CN113273276A - Method and device for sending uplink signal - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and a device for sending uplink signals relate to the technical field of wireless communication and are beneficial to improving the utilization rate of resources. Wherein the method comprises the following steps: the terminal device receives the first indication information sent by the first network device, determines a second time period, and then may send a first uplink signal to the first network device in the second time period. The first indication information is used for indicating a first time period, and the first time period is an uplink time period configured for the terminal equipment by the first network equipment; the second time period is a downlink time period configured for the terminal equipment by the second network equipment and is not overlapped with the first time period. According to the technical scheme, the second time period can be flexibly determined, so that the flexibility of sending the uplink signal is improved, and the utilization rate of resources is improved.

Description

Method and device for sending uplink signal Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for transmitting an uplink signal.

Background

With the continuous development of communication technology, a terminal device can simultaneously access two network devices, and this access manner is called Dual Connectivity (DC). For example, when the terminal device simultaneously accesses the first network device and the second network device, uplink signals may be simultaneously transmitted to the first network device and the second network device, which may easily cause cross modulation between the uplink signals.

In a typical application scenario, a terminal device simultaneously accesses a first network device in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system and a second network device in a new radio interface (NR) communication system, where the LTE communication system operates in a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) mode, and the NR communication system operates in a Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode. For the first network device, since the LTE communication system operates in the FDD mode, the first network device may perform uplink and downlink communication simultaneously with the terminal device. Thus, upstream communication between the terminal device and the first network device, and upstream and downstream communication between the terminal device and the second network device may occur simultaneously. When uplink communication between the terminal device and the first network device and uplink and downlink communication between the terminal device and the second network device may occur simultaneously, cross modulation between uplink signals caused by the terminal device simultaneously sending uplink signals to the first network device and the second network device may cause interference to downlink communication between the terminal device and the first network device, and affect the terminal device to receive the downlink signal sent by the first network device.

In the prior art, in order to avoid that a terminal device simultaneously sends an uplink signal to a first network device and a second network device in an NR communication system when accessing the first network device in the LTE communication system and the second network device in the NR communication system, the first network device sends reference uplink and downlink configuration information to the terminal device. The terminal device may determine, according to the reference configuration information sent by the first network device, a subframe for sending an uplink signal to the first network device. The subframe used for transmitting the uplink signal to the first network device may be referred to as an uplink subframe. The terminal device may transmit an uplink signal to the first network device on the determined uplink subframe. The reference uplink and downlink configuration may be as shown in table 1. For example, if the reference configuration information sent by the first network device to the terminal device is reference uplink/downlink configuration 0, the terminal device determines that subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9 are uplink subframes, and may send uplink signals to the first network device on the subframes, instead of sending uplink signals to the second network device in the time period corresponding to the subframes. In addition, the first network device may also adjust the number of the uplink subframe by configuring an offset value for the terminal device. For example, the reference uplink and downlink configuration information sent by the first network device to the terminal device is reference uplink and downlink configuration 1, when the configured offset value is 0, the terminal device determines subframes 2, 3, 7, and 8 as uplink subframes, and when the configured offset value is 2, the terminal device determines subframes 4, 5, 9, and 0 as uplink subframes.

TABLE 1

Although this way may enable the terminal device to simultaneously transmit uplink signals to the first network device and the second network device at different times, no matter which reference uplink and downlink configuration in table 1 is configured to the terminal by the first network device, at least 4 subframes in one radio frame may not be used by the terminal device to perform uplink communication with the first network device. Therefore, the implementation method is poor in flexibility, and in addition, on the subframes which cannot be used by the terminal device for performing uplink communication with the first network device, the terminal device may not perform uplink communication with the second network device in the time period corresponding to the subframes, thereby causing resource waste and reducing resource utilization rate.

Disclosure of Invention

When the terminal equipment is simultaneously accessed to the first network equipment and the second network equipment, the flexibility of the terminal equipment for sending the uplink signal to the first network equipment is improved and the utilization rate of resources is improved under the condition that the terminal equipment does not send the uplink signal to the first network equipment and the second network equipment at the same time.

In a first aspect, a method for sending an uplink signal in an embodiment of the present application includes: the terminal device receives first indication information sent by a first network device, determines a second time period, and then may send a first uplink signal to the first network device in the second time period. The first indication information is used for indicating a first time period, where the first time period is an uplink time period configured by the first network device for the terminal device; the second time period is a downlink time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device and is not overlapped with the first time period.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the application, the terminal device does not send an uplink signal to the second network device in the first time period.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device may send the uplink signal to the first network device in the second time period, in addition to sending the uplink signal to the first network device in the uplink time period configured by the first network device, and the second time period is flexibly determined according to the first time period and the downlink time period configured by the second network device for the terminal device.

In one possible design, the terminal device sends a second uplink signal to the first network device during the first time period; the first uplink signal comprises a signal transmitted on at least one of a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) or a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH); the second uplink signal comprises a signal transmitted on at least one of a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), PUSCH, or PRACH), and/or a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS). Since the second time period has flexibility, the rule for defining the signal transmitted on the PUCCH in the second time period is complex, and therefore the signal transmitted on the PUSCH or the PRACH may be included in the first uplink signal, which helps to simplify the implementation.

In a possible design, the terminal device receives, in the second time period, a downlink signal sent by the second network device, where a carrier carrying the first uplink signal is different from a carrier carrying the downlink signal.

In one possible design, the first network device is a long term evolution LTE access network device, and the second network device is a new air interface NR access network device. The method and the device are beneficial to improving the resource utilization rate when the terminal equipment is simultaneously accessed to the LTE access network equipment and the NR access network equipment, and are beneficial to improving the flexibility of sending uplink signals to the LTE access network equipment by the terminal equipment.

In one possible design, the LTE access network device operates in a frequency division duplex, FDD, mode and the NR access network device operates in a time division duplex, TDD, mode. Method for transmitting uplink signal in TDD mode and FDD mode

In one possible design, the terminal device determines a third time period, where the third time period includes an uplink time period and/or a flexible time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device and does not overlap with the first time period; and when the terminal device does not send the uplink signal to the second network device in the third time period, sending a third uplink signal to the first network device in the third time period. The utilization rate of resources is further improved.

