CN111918327B

CN111918327B - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN111918327B
Application number: CN201910390894.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张战战; 铁晓磊; 王雪松
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-05-10
Filing date: 2019-05-10
Publication date: 2023-12-01
Anticipated expiration: 2039-05-10
Also published as: CN111918327A; WO2020228617A1

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which are used for improving the utilization rate of channel resources. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal device determines a limiting position according to a plurality of measuring positions in a first time period, wherein the limiting position comprises a target measuring position which is determined by the terminal device from the plurality of measuring positions and is used for performing RRM measurement; the terminal device further sends indication information to the network device, the network device may determine, from the plurality of measurement locations, a measurement location other than the limiting location as an available measurement location according to the indication information, and during a communication in a subsequent first period, the network device may schedule the terminal device at the available measurement location. The method can enable the network equipment to release the scheduling restriction at some measurement positions allocated to the terminal equipment, thereby increasing the scheduling opportunity of the terminal equipment and being beneficial to improving the utilization rate of channel resources.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

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

Background

In a wireless communication system, a terminal device in a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) connected state often needs to perform radio resource management (radio resource management, RRM) measurements.

Specifically, the network device may periodically broadcast the reference signal, and the terminal device may implement RRM measurement by using the reference signal broadcast by the network device, for example, the terminal device may measure service qualities of the current cell and surrounding neighboring cells according to a reception result of the reference signal, respectively, and determine whether to perform cell handover according to the obtained service qualities of the current cell and surrounding neighboring cells.

Typically, the network device will assign a plurality of measurement locations to the terminal device, each measurement location corresponding to a time domain location of a reference signal. The terminal device may receive reference signals at these measurement locations and perform RRM measurements. In general, there are scheduling restrictions on these measurement locations for the terminal device and the network device, for example, downstream and upstream data transmission is stopped between the terminal device and the network device at these measurement locations. However, the terminal device often performs RRM measurement using only a part of the plurality of measurement positions, thereby causing waste of channel resources.

Disclosure of Invention

The application aims to provide a communication method and a communication device, which can enable network equipment to release scheduling restriction at a plurality of measurement positions allocated to terminal equipment, thereby increasing scheduling opportunities for the terminal equipment and being beneficial to improving the utilization rate of channel resources.

The above and other objects are achieved by the features of the independent claims. Further implementations are presented in the dependent claims, the description and the figures.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, including: the terminal device determines a limiting position according to a plurality of measuring positions in a first time period, wherein the limiting position comprises a target measuring position which is determined by the terminal device from the plurality of measuring positions and is used for performing RRM measurement; the terminal device in turn sends indication information to the network device, by means of which indication information the network device is instructed that of the above-mentioned plurality of measurement locations, measurement locations other than the restriction location may be available measurement locations for use by the network device in scheduling the terminal device.

With the above method, the terminal device determines the limit position in advance in the first period of time, and indicates to the network device the available measurement position other than the limit position among the plurality of measurement positions allocated to the terminal device by transmitting the indication information to the network device. The network device can remove the scheduling restriction on the available measurement position in the first time period, and schedule the terminal device to work, so that the scheduling opportunity of the terminal device can be increased, and the channel resource utilization rate is improved. Moreover, since the target measurement location of the terminal device for performing the RRM measurement within the first period of time is included in the restriction location, the target measurement location of the terminal device is not included in the available measurement locations of the network devices, so that the RRM measurement to the terminal device is not (or less) disturbed even if the network device schedules the terminal device on the available measurement locations.

For example, the limit position may be a target measurement position. The network device may determine the target measurement location of the terminal device according to the indication information of the terminal device, and when scheduling the terminal device, the network device may maintain the scheduling restriction on the time length of one data symbol before the target measurement location and the time length of one data symbol after the target measurement location, that is, provide a certain time redundancy for the target measurement location, so as to be used for the terminal device to switch processing capability, for example, processing capability for different subcarrier intervals, or be used for reducing interference of other scheduling processes that may exist on RRM measurement.

It will be appreciated that the restriction location determined by the terminal device may also be the target measurement location, the time length of one data symbol before the target measurement location and the time length of one data symbol after the target measurement location, in which case the terminal device actively reserves a certain time redundancy for the target measurement location, and the network device may schedule the terminal device directly at the determined available measurement location.

In addition, the limiting position may be a measurement window where the target measurement position is located. In the case of a network device that allocates a plurality of measurement positions to a terminal device in the form of a measurement window, the terminal device may also directly determine the limiting position in units of measurement windows, i.e. the measurement window in which the target measurement position is located is regarded as the limiting position.

In a possible implementation, in case there is at least one limit position among the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information may be used for indicating the at least one limit position or for indicating the above-mentioned available measurement positions.

For example, the indication information may include identification information corresponding to each of the at least one limiting position, or may include identification information corresponding to the available measurement position. For example, the indication information may be in the form of a bitmap (bitmap), where each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a certain position (the position may be a measurement position or a measurement window), and the value of each bit indicates whether the position is a limiting position.

In an exemplary case where the at least one limiting position is at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located, the indication information may include identification information of the at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located, or the indication information may include identification information of the at least one measurement window where the available measurement position is located.

In one possible implementation, the indication information is further used to indicate the first time period.

In one possible implementation, in case there is at least one limit position among the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information may also be used to indicate at least one second time period, which is all or part of the time period within the first time period except for the at least one limit position.

In one possible implementation, the indication information may also be used to indicate the first time period in case there is no target measurement location among the plurality of measurement locations.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, including: the network equipment receives the indication information sent by the terminal equipment; the network device determines available measurement positions in a plurality of measurement positions within a first time period allocated to the terminal device according to the indication information, wherein the limiting position comprises a target measurement position for performing RRM measurement by the terminal device in the plurality of measurement positions, and the available measurement positions are measurement positions capable of being used for scheduling the terminal device.

In one possible implementation, the limit position is a target measurement position; or the limiting position is the target measuring position, the time length of one data symbol before the target measuring position and the time length of one data symbol after the target measuring position; alternatively, the limit position is a measurement window in which the target measurement position is located.

In one possible implementation, in case there is at least one limit position among the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information is used to indicate the at least one limit position; the network device determining available measurement positions in a plurality of measurement positions within a first time period allocated to the terminal device according to the indication information, comprising: the network equipment determines that the measurement positions except at least one limiting position in the plurality of measurement positions are available measurement positions according to the indication information; alternatively, the indication information may be used to indicate available measurement locations; in this case, the network device determines, from the indication information, an available measurement location among a plurality of measurement locations within a first time period allocated to the terminal device, including: the network device determines the measurement location indicated by the indication information as an available measurement location.

In one possible implementation, the at least one limiting position is at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located, and the indication information includes identification information of the at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located; in this case, the network device determines, from the indication information, an available measurement location among a plurality of measurement locations within a first time period allocated to the terminal device, including: the network equipment determines at least one measuring window corresponding to the identification information of the at least one measuring window according to the identification information of the at least one measuring window; the network device determining a measurement location other than the measurement location included in the at least one measurement window among the plurality of measurement locations as an available measurement location; or, the indication information comprises identification information of at least one measurement window in which the available measurement position is located; in this case, the network device determines, from the indication information, an available measurement location among a plurality of measurement locations within a first time period allocated to the terminal device, including: and the network equipment determines the measurement positions included in at least one measurement window corresponding to the identification information of the at least one measurement window as available measurement positions according to the identification information of the at least one measurement window.

In one possible implementation, in the case that there is at least one limit position among the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information is used to indicate at least one second time period, which is all or part of the time period other than the at least one limit position within the first time period; in this case, the network device may determine, according to the indication information, a measurement location in at least one second period of time as the available measurement location.

In one possible implementation, in case there is no target measurement location among the plurality of measurement locations, the indication information may also be used to indicate the first time period; in this case, the network device may be able to use the plurality of measurement locations within the first period of time as available measurement locations according to the indication information.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, which may be a terminal device, or may also be a semiconductor chip disposed in the terminal device. In one example, the apparatus includes: a communication unit and a processing unit; the processing unit is configured to determine a limiting position according to a plurality of measurement positions within a first time period, where the limiting position includes a target measurement position of the plurality of measurement positions, where the apparatus is configured to perform RRM measurements; the communication unit is configured to send indication information to a network device, where the indication information is configured to indicate that a measurement location other than the restriction location is an available measurement location that can be used by the network device to schedule the apparatus, among the plurality of measurement locations.

