CN112399564B

CN112399564B - Side-link communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN112399564B
Application number: CN201910745554.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 袁璞
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-08-13
Filing date: 2019-08-13
Publication date: 2024-01-23
Anticipated expiration: 2039-08-13
Also published as: CN112399564A; WO2021027790A1

Abstract

A side-link communication method and device are applicable to the fields of V2X, internet of vehicles, intelligent network vehicle connection, auxiliary driving, intelligent driving and the like, and the method comprises the following steps: the first terminal device determines first information and sends the first information to the second terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate a slot configuration period and a number of at least one uplink slot in the slot configuration period. Since the uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period can be used for the side uplink transmission, the first terminal device can directly or indirectly indicate the time slot configuration period and the position of the uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period by sending the first information, thereby realizing the side uplink communication. In addition, the bit number required for indicating the time slot configuration period and the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period is smaller than the information bit number which can be accommodated in the PSBCH, so that the low code rate of the PSBCH can be effectively ensured, and the reliability of transmission is improved.

Description

Side-link communication method and device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for side uplink communications.

Background

In the 5G new wireless access technology (5th Generation New Radio Access Technology,5G NR), there are three types of time slots including an uplink time slot, a downlink time slot and a configurable time slot, wherein all symbols in the uplink time slot are uplink symbols, all symbols in the downlink time slot are downlink symbols, and all symbols in the configurable time slot can be freely configured as uplink symbols, downlink symbols or flexible symbols.

In existing NR car-to-everything (vehicle to everything, V2X) communications, uplink and downlink time division multiplexing (time division duplexing, TDD) configuration of a terminal device is indicated by two signaling: a signaling is TDD-UL-DL-configuration command, for configuring uplink and downlink TDD with slot granularity, the signaling needs to occupy at least 27 bits; another type of signaling is a slot format indication (Slot Format Indicator, SFI) for configuring the slot format of the configurable time slot, as shown in fig. 1, where the slot format refers to whether each symbol in the configurable time slot is an uplink symbol, a downlink symbol or a flexible symbol, which signaling needs to occupy at least 8 bits.

Information bearing in view of uplink and downlink TDD configuration is carried on the physical sidelink broadcast channel (physical sidelink broadcast channel, PSBCH), and currently the third generation partnership project (the 3 ^rd generation partner project,3 GPP) conference working assumption specifies that the number of information bits carried by the PSBCH is at most 32 bits, so configuring uplink and downlink TDD in the above manner requires 35 bits in total, which exceeds the capacity of the PSBCH in the working assumption. If the working assumption is modified, increasing the number of information bits carried by the PSBCH can cause the code rate of the information bits carried by the PSBCH after coding to be improved, and the decoding success rate of the PSBCH is affected.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a method and a device for side-link communication, which are used for configuring uplink and downlink TDD in a side-link, reducing the code rate of PSBCH and improving the reliability of receiving.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method of side-link communication, the method being applicable to a first terminal device, the method comprising: the first terminal equipment determines first information, wherein the first information is used for indicating a time slot configuration period and the number of at least one uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period, and the time slot configuration period comprises at least one uplink time slot; the first terminal device sends the first information to the second terminal device.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period may be used for the second terminal device to perform the side uplink transmission, and the first terminal device may indirectly indicate the position of each uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period by sending, to the second terminal device, first information for indicating the time slot configuration period and the number of at least one uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period, so that the second terminal device may use the resources of the uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period to perform the side uplink communication with the first terminal device.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the time slot configuration period may be indicated by 4 bits, and the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period may be indicated by 7 bits, where the first terminal device sends, through the PSBCH channel, first information for indicating the time slot configuration period and the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period, where the number of bits required for indicating the time slot configuration period and the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period is still smaller than the number of bits of information that can be accommodated in the PSBCH, so that the low code rate of the PSBCH can be effectively ensured, and the reliability of transmission is improved.

In one possible design, the slot configuration period may further include at least one configurable slot; the first terminal device may transmit second information indicating the number of at least one configurable slot in the slot configuration period and third information indicating at least one of the following information to the second terminal device: the type information of each symbol in the configurable time slot, the position information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, the number information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, and the position information of the uplink symbol and the flexible symbol in the configurable time slot.

In this embodiment of the present application, the configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period may also be used for the second terminal device to perform side uplink transmission, and specifically, an uplink symbol in the configurable time slot may be used for side uplink transmission, or an uplink symbol and/or a flexible symbol in the configurable time slot may be used for side uplink transmission. The first terminal device can indicate the position of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol for side uplink transmission in each configurable time slot by sending the second information and the third information to the second terminal device, so that the second terminal device can utilize the resources of the uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period and the resources of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol in the configurable time slot for side uplink communication. Thus, the side communication resources can be increased, and the communication opportunity can be improved.

Further, in the embodiment of the present application, the number of configurable slots in the slot configuration period may be indicated by 7 bits, the type information of each symbol in the configurable slot may be indicated by 8 bits, the position information of the uplink symbol in the configurable slot or the position information of the uplink symbol and the flexible symbol in the configurable slot may be indicated by 4 bits, and the number information of the uplink symbol in the configurable slot may be indicated by 4 bits.

In one possible design, the first terminal device may send the first information via a first broadcast message. The first terminal device may also transmit the second information and the third information through the first broadcast message, or the first terminal device may also transmit the second information and the third information through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message; still alternatively, the first terminal device may further transmit the second information through the first broadcast message, and transmit the third information through the SIB message or the RRC message. The first broadcast message may be a synchronization signal block SSB message carried on the PSBCH channel, or may be another message sent on the PSBCH channel. The SIB message may be a PC5 SIB message and the RRC message may be a PC5 RRC message.

The first information, the second information and the third information in the embodiments of the present application may have a plurality of possible transmission manners. For example, the first information may be transmitted through an SSB message carried on the PSBCH channel, the second information may be transmitted in an SSB message carried on the PSBCH channel, or may be transmitted through separate signaling such as SIB message or RRC message, and the third information is similar to the second information, thus having better flexibility. In addition, the first information, the second information and the third information in the embodiment of the application can be sent in the same message, can also be sent in different messages, and can be automatically selected by the first terminal equipment according to actual needs, so that the application is high in applicability.

In one possible design, the first terminal device may send fifth information to the second terminal device, the fifth information being used to indicate a location of a slot for a side uplink transmission in the slot configuration period, the slot for the side uplink transmission including an uplink slot and/or a configurable slot.

In this embodiment of the present application, in the case that the first terminal device does not explicitly indicate which timeslots in the timeslot configuration period are available for side uplink transmission, the second terminal device may default to uplink timeslots in the timeslot configuration period, and uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols in the configurable timeslots may be available for side uplink transmission. In the case where the first terminal device explicitly indicates which slots in the slot configuration period are slots for side-link transmission by the fifth information, the second terminal device may determine that only slots configured in the fifth information are available for side-link transmission, and further perform side-link communication using the resources of these slots. In this way, flexibility of side-link communications may be effectively improved.

In one possible design, the first terminal device may send sixth information to the second terminal device indicating the position of the sidelink symbol in each of the time slots for sidelink transmission. In this embodiment of the present application, the first terminal device may further indicate which symbols in each slot for sidelink transmission are sidelink symbols by sending the sixth information. In one slot for side-uplink transmission, only uplink symbols or flexible symbols configured as side-uplink symbols may be used for side-uplink transmission, while other symbols in the slot are not used for side-uplink transmission.

In the embodiment of the present application, in the case that the first terminal device does not explicitly indicate which symbols in each time slot used for the sidelink transmission are sidelink symbols, the second terminal device may default that uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols in the time slots are available for the sidelink transmission. Alternatively, the first terminal device may explicitly indicate which symbols in each slot for sidelink transmission are sidelink symbols. For a time slot for side uplink transmission, the first terminal device may configure part or all of uplink symbols and/or part or all of flexible symbols in the time slot as side uplink symbols, which may effectively improve flexibility of side uplink communication.

In one possible design, the fifth information may include: a first bitmap for indicating whether each slot in a slot configuration period is a slot for side-link transmission or an index value corresponding to the first bitmap. Each bit in the first bitmap may be used to indicate whether the corresponding slot is a slot for side-link transmission, e.g., when the bit value is 1, it may indicate that the corresponding slot is used for side-link transmission, and when the bit value is 0, it may indicate that the corresponding slot is not used for side-link transmission.

The sixth information may include: a second bitmap for indicating whether each symbol in each slot for sidelink transmission is a sidelink symbol or an index value corresponding to the second bitmap, and each bit in the second bitmap is used for indicating whether the corresponding symbol is a sidelink symbol, for example, when the bit value is 1, it may indicate that the corresponding symbol is a sidelink symbol, and when the bit value is 0, it may indicate that the corresponding symbol is not a sidelink symbol.

Alternatively, the sixth information may include slot format indication SFI information indicating a type of each symbol in each slot for side-uplink transmission or an index value corresponding to the SFI information. That is, the sixth information may also directly indicate the slot format of each slot for side-link transmission.

In one possible design, the first terminal device may send the fifth information via a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message, and the first terminal device may send the sixth information via a SIB message or an RRC message. The SIB message may be a PC5 SIB message and the RRC message may be a PC5 RRC message. In addition, the fifth information and the sixth information may be received through the same message, for example, the fifth information and the sixth information may be carried in the same RRC message, or may be sent through different messages, for example, the fifth information is carried in the RRC message, and the sixth information is carried in the SIB message.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a method of side-link communication, the method being applicable to a second terminal device, the method comprising: the second terminal equipment receives first information from the first terminal equipment, wherein the first information is used for indicating a time slot configuration period and the number of at least one uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period, and the time slot configuration period comprises at least one uplink time slot; the second terminal device performs side-link communication with the first terminal device on a first resource, where the first resource includes a resource corresponding to the at least one uplink time slot.

