than the Licensed frequency band resource, so that LTE (Long Term Evolution) user equipment can be applied to the unlicensed frequency band, for example, LAA-LTE (chinese: Licensed-Assisted Access Long Term Evolution; english: Licensed-Assisted Access Using Long Term Evolution) system, which not only can effectively utilize the unlicensed frequency band, but also can provide more effective wireless Access and meet the growing mobile broadband service demand.

In order to ensure friendly coexistence of systems and devices communicating in unlicensed bands, in some countries and regions, such as europe and japan, a channel access mechanism of Listen Before Transmit (LBT) is introduced. The basic idea of LBT is: before each communication device transmits a signal on a certain Channel, it needs to detect whether the current Channel is idle, that is, whether it can be detected that a nearby node is occupying the Channel to transmit the signal, and this detection process is called CCA (chinese: Clear Channel Assessment; english: Clear Channel Assessment). The communication device may transmit a signal if a channel is detected as idle for a period of time; if the channel is detected to be occupied, the communication device is currently unable to transmit a signal. Based on the characteristics of LBT, data transmission of the LTE device in the unlicensed frequency band is opportunistic, i.e., discontinuous, as shown in fig. 1.

Based on the characteristics of LBT, an LTE device (assumed as an LTE base station) can use an unlicensed frequency band for data transmission only when it is determined that a channel of the unlicensed frequency band is idle. Therefore, in the time range in which the LTE base station performs data transmission in the unlicensed frequency band and the time range in which the LTE base station does not perform data transmission, the measurement results obtained by the ue served by the LTE device (assumed to be the LTE base station) for the measurement of the unlicensed frequency band are different.

In a time range in which the LTE base station does not perform data transmission in the unlicensed frequency band, a measurement result of the user equipment served by the LTE base station on the unlicensed frequency band may assist the LTE base station in performing carrier selection and discovering a hidden node. Therefore, how to ensure that the user equipment served by the LTE base station accurately measures the channel quality within the time range in which the LTE base station does not perform data transmission on the unlicensed frequency band is a problem mainly solved by the present invention.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for determining channel quality, which is used for improving the accuracy of the channel quality measured by user equipment served by an LTE base station in a time range in which the LTE base station does not transmit data in an unauthorized frequency band.

A first aspect of an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for determining channel quality, including:

the method comprises the steps that user equipment determines a measurement time set of a target frequency band, wherein the target frequency band is the working frequency of a target cell, and the measurement time set is a time period which is before the starting time of the target cell for sending data in the target frequency band and meets a preset condition;

and the user equipment measures the wireless condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set to obtain a measurement result.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the starting time is determined after the target cell is evaluated by listen before talk, LBT.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the time period that satisfies the predetermined condition is adjacent to the starting time.

With reference to the first aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the time period that satisfies the predetermined condition includes:

a time period consisting of M listening time slots and N delay times; or

A time period consisting of S listening slots; or

A time period consisting of K orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbols;

wherein M, N, S, K are all positive integers.

With reference to the first aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the time period that satisfies the predetermined condition includes:

and the time period is positioned in the time corresponding to the random backoff number, and the random backoff number is determined before the target cell starts idle channel evaluation.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the time period meeting the predetermined condition includes:

and in a time period before a first preset time interval, the first preset time interval comprises the time occupied by the channel reservation signal transmitted by the target cell in the target frequency band.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the time period meeting the predetermined condition includes:

and in a time period after a second preset time interval, the second preset time interval is the time for receiving the uplink data by the target cell.

With reference to the first aspect, any one of the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the measuring, by the user equipment, the radio condition of the target frequency band within the measurement time set includes:

and the user equipment measures the energy of the target frequency band in the measurement time set.

With reference to the first aspect, any one of the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the seventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the measuring, by the user equipment, the radio condition of the target frequency band within the measurement time set includes at least one of:

within the measurement time set, the user equipment measures the energy of the target frequency band by taking an OFDM symbol as a unit;

in the measurement time set, the user equipment measures the energy of the target frequency band by taking the interception time slot of the target cell as a unit;

and in the measurement time set, the user equipment measures the energy of the target frequency band by taking the interception time slot of the user equipment as a unit.

With reference to the first aspect, any one of the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the eighth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes:

the user equipment reports the measurement result periodically; and/or

The user equipment reports the measurement result before the starting time; and/or

And the user equipment reports the measurement result in a third preset time interval after the starting moment, wherein the third preset time interval is not more than the time required for the user equipment to report the channel state information to the target cell.

A second aspect of the embodiments of the present invention provides a method for determining channel quality, including:

the method comprises the steps that an indication message is sent to user equipment by a target cell, the indication message indicates a measurement time set of a target frequency band, the target frequency band is a working frequency of the target cell, and the measurement time set is a time period which is before a starting moment of sending data by the target cell in the target frequency band and meets a preset condition, so that the user equipment measures a wireless condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set, and a measurement result is obtained.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

the target cell carries out Listen Before Talk (LBT) evaluation to obtain an evaluation result;

and the target cell determines the starting time according to the evaluation result.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

and the target cell determines a random backoff number, wherein the random backoff number is determined before the target cell starts idle channel evaluation, and the time period meeting the preset condition is a time period within the time corresponding to the random backoff number.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

and the target cell sends a channel reservation signal to the user equipment before the starting time, wherein the time period meeting the predetermined condition is a time period before a first predetermined time interval, and the first predetermined time interval is the time occupied by the channel reservation signal.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

and the target cell receives uplink data before the starting time, the time period meeting the preset condition is a time period after a second preset time interval, and the second preset time interval is the time for the target cell to receive the uplink data.

With reference to the second aspect, or any one of the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect to the fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

the target cell receives the measurement result reported by the user equipment;

and the target cell determines the wireless condition of the target frequency band according to the measurement result.

With reference to the fifth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

and the target cell determines whether a hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band according to the measurement result reported by the user equipment and the measurement result obtained by measuring the wireless condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set by the target cell.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the second aspect, when the target cell determines that a hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band, the method further includes:

the target cell finishes data transmission with the user equipment; or

After the starting time, the target cell shortens the data transmission time in the target frequency band.

A third aspect of the embodiments of the present invention provides an apparatus for determining channel quality, including:

the device comprises a determining unit, a measuring unit and a processing unit, wherein the determining unit is used for determining a measurement time set of a target frequency band, the target frequency band is the working frequency of a target cell, and the measurement time set is a time period which is before the starting time of the target cell for sending data in the target frequency band and meets a preset condition;

and the measuring unit is used for measuring the wireless condition of the target frequency band in the measuring time set to obtain a measuring result.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the starting time is determined after the target cell is evaluated by listen before talk, LBT.

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the time period that satisfies the predetermined condition is adjacent to the starting time.

With reference to the third aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the time period that satisfies the predetermined condition includes:

a time period consisting of M listening time slots and N delay times; or

A time period consisting of S listening slots; or

wherein M, N, S, K are all positive integers.

With reference to the third aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the time period that satisfies the predetermined condition includes:

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the time period meeting the predetermined condition includes:

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the time period that meets the predetermined condition includes:

With reference to the third aspect, or any one of the first possible implementation manner to the sixth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the measuring, by the user equipment, the radio condition of the target frequency band within the measurement time set includes:

With reference to the third aspect or any one of the first possible implementation manner to the seventh possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the measurement unit is configured to:

measuring the energy of the target frequency band by taking an OFDM symbol as a unit in the measurement time set;

measuring the energy of the target frequency band by taking the interception time slot of the target cell as a unit in the measurement time set;

and measuring the energy of the target frequency band by taking the interception time slot of the user equipment as a unit in the measurement time set.

With reference to the third aspect, or any one of the first possible implementation manner to the eighth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the apparatus further includes a reporting unit, configured to:

reporting the measurement result periodically; and/or

Reporting the measurement result before the starting time; and/or

And reporting the measurement result in a third preset time interval after the starting time, wherein the third preset time interval is not more than the time required by the user equipment to report the channel state information to the target cell.

A fourth aspect of the present invention provides an apparatus for determining channel quality, including:

a sending unit, configured to send an indication message to a user equipment, where the indication message indicates a measurement time set of a target frequency band, the target frequency band is an operating frequency of the target cell, and the measurement time set is a time period before a starting time of sending data in the target frequency band by the target cell and meeting a predetermined condition, so that the user equipment measures a radio condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set, and obtains a measurement result.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the method further includes:

the evaluation unit is used for carrying out Listen Before Talk (LBT) evaluation to obtain an evaluation result;

a first determining unit, configured to determine the starting time according to the evaluation result.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the apparatus further includes:

a second determining unit, configured to determine a random backoff number, where the random backoff number is determined before the target cell starts idle channel assessment, and the time period that meets the predetermined condition is a time period that is within a time corresponding to the random backoff number.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the sending unit is further configured to:

and sending a channel reservation signal to the user equipment before the starting time, wherein the time period meeting the predetermined condition is a time period before a first predetermined time interval, and the first predetermined time interval is the time occupied by the channel reservation signal.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the method further includes:

a first receiving unit, configured to receive uplink data before the starting time, where the time period meeting the predetermined condition is a time period after a second predetermined time interval, and the second predetermined time interval is a time when the target cell receives the uplink data.

