CN111867041B

CN111867041B - Timing advance determination method and device

Info

Publication number: CN111867041B
Application number: CN201910365346.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王爱玲
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Priority date: 2019-04-30
Filing date: 2019-04-30
Publication date: 2022-01-25
Anticipated expiration: 2039-04-30
Also published as: CN111867041A; WO2020221127A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a timing advance determination method and a device, wherein the method comprises the following steps: receiving first information and second information from a network device of a non-terrestrial network; determining the timing advance of the terminal according to the first information and the second information; the first information indicates a common timing advance or a fixed timing advance offset value, and the second information indicates a terminal-specific timing advance. The method further comprises the following steps: and receiving a TAC field from the network equipment of the non-ground network, and determining the timing advance of the terminal according to the TAC field and the corresponding relation between the TAC field and the TA index value. In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal determines the timing advance of the terminal by receiving the information related to the timing advance from the network equipment of the non-ground network, thereby solving the problem of how to determine the timing advance in the non-ground network.

Description

Timing advance determination method and device

Technical Field

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

Background

In a communication system, in order to avoid intra-cell interference, the arrival times of signals of different terminals (e.g., User Equipments (UEs)) from the same subframe but different time-frequency resources at a base station are aligned. The time synchronization of the receiving side can be ensured as long as the base station receives the uplink data sent by the UE in a Cyclic Prefix (CP), so that an uplink Timing Advance (TA) mechanism is proposed. The timing advance can be used for terminal uplink transmission, and indicates the UE to send out data packets according to corresponding instructions in advance by corresponding time. A Timing Advance Command (TAC) is sent from the base station to the terminal through the TAC, and the UE is informed of the time of Timing Advance.

As shown in fig. 1, the timing advance is used to instruct the UE to advance the corresponding time according to the corresponding instruction to transmit uplink data. From the UE side, the timing advance is essentially a negative offset between the starting time of receiving the downlink subframe and the time of transmitting the uplink subframe. The base station can control the arrival Time of uplink signals from different UEs at the base station by appropriately controlling a Time offset (Time offset) of each UE. For the UE farther away from the base station, due to the larger transmission delay, the UE closer to the base station needs to transmit the uplink data earlier by using a larger time offset.

However, no effective solution has been proposed at present how to determine timing advance in non-terrestrial networks.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a timing advance determining method and a device, which solve the problem of how to determine the timing advance in a non-ground network.

According to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a timing advance determining method, applied to a terminal, including:

receiving first information and second information from a network device of a non-terrestrial network;

determining the timing advance of the terminal according to the first information and the second information;

the first information indicates a common timing advance or a fixed timing advance offset value, and the second information indicates a timing advance dedicated to the terminal.

Optionally, the receiving the first information from the network device of the non-terrestrial network includes:

receiving a periodic broadcast message from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, the broadcast message including the first information;

or,

receiving a periodic Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, the SSB comprising the first information;

or,

receiving a group common message from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, the group common message including the first information.

Optionally, the common timing advance is applicable to all terminals in the terminal group to which the terminal belongs.

Optionally, the receiving second information from the network device of the non-terrestrial network includes:

receiving a media access control, MAC, random access response, RAR, from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, the MAC RAR comprising: a TAC field.

Optionally, the first information is determined by a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to a cell center where the terminal is located.

Optionally, the second information is determined by a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to a cell center where the terminal is located and a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to the terminal.

Optionally, the receiving the first information and the second information from the network device of the non-terrestrial network includes:

receiving a MAC RAR from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, the MAC RAR comprising: the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value and the second information is TAC field information.

Optionally, the first information is determined by an altitude value of a network device of the non-terrestrial network.

According to a second aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a timing advance determining method applied to a network device of a non-terrestrial network, including:

sending the first information and the second information to a terminal; the first information indicates a common timing advance or a fixed timing advance offset value, and the second information indicates a timing advance dedicated to the terminal.

Optionally, the sending the first information to the terminal includes:

periodically sending a broadcast message to a terminal, wherein the broadcast message comprises the first information;

or,

periodically sending an SSB to a terminal, wherein the SSB comprises the first information;

or,

and sending a group common message to the terminal, wherein the group common message comprises the first information.

Optionally, the sending the second information to the terminal includes:

sending a MAC RAR to the terminal, wherein the MAC RAR comprises: a TAC field.

Optionally, before the sending the first information and the second information to the terminal, the method further includes:

determining a distance value from the network equipment of the non-ground network to the center of a cell where the terminal is located;

and determining the first information according to the distance value from the network equipment of the non-ground network to the center of the cell where the terminal is located.

determining a distance value from the network equipment of the non-ground network to the terminal;

determining a distance value from the network equipment of the non-ground network to the cell center of the terminal; and determining the second information according to the difference value between the distance value from the network equipment of the non-ground network to the terminal and the distance value from the network equipment of the non-ground network to the cell center of the terminal.

Optionally, the determining a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to the center of the cell where the terminal is located includes:

determining the cell center of the terminal according to the height value of the non-ground network equipment and the ephemeris information of the non-ground network equipment;

and determining the distance value from the network equipment of the non-ground network to the center of the cell where the terminal is located by taking the center of the cell where the terminal is located as a reference point.

Optionally, the sending the first information and the second information to the terminal includes:

sending a MAC RAR to the terminal, wherein the MAC RAR comprises: the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value and the second information is TAC field information.

According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a timing advance determining method, applied to a terminal, including:

receiving a Timing Advance Command (TAC) field from a network device of a non-terrestrial network;

and determining the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and the corresponding relation between the TAC field and the TA index value.

Optionally, the receiving the TAC field from the network device of the non-terrestrial network includes:

receiving a MAC RAR from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, wherein the MAC RAR comprises: the TAC field.

Optionally, the TA index value range adopts a TAC non-uniform quantization indication mode.

