CN111083747A

CN111083747A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN111083747A
Application number: CN201811222456.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 严乐; 曾清海; 张宏平; 耿婷婷
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-10-19
Filing date: 2018-10-19
Publication date: 2020-04-28
Also published as: WO2020078318A1

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and equipment. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that first network equipment obtains a beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier, wherein the uplink transmission resource information is used for transmitting a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration completion message; and the first network equipment sends a second message to the terminal equipment, wherein the second message comprises the beam identifier and the uplink transmission resource information. By adopting the method and the device provided by the application, after receiving the second message, the terminal equipment can acquire the resource required for sending the RRC reconfiguration complete message according to the second message and send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network equipment. Therefore, the terminal equipment can directly send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network equipment under the condition of not executing the random access process.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

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

Background

In a communication system, each base station provides services for a mobile terminal within a certain range, and as the terminal device moves, it may be necessary to handover the terminal device from a current serving base station to a target base station.

When the terminal device moves to or has moved to the edge area of the serving cell, a serving base station (source base station) communicating with the terminal device may send a handover message to the terminal device over the air, where the handover message may be a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message carrying mobility control information (mobility control info) or an RRC reconfiguration message carrying a synchronization reconfiguration cell (reconfiguration control within sync). After sending the switching message to the terminal device, the source base station stops performing uplink and downlink data scheduling on the terminal device. After receiving the handover message, the terminal device performs synchronization with a target cell to which handover is required, and initiates a random access procedure to acquire a Timing Advance (TA) value and uplink transmission resource information. And the terminal equipment sends an RRC reconfiguration completion message to the target base station on the corresponding uplink transmission resource information for indicating the completion of the switching. And after receiving the RRC reconfiguration completion message, the target base station starts to carry out uplink and downlink data transmission with the terminal equipment.

As can be seen from the above description of the handover procedure, the uplink and downlink scheduling of the terminal device is interrupted during the period from the time when the source base station sends the handover message to the terminal device to the time when the target base station receives the RRC reconfiguration complete message.

However, how to reduce the time for handover interruption in the New Radio (NR) system is an urgent problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and equipment, and provides a scheme for reducing the switching interruption time aiming at an NR system or a scene with similar network deployment.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, including: the method comprises the steps that first network equipment obtains a beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier, wherein the uplink transmission resource information is used for transmitting a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration completion message; and the first network equipment sends a second message to the terminal equipment, wherein the second message comprises the beam identifier and the uplink transmission resource information. By adopting the implementation mode, the terminal equipment can acquire the resource required by sending the RRC reconfiguration complete message through the second message and then send the RRC reconfiguration complete message by using the resource, thereby reducing the time of switching interruption.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the acquiring, by a first network device, a beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier includes: the first network device receives a first message from a second network device, where the first message includes the beam identifier and the uplink transmission resource information, where the first network device is a network device to which a serving cell belongs, and the second network device is a network device to which a target cell belongs. When the first message includes the uplink transmission resource information, the second message also includes the uplink transmission resource information. By adopting the implementation mode, the first network device can acquire uplink transmission resource information provided by another network device for the terminal device when the serving cell and the target cell belong to different network devices respectively, so that the terminal device skips a random access process after acquiring resources required for sending the RRC reconfiguration complete message through the second message, directly uses the acquired resources, and sends the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device, thereby avoiding interruption delay caused by the random access process.

With reference to the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first network device sends Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) configuration information to the terminal device, wherein the SRS configuration information is used for configuring parameters required by the terminal device for sending an SRS to the second network device. By adopting the implementation mode, the first network equipment sends the SRS configuration information to the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can send the corresponding SRS according to the SRS configuration information, and the second network equipment can provide uplink transmission resource information for the terminal equipment.

With reference to the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second message further includes a channel reciprocity indicator and/or a signal quality threshold. The second message may include at least one of a channel reciprocity indication and/or a signal quality threshold. The channel reciprocity indication is used to indicate whether the current application scenario has channel reciprocity, and the signal quality threshold value may be convenient for the terminal device to select a beam meeting the signal quality threshold requirement from the third downlink beam as the fourth downlink beam or the fifth downlink beam.

With reference to the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the beam identifier includes a synchronization signal block index or a channel state information reference signal index; alternatively, the beam identity comprises an SRS identity. The terminal device may determine a corresponding beam according to the beam identifier.

In a second aspect, the present application provides another communication method, including: the second network equipment generates a first message; the second network equipment sends a first message to the first network equipment, wherein the first message comprises the beam identification. The beam identifier may be used to indicate that some or all of the beams measured by the terminal device belong to the second network device, and the beam indicated by the beam identifier is used to determine uplink transmission resource information. By adopting the implementation mode, the terminal equipment can determine the resource required by sending the RRC reconfiguration complete message according to the beam identifier and then send the RRC reconfiguration complete message by using the resource, thereby reducing the time of switching interruption.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first message further includes uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier, where the uplink transmission resource information is used to transmit a radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration complete message. By adopting the implementation mode, the second network equipment can send the uplink transmission resource information to the terminal equipment through the first network equipment, so that the terminal equipment can acquire the resources required for sending the RRC reconfiguration completion message.

With reference to the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: and the second network equipment sends indication information in the beam indicated by the beam identifier, wherein the indication information comprises uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier. By adopting the implementation manner, the second network device can send the uplink transmission resource information to the terminal device through the indication information.

With reference to the second aspect or any one of the first to second possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the beam identifier includes a synchronization signal block index or a channel state information reference signal index. The terminal device may determine a corresponding beam according to the beam identifier.

With reference to the second aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first message further includes a channel reciprocity indication and/or a signal quality threshold. The channel reciprocity indication is used to indicate whether the current application scenario has channel reciprocity, and the signal quality threshold value may be convenient for the terminal device to select a beam meeting the signal quality threshold requirement from the third downlink beam as the fourth downlink beam or the fifth downlink beam.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a further communication method, including: receiving a message including a beam identification from a first network device; and sending an RRC reconfiguration completion message to the second network equipment by using the uplink transmission resource information determined according to the beam identifier. By adopting the implementation mode, the terminal equipment can determine the resources required for sending the RRC reconfiguration complete message according to the beam identifier sent by the first network equipment and send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network equipment, so that the terminal equipment can directly send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network equipment without executing a random access process, and the interruption time is further reduced.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the beam identifier includes a synchronization signal block index or a channel state information reference signal index. The terminal device may determine a corresponding beam according to the beam identifier.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the sending, by the terminal device, an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device by using the uplink transmission resource information determined according to the beam identifier includes: and the terminal equipment sends an RRC reconfiguration completion message to second network equipment by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier. By adopting the implementation mode, the terminal equipment can send the RRC reconfiguration completion message to the second network equipment by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier, so that the terminal equipment can skip the random access process and directly send the RRC reconfiguration completion message to the second network equipment, and further reduce the interruption time delay.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier is acquired by the terminal device from the message including the beam identifier. Wherein the message including the beam identification may be the second message. By adopting the implementation mode, the terminal equipment can send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network equipment by using the uplink transmission resource information acquired from the message comprising the beam identifier, so that the terminal equipment directly sends the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network equipment without executing random access, and further reduces the interruption time delay.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier is obtained by the terminal device from indication information, and the indication information is obtained by the terminal device by monitoring on a beam indicated by the beam identifier. By adopting the implementation mode, the terminal equipment can send the RRC reconfiguration completion message to the second network equipment by using the uplink transmission resource information acquired from the indication information, so that the terminal equipment can directly send the RRC reconfiguration completion message to the second network equipment without executing the random access process, and further reduce the interruption time delay.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the sending, by the terminal device, an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device by using the uplink transmission resource information determined according to the beam identifier includes: the terminal equipment acquires an SRS (sounding reference signal) identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier from indication information, wherein the indication information is obtained by monitoring on a beam indicated by the beam identifier by the terminal equipment; and the terminal equipment sends an RRC reconfiguration completion message to second network equipment by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identification. By adopting the implementation mode, the terminal equipment can send the RRC reconfiguration completion message to the second network equipment by using the uplink transmission resource information acquired from the indication information, so that the terminal equipment can directly send the RRC reconfiguration completion message to the second network equipment without executing the random access process, and further the interruption time delay is reduced.

With reference to any one of the second to fifth implementation manners of the third aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the message including the beam identifier further includes a signal quality threshold; and the signal quality of the beam indicated by the beam identification may not be lower than the signal quality threshold. The signal quality threshold value is obtained by the terminal device from the message including the beam identifier. By adopting the implementation mode, the terminal equipment can determine the uplink transmission resource according to the beam identifier corresponding to the beam of which the signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold value, and send the RRC reconfiguration completion message to the second network equipment.

With reference to the third aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the beam identifier includes an SRS identifier; and the message comprising the beam identifier comprises uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier.

With reference to the seventh possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the sending, by the terminal device, an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device by using the uplink transmission resource information determined according to the beam identifier includes: and the terminal equipment sends an RRC reconfiguration completion message to second network equipment by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identification. By adopting the implementation mode, the terminal equipment can skip the random access process, directly use the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identification and send the RRC reconfiguration completing message to the second network equipment, thereby avoiding the interruption time delay caused by the random access process.

With reference to any one of the fifth, seventh or eighth possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the terminal device receives sounding reference signal, SRS, configuration information from the first network device, where the SRS configuration information is used to configure parameters required for the terminal device to transmit an SRS to the second network device; and the terminal equipment sends SRS to the second network equipment according to the SRS configuration information. By adopting the implementation manner, the terminal device may send the SRS to the second network device according to the configuration of the first network device, so that the second network device allocates the uplink transmission resource for transmitting the RRC reconfiguration complete message according to the SRS measurement.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising means for performing the foregoing first aspect or various implementations of the first aspect. In one possible implementation, the communication device includes: an obtaining module, configured to obtain a beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier, where the uplink transmission resource information is used to transmit a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration complete message; and a sending module, configured to send a second message to a terminal device, where the second message includes the beam identifier and the uplink transmission resource information. The communication apparatus of the above fourth aspect may be a network device or a component (e.g. a chip or a circuit) that can be used for the network device.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides another communication apparatus comprising means for performing various implementations of the foregoing second aspect or second aspect. In one possible implementation, the communication device includes: a generating module for generating a first message; the sending module is used for sending the first message to the first network equipment. The beam identifier is used to indicate that a part or all of beams measured by the terminal device belong to the second network device, and the beam indicated by the beam identifier is used to determine uplink transmission resource information, where the uplink transmission resource information is used to transmit a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration complete message, the first network device is a network device to which a serving cell belongs, and the second network device is a network device to which a target cell belongs. The communication apparatus of the above fifth aspect may be a network device or a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) that may be used for the network device.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a further communication apparatus, including means for performing the various implementations of the third aspect and the third aspect. In one possible implementation, the communication device includes: the receiving module is used for receiving a message comprising a beam identifier from a first network device; and the sending module is used for sending an RRC reconfiguration completion message to the second network equipment by using the uplink transmission resource information determined according to the beam identifier. The communication apparatus of the above-mentioned sixth aspect may be a terminal device or a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) that can be used for the terminal device.