With reference to the fourth aspect, or any one of the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect to the fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the method further includes:

a second receiving unit, configured to receive a measurement result reported by the user equipment;

and the third determining unit is used for determining the wireless condition of the target frequency band according to the measuring result.

With reference to the fifth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the method further includes:

a fourth determining unit, configured to determine whether a hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band according to a measurement result reported by the user equipment and a measurement result obtained by measuring the radio condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set by the target cell.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, when the target cell determines that a hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band, the method further includes a data transmission unit, configured to:

ending the data transmission with the user equipment; or

One or more technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present invention have at least the following technical effects or advantages:

in the embodiment of the invention, the measurement time set is a time period which is before the starting time of the target cell for sending the data in the target frequency band and meets the preset condition, so that the measurement result obtained by the user equipment measuring the wireless condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set is similar to the channel state experienced by the user equipment after the target cell sends the data to the user equipment, and the accuracy of the user equipment in measuring the channel quality can be further improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of opportunistic data transmission in an unlicensed frequency band by LAA-LTE;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of hidden nodes around a UE;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for determining channel quality according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a first diagram illustrating measurement time aggregation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a second diagram illustrating measurement time aggregation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a third diagram illustrating measurement time aggregation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a fourth exemplary diagram of measuring time sets according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is another flowchart of a method for determining channel quality according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a first module of an apparatus for determining channel quality according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a first structural diagram of an apparatus for determining channel quality according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a second module of an apparatus for determining channel quality according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for determining channel quality according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The term "and/or" herein is merely an association describing an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B, may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

First, a system to which the embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described.

The method for determining the channel quality is suitable for a wireless communication system, and is particularly suitable for an LTE system with authorized frequency band auxiliary access, namely an LAA-LTE system. The LTE system with the auxiliary access to the authorized frequency band refers to an LTE system in which the authorized frequency band and the unauthorized frequency band are used by being mixed in a CA (chinese: Carrier Aggregation) mode or a non-CA mode. One possible application scenario is:

the authorized frequency band and the unauthorized frequency band are jointly used through CA, namely, the authorized frequency band, or a carrier wave included by the authorized frequency band, or a cell working on the authorized frequency band is taken as a main cell, and the unauthorized frequency band or a carrier wave included by the unauthorized frequency band, or a cell working on the unauthorized frequency band is taken as an auxiliary cell, wherein the main cell and the auxiliary cell can be deployed in a co-site mode or in a non-co-site mode, and an ideal return path is formed between the two cells.

The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the application scenario described above, and may also be applied to other application scenarios, for example: scenario where there is no ideal backhaul path between two cells (primary and secondary), i.e.: the backhaul delay is large, which results in that coordination information cannot be transmitted between two cells quickly. Another example is: the cells working on the unlicensed frequency band are deployed independently, that is: the cell working on the unlicensed frequency band can directly provide independent access function without the assistance of the cell working on the licensed frequency band.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the licensed frequency band or the unlicensed frequency band may include one or more carriers, and the carrier aggregation performed in the licensed frequency band and the unlicensed frequency band may be: and performing carrier aggregation on one or more carriers included in the licensed frequency band and one or more carriers included in the unlicensed frequency band.

The cell in the embodiment of the present invention may be a cell corresponding to a base station, specifically, the cell may be a cell corresponding to a macro base station, and the cell may also be a small cell (small cell), where the small cell may include: urban cells (Metro cells), Micro cells (Micro cells), Pico cells (Pico cells), Femto cells (Femto cells), and the like, and the small cells have the characteristics of small coverage area and low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-rate data transmission services.

In the embodiment of the invention, the concepts of the cell and the carrier are equivalent. For example: in a CA scenario, when configuring an auxiliary carrier for a UE, the UE may simultaneously carry a carrier index of the auxiliary carrier and a Cell identity (Cell identity, Cell ID) of an auxiliary Cell operating on the auxiliary carrier, and at this time, it may be considered that the UE accesses one carrier and accesses one Cell equivalently.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the user equipment may also be referred to as a Mobile Terminal (Mobile Terminal), a Mobile user equipment, and the like, and may communicate with one or more Core Networks (CN) through a Radio Access Network (RAN), and the user equipment may be, for example, a Mobile phone or a computer having a Mobile Terminal, such as a portable, pocket, handheld, computer-embedded, or vehicle-mounted Mobile device. For example: mobile phones, intelligent terminals, multimedia devices, streaming media devices, and the like. All devices capable of performing data communication with the base station can be used as user equipment, and the user equipment can further comprise a Relay (Relay).

In the LAA-LTE system, since the geographical locations of the cell and the user equipment are different, the listening ranges of the cell and the user are also different, which brings a problem of node hiding. Specifically, in an LAA-LTE system, for example, a cell transmits downlink data to a user equipment, before data transmission, the cell needs to determine whether an unlicensed frequency band is occupied by other devices through CCA, and the CCA may be implemented through energy detection and/or signal detection. As the geographic locations of the cell and the user equipment are different, the method for determining whether the unlicensed frequency band is available through LBT may cause a problem of hiding a node, as shown in fig. 2, the node in fig. 2 may be an eNB or a Wi-Fi Access Point (AP).

In fig. 2, the CCA range of node 1 indicates that other nodes within the CCA range are detected by node 1 if they transmit signals. For example, if other nodes in the CCA range preempt the unlicensed frequency band in advance, when node 1 listens to the unlicensed frequency band, it may be determined that a node has preempted the unlicensed frequency band through energy detection and/or signal detection, and thus it may be considered that the unlicensed frequency band is already occupied. For other nodes outside the CCA range of the node 1, such as the node 2 in fig. 2, even if the node 2 occupies the unlicensed frequency band, although the node 1 can receive the Signal transmitted by the node 2, the Signal is attenuated, so that the energy value of the Signal when the Signal reaches the node 1 is lower than the energy threshold in CCA, or lower than the lowest Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) required for Signal detection, that is, even if the node 2 already occupies the unlicensed frequency band and transmits the Signal, the node 1 considers that the unlicensed frequency band is idle or not occupied by other devices when performing CCA on the unlicensed frequency band, and at this time, the node 1 also performs data transmission using the unlicensed frequency band.

Due to the limited listening range of the node 1, the node 1 and the node 2 can simultaneously transmit data by using the same unlicensed frequency band. At this time, for the ue served by node 1, as shown in fig. 2, the ue receives interference from node 2, and especially for the ue closer to node 2, the ue receives more interference from node 2. Obviously, in this case, the quality of data communication between the node 1 and the user equipment may be greatly affected.

Herein, a cell providing a data service for a user equipment is referred to as a serving cell of the user equipment, and as shown in fig. 2, if a node 1 provides a data service for a user equipment, the node 1 is a serving node of the user equipment. In order to ensure the quality of data communication between the serving cell and the user equipment, the user equipment may measure the channel quality of the unlicensed frequency band and send the measured channel quality to the serving cell. And the serving cell receives the measurement result sent by the user equipment, and judges the channel quality when the serving cell and the user equipment transmit data on the unauthorized frequency band according to the measurement result.

For how to measure the channel quality of the unlicensed frequency band by the user equipment, there are two methods in the prior art, one of which is: the ue measures channel quality using a Discovery Reference Signal (DRS) sent by the serving cell, and reports the measurement result to the serving cell or another cell performing carrier aggregation with the serving cell. For example: the serving cell transmitting the DRS is a secondary cell of the user equipment, and the other cells may be primary cells or other secondary cells, wherein the measurement result may be Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and/or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ).

However, since the transmission of the DRS also needs to follow the LBT, the transmission opportunity of the DRS cannot be guaranteed at all times, and thus, detecting a hidden node by the DRS may cause a measurement time to be long.

Another method for measuring channel quality of an unlicensed frequency band by user equipment in the prior art is as follows: in the data transmission process of the serving cell, the user equipment reports Channel State Information (CSI) to the serving cell, thereby assisting the serving cell in determining whether a hidden node exists.

