CN113727437A

CN113727437A - Communication method and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN113727437A
Application number: CN202010449435.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 谢曦; 常俊仁; 邝奕如
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-25
Filing date: 2020-05-25
Publication date: 2021-11-30
Also published as: WO2021238591A1

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which are applied to the technical field of wireless communication. The method comprises the following steps: receiving first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the configuration of the reference signal is changed; after receiving the first indication information, determining that the first configuration information is invalid in response to the first indication information, the first configuration information including a configuration of the reference signal. And acquiring second configuration information after receiving the first time length of the first indication information, wherein the second configuration information comprises the configuration of the reference signal. After receiving the first indication information, determining that the first configuration is invalid, and acquiring the second configuration information after receiving the first duration of the first indication information, so that the terminal device can be ensured to stop the outdated configuration when the network device sends the second configuration information, and the terminal device is prevented from still acquiring the outdated configuration of the reference signal by using the first configuration information. The time delay between the network device discovering that the second configuration information needs to be sent and actually starting to send the second configuration information is shortened.

Description

Communication method and communication device

Technical Field

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

Background

In a wireless communication system, a Reference Signal (RS), also called a pilot Signal, is a known Signal provided by a transmitting end to a receiving end for channel estimation or channel sounding. For a terminal device in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state, when configuration information of a reference signal changes, an update process is fixed and rigid for a configuration information update mechanism of a general reference signal. The updating process of the reference signal, which has higher requirements for flexibility and timeliness, cannot be satisfied.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and a communication device, which are used for improving the configuration updating flexibility of a reference signal.

A first aspect provides a method of communication, comprising: receiving first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the configuration of the reference signal is changed; after receiving the first indication information, determining that the first configuration information is invalid in response to the first indication information, the first configuration information including a configuration of the reference signal. The determining that the first configuration fails may be a manner in which the terminal device stops using the configuration of the reference signal in the first configuration information. Or the terminal device discards the configuration of the reference signal in the first configuration information, and at this time, the terminal device no longer stores the configuration of the reference signal in the first configuration information. The reference signal may be a channel state information reference signal or a tracking reference signal

And acquiring second configuration information after receiving the first time length of the first indication information, wherein the second configuration information comprises the configuration of the reference signal. The first time period may be transmitted by the network device or may be protocol preset. And the time when the terminal equipment receives the first indication information is used as a starting point for calculating the first time length, and the time for acquiring the second configuration information is determined according to the first time length. The process of determining the time to acquire the second configuration information according to the first time length includes two cases. In one case, the second configuration information is obtained at a time when the first duration elapses after the terminal device receives the first indication information. In another case, the second configuration information is acquired after a time when the first duration elapses after the terminal device receives the first indication information.

According to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application, after the terminal device receives the first indication information, the terminal device can be ensured to stop outdated configuration information when the network device sends the second configuration information by determining that the first configuration information is invalid, and the terminal device is prevented from still using the first configuration information to obtain the outdated reference signal. Meanwhile, the network equipment can send the second configuration information at the earliest time, the configuration of the reference signal is updated, and the time delay from the discovery that the second configuration information needs to be sent to the real start of sending the second configuration information by the network equipment is shortened. By setting the first duration, the terminal equipment acquires the second configuration information after receiving the first duration of the first indication information, and the terminal equipment can be ensured to smoothly acquire the second configuration information.

In one case, the configured portion of the reference signal is changed, at which point a portion of the first configuration may be determined to be failed. The part of the first configuration information that is invalidated may be indicated by the first indication information, or the part of the first configuration information that is invalidated may be a different part compared to the second configuration information. Therefore, for the terminal equipment, the effective part can be continuously used without updating, thereby saving system resources.

The second configuration information may be acquired through system information. The second configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal, and the network device may transmit the configuration of the reference signal to the terminal device using the system information. For the case of sending the second configuration information by using the system information, the updating of the configuration of the reference signal by using the communication method of the present application may not be limited by the system information modification period.

The first indication information may be sent by the network device within a second duration, the first duration being greater than or equal to the second duration. By enabling the first duration to be greater than or equal to the second duration, the terminal device can smoothly acquire the second configuration information when acquiring the second configuration information, and smooth updating of the reference signal configuration is ensured.

The second duration may be a duration of an SI modification period, or a duration of a default paging period, or other time length.

The terminal equipment receives second indication information within a first time length of receiving the first indication information, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating that the configuration of the reference signal is changed; in one case, the terminal device does not determine whether the first indication information and the second indication information are the same, and the instruction of the first indication information and the instruction of the second indication information are executed respectively. And the terminal equipment acquires the second configuration information after receiving the first time length of the first indication information, and acquires the second configuration information after receiving the third time length of the second indication information. In another case, the terminal device does not obtain the second configuration information after receiving the first duration of the first indication information, and obtains the second configuration information only after receiving the third duration of the second indication information. In the third case, if the content of the second indication information is the same as the content of the first indication information, the terminal device acquires the second configuration information after receiving the first duration of the first indication information. The content of the first indication information is the same as the content of the second indication information: the change of the configuration of the reference signal indicated by the first indication information is the same as the change of the configuration of the reference signal indicated by the second indication information.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, validity of configuration of the reference signal is determined. The configuration of the reference signal is associated with a first field, and the first field is used for judging the validity of the configuration of the reference signal. The first field may be one defined for configuration of the reference signal in the system information and transmitted to the terminal device. And if the first field in the system information is the same as the first field stored by the terminal equipment, judging that the configuration of the reference signal of the terminal equipment is valid. And if the first field in the system information is different from the first field stored by the terminal equipment, judging that the configuration of the reference signal of the terminal equipment is invalid.

A second aspect provides a method of communication, comprising: and sending system information modification indication information in a system information modification period, wherein the system information modification indication information is used for informing terminal equipment that the system information is changed, and then sending new system information in the next system information modification period. Determining that the configuration of the reference signal is changed, and transmitting second configuration information after determining that the configuration of the reference signal is changed for a second duration, wherein the second configuration information comprises the configuration of the reference signal. And sending first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the configuration of the reference signal is changed. The network device may transmit the first indication information by paging DCI, system information SI. During the sending of the first indication information, the network device keeps sending the first configuration information. Each system information modification period has two boundary points, and the time when the second time length passes after the first indication information is sent is different from the boundary points of the system information modification period.

According to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application, the updating of the configuration of the reference signal is not limited by the system information modification period, and better flexibility or timeliness can be provided.

The first indication information is used for indicating that the first configuration information is invalid. The network equipment sends first indication information, the terminal equipment receives the first indication information, and the terminal equipment responds to the first indication information to determine that the first configuration information is invalid. The first indication information indicates that the first configuration information is invalid, so that the network device can send the second configuration information at the earliest time, update the configuration of the reference signal, and shorten the time delay from the time when the network device finds that the second configuration information needs to be sent to the time when the network device really starts to send the second configuration information.

In one case, the configured portion of the reference signal changes, at which point a portion of the first configuration may be indicated as failed. A part of the first configuration information that is invalidated may be directly indicated by the first indication information. Or the terminal device can clarify the part of the first configuration information different from the second configuration information according to the first indication information, and the terminal device determines that the part of the first configuration information different from the second configuration information is invalid. Therefore, for the terminal equipment, the effective part can be continuously used without updating, thereby saving system resources.

A third aspect provides a communication method for updating a configuration of a reference signal, which may be a channel state information reference signal or a tracking reference signal. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment receives first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that the configuration of the reference signal is changed. The terminal device receives the time information. The first indication information and the time information may be transmitted by the same signaling or may be transmitted by different signaling. Second configuration information is obtained at a first time, the first time being determined according to the time information, the second configuration information including a configuration of the reference signal.

The network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the configuration of the reference signal is changed. The network device may transmit the first indication information by paging DCI, system information SI. The network device also sends time information to the terminal device. And the terminal equipment acquires the time of the second configuration information according to the time information. The terminal equipment and the network equipment appoint the updating time of the configuration of the reference signal through the time information, so that the configuration of the reference signal is updated as soon as possible. The time information can be set by the network equipment, the time information can be set to be shorter, and the problem of solidification and death in the configuration updating process of the reference signal can be solved by flexibly setting the time information.

The time information may comprise a time instant according to which the terminal device determines the first time to receive the second configuration, the procedure being as follows: the time included in the time information is a time at which the terminal device is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information, and the first time at which the terminal device actually acquires the second configuration information may be the same as the time or after the time. Depending on the time at which the network device transmits the second configuration information.

The time information may further include a period of time, and the terminal device determines the first time for receiving the second configuration according to the period of time, where the process is as follows: and the terminal equipment takes the moment of receiving the first indication information as a starting point for starting to calculate the period of time, and the terminal equipment is allowed to start to acquire the second configuration information at the end point of the period of time. The first time when the terminal device really acquires the second configuration information may be at the end of the period of time or after the end of the period of time. Depending on the time at which the network device transmits the second configuration information.

The second configuration information may be acquired through system information. The second configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal, and the network device may transmit the configuration of the reference signal to the terminal device using the system information. In the embodiment of the present application, for the case of sending the second configuration information by using the system information, the updating of the configuration of the reference signal by using the communication method of the present application may not be limited by the modification period of the system information.

With reference to the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, validity of configuration of the reference signal is determined. The configuration of the reference signal is associated with a first field, and the first field is used for judging the validity of the configuration of the reference signal. The first field may be one field in the configuration for the reference signal in the system information and transmitted to the terminal device. And if the first field in the system message is the same as the first field stored by the terminal equipment, judging that the configuration of the reference signal of the terminal equipment is valid.

