CN117062101A

CN117062101A - Communication method, device, node equipment and computer storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN117062101A
Application number: CN202210486473.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 孙军帅; 赵芸; 王莹莹; 李娜; 刘光毅
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Priority date: 2022-05-06
Filing date: 2022-05-06
Publication date: 2023-11-14

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a communication method, a communication device, node equipment and a computer storage medium. The method comprises the following steps: a first medium/Media Access Control (MAC) transmits a first MAC Control Element (CE) for requesting cell activation or establishment to a second MAC; the first MAC CE comprises cell type information and/or equipment type information where the first MAC is located; the first MAC receives a second MAC CE sent by the second MAC and used for responding to the activation or establishment of a cell; the second MAC CE comprises configuration information for cell activation or establishment; the first MAC is used for cell control, and the second MAC is used for controlling the first MAC.

Description

Communication method, device, node equipment and computer storage medium

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communications method, an apparatus, a node device, and a computer storage medium.

Background

ICDT is an abbreviation for Intelligence (Intelligence), communication (Communication), big Data (Data), technology (Technology). With the deep convergence of ICDT technology, ICDT brings about improvement of the function of wireless network. The ICDT radio access network (RAN, radio Access Network) solution is a solution integrating ICDT technology, as shown in fig. 1. In this scheme, an in-growth intelligent and digital twinned ICDT RAN scheme is implemented by introducing on-line digital twinning functions and distributed artificial intelligence (AI, artificial Intelligence) functionalities in different functional parts of the RAN to support multi-level control of the RAN.

In the scheme shown in fig. 1, medium/Media Access Control (MAC) included in a Cloud Unit (CU, cloud Unit) may be referred to as Cloud MAC (C-MAC), and MAC included in an Edge Unit (EU, edge Unit) may be referred to as Dedicated MAC (D-MAC). How to implement MAC plug and play initial access between CU and EU has no effective solution at present.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the existing technical problems, the embodiment of the invention provides a communication method, a device, node equipment and a computer storage medium.

In order to achieve the above object, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention is as follows:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communication method, where the method includes:

the first MAC transmits a first MAC Control Element (CE) for requesting cell activation or establishment to the second MAC; the first MAC CE comprises cell type information and/or equipment type information where the first MAC is located;

the first MAC receives a second MAC CE sent by the second MAC and used for responding to the activation or establishment of a cell; the second MAC CE comprises configuration information for cell activation or establishment;

The first MAC is used for cell control, and the second MAC is used for controlling the first MAC.

In the above scheme, the MAC sub-header of the first MAC CE includes first indication information;

the first indication information indicates that the first MAC CE is used to request cell activation or establishment.

In the above solution, the first MAC service data Unit (SDU, serviceData Unit) of the first MAC CE includes a cell type index field and/or a device type index field;

the cell type index field is used for indicating the service type which can be provided by the cell which is requested to be activated or established;

the device type index field is used for indicating the service capability of the device where the first MAC is located.

In the above scheme, the service type that the cell can provide corresponds to the service type;

the types of services that the cell can provide include at least one of:

general cell service type, high-rate service type, time-sensitive data service type, internet of things service type, and vertical industry service type.

In the above scheme, the service capability of the device where the first MAC is located corresponds to the type of the digital twin of the device.

In the above scheme, the MAC sub-header of the second MAC CE includes second indication information;

The second indication information indicates that the second MAC CE is used to respond to cell activation or establishment.

In the above solution, the configuration information for activating or establishing a cell includes: cell information, system information, and cell-available MAC digital twin function information.

In the above scheme, the second MAC SDU of the second MAC CE includes a cell information field, a system information field, and a MAC digital twin function configuration field;

the cell information field comprises a cell identification field and/or a physical cell identification field;

the system information field comprises a main system information block/auxiliary system information block 1 field;

the MAC digital twin function configuration field is used to indicate MAC digital twin function information available to the cell.

In the above scheme, the MAC digital twin function information includes at least one of the following information:

system bandwidth index, maximum power index, MAC default scheduling algorithm, quality of service (QoS, quality of Service) class mapping table for connection with no bearer used by upper layer, control channel resource index, subcarrier spacing configuration index, number of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ, hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest) processes, HARQ mode, HARQ process mode.

In the above scheme, the first MAC is located in a first type node device, and the second MAC is located in a second type node device.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication method, where the method includes:

the second MAC receives a first MAC CE sent by the first MAC and used for requesting the activation or establishment of the cell; the first MAC CE comprises cell type information and/or equipment type information where the first MAC is located;

the second MAC sends a second MAC CE used for responding to the activation or establishment of the cell to the first MAC; the second MAC CE comprises configuration information for activating or establishing a cell, and the configuration information for activating or establishing the cell is determined based on the cell type information and/or the equipment type information of the first MAC;

In the above solution, the first MAC SDU of the first MAC CE includes a cell type index field and/or a device type index field;

the types of services that the cell can provide include at least one of:

system bandwidth index, maximum power index, MAC default scheduling algorithm, qoS grade corresponding table adopting no-bearing connection with upper layer, control channel resource index, subcarrier interval configuration index, HARQ process number, HARQ mode and HARQ process mode.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises: the second MAC receives a plurality of cell identifications and/or a plurality of physical cell identifications sent by the radio resource control RRC, and distributes a first cell identification and/or a first physical cell identification for the first MAC from the plurality of cell identifications and/or the plurality of physical cell identifications.

