CN110945938B - Method and apparatus for time unit configuration - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for time cell configuration and readable storage media are disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: transmitting configuration signaling to a User Equipment (UE), wherein the configuration signaling is used to configure a format of time units in a first subset of a set of time units as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown; transmitting a Slot Format Indicator (SFI) to the UE, wherein the SFI is to configure a format of time units in the second subset of the set of time units as uplink, downlink or unknown, and the second subset does not include time units in a third subset of the set of time units, the third subset being a subset of the first subset and including at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by configuration signaling.

Description

Method and apparatus for time unit configuration

Cross References to Related Applications

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/592,074, filed November 29, 2017. The entire content of this application is incorporated herein by reference.

technical field

The present disclosure generally relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to methods and apparatus for time unit configuration.

Background technique

The four possible states of each symbol, downlink (DL), uplink (UL), unknown and reserved, can be configured through radio resource control (RRC) signaling. A slot format indicator (SFI) can be used to further configure the symbol/slot format on top of the RRC configuration. SFI cannot cover UL, DL and reserved symbols configured by RRC signaling.

If some symbols are configured as reserved and only DL, UL and unknown are defined in SFI, when a symbol is indicated as UL, DL or unknown by SFI but reserved by RRC signaling, it will be configured in RRC and A conflict occurs between SFIs and this conflict will create confusion at the UE.

Contents of the invention

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for time unit configuration is provided. The method may include: transmitting configuration signaling to a user equipment (UE), wherein the configuration signaling is used to configure the format of the time units in the first subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown; transmit a slot format indicator (SFI) to the UE, wherein the SFI is used to configure the format of the time units in the second subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink or unknown, and the second subset not including time units in a third subset of the set of time units, the third subset being a subset of the first subset and including at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by configuration signaling .

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for time unit configuration is provided. The method may include: receiving configuration signaling from the base station, wherein the configuration signaling is used to configure the format of the time units in the first subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown; according to the configuration Signaling, configuring the format of the time unit in the first subset; receiving SFI from the base station, wherein the SFI is used to configure the format of the time unit in the second subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink or unknown; According to the SFI, configure the format of other time units in the second subset except the time units in the third subset of the time unit set, and keep the format of the time units in the third subset unchanged, where the third subset is the first A subset of a subset and includes at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by configuration signaling.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for time unit configuration is provided. The apparatus may include: a first transmission module configured to transmit configuration signaling to the UE, where the configuration signaling is used to configure the format of the time units in the first subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink road, reserved or unknown; the second transmission module is configured to transmit SFI to the UE, wherein the SFI is used to configure the format of the time unit in the second subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink or unknown, And the second subset does not include the time units in the third subset of the time unit set, the third subset is a subset of the first subset and includes the uplink, downlink and retention time configured by configuration signaling at least one of the units.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for time unit configuration is provided. The apparatus may include: a first receiving module configured to receive configuration signaling from the base station, where the configuration signaling is used to configure the format of the time units in the first subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink path, reserved or unknown; the first configuration module is configured to configure the format of the time unit in the first subset according to the configuration signaling; the second receiving module is configured to receive SFI from the base station, wherein the SFI is used to convert time The format of the time unit in the second subset of the unit set is configured as uplink, downlink or unknown; the second configuration module is configured to configure the time unit in the second subset except the third subset of the time unit set according to the SFI Formats of time units other than the time unit, and keep the format of the time units in the third subset unchanged, where the third subset is a subset of the first subset and includes the uplink configured by the configuration signaling , at least one of downlink and reserved time unit.

According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, a base station is provided. The base station may include a processor in communication with the memory, the processor is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, the instructions cause the processor to perform the following operations: transmit configuration signaling to the UE, wherein the configuration signaling is used to set the time The format of the time unit in the first subset of the unit set is configured as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown; the SFI is transmitted to the UE, wherein the SFI is used to format the time unit in the second subset of the time unit set configured as uplink, downlink or unknown, and the second subset does not include time units in the third subset of the set of time units, the third subset is a subset of the first subset and includes At least one of configured uplink, downlink, and reserved time units.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a UE is provided. The UE may include a processor in communication with the memory, the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, the instructions cause the processor to perform the following operations: receive configuration signaling from the base station, wherein the configuration signaling is used to set the time The format of the time unit in the first subset of the unit set is configured as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown; according to the configuration signaling, configure the format of the time unit in the first subset; receive SFI from the base station, wherein, SFI Used to configure the format of the time units in the second subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink or unknown; according to SFI, configure the time units in the second subset except the time units in the third subset of the time unit set format of other time units, and keep the format of the time units in the third subset unchanged, where the third subset is a subset of the first subset and includes the uplink and downlink configured by configuration signaling and at least one of retention time units.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a readable memory is provided. The readable memory may store instructions which, when executed, implement any of the methods described above.