A fourth aspect provides a method of communication, comprising: determining that the configuration of the reference signal is changed, and sending second configuration information after determining a second duration for which the configuration of the reference signal is changed; and sending first indication information, wherein the first indication information indicates that the configuration of the reference signal is changed. During the sending of the first indication information, the network device keeps sending the first configuration information. And the network equipment sends time information, and the time information is determined according to the second time length. The first indication information and the time information may be transmitted by the same signaling or may be transmitted by different signaling. The second configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal.

The network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the configuration of the reference signal is changed. The network device may transmit the first indication information by paging DCI, system information SI. The network device also sends time information to the terminal device. And the terminal equipment determines the time for acquiring the second configuration information according to the time information. The terminal equipment and the network equipment appoint the updating time of the configuration of the reference signal through the time information, so that the configuration of the reference signal is updated as soon as possible. The time information can be set by the network equipment, the time information can be set to be shorter, and the problem of solidification and death in the configuration updating process of the reference signal can be solved by flexibly setting the time information.

The time information may include a time when the second time length elapses after the configuration of the certain reference signal is changed.

The time information may further include a period of time, the period of time being determined according to the first period of time; the starting point of the first period is the time when the first indication information is transmitted, and the end point of the first period is the time when the second time length elapses after the configuration of the determination reference signal is changed. The duration of the period of time may be equal to the duration of the first period of time, and a time at which the network device can start sending the second configuration information and a time at which the terminal device is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information may be kept consistent, so as to improve a speed of configuration update of the reference signal.

The network device may send the time information and the first indication information at the same time, or send the time information first and then send the first indication information. Or the first indication information is sent first, and then the time information is sent. The first indication information and the time information may be transmitted by the same signaling or may be transmitted by different signaling. A fifth aspect provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal device, comprising: a transceiver module, configured to receive first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that a configuration of a reference signal is changed; a processing module, configured to determine that first configuration information is invalid in response to the first indication information, where the first configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal; the transceiver module is further configured to acquire second configuration information after receiving the first duration of the first indication information, where the second configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal. The reference signal may be a channel state information reference signal or a tracking reference signal. The communication device is configured to perform the communication method of the first aspect.

In one case, the configured portion of the reference signal is changed, at which point the processing module is configured to determine that a portion of the first configuration is invalid. The part of the first configuration information that is invalidated may be indicated by the first indication information, or the part of the first configuration information that is invalidated may be a different part compared to the second configuration information. Therefore, for the terminal equipment, the effective part can be continuously used without updating, thereby saving system resources.

The first indication information may be sent by the network device within a second duration, the first duration being greater than or equal to the second duration.

A transceiver module of the terminal equipment receives second indication information within a first time length of receiving the first indication information, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating that the configuration of the reference signal is changed; in one case, the processing module of the terminal device does not determine whether the first indication information and the second indication information are the same, and the instruction of the first indication information and the instruction of the second indication information are executed respectively. The transceiver module acquires the second configuration information after receiving the first duration of the first indication information, and acquires the second configuration information after receiving the third duration of the second indication information. In another case, the transceiver module does not acquire the second configuration information after receiving the first duration of the first indication information, and acquires the second configuration information only after receiving the third duration of the second indication information. In a third case, if the content of the second indication information is the same as the content of the first indication information, the transceiver module of the terminal device acquires the second configuration information after receiving the first duration of the first indication information. The content of the first indication information is the same as the content of the second indication information: the change of the configuration of the reference signal indicated by the first indication information is the same as the change of the configuration of the reference signal indicated by the second indication information.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the validity of the configuration of the reference signal is determined. The configuration of the reference signal is associated with a first field, and the first field is used for judging the validity of the configuration of the reference signal. The first field may be a field defined in the system information for configuration of the reference signal and transmitted to the terminal device by way of broadcasting. And if the first field in the system information is the same as the first field stored by the terminal equipment, judging that the configuration of the reference signal of the terminal equipment is valid. And if the first field in the system information is different from the first field stored by the terminal equipment, judging that the configuration of the reference signal of the terminal equipment is invalid.

A sixth aspect provides a communication apparatus, which may be a network device, comprising: the receiving and transmitting module is used for transmitting system information modification indication information in a system information modification period and transmitting new system information in the next system information modification period; and the processing module is used for determining that the configuration of the reference signal is changed. The transceiver module is further configured to send second configuration information after determining a second duration for which the configuration of the reference signal is changed, where the second configuration information includes the configuration of the reference signal. The transceiver module is further configured to send first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a configuration of a reference signal is changed. The time when the second time length elapses after it is determined that the configuration of the reference signal is changed is different from the system information modification period boundary point. The communication apparatus is configured to perform the communication method of the second aspect.

In one case, the configured portion of the reference signal changes, at which point a portion of the first configuration may be indicated as failed. The part of the first configuration information that is failed may be directly indicated by the first indication information, or the terminal device may be able to specify a part of the first configuration information that is different from the second configuration information according to the first indication information, and the terminal device determines that the part of the first configuration information that is different from the second configuration information is failed. Therefore, for the terminal equipment, the effective part can be continuously used without updating, thereby saving system resources.

A seventh aspect provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal device, comprising: a transceiver module, configured to receive first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that a configuration of a reference signal is changed; the transceiver module is further configured to receive time information, and the transceiver module is further configured to obtain second configuration information at a first time, where the first time is determined by the processing module according to the time information, and the second configuration information includes configuration of the reference signal. The reference signal may be a channel state information reference signal or a tracking reference signal. The communication apparatus is configured to perform the communication method of the third aspect.

The validity of the configuration of the reference signal may be judged. The configuration of the reference signal is associated with a first field, and the first field is used for judging the validity of the configuration of the reference signal. The first field may be a field in the configuration of the reference signal in the system information and is transmitted to the terminal device by way of broadcasting. And if the first field in the system message is the same as the first field stored by the terminal equipment, judging that the configuration of the reference signal of the terminal equipment is valid.

An eighth aspect provides a communication apparatus, which may be a network device, comprising: a processing module for determining that a configuration of a reference signal has changed; a transceiver module, configured to send second configuration information after determining a second duration for which a configuration of a reference signal changes, where the second configuration information includes the configuration of the reference signal;

the transceiver module is further configured to send first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that a configuration of a reference signal is changed; the receiving and sending module is also used for sending time information; the time information is determined according to the second duration. The communication apparatus is configured to perform the communication method of the fourth aspect.

The time information may further include a period of time, the period of time being determined according to the first period of time; the start point of the first period is a time at which the first indication information is transmitted, and the end point of one period is a time at which the second period elapses after the configuration of the determination reference signal is changed. The duration of the period of time may be equal to the duration of the first period of time, and a time at which the network device can start sending the second configuration information and a time at which the terminal device is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information may be kept consistent, so as to improve a speed of configuration update of the reference signal.

The network device may send the time information and the first indication information at the same time, or send the time information first and then send the first indication information. Or the first indication information is sent first, and then the time information is sent. The first indication information and the time information may be transmitted by the same signaling or may be transmitted by different signaling.

A ninth aspect provides a communications apparatus that includes a transceiver for executing instructions to receive and transmit information and a processor for performing other steps. In particular, the communication device is configured to perform the method of any of the possible implementations of the first aspect or the third aspect.

A tenth aspect provides a communications apparatus comprising a transceiver for executing instructions to receive and transmit information and a processor for performing other steps. In particular, the communication device is configured to perform the method of any possible implementation of the second aspect or the fourth aspect.

An eleventh aspect provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for execution by a processor to implement the method in any of the possible implementations of the first or third aspect.

A twelfth aspect provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for execution by a processor to implement the method in any of the possible implementations of the second or fourth aspect

A thirteenth aspect provides a communication system comprising the communication apparatus of the fifth aspect and the communication apparatus of the sixth aspect, or comprising the communication apparatus of the seventh aspect and the communication apparatus of the eighth aspect.

A fourteenth aspect provides a terminal device comprising a memory for storing instructions and a processor for executing the instructions stored by the memory, and execution of the instructions stored in the memory causes the processor to perform the method of any possible implementation of the first or third aspect.

A fifteenth aspect provides a network device comprising a memory for storing instructions and a processor for executing the instructions stored by the memory, and execution of the instructions stored in the memory causes the processor to perform the method of any possible implementation of the second or fourth aspect.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for use in the communication method of the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a paging early wake-up mechanism according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a mechanism for paging early wake-up using a reference signal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in 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.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solution in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

1. The terminal equipment comprises equipment for providing voice for users, equipment for providing data connectivity for users and equipment for providing voice and data connectivity for users. For example, may include a handheld device having wireless connection capability, or a processing device connected to a wireless modem. The terminal may communicate with a core network via a Radio Access Network (RAN), exchange voice or data with the RAN, or interact with the RAN. The terminal may include a User Equipment (UE), a wireless terminal, a mobile terminal, a device-to-device communication (D2D) terminal, a vehicle-to-all (V2X) terminal, a machine-to-machine/machine-type communication (M2M/MTC) terminal, an internet of things (IoT) terminal, a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a subscriber station (subscriber state), a mobile station (mobile state), a remote station (remote state), an access point (access point, AP), a remote terminal (remote terminal), an access terminal (access terminal), a user terminal (user terminal), a user agent (user agent), or a user equipment (user device), etc. May include mobile telephones (or so-called "cellular" telephones), computers with mobile terminals, portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-included mobile devices, and the like. May include Personal Communication Service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, Wireless Local Loop (WLL) stations, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and the like. But also limited devices, devices with lower power consumption, or devices with limited storage capacity, or devices with limited computing capacity, etc. Information sensing devices may include bar codes, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), sensors, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), laser scanners, and the like.