In the above scheme, the first MAC is located in a first type node device, and the second MAC and the RRC are located in a second type node device.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication apparatus, where the apparatus includes a first MAC and a first interface; the first MAC is used for sending a first MAC CE for requesting cell activation or establishment to the second MAC through the first interface; the first MAC CE comprises cell type information and/or equipment type information where the first MAC is located; the first interface is further used for receiving a second MAC CE sent by the second MAC and used for responding to the activation or establishment of a cell; the second MAC CE comprises configuration information for cell activation or establishment;

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present invention further provide a communication apparatus, the apparatus including a second MAC and a second interface; the second MAC is configured to receive, through the second interface, a first MAC CE sent by the first MAC and used for requesting activation or establishment of a cell; the first MAC CE comprises cell type information and/or equipment type information where the first MAC is located; and further configured to send a second MAC CE to the first MAC via the second interface in response to cell activation or establishment; the second MAC CE comprises configuration information for activating or establishing a cell, and the configuration information for activating or establishing the cell is determined based on the cell type information and/or the equipment type information of the first MAC;

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present invention also provide a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which when executed by a processor implements the steps of the method of the first or second aspect of the embodiments of the present invention.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a node device, including a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, where the processor executes the program to implement the steps of the method according to the foregoing first aspect or the second aspect of the embodiment of the present invention.

The embodiment of the invention provides a communication method, a device, node equipment and a computer storage medium, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the first MAC transmits a first MAC Control Element (CE) for requesting cell activation or establishment to the second MAC; the first MAC CE comprises cell type information and/or equipment type information where the first MAC is located; the first MAC receives a second MAC CE sent by the second MAC and used for responding to the activation or establishment of a cell; the second MAC CE comprises configuration information for cell activation or establishment; the first MAC is used for cell control, and the second MAC is used for controlling the first MAC. By adopting the technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention, the first MAC and the second MAC are accessed initially by plug and play by designing the format of the interactive MAC CE (comprising the first MAC CE and/or the second MAC CE) between the first MAC and the second MAC.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of an IDCT RAN scheme for in-house wisdom;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 3a and 3b are schematic diagrams of a first MAC CE in a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4a and 4b are schematic diagrams of a second MAC CE in the communication method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a second flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an interaction flow of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a second component structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a hardware composition structure of a node device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific examples.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention can be applied to various communication systems, such as: global system for mobile communications (GSM, global System of Mobile communication), long term evolution (LTE, long Term Evolution) or 5G systems, etc. Alternatively, the 5G system or 5G network may also be referred to as a New Radio (NR) system or NR network.

By way of example, the communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applied may include network devices and terminal devices (may also be referred to as terminals, communication terminals, etc.); the network device may be a device in communication with the terminal device. Wherein the network device may provide communication coverage for a range of areas and may communicate with terminals located within the areas. Alternatively, the network device may be a base station in each communication system, such as an evolved base station (eNB, evolutional Node B) in an LTE system, and also such as a base station (gNB) in a 5G system or an NR system.

It should be understood that a device having a communication function in a network/system according to an embodiment of the present application may be referred to as a communication device. The communication device may include a network device and a terminal having a communication function, where the network device and the terminal device may be the specific devices described above, and are not described herein; the communication device may also include other devices in the communication system, such as a network controller, a mobility management entity, and other network entities, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" is herein merely an association relationship describing an associated object, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, may represent: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the front and rear associated objects are an "or" relationship.

The terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used may be interchanged where appropriate such that the embodiments of the application described herein may be implemented, for example, in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Next, the IDCT RAN scheme of the in-house wisdom in this embodiment will be briefly described with reference to fig. 1.

In the IDCT RAN scheme, two main classes of functions are included in the C-MAC: firstly, a control function of D-MAC; and secondly, the interface control function of CU-EU. For example, as shown in fig. 1, the C-MAC may include a master system information block (MIB, master Information Block)/system information block (SIB, system Information Block) 1 Instance (MIB/SIB 1 Instance), a data exchange buffer (Data Switch Buffer), and a D-MAC Instance (UE's D-MAC Instance) of a User Equipment (UE).

D-MAC in EU includes two types of functions:

the first type of function is MIB/SIB 1D-MAC (also referred to as MIB/SIB 1D-MAC function, MIB/SIB 1D-MAC instance, etc.) for transmitting MIB/SIB1. When the EU just completes handshake with the CU, the C-MAC triggers the EU to complete cell activation, and sends cell-level system information (MIB/SIB 1) to the MIB/SIB 1D-MAC of the EU, so that the quick service capability of an air interface is realized.

The C-MAC completes the cell-level power control, the cell ID allocation scheme, the capacity of cell supporting service types, the capacity of cell supporting the number or types of UE and the like of all cells controlled by the C-MAC under the drive of AI. For example, according to the geographical features of the position to be covered by the EU, an AI model is established, and the configuration schemes of all cells carried on the EU are formulated under the driving of an AI algorithm.

The second type of function is UE's D-MAC (also may be referred to as UE's D-MAC function, UE's D-MAC instance, etc.) for serving the UE. When the UE applies to establish a dedicated MAC, the D-MAC is quickly established and cloning from the D-MAC Instance at the C-MAC is completed.

