CN113840300A

CN113840300A - Method and apparatus for transmitting remaining minimum system information

Info

Publication number: CN113840300A
Application number: CN202010590710.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王祎锋
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-24
Filing date: 2020-06-24
Publication date: 2021-12-24

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a method and a device for transmitting residual minimum system information. The method is performed in a communication system using a plurality of beams, wherein each beam corresponds to at least two time slots, and the time slots are used for transmitting the remaining minimum system information RMSI, and the method comprises: generating a first beam when the time slots corresponding to the N beams in the plurality of beams comprise at least one overlapping time slot, the coverage area of the first beam comprising the coverage area of each beam in the N beams, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2; the RMSI is transmitted over the first beam in one of the at least one overlapping time slot. According to the method for transmitting the remaining minimum system information, the RMSI is transmitted through the first beam with the coverage range including the coverage ranges of the N beams in the overlapped time slot, so that the transmitting times of the RMSI can be reduced, and the time domain resource overhead of the RMSI can be reduced.

Description

Method and apparatus for transmitting remaining minimum system information

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the field of communication, and in particular relates to a method and device for transmitting residual minimum system information, a terminal device and a network device.

Background

In a New Radio Network (NR), a User Equipment (UE) establishes a connection with an eNB by detecting a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) and a Remaining Minimum System Information (RMSI) sent by an evolved NodeB (eNB).

When the eNB sends the SSB and the RMSI in a scanning manner through a narrow beam formed by Beamforming (Beamforming) within a period of time, the number of the SSBs determines the time domain resource overhead of the RMSI, and when the number of the SSBs is large, the time domain resource overhead of the RMSI is increased, thereby seriously affecting the downlink throughput of the system.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a method and a device for transmitting the residual minimum system message, which can reduce RMSI time domain resource overhead of communication equipment.

In a first aspect, a method for transmitting remaining minimum system information is provided, the method being performed in a communication system using a plurality of beams, wherein each beam corresponds to at least two time slots, and the time slots are used for transmitting remaining minimum system information RMSI, and the method comprises: generating a first beam when the time slots corresponding to the N beams in the plurality of beams comprise at least one overlapping time slot, the coverage area of the first beam comprising the coverage area of each beam in the N beams, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2; the RMSI is transmitted over the first beam in one of the at least one overlapping time slot.

It is to be understood that the at least one overlapping time slot is a time slot corresponding to the intersection of time slots of the N beams. The coverage of the first beam including the coverage of each of the N beams may be the same as the coverage of the N beams or similar to the coverage of the N beams. The coverage of the first beam may refer to a transmission angle and a beam width of the first beam, and the coverage may refer to a deviation between the transmission width of the first beam and a total width of the N beams within a predetermined range. Thus, the RMSI is transmitted through a first beam whose coverage includes the coverage of the beam in an overlapping time slot, which can reduce the number of times the RMSI is transmitted in the time domain, thereby reducing the time-domain resource overhead of the RMSI.

With reference to the first aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the transmission time slots of N beams of the multiple beams are consecutive; and/or the transmission time slots of the N beams in the plurality of beams are the same, wherein the transmission time slots are the time slots for transmitting the synchronization signal blocks SSB.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first beam includes N peaks, the N peaks correspond to the N beams in a one-to-one manner, and the RMSI is sent on the N peaks respectively.

It will be appreciated that the first beam may be formed by adjusting network device parameters, the first beam may have a plurality of different coverage areas, and a peak may correspond to one of the plurality of different coverage areas. It should also be understood that the one-to-one correspondence between the N peaks and the N beams may refer to one-to-one correspondence between the coverage of each of the N peaks and the coverage of each of the N beams, and the coverage may be the same or similar, and the deviation between each peak and the corresponding beam width and/or angle is within a preset range.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the coverage of the N peaks includes the coverage of the N beams.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, a deviation of a transmission angle between each of the N peaks and a corresponding beam of the multiple beams is within a preset range.

In a second aspect, a method for transmitting remaining minimum system information is provided, the method being performed in a communication system using a plurality of beams, wherein each beam corresponds to at least two time slots, and the time slots are used for transmitting remaining minimum system information RMSI, and the method comprises: receiving the RMSI via a first beam in one of at least one overlapping time slot, the at least one overlapping time slot including time slots corresponding to N beams of the plurality of beams, a coverage of the first beam including a coverage of each of the N beams, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2.

