CN113424618A

CN113424618A - Communication method, device and computer readable storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN113424618A
Application number: CN201980091781.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 罗之虎; 金哲
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-05-27
Filing date: 2019-05-27
Publication date: 2021-09-21
Anticipated expiration: 2039-05-27
Also published as: WO2020237489A1; CN113424618B

Abstract

A communication method, a communication device and a computer-readable storage medium are provided, and the method comprises the following steps: the network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment through a first carrier wave, and the terminal equipment receives the first indication information from the network equipment on the first carrier wave; and the terminal equipment determines a second carrier according to the first indication information, wherein the bandwidth of the second carrier is greater than that of the first carrier, and the CCE aggregation level of the maximum control channel elements supported by the second carrier is greater than that of the first carrier or the anchor carrier. By the method and the device, a large working bandwidth can be configured for the terminal equipment on the premise of a small working bandwidth to support the application of the medium-high speed Internet of things, and meanwhile, a larger CCE aggregation level is adopted on the large working bandwidth, so that more downlink control information can be borne on the large working bandwidth, the scheduling efficiency and the scheduling flexibility can be improved, and the resource utilization rate can be improved.

Description

Communication method, device and computer readable storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication method, an apparatus, and a computer-readable storage medium.

Background

The internet of things (IoT) is an internet with connected objects, and extends a user end of the internet to any object for information exchange and communication, such a communication mode is also called Machine Type Communications (MTC), and a communication node is called an MTC terminal. Typical applications of the internet of things include smart grids, smart agriculture, smart transportation, smart home, environment detection and the like.

At present, the carrier bandwidth of the internet of things terminal is small, and only the application of the low-speed internet of things is supported. How to configure a larger carrier bandwidth for a terminal device on the premise of a smaller carrier bandwidth to support the application of a medium-high speed internet of things is a current research hotspot.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, a communication device and a computer readable storage medium, and by adopting the method, the communication device and the computer readable storage medium, a large working bandwidth can be configured for a terminal device on the premise of a small working bandwidth.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the terminal equipment receives first indication information from the network equipment on a first carrier; and the terminal equipment determines a second carrier according to the first indication information, wherein the bandwidth of the second carrier is greater than that of the first carrier, and the CCE aggregation level of the maximum control channel elements supported by the second carrier is greater than that supported by the first carrier or the anchor point carrier.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the terminal device receives the first indication information on the first carrier to determine the second carrier, where a bandwidth of the second carrier is greater than a bandwidth of the first carrier. Meanwhile, a larger CCE aggregation level is adopted on a larger working bandwidth, so that more downlink control information can be borne on the larger working bandwidth, the scheduling efficiency and the scheduling flexibility can be improved, and the resource utilization rate can be improved.

In one possible design, within the second carrier, one CCE includes a first number of resource elements, REs, and within the first carrier, one CCE includes a second number of REs, the first number being the same as the second number.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the number of REs contained in one CCE on the first carrier and the second carrier is the same, which can prevent the terminal device from receiving downlink control information according to different assumptions of CCEs, thereby reducing implementation complexity of the terminal device, and at the same time, the number of REs contained in one CCE on the first carrier and the second carrier is the same, and the second carrier may include the first carrier, and the number and/or structure of CCE time-frequency resources on the second carrier may be the same as the number and/or structure of CCE time-frequency resources on the first carrier, so that it is beneficial to improve system compatibility, improve resource utilization rate, and be compatible with a stock terminal, which refers to a terminal that does not have a capability of receiving and sending data in a larger working bandwidth.

In one possible design, the second carrier includes the first carrier, or the first carrier is not included in the second carrier.

In one possible design, the first indication information includes: frequency point information of the second carrier and bandwidth information of the second carrier; or a first offset and bandwidth information of the second carrier, where the first offset is determined according to the first carrier, or the first offset is determined according to an anchor carrier, or the first offset is determined according to a reference frequency point.

In one possible design, the method further includes: the terminal equipment receives first Downlink Control Information (DCI) from the network equipment on the second carrier; the terminal equipment determines a first time-frequency domain resource according to the first DCI; and the terminal equipment performs data transmission with the network equipment according to the first time-frequency domain resource.

In one possible design, the first DCI includes a first resource allocation field and a second resource allocation field, and the determining, by the terminal device, a first time-frequency domain resource according to the first DCI includes: the terminal equipment determines a first frequency domain resource according to the first resource allocation domain; the terminal equipment determines first time domain resources according to the second resource allocation domain and the first frequency domain resources; and the terminal equipment determines the first time-frequency domain resource according to the first frequency domain resource and the first time-domain resource.

In one possible design, the format of the first DCI is one of: format N0, Format N1, Format 6-0A, Format 6-0B, Format 6-1A, or Format 6-1B.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the network equipment determines first indication information; the network device sends the first indication information to a terminal device on a first carrier, where the first indication information is used to determine a second carrier, a bandwidth of the second carrier is greater than a bandwidth of the first carrier, and a largest CCE aggregation level supported by the second carrier is greater than a largest CCE aggregation level supported by the first carrier or an anchor carrier.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device on the first carrier, so that the terminal device determines the second carrier, where a bandwidth of the second carrier is greater than a bandwidth of the first carrier. Meanwhile, a larger CCE aggregation level is adopted on a larger working bandwidth, so that more downlink control information can be borne on the larger working bandwidth, the scheduling efficiency and the scheduling flexibility can be improved, and the resource utilization rate can be improved.

In one possible design, the second carrier includes the first carrier, or the second carrier does not include the first carrier.

In one possible design, the method further includes: the network equipment sends first Downlink Control Information (DCI) to the terminal equipment on the second carrier, wherein the first DCI is used for indicating first time-frequency domain resources; and the network equipment performs data transmission with the terminal equipment according to the first time-frequency domain resource.

In one possible design, the first time-frequency domain resource includes a first frequency domain resource and a first time domain resource, the first DCI includes a first resource allocation field and a second resource allocation field, the first resource allocation field is used to indicate the first frequency domain resource, and the second resource allocation field and the first frequency domain resource jointly indicate the first time domain resource.

In one possible design, the format of the first DCI may be one of: format N0, Format N1, Format 6-0A, Format 6-0B, Format 6-1A or Format 6-1B.

In one possible design, the sending, by the network device, the first indication information to the terminal device on the first carrier includes: the network equipment determines the coverage level of the terminal equipment; and when the coverage grade meets a preset condition, the network equipment sends the first indication information to the terminal equipment on the first carrier wave.

In the embodiment of the application, the network device determines whether to send the first indication information to the terminal device by using the coverage level of the terminal device, so that the scheduling efficiency can be improved, and some invalid configuration information or indication information can be prevented from being sent.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the terminal equipment receives first indication information from the network equipment on a first carrier; the terminal device determines N target carriers according to the first indication information, wherein the bandwidth of each target carrier in the N target carriers is less than or equal to the bandwidth of the first carrier, and the sum of the bandwidths of the N target carriers is greater than the bandwidth of the first carrier, where N is a positive integer greater than 1.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a terminal device receives first indication information on a first carrier to determine N target carriers, where a bandwidth of each target carrier in the N target carriers is less than or equal to a bandwidth of the first carrier, and a sum of bandwidths of the N target carriers is greater than a bandwidth of the first carrier. In addition, the fragmented and discrete spectrum resources are fully utilized, for example, a larger working bandwidth is aggregated by N smaller bandwidths, so that the resource utilization rate can be improved, the spectrum efficiency is improved, the network device is more flexible in resource configuration, and the network deployment is more flexible, for example, N target carriers can be continuous carriers or discontinuous carriers.

