CN114175535A

CN114175535A - Signal synchronization method and device between user equipment

Info

Publication number: CN114175535A
Application number: CN202080007593.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨志武; 张东风; 欧阳国威; 刘凯; 陈莹莹
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-30
Filing date: 2020-06-30
Publication date: 2022-03-11
Anticipated expiration: 2040-06-30
Also published as: WO2022000294A1; CN114175535B

Abstract

A signal synchronization method and a signal synchronization device among user equipment relate to the technical field of Internet of vehicles V2X, intelligent automobiles, automatic driving, intelligent Internet of vehicles and the like, and are used for solving the problem that two UEs in different V2X communication protocols cannot realize signal synchronization. The signal synchronization method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a first UE acquires synchronization information of at least one UE, wherein the at least one UE comprises a second UE; the first UE determines that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is a second V2X communication protocol according to the synchronization information of the second UE, wherein the second V2X communication protocol is different from the first V2X communication protocol of the first UE; the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol; the first UE achieves signal synchronization with the second UE based on the second V2X communication protocol.

Description

Signal synchronization method and device between user equipment

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of vehicle networking, in particular to a signal synchronization method and device between user equipment.

Background

The vehicle networking (V2X) is to provide vehicle information through a User Equipment (UE) mounted on a vehicle, and to realize communication between the vehicle and the vehicle (V2V), between the vehicle and a pedestrian (V2P), between the vehicle and an infrastructure (V2I), and between the vehicle and a network (V2N) and the like through various communication technologies.

For Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, the V2X communication protocol (which may also be referred to as a technical standard) mainly includes a 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol and a CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol. The underlying technologies of the two communication protocols are based on the 3GPP protocol, and UEs using the two communication protocols can successfully resolve synchronization signals from each other.

In addition, the resource allocation manner of V2X may generally include two types: the first, scheduling mode, that is, the base station allocates the sidelink resource for V2X communication to the UE; the second, autonomous selection mode, is where the UE autonomously selects sidelink resources for V2X communication from a pre-configured resource pool.

In the prior art, for multiple UEs (e.g., UE1 and UE2) within the same V2X communication protocol, whether the resource allocation manner adopted by the multiple UEs is the scheduling mode or the autonomous selection mode, the multiple UEs can achieve signal synchronization by one of the following manners: UE1 and UE2 are both synchronized to a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), UE1 and UE2 are both synchronized to a cell, UE1 is synchronized to a GNSS or cell, UE2 is synchronized to UE1, UE1 is self-synchronized, UE2 is synchronized to UE 1.

However, for a plurality of UEs in different V2X communication protocols, there is a problem that signal synchronization cannot be achieved between the plurality of UEs according to the above-mentioned prior art method. Specifically, assume that the UE1 is in the 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol, the UE2 is in the CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol: if the UE1 is under GNSS coverage, and the UE2 is not under GNSS or cell coverage, the UE2 may receive the synchronization signal of the UE1, but the UE2 still cannot synchronize to the UE1 due to the different positions of the transceiving subframes of the synchronization signal and the data; if neither UE1 nor UE2 is under GNSS or cell coverage and both UE1 and UE2 use autonomous selection mode to determine sidelink resources, then UE1 and UE2 use different transceiving subframe configurations and thus UE1 and UE2 cannot achieve synchronization.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a device for signal synchronization between User Equipment (UE), which are used for solving the problem that two UEs in different V2X communication protocols in the prior art cannot realize signal synchronization.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme is as follows:

in a first aspect, a method for signal synchronization between user equipments is provided, the method including: the method comprises the steps that first User Equipment (UE) acquires synchronization information of at least one UE, wherein the at least one UE comprises second UE; the first UE determines, according to the synchronization information of the second UE, that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is a second V2X communication protocol, and the second V2X communication protocol is different from the first V2X communication protocol of the first UE, for example, the first V2X communication protocol is a 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol, and the second V2X communication protocol is a CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol, and the underlying technologies of both are 3GPP technologies; the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol, e.g., the first UE configures the relevant parameters for V2X communication as parameters in the second V2X communication protocol; the first UE achieves signal synchronization with the second UE based on the second V2X communication protocol.

In the above technical solution, when the first UE acquires the synchronization information of the at least one UE, if it is determined according to the synchronization information that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE of the at least one UE is the second V2X communication protocol and is different from the first V2X communication protocol of the first UE, the first UE may switch to the second V2X communication protocol and implement signal synchronization with the second UE, thereby solving a problem that two UEs in different V2X communication protocols cannot implement signal synchronization in the prior art.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the switching, by the first UE, to the second V2X communication protocol includes: when the first UE does not receive the synchronization information of the UE in the first V2X communication protocol for the first duration, the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol, and the first duration may be set in advance. In the above possible implementation manner, the first UE may be enabled to implement signal synchronization with the second UE based on the second V2X communication protocol by switching the second V2X communication protocol when not receiving the synchronization information of the UE in the first V2X communication protocol.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the switching, by the first UE, to the second V2X communication protocol further includes: when the first UE periodically receives the synchronization information of the second UE within the second duration, the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol, and the first duration may be set in advance. In the above possible implementation manner, the first UE may be enabled to realize signal synchronization with the second UE based on the second V2X communication protocol by switching the second V2X communication protocol when the synchronization information of the UE in the second V2X communication protocol can be stably received.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, before the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol, the method further includes: the first UE obtains handover grant information indicating a V2X communication protocol that allows handover of the first UE. The right of whether to allow switching of the V2X communication protocol of the first UE may be configured by the system or set by the user. In the possible implementation manner, after determining that the V2X communication protocol of the first UE is allowed to be switched, the first UE is switched to the second V2X communication protocol, so that the safety of the switching can be ensured.

In one possible implementation manner of the first aspect, when the UEs in the second V2X communication protocol only include the second UE, the switching the first UE to the second V2X communication protocol includes: and the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol after waiting for the third time. In the foregoing possible implementation manner, when the second UE is the only UE in the second V2X communication protocol, the switching may be performed after waiting for the third duration, so as to avoid that the first UE and the second UE both switch the V2X communication protocol, thereby causing a problem that the first UE and the second UE cannot be in the same V2X communication protocol after switching.

In one possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the at least one UE includes a plurality of UEs, and the V2X communication protocols of the at least a plurality of UEs are all different from the first V2X communication protocol, and the method further includes: the first UE selects the UE with the highest priority from the plurality of UEs as the second UE according to the priority. Optionally, the priorities of the UEs may be ordered according to one or more of signal energy, coverage, synchronization level, and priority indicated by the relevant protocol. In the possible implementation manner, the first UE selects the UE with the highest priority as the second UE, so that the reliability of signal transmission can be improved when signal synchronization is subsequently achieved with the second UE based on the second V2X communication protocol.

In one possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the synchronization information of the second UE includes at least one of: a direct link synchronization signal (SLSS) identification of the second UE and a master information block of the second UE; the master information block comprises a frame number and a subframe number where the synchronization information of the second UE is located; correspondingly, the first UE determines the V2X communication protocol of the second UE to be the second V2X communication protocol according to the synchronization information of the second UE, including: and the first UE determines that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is the second V2X communication protocol according to the frame number and the subframe number of the synchronization information of the second UE. In the above possible implementation, a simple and effective way of determining the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is provided.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the at least one UE further includes a third UE, and the method further includes: the first UE determining that the V2X communication protocol of the third UE is the first V2X communication protocol; the first UE maintains the first V2X communication protocol. Further, the method further comprises: the first UE achieves signal synchronization with the third UE based on the first V2X communication protocol. In the possible implementation manners, the first UE maintains the first V2X communication protocol and realizes signal synchronization with the third UE based on the first V2X communication protocol, so that the problem that the first UE cannot stably receive synchronization information of the second UE, thereby causing communication failure can be avoided.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, one of the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is a 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol, and the other is a CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol; alternatively, one of the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is WAVE V2X communication protocol, and the other is CCSA WAVE V2X communication protocol.

