CN116723578A

CN116723578A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN116723578A
Application number: CN202210187791.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 彭文杰
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-02-28
Filing date: 2022-02-28
Publication date: 2023-09-08
Also published as: WO2023160337A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, which comprises the following steps: and before receiving the first data from the first terminal equipment, sending first request information for requesting first resources to the access network equipment, wherein the first request information comprises the first cache information, the first data is data to be sent to the access network equipment through the second terminal equipment, the first terminal equipment is terminal equipment accessed to the network through the second terminal equipment, and the first resources are resources used by the first terminal equipment for sending the first data to the access network equipment. By requesting resources for transmitting data to the access network device in advance before receiving the first data, the delay of the first terminal device transmitting data to the access network device through the second terminal device can be reduced.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

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

Background

In a wireless communication system, terminal devices (UEs) may communicate with each other through a network device, or may directly communicate with each other without passing through the network device. Among them, communication directly performed between UEs is widely called Side Link (SL) communication. Specifically, the manner in which the UE acquires the SL communication resource includes: an evolved node b (eNB or eNodeB) scheduling mode and a UE self-selection mode in a wireless communication system.

However, in the communication scenario between terminal devices, for example, in the scenario where a Remote terminal device (Remote UE) accesses a Network (sip UE-to-Network Relay) through a Relay terminal (Relay UE), the above-mentioned SL communication resource acquisition manner may affect the effectiveness of uplink data transmission of the Remote UE. Therefore, how to reduce the delay of uplink data transmission of Remote UE is a urgent issue to be resolved.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, which can reduce the time delay of the uplink data transmission of Remote UE by requesting the resources for transmitting the data to access network equipment in advance before the Remote UE receives the data from the Remote UE.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which may be performed by a second terminal device (e.g., a Relay UE), or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the second terminal device, which is not limited, and may be described as an example performed by the second terminal device for convenience of description.

The communication method comprises the following steps: receiving first information from a first terminal device; determining first cache information of first data according to the first information, wherein the first cache information is used for indicating the size of the first data; before receiving the first data from the first terminal device, sending a first request message to an access network device, where the first request message includes the first cache information, and the first request message is used to request a first resource, where the first data includes data to be sent by the first terminal device to the access network device through a second terminal device, the first terminal device includes a terminal device accessing the access network device through the second terminal device, and the first resource includes a resource used by the second terminal device to send the first data to the access network device.

Based on the above technical solution, the second terminal device requests the resource for transmitting the first data from the access network device before receiving the first data from the first terminal device, instead of requesting the first resource after receiving the first data. By requesting resources for transmitting the data to the access network device in advance, the time delay of the first terminal device sending uplink data transmission to the access network device through the second terminal device can be reduced.

The communication method can be applied to the Sidelink UE-to-Network Relay scene, and can reduce the time delay of Remote UE uplink data transmission.

Illustratively, the first data may be understood as PDCP PDUs including, but not limited to: the pdcp pdu of the DRB or the pdcp pdu of the SRB. The first resource may be understood as an Uplink (UL) resource for transmitting the first data.

Specifically, the time when the first data arrives can be determined through the first information, so that the first request information is sent to the access network device before the first data is received. For example, the first information can be used to determine that the time instant at which the first data is received is time x, and then the first request information is sent to the access network device before time x. The time may be a subframe, a frame, a time slot or a symbol, and the application is not limited to the representation form of the time, and can identify a certain time point in the time domain.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first information includes first side link SL resource information used by the first terminal device to send the first data to the second terminal device.

As a possible implementation manner, the first information may be first SL resource information, and in the present SL communication, the first terminal device may send the SL resource information to the second terminal device, that is, in the present application, the existing SL resource information between the first terminal device and the second terminal device may be multiplexed, so as to achieve the purpose of determining the first buffer information, without adding a new signaling, and on the premise of saving signaling overhead, compatibility between the scheme of the present application and the present SL communication may also be increased.

For example, the size of the first data is indirectly determined according to the size of the SL resource indicated by the first SL resource information.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: and determining first time information according to the first SL resource information, wherein the first time information is used for indicating the moment when the first terminal equipment receives the first data or the moment when the first data is transmitted.

Based on the above technical solution, the second terminal device may estimate the time of receiving the first data or the time of transmitting the first data after receiving the first SL resource information, so as to be able to determine the arrival time and/or the transmission time of the first data.

For example, the time of arrival of the first data is indirectly determined according to the time domain position of the SL resource indicated by the first SL resource information, or the time of transmission of the first data is further estimated according to the time of arrival of the first data and the local processing time.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first SL resource information includes SL resource information for retransmission data and/or SL resource information reserved for new transmission data.

The first SL resource information may be an SL resource indicating retransmission data and/or a reserved SL resource for new transmission data, that is, the first data may be retransmitted data or newly transmitted data.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first information includes second buffer information of the first data, where the second buffer information is used to indicate buffer information of a first logical channel group corresponding to the first data, where the first logical channel group is a logical channel group between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

As a possible implementation manner, the first information may be second buffer information indicating the first data in a display manner. Since the second buffer information is transmitted from the first terminal device to the second terminal device, the second buffer information is embodied through the first logical channel group between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The first information may be information newly added by the first terminal device and sent to the second terminal device, that is, the first information is not limited to be the existing information, so that flexibility of the scheme is improved.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the determining, according to the first information, first cache information of the first data includes: and determining the first cache information of a second logic channel group corresponding to the first data according to the second cache information and a first corresponding relation, wherein the first corresponding relation is the corresponding relation between the first logic channel group and a second logic channel group, and the second logic channel group is a logic channel group between the first terminal equipment and the access network equipment.

Based on the above technical solution, after receiving the second buffer information indicating the first data, the second terminal device may convert the second buffer information into first buffer information that can be identified by the access network device, so as to indicate the size of the first data to the access network device.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first information further includes second time information, where the second time information is used to indicate, to the second terminal device, a time when the second terminal device receives the first data or a time when the first data is sent.

As a possible implementation, the first information may be second time information indicating the first data in a display manner. Since the second time information is transmitted by the first terminal device to the second terminal device, the second time information is determined by timing information between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The time information included in the first information may be information newly added by the first terminal device and sent to the second terminal device, that is, the first information is not limited to be the existing information, so that flexibility of the scheme is improved.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: determining first time information according to the second time information and a second corresponding relation, wherein the first time information is used for indicating the moment when the first terminal equipment receives the first data or the moment when the first data is sent to the access network equipment, the second corresponding relation is a corresponding relation between first timing information and second timing information, the first timing information is timing information of a first communication interface between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment, and the second timing information is timing information of a second communication interface between the first terminal equipment and the access network equipment.

Based on the above technical solution, after receiving the second time information indicating the first data, the second terminal device may convert the second time information into first time information that can be identified by the access network device, so as to indicate, to the access network device, a time when the first terminal device receives the first data or a time when the first data is sent.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first information is included in side uplink control information SCI.

Optionally, the first information may be carried in the currently existing information (e.g., SCI) for the purpose of saving signaling overhead.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the first request information further includes the first time information.

Based on the above technical solution, the second terminal device may include, in the first request information, first time information indicating a time when the first terminal device receives the first data or a time when the first data is transmitted, so that the access network device considers the time when receiving or transmitting the first data when scheduling the resource.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: configuration information is received from the access network device, the configuration information being used to indicate that the access network device has the capability to send the first request information for at least one terminal device, the at least one terminal device comprising the first terminal device.

Based on the technical scheme, the access network device can instruct the second terminal device to have the capability of requesting uplink resources in advance for which terminal devices through the configuration information.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: and receiving first Downlink Control Information (DCI) from the access network equipment, wherein the first DCI is used for indicating the first resource.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first DCI includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first resource is used to transmit uplink data of the first terminal device.

Based on the technical scheme, the access network device can indicate the interrupt device for the scheduled resource through the first indication information, and the use of the resource is clear.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which may be performed by a first terminal device (e.g., a Remote UE), or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the first terminal device, which is not limited, and may be described as an example by the first terminal device for convenience of description.

The communication method comprises the following steps: determining first information according to first data to be sent to access network equipment through second terminal equipment, wherein the first information is used for determining first cache information, and the first cache information is used for indicating the size of the first data; and sending the first information to the second terminal equipment.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first information includes first side link SL resource information used by the first terminal device to send the first data to the second terminal device.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first SL resource information includes SL resource information for retransmission data and/or SL resource information reserved for new transmission data.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first information includes second buffer information of the first data, where the second buffer information is used to indicate buffer information of a first logical channel group corresponding to the first data, where the first logical channel group is a logical channel group between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first information further includes second time information, where the second time information is used to indicate, to the second terminal device, a time when the second terminal device receives the first data or a time when the first data is sent.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first information is included in side-uplink control information SCI.

The advantages of the method according to the above second aspect and possible designs thereof may be referred to the advantages of the first aspect and possible designs thereof.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, which may be performed by an access network device (e.g., a Relay UE), or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the access network device, which is not limited, and may be illustrated by taking the access network device as an example for convenience of description.

The communication method comprises the following steps: receiving first request information from second terminal equipment, wherein the first request information comprises first cache information, the first request information is used for requesting first resources, and the first cache information is used for indicating the size of first data; and sending first Downlink Control Information (DCI) to the second terminal equipment, wherein the first DCI is used for indicating the first resource, the first data comprises data to be sent to the access network equipment by the first terminal equipment through the second terminal equipment, the first terminal equipment comprises terminal equipment accessed to the access network equipment through the second terminal equipment, and the first resource comprises a resource used by the second terminal equipment for sending the first data to the access network equipment.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first request information further includes first time information, where the first time information is used to indicate a time when the first terminal device receives the first data or a time when the first data is sent.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first DCI includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first resource is used to transmit uplink data of the first terminal device.

The advantages of the method as shown in the above third aspect and its possible designs may be referred to the advantages in the first aspect and its possible designs.