In one possible design, the first indication information includes configuration information of each of the N target carriers.

In the embodiment of the invention, the N target carriers adopt different configuration information, so that the configuration resources of network equipment and the flexibility of network deployment can be improved.

In one possible design, the N target carriers include a second carrier, and the configuration information of the second carrier includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the second carrier supports cross-carrier scheduling, or the second indication information is used to indicate that the second carrier does not support cross-carrier scheduling.

In this embodiment of the application, the terminal device may determine which carrier supports cross-carrier scheduling by using the second indication information, and the terminal device may determine a format (format) or a size (size) of the downlink control information, so as to avoid blind detection of downlink control information in different formats or different sizes, and reduce complexity of the terminal device.

In a possible design, the N target carriers include a third carrier, and the configuration information of the third carrier includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the third carrier carries control information, or indicate that the third carrier does not carry control information.

In this embodiment, the terminal device may determine which carrier carries the control information by using the third indication information, and further monitor the carrier. Compared with the method, the complexity of the terminal equipment can be reduced by monitoring all carriers by the terminal equipment.

In one possible design, the second carrier and the third carrier are the same carrier, or the second carrier and the third carrier are different carriers.

In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the network equipment determines first indication information; the network device sends the first indication information to a terminal device on a first carrier, where the first indication information is used to determine N target carriers, a bandwidth of each target carrier in the N target carriers is less than or equal to a bandwidth of the first carrier, a sum of the bandwidths of the N target carriers is greater than the bandwidth of the first carrier, and N is a positive integer greater than 1.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a network device sends first indication information to a terminal device on a first carrier, where the first indication information is used for the terminal device to determine N target carriers, where a bandwidth of each target carrier in the N target carriers is less than or equal to a bandwidth of the first carrier, and a sum of bandwidths of the N target carriers is greater than a bandwidth of the first carrier. In addition, the fragmented and discrete spectrum resources are fully utilized, for example, a larger working bandwidth is aggregated by N smaller bandwidths, so that the resource utilization rate can be improved, the spectrum efficiency is improved, the network device is more flexible in resource configuration, and the network deployment is more flexible, for example, N target carriers can be continuous carriers or discontinuous carriers.

In a possible design, the N target carriers include a third carrier, and the configuration information of the third carrier includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the third carrier carries control information, or the third indication information is used to indicate that the third carrier does not carry control information.

In one possible design, the second carrier and the third carrier are the same carrier, or the second carrier and the third carrier are different carriers. In one possible design, the sending, by the network device, the first indication information to the terminal device on the first carrier includes: the network equipment determines the coverage level of the terminal equipment; and when the coverage grade meets a preset condition, the network equipment sends the first indication information to the terminal equipment on the first carrier wave.

In a fifth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which may be a terminal device, an apparatus in a terminal device, or an apparatus capable of being used with a terminal device.

In one design, the apparatus may include a module corresponding to one or more of the methods/operations/steps/actions described in the first aspect, where the module may be implemented by hardware circuit, software, or a combination of hardware circuit and software. Illustratively, the communication device may include a transceiver module and a processing module. The receiving and sending module is used for receiving first indication information from the network equipment on a first carrier; and the processing module is used for determining a second carrier according to the first indication information. The functions of the transceiver module and the processing module may be referred to in the first aspect.

In one design, the apparatus may include a module corresponding to one or more of the methods/operations/steps/actions described in the third aspect, where the module may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. Illustratively, the communication device may include a transceiver module and a processing module. The receiving and sending module is used for receiving first indication information from the network equipment on a first carrier; and the processing module is used for determining the N target carriers according to the first indication information. The functions of the transceiver module and the processing module may be specifically referred to in the description of the third aspect.

In a sixth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which may be a network device, an apparatus in a network device, or an apparatus capable of being used with a network device.

In one design, the apparatus may include a module corresponding to one or more of the methods/operations/steps/actions described in the second aspect, where the module may be implemented by hardware circuit, software, or a combination of hardware circuit and software. Illustratively, the communication device may include a transceiver module and a processing module. The processing module is used for determining the first indication information. The transceiver module is configured to send the first indication information to the terminal device on the first carrier, and for specific reference to the description of the second aspect, the function of the transceiver module and the function of the processing module are described in this specification.

In one design, the apparatus may include a module corresponding to one or more of the methods/operations/steps/actions described in the fourth aspect, where the module may be a hardware circuit, a software circuit, or a combination of a hardware circuit and a software circuit. Illustratively, the communication device may include a transceiver module and a processing module. The processing module is used for determining first indication information; the transceiver module is configured to send the first indication information to the terminal device on the first carrier, and for specific reference to the description of the second aspect, the function of the transceiver module and the function of the processing module are described in this specification.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which includes instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method according to any one of the first aspect, any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, the second aspect, any one of the possible designs of the second aspect, the third aspect, any one of the possible designs of the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor and may further include a memory, and is configured to implement the method of any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, the possible design of the first aspect, the second aspect, the possible design of the second aspect, the third aspect, the possible design of the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or the fourth aspect. The chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

In a ninth aspect, this application further provides a computer program product, which comprises instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of the first aspect, the possible design of the first aspect, the second aspect, the possible design of the second aspect, the third aspect, the possible design of the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or the possible design of the fourth aspect.

In a tenth aspect, the present embodiments provide a system, which includes the apparatus of the fifth aspect and the apparatus of the sixth aspect.

Drawings

Fig. 1 and fig. 2 are schematic diagrams of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3a and fig. 3b are schematic diagrams of scenarios of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an anchor carrier according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an NCCE provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7a and fig. 7b are schematic diagrams of a second carrier according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a second carrier according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

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

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 1 illustrates one of the communication systems 100 to which embodiments of the present application may be applied. The communication system 100 may include at least one network device 110. Network device 110 may be a device that communicates with terminal devices, such as a base station or base station controller. Each network device 110 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area and may communicate with terminal devices located within that coverage area (cell). The network device 110 may be a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system or a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a base station (nodeB) in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, an evolved base station (evolved nodeB, eNB, or eNodeB) in an LTE system, a wireless controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario, or a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a network device in a future 5G network, for example, a base station (G or NB) or a receiving/transmitting point (BTS, or transmitting/receiving point) in a new radio Network (NR), or a public mobile network (BTS ), a base station (NB, or receiving/receiving point) in a future 5G network, or a public mobile network (TRP, NB, future) 110, PLMN), and the like, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

The communication system 100 also includes one or more terminal devices 120 located within the coverage area of the network device 110. The terminal device 120 may be mobile or stationary. The terminal equipment 120 may refer to an access terminal, User Equipment (UE), subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, or user equipment. The access terminal may be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), and the like, which are not limited in this embodiment.

