CN112469025B

CN112469025B - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN112469025B
Application number: CN201910849381.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 肖洁华; 李新县; 唐浩; 王轶
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-09-09
Filing date: 2019-09-09
Publication date: 2022-07-22
Anticipated expiration: 2039-09-09
Also published as: WO2021047478A1; CN112469025A

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of communication, and discloses a communication method and device. Wherein the method may be applied to a terminal device supporting at least two user identities, the method comprising: the terminal equipment establishes connection with the network equipment by the first user identity, and sends resource switching indication information to the network equipment, so that the network equipment acquires switching of radio frequency resources and/or baseband processing resources of the terminal equipment among different user identities, thereby improving the awareness of a network side on behaviors of the terminal equipment supporting multiple user identities, changing the unknown state of the network side on the behaviors of the terminal equipment supporting multiple user identities in the prior art, effectively reducing miscalculation of the network side on the behaviors of the terminal equipment, realizing effective communication between the terminal equipment and the network equipment, and improving the system performance of the network.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication method and apparatus.

Background

With the development of communication technology, many terminal devices (e.g., mobile phones) have a function of supporting a plurality of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards. Taking the example that the terminal device supports two SIM cards, there are many possible implementation manners, such as Dual SIM Single Standby (DSSS), Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS), Dual SIM Dual Active (DSDA).

The DSSS indicates that although there are two Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards in the terminal device, the terminal device can only reside in a system to which one SIM card belongs at the same time, and can reside in systems to which different SIM cards belong at different times by user selection. DSDS indicates that the terminal device can reside in the system to which two SIMs belong at the same time, but only the system to which one SIM card belongs can be in communication state at the same time, for example, when one SIM card is used to access the internet, the other SIM card cannot be used to answer the call. DSDA means that the terminal device can not only simultaneously reside in the system to which the multiple SIM cards belong, but also simultaneously communicate in the system to which the multiple SIM cards belong, for example, when one SIM card is used to surf the internet, another SIM card can be used to answer the call.

For cost efficiency reasons, the two SIM cards of the terminal device may share the radio frequency resource and/or baseband resource of the terminal device, for example, only one radio frequency Transmit (Tx) path is configured in the terminal device, in which case, the two SIM cards of the terminal device need to share the radio frequency Tx path. However, when radio frequency resources and/or baseband resources of the terminal device are shared among multiple SIM cards of the terminal device, further research is still needed on how to achieve effective communication between the terminal device and the network device.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present application provides a communication method and apparatus, so as to implement effective communication between a terminal device and a network device and improve transmission performance.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, where the method is applied to a terminal device, where the terminal device supports at least two user identities, where the at least two user identities include a first user identity, and the method includes: establishing connection with first network equipment by using the first user identity; sending first indication information to the first network device with the first subscriber identity, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot communicate with the first network device using a first resource with the first subscriber identity, where the first resource includes: and part or all of radio frequency resources of the terminal equipment, and/or part or all of baseband resources of the terminal equipment.

In this way, since the terminal device sends the first indication information to the first network device, the first network device learns the switching of the radio frequency resource and/or the baseband processing resource of the terminal device between different user identities, so that the awareness of the network side to the behavior of the terminal device supporting multiple user identities can be improved, the unknown state of the network side to the behavior of the terminal device supporting multiple user identities in the prior art is changed, the miscalculation of the network side to the behavior of the terminal device can be effectively reduced, the effective communication between the terminal device and the network device is realized, and the system performance of the network is improved.

In one possible design, the method further includes: and sending second indication information to the first network equipment by using the first user identity, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating a first time length, and the first time length is the time length required by the terminal equipment for communicating with the first network equipment by using the first resource which cannot be used by the first user identity.

In this way, the terminal device may further send the second indication information to the first network device, so that the first network device may obtain a time length required for the terminal device to be unable to use the first resource to communicate with the first network device with the first user identity.

In one possible design, the at least two user identities further includes a second user identity; the method further comprises the following steps: and sending sixth indication information to the first network equipment by using the first user identity, wherein the sixth indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment needs to initiate random access to second network equipment by using the first resource by using the second user identity.

By adopting the method, the terminal device sends the sixth indication information to the first network device, so that the first network device can know whether the terminal device needs to use the first resource to initiate random access to the second network device with the second user identity, so as to execute corresponding operations based on the method, for example, if the terminal device needs to use the first resource to initiate random access to the second network device with the second user identity, in order to ensure the smooth operation of the random access, the first network device can allow the terminal device to use the first resource with the first user identity to communicate with the first network device.

In one possible design, the method further includes: receiving third indication information and/or fourth indication information sent by the first network equipment; the third indication information is used for indicating a second resource, where the second resource includes a radio frequency resource and/or a baseband processing resource used for the terminal device to communicate with the first network device in the first subscriber identity; the fourth indication information is used for indicating a second duration, where the second duration is a duration that allows the terminal device to be unable to use the first resource to communicate with the first network device with the first subscriber identity.

In one possible design, the second resource does not include the first resource.

In one possible design, the method further includes: and sending fifth indication information to the first network equipment by using the first user identity, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment can use the first resource when communicating with the first network equipment by using the first user identity.

In one possible design, sending fifth indication information to the first network device includes: and if the duration that the terminal equipment cannot use the first resource to communicate with the first network equipment in the first user identity is determined to be greater than or equal to a third duration, sending fifth indication information to the first network equipment.

In one possible design, sending first indication information to the first network device with the first user identity includes: and sending the first indication information to the first network equipment by using uplink control channel resources with the first user identity.

In one possible design, the sending the first indication information to the first network device using the uplink control channel resource includes: and sending the first indication information and HARQ feedback information to the first network equipment by using the uplink control channel resource with the first user identity.

By adopting the method, the first indication information can be sent on the uplink resource allocated by the first network device for the HARQ feedback information of the terminal device, so that the transmission resource of the uplink information can be effectively saved.

In one possible design, the method further includes: and receiving seventh indication information sent by the first network device, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate the terminal device to send the first indication information and the HARQ feedback information by using the uplink control channel resource.

In one possible design, sending first indication information to the first network device with the first user identity includes: and sending the first indication information to the first network equipment by using the uplink data channel resource with the first user identity.

In one possible design, the sending the first indication information to the first network device using the uplink data channel resource includes: and sending the first indication information and uplink data information to the first network equipment by using the uplink data channel resource with the first user identity.

By adopting the method, the first indication information can be sent on the uplink data channel resource of the first network equipment which is the terminal equipment, so that the transmission resource of the uplink information can be effectively saved.

In one possible design, sending first indication information to the first network device with the first user identity includes: and sending the MAC CE to the first network equipment by the first user identity, wherein the MAC CE comprises the first indication information.

In this way, the MAC CE may be a newly defined MAC CE in the embodiment of the present application, and the first indication information is sent by the newly defined MAC CE, so that the information expansion is convenient, and the influence on the standard is small.

In one possible design, a MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE includes a logical channel identifier LCID, where the LCID is used to indicate that the MAC CE includes the first indication information.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, where the method includes: the method comprises the steps that a first network device establishes connection with a terminal device, and first indication information sent by the terminal device with a first user identity is received, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the terminal device cannot use a first resource to communicate with the first network device with the first user identity, and the first resource comprises: and part or all of radio frequency resources of the terminal equipment, and/or part or all of baseband resources of the terminal equipment.

In this way, the first network device can acquire the switching of the radio frequency resource and/or the baseband processing resource of the terminal device between different user identities by receiving the first indication information sent by the terminal device, so that the awareness of the network side to the behavior of the terminal device supporting multiple user identities can be improved, the unknown state of the network side to the behavior of the terminal device supporting multiple user identities in the prior art is changed, the miscalculation of the network side to the behavior of the terminal device can be effectively reduced, the effective communication between the terminal device and the network device is realized, and the system performance of the network is improved.

In one possible design, the method further includes: and receiving second indication information sent by the terminal equipment in the first user identity, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating a first time length, and the first time length is the time length required by the terminal equipment for communicating with the first network equipment in a way that the first user identity cannot use a first resource.

In one possible design, the method further includes: and receiving sixth indication information sent by the terminal equipment in the first user identity, wherein the sixth indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment needs to initiate random access to second network equipment in the second user identity.

In one possible design, the method further includes: sending third indication information and/or fourth indication information to the terminal equipment; the third indication information is used for indicating a second resource, where the second resource includes a radio frequency resource and/or a baseband processing resource used for the terminal device to communicate with the first network device in the first subscriber identity; the fourth indication information is used for indicating a second duration, where the second duration is a duration that allows the terminal device to be unable to use the first resource to communicate with the first network device with the first subscriber identity.

In one possible design, the method further includes: and receiving fifth indication information sent by the terminal equipment in the first user identity, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating that the first resource can be used when the terminal equipment communicates with the first network equipment in the first user identity.

In one possible design, receiving first indication information sent by the terminal device with a first user identity includes: and receiving the first indication information sent by the terminal equipment with the first user identity on an uplink control channel resource.

In one possible design, receiving the first indication information sent by the terminal device with the first subscriber identity on an uplink control channel resource includes: and receiving the first indication information and the HARQ feedback information which are sent by the terminal equipment with the first user identity on an uplink control channel resource.

In one possible design, the method further includes: and sending seventh indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the seventh indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to send the first indication information and the HARQ feedback information by using the uplink control channel resource.

In one possible design, receiving first indication information sent by the terminal device with a first user identity includes: and receiving the first indication information sent by the terminal equipment with the first user identity on uplink data channel resources.

In one possible design, receiving first indication information sent by the terminal device with a first user identity includes: and receiving the first indication information and the uplink data information which are sent by the terminal equipment with the first user identity on uplink data channel resources.

In one possible design, receiving first indication information sent by the terminal device with a first user identity includes: and receiving the MAC CE sent by the terminal equipment in the first user identity, wherein the MAC CE comprises the first indication information.

In one possible design, a MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE includes an LCID, where the LCID is used to indicate that the MAC CE includes the first indication information.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, where the apparatus has a function of implementing the terminal device according to the first aspect, for example, the apparatus includes a module, a unit, or means (means) that the terminal device executes, where the function, the unit, or the means is implemented by software, or implemented by hardware executing corresponding software.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a processing unit and a communication unit, and the functions performed by the processing unit and the communication unit may correspond to the steps performed by the terminal device according to the first aspect.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a processor, and may further include a transceiver, where the transceiver is configured to transmit and receive signals, and the processor executes the program instructions to implement the method performed by the terminal device in any possible design or implementation manner of the first aspect.

