CN116761181A

CN116761181A - Communication method, device and system

Info

Publication number: CN116761181A
Application number: CN202210210873.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 向铮铮; 苏宏家; 张懿; 王婷; 卢磊
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-04
Filing date: 2022-03-04
Publication date: 2023-09-15
Also published as: WO2023165417A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, a device and a system. In the communication method, the terminal device monitors and determines that a certain frequency domain resource is currently busy, and determines that the terminal device currently occupies the frequency domain resource has an association relation with the terminal device, for example, the terminal devices in the same batch which are scheduled for the same network equipment, and the terminal device determines to share the frequency domain resource, so that a plurality of terminal devices commonly use a certain segment of unlicensed spectrum to transmit data, resource waste is avoided, and spectrum utilization rate is improved.

Description

Communication method, device and system

Technical Field

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

Background

In a wireless communication system, spectrum resources can be divided into an authorized frequency band and an unauthorized frequency band, and when the transmitting node uses the unauthorized frequency band, the spectrum resources need to be used in a competitive manner. Currently, sidelink (SL) communication is widely used in a Vehicle-To-Everything communication (V2X) scenario, and the Sidelink (SL) communication capable of unlicensed bands is an important evolution direction, and corresponding protocol technologies may be collectively called unlicensed sidelines (sidelink unlicensed, SL-U). When a plurality of terminal apparatuses (UEs) communicate on an unlicensed spectrum through a side uplink, UEs competing for frequency domain resources share a channel alone, and other UEs not competing for frequency domain resources cannot use the frequency domain resources, which may possibly result in resource waste.

Therefore, how to avoid resource waste and improve the spectrum utilization of SL-U is a problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, a communication device and a communication system, which can avoid resource waste and improve the spectrum utilization rate of SL-U.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which may include: the first terminal device listens to a first channel through a listen-before-talk process, the listening result is busy, the first terminal device determines that the first channel is occupied as a second terminal device, the second terminal device has an association relationship with the first terminal device, and the first terminal device sends sidestream information on the first channel.

It should be understood that, in the above method, when the interception result of the first terminal device is busy, the first terminal device determines that the second terminal device occupying the first channel is a second terminal device having an association relationship with the first terminal device, and the first terminal device sends the sidestream information on the first channel.

In the method, the terminal device determines to share the resource with the terminal device by determining that the terminal device has an association relation with other terminal devices currently occupying the resource, for example, the terminal devices in the same batch which are scheduled for the network equipment, so that a plurality of terminal devices commonly use unlicensed spectrum to transmit side information, such as data transmission, resource waste is avoided, and the spectrum utilization rate of SL-U is improved. Meanwhile, the data to be transmitted can be transmitted in time, so that the service requirement is met, and the communication efficiency is improved.

In one possible manner, the association relationship is that the first terminal device and the second terminal device belong to a first set, and the method may further include: the first terminal device receives side downlink control information from the second terminal device, the side downlink control information including identification information for indicating a first set, the first terminal device receives first downlink control information from a network apparatus, the first downlink control information includes the identification information, and the first terminal device determines that the first terminal device and the second terminal device belong to the first set according to the side downlink control information and the first downlink control information.

In the method, the association relation is indicated through the identification information, so that the cost of the network equipment can be saved.

In a possible manner, the first downlink control information is further used to indicate a first frequency domain resource, where the first frequency domain resource belongs to the first channel, and the first terminal device sends sidestream information on the first frequency domain resource.

In the method, the resource indication information is carried in the first downlink control information, so that the allocation condition of the first channel resource is configured in advance, the communication efficiency is improved, and meanwhile, the cost of indicating the resource for the first terminal device by the network equipment is further saved.

In one possible manner, the first channel further includes a second frequency domain resource, where the second frequency domain resource is used for the second terminal device to send side line information, and the second frequency domain resource is not overlapped with the first frequency domain resource.

In this embodiment, the two terminal apparatuses share the first channel, but the frequency domain resources for transmitting side line information do not overlap, so that interference in information transmission can be avoided, and communication quality can be improved.

In one possible way, the first terminal device listens to the first channel by means of a first type listen-before-talk procedure.

It should be appreciated that the first type listen-before-talk procedure is only one way for the first terminal device to determine the first channel occupancy state, and embodiments of the present application are not limited in this regard.

In one possible way, the first terminal device stops the first type listen before talk procedure before the first terminal device transmits sidestream information on the first channel.

In this way, the first terminal device stops the first type listen before talk process, does not need to wait, and immediately accesses the channel to transmit the sidestream information, so that data can be transmitted in time, and the delay of data transmission is further reduced.

In one possible way, the first terminal device decrements the counter to 0 during the first type listen before talk procedure before the first terminal device transmits sidestream information on the first channel.

Wherein the counter is a counter in the first type listen before talk process, and according to the rule of the first type listen before talk process, the counter decrementing to 0 means that the first type listen before talk process is completed, and the first terminal device decrements the counter to 0 to access the channel transmission sidestream information.

In this manner, the first terminal device may also continue to complete the first type listen before talk procedure and access the channel, thereby improving the flexibility of the first terminal device to access the channel.

In one possible manner, the first terminal device receives time interval configuration information, where the time interval configuration information includes a length of the time interval and a start time, the first terminal device listens to the first channel during the length of the time interval from the start time, determines that the state of the first channel is idle during the time interval, and sends sidestream information on the first channel after the first terminal device stops the channel listening.

In the mode, the second terminal device pauses the sidestream information transmission in the time interval, so that the relation between equipment which needs to judge the occupied channel again when the first terminal device detects that the channel is busy in the time interval and the second terminal device is avoided, the second terminal device can conveniently finish the second type listen-before-talk process smoothly, the expenditure of the first terminal device is saved, and the efficiency of the second terminal device for accessing the channel is improved. The first terminal device listens first and then speaks the access channel according to the second type, and the flexibility of the first terminal device for accessing the channel is further improved.

In one possible way, the time interval configuration information is carried in radio resource control signaling.

In one possible manner, the first terminal apparatus transmits sidestream information on the first channel for a first period of time, the first period of time overlapping with a second period of time, the second period of time being a period of time for the second terminal apparatus to transmit sidestream information on the first channel.

It should be appreciated that the duration of the first period is less than or equal to the duration of the second period. In other words, the duration of the first terminal device using the first channel is within the range of the duration of the second terminal device using the first channel.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, the method may include: the second terminal device transmits side-link control information to the first terminal device on a first channel, the side-link information being used to determine that the first terminal device has an association with the second terminal device, the second terminal device transmitting side-link information on the first channel, the first channel also being used for the first terminal device to transmit side-link information.

In one possible manner, the second terminal device receives second downlink control information before the second terminal device transmits the side downlink control information on the first channel, the second downlink control information including identification information for indicating the first set.

In one possible manner, the side-link control information includes the identification information.

In one possible way, the side-link information is used to determine that the first terminal device and the second terminal device belong to the first set.

In one possible manner, the second downlink control information is further used to indicate a second frequency domain resource, where the second frequency domain resource belongs to the first channel, the second frequency domain resource does not overlap with the first frequency domain resource, and the first frequency domain resource is used for the first terminal device to send sidestream information.

In one possible manner, the second terminal device receives time interval configuration information, where the time interval configuration information includes a length of the time interval and a start time, and the state of the first channel is idle within the length of the time interval.

In one possible embodiment, the second terminal device transmits sidestream information on the first channel starting from the end of the time interval.

In one possible manner, the second terminal apparatus transmits sidestream information on the first channel within a second period of time, the second period of time overlapping with a first period of time, the first period of time being a period of time for the first terminal apparatus to transmit sidestream information on the first channel.

It should be understood that the second aspect is an implementation manner of the second terminal device corresponding to the first terminal device of the first aspect, and explanation, supplement and beneficial effects of the first aspect are applicable to the second aspect as well, and are not repeated.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, where the communication device may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit, where the processing unit is configured to listen to a first channel through a listen before talk procedure, and the listening result is busy, and where the processing unit is configured to determine that the second terminal device occupies the first channel, where the second terminal device has an association relationship with the first terminal device, and where the transceiver unit is further configured to send sidestream information on the first channel.

In a possible manner, the association relationship is that the first terminal device and the second terminal device belong to a first set, the transceiver unit is configured to receive side downlink control information from the second terminal device, the side downlink control information includes identification information, the identification information is configured to indicate the first set, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive first downlink control information from the network device, the first downlink control information includes the identification information, and the processing unit is specifically configured to determine that the first terminal device and the second terminal device belong to the first set according to the first downlink control information and the side downlink control information.

In a possible manner, the first downlink control information is further used to indicate a first frequency domain resource, where the first frequency domain resource belongs to the first channel, and the transceiver unit is specifically configured to send side information on the first frequency domain resource.

In a possible manner, the processing unit is specifically configured to determine that the occupancy state of the first channel is busy by a first type listen-before-talk procedure.

In a possible way, the processing unit is further adapted to stop the first type listen before talk procedure before the first terminal device transmits sidestream information on the first channel.

In a possible way, the processing unit is further adapted to decrement the counter to 0 during the first type listen before talk procedure before the first terminal device transmits sidestream information on the first channel.

In a possible manner, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive time interval configuration information, where the time interval configuration information includes a length of the time interval and a start time, and the processing unit is configured to listen to the first channel for the length of the time interval from the start time, determine that the state of the first channel is idle in the time interval, and send side line information on the first channel after stopping the channel listening.

In one possible manner, the transceiving unit is specifically configured to transmit sidestream information on the first channel during a first period, where the first period overlaps with a second period, where the second period is a period for the second terminal device to transmit sidestream information on the first channel.