In a seventh aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, which includes a memory, a processor, and a program or code stored in the memory and executable on the processor, and is characterized in that when the processor executes the program, the processor implements the method according to any one of the foregoing first aspect or the foregoing first aspect implementation manner, or implements the method according to any one of the foregoing second aspect or the foregoing second aspect implementation manner.

In an eighth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, which includes a memory, a processor, and a program or code stored in the memory and executable on the processor, and when the processor executes the program, the communication device implements the method according to any one of the implementations of the third aspect or the third aspect.

In a ninth aspect, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is characterized by comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, implement the method according to the first aspect or any of the implementations of the first aspect, or implement the method according to the second aspect or any of the implementations of the second aspect, or implement the method according to any of the implementations of the third aspect.

In a tenth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product for, when running on a computer, implementing a method according to any of the preceding first aspect or first aspect implementations, or implementing a method according to any of the preceding second aspect or second aspect implementations, or implementing a method according to any of the preceding third aspect or third aspect implementations.

By adopting the method and the device provided by the application, the first network equipment can send the second message to the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment can obtain the resource required by sending the RRC reconfiguration completion message to the second network equipment according to the second message, then skip the random access process, and directly use the obtained resource to send the RRC reconfiguration completion message to the second network equipment, thereby avoiding the interruption time delay caused by the random access process and reducing the time for switching interruption.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system applied in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment of a communication method of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart diagram of another embodiment of a communication method of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating a communication method according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a communication method of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a communication method of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a network device according to the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a terminal device according to the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of a network device according to the present application;

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

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applied. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system may include at least one network device and at least one terminal device, for example, as shown in fig. 1, the communication system may include a first network device 101, a second network device 102 and a terminal device 103. The first network device may be a network device to which a serving cell (i.e., a source cell) belongs, and the second network device may be a network device to which a target cell belongs.

The network device is an access device in which the terminal device is accessed to the communication system in a wireless manner, and may be a base station NodeB, an evolved node b, a base station in a 5G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system or a WiFi system, an access node in an LTE-U or other unlicensed spectrum wireless systems, and the like.

The Terminal device may also be referred to as a Terminal (Terminal), a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), and the like. The terminal device may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an Augmented Reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in self-driving (self-driving), a wireless terminal in remote surgery (remote medical supply), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation safety (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), a smart electric meter with a wireless communication function, a smart water meter, an environment sensor, a device tag, a positioning tag, and the like.

The terminal equipment is connected with the network equipment in a wireless mode, and the network equipment can be connected with the core network equipment in a wireless or wired mode. The core network device and the radio access network device may be separate physical devices, or the function of the core network device and the logical function of the radio access network device may be integrated on the same physical device, or a physical device may be integrated with a part of the function of the core network device and a part of the function of the radio access network device. The terminal equipment may be fixed or mobile.

It should be noted that fig. 1 is only a schematic diagram of the communication system of the present application, and the communication system may further include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in fig. 1. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the number of core network devices, radio access network devices, and terminal devices included in the communication system. Of course, the embodiments of the present application may also be applied to other communication systems that include a terminal device and a core network device and are capable of performing information interaction between the terminal device and the core network device, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

For ease of understanding, the following first presents a brief description of the concepts that are to be used in the present application.

In the embodiments of the present application, a neighboring cell refers to a cell adjacent to a serving cell. The terminal device may measure a neighboring cell overlapping with a serving cell when performing Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement. The neighbor cell identifier refers to a cell identifier of a neighbor cell, and the neighbor cell identifier includes a Physical Cell Identity (PCI) or a Cell Global Identity (CGI) of the neighbor cell. The target cell is one of the adjacent cells. The neighboring cell signal quality refers to the signal quality of the neighboring cell indicated by the neighboring cell identifier at the cell level, and the signal quality includes reference signal received power or reference signal received quality.

In various embodiments of the present application, a beam (beam) may be understood as a spatial resource, and may refer to a transmission or reception precoding vector having energy transmission directivity. Moreover, the sending or receiving precoding vector can be identified by index information, where the index information may correspond to a resource Identifier (ID) of the configured terminal, for example, the index information may correspond to an identifier or a resource of the configured CSI-RS; or may be a mark or a resource of a correspondingly configured uplink Sounding Reference Signal (SRS). Optionally, the index information may also be index information explicitly or implicitly carried by a signal or channel carried by a beam. The energy transmission directivity may refer to precoding a signal to be transmitted by using the precoding vector, the signal subjected to precoding has a certain spatial directivity, and the received signal subjected to precoding by using the precoding vector has a good receiving power, such as meeting a receiving demodulation signal-to-noise ratio; the energy transmission directivity may also mean that the same signal transmitted from different spatial locations received through the precoding vector has different reception powers. Optionally, the same communication device (e.g. terminal device or network device) may have different precoding vectors, and different devices may also have different precoding vectors, i.e. corresponding to different beams. One communication device may use one or more of a plurality of different precoding vectors at the same time, i.e. may form one beam or a plurality of beams at the same time, depending on the configuration or capabilities of the communication device.

In this application, a beam transmitted by the network device to the terminal device is referred to as a downlink beam, and a beam transmitted by the terminal device to the network device is referred to as an uplink beam.

In various embodiments of the present application, the first beam identifier refers to a beam identifier of a first downlink beam, and a beam indicated by the first beam identifier is the first downlink beam. The first downlink beam refers to a downlink beam of a neighboring cell measured by the terminal device. That is, the first downlink beam is a downlink beam measured by the terminal device, and the downlink beam belongs to the neighboring cell. The first downlink beam may generally comprise one or more downlink beams; when the neighboring cells are multiple, different first downlink beams may belong to different neighboring cells. The beam identification may include a synchronization signal block index (e.g., ssbinder) or a channel state information reference signal index (e.g., CSI-RS index), etc. The first beam signal quality refers to a signal quality of the first downlink beam at a beam level, and the signal quality includes a reference signal received power or a reference signal received quality. The first beam signal quality corresponding to the first beam identifier refers to the beam signal quality of the downlink beam indicated by the first beam identifier.

In various embodiments of the present application, the second beam identifier refers to a beam identifier of a second downlink beam, and a beam indicated by the second beam identifier is the second downlink beam. The second downlink beam refers to a beam belonging to the target cell in the first downlink beam, or the second downlink beam refers to a beam belonging to the second network device in the first downlink beam. That is, the second downlink beam is a subset of the first downlink beam, and the second downlink beam is one or more downlink beams belonging to the target cell in the first downlink beam. The second beam signal quality refers to the signal quality at the beam level of the second downlink beam, and the signal quality includes reference signal received power or reference signal received quality. The second beam signal quality corresponding to the second beam identifier refers to the beam signal quality of the downlink beam indicated by the second beam identifier.

In various embodiments of the present application, the third beam identifier refers to a beam identifier of a third downlink beam, and a beam indicated by the third beam identifier is the third downlink beam. The third downlink beam is one or more of the second downlink beams. Accordingly, the third beam identifier is all or part of the second beam identifier. The terminal device may determine the transmission direction of the RRC reconfiguration complete message according to the transmission direction of the third downlink beam, and the second network device may also transmit the indication information using the third downlink beam.

In each embodiment of the present application, the fourth beam identifier refers to a beam identifier of a fourth downlink beam, where the beam indicated by the fourth beam identifier is the fourth downlink beam, and the fourth downlink beam refers to a downlink beam selected by the terminal device from the third downlink beam and used for determining the uplink transmission direction/uplink transmission resource information. The fourth beam marker is one of the third beam markers. The fifth beam identifier is a beam identifier of a fifth downlink beam, the beam indicated by the fifth beam identifier is the fifth downlink beam, and the fifth downlink beam is a downlink beam which needs to be monitored by the indication information and is determined by the terminal device from the third downlink beam. The fifth beam id is one of the third beam ids.

In various embodiments of the present application, the third message refers to a message for requesting handover preparation/admission control; the first message refers to a message transmitted in response to the third message; the second message is a message for instructing the terminal device to perform a handover operation. For example, the third message may be a handover request message; the first message may be a handover request confirm message; the second message may be an RRC reconfiguration message, for example, an RRC connection reconfiguration message carrying mobility control information element (mobility control info), or an RRC reconfiguration message carrying synchronization reconfiguration information element (reconfiguration withsync). It should be noted that, the first message, the second message, and the third message may be other messages or may have other names, which is not limited in this application.

The solutions disclosed in the present application are described below by means of different embodiments.

Referring to fig. 2, a flowchart of an embodiment of the communication method of the present application is shown. The following describes embodiments of the present application with reference to the drawings.

In step 201, a first network device obtains Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) configuration information of each neighboring network device.

For example, in an application scenario where the communication system does not have channel reciprocity, the first network device obtains SRS configuration information of each neighboring network device including the second network device. Whether the communication system has channel reciprocity may refer to whether channel reciprocity exists between an uplink channel and a downlink channel in the communication system. The neighboring network device refers to a network device whose served cell coverage area overlaps with the cell coverage area served by the first network device.

The SRS configuration information is used to configure parameters required for the terminal device to send SRS to the neighboring network device. The SRS configuration information includes one or more of an SRS identifier (e.g., an SRS index or an SRS ID), SRS resource type information, SRS resource configuration, and SRS spatial relationship information. Optionally, the SRS configuration information further includes a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) allocated by the neighboring network device to the terminal device and TA information of the neighboring cell, for example, when the neighboring cell is a small cell, the TA information of the neighboring cell is used to indicate that a TA value of the neighboring cell is equal to 0, and when the neighboring cell and the source cell belong to the same network device, the TA information of the neighboring cell is used to indicate that the TA value of the neighboring cell is equal to the TA value of the source cell.