However, the time interval from CSI measurement to CSI reporting is 4ms at minimum, and generally, the time for sending downlink data is limited after the serving cell preempts the data transmission opportunity in the unlicensed frequency band. If the time for the serving cell to send downlink data to the user equipment using the unlicensed frequency band is 10ms, the serving cell cannot determine the hidden node problem within the first 4ms of the 10ms, and therefore, if the serving cell schedules the user equipment with a hidden node nearby within the 4ms, the reliability of data transmission is affected, and the efficiency of the serving cell in transmitting data is also affected.

In view of the foregoing defects in the prior art, embodiments of the present invention provide a method for determining channel quality, which enables discovery of a hidden node of a ue in an LAA-LTE system in advance, thereby improving data transmission efficiency, and overcoming an influence of opportunistic transmission of DRS on hidden node discovery, for example, lengthening measurement time.

Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for determining channel quality according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method comprises the following steps:

step 101: the method comprises the steps that user equipment determines a measurement time set of a target frequency band, the target frequency band is the working frequency of a target cell, and the measurement time set is a time period which is before the starting time of the target cell for sending data in the target frequency band and meets a preset condition.

Step 102: and the user equipment measures the wireless condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set to obtain a measurement result.

The target cell may be a cell providing data service to the user equipment, that is, a serving cell in the embodiment of the present invention. Furthermore, the target cell may also be a neighboring cell that is not currently serving the user equipment, but potentially may serve the user equipment in the future. The concept of serving cell and neighbor cell is exemplified below.

Taking an LTE base station as an example, based on the carrier aggregation capability of the LTE base station, the LTE base station may simultaneously transmit signals on multiple carrier frequencies, for example, F1, F2, F3, and F4, and of course, if the four carrier frequencies belong to unlicensed frequency band resources, before the LTE base station transmits signals on the four carrier frequencies (which may correspond to target frequency bands in the embodiments of the present invention), it needs to determine whether the resources of the four carrier frequencies can be used for data transmission through LBT. As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the concepts of the carrier and the cell in the LAA-LTE system may be considered to be identical, or more generally, in the CA scenario, the concepts of the carrier and the cell may be considered to be identical, so when the LTE base station transmits a Signal using the above four carrier frequencies (or carriers), it may be considered that there are four cells belonging to the LTE base station transmitting a Signal, where the transmission Signal may include a Discovery Reference Signal (DRS).

Since the carrier aggregation capability of the user equipment is generally smaller than that of the base station, therefore, even though the LTE base station can simultaneously transmit data using four carrier frequencies, the ue served by the LTE base station can only simultaneously receive signals transmitted by cells within the carrier aggregation capability range, and assuming that the ue can simultaneously receive data transmissions of two carrier frequencies, for example, can simultaneously receive signals transmitted by cells operating at F1 and F2, in this case, the cells operating at F1 and F2 can be regarded as serving cells of the user equipment, the measurements of the user equipment on F1 and F2 may be regarded as intra-frequency measurements, the cells operating in F3 and F4 may be regarded as cells of a serving base station that are the same as the serving cell of the user equipment, and belong to neighboring cells, and the measurements of the user equipment on F3 and F4 may be regarded as inter-frequency measurements.

Of course, only the cells operating at F1 and F2 are taken as the serving cell of the ue and the cells operating at F3 and F4 are taken as the neighboring cells for example, in practical applications, it is assumed that the ue can simultaneously receive signals transmitted by the cells operating at F1 and F3 according to the data transmission of the carrier frequency that the ue can receive, and the cells operating at F1 and F3 may be the serving cells and the cells operating at F2 and F4 may be the neighboring cells.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring cell may be understood as a cell on another frequency different from the frequency where the serving cell of the user equipment is located, or may be understood as another cell having the same frequency as the frequency where the serving cell of the user equipment is located but different from the serving cell of the user equipment; the neighboring cell and the serving cell may belong to the same base station or different base stations.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the target Frequency band refers to a Frequency band resource of a signal sent by a network side device, such as an LTE base station, and may be represented by a Carrier Frequency point or a Carrier Frequency (Carrier Frequency), and may include any Carrier included in an unlicensed Frequency band or an unlicensed Frequency band, or may also include any Carrier included in an licensed Frequency band or an licensed Frequency band, where different carriers may be represented by different Frequency ranges, may also be represented by different channel numbers, or may also be represented by different Carrier frequencies, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited.

In this embodiment of the present invention, for a network side device, a target frequency band may be a frequency band in which a network device transmits DRS, and for a user equipment, the target frequency band may be a frequency band in which DRS is configured, or a frequency band in which Discovery Reference signal Measurement Timing Configuration (DMTC) is configured.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a target frequency band is used as an unlicensed frequency band for explanation. The LTE base station may transmit signals using multiple carrier frequencies, and if the multiple carrier frequencies all belong to unlicensed frequency band resources, the LTE base station may determine whether signals can be transmitted by Listening Before speaking (LBT) when the multiple carrier frequencies transmit signals. The target frequency band is the operating frequency of the target cell, for example: the working frequency of the target cell can be generally determined by frequency point information, or by frequency point information and bandwidth information, for example, the frequency point is 2GHz, and the bandwidth is 20 MHz. For the user equipment, the user equipment can determine which cell is the target cell, can also acquire the operating frequency of the target cell, and then takes the operating frequency of the target cell as the target unlicensed frequency band. Or, the network side device, for example, the LTE base station, may directly notify the user equipment of the target frequency band. In the embodiment of the present invention, a cell subordinate to the network side device, for example, the cell operating in F1-F4 mentioned in the above example, may also notify the user equipment of the target frequency band.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the user equipment may determine the starting time of the target cell for sending data in the target unlicensed frequency band by at least one of the following:

(1) and determining whether the target cell transmits data in the target unauthorized frequency band or not by a signal detection method. For example, the existence of the preamble sequence is blind detected, and it is determined whether the target cell transmits data in the target unlicensed frequency band, and if it is determined that the target cell transmits data in the target unlicensed frequency band, the start time of transmitting data in the target unlicensed frequency band may be further determined. The preamble sequence may include a sequence having a good correlation characteristic, for example, a sequence composed of Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) and/or Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS).

(2) And determining the starting time of the target unlicensed frequency band for transmitting data through signaling indication.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the starting time may be a time when the target cell really transmits data in the target unlicensed frequency band, and the starting time may also be a time when the target cell potentially transmits data in the target unlicensed frequency band.

The target cell can determine the time when the data is really transmitted through the LBT evaluation. At this time, the starting time is determined after the target cell is subjected to listen before talk LBT evaluation. At a time of potentially transmitting data, the target cell may transmit data or may not transmit data, for example, if the target cell determines, through LBT evaluation, that data can be transmitted at the time of potentially transmitting data, the target cell may transmit data on the target unlicensed frequency band starting at the time of potentially transmitting data, where the time of potentially transmitting data is a time when the target cell actually transmits data in the target unlicensed frequency band; on the other hand, if the target cell determines through LBT evaluation that data cannot be transmitted at the time of potential data transmission, the target cell does not transmit data at the time of potential data transmission, and the target cell may continue to determine the time of true data transmission through LBT evaluation.

And the target cell determines the potential data sending time according to the complexity detected by the user equipment. The selected potential data transmission time instant may reduce the number of blind detections for the user equipment, e.g. if the user equipment determines the data transmission time instant by blind detections. For example, within 1 subframe, the potential data transmission time may be located at a symbol boundary, or the potential data transmission time is a fixed OFDM symbol, because the user equipment generally detects data in units of OFDM symbols, so that the potential data transmission time is limited to the symbol boundary or the fixed OFDM symbol, which facilitates signal detection by the user equipment;

the target cell may also determine the timing of the potential data transmission from the perspective of facilitating data communication with the user equipment. Assuming that the time of potential data Transmission is within one subframe, the data Transmission length from the time of potential data Transmission to the end of the subframe is less than 1 subframe, so how to effectively use the part of the subframe for data Transmission, so that the influence of mapping for determining the Transport Block Size (TBS) and the Reference Signal (RS) on the user equipment is as small as possible, which may be one of the criteria for determining the time of potential data Transmission by the target cell.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the starting time is taken as an example of a time when data is potentially transmitted.

Referring to fig. 4, if the target cell determines the usability of the target unlicensed frequency band through LBT at the 2 nd time of potential data transmission, as shown in fig. 4, at 4 time of potential data transmission in one subframe, the target cell may transmit data from the 2 nd time of potential data transmission. At this time, the 2 nd potential data transmission time is the time when the target cell actually transmits data in the target unlicensed frequency band. Since the target cell starts to transmit data from the 2 nd potential data transmission time, the time period from the 2 nd potential data transmission time to the data transmission completion time is the time when the target cell actually transmits data in the target unlicensed frequency band.

