CN115767610A

CN115767610A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN115767610A
Application number: CN202211275735.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 姚楚婷; 王键; 姚晶晶; 沈丽
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-08-28
Filing date: 2019-08-28
Publication date: 2023-03-07
Also published as: CN112449368A; WO2021036569A1; CN112449368B

Abstract

The application relates to a communication method and device. The terminal device sends first indication information to the network device, the indication is that the terminal device has first measurement capability, the first measurement capability indicates that the terminal device can measure other sub-frequency combinations included in each frequency combination in at least one frequency combination on one sub-frequency combination included in each frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval, and the at least one frequency combination includes all frequency combinations supported by the terminal device. The terminal device receives a first message from the network device, and configures the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, where the first message does not include configuration of a first measurement interval, and the first measurement interval is used for measuring the first frequency. The terminal equipment allowed by the capacity does not need to be additionally configured with a measurement interval, so that the measurement process can be finished, and the resource utilization efficiency can be improved.

Description

Communication method and device

The application is a divisional application, the application number of the original application is 201910804075.8, the date of the original application is 8 and 28 in 2019, and the whole content of the original application is incorporated in the application by reference.

Technical Field

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

Background

Currently, before configuring a Dual Connectivity (DC) network architecture, that is, before adding a secondary base station to the DC, a primary base station in the DC may configure a terminal device with system frame number and frame timing difference (SFTD) measurement capability, and measure cells that may become secondary base stations to obtain a time difference between the cells and a serving cell of the terminal device. The terminal device sends the measured time difference to the main base station, so that when the main base station configures the gap for the terminal device or other terminal devices in the serving cell, the configured gap can cover the synchronization signals sent by other cells as much as possible, and the terminal device can detect the synchronization signals from other cells in the gap to complete the measurement of other cells. When measuring other cells, the terminal device with the SFTD capability can directly measure without gap.

However, after the DC architecture configuration is completed, if the main base station needs to configure the terminal device to measure the cell of the secondary base station, for example, under an evolved universal terrestrial radio access and new air interface dual connectivity (EN-DC) architecture, and a Long Term Evolution (LTE) base station needs to configure the terminal device to measure the cell of a New Radio (NR) base station, a gap is configured for the terminal device, and the terminal device performs measurement in the gap. In the time period corresponding to the gap, the terminal device cannot communicate with the serving cell of the terminal device, that is, the gap configured by the main base station actually occupies the transmission time between the terminal device and the serving cell of the terminal device. However, as can be seen from the foregoing description, for a terminal device with SFTD capability, no gap is needed to complete the measurement when performing the measurement on other cells. The base station configures gap for such terminal equipment, which results in waste of transmission resources.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and a communication device, which are used for efficiently utilizing transmission resources.

In a first aspect, a first communication method is provided, the method including: a terminal device sends first indication information to a network device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the terminal device has a first measurement capability, and the first measurement capability indicates that the terminal device can measure other sub-frequency combinations included in each frequency combination in at least one frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval, and the at least one frequency combination includes all frequency combinations supported by the terminal device; the terminal device receives a first message sent by the network device, where the first message is used to configure the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and the first message does not include configuration of a first measurement interval, where the first measurement interval is used to measure the first frequency, and the first frequency and a frequency of the first cell belong to one of the at least one frequency combination.

The method may be performed by a first communication device, which may be a communication apparatus or a communication device, such as a system-on-a-chip, capable of supporting the communication apparatus to implement the functionality required for the method. Illustratively, the first communication device is a terminal device. Illustratively, the terminal device is a terminal device, or a chip system provided in the terminal device for implementing the functions of the terminal device, or other components for implementing the functions of the terminal device.

In this embodiment of the present application, if the terminal device has the first measurement capability, the terminal device may notify the network device, and the network device may configure the terminal device within the capability range of the terminal device, and complete measurement on another cell without gap. By the method, the gap does not need to be configured for the terminal equipment with the allowed capability, so that the terminal equipment can finish the measurement process, can efficiently utilize transmission resources and improve the uplink and downlink throughput of the terminal equipment.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect,

the first indication information is also used for indicating that the terminal equipment has second measurement capability; or the like, or, alternatively,

the method further comprises the following steps: the terminal device sends second indication information to the network device in the first cell, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating that the terminal device has second measurement capability;

the second measurement capability is that the terminal device can measure, in a cell in one frequency included in each of at least one frequency combination, a system frame number difference and a frame boundary difference between the cell and a cell in another frequency included in each of the frequency combinations without configuring a measurement interval.

For example, the first indication information may indicate that the terminal device has the first measurement capability, and may also indicate that the terminal device has the second measurement capability, so that two types of information may be indicated by one indication information, which is helpful to save transmission overhead and improve bit utilization. Or, the terminal device may send second indication information to the network device in addition to the first indication information, where the second indication information may indicate that the terminal device has a second measurement capability, and the first measurement capability and the second measurement capability are respectively indicated by different indication information, so that the indication may be more explicit.

The first indication information and the second indication information may be carried in one message, or may be carried in different messages respectively. If the first indication information and the second indication information are carried in different messages, the terminal device may send the first indication information and then send the second indication information, or may send the second indication information and then send the first indication information, or may send the first indication information and the second indication information at the same time.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes:

and the terminal equipment sends the information of the at least one frequency combination to the network equipment.

The terminal device may send information of at least one frequency combination supported by the terminal device to the network device, so that the network device may know which frequency combinations are supported by the terminal device, and may also know an application range of the first measurement capability. That is, if the network device determines that the terminal device has the first measurement capability and the frequency network device of the current serving cell of the terminal device is also known, the network device may determine, according to the information of the at least one frequency combination, which frequencies the terminal device can be configured to measure without the gap.

For example, the at least one frequency combination supported by the terminal device includes a first frequency combination, a second frequency combination, and a third frequency combination. The first frequency combination is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 1 and NR sub-frequency combination 2, the second frequency combination is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 3 and NR sub-frequency combination 4, and the third frequency combination is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 5 and NR sub-frequency combination 6. The network device is an LTE network device, for example, a first cell of the network device is currently accessed by the terminal device, the frequency of the first cell is F1, and F1 belongs to LTE sub-frequency combination 1, so that the network device may configure the terminal device to measure the frequency included in NR sub-frequency combination 2 at frequency F1.

With reference to the first aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first indication information is SFTD capability information.

For example, the SFTD capability information itself may be used to indicate that the terminal device has the SFTD capability, for example, in this embodiment, the first indication information may indicate that the terminal device has the first measurement capability and the second measurement capability, which is equivalent to that in this embodiment, in addition to indicating that the terminal device has the SFTD measurement capability through the SFTD capability information, the terminal device also has the first measurement capability, and multiple contents are indicated through one kind of information, so that transmission overhead may be saved.

With reference to the first aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the at least one frequency combination includes a combination of a sub-frequency combination in the first radio access technology and a sub-frequency combination in the second radio access technology, which are supported by the terminal device.

The first radio access technology is for example LTE technology and the second radio access technology is for example NR technology, or the first radio access technology is for example NR technology and the second radio access technology is for example LTE technology, etc. The sub-frequency combination under the first radio access technology supported by the terminal device may include one or more frequencies, and the sub-frequency combination under the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device may include one or more frequencies. For example, the at least one frequency combination includes a first frequency combination that is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 1 and NR sub-frequency combination 2, where LTE sub-frequency combination 1 includes one or more LTE frequencies and NR sub-frequency combination 2 includes one or more NR frequencies. For example, the frequency of the serving cell of the terminal device belongs to LTE sub-frequency combination 1, and the terminal device has the first measurement capability, the network device may configure the terminal device to measure the frequency included in NR sub-frequency combination 2 without gap.

In a second aspect, a second communication method is provided, the method comprising: the network equipment receives first indication information from terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment has first measurement capability, and the first measurement capability indicates that the terminal equipment can measure other sub-frequency combinations included in each frequency combination of at least one frequency combination on one sub-frequency combination included in each frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval; the network device sends a first message to the terminal device, where the first message is used to configure the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and the first message does not include configuration of a first measurement interval, the first measurement interval is used to measure the first frequency, and the first frequency and the frequency of the first cell belong to one of the at least one frequency combination.

The method may be performed by a first communication device, which may be a communication apparatus or a communication device, such as a system-on-a-chip, capable of supporting the communication apparatus to implement the functionality required for the method. Illustratively, the first communication device is a network device, or a system on chip provided in the network device for implementing the function of the network device, or another component for implementing the function of the network device. Illustratively, the network device is, for example, a base station.

