CN108633057B

CN108633057B - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN108633057B
Application number: CN201710184931.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈磊; 黄煌; 颜矛
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-03-24
Filing date: 2017-03-24
Publication date: 2024-04-16
Anticipated expiration: 2037-03-24
Also published as: CN118368743A; CN108633057A

Abstract

A communication method and device are used for providing a communication mode suitable for an NR network. The method comprises the following steps: before sending the random access preamble, the terminal equipment determines whether the random access configuration is updated; and if the random access configuration is updated, the terminal equipment acquires a new random access configuration.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a communication method and device.

Background

Currently, before a base station communicates with a terminal Equipment (UE), the UE needs to access the base station first, and currently, the UE generally implements access through random access. Fig. 1A is a schematic diagram of a Random Access (RA) procedure in a long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system. In the LTE system, when random access is performed, the UE performs downlink synchronization first, acquires main system information such as a system frame number from a physical layer broadcast channel (Physical broadcast channel, PBCH), and then receives other downlink system information. Wherein, the UE acquires the random access configuration information from the received second class system information block (System information block-2, SIB 2), thereby performing random access according to the random access configuration information.

However, this manner of random access of the LTE system is not applicable to a New Radio (NR) network.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a communication method and device, which are used for providing a communication mode suitable for an NR network.

In a first aspect, a method of communication is provided, the method being executable by a terminal device. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal device determines whether an update of the random access configuration has occurred before transmitting the random access preamble. If the random access configuration is updated, the terminal equipment acquires the new random access configuration.

In the embodiment of the invention, before the terminal equipment sends the random access preamble, whether the random access configuration is updated is determined, if the random access configuration is updated, the terminal equipment acquires the new random access configuration, so that the new random access configuration is used for random access, the probability of random access failure is reduced, and the success rate of random access is improved.

In one possible design, the random access configuration includes at least one of: the terminal equipment performs the downlink signal used by random access, the uplink signal used by random access, the starting time of random access, the duration of random access and the ending time of random access.

The random access configuration may be used to indicate the corresponding time domain for performing random access and beam peer-to-peer resources, so that the terminal device may perform random access at the correct location according to the received random access configuration information.

In one possible design, determining whether an update has occurred to the random access configuration includes: and the terminal equipment receives the update instruction sent by the network equipment, and determines that the random access configuration is updated.

A way for a terminal device to determine whether an update of a random access resource has occurred is presented. In this way, if the random access configuration is updated, the network device will send an update instruction to the terminal device, so that the terminal device knows that the random access configuration is updated as long as receiving the update instruction, and the terminal device does not need to perform excessive blind detection and other processes, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal device.

In one possible design, the terminal device receives an update indication sent by the network device, including: the terminal equipment receives system information sent by the network equipment, wherein the system information carries an update instruction; or the terminal equipment receives a state counter sent by the network equipment, wherein the state counter is used for indicating the update of the system information, and if the value of the state counter is changed, the terminal equipment determines that the random access configuration is updated.

The update indication may be carried in a message such as RRC signaling, MAC-CE, DCI, SS-block, or system information, or the update indication may be sent through a specific message, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present invention. For example, the update instruction is carried in the system information and sent, the user can know whether the random access configuration is updated or not only by receiving the system information, and no additional information is required to be received, so that the interaction process between the devices is reduced, and the transmission resources are saved. Alternatively, the update indication may also be embodied in the form of a state counter, and if the value of the state counter is changed, it is simpler for the terminal device to determine that the random access configuration has been updated.

In one possible design, determining whether an update has occurred to the random access configuration includes: and determining whether the random access configuration is updated according to a preset period.

In addition to determining whether the random access configuration is updated by receiving the update indication, the terminal device may also determine whether the random access configuration is updated in other manners, for example, whether the random access configuration is updated according to a preset period. In this way, a random access configuration scanning period is set for the terminal device in advance, and the terminal device scans in the preset period to determine whether the random access configuration is updated. The period may be set by the terminal device itself, for example, the terminal device is set empirically, or may be configured by the base station for the terminal device. The terminal equipment automatically performs periodic scanning without issuing update instructions from the base station, thereby reducing the burden of the base station, and the terminal equipment can avoid missing updated random access configuration information as far as possible because the update instructions sent by the base station are not received.

In one possible design, obtaining a new random access configuration includes: and carrying out downlink synchronization with the network equipment to acquire new random access configuration.

In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal equipment can acquire the new random access configuration by carrying out downlink synchronization with the network equipment, and the mode is simpler.

In one possible design, determining whether an update has occurred to the random access configuration includes: determining whether the time-frequency resource of the random access configuration is updated; and/or determining whether the association relationship between the downlink signal and the random access configuration is updated.

In the embodiment of the invention, the random access configuration is updated, which may include that the association relationship between the downlink signal and the random access configuration is updated, that is, that the downlink signal associated with the random access configuration is updated, which may also be understood as that the physical resource of the random access configuration is updated. It can be seen that various possible ways of updating are included.

In one possible design, the downlink signal is at least one of SS block, SS burst set, and system information.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the downlink signal may have different forms, and the above several types are just examples, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the form of the downlink signal.

In a second aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication means may be a terminal device. The communication device has the function of realizing the terminal equipment in the design of the method. These functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In one possible design, the specific structure of the communication apparatus as the terminal device may include a determination unit and an acquisition unit. The determining unit and the obtaining unit may perform the respective functions in the method provided by the above-described first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be a terminal device, or a functional module such as a chip provided in the terminal device. The terminal device includes: a memory for storing computer executable program code; a transceiver, and a processor coupled with the memory and the transceiver. Wherein the program code stored in the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method performed by the terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect or the first aspect described above.

In a fourth aspect, a computer storage medium is provided for storing computer software instructions for use with the communications apparatus described in the second aspect or the communications apparatus described in the third aspect, and comprising a program for executing the method of any one of the possible designs of the first aspect or the first aspect, designed for a terminal device.

In the embodiment of the invention, if the random access configuration is updated, the terminal equipment can acquire the new random access configuration, so that the new random access configuration is used for random access, the probability of random access failure is reduced, and the success rate of random access is improved.

In the embodiment of the present invention, names such as network device, terminal device, and random access configuration do not limit technical features, and in actual implementation, these technical features may appear by other names. Insofar as the function of the individual technical features is similar to that described in the embodiments of the present invention, it falls within the scope of the claims of the present application and the equivalents thereof.

