CN107889113A

CN107889113A - Carrier monitoring and signaling method and equipment in unauthorized frequency range

Info

Publication number: CN107889113A
Application number: CN201610875351.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王轶; 李琪; 李迎阳; 张世昌
Original assignee: Beijing Samsung Telecommunications Technology Research Co Ltd; Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Samsung Telecommunications Technology Research Co Ltd; Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2016-09-30
Filing date: 2016-09-30
Publication date: 2018-04-06
Anticipated expiration: 2036-09-30
Also published as: CN107889113B; CN118338299A

Abstract

This application discloses a kind of signaling method in unauthorized frequency range, including：Sending node carries out first kind carrier monitoring on the i of direction；In the first kind carrier monitoring by rear, the sending node is sent in described sender to commencing signal on j；Wherein, the direction i is omnidirectional or single or multiple beam directions corresponding with direction j.Using the application, signal transmitting and the carrier monitoring of high band are can adapt to, avoids the interference to other nodes in unauthorized frequency range.

Description

Carrier monitoring and signal sending method and device on unlicensed frequency band

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of mobile communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and a device for carrier monitoring and signal sending in an unlicensed frequency band.

Background

As the conflict between the outbreak of the demand of the user for the high-bandwidth wireless service and the scarcity of the spectrum resource becomes more and more acute, the mobile operators begin to consider the unlicensed frequency band (which may also be called an unlicensed frequency band) as a supplement to the licensed frequency band. The 3GPP has already studied how to effectively improve the spectrum utilization rate of the entire network by deploying LTE in an unlicensed frequency band (an LTE system deployed in the unlicensed frequency band is referred to as an licensed carrier assisted access LAA system) and by aggregating effective carriers of the unlicensed frequency band and the licensed frequency band on the premise of ensuring that other technologies in the unlicensed frequency band are not significantly affected. In order to support more flexible networking, it is also worth studying that the unlicensed frequency band and the licensed frequency band operate in a Dual Connectivity (DC) manner. As shown in fig. 1, two enbs serve the UE simultaneously, one is a master base station (MeNB, master eNB) providing a large coverage through a licensed band carrier, and the other is a secondary base station (SeNB, secondary eNB) providing a hot spot service through an unlicensed band carrier, as shown in fig. 1.

Unlicensed frequency bands have typically been allocated for some other purpose, such as radar or 802.11-series Wireless Fidelity (WiFi). In the unlicensed frequency band, how to avoid mutual interference between the LAA system and other wireless systems such as radar or WiFi is a key problem. Carrier sense (CCA) is a collision avoidance mechanism commonly employed in unlicensed bands. A mobile Station (STA) must detect a radio channel before transmitting a signal, and can only occupy the radio channel to transmit a signal when detecting that the radio channel is idle, and this listen-before-send mechanism is called LBT (listen before talk). LAA also needs to follow the LBT mechanism for energy detection of the channel. Generally, a transmission or reception antenna of an eNB or a UE in an LAA system is an omni-directional antenna, or a wide-angle directional antenna. Thus, whether transmitting or LBT, is generally considered omni-directional.

With the rapid development of the information industry, especially the growing demand from the mobile internet and the internet of things, unprecedented challenges are brought to future mobile communication technologies. To address this unprecedented challenge, the communications industry and academia have developed an extensive fifth generation mobile communications technology research (5G) facing the 2020. The 3GPP also started standardization work for 5G (New radio, NR). NR systems are expected to operate on low band up to around 100G of high band resources, including licensed and unlicensed bands. The unlicensed frequency band mainly considers a 5GHz frequency band and a 60GHz frequency band. In the 60GHz band, in order to compensate for the extremely high path loss, Massive MIMO based on Massive antenna arrays is often used for beamforming (beamforming) to obtain the gain. The transmission with directivity is adopted on the unlicensed frequency band, so that the interference among the sending nodes in different directions can be effectively reduced, and the special problem of directivity is introduced. The LBT mechanism of the sending node and the sending signal mode of the sending node both need to be adjusted correspondingly based on the characteristics of directivity to obtain the maximum gain and avoid causing interference to other nodes in the unauthorized frequency band.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a device for carrier monitoring and signal sending on an unauthorized frequency band, which can adapt to signal transmission and carrier monitoring of a high frequency band and avoid interference on other nodes on the unauthorized frequency band.

In order to achieve the purpose, the following technical scheme is adopted in the application:

a signal transmission method on an unlicensed frequency band comprises the following steps:

the sending node carries out first type carrier monitoring in the direction i;

after the first type carrier monitoring is passed, the sending node starts signal sending in the sending direction j; wherein the direction i is omni-directional, or a single or multiple beam directions corresponding to the transmit direction j.

Preferably, the beam directions are predefined beam direction sets, or the beam directions are sets of beam directions at least including the beam direction j with reference to the beam direction j.

Preferably, when the sending node needs to continuously send signals in multiple directions in one transmission burst, the performing of the first type carrier monitoring in the direction i includes:

for each transmission direction j in a plurality of transmission directions, carrying out first-type carrier monitoring in a corresponding direction i; or the sending node carries out omnidirectional first-type carrier monitoring.

Preferably, when the sending node needs to send signals in multiple directions in one transmission burst, the performing of the first type of carrier monitoring in the direction i includes:

for each transmission direction j in a plurality of transmission directions, carrying out first-type carrier monitoring in a corresponding direction i; or, the sending node carries out omnidirectional first-type carrier monitoring;

the method comprises the following steps: for the direction in which the signal is not directly transmitted after the first type carrier monitoring is passed, the transmitting node performs second type carrier monitoring on the corresponding direction before transmitting the signal in the corresponding direction, and performs signal transmission in the corresponding direction after the second type carrier monitoring is passed; or, for the direction in which the signal is not directly transmitted after the first type carrier monitoring, if the signal is started to be transmitted within a first set time after the signal is transmitted through the first type carrier monitoring, performing second type carrier monitoring on the corresponding direction before the signal is started to be transmitted, and starting the signal transmission in the corresponding direction after the signal is transmitted through the second type carrier monitoring;

wherein the time for monitoring the second type of carrier is shorter than the time for monitoring the first type of carrier.

Preferably, the sending node performs carrier monitoring of the first type in multiple corresponding directions i at the same time, and the method further includes:

in the multiple corresponding directions i, for a beam direction k which is monitored by a first type of carrier wave in time, within a set time before the monitoring of the first type of carrier wave is completed in other beam directions, carrying out third type of carrier wave monitoring in the direction k, and after the monitoring of the third type of carrier wave in the direction k, starting signal transmission in a direction j corresponding to the direction k; the time for monitoring the third type carrier is shorter than that for monitoring the first type carrier;

or,

adopting the same contention window CWS for a plurality of corresponding directions i for simultaneously monitoring the first type of carrier;

or,

the same random backoff factors are adopted for a plurality of corresponding directions i which are simultaneously subjected to the first type carrier monitoring;

or,

and respectively generating random backoff factors in different directions for a plurality of corresponding directions i in which the first type of carrier monitoring is carried out simultaneously.

Preferably, the sending node is a base station, and the starting of signal transmission in the sending direction j includes: and starting to transmit a discovered signal DRS in the transmission direction j to be a DRS.

Preferably, when the base station transmits the DRS, the base station transmits the DRSs in each direction in the DMTC window; wherein the transmission position of each direction DRS within the DMTC window is fixed.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

when the carrier monitoring by the base station is omni-directional carrier monitoring,

the sending node performs first type carrier monitoring in the direction i, including: the base station starts to carry out omnidirectional carrier monitoring before a first DRS starting point in the DMTC window; the starting of signal transmission by the transmitting node in the direction j after the first type carrier monitoring is passed comprises: in the DMTC window, when the carrier monitoring is not passed, DRS transmission is not carried out, DRS in the corresponding direction is transmitted from the earliest DRS transmission position after the omnidirectional carrier monitoring is passed, and the residual DRSs in the DMTC window are continuously transmitted;

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

when the carrier monitoring by the base station is directional carrier monitoring,

the sending node performs first type carrier monitoring in the direction i, including: and the base station carries out carrier monitoring in a corresponding direction before each DRS sending position in the DMTC window, does not send the DRS in the corresponding direction if the carrier monitoring is not passed, and sends the DRS in the corresponding direction if the carrier monitoring is passed.