In one possible implementation, the limit position is the target measurement position; alternatively, the limit position is the target measurement position, a time length of one data symbol before the target measurement position, and a time length of one data symbol after the target measurement position; or the limiting position is a measurement window where the target measurement position is located.

In a possible implementation, in case there is at least one limit position of the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information is used to indicate the at least one limit position or to indicate the available measurement positions.

In a possible implementation manner, the at least one limiting position is at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located, the indication information includes identification information of at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located, or the indication information includes identification information of at least one measurement window where the available measurement position is located.

In a possible implementation manner, the indication information is further used to indicate the first period of time.

In a possible implementation manner, in a case where at least one limiting position exists among the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information is used to indicate at least one second time period, where the at least one second time period is all or part of a time period except for the at least one limiting position in the first time period.

In one possible implementation, the indication information is used to indicate the first time period in case the target measurement location is not present among the plurality of measurement locations.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, which may be a network device, or may also be a semiconductor chip disposed in the network device. In one example, the apparatus includes: a communication unit and a processing unit; the communication unit is used for receiving the indication information sent by the terminal equipment; the processing unit is configured to determine, according to the indication information, an available measurement location from a plurality of measurement locations within a first period allocated to the terminal device, where the limiting location includes a target measurement location for performing RRM measurement by the terminal device from the plurality of measurement locations, and the available measurement location is a measurement location that can be used for scheduling the terminal device.

In a possible implementation, in case there is at least one limit position among the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information is used to indicate the at least one limit position; the processing unit is specifically configured to: determining a measurement position other than the at least one limiting position among the plurality of measurement positions as the available measurement position according to the indication information; or, the indication information is used for indicating the available measurement position; the processing unit is specifically configured to: and determining the measurement position indicated by the indication information as the available measurement position.

In a possible implementation manner, the at least one limiting position is at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located, and the indication information includes identification information of the at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located; the processing unit is specifically configured to: determining at least one measurement window corresponding to the identification information of the at least one measurement window according to the identification information of the at least one measurement window; determining a measurement position other than the measurement position included in the at least one measurement window among the plurality of measurement positions as the available measurement position; or the indication information comprises identification information of at least one measurement window where the available measurement position is located; the processing unit is specifically configured to: and determining the measurement positions included in at least one measurement window corresponding to the identification information of the at least one measurement window as the available measurement positions according to the identification information of the at least one measurement window.

In a possible implementation manner, in a case where at least one limiting position exists in the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information is used to indicate at least one second time period, where the at least one second time period is all or part of a time period except for the at least one limiting position in the first time period; the processing unit is specifically configured to: determining a measurement location in the at least one second time period as the available measurement location.

In a possible implementation, the indication information is used to indicate the first period of time in case the target measurement location is absent from the plurality of measurement locations; the processing unit is specifically configured to: determining a plurality of measurement locations within the first time period as the available measurement locations.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, including: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions that, when the apparatus is run, the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored by the memory to cause the apparatus to perform a method performed by a terminal device as described above in the first aspect or any implementation of the first aspect, or to cause the apparatus to perform a method performed by a network device as described above in the second aspect or any implementation of the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, where the communication system includes a terminal device in any implementation manner of the first aspect or the first aspect and a network device in any implementation manner of the second aspect or the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the above aspects.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the above aspects.

These and other aspects of the application will be more readily apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of SS burst set applicable to the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an SMTC measurement window according to one embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a correspondence between SSB bitmap and measurement location according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a DRX cycle applicable to the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of WUS signal function in a DRX cycle period according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a device structure according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

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

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: global system for mobile communications (global system for mobile communications, GSM), code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (general packet radio service, GPRS), long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD), universal mobile telecommunications system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, WIMAX) communication system, fifth generation (5th generation,5G) system or New Radio (NR), or application to future communication systems or other similar communication systems, etc.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication system comprises a network device 110, a terminal device 120, a terminal device 130 and a terminal device 140. The network device may communicate with at least one terminal device, such as terminal device 120, via an Uplink (UL) and a Downlink (DL).

The network device in fig. 1 may be an access network device, such as a base station. Wherein the access network devices are in different systemsFor example in the fourth generation mobile communication technology (the 4) ^th generation, 4G) may correspond to an eNB in a system and to an access network device in 5G, such as a gNB, in a system of 5G. Although only terminal device 120, terminal device 130, and terminal device 140 are shown in fig. 1, it should be understood that a network device may serve multiple terminal devices, and the number of terminal devices in the communication system is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. Similarly, the terminal device in fig. 1 is illustrated by taking a mobile phone as an example, and it should be understood that the terminal device in the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

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

1) A terminal device, which may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), etc., is a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user. The terminal device may communicate with the core network via a radio access network (radio access network, RAN), exchanging voice and/or data with the RAN. For example, the terminal device may be a handheld device, an in-vehicle device, or the like having a wireless connection function. Currently, examples of some terminal devices are: a mobile phone, a tablet, a notebook, a palm, a mobile internet device (mobile internet device, MID), a wearable device, a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in unmanned (self driving), a wireless terminal in teleoperation (remote medical surgery), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), and the like.

2) The network device is a device in a network for accessing a terminal device to a wireless network. The network device may be a node in a radio access network, also referred to as a base station, and also referred to as a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) node (or device). The network device may be operable to inter-convert the received air frames with Internet Protocol (IP) packets as a router between the terminal device and the rest of the access network, which may include an IP network. The network device may also coordinate attribute management for the air interface. For example, the network device may include an evolved Node B (NodeB) or an eNB or an e-NodeB, evolutional Node B) in a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system or an evolved LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-a), or may also include a next generation Node B (next generation Node B, gNB) in a New Radio (NR) system of a fifth generation mobile communication technology (5th generation,5G), or may also include a transmission receiving point (transmission reception point, TRP), a home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), a baseband unit (BBU), or a WiFi Access Point (AP), etc., and may also include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) in a cloud access network (cloud radio access network, cloudRAN) system, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited.

3) The synchronization signal/broadcast channel block SSB, SSB includes a primary synchronization signal (primary synchronization signal, PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (secondary synchronization signal, SSS), and a physical broadcast channel (physical broadcast channel, PBCH). One SSB occupies 4 consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain and 240 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain.

4) And the downlink data channel is used for bearing downlink data information. For example, a physical downlink shared channel (physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH), or an enhanced physical downlink shared channel (enhanced physical downlink control channel, EPDSCH), or a physical downlink control channel (physical downlink conrtol channel, PDCCH). In the following, a downlink data channel is exemplified as a channel for transmitting control information and/or data, such as PDSCH or PDCCH.

5) The terms "system" and "network" in embodiments of the application may be used interchangeably. "plurality" means two or more, and "plurality" may also be understood as "at least two" in this embodiment of the present application. "at least one" may be understood as one or more, for example as one, two or more. For example, including at least one means including one, two or more, and not limiting what is included. For example, at least one of A, B and C is included, then A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C may be included. Likewise, the understanding of the description of "at least one" and the like is similar. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/", unless otherwise specified, generally indicates that the associated object is an "or" relationship.

Unless stated to the contrary, the embodiments of the present application refer to ordinal numbers such as "first," "second," etc., for distinguishing between multiple objects, but are not used to define an order, timing, priority, or importance of the multiple objects, and the descriptions of "first," "second," etc. do not necessarily define the objects to be different.

In a communication system, a terminal device may perform mobility RRM measurements. For terminal devices in an RRC IDLE state (rrc_idle) and an RRC INACTIVE state (rrc_inactive), cell selection/reselection (cell selection/reselection) may be performed according to measurement results of RRM measurements. For a terminal device in an RRC CONNECTED state (rrc_connected), cell handover may be performed according to a measurement result of RRM measurement.