With reference to the second aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the transmission time slots of N beams of the plurality of beams are consecutive; and/or the transmission time slots of the N beams in the plurality of beams are the same, wherein the transmission time slots are the time slots for transmitting the synchronization signal blocks SSB.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first beam includes N peaks, where the N peaks correspond to the N beams in a one-to-one manner, and the RMSI is received on the N peaks respectively.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the coverage of the N peaks includes the coverage of the N beams.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, a deviation of a transmission angle between each of the N peaks and a corresponding beam of the plurality of beams is within a preset range.

In a third aspect, a network device is provided, which communicates using multiple beams, where each beam corresponds to at least two time slots, and the time slots are used for transmitting remaining minimum system information RMSI, and the apparatus includes: a processing unit, configured to control generation of a first beam when a time slot corresponding to N beams of the multiple beams includes at least one overlapping time slot, where a coverage area of the first beam includes a coverage area of each beam of the N beams, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; a communication unit, configured to transmit the RMSI through the first beam in one of the at least one overlapping time slot.

With reference to the third aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the transmission time slots of N beams of the multiple beams are consecutive; and/or the transmission time slots of the N beams in the plurality of beams are the same, wherein the transmission time slots are the time slots for transmitting the synchronization signal blocks SSB.

With reference to the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first beam includes N peaks, where the N peaks correspond to the N beams in a one-to-one manner, and the communication unit is further configured to send the RMSI on the N peaks respectively.

With reference to the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the coverage of the N peaks includes the coverage of the N beams.

With reference to the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner, a deviation of a transmission angle between each of the N peaks and a corresponding beam of the multiple beams is within a preset range.

In a fourth aspect, a terminal device is provided, where the terminal device is used in a system that performs communication using multiple beams, where each beam corresponds to at least two time slots, and each time slot is used for transmitting remaining minimum system information RMSI, and the apparatus includes: a communication unit, configured to receive the RMSI through a first beam in one of at least one overlapping time slot, where the at least one overlapping time slot includes time slots corresponding to N beams of the multiple beams, a coverage of the first beam includes a coverage of each beam of the N beams, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the transmission time slots of N beams of the plurality of beams are consecutive; and/or the transmission time slots of the N beams in the plurality of beams are the same, wherein the transmission time slots are the time slots for transmitting the synchronization signal blocks SSB.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first beam includes N peaks, where the N peaks correspond to the N beams in a one-to-one manner, and the RMSI is received on the N peaks respectively.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the coverage of the N peaks includes the coverage of the N beams.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, a deviation of a transmission angle between each of the N peaks and a corresponding beam of the multiple beams is within a preset range.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor for executing the computer program stored in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method as in any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect to the second aspect.

A sixth aspect provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method as in any one of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects.

In a seventh aspect, a chip system is provided, including: a processor configured to call and run the computer program from the memory, so that the communication device with the system on chip installed therein executes the method according to any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect to the second aspect.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of transmitting remaining minimum system messages according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of coverage correspondence according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of transmitting remaining minimum system messages according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating a method of transmitting a remaining minimum system message according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

It should be understood that the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention can be applied to various communication systems, for example: a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, an LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), or a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, etc.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device or the network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Memory Management Unit (MMU), and a memory (also referred to as a main memory). The operating system may be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processing through processes (processes), such as a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a windows operating system. The application layer comprises applications such as a browser, an address list, word processing software, instant messaging software and the like. Furthermore, the embodiment of the present application does not particularly limit the specific structure of the execution main body of the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, as long as the communication can be performed according to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application by running the program recorded with the code of the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, for example, the execution main body of the method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be a terminal device or a network device, or a functional module capable of calling the program and executing the program in the terminal device or the network device.

In addition, various aspects or features of the present application may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), card, stick, or key drive, etc.). In addition, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" can include, without being limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data.

In this case, the application program executing the communication method according to the embodiment of the present application and the application program controlling the receiving end device to complete the action corresponding to the received data may be different application programs.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the application scenario may include a network device 110 and a terminal device 120.