It is understood that step 201 is an optional step, for example, in an application scenario where the communication system has channel reciprocity, the first network device may not obtain the SRS configuration information. In each embodiment of the present application, only SRS configuration information is taken as an example for explanation, and in different scenarios or systems, the information may have different names, which is not limited in the present application; more or less information may be included in addition to the information listed in the present application, and the present application is not limited to this.

Step 202, the first network device sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the terminal device.

The first network equipment sends RRC reconfiguration information to the terminal equipment. It is to be understood that the information included in the RRC reconfiguration information may be different according to different application scenarios.

For example, in an application scenario where there is no channel reciprocity between an uplink channel and a downlink channel, the RRC reconfiguration message may include measurement configuration information used by the terminal device to perform RRM measurement and SRS configuration information of each neighboring network device; in an application scenario where there is channel reciprocity between the uplink channel and the downlink channel, the RRC reconfiguration message may include measurement configuration information used by the terminal device to perform RRM measurement, but does not include the SRS configuration information.

After receiving measurement configuration information for performing RRM measurement, a terminal device performs RRM measurement based on a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) or a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) according to the measurement configuration information, where the SSB and the CSI-RS are reference signals used for the RRM measurement. The SSB may be a synchronization signal or a physical broadcast channel transmitted through a beam, and the CSI-RS may be a channel state information reference signal transmitted through a beam.

It can be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, only the RRC reconfiguration message is taken as an example for description, and in different scenarios or systems, the message may have different message names; in addition to the information listed in the present application, the message may also contain more or less information, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

In step 203, the terminal device sends a measurement report to the first network device.

The measurement report may include a neighbor cell identifier and a first beam identifier, and the description of the first downlink beam and the first beam identifier may refer to the foregoing, which is not described herein again. Optionally, the measurement report may further include, in addition to the neighboring cell identifier and the first beam identifier, neighboring cell signal quality or first beam signal quality, and the description about the neighboring cell signal quality and the first beam signal quality may also be referred to above, which is not described herein again.

The number of the neighbor cell identifiers can be multiple, and neighbor cells indicated by different neighbor cell identifiers can belong to the same base station or different base stations; the first beam identifier may also be multiple, and the beams indicated by different first beam identifiers may belong to the same neighbor cell or may belong to different neighbor cells. When there are multiple adjacent cells, the measurement report may include an adjacent cell identifier and an adjacent cell signal quality of each adjacent cell, and include a first beam identifier and a first beam signal quality of each first downlink beam.

If the RRC reconfiguration message includes SRS configuration information, the terminal device may further use at least one uplink beam to transmit an SRS corresponding to the uplink beam according to the SRS configuration information. The SRS transmitted by using different uplink beams may have different SRS identities, or may have the same SRS identity.

Step 204, the first network device sends a third message to the second network device.

After receiving the measurement report, the first network device determines a target cell according to the measurement report, and then sends a third message to the network device to which the target cell belongs, wherein the network device to which the target cell belongs is the second network device.

The third message may include a second beam identifier; optionally, in addition to the second beam identifier, the third message may further include a second beam signal quality corresponding to the second beam identifier. When the second beam identifier is multiple, the third message may include the second beam identifier of each second downlink beam and the corresponding second beam signal quality. For the description of the second downlink beam, the second beam identifier and the second beam signal quality, reference may be made to the foregoing description, and details are not repeated herein.

Through the foregoing steps 201 to 204, the first network device may determine the target cell, send a third message to the second network device to which the target cell belongs, and send the second beam identifier to the second network device through the third message. In actual use, the target cell may also be determined in other manners, or the second beam identifier may be sent to the second network device in other manners, which is not described herein again. That is, for the embodiment of the present application, the steps 201 and 204 are optional steps, and other implementations are possible.

Step 205, the second network device sends a first message to the first network device.

The first message may include information related to a resource for transmitting a radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration complete message. For example, the first message may include a beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier; or the first message may include a beam identifier but not include uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier. The uplink transmission resource information may be the uplink transmission resource itself, or may be indication information of the uplink transmission resource, for example, index information for indicating the uplink transmission resource, and the like.

For example, the first message may include a downlink beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the downlink beam identifier; or the first message may include an uplink beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the uplink beam identifier; or the first message may include a downlink beam identifier but not include uplink transmission resource information. The downlink beam identifier may be any one or more of an SSB index and a CSI-RS index, the downlink beam identifier may also be in other expression forms, and the uplink beam identifier may be an SRS identifier (e.g., an SRSindex or an SRS ID).

When the first message does not include uplink transmission resource information, the second network device may send indication information through the downlink beam indicated by the downlink beam identifier, in addition to sending the first message to the first network device. The indication information may include uplink transmission resource information associated with the downlink beam identifier, or the indication information may include an uplink beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the uplink beam identifier.

In one implementation, after receiving the third message, the second network device allocates associated uplink transmission resources to a beam indicated by a third beam identifier (i.e., a third downlink beam), where the third beam identifier is all or part of the second beam identifier. The uplink transmission resource may be an uplink scheduling grant (UL grant) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) resource, and the uplink transmission resource may be periodic or aperiodic. For the description of the third downlink beam and the third beam identifier, reference may be made to the foregoing description, and further description is omitted here.

Optionally, the third beam identifier may be multiple, and the uplink transmission resource information may be multiple. When the third beam identifier is multiple, each of the third beam identifiers has uplink transmission resource information associated therewith, and the uplink transmission resource information associated with different third beam identifiers may be the same or different.

After allocating the associated uplink transmission resource to the third downlink beam, the second network device may send a first message to the first network device, where the first message may include a third beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the third beam identifier; or may also send a first message to the first network device, and send indication information through a third downlink beam, where the first message may include the third beam identifier, and the indication information may include uplink transmission resource information associated with the third beam identifier.

In another implementation, if the terminal device has transmitted, according to the SRS configuration information, the SRS corresponding to the uplink beam to the second network device using at least one uplink beam, the second network device may select at least one uplink beam with better signal quality from the uplink beams used for transmitting the SRS, and allocate uplink transmission resources to the selected uplink beam. That is, the second network device allocates the uplink transmission resource to the beam indicated by the SRS identifier, where the SRS identifier is used to indicate the selected uplink beam.

Optionally, the SRS identifier may be multiple, and the uplink transmission resource information may be multiple. When the SRS identifier is multiple, each SRS identifier has uplink transmission resource information associated therewith, and the uplink transmission resource information associated with different SRS identifiers may be the same or different.

After allocating the associated uplink transmission resource to the SRS identifier, the second network device may send a first message to the first network device, where the first message may include the SRS identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier. Or, the second network device may send the first message to the first network device, and send the indication information through the third downlink beam; the first message may include the third beam identifier, and the indication information may include the SRS identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier.

Optionally, the first message may further include a channel reciprocity indication and/or a signal quality threshold. The first message containing the channel reciprocity indicator and/or the signal quality threshold value means that the first message may include one of the channel reciprocity indicator or the signal quality threshold value, or may include both the channel reciprocity indicator and the signal quality threshold value. The terminal device may determine whether the current application scenario has channel reciprocity according to the channel reciprocity indication, and select a downlink beam according to the signal quality threshold.

It is understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, only the first message is described as an example, and in different scenarios or systems, the message may have different message names; in addition to the information listed in the present application, the message may also contain more or less information, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

Step 206, the first network device sends a second message to the terminal device.

And the first network equipment sends a second message to the terminal equipment after receiving the first message. The information contained in the second message may be determined from the information contained in the first message, in one possible approach, the second message contains the content contained in the first message. For example, one way to send the second message may be for the first network device to pass the content of the first message through to the terminal device.

For example, when the first message includes a downlink beam id and uplink transmission resource information associated with the downlink beam id, the second message also includes the downlink beam id and uplink transmission resource information associated with the downlink beam id. When the first message includes an uplink beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the uplink beam identifier, the second message also includes the uplink beam identifier and the uplink transmission resource information associated with the uplink beam identifier. When the first message includes a downlink beam identifier but does not include uplink transmission resource information, the second message also includes the downlink beam identifier but does not include uplink transmission resource information.

The second message may further include a channel reciprocity indication and/or a signal quality threshold in addition to the beam identity or the uplink transmission resource information. The second message contains the channel reciprocity indicator and/or the signal quality threshold value, which means that the first message may include one of the channel reciprocity indicator or the signal quality threshold value, or may include both the channel reciprocity indicator and the signal quality threshold value. The terminal device may determine whether the current application scenario has channel reciprocity according to the channel reciprocity indication. And the terminal equipment determines a downlink beam according to the signal quality threshold, for example, the terminal equipment determines a beam with the measured signal quality not lower than the signal quality threshold as a downlink beam for communicating with the second network equipment.

When the channel reciprocity indication and/or the signal quality threshold value are not included in the first message, the channel reciprocity indication and/or the signal quality threshold value may be generated by a first network device; and when the first message includes the channel reciprocity indicator and/or the signal quality threshold, the first network device may obtain the channel reciprocity indicator and/or the signal quality threshold from the first message.

It should be noted that, if the target cell and the serving cell belong to the same network device, that is, the first network device and the second network device are the same network device, the network device may also directly send the second message to the terminal device without sending the third message and the first message, that is, step 204 and step 205 may not be executed. The content of the second message may be referred to the foregoing, and is not described herein again.

It is to be understood that, in the present application, the following embodiments are all exemplified by the first network device and the second network device being different network devices. For the case where the first network device and the second network device are the same network device, the overall flow is similar, but no interaction between the two network devices is required.

It is understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, the second message is only used as an example for description, and in different scenarios or systems, the message may have different message names; in addition to the information listed in the present application, the message may also contain more or less information, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

Step 207, after receiving the second message, the terminal device sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device by using the uplink transmission resource information determined according to the second message.

It should be understood that, in step 207, the RRC reconfiguration complete message is taken as an example for description, and in different scenarios or systems, different message names may be provided, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

After receiving the second message, the terminal device may determine an uplink sending direction and uplink transmission resource information according to the second message, and then send an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device using the uplink transmission resource information in the uplink sending direction. It should be noted that, sending the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device by using the uplink transmission resource information refers to sending the RRC reconfiguration complete message by using the transmission resource determined according to the uplink transmission resource information, for example, when the uplink transmission resource information is the uplink transmission resource itself, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message by using the uplink transmission resource; and when the uplink transmission resource information is indication information of uplink transmission resources, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete information using the resource indicated by the uplink transmission resource information.