In a second aspect, a signal synchronization apparatus is provided, which is used as a first user equipment UE or a chip built in the first UE, and includes: an obtaining unit, configured to obtain synchronization information of at least one UE, where the at least one UE includes a second UE; a determining unit, configured to determine, according to the synchronization information of the second UE, that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is a second V2X communication protocol, where the second V2X communication protocol is different from the first V2X communication protocol of the first UE; a switching unit for switching to a second V2X communication protocol; a synchronization unit, configured to implement signal synchronization with the second UE based on the second V2X communication protocol.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the switching unit is further configured to: when the first UE does not receive the synchronization information of the UE in the first V2X communication protocol within the first duration, switching to the second V2X communication protocol.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the switching unit is further configured to: and when the first UE periodically receives the synchronization information of the second UE within the second duration, switching to the second V2X communication protocol.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the obtaining unit is further configured to: and acquiring switching authorization information, wherein the switching authorization information is used for indicating the V2X communication protocol allowing the switching of the first UE.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, when the UEs in the second V2X communication protocol only include the second UE, the switching unit is further configured to: and after waiting for the third time length, switching to the second V2X communication protocol.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the at least one UE includes a plurality of UEs, the V2X communication protocols of the at least a plurality of UEs are all different from the first V2X communication protocol, and the determining unit is further configured to: and selecting the UE with the highest priority from the plurality of UEs as the second UE according to the priority.

In one possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the synchronization information of the second UE includes at least one of: a direct link synchronization signal (SLSS) identification of the second UE and a master information block of the second UE; the master information block comprises a frame number and a subframe number where the synchronization information of the second UE is located; correspondingly, the determining unit is further configured to: and determining that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is the second V2X communication protocol according to the frame number and the subframe number of the synchronization information of the second UE.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the at least one UE further includes a third UE; a determining unit, further configured to determine that the V2X communication protocol of the third UE is the first V2X communication protocol; and the switching unit is also used for maintaining the first V2X communication protocol. Further, the synchronization unit is further configured to: signal synchronization is achieved with a third UE based on the first V2X communication protocol.

In one possible implementation manner of the second aspect, one of the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is a 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol, and the other is a CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol; alternatively, one of the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is WAVE V2X communication protocol, and the other is CCSA WAVE V2X communication protocol.

In a third aspect, a signal synchronization apparatus is provided, which is a first user equipment UE or a chip built in the first UE, and includes a processor and a memory connected to the processor, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the following steps: acquiring synchronization information of at least one UE, wherein the at least one UE comprises a second UE; determining the V2X communication protocol of the second UE to be a second V2X communication protocol according to the synchronization information of the second UE, the second V2X communication protocol being different from the first V2X communication protocol of the first UE; switching to a second V2X communication protocol; signal synchronization is achieved with the second UE based on the second V2X communication protocol.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the apparatus further performs the following steps: when the first UE does not receive the synchronization information of the UE in the first V2X communication protocol within the first duration, switching to the second V2X communication protocol.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the apparatus further performs the following steps: and when the first UE periodically receives the synchronization information of the second UE within the second duration, switching to the second V2X communication protocol.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the apparatus further performs the following steps: and acquiring switching authorization information, wherein the switching authorization information is used for indicating the V2X communication protocol allowing the switching of the first UE.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, when the UEs in the second V2X communication protocol only include the second UE, the switching unit is further configured to: and after waiting for the third time length, switching to the second V2X communication protocol.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the at least one UE includes a plurality of UEs, and the V2X communication protocols of the at least a plurality of UEs are all different from the first V2X communication protocol, the apparatus further performs the following steps: and selecting the UE with the highest priority from the plurality of UEs as the second UE according to the priority.

In one possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the synchronization information of the second UE includes at least one of: a direct link synchronization signal (SLSS) identification of the second UE and a master information block of the second UE; the master information block comprises a frame number and a subframe number where the synchronization information of the second UE is located; correspondingly, the device also executes the following steps: and determining that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is the second V2X communication protocol according to the frame number and the subframe number of the synchronization information of the second UE.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the at least one UE further includes a third UE, and the apparatus further performs the following steps: determining that the V2X communication protocol of the third UE is the first V2X communication protocol; the first V2X communication protocol is maintained. Further, the apparatus performs the steps of: signal synchronization is achieved with a third UE based on the first V2X communication protocol.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, one of the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is a 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol, and the other is a CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol; alternatively, one of the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is WAVE V2X communication protocol, and the other is CCSA WAVE V2X communication protocol.

In yet another aspect of the present application, a readable storage medium is provided, which has stored therein instructions that, when run on a device, cause the device to perform the method provided by the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a further aspect of the present application, a computer program product is provided, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method provided by the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

It is understood that the apparatus, the computer storage medium, or the computer program product of any one of the above-mentioned methods for synchronizing signals between user equipments is configured to execute the above-mentioned corresponding method, and therefore, the beneficial effects achieved by the method can refer to the beneficial effects in the above-mentioned corresponding method, which are not described herein again.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a V2X communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a signal synchronization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of another signal synchronization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a block diagram of a first UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a first UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of another first UE provided in the embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or multiple. In addition, the embodiments of the present application use the words "first", "second", etc. to distinguish between similar items or items having substantially the same function or effect. For example, the first threshold and the second threshold are only used for distinguishing different thresholds, and the sequence order of the thresholds is not limited. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the words "first," "second," and the like do not limit the number or order of execution.

It is noted that, in the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to mean exemplary, illustrative, or descriptive. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "e.g.," is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present concepts related in a concrete fashion.

Before the technical solutions of the present application are introduced, the related technologies and concepts related to the embodiments of the present application will be described first.

Vehicle to vehicle (V2X) communication may also be referred to as information exchange between vehicle and outside, and V2X communication may include communication between vehicle to vehicle (V2V), vehicle to pedestrian (V2P), vehicle to infrastructure (V2I), and vehicle to network (V2N).

The V2X communication protocol may refer to a communication protocol or technical standard applied to V2X, and the V2X communication protocol may also be referred to as V2X technical standard. For example, in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, the V2X communication protocol may include a 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol and a CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol, both of which have the 3rd generation partnership project (3 GPP) technology as the underlying technologies. For another example, the V2X communication protocol may include WAVE V2X communication protocol and CCSA WAVE-V2X communication protocol, where the underlying technologies are Wireless Access for Vehicular Environment (WAVE) technologies. The 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol may be a V2X communication protocol applied to the LTE system, which is established in europe based on 3GPP technology; the CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol is a V2X communication protocol that is established by the China Communication Standards Association (CCSA) based on 3GPP technology and applied to an LTE system. The WAVE-V2X communication protocol is a V2X communication protocol based on WAVE technology established in the United states; the CCSA WAVE-V2X communication protocol is a V2X communication protocol established by the CCSA based on WAVE technology.

