CN115314975A

CN115314975A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN115314975A
Application number: CN202110497340.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李翔宇; 彭文杰; 肖潇
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-05-07
Filing date: 2021-05-07
Publication date: 2022-11-08

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which can improve the discontinuous communication effect and can be applied to an NR system. Wherein the first terminal may receive first information indicating a status and/or capabilities of the second terminal. In this way, the first terminal determines the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information, for example, determines the configuration mode centered on the first terminal or the configuration mode centered on the second terminal, so that the first terminal and the second terminal perform discontinuous communication using the same first configuration.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

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

Background

Side Link (SL) communication generally refers to terminal-to-terminal communication, for example, a first terminal and a second terminal perform data transmission through SL without passing through a network side, so as to effectively reduce communication delay.

Specifically, the first terminal and the second terminal may perform SL communication in a discontinuous communication manner. The discontinuous communication means that the first terminal and the second terminal can perform SL communication within an active time (active time) to realize data reception or transmission, and outside the active time, the first terminal and the second terminal do not perform SL communication and enter a sleep mode to realize the purpose of energy saving.

At present, there are two configurations of discontinuous communication, one is that a first terminal and a second terminal both adopt a configuration determined by the first terminal, and the other is that the first terminal and the second terminal both adopt a configuration determined by the second terminal, so as to implement discontinuous communication between the first terminal and the second terminal. Then, because the configuration itself is not perfect, the effect of discontinuous communication is not ideal no matter what configuration mode is adopted.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, which can improve the effect of discontinuous communication.

In order to achieve the purpose, the following technical scheme is adopted in the application:

in a first aspect, a method of communication is provided. Applied to a first terminal, the method comprises the following steps: and receiving the first information, and determining the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information. The first information is used for indicating the state and/or the capability of the second terminal, the first configuration is used for the discontinuous communication between the first terminal and the second terminal, and the configuration mode of the first configuration comprises: a first terminal-centric configuration, or a second terminal-centric configuration.

Based on the communication method described in the first aspect, since the first terminal can know the state and/or capability of the second terminal, the first terminal can reasonably determine the corresponding configuration mode, thereby improving the effect of discontinuous communication. For example, if it is determined that the power of the second terminal is sufficient according to the state and/or capability of the second terminal, it is determined that a configuration manner centering on the first terminal is adopted to improve the communication efficiency. For another example, if the power of the second terminal is determined to be insufficient according to the state and/or capability of the second terminal, a configuration mode centered on the second terminal is adopted to achieve the purpose of energy saving and prolong the communicable time period.

In a possible design, the first information may be used to indicate an operating status and/or discontinuous communication capability of the second terminal, so that the configuration determined by the first terminal, such as the configuration of the first configuration, may be more matched with the current statuses and/or discontinuous communication capabilities of the first terminal and the second terminal, so as to improve the discontinuous communication effect between the first terminal and the second communication.

In one possible embodiment, the first information may include: the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal. Correspondingly, determining the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information may include: and determining the configuration mode of the first configuration as a configuration mode taking the second terminal as the center according to the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal. That is, the discontinuous communication configuration may be used not only for discontinuous communication but also for implicitly indicating the operating state of the second terminal. Therefore, the multiplexing of the information can be realized, so that the resource overhead is reduced, the communication times are reduced, and the communication efficiency is improved.

In one possible design, the first information may include: the power information of the second terminal may be used to indicate the remaining power of the second terminal, or may also be used to indicate the used power of the second terminal, which is not limited herein. It can be seen that the electric quantity information may directly indicate whether the second terminal needs to save energy, so that the configuration manner determined by the first terminal, for example, the configuration manner of the first configuration may be more matched with the energy saving requirement of the second terminal, so as to reduce the power consumption of the second terminal, and further extend the communication time.

Optionally, on one hand, determining a configuration manner of the first configuration according to the first information may include: and determining that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the residual capacity of the first terminal is greater than or equal to a first capacity threshold; or the residual capacity of the second terminal is less than or equal to a second capacity threshold; or the residual capacity of the first terminal is greater than or equal to the residual capacity of the second terminal.

Optionally, on the other hand, determining the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information may include: determining that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center, wherein one or more of the following conditions are met: the residual electric quantity of the first terminal is smaller than a first electric quantity threshold value; or the residual electric quantity of the second terminal is larger than a second electric quantity threshold value; or the residual capacity of the first terminal is less than that of the second terminal.

It can be seen that there are various ways for the first terminal to determine the remaining power, in other words, the first terminal may select a corresponding determination way according to the actual situation, so that the determined configuration way is more matched with the actual situation, thereby further improving the discontinuous communication effect. For example, if the power of the first terminal is insufficient, the corresponding configuration mode may be determined according to the remaining power of the first terminal, so as to implement energy saving of the first terminal and prolong the communicable time duration of the first terminal. For another example, if the power of the second terminal is insufficient, the corresponding configuration mode may be determined according to the size of the remaining power of the second terminal, so as to implement energy saving of the second terminal, thereby prolonging a communicable time period of the second terminal. For another example, if the electric quantities of the first terminal and the second terminal are insufficient, the corresponding configuration modes may be determined according to the relative sizes of the remaining electric quantity of the first terminal and the remaining electric quantity of the second terminal, so as to balance the electric quantity consumption of both parties, avoid that the electric quantity of one party is consumed prematurely, and prolong the communicable time of both parties as much as possible.

In one possible embodiment, the first information may include: configuration modes supported by the second terminal. The configuration supported by the second terminal may include: a first terminal centric configuration and/or a second terminal centric configuration.

Optionally, on one hand, determining the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information may include: and determining that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the second terminal supports a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center; alternatively, the second terminal supports a first terminal-centric configuration and supports a second terminal-centric configuration.

Optionally, on the other hand, determining the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information may include: and determining the configuration mode of the first configuration as a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the first terminal supports a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center; alternatively, the first terminal supports a first terminal-centric configuration and supports a second terminal-centric configuration.

It can be seen that the first terminal may determine the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the configuration mode supported by the first terminal and the configuration mode supported by the second terminal, so as to avoid a situation that the first terminal and/or the second terminal do not support the configuration mode, thereby improving communication reliability.

In one possible design, the first information may include: the number of sidelink for the second terminal. It should be appreciated that, on the one hand, if the number of sidelink is larger, the more resources are used for transmission, so that resource collision is more likely to occur. That is, the number of sidelink may reflect the likelihood of resource conflicts. In this way, when determining the configuration mode, the first terminal may take the possibility of resource conflict into account to avoid resource conflict occurring in the first terminal and/or the second terminal as much as possible, thereby improving communication quality and efficiency. On the other hand, the larger the number of sidelink links, the longer the activation time and the higher the power consumption. In other words, the sidelink number may also reflect the power consumption. Therefore, when the configuration mode is determined, the first terminal can take the power consumption into consideration to optimize the power consumption of the first terminal and/or the second terminal as much as possible, so that the aim of saving energy is fulfilled.

Optionally, on one hand, determining the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information may include: and determining that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the number of sidelink of the second terminal is greater than or equal to the first number threshold; or the number of sidelink of the first terminal is less than or equal to the second number threshold; or the number of sidelink of the first terminal is less than or equal to the number of sidelink of the second terminal.

Optionally, on the other hand, determining the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information may include: and determining that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the number of sidelink of the second terminal is less than the first number threshold; or the number of the sidelink of the first terminal is larger than the second number threshold; or the number of sidelink of the first terminal is larger than that of the second terminal.

It can be seen that there are various ways for the first terminal to determine the number of the sidelink, in other words, the first terminal may select a corresponding determination way according to the actual situation, so that the determined configuration way is more matched with the actual situation, so as to further improve the discontinuous communication effect. For example, compared with the second terminal, if the first terminal needs to avoid resource conflict and needs to save energy, the corresponding configuration mode may be determined according to the number of sidelink of the first terminal, so as to reduce the possibility of resource conflict of the first terminal, reduce power consumption, thereby improving communication efficiency and achieving the purpose of saving energy. For another example, compared with the first terminal, if the second terminal needs to avoid resource conflict and needs to save energy, the corresponding configuration mode may be determined according to the number of sidelink of the second terminal, so as to reduce the possibility of resource conflict occurring in the second terminal, reduce the function, thereby improve the communication efficiency and achieve the purpose of saving energy. For another example, if the first terminal and the second terminal both need to avoid resource collision, the corresponding configuration mode may be determined according to the relative size of the sidelink number of the first terminal and the sidelink number of the second terminal, so as to reduce the possibility of resource collision of both parties as a whole, balance the power consumption of both parties, and thereby improve the communication efficiency.

In one possible design, before receiving the first information, the method of the first aspect may further include: and sending the first request message to the second terminal. The first request message is used for requesting first information.

Optionally, the first request message comprises the second information. Wherein the second information is used for indicating the state and/or capability of the first terminal. In other words, the second information may include one or more of: the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the first terminal, the electric quantity information of the first terminal, the configuration mode supported by the first terminal, or the number of sidelink of the first terminal. In this way, the second terminal can determine the same configuration mode according to the second information, thereby determining the same first configuration, that is, the first terminal does not need to send the first configuration to the second terminal, so as to reduce resource overhead, reduce communication times, and improve communication efficiency.

In a second aspect, a method of communication is provided. The method comprises the following steps: and acquiring first information and sending the first information. The first information is used for indicating the state and/or the capability of the second terminal and is used for the first terminal to determine the configuration mode of the first configuration. The first configuration is used for the discontinuous communication between the first terminal and the second terminal, and the configuration mode of the first configuration comprises the following steps: a first terminal-centric configuration, or a second terminal-centric configuration.

Based on the communication method described in the second aspect, the second terminal sends the state and/or capability of the second terminal, so that the first terminal can know the state and/or capability of the second terminal, and thus a corresponding configuration mode is reasonably determined, and the discontinuous communication effect is improved. For example, if it is determined that the power of the second terminal is sufficient according to the state and/or capability of the second terminal, it is determined that a configuration manner centering on the first terminal is adopted to improve the communication efficiency. For another example, if the power of the second terminal is determined to be insufficient according to the state and/or capability of the second terminal, a configuration mode with the second terminal as a center is adopted to achieve the purpose of energy saving and prolong the communicable time period.

In one possible design, the first information may be used to indicate an operating status of the second terminal and/or discontinuous communication capabilities of the second terminal. The technical effect of the design scheme may refer to the technical effect of the corresponding design scheme in the method of the first aspect, and is not described herein again.