According to different application scenarios and different contents contained in the second message, the uplink sending direction and the determination manner of the uplink transmission resource information may be different from each other.

In one implementation, if the second message includes a third beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the third beam identifier, the terminal device may select, as a fourth downlink beam, one beam with a signal quality not lower than the signal quality threshold from the third downlink beam. After the fourth downlink beam is determined, the terminal device sends the RRC reconfiguration complete message in the uplink sending direction determined according to the beam direction of the fourth downlink beam by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the fourth beam identifier. For the description of the fourth downlink beam and the fourth beam identifier, reference may be made to the foregoing description, and further description is omitted here.

In another implementation manner, if the beam identifier included in the second message is an uplink beam identifier, and the second message further includes uplink transmission resource information associated with the uplink beam identifier. The terminal device may determine an uplink transmission direction according to the direction of the beam indicated by the uplink beam identifier, and transmit the RRC reconfiguration complete message using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the uplink beam identifier.

In another implementation, if the second message includes a third beam identifier but does not include uplink transmission resource information, the terminal device determines, according to the second message, a fifth downlink beam that needs to be monitored for indication information, and acquires the indication information by monitoring the fifth downlink beam, where the fifth downlink beam is one of the third downlink beams.

If the indication information monitored at the fifth downlink beam includes uplink transmission resource information associated with the fifth downlink beam, the terminal device may determine an uplink transmission direction according to the beam direction of the fifth downlink beam, and transmit the RRC reconfiguration complete message in the uplink transmission direction by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the fifth downlink beam.

If the indication information monitored at the fifth downlink beam includes an uplink beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the uplink beam identifier, the terminal device may determine an uplink transmission direction according to the direction of the beam indicated by the uplink beam identifier, and transmit the RRC reconfiguration complete message by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the uplink beam identifier. For the description of the fifth downlink beam, reference may be made to the foregoing description, and further description is omitted here.

By adopting the method provided by the embodiment, the time delay of the interruption of the uplink scheduling in the switching process of the terminal equipment can be reduced, so that the service experience of the delay sensitive service can be improved.

It should be noted that, in each embodiment of the present application, the serving cell and the target cell may belong to the same base station, and it can be understood that the serving cell and the target cell belong to the same base station, that is, the first network device and the second network device are the same network device. And when the first network equipment and the second network equipment are the same network equipment, the terminal equipment determines that the TA of the target cell is the same as the TA of the serving cell. Or, the serving cell and the target cell may also belong to different base stations, and the target cell may be a small cell (small cell), and when the target cell is a small cell, the terminal device determines that the TA of the target cell is 0. Alternatively, the target cell and the serving cell may belong to different base stations and the target cell is not a small cell, and the TA of the target cell may be calculated by the terminal device according to the corresponding information. And the terminal equipment performs uplink synchronization with the target cell or the second network equipment according to the determined TA of the target cell.

The communication method of the application is further explained with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of another embodiment of the communication method of the present application. The communication method may include the steps of:

step 301, the first network device sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the terminal device.

The RRC reconfiguration message includes measurement configuration information, where the measurement configuration information is used to configure a terminal device to perform RRM measurement based on an SSB or a CSI-RS, and the SSB and the CSI-RS are reference signals used to perform the RRM measurement.

Step 302, the terminal device sends a measurement report to the first network device.

After receiving the RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal equipment performs RRM measurement on a downlink reference signal SSB or a CSI-RS according to the measurement configuration information; and after the triggering condition is met, the terminal equipment sends a measurement report to the first network equipment.

The measurement report may include at least one neighbor cell identifier and at least one first beam identifier, where the first beam identifier may be in the form of a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index (index) or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) index, and the like.

Taking RRM measurement based on SSB as an example, when the neighboring cell includes a neighboring cell 1 and a neighboring cell 2, and the first downlink beam includes a beam 1 and a beam 2 belonging to the neighboring cell 1 and a beam 3 belonging to the neighboring cell 2, the measurement report may include the PCI1 or the CGI1 of the neighboring cell 1 and the PCI2 or the CGI2 of the neighboring cell 2, and include a beam identifier of the beam 1, a beam identifier of the beam 2, and a beam identifier of the beam 3. For the convenience of the following description, the beam id of beam 1 is denoted by SSB1, the beam id of beam 2 is denoted by SSB2, and the beam id of beam 3 is denoted by SSB 3.

The measurement report further includes a cell signal quality of each neighboring cell, and optionally, the measurement report includes a signal quality of each first downlink beam. The cell signal quality may be a Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) or a Reference Signal Receiving Quality (RSRQ) of the cell; the beam signal quality may then be an RSRP or an RSRQ of the downlink beam.

For example, the measurement report further includes the cell signal quality of the neighboring cell 1 and the cell signal quality of the neighboring cell 2; optionally, the measurement report may further include the signal quality of the beam 1, the signal quality of the beam 2, and the signal quality of the beam 3. For convenience of subsequent description, the cell signal quality of the neighbor cell 1 is denoted by RSRP1, and the cell signal quality of the neighbor cell 2 is denoted by RSRP 2; the signal quality of beam 1 is denoted by RSRP3, the signal quality of beam 2 is denoted by RSRP4, and the signal quality of beam 3 is denoted by RSRP 5.

In order to enable the network device to know the quality relationship of the signals of the beams, in the measurement report, the first beam identifiers may be sorted according to the sequence of the signal quality of the corresponding first beam from high to low or from low to high.

For example, the first beam identifiers are sorted in the order of the first beam signal quality from high to low, and the first beam identifiers are arranged in the order of SSB1, SSB2, and SSB3 in the measurement report, which indicates that the signal quality of beam 1 is better than that of beam 2, and the signal quality of beam 2 is better than that of beam 3.

Step 303, the first network device sends a third message to the second network device.

And after receiving the measurement report, the first network equipment carries out switching judgment according to the measurement report and determines a target cell. After the target cell is determined, a third message may be sent to the second network device, where the third message may be a handover request message, and the third message may include at least one second beam identifier.

For example, the first network device determines the neighboring cell 1 as the target cell according to the measurement report, and then sends the third message to the network device to which the neighboring cell 1 belongs. Since the measurement report includes the measurement information of beam 1 and beam 2 of neighbor cell 1, the third message may include SSB1 and SSB 2; optionally, in addition to SSB1 and SSB2, the third message may further include RSRP3 and RSRP 4.

Step 304, the second network device allocates uplink transmission resources.

After receiving the third message, the second network device acquires the second beam identifier from the third message; the second network device may obtain a second beam signal quality from the third message in addition to the second beam identity.

When the second beam identifier is multiple, the second network device may respectively allocate corresponding uplink transmission resources to the beam indicated by each second beam identifier, or may only allocate corresponding uplink transmission resources to the beam indicated by part of the second beam identifiers. The second downlink beam to which the corresponding uplink transmission resource is allocated is the third downlink beam.

In a possible manner, the second network device may determine the third beam identifier according to a load or a resource condition, and allocate a corresponding uplink transmission resource to the third downlink beam indicated by the third beam identifier. Wherein the third beam identification is all or part of the second beam identification. When the number of the third downlink beams is multiple, each third downlink beam is associated with one piece of uplink transmission resource information, and the uplink transmission resource information associated with different third downlink beams may be the same or different. The uplink transmission resource information may be the uplink transmission resource itself or the indication information of the uplink transmission resource. That is, the second network device may allocate a corresponding uplink transmission resource for a third downlink beam, where the third downlink beam is all or part of the second downlink beam.

In a possible manner, in a specific implementation, the second network device may determine a third downlink beam according to the signal quality of the beam, where the third downlink beam may be all of the second downlink beam or a part of the second downlink beam, and for example, the second downlink beam with the signal quality not lower than a predetermined second signal quality threshold is used as the third downlink beam; and then allocating corresponding uplink transmission resources for the third downlink beam.

For example, when the third message includes measurement information of beam 1 and beam 2, in a possible manner, the second network device may allocate corresponding uplink transmission resources to beam 1 and beam 2, respectively. The uplink transmission resource allocated by the second network device to the SSB1 may be the same as or different from the uplink transmission resource allocated by the second network device to the SSB2, for example, the second network device may allocate a first uplink transmission resource UL grant1 to the SSB1 and allocate a second uplink transmission resource UL grant2 to the SSB 2; alternatively, UL grant1 may be allocated to both SSB1 and SSB2, respectively. In this case, SSB1 and SSB2 are the third beam identifiers. In another possible way, the second network device may also allocate the first uplink transmission resource UL grant1 only for the SSB1, and not allocate the uplink transmission resource for the SSB2, where in this case, the SSB1 identifies the third beam.

Step 305, the second network device sends a first message to the first network device.

After allocating uplink transmission resources for the third downlink beam, the second network device may send a first message to the first network device. The first message may include a third beam id indicating the third downlink beam and uplink transmission resource information associated with the third beam id. Wherein the third beam identifier is a part or all of the second beam identifier, and the third downlink beam is a beam of the second downlink beam to which uplink transmission resources are allocated by a second network device.

For example, if the second network device allocates a first uplink transmission resource UL grant1 for SSB1 and allocates a second uplink transmission resource UL grant2 for SSB2, then SSB1 and SSB2 are the third beam identifier, and the first message may include { (SSB1, UL grant1), (SSB2, UL grant2) }; if the second network device allocates UL grant1 only to SSB1 and does not allocate uplink transmission resources to SSB2, then SSB1 identifies the third beam, and the first message includes { (SSB1, UL grant1) }.

Optionally, the first message may further include a channel reciprocity indication and/or a signal quality threshold. In a general case, when the third beam identifier is not unique, the first message may further include a signal quality threshold, and when the third beam identifier is unique, the first message may not include the signal quality threshold. The terminal device may determine whether the current application scenario has channel reciprocity according to the channel reciprocity indication. The terminal device may determine the downlink beam according to the signal quality threshold, for example, the terminal device determines, as a fourth downlink beam, a beam whose signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold from the third downlink beam.

Step 306, the first network device sends a second message to the terminal device.

After receiving the first message, the first network device sends a second message to the terminal device, where the second message may include content included in the first message.

For example, if { (SSB1, UL grant1), (SSB2, UL grant2) } is included in the first message, then { (SSB1, UL grant1), (SSB2, UL grant2)) } is included in the second message; if { (SSB1, UL grant1) } is included in the first message, then { (SSB1, UL grant1) } is included in the second message.