Wherein the apparatus may further comprise one or more memories for coupling with the processor. The one or more memories may be integrated with the processor or separate from the processor, which is not limited in this application.

In one possible design, the memory stores the necessary computer program instructions and/or data to implement the functionality of the terminal device referred to in the first aspect above. The processor may execute the computer program instructions stored in the memory to perform the method performed by the terminal device in any possible design or implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, where the apparatus has a function of implementing the network device (e.g., a first network device) according to the second aspect, for example, the apparatus includes a module, a unit, or means (means) that the first network device executes, where the module, the unit, or the means is implemented by software, or by hardware executing corresponding software.

In a possible design, the apparatus includes a processing unit and a communication unit, and functions performed by the processing unit and the communication unit may correspond to the steps performed by the first network device according to the second aspect.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes a processor, and may further include a transceiver, and the transceiver is configured to transmit and receive signals, and the processor executes the program instructions to perform the method performed by the first network device in any possible design or implementation manner of the second aspect.

In one possible design, the memory stores the necessary computer program instructions and/or data to implement the functionality of the first network device referred to in the second aspect above. The processor may execute the computer program instructions stored in the memory to perform the method performed by the first network device in any possible design or implementation of the second aspect described above.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, which, when read and executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible designs of the first and second aspects.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product, which when read and executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible designs of the first and second aspects.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, where the chip is connected to a memory, and is configured to read and execute a software program stored in the memory, so as to implement the method in any one of the possible designs of the first and second aspects.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including the terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, and the first network device and the second network device in any one of the possible designs of the second aspect.

Drawings

FIG. 1a is a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for use in embodiments of the present application;

fig. 1b is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 1c is a simplified schematic diagram of the structure of the terminal device illustrated in FIG. 1 b;

fig. 1d is a schematic structural diagram of another terminal device provided in the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 1e is a simplified schematic diagram of the structure of the terminal device illustrated in FIG. 1 d;

fig. 1f is a schematic structural diagram of another terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 1g is a simplified schematic diagram of the structure of the terminal device illustrated in FIG. 1 f;

fig. 1h is a schematic diagram illustrating an interruption of communication between the terminal device and the first network;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3a is a diagram of a MAC CE with a fixed length of 1 byte according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3b is a diagram of another example of a MAC CE with a fixed length of 1 byte according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a switching process of the rf Rx1 path according to the second embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to a third embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a switching process of the rf Rx1 path according to the fourth embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a possible exemplary block diagram of the devices involved in the embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

First, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained so as to be easily understood by those skilled in the art.

(1) A terminal device: the terminal equipment can be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface (such as a ship and the like); and may also be deployed in the air (e.g., airplanes, balloons, satellites, etc.). The terminal device may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer (pad), a computer with wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an Augmented Reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal device in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal device in unmanned driving (self driving), a wireless terminal device in remote medical treatment (remote medical), a wireless terminal device in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal device in transportation safety (transportation safety), a wireless terminal device in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal device in smart home (smart home), and may further include a User Equipment (UE), and the like. The terminal device may also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capability, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a fifth generation (5G) network in the future or a terminal device in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) in the future, etc. A terminal device may also be sometimes referred to as a terminal device, User Equipment (UE), access terminal device, in-vehicle terminal device, industrial control terminal device, UE unit, UE station, mobile station, remote terminal device, mobile device, UE terminal device, wireless communication device, UE agent, or UE device, etc. The terminal equipment may also be fixed or mobile. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

In this embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the terminal device may be the terminal device, or may be an apparatus capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, for example, a chip system, and the apparatus may be installed in the terminal device. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, a device for implementing a function of a terminal is taken as an example of a terminal device, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

(2) A network device: the access network device may also be referred to as a Radio Access Network (RAN) device, which is a device providing a wireless communication function for a terminal device. Access network equipment includes, for example but not limited to: a next generation base station (gbb) in 5G, an evolved node B (eNB), a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a Base Station Controller (BSC), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., home evolved node B or home node B, HNB), a Base Band Unit (BBU), a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP), a Transmission Point (TP), a mobile switching center, and the like. The access network device may also be a wireless controller, a Centralized Unit (CU), and/or a Distributed Unit (DU) in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario, or the network device may be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a terminal device, a wearable device, and a network device in a future 5G network or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, and the like. The terminal device may communicate with multiple access network devices of different technologies, for example, the terminal device may communicate with an access network device supporting Long Term Evolution (LTE), may communicate with an access network device supporting 5G, and may also perform dual connectivity with an access network device supporting LTE and an access network device supporting 5G. The embodiments of the present application are not limited.

In this embodiment, the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device may be a network device, or may be an apparatus capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, for example, a system on chip, and the apparatus may be installed in the network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, a device for implementing a function of a network device is taken as an example, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

(3) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated object, indicating that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, which may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or multiple.

And, unless otherwise stated, the embodiments of the present application refer to the ordinal numbers "first", "second", etc., for distinguishing a plurality of objects, and do not limit the sequence, timing, priority, or importance of the plurality of objects. For example, the first indication information and the second indication information are only for distinguishing different indication information, and do not indicate the difference in the contents, priority, transmission order, importance, or the like of the two kinds of indication information.

The embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, an advanced long term evolution (LTE-a) system, a fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) system, and possibly future communication systems, which are not specifically limited.

To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application will be first described in detail by taking the communication system shown in fig. 1a as an example. Fig. 1a is a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for the communication method according to the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1a, a network device 101 is included in the first network, a network device 102 is included in the second network, and a terminal device 103 can be registered in the first network and the second network. Illustratively, the terminal device 103 may support two user identities (such as a first user identity and a second user identity), wherein when the user identity of the terminal device 103 is the first user identity, the terminal device 103 may be understood as one user (i.e. the first user) from the perspective of the network side; when the user identity of the terminal device 103 is the second user identity, the terminal device 103 may be understood as a further user (i.e. the second user) from the perspective of the network side. The terminal device 103 may be registered with the first network with a first subscriber identity and with the second network with a second subscriber identity. In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device 103 supports two user identities, which may also be described as follows: the terminal device 103 has two user identities.

It should be noted that: (1) in fig. 1a, the example is only that the terminal device supports two subscriber identities and is registered in two networks, and in other possible embodiments, the terminal device may also support more than two subscriber identities and may be registered in more than two networks. The embodiment of the application is mainly described based on that the terminal equipment supports two user identities and is registered in two networks, and when the terminal equipment supports more than two user identities and is registered in more than two networks, the specific implementation can refer to the description that the terminal equipment supports two user identities and is registered in the two networks.

(2) In this embodiment, the "subscriber identity" (e.g., the first subscriber identity, the second subscriber identity) is a logical concept, for example, the "subscriber identity" may correspond to a SIM card or subscriber information or a virtual SIM card or a subscriber identity (e.g., International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)/Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI)). From the network side, different "user identities" logically correspond to different communication entities served by the network side, for example, a terminal device supporting two user identities, which are two communication entities for the network side. For another example, when the "user identity" corresponds to an SIM card or subscriber information, the network side may identify two terminal devices supporting different SIM cards or different subscriber information as two different communication entities, and may also identify the same terminal device supporting multiple different SIM cards or multiple subscriber information as multiple different communication entities, even though in practice, the terminal device supporting multiple different SIM cards or multiple subscriber information is only one physical entity. In the embodiment of the present application, a SIM card corresponding to a "subscriber identity" is mainly taken as an example for description.

For example, the SIM card may be understood as a key for the terminal device to access the mobile network, and for convenience of description, the SIM card and its evolution are collectively referred to as the SIM card in the embodiments of the present application. For example, the SIM card may be an identification card of a global system for mobile communications (GSM) digital mobile phone user, which is used for storing an identification code and a secret key of the user and supporting the authentication of the GSM system to the user; for example, the SIM card may be a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), which may also be referred to as an upgraded SIM card.

Referring to fig. 1b, a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown, where the terminal device may be the terminal device 103 illustrated in fig. 1 a. As shown in fig. 1b, the terminal device 103 may include: the SIM card system comprises a first SIM card interface 110, a second SIM card interface 120, a manager 140 coupled with the first SIM card interface 110 and the second SIM card interface 120, respectively, and a processor 130 coupled with the manager 140, wherein the processor 130 is connected with a transceiver 150. The processor 130 may be a baseband processor (BBP). As shown in fig. 1b, the transceiver 150 includes a radio frequency receive Rx1 path and a radio frequency transmit Tx1 path. The first SIM card interface 110 is used for installing a SIM card 1, and the second SIM card interface 120 is used for installing a SIM card 2. The processor 130 may obtain information related to the SIM card 1 and/or information related to the SIM card 2 from the manager 140, where the information related to the SIM card 1 may include user identity information corresponding to the SIM card 1, and the information related to the SIM card 2 may include user identity information corresponding to the SIM card 2. Illustratively, the processor 130 may transmit uplink packets related to the traffic of the SIM card 1 on the radio frequency Tx1 path according to the information related to the SIM card 1, or the processor 130 may transmit uplink packets related to the traffic of the SIM card 2 on the radio frequency Tx1 path according to the information related to the SIM card 2. And, the processor 130 may receive downlink data packets related to the service of the SIM card 1 or downlink data packets related to the service of the SIM card 2 on the radio frequency Rx1 path. Referring to FIG. 1c, a simplified diagram of FIG. 1b is shown. In this case, it can be understood that the SIM card 1 and the SIM card 2 share the rf Rx1 path or the rf Tx1 path.

Referring to fig. 1d, a schematic structural diagram of another terminal device provided in the embodiment of the present application is shown, where the terminal device may be the terminal device 103 illustrated in fig. 1 a. The structure of the terminal device illustrated in fig. 1d is different from that of the terminal device illustrated in fig. 1b in that in fig. 1d, the transceiver 150 includes a radio frequency Rx1 path, a radio frequency Rx2 path, and a radio frequency Tx1 path. Illustratively, the processor 130 may transmit uplink packets related to the service of the SIM card 1 or uplink packets related to the service of the SIM card 2 on the rf Tx1 path. Fig. 1e is a simplified schematic diagram of fig. 1d, which additionally shows the difference in the number of antennas. In this case, it can be understood that the first SIM card and the second SIM card have separate receiving rf paths (for example, the first SIM card corresponds to the rf Rx1 path, and the second SIM card corresponds to the rf Rx2 path), but share the rf Tx1 path.