Optionally, the value of the TA index value is non-uniformly divided into a plurality of TA index value segments, where the value of the TA index value in the TA index value segment is negatively correlated with an adopted step size, and the step size is used for performing indication correspondence between the TAC and the TA index value.

According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a timing advance determining method applied to a network device of a non-terrestrial network, including:

and sending a TAC field to a terminal, wherein the TAC field is used for indicating the terminal to determine the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and the corresponding relation between the TAC field and the TA index value.

Optionally, the sending the TAC field to the terminal includes:

sending a MAC RAR to the terminal, wherein the MAC RAR comprises: the TAC field.

According to a fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a terminal, including: a first transceiver and a first processor, wherein,

the first transceiver is configured to receive first information and second information from a network device of a non-terrestrial network;

the first processor is configured to determine a timing advance of the terminal according to the first information and the second information;

Optionally, the first transceiver is further configured to receive a periodic broadcast message from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the broadcast message includes the first information;

the first transceiver is further configured to receive a periodic synchronization signal block, SSB, from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, the SSB including the first information;

the first transceiver further configured to receive a group common message from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, the group common message including the first information;

wherein the first information indicates a common timing advance.

Optionally, the first transceiver is further configured to receive a medium access control, MAC, random access response, RAR, from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the MAC RAR includes: a TAC field.

Optionally, the first transceiver is further configured to receive a MAC RAR from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the MAC RAR includes: the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value and the second information is TAC field information.

According to a sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a network device of a non-terrestrial network, including: a second transceiver and a second processor, wherein,

the second transceiver is used for transmitting the first information and the second information to the terminal; the first information indicates a common timing advance or a fixed timing advance offset value, and the second information indicates a timing advance dedicated to the terminal.

Optionally, the second transceiver is further configured to periodically transmit a broadcast message to the terminal, where the broadcast message includes the first information;

the second transceiver is further configured to periodically send an SSB to a terminal, where the SSB includes the first information;

the second transceiver is further configured to send a group common message to a terminal, where the group common message includes the first information;

wherein the first information indicates a common timing advance.

Optionally, the second transceiver is further configured to send a MAC RAR to the terminal, where the MAC RAR includes: a TAC field.

Optionally, the second processor is configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to a cell center where the terminal is located;

the second processor is further configured to determine the first information according to a distance value from the network device of the non-ground network to a cell center where the terminal is located.

Optionally, the second processor is further configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to the terminal;

the second processor is further configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to a cell center of the terminal;

the second processor is further configured to determine the second information according to a difference between a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to the terminal and a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to a cell center of the terminal.

Optionally, the second processor is further configured to determine a cell center of the terminal according to the altitude value of the network device of the non-terrestrial network and ephemeris information of the network device of the non-terrestrial network;

the second processor is further configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-ground network to a center of a cell where the terminal is located, with the center of the cell where the terminal is located as a reference point.

Optionally, the second transceiver is further configured to send a MAC RAR to the terminal, where the MAC RAR includes: the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value and the second information is TAC field information.

According to a seventh aspect of embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a terminal, comprising a third transceiver and a third processor, wherein,

the third transceiver to receive a timing advance command, TAC, field from a network device of a non-terrestrial network;

and the third processor is configured to determine the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and a corresponding relationship between the TAC field and a TA index value.

Optionally, the third transceiver is further configured to receive a MAC RAR from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the MAC RAR includes: the TAC field.

According to an eighth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a network device of a non-terrestrial network, including: a fourth transceiver and a fourth processor, wherein,

and the fourth transceiver is configured to send a TAC field to a terminal, where the TAC field is used to indicate that the terminal determines the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and a corresponding relationship between the TAC field and a TA index value.

Optionally, the fourth transceiver is further configured to send a MAC RAR to the terminal, where the MAC RAR includes: the TAC field.

According to a ninth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a terminal, including: wherein the first transceiver is to receive first information and second information from a network device of a non-terrestrial network;

the first receiving module is used for receiving first information and second information from network equipment of a non-ground network;

a first determining module, configured to determine a timing advance of the terminal according to the first information and the second information;

Optionally, the first receiving module is further configured to receive a periodic broadcast message from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the broadcast message includes the first information;

the first receiving module is further configured to receive a periodic synchronization signal block SSB from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the SSB includes the first information;

the first receiving module is further configured to receive a group common message from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the group common message includes the first information;

wherein the first information indicates a common timing advance.

Optionally, the first receiving module is further configured to receive a media access control MAC random access response RAR from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the MAC RAR includes: a TAC field.

Optionally, the first receiving module is further configured to receive a MAC RAR from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the MAC RAR includes: the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value and the second information is TAC field information.

According to a tenth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a network device of a non-terrestrial network, including:

the second sending module is used for sending the first information and the second information to the terminal; the first information indicates a common timing advance or a fixed timing advance offset value, and the second information indicates a timing advance dedicated to the terminal.

Optionally, the second sending module is further configured to send a broadcast message to a terminal periodically, where the broadcast message includes the first information;

the second sending module is further configured to periodically send an SSB to the terminal, where the SSB includes the first information;

the second sending module is further configured to send a group common message to the terminal, where the group common message includes the first information;

wherein the first information indicates a common timing advance.

Optionally, the second sending module is further configured to send a MAC RAR to the terminal, where the MAC RAR includes: a TAC field.

Optionally, the network device of the non-terrestrial network further includes:

a third determining module, configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-ground network to a center of a cell where the terminal is located;

the third determining module is further configured to determine the first information according to a distance value from the network device of the non-ground network to a center of a cell where the terminal is located.

Optionally, the third determining module is further configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to the terminal;

the third determining module is further configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to a cell center of the terminal;

the third determining module is further configured to determine the second information according to a difference between a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to the terminal and a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to a cell center of the terminal.