When two User Equipments (UEs) in V2X communicate with each other, signal synchronization needs to be performed first, and the signal synchronization needs to be based on the same V2X communication protocol, that is, the two UEs need to be in the same V2X communication protocol. In addition, two UEs in different V2X communication protocols with the same underlying technology can successfully resolve synchronization information of each other, for example, one of the two UEs is in 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol, and the other is in CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol, so that the two UEs can successfully resolve synchronization information of each other; two UEs in different V2X communication protocols with different underlying technologies cannot resolve synchronization information of the opposite end, for example, one of the two UEs is in 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol, and the other UE is in WAVE-V2X communication protocol, the two UEs cannot resolve synchronization information of the opposite end from each other.

Signal synchronization between UEs may refer to having multiple UEs that need to communicate with the same time reference signal. Taking two UEs (e.g., UE1 and UE2) as an example, signal synchronization between two UEs in the same V2X communication protocol may include the following ways: first, both UE1 and UE2 synchronize to a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), that is, both UE1 and UE2 are in a coverage range of the GNSS, and the GNSS sends synchronization information to UE1 and UE2, and both UE1 and UE2 perform signal synchronization based on the synchronization information sent by the GNSS, so as to achieve signal synchronization of the two UEs; secondly, both the UE1 and the UE2 are synchronized to the cell, that is, both the UE1 and the UE2 are in the coverage of the cell, the cell transmits synchronization information to both the UE1 and the UE2, and both the UE1 and the UE2 perform signal synchronization based on the synchronization information transmitted by the cell, so as to achieve signal synchronization of the two UEs; thirdly, the UE1 synchronizes to the GNSS or cell, the UE2 synchronizes to the UE1, that is, the UE1 is in the coverage of the GNSS or cell, and the UE2 is not in the coverage of the GNSS or cell, the GNSS or cell sends synchronization information to the UE1, the UE1 performs signal synchronization based on the synchronization information sent by the GNSS or cell, in addition, the UE1 sends synchronization information to the UE2, and the UE2 performs signal synchronization based on the synchronization information sent by the UE1, so as to achieve signal synchronization of the two UEs; fourth, the UE1 is self-synchronized, and the UE2 is synchronized to the UE1, that is, the UE1 locally determines a synchronization signal and transmits synchronization information to the UE2, and the UE2 performs signal synchronization based on the synchronization information transmitted by the UE1 to achieve signal synchronization of the two UEs.

The technical scheme of the application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, an LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, an LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a universal microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) system, a future 5G communication system, and the like. The technical solution of the present application may include a plurality of application scenarios, for example, scenarios such as machine-to-machine (M2M), device-to-machine (D2M), device-to-device (D2D), macro-micro communication, enhanced mobile internet (eMBB), ultra high reliability and ultra low latency communication (urlclc), and mass internet of things communication (mtc).

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.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a Vehicle To electrical energy (V2X) communication system according To an embodiment of the present disclosure, where the V2X communication system may include multiple UEs, and each UE of the multiple UEs may send synchronization information To other UEs and may perform information transmission with other UEs after achieving information synchronization with other UEs. Wherein, the multiple UEs in fig. 1 may be in different V2X communication protocols, and underlying technologies of the different V2X communication protocols in which the multiple UEs are located may be the same, so that each UE of the multiple UEs may successfully resolve synchronization information of other UEs when receiving the synchronization information from the other UEs. For example, the V2X communication protocol in which the plurality of UEs are located may include the 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol and the CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol; alternatively, the V2X communication protocols in which the plurality of UEs are located may include WAVE V2X communication protocol and CCSA WAVE-V2X communication protocol.

In fig. 1 (a), the plurality of UEs may include four UEs and are denoted as UE1, UE2, UE3, and UE4, respectively, UE1 may transmit synchronization information 1 to other UEs, UE2 may transmit synchronization information 2 to other UEs, UE3 may transmit synchronization information 3 to other UEs, and UE4 may transmit synchronization information 4 to other UEs. The V2X communication protocol of the UE1 may be different from the V2X communication protocol of the UE2 to UE4, for example, the UE1 is in 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol, and the UE2 to UE4 are in CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol.

In fig. 1 (b), the plurality of UEs may include two UEs and are respectively denoted as UE1 and UE2, UE1 may transmit synchronization information 1 to UE2, and UE2 may transmit synchronization information 2 to UE 1. The V2X communication protocol of the UE1 may be different from the V2X communication protocol of the UE2, for example, the UE1 is in 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol, and the UE2 is in CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol.

The UE in the present application may be a device with wireless communication function, and may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, in a handheld manner, or in a vehicle. And can also be deployed on the water surface (such as a ship and the like). And may also be deployed in the air (e.g., airplanes, balloons, satellites, etc.). A UE, also referred to as a terminal, a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), a terminal device, etc., is a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user. For example, the UE may be: mobile phone (mobile phone), tablet computer, notebook computer, palm computer, Mobile Internet Device (MID), wearable device (e.g. smart watch, smart bracelet, pedometer, etc.), vehicle-mounted device (e.g. car, bicycle, electric vehicle, airplane, ship, train, high-speed rail, etc.), Virtual Reality (VR) device, Augmented Reality (AR) device, wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), smart home device (e.g. refrigerator, television, air conditioner, electric meter, etc.), smart robot, workshop device, wireless terminal in self-driving (self-driving), wireless terminal in remote surgery (remote medical supply), wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), wireless terminal in transportation safety (transportation safety), wireless terminal in smart city (city), or a wireless terminal in a smart home (smart home), a flying device (e.g., a smart robot, a hot air balloon, a drone, an airplane), etc. In one possible application scenario, the UE is a vehicle-mounted device that often works on the ground. In this application, for convenience of description, a chip disposed in the above-described apparatus, such as a system-on-a-chip (SOC), a baseband chip, or the like, or another chip having a communication function may also be referred to as a UE.

Further, the V2X communication system may further include an access network device for serving a cell, and the plurality of UEs may be wholly or partially in a coverage area of the cell of the access network device. The Access network device may be an Access Point (AP) in a WLAN, an evolved Node B (eNB) or eNodeB) in an LTE system, a relay station or an Access Point, a network device in a future 5G network, or an Access network device in a future evolved PLMN network. In addition, the cell may be a cell corresponding to an access network device (e.g., a base station), and the cell may belong to a macro base station or a base station corresponding to a small cell (small cell), where the small cell may include: urban cell (metro cell), micro cell (microcell), Pico cell (Pico cell), femto cell (femto cell), etc., which have the characteristics of small coverage and low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-rate data transmission service.

Fig. 2 is a functional block diagram of a vehicle 200 with an automatic driving function according to an embodiment of the present application, where the vehicle 200 is an example of a UE. In one embodiment, the vehicle 200 is configured in a fully or partially autonomous driving mode. For example, the vehicle 200 may control itself while in the autonomous driving mode, and may determine a current state of the vehicle and its surroundings by human operation, determine a possible behavior of at least one other vehicle in the surroundings, and determine a confidence level corresponding to a likelihood that the other vehicle performs the possible behavior, controlling the vehicle 200 based on the determined information. When the vehicle 200 is in the autonomous driving mode, the vehicle 200 may be placed into operation without human interaction.