Referring to fig. 1f, a schematic structural diagram of another terminal device provided in the embodiment of the present application is shown, where the terminal device may be the terminal device 103 illustrated in fig. 1 a. The difference between the structure of the terminal illustrated in fig. 1f and the structure of the terminal illustrated in fig. 1b is that in fig. 1f, the transceiver 150 includes a rf Rx1 path, a rf Rx2 path, a rf Tx1 path, and a rf Tx2 path. Illustratively, the processor 130 may transmit uplink packets related to the traffic of the SIM card 1 on the rf Tx1 path and the rf Tx2 path, or transmit uplink packets related to the traffic of the SIM card 2 on the rf Tx2 path. Fig. 1g is a simplified schematic diagram of fig. 1f, which shows the difference in the number of antennas. In this case, it can be understood that the first SIM card and the second SIM card have separate receiving rf paths (for example, the first SIM card corresponds to the rf Rx1 path, and the second SIM card corresponds to the rf Rx2 path), but share one of the rf Tx paths, for example, the rf Tx2 path.

Due to the diversity of the structure of the terminal device, in one example, the radio frequency path and the antenna in the terminal device may have a corresponding relationship, and in this case, when the terminal device uses a certain radio frequency path, the antenna corresponding to the radio frequency path may be used. In another example, the rf paths and antennas in the terminal device may not have a corresponding relationship, in which case, when the terminal device uses different rf paths, the same antenna or different antennas may be used. For convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present application, description is made in a unified manner from the perspective of a radio frequency path, and when a radio frequency path in a terminal device does not have a correspondence with an antenna, the radio frequency path referred to in the following may also be replaced with an antenna.

In the embodiment of the present application, the rf Tx path may also be referred to as a transmit rf resource or Transmitter (Transmitter), and the rf Rx path may also be referred to as a receive rf resource or Receiver (Receiver), which is not limited specifically.

Illustratively, the terminal device 103 may be a terminal device capable of supporting network systems of multiple operators, that is, the terminal device 103 may be a network capable of supporting multiple operators (such as two or all of china unicom, china mobile, and chinese telecommunications). Taking the SIM card 1 as an example, the terminal device 103 can determine the operator to which the SIM card 1 belongs by acquiring the identification code of the SIM card 1, and further register the user identity (for example, the first user identity) corresponding to the SIM card 1 with the network of the corresponding operator (which may also be briefly described as that the SIM card 1 is registered in the communication network). After the registration is successful, the terminal device 103 may initiate a random access process with a user identity corresponding to the SIM card 1, access a network device (for example, the network device 101 in the first network) in a network of a corresponding operator, enter a connection state, further send an uplink data packet of a service to the network device 101, and receive a downlink data packet sent by the network device 101. Taking the SIM card 2 as an example, the terminal device 103 can determine the operator to which the SIM card 2 belongs by acquiring the identification code of the SIM card 2, and further register the user identity (for example, the second user identity) corresponding to the SIM card 2 with the network of the corresponding operator. After the registration is successful, the terminal device 103 may initiate a random access process with the user identity corresponding to the SIM card 2, access a network device (such as the network device 102 in the second network) in the network of the corresponding operator, enter a connection state, further send an uplink data packet of a service to the network device 102, and receive a downlink data packet sent by the network device 101.

Taking the scenarios illustrated in fig. 1b and fig. 1c as an example, in a scenario where the terminal device 103 establishes a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the first network, when the terminal device 103 is in an RRC idle state in the second network and decides to receive or respond to a page in the second network or when the terminal device 103 needs to perform some signaling activities (e.g., periodic mobility registration update) in the second network, the terminal device 103 needs to stop part of the current activities in the first network, for example, the terminal device 103 may autonomously release an RRC connection with the first network and leave the first network, or stop communication with the first network without releasing the RRC connection or RRC connection suspension. Referring to fig. 1h, when the terminal device receives data in the second network, the terminal device may not receive data in the first network, and thus communication between the first network and the terminal device is interrupted. At this point, it is likely that the statistics in the first network are distorted, thereby misleading the algorithms that rely on these statistics. Furthermore, during the interruption of the communication between the terminal device 103 and the first network, the first network may continue to page the terminal device 103, resulting in a waste of paging resources.

Based on this, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, where a terminal device notifies, to a first network device, a first network device of information related to switching of radio frequency resources and/or baseband processing resources of the terminal device between different SIM cards with a first user identity, that is, the first network device obtains some behaviors of the terminal device supporting multiple SIM cards in a process of coordinating multiple SIM card communication, so that the awareness of a network side to the behaviors of the terminal device supporting multiple SIM cards can be improved, an unknown state of the network side to the behaviors of the terminal device supporting multiple SIM cards in the prior art is changed, miscalculation of the network side to the behaviors of the terminal device can be effectively reduced, effective communication between the terminal device and the network device is implemented, and system performance of the network is improved.

Example one

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 2, the method includes:

step 201, a terminal device establishes a connection with a first network device with a first user identity.

Illustratively, the terminal device may include a SIM card 1 and a SIM card 2, where the SIM card 1 corresponds to a first subscriber identity of the terminal device, and the SIM card 2 corresponds to a second subscriber identity of the terminal device. The networks of the operators to which the

SIM cards

1 and 2 belong may be the same or different. Taking the example that the networks of the operators to which the

SIM cards

1 and 2 belong are different (the first network and the second network, respectively), the SIM card 1 may be registered in the first network, and the SIM card 2 may be registered in the second network.

Further, after the SIM card 1 is registered in the first network, the network device in the first network may be accessed, for example, the first network device is accessed through a random access process, and then the state of the terminal device in the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs is an RRC Connected (RRC _ Connected) state.

Step 202, the terminal device sends first information to the first network device with the first user identity.

In this embodiment of the application, the first information may be SIM Adaptation Information (SAI) or other possible names, and is not limited specifically.

Exemplarily, the first information may include at least one of resource switching indication information, second indication information, and sixth indication information. The resource switching indication information may also be referred to as capability coordination information, or may have other possible names, which is not limited specifically; the resource switching indication information may include first indication information or fifth indication information, for example, the first indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal device cannot use the first resource to communicate with the first network device with the first subscriber identity (or the terminal device cannot use the first resource to communicate with the first network device with the first subscriber identity, which may be understood that the terminal device does not have the capability of using the first resource in a network to which the first subscriber identity belongs), and the fifth indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal device cannot use the first resource to communicate with the first network device with the first subscriber identity (or the terminal device can use the first resource to communicate with the first network device with the first subscriber identity, which may be understood that the terminal device has the capability of using the first resource in the network to which the first subscriber identity belongs), where the first resource includes: part or all of the radio frequency resources of the terminal equipment, and/or part or all of the baseband resources of the terminal equipment. The second indication information is used for indicating a first time length, and the first time length is a time length required by the terminal equipment for communicating with the first network equipment by using the first user identity and cannot use the first resource. Exemplarily, the unit of the first duration may be a time unit, and the time unit may be any one of a time slot, a symbol, a subframe, a time slot group, a symbol group, and a subframe group, and is not limited specifically; wherein, a slot group may include one or more slots, a symbol group may include one or more symbols, and a subframe group may include one or more subframes. Taking the unit of the first time length as a slot (slot) as an example, in this case, the first time length may be one or more slots. The sixth indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment needs to initiate random access to the second network equipment by using the first resource with the second user identity. That is, in one example, the first information may include the first indication information, and may further include the second indication information and/or the sixth indication information; in yet another example, the first information may include fifth indication information.

Illustratively, the radio frequency resources may include transmit radio frequency resources and/or receive radio frequency resources, such as in the cases illustrated in fig. 1b and 1c above, all radio frequency resources of the terminal device include a radio frequency Tx1 path, a radio frequency Rx1 path; in the above-mentioned scenarios illustrated in fig. 1d and 1e, all the radio frequency resources of the terminal device include a radio frequency Rx1 path, a radio frequency Rx2 path, and a radio frequency Tx1 path; in the above-described scenarios illustrated in fig. 1f and 1g, all of the radio frequency resources of the terminal device include the radio frequency Rx1 path, the radio frequency Rx2 path, the radio frequency Tx1 path, and the radio frequency Tx2 path. The baseband resources (which may also be referred to as baseband processing resources) may include baseband control or baseband processing resources associated with the radio frequency receive path or the radio frequency transmit path, such as switching control of the radio frequency receive path or the radio frequency transmit path, baseband filtering of received data, digital signal processing, baseband conversion of transmitted data, and so forth.

In this embodiment of the application, the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot use the first resource to communicate with the first network device with the first user identity. For example, the first indication information may indicate that the terminal device cannot use the first resource to communicate with the first network device in the first subscriber identity, for example, the first indication information may indicate that the first resource is switched from the first state to the second state, thereby implicitly indicating that the terminal device cannot use the first resource to communicate with the first network device in the first subscriber identity. When the first resource is in the first state, the first resource is used for the terminal device to communicate with the first network device in the first user identity, that is, the terminal device can use the first resource to communicate with the first network device in the first user identity; when the first resource is in the second state, the first resource is used for the terminal device to communicate with the second network device in the second user identity, that is, the terminal device cannot communicate with the first network device using the first resource in the first user identity. That is, if the first indication information indicates that the first resource is switched from the first state to the second state, it indicates that the terminal device cannot communicate with the first network device using the first resource with the first subscriber identity. For example, in the above-described cases illustrated in fig. 1b and 1c, the first resource may include a radio frequency Tx1 path and/or a radio frequency Rx1 path; in the cases illustrated in fig. 1d and 1e above, the first resource may include a radio frequency Tx1 path; in the scenario illustrated in fig. 1f and 1g above, the first resource may comprise a radio frequency Tx2 path.

The fifth indication information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment can use the first resource to communicate with the first network equipment in the first user identity. For example, the fifth indication information may indicate that the terminal device is capable of communicating with the first network device using the first resource in the first user identity, for example, the fifth indication information may indicate that the first resource is switched from the second state to the first state, thereby implicitly indicating that the terminal device is capable of communicating with the first network device using the first resource in the first user identity.

For the resource switching indication information, in an example, taking the situations illustrated in fig. 1b and fig. 1c as an example, the resource switching indication information may include 3 bits, and the meaning represented by different values of the 3 bits is described below with reference to table 1.