Description of drawings

In order to make the technical solutions described in the embodiments of the present disclosure clearer, the accompanying drawings used to describe the embodiments will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings described below are for illustration only and not for limitation. It should be understood that those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative effort.

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a method for time unit configuration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method for time unit configuration according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is an example of configuration signaling and SFI according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is another example of configuration signaling and SFI according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is yet another example of configuration signaling and SFI according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is yet another example of configuration signaling and SFI according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is yet another example of configuration signaling and SFI according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is yet another example of configuration signaling and SFI according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is yet another example of configuration signaling and SFI according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for time unit configuration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for time unit configuration according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for time unit configuration according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for time unit configuration according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a computer readable medium according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed ways

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which the same or similar reference numerals are used throughout to designate the same or similar elements or elements serving the same or similar functions . The embodiments described below with reference to the figures are merely exemplary, meaning that they are intended to illustrate rather than limit the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1 , FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for time unit configuration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the method is performed at the base station side. A base station may be connected to the core network and wirelessly communicate with user equipment (UE), thereby providing communication coverage for a corresponding area. The base station may be a macro base station, a micro base station, a pico base station (pico base station) or a femto cell (femtocell). In some embodiments, a base station may be referred to as a wireless base station, access point, Node B, evolved Node B (eNodeB, eNB), ng-eNB, gNB, en-gNB, or other suitable terminology. As shown in Figure 1, the method may include the following blocks.

At block S11, configuration signaling is transmitted to the UE. The configuration signaling may be used to configure the format/state of the time units in the first subset of the time unit set as uplink (UL), downlink (DL), reserved or unknown. This unknown format may also be referred to as a flexible format.

The set of time units may include multiple time units, and the first subset may include part or all of the time units in the set of time units. Each time unit may include at least one symbol or slot. The slot duration can be 14 symbols with regular cyclic prefix (CP) and 12 symbols with extended CP, and scale in time according to the subcarrier spacing used, such that in 1 ms subframe There is always an integer number of slots.

A time unit configured as UL by configuration signaling may be referred to as a UL time unit; a time unit configured as DL by configuration signaling may be referred to as a DL time unit; a time unit configured as reserved by configuration signaling may be referred to as A reserved time unit; a time unit configured as unknown by configuration signaling may be referred to as an unknown time unit. If the first subset includes a part of the time units in the time unit set, the time units not configured by the configuration signaling may be referred to as unconfigured time units. In some embodiments, the default format of a time unit is unknown, so a time unit not configured by configuration signaling may be referred to as an unconfigured time unit or an unknown time unit.

Specifically, the UL time unit may be used for UL transmission (ie, transmission from the UE to the base station), and the DL time unit may be used for DL transmission (ie, transmission from the base station to the UE). The reserved time unit is reserved for subsequent use, or the reserved time unit is reserved for legacy transmission such as CRS (Cell Specific Reference Signaling) of the LTE system.

Configuration signaling can be used in a semi-permanent configuration time resource format in a TDD (Time Division Duplex) system. Configuration signaling may include at least one radio resource control (RRC) signaling. Each RRC signaling can be cell-specific or UE-specific. When the configuration signaling includes more than one RRC signaling, the time units/formats configured by different RRC signalings may be completely different, partly the same or the same. For example, the configuration signaling may include two RRC signalings, one RRC signaling may be used to configure reserved formats, and the other RRC signaling may be used to configure UL, DL and unknown formats. Specifically, the priority may be set for the RRC signaling, and the time unit format configured by the RRC signaling with a lower priority may be overridden (override) by the RRC signaling with a higher priority.

At block S12, a slot format indicator (SFI) is transmitted to the UE.