Preferably, when the base station transmits the DRS, the base station transmits the DRSs in each direction in the DMTC window; here, the transmission order of the DRSs in each direction within the DMTC window is fixed, and the starting point position is not fixed.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal films are made of a polymer,

the sending node performs first type carrier monitoring in the direction i, including: the base station carries out carrier monitoring before a possible starting point of a first DRS in the DMTC window, and when the carrier monitoring is not passed, the base station carries out carrier monitoring before a possible starting point of a next DRS in sequence until the carrier monitoring is passed; the starting of signal transmission by the transmitting node in the direction j after the first type carrier monitoring is passed comprises: in the DMTC window, after the carrier monitoring is carried out, the DRSs in the first direction are sent from the earliest possible starting point of the DRSs which are monitored by the carrier, and the DRSs in all the directions in the DMTC window are continuously sent;

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the sending node performs first type carrier monitoring in the direction i, including: in the DMTC window, carrying out carrier monitoring on each direction in sequence according to the transmission sequence of the DRS in each direction; wherein, the base station monitoring the carrier wave in each direction comprises: carrying out carrier monitoring before a possible starting point of each direction DRS, and when the carrier monitoring is not passed, carrying out carrier monitoring before the next possible starting point of the direction DRS in sequence until the carrier monitoring is passed; the starting of signal transmission by the transmitting node in the direction j after the first type carrier monitoring is passed comprises: after carrier monitoring in one direction is performed, the base station starts to transmit DRSs in the corresponding direction from the earliest possible starting point position of the DRS in the corresponding direction after carrier monitoring is performed.

Preferably, when the base station transmits the DRS, the base station transmits the DRSs in each direction in the DMTC window; when the transmission sequence and the starting point position of each direction DRS in the DMTC window are not fixed, the direction information of the DRS is carried when the DRS is transmitted.

Preferably, when the base station supports carrier monitoring in multiple directions simultaneously, the transmitting DRSs by the base station in the direction of carrier monitoring includes: the base station simultaneously transmits DRSs in a plurality of directions monitored by carriers.

Preferably, the base station configures the number of directional DRSs in advance; and/or the base station independently configures a transmission period for DRSs in different directions.

Preferably, the signals transmitted in multiple directions are beam measurement signals;

when the beam measurement signal is transmitted together with a data signal, the first type carrier monitoring is carried out according to the carrier monitoring used for transmitting data;

when only the beam measurement signal is transmitted, the time for monitoring the first type carrier is shorter than the carrier monitoring time for transmitting data.

A carrier monitoring method on an unlicensed frequency band comprises the following steps:

a transmitting node determines a reference subframe for monitoring a carrier of a current subframe according to the transmitting direction of the current subframe;

and the sending node adjusts the length of a contention window of the carrier monitoring of the current subframe according to the ACK/NACK statistical result of the reference subframe and carries out the carrier monitoring of the current subframe.

Preferably, the reference subframe determined according to the transmission direction is: the sending node having received the ACK/NACK information and specifying a first sub-frame in which a transmission burst is transmitted in a direction j 'corresponding to said sending direction i'; wherein the designated transmission burst is a transmission burst closest to the current subframe that contains the signal in the transmission direction ij ', and the direction j ' is a single or multiple beam directions corresponding to the direction i ';

and/or if the sending direction of the current subframe is multiple, the reference subframe determined according to the sending direction is as follows: the transmitting node has received the ACK/NACK information and includes at least a subframe of a transmission signal in one of the transmission directions.

Preferably, the plurality of beam directions are predefined beam direction sets, or the plurality of beam directions are a set of beam directions with respect to one beam direction at least including the reference beam direction.

Preferably, the adjusting the contention window length for carrier monitoring of the current subframe includes:

and counting the ACK/NACK transmitted in the direction j' in the reference subframe, and adjusting the length of the contention window according to the counting result.

Preferably, before determining the reference subframe, the method comprises:

receiving high-level configuration, and if the high-level configuration determines a reference subframe and counts ACK/NACK according to a sending direction, executing the processing of the reference subframe; otherwise, the flow is ended.

and the first sending node determines to send an LBT type indication after listening to the second sending node according to the signal sending direction of the first sending node and/or the carrier monitoring direction and the signal sending direction of the scheduled second sending node, and sends the LBT type indication for the second sending node to carry out carrier monitoring on an unlicensed frequency band.

Preferably, the determining the LBT type indication according to the signal transmission direction of the first transmitting node and the signal transmission direction of the second transmitting node includes:

if the signal sending direction im of the first sending node corresponds to the signal sending direction jn of the second sending node and the signal sending of the second sending node is in the MCOT, determining that the LBT type indication is an indication for carrying out 25us LBT; otherwise, determining the LBT type indication as an indication for Cat-4 LBT; the direction nj is a single beam direction corresponding to the direction im, or the direction jn is one of a plurality of beam directions corresponding to the direction im.

Preferably, the determining the LBT type indication according to the carrier monitoring direction of the first transmitting node and the transmitting signal direction of the second transmitting node includes:

if the direction of carrier monitoring before the first sending node sends a signal is omni-directional carrier monitoring and the signal of the second sending node is sent in the MCOT, or if the direction im' of carrier monitoring before the first sending node sends a signal corresponds to the direction jn of signal sending of the second sending node and the signal of the second sending node is sent in the MCOT, determining that the LBT type indication is an indication of carrying out 25us LBT; otherwise, determining the LBT type indication as an indication for Cat-4 LBT; the direction jn is a single beam direction corresponding to the direction m 'i, or the direction jn is one of a plurality of beam directions corresponding to the direction m' i.

Preferably, when the first sending node is a base station and the second sending node is a terminal UE, the sending the LBT type indication includes:

and the LBT type indication is carried by scheduling uplink scheduling information of the UE, or the LBT type indication is carried by downlink cell public signaling.

Preferably, when the LBT type indication is carried by the cell common signaling, the cell common signaling carries direction information of a signal sent by the first sending node or direction information of carrier monitoring before the first sending node sends the signal.

A signal transmission device on an unlicensed frequency band, comprising: the device comprises a carrier monitoring unit and a signal sending unit;

the carrier monitoring unit is used for carrying out first-type carrier monitoring in the direction i and notifying the signal sending unit after the first-type carrier monitoring is carried out;

the signal sending unit is configured to start signal sending in the sending direction j after receiving the notification of the carrier monitoring unit; wherein the direction i is omni-directional, or a single or multiple beam directions corresponding to direction j.

A carrier monitoring device on an unlicensed frequency band, comprising: a reference subframe determining unit and a carrier monitoring unit;

the reference subframe determining unit is used for determining a reference subframe for monitoring a carrier of the current subframe according to the sending direction of the current subframe;

and the carrier monitoring unit is used for adjusting the length of a contention window of the carrier monitoring of the current subframe according to the ACK/NACK statistical result of the reference subframe and carrying out the carrier monitoring of the current subframe.

A first transmitting node device on an unlicensed frequency band, comprising: an LBT type indication determining unit and an LBT type indication transmitting unit;

the LBT type indication determining unit is configured to determine an LBT type indication sent to a second sending node according to a direction in which the first sending node sends a signal and/or a direction in which a carrier is monitored, and a direction in which a second sending node sends a signal that is scheduled;

the LBT type indication sending unit is configured to send the LBT type indication, and is used for a second sending node to perform carrier monitoring on an unlicensed frequency band.