The network device 110 and the terminal device 120 may perform data transmission via an air interface resource, where the air interface resource may include at least one of a time domain resource, a frequency domain resource, and a code domain resource. Specifically, when the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 perform data transmission, the network device 110 may transmit control information to the terminal device 120 through a control channel, such as a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), so as to allocate a resource of a data channel, such as a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), to the terminal device 120. For example, the control information may indicate time units and/or Resource Blocks (RBs) to which the data channels are mapped, and the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 perform data transmission on the data channels at the allocated time-frequency resources. The data transmission may include downlink data transmission and/or uplink data transmission, where the downlink data (e.g., data carried by PDSCH) transmission may refer to the network device 110 sending data to the terminal device 120, and the uplink data (e.g., data carried by PUSCH) transmission may refer to the terminal device 120 sending data to the network device 110. The data may be generalized data, such as service data, or signaling data, such as system information, broadcast information, or other information.

Fig. 1 exemplarily shows one network device and six terminal devices, and optionally, the communication system 100 may include a plurality of network devices and may include other numbers of terminal devices within the coverage of one network device, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the network device 110 may directly communicate with the terminal device 120, or may indirectly communicate with the terminal device 120. For example, in the example shown in fig. 1, the terminal device 120 may be a mobile phone, a smart cup, a smart printer, and the like. The network device 110 may communicate indirectly with the smart cup, the smart phone, etc. via a mobile phone.

Fig. 2 illustrates one of the communication systems 200 to which embodiments of the present application may be applied. The communication system 200 may include a first device 201 and a second device 202. The first device 201 may be a network device having a relay function, or the first device 201 may be a terminal device having a relay function. The second device 202 may be a network device having a relay function, or the second device 202 may be a terminal device having a relay function. The first device 201 and the second device 202 may communicate with each other via a Un interface or a Uu interface.

Optionally, the communication system 200 may further include a third device 203. The third device 203 may be a terminal device without a relay function, or the third device 203 may be a remote terminal device. The second device 202 and the third device 203 may communicate via a Un interface or a PC5 interface.

For example, as shown in fig. 3a, in one scenario, the first device 201 may be a network device, the second device 202 may be a network device with a relay function, and the third device 203 may be a terminal device. The interface between the first device 201 and the second device 202 may be a Un interface, and the interface between the second device 202 and the third device 203 may be a Uu interface.

For example, as shown in fig. 3b, in a scenario, the first device 201 may be a network device, the second device 202 may be a terminal device with a relay function, and the third device 203 may be a terminal device. The interface between the first device 201 and the second device 202 may be a Uu interface, and the interface between the second device 202 and the third device 203 may be a PC5 interface.

In the communication system 200 shown in fig. 2, the description of the network device, the terminal device, and the communication system can be referred to the description of the example of fig. 1, and will not be described here.

Some communication nouns or terms used in the embodiments of the present application are explained below, and are also part of the content of the present application.

One, anchor carrier

In a narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) system, for Frequency Division Duplex (FDD): the anchor carrier refers to a carrier that a terminal device assumes to have a Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal (NPSS), a Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal (NSSS), a Narrowband Physical Broadcast Channel (NPBCH), and a narrowband system information block (SIB-NB) transmission; non-anchor carriers refer to carriers that the terminal device assumes no NPSS, NSSS, NPBCH, and SIB-NB transmissions.

In NB-IoT systems, for Time Division Duplex (TDD): the anchor carrier refers to a carrier which is supposed to be transmitted by NPSS, NSSS and NPBCH by the terminal equipment; a non-anchor carrier refers to a carrier that the terminal device assumes no NPSS, NSSS, and NPBCH transmissions.

For example, as shown in fig. 4, the system bandwidth of the anchor carrier may be 180kHz, on which NPSS, NSSS, NPBCH, and SIB-NB transmissions may be available. For example, as shown in fig. 4, the frame m may include 10 subframes, and the indexes are 0 to 9 in sequence. Subframe 0 may be used for transmission of NPBCH, subframe 4 may be used for transmission of SIB-NB, subframe 5 may be used for transmission of NPSS, and subframe 9 may be used for transmission of NSSS. Frame m +1 may include 10 subframes with indices of 0 to 9 in order. Subframe 0 may be used for transmission of NPBCH, and subframe 5 may be used for transmission of NPSS.

Two, narrow band and wide band

In an enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) system, narrowband (narrowband) refers to 6 non-overlapping physical resource blocks in the frequency domain. Wideband (wideband) refers to 4 non-overlapping narrow bands in the frequency domain. The physical resource block may occupy 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. In a given system bandwidth, the number of the narrowband and the wideband and the indexing method may refer to the descriptions in sections 5.2.4 and 6.2.7 in 3GPP TS 36.211, which are not described herein again.

Thirdly, anchor narrow band and non-anchor narrow band:

in the embodiment of the application, the anchor narrowband refers to a narrowband for which the terminal equipment assumes synchronous signal transmission; or the anchor narrowband refers to a narrowband occupied by the terminal device executing the initial connection establishment process or initiating the connection reestablishment process, or a narrowband indicated as the anchor narrowband in the handover process.

In the embodiment of the application, the non-anchor narrowband refers to a narrowband for which the terminal device assumes no synchronous signal transmission; or non-anchor narrowband refers to a narrowband that can be configured when establishing an RRC connection and can be used to provide additional radio resources.

Fourthly, anchor point broadband and non-anchor point broadband:

in the embodiment of the application, the anchor point broadband refers to a broadband which is supposed to be transmitted by a synchronous signal by terminal equipment; or the anchor point broadband refers to a broadband occupied by the terminal device executing an initial connection establishment process or initiating a connection reestablishment process, or a broadband indicated as an anchor point width in a handover process.

In the embodiment of the application, the non-anchor point broadband refers to a broadband which is assumed by the terminal device to have no synchronous signal transmission; or non-anchor broadband refers to broadband that can be configured when establishing an RRC connection and can be used to provide additional radio resources.

Fifthly, Control Channel Element (CCE)

For NB-IoT systems, a CCE may also be referred to as a Narrowband Control Channel Element (NCCE), which may consist of one or more Resource Elements (REs). Alternatively, it can also be described as: 1 NCCE, consisting of 6 consecutive subcarriers within one subframe. For example, one subframe includes 12 subcarriers with indexes of 0 to 11, CCE0 may occupy subcarrier 0 to subcarrier 5, and CCE1 may occupy subcarrier 6 to subcarrier 11. Alternatively, it can be described as: since one Resource Block (RB) is composed of 12 subcarriers consecutive in one subframe, 2 NCCEs can constitute one RB.

For example, as shown in fig. 5, the carrier is configured to be 3 RBs, the bandwidth of each RB is 180kHz, and 3 RBs occupy 3 × 180 kHz. On the above configuration carrier, 6 NCCEs can be divided, and the indexes are #0 to #5 in sequence. Every two NCEEs may constitute an RB. For example, NCCE #0 and NCCE #1 may constitute one RB, NCCE #2 and NCCE #3 may constitute another RB, NCCE #4 and NCCE #5 may constitute one RB, and so on.