The above first to third aspects introduce how to request resources for transmitting uplink data of the first terminal device in advance from the perspective of the second terminal device, the first terminal device, and the access network device, respectively, so as to achieve a communication method for reducing the delay of uplink data transmission of the first terminal device. The application also provides another communication method capable of reducing the time delay of the uplink data transmission of the first terminal equipment, and the method avoids the second terminal equipment from requesting resources after receiving the uplink data of the first terminal equipment by jointly scheduling SL resources and uplink resources so as to reduce the time delay of the uplink data transmission of the first terminal equipment.

For easy understanding, in the following, in combination with the fourth aspect to the sixth aspect, how to schedule SL resources and uplink resources by means of joint scheduling in order to achieve a communication method of reducing the delay of uplink data transmission of the first terminal device is described from the perspective of the second terminal device, the first terminal device and the access network device, respectively.

In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, which may be performed by the second terminal device (e.g., a Relay UE), or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the second terminal device, which is not limited, and may be described as an example performed by the second terminal device for convenience of description.

The communication method comprises the following steps: receiving resource indication information, wherein the resource indication information is used for indicating a second resource; and transmitting third data to the access network equipment by using the second resource, wherein the third data comprises data to be transmitted to the access network equipment by the first terminal equipment through the second terminal equipment, the first terminal equipment comprises terminal equipment accessed to the access network equipment by the second terminal equipment, the second resource corresponds to a second side link SL resource, and the second SL resource is a resource used by the first terminal equipment for transmitting the third data to the second terminal equipment.

Based on the above technical solution, the second resource corresponds to the second SL resource, that is, the second resource and the second SL resource are jointly scheduled. The second terminal device may forward the third data through the second resource when receiving the third data from the first terminal device through the second SL resource, without requesting an uplink resource for transmitting the third data after receiving the third data, so that a delay of sending uplink data transmission by the first terminal device to the access network device through the second terminal device can be reduced.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the third data is data that the first terminal device sends to the second terminal device using the second side uplink SL resource.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the receiving the resource indication information includes: and before receiving the third data from the first terminal equipment, receiving second Downlink Control Information (DCI) from the access network equipment, wherein the second DCI is used for indicating the second resource and the second SL resource.

As a possible implementation manner, the second terminal device may receive DCI for jointly scheduling the second resource and the second SL resource from the access network device, so as to achieve the purpose of knowing the second resource.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the method further includes: the first terminal device receives a first identification from the access network device, the first identification being used to receive the second DCI.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the method further includes: and determining to transmit the third data received from the second SL resource using the second resource according to the second DCI.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the receiving the second resource indication information includes: a first message from the first terminal device is received, wherein the first message comprises the third data and the resource indication information.

As a possible implementation manner, the second terminal device may receive the resource indication information from the first terminal device, so as to achieve the purpose of knowing the second resource.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the method further includes: and determining to transmit the third data by using the second resource according to the third data and the resource indication information.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, before the third data is sent to the access network device using the second resource, the method further includes: analyzing the second SL resource to obtain the third data, and determining a logic channel corresponding to the third data; and setting the priority of the logic channel corresponding to the third data as the highest priority when the logic channel priority LCP process is carried out on the second resource, wherein the logic channel corresponding to the third data is the logic channel between the second terminal equipment and the access network equipment.

Based on the above technical solution, the second terminal device may set the priority of the logical channel corresponding to the third data to the highest priority, so as to ensure that the third data is sent on the second resource.

In a fifth aspect, a communication method is provided, which may be performed by a first terminal device (e.g., remote UE), or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the first terminal device, which is not limited, and may be described as an example by the first terminal device for convenience of description.

The communication method comprises the following steps: receiving second Downlink Control Information (DCI) from access network equipment, wherein the second DCI is used for indicating second resources and second Side Link (SL) resources; and transmitting third data to the first terminal equipment by using the second SL resource, wherein the third data comprises data to be transmitted to the access network equipment by the first terminal equipment through the second terminal equipment, the first terminal equipment comprises terminal equipment which is accessed to the access network equipment through the second terminal equipment, the second resource corresponds to a second side uplink SL resource, and the second resource is used by the second terminal equipment for transmitting the third data to the access network equipment.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in some implementations of the fifth aspect, the third data is data that the first terminal device sends to the second terminal device using the second side uplink SL resource.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, the method further includes: the second terminal device sends resource indication information to the first terminal device, wherein the resource indication information is used for indicating the second resource.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, the method further includes: the second terminal device receives a first identification from the access network device, the first identification being used to receive the second DCI.

The advantages of the method according to the above fifth aspect and possible designs thereof may be referred to the advantages of the fourth aspect and possible designs thereof.

In a sixth aspect, a communication method is provided, where the method may be performed by an access network device (e.g., a Relay UE), or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the access network device, and this is not limited, and may be illustrated by taking the access network device as an example for convenience of description.

The communication method comprises the following steps: determining a second resource and a second side link SL resource, wherein the second resource corresponds to the second SL resource, the second resource is used by a second terminal device to send third data to an access network device, and the second SL resource is used by a first terminal device to send the third data to the second terminal device; and sending second Downlink Control Information (DCI) to the first terminal equipment, wherein the second DCI is used for indicating the second resource and the second SL resource, and the first terminal equipment is terminal equipment accessed to the access network equipment through the second terminal equipment.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, the method further includes: and sending a first identifier to the first terminal equipment, wherein the first identifier is used for receiving the second DCI.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, the method further includes: and sending a first identifier to the second terminal equipment, wherein the first identifier is used for receiving the second DCI.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, the method further includes: and sending the second DCI to the second terminal equipment.

The advantages of the method according to the above sixth aspect and possible designs thereof may be referred to the advantages of the fourth aspect and possible designs thereof.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a communication device for performing the method provided in the first or fourth aspect above. In particular, the communication may comprise means and/or modules, such as a processing unit and an acquisition unit, for performing the method provided by any of the above-mentioned implementations of the first or fourth aspect.

In one implementation, the acquisition unit may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface; the processing unit may be at least one processor. Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Alternatively, the input/output interface may be an input/output circuit.

In another implementation, the acquisition unit may be an input/output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin or related circuit, etc. on the chip, system-on-chip or circuit; the processing unit may be at least one processor, processing circuit or logic circuit, etc.

The advantages of the method according to the above seventh aspect and possible designs thereof may be referred to the advantages of the first or fourth aspect and possible designs thereof.

In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes: at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory. The at least one memory is configured to store a computer program or instructions that are invoked and executed by the at least one processor from the at least one memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of any possible implementation of the first aspect or the fourth aspect.

In one implementation, the apparatus is a second terminal device. In another implementation, the apparatus is a chip, a system-on-chip, or a circuit in the second terminal device.

The advantages of the method according to the above eighth aspect and possible designs thereof may be referred to the advantages of the first aspect or fourth aspect and possible designs thereof.

A ninth aspect provides a communications apparatus for performing the method provided in the second or fifth aspect above. In particular, the communication device may comprise means and/or modules, such as a processing unit and an acquisition unit, for performing the method provided by any one of the implementations of the second or fifth aspect.

The advantages of the method according to the above ninth aspect and possible designs thereof may be referred to the advantages of the second or fifth aspect and possible designs thereof.

In a tenth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes: at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory. The at least one memory is configured to store a computer program or instructions that are invoked and executed by the at least one processor from the at least one memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of the second aspect or any of the possible implementations thereof.

In one implementation, the apparatus is a first terminal device. In another implementation, the apparatus is a chip, a system-on-chip, or a circuit in the first terminal device.

The advantages of the method according to the tenth aspect and possible designs thereof described above may be referred to the advantages of the second or fifth aspect and possible designs thereof.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a communication device for performing the method provided in the third or sixth aspect above. In particular, the communication device may comprise means and/or modules, such as a processing unit and an acquisition unit, for performing the method provided by any one of the implementations of the third or sixth aspect.

The advantages of the method according to the above eleventh aspect and possible designs thereof may be referred to the advantages of the third or sixth aspect and possible designs thereof.

In a twelfth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes: at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory. The at least one memory is configured to store a computer program or instructions that are invoked and executed by the at least one processor from the at least one memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of the third aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

In one implementation, the apparatus is an access network device. In another implementation, the apparatus is a chip, a system-on-chip, or a circuit in an access network device.

The advantages of the method according to the above twelfth aspect and possible designs thereof may be referred to the advantages of the third or sixth aspect and possible designs thereof.

In a thirteenth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, the computer readable storage medium storing program code for device execution, the program code comprising instructions for performing the method provided by any one of the implementations of the first to sixth aspects.

In a fourteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method provided by any one of the implementations of the first to sixth aspects described above.

In a fifteenth aspect, a chip is provided, the chip including a processor and a communication interface, the processor reading instructions stored on a memory through the communication interface, and executing the method provided by any one of the implementations of the first to sixth aspects.

Optionally, as an implementation manner, the chip further includes a memory, where a computer program or an instruction is stored in the memory, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program or the instruction stored in the memory, and when the computer program or the instruction is executed, the processor is configured to perform the method provided in the first aspect or any one of the implementation manners of the first aspect.

A sixteenth aspect provides a communication system comprising the apparatus provided in the seventh aspect, the apparatus provided in the ninth aspect and the apparatus provided in the eleventh aspect.

Drawings

Fig. 1 (a) and (b) are schematic diagrams of a communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable.

Fig. 2 (a) and (b) are schematic diagrams of a protocol stack according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a time indicated by first time information and a time domain location of a resource indicated by the first information according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 600 provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 700 provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

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

The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a communication system in which a Remote terminal device (Remote UE) accesses a network (e.g., (radio) access network device (radio access network, (R) AN)) through a Relay terminal (Relay UE), where a manner in which the Relay UE accesses the network may be a current or future communication manner, including but not limited to:

a long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (Frequency Division Duplex, FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (Time Division Duplex, TDD), a universal mobile telecommunications system (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, wiMAX) telecommunications system, a fifth generation (5th Generation,5G) system, or a New Radio (NR), a manner in which a terminal device in a future telecommunications system accesses a network.