Drawings

Fig. 1A is a schematic diagram of a random access procedure in an LTE system;

FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of a broadcast period of SIB 2;

fig. 1C is a relationship between system information and random access configuration information sent by a base station in an LTE system;

Fig. 1D is a schematic diagram of random access configuration in an LTE system;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a situation in which the number of terminal devices in different downlink transmission beams is different;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the present invention a flow chart of a method of communication;

fig. 5A is a downlink signal of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention schematic diagram of system information and random access configuration structure;

fig. 5B is a diagram illustrating a random associated with a downlink transmit beam k in an embodiment of the present invention schematic diagram of an access configuration and a random access configuration associated with downstream beam j;

fig. 5C is a schematic diagram of a frame format of random access according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5D is a schematic diagram of several formats of a random access time-frequency resource according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5E shows the base station passing the downlink signal k and the downlink signal at two times, respectively a line signal j sends a schematic diagram of downlink synchronous information and system information;

fig. 6A is a schematic diagram of grouping downlink signals according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6B is a schematic diagram illustrating different time amounts of random access resources associated with different downlink signal groups according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6C is a schematic diagram illustrating different numbers of frequency/sequence resources of random access resources associated with different downlink signal groups according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 7A is a schematic structural diagram of system information according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7B is a schematic diagram of an update period of a downlink signal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7C is a schematic structural diagram of system information according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 to fig. 9 are schematic diagrams of two structures of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more apparent, the embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical scheme described herein can be used for a fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G) system and also can be used for a next generation mobile communication system.

In the following, some terms in the embodiments of the present invention are explained for easy understanding by those skilled in the art.

(1) A network device, including for example a base station (e.g., an access point), may refer to a device in an access network that communicates over the air-interface, through one or more sectors, with wireless terminal devices. The base station may be configured to inter-convert the received air frames with Internet Protocol (IP) packets as a router between the terminal device and the rest of the access network, which may include an IP network. The base station may also coordinate attribute management for the air interface. For example, the base station may include an evolved base station (NodeB or eNB or e-NodeB, evolutional Node B) in a long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system or an evolved LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-a), or may also include a next generation NodeB (next generation node B, gNB) in a 5G system, and embodiments of the present invention are not limited.

(2) Terminal devices, including devices that provide voice and/or data connectivity to a user, may include, for example, a handheld device having wireless connectivity, or a processing device connected to a wireless modem. The terminal device may communicate with the core network via a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN), exchanging voice and/or data with the RAN. The Terminal Device may include a User Equipment (UE), a wireless Terminal Device, a Mobile Terminal Device, a Subscriber Unit (Subscriber Unit), a Subscriber Station (Subscriber Station), a Mobile Station (Mobile Station), a Mobile Station (Mobile), a Remote Station (Remote Station), an Access Point (AP), a Remote Terminal Device (Remote Terminal), an Access Terminal Device (Access Terminal), a User Terminal Device (User Terminal), a User Agent (User Agent), or a User Equipment (User Device), etc. For example, mobile telephones (or "cellular" telephones) computers with mobile terminal devices, portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-built-in or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, smart wearable devices, and the like may be included. For example, personal communication services (Personal Communication Service, PCS) phones, cordless phones, session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (Wireless Local Loop, WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA), smart watches, smart helmets, smart glasses, smart bracelets, and the like. But also limited devices such as devices with lower power consumption, or devices with limited memory capabilities, or devices with limited computing capabilities, etc. Examples include bar codes, radio Frequency Identification (RFID), sensors, global Positioning System (GPS), laser scanners, and like information sensing devices.

(3) Beam (beam), a communication resource. The beam may be a wide beam, or a narrow beam, or other type of beam. The technique for forming the beam may be a beam forming techniques or other technical means. The beamforming technique may be embodied as a digital beamforming technique, an analog beamforming technique, a hybrid digital/analog beamforming technique. Different beams may considered as a distinct resource. The same information or different information may be transmitted through different beams. Alternatively, a plurality of beams having the same or similar communication characteristics may be regarded as one beam. One beam may include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, probe signals, etc., for example, a transmit beam may refer to a distribution of signal strengths formed in spatially different directions after signals are transmitted through an antenna, and a receive beam may refer to a signal strength distribution of wireless signals received from the antenna in spatially different directions. It is understood that one or more antenna ports forming a beam may also be considered as a set of antenna ports.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the "beam" may also be referred to as "transmission resource" or the like. That is, the name of "beam" is not limited herein, as long as the above concept is expressed.

(4) Beam pair link, the concept of beam pair builds on the concept of beam. A beam pair typically includes a transmit beam at a transmitting end and a receive beam at a receiving end. For example, one beam pair may include a transmit beam of a base station and a receive beam of a UE.

(5) The terms "system" and "network" in embodiments of the invention may be used interchangeably. "plurality" means two or more, and "plurality" may also be understood as "at least two" in this embodiment of the present invention. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/", unless otherwise specified, generally indicates that the associated object is an "or" relationship. Further, "update" as used herein may be "modification", "change", or the like.

The technical background of the embodiment of the present invention is first described.

As described above with reference to fig. 1A, in the LTE system, when random access is performed, the UE performs downlink synchronization first, acquires main system information such as a system frame number from a physical layer broadcast channel, and then receives other downlink system information. Wherein, the UE acquires random access configuration information from the received SIB 2.

Fig. 1B is a schematic diagram of a broadcast period of SIB2, where the broadcast period of SIB2 is T, which may be configured by a base station. The relationship between the system information and the random access configuration information sent by the base station is shown in fig. 1C. In the random access configuration information, resources such as time density, frequency, and sequence at which the UE can transmit random access are indicated, as shown by resource 1, resource 2, and resource 3 in fig. 1D. Wherein the time density comprises a random access in each system frame (System frame number, SFN) and the number and location in the network. And then the UE generates a random access preamble (preamble) according to the random access configuration information, and transmits the random access preamble at the time and frequency position indicated by the random access configuration information.

In the LTE system, the base station uses the same beam to perform information transmission with UEs within the coverage area of the base station. Whereas in future fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G) systems, the base station may use multiple beams to transmit information to UEs within the coverage area of the base station. Therefore, this single beam method of the LTE system is not applicable to such a multi-beam network similar to the 5G system.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention is suitable for a multi-beam network, namely a base station uses different beams to carry out information transmission with UE in the coverage area of the base station. The UE acquires a downlink signal through a downlink transmission beam of the base station, selects a random access resource according to random access configuration information associated with the downlink signal, and transmits the random access signal to the base station through the random access resource.