Vehicle 200 may include various subsystems such as a travel system 210, a sensor system 220, a control system 230, one or more peripherals 240, as well as a power supply 250, a computer system 260, and a user interface 270. Alternatively, vehicle 200 may include more or fewer subsystems, and each subsystem may include multiple elements. In addition, each of the sub-systems and elements of the vehicle 200 may be interconnected by wire or wirelessly.

The travel system 210 may include components that provide powered motion to the vehicle 200. In one embodiment, the travel system 210 may include an engine 211, a transmission 212, an energy source 213, and wheels/tires 214. The engine 211 may be an internal combustion engine, an electric motor, an air compression engine, or other types of engine combinations, such as a hybrid engine consisting of a gasoline engine and an electric motor, a hybrid engine consisting of an internal combustion engine and an air compression engine. The engine 211 converts the energy source 213 into mechanical energy.

Examples of energy source 213 include gasoline, diesel, other petroleum-based fuels, propane, other compressed gas-based fuels, ethanol, solar panels, batteries, and other sources of electrical power. The energy source 213 may also provide energy to other systems of the vehicle 200.

The transmission 212 may transmit mechanical power from the engine 211 to the wheels/tires 214. The transmission 212 may include a gearbox, a differential, and a drive shaft. In one embodiment, the transmission 212 may also include other devices, such as a clutch. Wherein the drive shaft may comprise one or more shafts that may be coupled to one or more wheels/tires 214.

The sensor system 220 may include several sensors that sense information about the environment surrounding the vehicle 200. For example, the sensor system 220 may include a positioning system 221 (which may be a Global Positioning System (GPS) system, a Beidou system, or other positioning system), an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) 222, a radar 223, a laser range finder 224, and a camera 225. The sensor system 220 may also include sensors of internal systems of the monitored vehicle 200 (e.g., an in-vehicle air quality monitor, a fuel gauge, an oil temperature gauge, etc.). Sensor data from one or more of these sensors may be used to detect the object and its corresponding characteristics (position, shape, orientation, velocity, etc.). Such detection and identification is a critical function of the safe operation of the autonomous vehicle 200.

The positioning system 221 may be used to estimate the geographic location of the vehicle 200. The inertial measurement unit 222 is used to sense position and orientation changes of the vehicle 200 based on inertial acceleration. In one embodiment, the inertial measurement unit 222 may be a combination of an accelerometer and a gyroscope.

The radar 223 may utilize radio signals to sense objects within the surrounding environment of the vehicle 200. In some embodiments, in addition to sensing objects, radar 223 may also be used to sense the speed and/or heading of an object.

The laser rangefinder 224 may utilize laser light to sense objects in the environment in which the vehicle 200 is located. In some embodiments, laser rangefinder 224 may include one or more laser sources, laser scanners, and one or more detectors, among other system components.

The camera 225 may be used to capture multiple images of the surrounding environment of the vehicle 200. The camera 225 may be a still camera or a video camera.

The control system 230 is for controlling the operation of the vehicle 200 and its components. The control system 230 may include various elements including a steering system 231, a throttle 232, a brake unit 233, a sensor fusion algorithm 234, a computer vision system 235, a route control system 236, and an obstacle avoidance system 237.

The steering system 231 is operable to adjust the heading of the vehicle 200. For example, in one embodiment, a steering wheel system.

The throttle 232 is used to control the operating speed of the engine 211 and thus the speed of the vehicle 200.

The brake unit 233 is used to control the vehicle 200 to decelerate. The brake unit 233 may use friction to slow the wheel/tire 214. In other embodiments, the brake unit 233 may convert the kinetic energy of the wheel/tire 214 into electrical current. The brake unit 233 may also take other forms to slow the rotational speed of the wheels/tires 214 to control the speed of the vehicle 200.

The computer vision system 235 may be operable to process and analyze images captured by the camera 225 in order to identify objects and/or features in the environment surrounding the vehicle 200. The objects and/or features may include traffic signals, road boundaries, and obstacles. The computer vision system 235 may use object recognition algorithms, motion from motion (SFM) algorithms, video tracking, and other computer vision techniques. In some embodiments, the computer vision system 235 may be used to map an environment, track objects, estimate the speed of objects, and so forth.

The route control system 236 is used to determine a travel route for the vehicle 200. In some embodiments, the route control system 236 may combine data from the sensor system 220, the positioning system 221, and one or more predetermined maps to determine a travel route for the vehicle 200.

Obstacle avoidance system 237 is used to identify, assess, and avoid or otherwise negotiate potential obstacles in the environment of vehicle 200.

Of course, in one example, the control system 230 may additionally or alternatively include components other than those shown and described. Or may reduce some of the components shown above.

Vehicle 200 interacts with external sensors, other vehicles, other computer systems, or users through peripherals 240. The peripheral devices 240 may include a wireless communication system 241, an in-vehicle computer 242, a microphone 243, and/or speakers 244.

In some embodiments, the peripheral device 240 provides a means for a user of the vehicle 200 to interact with the user interface 270. For example, the onboard computer 242 may provide information to a user of the vehicle 200. The user interface 270 may also operate the in-vehicle computer 242 to receive user input. The in-vehicle computer 242 may be operated by a touch panel. In other cases, the peripheral device 240 may provide a means for the vehicle 200 to communicate with other devices located within the vehicle. For example, the microphone 243 may receive audio (e.g., voice commands or other audio input) from a user of the vehicle 200. Similarly, the speaker 244 may output audio to a user of the vehicle 200.

The wireless communication system 241 may wirelessly communicate with one or more devices directly or via a communication network. For example, the wireless communication system 241 may use 3G cellular communication such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), EVD0, global system for mobile communications (GSM)/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), or 4G cellular communication such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), or 5G cellular communication. The wireless communication system 241 may communicate with a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) using WiFi. In some embodiments, the wireless communication system 241 may communicate directly with the devices using infrared links, bluetooth, or ZigBee. Other wireless protocols, such as various vehicular communication systems, for example, the wireless communication system 241 may include one or more Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) devices that may include public and/or private data communications between vehicles and/or roadside stations.

The power supply 250 may provide power to various components of the vehicle 200. In one embodiment, power source 250 may be a rechargeable lithium ion or lead acid battery. One or more battery packs of such batteries may be configured as a power source to provide power to various components of the vehicle 200. In some embodiments, the power source 250 and the energy source 213 may be implemented together, such as in some all-electric vehicles.

Some or all of the functionality of the vehicle 200 is controlled by the computer system 260. The computer system 260 may include at least one processor 261, the processor 261 executing instructions 263 stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium, such as a memory 262. The computer system 260 may also be a plurality of computing devices that control individual components or subsystems of the vehicle 200 in a distributed manner.

The processor 261 may be any conventional processor, such as a commercially available Central Processing Unit (CPU). Alternatively, the processor may be a dedicated device such as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or other hardware-based processor. Although fig. 2 functionally illustrates a processor, memory, and other elements of the computer system 260 in the same blocks, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the processor, computer, or memory may actually comprise multiple processors, computers, or memories that may or may not be stored within the same physical housing. For example, the memory may be a hard drive or other storage medium located in a different enclosure than computer system 260. Thus, references to a processor or computer are to be understood as including references to a collection of processors or computers or memories which may or may not operate in parallel. Rather than using a single processor to perform the steps described herein, some components, such as the steering component and the retarding component, may each have their own processor that performs only computations related to the component-specific functions.

In various aspects described herein, the processor may be located remotely from the vehicle and in wireless communication with the vehicle. In other aspects, some of the processes described herein are executed on a processor disposed within the vehicle and others are executed by a remote processor, including taking the steps necessary to perform a single maneuver.