The CU also includes radio resource control (RRC, radio Resource Control) (also referred to as RRC function, RRC instance, etc.), and the C-MAC reports the established D-MAC information to the RRC, which generates an end-to-end configuration for the D-MAC according to AI-driven global radio resource management.

The CU also includes interface control (Interface Control of Cloud MAC) of the C-MAC, the EU also includes interface control (Interface Control of Dedicated MAC) of the D-MAC, and the C-MAC is transmitted between the D-MAC through the respective interface control.

When the D-MAC is initially established, the initial connection is directly established with the C-MAC through a Common Bearer (CB), and then the C-MAC completes the configuration of the D-MAC so as to realize the rapid air interface service.

The following embodiments of the present invention are presented based at least on the scheme shown in fig. 1.

It should be noted that, the cloud unit may also be referred to as a centralized unit; in the embodiment of the present invention, the C-MAC is denoted as the second MAC, and the D-MAC is denoted as the first MAC, and the names of the MACs are not limited in this embodiment, so long as the functions of the MACs can be implemented.

The embodiment of the invention provides a communication method. FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the invention; as shown in fig. 2, the method includes:

step 101: the first MAC sends a first MAC CE for requesting cell activation or establishment to the second MAC; the first MAC CE comprises cell type information and/or equipment type information where the first MAC is located;

Step 102: the first MAC receives a second MAC CE sent by the second MAC and used for responding to the activation or establishment of a cell; the second MAC CE includes configuration information for cell activation or establishment therein.

In this embodiment, the first MAC is used for cell control, and the second MAC is used for controlling the first MAC.

In this embodiment, the deployment location of the first MAC is closer to the UE than the deployment location of the second MAC. The device where the first MAC is located may be a device serving the UE or an air interface oriented device; the device where the second MAC is located may be a centralized device or a cloud device.

Optionally, the first MAC is located in a first type node device, and the second MAC is located in a second type node device. The second type node device may be a device (centralized computing platform) where the cloud unit or the centralized unit is located, for example, a large or small cloud platform. The first class node device may be a serving or air-oriented wireless Access Point (AP).

The MACs (the first MAC and the second MAC) may also be referred to as a MAC function, a MAC component, a MAC module, a MAC unit, a MAC function component, a MAC function body, a MAC service, and the like, and the names of the MACs are not limited in this embodiment, so long as the functions of the MACs can be implemented.

The embodiment realizes the plug and play initial access of the first MAC and the second MAC by designing the format of the interactive MAC CE (comprising the first MAC CE and/or the second MAC CE) between the first MAC and the second MAC.

The content of the MAC CEs (including the first MAC CE and the second MAC CE) interacted between the first MAC and the second MAC is different for the initial activation scenario, that is, different types of MAC CEs are defined.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the MAC subheader of the first MAC CE includes first indication information; the first indication information indicates that the first MAC CE is used to request cell activation or establishment.

In this embodiment, the first indication information indicates a type of the first MAC CE, where the type is that the first MAC CE is used to request activation or establishment of a cell.

In some optional embodiments, a first logical channel field is included in a MAC sub-header of the first MAC CE, and first indication information is included in the first logical channel field; or the MAC sub-header of the first MAC CE comprises a first logic channel field and a first extended logic channel field, and the first logic channel field and the first extended logic channel field comprise first indication information; the first indication information indicates that the first MAC CE is used to request cell activation or establishment.

In this embodiment, the first MAC composes a MAC CE (herein referred to as a first MAC CE) for requesting cell activation or cell establishment, and transmits the MAC CE to the second MAC. Wherein, optionally, the first MAC CE is a fixed-length MAC CE, that is, it is not required to include an L domain.

Optionally, as an embodiment, a first logical channel field is included in a MAC sub-header (sub-header) of the first MAC CE, and the first logical channel field includes first indication information. As shown in fig. 3a, the first logical channel field may be a logical channel identification field, and the logical channel identification (LCID, logical Channel ID) field of the first MAC CE includes first indication information (including indication information indicating a cell setup request in this example) indicating that the first MAC CE is used to request cell activation or setup. As another embodiment, a MAC sub-header (sub-header) of the first MAC CE may further include a first logical channel field and a first extended logical channel field, where the first logical channel field and the first extended logical channel field include first indication information. In this embodiment, the first indication information for requesting cell activation or establishment may be carried by combining LCID and icld.

In some optional embodiments, a cell type index field and/or a device type index field is included in a first MAC SDU of the first MAC CE; the cell type index field is used for indicating the service type which can be provided by the cell which is requested to be activated or established; the device type index field is used for indicating the service capability of the device where the first MAC is located.

In this embodiment, the first MAC CE includes at least cell information for requesting cell activation or cell establishment. The first MAC CE includes at least a cell type and/or a device type; the device type is the type of the device where the first MAC is located (i.e., the EU where the first MAC is located). Optionally, a Cell Type Index (Cell Type Index) field and/or a device Type Index (EU Type Index) field are included in the first MAC SDU of the first MAC CE. Wherein, different cell type indexes respectively correspond to different cell types. Different device type indexes correspond to different device types or service capabilities of different devices, respectively. As shown in fig. 3b, the length of the Cell Type Index (Cell Type Index) field is 1 byte (8 bits), and in other embodiments, the length of the Cell Type Index (Cell Type Index) field may be one or more bytes or one or more bits (bits).

