CN114337937A

CN114337937A - Transmission method of feedback information and communication equipment

Info

Publication number: CN114337937A
Application number: CN202011064466.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张莉莉
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-09-30
Filing date: 2020-09-30
Publication date: 2022-04-12
Also published as: WO2022068416A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a transmission method of feedback information and communication equipment, relates to the technical field of wireless communication, and is used for improving the efficiency of the feedback information of an ultra-reliable low-delay communication service and improving the performance of the ultra-reliable low-delay communication service. In the method, a communication device may receive at least one data message. Wherein the at least one data information may have a corresponding at least one coverage enhancement level. The communication device may multiplex feedback information for the corresponding at least one data information to the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information. The communication device may transmit the control information on a first control channel or a first data channel. Based on the scheme, the feedback information of the data information can be multiplexed to the control information for transmission according to the coverage enhancement level of the data information, the sending sequence of the feedback information can be determined according to the coverage enhancement level, the conflict of the feedback information can be effectively processed, and the performance of services with high delay requirements can be guaranteed.

Description

Transmission method of feedback information and communication equipment

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a method and a communication device for transmitting feedback information.

Background

Compared with the previous generations of mobile communication systems, the New Radio (NR) communication system of 5G has made higher requirements in transmission rate, delay, power consumption, etc. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) defines enhanced mobile broadband (EMBB), Mass Machine Type Communication (MMTC), and ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC) as three large future-5G services.

URLLC is one of three typical services, and can be mainly applied to unmanned driving, telemedicine and the like. These application scenarios place stringent requirements on reliability and latency. Therefore, how to ensure reliability and delay requirements of URLLC becomes a matter of great concern.

For example, when the URLLC and the EMBB services are executed, the terminal device may send feedback information corresponding to the data when receiving corresponding data, and when the URLLC service has feedback information to send, it is not necessary to wait for sending the feedback information of the EMBB service together, so that it is possible to avoid bearing excessive number of bits on a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource, thereby ensuring reliability of the feedback information of the URLLC.

Currently, a terminal device supports transmission of multiple pieces of feedback information in a time division multiplexing manner. That is, the terminal device may multiplex the plurality of feedback information on the same slot. However, the number of feedback information that can be multiplexed and transmitted in one time slot is limited, and if the number of feedback information to be multiplexed and transmitted in one time slot by the terminal device exceeds the number limit, a plurality of corresponding feedback information may be multiplexed and transmitted in the time sequence of the received data. Therefore, feedback information corresponding to some services may not be fed back to the sending end in time, which affects the performance of the services.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a transmission method of feedback information and communication equipment, which are used for improving the feedback efficiency of the feedback information of an ultra-reliable low-delay communication service and improving the performance of the ultra-reliable low-delay communication service.

In a first aspect, a method for transmitting feedback information is provided. The method can be executed by the communication device provided by the embodiment of the application. The communication device may be a terminal device or a network device, or may also be a chip similar to the function of the terminal device or the network device. In the method, a communication device may receive at least one data message. Wherein the at least one data information may have a corresponding at least one coverage enhancement level. The communication device may multiplex feedback information for the corresponding at least one data information to the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information. The communication device may transmit the control information on a first control channel or a first data channel.

Based on the scheme, the feedback information of the data information can be multiplexed to the control information for transmission according to the coverage enhancement level of the data information, the sending sequence of the feedback information can be determined according to the coverage enhancement level, the conflict of the feedback information can be effectively processed, and the performance of services with high delay requirements can be guaranteed.

In one possible implementation, the number of feedback information included in the control information does not exceed a threshold of feedback information that can be multiplexed by the communication device.

Based on the above scheme, the number of multiplexed feedback information can be limited according to the threshold of the feedback information that can be multiplexed by the communication device.

In one possible implementation, the communication device may report the number of feedback information that can be multiplexed.

Based on the scheme, the communication device can report the number of the feedback information capable of being multiplexed, so that the number of the feedback information multiplexed in one control information by the communication device can be limited according to the reported number of the feedback information capable of being multiplexed.

In a possible implementation manner, the threshold of the feedback information that can be multiplexed by the communication device is determined based on the number of the feedback information that can be multiplexed and reported by the communication device.

Based on the scheme, the number of the feedback information which can be multiplexed by the communication equipment can be determined according to the threshold reported by the communication equipment, so that the number of the feedback information multiplexed by the communication equipment on one piece of control information is limited.

In one possible implementation, the communication device may multiplex the feedback information of the corresponding at least one data information to the control information in order from top to bottom of the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information.

Based on the above scheme, when multiplexing the feedback information of the data information to the control information, the communication device may multiplex the feedback information to the control information according to the sequence from high to low of the coverage enhancement level of the data information, and may preferentially guarantee the performance of the high-latency service.

In one possible implementation manner, the communication device may reuse at least one feedback information corresponding to at least one data information with the same coverage enhancement level for the control information.

Based on the scheme, the communication equipment can multiplex at least one piece of feedback information corresponding to at least one piece of data information with the same coverage enhancement level in the control information, so that the performance of some services is guaranteed.

In one possible implementation, the communication device may multiplex at least one feedback information corresponding to at least one data information having a first coverage enhancement level and at least one feedback information corresponding to at least one data information having at least one second coverage enhancement level to the control information. Where the at least one second coverage enhancement level is lower than the first coverage enhancement level.

Based on the scheme, the communication equipment can multiplex the feedback information covering the data information with different enhancement levels on the control information, and can save transmission resources while ensuring the performance of the service.

In one possible implementation, the communication device may determine that the coverage enhancement levels of the at least one data message are all less than or equal to a preset threshold.

Based on the scheme, when the coverage enhancement levels are all smaller than or equal to the preset threshold, the coverage enhancement levels are not very high, and therefore the coverage enhancement levels can be respectively treated in high and low levels. The communication equipment can preferentially feed back the feedback information covering the data information with higher enhancement level and then feed back the feedback information covering the data information with lower enhancement level, thereby ensuring the performance of the service with high delay requirement and not influencing the performance of other services.

In a possible implementation manner, when the coverage enhancement level of at least one data message is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, the communication device multiplexes the feedback information of at least one data message to the control information according to the receiving sequence of at least one data message.