In one possible design, the third uplink signal includes a signal transmitted on a PUSCH. The technical scheme is beneficial to improving the reliability of signal transmission and simplifying the implementation mode.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, which includes a transceiver and a processor; the transceiver is configured to receive first indication information sent by a first network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first time period, and the first time period is an uplink time period configured for the terminal device by the first network device; the processor is configured to determine a second time period, where the second time period is a downlink time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device and is not overlapped with the first time period; the transceiver is further configured to transmit a first uplink signal to the first network device during the second time period.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the application, the terminal device does not send an uplink signal to the second network device in the first time period

In one possible design, the transceiver is further configured to transmit a second uplink signal to the first network device during the first time period; the first uplink signal comprises a signal transmitted on at least one of a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) or a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH); the second uplink signal comprises a signal transmitted on at least one of a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), PUSCH, or PRACH), and/or a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).

In one possible design, the transceiver is further configured to receive, in the second time period, a downlink signal sent by the second network device, where a carrier carrying the first uplink signal is different from a carrier carrying the downlink signal.

In one possible design, the first network device is a long term evolution LTE access network device, and the second network device is a new air interface NR access network device.

In one possible design, the LTE access network device operates in a frequency division duplex, FDD, mode and the NR access network device operates in a time division duplex, TDD, mode.

In one possible design, the processor is further configured to determine a third time period, where the third time period includes an uplink time period and/or a flexible time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device and does not overlap with the first time period; and when the terminal device does not send the uplink signal to the second network device in the third time period, sending a third uplink signal to the first network device in the third time period.

In one possible design, the third uplink signal includes a signal transmitted on a PUSCH.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides an apparatus, which includes a functional module for implementing any one of the first aspect and the first possible design method of the embodiment of the present application.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, where the chip is connected to the transceiver and the memory, respectively, and is configured to read and execute program instructions stored in the memory, and trigger the transceiver to implement the first aspect and any one of the possible design methods of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, a computer storage medium is provided, wherein the computer storage medium has stored thereon program instructions for implementing the first aspect and any one of the possible design methods of the first aspect when executed by a processor.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes a first network device, a second network device, and an apparatus according to any one of the possible designs of the second aspect and the second aspect of the embodiment of the present application.

In addition, the technical effects brought by any one of the possible design manners in the second aspect to the fifth aspect can be referred to the technical effects brought by the different design manners in the first aspect, and are not described herein again.

Drawings

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

fig. 2a is a schematic diagram of another communication system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2b is a diagram illustrating another communication system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of another communication system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of another communication system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmitting an uplink signal according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6a is a schematic structural diagram of a subframe according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6b is a schematic structural diagram of another subframe according to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6c is a schematic structural diagram of another subframe according to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a subframe and a timeslot according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another subframe and slot according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an overlapping relationship between time periods according to an embodiment;

fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a mechanism of uplink communication between a terminal device and a first network device when the terminal simultaneously accesses the first network device and a second network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic flowchart of a mechanism of uplink communication between a terminal device and a first network device when a terminal simultaneously accesses an LTE access network device and an NR access network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another subframe and slot according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of another apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that three relationships may exist. For example, a and/or B, may represent the following three relationships: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. A, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b and c, wherein a, b and c can be single or multiple.

The terminal devices involved in embodiments of the present application may be devices for providing voice and/or data connectivity to a user, handheld devices with wireless connection capability, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem. The terminal device may also be a wireless terminal, where the wireless terminal may communicate with one or more core networks via a Radio Access Network (RAN), and the wireless terminal may be a mobile terminal, such as a mobile phone (or referred to as a "cellular" phone, a mobile phone, etc.), or a computer with a mobile terminal, for example, a computer with a mobile terminal may be a portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-embedded, or vehicle-mounted mobile device, which exchanges languages and/or data with the RAN, such as a tablet computer, a wearable device, a virtual reality terminal, an augmented reality terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, and so on. For example, the Wireless terminal may be a Personal Communication Service (PCS) phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or the like. The wireless Terminal may also be referred to as a system, a Subscriber Unit (Subscriber Unit), a Subscriber Station (Subscriber Station), a Mobile Station (Mobile), a Remote Station (Remote Station), an Access Point (Access Point, AP), a Remote Terminal (Remote Terminal), an Access Terminal (Access Terminal), a User Terminal (User Terminal), a User Agent (User Agent), a User Device (User Device), or a User Equipment (User Equipment), and the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

The network device according to the embodiments of the present application is an access network device, and may be a base station, an access point, or a device in an access network that communicates with a wireless terminal through one or more sectors over an air interface. When the network device is a base station, the base station may be configured to interconvert the received air frame with an Internet Protocol (IP) packet as a router between the wireless terminal and the rest of the access network, where the rest of the access network may include an IP network. The base station may also be used to coordinate management of attributes for the air interface. For example, the base station may be a Node B (Node B) in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), an evolved Node B (eNB) in an LTE communication system, a base station in an NR communication system, a next generation mobile communication base station (next generation Node B, gNB), or the like, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.

Specifically, the terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may access two network devices simultaneously, and this access manner is referred to as DC. Illustratively, a terminal device accesses a first network device and a second network device simultaneously. The first network device and the second network device may be two network devices in the same communication system, for example, the first network device and the second network device may be two network devices in an LTE communication system. The first network device and the second network device may also be network devices in different communication systems. For example, the first network device is a network device in an LTE communication system, and the second network device is a network device in an NR communication system. It should be noted that, when the first network device and the second network device are network devices in different communication systems and Radio Access Technologies (RATs) adopted by the different communication systems are different, such a connection mode that the terminal device simultaneously accesses the first network device and the second network device may also be referred to as multi-RAT dual connectivity (MR-DC).

Illustratively, the terminal device simultaneously accesses a first network device and a second network device, where the first network device is an access network device in an LTE communication system, which may be referred to as an LTE access network device for short, and the second network device is an access network device in an NR communication system, which may be referred to as an NR access network device for short. Since LTE is also called evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA), when LTE access network equipment is primary network equipment and NR access network equipment is secondary network equipment, the access mode of the terminal equipment may also be called evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA NR dual connectivity, EN-DC) and new air interface dual connectivity. With the continuous evolution of the communication system, when the terminal device simultaneously accesses the LTE access network device and the NR access network device, if the NR access network device is a primary network device and the LTE access network device is a secondary network device, the access mode of the terminal device may be referred to as a new air interface and evolved universal terrestrial radio access dual connectivity (NE-DC).

