CN114762392A

CN114762392A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN114762392A
Application number: CN201980102615.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 酉春华
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-12-30
Filing date: 2019-12-30
Publication date: 2022-07-15
Anticipated expiration: 2039-12-30
Also published as: WO2021134151A1; CN114762392B

Abstract

In order to increase the transmission efficiency when configuring grants for transmission, a communication method is provided. In the method, a terminal receives a configuration parameter from a network device, wherein the configuration parameter is used for indicating a timer duration, and the timer duration is a minimum duration before the terminal expects to receive downlink feedback information. The terminal performs configuration authorization transmission on a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process, and a first timer for starting the first HARQ process should be configured for the authorization transmission, wherein the first timer has a timer duration indicated by a configuration parameter. Because the first timer of one HARQ process should be configured with grant transmission and started, and the feedback for the configured grant transmission is likely to arrive after the minimum time length from the time when the uplink transmission is performed to the time when the terminal expects to receive the downlink feedback information, if the feedback of the HARQ process is received during the running period of the timer, it indicates that the feedback is invalid, and therefore the terminal can determine whether the feedback is valid according to the feedback, thereby reducing the possibility of feedback misjudgment and improving the communication efficiency.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication method and apparatus using configuration authorization.

Background

In wireless communication technologies, a terminal may transmit data to a network device over scheduled and unscheduled resources. The scheduling resource may also be referred to as a scheduling grant or a Dynamic Grant (DG), and may be a resource allocated to the terminal by the network device when the network device knows that the terminal has a need to send data, for example, a resource allocated to the terminal by the network device at the request of the terminal, or a resource allocated to the terminal by the network device for retransmitting data when the terminal fails to transmit data. The non-scheduled resource, which may also be referred to as a non-scheduled grant, a configured resource, or a configured grant, is usually configured in advance to the terminal by the network device, and when the terminal has data to transmit, the non-scheduled resource may be utilized for transmission without requesting the network device to allocate the resource to the terminal. Compared with the scheduling resource, the non-scheduling resource can reduce the interactive flow, thereby saving the scheduling time delay and improving the data transmission efficiency, and more applications are obtained.

When the terminal sends data to the network device by using the non-scheduling resource, the non-scheduling resource and the associated hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information are provided to the HARQ entity, so as to perform uplink transmission by using the non-scheduling resource on the corresponding HARQ process. After the terminal sends data and receives the feedback of the data, the terminal adopts the HARQ process to carry out the next transmission. If the feedback of the data is a Negative Acknowledgement (NACK), the data is retransmitted. In the prior art, retransmission data is transmitted through resources scheduled by network equipment, and as the technology evolves, it is expected that non-scheduled resources can also be used for retransmission. Therefore, there is a need to solve the problem faced when non-scheduled resources are used for retransmissions.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, aiming at improving the transmission efficiency when the configuration authorization is used for transmission.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, in which a terminal receives a configuration parameter from a network device, where the configuration parameter is used to indicate a timer duration, and the timer duration is a minimum duration before the terminal expects to receive downlink feedback information. The terminal performs configuration authorization transmission on a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process, and a first timer for starting the first HARQ process should be configured for the authorization transmission, wherein the first timer has a timer duration indicated by a configuration parameter.

Correspondingly, the network device generates a configuration parameter and sends the configuration parameter to the terminal, wherein the configuration parameter is used for indicating the time length of the timer, and the time length of the timer is the minimum time length before the terminal expects to receive the downlink feedback information.

In the first aspect, the terminal may maintain a first timer with a time duration being a minimum time duration before the terminal expects to receive downlink feedback information for an HARQ process for configuring an grant, and start the first timer when a configuration grant transmission is performed on the HARQ process. Since the first timer should be started by configuring the grant transmission, and the feedback for the configured grant transmission (i.e., the feedback of the HARQ process) may arrive only after the minimum time period from the uplink transmission to the time when the terminal expects to receive the downlink feedback information, if the feedback of the HARQ process is received during the running period of the timer, it indicates that the feedback is invalid, and therefore the terminal may determine whether the feedback is valid according to the above, thereby reducing the possibility of feedback misjudgment and improving communication efficiency.

In the method provided in the first aspect, when the first timer expires, the terminal may further start a second timer of the first HARQ process, where a duration of the second timer is configured by the network device. And during the running period of the second timer, the terminal does not automatically perform the configuration authorization retransmission on the first HARQ process.

In the method provided by the first aspect, the terminal may stop or not start the second timer of the first HARQ process, should configure the grant transmission.

In the method provided in the first aspect, if the terminal receives downlink feedback information, the downlink feedback information includes feedback of the first HARQ process; when the downlink feedback information is received during the operation period of the second timer of the first HARQ process, the terminal determines that the feedback of the first HARQ process is effective; or, when receiving the downlink feedback information during the non-operation period of the second timer of the first HARQ process, the terminal determines that the feedback of the first HARQ process is invalid or ignores the feedback of the first HARQ process.

Further, when the feedback of the first HARQ process is valid and is an Acknowledgement (ACK), the terminal may stop the third timer, where the third timer is started according to the initial uplink transmission of the first HARQ process. The duration of the third timer is configured by the network device. And when the third timer runs, the terminal does not perform configuration authorization initial transmission on the first HARQ process.

In the method provided by the first aspect, the terminal should configure grant transmission, start the second timer of the first HARQ process, and stop the second timer of the first HARQ process when the first timer stops running. Wherein the duration of the second timer is configured by the network device. During the operation of the second timer, the terminal does not automatically perform the retransmission of the configuration authorization on the first HARQ process.

In the method provided in the first aspect, if the terminal receives downlink feedback information, the downlink feedback information includes feedback of the first HARQ process; then, when the downlink feedback information is received during the first timer non-operation period of the first HARQ process, the terminal determines that the feedback of the first HARQ process is valid; or, when the downlink feedback information is received during the first timer operation of the first HARQ process, the terminal determines that the feedback of the first HARQ process is invalid or ignores the feedback of the first HARQ process.

Further, when the feedback of the first HARQ process is valid and is ACK, the terminal may stop the third timer, where the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ process. The duration of the third timer is configured by the network device. And when the third timer runs, the terminal does not perform configuration authorization initial transmission on the first HARQ process.

In the method provided in the first aspect, the terminal may stop the first timer and/or the second timer of the first HARQ process when any one of the following conditions:

receiving a deactivation command, the deactivation command for deactivating the configuration authorization;

receiving a scheduling grant for a first HARQ process;

and a third timer of the first HARQ process expires, wherein the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ process.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the terminal receives activation or deactivation signaling from the network equipment, wherein the activation or deactivation signaling is used for indicating activation or deactivation of configuration authorization, and the configuration authorization is used for a HARQ process; and should activate or deactivate the reception of the signaling, the timer of the first HARQ process in the running state is stopped, wherein the last transmission of the first HARQ process is the transmission granted with the configuration.

In a method provided in the second aspect, upon activation or deactivation of the configuration grant, if there is a running timer on the HARQ process for which the configuration grant is used, the running timer is stopped. Therefore, the HARQ process can be used for the next configuration authorization transmission as soon as possible without waiting for the timer to run to stop, and the transmission efficiency can be improved.

In a second aspect, a method is provided wherein the running timers include at least one of the following:

the first timer authorizes transmission to start according to the configuration of the first HARQ process;

a second timer, which is started according to the configuration authorization transmission of the first HARQ process or when the first timer expires;

and the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ process.

In the method provided in the second aspect, the terminal may also clear the buffer of the first HARQ process. Therefore, preparation can be made for the next configuration authorization transmission, the transmission of useless data is reduced, and the transmission efficiency is further improved.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the terminal sends first uplink data to the network equipment on a first HARQ process by using scheduling authorization, and receives feedback information indicating that the first uplink data is correctly received from the network equipment; and the terminal sends second uplink data by using the configuration authorization on the first HARQ process.

In the method provided in the third aspect, after the initial transmission is performed by using the scheduling grant and the transmission is successful, the terminal can start the next transmission as soon as possible by using the configuration grant on the same HARQ process regardless of whether the configuration grant timer is in the running state, so that the data transmission efficiency is improved.

In the method provided in the third aspect, when the terminal may determine that a New Data Indication (NDI) corresponding to the first HARQ process is inverted, the terminal may send the second uplink data by using the configuration grant on the first HARQ process.

In the method provided in the third aspect, the terminal may stop the grant timer for configuring the first HARQ process, in response to receiving the feedback information indicating that the first uplink data is correctly received.

In the methods of the above aspects, when activation or deactivation of the configuration authorization is involved, the configuration authorization is a type 2 configuration authorization. When other types of configuration authorizations can be activated or deactivated, the configuration authorizations can also be other types of configuration authorizations.

In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided that comprises means or units for performing the steps of any of the above implementations.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit, and perform the method provided by any one of the above implementation manners. The processor includes one or more.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes a processor for calling a program stored in a memory to execute the method provided by any one of the above aspects. The memory may be located within the device or external to the device. And the processor includes one or more.

In a seventh aspect, a computer program is provided, which when called by a processor performs the method provided by any one of the above implementations.

In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which includes a program that, when called by a processor, performs the method provided by any one of the above aspects.

Drawings

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

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of another network architecture provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an HARQ feedback scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic view of a scenario of a retransmission transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of another HARQ feedback scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of another HARQ feedback scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

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

fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application and not all embodiments. Other embodiments, which can be derived by one of ordinary skill in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

In the embodiments of the present application:

a terminal, also called a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), or the like, is a device for providing data connectivity to a user, such as a handheld device or a vehicle-mounted device with a wireless connection function. Examples of terminals are at present: a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palm computer, a Mobile Internet Device (MID), a wearable device, a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an Augmented Reality (AR) device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in unmanned driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote surgery (remote medical supply), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation security (transportation security), a wireless terminal in city (smart city), or a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), etc.