For ease of understanding, a communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied will be described in detail with reference to (a) and (b) in fig. 1. Fig. 1 (a) and (b) are schematic diagrams of a communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable. Illustratively, accessing a network by a Remote UE through a Relay UE includes two ways: a single path mode and a dual path mode, specifically, a single path mode is shown in (a) of fig. 1; the dual path approach is shown in fig. 1 (b).

From (a) in fig. 1, it can be seen that the single path approach is: the Remote UE communicates with the access network device via an indirect (direct) path (e.g., path #1 based on communication interface #1 and communication interface #2 shown in fig. 1 (a)).

From (b) in fig. 1, it can be seen that the dual path approach is: there are two paths between the Remote UE and the access network device, one is an direct path (i.e., a path #1 based on a communication interface #1 and a communication interface #2 shown in (b) of fig. 1) through the Relay UE, and one is a direct (direct) path (i.e., a path #2 based on a communication interface #2 shown in (b) of fig. 1) between the Remote UE and the access network device.

The communication interface #1 may be understood as a PC5 interface between UEs, the communication interface #2 may be understood as a Uu interface between a UE and an access network device, and it should be noted that the PC5 interface and the Uu interface are only examples, and the protection scope of the present application is not limited in any way, and the communication interface may be other names, which are not described herein.

It will be appreciated that in the dual path scenario shown in fig. 1 (b), the access network device may schedule, for the Remote UE, a sip link resource through path #2, where the sip link resource is used for the Remote UE to send uplink data to the Relay UE.

The terminal device (e.g., remote UE and Relay UE) in the embodiments of the present application may refer to an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a Relay station, a Remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal (user terminal), a user equipment, a terminal (terminal), a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user equipment. The terminal device may also be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN) or a terminal device in a future internet of vehicles, etc., as the embodiment of the application is not limited.

As an example and not by way of limitation, in the embodiments of the present application, the wearable device may also be referred to as a wearable intelligent device, which is a generic term for applying wearable technology to intelligently design daily wear and develop wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, apparel, shoes, and the like. The wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also can realize a powerful function through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable intelligent device includes full functionality, large size, and may not rely on the smart phone to implement complete or partial functionality, such as: smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and focus on only certain types of application functions, and need to be used in combination with other devices, such as smart phones, for example, various smart bracelets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

In addition, in the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can also be terminal equipment in an IoT system, and the IoT is an important component of the development of future information technology, and the main technical characteristics of the terminal equipment are that the articles are connected with a network through a communication technology, so that the man-machine interconnection and the intelligent network for the interconnection of the articles are realized. In the embodiment of the application, the IOT technology can achieve mass connection, deep coverage and terminal power saving through a Narrow Band (NB) technology, for example.

In addition, in the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can also comprise sensors such as an intelligent printer, a train detector, a gas station and the like, and the main functions comprise collecting data (part of the terminal equipment), receiving control information and downlink data of the network equipment, sending electromagnetic waves and transmitting the uplink data to the network equipment.

The access network device in the embodiment of the application can be any communication device with wireless receiving and transmitting functions for communicating with the terminal device. The apparatus includes, but is not limited to: an evolved Node B (eNB), a radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), a Node B (Node B, NB), a home evolved Node B, heNB, or home Node B, HNB, a baseBand unit (BBU), an Access Point (AP), a radio relay Node, a radio backhaul Node, a transmission point (transmission point, TP), or a transmission receiving point (transmission and reception point, TRP) in a wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, WIFI) system, or the like, and may also be a gNB in a 5G system, such as an NR system, or a transmission point (TRP or TP), or the like.

The access network equipment and the terminal equipment can be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld or vehicle-mounted; the device can be deployed on the water surface; but also on aerial planes, balloons and satellites. In the embodiment of the application, the scene where the access network equipment and the terminal equipment are positioned is not limited.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment or the access network equipment comprises a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a memory management unit (memory management unit, MMU), and a memory (also referred to as a main memory). The operating system may be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processes through processes (processes), such as a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a windows operating system. The application layer comprises applications such as a browser, an address book, word processing software, instant messaging software and the like.

Furthermore, various aspects or features of the application may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein encompasses a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, or magnetic tape, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact Disk (CD), digital versatile disk (digital versatile disc, DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), cards, sticks, key drives, etc.). Additionally, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable storage medium" can include, without being limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data.

It should be understood that (a) and (b) in fig. 1 are simplified schematic diagrams only for ease of understanding, and that other access network devices may be included in the communication system or other terminal devices may be included, which are not shown in (a) and (b) in fig. 1.

For example, the communication system shown in (a) and (b) in fig. 1 may further include core network devices for managing terminal devices, data transmission and access network device configuration, e.g., including access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) network elements, session management function (session management function, SMF) network elements, user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network elements, policy control function (policy control function, PCF) network elements, and the like.

Also for example, the Relay UE shown in (a) and (b) in fig. 1 may provide Relay services for multiple Remote UEs at the same time (e.g., the Relay UE in (a) in fig. 1 may provide Relay services for other Remote UEs in addition to the Relay UE shown in (a) in fig. 1, and the manner in which other Remote UEs access the network through the Relay UE may be in a single path or multipath manner).

Also for example, the Remote UE shown in (a) and (b) in fig. 1 may access the network through a multi-hop path (e.g., the Remote UE in (a) in fig. 1 may access the network through a plurality of Relay UEs (e.g., relay ue#1 and Relay ue#2), the Remote UE may be connected to the Relay ue#1 through the communication interface#1, the Relay ue#1 and the Relay ue#2 may be connected through the communication interface#1, and the Relay ue#2 and the access network device may be connected through the communication interface#2).

To facilitate an understanding of the embodiments of the present application, several basic concepts involved in the embodiments of the present application are briefly described.

1. PC5 interface: in a wireless communication system, data communication may be performed between UEs through a network, or communication may be performed directly between UEs without passing through a network device. The interface between UEs is referred to as the PC5 interface, similar to the Uu interface between a UE and an access network device. The link between UEs is called a Sidelink (SL), and a typical application scenario of sidelink communication is vehicle-to-anything communication (vehicle to everything, V2X). In V2X, each car is one UE, and the UE can directly perform sidelink communication through the PC5 interface without going through a network, so that the communication delay can be effectively reduced.

Specifically, the PC5 interface may support communication modes such as broadcast, unicast, multicast, and the like. The present application mainly relates to a unicast communication mode, and the unicast communication is briefly described below.

2. Unicast communication: unicast communication is similar to data communication performed after a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) connection is established between a UE and an access network device, requiring prior establishment of a unicast connection between two UEs. After the unicast connection is established, the two UEs may communicate data based on the negotiated identity, which may or may not be encrypted. In unicast communication, only between two UEs that have established unicast connection, unicast communication can be performed, as compared with broadcast.

In unicast communication, when the UE transmits data, the UE will transmit a source identifier and a destination identifier along with the data. The source identifier is self-allocated by the originating UE, and the destination identifier is an identifier allocated by the opposite-end UE for the unicast connection.

3. Side-link UE access Network (sidlink UE-to-Network Relay) scenario: by means of Sidelink unicast communication, one UE accesses the Network through the other UE, so that Network coverage enhancement, namely a Sidelink UE-to-Network Relay technology, is realized. In a Sidelink UE-to-Network Relay scene, a node for executing a Relay function in the middle is a Relay UE, and can be called as the Relay UE; the node accessing the network through the Relay UE is a Remote UE, and may be referred to as Remote UE. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the names of the devices are not limited, and the Relay UE and the Remote UE are only for distinguishing, and may also be referred to as a first device and a second device; or may also be referred to as a first node, a second node, etc.

Specifically, in a Sidelink UE-to-Network Relay scenario, relay UE and Remote UE are connected through a PC5 interface, relay UE and access Network equipment are connected through a Uu interface, and Remote UE can establish connection with the access Network equipment through the Relay UE to perform data transmission. The following describes a protocol stack of a user plane and a protocol stack of a control plane during data transmission, taking layer 2 relay (L2 sidelink relay) as an example.

Illustratively, the Sidelink UE-to-Network Relay may also be referred to simply as Sidelink U2N Relay.

4. Protocol stack: for ease of understanding, the protocol stack of the user plane and the protocol stack of the control plane when the Remote UE may perform data transmission by establishing a connection between the Relay UE and the access network device are described in connection with (a) and (b) in fig. 2. Fig. 2 (a) and (b) are schematic diagrams of a protocol stack provided by an embodiment of the present application, specifically, fig. 2 (a) shows a protocol stack of a user plane; shown in fig. 2 (b) is the protocol stack of the control plane.

Fig. 2 (a) includes:

a Physical (PHY) layer (e.g., PC5-PHY and Uu-PHY shown in (a) of fig. 2), a medium access control (media access control, MAC) layer (e.g., PC5-MAC and Uu-MAC shown in (a) of fig. 2), a radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer (e.g., PC5-RLC and Uu-RLC shown in (a) of fig. 2), an adaptation (adaptation) layer (which may also be referred to as a side-uplink relay adaptation protocol (Sidelink relay adaptation protocol) layer), a packet data convergence layer protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer (e.g., uu-PDCP shown in (a) of fig. 2), a service data adaptation protocol (Service Data Adaptation Protocol, SDAP) layer (e.g., uu-SDAP shown in (a) of fig. 2), and an internet protocol (Internet Protocol, IP) layer.

Fig. 2 (b) includes:

PHY layer (e.g., PC5-PHY and Uu-PHY shown in (b) of fig. 2), MAC layer (e.g., PC5-MAC and Uu-MAC shown in (b) of fig. 2), RLC layer (e.g., PC5-RLC and Uu-RLC shown in (b) of fig. 2), adaptation layer, PDCP layer (e.g., uu-PDCP shown in (b) of fig. 2), radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) layer (e.g., uu-RRC shown in (a) of fig. 2), and non-access status (NAS) layer.