In some embodiments, the memory 262 may include instructions 263 (e.g., program logic), the instructions 263 being executable by the processor 261 to perform various functions of the vehicle 200, including those described above. The memory 262 may also contain additional instructions, including instructions to send data to, receive data from, interact with, and/or control one or more of the travel system 210, the sensor system 220, the control system 230, and the peripheral device 240.

In addition to instructions 263, memory 262 may also store data such as road maps, route information, the location, direction, speed of the vehicle, and other such vehicle data, among other information. Such information may be used by the vehicle 200 and the computer system 260 during operation of the vehicle 200 in autonomous, semi-autonomous, and/or manual modes.

A user interface 270 for providing information to or receiving information from a user of the vehicle 200. Optionally, the user interface 270 may include one or more input/output devices within the collection of peripheral devices 240, such as a wireless communication system 241, an in-vehicle computer 242, a microphone 243, and a speaker 244.

The computer system 260 may control the functions of the vehicle 200 based on inputs received from various subsystems (e.g., the travel system 210, the sensor system 220, and the control system 230) and from the user interface 270. For example, the computer system 260 may utilize input from the control system 230 in order to control the steering system 231 to avoid obstacles detected by the sensor system 220 and the obstacle avoidance system 237. In some embodiments, the computer system 260 is operable to provide control over many aspects of the vehicle 200 and its subsystems.

Alternatively, one or more of these components described above may be mounted or associated separately from the vehicle 200. For example, the memory 262 may exist partially or completely separate from the vehicle 200. The above components may be communicatively coupled together in a wired and/or wireless manner.

Optionally, the above components are only an example, in an actual application, components in the above modules may be added or deleted according to an actual need, and fig. 2 should not be construed as limiting the embodiment of the present application.

An autonomous automobile traveling on a roadway, such as vehicle 200 above, may identify objects within its surrounding environment to determine an adjustment to the current speed. The object may be another vehicle, a traffic control device, or another type of object. In some examples, each identified object may be considered independently, and based on the respective characteristics of the object, such as its current speed, acceleration, separation from the vehicle, etc., may be used to determine the speed at which the autonomous vehicle is to be adjusted.

Optionally, the autonomous automobile vehicle 200 or a computing device associated with the autonomous vehicle 200 (e.g., computer system 260, computer vision system 235, memory 262 of fig. 2) may predict behavior of the identified objects based on characteristics of the identified objects and the state of the surrounding environment (e.g., traffic, rain, ice on the road, etc.). Optionally, each identified object depends on the behavior of each other, so it is also possible to predict the behavior of a single identified object taking all identified objects together into account. The vehicle 200 is able to adjust its speed based on the predicted behaviour of said identified object. In other words, the autonomous vehicle is able to determine what steady state the vehicle will need to adjust to (e.g., accelerate, decelerate, or stop) based on the predicted behavior of the object. In this process, other factors may also be considered to determine the speed of the vehicle 200, such as the lateral position of the vehicle 200 in the road on which it is traveling, the curvature of the road, the proximity of static and dynamic objects, and so forth.

In addition to providing instructions to adjust the speed of the autonomous vehicle, the computing device may also provide instructions to modify the steering angle of the vehicle 200 to cause the autonomous vehicle to follow a given trajectory and/or maintain a safe lateral and longitudinal distance from objects in the vicinity of the autonomous vehicle (e.g., cars in adjacent lanes on the road).

The vehicle 200 may be a car, a truck, a motorcycle, a bus, a boat, an airplane, a helicopter, a lawn mower, an amusement car, a playground vehicle, construction equipment, a trolley, a golf cart, a train, a trolley, etc., and the embodiment of the present invention is not particularly limited.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a signal synchronization method between user equipments according to an embodiment of the present application, where the method is applicable to the V2X communication system shown in fig. 1, and the method includes the following steps.

S301: the first UE acquires synchronization information of at least one UE, and the at least one UE comprises a second UE.

Wherein the V2X communication system may include multiple UEs, which may be in different V2X communication protocols, and the underlying technologies of the V2X communication protocols in which the multiple UEs are located may be the same. The first UE may be any one of the plurality of UEs, and the at least one UE may be one or more of the plurality of UEs other than the first UE. The at least one UE may be a UE surrounding the first UE or a UE in proximity to the first UE, and the first UE may detect or receive information transmitted by the at least one UE.

In addition, each UE of the at least one UE may send synchronization information outwards, which may be used to achieve signal synchronization of the UE with other UEs. Synchronization information for a UE may include a sidelink synchronization signal (SLSS) identification for the UE and a Master Information Block (MIB) for the UE. The SLSS id may be used to indicate an SLSS group where the UE is located, and specifically may include a first id NID1 and a second id NID2, where the first id NID1 may be an id of the UE in the SLSS group, and the second id NID2 may be a group id of the SLSS. For example, the relationship between the SLSS tag and the first tag NID1 and the second tag NID2 may be: the SLSS id NID1+168 × NID 2. The master information block may include a frame number and a subframe number at which synchronization information of the UE is located.

Specifically, each UE of the at least one UE may send synchronization information to the outside, and the first UE may detect the synchronization information sent by the at least one UE and analyze the detected synchronization information, where the bottom layer technologies of the V2X communication protocols where the first UE and the at least one UE are located are the same, so that the first UE may successfully analyze the synchronization information of the at least one UE, and further acquire the synchronization information of the at least one UE. For example, the first UE detects and analyzes the synchronization information of the second UE, and may obtain an SLSS id of the second UE and an MIB of the second UE, where the SLSS id may include the first id NID1 and the second id NID2, and the MIB may include a frame number and a subframe number.

Optionally, the first UE may detect and analyze the synchronization information sent by the at least one UE in real time, or periodically detect and analyze the synchronization information sent by the at least one UE, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

S302: the first UE determines the V2X communication protocol of the second UE to be the second V2X communication protocol according to the synchronization information of the second UE, the second V2X communication protocol being different from the first V2X communication protocol of the first UE.

The V2X communication protocol of a UE may refer to the V2X communication protocol used by the UE, or refer to the V2X communication protocol in which the UE is located. The V2X communication system includes a plurality of UEs in a V2X communication protocol that may include at least two V2X communication protocols, and the first V2X communication protocol of the first UE may be any V2X communication protocol of the at least two V2X communication protocols.

When the first UE acquires the synchronization information of the second UE through S301, the first UE may determine the V2X communication protocol of the second UE according to the frame number and the subframe number in the MIB of the synchronization information. Specifically, the first UE may first determine, according to the frame number and the subframe number, whether a synchronization offset indication type (synchronization offset indication type) corresponding to the second UE belongs to the first V2X communication protocol, if so, the first UE may determine that the V2X protocol of the second UE is the first V2X communication protocol, if not, the first UE may further determine whether the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the second UE belongs to the second V2X communication protocol, and if so, the first UE may determine that the V2X protocol of the second UE is the second V2X communication protocol.