In this embodiment of the present application, if the terminal device has the first measurement capability, the terminal device may notify the network device, and the network device may configure the terminal device within the capability range of the terminal device, and complete measurement on other cells without gap. By the method, the network equipment does not need to configure the gap for the terminal equipment with the allowed capability, so that the terminal equipment can finish the measurement process, efficiently utilize transmission resources and improve the uplink and downlink throughput of the terminal equipment.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect,

the method further comprises the following steps: the network equipment receives second indication information from the terminal equipment in the first cell, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment has second measurement capability;

the second measurement capability is that the terminal device can measure, without configuring a measurement interval, a system frame number difference and a frame boundary difference between the cell and a cell at another frequency included in each of at least one frequency combination in the cell at one frequency included in each of at least one frequency combination.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

the network device receives information of the at least one frequency combination from the terminal device.

With reference to the second aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first indication information is SFTD capability information.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect or the third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the at least one frequency combination includes a combination of a sub-frequency combination under the first radio access technology and a sub-frequency combination under the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

With regard to the technical effects of the second aspect or of the various possible embodiments of the second aspect, reference may also be made to the introduction of the technical effects of the first aspect or of the various possible embodiments of the first aspect.

In a third aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, for example, a communication device. The communication device is configured to perform the method of the first aspect or any of the possible implementations of the first aspect. In particular, the communication device may comprise means, for example comprising processing means and transceiver means, for performing the method of the first aspect or any of its possible implementations. Illustratively, the communication device is a terminal device as described above. Wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the transceiver module is configured to send first indication information to a network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device has a first measurement capability, and the first measurement capability indicates that the terminal device can measure, on one sub-frequency combination included in each frequency combination of at least one frequency combination, other sub-frequency combinations included in each frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval, where the at least one frequency combination includes all frequency combinations supported by the terminal device;

the transceiver module is further configured to receive a first message sent by the network device, where the first message is used to configure the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and the first message does not include a configuration of a first measurement interval, where the first measurement interval is used to measure the first frequency, and the first frequency and a frequency of the first cell belong to one of the at least one frequency combination.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the processing module is further configured to determine to measure the first frequency in the first cell according to the first message.

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect,

the first indication information is also used for indicating that the terminal equipment has second measurement capability; or the like, or a combination thereof,

the transceiver module is further configured to send second indication information to the network device in the first cell, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device has a second measurement capability;

With reference to the third aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transceiver module is further configured to send information of the at least one frequency combination to the network device.

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect or the third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the first indication information is SFTD capability information.

With reference to the third aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the at least one frequency combination includes a combination of a sub-frequency combination in the first radio access technology and a sub-frequency combination in the second radio access technology that is supported by the terminal device.

With regard to the technical effects of the third aspect or of the various possible embodiments of the third aspect, reference may also be made to the introduction of the technical effects of the first aspect or of the various possible embodiments of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, for example, a communication device. The communication device is adapted to perform the method of the second aspect or any of the possible embodiments of the second aspect. In particular, the communication device may comprise means for performing the method of the second aspect or any of its possible embodiments, for example comprising a processing means and a transceiver means. Illustratively, the communication device is a network device as described above. Wherein, the first and the second end of the pipe are connected with each other,

the transceiver module is configured to receive first indication information from a terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device has a first measurement capability, and the first measurement capability indicates that the terminal device can measure, on one sub-frequency combination included in each of at least one frequency combination, other sub-frequency combinations included in the each frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval;

the transceiver module is further configured to send a first message to the terminal device, where the first message is used to configure the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and the first message does not include configuration of a first measurement interval, where the first measurement interval is used to measure the first frequency, and the first frequency and a frequency of the first cell belong to one of the at least one frequency combination.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the processing module is further configured to configure the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and not configure the first measurement interval for the terminal device to measure the first frequency in the first cell.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect,

the transceiver module is further configured to receive second indication information from the terminal device in the first cell, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device has a second measurement capability;

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the transceiver module is further configured to receive information of the at least one frequency combination from the terminal device.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect or the third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the first indication information is SFTD capability information.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect or the third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect or the fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the at least one frequency combination includes a combination of a sub-frequency combination in the first radio access technology and a sub-frequency combination in the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

With regard to the technical effects of the fourth aspect or of the various possible embodiments of the fourth aspect, reference may also be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the second aspect or of the various possible embodiments of the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, a communications apparatus is provided. The communication device includes a processor. Optionally, a transceiver may be further included, and the processor and the transceiver are coupled to each other for implementing the method described in the first aspect or the various possible embodiments of the first aspect. Illustratively, the communication device is a communication apparatus. Or, exemplarily, the communication means is a chip provided in the communication device. Illustratively, the communication device is a terminal device. Wherein, the transceiver is implemented by an antenna, a feeder, a codec, etc. in the communication device, for example, or, if the communication device is a chip disposed in the communication device, the transceiver is, for example, a communication interface in the chip, and the communication interface is connected with a radio frequency transceiving component in the communication device to implement transceiving of information by the radio frequency transceiving component. Wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the transceiver is configured to send first indication information to a network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device has a first measurement capability, and the first measurement capability indicates that the terminal device can measure, on one sub-frequency combination included in each of at least one frequency combination, other sub-frequency combinations included in the each frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval, and the at least one frequency combination includes all frequency combinations supported by the terminal device;

the transceiver is further configured to receive a first message sent by the network device, where the first message is used to configure the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and the first message does not include a configuration of a first measurement interval, where the first measurement interval is used to measure the first frequency, and the first frequency and a frequency of the first cell belong to one of the at least one frequency combination.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the processor is further configured to determine to measure the first frequency in the first cell according to the first message.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect,

the transceiver is further configured to send second indication information to the network device in the first cell, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device has a second measurement capability;

With reference to the fifth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the transceiver is further configured to transmit information of the at least one frequency combination to the network device.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect or the third possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the first indication information is SFTD capability information.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect or the third possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect or the fourth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the at least one frequency combination includes a combination of a sub-frequency combination under the first radio access technology and a sub-frequency combination under the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

With regard to the technical effects of the fifth aspect or of the various possible embodiments of the fifth aspect, reference may also be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the first aspect or of the various possible embodiments of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, a communications apparatus is provided. The communication device includes a processor. Optionally, a transceiver may be further included, and the processor and the transceiver are coupled to each other for implementing the method described in the second aspect or the various possible embodiments of the second aspect. Illustratively, the communication device is a communication apparatus. Or, exemplarily, the communication means is a chip provided in the communication device. Illustratively, the communication device is a network device. Wherein, the transceiver is implemented by an antenna, a feeder, a codec, etc. in the communication device, for example, or, if the communication device is a chip disposed in the communication device, the transceiver is, for example, a communication interface in the chip, and the communication interface is connected with a radio frequency transceiving component in the communication device to implement transceiving of information by the radio frequency transceiving component. Wherein, the first and the second end of the pipe are connected with each other,

the transceiver is configured to receive first indication information from a terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device has a first measurement capability, and the first measurement capability indicates that the terminal device can measure, on one sub-frequency combination included in each of at least one frequency combination, other sub-frequency combinations included in each of at least one frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval;

the transceiver is further configured to send a first message to the terminal device, where the first message is used to configure the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and the first message does not include a configuration of a first measurement interval, where the first measurement interval is used to measure the first frequency, and the first frequency and a frequency of the first cell belong to one of the at least one frequency combination.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the processor is further configured to configure the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and not configure the first measurement interval for the terminal device to measure the first frequency in the first cell.

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect,

the transceiver is further configured to receive second indication information from the terminal device in the first cell, where the second indication information indicates that the terminal device has a second measurement capability;

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the transceiver is further configured to receive information of the at least one frequency combination from the terminal device.

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect or the third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the first indication information is SFTD capability information.

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect or the third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect or the sixth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the at least one frequency combination includes a combination of a sub-frequency combination under the first radio access technology and a sub-frequency combination under the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

With regard to the technical effects of the sixth aspect or of the various possible embodiments of the sixth aspect, reference may also be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the second aspect or of the various possible embodiments of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, a communications apparatus is provided. The communication device can execute the functions of the terminal equipment in the method design. Illustratively, the communication means is a chip provided in the communication device. Illustratively, the communication device is a terminal device. The communication device includes: a memory for storing computer executable program code; and a processor coupled with the memory. Wherein the program code stored by the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible embodiments of the first aspect.