Based on the scheme, when the coverage enhancement level is greater than or equal to the preset threshold, the coverage enhancement levels are higher, so that the feedback information of the data information can be fed back directly according to the receiving sequence of the data information. The communication equipment can reuse the feedback information for the control information in sequence through the receiving sequence of the data information, thereby reducing the complexity and ensuring that the feedback information of the data information with high priority can be fed back in sequence.

In one possible implementation, the communication device may transmit control information on the first control channel or the first data channel in a first time slot; alternatively, the communication device may transmit the control information on a first control channel or a first data channel in the first time slot and at least one time slot after the first time slot.

Based on the scheme, the communication device may transmit the control information on the first control channel or the first data channel in the first time slot and at least one time slot after the first time slot after multiplexing the feedback information of the at least one data information to the control information.

In one possible implementation, the communication device may reuse feedback information of the at least one data information for the control information in the first time slot; alternatively, the communication device may reuse feedback information of the at least one data information for control information in the first time slot and at least one time slot subsequent to the first time slot.

Based on the scheme, the communication device can reuse the feedback information of the at least one data information in the first time slot and the control information in the at least one time slot after the first time slot for transmission, and can improve the performance of the service with high delay requirement.

In a second aspect, a method for transmitting feedback information is provided. The method can be executed by the communication device provided by the embodiment of the application. The communication device may be a terminal device or a network device, or may also be a chip similar to the function of the terminal device or the network device. In the method, a communication device may receive at least one data message. Where the at least one data message includes data messages having a corresponding at least one coverage enhancement level and data messages not having a coverage enhancement level. The data information without the coverage enhancement level may be regarded as data information with a coverage enhancement level of zero or data information with the lowest coverage enhancement level. The communication device may reuse feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information for the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information. The communication device may transmit the control information on a first control channel or first data information.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may comprise means/unit for performing the first aspect or any of its possible implementations. Such as processing units and communication units.

In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided that includes a processor and a memory. The memory is used for storing computer-executable instructions, and when the controller runs, the processor executes the computer-executable instructions in the memory to perform the operation steps of the method in the first aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect by using hardware resources in the controller.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the above-described aspects.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product storing instructions that, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the above aspects.

In addition, the advantageous effects of the second aspect to the sixth aspect can be seen as the advantageous effects shown in the first aspect.

Drawings

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

fig. 2 is an exemplary flowchart of a transmission method of feedback information provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a multiplexing method for feedback information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a multiplexing method for feedback information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a multiplexing method for feedback information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a multiplexing method for feedback information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a multiplexing method for feedback information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a multiplexing method for feedback information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a multiplexing method for feedback information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus having a communication function according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a block diagram of a device having a communication function according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

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

1) The coverage enhancement level may also be referred to as a coverage level, or a service type level, or a service restoration level, or an enhancement level. The service type includes at least one of time delay, power consumption, speed, modulation coding scheme or occupied resource amount. The amount of resources may be understood as the number of Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs), or the number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and the combination of the number of PRBs and symbols. In practical networking, cell edges face a large degree of interference from other cells, and the purposes of coverage enhancement and delay reduction can be achieved through cellular communication technology.

2) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "plurality" means two or more, and other terms are analogous. "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. Furthermore, for elements (elements) that appear in the singular form "a," an, "and" the, "they are not intended to mean" one or only one "unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, but rather" one or more than one. For example, "a device" means for one or more such devices. Still further, at least one (at least one of a).

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

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

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

The embodiment of the application can be applied to a traditional typical network, and can also be applied to a future UE-centric (UE-centric) network. A UE-centric network introduces a network architecture without a cell (Non-cell), that is, a large number of small stations are deployed in a certain area to form a super cell (super cell), each small station is a Transmission Point (TP) or a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP) of the super cell, and is connected to a centralized controller (controller). When the UE moves in the Hyper cell, the network side equipment selects a new sub-cluster for the UE to serve, thereby avoiding real cell switching and realizing the continuity of UE service. The network side device comprises a wireless network device. Or, in a network with UE as the center, multiple network side devices, such as small stations, may have independent controllers, such as distributed controllers, each small station may independently schedule users, and there is interaction information between small stations over a long period of time, so that there is also a certain flexibility when providing cooperative service for UE.

In the embodiment of the present application, different base stations may be base stations with different identities, and may also be base stations with the same identity and deployed in different geographic locations. Since the base station does not know whether the base station relates to the application scenario of the embodiment of the present application before the base station is deployed, the base station or the baseband chip should support the method provided by the embodiment of the present application before the base station is deployed. It is to be understood that the aforementioned base stations with different identities may be base station identities, cell identities, or other identities.

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

In this application, the communication device may be a terminal device or a network device. When the communication device is a terminal device, the terminal device multiplexes feedback information for a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH); when the communication device is a network device, the network device multiplexes feedback information for a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

It should be noted that, when the communication device is a terminal device, the terminal device may report the number of the feedback information that can be multiplexed to the network device.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to wireless communication among communication devices. The wireless communication between the communication devices may include: wireless communication between a network device and a terminal device, wireless communication between a network device and a network device, and wireless communication between a terminal device and a terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the term "wireless communication" may also be simply referred to as "communication", and the term "communication" may also be described as "data transmission", "information transmission", or "transmission".

For the convenience of understanding the embodiments of the present application, a communication system applied to the embodiments of the present application will be first described in detail by taking the communication system shown in fig. 1 as an example. Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for the communication method of the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system 100 includes a terminal apparatus 101 and a network apparatus 102. The terminal device 101 and the network device 102 may be configured with multiple antennas. Optionally, the communication system may further include the terminal device 103, and the terminal device 103 may also be configured with multiple antennas.