A network device is a device in a wireless network, such as a RAN node that accesses a terminal to the wireless network. Examples of RAN nodes are currently: a gbb, a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), an evolved Node B (eNB), a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a Base Station Controller (BSC), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., home eNodeB or home Node B), a Base Band Unit (BBU), or a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) Access Point (AP), etc. In one network configuration, the network device may be a Centralized Unit (CU) node, or a Distributed Unit (DU) node, or a RAN device including a CU node and a DU node.

Please refer to fig. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the terminal 130 accesses a wireless network to acquire a service of an external network (e.g., the internet) through the wireless network or to communicate with other terminals through the wireless network. The wireless network includes a Radio Access Network (RAN) 110 and a Core Network (CN)120, where the RAN110 is used to access a terminal 130 to the wireless network, and the CN120 is used to manage the terminal and provide a gateway for communication with an external network.

Please refer to fig. 2, which is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, the network architecture includes CN equipment and RAN equipment. The RAN device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device, where the baseband device may be implemented by one node or by multiple nodes, and the radio frequency device may be implemented independently by being pulled away from the baseband device, may also be integrated in the baseband device, or may be partially integrated in the baseband device by being pulled away. For example, the radio frequency device includes a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), and the baseband device includes a BBU, and the RRU is remotely disposed with respect to the BBU.

The communication between the RAN equipment and the terminal follows a certain protocol layer structure. For example, the control plane protocol layer structure may include functions of protocol layers such as a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and a physical layer. The user plane protocol layer structure can comprise the functions of protocol layers such as a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, an MAC layer, a physical layer and the like; in one implementation, a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer may be further included above the PDCP layer.

The functions of these protocol layers may be implemented by one node, or may be implemented by a plurality of nodes; for example, in an evolved structure, a RAN device may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU), and a plurality of DUs may be controlled centrally by one CU. As shown in fig. 2, the CU and the DU may be divided according to protocol layers of the radio network, for example, functions of a PDCP layer and above are provided in the CU, and functions of protocol layers below the PDCP layer, for example, a RLC layer and a MAC layer, are provided in the DU.

This division of the protocol layers is only an example, and it is also possible to divide the protocol layers at other protocol layers, for example, at the RLC layer, and set the functions of the RLC layer and the protocol layers above to CU, and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer to DU; alternatively, the functions may be divided into some protocol layers, for example, a partial function of the RLC layer and a function of a protocol layer above the RLC layer may be provided in the CU, and the remaining function of the RLC layer and a function of a protocol layer below the RLC layer may be provided in the DU. In addition, the processing time may be divided in other ways, for example, by time delay, a function that needs to satisfy the time delay requirement for processing time is set in the DU, and a function that does not need to satisfy the time delay requirement is set in the CU.

In addition, the radio frequency device may be remote, not placed in the DU, or may be integrated in the DU, or may be partially remote and partially integrated in the DU, which is not limited herein.

With continued reference to fig. 3, with respect to the architecture shown in fig. 2, the Control Plane (CP) and the User Plane (UP) of the CU may be separated and implemented by being divided into different entities, namely a control plane CU entity (CU-CP entity) and a user plane CU entity (CU-UP entity).

In the above network architecture, the signaling generated by the CU may be transmitted to the terminal through the DU, or the signaling generated by the terminal may be transmitted to the CU through the DU. The DU may pass through the protocol layer encapsulation directly to the terminal or CU without parsing the signaling. In the following embodiments, if transmission of such signaling between the DU and the terminal is involved, in this case, the transmission or reception of the signaling by the DU includes such a scenario. For example, the signaling of the RRC or PDCP layer is finally processed as the signaling of the PHY layer to be transmitted to the terminal, or converted from the received signaling of the PHY layer. Under this architecture, the signaling of the RRC or PDCP layer may also be considered to be sent by the DU, or sent by the DU and the radio frequency.

In the above embodiment, the CU is divided into the network devices on the RAN side, and in addition, the CU may also be divided into the network devices on the CN side, which is not limited herein.

The apparatus in the following embodiments of the present application may be located in a terminal or a network device according to the functions implemented by the apparatus. When the above structure of CU-DU is adopted, the network device may be a CU node, or a DU node, or a RAN device including the CU node and the DU node.

The terminal may send data to the network device via scheduled and unscheduled resources. The scheduling resource may also be referred to as a scheduling grant, and may be a resource allocated to the terminal by the network device when knowing that the terminal has a need to send data, for example, a resource allocated to the terminal according to a request of the terminal, or a resource allocated to the terminal by the network device for retransmitting data when the terminal fails to transmit data. Taking the resource allocated to the terminal according to the request of the terminal as an example, the terminal sends a scheduling request to the network device, and the network device allocates the resource to the terminal according to the scheduling request, so that the terminal performs uplink transmission; in addition, the terminal may send a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the network device, and the network device allocates resources to the terminal according to the BSR, so that the terminal performs uplink transmission. The non-scheduled resource, which may also be referred to as a non-scheduled grant, a configured resource, or a configured grant, is usually configured in advance for the terminal by the network device, and when the terminal has data to transmit, the non-scheduled resource may be used for transmission without requesting the network device to allocate resources to the terminal. Compared with the scheduling resource, the non-scheduling resource can reduce the interactive flow, thereby saving the scheduling time delay and improving the data transmission efficiency. The non-scheduled resources are referred to as configuration grants in the following.

The configuration authorization is usually a periodic resource, configured to the terminal by the network device. Currently, there are two types of configuration grants (configured grants), which are type 1 configuration grant (configured grant type 1) and type 2 configuration grant (configured grant type 2). The network device may configure the configuration grant to the terminal through higher layer signaling, for example, send a parameter of the configuration grant to the terminal through a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message. For the type 1 configuration authorization, after the parameters of the type 1 configuration authorization are configured to the terminal through the RRC message, the terminal can use the type 1 configuration authorization; for type 2 configuration authorization, parameters of part of configuration authorization are configured to the terminal through an RRC message, and the terminal can use the type 2 configuration authorization after receiving other parameters in physical layer signaling, namely the type 2 configuration authorization can be used after being activated through the physical layer signaling. Furthermore, type 2 configuration grants are deactivated by physical layer signaling.

The configured grant is used for uplink transmission, and thus there is a grant that may be referred to as a configured uplink grant.

In one example, the configuration message of the configuration grant is an RRC message including an information element ConfiguredGrantConfig including parameters of the configuration grant, i.e. parameters used for uplink transmission using the configuration grant. For type 1 and type 2 configuration grants, the cell ConfiguredGrantConfig may include parameters such as a period and a number of HARQ processes, and may further include other parameters such as power control, a repetition number (repK), and a repeated redundancy version (repK-RV). In addition, for the type 1 configuration grant, the cell further includes parameters such as time domain resources, frequency domain resources, and Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS); for type 2 configuration authorization, the cell is not configured with parameters such as frequency domain resources and MCS, and these parameters are sent to the terminal through Downlink Control Information (DCI), and the terminal can use type 2 configuration authorization after receiving the DCI.

The network device may configure the terminal with the HARQ process for configuring the grant, i.e., may use the HARQ process configured with the grant (it is not limited whether the HARQ process may use the scheduling grant), and also configure the terminal with a timer parameter (which may be referred to as timer parameter P1), according to which the terminal maintains a timer (which may be referred to as timer T1) for each configured HARQ process. This timer parameter P1 is called, for example, configuredGrantTimer, and indicates the duration of the timer T1 that the terminal maintains for each HARQ process; this timer T1 is, for example, referred to as a configured grant timer (configured grant timer), the duration of which is determined according to the timer parameter P1. And during the operation of the timer T1 of one HARQ process, the terminal does not use the configuration grant to perform initial transmission on the HARQ process, that is, the timer is not operated, the terminal may use the configuration grant to perform initial transmission on the HARQ process.

When the terminal sends data to the network device by using the non-scheduling resource, the non-scheduling resource and the associated hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information are provided to the HARQ entity, so as to perform uplink transmission by using the non-scheduling resource on the corresponding HARQ process. After the terminal sends data and receives the HARQ feedback of the data, the terminal adopts the HARQ process to carry out the next transmission. And if the HARQ feedback of the data is NACK, retransmitting the data.

The configuration grant is initially used for new transmissions and not for retransmissions, but as technology evolves it is desirable that the configuration grant can also be used for retransmissions. For example, in a situation where spectrum resources are limited, an unlicensed spectrum (or referred to as a shared spectrum) is introduced to improve data throughput. The unlicensed spectrum, as a shared spectrum resource, may be used by multiple air interface technologies, for example, part or all of the following air interface technologies: WiFi, new radio operating in unlicensed spectrum (NR-U), LTE Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), and MuLTEfire. In order to allow different air interface technologies to coexist on an unlicensed spectrum, a Listen Before Talk (LBT) mechanism is introduced, that is, a terminal performs a channel access procedure before performing data transmission, if the channel access procedure passes (LBT succeeds), data transmission may be performed, and if the channel access procedure fails (LBT fails), data transmission may not be performed. When LBT failure causes data to be unable to be transmitted, the terminal may continue to transmit the data using the configuration grant. When the LBT is successful, the terminal transmits data, the network device sends HARQ feedback to the terminal according to the receiving condition of the data, and when the network device successfully receives the data, the HARQ feedback is Acknowledgement (ACK); when the network device fails to receive the data successfully, the HARQ feedback is NACK, and at this time, the terminal may use the configuration grant for retransmission. The channel access procedure is a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) procedure, and may determine that a channel is idle or busy based on a fixed duration or based on energy detection of a backoff mechanism, and perform data transmission when the channel is determined to be idle.

