CN113473609A

CN113473609A - Method and device for transmitting uplink data

Info

Publication number: CN113473609A
Application number: CN202010247220.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 酉春华
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-03-31
Filing date: 2020-03-31
Publication date: 2021-10-01
Also published as: WO2021197059A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a method and a device for transmitting uplink data. And the terminal equipment determines the number K1 of the resources in the resource bundle according to the indication information, and repeatedly transmits the uplink data to the network equipment on the resources in the resource bundle according to the number K1 of the resources in the resource bundle and the number R1 of the copies of the uplink data. By the method, the network equipment can flexibly configure the number K1 of the resources in the resource bundle and the number R1 of the copies of the uplink data, and when the terminal equipment misses part of the resources in the resource bundle due to channel access failure, the uplink data can be continuously transmitted on the residual resources in the resource bundle, so that the reliability of data transmission is improved.

Description

Method and device for transmitting uplink data

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the field of wireless communication, in particular to a method and a device for uplink data transmission.

Background

A significant feature of the fifth generation (5th generation,5G) mobile communication system compared with the fourth generation (4th generation, 4G) mobile communication system is the increased support for ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) services. The types of services of URLLC include many, and typical use cases include industrial control, unmanned driving, telesurgery, smart grid, and the like. For URLLC traffic, a typical requirement is that 32 bytes of data are sent within 1 millisecond (ms) with a reliability of 99.999%. It should be noted that the above performance index is only an example, different URLLC services may have different requirements on reliability, for example, in some extremely harsh industrial control application scenarios, the transmission success probability of URLLC service data needs to reach 99.9999999% within 0.25 ms.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides an uplink data transmission method, which is used for improving the reliability of data transmission.

In a first aspect, a method for uplink data transmission is provided, where an execution subject of the method is a terminal device or a module in the terminal device. The description is made taking a terminal device as an execution subject. The terminal equipment receives first indication information from the network equipment, wherein the first indication information indicates the number K1 of the resources in the first resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer; the number R1 of copies of the uplink data is obtained by the terminal equipment, and R1 is a positive integer; the terminal device transmits the uplink data to the network device on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number K1 of resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data.

By implementing the method described in the first aspect, the network device may flexibly configure the number K1 of resources in the resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data, and when the terminal device misses part of resources in the resource bundle due to a channel access failure, the uplink data may be continuously transmitted on the remaining resources in the resource bundle, thereby improving the reliability of data transmission.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the obtaining the number of copies of the uplink data specifically includes: and receiving second instruction information from the network device, the second instruction information indicating the number R1 of copies of the upstream data.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the sending, by the terminal device, the uplink data to the network device on the resource in the first resource bundle according to the number of resources K1 in the first resource bundle and the number of copies of the uplink data R1 specifically includes: and the terminal equipment sends N1 copies of the uplink data to the network equipment on the resources in the first resource bundle, wherein N1 is a positive integer not greater than K1, N1 is a positive integer not greater than R1, and K1 is greater than R1.

By implementing the method, the network device can configure the number of the CGs in the time domain in the resource bundle to be greater than the transmission times (i.e., the number R1 of the copies of the uplink data) satisfying the reliability, and when the terminal device misses a part of CGs in one resource bundle due to failure of successful access to the channel, the terminal device can continue to transmit the copies of the uplink data on the remaining CGs, thereby ensuring the reliability of data transmission.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the sending, by the terminal device, the uplink data to the network device on the resource in the first resource bundle according to the number of resources K1 in the first resource bundle and the number of copies of the uplink data R1 specifically includes: the terminal device sends N1 copies of the uplink data to the network device on the resources in the first resource bundle, and the terminal device sends N2 copies of the uplink data to the network device on the resources in the second resource bundle, wherein the number of the resources in the second resource bundle is K2, K2 is a positive integer, N1 is a positive integer not greater than K1, N2 is a positive integer not greater than K2, and N1+ N2 is not greater than R1.

By implementing the above method, when a terminal device misses a part of CG in one CG bundle due to failure to access a channel, copies of upstream data can be continuously transmitted on other CG bundles, thereby ensuring reliability of data transmission.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the terminal device sends third indication information to the network device, where the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is a first duplicate of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is a last duplicate of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates that the first data associated with the third indication information is an R-th duplicate of the uplink data, and R is a positive integer not greater than R1.

By implementing the method, the network device can know, through the third indication information, on which CGs the terminal device has sent the uplink data duplicate, and the network device performs HARQ soft combining on the data received on the CGs, that is, the network device combines and decodes the data on the CGs, thereby improving the transmission efficiency.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the terminal device sends fourth indication information to the network device, where the fourth indication information indicates whether the network device sends feedback information of the first uplink data.

By implementing the method, the network device can determine whether to perform HARQ feedback on the uplink data according to the fourth indication information, thereby reducing signaling overhead caused by the HARQ feedback and improving the resource utilization rate.

