CN112399614B

CN112399614B - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN112399614B
Application number: CN201910741116.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王晓娜; 管鹏; 黄煌
Original assignee: Chengdu Huawei Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Chengdu Huawei Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-08-12
Filing date: 2019-08-12
Publication date: 2023-11-10
Anticipated expiration: 2039-08-12
Also published as: CN112399614A

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and a communication device. According to the method, the network device may send first information to the terminal apparatus, the first information including a cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier, the cross-carrier scheduling scheme including: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduling carrier. Therefore, the network device can indicate the cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier to the terminal device so as to realize the scheduling of the user data by the scheme.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

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

Background

The existing wireless communication protocol supports two multi-carrier joint scheduling modes. One is self-carrier scheduling, i.e. the control channel and the corresponding data channel are carried on the same carrier. When a certain carrier of a terminal is configured for self-carrier scheduling, the terminal will only receive control channels on that carrier. And secondly, cross-carrier scheduling, namely, a control channel and a corresponding data channel are carried on different carriers. For example, under cross-carrier scheduling, a control channel of a High Frequency (HF) carrier may be carried by a Low Frequency (LF) carrier. When a certain carrier of a terminal is configured for cross-carrier scheduling, the terminal will not receive a control channel on that carrier.

For the high-low frequency cooperative transmission, if the characteristics of high-frequency transmission loss and limited channel number are considered, the high-frequency data transmission can be scheduled by utilizing low-frequency resources, namely, the reliability of a high-frequency control channel is improved by cross-carrier scheduling, but the waiting time delay of a user service is increased; if the characteristics of short time slot and large transmission bandwidth of high-frequency scheduling are considered, high-frequency self-carrier scheduling should be utilized to reduce the waiting time delay and transmission time delay of user service packets, but downlink user scheduling is limited.

Therefore, the current multi-carrier joint scheduling mode only has two schemes of self-carrier scheduling and cross-carrier scheduling, and the flexibility of user scheduling needs to be improved.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which are used for improving the flexibility of user service scheduling.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method of communication. The method may be performed by a network device. According to the method, the network device may send first information to the terminal apparatus, the first information including a cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier, the cross-carrier scheduling scheme including: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduling carrier. Therefore, the network device can indicate the cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the control channel of the target carrier to the terminal device so as to realize the scheduling of the user data by the scheme.

It should be understood that the first information is described herein by taking information including the target scheduling scheme as an example, but it should not be understood that the first information can only include information of the cross-carrier scheduling scheme. In the embodiment of the present application, the first information may include at least one scheduling scheme of the scheduling schemes, so that the cross-carrier scheduling scheme included in the first information may be replaced by a scheduling scheme, where the scheduling scheme may include at least one of the following transmission schemes of the control channel of the target carrier: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduled carrier, or the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the scheduled carrier (i.e. cross-carrier scheduling scheme), or the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the target carrier.

In one possible design, the network device may also select the above-described cross-carrier scheduling scheme from among a plurality of cross-carrier scheduling schemes of the control channel of the target carrier. The plurality of cross-carrier scheduling schemes may include a scheme in which a control channel of a target carrier is transmitted by a scheduling carrier, a scheme in which a control channel of a target carrier is transmitted by a combination of a target carrier and a scheduling carrier, and a scheme in which a control channel of a target carrier is transmitted by a target carrier. The scheme in which the control channel of the target carrier is jointly transmitted by the target carrier and the scheduled carrier includes the cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the first aspect.

By adopting the design, the network equipment can select the cross-carrier scheduling scheme from a plurality of cross-carrier scheduling schemes according to the current business load of the cell and the user and instruct the terminal device so as to improve the flexibility of the user data scheduling.

In one possible design, a first control channel of the target carrier may be carried by the target carrier and a second control channel of the target carrier may be carried by the scheduling carrier.

Illustratively, the first control channel may be used to schedule a data channel of a first time slot and the second control channel may be used to schedule a data channel of a second time slot.

The first time slot may be determined according to a subcarrier spacing of the target carrier and a subcarrier spacing of the scheduling carrier, and the second time slot may be determined according to a subcarrier spacing of the target carrier and a subcarrier spacing of the scheduling carrier.

By adopting the design, a cross-carrier scheduling scheme can be set according to the subcarrier interval of the target carrier and the subcarrier interval of the scheduling carrier, so that the flexibility in the process of scheduling user data is realized.

Illustratively, the first control channel may be further configured to carry control information in a first format, and the second control channel may be further configured to carry control information in a second format.

Wherein the first format may include at least one of the following formats: format 0_0; alternatively, format 0_1; alternatively, format 1_0; alternatively, format 1_1; alternatively, format 2_0; alternatively, format 2_1; alternatively, format 2_2; alternatively, format 2_3. The second format may include at least one of the following formats: format 0_0; alternatively, format 0_1; alternatively, format 1_0; alternatively, format 1_1; alternatively, format 2_0; alternatively, format 2_1; alternatively, format 2_2; alternatively, format 2_3. Wherein the first format is different from the second format.

By adopting the design, a cross-carrier scheduling scheme can be set according to the format of the control information, so that the blind detection times of a target carrier control channel are reduced while the flexibility of user data scheduling is realized.

In one possible design, the first information may be carried in one or more of an RRC message, a MAC-CE message, or downlink control information.

By adopting the design, the first information can be carried through the RRC message, the MAC-CE message or the downlink control information, so that flexible transmission of the first information is realized. Specifically, when the first information is transmitted through the RRC message, the network device may configure the terminal with a long-term efficient cross-carrier scheduling scheme. Since the MAC-CE message is a lower layer message than the RRC message, the network device can dynamically select the target scheduling scheme more flexibly when the first information is transmitted through the MAC-CE message than when the first information is transmitted through the RRC message. In addition, when the first information is sent through the downlink control information, a system or a different cross-carrier scheduling scheme can be configured for each control channel of the target carrier, so that the configuration flexibility is further improved.

In one possible design, the first information further includes one or more of the following information: target carrier identification, scheduling carrier identification, target carrier BWP identification, scheduling carrier BWP identification, cross-carrier scheduling scheme list; wherein the list of cross-carrier scheduling schemes includes information of one or more alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes.

For example, the cross-carrier scheduling identifier may be used to indicate that the cross-carrier scheduling scheme is an nth cross-carrier scheduling scheme of a plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes, where N is a positive integer, N is 1-N, and N is the number of the plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes. The plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes may be indicated to the terminal device by the network equipment, or defined by a protocol, or preconfigured at the terminal device.

With the above design, the cross-carrier scheduling identifier is used to indicate the cross-carrier scheduling scheme from the plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes, and the cross-carrier scheduling scheme can be indicated by fewer bits, so that the signaling overhead when the first information is transmitted is reduced. For example, if the cross-carrier scheduling scheme is indicated by the number of each scheme, 4 bits may be required to be only 16 schemes, but if some of the alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes are indicated in advance (or defined by the protocol or determined by a preconfigured manner) by the network device, such as 8 alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes, the first information only needs to carry 3 bits to be able to indicate all the alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes, so that the length of the bits occupied by the first information is reduced.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be implemented by a terminal device. According to the method, the terminal device may receive first information from the network apparatus and receive a control channel of a target carrier according to the first information. Wherein the first information includes a target carrier control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme (hereinafter may be simply referred to as a cross-carrier scheduling scheme), the target carrier control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme including: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduling carrier.

In one possible design, the first control channel may be used to schedule a data channel for a first time slot and the second control channel may be used to schedule a data channel for a second time slot; alternatively, the first control channel may be used to carry control information in a first format, and the second control channel may be used to carry control information in a second format.

In one possible design, the first time slot may be determined based on a subcarrier spacing of the target carrier and a subcarrier spacing of the scheduling carrier, and the second time slot may be determined based on a subcarrier spacing of the target carrier and a subcarrier spacing of the scheduling carrier.