In the embodiment of the invention, the measurement time set is a time period which is before the starting time of the target cell for sending data in the target unauthorized frequency band and meets the preset conditions, and the measurement time set is different according to different preset conditions.

In a first implementation, the set of measurement times is adjacent to the starting time instant. Namely: the time period satisfying the predetermined condition is adjacent to the starting time.

Specifically, the measurement time set is located in the listening unit which is located before and closest to the starting time of the target cell for transmitting data in the target unlicensed frequency band. The listening unit in this context may be the minimum Time unit that the target cell needs to listen to before data transmission, and may be, for example, a listening slot (which may be denoted by CCA slot), or a listening slot plus a delay Time (Defer Time). It may also be M listening slots, or a time unit consisting of M listening slots and N defer times. M, N are all positive integers. Furthermore, if the data processing capability of the UE is considered, the listening unit may also be K OFDM symbols, where K is a positive integer. The listening unit may also be a minimum detection unit required by the user equipment to detect the target unlicensed frequency band, for example, a listening slot adopted by the user equipment, or other time units, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

The concept of listening slots is further explained below: taking a base station as an example (which may also be a target cell), if the base station accesses a channel in an unlicensed frequency band, a backoff procedure of Extended CCA (ECCA) detection is followed, and before performing ECCA detection each time, the base station needs to generate a random backoff number N to be stored in a counter. The base station judges whether a channel in one CCA time slot is idle or not through CCA detection every time, if the channel is idle, the value of N in the counter is reduced by 1, and if the channel is detected to be busy, the value of N in the counter is unchanged, so that the value of N is changed along with the channel detection condition. Therefore, for the target cell, one listening slot of the target cell may be understood as one CCA slot.

Namely: the time period satisfying the predetermined condition includes:

a time period consisting of M listening time slots and N delay times; or a time period consisting of S listening slots; or a time period consisting of K orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbols, wherein M, N, S, K are all positive integers.

Optionally, the time period meeting the predetermined condition is a listening time slot adjacent to the starting time, or the time period meeting the predetermined condition is a time period consisting of a listening time slot and a delay time, the listening time slot is adjacent to the starting time, and the delay time is before the listening time slot and is adjacent to the listening time slot.

It should be noted that the above mentioned listening slot, delay time, and OFDM may also be replaced by other time units, and the time unit is a listening unit known by the network side device and the user equipment.

When the measurement time set is located in the last CCA slot that is before the starting time of the target cell for transmitting data in the target unlicensed frequency band and is closest to the starting time, if the target cell starts to transmit data at the starting time of the target cell for transmitting data in the target unlicensed frequency band, it indicates that the sensing result of the last CCA slot before the starting time of the target cell can indicate that the resources of the target unlicensed frequency band are not occupied by other devices.

Similarly, when the measurement time set is located before the starting time of the target cell for transmitting data in the target unlicensed frequency band and the last CCA slot closest to the starting time is added with a defer time, if the target cell starts to transmit data at the starting time of the target cell for transmitting data in the target unlicensed frequency band, it indicates that the sensing result of the last CCA slot and the defer time before the starting time of the target cell can indicate that the resources of the target unlicensed frequency band are not occupied by other devices.

Thus, in the measurement time set, the sensing result of the target cell to the target unlicensed frequency band indicates that the resources of the target unlicensed frequency band are not occupied by other devices, as described above, the other devices here refer to devices in the sensing range of the target cell, that is, if the other devices here perform data transmission in the target unlicensed frequency band, the target cell may determine that the target unlicensed frequency band is occupied by other devices in an energy detection and/or signal detection manner. If the measurement time set of the user equipment is limited within the range, the measurement result obtained by the user equipment in the measurement time set includes the influence of background noise, and also includes other equipment which is already carrying out data transmission in the target unauthorized frequency band but cannot be detected by the target cell, namely, a hidden node. Therefore, by comparing the measurement result of the user equipment with the interception result of the target cell within the measurement time set range, if the measurement result of the user equipment is not the same as the interception result of the target cell, the existence of the hidden node can be indicated. Further, since the measurement time set is close to the starting time of transmitting data, the measurement result is closer to the channel state experienced by the ue after the target cell transmits data.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 shows a first schematic diagram of a measurement time set. In fig. 4, assuming that there are 4 times of potential transmission of data within one subframe, there is a set of measurement times before each time of potential transmission of data, and either immediately or not immediately adjacent to the time of potential transmission of data. In fig. 4, the 1 st time of potential transmission of data is not adjacent to the measurement time set, and the rest of the time of potential transmission of data is adjacent to the measurement time set.

In a second implementation, there is a first predetermined time interval between the set of measurement times and the starting time.

Specifically, the measurement time set is located before and at a first predetermined time interval from a starting time of the target cell transmitting data in the target unlicensed frequency band. The description of the listening unit is as described above. The predetermined time interval may be determined by the network side device and notified to the user device. Optionally, the predetermined time interval is a time occupied by a channel reservation signal sent by the target cell, and the measurement time set is determined according to the time occupied by the channel reservation signal. Namely: the time period satisfying the predetermined condition includes: and in a time period before a first preset time interval, the first preset time interval comprises the time occupied by the channel reservation signal transmitted by the target cell in the target frequency band.

Specifically, the channel reservation signal is a signal transmitted before the time when the target cell preempts the target unlicensed band but actually transmits data is not reached, and the main purpose of the channel reservation signal is to help the target cell preempt the channel. As shown in fig. 4, if the target cell determines that the target unlicensed frequency band resource is available by the LBT mechanism before the time of potentially transmitting data, but since the time of potentially transmitting data has not yet arrived, in order to prevent other devices capable of operating in the target unlicensed frequency band from occupying the target unlicensed frequency band before the time of waiting for potentially transmitting data by the target cell, the target cell may transmit a channel reservation signal after determining that the target unlicensed frequency band resource is available and before the time of potentially transmitting data.

The channel reservation signal is different from the data sent by the target cell, and the data sent by the target cell mainly refers to the data that the user equipment needs to detect and/or demodulate, for example: data carried by PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel, english), data carried by EPDCCH (Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel, chinese), data carried by PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel, english), and a reference signal.

Since the test time set is a time period of a predetermined time interval from the starting time, wherein the predetermined time interval refers to the time occupied by the channel reservation signal, the test time set is not only before the starting time, but also before the time occupied by the channel reservation signal, so the test time set can be regarded as a listening unit before the time occupied by the channel reservation signal.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a second schematic diagram of a measurement time set. In fig. 5, assuming that there are 4 times of potential transmission of data within a subframe, there is a set of measurement times before each time of potential transmission of data and at a first predetermined time interval from the time of potential transmission of data, where the first predetermined time interval may be the time occupied by the channel reservation signal.

For the user equipment, since the test time set is the listening unit before the time occupied by the channel reservation signal, the user equipment can listen to the energy of the signal transmitted by other equipment in the target unlicensed frequency band. For the target cell, because the target cell inevitably occupies the target unlicensed frequency band before transmitting the channel reservation signal, the target cell can sense the idle channel in the sensing unit before the channel reservation signal. Therefore, whether the hidden node exists can be judged by comparing the interception results of the user equipment and the target cell.

For the target cell, the channel reservation signal sent by the target cell has the effect of indicating that the target unlicensed frequency band has been preempted by the target cell, but the target cell has not started to send data because the time for actually sending data has not come yet. Therefore, the measurement time set is limited to the time before the time occupied by the channel reservation signal in the time domain, and the user equipment and the target cell can be ensured to perform energy detection on the target unauthorized frequency band in the same time resource range, so that the comparability of the measurement results of the user equipment and the target cell in the target unauthorized frequency band is ensured.

And the target cell sends the channel reservation signal, which indicates that the target cell arrives at the time of waiting for actually sending data to realize data sending, so that the measurement time set is limited to be before the time occupied by the channel reservation signal, and the measurement result of the user equipment can be ensured to be close to the channel state experienced by the user equipment when the target cell occupies the target unauthorized frequency band resource and sends data, thereby being convenient for discovering the hidden node.

Further, although the time instant at which the target cell potentially transmits data on the target unlicensed frequency band may be preconfigured, the time instant at which the target cell determines that the frequency band is available on the target unlicensed frequency band through LBT is uncertain, and thus the length of the channel reservation signal may not be fixed. In order to facilitate the user equipment to determine the measurement time set, the first predetermined time interval related to the length of the channel reserving signal may be defined as a maximum length of the channel reserving signal. Further, the maximum length of the channel reservation signal is related to the time interval between two adjacent potential data transmission instants.