Specifically, the adaptation layer between the Remote UE and the Relay UE is to map a plurality of Uu-PDCP entities supporting the Remote UE to one SL-RLC entity, i.e. N:1 mapping between Uu data radio bearers (Data Radio Bearer, DRBs) supporting the Remote UE and SL DRBs, wherein a DRB may be understood as an RLC bearer or RLC channel (RLC channel).

In order to support a plurality of Remote UEs to access a network through the same Relay UE, an adaptation layer exists between the Relay UE and the access network device, and the adaptation layer includes identification information of the Remote UEs. The identification information of the Remote UE may be allocated by the Relay UE or may be allocated by the access network device. Meanwhile, there may be multiple DRBs of one Remote UE mapped to one DRB of the Relay UE, so the DRB identifier of the Remote UE may also be carried in the adaptation layer.

5. Buffer status report (Buffer Status Report, BSR): the UE may insert a BSR control Unit in a Packet Data Unit (PDU) of the MAC layer to report to the access network device: how much data a certain logical channel group or groups currently has to transmit, it is desirable to allocate radio resources or time-frequency resources.

By means of the BSR control unit, the access network equipment can know the data quantity required to be transmitted by the UE, and the access network equipment can allocate radio resources or time-frequency resources in a targeted manner.

It should be appreciated that this action of the UE transmitting the BSR control unit itself is also requiring uplink radio resources or time-frequency resources, and if the UE does not have any uplink radio resources or time-frequency resources or has no means to transmit the BSR, then at this time the UE needs to transmit a resource application to the access network device by transmitting an uplink scheduling request (Scheduling Request, SR). Because the BSR is encapsulated in the MAC PDU and transmitted to the network side through the PUSCH channel, an uplink radio resource or a time-frequency resource is required, and the SR signal may be transmitted in the PUCCH control channel, and may issue a resource request to the network side without the uplink radio resource or the time-frequency resource.

6. Logical channel priority (LogicalChannelPrioritization, LCP) procedure: for one UE, there may be multiple services at the same time, or multiple logical channels need to be transmitted, and then the UE at the MAC layer needs to multiplex data of multiple logical channels according to uplink resources allocated by the access network device and then transmit the multiplexed data. Each logical channel corresponds to one logical channel and is configured with one logical channel priority, and the process of multiplexing and transmitting data of a plurality of logical channels is called an LCP process.

7. Side-link control information (sidelink control information, SCI): may also be referred to as side link control information. Where the side link or Sidelink (SL) refers to the transmission link between the terminal devices. SCI can be used to indicate the location of the resources transmitting data on the side links.

8. Sidelink resources: for the sip communication, two manners of acquiring the sip resource by the UE are called Mode1, which can be understood as that the access network device schedules and allocates the resource, and the specific implementation manner includes:

scheduling by the access network device via downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI); or Configured Grant (CG) resources by the access network device through RRC configuration.

The access network equipment needs the UE to report the current SL buffer status through a buffer status report (Buffer Status Report, BSR) in a DCI scheduling mode; the RRC configures CG resources, and needs the UE to report periodic service model information to the access network device through an uplink RRC message.

The other is referred to as Mode2 and can be understood to be selected by the UE itself. Specifically, the UE may be configured with one or more resource pools, where the UE may determine, based on rules, which resources are available and which resources are not available, and then select, among the available resources, resources suitable for the current data transmission requirement for data transmission.

In the Sidelink UE-to-Network Relay scenario, the uplink data processing process of the Remote UE comprises the following steps of:

step one: the Remote UE transmits the uplink data to a Relay UE that provides Relay service thereto.

As a possible implementation manner, a Mode of accessing the Remote UE to the network is a single path Mode as shown in (a) of fig. 1, and the Remote UE obtains the sip link resource through the Mode2 and sends uplink data to the Relay UE.

Step two: after receiving the data of Remote UE, the Relay UE enters a Uu module to trigger a Uu BSR.

In combination with the protocol stacks shown in (a) and (b) in fig. 2, the Relay UE internally displays data received by the Remote UE through the SL module, after being processed, the data enters the Uu module, and triggers the BSR on the Uu interface.

Optionally, the Relay UE needs to trigger the SR before sending the BSR without any uplink RB resource.

Step three: and the Relay UE receives DCI scheduling of the access network equipment, and uses the scheduled uplink resources to carry out data transmission.

In this process, the Relay UE needs to perform a logical channel priority process first to select data of a logical channel to transmit. Theoretically, if there is only one Remote UE served by the Relay UE, the data of the Remote UE can be sent out with the current scheduling resource. However, if there are multiple Remote UEs served by the Relay UE and the data priority of other Remote UEs is higher, the Relay UE may send these high priority data preferentially.

Based on the above process, the uplink data transmission delay of the Remote UE is obviously increased due to the forwarding of the intermediate Relay UE, so that the experience obtained when the Remote UE accesses the network through the Relay UE is not good.

In addition, in order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the following description is made.

First, in the present application, "for indicating" may include both for direct indication and for indirect indication. When describing that certain indication information is used for indicating a, the indication information may be included to directly indicate a or indirectly indicate a, and does not necessarily indicate that a is included in the indication information.

The information to be indicated can be sent together as a whole or can be divided into a plurality of pieces of sub-information to be sent separately, and the sending periods and/or sending occasions of the sub-information can be the same or different. Specific transmission method the present application is not limited. The transmission period and/or the transmission timing of the sub-information may be predefined, for example, predefined according to a protocol, or may be configured by the transmitting end device by transmitting configuration information to the receiving end device. The configuration information may include, for example, but not limited to, one or a combination of at least two of radio resource control signaling, medium access control (media access control, MAC) layer signaling, and physical layer signaling. Wherein radio resource control signaling such as packet radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) signaling; the MAC layer signaling includes, for example, a MAC Control Element (CE); the physical layer signaling includes, for example, DCI.

Second, the first, second, and various numerical numbers (e.g., "#1", "# 2") in the present application are merely for convenience of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. For example, different information is distinguished, etc.

Third, in the present application, "preset" may include signaling by the network device or predefined, e.g., protocol definition. The "pre-defining" may be implemented by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables or other manners of indicating relevant information in devices (including, for example, terminal devices and network devices), and the application is not limited to the specific implementation manner.

Fourth, references to "save" in embodiments of the present application may refer to saving in one or more memories. The one or more memories may be provided separately or may be integrated in an encoder or decoder, processor, or communication device. The one or more memories may also be provided separately in part, and integrated in the decoder, processor, or communication device. The type of memory may be any form of storage medium, and the application is not limited in this regard.

Fifth, the "protocol" referred to in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a standard protocol in the field of communications, and may include, for example, an LTE protocol, an NR protocol, and related protocols applied in future communication systems, which is not limited in the present application.

Sixth, in the embodiment of the present application, the information (e.g., information # 1) includes another information (e.g., information # 2), which may be understood that the information #1 is displayed to carry or implicitly carries the information #2, for example, the information #1 directly carries the information #2; for example, the information #1 carries indication information indicating the information #2, the receiving end device receiving the information #1 may obtain the information #2 according to the indication information, and the indication information is used for indicating that the information #2 may be predefined or specified by a protocol, or may be a display or implicit indication.

Seventh, the "including" referred to in the embodiments of the present application may mean "being" for "and, for example, the terminal device including the Remote UE may mean that the terminal device is the Remote UE; also for example, a resource #1 comprising a resource used to transmit data may represent resource #1 as a resource used to transmit data.

The scenario where the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application can be applied is briefly described above in conjunction with (a) and (b) in fig. 1, and basic concepts possibly involved in the embodiment of the present application are described, and the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

As can be seen from the above uplink data processing procedure of the Remote UE, the uplink data transmission method of the Remote UE may increase the uplink data transmission delay of the Remote UE. According to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application, the Relay UE requests the uplink resource for transmitting the uplink data from the access network equipment in advance before the uplink data of the Remote UE arrives, so that the purpose of reducing the uplink data transmission time delay of the Remote UE is achieved.

It should be understood that the embodiments shown below are not particularly limited to the specific structure of the execution body of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application, as long as the communication can be performed by the method provided according to the embodiments of the present application by running the program recorded with the code of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application, and for example, the execution body of the method provided by the embodiments of the present application may be a terminal device or a network device, or a functional module in the terminal device or the network device that can call a program and execute the program.

In the following, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the application is described in detail by taking interaction between the network device and the terminal device as an example without losing generality.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication method can be applied to the sip UE-to-Network Relay scenario shown above, and for convenience of description, the following description will take a second terminal device for providing Relay service as a Relay UE, a Remote terminal device as a Remote UE, and an access Network device as a RAN as an example.

It should be noted that, in the present application, the names of the devices (or network elements, nodes) are not limited.

For example, the second terminal device may be a device providing a relay service. The device for providing the Relay service may be a Relay UE, or may also be another device, a network element, a node, or the like capable of providing the Relay service.

Also for example, the first terminal device may be a device that needs to access the network through the second terminal device. May be referred to as Remote UE, and may also be referred to as a Remote node, remote device, etc.

As another example, an access network device may be a device that provides access network services for a terminal device, and may be referred to as a RAN, as well as a network device or other name.

In addition, the actions to be performed by the Relay UE hereinafter may be the Relay UE, or may be a functional module in the Relay UE that can call a program and execute the program, or may be a chip in the Relay UE. The specific structure of the execution body is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present application, and for convenience of description, the execution body may be used as an execution example of the Relay UE.

Similarly, the actions performed by the Remote UE may be the Remote UE, or may also be a functional module in the Remote UE that can call a program and execute the program, or may also be a chip in the Remote UE. The actions performed by the RAN may be the RAN, or may also be functional modules in the RAN that can invoke and execute the program, or may also be chips in the RAN.

Specifically, the communication method shown in fig. 3 includes the steps of:

s310, the Remote UE sends first information to the Relay UE, or the Relay UE receives the first information from the Remote UE.

The first information is used to determine first cache information, which is used to indicate a size of the first data.

