CN108667578B

CN108667578B - Communication method and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN108667578B
Application number: CN201710203513.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 汪勇刚
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-03-30
Filing date: 2017-03-30
Publication date: 2021-06-29
Anticipated expiration: 2037-03-30
Also published as: CN108667578A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a communication method and a communication apparatus. There is provided a communication method implemented at a terminal device, comprising: selecting a resource unit from a resource pool, wherein the resource unit comprises a first subunit for bearing a multiple access signature and a second subunit for bearing a data packet; determining a multiple access signature corresponding to a data packet to be transmitted on the resource unit; and transmitting a multiple access signature and data packet to the network device using the resource unit. A communication method implemented at the network device is also provided, as well as a corresponding terminal device and network device.

Description

Communication method and communication device

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to communication technology, and more particularly, to a communication method implemented at a communication device and a corresponding communication device.

Background

With the continuous development of communication technology, the demand of users for higher quality of service and larger data volume is increasing, and the demand for bandwidth is also increasing. Currently, multiple access techniques have been proposed. For example, some orthogonal multiple access techniques require users to transmit orthogonally in the time, frequency, code, etc., thereby increasing bandwidth utilization while avoiding interference. With the further improvement of the requirements on the access number of users and the utilization rate of the system spectrum, various non-orthogonal multiple access technologies have been proposed in the industry to further improve the resource utilization rate and the capability of supporting massive connections.

In existing multiple access techniques, the multiple access resources used by a terminal device (e.g., user equipment, UE) for Uplink (UL) transmissions typically include: a resource portion for transmitting a preamble (hereinafter also referred to as a "multiple access signature"); and one or more resource units for transmitting data, wherein each resource unit may include one or more Resource Blocks (RBs) or Resource Elements (REs).

As for the feedback scheme of the preamble, there are two general categories, and the first category does not include the preamble feedback. In such a scheme, the UE autonomously (e.g., based on UE identity, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identity, or in a random manner, etc.) selects a preamble sequence and resource elements for access. A second type of scheme includes preamble feedback, where there is a delay between preamble transmission and data transmission. After receiving the preamble sequence, the eNB allocates a specific resource element for each UE for data transmission.

In both of the above schemes, the number and/or length of preamble sequences typically corresponds to the number of UEs accessing the network. Thus, in the case of a large number of UEs accessing, the base station may need to process more and/or longer preamble sequences. At the same time, the base station may not be able to quickly and correctly detect collisions between data transmissions from these UEs. Therefore, the detection/decoding time for data transmission may be increased, the processing speed is slowed down, the error rate is increased, and the like, which are problems to be solved in the prior art.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, embodiments of the present disclosure propose communication methods implemented at a communication device and corresponding communication devices to improve detection/decoding speed and reduce collisions in data transmissions, thereby further improving communication network performance.

In a first aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method implemented at a terminal device. The method comprises the following steps: selecting a resource unit from a resource pool, wherein the resource unit comprises a first subunit for bearing a multiple access signature and a second subunit for bearing a data packet; determining a multiple access signature corresponding to a data packet to be transmitted on the resource unit; and transmitting a multiple access signature and data packet to the network device using the resource unit.

In this regard, an embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a terminal device for performing communication, including: a controller configured to select a resource unit from a resource pool, the resource unit comprising a first sub-unit for carrying a multiple access signature and a second sub-unit for carrying a data packet, and configured to determine a multiple access signature corresponding to a data packet to be transmitted on the resource unit; and a transceiver configured to transmit a multiple access signature and a data packet to a network device using the resource unit.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also include a terminal device for communication. The terminal device includes: a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the terminal device to perform the method according to the first aspect.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also include a terminal device for communicating. The terminal device includes: means for selecting a resource unit from a resource pool, the resource unit comprising a first sub-unit for carrying a multiple access signature and a second sub-unit for carrying a data packet; means for determining a multiple access signature corresponding to a data packet to be transmitted on the resource unit; and means for transmitting a multiple access signature and data packet to the network device using the resource unit.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method implemented at a network device. The method comprises the following steps: detecting a multiple access signature on a resource unit carrying data packets from the terminal device, the resource unit comprising a first sub-unit for carrying the multiple access signature and a second sub-unit for carrying the data packets; and determining whether to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device based on the detection.