The second message may also contain a channel reciprocity indication and/or a signal quality threshold. The channel reciprocity indication and/or the signal quality threshold may be obtained by the first network device from the first message.

Step 307, the terminal device sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device.

After receiving the second message, the terminal device may determine, according to the third beam identifier, or according to the third beam identifier and the signal quality threshold, a fourth downlink beam from the third downlink beam; and then determining an uplink transmission direction according to the fourth downlink beam, and transmitting an RRC reconfiguration complete message to second network equipment by using uplink transmission resource information associated with the fourth downlink beam.

When the third beam identifier is unique, the terminal device may directly determine the third downlink beam as the fourth downlink beam, where the third beam identifier is the fourth beam identifier, and determine the uplink transmission direction according to the third downlink beam. Specifically, the uplink transmission direction may be determined by the terminal device according to the direction of the third downlink beam. In one implementation, the uplink transmission direction may be opposite to the direction of the third downlink beam or a direction having an included angle within a predetermined range. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink sending direction by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the third beam id.

For example, if { (SSB1, UL grant1) } is included in the second message, the terminal apparatus determines the downlink beam indicated by SSB1 as the fourth downlink beam, and determines the uplink transmission direction according to SSB 1. Specifically, the uplink transmission direction may be determined by the terminal device according to the direction of the SSB1, for example, the uplink transmission direction may be opposite to the downlink direction in which the terminal device receives the SSB1 transmitted by the second network device, or within a predetermined range from the downlink direction. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink sending direction by using the uplink transmission resource information ULgrant1 associated with the SSB 1.

And when the third beam identifier is not unique, the terminal equipment determines a fourth downlink beam from the third downlink beam according to the signal quality threshold value. Specifically, the terminal device may determine, as a fourth downlink beam, a beam of the third downlink beam, where the signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold, and determine the uplink transmission direction according to the fourth downlink beam. In one implementation, the uplink transmission direction may be opposite to the direction of the fourth downlink beam or a direction having an included angle within a predetermined range. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink sending direction by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier of the fourth downlink beam.

The fourth downlink beam is one of the third downlink beams. If there are multiple beams in the third downlink beam whose signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold, the fourth downlink beam may be the one with the strongest beam signal quality in the third downlink beam, or may be any one of the third downlink beams whose signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold, or may be the beam detected by the terminal device first in the third downlink beam whose signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold.

For example, if { (SSB1, UL grant1), (SSB2, UL grant2) } and the signal quality threshold value X are included in the second message, the terminal device determines, as the fourth downlink beam, one beam in which the signal quality is not lower than X from two downlink beams respectively indicated by SSB1 and SSB 2. For example, the terminal device determines the downlink beam indicated by the SSB1 whose measured signal quality is not lower than X as the fourth downlink beam, and then determines a direction opposite to the direction of the fourth downlink beam or within a predetermined range as the uplink transmission direction. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink sending direction using the uplink transmission resource UL grant1 associated with the SSB 1.

By adopting the communication method provided by this embodiment, the second network device may allocate uplink transmission resources for sending the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the terminal device, and then send uplink transmission resource information to the terminal device through the first network device, so that the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message using the determined uplink transmission resources.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of another embodiment of the communication method of the present application. This embodiment may include the steps of:

step 401, the first network device sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the terminal device.

The RRC reconfiguration message includes measurement configuration information. With specific reference to step 301, it will not be described in detail herein.

In step 402, the terminal device sends a measurement report to the first network device.

After receiving the RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal device performs Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement on the downlink reference signal according to the measurement configuration information; and sending a measurement report to the first network device after a trigger condition is met. The content of the measurement report can be referred to in step 302, and is not described in detail here.

In step 403, the first network device sends a third message to the second network device.

After receiving the measurement report, the first network equipment performs switching judgment according to the measurement report to determine a target cell; after the target cell is determined, a third message may be sent to the second network device, where the third message may be a handover request message, and the third message may include at least one second beam identifier. The third message may further include a signal quality threshold, where the signal quality threshold is used to determine how to allocate uplink transmission resources. The content of the third message may be referred to in step 303, and will not be described in detail here.

In step 404, the second network device allocates uplink transmission resources.

When the second beam identifier is multiple, the second network device may respectively allocate corresponding uplink transmission resources to the beam indicated by each second beam identifier, or may only allocate corresponding uplink transmission resources to the beam indicated by part of the second beam identifiers. The second downlink beam to which the corresponding uplink transmission resource is allocated is the third downlink beam. The specific manner of allocating the uplink transmission resource by the second network device may be referred to in step 304, and is not described herein again.

It should be noted that steps 401 to 404 are similar to steps 301 to 304, and reference is made to steps 301 to 304 for relevant points, which are not described in detail herein.

In step 405, the second network device sends a first message to the first network device.

After allocating uplink transmission resources for the third downlink beam, the second network device may send a first message to the first network device. The first message may include a third beam id indicating the third downlink beam, but not include uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam indicated by the third beam id. The uplink transmission resource information may be the uplink transmission resource itself or the indication information of the uplink transmission resource.

For example, when the second beam id includes SSB1 and SSB2, if the second network device allocates uplink transmission resources for SSB1 and SSB2, respectively, then SSB1 and SSB2 are both the third beam id, and the first message may include SSB1 and SSB 2; if the second network device allocates only upstream transmission resources for SSB1 and no upstream transmission resources for SSB2, then only SSB1 identifies the third beam, including SSB1 in the first message.

Optionally, the first message may further include a channel reciprocity indication and/or a signal quality threshold. In a general case, when the third beam identifier is not unique, a signal quality threshold may be included in the first message; when the third beam id is unique, the first message may not include a signal quality threshold. The terminal device may determine whether the current application scenario has channel reciprocity according to the channel reciprocity indication. The terminal device may determine a fifth downlink beam according to the signal quality threshold, for example, the terminal device determines, as the fifth downlink beam, a beam whose signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold from the third downlink beam, where the fifth downlink beam is a downlink beam that the terminal device needs to monitor, and the fifth downlink beam is one of the third beams.

It should be noted that, please refer to step 305 where step 405 is similar to step 305, and the description is omitted here.

Step 406, the second network device sends indication information to the terminal device.

In addition to sending the first message to the first network device, after allocating the uplink transmission resource, the second network device may send indication information to the terminal device through the third downlink beam. The indication information includes uplink transmission resource information associated with the third beam id, and may further include the third beam id.

The indication information may be physical signaling, such as a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) command (order), or may also be layer 2 control signaling, such as a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE), or may also be an RRC message. The uplink transmission resource may be a UL grant or a PUSCH resource. The uplink transmission resource may be periodic or aperiodic.

When the third beam identifier is multiple, the second network device needs to send the corresponding indication information at each third downlink beam.

For example, when the second beam id includes SSB1 and SSB2, if the second network device allocates UL grant1 for SSB1 and UL grant2 for SSB2, then SSB1 and SSB2 are both the third beam id; the second network device transmits the first indication information through beam 1 (i.e., the beam indicated by SSB 1) and transmits the second indication information through beam 2 (i.e., the beam indicated by SSB 2). The first indication information may include UL grant1, and the second indication information may include UL grant 2. In addition to the UL grant1, the first indication information may further include SSB 1; besides the ULgrant2, the second indication information may further include SSB 2.

For another example, if the second network device allocates only an uplink transmission resource UL grant1 to SSB1, and does not allocate an uplink transmission resource to SSB2, only SSB1 is the third beam id, and the third indication information sent by the second network device through beam 1 may include UL grant1 associated with SSB1, and in addition to UL grant1, the third indication information may also include SSB 1.

It should be noted that, the execution sequence between step 405 and step 406 is not limited in this application, and the second network device may execute any one of the steps after executing step 404, or execute the two steps in parallel.

Step 407, the first network device sends a second message to the terminal device.

And the first network equipment sends a second message to the terminal equipment after receiving the first message. The second message may include the content included in the first message.

For example, if SSB1 and SSB2 are included in the first message, then SSB1 and SSB2 are also included in the second message; if SSB1 is included in the first message, then SSB1 is also included in the second message.

It should be noted that the present application does not limit the execution sequence between step 406 and step 407.

In step 408, the terminal device sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device.

After receiving the second message, the terminal device determines a fifth downlink beam from the third downlink beam according to the third beam identifier and the optional signal quality threshold, and then monitors indication information sent by the second network device at the fifth downlink beam to obtain uplink transmission resource information and determine an uplink sending direction. After the uplink transmission direction and the uplink transmission resource information are both determined, the terminal device may send an RRC reconfiguration complete message in the uplink transmission direction using the uplink transmission resource information.

When the third beam identifier is unique, the terminal device may determine the third downlink beam as the fifth downlink beam, monitor indication information at the fifth downlink beam, obtain uplink transmission resource information from the indication information, and determine an uplink transmission direction. Specifically, the uplink transmission direction may be opposite to the direction of the fifth downlink beam or a direction having an included angle within a predetermined range. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink sending direction by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the fifth downlink beam included in the indication information.

For example, if only { SSB1} is included in the second message, the terminal device determines the downlink beam indicated by SSB1, i.e., beam 1, as the fifth downlink beam, monitors indication information transmitted on beam 1, e.g., the terminal device monitors PDCCH, acquires the uplink transmission resource UL grant1 associated with SSB1 from the indication information, and determines the uplink transmission direction. The uplink transmission direction may be determined by the terminal device according to the direction of the beam 1, for example, the uplink transmission direction may be opposite to the downlink direction in which the terminal device receives the beam 1 transmitted by the second network device, or may form an angle with the downlink direction within a predetermined range. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink transmission direction by using the UL grant 1.

And when the third beam identifier is not unique, the terminal equipment determines a fifth downlink beam from the third downlink beam according to the signal quality threshold value. Specifically, the terminal device may determine, as a fifth downlink beam, a beam of the third downlink beam, where the signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold, monitor indication information at the fifth downlink beam, and obtain uplink transmission resource information from the indication information, where the indication information may further include a beam identifier of the fifth downlink beam, and in addition, the terminal device determines the uplink transmission direction. Specifically, the uplink transmission direction may be opposite to the direction of the fifth downlink beam or a direction having an included angle within a predetermined range. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink sending direction by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the fifth downlink beam included in the indication information.