In a second aspect, a method for uplink data transmission is provided, where an execution subject of the method is a network device or a module in the network device. The description is made taking a network device as an execution subject. The network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information indicates the number K1 of the resources in the first resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer; and the network equipment receives the uplink data from the terminal equipment on the resources in the upper first resource bundle according to the number K1 of the resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data, wherein R1 is a positive integer.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the network device sends second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information indicates the number R1 of copies of the uplink data.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the receiving, by the network device, the uplink data from the terminal device on the resource in the upper first resource bundle according to the number K1 of resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data specifically includes: receiving N1 copies of the upstream data from a terminal device on resources in the first resource bundle, wherein N1 is a positive integer no greater than K1 and N1 is a positive integer no greater than R1.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the receiving, by the network device, the uplink data from the terminal device on the resource in the upper first resource bundle according to the number K1 of resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data specifically includes: the network device receives N1 copies of the uplink data from the terminal device on the resources in the first resource bundle, and the network device receives N2 copies of the uplink data from the terminal device on the resources in the second resource bundle, wherein the number of the resources in the second resource bundle is K2, K2 is a positive integer, N1 is a positive integer not greater than K1, N2 is a positive integer not greater than K2, and N1+ N2 is not greater than R1.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the network device receives third indication information from the terminal device; the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is the first copy of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is the last copy of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates that the first data associated with the third indication information is the R-th copy of the uplink data, and R is a positive integer not greater than R1.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the network device receives fourth indication information from the terminal device, where the fourth indication information indicates whether the network device sends feedback information of the first uplink data.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes functional modules for implementing the methods in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a communication device comprising functional modules for implementing the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a communication device comprising a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is configured to receive signals from other communication devices except the communication device and transmit the signals to the processor or transmit the signals from the processor to other communication devices except the communication device, and the processor is configured to implement the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect through logic circuits or executing code instructions.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a communication device comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit being configured to receive signals from a communication device other than the communication device and transmit the signals to the processor or transmit the signals from the processor to the communication device other than the communication device, the processor being configured to implement the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect by logic circuits or executing code instructions.

In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program or instructions are stored, which, when executed, implement the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when executed, implement the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

A ninth aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed, implement the first aspect or the method of any possible implementation of the first aspect.

A tenth aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed, implement the second aspect or the method of any possible implementation of the second aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising code or instructions which, when executed, implement the first aspect or the method in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising code or instructions which, when executed, implement the second aspect or the method in any possible implementation of the second aspect.

In a thirteenth aspect, a chip system is provided, where the chip system includes a processor and may further include a memory, and is configured to implement at least one of the methods described in the first aspect to the second aspect. The chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

In a fourteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the apparatus (e.g. terminal device) of the third aspect or the fifth aspect, and the apparatus (e.g. network device) of the fourth aspect or the sixth aspect.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a mobile communication system applied in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of uplink data transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3-4 are schematic diagrams of a configuration authorization bundle provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 to fig. 7 are schematic flowcharts of uplink data transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 and 9 are schematic structural diagrams of a possible communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, a future communication system, or a system in which multiple communication systems are integrated, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. Among them, 5G may also be referred to as New Radio (NR).

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication scenes, for example, one or more of the following communication scenes: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), Machine Type Communication (MTC), large-scale Machine Type Communication (MTC), device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-evolution (V2X), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), and internet of things (IoT), among others.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to communication among communication devices. The communication between the communication devices may include: communication between a network device and a terminal device, communication between a network device and a network device, and/or communication between a terminal device and a terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the term "communication" may also be described as "transmission", "information transmission", or "signal transmission", and the like. The transmission may include sending and/or receiving. In the embodiment of the present application, a technical solution is described by taking communication between a network device and a terminal device as an example, and those skilled in the art may also use the technical solution to perform communication between other scheduling entities and subordinate entities, for example, communication between a macro base station and a micro base station, for example, communication between a first terminal device and a second terminal device. The scheduling entity may allocate an air interface resource to the subordinate entity. The air interface resources include one or more of the following resources: time domain resources, frequency domain resources, code resources, and spatial resources. In the embodiments of the present application, the plurality of types may be two, three, four, or more, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

In this embodiment of the present application, the communication between the network device and the terminal device includes: the network device sends downlink signals/information to the terminal device, and/or the terminal device sends uplink signals/information to the network device.

In the embodiments of the present application, "/" may indicate a relationship in which the objects associated before and after are "or", for example, a/B may indicate a or B; "and/or" may be used to describe that there are three relationships for the associated object, 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. In the embodiments of the present application, the terms "first", "second", and the like may be used to distinguish technical features having the same or similar functions. The terms "first", "second", and the like do not necessarily limit the number and execution order, and the terms "first", "second", and the like do not necessarily differ. In the embodiments of the present application, the words "exemplary" or "such as" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or illustrations, and embodiments or designs described as "exemplary" or "such as" are not to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. The use of the terms "exemplary" or "such as" are intended to present relevant concepts in a concrete fashion for ease of understanding.