Wherein the communication means may further comprise a communication interface, which may be a transceiver in the communication device, for example implemented by an antenna, a feeder, a codec, etc. in the communication means, or, if the communication means is a chip provided in the communication device, the communication interface may be an input/output interface of the chip, for example an input/output pin, etc.

In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may perform the functions of the network device as designed by the above method. Illustratively, the communication means is a chip provided in the communication device. Illustratively, the communication device is a network device. The communication device includes: a memory for storing computer executable program code; and a processor coupled with the memory. Wherein the program code stored by the memory comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method of the second aspect or any one of the possible embodiments of the second aspect.

A ninth aspect provides a communication system comprising the communication apparatus of the third aspect, the communication apparatus of the fifth aspect, or the communication apparatus of the seventh aspect, and comprising the communication apparatus of the fourth aspect, the communication apparatus of the sixth aspect, or the communication apparatus of the eighth aspect.

A tenth aspect provides a computer storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to perform the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect when the computer program runs on the computer.

In an eleventh aspect, a computer storage medium is provided, which is configured to store a computer program, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising instructions for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method as described in any one of the possible embodiments of the second or third aspect.

In the embodiment of the present application, for a capable terminal device, a network device may configure the terminal device to complete measurement of other cells without gap. By the method, the additional configuration of the gap for the terminal equipment with the allowed capability is not needed, so that the measurement process can be finished, the transmission resource can be efficiently utilized, and the uplink and downlink throughput of the terminal equipment is improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a scenario in which a gap configured in an LTE base station cannot cover an SSB of an NR base station;

fig. 2A is a schematic view of an application scenario according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2B is a schematic view of another application scenario according to the embodiment of the present application;

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

fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a first terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is another schematic block diagram of a first terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is another schematic block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is another schematic block diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a further schematic block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a further schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained so as to be easily understood by those skilled in the art.

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

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

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

In this embodiment, the terminal device may further include a relay (relay). Or, it is understood that any device capable of data communication with a base station may be considered a terminal device.

2) A network device, for example, including AN Access Network (AN) device, such as a base station (e.g., AN access point), may refer to a device in the access network that communicates with a wireless terminal device through one or more cells over AN air interface, or a network device in vehicle-to-all (V2X) technology, for example, a Road Side Unit (RSU). The base station may be configured to interconvert received air frames and IP packets as a router between the terminal device and the rest of the access network, which may include an IP network. The RSU may be a fixed infrastructure entity supporting V2X applications, and may be associated with supporting VOther entities of the 2X application exchange messages. The network device may also coordinate attribute management for the air interface. For example, the network device may include an evolved Node B (NodeB or eNB or e-NodeB) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system or a long term evolution-advanced (LTE-a) system, or may also include a fifth generation mobile communication technology (the 5 th generation mobile communication technology) ^th generation, 5G) new radio interface (NR) system (also referred to as NR system for short), or may also include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) in a Cloud RAN (Cloud RAN) system.

The receiving device described in the embodiments of the present application may be a terminal device, or may also be a network device. In the embodiment of the present application, the sending device for sending the data packet may also be a terminal device or a network device. For example, in one case, the sending device is a network device, and the receiving device is a terminal device, or in another case, both the sending device and the receiving device are network devices, or in yet another case, both the sending device and the receiving device are terminal devices, and the like, which are not limited in detail.

3) In an LTE system, a terminal device supports simultaneous access to two network devices, and this access manner is called Dual Connectivity (DC), where one network device is a primary network device and the other network device is a secondary network device. In the development and evolution process of a wireless communication system, an operator may deploy a 5G NR system and an LTE system at the same time, and a terminal device also supports a network device that accesses LTE and a network device that accesses NR at the same time, because LTE is also called evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA), this access mode is called evolved universal terrestrial radio access and new air interface dual connectivity (EN-DC). In the EN-DC mode, the network device of the LTE is the primary network device, and the network device of the NR is the secondary network device. Certainly, with the evolution of the system, in the future, a new air interface and an evolved universal terrestrial radio access dual connectivity (NE-DC) may also be supported, that is, the network device of the NR is a primary network device, and the network device of the LTE is a secondary network device. Since terminal devices of both EN-DC and NE-DC will have access to network devices of two different radio access technologies, these DC modes may also be referred to collectively as MR-DC.

4) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated object, indicating that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, which may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or multiple.

And, unless stated to the contrary, the embodiments of the present application refer to the ordinal numbers "first", "second", etc., for distinguishing a plurality of objects, and do not limit the sequence, timing, priority, or importance of the plurality of objects. For example, the first frequency and the second frequency are only used for distinguishing different data packets, and do not indicate the difference in size, priority, importance, or the like between the two frequencies.

The foregoing has described some of the noun concepts to which embodiments of the present application relate, and the following has described some features of the embodiments of the present application.

In the LTE system, time may not be aligned when the network is deployed between the base stations. After the LTE base station is configured with the DC architecture, the LTE primary base station configures a gap for the terminal device, and the terminal device measures a synchronization signal from the LTE secondary base station within the gap. However, the time of the LTE primary base station and the time of the LTE secondary base station may not be aligned, which may cause that the time of the gap configured by the LTE primary base station is not aligned with the time of the LTE secondary base station, and may cause that the gap configured by the LTE primary base station cannot completely cover or cannot cover a synchronization signal from the LTE secondary base station, which may cause that a measurement result obtained by the terminal device is not accurate enough, or may cause that the terminal device cannot complete measurement. Therefore, system frame number and subframe timing difference (SSTD) measurement is introduced, and the terminal equipment with SSTD measurement capability can measure the cell of the LTE secondary base station without configuring gap, so that the time difference between the cell of the LTE secondary base station and the cell of the LTE main base station is obtained. The terminal device sends the time difference to the LTE master base station, so that the LTE master base station can configure a gap for the terminal device according to the time difference.

In the NR system, due to the network deployment of the EN-DC architecture, the LTE primary base station and the NR secondary base station also have a problem that time cannot be aligned. Since the terminal device measures the secondary base station by using a synchronization/physical broadcast channel block (SSB) periodically broadcast by the NR secondary base station, currently, the LTE primary base station needs to configure a gap for the terminal device to receive the SSB from the secondary base station in the gap. However, since the time of the LTE primary base station and the time of the NR secondary base station cannot be aligned, the gap configured by the LTE primary base station may not include the SSB of the NR secondary base station, so that the terminal device cannot receive the SSB from the NR secondary base station in the gap, and thus cannot complete the measurement. For example, referring to fig. 1, a measurement period of an inter-system (for example, for an LTE system, an NR system is an inter-system) is, for example, 40ms, where a gap has a duration of 6ms, but an SSB of a cell from an NR secondary base station falls within the remaining 34ms, so that the gap cannot cover the SSB of the cell of the NR secondary base station, and thus the terminal device cannot complete the measurement.

At present, in order to solve the problem that a primary base station does not know the time difference between an added secondary base station and the primary base station, SFTD measurement is introduced, which is different from SSTD measurement in that a base station can configure a terminal device with SFTD measurement capability, when the secondary base station is not added, the time difference between the primary base station and a possible secondary base station is measured, and then the measured time difference is reported to the primary base station, and when assisting the primary base station to configure gap for the terminal device or other terminal devices in a cell, the configured gap can cover the SSB of the secondary base station as much as possible by referring to the time difference, so that it is ensured that the terminal device can detect the SSB from the secondary base station in the gap.

It can be seen that the terminal device with SFTD measurement capability does not need gap when measuring other cells, but can directly measure.

However, after the DC architecture configuration is completed, if the main base station needs to configure the cell of the terminal device measurement secondary base station, for example, in the EN-DC architecture, the LTE base station needs to configure the cell of the terminal device measurement NR base station, the gap is still configured for the terminal device, and the terminal device performs measurement in the gap. In the time period corresponding to the gap, the terminal device cannot communicate with the serving cell of the terminal device, that is, the gap configured by the main base station actually occupies the transmission time between the terminal device and the serving cell of the terminal device. However, as can be seen from the foregoing description, for the SFTD-capable terminal device, when performing measurement on other cells, the measurement can be completed without gap. The base station configures gap for such terminal equipment, which results in waste of transmission resources.