It should be understood that the third aspect is an implementation manner of the device side corresponding to the first aspect, and explanation, supplement and beneficial effects of the first aspect are equally applicable to the third aspect, and are not repeated.

In a fourth aspect, a communication apparatus may include a transceiver unit configured to transmit side-link control information to a first terminal apparatus on a first channel, the side-link information being configured to determine that the first terminal apparatus has an association with the second terminal apparatus, and a processing unit configured to transmit side-line information on the first channel, the first channel being further configured to transmit side-line information to the first terminal apparatus.

In one possible manner, before the second terminal device transmits the side downlink control information on the first channel, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive second downlink control information, where the second downlink control information includes identification information, and the identification information is used to indicate the first set.

In a possible manner, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive time interval configuration information, where the time interval configuration information includes a length of the time interval and a start time, and the state of the first channel is idle within the length of the time interval.

In a possible manner, the transceiving unit is further configured to transmit sidestream information on the first channel starting from an end instant of the time interval.

In one possible manner, the transceiving unit is further configured to transmit sidestream information on the first channel within a second period, where the second period overlaps with a first period, and the first period is a period for the first terminal device to transmit sidestream information on the first channel.

It should be understood that the fourth aspect is an implementation manner of the device side of the second terminal device corresponding to the third aspect, and explanation, supplement and beneficial effects of the third aspect are applicable to the fourth aspect as well, and are not repeated.

In a fifth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided, the computer readable medium storing program code for execution by a communication device, the program code comprising instructions for performing the communication method of the first aspect or the second aspect, any possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, or all possible implementations of the first aspect or the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the above-described first or second aspect, or any one of the possible implementations of the first or second aspect, or the method of all of the possible implementations of the first or second aspect.

A seventh aspect provides a communication system comprising an apparatus having the functionality to implement the or, any of the possible implementations of the first or second aspects, and various possible designs.

An eighth aspect provides a processor, coupled to a memory, for performing the above-mentioned first or second aspect, or any possible implementation manner of the first or second aspect, or a method in all possible implementation manners of the first or second aspect.

A ninth aspect provides a chip comprising a processor for communicating with an external device or an internal device, and a communication interface for implementing the above-described first or second aspect, or any one of the possible implementations of the first or second aspect, or the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first or second aspect.

Optionally, the chip may further include a memory having instructions stored therein, the processor being configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory or derived from other instructions. The processor is configured to implement the method of the first or second aspect described above or any possible implementation thereof when the instructions are executed.

Alternatively, the chip may be integrated on the terminal device and/or the network equipment.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a system architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applied.

Fig. 2 shows a listen-before-talk procedure to which embodiments of the application are applicable.

Fig. 3 illustrates another listen-before-talk process to which embodiments of the present application are applicable.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a communication flow.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a resource indication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a communication resource according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 shows a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic diagram of a communication resource according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 12 shows a time-domain flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 13 shows a time-domain flow chart of yet another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 14 is a flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 15 shows a time-domain flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 16 shows a schematic block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 17 shows a schematic block diagram of another communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical scheme of the application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical solution provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, such as a 5G (fifth generation (5th generation,5G) or New Radio (NR) system, 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) system and the like.

In addition, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to a link between network equipment and terminal equipment, and also can be applied to a link between equipment, such as a device-to-device (D2D) link. The D2D link may also be referred to as a sidelink, which may also be referred to as a side link, a sidelink, etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the D2D link, or the side link refers to a link established between devices of the same type, and the meanings of the links are the same. The same type of device may be a link between terminal devices, a link between network devices, a link between relay nodes, or the like, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. For the link between the terminal equipment and the terminal equipment, there is a D2D link defined by release (Rel) -12/13 of the third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP), and also a internet of vehicles link defined by 3GPP for the internet of vehicles. It should be appreciated that V2X specifically includes vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) direct communication, and vehicle-to-network (V2N) or V2X links of a vehicle to any entity, including Rel-14/15. V2X also includes Rel-16, which is currently under study by 3GPP, and subsequent releases of V2X links based on NR systems, and the like. V2V refers to communication between vehicles; V2P refers to vehicle-to-person (including pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, or passengers) communication; V2I refers to the communication of the vehicle with an infrastructure, such as a Road Side Unit (RSU) or a network device, and a further V2N may be included in the V2I, V2N refers to the communication of the vehicle with the network device. Among them, RSUs include two types: the terminal type RSU is in a non-moving state because the terminal type RSU is distributed at the roadside, and mobility does not need to be considered; the base station type RSU may provide timing synchronization and resource scheduling for vehicles with which it communicates.

The embodiment of the application is applied to an architecture schematic diagram of a mobile communication system. As shown in fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system 1000 to which an embodiment of the present application is applied. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system comprises a radio access network 100, optionally, the communication system 1000 may further comprise a core network 200 and the internet 300. The radio access network 100 may include at least one radio access network device (e.g., 110a and 110b in fig. 1) and may also include at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120j in fig. 1). The terminal is connected with the wireless access network equipment in a wireless mode, and the wireless access network equipment is connected with the core network in a wireless or wired mode. The core network device and the radio access network device may be separate physical devices, or may integrate the functions of the core network device and the logic functions of the radio access network device on the same physical device, or may integrate the functions of part of the core network device and part of the radio access network device on one physical device. The terminals and the radio access network device may be connected to each other by wired or wireless means. Fig. 1 is only a schematic diagram, and other network devices may be further included in the communication system, for example, a wireless relay device and a wireless backhaul device may also be included, which are not shown in fig. 1.

It should be understood that the information transmitting end in the communication system of the present application may be a network device, or may be a terminal device, and the information receiving end may be a network device, or may be a terminal device.

In the embodiments of the present application, the UE may be referred to as a terminal device, a terminal apparatus, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication apparatus, a user agent, or a user apparatus.

The terminal device may be a device that provides voice/data to a user, e.g., a handheld device with wireless connection, an in-vehicle device, etc. The terminal devices may include user equipment, sometimes referred to as terminals, access stations, UE stations, remote stations, wireless communication devices, or user equipment, among others. The terminal device is used for connecting people, objects, machines and the like, and can be widely used in various scenes, including but not limited to the following scenes: cellular communication, D2D, V X, machine-to-machine/machine-type communications, M2M/MTC), internet of things (internet of things, ioT), virtual Reality (VR), augmented reality (augmented reality, AR), industrial control (industrial control), unmanned driving (self driving), remote medical (remote media), smart grid (smart grid), smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city (smart city), unmanned aerial vehicle, robotic, and other end devices. For example, the terminal device may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet pc (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiver function, a VR terminal, an AR terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, an entire car, a wireless communication module in the entire car, an on-board T-box (Telematics BOX), a road side unit RSU, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a smart speaker in IoT network, a wireless terminal device in telemedicine, a wireless terminal device in smart grid, a wireless terminal device in transportation security, a wireless terminal device in smart city, or a wireless terminal device in smart home, etc., which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

By way of example, and not limitation, in embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. The wearable device can also be called as a wearable intelligent device, and is a generic name for intelligently designing daily wear by applying wearable technology and developing wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothes, 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 cooperation with other devices, such as smart phones, for example, various smart bracelets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign measurement. 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.

The various terminal devices described above, if located on a vehicle (e.g., placed in a vehicle or installed in a vehicle), may be considered as in-vehicle terminal devices, also referred to as in-vehicle units (OBUs), for example. The terminal device of the present application may also be an in-vehicle module, an in-vehicle part, an in-vehicle chip, or an in-vehicle unit built in a vehicle as one or more parts or units, and the vehicle may implement the method of the present application by the in-vehicle module, the in-vehicle part, the in-vehicle chip, or the in-vehicle unit built in.

It should be appreciated that the network device in the wireless communication system may be a device capable of communicating with the terminal device, which may also be referred to as an access network device or a radio access network device, e.g. the network device may be a base station. The network device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) node (or device) that accesses the terminal device to the wireless network. The base station may broadly cover or replace various names in the following, such as: a node B (NodeB), an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a relay station, an access point, a transmission point (transmitting and receiving point, TRP), a transmission point (transmitting point, TP), a master eNodeB (MeNB), a secondary eNodeB (SeNB), a multi-mode radio (multi standard radio, MSR) node, a home base station, a network controller, an access node, a radio node, an Access Point (AP), a transmission node, a transceiver node, a baseband unit (BBU), a radio remote unit (remote radio unit, RRU), an active antenna unit (active antenna unit, AAU), a radio head (remote radio head, RRH), a Central Unit (CU), a Distributed Unit (DU), a positioning node, and the like. The base station may be a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay node, a donor node, or the like, or a combination thereof. A base station may also refer to a communication module, modem, or chip for placement within the aforementioned device or apparatus. The base station may be a mobile switching center, a device that performs a base station function in D2D, V2X, M M communication, a network side device in a 6G network, a device that performs a base station function in a future communication system, or the like. The base stations may support networks of the same or different access technologies. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific equipment form adopted by the network equipment.

In the embodiment of the present application, the functions of the base station may be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station, or may be performed by a control subsystem including the functions of the base station. The control subsystem comprising the base station function can be a control center in the application scenarios of smart power grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, smart cities and the like. The functions of the terminal may be performed by a module (e.g., a chip or a modem) in the terminal, or by a device including the functions of the terminal.

To facilitate an understanding of the present application, a simple description of the random access procedure and related concepts will be provided.