Optionally, the service type that the cell can provide corresponds to a service type; the types of services that the cell can provide include at least one of: general cell service type, high-rate service type, time-sensitive data service type, internet of things service type, and vertical industry service type. Of course, the above service types are examples, and the present embodiment is not limited to the above service types (or cell types), and other service types (or cell types) are also within the protection scope of the present embodiment.

The general cell corresponding to the general cell service type can support various services, but the extreme performance of each service may not be achieved, for example, a macro cell responsible for coverage. The high-rate service type mainly transmits data at a high rate, such as a cell covered by a hot spot, a cell of a stadium similar scene, or communication data in a coal mine tunnel. The service type of the time sensitive data is mainly characterized by fast data transmission, such as patient monitoring data, industrial monitoring or control data and the like in medical treatment of hospitals. The service type of the internet of things is mainly oriented to cells of the internet of things, and the cells may be characterized by energy conservation, such as timed high-power transmission or strong uplink receiving channel performance. The vertical industry service type mainly faces to cells required by specific industries, such as factory scenes, and the UE control mode, the identification mode, the uplink and downlink transmission mode and the like of the cells can be customized, so that the UE can be quickly accessed into the cells.

Illustratively, as shown in table 1, there are different cell type indexes and cell descriptions (Description of Cell) corresponding relation tables. For example, a cell description with a cell type index of 0, the service supported by the cell to be established in the future is various for the general cell service type, e.g. the base station corresponding to macro coverage. The cell with cell type index 1 describes a type of service that is high rate (High Speed data rate), like enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB, enhanced Mobile Broadband) traffic. The cell with cell type index 2 describes the type of service for time sensitive data (Time Sensitive data), such as Ultra reliable low latency communication (URLLC, ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communications) traffic. The cell with the cell type index of 3 describes a service type of internet of things (IOT, internet of Things), and the service feature may be a customized service type, such as mass machine type communication (mctc, massive Machine Type of Communication) service. The cell description with the cell type index of 4-N can be the cell service of various Vertical Traffic (Vertical Traffic). Of course, the correspondence between the cell type index and the cell description in this embodiment is not limited to that shown in table 1, and the correspondence between the cell type index and the cell description may be other combinations than that shown in table 1.

TABLE 1

Cell Type Index	Description of Cell
		0	General Cell for hybrid traffic
1	High Speed data rate,such as eMBB
		2	Time Sensitive data,such as URLLC
3	IOT,such as mMTC
		4	Vertical Traffic I
5	Vertical Traffic II
		…	…
N	Vertical Traffic X

Optionally, in the actual implementation process, the cell type index may be updated according to the actual situation, for example, a cell type index corresponding to a new service type is added, or a cell type index is deleted, etc.

In this embodiment, the device type index field is used to indicate a service capability of a device where the first MAC is located. Depending on the service capability, the RRC of the CU may set up or reconfigure the service type of the cell as required by the system, as needed. Digital Twin (DT) technology is introduced, and EUs of different equipment types are subjected to Digital Twin modeling through the DT technology to form capability templates of the EUs of the different equipment types. By abstracting the capability descriptions of the EUs for these device types, CUs can implement flexible extensions to network services.

Optionally, the service capability of the device where the first MAC is located corresponds to the type of DT of the device.

The digital twin body (DT) refers to a software functional body composed of various characteristic parameters and/or basic functions of a device, a terminal (user equipment) or an object, through which the basic functions of the service object can be simulated, and the result generated after the operation of the software functional body is used as a requirement or input parameter of the service object, so that the function or output of the service object is simulated or simulated on line. Thus, the type of DT may correspond to the simulated device, terminal, or corresponding type.

Illustratively, as shown in Table 2, a table of correspondence between different device type indexes and EU descriptions (Description of EU) is provided. For example, EU descriptions with EU type index 0-X are of various Distributed Unit (DU) types, denoted herein as DU I-DU X. EU description with EU type index of x+1-x+3 … is harbor (UE as a harbor for a group of UEs) of a UE as a group of UEs in various simplified AP types, for example Lite AP I type; in Lite AP II type, as an anchor point (anchor for wearable device) for the wearable device; in Lite AP III type, NFC dedicated point (Ad Hoc point for NFC) (near field communication (Near Field Communication)), and so on. EU description with EU type index of n+1 is Relay (Relay) type. EU description with EU type index n+2, configurable smart surface (RIS, reconfigurable Intelligent Surface)/smart reflective surface (IRS, intelligent Reflecting Surface) type (RIS/IRS may also be referred to as smart supersurface), etc. Of course, the correspondence between the device type index and the EU description in this embodiment is not limited to that shown in table 2, and the correspondence between the device type index and the EU description may be other combinations than that shown in table 2.

TABLE 2

EU Type Index	Description of EU
		0	DU I
…	…
		X	…DU X
X+1	Lite AP I:UE as a harbor for a group of UEs
		X+2	Lite AP II:anchor for wearable device
X+3	Lite AP III:Ad Hoc point for NFC(Near Field Communication)
		…	Lite AP:…
N+1	Relay
		N+2	RIS/IRS
…	…

Optionally, in the actual implementation process, the EU type index may be updated according to the actual situation, for example, add the EU type index corresponding to the new EU type, or delete the EU type index, etc.