By way of example and not limitation, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal may also be a wearable device. Wearable equipment can also be called wearable smart device or intelligent wearable equipment etc. is the general term of using wearable technique to carry out intelligent design, develop the equipment that can dress to daily wearing, like glasses, gloves, wrist-watch, dress and shoes etc.. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable smart device includes full functionality, large size, and can implement full or partial functionality without relying on a smart phone, such as: smart watches or smart glasses and the like, and only focus on a certain type of application functions, and need to be used in cooperation with other devices such as smart phones, such as various smart bracelets, smart helmets, smart jewelry and the like for monitoring physical signs.

While the various terminals described above, if located on a vehicle, e.g. placed in or mounted in a vehicle, may be considered as vehicle mounted terminals, e.g. also referred to as on-board units (OBUs).

In the embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the terminal may be the terminal, or may be a circuit capable of supporting the terminal to implement the function, for example, a circuit that can be applied to a system on a chip. The chip system may be mounted in a terminal. 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 is taken as an example, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

2. The network device may include a Radio Access Network (RAN) device, such as a base station (e.g., an access point). It may refer to a device in the access network that communicates with the terminal device through an air interface, or a network device in a vehicle-to-all (V2X) technology is a Road Side Unit (RSU). The base station may be configured to interconvert received air frames and IP packets as a router between the terminal and the rest of the access network, which may include an IP network. The RSU may be a fixed infrastructure entity supporting the V2X application, exchanging messages with other entities supporting the V2X application. The network device may also coordinate attribute management for the air interface. For example, the network device may include an evolved Node B (NodeB or eNB or e-NodeB) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system or a long term evolution-advanced (LTE-a) system, or may also include an Evolved Packet Core (EPC), a fifth generation communication technology (5G), a next generation Node B (gNB) in a new radio, NR) system (also referred to as NR system) or include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU) in a Cloud access network (Cloud radio access network, Cloud RAN) system, which is not limited in the embodiments.

The network device may also include a core network device including, for example, an access and mobility management function (AMF), etc.

3. Status of terminal device

3.1 RRC Idle State (RRC _ IDLE)

The idle state refers to a state in which the terminal device resides in a cell but the terminal device is not in a random access procedure. The terminal device typically enters an idle state after power-on, or after RRC release.

3.2 RRC CONNECTED State (RRC _ CONNECTED)

The connected state refers to a state where the terminal device is in a state where the RRC release is not performed after the terminal device completes the random access procedure. The terminal equipment can carry out data transmission with the network equipment in a connected state.

When the terminal equipment is in an idle state, after the terminal equipment completes a random access process, the state of the terminal equipment is transferred to a connection state.

3.3 RRC Inactive State (RRC _ INACTIVE)

The inactive state is a state between a connected state and an idle state, and the terminal device in the inactive state maintains a suspended user plane bearer (suspend) of an air interface and a user plane bearer and a control plane bearer (cs bearer) between a Radio Access Network (RAN) and a Core Network (CN). When a terminal device initiates a call or service request, it needs to activate the user plane bearer of the air interface, and reuse the user plane bearer and control plane bearer between the existing RAN-CNs.

4. Paging (Paging)

The network device may notify the terminal device in the RRC IDLE state (RRC _ IDLE) or the RRC INACTIVE state (RRC _ INACTIVE) to receive a paging message (paging message) through paging, or the network may transmit a short message (short message) to the terminal device in the RRC IDLE state (RRC _ IDLE), the RRC INACTIVE state (RRC _ INACTIVE) or the RRC CONNECTED state (RRC _ CONNECTED) through paging to indicate System Information (SI) update or Tsunami Warning/Commercial Mobile Alert (ETWS/CAMS, easy and Tsunami Warning System/Commercial Mobile Alert Service).

4.1 Paging Occasion (PO)

A terminal device in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state monitors a paging occasion of the terminal device in each paging cycle (paging cycle) to determine whether the network performs paging. The PO locations for different terminal devices may be different.

4.2 paging cycle

The paging cycles for different terminal devices may be different. The method comprises the following steps: the base station broadcasts a default paging cycle (default paging cycle) via the system information, and the core network may also send a terminal-specific paging cycle (specific paging cycle) to the terminal. The terminal device specific paging cycle sent by the core network is specific to a specific terminal device, i.e. the values of different terminal devices may be different. The default paging cycle and the terminal device specific paging cycle may be in an integer multiple relationship. The paging cycle actually used by the terminal device may be the smaller of the default paging cycle and the terminal device specific paging cycle. In addition, for the terminal device in the RRC inactive state, in addition to the two paging cycles, the base station may also send a RAN paging cycle to the terminal device, that is, the terminal device in the RRC inactive state may have three paging cycles, and the terminal device uses the smallest one of the three paging cycles.

4.3 basic flow of paging

The network transmits a paging Downlink Control Information (DCI) within the PO. The paging DCI may include scheduling information of a paging message (paging message) and/or a short message (short message). After receiving paging DCI sent by a network, the terminal equipment determines the following operation according to the content of the paging DCI: if the paging DCI contains the scheduling information of the paging message, the terminal device receives and decodes the paging message on a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) according to the scheduling information, and then determines the subsequent operation according to the content of the paging message. The paging message includes terminal device identification information of one or more terminal devices paged by the network, and the terminal device decodes the paging message and determines whether the paging message includes its own terminal device identification:

-if the paging message does not contain its own terminal device identity, the terminal device ignores the paging message;

-if the paging message contains its own terminal device identity, the terminal device determines the subsequent operation from the other content in the paging message.

If the paging DCI contains the short message, the terminal equipment receives updated system information and/or earthquake tsunami warning/commercial mobile warning according to the indication of the short message, and if the paging DCI contains the scheduling information of the paging message and the short message, the terminal equipment respectively receives the paging message and the updated system information and/or earthquake tsunami warning/commercial mobile warning according to a specified flow.

5. Reference Signal (RS)

In a wireless communication system, in order to enable a terminal device to measure downlink channel state information or monitor cell quality, a network device needs to send a certain reference signal to the terminal device in a covered area. The network equipment sends the configuration information of the reference signal for identifying the reference signal to the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment detects the downlink channel state or monitors the cell quality according to the reference signal.

The reference signal in the wireless system includes: demodulating a Reference Signal (DMRS), wherein the terminal device performs channel estimation by using a downlink DMRS, and further performs data Demodulation; Channel-State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), the terminal device performs Channel estimation by using the CSI-RS, and further performs Channel State Information feedback; or monitor cell quality using CSI-RS. A Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) and the like are also included.

Generally, a network device sends a configuration of a reference signal to a terminal device, and the terminal device measures the reference signal according to the configuration of the received reference signal, thereby completing functions such as channel state detection. The configuration of the reference signal includes time-frequency resource information, sequence information, and the like.

6. System Information (SI)

The system information is a message sent by the network device, which contains information required for initialization of the terminal device and information related to some other functions/features.

The system information is divided into Minimum system information (Minimum SI) and Other system information (Other SI). Wherein:

the Minimum System Information is composed of a Master Information Block (MIB) and a System Information Block 1(SIB1, System Information Block 1), and the SIB1 is also called Remaining Minimum System Information (RMSI). The MIB is periodically Broadcast on a Broadcast Channel (BCH). The SIB1 is periodically broadcast on a Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH) or transmitted to the RRC connected terminal device by means of dedicated signaling.

The other system information includes other SIBs, for example, SIB2 to SIB 9. Other SIBs are broadcast on the DL-SCH periodically or on-demand (i.e., when an SIB is requested by an RRC idle or RRC inactive terminal device, the network broadcasts the SIB, otherwise the SIB is not transmitted), or are transmitted to an RRC connected terminal device by means of dedicated signaling.

7. The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication systems, future fifth Generation (5th Generation, 5G) systems, such as new radio access technology (NR), and future communication systems, such as 6G systems.

This application is intended to present various aspects, embodiments or features around a system that may include a number of devices, components, modules, and the like. It is to be understood and appreciated that the various systems may include additional devices, components, modules, etc. and/or may not include all of the devices, components, modules etc. discussed in connection with the figures. Furthermore, a combination of these schemes may also be used.

The network architecture and the service scenario described in the embodiment of the present application are for more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and do not form a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as a person of ordinary skill in the art knows that along with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of a new service scenario, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

Some scenarios in the embodiment of the present application are described by taking a scenario of an NR network in a wireless communication network as an example, it should be noted that the scheme in the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to other wireless communication networks, and corresponding names may also be replaced by names of corresponding functions in other wireless communication networks.

For the convenience of understanding the embodiments of the present application, a communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application will be first described in detail by taking the communication system shown in fig. 1 as an example. Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for the communication method of the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system 100 includes a network device 102 and a terminal device 106, where the network device 102 may be configured with multiple antennas and the terminal device may also be configured with multiple antennas. Optionally, the communication system may further include the network device 104, and the network device 104 may also be configured with multiple antennas.

Network device 102 or network device 104 may also include a number of components associated with signal transmission and reception (e.g., processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers, etc.).

In the communication system 100, the network device 102 and the network device 104 may each communicate with a plurality of terminal devices (e.g., the terminal device 106 shown in the figure). Network device 102 and network device 104 may communicate with one or more terminal devices similar to terminal device 106. It should be understood that the terminal device communicating with network device 102 and the terminal device communicating with network device 104 may be the same or different. The terminal device 106 shown in fig. 1 may communicate with both the network device 102 and the network device 104, but this only illustrates one possible scenario, and in some scenarios, the terminal device may only communicate with the network device 102 or the network device 104, which is not limited in this application.

Fig. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram of an example for ease of understanding only, and other network devices or other terminal devices, not shown in fig. 1, may also be included in the communication system.

The following describes embodiments of the present application in detail with reference to the drawings.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be applied to update of the configuration of the reference signal, where the reference signal may include: the method includes the steps that a reference signal DMRS, a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS, a tracking reference signal TRS, a sounding reference signal SRS and the like are demodulated, the reference signal can be sent to terminal equipment by network equipment or sent to the network equipment by the terminal equipment, and when the configuration of the reference signal changes, the configuration of the reference signal can be updated through the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application.