Optionally, the third determining module is further configured to determine a cell center of the terminal according to the altitude value of the network device in the non-ground network and ephemeris information of the network device in the non-ground network;

the third determining module is further configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-ground network to a center of the cell where the terminal is located, with the center of the cell where the terminal is located as a reference point.

Optionally, the second sending module is further configured to send a MAC RAR to the terminal, where the MAC RAR includes: the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value and the second information is TAC field information.

According to an eleventh aspect of embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a terminal, including:

a second receiving module, configured to receive a timing advance command TAC field from a network device of a non-terrestrial network;

and the second determining module is used for determining the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and the corresponding relation between the TAC field and the TA index value.

Optionally, the second receiving module is further configured to receive a MAC RAR from the network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the MAC RAR includes: the TAC field.

Optionally, the TA index value is non-uniformly divided into a plurality of TA index value segments, where a value of the TA index value in the TA index value segment is negatively correlated with an adopted step size, and the step size is used for performing indication correspondence between the TAC and the TA index value.

According to a twelfth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a network device of a non-terrestrial network, including:

and the second sending module is used for sending a TAC field to the terminal, wherein the TAC field is used for indicating the terminal to determine the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and the corresponding relation between the TAC field and the TA index value.

Optionally, the second sending module is further configured to send a MAC RAR to the terminal, where the MAC RAR includes: the TAC field.

According to a thirteenth aspect of embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a terminal, including: a processor, a memory and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, the program, when executed by the processor, implementing the steps of the timing advance determination method according to the first aspect or the steps of the timing advance determination method according to the third aspect.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a network device of a non-terrestrial network, including: a processor, a memory and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, the program implementing the steps of the timing advance determination method according to the second aspect or the steps of the timing advance determination method according to the fourth aspect when executed by the processor.

According to a fifteenth aspect of embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the timing advance determination method according to the first aspect, or the steps of the timing advance determination method according to the second aspect, or the steps of the timing advance determination method according to the third aspect, or the steps of the timing advance determination method according to the fourth aspect.

In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal determines the timing advance of the terminal by receiving the information related to the timing advance from the network equipment of the non-ground network, thereby solving the problem of how to determine the timing advance in the non-ground network.

Drawings

Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. Also, like reference numerals are used to refer to like parts throughout the drawings. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an uplink subframe and a lower subframe;

fig. 2a is a schematic flow chart of a timing advance determination method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2b is a schematic diagram of a non-terrestrial network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2c is a second schematic diagram of a non-terrestrial network structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a second schematic flowchart of a timing advance determination method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a third schematic flowchart of a timing advance determination method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a fourth flowchart illustrating a timing advance determination method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6a is a fifth flowchart illustrating a timing advance determination method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6b is a schematic structural diagram of a TAC field in the MAC RAR according to the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a sixth schematic flowchart of a timing advance determination method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a terminal structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device of a non-terrestrial network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a second schematic view of a terminal structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a second schematic structural diagram of a network device of a non-terrestrial network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a third schematic view of a terminal structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a third schematic structural diagram of a network device of a non-terrestrial network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a fourth schematic view of a terminal structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15 is a fourth schematic structural diagram of a network device of a non-terrestrial network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 16 is a fifth schematic view of a terminal structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 17 is a fifth schematic structural diagram of a network device of a non-terrestrial network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, in the description and claims of this application, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed, but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Furthermore, the use of "and/or" in the specification and claims means that at least one of the connected objects, such as a and/or B, means that three cases, a alone, B alone, and both a and B, exist.

In the embodiments of the present invention, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to mean serving as examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "e.g.," an embodiment of the present invention is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present concepts related in a concrete fashion.

The technology described herein is not limited to a 5th-generation (5G) system and a later-evolution communication system, and is not limited to an LTE/LTE evolution (LTE-a) system, and may also be used for various wireless communication systems, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), and other systems.

The terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably. CDMA systems may implement Radio technologies such as CDMA2000, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), and so on. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA) and other CDMA variants. TDMA systems may implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM). The OFDMA system can implement radio technologies such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), evolved-UTRA (E-UTRA)), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX)), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM, and the like. UTRA and E-UTRA are parts of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). LTE and higher LTE (e.g., LTE-A) are new UMTS releases that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "third Generation Partnership Project" (3 GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "third generation partnership project 2" (3GPP 2). The techniques described herein may be used for both the above-mentioned systems and radio technologies, as well as for other systems and radio technologies.

The terminal provided by the embodiment of the invention can be a Mobile phone, a tablet Computer, a notebook Computer, an Ultra-Mobile Personal Computer (UMPC), a netbook or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Mobile Internet Device (MID), a Wearable Device (Wearable Device), a vehicle-mounted Device, or the like.

A Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) refers to a sea, land and air integrated communication Network formed by fusing satellite communication and 5G, so as to provide key performance required for 5G services, for example, a satellite can provide economic and reliable Network services for remote areas, airplanes, ships and the like which cannot be covered by a Terrestrial 5G Network, and improve the coverage rate of the 5G Network; the satellite can provide continuous and uninterrupted network connection for mobile terminals such as airplanes, ships, high-speed rails and the like, and the service capability of the 5G network is enhanced; the broadcast/multicast capability of the satellite may provide efficient data distribution service capabilities for network edge terminals.

In the NR initial access, as shown in fig. 1, the timing advance is calculated in the manner of T_TA＝(N_TA+N_TA,offset)×T_cIn which N is_TA＝T_A×16×64/2^μAnd mu is 0,1,2,3,4,5, and TA is an index value with a value range of 0-3846, and is sent to the UE through the TAC field (total 12 bits) of the RAR. T is_c＝1/(△f_max·N_f) Maximum subcarrier spacing of Δ f in time units_max＝480·10³Hz, FFT sampling N_f＝4096。N_TA,offsetDepending on the duplex mode and the uplink transmission bandwidth. According to the values of different subcarrier intervals, it can be calculated that the maximum transmission distance that can be supported by the existing TA mechanism when the TA index value is the maximum value 3846 is shown in table 1.