The correspondence relationship shown in table 2 above gives EU descriptions (i.e., EU types), and each EU type may correspond to DT functionalities of a device, and the DT functionalities may be predefined, configured or set. When the new type of EU does not have an exact corresponding device type in the correspondence shown in table 2, the EU may select a similar EU type as the EU type of initial access according to the key function of the EU, and after communicating with the CU, the CU may generate the DT function of the EU for the new type through online learning under the driving of the AI.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the MAC subheader of the second MAC CE includes second indication information; the second indication information indicates that the second MAC CE is used to respond to cell activation or establishment.

In this embodiment, the second indication information indicates a type of the second MAC CE, where the type is used by the second MAC CE to respond to cell activation or establishment.

In some optional embodiments, a second logical channel field is included in the MAC subheader of the second MAC CE, and second indication information is included in the second logical channel field; or the MAC sub-header of the second MAC CE comprises a second logic channel field and a second extended logic channel field, and the second logic channel field and the second extended logic channel field comprise second indication information; the second indication information indicates that the second MAC CE is used to respond to cell activation or establishment.

In this embodiment, after receiving the first MAC CE of the first MAC, the second MAC sends a MAC CE (referred to herein as a second MAC CE) for responding to the cell activation or establishment to the first MAC. Wherein, optionally, the second MAC CE is a variable-length MAC CE, that is, it needs to include an L domain.

In this embodiment, as an implementation manner, a second logical channel field is included in a MAC sub-header (sub-header) of the second MAC CE, and the second logical channel field includes second indication information. As shown in fig. 4a, the second logical channel field may be a logical channel identification field, and the Logical Channel Identification (LCID) field of the second MAC CE includes second indication information (including indication information indicating a cell setup response in this example) indicating that the second MAC CE is used to respond to cell activation or setup. As another embodiment, a MAC sub-header (sub-header) of the second MAC CE may further include a second logical channel field and a second extended logical channel field, where the second logical channel field and the second extended logical channel field include second indication information. In this embodiment, the second indication information for responding to the activation or establishment of the cell may be carried by combining the LCID and the eclpid.

In some alternative embodiments, the configuration information for cell activation or establishment includes: cell information, system information, and cell-available MAC digital twin function information.

In this embodiment, after the second MAC receives the first MAC CE of the first MAC, information in the first MAC CE is saved, for example, a cell type index and/or a device type index are saved, and appropriate cell information, system information and MAC digital twin are selected according to the information (such as the cell type index and/or the device type index) in the first MAC CE.

In some optional embodiments, a second MAC SDU of the second MAC CE includes a cell information field, a system information field, and a MAC digital twin function configuration field;

In this embodiment, in the first aspect, the second MAC selects a suitable Cell identifier (Cell ID) and/or Physical Cell Identifier (PCI) for the first MAC; in a second aspect, a second MAC configures MIB/SIB 1 for a first MAC; in a third aspect, a second MAC configures the MAC Digital Twin (DT) functionality information (e.g., a MAC digital twin functionality template, which may be represented by a variety of parameters) available to the cell for the first MAC.

In this embodiment, the second MAC CE includes at least the information of the above three aspects. Optionally, a cell information field, a system information field, and a MAC digital twin function configuration field may be included in the second MAC SDU of the second MAC CE. As shown in fig. 4b, information including Cell identification (Cell ID), PCI, MIB/SIB1, and MAC digital twin function configuration (D-MAC configuration in the drawing) in the second MAC CE is given. The Cell identifier (Cell ID), the PCI, and the MIB/SIB1 are fields of a fixed length, and are optional fields included in the second MAC CE. The MAC digital twin function body configuration field is a field with variable length and can be transformed according to the configuration content.

Optionally, the MAC digital twin function information includes at least one of the following information: system bandwidth index, maximum power index, MAC default scheduling algorithm, qoS grade corresponding table adopting no-bearing connection with upper layer, control channel resource index, subcarrier interval configuration index, HARQ process number, HARQ mode and HARQ process mode.

In this embodiment, after the first MAC receives the second MAC CE, the information included in the second MAC CE is stored. When the UE is accessed, the UE is configured through the MAC digital twin function body information (such as the MAC digital twin function body template), so that the UE can quickly obtain the service of the network. Optionally, after the second MAC communicates with the RRC, the first MAC may also be configured and updated through RRC signaling.

Optionally, for the MAC digital twin function information (e.g. MAC digital twin function template), when a bit block (bit block) of the MAC digital twin function configuration information as shown in fig. 4b is received, the bit block is parsed according to a protocol-defined structure, so as to obtain a basic configuration of the MAC digital twin function at the user level.

Based on the above embodiment, the embodiment of the invention also provides a communication method. FIG. 5 is a second flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the invention; as shown in fig. 5, the method includes:

step 201: the second MAC receives a first MAC CE sent by the first MAC and used for requesting the activation or establishment of the cell; the first MAC CE comprises cell type information and/or equipment type information where the first MAC is located;

step 202: the second MAC sends a second MAC CE used for responding to the activation or establishment of the cell to the first MAC; the second MAC CE comprises configuration information for activating or establishing a cell, and the configuration information for activating or establishing the cell is determined based on the cell type information and/or the equipment type information of the first MAC;

In some alternative embodiments, the first MAC is located in a first class of node devices, and the second MAC and the RRC are located in a second class of node devices.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, a cell type index field and/or a device type index field is included in a first MAC SDU of the first MAC CE; the cell type index field is used for indicating the service type which can be provided by the cell which is requested to be activated or established; the device type index field is used for indicating the service capability of the device where the first MAC is located.