The first embodiment is as follows:

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication method comprises the following steps:

s201: the network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information indicates that the configuration of the reference signal is changed.

In a wireless communication system, a network device may transmit a reference signal to terminal devices within a covered area. And the network equipment sends the configuration information of the reference signal to the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment acquires the reference signal according to the configuration of the reference signal. When the configuration of the reference signal is to be changed, the network device determines that the configuration of the reference signal is changed, and the network device transmits first indication information. Wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the configuration of the reference signal is changed.

S202: the terminal equipment responds to the first indication information and determines that the first configuration information is invalid.

The terminal equipment receives the first indication information, and in response to the first indication information, the terminal equipment determines that the first configuration information is invalid. Wherein the first configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal. Optionally, the first configuration information may be sent by the network device before sending the first indication information, and the terminal device receives the first configuration information accordingly. That is, the configuration of the reference signal included in the first configuration information may be the configuration of the reference signal used by the terminal device before the configuration of the reference signal needs to be updated.

S203: and the network equipment sends the second configuration information to the terminal equipment.

The network equipment determines that the configuration of the reference signal is changed, and sends second configuration information after determining a second duration for the configuration of the reference signal to be changed. Wherein the second configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal. The second time period may be set by the network device or predetermined by the protocol. The second duration may be a duration of an SI modification period, or a duration of a default paging period, or other time length.

In this embodiment, the network device is different from the boundary point of the system information modification period of the network device at the time when it is determined that the configuration of the reference signal is changed by the second duration.

The terminal equipment acquires the second configuration information after receiving the first time length of the first indication information, and the terminal equipment has a time interval between the receiving of the first indication information and the acquisition of the second configuration information, wherein the first time length is smaller than or equal to the time interval. The first time period may be set by the network device or predetermined by a protocol.

The first duration may be greater than or equal to the second duration, and the terminal device may smoothly acquire the second configuration information by making the first duration greater than or equal to the second duration, so as to ensure smooth update of the reference signal configuration. In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device determines that the first configuration information is invalid in response to the received first indication information, so that the configuration of the reference signal in the first configuration information is invalid. The terminal equipment avoids using outdated configuration of the reference signal after the configuration of the reference signal is changed by determining that the configuration of the reference signal is invalid. Meanwhile, the network device may also send the second configuration information in a timely manner. Thereby, it is ensured that the configuration of the reference signal is updated in time, not limited by inherent time.

In the following, specific descriptions will be made for the steps on the terminal device side and the steps on the network device side, respectively, in relation to the embodiments of the present application. Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 3 shows various moments when the terminal device and the network device perform actions or are in a particular state. On the time axis of fig. 3, 5 paging occasions PO are shown in sequence, and the network device may perform the step of sending information at each paging occasion PO; correspondingly, the terminal device performs the step of receiving information on the corresponding PO. T1 and T2 characterize the relevant time instants of the network devices, and T1 and T3 characterize the relevant time instants of the terminal devices. The paging occasion PO can be regarded as a time instant, or a time period with a certain time length.

A terminal device side:

in S201, as shown in fig. 3, the network device determines that the configuration of the reference signal will be changed at time T1, and transmits the first indication information. The terminal device receives the first indication information at time t 1. After receiving the first indication information, the terminal device can know that the configuration of the reference signal will be changed. It can be understood that the terminal device may know the first indication information in various ways, for example, by paging DCI or system information SI. Taking paging DCI as an example, the network device transmits the paging DCI to the terminal device within the paging occasion PO, and the paging DCI includes a short message (short message). The short message may carry the first indication information. The terminal device parses the received short message to know that the configuration of the reference signal has changed. The time t1 when the terminal device receives the first indication information may be PO 2. Alternatively, one PO includes multiple Physical Downlink Control Channels (PDCCHs) Monitoring Occasions (MOs), and time t1 when the terminal device receives the first indication information may be an MO.

In S202, after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device determines that the first configuration information is invalid in response to the first indication information. The meaning of determining that the first configuration information is invalid may be: the terminal device stops using the configuration of the reference signal in the first configuration information, or the terminal device discards the configuration of the reference signal in the first configuration information. The terminal device may determine that the first configuration information is invalid at time t1 when the first indication information is received. And the terminal equipment responds to the first indication information to determine that the corresponding configuration information is invalid and does not use the outdated configuration information any more. After receiving the first indication information, the terminal device determines that the first configuration information is invalid, so that the network device can send the second configuration information as soon as possible. Therefore, the configuration updating of the reference signal is not restricted by fixed time, and the updating can be performed timely and quickly at the moment when the configuration of the reference signal needs to be updated.

The configuration of the reference signal included in the first configuration information may further include any one of the following information: time-frequency resource information of the reference signal, sequence information, antenna port information, subframe information, and the like.

When the configuration information of the plurality of reference signals is included in the first configuration information, the first indication information may indicate that a part of the first configuration information is invalid. The specific failed part may be indicated by the first indication information. The indication may be by one cell, or may be agreed by both parties, or may be implicit. For the terminal device, the valid portion can be used continuously without updating. In other words, only those failed parts are updated. For example, the first configuration information includes configurations of five reference signals RS1, RS2, RS3, RS4, and RS 5. The first indication information indicates that the configuration of the reference signals RS1, RS2, and RS3 is changed. At this time, the terminal device determines that the configurations of the reference signals RS1, RS2, and RS3 are failed, the configurations of the reference signals RS4 and RS5 are effectively used continuously, and acquires the reference signals RS4 and RS5 according to the configurations of the reference signals RS4 and RS 5.

The invalidated portion of the first configuration information is a different portion compared to the second configuration information. The first indication information can be used for knowing which part of the first configuration information is different from the second configuration information, and different parts need to be updated, while the same part of the first configuration information compared with the second configuration information can be continuously and effectively used without updating, so that system resources are saved.

For example, the first configuration information includes configurations of five reference signals RS1, RS2, RS3, RS4, and RS5, and as is known from the first indication information, the configurations of the reference signals RS1, RS2, and RS3 included in the first configuration information are different from the configurations of the reference signals RS1, RS2, and RS3 included in the second configuration information, and the configurations of the reference signals RS4 and RS5 included in the first configuration information are the same as the configurations of the reference signals RS4 and RS5 included in the second configuration information. The terminal equipment determines that the configurations of the reference signals RS1, RS2 and RS3 are invalid, the configurations of the reference signals RS4 and RS5 are effectively used continuously, and the reference signals RS4 and RS5 are obtained according to the configurations of the reference signals RS4 and RS 5.

In S203, the terminal device acquires the second configuration information after receiving the first duration of the first indication information. The second configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal. As shown in fig. 3, the terminal device receives the first indication information at time t1, time t1 serves as a starting point for calculating the first time length, time t3 serves as an end point of the first time length, and time t3 equals t1+ the first time length. The terminal device is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information at time t 3. The first time period may be transmitted by the network device or may be protocol preset. The terminal device is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information at time t3, that is to say the terminal device is able to start acquiring the second configuration information at time t 3. The time for actually acquiring the second configuration information may be at time t3 or after time t 3. The particular may depend on the time at which the network device transmits the second configuration information.

According to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment determines that the first configuration is invalid after receiving the first indication information, so that the terminal equipment can be ensured to stop outdated configuration information when the network equipment sends the second configuration information, and the terminal equipment is prevented from still using the first configuration information to obtain the outdated configuration of the reference signal. Meanwhile, the network equipment can send the second configuration information at the earliest time, the configuration of the reference signal is updated, and the time delay from the discovery that the second configuration information needs to be sent to the real start of sending the second configuration information by the network equipment is shortened. Meanwhile, the first duration is calculated at the moment when the terminal device receives the first indication information, and the second configuration information is obtained after the first duration, so that the network device can be ensured to send the second configuration information when the terminal device starts to obtain the second configuration information, the second configuration information is successfully obtained, and the configuration updating success of the reference signal of the terminal device is ensured.

Network equipment side:

in S201, as shown in fig. 3, the network device determines that the configuration of the reference signal is changed at time T1, and the network device transmits the first indication information. The first indication information indicates that a configuration of the reference signal is changed. Before and during the network device transmitting the first indication information to the terminal device, the network device may transmit first configuration information, which includes a configuration of the reference signal. It is to be understood that the network device may transmit the first indication information in various manners, for example, by paging DCI, system information SI. Taking paging DCI as an example, the network device transmits the paging DCI to the terminal device within the paging occasion PO, and the paging DCI includes a short message (short message). The short message may carry the first indication information. The terminal device parses the received short message to know that the configuration of the reference signal has changed. The network device may send the first indication information for the second duration. The network may repeatedly transmit the first indication information for the second duration. The network device may send the first indication information at the first paging occasion PO2 within the second duration, and repeatedly send the first indication information at the second paging occasion PO3 within the second duration. Or the network device repeatedly sends the first indication information in any one or more MOs in one PO. In S203, the network device sends the second configuration information to the terminal device after determining the second duration at time T1 when the configuration of the reference signal is changed. The second time duration is calculated with a time T1 as a starting point, and the network device can start to transmit the second configuration information at a time T2, where T2 is T1+ the second time duration. After time T2, the network device sends the second configuration information. In this embodiment, the time T2 when the second duration elapses after the first indication information is sent is different from the system information modification period boundary point. The boundary point of the system information modification period may be the start point or the end point of the system frame, or may be a time. The time T2 when the second duration passes after the first indication information is sent is different from the boundary point of the system information modification period, which means that the time T2 does not coincide with the start point or the end point of the system frame, or the time T2 does not coincide with the time at which the boundary point is located.