In one possible design, the first format may include at least one of the following formats: format 0_0; alternatively, format 0_1; alternatively, format 1_0; alternatively, format 1_1; alternatively, format 2_0; alternatively, format 2_1; alternatively, format 2_2; alternatively, format 2_3. The second format may include at least one of the following formats: format 0_0; alternatively, format 0_1; alternatively, format 1_0; alternatively, format 1_1; alternatively, format 2_0; alternatively, format 2_1; alternatively, format 2_2; alternatively, format 2_3. The above first format is different from the second format.

In one possible design, the first information may be carried by at least one of the following information: an RRC message; a MAC-CE message; downlink control information.

In one possible design, the first information may further include one or more of the following information: target carrier identification, scheduling carrier identification, target carrier BWP identification, scheduling carrier BWP identification, cross-carrier scheduling scheme list; wherein the list of cross-carrier scheduling schemes includes information of one or more alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes.

The cross-carrier scheduling identifier is used for indicating that the cross-carrier scheduling scheme is an nth cross-carrier scheduling scheme in a plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes, wherein N is a positive integer, N is greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N, and N is the number of the plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus. The communication means may be adapted to perform the steps performed by the network device in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect. The communication device may implement the functions of the methods described above in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or both.

When the communication device according to the third aspect is implemented by a software module, the communication device may comprise a communication module and a processing module coupled to each other, wherein the communication module may be configured to support communication by the communication device, and the processing module may be configured to perform processing operations by the communication device, such as generating information/messages to be transmitted, or processing received signals to obtain the information/messages.

In performing the steps of the first aspect, the communication module may be configured to send first information to the terminal device, where the first information includes a cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier, where the cross-carrier scheduling scheme includes: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduling carrier.

In one possible design, the processing module may be configured to select the cross-carrier scheduling scheme from a plurality of cross-carrier scheduling schemes for a control channel of the target carrier. The plurality of cross-carrier scheduling schemes may include a scheme in which a control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by a scheduling carrier, a scheme in which a control channel of the target carrier is jointly transmitted by the target carrier and the scheduling carrier, and a scheme in which a control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by the target carrier. The scheme that the control channel of the target carrier is jointly transmitted by the target carrier and the scheduling carrier comprises the cross-carrier scheduling scheme.

The first time slot may be determined according to a subcarrier spacing of the target carrier and a subcarrier spacing of the scheduling carrier, and the second time slot may be determined according to a subcarrier spacing of the target carrier and a subcarrier spacing of the scheduling carrier. The processing module may be configured to determine the first time slot and the second time slot.

When the communication device of the third aspect is implemented by a hardware component, the communication device may comprise a memory and a processor. Wherein the memory is operable to store instructions from which the processor is operable to invoke and execute the instructions to perform the steps performed by the network device in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

The communication device may also include a transceiver for communicating with the communication device.

In particular, the transceiver may be configured to perform the steps performed by the above communication module and/or the processor may be configured to perform the steps performed by the above processing module.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus. The communication device may be adapted to perform the steps performed by the terminal device in the second aspect or any of the possible designs of the second aspect described above. The communication device may implement the functions of the methods described above in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or both.

When the communication device according to the fourth aspect is implemented by a software module, the communication device may include a communication module and a processing module coupled to each other, where the communication module may be used to support communication by the communication device, and the processing module may be used to perform processing operations by the communication device, such as generating information/messages to be sent, or processing received signals to obtain the information/messages.

In performing the steps of the second aspect, the communication module may be configured to receive first information from the network device, and receive a control channel of the target carrier according to the first information. Wherein the first information includes a target carrier control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme, the target carrier control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme comprising: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduling carrier.

When the communication device according to the fourth aspect is implemented by a hardware component, the communication device may include a memory and a processor. Wherein the memory is operable to store instructions from which the processor is operable to invoke and execute the instructions to perform steps performed by the network device in the second aspect or any of the possible designs of the second aspect described above.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication system which may include the communication apparatus shown in the third aspect and the communication apparatus shown in the fourth aspect. Wherein the communication device shown in the third aspect may be constituted by software modules and/or hardware components. The communication device shown in the fourth aspect may be constituted by software modules and/or hardware components.

Taking the communication device of the third aspect as a network device and the communication device of the fourth aspect as a terminal device as an example, in the communication system provided by the embodiment of the present application, the network device may send first information to the terminal device, where the first information includes a cross-carrier scheduling scheme of a target carrier, and the cross-carrier scheduling scheme includes: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduling carrier. The terminal device may be configured to receive first information from the network apparatus and receive a control channel of a target carrier according to the first information.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer storage medium having instructions (or programs) stored therein which, when invoked for execution on a computer, cause the computer to perform any one of the possible designs of the first aspect or the second aspect or any one of the possible designs of the second aspect or the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, which may contain instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method as described in the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, or the second aspect or any one of the possible designs of the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a chip and/or a chip system comprising a chip, which may comprise a processor. The chip may also include a memory (or memory module) and/or a transceiver (or communication module). The chip may be used to perform the method described in the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the second aspect or the second aspect. The chip system may be formed from the chips described above, or may include the chips described above and other discrete devices such as a memory (or memory module) and/or transceiver (or communication module).

The advantages of the second to eighth aspects and possible designs thereof described above may be referred to the description of the advantages of the method described in the first aspect and any possible design thereof.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system according to the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a correspondence between high-frequency carrier and low-frequency carrier time slots according to the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a cross-carrier scheduling scheme provided by the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of another cross-carrier scheduling scheme provided in the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of another cross-carrier scheduling scheme provided in the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of another cross-carrier scheduling scheme provided in the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a MAC-CE message according to the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another MAC-CE message provided in the present application;

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

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to the present application.

Detailed Description

The present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, for the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent. The specific methods of operation in the method embodiments may also be applied to the apparatus embodiments or the system embodiments.

The following terms are used to explain the present application:

at least one of: refers to one, or more than one, i.e., includes one, two, three, and more than one.

A plurality of: refers to two, or more than two, i.e., including two, three, and more than two.

Carrying: it may refer to a message for carrying certain information or data, or it may refer to a message composed of certain information.

Coupling: refers to an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units, or modules, which may be in electrical, mechanical, or other form for information interaction between the devices, units, or modules.

Carrier aggregation (carrier aggregation, CA): refers to a transmission technique in which two or more carriers are aggregated together to obtain a larger transmission bandwidth. Based on carrier aggregation technology, the terminal device can utilize several carriers to perform uplink and downlink transmission according to its own capability and bandwidth transmission requirement. Wherein, a plurality of carriers accessed by the terminal device at the same time can belong to the same frequency band or a plurality of different frequency bands.

Carrier wave: each carrier corresponds to an independent cell. The cell may be a primary cell (PCell) or a secondary cell (SCell). For a terminal device configured with carrier aggregation, the terminal device may be connected to one PCell and multiple scells at the same time (for example, the terminal device may be connected to four scells at the same time at the maximum), so as to perform uplink and downlink transmission through carriers corresponding to the PCell and carriers corresponding to the multiple scells respectively. The PCell and the plurality of scells form a serving cell (serving cell) set of the terminal device. In the present application, the carrier is also referred to as a carrier element (component carrier, CC).

Primary cell (PCell): the cell in which the terminal apparatus performs initial connection establishment, or the cell in which radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) connection reestablishment, or the primary cell designated in the handover (handover) procedure. The PCell is responsible for RRC transmission communication with the terminal device. The carrier corresponding to the PCell may be referred to as a primary carrier or as a primary carrier element (primary component carrier, PCC).

Secondary cell (SCell): refers to a cell added through an RRC reconfiguration (RRC connection reconfiguration) message after an initial security activation procedure (initial security activationprocedure) for providing additional radio resources to the terminal device. There is no RRC communication between the SCell and the terminal device. The carrier corresponding to the SCell may be referred to as a secondary carrier, or as a secondary carrier element (secondary component carrier, SCC).

Index of carrier: the index of the carrier may be used to identify each carrier. Each carrier has a corresponding index, and the index of the main carrier is fixed to be 0; the index of each secondary carrier of the terminal device may be transmitted to the terminal device through RRC signaling for the terminal device.