1. An interface: the communication interface (Uu interface) between the terminal apparatus and the network appliance may be referred to as a Uu interface, the communication interface (PC 5 interface) between the terminal apparatus and the terminal apparatus may be referred to as a PC5 interface, and a transmission link in the PC5 interface is defined as a Sidelink (SL). The terminal device in the present application can be understood as the above-mentioned terminal device, or a part of the modules/chips in the terminal device.

2. Unlicensed band (unlicensed spectrum): in a wireless communication system, the frequency bands may be classified into an authorized frequency band and an unauthorized frequency band according to the frequency bands used. In the licensed band, users use spectrum resources based on the scheduling of the central node. In unlicensed bands, the transmitting node needs to use spectrum resources in a contention manner, specifically, contend for the channel by listen-before-talk (LBT) manner. In a 5G NR system, NR protocol technologies in an unlicensed band are collectively referred to as NR-U, and further enhancement of communications performance of a corresponding Uu interface by using the NR-U is expected. SL communication that enables unlicensed bands in local space is an important evolution direction, and corresponding protocol technologies may be collectively referred to as SL-U. Similar to the Uu interface, a UE operating through SL-U also needs to coexist with nearby Wi-Fi devices based on LBT mechanisms. The LBT mechanism is an essential feature of unlicensed bands because of regulatory requirements for use of unlicensed bands in various regions of the world. UEs operating in various forms of different communication protocols can use unlicensed frequency bands only if the regulations are satisfied, and thus use spectrum resources relatively fairly and efficiently.

3. Side uplink resource allocation mode: NR SL supports two resource allocation schemes, namely mode 1 and mode 2.

Mode 1 (SL mode 1) the resources used by the network device for the sidelink transmission are allocated, mode one is typically used for sidelink communications within the coverage of the network device. Taking the dynamic scheduling of transmission resources by the network device in the mode 1 as an example, the network device performs resource allocation according to the reporting (buffer status report, BSR) condition of the buffer status of the UE. Specifically, the network device indicates time-frequency resources to UE1 through downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI), and UE1 is a UE that is a transmitting end in both communication parties. After receiving the DCI, UE1 transmits side control information (sidelink control information, SCI) and data to UE2 on the time-frequency resource indicated by the DCI, and UE2 is a UE that is a receiving end in both communication parties. In mode 1, the sidestream transmission resources of each UE are scheduled by the network device in a unified manner, so that collision can be avoided.

Mode 2 (SL mode 2) the resources used by the UE to autonomously select the side uplink transmission.

Lbt: LBT is a channel access rule. The UE needs to monitor whether the channel is idle or not before accessing the channel and starting to send data, and if the channel is idle for a certain time, the UE can occupy the channel; if the channel is not idle, the UE needs to wait for the channel to resume to idle before occupying the channel.

Energy-based detection and signal type detection can be generally used to determine the channel state, for example, NR-U uses energy detection, and WiFi uses two combined detection methods. A detection threshold (energy detection threshold) needs to be set based on the detection of energy, and when the detected energy exceeds the detection threshold, it is determined that the channel is busy, and access to the channel is not allowed. When the detected energy is below the detection threshold, access to the channel is allowed if after a period of time. Depending on the national and regional regulatory requirements for the use of unlicensed bands, for example, the 5GHz band, a channel may refer to a 20MHz bandwidth. The channel can be occupied by accessing a channel of 20MHz, and the requirement of at least minimum occupied channel bandwidth (occupied channel bandwidth, OCB) needs to be met, and the minimum OCB is generally at least 80% of the normal bandwidth, and the normal bandwidth is 20MHz for example, that is, the UE needs to occupy at least 16MHz bandwidth to occupy the 20MHz channel. It should be understood that the bandwidth of one channel may be other values, 20MHz being just an example and not a limitation.

LBT is of various types, two main types are described below:

first type LBT: the communication device needs to perform random backoff (random backoff) before accessing the channel and transmitting data. For example, the terminal device may perform a continuous detection (refer to as T) _d ) The first time the channel is sensed to be idle, a data transmission is initiated after the counter N is decremented to zero on the detection slot period (sensing slot duration). Immediately following T _d After which is m _p Each successive listening slot period (denoted as T _sl ). Specifically, the terminal device may access the channel according to the following steps:

step 1. Set n=n _init Wherein N is _init To be uniformly distributed between 0 and CW _p Random numbers in between, step 2 is performed, wherein CWp may be a contention window when the priority is p (contentionwindowforagivenpriority class);

step 2, if N >0, the network device or the terminal device selects a down counter, and N=N-1 is taken;

step 3, if the channel during the interception time slot is idle, the step 4 is shifted to;

otherwise, go to step 5;

step 4, stopping if n=0;

otherwise, step 2 is performed.

Step 5. Listening to the channel until at another T _d In detecting that the channel is busy or detecting another T _d All listening slots in the network are detected as channelsIdle;

step 6. If at another T _d Detecting that the interception time slots in the channel are idle, and executing the step 4;

otherwise, step 5 is performed.

Wherein CW is _min,p ≤CW _p ≤CW _max,p ，CW _min,p To minimum value of contention window when priority is p, CW _max,p The maximum value of the contention window when the priority is p.

Selecting CW before the above step 1 _min,p And CW _max,p ，m _p 、CW _min,p And CW _max,p Is determined based on a channel access priority class p associated with the network device or terminal device transmission, as shown in table 1:

table 1 channel access priority and CW _p Relation table of (2)

T in Table 1 _m _cot,p For a maximum duration (maximum channel occupancy time for a given priority class) of channel occupancy when the priority is p, the channel occupancy time (channel occupancy time, COT) of a network device or terminal device for transmission on the channel does not exceed T _m _cot,p In other words, COT refers to the time that a communication device is allowed to occupy a channel after successfully accessing the channel, and in other words, the communication device can preempt the usage of the channel for a period of time after completing the LBT procedure. The channel access procedure is performed based on the channel access priority level p associated with the network device or terminal device transmission, with a smaller priority level value in table 1 indicating a higher priority, e.g. priority 1 being the highest priority.

Network device or terminal device maintains contention window value CW _p And before step 1, the CW is adjusted according to the following steps _p Is a value of (1):

for each priority in the table, CW corresponding to the priority is set _p ＝CW _min,p 。

In the feedback HARQ-ACK value corresponding to the data transmitted in the reference subframe k, if at least 80% of the data is negatively acknowledged (negative acknowledgment, NACK), the network device or terminal device will have CW corresponding to each priority _p The value is increased to the next higher allowable value, which is used in step 2; otherwise, step 1 is performed. Wherein the reference subframe k is the initial subframe of the last data transmission of the network device or the terminal device on the channel.

An example of the above-mentioned first type LBT is shown in fig. 2, where N is 6 as an example, the terminal device determines the channel at the first T by listening _d Is always idle within the duration of (1) and is in the first T _sl Decrementing N from 6 to 5 in the second T _sl N is decremented from 5 to 4. After that, the terminal device detects that the channel state is busy, waits for the channel state to be idle and continues for T _d After the duration of (3), at the third T _sl N is decremented to 3. After that, the terminal device again detects that the channel is busy, and waits again for the channel state to be idle for T _d After the duration of (4), at the fourth T _sl N is decremented to 2, the fifth T _sl N is decremented to 1 at a sixth T _sl Decrementing N to 0. Then, the terminal device accesses the channel and transmits data in the COT.

The second type of LBT is LBT without random back-off, and is divided into two cases:

case a: after the communication device detects that the channel is in an idle state and lasts for a period of time, the communication device can transmit data without carrying out random back-off.

Case B: the transmission is immediately after a short switching gap (switching gap), for example, the communication device transmits immediately after a switching gap from a receiving state to a transmitting state in the COT, and the time of the switching gap may be not more than 16us. The specific transition time may be preset or configured by the base station or may be related to the hardware capabilities of the communication device.

As shown in fig. 3, the communication device listens to the channel and determines that the channel is idle for a time interval (gap), and then may access the channel at the end of the time interval.

In mode 1 above, the use of unlicensed spectrum may cause a problem of low spectrum utilization efficiency.

For example, in the unlicensed band, the terminal device typically needs to meet at least the minimum occupied channel bandwidth (occupied channel bandwidth, OCB) to occupy the channel, typically the minimum OCB requirement is at least 80% of the normal bandwidth, and when the channel width is 20MHz, at least 16MHz is required to occupy the channel. Fig. 4 (a) is an example of a terminal device meeting the requirement of the minimum OCB by using an interleaved Resource Block (RB), in which the UE occupies an interleaved RB group #1, and the interleaved RB group #1 includes rb#1, rb#11, rb#21, rb#31, and rb#41, and when the UE transmits a signal on rb#1, other RBs not actually occupied in the vicinity of rb#1, such as rb#2, rb#3, and rb#4 … …, can also detect energy on these RBs. Similarly, the frequency domain part that can be regarded as occupied by the UE is not just rb#1, rb#11, rb#21, rb#31, and rb#41. When the number of RBs in which energy can be detected is 80% of the number of RBs in the bandwidth, it can be considered that the OCB requirement is satisfied. In this case, however, a large number of RBs are not actually used to transmit information, and thus are wasted.

In yet another scenario, assume that the network device schedules UE1 and UE2 for SL-U transmissions simultaneously, and issues control signaling to both UEs over the licensed spectrum. Subsequently, UE1 and UE2 start LBT to attempt to access the channel. UE1 and UE2 may have chosen different random numbers for backoff due to the random backoff mechanism of LBT. As shown in (b) of fig. 4, the random number N selected by the UE1 ₁ 10 ue2 selected random number N ₂ =20. When UE1 back-off ends (will N ₁ Decrementing to 0), the unlicensed spectrum is accessed for SL communication. At this time, during the LBT process, the UE2 may monitor the UE1 to send a signal, that is, detect that the channel state is busy, and break the LBT process of the UE2, where the UE2 cannot use unlicensed spectrum together with the UE1 to communicate, only the UE1 may access the channel, and the proportion of the frequency domain portion actually used by the UE1 may be low, which results in low spectrum utilization of the SL-U.