The first network device and the second network device in the embodiment of the present application may be deployed on the same site, or may be deployed on different sites. For example, when a first network device and a second network device are deployed on the same site, a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application is shown in fig. 1, and includes a network device and a terminal device, where the network device includes the first network device and the second network device. Specifically, when the first network device and the second network device are deployed on the same site, the first network device and the second network device may share the same hardware device (e.g., a transceiver), or may not share the same hardware device. For example, as shown in fig. 2a, the first network device and the second network device are deployed on the same site, and share the transceiver, the architecture of the communication system is schematically illustrated. As shown in fig. 2a, the first network device comprises a first processor 211 and a transceiver 213, the second network device comprises a second processor 212 and a transceiver 213, and the first network device and the second network device share the transceiver 213. For another example, as shown in fig. 2b, when the first network device and the second network device are deployed on the same site and do not share the transceiver, the architecture of the communication system is schematically illustrated. As shown in fig. 2b, the first network device comprises a first processor 221 and a first transceiver 222, and the second network device comprises a second processor 231 and a second transceiver 232.

For example, when a first network device and a second network device are deployed on different sites, an architectural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application is shown in fig. 3, and the architectural diagram includes the first network device, the second network device, and a terminal device. It should be understood that when the first network device and the second network device are deployed on different sites and are independent devices having independent transceivers and processors, for example, as shown in fig. 4, the first network device includes a first processor 401 and a first transceiver 402, and the second network device includes a second processor 411 and a second transceiver 412.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device is simultaneously accessed to the first network device and the second network device, the terminal device may simultaneously send the uplink signal to the first network device and the second network device, which easily causes the power required by the terminal to exceed the maximum power supported by the terminal device. In addition, when the terminal device simultaneously transmits the uplink signals to the first network device and the second network device, cross modulation between the uplink signals is also easily caused. It should be noted that sending, by the terminal device, the uplink signal to the first network device may be referred to as uplink communication between the terminal device and the first network device, and sending, by the terminal device, the uplink signal to the second network device may be referred to as uplink communication between the terminal device and the second network device. In addition, the terminal device receiving the downlink signal sent by the first network device may be referred to as downlink communication between the terminal device and the first network device, and the terminal device receiving the downlink signal sent by the second network device may be referred to as downlink communication between the terminal device and the second network device.

In some embodiments, when the first network device operates in FDD mode, the first network device configures the terminal device with two paired frequency bands, where one frequency band is used for uplink communication and the other frequency band is used for downlink communication, thereby allowing uplink communication and downlink communication between the terminal device and the first network device to be performed simultaneously. For example, when the first network device operates in the FDD mode, two paired frequency bands near 1.8GHz are allocated to the terminal device, such as a frequency band of 1.85GHz and a frequency band of 1.75GHz, where the frequency band of 1.85GHz is used for the terminal device to perform uplink communication with the first network device, and the frequency band of 1.75GHz is used for the terminal device to perform downlink communication with the first network device.

When the first network device operates in the FDD mode, uplink communication and downlink communication between the terminal device and the first network device and uplink communication between the terminal device and the second network device may occur simultaneously, and cross modulation between uplink signals caused by the simultaneous uplink communication between the terminal device and the first network device and the second network device may interfere with the downlink communication between the terminal device and the first network device, and affect the terminal device to receive the downlink signal sent from the first network device. When the first network device operates in the FDD mode, the second network device may operate in the TDD mode or the FDD mode. For example, when the second network device operates in the TDD mode, the second network device configures an unpaired frequency band for the terminal device, which is used for performing uplink communication between the terminal device and the second network device and performing downlink communication between the terminal device and the second network device, but uplink and downlink communication between the terminal device and the second network device are not performed simultaneously. For example, when the second network device operates in the TDD mode, the second network device configures an unpaired frequency band for the terminal device, for example, a frequency band near 3.5GHz, and the terminal device and the second network device perform uplink communication and downlink communication on the frequency band near 3.5GHz at different time periods respectively.

In view of this, the present embodiment provides a method for sending an uplink signal, which is helpful for enabling a terminal device to send the uplink signal to a first network device and a second network device at different times when the terminal device accesses the first network device and the second network device simultaneously, so as to help improve reliability of sending the uplink signal to the first network device and the second network device by the terminal device.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, it is not limited whether the first network device operates in the FDD mode or the TDD mode, nor whether the second network device operates in the FDD mode or the TDD mode.

For example, as shown in fig. 5, a schematic flowchart of a method for transmitting an uplink signal according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The method specifically comprises the following steps.

Step 501, a first network device sends first indication information to a terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first time period, and the first time period is an uplink time period configured for the terminal device by the first network device.

It should be understood that the uplink time period in the embodiment of the present application is used for performing uplink communication. Therefore, the first time period is used for the terminal device to perform uplink communication with the first network device. Specifically, the first time period in this embodiment may be one or more time units, where a time unit may be a frame, a subframe, a slot (slot), a mini-slot (mini-slot), and the like. In general, for LTE, the first time period may be one or more subframes.

For example, as shown in fig. 6a, the uplink subframes configured for the terminal device by the first network device are subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9, and the first time period includes subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9. For another example, as shown in fig. 6b, the uplink subframes configured for the terminal device by the first network device are subframes 2, 3, and 7, and the first time period includes subframes 2, 3, and 7. For another example, as shown in fig. 6c, uplink subframes configured for the terminal device by the first network device are subframes 2 and 3, and the first time period includes subframes 2 and 3.