The first data is data which is needed to be sent to the RAN by the Remote UE through the Relay UE; or the first data is data to be sent to the RAN by the Remote UE through the Relay UE. Illustratively, the first data is data that the Remote UE needs to send to the RAN, which may be referred to as "uplink data.

Illustratively, the first data may be understood as PDCP PDUs including, but not limited to: PDCP PDUs of the data radio bearer (data radio bearer, DRB) or PDCP PDUs of the signaling radio bearer (signal radio bearer, SRB). The specific form of the first data is not limited in the embodiment of the present application, and may be any content that needs to be sent to the RAN by the Remote UE.

Illustratively, the first information is contained in the SCI.

Alternatively, the Remote UE may send the first information through a PC5 interface between the Relay UE and the Remote UE, where the first information occupies SL resources between the Relay UE and the Remote UE.

As a possible implementation manner, the manner in which the Remote UE accesses the network through the Relay UE in this embodiment may be a single-path manner (a single-path manner as shown in (a) of fig. 1). In this implementation, the Remote UE may acquire the SL resource based on the Mode2 approach introduced above, where the SL resource is used to send uplink data to the Relay UE.

As another possible implementation manner, the manner in which the Remote UE accesses the network through the Relay UE in this embodiment may be a multi-path manner, for example, a dual-path manner (dual-path manner as shown in (b) of fig. 1). In this implementation, the Remote UE may acquire the SL resource based on the Mode1 or Mode2 described above, where the SL resource is used to send uplink data to the Relay UE.

It should be appreciated that this embodiment is not limited to how the Remote UE obtains the SL resources, and may be Mode1 or Mode2 as described above.

Further, after receiving the first information, the Relay UE can determine the first cache information according to the first information, and the method flow shown in fig. 3 further includes:

s320, the Relay UE determines first cache information.

Specifically, determining the first buffer information by the Relay UE according to the specific form of the first information includes the following two ways:

Mode one: the first information is implicit information for determining the first cache information.

In this manner, the Remote UE sends first information to the Relay UE, including: the Remote UE sends a message to the Relay UE, where the message includes the first information and the second data. It may be understood that the Remote UE transmits the first information to the Relay UE at the same time when transmitting the current data (second data) to the first terminal.

Specifically, the first information includes first side uplink SL resource information used by the Remote UE to send the first data to the Relay UE, where the first SL resource information is used to determine the first cache information.

For example, the Relay UE estimates the size of the first data according to the SL resource size indicated by the first SL resource information, thereby determining the first buffer information.

Optionally, the first SL resource information includes SL resource information for retransmitting the second data and/or SL resource information reserved for new transmission data. And the Relay UE determines the first buffer information according to the SL resource size for retransmitting the second data and/or the reserved SL resource size for new transmission data.

Illustratively, in this manner, the first data described above may be the retransmitted second data.

For example, the Relay UE may not successfully decode the second data when receiving the second data, but the Relay UE predicts that the next time can successfully decode the second data according to the retransmission resource including the indication of the SL resource information for retransmitting the second data in the first information. And, the Relay UE may estimate the successfully decoded retransmitted second data size based on the retransmission resource size indicated by the SL resource information for retransmitting the second data and the modulation and coding scheme (Modulation and Coding Scheme, MCS), thereby determining the first buffer information.

Illustratively, in a manner, the first data may be newly transmitted data to be transmitted.

For example, the Relay UE may determine the reserved SL resources for the new transmission data according to the reserved SL resource information for the new transmission data, estimate that the Relay UE receives the new transmission data from the Remote UE after t time of receiving the first information, and estimate the second data size based on the reserved SL resource size for the new transmission data indicated by the reserved SL resource information for the new transmission data, thereby determining the first buffer information.

Optionally, in a manner, the first SL resource information may further be used to indicate a time domain location of the first SL resource, and the Relay UE may determine first time information according to the first SL resource information, where the first time information is used to indicate a time when the Relay UE receives the first data or a time when the first data is sent.

For example, the Relay UE indirectly determines the time of arrival of the first data according to the time domain position of the SL resource indicated by the first SL resource information, or further estimates the time of transmission of the first data according to the time of arrival of the first data and the local processing time.

The first SL resource information may further be used for indicating a SL resource time domain location for retransmitting the second data and/or the reserved SL resource time domain location for the new transmission data, and the Relay UE may determine the first time information according to the SL resource time domain location for retransmitting the second data and/or the reserved SL resource time domain location for the new transmission data.

In addition to the first information shown in the first embodiment being implicit information for determining the first cache information, the first information may be displayed information for determining the first cache information, as in the second embodiment described below.

Mode two: the first information is displayed information for determining first cache information.

In the second mode, the first information includes second buffer information of the first data, where the second buffer information is used to indicate buffer information of a first logical channel group (or first logical channel group granularity) corresponding to the first data;

The Remote UE determining the first cache information according to the first information, including: the Remote UE determines, according to the second cache information and a first correspondence, cache information of a second logical channel group granularity corresponding to the first data, where the cache information of the second logical channel group (or the second logical channel group granularity) is the first cache information, the first correspondence is a correspondence between the first logical channel group and the second logical channel group, the first logical channel group is a logical channel group between the Relay UE and the Remote UE, and the second logical channel group is a logical channel group between the Relay UE and the RAN.

The correspondence between the first logical channel group and the second logical channel group includes:

the first logical channel group and the second logical channel group are in one-to-one correspondence.

For example, the first logical channel group #1 and the second logical channel group #1 correspond, where the buffer information of the first logical channel group #1 indicates that the buffer of the first logical channel group #1 is 10M, and the buffer of the second logical channel group #1 is 10M.

The first logical channel group and the second logical channel group are many-to-one.

For example, the first logical channel group #1 and the first logical channel group #2 correspond to the second logical channel group #1, wherein the buffer information of the first logical channel group #1 indicates that the buffer of the first logical channel group #1 is 10M, the buffer information of the first logical channel group #2 indicates that the buffer of the first logical channel group #2 is 10M, and the buffer of the second logical channel group #1 is 20M.

It should be understood that the foregoing merely illustrates that the first logical channel group and the second logical channel group have a corresponding relationship, and the protection scope of the present application is not limited in any way, and other ways that can determine the first buffer information of the second logical channel group according to the second buffer information of the first logical channel group are also within the protection scope of the present application.

Illustratively, the first correspondence is indicated by the RAN to the Relay UE; or the first corresponding relation is indicated by the joint of the RAN and the Remote UE to the Relay UE; or, the first correspondence is preset.

Optionally, in the second mode, the first information further includes second time information, where the second time information is used to indicate, to the Relay UE, a time when the Relay UE receives the first data or a time when the first data is sent.

Since the second time information is sent by the first terminal device to the second terminal device, the second time information is identified by the reference number of the time unit on the first communication interface between the Relay UE and the Remote UE.

Further, the second terminal device may convert the second time information into first time information that can be identified by the RAN after receiving the second time information indicating the first data, so as to indicate to the RAN a time when the first terminal device receives the first data or a time when the first data is transmitted.

Specifically, the Relay UE determines first time information according to a second correspondence and the second time information, where the first time information is used to indicate to the RAN a time when the Relay UE receives the first data or a time when the first data is sent, and the first time information is identified by a reference number of a time unit on a second communication interface between the Remote UE and the RAN.

The second correspondence is a correspondence between first timing information and second timing information, the first timing information is timing information of a first communication interface between the Relay UE and the Remote UE, and the second timing information is timing information of a second communication interface between the Relay UE and the RAN.

Alternatively, in consideration of misalignment between the first timing information and the second timing information, an offset value may be increased when the first time information is determined according to the second correspondence and the second time information.

For example, the second time information is identified by a slot on the first communication interface, and the first time information is identified by a slot on the second communication interface, but when the Relay UE aligns a slot boundary on the first communication interface to the second communication interface, a situation may occur that no slot boundary on the second communication interface is aligned with a slot boundary on the first communication interface, and in this case, an offset value (offset) needs to be added to be considered to complete the alignment.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the time unit may be a frame, a subframe, a slot, etc., and the reference number of the time unit may be a frame number, a subframe number, a slot number, etc.

Illustratively, the second correspondence is determined for the Relay UE.

After the Relay UE determines the first buffer information and before receiving the first data, the Relay UE may request, from the RAN, a first resource for transmitting the first data, where a method flow shown in fig. 3 further includes:

s330, the Relay UE sends the first request information to the RAN, or the RAN receives the first request information from the Relay UE.

The first request information is used to request a first resource. Specifically, the first request information includes first buffer information, so that the RAN can determine a size of the configured first resource based on the first buffer information.

Optionally, the function of the first request information is similar to the function of the BSR. The first request information may be referred to as a pre-BSR.

The Relay UE may send the first request information to the RAN before receiving the first data from the Remote UE, where the Relay UE determines, according to the first information (e.g., SL resource information), a time x at which the first data is received, and sends the first request information to the RAN before the time x.

As shown in the above step S320, it is as follows: the Relay UE may further determine first time information according to the first information, where the first request information further includes the first time information when the Relay UE determines that the first time information exists.

It should be noted that, the time indicated by the first time information sent by the Relay UE to the RAN needs to be after the retransmission resource or the new transmission resource (e.g., the interval duration t), so that, in order to enable the Relay UE to have time to process the first data, referring to the protocol stacks described in the basic concept above (as shown in (a) and (b) in fig. 2), after the Relay UE receives the data from the PC5, the data may be sent to the Uu module, where it may take some time to process the relevant protocol stacks.

For ease of understanding, the relationship between the time indicated by the first time information and the time domain position of the resource indicated by the first information is described in connection with fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a time indicated by first time information and a time domain location of a resource indicated by the first information according to an embodiment of the present application.

As can be seen from fig. 4, when the time-domain position termination time of the retransmission resource indicated by the first information is T1, the time indicated by the first time information is T2, and the interval duration between the T1 time and the T2 time is T1; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

When the time point of the time domain position termination of the transmission resource indicated by the first information is T3, the time point indicated by the first time information is T4, and the interval duration between the T3 time point and the T4 time point is T2.