It should be further understood that, for a terminal apparatus supporting multi-carrier transmission in the present application, a carrier for carrying a data channel may be referred to as a target carrier (in other words, a target carrier carries a data channel, or a resource carries a data channel of a target carrier), and a carrier for carrying a control channel corresponding to a data channel may be referred to as a scheduling carrier (in other words, a scheduling carrier carries a control channel, or a resource carries a control channel of a scheduling carrier). It should be appreciated that the scheduling carrier may be the same carrier as the target carrier or the scheduling carrier may be a different carrier than the target carrier.

As shown in fig. 1, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a wireless communication system 100, and the wireless communication system 100 may include a terminal apparatus 101 and a network device 102. Wherein the terminal apparatus 101 is configured to support carrier aggregation, the terminal apparatus 101 may be connected to a plurality of carrier units of the network device 102, including one primary carrier unit and one or more secondary carrier units.

It should be appreciated that the above wireless communication system 100 may be applicable to both low frequency scenarios (sub 6G) and high frequency scenarios (above 6G). Application scenarios of the wireless communication system 100 include, but are not limited to, long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD) systems, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMAX) communication systems, cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) systems, future fifth Generation (5 th-Generation, 5G) systems, new Radio (NR) communication systems, or future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN) systems, and the like.

The terminal apparatus 101 shown above may be a User Equipment (UE), a terminal (terminal), an access terminal, a terminal unit, a terminal station, a Mobile Station (MS), a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile terminal (mobile terminal), a wireless communication device, a terminal agent, a terminal apparatus, or the like. The terminal apparatus 101 may be provided with a wireless transceiver function capable of communicating (e.g., wirelessly communicating) with one or more network devices of one or more communication systems and receiving network services provided by the network devices, including but not limited to the network device 102 shown in fig. 1.

The terminal apparatus 101 may be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA) device, a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, a terminal apparatus in a future 5G network or a terminal apparatus in a future evolved PLMN network, etc.

In addition, the terminal device 101 may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, hand-held or vehicle-mounted; the terminal device 101 may also be deployed on the water surface (e.g., on a ship, etc.); terminal device 101 may also be deployed in the air (e.g., on an airplane, balloon, satellite, etc.). The terminal apparatus 101 may specifically be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet pc (pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in unmanned driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote medical (remote medical), 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), or the like. The terminal apparatus 101 may be a communication chip having a communication module.

Network device 102 may be an access network device (or access network site). The access network device refers to a device capable of providing a network access function, such as a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) base station, and the like. The network device 102 may specifically include a Base Station (BS), or include a base station, a radio resource management device for controlling the base station, and the like. The network device 102 may also include relay stations (relay devices), access points, base stations in future 5G networks, base stations in future evolved PLMN networks, or NR base stations, etc. Network device 102 may be a wearable device or an in-vehicle device. The network device 102 may also be a communication chip with a communication module.

For example, network device 102 may include, but is not limited to: a next generation base station (gcnb) in 5G, an evolved node B (eNB) in the LTE system, a radio controller under the CRAN system, a home base station (e.g., home evolved nodeB, or home node B, HNB), a baseBand unit (BBU), a transmission point (transmitting and receiving point, TRP), a transmission point (transmitting point, TP), a mobile switching center, or the like.

It should be appreciated that the wireless communication system 100 shown in fig. 1 may be applied to a multi-carrier aggregation scenario, and the terminal apparatus 101 may implement communication with the network device 102 based on carrier aggregation technology.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application will be described below with reference to a communication system as shown in fig. 1.

It should be understood that the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be used for the following indication of the transmission scheme of the control channel, where the network device 102 may indicate the control channel for transmitting the target carrier by the target carrier to the terminal apparatus 101, or indicate the control channel for transmitting the target carrier by the scheduled carrier to the terminal apparatus 101, or indicate the control channel for jointly transmitting the target carrier by the target carrier and the scheduled carrier to the terminal apparatus 101 (i.e. cross-carrier scheduling scheme) according to the method shown in the present application. In fig. 2, only the case where the network device 102 indicates the cross-carrier scheduling scheme is taken as an example, but it should not be understood that the embodiment of the present application is only used for indicating the cross-carrier scheduling scheme, and the embodiment of the present application may also be used for indicating two other transmission schemes.

As shown in fig. 2, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application includes the following steps:

s101: the network device 102 transmits the first information to the terminal apparatus 101.

Wherein the first information comprises information of a cross-carrier scheduling scheme.

It should be understood that the first information is described herein by taking information including the target scheduling scheme as an example, but it should not be understood that the first information can only include information of the cross-carrier scheduling scheme. In the embodiment of the present application, the first information may include at least one of the scheduling schemes, so that the cross-carrier scheduling scheme may be replaced by a scheduling scheme, which may include at least one of the following transmission schemes of the control channel of the target carrier: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduled carrier, or the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the scheduled carrier (i.e. cross-carrier scheduling scheme), or the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the target carrier.

For convenience of description, the scheduling scheme indicated by the first information may be referred to as a target scheduling scheme. The target scheduling scheme includes a cross-carrier scheduling scheme or other scheduling scheme as exemplified above.

Accordingly, the terminal apparatus 101 receives the first information from the network device 102.

S102: the terminal apparatus 101 receives the control channel of the target carrier according to the above-described cross-carrier scheduling scheme.

For example, the terminal apparatus 101 may determine a carrier carrying a control channel of a target carrier according to the first information and receive the control channel of the target carrier on the carrier.

By adopting the method, the cross-carrier scheduling of the control channel of the target carrier can be realized, so that the flexibility of user data scheduling is improved.

In the implementation of the above method, a plurality of scheduling schemes of the control channel of the target carrier may be predefined. The network device 102 may select a target scheduling scheme from among the control channel scheduling schemes of the defined plurality of target carriers before performing step S101. In the present application, the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme of each target carrier may also be referred to as a pattern (pattern).

Specifically, prior to implementation of step S101, network device 102 may select a target scheduling scheme from a plurality of scheduling schemes of a control channel of a target carrier.

The above plurality of scheduling schemes may include one or more of a scheme in which a control channel of a target carrier is transmitted only by a scheduling carrier, a cross-carrier scheduling scheme, or a scheme in which a control channel of a target carrier is transmitted only by a target carrier. Wherein the scheduled carrier and the target carrier are different carriers. The number of the above plurality of scheduling schemes may be one or more. When the number of the cross-carrier scheduling schemes is multiple in the multiple scheduling schemes, the control channels of the target carriers transmitted by the target carriers in the different cross-carrier scheduling schemes are different, or in other words, the control channels of the target carriers transmitted by the scheduling carriers in the different cross-carrier scheduling schemes are different. The cross-carrier scheduling scheme may include the target scheduling scheme referred to in step S101.

Specifically, a control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme for one or more target carriers may be predefined.

In one possible example, network device 102 may determine a plurality of cross-carrier scheduling schemes from subcarrier spacing of a plurality of carriers of terminal apparatus 101.

Specifically, a specific cross-carrier scheduling scheme may be defined according to a subcarrier spacing of the target carrier and/or a subcarrier spacing of the scheduling carrier;

For example, if the ratio of the subcarrier spacing of the target carrier to the subcarrier spacing of the scheduled carrier is k, k may be determined ² A cross-carrier scheduling scheme.

Optionally, in the cross-carrier scheduling scheme, a control channel of a target carrier transmitted by a target carrier may be used to schedule a data channel located at a first time domain position of the target carrier, and a control channel of a target carrier transmitted by a scheduling carrier may be used to schedule a data channel located at a second time domain position of the target carrier, where the first time domain position and the second time domain position are different time domain positions. Illustratively, the sum of the data channel above at the first time domain location and the data channel above at the second time domain location may cover all of the data channels of the target carrier.

Next, a mode of setting a plurality of cross-carrier scheduling schemes will be specifically described, taking a low-frequency carrier cc#1 to which the terminal apparatus 101 is connected as 30 kilohertz (KHz) and a high-frequency carrier cc#2 to which the terminal apparatus 101 is connected as 120KHz as an example.