When the configuration grant is used for retransmission, for the configured HARQ process, the network device may feed back the transmission state of the data in the HARQ process through the DCI, that is, send the HARQ feedback. The network device may configure multiple HARQ processes for configuring the grant for the terminal, and may send HARQ feedback (feedback for short) of the HARQ processes in a bitmap (bitmap) manner in order to save air interface overhead. For example, the network device configures HARQ processes 1 to 4 for configuring the grant, and feedback of these HARQ processes is carried in DCI, where the DCI includes Downlink Feedback Information (DFI), and the DFI includes HARQ feedback information, and the HARQ feedback information includes feedback of HARQ processes 1 to 4 and is presented in the form of HARQ bitmap. The HARQ bitmap includes a plurality of bits, each bit corresponds to one HARQ process, and a value of the bit is used to indicate feedback of the corresponding HARQ process, for example, a value of the bit is 1, which indicates that feedback of the corresponding HARQ process is ACK, a value of the bit is 0, which indicates that feedback of the corresponding HARQ process is NACK; the opposite is also true, that is, the bit value is 1, which indicates that the feedback of the corresponding HARQ process is NACK, the value is 0, which indicates that the feedback of the corresponding HARQ process is ACK. Taking the example of configuring 4 HARQ processes by the network device, assuming that the HARQ bitmap is 1101, it indicates that the feedback of HARQ process 1 is ACK, the feedback of HARQ process 2 is ACK, the feedback of HARQ process 3 is NACK, and the feedback of HARQ process 4 is ACK. Other information may also be included in the DFI, such as one or more of the following: uplink or downlink flag, carrier indication field (for cross-carrier scheduling), and Transmit Power Control (TPC) command, etc., and the present application does not limit information other than HARQ feedback information.

In addition, for the HARQ process configured by the network device for configuring the grant, the network device may also configure another timer parameter (referred to as timer parameter P2 with respect to the above timer parameter P1) for the terminal, and the terminal maintains one timer (referred to as timer T2 with respect to the above timer T1) for each configured HARQ process for configuring the grant. The timer parameter P2 is referred to as cg-retransmission timer, for example, and indicates the duration of the timer T2 maintained by the terminal for each HARQ process; the Timer T2 is, for example, referred to as a configured grant retransmission Timer (CGR Timer), the duration of which is determined according to the Timer parameter P2. And the terminal does not automatically use the configuration grant to perform retransmission on one HARQ process during the running of the timer T2 of the HARQ process, that is, the terminal may automatically use the configuration grant to perform retransmission on the HARQ process only when the timer is not running.

Timer T1 is used to limit new transmissions on the corresponding HARQ process, and timer T2 is used to limit retransmissions on the corresponding HARQ process, which refer to new transmissions and retransmissions using the configuration grant, that is, timer T1 and timer T2 do not limit the use of the scheduling grant on the corresponding HARQ process. In addition, for one HARQ process, it may be configured for configuration grant, that is, a configuration grant transmission may be performed on the HARQ process, and the configuration grant transmission may include a configuration grant new transmission or retransmission, or may include a configuration grant new transmission and retransmission, and the configuration grant transmission refers to transmission performed using a configuration grant. Thus, the terminal may maintain timer T1 and/or timer T2 for one configured HARQ process.

The timer T1 on one HARQ process is started when a new transmission on the HARQ process is required, that is, when the terminal makes a new transmission on the HARQ process, the timer T1 of the HARQ process is started, where the new transmission may include a new transmission of the configuration grant, or may include a new transmission of the scheduling grant, that is, a new transmission using the scheduling grant. A timer T2 on one HARQ process is started or restarted in response to a configuration grant on the HARQ process being newly transmitted, or is started or restarted in response to a configuration grant on the HARQ process being retransmitted; that is, when the terminal performs a configuration grant new transmission or retransmission on the HARQ process, the timer T2 of the HARQ process is started or restarted, and during the operation of the timer T2, the terminal expects to receive the feedback of the HARQ process sent by the network device, or expects to receive a scheduling grant for new transmission or retransmission sent by the network device. When the terminal receives that the feedback of the HARQ process sent by the network device is ACK, the timer T2 is stopped.

The terminal sends data to the network equipment through configuration authorization, the data can reach the network equipment after a certain transmission delay, the network equipment receives the data and tries to decode the data, and if the data is decoded correctly, the network equipment receives the data correctly and generates feedback ACK (acknowledgement character); if the decoding is wrong, the network device does not correctly receive the data, and generates a feedback NACK, which requires a certain processing delay, and a certain transmission delay is also required to send the feedback ACK or NACK to the terminal. However, in the above processing procedure, the influence of the transmission delay and the processing delay is not considered, so that the terminal may receive the wrong HARQ feedback, and then perform subsequent processing according to the wrong HARQ feedback, resulting in a decrease in transmission efficiency.

For example, please refer to fig. 4, which is a schematic diagram of an HARQ feedback scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 4, the network device configures that the terminal can transmit on HARQ process 1 and HARQ process 2 by using the configuration grant, and at slot (slot)0, the terminal transmits first data on HARQ process 1 by using the configuration grant, and starts the CGR timer of HARQ process 1; then, in slot 2, the second data is sent on HARQ process 2 by using the configuration grant, and the CGR timer of HARQ process 2 is started. In slot 3, the terminal receives HARQ feedback information. The HARQ feedback information is presented in the form of the bitmap described above, and includes corresponding bits of HARQ process 1 and HARQ process 2 (bits of other HARQ processes may also be included, and for convenience of description, only HARQ process 1 and process 2 are taken as an example here). Considering the transmission delay and the processing delay of the network device, the feedback on each HARQ process should arrive at the terminal after the total delay of the transmission delay and the processing delay, and the total delay is denoted as T. As shown in the figure, the network device originally sends the DFI for the feedback of HARQ process 1, but there are bits of HARQ process 2 in the DFI, so that there are several feedbacks of HARQ process 2 that are parsed by the terminal, and the feedback of HARQ process 2 is actually invalid, and the subsequent operations performed by the terminal according to the invalid feedback will result in a decrease in transmission efficiency, for example, transmission errors or waste of transmission resources. For example, when the terminal analyzes that the feedback of HARQ process 2 is ACK, and actually the data in HARQ process 2 is not correctly received by the network device, the data may be lost; when the terminal analyzes that the feedback of HARQ process 2 is NACK, and actually the data in HARQ process 2 is correctly received by the network device, the terminal performs unnecessary retransmission.

In view of the above problems, the terminal maintains a timer (referred to as timer T3 with respect to the above timers T1 and T2) for the HARQ process configured by the network device for configuring the grant. The duration of the timer T3 is the minimum duration before the terminal expects to receive the downlink feedback information. The timer for one HARQ process should be started with a configuration grant transmission on the HARQ process. During the running of the timer T3, the feedback of the HARQ process received by the terminal is invalid; or, during the time that the timer T3 is not running, the feedback of the HARQ process received by the terminal may be valid; alternatively, the timer T3 is used to influence the start of the above timer T2, so that the feedback of the HARQ process received by the terminal during the running period of the timer T2 is effective.

The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings:

please refer to fig. 5, which is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 5, the method includes:

s510: the network equipment generates configuration parameters (hereinafter referred to as first configuration parameters) and sends the first configuration parameters to the terminal; accordingly, the terminal receives the first configuration parameters from the network device. The first configuration parameter is used to indicate a timer duration (hereinafter referred to as a first timer duration), which is a minimum duration before the terminal expects to receive the downlink feedback information;

S520: the terminal performs configuration grant transmission on the first HARQ process, that is, the terminal performs uplink transmission on the first HARQ process using the configuration grant, that is, the terminal transmits data to the network device using the configuration grant on the first HARQ process; the configuration authorization transmission comprises configuration authorization new transmission or configuration authorization retransmission.

Correspondingly, the network equipment receives the data sent by the terminal. Further, the network device generates a feedback of the first HARQ process according to the decoding condition of the data, and sends the feedback of the first HARQ process to the terminal, for example, correctly decode the data, and generate a feedback ACK, otherwise, generate a feedback NACK.

S530: the terminal should transmit the first timer (timer T3) that starts the first HARQ process with the above configuration grant. That is, when the terminal performs uplink transmission on the first HARQ process by using the configuration grant, the first timer is started. The first timer has a timer duration indicated by the above first configuration parameter.

During the timer running, the terminal may receive downlink feedback information, and the downlink feedback information includes HARQ feedback of multiple HARQ processes, while HARQ feedback for the first HARQ process should be invalid. And judging whether the HARQ feedbacks of other HARQ processes are effective or not according to the respective first timer running conditions. During the operation of the timer, the terminal may not receive the downlink feedback information, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited.

It can be seen that, in the above embodiment, the terminal maintains, for the HARQ process for configuring the grant, the first timer whose duration is the minimum duration before the terminal expects to receive the downlink feedback information, and starts the first timer when the HARQ process performs the configuration grant transmission. Since the first timer should be started by configuring the grant transmission, and the feedback for the configured grant transmission (i.e., the feedback of the HARQ process) may arrive only after the minimum time period from the uplink transmission to the time when the terminal expects to receive the downlink feedback information, if the feedback of the HARQ process is received during the running period of the timer, it indicates that the feedback is invalid, and therefore the terminal may determine whether the feedback is valid according to the above, thereby reducing the possibility of feedback misjudgment and improving communication efficiency.

In the above step S510, the first configuration parameter may be transmitted to the terminal through an RRC message. Optionally, the RRC message includes a cell ConfiguredGrantConfig, which includes the first configuration parameter in addition to the parameter of the configuration grant. Namely, the network device carries the first configuration parameter in the configuration cell of the configuration authorization, namely, the configuration authorization and the configuration of the first timer are completed simultaneously, and signaling is saved. An example of a cell ConfiguredGrantConfig is given below. The cg-RTT-Timer is a first configuration parameter.