Network device 110 may be a device for communicating with terminal device 120-e.g., network device 110 may be a base station for accessing terminal device 120 to a Radio Access Network (RAN). For convenience of understanding, the embodiment of the present application takes the network device 110 as an example for description. A base station may also sometimes be referred to as an access network device or an access network node. It will be appreciated that in systems employing different radio access technologies, the names of devices that function as base stations may differ. For convenience of description, the apparatuses providing a wireless communication access function for a terminal device are collectively referred to as a base station in the embodiments of the present application. For example, the network device 110 may be an evolved node B (eNB) in Long Term Evolution (LTE), a next generation base station node (gNB) in the fifth generation mobile communication (5G) system, a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP), a network device in a 5G network, or the like. The network device 110 may be a macro base station or a micro base station. A network device 110 may include one cell or a plurality of cells within its coverage area.

The terminal device 120 may communicate with one or more Core Networks (CNs) via an access network device. A terminal device may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless network device, a user agent, or a user equipment. The terminal may be a cellular phone (cellular phone), a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a smart phone (smart phone), a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a drone device or internet of things, a terminal in a vehicle networking and any form of terminal in a future network, a relay user equipment or a terminal in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), and the like. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this. For convenience of description, in the embodiment of the present application, the UE may also be used to identify the terminal device.

With the continuous development of wireless communication technology, the demand for high-speed data services and ubiquitous access is showing an explosive increase, but this constitutes a significant contradiction to the increasingly scarce spectrum resources. Under the large environment that the frequency spectrum is gradually saturated, a Beamforming (Beamforming) technology is introduced, so that better coverage on a cell is realized, and the utilization rate of the frequency spectrum can be improved.

As shown in fig. 1, the network device 110 side may be configured with a large-scale antenna (massive MIMO) array, for example, 64, 128, 256, or 1024 antennas or other number of antennas may be configured, and the multi-antenna communication may improve the utilization efficiency of the spectrum. The beam forming technology is a signal processing technology used for directional signal transmission or reception in a sensor array, and can effectively superpose signals by adjusting the phase of each antenna to generate stronger signal gain to overcome path loss, thereby providing guarantee for the transmission quality of wireless signals.

The beamforming technique can focus the energy of the wireless signal to form a directional beam (beam) so that the energy of the signal is concentrated in the direction of the receiving end, in other words, the beam has directivity, and different beams can have different transmitting directions. Generally, the narrower the beam, the greater the signal gain. Once the beam is directed away from the receiving end, the receiving end may not receive a high-quality wireless signal, and therefore, for the network device as the transmitting end, the network device side needs to use a plurality of beams with different directions to completely cover the serving cell. Taking the example shown in fig. 1, network device 110 may transmit wireless signals in different directions using differently directed

beams

111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, and 118. Network device 110 may also transmit

beams

111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, and 118 in a scanning manner in the time domain to different directions.

It should be understood that the number of beams on the network device side recited in the embodiment of the present application is merely illustrative, and does not cause any limitation to the embodiment of the present application.

In the 4G era, a broadcast channel beam forms a vertically narrow and horizontally wide beam to cover the whole cell through beamforming. Accordingly, the content of the broadcast channel only needs to be transmitted once in one transmission period. In a 5G new air interface system, a broadcast channel is sent in a scanning manner within a period of time through a group of narrow beams formed by beamforming. The 5G MM antenna has more digital channels, and more beams can be formed on the vertical plane, so that the coverage area is larger. For example, in the sub6G band, the NR protocol limits the number of beams transmitting a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) to 8 at most. The SSB includes a synchronization signal and a retrieval location of a Remaining Minimum System Information (RMSI), and the RMSI includes system information required for the terminal to access the network. In order to ensure that a terminal receiving a synchronization signal can receive a system message for accessing a cell, the coverage of a beam transmitting an SSB and a beam transmitting an RMSI need to be the same. In order to enhance the coverage of the broadcast channel, the NR generally transmits the content of the broadcast channel in a beam scanning manner, where the content transmitted by each beam is consistent and the coverage area is different.

Taking the example of the network device 110 in fig. 1 using a scanning manner to transmit the broadcast channel content, when the network device 110 communicates with the terminal device 120, the network device 110 sequentially transmits the beams 111 to 118 in different directions in a time domain in a scanning manner, and the beams 111 to 118 cover one area of one cell. The network device 110 transmits the broadcast channel content in a scanning manner by first sequentially transmitting a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) to different areas through beams 111 to 118 in a time domain, and then transmitting a remaining minimum system message (RMSI) using a beam having the same coverage as each of the beams 111 to 118. Terminal device 120 sequentially scans the locations in the time domain and receives SSBs and RMSIs via beams 111-118 to access network device 110.