Optionally, one of the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is a 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol, and the other is a CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol. Alternatively, one of the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is WAVE V2X communication protocol, and the other is CCSA WAVE V2X communication protocol. It should be noted that, the above listed V2X communication protocols are only exemplary, and in practical applications, the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol may also be other V2X communication protocols, for example, different V2X communication protocols applied in an NR system, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

For example, assuming that the first V2X communication protocol is a 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is a CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol, the determining, by the first UE, the V2X communication protocol of the second UE according to the frame number f and the subframe number s may specifically include:

s1, the first UE determines whether the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the second UE belongs to the 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol or not through a type calculation formula (I) corresponding to the first V2X communication protocol according to the frame number f and the subframe number s. Three synchronization offset indication types (indicated as type 11, type 12 and type 13) are defined in the 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol, and the three types respectively correspond to three preset offset values (indicated as offset value 11, offset value 12 and offset value 13), and a transmission period of synchronization information in the 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol is 160 ms. In the formula,% represents the remainder.

y＝(10×f+s)％160 (I)

S2a, if it is determined through formula (I) that the value of y is equal to one of the offset value 11, the offset value 12, or the offset value 13, the first UE may determine that the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the second UE belongs to the first V2X communication protocol, and the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the second UE is the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the offset value that is equal to the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the second UE.

S2b, if it is determined by the following formula (I) that the value of y is not equal to the offset value 11, the offset value 12, and the offset value 13, determining that the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the second UE does not belong to the first V2X communication protocol, that is, the communication protocol of the second UE is not the first V2X communication protocol, and continuing to perform S3.

And S3, the first UE determines whether the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the second UE belongs to the CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol or not through formula (II) to formula (V) according to the frame number f and the subframe number s and through type calculation corresponding to the second V2X communication protocol. Three synchronization offset indication types (represented as type 21, type 22 and type 23) are defined in the CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol, and the three types respectively correspond to three preset offset values (represented as offset value 21, offset value 22 and offset value 23), and the transmission period of the synchronization information in the CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol is 256 ms. In the formula (I), the compound is shown in the specification,

indicating rounding down, m indicates a periodic index and the corresponding value range may be 0 to 39, l indicates the sequence number of a bit of 0 in a bitmap (bitmap) and the corresponding value range may be 0 to 99, and f may be 0 to 1023.

S4a, if it is determined through the formula (II) to the formula (V) that the value of 10 xf + s is equal to the offset value 21 or the offset value 22, or that (10 xf + s)% 256 is equal to 0, it is determined that the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the second UE belongs to the CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol, i.e., the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is the CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol. Specifically, if it is determined that 10 xf + s is equal to i1 and i1 is equal to the offset value 21, or it is determined that 10 xf + s is equal to i2 and i2 is equal to the offset value 21, it is determined that the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the second UE is type 21; if it is determined that 10 xf + s is equal to i1 and i1 is equal to offset value 22, or it is determined that 10 xf + s is equal to i2 and i2 is equal to offset value 22, determining that the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the second UE is type 22; if it is determined that (10 xf + s)% 256 is equal to offset value 23 (for example, offset value 23 is equal to 0), it is determined that the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the second UE is type 23.

S4b, if the values of i1, i2 and i3 determined by the formula (II) to the formula (V) are not equal to the offset value 21, the offset value 22 and the offset value 23, determining that the synchronization offset indication type corresponding to the second UE does not belong to the second V2X communication protocol, i.e. the communication protocol of the second UE is not the CCSA LTE-V2X communication protocol.

It should be noted that, when the V2X communication protocol in which the plurality of UEs included in the V2X communication system are located includes more than two V2X communication protocols, the first UE may also use the type calculation formula corresponding to other V2X communication protocols to continue to determine the communication protocol of the second UE in a similar manner as described above, and this embodiment of the present application only takes two V2X communication protocols as an example for illustration, and does not limit this embodiment of the present application.

Further, when the at least one UE includes a plurality of UEs, and the V2X communication protocols of the plurality of UEs are all different from the first V2X communication protocol, the second UE may be a highest priority UE selected by the first UE from the plurality of UEs according to priority. Wherein the plurality of UEs may be UEs in the same V2X communication protocol, e.g., the plurality of UEs are all in a second V2X communication protocol; alternatively, the plurality of UEs are UEs in different V2X communication protocols, for example, the plurality of UEs includes two UEs, one UE is in the second V2X communication protocol, one UE is in the third V2X communication protocol, and the third V2X communication protocol may refer to a different V2X communication protocol that is the same as the underlying technology of the first V2X communication protocol or the second V2X communication protocol.

For example, assuming that the plurality of UEs includes UE 1-UE 3, and UE 1-UE 3 are all in the second V2X communication protocol, the first UE may determine UE3 as the second UE if the priority of UE1 is less than the priority of UE2 and the priority of UE2 is less than the priority of UE 3.

It should be noted that the priorities of the UEs may be ordered according to one or more of signal energy, coverage, synchronization level, and priority indicated by the relevant protocol, which is not specifically described in this embodiment of the present application.

S303: the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol.

When the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol, the first UE may terminate the current service and reconfigure the first UE according to the parameter or calculation formula corresponding to the second V2X communication protocol, so as to switch the first UE to the second V2X communication protocol.

In a possible embodiment, the switching of the first UE to the second V2X communication protocol may specifically be: when the first UE does not receive synchronization information of UEs in the first V2X communication protocol for the first duration, the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol. In another possible embodiment, the switching of the first UE to the second V2X communication protocol may specifically be: when the first UE periodically receives the synchronization information of the second UE for the second duration, the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol. In another possible embodiment, the switching of the first UE to the second V2X communication protocol may specifically be: when the first UE does not receive the synchronization information of the UE in the first V2X communication protocol for the first duration and periodically receives the synchronization information of the second UE for the second duration, the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol.

Optionally, the switching the first UE to the second V2X communication protocol may further include: and the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol after waiting for the third time. For example, the second UE is the only UE in the second V2X communication protocol, or the UEs in the second V2X communication protocol only include the second UE, and the first UE may wait for the third duration and then switch to the second V2X communication protocol. This may prevent the first UE and the second UE from switching the V2X communication protocol, which may result in the first UE still being unable to stay in the same V2X communication protocol with the second UE after switching. Of course, in practical applications, when the UEs in the second V2X communication protocol include other UEs besides the second UE, the first UE may also switch to the second V2X communication protocol after waiting for the third duration.

It should be noted that the first duration and the second duration may be set in advance, and the first duration and the second duration may be equal or may not be equal, the third duration may also be set in advance, and the third duration may be set as a random duration or may be set as a fixed duration.

Further, referring to fig. 4, before S303, the method may further include: and S300.

S300: the first UE obtains handover grant information indicating a V2X communication protocol that allows handover of the first UE.

The right of whether to allow switching of the V2X communication protocol of the first UE may be configured by the system or set by the user. When the authority is configured by the system, the system may automatically configure the switching authority of the V2X communication protocol of the first UE as authorization. When the authority is set by the user, the user may set the switching authority of the V2X communication protocol of the first UE to authorized in advance, or may set the switching authority of the V2X communication protocol of the first UE to unauthorized. Further, when the user sets the switching authority of the V2X communication protocol of the first UE to be unauthorized, the first UE may further display a switching prompt message to the user to prompt the user to set the switching authority of the V2X communication protocol of the first UE to be authorized.

Specifically, when the switching right of the V2X communication protocol of the first UE is authorized, the first UE may directly obtain the switching authorization information according to the switching right, that is, the first UE may directly determine that the V2X communication protocol of the first UE is allowed to be switched. When the switching authority of the V2X communication protocol of the first UE is not authorized, the first UE may send an authorization request to prompt the user to set the switching authority of the V2X communication protocol of the first UE to authorization, so that the first UE may acquire the switching authorization information when the user sets the authority to authorization.