The SFI may be used on top of the configuration signaling to dynamically configure the format of the time units in the second subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink or unknown. The second subset does not include time units in the third subset of the set of time units. The third subset may be a subset of the first subset and include at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by configuration signaling. Time units in the third subset cannot be covered by SFI. For example, the third subset may consist of all uplink, downlink, and reserved time units in the first subset, and the second subset may consist of at least a portion of unknown time units, at least a portion of unconfigured time units, or at least a portion of unknown time units unit and at least a portion of unconfigured time units. Unknown and/or unconfigured time units may be covered by SFI as UL or DL.

The SFI may be carried in Downlink Control Information (DCI) transmitted on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), for example DCI Format 2_0, which has a Temporary Identity (RNTI) Scrambled CRC. The information required for SFI transmission can be configured by higher layers using the parameter SlotFormatIndicator.

The second subset does not include the time units in the third subset, so the SFI will not configure the time units in the third subset, and the conflict between configuration signaling and SFI can be reduced.

Referring to FIG. 2 , FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for time unit configuration according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the method is executed on the UE side. A UE may be stationary in one example, and mobile in another example, such as a cellular telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless modem, tablet computer, laptop computer, cordless telephone, and the like. As shown in Figure 5, the method may include the following blocks.

At block S21, configuration signaling is received from the base station. The configuration signaling may be used to configure the format of the time units in the first subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown. This unknown format may also be referred to as a flexible format.

In this embodiment, the configuration signaling may be the configuration signaling as described in the previous embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

At block S22, the format of the time unit in the first subset is configured according to the configuration signaling.

A time unit configured as UL by configuration signaling may be referred to as a UL time unit; a time unit configured as DL by configuration signaling may be referred to as a DL time unit; a time unit configured as reserved by configuration signaling may be referred to as A reserved time unit; a time unit configured as unknown by configuration signaling may be referred to as an unknown time unit. If the first subset includes a part of the time units in the time unit set, the time units not configured by the configuration signaling may be referred to as unconfigured time units. In some embodiments, the default format of a time unit is unknown, so a time unit not configured by configuration signaling may be referred to as an unconfigured time unit or an unknown time unit.

At block S23, the SFI is received from the base station. The SFI may be used on top of the configuration signaling to dynamically configure the format of the time units in the second subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink or unknown.

The SFI may be carried in Downlink Control Information (DCI) transmitted on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), for example DCI Format 2_0, which has a Temporary Identity (RNTI) Scrambled CRC. The information required for SFI transmission can be configured by higher layers using the parameter SlotFormatIndicator. UE can monitor SFI in DL time units and some unknown time units (when configured by higher layer parameters).

At block S24, according to the SFI, configure the format of other time units in the second subset except the time units in the third subset of the time unit set, and keep the format of the time units in the third subset unchanged.

The third subset is a subset of the first subset and includes at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by configuration signaling. For example, the third subset may consist of all uplink, downlink and reserved time units in the first subset.

Since the time units in the third subset cannot be covered by the SFI, if the SFI includes configuration for any time unit in the third subset and is fully applied, a conflict between configuration signaling and the SFI may occur.

Even if the second subset includes at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset, i.e., the configuration in which the SFI includes (multiple) first time units, the SFI is not applied to the time units in the third subset, thereby reducing Conflict between configuration signaling and SFI.

This embodiment can be combined with the embodiment associated with FIG. 1 . In this case, the SFI does not include the configuration of any time units in the third subset, and can be applied to all time units in the second subset.

In one example, if the SFI includes the configuration of the first time unit(s), the UE may skip the configuration of the first time unit(s). In another example, if the SFI includes the configuration of (multiple) first time units, the UE may configure at least one first time unit in the SFI and the time units immediately following the (multiple) first time units A delay is applied such that time units in the third subset are skipped, i.e., the UE may apply the configuration of the first time unit(s) in the SFI and the time unit immediately following the first time unit(s) to the Time units of the first time unit(s) that do not belong to the third subset. If the SFI periodically configures the time units in the second subset, the actual configuration period at the UE side may differ from the configuration period in the SFI due to delayed configuration application. For example, the SFI may include the configuration of slot A located in the third subset. In this case, the UE may apply the configuration of slot A and the slot immediately after slot A to slot A immediately after and not belonging to the third subset. Subset slots.

Examples of configuration signaling and SFI will be described in more detail below with reference to Figures 3-9 of the accompanying drawings, and content common to the foregoing embodiments will not be described in detail again. Configuration signaling and SFI can configure the time unit format within a configuration period. In Figure 3-9, each box represents a time slot, the area filled with horizontal lines represents the DL format, the area filled with vertical lines represents the UL format, the area filled with dots represents the unconfigured format, and the area filled with slashes represents reserved format, blank areas represent unknown time units, grid-filled areas represent SFI time resources, and arrows represent SFI configurations.