The terminal device needs to perform RRM measurement by receiving the reference signal. Currently, available reference signals mainly include SSB signals and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS). The SSB signal is a cell-level signal, and thus is applicable to terminal devices in RRC idle state, RRC inactive state, and RRC connected state. And the CSI-RS signal can only be used by the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state, and when the terminal equipment processes the RRC connection state, the network equipment can configure a certain CSI-RS resource for the terminal equipment through the RRC signaling for RRM measurement.

It follows that the terminal device in the RRC connected state may perform RRM measurements based on either SSB signals or CSI-RS signals. In general, the network device may configure what reference signal is specifically used by the terminal device to perform RRM measurement through RRC signaling. The communication method provided by the embodiment of the application is suitable for the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state, so that the reference signal in the embodiment of the application can be an SSB signal or a CSI-RS signal. Next, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be further described by taking the reference signal as the SSB signal as an example, and it is understood that implementation manners when the reference signal is the CSI-RS signal should also be included in the embodiment of the present application.

The SSB signal is a broadcast signal periodically transmitted by the network device. As shown in fig. 2, in the application scenario of the multi-beam cell, the network device periodically sends a synchronization signal cluster (SS burst set), where one SS burst set includes a plurality of SSB signals, where the SSB signals respectively correspond to a plurality of beams, and adjacent SSB signals may be continuous in a time domain or may have a certain interval in a time domain, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. For the application scenario of the multi-beam cell, the SSB signal period refers to the period of SS burst set, and may generally be any one of 5ms, 10ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms and 160 ms. As shown in fig. 2, one SS burst set is located in the first half frame or the second half frame of one radio frame (radio frame), and the length of one radio frame is 10ms, that is, the network device transmits one SS burst set within a time length of 5ms, one SS burst set includes a plurality of SSB signals, and the SSB signals may correspond to beams of different transmission directions, respectively.

For RRM measurements based on SSB signals, the network device will typically configure the terminal device with measurement resources for performing RRM measurements. As shown in fig. 3, the network device configures SSB measurement time configuration (SS/PBCH block measurement time configuration, SMTC) information for the terminal device, where SMTC information includes SMTC periods, offset values, measurement window time lengths (SMTC window duration) configured by the network device for the terminal device, and the like.

Wherein the SMTC period is used to indicate the length of the time interval during which the terminal device can perform RRM measurements. The current SMTC period may be any one of 5ms, 10ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms and 160ms, the offset value in the SMTC information is used to indicate the offset value of the SMTC measurement window, and the terminal device may determine, according to the measurement window time length, the offset value and the SMTC period, a time period allocated by the network device for performing RRM measurement, where the time period is an SMTC measurement window, and the time length of the SMTC measurement window may be any one of 1ms, 2ms, 3ms, 4ms and 5 ms.

The resources of every 4 time domain symbols within the SMTC measurement window may constitute one measurement location, one measurement location corresponding to one SSB signal transmitted by the network device during the SSB signal period. For example, if there is a measurement location a in the SMTC measurement window, where the measurement location a corresponds to the SSB signal a sent by the network device, the terminal device may perform RRM measurement by receiving the SSB signal a at the measurement location a.

It can be understood that, since the adjacent SSB signals in one SS burst set may be continuous in the time domain or discontinuous in the time domain, two adjacent measurement positions in the SMTC measurement window may be continuous in the time domain or may have a certain interval, for convenience of distinction, in the embodiment of the present application, SSB symbols refer to time domain symbols in measurement positions in the SMTC measurement window, and data symbols refer to time domain symbols in measurement positions not belonging to measurement positions in the SMTC measurement window.

Note that the subcarrier spacing (subcarrier spacing, SCS) of the data symbols and SSB symbols may be the same or different. When the subcarrier spacing of the data symbol and the SSB symbol is the same, the time length of one SSB symbol and one data symbol is the same, and when the subcarrier spacing of the data symbol and the SSB symbol is different, the time length of one SSB symbol and one data symbol is different.

When SMTC information is configured, the terminal device may perform RRM measurements only in SMTC measurement windows within the SMTC period, that is, the terminal device may perform RRM measurements only at measurement locations within the SMTC measurement windows. As shown in fig. 3, there is one SMTC measurement window in one SMTC period, and for two adjacent SMTC measurement windows, the interval between the first time domain symbol of the previous SMTC measurement window and the first time domain symbol of the next SMTC measurement window is the SMTC period.

In one possible implementation, the network device may also configure an SSB bitmap (SSB-tomecure) for the terminal device. The SSB bitmap may indicate measurement locations in the SMTC measurement window where the terminal device may perform RRM measurements. Taking fig. 4 as an example, in one SMTC measurement window, there are 4 opportunities for transmission of reference signals, that is, there are at most four measurement positions S1 to S4 in the SMTC measurement window. In one possible implementation, the network device may send SSB-tomeasures to the terminal device to indicate at which of the measurement locations the terminal device may perform RRM measurements. In general, SSB-tomeure may be represented in the form of a bit map (bitmap), which may also be referred to as SSB bitmap, each of which corresponds to one measurement location existing within the SMTC measurement window, as in the case shown in fig. 4, the SSB-tomeure has four bits corresponding to four measurement locations existing in the SMTC measurement window, respectively, for indicating whether the terminal device can perform RRM measurement on the corresponding measurement location.

For example, if SSB-tomecure is 0101, the terminal device may perform RRM measurement on the measurement location S2 and the measurement location S4. It should be noted that even if the network device indicates to the terminal device that RRM measurement cannot be performed at a certain measurement location, it does not mean that the network device does not transmit the SSB signal corresponding to the measurement location. For example, although the first bit in "0101" is "0", the network device may still transmit the SSB signal corresponding to the measurement location S1.

It will be appreciated that if the network device does not configure the SSB bitmap for the terminal device, the terminal device may perform RRM measurements on all possible measurement locations of the SSB measurement window. That is, when the network device configures an SSB bitmap (SSB-tomeure), the measurement location indicated by the SSB bitmap is the measurement location allocated by the network device to the terminal device, and if the network device is not configured with the SSB bitmap (SSB-tomeure), all the measurement locations in the SSB measurement window are the measurement locations allocated by the network device to the terminal device. For convenience of description, in the following "measurement locations" in the embodiments of the present application, all refer to measurement locations allocated to a terminal device by a network device, and for measurement locations that may exist in other SMTC measurement windows but are not allocated to a terminal device by a network device, the network device may schedule the terminal device normally at these measurement locations, so that they may not be considered in the embodiments of the present application, and these measurement locations not allocated to a terminal device may not affect implementation of the embodiments of the present application.

As can be seen from the SMTC information described above, network devices often configure multiple measurement locations for the terminal device within one SMTC measurement window. However, this configuration may cause scheduling limitation for the terminal device, that is, may cause waste of channel resources. Specifically, the terminal device does not expect to transmit physical uplink control channel (physical uplink control channel, PUCCH) PUCCH/physical uplink shared channel (physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH)/sounding reference signal (sounding reference signal, SRS) nor does it expect to receive PDCCH/PDSCH/tracking reference signal (tracking reference signal, TRS) and CSI-RS for channel quality indication (channel quality indicator, CQI) measurement at a time-frequency location subject to scheduling restrictions.

It is noted that the terminal device decides whether to perform RRM measurement or not at its own discretion at the measurement location allocated to it by the network device in case the measurement requirements (e.g. measurement accuracy, minimum measured reference signal number) are met. In order to avoid interfering with the RRM measurements of the terminal device, the network device will stop scheduling the terminal device at all measurement locations allocated for the terminal device, thus causing a waste of channel resources.

The scenario in which scheduling restrictions may exist is further described below:

the RRM measurements include measurements of a serving cell currently serving the terminal device, measurements of co-frequency neighbor cells of the serving cell, and measurements of inter-frequency neighbor cells of the serving cell. Scheduling restrictions often occur when measuring co-frequency neighbor cells.