In view of this, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are provided. In this embodiment of the present application, if the terminal device has the first measurement capability, the terminal device may notify the network device, and the network device may configure the terminal device within the capability range of the terminal device, and complete measurement on other cells without gap. By the method, the gap does not need to be configured for the terminal equipment with the allowed capability, so that the measurement process can be finished, the transmission resource can be efficiently utilized, and the uplink and downlink throughput of the terminal equipment with the capability is improved.

The technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application may be applied to the 4th generation,4G, system, such as the LTE system, or may be applied to the 5G system, such as the NR system, or may also be applied to the next generation mobile communication system and other similar mobile communication systems. In addition, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to a Device-to-Device (D2D) scenario, may be an NR D2D scenario, an LTE D2D scenario, or the like, or may be applied to a V2X scenario, may be an NR V2X scenario, an LTE V2X scenario, or the like, or may also be applied to other scenarios or other communication systems.

The network architecture applied in the embodiments of the present application is described below.

Please refer to fig. 2A, which is a network architecture applied in the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2A includes two network devices and a terminal device. Between the two network devices is a dual-connection architecture, in which the network device 1 is, for example, a primary network device, and the network device 2A is, for example, a secondary network device. The terminal device can communicate with both network devices. Of course, the number of terminal devices in fig. 2A is only an example, and in practical applications, the network device may provide services for a plurality of terminal devices.

The network device in fig. 2A is, for example, an access network device, such as a base station. The access network device corresponds to different devices in different systems, for example, may correspond to an eNB in a 4G system, and corresponds to an access network device in 5G, for example, a gNB in a 5G system, or is an access network device in a communication system of subsequent evolution. For example, fig. 2A is an EN-DC architecture, where the network device 1 is an LTE network device and the network device 2 is an NR network device; or, fig. 2A is an NE-DC architecture, then the network device 1 is an NR network device, the network device 2 is an LTE network device, and so on.

Please refer to fig. 2B, which illustrates another network architecture applied in the present embodiment.

Fig. 2B includes a network device and a terminal device. The terminal device may communicate with the network device. Of course, the number of terminal devices in fig. 2B is only an example, and in practical applications, the network device may provide services for a plurality of terminal devices.

The network device in fig. 2B is, for example, an access network device, such as a base station. The access network device corresponds to different devices in different systems, for example, in a 4G system, the access network device may correspond to an eNB, in a 5G system, the access network device in a 5G system, for example, a gNB, or an access network device in a subsequently evolved communication system. Fig. 2B can be understood that a dual connection architecture has not been formed.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

When the terminal device is just started, the capability of the terminal device is reported to the network device, or when the terminal device is switched to a new cell, the network device requests the terminal device to report the capability of the terminal device. When a user is ready to do a service via a terminal device, for example, the user wants to use the terminal device to surf the internet, the network device serving the terminal device (which is considered as a primary network device) may wish to add a secondary network device to the terminal device to form a DC architecture, so as to improve throughput and increase network speed. Under the DC architecture, the main network device configures the terminal device to measure other cells within the gap, and the gap occupies the transmission time between the terminal device and the serving cell of the terminal device. In such a scenario, the scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application may be adopted, and for a capable terminal device, a master network device may not need to configure a gap, thereby reducing waste of transmission resources and improving throughput of the terminal device.

The embodiment of the present application provides a first communication method, please refer to fig. 3, which is a flowchart of the method. In the following description, the method is applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 2A or fig. 2B as an example. In addition, the method may be performed by two communication devices, e.g. a first communication device and a second communication device. The first communication device or the second communication device may be a network device or a communication device capable of supporting the network device to implement the functions required by the method, or may be a terminal device or a communication device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the functions required by the method, or may be other communication devices such as a system on chip. The implementation manner of the first communication apparatus or the second communication apparatus is not limited, for example, the two communication apparatuses may be implemented in the same form, for example, both implemented in the form of a device, or the two communication apparatuses may also be implemented in different forms, for example, the first communication apparatus is implemented in the form of a device, the second communication apparatus is implemented in the form of a system-on-chip, and so on. The network device is, for example, a base station.

For convenience of introduction, in the following, the method is performed by a terminal device and a network device as an example, that is, the first communication apparatus is a terminal device and the second communication apparatus is a network device as an example. If the embodiment of the present application is applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 2A, the terminal device described below may implement the function of the terminal device in the network architecture shown in fig. 2A, and the network device described below may implement the function of the network device 1 in the network architecture shown in fig. 2A. Alternatively, if the embodiment of the present application is applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 2B, the terminal device described below may implement the function of the terminal device in the network architecture shown in fig. 2B, and the network device described below may implement the function of the network device in the network architecture shown in fig. 2B.

S31, the terminal device sends first indication information to the network device, the first indication information is used for indicating that the terminal device has first measurement capability, and the network device receives the first indication information from the terminal device, so that the terminal device can be determined to have the first measurement capability.

The first measurement capability indicates that the terminal device is capable of measuring, on one frequency included in each of at least one frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval, other frequencies included in each frequency combination, where the at least one frequency combination includes all frequency combinations supported by the terminal device.

The terminal device may support at least one frequency combination, and the number of the at least one frequency combination may be greater than or equal to 1. The at least one frequency combination may comprise a combination of frequency combinations in the first radio access technology and frequency combinations in the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device. Alternatively, to distinguish the concept of frequency combinations, it can also be stated that at least one frequency combination may include a combination of sub-frequency combinations under the first radio access technology and sub-frequency combinations under the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device. The frequency combination described herein is used to express a frequency combination supported by the terminal device when the first radio technology and the second radio technology operate simultaneously. The sub-frequency combination is used for expressing the frequency combination supported by the terminal device when the terminal device works under the first wireless access technology, or expressing the frequency combination supported by the terminal device when the terminal device works under the second wireless access technology. For example, if the terminal device supports sub-frequency combination 1 on the first radio access technology and sub-frequency combination 2 on the second radio access technology, one frequency combination included in at least one frequency combination may be a combination between sub-frequency combination 1 and sub-frequency combination 2.

Similarly, a sub-frequency combination of a second radio access technology included in one frequency combination supported by the terminal device may include a combination of one or more frequencies (or frequency bands) under a second radio access supported by the terminal device.

For example, referring to table 1, an example of an EN-DC frequency combination for a terminal device:

TABLE 1

LTE sub-frequency combination 1	NR sub-frequency combination 1
		LTE sub-frequency combination 2	NR sub-frequency combination 2
LTE sub-frequency combination 3	NR sub-frequency combination 3

In table 1, one row represents one frequency combination. For example, LTE sub-frequency combination 1 and NR sub-frequency combination 1 are one frequency combination supported by the terminal device. E.g., LTE sub-frequency combination 1, may include one or more LTE frequencies (or frequency bands) supported by the terminal device, e.g., NR sub-frequency combination 1, may include one or more NR frequencies (or frequency bands) supported by the terminal device. Similar is true for other LTE sub-frequency combinations and NR sub-frequency combinations.

For example, applying the embodiment of the present application to the network architecture shown in fig. 2A, for example, the architecture of fig. 2A is an EN-DC architecture, at least one frequency combination supported by the terminal device may be referred to as an EN-DC frequency combination, the first radio access technology is, for example, an E-UTRA technology, and the second radio access technology is, for example, an NR technology. Or, for example, the architecture of fig. 2A is an EN-DC architecture, at least one frequency combination supported by the terminal device may be referred to as an NE-DC frequency combination, the second radio access technology is, for example, an E-UTRA technology, and the first radio access technology is, for example, an NR technology.

The at least one frequency combination supported by the terminal device may include a sub-frequency combination corresponding to the main network device in the dual connectivity architecture. In addition, the sub-frequency combinations corresponding to other network devices except the main network device may not be included, or the sub-frequency combinations corresponding to other network devices except the main network device may be included. The master network device is, for example, the network device as described above. For example, the frequency of the master network device is F1, and the master network device corresponds to the first radio access technology. Then, the sub-frequency combination under the first radio access technology corresponding to each frequency combination in the at least one frequency combination supported by the terminal device may include the frequency F1; or, the sub-frequency combination under the first radio access technology corresponding to each of the partial frequency combinations in the at least one frequency combination supported by the terminal device may include the frequency F1, and the sub-frequency combination under the first radio access technology corresponding to each of the remaining frequency combinations may not include the frequency F1.