In the prior art, when the network device 110 sends the SSB in a beam scanning manner, the SSB is sequentially sent in a time domain by using beam forming to form beams 111 to 118 with different beam directions, and then the beam 111 ' may be sent corresponding to a coverage of the beam 111, the beams 112 ' to 118 ' may be sequentially sent corresponding to coverage of the beams 112 to 118, and the beams 111 ' to 118 ' are used to sequentially send the RMSI in the time domain. The beams with different coverage areas may be generated by setting parameters of the network device 110, for example, the weight of each element in the antenna array may be set to generate different beams, or a beam with directivity may be formed by setting the amplitude and phase of the beam corresponding to each element in the network device. In addition, one SSB may correspond to time domain transmission times of multiple RMSIs. For example, the transmission time of one SSB may correspond to the transmission time slots of two RMSIs. In the prior art, in order to save overhead, a base station may choose to send an RMSI corresponding to an SSB. When the number of SSBs is large, the time domain resource overhead of RMSI increases. The following describes in detail a procedure for transmitting the remaining minimum system message between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 to reduce the time domain resource overhead problem of the RMSI with reference to fig. 2 and 4.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic flow chart of a method 200 for transmitting remaining minimum system messages in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, the method 200 is performed in a communication system using a plurality of beams, wherein each beam corresponds to at least two first time slots, and the first time slots are used for transmitting the remaining minimum system information RMSI, the method 200 includes:

s210, when a first time slot corresponding to N beams in the plurality of beams comprises at least one overlapping time slot, generating a first beam, wherein the coverage area of the first beam comprises the coverage area of each beam in the N beams, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2;

it should be understood that the first time slot is a time slot corresponding to a beam transmitting the RMSI, and the first beam may be referred to as an RMSI beam.

It is further understood that the at least one overlapping time slot is a time slot corresponding to an intersection of the first time slots of the N beams. For example, table 1 shows a case where each beam corresponds to two first slots, and when N is 2, beam #0 corresponds to slot 0 and slot 1, beam #1 corresponds to slot 1 and slot 2, and the overlapping slot is slot 1.

TABLE 1

Time slot 0	Time slot 1	Time slot 2
			Beam #0	Beam #0
	Beam #1	Beam #1

Optionally, as shown in table 2, when N is 2, beam #0 corresponds to slot 0 and slot 1, beam #1 corresponds to slot 0 and slot 1, and the overlapping slots are slot 0 and slot 1.

TABLE 2

Time slot 0	Time slot 1
		Beam #0	Beam #0
Beam #1	Beam #1

Optionally, table 3 shows a possible case where each beam corresponds to three first time slots, where when N is 2, beam #0 corresponds to time slot 0, time slot 1 and time slot 2, beam #1 corresponds to time slot 1, time slot 2 and time slot 3, and the overlapping time slots are time slot 1 and time slot 2.

TABLE 3

It should also be understood that the coverage area of the first beam including the coverage area of each of the N beams may be the same as the coverage area of the N beams, for example, the cell covered by the first beam is the same as the cell covered by the N beams, and specifically, the network device 110 may adjust the weighting coefficient of each array element in the antenna array to generate an RMSI beam having directivity and a certain width, and the width and direction of the RMSI beam are the same as the total width and total angle of the cells covered by the N beams.

Optionally, the coverage of the first beam is similar to the coverage of the N beams. Specifically, the deviation of the width and direction of the RMSI beam from the total width and total angle of the N beam coverage cells is within a preset range.

Optionally, the first beam includes N peaks, and the N peaks correspond to the N beams one to one.