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

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

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

In the embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the terminal may be the terminal, or may be an apparatus capable of supporting the terminal to implement the function, such as a chip system, and the apparatus may be installed in the terminal. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, a device for implementing a function of a terminal is taken as an example, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

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

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

In the embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device may be a network device, or may be an apparatus capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, for example, a system on chip, and the apparatus may be installed in the network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, a device for implementing a function of a network device is taken as an example of a network device, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

Currently, when receiving service data, communication devices may respectively send feedback information corresponding to the data. The communication device supports multiplexing of feedback information. That is, the communication device may transmit multiple feedback information on the same time slot. However, the number of feedback information that can be multiplexed and transmitted in one time slot is limited, and if the number of feedback information to be multiplexed and transmitted in one time slot by the communication device exceeds the number limit, a plurality of corresponding feedback information may be multiplexed and transmitted in the order of time of the received data. Therefore, feedback information corresponding to some services may not be fed back to the sending end in time, which affects the performance of the services.

Based on the above problem, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. The communication method of the present application may be applied to a wireless communication system, for example, the communication system shown in fig. 1. The communication system may include at least one network device and at least one terminal device. The network device and the terminal device may communicate over a wireless air interface. The communication device in the embodiment of the present application may be a terminal device, such as terminal device 101 and terminal device 103 shown in fig. 1, or the communication device may also be a network device, such as network device 102 shown in fig. 1.

As shown in fig. 2, an exemplary flowchart of a communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, which is shown in a device interaction perspective, may include the following steps.

Step 201: the first communication device receives at least one data message.

Wherein the first communication device may receive the plurality of data from the second communication device. The first communication device may be a network device or may be a terminal device. Likewise, the second communication device may be a network device or a terminal device. The communication devices herein may receive the same at least one data message, or different at least one data message.

For example, the at least one data information may have a corresponding at least one coverage enhancement level. It should be understood that data information that does not cover an enhancement level may be considered to have a coverage enhancement level of zero or lowest. Having a corresponding at least one coverage level includes a coverage level of 0 or no coverage level. With a corresponding at least one coverage enhancement level, which may also be referred to as having a corresponding coverage enhancement level. The coverage level may be represented by a corresponding dB value. As an example, a coverage enhancement level of 0 may indicate a desired coverage enhancement of 0 dB. As an example, a coverage enhancement level of 1 may indicate that a coverage enhancement of 2dB is required. As an example, a coverage enhancement level of 2 may indicate that a 3dB coverage enhancement is required. As an example, a coverage enhancement level of 3 may indicate a desired coverage enhancement of 5 dB. When the second communication device transmits a data message to the first communication device, the data message can be repeatedly transmitted according to the coverage enhancement level of the data message. At this time, the at least one data information received by the first communication device is the same data information.

For another example, when the second communication device transmits data information to the first device, one data information may be transmitted only once without repeated transmission, or different redundancy versions of one data information may be transmitted. At this time, at least one data information received by the first communication device is different.

Step 202: the communication device multiplexes feedback information of the corresponding at least one data information to the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information.

The feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information may be understood as the feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information.

The communication device may reuse feedback information of the at least one data information in the control information in the first time slot and at least one time slot subsequent to the first time slot. Wherein the at least one data information may correspond to one feedback information. For example, when the first communication device receives the same plurality of data information, the first communication device may generate one feedback information for the same plurality of data information. Alternatively, the first communication device may generate corresponding respective feedback information for the received different data information. Alternatively, when the first communication device receives a different redundancy version of a piece of data information, the first communication device may generate a piece of feedback information for the different redundancy version of the piece of data information. Multiplexing the feedback information of the at least one data information with the control information may be understood as loading the feedback information of the at least one data information on the control information, or the control information includes the feedback information of the at least one data information.

The communication device may maintain a correspondence between the coverage enhancement level and the data information, and may reuse the feedback information in the control information according to the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information when receiving the at least one data information. The network device may also pre-configure a threshold value of the feedback information that the first communication device can multiplex in one time slot. The network device may send the threshold to the first communication device via a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling message. The threshold of the feedback information that can be multiplexed by the first communication device in one slot is the number of bits of the feedback information that can be multiplexed by the first communication device in one slot. Therefore, the first communication device should have the total number of feedback information multiplexed in the control information less than or equal to the threshold in step 203. Alternatively, the threshold may be protocol specified.

In an example, the threshold may be determined according to the number of feedback information that can be multiplexed and reported by the communication device. For example, the threshold may be the same as the number of the reusable feedback information reported by the communication device, or the threshold may be a function of the number of the reusable feedback information reported by the communication device as a variable.

Hereinafter, a method for the first communication device to reuse the feedback information for the control information according to the coverage enhancement level will be specifically described, which may include method 1-method 4. Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the higher the coverage enhancement level is, the lower the coverage enhancement level value is; the lower the coverage enhancement level, the higher the coverage enhancement level value. For example, of the coverage enhancement level values 1, 2, and 3, the coverage enhancement level having the coverage enhancement level value of 1 is the highest, the coverage enhancement level having the coverage enhancement level value of 2 is the next highest, and the coverage enhancement level having the coverage enhancement level value of 3 is the lowest. Or, the higher the coverage enhancement level is, the higher the coverage enhancement level value is; the lower the coverage enhancement level, the lower the coverage enhancement level value. For example, the coverage enhancement level with a coverage enhancement level value of 3 is the highest, the coverage enhancement level with a coverage enhancement level value of 2 is the next highest, and the coverage enhancement level with a coverage enhancement level value of 1 is the lowest. The following describes methods 1 to 4 in detail, taking the first case as an example.

The method comprises the following steps: and multiplexing the feedback information of the corresponding at least one data information to the control information according to the sequence of the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information from high to low.

For example, the first communication device receives data information 1, data information 2, and data information 3. The coverage enhancement level of the data information 1 is the highest level (e.g., level 1), the coverage enhancement level of the data information 2 is the highest level (e.g., level 1), and the coverage enhancement level of the data information 3 is the second highest level (e.g., level 2). The threshold value of the feedback information that the first communication device can multiplex is 2. Accordingly, the first communication device can reuse feedback information of the data information 1 and the data information 2 in the first control information and transmit the first control information on the first slot. The first communication device may carry the feedback information of data 3 to the second control information and transmit the second control information one time slot after the first time slot.

In one example, the first communication device may determine a coverage enhancement level for the data information based on a total number of received identical data information. For example, the total number of data information 1 received by the first communication device is 4, the total number of data information 2 is 2, and the total number of data information 3 is 1. Thus, the first communication device may determine that the coverage enhancement level of data information 1 is higher than the coverage enhancement level of data information 2, and that the coverage enhancement level of data information 2 is higher than the coverage enhancement level of data information 3.