For example, the number of the at least one frequency combination is 3, which is the first frequency combination, the second frequency combination and the third frequency combination. The first frequency combination is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 1 and sub-frequency combination 2, the second frequency combination is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 3 and sub-frequency combination 4, and the third frequency combination is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 5 and sub-frequency combination 6. For example, the main network device is an LTE network device, the frequency of the main network device is F1, where LTE sub-frequency combination 1, LTE sub-frequency combination 3, and LTE sub-frequency combination 5 each include frequency F1, that is, each of the at least one frequency combination supported by the terminal device includes a frequency of the main network device. Alternatively, LTE sub-frequency combination 3 and LTE sub-frequency combination 5 both include frequency F1, but LTE sub-frequency combination 1 does not include frequency F1, that is, the sub-frequency combination under the first radio access technology corresponding to each of the partial frequency combinations in the at least one frequency combination supported by the terminal device may include the frequency of the main network device, and the sub-frequency combination under the first radio access technology corresponding to each of the remaining frequency combinations may not include the frequency of the main network device.

If the terminal device has the first measurement capability, it indicates that the terminal device is capable of measuring other sub-frequency combinations included in each of the supported at least one frequency combination on one of the sub-frequency combinations included in each of the supported at least one frequency combination. For example, the at least one frequency combination supported by the terminal device includes the first frequency combination, the second frequency combination, and the third frequency combination as described above. The first frequency combination is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 1 and NR sub-frequency combination 2, the second frequency combination is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 3 and NR sub-frequency combination 4, and the third frequency combination is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 5 and NR sub-frequency combination 6. Then, if the terminal device has the first measurement capability, it indicates that the terminal device can measure NR sub-frequency combination 2 at LTE sub-frequency combination 1, NR sub-frequency combination 4 at LTE sub-frequency combination 3, and NR sub-frequency combination 6 at LTE sub-frequency combination 5 without gap. In the measurement of one frequency combination on another frequency combination, it can be understood that in a cell corresponding to one frequency combination, a cell under another frequency combination is measured. One frequency combination may correspond to one or more cells, and another frequency combination may also correspond to one or more cells, and in theory, the terminal device may perform measurement on any cell of another frequency combination in any cell corresponding to one frequency combination.

Therefore, if the terminal device has the first measurement capability, the terminal device may indicate, through the first indication information, that the terminal device has the first measurement capability, and may indicate that the terminal device is capable of measuring, without configuring the gap, other sub-frequency combinations included in each of the at least one frequency combination on one sub-frequency combination included in each of the at least one frequency combination. After receiving the first indication information, the network device may determine that the terminal device is capable of measuring, on one sub-frequency combination included in each of at least one frequency combination, other sub-frequency combinations included in the each frequency combination without configuring a gap.

For example, the first indication information may occupy 1 or more bits (bits), taking 1 bit as an example. If the value of the 1 bit is "1", it indicates that the terminal device has a first measurement capability, which indicates that the terminal device can measure, on one sub-frequency combination included in each frequency combination of at least one frequency combination, other sub-frequency combinations included in each frequency combination without configuring a gap; if the value of the 1 bit is "0", it indicates that the terminal device does not have the first measurement capability, that is, if the terminal device measures one sub-frequency combination included in each of at least one frequency combination and measures other sub-frequency combinations included in said each frequency combination, the gap may need to be configured. In this case, whether the terminal device has the first measurement capability may be determined by a value of the first indication information.

Or, no matter how many bits are occupied by the first indication information, if the terminal device sends the first indication information, it indicates that the terminal device has the first measurement capability, which indicates that the terminal device can measure, on one sub-frequency combination included in each frequency combination of at least one frequency combination, other sub-frequency combinations included in the each frequency combination without configuring a gap; if the terminal device does not send the first indication information, the network device does not receive the first indication information from the terminal device, which indicates that the terminal device does not have the first measurement capability, that is, if the terminal device measures one sub-frequency combination included in each of at least one frequency combination and measures other sub-frequency combinations included in each of the at least one frequency combination, the gap may need to be configured. In this case, it is not necessary to pay attention to the value taking situation of the first indication information.

In addition, as an optional mode, the first indication information may indicate that the terminal device has the first measurement capability, and may also indicate that the terminal device has the second measurement capability, so that two kinds of information may be indicated by one indication information, which is beneficial to saving transmission overhead and improving bit utilization rate. For example, the first indication information may occupy one or more bits, taking 1 bit as an example. If the value of the 1 bit is '1', the terminal equipment is indicated to have a first measurement capability and a second measurement capability; and if the value of the 1 bit is '0', the terminal device does not have the first measurement capability and does not have the second measurement capability. In this case, whether the terminal device has the first measurement capability and the second measurement capability may be determined by taking a value of the first indication information, and the terminal device may possess both the measurement capabilities or not possess both the measurement capabilities.

Or, taking the first indication information occupying 2 bits as an example, one of the two bits is used to indicate the first measurement capability, and the other of the two bits is used to indicate the second measurement capability. For example, the higher bits of the two bits indicate a first measurement capability and the lower bits indicate a second measurement capability. If the value of the 2 bits is '11', the terminal equipment has a first measurement capability and a second measurement capability; if the value of the 2 bits is '00', the terminal equipment does not have the first measurement capability and does not have the second measurement capability; if the value of the 2 bits is '10', the terminal equipment has the first measurement capability but does not have the second measurement capability; if the value of the 2 bits is "01", it indicates that the terminal device does not have the first measurement capability but has the second measurement capability.

Or, no matter how many bits are occupied by the first indication information, if the terminal device sends the first indication information, it indicates that the terminal device has the first measurement capability and the second measurement capability; and if the terminal equipment does not send the first indication information, the network equipment does not receive the first indication information from the terminal equipment, which indicates that the terminal equipment does not have the first measurement capability and does not have the second measurement capability. In this case, it is not necessary to pay attention to the value taking situation of the first indication information.

Or, as another optional manner, the terminal device may send second indication information to the network device in addition to the first indication information, where the second indication information may indicate that the terminal device has the second measurement capability, as referred to S32. The first indication information and the second indication information may be carried in one message, or may also be carried in different messages, respectively. If the first indication information and the second indication information are carried in different messages, the terminal device may send the first indication information and then send the second indication information, or may send the second indication information and then send the first indication information, or may send the first indication information and the second indication information at the same time. The indication can be made more explicit by indicating the first measurement capability and the second measurement capability separately by different indication information.

For example, the second indication information may occupy one or more bits, taking 1 bit as an example. If the value of the 1 bit is '1', the terminal equipment has a second measurement capability; and if the value of the 1 bit is '0', the terminal equipment does not have the second measurement capability. In this case, whether the terminal device has the second measurement capability may be determined by a value of the second indication information.

Or, no matter how many bits the second indication information occupies, if the terminal device sends the second indication information, it indicates that the terminal device has the second measurement capability; and if the terminal equipment does not send the second indication information, the network equipment does not receive the indication information from the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment does not have the second measurement capability. In this case, it is not necessary to pay attention to the value of the second indication information.

The second measurement capability is, for example, that the terminal device can measure, without configuring the gap, a time difference between a cell in one sub-frequency combination included in each of at least one frequency combination and a cell in another sub-frequency combination included in each of the at least one frequency combination. Alternatively, it is more precisely stated that the second measurement capability may be that the terminal device is capable of measuring, without configuring gap, a system frame number difference and a frame boundary difference of the cell in one sub-frequency combination included in each of at least one frequency combination and other sub-frequency combinations included in each of the at least one frequency combination.

For example, the second measurement capability may be referred to as an SFTD measurement capability, or the second measurement capability may have another name, which is not limited to the name.

In addition, the terminal device may further send information of the at least one frequency combination to the network device, and then the network device receives the information of the at least one frequency combination from the terminal device. The network device can thus know which frequency combinations are supported by the terminal device, and the network device can thus know the application range of the first measurement capability.

The terminal device may send the first indication information and the information of the at least one frequency combination to the network device, for example, to the network device by being carried in a message, where the message is, for example, a message in which the terminal device reports the capability of the terminal device to the network device, for example, a UE capability information (UE capability information) message. Alternatively, the terminal device may also send the first indication information and the information of the at least one frequency combination, respectively, for example, the first indication information and the information of the at least one frequency combination are carried in different messages and sent to the network device. If the terminal device carries the first indication information and the information of the at least one frequency combination in different messages and sends the messages to the network device, the terminal device may send the first indication information and then send the information of the at least one frequency combination, or send the information of the at least one frequency combination and then send the first indication information, or may send the information of the at least one frequency combination and the first indication information at the same time.