In order to solve the problem of resource waste in side uplink communication on an unlicensed frequency band, the application provides a communication method, which uses unlicensed frequency spectrum together by a plurality of UE to communicate, thereby avoiding resource waste and improving the frequency spectrum utilization rate. As shown in fig. 5, the method may include the steps of:

Step 501: the first terminal device listens to the first channel by means of a listen-before-talk procedure.

The first terminal device may determine the occupancy state of the first channel by listening to the first channel through a listen before talk LBT procedure. The first terminal device may determine the occupancy state of the first channel by listening to the first channel, and determine whether the channel state is busy (busy). If the channel state is busy, the first terminal device determines that the first channel is occupied; if the channel state is idle, the first terminal device determines that the first channel is unoccupied.

One possible implementation, the first terminal device may determine the occupancy state of the first channel through a first type LBT. Illustratively, the first terminal device is at T _d Listening to the first channel in range. The first terminal device can judge the channel state by detecting energy, and when the detected energy exceeds a predefined threshold, the channel state is judged to be busy; when the detected energy is below a predefined threshold, the channel state is determined to be idle.

In another possible implementation, the first terminal device may listen to the first channel and determine the state of the first channel according to whether information is received on the first channel. For example, if the first terminal device receives information from other terminal devices on the first channel, it may determine that the state of the first channel is busy; if the first terminal device does not receive any information on the first channel for a certain period of time, it may be determined that the state of the first channel is idle for the period of time, that is, the other terminal devices do not use the first channel for the period of time.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned channels may be understood as bandwidths, and for example, in an unlicensed SL communication system, there are a plurality of access channels with bandwidths of 20MHz, a UE may perform LBT access in each 20MHz channel, and the access processes of the respective channels are independent of each other, and the UE occupies the corresponding 20MHz bandwidth after completing LBT. It should be understood that 20MHz is only an example of a channel in the embodiment of the present application, and is not limited, for example, the channel in the embodiment of the present application may also be other bandwidths such as 30MHz, 40 MHz, or 45 MHz. The first channel in step 501 may be a 20MHz bandwidth and listening to the first channel may refer to listening to the entire 20MHz bandwidth.

It should be understood that when the interception result of the first terminal apparatus to intercept the first channel is idle, the first channel may be accessed; when the first terminal device listens to the first channel and the listening result is busy, the following method may be executed:

step 502: the first terminal device determines that the first channel is occupied as a second terminal device, and the second terminal device has an association relationship with the first terminal device.

The association relationship may be: the first terminal device and the second terminal device are respectively a transmitting end and a receiving end of information transmission, or the first terminal device and the second terminal device are UEs scheduled by the same batch of network equipment, wherein the UEs scheduled by the same batch of network equipment can be UEs with overlapping transmission resources in time domain, for example, a plurality of terminal equipment (such as sending multicast information and the like) scheduled by the network equipment at the same time, or the UEs scheduled by the network equipment belong to the coverage area of the same network equipment and/or belong to the same terminal equipment group.

The association relationship of the first terminal device and the second terminal device may be predefined. For example, the network device predefines an association relation for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, e.g. the network device predefines that the first terminal device and the second terminal device belong to the same first set, or belong to the same first cell, etc. The association relationship of the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus may be indicated according to the indication information. The network device sends, to the first terminal device and the second terminal device, indication information indicating that the first terminal device belongs to the first set and the second terminal device belongs to the first set, or that the first terminal device belongs to the first cell and the second terminal device belongs to the first cell, respectively. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

The manner in which the first terminal apparatus determines that there is an association relationship with the second terminal apparatus is explained in detail below.

One possible way a is: the first terminal device can determine that there is an association relationship with the second terminal device through the SCI.

The side-link information SCI may include identification information. The identification information may be an identity (identity document, ID) for indicating the first set, for example. The first set includes UEs scheduled by the network device in the same batch.

For example, the SCI may include an ID of the second terminal device (UE 2). Alternatively, the SCI may include an ID of the UE2 and an ID of the UE1 (first terminal apparatus). Alternatively, a temporary user group identity (temporary UE group ID, hereinafter referred to as group ID, or temporary group ID) may be included in the SCI, which group is a predefined group for network devices, e.g. the network devices divide UE1 and UE2 into the same group. Alternatively, the SCI may include a cell ID, where the cell may be a geographical cell where UE1 and UE2 are co-located, and the cell may be a cell divided according to a scheduling range of the network device, and the cell may also be a cell predefined by the network device. Still alternatively, the SCI may include IDs of multiple UEs in the same lot as scheduled by the network device. The application is not limited in this regard.

The manner in which the first terminal apparatus determines that there is an association relationship with the second terminal apparatus can be further classified into the following types according to the different contents included in the SCI:

mode A1: when the SCI includes the ID of the UE2, the UE1 may determine that the UE2 has an association relationship with itself according to the SCI. Specifically, when the SCI includes the ID of the UE2, the UE1 may determine that the UE2 is occupying the channel, and when the SCI includes the ID, the UE1 may determine that the UE corresponding to the ID has an association relationship with itself. In other words, the SCI transmitted by the UE having an association with other UEs may include its own ID.

Mode A2: when the SCI includes the ID of UE2 and the ID of UE1, UE1 may determine that UE2 has an association relationship with itself according to the SCI. Specifically, when the SCI includes an ID of the UE2, the UE1 may determine that the UE2 is occupying the channel, and when the SCI further includes an ID of the UE1, the UE1 may determine that a correlation exists between the UE corresponding to another ID and itself, the UE1 may configure its ID in advance, for example, the network device configures the ID of the UE1 in advance for the UE1, and when the UE1 receives the SCI, the UE1 may determine that the ID included in the SCI is the same as its preconfigured ID.

Another possible way B is: the first terminal apparatus may determine that there is an association relationship with the second terminal apparatus through DCI and SCI, by way of example:

the first terminal apparatus may also receive first downlink control information, DCI, from the network device, the first DCI may include an ID. The first terminal device may determine that the first terminal device and the second terminal device belong to the first set according to the first downlink control information and the side downlink control information. Alternatively, the network device may transmit the IDs to the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus, respectively, through RRC signaling. Alternatively, the network device may indicate the ID to the first terminal apparatus via a medium access control element (media access control control element, MAC CE).

The following method in which the first terminal device determines that there is an association relationship with the second terminal device by using the DCI indication ID as an example of the network device may be further classified into the following methods:

mode B1: the ID included in the first DCI may be the same as the ID included in the SCI. Illustratively, the SCI includes a group ID therein, and the first DCI includes the group ID therein; the cell ID is included in the SCI, the cell ID is included in the first DCI, and so on.

When the SCI includes a group ID, the first DCI includes the group ID, and the UE1 determines that the UE belongs to the group represented by the group ID according to the first DCI, and then determines that the UE2 that transmits the SCI belongs to the same group according to the received SCI, further, since the UE1 receives the SCI, the UE1 can determine that the UE that is occupying the channel is the UE that belongs to the same group as the UE itself. When the SCI in step 502 includes a cell ID, the first DCI includes the cell ID, or when the SCI in step 502 includes the IDs of multiple UEs, the first DCI includes the same IDs of multiple UEs, which will not be described in detail with reference to the above method for determining a group ID.

Mode B2: the ID included in the first DCI may be different from the ID included in the SCI.

Illustratively, the ID included in the first DCI is an ID of a plurality of UEs, including an ID of UE 1; the SCI includes an ID of the UE2, and the UE1 determines that the plurality of IDs included in the first DCI includes an ID identical to the ID included in the SCI, and further, since the UE1 receives the SCI, the UE1 may determine that the UE occupying the channel is a UE belonging to the same batch as the UE belonging to the network device schedule. Or, the first DCI may include an ID of the UE1, the SCI may include IDs of a plurality of UEs, and the UE1 determines that the plurality of IDs included in the SCI include the same ID as the ID included in the first DCI, further, since the UE1 receives the SCI, the UE1 may determine that the UE occupying the channel is a UE belonging to the same batch as the UE scheduled by the network device.

Specifically, the DCI may be a DCI newly defined for SL-U, for example, the format of the DCI is DCI format3_2. The DCI may include indication information of the same batch scheduling, for example, may include a temporary user group identifier, where the temporary user group identifier may be 2 bits, or 3 bits, etc., and is not limited herein. For example, the network device schedules UE1, UE2, UE3, UE4, and UE5 through DCI, and the temporary user group ID of UE1, UE2, UE5 is 00 and the temporary user group ID of UE3, UE4 is 01, which indicates that UE1, UE2, UE5 are the same batch of scheduled UEs and UE3, UE4 are the same batch of scheduled UEs. For example, UE1 receives DCI including a temporary user group ID of 00, UE2 receives DCI also including a temporary user group ID of 00.UE2 transmits an SCI including the temporary user group ID00, UE1 receives the SCI, and determines that the ID included in the SCI is the same as the ID in the DCI received previously, and may determine that the UE occupying the channel is the UE belonging to the same temporary user group as itself.