In the embodiment of the invention, before the terminal equipment sends random access, whether the random access configuration is updated is determined, if the random access configuration is updated, the terminal equipment acquires the new random access configuration, so that random access is performed by using random access resources indicated by the new random access configuration, the probability of random access failure is reduced, and the success rate of random access is improved.

Fig. 2 is an application scenario of the embodiment of the present invention. In fig. 3, a base station and a plurality of terminal devices located in a coverage area of the base station are included, and the base station transmits downlink synchronization information and system information to the terminal devices located in different directions through a plurality of downlink transmission beams.

The following describes the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, and in the following description, the application of the technical solution provided by the present invention in the application scenario shown in fig. 2 is taken as an example, and the network device is taken as an example of a base station.

Referring to fig. 4, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for communication, and a flow of the method is described as follows.

S41, before sending a random access preamble (preamble) to a base station, the terminal equipment determines whether the random access configuration is updated.

Because the number of terminal devices in different downlink transmission beams may be different, for example, some downlink transmission beams may have a large number of terminal devices and some downlink transmission beams may have a small number of terminal devices. Referring to fig. 3, there are 2 times the number of terminal devices in the downlink transmission beam 1, and only 1 time the number of terminal devices in the downlink transmission beam 2. For downlink transmission beams with a large number of terminal devices, the number of terminal devices initiating random access is also large, otherwise, the number of downlink transmission beams with a small number of terminal devices is small, and the number of terminal devices initiating random access is also small. For this case, if the same random access configuration information is associated with all downlink transmission beams, the random access configuration information associated with the downlink transmission beams with a large number of terminal devices is not enough, or the random access configuration information associated with the downlink transmission beams with a small number of terminal devices remains, which causes resource waste.

Thus, in the embodiment of the present invention, the random access configuration information associated with different downlink signals may be different. The random access configuration information is used for indicating the random access resources, and if the random access configuration information is different, the indicated random access resources are also different. After generating a plurality of downlink signals, the base station correlates the plurality of downlink signals with corresponding random access configuration information, and because the random access configuration information correlated with different downlink signals may be different, the base station may adjust random access resources correlated with part of downlink signals or all downlink signals according to conditions, and then at different moments, the random access configuration information correlated with a certain downlink signal may change. If the terminal device continues to use the random access resource before the change for random access, it obviously causes random access failure. In view of this, in the embodiment of the present invention, before sending random access, the terminal device determines whether the random access configuration is updated, and if the random access configuration is updated, the terminal device acquires a new random access configuration, so that random access is performed using random access resources indicated by the new random access configuration, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure, and improving the success rate of random access.

In embodiments of the present invention, the signal bearers are sent in specific resources, which may be the "beams" mentioned in the foregoing. In order to distinguish between the different beams, the beam carrying the downlink signal transmitted by the base station is hereinafter referred to as the downlink transmission beam of the base station or the transmission beam of the base station. Accordingly, the beam carrying the uplink signal received by the base station may be referred to as the uplink receive beam of the base station or the receive beam of the base station.

In one embodiment, the downstream signal is at least one of a synchronization block (Synchronization Signal block, SS block), a synchronization burst (SS burst), a synchronization burst set (SS burst set), and system information (System Information, SI).

Before S41, the terminal device is likely to have performed one or more random accesses, but none of the previous random accesses may be successful, so the terminal device continues to perform random access, and in the continuing random access, specifically, before the terminal device sends the random access to the base station, it is determined whether the random access configuration is updated. Since the user has previously performed one or more random accesses, that is, the terminal device has previously received the downlink signal transmitted by the base station and obtained the random access configuration information therefrom, the random access resource is obtained. The procedure for obtaining the random access configuration before the terminal device will be briefly described.

First, a base station generates a plurality of downlink signals. Wherein each of the plurality of downlink signals is associated with corresponding random access configuration information, each random access configuration information is used to indicate the random access resources allocated for the terminal device, that is, the random access configuration information is used to allocate the random access resources for the terminal device.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the random access configuration information associated with the plurality of downlink signals is different, here, it may be understood that some of the random access configuration information associated with the plurality of downlink signals are the same and the remaining random access configuration information is different, or that the random access configuration information associated with the plurality of downlink signals are different. If the two random access configuration information are different, the random access resources indicated by the two random access configuration information are different.

Referring to fig. 5A, the information related to random access in the downlink signal mainly includes a frame number, a beam scanning period, a current beam index, and random access configuration information. The random access configuration information includes time configuration information, preamble format, frequency location, sequence, power information, etc. where the random access resource is located.

The time configuration information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to perform uplink access, wherein the uplink access comprises random access. In the time configuration information, there is included a density of random access in time, for example, K subframes for random access in every N frames, and at least one of received signal scan periods corresponding to random access, and a start time and an end time of a random access resource, or a start time and a duration of a random access resource are included. The starting time or the ending time refers to the position of the random access resource in the scanning period of the uplink receiving signal of the base station corresponding to the random access. The start time or end time includes at least one of a frame number, a subframe number, a slot, a mini-slot (mini-slot), and a number of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM) symbol. A frame, subframe, or slot is made up of a plurality of OFDM symbols. For example, frame number, slot number, and number of OFDM symbol are required, the time configuration information may include frame number, slot number, minislot number, and number of OFDM symbol, that is, the content included in the time configuration information may be determined according to the actual situation. The duration may be represented by at least one of a number of subframes, a number of slots, and a number of OFDM symbols. Referring to fig. 5B, a schematic diagram of a random access resource associated with a downlink signal k and a random access resource associated with a downlink signal j, where time configuration information of the two random access resources are obviously different. In fig. 5B, a transmission beam k is a downlink transmission beam carrying a downlink signal k, and a transmission beam j is a downlink transmission beam carrying a downlink signal j. Wherein in embodiments of the present invention, a "frame" herein may be understood as a system frame if referring to a start time or an end time, and a "frame" herein may be understood as a radio frame if referring to a duration.