Optionally, the first communication device may also determine the coverage enhancement level according to the identification information carried in the data information. The identification information may characterize the service to which the data belongs. Wherein the first communication device may pre-store a correspondence between the identification information and the coverage enhancement level. Therefore, when the first communication device receives the data information, the first communication device can search the corresponding coverage enhancement level according to the identification information.

Referring to fig. 3, the first communication device receives data information 1 having the number of repetitions of 1, data information 2 having the number of repetitions of 2, data information 3 having the number of repetitions of 2, and data information 4 having the number of repetitions of 1. Thus, the first communication device may determine that the coverage enhancement level of data information 2 is the same as the coverage enhancement level of data information 3 and higher than the coverage enhancement levels of data information 1 and data information 4. In addition, the coverage enhancement level of the data information 1 is the same as the coverage enhancement level of the data information 4. The first communication device determines that the first time slot for sending the feedback information of the data information 1-the data information 4 is collided, and the threshold value of the feedback information which can be multiplexed by the first communication device is 2. The first communication device may reuse feedback information covering data information 2 and data information 3 with the highest enhancement level for the first control information and transmit the first control information on the first slot. The first communication device may reuse feedback information covering data information 3 and data information 4 of the highest enhancement level for the second control information and transmit the second control information on the second slot.

The method 2 comprises the following steps: multiplexing at least one feedback information corresponding to at least one data information with the same coverage enhancement level to the control information.

The first communication device may multiplex feedback information for one or more data information of the same coverage enhancement level to the control information. If the number of the feedback information of the one or more data information is less than the threshold, the remaining resources of the control information may be set as idle resources. In other words, the first communication device multiplexes only the feedback information of the data information of the same coverage enhancement level in the control information.

In addition, if the number of the feedback information belonging to the same coverage enhancement level to be sent by the first communication device is greater than the number threshold supported by the first communication device, the first communication device may send the corresponding feedback information according to the receiving sequence of the data information. It should be understood that, herein, the receiving order of the at least one data message may be a receiving time sequence of the at least one data message in the time domain. For example, the first communication device receives data information 1, data information 2, data information 3, data information 4, and data information 5 in chronological order. The coverage enhancement level of the data information 1 is the highest level, the coverage enhancement level of the data information 2 is the highest level, the coverage enhancement level of the data information 3 is the highest level, the coverage enhancement level of the data information 4 is the next highest level, and the coverage enhancement level of the data information 5 is the next highest level. The threshold value of the feedback information that the first communication device can multiplex is 2. Since the threshold value of the feedback information that can be multiplexed is smaller than the number of feedback information covering the data information with the highest enhancement level. Therefore, the first communication device can reuse the feedback information of the data information 1 and the data information 2 for the first control information in the reception order of the data information with the highest coverage enhancement level and transmit the first control information on the first slot. Since the coverage enhancement levels of the data information corresponding to the feedback information included in the control information need to be the same, although two pieces of feedback information may be multiplexed on the second control information, since only one piece of feedback information (feedback information of data information 3) of the data information with the highest coverage enhancement level remains, the first communication device carries the feedback information of data information 2 only on the second control information, and transmits the second control information on the second time slot. The first communication device may reuse feedback information of the data information 4 and the data information 5 in the third control information and transmit the third control information on the third slot. The time domain position of the first time slot is before the time domain position of the second time slot, and the time domain position of the second time slot is before the time domain position of the third time slot.

Referring to fig. 4, the first communication device receives data information 1 having the repetition number 2, data information 2 having the repetition number 2, data information 3 having the repetition number 1, and data information 4 having the repetition number 1. Thus, the first communication device may determine that the coverage enhancement level of data information 1 is the same as the coverage enhancement level of data information 2 and higher than the coverage enhancement levels of data information 3 and data information 4. The coverage enhancement level of the data information 3 is the same as the coverage enhancement level of the data information 4. The first communication device determines that the first time slot for sending the feedback information of the data information 1-the data information 4 is collided, and the threshold value of the feedback information which can be multiplexed by the first communication device is 2. The first communication device may determine that 2 pieces of feedback information covering the data information with the highest enhancement level (i.e., feedback information of data information 1 and data information 2) are equal to the threshold value, and thus may reuse the feedback information of data information 1 and data information 2 for the first control information and transmit the first control information on the first slot. The first communication device may determine that the number of feedback information covering the data information of the highest enhancement level is 2 (i.e., feedback information of data 3 and data 4), and thus may reuse the feedback information of data information 3 and data information 4 for the second control information and transmit the second control information on the second slot.

Referring to fig. 5, the first communication device receives data information 1 having the repetition number of 3, data information 2 having the repetition number of 2, data information 3 having the repetition number of 3, and data information 4 having the repetition number of 2. Thus, the first communication device may determine that the coverage enhancement level of data information 1 is the same as the coverage enhancement level of data information 2 and higher than the coverage enhancement levels of data information 3 and data information 4. The coverage enhancement level of the data information 3 is the same as the coverage enhancement level of the data information 4. The first communication device determines that the first time slot for sending the feedback information of the data information 1-the data information 4 is collided, and the threshold value of the feedback information which can be multiplexed by the first communication device is 3. The first communication device may determine that the number of feedback information covering the data information with the highest enhancement level is 2 (feedback information of data information 1 and data information 3), and thus may reuse the feedback information of data information 1 and data information 3 for the first control information and transmit it on the first slot. Although the first control information may carry 3 pieces of feedback information, since the coverage enhancement levels corresponding to the feedback information included in the control information need to be the same, the first communication device may reuse the feedback information of the data information 2 and the data information 4, which are lower than the coverage enhancement levels of the data information 1 and the data information 3, for the second control information, and transmit the second control information on the second timeslot.

The method 3 comprises the following steps: multiplexing at least one feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information having the first coverage enhancement level and at least one feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information having the at least one second coverage enhancement level with the control information.