Fig. 1 is an architecture diagram of a mobile communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applied. As shown in fig. 1, the mobile communication system includes a core network device 110, a radio access network device 120, and at least one terminal device (e.g., a terminal device 130 and a terminal device 140 in fig. 1). The terminal equipment is connected with the wireless access network equipment in a wireless mode, and the wireless access network equipment is connected with the core network equipment in a wireless or wired mode. The core network device and the radio access network device may be separate physical devices, or the function of the core network device and the logical function of the radio access network device may be integrated on the same physical device, or a physical device may be integrated with a part of the function of the core network device and a part of the function of the radio access network device. The terminal equipment may be fixed or mobile. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram, and other network devices, such as a wireless relay device and a wireless backhaul device, may also be included in the communication system, which are not shown in fig. 1. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the number of core network devices, radio access network devices, and terminal devices included in the mobile communication system.

The radio access network device is an access device that the terminal device accesses to the mobile communication system in a wireless manner, and may be a base station (base station), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system, and the like; or may be a module or a unit that performs part of the functions of the base station, for example, a Centralized Unit (CU) or a Distributed Unit (DU). The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technologies and the specific device forms adopted by the radio access network device. In the embodiment of the present application, a radio access network device is referred to as a network device for short, and if no special description is provided, the network device refers to a radio access network device. In the embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device may be a network device; it may also be a device, such as a chip system, capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, and the device may be installed in the network device or used in cooperation with the network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, a device for implementing a function of a network device is taken as an example of a network device, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

The Terminal device according to the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as a Terminal, a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), or the like. The terminal device may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiving function, a virtual reality terminal device, an augmented reality terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in telesurgery, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart home, and the like. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific technology and the specific device form adopted by the terminal device. In the embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the terminal device may be the terminal device; it may also be a device, such as a chip system, capable of supporting the terminal device to realize the function, and the device may be installed in the terminal device or used in cooperation with the terminal device. 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. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, a device for implementing a function of a terminal device is taken as an example of a terminal device, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

The network equipment and the terminal equipment can be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface; it may also be deployed on airborne airplanes, balloons and satellite vehicles. The embodiment of the application does not limit the application scenarios of the network device and the terminal device.

The network device and the terminal device may communicate with each other through a licensed spectrum, may communicate through an unlicensed spectrum (unlicensed spectrum), or may communicate through both the licensed spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum. The network device and the terminal device may communicate with each other through a frequency spectrum of 6 gigahertz (GHz) or less, through a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or more, or through both a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or less and a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or more. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used between the network device and the terminal device.

In a communication system, a terminal device may access a network device and communicate with the network device. Illustratively, a network device may manage one or more (e.g., 3 or 6, etc.) cells, and a terminal device may access the network device in at least one of the one or more cells and communicate with the network device in the cell in which the terminal device is located. In the embodiments of the present application, at least one of the two or more may be 1, 2, 3, or more, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

One implementation manner of the terminal device performing uplink data transmission with the network device on the unlicensed spectrum may be unlicensed transmission (grant free), that is, the terminal device uses an unlicensed resource to send uplink data to the network device. In the grant-free transmission, the uplink transmission of the terminal device does not need to be completed by scheduling of the network device. For example, when uplink data arrives, the terminal device does not need to send a Scheduling Request (SR) to the network device and wait for a dynamic grant (dynamic grant) of the network device, but may directly send the uplink data to the network device using a transmission resource pre-allocated by the network device and a specified transmission parameter. In the embodiment of the present application, "unlicensed transmission" is also referred to as "unlicensed scheduling," and "unlicensed resource" is also referred to as "Configured Grant (CG)". When a terminal device uses a CG to perform uplink data transmission, how to improve the reliability of data transmission is an urgent problem to be solved.

Fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of an uplink data transmission method provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the embodiment relates to a specific process of performing uplink data transmission between a network device and a terminal device. As shown in fig. 2, the method may include: s101, S102 and S103.

S101, the network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information indicates the number K1 of the resources in one resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the first indication information from the network equipment.

Specifically, the first indication information may be a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, for example, an RRC Reconfiguration (RRC Reconfiguration) message. The resource bundles are CG bundles, which may occur periodically. In the present embodiment, a bundle may be referred to as a "bundle", and a CG bundle may also be referred to as an "a bundle of configured grams". The first indication information indicates the number K1 of CGs in the time domain within one CG bundle. The K1 CGs are used to transport the same Transport Block (TB). In the embodiments of the present application, CGs may be classified into the following two types.

First-class CG: the network device configures the transmission parameters of the CG for the terminal device through parameters (e.g. ConfiguredGrantConfig) in the RRC message, for example, configures one or more of the following parameters: a period, an open loop power control related parameter, a waveform, a redundancy version sequence, a repetition number, a frequency hopping pattern, a resource allocation type, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) related parameter, a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) table, a Resource Block Group (RBG) size, a time domain resource position, a frequency domain resource position, and an MCS.