Table 1: resource switching indication information example

Resource switching indication information	Means of
		000	SIM adaptation is not performed
001	Radio frequency Rx1 channel switching (tuning from)
		010	Radio frequency Tx1 path cut
011	RF Rx1 path and RF Tx1 path cut
		101	Radio frequency Rx1 path switch back (tuning back)
110	Radio frequency Tx1 path switch back
		111	RF Rx1 path and RF Tx1 path switch back

In table 1, taking the value of 3 bits in the resource switching indication information sent by the terminal device as 001 for example, it indicates that the radio frequency Rx1 path is cut out, that is, the terminal device cannot use the radio frequency Rx1 path when communicating with the first network device with the first user identity, that is, the radio frequency Rx1 path is switched from the first state to the second state. Based on table 1, if the terminal device sends the first indication information (or may also be referred to as resource switching indication information 1) to the first network device with the first user identity, the value of 3 bits in the first indication information may be 001, 010, or 011; if the terminal device sends the fifth indication information (or may also be referred to as resource switching indication information 2) to the first network device with the first user identity, the value of 3 bits in the fifth indication information may be 101, 110, or 111. It should be noted that table 1 is only one possible example of meaning expressed by different values of 3 bits, and is not limited in particular.

In yet another example, taking the situations illustrated in fig. 1d and fig. 1e as an example, the resource switching indication information may include 2 bits, and the meaning represented by different values of the 2 bits is described below with reference to table 2 a.

Table 2 a: example of resource switching indication information

Resource switching indication information	Means of
		00	SIM adaptation is not performed
01	Radio frequency Tx1 via cut
		10	Radio frequency Tx1 path switch back

Based on table 2a, if the terminal device sends the first indication information (or may also be referred to as resource switching indication information 1) to the first network device with the first user identity, a value of 2 bits in the first indication information may be 01; if the terminal device sends the fifth indication information (or may also be referred to as resource switching indication information 2) to the first network device with the first user identity, the value of 2 bits in the fifth indication information may be 10. It should be noted that table 2a is only one possible example of the meaning represented by different values of 2 bits, and is not limited in particular.

In yet another example, taking the situations illustrated in fig. 1d and fig. 1e as an example, the resource switching indication information may include 2 bits, where 1 bit indicates a radio frequency resource where switching occurs, and another 1 bit indicates a switching direction. The meaning of the different values of the 2 bits is described below in connection with table 2 b.

Table 2 b: example of resource switching indication information

In another example, taking the situations illustrated in fig. 1f and fig. 1g as an example, the resource switching indication information may include 2 bits, and the meaning represented by different values of the 2 bits is described below with reference to table 3.

Table 3: example of resource switching indication information

In table 3, if the terminal device sends the first indication information (or may also be referred to as resource switching indication information 1) to the first network device with the first user identity, the value of 2 bits in the first indication information may be 01; if the terminal device sends the fifth indication information (or may also be referred to as resource switching indication information 2) to the first network device in the first user identity, a value of 2 bits in the fifth indication information may be 10. It should be noted that table 3 is only one possible example of the meaning represented by different values of 2 bits, and is not limited in particular.

With respect to the second indication information, in one example, the second indication information may indicate a number of time units, such as a number of time slots. For example, the second indication information includes 3 bits, and when a value of the 3 bits is not 0, the indicated value represents the number of the time slots, for example, 001 represents 1 time slot, and 010 represents 2 time slots, which is not limited specifically. For example, when the value of the 3 bits is 000, it may represent that the duration that the terminal device cannot use the first resource in communication with the first network device with the first subscriber identity is an uncertain duration.

In another example, a plurality of possible durations may be preconfigured, for example, 4 possible durations (duration 1, duration 2, duration 3, and duration 4) may be preconfigured, and the second indication information may include 2 bits, and one value of the 2 bits corresponds to one preconfigured duration, as shown in table 4.

Table 4: example of second indication information

Second indication information	Means of
		00	Duration 1
01	Duration 2
		10	Duration 3
11	Duration 4

In table 4, when the value of 2 bits in the second indication information is 00, the duration is 1, and in this case, the first duration is duration 1; when the value of 2 bits is 01, the corresponding duration is 2, and in this case, the first duration is 2; when the value of 2 bits is 10, the corresponding duration is 3, and in this case, the first duration is 3; when the value of 2 bits is 11, the corresponding duration is 4, and in this case, the first duration is 4.

For the sixth indication information, in an example, the sixth indication information may include 1 bit, and when a value of the 1 bit is 1, it represents that the terminal device needs to initiate random access to the second network device using the first resource with the second user identity; when the value of the 1 bit is 0, the representative terminal device does not need to use the first resource to initiate random access to the second network device with the second user identity.

In this embodiment of the application, there may be multiple implementation manners in which the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device with the first user identity, and 3 possible implementation manners are described below (see implementation manner 1, implementation manner 2, and implementation manner 3).

In one possible implementation (referred to as implementation 1), the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device using the uplink control channel resource with the first user identity. The uplink control channel resource may be a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource (or may also be referred to as a resource occupied by the PUCCH).

In one example of this implementation, the PUCCH resource may be an uplink resource allocated exclusively for the first information by the first network device, in which case the first information is transmitted on the PUCCH resource alone. In another example of this implementation, the PUCCH resource may be an uplink resource allocated by the first network device for existing Uplink Control Information (UCI), and the existing UCI may include Scheduling Request (SR), hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback information, and Channel State Information (CSI). In this case, the first information and the existing UCI may be jointly transmitted on the PUCCH resource. Taking the existing UCI including hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback information as an example, the joint transmission of the first information and the HARQ feedback information on the PUCCH resource may be understood as: (1) transmitting the first information and the HARQ feedback information on the PUCCH resource in a puncturing (puncturing) manner, where the HARQ feedback information and the first information may be independently encoded, and a coding parameter of the HARQ feedback information may be the same as a coding parameter when the HARQ feedback information is separately transmitted on the PUCCH resource; or, (2) sending the first information and the HARQ feedback information on the PUCCH resource in a rate matching manner, where the HARQ feedback information and the first information may be independently coded, where a coding parameter of the HARQ feedback information is different from a coding parameter when the HARQ feedback information is sent on the PUCCH resource separately, and the HARQ feedback information and the first information may have different power control or coding (e.g., rate matching) parameters; or, (3) performing joint coding on the HARQ feedback information and the first information, and sending the joint coded information on the PUCCH resource.

For example, when the HARQ codebook (codebook) corresponding to the first user identity is a Type 1(Type1) HARQ codebook (semi-static HARQ codebook) or a Type2HARQ codebook (dynamic HARQ codebook), information bits of the first information may be added before or after the HARQ codebook. Exemplarily, the first information and the HARQ feedback information may have the same priority, or the first information has a higher priority than the HARQ feedback information. By adopting the method, the terminal equipment can send the first information on the uplink resource allocated by the first network equipment for the HARQ feedback information of the terminal equipment, so that the transmission resource of the uplink information can be effectively saved.

Illustratively, it may be determined by the first network device through configuration whether the first information may be jointly transmitted with the UCI (such as HARQ feedback information). For example, the first network device sends seventh indication information to the terminal device, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate the terminal device to jointly send the first information and the UCI by using the PUCCH resource; accordingly, after receiving the seventh indication information, the terminal device may jointly transmit the first information and the UCI using the PUCCH resource.

In yet another possible implementation manner (referred to as implementation manner 2), the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device using the uplink data channel resource with the first user identity. The uplink data channel resource may be a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) resource (or may also be referred to as a resource occupied by a PUSCH).

In one example of this implementation, the PUSCH resources may be uplink resources allocated exclusively by the first network device for the first information, in which case the first information is transmitted separately on the PUSCH resources. In yet another example of this implementation, the PUSCH resources may be uplink resources allocated by the first network device for uplink data information, in which case the first information and the uplink data information may be jointly transmitted on the PUSCH resources. The joint transmission of the first information and the uplink data information on the PUSCH resource can be understood as follows: (1) sending first information and uplink data information in a punching mode; or, (2) sending the first information and the uplink data information in a rate matching mode; or, (3) the first information and the uplink data information are jointly encoded, and the jointly encoded information is transmitted on the PUSCH resource.

Illustratively, it may be determined by the first network device through configuration whether the first information may be jointly transmitted with the upstream data information. For example, the first network device sends eighth indication information to the terminal device, where the eighth indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first information and the uplink data information by using a PUSCH resource; accordingly, after receiving the eighth indication information, the terminal device may jointly transmit the first information and the uplink data information by using the PUSCH resource.

With respect to the foregoing implementation 1 and implementation 2, it should be noted that (1) when the terminal device is performing downlink data transmission with a first user identity (i.e., has PUCCH resources), the terminal device may send the first information by using the foregoing implementation 1; when the terminal device is performing uplink data transmission with the first user identity (i.e. has PUSCH resources), the terminal device may employ implementation 2 described above to send the first information; when the terminal device performs downlink data transmission with the first user identity and performs uplink data transmission with the first user identity (that is, the terminal device has both PUCCH resources and PUSCH resources), the terminal device may use one of the resources to report, or send the first information on the PUCCH resource and the PUSCH resource according to a certain criterion.

(2) When the terminal device transmits the first information in the above-described manner 1, the terminal device may periodically transmit the first information. For example, the PUCCH resource may be a periodic resource, and the first network device may configure PUCCH resource information for the terminal device, for example, the PUCCH resource information may include start time information and a period of the PUCCH resource; accordingly, the terminal device may determine a periodic transmission timing after acquiring the configured PUCCH resource information, and send the first information at the transmission timing. That is, the terminal device may periodically or aperiodically transmit the first information: when the terminal equipment periodically transmits the first information, the PUCCH resource can be used; when the terminal apparatus aperiodically transmits the first information, the PUSCH resource may be used.

In yet another possible implementation (referred to as implementation 3), the terminal device transmits a Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) to the first network device with the first user identity, the MAC CE including the first information. The MAC CE may be a newly defined MAC CE in the embodiment of the present application, and the first information is sent by the newly defined MAC CE, so that the information expansion is more convenient, and the influence on the standard is smaller.