For example, the first communication device receives data information 1, data information 2, and data information 3. The coverage enhancement level of the data information 1 is the highest level (e.g., level 1), the coverage enhancement level of the data information 2 is the next highest level (e.g., level 2), and the coverage enhancement level of the data information 3 is the lowest level (e.g., level 3). The first communication device determines that the first time slot for sending the feedback information of the data information 1-the data information 3 is collided, and the threshold value of the feedback information which can be multiplexed by the first communication device is 2. The first communication device may determine that there are 1 feedback information of the data information with the highest coverage enhancement level (feedback information of data 1), but the control information may carry 2 feedback information, and thus, the first communication device may multiplex the feedback information of the data information 1 and the feedback information of the data information 2 or the data information 3 with a coverage enhancement level lower than the data information 1 to the control information. For example, the first communication device may reuse the feedback information of data information 1 and the feedback information of data information 2 for the first control information and transmit on the first time slot. The first communication device may carry the feedback information of the data information 3 to the second control information and transmit on a second time slot after the first time slot. Alternatively, the first communication device may reuse the feedback information of the data information 1 and the feedback information of the data information 3 for the first control information and transmit on the first slot. The first communication device may carry the feedback information of data information 2 to the second control information and transmit on a second time slot after the first time slot.

In the embodiment of the present application, the data information covering the enhancement level x may be understood as data information having a coverage enhancement level x. The feedback information of the data information can be understood as feedback information corresponding to the data information. Where x may be a coverage enhancement level value. For example, the data information covering the enhancement level 1 can be understood as the data information having the coverage enhancement level 1.

In one example, if the number of feedback information of the data information of the same coverage enhancement level to be sent by the first communication device is greater than a threshold of feedback information that can be multiplexed by the first communication device, the first communication device may send the corresponding feedback information in the time sequence of receiving the data information. For example, the first communication device receives data information 1, data information 2, data information 3, data information 4, and data information 5 in chronological order. The coverage enhancement level of the data information 1 is the highest level, the coverage enhancement level of the data information 2 is the highest level, the coverage enhancement level of the data information 3 is the highest level, the coverage enhancement level of the data information 4 is the next highest level, and the coverage enhancement level of the data information 5 is the next highest level. The first communication device determines that the first time slot for sending the feedback information of the data information 1-5 is collided, and the threshold value of the feedback information which can be multiplexed by the first communication device is 2. The first communication device may determine that there are 3 pieces of feedback information (feedback information of data information 1, data information 2, and data information 3) covering the data information with the highest enhancement level. Since the threshold of the feedback information that can be carried by the control information is 2, the first communication device may reuse the feedback information of data information 1 and data information 2 for the first control information according to the receiving order of the data information, and transmit the feedback information on the first time slot. At this time, the feedback information covering the data information with the highest enhancement level remains 1 (i.e., the feedback information of data information 3), and the control information may carry 2 pieces of feedback information, so that the first communication device may reuse the feedback information of data information 3 and the feedback information covering the data information with the second highest enhancement level (i.e., data information 4 and data information 5) for the second control information, and transmit the second control information on the second timeslot. The first communication device may reuse the feedback information of the data information 3 and the feedback information of the data information 4 for the second control information in the order of reception of the data information and transmit on the second slot. The first communication device may carry the feedback information of the data information 5 to the third control information and transmit on the third time slot.

Wherein the first communication device may determine the coverage enhancement level of the data information according to the total number of the received same data information. For example, the total number of data information 1 received by the first communication device is 4, the total number of data information 2 is 2, and the total number of data information 3 is 1. Thus, the first communication device may determine that the coverage enhancement level of data information 1 is higher than the coverage enhancement level of data information 2, and that the coverage enhancement level of data information 2 is higher than the coverage enhancement level of data information 3. The total number of data information 3 received by the first communication device is 1, and thus the data information 3 may be normal data, i.e. the data information 3 may not have a coverage enhancement level, or the coverage enhancement level of the data information 3 is lowest.

Referring to fig. 6, the first communication device receives, in chronological order, data information 1 with repetition number 3, data information 2 with repetition number 2, data information 3 with repetition number 2, and data information 4 with repetition number 1. Thus, the first communication device may determine that the coverage enhancement level of data information 1 is the highest, the coverage enhancement level of data information 2 is the next highest to the coverage enhancement level of data information 3, and the coverage enhancement level of data information 4 is the lowest. The first communication device determines that the first time slot for sending the feedback information of the data information 1-the data information 4 is collided, and the threshold value of the feedback information which can be multiplexed by the first communication device is 2. The first communication device may determine that there are 1 feedback information covering the data information with the highest enhancement level (i.e., feedback information of data information 1), but the control information may carry 2 feedback information. Accordingly, the first communication device can reuse the feedback information of the data information 1 and the feedback information of the data information (data information 2 or data information 3) whose coverage enhancement level is the second highest level for the first control information. The first communication device may reuse the feedback information of the data information 1 and the feedback information of the data information 2 for the first control information in the order of reception of the data information and transmit on the first slot. The first communication device may determine that there are 1 piece of feedback information of the data information with the coverage enhancement level being the second highest level, and the control information may carry 2 pieces of feedback information, so that the first communication device may reuse the feedback information of the data information 3 and the feedback information of the data information (data information 4) with the coverage enhancement level being the lowest level for the second control information, and transmit the second control information on the second time slot after the first time slot.

Referring to fig. 7, the first communication device receives, in chronological order, data information 1 with repetition number of 3, data information 2 with repetition number of 2, data information 3 with repetition number of 3, data information 4 with repetition number of 1, and data information 5 with repetition number of 1. Thus, the first communication device may determine that the coverage enhancement level of data information 1 and data information 3 is the highest, the coverage enhancement level of data information 2 is the highest, and the coverage enhancement level of data information 4 and data information 5 is the lowest. The first communication device determines that the time domain resources for sending the feedback information of the data information 1-the data information 5 are collided, and the threshold value of the feedback information which can be multiplexed by the first communication device is 2. The first communication device may determine that there are 2 pieces of feedback information (feedback information of data information 1 and data information 3) covering the data information with the highest enhancement level. Since the control information may carry 2 pieces of feedback information, the first communication device may reuse the feedback information of the data information 1 and the data information 3 for the first control information and transmit on the first time slot. The first communication device may determine that there are 1 feedback information covering data information with a high enhancement level (feedback information of data information 2), but the control information may carry 2 feedback information, so the first communication device may multiplex the feedback information of data information 2 and the feedback information covering data information with a lowest enhancement level (feedback information of data information 4 or feedback information of data information 5) to the second control information and transmit on a second time slot after the first time slot. The first communication device may reuse the feedback information of data information 2 and data information 4 for the second control information and carry the feedback information of data information 5 on the third control information in the order of receiving the data information, and transmit on the third time slot.