Specifically, RRM measurements of co-frequency neighbor cells based on SSB signals can be defined as: the center frequencies (center frequencies) of the SSB signals of the target neighbor cell and the SSB signals of the serving cell are the same, and the subcarrier spacing (subcarrier spacing, SCS) of the two SSB signals is also the same. However, when the SSB signal is different from the PDSCH/PDCCH of the serving cell in subcarrier spacing, or the terminal device operates in frequency band 2 (frequency range 2), there is a scheduling limitation as described below:

Scene 1, for frequency band 1 (FR 1), if the subcarrier spacing of the SSB signal and the PDSCH/PDCCH of the serving cell is the same, the terminal device has no scheduling restriction. If the SSB signal and the PDSCH/PDCCH of the serving cell are different in subcarrier spacing, whether or not there is a scheduling restriction depends on the capability of the terminal device. In particular, if the terminal device supports simultaneous reception of data and SSB signals with different SCS (i.e., the terminal device supports simultaneousrxdata SSB-DiffNumerology), there is no scheduling restriction. If the terminal device does not support simultaneous reception of data and SSB signals with different SCS, the following scheduling limitations may exist:

1a, if the on-channel neighbor cell and the serving cell are time-aligned synchronized cells, there is a scheduling restriction on all measurement locations within the SMTC measurement window. In addition, there is a scheduling limitation on the time length of one data symbol before and after each adjacent to the measurement location as time redundancy of the measurement location.

1b, if the same frequency neighbor cell and the serving cell are asynchronous cells with incomplete time alignment, the terminal device has a scheduling restriction on all time domain symbols within the SMTC measurement window.

If the terminal device is configured with carrier aggregation (carrier aggregation, CA) within the same frequency band (intra-band), then there will be scheduling restrictions in 1a and 1b for all cells within that band.

Scene 2, for frequency band 2 (FR 2), since the terminal device can perform the receive beam scanning when performing RRM measurement, no matter whether the terminal device supports simultaneous reception of data with different SCS and SSB signals, the terminal device has the following scheduling restrictions when measuring co-frequency neighbor cells:

2a, the terminal device has scheduling restrictions on all measurement locations within the SMTC measurement window, and one time domain data symbol before and after each adjacent to the measurement location.

In the FR2 band, the terminal device is limited by the scheduling in 2a in all cells, whether it is configured with carrier aggregation in the same band or carrier aggregation between different bands.

Due to the existence of the scheduling limitation, the scheduling opportunity of the network equipment to the terminal equipment is reduced, and the throughput and the scheduling delay of the terminal equipment are greatly influenced. The problem is more serious in CA scenarios, for example, for carrier aggregation in the same frequency band, where all the serving cells of the terminal device are subject to scheduling restrictions.

Next, taking as an example the effect of the scheduling constraint on discontinuous reception (C-DRX) in the connected state of the terminal device, further explanation will be given.

A terminal device in RRC connected state may be configured with C-DRX. As shown in fig. 5, the terminal device is configured with a DRX cycle period (DRX cycle). One DRX cycle includes a DRX duration (DRX on duration) and a DRX sleep period (opportunity for DRX). When the terminal equipment is in the DRX on duration, data can be received and transmitted, and when the terminal equipment is in opportunity for DRX, the PDCCH is not monitored, so that the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced.

Specifically, the terminal device configured with C-DRX mainly has the following two states: a DRX active state (DRX active time) and a DRX inactive state (DRX non-active time). And in the DRX duration period, the terminal equipment is in a DRX active state, the terminal equipment can monitor the PDCCH continuously, and in the DRX dormant period, the terminal equipment is in a DRX inactive state, and the terminal equipment does not monitor the PDCCH any more.

In general, a plurality of timers may be configured in the terminal device to control the terminal device state switching. The terminal device is in DRX active state when any of the following timers are running, including: a DRX duration timer (DRX-OnduitionTimer), a DRX inactivity timer (DRX-InactyTimer), a DRX downlink retransmission timer (DRX-RetransmissionTimer DL), a DRX uplink retransmission timer (DRX-RetransmissionTimer UL), and a random access contention resolution timer (ra-contentdetemer).

Taking the DRX cycle shown in fig. 5 as an example, in the DRX on duration in the DRX cycle, the terminal device starts a timer DRX-onduration timer, thereby entering the DRX active state. If the terminal device receives the PDCCH from the DRX on duration and indicates new downlink or uplink data transmission, the terminal device can start (or restart) a timer DRX-InactivityTimer, and the terminal device is still in a DRX active state during the running period of the timer DRX-InactivityTimer, and can continuously monitor the PDCCH until the timer DRX-InactivityTimer is overtime, and the terminal device enters a DRX inactive state. If the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH to indicate new downlink or uplink data transmission in the DRX on duration, the terminal device enters opportunity for DRX after the DRX on duration timer times out, i.e. the terminal device enters the DRX inactive state.

Currently, the third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP) has the potential to introduce a new power saving signal (power saving signal) in the NR. To reduce the power consumption of the terminal device. For example, the power saving signal can be sent before the DRX cycle begins to indicate whether the next DRX cycle or cycles need to enter a DRX active state to listen for PDCCH.

In particular, power saving signal can be divided into wake-up signal (WUS) and sleep signal (GTS) according to different functions. If power saving signal is a WUS signal, the terminal device may enter the DRX active state by detecting the signal to determine whether to wake up. As shown in fig. 6, if the terminal device detects WUS signal before DRX cycle starts, the terminal device turns on DRX-onduration timer in the next DRX cycle, thereby listening to PDCCH in DRX on duration. If the terminal device does not detect the WUS signal before the DRX cycle starts, the terminal device does not start the DRX-Oncuration timer in the following DRX cycle, i.e. the terminal device does not need to wake up in the following DRX cycle, and keeps the sleep state to save power consumption.

If power saving signal is a GTS signal, before the DRX cycle starts, if the terminal device detects the GTS signal, the DRX-onduration timer is not turned on in the following DRX cycle, so as to keep the sleep state. If the GTS signal is not detected, the DRX-OndurationTimer is turned on in the following DRX cycle by default, so that the PDCCH is monitored at the DRX on duration.

In addition, power saving signal may also be implemented by a specific indicator bit in DCI, for example, when the value of the specific indicator bit is "1", the terminal device is instructed to wake up in the DRX on duration of the next DRX cycle, and when the value of the specific indicator bit is "0", the terminal device is instructed to remain asleep in the DRX on duration of the next DRX cycle.

In addition, during DRX active time, the network device may also send power saving signal a PDCCH indicating to the terminal device to skip a period of time, or stop DRX-inactivity timer and DRX-on duration timer, or enter a DRX inactive state, etc.

While there are many possibilities for the specific implementation, functionality, etc. of power saving signal, it is generally desirable to transmit power saving signal over the PDCCH channel. In the case where there is a scheduling restriction, if the resource for transmitting power saving signal is located at the measurement location where there is a scheduling restriction, the network device delays transmitting power saving signal until the scheduling restriction is released, and transmits power saving signal to the terminal device. Further, the terminal device cannot timely receive power saving signal, which may cause the terminal device in the DRX active state to not timely enter the DRX inactive state in some cases, so that the power consumption of the terminal device is not beneficial to further reducing.

In addition, the scheduling limit also prolongs the total time of the network equipment for scheduling the terminal equipment, so that the time of the terminal equipment in the DRX active time is prolonged, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment is increased. If the network device can schedule the terminal device at the measurement position limited by the scheduling, the network device can complete data scheduling as soon as possible, so that the network device can send the MAC CE signaling or power saving signal signaling to the terminal device as soon as possible to enable the terminal device to enter a sleep state so as to save power consumption.

In addition, in the research of reducing power consumption (UE power saving) of the terminal device of NR, there is a tendency to relax RRM measurement to save power consumption of the terminal device for performing RRM measurement, such as increasing a measurement period of RRM measurement, and reducing the number of SSB signals of RRM measurement. Therefore, the terminal device may not perform RRM measurement at more measurement positions, which further reduces the utilization of resources.

In summary, the scheduling limitation between the network device and the terminal device reduces the utilization rate of the channel resource, and further causes the problems of increased power consumption of the terminal device. In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, in which a terminal device may determine a measurement location for performing RRM measurement in a subsequent period of time in advance, and send indication information to a network device to remove scheduling restriction of the network device at a part or all of the measurement locations, thereby improving channel resource utilization.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 7, mainly including the following steps:

step 701: the terminal device determines a restriction position based on the plurality of measurement positions within the first time period. Wherein the restriction location comprises a target measurement location for the terminal device to perform RRM measurements during the first period of time.