It should be noted that, even if the target cell sends the channel reservation signal, the ue may determine the measurement time set through the first implementation, in this case, although the sensing result of the ue on the target unlicensed frequency band includes the influence of the channel reservation signal sent by the target cell, since the target cell knows that the channel reservation signal is sent on the target unlicensed frequency band, the target cell may process the measurement result after receiving the measurement result reported by the ue, so that the measurement result does not include the influence of the channel reservation signal sent by the target cell on the measurement result.

In a third implementation, the set of measurement times is determined from a random backoff number. The measurement time set may be adjacent to the starting time or may be a predetermined time interval from the starting time. Namely: the time period satisfying the predetermined condition includes: and the time period is positioned in the time corresponding to the random backoff number, and the random backoff number is determined before the target cell starts idle channel evaluation.

First, a random backoff number will be described. If the base station follows the backoff process of the ECCA detection when accessing the channel of the unauthorized frequency band, the base station needs to generate a random backoff number N and store the random backoff number N in a counter before executing the ECCA detection each time. The base station judges whether a channel in one CCA time slot is idle or not through CCA detection every time, if the channel is idle, the value of N in the counter is reduced by 1, and if the channel is detected to be busy, the value of N in the counter is unchanged, so that the value of N is changed along with the channel detection condition. The random backoff number may be an initial value of N used by the base station in an ECCA detection procedure. For example, before the base station performs ECCA detection, if the generated random backoff number N is 50, the random backoff number is 50; the random backoff number may also be a value of N used by the base station in the ECCA detection process, for example, before the base station performs ECCA detection, the generated random backoff value N is 50, and after it is determined that 5 CCA slots are idle through channel detection for a period of time, the value of N in the counter is reduced from 50 to 45, that is, the random backoff number may be 45.

The user equipment firstly determines a random backoff number, and then takes a time resource which is located before the starting time of the target cell for sending data in the target unlicensed frequency band and is included in the time corresponding to the random backoff number as a measurement time set. Of course, the time corresponding to the random backoff number before the starting time of the target cell transmitting data in the target unlicensed frequency band may also be used as the measurement time set. Alternatively, the user equipment may directly determine the time corresponding to the random backoff number. Here, the time corresponding to the random backoff number may be determined by an optional backoff number and a listening time slot, where the listening time slot may be a listening time unit used when the target cell listens to the target unlicensed frequency band, for example, the above-mentioned one CCAslot, or may be a listening unit used when the user equipment listens to the target unlicensed frequency band, or an energy detection unit.

For example, assuming that the random backoff number is 50, a time period corresponding to the random backoff number is 50 CCA slots, and the user equipment may use any CCA slot located in 50 CCA slots before a start time of the target cell transmitting data in the target unlicensed frequency band as the measurement time set. A plurality of continuous or discontinuous CCA slots located within 50 CCA slots before the starting time of the target cell transmitting data in the target unlicensed frequency band may also be used as the measurement time set.

Further, a time period corresponding to any one or more time units in a time period corresponding to the random backoff number may be used as the measurement time set, or a time period corresponding to the random backoff number may be used as the measurement time set, that is, all time resources included in the time period corresponding to the random backoff number are used as the measurement time set. The time unit may be a CCA slot (CCA slot), may also be an OFDM symbol, and may also include the minimum detection unit required by the user equipment to detect the target unlicensed frequency band as described above.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a third type of measurement time set. In fig. 6, assuming that there are 4 times of potential transmission of data within one subframe, there are measurement time sets before each time of potential transmission of data and within a time corresponding to a random backoff number. In fig. 6, the 1 st time of potential transmission of data and the 4 th time of potential transmission of data are adjacent to the measurement time set, and the 2 nd time of potential transmission of data and the 3 rd time of potential transmission of data are not adjacent to the measurement time set. The measurement time sets adjacent to the 4 th potential data transmission time are time periods corresponding to the random backoff numbers, and the other measurement time sets are any one or more time units in the time periods corresponding to the random backoff numbers.

For a target cell, before starting Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) for a target unlicensed frequency band, the target cell needs to randomly select a random backoff number, and then listen to the target unlicensed frequency band within a time corresponding to the random backoff number to determine availability of the target unlicensed frequency band. Therefore, the measurement time set is limited in the interception time corresponding to the random backoff number in the time domain, so that the user equipment and the target cell can be ensured to perform energy detection on the target unauthorized frequency band in the same time resource range, and the comparability of the measurement results of the user equipment and the target cell in the target unauthorized frequency band is ensured.

And the target cell selects the random backoff number to monitor the target unauthorized frequency band, which indicates that the target cell has data to send, so that the measurement time set is limited in the monitoring time corresponding to the random backoff number, and the measurement result of the user equipment is ensured to be similar to the channel state experienced by the user equipment when the target cell seizes the target unauthorized frequency band resource and sends the data, thereby facilitating the discovery of hidden nodes.

In a fourth implementation, the set of measurement times is determined according to the time when the target cell receives uplink data. The set of measurement times is typically not adjacent to the starting instant. Namely: the time period satisfying the predetermined condition includes: and in a time period after a second preset time interval, the second preset time interval is the time for receiving the uplink data by the target cell.

Specifically, after the time when the target cell receives the uplink data and before the target cell transmits the data, the data that can be received by the target cell is the data transmitted by other devices in the target unlicensed frequency band. Therefore, the sensing unit after the time when the target cell receives the uplink data can be used as the measurement time set. Therefore, the user equipment measures the channel of the target unauthorized frequency band in the measurement time set, the target cell measures the channel of the target unauthorized frequency band in the measurement time set, the measurement results of the user equipment and the target cell are both data sent by other equipment on the target unauthorized frequency band, and whether the hidden node exists can be judged by comparing the measurement results of the user equipment and the target cell.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating a fourth example of measuring time sets. In fig. 7, assuming that there are 4 times of potential transmission of data within one subframe, there are measurement time sets before each time of potential transmission of data and in a time period after the time of reception of uplink data by the target cell.

After the user equipment determines the set of measurement times, step 102 may be performed. Step 102 comprises: and the user equipment measures the energy of the target frequency band in the measurement time set. Specifically, the method comprises at least one of the following steps:

Specifically, the user equipment performs interference energy measurement in the measurement time set, and the interference energy measurement may include receiving energy in a target unlicensed frequency band in the measurement time set. The ue may receive energy in the target unlicensed frequency band in units of time granularity in the measurement time set, where the time granularity may be: OFDM symbols, listening slots of the target cell or listening slots of the user equipment. Here, the interference energy measurement result may be represented by a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) (i.e. RSSI-like), and it should be noted that although the RSSI-like is used for representation, the measurement result is not obtained for the reference Signal transmitted by the target cell.

More generally, in step 102, the measuring, by the user equipment, energy of the target unlicensed frequency band in the measurement time set may further include: the user equipment performs Measurement or Detection related to physical Measurement or spectrum analysis or spectrum sensing based on the target unlicensed frequency band, such as physical layer energy Detection (energy Detection or energy Detection), covariance matrix Detection (covariance matrix Detection), Matched Filter Detection (Matched Filter Detection), Cyclostationary Feature Detection (cyclic stationary Feature Detection), spectrum sensing (eigen value based spread Detection) based on a Feature value, Received Signal Strength Indication (Received Signal Strength Indication, RSSI for short), Interference Measurement (Interference Measurement), and Thermal noise Rise (ROT for short).

After step 102 is executed, and the measurement result is obtained, the ue needs to send the measurement result to the target cell, and the target cell compares the measurement result of the target cell in the measurement time set with the measurement result reported by the ue, so as to determine whether a hidden node exists around the ue. The user equipment sends the measurement result to the target cell, and the method comprises the following steps:

the user equipment reports the measurement result periodically; and/or

Specifically, for the measurement result, the ue may report to the target cell periodically. Of course, the report may also be reported to the target cell in an event-triggered manner. For example: the user equipment may determine a starting time at which the target cell transmits data, and then transmit the measurement result to the target cell before the starting time, so that the target cell can determine whether a hidden node exists around the user equipment before transmitting the data. Here, the ue may send the measurement result to the target cell after or before one or more potential data transmission time instants, or may send the measurement result only after or before the time instant when the target cell actually sends data.