Optionally, the first information may comprise one or more of the following as the second terminal: the determined discontinuous communication configuration, the power information, the number of sidelink, or the supported configuration mode. Wherein the power information may be used to indicate a used power or a remaining power of the second terminal. The configuration modes supported by the second terminal may include: a first terminal centric configuration, and/or a second terminal centric configuration. Therefore, the first terminal can flexibly select the corresponding parameters from the one or more parameters according to the actual requirements, so that the determined configuration mode is more matched with the actual requirements. For example, if energy saving is required, the configuration mode of the first configuration may be determined according to the electric quantity information, so as to further achieve the purpose of energy saving. For another example, if the communication efficiency needs to be improved, the configuration manner of the first configuration may be determined according to the number of sidelinks, so as to further improve the communication efficiency. For another example, if both energy saving and communication efficiency need to be improved, the configuration mode of the first configuration is determined comprehensively according to the electric quantity information and the number of sidelink links, so as to take energy saving and communication efficiency into account.

In one possible design, before sending the first information, the method of the second aspect may further include: a first request message is received from a first terminal. The first request message is used for requesting first information. Therefore, the second terminal does not need to actively send the first information, on one hand, the energy consumption of the second terminal can be reduced, energy conservation is realized, on the other hand, the expense of the second terminal can be reduced, and the communication efficiency is improved.

Optionally, the first request message comprises the second information. Wherein the second information is used for indicating the state and/or capability of the first terminal.

Further, after receiving the first request message from the first terminal, the method of the second aspect may further include: and determining the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the second information. The configuration mode is the same as the configuration mode of the first configuration determined by the first terminal. In other words, the second terminal may actively determine the configuration mode that is the same as the configuration mode of the first configuration determined by the first terminal, and the first terminal does not need to send the indication of the configuration mode of the first configuration to the second terminal, so as to reduce resource overhead and reduce communication times, thereby improving communication efficiency.

In a possible design, the method according to the second aspect may further include: a first configuration is received from a first terminal. Therefore, on one hand, the configuration alignment of the first terminal and the second terminal is realized to improve the communication stability and reliability of the first terminal and the second terminal, and on the other hand, the second terminal is not required to actively determine the first configuration to reduce the operation load of the second terminal and improve the operation efficiency.

It should be noted that the communication method according to the second aspect may be applied to a terminal device, such as a second terminal, or a network device, and the application is not limited thereto.

In a third aspect, a communications apparatus is provided. The apparatus comprises means for performing the method according to the first aspect.

Optionally, the apparatus of the third aspect may include a transceiver module and a processing module. The transceiver module is used for receiving the first information. And the processing module is used for determining the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information. The first information is used for indicating the state and/or the capability of the second terminal, the first configuration is used for the discontinuous communication between the first terminal and the second terminal, and the configuration mode of the first configuration comprises: a first terminal-centric configuration, or a second terminal-centric configuration.

In one possible design, the first information may be used to indicate an operating state and/or discontinuous communication capability of the second terminal.

In one possible embodiment, the first information may include: the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal. The processing module may be further configured to determine, according to the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal, that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centered on the second terminal.

In one possible embodiment, the first information may include: and the power information of the second terminal, wherein the power information can be used for indicating the residual power of the second terminal or indicating the used power of the second terminal.

Optionally, in an aspect, the processing module may be further configured to determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centering on the second terminal. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the residual capacity of the first terminal is greater than or equal to a first capacity threshold; or the residual electric quantity of the second terminal is less than or equal to a second electric quantity threshold value; or the residual capacity of the first terminal is greater than or equal to the residual capacity of the second terminal.

Optionally, in another aspect, the processing module may be further configured to determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centering on the first terminal, where one or more of the following conditions are satisfied: the residual electric quantity of the first terminal is smaller than a first electric quantity threshold value; or the residual electric quantity of the second terminal is greater than a second electric quantity threshold value; or the residual capacity of the first terminal is less than that of the second terminal.

In one possible embodiment, the first information may include: configuration modes supported by the second terminal. The configuration mode supported by the second terminal may include: a first terminal centric configuration and/or a second terminal centric configuration.

Optionally, in an aspect, the processing module may be further configured to determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centering on the second terminal. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the second terminal supports a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center; alternatively, the second terminal supports a first terminal centric configuration and supports a second terminal centric configuration.

Optionally, on the other hand, the processing module may be further configured to determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the first terminal supports a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center; alternatively, the first terminal supports a first terminal-centric configuration and supports a second terminal-centric configuration.

In one possible design, the first information may include: the number of sidelink for the second terminal.

Optionally, in an aspect, the processing module may be further configured to determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centering on the second terminal. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the number of sidelink of the second terminal is greater than or equal to the first number threshold; or the number of sidelink of the first terminal is less than or equal to the second number threshold; or the number of sidelink of the first terminal is less than or equal to the number of sidelink of the second terminal.

Optionally, in another aspect, the processing module may be further configured to determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode with the first terminal as a center. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the number of sidelink of the second terminal is less than the first number threshold; or the number of the sidelink of the first terminal is larger than the second number threshold; or the number of sidelink of the first terminal is larger than that of the second terminal.

Optionally, the transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module. Wherein, the receiving module is configured to implement the receiving function of the communication apparatus according to the third aspect, and the sending module is configured to implement the sending function of the communication apparatus according to the third aspect.

Optionally, the communication device of the third aspect may comprise a memory module storing the program or instructions. The program or instructions, when executed by the processing module, cause the communication device to perform the method of the first aspect.

In addition, for technical effects of the apparatus according to the third aspect, reference may be made to the technical effects of the method according to the first aspect, and details are not repeated here.

In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided. The apparatus comprises means for performing the method of the second aspect.

Optionally, the apparatus of the fourth aspect may include a transceiver module and a processing module. The processing module is used for acquiring the first information. And the transceiver module is used for transmitting the first information. The first information is used for indicating the state and/or the capability of the second terminal, and is used for the first terminal to determine a configuration mode of a first configuration, the first configuration is used for discontinuous communication between the first terminal and the second terminal, and the configuration mode of the first configuration includes: a configuration mode taking a first terminal as a center or a configuration mode taking a second terminal as a center;

in one possible design, the first information may be used to indicate an operating status of the second terminal and/or discontinuous communication capabilities of the second terminal.

Optionally, the first information may include one or more of the following of the second terminal: the determined discontinuous communication configuration, power information, sidelink number, or supported configuration. The power information may be used to indicate remaining power of the second terminal, and the configuration mode supported by the second terminal may include: a first terminal centric configuration, and/or a second terminal centric configuration.

Optionally, the transceiver module may include a receiving module and a transmitting module. The receiving module is configured to implement a receiving function of the communication apparatus according to the fourth aspect, and the sending module is configured to implement a sending function of the communication apparatus according to the fourth aspect, such as sending the first information.

Optionally, the communication device of the fourth aspect may comprise a memory module storing the program or instructions. The program or instructions, when executed by the processing module, enable the communication device to perform the method of the second aspect.

In addition, for technical effects of the apparatus according to the fourth aspect, reference may be made to technical effects of the method according to the first aspect, and details are not repeated here.

In a fifth aspect, a communications apparatus is provided. The device comprises: a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to execute a computer program stored in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method of the first aspect or the second aspect.

In one possible design, the apparatus of the fifth aspect may further include a transceiver. The transceiver may be a transmit-receive circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver may be for use in the apparatus of the fifth aspect to communicate with other apparatuses.

In this application, the apparatus according to the fifth aspect may be the terminal device in the first aspect or the second aspect, such as the first terminal or the second terminal, or a chip (system) or other component or assembly that can be disposed in the terminal device, or an apparatus that includes the terminal device.

In addition, for technical effects of the apparatus according to the fifth aspect, reference may be made to technical effects of the method according to the first aspect, and details are not repeated here.

In a sixth aspect, a communications apparatus is provided. The device includes: a processor and a memory; the memory is adapted to store a computer program which, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to perform the method of the first or second aspect.

In one possible design, the apparatus of the sixth aspect may further include a transceiver. The transceiver may be a transmit-receive circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver may be for the apparatus of the sixth aspect to communicate with other apparatuses.

In this application, the apparatus according to the sixth aspect may be the terminal device in the first aspect or the second aspect, such as the first terminal or the second terminal, or a chip (system) or other component or assembly that can be disposed in the terminal device, or an apparatus that includes the terminal device.

In addition, for technical effects of the apparatus according to the sixth aspect, reference may be made to technical effects of the method according to the first aspect, and details are not repeated here.

In a seventh aspect, a communications apparatus is provided. The device includes: a processor and interface circuitry. The interface circuit is used for receiving code instructions and transmitting the code instructions to the processor; the processor is configured to execute the code instructions to perform the method of the first aspect or the second aspect.

Optionally, the apparatus of the seventh aspect may further include: a receiver and a transmitter. Wherein the receiver is used for realizing the receiving function of the device, and the transmitter is used for realizing the transmitting function of the device. Alternatively, the transmitter and receiver may be integrated into one device, such as a transceiver. The transceiver is used for realizing the sending function and the receiving function of the device.

Optionally, the apparatus of the seventh aspect may further comprise a memory, the memory storing the program or the instructions. The program or instructions, when executed by a processor of the seventh aspect, cause the apparatus to perform the method of the first or second aspect.

In this application, the apparatus of the seventh aspect may be the terminal device in the first aspect or the second aspect, such as the first terminal or the second terminal, or a chip (system) or other component or assembly that can be disposed in the terminal device, or an apparatus that includes the terminal device.

Moreover, for technical effects of the apparatus according to the seventh aspect, reference may be made to technical effects of the method according to the first aspect, and details are not repeated here.

In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided. The apparatus comprises a processor and a transceiver, wherein the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit, the transceiver is used for information interaction between the apparatus and other apparatuses, and the processor executes program instructions to perform the method according to the first aspect or the second aspect.

Optionally, the apparatus of the eighth aspect may further comprise a memory, the memory storing the program or instructions. The program or instructions, when executed by a processor of the eighth aspect, cause the apparatus to perform the method of the first or second aspect.

In this application, the apparatus according to the eighth aspect may be the terminal device in the first aspect or the second aspect, such as the first terminal or the second terminal, or a chip (system) or other component or assembly that can be disposed in the terminal device, or an apparatus that includes the terminal device.

In addition, for technical effects of the apparatus according to the eighth aspect, reference may be made to the technical effects of the method according to the first aspect, and details are not repeated here.

In a ninth aspect, a communication system is provided. The communication system includes one or more terminal devices. The terminal device is configured to perform the method of the first aspect or the second aspect.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium comprising: computer programs or instructions; the computer program or instructions, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the first or second aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the first or second aspect.