TABLE 1

As can be seen from table 1, the TA index value in the existing standard cannot satisfy the transmission distance requirement of hundreds or even thousands of km for the non-terrestrial network, so it is necessary to consider to extend the TA value in the NTN system, which will result in the increase of the number of RAR bits.

In addition, in the existing TA design mechanism, different terminals have different uplink timing advances, that is, the uplink timing advance is the configuration of the UE specific. However, in the NTN system, especially in the non-geostationary satellite system, the satellite has a fast moving speed and a non-fixed position, so that the TA of each terminal may need to be dynamically updated, and frequent updating of the TA value of each terminal would result in excessive network-side signaling overhead.

Referring to fig. 2a, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for determining a timing advance, where an execution subject of the method is a terminal, and the method includes the following specific steps:

step 201: receiving first information and second information from a network device of a non-terrestrial network, wherein the first information indicates a common timing advance and the second information indicates a terminal-specific timing advance;

step 202: determining the timing advance of the terminal according to the first information and the second information;

referring to fig. 2b, a non-terrestrial network is shown, and taking the non-terrestrial network as an example of the satellite 21, since the position of the satellite 21 is high, the distance from each terminal to the satellite 21 may be composed of two parts, i.e., a uniform distance L2 (i.e., the distance from the satellite 21 to the center of the cell where the terminal is located) and a terminal-specific distance L1.

In the embodiment of the present invention, in order to reduce network side overhead, the terminal receives, from the network device of the non-terrestrial network, first information indicating a common timing advance (UE group based common TA) and second information indicating a terminal-specific timing advance (UE specific TA).

For UE group based common TA:

in the NTN system, terminals are grouped into terminal groups according to a certain rule (for example, all terminals in each beam coverage area are a group), where a UE group based common TA is applicable to all terminals in the terminal group to which the terminal belongs.

Specifically, the terminal may receive the UE group based common TA by:

firstly, a terminal receives a periodic broadcast message from a network device of a non-terrestrial network, wherein the broadcast message comprises first information;

receiving a periodic Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) by the terminal from a network device of the non-ground network, wherein the SSB comprises first information;

and thirdly, the terminal receives a group common message from the network equipment of the non-terrestrial network, wherein the group common message comprises the first information.

In the initial access of the terminal, the UEgroup based common TA is contained in the broadcast message, SSB or group common message, and the TA value does not need to be expanded.

In the embodiment of the invention, the UE group based common TA is determined by the distance value from the network equipment of the non-terrestrial network to the center of the cell where the terminal is located.

For UE specific TA:

each terminal in the same group can dynamically and accurately adjust the TA value through a UE specific TA, wherein the UE specific TA is a relative offset value of the UE group based common TA, and the offset value can be a positive offset or a negative offset.

Specifically, the method for the terminal to receive the UE specific TA is as follows: a terminal receives a Media Access Control (MAC) Random Access Response (RAR) from a network device of a non-terrestrial network, the MAC RAR including: and the network equipment of the non-terrestrial network informs the UE specific TA to the terminal by multiplexing the TAC field in the existing NR, and the TA extension is not required.

In the embodiment of the invention, the UE specific TA is determined by the distance value from the network equipment of the non-terrestrial network to the center of the cell where the terminal is located and the distance value from the network equipment of the non-terrestrial network to the terminal. And establishing a corresponding relation between the distance value and the second information, so that the corresponding second information can be directly obtained through the distance value.

Therefore, in order to meet the requirement of a non-terrestrial network on high transmission distance, the TA value does not need to be expanded, in the initial access of the terminal, the broadcast message, the SSB or the group common message contains the UE group based common TA, and the TAC field in the MAC RAR is multiplexed to indicate the UE specific TA, so that the signaling overhead can be reduced, and when the TA needs to be frequently updated by the terminal, the power consumption of the terminal for detecting the TA indication information can be reduced.

In particular, referring to fig. 2c, in a non-terrestrial network, the satellite 21 may drive out a plurality of, even hundreds of, beam service subscribers, where each beam may also serve a plurality of terminals. Terminals that are served using the same beam are divided into a terminal group, for example, beam 1. When one terminal 22 is in the area served by beam 1, the UE specific TA of each terminal is notified by the MAC CE to perform TA update due to the influence of factors such as terminal mobility. When the terminal 22 is switched from beam 1 service to beam 2 service, the terminal 22 performs TA adjustment according to the UE group based TA information broadcast by beam 2, and may further notify the UE specific TA of each terminal through the MAC CE to perform TA update as needed.

In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal receives first information indicating UE group based common TA and second information indicating UE specific TA from the network equipment of the non-terrestrial network, and the problem of how to determine the timing advance in the non-terrestrial network is solved by determining the timing advance through the first information and the second information.

Referring to fig. 3, an embodiment of the present invention provides a timing advance determining method, where an execution subject of the method is a network device of a non-terrestrial network, and the method includes the following specific steps:

step 301: sending first information and second information to a terminal, wherein the first information indicates a public timing advance and the second information indicates a timing advance special for the terminal;

in the embodiment of the invention, the first information indicates UE group based common TA, and the second information indicates UE specific TA.

For UE group based common TA:

grouping the terminals into terminal groups according to a certain rule in an NTN system (for example, all terminals in each beam coverage area are a group), wherein a UE group based common TA is suitable for all terminals in the terminal group to which the terminal belongs

Specifically, the network device of the non-terrestrial network may send the UE group based common TA to the terminal by:

in a first mode, a network device of a non-ground network periodically sends a broadcast message to a terminal, wherein the broadcast message comprises first information;

in the second mode, the network device of the non-ground network periodically sends an SSB to the terminal, wherein the SSB comprises first information;

and thirdly, the network equipment of the non-terrestrial network sends a group common message to the terminal, wherein the group common message comprises the first information.