Another example is: the user equipment may determine a time when the target cell actually transmits data and then transmit the measurement result to the target cell within a third predetermined time interval after the time when the target cell actually transmits data. Optionally, the sending of the measurement result to the target cell is completed within 4 subframes after the time when the target cell really sends the data. In this way, the target cell can determine whether there is a hidden node around the user equipment within 4 subframes after the time when the data is actually transmitted. Compared with the prior art that 4 subframes are needed for reporting the channel state information to the target cell by the user equipment, the user equipment in the embodiment of the invention reports the measurement result to the target cell within 4 subframes, and reports the measurement result to the target cell in advance, so that the target cell can judge whether hidden nodes exist around the user equipment earlier.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the ue may report the measurement result to the target cell, or report the measurement result to the base station to which the target cell belongs to transmit the measurement result, or transmit the measurement result by another cell of the base station that belongs to the same base station as the target cell. For example, in a CA scenario, the indication information may be sent by a Pcell (chinese: Primary Cell; english: Primary Cell) of a base station that belongs to the same category as the target Cell, or may be sent by another Scell (chinese: Secondary Cell; english: Secondary Cell) of a base station that belongs to the same category as the target Cell.

Or, in the embodiment of the present invention, the ue may report the measurement result to the network side device, and in the embodiment of the present invention, the network side device includes an LTE base station, and in a CA scenario, the network side device may further include a Pcell and a Scell managed by the LTE base station. More generally, the network side device may further include a device capable of providing a data service for the user equipment, where the data includes data carried by a traffic data channel and/or data carried by a control data channel, and the network side device may further include a device capable of providing measurement configuration information for the user equipment.

The measurement result reported by the ue may be an average value of measurement results obtained in multiple measurement sets, or may be a measurement result obtained in a single time measurement set, which is also called an instantaneous value (one-shot measurement). In addition, when reporting the measurement result to the base station, the ue may directly report an average value or an instantaneous value of the multiple measurement results, or report an index value of the measurement result, where different index values correspond to different measurement results or different measurement result intervals, or report the measurement result in a manner higher than or lower than a preset threshold, or report the measurement result in a percentage manner, for example, according to different preset thresholds, count the proportion of energy detection results higher than different preset thresholds in all the results in a measurement time set. After receiving the measurement result, the base station may manage mobility of the UE, for example, assist the eNB in cell handover, cell selection, and the like.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the usage state of the target unlicensed frequency band in the measurement time set by the target cell is an unused state, where the unused state includes that the target cell does not occupy a data transmission opportunity of the first target frequency band due to LBT and the like, and thus cannot transmit data using the first target frequency band. The data includes signals and/or data transmitted using a channel. Optionally, the target cell may also send only the channel occupying signal and not send other signals and/or data sent by using the channel in the measurement time set.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present invention, a resource utilized by the ue to obtain the measurement result may be referred to as a measurement resource, where the measurement resource includes a time resource and a frequency resource, where the time resource is in the measurement time set, that is, the time resource may be all or part of the time resources included in the measurement set, where the part of the time resources may be continuous or discontinuous. The embodiment of the present invention does not limit the frequency resources, that is, all the frequency resources of the target unlicensed frequency band included in the time resources may be used, or a part of the frequency resources may be used.

The method for determining the channel quality for the user equipment mainly explains how the measurement time set is determined, and then the user equipment measures the radio conditions of the target unlicensed frequency band in the measurement time set to obtain the measurement result. One possible method for how to determine the set of measurement times is: the target cell indicates which time period the user equipment is the measurement time set. It should be noted that, the target cell may also be replaced by a network side device, that is, the network side device may instruct the user equipment to measure the time set. In the embodiment of the present invention, a target cell is taken as an example for description. Therefore, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for measuring channel quality, as shown in fig. 8, including:

step 201: the method comprises the steps that an indication message is sent to user equipment by a target cell, the indication message indicates a measurement time set of a target frequency band, the target frequency band is a working frequency of the target cell, and the measurement time set is a time period which is before a starting moment of sending data by the target cell in the target frequency band and meets a preset condition, so that the user equipment measures a wireless condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set, and a measurement result is obtained.

For the description of the target cell, the target frequency band, the start time, and the measurement time set, please refer to the foregoing, which is not repeated herein.

Here, the indication information may be transmitted by the base station to which the target cell belongs, or may be transmitted by another cell belonging to the same base station as the target cell. For example, in a CA scenario, the indication information may be sent by a Pcell of the same base station as the target cell, or may be sent by other scells of the same base station as the target cell.

The measurement time set may be determined by the target cell or may be specified by a standard protocol. For the target cell, the target cell may directly configure the measurement time set to the user equipment, and then the user equipment measures the radio conditions of the target unlicensed frequency band in the measurement time set, and obtains and reports the measurement result to the target cell.

One way for the target cell to configure the measurement time set to the user equipment is: and sending an indication message to the user equipment, wherein the indication message carries the measurement time set, so that the user equipment measures the wireless condition of the target unauthorized frequency band in the measurement time set, and obtains and reports the measurement result to the target cell, and thus, the user equipment only needs to execute according to the indication information. The user equipment does not need to determine the measurement time set by itself.

As mentioned in the foregoing, the starting time may be a time when the target cell really transmits data in the target unlicensed frequency band, and the target cell determines the starting time through listen-before-talk LBT evaluation, and therefore, the method further includes: the target cell carries out Listen Before Talk (LBT) evaluation to obtain an evaluation result; and the target cell determines the starting time according to the evaluation result. How to determine the starting time of the specific target cell according to the LBT evaluation has been described above, and is not described herein again.

It is also stated in the foregoing that the set of measurement times is determined based on a random backoff number generated by the target cell, and therefore the method further comprises: and the target cell determines a random backoff number, wherein the random backoff number is determined before the target cell starts idle channel evaluation, and the time period meeting the preset condition is a time period within the time corresponding to the random backoff number. How to determine the random backoff number in the specific target cell is already described in the foregoing, and is not described herein again.

Furthermore, as also stated in the foregoing, the set of measurement times is determined based on a channel reservation signal, and therefore, the method further comprises: and the target cell sends a channel reservation signal to the user equipment before the starting time, wherein the time period meeting the predetermined condition is a time period before a first predetermined time interval, and the first predetermined time interval is the time occupied by the channel reservation signal. For the description of the target cell transmitting the channel reservation signal, reference may be made to the foregoing description, and details are not repeated herein.

Furthermore, as mentioned in the foregoing, the measurement time set is determined according to the time when the target cell receives uplink data, and therefore, the method further includes: and the target cell receives uplink data before the starting time, the time period meeting the preset condition is a time period after a second preset time interval, and the second preset time interval is the time for the target cell to receive the uplink data. For the description of the target cell receiving uplink data, please refer to the foregoing, and the description thereof is omitted here.

It has been described in the foregoing that the measurement result of the user equipment may assist the target cell in determining whether a hidden node exists around the user equipment, which is to say that the target cell also measures the radio condition of the target unlicensed frequency band in the measurement time set to obtain the measurement result. The measurement result of the target cell measured by itself is compared with the measurement result reported by the user equipment, and whether the hidden node exists around the user equipment can be determined. Therefore, after the target cell sends the indication information to the user equipment, since the indication information indicates the user equipment to report the measurement result to the target cell, the following steps may also be performed:

the target cell receives the measurement result reported by the user equipment;

the target cell determines, according to the measurement result, a radio condition of the target frequency band, where the radio condition may include a channel state of the target frequency band obtained by the user equipment based on physical measurement, spectrum analysis, spectrum sensing, or other related measurement or detection of the target unlicensed frequency band, where the measurement or detection may include: such as physical layer energy Detection (energy sensing or energy Detection), covariance matrix Detection (covariance matrix Detection), Matched Filter Detection (Matched Filter Detection), Cyclostationary Feature Detection (Cyclostationary Feature Detection), eigenvalue based spectrum sensing (eigenvalue based spread sensing), Received Signal Strength Indication (Received Signal Strength Indication, RSSI), Interference Measurement (Interference Measurement), Thermal noise Rise (Rise Over Thermal, ROT), etc.

It should be noted that, here, other network-side devices may also receive the measurement result reported by the user equipment. The network side device is as described above, and will not be described herein. That is, in addition to the target cell receiving the measurement result reported by the user, the target cell may also receive the measurement result from the base station to which the target cell belongs, or may also receive the measurement result from another cell of the same base station to which the target cell belongs.

Specifically, since the indication information sent by the target cell to the ue indicates the measurement time set, the ue may determine the measurement time set according to the indication information, measure the radio condition of the target unlicensed frequency band in the measurement time set, obtain the measurement result, and report the measurement result to the target cell, so that the target cell receives the measurement result reported by the ue.