In this embodiment of the present invention, an uplink timeslot in a timeslot configuration period may be used for a second terminal device to perform uplink transmission, and the second terminal device may determine, according to first information received from a first terminal device and used for indicating the timeslot configuration period and the number of at least one uplink timeslot in the timeslot configuration period, the position of each uplink timeslot in the timeslot configuration period, so that resources of the uplink timeslot in the timeslot configuration period may be utilized to perform uplink communication with the first terminal device.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the time slot configuration period may be indicated by 4 bits, and the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period may be indicated by 7 bits, where the first terminal device sends, through the PSBCH channel, first information for indicating the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period and the time slot configuration period, and in a scenario where the number of bits required for indicating the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period and the time slot configuration period is still smaller than the number of bits of information that can be accommodated in the PSBCH, so that a low code rate of the PSBCH can be effectively ensured, and reliability of transmission is improved.

In one possible design, the slot configuration period further includes at least one configurable slot, and the first resource further includes a resource corresponding to an uplink symbol and/or a flexible symbol in the at least one configurable slot; accordingly, the second terminal device may further receive second information indicating the number of at least one configurable slot in the slot configuration period and third information indicating at least one of the following information from the first terminal device: the type information of each symbol in the configurable time slot, the position information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, the number information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, and the position information of the uplink symbol and the flexible symbol in the configurable time slot.

In this embodiment of the present application, the configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period may also be used for the second terminal device to perform side uplink transmission, and specifically, an uplink symbol in the configurable time slot may be used for side uplink transmission, or an uplink symbol and/or a flexible symbol in the configurable time slot may both be used for side uplink transmission. Therefore, the second terminal equipment can determine the positions of uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols for side uplink transmission in each configurable time slot according to the second information and the third information received from the first terminal equipment, and further can utilize the resources of the uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period and the resources of the uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols in the configurable time slot to carry out side uplink communication, so that side uplink communication resources can be increased, and communication opportunities can be improved.

In one possible design, the second terminal device may receive the first information via a first broadcast message; the second terminal equipment receives the second information and the third information through the first broadcast message; alternatively, the second terminal device may also receive the second information and the third information through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message; still alternatively, the second terminal device may also receive the second information through the first broadcast message, and receive the third information through the SIB message or the RRC message. The first broadcast message may be a synchronization signal block SSB message carried on the PSBCH channel, or may be another message sent on the PSBCH channel. The SIB message may be a PC5 SIB message and the RRC message may be a PC5 RRC message.

The first information, the second information and the third information in the embodiments of the present application may have a plurality of possible transmission manners. For example, the first information may be transmitted through an SSB message carried on the PSBCH channel, the second information may be transmitted in an SSB message carried on the PSBCH channel, or may be transmitted through separate signaling such as SIB message or RRC message, and the third information is similar to the second information, thus having better flexibility. In addition, the first information, the second information and the third information in the embodiment of the present application may be sent in the same message, or may be sent in different messages, for example, may all be sent in an SSB message, and a specific sending manner may be selected by the first terminal device according to actual needs, so that the method has strong applicability.

In one possible design, the second terminal device may receive fifth information from the first terminal device, the fifth information indicating a location of a slot for a side uplink transmission in the slot configuration period, the slot for the side uplink transmission including an uplink slot and/or a configurable slot.

In one possible design, the second terminal device may receive sixth information from the first terminal device indicating the location of the sidelink symbol in each of the time slots for sidelink transmission. In this embodiment of the present application, the first terminal device may indicate which symbols in each slot for sidelink transmission are sidelink symbols by sending the sixth information. In one slot for side-uplink transmission, only uplink symbols or flexible symbols configured as side-uplink symbols may be used for side-uplink transmission, while other symbols in the slot are not used for side-uplink transmission.

In one possible design, the second terminal device may receive the fifth information through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message, and the second terminal device may receive the sixth information through a SIB message or an RRC message. The SIB message may be a PC5 SIB message and the RRC message may be a PC5 RRC message. In addition, the fifth information and the sixth information may be received through the same message, for example, the fifth information and the sixth information may be carried in the same RRC message, or may be sent through different messages, for example, the fifth information is carried in the RRC message, and the sixth information is carried in the SIB message.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a method of side-link communication, the method being applicable to a first terminal device, the method comprising: the first terminal device determines seventh information, eighth information and ninth information, wherein the seventh information is used for indicating a time slot configuration period, the time slot configuration period comprises at least one uplink time slot and at least one configurable time slot, the eighth information is used for indicating the number of at least one configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period, and the ninth information is used for indicating an offset value of a first configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period relative to a first time slot in the time slot configuration period; the first terminal device transmits seventh information, eighth information, and ninth information to the second terminal device.

In this embodiment of the present invention, an uplink slot in a slot configuration period may be used for a second terminal device to perform uplink transmission, and according to a rule of setting an uplink slot, a configurable slot and a downlink slot in the slot configuration period, a first terminal device may also indirectly indicate a position of each uplink slot in the slot configuration period by sending seventh information for indicating the slot configuration period, eighth information for indicating the number of configurable slots in the slot configuration period, and ninth information for indicating an offset value of a position of a first configurable slot in the slot configuration period relative to the first slot, so that the second terminal device may use resources of the uplink slot in the slot configuration period to perform uplink communication with the first terminal device.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the slot configuration period, the number of configurable slots, and the offset value of the first configurable slot relative to the first slot in the slot configuration period may all be indicated by 7 bits, where the first terminal device sends the seventh information, the eighth information, and the ninth information through the PSBCH channel, the total number of bits occupied by the seventh information, the eighth information, and the ninth information is still smaller than the number of bits of the information that can be accommodated in the PSBCH, so that the low code rate of the PSBCH can be effectively ensured, and the reliability of transmission is improved.

In one possible design, the first terminal device may send tenth information to the second terminal device, the tenth information being used to indicate at least one of the following information: the type information of each symbol in the configurable time slot, the position information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, the number information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, and the position information of the uplink symbol and the flexible symbol in the configurable time slot.

In this embodiment of the present application, the configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period may also be used for the second terminal device to perform side uplink transmission, and specifically, an uplink symbol in the configurable time slot may be used for side uplink transmission, or an uplink symbol and/or a flexible symbol in the configurable time slot may be used for side uplink transmission. Thus, the first terminal device may indicate the position of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol for the side-link transmission in each configurable time slot by sending tenth information to the second terminal device, so that the second terminal device can perform side-link communication by using the resources of the uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period and the resources of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol in the configurable time slot.

In one possible design, the first terminal device may send the seventh information, the eighth information, and the ninth information through a first broadcast message; the first terminal device may transmit tenth information through the first broadcast message, or the first terminal device may also transmit the tenth information through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message. The first broadcast message may be a synchronization signal block SSB message carried on the PSBCH channel, or may be another message sent on the PSBCH channel. The SIB message may be a PC5 SIB message and the RRC message may be a PC5 RRC message.

In this embodiment of the present application, the type information of each symbol in the configurable timeslot may be indicated by 8 bits, the position information of the uplink symbol in the configurable timeslot may be indicated by 4 bits, the number information of the uplink symbol in the configurable timeslot may be indicated by 4 bits, and the position information of the uplink symbol and the flexible symbol in the configurable timeslot may also be indicated by 4 bits. Therefore, even in the case where the seventh information, the eighth information, the ninth information, and the tenth information are transmitted through SSB messages on the PSBCH channel, the total number of bits occupied by the seventh information, the eighth information, the ninth information, and the tenth information is smaller than the number of information bits that can be accommodated in the PBSCH, so that a low code rate of the PSBCH can be effectively ensured, and the reliability of transmission can be improved.

In one possible design, the first terminal device may send the fifth information via a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message, and the first terminal device may send the sixth information via a SIB message or an RRC message. The SIB message may be a PC5 SIB message and the RRC message may be a PC5 RRC message. Further, the fifth information and the sixth information may be transmitted through the same message or may be transmitted through different messages.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides another method of side-link communication, the method being applicable to a second terminal device, the method comprising: the second terminal device receives seventh information, eighth information and ninth information from the first terminal device, wherein the seventh information is used for indicating a time slot configuration period, the time slot configuration period comprises at least one uplink time slot and at least one configurable time slot, the eighth information is used for indicating the number of at least one configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period, and the ninth information is used for indicating an offset value of a first configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period relative to a first time slot in the time slot configuration period; the second terminal device performs side-link communication with the first terminal device on a first resource, where the first resource includes a resource corresponding to at least one uplink time slot in a time slot configuration period.

In this embodiment of the present invention, an uplink timeslot in a timeslot configuration period may be used for a second terminal device to perform uplink transmission, and according to a rule of setting an uplink timeslot, a configurable timeslot, and a downlink timeslot in the timeslot configuration period, the second terminal device may also determine a position of each uplink timeslot in the timeslot configuration period according to seventh information for indicating the timeslot configuration period, eighth information for indicating the number of configurable timeslots in the timeslot configuration period, and ninth information for indicating an offset value of a position of a first configurable timeslot in the timeslot configuration period relative to the first timeslot, which are received from the first terminal device, so that uplink communication can be performed with the first terminal device by using resources of the uplink timeslot in the timeslot configuration period.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the slot configuration period, the number of configurable slots, and the relative offset value of the configurable slots may all be indicated by 7 bits, where the first terminal device sends the seventh information, the eighth information, and the ninth information through the PSBCH channel, and the total number of bits occupied by the seventh information, the eighth information, and the ninth information is still smaller than the number of bits of the information that can be accommodated in the PSBCH, so that the low code rate of the PSBCH can be effectively ensured, and the reliability of transmission is improved.

In one possible design, the second terminal device may receive tenth information from the first terminal device, the tenth information being used to indicate at least one of the following information: the type information of each symbol in the configurable time slot, the position information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, the number information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, and the position information of the uplink symbol and the flexible symbol in the configurable time slot. Correspondingly, at this time, the first resource further includes a resource corresponding to an uplink symbol and/or a flexible symbol in at least one configurable time slot.

In this embodiment of the present application, the configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period may also be used for the second terminal device to perform side uplink transmission, and specifically, an uplink symbol in the configurable time slot may be used for side uplink transmission, or an uplink symbol and/or a flexible symbol in the configurable time slot may be used for side uplink transmission. The second terminal device can determine the position of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol for side uplink transmission in each configurable time slot according to the tenth information received from the first terminal device, so that the resources of the uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period and the resources of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol in the configurable time slot can be utilized to carry out side uplink communication.