A second CG: the network device configures some or all transmission parameters to the terminal device through an RRC message, for example, configures one or more of the following parameters: the method comprises the steps of determining the period of time domain resources, related parameters of open loop power control, waveforms, redundancy versions, sequences of the redundancy versions, repetition times, a frequency hopping mode, resource allocation types, MCS tables, related parameters of DMRS and HARQ process numbers; the network device transmits physical layer signaling, such as Downlink Control Information (DCI), to the terminal device to activate the second CG. Optionally, the DCI may also be used to configure partial transmission parameters, for example, to configure one or more of the following parameters: time domain resource location, frequency domain resource location, DMRS related parameters, and MCS. The DCI may be carried through a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

When the terminal device uses the above two types of CGs for uplink transmission, the terminal device can directly use the CG preconfigured by the network device to send uplink data to the network device, without sending SR to the network device and waiting for dynamic authorization of the network device. It should be noted that the CG of the second type needs to be activated by physical layer signaling before being used by the terminal device.

The network device may configure one or more CG sets for the terminal device, and specifically, in a carrier aggregation scenario, the terminal device has a plurality of serving cells, and each serving cell is configured with one or more CG sets separately. Optionally, each serving cell includes multiple partial Bandwidths (BWPs), and different BWPs configure different CGs.

S102, obtaining the number R1 of copies (repetition) of the uplink data, wherein R1 is a positive integer. Here, the number R1 of copies of the uplink data may also be understood as: the number of times of transmitting the uplink data by the terminal device is R1, or the uplink data has R1 transmission opportunities in total. Illustratively, R1 is equal to 4, which means that the uplink data has 4 copies, i.e. the number of times the terminal device transmits the uplink data is 4, or the uplink data has 4 transmission opportunities. Specifically, the terminal device may obtain the number R1 of copies of the uplink data in the following two ways.

In the first method, the network device sends second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information indicates the number R1 of copies of the uplink data. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives second indication information from the network equipment. Specifically, the second indication information may be an RRC message, such as an RRC reconfiguration message. The number R1 of copies of the upstream data may be configured by the network device for the terminal device according to the reliability requirement.

In the second mode, the terminal device determines the number R1 of copies of the uplink data according to the number K1 of resources in the first resource bundle, that is, R1 is equal to K1.

And S103, the terminal equipment transmits the uplink data to the network equipment on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number K1 of the resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data. Correspondingly, the network device receives the uplink data from the terminal device on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number of resources K1 in the first resource bundle and the number of copies of the uplink data R1. The method specifically comprises the following method I and method II.

Method one, terminal equipment sends N1 uplink data to network equipment on resource in first resource bundle A copy of (1). Correspondingly, the network device receives the above-mentioned N1 uplinks from the terminal device on the resources in the first resource bundle A copy of the data. Wherein N1 is a positive integer no greater than K1, N1 is a positive integer no greater than R1, and K1 is greater than R1.

Specifically, the terminal device performs a channel access procedure in a first resource bundle, and the terminal device completes channel access in an nth resource of the resource bundle, where n is a positive integer not greater than K1. In the embodiment of the present application, completing channel access in one resource may be understood as: channel access is completed before any transmission start point of a resource. A resource may have multiple transmission starting points, for example, the time domain positions of a resource are symbol 1 to symbol 5 in a slot, the transmission starting points of the resource are symbol 2 and symbol 3, and when the terminal device completes channel access before symbol 2 or symbol 3, it indicates that the terminal device accesses the resource, so that data transmission can be performed on the resource.

After the terminal device completes channel access on the nth resource of the resource bundle, the terminal device sends N1 copies of the uplink data to the network device on the nth resource to the mth resource of the resource bundle, where m is a positive integer not greater than K1, m is greater than or equal to N, and N1 is equal to m-N +1, that is, the terminal device sends one copy of the uplink data on each of the nth resource to the mth resource. When K1-N +1 is equal to or greater than R1, i.e., N is equal to or less than K1-R +1, m is equal to R + N-1, and in this case, N1 is equal to R1. When K1-N +1 is less than R1, i.e., N is greater than K1-R +1, m is K1, when N1< R1.

Illustratively, the network device configures a set of CGs for the terminal device, and as shown in fig. 3, the number of CGs in the time domain within a resource bundle in the set of CGs is 6. Assuming that the number R1 of copies of the uplink data acquired by the terminal device is equal to 4, if the terminal device completes channel access in the 3 rd resource of the resource bundle (i.e., resource 3 in fig. 3), N1 is equal to 4.

Method two, the terminal equipment sends N1 pairs of uplink data to the network equipment on the resources in the first resource bundle In this case, N2 copies of the upstream data are sent to the network device on the resources in the second resource bundle. Correspondingly, the network equipment is Receiving N1 copies of upstream data from a terminal device on resources in a first bundle of resources, and receiving copies of upstream data from a terminal device on resources in a second bundle of resources N2 copies of upstream data from the terminal device are received on the resource. Wherein the number of resources in the second resource bundle is K2, k2 is a positive integer, N1 is a positive integer no greater than K1, N2 is a positive integer no greater than K2, and N1+ N2 is no greater than R1.