By adopting the mode, in the initial access of the terminal, the broadcast message, the SSB or the group common message contains the UE group based common TA, and the TA value does not need to be expanded.

Further, before the network device of the non-terrestrial network sends the first information to the terminal, the method further includes the following steps:

(1) determining a distance value from network equipment of a non-ground network to the center of a cell where a terminal is located;

specifically, the cell center of the terminal is determined according to the height value of the network device of the non-ground network and the ephemeris information of the network device of the non-ground network. The ephemeris information may include movement information, location information, and the like of the network device that is not a ground network, and parameters such as time, coordinates, azimuth speed, and the like of the flight object may be determined by the ephemeris information.

The network equipment of the non-ground network determines the distance value from the network equipment of the non-ground network to the center of the cell where the terminal is located by taking the center of the cell where the terminal is located as a reference point.

(2) Determining first information according to a distance value from network equipment of a non-ground network to a cell center where a terminal is located;

for UE specific TA:

Specifically, the mode for the network device of the non-ground network to send the UE specific TA is as follows: the method comprises the following steps that network equipment of the non-terrestrial network sends MAC RAR to a terminal, and the MAC RAR comprises the following steps: and the network equipment of the non-terrestrial network informs the UE specific TA to the terminal by multiplexing the TAC field in the existing NR without extending the TA value.

Further, before the network device of the non-terrestrial network sends the second information to the terminal, the method further includes the following steps:

(1) determining a distance value from the network equipment of the non-ground network to the terminal;

(2) determining a distance value from network equipment of a non-ground network to a cell center of a terminal;

(3) And determining the second information according to the difference value of the distance value from the network equipment of the non-ground network to the terminal and the distance value from the network equipment of the non-ground network to the cell center of the terminal.

In the embodiment of the invention, the network equipment of the non-terrestrial network sends the first information indicating the UE group based common TA and the second information indicating the UE specific TA to the terminal, and the problem of how to determine the timing advance in the non-terrestrial network is solved by determining the timing advance through the first information and the second information.

Referring to fig. 4, an embodiment of the present invention provides a timing advance determining method, where an execution subject of the method is a terminal, and the method includes the following specific steps:

step 401: receiving first information and second information from a network device of a non-terrestrial network, wherein the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value and the second information indicates a terminal-specific timing advance;

step 402: determining the timing advance of the terminal according to the first information and the second information;

in the embodiment of the present invention, the manner of receiving the first information and the second information by the terminal is as follows: receiving a MAC RAR from a network device of a non-terrestrial network, the MAC RAR comprising: the UE specific TA is notified to the terminal by multiplexing the TAC field in the existing NR, and the TA index value does not need to be expanded.

For a non-terrestrial network, a timeslot advance adjustment command format of an existing RAR is multiplexed, but an additional offset value is added to a TA value corresponding to each RAR, that is, a TAC received by a non-terrestrial terminal includes two parts, one part is first information indicating a fixed timing advance offset value, the other part is second information indicating a UE specific TA, that is, a TA amount required to be adjusted for each UE is specified by the TAC, and the TA amount required to be adjusted by the UE is determined by terminal location information and an uplink signal sent by a detection terminal.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first information is determined by an altitude value of a network device of the non-terrestrial network. The specific determination process may adopt an existing manner to establish a corresponding relationship between the height value of the non-ground network device and the first information, so that the corresponding first information can be directly obtained through the height value.

Therefore, in order to meet the requirement of a non-ground network on high transmission distance, the TA index value does not need to be expanded, the initial access flow of the terminal is not changed, the TA value is solved by the terminal after the terminal receives the RAR, a fixed TA offset is superposed on the TA value, and the scheme can reduce signaling overhead.

In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal receives first information indicating a fixed timing advance offset value and second information indicating UE specific TA from network equipment of the non-terrestrial network, and the timing advance is determined through the first information and the second information, so that the problem of how to determine the timing advance in the non-terrestrial network is solved.

Referring to fig. 5, an embodiment of the present invention provides a timing advance determining method, where an execution subject of the method is a network device of a non-terrestrial network, and the method includes the following specific steps:

step 501: sending first information and second information to a terminal, wherein the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value, and the second information indicates a terminal-specific timing advance;

in the embodiment of the present invention, the manner for the network device of the non-terrestrial network to send the first information and the second information is as follows: sending a MAC RAR to a terminal, the MAC RAR comprising: the UE specific TA notification method comprises first information and a TAC field, wherein the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value, the second information is TAC field information, UE specific TA is notified to a terminal by multiplexing the TAC field in the existing NR, and the TA index value does not need to be expanded.

For a non-terrestrial network, a timeslot advance adjustment command format of an existing RAR is multiplexed, but an additional offset value is added to a TA value corresponding to each RAR, that is, a TAC received by a non-terrestrial terminal includes two parts, one part is first information indicating a fixed timing advance offset value, the other part is second information indicating a UE specific TA, that is, a TA amount to be adjusted for each UE specified by the TAC is used, and the TA amount to be adjusted for the UE is determined by terminal position information and an uplink signal sent by a base station end detection terminal.

In the embodiment of the invention, the network equipment of the non-ground network sends the first information indicating the fixed timing advance offset value and the second information indicating the UE specific TA to the terminal, and the timing advance is determined through the first information and the second information, so that the problem of how to determine the timing advance in the non-ground network is solved.

Referring to fig. 6a, an embodiment of the present invention provides a timing advance determining method, where an execution subject of the method is a terminal, and the method includes the following specific steps:

step 601: receiving a TAC field from a network device of a non-terrestrial network;

step 602: determining the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and the corresponding relation between the TAC field and the TA index value;

in the embodiment of the present invention, the manner of receiving the TAC field from the network device of the non-terrestrial network by the terminal is as follows: receiving a MAC RAR from a network device of a non-terrestrial network, wherein the MAC RAR comprises: a TAC field.