ConfiguredGrantConfig information element

The above is merely an example, and optionally, the first configuration parameter and the parameter of the configuration authorization may also be sent through different configuration messages.

In step S520 above, before the terminal performs the configuration authorization transmission, it may determine a HARQ process, that is, a first HARQ process, in the HARQ processes configured by the network device, for the uplink transmission. For example, the network device configures 4 HARQ processes for the terminal, so that the terminal can perform uplink transmission using the configuration grant in HARQ processes 0-3. The HARQ process configured by the network device is referred to as a HARQ process resource pool. Before transmission with the configuration grant, the terminal selects one HARQ process (e.g., HARQ process 1) from the HARQ process resource pool as the first HARQ process for the transmission.

The first timer may be referred to as a configured Round Trip Time (RTT) -timer (cg-RTT-timer), and a time duration of the first timer is a minimum time duration before the terminal expects to receive the downlink feedback information, and specifically, may be a minimum time duration before a MAC entity of the terminal expects to receive the downlink feedback information. Or, the first timer duration is a time from when the terminal transmits data to when HARQ feedback of the data can be received earliest. The duration of the first timer, which may also be referred to as a configuration grant-round trip time (cg-RTT), may be determined according to a transmission delay and a processing delay, where the transmission delay includes a transmission delay of the terminal sending data to the network device and a transmission delay of the network device sending feedback of the data, and the processing delay includes a delay of the network device from receiving the data to generating the feedback of the data. The above names are merely examples and are not used to limit the first timer.

In addition, the downlink feedback information in the minimum duration before the terminal expects to receive the downlink feedback information is a generic term, and is not specific to the downlink feedback of the uplink transmission in which HARQ process, for example, is not specific to the feedback of the configuration authorization transmission in step S520.

In step S530 above, the terminal maintains the first timer for the HARQ process configured by each network device for configuring the grant. The network device may only configure one first configuration parameter, and the terminal independently maintains the first timer with the same duration for each HARQ process configured with the grant according to the first configuration parameter, and the start of the first timer of each HARQ process is independently performed, for example, the start is performed in response to the transmission of the configuration grant on each HARQ process, so that each HARQ process does not erroneously consider the feedback of the HARQ process received during the operation period of the first timer as effective feedback, thereby reducing the possibility of feedback misjudgment. In addition, under the condition of configuring a plurality of HARQ processes for configuring authorization, the configuration of the first timers of all the HARQ processes is realized through one configuration parameter, so that air interface resources can be saved, and the configuration flow is simplified.

Optionally, the network device may configure the first configuration parameter for each HARQ process independently, and the terminal maintains the first timer of each HARQ process independently according to the first configuration parameter of each HARQ process.

In addition, the terminal starts the first timer of one HARQ process according to the configuration grant transmission of the HARQ process, and the first timer may be started in a first time unit after the configuration grant transmission. If the repeat (repetition) function is configured, the terminal starts the first timer within a first time unit after the end of the first repetition of the configuration grant transmission. The time unit is, for example, a slot, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol or a subframe. The configuration grant transmission refers to uplink transmission performed by using a configuration grant, for example, Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission, that is, a terminal may start a first timer of an HARQ process in a first time unit after a first repetition of the PUSCH transmission is finished, where the PUSCH transmission is performed by using the configuration grant on the HARQ process. The retransmission is a technique introduced to improve transmission reliability, and refers to a transmission mode in which one data packet is repeatedly transmitted multiple times, and this transmission mode can be understood as a blind retransmission, that is, a retransmission that does not need to wait for feedback. The repetition number of the repetition may be configured to the terminal by the network device, for example, the network device sends, through an RRC message, indication information for indicating the repetition number to the terminal, where the indication information may be carried in a configuration message of the configuration authorization, for example, in a cell ConfiguredGrantConfig. The first repetition refers to the first transmission of the multiple transmissions of the data packet.

For a flexible initial transmission scenario, the terminal device may perform a first repetition (or referred to as a first transmission or a new transmission) on any resource of the repetition, and regardless of which resource of the repetition is used for the first repetition, the terminal device starts a first timer in a first time unit after a time unit of the resource where the first repetition starts. For example, please refer to fig. 6, which is a schematic view of a scenario of a retransmission transmission according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 6, a block represents a bundle (bundle) including multiple configuration grant resources for retransmission, where, taking resources 1-4 as an example, LBT success is achieved before any of resources 1-4, a first repetition may be performed by using the resource, and a first timer is started in a first time unit after the time unit of the resource. For example, if resource 3 was previously successful with LBT first, then the first timer is started the first time unit after the time unit of resource 3.

When a terminal maintains a first timer aiming at a configured HARQ process, the first timer is started according to configuration authorization transmission on the HARQ process, and the feedback of the HARQ process received by the terminal is invalid during the running period of the first timer; or, during the period that the first timer is not running, the feedback of the HARQ process received by the terminal may be valid; alternatively, the first timer may be used to influence the start of the above timer T2 (hereinafter referred to as a second timer), and the feedback of the HARQ process received by the terminal during the operation period of the second timer is valid.

Several maintenance modes are described below with reference to the drawings.

In the first scheme, the first timer is used to influence the start of the second timer, and the feedback of the HARQ process received by the terminal during the running period of the second timer is valid.

Please refer to fig. 7, which is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 7, the method includes, in addition to the above steps S510 to S530:

s540: when the first timer expires, a second timer for the first HARQ process is started.

The duration of the second timer is configured by the network device, and specifically, reference may be made to the configuration of the timer T2.

The terminal may start the second timer for an HARQ process within a first time unit after the first timer for the HARQ process expires, the time unit being as described above, for example, a slot, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, or a subframe.

Wherein the second timer is the above timer T2, namely a configured grant retransmission timer (CGR timer); the operation of the second timer provides a time length for the terminal not to automatically perform the configuration authorization retransmission on the HARQ process where the second timer is located, that is, during the operation of the second timer of one HARQ process, the terminal does not automatically perform the configuration authorization retransmission on the HARQ process.

The duration of the second timer is a duration after the configuration authorization transmission in one HARQ process, and the terminal does not automatically perform the configuration authorization retransmission in the HARQ process within the duration, that is, the terminal does not automatically retransmit the HARQ process. That is, the terminal may retransmit on the HARQ process using the configuration grant, i.e., the second timer is not running. The configuration authorization transmission refers to transmission performed by using configuration authorization, and includes configuration authorization initial transmission or retransmission.

Currently, the second timer for one HARQ process is started upon a configuration grant transmission (including a new transmission or a retransmission) on this HARQ process. In this embodiment, the second timer is not started upon the grant transmission (including new transmission or retransmission) on the HARQ process, but is started when the first timer expires. Furthermore, if the second timer is already in an active state before the configuration grant transmission for the HARQ process, the grant transmission may be configured at this time, and the second timer is stopped. That is, in the above method, the terminal may not start the second timer of the first HARQ process due to the configuration grant transmission in step S520 above; alternatively, when the second timer of the first HARQ process is in the running state, the second timer is stopped according to the configuration authorization transmission in step S520.

If the terminal device receives the downlink feedback information, it may determine whether the feedback of the HARQ process in the downlink feedback information is valid according to whether the time for receiving the downlink feedback information is located in the operation period of the second timer of the HARQ process. At this time, the above method may further include:

s550: and the terminal receives downlink feedback information sent by the network equipment.

S560: the terminal determines whether the feedback in the downlink feedback information is valid.

The downlink feedback information may include feedback of at least one HARQ process. The terminal independently maintains a second timer of each HARQ process, and when downlink feedback information is received during the running period of the second timer of one HARQ process, the feedback of the HARQ process in the downlink feedback information is effective; when the downlink feedback information is received outside the second timer running period (i.e. non-running period) of one HARQ process, the feedback of the HARQ process in the downlink feedback information is invalid, or the terminal ignores the feedback of the HARQ process. For example, the downlink feedback information includes the feedback of the first HARQ process, and when the downlink feedback information is received in the running period of the second timer, the terminal determines that the feedback of the first HARQ process is valid; and when the downlink feedback information is received outside the running period of the second timer, the terminal determines that the feedback of the first HARQ process is invalid or ignores the feedback of the first HARQ process. Wherein the second timer is running in the sense that the second timer has not timed out or is stopped.

Because the terminal independently maintains the first timer and the second timer of each HARQ process, when the downlink feedback information includes the feedback of multiple HARQ processes, the feedback of the HARQ processes may be partially valid and partially invalid.

Next, with reference to fig. 4 and fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of another HARQ feedback scenario provided in the embodiment of the present application. With respect to fig. 4, in fig. 8, the first timer of HARQ process 1 is started upon configuration grant transmission on HARQ process 1, and upon expiration of the first timer of HARQ process 1, the second timer of HARQ process 1 is started; the first timer for HARQ process 2 is started upon configuration grant transmission on HARQ process 2 and when the first timer for HARQ process 2 expires, the second timer for HARQ process 2 is started. And the terminal receives downlink feedback information, wherein the downlink feedback information comprises HARQ feedback information, and the HARQ feedback information comprises the feedback of the HARQ process 1 and the feedback of the HARQ process 2. The downlink feedback information is received during the second timer running period of HARQ process 1 and during the second timer not running period of HARQ process 2, so the feedback of HARQ process 1 is valid and the feedback of HARQ process 2 is invalid. Therefore, compared with fig. 4, the method and the device for processing the feedback information can effectively reduce the possibility of misjudgment of the feedback information, and improve the communication efficiency.