Taking fig. 4 as an example, assume that the terminal device determines to perform RRM measurement at a measurement location S2, the measurement location S2 is the target measurement location. Specifically, the terminal device may determine the target measurement location in various manners, for example, the terminal device may determine the target measurement location for performing RRM measurement according to factors such as a history measurement result, an RRM measurement period, a power consumption situation, etc., and for example, the terminal device may also determine the target measurement location for performing RRM measurement according to a preset RRM configuration, etc., which will not be described in detail in the embodiments of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the limiting position determined by the terminal device may have at least three specific implementation manners:

implementation 1: the limit position is the target measurement position. For example, if the target measurement position is the measurement position S2, the restriction position is the measurement position S2.

Implementation 2: the limit position is the target measurement position, the time length of one data symbol before the target measurement position, and the time length of one data symbol after the target measurement position. The time length of one data symbol before the target measurement location and the time length of one data symbol after the target measurement location may be used as the time redundancy of the target measurement location, for the terminal device to switch processing capability between performing RRM measurement and transceiving other data, such as switching subcarrier spacing, or to reduce interference of other scheduling procedures that may exist on adjacent time domain symbols to RRM measurement at the target measurement location.

It should be noted that the time domain symbols before or after any target measurement location (e.g., measurement location a) may be either SSB symbols or data symbols. For example, the time domain symbols after measuring position a are four SSB symbols, which constitute measuring position B. Assuming that the time length of one data symbol is twice the time length of the SSB symbols, there will also be scheduling restrictions on the first two SSB symbols in measurement position B, that is, the first two SSB symbols in measurement position B are also included in the restriction position determined by the terminal device.

In addition to the time length of one data symbol, in the limiting position, the time period before and after the target measurement position may be other time lengths, which is based on the time redundancy that actually accords with the capability of the terminal device, which is not limited by the present application. Further, the time lengths of the periods before and after the target measurement position in the restriction position may be different, and even there may be a period only before the target measurement position, or a period only after the target measurement position.

Implementation 3: the limiting position is a measurement window where the target measurement position is located. Taking SMTC measurement window as an example, if a measurement location exists in one SMTC measurement window (e.g., SMTC measurement window a) as a target measurement location, the SMTC measurement window a is a limited location.

In the specific implementation process, the terminal equipment can flexibly select the specific implementation mode for determining the limiting position according to the network configuration condition.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the plurality of measurement locations refer to measurement locations configured by the network device for the terminal device, where the terminal device may be used in the first period of time. Unless otherwise indicated, the following "multiple measurement locations" are all meant to be included herein, and are not repeated.

Step 702: the terminal device sends indication information to the network device.

In the embodiment of the application, the indication information can indicate available measurement positions in a plurality of measurement positions to the network equipment, and the network equipment can schedule the terminal equipment by using the available measurement positions.

Step 703: the network device determines an available measurement location of the plurality of measurement locations based on the indication information.

In the embodiment of the application, after the network device determines the available measurement positions in the plurality of measurement positions, since the scheduling restriction on the available measurement positions is removed, a certain time redundancy is not required to be reserved for the available measurement positions, that is, the network device can also remove the scheduling restriction in the time period of one data symbol before the available measurement positions and in the time period of one data symbol after the available measurement positions.

In one possible implementation, the network device may also determine whether to use the available measurement locations, i.e. whether to release the scheduling restriction at the available measurement locations, and send control instructions to the terminal device. For example, if the network device determines to release the scheduling restriction at the available measurement location, the terminal device may be instructed by transmitting an L1 signaling/media intervention control unit (medium access control channel element, MAC CE)/RRC signaling. If the terminal device does not receive the control instruction sent by the network device within a period of time after the terminal device sends the indication information, the terminal device considers that the scheduling limitation is still applicable to the available measurement position.

In another possible implementation manner, the reporting of the indication information by the terminal device may also be performed by default. For example, the network device confirms that the scheduling restriction is released at the available measurement location after receiving the instruction information, and returns a reception response to the terminal device, and confirms that the network device has released the scheduling restriction at the available measurement location after receiving the reception response.

Thus, when the network device schedules the terminal device, the network device can schedule the terminal device at the available measurement positions according to the requirements of the terminal service. Taking the above C-DRX as an example, if the timing of sending the GTS signal by the network device falls on the available measurement location, the network device may send the GTS signal on the available measurement location. It can be seen that, by adopting the communication method shown in fig. 7, the RRM measurement of the terminal device can be avoided (or less interfered), and the channel resource utilization rate can be improved.

Next, taking the first to fifth embodiments as examples, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is further described:

example 1

In the embodiment of the present application, there may be various implementations for triggering the terminal device to execute the above steps 701 and 702. Illustratively, there are at least two implementations:

In the mode 1, the network device sends a report instruction to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to report the instruction information.

Specifically, the reporting instruction may be an existing instruction that is sent by the network device before the downlink data transmission is started, for example, taking a C-DRX scenario as an example, where the reporting instruction may be power saving signal indicating that the terminal device wakes up in a next DRX cycle, or may be a PDCCH message in the DRX On Duration that schedules a new uplink/downlink transmission.

Taking the first PDCCH message in DRX On Duration for scheduling a new uplink/downlink transmission as an example, after receiving the message, the terminal device often means that the network device starts sending a downlink message to the terminal device or schedules the terminal device to send an uplink message. In this case, the terminal device reports the indication information to the network, so that the network device can determine the available measurement position according to the reported indication information, and release the scheduling restriction on the available measurement position, thereby being beneficial to improving the transmission rate of the subsequent downlink or uplink message.

It can be understood that the report instruction may be a newly added instruction that can instruct the terminal device to report the instruction information. The network device may send the indication information before sending the PDCCH indicating to schedule the new uplink/downlink transmission to the terminal device, so that the terminal device reports the indication information. Furthermore, the available measurement position can be determined according to the reporting indication information, and the downlink or uplink message can be sent at the available measurement position.

In the embodiment of the application, the reporting instruction can implicitly trigger the terminal equipment to report the indicating information or explicitly trigger the terminal equipment to report the indicating information. Specifically, in the implementation manner of implicit triggering, after the terminal device defaults to receive a specific downlink message (reporting instruction), the terminal device triggers and executes step 701 and step 702. For example, the terminal device defaults to trigger execution of steps 701 and 702 after receiving a wake up signal (wake up signal) indicating a wake up or a first PDCCH message scheduling a new transmission. In the implementation mode of explicit triggering, the reporting instruction carries instruction information, and the instruction information can indicate whether the terminal equipment reports the instruction information or not. For example, the report instruction is a wake up signal or a DCI message of the first PDCCH scheduled for a new transmission, and a certain bit field (for example, 1 bit) in the report instruction indicates whether the terminal device reports the indication information.

And 2, actively reporting the indication information by the terminal equipment.

Specifically, the network device may configure the reporting period for the terminal device semi-statically, so that the terminal device may actively report the indication information periodically according to the reporting period. For example, the existing protocol may configure the terminal device to periodically report the RRM measurement result when the RRM measurement configuration is performed, that is, configured in a reporting configuration (ReportConfigNR), where a reporting interval (reportInterval) indicates a reporting period. In view of this, according to the existing protocol, the terminal device may report the indication information while periodically reporting the RRM measurement result, so as to indicate the available measurement position of the network device in the next reporting period. In this case, the following reporting period may be the first period.

In addition, the terminal device may report the indication information when determining to execute the specific action. For example, when the terminal device starts the drx-InactivityTimer, the terminal device triggers reporting of the indication information. In C-DRX, the terminal device typically starts the DRX-inactivity timer after receiving the first PDCCH message for scheduling a new transmission, which means that when the terminal device starts the DRX-inactivity timer, the network device may continue to send downlink messages to the terminal device or the terminal device sends uplink messages to the network device. In this case, the terminal device reports the indication information to the network, so that the network device can determine the available measurement position according to the reported information, and release the scheduling restriction on the available measurement position, which is beneficial to improving the transmission rate of the subsequent downlink message.