As can be seen from the application scenario described above, in the embodiment of the present application, the Relay UE may provide Relay services for multiple Remote UEs. That is, it is considered that one Relay UE may serve multiple Remote UEs, and at this time, the first request information may also carry indication information of the Remote UE (for example, identification information of the Remote UE) for indicating for which uplink data of the Remote UE the first request information is currently triggered.

In addition, the RAN may further send configuration information to the Relay UE, where the configuration information is used to indicate for which Remote UE(s) the Relay UE may send the first request information to the RAN, and the method flow shown in fig. 3 further includes:

s331, the Relay UE receives the configuration information from the RAN, or the RAN sends the configuration information to the Relay UE.

The configuration information is used for indicating that the Relay UE can send the first request information for at least one terminal device, where the at least one terminal device includes the Remote UE.

Further, after the RAN receives the first request information, the first uplink resource may be indicated by DCI, and the method flow shown in fig. 3 further includes:

S340, the Relay UE receives the first DCI from the RAN, or the RAN sends the first DCI to the Relay UE.

The first DCI is used to indicate a first resource,

optionally, the first DCI includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first resource is used to transmit uplink data of the Remote UE.

S350, the Relay UE receives the first data from the Remote UE, or the Remote UE sends the first data to the Relay UE.

Optionally, the execution time sequence of step S340 and step S350 is not fixed, that is, the Relay UE may receive the uplink data sent by the Remote UE first, or may receive the DCI sent by the RAN first. However, the location of the first uplink resource scheduled by DCI in the time domain needs to be after the Relay UE receives the first data.

As a possible implementation manner, the first time information may be carried in the first request information, so that the RAN receives the first data by the Relay UE through the first uplink resource scheduled by the DCI.

For example, the first time information indicates that the time when the Relay UE receives the first data is tr, and the position of the first uplink resource scheduled by the network access device through the DCI in the time domain is after tr.

As another possible implementation manner, the time of sending the first request information may be controlled, so that the RAN receives the first data after the Relay UE through the first uplink resource scheduled by the DCI.

For example, the Relay UE estimates that the first data may be received at the tr time and estimates that the first uplink resource scheduled by the DCI may be received after the duration tb of the first request message is sent, and may control the time after the duration tb of the first request message is sent to be after the tr time, so as to achieve the purpose that the RAN receives the first data through the first uplink resource scheduled by the DCI.

Further, the Relay UE sends the first data to the RAN, and the method flow shown in fig. 3 further includes:

s360, the Relay UE sends the first data to the RAN, or the RAN receives the first data from the Relay UE.

Optionally, considering that the Relay UE may also have its own service data to send, a situation may occur at this time that the Relay UE is the first request information triggered for the Remote UE, but before the first uplink resource scheduled by the RAN arrives, the Relay UE generates its own service data. If the Relay UE has higher priority for its own traffic data, the Relay UE may send its own traffic data first using the first uplink resource scheduled by the RAN. Which may not be consistent with the intent of RAN scheduling.

To solve this problem, in this embodiment, it may be considered that when scheduling the first uplink resource, the RAN may add indication information to the DCI, indicating that the uplink resource is used for uplink data of the Remote UE. Further, the DCI may further include first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first uplink resource is used to transmit uplink data of the Remote UE.

For uplink resources indicated for a Remote UE or a particular Remote UE, when the Relay UE is performing LCP, only those logical channels carrying the Remote UE data are considered, but not the logical channels to which the Relay UE's own data corresponds.

The method flow shown in fig. 3 can reduce the delay of the Remote UE sending data to the RAN through the Relay UE by requesting uplink resources for transmitting data to the RAN in advance before receiving the first data. The present application also provides another communication method, which can reduce the delay of transmitting data to the RAN by the Remote UE, and will be described below with reference to fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The communication method can be applied to the Sidelink UE-to-Network Relay scene shown above, and comprises the following steps:

step one: and the Relay UE receives the resource indication information.

The resource indication information is used for indicating a second resource, the second resource corresponds to a second SL resource, and the second SL resource is a resource used by the Remote UE to send the third data to the Relay UE.

The third data is data which is needed to be sent to the RAN by the Remote UE through the Relay UE; or the third data is the data to be sent to the RAN by the Remote UE through the Relay UE.

Specifically, the Relay UE receives the resource indication information in two ways:

mode one: the Relay UE receives resource indication information from the RAN. In this manner, the method shown in fig. 5 includes:

s511, the RAN sends the second DCI to the Relay UE, or the Relay UE receives the second DCI from the RAN.

The second DCI is used to indicate the second resource and the second SL resource. It may be understood that the RAN simultaneously schedules the second SL resource and the second resource through one second DCI, and the second DCI may be received by the Relay UE and the Remote UE simultaneously, so that the Remote UE transmits the third data to the Relay UE using the second SL resource indicated in the second DCI, and the Relay UE transmits the third data received from the Remote UE to the RAN using the second uplink resource indicated in the second DCI. The Relay UE does not need to request the RAN for the resource for transmitting the third data after receiving the third data, so that the delay of the Remote UE transmitting the data to the RAN through the Relay UE can be reduced.

S512, the RAN transmits the second DCI to the Remote UE, or the Remote UE receives the second DCI from the RAN.

The RAN may be the second DCI transmitted after receiving the SL BSR from the Remote UE, for example. The SL BSR includes second indication information for indicating buffer size information of third data that the Remote UE needs to send to the Relay UE.

Specifically, both the Remote UE and the Relay UE monitor the corresponding physical channel with the first identifier configured previously, so as to receive the second DCI sent by the RAN. In order to enable the Relay UE and the Remote UE to successfully parse the DCI for simultaneously scheduling the second SL resource and the second uplink resource, in this manner, the method flow shown in fig. 5 further includes:

s513, the RAN sends the first identity to the Relay UE.

The first identifier is used for receiving the second DCI, where the first identifier may be used for receiving the second DCI, which may be understood that the Relay UE may descramble the second DCI with the first identifier, and correspondingly, when the RAN sends the second DCI to the Relay UE, the RAN may scramble with the first identifier.

Specifically, the Relay UE determines to transmit the third data received from the second SL resource using the second uplink resource according to the second DCI.

It should be appreciated that in this manner, the RAN may configure two identities for the Relay UE, where one identity is used to receive legacy DCI (i.e., DCI that schedules downlink resources) and the other identity (e.g., first identity) is used to receive DCI in this embodiment (i.e., second DCI that schedules second SL resources and second resources simultaneously).

S514, the RAN sends the first identity to the Remote UE.

The first identifier is used for receiving the second DCI, where the first identifier may be used for receiving the second DCI, and it may be understood that the Remote UE may descramble the second DCI with the first identifier, and correspondingly, when the RAN sends the second DCI to the Remote UE, the RAN may scramble with the first identifier.

Specifically, the Remote UE determines to send third data to the Relay UE using the second SL resource according to the DCI.

It should be appreciated that in this manner, the RAN may configure two identities for the Remote UE, one for receiving legacy DCI (i.e., DCI scheduling the second SL resource) and the other for receiving DCI in this embodiment (i.e., second DCI scheduling both the second SL resource and the second resource).

It should be noted that, the above steps S511 and S512 may be understood as the same step for the RAN, that is, the same DCI (the second DCI as described above) is issued for the RAN, and the DCI may be received by the Remote UE and the Relay UE.

In addition, in a manner that DCI for jointly scheduling the second SL resource and the second resource, which are transmitted by the RAN to the Relay UE and the Remote UE, may be different, and the identifier for receiving the DCI may also be different, which is transmitted by the RAN to the Relay UE and the Remote UE.

For example, the RAN transmits dci#1 to the Relay UE, the dci#1 being used to jointly schedule the second SL resource and the second resource. The RAN transmits an identification #1 to the Relay UE, the identification #1 being used to receive DCI #1.

The RAN transmits dci#2 to the Remote UE, the dci#2 being used to jointly schedule the second SL resource and the second resource. The RAN transmits an identification #2 to the Relay UE, the identification #2 being used to receive DCI #2.

Further, after the Remote UE receives the second DCI, third data may be sent to the Relay UE, where the method flow shown in fig. 5 further includes:

s515, the Remote UE sends third data to the Relay UE.

Considering that the Remote UE may have other SL communication requirements in addition to the SL communication with the Relay UE, this time, in order to ensure that the RAN currently schedules the second SL resource without being used as the other SL communication requirement, the Remote UE prioritizes this SL unicast connection with the Relay UE when performing LCP for the second SL resource scheduled by the second DCI.

S516, the Relay UE sends third data to the RAN.

And the Relay UE determines to transmit the third data received from the second SL resource by using the second resource according to the second DCI.

Specifically, the Relay UE parses the third data from the second SL resource, and determines a logical channel corresponding to the third data; and setting the priority of the logic channel corresponding to the third data as the highest priority when the logic channel priority LCP process is carried out on the second uplink resource, wherein the logic channel corresponding to the third data is the logic channel between the Relay UE and the RAN. It is understood that the third data is preferably transmitted at this time.

Mode two: the Relay UE receives the resource indication information from the Remote UE. The method flow shown in fig. 5 in this second mode includes:

s521, the Relay UE receives a first message from the Remote UE.

The third data and the resource indication information are included in the first message.

As a possible implementation manner, the third data and the resource indication information are sent simultaneously; or the third data is transmitted later than the resource indication information.

In the second mode, the mode that the Remote UE acquires the second resource may be that the RAN jointly schedules the second resource and the second SL resource to the Remote UE, and the method flow shown in fig. 5 further includes:

s522, the RAN transmits the second DCI to the Remote UE, or the Remote UE receives the second DCI from the RAN.

Reference is made to the description of S512 above, and the description thereof will not be repeated here.

The first difference is that: after the Remote UE receives the second DCI, determining a second SL resource, and sending third data to the Relay UE by using the second SL resource, where the Remote UE further needs to send resource indication information of the second resource carried in the second DCI to the Relay UE together.