In one possible design, the second terminal device may receive the seventh information, the eighth information, and the ninth information through the first broadcast message; the second terminal device may receive the tenth information through the first broadcast message, or the second terminal device may also receive the tenth information through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message. The first broadcast message may be a synchronization signal block SSB message carried on the PSBCH channel, or may be another message sent on the PSBCH channel. The SIB message may be a PC5 SIB message and the RRC message may be a PC5 RRC message.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a further method of side-uplink communication, the method being applicable to a first terminal device, the method comprising: the first terminal equipment determines fourth information and fifth information, wherein the fourth information is used for indicating a time slot configuration period, the time slot configuration period comprises at least one uplink time slot and/or at least one configurable time slot, the fifth information is used for indicating the position of a time slot used for side uplink transmission in the time slot configuration period, and the time slot used for side uplink transmission comprises the uplink time slot and/or the configurable time slot; the first terminal device sends fourth information and fifth information to the second terminal device.

In the embodiment of the application, the first terminal device may explicitly indicate which timeslots in the timeslot configuration period may be used for performing the side-uplink transmission by sending the fifth information. The first terminal device may configure some or all of the uplink time slots in the slot configuration period and/or some or all of the configurable time slots in the slot configuration period as time slots for side uplink transmissions. In this manner, the second terminal device may utilize resources of the time slots configured by the first terminal device for sidelink transmission for sidelink communication with the first terminal device.

In one possible design, the first terminal device may send the fourth information via a first broadcast message, the first terminal device may send the fifth information via a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message, and the first terminal device may send the sixth information via a SIB message or an RRC message. The first broadcast message may be a synchronization signal block SSB message carried on the PSBCH channel, or may be another message sent on the PSBCH channel. The SIB message may be a PC5SIB message and the RRC message may be a PC5 RRC message. Moreover, the fifth information and the sixth information can be sent through the same message or can be sent through different messages, so that the method has better flexibility.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides yet another method of side-uplink communication, the method being applicable to a second terminal device, the method comprising: the second terminal device receives fourth information and fifth information from the first terminal device, wherein the fourth information is used for indicating a time slot configuration period, the time slot configuration period comprises at least one uplink time slot and/or at least one configurable time slot, the fifth information is used for indicating the position of a time slot used for side uplink transmission in the time slot configuration period, and the time slot used for side uplink transmission comprises the uplink time slot and/or the configurable time slot; the second terminal device communicates with the first terminal device on a first resource comprising a resource corresponding to a time slot for a side uplink transmission in a time slot configuration period.

In the embodiment of the application, the fifth information received by the second terminal device from the first terminal device may explicitly indicate which timeslots in the timeslot configuration period may be used for performing the side-uplink transmission. The first terminal device may configure some or all of the uplink time slots in the slot configuration period and/or some or all of the configurable time slots in the slot configuration period as time slots for side uplink transmissions. In this manner, the second terminal device may utilize resources of the time slots configured by the first terminal device for sidelink transmission for sidelink communication with the first terminal device.

In one possible design, the second terminal device may receive, from the first terminal device, sixth information indicating a position of the sidelink symbol in each of the time slots for sidelink transmission, and as such, the first resource may include a resource corresponding to the sidelink symbol in each of the time slots for sidelink transmission. In one slot for side-link transmission, only uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols configured as side-link symbols may be used for side-link transmission, while other symbols in the slot are not used for side-link transmission. In one example, the second terminal device may also consider the uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols in the time slots for the sidelink transmission directly as sidelink symbols in the time slots, and thus the first resource may comprise a resource corresponding to the uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols in each time slot for the sidelink transmission, in which case the first terminal device may indicate the position of the sidelink symbols in each time slot for the sidelink transmission indirectly by indicating the time slot structure of each time slot for the sidelink transmission.

In one possible design, the fifth information may include: a first bitmap for indicating whether each slot in the slot configuration period is a slot for side-link transmission or an index value corresponding to the first bitmap. Each bit in the first bitmap may be used to indicate whether the corresponding slot is a slot for side-link transmission, e.g., when the bit value is 1, it may indicate that the corresponding slot is used for side-link transmission, and when the bit value is 0, it may indicate that the corresponding slot is not used for side-link transmission.

The sixth information may include: a second bitmap for indicating whether each symbol in each slot for sidelink transmission is a sidelink symbol or an index value corresponding to the second bitmap. Each bit in the second bitmap is used to indicate whether the corresponding symbol is a side-row symbol, for example, when the bit value is 1, it may indicate that the corresponding symbol is a side-row symbol, and when the bit value is 0, it may indicate that the corresponding symbol is not a side-row symbol.

Alternatively, the sixth information may include slot format indication SFI information indicating a type of each symbol in each slot for side-uplink transmission or an index value corresponding to the SFI information. That is, the sixth information may also directly indicate a slot format of each slot for side-link transmission.

In one possible design, the second terminal device may receive the fourth information through the first broadcast message, the second terminal device may receive the fifth information through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message, and the second terminal device may receive the sixth information through the SIB message or the RRC message. The first broadcast message may be a synchronization signal block SSB message carried on the PSBCH channel, or may be another message sent on the PSBCH channel. The SIB message may be a PC5SIB message and the RRC message may be a PC5 RRC message. Moreover, the fifth information and the sixth information can be sent through the same message or can be sent through different messages, so that the method has better flexibility.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus has a function of implementing a first terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, the third aspect and the fifth aspect, or has a function of implementing a second terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the second aspect, the fourth aspect and the sixth aspect. The communication device may be a terminal device, for example, a handheld terminal device, a vehicle-mounted terminal device, a vehicle user device, a road side unit, or the like, or may be a device included in a terminal device, for example, a chip, or may be a device including a terminal device. The functions of the terminal device may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by executing corresponding software by hardware, where the hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions.

In one possible design, the structure of the communication apparatus includes a processing module and a transceiver module, where the processing module is configured to support the communication apparatus to perform a function corresponding to the first terminal device in any of the designs of the first aspect, the third aspect, or the fifth aspect, or perform a function corresponding to the second terminal device in any of the designs of the second aspect, the fourth aspect, or the sixth aspect. The transceiver module is configured to support communication between the communication apparatus and other communication devices, for example, when the communication apparatus is a first terminal device, the slot configuration period and the first information may be sent to a second terminal device. The communication device may also include a memory module coupled to the processing module that holds the program instructions and data necessary for the communication device. As an example, the processing module may be a processor, the communication module may be a transceiver, and the storage module may be a memory, where the memory may be integrated with the processor, or may be separately provided from the processor, and the application is not limited thereto.

In another possible design, the communication device may include a processor and may also include a memory. The processor is coupled to the memory and operable to execute computer program instructions stored in the memory to cause the communications apparatus to perform the method of any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, the third aspect or the fifth aspect or to perform the method of any one of the possible designs of the second aspect, the fourth aspect or the sixth aspect. Optionally, the communication device further comprises a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface. When the communication device is a terminal device, the communication interface may be a transceiver or an input/output interface; when the communication means is a chip contained in the terminal device, the communication interface may be an input/output interface of the chip. Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit and the input/output interface may be an input/output circuit.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a chip system, including: a processor coupled to a memory for storing a program or instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the chip system to implement the method in any one of the possible designs of the first, third or fifth aspects or to implement the method in any one of the possible designs of the second, fourth or sixth aspects.

Alternatively, the processor in the system-on-chip may be one or more. The processor may be implemented in hardware or in software. When implemented in hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like. When implemented in software, the processor may be a general purpose processor, implemented by reading software code stored in a memory.

Alternatively, the memory in the system-on-chip may be one or more. The memory may be integral with the processor or separate from the processor, and is not limited in this application. For example, the memory may be a non-transitory processor, such as a ROM, which may be integrated on the same chip as the processor, or may be separately provided on different chips, and the type of memory and the manner of providing the memory and the processor are not specifically limited in this application.

In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when read and executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, the third aspect, or the fifth aspect, or perform the method in any one of the possible designs of the second aspect, the fourth aspect, or the sixth aspect.

In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product which, when read and executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, the third aspect or the fifth aspect, or to perform the method in any one of the possible designs of the second aspect, the fourth aspect or the sixth aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication system, which includes the first terminal device and the second terminal device described above. Optionally, a network device may also be included in the communication system.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a slot format index table of a configurable slot according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable;

fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a side uplink communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a slot configuration period according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5a to 5d are schematic diagrams illustrating multiple transmission manners of the first information, the second information, and the third information provided in the embodiments of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flow chart of another method of side-uplink communication according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a timeslot and sidelink symbol for sidelink transmission provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a slot structure of a slot for a side-link transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

fig. 11 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device 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 solution of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: 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.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to the technical fields of unmanned driving (unmanned driving), assisted driving (driver assistance, ADAS), intelligent driving (intelligent driving), internet driving (connected driving), intelligent internet driving (Intelligent network driving), car sharing (car sharing), intelligent cars (smart/intelligent car), digital cars (digital car), unmanned cars (unmanned car/driven car/pilot car/automatic), car networking (Internet of vehicles, ioV), automatic cars (self-driving car, automatic car), car road cooperation (cooperative vehicle infrastructure, CVIS), intelligent traffic (intelligent transport system, ITS), vehicle-mounted communication (vehicular communication) and the like.

In addition, the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to a cellular link, and may also be applied to a link between devices, for example, a device to device (D2D) link. The D2D link or V2X link may also be referred to as a side link, secondary link, or sidelink, among others. In the embodiments of the present application, the above terms refer to links established between devices of the same type, and the meanings thereof are the same. The same type of device may be a link between terminal devices, a link between base stations, a link between relay nodes, or the like, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. For the link between the terminal device and the terminal device, there is a D2D link defined by release (Rel) -12/13 of 3GPP, and there is also a V2X link defined by 3GPP for the internet of vehicles, vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-handset, or vehicle-to-any entity, including Rel-14/15. Also included are Rel-16, currently under investigation by 3GPP, and later releases of V2X links based on NR systems, etc.

Fig. 2 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 terminal device 210 and a terminal device 220. The terminal equipment and the terminal equipment can communicate directly through a PC5 interface, and a direct communication link between the terminal equipment and the terminal equipment is a side uplink. The side-link based communication may use at least one of the following channels: a physical side uplink shared channel (physical sidelink shared channel, PSSCH) for carrying data (data); a physical side-link control channel (physical sidelink control channel, PSCCH) for carrying side-link control information (sidelink control information, SCI).