Next, a frame format of random access will be described, see fig. 5C. One time-frequency resource region for random access is composed of N subframes, slots, minislots, or OFDM symbols. In the same time position, there may be multiple frequency domain resource regions, where each random access time-frequency resource region may be adjacent or not adjacent in frequency domain, i.e. there is a free frequency domain or other frequency domain for uplink data transmission in the middle of different random access time-frequency resource regions. The frequency domain width and/or the time width occupied by each random access time-frequency resource area can be the same or different.

For example, the random access time-frequency resource is formed by N time slots, and the embodiment of the present invention provides three formats, please refer to fig. 5D. Wherein, in the format 1, each time slot is composed of K random access preambles and a guard period. In particular, for a particular time slot, the tail within the time slot is a guard time, and the end time of the guard time is aligned with the end time of the time slot. Accordingly, the header of the next slot is aligned with the header of the specific random access preamble. In format 2, the random access preambles of the slots in the same region are adjacent in time, and only the last position of the last slot in the region is provided with a guard time. The guard time is used to guard other uplink data or downlink data next to the random access resource region in time. In particular, for format 2, for the last slot included in the random access resource, the tail of the slot is a guard time, and the end time of the guard time is aligned with the end time of the slot. While for other time slots there is no guard time and the end time of a time slot may not be aligned with the end time of a random access preamble and accordingly the header of these time slots may not be aligned with the header of a particular random access preamble. In format 3, optionally, there is other uplink data or downlink data at the start position of each slot, such as downlink control channel data or uplink control channel data. In format 3, optionally, there is other uplink data or downlink data at the end of each slot, such as uplink control channel data or downlink control channel data, before the other data at the end of each slot, a guard time is set. Format 3 may be combined with either format 1 or format 2 in any manner. In another embodiment, the above random access time-frequency resource region is composed of N subframes, small slots, or OFDM symbols. The K and the N can be arbitrary positive integers, and the terminal equipment can be obtained by looking up a table according to random access configuration information or calculating according to a formula.

Then, because the embodiment of the invention supports different random access configuration information associated with a plurality of downlink signals, the network device may associate different random access configuration information for different downlink signals. In one embodiment, the network device may associate different random access configuration information for different downlink signals according to the number of terminal devices, for a downlink signal with a large number of covered terminal devices, may associate random access configuration information of a large number of random access resources indicated by the downlink signal, and for a downlink signal with a small number of covered terminal devices, may associate random access configuration information of a small number of random access resources indicated by the downlink signal. In another embodiment, the network device may associate different random access configuration information for different downlink signals according to an application scenario, for example, for a downlink signal with a small coverage area, a random access resource with a shorter time length may be indicated for the association, and for a downlink signal with a large coverage area, a random access resource with a longer time length may be indicated for the association.

For example, referring to fig. 5E, the number of terminal devices in the downlink transmission beam k carrying the downlink signal k and the number of terminal devices in the downlink transmission beam j carrying the downlink signal are different, and the base station sends downlink synchronization information and system information through the downlink signal k and the downlink signal j at two times, where the downlink synchronization information and the system information sent in the downlink signal k are different from the downlink synchronization information and the system information sent in the downlink signal k. In fig. 5E, transmit beam k is the downlink transmit beam carrying downlink signal k, the downlink signal j is the downlink transmit beam carrying the downlink signal j. The downlink synchronization information and the system information are different, and it is understood that at least the random access configuration information associated with the downlink synchronization information and the system information are different. For example, the number of terminal devices in the downlink transmission beam k carrying the downlink signal k is greater, so that the random access resources indicated by the random access configuration information associated with the downlink synchronization information and the system information transmitted in the downlink signal k are greater, so that a plurality of terminal devices can perform random access, and the number of terminal devices carrying the downlink transmission beam j of the downlink signal j is large, so that the random access resources indicated by the random access configuration information associated with the downlink synchronization information and the system information transmitted in the downlink signal j are small, and resource waste is avoided. By the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the resource utilization rate can be effectively improved.

The downlink synchronization information and the system information described in the embodiments of the present invention may be sent by a physical layer broadcast channel and/or a physical layer data channel, or sent through other downlink channels. When transmitting on a plurality of downlink channels, a part of each of the plurality of downlink channels is transmitted. The corresponding rules between the downlink transmitting beam k and the downlink transmitting beam j for transmitting the downlink synchronous information and the system information and the uplink receiving beam of the base station are satisfied, the random access resources respectively associated with the downlink signal k borne by the downlink transmitting beam k and the downlink signal j borne by the downlink transmitting beam j are disjoint in time, and the duration of the random access resources associated with different downlink signals in time can be the same or different.

And the base station transmits the downlink signals and the random access configuration information associated with the downlink signals to the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment receives the downlink signals and the random access configuration information associated with the downlink signals. Wherein, the random access configuration associated with the downlink signal may be carried and transmitted in the associated downlink signal, or the random access configuration associated with the downlink signal may be separately transmitted. After receiving the downlink signals and the associated random access configuration information, the terminal device can send random access preambles on the corresponding random access resources according to the indication of the random access configuration information, and the base station receives the random access preambles sent by the terminal device through the uplink receiving beam.

The foregoing describes a scheme in which the base station directly associates different random access configuration information for different downlink signals, and in another embodiment of the present invention, the base station may further group a plurality of downlink signals to obtain a plurality of downlink signal groups. Wherein different downlink signal groups are associated with different random access configuration information. Specifically, the base station generates a plurality of downlink signals, and the base station groups the plurality of downlink signals, wherein each downlink signal group comprises at least one downlink signal. The number of random access resources associated with the downlink signals in the same downlink signal group may be the same or different, and the number of random access resources associated with the downlink signals in different downlink signal groups may be the same or different.

In one embodiment, the downlink signal may be SS-block, and then the base station grouping the plurality of downlink signals refers to grouping the plurality of SS-blocks, one downlink signal group including at least one SS-block, and the base station treating the plurality of downlink signal groups as a set. In this case, one downlink signal group may be regarded as one downlink synchronization burst (SS burst) group, and one downlink signal group set may be regarded as a downlink SS burst set.

In another embodiment, the downlink signal may be SS-burst, and then the base station grouping the plurality of downlink signals refers to grouping the plurality of SS-bursts, and one downlink signal group includes at least one SS-burst. In particular, one SS-burst may also constitute one downlink signal group, and at least two downlink signal groups have different associated random access configuration information.