A system information modification period and a corresponding system information updating process.

The system information updating means that the network equipment updates the system information. In the process of updating the system information, the network device first needs to notify the terminal device that the system information will change, and then can send the updated system information. Correspondingly, the concept of a system information modification period (SI modification period) is defined. The SI modification period is typically N times the default paging period, where N specifies a minimum of 2 in order to guarantee reliability of system information update. The boundaries of the SI modification period, i.e. the start or end points, may be fixed at certain times. This is known to both network devices and terminal devices, either through signaling interactions or protocol conventions.

Taking fig. 3 as an example, in the time domain, the system information modification periods M1, M2, and M3 are sequentially performed. Fig. 3 shows that one system information modification period includes two paging occasions PO, taking an example that one paging period includes one paging occasion PO. For example, M1 includes PO1 and PO2, and M2 includes PO3 and PO 4. Under such a specification, the system information update procedure is described as follows.

The network device determines that the system information needs to be updated, and first needs to send a system information modification indication (SI change indication), and then sends new system information. It should be noted that, when the network device sends the SI modification indication, it is generally required to ensure that all terminal devices residing in the cell can successfully receive the system information modification indication. Therefore, the network device needs to send the SI modification indication at least once on all possible POs. That is, if the network device finds that the system information needs to be updated at a certain time in the middle of a certain SI modification period, since the SI modification period is incomplete, when the network device cannot guarantee that all terminal devices are notified in the SI modification period, the network device cannot send the SI modification indication in the SI modification period, and needs to wait for the next complete SI modification period to arrive and send the SI modification indication again. For example, the network device determines that the system information has changed at time T1. T1 is located between PO1 and PO 2. The network device does not send the system information modification indication within the SI modification period M1 (e.g., PO 2). It is necessary to wait for the next SI modification period M2, i.e. to send SI modification indications in PO3 and PO4 within M2, indicating system information update. New system information is transmitted after the SI modification period M3 starts. The network device already needs to use the new system message at time T1, but at least one M2 time is wasted because of the deadlines of the system information modification period. This is a loss in terms of timeliness. This loss is intolerable for reference signals and highly time-efficient communications.

Configuration for updating reference signal with system information modification period

In one possible implementation, the above scheme of system information update may be used to update the configuration of the reference signal. Reference is also made to fig. 3 as an example. Information indicating an update of the reference signal is contained in the SI modification indication, and the network device determines that the configuration of the reference signal is changed at a time T1 within the SI modification period M1. If the network device cannot guarantee that all terminal devices are notified in the period M1, the network needs to wait for the next SI modification period M2 to come and send the SI modification indication in the period M2. Then, the network device can not transmit the new reference signal and the configuration of the new reference signal until the next SI modification period M3 comes. The network needs to keep transmitting the original reference signal from the beginning of T1 until the modification period M3 comes. There is a problem that the configuration of the reference signal cannot be updated immediately, and the network device cannot make a change immediately after finding that the configuration of the reference signal has changed, and may still need to keep transmitting the original reference signal for a longer period of time.

Updating of the configuration of the reference signal is not limited by the system information modification period

Therefore, in the embodiments of the present application, a new reference signal updating mechanism is provided. The mechanism is not limited by the system information modification period, and can provide higher flexibility or timeliness.

In fig. 3, the network device determines that the configuration of the reference signal is changed at time T1, calculates the second time period with time T1 as a starting point, and the end point of the second time period is time T2, and the network device can start to transmit the second configuration information at time T2. The network device may actually transmit the second configuration information at time T2 or after time T2. The boundary point of the system information modification period M2 is different from T2. The time T2 is not the same as the time at which the boundary point of any one system information modification period is located. The network device stops transmitting the first indication information at time T2 and starts starting the procedure of transmitting the second configuration information to the terminal device. That is, the network device can start transmitting the second configuration information at time T2. After T2, the network device sends the second configuration information to the terminal device.

The second configuration information acquired by the terminal device may be acquired through system information. The second configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal, and the network device may transmit the configuration of the reference signal to the terminal device using the system information. In the embodiment of the present application, for the case of sending the second configuration information by using the system information, by using the communication method of the present application, the configuration of the reference signal is updated, so that the updating of the configuration of the reference signal is not limited by the system information modification period.

The first duration may be greater than or equal to the second duration, and the terminal device may smoothly acquire the second configuration information by making the first duration greater than or equal to the second duration, so as to ensure smooth update of the reference signal configuration.

The terminal equipment uses the reference signal to wake up, and uses the communication method of the embodiment of the application to carry out the reference signal communication Configuration update

For a terminal device in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state, it needs to monitor its own PO in each paging cycle. Before PO, the terminal equipment needs to measure in advance, and finish time-frequency tracking (time-frequency tracking)/timing synchronization (synchronization) and other operations. These operations may be collectively referred to as "background" operations to ensure that the PO can enter an awake state when it arrives, listen normally to the PO and perform paging related operations.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an early paging wakeup mechanism according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a mechanism for paging early wake-up using a reference signal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to fig. 4, the terminal device in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state performs measurement using a Synchronization Signal/Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB), and then performs early wake-up by performing "background" operation. In fig. 4, SSB is sparse, and the period of SSB is large (e.g., 20ms, 40ms, 160ms, etc.). This results in the terminal device needing to perform background operations with multiple SSBs a long time ahead of the PO. Between the SSBs, the terminal device can only enter a light sleep (light sleep) state. Therefore, the power consumption of the terminal device in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state in NR will be larger.

In order to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state, the terminal device performs measurement using the SSB and the reference signal before paging, or the terminal device directly performs measurement using only the reference signal before paging. Referring to fig. 5, reference signals RS1 and RS2 can be provided to a terminal device in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state, so that the time required for the terminal device to wake up in advance can be shortened from the SSBs in fig. 4 to one SSB in fig. 5.

In addition, the reference signals RS1 and RS2 in fig. 5 can be used by a terminal device in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state. In fig. 5, reference signals RS1 and RS2 are reference signals sent to a terminal device in an RRC connected state, and since there is no need to configure additional reference signals for the terminal device in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state, network resources are saved, and the reference signals may be channel state information reference signals or tracking reference signals.

And sending the reference signal originally sent to the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state to the terminal equipment in the RRC idle state or the RRC non-activated state to help the terminal equipment in the RRC idle state or the RRC non-activated state to be awakened in advance before a paging cycle PO comes.

In the context of this embodiment, timely updating of the configuration of the reference signal is particularly important. The configuration of the reference signal sent to the RRC connected terminal device is simultaneously sent to the terminal device in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state as the early wake-up signal before PO. Assuming that the network device finds that the configuration of the reference signal sent to the RRC connected terminal device will change, for the terminal device in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state, the update of the configuration of the reference signal is limited by the system information modification period, and the configuration of the reference signal cannot be updated in time. In this case, the configuration of the reference signal transmitted to the RRC connected terminal device can only be maintained as the configuration of the reference signal before updating, and cannot be updated. The resource of the terminal device in the RRC connection state is occupied, which affects the performance of the terminal device in the RRC connection state.

Applying the schemes of fig. 2 and fig. 3 to the background of fig. 5, when the configuration of the reference signal needs to be updated, the network device may immediately send the first indication information to the terminal device, and since it is determined that the first configuration information is invalid after the terminal device receives the first indication information, after the network device finishes sending the first indication information, the network device may quickly send the second configuration information, and shorten the time for the network device to keep sending the first configuration information, at this time, the configuration of the reference signal originally sent to the RRC connected state terminal device is sent to the terminal device in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state, and since the configuration of the reference signal can be updated quickly, the performance of the RRC connected state terminal device is not affected.

Determining validity of configuration of reference signal

The embodiment of the application can also judge whether the configuration of the reference signal currently stored by the terminal equipment is effective.

The configuration of the reference signal is associated with a first field, and the first field is used for judging the validity of the configuration of the reference signal. The first field may be a field defined in the system information for configuration of the reference signal and transmitted to the terminal device by way of broadcasting. For example, the first field is set to a certain value M, and when the terminal device receives and stores the first configuration information, or before/after the terminal device receives and stores the first configuration information, the terminal device reads the first field in the system information and stores the value M of the first field.

The network device updates the first field associated with the configuration of the reference signal when updating the configuration of the reference signal. The terminal device may actively determine whether the first field in the system information sent by the current network device is the same as the value of the first field stored by the terminal device. If the value of the first field in the current system information is the same as the value of the first field stored by the terminal device, and the configuration of the reference signal stored by the terminal device is judged to be the same as the configuration of the reference signal in the current system information, it indicates that the configuration of the reference signal of the current terminal device is valid, and the terminal device may not update the configuration of the reference signal. If the value of the first field in the current system information is different from the value of the first field stored by the terminal device, and the configuration of the reference signal stored by the terminal device is judged to be different from the configuration of the reference signal in the current system information, it indicates that the configuration of the reference signal of the current terminal device is invalid, and the terminal device can update the configuration of the reference signal. For example, if, when reading the system information, the terminal device finds that the value of the first field in the system information is N and the value of the field stored by the terminal device is M, it indicates that the configuration of the reference signal in the current system information has changed, and the terminal device may obtain the configuration of a new reference signal.

The process of determining validity of the configuration of the reference signal in the embodiment of the present application may be used in addition to the process of updating the configuration of the reference signal. The terminal equipment actively judges whether the configuration of the current reference signal is effective or not. And the terminal equipment acquires the value of the first field sent by the system information and compares the value of the first field with the currently stored value of the first field. If the values are different, the configuration of the reference signal currently stored by the terminal device and the configuration of the reference signal currently sent by the system information are different, and the terminal device may determine that the configuration of the current reference signal is invalid.