Sixthly, Aggregation Level (AL)

In an NB-IoT system, a Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel (NPDCCH) may support different Aggregation Levels (AL). For example, as shown in table 1, the aggregation levels supported by NPDCCH may include {0, 1, 2} and the like. When the aggregation level is 0, NPDCCH consists of 1 NCCE. When the aggregation level is 1, NPDCCH is combined by 2 NCCEs. When the aggregation level is 2, NPDCCH consists of 3 NCCEs. It should be understood that the descriptions in table 1 above are only for illustration and are not intended to limit the present application. For example, NPDCCH may also consist of 4, 5, or 6 NCCEs when the aggregation level is 2.

For example, the network device may determine the aggregation level used by the current NPDCCH according to channel quality and other factors. For example, if NPDCCH is transmitted to a terminal device with good downlink channel quality (e.g., a terminal device located in the center of a cell), the network device may use 1 NCCE to transmit the NPDCCH; if NPDCCH is transmitted to a terminal device with poor downlink channel quality (e.g., a terminal device located at the edge of a cell), the network device may use 6 NCCEs to transmit the NPDCCH to achieve sufficient robustness.

TABLE 1 aggregation level supported by NPDCCH

Seventh, coverage grade

The coverage level is also referred to as a coverage enhancement level, an enhanced coverage level, a repetition level or number of repetitions, etc. Taking NB-IoT system as an example, a concept of coverage classes is introduced for Narrowband Physical Random Access Channels (NPRACHs), each random access resource is mapped to one NPRACH coverage class, and at most three NPRACHs coverage classes are supported, namely coverage class 0, coverage class 1, and coverage class 2. Wherein, starting from coverage level 0, the mapping of random access resources and NPRACH coverage level increases with NPRACH repetition number. For example, NPRACH repetition count in a random access resource associated with coverage level 0 < NPRACH repetition count in a random access resource associated with coverage level 1 < NPRACH repetition count in a random access resource associated with coverage level 2, and the like. The number of repetitions of the NPRACH may be configurable by the network device. For example, the network device may configure the number of Repetitions of NPRACH for the terminal device by using a parameter of a num Repetitions Per Preamble Attempt.

It should be noted that the coverage level in the embodiment of the present application may refer to an NPRACH coverage level when the terminal device succeeds in random access. Or, it may refer to NPRACH coverage level at which the terminal device starts a random access procedure. Alternatively, the NPRACH coverage level at which the distance network device transmits the first indication information is most recent in time and the random access procedure is successful may be referred to. For the first indication information, reference may be made to the following description in the flow shown in fig. 6 or fig. 8.

Eight, Resource Unit (RU)

In an NB-IoT system, one RU, in the frequency domain, includes

Sub-carriers comprising in the time domain

A plurality of time slots, each time slot including

A symbol. The number of subcarriers and the number of slots included in each RU are related to the format of a Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel (NPUSCH) and the bandwidth of the subcarriers. For example, as shown in table 2, when NPUSCH adopts format 1 and the subcarrier bandwidth is 3.75KHz, one RU includes 1 subcarrier in the frequency domain and 16 slots in the time domain, and each slot includes 7 symbols. When NPUSCH adopts format 2 and the subcarrier bandwidth is 3.75KHz, one RU includes 1 subcarrier in the frequency domain and 4 slots in the time domain, each slot including 7 symbols, etc.

TABLE 2

It is noted that the term "transmission" referred to in this application may include the transmission and/or reception of traffic data and/or the transmission and/or reception of signaling data. The terms "first," "second," and the like, are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance, nor order.

As shown in fig. 6, the present application provides a flow of a communication method, where a network device in the flow may be the network device 110 in the flow shown in fig. 1, and a terminal device may be the terminal device 120 in the flow shown in fig. 1. Alternatively, the network device in the process may be the first device 201 in the process shown in fig. 2, and the terminal device may be the second device 202 in the process shown in fig. 2. Alternatively, the network device in the flow may be the second device 202 in the flow shown in fig. 2, and the terminal device may be the third device 203 in the flow shown in fig. 2. The process may include:

s601, the network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment on the first carrier wave.

S602, the terminal device can determine a second carrier according to the first indication information, the bandwidth of the second carrier can be greater than that of the first carrier, and the maximum CCE aggregation level supported by the second carrier can be greater than that supported by the first carrier.

Optionally, the process shown in fig. 6 may further include: s600, the network equipment determines first indication information.

For example, the first indication information may include frequency point information of the second carrier and bandwidth information of the second carrier. The frequency point information of the second carrier may be an Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (ARFCN) of the second carrier. Alternatively, the frequency point information of the second carrier may be an offset of the ARFCN of the second carrier with respect to an absolute radio frequency channel number (EARFCN). The bandwidth information of the second carrier may include the number of RBs occupied by the second carrier.

For example, the first indication information may include the first offset and bandwidth information of the second carrier. For bandwidth information of the second carrier, see the above description. For the first bias, reference is made to the following description.

Wherein the first offset may be determined from a first carrier. For example, the first offset may be an offset of a carrier center of the second carrier with respect to a carrier center of the first carrier, or the first offset may be an offset of a low frequency boundary of the second carrier with respect to a carrier center of the first carrier, or the first offset may be an offset of a high frequency boundary of the second carrier with respect to a carrier center of the first carrier, or the second carrier includes one or more subcarriers, and the first offset may be an offset of a subcarrier center of a lowest frequency subcarrier of the second carriers with respect to a carrier center of the first carrier, or the first offset may be an offset of a subcarrier center of a highest frequency subcarrier of the second carriers with respect to a carrier center of the first subcarrier.

Alternatively, the first offset may be determined from an anchor carrier. For example, the first offset may be an offset of a carrier center of the second carrier with respect to a carrier center of the anchor carrier, or the first offset may be an offset of a low frequency boundary of the second carrier with respect to a carrier center of the anchor carrier, or the first offset may be an offset of a high frequency boundary of the second carrier with respect to a carrier center of the anchor carrier, or the second carrier includes one or more subcarriers, and the first offset may be an offset of a subcarrier center of a lowest frequency subcarrier of the second carriers with respect to a carrier center of the anchor carrier, or the first offset may be an offset of a subcarrier center of a highest frequency subcarrier of the second carriers with respect to a carrier center of the first subcarrier.

Alternatively, the first offset may be determined according to the reference frequency point. For example, the first offset may be an offset of a carrier center of the second carrier with respect to a carrier center of the reference frequency point, or the first offset may be an offset of a low-frequency boundary of the second carrier with respect to a carrier center of the reference frequency point, or the first offset may be an offset of a high-frequency boundary of the second carrier with respect to a carrier center of the reference frequency point, or the second carrier includes one or more subcarriers, and the first offset may be an offset of a subcarrier center of a lowest-frequency subcarrier in the second carrier with respect to a carrier center of the reference frequency point, or the first offset may be an offset of a subcarrier center of a highest-frequency subcarrier in the second carrier with respect to a carrier center of the first subcarrier.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application, the first carrier may be an anchor carrier or a non-anchor carrier, the first carrier may be a downlink carrier or an uplink carrier, and the first carrier may be an anchor narrowband or a non-anchor narrowband, or the first carrier may be an anchor broadband or a non-anchor broadband. The second carrier may be an anchor carrier or a non-anchor carrier, the second carrier may be an uplink carrier or a downlink carrier, the second carrier may be an anchor narrowband or a non-anchor narrowband, or the second carrier may be an anchor wideband or a non-anchor wideband. The subcarrier spacing of the first carrier and the subcarrier spacing of the second carrier may be the same, or the subcarrier spacing of the first carrier and the subcarrier spacing of the second carrier may be different, for example, the subcarrier spacing of the first carrier is 15kHz and the subcarrier spacing of the second carrier is 30 kHz.