Optionally, the communication system further comprises a network device 230 for providing timing synchronization and resource scheduling for the terminal devices. The network device may communicate with at least one terminal device, such as terminal device 210, over a Uu interface. The communication links between the network device and the terminal device include Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL). The terminal device and the terminal device may also implement indirect communication through forwarding of the network device, for example, the terminal device 210 may send data to the network device 230 through a Uu interface, send the data to the application server 240 through the network device 230 for processing, and then send the processed data to the network device 230 through the application server 240, and send the processed data to the terminal device 220 through the network device 230. In the Uu interface-based communication manner, the network device 230 forwarding the uplink data from the terminal device 210 to the application server 240 and the network device 230 forwarding the downlink data sent from the application server 240 to the terminal device 220 may be the same network device or different network devices, and may be determined by the application server.

The network device in fig. 2 may be an access network device, such as a base station. The access network device corresponds to different devices in different systems, for example, corresponds to the access network device in 5G, for example, the gNB, in the 5G system. Although only terminal device 210 and terminal device 220 are shown in fig. 2, it should be understood that the network device may provide services to a plurality of terminal devices, and the number of terminal devices in the communication system is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Similarly, the terminal device in fig. 2 is illustrated by taking a vehicle-mounted terminal device or a vehicle as an example, and it should be understood that the terminal device in the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto, and the terminal device may be a vehicle-mounted module, a road side unit, or a pedestrian handheld device. It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application are not limited to 4G or 5G systems, but are also applicable to subsequently evolving communication systems.

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 having a wireless connection function, an in-vehicle device, a vehicle user device, or the like. 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. The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may also be a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle-mounted component, a vehicle-mounted chip, or a vehicle-mounted unit that is built in a vehicle as one or more components or units, and the vehicle may implement the method of the present application through the built-in vehicle-mounted module, vehicle-mounted component, vehicle-mounted chip, or vehicle-mounted unit.

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 base station (NodeB or eNB or e-NodeB, evolutional Node B) in a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system or an evolved LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-a), such as a conventional macro base station eNB and a micro base station eNB in a heterogeneous network scenario, or may also include a next generation Node B (next generation Node B, gNB) in a fifth generation mobile communication technology (5th generation,5G) New Radio (NR) system, or may further 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), a baseband pool BBU pool, or a WiFi Access Point (AP), or may further include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) in a cloud access network (cloud radio access network, cloudRAN) system, which is not limited by the present embodiment. As another example, a network device in V2X technology is a Road Side Unit (RSU), which may be a fixed infrastructure entity supporting V2X applications, and may exchange messages with other entities supporting V2X applications.

3) The terms "system" and "network" in embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. The term "plurality" means two or more, and in view of this, the term "plurality" may also be understood as "at least two" in the embodiments 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 terms such as "first," "second," etc., for distinguishing between multiple objects, and are not intended to limit the order, timing, priority, or importance of the multiple objects, nor are the descriptions of "first," "second," etc., to limit the objects to be different.

Example 1

Referring to fig. 3, a flow chart of a side uplink communication method according to an embodiment of the present application is provided, and the method includes steps S301 to S304 as follows:

in step S301, the first terminal device determines first information, where the first information is used to indicate a timeslot configuration period and a number of at least one uplink timeslot in the timeslot configuration period.

At least one uplink slot may be included in the slot configuration period. Further, the slot configuration period may further include at least one configurable slot, and/or at least one downlink slot. The configurable time slots in the embodiments of the present application may also be called flexible time slots or variable time slots, or may have other names, and the present application is not limited thereto.

The timeslot configuration period is used to indicate the number of timeslots currently configured, and the timeslot configuration period may also be referred to as an uplink and downlink TDD configuration period, and may also have other names, which is not limited in this application. Alternatively, the time slot configuration period may be a configuration period of a time unit formed by time granularity of other lengths, and then the first information is used to indicate the time unit configuration period and the number of at least one uplink time slot in the time unit configuration period. Other length time granularity time units may include micro-slots, subframes, frames, etc.

Table 1 is an index table of slot configuration periods provided in the embodiments of the present application, and as shown in table 1, the length of the slot configuration periods is variable, for example, one slot configuration period may include 4 slots or 16 slots or 40 slots, and may also include other numbers of slots. In general, up to 80 slots may be included in one slot configuration period. Since the slot configuration period shown in table 1 has 10 possible lengths, the slot configuration period may be indicated with at least 4 bits at this time. It will be appreciated that when the range of values for the length of the slot configuration period is different, the number of bits used to indicate the slot configuration period is also different. If the slot configuration period is set to have a greater number of possible lengths, the slot configuration period may be indicated with a greater number of bits, which is not limited in this application.

Table 1 index table of slot configuration period

Slot configuration period Index	Number of slots
		1	1
2	2
		3	4
4	8
		5	16
6	5
		7	10
8	20
		9	40
10	80

The time slots in the present application may include three possible types of uplink time slots, downlink time slots and configurable time slots, and the number of time slots of each type in one time slot configuration period is not particularly limited in the present application. In one time slot configuration period, only an uplink time slot can exist, and an uplink time slot and a configurable time slot can also exist at the same time, or an uplink time slot and a downlink time slot exist at the same time, or an uplink time slot, a downlink time slot and a configurable time slot exist at the same time.

Further, one or more symbols may be included in one slot. All symbols in the uplink slot are uplink symbols, all symbols in the downlink slot are downlink symbols, and each symbol in the configurable slot may be configured as an uplink symbol, a downlink symbol, or a flexible symbol (flexible symbol), which may also be referred to as a configurable symbol or a variable symbol, or have other names.

In the embodiment of the application, an uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period can be used for performing side uplink transmission. Fig. 4 exemplarily shows a structure of one slot configuration period. If there are uplink time slots in a time slot configuration period, these uplink time slots can be placed continuously at the end of the time slot configuration period; if there are downlink time slots, these downlink time slots can be placed continuously in the front end of the time slot configuration period; the other time slots between the upstream time slot and the downstream time slot are configurable time slots.

Since the uplink slots are continuously configured at the end of the slot configuration period, the first information indicates the number of at least one uplink slot in the slot configuration period, which corresponds to indirectly indicating the position of at least one uplink slot included in the slot configuration period. Thus, by informing the second terminal device of the number of uplink timeslots in the timeslot configuration period, the second terminal device can know the specific positions of the uplink timeslots, so that the resources of the uplink timeslots can be used for side uplink communication. Alternatively, the first information may also indicate a specific position of the uplink slot in the slot configuration period, for example, may indicate the specific position of the uplink slot by indicating a slot number or a bit map. The first information may also indicate a specific location and number of uplink slots within a slot configuration period.

In the case where up to 80 slots may be included in one slot configuration period, the number of uplink slots in the slot configuration period may be up to 80, and thus the number of at least one uplink slot in the slot configuration period may be indicated with at least 7 bits, and the first information may occupy at least 11 bits in addition to the slot configuration period may be indicated with at least 4 bits.

Step S302, the first terminal device sends the first information to the second terminal device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first terminal device may send the first information to the second terminal device through sending a first broadcast message, that is, the first terminal device may send the first broadcast message to the second terminal device, where the first broadcast message carries the first information. The first broadcast message may be carried on a PSBCH channel, e.g., the first broadcast message may be a synchronization signal block (synchronization signal block, SSB) message transmitted on a side uplink.

Step S303, the second terminal device receives the first information from the first terminal device.

Step S304, the second terminal device performs side-link communication with the first terminal device on a first resource, where the first resource includes a resource corresponding to at least one uplink timeslot in a timeslot configuration period.

As described above, the uplink timeslots in the timeslot configuration period may be used for the terminal device to perform the side-link communication, so that the second terminal device may determine, according to the received first information, the timeslot configuration period and the number or location of at least one uplink timeslot in the timeslot configuration period, and further perform the side-link communication by using the resources of these uplink timeslots. For example, in a scenario where the first terminal device and the second terminal device are both vehicles or vehicle-mounted terminal devices, the second terminal device may send data representing its own speed, position, direction of movement, intention, etc. to the first terminal device.

In one possible implementation, the side-link communication may be performed using only the resources of the uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period, and thus the first terminal device may transmit the first information only to the second terminal device. For example, the first terminal device may send a first broadcast message to the second terminal device, the first broadcast message including only the first information. The first terminal equipment only carries the first information for indicating the time slot configuration period and the uplink time slot quantity in the time slot configuration period in the first broadcast message, so that the resource overhead can be effectively saved, and the second terminal equipment can be ensured to use the resources of the uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period for side uplink communication.

In another possible implementation, uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols in each configurable slot in the slot configuration period may also be used for side-uplink communications, so that the second terminal device may utilize resources of the uplink slot in the slot configuration period and resources of the uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols in the configurable slot for side-uplink communications.

In this implementation, the first terminal device may send not only the first information to the second terminal device, but also the second information and the third information to the second terminal device. The second information is used for indicating the number of at least one configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period, and the third information is used for indicating at least one of type information of each symbol in the configurable time slot, position information of an uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, number information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot and position information of the uplink symbol and flexible symbol in the configurable time slot.

In a time slot configuration period, the configurable time slots are sequentially arranged before at least one uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period, and if the last configurable time slot of a group of configurable time slots which are continuously configured is not the last time slot in the time slot configuration period, the time slot next to the last configurable time slot must be an uplink time slot. Thus, as long as the number of configurable slots and the number of uplink slots in a slot configuration period are known, the structure of the slot configuration period can be obtained, and the position of at least one configurable slot included in the slot configuration period is also known. The first terminal device may notify the second terminal device of the position of at least one configurable slot in the slot configuration period by sending the second information, and notify the second terminal device of the position of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol in each configurable slot in the slot configuration period by sending the third information. Furthermore, the second terminal device can utilize the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol resource in the configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period to perform side-link communication, thereby increasing the communication opportunity, enabling the configuration of the uplink and downlink TDD to reach the granularity of the symbol, and enabling the configuration to be more flexible.