In the embodiments of fig. 2 and fig. 3 of the present application, after the second configuration information is obtained, the validity of the configuration of the reference signal may be determined. When the network device updates the first configuration information, the first field associated with the first configuration information is also updated, that is, when the network device sends the second configuration information to the terminal device, the first field associated with the second configuration information is set in the system information.

And the first field associated with the second configuration information is sent to the terminal equipment in a broadcasting mode. For example, the first field is set to a certain value N, and when the terminal device receives the second configuration information, or before or after the terminal device receives the second configuration information, the value N of the first field in the system information is read, and the value N of the first field is stored to replace the value of the first field originally associated with the first configuration information. After a period of time, the terminal device may actively determine whether the configuration of the reference signal in the currently stored second configuration information is still valid. And when the terminal equipment reads the system information, the value of the first field in the system information is obtained, and the value is assumed to be still N and is the same as the value N of the first field associated with the currently stored second configuration information. The current configuration of the reference signal of the second configuration information is judged to be valid.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of still another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, and referring to fig. 6, during a first duration after the terminal device receives the first indication information, the terminal device receives second indication information at time t2, where the second indication information indicates that the configuration of the reference signal is changed. For the terminal device, after receiving the first indication information at time t1, before being allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information at time t3, the second indication information sent by the network device is received at time t2, and the second indication information indicates that the configuration of the reference signal is changed. After receiving the second indication information, the terminal device may adopt one of the following three processing manners.

The first method is as follows:

and the terminal equipment does not judge whether the first indication information and the second indication information are the same, and the instruction of the first indication information and the instruction of the second indication information are respectively executed. Specifically, as shown in fig. 6, the terminal device receives the first indication information at time t1, and after receiving the first duration of the first indication information, is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information at time t 3. The terminal device receives the second indication information at time t2, and after receiving the third duration of the second indication information, is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information at time t4, where t4 is t2+ the third duration. The second configuration information allowed to start being acquired at time t3 may be the same as or different from the second configuration information allowed to start being acquired at time t 4. In other words, the terminal device receives the corresponding configuration information only according to the latest received indication information and according to the latest received indication information. Optionally, the third duration may be sent by the network device or preset by a protocol. The third duration may be equal to the first duration.

Regarding the second indication information, the third time length and the third configuration information are the same as the foregoing description of the first indication information, the first time length and the second configuration information, and a detailed description thereof is omitted.

In this processing mode, the terminal device processes the first indication information and the second indication information respectively, the first indication information and the second indication information are both sent by the network device, and the contents indicated by the first indication information and the second indication information may be the same or different.

The second method comprises the following steps:

the terminal equipment judges that the content of the second indication information is the same as that of the first indication information, and acquires the second configuration information after receiving the first time length of the first indication information.

In this processing mode, after the terminal device receives the second instruction information, the contents of the first instruction information and the second instruction information are compared. When the content of the first indication information is judged to be the same as the content of the second indication information, the acquisition of the second configuration information is allowed to start at time t 3. The receiving of the second indication information does not affect the terminal device to execute other steps after the first indication information is received, and the terminal device does not separately respond to the second indication information any more because the first indication information is the same as the second indication information. In other words, the terminal device determines the new and old indication information in real time, and when the indications of the new and old indication information are the same, that is, the indication information of t1 and t2 are the same, the configuration information corresponding to the old indication information, that is, the configuration information of t3 is still used instead of the configuration information of t 4. In this way, at least the time of t4-t3 is saved, so that the configuration of the reference signal can be updated more quickly.

Here, the content of the first indication information and the content of the second indication information may have the same meaning as follows: the change of the configuration of the reference signal indicated by the first indication information is the same as the change of the configuration of the reference signal indicated by the second indication information. For example, the first configuration information includes configurations of five reference signals RS1, RS2, RS3, RS4, and RS5, the first indication information indicates that the configurations of the reference signals RS1, RS2, and RS3 are to be changed, and the configurations of the reference signals RS4 and RS5 are kept unchanged. The first indication information indicates that the configuration of the reference signals RS1, RS2, and RS3 will be changed, and the configuration of the reference signals RS4 and RS5 remains unchanged. The contents of the first indication information and the second indication information are the same.

The third method comprises the following steps:

the terminal device does not acquire the second configuration information any more after the time t3, but is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information at a time t4 after the third duration of receiving the second indication information, and thus actually acquires the second configuration information after the time t4 or the time t 4. Optionally, the third time period may be equal to the first time period.

In contrast to the first mode, the first mode still needs to acquire the second configuration information after the time t3, and the third mode does not acquire the second configuration information after the time t3, and is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information only at the time t 4.

The embodiment of the application provides three processing modes after the terminal equipment receives the second indication information within the first time period, so that the flow of updating the configuration can be further simplified, and the system resources are saved.

Embodiment two of the present application will be described below with reference to fig. 7 to 9:

fig. 7 is a flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 8 and 9 are schematic diagrams of still another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication method provided by this embodiment may also be used for updating the configuration of the reference signal. Referring to fig. 7, the method includes:

s701: the network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information indicates that the configuration of the reference signal is changed.

In a wireless communication system, a network device needs to transmit a certain reference signal to a terminal device in a coverage area. And the network equipment sends the configuration information of the reference signal to the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment acquires the reference signal according to the configuration of the reference signal. The network equipment determines that the configuration of the reference signal is changed, the network equipment sends first indication information, and the terminal equipment receives the first indication information. Wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the configuration of the reference signal is changed.

S702: the network device sends the time information to the terminal device.

And the network equipment sends time information, and the time information is determined according to the second time length. And the terminal equipment receives the time information sent by the network equipment. And the terminal equipment determines the first time for acquiring the second configuration information according to the time information.

The time information and the first indication information may be transmitted in the same signaling or may be transmitted separately.

S703: and the network equipment sends the second configuration information to the terminal equipment.

And the network equipment sends the second configuration information after determining the second time length of the change of the reference signal. The determination of the moment at which the configuration of the reference signal changes may be taken as a starting point for the calculation of the second duration. The network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment for indicating that the configuration of the reference signal is changed, and also sends time information to the terminal equipment. And the terminal equipment determines the time for acquiring the second configuration information according to the time information. The terminal equipment and the network equipment appoint the updating time of the configuration of the reference signal through the time information, so that the configuration of the reference signal is updated as soon as possible. The time information is determined by the network device according to the second duration. The time information can be set to be shorter, and the problem of solidification and death in the configuration updating process of the reference signal can be solved by flexibly setting the time information. The following further describes the steps of the second embodiment with reference to fig. 8 and 9:

fig. 8 and 9 show respective times at which the terminal device and the network device perform an action or are in a specific state. On the time axis of fig. 8, 5 paging occasions PO are shown in sequence. The 3 paging occasions PO are shown in sequence on the time axis of fig. 9. The network device can execute the step of sending information on each PO paging occasion; correspondingly, the terminal device performs the step of receiving information on the corresponding PO. T1 and T2 characterize the relevant time instants of the network devices, and T1 and T3 characterize the relevant time instants of the terminal devices.

Fig. 9 further shows the case that 4 PDCCH monitoring occasions MO are included in one paging occasion PO. The paging occasion PO and the listening occasion MO may be regarded as one time instant, or may be regarded as a time period with a certain time length.

In fig. 8 and 9, T1 is a time T2 at which the network device determines that the configuration of the reference signal has changed, and the network device can start transmitting the second configuration information. time t1 is the time when the terminal device receives the first indication information, and time t3 is the time when the terminal device is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information. A second duration is between time T1 and time T2. In S701, as shown in fig. 8 and 9, the network device determines that the configuration of the reference signal is changed at time T1. The network equipment sends first indication information after determining that the configuration of the reference signal is changed, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the reference signal is changed. The network device may transmit the first indication information at the first paging occasion PO2 within the second duration between time T1 and time T2. Or the network device may repeat the transmission of the first indication, for example, at PO2, and at PO3 for the second duration. The transmission may be repeated over PO2 or over PO 3. Or the network device may repeatedly send an indication on the MO within PO2 or within PO3 shown in fig. 9.

The terminal device receives the first indication information at time t 1. After receiving the first indication information, the terminal device will be able to know that the configuration of the reference signal is changed. Such as the background operation in fig. 5, which is not described in detail herein. The second configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal, the second configuration information being transmitted by the network device. During the sending of the first indication information, the network device keeps sending the first configuration information. The terminal device may keep the configuration of the already stored reference signal valid until time t3 when it is allowed to acquire the second configuration information.

Similar to S201, the network device may send the first indication information in various ways, and the terminal device knows that the configuration of the reference signal has changed.

In S702, the network device sends time information, and the time information is determined according to the second duration. And the terminal equipment determines the first time for acquiring the second configuration information according to the time information sent by the network equipment.

The time information in the embodiment of the present application may be a time when the second time length passes after the configuration of the reference signal is changed. Specifically, the time T1 at which the configuration of the reference signal is changed is determined as the starting point for calculating the second period. The time T2 at which the second time period elapses serves as an end point for calculating the second time period, and T2 is T1+ the second time period. Therefore, the one time included in the time information is time T2. Another meaning for time T2 is: the network device can start sending the second configuration information at time T2. And the actual transmission of the second configuration information may be at time T2 or after time T2.

The terminal equipment determines a first time for receiving the second configuration according to the moment. Referring to fig. 8 and 9, the process is as follows:

the terminal device determines the time T3 at which the terminal device is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information, T3 being T2, according to the time T2 included in the time information. And the first time when the terminal device actually acquires the second configuration information may be the same as t3 or after time t 3. Depending on the time at which the network device transmits the second configuration information.

In the embodiment of the present application, the time information may further include a period of time, where the period of time is determined according to the first period of time;

the starting point of the first period is the time when the first indication information is transmitted, and the ending point of the first period is the time when the second time length elapses after the configuration of the determination reference signal is changed.