In another embodiment, the downlink signal may be SS burst set, and then the base station grouping the plurality of downlink signals refers to grouping the plurality of SS burst sets, and one downlink signal group includes at least one SS burst set.

In another embodiment, the downlink signal may be system information, and then the base station grouping the plurality of downlink signals refers to grouping the plurality of system information, and one downlink signal group includes at least one system information.

The random access configuration information associated with the downlink signal group comprises a time configuration index of the downlink signal indicated by the random access configuration information, and the time configuration index is used for determining at least one of starting time of random access resources, occupied frequency domain resources, the number of the downlink signals and sequence resources used by random access according to the time configuration index by the terminal equipment. In particular, the time configuration index may be included in the time configuration information. After receiving the system information in the downlink signal, the terminal device performs table lookup according to the time configuration index in the time configuration information, and determines at least one of the starting time of the random access resource, the occupied frequency domain resource, the number of the downlink signals and the sequence resource used by random access through a table lookup result or a calculation mode according to the table lookup result. In this case, the table and the table may include a correspondence between the time allocation index and at least one of a start time of the random access resource, an occupied frequency domain resource, the number of downlink signals, and a sequence resource used for the random access. Or, the terminal device may further combine the downlink signal index and/or the downlink signal group index in addition to the time configuration index, and obtain the specific position of the random access resource associated with the downlink signal by looking up a table or calculating according to the result of the looking up a table, that is, determine at least one of the starting time of the random access resource, the occupied frequency domain resource, the number of downlink signals, and the sequence resource used by random access. In this case, the table and the table may include a correspondence between the index of the downlink signal and/or the index of the downlink signal group, a time allocation index and at least one of a start time of the random access resource, an occupied frequency domain resource, the number of downlink signals, and a sequence resource used for the random access.

Or, the random access configuration information associated with the downlink signal group includes at least one of a start time of random access of the downlink signal packet indicated by the random access configuration information, a duration of random access, an end time of random access, a frequency domain resource used by random access, the number of downlink signals, and a sequence resource used by random access.

In one embodiment, the downlink synchronization information and the system information sent by different downlink signals in the same downlink signal group are not identical, where the downlink synchronization information and the system information sent by one downlink signal can indicate a start time and a duration time, or a start time and an end time, of a random access resource associated with the downlink signal. In this embodiment, the random access configuration information associated with each downlink signal in the same downlink signal group is not identical, i.e. the random access configuration information associated with different downlink signals in the same downlink signal group may be different. The following mainly describes the case that the random access configuration information associated with different downlink signals in the same downlink signal group is the same.

In another embodiment, the random access configuration information associated with each downlink signal in the same downlink signal group is identical, which is mainly described herein. The base station may specify a start time of the random access resource associated with the downlink signal group and a duration of the random access resource associated with each of the downlink signals, or the base station may specify an end time of the random access resource associated with the downlink signal group and a number of the downlink signals included in the downlink signal group, or the base station may specify a total duration of the random access resource associated with the downlink signal group and a number of the downlink signals included in the downlink signal group. Therefore, the terminal equipment can acquire the time configuration information of the random access resource associated with the downlink signal according to the group index of the downlink signal group where the received downlink signal is located and the signal index of the downlink signal in the downlink signal group where the downlink signal is located.

In the embodiment of the invention, the base station may group the downlink signals according to the number of the terminal devices in the downlink transmission beam, for example, the downlink signals including the same or approximately the same number of the terminal devices may be grouped into one group. The number of terminal devices is approximately the same, and it is understood that the number of terminal devices is within the same number range. For example, the number of terminal devices may be divided into a plurality of number ranges in advance, and the downlink signals whose number of terminal devices is within the same number range may be divided into a group.

For example, the base station generates k1+k2 downlink signals in total. Wherein the number of terminal devices in K1 downlink transmission beams carrying downlink signals 1 to K1 is 4, and the number of terminal devices in K2 downlink transmission beams carrying the remaining K2 downlink signals is 2, then the base station groups the downlink signals 1 to K1 and groups the remaining K2 downlink signals, please refer to fig. 6A. In fig. 6A, the downlink signal group in which the downlink signals 1 to K1 are located is denoted as the 1 st group, the downlink signal group in which the remaining K2 downlink signals are located is denoted as the 2 nd group, and downlink synchronization information and system information are transmitted, respectively. The 1 st group includes K1 downlink signals, and the 2 nd group includes K2 downlink signals. Because the number of terminal devices in the K1 downlink transmission beams carrying the downlink signals 1 to K1 is greater, the base station may associate a relatively greater number of random access resources for each downlink signal in the 1 st group, for example, 2 random access resources in time associated with each downlink signal in the 1 st group. While the number of terminal devices in the K2 downlink transmission beams carrying the remaining K2 downlink signals is smaller, the base station may associate a smaller number of random access resources for each downlink signal in the 2 nd group, for example, 1 random access resource in time associated with each downlink signal in the 2 nd group, see fig. 6B.

Here, "a lot" indicates the number of random access resources, and in the embodiment shown in fig. 6B, the difference in the number of random access resources may be represented by time, and a large number may be represented by a long time corresponding to the random access resource region. In this embodiment, "2" and "1" may be any time length, and the time granularity may be any one of an OFDM symbol, a slot, a minislot, a subframe, a frame, and a time width of a preamble format.

In another embodiment, the difference in the number of random access resources may be represented by frequency/sequence resources, and the large number may be represented by a wider frequency domain resource and a larger sequence resource. In this embodiment, "2" and "1" may be any number of frequency/sequence resources, see fig. 6C. Continuing to divide the K1 downlink signals into the 1 st group and dividing the K2 downlink signals into the 2 nd group as an example, 2 parts of random access resources on each downlink signal associated frequency/sequence in the 1 st group, and 1 part of random access resources on each downlink signal associated frequency/sequence in the 2 nd group. Wherein the transmit beams in fig. 6A-6C are each used to carry downlink signals.

And the base station transmits the downlink signal groups and the random access configuration information associated with the downlink signal groups to the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment receives the random access configuration information associated with the downlink signal groups and the downlink signal groups. Wherein, the random access configuration information associated with the downlink signal may be carried in the associated downlink signal for transmission, or the random access configuration information associated with the downlink signal may be transmitted separately. After receiving the downlink signals and the associated random access configuration information, the terminal device can send random access preambles on the corresponding random access resources according to the indication of the random access configuration information, and the base station receives the random access preambles sent by the terminal device through the uplink receiving beam.