It will be appreciated that the first beam may be formed by adjusting network device parameters, the first beam may have a plurality of different coverage areas, and a peak may correspond to one of the plurality of different coverage areas. For example, the weighting coefficients for each element in the antenna array may be adjusted such that a first beam generated by the antenna array has a different shape, which may cover a plurality of different coverage areas, each coverage area corresponding to one peak. It should also be understood that the one-to-one correspondence between the N peaks and the N beams may refer to one-to-one correspondence between the coverage of each of the N peaks and the coverage of each of the N beams, and the coverage may be the same or similar, and the deviation between each peak and the corresponding beam width and/or angle is within a preset range. Specifically, fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a coverage range correspondence in the embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 3, the RMSI beam #0 includes a peak #0 and a peak #1, which correspond to different coverage areas. The deviation of the emission angle and width of the beam #0 from the peak #0 of the first beam is within a predetermined range, and the deviation of the emission angle and width of the beam #1 (shaded area) from the peak #1 of the first beam is within a predetermined range. The coverage of the N beams is similar to the coverage of the first beam.

Optionally, the multiple beams are used for transmitting a synchronization signal block SSB.

It should be understood that the plurality of beams may be referred to as a plurality of SSB beams.

Optionally, each beam of the plurality of beams may comprise a plurality of peaks, it being understood that when the plurality of beams are multi-peaks, the first beam coverage generated comprises a plurality of beam coverages of the multi-peaks. For example, when the beam #0 and the beam #1 include 2 peaks, respectively, the first beam generated may include 4 peaks, and the coverage of the 4 peaks of the first beam includes the coverage of the beam #0 and the beam # 1.

S220, in one overlapping time slot of the at least one overlapping time slot, the RMSI is sent through the first beam.

It is to be understood that one of the at least one overlapping time slot may be time slot 1 in table 1 or time slot 0 or time slot 1 in table 2.

Alternatively, transmitting the RMSI through the first beam may refer to transmitting the RMSI through each peak in the first beam.

Fig. 4 shows a flowchart of a method 200 for transmitting remaining minimum system messages according to an embodiment of the present application. The method 200 is performed in a communication system using a plurality of beams, wherein each beam corresponds to at least two first time slots, and the first time slots are used for transmitting remaining minimum system information RMSI, the method 200 further comprises:

and S230, receiving the RMSI through a first beam in one of at least one overlapping time slot, where the at least one overlapping time slot includes first time slots corresponding to N beams of the plurality of beams, a coverage area of the first beam includes a coverage area of each beam of the N beams, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

Specifically, the terminal device 120 receives the RMSI in one of the at least one overlapping time slot via the first beam. For example, the terminal device 120 may detect the sending of the RMSI at each slot position in a scanning manner in the time domain, and receive the RMSI when the RMSI transmission is detected on the slot. It should be understood that the terminal device described in this embodiment of the present application detects the transmission of the RMSI at the slot position only by way of illustration, and does not set any limit to this embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for transmitting a minimum system message according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 5, the network device 110 transmits 8 beams SSB #0 to SSB #7 from slot 0 to slot 3, where the beam SSB #0 corresponds to the first slot positions of slot 10 and slot 11, the beam SSB #1 corresponds to the first slot positions of slot 11 and slot 12, and each of the beam SSB #2 to beam SSB #7 corresponds to two first slots.

Network device 110 may transmit first beam RMSI #0 on time slot 10 and/or time slot 11 corresponding to the coverage of SSB #0, and network device 110 may transmit beam RMSI #1 on time slot 11 and/or time slot 12 corresponding to the coverage of SSB # 1. The network device 110 selects the overlapping time slot 11 corresponding to the beams SSB #0 and SSB #1 as a time slot for transmitting the first beam (RMSI beam), and generates an RMSI beam whose coverage includes the coverage of the beam SSB #0 and the beam SSB #1 at the time slot 11.

Specifically, the RMSI beam may be a dual-peak RMSI beam, or the RMSI beam may be in the form of a single peak, the single peak RMSI beam coverage including the coverage of beams SSB #0 and SSB # 1.

Preferably, network device 110 selects slot 11, slot 13, slot 15, and slot 17 as the slots for transmitting the dual-peak RMSI beam.

Optionally, network device 110 may generate beam RMSI #0 at time slot 10; generating a dual-peak RMSI beam on each of slot 12, slot 14, and slot 16, wherein the coverage of the three dual-peak RMSI beams includes the coverage of beam SSB #1 and beam SSB #2, beam SSB #3 and beam SSB #4, and beam SSB #5 and beam SSB # 6; beam RMSI #7 is generated over time slot 18.

By selecting the RMSI beam whose coverage includes the SSB beam coverage corresponding to the overlapping time slot to be transmitted on the overlapping time slot, the network device 110 may reduce the number of times of transmitting the RMSI beam in the time domain, thereby reducing the time domain resource overhead of the RMSI.