In this regard, embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a network device for communication. The apparatus comprises: a transceiver configured to detect a multiple access signature on a resource unit carrying data packets from a terminal device, the resource unit comprising a first sub-unit for carrying the multiple access signature and a second sub-unit for carrying the data packets; and a controller configured to determine whether to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device based on the detection.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also include a network device for communication. The network device includes: a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the network device to perform the method according to the second aspect.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also include a network device for communication. The network device includes: means for detecting a multiple access signature on a resource unit carrying data packets from a terminal device, the resource unit comprising a first sub-unit for carrying the multiple access signature and a second sub-unit for carrying the data packets; and means for determining whether to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device based on the detection.

As will be understood from the following description, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, by transmitting a multiple access signature and a data packet on each resource unit, it is possible to quickly detect whether there is a collision of data transmissions from a plurality of terminal devices, so that quick feedback can be achieved. In this way, the detection/decoding speed can be improved, the collision probability can be reduced, and the transmission performance of the system can be improved.

It should be understood that the statements herein reciting aspects are not intended to limit the critical or essential features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor are they intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.

Drawings

The above and other features, advantages and aspects of various embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent by referring to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like or similar reference characters designate like or similar elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication network in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of resource allocation according to the prior art;

fig. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method implemented at a terminal device side, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of a resource unit, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a method of determining a multiple access signature at a terminal device side according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of a method implemented at the network device side, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of a method implemented at the network device side, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a HARQ process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus at a terminal device in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus at a network device, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure; and

fig. 11 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While certain embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it is to be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein, but rather are provided for a more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and embodiments of the disclosure are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a "network device" refers to a base station or other entity or node having a particular function in a communication network. A "base station" (BS) may represent a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved node B (eNodeB or eNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Head (RH), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), a relay, or a low power node such as a pico base station, a femto base station, or the like. In the context of the present disclosure, the terms "network device" and "base station" may be used interchangeably for purposes of discussion convenience, and may primarily be referred to as an eNB as an example of a network device.

The term "terminal device" as used herein refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication with a base station or with each other. As an example, the terminal device may include a User Equipment (UE), a terminal device (MT), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station (PSS), a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT), and the above-described devices in a vehicle. In the context of the present disclosure, the terms "terminal device" and "UE" may be used interchangeably for purposes of discussion convenience.

The terms "include" or "comprise," and variations thereof, as used herein, are inclusive, i.e., "including but not limited to. The term "based on" is "based, at least in part, on". The term "one embodiment" means "at least one embodiment"; the term "another embodiment" means "at least one additional embodiment". Relevant definitions for other terms will be given in the following description.

As described above, in the case of a large number of UEs accessing the network, the network side may need to process more and/or longer preamble sequences, and at this time, collision between data transmissions from these UEs may not be detected quickly and correctly. In this case, it may cause an increase in detection/decoding time, a decrease in processing speed, an increase in error rate, and the like of data transmission, which decrease the transmission performance of the system.

To address these and other potential problems, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method of communication. According to a method of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a terminal device selects one resource unit from a resource pool, determines a multiple access signature corresponding to a data packet to be transmitted on the resource unit, and transmits the multiple access signature and the data packet to a network device using the resource unit. The network device detects a multiple access signature on the resource unit and determines whether to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device based on the detection. By using such resource units for transmitting multiple access signatures and data packets, it is possible to quickly detect whether there is a collision of data transmissions from multiple terminal devices, so that a fast feedback can be achieved. In this way, the detection/decoding speed can be improved, the collision probability can be reduced, and the transmission performance of the system can be improved.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. Communication network 100 includes network device 110 and terminal device 120 in communication therewith. Terminal device 120 utilizes the UL resources for UL transmission of data to network device 110. The UL transmission is, for example, an autonomous/unlicensed/contention-based UL transmission, and the terminal device 120 may randomly select resources for transmission or use resources pre-configured for the terminal device 120 by the network device 110.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram 200 of resource allocation according to the prior art. As shown in fig. 2, the transmission by terminal device 120 to network device 110 may use resources that include: resource portion 210 for transmitting a preamble and a plurality of resource units 220 for transmitting data₁、220₂，……、220_K(the following)Collectively referred to as "220"), where each resource unit 220 may include one or more RBs or REs. In the embodiment shown in fig. 2, the resource portion 210 used for transmission of the preamble is separate from each resource unit 220, and the resource units 220 do not contain a preamble for transmission of a multiple access signature or the like.