Example two

When the terminal equipment reports the indication information, certain uplink resources are required to be occupied. In the embodiment of the application, the network equipment can semi-statically configure uplink resources for sending the indication information for the terminal equipment, and can dynamically configure uplink resources for sending the indication information for the terminal equipment. Specifically, there are at least four possible implementations:

In the mode 1, under the condition that the terminal device actively reports the indication information, the terminal device can actively request uplink resources from the network device.

Specifically, after determining that the indication information needs to be reported, the terminal device may first send a request message to the network device to request the network device to allocate uplink resources for the indication information. After receiving the request message, the network device allocates uplink resources for the indication information and returns a response message to the terminal device. And the terminal equipment determines uplink resources allocated by the network equipment for the indication information according to the response message, and sends the indication information on the uplink resources.

Taking the C-DRX as an example, the terminal device may request the network device to allocate uplink resources for transmitting the indication information by transmitting a scheduling request (scheduling request, SR) within the DRX on duration or within the DRX active time.

Mode 2, the network device allocates associated uplink resources for the reporting instruction, and sends configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information may be used to configure an association relationship between the reporting instruction and the uplink resources.

For example, the network device may semi-statically configure an uplink resource associated with the reporting instruction, where the uplink resource may be a PUCCH resource or a PUSCH resource, and the configuration information sent by the network device to the terminal device includes a time/frequency domain configuration parameter (for example, a frequency domain starting position, a frequency domain bandwidth, a time domain slot number, a symbol position in a slot, etc.) of the uplink resource, and a time offset (offset) with the reporting instruction. After receiving the reporting instruction, the terminal device can determine the uplink resources associated with the indication information according to the configuration information, and then can send the indication information on the uplink resources associated with the indication information.

In addition, the reporting instruction may further include an indication parameter, where the indication parameter may be used to indicate whether the terminal device sends information on an uplink resource associated with the indication information, so that the terminal device may be more flexibly scheduled to report the indication information.

Mode 3 is similar to mode 2 except that the time offset may be carried in a report instruction.

And 4, directly indicating the uplink resource for sending the indication information in the reporting instruction, wherein the terminal equipment can send the indication information on the uplink resource indicated by the reporting instruction.

Example III

In the embodiment of the application, the network equipment can determine the available measuring position in the plurality of measuring positions in the first time period according to the indication information. In one possible implementation, the indication information may indicate the first time period. Specifically, the terminal device may report the indication information of the first period, for example, may report a time length, and the network device may determine the first period by using a time when the indication information of the terminal device is received as a starting time of the first period. Alternatively, the indication information may explicitly indicate the starting time of the first time period. In another possible implementation, if the terminal device configures periodic reporting, the network device may default that the indication information indicates an available measurement location in a next reporting period (i.e., the first period).

In the embodiment of the present application, the indication information may have various implementations, and exemplary indication information may at least have the following implementations:

in the case where there is at least one restriction position among the plurality of measurement positions, the instruction information is used to indicate the at least one restriction position or to indicate the above-described available measurement position.

As described above, the limit position may be the target measurement position (and the time length of one data symbol before and after the target measurement position), or may be a measurement window in which the target measurement position is located, and this will be described in detail below.

In the case where the restriction position is the target measurement position:

in one possible implementation, when configuring a plurality of measurement locations for the terminal device, the network device may also allocate corresponding identification information (SSB index) to the plurality of measurement locations. If the indication information reported by the terminal device to the network device includes the identification information corresponding to the target measurement position, the network device can determine the target measurement position in the plurality of measurement positions according to the identification information corresponding to the target measurement position, and then can determine the measurement positions except the target measurement position in the plurality of measurement positions, namely the available measurement positions. If the indication information reported by the terminal device to the network device includes the identification information of the available measurement positions, the network device can directly determine the available measurement positions from the plurality of measurement positions according to the identification information of the available measurement positions.

In another possible implementation, the terminal device may further report the indication information in the form of an indication bitmap (SSB-actualytomeasure) based on SSB-tomeasures configured by the network device, and the indication bitmap may have the same number of bits as the SSB-tomeasures. Taking fig. 4 as an example, SSB-tomecure configured by the network device for the terminal device is 0101, indicating that the terminal device is configured with 2 measurement locations: s2 and S4. Assuming that the terminal device determines that the measurement location S4 is a target measurement location and that the measurement location S2 is an available measurement location, the terminal device may report an indication bitmap to the network device: 0001. after receiving the indication bitmap, the network device may determine, according to the indication bitmap, the measurement location S2 as an available measurement location, and the measurement location S4 is a limiting location.

In the case where the limit position is the measurement window in which the target measurement position is located:

in a possible implementation manner, the indication information reported by the terminal device may include identification information of at least one measurement window where the target measurement location is located, or the indication information includes identification information of at least one measurement window where the available measurement location is located. If the indication information includes identification information of at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located, the network device may remove the scheduling restriction from the measurement window where the RRM measurement is not performed in the first period of time, and the measurement position in the measurement window where the RRM measurement is not performed is the available measurement position. If the indication information includes identification information of at least one measurement window where the available measurement position is located, the network device may determine the corresponding at least one measurement window according to the identification information of the at least one measurement window, and further determine that the measurement position in the at least one measurement window is the available measurement position.

For example, the terminal device indicates that the nth SMTC measurement window after the network device successfully receives the indication information is the measurement window where the target measurement location is located, that is, the terminal device performs RRM measurement in the nth SMTC measurement window, and the terminal device does not perform RRM measurement in other SMTC measurement windows in the first period.

In addition, it may be understood that if the network device determines that one measurement window is a restriction location according to the indication information sent by the terminal device, the scheduling restriction in the measurement window is determined according to whether the serving cell and the on-channel neighbor are synchronous, that is, if the on-channel neighbor and the serving cell are synchronous, the scheduling restriction in the measurement window includes the measurement location configured by the network device to the terminal device and a time length of one data symbol before and after the measurement location, if the on-channel neighbor and the serving cell are asynchronous, the scheduling restriction in the measurement window includes all time domain symbols in the measurement window, and if the network device determines that one measurement window is an unlimited location according to the indication information sent by the terminal device, that is, the measurement location in the measurement window is an available measurement location (non-target measurement location), all time domain symbols in the measurement window are released from the scheduling restriction, that is, that the network device may schedule the terminal device in any time domain symbol in the measurement window.

In the embodiment of the present application, the identification information of at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located may also be a bitmap. Specifically, the bit map includes M bits, from the first bit to the last bit of the bit map, corresponding to the first measurement window to the last measurement window in the first period in sequence, and each bit in the bit map is used to indicate whether the corresponding measurement window is a limiting position. For example, there are 5 measurement windows in total in the first time period, where the first and third measurement windows are limiting positions, then the bitmap may be 10100, where 1 represents the measurement window where the target measurement position is located (i.e., limiting position), and 0 represents the measurement window where the available measurement position is located.

Mode 2, in the case where at least one restriction position exists among the plurality of measurement positions, the instruction information is used to instruct at least one second time period that is all or part of the time period other than the at least one restriction position within the first time period.

Taking fig. 3 as an example, assuming that the first time period includes 4 SMTC periods, if the terminal device determines that the first SMTC measurement window is a limiting location, the second time period includes a first time domain symbol after the first SMTC measurement window, a last time domain symbol in the first time period, and other time domain symbols spaced between the two time domain symbols. After receiving the indication information, the network device may determine that the measurement location in the at least one second time period is an available measurement location, so that the terminal device may be scheduled over the at least one second time period.

In the case that there is only one second time period, the indication information may include a time length, and the network device may use the time when the indication information is received as the starting time of the second time period, and determine the second time period based on the time length, or the indication information may directly indicate the starting time of the second time period.

In the case that there are a plurality of second time periods, the indication information may include a time length of each second time period and a start time point of each second time period, and the network device may determine the plurality of second time periods according to the time length of each second time period and the start time point of each second time period, respectively.

It is understood that the terminal device may also not perform RRM measurements during the first time period, i.e. there is no target measurement location. In this case, the indication information transmitted by the terminal device may also indicate the first period of time. After receiving the indication information, the network device can determine that all measurement positions allocated to the terminal device in the first time period are available measurement positions.

Example IV

Next, a specific embodiment is used to further describe the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 8, the small square represents an SMTC measurement window, with an SMTC period of 20ms.