As shown in fig. 3, the length of one slot (slot) of the above low frequency carrier is equal to the length of four slots of the high frequency carrier, and for convenience of explanation, four slots of four high frequency carriers corresponding to slots of one low frequency carrier may be referred to as slot1, slot2, slot3 and slot4 respectively in the present application, a data channel located in slot1 may be referred to as a data channel of slot1 subsequently, and other slots are the same.

For example, when the low frequency carrier is a scheduling carrier of the terminal apparatus 101 and the high frequency carrier is a target carrier of the terminal apparatus 101, a plurality of control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes shown in table 1 may be determined, and for convenience of explanation, the low frequency carrier accessed by the terminal apparatus 101 is denoted by cc#1, and the high frequency carrier accessed by the terminal apparatus 101 is denoted by cc#2.

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TABLE 1

As can be seen from table 1, the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier indicated by the number #1 is a scheme in which the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by the target carrier, wherein the target carrier is the high frequency carrier CC #2. If the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme indicated by the number #1 is used as the target scheduling scheme, the terminal apparatus 101 only needs to receive the control channel of CC #2 on CC #2. The control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme shown by number #1 may also be represented by fig. 4. As can be seen from fig. 4, the data channels of slots 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the high frequency carrier cc#2 are all scheduled by the control channel of the high frequency carrier cc#2.

As can be seen from table 1, the control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes of the target carriers indicated by the numbers #2 to #15 are cross-carrier scheduling schemes in which the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by the target carrier and the scheduling carrier in combination. If the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme corresponding to any one of the numbers #2 to #15 is set as the target scheduling scheme, the terminal apparatus 101 needs to receive the control channel of CC #2 on CC #1 and CC #2.

The control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme for the target carrier, indicated by the number #2, may also be represented by fig. 5. As can be seen from fig. 5, the data channel of slot4 (slot 4, i.e. the second time domain position) of the high frequency carrier cc#2 is scheduled by the control channel of the low frequency carrier cc#1, and the data channels of slots 1 to 3 (slot 1 to slot3, i.e. the first time domain position) of the high frequency carrier cc#2 are scheduled by the control channel of the low frequency carrier cc#2.

The control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme for the target carrier, indicated by the number #3, may also be represented by fig. 6. As can be seen from fig. 6, the data channel of slot3 (slot 3, i.e. the second time domain position) of the high frequency carrier cc#2 is scheduled by the control channel of the low frequency carrier cc#1, and the data channels of slots 1, 2 and 4 (slot 1, slot2 and slot4, i.e. the first time domain position) of the high frequency carrier cc#2 are scheduled by the control channel of the low frequency carrier cc#2. The control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes of the target carriers shown in the numbers #4 to #15 are not described again, and the specific details are shown in table 1.

As can be seen from table 1, the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier indicated by the reference numeral #16 is a scheme in which the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by the scheduling carrier, wherein the target carrier is cc#2 and the scheduling carrier is cc#1. If the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme indicated by the number #16 is used as the target scheduling scheme, the terminal apparatus 101 only needs to receive the control channel of CC #2 on CC #1. The control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme shown by number #16 may also be represented by fig. 7. As can be seen from fig. 7, the data channels of slots 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the high frequency carrier cc#2 are all scheduled by the control channel of the low frequency carrier cc#1.

In addition, the configuration parameter values shown in table 1 may be used for the network device 102 to configure the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme to the terminal apparatus 101. The network device 102 may carry a configuration parameter value of 4 bits in the configuration information sent to the terminal apparatus 101, so as to configure the terminal apparatus 101 to determine a carrier of the control channel carrying the target carrier according to the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme corresponding to the configuration parameter value. For example, when the configuration information carries the configuration parameter value "0001", it indicates that the target scheduling scheme is the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme numbered "#2" in table 1.

As another example, if the ratio of the subcarrier spacing of the scheduled carrier to the subcarrier spacing of the target carrier is j, j may be determined ² A cross-carrier scheduling scheme. For example, when the high frequency carrier cc#2 is a scheduling carrier of the terminal apparatus 101 and the low frequency carrier cc#1 is a target carrier of the terminal apparatus 101, a plurality of control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes as shown in table 2 may be determined.

TABLE 2

As can be seen from table 2, the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier indicated by the number #1 is a scheme in which the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by the target carrier, wherein the target carrier is the high-frequency carrier CC #1. If the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme indicated by the number #1 is used as the target scheduling scheme, the terminal apparatus 101 only needs to receive the control channel of CC #1 on CC #1.

As can be seen from table 2, the control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes of the target carriers indicated by the numbers #2 to #16 are schemes in which the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by the scheduling carrier, wherein the target carrier is CC #1 and the scheduling carrier is CC #2. If the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme indicated by any one of the numbers #2 to #16 is set as the target scheduling scheme, the terminal apparatus 101 only needs to receive the control channel of CC #1 on CC #2.

By adopting the cross-carrier scheduling scheme of a plurality of control channels shown in table 2, a scheme that the control channels of a plurality of target carriers are transmitted by scheduling carriers can be set, as shown by the numbers #2 to #16, and the flexibility in user data scheduling can be improved.

It should be understood that the above arrangement manner of the control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes of the target carriers shown in table 1 and/or table 2 is merely illustrative, and the present application is not limited to the specific meaning and number of the control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes of the target carriers shown in table 1 and/or table 2 and the corresponding relation with the configuration parameter values, in other words, the number and the configuration parameter values corresponding to the specific meaning of each control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme in table 1 and/or table 2 may be adaptively changed according to the actual situation, but do not deviate from the protection scope of the present application. The present application does not exclude that the ratio of the subcarrier intervals of the plurality of carriers to which the terminal apparatus 101 accesses may be other values. The determination of the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme may be implemented on the basis of the embodiment of the present application even if the ratio of the subcarrier intervals of the plurality of carriers accessed by the terminal apparatus 101 has other possible values.

In another possible example, network device 102 may determine multiple cross-carrier scheduling schemes for the control channel of the target carrier based on the format of the control information carried by the control channel of the target carrier. Specifically, when the number of possible formats of the control information is l, l may be determined ² A cross-carrier scheduling scheme.

The control channel of the target carrier transmitted by the scheduling carrier can bear control information of a first format, the control channel of the target carrier transmitted by the target carrier can bear control information of a second format, and the first format and the second format are respectively different control information formats. Taking DCI as an example, the format of the control information may include formats 0_0, 0_1, 1_0, 1_1, 2_0, 2_1, 2_2, and 2_3.

Alternatively, one example may divide four formats of 0_0, 0_1, 1_0, and 1_1 into a first format and a second format. For example, when the first format is 0_0, the second format may be 0_1, 1_0, and 1_1.

When the format of the control information includes formats 0_0, 0_1, 1_0, and 1_1, a plurality of control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes as shown in table 3 may be determined. The control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes shown in the numbers #2 to #15 in table 3 are schemes for joint transmission of the target carrier and the scheduling carrier.

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TABLE 3 Table 3

As can be seen from table 3, the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier indicated by the number #1 is a scheme in which the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by the target carrier, wherein the target carrier is the high frequency carrier CC #2. If the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme indicated by the number #1 is used as the target scheduling scheme, the terminal apparatus 101 only needs to receive the control channel of CC #2 on CC #2.

As can be seen from table 3, the control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes of the target carriers shown in the numbers #2 to #15 are cross-carrier scheduling schemes in which the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by the target carrier and the scheduling carrier in combination. If the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme corresponding to any one of the numbers #2 to #15 is set as the target scheduling scheme, the terminal apparatus 101 needs to receive the control channel of CC #2 on CC #1 and CC #2.

For example, in the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier indicated by the number #2, the format 0_0 is the second format, and the formats 0_1, 1_0 and 1_1 are the first format. In the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme shown in number #3, format 0_1 is the second format, and format 0_0, format 1_0, and format 1_1 are the first format.

In addition, the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier shown by the number #16 in table 3 is a scheme in which the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by a scheduling carrier, where the target carrier is cc#2 and the scheduling carrier is cc#1. If the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme indicated by the number #16 is used as the target scheduling scheme, the terminal apparatus 101 only needs to receive the control channel of CC #2 on CC #1.