Alternatively, the resource indication information may be carried in the second-stage SCI and sent to the Relay UE. Wherein the SCI comprises a first stage SCI and a second stage SCI. The content included in the first-stage SCI is different from the content included in the second-stage SCI, for example, the first-stage SCI includes information such as a source address, a destination address, a physical side-shared channel (Physical sidelink shared channel, psch) resource location, and the like, the second-stage SCI includes HARQ information and the like, and the first-stage SCI is carried in a physical side-uplink control channel (Physical sidelink control channel, PSCCH) and the second-stage SCI is carried in the psch. In general, extended information (e.g., the resource indication information described above) may be placed in the second level SCI.

In the second mode, the second DCI is sent to the Remote UE, and the Remote UE and the Relay UE do not need to be sent simultaneously in a multicast mode, so that the Remote UE can be solved by using an existing identifier, and a new identifier is not required to be introduced, so that the RAN provides a configuration for the Remote UE similar to the current SL communication configuration, and the identifier is not required to be configured for the Remote UE to parse the second DCI.

In addition, the Relay UE does not need to parse the second DCI for jointly scheduling the second SL resource and the second resource, so the RAN provides the Relay UE with a configuration similar to the current Uu communication, such as an existing Uu physical channel configuration, and the like, and does not need to configure an identifier for the Relay UE to parse the newly introduced second DCI.

S523, the Relay UE sends third data to the RAN.

And after the Relay UE receives the third data and the resource indication information from the Remote UE, determining to use the second resource to send the third data.

Specifically, the Relay UE parses the third data from the second SL resource, and determines a logical channel corresponding to the third data; and setting the priority of the logic channel corresponding to the third data as the highest priority when the logic channel priority LCP process is carried out on the second uplink resource, wherein the logic channel corresponding to the third data is the logic channel between the Relay UE and the RAN.

It should be understood that the sequence numbers of the above processes do not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic of the processes, and should not be construed as limiting the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

It is also to be understood that in the various embodiments of the application, where no special description or logic conflict exists, the terms and/or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and may reference each other, and features of the various embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments in accordance with their inherent logic relationships.

It should also be understood that in some of the above embodiments, the devices in the existing network architecture are mainly used as examples for the explanation (such as network devices, terminal devices, etc.), and it should be understood that the embodiments of the present application are not limited to specific forms of the devices. For example, devices that can achieve the same functions in the future are applicable to the embodiments of the present application.

It will be appreciated that in the foregoing embodiments of the methods and operations implemented by a device (e.g., a network device, a terminal device) may also be implemented by a component (e.g., a chip or circuit) of the device.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 3 and 5. The above communication method is mainly described in terms of interaction between the network elements. It will be appreciated that each network element, in order to implement the above-described functions, includes corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules that perform each function.

Those of 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 hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

The following describes in detail the apparatus for relaying communication according to the embodiment of the present application with reference to fig. 6 and 7. It should be understood that the descriptions of the apparatus embodiments and the descriptions of the method embodiments correspond to each other, and thus, descriptions of details not shown may be referred to the above method embodiments, and for the sake of brevity, some parts of the descriptions are omitted.

The embodiment of the application can divide the function modules of the transmitting end equipment or the receiving end equipment according to the method example, for example, each function module can be divided corresponding to each function, and two or more functions can be integrated in one processing module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the modules is schematic, which is merely a logic function division, and other division manners may be implemented in actual implementation. The following description will take an example of dividing each functional module into corresponding functions.

Fig. 6 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 600 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 600 includes a transceiving unit 610 and a processing unit 620. The transceiver unit 610 may implement a corresponding communication function, and the processing unit 620 is configured to perform data processing. The transceiver unit 610 may also be referred to as a communication interface or a communication unit, and in the case where the transceiver unit 610 implements the function of acquiring information, may also be referred to as an acquisition unit.

Optionally, the apparatus 600 may further include a storage unit, where the storage unit may be used to store instructions and/or data, and the processing unit 620 may read the instructions and/or data in the storage unit, so that the apparatus implements the foregoing method embodiments.

The apparatus 600 may be configured to perform actions performed by devices in the above method embodiments (e.g., the first terminal device, the second terminal device, and the access network device), where the apparatus 600 may be a device or a component configurable in a device, the transceiver unit 610 is configured to perform operations related to the transceiver of the device in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 620 is configured to perform operations related to the processing of the device in the above method embodiments.

As a design, the apparatus 600 is configured to perform the actions performed by the second terminal device in the above method embodiment. Specifically, the apparatus 600 is configured to perform the actions performed by the second terminal device in the above method embodiment for the communication methods shown in fig. 3 and fig. 5, respectively, including the following two possible methods:

As one possibility:

a transceiver unit 610, configured to receive first information from a first terminal device;

a processing unit 620, configured to determine first buffer information of first data according to the first information, where the first buffer information is used to indicate a size of the first data;

the transceiver unit 610 is further configured to, before receiving the first data from the first terminal device, send a first request message to an access network device, where the first request message includes the first cache information, where the first request message is used to request a first resource,

the first data comprises data to be sent to the access network equipment by the first terminal equipment through the second terminal equipment, the first terminal equipment comprises terminal equipment accessed to the access network equipment by the second terminal equipment, and the first resource comprises a resource used by the second terminal equipment for sending the first data to the access network equipment.

Optionally, the first information includes first side link SL resource information used by the first terminal device to send the first data to the second terminal device.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 is further configured to determine first time information according to the first SL resource information, where the first time information is used to indicate a time when the first terminal device receives the first data or a time when the first data is sent.

Optionally, the first SL resource information includes SL resource information for retransmission data and/or SL resource information reserved for new transmission data.

Optionally, the first information includes second buffer information of the first data, where the second buffer information is used to indicate buffer information of a first logical channel group corresponding to the first data, where the first logical channel group is a logical channel group between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 is further configured to determine, according to the second buffer information and a first correspondence, the first buffer information of a second logical channel group corresponding to the first data, where the first correspondence is a correspondence between the first logical channel group and a second logical channel group, and the second logical channel group is a logical channel group between the first terminal device and the access network device.

Optionally, the first information further includes second time information, where the second time information is used to indicate, to the second terminal device, a time when the second terminal device receives the first data or a time when the first data is sent.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 is further configured to determine first time information according to the second time information and a second correspondence, where the first time information is used to indicate, to the access network device, a time when the first terminal device receives the first data or a time when the first data is sent, and the second correspondence is a correspondence between first timing information and second timing information, where the first timing information is timing information of a first communication interface between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the second timing information is timing information of a second communication interface between the first terminal device and the access network device.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is configured to receive configuration information from the access network device, where the configuration information is used to indicate that the capability of sending the first request information for at least one terminal device is provided, and the at least one terminal device includes the first terminal device.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is configured to receive first downlink control information DCI from the access network device, where the first DCI is used to indicate the first resource.

Optionally, the first DCI includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first resource is used to transmit uplink data of the first terminal device.

As another possibility:

a transceiver unit 610, configured to receive resource indication information, where the resource indication information is used to indicate a second resource;

the transceiver unit 610 is further configured to send third data to the access network device using the second resource,

the third data includes data to be sent to the access network device by the first terminal device through the second terminal device, the first terminal device includes a terminal device accessing the access network device through the second terminal device, the second resource corresponds to a second side uplink SL resource, and the second SL resource is a resource used by the first terminal device to send the third data to the second terminal device.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is further configured to receive, before receiving the third data from the first terminal device, second downlink control information DCI from the access network device, where the second DCI is used to indicate the second resource and the second SL resource.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is further configured to receive a first identifier from the access network device, where the first identifier is used to receive the second DCI.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 is configured to determine, according to the second DCI, to transmit the third data received from the second SL resource using the second resource.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is further configured to receive a first message from the first terminal device, where the first message includes the third data and the resource indication information.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 is configured to determine to send the third data using the second resource according to the third data and the resource indication information.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 is configured to parse the third data from the second SL resource to determine a logical channel corresponding to the third data;

when the logic channel priority LCP process is carried out on the second resource, the priority of the logic channel corresponding to the third data is set to be the highest priority,

Wherein the logical channel corresponding to the third data is a logical channel between the second terminal device and the access network device.

The apparatus 600 may implement steps or processes corresponding to those performed by the second terminal device in the method embodiment according to the embodiment of the present application, and the apparatus 600 may include a unit for performing the method performed by the second terminal device in the method embodiment. And, each unit in the apparatus 600 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow of the method embodiment in the second terminal device in the method embodiment.

When the apparatus 600 is used for performing the method in fig. 3, the transceiving unit 610 may be used for performing transceiving steps in the method, such as steps S310, S331, S330, S340, S350 and S360; the processing unit 620 may be used to perform the processing steps in the method, as step S320.

When the apparatus 600 is used for performing the method in fig. 5, the transceiving unit 610 may be used for performing transceiving steps in the method, such as steps S511, S512, S513, S514, S515, S516, S521, S522, S523, S524; the processing unit 620 may be used to perform the processing steps in the method.

It should be understood that the specific process of each unit performing the corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiments, and is not described herein for brevity.

As another design, the apparatus 600 is configured to perform the actions performed by the first terminal device in the above method embodiment. Specifically, the apparatus 600 is configured to perform the actions performed by the first terminal device in the above method embodiment for the communication methods shown in fig. 3 and fig. 5, respectively, including the following two possible methods:

as one possibility:

a processing unit 620, configured to determine first information according to first data to be sent to an access network device through a second terminal device, where the first information is used to determine first cache information, and the first cache information is used to indicate a size of the first data;

and a transceiver unit 610, configured to send the first information to the second terminal device.

As another possibility:

a transceiver unit 610, configured to receive second downlink control information DCI from an access network device, where the second DCI is used to indicate a second resource and a second side downlink SL resource;

a transceiving unit 610 for transmitting third data to the first terminal device using the second SL resource,

the third data includes data to be sent by the first terminal device to the access network device through the second terminal device, the first terminal device includes a terminal device accessing the access network device through the second terminal device, the second resource corresponds to a second side uplink SL resource, and the second resource is a resource used by the second terminal device to send the third data to the access network device.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is configured to send resource indication information to the first terminal device, where the resource indication information is used to indicate the second resource.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is configured to receive a first identifier from the access network device, where the first identifier is used to receive the second DCI.