In some embodiments, the first indication information may be reference uplink and downlink configuration information, and may also include reference uplink and downlink configuration information and an offset value. For example, the reference uplink and downlink configuration information may be a reference uplink and downlink configuration index shown in table 1. For example, if the first network device sends reference uplink and downlink configuration 0 in table 1 to the terminal device, the uplink subframes configured for the terminal device are subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9. For another example, if the first network device sends reference uplink/downlink configuration 2 in table 1 to the terminal device, the uplink subframes configured for the terminal device are subframes 2, 3, and 7. For another example, if the first network device sends the reference uplink/downlink configuration 4 in table 1 to the terminal device, the uplink subframes configured for the terminal device are subframes 2 and 3. For example, if the first network device sends reference uplink/downlink configuration 1 and offset value 2 to the terminal device, the uplink subframes configured for the terminal device are subframes 4, 5, 9, and 0. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the value range of the offset value may be configured correspondingly according to an actual situation. For example, the offset value may have a value in a range of a natural number greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 9. In addition, the first indication information in the embodiment of the present application may also be implemented in other ways, such as time information, and the like, which is not limited thereto.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device does not send an uplink signal to the second network device over the first time period. Taking fig. 6a as an example, the first time period includes subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9, and the terminal device does not transmit uplink signals to the second network device in subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9. In particular, if the time unit used for communication between the second network device and the terminal device is not a subframe, e.g., a slot, a mini-slot, etc., the terminal device does not transmit an uplink signal to the second network device on a time unit that overlaps in time with subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9. For example, the time unit for communication between the second network device and the terminal device is a time slot, and as shown in fig. 7, for the terminal device, the time slots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 for communication with the second network device overlap with the subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 in time, and the terminal device does not perform uplink communication on the time slots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 to the second network device. For example, if there is an uplink timeslot configured for the terminal device by the second network device in timeslots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19, the terminal device does not perform uplink communication with the second network device on the uplink timeslot, that is, receives an uplink signal transmitted by the second network device. However, the terminal device may communicate downstream with the second network device on time slots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19. For another example, as shown in fig. 8, for a terminal device, time slots 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, a portion of time slot 4, a portion of time slot 10, and a portion of time slot 14 used for communication with a second network device overlap in time with sub-frames 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, in some examples, the terminal device may not transmit uplink signals to the second network device in time slots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19, which helps to avoid the terminal device from transmitting uplink signals to the first network device and the second network device at the same time. However, the terminal device may communicate downstream with the second network device on time slots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19.

It should be noted that, when the terminal device sends an uplink signal to the first network device in the first time period and receives a downlink signal sent by the second network device in the first time period, a carrier or a frequency band used for sending the uplink signal to the first network device is different from a carrier or a frequency band used for receiving the downlink signal sent by the second network device.

In some embodiments, the terminal device may send the uplink signal to the first network device in the first time period, specifically, since the first time period is an uplink time period configured to the terminal device by the first network device and is usually fixed, the uplink signal sent by the terminal device to the first network device in the first time period may be a signal transmitted on a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). In other embodiments, the terminal device may further send other signals to the first network device in the first time period, for example, a signal transmitted on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), a signal transmitted on a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), or a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), etc.

Step 502, after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device determines a second time period, where the second time period is a downlink time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device and is not overlapped with the first time period.

It should be noted that, in general, the non-overlap between the second time period and the first time period in the embodiment of the present application means that the second time period and the first time period do not overlap in time.

For example, as shown in fig. 9, the time period between time T1 and time T2 is T1, the time period between time T2 and time T4 is T2, the time period between time T2 and time T3 is T3, the time period between time T1 and time T3 is T4, and the time period between time T3 and time T4 is T5. Wherein T1 does not overlap T2, T1 does not overlap T5, T3 does not overlap T5, T4 partially overlaps T3, T3 overlaps T4 partially overlaps T2, T3 overlaps, and further T2 completely overlaps a period of time consisting of T3 and T5. For example, T2 is a first time period, T4 is a downlink time period configured by the second network device for the terminal device, a time period overlapping in time between T2 and T4 is T3, and a time period not overlapping in time between T2 and T4 is T1, so that the second time period is T1.

In some embodiments, the second network device may indicate the configured downlink time period for the terminal device by sending second indication information to the terminal device. The downlink time period is used for downlink communication, that is, the terminal device may be configured to receive a downlink signal sent by the second network device in the downlink time period. In some embodiments, the terminal device and the second network device communicate in units of time units. The time unit may be a frame, a subframe, a slot (slot), a mini-slot (mini-slot), etc. The downlink time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device may include one or more time units. In the embodiment of the present application, the time unit used by the terminal device for communication with the first network device and the time unit used by the terminal device for communication with the second network device may be the same or different. For example, in general, for NR, the time unit of communication between the terminal device and the second network device is a time slot. It should be understood that in NR, the corresponding time slots are different at different subcarrier intervals. For example, when a sub-carrier interval of 30KHz is used between the terminal device and the second network device, the duration of each slot is 0.5 ms. For another example, when a 60KHz subcarrier interval is used between the terminal device and the second network device, the duration of each timeslot is 0.25 ms. Besides, the subcarrier spacing may also be 15KHz, 120KHz, etc.

Taking fig. 7 as an example, downlink time slots configured for the terminal device by the second network device are time slots 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, uplink subframes configured for the terminal device by the first network device are subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9, time slots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 overlap with subframes 2, 3, and 4 in time, and time slots 2, 3, 10, and 11 do not overlap with subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9 in time, so that when the terminal device communicates with the first network device, the second time period includes subframe 1 and subframe 5, and when the terminal device communicates with the second network device, the second time period includes time slots 2, 3, 10, and 11.

In some embodiments, the second indication information may be uplink and downlink configuration information, for example, for an NR access network device operating in a TDD mode, the second indication information may be uplink and downlink timeslot configuration information, and the terminal device may determine, according to the uplink and downlink timeslot configuration information, an uplink timeslot, a downlink timeslot, and/or a flexible timeslot that the NR access network device configures for the terminal device. It is to be appreciated that the terminal device can communicate upstream or downstream with the second network device on the flexible time slot.

In other embodiments, the second network device may only configure the downlink time period for the terminal device, and after receiving the second indication information, the terminal device may determine which downlink time periods are downlink time periods, and the other time periods except the downlink time period may be used for uplink communication, downlink communication, and the like. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the manner in which the second network device configures the downlink time period for the terminal device.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, the downlink time period configured by the second network device for the terminal device includes a second time period, that is, the second time period can be used for the terminal device to receive a downlink signal from the second network device.

Step 503, the terminal device sends the first uplink signal to the first network device in the second time period.

The first uplink signal may be a signal transmitted on a PUSCH or a PRACH, or may be a signal transmitted on a PUCCH, or the like. However, since the second time period is not fixed and may vary with the first time period or the downlink time period configured by the second network device for the terminal device, if the terminal device sends the signal transmitted on the PUCCH to the first network device in the second time period, it is more complex to implement in particular, and therefore, in order to simplify implementation of the scheme, in some embodiments, the first uplink signal does not include the signal transmitted on the PUCCH.