As described above, the terminal device performs the random access procedure before, and it can be seen that the terminal device has received the random access configuration information before.

In the foregoing, it was described that the random access of the terminal device may not succeed once, and then the terminal device may initiate the random access again after the random access fails. The base station may adjust the random access configuration information associated with a certain downlink signal, or specifically, the base station may adjust the association relationship between the downlink signal and the random access resource, which may also be understood as the base station may adjust the association relationship between the downlink signal and the random access resource. The foregoing describes that the random access configuration is updated, which may include that the association relationship between the downlink signal and the random access configuration is updated, that is, that the downlink signal associated with the random access configuration is updated, which may also be understood as that the physical resource of the random access configuration is updated. Because the downlink signal sent by the network device and the uplink signal received by the network device also have a certain association relationship, the random access configuration and the uplink signal of the network device can be considered to have a certain association relationship, so that the uplink signal associated with the random access configuration is updated, and the random access configuration is also considered to be updated. Then, the updating of the downlink signal may include at least one of a change in the number of the downlink signals, a change in the time sequence of the downlink signals, and a change in the duration of the downlink signals. Accordingly, the update of the uplink signal may include at least one of a change in the number of uplink signals, a change in the time sequence of the uplink signals, and a change in the duration of the uplink signals.

Here, in the case where the number of downlink signals is changed, for example, there are 3 original downlink signals, and the downlink signal associated with the random access resource 1 is the downlink signal 3. The number of the downlink signals is changed from 3 to two, and then the downlink signals associated with the random access resource 1 are adjusted to be downlink signals 2, and at this time, the random access resource 1 is unchanged from physical resources. When the order of the downlink signals is changed, for example, the downlink signal 3 originally associated with the random access resource 1 is transmitted at time 1, and then the downlink signal 3 is adjusted to be transmitted at time 2, and the random access resource 1 is unchanged from the physical resource. While for the case where the duration of the downlink signal is changed, it can be understood that the duration of the random access resource associated with the downlink signal is changed.

For better understanding, examples are as follows:

for example, if the number of terminal devices in the downlink transmission beam carrying the downlink signal a is greater at the beginning, the base station associates random access configuration information a for the downlink signal a at the beginning, where the random access configuration information a is used to indicate two random access resources. After a period of time, for example from day to night, the number of access terminals is obviously reduced at night, so that the number of terminals in the downlink transmission beam carrying the downlink signal a is reduced, and if the base station continues to associate the downlink signal a with the random access configuration information a for indicating two random access resources, resource waste may be caused. The base station may adjust the random access configuration information associated with the downlink signal a, for example, replace the random access configuration information associated with the downlink signal a with the random access configuration information B, where the random access configuration information B is used to indicate a piece of random access resource, so as to reduce resource waste.

Alternatively, the base station may group the downlink signals. For example, the base station initially associates random access configuration information a for each downlink signal in the downlink signal group 1, where the random access configuration information a is used to indicate two random access resources, and associates random access configuration information B for each downlink signal in the downlink signal group 2, where the random access configuration information B is used to indicate one random access resource. After a period of time, the number of terminal devices in the downlink transmission beam carrying the downlink signal C in the downlink signal group 2 increases, and if one random access resource is used, some terminal devices may not access the network. Then, the base station may adjust the downlink signal C from the downlink signal group 2 to the downlink signal group 1, where each downlink signal in the downlink signal group 1 is associated with random access configuration information a for indicating two random access resources, so that the random access resources indicated by the random access configuration information associated with the downlink signal C are increased, so as to meet the requirement of the terminal device in the downlink transmission beam carrying the downlink signal C.

That is, in the embodiment of the present invention, the base station may adjust the association relationship between the downlink signal and the random access resource according to the actual situation, which may be understood that the base station updates the random access configuration for the terminal device. In the embodiment of the present invention, in order to avoid that the terminal device continues to use the random access configuration before updating, the terminal device may determine whether the random access configuration is updated, specifically, whether the association relationship between the downlink signal and the random access resource is updated, before sending the random access, and if it is determined that the random access configuration is updated, the terminal device may update the random access configuration. For example, after the terminal device transmits the random access preamble, when the random access response is not received in the corresponding time and the maximum number of retransmissions has not been reached, the random access preamble needs to be retransmitted. Before sending the random access preamble, the terminal device first determines whether the random access configuration is updated, and if so, the terminal device updates the random access configuration, thereby reducing the probability of random access failure. How the terminal device determines whether an update of the random access configuration has occurred is described below.

In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal equipment determines whether the random access configuration is updated or not, including but not limited to the following two modes:

A. indicating the manner of determination.

Specifically, if the base station updates the association relationship between the downlink signal and the random access resource, that is, updates the random access configuration, the base station may send an update indication, and if the terminal device receives the update indication, the terminal device may determine that the random access configuration is updated.

The update indication may be carried in a message such as a radio resource control (Radio Resource Control, RRC) signaling, a medium access control-control element (Media Access Control Control Element, MAC-CE), downlink control information (Downlink Control Information, DCI), SS-block, or system information, or the update indication may be sent through a specific message, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 7A, an example in which the update instruction is carried in the system information is shown. Fig. 7A is a schematic structural diagram of system information sent by a downlink signal according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the system information includes a system time, system information, and an update indication, and if an association relationship between the downlink signal and a random access resource is updated, a base station may notify a terminal device by using the update indication included in the downlink system information, and the terminal device determines that the random access configuration is updated according to the update indication. In this way, the updated random access configuration information can be directly carried in the system information, that is, through one system information, not only can the update instruction be carried, but also the updated random access configuration information can be carried, and the terminal device can directly obtain the updated random access configuration information only by receiving the system information without excessive interaction. Or the updated random access configuration information can be carried in other system information or other types of information, and the terminal equipment can monitor the corresponding position only according to the update instruction, so that the method is convenient and the cost of the system information is reduced.