The method 4 comprises the following steps: and when the coverage enhancement level of at least one data message is greater than or equal to the preset threshold, multiplexing the feedback information of at least one data message to the control information according to the receiving sequence of at least one data message.

When it is determined that the coverage enhancement levels of the m data messages are greater than or equal to the preset threshold, the first communication device may multiplex the feedback information of the m data messages to the control information according to the receiving sequence of the m data messages. Here, m may be an integer of 0 or more. When the first communication device determines that the coverage enhancement level of the n data messages is less than the preset threshold, the first communication device may multiplex the feedback information of the n data messages to the control information according to the foregoing method 1 and/or method 2 and/or method 3. Here, n may be an integer of 0 or more. It should be understood that the aforementioned preset threshold may be signaled by the network device to the first communication device, or may also be predetermined by the protocol, and the present application is not limited in particular.

Based on the above scheme, when the coverage enhancement level is greater than the threshold, it indicates that the coverage enhancement levels are all higher, so the feedback information can be reused for the control information in time domain order. That is, under the condition of higher priority, the feedback information is multiplexed in sequence through the receiving sequence of the data information, so that the complexity can be reduced, and the feedback information with high priority is ensured to be fed back in sequence.

In this embodiment, the signaling may be at least one of Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, or physical layer signaling.

Referring to fig. 8, the first communication device receives, in chronological order, data information 1 with repetition number 2, data information 2 with repetition number 3, data information 3 with repetition number 3, data information 4 with repetition number 2, and data information 5 with repetition number 1. The first communication device determines that the coverage enhancement level of the data information 1, the data information 2 and the data information 3 is the highest and is higher than a preset threshold, the coverage enhancement level of the data information 4 is the highest and is lower than the preset threshold, and the coverage enhancement level of the data information 5 is the lowest and is lower than the preset threshold. The first communication device determines that the feedback information for transmitting the data information 1-5 collides in the first time slot, and the threshold value of the feedback information that the first communication device can reuse is 2. Since the coverage enhancement level of the data information 1, the data information 2 and the data information 3 is higher than the preset threshold, the first communication device may reuse the feedback information of the data information 1 to the data information 3 for the first control information according to the receiving sequence of the data information. Since the control information may carry 2 pieces of feedback information, the first communication device multiplexes the feedback information of the data information 1 and the data information 2 for the first control information and transmits it on the first slot. The first communication device carries the feedback information of the data information 3 in the second control information, and transmits the feedback information in the second time slot. Since the feedback information of the data information 4 and the data information 5 is lower than the preset threshold, the first communication device may transmit the feedback information of the data information 4 and the data information 5 in the order of the coverage enhancement level from high to low. For example, the first communication device transmits feedback information of data information 4 and data information 5 according to method 1 described above. Since the coverage enhancement levels of the data information 4 and the data information 5 are different, the first communication device may carry the feedback information of the data information 4 on the third control information and transmit the feedback information on the third time slot, and carry the feedback information of the data information 5 on the fourth control information and transmit the feedback information on the fourth time slot.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the collision occurs in the xth time slot, it can be understood that the information to be transmitted exceeds the information that can be transmitted, or the information to be transmitted exceeds the information that can be multiplexed. The information to be transmitted here may comprise feedback information. For example, when a collision occurs in the first time slot, it may be understood that the amount of information to be transmitted in the first time slot exceeds the amount of information that can be transmitted, or it may also be understood that the amount of information to be transmitted in the first time slot exceeds the amount of information that can be multiplexed. In the event of a collision in the first time slot, it can also be understood that the information power to be transmitted in the first time slot exceeds the maximum power that can be transmitted, or that the information power to be transmitted in the first time slot exceeds the maximum power that can be reused. The information that can be taken can be understood as the number of bits for HARQ feedback that can be transmitted simultaneously.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 9, the first communication device may transmit the feedback information of the data information 4 and the data information 5 according to the method 2. For example, although the coverage enhancement levels of the data information 4 and the data information 5 are different, the control information may carry 2 pieces of feedback information, and thus the first communication device may reuse the feedback information of the data information 4 and the data information 5 for the third control information and transmit on the third time slot.

Alternatively, the first communication device may transmit feedback information of data information 3, data information 4, and data information 5 according to method 2 described above. For example, although the coverage enhancement levels of the data information 3 and the data information 4 are different, the control information may carry 2 pieces of feedback information, and thus the first communication device may reuse the feedback information of the data information 3 and the data information 4 for the second control information and transmit on the second time slot. The first communication device may carry the feedback information of the data information 5 to the third control information, and transmit on the third timeslot.

Optionally, the first communication device receives, according to the chronological order, the data information 1 with the repetition number of 2, the data information 2 with the repetition number of 3, and the data information 3 with the repetition number of 3. Wherein the first communication device determines that the coverage enhancement levels of the data information 1, the data information 2 and the data information 3 are all higher than a preset threshold. The first communication device determines that the feedback information for transmitting the data information 1-the data information 3 collides in the first time slot, and the threshold value of the feedback information that the first communication device can reuse is 3. Since the coverage enhancement level of the data information 1, the data information 2 and the data information 3 is higher than the preset threshold, the first communication device may reuse the feedback information of the data information 1 to the data information 3 for the first control information according to the receiving sequence of the data information. Since the control information may carry 3 pieces of feedback information, the first communication device reuses the feedback information of data information 1, data information 2, and data information 3 for the first control information and transmits on the first time slot.

Based on the scheme, when the coverage enhancement level is smaller than the threshold, the coverage enhancement level is not very high, so that the coverage enhancement level can be treated by distinguishing the level, the feedback information corresponding to the data information with high coverage enhancement level can be fed back preferentially, and the feedback information corresponding to the data information with low coverage enhancement level can be fed back again.