It should be noted that, in the second time period, the terminal device may send an uplink signal to the first network device and may also receive a downlink signal from the second network device, in some implementations, the terminal device sends the uplink signal to the first network device on the first carrier and receives the downlink signal from the second network device on the second carrier, where the first carrier and the second carrier are different carriers, that is, the first carrier and the second carrier occupy different frequency resources in a frequency domain.

In the embodiment of the application, the first time period is indicated by the first network device, and the second time period is flexibly determined according to the downlink time period configured by the second network device, so that the utilization rate of resources is improved, and the terminal device can transmit the uplink signal to the first network device more flexibly.

In addition, it should be noted that, the carriers or frequency bands used by the terminal device are the same whether the terminal device transmits the uplink signal to the first network device in the first time period or transmits the uplink signal to the first network device in the second time period. However, when the terminal device receives the indication information sent by the first network device after sending the uplink signal to the first network device in the first time period and instructs the terminal device to perform carrier switching, the terminal device may use different carriers when sending the uplink signal in the first time period and the second time period.

Further, since the second network device may also configure the uplink time period and/or the flexible time period for the terminal device, the terminal device may send an uplink signal to the second network device in the uplink time period or the flexible time period, or may not send an uplink signal to the second network device, for example, the terminal device may send a downlink signal to the second network device in the flexible time period, in some embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may further determine a third time period, where the third time period includes the uplink time period and/or the flexible time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device and is not overlapped with the first time period. The terminal device may be configured to send the third uplink signal to the first network device when the terminal device does not send the uplink signal to the second network device in the third time period. It should be noted that, when the terminal device sends the uplink signal to the second network device in the third time period, the terminal device does not send the third uplink signal to the first network device in the third time period.

It should be understood that, when the terminal device needs to send an uplink signal to the second network device in the third time period and also needs to send a third uplink signal to the first network device in the third time period, the terminal device preferentially ensures that the uplink signal is sent to the second network device, and discards the third uplink signal sent to the first network device, so that the terminal device does not send the uplink signal to the first network device and the second network device at the same time. Therefore, in some embodiments, the third uplink signal sent by the terminal device to the first network device over the third time period is a signal transmitted on a PUSCH, thereby helping to avoid the terminal device discarding important information. However, in a specific implementation, the terminal device may also transmit the signal transmitted on the PUCCH or the PRACH to the first network device in the third time period, or may also transmit the SRS and the like to the first network device in the third time period.

In addition, it can be understood that the uplink time period is used for uplink communication, and the flexible time period may be used for uplink communication and also may be used for downlink communication. The uplink time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device may include one or more time units. Specifically, the time unit may be a frame, a subframe, a slot, a mini-slot, and the like. For example, for LTE, a time unit may be a subframe. For NR, for another example, the time unit may be a time slot. It should be further noted that the second network device may only configure the uplink time period for the terminal device, but not configure the flexible time period, may only configure the flexible time period for the terminal device, but not configure the uplink time period, and may also configure both the uplink time period and the flexible time period for the terminal device.

Taking fig. 7 as an example, the uplink subframes configured for the terminal device by the first network device are subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9, the uplink slots configured for the terminal device by the second network device are slots 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, the flexible slots are slots 12, 13, 14, and 15, and the slots 4, 5, 14, and 15 overlap with the subframe 2 and the subframe 7 in time, so that, for the terminal device to communicate with the first network device, the third time period includes subframe 1 and subframe 6. For the terminal device to communicate with the second network device, the third time period includes time slots 0, 1, 2, 3, 12, and 13.

Taking fig. 8 as an example, the first network device configures the terminal device with uplink subframes as subframes 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9, the second network device configures the terminal device with uplink slots as slots 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, the flexible slots are 12, 13, 14, and 15, a portion of slot 4, slot 5, a portion of slot 14, and slot 15 overlap with subframes 2 and 7 in time, and although the portion of slot 4 and the portion of slot 14 overlap with subframes 2 and 7 in time, the terminal device and the second network device communicate with each other in units of slots, so the terminal device cannot transmit uplink signals to the second network device in slots 4 and 14, and for the terminal device to communicate with the first network device, the third time period includes subframe 1 and subframe 6. For a terminal device to communicate with a second network device, the third time period includes a portion of slot 2, slot 3, slot 4, slot 12, slot 13, and slot 14.

Based on the method for sending an uplink signal shown in fig. 5 in the embodiment of the present application, a method for uplink communication when a terminal device accesses a first network device and a second network device in the embodiment of the present application is shown in fig. 10, and specifically includes the following steps.

Step 1001, a first network device sends first indication information to a terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first time period, and the first time period is an uplink time period configured for the terminal device by the first network device.

Step 1002, after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device determines a second time period for sending the first uplink signal to the first network device, where the second time period is a downlink time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device, and the second time period is not overlapped with the first time period.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the application, the terminal device may send the first uplink signal in the second time period when there is a need to send the first uplink signal in the second time period, and may no longer send the first uplink signal in the second time period when there is no need to send the first uplink signal in the second time period. However, the terminal device may transmit the downlink signal to the second network device in the second time period, regardless of whether the terminal device transmits the first uplink signal to the first network device in the second time period. It can be understood that the carrier or frequency band used by the terminal device to carry the first uplink signal transmitted to the first network device in the second time period is different from the carrier or frequency band used by the terminal device to carry the downlink signal transmitted by the second network device in the second time period.

In some embodiments, the first uplink signal may be only a signal transmitted on a PUSCH. That is, the terminal device transmits to the first network device only the signal transmitted on the PUSCH in the second time period. In other embodiments, the first uplink signal is a signal that may be transmitted only on the PUSCH and/or PRACH. That is, the terminal device transmits to the first network device only signals transmitted on the PUSCH and/or PRACH in the second time period. In other embodiments, the first uplink signal may also include a signal transmitted on a PUCCH, PRACH, PUSCH, or the like channel, or an SRS, or the like.

In addition, the terminal device does not send the uplink signal to the second network device in the first time period, and may send the second uplink signal to the second network device in the first time period.

In some embodiments, the second uplink signal may include a signal transmitted on at least one channel of PUCCH, PUSCH, PRACH, etc., and the second uplink signal may also include a signal of SRS, etc.