Wherein the fifth downlink beam may be one of the third downlink beams. If there are multiple beams in the third downlink beam whose signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold, the fifth downlink beam determined by the terminal device may be a beam with the strongest signal quality in the third downlink beam, or may be any one of the third downlink beams whose signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold, or a beam detected by the terminal device first in the third downlink beam whose signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold.

For example, if the second message includes SSBs 1 and SSBs 2 and a signal quality threshold X, the terminal device determines a fifth downlink beam from beam 1 and beam 2 according to the signal quality threshold X, for example, if the signal quality of beam 1 is not lower than the signal quality threshold X, then beam 1 may be determined as the fifth downlink beam.

For another example, if the second message includes SSBs 1 and SSBs 2 and a signal quality threshold value X, the terminal device may determine that one of beam 1 and beam 2 whose signal quality is not lower than X is the fifth downlink beam. For example, if the signal quality of beam 1 is not lower than X, the terminal may determine beam 1 as the fifth downlink beam, the terminal device listens for the indication information at beam 1, and acquires the UL grant1 associated with beam 1 from the indication information, where the uplink transmission direction may be determined by the terminal device according to the direction of beam 1, for example, the uplink transmission direction may be opposite to the downlink direction in which the terminal device receives beam 1 transmitted by the second network device, or may be within a predetermined range from the downlink direction of beam 1. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink transmission direction by using the UL grant 1.

By adopting the communication method provided in this embodiment, the second network device may allocate uplink transmission resources for sending the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the terminal device, and then notify the terminal device of the beam identifier for sending the indication information through the first network device, and the second network device sends the indication information through the beam indicated by the beam identifier, where the indication information includes uplink transmission resource information, so that the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message using the determined uplink transmission resources.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of another embodiment of the communication method of the present application. The embodiment of the application can comprise the following steps:

step 501, the first network device sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the terminal device.

The RRC reconfiguration message may include measurement configuration information and SRS configuration information for performing RRM measurement. In a possible manner, in an application scenario where there is no channel reciprocity between an uplink channel and a downlink channel, the RRC reconfiguration message may include measurement configuration information used by the terminal device to perform RRM measurement and SRS configuration information of each neighboring network device. The SRS configuration information is used to configure parameters required for the terminal device to send SRS to the neighboring network device.

The SRS configuration information includes one or more of an SRS identifier (e.g., an SRS index or an SRS ID), SRS resource type information, SRS resource configuration, and SRS spatial relationship information. Optionally, the SRS configuration information further includes a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) allocated by the neighboring network device to the terminal device and TA information of the neighboring cell, for example, when the neighboring cell is a small cell, the TA information of the neighboring cell is used to indicate that a TA value of the neighboring cell is equal to 0, and when the neighboring cell and the serving cell belong to the same network device, the TA information of the neighboring cell is used to indicate that the TA value of the neighboring cell is equal to the TA value of the serving cell.

In a possible implementation manner, in an Xn Setup procedure or an NG-RAN Node configuration update process, the neighboring network device sends the SRS configuration information to the first network device, and the first network device sends the SRS configuration information to the terminal device after receiving the SRS configuration information.

In another possible implementation manner, the first network device generates the SRS configuration information, sends the SRS configuration information to the terminal device, and sends the SRS configuration information to the neighboring network device through an Xn message, where the Xn message may be a new message, or reuse an existing message, such as an Xn setup request message or an NG-RAN node configuration update message, or others. And after receiving the SRS configuration information, the terminal equipment generates an SRS according to the SRS configuration information and sends the SRS to the adjacent network equipment.

Step 502, the terminal device sends a measurement report to the first network device.

After receiving the RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal equipment performs RRM measurement on the downlink reference signal according to the measurement configuration information; and sending a measurement report to the first network device after a trigger condition is met. The content of the measurement report may refer to the foregoing embodiments, and specifically refer to the related content in step 302, etc., which is not described in detail herein.

Step 503, the terminal device transmits the first SRS according to the SRS configuration information.

Since the RRC reconfiguration message includes the SRS configuration information, the terminal device further needs to generate an uplink reference signal SRS according to the SRS configuration information, and transmit the SRS in at least one uplink beam. In the case where the terminal device transmits the SRS using a plurality of uplink beams, the SRS transmitted on different uplink beams may have different SRS indexes or SRSIDs.

For example, the terminal device may transmit the SRS identified as SRS1 on uplink beam 1, the SRS identified as SRS2 on uplink beam 2, and the SRS identified as SRS3 on uplink beam 3.

It should be noted that the execution sequence between step 502 and step 503 is not limited in this application, and the terminal device may execute any one of the steps first or execute the two steps in parallel.

In step 504, the first network device sends a third message to the second network device.

After receiving the measurement report, the first network device performs a handover decision according to the measurement report, and after determining the target cell, sends a third message to the second network device, which may specifically refer to relevant contents such as step 303, and is not described herein again.

Step 505, the second network device allocates uplink transmission resources.

And the second network equipment allocates the uplink transmission resource associated with the uplink beam identifier based on the received first SRS sent by the terminal equipment.

In an implementation manner, the second network device may perform uplink measurement based on the received first SRS sent by the terminal device, perform admittance control according to an uplink measurement result and a self load or a resource condition, and allocate uplink transmission resources associated with the second SRS, where the second SRS may be all or part of the first SRS. And the uplink beam identifier indicates the second SRS, and uplink transmission resources are allocated to the second SRS, namely the uplink transmission resources associated with the uplink beam identifier are allocated.

And the uplink beam indicated by the uplink beam identification is part or all of the uplink beam transmitted by the terminal equipment to the first SRS. Generally, the second network device allocates uplink transmission resources for a predetermined number of the first SRSs with better uplink measurement results or the first SRSs with uplink measurement results higher than a predetermined threshold.

The uplink transmission resources allocated by the second network device for different uplink beam identifiers may be the same or different. For example, the second network device receives SRS1, SRS2, and SRS3 sent by the terminal device, and according to the uplink measurement result, the second network device finds that the measurement result of SRS1 is the best, and the measurement result of SRS2 is the second time, then the second network device may allocate a first uplink transmission resource to SRS1 and allocate a second uplink transmission resource to SRS2, where the first uplink transmission resource may be the same as or different from the second uplink transmission resource. Alternatively, the second network device may allocate the first uplink transmission resource UL grant1 only for the SRS1 with the best signal quality, and not allocate the uplink transmission resource for the SRS 2.

It should be noted that the present application does not limit the execution sequence between step 504 and step 505, and the terminal device may execute any one of the steps first or execute the two steps in parallel.

Step 506, the second network device sends a first message to the first network device.

After allocating uplink transmission resources for the uplink beam indicated by the uplink beam identifier, the second network device may send a first message to the first network device, where the first message may include an SRS identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier. The uplink transmission resource information may be the uplink transmission resource itself or the indication information of the uplink transmission resource.

For example, the second network device allocates a first uplink transmission resource UL grant1 to the SRS1 with the best signal quality, and then the first message may include an SRS identifier of the SRS1 and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier.

The first message may also contain a channel reciprocity indication. The terminal device may determine whether the current application scenario has channel reciprocity according to the channel reciprocity indication.

Step 507, the first network device sends a second message to the terminal device.

After receiving the first message, the first network device sends a second message to the terminal device, where the second message may include content included in the first message. That is, the second message may include an SRS identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier. For example, if the first message includes the SRS identifier of the SRS1 and the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier, the second message also includes the SRS identifier of the SRS1 and the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier.

The second message may also contain a channel reciprocity indication. The terminal device may determine whether the current application scenario has channel reciprocity according to the channel reciprocity indication.

In step 508, the terminal device sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device.

After receiving the second message, the terminal device determines an uplink transmission direction according to the SRS identifier included in the second message, and specifically, the uplink transmission direction may be determined by the terminal device according to the direction of the uplink beam indicated by the SRS identifier. In a possible manner, the uplink transmission direction may be the same as the direction of the uplink beam or a direction having an included angle within a predetermined range. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink sending direction by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier included in the second message.

For example, if the second message includes an SRS identifier of the SRS1 and uplink transmission resource information UL grant1 associated with the SRS identifier, the terminal device may use the UL grant1 to send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in a direction that is the same as an uplink beam direction for sending the SRS1 or has an included angle within a predetermined range; if the second message includes the SRS identifier of the SRS1 and the uplink transmission resource information UL grant1 associated with the SRS identifier, and further includes the SRS identifier of the SRS2 and the uplink transmission resource information UL grant2 associated with the SRS identifier, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device using the UL grant1 in the direction which is the same as the direction of the uplink beam used for sending the SRS1 or the direction which is the same as the direction of the uplink beam used for sending the SRS2 or the included angle is within the predetermined range, using the UL grant2, the terminal device sends the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of another embodiment of the communication method of the present application. The communication method may include the steps of:

step 601, the first network device sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the terminal device.

The RRC reconfiguration message may include measurement configuration information for performing RRM measurement and SRS configuration information.

In step 602, the terminal device sends a measurement report to the first network device.

After receiving the RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal equipment performs RRM measurement on the downlink reference signal according to the measurement configuration information; and sending a measurement report to the first network device after a trigger condition is met. The content of the measurement report can be referred to the foregoing embodiments, and will not be described in detail here. Refer specifically to step 203.

Step 603, the terminal device sends the first SRS according to the SRS configuration information.

Since the RRC reconfiguration message includes the SRS configuration information, the terminal device further needs to generate an uplink reference signal SRS according to the SRS configuration information, and transmit the SRS in at least one uplink beam. In the case where the terminal device transmits the SRS using a plurality of uplink beams, the SRS transmitted on different uplink beams may have different SRS identities.

It should be noted that, the contents of steps 601 to 603 are similar to those of steps 501 to 503, and reference may be made to steps 501 to 503 for the relevant points, which are not described in detail herein.

Step 604, the first network device sends a third message to the second network device.

After receiving the measurement report, the first network device makes a handover decision according to the measurement report, and after determining a target cell, the first network device sends a third message to the second network device, where the third message may include at least one second beam identifier. The second beam identifier is used for indicating a second downlink beam, which is a downlink beam belonging to the second network device. When the number of the first downlink beams is plural, the second downlink beam may include all the first downlink beams, or may include only a part of the first downlink beams. Referring to step 204, details are not described.

Step 605, the second network device allocates uplink transmission resources.

And the second network equipment allocates uplink transmission resources based on the received first SRS sent by the terminal equipment. The specific allocation manner of the uplink transmission resource can be referred to step 505, and will not be described in detail here.