In some alternative embodiments, the types of services that the cell is capable of providing correspond to the types of traffic;

the types of services that the cell can provide include at least one of: general cell service type, high-rate service type, time-sensitive data service type, internet of things service type, and vertical industry service type.

In some alternative embodiments, the service capability of the device in which the first MAC is located corresponds to a type of digital twin of the device.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, a second MAC SDU of the second MAC CE includes a cell information field, a system information field, and a MAC digital twin function configuration field;

In some alternative embodiments, the MAC digital twin function information includes at least one of: system bandwidth index, maximum power index, MAC default scheduling algorithm, qoS grade corresponding table adopting no-bearing connection with upper layer, control channel resource index, subcarrier interval configuration index, HARQ process number, HARQ mode and HARQ process mode.

In some alternative embodiments of the invention, the method further comprises: the second MAC receives a plurality of cell identifications and/or a plurality of physical cell identifications sent by RRC, and distributes a first cell identification and/or a first physical cell identification for the first MAC from the plurality of cell identifications and/or the plurality of physical cell identifications.

In this embodiment, the RRC in the CU allocates a plurality of Cell identities (Cell IDs) and/or Physical Cell Identities (PCIs) to the second MAC in advance. After the second MAC receives the first MAC CE of the first MAC, the second MAC stores information in the first MAC CE, for example, stores a Cell type index and/or a device type index, and selects a suitable Cell identifier (Cell ID) and/or a Physical Cell Identifier (PCI) according to the information in the first MAC CE (such as the Cell type index and/or the device type index), configures a suitable MIB/SIB1, and configures a MAC digital twin function available for the Cell.

The communication method according to the embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to a specific example.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an interaction flow of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 6, the method includes:

step 301: the first MAC sending a cell setup request (Cell Setup Request) to the second MAC;

step 302: the second MAC sends a cell setup response (Cell Setup Response) to the first MAC.

The premise of this example is that after EU power-up, normal start-up is performed, and transmission connection between EU and CU is completed.

In this example, the EU starts the default system broadcast MAC (first MAC), and has the function of constructing a MAC CE (e.g., first MAC CE), and parsing the MAC CE (e.g., second MAC CE).

The first MAC sends the cell establishment request, that is, the first MAC CE is configured and sent, and the content of the first MAC CE may be described in the foregoing embodiments, which is not described herein again.

The second MAC selects proper Cell identification (Cell ID) and/or Physical Cell Identification (PCI) according to the information carried in the first MAC CE, configures proper MIB/SIB1, configures an available MAC digital twin function body of the Cell, builds and sends the second MAC CE, and configures the applied Cell for EU where the first MAC is located.

And after the first MAC receives the second MAC CE, storing information contained in the second MAC CE. When the UE is accessed, the UE is configured through the MAC digital twin function body information (such as the MAC digital twin function body template), so that the UE can quickly obtain the service of the network. Optionally, after the second MAC communicates with the RRC, the first MAC may also be configured and updated through RRC signaling.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a communication device. Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 7, the apparatus includes a first MAC 41 and a first interface 42; wherein,

the first MAC 41 is configured to send, to the second MAC via the first interface 42, a first MAC CE for requesting cell activation or establishment; the first MAC CE includes cell type information and/or device type information where the first MAC 41 is located; and is further configured to receive, via the first interface 42, a second MAC CE sent by the second MAC for responding to cell activation or establishment; the second MAC CE comprises configuration information for cell activation or establishment;

Wherein the first MAC 41 is used for cell control, and the second MAC is used for controlling the first MAC 41.

In some optional embodiments, a first logical channel field is included in a MAC sub-header of the first MAC CE, and first indication information is included in the first logical channel field; or,

the MAC sub-header of the first MAC CE comprises a first logic channel field and a first extended logic channel field, and the first logic channel field and the first extended logic channel field comprise first indication information;

In some optional embodiments of the invention, a cell type index field and/or a device type index field is included in a first MAC SDU of the first MAC CE;

the device type index field is used to indicate the service capability of the device in which the first MAC 41 is located.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, the type of service that the cell is capable of providing corresponds to a type of service;

In some alternative embodiments of the present invention, the service capability of the device in which the first MAC 41 is located corresponds to the type of digital twin of the device.

In some optional embodiments, a second logical channel field is included in the MAC subheader of the second MAC CE, and second indication information is included in the second logical channel field; or,

the MAC sub-header of the second MAC CE comprises a second logic channel field and a second extended logic channel field, and the second logic channel field and the second extended logic channel field comprise second indication information;

In some optional embodiments of the invention, the configuration information for cell activation or establishment comprises: cell information, system information, and cell-available MAC digital twin function information.

In some alternative embodiments of the invention, the MAC digital twin function information includes at least one of: system bandwidth index, maximum power index, MAC default scheduling algorithm, qoS grade corresponding table adopting no-bearing connection with upper layer, control channel resource index, subcarrier interval configuration index, HARQ process number, HARQ mode and HARQ process mode.