In the embodiment of the present application, the data information may be understood as a transport block. It should be noted that the multiplexing method of the feedback information in any one of the methods 1 to 4 may be preset, or may also be protocol-specified, or may also be sent to the first terminal device by the network device through RRC signaling, which is not limited in this application.

Step 203: the communication device transmits control information on a first control channel or a first data channel.

Wherein the communication device may transmit the control information on a first control channel or a first data channel in the first time slot and at least one time slot after the first time slot. The control information may be carried on a first control channel or a first data channel.

Alternatively, the communication device may transmit the control information on a first control channel or a first data channel in the first time slot. The control information may be carried on a first control channel or a first data channel.

Based on the same technical concept as the above method, as shown in fig. 10, there is provided an apparatus 1000 having a communication function. The apparatus 1000 is capable of performing the steps performed by the communication device of the above-described method, and will not be described in detail here to avoid repetition. The apparatus 1000 comprises: the communication unit 1010, the processing unit 1020, and optionally, the storage unit 1030; the processing unit 1020 may be connected to the memory unit 1030 and the communication unit 1010, respectively, and the memory unit 1030 may also be connected to the communication unit 010. Wherein the processing unit 1020 may be integrated with the storage unit 1030.

The storage unit 1030 is configured to store a computer program;

illustratively, the communication unit 1010 is configured to receive at least one data message. The processing unit 1020 is configured to reuse feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information for control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information. The communication unit 1010 is further configured to transmit the control information on a first control channel or a first data channel. The description of the coverage enhancement level of at least one data information may refer to the related description in the embodiment of the method as described in fig. 2.

In one design, the number of feedback information included in the control information does not exceed a threshold of feedback information that the communication device is capable of multiplexing. The related description of the threshold of the feedback information capable of being multiplexed can be referred to the description in the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 2.

In one design, when multiplexing the feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information with the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information, the processing unit 1020 is specifically configured to: and multiplexing the feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information to the control information according to the sequence of the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information from high to low.

In one design, when multiplexing the feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information with the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information, the processing unit 1020 is specifically configured to: multiplexing at least one feedback information corresponding to at least one data information with a first coverage enhancement level and at least one feedback information corresponding to at least one data information with at least one second coverage enhancement level to the control information; wherein the at least one second coverage enhancement level is lower than the first coverage enhancement level.

In one design, the processing unit 1020 is further configured to determine that the coverage enhancement levels of the at least one data message are all less than or equal to a preset threshold.

In one design, the processing unit 1020 is further configured to, when the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data message is greater than or equal to the preset threshold, multiplex the feedback information of the at least one data message with the control information according to a receiving order of the at least one data message by the communication device.

In one design, when the communication unit 1010 sends the control information on the first control channel or the first data channel, it is specifically configured to: transmitting the control information on the first control channel or the first data channel in a first slot; or transmitting the control information on the first control channel or the first data channel in the first time slot and at least one time slot subsequent to the first time slot.

In one design, when multiplexing the feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information with the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information, the processing unit 1020 is specifically configured to: reusing feedback information of the at least one data information for control information in a first time slot; or multiplexing the feedback information of the at least one data information in the first time slot and the control information in at least one time slot after the first time slot.

The device may also be a chip, wherein the communication unit may be an input/output circuit or an interface of the chip, the processing unit may be a logic circuit, and the logic circuit may process the data to be processed according to the steps described in the above method aspect, and acquire the processed data. The data to be processed may be the at least one data information, and the processed data may be the control information. The output circuit/interface is used for outputting the processed data.

Fig. 11 shows a simplified schematic diagram of a terminal device. For easy understanding and illustration, in fig. 11, the terminal device is exemplified by a mobile phone. As shown in fig. 11, the terminal device includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the terminal equipment, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs and the like. The memory is used primarily for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are used primarily for receiving data input by a user and for outputting data to the user. It should be noted that some kinds of terminal devices may not have input/output devices.

When data needs to be sent, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs baseband signals to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signals and sends the radio frequency signals to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal equipment, the radio frequency circuit receives radio frequency signals through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signals into baseband signals and outputs the baseband signals to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signals into the data and processes the data. For ease of illustration, only one memory and processor are shown in FIG. 11. In an actual end device product, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc. The memory may be provided independently of the processor, or may be integrated with the processor, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the radio frequency circuit having the transceiving function may be regarded as a communication unit of the terminal device, and the processor having the processing function may be regarded as a processing unit of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 11, the terminal device includes a communication unit 1110 and a processing unit 1120. The communication unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving means, etc. A processing unit may also be referred to as a processor, a processing board, a processing module, a processing device, or the like. Alternatively, a device in the communication unit 1110 for implementing a receiving function may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device in the communication unit 1110 for implementing a transmitting function may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the communication unit 1110 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. A communication unit may also sometimes be referred to as a transceiver, transceiving circuitry, or the like. A receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, a receiving circuit, or the like. A transmitting unit may also sometimes be referred to as a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

It should be understood that the communication unit 1110 is configured to perform the transmitting operation and the receiving operation on the first communication device side in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 1120 is configured to perform other operations besides the transceiving operation on the first communication device in the above method embodiments.

For example, in one implementation manner, the communication unit 1110 is configured to perform the receiving and/or transmitting operations of the first communication device side in steps 201 to 203 in fig. 2, and/or the communication unit 1110 is further configured to perform other transceiving steps of the first communication device side in the embodiment of the present application. The processing unit 1120 is configured to execute other processing steps on the first communication device side in this embodiment of the application.

When the terminal device is a chip-like apparatus or circuit, the apparatus may include a communication unit and a processing unit. Wherein, the communication unit can be an input-output circuit and/or a communication interface; the processing unit is an integrated processor or microprocessor or integrated circuit.

Fig. 12 shows an apparatus 1200 having a communication function according to an embodiment of the present application, for implementing the function of the communication device in the foregoing method. The apparatus may be the first communication device, may also be a chip similar to the function of the first communication device, or may be an apparatus capable of matching with the first communication device.