According to the technical scheme, directional carrier monitoring is carried out during carrier monitoring before signal sending, so that interference on other nodes in an unauthorized frequency band is avoided, and system gain is improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network deployment scenario in which authorized frequency bands and unauthorized frequency bands are connected in a dual-connection manner;

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart of the method of example 1 of the present application;

fig. 3 is a first schematic diagram illustrating carrier monitoring and signal transmission in embodiment 1;

fig. 4 is a second schematic diagram of carrier monitoring and signal transmission in embodiment 1;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an eNB performing carrier monitoring in two beam directions simultaneously in embodiment 1;

FIG. 6 is a first diagram illustrating the determination of a reference subframe in embodiment 2;

FIG. 7 is a second diagram illustrating the determination of reference subframes in embodiment 2;

FIG. 8 is a third diagram illustrating the determination of a reference subframe in embodiment 2;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a base station scheduling a UE to transmit uplink and downlink service data in embodiment 3;

fig. 10 is a first diagram illustrating DRS transmission in embodiment 4;

fig. 11 is a diagram ii illustrating DRS transmission in embodiment 4;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a possible starting point location of DRS in example 4;

FIG. 13 is a second schematic diagram of a possible starting point location of DRS in example 4;

fig. 14 is a diagram three illustrating DRS transmission in embodiment 4;

fig. 15 is a diagram four illustrating DRS transmission in embodiment 4;

fig. 16 is a schematic diagram of a basic configuration of a signal transmission device corresponding to embodiment 1;

fig. 17 is a schematic diagram of a basic structure of a carrier monitoring apparatus corresponding to embodiment 2;

fig. 18 is a schematic diagram of a basic structure of a first transmitting node apparatus corresponding to embodiment 3;

fig. 19 is a schematic diagram of a basic structure of a second transmitting node apparatus corresponding to embodiment 3;

fig. 20 is a schematic diagram of a basic configuration of a signal transmission device corresponding to embodiment 4.

Detailed Description

For the purpose of making the objects, technical means and advantages of the present application more apparent, the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the present application is further described in detail below by referring to the accompanying drawings and examples.

Example 1:

in this embodiment, before signal transmission in the unlicensed frequency band, carrier monitoring is performed for the signal transmission direction. Specifically, as shown in fig. 2, the signal method in this embodiment specifically includes:

step 101: the transmitting node performs a first type of carrier monitoring (first type of CCA) in direction i.

The direction i may be omni-directional, or a fixed sector direction.

Wherein, omni-directional means that the directivity is not distinguished. The direction i is a single or multiple beam (beam) direction corresponding to the direction j of the transmitted signal. Here, the plurality of beam directions may be a predefined set of beam directions, or may be a set of a plurality of beam directions including at least one beam direction as a reference. Here, it is explained that carrier monitoring is implemented by monitoring a receiving channel, and therefore, the carrier monitoring refers to a direction of receiving beam.

Preferably, the correspondence of direction i to direction j is predefined or configured. Note that the number of reception beams may be the same as or different from the number of transmission beams for a certain transmission node. For example, it is possible that the number of receive beams is less than the number of transmit beams and that each receive beam is wider. For example, the receiving beam in the direction i and the transmitting beam in the direction j have a one-to-one correspondence, i.e., the directions are completely upward. For another example, the total number of reception beams is 4, and the total number of transmission beams is 16. Then one receiving beam corresponds to 4 transmitting beams. Then the receive beam in direction i is that which includes the transmit beam in direction j.

For example, the eNB as a transmitting node supports 16 directional beams, and the relationship between the beam in direction i and 16 directions and the direction j may be: (1) the direction i is 1 of the 16 beams. (2) The direction i may also be the direction corresponding to 1 of the N sets of beams. For example, 16 beams may be equally divided into N groups, e.g., N-4, then the 1 st to 4 th beams are the first group, the 5 th to 8 th beams are the second group, and so on. The direction i is one of the N sets of beams. This set of beams contains the beam direction of direction j. (3) The direction i may also be the direction of a beam group consisting of M adjacent beams containing the direction j. M is predefined or configured. For example, assuming that each reception beam group is set to 3 beams, the direction i is the direction j-1, and the direction j +1 constitute the corresponding direction of the beam group.

Preferably, for the case of (2) or (3), the transmitting node may perform CCA detection in the synthesized direction i corresponding to the beam group, for example, if the transmitting beam width is 20 degrees, and four receiving beams are predefined or configured as a group, the receiving beam width is 80 degrees, and the transmitting node performs CCA detection in the direction i with the width of 80 degrees. The transmitting node may also perform CCA detection in a plurality of smaller combined directions i corresponding to the beam groups, for example, if the transmitting beam width is 20 degrees, four receiving beams are predefined or configured as a group, and the receiving beam width is 40 degrees, in order to perform CCA detection in the 80-degree wide direction i, the transmitting node may perform CCA detection in two 40-degree wide directions i, respectively.

In addition, it is described here that the direction i and the direction j are in a corresponding relationship, and in some scenarios, the signal transmission direction j may be determined first, and then the direction i of carrier monitoring may be determined according to the direction j; in some scenarios, the carrier monitoring direction i may be determined first, and then a corresponding signal transmission direction j may be determined corresponding to the carrier monitoring direction i, and then signal transmission may be performed in the direction. In the following description, the direction i is referred to as a carrier monitoring direction, and the direction j is referred to as a signal transmission direction.

Step 102: if the first type of carrier monitoring in direction i passes, the transmitting node may start transmitting signals in the corresponding direction j.

In this embodiment, the first type of carrier monitoring may be a predefined certain carrier monitoring manner. Preferably, the first type of carrier monitoring may be Category-4LBT in the existing LAA system. See in particular the description in TS 36.213 section 15.

Preferably, after completing the first type carrier monitoring in the direction i, the sending node may immediately start sending a signal in the direction j corresponding to the direction i. The correspondence is as described in step 101.

In this embodiment, the sending node may be a base station or a terminal device. In the following description, a transmitting node is taken as a base station for explanation.

Preferably, if the sending node is to send signals in multiple directions continuously and uninterruptedly in one transmission burst (e.g. downlink burst), the sending node needs to monitor by the first type of carrier in at least the carrier monitoring directions i corresponding to all the sending directions. For the transmission direction corresponding to the direction monitored by the carrier, signal transmission can be performed within the downlink burst. For example, MCOT is 4ms, and the eNB transmits downlink data in the 1 st and 2 nd subframes in the 1 st and 4 th subframes in the 2 nd subframe. Then, the eNB needs to complete the first type of carrier monitoring in the carrier monitoring direction i corresponding to the direction 1 and the direction 2 respectively before the 1 st subframe, and can start to send the 1 st to 4 th subframes, and the eNB does not need to additionally perform the first type or other carrier monitoring in the 4 subframes. If the carrier monitoring directions i corresponding to the direction 1 and the direction 2 are overlapped, only one carrier monitoring can be performed in the overlapping direction.

Or, preferably, if the sending node is to send signals in multiple directions continuously within one transmission burst (e.g., downlink burst), the sending node also performs omnidirectional carrier monitoring of the first type, that is, the directional carrier monitoring of the first type is not distinguished, and signals may be sent in the sending direction corresponding to the direction passing through the carrier monitoring.

Preferably, if the sending node is to send signals in multiple directions in one transmission burst (e.g., downlink burst), the sending node needs to complete the first type of carrier monitoring including the carrier monitoring directions i corresponding to all the signal directions to be sent. For a direction in which a signal is not immediately transmitted after the first type of carrier monitoring is completed, if a transmitting node needs to transmit a signal in the direction after a period of time, it may need to perform second type of carrier monitoring in a carrier monitoring direction i corresponding to the transmitting direction. If the detection by the second type carrier monitoring is successful, the signal can be immediately sent in the corresponding direction. Specifically, the second type carrier monitoring may be performed with time limitation, that is, the second type carrier monitoring may be performed by performing signal transmission within a set time after the first type carrier monitoring, and if the set time is exceeded, the first type carrier monitoring may be performed again. Or, there may be no time limit for performing the second type carrier monitoring, as long as the corresponding monitoring direction passes through the first type carrier monitoring, whenever signal transmission is performed, the second type carrier monitoring may be performed, and a signal is transmitted after passing through the second type carrier monitoring. The second type of carrier monitoring is a predefined carrier monitoring mode different from the first type of carrier monitoring, and the second type of carrier monitoring is faster than the first type of carrier monitoring. For example, the second type of carrier monitoring only needs to perform LBT within one time unit Td. And if the channel is idle in part of or all of the time within the time unit Td, the second type carrier monitoring is considered to be successful.

Preferably, said time unit Td comprises a fixed time Tf and m consecutive monitoring time slots Ts.