S304: the first UE achieves signal synchronization with the second UE based on the second V2X communication protocol.

When the first UE is switched to the second V2X communication protocol, the first UE and the second UE are both in the second V2X communication protocol, so that the first UE and the second UE can implement signal synchronization, and further solve the problem that the two UEs in different V2X communication protocols in the prior art cannot implement signal synchronization according to the prior art.

For example, when the first UE is in the coverage of the GNSS or cell and the second UE is not in the coverage of the GNSS or cell, after the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol, the first UE may synchronize to the GNSS or cell and send a synchronization signal to the second UE to synchronize the second UE to the first UE, thereby achieving signal synchronization of the first UE and the second UE based on the second V2X communication protocol. Or, when the first UE and the second UE are not in the coverage of the GNSS or the cell, the first UE performs self-synchronization and sends a synchronization signal to the UE to synchronize the second UE to the first UE, so as to implement signal synchronization of the first UE and the second UE based on the second V2X communication protocol. For a specific process of the first UE and the second UE implementing signal synchronization based on the second V2X communication protocol, reference may be made to detailed descriptions of related technologies, and details are not described herein again in this embodiment of the present application.

Further, the at least one UE further includes a third UE, referring to fig. 4, the method may further include: s303a-S304 a.

S303 a: when the first UE determines that the V2X communication protocol of the third UE is the first V2X communication protocol, the first UE maintains the first V2X communication protocol.

When the at least one UE includes the second UE and the third UE, the first UE may acquire the synchronization information of the third UE, and determine that the V2X communication protocol of the third UE is the first V2X communication protocol according to the synchronization information of the third UE by the methods described in the foregoing S1 to S3. At this time, the at least one UE around the first UE includes the second UE in the second V2X communication protocol and the third UE in the first V2X communication protocol, so that the first UE may maintain the first V2X communication protocol, i.e., the first UE may not switch the V2X communication protocol, but still be in the first V2X communication protocol. Alternatively, the first UE refrains from switching the first UE to the second V2X communication protocol.

S304 a: the first UE achieves signal synchronization with the third UE based on the first V2X communication protocol.

When the first UE maintains the first V2X communication protocol, the first UE and the third UE are both in the first V2X communication protocol, so that the first UE and the third UE can implement signal synchronization based on the first V2X communication protocol, and then perform data transmission after signal synchronization, thereby implementing information transmission between the first UE and the third UE.

For convenience of understanding, the technical solution provided in the present application is illustrated below by taking the structural block diagram of the first UE shown in fig. 5 as an example. As shown in fig. 5, the first UE may include: a communication protocol management unit 501, an authorization management unit 502, a synchronization state management unit 503, a synchronization state detection unit 504, a signal synchronization unit 505, and a signal transceiving unit 506. The communication protocol management unit 501 is mainly configured to control a V2X communication protocol of the first UE, for example, select a default V2X communication protocol when the first UE is powered on, determine whether to switch the V2X communication protocol during operation of the first UE, trigger an authorization request when the V2X communication protocol needs to be switched, and control to switch the V2X communication protocol after authorization is confirmed. The authorization management unit 502 is mainly used to store or manage authorization information, for example, to store the authorization information when the user sets permission to switch the V2X communication protocol in advance, or to prompt the user whether to switch the V2X communication protocol when the user does not have prior authorization, and the like. The synchronization status management unit 503 is mainly used to buffer the synchronization information of at least one UE detected by the synchronization status detection unit 504, determine the V2X communication protocol of each UE, and control the signal synchronization unit 505 to implement signal synchronization. The synchronization status detection unit 504 is mainly used for analyzing and classifying the detected synchronization signal of at least one UE, and performing priority ranking on at least one UE. The signal synchronization unit 505 is mainly used to implement signal synchronization between the first UE and other UEs, for example, to implement signal synchronization between the first UE and the second UE or the third UE. The signal transceiver unit 506 is mainly used for sending synchronization information of the first UE, detecting or receiving synchronization information of other UEs, and performing information transmission after signal synchronization with other UEs is achieved.

For example, in this embodiment of the application, when the signal transceiver unit 506 receives synchronization information of at least one UE, the synchronization status detection unit 504 may analyze the synchronization information of the at least one UE, perform priority ordering on the at least one UE, and send related information to the synchronization status management unit 503, for example, the synchronization status detection unit 504 analyzes the synchronization information of the second UE to obtain an SLSS identifier of the second UE and a master information block of the second UE, and sends the SLSS identifier of the second UE and the master information block of the second UE to the synchronization status management unit 503. The synchronization status management unit 503 buffers the received related information, and determines the V2X communication protocol of each UE according to the related information, for example, the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is determined as the second V2X communication protocol, and the V2X communication protocol of the third UE is determined as the first V2X communication protocol. Thereafter, the synchronization status management unit 503 may transmit information about each UE and the V2X communication protocol in which the UE is located to the communication protocol management unit 501, and the communication protocol management unit 501 determines whether it is necessary to switch the V2X communication protocol. If it is determined that the switching is required, the communication protocol management unit 501 may apply for authorization from the authorization management unit 502, if the user has been authorized in advance, the authorization management unit 502 may directly reply to the communication protocol management unit 501 that the authorization is successful, and if the user has not been authorized in advance, the authorization management unit 502 prompts the user to obtain authorization and then replies to the communication protocol management unit 501 that the authorization is successful. After the communication protocol management unit 501 receives the information that the authorization is successful, the communication protocol management unit 501 may switch the V2X communication protocol, for example, the communication protocol management unit 501 switches the V2X communication protocol of the first UE to the second V2X communication protocol.

In the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, when acquiring synchronization information of at least one UE, if it is determined according to the synchronization information that a V2X communication protocol of a second UE of the at least one UE is a second V2X communication protocol and is different from a first V2X communication protocol of the first UE, the first UE may switch to the second V2X communication protocol and implement signal synchronization with the second UE, thereby solving a problem that two UEs in different V2X communication protocols cannot implement signal synchronization in the prior art. Further, when the at least one UE further includes a third UE and the V2X communication protocol of the third UE is the first V2X communication protocol, the first UE maintains the first V2X communication protocol and implements signal synchronization with the third UE based on the first V2X communication protocol, thereby avoiding that the first UE cannot stably receive synchronization information of the second UE, cannot implement signal synchronization between the first UE and the second UE, and further causes a communication failure.

The above-mentioned scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application is introduced mainly from the perspective of interaction between network elements. It is to be understood that the respective network elements, e.g. the first UE and the second UE. To implement the above functions, it includes hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art would readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. 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.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first UE may be divided into functional modules according to the above method example, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the module is schematic, and is only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation. The following description will be given by taking the division of each function module corresponding to each function as an example:

fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of a possible structure of the signal synchronization device according to the above-described embodiment, in the case of an integrated unit. The apparatus may be the first UE or a chip built in the first UE, and the apparatus includes: an acquisition unit 601, a determination unit 602, a switching unit 603, and a synchronization unit 604. The obtaining unit 601 is configured to support the apparatus to perform S301 or S300 in the foregoing embodiment; the determining unit 602 is configured to support the apparatus to perform the steps of determining, in S302 or S303a in the above embodiment, that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is the first V2X communication protocol, and/or other procedures for the techniques described herein; the switching unit 603 is configured to support the apparatus to perform S303 or S303a in the above embodiment; the synchronization unit 604 is used to support the apparatus to execute S304 or S304a in the above embodiment. The obtaining unit 601 may correspond to the signal transceiving unit 506 and the authorization management unit 502 in fig. 5, the determining unit 602 may correspond to the synchronization state management unit 503 and the synchronization state detection unit 504 in fig. 5, the switching unit 603 may correspond to the communication protocol management unit 501 in fig. 5, and the synchronizing unit 604 may correspond to the signal synchronizing unit 505 in fig. 5.