In the second way, the first timer is directly used to determine whether the feedback of the HARQ process is valid. The feedback of HARQ processes received by the terminal during the first timer non-operational period is valid. Accordingly, the feedback of the HARQ process received during the first timer operation is invalid or the terminal ignores the feedback of the HARQ process.

At this time, the starting condition of the above second timer may not be changed, that is, the second timer is started when the terminal performs configuration grant transmission (including initial transmission or retransmission) on one HARQ process. That is, the second timer for one HARQ process should be started when the configuration on the HARQ process grants transmission (including initial transmission or retransmission).

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 9, the method includes the following steps in addition to the above steps S510-S530:

s910: and the terminal receives downlink feedback information sent by the network equipment.

S920: the terminal determines whether the feedback in the downlink feedback information is valid.

The downlink feedback information may include feedback of at least one HARQ process. The terminal independently maintains the first timer of each HARQ process, and when downlink feedback information is received during the operation of the first timer of one HARQ process (that is, the downlink feedback information is received during the operation of the first timer of one HARQ process), the feedback of the HARQ process in the downlink feedback information is invalid or the terminal ignores the feedback of the HARQ process; when downlink feedback information is received outside the running period of the first timer of one HARQ process (that is, the downlink feedback information is received when the first timer of one HARQ process is not running), the feedback of the HARQ process in the downlink feedback information is valid. For example, the downlink feedback information includes the feedback of the first HARQ process, and when the downlink feedback information is received within the running period of the first timer, the terminal determines that the feedback of the first HARQ process is invalid or ignores the feedback of the first HARQ process; and when the downlink feedback information is received outside the running period of the first timer, the terminal determines that the feedback of the first HARQ process is effective. Wherein the first timer is running in the sense that the first timer has not timed out or is stopped.

The starting condition of the second timer is not changed, so that the terminal can also start the second timer of one HARQ process for the configuration authorization transmission, and in addition, when the first timer stops running, the second timer is stopped, so that the HARQ process is used for the next configuration authorization retransmission as soon as possible, and the transmission efficiency is further improved. At this time, the step S530 further includes starting a second timer of the first HARQ process, and the method further includes:

s930: and when the first timer of the first HARQ process stops running, stopping the second timer of the first HARQ process.

The duration of the second timer and the behavior of the terminal during the running period of the second timer are the same as those in the above embodiments, and are not described herein again.

Next, with reference to fig. 4 and fig. 10, fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of another HARQ feedback scenario provided in the embodiment of the present application. With respect to fig. 4, in fig. 10, a first timer for HARQ process 1 is started upon configuration grant transmission on HARQ process 1; the first timer for HARQ process 2 is started upon configuration grant transmission on HARQ process 2. And the terminal receives downlink feedback information, wherein the downlink feedback information comprises HARQ feedback information, and the HARQ feedback information comprises the feedback of the HARQ process 1 and the feedback of the HARQ process 2. The downlink feedback information is received outside the first timer running period of HARQ process 1 and inside the first timer running period of HARQ process 2, so the feedback of HARQ process 1 is valid and the feedback of HARQ process 2 is invalid. Therefore, compared with fig. 4, the method and the device for processing the feedback information can effectively reduce the possibility of misjudgment of the feedback information, and improve the communication efficiency.

Optionally, the timer T1 (referred to as a third timer herein) is started for uplink transmission of one HARQ process, for example, when the configuration grant is initially transmitted in step S520, the third timer of the HARQ process is started. In the first and second manners, when the feedback of one HARQ process is valid and the feedback is AKC, if the third timer of the HARQ process is still running, the third timer of the HARQ process may be stopped. So that the HARQ process can be used for the next initial transmission as soon as possible. Namely, the above method further comprises: and stopping the third timer when the feedback of the first HARQ process is effective and is ACK. The third timer is similar to the timer T1, and will not be described herein.

Optionally, the first timer is started and then stopped when the running time reaches its expiration. The first timer may also stop running in any of the following cases, i.e. the stop timing of the first timer includes one or more of the following:

firstly, the method comprises the following steps: should the deactivation command of the configuration authorization be deactivated.

For a type 2 configuration grant, when the type 2 configuration grant is deactivated, the network device may consider the HARQ feedback transmitted for the configuration grant as invalid, so the timer running on the HARQ process may be stopped for faster next data transmission using the HARQ process. The running timer includes at least one of a first timer, a second timer, and a third timer.

For a scenario with only one active configuration grant (i.e. only one configuration grant is in a state where it can be used at a time), when the terminal receives a deactivation command sent by the network device, the terminal may stop timers running on all HARQ processes, and for a scenario with multiple active configuration grants (i.e. multiple configuration grants are in a state where they can be used at a time), reference may be made to subsequent embodiments.

Second, when the terminal receives a scheduling grant from the network device, where the scheduling grant is used for uplink transmission of one HARQ process, if the first timer of the HARQ process is running, the first timer of the HARQ process may be stopped. The scheduling grant is sent through a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) scrambled by a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), and the terminal receives the PDCCH by using the C-RNTI to obtain the scheduling grant. At this time, the above method may further include: receiving a scheduling grant for a first HARQ process; the first timer for the first HARQ process should be stopped for the reception of the scheduling grant. That is, the terminal receives an uplink grant, and if the uplink grant is for the C-RNTI of the MAC entity and the identified HARQ process is for the configuration grant, stops the first timer of the corresponding HARQ process if the first timer of the corresponding HARQ process is running. For the uplink grant (scheduling grant or configuration grant), the HARQ entity identifies the HARQ process associated with the uplink grant, and thus the identified HARQ process is the HARQ process determined by the terminal for the uplink grant. Receipt of a scheduling grant indicates that the network device may schedule a new transmission, and thus the timer running for the previous transmission may be stopped to improve data transmission efficiency and reduce the impact between scheduling grant transmissions and configuring grant transmissions. When the timer T1 (to distinguish the first timer from the second timer, which may be referred to as a third timer) of the third HARQ process expires, the first timer of the HARQ process may be stopped if the first timer of the HARQ process is running. At this time, the above method may further include: and when a third timer of the first HARQ progress expires, stopping the second timer of the first HARQ progress, wherein the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ progress. When the transmission in step S520 is the initial transmission, the third timer may be started in response to the uplink transmission in step S520. The third timer may be the above configured authorization timer, and the detailed description refers to the above embodiments, which are not described herein again.

The configuration authorization timer of one HARQ process expires, which indicates that the current data packet of the HARQ process does not need to be retransmitted, and at this time, the first timer is stopped, so as to perform the next data transmission (new transmission) more quickly, thereby further improving the data transmission efficiency.

Similarly, the second timer is started and then stopped when it runs until its duration expires. The second timer may also include a stop timing similar to the first timer above, i.e., replacing the first timer in the description of the stop timing above with the second timer.

The embodiment of the application can stop the first timer, the second timer, or both the first timer and the second timer at any stop time.

The network device may configure the terminal with multiple configuration authorizations, and there may be more than one (i.e., multiple) configuration authorizations in a scenario where they may be in a usable state (or active state). Referring to the above description about the type 1 and type 2 configuration authorization, for the type 1 configuration authorization, when the terminal receives the configuration message of the type 1 configuration authorization, the type 1 configuration authorization is in a usable state; for the type 2 configuration authorization, after the terminal receives the configuration message of the type 2 configuration authorization, when receiving the activation signaling of the type 2 configuration authorization, the type 2 configuration authorization is in an activation state, that is, a usable state. The plurality of configuration grants in a usable state may include a type 1 configuration grant, a type 2 configuration grant, or both a type 1 configuration grant and a type 2 configuration grant.

When a Configuration Grant (CG) transmission is performed on a HARQ process, that is, after an uplink transmission is performed using a configuration grant, a timer of the HARQ process should be started by configuring the grant transmission, and specific details of which timer or timers are to be started may be described in the above embodiments with reference to the description of the first timer, the second timer, and the third timer. The operation of the timer of the HARQ process may affect the efficiency of using the multiple configuration grants, so that the transmission efficiency is decreased.

In view of the above problem, in the embodiment of the present application, when the type 2 configuration authorization is activated or deactivated, if there is a running timer on the HARQ process authorized by the type 2 configuration, the running timer is stopped. In this way, the HARQ process can be used for the next configuration grant transmission as soon as possible, where the configuration grant transmission refers to a transmission performed by using the configuration grant.

Please refer to fig. 11, which is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 11, the method includes the steps of:

s111: the network equipment sends an activation or deactivation signaling to the terminal, wherein the activation signaling is used for indicating activation type 2 configuration authorization, the deactivation signaling is used for indicating deactivation type 2 configuration authorization, and the type 2 configuration authorization is used for a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process;

Accordingly, the terminal receives the activation or deactivation signaling from the network device. The first HARQ process may include one or more.

S112: and the terminal stops the timer of the first HARQ progress in the running state, wherein the last transmission of the first HARQ progress is the transmission authorized by the type 2 configuration.

The type 2 configuration grant may be used for one or more HARQ processes, and when used for multiple HARQ processes, where there may be one or more timers of the HARQ processes in a running state, that is, there is one or more first HARQ processes having the timers in a running state, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In addition, the timer in the running state includes one or more of a first timer, a second timer, and a third timer (configuration authorization timer). The description of the first timer, the second timer, and the third timer is the same as the above description, and is not repeated herein.

The network device may send a configuration message to the terminal, where the configuration message includes a configuration information element for configuring the type 2 configuration authorization, and the content of the information element may refer to the description of the above embodiment, which is not described herein again. The network device may then send activation signaling to the terminal to indicate that the terminal activates type 2 configuration authorization. When the type 2 configuration authorization does not need to be used any more, the network device may send a deactivation signaling to the terminal to instruct the terminal to deactivate the type 2 configuration authorization.