In this embodiment of the present application, the third information is specifically used to indicate the configuration of part or all of the uplink and downlink symbols in the configurable time slot, where the configuration of the uplink and downlink symbols may be understood as the internal structure or the time slot format of the configurable time slot. It should be noted that the number and positions of the uplink symbol, the downlink symbol, and the flexible symbol included in each configurable slot in one slot configuration period may be the same, that is, the slot formats of each configurable slot in one slot configuration period may be the same.

Several possible ways of indicating the third information are presented below:

mode one: the third information is used to indicate type information of each symbol in the configurable time slot.

The type information of the symbol may refer to whether one symbol is an uplink symbol, a downlink symbol, or a flexible symbol. This way of indicating the third information may be applicable in a scenario where only uplink symbols in a configurable time slot are used for side-link communication, and flexible symbols in a configurable time slot cannot be used for side-link communication because they cannot be determined by the second terminal device to be used for uplink or downlink by itself. Alternatively, the method can be applied to a scenario that both uplink symbols and flexible symbols in a configurable time slot are available for side-uplink communication, and the method is not limited in this application.

If the third information is used to indicate the type information of each symbol in the configurable slot, the third information may be complete slot format indication (slot format indicator, SFI) information, such as index of the slot format shown in fig. 1. In fig. 1, one slot comprises 14 symbols, one configurable slot has 256 possible slot formats, indicating that at least 8 bits are needed for the type information of each symbol in the configurable slot, i.e. at this time the third information may occupy at least 8 bits.

Mode two: the third information is used to indicate the position information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot.

This way of indicating the third information is applicable in a scenario where only uplink symbols in the configurable time slot are used for side-link communication, and flexible symbols in the configurable time slot cannot be used for side-link communication because they cannot be determined by the second terminal device by itself whether they are used for uplink or downlink. In this scenario, it is not necessary for the second terminal device to know the type information of all symbols in the configurable time slot, and only the positions of the uplink symbols available for side-uplink communication in the configurable time slot may be of interest.

Considering a complete side-link communication, at least 4 consecutive symbols are required, automatic gain control (automatic gain control, AGC) symbols, control channel, data channel and GAP null symbols, respectively. In the present embodiment, the uplink symbols in the configurable time slot that may be used for side-link communications have 13 possible position arrangements as shown in table 2 below. The position arrangement of each uplink symbol shown in table 2 may correspond to one or more slot formats shown in fig. 1, where the index of the slot format corresponds to the complete SFI information or format in fig. 1.

Table 2 position index table of uplink symbols in configurable time slots

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If the third information is used to indicate the position information of the uplink symbol in the configurable timeslot, the third information may be understood as simplified SFI information, and may be, for example, the position index of the uplink symbol shown in table 2. Since the uplink symbols available for side uplink communication have 13 possible position arrangements, the position information indicating the uplink symbols in the configurable time slot needs at least 4 bits, i.e. the third information may occupy at least 4 bits, and compared with the complete SFI information requiring 8 bits in mode 1, the data length can be reduced by half, and the reliability of transmission can be improved.

And the third mode and the third information are used for indicating the number information of the uplink symbols in the configurable time slot.

This way of indicating the third information is applicable in a scenario where only uplink symbols in the configurable time slot are used for side-link communication, and flexible symbols in the configurable time slot cannot be used for side-link communication because they cannot be determined by the second terminal device by itself whether they are used for uplink or downlink. For the second terminal device, it does not need to know the type information of all symbols in the configurable time slot, and may only care about the positions of the uplink symbols available for side-uplink communication in the configurable time slot.

It should be noted that, this indication manner also requires that the position of the uplink symbol in one slot has a certain setting rule, for example, the uplink symbol may be continuously configured starting from the beginning or the end of the slot, so that the first terminal device may indirectly indicate the position of the uplink symbol in the configurable slot through the third information, and further use the resource of the uplink symbol in the configurable slot to perform the side uplink communication.

Mode four: the third information is used to indicate the position information of the uplink symbol and the flexible symbol in the configurable slot.

This way of indicating the third information is applicable in the scenario where both uplink symbols and flexible symbols in the configurable time slot are available for side-uplink communication. In this scenario, the second terminal device need not know the type information of all symbols in the configurable time slot, and may only care about the positions of uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols available for side-uplink communication in the configurable time slot.

Considering a complete side-link communication, at least 4 consecutive symbols are required, AGC symbols, control channel, data channel and GAP symbols, respectively. In the present embodiment, the combination of uplink symbols and flexible symbols available for side-link communication in a configurable time slot has 10 possible positioning arrangements as shown in table 3 below. The position arrangement of each uplink symbol and flexible symbol shown in table 3 may correspond to one or more slot formats shown in fig. 1, where the index of the slot format corresponds to the complete SFI information or format in fig. 1.

Table 3 position index table of uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols in configurable time slots

If the third information is used to indicate the position information of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol in the configurable timeslot, the third information may be understood as simplified SFI information, and may be, for example, the position index of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol shown in table 3. Since the combination of uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols available for side-uplink communication has 10 possible position arrangements, the position information indicating the uplink symbols and/or flexible symbols in the configurable time slot needs at least 4 bits, i.e. the third information may occupy at least 4 bits, and the data length may be reduced by half compared to the complete SFI information requiring 8 bits in mode 1, and the reliability of transmission is improved.

The second information and the third information in the embodiment of the present application have multiple possible transmission manners. For example, the first terminal device may transmit the second information and the third information through a first broadcast message; alternatively, the first terminal device may transmit the second information through a first broadcast message, and the third information through a system information block (system information block, SIB) message or a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) message; or, the first terminal device transmits the second information and the third information through SIB message or RRC message. It is to be appreciated that the first broadcast message referred to in the embodiments of the present application may be carried on a PSBCH channel, for example, the first broadcast message may be a synchronization signal block (synchronization signal block, SSB) message transmitted on a side uplink, the SIB message may be a PC5 SIB message or other type of SIB message, and the RRC message may be a PC5 RRC message or other type of RRC message, which is not specifically limited in this application.

It should also be understood that the first information, the second information, and the third information in the embodiments of the present application may be transmitted in the same message, or may be transmitted in different messages, which is not limited in this application. For example, the first terminal device may transmit a first broadcast message including the first information, the second information, and the third information to the second terminal device. For another example, the first terminal device may send a first broadcast message to the second terminal device, where the first broadcast message includes the first information and the second information, and the first terminal device may also send an RRC message to the second terminal device, where the RRC message includes the third information. For another example, the first terminal device may transmit a first broadcast message including the first information to the second terminal device, and the first terminal device may further transmit an RRC message including the second information and the third information to the second terminal device. For another example, the first terminal device may send a first broadcast message to the second terminal device, where the first broadcast message includes first information, the first terminal device may also send an RRC message to the second terminal device, where the RRC message includes second information, and the first terminal device may also send an SIB message to the second terminal device, where the SIB message includes third information.

Fig. 5a to 5d schematically illustrate various transmission modes of the first information, the second information and the third information in the embodiment of the present application. In fig. 5a, the first terminal device may transmit the first information through an SSB message carried on the PSBCH, and transmit the second information and the third information through an SIB message or an RRC message. In this way, by means of the two-stage indication, the slot configuration period, the position of at least one uplink slot in the slot configuration period, the position of at least one configurable slot in the slot configuration period, and the type information of each symbol of the configurable slot in the slot configuration period or the position of an uplink symbol in the configurable slot or the position of an uplink symbol and/or a flexible symbol in the configurable slot can be directly or indirectly indicated, so that the second terminal device can use the uplink slot in the slot configuration period and the resources of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol in the configurable slot to perform side-link communication. Because the time slot configuration period can be indicated by 4 bits, and the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period can be indicated by 7 bits, in the transmission mode, only 11 bits of information are needed to be carried in the PSBCH, so that the low code rate of the PSBCH can be ensured, the decoding success rate of the PSBCH is improved, and the reliability of transmission is further improved.

In fig. 5b, the first terminal device may transmit the first information and the second information through SSB messages carried on the PSBCH, and transmit the third information through SIB messages or RRC messages. In this way, by means of the two-stage indication, the slot configuration period, the position of at least one uplink slot in the slot configuration period, the position of at least one configurable slot in the slot configuration period, and the type information of each symbol of the configurable slot in the slot configuration period or the position of an uplink symbol in the configurable slot or the position of an uplink symbol and/or a flexible symbol in the configurable slot can be directly or indirectly indicated, so that the second terminal device can use the uplink slot in the slot configuration period and the resources of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol in the configurable slot to perform side-link communication. Because the time slot configuration period can be indicated by 4 bits, the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period can be indicated by 7 bits, and the number of configurable time slots in the time slot configuration period can be indicated by 7 bits, in the transmitting mode, only 18 bits of information need to be carried in the PSBCH, the low code rate of the PSBCH can be ensured, the decoding success rate of the PSBCH is improved, and the reliability of transmission is further improved.

In fig. 5c, the first terminal device may transmit the first information, the second information, and the third information through SSB messages carried on the PSBCH. In this way, by means of the single-level indication, the slot configuration period, the position of at least one uplink slot in the slot configuration period, the position of at least one configurable slot in the slot configuration period, and the type of each symbol of the configurable slot in the slot configuration period or the position of an uplink symbol in the configurable slot or the position of an uplink symbol and/or a flexible symbol in the configurable slot can be indicated directly or indirectly, so that the second terminal device can use the uplink slot in the slot configuration period and the resources of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol in the configurable slot for side-link communication. In this transmission manner, the slot configuration period may be indicated by 4 bits, the number of uplink slots in the slot configuration period may be indicated by 7 bits, the number of configurable slots in the slot configuration period may be indicated by 7 bits, and when the third information indicates the type of each symbol in the configurable slot (i.e., the slot format of the configurable slot), the third information may be indicated by 8 bits, where the PSBCH needs to carry 26 bits of information in total. When the third information indicates the position of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, the third information may be indicated by 4 bits, and at this time, the PSBCH needs to carry 22 bits of information in total. When the third information indicates the number of uplink symbols in the configurable time slot, the third information may be indicated by 4 bits, and at this time, the PSBCH needs to carry 22 bits of information in total. When the third information indicates the position of the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol in the configurable time slot, the third information may be indicated by 4 bits, where a total of 22 bits of information need to be carried in the PSBCH. It can be seen that, in several indication modes of the third information, the number of bits of the information to be carried in the PSBCH is smaller than 32 bits, so that the low code rate of the PSBCH can be ensured, the decoding success rate of the PSBCH is improved, and the reliability of transmission is further improved.