Yet another possible way C is: the first terminal device may determine that there is an association relationship with the second terminal device through a preamble sequence (preamble) or a reference signal. Taking the preamble sequence as an example, the first terminal apparatus receives the preamble sequence from the second terminal apparatus, the preamble sequence may be transmitted on a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM) symbol, the length of the preamble sequence may be 24 or 36, or the length of the preamble sequence may be determined according to the occupied bandwidth. The preamble sequence may include an ID of the second terminal device, or a group ID, and the first terminal device determines that an association relationship exists with the second terminal device according to the identification information included in the preamble sequence, specifically, the description of the association relationship determined by referring to the first terminal device according to the SCI and the DCI may not be repeated. It should also be understood that the method for determining the association relationship by the first terminal device according to the reference signal is similar, and will not be described herein.

It should be understood that the second terminal device occupies the first channel in step 502 may be a portion of the first channel that the second terminal device occupies, for example, when the first channel is a bandwidth of 20MHz, the second terminal device occupies a total of 17MHz of the bandwidth. The above values are by way of example only and are not limiting.

It should also be understood that there may be multiple UEs in the same lot that are scheduled by the network device, and step 502 is only performed by taking UE1 to determine UE2 as the UE in the same lot. For example, the manner in which UE1 determines UE3 or UE2 determines UE5 may refer to the description in step 502, and will not be described in detail.

It should also be understood that embodiments of the present application are not limited to the order in which the steps are performed. For example, step 502 may be performed after step 501, or step 501 may be performed simultaneously with step 502. And will not be described in detail below.

Step 503: the first terminal device transmits sidestream information on a first channel.

The first terminal device may send the sidestream information on the first channel, where the first terminal device sends the data on the first frequency domain resource. The time domain resource occupied by the first terminal device for transmitting data is a first period. That is, the first terminal device transmits data on the first channel for the first period. The first period overlaps with a second period, which is a period in which the second terminal apparatus transmits data. For example, the duration of the first period and the second period may be COT, respectively. In other words, the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus transmit a portion of the time domain resource of the data overlapping. It should also be appreciated that the duration of the first period is less than or equal to the duration of the second period. In other words, the duration of the first terminal device using the first channel is within the range of the duration of the second terminal device using the first channel.

The first terminal device transmitting data on the first channel may be understood as an example of the first terminal device transmitting sidestream information on the first channel. The first terminal device may also send or receive sidestream control information and/or feedback information on the first channel, and so on. It should be understood that the above explanation of the transmitting side line information of the terminal device is applicable to the embodiments of the present application, for example, the transmitting side line information of the second terminal device may be transmission data, transmission or receiving side line control information and/or feedback information, and the like, which will not be described in detail below.

The first frequency domain resource may be indicated by the network device to the first terminal apparatus. For example, the network device transmits resource indication information to the first terminal apparatus, the resource indication information being used to indicate a first resource, the first resource being used for the first terminal apparatus to transmit data. The first resource may be a first frequency domain resource, in other words, the resource indication information may indicate a frequency domain resource. The first resource may be a first frequency domain resource and a first time domain resource, and the first time domain resource is a resource corresponding to the first resource in a time domain, in other words, the resource indication information may indicate time-frequency resources at the same time. Alternatively, the first resource may indicate a first frequency domain resource, and the time at which UE1 accesses the first resource is autonomously determined by UE 1. The first frequency domain resource may be a portion of a first channel, e.g., the first channel is 20MHz in bandwidth, and the first frequency domain resource may be a portion of the bandwidth in which 18MHz is present.

The manner in which the network device indicates the first resource to the first terminal device includes two kinds of:

mode one: the network device may indicate the first resource to the first terminal apparatus through downlink control information DCI. For example, the resource indication information is carried in DCI. The first resource here may be a resource required for a single data transmission by the first terminal apparatus. When the first terminal apparatus transmits data next, the network device may transmit new DCI for indicating resources used by the first terminal apparatus to transmit data next. Specifically, as shown in (a) of fig. 6, the UE receives dci#a, performs mth data transmission according to the resource indicated by dci#a, and the UE receives dci#b, and performs mth+1th data transmission according to the resource indicated by dci#b.

Mode two: the network device may configure the periodic resources for the first terminal apparatus. For example, the network device may configure the first terminal apparatus with periodic resources for data transmission through radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) signaling. Alternatively, the network device may indicate the periodic resource to the first terminal device through RRC signaling and DCI, where the RRC signaling may configure the periodic resource for side transmission for the first terminal device, and the DCI may activate the configured periodic resource. The first resource is part of the periodic resource. Specifically, as shown in (b) of fig. 6, the UE receives DCI #c from the network device, the DCI #c activates the aforementioned periodic resource configuration, and the UE performs sidelink transmission on the periodic resource.

Alternatively, the first terminal device may determine the resources for sidelink transmission according to the DCI, or the RRC signaling and the DCI. Further, the first terminal apparatus may determine a resource for transmitting data among the resources for sidestream transmission. The first terminal device communicates on the DCI, or on the resources indicated by the RRC signaling and the DCI.

The manner in which the network device indicates the second resource to the second terminal device may refer to the manner in which the network device indicates the first resource to the first terminal device, which is not described herein. The second frequency domain resource is a resource corresponding to the second resource in the frequency domain, and the second terminal device may determine the resource for sidelink transmission according to the DCI or the RRC signaling and the DCI. Further, the second terminal apparatus may determine a resource for transmitting data among the resources for sidestream transmission. The second terminal device communicates on the DCI, or on the resources indicated by the RRC signaling and the DCI.

That is, the first channel may include a first frequency domain resource on which the first terminal apparatus transmits data and a second frequency domain resource on which the second terminal apparatus transmits data. The first frequency domain resource does not overlap with the second frequency domain resource, in other words, the first frequency domain resource does not have the same portion as the second frequency domain resource. The first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus use different frequency domain resources for transmitting data, and can avoid interference.

The network device may send common signaling to the scheduled plurality of UEs, the common signaling carrying resource indication information thereon. Alternatively, the network device may send the resource indication information to each scheduled UE separately. Or may be in other possible ways, such as multicasting. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto. The network device may predefine resources for multiple UEs, taking as an example the network device indicating resources for UE1 and UE2, one possible implementation is shown in fig. 7 (a), where the network device indicates one part of the resources to UE1 and the other part to UE2, and these two parts of the resources do not overlap or interleave (interleaved) in the frequency domain. Another possible implementation is shown in fig. 7 (b), where the resources indicated by the network device for UE1 and UE2 do not overlap, but are staggered with respect to each other. It should be appreciated that the resources allocated by the network device to UE1 and UE2 may be part of the first channel, and the resources allocated by the network device to UE1 and UE2 may also be all of the resources of the first channel. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

In the unlicensed band, the terminal device needs to meet at least the OCB requirement to occupy the channel, and typically the minimum OCB requirement is at least 80% of the normal bandwidth, i.e. at least 16MHz of bandwidth is required to occupy the 20MHz channel. In this case, a large number of RBs are wasted. According to the methods of steps 501 to 503, UE1 may send data on resources unoccupied by UE2, as shown in (c) in fig. 7, UE1 may occupy resources other than the resources of UE2 (or resources not actually used by UE 2), for example, UE1 may occupy an interleaved RB group #2, where the interleaved RB group #2 includes RB #2, RB #12, RB #22, RB #32, and RB #42, and spectrum utilization is significantly improved. It should be understood that (c) in fig. 7 is only an example of communication resources of UE2 and UE1, and embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto, for example, (c) UE1 and UE2 in fig. 7 may occupy channels according to (a) or (b) in fig. 7, that is, when UE1 and UE2 occupy the first channel, UE2 may occupy rb#1 to rb#25, UE1 may occupy rb#26 to rb#50, or UE2 may occupy rb#1 to rb#5, rb#11 to rb#15, rb#21 to rb#25, rb#31 to rb#35, and rb#41 to rb#45, UE1 may occupy rb#6 to rb#10, rb#16 to rb#20, rb#26 to rb#30, rb#36 to rb#40, and rb#46 to rb#50.

It is understood that the first channel may be a part of unlicensed spectrum, for example, the unlicensed spectrum may be a frequency domain resource of 2400MHz to 2500MHz, and the first channel may be a frequency domain resource of 2400MHz to 2420 MHz; alternatively, the first channel may be all of unlicensed spectrum, for example, the unlicensed spectrum may be a frequency domain resource of 2400MHz to 2500MHz, and the first channel may be a frequency domain resource of 2400MHz to 2500MHz, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the method comprises the step of. Taking the first terminal device determining the first channel occupancy state through the first type listen-before-talk process as an example, after determining that the first channel occupancy state is busy, the first terminal device may determine the opportunity to access the first channel by:

case 1: the first terminal device stops the first type listen-before-talk procedure and immediately accesses the channel.

For example, during the backoff process, the first terminal device listens to the first channel as busy, and determines that the network device currently occupies the first channel is a UE scheduled by the network device and in the same batch as the first terminal device, the first terminal device may stop the backoff, that is, stop decrementing N (counter), and end listening, and access the first channel to start transmitting data. The first terminal device may access the first channel immediately after stopping decrementing N and ending listening, or may access the first channel within a certain time range, for example, the first terminal device may access the first channel within an allowable delay duration range after stopping decrementing N, where the allowable delay duration may be indicated by the network device, may be predefined by the network device and the terminal device, or may be autonomously determined by the terminal device. In this case, the first terminal device stops the first type listen before talk process and then immediately accesses the channel to transmit data without waiting, so that the data can be transmitted in time, and the delay of data transmission is further reduced.

Case 2: the first terminal device decrements the counter to 0 and then accesses the channel in a first type listen-before-talk procedure.