Drawings

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

fig. 2 is a first flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 is a timing diagram of SL DRX;

fig. 4 is a second flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a second flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a third schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a fourth flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical terms related to the present application will be first described below.

1. SL communication

SL communication generally refers to communication between terminals, such as communication between User Equipment (UE) 1 and UE2, such as data transmission through a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSCCH), or a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH), so as to effectively reduce communication delay without passing through a network side or a network device.

2. Unicast (unicast) communication

Among them, the unicast communication is a one-to-one communication method often used in SL communication, or a communication method in which a destination address is a single target. For unicast communication, only two terminals, such as a first terminal and a second terminal, may participate in each communication, that is, one Transmission (TX) terminal and one Reception (RX) terminal may be used for each unicast communication, so as to achieve accurate information transfer. For example, if a UE1 sends a unicast message, such as a Sidelink Control Information (SCI) message, to a UE2, the UE1 is a TX UE, and the UE2 is an RX UE. The unicast message may include a source address (source ID) of the first terminal, such as UE1, and a destination address (destination ID) of the second terminal, such as UE 2.

It is understood that the source address may be source layer 2 identification (source L2 ID), or source layer 2 identification is an example of a source address; the destination address may be a destination layer 2 identification (source L2 ID), or the destination layer 2 identification is an example of a destination address.

3. Multicast (multicast) communication

The multicast communication is also called multicast communication, and is a communication method often used in SL communication. Multicast communication is a one-to-many communication method as compared with unicast communication. In other words, there is only one TX terminal per multicast communication, but the RX terminals may be multiple, such as all the terminals except the TX terminal in the group. Unlike the destination address of the unicast message, the destination address of the multicast message may be a group number, a group identifier, or a destination address corresponding to the group identifier, so that all terminals in the group except the TX terminal can receive the multicast message.

4. Broadcast (broadcast) communication

In SL communication, broadcast communication is a pair of all communication modes, or a communication mode for all targets in a network, where the network may be referred to as a broadcast domain, and may be a local area network, such as an ethernet (ethernet network) or a token-ring network (token-ring network). In other words, the TX terminal for each broadcast communication may be one, but the RX terminal may be plural, such as all terminals except the TX terminal in the broadcast domain. In addition, the destination address of the broadcast message is a destination address associated with a service corresponding to the broadcast message, unlike the destination address of the unicast message and the destination address of the multicast message.

5. Discontinuous communication

In the SL communication, the discontinuous communication is a low energy consumption communication method, and includes: discontinuous Reception (DRX), and/or Discontinuous Transmission (DTX). For two terminals using discontinuous communication, a first terminal, such as TX UE, and a second terminal, such as RX UE, may both perform SL communication in the same time period, such as active time, to implement data transceiving, and enter sleep mode in other time periods except for the active time, to implement the purpose of saving energy.

Further, to implement the discontinuous communication between the first terminal and the second terminal, the first terminal and the second terminal may use the same discontinuous communication configuration, for example, both the first terminal and the second terminal use the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the first terminal, or use the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal.

However, the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the first terminal is mainly determined according to the state of the first terminal, such as the communication efficiency and the power of the first terminal, so that the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the first terminal often cannot meet the requirement of the second terminal. For example, when the RX UE has insufficient power, the RX UE is activated frequently by using the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the TX UE, and especially when the RX UE communicates with multiple TX UEs discontinuously at the same time, the RX UE is activated more frequently and the activation time is longer, which causes the power consumption of the RX UE to be too high, and thus the energy saving purpose cannot be achieved. Similarly, the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal is mainly determined according to the state of the second terminal, such as the communication efficiency and the electric quantity of the second terminal, so that the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal often cannot meet the requirement of the first terminal. For example, if the TX UE uses the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the RX UE, the activation time of the TX UE may conflict with the transmission resources, for example, after the TX UE is activated, data of multiple RX UEs need to be transmitted on the resources within a short time, so that resource conflict is caused, and the communication efficiency of the TX UE is affected.

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

The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application may be applied to various communication systems, for example, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, a vehicle to any object (V2X) communication system, a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a vehicle networking communication system, a 4th generation (4 g) mobile communication system, such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, a fifth generation (5 g) mobile communication system, such as a New Radio (NR) system, and a future communication system, such as a sixth generation (6 g) mobile communication system.

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

In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplarily", "for example", etc. are used for indicating as examples, illustrations or explanations. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the term using examples is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion.

In the embodiment of the present invention, "information", "signal", "message", "channel", "signaling" may be used in combination, and it should be noted that the meaning to be expressed is consistent when the difference is not emphasized. "of", "corresponding", and "corresponding" may sometimes be used in combination, it being noted that the intended meaning is consistent when no distinction is made.

In the examples of the present application, the following are sometimes mentionedMarked with W ₁ It may be mistaken for a non-subscripted form such as W1, whose intended meaning is consistent when the distinction is de-emphasized.

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

To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application will be first described in detail by taking the communication system shown in fig. 1 as an example. Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system to which the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applied.

As shown in fig. 1, the communication system includes at least two terminal devices, such as a first terminal and a second terminal.

The terminal device is a terminal having a wireless transceiving function and being connected to the communication system, or a chip system that can be installed in the terminal. The terminal device can also be called a UE, user equipment, access terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, or user device. The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an Augmented Reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in unmanned driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote medical (remote medical), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation safety (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), a vehicle-mounted terminal, an RSU with a terminal function, and the like. The terminal device of the present application may also be an on-board module, an on-board component, an on-board chip, or an on-board unit that is built in the vehicle as one or more components or units, and the vehicle may implement the communication method provided by the present application through the built-in on-board module, the on-board component, the on-board chip, or the on-board unit.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 1, the communication system may further include a network device.

The network device is a device located on the network side of the communication system and having a wireless transceiving function or a chip system that can be installed on the device. The network devices include, but are not limited to: an Access Point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, such as a home gateway, a router, a server, a switch, a bridge, etc., 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 evolved Node B, or home Node B, HNB), a Base Band Unit (BBU), a wireless relay Node, a wireless backhaul Node, a transmission point (transmission and reception point, TRP or transmission point, etc.), and may also be 5G, such as a new air interface (new io, NR) system, or TP, transmission point (NB), a system in which an AP or an AP in a WiFi system, an AP, a network panel, a radio network panel, or a set of antennas (rsb, NB), and may also be configured as a set of antenna panels, a radio network panel, or a set of antenna panels, or a radio network panel, and/or a radio network panel.

It should be noted that the communication method provided in this embodiment of the present application may be applicable to communication between terminal devices shown in fig. 2, for example, communication between a first terminal and a second terminal, and for specific implementation, reference may be made to the following method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

It should be noted that the solutions in the embodiments of the present application may also be applied to other communication systems, and the corresponding names may also be replaced with names of corresponding functions in other communication systems.

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

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application will be specifically described below with reference to fig. 2 to 7.

Exemplarily, fig. 2 is a first flowchart of a communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The communication method may be applied to the terminal devices shown in fig. 1, such as the first terminal and the second terminal. The first terminal may be a TX terminal of the second terminal, such as a TX UE, and accordingly, the second terminal may be an RX terminal of the first terminal, such as an RX UE, but is not limited thereto, for example, the first terminal may also be an RX terminal of the second terminal, and accordingly, the second terminal may also be a TX terminal of the first terminal. For specific implementation, reference may be made to the related descriptions in "1, SL communication" to "4, SL communication", and details are not described herein again. The present embodiment is described by taking unicast as an example, but not limited thereto.

Further, as shown in fig. 2, the communication method includes the following steps:

s201, the second terminal acquires the first information.

The first information is used for indicating the state, such as the working state, and/or the capability, such as the discontinuous communication capability, of the second terminal, so that the configuration mode determined by the first terminal can be more matched with the current states and/or the discontinuous communication capabilities of the first terminal and the second terminal, and the discontinuous communication effect of the first terminal and the second communication is improved.

Wherein the first information may include one or more of the following of the second terminal: the determined discontinuous communication configuration, the power information, the supported configuration mode, or the SL number are respectively described below.

A. Discontinuous communication configuration determined by second terminal

As can be known from the above description about "5, discontinuous communication", the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal may be an SL DRX configuration, or may be an SL DTX configuration, which is not limited thereto. The present embodiment is described with an example of an SL DRX configuration.

Specifically, the SL DRX configuration may include one or more of: a period, a duration timer, a slot offset, a start offset, an inactivity timer, a retransmission wait timer, or a retransmission schedule timer, respectively, as described below.

The above-mentioned Cycle, such as an SL DRX Cycle (SL DRX Cycle), is used to define the duration of each Cycle, and the unit may be a frame (frame), a subframe (subframe), a symbol (symbol), a slot (slot), and the like, which is not limited thereto.

The duration timer, such as the SL DRX duration timer (SL-DRX-onDurationTimer), is used to define the duration of the active time for the SL DRX at the beginning of a cycle. Wherein the first terminal and the second terminal are active, i.e. at the active time of the SL DRX, during the period when the duration timer is running. It should be noted that the duration timer is periodically run, and the duration timer is started at the beginning of each SL DRX cycle.

The start offset, such as SL DRX start offset (SL-DRX-StartOffset), is used to determine the time when each period starts, so that the first terminal and the second terminal can start the duration timer at a certain time-domain position within the period, such as a certain frame, subframe, symbol, slot, etc.

The slot offset, such as SL DRX slot offset (SL-DRX-SlotOffset), is used to define a time delay before each time of starting the duration timer in each period, so that the first terminal and the second terminal may delay a certain time domain position in the period, such as a certain frame, subframe, symbol, slot, and the like, for a certain period of time and then start the duration timer.

The inactivity timer, such as an inactivity timer (SL-DRX-inactivity timer) of the SL DRX, is used to define a duration for which the first terminal and the second terminal are activated due to transmission or reception of newly transmitted data. For example, before the duration timer expires, if the first terminal sends newly transmitted data or the second terminal receives the newly transmitted data, the inactivity timer is started, and the first terminal and the second terminal enter the active time.

The retransmission scheduling timer, such as a SL DRX retransmission scheduling timer (SL-DRX-retransmission timer), is used to define a maximum duration of the first terminal and the second terminal until data retransmission is performed. Wherein the first terminal and the second terminal are activated during a period when the retransmission scheduling timer is running.