Alternatively, the base station may notify the terminal device that the random access configuration has been updated by sending a random access configuration change notification to the terminal device, and the terminal device may learn that the random access configuration has been updated by receiving the random access configuration change notification, where the random access configuration change notification corresponds to the update instruction. In particular, if the base station informs the terminal device in this way, the random access configuration update herein refers to that the downlink signal or the uplink signal associated with the random access resource is changed, and the time-frequency resource of the random access resource is not changed. Wherein the random access resource change notification may be placed in the SS-block. The random access configuration change notification may be a 1-bit indication message, or the random access configuration change notification may be a state counter for indicating system information update. When the random access configuration is updated, the value of the state counter changes, and the change satisfies a certain condition (e.g., modulo K is equal to 0), and if the terminal device finds that the value of the state counter changes, it is determined that the random access configuration is updated. For example, when the random access configuration is updated, the state counter may perform an add-1 and modulo-N operation, where N is a positive integer.

In a further embodiment, the base station transmits the update indication to the terminal device in the last downlink signal scanning period of the first update period (i.e. the downlink synchronization/system information scanning period in fig. 7B), and the terminal device receives the update indication in this scanning period. If the terminal device receives the update, then in a second update period, before sending the random access preamble, and carrying out downlink signal scanning to obtain the latest random access configuration information. The update period here may be a set update period of system information.

In another embodiment, the base station transmits an update indication to the terminal device during a first downlink signal scanning period of the second update period, and the terminal device receives the update indication during the scanning period. If the terminal device receives the update, then in a second update period, before sending the random access preamble, and carrying out downlink signal scanning to obtain the latest random access configuration information.

See, for example, fig. 7B. The terminal device has received one or more downstream signals in an update period of the first downstream signal, for example, the index of a downlink transmission beam carrying a downlink signal k sent by the base station is k, and the index of a reception beam for receiving the downlink signal k by the terminal device is j. In the second downlink signal updating period, the terminal equipment firstly uses the receiving beam j to receive the downlink signal k in the downlink transmitting beam k of the base station, and downlink synchronous information and system information carried by the downlink signal k are obtained. If the terminal equipment does not receive the downlink synchronization information and the system information in the downlink transmission beam k of the base station, the terminal equipment performs beam scanning again to acquire one or more downlink transmission beam and reception beam pairs, and corresponding downlink synchronization information and system information. Or if the update indication carried by the received downlink signal k is used for indicating that the random access configuration is updated, the terminal equipment scans one or more downlink transmission beams and reception beams according to the received system information so as to reacquire one or more downlink transmission beam and reception beam pairs, and corresponding downlink synchronization information and system information, thereby acquiring the new random access configuration. In fig. 7B, the upper line indicates a transmission procedure of the base station, the lower line indicates a reception procedure of the terminal device, and the update period indicates an update period of the downlink synchronization information and the system information.

In this way, the base station only updates the association relationship between the downlink signal and the random access resource, that is, updates the random access configuration, and then sends an update instruction to the terminal device, so that the terminal device only receives the update instruction and can determine that the random access configuration is updated, and only does not receive the update instruction and can determine that the random access configuration is not updated, and the method is simpler and does not need the terminal device to perform excessive scanning.

B. The period determining mode.

In this way, a random access configuration scanning period is set for the terminal device in advance, and the terminal device scans in the preset period to determine whether the random access configuration is updated. The period may be set by the terminal device itself, for example, the terminal device is set empirically, or may be configured by the base station for the terminal device. Fig. 7C is a schematic diagram of a base station configuring a random access configuration scanning period for a terminal device, fig. 7C is a schematic diagram of a structure of system information sent by a downlink signal according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the system information includes a system time, system information, and an update period, that is, fig. 7C is an example of the base station configuring the random access configuration scanning period for the terminal device through the system information, and the update period in fig. 7C is the random access configuration scanning period.

That is, when the random access configuration scanning period is reached, that is, when SFN mod t=0, the terminal device cannot determine whether the random access configuration is updated, so that the terminal device needs to perform scanning of the downlink signal again, which is equivalent to that the terminal device needs to perform downlink synchronization with the base station again to acquire the random access configuration information again. Then, when the terminal device performs the random access, the random access resource indicated by the re-acquired random access configuration information may or may not be updated. Or after the terminal equipment re-acquires the random access configuration information, whether the re-acquired random access configuration information is updated compared with the random access configuration information acquired before can be determined, and if the re-acquired random access configuration information is updated, the terminal equipment acquires new random access resources through the new random access configuration information.

Where SFN is the current time (e.g., represented by a frame number) and T is the update period.

In this way, the terminal device performs periodic scanning by itself, and the base station is not required to issue an update instruction, so that the burden of the base station is reduced, and the terminal device can avoid missing updated random access configuration information as much as possible because the update instruction sent by the base station is not received.

S42, if the random access configuration is updated, the terminal equipment acquires the new random access configuration.

If the terminal equipment uses the indication determining mode introduced above, if the terminal equipment receives the update indication sent by the base station, it determines that the random access configuration is updated, that is, it determines that the association relationship between the downlink signal and the random access resource is updated, and then the terminal equipment can acquire the new random access resource. In this way, the terminal device may acquire new random access configuration information by re-performing downlink synchronization with the base station, thereby acquiring new random access resources.

If the terminal device uses the period determination method as described above, the terminal device re-acquires the random access configuration information through scanning, that is, re-acquires the random access configuration information through downlink synchronization with the base station. If it is determined that the re-acquired random access configuration information is updated, the terminal device acquires new random access resources through the new random access configuration information.

The method for the terminal device to acquire the random access configuration information by performing downlink synchronization with the base station can refer to the foregoing description, and is not repeated.

S43, the terminal equipment uses the new random access resource to carry out random access.

In S43, the terminal device uses the new random access resource to transmit a random access preamble to the base station to indicate that the terminal device uses the new random access resource for random access. In this case, since S43 is an optional step, an arrow used for S43 is drawn as a broken line in fig. 4 in order to distinguish from an optional step.

In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal equipment can timely determine whether the random access configuration is updated, and if the random access configuration is updated, the terminal equipment can acquire new random access resources again so as to use the new random access resources for random access, thereby improving the success rate of the random access. And the mode of the terminal equipment for determining whether the random access resource is updated is also flexible, and the terminal equipment can be selected according to different conditions.

The apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 800. The communication device 800 may implement the functions of the terminal apparatus referred to above. The communication apparatus 800 may include a determination unit 801 and an acquisition unit 802. Wherein the determining unit 801 may be used to perform S41 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, and/or to support other processes of the techniques described herein. The acquisition unit 802 may be used to perform S42 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, and/or to support other processes of the techniques described herein.