Illustratively, a MAC PDU consists of one or more MAC sub-PDUs (sub-PDUs). Each MAC subppdu contains one of: MAC-only subheaders (including padding); MAC subheader and MAC SDU; MAC subheader and MAC CE; MAC subheader and padding. Each MAC subheader corresponds to a MAC SDU, MAC CE or padding. In one example, the MAC subheader consists of four header fields R/F/LCID/L, which is primarily for MAC subheaders other than fixed-size MAC CE, padding, and MAC SDU containing uplink common control channel (UL CCCH); in yet another example, the MAC subheader consists of two header fields R/LCID, which is primarily a MAC subheader for a fixed size MAC CE, padding, and MAC SDUs containing UL CCCH. The LCID is a logical channel ID and represents a logical channel instance of a corresponding MAC SDU or a corresponding MAC CE or a filling type, each MAC subheader is provided with an LCID field, and the size of the LCID field is 6 bits; l is a length field indicating the length (in bytes) of a corresponding MAC SDU or variable-size MAC CE, one L field per MAC subheader except for a MAC subheader corresponding to a fixed-size MAC CE, padding, and a MAC SDU containing UL CCCH, the size of the L field being indicated by the F field; f is a format field indicating the size of the length field. Each MAC subheader has an F field, except for a subheader corresponding to a fixed size MAC CE, padding and MAC SDU containing UL CCCH. The size of the F field is 1 bit, when the value is 0, the length field is represented as 8 bits, and when the value is 1, the length field is represented as 16 bits; r is a reserved bit set to 0.

The MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE newly defined in the embodiment of the present application includes an LCID, where the LCID is used to indicate that the MAC CE includes the first information. In an example, the value of the LCID may be any one of values 33 to 51, and is not limited specifically. For example, the MAC CE may be sent as a separate MAC PDU, or may be sent together with other MAC SDUs, which is not limited specifically.

For example, the newly defined MAC CE in the embodiment of the present application may be a fixed-length MAC CE or may also be a variable-length MAC CE. In one example, referring to fig. 3a, the MAC CE with a fixed length of 1 byte may include R, A, an Adaptation duration (Adaptation duration), and an Adaptation Item (Adaptation Item), where R represents a reserved bit, a represents sixth indication information, the Adaptation duration represents second indication information, and the Adaptation Item represents resource switch indication information. In yet another example, referring to fig. 3b, the MAC CE with a fixed length of 1 byte may include R, A, an Adaptation duration, D, and an Adaptation Item, where R represents a reserved bit, a represents sixth indication information, an Adaptation duration represents second indication information, and D and the Adaptation Item represent resource switch indication information. Taking the situation illustrated in the above table 2b as an example, D may be a bit for indicating the switching direction, and when the value of D is 1, it indicates to switch out, and when the value of D is 0, it indicates to switch back.

It should be noted that, when the first information includes the first indication information, the second indication information, and the sixth indication information, the terminal device may send the first indication information, the second indication information, and the sixth indication information through one message, or may send the first indication information, the second indication information, and the sixth indication information through different messages. For example, the terminal device may send the first indication information, the second indication information, and the sixth indication information through a message 1 carried on a PUCCH (or PUSCH) resource 1; alternatively, the terminal device may also send the first indication information through a message 1 carried on a PUCCH (or PUSCH) resource 1, and send the second indication information and the sixth indication information through a message 2 carried on a PUCCH (or PUSCH) resource 2; still alternatively, the terminal device may transmit the first indication information through a message 1 carried on a PUCCH (or PUSCH) resource 1, transmit the second indication information through a message 2 carried on a PUCCH (or PUSCH resource 2), and transmit the sixth indication information through a message 3 carried on a PDCCH (or PUSCH) resource 3.

In the embodiment of the application, the first information is sent to the first network device through the terminal device, so that the first network device knows the switching of the radio frequency resource and/or the baseband processing resource of the terminal device between different SIM cards, that is, the first network device definitely supports some behaviors of the terminal device of multiple SIM cards in the process of coordinating the communication of the multiple SIM cards, thereby improving the awareness of the network side on the behaviors of the terminal device supporting the multiple SIM cards, changing the unknown state of the network side on the behaviors of the terminal device supporting the multiple SIM cards in the prior art, effectively reducing the miscalculation of the network side on the behaviors of the terminal device, realizing the effective communication between the terminal device and the network device, and improving the system performance of the network.

In an example, the first information sent by the terminal device to the first network device with the first subscriber identity in step 202 may include the first indication information, and may further include, for example, the second indication information and/or the third indication information, for example, if the terminal device needs to perform regular sending and/or receiving processing (e.g., paging reception or neighbor cell measurement) on the SIM card 2, the second indication information may be included in the first information.

In the embodiment of the present application, there may be multiple trigger reasons for the terminal device to send the first indication information to the first network device in the first user identity. For example, the state of the terminal device in the system where the SIM card 1 is located is RRC _ Connected, and the state of the system where the SIM card 2 is located is a radio resource control Idle state (RRC _ Idle), and when the terminal device needs to receive a paging message with a second user identity or randomly access a second network device, the terminal device may send first indication information to the first network device with the first user identity; for another example, the state of the terminal device in the system where the SIM card 1 is located is RRC _ Connected, and the state of the system where the SIM card 2 is located is radio resource control deactivation dynamic (RRC _ inactive), and when the terminal device needs to perform data transmission with the second network device in the second subscriber identity, the terminal device may send the first indication information to the first network device in the first subscriber identity.

Step 203, the first network device sends the third indication information and/or the fourth indication information to the terminal device.

Accordingly, in step 204, the terminal device receives the third indication information and/or the fourth indication information sent by the first network device. The third indication information is used for indicating a second resource, and the second resource comprises a radio frequency resource and/or a baseband processing resource used for the terminal device to communicate with the first network device in the first user identity; the fourth indication information is used for indicating a second time length, and the second time length is a time length which allows the terminal device to communicate with the first network device by using the first user identity and cannot use the first resource.

In step 205, the terminal device sends fifth indication information to the first network device with the first user identity, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can use the first resource when communicating with the first network device with the first user identity.

Accordingly, in step 206, the first network device receives the fifth indication information sent by the terminal device with the first user identity.

Exemplarily, if it is determined that the duration that the terminal device cannot use the first resource to communicate with the first network device with the first user identity is greater than or equal to the third duration, the terminal device sends the fifth indication information to the first network device. In an example, if the terminal device receives fourth indication information sent by the first network device, the third duration may be equal to a second duration indicated by the fourth indication information; if the terminal device does not receive the fourth indication information sent by the first network device (or the first network device does not send the fourth indication information to the terminal device), and the first information includes the second indication information, the third duration may be equal to the first duration indicated by the second indication information.

In the embodiment of the present application, the steps 203 to 206 are optional steps, that is, in a specific implementation, the steps 203 to 206 may be executed or may not be executed. Several possible examples are described below for implementation 1 and implementation 2, respectively, to illustrate a scenario in which some or all of steps 203-206 are performed.

In a possible implementation manner (referred to as implementation manner 1), after the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device with the first user identity, corresponding operation may be directly performed based on the first information without waiting for a response of the first network device. By adopting the mode, the terminal equipment does not need to wait for the response of the first network equipment, so that the information interaction between the terminal equipment and the first network equipment can be effectively saved, and the transmission resource is further saved.

Several examples of this implementation are described below in conjunction with scenario 1, where scenario 1 refers to: taking the situation illustrated in fig. 1d and 1e as an example, the terminal device communicates with the first network device using the rf Tx1 path with the first subscriber identity, and it is assumed that the first information includes the first indication information (indicating that the rf Tx1 path is cut out) and the second indication information (indicating that the first duration is 3 slots).

Based on the above scenario 1, in an example of this implementation, after the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device with the first user identity, the radio frequency Tx1 path may be directly cut out; if the time length for switching the radio frequency Tx1 channel is determined to reach the first time length (such as 3 time slots), switching the radio frequency Tx1 channel back; further, the terminal device may send the fifth indication information to the first network device with the first user identity, or may not send the fifth indication information to the first network device with the first user identity. It should be noted that, in this example, if the first information assumed in scenario 1 includes the first indication information and does not include the second indication information, after the terminal device switches back the radio frequency Tx1 path, the terminal device may send the fifth indication information to the first network device in the first user identity. In this example, steps 203 and 204 are not performed; whether the steps 205 and 206 need to be executed or not may depend on the content included in the first information, for example, if the first information includes the second indication information, the steps 205 and 206 may or may not be executed, and if the first information does not include the second indication information, the steps 205 and 206 need to be executed.

Based on scenario 1 above, in yet another example of this implementation, after the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device with the first user identity, the radio frequency Tx1 path may be directly switched out; accordingly, after receiving the first information, the first network device may send fourth indication information (indicating that the second duration is 2 timeslots) to the terminal device. After receiving the fourth indication information sent by the first network device, the terminal device switches back the radio frequency Tx1 path if it is determined that the duration for switching out the radio frequency Tx1 path reaches the second duration (i.e., 2 slots); further, the terminal device may send the fifth indication information to the first network device with the first user identity, or may not send the fifth indication information to the first network device with the first user identity. In this example, step 203 and step 204 are performed; step 205 and step 206 may or may not be performed.

In yet another possible implementation manner (referred to as implementation manner 2), after the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device with the first user identity, it needs to wait for a response of the first network device, and perform a corresponding operation based on the response of the first network device. In this way, the terminal device needs to wait for the response of the first network device to execute the corresponding operation, so that the first network device can control the operation of the terminal device, which is beneficial to ensuring the normal execution of the service.

Several examples of this implementation are described below in connection with scenario 1.

Based on the foregoing scenario 1, in an example of this implementation, the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device with the first user identity, and accordingly, after receiving the first information, if the first network device rejects the radio frequency Tx1 path to be switched out, the first network device may not send a corresponding response to the terminal device. Furthermore, if the terminal device does not receive the response of the first network device within the set time period, it is known that the first network device rejects the radio frequency Tx1 path switching, and at this time, the terminal device does not switch the radio frequency Tx1 path. The set time period may be set by a person skilled in the art according to experience and actual needs, and is not limited specifically. In this example, steps 203 to 206 are not performed.

Based on the foregoing scenario 1, in yet another example of this implementation, the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device with the first user identity, and accordingly, after the first network device receives the first information, if the radio frequency Tx1 path is rejected to be switched out, the third indication information may be sent to the terminal device, where the second resource indicated by the third indication information includes a radio frequency Tx1 path. Furthermore, after receiving the third indication information sent by the first network device, the terminal device learns that the first network device rejects the radio frequency Tx1 path switching, and at this time, the terminal device does not switch the radio frequency Tx1 path. In this example, step 203 and step 204 are performed; step 205 and step 206 are not performed.