For example, Tf 16us, Ts 9us, m is related to the traffic type. Here m is the same as m used in the first type of carrier monitoring.

Preferably, m is 1. For example, the time unit Td is 25us, i.e., Tf + Ts.

For example, the eNB transmits downlink data in the direction 1 in the n-th to n + 3-th subframes and downlink data in the direction 2 in the n + 4-th and n + 5-th subframes when the MCOT is 6 ms. Suppose that the eNB completes the first type of carrier monitoring in the carrier monitoring direction i corresponding to the direction 1 and the direction 2, and then immediately sends downlink data in the direction 1 in the n-th to n + 3-th subframes. Then, before the n +4 th and n +5 th subframes transmit the downlink data in the direction 2, the eNB further needs to perform the second type carrier monitoring on the carrier monitoring direction corresponding to the direction 2. If the second type carrier wave monitoring is successful, the second type carrier wave can be sent, otherwise, the second type carrier wave cannot be sent. As shown in fig. 3.

For another example, the eNB performs the first type of carrier monitoring in the carrier monitoring directions corresponding to the beam direction 1 and the beam direction 2, and successfully performs the carrier monitoring in the carrier monitoring directions corresponding to the two beam directions. The eNB immediately starts to transmit downlink transmissions for UE1 in beam direction 1, and continues from subframe n to subframe n + 3. Subsequently, the eNB is to send downlink transmissions, e.g., C-PDCCH, for UE1 and UE2 in beam direction 1 and beam direction 2, respectively, at subframe n + 4. Since the eNB has successfully completed Cat-4LBT in beam direction 2 before starting transmission, the eNB only needs to perform fast carrier monitoring in the carrier monitoring direction corresponding to beam direction 2 within Td time unit before subframe n +4 starts to transmit signals in beam direction 2. If the channel is idle, transmission of signals in beam direction 2 may begin. Further, since carrier monitoring is performed before the subframe n +4, the signal transmission in the beam direction 1 is suspended, but since the eNB transmits continuous downlink signals in the beam direction 1 from the subframe n to the subframe n +3, the eNB does not transmit all downlink signals of the UE1, and the continuously transmitted downlink subframes do not exceed the MCOT, the eNB can perform fast carrier monitoring in the carrier monitoring direction corresponding to the beam direction 1 before the subframe n +4 starts transmission. If the channel is idle, it may begin to continue transmitting signals in beam direction 1. As shown in fig. 4.

Alternatively, if the sending node is to send signals in multiple directions in one transmission burst (e.g., downlink burst), the sending node may perform omnidirectional carrier monitoring, that is, carrier monitoring of the first type without distinguishing the directionality. For signals that are not immediately transmitted after the first type of carrier monitoring is completed, if the transmitting node is to transmit signals in directions included in the plurality of directions after a period of time, the transmitting node needs to perform second type of carrier monitoring in an omnidirectional direction or a carrier monitoring direction corresponding to the transmitting direction before transmitting.

Preferably, when the sending node performs the first type carrier monitoring in the multiple beam directions, the first type carrier monitoring may be performed in the corresponding beam direction in a time division manner. For example, in the above example, the eNB may perform carrier monitoring in the carrier monitoring direction corresponding to the beam direction 2, and then perform carrier monitoring in the carrier monitoring direction corresponding to the beam direction 1. When the transmitting node has multiple antenna arrays, the transmitting node can perform carrier monitoring in multiple beam directions simultaneously. As shown in fig. 5, the eNB as a transmitting node supports two antenna arrays, that is, at the same time, two sets of radio frequency branches may work simultaneously, for example, carrier monitoring may be performed simultaneously in two beam directions.

Preferably, when the sending node performs carrier monitoring in multiple beam directions at the same time, it is necessary to avoid that the sending channel corresponding to the beam direction that completes carrier monitoring earlier affects the carrier monitoring in the beam direction in which carrier monitoring is still performed. Then it is determined that,

the beam direction i for which carrier monitoring is completed first may wait for a period of time before the other beam directions k are ready to complete carrier monitoring, and then perform carrier monitoring of the third type in the beam direction i. If the monitoring is carried out through the third type of carrier, a signal can be transmitted in a signal transmission direction j corresponding to the beam direction i. This can cause carrier monitoring in multiple beam directions to end simultaneously, so that transmission of signals can begin simultaneously. The third type of carrier monitoring is a predefined carrier monitoring mode different from the first type of carrier monitoring, and the third type of carrier monitoring is faster than the first type of carrier monitoring. For example, the third type carrier monitoring can be considered successful only by detecting the channel idle within the Td time. Depending on the specific implementation, the third type of carrier monitoring may be the same as or different from the second type of carrier monitoring.

Multiple beam directions for simultaneous carrier monitoring may use the same contention window CWS, e.g. the largest CWS of all beam directions for simultaneous carrier monitoring is selected.

Multiple beam directions for simultaneous carrier monitoring, wherein the CWS of each beam direction can be selected according to the LBT priority type of the beam direction.

Multiple beam directions with simultaneous carrier monitoring, the same random back-off factor (backoff counter) may be used in the multiple beam directions.

A plurality of beam directions in which carrier monitoring is performed simultaneously, and a random back-off factor (backoff counter) may be generated in each of the plurality of beam directions.

Preferably, the sending node in this embodiment may be a base station, or may be an end user.

Example 2:

in the existing LAA system, when the eNB performs carrier monitoring, the size of a Contention Window (CWS) may need to be adjusted, and when the CWS size is adjusted, a reference subframe needs to be determined, and the CWS size is adjusted according to an ACK/NACK statistical result of the reference subframe. In high-band communications, since downlink transmissions are typically beam-based, the different beam directions reflect, to some extent, different geographical locations. Often, the UEs with greatly different beam directions are far apart from each other, and the interference sources are different. Therefore, by adjusting the size of the CWS according to the ACK/NACK of the corresponding beam direction, the influence of the interference received in one beam direction on the next transmission in the beam direction can be more truly reflected. However, as described above, in the conventional LAA system, the statistical result of ACK/NACK of the reference subframe is not determined according to the location relationship of the UE.

In this embodiment, the CWS size is adjusted according to the ACK/NACK statistics result corresponding to the beam direction. Specifically, the method for performing carrier monitoring on the unlicensed frequency band in this embodiment includes,

step 201: and corresponding to the current subframe needing carrier monitoring, the transmitting node determines a reference subframe according to the transmitting direction of the current subframe.

And the transmitting node determines a reference subframe k according to the transmitting direction i' of the subframe to be transmitted currently.

In particular, subframe k may be the first subframe in which a given transmission burst is transmitted in direction j 'corresponding to the transmission direction i', and the transmitting node has obtained an ACK/NACK for this subframe. The designated one transmission burst is a transmission burst containing a signal in the transmission direction j' nearest to the current subframe. The relationship between the direction j 'and the direction i' is that the direction j 'is the direction i', that is, the beam transmission direction of the reference subframe corresponds to the transmission direction of the burst to be currently transmitted, and the direction j 'includes the direction i', that is, the beam transmission direction of the reference subframe may be multiple, and the multiple beam directions form a beam group corresponding to the transmission direction of the burst to be currently transmitted. That is, direction j 'is a single or multiple beam directions corresponding to direction i'.

Preferably, the direction j 'includes the direction i', which may be according to the division of the beam group in step 101, for example, all directions of the beam group in which the direction i 'is located are the direction j'. For example 16 directions, into 4 groups. The 1 st to 4 th beams are the first group, the 5 th to 8 th beams are the second group, and so on. Assuming that the direction i 'is the 5 th beam, the direction j' includes the directions of the 5 th to 8 th beams. That is, the subframe k is a reference subframe as long as it includes a transmission signal in at least any one direction of the 5 th to 8 th beams. For another example, assuming that each beam group is 3 beams, the direction j 'includes three directions of a direction i' -1, a direction i 'and a direction i' + 1.

Preferably, when the direction of the subframe that the transmitting node currently wants to transmit is a plurality of directions, the reference subframe k is a subframe containing at least a transmission signal in one of the directions.