Specifically, the terminal device performs a channel access procedure in a first resource bundle, and the terminal device completes channel access in a p-th resource of the first resource bundle, where p is a positive integer not greater than K1. The terminal equipment sends N1 copies of the uplink data to the network equipment on the p-th resource to the q-th resource of the resource bundle, wherein q is a positive integer not greater than K1, q is greater than or equal to p, and N1 is q-p + 1.

When K1-p +1 is smaller than R1, that is, when the number of times of repeated transmission of the uplink data in the first resource bundle is smaller than R1, the uplink data cannot satisfy the reliability requirement in the first resource bundle, and the terminal device transmits a copy of the uplink data to the network device on the resources of the second resource bundle. Specifically, the terminal device performs a channel access procedure in a second resource bundle, and the terminal device completes channel access in the xth resource of the second resource bundle, where x is a positive integer not greater than K2. And the terminal equipment sends N2 copies of the uplink data to the network equipment on the x-th to y-th resources of the resource bundle, wherein y is a positive integer not greater than K2, y is greater than or equal to x, and N2 is y-x + 1. At this time, the number of copies of the upstream data actually transmitted by the terminal device to the network device is equal to N1+ N2. The HARQ process used by the terminal device to send the copy of the uplink data in the first resource bundle is the same as the HARQ process used by the terminal device to send the copy of the uplink data in the second resource bundle.

Optionally, when y < K2, that is, when there are remaining resources in the second resource bundle, the terminal device may send new data to the network device in the remaining resources.

Illustratively, the network device configures two sets of CGs for the terminal device, CG1 and CG2, respectively, where the number of CGs in the time domain within one resource bundle in CG1 is 4, and the number of CGs in the time domain within one resource bundle in CG2 is 6. The terminal device completes channel access at the 3 rd CG in a resource bundle of CG1 (resource number 3 in CG1 bundle in fig. 4), and then the terminal device can only transmit 2 copies of the uplink data in the resource bundle (i.e., N1 is 2< R1), and cannot meet the reliability requirement, at this time, the terminal device continues to transmit the copies of the uplink data in the resource bundle of CG 2. Illustratively, the terminal device completes channel access on the 2 nd CG (resource number 6 in CG2 bundle in fig. 4) of one resource bundle of CG2, the terminal device sends a copy of the upstream data to the network device on the 2 nd CG (resource number 6 in CG2 bundle in fig. 4) and the 3 rd CG (resource number 7 in CG2 bundle in fig. 4) within the resource bundle, so that the actual transmission number of the upstream data reaches 4 times. Optionally, the terminal device may continue to transmit the copy of the upstream data over the remaining CGs within the CG2 resource bundle, or may send new data over the remaining CGs within the CG2 resource bundle.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart of an uplink data transmission method provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the embodiment relates to a specific process of performing uplink data transmission between a network device and a terminal device. As shown in fig. 5, the method may include: s201, S202, S203 and S204.

S201, the network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, wherein the first indication information indicates the number K1 of resources in one resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer. The detailed description refers to step S101 in fig. 2.

S202, acquiring the number R1 of copies of the uplink data, wherein R1 is a positive integer. The detailed description refers to step S102 in fig. 2.

And S203, the terminal equipment transmits the uplink data to the network equipment on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number K1 of the resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data. The detailed description refers to step S103 in fig. 2.

And S204, the terminal equipment sends third indication information to the network equipment. Correspondingly, the network device receives the third indication information from the terminal device. The third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is the first copy of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is the last copy of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates that the first data associated with the third indication information is the R-th copy of the uplink data, and R is a positive integer not greater than R1.

The third indication information may be carried in CG-uci (configured grant uplink control information). The terminal device may transmit the third indication information to the network device on a CG, or the terminal device may transmit the third indication information to the network device on a resource of a reserved Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

When the time-frequency resource bearing the third indication information is the same as the time-frequency resource bearing the first data, or the time-frequency resource bearing the third indication information and the time-frequency resource bearing the first data satisfy a preset relationship, the third indication information is associated with the first data, and the preset relationship may be preset by the network device through a high-level signaling.

The number of copies of the uplink data actually sent by the terminal device is R2, and when the uplink data is transmitted by adopting the method one in S103, R2 is equal to N1; when the uplink data is transmitted by the method two in S103, R2 is equal to N1+ N2. When the terminal device sends any one of the R2 copies of the uplink data, the terminal device sends third indication information to the network device, where the third indication information may indicate any one of the following three items:

the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is the first copy of the uplink data. Specifically, the third indication information indicates whether the first data is the first copy of the uplink data by 1 bit. Illustratively, when the bit is "0", it indicates that the first data is not the first copy of the upstream data, and when the bit is "1", it indicates that the first data is the first copy of the upstream data; alternatively, when the bit is "1", it indicates that the first data is not the first copy of the upstream data, and when the bit is "0", it indicates that the first data is the first copy of the upstream data. In the embodiment of the present application, the W-th copy may also be represented as copy W-1, where W is a positive integer.