Wherein the second carrier may not include the first carrier. For example, as shown in fig. 7a, taking NB-IoT system as an example, the bandwidth of the first carrier is 180kHz, the bandwidth of the second carrier is 360kHz, and the second carrier does not include the first carrier. The network device may send first indication information on the first carrier, the first indication information being used to configure the second carrier. The network device may send Downlink Control Information (DCI) on the second carrier, where the DCI may schedule the terminal device to receive the NPDSCH on the second carrier. Or, the DCI schedulable terminal device receives NPDSCH and the like on other carriers except the second carrier, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. Alternatively, the bandwidth of NPDSCH may be 360 kHz. Alternatively, the bandwidth of NPDSCH may be less than 360kHz, etc. The embodiments of the present application are not limited. In the example shown in fig. 7a, the example is described in which the DCI schedules the terminal device to receive NPDSCH on the second carrier, and the bandwidth of NPDSCH is 360 kHz.

Alternatively, the second carrier may comprise the first carrier. For example, as shown in fig. 7b, taking NB-IoT system as an example, the bandwidth of the first carrier is 180kHz, the bandwidth of the second carrier is 540kHz, and the second carrier includes the first carrier. The network device may send first indication information on the first carrier, the first indication information being used to configure the second carrier. The network device may send DCI on the second carrier, which may schedule the terminal device to receive NPDSCH on the second carrier. Or, the DCI schedulable terminal device receives the NPDSCH on a carrier other than the second carrier, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Optionally, the bandwidth of NPDSCH may be 540kHz, or the bandwidth of NPDSCH may be less than 540kHz, etc. The embodiments of the present application are not limited. In the example shown in fig. 7b, the example that the terminal device is scheduled to receive NPDSCH on the second carrier by the DCI and the bandwidth of NPDSCH is 540kHz is described.

It should be noted that, in an implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, the number of REs included in one CCE in the second carrier is the same as the number of REs included in one CCE in the first carrier. Alternatively, it may be described that one CCE may include a first number of REs in the second carrier, and one CCE may include a second number of REs in the first carrier, the first number being the same as the second number. Alternatively, it can be described as: the number of frequency elements included in the frequency domain of one CCE in the second carrier is the same as the number of frequency elements included in the frequency domain of one CCE in the first carrier, and the number of time elements included in the time domain of one CCE in the second carrier is the same as the number of time elements included in the time domain of one CCE in the first carrier. The frequency units may include subcarriers and resource blocks, RBs, etc. The time units may include frames, subframes, slots, symbols, or the like.

In another implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, the number of frequency elements included in a CCE in a second carrier in a frequency domain is the same as the number of frequency elements included in a CCE in a first carrier in the frequency domain, the number of time elements included in a CCE in the second carrier in a time domain is different from the number of time elements included in a CCE in the first carrier in the time domain, or the number of time elements included in a CCE in the second carrier in the time domain is the same as the number of time elements included in a CCE in the first carrier in the time domain, and the number of frequency elements included in a CCE in the second carrier in the frequency domain is different from the number of frequency elements included in a CCE in the first carrier in the frequency domain.

Optionally, in the flow shown in fig. 6, the method may further include: and the network equipment transmits first DCI to the terminal equipment on a second carrier, wherein the format of the first DCI can be format N0, format N1, format 6-0A, format 6-0B, format 6-1A or format 6-1B, and the like. The first DCI is used for scheduling the terminal equipment to send uplink data, or the first DCI is used for scheduling the terminal equipment to receive downlink data. The terminal device may determine the first time-frequency domain resource according to the first DCI, and perform data transmission with the network device according to the first time-frequency domain resource. It can be understood that, when the first DCI is used to schedule the terminal device to transmit uplink data, the terminal device may transmit the uplink data to the network device according to the first time-frequency domain resource. When the first DCI is used to schedule the terminal device to receive downlink data, the terminal device may receive the downlink data sent by the network device according to the first time-frequency domain resource.

In an embodiment of the present application, the first DCI may include a first resource allocation field and a second resource allocation field. The first time-frequency domain resources may include first frequency domain resources and first time domain resources. The first resource allocation domain may indicate first frequency domain resources, and the second resource allocation domain and the first frequency domain resources may jointly indicate first time domain resources. The process of determining, by the terminal device, the first time-frequency domain resource according to the first DCI may be as follows:

and the terminal equipment determines the first frequency domain resource according to the first resource allocation domain. And determining the first time domain resource according to the second resource allocation domain and the first frequency domain resource. And finally, determining the first time-frequency domain resource according to the first frequency domain resource and the first time domain resource. For example, in this embodiment of the present application, the number of frequency domain resources indicated by the first resource allocation field is a, and the number indicated by the second resource allocation field is a × B, then the terminal device may determine that the number of frequency domain resources used for transmitting downlink data or uplink data is a, that is, the number of the first frequency domain resources is a. The terminal device may determine that the number of time domain resources used for transmitting downlink data or uplink data is B, that is, the number of the first time domain resources is B.

For example, the first DCI is a DCI for downlink scheduling. As shown in table 3, the second resource allocation field in the first DCI may carry I_SF. Terminal equipment is according to I_SFThe number N indicated by the second resource allocation field may be determined_SF(i.e., the number of A. times. B in the above example). For example, as shown in Table 3, when I_SFWhen the value is 5, the value can be determinedThe number of two resource allocation fields is 6, i.e. a × B is 6.

TABLE 3

I _SF	N _SF
0	1
1	2
2	3
3	4
4	5
5	6
6	8
7	10

For example, the first DCI is a DCI for uplink scheduling. As shown in table 4, the second resource allocation field in the first DCI may carry I_RU. Terminal equipment is according to I_RUThe number N indicated by the second resource allocation field may be determined_RU(i.e., the number of A. times. B in the above example). For example, as shown in Table 4, when I_RUWhen the value of (2) is 6, it may be determined that the number indicated by the second resource allocation field is 8, i.e., the number of a × B is 8.

TABLE 4

I _RU	N _RU
0	1
1	2
2	3
3	4
4	5
5	6
6	8
7	10

For an NB-IoT system, for example, a resource allocation region and a frequency domain resource allocation region may be included in the first DCI. The frequency domain resource allocation domain may correspond to the first resource allocation domain and the resource allocation domain may correspond to the second resource allocation domain. The process of determining frequency domain resources and time frequency resources according to the resource allocation domain and frequency domain resource allocation domain can be referred to the above description. It should be noted that the first frequency domain resource may specifically refer to a number of RBs (RBs) mapped by a Transport Block (TB). When the first DCI is used for downlink data transmission, the first time domain resource may specifically refer to a number of subframes mapped by a transport block. When the first DCI is used for uplink data transmission, the first time domain resource may specifically refer to the number of resource units RU mapped by a transport block. For RU, refer to the above noun description for explaining the eighth part of resource unit.