The network device transmits the first indication information after determining that the configuration of the reference signal is changed at time T1, and as shown in fig. 8 and 9, the network device transmits the first indication information at time T1'. The network device may send the first indication information at the first paging occasion PO2 within the second duration. Or the network device may repeat the transmission of the first indication, for example, at PO2, and at PO3 for the second duration. The transmission may be repeated over PO2 or over PO 3. Or the network device may repeatedly send an indication on the MO within PO2 or within PO3 shown in fig. 9. The start of the first period is at time T1'.

The time T2 at which the second period of time elapses after the configuration of the reference signal is changed is determined to be the end of the first period of time. The period of time included in the time information may be determined according to the first period of time.

And the terminal equipment determines the first time for receiving the second configuration information according to the period of time. The following describes in detail the process of determining the first time by the terminal device according to the time information:

the terminal device takes the time t1 at which the first indication information is received as a starting point for calculating the period of time.

The time t1 when the terminal device receives the first indication information may be PO 2. Alternatively, as shown in fig. 9, one paging cycle includes multiple PDCCH monitoring occasions MO on the physical downlink control channel, and fig. 9 exemplarily shows a case where one PO includes four PDCCH monitoring occasions MO. The time t1 when the terminal device receives the first instruction information is an MO. With the time t1 as the time starting point, the terminal device is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information at the time t3, and t3 is t1+ the period of time. The first time when the terminal device actually acquires the second configuration information may be at time t3 or after time t 3. Depending on the time at which the network device transmits the second configuration information.

The one-period duration included in the time information may be equal to the duration of the first period, which is T2-T1'. Thereby, it can be ensured that the time T2 at which the network device can start to transmit the second configuration information is the same as the time T3 at which the terminal device is allowed to start acquiring the second configuration information.

In this embodiment, the network device may send the time information and the first indication information at the same time, or send the time information first and then send the first indication information. Or the first indication information is sent first, and then the time information is sent. The first indication information and the time information may be transmitted by the same signaling or may be transmitted by different signaling.

S703: and the terminal equipment acquires the second configuration information.

The network equipment sends second configuration information after determining a second duration for which the configuration of the reference signal is changed, wherein the second configuration information comprises the configuration of the reference signal; and the terminal equipment acquires the second configuration information at the first time. The network device determines the time T1 at which the configuration of the reference signal is changed as a starting point for calculating the second duration. The time T2 at which the second time period elapses serves as an end point for calculating the second time period, and T2 is T1+ the second time period. Therefore, the network device can start transmitting the second configuration information at time T2. And the actual transmission of the second configuration information may be at time T2 or after time T2. The first time is determined as S702.

By the embodiment, the time when the network device can start to send the second configuration information and the time when the terminal device is allowed to start to acquire the second configuration information can be kept consistent, so that the speed of updating the configuration of the reference signal is increased.

In an alternative embodiment, the second configuration information is obtained by system information. The second configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal, and the network device may transmit the configuration of the reference signal to the terminal device using the system information. When the configuration of the reference signal is changed, the network device generally uses a system information update mechanism to update the configuration of the reference signal. Because the system information updating mechanism has a fixed system information modification period, the configuration updating of the reference signal is limited by the system information modification period, and the problem of untimely updating and the like is caused. In the embodiment of the present application, for the case of transmitting the second configuration information using the system information, the update of the configuration of the reference signal may not be limited by the system information modification period.

Optionally, the terminal device in this embodiment may be in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state. For specific content, reference may be made to the description of the first embodiment, which is not described herein again.

Optionally, the configuration of the reference signal is associated with a first field, and the first field is used for determining validity of the configuration of the reference signal. The terminal equipment receives system information, the system information comprises a first field, the first field in the system information is determined to be the same as the first field stored by the terminal equipment, and the configuration of the reference signal of the terminal equipment is judged to be effective. For specific content, reference may be made to the description of the first embodiment, which is not described herein again.

In this embodiment, when the configuration of the reference signal needs to be updated, the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device, and also sends the time information. The time for the terminal device to acquire the second configuration information can be determined according to the time information, so that the update time of the configuration of the reference signal is agreed. The problem of solidification and death in the configuration updating process of the reference signals can be solved by flexibly setting the time information, and meanwhile, the timeliness of the configuration updating of the reference signals can be guaranteed.

The foregoing describes a method for communication in an embodiment of the present application, and hereinafter, a device for communication in various embodiments of the present application will be described. For example, the apparatus may employ the method referred to in the schemes shown in fig. 2-9. The device is based on the same technical conception, and because the principles of solving the problems of the method and the device are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be mutually referred, and repeated parts are not described again.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication device, and the communication device can be terminal equipment or a circuit. The communication apparatus may be configured to perform the actions performed by the terminal device in the first embodiment of the method.

The communication device includes:

a transceiver module, configured to receive first indication information indicating that a configuration of a reference signal is changed;

a processing module, configured to determine that the first configuration information is invalid in response to the first indication information, where the first configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal;

the transceiver module is further configured to acquire second configuration information after receiving the first duration of the first indication information, where the second configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal.

In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal equipment determines that the first configuration information is invalid in response to the received first indication information, so that the configuration of the reference signal in the first configuration information is invalid. The terminal device no longer uses outdated configuration information by determining that the configuration of the reference signal is invalid, and is ready to receive the second configuration information. After receiving the first indication information, the terminal device determines that the first configuration information is invalid, so that the configuration updating of the reference signal is not constrained by fixed time, and the updating can be performed timely and quickly at the moment when the configuration of the reference signal needs to be updated.

The communication apparatus provided in this embodiment may also be configured to execute the method in any possible implementation manner of the foregoing method embodiment, and specific contents may refer to partial contents of the action performed by the terminal device in the first method embodiment, which are not described herein again.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication device, and the communication device can be terminal equipment or a circuit. The communication apparatus may be configured to perform the actions performed by the terminal device in the second embodiment of the method.

The communication device includes:

a transceiver module, configured to receive first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that a configuration of a reference signal is changed;

the receiving and sending module is also used for receiving time information;

the transceiver module is further configured to obtain second configuration information at a first time, where the first time is determined by the processing module according to the time information, and the second configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal.

In this embodiment, the terminal device receives first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the configuration of the reference signal is changed, and the terminal device also receives time information. And the network equipment and the terminal equipment respectively determine the time for sending the second configuration information and the time for acquiring the second configuration information according to the time information. The terminal equipment and the network equipment appoint the updating time of the configuration of the reference signal through the time information, so that the configuration of the reference signal is updated as soon as possible. The time information may be set by the network device. The time information can be set to be shorter, and the problem of solidification and death in the configuration updating process of the reference signal can be solved by flexibly setting the time information.

The communication apparatus provided in this embodiment may also be configured to execute the method in any possible implementation manner of the second method embodiment, and specific contents may refer to partial contents of the action performed by the terminal device in the second method embodiment, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a simplified structure of a communication apparatus for easy understanding and illustration, and in fig. 10, the communication apparatus is exemplified by a terminal device. As shown in fig. 10, the communication device includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the terminal equipment, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs and the like. The memory is used primarily for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are used primarily for receiving data input by a user and for outputting data to the user. It should be noted that some kinds of terminal devices may not have input/output devices.

When data needs to be sent, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs baseband signals to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signals and sends the radio frequency signals to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal equipment, the radio frequency circuit receives radio frequency signals through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signals into baseband signals and outputs the baseband signals to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signals into the data and processes the data. For ease of illustration, only one memory and processor are shown in FIG. 10. In an actual end device product, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc. The memory may be provided independently of the processor, or may be integrated with the processor, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the rf circuit having the transceiving function may be regarded as a transceiving module of the communication device, and the processor having the processing function may be regarded as a processing module of the communication device. As shown in fig. 10, the communication apparatus includes a transceiver module 101 and a processing module 102. A transceiver module may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. A processing module may also be referred to as a processor, a processing board, a processing device, etc. Optionally, a device for implementing a receiving function in the transceiver module 101 may be regarded as a receiving module, and a device for implementing a transmitting function in the transceiver module 101 may be regarded as a transmitting module, that is, the transceiver module 101 includes a receiving module and a transmitting module. A transceiver module may also sometimes be referred to as a transceiver, transceiving circuitry, or the like. A receiving module may also be sometimes referred to as a receiver, or a receiving circuit, etc. The transmitting module may also sometimes be referred to as a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

It should be understood that the transceiver module 101 is configured to perform the transmitting operation and the receiving operation on the terminal device side in the above method embodiments, and the processing module 102 is configured to perform other operations besides the transceiving operation on the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

For example, in one implementation, the transceiver module 101 is configured to perform receiving operations on the terminal device side in S201 and S203 in fig. 2, and/or the transceiver module 101 is further configured to perform other transceiving steps on the terminal device side in the embodiment of the present application. The processing module 102 is configured to execute S202 in fig. 2, and/or the processing module 102 is further configured to execute other processing steps on the terminal device side in the embodiment of the present application.

For another example, in another implementation manner, the transceiver module 101 is configured to perform the receiving operation of the terminal device side in S701, S702, and S703 in fig. 7, and/or the transceiver module 102 is further configured to perform other transceiving steps of the terminal device side in this embodiment of the present application. The processing module 102 is configured to execute other processing steps on the terminal device side in this embodiment.

When the communication device is a chip-like device or circuit, the chip device may include a transceiver module and a processing module. The transceiver module can be an input-output circuit and/or a communication interface; the processing module is a processor or a microprocessor or an integrated circuit integrated on the chip.