As in fig. 8, the measurement period for the terminal device to perform RRM measurement is 200ms, i.e., the terminal device needs to obtain RRM measurement results after at least one layer 3filtering (layer 3 filtering) every 200 ms. The terminal device decides to increase the measurement period from 200ms to 800ms by other power save techniques. For example, if the terminal device determines that the signal quality (for example, the reference signal received power (reference signal received power, RSRP)) is higher than a certain threshold, or if the terminal device determines that the mobility itself is lower, or if the terminal device determines that the terminal device is far from the cell edge, the RRM measurement result is more stable, the terminal device may increase the measurement period to reduce the number of RRM measurements.

Since the terminal device may adjust the RRM measurement period by itself, the network device cannot determine which SMTC measurement window the terminal device performs the RRM measurement in, and therefore there is a scheduling limitation in all measurement positions.

In the fourth embodiment, the reporting instruction is a WUS signal, and the network device semi-statically configures, in advance, the associated uplink resource for the WUS signal through the configuration information. The configuration information includes time/frequency domain configuration parameters of the uplink resource, such as a frequency domain starting position, a frequency domain bandwidth, a time domain time slot number, a symbol position in a time slot, and the like.

The terminal device remains dormant until the WUS signal is received. And after receiving the WUS signal, the terminal equipment wakes up in the next DRX cycle according to the WUS signal. The WUS signal also indicates a time offset (offset), and the terminal device may determine uplink resources for transmitting the indication information according to the configuration information and the time offset. The terminal device reports indication information on uplink resources associated with WUS signals, where the indication information may include: a time length is the time length of the second period, for example, the time length of the second period T in fig. 8 is 130ms. The network device defaults to the starting time of the second time period T when the indication information is successfully received, so that the second time period T can be determined according to the time length.

As shown in fig. 8, the terminal device does not perform RRM measurements for the serving cell and the on-channel neighbor cell for the second period T. The network device may release the scheduling restriction at the measurement locations within the second time period T, i.e. determine that the measurement locations within the second time period T are available measurement locations, so that the terminal device may be scheduled within the second time period T.

Example five

Next, a communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application will be further described with another specific embodiment. As shown in fig. 9, there are a plurality of SMTC measurement windows in the first period, and SSB-tomecure transmitted by the network device to the terminal device is 1111, that is, the network device allocates SSB1 to SSB4 to the terminal device to perform RRM measurement. However, the terminal device may choose to perform RRM measurement only at the two target measurement locations SSB1 and SSB2 based on information such as the history measurement result. In this case, the terminal device may report an indication (e.g., 1100) to indicate to the network device that the terminal device may be scheduled on SSB3 and SSB4 for each SMTC measurement window during the next first time period.

It will be appreciated that there are many possibilities for specific implementations of the information indicated in the embodiments of the application, and that different implementations may be combined with each other. For example, the indication information may indicate both the second time period and the restriction position. Taking the fourth embodiment and the fifth embodiment as an example, the network device may determine, according to the indication information, a second period in which the terminal device may be scheduled, and for periods other than the second period in the first period, SMTC measurement windows in these periods may be regarded as SMTC measurement windows for performing RRM measurements. For SMTC measurement windows for performing RRM measurements, the restriction locations may be determined as SSB1 and SSB2 in the SMTC measurement window for performing RRM measurements according to bit map "1100", so that the range of restriction locations may be further narrowed, and the opportunity to schedule terminal devices may be increased.

The scheme provided by the application is mainly introduced from the interaction point of the network equipment and the terminal equipment. It will be appreciated that, in order to implement the above-described functions, the network device or terminal device may include corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules that perform the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In case of integrated units, fig. 10 shows a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus involved in an embodiment of the application, which apparatus 1000 may be in the form of software. The apparatus 1000 may include: a processing unit 1002, and a communication unit 1003. The processing unit 1002 is configured to control and manage operations of the apparatus 1000. The communication unit 1003 is used to support communication of the apparatus 1000 with other network entities. The apparatus 1000 may further comprise a storage unit 1001 for storing program code and data of the apparatus 1000.

The processing unit 1002 may be a processor or controller, such as a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), general purpose processor, digital signal processing (digital signal processing, DSP), application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuits, ASIC), field programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic device, transistor logic device, hardware components, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various exemplary logic blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with this disclosure. The processor may also be a combination that performs the function of a computation, e.g., including one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and so forth. The communication unit 1003 may be a communication interface, a transceiver, a transceiving circuit, or the like, wherein the communication interface is a generic term, and in a specific implementation, the communication interface may include a plurality of interfaces. The storage unit 1001 may be a memory.

The apparatus 1000 may be the terminal device in any of the above embodiments, or may also be a semiconductor chip provided in the terminal device. The processing unit 1002 may support the apparatus 1000 to perform the actions of the terminal device in the examples of the methods above, and the communication unit 1003 may support communication between the apparatus 1000 and the network device.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the processing unit 1002 is configured to: determining a restriction position from a plurality of measurement positions within a first time period, the restriction position comprising a target measurement position of the plurality of measurement positions for the apparatus to perform RRM measurements;

the communication unit 1003 is configured to send indication information to a network device, where the indication information is used to indicate that, of the plurality of measurement locations, measurement locations other than the restriction location are available measurement locations that can be used for the network device to schedule the apparatus.

Illustratively, the limit position may be the target measurement position; alternatively, the limit position may be the target measurement position, a time length of one data symbol before the target measurement position, and a time length of one data symbol after the target measurement position; alternatively, the limiting position may be a measurement window where the target measurement position is located.

In a possible implementation, in case there is at least one limit position among the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information may be used for indicating the at least one limit position or for indicating the available measurement positions.

In a possible implementation manner, the at least one limiting position is at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located, in which case the indication information may include identification information of at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located, or the indication information includes identification information of at least one measurement window where the available measurement position is located.

In a possible implementation, the indication information may also be used to indicate the first time period.

Further, the apparatus 1000 may be the network device in any of the above embodiments, or may also be a semiconductor chip provided in the network device. The processing unit 1002 may support the apparatus 1000 to perform the actions of the network device in the examples of the methods above, and the communication unit 1003 may support communication between the apparatus 1000 and the terminal device.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the communication unit 1003 is configured to receive indication information sent by a terminal device;

the processing unit 1002 is configured to determine, according to the indication information, an available measurement location from a plurality of measurement locations within a first period allocated to the terminal device, where the limiting location includes a target measurement location for performing RRM measurement by the terminal device from the plurality of measurement locations, and the available measurement location is a measurement location that can be used for scheduling the terminal device.

In a possible implementation, in case there is at least one limit position among the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information is used to indicate the at least one limit position; in this case, the processing unit 1002 is specifically configured to: determining a measurement position other than the at least one limiting position among the plurality of measurement positions as the available measurement position according to the indication information;

or, the indication information is used for indicating the available measurement position; in this case, the processing unit 1002 is specifically configured to: and determining the measurement position indicated by the indication information as the available measurement position.

In a possible implementation manner, the at least one limiting position is at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located, and the indication information includes identification information of the at least one measurement window where the target measurement position is located; in this case, the processing unit 1002 is specifically configured to: determining at least one measurement window corresponding to the identification information of the at least one measurement window according to the identification information of the at least one measurement window; determining a measurement position other than the measurement position included in the at least one measurement window among the plurality of measurement positions as the available measurement position;

Or the indication information comprises identification information of at least one measurement window where the available measurement position is located; in this case, the processing unit 1002 may determine, according to the identification information of the at least one measurement window, a measurement position included in at least one measurement window to which the identification information of the at least one measurement window corresponds, respectively, as the available measurement position.

In a possible implementation manner, in a case where at least one limiting position exists in the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information is used to indicate at least one second time period, where the at least one second time period is all or part of a time period except for the at least one limiting position in the first time period; in this case, the processing unit 1002 may determine the measurement position in the at least one second period of time as the available measurement position according to the indication information.

In a possible implementation, the indication information is used to indicate the first period of time in case the target measurement location is absent from the plurality of measurement locations; in this case, the processing unit 1002 may determine a plurality of measurement positions within the first period of time as the available measurement positions according to the instruction information.