Optionally, in the flow shown in fig. 6, before S601, the method may further include: the network device determines a coverage level of the terminal device. When the coverage level of the terminal device meets a preset condition, the network device executes S601. Otherwise, the network device does not perform S601.

For example, the terminal device may measure a first Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP). And the terminal equipment determines the coverage grade according to the first RSRP and the second RSRP. The second RSRP may be a network device configured RSRP threshold. The network equipment determines the coverage grade of the terminal equipment, judges whether the coverage grade of the terminal equipment meets a preset condition or not, and if the coverage grade of the terminal equipment meets the preset condition, the network equipment sends the first indication information to the terminal equipment, namely the network equipment configures a second carrier wave for the terminal equipment. Otherwise, the network device does not send the first indication information to the terminal device, that is, does not configure the second carrier for the terminal device. The preset conditions may be: if the coverage level of the terminal equipment is equal to the coverage level 0 or equal to the coverage level 1, the coverage level of the terminal equipment can be considered to meet the condition, otherwise, the coverage level of the terminal equipment can be considered to not meet the condition.

For example, the network device may determine the coverage level of the terminal device in the following manner:

the first mode is as follows: the method comprises the steps that a terminal device sends a first message to a network device, wherein the first message is used for representing the coverage level of the terminal device, the network device receives the first message sent by the terminal device, and the coverage level of the terminal device is determined according to the first message.

The second mode is as follows: the terminal equipment determines a first random access resource and successfully executes a random access process on the first random access resource. Correspondingly, when the network device determines that the terminal device is successfully accessed randomly, the network device may further determine a first random access resource corresponding to the random access process. Since each random access resource corresponds to a coverage class, the network device may determine the coverage class of the terminal device according to the first random access resource.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information, the first message, and the like may be transmitted by being carried in the same or different messages, or may be transmitted separately, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited. For example, the first indication information, the first message, and the like may be carried and transmitted by a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, a Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE), a system message, a physical layer signaling, a Downlink Control Information (DCI), a paging message, and the like.

As shown in fig. 8, the present application provides another flow of a communication method, where a network device in the flow may be the network device 110 in the flow shown in fig. 1, and a terminal device may be the terminal device 120 in the flow shown in fig. 1. Alternatively, the network device in the process may be the first device 201 in the process shown in fig. 2, and the terminal device may be the second device 202 in the process shown in fig. 2. Alternatively, the network device in the flow may be the second device 202 in the flow shown in fig. 2, and the terminal device may be the third device 203 in the flow shown in fig. 2. The process may include:

s801, the network device sends first indication information to the terminal device on a first carrier, wherein the first carrier can be an anchor carrier or a non-anchor carrier.

S802, the terminal device determines N target carriers according to the first indication information, wherein the bandwidth of each target carrier in the N target carriers is less than or equal to that of the first carrier, the sum of the bandwidths of the N target carriers is greater than that of the first carrier, and N is a positive integer greater than 1.

Optionally, in the flow shown in fig. 8, the method may further include: s800, the network equipment determines first indication information.

For example, the first indication information may include configuration information of each of the N target carriers. For the ith target carrier, where i is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N, the configuration information of the ith target carrier may include frequency point information of the ith target carrier. The frequency point information of the ith target carrier may be an ARFCN of the ith target carrier. Alternatively, the frequency point information of the ith target carrier may be an offset of the ARFCN of the ith target carrier with respect to the EARFCN.

Optionally, the configuration information of the ith target carrier may further include one or more of bitmap indication information, configuration information of a downlink interval gap or an intra-bandwidth (inband) carrier. For an NB-IoT system, the bitmap indication information may specifically indicate configuration information of an NB-IoT downlink subframe (downlink subframe), for example. The configuration information of the intra-bandwidth carrier may include indication information of the same PCI, a cell control region size of the E-UTRA, and a power offset with respect to the anchor carrier NRS, etc. And when the same PCI indication information indicates that the same is the same, the size of the E-UTRA cell control area is used for indicating the offset from the middle of the E-UTRA system. And when the same PCI indication information indicates the differential PCI, the size of the E-UTRA cell control area is used for indicating the number of antenna ports of the E-UTRA CRS. The unit of the E-UTRA cell control region size may be the number of OFDM symbols.

Optionally, the configuration information of the ith target carrier may further include second indication information, where the second indication information may indicate that the ith target carrier supports cross-carrier scheduling. Alternatively, the second indication information may indicate that the ith target carrier does not support cross-carrier scheduling. For example, when the second indication information is 1, it may indicate that the ith target carrier supports cross-carrier scheduling. When the second indication information is 0, it may indicate that the ith target carrier does not support cross-carrier scheduling.

Optionally, the configuration information of the ith target carrier may further include third indication information, where the third indication information may indicate that the ith target carrier carries the control information, or the third indication information may indicate that the ith target carrier does not carry the control information. For example, when the third indication information is 1, it may indicate that the ith target carrier carries the control information. When the third indication information is 0, it may indicate that no control information is carried on the ith target carrier. It should be noted that whether the ith target carrier carries control information may also be described as: whether a control resource set, a search space or a control channel exists on the ith target carrier. In this embodiment of the present application, using the third indication information, the terminal device may determine which carrier carries the control information, and further monitor the carrier. Compared with the method, the complexity of the terminal equipment can be reduced by monitoring all carriers by the terminal equipment.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application, the first carrier may be an anchor carrier or a non-anchor carrier, the first carrier may be a downlink carrier or an uplink carrier, and the first carrier may be an anchor narrowband or a non-anchor narrowband, or the first carrier may be an anchor broadband or a non-anchor broadband. The N target carriers may be anchor carriers or non-anchor carriers, N target carriers.

The N target carriers may be an uplink carrier or a downlink carrier, and the N target carriers may be anchor narrow bands or non-anchor narrow bands, or the N target carriers may be anchor wide bands or non-anchor wide bands. The subcarrier spacing of the first carrier and the subcarrier spacing of the N target carriers may be the same, or the subcarrier spacing of the first carrier and the subcarrier spacing of the N target carriers may be different, for example, the subcarrier spacing of the first carrier is 15kHz and the subcarrier spacing of the N target carriers is 30 kHz. Optionally, as shown in fig. 9, in the embodiment of the present application, the N target carriers may include a second carrier and a third carrier. The bandwidth of the first carrier may be 180kHz, and the bandwidths of the second carrier and the third carrier may be the same as the bandwidth of the first carrier, both being 180 kHz. Alternatively, the first carrier may be a narrowband or a wideband, the second carrier and the third carrier may be a narrowband or a wideband, and the bandwidths of the second carrier and the third carrier may be the same as the bandwidth of the first carrier, wherein the narrowband and the wideband may be referred to the description of the narrowband and wideband portions of the second part explained by the above terms.

The network device may send the first indication information to the terminal device on the first carrier. The first indication information is used for configuring a second carrier and a third carrier. The network device may transmit DCI #1 and DCI #2 on the second carrier, DCI #1 scheduling the terminal device to receive NPDSCH #1 on the second carrier, and DCI #2 scheduling the terminal device to receive NPDSCH #2 on the third carrier.