Since there may be multiple configuration grants in a usable state, and the configuration grants may share the HARQ process resource pool, that is, the network device may configure multiple HARQ processes for the configuration grants, and the configuration grants share the HARQ processes, which are the HARQ process resource pool. Optionally, the network device may also configure one HARQ process for configuring the grant. Therefore, the HARQ process resource pool may include one HARQ process and also include multiple HARQ processes, which is not limited in this application.

When the terminal can simultaneously have a plurality of configuration authorizations in a usable state, when one type 2 configuration authorization is activated or deactivated, the timer of one HARQ process in a running state stops running, so that the HARQ process can be used for next configuration authorization transmission as soon as possible, the configuration authorization utilization rate is improved, and the transmission efficiency is improved.

The activation and deactivation scenarios are described separately below.

In the activation scenario, before step S111 above, the terminal receives the configuration message and the activation signaling of the type 2 configuration authorization from the network device, and then performs configuration authorization transmission using the activated type 2 configuration authorization, and then the type 2 configuration authorization is deactivated again. In step S111, the type 2 configuration grant is activated again, and since the last transmission of the first HARQ process is a transmission performed by using the type 2 configuration grant, the first HARQ process is not occupied by other configuration grants, and the timer running on the first HARQ process is stopped, so that the first HARQ process is used for the next configuration grant transmission as soon as possible.

The terminal receives this activation signaling via the PDCCH, i.e. the content of the PDCCH indicates activation of type 2 configuration grants. The last transmission of the first HARQ process is a transmission utilizing the type 2 configuration grant, which means that for the first HARQ process, the configuration grant last submitted to the HARQ entity is the type 2 configuration grant. Therefore, the steps shown in fig. 11 can be expressed as that, when the content of the PDCCH indicates activation of the type 2 configuration grant, and the configuration grant last submitted to the HARQ entity for the first HARQ process is the type 2 configuration grant, the timer running on the first HARQ process is stopped.

It can be seen that, when the terminal receives an activation signaling of a type 2 configuration grant, the terminal determines whether other configuration grants are available, and the other configuration grants share the HARQ process resource pool with the type 2 configuration grant currently to be activated, if other configuration grants are active and the first HARQ process in the HARQ process resource pool is occupied by the other configuration grants (i.e. the last transmission on the first HARQ process is performed by using the other configuration grants), the timer of the first HARQ process is not suitable for stopping, otherwise, the timer of the first HARQ process is stopped, so that on the premise of reducing the packet loss rate of transmissions using the other configuration grants, the first HARQ process is used for the next configuration grant transmission as soon as possible, and the transmission efficiency is improved.

In the deactivation scenario, before step S111 above, the terminal receives the configuration message and the activation signaling of the type 2 configuration authorization from the network device, and then performs configuration authorization transmission by using the activated type 2 configuration authorization. In step S111, the type 2 configuration grant is deactivated, and since the last transmission of the first HARQ process is a transmission performed by using the type 2 configuration grant, the first HARQ process is not occupied by other configuration grants, and the timer running on the first HARQ process is stopped, so that the first HARQ process is used for the next configuration grant transmission as soon as possible.

The terminal receives this deactivation signaling via the PDCCH, i.e. the content of the PDCCH indicates the deactivation of the type 2 configuration grant. The last transmission of the first HARQ process is a transmission utilizing the type 2 configuration grant, which means that for the first HARQ process, the configuration grant last submitted to the HARQ entity is the type 2 configuration grant. Therefore, the steps shown in fig. 11 can be expressed as that when the content of the PDCCH indicates deactivation of the type 2 configuration grant, and for the first HARQ process, the configuration grant last submitted to the HARQ entity is the type 2 configuration grant, the timer running on the first HARQ process is stopped.

It can be seen that, when the terminal receives a deactivation signaling of type 2 configuration grant, the terminal determines whether a certain HARQ process is occupied by the type 2 configuration grant, and if the certain HARQ process is occupied by the type 2 configuration grant, for example, the first HARQ process stops the timer of the first HARQ process, so that the first HARQ process is used for next configuration grant transmission as soon as possible, so as to improve transmission efficiency. In addition, the HARQ process occupied by other configuration authorization can not stop the timer, so that the packet loss rate of transmission utilizing other configuration authorization can be reduced.

If the last transmission data is cached in the buffer of the first HARQ process because the ACK has not been received in the last transmission, after the timer of the first HARQ process is stopped, when the first HARQ process is used for the next transmission, the cached data may be continuously transmitted, and the last transmission is finished because the timer is stopped, and the transmission of the currently cached data is useless, which causes the transmission efficiency to decrease. At this time, the above method further includes step S113: and the terminal empties the buffer of the first HARQ process.

It has been described in the above embodiment that during the running of the timer T1 of one HARQ process, the HARQ process is not used for configuring grant new transmission. The timer T1 should be started for uplink initial transmission on the HARQ process, where the uplink initial transmission may include configuration grant initial transmission or scheduling grant initial transmission. Therefore, the timer T1 limits the time that the HARQ process cannot be used for uplink initial transmission, and the embodiment of the present application hopes to reduce the time that the HARQ process cannot be used for new transmission as much as possible, thereby improving the transmission efficiency. Thus, another communication method is provided. In this method, when the timer T1 starts to perform outgoing transmission due to scheduling grant, if ACK is received, the HARQ process may be used for the next initial transmission.

Please refer to fig. 12, which is a diagram illustrating another communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 12, the method includes the steps of:

s121: the network equipment sends scheduling authorization to the terminal; accordingly, the terminal receives a scheduling grant from the network device.

S122: and the terminal sends first uplink data to the network equipment on the first HARQ process by utilizing the scheduling authorization.

S123: the network equipment receives first uplink data sent by the terminal and sends feedback information to the terminal according to the receiving condition of the first uplink data. For example, when correctly received, an ACK is sent; NACK is fed back when received in error. Accordingly, the terminal receives feedback information from the network device.

S124: when the feedback information is ACK, that is, when the terminal receives the feedback information indicating that the first uplink data is correctly received from the network device, the terminal transmits the second uplink data by using the configuration grant on the first HARQ process.

And the first uplink data and the second uplink data are sent by using scheduling authorization, and the second uplink data are sent by using configuration authorization. Therefore, after the initial transmission is performed by using the scheduling grant and the transmission is successful, the terminal can start the next transmission as soon as possible by using the configuration grant on the same HARQ process no matter whether the configuration grant timer is in the running state or not, so that the data transmission efficiency is improved.

In the process of transmitting the second uplink data by using the configuration grant, it may be determined whether a New Data Indicator (NDI) corresponding to the first HARQ process is inverted, and when the NDI is inverted, the second uplink data is transmitted.

Optionally, when the ACK is received, the configured grant timer of the first HARQ process may be stopped, so that the first HARQ process may be used for the next initial transmission as soon as possible.

And in the data transmission process, the scheduling grant or the configuration grant is submitted to the HARQ entity so that the HARQ entity can transmit on the corresponding HARQ process according to the scheduling grant or the configuration grant. Thus, the above method may be described as: for the same HARQ process, when the uplink grant last submitted to the HARQ entity is not the configured uplink grant (namely scheduling grant) and the lower layer indicates ACK for the same HARQ process, the NDI bit of the HARQ process is considered to be inverted, and the configured uplink grant and the associated HARQ information are submitted to the HARQ entity. Thus, the HARQ entity may perform initial transmission. The lower layer is a protocol layer below a protocol layer that performs current processing, for example, if the current protocol layer is a MAC layer, the lower layer is a physical layer.

The timer in the embodiment of the present application may be implemented in the form of software, and may also be implemented in the form of hardware. And are not intended to be limiting herein.

The present embodiments also provide an apparatus for implementing any one of the above methods, for example, an apparatus is provided that includes a unit (or means) for implementing each step performed by a terminal in any one of the above methods. For another example, another apparatus is also provided, which includes means for performing each step performed by a network device in any one of the above methods.

For example, please refer to fig. 13, which is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus is used in a terminal for performing any one of the methods of the embodiments shown in fig. 5-10. As shown in fig. 13, the apparatus 1300 includes a receiving unit 1310, a sending unit 1320, and a timer control unit 1330, where the receiving unit 1310 is configured to receive a first configuration parameter from a network device, where the first configuration parameter is used to indicate a first timer duration, and the first timer duration is a minimum duration before a terminal expects to receive downlink feedback information. A sending unit 1320 is configured to transmit a configuration grant on the first HARQ process. The timer control unit 1330 is configured to configure a first timer for transmitting the grant to start the first HARQ process, where the first timer has a first timer duration indicated by the first configuration parameter.

The receiving unit 1310 is configured to receive, from a network device, information sent by any one of the network devices in the foregoing method embodiments to a terminal, and the sending unit 1320 is configured to send, to the network device, any one of the transmissions performed by the terminal in the foregoing method embodiments.

The timer control unit 1330 also has the function of any of the above method embodiments to control a timer. For example, when the first timer expires, a second timer for the first HARQ process is started; a second timer for stopping or not starting the first HARQ process should be configured for authorized transmission; stopping the third timer when the feedback of the first HARQ process is effective and is ACK (acknowledgement); the second timer of the first HARQ process is started when the authorized transmission is configured, and the second timer of the first HARQ process is stopped when the first timer stops running; or in any of the cases described in the above embodiments, the first timer and/or the second timer of the first HARQ process is stopped. Here, detailed description is omitted.

The apparatus 1300 may also include a determining unit 1340 for determining whether feedback for the first HARQ process is valid. The specific determination method is the same as the above method embodiment, and is not described in detail here.