And the second indication information and the third indication information indicate whether the first data associated with the third indication information is the last copy of the uplink data. Specifically, the third indication information indicates whether the first data is the last copy of the uplink data by 1 bit. Illustratively, when the bit is "0", it indicates that the first data is not the last copy of the upstream data, and when the bit is "1", it indicates that the first data is the last copy of the upstream data; or, when the bit is "1", it indicates that the first data is not the last copy of the uplink data, and when the bit is "0", it indicates that the first data is the last copy of the uplink data;

and thirdly, the third indication information indicates that the first data associated with the third indication information is the R-th copy (which may also be called copy R-1) of the uplink data, wherein R is a positive integer not greater than R1. Specifically, the third indication information indicates that the first data is the R-th copy of the R1 copies of the uplink data. The third indication information passes log₂ ^R1The bits indicate that the first data associated with the third indication information is the r-th copy. Illustratively, when R1 is equal to 4, the third bit field is indicated by 2 bits, where a bit "00" indicates that the first data is the 1 st copy of the R1 copies of the upstream data, a bit "01" indicates that the first data is the 2 nd copy of the R1 copies of the upstream data, a bit "10" indicates that the first data is the 3 rd copy of the R1 copies of the upstream data, and a bit "11" indicates that the first data is the 4th copy of the R1 copies of the upstream data.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flowchart of an uplink data transmission method provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the embodiment relates to a specific process of performing uplink data transmission between a network device and a terminal device. As shown in fig. 2, the method may include: s301, S302, S303 and S304.

S301, the network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, wherein the first indication information indicates the number of resources K1 in one resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer. The detailed description refers to step S101 in fig. 2.

S302, obtaining the number R1 of copies of the uplink data, wherein R1 is a positive integer. The detailed description refers to step S102 in fig. 2.

And S303, the terminal equipment transmits the uplink data to the network equipment on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number K1 of the resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data. The detailed description refers to step S103 in fig. 2.

S304, the terminal device sends fourth indication information to the network device, where the fourth indication information indicates whether the network device sends the feedback information of the first uplink data. Specifically, the fourth indication information may be carried on the CG-UCI, or carried in other physical layer signaling.

The method for indicating whether the network device sends the feedback information of the first uplink data by the fourth indication information specifically includes operation 1 and operation 2.

Operation 1: the terminal equipment determines whether the uplink data needs HARQ feedback.

The network device configures one or more logical channels for the terminal device, and the terminal device receives configuration information of the logical channels from the network device, wherein the configuration information indicates whether each of the one or more logical channels needs HARQ feedback.

Illustratively, the network device configures logical channel 1, logical channel 2, and logical channel 3 for the terminal device. Wherein the data in logical channel 1 requires HARQ feedback. If the uplink data sent by the terminal equipment contains data from the logical channel 1, the uplink data needs HARQ feedback; if the uplink data sent by the terminal device does not include data from the logical channel 1, the uplink data does not need HARQ feedback.

Operation 2: and the terminal equipment indicates whether the network equipment sends the HARQ feedback information of the uplink data or not through the fourth indication information. Specifically, the fourth indication information indicates, by 1 bit, whether the network device sends the HARQ feedback information of the uplink data. When the value of the bit is '1', indicating that the uplink data needs the HARQ feedback, and when the value of the bit is '0', indicating that the uplink data does not need the HARQ feedback; or, when the value of the bit is "0", it indicates that the uplink data needs HARQ feedback, and when the value of the bit is "1", it indicates that the uplink data does not need HARQ feedback.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flowchart of an uplink data transmission method provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the embodiment relates to a specific process of performing uplink data transmission between a network device and a terminal device. As shown in fig. 7, the method may include: s401, S402, S403, S404, and S405. Here, steps S401, S402, and S403 refer to steps S101, S102, and S103 in fig. 2, step S404 refers to step S204 in fig. 5, and step S405 refers to step S304 in fig. 6, respectively.

It is to be understood that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the network device and the terminal device include hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and method steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends on the particular application scenario and design constraints imposed on the solution.

Fig. 8 and 9 are schematic structural diagrams of a possible communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments, so that the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments can also be achieved. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication apparatus may be the terminal device 130 or the terminal device 140 shown in fig. 1, may also be the radio access network device 120 shown in fig. 1, and may also be a module (e.g., a chip) applied to the terminal device or the network device.

As shown in fig. 8, the communication device 800 includes a processing unit 810 and a transceiving unit 820. The communication device 800 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device or the network device in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2, fig. 5, fig. 6 or fig. 7.