In some alternative embodiments of the present invention, the first MAC 41 is located in a first type of node device, and the second MAC is located in a second type of node device.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the first MAC 41 in the device may be implemented in practical application by a central processing unit (CPU, central Processing Unit), a digital signal processor (DSP, digital Signal Processor), a micro control unit (MCU, microcontroller Unit) or a programmable gate array (FPGA, field-Programmable Gate Array); the first interface 42 in the device may be implemented in practical application by a communication module (including a basic communication suite, an operating system, a communication module, a standardized interface, a protocol, etc.) and a transceiver antenna.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a communication device. Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a second component structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 8, the apparatus includes a second MAC 51 and a second interface 52; wherein,

the second MAC 51 is configured to receive, through the second interface 52, a first MAC CE sent by the first MAC and used for requesting activation or establishment of a cell; the first MAC CE comprises cell type information and/or equipment type information where the first MAC is located; and is further configured to send a second MAC CE to the first MAC via the second interface 52 in response to cell activation or establishment; the second MAC 51CE includes configuration information for activating or establishing a cell, where the configuration information for activating or establishing a cell is determined based on the cell type information and/or device type information where the first MAC is located;

Wherein the first MAC is used for cell control, and the second MAC 51 is used for controlling the first MAC.

In some alternative embodiments of the present invention, the service capability of the device in which the first MAC is located corresponds to a type of digital twin of the device.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, a cell information field, a system information field, and a MAC digital twin function configuration field are included in a second MAC 51SDU of the second MAC CE;

In some optional embodiments of the invention, the second MAC 51 is further configured to receive a plurality of cell identities and/or a plurality of physical cell identities sent by the radio resource control RRC through the second interface 52, and allocate a first cell identity and/or a first physical cell identity to the first MAC from the plurality of cell identities and/or the plurality of physical cell identities.

In some alternative embodiments of the present invention, the first MAC is located in a first class of node devices, and the second MAC 51 and the RRC are located in a second class of node devices.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the second MAC 51 in the device may be implemented by CPU, DSP, MCU or FPGA in practical application; the second interface 52 in the device may be implemented in practical application by a communication module (including a basic communication suite, an operating system, a communication module, a standardized interface, a protocol, etc.) and a transceiver antenna.

It should be noted that: in the communication device provided in the above embodiment, when performing communication processing, only the division of each program module is used as an example, in practical application, the processing allocation may be performed by different program modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different program modules, so as to complete all or part of the processing described above. In addition, the communication device and the communication method provided in the foregoing embodiments belong to the same concept, and specific implementation processes of the communication device and the communication method are detailed in the method embodiments and are not described herein again.

The embodiment of the invention also provides node equipment, which is first-class node equipment or second-class node equipment. Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a hardware composition structure of a node device according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 9, the node device includes a memory 62, a processor 61, and a computer program stored in the memory 62 and executable on the processor 61, where the steps of the communication method applied to the first type node device are implemented when the processor 61 executes the program; alternatively, the processor 61, when executing the program, implements the steps of the communication method applied to the second class node device.

Optionally, the node device further comprises at least one network interface 63. Wherein the various components in the node device are coupled together by a bus system 64. It is understood that the bus system 64 is used to enable connected communications between these components. The bus system 64 includes a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus in addition to the data bus. But for clarity of illustration the various buses are labeled as bus system 64 in fig. 9.

It will be appreciated that the memory 62 may be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, and may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. Wherein the nonvolatile Memory may be Read Only Memory (ROM), programmable Read Only Memory (PROM, programmable Read-Only Memory), erasable programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM, erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), electrically erasable programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM, electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), magnetic random access Memory (FRAM, ferromagnetic Random Access Memory), flash Memory (Flash Memory), magnetic surface Memory, optical disk, or compact disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM, compact Disc Read-Only Memory); the magnetic surface memory may be a disk memory or a tape memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (RAM, random Access Memory), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM, static Random Access Memory), synchronous static random access memory (SSRAM, synchronous Static Random Access Memory), dynamic random access memory (DRAM, dynamic Random Access Memory), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM, synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (ddr SDRAM, double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM, enhanced Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM, syncLink Dynamic Random Access Memory), direct memory bus random access memory (DRRAM, direct Rambus Random Access Memory). The memory 62 described in embodiments of the present invention is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

The method disclosed in the above embodiment of the present invention may be applied to the processor 61 or implemented by the processor 61. The processor 61 may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in the processor 61 or by instructions in the form of software. The processor 61 may be a general purpose processor, DSP, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components, or the like. Processor 61 may implement or perform the methods, steps and logic blocks disclosed in embodiments of the present invention. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiment of the invention can be directly embodied in the hardware of the decoding processor or can be implemented by combining hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software modules may be located in a storage medium in a memory 62. The processor 61 reads information from the memory 62 and, in combination with its hardware, performs the steps of the method as described above.

In an exemplary embodiment, the node apparatus may be implemented by one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASIC, application Specific Integrated Circuit), DSPs, programmable logic devices (PLD, programmable Logic Device), complex programmable logic devices (CPLD, complex Programmable Logic Device), FPGAs, general purpose processors, controllers, MCUs, microprocessors, or other electronic elements for performing the aforementioned methods.