It should be noted that the execution sequence between step 604 and step 605 is not limited in the present application, and the terminal device may execute any one of the steps first or execute the two steps in parallel.

Step 606, the second network device sends a first message to the first network device.

The second network device may send a first message to the first network device, where the first message may include a third beam id.

For example, when the second beam id includes SSB1 and SSB2, where the signal quality of SSB1 is better than that of SSB2, then in one approach the beam id of beam 1, i.e., SSB1, is included in the first message. In another mode, the first message includes a beam id of beam 1 and a beam id of beam 2, that is, SSB1 and SSB2 are the third beam ids.

The first message may also contain a channel reciprocity indication and/or a signal quality threshold. In a general case, when the third beam identifier is not unique, a signal quality threshold may be included in the first message; when the third beam identifier is unique, the first message does not include a signal quality threshold. The terminal device may determine whether the current application scenario has channel reciprocity according to the channel reciprocity indication. The terminal device may determine a fifth downlink beam according to the signal quality threshold, for example, the terminal device determines, as the fifth downlink beam, a beam whose signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold from the third downlink beam, where the fifth downlink beam is a downlink beam that the terminal device needs to monitor, and the fifth downlink beam is one of the third downlink beams.

Step 607, the second network device sends the indication information through the third downlink beam.

And in addition to sending the first message to the first network equipment, the second network equipment sends indication information through the third downlink beam. The indication information comprises SRS identification and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identification. The indication information may be physical signaling, such as PDCCH order, or layer 2 control signaling, such as MAC CE, or RRC message.

When the third beam is identified as plural, the second network device may transmit indication information at each of the third downlink beams, respectively.

For example, the second network device allocates the first uplink transmission resource UL grant1 to the SRS1 with the best signal quality, and then the indication information may include the SRS identifier of the SRS1 and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier. If the second network device determines SSB1 as the third beam id according to the second beam id contained in the third message, and the first message sent by the second network device contains the beam id of beam 1, the second network device sends the indication information at the downlink beam whose beam id is SSB1, i.e. beam 1; if the second network device determines, according to the second beam identifier included in the third message, that SSB1 and SSB2 are the third beam identifier, and the first message sent by the second network device includes the beam identifier of beam 1 and the beam identifier of beam 2, that is, the third beam identifier included in the first message is SSB1 and SSB2, the second network device sends, at the downlink beam whose beam identifier is SSB1, that is, beam 1, indication information 1, which may include the SRS identifier of SRS1 and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier, and the second network device sends, at the downlink beam whose beam identifier is SSB2, that is, beam 2, indication information 2, which may include the SRS identifier of SRS1 and the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier.

It should be noted that the execution order between step 604 and step 607 is not limited in the present application.

Step 608, the first network device sends a second message to the terminal device.

And after receiving the first message, the first network equipment sends a second message to the terminal equipment, wherein the second message contains the third beam identifier. The second message may include the content included in the first message. Referring to step 407, details are not described.

Step 609, the terminal device sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device.

After receiving the second message, the terminal device determines a fifth downlink beam according to the third beam identifier and the optional signal quality threshold value included in the second message, monitors indication information sent by the fifth downlink beam, and after monitoring the indication information, the terminal device obtains the SRS identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier from the indication information. In an implementation manner, the uplink transmission direction may be the same as the direction of the uplink beam or a direction having an included angle within a predetermined range. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink transmission direction by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier included in the indication information.

And when the third beam identifier comprises a plurality of identifiers, if the second message also comprises a signal quality threshold value, the terminal equipment determines a fifth downlink beam from the third downlink beam according to the signal quality threshold value.

When the third beam identifier is unique, the terminal device determines the third downlink beam as the fifth downlink beam, and the terminal device monitors indication information at the fifth downlink beam. After monitoring the indication information, the terminal equipment acquires an SRS identification and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identification from the indication information. In an implementation manner, the uplink transmission direction may be the same as the direction of the uplink beam or a direction having an included angle within a predetermined range. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink transmission direction by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier included in the indication information.

For example, if only SSB1 is included in the second message, the terminal device determines the downlink beam indicated by SSB1 as the fifth downlink beam, and the terminal device listens to the indication information sent on SSB 1. If in step 605, the second network device allocates the first uplink transmission resource UL grant1 only for the SRS 1. Then, the terminal device obtains the uplink transmission resource information UL grant1 associated with the SRS1 from the indication information, and determines the uplink transmission direction. The uplink transmission direction is the same as the uplink beam direction for transmitting the SRS1 or a direction with an included angle within a predetermined range. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink transmission direction by using the UL grant 1.

When the third beam identifier is not unique and the second message further includes the signal quality threshold, the terminal device determines a fifth downlink beam from the third downlink beam according to the signal quality threshold. Specifically, the terminal device may determine, as a fifth downlink beam, a beam in the third downlink beam, where the signal quality is not lower than the signal quality threshold, and monitor the indication information at the fifth downlink beam. After monitoring the indication information, the terminal equipment acquires an SRS identification and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identification from the indication information. In an implementation manner, the uplink transmission direction may be the same as the direction of the uplink beam or a direction having an included angle within a predetermined range. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink transmission direction by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier included in the indication information.

For example, if the second message includes the beam identifier of beam 1 and the beam identifier of beam 2, and the signal quality threshold value X, the terminal device determines, as the fifth downlink beam, one of beam 1 and beam 2 whose signal quality is not lower than X according to the signal quality threshold value X. For example, if the terminal device detects that the signal quality of beam 1 is not lower than X, then beam 1 may be determined as the fifth downlink beam, and the terminal device listens for the indication information at beam 1. In step 605, if the second network device only allocates the first uplink transmission resource UL grant1 to the SRS1, the indication information sent by the second network device through the beam 1 includes the SRS identifier of the SRS1 and the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier. Then, the terminal device obtains the uplink transmission resource information UL grant1 associated with the SRS1 from the indication information, and determines the uplink transmission direction. The uplink transmission direction is the same as the uplink beam direction for transmitting the SRS1 or a direction with an included angle within a predetermined range. In this way, the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device in the uplink transmission direction by using the UL grant 1.

By adopting the communication method provided in this embodiment, the second network device may allocate uplink transmission resources for sending the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the terminal device, then notify the terminal device of a beam identifier for sending indication information through the first network device, and send the indication information through the beam indicated by the beam identifier, where the indication information includes an SRS identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier, so that the terminal device may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message using the determined uplink transmission resources.

It is understood that, in the above embodiments, the method implemented by the terminal device may also be implemented by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) that can be used for the terminal device; the method implemented by the first network device may also be implemented by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit, etc.) that is available to the first network device; the method implemented by the second network device may also be implemented by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit, etc.) that is available to the second network device.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the communication device of the present application. The communication means may be the first network device or may be a component (e.g. a chip) for the first network device, or the communication means may also be the second network device or may be a component for the second network device. The communication apparatus may implement the function or operation of the first network device in the foregoing embodiments, or may also implement the function or operation of the second network device in the foregoing embodiments. As shown in fig. 7, the communication device may include an obtaining module 701 and a sending module 702, and optionally, the communication device may further include a generating module or other necessary unit modules.

In an implementation manner, when the communication apparatus is configured to implement an operation or function corresponding to a first network device, the obtaining module 701 is configured to obtain a beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier, where the uplink transmission resource information is used for transmitting a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration complete message; (ii) a A sending module 702, configured to send a second message to a terminal device, where the second message includes the beam identifier and the uplink transmission resource information. Optionally, the sending module 702 is further configured to send sounding reference signal, SRS, configuration information to the terminal device, where the SRS configuration information is used to configure parameters required for the terminal device to send an SRS to the second network device. Optionally, the second message further includes a channel reciprocity indicator and/or a signal quality threshold. Optionally, the beam identifier includes an SSB index or a CSI-RS index; alternatively, the beam identity comprises an SRS identity.

In another implementation, when the communication apparatus is configured to implement an operation or function corresponding to a second network device, a generating module is configured to generate a first message; a sending module 702 is configured to send a first message to a first network device. The first message includes a beam identifier, where the beam identifier is used to indicate that part or all of beams measured by the terminal device belong to the communication apparatus, and the beam indicated by the beam identifier is used to determine uplink transmission resource information, where the uplink transmission resource information is used to transmit a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration complete message, the first network device is a network device to which a serving cell belongs, and the communication device is a network device to which a target cell belongs.

Optionally, the first message further includes uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier, where the uplink transmission resource information is used to transmit a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration complete message.

Optionally, the sending module 702 is further configured to send indication information on the downlink beam indicated by the beam identifier, where the indication information includes uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier.

Optionally, the beam identifier includes an SSB index or a CSI-RS index. Optionally, the first message further includes a channel reciprocity indicator and/or a signal quality threshold.

It can be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, further reference may be made to the description related to the method embodiment for the functions or implementation of each module of the communication apparatus, and details are not described here again.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of a communication device according to the present application. The communication device may be a terminal device, or may be a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) applicable to a terminal device, which may be the terminal device in any of the foregoing embodiments. As shown in fig. 8, the communication apparatus may include a receiving module 801 and a sending module 802, and optionally, the communication apparatus may further include a generating module, an obtaining module, or other necessary unit modules.

Wherein, when the communication apparatus is used to implement an operation or function corresponding to a terminal device, the receiving module 801 is used to receive a message including a beam identifier from a first network device. The message including the beam identifier may be a first message, and the first message includes the beam identifier. A sending module 802, configured to send an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device by using the uplink transmission resource information determined according to the beam identifier.

Optionally, the beam identifier includes an SSB index or a CSI-RS index.

Optionally, the sending module 802 is further configured to send an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier, where the beam identifier is used to indicate a downlink beam.

Optionally, the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier is obtained from the first message by the terminal device.

Optionally, the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier is obtained by the terminal device from indication information, where the indication information is obtained by the terminal device by monitoring on the beam.

Optionally, the obtaining module is configured to obtain an SRS identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier from indication information, where the indication information is obtained by monitoring, by the terminal device, on the beam; the sending module is further configured to send an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier.

Optionally, the signal quality of the downlink beam indicated by the beam identifier is not lower than a signal quality threshold; and the signal quality threshold value is acquired from the second message by the terminal equipment.

Optionally, the beam identifier includes an SRS identifier; the first message comprises uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identification.