Referring to fig. 6b, a structure of the TAC field in a MAC RAR is shown. In the NR random access process, a TA value is determined by measuring a received preamble (preamble), and is sent to a terminal through a TAC field of an MAC RAR, the TAC field in the RAR has 12 bits, and the corresponding TA index value is 0-3846, namely, the bit value of the TAC field and the TA index value can form a one-to-one correspondence relationship.

However, in the NTN system, due to the satellite altitude being too high, the TA maximum needs to be recalculated based on the satellite altitude to meet the uplink synchronization requirement. For example, when a low-altitude near-earth satellite is considered, the height of the satellite is generally 600-1500 km, the value of the TA is at least 7692-19230, namely the TAC field in the RAR is expanded to 13-15 bit, but the probability of configuring a small TA value in a satellite communication system is very small, so that the proposal provides a TAC non-uniform quantization indication mode after the TA index value range is expanded aiming at an NTN system.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the TA index value is non-uniformly divided into a plurality of TA index value segments, where the TA index value in the TA index value segment is negatively related to the adopted step size, for example, when the TA index value in the TA index value segment is small, a large step size indication is adopted, and when the TA index value in the TA index value segment is large, a small step size indication is adopted, and the step size is used for performing indication correspondence between the TAC and the TA index value.

Specifically, the TA index value is non-uniformly divided into n sections, for example, when the maximum value of TA is 7692, the TA index value can be divided into 0-3846, 3847-5769, 5770-6732, 6733-7214, 7215-7456, 7457-7578, 7578-7638, 7639-7668, 7669-7684 and 7685-7692;

the TA index value takes a smaller section, a larger step length is used for indicating the TAC and the TA index value, the TA index value takes a larger section, and a smaller step length is used for indicating the TAC and the TA index value; for example, in the 12-bit TAC of the RAR, when all the values of the upper six bits are 0, the value of the lower 6 bits corresponds to an index value of 0 to 3846, if the step size is 60, that is, when the value of the lower 6 bits is "000000", the TA index value is 0, and when the value of the lower 6 bits is "000001", the TA index value is 60;

it should be understood that the above division of the TA index value is only an example, and the segmentation length of the TA index value is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

Therefore, in order to meet the requirement of high transmission distance of the non-ground network, after the TA index value is expanded, the number of bits of the TAC field in the existing RAR does not need to be increased, and the extra TA index value can be indicated by redefining the relation between the TAC field value and the TA index value.

In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal receives the TAC field from the network equipment of the non-ground network, and determines the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and the corresponding relation between the TAC field and the TA index value, thereby solving the problem of how to determine the timing advance in the non-ground network.

Referring to fig. 7, an embodiment of the present invention provides a timing advance determining method, where an execution subject of the method is a network device of a non-terrestrial network, and the method includes the following specific steps:

step 701: sending a TAC field to the terminal;

in the embodiment of the present invention, the TAC field is used to instruct the terminal to determine the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and the correspondence between the TAC field and the TA index value.

The mode of sending the TAC field to the terminal by the network equipment of the non-ground network is as follows: sending a MAC RAR to a terminal, wherein the MAC RAR comprises: a TAC field.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the TA index value is non-uniformly divided into a plurality of TA index value segments, where the TA index value in the TA index value segment is negatively correlated with the adopted step length, that is, when the TA index value in the TA index value segment is small, a large step length indication is adopted, and when the TA index value in the TA index value segment is large, a small step length indication is adopted, and the step length is used for indicating the TAC and TA index values.

In the embodiment of the invention, the network equipment of the non-ground network sends the TAC field to the terminal, and the terminal determines the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and the corresponding relation between the TAC field and the TA index value, thereby solving the problem of how to determine the timing advance in the non-ground network.

Referring to fig. 8, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal 800, including: a first transceiver 801 and a first processor 802;

the first transceiver 801 is configured to receive first information and second information from a network device of a non-terrestrial network;

the first processor 802 is configured to determine a timing advance of the terminal according to the first information and the second information;

Optionally, the first transceiver 801 is further configured to receive a periodic broadcast message from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the broadcast message includes the first information;

the first transceiver 801 is further configured to receive a periodic synchronization signal block SSB from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the SSB includes the first information;

the first transceiver 801 is further configured to receive a group common message from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the group common message includes the first information;

wherein the first information indicates a common timing advance.

Optionally, the first transceiver 801 is further configured to receive a medium access control, MAC, random access response, RAR, from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the MAC RAR includes: a TAC field.

Optionally, the first transceiver 801 is further configured to receive a MAC RAR from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the MAC RAR includes: the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value and the second information is TAC field information.

Referring to fig. 9, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network device 900 for a non-terrestrial network, including: a second transceiver 901 and a second processor 902;

the second transceiver 901 is configured to send first information and second information to a terminal; the first information indicates a common timing advance or a fixed timing advance offset value, and the second information indicates a timing advance dedicated to the terminal.

Optionally, the second transceiver 901 is further configured to periodically send a broadcast message to a terminal, where the broadcast message includes the first information;

the second transceiver 901 is further configured to periodically send an SSB to a terminal, where the SSB includes the first information;

the second transceiver 901 is further configured to send a group common message to the terminal, where the group common message includes the first information;

wherein the first information indicates a common timing advance.

Optionally, the second transceiver 901 is further configured to send a MAC RAR to the terminal, where the MAC RAR includes: a TAC field.

Optionally, the second processor 902 is configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to a center of a cell where the terminal is located;

the second processor 902 is further configured to determine the first information according to a distance value from the network device of the non-ground network to a center of a cell where the terminal is located.