Referring to Figure 3, in one example, there are 10 time slots within the configured period. The format of each slot is configured by configuration signaling as follows:

DL time unit: first 2 slots + slot #3; UL time unit: last slot; unknown time unit: slot #2, #4, #5; reserved time unit: slot #6 and #7 ; Unconfigured time unit: time slot #8.

Within the configuration period, the first subset includes time slots #0-#7, #9, and the third subset includes time slots #0, #1, #3, #6, #7, #9.

On top of the configuration signaling, the SFI is configured to indicate slot #4, #5 as UL and slot #8 as DL. SFI can be applied to all configured symbols.

Referring to FIG. 4, in another example, there are 10 slots within the configuration period. The format of each slot configured by configuration signaling is the same as those in the upper part of FIG. 3 .

On top of the configuration signaling, the SFI is configured to indicate slots #4, #5, #6 as UL and slot #8 as DL. Since the configuration signaling indicates slot #6 as reserved, the configuration of slot #6 in the SFI will not apply to slot #6 and will be ignored by the UE.

Referring to FIG. 5, in yet another example, there are 10 slots within the configured period. The format of each slot configured by configuration signaling is the same as those in the upper part of FIG. 3 .

On top of the configuration signaling, the SFI is configured to indicate slot #4, #5 as UL and slot #6 as DL. Since the configuration signaling indicates slot #6 as reserved, the configuration for slot #6 in the SFI will apply to slot #8 instead of slot #6.

Referring to FIG. 6, in yet another example, there are 10 slots within the configuration period. The format of each slot is configured by configuration signaling as follows:

DL time unit: first slot + some symbols of slot #1, #2; UL time unit: last slot + some symbols of slot #8; unknown/unconfigured time unit: slot #1, Some symbols of #2, #6, #8 and slots #3, #4, #5, #7; reserved time unit: some symbols of slot 6.

In the configuration period, the first subset includes time slots #0-#9, and the third subset includes some symbols of time slots #0, #9 and time slots #1, #2, #6, #8.

On top of the configuration signaling, the SFI is configured to indicate some symbols of slot #4, #5, #7 as UL and some symbols of slot #8 as DL. SFI can be applied to all configured symbols.

Referring to FIG. 7, in yet another example, there are 10 slots within the configuration period. The format of each slot configured by configuration signaling is the same as those in the upper part of FIG. 6 .

On top of the configuration signaling, the SFI is configured to indicate some symbols of slots #4, #5, #7 as UL and some symbols of slots #6, #8 as DL.

Since some symbols of slot #6 are indicated by configuration signaling as reserved, the configuration of some symbols of slot #6 (intersecting reserved symbols) in the SFI will not be applied and will be ignored by the UE.

Referring to FIG. 8, in yet another example, there are 10 slots within the configuration period. The format of each slot configured by configuration signaling is the same as those in the upper part of FIG. 6 .

On top of the configuration signaling, the SFI is configured to indicate some symbols of slots #4, #5, #7 as UL and some symbols of slots #6, #7 as DL.

Since some symbols of slot #6 are indicated as reserved by configuration signaling, the configuration of some symbols of slot #6 (intersecting the reserved symbols) and subsequent symbols of slot #7 in the SFI will be applied to the immediately following reserved symbols symbol. The interval between the configuration in the SFI and the delayed configuration is the duration of the reserved symbols.

Referring to FIG. 9, in yet another example, there are 10 slots within the configuration period. The format of each slot configured by configuration signaling is the same as those in the upper part of FIG. 6 .

On top of the configuration signaling, the SFI is configured to indicate some symbols of slots #4, #5, #7 as UL and some symbols of slots #6, #7 as DL.

Since some symbols of slot #6 are indicated as reserved by configuration signaling, the configuration of some symbols of slot #6 (intersecting the reserved symbols) and subsequent symbols of slot #7 in the SFI will be applied to the immediately following reserved symbols symbols, thus prolonging the actual configuration time of SFI. The interval between the configuration of reserved symbols and subsequent symbols of slot #7 in the SFI and the delay configuration is equal to or greater than a slot.