The first indication information is, for example, referred to as SFTD capability information, or may have another name. If the first indication information indicates that the terminal device has the first measurement capability and the second measurement capability, which is equivalent to that, in the embodiment of the present application, in addition to indicating that the terminal device has the SFTD measurement capability through the SFTD capability information, the terminal device is also indicated to have the first measurement capability, and a plurality of contents are indicated through one kind of information, so that transmission overhead can be saved.

Alternatively, if the terminal device further sends the second indication information to the network device, the second indication information may be referred to as SFTD capability information, or may have another name. In other words, in the embodiment of the present application, in addition to indicating that the terminal device has the second measurement capability through the SFTD capability information, the terminal device may also be indicated to have the first measurement capability through other indication information (first indication information).

S33, the network equipment configures the terminal equipment to measure a first frequency in the first cell, and determines not to configure a first measurement interval for the terminal equipment according to the first indication information. The first measurement interval is used for measuring a first frequency.

The network device, knowing at least one frequency combination supported by the terminal device, may configure the terminal device to measure, at one sub-frequency combination of each of one or more of the at least one frequency combination, other sub-frequency combinations of said each frequency combination. Of course, since the network device has a certain frequency, when the network device configures the terminal device to perform measurement, the frequency combination that can be configured for the terminal device to perform measurement needs to include the frequency of the network device in the sub-frequency combination included in the frequency combination. The network device according to the embodiment of the present application is, for example, a main network device under a dual connectivity architecture. Alternatively, if the dual connectivity architecture has not been formed, the network device is the network device serving the terminal device.

For example, the at least one frequency combination supported by the terminal device includes a first frequency combination, a second frequency combination, and a third frequency combination. The first frequency combination is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 1 and NR sub-frequency combination 2, the second frequency combination is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 3 and NR sub-frequency combination 4, and the third frequency combination is a combination between LTE sub-frequency combination 5 and NR sub-frequency combination 6. The network device is an LTE network device, for example, the terminal device currently accesses a first cell of the network device, and the frequency of the first cell is F1, so that the network device can only configure the terminal device to measure other frequencies at the frequency F1. For example, LTE sub-frequency combination 1 and LTE sub-frequency combination 3 both include frequency F1, the network device may configure the terminal device to measure NR sub-frequency combination 2 at frequency F1 (i.e., in the first cell), or may configure the terminal device to measure NR sub-frequency combination 4 at frequency F1 (i.e., in the first cell), but because LTE sub-frequency combination 5 does not include frequency F1, the network device cannot configure the terminal device to measure NR sub-frequency combination 6 at LTE sub-frequency combination 5.

For example, the current serving cell of the terminal device is a first cell, and the network device configures the terminal device to measure a first frequency in the first cell according to information of at least one frequency combination, where the frequency of the first cell is different from the first frequency. For example, the first frequency belongs to one sub-frequency combination, for example, the first frequency belongs to a first sub-frequency combination, the frequency of the first cell belongs to another sub-frequency combination, for example, the frequency of the first cell belongs to a second sub-frequency combination, and the first sub-frequency combination and the second sub-frequency combination belong to one frequency combination of at least one frequency combination. In this case, the terminal device measures the first frequency in the first cell, which may be understood as one or more cells at the first frequency measured by the terminal device in the first cell.

In addition, since the network device can determine that the terminal device has the first measurement capability according to the first indication information, when the network device configures the terminal device to measure the first frequency in the first cell, the network device does not need to configure the first measurement interval, that is, it does not need to configure a gap for the terminal device to measure the first frequency in the first cell, because the terminal device can complete the measurement without the gap.

Here, the first frequency is measured in the first cell, and it is understood that the signal strength of each cell at the first frequency may be measured in the first cell, for example, one or more of Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), reference Signal Receiving Quality (RSRQ) or signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) may be measured. In this way, the configuration of the gap can be reduced, and the transmission resource of the first cell can be fully utilized.

S34, the network equipment sends a first message to the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment receives the first message from the network equipment.

The first message is used for configuring the terminal device to measure the first frequency in the first cell, and the first message does not include the configuration of the first measurement interval, or the first message does not include the configuration information of the first measurement interval, that is, the network device configures the terminal device to measure the first frequency in the first cell, and does not configure a gap for the measurement of the terminal device.

After receiving the first message, the terminal device may measure the first frequency in the first cell without gap. Where the first frequency is measured in the first cell, it may be understood that the signal strength of each cell at the first frequency is measured in the first cell, for example, one or more of RSRP, RSRQ or SINR of these cells may be measured.

In this embodiment of the present application, if the terminal device has the first measurement capability, the terminal device may notify the network device, and the network device may configure the terminal device to be within the capability range of the terminal device, and complete measurement of other frequencies without gap. By the method, the gap does not need to be configured for the terminal equipment with the allowed capability, so that the measurement process can be finished, the transmission resource can be efficiently utilized, and the uplink and downlink throughput of the terminal equipment is improved.

The following describes an apparatus for implementing the above method in the embodiment of the present application with reference to the drawings. Therefore, the above contents can be used in the subsequent embodiments, and the repeated contents are not repeated.

Fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 400 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Exemplarily, the communication apparatus 400 is, for example, a communication device 400. Alternatively, the communication device 400 is, for example, a chip in a communication device, or a combined device or a component having the functions of the terminal device in the communication device. Illustratively, the communication device 400 is a terminal device 400.

The terminal device 400 includes a processing module 410 and a transceiver module 420. When the terminal device 400 is a terminal device, the transceiver module 420 may be a transceiver, and may include an antenna, a radio frequency circuit, and the like, and the processing module 410 may be a processor, such as a baseband processor, and one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs) may be included in the baseband processor. When the terminal device 400 is a component having the above terminal function, the transceiver module 420 may be a radio frequency unit, and the processing module 410 may be a processor, such as a baseband processor. When the terminal device 400 is a chip system, the transceiver module 420 may be an input/output interface of the chip system (e.g., a baseband chip), and the processing module may be a processor of the chip system and may include one or more central processing units.

Processing module 410 may be used, among other things, to perform all operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, except for transceiving operations, such as operations to measure the first frequency at the first cell, and/or other processes to support the techniques described herein. Transceiver module 420 may be used to perform all transceiving operations performed by a terminal device in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, e.g., S31, S32, and S34, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

In addition, the transceiver module 420 may be a functional module, which can perform both the transmitting operation and the receiving operation, for example, the transceiver module 420 may be used to perform all the transmitting operation and the receiving operation performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, for example, when the transmitting operation is performed, the transceiver module 420 may be considered as a transmitting module, and when the receiving operation is performed, the transceiver module 420 may be considered as a receiving module; alternatively, the transceiver module 420 may also be a general term for two functional modules, which are respectively a transmitting module and a receiving module, where the transmitting module is configured to complete a transmitting operation, for example, the transmitting module may be configured to perform all transmitting operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, and the receiving module is configured to complete a receiving operation, for example, the receiving module may be configured to perform all receiving operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 4.

A transceiver module 420, configured to send first indication information to a network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device 400 has a first measurement capability, and the first measurement capability indicates that the terminal device 400 can measure, on one sub-frequency combination included in each frequency combination of at least one frequency combination, other sub-frequency combinations included in the each frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval, where the at least one frequency combination includes all frequency combinations supported by the terminal device 400;

the transceiving module 420 is further configured to receive a first message sent by the network device, where the first message is used to configure the terminal device 400 to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and the first message does not include a configuration of a first measurement interval, the first measurement interval is used to measure the first frequency, and the first frequency and a frequency of the first cell belong to one frequency combination of the at least one frequency combination.

As an optional implementation manner, the processing module 410 is further configured to determine to measure the first frequency in the first cell according to the first message.

As an alternative to the above-described embodiment,

the first indication information is further used for indicating that the terminal device 400 has the second measurement capability; or the like, or, alternatively,

a transceiver module 420, further configured to send second indication information to the network device in the first cell, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device 400 has a second measurement capability;

the second measurement capability is that the terminal device 400 can measure, without configuring a measurement interval, a system frame number difference and a frame boundary difference between a cell in one frequency included in each of at least one frequency combination and a cell in another frequency included in each of the at least one frequency combination.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 420 is further configured to transmit information of the at least one frequency combination to the network device.