Optionally, the sending module 802 is further configured to send an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier.

Optionally, the receiving module 801 is further configured to receive, from the first network device, SRS configuration information used to configure parameters required for the terminal device to send an SRS to the second network device; the sending module is further configured to send an SRS to the second network device according to the SRS configuration information.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the communication device of the present application. The communication means may be the first network device or may be a component (e.g. a chip) for the first network device, or the communication means may also be the second network device or may be a component for the second network device. The communication apparatus may implement the function or operation of the first network device in the foregoing embodiments, or may also implement the function or operation of the second network device in the foregoing embodiments.

The communication device may be composed of a processor 901, a transceiver 902, and further may include a memory 903. The memory 903 may be used to store code or data.

The processor 901 may connect various parts of the entire communication apparatus using various interfaces and lines, execute various functions of the communication apparatus or process data by running or executing software programs or modules stored in the memory 903 and calling codes or data stored in the memory 903. The processor 901 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), or a combination of CPU and NP. The processor may further include a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a General Array Logic (GAL), or any combination thereof.

The memory 903 may include a volatile memory (volatile memory), such as a Random Access Memory (RAM); non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory) such as flash memory, Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD); the memory 903 may also comprise a combination of memories of the kind described above. The memory may store a program or code or data, and the processor 9001 of the communication apparatus may implement the functions of the communication apparatus by executing the program or code.

The transceiver 902 may be used to receive or transmit signals. For example, the transceiver 902 may transmit signals or data to or receive signals or data from a terminal device or other communication apparatus under the control of the processor 901.

In the embodiment of the present application, the processor 901 and the transceiver 902 may be separate or coupled to implement all or part of the steps in the communication method in the foregoing method embodiment. For example, when the communication apparatus serves as the first network device in the foregoing embodiment, the processor 901 may acquire the beam identifier and the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier, or may also acquire the beam identifier and the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier through the transceiver 902, and send the second message to the terminal device. For example, the processor 901 may obtain a beam identifier and the uplink transmission resource information, or the transceiver 902 may receive a first message including the beam identifier and the uplink transmission resource information, and the second message may be generated by the processor 901. For another example, when the communication apparatus serves as the second network device in the foregoing embodiments, the processor 901 may be configured to generate the first message, and the transceiver 902 may be configured to transmit the first message to the first network device.

The functions to be implemented by the receiving module 701 and the sending module 702 in fig. 7 may be implemented by the transceiver 902 of the communication apparatus, or by the transceiver 902 controlled by the processor 901, and the functions to be implemented by the generating module may be implemented by the processor 901.

Referring to fig. 10, a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application is provided. The communication means may be the terminal device in the foregoing embodiments, or a component (e.g., a chip) that may be used for the terminal device. The communication apparatus may implement the functions or operations of the terminal device in the foregoing embodiments.

As shown in fig. 10, the communication device may include a processor 1001, a transceiver 1002; further, a memory 1003 may be included, and the memory 1003 may be used for storing codes or data. The transceiver 1002 may include components such as a receiver 1021, a transmitter 1022, and an antenna 1023. The communication device may also include more or fewer components, or combine certain components, or a different arrangement of components, which is not limited in this application.

The processor 1001 is a control center of the communication apparatus, connects various parts of the entire communication apparatus with various interfaces and lines, and executes various functions of the communication apparatus or processes data by running or executing software programs or modules stored in the memory 1003 and calling data stored in the memory 122. The processor 1001 may be composed of an Integrated Circuit (IC), for example, a single packaged IC, or a plurality of packaged ICs with the same or different functions may be connected. For example, the processor 1001 may include only a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or may be a combination of a GPU, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), and a control chip (e.g., a baseband chip) in the transceiver module. In various embodiments of the present application, the CPU may be a single arithmetic core or may include multiple arithmetic cores.

The transceiver 1002 is used for establishing a communication channel through which the communication apparatus is connected to a network device, thereby realizing communication transmission between the communication apparatus and other devices. The transceiver 1002 may be a module that performs transceiving functions. For example, the transceiver 1002 may include a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) module, a bluetooth module, a baseband (base band) module, and other communication modules, and a Radio Frequency (RF) circuit corresponding to the communication module, and is configured to perform WLAN communication, bluetooth communication, infrared communication, and/or cellular communication system communication, such as Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and/or High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA). The transceiver is used for controlling communication of each component in the communication device, and can support direct memory access (direct memory access).

In various embodiments of the present application, the various transceiver modules in the transceiver 1002 are typically in the form of integrated circuit chips (integrated circuit chips), and may be selectively combined without including all the transceiver modules and corresponding antenna groups. For example, the transceiver 1002 may include only a baseband chip, a radio frequency chip, and corresponding antenna to provide communication functions in a cellular communication system. The communication device may be connected to a cellular network (cellular network) or the internet (internet) via a communication connection established by the transceiver, such as a wireless local area network access or a WCDMA access. In some alternative embodiments of the present application, the communication module, e.g., baseband module, in the transceiver may be integrated into a processor, typically an APQ + MDM family platform as provided by Qualcomm corporation. The radio frequency circuit is used for receiving and sending signals in the process of information transceiving or conversation. For example, after receiving a downlink signal of the network device, the downlink signal is processed by the processor; in addition, the uplink data is sent to the network device. Typically, the radio frequency circuitry includes well-known circuitry for performing these functions, including but not limited to an antenna system, a radio frequency transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner, one or more oscillators, a digital signal processor, a codec (codec) chipset, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, memory, and so forth. In addition, the radio frequency circuitry may also communicate with networks and other devices via wireless communications. The wireless communication may use any communication standard or protocol, including but not limited to global system for mobile communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), email, Short Message Service (SMS), and the like.

In the embodiment of the present application, the transceiver 1002 may be used to implement all or part of the steps of the data transmission method in the foregoing embodiments. The functions to be implemented by the receiving module 801 and the sending module 802 in fig. 8 can be implemented by the transceiver 1002 of the communication apparatus, or by the transceiver 1002 controlled by the processor 1001, and the functions to be implemented by the obtaining module can be implemented by the processor 801.

In a possible implementation manner, the present application further provides a computer storage medium, where the computer storage medium may store a program, and when the program is executed, the program may include some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the signal transmission method provided in the present application. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), or the like.

In addition, the embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to execute the steps of the signal transmission method described in the foregoing embodiments.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the invention to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy Disk, hard Disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The embodiments in the present specification are described in a progressive manner, and the same and similar parts among the embodiments are referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from the other embodiments. In particular, for system and apparatus embodiments, since they are substantially similar to the method embodiments, the description is relatively simple, and reference may be made to some descriptions of the method embodiments for relevant points.

The above-described embodiments of the present application do not limit the scope of the present application. Any modification, equivalent replacement, and improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that first network equipment obtains a beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier, wherein the uplink transmission resource information is used for transmitting a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration completion message;

and the first network equipment sends a second message to the terminal equipment, wherein the second message comprises the beam identifier and the uplink transmission resource information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network device obtaining a beam identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier comprises:

the first network device receives a first message from a second network device, where the first message includes the beam identifier and the uplink transmission resource information, where the first network device is a network device to which a serving cell belongs, and the second network device is a network device to which a target cell belongs.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2,

the second message further comprises a channel reciprocity indication and/or a signal quality threshold value.

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

the beam identification comprises a synchronization signal block index or a channel state information reference signal index; or,

the beam identification comprises an SRS identification.

5. A method of communication, comprising:

the second network equipment generates a first message;

the second network device sends a first message to a first network device, where the first message includes a beam identifier, the beam identifier is used to indicate that a part or all of beams measured by the terminal device belong to the second network device, and the beam indicated by the beam identifier is used to determine uplink transmission resource information, where the uplink transmission resource information is used to transmit a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration complete message, the first network device is a network device to which a serving cell belongs, and the second network device is a network device to which a target cell belongs.

6. The method of claim 5,

the first message further includes uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

and the second network equipment sends indication information on the beam indicated by the beam identifier, wherein the indication information contains uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier.

8. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7,

the beam identification includes a synchronization signal block index or a channel state information reference signal index.

9. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 8,

the first message further comprises a channel reciprocity indication and/or a signal quality threshold value.

10. A method of communication, comprising:

receiving a message including a beam identification from a first network device;

and sending an RRC reconfiguration completion message to the second network equipment by using the uplink transmission resource information determined according to the beam identifier.

11. The method of claim 10,

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the terminal device sends the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device using the uplink transmission resource information determined according to the beam identifier, comprising:

and the terminal equipment sends an RRC reconfiguration completion message to second network equipment by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier.

13. The method of claim 12,

and the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier is acquired by the terminal equipment from the message comprising the beam identifier.

14. The method of claim 12,

and the uplink transmission resource information associated with the beam identifier is acquired by the terminal device from indication information, and the indication information is obtained by the terminal device by monitoring on the beam indicated by the beam identifier.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the terminal device sends the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device using the uplink transmission resource information determined according to the beam identifier, comprising:

the terminal equipment acquires an SRS (sounding reference signal) identifier and uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier from indication information, wherein the indication information is obtained by monitoring on a beam indicated by the beam identifier by the terminal equipment;

and the terminal equipment sends an RRC reconfiguration completion message to second network equipment by using the uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identification.

16. The method of any one of claims 13 to 15,

the message including the beam identifier also includes a signal quality threshold value; the signal quality of the beam indicated by the beam identification is not lower than a signal quality threshold value.

17. The method of claim 10,

the beam identification comprises an SRS identification; and the message comprising the beam identifier comprises uplink transmission resource information associated with the SRS identifier.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the terminal device sends the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the second network device using the uplink transmission resource information determined according to the beam identifier, comprising:

19. The method of any one of claims 15, 17, or 18, further comprising:

the terminal equipment receives Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) configuration information from the first network equipment;

and the terminal equipment sends SRS to the second network equipment according to the SRS configuration information.

20. A communication apparatus, comprising means for implementing the method of any of claims 1-4.

21. A communication device comprising means for implementing the method of any of claims 5-9.

22. A communication device comprising means for implementing the method of any of claims 10-19.

23. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, implement the method of any of claims 1 to 4, implement the method of any of claims 5 to 9, and implement the method of any of claims 10 to 19.

24. A computer program product enabling the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, or enabling the method according to any one of claims 5 to 9, or enabling the method according to any one of claims 10 to 19, when the computer program product runs on a computer.