In fig. 5d, the first terminal device may send the first information through the SSB message carried on the PSBCH, and no longer send the second information and the third information through the SIB message or the RRC message. In this way, by means of the single-level indication, the time slot configuration period can be directly indicated, and the position of the uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period can be indirectly indicated, so that the second terminal device can use the resource of the uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period for side uplink communication. In the transmission, the time slot configuration period can be indicated by 4 bits, the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period can be indicated by 7 bits, and the PSBCH needs to carry 11 bits of information, so that the low code rate of the PSBCH can be ensured, the decoding success rate of the PSBCH can be improved, the transmission reliability can be further improved, and meanwhile, the signaling overhead can be saved.

It should be noted that, the time slots referred to in the embodiments of the present application may be other time granularity in the time domain, for example, radio frames, subframes, micro time slots, mini time slots, and the like, which are not specifically limited in the present application.

Example two

Referring to fig. 6, a flowchart of another method for side-link communication according to an embodiment of the present application is shown, and the method includes steps S601 to S604 as follows:

In step S601, the first terminal device determines seventh information, eighth information and ninth information, where the seventh information is used to indicate a slot configuration period, where the slot configuration period includes at least one uplink slot and at least one configurable slot, the eighth information is used to indicate a number of at least one configurable slot in the slot configuration period, and the ninth information is used to indicate an offset value of a first configurable slot in the slot configuration period relative to a first slot in the slot configuration period, where a unit of the offset value may be a slot.

The difference between the slot configuration period in the embodiment of the present application and the slot configuration period in the first embodiment of the present application is that the slot configuration period in the embodiment of the present application may include at least one uplink slot and at least one configurable slot, and the slot configuration period in the first embodiment of the present application may include only at least one uplink slot and may also include at least one uplink slot and at least one configurable slot. Other specific implementations of the slot configuration period in the embodiment of the present application may be the same as in the first embodiment, and will not be described herein.

The first information in the first embodiment is used to indicate a slot configuration period and the number of uplink slots in the slot configuration period. Because the uplink time slots are sequentially disposed at the end of the time slot configuration period, the first information can indirectly indicate the positions of the uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period. Similarly, as shown in fig. 4, the downlink time slots are sequentially disposed at the front end of the time slot configuration period, and the configurable time slots are sequentially disposed after the downlink time slots and before the uplink time slots, so that the structure of the time slot configuration period can be determined directly without doubt as long as the time slot configuration period, the number of at least one configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period, and the offset value of the first configurable time slot with respect to the first time slot in the time slot configuration period are known. According to the number of at least one configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period and the offset value of the first configurable time slot relative to the first time slot in the time slot configuration period, the position of the configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period can be directly determined, and then according to the fact that the downlink time slot is continuously arranged before the configurable time slot, the position of the downlink time slot and the position of the uplink time slot can be deduced after the uplink time slot is continuously arranged after the configurable time slot.

Table 4 below exemplarily shows an offset value of a first configurable slot in the slot configuration period with respect to the first slot in the slot configuration period, and a maximum value of the number of configurable slots that may exist under the offset value.

Table 4 offset and number of configurable time slots that may exist in a time slot configuration period

As can be seen from table 4, the offset value of the first configurable slot in one slot configuration period with respect to the first slot in the slot configuration period is at most 79, and therefore the offset value needs to be at least 7 bits, i.e. the ninth information needs to occupy at least 7 bits.

The larger the offset value of the first configurable slot in a slot configuration period relative to the first slot in the slot configuration period, the smaller the maximum value of the number of configurable slots that can be accommodated in the slot configuration period. The number of configurable time slots that may be present in a time slot configuration period, which number of configurable time slots requires at least 7 bits for indication, i.e. the eighth information needs to occupy at least 7 bits, is at most 80. The slot configuration period has 10 possible lengths, which need to be indicated by at least 4 bits, i.e. the seventh information occupies at least 4 bits.

Step S602, the first terminal device sends seventh information, eighth information and ninth information to the second terminal device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first terminal device may send the seventh information, the eighth information, and the ninth information through a first broadcast message. The first broadcast message may be carried on a PSBCH channel, e.g., the first broadcast message may be a synchronization signal block (synchronization signal block, SSB) message transmitted on a side uplink.

Because the time slot configuration period can be indicated by 4 bits, the number of configurable time slots in the time slot configuration period can be indicated by 7 bits, and the offset value of the first configurable time slot relative to the first time slot in the time slot configuration period can also be indicated by 7 bits, 18 bits of information need to be carried in the PSBCH, so that the low code rate of the PSBCH can be ensured, the decoding success rate of the PSBCH can be improved, and the reliability of transmission can be further improved.

Step S603, the second terminal device receives seventh information, eighth information, and ninth information from the first terminal device.

Step S604, the second terminal device performs side-link communication with the first terminal device on a first resource, where the first resource includes a time domain resource corresponding to at least one uplink time slot in a slot configuration period.

After receiving the seventh information, the eighth information and the ninth information, the second terminal device can determine the positions of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period, and further utilize the resources of the uplink time slots to perform side uplink communication.

In one possible implementation, the first terminal device may further send tenth information to the second terminal device, where the tenth information is used to indicate at least one of type information of each symbol in the configurable time slot, location information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, number information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, location information of the flexible symbol and the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, in consideration that the uplink symbol and/or the flexible symbol in the configurable time slot may also be used for side-link communication. At this time, the first resource further includes a resource corresponding to an uplink symbol and/or a flexible symbol in at least one configurable slot in the slot configuration period, and the second terminal device may further use the portion of the resource to perform side uplink communication. The first terminal device sends the tenth information through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message, which is not specifically limited in this application. The specific implementation of the tenth information may be similar to the third information in the first embodiment, and will not be described here again.

Example III

Referring to fig. 7, a flowchart of another method for side-link communication according to an embodiment of the present application is provided, and the method includes the following steps S701 to S704:

in step S701, the first terminal device determines fourth information and fifth information, where the fourth information is used to indicate a timeslot configuration period, where the timeslot configuration period may include at least one uplink timeslot and/or at least one configurable timeslot, and the fifth information is used to indicate a location of a timeslot for side uplink transmission in the timeslot configuration period, where the timeslot for side uplink transmission includes the uplink timeslot and/or the configurable timeslot.

Step S702, the first terminal device sends fourth information and fifth information to the second terminal device.

Step S703, the second terminal device receives the fourth information and the fifth information from the first terminal device.

In step S704, the second terminal device performs side-link communication with the first terminal device on a first resource, where the first resource includes a resource corresponding to a time slot used for side-link transmission in the time slot configuration period.

In the first and second embodiments, it is considered that uplink slots in the slot configuration period, uplink symbols in the configurable slots in the slot configuration period, and/or flexible symbols may be used for side-link communication, and the first terminal device may directly or indirectly indicate to the second terminal device the positions of these uplink slots, uplink symbols in the configurable slots, and/or flexible symbols, and the second terminal device may use the resources of these slots or symbols for side-link communication.

In this embodiment, the first terminal device may send fifth information to the second terminal device to explicitly indicate which timeslots in the timeslot configuration period may be used for performing the sidelink transmission, where the indicated timeslots for the sidelink transmission may include uplink timeslots and/or configurable timeslots. As shown in fig. 8, the first terminal device may configure part or all of the uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period as time slots for side-link transmission, and may also configure part or all of the configurable time slots in the time slot configuration period as time slots for side-link transmission. Further, the second terminal device performs side-link communication using the indicated resources of the time slot for performing side-link transmission. In fig. 8, uu configuration indicates a time slot configuration that the network device configures for the first terminal device and that is applied on the Uu interface between the first terminal device and the network device. Uu-SL configuration indicates a slot configuration on the PC5 interface by the first terminal device based on the slot configuration on the Uu interface, i.e. the slot configuration used for the side-link communication.

The first terminal device may transmit the fourth information through the first broadcast message, and transmit the fifth information through the SIB message or the RRC message. The first broadcast message may be carried on a PSBCH channel, e.g., the first broadcast message may be a synchronization signal block (synchronization signal block, SSB) message transmitted on a side uplink. The SIB message may be a PC5 SIB message, and the RRC message may be a PC5 RRC message, which is not specifically limited in this application.

Specifically, the fifth information in the embodiments of the present application may be a first bitmap for indicating whether each time slot in the time slot configuration period is a time slot for side-link transmission or an index value corresponding to the first bitmap. For example, in a scenario where 80 slots may be included in one slot configuration period, the first bitmap may include 80 bits, where each bit is used to indicate whether the corresponding slot is a slot for side-link transmission, e.g., when the bit value is 1, the corresponding slot may be indicated as being used for side-link transmission, and when the bit value is 0, the corresponding slot may be indicated as not being used for side-link transmission.

The time slots used for sidelink transmission may also be referred to as sidelink slots (sidelink slots), or may have other names, and the present application is not limited. The sidelink slot may include at least one sidelink symbol (sidelink symbol), and in this embodiment, only the sidelink symbol in the sidelink slot may be utilized by the second terminal device for sidelink transmission.

As shown in fig. 8, if the first terminal device configures a certain uplink timeslot as a sidelink timeslot for sidelink transmission, the first terminal device may further configure some or all uplink symbols in the uplink timeslot as sidelink symbols. Similarly, if the first terminal device configures a configurable timeslot as a sidelink timeslot for sidelink transmission, the first terminal device may further configure some or all uplink symbols and some or all flexible symbols in the configurable timeslot as sidelink symbols.

In this way, the first terminal device may also send sixth information to the second terminal device, the sixth information being used to indicate the position of the sidelink symbol in each of the time slots for sidelink transmission. The first terminal device may transmit the sixth information through SIB message or RRC message. The SIB message may be a PC5 SIB message, and the RRC message may be a PC5 RRC message, which is not limited in this application. It should be noted that the fifth information and the sixth information may be transmitted in the same message or may be transmitted in different messages, and the application is not limited, and for example, the first terminal device may send an RRC message to the second terminal device, where the RRC message includes the fifth information and the sixth information.