In an exemplary embodiment, the present application also provides a computer readable storage medium, e.g. a memory 62 comprising a computer program executable by the processor 61 of the node device for performing the steps of the method as described above. The computer readable storage medium may be FRAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash Memory, magnetic surface Memory, optical disk, or CD-ROM; but may be a variety of devices including one or any combination of the above memories.

The embodiment of the application provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the communication method applied to a first class of node devices; alternatively, the program, when executed by the processor, implements the steps of the communication method applied to the second class node device.

The methods disclosed in the method embodiments provided by the application can be arbitrarily combined under the condition of no conflict to obtain a new method embodiment.

The features disclosed in the several product embodiments provided by the application can be combined arbitrarily under the condition of no conflict to obtain new product embodiments.

The features disclosed in the embodiments of the method or the apparatus provided by the application can be arbitrarily combined without conflict to obtain new embodiments of the method or the apparatus.

In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. The above described device embodiments are only illustrative, e.g. the division of the units is only one logical function division, and there may be other divisions in practice, such as: multiple units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not performed. In addition, the various components shown or discussed may be coupled or directly coupled or communicatively coupled to each other via some interface, whether indirectly coupled or communicatively coupled to devices or units, whether electrically, mechanically, or otherwise.

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

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present invention may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may be separately used as one unit, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit; the integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in hardware plus software functional units.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: all or part of the steps for implementing the above method embodiments may be implemented by hardware associated with program instructions, where the foregoing program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when executed, the program performs steps including the above method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: a removable storage device, ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disk, or other medium capable of storing program code.

Alternatively, the above-described integrated units of the present invention may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium if implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as separate products. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention may be embodied in essence or a part contributing to the prior art in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the methods described in the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a removable storage device, ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disk, or other medium capable of storing program code.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present invention, and the present invention 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 invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of communication, the method comprising:

the first medium/Media Access Control (MAC) sends a first MAC Control Element (CE) for requesting cell activation or establishment to the second MAC; the first MAC CE comprises cell type information and/or equipment type information where the first MAC is located;

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the MAC subheader of the first MAC CE includes first indication information;

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first MAC service data unit SDU of the first MAC CE comprises a cell type index field and/or a device type index field;

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the type of service that the cell is capable of providing corresponds to a traffic type;

the types of services that the cell can provide include at least one of:

5. A method according to claim 3, wherein the service capability of the device in which the first MAC is located corresponds to the type of digital twin of the device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the MAC subheader of the second MAC CE includes second indication information;

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information for cell activation or establishment comprises: cell information, system information, and cell-available MAC digital twin function information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second MAC SDU of the second MAC CE comprises a cell information field, a system information field, and a MAC digital twin function configuration field;

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the MAC digital twin function information comprises at least one of:

the method comprises the steps of system bandwidth index, maximum power index, MAC default scheduling algorithm, qoS grade corresponding table of connection without load with upper layer, control channel resource index, subcarrier interval configuration index, HARQ process number, HARQ mode and HARQ process mode.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first MAC is located in a first class of node devices and the second MAC is located in a second class of node devices.

11. A method of communication, the method comprising:

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the MAC subheader of the first MAC CE includes first indication information;

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the first MAC SDU of the first MAC CE comprises a cell type index field and/or a device type index field;

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the type of service that the cell is capable of providing corresponds to a type of service;

the types of services that the cell can provide include at least one of:

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the service capability of the device in which the first MAC is located corresponds to a type of digital twin of the device.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the MAC subheader of the second MAC CE includes second indication information;

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration information for cell activation or establishment comprises: cell information, system information, and cell-available MAC digital twin function information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the second MAC SDU of the second MAC CE comprises a cell information field, a system information field, and a MAC digital twin function configuration field;

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the MAC digital twin function information comprises at least one of:

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

the second MAC receives a plurality of cell identifications and/or a plurality of physical cell identifications sent by the radio resource control RRC, and distributes a first cell identification and/or a first physical cell identification for the first MAC from the plurality of cell identifications and/or the plurality of physical cell identifications.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first MAC is located in a first class of node devices and the second MAC and the RRC are located in a second class of node devices.

22. A communication device, the device comprising a first MAC and a first interface; the first MAC is used for sending a first MAC CE for requesting cell activation or establishment to the second MAC through the first interface; the first MAC CE comprises cell type information and/or equipment type information where the first MAC is located; the first interface is further used for receiving a second MAC CE sent by the second MAC and used for responding to the activation or establishment of a cell; the second MAC CE comprises configuration information for cell activation or establishment;

23. A communication device, the device comprising a second MAC and a second interface; the second MAC is configured to receive, through the second interface, a first MAC CE sent by the first MAC and used for requesting activation or establishment of a cell; the first MAC CE comprises cell type information and/or equipment type information where the first MAC is located; and further configured to send a second MAC CE to the first MAC via the second interface in response to cell activation or establishment; the second MAC CE comprises configuration information for activating or establishing a cell, and the configuration information for activating or establishing the cell is determined based on the cell type information and/or the equipment type information of the first MAC;

24. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, characterized in that the program when executed by a processor realizes the steps of the method according to any of claims 1 to 10; or,

which when executed by a processor carries out the steps of the method of any one of claims 11 to 21.

25. A node device comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that the processor implements the steps of the method of any of claims 1 to 10 when the program is executed; or,

the processor, when executing the program, implements the steps of the method of any one of claims 11 to 21.