Referring to FIG. 10 , FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for time unit configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention. The device 100 may include a first transmission module 110 and a second transmission module 120 .

The first transmission module 110 may be configured to transmit configuration signaling to the UE, where the configuration signaling is used to configure the format of the time units in the first subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown.

The second transmission module 120 may be configured to transmit SFI to the UE, wherein the SFI is used to configure the format of the time units in the second subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink or unknown, and the second subset not including time units in a third subset of the set of time units, the third subset being a subset of the first subset and including at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by configuration signaling .

It should be noted that the above descriptions of the methods in the above embodiments are also applicable to the apparatuses of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, and will not be repeated here.

In one example, apparatus 100 may be a base station. In another example, the apparatus 100 may be an independent component integrated in a base station, such as a baseband board.

Referring to FIG. 11 , FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for time unit configuration according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. The device 200 may include a first receiving module 210 , a first configuration module 220 , a second receiving module 230 and a second configuration module 240 .

The first receiving module 210 may be configured to receive configuration signaling from the base station, where the configuration signaling is used to configure the format of the time units in the first subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown.

The first configuration module 220 may be configured to configure the format of the time unit in the first subset according to the configuration signaling.

The second receiving module 230 may be configured to receive the SFI from the base station, wherein the SFI is used to configure the format of the time units in the second subset of the time unit set as uplink, downlink or unknown.

The second configuration module 240 may be configured to configure the format of other time units in the second subset except the time units in the third subset of the time unit set according to the SFI, and keep the format of the time units in the third subset unchanged . The third subset may be a subset of the first subset and include at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by configuration signaling.

Specifically, when the SFI includes configurations of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset, the second configuration module 240 may be configured to combine the at least one first time unit in the SFI and the configurations immediately following the at least one first time unit The configuration of the time unit is applied to time units following at least one time unit and not belonging to the third subset.

Specifically, when the SFI includes the configuration of at least one first time unit, the second configuration module 240 may be configured to skip the configuration of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset.

It should be noted that the above descriptions of the methods in the above embodiments are also applicable to the apparatuses of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, and will not be repeated here.

In one example, apparatus 200 may be a UE. In another example, the apparatus 200 may be a separate component integrated in the UE, such as a baseband chip.

Referring to FIG. 12 , FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for time unit configuration according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure. Apparatus 300 may include a processor 310, communication circuitry 320, and memory 330 coupled together.

The communication circuit 320 may be configured to transmit and receive data, which is an interface for communication between the apparatus 300 and other communication devices.

Memory 330 is configured to store executable program instructions. The processor 310 may be configured to read the executable program instructions stored in the memory 330, so as to implement the process corresponding to the executable program instructions, so as to perform the time-based operations performed on the base station side as described in the previous embodiments. Any method of unit configuration, or a method performed on the base station side that performs any and non-conflicting combination of the foregoing embodiments.

In one example, apparatus 300 may be a base station. In another example, the apparatus 300 may be a separate component integrated in a base station, such as a baseband board.

Referring to FIG. 13 , FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for time unit configuration according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure. Apparatus 400 may include a processor 410, communication circuitry 420, and memory 430 coupled together.

The communication circuit 420 may be configured to transmit and receive data, which is an interface for communication between the apparatus 400 and other communication devices.

Memory 430 is configured to store executable program instructions. The processor 410 may be configured to read the executable program instructions stored in the memory 430, so as to implement the process corresponding to the executable program instructions, so as to perform the time-consuming operation performed on the UE side as described in the previous embodiments. Any method of unit configuration, or a method performed on the UE side that performs any and non-conflicting combination of the foregoing embodiments.

In one example, apparatus 400 may be a UE. In another example, the apparatus 400 may be a separate component integrated in the UE, such as a baseband chip.

Referring to FIG. 14 , FIG. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a computer readable medium 500 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The computer readable medium may include memory 510 . The memory 510 may store instructions which, when executed, may implement any method of time unit configuration as described in the previous embodiments, or a method with any and non-conflicting combination of the foregoing embodiments.

The memory 510 may be read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, hard disk or optical disk, and the like.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed in this specification can be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software or a combination thereof. In order to clearly describe the interchangeability between hardware and software, the composition and steps of each embodiment have been roughly described above in terms of functions. Whether these functions are executed by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality using different methods for each particular application, but such implementation should not be considered as exceeding the scope of the present application.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the above-mentioned systems, devices and units can refer to the corresponding process in the method embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in the present disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are illustrative only. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation, for example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not implement. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be through some interfaces. The indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

A unit described as a separate component may or may not be physically separate, and a component shown as a unit may or may not be a physical unit, and may be located in one place, or may be distributed over multiple network units. Part or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment of the present application.