In a possible embodiment, the communication device 800 further comprises a receiving unit 803, which is also shown in fig. 8, because the receiving unit 803 is not an optional device, and is therefore drawn in the form of a dashed box in fig. 8 to distinguish from an optional device. Wherein the receiving unit 803 is configured to perform the steps in the embodiment shown in fig. 4: receiving an update indication sent by a network device, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

Wherein all relevant contents of the steps involved in the above-described method embodiments can be cited to the functional descriptions of the corresponding functional modules, and will not be described in detail herein.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the communication apparatus 800 is presented in the form of respective functional blocks divided corresponding to respective functions, alternatively, this is presented in the form of individual functional modules that are divided in an integrated manner. "module" herein may refer to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other devices that can provide the described functionality.

In a simple embodiment, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the communication apparatus 800 may also be implemented by a structure as shown in fig. 9.

As shown in fig. 9, the communication apparatus 900 may include: memory 901, processor 902, system bus 903, and communications interface 904. The processor 902, the memory 901, and the communication interface 904 are connected via a system bus 903. The memory 901 is used for storing computer-executable instructions, and when the communication device 900 is operated, the processor 902 executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 901, so that the communication device 900 performs the method of communication provided by the embodiment of the present invention. The specific information transmission method may refer to the related description in the foregoing and the drawings, and will not be repeated here. Wherein the communication interface 904 may be a transceiver or a separate receiver and transmitter.

In one example, the receiving unit 803 may correspond to the communication interface 904 in fig. 9. The determination unit 801 and the acquisition unit 802 may be embedded in hardware form/software form in the memory 901 of the communication apparatus 900 or be independent from it.

Alternatively, the communication device 900 may be a field-programmable gate array (field-programmable gate array, FPGA), an application-specific integrated chip (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), a system on chip (SoC), a central processing unit (central processor unit, CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP), a digital signal processing circuit (digital signal processor, DSP), a microcontroller (micro controller unit, MCU), a programmable controller (programmable logic device, PLD) or other integrated chips. Alternatively, the communication device 900 may be a separate network element, such as a terminal device.

The embodiment of the present invention also provides a computer storage medium, where the storage medium may include a memory, where the memory may store a program, where the program is executed to include all the steps executed by the terminal device described in the foregoing embodiment of the method shown in fig. 4.

Since the communication device 800 and the communication device 900 provided in the embodiments of the present invention may be used to perform the above-mentioned communication method, the technical effects obtained by the embodiments of the present invention may refer to the above-mentioned method embodiments, and are not described herein.

In the embodiment of the invention, before the terminal equipment sends the random access, whether the random access configuration is updated is determined, if the random access configuration is updated, the terminal equipment acquires the new random access configuration, so that the new random access configuration is used for random access, the probability of random access failure is reduced, and the success rate of random access is improved.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, embodiments of the invention may take the form of a computer program product on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

Embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

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.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the embodiments of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims and the equivalents thereof, the present application is intended to encompass such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

before sending the random access preamble, the terminal equipment determines whether the random access configuration is updated;

if the random access configuration is updated, the terminal equipment acquires a new random access configuration;

wherein determining whether the random access configuration has been updated comprises:

and determining whether the association relation between the downlink signal and the random access configuration is updated, wherein the random access configuration associated with the downlink signal is related to the coverage area of the downlink signal or the number of terminal devices covered by the downlink signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the random access configuration comprises at least one of: the terminal equipment performs a downlink signal for random access, an uplink signal for random access, a start time of the random access, a duration time of the random access, and an end time of the random access.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein determining whether an update of the random access configuration has occurred comprises:

the terminal equipment receives an update instruction sent by the network equipment;

the terminal device determines that the random access configuration is updated.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the terminal device receives an update indication sent by the network device, comprising:

the terminal equipment receives system information sent by the network equipment, wherein the system information carries the update indication; or (b)

The terminal equipment receives a state counter sent by the network equipment; wherein the state counter is used for indicating system information update; and if the value of the state counter is changed, the terminal equipment determines that the random access configuration is updated.

5. The method of any of claims 1, 2, or 4, wherein determining whether an update has occurred to the random access configuration comprises:

and determining whether the random access configuration is updated according to a preset period.

6. The method of any of claims 1, 2, or 4, wherein obtaining a new random access configuration comprises:

and carrying out downlink synchronization with the network equipment to acquire the new random access configuration.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 4, wherein the random access configuration includes a downlink signal used by the terminal device for random access, where the downlink signal is at least one of a synchronization block SS block, a synchronization burst SS burst, a synchronization burst set SS burst set, and system information SI.

8. A communication device, comprising:

a determining unit configured to determine whether or not the random access configuration is updated before transmitting the random access preamble;

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain a new random access configuration if the random access configuration is updated;

wherein the determining unit is configured to determine whether the random access configuration is updated, and includes: and determining whether the association relation between the downlink signal and the random access configuration is updated, wherein the random access configuration associated with the downlink signal is related to the coverage area of the downlink signal or the number of terminal devices covered by the downlink signal.

9. The communication apparatus of claim 8, wherein the random access configuration comprises at least one of: a downlink signal used by the communication device for random access, an uplink signal used by the communication device for random access, a start time of the random access, a duration of the random access, and an end time of the random access.

10. The communication device according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the communication device further comprises a receiving unit; the determining unit is configured to determine whether the random access configuration is updated, and includes:

receiving, by the receiving unit, an update instruction sent by a network device;

determining that the random access configuration is updated.

11. The communication apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the determining unit is configured to receive, by the receiving unit, an update instruction sent by a network device, and includes:

receiving system information sent by the network equipment through the receiving unit, wherein the system information carries the update indication; or (b)

Receiving, by the receiving unit, a state counter sent by the network device; wherein the state counter is used for indicating system information update; and if the value of the state counter is changed, determining that the random access configuration is updated.

12. The communication apparatus according to any one of claims 8, 9 or 11, wherein the determining unit configured to determine whether the random access configuration is updated comprises:

13. The communication apparatus according to any of claims 8, 9 or 11, wherein the obtaining unit is configured to obtain a new random access configuration, comprising:

14. The communication apparatus according to any one of claims 8, 9 or 11, wherein the random access configuration includes a downlink signal used by the communication apparatus for random access, the downlink signal being at least one of a synchronization block SS block, a synchronization burst SS burst, a synchronization burst set SS burst set, and system information SI.