It can be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, for the relevant descriptions of the first time period, the second time period, the first indication information, the downlink time period configured by the second network device for the terminal device, and the like, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in the method for sending the uplink signal shown in fig. 5, and details are not described here again.

Further, the terminal device in this embodiment of the application may further determine a third time period for sending a third uplink signal to the first network device, where the third time period includes an uplink time period and/or a flexible time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device, and is not overlapped with the first time period. The terminal device may transmit a third uplink signal to the first network device in the third time period when the terminal device does not transmit the uplink signal to the second network device in the third time period. For example, the third uplink signal may be only a signal transmitted on the PUSCH, that is, the terminal device transmits a signal transmitted on the PUSCH to the first network device only in the third time period.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the application, when the terminal device sends the uplink signal to the second network device in the third time period, the terminal device does not send the third uplink signal to the first network device in the third time period any more. In addition, when the terminal device sends a requirement of a third uplink signal to the first network device and sends a requirement of an uplink signal to the second network device at the same time in a third time period, the terminal device discards the third uplink signal that needs to be sent to the first network device in the third time period and sends the uplink signal to the second network device in the third time period. The method and the device help to avoid the terminal device from sending uplink signals to the first network device and the second network device at the same time.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, specific implementation manners of information, such as the uplink time period and/or the flexible time period, configured for the terminal device by the third time period and the second network device may refer to related descriptions in the method for sending the uplink signal shown in fig. 5, and are not described herein again.

Taking an example that a terminal device simultaneously accesses an LTE access network device and an NR access network device, the embodiments of the present application are introduced in combination with a specific application scenario. Illustratively, the LTE access network device is a base station in an LTE communication system, such as an eNB, and the NR access network device is a base station in an NR communication system, such as a gNB. A typical deployment manner of the LTE communication system is that the LTE communication system operates in an FDD mode, and after the terminal device accesses the LTE access network device, the LTE access network device may configure two paired frequency bands for the terminal device, for example, two frequency bands near 1.8GHz, such as a first frequency band and a second frequency band, where the first frequency band is used for uplink communication and the second frequency band is used for downlink communication. A typical deployment of an NR communication system is: the NR communication system operates in a TDD mode, and after the terminal device accesses the NR access network device, the NR access network device may configure a non-paired frequency band, for example, a third frequency band, for the terminal device, where the third frequency band is a frequency band near 3.5GHz, and the terminal device may implement uplink communication and downlink communication through the third frequency band at different times.

As shown in fig. 11, in order to combine the application scenarios, a flowchart of the uplink communication method when the terminal device accesses the LTE access network device and the NR access network device according to the embodiment of the present application is shown. The method specifically comprises the following steps.

Fig. 11 is a schematic flowchart of a method for uplink communication when a terminal device accesses an LTE access network device and an NR access network device according to an embodiment of the present application. The method specifically comprises the following steps.

Step 1101, the LTE access network device sends first indication information to the terminal device on the second frequency band, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first uplink subframe, and the first uplink subframe is an uplink subframe configured for the terminal device by the LTE access network device.

Step 1102, the NR access network device sends second indication information to the terminal device on the third frequency band, where the second indication information is used to indicate uplink and downlink timeslot configuration.

Step 1103, after the terminal device receives the first indication information on the second frequency band and receives the second indication information on the third frequency band, determining a second uplink subframe used for sending the first uplink signal to the LTE access network device on the first frequency band, where the second uplink subframe is different from the first uplink subframe, and the second uplink subframe includes a portion overlapping with a downlink timeslot configured for the terminal device by the NR access network device in terms of time.

The terminal device may send an uplink signal to the LTE access network device on the first uplink subframe and the first frequency band, for example, a signal transmitted on a PUCCH, a signal transmitted on a PUSCH, a PRACH, or an SRS. However, in general, the terminal device does not transmit the uplink signal in a time slot overlapping with the first uplink subframe in time, so as to avoid that the terminal device simultaneously transmits the uplink signal to the LTE access network device and the NR access network device.

When there is a need for transmitting the first uplink signal in the second uplink subframe, the terminal device may transmit the first uplink signal to the LTE access network device in the second uplink subframe and the first frequency band. When there is no need for transmitting the first uplink signal on the second uplink subframe, the terminal device may no longer transmit the first uplink signal on the second uplink subframe.

In some embodiments, the first uplink signal is only a signal transmitted on the PUSCH, that is, the terminal device can only transmit a signal transmitted on the PUSCH to the LTE access network device on the second uplink subframe and the first frequency band, and cannot transmit other uplink signals. In other embodiments, the first uplink signal only includes signals transmitted on the PUSCH and the PRACH, that is, the terminal device may only transmit signals transmitted on the PUSCH and/or the PRACH to the LTE access network device on the second uplink subframe and the first frequency band, and may not transmit other uplink signals. In other embodiments, the first uplink signal may also include a signal transmitted on a PUCCH, PRACH, PUSCH, or the like channel, or an SRS, or the like.

In addition, the terminal device may also receive the downlink signal sent by the NR access network device in a time slot and a third frequency band that overlap with the second uplink subframe in terms of time, regardless of whether the terminal device sends the first uplink signal to the LTE access network device.

In some embodiments, the terminal device may further determine, according to the first indication information and the second indication information, a subframe that overlaps in time with an uplink slot and/or a flexible slot configured by the NR access network device in subframes other than the first uplink subframe. In order to simplify the description manner, in the subframes other than the first uplink subframe, a subframe overlapping with an uplink timeslot and/or a flexible timeslot configured by the NR access network device in time is referred to as a third uplink subframe.

It should be noted that, when the terminal device needs to send an uplink signal to the NR access network device in a time slot that overlaps with the third uplink subframe in time and needs to send an uplink signal to the LTE access network device in the third uplink subframe, the terminal device discards the uplink signal that needs to be sent to the LTE access network device and sends the uplink signal to the NR access network device in the time slot that overlaps with the third uplink subframe in time and in the third frequency band. When the terminal device does not need to transmit the uplink signal to the NR access network device in the time slot overlapping with the third uplink subframe in time, the terminal device may transmit the uplink signal to the LTE access network device in the third uplink subframe and the first frequency band when the terminal device needs to transmit the uplink signal to the LTE access network device in the third uplink subframe. In some embodiments, the uplink signal sent by the terminal device to the LTE access network device in the third uplink subframe may be only a signal transmitted on the PUSCH, thereby helping to avoid loss of important information.