With continued reference to fig. 1, communications in network 100 may be implemented in accordance with any suitable communication protocol, including, but not limited to, first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G), third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), and fifth-generation (5G) cellular communication protocols, wireless local area network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11, and/or any other protocol now known or later developed. Moreover, the communication may utilize any suitable wireless communication technique including, but not limited to, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM), and/or any other technique now known or later developed.

It should be understood that the number of network devices and the number of terminal devices shown in fig. 1 are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to be limiting. Communication network 100 may include any suitable type and number of network devices, each of which may provide suitable range and suitable number of coverage, and communication network 100 may also include any suitable type and number of terminal devices.

It should also be understood that the communication between network device 110 and terminal device 120 shown in fig. 1 is exemplary only, and not limiting. It is fully understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable not only to communication between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120, but also to communication between the network device and the network device or communication between the terminal device and the terminal device.

The principles and specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 3-11 from the perspective of a terminal device and a network device, respectively. Reference is first made to fig. 3, which illustrates a flow chart of a method 300 implemented at the terminal device side, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. It is to be appreciated that method 300 may be implemented, for example, at terminal device 120 as shown in fig. 1.

The method 300 begins at 310, where the terminal device 120 selects a resource unit from a resource pool. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a resource pool may include one or more resource units that are predefined. Each resource unit is a time-frequency resource of a certain size, which may include one or more resource blocks and/or one or more resource elements. One resource unit may include a portion carrying a multiple access signature and a portion for carrying a data packet. Fig. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram 400 of a resource unit, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 4, the resource unit 410 may comprise one or more resource blocks and/or one or more resource elements and may be divided into two subunits, a first subunit 411 for carrying a multiple access signature and a second subunit 412 for carrying a data packet. The first and

second subunits

411, 412, respectively, may comprise one or more resource blocks and/or one or more resource elements.

With continued reference to fig. 3, at 320, the terminal device 120 determines a multiple access signature corresponding to a data packet to be transmitted on the resource unit. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the terminal device 120 may select 320 a multiple access signature from a predefined plurality of multiple access signatures. The multiple access signature may be randomly selected, for example, or may be based on a protocol, standard, system requirements, or predetermined rules. The transmission scheme employed, etc. In some embodiments, the multiple access signature may be selected based on a Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS) of the data packet to be transmitted, as described in detail below in conjunction with fig. 5.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the predefined multiple access signature may comprise a set of orthogonal pseudo-random sequences, e.g., a set of sequences obtained by cyclic shifting a Zadoff-Chu root sequence. For each cell, only a limited number of multiple access signatures need to be configured, and the same set of sequences can be reused by each resource unit.

At 330, the terminal device 120 transmits a multiple access signature and data packet to the network device using the resource units. In some embodiments, terminal device 120 may send the multiple access signature and data packet to network device 110 in one resource unit by using a first sub-unit 411 of resource unit 410 to carry the multiple access signature determined at 320 and using a second sub-unit 412 of resource unit 410 to carry the data packet to be sent.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, after the terminal device 120 transmits the data packet to the network device 110 in the above manner, the method 300 may further optionally include corresponding operations as follows according to the response message from the network device 110. In some embodiments, in response to receiving a negative acknowledgement message (e.g., NACK) from network device 110, terminal device 120 may perform retransmission of the data packet using the resource units selected at 310 (i.e., the resource units used to perform the initial transmission of the data packet).

Alternatively, in some embodiments, when a negative acknowledgement message is received from network device 110, terminal device 120 may select another resource unit from the resource pool to perform the retransmission of the data packet.

As another alternative, in some embodiments, if a resource allocation message, e.g., an uplink grant message (UL grant), is also received from network device 110, terminal device 120 may perform retransmission of the data packet using the resources indicated in the resource allocation message. The resource indicated in the resource allocation message may be one or more resource units according to embodiments of the present disclosure, or may be one or more resource units or resource blocks as is conventional.