The apparatus 1200 includes at least one processor 1220 for implementing the functions of the first communication device in the methods provided by the embodiments of the present application. The apparatus 1200 may also include a communication interface 1210. In embodiments of the present application, the communication interface may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, or other type of communication interface for communicating with other devices over a transmission medium. For example, the communication interface 1210 is used for the apparatus in the apparatus 1200 to communicate with other devices. When the apparatus 1200 is a first communication device, the processor 1220 may perform the functions of the processing unit 1020 shown in fig. 10, and the communication interface 1210 may perform the functions of the communication unit 1010 shown in fig. 10.

The apparatus 1200 may also include at least one memory 1230 for storing program instructions and/or data. Memory 1230 is coupled to processor 1220. The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or a communication connection between devices, units or modules, and may be an electrical, mechanical or other form for information interaction between the devices, units or modules. The processor 1220 may cooperate with the memory 1230. Processor 1220 may execute program instructions stored in memory 1230. At least one of the at least one memory may be included in the processor.

The specific connection medium among the communication interface 1210, the processor 1220 and the memory 1230 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In fig. 12, the memory 1230, the processor 1220 and the communication interface 1210 are connected by a bus 1240, the bus is represented by a thick line in fig. 12, and the connection manner among other components is only schematically illustrated and not limited. 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. 12, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

As another form of the present embodiment, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, perform the method on the first communication device side in the above-described method embodiments.

As another form of the present embodiment, there is provided a computer program product containing instructions that, when executed, perform the method on the first communication device side in the above-described method embodiments.

As another form of the present embodiment, there is provided a communication system that may include the at least one first communication device and the at least one second communication device described above.

It should be understood that the Processor mentioned in the embodiments of the present invention may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), other general purpose Processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other Programmable logic device, a discrete Gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, and the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

It will also be appreciated that the memory referred to in this embodiment of the invention may be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile Memory may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), or a flash Memory. Volatile Memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache Memory. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static random access memory (Static RAM, SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic random access memory (Synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), Enhanced Synchronous SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchronous link SDRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct Rambus RAM (DR RAM).

It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, the memory (memory module) is integrated in the processor.

It should be noted that the memory described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present invention.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Claims

1. A method for transmitting feedback information, comprising:

the communication device receives at least one data message; wherein the at least one data information has a corresponding at least one coverage enhancement level;

the communication equipment reuses feedback information corresponding to the at least one data message to control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data message;

the communication device transmits the control information on a first control channel or a first data channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of feedback information included in the control information does not exceed a threshold of feedback information that can be multiplexed by the communication device.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the multiplexing, by the communication device, feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information to the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information comprises:

and the communication equipment multiplexes the feedback information corresponding to the at least one data message to the control information according to the sequence of the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data message from high to low.

4. The method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the multiplexing, by the communication device, feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information with the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information comprises:

and the communication equipment multiplexes at least one piece of feedback information corresponding to at least one piece of data information with the same coverage enhancement level to the control information.

5. The method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the multiplexing, by the communication device, feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information with the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information comprises:

multiplexing, by the communications device, at least one feedback information corresponding to at least one data information having a first coverage enhancement level and at least one feedback information corresponding to at least one data information having at least one second coverage enhancement level with the control information; wherein the at least one second coverage enhancement level is lower than the first coverage enhancement level.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the communication device determines that the coverage enhancement levels of the at least one data message are all less than or equal to a preset threshold.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

and when the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data message is greater than or equal to the preset threshold, the communication equipment multiplexes the feedback information of the at least one data message to the control information according to the receiving sequence of the at least one data message.

8. The method of any of claims 1-7, wherein the sending, by the communications device, the control information on the first control channel or the first data channel comprises:

the communication device sends the control information on the first control channel or the first data channel in a first time slot;

alternatively, the communication device transmits the control information on the first control channel or the first data channel in a first time slot and at least one time slot after the first time slot.

9. The method according to any of claims 1-8, wherein the multiplexing, by the communication device, feedback information corresponding to the at least one data message with the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data message comprises:

the communication equipment reuses feedback information of the at least one data message in a first time slot;

or the communication device reuses the feedback information of the at least one data information in the control information in the first time slot and at least one time slot after the first time slot.

10. A communication device, comprising: a processing unit and a communication unit;

the communication unit is used for receiving at least one data message; wherein the at least one data information has a corresponding at least one coverage enhancement level;

the processing unit is configured to reuse feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information for control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information;

the communication unit is further configured to transmit the control information on a first control channel or a first data channel.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the amount of feedback information included in the control information does not exceed a threshold of feedback information that can be multiplexed by the communication device.

12. The device according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the processing unit, when multiplexing the feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information to the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information, is specifically configured to:

and multiplexing the feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information to the control information according to the sequence of the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information from high to low.

13. The device according to any of claims 10 to 12, wherein the processing unit, when multiplexing the feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information with the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information, is specifically configured to:

multiplexing at least one feedback information corresponding to at least one data information with a first coverage enhancement level and at least one feedback information corresponding to at least one data information with at least one second coverage enhancement level to the control information; wherein the at least one second coverage enhancement level is lower than the first coverage enhancement level.

14. The device of claim 10, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

and determining that the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data message is less than or equal to a preset threshold.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

16. The device according to any of claims 10 to 15, wherein the communication unit, when sending the control information on the first control channel or the first data channel, is specifically configured to:

transmitting the control information on the first control channel or the first data channel in a first slot; or

Transmitting the control information on the first control channel or the first data channel in the first time slot and at least one time slot after the first time slot.

17. The device according to any of claims 10 to 16, wherein the processing unit, when multiplexing the feedback information corresponding to the at least one data information with the control information based on the coverage enhancement level of the at least one data information, is specifically configured to:

reusing feedback information of the at least one data information for control information in a first time slot; or

And multiplexing the feedback information of the at least one data information in the first time slot and the control information in at least one time slot after the first time slot.

18. A communication device, characterized in that the apparatus comprises a processor and a memory,

the memory for storing computer programs or instructions;

the processor for executing a computer program or instructions in a memory, such that the method of any of claims 1-9 is performed.

19. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when invoked by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 9.