It can be understood that, since the LTE communication system operates in the FDD mode, the terminal device may receive the downlink signal sent by the LTE access network device on the second frequency band, regardless of whether the terminal device sends the uplink signal to the LTE access network device on the first uplink subframe, the second uplink subframe, and the third uplink subframe, or not.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the application, the first uplink subframe may include one or more subframes, the second uplink subframe may also include one or more subframes, and the third uplink subframe may also be one or more subframes. The number of subframes included in the first uplink subframe is related to the configuration of the LTE access network equipment as the terminal, the number of the second uplink subframes is related to the first uplink subframe and the condition of the downlink time slot configured by the NR access network equipment as the terminal equipment, and the number of the third uplink subframes is related to the first uplink subframe and the condition of the uplink time slot and/or the flexible time slot configured by the NR access network equipment as the terminal equipment.

Take the example of using 15KHz subcarrier spacing for terminal device and LTE access network device communication and 30KHz subcarrier spacing for terminal device and NR access network device communication. As shown in fig. 12, uplink subframes configured for the terminal device by the LTE access network device are subframes 0, 1, 5, and 6. The uplink time slots configured for the terminal device by the NR access network device are time slots 4, 5, 6, and 7, the flexible time slots are time slots 8 and 9, and the downlink time slots are time slots 0, 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19. The first uplink subframes are subframes 0, 1, 5, and 6. Since slots 0, 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, and 13 in the downlink slot overlap in time with the first uplink subframe, slots 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 in the downlink subframe do not overlap with any of the first uplink subframes, and slots 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 overlap in time with subframes 7, 8, and 9, the second uplink subframe is subframes 7, 8, and 9. Since slots 4, 5, 6, and 7 in the uplink slot and slots 8 and 9 in the flexible slot are all overlapping in time with any one of the first uplink subframes, and the subframes overlapping in time with slots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are subframes 2, 3, and 4, the third uplink subframe is subframes 2, 3, and 4. The terminal device may transmit uplink signals to the LTE access network device on 0, 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, and may transmit uplink signals to the LTE access network device on subframes 2, 3, and 4 when no uplink signal is transmitted to the NR access network device on timeslots 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, thereby contributing to improve flexibility of uplink signal transmission of the LTE access network device and improving utilization rate of resources.

It should be noted that the subcarrier intervals used for uplink communication between the terminal device and the NR access network device may also be 15KHz, 60KHz, 120KHz, etc., and the above description only takes the subcarrier interval of 30KHz as an example.

The embodiments related to the present application can be used alone or in combination with each other to achieve different technical effects.

In the embodiments provided in the present application, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application is introduced from the perspective of interaction between the network device and the terminal device. In order to implement the functions in the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may include a hardware structure and/or a software module, and implement the functions in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure and a software module. Whether any of the above-described functions is implemented as a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the technical solution.

Based on the same concept, fig. 13 shows an apparatus 1300 provided by the present application, where the apparatus 1300 may be a terminal device, and may also be an apparatus capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function of the terminal device in the method related to fig. 5, fig. 10, or fig. 11. Illustratively, the apparatus 1300 may also be an apparatus (e.g., a chip or a system of chips) within a terminal device. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

Included in the apparatus 1300 are at least one processor 1310, at least one memory 1320, and a transceiver 1330, wherein the memory 1320 is configured to store program instructions and/or data. Memory 1320, transceiver 1330, and processor 1310 are coupled. The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or a communication connection between devices, units or modules, and may be an electrical, mechanical or other form for information interaction between the devices, units or modules. The processor 1310 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1320. The processor 1310 executes the program instructions stored in the memory 1320 to transmit and receive signals through the transceiver 1330, so as to implement the method for transmitting uplink signals according to the embodiment of the present application. Wherein it is to be understood that at least one of the at least one memory 1320 may be included in the processor 1310.

The specific connection medium among the transceiver 1330, the processor 1310 and the memory 1320 is not limited in the embodiments of the present invention. In fig. 13, the memory 1320, the processor 1310, and the transceiver 1330 are connected by a bus, the bus is indicated by a thick line in fig. 13, and the connection manner among the other components is only for illustrative purposes and is not limited thereto. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 13, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

In the embodiments of the present application, the processor 1310 may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof, and may implement or perform the methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. A 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 directly implemented by a hardware processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor. Software modules may be located in memory 1320 and processor 1310 reads program instructions from memory 1320 and performs the steps of the above-described method in conjunction with its hardware.

In the embodiment of the present application, the memory 1320 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), and may also be a volatile memory (RAM), for example, a random-access memory (RAM). The memory can also be, but is not limited to, any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. The memory in the embodiments of the present application may also be circuitry or any other device capable of performing a storage function for storing program instructions and/or data.

In the present embodiment, the transceiver 1330 may be a circuit, a bus, a communication interface, or any other device that can be used for signal interaction. Wherein the other device may be, illustratively, other terminal device or network device. The processor 1310 may utilize the transceiver 1330 for transceiving signals, illustratively, the transceiver 1330 for transmitting an uplink signal to the first network device during the second time period, and receiving the first indication information, etc.

In addition, it should be further noted that in this embodiment of the present application, since the terminal device can access the first network device and the second network device simultaneously, as shown in fig. 13, the at least one processor 1310 includes a processor 1, a processor 2, and a processor 3, where the processor 1 is configured to process a signal of the first network device, and the processor 2 is configured to process a signal of the second network device. For example, if the first network device is an LTE access network device and the second network device is an NR network device, the processor 1 may also be referred to as an LTE processor, and the processor 2 may also be referred to as an NR processor. The processor 3 may be an application processor, a dedicated processor, or the like. Taking processor 1, processor 2 and processor 3 as examples, a method for transmitting an uplink signal according to an embodiment of the present application is described. For example, after receiving the first indication information from the first network device, the transceiver 1330 sends the first indication information to the processor 1, the processor 1 parses the first indication information to obtain the configuration situation of the uplink time period configured for the terminal device by the first network device, and then sends the situation of the uplink time period configured for the terminal device by the first network device to the processor 3, after determining the situation of the downlink time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device, the processor 2 sends the situation of the downlink time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device to the processor 3, the processor 3 determines the second time period according to the received configuration situation of the downlink time period from the processor 2 and the configuration situation of the uplink time period from the processor 1, and then indicates to the processor 1 that the first uplink signal can be sent to the first network device through the transceiver 1330 during the second time period, when the first uplink signal needs to be transmitted to the first network device in the second time period, the processor 1 may transmit the first uplink signal to the first network device through the transceiver 1330 directly in the second time period. As another example, processor 3 may also indicate to processor 2 that the uplink signal cannot be transmitted to the second network device over the first time period, and indicate to processor 1 that the uplink signal can be transmitted to the second network device over the first time period, and so on. Processor 1 and processor 2 may determine whether an upstream signal may be transmitted to the respective network device according to the indication of processor 3.