When performing a retransmission of a data packet, the terminal device 120 may select a new multiple access signature from a predefined plurality of multiple access signatures for the retransmission, or may still use the multiple access signature used in the initial transmission for the retransmission.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the terminal device 120 transmits a multiple access signature and data packet to the network device using the selected resource elements. By using such resource units to transmit multiple access signatures and data packets, network device 110 can quickly detect whether there is a collision in the data transmissions from multiple terminal devices, thereby allowing for fast feedback and thus improving system transmission performance.

In conventional schemes, although the services of different terminal devices (e.g., UEs) have different payloads, or the UEs are at different locations in a cell, they all transmit data to the network device on the allocated uplink resources using the same Transport Block (TB) size and MCS. This results in lower transmission efficiency.

To address the above-described problems and potentially other problems, embodiments of the present disclosure propose solutions to associate MCSs with multiple access signatures. Fig. 5 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 500 of determining a multiple access signature at a terminal device side according to some embodiments of the disclosure. In the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the multiple access signature is selected according to the MCS of the data packet to be transmitted. It should be understood that the embodiment shown in fig. 5 is one implementation of the embodiment shown in fig. 3, which is merely exemplary and not limiting. The embodiment of fig. 5 may be performed, for example, by terminal device 120 shown in fig. 1.

The method 500 begins at 510, where the terminal device 120 determines an MCS for the data packet. In embodiments of the present disclosure, the MCS may contain one or more modulation orders, number of resource blocks, number of resource units, transport block size, etc. The terminal device 120 may determine the MCS for the data packet to be transmitted in a number of ways. For example, the terminal device 120 may determine the MCS corresponding to the data packet according to a transmission scheme set in advance. Alternatively, the terminal device 120 may determine the MCS corresponding to the data packet to be transmitted according to the indication message about the MCS received from the network device 110. In another alternative embodiment, the terminal device 120 may determine the MCS to be employed based on its own location or downlink measurements.

At 520, the terminal device 120 selects a multiple access signature corresponding to the determined MCS from a predefined plurality of multiple access signatures. In embodiments of the present disclosure, the MCS may have a plurality of correspondences with predefined multiple access signatures from which the terminal device 120 may determine the respective multiple access signature.

In some embodiments, the MCSs are in one-to-one correspondence with multiple access signatures (also referred to as "symmetric granularity" in embodiments of the present disclosure). Table 1 shows an example of one-to-one correspondence of MCSs to multiple access signatures, where each multiple access signature sequence number corresponds to an MCS sequence number (I)_MCS). It should be understood that although the multiple access signature sequence numbers and MCS sequence numbers in table 1 are arranged in order from small to large, this is merely exemplary and not limiting. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the MCS number and/or the multiple access signature number may be arranged in reverse order or in random order, as long as there is a one-to-one correspondence.

TABLE 1

Alternatively, in other embodiments, one MCS corresponds to multiple different multiple access signatures (also referred to as "asymmetric granularity" in embodiments of the present disclosure). Table 2 shows an example where one MCS corresponds to a plurality of multiple access signatures, where each MCS sequence number (I)_MCS) May correspond to multiple access signature sequence numbers. For example, when the MCS number is 2 (abbreviated as "MCS # 2"), the multiple access signature number may be 1 or 2 (abbreviated as "multiple access signature # 1" or "multiple access signature # 2"). That is, when MCS #2 is used to transmit one data packet, "multiple access signature # 1" or "multiple access signature # 2" may be used as its corresponding multiple access signature.

TABLE 2

According to the above embodiment, the terminal device 120 may select MCS according to the preset, the located position, the signal measurement result, and the like, and then determine the corresponding multiple access signature according to the corresponding relationship between MCS and multiple access signature. Network device 110 may detect the multiple access signature carried on the received resource unit to determine the MCS parameters to be employed for the data packets carried on the resource unit. Network device 110 may then decode the data packet based on the determined MCS parameter. In this way, link adaptation can be achieved without performing complex blind detection on uplink transmission, thereby effectively improving transmission performance and transmission efficiency.

Fig. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 600 implemented at the network device side, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. It is to be appreciated that method 600 may be implemented, for example, at network device 110 as shown in fig. 1.