In addition, the functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, each unit may exist separately physically, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. An integrated unit may be realized in the form of hardware, or may be realized in the form of a software functional unit.

When the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software function unit and sold or used as an independent product, the integrated unit may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such an understanding, the essence of the technical solution of this application or the part that contributes to the prior art, or all or a part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of software products. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in the embodiments of the present application. The foregoing storage medium includes: any medium capable of storing program codes such as a U disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM, Read-Only Memory), a random access memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

The foregoing descriptions are only specific embodiments of the application, and are not intended to limit the protection scope of the application. Any equivalent modification or replacement conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of this application will fall within the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (21)

1. A method for time cell configuration, comprising:

transmitting configuration signaling to the user equipment UE, wherein the configuration signaling is used to configure a format of time units in the first subset of the set of time units as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown; and

transmitting a slot format indicator, SFI, to the UE, wherein the SFI is to configure a format of time units in the second subset of the set of time units as uplink, downlink, or unknown;

wherein the SFI is to configure a format of time units in the second subset other than time units in a third subset of the set of time units and to leave the format of time units in the third subset unchanged, the third subset being a subset of the first subset and comprising at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by the configuration signaling; wherein when the SFI comprises a configuration of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset, the configuration of the at least one first time unit and time units immediately following the at least one first time unit in the SFI is applied to time units immediately following the at least one first time unit and not belonging to the third subset.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the time unit comprises at least one symbol or slot.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration signaling comprises at least one radio resource control, RRC, signaling.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the SFI is carried in downlink control information, DCI.

5. A method for time cell configuration, comprising:

receiving configuration signaling from a base station, wherein the configuration signaling is used to configure a format of time units in a first subset of a set of time units as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown;

configuring the format of the time units in the first subset according to the configuration signaling;

receiving an SFI from the base station, wherein the SFI is used to configure a format of time units in the second subset of the set of time units as uplink, downlink or unknown; and

configuring formats of time units in the second subset other than the time units in a third subset of the set of time units and leaving the formats of time units in the third subset unchanged according to the SFI, wherein the third subset is a subset of the first subset and comprises at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by the configuration signaling;

Wherein the configuring the formats of the other time units in the second subset except the time units in the third subset of the time unit set according to the SFI includes:

when the SFI includes a configuration of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset, the configuration of the at least one first time unit and time units immediately following the at least one first time unit in the SFI is applied to time units that follow the at least one first time unit and do not belong to the third subset.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the configuring the formats of the other time units in the second subset than the time units in the third subset of the set of time units according to the SFI comprises:

skipping the configuration of at least one first time unit when the SFI comprises a configuration of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the time unit comprises at least one symbol or slot.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the configuration signaling comprises at least one radio resource control, RRC, signaling.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the SFI is carried in downlink control information, DCI.

10. An apparatus for time cell configuration, comprising:

a first transmission module configured to transmit configuration signaling to the UE, wherein the configuration signaling is used to configure a format of time units in the first subset of the set of time units as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown; and

a second transmission module configured to transmit an SFI to the UE, wherein the SFI is to configure a format of time cells in the second subset of the set of time cells as uplink, downlink, or unknown;

wherein the SFI is to configure a format of time units in the second subset other than time units in a third subset of the set of time units and to leave the format of time units in the third subset unchanged, the third subset being a subset of the first subset and comprising at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by the configuration signaling; wherein when the SFI comprises a configuration of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset, the configuration of the at least one first time unit and time units immediately following the at least one first time unit in the SFI is applied to time units immediately following the at least one first time unit and not belonging to the third subset.

11. An apparatus for time cell configuration, comprising:

a first receiving module configured to receive configuration signaling from a base station, wherein the configuration signaling is used to configure a format of time units in a first subset of a set of time units as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown;

a first configuration module configured to configure a format of time cells in the first subset according to the configuration signaling;

a second receiving module configured to receive an SFI from the base station, wherein the SFI is configured to configure a format of time cells in a second subset of the set of time cells as uplink, downlink or unknown; and

a second configuration module configured to configure formats of time units in the second subset other than time units in a third subset of the set of time units according to the SFI and to leave the formats of time units in the third subset unchanged, wherein the third subset is a subset of the first subset and includes at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by the configuration signaling;

wherein when the SFI comprises a configuration of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset, the second configuration module is configured to apply the configuration of the at least one first time unit and a time unit following the at least one first time unit in the SFI to time units following the at least one first time unit and not belonging to the third subset.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein when the SFI comprises a configuration of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset, the second configuration module is configured to skip the configuration of the at least one first time unit.