Method embodiments of the present application are described above in detail with reference to fig. 1 to 5, and apparatus embodiments of the present application are described below in detail with reference to fig. 6 to 9. It is to be understood that the description of the method embodiments corresponds to the description of the apparatus embodiments, and therefore reference may be made to the preceding method embodiments for parts not described in detail.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 600 in fig. 6 may be the above-mentioned network device, and may be a specific example of the network device 110 in fig. 1. The apparatus shown in fig. 6 may be used to implement the method performed by the network device, and in particular, the communication apparatus 600 may be used to perform the method of fig. 2, and the description is not repeated to avoid redundancy.

The communication apparatus 600 shown in fig. 6 may be configured to communicate using a plurality of beams, wherein each beam corresponds to at least two first time slots, and the first time slots are used for transmitting the remaining minimum system information RMSI, and the communication apparatus 600 includes a processing unit 610 and a communication unit 620.

A processing unit 610, configured to control generation of a first beam when a first time slot corresponding to N beams of the multiple beams includes at least one overlapping time slot, where a coverage area of the first beam includes a coverage area of each beam of the N beams, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2;

a communication unit 620, configured to transmit the RMSI through the first beam in one of the at least one overlapping time slot.

Optionally, the transmission time slots of N beams of the plurality of beams are consecutive; and/or the transmission time slots of N of the plurality of beams are the same.

Optionally, the first beam includes N peaks, where the N peaks correspond to the N beams in a one-to-one manner, and the communication unit is further configured to send the RMSI on the N peaks respectively.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 700 in fig. 7 may be the terminal device mentioned above, and may be a specific example of the terminal device 120 in fig. 1. The apparatus shown in fig. 7 may be used to implement the method performed by the terminal device in the foregoing, and in particular, the communication apparatus 700 may be used to perform the method of fig. 4, and the description is not repeated to avoid redundancy.

The communication apparatus 700 shown in fig. 7 may be used in a system for communicating using multiple beams, where each beam corresponds to at least two first time slots, and the first time slots are used for transmitting the remaining minimum system information RMSI, and the communication apparatus 700 includes a communication unit 710.

The communication unit 710: for receiving the RMSI via a first beam in one of at least one overlapping time slot, the at least one overlapping time slot including first time slots corresponding to N beams of the plurality of beams, a coverage of the first beam including a coverage of each of the N beams, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2.

Optionally, the first beam includes N peaks, the N peaks correspond to the N beams one to one, and the RMSI is received on the N peaks respectively.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 800 shown in fig. 8 may correspond to the network device described previously. The communication apparatus 800 includes: a processor 802. In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 802 is configured to control and manage an action of the network device, for example, the processor 802 is configured to support the network device to perform the method or the operation or the function shown in fig. 2 in the foregoing embodiment, and to support the foregoing embodiment to determine that the first time slots corresponding to the N beams in the multiple beams include at least one overlapping time slot and select one overlapping time slot to transmit the RMSI. Optionally, the network device may further include: a memory 801 and a communication interface 803; the processor 802, communication interface 803, and memory 801 may be interconnected or interconnected by a bus 804. The communication interface 703 is used for supporting the network device for communication, and the memory 801 is used for storing program codes and data of the network device. The processor 802 calls the code stored in the memory 801 to perform control management. The memory 801 may or may not be coupled to the processor.

The processor 802 may be, among other things, a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, transistor logic, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, or the like. The communication interface 803 may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, or other type of communication interface. The bus 804 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, or the like. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 8, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 900 shown in fig. 9 may correspond to the terminal device 120 described previously. The communication apparatus 900 includes: a processor 902. In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 902 is configured to control and manage the actions of the terminal device, for example, the processor 902 is configured to support the network device to perform the method or the operation or the function shown in fig. 5 in the foregoing embodiment, and to support receiving RMSI in one overlapping time slot when the first time slot corresponding to N beams of the multiple beams includes at least one overlapping time slot in the foregoing embodiment. Optionally, the terminal device may further include: a memory 901 and a communication interface 903; the processor 902, the communication interface 903, and the memory 901 may be connected to each other or to each other through a bus 904. Wherein the communication interface 903 is used for supporting the network device for communication, and the memory 901 is used for storing program codes and data of the network device. The processor 902 calls the code stored in the memory 901 for control management. The memory 901 may or may not be coupled to the processor.