For example, as shown in fig. 6, the eNB employs a beam direction 2 in the N-1 th downlink transmission burst, a beam direction 1 in the nth downlink transmission burst, and a beam direction 2 in the N +1 th downlink transmission burst. Then the reference subframe of CWS used for LBT performed before the N +1 th downlink transmission burst is not the first subframe of the nth downlink transmission burst but the first subframe of the N-1 th downlink transmission burst.

For another example, as shown in fig. 7, it is assumed that downlink burst N-1 is transmitted in beam direction 2, downlink burst N is transmitted in beam direction 1, and downlink burst N +1 is transmitted in beam direction 2 and beam direction 3. Then the first subframe of the downlink burst N-1 is the reference subframe of the beam direction 2 and the beam direction 3 of the downlink burst N +1 (the LBT before the downlink burst N +1 may be omni-directional LBT, so that the beam direction 2 and the beam direction 3 use the same LBT, or the LBT before the downlink burst N +1 uses directional LBT, and LBT is performed in the beam direction 2 and the beam direction 3, respectively, so that the reference subframes of the LBTs in the two directions are the same subframe), or the first subframe of the downlink burst N-1 is only the reference subframe of the beam direction 2 of the downlink burst N +1 (LBT before the downlink burst N +1 is directional LBT, LBT is performed in the beam direction 2 and the direction 3, respectively, then the reference subframe of LBT in the beam direction 2 is the first subframe of the downlink burst N-1, and the reference subframe of LBT in the beam direction 3 is the first subframe of the burst containing the beam direction 3 found before again).

For another example, as shown in fig. 8, the eNB adopts the beam direction 2 in the first 4 subframes in the nth downlink transmission burst, the beam direction 1 in the last 2 subframes in the nth downlink transmission burst, and the beam direction 1 in the N +1 th downlink transmission burst. Then the reference subframe of the CWS used for LBT performed before the N +1 th downlink transmission burst is not the first subframe of the nth downlink transmission burst, but the 5 th subframe of the nth downlink transmission burst, i.e. the 1 st subframe of beam direction 1.

Step 202: and the sending node adjusts the length of a contention window of the carrier monitoring of the current subframe according to the ACK/NACK statistical result of the reference subframe and carries out the carrier monitoring.

And for the reference subframe determined in step 201, counting the ACK/NACK result, and adjusting the CWS size of carrier monitoring of the schedule subframe according to the counting result.

Preferably, when the ACK/NACK in the statistical reference subframe is used to adjust the CWS, only the ACK/NACK for the transmission in the direction j 'corresponding to the transmission direction i' in the statistical reference subframe is counted, and the ACK/NACK in the other directions is not counted. The direction j here includes the case of the above-described single beam, and also includes the case of the above-described beam group. For example, if the principle of single beam correspondence is adopted, the eNB has downlink transmission in the direction i and downlink transmission in the direction l in the reference subframe at the same time, then only the ACK/NACK result of the downlink transmission in the direction i is counted. For example, if the principle of beam group correspondence is adopted, the eNB has downlink transmission in the direction i in the reference subframe at the same time, and also has downlink transmission in the direction i in the same beam group as the direction i', then it needs to count both ACK/NACK results of downlink transmission in the direction i, or if the eNB has only downlink transmission in the direction i in the reference subframe, and the direction i are in the same beam group, then it needs to count ACK/NACK results of downlink transmission in the direction i.

As another example, the eNB may support 16 directional beams. And transmitting signals for the UE1 and the UE2 in the Nth downlink transmission burst by adopting the beam direction 2 and the beam direction 8, wherein the beam direction 8 is not in one beam group with the beam direction 2. The eNB sends a signal to the UE3 in the (N +1) th downlink transmission burst in the beam direction 2. Then the reference subframe of CWS used for LBT performed before the N +1 th downlink transmission burst is the first subframe of the nth downlink transmission burst and the statistical ACK/NACK includes only ACK/NACK for UE 1. When the total number of NACKs exceeds 80%, the CWS is increased to the next CWS value, otherwise the CWS value is reset.

For another example, the eNB transmits signals in the nth downlink transmission burst in the beam direction 2 and the beam direction 3 for the UE2 and the UE3, respectively, where the beam direction 2 and the beam direction 3 are the same group of beam groups, that is, the beam direction 3 is a reference beam in the beam direction 2. The eNB employs a beam direction 2 in the N +1 th downlink transmission burst. Then the reference subframe of CWS employed for LBT performed before the N +1 th downlink transmission burst is the first subframe of the nth downlink transmission burst, and the statistical ACK/NACK includes both the ACK/NACK of UE2 and UE 3. When the total number of NACKs exceeds 80%, the CWS is increased to the next CWS value, otherwise the CWS value is reset.

As described above, the method in this embodiment determines the reference subframe according to the transmission direction, and the determination manner of the reference subframe may be configured by a higher layer in consideration of the flexibility of the configuration. If the higher layer configuration determines the reference subframe and the statistical ACK/NACK according to the transmission direction, the carrier monitoring is performed in the manner of the above steps 201 and 202, otherwise, the above manner is not used, for example, the reference subframe and the statistical ACK/NACK may be determined according to the method of the existing LAA system.

Preferably, the specific way of performing CWS adjustment according to the statistical ACK/NACK result in the present application may be the way in the existing LAA system, specifically refer to TS 36.21315.1.3 and 15.2.2.

Preferably, the reference subframe of this embodiment is a limitation on the transmission direction, and is not limited to whether LBT is based on directivity or omni-directional, and may be applied.

Example 3:

in the existing LAA system, after a base station occupies a channel through Cat-4LBT, when the time length of a downlink subframe continuously transmitted by the base station and an uplink subframe scheduled by the base station does not exceed maximum occupied time (MCOT), the uplink subframes can adopt 25us LBT to realize signal transmission as soon as possible. This approach is referred to as uplink and downlink shared MCOT. In the prior art, the base station may indicate 25us LBT in two ways. One is by LBT type indication information in the UL grant. And the other is to indicate which subframes are in the MCOT and which subframes are not in the MCOT through the C-PDCCH. If the user performs LBT in a subframe within the MCOT, 25us LBT may be adopted, otherwise Cat-4LBT is adopted. If the UE previously received the LBT type indicated in the UL grant as Cat-4, but the UE subsequently received the C-PDCCH again, and found that the subframe to be LBT is within the MCOT, the UE performs LBT for 25 us. In the C-PDCCH, it may also be indicated that no subframe belongs to the MCOT, and then the UE considers that LBT may be performed according to the LBT type indicated by the ul grant. In the conventional LAA system, LBT is omni-directional, and downlink transmission includes omni-directional transmission signals although the downlink transmission has a certain directivity based on precoding. It can therefore be considered that the base station can help the UE to occupy the channel to some extent once the Cat-4LBT successfully starts to transmit signals. And the UE can quickly occupy the channel through the faster LBT and continue to transmit in the MCOT.

In the unlicensed band of the high band, as described above, LBT may be directional and the transmitted signal may also be directional. If the base station occupies the channel through Cat-4LBT in the direction m, and the direction n of uplink transmission of the UE scheduled in the MCOT and the direction m are two completely different directions, if the UE can still use 25us LBT to quickly occupy the channel, interference may be caused to other nodes, or the channel is occupied more aggressively than other nodes. Therefore, the carrier monitoring method of this embodiment proposes that the UE can share the MCOT with the base station only when the transmission directions of the base station and the UE are required to correspond to each other.

In this embodiment, the method for performing carrier monitoring on the unlicensed frequency band includes:

step 301: the first sending node determines an LBT type indication sent to the second sending node according to the direction of a sending signal and/or the direction of carrier monitoring (LBT) and the sending signal direction of the scheduled second sending node, and the LBT type indication is used for indicating the second sending node to carry out carrier monitoring.

Preferably, the sending node in this embodiment may be a base station, or may be an end user. In a more common case, the first sending node is a base station and the second sending node is a UE, which is described as an example.

Preferably, the base station may determine the LBT type indication sent to the second sending node according to the direction of the sent downlink signal and the direction of the scheduled uplink signal sent by the UE, and indicate how to perform carrier monitoring to the UE by using the LBT type indication information.