Method 600 begins at 610, where network device 110 detects a multiple access signature on one resource unit carrying a data packet from a terminal device. The resource unit includes a first sub-unit for carrying a multiple access signature and a second sub-unit for carrying a data packet. Multiple access signatures may be detected in a variety of ways in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, network device 110 determines the number of multiple access signatures in a first sub-unit of resource units at 610. This may be done, for example, by performing a correlation operation on a first sub-unit of a resource unit using a sequence related to a multiple access signature, or according to other suitable methods.

At 620, network device 110 determines whether to send a negative acknowledgement message, e.g., a NACK, to the terminal device based on the detection. If only one multiple access signature is detected on a resource unit, network device 110 considers that only one terminal device is transmitting uplink on that resource unit, and no collision occurs, so that it can be determined not to send a NACK to terminal device 120. In this case, network device 110 may determine a modulation coding scheme for the data packet based on the detected multiple access signature and decode the data packet based on the modulation coding scheme.

On the other hand, if multiple access signatures are detected on the resource unit, the network device 110 considers that multiple terminal devices may perform uplink transmission on the same resource unit at the same time, that is, uplink transmission collision occurs. At this point, network device 110 may consider the initial transmission of the data packet to fail and determine that a NACK is to be sent to terminal device 120 to indicate that a retransmission of the data packet is required. Additionally, in some embodiments, if multiple access signatures are detected on a resource unit, network device 110 may send a resource allocation message, e.g., a UL grant, to terminal device 120 indicating resources allocated by network device 110 for terminal device 120 for retransmission of data packets. Upon receiving the resource allocation message, terminal device 120 may perform retransmission of the data packet based on the allocated resources.

Fig. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 700 implemented at the network device side, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the embodiment shown in fig. 7 is one implementation of the embodiment shown in fig. 6, which is merely exemplary and not limiting. The embodiment of fig. 7 may be performed, for example, by network device 110 shown in fig. 1.

The method 700 begins at 710 where the network device 110 determines a number of multiple access signatures in a first sub-unit of the resource unit. At 720, network device 110 determines whether the number of multiple access signatures is 1. If so, network device 110 proceeds to 730 and determines not to send a negative acknowledgement message to terminal device 120. Then, at 740, the MCS to be employed for the data packet transmitted by the resource unit is determined based on the multiple access signature detected on the resource unit, and the data packet is decoded at 750 based on the MCS.

If at 720 network device 110 determines that the number of multiple access signatures is not 1, e.g., the number is greater than 1, this means that multiple access signatures have been detected from the resource unit, at which point network device 110 considers that a data transmission collision has occurred and a retransmission is required. The network device then sends a negative acknowledgement message indicating that a retransmission of the data packet is to occur at 760. Network device 110 then optionally allocates resources for retransmission of the data packets for terminal device 120 and sends a resource allocation message to the terminal device indicating the allocated resources at 770.

It should be understood that the flow chart shown in fig. 7 is merely exemplary, and not limiting. It is fully understood by those skilled in the art that if network device 110 determines at 720 of fig. 7 that the number of multiple access signatures on the resource unit is 0, for example, when network device 110 does not detect a correlation peak while performing a correlation operation, network device 110 determines that there is no data packet transmission on the resource unit and thus does not perform a decoding operation on the data packet.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram 800 of a HARQ process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. At 711, the terminal device 120 (e.g., UE) carries the data packets and corresponding multiple access signatures on the resource units and performs contention-based transmission (hereinafter also referred to as "CB transmission") to the network device 110 (e.g., eNB). The eNB receives the CB transmission on the resource element at 712, and if it is detected that more than one multiple access signature is carried on the resource element, the eNB sends 713 a NACK to the UE, which NACK message may be sent on, for example, a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) or a physical hybrid automatic repeat indicator channel (PHICH). The UE receives the NACK message on the PDCCH or PHICH at 714 and determines that retransmission of the data packet is required. Retransmission of the data packet is then performed at 715, which may be performed on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), for example.