The retransmission waiting Timer, such as SL DRX retransmission waiting Timer (SL-DRX-HARQ-RTT-Timer), is used to define a minimum duration before the first terminal and the second terminal expect to perform retransmission scheduling, and may also be understood as a duration of waiting for the first terminal and the second terminal from receiving or sending data to performing data retransmission on the data

It can be seen that, in the duration timer, the inactivity timer, and the retransmission scheduling timer, as long as any one or more of the timers are running, the first terminal and the second terminal are activated and are in the active time of the SL DRX, otherwise, the first terminal and the second terminal are dormant. In other words, the activation times of the SL DRX of the first terminal and the second terminal include: the time period corresponding to the operation of any one or more of the duration timer, the inactivity timer, and the retransmission scheduling timer. Correspondingly, the sleep time of the SL DRX of the first terminal and the second terminal includes: the duration timer, the inactivity timer, and the retransmission scheduling timer do not run for the corresponding time.

Further, fig. 3 is a timing diagram of the SL DRX procedure, and for convenience of understanding, the UE1 is taken as an example to specifically describe the above SL DRX configuration parameters in combination with fig. 3.

As shown in fig. 3, the solid convex part indicates that UE1 is active, and the solid concave part indicates that UE1 is dormant. First, UE1 starts the duration timer for the first time after configuring SL DRX (the operation duration for the first start of the duration timer is shown by dashed line 1). In the period when the duration timer is first running, since the UE1 does not receive or transmit data, such as data transmission or reception, after the duration timer is first expired, the UE1 starts the duration timer again after a period of time (shown by a dotted line 2, i.e., the time in the first period except for the running of the duration timer), and the dashed line 3 shows the running duration of the duration timer which is started again. During the period when the duration timer is running again, if UE1 receives the first data (newly transmitted data), the inactivity timer is started (the running duration of the inactivity timer started for the first time is shown by dashed line 4). Thereafter, if the UE1 receives the second data (newly transmitted data), the inactivity timer is restarted (the operation duration of the inactivity timer restart is shown by a dotted line 5). It will be appreciated that after the duration timer has again expired, on the one hand, the UE1 again starts the duration timer after a certain time has elapsed (indicated by the dashed line 6, i.e. the time in the second cycle other than the duration timer running) (indicated by the dashed line 7 as the running duration of the duration timer starting again); on the other hand, at this time, although the duration timer is expired, the UE1 remains active, that is, at the active time of the SL DRX, because the inactivity timer is not expired. Then, after the inactivity timer expires, UE1 goes to sleep. Further, the retransmission-waiting timer is started for the first time when the UE1 receives the first data (the operation time length for the first start of the retransmission-waiting timer is shown by a dotted line 8). After the retransmission wait timer expires for the first time, since the UE1 fails to successfully demodulate the previously received first data and needs to retransmit, the retransmission scheduling timer is started (the operation duration of the start of the retransmission scheduling timer is shown by the dotted line 9), so that the UE1 is activated again to perform data retransmission. And after the retransmission scheduling timer is overtime, the data retransmission is finished, and the UE1 is dormant. At this time, the retransmission-waiting timer is started again (the operation time length for which the retransmission-waiting timer is started again is shown by the dotted line 10). After the retransmission wait timer is timed out again, since UE1 has successfully demodulated the retransmitted first data and does not need to retransmit again, UE1 remains dormant. Finally, after a period of time indicated by dashed line 6, the duration timer starts again (indicated by dashed line 7) and so on.

Further, the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal may be, for example, a discontinuous communication configuration obtained by the second terminal from a network side, such as a discontinuous communication configuration obtained by a network device, a discontinuous communication configuration preset by the second terminal, a discontinuous communication configuration preconfigured by the second terminal, or a discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal according to service information and/or quality of service (QoS) information of the second terminal, such as service information and/or QoS information with the first terminal, or service information and/or QoS information with other terminals, which is not limited thereto. Illustratively, the service information may be a destination address, or a service type.

Further, the discontinuous communication configuration may be used to indicate an operating status of the second terminal, such as a power status, a connection status, and the like. For example, when the second terminal is low in power, the second terminal may send the discontinuous communication configuration to the first terminal to implicitly indicate that the power is low and power saving is required. For another example, when the number of SLs of the second terminal is too large, the second terminal may also send the discontinuous communication configuration to the first terminal to implicitly indicate that the number of SLs is too large, and resource collision needs to be avoided. That is, the discontinuous communication configuration may be used not only for discontinuous communication but also for implicitly indicating the operating state of the second terminal. Therefore, the multiplexing of the information can be realized, so that the resource overhead is reduced, the communication times are reduced, and the communication efficiency is improved.

B. Power information of the second terminal

The power information of the second terminal may be used to indicate an operating state of the second terminal, such as indicating a remaining power of the second terminal or an used power of the second terminal. The remaining power of the second terminal and the used power of the second terminal may be expressed by percentage, or may be expressed by unit of power, such as milliampere (mAh), and this is not limited. It can be seen that the electric quantity information may directly indicate whether the second terminal needs to save energy, so that the configuration manner determined by the first terminal, for example, the configuration manner of the first configuration may be more matched with the energy saving requirement of the second terminal, so as to reduce the power consumption of the second terminal, and further extend the communication time.

C. Number of SLs of second terminal

Wherein the SL of the second terminal may include one or more of: a unicast link (which may also be referred to as a unicast connection), a multicast link, or a broadcast link. Accordingly, the number of SLs of the second terminal may include one or more of: a number of unicast links, a number of multicast links, or a number of broadcast links. The unicast link number may be a unicast link number of the second terminal as the TX terminal and/or the RX terminal, and may include one or more of the following: such as the number of unicast links established, the number of unicast links that can be established, or the maximum number of unicast links supported. Similarly, the number of multicast links and the number of broadcast links can be understood similarly, and are not described herein again.

Wherein the number of SLs may be used to indicate an operating state and/or discontinuous communication capability of the second terminal. For example, if the SL number of the second terminal includes a dynamically established link number, such as an established unicast link number, or an established unicast link number, it may be used to indicate the operating status of the second terminal. For another example, if the SL number for the second terminal includes a predefined number of links, such as a maximum number of supported unicast links, it may be used to indicate the discontinuous communication capability of the second terminal.

D. Configuration mode supported by second terminal

The configuration mode supported by the second terminal may be used to indicate the discontinuous communication capability of the second terminal, and may include: a first terminal centric configuration and/or a second terminal centric configuration.

Specifically, the configuration with the second terminal as the center (center), which may be referred to as UE center, such as RX UE center, may refer to: the first configuration is determined mainly according to the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal, for example, the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal is determined as the first configuration, or the first configuration is generated according to the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal. Similarly, the configuration mode with the first terminal as the center may also be referred to as UE center, such as TX UE center, which may refer to: the first configuration may be determined primarily based on the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the first terminal, such as determining the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the first terminal as the first configuration, or generating the first configuration based on the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the first terminal. Therefore, the first terminal and the second terminal can be aligned to adopt the same configuration to carry out discontinuous communication, thereby improving discontinuous communication effects, such as reliability and stability of communication.

The first configuration is similar to the DRX configuration, and may also include one or more of the following: the specific implementation of the DRX configuration may refer to the DRX configuration related description in "a, discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal" above.

In addition, for specific implementation of the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the first terminal, reference may also be made to the above description of "a, discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal", and details are not repeated here.

Optionally, the configuration supported by the second terminal may further include: non-continuous communication is not supported. For example, the second terminal may explicitly indicate that the second terminal does not support the discontinuous communication by carrying related information that does not support the discontinuous communication, such as an indication field, in the first information, or may implicitly indicate that the second terminal does not support the discontinuous communication by setting a configuration mode supported by the second terminal in the first information to null.

Further, the second terminal may obtain the first information by: the second terminal obtains, for example, locally or from another device, such as a network device, the content of the first information, such as the one or more parameters included in the first information, to generate the first information according to the content, or to encapsulate the content into the format of the first information, but is not limited thereto. For example, the first information may also be preconfigured locally at the first terminal, so that the first terminal can directly obtain the first information.

It should be understood that the second terminal may acquire the first information when the first information needs to be sent, or may also acquire the first information in advance, which is not limited herein.

S202, the second terminal sends the first information, and the first terminal receives the first information.

Further, after the first terminal establishes the unicast connection with the second terminal, the second terminal may send the first information to the first terminal, and accordingly, the first terminal may receive the first information from the second terminal. Wherein the first information may be carried in one or more of: a PC5-S message, a PC5-RRC message, a terminal capability message, such as a sidelink terminal capability information (UE capability information sidelink) message, a SL DRX assistance information message, or other messages, which is not limited herein. That is, one or more of the first information may be carried in the same message, or in different messages. For example, the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal may be carried in the PC5-RRC message to implement sending the discontinuous communication configuration, and the power message of the second terminal may be carried in the PC5-RRC message or may be carried in the SL DRX assistance information, which is not limited to this.

It should be understood that S201 and S202 are the first terminal and the second terminal in the unicast scenario as an example, for example, in the multicast or broadcast scenario, the network side, such as the network device, may obtain the first information, such as obtain the first information from the second terminal, so as to send the first information to the first terminal, and accordingly, the first terminal may receive the first information from the network device.

It should also be understood that S201 is an optional step for the second terminal, in other words, the second terminal may also directly perform S202.

S203, the first terminal determines a configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information.

The configuration mode of the first configuration may include: for a configuration mode with the first terminal as the center or a configuration mode with the second terminal as the center, reference may be made to the related description in "D, configuration mode supported by the second terminal", and details are not described here.

The first terminal may flexibly select a corresponding parameter from the one or more parameters in the first information, for example, according to an actual requirement, to determine the configuration mode of the first configuration, so that the determined configuration mode is more matched with the actual requirement. For example, if energy saving is required, the configuration mode of the first configuration may be determined according to the electric quantity information, so as to further achieve the purpose of energy saving. For another example, if the communication efficiency needs to be improved, the configuration mode of the first configuration may be determined according to the number of sidelink links, so as to further improve the communication efficiency. For another example, if both energy saving and communication efficiency need to be improved, the configuration mode of the first configuration is determined comprehensively according to the electric quantity information and the number of sidelink links, so as to take energy saving and communication efficiency into account. As described in detail below.

Mode 1

The first terminal may determine the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal, for example, determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center.

Specifically, the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal may implicitly indicate an operating status of the second terminal, such as whether the power is sufficient or not, or the number of available SLs, and the like, so as to further indicate a requirement of the second terminal through the operating status, such as power saving is required, resource collision is required to be avoided, and the like. Or, when the working state of the second terminal is not ideal, such as insufficient power and frequent resource collision, the discontinuous communication configuration may be sent to indicate that the first terminal needs to adopt the discontinuous communication configuration, so as to meet the requirement of the second terminal more. In this way, the first terminal may determine that the configuration of the first configuration is a configuration centered on the second terminal.