For example, if the transmission direction m of the downlink signal corresponds to the signal direction n of the uplink transmission of the UE, and the uplink transmission of the scheduled UE is still within the MCOT, the base station may instruct the UE to perform 25us LBT, otherwise perform Cat-4 LBT. The correspondence between the direction m and the direction n can refer to the correspondence between i and j in embodiment 1 or the correspondence between j 'and i' in embodiment 2.

Or, preferably, the base station may determine the LBT type indication sent to the second sending node according to a direction of carrier monitoring performed before sending the downlink signal and a signal direction of uplink sending of the scheduled UE.

For example, if omni-directional LBT is performed before transmitting downlink signals, the base station may instruct the UE to perform 25us LBT if the scheduled uplink transmission of the UE is still within MCOT, otherwise Cat-4LBT is performed.

Preferably, if the base station wants to send the indication of 25us LBT, the base station needs to complete downlink Cat-4LBT in the carrier monitoring directions corresponding to the sending directions of all UEs that will adopt 25us LBT before downlink sending. If the base station selects Cat-4LBT for downlink only in some directions, the base station cannot instruct the UEs in other directions to perform 25us LBT, or the base station cannot instruct any UE transmitting in this MCOT to perform 25us LBT.

For another example, if the direction m' of directional carrier monitoring performed before transmitting the downlink signal corresponds to the uplink transmission direction n of the scheduled UE and the uplink transmission of the scheduled UE is still within the MCOT, the base station determines that the LBT type indication is an indication for performing 25us LBT, otherwise determines that the LBT type indication is an indication for performing Cat-4 LBT. If the direction m' of directional carrier monitoring performed before transmitting the downlink signal and the uplink transmission direction n of the scheduled UE do not satisfy the correspondence, the base station instructs the UE to perform Cat-4LBT regardless of whether the uplink transmission of the scheduled UE is within the MCOT.

In addition, preferably, the LBT type indication information sent by the base station may be carried by uplink scheduling information (ul grant) of the scheduling UE, or may be carried by downlink cell common signaling, such as C-PDCCH.

Preferably, when the LBT type indication is carried by the cell common signaling, the cell common signaling may further include direction information of signal transmission or carrier monitoring of the base station. This direction information will be used in step 302 for the UE to compare the received direction information with the direction of the UE uplink transmission, thereby determining whether the indicated LBT type is applicable.

Preferably, the direction information in the cell common signaling may be explicitly indicated in the cell common signaling, or may also be implicitly indicated by a resource used by the cell common information, such as using a different sequence when CRC scrambling, or using a different frequency domain resource.

Step 302: and the second sending node receives the indication information of the LBT type from the first sending node, determines the LBT type of the second sending node according to the indication information, and carries out carrier monitoring according to the LBT type.

Preferably, the UE determines the LBT type according to the received LBT type indication information. Specifically, if the UE receives LBT type indication information through the UL-grant, the LBT type is determined according to the UL-grant indication. And if the UE receives the indication information of the LBT type through the C-PDCCH, determining the LBT type according to the information received by the C-PDCCH. In addition, in general, the C-PDCCH is sent directionally, if the UE can receive the indication information of the LBT type through the C-PDCCH, which indicates that the uplink signal sending direction and the carrier monitoring direction correspond to the downlink signal sending direction, if the C-PDCCH carries a 25us LBT indication, it may be only necessary to determine whether the uplink sending subframe is within the MCOT indicated by the C-PDCCH without determining whether the direction information carried by the C-PDCCH corresponds to the uplink signal sending direction, if so, 25us LBT may be performed, otherwise, Cat-4LBT is determined or the LBT type is determined according to the predefined LBT type.

Or, preferably, if receiving the LBT type indication information indication to perform 25us LBT through a cell common signaling (e.g., C-PDCCH), the UE may further determine whether a direction m or m' indicated by the direction information carried by the cell common signaling (e.g., C-PDCCH) corresponds to the UE uplink transmission direction n. And if so, carrying out 25us LBT if the uplink transmission subframe is in the MCOT indicated by the C-PDCCH, otherwise, determining to carry out Cat-4LBT or determining the LBT type according to a predefined LBT type.

In addition, as described above, it is possible to indicate which subframes are within the MCOT and which subframes are not within the MCOT on the C-PDCCH in the related art, thereby determining whether to perform 25us LBT. The present embodiment may also be indicated in this way. After receiving the C-PDCCH, the UE judges whether an uplink transmission subframe is in the MCOT indicated by the C-PDCCH, if so, performs 25us LBT, and if not, determines the LBT type according to the UL-grant indication or the predefined LBT type. Or, before performing 25us LBT, it may be further determined whether the uplink transmission direction corresponds to the direction information carried by the C-PDCCH, and perform 25us LBT only when corresponding, if not, determine the LBT type according to the UL-grant indication or the predefined LBT type.

Preferably, the correspondence between the direction m or m ' indicated by the direction information carried by the C-PDCCH and the direction n of the UE uplink transmission may be the same as the relationship between i and j in embodiment 1 or the relationship between j ' and i ' in embodiment 2 of the present invention.

For example, as shown in fig. 9, the base station schedules downlink data traffic for UE1 and UE3, and schedules uplink data traffic for UE1 and UE 2. The base station performs LBT in beam direction 1, and after success, transmits downlink data traffic for UE1 in beam direction 1, transmits 2 consecutive subframes (subframe n and subframe n +1), and transmits downlink data traffic for UE3 in beam direction 1 (subframe n + 2). And scheduling UE1 to transmit uplink traffic at subframe n +4 and subframe n +5, and scheduling UE2 to transmit uplink traffic at subframe n + 6. It is assumed that uplink scheduling is cross-carrier scheduling, for example, UL grant is sent on a licensed band carrier. Assume that the length of the MCOT is 6. Both UE1 and UE2 receive C-PDCCH signaling containing MCOT information at subframe n +2 indicating that MCOT will end at the end of subframe n + 6. Assuming that the C-PDCCH includes the direction information indication indicating that the beam direction is 1, the UE1 performs 25us LBT according to LBT within the MCOT, but the UE2, although it falls within the MCOT in time, because the beam direction does not correspond, the UE2 can only perform according to LBT outside the MCOT, that is, Cat-4 LBT.

In fig. 9 above, it can be generally assumed that the UE2 may not be able to receive C-PDCCH information if the transmission of C-PDCCH is also based on beam direction 1. But, the direction information is carried on the C-PDCCH as well, so the following problems may occur: in order to avoid that the UE2 can still correctly demodulate the C-PDCCH at a low snr, if the C-PDCCH does not contain direction information, the UE2 may perform LBT according to the method of sharing the MCOT by demodulating the C-PDCCH, which may cause the UE2 to employ 25us LBT, but actually the base station does not perform downlink Cat-4LBT in the beam direction 2, thereby causing the UE2 to occupy an uplink channel too aggressively. To avoid the above possible problems, the direction information is preferably carried on the cell common signaling (e.g. C-PDCCH) in this embodiment.

After the carrier monitoring is performed, the second sending node performs signal sending in the corresponding direction for the sending direction corresponding to the direction passing the carrier monitoring. The correspondence between the carrier monitoring direction and the transmission direction may be the same as the correspondence between the direction i and the direction j in embodiment 1, or the same as the correspondence between the direction j 'and the direction i' in embodiment 2.

Example 4:

in the existing LTE system, a carrier operating in an authorized frequency band periodically transmits a discovery signal (DRS) within a DMTC window, and the position of the DRS within the DMTC window is fixed. In the LAA system, the DRS is not fixed in position within the DMTC window, and may be in any subframe within the DMTC window.

If joint beamforming is used in the unlicensed band, DRSs may need to transmit in different beam directions, so that UEs in all directions in a cell have an opportunity to detect DRSs.

Preferably, the DRS may be similar to an existing DRS, and may include at least a PSS/SSS and an RS for RRM measurement, and may also include an RS related to beam measurement, such as a BRS. For convenience of description, these signals are collectively referred to as DRS. The present embodiment is equally applicable to other periodically transmitted RSs for measurement.

In this embodiment, a method for transmitting a DRS on an unlicensed frequency band includes:

step 401: and carrying out omnidirectional or directional carrier monitoring.

Step 402: and transmitting the DRS in a transmitting direction corresponding to the direction monitored by the carrier.