As an optional embodiment, the first indication information is SFTD capability information.

As an optional embodiment, the at least one frequency combination includes a combination of a sub-frequency combination in the first radio access technology and a sub-frequency combination in the second radio access technology supported by the terminal device 400.

It should be understood that the processing module 410 in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component, and the transceiver module 420 may be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit component.

As shown in fig. 5, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus 500. Exemplarily, the communication apparatus 500 is, for example, a communication device 500. Alternatively, the communication device 500 is, for example, a chip in a communication device, or a combined device or a component having the functions of the terminal device in the communication device. Illustratively, the communication device is, for example, a terminal device, or may also be a system-on-chip or the like. The communication device 500 includes a processor 510, a memory 520 and a transceiver 530, wherein the memory 520 stores instructions or programs therein and the processor 510 is configured to execute the instructions or programs stored in the memory 520. When the instructions or programs stored in the memory 520 are executed, the processor 510 is configured to perform the operations performed by the processing module 410 in the above embodiments, and the transceiver 530 is configured to perform the operations performed by the transceiver module 420 in the above embodiments.

The transceiver 530 may be a functional unit that can perform both the transmitting operation and the receiving operation, for example, the transceiver 530 may be used to perform all the transmitting operation and the receiving operation performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, for example, when the transmitting operation is performed, the transceiver 530 may be considered as a transmitter, and when the receiving operation is performed, the transceiver 530 may be considered as a receiver; alternatively, the transceiver 530 may be a general term for two functional units, i.e., a transmitter and a receiver, respectively, where the transmitter is configured to perform a transmitting operation, e.g., the transmitter may be configured to perform all transmitting operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and the receiver is configured to perform a receiving operation, e.g., the receiver may be configured to perform all receiving operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

It should be understood that the communication apparatus 400 or the communication apparatus 500 according to the embodiment of the present application may implement the function of the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and the operation and/or the function of each module in the communication apparatus 400 or the communication apparatus 500 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and are not described herein again for brevity.

Fig. 6 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 600 according to an embodiment of the present application. Illustratively, the communication device 600 is, for example, a communication apparatus 600. Alternatively, the communication device 600 is, for example, a chip in a communication device, or a combined device or a component having the functions of the network device in the communication device. Illustratively, the communication device 600 is a network device 600.

The network device 600 includes a processing module 610 and a transceiver module 620. When the network device 600 is a network device, the transceiver module 620 may be a transceiver, may include an antenna, a radio frequency circuit, and the like, and the processing module 610 includes one or more CPUs, for example. When the network device 600 is a component of a terminal network device as described above, the transceiver module 620 may be a radio frequency unit and the processing module 610 may be a processor. When the network device 600 is a system-on-chip, the transceiver module 620 may be an input-output interface of the system-on-chip (e.g., a baseband chip), and the processing module may be a processor of the system-on-chip and may include one or more central processing units.

Processing module 610 may be configured to perform all operations performed by the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, except transceiving operations, e.g., S33, and/or other processes to support the techniques described herein. The transceiving module 620 may be configured to perform all transceiving operations performed by the network device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 3, e.g., S31, S32, and S34, and/or other processes to support the techniques described herein.

In addition, the transceiver module 620 may be a functional module that can perform both the transmitting operation and the receiving operation, for example, the transceiver module 620 may be used to perform all the transmitting operation and the receiving operation performed by the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, for example, when the transmitting operation is performed, the transceiver module 620 may be considered as a transmitting module, and when the receiving operation is performed, the transceiver module 620 may be considered as a receiving module; alternatively, the transceiver module 620 may also be a general term for two functional modules, which are respectively a transmitting module and a receiving module, where the transmitting module is configured to complete a transmitting operation, for example, the transmitting module may be configured to perform all transmitting operations performed by the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and the receiving module is configured to complete a receiving operation, for example, the receiving module may be configured to perform all receiving operations performed by the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

A transceiver module 620, configured to receive first indication information from a terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device has a first measurement capability, and the first measurement capability indicates that the terminal device can measure, on one sub-frequency combination included in each frequency combination of at least one frequency combination, other sub-frequency combinations included in the each frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval;

the transceiving module 620 is further configured to send a first message to the terminal device, where the first message is used to configure the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and the first message does not include configuration of a first measurement interval, where the first measurement interval is used to measure the first frequency, and the first frequency and a frequency of the first cell belong to one of the at least one frequency combination.

As an optional implementation manner, the processing module 610 is further configured to configure the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and not configure the first measurement interval for the terminal device to measure the first frequency in the first cell.

As an alternative to the above-described embodiment,

a transceiver module 620, further configured to receive second indication information from the terminal device in the first cell, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device has a second measurement capability;

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 620 is further configured to receive information of the at least one frequency combination from the terminal device.

As an optional implementation manner, the first indication information is SFTD capability information.

As an optional embodiment, the at least one frequency combination includes a combination of a sub-frequency combination in a first radio access technology and a sub-frequency combination in a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

It should be understood that the processing module 610 in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component, and the transceiver module 620 may be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit component.

As shown in fig. 7, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus 700. Illustratively, the communication device 700 is, for example, a communication apparatus 700. Alternatively, the communication device 700 is, for example, a chip in a communication device, or a combined device or a component having the functions of the network device in the communication device. Illustratively, the communication device is, for example, a network device, or may also be a system on chip or the like. The communication device 700 comprises a processor 710, a memory 720 and a transceiver 730, wherein the memory 720 stores instructions or programs therein, and the processor 710 is configured to execute the instructions or programs stored in the memory 720. When the instructions or programs stored in the memory 720 are executed, the processor 710 is configured to perform the operations performed by the processing module 610 in the above embodiments, and the transceiver 730 is configured to perform the operations performed by the transceiver module 620 in the above embodiments.

The transceiver 730 may be a functional unit that can perform both the transmitting operation and the receiving operation, for example, the transceiver 730 may be used to perform all the transmitting operation and the receiving operation performed by the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, for example, when the transmitting operation is performed, the transceiver 730 may be considered as a transmitter, and when the receiving operation is performed, the transceiver 730 may be considered as a receiver; alternatively, the transceiver 730 may also be a general term for two functional units, i.e., a transmitter and a receiver, respectively, where the transmitter is used to perform a transmitting operation, e.g., the transmitter may be used to perform all transmitting operations performed by the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and the receiver is used to perform a receiving operation, e.g., the receiver may be used to perform all receiving operations performed by the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

It should be understood that the communication apparatus 600 or the communication apparatus 700 according to the embodiment of the present application may implement the function of the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and operations and/or functions of each module in the communication apparatus 600 or the communication apparatus 700 are respectively for implementing corresponding flows in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and are not described herein again for brevity.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication device, and the communication device can be terminal equipment or a circuit. The communication device may be configured to perform the actions performed by the terminal device in the above-described method embodiments.

When the communication device is a terminal device, fig. 8 shows a simplified structural diagram of the terminal device. For easy understanding and illustration, in fig. 8, the terminal device is exemplified by a mobile phone. As shown in fig. 8, the terminal device includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the terminal equipment, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs and the like. The memory is used primarily for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are used primarily for receiving data input by a user and for outputting data to the user. It should be noted that some kinds of terminal devices may not have input/output means.

When data needs to be sent, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs baseband signals to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signals and sends the radio frequency signals to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal equipment, the radio frequency circuit receives radio frequency signals through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signals into baseband signals and outputs the baseband signals to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signals into the data and processes the data. For ease of illustration, only one memory and processor are shown in FIG. 8. In an actual end device product, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc. The memory may be provided independently of the processor, or may be integrated with the processor, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the radio frequency circuit having the transceiving function may be regarded as a transceiving unit of the terminal device, and the processor having the processing function may be regarded as a processing unit of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 8, the terminal device includes a transceiving unit 810 and a processing unit 820. A transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. A processing unit may also be referred to as a processor, a processing board, a processing module, a processing device, or the like. Optionally, a device used for implementing the receiving function in the transceiver 810 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device used for implementing the transmitting function in the transceiver 810 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiver 810 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. A transceiver unit may also sometimes be referred to as a transceiver, transceiving circuitry, or the like. A receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, or receiving circuit, etc. A transmitting unit may also sometimes be referred to as a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

It should be understood that the transceiver 810 is configured to perform the transmitting operation and the receiving operation on the terminal device side in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 820 is configured to perform other operations besides the transceiving operation on the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

For example, in one implementation, the transceiver unit 810 is configured to perform all of the transmitting and receiving operations of the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, e.g., S31, S32, and S34, and/or the transceiver unit 810 is further configured to perform other processes that support the techniques described herein. A processing unit 820 configured to perform all operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 except transceiving operations, for example, operations to measure the first frequency in the first cell, and/or the processing unit 820 is further configured to perform other processes in support of the techniques described herein.