The target cell may determine a radio condition of a target frequency band according to a measurement result reported by the user equipment, where the radio condition may include a channel state of the target frequency band obtained by the user equipment based on physical measurement, spectrum analysis, spectrum sensing, or other related measurement or detection of the target unlicensed frequency band, and the measurement or detection may include: such as physical layer energy Detection (energy sensing or energy Detection), covariance matrix Detection (covariance matrix Detection), Matched Filter Detection (Matched Filter Detection), Cyclostationary Feature Detection (Cyclostationary Feature Detection), eigenvalue based spectrum sensing (eigenvalue based spread sensing), Received Signal Strength Indication (Received Signal Strength Indication, RSSI), Interference Measurement (Interference Measurement), Thermal noise Rise (Rise Over Thermal, ROT), etc.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the case that the radio condition is interference measurement is taken as an example for explanation, that is, both the target cell and the user equipment measure and obtain energy information on the target unlicensed frequency band in the measurement time set, which may also be referred to as RSSI-like information.

In the embodiment of the invention, the measurement result reported by the user equipment to the target cell can assist the target cell to determine the hidden node of the user equipment.

One method for determining a hidden node of a user equipment by a target cell is as follows: and the target cell determines whether a hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band according to the measurement result reported by the user equipment and the measurement result obtained by measuring the wireless condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set by the target cell.

The target cell receives the measurement result reported by the user equipment, measures the radio condition of the target unlicensed frequency band in the measurement time set, and obtains a measurement result. And then comparing the measurement result obtained by the target cell with the measurement result reported by the user equipment, and further determining the hidden node of the user equipment.

If the difference between the two measurement results is relatively large, it indicates that the sensing ranges of the target cell and the user equipment are different, so that the target cell can determine that hidden nodes exist around the user equipment. Otherwise, it can be determined that there is no hidden node.

Another method for determining a hidden node of a user equipment by a target cell is as follows: the target cell may also directly utilize the measurement result of the user equipment to compare with a specific energy threshold, for example, the specific energy threshold may be an energy detection threshold or a signal detection threshold that the target cell determines whether the target unlicensed frequency band may use. For example, if the measurement result sent by the user equipment is higher than the specific energy threshold, and meanwhile, the serving cell is in the measurement time set, and if it is determined that the target frequency band can be occupied in the measurement time set, it indicates that the energy threshold detected by the serving cell in the measurement time set is lower than the specific energy threshold, so the network side device may determine whether a hidden node exists for the user equipment on the target frequency band for the serving cell according to a comparison result between the measurement result sent by the user equipment and the specific energy threshold. The specific energy threshold may be a CCA threshold.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the target cell determines that the hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band, the method further includes: the target cell finishes data transmission with the user equipment; or after the starting time, the target cell shortens the time of data transmission in the target frequency band.

Specifically, if the target cell determines that hidden nodes exist around the user equipment and signals transmitted from the hidden nodes to the user equipment interfere with signals transmitted from the target cell to the user equipment, the target cell may end data transmission with the user equipment, and then re-determine a time point at which data is transmitted to the user equipment and transmit data to the user equipment at other time points in order to improve data communication quality between the target cell and the user equipment. Or the target cell can shorten the time of data transmission between the target cell and the user equipment, and reduce the interference time of the signal sent to the user equipment by the hidden node to the signal sent to the user equipment by the target cell as far as possible. In addition, the target cell may also shorten the data transmission time in the target unlicensed frequency band, so that data transmission potentially sent by the hidden node may be protected, that is, the efficiency of data transmission of the hidden node may be protected.

In the embodiment of the invention, the measurement result reported by the user equipment to the target cell can also assist the target cell to select the carrier.

Since the measurement time set is mainly located in a time interval when the target cell does not transmit data, when the user equipment performs energy measurement on the target frequency band, the obtained measurement result does not include the influence of the target cell on transmitting signals, and thus the measurement result can reflect the load condition of the target frequency band. For example, if the energy result reflects a smaller energy value, it indicates that the target frequency band is lightly loaded; otherwise, the target frequency band is indicated to be heavier in load. The target cell or the network side device can be assisted to select the target frequency band with lighter load as the working frequency according to the load condition of the target frequency band reflected by the measurement result, so that the data transmission efficiency is improved.

In the embodiment of the invention, the measurement time set is a time period which is before the starting time of the target cell for sending data in the target unauthorized frequency band and meets the preset conditions, so that the measurement results respectively obtained by the user equipment and the target cell by measuring the wireless conditions of the target unauthorized frequency band in the measurement time set are similar to the channel state experienced by the user equipment after the target cell sends data to the user equipment, the accuracy of the target cell for determining the hidden node can be further improved, and the defect that the target cell can determine the hidden node for a long time or can determine the hidden node after the time of actually sending data in the prior art is overcome.

Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiment of the invention provides a device for determining the channel quality.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a first module of an apparatus for determining channel quality according to an embodiment of the present invention. The meaning and specific implementation of the terms involved in the apparatus for determining channel quality shown in fig. 9 may refer to the foregoing fig. 1 to fig. 8 and the related description of the embodiments. The apparatus may be a user equipment as described above, the apparatus comprising: a determination unit 301 and a measurement unit 302.

A determining unit 301, configured to determine a measurement time set of a target frequency band, where the target frequency band is an operating frequency of a target cell, and the measurement time set is a time period that is before an initial time of sending data in the target frequency band and meets a predetermined condition by the target cell;

a measuring unit 302, configured to measure the radio condition of the target frequency band within the measurement time set, and obtain a measurement result.

Optionally, the starting time is determined after the target cell is subjected to listen before talk LBT evaluation.

Optionally, the time period satisfying the predetermined condition is adjacent to the starting time.

Optionally, the time period meeting the predetermined condition includes:

a time period consisting of M listening time slots and N delay times; or

A time period consisting of S listening slots; or

wherein M, N, S, K are all positive integers.

Optionally, the time period meeting the predetermined condition includes:

Optionally, the measuring, by the user equipment, the radio condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set includes:

Optionally, the measurement unit is configured to at least one of:

Optionally, the apparatus further includes a reporting unit, configured to:

reporting the measurement result periodically; and/or

Reporting the measurement result before the starting time; and/or

Various changes and specific examples in the method for determining channel quality in the foregoing embodiment of fig. 3 are also applicable to the apparatus for determining channel quality in this embodiment, and a person skilled in the art can clearly know the implementation method of the apparatus for determining channel quality in this embodiment through the foregoing detailed description of the method for determining channel quality, so for the brevity of the description, detailed descriptions are omitted here.

Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a first structural diagram of an apparatus for determining channel quality according to an embodiment of the present invention. The meaning and specific implementation of the terms referred to by the apparatus for determining channel quality shown in fig. 10 can refer to the foregoing fig. 1 to fig. 8 and the related description of the embodiments. The apparatus for determining channel quality may be the user equipment as described above, and the apparatus includes: transmitter 1001, processor 1002, memory 1003.

A processor 1002, configured to determine a measurement time set of a target frequency band, where the target frequency band is an operating frequency of a target cell, and the measurement time set is a time period before an initial time of sending data in the target frequency band by the target cell and meeting a predetermined condition; and the wireless condition measuring device is also used for measuring the wireless condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set to obtain a measurement result.

Optionally, the time period meeting the predetermined condition includes:

a time period consisting of M listening time slots and N delay times; or

A time period consisting of S listening slots; or

wherein M, N, S, K are all positive integers.

Optionally, the time period meeting the predetermined condition includes:

Optionally, the processor 1002 is further configured to: and measuring the energy of the target frequency band in the measurement time set.

Optionally, the processor 1002 is configured to at least one of:

Optionally, the transmitter 1001 is configured to:

reporting the measurement result periodically; and/or

Reporting the measurement result before the starting time; and/or

Where in fig. 10 a bus architecture (represented by bus 1000) is shown, bus 1000 may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and bus 1000 connects together various circuits including one or more processors, represented by processor 1002, and memory, represented by memory 1003. The bus 1000 may also connect various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further herein. A bus interface 1004 provides an interface between the bus 1000 and the transmitter 1001. Transmitter 1001 may be a transceiver providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium.

The processor 1002 is responsible for managing the bus 1000 and general processing, and the memory 1003 may be used for storing data used by the processor 1002 in performing operations.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating a second module of an apparatus for determining channel quality according to an embodiment of the present invention. The meaning and specific implementation of the terms referred to by the apparatus for determining channel quality shown in fig. 11 can refer to the foregoing fig. 1 to fig. 8 and the related description of the embodiments. The apparatus may be a target cell as described above, the apparatus comprising: a sending unit 401, an evaluation unit 402, a first determination unit 403, a second determination unit 404, a first receiving unit 405, a second receiving unit 406, a third determination unit 407, a fourth determination unit 408, and a data transmission unit 409.