Preferably, in this embodiment, when the base station transmits the DRSs, the base station may still transmit the DRSs in each direction within the DMTC window, where the position of the DRSs in each direction within the DMTC window may be fixed, or the order of the DRSs in each direction within the DMTC window is fixed, but the position may be unfixed, or both the order and the position of the DRSs in each direction within the DMTC window may be unfixed.

For the case that the locations of the DRSs of the respective directions within the DMTC window are fixed, the locations of the DRSs of the respective directions within the DMTC window may be predefined or higher-layer configured.

Preferably, when the positions of the DRSs in the respective directions within the DMTC window are fixed, if the base station performs omni-directional LBT, the base station may perform LBT from before a starting point of a first DRS, skip transmission of DRSs in the corresponding direction if LBT fails to be completed before a certain DRS transmission position, and start transmission of DRSs in the corresponding direction from a nearest DRS transmission position where LBT is completed, and continuously transmit the remaining DRSs. As shown in fig. 10.

Preferably, when the positions of DRSs in respective directions within the DMTC window are fixed, if the base station performs directional LBT, the base station may perform LBT before each fixed DRS transmission position. And if the LBT of the DRS in a certain direction does not pass, not transmitting the DRS in the certain direction, and if the LBT of the DRS in the certain direction passes, transmitting the DRS in the corresponding direction. As shown in fig. 11.

In the case where the order of DRSs in each direction is fixed but the position of the DRS in each direction is not fixed within the DMTC window, the order of DRSs in each direction is fixed within the DMTC window, but the starting point position of the DRS is not fixed within the DMTC window, and may be any one of a plurality of starting point positions where DRSs may be transmitted within the DMTC window.

Preferably, when the transmission order of the DRSs is fixed but the starting point position is not fixed within the DMTC window, if the base station performs omni-directional LBT, the base station may start LBT before a possible starting point of a first DRS, if LBT cannot be completed, may perform LBT before a possible starting point of a next DRS, and so on until LBT is passed, and transmit DRSs in a first direction from a starting point position of a nearest possible DRS passing LBT, and continuously transmit DRSs in all directions.

Wherein the first DRS possible starting location is predefined, or configured. Preferably, the length of one DRS may be used as a unit, or the total length of all DRSs may be used as a unit. For example, the total length of all DRSs is close to 1 subframe length, then a possible starting point of the first DRS is the starting point of each subframe, as shown in fig. 12. For another example, if each DRS has a length Lx, then the possible starting point of the first DRS is an integer multiple of Lx within the DMTC window, or plus an offset of LBT length, as shown in fig. 13.

Preferably, when the transmission order of the DRSs is fixed but the starting point position is not fixed within the DMTC window, if the base station performs directional LBT, the base station performs LBT for each direction in turn according to the transmission order of the DRSs for each direction. Wherein, for LBT of each direction, LBT may be started before a possible starting point of each direction DRS, and if LBT fails, LBT may be sequentially performed before a next possible starting point of a corresponding direction DRS, and so on until LBT passes. In the above manner, although the location of each DRS may be unfixed, each DRS is in a predefined directional order, and if DRSs in the front direction have not been successfully transmitted, LBTs in the rear direction is not performed, and DRSs in the rear direction are not transmitted, as shown in fig. 14.

Preferably, when the starting point location of the DRS is not fixed within the DMTC window, if the base station performs directional LBT, the base station may start LBT before a possible starting point of each DRS, and if LBT fails to be completed, may perform LBT before a possible starting point of the next DRS. And the position of each DRS can be unfixed, and the sequence can also be unfixed. As shown in fig. 15.

Preferably, when the position and the sequence of the DRS are not fixed, the transmitted DRS needs to be able to identify the direction. Preferably, if the sequences of DRSs in the respective directions are the same and control signaling is also transmitted when the DRSs are transmitted, the control signaling contains information that can directly or indirectly indicate the directions. Or, preferably, the sequences of DRSs in each direction are different, for example, different base sequences are adopted, or different scrambling codes are adopted, or different cyclic shifts are adopted, or different direction information is carried by DRS signals.

In this way, the UE can determine the corresponding direction after receiving the DRS at an uncertain location. If the location of each DRS is fixed, the UE may determine the corresponding direction by receiving the time location of the DRS without an additional indication. But if the location of each DRS is fixed, the probability of transmitting the DRS is reduced.

Preferably, if a signal occupying a channel can be transmitted before the DRS is transmitted, the signal length of the occupied channel cannot exceed the predefined length Lx.

Preferably, if the base station has the capability of performing LBT in multiple directions simultaneously, the DRSs may also be transmitted in multiple directions passing LBT simultaneously.

Preferably, the base station may configure the number of DRSs transmitting the directivity. For example, the base station may configure transmission of DRSs only in the partial direction.

Preferably, the base station may configure the period for the DRSs of each direction independently.

As can be seen from the processing of the present embodiment, the present embodiment is a specific special example of embodiment 1, where the signal sent by embodiment 1 is DRS, that is, the present embodiment. Therefore, in this embodiment, the same corresponding relationship as that in embodiment 1 exists for the monitoring direction and the transmission direction of the DRS, that is, the corresponding relationship between the direction i and the direction j in embodiment 1, and details of the corresponding relationship are not repeated in this embodiment.

Example 5:

on high band carriers, beamforming is typically required to compensate for path loss. Therefore, it is necessary to transmit a signal for Beam measurement, such as a Beam Reference Signal (BRS) or a Beam precise reference signal Beam precision reference signal (BRRS). These signals often need to be transmitted in a beam sweep (beam sweep) manner in multiple directions.

If the BRS/BRRS is configured to be transmitted periodically, the BRS/BRRS may not be transmitted periodically in the unlicensed frequency band, because LBT cannot ensure that the BRS/BRRS can be transmitted at the corresponding time point.

Preferably, if the transmitting node transmits only the BRS/BRRS and no other data, the transmitting node may use a faster LBT than the data. If transmitted with data, should be in accordance with the type of LBT used to transmit the data.

Preferably, the first and second liquid crystal materials are,

(1) when the transmitting node performs omni-directional LBT before transmitting BRS/BRRS, the transmitting node may continuously transmit from the nth beam up to the mth beam if LBT succeeds before the nth beam of the beam sweep (total of M beams).

(2) When the sending node performs omni-directional LBT before sending the BRS/BRRS, for the BRS/BRRS in the direction that is not sent immediately after completing LBT, it needs to perform fast LBT again in omni-directional or corresponding direction before sending, for example, the second or third type LBT in embodiment 1. For example, there are 14 BRSs in all directions, and the positions of the 14 BRSs in all directions are sequentially arranged in time, and correspond to the 1 st to 14 th symbols, respectively. Assuming that the eNB completes omni-directional LBT before the 5 th symbol, BRS of direction 5 may be transmitted starting at the 5 th symbol. And performing fast LBT before the 6 th to 14 th symbols start to be transmitted.

(3) When the sending node performs directional LBT before sending the BRS/BRRS, it needs to perform LBT in the corresponding direction before sending the BRS/BRRS in each direction.

The transmission of the beam measurement signal of the present embodiment can be regarded as an example in which the signal transmitted in embodiment 1 is a beam measurement signal.

The foregoing is a specific implementation of the method for performing carrier monitoring and signal transmission on an unlicensed frequency band provided by the present application. The application also provides equipment for carrying out carrier monitoring and signal generation on the unlicensed frequency band, which can be used for implementing the method.

Specifically, the basic structure of the signal transmission device provided by the present application is shown in fig. 16, corresponding to embodiment 1. In fig. 16, the signal transmission device includes: the device comprises a carrier monitoring unit and a signal sending unit.

The carrier monitoring unit is used for carrying out first type carrier monitoring in the direction i and notifying the signal sending unit after the first type carrier monitoring is carried out. A signal transmitting unit, configured to start signal transmission in a transmission direction j after receiving the notification from the carrier monitoring unit; where direction i is omni-directional, or a single or multiple beam directions corresponding to direction j.

Corresponding to embodiment 2, a basic structure of a carrier monitoring device provided by the present application is shown in fig. 17, where in fig. 17, the carrier monitoring device includes: a reference subframe determining unit and a carrier monitoring unit.