Optionally, in a case that the first information includes the power information of the second terminal, the first terminal may determine, according to the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal, a configuration manner centered on the second terminal, and may record, according to the power information of the second terminal, a reason for determining the configuration manner centered on the second terminal, where if the reason is that the power of the second terminal is insufficient, energy needs to be saved, so as to facilitate subsequent query.

Mode 2

The first terminal may determine the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the power information of the second terminal, such as the used power or the remaining power of the second terminal, for example, determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centered on the first terminal, or determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centered on the second terminal. The remaining capacity of the second terminal will be described as an example.

Specifically, on the one hand, if the first terminal determines that the first condition is satisfied, it determines that the first configuration is a configuration centered on the second terminal. Wherein the first condition may include one or more of: the residual capacity of the first terminal is greater than or equal to a first capacity threshold; or the residual electric quantity of the second terminal is less than or equal to a second electric quantity threshold value; or the residual capacity of the first terminal is greater than or equal to the residual capacity of the second terminal. The unit of the first power threshold and the unit of the second power threshold correspond to the unit of the remaining power, and may be represented by a percentage, or may be represented by the unit of the power. In addition, the first power threshold and the second power threshold may be the same, such as 50% or 3000 ma, or may be different, such as 60% or 4000 ma, and 50% or 3000 ma, which are not limited thereto.

On the other hand, if the first terminal determines that the second condition is satisfied, it determines that the configuration of the first configuration is a configuration centered on the first terminal. Wherein the first condition may include one or more of: the residual capacity of the first terminal is smaller than the first capacity threshold; or the residual electric quantity of the second terminal is greater than the second electric quantity threshold value; or the residual capacity of the first terminal is less than that of the second terminal.

Optionally, the remaining capacity of the first terminal being greater than or equal to the remaining capacity of the second terminal may be: and the residual capacity of the first terminal is greater than or equal to the sum of the residual capacity of the second terminal and the first offset value. Similarly, the fact that the remaining power of the first terminal is less than the remaining power of the second terminal may also be: and the residual capacity of the first terminal is smaller than the sum of the residual capacity of the second terminal and the second offset value. The first offset value or the second offset value may be an offset value of the remaining power of the second terminal, and the size may be set according to actual requirements, such as predefined, preconfigured, network configured, and the like, which is not limited herein. Therefore, the configuration mode of the first configuration can meet the requirements of the second terminal, such as the RX UE, as much as possible, for example, the energy saving of the second terminal is realized as much as possible. For example, the first offset value and the first offset value may be the same or different, and are not limited thereto.

It can be seen that the first terminal has multiple manners for determining the remaining power, or the first terminal may select a corresponding manner according to an actual situation, so that the determined configuration manner is more matched with the actual situation, thereby further improving the effect of the discontinuous communication. For example, if the power of the first terminal is insufficient, the corresponding configuration mode may be determined according to the size of the remaining power of the first terminal, so as to implement energy saving of the first terminal and prolong a communicable time period of the first terminal. For another example, if the power of the second terminal is insufficient, the corresponding configuration mode may be determined according to the size of the remaining power of the second terminal, so as to implement energy saving of the second terminal, thereby prolonging a communicable time period of the second terminal. For another example, if the electric quantities of the first terminal and the second terminal are insufficient, the corresponding configuration mode may be determined according to the relative magnitude of the remaining electric quantity of the first terminal and the remaining electric quantity of the second terminal, so as to balance the electric quantity consumption of both parties, avoid that the electric quantity of one party is consumed prematurely, and prolong the communicable time length of both parties as much as possible.

It should be understood that, the configuration manner for determining the first configuration according to the power information of the second terminal is only an example and is not limited. For example, the first terminal may directly determine, according to the power information of the second terminal, that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centered on the second terminal.

Mode 3

The first terminal may determine the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the configuration mode supported by the second terminal, for example, determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center, or determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center.

Specifically, on the one hand, if the first terminal determines that the third condition is satisfied, it determines that the configuration of the first configuration is a configuration centered on the second terminal. Wherein the third condition may include one or more of: the second terminal supports a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center; alternatively, the second terminal supports both the first terminal-centric configuration and the second terminal-centric configuration.

On the other hand, if the first terminal determines that the fourth condition is satisfied, it is determined that the first configuration is a configuration centered on the first terminal. Wherein the fourth condition may include one or more of: the first terminal supports a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center; alternatively, the first terminal supports both the first terminal-centric configuration and the second terminal-centric configuration.

In addition, if the first terminal and the second terminal both support the configuration mode centered on the first terminal and the configuration mode centered on the second terminal, the configuration mode of the first configuration may be determined as the configuration mode centered on the second terminal, or may be determined randomly.

It can be seen that the first terminal may determine the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the configuration mode supported by the first terminal and the configuration mode supported by the second terminal, so as to avoid a situation that the first terminal and/or the second terminal do not support the configuration mode, thereby improving stability and reliability of communication.

Mode 4

The first terminal may determine the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the number of SLs of the second terminal, for example, determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centered on the first terminal, or determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centered on the second terminal. It should be understood that, on the one hand, for a first terminal, such as a TX UE, if the number of SLs is larger, the more resources are used for transmission, so that resource collision is more likely to occur. That is, the number of SLs may reflect the likelihood of resource conflicts. In this way, when determining the configuration mode, the first terminal may take into account the possibility of resource conflict, so as to avoid resource conflict occurring in the first terminal and/or the second terminal as much as possible, thereby improving communication quality and efficiency. On the other hand, for the second terminal, such as RX UE, if the number of SLs is larger, the activation time is longer and the power consumption is higher. In other words, the SL number may also reflect the magnitude of power consumption. Therefore, when the configuration mode is determined, the first terminal can take the power consumption into consideration to optimize the power consumption of the first terminal and/or the second terminal as much as possible, so that the aim of saving energy is fulfilled.

On one hand, if the first terminal determines that the fifth condition is met, it is determined that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center. Wherein the fifth condition may include one or more of: the number of SLs for the second terminal is greater than or equal to a first number threshold; or the number of SLs for the first terminal is less than or equal to a second number threshold; or the number of SLs of the first terminal is less than or equal to the number of SLs of the second terminal.

On the other hand, if the first terminal determines that the sixth condition is satisfied, it is determined that the first configuration is a configuration centered on the first terminal. Wherein the sixth condition may include one or more of: the number of SLs of the second terminal is less than a first number threshold; or the SL number of the first terminal is greater than a second number threshold; alternatively, the number of SLs of the first terminal is greater than the number of SLs of the second terminal.

Optionally, the number of SLs of the first terminal is less than or equal to the number of SLs of the second terminal may also be: the number of SLs for the first terminal is less than or equal to the sum of the number of SLs for the second terminal and the third bias value. Similarly, the number of SLs for the first terminal being greater than the number of SLs for the second terminal may also be: the number of SLs for the first terminal is greater than the sum of the number of SLs for the second terminal and the fourth bias value. The third offset value or the fourth offset value may be an offset value of the number of SLs of the second terminal, and the size may be set according to actual requirements, such as predefined, preconfigured, network configured, and the like, which is not limited herein. Therefore, the configuration mode of the first configuration can meet the requirements of the second terminal, such as the RX UE, as much as possible, for example, the energy saving of the second terminal is realized as much as possible. For example, the third offset value and the fourth offset value may be the same or different, and are not limited thereto.

It can be seen that there are various SL number determination manners, and the first terminal may select a corresponding determination manner according to an actual situation, so that the determined configuration manner is more matched with the actual situation, and the effect of the discontinuous communication is further improved. For example, if the first terminal needs to avoid resource conflict and needs to save energy, the corresponding configuration mode may be determined according to the number of SLs of the first terminal, so as to reduce the possibility of resource conflict occurring in the first terminal and reduce power consumption, thereby improving communication efficiency and achieving the purpose of saving energy. For another example, if the second terminal needs to avoid resource conflict and needs to save energy, the corresponding configuration mode may be determined according to the number of SLs of the second terminal, so as to reduce the possibility of resource conflict occurring in the second terminal and reduce the function, thereby improving the communication efficiency and achieving the purpose of saving energy. For another example, if the first terminal and the second terminal both need to avoid resource conflict, the corresponding configuration manner may be determined according to the relative size of the number of SLs of the first terminal and the number of SLs of the second terminal, so as to integrally reduce the possibility of resource conflict between the two parties, balance the power consumption of the two parties, and thereby integrally improve the communication efficiency.

It should be understood that the first terminal may also determine the configuration of the first configuration in combination with two or more of the manners 1-4 described above. The above modes 1 to 4 may be combined in an "and/or" manner. For example, in combination with the manner 2 and the manner 3, in a case that both the first terminal and the second terminal support a configuration manner centered on the first terminal and support a configuration manner centered on the second terminal, if the remaining power of the first terminal is greater than or equal to the remaining power of the second terminal, it is determined that the first configuration manner is a configuration manner centered on the second terminal; on the contrary, if the remaining capacity of the first terminal is less than the remaining capacity of the second terminal, it is determined that the first configuration mode is a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center. For another example, with reference to the manner 3 and the manner 4, if the remaining power of the first terminal is greater than or equal to the remaining power of the second terminal, and the number of SLs of the first terminal is less than or equal to the number of SLs of the second terminal, it is determined that the first configuration mode is a configuration mode centered on the second terminal; otherwise, if the remaining power of the first terminal is less than the remaining power of the second terminal, and/or the number of SLs of the first terminal is greater than the number of SLs of the second terminal, it is determined that the first configuration mode is a configuration mode centered around the first terminal. Then, other combinations are analogized, and are not described in detail herein.

Optionally, in a first possible implementation scenario, after S203, the communication method may further include: step 1, the first terminal determines the first configuration according to the configuration mode of the first configuration.

As can be known from the above description of "D, configuration modes supported by the second terminal", if the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centered on the second terminal, the first terminal may determine that the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal is the first configuration, or generate the first configuration according to the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal. Similarly, if the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center, the first terminal determines that the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the first terminal is the first configuration, or generates the first configuration according to the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the first terminal. In this way, in the case that the second terminal does not have the first configuration, the first terminal may send the first configuration to the second terminal device, for example, send a PC5-RRC message, where the PC5-RRC message includes the first configuration, on one hand, the configuration alignment of the first terminal and the second terminal is achieved, so as to improve the communication stability and reliability of the first terminal and the second terminal, and on the other hand, the second terminal does not need to actively determine the first configuration, so as to reduce the operation load of the second terminal, and improve the operation efficiency.