The processor 902 may be, among other things, a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, transistor logic, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, or the like. The communication interface 903 may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, or other type of communication interface. The bus 904 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, or the like. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 9, but this does not indicate only one bus or one type of bus.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

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

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

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

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

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

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any 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 transmitting remaining minimum system information, RMSI, in a communication system using a plurality of beams, wherein each beam corresponds to at least two time slots, and wherein the time slots are used for transmitting remaining minimum system information, RMSI, the method comprising:

generating a first beam when slots corresponding to N beams of the plurality of beams include at least one overlapping slot, a coverage of the first beam including a coverage of each beam of the N beams, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2;

transmitting the RMSI over the first beam in one of the at least one overlapping time slot.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission time slots of N of the plurality of beams are consecutive; and/or

And the transmission time slots of N beams in the plurality of beams are the same, wherein the transmission time slots are time slots for transmitting the synchronous signal blocks SSB.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first beam comprises N peaks, wherein the N peaks correspond to the N beams in a one-to-one manner, and wherein the RMSI is transmitted on the N peaks respectively.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the coverage of the N peaks comprises the coverage of the N beams.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each of the N peaks has a deviation from a corresponding inter-beam transmission angle of the plurality of beams within a predetermined range.

6. A method of transmitting remaining minimum system information, RMSI, in a communication system using a plurality of beams, wherein each beam corresponds to at least two time slots, and wherein the time slots are used for transmitting remaining minimum system information, RMSI, the method comprising:

receiving the RMSI via a first beam in one of at least one overlapping time slot, the at least one overlapping time slot including time slots corresponding to N beams of the plurality of beams, a coverage of the first beam including a coverage of each of the N beams, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the transmission time slots of N of the plurality of beams are consecutive; and/or

8. The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein the first beam comprises N peaks, and wherein the N peaks correspond to the N beams in a one-to-one manner, and wherein the RMSI is received on the N peaks respectively.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the coverage of the N peaks comprises the coverage of the N beams.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the N peaks has a deviation from a corresponding inter-beam transmit angle of the plurality of beams within a predetermined range.

11. A communications apparatus that communicates using a plurality of beams, wherein each beam corresponds to at least two time slots, and wherein the time slots are used for transmitting remaining minimum system information, RMSI, the apparatus comprising:

a processing unit, configured to control generation of a first beam when a time slot corresponding to N beams of the multiple beams includes at least one overlapping time slot, a coverage of the first beam includes a coverage of each beam of the N beams, N is an integer greater than or equal to 2;

a communication unit, configured to transmit the RMSI through the first beam in one of the at least one overlapping time slot.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the transmission time slots of N of the plurality of beams are consecutive; and/or

13. The apparatus of claim 11 or 12, wherein the first beam comprises N peaks, and wherein the N peaks correspond to the N beams in a one-to-one manner, and wherein the communication unit is further configured to transmit the RMSI on the N peaks, respectively.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the coverage of the N peaks comprises the coverage of the N beams.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein each of the N peaks has a deviation from a corresponding inter-beam transmission angle of the plurality of beams within a predetermined range.

16. A communications apparatus, implemented in a communications system using multiple beams, wherein each beam corresponds to at least two time slots, and the time slots are used for transmitting remaining minimum system information RMSI, the apparatus comprising:

a communication unit, configured to receive the RMSI through a first beam in one of at least one overlapping time slot, where the at least one overlapping time slot includes time slots corresponding to N beams of the multiple beams, a coverage area of the first beam includes a coverage area of each beam of the N beams, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the transmission time slots of N of the plurality of beams are consecutive; and/or

18. The apparatus of claim 16 or 17, wherein the first beam comprises N peaks, and wherein the N peaks correspond to the N beams in a one-to-one manner, and wherein the RMSI is received on the N peaks respectively.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the coverage of the N peaks comprises the coverage of the N beams.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein each of the N peaks has a deviation from a corresponding inter-beam transmission angle of the plurality of beams within a predetermined range.

21. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a processor for executing a computer program stored in a memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 10.

22. A computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.

23. A chip system, comprising: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory so that a communication device in which the system-on-chip is installed performs the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.