When the communication apparatus 800 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 2: the transceiving unit 820 is configured to receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information indicates the number of resources K1 in a first resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer; the processing unit 810 is configured to obtain the number R1 of copies of the uplink data, where R1 is a positive integer; the transceiver 820 is further configured to transmit the uplink data to the network device on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number K1 of the resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data.

When the communication apparatus 800 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 2: the transceiving unit 820 is configured to send first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information indicates the number of resources K1 in the first resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to receive the uplink data from the terminal device on the resources in the upper first resource bundle according to the number K1 of the resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data, where R1 is a positive integer.

When the communication apparatus 800 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 5: the transceiving unit 820 is configured to receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information indicates the number of resources K1 in a first resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer; the processing unit 810 is configured to obtain the number R1 of copies of the uplink data, where R1 is a positive integer; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to transmit the uplink data to a network device on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number K1 of resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to send third indication information to the network device, where the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is a first copy of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is a last copy of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates that the first data associated with the third indication information is an R-th copy of the uplink data, and R is a positive integer not greater than R1.

When the communication apparatus 800 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 5: the transceiving unit 820 is configured to receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information indicates the number of resources K1 in a first resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer; the processing unit 810 is configured to obtain the number R1 of copies of the uplink data, where R1 is a positive integer; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to transmit the uplink data to a network device on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number K1 of resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to receive third indication information from the terminal device, where the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is a first duplicate of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is a last duplicate of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates that the first data associated with the third indication information is an R-th duplicate of the uplink data, and R is a positive integer not greater than R1.

When the communication apparatus 800 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 6: the transceiving unit 820 is configured to receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information indicates the number of resources K1 in a first resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer; the processing unit 810 is configured to obtain the number R1 of copies of the uplink data, where R1 is a positive integer; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to transmit the uplink data to a network device on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number K1 of resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to send fourth indication information to the network device, where the fourth indication information indicates whether the network device sends the feedback information of the first uplink data.

When the communication apparatus 800 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 6: the transceiving unit 820 is configured to receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information indicates the number of resources K1 in a first resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer; the processing unit 810 is configured to obtain the number R1 of copies of the uplink data, where R1 is a positive integer; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to transmit the uplink data to a network device on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number K1 of resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to receive fourth indication information from the terminal device, where the fourth indication information indicates whether the network device sends feedback information of the first uplink data.

When the communication apparatus 800 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 7: the transceiving unit 820 is configured to receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information indicates the number of resources K1 in a first resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer; the processing unit 810 is configured to obtain the number R1 of copies of the uplink data, where R1 is a positive integer; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to transmit the uplink data to a network device on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number K1 of resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to send third indication information to the network device, where the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is a first copy of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is a last copy of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates that the first data associated with the third indication information is an R-th copy of the uplink data, and R is a positive integer not greater than R1; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to send fourth indication information to the network device, where the fourth indication information indicates whether the network device sends the feedback information of the first uplink data.

When the communication apparatus 800 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 7: the transceiving unit 820 is configured to receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information indicates the number of resources K1 in a first resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer; the processing unit 810 is configured to obtain the number R1 of copies of the uplink data, where R1 is a positive integer; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to transmit the uplink data to a network device on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number K1 of resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of copies of the uplink data; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to receive third indication information from the terminal device, where the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is a first copy of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is a last copy of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates that the first data associated with the third indication information is an R-th copy of the uplink data, and R is a positive integer not greater than R1; the transceiving unit 820 is further configured to send fourth indication information to the network device, where the fourth indication information indicates whether the network device sends the feedback information of the first uplink data.

More detailed descriptions about the processing unit 810 and the transceiver 820 can be directly obtained by referring to the related descriptions in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2, fig. 5, fig. 6, or fig. 7, which are not repeated herein.

As shown in fig. 9, the communication device 900 includes a processor 910 and an interface circuit 920. The processor 910 and the interface circuit 920 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 920 may be a transceiver or an input-output interface. Optionally, the communication device 900 may further include a memory 930 for storing instructions to be executed by the processor 910 or for storing input data required by the processor 910 to execute the instructions or for storing data generated by the processor 910 after executing the instructions.

When the communication device 900 is used to implement the methods shown in fig. 2, fig. 5, fig. 6, or fig. 7, the processor 910 is configured to perform the functions of the processing unit 810, and the interface circuit 920 is configured to perform the functions of the transceiving unit 820.

When the communication device is a chip applied to a terminal device, the terminal device chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiment. The terminal device chip receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, wherein the information is sent to the terminal device by the network device; or, the terminal device chip sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, where the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device.

When the communication device is a chip applied to a network device, the network device chip implements the functions of the network device in the above method embodiments. The network device chip receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device, wherein the information is sent to the network device by the terminal device; alternatively, the network device chip sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device, and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device.

It is understood that the Processor in the embodiments of the present Application may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), other general purpose Processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other Programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but may be any conventional processor.