Optionally, one or more of the formats 0_1, 0_0, 1_0 and 1_1 may be replaced by one or more of the formats 2_0, 2_1, 2_2 and 2_3.

Alternatively, another example may divide eight formats of format 0_1, format 0_0, format 1_0, format 1_1, format 2_0, format 2_1, format 2_2, and format 2_3 into a first format and a second format. For example, when the first format is 0_0, the second format may be one or more of format 0_0, format 1_0, format 1_1, format 2_0, format 2_1, format 2_2, and format 2_3. It should be understood that, in this example, the number of the cross-carrier scheduling scheme, the value of the configuration parameter, and the specific meaning of the cross-carrier scheduling scheme may be set by those skilled in the art with reference to table 3, and the setting manner thereof may be various, and the present application is not limited to the setting manner thereof. For the sake of saving the application document, the setting manner of the cross-carrier scheduling scheme in this example is not specifically illustrated in the present application.

It should be understood that the setting manner of the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier shown in the above table 3 is merely illustrative, and the present application is not limited to the corresponding relationship between the specific meaning of the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier shown in table 3 and the values of the number and the configuration parameter, in other words, the number and the value of the configuration parameter corresponding to the specific meaning of each control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme in table 3 may be changed. In addition, the application does not exclude that the control information has other possible formats. The determination of the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme can be implemented on the basis of the embodiment of the application even if the control information has other possible formats.

In the implementation procedure of step S102, the first information may be used to indicate a target scheduling scheme of the multiple control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes, so the terminal apparatus 101 may determine a carrier of the control channel carrying the target carrier according to the target scheduling scheme.

It should be understood that the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be used for indication of a cross-carrier scheduling scheme and/or a non-cross-carrier scheduling scheme of a control channel, in other words, the target scheduling scheme includes, but is not limited to, a cross-carrier scheduling scheme. Specifically, the first information may be used to indicate one or more of the following scheduling schemes: the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the scheduling scheme of scheduling the carrier (the scheduling scheme shown as index #16 in table 1 or table 3, or the scheduling scheme shown as index #2- #16 in table 2), the cross-carrier scheduling scheme (the scheduling scheme shown as index #2- #15 in table 1 or table 3), or the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the target carrier (the scheduling scheme shown as index #1 in table 1, table 2, table 3). In other words, the first information in the above S102 step may be used to indicate one or more of a scheme in which the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the scheduled carrier, a cross-carrier scheduling scheme, or a scheme in which the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the target carrier.

In the implementation process of the present application, the first information may be carried in an RRC message, a MAC-CE message, or downlink control information of a control channel of the target carrier.

Next, a description will be given of a manner in which the network device 102 transmits the first information to the terminal apparatus 101 in the present application by way of example.

In the first aspect, the network device transmits an RRC message to the terminal device, and the first information is carried in the RRC message.

In this manner, the first information may include configuration information of the target scheduling scheme, and thus a direct indication of the target scheduling scheme may be achieved. Wherein, the configuration information of the target scheduling scheme may include at least one of an identification of the target scheduling scheme, an identification of the target carrier, or an identification of the scheduling carrier.

For example, the first information may include an identification of the target scheduling scheme, which may be used to indicate the target scheduling scheme. For example, if the network device 102 and the terminal apparatus 101 both know a plurality of control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes as shown in table 1 or table 2, the identification of the target scheduling scheme may include a number and/or a configuration parameter value corresponding to the target scheduling scheme, and the terminal apparatus 101 may look up a table according to the number and/or the configuration parameter value included in the first information to determine that the cross-carrier scheduling scheme corresponding to the number and/or the configuration parameter value is the target scheduling scheme. Wherein the terminal apparatus 101 may determine the multiple control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes as shown in table 1 or table 2 according to an instruction of the network device 102 or according to a preconfigured manner.

Further, the identification of the target carrier may include an index of the target carrier. The identification of the scheduling carrier may include an index of the scheduling carrier. Optionally, the first information disclosed in the present application may include an index of the target carrier and an index of the scheduling carrier, so as to indicate the scheduling carrier of the target carrier. For example, the first information may carry the indexes of cc#1 and cc#2 at the same time, where the index of the preceding (or following) carrier is the index of the target carrier, and the index of the following (or preceding) carrier is the index of the scheduling carrier; alternatively, the first information may indicate which carrier index is the index of the target carrier and/or indicate which carrier index is the index of the scheduling carrier.

The above identification of the target carrier may also include an identification of a cell (which may be referred to as a scheduled cell in the present application) to which the target carrier corresponds. The identification of the cell corresponding to the target carrier may include a cell identification (cif-In Scheduling Cell) of the scheduled cell in the scheduling cell, where the identification is used to identify which target carrier the current control channel is when the scheduling carrier carries the control channels of multiple target carriers. Similarly, the identification of the scheduling carrier may also include the identification of the cell corresponding to the scheduling carrier (the cell may be referred to as a scheduling cell in the present application), which is not described herein.

In addition, the configuration information of the target scheduling scheme may further include an identification of a BWP corresponding to the target scheduling scheme, and the terminal device may determine a scheduling carrier carrying the control channel according to the target scheduling scheme when the BWP is activated and receive the control channel of the target carrier on the carrier. For example, the first information may include an identification of BWP corresponding to the target scheduling scheme.

Illustratively, the first information may include cross carrier scheduling configuration (cross carrier scheduling configuration) information, which may include the structure shown in table 4 below. As shown in table 4, the cross-carrier scheduling configuration information may carry parameters such as a cross-carrier scheduling pattern identifier (CrossSchedulingPattern Id), a scheduling cell identifier (scheduling cell ID), a scheduled cell identifier (cif-inpassingscheduling cell), and a BWP ID corresponding to the target scheduling scheme.

TABLE 4 Table 4

As shown in table 4, the Cross Scheduling PatternId parameter has a value ranging from 1 to 16, and each possible value corresponds to a cross-carrier scheduling scheme as exemplified in table 1, table 2 or table 3. In addition, if the number of the control channel cross-carrier scheduling schemes is other than 16, the value range of the Cross Scheduling Pattern Id parameter can be adjusted accordingly.

The Scheduling Cell Id parameter is an identification of the scheduling cell, and its value may be a positive integer that may be used to identify the scheduling cell, where the scheduling cell corresponds to the scheduling carrier, that is, the scheduling Cell Id parameter value may be used to identify the scheduling carrier. cif-In Scheduling Cell may be used to identify a scheduled cell, where the scheduled cell corresponds to a target carrier, that is, cif-In Scheduling Cell may be used to identify a target carrier. Scheduling Cell Id parameters and cif-In Scheduling Cell parameters may be used to determine a target carrier for a control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme indicated by Cross Scheduling Pattern Id parameters, as well as a scheduled carrier for a control channel carrying the target carrier.

In a specific example, taking the first information shown in table 3 as an example, if the parameter value of Cross Scheduling Pattern ID is 3,scheduling Cell Id, the parameter value of cif-In Scheduling Cell is 2, the parameter value of BWP ID is 1, the parameter value of bwp_1 is assumed to be cc#2, and the terminal device 101 determines the carrier carrying the control channel of cc#2 according to the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme shown in table 1 and denoted by #3, when bwp_1 is activated, the carrier may be cc#2, or the scheduling carrier denoted by the parameter value of scheduling Cell Id, that is, cc#1.

The first information shown in table 4 above may be carried in an RRC message transmitted from the network device 102 to the terminal apparatus 101. Such as a serving cell configuration (serving cell config) message.

In addition, in the above manner, the network device 102 may also activate the target scheduling scheme configured for the terminal apparatus 101 by activating signaling, so that the terminal apparatus 101 determines the carrier of the control channel carrying the target carrier according to the target scheduling scheme. If the activation signaling is not received, the terminal apparatus 101 does not determine the carrier carrying the control channel of the target carrier according to the target scheduling scheme, and at this time, the terminal apparatus 101 may default to receiving the control channel of the target carrier at the target carrier or default to receiving the control channel of the target carrier at the scheduled carrier. For example, the activation signaling may be MAC-CE signaling that may be used to activate the target scheduling scheme either explicitly or implicitly. For example, wherein the activation signaling may carry an activation indication, the configuration for the target carrier may be explicitly activated. Alternatively, the activation signaling may have a specific format or carry specific information for implicitly activating the configuration for the target carrier.