For another example, please refer to fig. 14, which is a schematic diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus is for a terminal for performing the method in the embodiment shown in fig. 11. As shown in fig. 14, the apparatus 1400 includes a receiving unit 1410 and a timer control unit 1420. A receiving unit 1410 is configured to receive an activation or deactivation signaling from a network device, where the activation or deactivation signaling is used to indicate activation or deactivation of a configuration grant, where the configuration grant is used for a first HARQ process; the timer control unit 1420 is configured to stop the timer of the first HARQ process that is in an active state, wherein the last transmission of the first HARQ process is a transmission granted with the configuration.

The timer in the active state includes at least one of a first timer, a second timer, and a third timer. The description of the timers is the same as the above embodiments, and is not repeated.

The apparatus 1400 may further include an emptying unit 1430 for emptying the buffer of the first HARQ process.

For another example, please refer to fig. 15, which is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in the embodiment of the present application. The apparatus is used in a terminal for executing the method in the embodiment shown in fig. 12. As shown in fig. 15, the apparatus 1500 includes a transmitting unit 1510 and a receiving unit 1520. The sending unit 1510 is configured to send any transmission performed by the terminal in the above method embodiment to the network device. The receiving unit 1520 is configured to receive information sent to the terminal by any one of the network devices in the above method embodiments from the network device. For example, the sending unit 1510 is configured to send first uplink data to the network device on the first HARQ process by using the scheduling grant; the receiving unit 1520 receives feedback information indicating that the first uplink data is correctly received from the network device; the sending unit 1510 is further configured to send the second uplink data on the first HARQ process by using the configuration grant.

The apparatus 1500 may further include a determining unit 1530 for determining that the NDI corresponding to the first HARQ process is inverted. When determining unit 1530 determines that the NDI is inverted, transmitting unit 1510 transmits the second uplink data using the configuration grant on the first HARQ process.

The apparatus 1500 may further include a timer control unit 1540 configured to stop the configured grant timer of the first HARQ process, in response to receiving the feedback information indicating that the first uplink data is correctly received.

For example, please refer to fig. 16, which is a schematic diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus is used in a network device for performing any one of the methods shown in fig. 5 to 10. As shown in fig. 16, the apparatus 1600 includes a generating unit 1610 and a sending unit 1620, where the generating unit 1610 is configured to generate a first configuration parameter, where the first configuration parameter is used to indicate a first timer duration, and the first timer duration is a minimum duration before a terminal expects to receive downlink feedback information; the sending unit 1620 is configured to send the first configuration parameter to the terminal.

It should be understood that the division of the units in the above apparatus is only a division of logical functions, and the actual implementation may be wholly or partially integrated into one physical entity or may be physically separated. And the units in the device can be realized in the form of software called by the processing element; or may be implemented entirely in hardware; part of the units can also be realized in the form of software called by a processing element, and part of the units can be realized in the form of hardware. For example, each unit may be a processing element separately set up, or may be implemented by being integrated into a chip of the apparatus, or may be stored in a memory in the form of a program, and a function of the unit may be called and executed by a processing element of the apparatus. In addition, all or part of the units can be integrated together or can be independently realized. The processing element described herein may in turn be a processor, which may be an integrated circuit having signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, the steps of the method or the units above may be implemented by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor element or in a form called by software through the processor element.

In one example, the units in any of the above apparatus may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above method, for example: one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or one or more microprocessors (DSPs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these Integrated Circuit forms. As another example, when a Unit in a device may be implemented in the form of a Processing element scheduler, the Processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or other processor capable of invoking programs. As another example, these units may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

The above unit for receiving is an interface circuit of the apparatus for receiving signals from other apparatuses. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit for the chip to receive signals from other chips or devices. The above unit for transmitting is an interface circuit of the apparatus for transmitting a signal to other apparatuses. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the transmitting unit is an interface circuit for the chip to transmit signals to other chips or devices.

Please refer to fig. 17, which is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application. It may be the terminal in the above embodiment, for implementing the operation of the terminal in the above embodiment. As shown in fig. 17, the terminal includes: an antenna 1710, a radio frequency portion 1720, a signal processing portion 1730. The antenna 1710 is connected to the radio frequency section 1720. In the downlink direction, the radio frequency part 1720 receives information transmitted from the network device through the antenna 1710, and transmits the information transmitted from the network device to the signal processing part 1730 to process the information. In the uplink direction, the signal processing portion 1730 processes the information of the terminal and sends the information to the radio frequency portion 1720, and the radio frequency portion 1720 processes the information of the terminal and sends the information to the network device through the antenna 1710.

The signal processing section 1730 may include a modem subsystem for implementing processing of various communication protocol layers of data; the system also comprises a central processing subsystem used for realizing the processing of a terminal operating system and an application layer; in addition, other subsystems, such as a multimedia subsystem for implementing control of a terminal camera, a screen display, etc., peripheral subsystems for implementing connection with other devices, and the like may be included. The modem subsystem may be a separately provided chip. Alternatively, the above means for the terminal may be located at the modem subsystem.

Modem subsystem may include one or more processing elements 1731, including, for example, a host CPU and other integrated circuits. The modem subsystem may also include a memory element 1732 and an interface circuit 1733. The storage element 1732 is used to store data and programs, but programs for executing the methods performed by the terminal in the above methods may not be stored in the storage element 1732, but stored in a memory outside the modem subsystem, and the modem subsystem is loaded for use when in use. Interface circuitry 1733 is used to communicate with other subsystems. The above apparatus for a terminal may be located in a modem subsystem, which may be implemented by a chip comprising at least one processing element for performing the steps of any of the methods performed by the above terminal and interface circuitry for communicating with other apparatus. In one implementation, the unit of the terminal for implementing the steps of the above method may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, for example, an apparatus for the terminal includes a processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls a program stored in the storage element to execute the method executed by the terminal in the above method embodiment. The memory elements may be memory elements with the processing elements on the same chip, i.e. on-chip memory elements.

In another implementation, the program for executing the method performed by the terminal in the above method may be in a memory element on a different chip than the processing element, i.e. an off-chip memory element. At this time, the processing element calls or loads a program from the off-chip storage element on the on-chip storage element to call and execute the method executed by the terminal in the above method embodiment.

In yet another implementation, the unit of the terminal implementing the steps of the above method may be configured as one or more processing elements disposed on the modem subsystem, where the processing elements may be integrated circuits, for example: one or more ASICs, or one or more DSPs, or one or more FPGAs, or a combination of these types of integrated circuits. These integrated circuits may be integrated together to form a chip.

The units of the terminal implementing the steps of the above method may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC) chip for implementing the above method. At least one processing element and a storage element can be integrated in the chip, and the processing element calls the stored program of the storage element to realize the method executed by the terminal; or, at least one integrated circuit may be integrated in the chip for implementing the method executed by the above terminal; alternatively, the above implementation modes may be combined, the functions of the partial units are implemented in the form of a processing element calling program, and the functions of the partial units are implemented in the form of an integrated circuit.

It will be seen that the apparatus for a terminal as described above may be comprised of at least one processing element and interface circuitry, where the at least one processing element is operative to perform any one of the methods performed by the terminal as provided by the above method embodiments. The processing element may: namely, part or all of the steps executed by the terminal are executed by calling the program stored in the storage element; it is also possible in a second way: that is, some or all of the steps performed by the terminal are performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in the processor element in combination with instructions; of course, some or all of the steps performed by the terminal may be performed in combination of the first and second manners.

The processing elements herein, like those described above, may be a general purpose processor, such as a CPU, or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more ASICs, or one or more microprocessors DSP, or one or more FPGAs, etc., or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms.

The storage element may be a memory or a combination of a plurality of storage elements.

Please refer to fig. 18, which is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. For implementing the operation of the network device in the above embodiments. As shown in fig. 18, the network device includes: antenna 1810, radio frequency device 1820, and baseband device 1830. The antenna 1810 is coupled to a radio frequency device 1820. In the uplink direction, rf device 1820 receives information transmitted by the terminal through antenna 1810, and transmits the information transmitted by the terminal to baseband device 1830 for processing. In the downlink direction, the baseband device 1830 processes the information of the terminal and sends the processed information to the rf device 1820, and the rf device 1820 processes the information of the terminal and sends the processed information to the terminal through the antenna 1810.

Baseband device 1830 may include one or more processing elements 1831 including, for example, a host CPU and other integrated circuits. Further, the baseband device 1830 may also include a memory element 1831 and an interface 1833, the memory element 1832 being used to store programs and data; the interface 1833 is used for exchanging information with the radio frequency device 1820, and is, for example, a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI). The above means for a network device may be located on the baseband means 1830, for example, the above means for a network device may be a chip on the baseband means 1830, the chip comprising at least one processing element and interface circuitry, wherein the processing element is configured to perform the steps of any one of the methods performed by the above network device, and the interface circuitry is configured to communicate with other devices. In one implementation, the unit of the network device implementing each step in the above method may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, for example, an apparatus for the network device includes a processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls a program stored in the storage element to execute the method executed by the network device in the above method embodiment. The memory elements may be memory elements on the same chip as the processing element, i.e. on-chip memory elements, or may be memory elements on a different chip than the processing element, i.e. off-chip memory elements.

In another implementation, the unit of the network device implementing the steps of the above method may be configured as one or more processing elements, which are disposed on the baseband apparatus, where the processing elements may be integrated circuits, for example: one or more ASICs, or one or more DSPs, or one or more FPGAs, or a combination of these types of integrated circuits. These integrated circuits may be integrated together to form a chip.

The units of the network device implementing the steps of the above method may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC), for example, a baseband apparatus includes the SOC chip for implementing the above method. The chip can integrate at least one processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls the storage element to realize the method executed by the network equipment in the form of a stored program; or, at least one integrated circuit may be integrated in the chip, so as to implement the method performed by the above network device; or, the above implementation manners may be combined, the functions of the partial units are implemented in the form of a processing element calling program, and the functions of the partial units are implemented in the form of an integrated circuit.