Based on scenario 1 above, in yet another example of this implementation, the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device with the first subscriber identity, and accordingly, after receiving the first information, the first network device may send fourth indication information (indicating that the second duration is 2 time slots) to the terminal device if the radio frequency Tx1 path is agreed to be switched out. And after receiving the fourth indication information sent by the first network device, the terminal device switches out the radio frequency Tx1 path. If the terminal equipment determines that the switching-out time length of the radio frequency Tx1 channel reaches a second time length (namely 2 time slots), switching back the radio frequency Tx1 channel; further, the terminal device may send the fifth indication information to the first network device with the first user identity, or may not send the fifth indication information to the first network device with the first user identity. In this example, step 203 and step 204 are performed; step 205 and step 206 may or may not be performed.

Several examples of this implementation are described below in conjunction with scenario 2, where scenario 2 refers to: taking the situation illustrated in fig. 1f and 1g as an example, the terminal device communicates with the first network device using the radio frequency Tx1 path and the radio frequency Tx2 path with the first user identity, and it is assumed that the first information includes first indication information (indicating that the radio frequency Tx2 path is switched out) and second indication information (indicating that the first duration is 3 slots).

Based on the foregoing scenario 2, in an example of this implementation, the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device with the first user identity, and accordingly, after receiving the first information, if the first network device rejects the radio frequency Tx2 path switching, the terminal device may not send the corresponding information. Furthermore, if the terminal device does not receive the response of the first network device within the set time period, it knows that the first network device rejects the radio frequency Tx2 channel switching, and at this time, the terminal device does not switch the radio frequency Tx2 channel. In this example, steps 203 to 206 are not performed.

Based on the foregoing scenario 2, in yet another example of this implementation, the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device with the first user identity, and accordingly, after the first network device receives the first information, if the radio frequency Tx1 path is rejected to be cut out, the third indication information may be sent to the terminal device, where the second resource indicated by the third indication information includes a radio frequency Tx1 path and a radio frequency Tx2 path. Furthermore, after receiving the third indication information sent by the first network device, the terminal device learns that the first network device rejects the radio frequency Tx2 channel switch-out, and at this time, the terminal device does not switch out the radio frequency Tx2 channel any more. In this example, step 203 and step 204 are performed; step 205 and step 206 are not performed.

Based on the foregoing scenario 2, in yet another example of this implementation, the terminal device sends the first information to the first network device with the first user identity, and accordingly, after receiving the first information, if the first network device agrees to switch out the radio frequency Tx2 path, the terminal device may send third indication information and fourth indication information (indicating that the second duration is 2 slots), where the second resource indicated by the third indication information includes the radio frequency Tx1 path. Furthermore, after receiving the third indication information and the fourth indication information sent by the first network device, the terminal device may switch out the rf Tx2 path. If the terminal equipment determines that the switching-out time length of the radio frequency Tx2 channel reaches a second time length (namely 2 time slots), switching back the radio frequency Tx2 channel; further, the terminal device may send the fifth indication information to the first network device with the first user identity, or may not send the fifth indication information to the first network device with the first user identity. In this example, steps 203 and 204 are performed; step 205 and step 206 may or may not be performed.

It should be noted that: (1) in various possible examples described above, after the terminal device switches the first resource from the first state to the second state (or switches the first resource out), the terminal device may use the first resource to communicate with the second network device in the second subscriber identity, for example, only receive data from the second network device (e.g., listen to a paging message or perform cell policy), or may also send data to the second network device. The terminal device communicates with the second network device using the first resource with the second user identity, which may be communication in an expected time period (such as listening to paging messages or performing cell policy), or may be communication in an unexpected time period (such as making a call).

(2) The above description has only described the behavior of the first network device from the perspective of the terminal device communicating with the first network device. In other possible embodiments, for example, after the first network device learns that the radio frequency resource and/or the baseband processing resource of the terminal device are switched between different SIM cards according to the first information, the first network device may adjust resource allocation, Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) selection, and the like in time, so as to improve the transmission efficiency of the system; in the embodiment of the present application, a behavior executed by the first network device according to the first information to improve the transmission efficiency is not limited. For another example, after receiving the first information, if the first information includes the second indication information, the first network device may perform a corresponding operation according to the second indication information, and if the duration indicated by the second indication information is shorter, the first network device may not perform uplink or downlink scheduling within the duration indicated by the second indication information; if the duration indicated by the second indication information is long, the state of the terminal device in the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs may be transferred from RRC _ connected to RRC _ inactive or RRC _ idle. For another example, after the first network device receives the first information, the working state of the terminal device may be marked, and the relevant statistical information of the terminal device is not continued (or suspended).

A possible implementation flow of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to the second embodiment.

Example two

In the second embodiment, the terminal device supports a SIM card 1 (corresponding to the first subscriber identity) and a SIM card 2 (corresponding to the second subscriber identity), and only one rf Rx1 path is configured in the terminal device, such as the situations illustrated in fig. 1b and fig. 1 c. The terminal device may operate on different frequencies for the first subscriber identity and the second subscriber identity, and the rf Rx1 path may receive data centered at a frequency and within a reception bandwidth.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 4, includes:

in step 401, the terminal device communicates with the first network device in the system to which the SIM card 1 belongs (or the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs, that is, the first network), where the terminal device is in RRC _ connected.

In step 402, the terminal device sends first information to the first network device with the first subscriber identity, for example, the first information may include first indication information (for example, 001 in table 1) for indicating that the radio Rx1 path is cut out.

Step 403, after receiving the first information, the first network device sends fourth indication information to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information indicates that the second duration is 2 slots.

Exemplarily, the first network device may also perform other possible operations, such as transferring the state of the terminal device in the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs from RRC _ connected to RRC _ inactive or RRC _ idle, and suspending statistics related to the terminal device.

In step 404, the terminal device switches the rf Rx1 path from the associated SIM card 1 to the associated SIM card 2.

That is, the terminal device may receive the data transmitted by the second network device through the rf Rx1 path with the second subscriber identity, and cannot receive the data transmitted by the first network device through the rf Rx1 path with the first subscriber identity any more.

In step 405, after determining that the time length for switching the radio frequency Rx1 path reaches 2 time slots, the terminal device switches the radio frequency Rx1 path back to the associated SIM card 1, that is, the terminal device may receive data sent by the first network device through the radio frequency Rx1 path with the first user identity, and cannot receive data sent by the second network device through the radio frequency Rx1 path with the second user identity any more.

The first network device resumes communication with the terminal device, step 406. For example, if the first network device transfers the state of the terminal device in the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs from RRC _ controlled to RRC _ inactive or RRC _ idle in step 403, the first network device needs to transfer the state of the terminal device in the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs to RRC _ controlled, and then perform data transmission and reception. If the first network device suspends the statistics related to the terminal device in step 403, the statistics related to the terminal device may be continued at this time.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a switching process of the rf Rx1 path according to the second embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 5:

in the process 1, the terminal device communicates with the first network device in the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs, for example, receives downlink data sent by the first network device. Illustratively, the terminal device may send the first information to the first network device, for example, the first information may include first indication information (e.g. 001 in table 1) for indicating that the rf Rx1 path is cut out, and accordingly, the first network device may send fourth indication information to the terminal device, for example, a solid line labeled as (r) in fig. 5 represents that the first network device sends the fourth indication information to the terminal device. After receiving the fourth indication information, the terminal device may switch the radio frequency Rx1 path from the associated SIM card 1 to the associated SIM card 2. Process 1 in fig. 5 may correspond to steps 401 through 403 in fig. 4.

In the process 2, the terminal device may communicate with the second network device in the network to which the SIM card 2 belongs, for example, receive downlink data sent by the second network device, for example, a solid line labeled in fig. 5 represents that the terminal device receives the downlink data sent by the second network device, and a dotted line labeled in fig. 5 represents that the terminal device cannot receive the downlink data sent by the first network device. Process 2 in fig. 5 may correspond to step 404 in fig. 4.

In the process 3, after determining that the time length for switching the radio Rx1 path reaches 2 time slots, the terminal device switches the radio Rx1 path back to the associated SIM card 1, and then the terminal device may communicate with the first network device in the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs, for example, receive downlink data sent by the first network device, for example, a solid line labeled with r in fig. 5 represents that the terminal device receives downlink data sent by the first network device. Process 3 in fig. 5 may correspond to steps 405 through 406 in fig. 4.

After the process 3, the terminal device may further switch the rf Rx1 path from the SIM card 1 to the SIM card 2 again (corresponding to the process 4), and switch the rf Rx1 path back to the SIM card 1 again (corresponding to the process 5), which is not described in detail again.

A possible implementation flow of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to the third embodiment.

EXAMPLE III

In the third embodiment, the terminal device supports a SIM card 1 (corresponding to the first subscriber identity) and a SIM card 2 (corresponding to the second subscriber identity), and the terminal device is configured with two radio frequency receiving paths (a radio frequency Rx1 path and a radio frequency Rx2 path, respectively) and two radio frequency transmitting paths (a radio frequency Tx1 path and a radio frequency Tx2 path, respectively), where the radio frequency Tx2 path corresponds to the SIM card 2, and when the SIM card 2 does not use the radio frequency Tx2 path, the resource may be shared for use by the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs. Such as the situation illustrated in fig. 1f and 1g described above.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in the third embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 6, the method includes:

step 601, the terminal device communicates with the first network device in the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs, and at this time, the terminal device is in RRC _ connected. The terminal device may transmit data using the radio frequency Tx1 path and the radio frequency Tx2 path.

In step 602, the terminal device sends first information to the first network device with the first user identity, for example, the first information may include first indication information (e.g. 01 in table 3) for indicating that the radio frequency Tx2 path is cut out, i.e. the radio frequency transmission path is changed from two (i.e. the radio frequency Tx1 path and the radio frequency Tx2 path) to 1 (i.e. the radio frequency Tx1 path).

Step 603, after receiving the first information, the first network device sends fourth indication information to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information indicates that the second duration is 2 slots.

In step 604, the terminal device switches the rf Tx2 path from the associated SIM card 1 to the associated SIM card 2, that is, the terminal device may transmit data to the second network device through the rf Tx2 path with the second user identity, and cannot transmit data to the first network device through the rf Tx2 path with the first user identity any more.