Different from stopping the first type of first-transmission-then-listening process in the case 1, the first terminal device monitors that the first channel state is busy in the backoff process, determines that the UE scheduled by the network device and in the same batch as the first terminal device currently occupies the first channel, can ignore the transmission of the UE in the same batch (i.e., ignore the busy state of the transmission of the UE in the same batch on the channel), continues the first type of first-transmission-then-listening process until the backoff is completed, namely, the random number N is decremented to 0, and then accesses the first channel to start transmitting data. It will be appreciated that the first terminal device may also access the first channel when the random number is reduced to a number greater than 0. Illustratively, the first terminal device continues the first type listen before talk procedure, continues decrementing the random number N from 5, and when N is 2, the first terminal device accesses the first channel to begin transmitting data. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

Further, during the first terminal device continuing the first type listen before talk procedure, it may sense transmissions from other devices than the UE (e.g. UE 3). In general, the UE3 using the first channel at this time may be a UE that is co-located with the first terminal device and the second terminal device but not co-scheduled, or a UE that is not co-located with the first terminal device and the second terminal device, or a UE of a different system, for example, the UE3 is a UE in a wifi system.

When UE3, UE1 and UE2 are UEs of the same batch scheduled by the network device, UE1 listens that the channel occupancy state is busy, and can continue the first type of listen-before-send process (i.e. ignore the busy state of the channel caused by the transmission of UE 3), and access the first channel to send data after the random number N is decremented to 0.

When UE3 and UE1 are not UEs of the same batch scheduled by the network device, or UE3 is a UE scheduled by the same cell as UE1 but not the same batch, or UE3 and UE1 are not in the same cell, or UE3 is a UE of a different system, UE1 needs to monitor the first channel continuously (i.e. the busy state of the channel caused by the transmission of UE3 cannot be ignored), and when the waiting channel is idle, i.e. when waiting for the end of the data transmission of UE3, the first type listen before talk process is continued again, and the first channel is accessed to transmit data after the random number N is decremented to 0.

In another example, the first terminal device may also access the first channel after a period of time after sensing that the first channel state is busy and determining that the network device currently occupies the first channel is a UE scheduled by the network device and in the same batch as the first terminal device. The duration of the period may be indicated by the network device, or the duration of the period is predefined by the network device and the terminal device, or the duration of the period is determined autonomously by the terminal device, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. That is, as an alternative to the LBT procedure, the terminal device need not decrement the counter, and may access the channel after the period of time.

In this case, the first terminal device may also continue to complete the first type listen before talk procedure and access the channel, or may wait for a period of time to access the channel, thereby improving the flexibility of the first terminal device in accessing the channel.

Case 3: the first terminal device receives time interval configuration information, wherein the time interval configuration information comprises the length of a time interval and a starting time, the first terminal device listens to the first channel in the time interval from the starting time, and the state of the first channel in the time interval is determined to be idle.

The time interval configuration information may be used to configure a periodic time interval, or may be used to configure a time interval corresponding to the data transmission, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. The time interval information may be carried in RRC signaling or in DCI, i.e. the time interval information is indicated by the network device to the first terminal apparatus. The time interval information may also be an indication by the second terminal device to the first terminal device, e.g. the second terminal device sends side-link control information to the first terminal device, which side-link control information may comprise time interval configuration information. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

In other words, the first terminal device detects that the first channel state is busy through the first type listen-before-talk process, and determines that the UE currently occupying the first channel is the same batch as the first terminal device scheduled by the network equipment, and the first terminal device may access the first channel according to the second type listen-before-talk process.

It is noted that starting from this starting moment, the first terminal device listens to the first channel during this time interval, determining that the state of the first channel is idle during this time interval, meaning that the second terminal device has suspended (suspend) the data transmission during this time interval. One possible implementation, the first terminal device may access the channel after stopping listening to the channel, e.g., the first terminal device may stop listening at the end of the time interval, access the channel, and the second terminal device may access the channel simultaneously with the first terminal device at the end of the time interval. It should be understood that the second terminal device may also access the channel at a later time, for example, in an allowed delay period, where the allowed delay period may be indicated by the network device or may be autonomously determined by the second terminal device, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

In this case, the second terminal device pauses (suspend) data transmission in the time interval, so that the first terminal device is prevented from detecting that the channel is busy in the time interval and needs to judge the relationship between the equipment occupying the channel again, the second terminal device can conveniently complete the second type listen-before-talk process smoothly, the overhead of the first terminal device is saved, and the efficiency of the second terminal device for accessing the channel is improved. The first terminal device listens first and then speaks the access channel according to the second type, and the flexibility of the first terminal device for accessing the channel is further improved.

The timing of the first terminal device and the second terminal device accessing the channel will be described in detail.

In the SL-U system, a slot (slot) is used as one of basic time units in the time domain, and scheduling and data transmission of UEs are generally performed on a slot basis. It should be understood that a time slot is only an example of a time unit, and other time units may be applicable, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application. Due to the LBT mechanism of the unlicensed frequency domain, the LBT end time of the UE is uncertain, that is, the UE does not always end the LBT exactly at the boundary of the slot. One possible way may be to specify that the transmission of the SL-U must start from the beginning of the slot.

Taking case 1 as an example, the first terminal device stops the LBT procedure when it is determined that the current channel is occupied by the second terminal device scheduled in the same batch, and accesses the channel (transmits data) at the start time of the nearest one slot after the slot occupied by the LBT. As shown in fig. 8, the first terminal device determines that the channel is occupied by the second terminal device on the slot n, and accesses the channel at the start time of the slot n+1.

Taking case 2 as an example, the first terminal device may continue the LBT procedure and complete the LBT at the slot boundary when it is determined that the current channel is occupied by the second terminal device scheduled in the same batch, and access the channel at the start time of the next slot. As shown in fig. 9 (a), the first terminal device determines that the current channel is occupied by the second terminal device scheduled in the same batch on the slot n, completes LBT at the end time of the slot n, and accesses the channel at the start time of the slot n+1.

Taking case 3 as an example, when the first terminal device determines that the current channel is occupied by the second terminal device scheduled in the same batch, it may determine that the channel is idle (i.e., the second type LBT) in the time interval, and access the channel at the start time of the next time slot. As shown in fig. 9 (b), the first terminal device determines that the current channel is occupied by the second terminal device scheduled in the same batch on the slot n, completes the second type LBT at the end time of the slot n, and accesses the channel at the start time of the slot n+1.

Alternatively, in order to improve the channel utilization of the SL-U transmission, a plurality of possible time domain start positions of the data transmission may be further set in one time slot. For example, the time domain starting position of the data transmission may be the starting time of the 2 nd symbol in the time slot, the starting time of the 4 th symbol in the time slot, the starting time of the 8 th symbol, and the starting time of the 11 th symbol.

Taking case 1 as an example, the first terminal device stops the LBT procedure when determining that the current channel is occupied by the second terminal device scheduled in the same batch, and starts transmitting data at the last data transmission start time after the slot in which the LBT is located. As shown in fig. 10, the first terminal device determines that the current channel is occupied by the second terminal device scheduled in the same batch on the slot n-1, and starts transmitting data at the start time of symbol 2 in the slot n. The setting of the start time in case 2 and case 3 is similar to this, and will not be described in detail.

It should be understood that the above symbols and the positions of the slots are only examples and are not limiting.

In the above steps, taking the example that the network device indicates the related information to the terminal device through DCI, an example of DCI is given: the DCI may be a DCI newly defined for SL-U, for example, the format of the DCI is DCI format3_2. The DCI may include resource scheduling information and may further include indication information of co-batch scheduling, such as a temporary UE group ID. Specifically, the DCI may include the following information: resource pool index indication information (resource pool index), time interval (time gap) configuration information, hybrid automatic repeat request (hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ) process number (HARQ process number), new transmission data indication (new data indicator), frequency domain resource allocation information (frequency resource assignment), time domain resource allocation information (time resource assignment), and temporary user group identification (temporary UE group ID). It should be understood that the above DCI is only an example, and the DCI may also include other required scheduling information, which is not limited in this aspect of the present application.

Optionally, the first terminal device may further start a timer, and when the timer expires, the first terminal device does not use the first frequency domain resource to transmit data, and releases the first frequency domain resource. It should be appreciated that the length of the timer or the time out time may be predefined or preconfigured, and embodiments of the present application are not limited in this regard. This way, it is possible to further avoid resources being wasted.

In the method, the terminal devices with conflicts in the time domain share resources with the terminal devices by determining the terminal devices of the same batch which currently occupy resources and are scheduled for the network equipment, so that the plurality of terminal devices jointly use unlicensed spectrum for communication, resource waste is avoided, and the spectrum utilization rate of SL-U is improved. Meanwhile, the data to be transmitted can be transmitted in time, so that the service requirement is met, and the communication efficiency is improved.

The embodiment of the present application proposes a communication method, as shown in fig. 11, in which UE1 is an example of a first terminal device in the method shown in fig. 5, UE2 is an example of a second terminal device in the method shown in fig. 5, gNB is an example of a network device in the method shown in fig. 5, DCI1 is an example of first downlink control information in the method shown in fig. 5, DCI2 is an example of downlink control information sent by the network device to the second terminal device in the method shown in fig. 5, and sci#a is an example of side downlink control information in the method shown in fig. 5. This embodiment may include the steps of:

Step 1101: the gNB transmits DCI1 to UE1, and correspondingly, UE1 receives DCI1.