The sixth information may include a second bitmap for indicating whether each symbol in each slot for sidelink transmission is a sidelink symbol or an index value corresponding to the second bitmap, for example, in a scenario in which 14 symbols are included in one slot, the second bitmap may include 14 bits, each bit for indicating whether the corresponding symbol is a sidelink symbol, for example, when the bit value is 1, it may indicate that the corresponding symbol is a sidelink symbol, and when the bit value is 0, it may indicate that the corresponding symbol is not a sidelink symbol.

Alternatively, the sixth information may also include slot format indication SFI information indicating a type of each symbol in each slot for side-uplink transmission or an index value corresponding to the SFI information. That is, the sixth information may also directly indicate a slot format of each slot for side-link transmission. Still alternatively, the sixth information may also include reduced SFI information indicating the location of sidelink symbols in each of the slots for sidelink transmission.

In the embodiments of the present application, several possible slot formats for the slots used for the side-link transmission may also be predefined. If the sixth information includes the index value corresponding to the second bitmap, the number of possible slot formats determines the number of bits occupied by the index value corresponding to the second bitmap. If the sixth information includes SFI information indicating type information of each symbol in each slot for side-uplink transmission, the SFI information may be specifically used to indicate which slot format the slot for side-uplink is preconfigured. For example, as shown in fig. 9, the slot format of the slot for the side-link transmission may be one of the six slot formats shown in fig. 9, because there are 6 choices in total, and thus the SFI information may occupy at least 3 bits. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, before or while the first terminal device sends the fifth information to the second terminal device, the first terminal device may also send information for indicating the structure of the slot configuration period, for example, one or more of the first information, the second information, the third information, and the fourth information, to the second terminal device.

Referring to fig. 10, a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application is provided, and the communication device 1000 includes: a transceiver module 1010 and a processing module 1020. The communication means may be adapted to implement the functionality of any of the method embodiments described above in relation to the first terminal device or the second terminal device. For example, the communication means may be a terminal device, such as a handheld terminal device, a vehicle-mounted terminal device, or the like; the communication device may also be a chip included in the terminal device, or the communication device may be an in-vehicle device, for example, an in-vehicle module or an in-vehicle unit built into the vehicle.

When the communication apparatus is used as a first terminal device to perform the method embodiment shown in fig. 3, the processing module 1020 is configured to determine first information, where the first information is used to indicate a slot configuration period and a number of at least one uplink slot in the slot configuration period; the transceiver module 1010 is configured to send the first information to the second terminal device.

In one possible design, the transceiver module 1010 is further configured to send second information and third information to the second terminal device, where the second information is used to indicate a number of at least one configurable slot in a slot configuration period, and the third information is used to indicate at least one of the following information: the type information of each symbol in the time slot can be configured; the position information of the uplink symbol in the time slot can be configured; or, the information of the number of uplink symbols in the time slot can be configured; or, the position information of the uplink symbol and the flexible symbol in the time slot can be configured.

In one possible design, transceiver module 1010 is also to: transmitting first information through a first broadcast message; transmitting the second information and the third information through the first broadcast message; or, transmitting the second information and the third information through an SIB message or an RRC message; or, the second information is transmitted through the first broadcast message, and the third information is transmitted through the SIB message or the RRC message.

When the communication apparatus is used as a second terminal device and the method embodiment shown in fig. 3 is performed, the transceiver module 1010 is configured to receive first information from the first terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate a slot configuration period and a number of at least one uplink slot in the slot configuration period; the processing module 1020 is configured to perform side-link communication with the first terminal device through the transceiver module 1010 on a first resource, where the first resource includes a resource corresponding to the at least one uplink timeslot.

In one possible design, the transceiver module 1010 is further configured to receive second information and third information from the first terminal device, where the second information is used to indicate a number of at least one configurable slot in a slot configuration period, and the third information is used to indicate at least one of the following information: the type information of each symbol in the time slot can be configured; the position information of the uplink symbol in the time slot can be configured; or, the information of the number of uplink symbols in the time slot can be configured; or, the position information of the uplink symbol and the flexible symbol in the time slot can be configured.

In one possible design, transceiver module 1010 is also to: receiving first information through a first broadcast message; receiving the second information and the third information through the first broadcast message; or receiving the second information and the third information through SIB message or RRC message; or, the second information is received through the first broadcast message, and the third information is received through the SIB message or the RRC message.

When the communication apparatus is used as the first terminal device and performs the method embodiment shown in fig. 6, the processing module 1020 is configured to determine seventh information, eighth information, and ninth information; the transceiver module 1010 is configured to send seventh information, eighth information and ninth information to the second terminal device, where the seventh information is configured to indicate a slot configuration period, the slot configuration period includes at least one uplink slot and at least one configurable slot, the eighth information is configured to indicate a number of at least one configurable slot in the slot configuration period, and the ninth information is configured to indicate an offset value of a first configurable slot in the slot configuration period relative to a first slot in the slot configuration period.

In one possible design, the transceiver module 1010 is further configured to send tenth information to the second terminal device, where the tenth information is used to indicate at least one of the following information: the type information of each symbol in the configurable time slot, the position information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, the number information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, and the position information of the uplink symbol and the flexible symbol in the configurable time slot.

In one possible design, transceiver module 1010 is also to: transmitting seventh information, eighth information, and ninth information through a first broadcast message; the tenth information is transmitted through the first broadcast message, or may be transmitted through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message.

When the communication apparatus is used as a second terminal device to perform the method embodiment shown in fig. 6, the transceiver module 1010 is configured to receive, from the first terminal device, seventh information, which is used to indicate a slot configuration period including at least one uplink slot and at least one configurable slot, eighth information, which is used to indicate a number of at least one configurable slot in the slot configuration period, and ninth information, which is used to indicate an offset value of a first configurable slot in the slot configuration period relative to a first slot in the slot configuration period; the processing module 1020 is configured to perform side-link communication with the first terminal device through the transceiver module 1010 on a first resource, where the first resource includes a resource corresponding to at least one uplink timeslot in a timeslot configuration period.

In one possible design, the transceiver module 1010 is further configured to receive tenth information from the first terminal device, where the tenth information is configured to indicate at least one of the following information: the type information of each symbol in the configurable time slot, the position information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, the number information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot, and the position information of the uplink symbol and the flexible symbol in the configurable time slot.

In one possible design, the transceiver module 1010 is specifically configured to receive the seventh information, the eighth information, and the ninth information through the first broadcast message; the tenth information is received through the first broadcast message, or may be received through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message.

When the communication apparatus is used as the first terminal device and performs the method embodiment shown in fig. 7, the processing module 1020 is configured to determine fourth information and fifth information, where the fourth information is used to indicate a time slot configuration period, the time slot configuration period includes at least one uplink time slot and/or at least one configurable time slot, and the fifth information is used to indicate a position of a time slot used for a side uplink transmission in the time slot configuration period, where the time slot used for the side uplink transmission includes the uplink time slot and/or the configurable time slot; the transceiver module 1010 is configured to send fourth information and fifth information to the second terminal device.

In one possible design, the transceiver module 1010 is further configured to send sixth information to the second terminal device, where the sixth information is used to indicate a position of the sidelink symbol in each of the timeslots used for sidelink transmission.

In one possible design, transceiver module 1010 is also to: fourth information is transmitted through the first broadcast message, fifth information is transmitted through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message, and sixth information is transmitted through the SIB message or the RRC message.

When the communication apparatus is used as a second terminal device to perform the method embodiment shown in fig. 7, the transceiver module 1010 is configured to receive, from the first terminal device, fourth information and fifth information, where the fourth information is used to indicate a time slot configuration period, the time slot configuration period includes at least one uplink time slot and/or at least one configurable time slot, and the fifth information is used to indicate a position of a time slot for a side uplink transmission in the time slot configuration period, where the time slot for the side uplink transmission includes the uplink time slot and/or the configurable time slot; the processing module 1020 is configured to perform side-link communication with the first terminal device via the transceiver module 1010 on a first resource that includes a resource corresponding to a time slot for side-link transmission in a time slot configuration period.

In one possible design, the transceiver module 1010 is further configured to receive sixth information from the first terminal device, where the sixth information is used to indicate a position of a sidelink symbol in each of the time slots for sidelink transmission.

In one possible design, transceiver module 1010 is also to: the fourth information is received through the first broadcast message, the fifth information is received through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message, and the sixth information is received through the SIB message or the RRC message.

The processing module 1020 involved in the communication device may be implemented by a processor or processor-related circuit component, which may be a processor or processing unit; transceiver module 1010 may be implemented by a transceiver or transceiver-related circuit component, which may be a transceiver or a transceiver unit. The operations and/or functions of the respective modules in the communication device are not described herein for brevity in order to implement the respective flows of the methods shown in fig. 3, 5a to 5d, 6 and 7, respectively.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of another structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device may specifically be a terminal device. For easy understanding and ease of illustration, in fig. 11, a mobile phone is taken as an example of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 11, the terminal device includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, an input/output device, and the like. The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the terminal equipment, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs and the like. The memory is mainly used for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting a baseband signal and a radio frequency signal and processing the radio frequency signal. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are mainly used for receiving data input by a user and outputting data to the user. It should be noted that some kinds of terminal apparatuses may not have an input/output device.

When data need to be sent, the processor carries out baseband processing on the data to be sent and then outputs a baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit carries out radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and then sends the radio frequency signal outwards in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal equipment, the radio frequency circuit receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data. For ease of illustration, only one memory and processor is shown in fig. 11. In an actual end device product, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or storage device, etc. The memory may be provided separately from the processor or may be integrated with the processor, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the radio frequency circuit with the transceiver function may be regarded as a transceiver unit of the terminal device, and the processor with the processing function may be regarded as a processing unit of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 11, the terminal device includes a transceiving unit 1110 and a processing unit 1120. The transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver device, etc. The processing unit may also be called a processor, a processing board, a processing module, a processing device, etc. Alternatively, the device for implementing the receiving function in the transceiver unit 1110 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and the device for implementing the transmitting function in the transceiver unit 1110 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiver unit 1110 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver circuitry, or the like. The receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, or receiving circuit, among others. The transmitting unit may also sometimes be referred to as a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc. It should be understood that, the transceiver 1110 is configured to perform the sending operation and the receiving operation on the terminal device side in the above method embodiment, and the processing unit 1120 is configured to perform other operations on the terminal device other than the receiving operation in the above method embodiment.