When the communication device in this embodiment is a terminal device, reference may be made to the device shown in fig. 11. In fig. 11, the apparatus includes a processor 111, a transmission data processor 112, and a reception data processor 113. The processing module in the above embodiment may be the processor 111 in fig. 11, and performs the corresponding functions. The transceiver module in the above embodiments may be the transmission data processor 112 in fig. 11, and/or the reception data processor 113. Although fig. 11 shows a channel encoder and a channel decoder, it is understood that these blocks are not limitative and only illustrative to the present embodiment.

Fig. 12 shows another form of the present embodiment. The processing device 120 includes modules such as a modulation subsystem, a central processing subsystem, and peripheral subsystems. The communication device in this embodiment may serve as a modulation subsystem therein. In particular, the modulation subsystem may include a processor 123, an interface 124. The processor 123 performs the functions of the processing module, and the interface 124 performs the functions of the transceiver module. As another variation, the modulation subsystem includes a memory 126, a processor 123, and a program stored on the memory 126 and executable on the processor, and the processor 123 implements the method on the terminal device side in the above method embodiment when executing the program. It should be noted that the memory 126 may be non-volatile or volatile, and may be located within the modulation subsystem or within the processing device 120, as long as the memory 126 is connected to the processor 123.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication device, which can be a network device. The communication device may be configured to perform the actions performed by the network device in the first embodiment of the method described above.

The communication device includes:

the receiving and transmitting module is used for transmitting system information modification indication information in a system information modification period and transmitting new system information in the next system information modification period; and the processing module is used for determining that the configuration of the reference signal is changed. The transceiver module is further configured to send second configuration information after determining a second duration for which the configuration of the reference signal is changed, where the second configuration information includes the configuration of the reference signal. The transceiver module is further configured to send first indication information within a second duration, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the configuration of the reference signal is changed. The second configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal; and the time when the second time length passes after the first indication information is sent is different from the boundary point of the system information modification period.

In the embodiment of the application, the network device can send the second configuration information at the earliest time, update the configuration of the reference signal, and shorten the time delay between the time when the network device finds that the second configuration information needs to be sent and the time when the network device really starts to send the second configuration information.

The communication apparatus provided in this embodiment may also be configured to execute the method in any possible implementation manner of the foregoing method embodiment, and specific contents may refer to partial contents of the actions performed by the network device in the first method embodiment, which are not described herein again.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication device, which can be a network device. The communication device may be configured to perform the actions performed by the network device in the second embodiment of the method described above.

The communication device includes:

a processing module for determining that a configuration of a reference signal has changed; a transceiver module, configured to send second configuration information after determining a second duration for which a configuration of a reference signal changes, where the second configuration information includes the configuration of the reference signal;

the transceiver module is further configured to send first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that a configuration of a reference signal is changed;

the transceiver module is further configured to send time information, and the time information is determined according to the second duration.

In this embodiment, the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device at the time when the configuration of the reference signal needs to be updated, and also sends the time information, and according to the time information, the time when the network device sends the second configuration information and the time when the terminal device obtains the second configuration information can be determined, so that an update opportunity of the configuration of the reference signal is agreed, the problem of fixed death in the configuration update process of the reference signal can be solved by flexibly setting the time information, and the timeliness of the configuration update of the reference signal can be guaranteed.

The communication apparatus provided in this embodiment may also be configured to execute the method in any possible implementation manner of the second method embodiment, and specific contents may refer to partial contents of the action performed by the network device in the second method embodiment, which are not described herein again.

When the communication apparatus in this embodiment is a network device, the network device may be as shown in fig. 13, and the apparatus 130 includes one or more radio frequency units, such as a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) 1310 and one or more baseband units 1320 (BBUs), which may also be referred to as Digital Units (DUs). The RRU 1310 may be referred to as a transceiver module. Alternatively, the transceiver module may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, or a transceiver, etc., which may include at least one antenna 1311 and a radio frequency unit 1312. The RRU 1310 is mainly used for transceiving radio frequency signals and converting the radio frequency signals into baseband signals, for example, for sending indication information to a terminal device. The BBU1310 part is mainly used for performing baseband processing, controlling a base station, and the like. The RRU 1310 and the BBU 1320 may be physically located together or physically located separately, i.e. distributed base stations.

The BBU 1320 is a control center of a base station, and may also be referred to as a processing module, and may correspond to the processing module 820 in fig. 8, and is mainly used for completing baseband processing functions, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulation, spreading, and the like. For example, the BBU (processing module) may be configured to control the base station to perform an operation procedure related to the network device in the foregoing method embodiment, for example, to generate the foregoing indication information.

In an example, the BBU 1320 may be formed by one or more boards, where a plurality of boards may support a radio access network of a single access system together, or may support radio access networks of different access systems (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks) respectively. The BBU 1320 also includes a memory 1321 and a processor 1322. The memory 1321 is used to store the necessary instructions and data. The processor 1322 is configured to control the base station to perform necessary actions, for example, to control the base station to perform the operation procedure related to the network device in the above-described method embodiment. The memory 1321 and processor 1322 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and processor may be provided separately on each board. Multiple boards may share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits.

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

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

receiving first indication information, wherein the first indication information indicates that the configuration of a reference signal is changed;

determining that first configuration information is invalid in response to the first indication information, the first configuration information including a configuration of the reference signal;

and acquiring second configuration information after receiving the first time length of the first indication information, wherein the second configuration information comprises the configuration of the reference signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the first configuration information is invalid comprises: determining that a portion of the first configuration information is invalid, the portion of the first configuration information being indicated by the first indication information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the first configuration information is invalid comprises: determining that a portion of the first configuration information is stale, the portion of the first configuration information being a different portion than the second configuration information.

4. The method of any one of claims 1-3, further comprising:

the second configuration information is obtained through system information.

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

the reference signal is a channel state information reference signal or a tracking reference signal.

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

the first indication information is sent by the network equipment within a second time length, and the first time length is greater than or equal to the second time length.

7. The method of any one of claims 1-6, further comprising:

receiving second indication information within the first time length, wherein the second indication information indicates that the configuration of the reference signal is changed;

and after receiving a third duration of second indication information, acquiring the second configuration information.

8. The method of any one of claims 1-6, further comprising:

and receiving second indication information in the first time length, and if the content of the second indication information is the same as that of the first indication information, acquiring second configuration information after receiving the first time length of the first indication information.

9. The method of any one of claims 1-8, further comprising:

the configuration of the reference signal is associated with a first field, and the first field is used for judging the validity of the configuration of the reference signal.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a terminal device receives system information, the system information comprising the first field, and wherein the configuration of the reference signal of the terminal device is determined to be valid if the first field in the system message is the same as the first field stored by the terminal device.

11. A method of communication, comprising:

sending system information modification indication information in a system information modification period, and sending new system information in the next system information modification period;

determining that the configuration of the reference signal is changed, and sending second configuration information after determining that the configuration of the reference signal is changed for a second time period, wherein the second configuration information comprises the configuration of the reference signal;

sending first indication information in the second duration, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the configuration of the reference signal is changed;

and the time when the second time length passes after the configuration of the reference signal is determined to be changed is different from the boundary point of the system information modification period.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate that the first configuration information is invalid.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate that a portion of the first configuration information is invalid, the portion of the first configuration information being indicated by the first indication information.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first indication information indicates that a portion of first configuration information is stale, the portion of first configuration information being a different portion than the second configuration information.

15. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a processing module, configured to determine that first configuration information is invalid in response to the first indication information, where the first configuration information includes a configuration of the reference signal;

16. The communications apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processing module to determine that the first configuration information is invalid comprises: determining that a portion of the first configuration information is invalid, the portion of the first configuration information being indicated by the first indication information.

17. The communications apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processing module to determine that the first configuration information is invalid comprises: determining that a portion of the first configuration information is stale, the portion of the first configuration information being a different portion than the second configuration information.

18. The communication apparatus according to any one of claims 15 to 17,

the second configuration information is obtained through system information.

19. The communications device of any one of claims 15-18, further comprising:

20. The communications device of any one of claims 15-19, further comprising:

21. The communications device of any one of claims 15-20, further comprising:

the transceiver module is configured to receive second indication information within the first time period, where the second indication information indicates that the configuration of the reference signal is changed;

the transceiver module is further configured to acquire the second configuration information after receiving a third duration of the second indication information.

22. The communications device of any one of claims 15-20, further comprising:

the transceiver module is configured to receive second indication information within the first time period, and if the content of the second indication information is the same as the content of the first indication information, the transceiver module acquires second configuration information after receiving the first time period of the first indication information.

23. The communications device of any one of claims 15-22, further comprising:

24. The communications apparatus of claim 23, wherein the transceiver module of a terminal device is configured to receive system information, the system information including the first field, and if the first field in the system message is the same as the first field stored by the terminal device, determine that the configuration of the reference signal of the terminal device is valid.

25. A communications apparatus, comprising:

the receiving and transmitting module is used for transmitting system information modification indication information in a system information modification period and transmitting new system information in the next system information modification period;

the transceiver module is further configured to send first indication information, and send second configuration information after a second duration of sending the first indication information, where the second configuration information includes configuration of a reference signal;

and the time when the first indication information passes the second time length after being sent is different from the boundary point of the system information modification period.

26. The communications apparatus of claim 25, wherein the first indication information indicates that the first configuration information is invalid.

27. The communications apparatus of claim 26, wherein the first indication information indicates a failure of a portion of the first configuration information, the portion of the first configuration information being indicated by the first indication information.

28. The communications apparatus of claim 26, wherein the first indication information indicates a failure of a portion of first configuration information, the portion of first configuration information being a different portion as compared to the second configuration information.

29. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which program is executed by a processor to carry out the method of one of claims 1 to 14.

30. A communication system comprising a communication device according to any one of claims 15 to 24 and a communication device according to any one of claims 25 to 28.