Optionally, in the flow illustrated in fig. 8, the method may further include: the network equipment determines the coverage level of the terminal equipment; and when the coverage level meets a preset condition, the network equipment executes the step shown in the step S801, otherwise, the network equipment does not execute the step shown in the step S801. As for the manner of determining the coverage level of the terminal device and the preset condition of the coverage level by the network device, reference may be made to the description in the flow shown in fig. 6, and a description thereof will not be provided.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information, the second indication information, and/or the third indication information may be sent separately or carried in the same or different messages for sending, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited in particular. For example, the first indication information, the second indication information, and/or the third indication information may be carried by a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, a Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE), a system message, a physical layer signaling, a Downlink Control Information (DCI), a paging message, or the like.

Further, at least two pieces of information among the first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information in the embodiment of the present application may be carried by one same message. For example, the first indication information and the second indication information may be carried by one same message, or the first indication information and the third indication information may be carried by one same message, or the second indication information and the third indication information may be carried by one same message, or the first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information may all be carried by one same message, and the like.

In the embodiments provided in the present application, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application is introduced from the perspective of network devices, terminals, interaction between the network devices and the terminals, and interaction between the terminals and the terminals, respectively. In order to implement the functions in the method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the network device and the terminal may include a hardware structure and/or a software module, and the functions are implemented 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.

Similar to the above concept, as shown in fig. 10, there is also provided an apparatus 1000 including a transceiver module 1001 and a processing module 1002.

In an example, the apparatus 1000 is used to implement the function of the terminal device in the foregoing method, and the apparatus may be a terminal device, and may also be an apparatus in a terminal device. Wherein the apparatus may be a system-on-a-chip. 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. A transceiver module 1001, configured to receive first indication information from a network device on a first carrier; a processing module 1002, configured to determine a second carrier according to the first indication information, where a bandwidth of the second carrier is greater than a bandwidth of the first carrier, and a maximum CCE aggregation level supported by the second carrier is greater than a maximum CCE aggregation level supported by the first carrier or an anchor carrier. For specific implementation procedures of the processing module 1002 and the transceiver module 1001, reference may be made to the description of the terminal device side in the above method embodiments, and a description thereof is omitted here.

In an example, the apparatus 1000 is used to implement the function of the network device in the above method, and the apparatus may be a network device, or an apparatus in a network device. Wherein the apparatus may be a system-on-a-chip. The processing module 1002 is configured to determine first indication information. A transceiving module 1001, configured to send first indication information to a terminal device on a first carrier, where the first indication information is used to determine a second carrier, a bandwidth of the second carrier is greater than a bandwidth of the first carrier, and a maximum CCE aggregation level supported by the second carrier is greater than a maximum CCE aggregation level supported by the first carrier or an anchor carrier. For specific implementation procedures of the processing module 1002 and the transceiver module 1001, reference may be made to the description of the network device side in the foregoing method embodiments, and a description thereof is omitted here.

The division of the modules in the embodiments of the present application is schematic, and only one logical function division is provided, and in actual implementation, there may be another division manner, and in addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processor or module, or may exist alone physically, or two or more modules are integrated in one module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode.

Similar to the above concept, as shown in fig. 11, the embodiment of the present application further provides an apparatus 1100.

In an example, the apparatus 1100 is configured to implement a function of a terminal device in the foregoing method, and the apparatus may be the terminal device, or an apparatus in the terminal device. The apparatus 1100 comprises at least one processor 1101 for implementing the functions of the terminal device in the above-described method. For example, the processor 1101 may determine the second carrier according to the first indication information. The apparatus 1100 may also include at least one memory 1102 for storing program instructions and/or data. The memory 1102 is coupled to the processor 1101. The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is a spaced coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form, and is used for information interaction between the devices, units or modules. The processor 1101 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1102. Processor 1101 may execute program instructions stored in memory 1102. At least one of the at least one memory may be included in the processor. The apparatus 1100 may also include a communication interface 1103 for communicating with other devices over a transmission medium, such that the apparatus used in the apparatus 1100 may communicate with other devices. Illustratively, the communication interface 1103 may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, pin, or other type of communication interface, which may be a network device. The processor 1101 transceives data using the communication interface 1103 and is used to implement the methods in the above-described embodiments. In this example, as to specific working procedures of the processor 1101 and the communication interface 1103, reference may be made to the description on the terminal device side in the above method embodiment, and no further description is provided here.

In another example, the apparatus 1100 is used to implement the function of the network device in the above method, and the apparatus may be a network device, or an apparatus in a network device. The apparatus 1100 comprises at least one processor 1101 for implementing the functions of the network device in the above-described method. Illustratively, the processor 1101 may determine the first indication information. The apparatus 1100 may also include a memory 1102 for storing program instructions and/or data. The memory 1102 is coupled to the processor 1101. The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is a spaced coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, and may be in a telecommunication, mechanical or other form, for information interaction between the devices, units or modules. The processor 1101 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1102. Processor 1101 may execute program instructions stored in memory 1102. At least one of the at least one memory may be included in the processor. The apparatus 1100 may also include a communication interface 1103 for communicating with other devices over a transmission medium, such that the apparatus used in the apparatus 1100 may communicate with other devices. Illustratively, the communication interface 1103 may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, pin, or other type of communication interface, which may be a terminal device. The processor 1101 transceives data using the communication interface 1103 and is used to implement the methods in the above-described embodiments. In this example, as to specific working procedures of the processor 1101 and the communication interface 1103, reference may be made to the description on the network device side in the above method embodiment, and the description is not repeated here.

In the embodiment of the present application, a connection medium between the communication interface 1103, the processor 1101, and the memory 1102 is not limited. In the embodiment of the present application, the memory 1102, the processor 1101, and the communication interface 1103 are connected by a bus 1104 in fig. 11, the bus is indicated by a thick line in fig. 11, and the connection manner between other components is merely illustrative and 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. 11, but this does not represent only one bus or one type of bus.

In the embodiments of the present application, the processor 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, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, and may implement or execute 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.

In the embodiment of the present application, the memory may be a nonvolatile memory, such as a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), and may also be a volatile memory, for example, 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 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.

The method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be implemented in whole or in part 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 computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the invention to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, a network appliance, a user device, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via 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., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., an SSD), among others.

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

In the embodiments of the present application, the embodiments may refer to each other, for example, methods and/or terms between the embodiments of the method may refer to each other, for example, functions and/or terms between the embodiments of the apparatus and the embodiments of the method may refer to each other, without logical contradiction.

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 there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can 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 and b and c, wherein a, b and c can be single or multiple.