In step 605, after determining that the time length of the radio frequency Tx2 channel switching-out reaches 2 timeslots, the terminal device switches the radio frequency Tx2 channel back to the associated SIM card 1, that is, the terminal device may transmit data to the first network device through the radio frequency Tx1 and Tx2 channels with the first user identity, and cannot transmit data to the second network device through the radio frequency Tx2 channel with the second user identity.

Step 606, the first network device resumes communication with the terminal device.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a switching flow of the rf Tx2 path according to the third embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 7:

in the process 1, the terminal device communicates with the first network device by using the rf Tx1 path and the rf Tx2 path in the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs, for example, a solid line marked with (r) in fig. 7 represents that the terminal device transmits uplink data to the first network device by using the rf Tx1 path and the rf Tx2 path. Illustratively, the terminal device may send the first information to the first network device, for example, the first information may include first indication information (e.g. 01 in table 3) for indicating the radio frequency Tx2 path switching, and accordingly, the first network device may send fourth indication information to the terminal device. After receiving the fourth indication information, the terminal device may switch the rf Tx2 path from the associated SIM card 1 to the associated SIM card 2. Process 1 in fig. 7 may correspond to steps 601 to 603 in fig. 6.

In the process 2, the terminal device may communicate with the second network device using the radio frequency Tx2 path in the network to which the SIM card 2 belongs, for example, transmit uplink data to the second network device using the radio frequency Tx2 path, and the terminal device may communicate with the first network device using the radio frequency Tx1 path in the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs, for example, transmit uplink data to the first network device using the radio frequency Tx1 path, for example, a solid line labeled in fig. 7 represents that the terminal device transmits uplink data to the second network device using the radio frequency Tx2 path, and a dotted line labeled in (iii) represents that the terminal device transmits uplink data to the first network device using the radio frequency Tx1 path. Process 2 in fig. 7 may correspond to step 604 in fig. 6.

In process 3, after determining that the time length for switching the radio frequency Rx2 path reaches 2 time slots, the terminal device switches the radio frequency Rx2 path back to the associated SIM card 1, and further the terminal device may use the radio frequency Tx1 path and the radio frequency Tx2 path to communicate with the first network device in the network to which the SIM card 1 belongs, for example, send uplink data to the first network device, for example, a solid line marked with "r" in fig. 7 represents that the terminal device sends uplink data to the first network device by using the radio frequency Tx1 path and the radio frequency Tx2 path. Process 3 in fig. 7 may correspond to steps 605 through 606 in fig. 6.

For the above, it should be noted that: (1) the step numbers in fig. 2, fig. 4 and fig. 6 are only numbers for convenience of description, and do not limit the execution sequence of the steps; in the above steps, there is no strict execution sequence between steps without timing dependency relationship, and the execution sequence can be adjusted according to actual situations. The steps in fig. 2, fig. 4 and fig. 6 are not necessary to execute the steps in the flow, and may be omitted in the specific implementation according to actual needs.

(2) The resource switching described in the embodiments of the present application may also be understood as capability coordination, for example, the radio frequency resource and/or the baseband processing resource of the terminal device is switched between different SIM cards, which may mean that the capability of the terminal device using the radio frequency resource and/or the baseband processing resource is adaptively coordinated between different SIM cards.

(3) After the terminal device registers in the first network with the subscriber identity corresponding to the SIM card 1, a cell in the first network (for example, a cell belonging to the first network device) may provide a service for the terminal device, or multiple cells in the first network may provide a service for the terminal device; the plurality of cells may be cells belonging to the same network device (e.g., a first network device) in the first network, which may be understood as Carrier Aggregation (CA), or may be cells belonging to different network devices in the first network, which may be understood as Dual Connectivity (DC). Similarly, after the terminal device is registered in the second network with the subscriber identity corresponding to the SIM card 2, the terminal device may be subsequently served by one cell in the second network, or may also be served by multiple cells in the second network.

(4) In the first, second, and third embodiments, when the terminal device communicates with the first network device (for example, the terminal device sends the first indication information or the fifth indication information, and the first network device sends the third indication information or the fourth indication information), the communication may be performed on one or more cells configured for the terminal device by the first network; when the terminal device and the second network device communicate, the terminal device may perform the communication on one or more cells configured for the terminal device by the second network, or may perform the communication on a camping cell selected by the terminal device in the second network (for example, the terminal device initiates a random access procedure in the second network, which may be performed on the camping cell), which is not limited specifically.

The foregoing introduces the solution provided in the embodiment of the present application mainly from the perspective of interaction between a network device and a terminal device. It is understood that, in order to implement the above functions, the network device or the terminal device may include a corresponding hardware structure and/or software module for performing each function. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the various illustrative components and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed in hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In case of integrated units (modules), fig. 8 shows a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus involved in the embodiments of the present application, which apparatus 800 may be present in the form of software. The apparatus 800 may comprise: a processing unit 802 and a communication unit 803. The processing unit 802 is configured to control and manage operations of the apparatus 800. The communication unit 803 is used to support communication of the apparatus 800 with other network entities. Optionally, the communication unit 803, also referred to as a transceiving unit, may include a receiving unit and/or a transmitting unit for performing receiving and transmitting operations, respectively. The apparatus 800 may further comprise a storage unit 801 for storing program codes and/or data of the apparatus 800.

The processing unit 802 may be, among other things, a processor or controller that may implement or execute the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiment disclosure herein. The communication unit 803 may be a communication interface, a transceiver, or a transceiver circuit, etc., wherein the communication interface is referred to as a generic term, and in a specific implementation, the communication interface may include a plurality of interfaces. The storage unit 801 may be a memory.

The apparatus 800 may be the terminal device in any of the above embodiments, or may also be a chip disposed in the terminal device. The processing unit 802 may enable the apparatus 800 to perform the actions of the terminal device in the above method examples. Alternatively, the processing unit 802 mainly performs internal actions of the terminal device in the method example, and the communication unit 803 may support communication between the apparatus 800 and the network device. For example, the communication unit 803 is configured to perform step 201, step 202, step 204, and step 205 in fig. 2, and step 401, step 402, and step 408 in fig. 4; the processing unit 802 is configured to perform steps 404 and 405 in fig. 4.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the communication unit 803 is configured to establish a connection with a network device in the first user identity; and sending first indication information to the network device by using the first subscriber identity, where the first indication information is used to indicate that communication with the network device cannot be performed by using a first resource by using the first subscriber identity, where the first resource includes: some or all of the radio frequency resources of the terminal device, and/or some or all of the baseband resources of the terminal device.

In one possible design, the at least one mode includes two or more modes; the communication unit 803 is further configured to: and receiving second information sent by the network equipment, wherein the second information is used for indicating that the mode of the cross-cell monitoring control channel is the first mode.

In one possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: and sending second indication information to the network equipment by using the first user identity, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating a first time length, and the first time length is the time length required by the first user identity for being incapable of using the first resource to communicate with the network equipment.

In one possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: receiving third indication information and/or fourth indication information sent by the network equipment; the third indication information is used for indicating a second resource, where the second resource includes a radio frequency resource and/or a baseband processing resource used for communicating with the network device with the first subscriber identity; the fourth indication information is used to indicate a second duration, where the second duration is a duration that allows the first user identity to be unable to use the first resource to communicate with the network device.

In one possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: and sending fifth indication information to the network equipment in the first user identity, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating that the first resource can be used when the first user identity is used for communication with the network equipment.

In a possible design, if the processing unit 802 determines that the duration that the first resource cannot be used for communication with the network device with the first subscriber identity is greater than or equal to a third duration, the communication unit 803 sends a fifth indication message to the network device.

In one possible design, the communication unit 803 is specifically configured to: and sending the first indication information to the network equipment by using the uplink control channel resource or the uplink data channel resource with the first user identity.

In one possible design, the communication unit 803 is specifically configured to: and sending a media access control element (MAC CE) to the network equipment in the first user identity, wherein the MAC CE comprises the first indication information.

The apparatus 800 may also be the network device (such as the first network device) in any of the above embodiments, or may also be a chip disposed in the network device (such as the first network device). The processing unit 802 may enable the apparatus 800 to perform the actions of the first network device in the above method examples. Alternatively, the processing unit 802 mainly performs the internal actions of the first network device in the method example, and the communication unit 803 may support communication between the apparatus 800 and the terminal device. For example, the communication unit 803 is configured to perform step 203 and step 208 in fig. 2, and step 403 and step 408 in fig. 4.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the communication unit 803 is configured to: establishing connection with the terminal equipment; and receiving first indication information sent by the terminal device with a first user identity, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot communicate with the network device using a first resource with the first user identity, where the first resource includes: and part or all of radio frequency resources of the terminal equipment, and/or part or all of baseband resources of the terminal equipment.

In one possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: and receiving second indication information sent by the terminal equipment in the first user identity, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating a first time length, and the first time length is the time length required by the terminal equipment for communicating with the network equipment by using the first resource which cannot be used by the first user identity.

In one possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: sending third indication information and/or fourth indication information to the terminal equipment; the third indication information is used for indicating a second resource, where the second resource includes a radio frequency resource and/or a baseband processing resource used for the terminal device to communicate with the network device with the first subscriber identity; the fourth indication information is used to indicate a second duration, where the second duration is a duration that allows the terminal device to be unable to communicate with the network device using the first resource with the first subscriber identity.

In one possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: and receiving fifth indication information sent by the terminal equipment in the first user identity, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating that the first resource can be used when the terminal equipment communicates with the network equipment in the first user identity.

In one possible design, the communication unit 803 is specifically configured to: and receiving the first indication information sent by the terminal equipment with the first user identity on an uplink control channel resource or an uplink data channel resource.

In one possible design, the communication unit 803 is specifically configured to: and receiving the MAC CE sent by the terminal equipment in the first user identity, wherein the MAC CE comprises the first indication information.

In a possible design, a MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE includes an LCID, where the LCID is used to indicate that the MAC CE includes the first indication information.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the unit (module) is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation. Each functional module in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing module, or each module may exist alone physically, or two or more modules are integrated into one module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode.