It should be understood that the manner in which the first configuration is determined above is by way of example only and not by way of limitation. For example, the first configuration may also be a configuration generated by the first terminal according to the configuration of the first terminal and the configuration of the second terminal, so as to integrate characteristics of the configuration of the first terminal and the configuration of the second terminal, thereby meeting requirements of the first terminal, such as high communication efficiency, and meeting requirements of the second terminal, such as energy saving and power saving.

Optionally, in a second possible implementation scenario, before S202, the communication method may further include: and 2, the first terminal sends a first request message to the second terminal, and the second terminal receives the first request message from the first terminal.

The first request message may be used to request the first information, and may be a terminal capability query message, such as a side chain communication terminal capability query (UE capacity inquiry link) message. Therefore, the second terminal does not need to actively send the first information, so that the energy consumption of the second terminal can be reduced, the energy conservation is realized, the overhead of the second terminal can be reduced, and the communication efficiency is improved.

In a possible implementation manner, the first request message may include second information, and the second information may be used to indicate a status, such as an operating status, and/or a capability, such as a discontinuous communication capability, of the first terminal. In other words, the second information may also include one or more of the following for the first terminal: for specific implementation of the determined discontinuous communication configuration electric quantity information, the supported configuration mode, or the SL number, reference may be made to the above description of "a, discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal", and details are not described herein again. In this way, the second terminal may determine the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the second information, where the configuration mode is the same as the configuration mode of the first configuration determined by the first terminal. Therefore, the second terminal can actively determine the configuration mode which is the same as the configuration mode of the first configuration determined by the first terminal, and the first terminal does not need to send the indication of the configuration mode of the first configuration to the second terminal, so that the resource overhead is reduced, the communication times are reduced, and the communication efficiency is improved.

The overall flow of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is introduced above with reference to fig. 2, and the flow of the communication method shown in fig. 2 in a specific application scenario is described in detail below with reference to fig. 4 to fig. 7.

Exemplarily, fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a second communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The communication method may be applied to communication between a TX UE (the above-described first terminal) and an RX UE (the above-described second terminal). As shown in fig. 4, the communication method may include the steps of:

s401, the TX UE sends a direct communication request (direct communication request) message to the RX UE, and the RX UE receives the direct communication request message from the TX UE.

For example, if the TX UE has a requirement for communication with the RX UE and data needs to be sent to the RX UE, the TX UE may send the direct communication request message to the RX UE to request to establish a unicast connection with the RX UE, so as to send the data. Of course, the direct communication request message is taken as an example in this embodiment, and is not limited to this, and may be another message as long as the other message is used to request the RX UE to establish the unicast connection.

S402, the RX UE sends a direct communication accept (direct communication accept) message to the TX UE, and the TX UE receives the direct communication accept message from the RX UE.

Wherein the direct communication accept message is used to indicate that the RX UE can establish a unicast connection with the TX UE. Optionally, if the RX UE determines that a unicast connection can be further established, for example, it determines that the number of unicast links established by the RX UE is less than the maximum number of unicast links supported by the RX UE, the RX UE may send a direct communication accept message to the TX UE, so that the TX UE establishes a unicast connection between the TX UE and the RX UE. Of course, the direct communication acceptance message is taken as an example in this embodiment, and is not limited to this embodiment, and may also be another message as long as the other message may be used to indicate that the RX UE may establish a unicast connection.

S403, the TX UE sends the first SL DRX configuration to the RX UE, which receives the first SL DRX configuration from the TX UE.

The first SL DRX configuration may be determined by the TX UE, for example, the TX UE may determine the first SL DRX configuration in a TX UE-centric configuration. For specific implementation of the first SL DRX configuration, reference may be made to the above-mentioned "discontinuous communication configuration determined by the a and the second terminal" and the related descriptions in "D and the configuration mode supported by the second terminal", which are not described herein again.

It should be understood that S403 is an optional step. In other words, after the unicast connection is established, the TX UE may actively instruct the RX UE to use the SL DRX configuration determined by the TX UE, or may not instruct it.

S404, the RX UE sends a second SL DRX configuration to the TX UE, which receives the second SL DRX configuration from the RX UE.

The second SL DRX configuration may be determined by the RX UE, for example, using a configuration mode centered around the RX UE. For specific implementation of the second SL DRX configuration, reference may be made to the above-mentioned "discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal a and" discontinuous communication configuration supported by the second terminal D ", and details are not described herein again. That is, if the current state of the RX UE is not good, such as the RX UE is frequently activated, resource collision frequently occurs, etc., on the one hand, the RX UE may use the second SL DRX configuration and no longer use the first SL DRX configuration, so as to reduce the number of activation times, the number of resource collision times, etc.; on the other hand, the RX UE may send the second SL DRX configuration to the TX UE to implicitly indicate the state of the RX UE through the second SL DRX configuration, so that the TX UE may use the second SL DRX configuration, thereby implementing SL DRX configuration alignment and improving reliability and stability of communication.

S405, the RX UE transmits power information of the RX UE to the TX UE, and the TX UE receives the power information of the RX UE from the RX UE.

For example, because the power of the RX UE is insufficient, the specific implementation may refer to the related description in the "B, power information of the second terminal", and details are not described herein again. In addition, S405 is an optional step, in other words, for the RX UE, the RX UE may choose to inform the TX UE of the reason, or may choose not to inform the TX UE, which is not limited.

S406, the TX UE determines the RX UE centric configuration.

For specific implementation of S406, reference may be made to the related description in the above "mode 1", and details are not described here again.

The TX UE and the RX UE use the second SL DRX configuration for discontinuous communication S407.

Exemplarily, fig. 5 is a third schematic flowchart of a communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The communication method may be applied to communication between a TX UE (the above-described first terminal) and an RX UE (the above-described second terminal). As shown in fig. 5, the communication method may include the steps of:

s501, the TX UE sends a direct communication request message to the RX UE, and the RX UE receives the direct communication request message from the TX UE.

S502, the RX UE sends a direct communication acceptance message to the TX UE, and the TX UE receives the direct communication acceptance message from the RX UE.

For specific implementation of S501-S502, reference may be made to the related descriptions of S401-S402, which are not described herein again.

S503, the TX UE transmits the first SL DRX configuration to the RX UE, and the RX UE receives the first SL DRX configuration from the TX UE.

It should be understood that, for a specific implementation of S503, reference may be made to the related description of S403, and details are not described herein again. Further, S503 is an optional step, similar to S403. In other words, the TX UE may actively instruct the RX UE to use the SL DRX configuration determined by the TX UE, or may not.

S504, the RX UE transmits power information of the RX UE to the TX UE, and the TX UE receives the power information of the RX UE from the RX UE.

The specific implementation may refer to the related description in "B, electric quantity information of the second terminal", and details are not described herein again. Similar to the principle of S404, if the RX UE is in a bad current state, such as insufficient power, the RX UE may send power information of the RX UE to the TX UE, so that the TX UE knows the state of the RX UE and determines which configuration mode to use.

S505, the TX UE determines a configuration mode with the RX UE as a center or a configuration mode with the TX UE as a center.

For specific implementation of S505, reference may be made to the related description in "mode 2" above, and details are not described here.

S506, the TX UE transmits a second request message to the RX UE, and the RX UE receives the second request message from the TX UE.

The second request message is used to request the second SL DRX configuration, such as a PC5-RRC message, or other messages, which is not limited herein. The second SL DRX configuration may be a configuration determined by the RX UE in a configuration mode with the RX UE as a center, and specific implementation may refer to the above-mentioned "discontinuous communication configuration determined by the a and the second terminal" and related descriptions in "D and the configuration mode supported by the second terminal", which are not described herein again. In other words, if the TX UE determines the RX UE centric configuration, the second SL DRX configuration may be requested from the RX UE.

Optionally, the second request message may also be used to indicate to the RX UE: the TX UE determines whether the unicast connection is in an RX UE centric configuration or a TX UE centric configuration.

S507, the RX UE sends a first response message to the TX UE, and the TX UE receives the first response message from the RX UE.

The first response message may include the second SL DRX configuration, such as a PC5-RRC message, or may be other messages, which is not limited thereto.

It is to be understood that the first response message is a response message to the second request message.

It should be understood that the TX UE sending the second request message to the RX UE so that the RX UE sends the first response message to the TX UE is an example and not a limitation. For example, the RX UE may actively send the second SL DRX configuration to the TX UE without the TX UE sending the second request message.

S508, the TX UE sends the first SL DRX configuration to the RX UE, and the RX UE receives the first SL DRX configuration from the TX UE.

Wherein, if the TX UE determines the TX UE centric configuration, the TX UE may send the first SL DRX configuration to the RX UE to instruct the RX UE to use the first SL DRX configuration.

It is to be understood that S506-S508 are optional steps. Illustratively, if the TX UE determines the RX UE centric configuration, S506-S507 are performed, and if the TX UE determines the TX UE centric configuration, S508 is performed.

S509, the TX UE and the RX UE perform discontinuous communication using the first SL DRX configuration or the second SL DRX configuration.

After S504, if the RX UE does not receive the first SL DRX configuration from the TX UE after timeout or receives the second request message from the TX UE, it determines to use the second SL DRX configuration for discontinuous communication, otherwise, if the RX UE receives the first SL DRX configuration from the TX UE, it determines to use the first SL DRX configuration for discontinuous communication, so as to achieve configuration alignment of the RX UE and the TX UE, thereby improving reliability and stability of communication.

Exemplarily, fig. 6 is a fourth schematic flowchart of a communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The communication method may be applied to communication between a TX UE (the above-described first terminal) and an RX UE (the above-described second terminal). As shown in fig. 6, the communication method may include the steps of:

s601, the TX UE sends a direct communication request message to the RX UE, and the RX UE receives the direct communication request message from the TX UE.

S602, the RX UE sends a direct communication acceptance message to the TX UE, and the TX UE receives the direct communication acceptance message from the RX UE.

For specific implementation of S601-S602, reference may be made to the related descriptions of S401-S402, which are not described herein again.

S603, the TX UE sends the SL number of the TX UE to the RX UE, and the RX UE receives the SL number of the TX UE from the TX UE.

For specific implementation of the number of SLs of the TX UE, reference may be made to the related description in "C and the number of SLs of the second terminal", which is not described herein again. In addition, S603 is an optional step, in other words, for the TX UE, the TX UE may choose to notify the RX UE of the SL number of the TX UE, or may choose not to notify the RX UE, which is not limited.