As can be seen from the example shown in fig. 8, the initial transmission 711 of a data packet takes place over the nth subframe, while the retransmission 715 of the data packet takes place over the (n + 3) th subframe. Thus, the Round Trip Time (RTT) of the uplink HARQ is 3, corresponding to 3 subframes or 3 Transmission Time Intervals (TTIs). In this way, a shorter RTT and a fast HARQ process can be realized, the feedback delay is effectively reduced, and the transmission performance of the system is improved.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may achieve a variety of benefits. Specifically, when a cell is configured with a predefined multiple access signature including n orthogonal pseudo-random sequences, assuming that two UEs in the cell select the same resource unit for data transmission, the probability that the two UEs select the same sequence (i.e. the probability of data transmission collision, denoted as p) is that the two UEs select the same sequence₂) Can be calculated by:

when n is 8, p₂12.5%, i.e. in this case there is only a collision probability of 12.5%. In other words, 87.5% of data transmission collisions may be detected. This effectively improves the transmission efficiency of the system.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, multiple access signatures can be implemented with shorter sequences, which effectively reduces the overhead for transmitting multiple access signatures in resource units.

Fig. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus 900 at a terminal device in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. It is to be appreciated that apparatus 900 may be embodied in terminal device 120 shown in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 9, the apparatus 900 includes: a selecting unit 910 configured to select a resource unit from a resource pool, the resource unit comprising a first sub-unit for carrying a multiple access signature and a second sub-unit for carrying a data packet; a determining unit 920 configured to determine a multiple access signature corresponding to a data packet to be transmitted on a resource unit; and a transmitting unit 930 configured to transmit the multiple access signature and the data packet to the network device using the resource unit.

In some embodiments, the determining unit 920 is further configured to: a multiple access signature is selected from a predefined plurality of multiple access signatures.

In some embodiments, the determining unit 920 is further configured to: determining a modulation coding scheme for the data packet; and selecting a multiple access signature corresponding to the modulation coding scheme from a predefined plurality of multiple access signatures.

In some embodiments, the modulation coding schemes correspond one-to-one to the multiple access signatures, or one modulation coding scheme corresponds to multiple different multiple access signatures.

In some embodiments, the apparatus 900 further comprises: an execution unit configured to, in response to receiving a negative acknowledgement message from the network device, perform one of: performing a retransmission of the data packet using the resource unit; selecting another resource unit from the resource pool to perform retransmission of the data packet; or if a resource allocation message is received from the network device, the retransmission of the data packet is performed using the resources indicated in the resource allocation message.

In some embodiments, the execution unit is further configured to: selecting one multiple access signature from a predefined plurality of multiple access signatures for retransmission of the data packet; or the multiple access signature used in the initial transmission is used for retransmission of the data packet.

Fig. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus 1000 at a network device, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. It is to be appreciated that the implementation can be in the network device 110 shown in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 10, the apparatus 1000 includes: a detecting unit 1010 configured to detect a multiple access signature on one resource unit carrying data packets from a terminal device, the resource unit comprising a first sub-unit for carrying the multiple access signature and a second sub-unit for carrying the data packets; and a determining unit 1020 configured to determine whether to transmit a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device based on the detection.

In some embodiments, the detection unit 1010 is further configured to: determining a number of multiple access signatures in a first subunit of the resource unit.

In some embodiments, the determining unit 1020 is further configured to: determining not to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device if only one multiple access signature is detected on the resource unit; and determining to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device if multiple access signatures are detected on the resource unit.

In some embodiments, the apparatus 1000 further comprises: a transmitting unit configured to transmit a resource allocation message to the terminal device, the resource allocation message indicating resources allocated by the network device for the terminal device for retransmission of the data packet, if multiple access signatures are detected on the resource units.

In some embodiments, the determining unit 1020 is further configured to: determining a modulation coding scheme for the data packet based on the multiple access signature if only one multiple access signature is detected on the resource unit; and decoding the data packet based on the modulation coding scheme.

It should be understood that each of the units recited in the apparatus 900 and the apparatus 1000 correspond to a respective step in the

methods

300 and 600 described with reference to fig. 3 and 6, respectively. Thus, the operations and features described above in connection with fig. 3 and 6 are equally applicable to the apparatus 900 and the apparatus 1000 and the units included therein, and have the same effects, and detailed details are not repeated.

The units included in the apparatus 900 and the apparatus 1000 may be implemented in various ways, including software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, one or more of the units may be implemented using software and/or firmware, such as machine executable instructions stored on a storage medium. In addition to, or in the alternative to, machine-executable instructions, some or all of the elements of apparatus 900 and apparatus 1000 may be implemented, at least in part, by one or more hardware logic components. By way of example, and not limitation, exemplary types of hardware logic components that may be used include Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Application Specific Standards (ASSPs), systems on a chip (SOCs), Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs), and so forth.