13. A base station comprising a processor in communication with a memory, the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, the instructions causing the processor to:

transmitting configuration signaling to the UE, wherein the configuration signaling is used to configure a format of time units in the first subset of the set of time units as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown; and

transmitting an SFI to the UE, wherein the SFI is to configure a format of time units in the second subset of the set of time units as uplink, downlink, or unknown;

wherein the SFI is to configure a format of time units in the second subset other than time units in a third subset of the set of time units and to leave the format of time units in the third subset unchanged, the third subset being a subset of the first subset and comprising at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by the configuration signaling; wherein when the SFI comprises a configuration of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset, the configuration of the at least one first time unit and time units immediately following the at least one first time unit in the SFI is applied to time units immediately following the at least one first time unit and not belonging to the third subset.

14. A base station comprising a processor in communication with a memory, the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, the instructions causing the processor to perform the method for time cell configuration of any one of claims 1-4.

15. A computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for time cell configuration, the method comprising:

transmitting configuration signaling to the UE, wherein the configuration signaling is used to configure a format of time units in the first subset of the set of time units as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown; and

transmitting an SFI to the UE, wherein the SFI is to configure a format of time units in the second subset of the set of time units as uplink, downlink, or unknown;

wherein the SFI is to configure a format of time units in the second subset other than time units in a third subset of the set of time units and to leave the format of time units in the third subset unchanged, the third subset being a subset of the first subset and comprising at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by the configuration signaling; wherein when the SFI comprises a configuration of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset, the configuration of the at least one first time unit and time units immediately following the at least one first time unit in the SFI is applied to time units immediately following the at least one first time unit and not belonging to the third subset.

16. A computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed, implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 4.

17. A user device comprising a processor in communication with a memory, the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, the instructions causing the processor to:

receiving configuration signaling from a base station, wherein the configuration signaling is used to configure a format of time units in a first subset of a set of time units as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown;

configuring the format of the time units in the first subset according to configuration signaling;

receiving an SFI from the base station, wherein the SFI is used to configure a format of time units in the second subset of the set of time units as uplink, downlink or unknown; and

configuring formats of time units in the second subset other than the time units in a third subset of the set of time units and leaving the formats of time units in the third subset unchanged according to the SFI, wherein the third subset is a subset of the first subset and comprises at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by the configuration signaling;

Wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory that cause the processor to:

when the SFI includes a configuration of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset, the configuration of the at least one first time unit and time units immediately following the at least one first time unit in the SFI is applied to time units that follow the at least one first time unit and do not belong to the third subset.

18. The user equipment of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory that cause the processor to:

skipping the configuration of at least one first time unit when the SFI comprises a configuration of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset.

19. A user equipment comprising a processor in communication with a memory, the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, the instructions causing the processor to perform the method for time cell configuration according to any one of claims 5-9.

20. A computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for time cell configuration, the method comprising:

Receiving configuration signaling from a base station, wherein the configuration signaling is used to configure a format of time units in a first subset of a set of time units as uplink, downlink, reserved or unknown;

configuring the format of the time units in the first subset according to the configuration signaling;

receiving an SFI from the base station, wherein the SFI is used to configure a format of time units in the second subset of the set of time units as uplink, downlink or unknown; and

configuring formats of time units in the second subset other than the time units in a third subset of the set of time units and leaving the formats of time units in the third subset unchanged according to the SFI, wherein the third subset is a subset of the first subset and comprises at least one of uplink, downlink and reserved time units configured by the configuration signaling;

wherein configuring formats of time units in the second subset except for the time units in the third subset of the time unit set according to the SFI includes:

when the SFI includes a configuration of at least one first time unit belonging to the third subset, the configuration of the at least one first time unit and time units immediately following the at least one first time unit in the SFI is applied to time units that follow the at least one first time unit and do not belong to the third subset.

21. A computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed, implement the method of any one of claims 5 to 9.