S604, the RX UE sends the SL number of the RX UE to the TX UE, and the TX UE receives the SL number of the RX UE from the RX UE.

For specific implementation of the number of SLs of RX UE, reference may be made to the related description in "C, the number of SLs of the second terminal", and details are not repeated here. In addition, for the RX UE, the RX UE may send the SL number of the RX UE to the TX UE according to the received SL number of the TX UE, or the RX UE may also actively send the SL number of the RX UE, which is not limited herein.

S605, the TX UE determines the RX UE-centric configuration mode or the TX UE-centric configuration mode.

For specific implementation of S605, reference may be made to the related description in the above "mode 4", and details are not described here again.

S606, the RX UE determines the configuration mode with the RX UE as the center or the configuration mode with the TX UE as the center.

For specific implementation of S606, reference may be made to the related description in "manner 4" above, and details are not described here again.

It should be noted that S606 is an optional step, for example, if the RX UE performs S603, the RX UE may obtain the same parameters as the TX UE, such as obtaining SL numbers of the RX UE and the TX UE, so that S606 may be performed to determine the same configuration as the TX UE, otherwise, if the RX UE does not perform S603, then S606 is not performed.

S607, the TX UE transmits a second request message to the RX UE, and the RX UE receives the second request message from the TX UE.

S608, the RX UE transmits a first response message to the TX UE, and the TX UE receives the first response message from the RX UE.

S609, the TX UE sends the first SL DRX configuration to the RX UE, which receives the first SL DRX configuration from the TX UE.

The specific implementation of S607-S609 can refer to the related descriptions in S506-S508, and will not be described herein again.

The TX UE and the RX UE perform discontinuous communication using the first SL DRX configuration or the second SL DRX configuration S610.

It can be known from the introduction of S603 and S606 that, if the RX UE cannot actively determine what kind of SL DRX configuration to use, after S604, if the RX UE does not receive the first SL DRX configuration from the TX UE after timeout or receives the second request message from the TX UE, it determines to use the second SL DRX configuration for discontinuous communication, and conversely, if the RX UE receives the first SL DRX configuration from the TX UE, it determines to use the first SL DRX configuration for discontinuous communication, so as to achieve configuration alignment of the RX UE and the TX UE, thereby improving reliability and stability of communication.

Exemplarily, fig. 7 is a fifth flowchart of a communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The communication method may be applied to communication between UE1 (the first terminal described above) and UE2 (the second terminal described above). UE1 may be a TX UE, and UE2 may be an RX UE. Alternatively, UE1 may also be an RX UE, and correspondingly, UE2 may be a TX UE.

As shown in fig. 7, the communication method may include the steps of:

s701, UE1 sends a direct communication request message to UE2, and UE2 receives the direct communication request message from UE 1.

S702, UE2 sends a direct communication acceptance message to UE1, and UE1 receives the direct communication acceptance message from UE 2.

For specific implementation of S701-S702, reference may be made to the related descriptions of S401-S402, which are not described herein again.

S703, UE1 sends a terminal capability query message to UE 2.

Wherein, the terminal capability query message is used to request the discontinuous communication capability of the UE2, such as the SL DRX configuration supported by the UE 2.

Optionally, the terminal capability query message may include the discontinuous communication capability of the UE1, such as the SL DRX configuration supported by the UE1, in other words, for the UE1, the UE1 may choose to notify the UE2 of the discontinuous communication capability of the UE1, or may choose not to notify the UE2, which is not limited to this. In addition, for specific implementation of the SL DRX configuration supported by the UE2 and the SL DRX configuration supported by the UE1, reference may be made to the related description in "D, configuration supported by the second terminal", and details are not described herein again.

S704, UE2 sends a terminal capability message to UE1, and UE1 receives the terminal capability message from UE 2.

Wherein, the terminal capability message may include the SL DRX configuration supported by the UE 2. Furthermore, for the UE2, the UE2 may send the SL DRX configuration supported by the UE2 to the UE1 according to the received terminal capability query message, or the UE2 may also actively send the SL DRX configuration supported by the UE2, which is not limited to this.

S705, UE1 determines an RX UE centric configuration mode or a TX UE centric configuration mode.

For specific implementation of S705, reference may be made to the related description in "mode 3" above, and details are not described here again.

S706, UE2 determines the RX UE centric configuration or the TX UE centric configuration.

For specific implementation of S706, reference may be made to the related description in the above "mode 3", and details are not described herein again.

It should be noted that S706 is an optional step, for example, if the terminal capability query message in S703 includes the SL DRX configuration supported by UE1, UE2 may obtain the same parameters as UE1, for example, obtain the SL DRX configuration supported by UE1 and UE2, so as to execute S706, to determine the same configuration as UE1, otherwise, if UE2 does not obtain the SL DRX configuration supported by UE1, not execute S706.

S707, UE1 sends a second request message to UE2, and UE2 receives the second request message from UE 1.

S708, UE2 sends the first response message to UE1, and UE1 receives the first response message from UE 2.

S709, UE1 sends the first SL DRX configuration to UE2, and UE2 receives the first SL DRX configuration from UE 1.

S710, the UE1 and the UE2 perform discontinuous communication using the first SL DRX configuration or the second SL DRX configuration.

The specific implementation of S707-S709 may refer to the related descriptions in S506-S508, and the specific implementation of S710 may refer to the related descriptions in S610, which are not described herein again.

In summary, as can be seen by combining the communication methods shown in fig. 2 and fig. 4 to fig. 7, the state and/or capability of the second terminal is sent by the second terminal, so that the first terminal can know the state and/or capability of the second terminal, and thus a corresponding configuration manner is reasonably determined, so as to improve the discontinuous communication effect. For example, if it is determined that the power of the second terminal is sufficient according to the state and/or capability of the second terminal, it is determined that a configuration manner centering on the first terminal is adopted to improve the communication efficiency. For another example, if the power of the second terminal is determined to be insufficient according to the state and/or capability of the second terminal, a configuration mode with the second terminal as a center is adopted to achieve the purpose of energy saving and prolong the communicable time period.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 2 to 7. A communication apparatus for performing the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application is described in detail below with reference to fig. 8 to 9.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application, where the communication device 800 includes modules for performing the communication methods described in fig. 2, fig. 3 and fig. 7.

In some embodiments, communications apparatus 800 may be adapted in the communications system shown in fig. 1 to perform the function of the first terminal in the communications method shown in fig. 2, the function of the RX UE in the communications method shown in fig. 4-6, or the function of UE1 in the communications method shown in fig. 7.

Optionally, the communication apparatus 800 may include a transceiver module 801 and a processing module 802. The transceiver module 801 is configured to receive first information. A processing module 802, configured to determine a configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information. The first information is used for indicating the state and/or the capability of the second terminal, the first configuration is used for the discontinuous communication between the first terminal and the second terminal, and the configuration mode of the first configuration comprises: a first terminal-centric configuration, or a second terminal-centric configuration.

In one possible embodiment, the first information may include: the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal. The processing module may be further configured to determine, according to the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal, that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centering on the second terminal.

Optionally, in an aspect, the processing module 802 may be further configured to determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centering on the second terminal. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the residual capacity of the first terminal is greater than or equal to a first capacity threshold; or the residual capacity of the second terminal is less than or equal to a second capacity threshold; or the residual capacity of the first terminal is greater than or equal to the residual capacity of the second terminal.

Optionally, on the other hand, the processing module 802 may be further configured to determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centering on the first terminal, where one or more of the following conditions are satisfied: the residual electric quantity of the first terminal is smaller than a first electric quantity threshold value; or the residual electric quantity of the second terminal is larger than a second electric quantity threshold value; or the residual capacity of the first terminal is smaller than that of the second terminal.

In one possible design, the first information may include: configuration modes supported by the second terminal. The configuration mode supported by the second terminal may include: a first terminal centric configuration and/or a second terminal centric configuration.

Optionally, in an aspect, the processing module 802 may be further configured to determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the second terminal supports a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center; alternatively, the second terminal supports a first terminal-centric configuration and supports a second terminal-centric configuration.

Optionally, on the other hand, the processing module 802 may be further configured to determine that the configuration manner of the first configuration is a configuration manner centered on the first terminal. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the first terminal supports a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center; alternatively, the first terminal supports a first terminal-centric configuration and supports a second terminal-centric configuration.

Optionally, in an aspect, the processing module 802 may be further configured to determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centering on the second terminal. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the number of sidelink of the second terminal is greater than or equal to the first number threshold; or the number of sidelink of the first terminal is less than or equal to the second number threshold; or the number of sidelink of the first terminal is less than or equal to the number of sidelink of the second terminal.

Optionally, on the other hand, the processing module 802 may be further configured to determine that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode centering on the first terminal. Wherein one or more of the following is satisfied: the number of sidelink of the second terminal is less than the first number threshold; or the number of the sidelink of the first terminal is larger than the second number threshold; or the number of sidelink of the first terminal is larger than that of the second terminal.

In one possible design, the transceiver module 801 may be further configured to send the first request message to the second terminal before receiving the first information. Wherein the first request message may be for requesting the first information.

Optionally, the first request message may include the second information. Wherein the second information may be used to indicate the status and/or capabilities of the first terminal.

Optionally, the transceiver module 801 may include a receiving module and a transmitting module (not shown in fig. 8). The receiving module may be used to implement the receiving function of the communication apparatus 800, and the transmitting module may be used to implement the transmitting function of the communication apparatus 800.

Alternatively, the communications apparatus 800 may include a memory module (not shown in fig. 8) that stores programs or instructions. The program or instructions, when executed by the processing module 802, enable the communications apparatus 800 to perform the functions of the first terminal in the communications method illustrated in fig. 2, the RX UE in the communications method illustrated in fig. 4-6, or the UE1 in the communications method illustrated in fig. 7.

In other embodiments, the communications apparatus 800 may be adapted in the communications system shown in fig. 1 to perform the function of the second terminal in the communications method shown in fig. 2, the function of the RX UE in the communications method shown in fig. 4-6, or the function of the UE2 in the communications method shown in fig. 7.