The DCI1 includes resource indication information and a temporary group ID. The resources indicated by DCI1 correspond to the first frequency domain resources in the frequency domain. The specific description of the DCI1 may refer to the description of the DCI transmitted by the network device to the first terminal apparatus in fig. 5, which is not repeated. It should be understood that the temporary group ID is one example of an ID in step 502 and is not limiting.

Step 1102: the gNB transmits DCI2 to UE2, and correspondingly, UE2 receives DCI2.

The DCI2 includes resource indication information and a temporary group ID. The resources indicated by DCI2 correspond to the second frequency domain resources in the frequency domain. The second frequency domain resource does not overlap the first frequency domain resource, and the second frequency domain resource and the first frequency domain resource belong to a first channel. The specific description of the DCI1 may refer to the description of the DCI transmitted by the network device to the second terminal apparatus in fig. 5, which is not repeated.

Step 1103: the UE2 transmits data on the second frequency domain resource.

Before UE2 sends data, UE2 successfully completes the LBT procedure, as shown in fig. 12, the initial value N of the random number for UE2 to perform the LBT procedure takes a value of 4, starts random back-off from T1 (which can also be understood as starting to decrement the random number), decrements N to 0 at T2, that is, completes LBT at T2, and accesses the channel. It should be appreciated that UE2 transmitting data is one example of UE2 transmitting side row information and is not limiting.

Step 1104: UE1 listens to the first channel through the first type LBT, and determines that the first channel occupancy state is busy.

As shown in fig. 12, UE1 performs LBT with a value of 6 for the initial value N of the random number, starts random back-off at T1, keeps listening, and determines that the first channel occupancy state is busy at T2.

It should be understood that the UE1 may determine the occupancy status of the first channel in other manners, and the description of step 501 may be referred to, which is not repeated.

Step 1105: UE1 stops the first type LBT.

As shown in fig. 12, UE1 listens to the channel busy at T2, where N decrements to 2 and UE1 interrupts the random backoff.

Step 1106: UE2 sends sci#a to UE1, and correspondingly, UE1 receives sci#a.

The temporary group ID is included in the sci#a. Specifically, the sci#a may refer to the description related to the side-link control information in step 502, and will not be described again.

It should be appreciated that the moment at which UE2 transmits sci#a is after T2 (including T2). It should also be appreciated that step 1106 may occur chronologically prior to step 1105, or after step 1105, or at the same time as step 1105. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

Step 1107: UE1 determines from sci#a that it belongs to the same temporary group as UE 2.

Step 1108: UE1 transmits data on the first frequency domain resource.

In one possible way, after steps 1101 to 1107, as shown in fig. 12, UE2 transmits data in a T3 access channel.

In the method, the UE1 judges that the UE currently occupying the channel has an association relationship with the UE, for example, the UE belongs to a temporary group with the UE, the UE1 can immediately stop LBT, and the UE is accessed into the channel to perform data transmission, so that the time delay of data transmission is shortened.

Alternatively, after steps 1101 to 1107, as shown in fig. 13, UE1 continues to start random backoff at T4, starts decrementing from N to 2, decrements N to 0 at T5, and transmits data on the access channel.

In the method, the UE1 can continuously complete the LBT process and then access the channel, so that the fairness of using unauthorized resources by a plurality of UEs is further considered, and the flexibility of accessing the channel by the UE1 is improved

The method realizes that a plurality of UE jointly use unlicensed spectrum for communication, avoids resource waste and improves spectrum utilization rate. And the data to be transmitted of the UE1 can be transmitted in time, so that the service requirement is met.

The embodiment of the present application proposes yet another communication method, as shown in fig. 14, in which UE1 is an example of a first terminal device in the method shown in fig. 5, UE2 is an example of a second terminal device in the method shown in fig. 5, gNB is an example of a network device in the method shown in fig. 5, DCI1 is an example of first downlink control information in the method shown in fig. 5, DCI2 is an example of downlink control information sent by the network device to the second terminal device in the method shown in fig. 5, sci#a is an example of side downlink control information in the method shown in fig. 5. This embodiment may include the steps of:

Step 1401: the gNB sends RRC signaling to UE1, and correspondingly, UE1 receives the RRC signaling.

The RRC signaling includes time interval configuration information, which may refer to the description of case 3 in step 503, and will not be described in detail. As shown in fig. 5, the time interval (gap) 1 is a duration between T3 and T4, the start time is T3, and the end time is T4.

Step 1402: the gNB transmits DCI1 to UE1, and correspondingly, UE1 receives DCI1.

Step 1403: the gNB transmits DCI2 to UE2, and correspondingly, UE2 receives DCI2.

Step 1404: the UE2 transmits data on the second frequency domain resource.

Step 1405: UE1 listens to the first channel through the first type LBT, and determines that the first channel occupancy state is busy.

As shown in fig. 15, UE1 performs LBT with a value of 6 for the initial value N of the random number, starts random back-off at T1, keeps listening, and determines that the first channel occupancy state is busy at T2.

Step 1406: UE1 stops the first type LBT.

As shown in fig. 15, UE1 listens to the channel busy at T2, where N decrements to 2 and UE1 interrupts the random backoff.

Step 1407: UE2 sends sci#a to UE1, and correspondingly, UE1 receives sci#a.

Where sci#a includes a temporary group ID, it is to be understood that the temporary group ID is one example of an ID in step 502 and is not limiting.

It should be appreciated that the moment at which UE2 transmits sci#a is after T2 (including T2). It should also be appreciated that step 1407 may occur in time sequence prior to step 1406, or after step 1406, or at the same time as step 1406. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

Step 1408: UE1 determines from sci#a that it belongs to the same temporary group as UE 2.

As shown in fig. 15, UE2 determines that it belongs to the same temporary group as UE2 between T2 and T3.

Step 1409: UE2 suspends data transmission for time interval 1.

As shown in fig. 15, UE2 stops transmitting data at T3.

Step 1410: UE1 determines that the state of the first channel is idle for time interval 1.

It will be appreciated that UE1 keeps listening all the time at T1 to T4, or may interrupt listening after step 1408 and begin listening again at T3. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

Step 1411: the UE2 starts transmitting data at the end of time interval 1.

As shown in fig. 15, the UE2 starts transmitting data at T4.

Step 1412: UE1 starts transmitting data at the end of time interval 1.

As shown in fig. 15, the UE2 starts transmitting data at T4.

It should be understood that, in the method, the steps 1402 to 1408 may refer to the descriptions of the steps 1101 to 1107, which are not repeated.

In the method, the UE1 judges that the UE currently occupying the channel has an association relation with the UE, such as a temporary group which belongs to the UE, and accesses the channel after the channel state is monitored to be idle within a certain time range, in other words, the UE1 can access the channel according to the second type LBT, so that the flexibility of accessing the channel by the UE1 is further improved. The method and the device realize that a plurality of UE jointly use unlicensed spectrum for communication, avoid resource waste and improve spectrum utilization rate. And the data to be transmitted of the UE1 can be transmitted in time, so that the service requirement is met.

It should be understood that the foregoing description only uses the case where the first terminal device and the second terminal device share the same channel as an example, and the first terminal device and the second terminal device may share resources on multiple channels, which is not limited to the foregoing embodiments of the present application. The channel in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a bandwidth of 20MHz, or may be other bandwidth portions in an unlicensed spectrum, which is not limited.

It should be appreciated that the above embodiment takes the decrementing of the timer value as an example. As another example, the terminal device may also determine whether to access the channel based on an incremented timer. For example, the initial values of the counters are all 0, and the terminal device with the counter reaching the preset value can access the channel, and the preset value is an integer greater than 0. Alternatively, the counter may be increased or decreased in value irregularly. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

It should also be understood that LBT is taken as an example of a way for the terminal device to listen to the channel and access the channel in the above embodiments, but the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. For example, the terminal device may listen to the channel, determine that the currently occupied channel is the terminal device having an association relationship with itself, and access the channel after a period of time indicated by the network device, or predefined by the network device and the terminal device, or autonomously determined by the terminal device, without participation of a timer.

The various embodiments described herein may be separate solutions or may be combined according to inherent logic, which fall within the scope of the present application. It should be understood that the steps of the foregoing embodiments are merely for clearly describing the technical solutions of the embodiments, and the execution sequence of the steps is not limited.

In the embodiment provided by the application, the method provided by the embodiment of the application is introduced from the interaction angle among the devices. In order to implement the functions in the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the network device or the terminal device may include a hardware structure and/or a software module, and implement the functions in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module. Some of the functions described above are performed in a hardware configuration, a software module, or a combination of hardware and software modules, depending on the specific application of the solution and design constraints.

The division of the modules in the embodiment of the application is schematic, only one logic function is divided, and other division modes can be adopted in actual implementation. In addition, each functional module in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processor, or may exist alone physically, or two or more modules may be integrated in one module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules.

The following describes in detail a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application with reference to fig. 16 to 17. 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 described may be referred to the above method embodiments, which are not repeated herein for brevity.

As with the above concept, as shown in fig. 16, an embodiment of the present application further provides an apparatus 1600 for implementing the function of the session management function network element in the above method. For example, the apparatus may be a software module or a system on a chip. In the embodiment of the application, the chip system can be formed by a chip, and can also comprise the chip and other discrete devices. The apparatus 1600 may include: a processing unit 1610 and a communication unit 1620.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication unit may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, and may include a sending unit and/or a receiving unit, which are configured to perform the steps of sending and receiving by the session management function network element in the foregoing method embodiment, respectively.