When the communication device is a chip-like device or circuit, the device may comprise a transceiver unit and a processing unit. The transceiving unit can be an input-output circuit and/or a communication interface; the processing unit is an integrated processor or microprocessor or integrated circuit.

When the communication device in this embodiment is a terminal device, reference may be made to the device shown in fig. 9. As an example, the device may perform functionality similar to processing module 410 in FIG. 4. Or, as an example, the device may perform functions similar to processor 510 in fig. 5. In fig. 9, the apparatus includes a processor 910, a transmit data processor 920, and a receive data processor 930. The processing module 410 in the above embodiment may be the processor 910 in fig. 9, and performs the corresponding functions; the transceiver module 420 in the above embodiments may be the transmit data processor 920 and/or the receive data processor 930 in fig. 9. Although a channel encoder and a channel decoder are shown in fig. 9, it should be understood that these blocks are not limiting illustrations of the present embodiment, but only illustrative.

Fig. 10 shows another form of the present embodiment. The processing device 1000 includes modules such as a modulation subsystem, a central processing subsystem, and peripheral subsystems. The communication device in this embodiment may serve as a modulation subsystem therein. Specifically, the modulation subsystem may include a processor 1003 and an interface 1004. The processor 1003 performs the functions of the processing module 410, and the interface 1004 performs the functions of the transceiver module 420. As another variation, the modulation subsystem includes a memory 1006, a processor 1003, and a program stored on the memory 1006 and executable on the processor, and the processor 1003 implements the method on the terminal device side in the above method embodiment when executing the program. It should be noted that the memory 1006 may be non-volatile or volatile, and may be located inside the modulation subsystem or in the processing device 1000 as long as the memory 1006 can be connected to the processor 1003.

When the device in the embodiment of the present application is a network device, the device may be as shown in fig. 11. The apparatus 1100 includes one or more radio frequency units, such as a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) 1110 and one or more baseband units (BBUs) (which may also be referred to as digital units, DUs) 1120. The RRU 1110 may be referred to as a transceiver module, which corresponds to the transceiver module 620 in fig. 6, and optionally may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver circuit, or transceiver, etc., which may include at least one antenna 1111 and a radio frequency unit 1112. The RRU 1110 is mainly used for transceiving radio frequency signals and converting radio frequency signals and baseband signals, for example, for sending indication information to a terminal device. The BBU 1120 is mainly used for performing baseband processing, controlling a base station, and the like. The RRU 1110 and the BBU 1120 may be physically disposed together or may be physically disposed separately, that is, distributed base stations.

The BBU 1120 is a control center of the base station, and may also be referred to as a processing module, and may correspond to the processing module 610 in fig. 6, and is mainly used for completing baseband processing functions, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulation, spreading, and the like. For example, the BBU (processing module) may be configured to control the base station to perform an operation procedure related to the network device in the foregoing method embodiment, for example, to generate the foregoing indication information.

In an example, the BBU 1120 may be formed by one or more boards, and the boards may support a radio access network of a single access system (e.g., an LTE network) together, or may support radio access networks of different access systems (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks) respectively. The BBU 1120 also includes a memory 1121 and a processor 1122. The memory 1121 is used for storing necessary instructions and data. The processor 1122 is configured to control the base station to perform necessary actions, for example, to control the base station to perform the operation procedure related to the network device in the above method embodiment. The memory 1121 and processor 1122 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and processor may be provided separately on each board. Multiple boards may share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication system. The communication system may comprise at least one terminal device according to the embodiment shown in fig. 3 and a network device according to the embodiment shown in fig. 3. The terminal device is, for example, communication apparatus 400 in fig. 4 or communication apparatus 500 in fig. 5, and the network device is, for example, communication apparatus 600 in fig. 6 or communication apparatus 700 in fig. 7, and so on. For example, the terminal device may be configured to perform all operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, e.g., S31, S32, S34 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, operations to measure the first frequency at the first cell, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. The network device may be used to perform all of the operations performed by the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, e.g., S31-S34 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where the computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer may implement the process related to the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 and provided by the foregoing method embodiment.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer may implement the process related to the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 and provided by the foregoing method embodiment.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, where the computer program product is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer may implement the flow related to the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 and provided by the foregoing method embodiment.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, where the computer program is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer may implement the process related to the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 and provided by the foregoing method embodiment.

It should be understood that the processor mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a CPU, and may also be other general purpose processors, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, and the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

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

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

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

It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not 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 technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Claims

1. A communication method is applied to a terminal device and comprises the following steps:

sending first indication information to a network device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the terminal device has first measurement capability; the first measurement capability indicates: the terminal equipment can measure other sub-frequency combinations included in a first frequency combination in at least one frequency combination on the sub-frequency combination included in the first frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval; the at least one frequency combination comprises all frequency combinations supported by the terminal equipment, and the first frequency combination is any one of the at least one frequency combination;

receiving a first message sent by the network device, where the first message is used to configure the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and the first message does not include configuration of a first measurement interval, where the first measurement interval is used to measure the first frequency, and the first frequency and a frequency of the first cell belong to one of the at least one frequency combination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication information further indicates that the terminal device has a second measurement capability, and wherein the second measurement capability is that the terminal device can measure, without configuring a measurement interval, a system frame number difference and a frame boundary difference of cells at frequencies included in a second frequency combination of the at least one frequency combination in a cell number difference and a frame boundary difference of cells at other frequencies included in the cell and the second frequency combination; wherein the second frequency combination is any one of the at least one frequency combination.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending second indication information to the network equipment in the first cell, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment has second measurement capability;

the second measurement capability is that the terminal device can measure, in a cell in one frequency included in a second frequency combination of the at least one frequency combination, a system frame number difference and a frame boundary difference between the cell and a cell in another frequency included in the second frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval; wherein the second frequency combination is any one of the at least one frequency combination.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting information of the at least one frequency combination to the network device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication information is SFTD capability information, or wherein the first measurement capability is SFTD measurement capability.

6. The method according to any of claims 1-5, wherein the at least one frequency combination comprises a combination of sub-frequency combinations under a first radio access technology and sub-frequency combinations under a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

7. A communication method applied to a network device includes:

receiving first indication information from a terminal device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the terminal device has a first measurement capability; the first measurement capability indicates: the terminal equipment can measure other sub-frequency combinations included in a first frequency combination in at least one frequency combination on the sub-frequency combination included in the first frequency combination without configuring a measurement interval; the at least one frequency combination comprises all frequency combinations supported by the terminal equipment, and the first frequency combination is any one of the at least one frequency combination;

sending a first message to the terminal device, the first message being used for configuring the terminal device to measure a first frequency in a first cell, and the first message not including configuration of a first measurement interval, the first measurement interval being used for measuring the first frequency, and the first frequency and the frequency of the first cell belonging to one of the at least one frequency combination.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first indication information is further used for indicating that the terminal device has a second measurement capability;

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising: receiving second indication information from the terminal equipment in the first cell, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating that the terminal equipment has second measurement capability;

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving information of the at least one frequency combination from the terminal device.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the first indication information is SFTD capability information, or wherein the first measurement capability is SFTD measurement capability.

12. The method according to any of claims 7-11, wherein the at least one frequency combination comprises a combination of sub-frequency combinations under a first radio access technology and sub-frequency combinations under a second radio access technology supported by the terminal device.

13. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a memory for storing computer executable program code; and

a processor coupled with the memory; wherein the program code stored by the memory includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 1-6.

14. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a memory for storing computer executable program code; and

a processor coupled with the memory; wherein the program code stored by the memory includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 7-12.

15. A communication system comprising a communication apparatus according to claim 13 and a communication apparatus according to claim 14.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it stores a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 6, or causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 7 to 12.

17. A chip system, comprising:

a processor for retrieving and executing instructions from a memory to cause a communication device on which the system-on-chip is installed to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 6, or to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 7 to 12.

18. A computer program product, characterized in that it comprises a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, or causes the computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 7 to 12.