Optionally, the communication apparatus 800 may include a transceiver module 801 and a processing module 802. The processing module 802 is configured to obtain first information. The transceiver module 801 is configured to send first information. The first information is used for indicating the state and/or capability of the second terminal, and is used for the first terminal to determine a configuration mode of a first configuration, the first configuration is used for discontinuous communication between the first terminal and the second terminal, and the configuration mode of the first configuration includes: a configuration mode taking a first terminal as a center or a configuration mode taking a second terminal as a center;

Optionally, the first information may include one or more of the following of the second terminal: the determined discontinuous communication configuration, the power information, the number of sidelink, or the supported configuration mode. The power information may be used to indicate remaining power of the second terminal, and the configuration mode supported by the second terminal may include: a first terminal centric configuration and/or a second terminal centric configuration.

In one possible design, the transceiver module 801 may be further configured to receive a first request message from the first terminal before transmitting the first information. Wherein the first request message may be for requesting the first information.

Alternatively, the communications apparatus 800 may include a memory module (not shown in FIG. 8) that stores programs or instructions. The program or instructions, when executed by the processing module 802, enable the communications apparatus 800 to perform the functions of the second terminal in the communications method illustrated in fig. 2, the RX UE in the communications method illustrated in fig. 4-6, or the UE2 in the communications method illustrated in fig. 7.

It is to be understood that the transceiver module 801 may also be a transceiver unit, a transceiver device, a transceiver, etc., and may be a hardware module, such as a chip, an integrated circuit, etc., or a software module, such as a program module, without limitation. Similarly, the processing module 802 may also be a processing unit, a processing device, a processor, and the like, and may be a hardware module, such as a chip, an integrated circuit, and the like, or a software module, such as a program module, without limitation. In addition, for the specific implementation of the above functions performed by the communication device 800, reference may be made to the above method embodiment, which is not described herein again. Further, for technical effects of the communication apparatus 800, reference may be made to technical effects of the communication method described in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not repeated herein.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device may be a terminal device, such as the first terminal or the second terminal, or may be a chip (system) or other component or assembly that can be installed in the terminal device. As shown in fig. 9, communications apparatus 900 may include a processor 901. Optionally, the communications apparatus 900 can also include a memory 902 and/or a transceiver 903. Wherein the processor 901 is coupled to the memory 902 and the transceiver 903, such as may be connected by a communication bus.

The following specifically describes each constituent element of the communication apparatus 900 with reference to fig. 9:

the processor 901 is a control center of the communication apparatus 900, and may be a single processor or a collective term for a plurality of processing elements. For example, the processor 901 is one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs), or may be an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of the present application, such as: one or more microprocessors (digital signal processors, DSPs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs).

Alternatively, the processor 901 may perform various functions of the communication device 900, such as the various possible implementations of the methods described in the above method embodiments, by running or executing software programs stored in the memory 902 and invoking data stored in the memory 902.

In particular implementations, processor 901 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 shown in fig. 9, as one embodiment.

In one implementation, the communication device 900 may also include a plurality of processors, such as the processor 901 and the processor 904 shown in fig. 2, as an example. Each of these processors may be a single-Core Processor (CPU) or a multi-Core Processor (CPU). A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

The memory 902 is configured to store a software program for executing the scheme of the present application, and the processor 901 controls the execution of the software program, and for a specific implementation manner, reference may be made to the foregoing method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

Alternatively, memory 902 may be, but is not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that may store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that may store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, blu-ray disc, etc.), magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. The memory 902 may be integrated with the processor 901, or may be independent, and is coupled to the processor 901 through an interface circuit (not shown in fig. 9) of the communication device 900, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

A transceiver 903 for communication with other communication devices. For example, the communication apparatus 900 is a terminal device, and the transceiver 903 may be used for communication with a network device or with another terminal device.

Alternatively, the transceiver 903 may include a receiver and a transmitter (not separately shown in fig. 9). Wherein the receiver is configured to implement a receive function and the transmitter is configured to implement a transmit function.

Alternatively, the transceiver 903 may be integrated with the processor 901, or may be independent, and is coupled to the processor 901 through an interface circuit (not shown in fig. 9) of the communication device 900, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that the structure of the communication device 900 shown in fig. 9 does not constitute a limitation of the communication device, and an actual communication device may include more or less components than those shown, or combine some components, or arrange different components.

In addition, for technical effects of the communication apparatus 900, reference may be made to technical effects of the communication method described in the foregoing method embodiment, and details are not repeated here.

The embodiment of the application provides a communication system. The communication system comprises one or more of the terminal devices described above, such as a first terminal and a second terminal. Optionally, the communication system may further include one or more network devices.

It can be understood that, in the communication system, because a plurality of terminal devices, for example, the first terminal and the second terminal may be mutually matched, so that a certain terminal device may know the state and/or capability of another terminal device, for example, the first terminal may know the state and/or capability of the second terminal, so that the determined configuration mode may give consideration to a plurality of terminal devices, for example, the requirements of the first terminal and the second terminal are given consideration to, and after the communication system applies the configuration mode, the energy consumption may be integrally reduced, the operation efficiency may be improved, the communication efficiency may be improved, and the like.

It should be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), and the processor may also be other general purpose processors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

It will also be appreciated that the memory in the embodiments of the subject application can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of Random Access Memory (RAM) are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct bus RAM (DR RAM).

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware (e.g., circuitry), firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the above-described embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product comprises one or more computer instructions or computer programs. The procedures or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part when the computer instructions or the computer program are loaded or executed on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by wire (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, data center, etc., that contains one or more collections of available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium. The semiconductor medium may be a solid state disk.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" herein is merely one type of association relationship that describes an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B may mean: a exists singly, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists singly, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. In addition, the "/" in this document generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship, but may also indicate an "and/or" relationship, which may be understood with particular reference to the former and latter text.

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or multiple.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Claims

1. A communication method, applied to a first terminal, the method comprising:

receiving first information, wherein the first information is used for indicating the state and/or the capability of a second terminal;

determining a configuration mode of a first configuration according to the first information, wherein the first configuration is used for discontinuous communication between the first terminal and the second terminal, and the configuration mode of the first configuration comprises: a configuration mode with the first terminal as a center, or a configuration mode with the second terminal as a center.

2. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the first information is used for indicating an operating status of the second terminal and/or a discontinuous communication capability of the second terminal.

3. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first information includes: a discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal;

the determining a configuration mode of a first configuration according to the first information includes:

and determining that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the second terminal as the center according to the discontinuous communication configuration determined by the second terminal.

4. A communication method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the first information comprises: and the electric quantity information of the second terminal is used for indicating the residual electric quantity of the second terminal.

5. The communication method according to claim 4, wherein the determining the configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information comprises:

determining that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center, wherein one or more of the following conditions are met:

the residual capacity of the first terminal is greater than or equal to a first capacity threshold; or,

the residual capacity of the second terminal is less than or equal to a second capacity threshold; or,

the residual capacity of the first terminal is greater than or equal to the residual capacity of the second terminal.

6. The communication method according to claim 4, wherein the determining a configuration manner of the first configuration according to the first information includes:

determining that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center, wherein one or more of the following conditions are satisfied:

the residual electric quantity of the first terminal is smaller than a first electric quantity threshold value; or,

the residual electric quantity of the second terminal is greater than a second electric quantity threshold value; or,

the residual capacity of the first terminal is less than the residual capacity of the second terminal.

7. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first information includes: a configuration mode supported by the second terminal, wherein the configuration mode supported by the second terminal includes: a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center, and/or a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center.

8. The communication method according to claim 7, wherein the determining a configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information comprises:

determining that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center, wherein one or more of the following conditions are satisfied:

the second terminal supports a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center; or,

the second terminal supports a configuration mode centered on the first terminal and supports a configuration mode centered on the second terminal.

9. The communication method according to claim 7, wherein the determining a configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information comprises:

the first terminal supports a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center; or,

the first terminal supports a configuration mode with the first terminal as a center and supports a configuration mode with the second terminal as a center.

10. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the first information includes: a number of sidelink for the second terminal.

11. The communication method according to claim 10, wherein the determining a configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information comprises:

the number of sidelink of the second terminal is greater than or equal to a first number threshold; or alternatively

The number of sidelink of the first terminal is less than or equal to a second number threshold; or

The number of sidelink of the first terminal is less than or equal to the number of sidelink of the second terminal.

12. The communication method according to claim 10, wherein the determining a configuration mode of the first configuration according to the first information comprises:

determining that the configuration mode of the first configuration is a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center, wherein one or more of the following conditions are met:

the quantity of the sidelink of the second terminal is less than a first quantity threshold value; or,

the number of sidelink of the first terminal is larger than a second number threshold; or,

the number of sidelink of the first terminal is larger than the number of sidelink of the second terminal.

13. The communication method according to any of claims 1-12, wherein prior to said receiving first information, the method further comprises:

and sending a first request message to the second terminal, wherein the first request message is used for requesting the first information.

14. The communication method according to claim 13, wherein the first request message comprises second information, wherein the second information is used to indicate the status and/or capability of the first terminal.

15. A method of communication, the method comprising:

acquiring first information, wherein the first information is used for indicating a state and/or capability of a second terminal, and is used for a first terminal to determine a configuration mode of a first configuration, the first configuration is used for discontinuous communication between the first terminal and the second terminal, and the configuration mode of the first configuration includes: a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center or a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center;

and sending the first information.

16. The communication method according to claim 15, wherein the first information is used to indicate an operating status of the second terminal and/or a discontinuous communication capability of the second terminal.

17. A communication method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the first information comprises one or more of the following for the second terminal: the determined discontinuous communication configuration, power information, a number of sidelink links, or a supported configuration mode, wherein the power information is used for indicating a remaining power of the second terminal, and the supported configuration mode of the second terminal includes: a configuration mode taking the first terminal as a center, and/or a configuration mode taking the second terminal as a center.

18. A method of communicating according to any of claims 15-17, wherein prior to said transmitting the first information, the method further comprises:

receiving a first request message from the first terminal, wherein the first request message is used for requesting the first information.

19. The communication method according to claim 18, wherein the first request message comprises second information, wherein the second information is used for indicating the status and/or capability of the first terminal.

20. A communication apparatus, characterized in that it comprises means for performing the communication method according to any of claims 1-14.

21. A communication apparatus, characterized in that it comprises means for performing the communication method according to any of claims 15-19.

22. A communications apparatus, comprising: a processor coupled with a memory;

the processor configured to execute a computer program stored in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

23. A communications apparatus, comprising: a processor and interface circuitry; wherein,

the interface circuit is used for receiving code instructions and transmitting the code instructions to the processor;

the processor is configured to execute the code instructions to perform the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 19.

24. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it comprises a computer program or instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to carry out the communication method according to any one of claims 1-19.

25. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising: computer program or instructions for causing a computer to perform the communication method according to any one of claims 1-19 when said computer program or instructions are run on the computer.