The method steps in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by software instructions executed by a processor. The software instructions may be comprised of corresponding software modules that may be stored in Random Access Memory (RAM), flash Memory, Read-Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), Electrically EPROM (EEPROM), registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium may also be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may reside in a network device or a terminal device. Of course, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a network device or a terminal device.

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 computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in or transmitted over a computer-readable storage medium. 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 that integrates one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape; or an optical medium, such as a DVD; it may also be a semiconductor medium, such as a Solid State Disk (SSD).

In the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or conflicting with respect to logic, the terms and/or descriptions in different embodiments have consistency and may be mutually cited, and technical features in different embodiments may be combined to form a new embodiment according to their inherent logic relationship.

It is to be understood that the various numerical references referred to in the embodiments of the present application are merely for descriptive convenience and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A method for uplink data transmission, the method comprising:

receiving first indication information from a network device, wherein the first indication information indicates the number of resources K1 in a first resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer;

acquiring the number R1 of copies (repetition) of the uplink data, wherein R1 is a positive integer;

and sending the uplink data to the network equipment on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number K1 of the resources in the first resource bundle and the number R1 of the copies of the uplink data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the number of copies of the uplink data comprises:

and receiving second indication information from the network equipment, wherein the second indication information indicates the number R1 of the copies of the uplink data.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sending the upstream data to the network device on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number of resources K1 in the first resource bundle and the number of copies of the upstream data R1 specifically comprises:

sending N1 copies of the upstream data to the network device on resources in the first resource bundle, wherein N1 is a positive integer no greater than K1, N1 is a positive integer no greater than R1, and K1 is greater than R1.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sending the upstream data to the network device on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number of resources K1 in the first resource bundle and the number of copies of the upstream data R1 specifically comprises:

sending N1 copies of the uplink data to the network device on resources in the first resource bundle, and sending N2 copies of the uplink data to the network device on resources in a second resource bundle, where the number of resources in the second resource bundle is K2, K2 is a positive integer, N1 is a positive integer no greater than K1, N2 is a positive integer no greater than K2, and N1+ N2 is no greater than R1.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

sending third indication information to the network equipment;

the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is the first copy of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates whether the first data associated with the third indication information is the last copy of the uplink data, or the third indication information indicates that the first data associated with the third indication information is the R-th copy of the uplink data, and R is a positive integer not greater than R1.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising:

and sending fourth indication information to network equipment, wherein the fourth indication information indicates whether the network equipment sends feedback information of the first uplink data.

7. A method for uplink data transmission, the method comprising:

sending first indication information to a terminal device, wherein the first indication information indicates the number of resources K1 in a first resource bundle, and K1 is a positive integer;

receiving the uplink data from the terminal device on the resources in the first resource bundle according to the number of resources K1 in the first resource bundle and the number of copies of the uplink data R1, wherein R1 is a positive integer.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

and sending second indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information indicates the number R1 of the copies of the uplink data.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the receiving uplink data from the terminal device on resources in the first resource bundle according to the number of resources K1 in the first resource bundle and the number of copies of uplink data R1 specifically comprises:

receiving N1 copies of the upstream data from the terminal device on resources in the first resource bundle, wherein N1 is a positive integer no greater than K1, N1 is a positive integer no greater than R1, and K1 is greater than R1.

10. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the receiving uplink data from the terminal device on resources in the first resource bundle according to the number of resources K1 in the first resource bundle and the number of copies of uplink data R1 specifically comprises:

receiving N1 copies of the uplink data from the terminal device on resources in the first resource bundle, and receiving N2 copies of the uplink data from the terminal device on resources in a second resource bundle, where the number of resources in the second resource bundle is K2, K2 is a positive integer, N1 is a positive integer no greater than K1, N2 is a positive integer no greater than K2, and N1+ N2 is no greater than R1.

11. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, further comprising:

receiving third indication information from the terminal equipment;

12. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 11, further comprising:

receiving fourth indication information from the terminal device, where the fourth indication information indicates whether the network device sends feedback information of the first uplink data.

13. A communications apparatus comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 1-6.

14. A communications apparatus comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 7 to 12.

15. A communications device comprising a processor and a memory, the processor and the memory coupled, the processor configured to implement the method of any of claims 1 to 6.

16. A communication apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the processor and the memory being coupled, the processor being configured to implement the method of any of claims 7 to 12.

17. A communications device comprising a processor and interface circuitry for receiving and transmitting signals from or sending signals to a communications device other than the communications device, the processor being operable by logic circuitry or executing code instructions to implement the method of any of claims 1 to 6.

18. A communications device comprising a processor and interface circuitry for receiving and transmitting signals from or sending signals to a communications device other than the communications device, the processor being operable by logic circuitry or executing code instructions to implement the method of any of claims 7 to 12.

19. A computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program or instructions is stored which, when executed by a communication apparatus, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 6, or implements the method of any one of claims 7 to 12.

20. A communication system comprising a communication device according to any of claims 13, 15, 17 and a communication device according to any of claims 14, 16, 18.