The integrated module, if implemented in the form of a software functional module and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application may be substantially or partially contributed to by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solutions may be embodied in a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions, so that a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like) or a processor (processor) executes all or part of the steps of the method described in the embodiments of the present application. The storage medium may be any of various media that can store program codes, such as a memory.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 900, where the apparatus 900 includes a processor 910, a memory 920, and a transceiver 930. In one example, the apparatus 900 may implement the functionality of the apparatus 800 illustrated in fig. 8, in particular, the functionality of the communication unit 803 illustrated in fig. 8 may be implemented by a transceiver, the functionality of the processing unit 802 may be implemented by a processor, and the functionality of the storage unit 801 may be implemented by a memory. In another example, the apparatus 900 may be a terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment, and the apparatus 900 may be configured to implement the method corresponding to the terminal device described in the foregoing method embodiment, and specifically refer to the description in the foregoing method embodiment.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device 1000 according to an embodiment of the present application. For convenience of explanation, fig. 10 shows only main components of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 10, the terminal apparatus 1000 includes a processor 1001, a memory 1002, a control circuit 1003, an antenna 1004, and an input-output device 1005. The terminal device 1000 can be applied to the system architecture shown in fig. 1a, and performs the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

The processor 1001 is mainly configured to process the communication protocol and the communication data, control the entire terminal device, execute a software program, and process data of the software program, for example, to control the terminal device to perform the actions described in the above method embodiments. The memory 1002 is primarily used to store software programs and data. The control circuit 1003 is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The control circuit 1003 and the antenna 1004 together, which may also be referred to as a transceiver, are primarily used for transceiving radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. An input/output device 1005, such as a touch screen, a display screen, a keyboard, etc., is mainly used for receiving data input by a user and outputting data to the user.

When the terminal device is powered on, the processor 1001 may read the software program in the memory 1002, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor 1001 performs baseband processing on the data to be sent, and outputs a baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and sends the radio frequency signal to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna 1004. When data is transmitted to the terminal device, the radio frequency circuit receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 1001, and the processor 1001 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that fig. 10 shows only one memory 1002 and processor 1001 for the sake of illustration. In an actual terminal device, there may be multiple processors 1001 and memories 1002. The memory 1002 may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc., which is not limited in this application.

As an alternative implementation manner, the processor 1001 may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit, where the baseband processor is mainly used to process a communication protocol and communication data, and the central processing unit is mainly used to control the whole terminal device, execute a software program, and process data of the software program. The processor 1001 in fig. 10 integrates functions of a baseband processor and a central processing unit, and those skilled in the art can understand that the baseband processor and the central processing unit may also be independent processors, and are interconnected through a bus or the like. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terminal device may include a plurality of baseband processors to accommodate different network formats, the terminal device may include a plurality of central processors to enhance its processing capability, and various components of the terminal device may be connected by various buses. The baseband processor may also be expressed as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit may also be expressed as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing the communication protocol and the communication data may be built in the processor 1001, or may be stored in the memory 1002 in the form of a software program, and the processor 1001 executes the software program to realize the baseband processing function.

The terminal device 1000 shown in fig. 10 is capable of implementing various processes involving the terminal device in the method embodiments illustrated in fig. 2, 4 and 6. The operations and/or functions of the modules in the terminal device 1000 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows in the above method embodiments. Reference may be made specifically to the description of the method embodiments above, and in order to avoid repetition, detailed description is omitted here where appropriate.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 1100 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 11, the network device 1100 includes one or more radio frequency units, such as a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) 1110 and one or more baseband units (BBUs) (which may also be referred to as digital units, DUs) 1120. The RRU1110 may be referred to as a communication unit, which corresponds to the communication unit 803 in fig. 8, and may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, or the like, which may include at least one antenna 1111 and a radio frequency unit 1112. The RRU1110 is mainly used for transceiving radio frequency signals and converting radio frequency signals and baseband signals, for example, for sending third indication information and/or fourth indication information to a terminal device. The BBU 1120 is mainly used for performing baseband processing, controlling a base station, and the like. The RRU1110 and the BBU 1120 may be physically disposed together or may be physically disposed separately, that is, distributed base stations.

The BBU 1120 is a control center of the base station, and may also be referred to as a processing module, and may correspond to the processing unit 802 in fig. 8, and is mainly used for completing baseband processing functions, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulating, spreading, and the like. For example, the BBU (processing module) may be configured to control the base station to perform an operation procedure related to the network device in the foregoing method embodiment, for example, generate the foregoing third indication information and/or fourth indication information, and the like.

In an example, the BBU 1120 may be formed by one or more boards, and the boards may collectively support a radio access network of a single access system (e.g., an LTE network), or may respectively support radio access networks of different access systems (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks). The BBU 1120 also includes a memory 1121 and a processor 1122. The memory 1121 is used for storing necessary instructions and data. The processor 1122 is configured to control the base station to perform necessary actions, for example, to control the base station to perform the operation procedure related to the network device in the above method embodiment. The memory 1121 and processor 1122 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and processor may be provided separately on each board. Multiple boards may share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits.

The network device 1100 shown in fig. 11 is capable of implementing various processes involving network devices in the method embodiments illustrated in fig. 2, 4, and 6. The operations and/or functions of the modules in the network device 1000 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows in the above method embodiments. Specifically, reference may be made to the description of the above method embodiments, and the detailed description is appropriately omitted herein to avoid redundancy.

In implementation, the steps of the method provided by this embodiment may be implemented by hardware integrated logic circuits in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor.

It should be noted that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capability. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The processor may be a general-purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processing (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, transistor logic device, hardware component, or any combination thereof; or a combination that performs a computing function, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, DSPs, and microprocessors, among others. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

It will be appreciated that the memory or storage units in the embodiments of the application may be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM, enhanced SDRAM, SLDRAM, Synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in or transmitted over a computer-readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server that integrates one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape; or an optical medium, such as a DVD; it may also be a semiconductor medium, such as a Solid State Disk (SSD).

The various illustrative logical units and circuits described in this application may be implemented or operated upon by design of a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but, in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in the embodiments herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software element executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software cells may be stored in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. For example, a storage medium may be coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC, which may be disposed in a terminal device. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a terminal device.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Although the embodiments of the present application have been described with reference to specific features, it is apparent that various modifications and combinations can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments of the present application. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are merely illustrative of embodiments of the application defined by the appended claims and are intended to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents within the scope of the embodiments of the application.

Claims

1. A communication method, wherein the method is applied to a terminal device, wherein the terminal device supports at least two user identities, and wherein the at least two user identities comprise a first user identity and a second user identity, and wherein the method comprises:

establishing connection with a first network device by using the first user identity;

sending first indication information and sixth indication information to the first network device with the first subscriber identity, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a first resource cannot be used for communication with the first network device with the first subscriber identity, where the first resource includes: part or all of radio frequency resources of the terminal equipment, and/or part or all of baseband resources of the terminal equipment; the sixth indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal device needs to initiate random access to a second network device by using the first resource with the second user identity;

wherein the sixth indication information is used for the first network device to decide whether to allow the terminal device to communicate with the first network device using the first resource in the first user identity.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

and sending second indication information to the first network equipment by using the first user identity, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating a first time length, and the first time length is the time length required by the first user identity for incapable of using a first resource to communicate with the first network equipment.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving third indication information and/or fourth indication information sent by the first network equipment;

the third indication information is used for indicating a second resource, where the second resource includes a radio frequency resource and/or a baseband processing resource used for communicating with the first network device with the first subscriber identity;

the fourth indication information is used for indicating a second duration, where the second duration is a duration that the first user identity is allowed to be unable to use the first resource to communicate with the first network device.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:

and sending fifth indication information to the first network equipment in the first user identity, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating that the first resource can be used when the first network equipment is communicated with the first user identity.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein sending fifth indication information to the first network device comprises:

and if the duration that the first user identity cannot use the first resource to communicate with the first network equipment is determined to be greater than or equal to a third duration, sending the fifth indication information to the first network equipment.

6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein sending first indication information to the first network device with the first subscriber identity comprises:

and sending the first indication information to the first network equipment by using uplink control channel resources or uplink data channel resources with the first user identity.

7. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein sending first indication information to the first network device with the first subscriber identity comprises:

and sending a media access control element (MAC CE) to the first network equipment in the first user identity, wherein the MAC CE comprises the first indication information.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein a MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE includes a logical channel identifier LCID, and wherein the LCID is used to indicate that the MAC CE includes the first indication information.

9. A method of communication, the method being applicable to a first network device, the method comprising:

establishing connection with the terminal equipment;

receiving first indication information and sixth indication information which are sent by the terminal device with a first user identity, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the terminal device cannot use a first resource to communicate with the first network device with the first user identity, and the first resource comprises: part or all of radio frequency resources of the terminal equipment, and/or part or all of baseband resources of the terminal equipment; the sixth indication information is used for indicating whether the terminal equipment needs to use the first resource to initiate random access to second network equipment with a second user identity;

wherein the sixth indication information is used for the first network device to decide whether to allow the terminal device to use the first resource to communicate with the first network device in the first user identity.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

and receiving second indication information sent by the terminal equipment in the first user identity, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating a first time length, and the first time length is the time length required by the terminal equipment for communicating with the first network equipment in a way that the first user identity cannot use a first resource.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

sending third indication information and/or fourth indication information to the terminal equipment;

the third indication information is used for indicating a second resource, where the second resource includes a radio frequency resource and/or a baseband processing resource used for the terminal device to communicate with the first network device in the first subscriber identity;

the fourth indication information is used to indicate a second duration, where the second duration is a duration that allows the terminal device to be unable to communicate with the first network device using the first resource with the first subscriber identity.

12. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 11, further comprising:

and receiving fifth indication information sent by the terminal equipment in the first user identity, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating that the first resource can be used when the terminal equipment communicates with the first network equipment in the first user identity.

13. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein receiving the first indication information sent by the terminal device with the first user identity comprises:

and receiving the first indication information sent by the terminal equipment with the first user identity on an uplink control channel resource or an uplink data channel resource.

14. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein receiving the first indication information sent by the terminal device with the first user identity comprises:

and receiving the MAC CE sent by the terminal equipment in the first user identity, wherein the MAC CE comprises the first indication information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE includes an LCID, and wherein the LCID is used to indicate that the MAC CE includes the first indication information.

16. An apparatus comprising a processor, a memory, and instructions stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which when executed, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 8.

17. An apparatus comprising a processor, a memory, and instructions stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which when executed, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 9 to 15.

18. A terminal device, characterized in that it comprises the apparatus of claim 16.

19. A network device comprising the apparatus of claim 17.

20. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 15.