The apparatus 600 may implement steps or processes corresponding to those performed by the first terminal device in the method embodiment according to the embodiment of the present application, and the apparatus 600 may include a unit for performing the method performed by the first terminal device in the method embodiment. And, each unit in the apparatus 600 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow of the method embodiment in the first terminal device in the method embodiment.

When the apparatus 600 is used for performing the method in fig. 3, the transceiving unit 610 may be used for performing transceiving steps in the method, as in steps S310 and S350; the processing unit 620 may be used to perform the processing steps in the method, as in step S430.

When the apparatus 600 is used for performing the method in fig. 5, the transceiving unit 610 may be used for performing transceiving steps in the method, such as steps S512, S514, S515, S516, S521, S522, S523; the processing unit 620 may be used to perform the processing steps in the method.

As yet another design, the apparatus 600 is configured to perform the actions performed by the access network device in the above method embodiment. Specifically, the apparatus 600 is configured to perform the actions performed by the access network device in the above method embodiments for the communication methods shown in fig. 3 and fig. 5, respectively, including the following two possibilities:

As one possibility:

a transceiver unit 610, configured to receive first request information from a second terminal device, where the first request information includes first buffer information, the first request information is used to request a first resource, and the first buffer information is used to indicate a size of first data;

a transceiving unit 610 for transmitting first downlink control information, DCI, to the second terminal device, the first DCI being for indicating the first resource,

the first data comprises data to be sent to the access network equipment by the first terminal equipment through the second terminal equipment, the first terminal equipment comprises terminal equipment accessed to the access network equipment by the second terminal equipment, and the first resources comprise resources used by the second terminal equipment for sending the first data to the access network equipment.

Optionally, the first request information further includes first time information, where the first time information is used to indicate a time when the first terminal device receives the first data or a time when the first data is sent.

As another possibility:

a processing unit 620, configured to determine a second resource and a second side uplink SL resource, where the second resource corresponds to the second SL resource, the second resource is a resource used by a second terminal device to send third data to an access network device, and the second SL resource is a resource used by a first terminal device to send the third data to the second terminal device;

a transceiver unit 610, configured to send second downlink control information DCI to the first terminal device, where the second DCI is used to indicate the second resource and the second SL resource,

the first terminal equipment is terminal equipment accessed to the access network equipment through the second terminal equipment.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is configured to send a first identifier to the first terminal device, where the first identifier is used to receive the second DCI.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is configured to send a first identifier to the second terminal device, where the first identifier is used to receive the second DCI.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is configured to send the second DCI to the second terminal device.

The apparatus 600 may implement steps or flows corresponding to those performed by the access network device in the method embodiment according to the present application, and the apparatus 600 may include means for performing the method performed by the access network device in the method embodiment. And, each unit in the apparatus 600 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow of the method embodiment in the access network device in the method embodiment.

When the apparatus 600 is used for performing the method in fig. 3, the transceiving unit 610 may be used for performing transceiving steps in the method, such as steps S331, S330, S340 and S360; the processing unit 620 may be used to perform the processing steps in the method.

When the apparatus 600 is used for performing the method in fig. 5, the transceiving unit 610 may be used for performing transceiving steps in the method, such as steps S511, S512, S513, S514, S516, S522, S523, S524; the processing unit 620 may be used to perform the processing steps in the method.

The processing unit 620 in the above embodiments may be implemented by at least one processor or processor-related circuits. The transceiver unit 610 may be implemented by a transceiver or transceiver related circuits. The memory unit may be implemented by at least one memory.

As shown in fig. 7, an embodiment of the present application further provides an apparatus 700. The apparatus 700 includes a processor 710 and may also include one or more memories 720. Processor 710 is coupled to memory 720, memory 720 for storing computer programs or instructions and/or data, and processor 710 is for executing the computer programs or instructions and/or data stored by memory 720, such that the methods in the above method embodiments are performed. Optionally, the apparatus 700 includes one or more processors 710.

Alternatively, the memory 720 may be integrated with the processor 710 or provided separately.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 7, the apparatus 700 may further comprise a transceiver 730, the transceiver 730 being used for receiving and/or transmitting signals. For example, the processor 710 is configured to control the transceiver 730 to receive and/or transmit signals.

As an aspect, the apparatus 700 is configured to implement the operations performed by devices (e.g., the first terminal device, the second terminal device, and the access network device) in the above method embodiments.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication system which comprises the first terminal equipment, the second terminal equipment and the access network equipment.

The present application also provides a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps described above as being performed by the first terminal device in the method shown in fig. 3 and 5.

The present application also provides a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps described above as being performed by the second terminal device in the method shown in fig. 3 and 5.

The present application also provides a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps described above as being performed by an access network device in the method shown in fig. 3 and 5.

The application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps performed by the second terminal device in the method as shown in fig. 3 and 5.

The application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps performed by a first terminal device in the method as shown in fig. 3 and 5.

The present application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps performed by an access network device in the method as shown in fig. 3 and 5.

The application also provides a chip comprising a processor. The processor is configured to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the corresponding operations and/or procedures performed by the terminal device (e.g., the second terminal device or the first terminal device) in the method for channel measurement provided by the present application. Optionally, the chip further comprises a memory, the memory is connected with the processor through a circuit or a wire, and the processor is used for reading and executing the computer program in the memory. Further optionally, the chip further comprises a communication interface, and the processor is connected to the communication interface. The communication interface is used for receiving the processed data and/or information, and the processor acquires the data and/or information from the communication interface and processes the data and/or information. The communication interface may be an input/output interface, interface circuitry, output circuitry, input circuitry, pins, or related circuitry, etc. on the chip. The processor may also be embodied as processing circuitry or logic circuitry.

The application also provides a chip comprising a processor. The processor is configured to read and execute a computer program stored in the memory to perform the corresponding operations and/or procedures performed by a network device (e.g., an access network device) in the method for channel measurement provided by the present application. Optionally, the chip further comprises a memory, the memory is connected with the processor through a circuit or a wire, and the processor is used for reading and executing the computer program in the memory. Further optionally, the chip further comprises a communication interface, and the processor is connected to the communication interface. The communication interface is used for receiving the processed data and/or information, and the processor acquires the data and/or information from the communication interface and processes the data and/or information. The communication interface may be an input/output interface, interface circuitry, output circuitry, input circuitry, pins, or related circuitry, etc. on the chip. The processor may also be embodied as processing circuitry or logic circuitry.

The chip may be replaced by a chip system, and will not be described herein.

The terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

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

In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown 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. The object of the present embodiment can be achieved by actually selecting some or all of the units therein.

In addition, each functional unit in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in 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 this understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc.) to perform 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 removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

In addition, the term "and/or" in the present application is merely an association relationship describing the association object, and indicates that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the front and rear associated objects are an "or" relationship; the term "at least one" in the present application may mean "one" and "two or more", for example, at least one of A, B and C may mean: the seven cases are that A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, C and B together, A and B together, and C together.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art will readily recognize that variations or substitutions are within the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

receiving first information from a first terminal device;

Determining first cache information of first data according to the first information, wherein the first cache information is used for indicating the size of the first data;

before receiving the first data from the first terminal device, sending a first request message to an access network device, wherein the first request message comprises the first cache information, the first request message is used for requesting a first resource,

the first data comprises data to be sent to the access network equipment by the first terminal equipment through the second terminal equipment, the first terminal equipment comprises terminal equipment which is accessed to the access network equipment by the second terminal equipment, and the first resources comprise resources used by the second terminal equipment for sending the first data to the access network equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information comprises first side-link SL resource information used by the first terminal device to transmit the first data to the second terminal device.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

and determining first time information according to the first SL resource information, wherein the first time information is used for indicating the moment when the first terminal equipment receives the first data or the moment when the first data is transmitted.

4. A method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the first SL resource information comprises SL resource information for retransmission data and/or SL resource information reserved for new transmission data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information includes second buffer information of the first data, the second buffer information being used to indicate buffer information of a first logical channel group corresponding to the first data,

wherein the first logical channel group is a logical channel group between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining first cache information for first data based on the first information comprises:

determining the first buffer information of a second logic channel group corresponding to the first data according to the second buffer information and a first corresponding relation,

the first corresponding relation is a corresponding relation between the first logical channel group and a second logical channel group, and the second logical channel group is a logical channel group between the first terminal device and the access network device.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the first information further comprises second time information, and the second time information is used for indicating to the second terminal device a time when the second terminal device receives the first data or a time when the first data is transmitted.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

determining first time information according to the second time information and the second corresponding relation, wherein the first time information is used for indicating the moment when the first terminal equipment receives the first data or the moment when the first data is sent to the access network equipment,

the second correspondence is a correspondence between first timing information and second timing information, the first timing information is timing information of a first communication interface between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the second timing information is timing information of a second communication interface between the first terminal device and the access network device.

9. Method according to any of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the first information is contained in side-uplink control information SCI.

10. The method according to claim 3 or 8, wherein the first time information is further included in the first request information.

11. The method according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the first request information further comprises identification information of the first terminal device.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising:

configuration information is received from the access network device, the configuration information being used to indicate that the access network device has the capability of sending the first request information for at least one terminal device, the at least one terminal device comprising the first terminal device.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, further comprising:

and receiving first Downlink Control Information (DCI) from the access network equipment, wherein the first DCI is used for indicating the first resource.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first DCI includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first resource is used to transmit uplink data of the first terminal device.

15. A communication device, comprising:

a unit or module for performing the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 14.

16. A communication device, comprising:

a memory for storing a computer program;

a processor for executing a computer program stored in the memory to cause the means for calibrating the kinematic parameters of the robot to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 14.

17. A computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer instructions which, when run on a computer, perform the method of any of claims 1 to 14.

18. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 14.