It should be noted that all relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

On the basis of a hardware implementation, the determining unit 602 and the switching unit 603 in this application may be part of functions of a processor of the apparatus, and the obtaining unit 601 and the synchronizing unit 604 may be a set of parts of functions of a transceiver and a processor of the apparatus, where the transceiver may generally include a transmitter and a receiver, and a specific transceiver may also be referred to as a communication interface.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a possible logic structure of the signal synchronization apparatus according to the foregoing embodiments, provided for an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus may be the first UE or a chip built in the first UE, and the apparatus includes: a processor 702, and a communications interface 703. The processor 702 is configured to control and manage the device actions, for example, the processor 702 may be configured to support the device to perform the processes of S301 to S304a in the above embodiments, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein, through the communication interface 703. In addition, the apparatus may further include a memory 701 and a bus 704, and the processor 702, the communication interface 703, and the memory 701 are connected to each other by the bus 704; the communication interface 703 is used to support the apparatus for communication; the memory 701 is used for storing program codes and data of the apparatus.

The processor 702 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 bus 704 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. 7, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

In another embodiment of the present application, a readable storage medium is further provided, where the readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and when one device (which may be a single chip, a chip, or the like) or a processor executes the steps of the first UE in the signal synchronization method provided in the foregoing method embodiment. The aforementioned readable storage medium may include: u disk, removable hard disk, read only memory, random access memory, magnetic or optical disk, etc. for storing program codes.

In another embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium; the computer executable instructions may be read by at least one processor of the apparatus from a computer readable storage medium, and the computer executable instructions executed by the at least one processor may cause the apparatus to perform the steps of the first UE in the signal synchronization method provided by the above-described method embodiments.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above description is only an embodiment of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure should 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

A method for signal synchronization between user equipments, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that first User Equipment (UE) acquires synchronization information of at least one UE, wherein the at least one UE comprises second UE;

the first UE determining, according to synchronization information of the second UE, that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is a second V2X communication protocol, the second V2X communication protocol being different from the first V2X communication protocol of the first UE;

the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol;

the first UE achieves signal synchronization with the second UE based on the second V2X communication protocol.
The method of claim 1, wherein switching the first UE to the second V2X communication protocol comprises:

when the first UE does not receive synchronization information of UEs in the first V2X communication protocol for a first duration, the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol, further comprising:

when the first UE periodically receives the synchronization information of the second UE for a second duration, the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol.
The method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein prior to the first UE switching to the second V2X communication protocol, the method further comprises:

the first UE acquires switching authorization information, wherein the switching authorization information is used for indicating V2X communication protocols allowing switching of the first UE.
The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein when the UE in the second V2X communication protocol includes only the second UE, the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol, comprising:

and the first UE switches to the second V2X communication protocol after waiting for a third time.
The method of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the at least one UE comprises a plurality of UEs each having a V2X communication protocol different from the first V2X communication protocol, the method further comprising:

and the first UE selects the UE with the highest priority from the plurality of UEs as the second UE according to the priority.
The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the synchronization information of the second UE comprises at least one of: the direct link synchronization signal (SLSS) identity of the second UE and the master information block of the second UE.
The method of claim 7, wherein the master information block comprises a frame number and a subframe number at which the synchronization information of the second UE is located, and wherein the determining, by the first UE, that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is the second V2X communication protocol according to the synchronization information of the second UE comprises:

and the first UE determines that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is the second V2X communication protocol according to the frame number where the synchronization information of the second UE is located and the subframe number.
The method of any one of claims 1-8, wherein the at least one UE further comprises a third UE, the method further comprising:

the first UE determining that the V2X communication protocol of the third UE is the first V2X communication protocol;

the first UE maintains the first V2X communication protocol.
The method of claim 9, further comprising:

the first UE achieves signal synchronization with the third UE based on the first V2X communication protocol.
The method of any of claims 1-10, wherein one of the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is a 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol and the other is a ccsae LTE-V2X communication protocol; or, one of the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is WAVE V2X communication protocol, and the other is CCSA WAVE V2X communication protocol.
A signal synchronization apparatus, as a first user equipment UE or a chip built in the first UE, comprising:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain synchronization information of at least one UE, where the at least one UE includes a second UE;

a determining unit for determining that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is a second V2X communication protocol according to the synchronization information of the second UE, the second V2X communication protocol being different from the first V2X communication protocol of the first UE;

a switching unit for switching to the second V2X communication protocol;

a synchronization unit, configured to implement signal synchronization with the second UE based on the second V2X communication protocol.
The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the switching unit is further configured to:

switching to the second V2X communication protocol when the first UE does not receive synchronization information for UEs in the first V2X communication protocol for a first duration.
The apparatus according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the switching unit is further configured to:

switching to the second V2X communication protocol when the first UE periodically receives synchronization information of the second UE for a second duration.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 12-14, wherein the obtaining unit is further configured to:

obtaining handover authorization information, wherein the handover authorization information is used for indicating that the V2X communication protocol of the first UE is allowed to be handed over.
The apparatus according to any of claims 12-15, wherein when the UE in the second V2X communication protocol comprises only the second UE, the switching unit is further configured to:

and switching to the second V2X communication protocol after waiting for a third time.
The apparatus according to any of claims 12-16, wherein the at least one UE comprises a plurality of UEs, each of the at least plurality of UEs having a V2X communication protocol different from the first V2X communication protocol, the determining unit further configured to:

selecting a UE with the highest priority from the plurality of UEs as the second UE according to the priority.
The apparatus of any of claims 12-17, wherein the synchronization information of the second UE comprises at least one of: the direct link synchronization signal (SLSS) identity of the second UE and the master information block of the second UE.
The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the master information block comprises a frame number and a subframe number at which synchronization information of the second UE is located, and wherein the determining unit is further configured to:

and determining that the V2X communication protocol of the second UE is the second V2X communication protocol according to the frame number and the subframe number of the synchronization information of the second UE.
The apparatus of any of claims 12-19, wherein the at least one UE further comprises a third UE;

the determining unit further configured to determine that the V2X communication protocol of the third UE is the first V2X communication protocol;

the switching unit is further configured to maintain the first V2X communication protocol.
The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the synchronization unit is further configured to:

signal synchronization is achieved with the third UE based on the first V2X communication protocol.
The apparatus of any of claims 12-21, wherein one of the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is a 3GPP LTE-V2X communication protocol and the other is a ccsae LTE-V2X communication protocol; or, one of the first V2X communication protocol and the second V2X communication protocol is WAVE V2X communication protocol, and the other is CCSA WAVE V2X communication protocol.
A signal synchronization apparatus, as a first user equipment UE or a chip built in the first UE, comprising: a processor and a memory, the processor configured to execute instructions in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1-11.
A readable storage medium having stored therein instructions that, when run on a device, cause the device to perform the method of any one of claims 1-11.
A computer program product, characterized in that, when the computer program product is run on a computer, it causes the computer to perform the method of any of claims 1-11.