As shown in fig. 8, when the target scheduling scheme is explicitly activated by the MAC-CE message, one octet (Oct) of the MAC-CE message may be used to carry the identity of the cell corresponding to the target carrier (e.g., the identity is carried by 5 bits) and the identity of the cross-carrier scheduling scheme to be activated (e.g., the identity is carried by 3 bits). In addition, in implementations, when the MAC-CE message indicates an identification of the target scheduling scheme (e.g., there is no corresponding cross-carrier scheduling scheme), the terminal apparatus 101 may default to receiving the control channel of the target carrier on the target carrier.

In the second mode, the network device 102 transmits a MAC-CE message to the terminal apparatus 101, and the first information is carried in the MAC-CE message. The first information may then be used to indicate the target scheduling scheme from among a plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes.

Wherein the network device 102 may configure the plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes to the terminal apparatus 101 through the second information (e.g., RRC message). The second information may include configuration information for each alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme. The configuration information of the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme may include at least one of an identification of the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme, an identification of the alternative carrier, an identification of the scheduling carrier, or an identification of the BWP corresponding to the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme. The meaning and the setting manner of the configuration information of the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme can refer to the description of the configuration information of the target scheduling scheme in the present application, and are not repeated herein. In addition, the above plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes may also be defined by the protocol, or determined by way of a pre-configuration.

Illustratively, as shown in table 5, the second information may include parameters such as a cross-carrier scheduling pattern identification list (cross scheduling pattern idlist), schedulingCellId, cif-inpassingscheduling cell, and an BWP ID corresponding to an alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme.

Wherein a cross scheduling pattern idlist parameter may be used to indicate a number of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes. For example, the parameter values of the cross schedule list may include one or more positive integer values, where each value may be used to indicate an alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme. Taking table 1 as an example, each positive integer value included in the parameter values of the cross scheduling pattern idlist may correspond to one control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme in table 1. For example, each positive integer takes the value of a number (number #1,1 is the number) of a control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme. The meaning and arrangement of schedulingCellId, cif-inprotectingcell in table 4 and BWP ID corresponding to each alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme may be referred to the description at table 4.

TABLE 5

According to the second information shown in table 5, when the target scheduling scheme is indicated from the plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes by the first information, the first information may carry the identification of the target scheduling scheme, such as the number of the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme shown in table 1 or table 2. Or, the first information may carry a positive integer in the parameter value of the cross scheduling pattern idlist in the second information, where the positive integer is a positive integer corresponding to the target scheduling scheme in the plurality of positive integers in the parameter value of the cross scheduling pattern idlist. For example, the parameter value of the cross scheduling pattern idlist of the second information is "2, 6, 9, 8", and the first information may carry "8", so as to indicate the alternative cross carrier scheduling scheme corresponding to the parameter value 8 of the cross scheduling pattern idlist as the target scheduling scheme.

In addition, the first information may also carry an index that may be used to indicate that the target scheduling scheme is an nth one of the plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes indicated by the second information. For example, the parameter values of the cross scheduling pattern idlist of the second information are "2, 6, 9, 8", and when the first information carries the index "4", the alternative cross carrier scheduling scheme indicated by the 4 th value in the parameter values of the cross scheduling pattern idlist is the target scheduling scheme, that is, the alternative cross carrier scheduling scheme corresponding to the parameter value 8 of the cross scheduling pattern idlist is the target scheduling scheme.

As shown in fig. 8, when the target scheduling scheme is indicated from the plurality of target scheduling schemes through the MAC-CE message, the identity of the cell corresponding to the target carrier (e.g., the identity is carried through 5 bits) and the identity of the target scheduling scheme (e.g., the identity of the cross-carrier scheduling scheme is carried through 3 bits) may be carried in one Oct of the MAC-CE message. In addition, in implementations, when the identification of the cross-carrier scheduling scheme indicated by the MAC-CE message is invalid (e.g., the identification does not have a corresponding cross-carrier scheduling scheme), the terminal apparatus 101 may default to receiving the control channel of the target carrier on the target carrier.

In the third aspect, the network device 102 transmits downlink control information to the terminal apparatus 101 to the network device 102, and the first information is carried in the downlink control information.

In one possible example, network device 102 may send third information to terminal apparatus 101, the third information being used to indicate a plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes, at which point the first information may be used to indicate a target scheduling scheme from the plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes. Wherein the third information may include configuration information for each alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme. The configuration information of the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme may include at least one of an identification of the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme, an identification of the alternative carrier, an identification of the scheduling carrier, or an identification of the BWP corresponding to the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme. The meaning and arrangement of the configuration information of the alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes can be referred to as the previous description in the present application.

In this example, when the third information is carried on the MAC-CE message or the RRC message.

When the third information is carried on the MAC-CE message, the MAC-CE message may have a format as shown in fig. 9. The first Oct of the MAC-CE message may include an identifier of a cell corresponding to the target carrier (e.g., a serving cell ID is carried by 5 bits) and an identifier of the first alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme (e.g., an identifier of the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme is carried by 3 bits), where after the first two bits of each Oct are set to reserved (R), and the other 6 bits respectively carry identifiers of the two alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes. In this scenario, the configuration information of the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scenario may be additionally indicated to the terminal apparatus 101 by the network device 102 through other messages (such as RRC messages), or defined by a protocol or determined by the terminal apparatus 101 through a preconfigured manner.

When the third information is carried on the RRC message, the format of the RRC message may be as shown in table 5.

In the third mode, the downlink control information may carry an identifier of the target scheduling scheme, and is used to indicate the target scheduling scheme from multiple alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes. For example, the downlink control information may carry the number of the target scheduling scheme or the index of the target scheduling scheme in the multiple alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes through 3 bits.

In a third further example, when the third information is carried in the RRC message, the third information may include an identification of BWP corresponding to each of the plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes, where the first information may be used to instruct the terminal device 101 to activate one BWP of the BWP corresponding to each of the plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes, and after activating the BWP, the terminal device 101 may use the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme corresponding to the BWP as the target scheduling scheme. For example, the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme indicating the control channel of the target carrier to the terminal apparatus 101 by the network device 102 through the RRC message includes an alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme #1, an alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme #2, and an alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme #3, wherein the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme #1, the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme #2, and the alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme #3 correspond to bwp#1, bwp#2, and bwp#3, respectively. If network device 102 instructs terminal apparatus 101 to activate bwp#1 through the downlink control information, terminal apparatus 101 may receive the control channel of the target carrier according to an alternative cross-carrier scheduling scheme #1 corresponding to bwp#1 after bwp#1 is activated.

By adopting the method, the network equipment 102 can configure a plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes to the terminal device 101 through the RRC message, and the BWP activation instruction of the network equipment 102 multiplexing the downlink control information configures the terminal device 101 to switch the control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier, so that the flexibility in the process of user data scheduling is further improved.

It should further be appreciated that the plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes in the above examples may also be defined by a protocol or may be determined by a preconfigured manner.

It should be understood that the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be used for the following transmission scheme indication of the control channel: the scheduling scheme may include at least one of the following transmission schemes of the control channel of the target carrier: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduled carrier, or the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the scheduled carrier (i.e. cross-carrier scheduling scheme), or the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the target carrier. The above description of fig. 2, that is, the related method embodiment, only uses the indication manner of the cross-carrier scheduling scheme as an example to describe the flow of the embodiment of the present application, and should not be understood that the embodiment of the present application is only applied to the indication of the cross-carrier scheduling scheme. Specifically, the network device 102 may instruct the terminal apparatus 101 to transmit the control channel of the target carrier by the target carrier, instruct the terminal apparatus 101 to transmit the control channel of the target carrier by the scheduled carrier, or instruct the terminal apparatus 101 to jointly transmit the control channel of the target carrier by the target carrier and the scheduled carrier (i.e., a cross-carrier scheduling scheme) according to the method shown in the embodiment of the present application.