Optionally, the second processor 902 is further configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to the terminal;

the second processor 902 is further configured to determine a distance value from a network device of the non-terrestrial network to a cell center of the terminal;

the second processor 902 is further configured to determine the second information according to a difference between a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to the terminal and a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to a cell center of the terminal.

Optionally, the second processor 902 is further configured to determine a cell center of the terminal according to the altitude value of the network device of the non-terrestrial network and ephemeris information of the network device of the non-terrestrial network;

the second processor 902 is further configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-ground network to a center of a cell where the terminal is located, with the center of the cell where the terminal is located as a reference point.

Optionally, the second transceiver 901 is further configured to send a MAC RAR to the terminal, where the MAC RAR includes: the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value and the second information is TAC field information.

Referring to fig. 10, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal 1000, which includes a third transceiver 1001 and a third processor 1002, wherein,

the third transceiver 1001 to receive a timing advance command, TAC, field from a network device of a non-terrestrial network;

the third processor 1002 is configured to determine a timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and a corresponding relationship between the TAC field and a TA index value.

Optionally, the third transceiver 1001 and the third transceiver 1001 are further configured to receive a MAC RAR from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the MAC RAR includes: the TAC field.

Referring to fig. 11, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network device 1100 for a non-terrestrial network, including: a fourth transceiver 1101 and a fourth processor 1102;

the fourth transceiver 1101 is configured to send a TAC field to a terminal, where the TAC field is used to indicate that the terminal determines a timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and a corresponding relationship between the TAC field and a TA index value.

Optionally, the fourth transceiver 1101 is further configured to send a MAC RAR to the terminal, where the MAC RAR includes: the TAC field.

Referring to fig. 12, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal 1200, including: at least one processor 1201, memory 1202, a user interface 1203 and at least one network interface 1204. The various components in terminal 1200 are coupled together by a bus system 1205.

It will be appreciated that bus system 1205 is used to enable connected communication between these components. Bus system 1205 includes, in addition to a data bus, a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus. But for clarity of illustration the various buses are labeled as bus system 1205 in figure 12.

The user interface 1203 may include, among other things, a display, a keyboard, or a pointing device (e.g., a mouse, a trackball, a touch pad, or a touch screen, among others).

It is to be understood that the memory 1202 in embodiments of the present invention may be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile Memory may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), or a flash Memory. Volatile Memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache Memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static random access memory (Static RAM, SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic random access memory (Synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (DDRSDRAM), Enhanced Synchronous SDRAM (ESDRAM), Sync Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM). The memory 902 described in connection with the embodiments of the invention is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

In some embodiments, memory 1202 stores the following elements, executable modules or data structures, or a subset thereof, or an expanded set thereof: an operating system 12021 and application programs 12022.

The operating system 12021 includes various system programs, such as a framework layer, a core library layer, a driver layer, and the like, and is used for implementing various basic services and processing hardware-based tasks. The application programs 12022, including various application programs such as a media player, a browser, and the like, are used to implement various application services. A program implementing a method according to an embodiment of the present invention may be included in the application 12022.

In an embodiment of the present invention, by calling a program or an instruction stored in the memory 1202, specifically, a program or an instruction stored in the application program 12022, the following steps are implemented when executed: receiving first information and second information from a network device of a non-terrestrial network; determining the timing advance of the terminal according to the first information and the second information; the first information indicates a common timing advance or a fixed timing advance offset value, and the second information indicates a timing advance dedicated to the terminal.

In an embodiment of the present invention, by calling a program or an instruction stored in the memory 1202, specifically, a program or an instruction stored in the application program 12022, the following steps are implemented when executed: receiving a Timing Advance Command (TAC) field from a network device of a non-terrestrial network; and determining the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and the corresponding relation between the TAC field and the TA index value.

The terminal provided by the embodiment of the present invention can execute the above method embodiment, and the implementation principle and technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Referring to fig. 13, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network device 1300 for a non-terrestrial network, including: a processor 1301, a transceiver 1302, a memory 1303 and a bus interface.

Among other things, processor 1301 may be responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing. The memory 1303 may store data used by the processor 1301 in performing operations.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the communication device 1300 may further include: a program stored on the memory 1303 and executable on the processor 1301, the program when executed by the processor 1301 performing the steps of: sending the first information and the second information to a terminal; the first information indicates a common timing advance or a fixed timing advance offset value, and the second information indicates a timing advance dedicated to the terminal.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the communication device 1300 may further include: a program stored on the memory 1303 and executable on the processor 1301, the program when executed by the processor 1301 performing the steps of: and sending a TAC field to a terminal, wherein the TAC field is used for indicating the terminal to determine the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and the corresponding relation between the TAC field and the TA index value.

In fig. 13, the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, with one or more processors represented by processor 1301 and various circuits of memory represented by memory 1303 linked together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further in connection with embodiments of the present invention. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1302 may be a plurality of elements including a transmitter and a receiver that provide a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium.

The processor 1301 is responsible for managing a bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1303 may store data used by the processor 1301 in performing operations.

The network device provided by the embodiment of the present invention may execute the above method embodiment, and the implementation principle and technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where a computer program is stored on the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the computer program implements the processes of the method embodiments, and can achieve the same technical effects, and in order to avoid repetition, the details are not repeated here. The computer-readable storage medium may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

Referring to fig. 14, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal 1400, including: wherein the first transceiver 1401 is configured to receive first information and second information from a network device of a non-terrestrial network;

a first receiving module 1401 for receiving first information and second information from a network device of a non-terrestrial network;

a first determining module 1402, configured to determine a timing advance of the terminal according to the first information and the second information;

Optionally, the first receiving module 1401 is further configured to receive a periodic broadcast message from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the broadcast message includes the first information;

the first receiving module 1401, further configured to receive a periodic synchronization signal block SSB from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the SSB includes the first information;

the first receiving module 1401, further configured to receive a group common message from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the group common message includes the first information;

wherein the first information indicates a common timing advance.