As shown in fig. 14, for another embodiment of the apparatus provided in the present application, the apparatus may be a terminal device or an apparatus (e.g., a chip or a chip system) in the terminal device, and may perform the method performed by the terminal device in any of the embodiments shown in fig. 5, 10, or 11.

The apparatus comprises a transceiver module 1410 and a processing module 1420; the transceiver module 1410 is configured to receive first indication information sent by a first network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first time period, where the first time period is an uplink time period configured for the terminal device by the first network device, and the terminal device does not send an uplink signal to the second network device in the first time period; the processing module 1420 is configured to determine a second time period, where the second time period is a downlink time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device and is not overlapped with the first time period; the transceiver module 1410 is further configured to send a first uplink signal to the first network device in the second time period.

In a possible design, the transceiver module 1410 is further configured to transmit a second uplink signal to the first network device in the first time period; the first uplink signal comprises a signal transmitted on at least one of a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) or a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH); the second uplink signal comprises a signal transmitted on at least one of a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), PUSCH, or PRACH), and/or a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).

In a possible design, the transceiver module 1410 is further configured to receive, in the second time period, a downlink signal sent by the second network device, where a carrier carrying the first uplink signal is different from a carrier carrying the downlink signal.

In one possible design, the first network device is a long term evolution LTE access network device, and the second network device is a new air interface NR access network device.

In one possible design, the LTE access network device operates in a frequency division duplex, FDD, mode and the NR access network device operates in a time division duplex, TDD, mode.

In one possible design, the processing module 1420 is further configured to determine a third time period, where the third time period includes an uplink time period and/or a flexible time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device and does not overlap with the first time period; and when the terminal device does not send the uplink signal to the second network device in the third time period, sending a third uplink signal to the first network device in the third time period.

In one possible design, the third uplink signal includes a signal transmitted on a PUSCH.

The hardware implementation of the transceiver module 1410 may be a transceiver, which is described with reference to the transceiver 1330 in fig. 13, and the processing module 1420 may be a processor, which is described with reference to the processor 1310 in fig. 13.

It should be understood that the apparatus may be configured to implement the step performed by the terminal device in the uplink signal transmission according to the embodiment of the present application, and reference may be made to the above for related features, which are not described herein again.

It should be understood that the manner in which the apparatus shown in fig. 13 and 14 is divided into modules is illustrative, and is merely one logical function division, and that in actual implementation, there may be other division manners.

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

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application.

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

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

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

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

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a U disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the present application shall be covered by the scope of the present application, and therefore the scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (16)

1. A method for transmitting an uplink signal, the method comprising:

   the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives first indication information sent by first network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a first time period, and the first time period is an uplink time period configured for the terminal equipment by the first network equipment;

   the terminal device determines a second time period, wherein the second time period is a downlink time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device and is not overlapped with the first time period;

   and the terminal equipment sends a first uplink signal to the first network equipment in the second time period.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

   the terminal equipment sends a second uplink signal to the first network equipment in the first time period;

   the first uplink signal comprises a signal transmitted on at least one of a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) or a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH); the second uplink signal comprises a signal transmitted on at least one of a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), PUSCH, or PRACH), and/or a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).
3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises:

   and the terminal equipment receives the downlink signal sent by the second network equipment in the second time period, wherein the carrier carrying the first uplink signal is different from the carrier carrying the downlink signal.
4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first network device is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) access network device, and the second network device is a new air interface (NR) access network device.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the LTE access network device operates in a frequency division duplex, FDD, mode and the NR access network device operates in a time division duplex, TDD, mode.
6. The method of any of claims 1 to 5, further comprising:

   the terminal device determines a third time period, wherein the third time period comprises an uplink time period and/or a flexible time period configured for the terminal device by the second network device and is not overlapped with the first time period;

   and when the terminal device does not send the uplink signal to the second network device in the third time period, sending a third uplink signal to the first network device in the third time period.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the third uplink signal comprises a signal transmitted on a PUSCH.
8. An apparatus, comprising a transceiver and a processor:

   the transceiver is configured to receive first indication information sent by a first network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first time period, and the first time period is an uplink time period configured for the terminal device by the first network device;

   the processor is configured to determine a second time period, where the second time period is a downlink time period configured by the second network device for the terminal device and is not overlapped with the first time period;

   the transceiver is further configured to transmit a first uplink signal to the first network device in the second time period.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

   transmitting a second uplink signal to the first network device in the first time period;

   the first uplink signal comprises a signal transmitted on at least one of a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) or a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH); the second uplink signal comprises a signal transmitted on at least one of a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), PUSCH, or PRACH), and/or a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).
10. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9, wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

    and receiving a downlink signal sent by the second network equipment in the second time period, wherein the carrier carrying the first uplink signal is different from the carrier carrying the downlink signal.
11. The apparatus of any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the first network device is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) access network device, and the second network device is a new air interface (NR) access network device.
12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the LTE access network device operates in a frequency division duplex, FDD, mode and the NR access network device operates in a time division duplex, TDD, mode.
13. The apparatus of any of claims 8 to 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

    determining a third time period, wherein the third time period comprises an uplink time period and/or a flexible time period configured for the terminal equipment by the second network equipment and is not overlapped with the first time period;

    and when the terminal device does not send the uplink signal to the second network device in the third time period, sending a third uplink signal to the first network device in the third time period.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the third uplink signal comprises a signal transmitted on a PUSCH.
15. A chip, wherein the chip is coupled to a memory, a transceiver, and wherein when the chip is running, program instructions in the memory are read to trigger the transceiver to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 7.
16. A computer storage medium having stored thereon program instructions for implementing the method of any one of claims 1 to 7 when executed by a processor.

Images