Based on the same inventive concept as the above method embodiments, the present embodiments also provide a communication apparatus, which may have the functions of the network device or the terminal in the above method embodiments and may be used to perform the steps performed by the network device or the terminal provided in the above method embodiments. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by software or hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In one possible implementation, the communication apparatus 1000 shown in fig. 10 may be used as a network device according to the above method embodiment, and perform the steps performed by the network device (such as the network device 102) in the above method embodiment. As shown in fig. 10, the communication apparatus 1000 may include a communication module 1001 and a processing module 1002, and the communication module 1001 and the processing module 1002 are coupled to each other. The communication module 1001 may be used to support communication with the communication device 1000, and the communication module 1001 may be provided with a wireless communication function, for example, to enable wireless communication with other communication devices via a wireless air interface. The processing module 1002 may be configured to support the communications device 1000 to perform the processing actions described above in the method embodiments, including, but not limited to: generates information, messages, etc., sent by the communications module 1001, and/or demodulates and decodes signals received by the communications module 1001, etc.

In performing the steps implemented by the network device, the communication module 1001 may be configured to send first information to the terminal device, the first information including a cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier, the cross-carrier scheduling scheme including: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduling carrier.

The processing module 1002 may also be configured to select the cross-carrier scheduling scheme from a plurality of cross-carrier scheduling schemes of a control channel of the target carrier. The plurality of cross-carrier scheduling schemes may include a scheme in which a control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by a scheduling carrier, a scheme in which a control channel of the target carrier is jointly transmitted by the target carrier and the scheduling carrier, and a scheme in which a control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by the target carrier. The scheme that the control channel of the target carrier is jointly transmitted by the target carrier and the scheduling carrier comprises the cross-carrier scheduling scheme.

Illustratively, the first control channel may be used to schedule a data channel of a first time slot and the second control channel may be used to schedule a data channel of a second time slot. The first time slot may be determined according to a subcarrier interval of the target carrier and a subcarrier interval of the scheduling carrier, and the second time slot may be determined according to a subcarrier interval of the target carrier and a subcarrier interval of the scheduling carrier. The processing module 1002 may be configured to determine the first time slot and the second time slot.

Illustratively, the first control channel may be further configured to carry control information in a first format, and the second control channel may be further configured to carry control information in a second format. Wherein the first format may include at least one of the following formats: format 0_0; alternatively, format 0_1; alternatively, format 1_0; alternatively, format 1_1; alternatively, format 2_0; alternatively, format 2_1; alternatively, format 2_2; alternatively, format 2_3. The second format may include at least one of the following formats: format 0_0; alternatively, format 0_1; alternatively, format 1_0; alternatively, format 1_1; alternatively, format 2_0; alternatively, format 2_1; alternatively, format 2_2; alternatively, format 2_3. Wherein the first format is different from the second format.

The above first information may be carried in one or more of an RRC message, a MAC-CE message, or downlink control information.

The above first information may further include one or more of the following information: target carrier identification, scheduling carrier identification, target carrier BWP identification, scheduling carrier BWP identification, cross-carrier scheduling scheme list; wherein the list of cross-carrier scheduling schemes includes information of one or more alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes.

The cross-carrier scheduling identifier can be used for indicating that the cross-carrier scheduling scheme is an nth cross-carrier scheduling scheme in a plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes, wherein N is a positive integer, N is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N, and N is the number of the plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes. The plurality of alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes may be indicated to the terminal device by the network equipment, or defined by a protocol, or preconfigured at the terminal device.

It should be understood that the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be used for the following indication of the scheduling scheme transmission scheme of the control channel: the scheduling scheme may include at least one of the following transmission schemes of the control channel of the target carrier: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduled carrier, or the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the scheduled carrier (i.e. cross-carrier scheduling scheme), or the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the target carrier. Therefore, the cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier included in the first information in the above apparatus embodiment may be replaced by one of the following schemes: the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the scheduled carrier (i.e., cross-carrier scheduling scheme), or the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted only by the target carrier. In the above embodiment of the present application, the flow of the embodiment of the present application is described only by taking the indication manner of the cross-carrier scheduling scheme as an example, and it should not be understood that the embodiment of the present application is only applied to the indication of the cross-carrier scheduling scheme.

In another possible implementation manner, the communication device provided by the embodiment of the present application may also be formed by hardware components, such as a processor, a memory, or a transceiver, etc.

For ease of understanding, the configuration of the communication apparatus is illustrated by a base station in fig. 11. As shown in fig. 11, the communication device 1100 may include a transceiver 1101, a memory 1102, and a processor 1103. The transceiver 1101 may be used for communication by a communication device, such as for transmitting or receiving the first information described above. The memory 1102 is coupled to the processor 1103 and can be used to store programs and data necessary for the communication device 1100 to perform various functions. The processor 1103 is configured to support the communication device 1100 to perform the corresponding functions of the above-described method, which functions may be implemented by calling a program stored in the memory 1102.

In particular, the transceiver 1101 may be a wireless transceiver that may be used to support the communication device 1100 in receiving and transmitting signaling and/or data over a wireless air interface. The transceiver 1101 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit or a communication unit, and the transceiver 1101 may include a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio frequency unit (remote radio unit, RRU), particularly for transmission of radio frequency signals and conversion of radio frequency signals to baseband signals, and one or more antennas, particularly for radiation and reception of radio frequency signals. Alternatively, the transceiver 1101 may include only the above radio frequency units, and the communication apparatus 1100 may include the transceiver 1101, the memory 1102, the processor 1103, and the antenna.

The memory 1102 and the processor 1103 may be integrated or independent of each other. As shown in fig. 11, the memory 1102 and the processor 1103 may be integrated with a control unit 1110 of the communication device 1100. For example, the control unit 1110 may include a baseband unit (BBU) of an LTE base station, which may also be referred to as a Digital Unit (DU), or the control unit 1110 may include a Distributed Unit (DU) and/or a Centralized Unit (CU) in the base station under 5G and future radio access technologies. The control unit 1110 may be configured by one or more single boards, where the multiple single boards may support radio access networks of a single access system (such as an LTE network), and the multiple single boards may also support radio access networks of different access systems (such as an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks). The memory 1102 and processor 1103 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory 1102 and the processor 1103 may be separately provided on each board. It is also possible that multiple boards share the same memory 1102 and processor 1103. Furthermore, each board may have necessary circuitry disposed thereon, such as may be used to implement the coupling of memory 1102 and processor 1103. The connections between the above transceiver 1101, the processor 1103, and the memory 1103 may be made through a bus (bus) structure and/or other connection medium.

Based on the structure shown in fig. 11, when the communication device 1100 needs to transmit data, the processor 1103 may perform baseband processing on the data to be transmitted and output a baseband signal to the radio frequency unit, where the radio frequency unit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and then transmits the radio frequency signal in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is transmitted to the communication device 1100, the radio frequency unit 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 1103, and the processor 1103 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

Based on the structure shown in fig. 11, the transceiver 1101 may be used to perform the steps performed by the communications module 1001 above. And/or the processor 1103 may be configured to invoke instructions in the memory 1102 to perform the steps performed by the processing module 1002 above.

In one possible implementation, the communication apparatus 1200 shown in fig. 12 may be used as a terminal according to the above method embodiment, and perform the steps performed by the terminal (e.g., the terminal apparatus 101) in the above method embodiment. As shown in fig. 12, the communication apparatus 1200 may include a communication module 1201 and a processing module 1202, where the communication module 1201 and the processing module 1202 are coupled to each other. The communication module 1201 may be used to support communication with the communication device 1200, and the communication module 1201 may have a wireless communication function, for example, may be capable of performing wireless communication with other communication devices through a wireless air interface. The processing module 1202 may be configured to support the communications apparatus 1200 to perform the processing actions described above in the method embodiments, including, but not limited to: generates information, messages, etc., sent by the communication module 1201, and/or demodulates and decodes signals received by the communication module 1201, etc.