Referring to fig. 11, a schematic diagram of an apparatus provided in the present application may be a terminal device or a network device in the foregoing embodiment. The apparatus 1100 comprises: a processor 1101, a transceiver 1103, a memory 1102. Optionally, the apparatus 1100 may further comprise a bus 1104. Wherein the transceiver 1103, the processor 1101 and the memory 1102 may be interconnected by a bus 1104; the bus 1104 may be a peripheral component interconnect standard (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus, among others. The bus 1104 may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 11, but not only one bus or one type of bus.

The processor 1101 may be a CPU, microprocessor, ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the programs of the present application.

The transceiver 1103, uses any transceiver-like device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as ethernet, RAN, wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN), wired access network, etc.

The memory 1102 may be, but is not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc-only memory (compact disc read-only memory) or other optical disk storage, a compact disc storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. The memory may be separate and coupled to the processor via communication line 1104. The memory may also be integrated with the processor.

The memory 1102 is used for storing computer-executable instructions for implementing the aspects of the present application, and is controlled by the processor 1101 for execution. The processor 1101 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1102, thereby implementing the communication method provided by the above-described embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application may be referred to as application program codes, which are not particularly limited in the embodiments of the present application.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application 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.

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

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

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

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

the terminal equipment determines a limiting position according to a plurality of measuring positions in a first time period, wherein the limiting position comprises a target measuring position for the terminal equipment to execute RRM measurement in the plurality of measuring positions;

the terminal device sends indication information to the network device, wherein the indication information is used for indicating that the measurement positions except the limiting position are available measurement positions which can be used for the network device to schedule the terminal device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the limit location is the target measurement location; alternatively, the limit position is the target measurement position, a time length of one data symbol before the target measurement position, and a time length of one data symbol after the target measurement position; or the limiting position is a measurement window where the target measurement position is located.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein in case there is at least one limit position of the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information is used to indicate the at least one limit position or to indicate the available measurement positions.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the at least one limiting position is at least one measurement window in which the target measurement position is located, the indication information comprises identification information of the at least one measurement window in which the target measurement position is located, or the indication information comprises identification information of the at least one measurement window in which the available measurement position is located.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the indication information is further used to indicate the first time period.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein in case there is at least one limit position among the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information is used to indicate at least one second time period, which is all or part of the time period within the first time period except the at least one limit position.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the first time period in the absence of the target measurement location from the plurality of measurement locations.

8. A method of communication, comprising:

the network equipment receives the indication information sent by the terminal equipment;

the network device determines available measurement positions in a plurality of measurement positions within a first time period allocated to the terminal device according to the indication information, wherein a limiting position comprises a target measurement position for performing RRM measurement in the plurality of measurement positions, and the available measurement positions are measurement positions which can be used for scheduling the terminal device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the limit location is the target measurement location; alternatively, the limit position is the target measurement position, a time length of one data symbol before the target measurement position, and a time length of one data symbol after the target measurement position; or the limiting position is a measurement window where the target measurement position is located.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein in the event that at least one limit position exists among the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information is used to indicate the at least one limit position;

the network device determining available measurement positions in a plurality of measurement positions within a first time period allocated to the terminal device according to the indication information, wherein the available measurement positions comprise:

the network equipment determines that the measurement positions except the at least one limiting position in the plurality of measurement positions are available measurement positions according to the indication information;

or, the indication information is used for indicating the available measurement position;

the network device determines the measurement position indicated by the indication information as the available measurement position.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one limiting location is at least one measurement window in which the target measurement location is located, and the indication information includes identification information of the at least one measurement window in which the target measurement location is located;

the network equipment determines at least one measurement window corresponding to the identification information of the at least one measurement window according to the identification information of the at least one measurement window;

the network device determining a measurement location other than the measurement location included in the at least one measurement window among the plurality of measurement locations as the available measurement location;

or the indication information comprises identification information of at least one measurement window where the available measurement position is located;

and the network equipment determines the measurement positions included in at least one measurement window corresponding to the identification information of the at least one measurement window as the available measurement positions according to the identification information of the at least one measurement window.

12. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the indication information is further used to indicate the first time period.

13. The method according to claim 8, wherein in case there is at least one limit position among the plurality of measurement positions, the indication information is used to indicate at least one second time period, which is all or part of the time period within the first time period except the at least one limit position;

the network device determines a measurement location in the at least one second time period as the available measurement location.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the first time period in the absence of the target measurement location from the plurality of measurement locations;

the network device determines a plurality of measurement locations within the first time period as the available measurement locations.

15. A communication device, comprising: a communication unit and a processing unit;

the processing unit is configured to determine a limiting position according to a plurality of measurement positions within a first time period, where the limiting position includes a target measurement position of the plurality of measurement positions, where the apparatus is configured to perform RRM measurements;

the communication unit is configured to send indication information to a network device, where the indication information is configured to indicate that a measurement location other than the restriction location is an available measurement location that can be used by the network device to schedule the apparatus, among the plurality of measurement locations.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the limit position is the target measurement position; alternatively, the limit position is the target measurement position, a time length of one data symbol before the target measurement position, and a time length of one data symbol after the target measurement position; or the limiting position is a measurement window where the target measurement position is located.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the indication information is used to indicate at least one of the limit locations or to indicate the available measurement locations if there is at least one limit location in the plurality of measurement locations.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one restricted location is at least one measurement window in which the target measurement location is located, the indication information comprises identification information of the at least one measurement window in which the target measurement location is located, or the indication information comprises identification information of the at least one measurement window in which the available measurement location is located.

19. The apparatus of any one of claims 16 to 18, wherein the indication information is further for indicating the first time period.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the indication information is used to indicate at least one second time period, in the event that at least one limit position exists among the plurality of measurement positions, the at least one second time period being all or part of the time period within the first time period other than the at least one limit position.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the first time period in the absence of the target measurement location from the plurality of measurement locations.

22. A communication device, comprising: a communication unit and a processing unit;

The communication unit is used for receiving the indication information sent by the terminal equipment;

the processing unit is configured to determine, according to the indication information, an available measurement location from a plurality of measurement locations within a first period allocated to the terminal device, where a restriction location includes a target measurement location for the terminal device to perform RRM measurement, where the available measurement location is a measurement location that can be used for scheduling the terminal device.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the limit position is the target measurement position; alternatively, the limit position is the target measurement position, a time length of one data symbol before the target measurement position, and a time length of one data symbol after the target measurement position; or the limiting position is a measurement window where the target measurement position is located.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the indication information is for indicating at least one limit position in the case where the at least one limit position exists among the plurality of measurement positions; the processing unit is specifically configured to: determining a measurement position other than the at least one limiting position among the plurality of measurement positions as the available measurement position according to the indication information;

Or, the indication information is used for indicating the available measurement position; the processing unit is specifically configured to: and determining the measurement position indicated by the indication information as the available measurement position.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the at least one limiting location is at least one measurement window in which the target measurement location is located, and the indication information includes identification information of the at least one measurement window in which the target measurement location is located; the processing unit is specifically configured to: determining at least one measurement window corresponding to the identification information of the at least one measurement window according to the identification information of the at least one measurement window; determining a measurement position other than the measurement position included in the at least one measurement window among the plurality of measurement positions as the available measurement position;

or the indication information comprises identification information of at least one measurement window where the available measurement position is located; the processing unit is specifically configured to: and determining the measurement positions included in at least one measurement window corresponding to the identification information of the at least one measurement window as the available measurement positions according to the identification information of the at least one measurement window.

26. The apparatus of any one of claims 23 to 25, wherein the indication information is further for indicating the first time period.

27. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the indication information is used to indicate at least one second time period, in the case where there is at least one limit position among the plurality of measurement positions, the at least one second time period being all or part of the time period within the first time period other than the at least one limit position;

the processing unit is specifically configured to: determining a measurement location in the at least one second time period as the available measurement location.

28. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the first time period in the absence of the target measurement location from the plurality of measurement locations;

the processing unit is specifically configured to: determining a plurality of measurement locations within the first time period as the available measurement locations.

29. A communication device comprising a processor, a memory, and instructions stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which when executed, cause the device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 7.

30. A communications apparatus comprising a processor, a memory, and instructions stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which when executed, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 8 to 14.

31. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14.