The elements shown in fig. 9 and 10 may be implemented partially or wholly as hardware modules, software modules, firmware modules, or any combination thereof. In particular, in some embodiments, the procedures, methods or processes described above may be implemented by hardware in a base station or a terminal device. For example, a base station or terminal device may implement

methods

300 and 600 using its transmitter, receiver, transceiver, and/or processor or controller.

Fig. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a device 1100 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 1100 can be used to implement network devices or terminal devices, such as network device 110 and terminal device 120 shown in fig. 1.

As shown, the device 1100 includes a controller 1110. A controller 1110 controls the operation and functions of the device 1100. For example, in certain embodiments, the controller 1110 may perform various operations by way of instructions 1130 stored in memory 1120 coupled thereto. The memory 1120 may be of any suitable type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, including but not limited to semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems. Although only one memory unit is shown in FIG. 11, there may be multiple physically distinct memory units within device 1100.

The controller 1110 may be of any suitable type suitable to the local technical environment and may include, but is not limited to, one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microcontrollers, digital signal controllers (DSPs), and controller-based multi-core controller architectures. The device 1100 may also include a plurality of controllers 1110. The controller 1110 is coupled to a transceiver 1140, which transceiver 1140 may enable the reception and transmission of information via one or more antennas 1150 and/or other components.

When the device 1100 is acting as a network device 110, the controller 1110 and the transceiver 1140 may operate in cooperation to implement the method 300 described above with reference to fig. 3. Wherein the controller 1110 is configured to select a resource unit from a resource pool, the resource unit comprising a first sub-unit for carrying a multiple access signature and a second sub-unit for carrying a data packet, and to determine the multiple access signature corresponding to the data packet to be transmitted on the resource unit. The transceiver 1140 is configured to transmit the multiple access signature and the data packet to a network device using the resource units.

In some embodiments, the controller 1110 may be further configured to: a multiple access signature is selected from a predefined plurality of multiple access signatures.

In some embodiments, the controller 1110 may be further configured to: determining a modulation coding scheme for the data packet; and selecting a multiple access signature corresponding to the modulation coding scheme from the predefined plurality of multiple access signatures.

In some embodiments, the controller 1110 may be further configured to: in response to receiving a negative acknowledgement message from the network device, performing one of: performing retransmission of the data packet using the resource unit; selecting another resource unit from the resource pool to perform retransmission of the data packet; or if a resource allocation message is received from the network device, performing retransmission of the data packet using resources indicated in the resource allocation message.

In some embodiments, the controller 1110 may be further configured to: selecting one multiple access signature from a predefined plurality of multiple access signatures for the retransmission of the data packet; or using a multiple access signature used in the initial transmission for the retransmission of the data packet.

The controller 1110 and the transceiver 1140 may operate in conjunction to implement the method 600 described above with reference to fig. 6 when the device 1100 is acting as a terminal device 120. Wherein the transceiver 1140 is configured to detect a multiple access signature on one resource unit carrying a data packet from a terminal device, the resource unit comprising a first subunit for carrying the multiple access signature and a second subunit for carrying the data packet; and controller 1110 is configured to determine whether to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device based on the detection.

In some embodiments, the controller 1110 may be further configured to: determining a number of multiple access signatures in a first subunit of the resource unit.

In some embodiments, the controller 1110 may be further configured to: determining not to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device if only one multiple access signature is detected on the resource unit; and determining to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device if multiple access signatures are detected on the resource unit.

In some embodiments, the transceiver 1140 may be further configured to: sending a resource allocation message to the terminal device indicating resources allocated by the network device for the terminal device for retransmission of the data packet if multiple access signatures are detected on the resource units.

In some embodiments, the controller 1110 may be further configured to: determining a modulation coding scheme for the data packet based on the multiple access signature if only one multiple access signature is detected on the resource unit; and decoding the data packet based on the modulation coding scheme.

All of the features described above with reference to fig. 3 and 6 apply to the device 1100 and are not described in detail herein.

In general, the various example embodiments of this disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Certain aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While aspects of embodiments of the disclosure have been illustrated or described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

By way of example, embodiments of the disclosure may be described in the context of machine-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or divided between program modules as described. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed facility, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Computer program code for implementing the methods of the present disclosure may be written in one or more programming languages. These computer program codes may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, cause the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks to be performed. The program code may execute entirely on the computer, partly on the computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.