The embodiment of the application also provides a chip system, which comprises: a processor coupled to a memory for storing programs or instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the system-on-a-chip to implement the method of any of the method embodiments described above.

The system-on-chip may be, for example, a field programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA), an application specific integrated chip (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), a system on chip (SoC), a central processing unit (central processor unit, CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP), a digital signal processing circuit (digital signal processor, DSP), a microcontroller (micro controller unit, MCU), a programmable controller (programmable logic device, PLD) or other integrated chip.

It should be understood that the steps in the above-described method embodiments may be accomplished by integrated logic circuitry in hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in a hardware processor or in a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-readable instructions, which when read and executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of the method embodiments described above.

The present application also provides a computer program product which, when read and executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any of the method embodiments described above.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication system, which comprises the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment. Optionally, a network device may also be included in the communication system.

It should be appreciated that the processors referred to in the embodiments of the present application may be central processing units (central processing unit, CPU), but may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (digital signal processor, DSP), application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), off-the-shelf programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, or the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

It should also be understood that the memory referred to in the embodiments of the present application may be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (random access memory, RAM) which acts as an external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM).

Note that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components, the memory (storage module) is integrated into the processor.

It should be noted that the memory described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic of the processes, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present invention.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software 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.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

The foregoing is merely specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of side-link communication, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that first terminal equipment determines first information, wherein the first information is used for indicating information of a time slot configuration period and the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period, and the information of the time slot configuration period is used for indicating the total number of time slots in the time slot configuration period;

the first terminal device sends the first information to a second terminal device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the slot configuration period further comprises at least one configurable slot; the method further comprises the steps of:

the first terminal device sends second information and third information to the second terminal device, wherein the second information is used for indicating the number of at least one configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period, and the third information is used for indicating at least one of the following information:

type information for each symbol in the configurable time slot; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the position information of the uplink symbol in the configurable time slot; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the number information of the uplink symbols in the configurable time slot; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the position information of the uplink symbol and the flexible symbol in the configurable time slot.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first terminal device sends the first information by means of a first broadcast message;

the first terminal equipment sends second information and third information through the first broadcast message; or,

the first terminal equipment sends the second information and the third information through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message; or,

the first terminal device sends the second information through a first broadcast message, and sends the third information through the SIB message or the RRC message.

4. A method of side-link communication, the method comprising:

the second terminal equipment receives first information from the first terminal equipment, wherein the first information is used for indicating information of a time slot configuration period and the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period, and the information of the time slot configuration period is used for indicating the total number of time slots in the time slot configuration period;

and the second terminal equipment performs side-link communication with the first terminal equipment on first resources, wherein the first resources comprise resources corresponding to uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the slot configuration period further comprises at least one configurable slot, and wherein the first resource further comprises a resource corresponding to an uplink symbol and/or a flexible symbol in the at least one configurable slot; the method further comprises the steps of:

the second terminal device receives second information and third information from the first terminal device, the second information being used for indicating the number of at least one configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period, and the third information being used for indicating at least one of the following information:

type information for each symbol in the configurable time slot;

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the method further comprises:

the second terminal equipment receives the first information through a first broadcast message;

the second terminal equipment receives second information and third information through the first broadcast message; or,

The second terminal equipment receives the second information and the third information through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message; or,

the second terminal device receives the second information through a first broadcast message, and receives the third information through the SIB message or the RRC message.

7. A method of side-link communication, the method comprising:

the first terminal equipment determines fourth information and fifth information, wherein the fourth information is used for indicating information of a time slot configuration period, the information of the time slot configuration period is used for indicating the total number of time slots in the time slot configuration period, the time slot configuration period comprises at least one uplink time slot and/or at least one configurable time slot, the fifth information is used for indicating the position of the time slot used for side uplink transmission in the time slot configuration period, and the time slot used for side uplink transmission comprises the uplink time slot and/or the configurable time slot;

the first terminal device sends the fourth information and the fifth information to a second terminal device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

The first terminal device sends sixth information to the second terminal device, where the sixth information is used to indicate a position of a sidelink in each of the timeslots used for sidelink transmission.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the fifth information comprises: a first bitmap for indicating whether each time slot in the time slot configuration period is a time slot for side-link transmission or an index value corresponding to the first bitmap;

the sixth information includes: a second bitmap for indicating whether each symbol in each of the slots for sidelink transmission is a sidelink symbol or an index value corresponding to the second bitmap; or,

the sixth information includes: the time slot format indicates SFI information or an index value corresponding to the SFI information, wherein the SFI information is used for indicating the type of each symbol in each time slot for side-link transmission.

10. A method of side-link communication, the method comprising:

the second terminal device receives fourth information and fifth information from the first terminal device, wherein the fourth information is used for indicating information of a time slot configuration period, the information of the time slot configuration period is used for indicating the total number of time slots in the time slot configuration period, the information of the time slot configuration period is at least one uplink time slot and at least one configurable time slot, the fifth information is used for indicating the position of a time slot used for side uplink transmission in the time slot configuration period, and the time slot used for side uplink transmission comprises the uplink time slot and/or the configurable time slot;

And the second terminal equipment performs side-link communication with the first terminal equipment on a first resource, wherein the first resource comprises a resource corresponding to the time slot for side-link transmission in the time slot configuration period.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first resources comprise resources corresponding to sidelink symbols in each of the time slots for sidelink transmission; the method further comprises the steps of:

the second terminal device receives sixth information from the first terminal device, the sixth information indicating a position of a sidelink symbol in each of the slots for sidelink transmission.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the fifth information comprises: a first bitmap for indicating whether each time slot in the time slot configuration period is a time slot for side-link transmission or an index value corresponding to the first bitmap;

13. A communication device, the device comprising:

the processing module is used for determining first information, wherein the first information is used for indicating information of a time slot configuration period and the number of uplink time slots in the time slot configuration period, and the information of the time slot configuration period is used for indicating the total number of time slots in the time slot configuration period;

and the receiving and transmitting module is used for transmitting the first information to the second terminal equipment.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the slot configuration period further comprises at least one configurable slot; the transceiver module is further configured to:

transmitting second information and third information to the second terminal device, wherein the second information is used for indicating the number of at least one configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period, and the third information is used for indicating at least one of the following information:

type information for each symbol in the configurable time slot;

15. The apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the transceiver module is specifically configured to:

Transmitting the first information through a first broadcast message;

transmitting second information and third information through the first broadcast message; or,

transmitting the second information and the third information through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message; or,

and transmitting the second information through a first broadcast message, and transmitting the third information through the SIB message or the RRC message.

16. A communication device, the device comprising:

a transceiver module, configured to receive first information from a first terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate information of a slot configuration period and a number of uplink slots in the slot configuration period, and the information of the slot configuration period is used to indicate a total number of slots in the slot configuration period;

and the processing module is used for carrying out side uplink communication with the first terminal equipment through the receiving and transmitting module, and the first resource comprises a resource corresponding to an uplink time slot in the time slot configuration period.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the slot configuration period further comprises at least one configurable slot, and wherein the first resource further comprises a resource corresponding to an uplink symbol and/or a flexible symbol in the at least one configurable slot; the transceiver module is further configured to:

Receiving second information and third information from the first terminal device, wherein the second information is used for indicating the number of at least one configurable time slot in the time slot configuration period, and the third information is used for indicating at least one of the following information:

type information for each symbol in the configurable time slot;

18. The apparatus according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the transceiver module is specifically configured to:

receiving the first information through a first broadcast message;

receiving second information and third information through the first broadcast message; or,

receiving the second information and the third information through a system information block SIB message or a radio resource control RRC message; or,

the second information is received through a first broadcast message, and the third information is received through the SIB message or the RRC message.

19. A communication device, the device comprising:

a processing module configured to determine fourth information and fifth information, the fourth information being used for indicating information of a slot configuration period, the information of the slot configuration period being used for indicating a total number of slots in the slot configuration period, the slot configuration period including at least one uplink slot and at least one configurable slot, the fifth information being used for indicating a position of a slot for a side uplink transmission in the slot configuration period, the slot for a side uplink transmission including an uplink slot and/or a configurable slot;

And the receiving and transmitting module is used for transmitting the fourth information and the fifth information to the second terminal equipment.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

and transmitting sixth information to the second terminal equipment, wherein the sixth information is used for indicating the position of a sidelink symbol in each time slot for sidelink transmission.

21. The apparatus according to claim 19 or 20, wherein the fifth information comprises: a first bitmap for indicating whether each time slot in the time slot configuration period is a time slot for side-link transmission or an index value corresponding to the first bitmap;

22. A communication device, the device comprising:

A transceiver module configured to receive fourth information and fifth information from a first terminal device, where the fourth information is used to indicate information of a slot configuration period, the information of the slot configuration period is used to indicate a total number of slots in the slot configuration period, the slot configuration period includes at least one uplink slot and at least one configurable slot, the fifth information is used to indicate location information of a slot for a side uplink transmission in the slot configuration period, and the slot for the side uplink transmission includes an uplink slot and/or a configurable slot;

and the processing module is used for carrying out side-link communication with the first terminal equipment through the receiving-transmitting module, and the first resource comprises a resource corresponding to the time slot for side-link transmission in the time slot configuration period.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the first resources comprise resources corresponding to sidelink symbols in each of the time slots for sidelink transmission; the transceiver module is further configured to:

sixth information is received from the first terminal device, the sixth information being used to indicate the position of sidelink symbols in each of the time slots for sidelink transmission.

24. The apparatus according to claim 22 or 23, wherein the fifth information comprises: a first bitmap for indicating whether each time slot in the time slot configuration period is a time slot for side-link transmission or an index value corresponding to the first bitmap;

25. A communication apparatus, the apparatus comprising at least one processor coupled with at least one memory:

the at least one processor configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in the at least one memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 6.

26. A computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program or instructions is stored which, when read and executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 6.

27. A communication apparatus, the apparatus comprising at least one processor coupled with at least one memory:

the at least one processor configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in the at least one memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 7 to 12.

28. A computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program or instructions is stored which, when read and executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 7 to 12.