The communication module 1201 may be configured to receive first information from a network device and receive a control channel of a target carrier according to the first information when performing steps performed by a terminal. Wherein the first information includes a target carrier control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme, the target carrier control channel cross-carrier scheduling scheme comprising: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduling carrier.

In another possible implementation, when the communication device is the terminal device 101, the structure thereof may be as shown in fig. 13. For easy understanding and convenient illustration, fig. 13 illustrates the structure of the communication device by using a mobile phone as the terminal device. As shown in fig. 13, a communication device 1300 may include a processor 1301, a memory 1302, and a transceiver 1303.

The above processor 1301 can be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and control the terminal apparatus, execute software programs, process data of the software programs, and the like. The memory 1302 may be used to store programs and data, and the processor 1301 may perform the method performed by the terminal apparatus 101 in the embodiment of the present application based on the programs.

The transceiver 1303 may include a radio frequency unit and an antenna. The radio frequency unit can be used for converting the baseband signal and the radio frequency signal and processing the radio frequency signal. The antenna may be used to transmit and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. In addition, the radio frequency unit may be considered as the transceiver 1303, and the communication device 1300 may include the processor 1301, the memory 1302, the transceiver 1303 and the antenna.

In addition, the communications device 1300 may also include an input/output device 1304, such as a touch screen, display screen, or keyboard, for example, that can be used to receive data entered by a user and to output data to the user. It should be noted that some kinds of communication devices may not have an input/output device.

Based on the structure shown in fig. 13, when the communication device 1300 needs to transmit data, the processor 1301 may perform baseband processing on the data to be transmitted and output a baseband signal to the radio frequency unit, where the radio frequency unit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and then transmits the radio frequency signal in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is transmitted to the communication device 1300, the radio frequency unit 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 1301, and the processor 1301 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

The communication device 1300 may be used to perform the steps performed by the terminal device 101 above, for example. In particular, the transceiver 1303 may be configured to perform the steps performed by the above communication module 1201 and/or the processor 1301 may be configured to invoke the instructions stored in the memory 1302 to perform the steps performed by the above processing module 1202.

Based on the same concept as the above embodiments, the present embodiments further provide a computer storage medium, where some instructions are stored, where the instructions may cause a computer to perform the steps performed by the network device and/or the terminal device in any one of the possible implementations of the method embodiments, and the method embodiments when the instructions are called for to be executed. In the embodiment of the present application, the readable storage medium is not limited, and may be, for example, RAM (random-access memory), ROM (read-only memory), or the like.

Based on the same conception as the above method embodiments, the present embodiments also provide a computer program product, which when executed by a computer, may cause the computer to perform the steps performed by the network device and/or the terminal in any one of the possible implementations of the above method embodiments.

Based on the same concept as the method embodiment, the embodiment of the application also provides a communication system, which can include the network device and/or the terminal provided by the embodiment of the application.

Illustratively, in the communication system, the network device may send first information to the terminal device, where the first information includes a cross-carrier scheduling scheme of the target carrier, where the cross-carrier scheduling scheme includes: at least one control channel of the target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on the scheduling carrier. The terminal may be configured to receive first information from the network device and receive a control channel of a target carrier according to the first information.

Based on the same conception as the method embodiment, the embodiment of the application also provides a chip. The chip may include a processor, which may be coupled to the transceiver. The chip may be used in the first device or the second device to implement the functions involved in the network device and/or the terminal apparatus in any of the above-described method embodiments, and any of the possible designs of the method embodiments.

In addition, the embodiment of the application also provides a chip system. The chip system may include the chips described above, as well as chips and other discrete devices, e.g., the chip system may include chips, memories, and communication modules.

It should be appreciated that the processors and processing modules involved in the above embodiments may be general purpose processors, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, which may implement or perform the methods, steps and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in a hardware processor for execution, or in a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor for execution.

The memory may be a nonvolatile memory such as a hard disk (HDD) or a Solid State Drive (SSD), or may be a volatile memory (RAM) such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to such. The memory in embodiments of the present application may also be circuitry or any other device capable of performing memory functions for storing program instructions and/or data.

The transceiver and communication module may be a circuit, a device, a communication interface, a bus, a software module, a wireless transceiver, or any other component capable of implementing information/data transceiving.

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware (e.g., circuitry), firmware, or any other combination. When implemented in software, the above-described embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product comprises one or more computer instructions or computer programs. When the computer instructions or computer program are loaded or executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in accordance with embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center by wired (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains one or more sets of available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium. The semiconductor medium may be a solid state disk.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

the network device transmits first information to the terminal device, wherein the first information comprises a cross-carrier scheduling scheme, and the cross-carrier scheduling scheme comprises: at least one control channel of a target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on a scheduling carrier;

the first control channel carried by the target carrier is used for scheduling the data channel of the first time slot of the target carrier, and the second control channel carried by the scheduling carrier is used for scheduling the data channel of the second time slot of the target carrier.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

the network device selects the cross-carrier scheduling scheme from a plurality of cross-carrier scheduling schemes of a control channel of the target carrier, wherein the plurality of cross-carrier scheduling schemes comprise a scheme that the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by the scheduling carrier, a scheme that the control channel of the target carrier is jointly transmitted by the target carrier and the scheduling carrier, and a scheme that the control channel of the target carrier is transmitted by the target carrier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time slot and/or the second time slot is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of the target carrier and a subcarrier spacing of the scheduling carrier.

4. A method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the network device sending the first information to the terminal device comprises:

the network equipment sends an RRC message to the terminal device, wherein the first information is carried by the RRC message; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the network equipment sends a MAC-CE message to the terminal device, wherein the first information is carried by the MAC-CE message; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

and the network equipment sends downlink control information to the terminal device, and the first information is carried by the downlink control information.

5. A method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the first information further comprises one or more of the following information:

target carrier identification, scheduling carrier identification, target carrier BWP identification, scheduling carrier BWP identification, cross-carrier scheduling scheme list;

wherein the list of cross-carrier scheduling schemes includes information of one or more alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the cross-carrier scheduling scheme identification is used to indicate that the cross-carrier scheduling scheme is an nth one of the one or more alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes, wherein N is a positive integer, 1N, and N is a number of the one or more alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes.

7. A method of communication, comprising:

the terminal device receives first information from the network apparatus, the first information including a cross-carrier scheduling scheme comprising: at least one control channel of a target carrier is carried on the target carrier and at least another control channel of the target carrier is carried on a scheduling carrier;

the terminal device receives a control channel of a target carrier according to the first information;

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first time slot and/or the second time slot is determined based on a subcarrier spacing of the target carrier and a subcarrier spacing of the scheduled carrier.

9. The method according to any of claims 7-8, wherein the first information is carried in at least one of the following messages:

an RRC message;

a MAC-CE message;

downlink control information.

10. The method of any of claims 7-8, wherein the first information further comprises one or more of the following:

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the cross-carrier scheduling scheme identification is used to indicate that the cross-carrier scheduling scheme is an nth one of the one or more alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes, wherein N is a positive integer, 1N, N being the number of the one or more alternative cross-carrier scheduling schemes.

12. A communication device, comprising:

a communication module for performing communication-related operations in the method of any one of claims 1-6;

A processing module for performing processing-related operations in the method of any one of claims 1-6.

13. A communication device, comprising:

a communication module for performing communication-related operations in the method of any of claims 7-11;

processing module for performing processing-related operations in a method according to any of claims 7-11.

14. A communication device, comprising:

a memory for storing instructions;

a processor for invoking and executing the instructions from the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 1-6.

15. A communication device, comprising:

a memory for storing instructions;

a processor for invoking and executing the instructions from the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 7-11.

16. A communication system comprising a communication device according to claim 12 or 14 and a communication device according to claim 13 or 15.

17. A computer storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when invoked for execution on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of claims 1-6 or cause the computer to perform the method of any of claims 7-11.

18. A chip comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the chip for reading and executing a program stored in the memory to perform the method of any one of claims 1-6 or to perform the method of any one of claims 7-11.