Optionally, the first receiving module 1401 is further configured to receive a media access control, MAC, random access response, RAR, from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the MAC RAR includes: a TAC field.

Optionally, the first receiving module 1401 is further configured to receive a MAC RAR from a network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the MAC RAR includes: the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value and the second information is TAC field information.

Referring to fig. 15, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network device 1500 for a non-terrestrial network, including:

a second sending module 1501, configured to send the first information and the second information to the terminal; the first information indicates a common timing advance or a fixed timing advance offset value, and the second information indicates a timing advance dedicated to the terminal.

Optionally, the second sending module 1501 is further configured to periodically send a broadcast message to a terminal, where the broadcast message includes the first information;

the second sending module 1501 is further configured to periodically send an SSB to a terminal, where the SSB includes the first information;

the second sending module 1501 is further configured to send a group common message to the terminal, where the group common message includes the first information;

wherein the first information indicates a common timing advance.

Optionally, the second sending module 1501 is further configured to send a MAC RAR to the terminal, where the MAC RAR includes: a TAC field.

Optionally, the network device 1500 of the non-terrestrial network further includes:

a third determining module 1502, configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to a cell center where the terminal is located;

the third determining module 1502 is further configured to determine the first information according to a distance value between the network device of the non-ground network and a cell center where the terminal is located.

Optionally, the third determining module 1502 is further configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to the terminal;

the third determining module 1502 is further configured to determine a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to a cell center of the terminal;

the third determining module 1502 is further configured to determine the second information according to a difference between a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to the terminal and a distance value from the network device of the non-terrestrial network to a cell center of the terminal.

Optionally, the third determining module 1502 is further configured to determine a cell center of the terminal according to the altitude value of the network device of the non-terrestrial network and ephemeris information of the network device of the non-terrestrial network;

the third determining module 1502 is further configured to determine, using a center of a cell where the terminal is located as a reference point, a distance value from the network device of the non-ground network to the center of the cell where the terminal is located.

Optionally, the second sending module 1501 is further configured to send a MAC RAR to the terminal, where the MAC RAR includes: the first information indicates a fixed timing advance offset value and the second information is TAC field information.

Referring to fig. 16, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal 1600, including:

a second receiving module 1601, configured to receive a timing advance command TAC field from a network device of a non-terrestrial network;

a second determining module 1602, configured to determine the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and a corresponding relationship between the TAC field and the TA index value.

Optionally, the second receiving module 1601 is further configured to receive a MAC RAR from the network device of the non-terrestrial network, where the MAC RAR includes: the TAC field.

Referring to fig. 17, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network device 1700 of a non-terrestrial network, including:

the second sending module 1701 is configured to send a TAC field to a terminal, where the TAC field is used to indicate that the terminal determines the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and a corresponding relationship between the TAC field and a TA index value.

Optionally, the second sending module 1701 is further configured to send a MAC RAR to the terminal, where the MAC RAR includes: the TAC field.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the disclosure herein may be embodied in hardware or may be embodied in software instructions executed by a processor. The software instructions may consist of corresponding software modules that may be stored in RAM, flash memory, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, registers, hard disk, a removable hard disk, a compact disk, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium may also be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may be carried in a core network interface device. Of course, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a core network interface device.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that, in one or more of the examples described above, the functions described in this invention may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

The above-mentioned embodiments, objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention are further described in detail, it should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements and the like made on the basis of the technical solutions of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.

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

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

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

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

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

Claims

1. A timing advance determination method is applied to a terminal and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

determining the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and the corresponding relation between the TAC field and the TA index value;

the TA index value range adopts a TAC non-uniform quantization indication mode, the TA index value range is non-uniformly divided into a plurality of TA index value sections, the TA index value in the TA index value sections is in negative correlation with the adopted step length, and the step length is used for indicating the TAC and the TA index value correspondingly.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the TAC field from the network device of the non-terrestrial network comprises:

3. A timing advance determination method is applied to network equipment of a non-ground network, and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

sending a TAC field to a terminal, wherein the TAC field is used for indicating the terminal to determine the timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and the corresponding relation between the TAC field and the TA index value;

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the sending the TAC field to the terminal comprises:

5. A terminal, comprising a third transceiver and a third processor, wherein,

the third processor is configured to determine a timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and a correspondence between the TAC field and a TA index value;

the TA index value range adopts a TAC non-uniform quantization indication mode, the TA index value is non-uniformly divided into a plurality of TA index value sections, the TA index value in the TA index value sections is in negative correlation with the adopted step length, and the step length is used for indicating the TAC and the TA index value correspondingly.

6. A network device for a non-terrestrial network, comprising: a fourth transceiver and a fourth processor, wherein,

the fourth transceiver is configured to send a TAC field to a terminal, where the TAC field is used to indicate that the terminal determines a timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and a corresponding relationship between the TAC field and a TA index value;

7. A terminal, comprising:

a second determining module, configured to determine a timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and a correspondence between the TAC field and a TA index value;

8. A network device for a non-terrestrial network, comprising:

a second sending module, configured to send a TAC field to a terminal, where the TAC field is used to indicate that the terminal determines a timing advance of the terminal according to the received TAC field and a corresponding relationship between the TAC field and a TA index value;

9. A terminal, comprising: a processor, a memory and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which program, when executed by the processor, carries out the steps of the timing advance determination method according to any one of claims 1 to 2.

10. A network device for a non-terrestrial network, comprising: processor, memory and program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which when executed by the processor implements the steps of the timing advance determination method according to any of claims 3 to 4.

11. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that a computer program is stored thereon, which computer program, when being executed by a processor, carries out the steps of the timing advance determination method according to any one of claims 1 to 2 or the steps of the timing advance determination method according to any one of claims 3 to 4.