The reference subframe determining unit is used for determining a reference subframe for monitoring a carrier of the current subframe according to the sending direction of the current subframe. And the carrier monitoring unit is used for adjusting the length of a contention window of the carrier monitoring of the current subframe according to the ACK/NACK statistical result of the reference subframe and carrying out the carrier monitoring of the current subframe.

Corresponding to embodiment 3, the basic structure of the first sending node device provided by the present application is shown in fig. 18. In fig. 18, the first transmitting node apparatus includes: an LBT type indication determining unit and an LBT type indication transmitting unit.

The LBT type indication determining unit is configured to determine an LBT type indication sent to the second sending node according to a sending direction of the first sending node and/or a carrier monitoring direction and a sending signal direction of the scheduled second sending node. An LBT type indication sending unit, configured to send an LBT type indication, where the LBT type indication is used for a second sending node to perform carrier monitoring on an unlicensed frequency band.

Corresponding to embodiment 3, the basic structure of the second transmitting node device provided by the present application is shown in fig. 19. In fig. 19, the second transmitting node apparatus includes: the device comprises a receiving unit, a carrier monitoring unit and a transmitting unit.

The receiving unit is configured to receive an LBT type indication sent by a first sending node. And the carrier monitoring unit is used for carrying out carrier monitoring on the unlicensed frequency band according to the LBT type indication. And a transmitting unit for transmitting a signal in a transmitting direction corresponding to the direction monitored by the carrier.

The basic structure of the signal transmission device provided by the present application is shown in fig. 20, corresponding to embodiment 4. In fig. 20, the signal transmission device includes: a carrier monitoring unit and a DRS transmitting unit.

The carrier monitoring unit is used for carrying out omnidirectional or directional carrier monitoring. And a DRS transmitting unit, configured to transmit the DRS in the direction monitored by the carrier.

The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for signaling in an unlicensed frequency band, the method comprising:

the sending node carries out first type carrier monitoring in the direction i;

after the first type carrier monitoring is passed, the sending node starts signal sending in a sending direction j; wherein the direction i is omni-directional, or a single or multiple beam directions corresponding to the transmit direction j.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of beam directions are a predefined set of beam directions, or wherein the plurality of beam directions are a set of beam directions with reference to beam direction j that includes at least beam direction j.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the transmitting node needs to continuously transmit signals in multiple directions in one transmission burst, the performing carrier monitoring in the direction i comprises:

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein when a transmitting node needs to transmit signals in multiple directions in one transmission burst, the performing carrier monitoring in direction i comprises:

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the transmitting node performs carrier monitoring of the first type in a plurality of corresponding directions i simultaneously, the method further comprising:

or,

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting node is a base station, and wherein the starting of the signal transmission in the transmission direction j comprises: and starting to transmit a discovery signal DRS in the transmission direction j.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein when transmitting DRSs, the base station transmits DRSs in each direction within a DMTC window; wherein the transmission position of each direction DRS within the DMTC window is fixed.

8. The method of claim 7,

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

9. The method of claim 6, wherein when transmitting DRSs, the base station transmits DRSs in each direction within a DMTC window; here, the transmission order of the DRSs in each direction within the DMTC window is fixed, and the starting point position is not fixed.

10. The method of claim 9,

when the carrier monitoring performed by the base station is omnidirectional carrier monitoring, the performing, by the sending node, first-type carrier monitoring in the direction i includes: the base station carries out carrier monitoring before a possible starting point of a first DRS in the DMTC window, and when the carrier monitoring is not passed, the base station carries out carrier monitoring before a possible starting point of a next DRS in sequence until the carrier monitoring is passed; the starting of signal transmission by the transmitting node in the direction j after the first type carrier monitoring is passed comprises: in the DMTC window, after the carrier monitoring is carried out, the DRSs in the first direction are sent from the earliest possible starting point of the DRSs which are monitored by the carrier, and the DRSs in all the directions in the DMTC window are continuously sent;

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

when the carrier monitoring performed by the base station is directional carrier monitoring, the performing, by the sending node, first type carrier monitoring in the direction i includes: in the DMTC window, carrying out carrier monitoring on each direction in sequence according to the transmission sequence of the DRS in each direction; wherein, the base station monitoring the carrier wave in each direction comprises: carrying out carrier monitoring before a possible starting point of each direction DRS, and when the carrier monitoring is not passed, carrying out carrier monitoring before the next possible starting point of the direction DRS in sequence until the carrier monitoring is passed; the starting of signal transmission by the transmitting node in the direction j after the first type carrier monitoring is passed comprises: after carrier monitoring in one direction is performed, the base station starts to transmit DRSs in the corresponding direction from the earliest possible starting point position of the DRS in the corresponding direction after carrier monitoring is performed.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein when transmitting DRSs, the base station transmits DRSs in each direction within a DMTC window; when the transmission sequence and the starting point position of each direction DRS in the DMTC window are not fixed, the direction information of the DRS is carried when the DRS is transmitted.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein when the base station supports carrier monitoring in multiple directions simultaneously, the base station transmitting DRSs in the directions monitored by carriers comprises: the base station simultaneously transmits DRSs in a plurality of directions monitored by carriers.

13. The method according to claim 8 or 10, characterized in that the base station pre-configures the number of directional DRSs; and/or the base station independently configures a transmission period for DRSs in different directions.

14. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the signals transmitted in the plurality of directions are beam measurement signals;

15. A method for monitoring a carrier wave on an unlicensed frequency band, the method comprising:

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the reference subframe determined according to the transmission direction is: the sending node having received the ACK/NACK information and specifying a first sub-frame in which a transmission burst is transmitted in a direction j 'corresponding to said sending direction i'; wherein the designated transmission burst is a transmission burst closest to the current subframe containing the signal in the transmission direction j ', and the direction j ' is a single or multiple beam directions corresponding to the direction i ';

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the plurality of beam directions are a predefined set of beam directions, or wherein the plurality of beam directions are a set of beam directions with respect to one beam direction that at least includes the reference beam direction.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the adjusting the contention window length for carrier monitoring of the current subframe comprises:

19. A method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein prior to determining the reference subframe, the method comprises:

20. A method for monitoring a carrier wave on an unlicensed frequency band, the method comprising:

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said determining the LBT type indication according to a direction in which a first transmitting node transmits a signal and a direction in which the second transmitting node transmits a signal comprises:

if the signal sending direction m of the first sending node corresponds to the signal sending direction n of the second sending node and the signal sending of the second sending node is within the MCOT, determining that the LBT type indication is an indication for performing 25us LBT; otherwise, determining the LBT type indication as an indication for Cat-4 LBT; the direction n is a single beam direction corresponding to the direction m, or the direction n is one of a plurality of beam directions corresponding to the direction m.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the determining the LBT type indication according to the direction of carrier monitoring by the first transmitting node and the direction of the transmission signal by the second transmitting node comprises:

if the direction of carrier monitoring before the first sending node sends a signal is omni-directional carrier monitoring and the signal of the second sending node is sent in the MCOT, or if the direction m' of carrier monitoring before the first sending node sends a signal corresponds to the direction n of sending a signal by the second sending node and the signal of the second sending node is sent in the MCOT, determining that the LBT type indication is an indication of carrying out 25us LBT; otherwise, determining the LBT type indication as an indication for Cat-4 LBT; the direction n is a single beam direction corresponding to the direction m ', or the direction n is one of a plurality of beam directions corresponding to the direction m'.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein when the first transmitting node is a base station and the second transmitting node is a terminal UE, the sending the LBT type indication comprises:

24. The method of claim 23, wherein when the LBT type indication is carried by the cell common signaling, the cell common signaling carries direction information of the first transmitting node sending signal or direction information of carrier monitoring before the first transmitting node sends signal.

25. A signal transmission device in an unlicensed frequency band, the device comprising: the device comprises a carrier monitoring unit and a signal sending unit;

26. A carrier monitoring device in an unlicensed frequency band, the device comprising: a reference subframe determining unit and a carrier monitoring unit;

27. A first transmitting node device in an unlicensed frequency band, the device comprising: an LBT type indication determining unit and an LBT type indication transmitting unit;