A sending unit 401, configured to send an indication message to a user equipment, where the indication message indicates a measurement time set of a target frequency band, the target frequency band is an operating frequency of the target cell, and the measurement time set is a time period before a starting time of sending data in the target frequency band by the target cell and meeting a predetermined condition, so that the user equipment measures a radio condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set to obtain a measurement result;

optionally, the evaluation unit 402 is configured to perform listen before talk LBT evaluation to obtain an evaluation result; a first determining unit 403, configured to determine the starting time according to the evaluation result.

Optionally, the second determining unit 404 is configured to determine a random backoff number, where the random backoff number is determined before the target cell starts idle channel assessment, and the time period meeting the predetermined condition is a time period located in a time corresponding to the random backoff number.

Optionally, the sending unit 401 is further configured to:

Optionally, the first receiving unit 405 is configured to receive uplink data before the starting time, where the time period meeting the predetermined condition is a time period after a second predetermined time interval, and the second predetermined time interval is a time when the target cell receives the uplink data.

Optionally, the second receiving unit 406 is configured to receive a measurement result reported by the ue;

a third determining unit 407, configured to determine a radio condition of the target frequency band according to the measurement result.

Optionally, the fourth determining unit 408 is configured to determine whether a hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band according to the measurement result reported by the user equipment and the measurement result obtained by measuring the radio condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set by the target cell.

Optionally, when the target cell determines that the hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band, the method further includes a data transmission unit 409, configured to:

ending the data transmission with the user equipment; or

Various changes and specific examples in the method for determining channel quality in the foregoing embodiment of fig. 8 are also applicable to the apparatus for determining channel quality in this embodiment, and a person skilled in the art can clearly know the implementation method of the apparatus for determining channel quality in this embodiment through the foregoing detailed description of the method for determining channel quality, so for the brevity of the description, detailed descriptions are omitted here.

Referring to fig. 12, fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating a second structure of an apparatus for determining channel quality according to an embodiment of the present invention. The meaning and specific implementation of the terms referred to by the apparatus for determining channel quality shown in fig. 12 can refer to the foregoing fig. 1 to fig. 8 and the related description of the embodiments. The apparatus for determining channel quality may be a target cell as described above, the apparatus comprising: a transmitter 1201, a processor 1202, a memory 1203, a receiver 1204.

A transmitter 1201, configured to send an indication message to a user equipment, where the indication message indicates a measurement time set of a target frequency band, the target frequency band is an operating frequency of the target cell, and the measurement time set is a time period before a starting time of sending data in the target frequency band by the target cell and meeting a predetermined condition, so that the user equipment measures a radio condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set to obtain a measurement result.

Optionally, the processor 1202 is configured to perform listen before talk LBT evaluation to obtain an evaluation result; for determining the starting moment according to the evaluation result.

Optionally, the processor 1202 is configured to determine a random backoff number, where the random backoff number is determined before the target cell starts idle channel assessment, and the time period meeting the predetermined condition is a time period located in a time corresponding to the random backoff number.

Optionally, the transmitter 1201 is further configured to:

Optionally, the receiver 1204 is configured to receive uplink data before the starting time, where the time period meeting the predetermined condition is a time period after a second predetermined time interval, and the second predetermined time interval is a time when the target cell receives the uplink data.

Optionally, the receiver 1204 is further configured to receive a measurement result reported by the ue;

the processor 1202 is configured to determine a radio condition of the target frequency band according to the measurement result.

Optionally, the processor 1202 is configured to determine whether a hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band according to a measurement result reported by the user equipment and a measurement result obtained by measuring the radio condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set by the target cell.

Optionally, when the target cell determines that the hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band, the processor 1202 is configured to:

ending the data transmission with the user equipment; or

Where in fig. 12 a bus architecture (represented by bus 1200) is provided, bus 1200 may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and bus 1200 connects together various circuits including one or more processors, represented by processor 1202, and memory, represented by memory 1203. The bus 1200 may also connect various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further herein. A bus interface 1204 provides an interface between the bus 1000 and the receiver 1204 and transmitter 1201. The receiver 1204 and the transmitter 1201 may be the same element, i.e., a transceiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium.

The processor 1202 is responsible for managing the bus 1200 and general processing, and the memory 1203 may be used for storing data used by the processor 1202 in performing operations.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and simplicity of description, the foregoing division of the functional units is merely used as an example, and in practical applications, the above function distribution may be performed by different functional units according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different functional units to perform all or part of the above described functions. For the specific working processes of the system, the apparatus and the unit described above, reference may be made to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described here again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the described units or division of units is only one type of division of logical functions, and there may be other divisions when actually implemented, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be substantially implemented or contributed by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM (Read-Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above embodiments are only used to describe the technical solutions of the present application in detail, but the above embodiments are only used to help understanding the method and the core idea of the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Those skilled in the art should also appreciate that they can easily conceive of various changes and substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A method of determining channel quality, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the starting time is determined after a listen before talk, LBT, evaluation by the target cell.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the period of time during which the predetermined condition is met is adjacent to the start time.

4. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the period of time for which the predetermined condition is satisfied comprises:

a time period consisting of M listening time slots and N delay times; or

A time period consisting of S listening slots; or

wherein M, N, S, K are all positive integers.

5. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the period of time for which the predetermined condition is satisfied comprises:

6. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the period of time for which the predetermined condition is satisfied comprises:

7. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the period of time for which the predetermined condition is satisfied comprises:

8. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the UE measures the radio conditions of the target frequency band in the measurement time set, comprising:

9. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the user equipment measuring the radio conditions of the target frequency band within the set of measurement times comprises at least one of:

10. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

the user equipment reports the measurement result periodically; and/or

11. A method of determining channel quality, comprising:

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

13. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein the method further comprises:

14. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein the method further comprises:

15. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein the method further comprises:

16. The method of claim 11 or 12, further comprising:

the target cell receives the measurement result reported by the user equipment;

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

18. The method of claim 17, wherein when the target cell determines that the hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band, further comprising:

the target cell finishes data transmission with the user equipment; or

19. An apparatus for determining channel quality, comprising:

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the starting time is determined after a listen before talk, LBT, evaluation by the target cell.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 or 20, wherein the period of time for which the predetermined condition is satisfied is adjacent to the start time.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 or 20, wherein the period of time for which the predetermined condition is satisfied comprises:

a time period consisting of M listening time slots and N delay times; or

A time period consisting of S listening slots; or

wherein M, N, S, K are all positive integers.

23. The apparatus of claim 19 or 20, wherein the period of time for which the predetermined condition is satisfied comprises:

24. The apparatus of claim 19 or 20, wherein the period of time for which the predetermined condition is satisfied comprises:

25. The apparatus of claim 19 or 20, wherein the period of time for which the predetermined condition is satisfied comprises:

26. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19 or 20, wherein said measuring radio conditions of said target frequency band in said set of measurement times comprises:

and measuring the energy of the target frequency band in the measurement time set.

27. The apparatus according to claim 19 or 20, wherein the measurement unit is configured to at least one of:

and measuring the energy of the target frequency band by taking the listening time slot of the device as a unit in the measurement time set.

28. The apparatus according to claim 19 or 20, further comprising a reporting unit configured to:

reporting the measurement result periodically; and/or

Reporting the measurement result before the starting time; and/or

And reporting the measurement result within a third preset time interval after the starting time, wherein the third preset time interval is not more than the time required by the device to report the channel state information to the target cell.

29. An apparatus for determining channel quality, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send an indication message to a user equipment, where the indication message indicates a measurement time set of a target frequency band, the target frequency band is an operating frequency of the apparatus, and the measurement time set is a time period before a starting time of sending data in the target frequency band by the apparatus and meeting a predetermined condition, so that the user equipment measures a radio condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set to obtain a measurement result.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising:

31. The apparatus of claim 29 or 30, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

a second determining unit, configured to determine a random backoff number, where the random backoff number is determined before the apparatus starts idle channel assessment, and the time period that meets the predetermined condition is a time period that is within a time corresponding to the random backoff number.

32. The apparatus of claim 29 or 30, wherein the sending unit is further configured to:

33. The apparatus of claim 29 or 30, further comprising:

a first receiving unit, configured to receive uplink data before the start time, where the time period meeting the predetermined condition is a time period after a second predetermined time interval, and the second predetermined time interval is a time when the apparatus receives the uplink data.

34. The apparatus of claim 29 or 30, further comprising:

35. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising:

a fourth determining unit, configured to determine whether a hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band according to a measurement result reported by the user equipment and a measurement result obtained by measuring the radio condition of the target frequency band in the measurement time set by the apparatus.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein when the apparatus determines that the hidden node of the user equipment exists on the target frequency band, further comprising a data transmission unit configured to:

ending the data transmission with the user equipment; or

After the start time, the apparatus shortens a data transmission time in the target frequency band.