Claims

A method of communication, comprising:

the terminal equipment receives first indication information from the network equipment on a first carrier;

and the terminal equipment determines a second carrier according to the first indication information, wherein the bandwidth of the second carrier is greater than that of the first carrier, and the CCE aggregation level of the maximum control channel elements supported by the second carrier is greater than that supported by the first carrier or the anchor point carrier.
The method of claim 1, wherein one CCE includes a first number of resource elements, REs, within the second carrier, and wherein one CCE includes a second number of REs within the first carrier, the first number being the same as the second number.
The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the second carrier comprises the first carrier, or wherein the first carrier is not included in the second carrier.
The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first indication information comprises:

frequency point information of the second carrier and bandwidth information of the second carrier; or,

a first offset and bandwidth information of the second carrier, where the first offset is determined according to the first carrier, or the first offset is determined according to an anchor carrier, or the first offset is determined according to a reference frequency point.
The method of any of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

the terminal equipment receives first Downlink Control Information (DCI) from the network equipment on the second carrier;

the terminal equipment determines a first time-frequency domain resource according to the first DCI;

and the terminal equipment performs data transmission with the network equipment according to the first time-frequency domain resource.
The method of claim 5, wherein the first DCI includes a first resource allocation field and a second resource allocation field, and wherein the determining, by the terminal device, a first time-frequency domain resource according to the first DCI includes:

the terminal equipment determines a first frequency domain resource according to the first resource allocation domain;

the terminal equipment determines first time domain resources according to the second resource allocation domain and the first frequency domain resources;

and the terminal equipment determines the first time-frequency domain resource according to the first frequency domain resource and the first time-domain resource.
The method of claim 5 or 6, wherein the format of the first DCI is one of the following formats: format N0, Format N1, Format 6-0A, Format 6-0B, Format 6-1A, or Format 6-1B.
A method of communication, comprising:

the network equipment determines first indication information;

the network device sends the first indication information to a terminal device on a first carrier, where the first indication information is used to determine a second carrier, a bandwidth of the second carrier is greater than a bandwidth of the first carrier, and a largest CCE aggregation level supported by the second carrier is greater than a largest CCE aggregation level supported by the first carrier or an anchor carrier.
The method of claim 8, wherein one CCE includes a first number of resource elements, REs, within the second carrier, and wherein one CCE includes a second number of REs within the first carrier, the first number being the same as the second number.
The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein the second carrier comprises the first carrier, or wherein the second carrier does not comprise the first carrier.
The method of any of claims 8 to 10, wherein the first indication information comprises:

frequency point information of the second carrier and bandwidth information of the second carrier; or,

a first offset and bandwidth information of the second carrier, where the first offset is determined according to the first carrier, or the first offset is determined according to an anchor carrier, or the first offset is determined according to a reference frequency point.
The method of any of claims 8 to 11, further comprising:

the network equipment sends first Downlink Control Information (DCI) to the terminal equipment on the second carrier, wherein the first DCI is used for indicating first time-frequency domain resources;

and the network equipment performs data transmission with the terminal equipment according to the first time-frequency domain resource.
The method of claim 12, wherein the first time-frequency domain resources comprise first frequency-domain resources and first time-domain resources, wherein the first DCI comprises a first resource allocation field and a second resource allocation field, wherein the first resource allocation field is used to indicate the first frequency-domain resources, and wherein the second resource allocation field and the first frequency-domain resources jointly indicate the first time-domain resources.
The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the format of the first DCI may be one of: format N0, Format N1, Format 6-0A, Format 6-0B, Format 6-1A or Format 6-1B.
The method of any one of claims 8 to 14, wherein the network device sending the first indication information to a terminal device on a first carrier comprises:

the network equipment determines the coverage level of the terminal equipment;

and when the coverage grade meets a preset condition, the network equipment sends the first indication information to the terminal equipment on the first carrier wave.
A communications apparatus, comprising:

the receiving and sending module is used for receiving first indication information from the network equipment on a first carrier;

a processing module, configured to determine a second carrier according to the first indication information, where a bandwidth of the second carrier is greater than a bandwidth of the first carrier, and a largest CCE aggregation level supported by the second carrier is greater than a largest CCE aggregation level supported by the first carrier or an anchor carrier.
The apparatus of claim 16, wherein one CCE includes a first number of resource elements, REs, within the second carrier, and wherein one CCE includes a second number of REs within the first carrier, the first number being the same as the second number.
The apparatus of claim 16 or 17, wherein the second carrier comprises the first carrier, or wherein the first carrier is not included in the second carrier.
The apparatus of any one of claims 16 to 18, wherein the first indication information comprises:

frequency point information of the second carrier and bandwidth information of the second carrier; or,

a first offset and bandwidth information of the second carrier, where the first offset is determined according to the first carrier, or the first offset is determined according to an anchor carrier, or the first offset is determined according to a reference frequency point.
The apparatus of any one of claims 16 to 19,

the transceiver module is further configured to receive, on the second carrier, first downlink control information DCI from the network device;

the processing module is further configured to determine a first time-frequency domain resource according to the first DCI, and control the transceiver module to perform data transmission with the network device according to the first time-frequency domain resource.
The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the first DCI includes a first resource allocation field and a second resource allocation field, and the processing module, when determining the first time-frequency domain resource according to the first DCI, is specifically configured to:

determining a first frequency domain resource according to the first resource allocation domain;

determining first time domain resources according to the second resource allocation domain and the first frequency domain resources;

and determining the first time-frequency domain resource according to the first frequency domain resource and the first time domain resource.
The apparatus of claim 20 or 21, wherein the format of the first DCI is one of: format N0, Format N1, Format 6-0A, Format 6-0B, Format 6-1A, or Format 6-1B.
A communications apparatus, comprising:

the processing module is used for determining first indication information;

a transceiver module, configured to send the first indication information to a terminal device on a first carrier, where the first indication information is used to determine a second carrier, a bandwidth of the second carrier is greater than a bandwidth of the first carrier, and a maximum CCE aggregation level supported by the second carrier is greater than a maximum CCE aggregation level supported by the first carrier or an anchor carrier.
The apparatus of claim 23, wherein one CCE includes a first number of resource elements, REs, within the second carrier, and wherein one CCE includes a second number of REs within the first carrier, the first number being the same as the second number.
The apparatus of claim 23 or 24, wherein the second carrier comprises the first carrier, or wherein the second carrier does not comprise the first carrier.
The apparatus of any one of claims 23 to 25, wherein the first indication information comprises:

frequency point information of the second carrier and bandwidth information of the second carrier; or,

a first offset and bandwidth information of the second carrier, where the first offset is determined according to the first carrier, or the first offset is determined according to an anchor carrier, or the first offset is determined according to a reference frequency point.
The apparatus of any one of claims 23 to 26,

the transceiver module is further configured to send first downlink control information DCI to the terminal device on the second carrier, where the first DCI is used to indicate a first time-frequency domain resource;

the processing module is further configured to control the transceiver module and the terminal device to perform data transmission according to the first time-frequency domain resource.
The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the first time-frequency domain resources comprise first frequency-domain resources and first time-domain resources, wherein the first DCI comprises a first resource allocation region and a second resource allocation region, wherein the first resource allocation region is used to indicate the first frequency-domain resources, and wherein the second resource allocation region and the first frequency-domain resources jointly indicate the first time-domain resources.
The apparatus of claim 27 or 28, wherein the format of the first DCI may be one of: format N0, Format N1, Format 6-0A, Format 6-0B, Format 6-1A or Format 6-1B.
The apparatus of any of claims 23 to 29, wherein the processing module is further configured to:

determining the coverage grade of the terminal equipment;

and when the coverage grade meets a preset condition, controlling the transceiver module to send the first indication information to the terminal equipment on the first carrier wave.
A communications apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the memory having stored therein instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 15.
A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 15.