It will be seen that the above apparatus for a network device may comprise at least one processing element and interface circuitry, wherein the at least one processing element is adapted to perform the method performed by any of the network devices provided by the above method embodiments. The processing element may: namely, the method calls the program stored in the storage element to execute part or all of the steps executed by the network equipment; it is also possible in a second way: that is, some or all of the steps performed by the network device are performed by integrated logic circuitry of hardware in the processor element in combination with instructions; of course, some or all of the steps performed by the above network device may also be performed in combination with the first manner and the second manner.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. 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). Determining Y from X does not mean determining Y from X alone, but can be determined from X and other information.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention 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 invention, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the appended claims.

Claims

A communication method performed by a terminal, comprising:

receiving configuration parameters from network equipment, wherein the configuration parameters are used for indicating the time length of a timer, and the time length of the timer is the minimum time length before a terminal expects to receive downlink feedback information;

performing configuration authorization transmission on a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process;

starting a first timer of the first HARQ process with the configuration grant transmission, the first timer having the timer duration.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

starting a second timer of the first HARQ process when the first timer expires, wherein a duration of the second timer is configured by a network device.
The method of claim 2, further comprising:

Stopping or not starting a second timer of the first HARQ process should the configuration grant transmission.
The method of claim 2 or 3, further comprising:

receiving downlink feedback information, wherein the downlink feedback information comprises feedback of the first HARQ process;

when the downlink feedback information is received during the running period of the second timer of the first HARQ process, determining that the feedback of the first HARQ process is effective; or,

and when the downlink feedback information is received during the period that the second timer of the first HARQ process is not operated, determining that the feedback of the first HARQ process is invalid or ignoring the feedback of the first HARQ process.
The method of claim 4, further comprising:

and when the feedback of the first HARQ process is effective and is acknowledgement ACK, stopping a third timer, wherein the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ process.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

starting a second timer of the first HARQ process according to the configuration authorization transmission, wherein the duration of the second timer is configured by network equipment;

And when the first timer stops running, stopping a second timer of the first HARQ process.
The method of claim 1 or 6, further comprising:

receiving downlink feedback information, wherein the downlink feedback information comprises feedback of the first HARQ process;

when the downlink feedback information is received during the non-operation period of the first timer of the first HARQ process, determining that the feedback of the first HARQ process is effective; or,

when the downlink feedback information is received during the running period of the first timer of the first HARQ process, determining that the feedback of the first HARQ process is invalid or ignoring the feedback of the first HARQ process.
The method of claim 7, further comprising:

and when the feedback of the first HARQ process is effective and is acknowledgement ACK, stopping a third timer, wherein the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ process.
The method according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the first timer for the first HARQ process is stopped at least one of:

receiving a deactivation command, the deactivation command for deactivating the configuration authorization;

Receiving a scheduling grant for the first HARQ process; and

and a third timer of the first HARQ progress expires, wherein the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ progress.
The method according to any of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that the second timer of the first HARQ process is stopped in at least one of the following cases:

receiving a deactivation command, the deactivation command for deactivating the configuration authorization;

receiving a scheduling grant for the first HARQ process; and

and a third timer of the first HARQ process expires, wherein the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ process.
A method of communication, comprising:

the network equipment generates a configuration parameter, wherein the configuration parameter is used for indicating the time length of a timer, and the time length of the timer is the minimum time length before the terminal expects to receive the downlink feedback information;

and the network equipment sends the configuration parameters to the terminal.
A communication method performed by a terminal, comprising:

receiving activation or deactivation signaling from a network device, the activation or deactivation signaling indicating activation or deactivation of a configuration grant, the configuration grant being for a first hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, process;

Stopping a running timer of the first HARQ process, wherein a last transmission of the first HARQ process is a transmission granted with the configuration.
The method of claim 12, wherein the running timers comprise at least one of:

a first timer, which is started by the configuration authorization transmission of the first HARQ process;

a second timer that is started upon transmission of a configuration grant for the first HARQ process or upon expiration of the first timer;

and the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ process.
The method of claim 13, wherein the durations of the first timer, the second timer, and the third timer are configured by a network device.
The method of any of claims 12 to 14, further comprising:

and clearing the buffer of the first HARQ process.
A communication method performed by a terminal, comprising:

transmitting first uplink data to the network equipment on a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process by utilizing scheduling authorization;

Receiving, from the network device, feedback information indicating that the first uplink data is correctly received;

and transmitting second uplink data on the first HARQ process by using the configuration authorization.
The method of claim 16, wherein transmitting second uplink data with a configuration grant on the first HARQ process comprises:

determining that a New Data Indication (NDI) corresponding to the first HARQ process is inverted;

and transmitting the second uplink data by using configuration authorization on the first HARQ process.
The method of claim 16 or 17, further comprising:

and stopping the configuration authorization timer of the first HARQ process when the feedback information is received.
A communications apparatus, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a configuration parameter from a network device, where the configuration parameter is used to indicate a timer duration, and the timer duration is a minimum duration before a terminal expects to receive downlink feedback information;

a sending unit, configured to perform configuration grant transmission on a first hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ process;

a timer control unit, configured to start a first timer of the first HARQ process according to the configuration grant transmission, where the first timer has the timer duration.
The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the timer control unit is further configured to:

when the first timer expires, starting a second timer of the first HARQ process, wherein the duration of the second timer is configured by a network device.
The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the timer control unit is further configured to:

stopping or not starting a second timer of the first HARQ process should the configuration grant transmission.
The apparatus according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive downlink feedback information, the downlink feedback information comprising feedback of the first HARQ process, and the apparatus further comprises a determining unit configured to:

when the downlink feedback information is received during the running period of the second timer of the first HARQ process, determining that the feedback of the first HARQ process is effective; or,

and when the downlink feedback information is received during the period that the second timer of the first HARQ process is not operated, determining that the feedback of the first HARQ process is invalid or ignoring the feedback of the first HARQ process.
The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the timer control unit is further configured to:

And when the feedback of the first HARQ process is effective and is acknowledgement ACK, stopping a third timer, wherein the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ process.
The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the timer control unit is further configured to:

starting a second timer of the first HARQ process in response to the configuration of the authorized transmission, wherein the duration of the second timer is configured by network equipment;

and when the first timer stops running, stopping a second timer of the first HARQ process.
The apparatus according to claim 19 or 24, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive downlink feedback information, the downlink feedback information comprising feedback of the first HARQ process, and the apparatus further comprises a determining unit configured to:

when the downlink feedback information is received during the non-operation period of the first timer of the first HARQ process, determining that the feedback of the first HARQ process is effective; or,

when the downlink feedback information is received during the running period of the first timer of the first HARQ process, determining that the feedback of the first HARQ process is invalid or ignoring the feedback of the first HARQ process.
The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the timer control unit is further configured to:

and when the feedback of the first HARQ process is effective and is acknowledgement ACK, stopping a third timer, wherein the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ process.
The apparatus according to any of claims 19 to 26, wherein the timer control unit stops the first timer for the first HARQ process at least one of:

the receiving unit receives a deactivation command, wherein the deactivation command is used for deactivating the configuration authorization;

the receiving unit receives a scheduling grant for the first HARQ process; and

and a third timer of the first HARQ process expires, wherein the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ process.
The apparatus according to any of claims 20 to 24, wherein the timer control unit stops the second timer for the first HARQ process at least one of:

the receiving unit receives a deactivation command, wherein the deactivation command is used for deactivating the configuration authorization;

the receiving unit receives a scheduling grant for the first HARQ process; and

And a third timer of the first HARQ progress expires, wherein the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ progress.
A communications apparatus, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive an activation or deactivation signaling from a network device, where the activation or deactivation signaling is used to indicate activation or deactivation of a configuration grant, and the configuration grant is used for a first hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ process;

a timer control unit, configured to stop a timer of the first HARQ process in an active state, where the last transmission of the first HARQ process is a transmission authorized by using the configuration.
The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the timer in the active state comprises at least one of:

a first timer, which is started according to the configuration authorization transmission of the first HARQ process;

a second timer that is started upon transmission of a configuration grant for the first HARQ process or upon expiration of the first timer;

and the third timer is started according to the uplink initial transmission of the first HARQ process.
The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the durations of the first timer, the second timer, and the third timer are configured by a network device.
The apparatus of any one of claims 29 to 31, further comprising:

and the clearing unit is used for clearing the buffer of the first HARQ process.
A communications apparatus, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send first uplink data to a network device on a first hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ process by using a scheduling grant;

a receiving unit configured to receive, from the network device, feedback information indicating that the first uplink data is correctly received;

the sending unit is further configured to send second uplink data on the first HARQ process by using a configuration grant.
The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

a determining unit, configured to determine that a new data indication NDI corresponding to the first HARQ process is inverted;

the sending unit is configured to send the second uplink data by using a configuration grant on the first HARQ process when the determining unit determines that the NDI is inverted.
The apparatus of claim 33 or 34, further comprising:

and a timer control unit, configured to stop the grant timer for configuring the first HARQ process in response to receiving the feedback information.
A communications apparatus, comprising: a processor and interface circuitry for communicating with other devices, the processor being configured to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 18.
A communications apparatus, comprising: a processor for invoking a program in memory to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 18.
A terminal, characterised in that it comprises a communication device according to any one of claims 19 to 37.
A communications apparatus, comprising:

a generating unit, configured to generate a configuration parameter, where the configuration parameter is used to indicate a timer duration, and the timer duration is a minimum duration before a terminal expects to receive downlink feedback information;

and the sending unit is used for sending the configuration parameters to the terminal.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it stores a program which, when invoked by a processor, performs the method of any of claims 1 to 18.
A computer program, characterized in that the method of any of claims 1 to 18 is performed when said program is called by a processor.