In the context of this disclosure, a machine-readable medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. A machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination thereof. More detailed examples of a machine-readable storage medium include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

Additionally, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking or parallel processing may be beneficial. Likewise, while the above discussion contains certain specific implementation details, this should not be construed as limiting the scope of any invention or claims, but rather as describing particular embodiments that may be directed to particular inventions. Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method implemented at a terminal device, comprising:

selecting a resource unit from a resource pool, wherein the resource unit comprises a first subunit for bearing a multiple access signature and a second subunit for bearing a data packet;

determining a multiple access signature corresponding to a data packet to be transmitted on the resource unit, comprising:

selecting one multiple access signature from a predefined plurality of multiple access signatures, another resource unit in the resource pool reusing the predefined plurality of multiple access signatures; and

transmitting the multiple access signature and the data packet to a network device using the resource unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting one multiple access signature from a predefined plurality of multiple access signatures comprises:

determining a modulation coding scheme for the data packet; and

selecting a multiple access signature corresponding to the modulation coding scheme from the predefined plurality of multiple access signatures.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the modulation coding schemes correspond one-to-one to the multiple access signatures, or one modulation coding scheme corresponds to multiple different multiple access signatures.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving a negative acknowledgement message from the network device, performing one of:

performing retransmission of the data packet using the resource unit;

selecting another resource unit from the resource pool to perform retransmission of the data packet; or

Performing retransmission of the data packet using resources indicated in the resource allocation message if the resource allocation message is received from the network device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein performing retransmission of the data packet comprises:

selecting one multiple access signature from a predefined plurality of multiple access signatures for the retransmission of the data packet; or

Using a multiple access signature used in an initial transmission for the retransmission of the data packet.

6. A communication method implemented at a network device, comprising:

detecting a multiple access signature on a resource unit carrying data packets from a terminal device, said resource unit comprising a first sub-unit for carrying the multiple access signature and a second sub-unit for carrying the data packets; and

determining whether to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device based on the detecting,

wherein the multiple access signature is selected from a predefined plurality of multiple access signatures that are reused by another resource unit in a resource pool.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein detecting the multiple access signature on one resource unit carrying the data packet from the terminal device comprises:

determining a number of multiple access signatures in a first subunit of the resource unit.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein determining whether to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device based on the detecting comprises:

determining not to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device if only one multiple access signature is detected on the resource unit; and

determining to send a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device if multiple access signatures are detected on the resource unit.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

sending a resource allocation message to the terminal device indicating resources allocated by the network device for the terminal device for retransmission of the data packet if multiple access signatures are detected on the resource units.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining a modulation coding scheme for the data packet based on the multiple access signature if only one multiple access signature is detected on the resource unit; and

decoding the data packet based on the modulation coding scheme.

11. A terminal device for communication, comprising:

a controller configured to:

selecting one resource unit from a resource pool, the resource unit comprising a first sub-unit for carrying a multiple access signature and a second sub-unit for carrying a data packet, and

determining a multiple access signature corresponding to a data packet to be transmitted on the resource unit, including

a transceiver configured to transmit the multiple access signature and the data packet to a network device using the resource unit.

12. The terminal device of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to:

determining a modulation coding scheme for the data packet; and

13. The terminal device of claim 12, wherein the modulation coding schemes correspond one-to-one to the multiple access signatures, or one modulation coding scheme corresponds to a plurality of different multiple access signatures.

14. The terminal device of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to:

performing retransmission of the data packet using the resource unit;

15. The terminal device of claim 14, wherein the controller is further configured to:

16. A network device for communication, comprising:

a transceiver configured to detect a multiple access signature on one resource unit carrying data packets from a terminal device, the resource unit comprising a first sub-unit for carrying the multiple access signature and a second sub-unit for carrying the data packets; and

a controller configured to determine whether to transmit a negative acknowledgement message to the terminal device based on the detection,

17. The network device of claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to:

18. The network device of claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to:

19. The network device of claim 18, wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

20. The network device of claim 18, wherein the controller is further configured to:

decoding the data packet based on the modulation coding scheme.