The communication unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiving means, etc. The processing unit may also be called a processor, a processing board, a processing module, a processing device, etc. Alternatively, a device for implementing a receiving function in the communication unit 1620 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device for implementing a transmitting function in the communication unit 1620 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, i.e., the communication unit 1620 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The communication unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, interface circuit, or the like. The receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, or receiving circuit, among others. The transmitting unit may also sometimes be referred to as a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

The communication apparatus 1600 performs the functions of the network device in the flow shown in any of fig. 5 to 15 in the above embodiments:

the communication unit may be configured to send downlink control information and/or RRC signaling.

The processing unit may be used to pre-configure side-uplink unlicensed resources, etc.

The communication apparatus 1600 performs the functions of the first terminal apparatus in the flow shown in any one of 5 to 15 in the above embodiments:

and the communication unit can be used for receiving downlink control information, RRC signaling and side-link control information and transmitting data.

The processing unit may be configured to parse the downlink control information and the side downlink control information, determine a transmission resource, determine a first channel occupancy state, determine that a second terminal device has an association relationship with the first terminal device, and/or perform an LBT procedure, etc.

The communication apparatus 1600 performs the functions of the second terminal apparatus in the flow shown in any one of 5 to 15 in the above embodiments:

and the communication unit can be used for receiving the downlink control information or the RRC signaling, transmitting the side downlink control information and/or transmitting data.

A processing unit, which may be used to determine transmission resources and/or to perform LBT procedures, etc.

The foregoing is merely an example, and the processing unit 1610 and the communication unit 1620 may perform other functions, and a more detailed description may refer to the method embodiments shown in fig. 5 to 11 or related descriptions in other method embodiments, which are not repeated herein.

As shown in fig. 17, an apparatus 1700 provided by an embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus shown in fig. 17 may be an implementation of a hardware circuit of the apparatus shown in fig. 16. The communication device may be adapted to perform the functions of the terminal device or the network device in the above-described method embodiments in the flowcharts shown above. For convenience of explanation, fig. 17 shows only major components of the communication apparatus.

The communication apparatus 1700 may be a terminal device capable of implementing the functions of the first terminal apparatus or the second terminal apparatus in the method provided by the embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 1700 may also be an apparatus capable of supporting the first terminal apparatus or the second terminal apparatus to implement the corresponding function in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1700 may be a system-on-a-chip. In the embodiment of the application, the chip system can be formed by a chip, and can also comprise the chip and other discrete devices. Specific functions can be seen from the description of the method embodiments described above.

The communication device 1700 includes one or more processors 1710 for implementing or for supporting the communication device 1700 to implement the functionality of the first terminal device or the second terminal device in the method provided by the embodiment of the application. Reference is made specifically to the detailed description in the method examples, and details are not described here. The processor 1710 may also be referred to as a processing unit or module, and may implement certain control functions. The processor 1710 may be a general purpose processor or a special purpose processor, or the like. For example, it includes: a central processor, an application processor, a modem processor, a graphics processor, an image signal processor, a digital signal processor, a video codec processor, a controller, a memory, and/or a neural network processor, etc. The central processor may be used to control the communication device 1700, execute software programs, and/or process data. The different processors may be separate devices or may be integrated in one or more processors, e.g., integrated on one or more application specific integrated circuits. It is to be appreciated that the processor in embodiments of the application may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), other general purpose processor, digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), field programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic device, transistor logic device, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, it may be any conventional processor.

Optionally, the communication device 1700 includes one or more memories 1720 for storing instructions 1740 that can be executed on the processor 1710 to cause the communication device 1700 to perform the methods described in the method embodiments above. A memory 1720 is coupled to the processor 1710. The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units, or modules, which may be in electrical, mechanical, or other forms for information interaction between the devices, units, or modules. The processor 1710 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1720. At least one of the at least one memory may be included in the processor. The memory 1720 is not necessarily shown in fig. 17 by a broken line.

Optionally, the memory 1720 may also store data therein. The processor and the memory may be provided separately or may be integrated. In an embodiment of the present application, the memory 1720 may be a nonvolatile memory, such as a hard disk (HDD) or a Solid State Drive (SSD), or may be a volatile memory (RAM). The processor in embodiments of the present application may also be in flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable EPROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may reside in a network device or terminal device. The processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a network device or terminal device.

The memory is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to such. The memory in embodiments of the present application may also be circuitry or any other device capable of performing memory functions for storing program instructions and/or data.

Optionally, the communication device 1700 may include instructions 1730 (sometimes also referred to as code or program), which instructions 1730 may be executed on the processor, causing the communication device 1700 to perform the methods described in the above embodiments. The processor 1710 may store data therein.

Optionally, the communication device 1700 may also include a transceiver 1750 and an antenna 1706. The transceiver 1750 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver module, a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, an input-output interface, etc. for implementing the transceiver function of the communication device 1700 via the antenna 1706.

The processor 1710 and transceiver 1750 described in this disclosure may be implemented on an integrated circuit (integrated circuit, IC), analog IC, radio frequency integrated circuit (radio frequency identification, RFID), mixed signal IC, ASIC, printed circuit board (printed circuit board, PCB), or electronic device, among others. The communication apparatus described herein may be implemented as a stand-alone device (e.g., a stand-alone integrated circuit, a mobile phone, etc.), or may be part of a larger device (e.g., a module that may be embedded in another device), and reference may be made specifically to the foregoing description of the terminal device and the network device, which is not repeated herein.

Optionally, the communication device 1700 may further include one or more of the following: wireless communication modules, audio modules, external memory interfaces, internal memory, universal serial bus (universal serial bus, USB) interfaces, power management modules, antennas, speakers, microphones, input/output modules, sensor modules, motors, cameras, or displays, among others. It is to be appreciated that in some embodiments, communication device 1700 may include more or fewer components, or some components may be integrated, or some components may be split. These components may be hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware implementations.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present application without departing from the scope of the application. Thus, it is intended that the present application also include such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

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:

the first terminal device listens to the first channel through the Listen Before Talk (LBT) process, and the interception result is busy;

the first terminal device determines that a second terminal device occupies the first channel, and the second terminal device has an association relationship with the first terminal device;

the first terminal device transmits sidestream information on the first channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the association is that the first terminal device and the second terminal device belong to a first set, the method further comprising:

The first terminal device receiving side-uplink control information from the second terminal device, the side-uplink control information including identification information for indicating the first set;

the first terminal device receives first downlink control information from network equipment, wherein the first downlink control information comprises the identification information;

the first terminal device determines that the first terminal device and the second terminal device belong to the first set according to the side downlink control information and the first downlink control information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first downlink control information is further used to indicate a first frequency domain resource, the first frequency domain resource belonging to the first channel,

the first terminal device transmitting sidestream information on the first channel includes:

the first terminal device transmits sidestream information on the first frequency domain resource.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first channel further comprises second frequency domain resources for the second terminal device to transmit side row information, the second frequency domain resources not overlapping the first frequency domain resources.

5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first terminal device listens to the first channel by means of a listen before talk procedure, comprising:

the first terminal device listens to the first channel through a first type listen-before-talk procedure.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein prior to the first terminal device transmitting sidestream information on the first channel, the method further comprises:

the first terminal device stops the first type listen-before-talk process.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein prior to the first terminal device transmitting sidestream information on the first channel, the method further comprises:

the first terminal device decrements a counter to 0 during the first type listen-before-talk procedure.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

the first terminal device receives time interval configuration information, wherein the time interval configuration information comprises the length of the time interval and the starting time;

the first terminal device listens to the first channel in the length of the time interval from the starting moment, and determines that the state of the first channel is idle in the time interval;

and after stopping interception, the first terminal device sends sidestream information on the first channel.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the time interval configuration information is carried in radio resource control signaling.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the first terminal device transmitting sidestream information on the first channel comprises:

the first terminal device transmits sidestream information on the first channel in a first period of time, the first period of time overlapping with a second period of time, the second period of time being a period of time for the second terminal device to transmit sidestream information on the first channel.

11. A method of communication, comprising:

the second terminal device sends side uplink control information on a first channel, wherein the side uplink control information is used for determining that the first terminal device has an association relation with the second terminal device;

the second terminal device transmits sidestream information on the first channel, which is also used by the first terminal device to transmit sidestream information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein prior to the second terminal device transmitting side-uplink control information on the first channel, the method further comprises:

the second terminal device receives second downlink control information, where the second downlink control information includes identification information, and the identification information is used to indicate the first set.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the side-uplink control information includes the identification information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the side-uplink information for a first terminal device to determine that it has an association with the second terminal device comprises:

the side-uplink information is used by a first terminal device to determine that it belongs to the first set with the second terminal device.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein,

the second downlink control information is further configured to indicate a second frequency domain resource, where the second frequency domain resource belongs to the first channel, the second frequency domain resource does not overlap with the first frequency domain resource, and the first frequency domain resource is used for the first terminal device to send sidestream information.

16. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 15, further comprising:

the second terminal device receives time interval configuration information, wherein the time interval configuration information comprises the length and the starting time of the time interval, and the state of the first channel is idle in the time interval.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

the second terminal device transmits sidestream information on the first channel starting from an end time of the time interval.

18. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, wherein the second terminal device transmitting sidestream information on the first channel comprises:

the second terminal device transmits sidestream information on the first channel during a second period of time, the second period of time overlapping with a first period of time, the first period of time being a period of time for the first terminal device to transmit sidestream information on the first channel.

19. A communication device comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 10.

20. A communication device comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 11 to 18.

21. A communication system comprising a communication device as claimed in claim 19 and claim 20.

22. A computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10 and/or the method of any one of claims 11 to 18.

23. A chip comprising a processor and a communication interface, the processor being configured to read instructions to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10 and/or the method of any one of claims 11 to 18.